Mundane Made Awesome/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Mundane Made Awesome in Anime and Manga include:

  • Death Note loves doing this. You'd be surprised how epic eating chips or writing in a notebook can really be. You obviously aren't trying hard enough. Granted, said notebook is an Artifact of Doom that kills people when their names are written in it, but is dashing across the desk (complete with red/blue after-effects and flaming eyes) really necessary? The manga wasn't anywhere quite as ridiculous with some of these aspects, and it's arguable this is just a result of trying to transfer the striking and stylized visuals possible with individual panels.
    • Mikami Teru takes this even further by making slashing motions with his pen as if it were a sword while writing names in the Death Note while saying "sakujo" ("delete" in the English dub) to himself when he finishes writing a name. A particularly epic sakujo of the anime includes slow motion, a fall backwards, and a very, very joyful look on his face that resembles an orgasm more than a killing. Fanart ensued. The same Sakujo-gasm also has what appear to be large drops of shiny white sweat, with a spotlight on his crotch. seen at the end of this video, which includes every instance of his Catch Phrase.
    • Also, when Mello eats a chocolate bar.
    • While the Japanese version of the potato chip eating was similar, the people dubbing decided to go full out and added freaking maniacal laughter.
    • Epic hugging, 'cause just a hug isn't epic enough.
    • The second ending is one of the best ways to show the trope: Light goes up an elevator, his Note is opened by the wind, he writes a name on it, watches his clock, flies at high speeds, walks calmly across trafic, flies in the opposite direction, and does a Crucified Villian Protagonist Shot over a city... all of that to the rhythm of heavy rock.
    • Death Note seems to have a second premise away from the story: MAKING EVERYTHING EPIC!!!!!!
    • The fact that the tennis match between Light and L didn't turn out more epic than it did is a bit of an anomaly.
  • Dragon Ball Z does this with Tien telling King Kai a joke. Complete with dramatic falling, giant faces, and energy blasts. Even before that, in the dub.

Goku: Why did the chicken... CROSS THE ROAD?!
King Kai: Ahhh! Um... to get to the other side?
Goku: IT WAS TOO FAR TO FLY!!!

Here it's being Played for Laughs.
  • Akagi will freight the outcome of a simple round of Mahjong with an amount of drama and symbolic content roughly on par with the Book of Revelation.
    • The Spiritual Successor, Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, is as advertised.
      • In fact, characters are displacing wind while placing down playing cards and create small tornadoes while pounding down with their fists!
      • Kaiji has a sound effect for silence.
      • To be fair, the "zawa zawa" sound effect tends to be used in cases where the silence comes right after some horrible omen of DEATH AND DOOM.
        • Actually, 'zawa' means "an uneasy atmosphere", but it's roughly equivalent to writing "DOOOOOOOM" in a Western comic.
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam as a whole qualifies with its over-the-top action and World of Ham, but what could possibly exceed them? Fuunsaiki, the only horse with ITS OWN GUNDAM.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! does roughly the same thing with a children's collectible card game. Though in that case, the fate of the characters involved (or even that of the world) really does hang in the balance. Still, the amount of drama that goes into picking up a card and putting it back down is almost laughable.
    • Taken to the next level in the Battle City Arc: apart from the usual dramatic catch phrases and exaggerated arm gestures, the use of an Egyptian God Card also requires Ominous Latin Chanting, lightning flashes and ancient Egyptian laser beams.
    • Lampshaded in an episode during the Battle City arc. Joey and Mako Tsunami were set to duel in what was apparently the local version of Sea World. Since they had an audience (which they shanghaied by somehow interrupting a killer whale show), Joey attempted to play to the crowd by drawing his card in an even more dramatic fashion than usual, pirouetting and rotating like a champion ice skater. Mako interrupts this display of card-drawing prowess by demanding Joey get on with it, after which both duelists continue their duel at the standard, slightly less ridiculous level.
    • And, just like everything else about Yu-Gi-Oh, the Abridged Series lampoons this mercilessly.

Steve Arkana: "Now let's begin by shuffling our cards in a needlessly dramatic fashion."
Yugi: (shuffling his cards with an utmost serious look) "Way ahead of ya."

      • "Oh, my God! A giant rock!"
    • Even the dubbed characters themselves seem to take this trope into consideration when playing:

Adrian: I reveal two of my face downs.
Chazz: But how?
Adrian: Easy, I just call out their names dramatically, and they pop up.

