Deus Ex Machina: Difference between revisions

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== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Bleach]]'' has so many examples it's hard to list, for the sake of space, probably the worst/ most blatant instance:
** The much reviled and oft-mentioned moment of Ichigo being able to go [[Super-Powered Evil Side|full Hollow]] is often accused of being this, but it ultimately did make sense. [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now|It wasn't good writing]], but it was foreshadowed a number of times. {{spoiler|Aizen's final defeat}} is the true deus ex machina, because of [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]]. [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now|Having proven to be increasingly invincible against the strongest members of the cast]], Ichigo scores a new, never before mentioned power, and utterly destroys him.
* Played absolutely straight in ''[[Slayers]] NEXT''. Nearly the entire plot revolves around Lina's [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|refusal to cast the Giga Slave]] after her discovery that miscasting it may end the world. Hellmaster Phibrizo eventually blackmails Lina into casting it and ensures that the casting fails, only for the power called upon by the spell, the supreme creator goddess of the Slayers universe, the Lord of Nightmares, to take Lina's body as an avatar instead and promptly annihilate the previously invincible (to the heroes) demon lord with a casual gesture. She also plays [[Reset Button]] by bringing everyone back to life that Phibrizzo had killed (Lina's breaking point about casting the spell was his threat to [[Deader Than Dead|obliterate their souls as well]]).
** Not only [[Justified]] and foreshadowed ''just'' enough to turn the event from a [[Ass Pull|cop-out]] to a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], but implications of [[The Reveal]] cast the whole series in a [[Mysterious Employer|very different light]].
* The final episode of the ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' OVA is about as literal an example of this trope as it gets.
* ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' featured something known as the Galactic Leyline as the main driving point for the entire series. It turns out that the leyline is an almost literal translation of deus ex machina. It's a extremely complex spaceship that collided with the center of creation creating a being that can manipulate time, reality, perception and essentially grant whoever approaches it anything they wish. It is literally a god created from a machine.
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' loves and thrives on this, and many seemingly unwinnable situations are weaseled their way out of by Arceus Ex Machina.
** The second involves a situation involving a showdown between Team Rocket and "the twerps" where either Team Rocket seems to have the upper hand or the two sides have been forced into a dangerous stalemate. Cue a single, recurring Pokémon, typically either Marker-Jigglypuff or Misty's Togepi. The former will sing their soothing music and cause everyone to fall asleep (thus enraging it and causing it to doodle vengefully on everyone), or the latter will start using the metronome attack, which causes a burst of random Deus Ex Machina energy to fill the room and set everything right.
** May's Skitty has the Assist technique, which randomly uses an attack known by another member of the party. Of course, it naturally has the [[Random Number God]] on its side.
*** She got better about it, and later seemed to use it as a jumpoff for improvisation than a lucky shot. One contest had her focusing on keeping Skitty alive while spamming Assist continually, producing effects varying from mildly useful to downright inhibitive, until she got the attack she wanted in the first place and oneshot the opponent.
** The most ridiculous example is at the end of the ninth movie. Everyone had evacuated the flooding Sea Temple as Ash was trying desperately to fix the Sea Crown that the [[Big Bad]] had tried to steal. The temple rises to the surface of the water, but Ash doesn't come out. Everyone thinks he drowned and starts crying, and Phantom takes advantage of the moment to grab Manaphy and make his getaway. It would've worked, except at that moment, Ash bursts out of the water, ''[[Dragonball Z|surrounded by glowing golden light]]'', and ''flies'' through the air to save Manaphy.
*** It was explained (in the tag scene) as a function of the Sea Temple, but wasn't really adequately foreshadowed (to put it kindly).
** There was one episode where Team Rocket grabs Pikachu and flies off in their balloon. How does Ash get him back? He ''jumps five stories straight up'' into the balloon basket, with no assistance from any nearby plot devices. It looked exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.
** The ''[[Pokémon: The First Movie|Pokémon the First Movie]]'' features Ash running between a beam struggle between Mew and Mewtwo that [[Taken for Granite|turns him to stone]]. When a few shocks from Pikachu make it clear that [[The Hero Dies|Ash is, in fact, dead]], all of the Pokémon cry... and their tears swirl over to Ash's body and bring him back to life. Nowhere else in the entire series is the fact that Ash was literally brought back to life brought up.
