Wham! Episode/Anime and Manga

A-F
"Yamcha: I-I-I had a f-feeling he wasn't an ordinary k-k-kid...!"
 * Ah! My Goddess maintains the status quo for 20 years. Keiichi and Belldandy are the exemplars of the Chastity Couple. And then in chapter 285, Hild explains that  It may take readers a while to sort this all out.
 * The seventh episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. From a wonderful comedy to a heart-wrenching love drama...
 * Even more so episode 9, which reveals the causes of the jumps.
 * Angelic Layer contains a giant one in episode 24, though it's for a character rather than the viewers.  Episode 25 then shows the impact of it resulting in a brilliant tearjerker episode in an otherwise light hearted show.
 * In Another, episode 3 ends with the cute Class Representative Yukari Sakuragi dying horrifically.
 * All hell breaks lose in  when the rest of the class hears  . In their fear-stricken panic, they all decide that   is the extra student and   There are at least   outside of that incident in this episode as well.
 * Aquarion Evol: In episode 13 (halfway through the series).
 * Episode 9 of Baccano!!: Want to know what happened in the time gap between the end of episode 2 and when Jacuzzi discovered the bodies? Well, now you do (Not for the faint of heart, we assure you).
 * Bakuman｡ has a few.
 * Chapter 53:.
 * Chapter 64: Azuki confronts Mashiro about the secrets he kept from her, and then hangs up on him when he is unable to provide a satisfactory explanation, leading them to temporarily break up.
 * Chapter 100: Seven words:.
 * Chapter 130:.
 * A few chapters later,.
 * The Eclipse (Volumes 12-13) arc of Berserk would have been the greatest wham ever, with the HSQ through the roof stratosphere, had not the end of the Guardians of Desire arc (Volumes 2-3) just before the big Golden Age arc hinted at essentially given away what would happen. It was, regardless, a very powerful Gut Punch.
 * More properly played straight in the anime, which cut out the Guardians of Desire arc altogether. Although the events of the Eclipse were strongly foreshadowed, the last few episodes still constitute a pretty powerful Wham.
 * In Chapter 307, Femto uses the power of the Skull Knight's Sword of Resonance to tear open the bonds of reality, and merges fantasy and reality.
 * Episode 6 of Blood C. Episodes 1 through 5 followed the same formula, sing on the way to school, play with the puppy, eat with friends, fight and kill the Monster of the Week. 6 takes the formula and shatters it, with  and several townspeople in a rather shocking bit of Daylight Horror.
 * And if you thought 6 was bad, 8 and 9 go straight past it with
 * Add yet ANOTHER Wham! Episode with episode 11. To wit,
 * Bokurano: Every time a detail is revealed about the battles that take place in Bokurano can qualify as part of a Wham! Episode. In particular, one occurring in both the second episode and chapter where it turns out whoever is chosen to be the main pilot for a battle dies as soon as the fight is over and still later when it is revealed that when a battle is over, whoever loses has their entire universe destroyed. Those two points end up setting the tone and sense of desperation for both versions of the series.
 * Bomberman Jetters: White Bomber discovers Shout's sad backstory is also explained and   These are in 23, 24 and 25, but to be fair, it's a 50+ anime series.
 * Cardfight Vanguard has; Ride 24, in which Misaki's parents die in a flaming car wreck. Ride 32, in which Team AL4 beats Team Q4 in the elimination round of nationals. Then there's Ride 41, in which Aichi becomes subverted by his PSY Qualia and starts to become another Ren.
 * Episode 17 of Chobits, starts off like any other episodes. Then suddenly, right out of nowhere, ninjas! Scene cuts to the landlady sitting in an Elaborate Underground Base, tracking them through futuristic equipment. Cue end credits.
 * Chrono Crusade, ep 19. The Big Bad has been subverted so far, everyone's enjoying a carnival...and Mr. Big Bad himself comes out of nowhere, assembles all his MacGuffins in one slick move, and accomplishes the very thing the heroes have been trying to prevent him from doing!
 * This actually is based on a plot twist that happens in the manga—only the manga version has even more wham, since it also includes Chrono finally breaking down and snapping after years of mental anguish, flying into an Unstoppable Rage that destroys part of San Francisco and ends with him having a Heroic BSOD that lasts for more than an entire volume!
 * Clannad After Story episode 16. Even though the drama of the recent few episodes had revolved around the possibility, nothing can prepare you for the sheer impact of Nagisa's death in childbirth.
 * And the same goes for After Story episode 22, where Tomoya initiates a Time Skip thanks to the death of the girl from the illusionary world, who is actually Ushio after she loses her memories when she died, by obtaining a light orb, and using said light orb, travels back in time and is given a second chance to witness Nagisa's childbirth. This time around, she lives.
 * The Recap Episode of all things, can be considered a Wham! Episode because it's confirmed that the reality where Nagisa, Ushio, and Tomoya died really happened.
 * Claymore: Any chapter where Miria shows up is bound to be a whammer in some way or another. One of the most shocking so far is scene 79, when
 * Episode 22 of Code Geass is pretty much the nuclear bomb of wham episodes; a thirty second scene causes the entire show to do a 90-degree turn on its plot axis, and depending on what camp you fall into, at this point the show either poorly attempted to recreate the death of Lalah Sune and forced it or filled in nicely.
 * The second half of Season 2 attempted to make every episode a Wham! Episode. Some people liked it for its quick pacing and unexpected developments, and some people called it "Code Trainwreck" due to the fact that people's actions were often given little explanation and characterization took a backseat to plot twists.
 * The last five episodes of Season 2 were basically the collective wham of the entire series, with everyone's roles turned upside-down: Lelouch, former leader of The Black Knights, becomes the Emperor of his enemy Britannia; his former enemy Suzaku becomes his bodyguard; Kallen, who spent most of the show with a Bodyguard Crush on Lelouch, chooses heer beliefs over him and will stop at nothing to kill him; and Schneizel, Prince of Britannia, joins forces with the very organization Lelouch created. Also, after Lelouch's primary motivations for the first 90% of the show involved avenging his mother's death and creating a gentler world for his blind, wheelchair-bound sister, Lelouch discovers his Lady Macbeth mother's still alive and promptly becomes a Self-Made Orphan, then creates a brutally oppressive regime bent on world domination, and when his beloved little sister begs him to stop, he makes it clear that he won't hesitate to kill her if it's convenient to his plans. And the clincher?.
