Combat Commentator: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:combatcommentators 1567.png|link=JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|frame|Oftentimes you'll have
{{quote|'''Riza:''' Since you'll be the only one not participating in the battle, you have to give an excruciatingly detailed play-by-play of what's going on, as if you were describing it to a bunch of idiots.
'''Winry:''' You've got to be kidding.
A staple of [[Shonen]] series where active conflict between characters plays a major role, the combat commentator is the character who's seen most of the moves before and is [[Mr. Exposition|kind enough to provide a running commentary for the less-seasoned characters (and, by extension, the audience) as to who has just done what, and why they've done it]]. Sometimes the character takes the role of an actual commentator or sports announcer, complete with microphone.
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{{examples}}
==
* Common in ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', along with [[Exposition Diagram]]s to help the readers understand the complex strategies employed by the heroes.
* ''[[Initial D]]'' went through several commentators—Nakazato Takeshi covered most of season one and two, along with Takahashi Ryousuke. Ryousuke continues commentary through Fourth Stage, though Ninomiya Daisuke and "Smiley" Sakai are added to the commentator roster after their defeat by Project D.
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'':
** This role first fell to ''Yamucha,'' who was stalking the heroes so that he could steal the Dragonballs, and had heard of just about everyone they ran into. It's later picked up by Roshi, then Kami, then Piccolo or Vegeta, who explain to their unknowing peers (and the audience) how amazing it is that Goku can manipulate his energy in whatever way it does. In the very last parts of the Buu arc and GT, it's the old [[Physical God|Kaioshin]] doing this.
** There is also the [[Tournament Arc|Tenkaichi Budoukai]] [[No Name Given|announcer]], who is friends with most of main characters. He's just a normal guy, but is knowledgeable enough to know that [[Fake Ultimate Hero|Mr. Satan]] is just a fraud.
* Several characters offer commentary on Go matches in ''[[Hikaru no Go]]''.
* Kage Houshi often commentates for fights in ''[[Flame of Recca]],'' to the point where, during the arena arc, she is invited to be a guest commentator at the play-by-play table. This is particularly egarious because Recca's team was missing a member and they had to recruit a former villain for the role. Since Kage Houshi is
* ''[[Ranma ½]]'':
** Nabiki Tendo occasionally offers play-by-play ''and'' color commentary on Ranma's fights.
** Pretty much every bystander, named or not, performs this role during battles, especially when the combatants are out of reach. Even Ranma himself stood back and delivered commentary during the first half of the [[A God Am I|Asura]]/[[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Pantyhose Tarou]] aerial battle.
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* ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' specializes in utilizing the Combat Commentator to a ridiculous degree. Not only is every fight narrated by every character involved, several spectators, and news reporters, but sometimes the circumstances ''leading up to'' a fight are explained as well. In one instance, mentor Master Asia spends nearly 20 minutes explaining ''what'' is happening, ''who'' is involved, ''where'' the big showdown will take place, ''how'' he will trounce the hero, ''when'' the hero will fall for the trap, and ''why'' he is doing so. This is all supplemented by a short primer on Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'' and how it applies to the finer points of giant robot camouflage.
** And the way Master Asia does it cements him as a total [[Badass]] of a [[Genius Bruiser]].
* Meta Knight of ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!|Kirby of the Stars/Kirby Right Back At Ya]]''. Seems like every time Kirby absorbs a new enemy, the masked
{{quote|'''Meta Knight:''' "It is (insert random ability here) Kirby!"
'''Random person, usually Fumu/Tiff:''' [[Parrot Exposition|"(insert random ability here) Kirby?"]] }}
* Media coverage for the [[Tournament Arc|Dark Tournament]] in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''
** When it comes to actually explaining the logic and history behind certain tactics, Yusuke usually turns to Genkai or Kurama. Hiei, Koenma and either Kuwabara sibling can fill in a pinch for other characters. The current [[Big Bad]] also tends to know his stuff, since he's supposed to be a foil and contrast to Yusuke.
** On occasion, the show itself will stop and explain a tactic; as an example the first time Hiei used Dragon of the Darkness Flame, the screen paused with the dragon forming around his arm, printed "Dragon of the Darkness Flame" across the bottom, and a narrator explained how dangerous it was and how hard it was to control it.
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* Whichever characters aren't dueling in both ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' series become de facto commentators. This has the odd effect, in the original series, of making some of the nonduelists look like they know more about the game than some of the duelists. (In ''GX'', ''everyone'' is a duelist, so it's not as big of a problem.)
** In ''5D's'', there's a twist. Godwin, Jeager, and Mikage, who literally have the entire city bugged, will [[Surveillance as the Plot Demands|pull up duels on a giant screen]] in order to do this.