*** This was actually foreshadowed earlier in the movie.
** In the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga, Ruby can't penetrate through the lightning that a machine made to be able to defeat the [[Big Bad]]s. What does he do? The only logical thing, of course, call out {{spoiler|Celebi}} which, doesn't make sense because {{spoiler|Celebi}} isn't more resistant to electricity than Swampert, but that's not all. Then {{spoiler|Celebi}} proceeds to use its {{spoiler|time powers to revive Norman, Steven, and the Team Magma girl. And Celebi's not even caught in a GS Ball, which the Mask of Ice needed a full blown out plan to get!}}
** There's a subversion in the Ash vs. Paul full battle by Lake Acuity. Even though Ash's Chimchar evolves into Monferno after beating Paul's Ursaring, it's unable to beat his Electabuzz. Though even if it ''had'' been able to, Ash would've lost eventually because Paul still would have had three Pokémon left.
** What may be the most ridiculous was Ash's battle against Tate and Liza, where Ash's Pikachu and Swellow, the last of which was at a disadvantage against their Lunatone and Solrock, inexplicably pulled out the infamous golden "lightning armor" gambit and knocked their opponents out.
** And how about the one that started them all - Pikachu defeating Brock's Onix because he Thunderbolts it while the sprinkler system is running!
*** This could make sense given the typing and such, but where it loses all sense is the fact that there were ''sprinklers in a Rock-type gym.'' It makes you wonder why Brock would install sprinklers when his Pokemon are weak to what comes out of them and there doesn't look to be anything particularly flammable inside anyway. Perhaps one of the Brocklings enjoys playing with matches or some such.
* Batou is saved from certain death in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' by an extraordinary literal example.
* The heroes in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' seem to win solely on pulling the one card out of a forty card plus deck that can save them from doom. Many times, these cards are not alluded to prior to their save the world moment and turn the tide of the battle completely 180 degrees. After all, how many times have you heard the line "It all comes down to this one card" only to have them draw a complete waste of a card?
{{quote|'''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yami Yugi]]''': I activate "Deus Ex Machina"!
'''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Weevil]]''': ([[Beavis and Butthead|Beavis-esque voice]]) Hee hee! Hey! No fair! You can't use spell cards on my turn!
'''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yami Yugi]]''': Tell it to the writing staff!! }}
** In the manga version of the story, this is actually ''Yami Yugi's superpower''. Which of course says nothing about the fact that other characters pull the same stunt.
** Taken to its logical extreme at the end of the battle against Noah. Yugi's hand is empty, but on his final turn, he manages to draw a card that lets him {{spoiler|draw six more cards. And, as it turns out, these were exactly what he needed to pull off a very specific combo attack to deplete Noah's 10,000+ life points.}} If not for the [[Power of Friendship]] scene just before, that draw would have been ridiculous even by Yu-Gi-Oh standards.
** [[Serial Escalation|Taken even further]] in the duel against Leon in the filler tournament arc. Thanks to the [[Big Bad]] hacking the game system, Leon's Golden Castle of Stromberg forced Yugi to throw out half his deck at the beginning of every turn. This continued until Yugi only had one card left in his deck. This card allowed him to destroy all of Leon's monsters and all of his life points at the same time.
** In the last duel of the Battle City Final Yugi plays Ragnarok, a previously unseen card, which allows his entire cast of monsters to pulverize the Winged Dragon of Ra, and leaving Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl on the field. The card was never played or mentioned again.
** All of the Millennium Items seem to have a bunch of random powers that either activate by themselves, or the characters remember just in time. Of course those powers are never used again. For example, in one episode, Yami uses the power of the Millennium Puzzle to force the spirit of the Millennium Ring into the Duel Monster card he trapped Bakura in, and restored Bakura to his body.
*** In Seasons 2 and 3, Marik's Millennium Rod likes showing Kaiba visions, since Kaiba owned the Rod in a past life. When Marik orders the Rod to show him those same visions, it doesn't obey him.
** Some episodes attempt to justify this by having characters note they need the right card to turn the duel around, but they don't get it for several turns and they have to stall. And there ''are'' only 40-45 cards in the decks, if you stall long enough you'll draw what you need sooner or later.
* Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh, the card "Miracle Tuner - Savior Dragon" ("Majestic Dragon" in the dub) from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|5Ds]]'' has earned the nickname "Deus Ex Machina Dragon" within the fanbase, as it's a card that ''appears'' in a character's deck when the Crimson Dragon (our resident God for this series) wants it to. Not only that, but it allows whichever character that uses it to summon ''another'' monster that isn't actually in their Deck (well, Extra Deck technically, but still).