 * Well, in Kallen's defense, the only reason she chose to stand against Lelouch was because she believed he didn't care about her, not so much because she believed he was wrong. This is pretty much confirmed in her character poem, which states that had Lelouch spoken up at the time, she would have "followed him to Hell"; naturally, Lelouch knew that and so kept silent so that she would live.
 * In Nightmare of Nunnally, a few happen toward the end.
 * Chapter 16:
 * Chapter 20:.
 * Episode 6 of The Daughter of Twenty Faces comes out of nowhere and sends earthquakes through the viewer's previous suppositions about the show and its content.
 * The twenty-fifth episode of Death Note tears away the narrative mask over the Batman Gambit that Light sowed ten episodes before, and behind it is what most people consider Light's Moral Event Horizon.
 * Episode 4 of Diebuster: Up till this point, Nono has been basically a tag along to the Topless, hoping that she could gain her own Buster machine to defend Earth from the Alien Monsters. When archaeologists on Titan discover what they believe to be an ancient, incredibly powerful Buster machine, Nono violates orders to get close to it. As punishment, the Serpentine Twins, Leaders of the Topless, send her on a Snipe Hunt to Pluto to retrieve what may possibly be an intact Buster Machine, that crashed there some years previously. When the Titan excavation completes, three things are revealed simultaneously: The Alien Monsters they've been fighting up till this point aren't Alien Monsters at all, but part of a forgotten defense system designed to destroy threats to Earth; The "Buster Machine" on Titan isn't a Buster Machine at all, but one of the real Alien Monsters from Gun Buster; and that Nono is actually Buster Machine No. 7, the control unit for the Defense System and one of the most powerful Buster Machines in existence.
 * Digimon Tamers goes from fantasy-violence kiddy hero show to mind-rape extravaganza when Beelzemon kills Leomon, later following up with possibly the most destructive and disturbing Big Bad in Digimon history, the D-Reaper, possessing Juri's voice, memory, and for a while, her very appearance.
 * Dragon Ball:
 * When Goku tells Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar about the night a giant ape monster killed his grandpa when the moon was full. After a few minutes of Goku's reminiscing (in which he recalls how his grandpa told him never to look at the full moon) the gang, petrified, scoot into the corner and deduce that Goku was the monster that night.


 * Bonus points for Oolong's question after their escape: "So what is he, some kinda space alien?" Fast forward to the beginning of Dragonball Z, where we find out that this is indeed the case.
 * Krillin's first death. After a tournament, the gang go out to eat, but Goku realises he's forgotten something, so Krillin decides to go back and retrieve it. Goku has an uneasy feeling throughout dinner and finally snaps and runs back to the tournament grounds...to find Krillin dead. This set the tone for the King Piccolo arc, and is considered to be the turning point of the show when it became more serious.
 * The first time Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan, a direct result of Freeza killing Goku's best friend, Krillin (yes, again) and mocking 'that Earthling' after the fact. Before that, Piccolo's seemingly sensles sacrifice, thankfuly Freeza didn't mock Piccolo. Not just because the whole scene was epic but also because the normally cheerful Goku's disposition drastically changed. Besides the fact that he was revealed to be the legendary Super Saiyan, his looks changed and he became more powerful. No one was quite sure of what was going on with him; not his son Gohan nor Freeza nor the audience.
 * A minor one in the beginning of the Android Saga, when it was revealed that the mysterious sword wielding Super Saiyan was in fact Trunks the son of Vegeta and Bulma... who hasn't even been concieved yet.
 * When Goku had to distract Majin Buu the first time he fought him everyone thought he would share the same fate as Majin Vegeta . That was until Goku revealed that he had a Super Saiyan 3 transformation. This of course shocked both the audience and the characters a bit, echoing the Super Saiyan transformation in the Freeza Saga. This ended up as a Crowning Moment of Awesome in the show showing one of the most spectacular transformation sequences ever.
 * While this wouldn't register with most English speaking fans due to Sequel First making it a Late Arrival Spoiler, the entire Saiyan arc would qualify for this. Goku has a son, as well as an evil brother. Goku and Piccolo are aliens. Goku is dead. Yamcha dies, Chaozu dies, Tenshinhan dies... Piccolo dies, with him Kami dies, and thus the Dragon Balls vanish... And Vegeta escapes. (In a strangely ironic twist, Krillin survives.)
 * Durarara!! has Episode 11. The leader and the founder of the Dollars is revealed.
 * I'd argue that it's actually Episode 10. Even though the fact that  is the leader of the Dollars isn't explicitly stated until Episode 11, the end of Episode 10 strongly implies it. The Wham comes from the realization that   and that the seemingly inane details that fill the rest of the episode are not only important, but do a masterful job of setting up the end reveal. This was the episode that made the show go from "quite good" to "absolutely incredible."
 * The person behind the Slasher attacks in episode 'Mutual love'.
 * One episode of Excel Saga does this and follows through with Nothing Is the Same Anymore. It'd be a good example of the latter trope too, but that gets twisted round in the last episode, titled Going Too Far for a very good reason.
 * For those interested, Excel is the epitome of a Genki Girl, and often is a Spanner in the Works for her idol, boss, and major crush Il Palazzo, who wants to conquer the city. After an alien invasion ends up destroying the town, Excel gets lost and Il Palazzo begins his conquest of the city, ordering his men to kill her. She defeats all of the men, reaches his tower, and bangs on the door until her hands are bloody, asking just to see him again. He shows up and shoots her, then leaves her to die in the sand.
 * Fairy Tail has a few of these like chapter 134 when  and chapter 169, the beginning of the Edoras arc.
 * The ending of the Edoras arc too. The heroes are back home, having sorted everything out and patting each other back when, "Oh hey, what's the Alternate Universe counterpart of the dead childhood friend doing here?"
 * However, the biggest is chapter 209:.
 * Shortly followed by chapters 215/216 where.
 * The latter is repeated again but in reverse when after Hades suffers his own nasty defeat, when low and behold the previously angsty and self-loathing  shows up and, all the while , reveals that he has  . He then promptly
 * . Leading to a Time Skip... Holy shit.
 * Episode 25 of Fancy Lala where not only the titular character loses the item to transform, but also loses Mogu and Pigu.
