Kiai: Difference between revisions

[[File:cit_Jojos_Bizarre_Adventure_cit Jojos Bizarre Adventure -_dio_stick_figure_wryyyyyy dio stick figure wryyyyyy.jpg|link=Jo JoJoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|frame]]

{{quote|'''Huge:''' RRARRRRRR AARRR RRARRGG ARRRRG GGRRAAAR!<br />

The kiai[[Kiai]] is [[Kung Foley]] done with your mouth. Often associated with stereotypical anime and [[Martial Arts Movie]] genre, the technique involves shouting, grunting or screaming while posing or fighting to audibly demonstrate your bone-crushing power.

* ''Manga/Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]:'' "Wryyyyyy!" (pronounced "ree", to rhyme with "tree") is a battle-cry that many vampires use, though it is most famously attributed to [[Big Bad]] Dio Brando and commonly parodied in fandoms (much like "[[Time Stop|Za Warudo]]"). The picture above comes from a stick figure animation of Dio's [[Finishing Move]] in a Capcom [[Fighting Game]] of the series. Bear in mind, [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|it's rarely spelled that way in the manga]].

*** Likewise EnRyu in ''[[Gao Gai GarGaoGaiGar]]'', listen closely whenever he rapid-fires his weapon. It sometimes carries over to [[Cho Ryu Jin]], too.

* ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]''

*** The editing of the clip suggests some reuse of the best voice take-- buttake—but I still hope he got a few days off to recuperate.

* [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in ''[[Bleach]]'' prior to the Soul Society arc by Orihime and Chad, who, while receiving training under Yoruichi to tap into their latent spiritual powers, initally believed that executing the trope was necessary.

* ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' has the characters let out bloodcurdling screams for ''every'' occasion, passing [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]] ''real'' fast and going straight into the best (or worst - depending on [[Serious Business|your sense of humor versus your emotional investment in the show]].) [[Narm]] the franchise has to offer. It eventually reached the point where, when the main character got another [[Evolutionary Levels|Evolutionary Level]] near the end, the American voice actor actually refused to voice the new form - the strain of all the screaming that would be involved was more than he wanted to put his voice through.

* ''[[Turn aA Gundam (Anime)|Turn a Gundam]]'' gave us [[Large Ham|Harry Ord]] and his ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aKeU2NqWrE UNIVEEEEEEEEEEERSSSSEEEE!]''

** And in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]''.

* ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|G Gundam]]'' is a much older example from the same franchise. Also, there have been few fights [[Hot-Blooded]] Graham Aker did not begin with one of them.

* Like [[Martial Arts and Crafts|many other things]], kiais are weaponized in ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2½]]'': the devastating ''Yamasenken'' school (created by Genma, [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|of all people]]) typically opens by yelling "'''DON'T MOVE!!'''" at the top of one's lungs. It is powerful enough to stun not just seasoned martial artists like Ranma, but even rampaging ''bears''. It is at this point that the practitioner moves in with a tree-felling kick.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Monkey D. Luffy usually does this whenever he delivers the final blow to his opponents, even so much that [[Christopher Sabat]] ([[FUNimation]] VA for Zoro) feels sorry for Colleen Clinkenbeard (Funimation VA for Luffy) whenever he sees such a [[Kiai]] scene for Luffy, since Colleen will inevitably have to dub that scene later on.

* It's more of a [[Verbal Tic]], but in [[Kenichi: theThe Mightiest Disciple]], Apachai Hopachai has a tendency to yell "APAPAPAPA!" constantly when he's fighting (or training, though [[Training Fromfrom Hell|he has a tough time differentiating between the two]]). Kenichi himself does this at one point when imitating Apachai.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]? Fumoffu!'' when Sousuke (as Bonta-kun) is training yakuza. He tells them to not waste movement and ''not'' to yell while attacking (this is all [[Pokémon-Speak|translated]] by Kaname).

{{quote| -- '''Dex''', ''[[Masked Rider]]''}}

** [[Kamen Rider Fourze (TV)|Kamen Rider Meteor]] does this quite frequently. Justified as he's actually a martial artist, however.

* The ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' have never studied the effects of a kiai-style outburst on fighting ability, but they do play it straight from time to time when swinging weapons around or punching things ([[For Science!]]). Ironically while testing the efficacy of samurai armor, Kari noted that the urge to shout wordlessly while swinging a sword is almost involuntary.

* Orks in ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' love screaming "WAAAGH!" at the top of their lungs as they charge into battle. And it's not just their [[Battle Cry]].