* ''[[Sonic X]]'' has one of these in the finale of its final season, where the stone Cosmo has been wearing since the beginning of the series is revealed to be a magical amulet that can automatically accelerate her growth so that she reaches the stage of becoming a tree (as is apparently the fate of all her species) early, attaches herself to the bad guy and weaken him so that the Good Guys can shoot and destroy. We had heard pretty much nothing about this earlier in the series.
** Said stone MAY only be magical by default, depending on whether you believe the dubbing. Previously ALL seedrians were seen to be wearing a similar stone, so it might just be a general species thing. Either way it was still kind of an Asspull.
*** According to the original Japanese version (with English subs), the stones prevent Cosmo's kind from transforming into their final form (which saps all their energy and leads to death) - males' final form are powerful dinosaur-like plant monsters; while females just turn into trees that can reproduce. This was explained several episodes before the finale episode in Japanese (which would probably still qualify it for this); but the English dub didn't explain it at all.
* Occurs in all three installments of the ''[[Transformers]]'' Unicron Trilogy trilogy; at some point the Autobots are defeated and critically damaged, but then they are repaired and upgraded(and in the third installment given new vehicle modes), by the Minicons in ''[[Transformers Armada|Armada]]'', then by Primus in ''[[Transformers Energon|Energon]]'' and ''[[Transformers Cybertron|Cybertron]]''.
** In an earlier series, this is what saved Star Saber from Deathsaurus in ''[[Transformers Victory]]''. Deathsaurus delivers a vicious, merciless beatdown, driving Star Saber to the point of deactivation. He's about to deliver the final blow when his living metal-destroying cannon...runs out of batteries.
** Another example comes from ''[[Transformers Zone]]'': Metrotitan is devastating Earth with a freeze gun, and Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber are for some reason powerless to stop him. All of a sudden, Road Fire appear, with a heat ray that's just the thing to revert Metrotitan's effects, and then proceeds to single-handedly kick Metrotitan's retrocharger.
* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' grants us the wonderful moment where the protagonist ''magically creates'' a [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|new, super-powerful unit]] out of thin air by the {{smallcaps|[[Power of Love]]}}!
** Note: this is very likely true. Also note that it's not nearly as bad as it sounds because this series takes [[The Power of Love]] and runs with it.
** There is some [[Fridge Brilliance]] to be had here, too. Considering that the Scub Coral was in the process of awakening ([[The End of the World as We Know It|which would ultimately cause reality to unravel]]) and given the link between the coral and the giant mech itself, it is reasonable to think that some new powers would become available.
** Everything happens for a reason. It's fated that Renton and Eureka will be with each other; that's probably why this happens. Look at the movie version, Eureka {{spoiler|was still alive, naked with long hair, in the ending despite Anemone and Nirvash cease to exist after Image is gone (Yeah, sure, because she turned human, but that still doesn't change the question: How?.}}
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke pulls off a [[No One Could Survive That]] by {{spoiler|summoning, mind-controlling, ''and'' teleporting a massive snake}} when he's completely out of chakra. Said technique is difficult because of the huge amount of chakra required.
** Not to mention he pulled this all off in the time it took for an explosion that would completely level a city to reach him. After the explosion had already started. When it started just a few feet from him. Great Snake Escape, indeed.
** Chapter 449: After spending the last thirty chapters wreaking havoc {{spoiler|Pain/Nagato pulls a case of [[Redemption Equals Death]] and a device that was only shown to be able to repair corpses to bring back ''[[Death Is Cheap|everyone]] that he had killed since entering the village}}.
** During his assault on the Kage Summit, {{spoiler|Sasuke}} nearly died from chakra exhaustion, having been spamming the crap out of high level techs with his new {{spoiler|Mangekyo Sharingan}}. And then, out of nowhere, {{spoiler|Zetsu, who had previously shown up to alert the Kages to Sasuke's presence and gotten killed for his efforts, reveals that he managed to use a time release jutsu in the split second before the Raikage snapped his neck that sucks all the chakra out of everyone in the room and gives to Sasuke.}}
** Anyone who gets their tailed beast exorcised from them will die ater the extraction, but not {{spoiler|an Uzumaki}}
* ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'' had an episode in which Ayase was battling Kazuma. While fighting, she had a heart monitor reading her brother's life signs. However, when her bro kicks the bucket, she throws the fight and somehow ''loses the will to live'' and just dies.
** Her repeated refining left her body a complete wreck, and her only reason for living/fighting was so that her sick brother could get treatment.