 * In the very first one of Fullmetal Alchemist, the Generals of Central reveal to Mustang that they knew King Bradley was a Homunculus. They then disband Mustang's group forcing Fuery, Breda, and Falman to the borders of Amestris, and Riza Hawkeye becomes King Bradley's secretary, so that she can be used as a hostage.
 * Pales in comparison to the meeting between the Elrics and Father. In the course of a chapter its revealed that Father is not Hohenheim (but he knows him), he can prevent anyone from using Amestris alchemy, but Xing Alchemy can function. Scar finds out that the Homunculi started the Ishval War, and Ling is possessed by Greed. The next chapter reveals that Greed has no memories of his past life, and Ling is still in there.
 * Gluttony almost kills Riza, the Mustang crew learns about Homunculi, Havoc's spinal cord is severed, Roy gets stabbed in the ribs, Al almost dies, Riza learns Mustang "died" and starts screaming, crying, and has a Heroic BSOD, Mustang comes back and we learn that Homunculi actually can be killed. All in one episode.
 * And Ed finding Al's body behind the Gate? Gosh dang.
 * We also find out later that Hohenheim IS basically the Philosopher's Stone, as well as possibly the founder of modern Alchemy. Small wonder his kids are prodigies.
 * The revelation of Pride's identity. Although this was more of a Wham because someone predicted it in advance.
 * And of course there's always the episode in Brotherhood where.
 * Then in Chapter 104, Father reveals that his plan is to open the Gate of Truth for the planet. He also activates the country-wide transmutation circle, sucking out the souls of almost everyone in the country. Then he absorbs GOD into his body.
 * In chapter 107, Al reverses the transmutation Ed did to attach his soul into the armor, returning Ed's right arm and getting trapped into the Doors of Truth in process.
 * And let's not forget the 2003 anime adaptation, such as when
 * Don't forget the reveal of Dante and Hohenheim's secret in Episode 45.
 * Fushigi Yuugi has several
 * The first is undoubtly when  after he takes a brainwashing potion and her trying to commit suicide over it all. Luckily   is on hand to save her and make her feel better, untill.
 * The second is when
 * Another is when . He was the first big, loved character to die and anyone who didn't at least have watery eyes must have a heart of stone.
 * Also, the death of, who was killed by the main villain of the series, Nakago. He also left behind.
 * Also the deaths of, who both had major parts on the 'good' team. It is also debated whether   died and came back with the others, or whether he just didn't die, full stop.
 * One moment was when Tamahome saw into, just before   died.

G-L

 * G Gundam episode 6 is when you learn Domon and Kyoji's backstory and he activates supermode for the first time.
 * Gaiking Legend Of Daiku Maryu episode 28... wherein Smug Snake and Magnificent Bitch Proist singlehandedly delivers sucker punch after sucker punch to the protagonists, seemingly convinces a young girl to kill her own father, and just continues to make a living hell for everyone. With the exception of the whole "Limitation Syndrome" episodes, all those other light-hearted episodes seemed a lot more appropriate and necessary, with Proist rapidly become just as hated as Fucking Ribbons.
 * The first three episodes of Ga-Rei -Zero- are Wham! Episode. First, the supposedly-main-characters are killed in episode 1. Then, the bloody murderer in the episode before is introduced as a lost member of another squad. And then, in the third episode flashback begun, which has nothing similar with the high body count of the first two episodes.
 * The final "attack" of the Individual Eleven in the second season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Twelve terrorists join together to commit their greatest and final "attack", all of them bringing katanas with them. A police team is racing against time to stop them, when a news-helicopter spots them first on a skyscraper roof, broadcasting everything on live-TV. And without any warning they pull out their swords and decapitate each other!
 * Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still episode 3, at very end. Daisaku and Giant Robo finally arrives at the battlefield, Daisaku gives a speech about how he can never forgive all the evil Professor Vogler did and orders Robo to attack Volger Sphere. But when Robo puches it....his arm breaks into the pieces..
 * Great Teacher Onizuka had a veritable WHAM clusterfuck when Urumi posted a website showing video of Miyabi doing personal stuff around her house (she discovers hidden cameras in her bathroom and bedroom). Onizuka races to find Urumi before she kills herself while his students must find a way to shut the website down. Teshigawara convinces the vice-principal to kill Onizuka.
 * Guilty Crown has so many of these that it's easier to count the episodes that don't qualify. Every single episode after episode 12 certainly does qualify. Up until that point, it seemed like just another overall awesome action-anime, but after, it becomes a whole lot Darker and Edgier. To the point where it actually starts having Wham Half-Episodes. The list on the page for Guilty Crown is simply so long that the show seems to try to take this trope Beyond the Impossible! It now has it's own page.
 * Episodes 12 and 13 of Gun X Sword, wherein Van catches up to the Claw, learns an unpleasant fact about Dann, and is forced to kill a close friend. Also revealed: Michael, Wendy's brother, now serves the Claw.
 * Guyver: There are a few, especially as it's a constantly-escalating plot, but the most infamous is when Sho's father becomes an unwitting Enzyme-type Zoanoid who rips the Guyver's brain out, forcing the Guyver to kill him on autopilot.
 * The appearance of Archanfel, the Big Bad of the series, and the leader of the Zoalords. He gets sucked into a black hole, climbs out a couple of chapters later, and turns Guyver I and Guyver III's Mega Smashers back on them, nearly killing them in the process. As this takes the Guyver units out of the picture for a large chunk of time, the Zoanoids use the lack of any real threat to their powers to Take Over the World.
 * Haibane Renmei goes from peaceful Slice of Life to Tear Jerker drama after chapter 6, when Kuu takes the Haibane Flight.
 * Hanaukyo Maid Tai La Verite episode 7 "Unidentified Living Creature". Up to this point in the series the episodes had been light-hearted and comedic. An earthquake reveals a tunnel leading under the mansion. Deep underground the mansions there's a smaller duplicate mansion. Inside the duplicate mansion Chief Security maid Konoe Tsurugi finds on old portrait of a woman who looks exactly like Head Maid Mariel. This leads to a chain of events that result in Mariel falling deathly ill, being kidnapped by Taro's grandfather's minions and having to be rescued, all as part of the grandfather's plans.
 * Heroman episode 4 was one, being the first time Joey and the eponymous robot couldn't do anything but stall, and one of those things was hard to stop, but at the end of the episode, more pop out, episode 5 established that the Skrugg aren't so Genre Blind, and they promptly try to remove the threat with new, human soldiers (who turn out to be the Jerk Jock and his little buddy).