** 5Ds also has the unnamed MC, a guy with a loud outfit and a pompadour hairstyle. He shows ''remarkable'' dedication to his job, appearing to give play-by-play coverage of Yusei's duels between [[The Dragon|Aporia]] and [[Big Bad|Z-one]] himself, even though Yusei's failure in either case would have destroyed the entire city and most residents were evacuating. He even stated he would rather die than miss an exciting duel.
* Renge in the Honey-and-Chika fight episode of ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''. As with most things she does, she takes it to excess, rising up from below the floor with a sign saying 'Commentator', a microphone, and a movie screen for playback of the fight's climax.
* Many characters in ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'', usually the Manager and Kuroyan. Their explanations are usually triggered by Kawachi, the series' [[The Idiot From Osaka|Kansai idiot]], saying that he doesn't understand what's going on.
* In ''[[Akagi]]'
** Likewise in the author's other work ''[[Kaiji]]''.
* ''[[Naruto]]'':
** Early chapters used this a whole lot, especially during the [[Tournament Arc|Chunin Exams]]. At times it hilariously [[Talking Is a Free Action|appeared as if either time was distorted in mid-attack or the fighters suddenly decided to stop doing anything long enough for one of the commentators to explain the technique]].
** In later arcs, this role falls to Zetsu, who, due to his ability to merge with anything, will often poke his head out of walls to watch battles and explain things to us.
*** His role is parodied hilariously in [http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs25/f/2008/084/b/3/Sasuke_vs_Itachi_by_Kuroi_Tsuki.jpg this comic].
** Parodied in the anime version of the "fight" of the Leaf Village ninja against Tobi, where Tobi acts a Combat Commentator despite it being ''a battle he himself is fighting in'', loudly announcing the strategy he easily figured out his opponents are using against him, and still acting like it's catching him off-guard.
** Tobi plays this role in the
{{quote|''"It seems Tobi isn't going to join the battle. I will fight him later."''}}
** The trope is taken [[Up to Eleven]] during the Naruto v Pain battle. That battle is covered not by a single Combat Commentator, but by a combat commentary team.
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* Used in ''[[Rockman EXE]]'''s N1 tournament, where one commentator was a hyperactive TV reporter and the other a Chip merchant. Played for humor when a villain disguised himself as the store owner and his co-host chose that episode to ''constantly'' ask him for his opinion on combat choices or moves.
* All of the main supporting characters share commentator duties in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', discussing with each other Kenshin's special moves and strategy during the fight. Occasionally subverted when Kenshin reveals a previously-unused special move which the commentators know nothing about—of course, their very surprise increases the awesomeness of the move.
* Everyone in ''[[
* The commentators of ''[[Ultimate Muscle]]'' are actually part of the action, and provide a great deal of the comedy.
* Minor characters Chie and Aoi do this in the second volume of the ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' manga when Haruka and Yukino challenge Mai and Natsuki (who, at this point, are [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork|visibly mad at each other]], since [[Love Triangle|both require Yuuichi's help]] to be effective in battle and neither wants to share) to an impromptu tag-team duel. The girls narrate the action with an air of cluelessness and an obvious bias toward Mai's team.
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** Sometimes ''while'' demonstrating it.
** Most fights also have at least one or more witnesses that will comment upon the fight.
** [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] by Mayuri, who shows an encyclopedic knowledge of Quincy gained by performing hideous experiments on the souls of deceased Quincy including
** Non-shinigami will often do this MORE than shinigami will. Count the number of times Ishida explains that Quincy attack using arrows formed from spirit particles - it's bound to be more than most captains explain how their swords work. Arrancar explain every named attack they use right after using it. And Bount yammer on about their dolls so much you'd expect them to be starting a tea party.
** During the fight between Starrk and Kyoraku, neither are keen to explain their abilities and repeatedly attack without the usual preamble. They make far more observations of one another, however, and the lack of understanding leads to some bad mistakes from both men - in part because they are actively ''deceiving'' each other
** Kyoraku later plays it straight after releasing and using his Shikai - it forces combatants to fight using rules of children's games and he explains them.
** The worst example may be [[What an Idiot!|Shinji
* In Episode 13 of [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime
** One of the reasons FMA is one of the better shonen anime out there. More action than there is talk.
** Not sure Hughes really counts for the {{spoiler|Roy and Ed fight}}. He announces the fight and introduces them, then gets the hell out of there. And in the manga it shows that {{spoiler|he completely left the area so he wouldn't get caught in the cross-fire or stuck helping with the clean up. Or both.}}
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** Asakura comments quite a bit, but rarely lets logic get in the way of entertaining the crowd.