  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Card games... on MOTORCYCLES!
    • Episode 86 brings us guns that turn into duel disks in a western-styled draw. Just flipping a coin to decide who gets the first move isn't nearly dramatic enough.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX does this with the series finale.
  • Duel Masters is almost as bad about this; however, this is intentional, as it's an Affectionate Parody of Yu-Gi-Oh...well, at least the dub is.
  • Lelouch Lamperouge of Code Geass is a textbook example of this. With a fabulous, stylish Batman-esque costume, Lelouch, with his flair and love for drama, fired up his popularity amongst Japanese resistance cells against Britannia with his exaggerated gestures, speeches, and ability to pull off outrageous plans that most would consider suicide. Examples include:
    • The keyboard-controlled Knightmare Frames, which let him show off his AWESOME typing skills. Suck it, GUI. With keyboards that sound like church organs, no less.
    • His mechanical diabolical looking Clothes hanger made in the same aesthetic style as his Zero suit.
    • He makes something as mundane as taking a (very special) contact lens on an off FANTASTIC FABULOUS FABU-LOUCH!
    • Lelouch's habit of being overly dramatic when speaking, using his Geass, or doing anything is mocked by C.C., who asks him why he feels the need to do some overly-dramatic hand gymnastics at some times and going without it at others. His answer boils down to "Shut up," which, ironically, is pretty undramatic.
    • The destruction of the giant pizza. Dramatic chords everywhere, people chasing Euphemia, Suzaku tries calming everyone while the music continues and no! His attention wanders! The pizza is cast onto a tree by accident! Poor C.C.
    • Jeremiah and his MOTHERFUCKING STORM OF LOYALTY!!!
    • Suzaku delivering one of his patented Spinzaku spinkicks, particularly when he makes his entrance as Knight of Zero, the latter capped off with a shit-eating grin.
    • Many racing series make the act of picking up a key, putting it in the ignition, and turning it seem dramatic. This show takes it farther, though, because Suzaku manages to pull this off even though the mecha keys in this show look like (and probably are) flash drives and the ignition looks like a USB port.
    • Lelouch can make the act of fidgeting his hand while holding a chess piece seem dramatic.
    • Whether it's a corded phone that was installed in a bathroom or his cell phone, Lelouch knows how to make answering a phone look stylish.
    • When C.C. bleeds lightly from one finger, then puts a bandage on it, the show makes it seem dramatic. Her blood happens to fall on top of the crown of the black king chess piece, and she stares at that bandage on her ring finger like it's a wedding ring.
  • Hikaru no Go relies on this in order to keep the interest of viewers who aren't familiar with Go.
  • GaoGaiGar combines this with the Invocation in Mission Control, whenever the heroes need to use the Forgotten Superweapon or start a Transformation Sequence:

Taiga: Final Fusion... (points dramatically) APPROVED!
Mikoto: Roger! Final Fusion! (Closes eyes, opens them with determined expression.) Program DriiiiiIIIIIIIIve!
(Mikoto smashes through the "molly-guard" safety glass covering the Big Red Button. Every time. Cue Transformation Sequence for the eponymous Combining Mecha.)