 * Episode 13, Joey comes home from a date, his friends tell him that the government is after him, and he may have to leave, he does.
 * In a very interesting variation, the Saikoroshi-hen arc in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was one megas Wham! Episode for Umineko no Naku Koro ni, because before Rika returns to her original world that was post-Matsuribayashi-hen, she reveals that she is also Frederica Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles. After declaring that she would no longer hold that role, the two entities separated. In a nutshell, every Rika Furude (except the last one that survived) is Bernkastel. And they're bitter, hence we got End of The Golden Witch.
 * Higurashi itself has a few. For example, episode 25  The second season has numerous once we learn the plot, also one episode ends with.
 * Episode 42 of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne has three revelations. The titular character is an Unwitting Pawn all this entire time, her helper Finn is turned evil all this entire time, and Miyako has finally gets the chance to discover the titular character is none other than her best friend, Maron Kusakabe. Ouch.
 * Episode 10 of Kamisama no Memochou ends with.
 * For its 7 first episodes, Kannazuki no Miko is cute, touching, sometimes silly, and full of Fan Service of all kinds, and if you don't sympathize with Chikane by the end of episode 7 you just have no heart (or don't like Schoolgirl Lesbians for some reason). You MIGHT sense episode 8 is going to be a turning point, but you sure as hell don't expect Chikane to respond to Himeko's apparently choosing Souma by raping her, stealing Souma's mecha and becoming the 8th and most dangerous of the enemies. That is, if you're not watching the show for the twist.
 * Kanon episode 21: Akiko gets hit by a car.
 * Chapter 12 of Karakuridouji Ultimo. After introducing a whole bunch of new doji, in the previous chapter, new Evil Doji are introduced, who proceed to murder the Good Doji in brutal and disturbing ways, kill all the good doji members in almost as brutal ways. Then the world blows up killing anyone who had any ounce of life left. Yamato and Ultimo manage to use Time Manipulation to save everyone at the last second, but, the fandom still probably suffers from that chapter.
 * Chapter 21 in a different sense. Anybody who was uneasy about Yandere, stalker, and Depraved Homosexual Rune, proabably had a nervous breakdown when that chapter rolled around. Turns out Rune has no problem resorting to rape to get Yamato. It was only attempted in the end, but still, it's not something that most people wanted in their head.
 * Episode 6 of Kemono no Souja Erin.
 * Episode 15 of Kiddy Grade ends with the destruction of GOTT headquarters, with the following episode introducing Eclair as acting chief of the "new and improved" GOTT... or so one would think.
 * Episode 20 of Kurau Phantom Memory offers a major change in the premise of the series by introducing Rynax with evil plans to take over the world, who want to use Kurau for their purposes.
 * Legend of Galactic Heroes is very liberally sprinkled with this indeed, throughout its long run. This is to the point that every few episodes a Wham would happen. Here are some examples (the following list is NOT exhaustive):
 * There are two well-remembered Whams. The first is.
 * The second one is, of course.
 * There are many other Whams that are hugely significant to the show's various arcs.
 * In Chapter 16 of Letter Bee, Lag encounters his old friend Gauche, and learns that he lost all his memories, joined an anti-government organization as a "marauder," and has a mysterious girl with him who has the same name as the dog that used to be his dingo.
 * Subverted in Lucky Star, with the CMOH scene with the ghost of Kanata (which is a major swerve from the usual upbeat comedic tone of the series). After this scene? Back to the comedic status quo.

M-R

 * Macross Frontier is laced with episodes that count as whams to some degree, almost to the point where you start to expect them later in the series.
 * Episode 13: The Reveal of the Big Bad.
 * Episode 18:.
 * Episode 20:.
 * Episode 21: Ends on a character wham,.
 * Episode 24:.
 * Episode 25: The last episode, oddly..
 * Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha does this surprisingly well if you think it's just a Magical Girl series about nine-year-old girls.
 * In A's Episode 9, the protagonists accidentally encounter the Wolkenritter while visiting Hayate, and prepare to fight them. But then it turns out that the mysterious man who's been helping them is actually two people, and they absorb the Wolkenritter into the book and trick Hayate into thinking that Nanoha and Fate did it, causing the Book to awaken, possess Hayate and set out to kill the heroes.
 * In episodes 16 and 17 of StrikerS, Jail Scaglietti's forces attack Riot Force 6's base and the site of the press conference, abducting Ginga and Vivio (after almost killing the first) and showing the power of the Combat Cyborgs. During this attack, it is revealed that the Nakajima sisters are also combat cyborgs, and that Erio is a clone of a dead child just like Fate.
 * Chapter 7 of Force: the manga starts off as a slighly Darker and Edgier version of StrikerS and then Cypha of Hückebein goes and kills the Ensemble Darkhorse Lady of War Signum and her Unison Device Agito. Well, not quite, they both get better (hopefully), but this was the first time a main cast member was put through a Near-Death Experience in the main story (as opposed to flashbacks).
 * Magical Project S is a hilarious parody of the magical girl genre and never takes it self too seriously. Until episode 19 where it's revealed to Sammy that her best friend, Misao, was Pixy Misa, the evil magical girl that tortured the main cast (Sammy included) with her magical powers, and she was about to harm her parents. Also, that Misao was in fact an Stepford Smiler and Beneath the Mask feels lonely, worthless and jealous of Sammy's happiness. Rather than the brainwashing the audience had been led to expect her evil alter ego was in fact really her all along (albeit her repressed feelings).The only thing Rumiya did was "unleashing" her Hidden Self. Nice job, Ramia.
 * In the last episode of the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth, it turns out the Princess is the Big Bad and not the Damsel in Distress. The Dragon, Zagato, got killed trying to save her from death. The Princess' Super-Powered Evil Side emerges and battles the girls. The Power Trio has to kill her against their will and under her pleas, otherwise Cephiro dies. The Princess dies smiling and sends the three broken kids back home. HOLY S...!
 * Mahou Sensei Negima has one hell of a wham episode when the Ala Alba are on a trip to the magical world. They arrive in the magical world, and it almost seems like a vacation... until the big bad shows up, stabs the hero through the chest, and beats the crap out of everyone. Then he scatters the entire team across the entire magical world, many into wilderness they're ill-equipped to survive. (Oh, and gets them blamed for his attack and hunted as wanted criminals.)