{{quote|'''Asakura:''' What's this? Is it a love confession in the middle of the match?
'''Asuna:''' YOU KNOW DAMN WELL
* Chaka does this more than once at the [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy in the [[Whateley Universe]] . Since she can ''see'' Ki as it flows, she's able to tell things that no one else can possibly know. "Sensei's starting to use his Ki now..."
** Peeper and Greasy yes, those are their real codenames are the broadcast commentators for the Combat Finals at the end of term.
* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'':
** Played straight in the Vongola Ring Arc. For any given battle, most of the characters are spectating, and so clearly someone needs to tell them what's going on.
** Despite being the title character, poor Reborn almost always gets stuck with either this job, or that of [[Mr. Exposition]]. This is because there is always some plot device which prevents him from actually fighting (which is just as well, since it's hinted that he's [[Game Breaker|actually powerful enough to crush any other character effortlessly]]) and he's got years and years of experience doing this sort of thing anyway.
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* Fujita "Pro" of ''[[Saki (manga)|Saki]]''. Amusingly, she would sometimes go to strange non-sequiturs while the other commentator with her tries to make things exciting.
{{quote|'''Other commentator:''' (After Kana roared) They say that in sports, you can get adrenaline to flow by giving out a large shout.
'''Fujita:''' I wanna go to karaoke.
* Usually not present in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''... but since the ''StrikerS [[Comic Book Adaptation|manga Special]]'' featured a Armed Forces sponsored televised match between Nanoha and Signum, this was practically required, with Hayate stepping up to plate for the role together with someone named Serena Aruz from Armed Forces Publicity.
** In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid|Vi Vid]]'', the mock battle is overseen by Megane Alpine and {{spoiler|Sein}}, who comment on some of the tactics at play, especially Nanoha's.
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** In the English dub, it's even more ridiculous, with the announcer always going "This move is un-(adjective)-able!"
* Spoofed in ''[[Beelzebub]]'' along with [[Calling Your Attacks]]. The protagonist calls a normal punch and kick by impressive names made up on the spot, and his [[Non-Action Guy]] sidekick ''immediately'' comes up with some bullshit to "explain" to the people standing near him.
** Later spoofed again in a [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
* In ''Yattodetaman'', one of the [[Time Bokan]] series, every episode culminates in a battle between the good guys' mecha and the baddies' weird giant robots, and every battle is followed by the same reporter and his camera operator (a man so tall, his face is always off screen). [[Rule of Funny|This is strange]] because, while good and bad guys can travel through time and space, the two guys are never shown to do so, and just appear there(they must have their own time machine). Oh, by the way, those two guys are based on members of the production crew.
* In ''[[Yaiba]]'', usually Musashi ([[Miyamoto Musashi|Yes, that one]]) will end up doing this. Justified since as a 400 years old swordmaster he knows a lot of techniques and fighting styles that Sayaka or Gerozaemon may not know.
* In ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'', Checker Sugimoto provides commentary throughout ''ZERO'' along with Jun Nakazawa (in ''Double-One'' and ''ZERO''), and Dave Lombard provides it from ''SAGA'' onwards.
* Spoofed in a side story for ''[[Durarara!!]]'', where Erika decided to play Combat Commentator to one of Shizuo and Izaya's fights. The catch is that Erika is a [[Yaoi Fangirl]] with [[Shipping Goggles]] permanently affixed to her eyes, so the resulting commentary of the fight ends up completely indistinguishable from slash fanfic (complete with [[Mills and Boon Prose]], no less).
* ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'', being a series about boxing, has everyone playing Combat Commentator, from the coaches, to the spectators, to the announcers, to even the boxers themselves (though that's to the audience, not anyone else).
* Most football anime, including ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]''
* ''[[Dog Days]]'' has 3 Combat Commentator for ''[[War for Fun and Profit|wars]]''
* Justified in [[All Rounder Meguru]], since most of the fights are Shooto matches with trainers and spectators onlooking.
* Weirdly enough, ''[[Death Note]]'' has a grip of this; it's averted during actual action sequences, but a lot of the show is the major characters carefully outlining their insanely elaborate plans for various bystanders. One of the functions that Ryuk serves during the 80% of the plot when he's just hanging out not doing anything is that he provides someone for Light to monologue to at length about why he's doing what he's doing.
==
* A variation is seen in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'', with the two fencers [[You Fight Like a Cow|discussing the moves as they]] [[Flynning|Flynn]].
* Edmund and, to a lesser extent, Caspian and Doctor Cornelius serve as Combat Commentators during Peter's duel with Miraz in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|Prince Caspian]]''.