    • Later in the series, she also swipes a keycard to release the Goldion Hammer for use. She does it so epically that one wonders what it looks like when she goes to the ATM!
    • Taiga Koutaro is equally dramatic about turning the key that activates the card reader, but he's the living embodiment of this trope. Later still, he has a key that, when used in tandem with its partner, activates a super weapon that's a Goldion Hammer big enough to extinguish a sun. You can imagine how understated he is when he uses it.
      • Given the situation and stakes, it's a shock that Entouji kepy such a straight face during the transformation of the battleships. (Yeah, the hammer has a tiny handle made of battleships.)
      • Made more hilarious by the fact that the partner key is held by the Prime Minister, a doddering old man who takes forever to retrieve it (fumbling in his coat for a few seconds as he does so), blow on it and then use it as it was intended.
      • Taiga's Golf Driver is made of this, typically over the course of the show, a new weapon or item will appear as a still at the very end of the episode with the narrator telling the audience that "This is the Key to Victory", along with the next episode's Eyecatch giving the specs of said Key to Victory. Koutaro's driver, the aptly named Taiga Wood gets this treatment as well.
    • Also with the introduction of Liger Shishio, Leo's brother. When their Sibling Rivalry gets physical, the narrator actually describes the attacks they use on each other with all the seriousness of Gao Gai Gar's.
  • In Bleach the king of this trope might be Uryuu who occasionally displays lightning-fast, incredibly accurate... sewing skills, complete with the same stern concentration he has when fighting or speaking of quincy pride. It's also applied to him more generally as he'll make his own uniform for battle, solely for the sake of looking cool. He even has a back-up cape just in case the one he's wearing gets damaged.
  • Any time someone tastes the hero's home-made bread in Yakitate!! Japan, it's an event which makes the parting of the Red Sea look minuscule in comparison, replete with dramatic music, flashing lights, and vivid hallucinations. (One might wonder if the hero is actually slipping psychotropic drugs into his creations...)
    • In fact, in one episode Kazuma makes a bread composed mostly of cannabis derivatives... and it was so delicious, the judge who tasted the bread was sent back in time and saved his own mother from Death by Childbirth.
    • Actually, tasting his bread really IS that awesome, since it can have profound effects on reality, such as polymorphing humans, mind control, reversing mind control, creating clones... so this doesn't really fit in the trope.
      • However the anime takes the mundane task of making bread and gives it over-the-top effects. It fits the trope like a glove.
  • Chuuka Ichiban (a.k.a. Cooking Master Boy) lives this trope, as everything from choosing ingredients, through preparation and cooking, to presentation is incredibly over-the-top. And the when unveiled, Mao's food has a blinding Power Glow that fades to reveal... Szechuan cuisine.
  • The trope is taken to its logical extreme with Lucky Star's Meito Anisawa (Anisawa Meito: Ani Me), who turns his pursuit to sell something to "Legendary Girl A" Konata into something almost Dragon Ball-like.
    • Hiyori turns something as simple as tripping into an epic battle for the survival of one's drawing hand.
    • Shopping for trading cards is Serious Business.
    • Konata already has maps, routes, teams, designated locations, and synchronized watches for...a trip to Comiket.
      • Then again; if the crowds at the real Comiket are anything like the ones we saw in that episode, some of that might actually be necessary (maybe without the synchronised watches, but you get my point).
  • In Prince of Tennis, a mere tennis serve is illustrated by a sequence including the extinction of the dinosaurs by a meteor shower of tennis balls. Happily, this means the series about tennis does, indeed, put more drama into tennis than the series about mass murder does.
    • Still not convinced about the nature of the anime? Just gaze at this tennis match which is elevated to Dragonball Z proportions. Words alone fail to describe it.
      • Actually, one of the comments gave a pretty good description. "It feels like Final Fantasy and tennis had a lovechild, and named it Prince of Tennis and let it run free among the DBZ community until it matured into this. "
  • Eyeshield 21 does this a lot too. Although the way techniques in the manga are portrayed in a way such that you realize that the cool effects are purely symbolic, the anime features fast runners becoming surrounded by bright colorful battle auras. Because! Sena is...running! But! Not only is he running! He's running FAST!! The fact that he's sometimes animated running like Shaggy from Scooby Doo makes this even worse.
    • Clearly, you're not a football fan. We see that glowy stuff all the time.
  • Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan plays Sakura-kun's death and resurrection in this manner in the final episode of the first series. Normally, this would be a legitimately dramatic scene... but in this series, this happens at least Once an Episode and is played purely for comedy, so handling it as if it were actually dramatic only makes it funnier -- which was probably their intention.
  • Spoofed ruthlessly in the second season of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei: Itoshiki, tired of casual conversation, tries saying an incredibly casual phrase in an earth-shattering dramatic way. It turns out to be very fun to do, and all of his students take turns saying casual things extremely dramatically. It gets even better when they start practicing extremely dramatic reactions to the above statements.
    • If anyone wants to check, here
    • Chiri, however, subverts this right off the bat in the same scene by saying that she gave her sister a vitamin injection in an overly dramatic tone, acting like it's actually no big deal at all. According to her, it comparatively isn't. She could have injected acid instead, you know.
    • Frankly, Itoshiki-sensei makes remarking that something bugs you into an art form. I'M IN DESPAIR!
  • Minor example, but genre-savvy Haruhi of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fame manages to make a table tennis serve appropriately EPIC. In the same episode, Kyon adds a brief burst of light to placing down what he thinks is a winning Mahjong set.

