Reflective Eyes



A character's eyes reflecting what they see. A useful visual effect because it allows the audience to see the character's reaction at the same time as they see the action happening. It's a nifty effect that has not passed the notice of writers and has been used by them in various ways.

May also be used with Cool Shades, Scary Shiny Glasses, lenses, and other forms of eye coverings.

Anime and Manga

 * In the X 1999 anime series, we see the reflection of
 * In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, we get to see the scene that triggers Subaru's Unstoppable Rage through the reflections of her eyes.
 * The second season also gives us a nice view of Nanoha's Divine Buster Extension from the extreme close-up of a very shocked Vita's eye.
 * In Ayashi no Ceres, during the time when Aya and Tooya were living together, Tooya is reflected in Aya's eyes when she talks about her love for him.
 * In Princess Tutu, at one point Fakir pushes Mytho's face up into a mirror, angrily demanding him to look at himself. The camera then cuts to a shot of Mytho's own face reflected in his eyes.
 * The creators of Princess Tutu really like this effect. We also see Tutu reflected in Mytho's eyes after he kisses her hand and in the trailer for the series, Fakir's face is reflected in Duck's eyes while they are dancing together.
 * The Hanged Man in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure takes advantage of this when fighting Polnareff and Kakyoin. His Stand can hide in any reflective surface - including the human cornea. There are a number of moments during the fight where his opponents look someone in the eye and see the Hanged Man appear in front of their reflection.
 * In The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, there have been multiple times in which Kyon is reflected in Yuki's beautiful eyes, in close-ups. Example 1 and 2.
 * In Full Metal Panic!, there have been numerous times where Sousuke's eyes have reflected what he saw. One particular instance was when Sousuke was fighting Gauron for the first time inside the Arbalest, and Al started utilizing the Lambda Driver, and [[media:s01e07x133.jpg|Sousuke's eyes were shown to reflect what's on the screen]].
 * A tiny computer screen image is reflected in Albert's eyes in episode 16 of Gankutsuou.
 * The climax of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Maihitoyo includes a scene where a character actually sees his own reflection in the main heroine's eyes (shown to the audience from his point of view). He proceeds to dislike the reflection.

Comic Books

 * Used by Alan Davis in the first issue of Excalibur, way-back-when. He had Rachel (one of the Phoenixes) staring into a campfire, and in her eyes you can see the Flaming Phoenix reflected. A commentary by Claremont mentioned that he didn't write that into the script, it was just something Alan Davis (the artist) tossed in that Claremont loved.
 * The subject of many comic covers
 * One early issue of Elf Quest shows Cutter and Leetah reflected in Rayek's eyes, expressing his blazing jealousy.

Film - Live Action

 * Used in Spider-Man, twice: Mary Jane in one eye, the tram car in another, and as a pumpkin bomb is thrown at Spider-Man - but Peter's eye is shown instead of Spidey's lens-eye.
 * One of the posters for Spider-Man 2 shows Doctor Octopus in the reflection of Spider-Man's eyes.
 * This trope is also used in the film itself. At one point we see in Doc Ock's wife's eyes shards of glass flying towards her reflected in her eyes--right before they tear through her and she falls dead to the ground.
 * And again a short while later, when the surgeon about to cut off the mechanical limbs sees the tentacle refleced in the other surgeon's protective goggles.
 * In Goldfinger, James Bond dodges an attack when he sees his attacker reflected in a woman's eyes.
 * Bond uses the attacker reflected in girl's eye trick again in Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me.
 * And parodied in Austin Powers.
 * In In Like Flint, Flint hypnotizes Lloyd Cramden with a watch that blinks in a circular pattern. The dots appear on Cramden's eyes as he's looking at it.
 * In the final fight scene of Drunken Master, Jackie Chan's eyes was able to keep up with the speed of the fast fists of his opponents as shown from the eyes' reflection.
 * In The Matrix, when Morpheus is giving Neo the Red Pill, Blue Pill choice, there's a shot where the lenses of his Cool Shades each reflect one of the two pills, as well as Neo looking at them.
 * Bit of trivia: the filmmakers didn't expect to have to digitally add the reflection in; when they did, they had to have someone do a storyboard for it (otherwise it wouldn't be covered by their budget, due to regulations).
 * Danny Boyle seems to like this trope; there's reflective eyes in Sunshine and in Slumdog Millionaire when the Jamal and Salim discover Latika in the hotel.
 * Strangers on a Train has a variation of this. As Bruno begins strangling Guy's wife Miriam, her glasses fall from her face and onto the ground; we then get a closeup of one of the lenses, in which the completion of the murder is reflected.