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== Literature ==
* [[The Chronicles of Narnia]]: Peter's duel with Miraz in ''Prince Caspian'', as described in the film section above, plus the battle between Prince Rabadash's and the Archenlander/Narnian armies in ''The Horse and His Boy'' is narrated for Aravis and Hwin by the hermit.
* Also, the battle against [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Nihel's minions]] in [[Nuklear Age]] is narrated by the leader, Variel, to the next most powerful, Safriel.
== Live
* Parodied in ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]''- professional-looking sports commentators appear and discuss the action when Ned and Cookie fight in a classroom. After the "fight" ends with no punches thrown, they say it was "more like a tough pose contest" and leave.
* Bae the commentary fly is present at every [[Humongous Mecha]] battle in ''[[Juken Sentai Gekiranger]]'', due to him living in the stomach of chameleon-themed villainess Mele. On the rare occasions Bae was not able to give commentary, other [[People in Rubber Suits]] have filled in for him.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* In one ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' strip, Beetle and Sarge are fighting to a background of commentary that makes it seem like an official match of some sort. It turns out it's just Rocky narrating it on the phone to his presumably interested mother.
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Pro wrestling announcing teams typically consist of a play-by-play announcer (Gordon Sollie, Jim Ross, Joey Styles, Mike Tenay, etc.) who focuses on what's going on, and a color commentator (Bobby Heenan, Jerry Lawler, Tazz, Don West, etc.) who focuses on why: the wrestlers' backstories, why they're prone to certain styles of wrestling, and the physical toll of specific moves. The color commentator is usually an ex-wrestler, or has some other special knowledge of the physical side of wrestling.
== Video Games ==
* Subverted in the ''Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries'' video game, on the Solaris levels. As your character is fighting in a sports arena to entertain a crowd, there's ''supposed'' to be a commentator—and the game obligingly supplies you with a sports color commentator's voice-over, reacting to your victories and/or defeats, during the arena matches.
* The ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' games have this in the [[Blood Sport|gladiatorial arenas]]. The fourth game, ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'', employs it in every level, as the game is essentially one giant arena tournament.
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* ''Jikkyou Oshaberi [[Parodius]]'' has the "Oshaberi" ("chatting") feature, which causes a Japanese guy to provide a facetious running commentary on the action of the game.
== Web
* Ash's races in ''[[Misfile]]'' all have some form of commentary on them, usually provided by another racer currently watching as a spectator, but sometimes provided by the racers themselves.
* Played straight, then deconstructed and averted in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20170802124754/http://www.revenant-braves.schala.net/ Circumstances of the Revenant Braves]'' when Sol starts to combat commentate before Fio tells him to put a sock in it.
== Western Animation ==▼
* ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'', episode "Champions". A battle takes place at the "Interplanetary Games"; the game commentators happily continue their job.
* In the ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' episode ''Wild Cards'' the Justice League had to defuse several bombs and fight the Royal Flush Gang... all this while the Joker watched them [[Surveillance as the Plot Demands|on television]], providing his unique brand of commentary.
* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[The Legend of Korra]],'' at [[Fictional Sport|pro-bending]] matches, [[Supernatural Martial Arts]]-turned-spectator sport, announced not only to the stands, but broadcast over radio.
* Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond from ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch]]'' possibly the closest the show had to protagonists, even is they were just the commentators.
* In [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)|the 2003 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' series]], the heroes are conscripted into the Triceraton's [[Gladiator Games]], which are televised and have a pair of comedic commentators named Zed and Raz.They even stop to plug their sponsors as the fight is happening.
==
* [[The Beautiful Game|GOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]
* The robot combat show, [[Battlebots]]. Color commentary was provided by Bill Dwyer, Sean Salisbury and and Tim Green, who got just as excited at the spectacle of two glorified RC cars tearing each other to pieces as they ever did at a football game. Also, ''[[Robot Wars (TV series)|Robot Wars]]''.
* Two of the most famous commentators in boxing are HBO's Larry Merchant and Showtime's Al Bernstein. If it's a three-man crew (typically on HBO), the third man will usually be a trainer or boxer, sometimes retired, sometimes active. This has run the gamut from [[So Cool Its Awesome|So Cool He's Awesome]] (Roy Jones Jr.), [[So Okay It's Average]] (Emmanuel Steward and Max Kellerman), [[So Bad It's Good|So Bad He's Good]] (George Foreman), to So Bad He's Horrible (Lennox Lewis). Surprisingly, real life [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Mike Tyson is actually very knowledgeable and surprisingly competent.
* Mixed Martial Arts has the duo of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg for the UFC, and Michael Shiavello aka The Voice and Guy Mezger representing HD Net's coverage of fight sports. The famous Bas Rutten often plays the role of color commentator for smaller orgs.
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