Harsh Word Impact: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

This is mainly a [[Manga]] trope, though it's also used in anime. Someone says something, and the object of the statement is stabbed by an arrow emerging from the speech bubble or legend, because it's almost always an uncomfortable truth or [[Brutal Honesty]]. Quite often the person is knocked off their feet. Usage:

 

 

 

Usually delivered by a [[Metafictional Device]]. If the speaker is ''actually'' hitting the victim in sync with each word, that's [[Punctuated Pounding]], not this trope. Compare [[Words Can Break My Bones]], where the words have some literal magic power behind them.

== Anime And Manga ==

 

** In ''[[Negima Second Season]]'', Makie gets hit in the head by huge characters for 'Crushed' every time Ayaka yells at her (which is a lot).

* Keitaro of ''[[Love Hina]]'', when Su asks if it's true he can't get a girlfriend, gets stabbed by Su's speech balloon.

** Strangely, in the French translation, the sound effect makes it sound like he's ''slapped'' by the balloon. Though to be fair, we don't have a sound/unsound effect for stabbing.

* Happens a lot in ''[[Perfect Girl Evolution]]''. Sunako, in particular, has a tendency to reel back whenever the word 'ugly' gets bandied about. In one particular episode, when this is combined with guilt, she ends up walking around with a lot of 'arrows' stuck in her... until Takenaga delivers a particularly pointed barb that demonstrates that her thoughtlessness was very similar to the same comment that, years back, crushed her self-confidence and turned her into a withdrawn, horror-obsessed loner... at which point a giant arrow descends from space, obliterating the entire mansion. REALLY painful realization, apparently.

* In ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' this happens to Tamaki when he first meets Renge and she calls him "stupid, narcissist, incompetent, commoner, [and] disgusting".

** In another episode, he gets hit with a speech bubble when Haruhi cracks open a crab leg.

** This also happens to Tamaki in the first episode of the live-action adaptation, when Haruhi calls him "annoying".

* In the manga version of ''[[Disney Fairies|Vidia and the Fairy Crown]]'', Vidia shouts directly in the ear of another character, causing the (jagged) speech balloon to go straight [[In One Ear, Out the Other|through his ear canals and come out the other side]].

* Takamizawa gets this treatment in ''[[Midori Days]]'', when Seiji says he doesn't remember him.

* Done a few times in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', such as an early chapter where Tamama wonders why the Keron invasion was suddenly canceled, and Keroro looks awkward as a caption reading "[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|His Fault]]" appears, with a pointing arrow poking him in the back of the head.

* Happens in the manga version of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', when Botan informs Yusuke that the boy he died saving from a car accident would have been miraculously unharmed if Yusuke hadn't intervened. Yusuke is hit by falling kana as Botan remarks on how pointless his death was, and how stupid he must feel.

* In [[Kung Fu Chaos]], Shao Ting's special move is to scream criticisms down his megaphone as people, which turns the words into a massive laser beam.

* A comedic ''[[Code Geass]]'' manga has Lelouch react this way whenever people talk about his [[Non-Action Guy|lack of physical fitness]]. [[Hot Scientist|Rakshata]]'s out-and-out insulting and [[The General|Tohdoh]]'s attempt to be polite both affect him like a punch to the face, while Suzaku's unintentionally [[Brutal Honesty]] results in actual arrows striking him in the chest and knocking him down.

* ''[[Silver Spoon]]'''s Hachiken becomes Vice-President of the Equestrian Club. Later, they adopt a dog... and name it Vice-President. When the girl Hachiken likes scolded the dog, he reacted like her words were physical blows. With blood splatter and, eventually, explosions.

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* Happens in volume 2 of ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]''. When Knives admits she's in love with Scott (who is trying to break up with her), the world "love" forms a cloud that smacks Scott in the face.

 

 

== Video Games ==

 

 

== Web Animation ==

 

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}