Gut Punch: Difference between revisions

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This can be a somewhat subjective trope, but the general idea is that a single moment instantly and clearly establishes that the tone of the work as a whole is fundamentally darker than what the audience has been led to expect. If there's a particularly dark moment in a show that then reverts to being somewhat lighter, it's not this trope.

Sub Trope of [[It Got Worse]], [[Cerebus Syndrome]], [[Darker and Edgier]], and [[Mood Whiplash]]. Super Trope to [[Sacrificial Lion]], [[Wham! Line]], [[Kill the Cutie]], [[Decoy Protagonist]], and [[Wake Up Call Boss]]. The [[Knight of Cerebus]], [[Tragic Monster]], and the [[Hero-Killer]] are three characters extremely likely to cause this. Sometimes related to [[Player Punch]].

Sub Trope of [[It Got Worse]], [[Cerebus Syndrome]], [[Darker and Edgier]], and [[Mood Whiplash]]. Super Trope to [[Sacrificial Lion]], [[Wham! Line]], [[Kill the Cutie]], [[Decoy Protagonist]], and [["Wake-Up Call" Boss]]. The [[Knight of Cerebus]], [[Tragic Monster]], and the [[Hero-Killer]] are three characters extremely likely to cause this. Sometimes related to [[Player Punch]].

Spoilers ahoy!

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{{quote|Legato: ''If I'd felt like it, all the people within a 50 meter range, in 0.2 seconds, would all be dead... In the next ten minutes, you'll learn the true meaning of hell." }}

** It's also implied (and stated in the manga) that the hot dog he gave the little girl was ''made from the remains of the aforementioned shopkeeper.'' Yikes.

* ''[[Gantz]]'' was already a pretty dark series, but it still manages to give us this somewhere around the end of volume 9 with the death of {{spoiler|[[Everybody's Dead, Dave|THE ENTIRE TEAM]] except for Kurono.}} The fact that {{spoiler|Kurono}} [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass]] afterwards does nothing to mitigate the new knowledge that [[Plot Armor]] has ceased to exist.

* ''[[Gantz]]'' was already a pretty dark series, but it still manages to give us this somewhere around the end of volume 9 with the death of {{spoiler|[[Everybody's Dead, Dave|THE ENTIRE TEAM]] except for Kurono.}} The fact that {{spoiler|Kurono}} [[Took a Level in Badass|takes a level in badass]] afterwards does nothing to mitigate the new knowledge that [[Plot Armor]] has ceased to exist.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' pulls this with {{spoiler|Arael}}. Hey, it looks like the cast is starting to resolve its issues and the show might be heading towards general mental stability! You know what would be really fun? How about breaking out the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Mind Rape]]?

** Arguably, the fight with the 13th angel could count as well. It's generally agreed by fans that this is the point in the series when things started to take a turn for the worse.

** A second example, from [[The Movie]]: {{spoiler|Asuka}}, after finally recovering from the aforementioned [[Mind Rape]], [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass]] almost instantly and starts [[Hope Spot|tearing through the new Eva units with absolutely no trouble.]] Except that they survive. [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|What happens]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|next]] is so horrific that the mere sight of it is enough to bring {{spoiler|Shinji}} all the way from temporary [[Determinator]] across the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|beyond]], setting the tone for [[Mind Screw|the rest of the movie]] quite nicely.

** A second example, from [[The Movie]]: {{spoiler|Asuka}}, after finally recovering from the aforementioned [[Mind Rape]], [[Took a Level in Badass|takes a level in badass]] almost instantly and starts [[Hope Spot|tearing through the new Eva units with absolutely no trouble.]] Except that they survive. [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|What happens]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|next]] is so horrific that the mere sight of it is enough to bring {{spoiler|Shinji}} all the way from temporary [[Determinator]] across the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|beyond]], setting the tone for [[Mind Screw|the rest of the movie]] quite nicely.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has this with the death of {{spoiler|Maes Hughes}}.

** Before that, there was the [[Fate Worse Than Death]] of {{spoiler|Nina Tucker.}}

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* The deaths of {{spoiler|Watari and L}} in [[Death Note]].

* ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]'' has the scene where a wolf kills a lamb's mother.

* ''[[Ben-To]]'' episode 10 {{spoiler|seeing the otherwise invincible Ice Witch got completely [[Curb Stomp Battle|stomped]] will leave you as [[Mass "Oh Crap"|shocked as it did the characters]].}}

* Given that ''[[Berserk]]'' starts [[In Medias Res]] and a big chunk of the story, [[Prolonged Prologue|a twelve volume long prologue]], [[How We Got Here|shows us how everything came to be in first arc]], which showed Guts as a dark, brooding and ruthless warrior on the brink of madness due to his obsessive revenge against Griffith, [[Foregone Conclusion|we thought that the flashback would be self-explanatory]] once we got to that point... Until we found out just how much everything went '''''horribly wrong''''' once [[Total Eclipse of the Plot|the Eclipse]] went down, which involved {{spoiler|a former good guy making an [[Moral Event Horizon|EPIC]] [[Face Heel Turn]] in a demon lord, [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|damn near the entire cast of likable characters dying]] [[Sacrificial Lion|horrific deaths,]] the sole female protagonist [[Go Mad ~~From~~ the Revelation|being brutally raped to insanity]] by said former good guy, and the main man who [[Hope Spot|tried so desperately to save his friends and lover failing to do so,]] losing [[Eye Scream|an eye]] and [[Life or Limb Decision|an arm]] in the process.}} Wow.