 * Pretty much everything that happens for the first few times Kurt Godel is around. Let's see: reveals the identity of Negi's Missing Mom and the fact that said Missing Mom is widely (but falsely) believed to be responsible for a genocide, claims to be The Man Behind the Man who's responsible for pretty much everything bad that's ever happened to Negi, and triggers Negi's Super-Powered Evil Side, almost getting our beloved Wide-Eyed Idealist to kill him in cold blood.
 * In chapter 311, Chachamaru seemingly blows up Fate. But remember how Fate is the 3rd in the Averruncus series? Numbers 4,5, and 6 crash the party, and they make him look as gentle as Nodoka.
 * Does anyone remember the first anime? The episode where Asuna drops dead counts. And the following episode, where it actually manages to get worse. Much worse. They even dropped the cheerful intro, just in case you hadn't caught on yet.
 * In Chapter 334...Hey guys, ever wondered what happened to ? Well, guess who got ...
 * Chapter 352:
 * The episode of Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto [[Natsu no Sora]] with the reveal of Sora's terminal heart condition totally detonated the lightheartedness of the show.
 * The My-HiME Media Franchise has had several moments:
 * The first "wham" comes at the end of episode 8 of the My-HiME anime, when Akane goes into an Heroic BSOD and has to be put into hiding after watching her boyfriend Kazuya die, showing her (and the viewers) the true cost of protecting the ones you love. This one was immediately followed by a breather Beach Episode, which still managed to sneak in a little plot and Character Development unexpectedly.
 * However, an even bigger "wham" hits at the end of Episode 16. Searrs is supposedly defeated, and everybody's declaring their friendship with one another. Good times to be had, right? Sorry, Your Princess Is in Another Castle! There's still that pesky little matter of eliminating the other HiME to prevent the world from being destroyed. So much for eternal friendship... thanks for nothing, Nagi!
 * Episode 16 of Mai-Otome: The reconstruction of the portion of Mashiro's castle that was destroyed in an earlier episode is finally completed to coincide with Garderobe's graduation/advancement ceremony, and the large curtain is removed to reveal....
 * Mai-HiME manga: The chapter after Nagi's defeat and the subsequent victory parade. In comes the Searrs Institute for Girls to enact a hostile takeover of Fuuka Academy.
 * Mai-Otome manga:.
 * Episode 3 of Martian Successor Nadesico announced to the viewers that this would not be a Super Robot show where nobody really died by having Gai, the Hot-Blooded otaku, get shot and killed without ever seeing it coming.
 * Also, episode 13: the heroes capture an enemy mech and it has a cockpit full of Gekiganger 3 merchandise, thus proving that the "alien invaders" are actually humans.
 * This extends into episode 16, where the history of the "alien invaders" is revealed.
 * Mazinger Z: The final episode was an endless succession of shocking moments altered the status quo irremissibly: it was revealed that Mazinger-Z was  a new and more powerful  and it was revealed  The Wham factor was even bigger in the movie version of that episode, when the Mykene army razed to ruins New York, London, Paris and Moscow in one single stroke before leading towards Tokyo and destroying it as well, and at the end of the movie, the prophet
 * Long before there was an episode where the villains took over a Japanese village in a very Nazi-like manner, including a systematic slaughter of the civilians that they considered "useless" and usage of the women of the village as human shields for their latest Mechanical Beast. That was quite shocking and brutal, too.
 * Mobile Suit Gundam provides multiple examples. In fact, you can consider the first episode of The Original Series a meta-Wham! Episode for the entire anime industry, as it was the first Real Robot anime.
 * Episode 41 of The Original Series ends with the Zeon firing the Solar Ray Kill Sat that destroys a third of the Federation fleet and kills both Zeon leader Degwin Zabi, and Federation Fleet commander General Revil. The real Wham? Earlier in the episode Amuro attacks Char, but Lalah Sune, the woman both men loved, intercepts the attack and dies. The result is that Char now hates Amuro for killing Lalah, while Amuro hates Char for letting Lalah fight. The rivalry ends in Char's Counterattack when both die during the battle.
 * Like anyone didn't see that coming, especially after the previous fates of Icelina, Hamon (Ranba Ral's girlfriend) and Miharu (the Zeon spy that Kai fell for). Doesn't help that Lalah was introduced only a few episodes back, yet held such a big impact on both Amuro and Char in her first appearance; that's practically a bright flashing neon sign that reads "DEAD GIRL WALKING!"
 * G Gundam has episode 14, which reveals that Domon's teacher, mentor and father figure Master Asia is working for the Devil Gundam and brainwashed 4 other pilots. It also introduces the rest of the Shuffle Alliance 4 pilots who are supposed to work together with Domon to protect the Earth. Episode 42 reveals that Doctor Mikamura, Rain's father, betrayed his best friend Domon's father by revealing to the Neo-Japanese government the Ultimate Gundam. It also reveals that the supposed Big Bad is good, and is a brainwashed victim of the actual Big Bad. Also, episode 40 is where we find out that Domon's mysterious Big Brother Mentor is a clone of said implied Big Bad. There's also the fact that Master Asia is, unlike the Devil Gundam's other minions, Not Brainwashed. He joined its mission to rid the Earth of humanity of his own free will.
 * There are two in Gundam SEED: the first is when The Hero is apparently killed by his Forgotten Childhood Friend and Rival, triggering a chain of Heel Face Turns that lasts for the rest of the series. The second is when the Cool Ship's crew is betrayed by their own superiors and deserts, instead opting to Take a Third Option and turn the war into a Melee a Trois.
 * Gundam 00 basically pulled Wham Episodes rapid-fire since the Gundam Thrones came out of the sky  Let's just say fans spent at least two months screaming at their screens when yet another cliffhanger got thrown out there.
 * Zeta Gundam is more of a string of wham episodes than anything else. Most notable are episode 3 where Camille's impulsiveness causes the death of his mother Hilda while trying to save her. Then of course, we have the death of his star crossed girlfriend Four in episode 36 (again, at least partially caused by his recklessness) and episode 50 with one of the bleakest endings in all of anime.
 * Gundam ZZ has several, including the episodes dealing with the Colony Drop on Dublin are especially jarring when longtime Gundam survivor Hayato dies a classic, Tomino-esque pointless death. This means that Karaba's down the drain and the Argama and company are literally the last line of defense against Neo Zeon. The aftermath, including Puru's death, are no less shocking and this "unserious" installment in the franchise doesn't give us a Breather Episode until we get back in space.
