The Thing That Goes Doink



"Gotta love the rhythmic tapping these babies put out. The weight of the water inside makes 'em move like a see-saw. Mankind sure is incredible, huh? They made this thing with the sole purpose of making soothing sounds."

- Issun, Okami

To establish that a Big Fancy House belongs to a family that is both traditionally Japanese and exceedingly wealthy, one can show many aspects of the home that seem extravagant. There's the big yard, the high fence, the sheer size of it. But for something that just screams "Rich Japanese Family" you need The Thing That Goes Doink.

This is a traditional water feature that is found in the yards of Japanese homes, properly called a shishi-odoshi or "deer scare"/"deer-chaser". It has a bamboo cup on a fulcrum that slowly fills with falling water. When it fills, it tips over and empties; when it flips back upright, its hollow back end hits a stone underneath it and makes a distinctive hollow-log "doink" sound. With a simple two-second shot of this device doing its thing, it is established without a doubt that this Big Fancy House is a place of wealth and tradition. Of course, if the doinker happens to be in a Western home, you can bet that they're a New Age Retro Hippie who recently converted to Zen Buddhism and insists that the doinker "balances the home's chi" or whatever.

Don't confuse the sound of The Thing That Goes Doink with that of the tsuzumi, a drumlike instrument used in Kabuki theatre which can be heard in a number of anime. The two sound very alike, but the shishi-odoshi is usually shown when it makes its noise.

The Thing That Goes Doink is often used in the Aspect Montage.

In addition to indicating a moneyed and traditional household, The Thing That Goes Doink is sometimes used to signal an imminent Hot Springs Episode.

Not to be confused with the thing that goes parp,The Thing That Goes Donk-Donk, the thing from another world, the thing which, if it doinks you, you die, the thing that goes doink-doink, the scientific progress that goes boink, the GUY who says boink, the thing that goes ding when there's stuff, the machine that goes ping, the button that goes ting, the thing-we-don't-know-what-it-does, the Thing that lives in a box, the thing your aunt gave that you don't know what it is, The Thing that goes "It's clobberin' time!", Thing 1 and Thing 2 or the clown that's named Doink.

Anime and Manga

 * Black Butler In the first episode, when they enter the Japanese garden.
 * This is justified as the rock garden was a quick fix to replace the ruined garden from before.
 * When Alto from Macross Frontier visits his home for the first time in a while, a thing that goes doink is heard in the background.
 * It's actually shown in a later episode, confirming that indeed that noise was the thing that goes doink.
 * Suruga from Bakemonogatari owns one at her home.
 * The Mendou family from Urusei Yatsura are quite possibly the richest people in the world; and they prove this by having multiple shishi-odoshi around various parts of their town-sized palace-and-villa-filled fortress.
 * When Kuruma is training Ataru in episode 9, a drunk Tengu lies passed out underneath a Thing That Goes Doink, getting repeatedly doinked in the head by it.
 * Tenchi Muyo!: Outside the shrine.
 * Sakura's family estate in Sendai, in Sakura Taisen. During the first episode of the first OVA series, the sound of the shishi-odoshi is used to punctuate the passing of time as the young Sakura struggles to learn the secrets of her family's style of kendo.
 * Kekkaishi has several. Both Tokine's and Yoshimori's houses have one, as does Urakai headquarters.
 * Honoka's home in Futari wa Pretty Cure.
 * Best Student Council, unusually, has one in the school's women's bathing room. Of course, said school is very large and very rich.
 * Miki's house in Tenshi na Konamaiki.
 * In the second episode of Saber Marionette J To X one is shown outside a meeting at which Otaru and several townspeople debate whether to hold an upcoming festival in the traditional fashion or add new elements from other countries.
 * When the members of the Six Houses of Kyoto meet in Code Geass, one is visible nearby.
 * One is prominently displayed in the courtyard of the Aoiya in Rurouni Kenshin.
 * There is one in the third episode of Ouran High School Host Club.
 * And at the Haninozuka residence in episode 18. Twice.
 * Soun has one in Ranma 1/2. It's not used to show opulence, but more that Soun has a rather traditional house/dojo set up. It was sometimes used to show time had passed. The sight gag of it 'doinking' being used to show time had passed was used in the anime, even when the action was at the Tendos. The Kuno mansion has at least one of them, if not several. Sasuke Sarugakure has to drink from them. The Daimonji school of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony also has one in the anime.
 * In episode 34 of GetBackers the owner of a hugh diamond connection has his estate using electrified barbed wire, security cameras, and "Doink".
 * In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Captain Lindy has one... on a spaceship.
 * Both Tezuka and Echizen's homes in Prince of Tennis have them.
 * in Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi this is at Ryōzanpaku and often is a focal point or the only thing heard.
 * There's one on a desert planet in Birth.
 * Naruto. Every episode involving a flashback from Sasuke, or the Hyuga household.
 * In "Shippuden", there's one at the Nara household, as well.
 * Not to mention almost half of the filler stories.
 * Bleach. Every episode involving the Kuchiki household.
 * Touya Akira's large, traditional house in Hikaru no Go, usually heard (and sometimes seen) when Touya's large, traditional father is given screentime. The sound of water pouring from the thing, followed by the doink, nicely resembles the rustle of a hand in a bowl of Go stones, followed by the 'pok' of a stone hitting the board.
 * One can be found in the hot springs at the Hinata Inn in Love Hina.
 * Project A-ko has one of these inside the cabin of the "Max 5000" mecha. (It's only shown very briefly, though.)
 * Hikaru Shidou's house has one.
 * Jyabura's garden has one in One Piece.
 * Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: there's one on the grounds of the Sonozaki estate.
 * Maison Ikkoku: The very aristocratic family of Kujo Asuna have one, naturally.
 * Detective Conan: Whenever Kogoro, Ran, and Conan visit the house of a rich client, this is the first thing you see.
 * One of these show up in at least one of the later episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho at Genkai's house-temple-thing. It's probably to show wealth, as her property is revealed in the last episode to be immense.
 * Yomi also has one of those at the house where he meets with Yusuke.
 * Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu! Shows one quite prominently at the Yakuza home of Mikihara.
 * Nozomu Itoshiki of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei turns out to be from a traditional and wealthy family, complete with their own doinker.
 * Used immediately to show the wealth of the Shishidou household in Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo. And we do mean "immediately" - it's the very first shot in the anime.
 * In Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure, Jotaro Kujo and his mother, Holly, have one of these in their house. It's used a couple of times near the beginning, then never seen again.
 * The powerful Kannagi family in Kaze no Stigma have one.
 * There's one in Shugo Chara when Amu goes to Tadase's house.
 * There's one in the second OVA outside of Kikuchi's house in Haru wo Daiteita.
 * In Earth Maiden Arjuna, one proves rather annoying as you keep hearing the doink over a conversation.
 * The Takagi estate in Highschool of the Dead has one.
 * Fruits Basket has the doinky doink thing in the Souma family complex, complete with pretty gardens and paper screen doors. A little bit ironic, considering the whole place reeks of Dysfunction Junction.
 * One exists by the Tennouz mansion in Speed Grapher.
 * Excalibur seems to have one in "Soul Eater" at one point. Then again, he isn't the most reliable of sources.
 * In episode 13 of Gintama, The Thing That Goes Doink shows up around Hamiko's mansion.