"GLORY TO THE COMPUTER CLUB!!!"

      • Made even funnier when it constantly swaps between the epic orchestral music and the mundane beep-music of the cheap strategy game in the real world and by the fact that we all know real gamers also act like this!
      • And the fact that she's already Dynamic Entry'd the Computer Club President, followed by saying something like, "The contest begins when your opponent says contest!"

"Kyon, a duel is a duel from the very moment the word is mentioned! Anything the loser says after that is just an excuse!"

    • Are you kidding? Haruhi is the epitome of this trope. Practically everything she does is presented as overly dramatic enthusiastic, even walking into a room.
    • Then we have Suzumiya Haruhi no Gensou, the CD of the concert where the J-pop songs of the series are rearranged and played by none other than the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • The scene when Kyon finally breaks the Endless Eight loop, complete with swelling background music. The most dramatic declaration of unfinished homework ever. Given that the past seven episodes had been almost-exact replays of the first one, it was necessary probably too late.
    • Naturally, Haruhi-chan takes it further, with Death Note-style doodling-as-swordplay and Kyon and Haruhi building balloon-modeling into a fierce battle.
      • The hot blooded dodgeball match between the SOS Brigade and the Computer Society. It helps that Haruhi had unknowingly unlocked everyone's full potential, meaning that the match proceeds in typical shonen style.
    • Disappearance opens with an epic first person struggle to turn off an alarm clock.
  • The fighting manga-esque ping pong battle in Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge (Video available here at the moment).
  • Ever silly, a Recap Episode of Excel Saga had quite possibly the most epic scene of setting up dominoes that has ever been made.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has an Epic match of Rock, Paper, Scissors complete with people floating in the air, windows breaking, powers being stolen from people, and a kid throwing himself in front of a big rig truck because he lost and getting saved by the arrogant manga-ka he was playing against so that the kid couldn't steal his power (which, by the way, is the ability to read people like a book and write commands into people that they have to follow).
    • Earlier in the story there is a epic poker match that involves fighting for souls, people being turned into poker chips and two people trying to out-cheat each other. Oh yeah, and the hero breaks the villain's finger for what seems like nothing at first (but is quickly shown to be interrupting a cheating attempt). The last wager knocks the villain out.
    • Part Two has the chariot race between Joseph and Wham, which involves vampire horses, a giant war-hammer, a pillar being used as a weapon, massive crossbows, Wham blinding himself to avoid being tricked, and several Improbable Aiming Skills. And it truly is awesome.
    • We could just go with the easy route and say everything that in JoJo is this. The only reason it doesn't get into Rule of Cool is because of how utterly crazy everything is, especially the increasingly insane and weird powers which are supposed to be Psychic Powers.
    • In the Steel Ball Run arc, President Valentine bases his entire villainous philosophy around the analogy that at a dinner party, the side one takes their napkin from is determined by the first person to pick one up, with everyone else following their lead. As a result, when things go his way, he's prone to posing dramatically and bombastically proclaiming "I will pick up the napkin!!"
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann pulls out dramatic music and slo-mo at the end of episode 6 when Yoko loses her top.
  • Azumanga Daioh -- Who knew test scores could be so action-packed?

Osaka: Forty-two points!
Kagura: Thirty points!
Tomo: Thirty-one points!
All three: By our three scores combined, we have a hundred and three!