** Also it should be noted that WAAAGH! is their word for war--yeswar—yes, the exclamation points are part of the word.

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' 1st Edition supplement ''Oriental Adventures''. The samurai class had a special ability: they could focus their ki and use a kiai (a loud, fierce shout) to raise their strength to superhuman levels for one round of combat.

* ''[[Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan]]'' is all about Kiai. C'mon.

** This particular cry is definitely [[Older Than They Think]], being used at least as far back as ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|G Gundam]]'' (1994).

** Other proud users of the 'CHESTO!' kiai includes [[Super Robot Wars|Kaguya Nanbu]], [[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|Sai Saici]], [[Art of Fighting|Takuma Sakazaki]], [[Samurai Warriors|Shimazu Yoshihiro]], [[Blaz BlueBlazBlue|Bang Shishigami]], [[Street Fighter|Makoto]], etc...

* Multiple characters in the ''[[Tales Series(series)]]'' do this, usually when performing a [[Limit Break|Mystic Arte/Hi-Ougi]].

** In particular, Stahn from ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]]'' yells his head off before performing any of his many hi-ougis, and uses a typical stance while doing it.

* Imperial Warriors in ''[[Command and& Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'' when using their special ability (pulling out their [[Laser Blade|beam katanas]]) they will scream UIYAAAAAAAH!

* Shouts of this nature are the only "dialogue" Link, protagonist of ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, gets, other than "Hey!", "Com'on!" and [[It Makes Sense in Context|"Meow!"]]

* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''.

* ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'': "Sine! Cosine! Tangent!"

* Fei Long from ''[[Street Fighter]]'' runs his status as a [[Bruce Lee Clone]] into the ground with his high-pitched shrieks every time he throws a punch. A [[Street Fighter (Franchise)/Memes|running joke]] among the community is, "What does Fei Long love to drink? 'WA-TAAA!!'"

* In the Wii version of ''[[Punch -Out!!]]'', Great Tiger gets his own yell in his Title Defense version of the Mirage Dance, made even more epic due to the camera switching positions on him immediately following up with him creating a cyclone of illusions. '''SALZARAAAAAAAAH!'''

* Being a [[Hot-Blooded|hot-blooded]] martial artist, Mr. Champloo of ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' is prone to yelling, both in and out of combat. When he has something important to say, or is arriving on the scene, he frequently makes himself known with a loud "Kiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!".

* Furio Tigre in ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'', in keeping with his name, will outright roar when angry. At the end of the case he roars so loudly he blows out the lights in the courtroom.

* The (first) default name for Ness's Favorite Thing in ''[[EarthboundEarthBound|Mother 2]]'', which just shows you what you already knew: Boys in Japanese media like nothing more than to [[Dragonball Z|yell for seemingly hours on end]] before attacking.

* Balrog from ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' shouts "Doryaaaa!" in the original Japanese, often enough that it's his [[Catch Phrase]]. The [[Fan Translation]] rendered this battlecry as "Huzzah!", while the Wiiware version translated it as "Oh yeah!"

* Subverted in the [[Nancy Drew (Videovideo Gamegame)|Nancy Drew]] game ''Danger By Design'', in that the villain's use of this trope actually gives Nancy clues about what attack the culprit is about to make, allowing the player to block each blow.

* Yoshimo from [[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] II does one of these when he lands a critical hit.

* A number of characters do this in ''[[Blaze Union]]'', but Garlot is the worst offender--heoffender—he even has a "screaming" dialogue portrait. It got to the point that when the opening movie was being made, [[Kosuke Toriumi|his voice actor]] specifically requested that there be a scene with Garlot's kiai in there.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', we have [[Bare-Fisted Monk|Yang]]'s (and the rest of Fabul's monks') [[Narm|narmilliciousnarm]]illicious "ACHOOOO!" Later translations restored their honor by making it simply "KIAI!"

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', the PC is able to unleash special Shouts that have various effects, from sending the enemy flying backwards to dealing straight-up fire damage to freezing them solid.

* In ''[[Road Rovers (Animation)|Road Rovers]]'', Colleen often did this, but in the form of pop culture references and various celebrity names (e.g., "Sharon...STONE!!!").

* Used occasionally while practicing by various characters in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', particularly [[Playing Withwith Fire|firebenders]], since "power in firebending comes from the breath." It's somewhat less prevalent in actual combat.

{{quote| '''Zuko''': Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!}}

* Occasionally seen in [[Useful Notes/Mixed Martial Arts|Mixed Martial Arts]], though not that often. A notable example would be Joe Stephenson in his fight with BJ Penn. He loudly kiai'd with almost every strike he threw, leading to repeated shouts of "Arsh! Arsh! Arsh!" He lost.