Fanfiction

 * There's one at the restaurant where Tsuruya and her father invite Kyon's family for a formal dinner in chapter 28 of Kyon: Big Damn Hero.

Film

 * It also makes an appearance in the snowy courtyard of the House of Blue Leaves, the site of the Bride's final duel with O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Volume 1.

Live Action TV

 * Mozzie's safehouse-cum-Zen Garden in White Collar is complete with a Thing That Goes Doink (it's in a loft with a great view of Manhattan). It won't be operational for some time, since circumstances required Mozzie bring Peter and another FBI Agent to the safehouse.

Video Games

 * The Hazuki residence in Shenmue.
 * A modest-sized one can be found and rolled up in the Katamari Damacy game.
 * There is one in the Bug castle in Pokémon Conquest.And it causes balls to fall on the Zen garden, which you can throw at the enemies to damage them.
 * When Baiken uses her Instant Kill in the Guilty Gear video game series, the scene abruptly changes to show her and her opponent's silhouettes through the wall of a traditional-style house, with The Thing That Goes Doink in the near foreground. When it goes doink, the opponent dies.
 * Things that go doink are used as levers and platforms to solve puzzles at various times in Okami, to make use of the Water Spout power. In the English version (at least), Issun doesn't know what to call them, either. He clearly likes them though, as evidenced by the page quote.
 * He refers to them as "plonks" at multiple points.
 * The catch?
 * Genuinely enormous ones also appear in several other areas of the game, serving as switches to open doors. (Though in their case, it's more of a BOOM than a doink.)
 * In Animal Crossing, you can get a "deer scare" as a piece of furniture. It makes the little doink sound, as is seen in a few different layouts in the residents' houses. Goes with the stone lanterns and mossy rocks of the "Zen Garden" ensemble.
 * Parodius has a giant one of these as an obstacle... as befitting Parodius, it uses penguins instead of water.
 * In Goemon's Great Adventure for the N64, there was one area (Frog Mountain) that used a giant one of these as the fork in the road (one route behind it, one route above it doubling back) -- however, you wouldn't know it unless you bothered to go all the way to the end of the giant thing, which conveniently enough went off-screen.
 * The Play Station 2 music/rhythm game Unison has its lead female characters dancing to a traditional Japanese enka song called "Yo Sa Ku". The establishing shot of the performance hall shows one of these underneath a statue of an Eastern dragon.
 * There is one (non-functional, sadly) attached to the 'Serenity Squared' fountain that comes in The Sims 2: Bon Voyage.
 * Kingdom of Loathing mentions a Thing in a fight with Yakisoba, one of the monsters in the Pastamancer's quest to kill their Nemesis.
 * Xenosaga Episode 2 has one of these at the Uzuki residence on Second Miltia; it even moves and goes doink.
 * The Nancy Drew game Shadow At The Water's Edge features this as part of the ryokan's garden. An important clue is hidden in one of the bamboo shoots.

Real Life

 * An automated thing that goes *doink* can be found in the courtyard of The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland that tells when the next "show" will be.
 * A building with a few of these is visible from OMSI. They don't go "doink", though, as they're suspended up at the top of the wall.
 * No zen garden is complete without one. If you ever hire one of those feng shui "consultants", they'll most likely tell you that you need one of these and charge you hundreds of dollars for it.
 * These are also useful as automated nut-grinders if set up with correctly-shaped stones and a waterfall for continuous power.