** This still doesn't justify her death, as she was still in perfect shape to keep fighting Kazuma, then just * dies* when he kicks.
** Although it's not quite justified (Since her brother died while they were fighting) it IS established that motivation is the only thing that keeps super-alter users alive. She also didn't WANT to fight Kazuma, so I guess she also felt sorry for what she was doing to him.
* A major sticking point with fans at the end of Part 3 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' is Jotaro's {{spoiler|spontaneous development of Time Stop}} in his fight with Dio, which enables Jotaro to fight Dio on more or less equal terms. The only possible foreshadowing of this is Dio's comment that he and Jotaro share a similar type of Stand, but Dio is just as shocked as the reader when Jotaro is able to {{spoiler|move during Dio's Time Stop}}.
** This could be a case of [[Fridge Brilliance]], as a connection to the Joestars' stands was established early on. In his first Part 3 appearance, he was seen using Joseph's stand powers. Since he's never seen using Joseph's clairvoyance again, the whole purpose of the scene seems to have been foreshadowing.
** Another one comes at the end of Part 5, when Giorno fights Diavolo. Giorno is {{spoiler|pierced by the Requiem Arrow}}, and his Stand Gold Experience gains the ability to {{spoiler|''negate any action taken by an opponent.''}} Stands had been shown to develop new abilities thanks to the arrow before, but that power is ridiculously broken.
* A borderline case appears in the second season of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'': with the forces of {{spoiler|Celestial Being}} about to be defeated, {{spoiler|Setsuna, who has been slowly undergoing Innovation (a cornerstone of the show's ongoing [[Gambit Roulette]]), finally achieves it. This, in turn, triggers a hidden system of his machine, the [[Trans Am]] Burst, which spread on a much larger scale the effects the machine was already known to have (healing, telepathy, etc). Given that [[The Chessmaster]] had already been established to have built-in hidden subroutine in his mobile suit to be triggered as his roulette demanded, and that it's shortly thereafter that a world-wide mind-meld was a key point of said roulette}}, fan opinion is divided as to how much of a Deus Ex this is, if at all, and if so, whether it qualifies as an old school Greco-Roman Deus Ex, or the [[Fridge Brilliance]] variety.
** Gundam 00 practically spammed Deus Ex Machina from beginning to end. Almost every time Celestial Being came even ''remotely'' close to defeat, A.) one or more of the Gundam Meisters would reveal a weapon or a feature that was previously not shown nor hinted at before, such as the case of the Nadleeh and later its Trial System or B.) be saved by the intervention of an outside force like the Thrones or C.) one of [[The Chessmaster|old man Aeolia's]] little hidden features (i.e. Trans Am) would trigger, essentially a more grandiose version of A. This was especially insulting for their opposition, who would make painfully detailed strategies that exploited the Gundams' (known) weaknesses and would have otherwise been successful until Deus Ex Machina kicked in.
* In ''[[Asatte no Houkou]]'', Karada and Shokou are able to {{spoiler|switch back to their original ages}} when {{spoiler|Kotomi gives them a second wishing stone}}, which she had never previously mentioned or hinted at having. This, of course, didn't happen in the manga.
* ''[[Star Blazers]]'' (Comet Empire War); The near-Godlike Treleina of Telezart turns up at the very last moment to {{spoiler|obliterate Prince Zordar's warship and save Earth.}} Possibly partially subverted as Captain Wildstar had already begun the process of {{spoiler|sacrificing the Argo in a ramming attack}} to achieve the same end.
* A literal Deus Ex Machina is attributed to everyone's survival after the [[Final Battle]] of ''[[Rave Master]].'' This despite several characters using a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] to win their battles. The characters theorize that since they saved the world, the world decided to save them back.
* [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Gurren Lagann]] did this over and over... sort of. Essentially a "logical" Deus Ex Machina was set up for the shows entirety with Spiral Energy, literally giving characters the ability to do the impossible ({{spoiler|the chance of Kittan's giga-drill that freed the crew from the spiral-draining sea thing succeeding was given as 0% but through a great speech and shouting he succeeded}}) through their, sheer willpower and greatness. On paper it sounds like an extreme Deus Ex Machina, but when watching/reading it it's exciting and used enough to not feel like the giant cop out it may first appear.
** Gainax being Gainax, they then hang a lampshade in the last act of the anime that is summated "using Spiral Energy too much will destroy the universe" (read: "using a Deus Ex Machina too often can ruin a series"). That's cheeky.