Film - Animated

 * This is actually a plot point in The Last Unicorn (as well as the original book) and the basis of one of the best soliloquies in animation. Unlike normal people, Lady Amalthea's eyes do not reflect light; instead they show a forest view. The author/screenwriter uses this to play on the idea that regular people often simply reflect others rather than dealing with them as people. As Amalthea becomes more human and forgets herself, her eyes begin to show reflection.
 * Happens too many times in We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
 * In Shane Acker's 9|Nine,.
 * In The Secret of NIMH, the Great Owl's huge eyes reflect Mrs. Brisby as he leans to her; a strong effect, as his eyes are almost as large as her entire body.
 * The poster for Dinosaur shows a prehistoric landscape being reflected onto a reptilian eye.

Literature

 * According to the book Red Dragon, yes, this is somebody's sexual fetish. Which is why he has to collect all those shards of broken mirror.
 * In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, the Watch finds a vital clue when the old myth about your last sight being burned into your eye turns out to be true.
 * Most of the Chronicles of the Last Dragon books have reflective dragon eyes on the covers, generally reflecting something plot significant. Fire Star has...well, a Fire Star. Dark Fire has a Darkling being reflected. Fire World has a Fire Bird being seen.

Live Action TV

 * In Twin Peaks, Agent Cooper sees the reflection of a motorcycle in Laura Palmer's eye while watching a video of her dancing with her friend.
 * CSI used this one to establish the setting for a work of... amateur photography. (After much use of the Enhance Button, a port hole can be seen in the subject's eye, establishing the shot as having been taken on a boat.)
 * The first episode of Power Rangers RPM uses this to help establish Col. Truman's Colonel Badass credentials as distant explosions reflect off his Cool Shades while he stoically leads his men in the front lines.
 * Dexter: When Lumen watches the DVD of her own rape/torture, this is used in a mercifully discreet way.
 * In the Doctor Who episode: "The Beast Below", Amy's eyes reflect the information she is seeing in the Voting Stall.

Video Games

 * The box cover on Resident Evil: Code Veronica featured advancing Zombies reflected in Claire's eyes.
 * In the secret ending to Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, when Ven is caught at the helmet by Master Xenahort and his helmet is getting crushed open, he catches a glimpse of Aqua staring at him in horror, her face briefly reflected in Ven's eyes before Xenahort freezes Ven and tosses him aside.
 * Used in the box cover of the Command & Conquer, with a lone soldier watching a battle that we see through the reflections of his goggles.

Web Comics / Web Originals

 * This strip of Girl Genius gives us a nice reflection of the frightened Agatha from Von Pinn's monocle.
 * This review of Master of Magic starts off with a eye reflecting scenes from the game and then blinking them away. Reopening to reveal some sort of demon.
 * The eye with the demon silhouette is from the box cover actually.

Western Animation

 * In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Azula's eyes reflect the big wham of the second season finale.
 * The Spectacular Spider-Man "Final Curtain" The Unmasked Green Goblin is reflected in Harry's eyes.
 * In the Real Adventures of Jonny Quest episode "Ndovu's Last Journey," Jonny's image is reflected in Ndovu the elephant's eyes. This signifies that there's a bond between them and convinces Jonny to help the elephant.
 * ''Jonny Quest' episode "Pirates from Below". Hadji hypnotizes a guard by using the glints from his ruby. As he's doing so the glints are reflected in the guard's eyes.
 * Used in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode "Party of One" as part of Pinkie Pie's episode long Sanity Slippage. [[media:PinkiePieDeathGlare_1210.jpg|Observe.]]
 * Takua's eyes in Bionicle: Mask of Light had this, as . The directors on the commentary talked about how tricky this shot was to get right -- they wanted to use tears instead of a reflection at first, but were unsure whether the characters could produce them.

Real Life

 * There is an "Amazing but true" book that mentions a young boy who claimed to have psychic powers by getting people to read a book in front of him - he would then tell them what page of the book they had randomly turned to. The truth was that his eyesight was so precise that he could read the reflections off the corneas of his subject.
 * A picture of Dick Cheney grinning at something reflected in his sunglasses popped up on the Internet. Speculation on the object's identity abounded, with some suggesting it was a naked woman and others claiming it was an illegal immigrant being abused. Cheney's people released a larger, clearer picture, revealing that it was in fact his own hand, holding a fishing pole.