Breathe on the Fan

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
They're actually from the Moon.


Since rotary fans essentially "chop up" air as part of its function, speaking or breathing into a fan will cause a distortion effect on the voice.

Even if it's a recent production, anime and manga use the wire-cage-and-clear-blue-blade fans that haven't been sold in the US since the 1990s. They're increasingly rare in Japan, too, but since most manga authors grew up in the '90s or earlier, they're still present in their works.

Not to be confused with fans getting breathed on.

Examples of Breathe on the Fan include:

Anime and Manga

  • Lucky Star: Konata and Tsukasa do it. Kagami calls them out on it, but Kagami's father mentions that she does the same.
    • In the manga, the question of whether or not Kagami does it never comes up; she says Tsukasa was doing it earlier, and that's the end of that.
  • Also happens in Hidamari Sketch, where Yuno and Miyako catch Sae talking into the fan, pretending to be an alien.
  • Azumanga Daioh: Osaka does this while riding with Nyamo to Chiyo-chan's summer home.
  • Pictured at right, Kaguya Houraisan in the official Touhou Project Yonkoma strip Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth.
  • Ritsu in Season 2 episode 11 of K-On!.
  • Komori in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei on explaining what she would do on days of privation.
  • Nozomi does it in Mayoi Neko Overrun. "Nya-a-a-a-a-a-a-a..."
  • Yukito does this in an early episode of AIR.
  • Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo once got second place in a contest for doing this.
  • A scene in Nichijou shows Yuuko trying not to do this, as the fan in front of her has the words "no shouting" taped on it.
  • THE iDOLM@STER: Hibiki does this once before the Beach Episode.
  • Thermae Romae: After being transported to modern-day Japan, Lucius finds himself inexplicably compelled to do this.

Film

Live Action TV

  • Everybody Hates Chris: Chris' father is so cheap that he even complains about how much electricity this stupid fan game uses.
  • MythBusters showed a similar effect during the episode "Brown Note" when Adam stood in front of low-frequency speakers. Adam being Adam, he naturally took advantage.

Web Original

Real Life

  • Come on. You know you've done this.