* Mic Sounders of ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' is arguably a walking Deus Ex Machina. His Disk P [[Theme Music Power-Up]] powers up (and seemingly to a small degree repairs) all of the heroes within earshot (and is also continually used throughout the series). Disk M can disable mechanical systems in only the bad guys (it?s ability to selectively deactivate the bad guys system is in itself somewhat deus ex machina-y). On the much more dangerous side he has his disk x which destroys things at the molecular level, meaning there is literally nothing it cannot destroy and the even more powerful disk F which {{spoiler|can produce a Gao Figh Gar armed with the Goldion Hammer}} to destroy anything in his path. Basically if Mic were to ever receive a major upgrade, much like some of the other mechas receive, then he would render GGG totally obsolete since the only step up from Disk X and F is a disk that completely controls the very fabric of reality.
* A staple of the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' anime. Two notable instances would be all the heroines dying only to be randomly resurrected; and our heroine throwing herself from a floating island, then inexplicably sprouting wings on the way down.
** Not quite. Usagi didn't sprout wings, she turned into her Princess form in mid-fall and caught up with Sailor Chibi Moon, who'd been thrown off the aforementioned platform shortly before Usagi jumped off herself. Moon then woke Chibi up, Chibi used [[Summon Magic|Twinkle Yell]], and Pegasus came swooping in for a [[Diving Save]] just before they turned into a big magical smear on the pavement. And the aforementioned resurrection was a result of Usagi wishing on the [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome|Silver Crystal]], something Queen Serenity pulled off in the backstory (this was shown in a flashback episode several episodes prior to its' usage in the first season finale).
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'': Halfway through the [[Gecko Ending]] of the first anime, after {{spoiler|Asuna's [[Ironic Birthday|birthday party]], [[Mood Whiplash|sudden death]], [[Really Dead Montage|funeral, and cremation]], and Negi's [[Five Stages of Grief|desperate]] ([[All Deaths Final|and futile]]) search for a way to bring her back to life, [[Teen Genius|Chao Lingshen]] and [[Mad Scientist|Hakase Satomi]] reveal that they have a [[Time Machine]]}}.
** This deserves a special note; the {{spoiler|[[Time Machine]]}} in question was a major plot device in the manga's Mahora Festival arc. While it was a major [[Ass Pull]] for those who only watched the anime, for those fans familiar with the manga it was somewhat closer to a [[Continuity Nod]].
** Another example is the end of the Kyoto Arc, where the Negi party was saved from the [[Big Bad]] and the [[Cosmic Horror|Demon God]] he [[Sealed Evil in a Can|unsealed]] by the [[Game Breaker|equally demonic]] [[Sealed Badass in a Can|unsealed]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|Evangeline]].
*** However, she coming to the rescue ''was'' foreshadowed, at last in the manga.
* Played straight (and literally) in the last few volumes of the ''[[Fushigi Yugi]]'' manga. Taka buys Miaka a pager. {{spoiler|Suzaku then ends up taking up residence, essentially, in the pager, so that he can contact his priestess.}}
* In ''[[Initial D]]'', when Takumi battles the Todo School's rally driver with the School's demo car at Happogahara, he is absolutely going to lose {{spoiler|until a cat jumps out in front of the Civic just before the final corner. When the driver swerves to miss it, Takumi passes, not seeing the cat because his lights were off.}}
* The ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' manga was [[Cut Short]] by LaPlace announcing that the Alice Game of that era had come to an end, leaving all the action that currently was building up gone by a bloody rabbit deciding that the game will not continue within the very timeframe of the story, inevitably leading some fans to believe that they will never find out who wins. However, with the reboot of the manga and the "tales" being released on a monthly basis, this theory is thrown out the window, since the same dolls now appear in an alternate timeline in which Jun chose not to wind up Shinku. Indeed, it is too revealed that it wasn't so much of a Deus Ex Machina as simply [[Enigmatic Minion|LaPlace]] speaking in riddles, as he usually does. Indeed, the events of the original timeline did, in fact, happen, and the two timelines are revealed to actually be connected.
** The ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' anime's second season, Traumend, also ends with a major Deus Ex Machina. {{spoiler|All of the dolls are defeated in the Alice game, and Barasuishou becomes Alice. Just when everything looks lost, she suddenly starts to crumble apart. This is explained along the lines of "she can't handle the purity of Alice", or something like that, as she's not really a Rozen Maiden. All the other dolls return to life, and everything works out fine.}}
*** Not all. {{spoiler|Only those killed by Barasuishou. Those killed by legitimate Rozen Maiden stay dead.}}
* At the end of ''[[Wolf's Rain]]'', {{spoiler|after Darcia defeats and kills all the major cast members and prepares to enter paradise, he is suddenly vaporized (except for his eye) for no apparent reason, other than he's evil.}} This comes off as a bit of an [[Ass Pull]] for some.