* Given that ''[[Berserk]]'' starts [[In Medias Res]] and a big chunk of the story, [[Prolonged Prologue|a twelve volume long prologue]], [[How We Got Here|shows us how everything came to be in first arc]], which showed Guts as a dark, brooding and ruthless warrior on the brink of madness due to his obsessive revenge against Griffith, [[Foregone Conclusion|we thought that the flashback would be self-explanatory]] once we got to that point... Until we found out just how much everything went '''''horribly wrong''''' once [[Total Eclipse of the Plot|the Eclipse]] went down, which involved {{spoiler|a former good guy making an [[Moral Event Horizon|EPIC]] [[Face Heel Turn]] in a demon lord, [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|damn near the entire cast of likable characters dying]] [[Sacrificial Lion|horrific deaths,]] the sole female protagonist [[Go Mad from the Revelation|being brutally raped to insanity]] by said former good guy, and the main man who [[Hope Spot|tried so desperately to save his friends and lover failing to do so,]] losing [[Eye Scream|an eye]] and [[Life or Limb Decision|an arm]] in the process.}} Wow.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': You know how fans joked that Tite would never kill off any main character or hero? Yeah, um, {{spoiler|Chojiro Sasakibe, second-in-command for Yamamoto? [http://www.mangahere.com/manga/bleach/v53/c483/16.html Dead.]}}

** The entire beginning of the final arc is a huge change in how ''Bleach'' generally works. Ivan is introduced as an arc rival to Ichigo and Luders is introduced as that underling he doesn't get along with. {{spoiler|Their boss kills both of them off for incredibly minor infringements before they can do anything else.}} Characters who leave are never mentioned again? {{spoiler|Nel and Pesche show up in the human world and report that Dondochakka has been captured, Hueco Mundo has been conquered by the new villains, and Halibel has been captured.}}

* [[~~Mai~~-HiME]] has the loss of Akane's child, and {{spoiler|the resulting death of her boyfriend Kazuya}}

* [[My-HiME]] has the loss of Akane's child, and {{spoiler|the resulting death of her boyfriend Kazuya}}

* In the [[Wham! Episode]] of [[Mai-Otome]], the turning point in Arika and Nina's characterization is {{spoiler|the death of their mutual friend Erstin at Nina's hands, not long after she had been revealed as [[The Mole]]}}.

* In the ''[[Kuroshitsuji (manga)|Kuroshitsuji]]'' manga, there is the time when after some events that were already horrible on their own, Ciel goes into [[Heroic BSOD]] and {{spoiler|orders Sebastian to burn a group of innocent children alive instead of rescuing them as planned. Sebastian obeys.}}

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** Adding to it was the fact there were ''children'' in the audience because this was ''before'' the MPAA rating. From his [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19670105/REVIEWS/701050301/1023 review]:

{{quote|This was in a typical neighborhood theater, and the kids started filing in 15 minutes early to get good seats up front. }}

** It can be argued that ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' was one of these for the entire horror genre.

* This is a major part of the reason for the fame of ''[[Psycho]]'''s iconic [[Shower Scene]].

* ''[[Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance]]'' has {{spoiler|the little girl drowning offscreen}}, setting off the cycle of brutal revenge on both sides.

* The events of ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' actually start with [[Big Bad|Shen]] killing Master Rhino with his cannon in order to show how evil the peacock and his wolf army actually are.

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' announces rather loudly that the gloves are off when we see [[Complete Monster|The Joker]]'s video of himself killing {{spoiler|a Batman impersonator}}.

* ''[[Gran Torino]]'' gives you one when Sue returns from the Hmong gangs {{spoiler|brutally raped and beaten}}.

** [[Clint Eastwood]] seems to really like this trope: ''[[Million Dollar Baby]]'' is a story of a waitress who wants to improve her life: she learns how to box and manages to achieve international fame up to fighting for world title {{spoiler|which leaves her a quadriplegic for the last third of the movie}}.

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== Webcomics ==

* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'': Due to Xykon's [[Laughably Evil]] tendencies, it's very easy to assume that he's not that much of a threat. However, during the invasion of {{spoiler|Azure City}}, he swiftly reminds the audience exactly how dangerous he is by {{spoiler|'''KILLING ROY.'''}}.

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', the adventuring group has had a fairly easy time questing and defeating monsters...and then a special [[Monster of the Week]] appears and {{spoiler|ends up killing Pauline..}}.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' is pretty light material... right up until {{spoiler|Jack Noir flips the fuck out and goes on a homicidal rampage,}} promoting himself instantly to [[Big Bad]].

** [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004986 This] also very suddenly demonstrates the darker turn the comic takes in Act 5 Act 2. (Spoilers in link) {{spoiler|Despite the fact that [[Came Back Strong|he gets better]], the main character dies onscreen with basically no warning right after a particularly lighthearted and charming sequence, and the girl who led him there responds with a smiling emoticon.}}

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[[Category:Series Tropes]]

[[Category:Surprise Tropes]]

[[Category:~~Gut Punch~~]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]