 * And to not be less than the other series Gundam AGE has episode 14.
 * Mobile Suit Gundam - the Witch from Mercury's sixth episode opens with confirmation that the main character is not the girl seen in the Prologue bonus episode, implies Aerial is has had that little girl stuffed inside of her, changes the nature of Elan's character and kills off the one that has been seen in the previous episodes, implies Aerial's bits are all sapient, each of them have their own little girl stuffed inside of them, that Aerial's pilot Suletta is on some level aware the bits are individuals, and has the rival disowned and thrown out his father's House  for being a Jobber.
 * In Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, the competition between Muhyo and Goryo concludes with.
 * Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Episode 21. Long story short: He trapped the main character and friends in an alternate dimension, eventually dragging the MC into a creepy platform strikingly reminiscent of the Great Bridge of Hylia. He then goes completely unhinged, exhausting very literally every ounce of his considerable power (which he had just gotten back from a certain thief) on the character he believed to be that thief—the main character. Said character then deflects one of  attacks and uses it to kill his only friend in the entire series, a, leaving an unholy mess of feathers to rain down upon . He goes totally off the deep end and winds up shattering at least 90% of the platform they had been previously standing on without even moving a muscle—it just cracks under their feet. He then falls to his death with a truly cringe-inducing scream... and the normally stoic main character, after being returned to the real world, sheds a single tear. Keep in mind that this is coming from the same series which, a few episodes previous, was doing an Iron Chef parody.
 * The first few episodes of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water were pretty lighthearted. The two main characters were mostly running around, some Team Rocket-like jewel thieves were chasing them, and the titular Nadia was trying to find a way to get to Africa. Then they end up on Gargoyle's island and boy, things get REALLY dark out of nowhere. Most of the people on the island have been killed by Gargoyle's men. The main characters find a little girl whose parents and even dog were just killed, and it's a life or death situation when they all have to hide from them. It's truly scary.
 * Naruto has plenty, which is a given considering it is a Shonen manga. The end of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, the Hunt for Itachi arc and the Pein Invasion Arc are the most well known.
 * The War Arc has the biggest one with chapter 559:
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion has several towards the end.
 * Episode 18: The dummy plug is activated, and the pilot of Unit-03, who is revealed to be Touji, is mortally injured (he dies in the manga).
 * Episode 19: Unit-01 shows undeniable proof that it's alive.
 * Episode 21 is the point where the show gets Darker and Edgier by killing off just after he causes the The Reveal that NERV.
 * Episode 22: In one of the most traumatic and terrifying moments of the franchise, Asuka is Mind Raped into a coma, while revealing a backstory that is even darker and more traumatic than Shinji's or Rei's.
 * Episode 23: Rei dies. But no worry, clones of her are being prepared in the deepest levels of the NERV facility.
 * Episode 24: The replacement for Unit-02 arrives, and befriends Shinji instantly. Too bad he's the final angel.
 * Pop up from time to time in Pandora Hearts, with Retrace 65 being the most infamous for crushing the status quo of the series thus far.
 * After that came some chapters that served as Mind Screwdrivers, then came Retrace 70...
 * Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: Episode 12, in particular the segment ''Panty+Brief", where it is revealed that Brief is, on top of one of the character losing her powers and another returning to Heaven.
 * More like Episode 13. After the Big Bad is defeated, Stocking casually wonders if angel weapons work on angels. She then proceeds to.
 * Despite being based on an earlier work, Pluto has a few:
 * Atom dies in a fight against Pluto.
 * In a flashback Gesicht hounds a human being into a corner and murders him, overcoming his in-built robotic rules through sheer hatred.
 * Gesicht, the main character, is murdered three-quarters of the way through.
 * Brau 1589, the resident psychopath and Hannibal Lecter expy, spares the Thracian president and sacrifices himself to kill the real mastermind on the very last page.
 * The Best Wishes! saga of Pokémon usually upsets the status quo. But the 18th episode has Ash capturing Sewaddle, breaking the format of Ash capturing only 6 Pokemon per Region. Ash, so far, has caught Unova Pokémon.
 * Fans of Pokémon Special were floored in the BW arc, when
 * The anime version of Prétear has a WHAM episode in Episode 10 when Sasame—the sweet, sensitive member of the group—suddenly reveals he's in love with the Dark Magical Girl and pulls a Face Heel Turn.
 * Case 20 of Princess Principal took some clues from earlier episodes about a relationship between two characters and removed all the Les Yay, sending the plot in a completely different direction.
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica has not one, not two, not five, but seven Wham Episodes. Not bad for a Twelve-Episode Anime.
 * Episode 3:
 * Episode 6:
 * Episode 8:
 * Episode 9:
 * Episode 10:
 * Episode 11 sees
 * And in Episode 12, we see
 * Madoka Magica's Spin-Off, Kazumi Magica, also has Wham Episodes. To date:
 * Chapter 4:
 * Chapter 5:.
 * Chapter 8: Fairly minor but
 * Chapters 10-12: Oh boy, these 3 chapters were so full of Whamness that this troper has to put it this way.
 * Chapter 13: Oh boy!
 * The other Spin-Off of Madoka Magica, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, also has this. It starts with that fact that Oriko is not the girl on the first volume's cover.
 * Chapter 2:
 * Chapter 5:
 * Chapter 6:
 * Chapter 7: Okay, everything is going darker and darker until eventually everybody (Homura, Mami, Kyouko and Yuma) defeats the Big Bad and her friend . And then
 * Rideback: Though the show is clear that it's a dark take on things, Rin's friend, Suzuri, is the one keeping the show as light as it is. She's showing off having fun when the government decides that Rin is to be considered a terrorist and needs to be stopped. They decide that the one showing off is the terrorist. It doesn't help that the preview for the next episode focuses on Suzuri acting like herself.
 * Episode 28 of Rurouni Kenshin introduced Saitou Hajime with a bang and officially kicked off one of the series' pivotal arcs. This is more obvious in the manga, which changed from small arcs barely connected to each other to large arcs that follow one another closely; the "Wham" aspect, however, is more pronounced in the anime, as it had just come off a string of lackluster Filler episodes, making the coming episode a real shocker (which was even reflected in the previous episode's more ominous Post Episode Trailer).