** ...those who paid attention, however, remembered that {{spoiler|only the wolves could enter paradise, and Darcia was human except for that eye.}} No, the real [[Ass Pull]] is {{spoiler|Chessa's blood being poisonous, which is what ''would'' have killed Darcia had he not dived for the gate in desperation.}}
* Somewhat lampshaded in ''[[Hellsing]]'' where the giant zeppelin of the [[Magnificent Bastard]] Major is called the Deus Ex Machina- appropriate seen as how it appears from nowhere to bomb London.
* ''[[Saiyuki|Gensomaden Saiyuki]]'': When outnumbered in a deadly pinch, Goku's diadem will break and he transforms into the Seiten Taisai. After kicking everyone's ass, he turns on his own friends until Kanzeon Bosatsu shows up and places a new diadem on his head.
* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', when Frieza is revived and comes to destroy the Earth, everyone is crapping their pants because Goku was "the only one" who had a chance at beating him. Then, out of nowhere, Trunks appears, killing Frieza with a few slashes, then King Cold shortly after. Yes, Frieza was a way of giving the Z Fighters' newest ally his big introduction to set up the Android/Cell sagas, but that doesn't keep him from looking like something out of a bad fanfic.
** Arguably, Trunks killing Frieza was of little consequence, since Goku arrives not long afterwards and it was Frieza's plan from the start to wait for Goku to arrive before destroying the planet. The very existence of Trunks's future implies that Frieza had little time to terrorize the Earth before Goku arrived and defeated him. Perhaps a better example of Deus Ex Machina in Dragon Ball Z happens in the movies. In order to beat powerful enemies like Lord Slug and Broly, the Z Fighters transfer their power to Goku, which gives the latter a tremendous boost in strength, more than enough to destroy the enemy in a dominating fashion. Said ability is never elaborated (at least not to that extent) in the main series, where it would have no doubt made some of the biggest fights a lot simpler.
* ''[[Detective Conan]]'', Conan can do ''anything'' at given times from riding a motor boat, a helicopter, and shooting guns with a common excuse of "My dad thought me that in Hawaii."
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Yusuke winning Genkai's tournament could apply. Ignoring the fact he was lucky enough to have Kibano [[Explaining Your Power to the Enemy|tell him about his helmet]], the [[Bowdlerise/Anime and Manga|edited]] [[Dub-Induced Plot Hole]] qualifies because it [[No Smoking|removed the cigarette]] that led to his victory. Kazemaru lost because the throwing stars locked on to his energy at the same time Yusuke slipped into the mud; Genkai acknowledged that victory was a fluke. Rando attempts to shrink Yusuke the same way he did to Kuwabara, but it backfires. Genkai explains that a chant will do so if it can't be heard by the victim and it turns out at that moment Yusuke had algae in his ear.
** There's also Hei [[Changed My Mind, Kid|deciding to help]] just as Sniper blows up the truck.
* Brilliantly justified and subverted in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. At first, it would seem completely coincidental how Homura seemed to arrive on the screen to save the day it seemed, as well as extremely unlikely. {{spoiler|It turns out, however, that she is a Time Traveller and had repeated the same span of time over and over again, knowing what events were to happen and when the events would occur. With her power over time, she could appear when it is thought to be very unlikely.}}
* In [[Cardcaptor Sakura]], [[The Power of Love]] proves itself to be quite this trope. At the end of the TV series, Sakura ''accidentally'' ends up creating a new nameless Card when her powers react spontaneously to her tears at Syaoran's departure. At first glance it appears to be a [[Sequel Hook]], but fast forward to the end of the Sealed Card movie, where at the last moment, it negates the Void Card's power and combines with it to form the Hope card, protecting Syaoran from losing his love for Sakura and allows it to be captured, restoring everything (and everyone) back to normal.
** And another one is when Sakura encounters the illusion card, which, on the date of her dead mother's birthday, adopts her form, and thus lures Sakura into falling off a cliff. Before hitting the ground nonetheless a translucid hand (that of her real mom) appears out of nowhere and slows down her fall. And as a backup Deus Ex Machina Yukito just happened to be passing by at that precise moment to come and catch her.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
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