 * The anime makes a real attempt to distinguish this episode from previous ones stylistically, as well. It has a much darker, more slow and methodical atmosphere than other episodes, the backdrops change to being either at night or in perpetual cloudy gloom (compare to the sunny skies of previous episodes) and even the music consists mostly of new tracks. They also change the ending theme song. It does a very good job of sending the message that things are about to get very serious.
 * The arc which follows has quite a few Wham episodes of its own, such as Kenshin's sword being broken.
 * The second Wham occurs when the restaurant Kenshin frequents is destroyed, and Enishi announces his Jinchuu on Kenshin, changing the manga from the previous stereotypical shonen battle, to a more personal series.
 * Episode 28 of Rurouni Kenshin introduced Saitou Hajime with a bang and officially kicked off one of the series' pivotal arcs. This is more obvious in the manga, which changed from small arcs barely connected to each other to large arcs that follow one another closely; the "Wham" aspect, however, is more pronounced in the anime, as it had just come off a string of lackluster Filler episodes, making the coming episode a real shocker (which was even reflected in the previous episode's more ominous Post Episode Trailer).
 * The anime makes a real attempt to distinguish this episode from previous ones stylistically, as well. It has a much darker, more slow and methodical atmosphere than other episodes, the backdrops change to being either at night or in perpetual cloudy gloom (compare to the sunny skies of previous episodes) and even the music consists mostly of new tracks. They also change the ending theme song. It does a very good job of sending the message that things are about to get very serious.
 * The arc which follows has quite a few Wham episodes of its own, such as Kenshin's sword being broken.
 * The second Wham occurs when the restaurant Kenshin frequents is destroyed, and Enishi announces his Jinchuu on Kenshin, changing the manga from the previous stereotypical shonen battle, to a more personal series.

S-Z

 * Sailor Moon has various Wham Episodes; for instance, Chibi-Usa's new friend, the Ill Girl with the healing powers? After a couple of episodes, it turns out her dad is the season's Big Bad.
 * Also, in the previous season, when Chibi-Usa is revealed to be Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen's daughter, and by association, later, that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen are going to be King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo.
 * The first Wham! Episode in the series is probably the one where . Before that, it was mostly about the wacky adventures of three clumsy superheroes and their talking cat; this episode marks the first time someone other than a Monster of the Week actually dies (as opposed to being frozen in a crystal), leaving another character heartbroken, and things generally take a darker turn from here.
 * School Rumble had Eri then Yakumo introduced as potential love interests for Harima. The manga showed Karasuma admitting he really is in love with Tenma.
 * In Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, episode 16 is what shocks the viewer given that this series is a light hearted shonen ai comedy with some drama. The ending of the episode leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
 * To sum up the episode, Chiaki thinks that Hatori is cheating on him with his ex-girlfriend in high school and that he deliberately skipped out on their date to see a movie (which was staying in theaters for one last day) in order to see her. Pissed off and jealous, he goes to Yanase's house to vent. The typical drama of this series.  which leaves a bad aftertaste considering the fact that the episode ends with Hatori explaining why he was with his ex girlfriend in the first place and Chiaki forgetting what happened. A what the hell moment with Chiaki acting like nothing happened? Sure. A Karma Houdini for Hatori in this episode? Definitely. Yanase is just that unlucky.
 * Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen had Wham Ending..
 * Episode 34 of Shoujo Kakumei Utena, in which two meta characters interact with the main cast for the first time in the entire series, and in doing so casually reveal the entire plot and (almost) all of its secrets. Suddenly, everything that's happened up til then makes sense, and it's horrifying.
 * Not to mention episode 33, which features Utena having sex with Akio. In a clip show.
 * And then in episode 38, Anthy . So much for that pathologically submissive young girl you saw in episode 1.
 * You're all forgetting the original WHAM episode - episode 23, wherein we learn huge chunks of Mikage's memories are fake.
 * Episode 8 of Simoun. And 14. And 16. And... oh, heck, pretty much the entire second half of the series.
 * Sket Dance, 'Switch Off'.
 * Slayers is usually free of these, being more comedy-oriented. One notable exception occurs towards the end of Slayers Next, when Gaav survives Lina's Ragna Blade, then Fibrizo reveals himself and effortlessly kills Gaav. It's striking because up to this point Gaav had been clearly presented as the antagonist and Fibrizo does not appear in the opening credits (OK, he does, but you only realize this after The Reveal is pulled off). The series' tone shifts entirely after this episode as the humor is toned down and characterization kicks into full speed.
 * Episode 10 of Sola is this, when Matsuri reveals to Yorito that he's not a human, but rather a golem made of paper that Aono had made with her yaka powers and implanted with the memories of her dead brother, Yorito.
 * People were wondering if war would ever be shown in So Ra No Wo To, being a military show. It is, in Episode 7, and changes the view on one of the characters completely.
 * Soukou no Strain is another series where the first wham comes at the end of the first episode: Characters are introduced, and even hints of a romance is set up... Then the brother of our main character shows up and kills everyone.
 * Soul Eater: The episode where the  You know that this is a wham episode too, because after this arc ends and the new arc begins, you start to see less and less comedic fillers and more exhausting and BRUTAL battles in the series.
 * Chapter 87.
 * 86 and 87 are dual wham episodes. In 86,
 * Stellvia of the Universe where in episode 11,, and episode 16,
 * The attack of the Bodolzaa fleet—and its outcome—in Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Given how every other television show went during its time, NOBODY expected 90% of the Earth's surface to be reduced to ash.
 * In Suzumiya Haruhi, despite brief references to the supernatural, Haruhi appears to be an excessively Genre Savvy Cloudcuckoolander who can't tell fantasy from reality... then comes episode five (chronologically third): Yuki, the girl who had just been sitting there reading when the club started, is an alien drawn to the planet by a cosmic disturbance three years before. Mikuru, whom Haruhi grabbed at random because she thought she was cute, is a time traveller there to understand the time travel threshold, three years before. Itsuki, who was inducted due to Haruhi's obsession with the idea of a mysterious New Transfer Student, turns out to be from a group of espers who gained their powers in a cataclysm three years before. What are the odds? High, once you learn that Haruhi herself is a godlike being, unwittingly responsible for all three phenomena. And there are nine episodes to go.
 * Technically the wham episode chronologically would have been Episode 4 (Broadcast Order Episode 10), where the Class President traps Kyon in an artificial world and tries her best to kill him to see what Suzumiya will do, only to be stopped by the aforementioned Nagato Yuki, wielding reality-overwrite powers. And then he meets Mikuru's future self. This is around the point where Kyon realizes he has to believe all these weird outlandish stories.
 * Tenchi Muyo! gets one in OAV 3, Episode 6. After spending the past five episodes setting off conflicts and sitting back to watch, Zetto decides to take direct action against Tenchi, by BLOWING UP HALF OF EARTH. And I don't just mean half the surface, I mean all the way down to the core and back out the other side. And just to cap it off, after giving Tenchi a cheery "Yo", he waves his hand and vapourises most of the moon. This later reveals a slightly subverted Wham when Tenchi manifests himself as a god.
 * Before this, there was two in OAV 2. In episode 1, we learn about Washu's past and that the form we see her in isn't her true form. And episode 2, we find out Sasami's past.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Episode 8. So you thought this series was just a fun, episodic romp, mmm? Well, here, the Plot Armor comes off, manly tears are shed, and Heroic BSOD ensues. From here on out, the show takes itself much more seriously, and so does the audience.
 * Not to mention that the fuel for the world and everything our heroes have been fighting for may eventually, should it continue to grow, kill absolutely everything in existence. And you thought the Anti-Spirals were just sociopaths.
 * The 10th of Tiger and Bunny ends with the long-awaited arrival of . Episode 10 is then entirely dwarfed by the events of episode 12, where . The fandom collectively suffered a massive nervous breakdown as soon as the credits rolled.
 * And now there's episode 16, which reveals that.
 * Trigun has five.
 * Episode 12 contains the series' now iconic bout of Cerebus Syndrome.
 * Episode 17: We get to see first hand how Vash blew up July city.
 * Episode 18: Whole-Episode Flashback revealing Vash's history and nature.
 * Episode 23: The death of.
 * Episode 24: Legato forces Vash to.
 * Every episode from 20 to 24 has an increasing magnitude of Wham.
 * The manga also has one at the end of the original's run, where Vash meets up with Knives. The results are similar to that of episode 17 of the anime.
 * Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle exemplifies this in Acid Tokyo when we find out that . Then gets Yuuko to turn  so he can survive, and in return he is the only person  (Ho Yay anyone?) After that we find out that, and Buttchin is trying to keep her alive?
 * Pretty much everything during and after the country of Recort. Kurogane's past, Acid Tokyo, Infinity and Fai's past are all very VERY much WHAM. Especially Fai. Go on and read his past, then reread the manga. That smile just doesn't seem the same anymore.
 * 20th Century Boys uses this in full force when is murdered. Halfway through the series. As an extra jab they  right after.
 * Urasawa had already done it once before, at the end of volume 5 when we learn that Kenji completely failed and the Big Bad controls Japan. He does it again at the end of volume 15 when we learn they now controls the whole world and the calendar now dates from his resurrection. Yeah, that's right: the Big Bad replaces Jesus!
 * That part has another piece of wham immediately afterwards: namely that the Big Good is, after 15 years (in story) and 10 volumes, most definitely not dead.
 * In a way, episode 9 of Wandering Son. Takatsuki goes to school . Later in the episode Doi meets Yuki and we learn she's a transitioned transsexual. At the end of the episode, . The manga has its fair share of Wham Chapters; chapter 31, chapter 32, chapter 54, chapter 63, chapter 66, and chapter 99 being the most prominent.
 * The anime of Welcome to The NHK has this for episode 13. Sato shows one of the first major signs of overcoming his Hikikomori disorder when his senpai Hitomi (who he's very attracted to) seems to invite him on a vacation with her, but finds out that she has inadvertently taken him with her to a group suicide party AND has a boyfriend who proposes to her to convince her not to kill herself. This leads to him actually attempting suicide himself, since he was using her as motivation to change. In the chaos that follows, Misaki desperately attempts to save him, which leads to her showing the first real sign of her own issues. By the end of the episode the Misaki and Sato are so emotionally battered that they burst out in combined wails that carry on to the end title card.
 * Witch Hunter Robin: Episode 12.
 * The World God Only Knows Chapter 116 has two Whams in quick succession, following an earlier Reveal:.
 * Episode 12 of the X 1999 anime: Kamui chooses to be a Dragon of Heaven, making Fuuma become a Dragon of Earth, and switch personality. After that, Fuuma throws Kamui into a wall, steals his sword, pins him to a wall with shards of glass, piercing his hand with the sword, licks his neck, and proceeds to crucify his own sister and kill her.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! has a tradition for having their protagonists almost never lose a duel, so almost any episode where they do lose counts as this. One of the more notable examples is Yugi losing in Season 4 to Rafael. Unlike most of the villains and most of Yugi's past defeats, Rafael didn't have to cheat to beat him, he won fair and square. Sure, he forced Yami Yugi to play an evil card, but he did it by backing him into a corner so he had no choice but to use it, then took a pummelling and ultimately used Yami Yugi's more brutal and reckless personality against him to win. Cue Yugi losing his soul, Yami Yugi angsting, and and the season suddenly taking on a darker tone.
 * There's also episode 52... in the Japanese version. The dub gave away the big twist in the second episode (and for some reason the characters are all still surprised come episode 52).
 * After two rather light-hearted seasons that got no more serious than the previous show, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX suddenly pulled season three on us, which got as dramatic as the end of the second season about ten episodes in. The really dramatic turning point, though, is the duel again Professor Satou where Judai starts to crack, we see a crazy guy with petty motives that aren't, quite. The first duel where Judai really isn't enjoying himself, and at the end Satou dies by falling off the bridge. And it only goes downhill from there.
 * Season 2 wasn't all light-hearted. Episode 65 comes to mind. Ryo, mentally and emotionally falling apart because of his inability to cope with failure, becoming trapped in an Underground arena, and horribly tortured into a truly disturbing Freak-Out and Face Heel Turn. His Kick the Dog in Episode 95 might count too.
 * Episode 107 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. First, Bruno jumps off a cliff then becomes Dark Glass. He proceeds to duel Placido while Yusei gets magical cards from a giant obelisk that he teleported to. He proceeds to meet what may be God, and then goes back and takes over in Dark Glass's place. Then, Placido fuses with his motorcycle.
 * Episode 107 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. First, Bruno jumps off a cliff then becomes Dark Glass. He proceeds to duel Placido while Yusei gets magical cards from a giant obelisk that he teleported to. He proceeds to meet what may be God, and then goes back and takes over in Dark Glass's place. Then, Placido fuses with his motorcycle.