    • In a color chapter of volume 4 of the manga, Tomo, in a daydream sequence about what she would do if she had her classmates' abilities, makes an epic entry into the classroom in which she backflips from the classroom door into her seat, answers a question asked by the teacher, and says she forgot her textbook. Then back in reality, Tomo blames Osaka for the end of her daydream sequence, saying "her powers got mixed in there, and everything got all weird."
      • This scene was adapted into the anime thusly: Tomo announces the disbanding of the Bonkuras/Numbnuts/Knuckleheads, given that she's found a way to get out of being one herself: by stealing Sakaki's athleticism and Chiyo's intelligence. Osaka chimes in, saying that Tomo can have her lateness and forgetfulness. Tomo explains the consequences of absorbing these "abilities" as well, the same as described above for the manga. Osaka apologizes for these additions.
    • The very act of splitting chopsticks is made into Serious Business.
    • The series runs off the trope.
      • The logical conclusion: Osaka's first scene makes even the simple act of walking into a room worthy of several dramatic close-ups and a Bishie Sparkle.
    • Tomo was once so impressed with Osaka's yawning that she got all Hot-Blooded about it and decided Osaka should open a "yawning dojo". It turns out that yawning practice on the roof in the afternoon is a great way to fall asleep...
  • Black Jack is to Medicine what Phoenix Wright is to Law. Never will you find more epic surgery prep than in this anime.
    • Team Medical Dragon and Godhand Teru. If these mangas are to be believed, performing surgery is the next most badass thing after being a ninja.
  • The first episode of FLCL shows CPR in Bullet Time. We're then told by the characters that it was shot in real time.
  • Like the Bleach example above, Gunnm: Last Order fetches at least one instance of supersonic needle point, but that hardly holds a candle to two battle androids engaging in a truly epic round of thumb wrestling supplemented with flip kicks and century old Martian kung-fu.
  • A frequently used comedic trope in Ranma ½. See: Fine Dining Martial Arts, Takeout Delivery Martial Arts, Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts, Tea Ceremony Martial Arts, Calligraphy Martial Arts...and so on.
    • "I will NEVER forgive this offense of the CURRY BREAD!"
    • Taro might fit into this trope as well. His main goal in life is to replace the front half from his Embarrassing First Name, "Pantyhose Taro", but all of his chosen replacements are attempts to take Awesome McCoolname literally, and thusly just as stupid- "Mr. Cool Taro", "Awesome Taro", et cetera.
    • Ranma himself lampshades the tendencies of other martial artists to do this by giving fancy flowery names to maneuvers such as "Ultimate Serenity Strike" or the like and later agreeing quite calmly that it was "just a backrub."
  • Keroro Gunsou parodies the living daylights out of this trope. About once an episode, Keroro tries to turn his dialogue into a dramatic declamation... about vacuuming... or model building... or going to the toy store...
  • Employed several times in Full Metal Panic!? Fumoffu
    • In the hot springs episode: Kurz Weber's Lovable Sex Maniac antics collide with Sousuke's always-excessive security measures, with epic results. Kurz delivers 2 "inspirational" speeches to Sousuke's classmates, the 2nd of which sends Kazama into SEED mode.
    • One episode of season 1 features Humongous Mecha engaging in fierce battles of tug-o-war and ping-pong.
    • From Fumoffu?, the epic, Rousing Speech-ifying, Full Metal Jacket-channeling, (literally) jaw-shattering Rugby match.
    • The 2nd episode of Fumoffu features an epic dash, complete with athletic moves, zooming and epic posing, all just to buy a loaf of bread from a lunch stand.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • Colonel Roy Mustang loves dogs.
    • The Colonels epic TINY MINISKIRTS! line.
    • EVERYTHING Alex Louis Armstrong does. EVERY SINGLE FREAKING THING. With sparkles of AWESOME included. This epicness has been passed down through the ♥♥♥ ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS!!! ♥♥♥ Taken Up to Eleven in the new anime when he and Sieg Curtis perform the MOST. AWESOME. Brofist. EVER. Complete with pec flexes and Bishie Sparkle, WHILE BEATING UP SLOTH, while a deep-voiced male chorus sings in the background.
    • Ed doesn't understand why nobody else appreciates his... ahem... unique aesthetics.
  • The dodgeball match in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha supplementary manga of the second season, which had Fate vowing to protect Nanoha, performing a Super Jump to keep said promise, and having a final showdown with Suzuka, who had now been completely absorbed in the competitive atmosphere ("As expected from Fate-chan!"), complete with internal Combat Commentary. It ended with Fate losing both the match and her consciousness after Suzuka successfully countered her nigh-impossible to dodge attack, which was depicted in slow-mo.

Arf: ...what kind of strength does that kid have...?
Amy: I wouldn't expect any less from one of Nanoha-chan's friends.

  • The third episode of Welcome to The NHK turns googling porn into a magnificently epic adventure on the high seas.
    • Before that it made Satou looking through uncensored hentai game CG sets (and some other stuff) as astounding to the audience as it is to him by punctuating reaching the end with giant explosions. Lampshaded when a note on the screen says this is an imaginary screen.
  • Kyoko Mogami, the heroine of Skip Beat!, is prone to exaggeration and flights of fancy. For a talent demonstration, she opts to peel a radish with what amounts to BURNING SPIRIT, complete with intense roaring and dilated eyes
  • Digimon Tamers, where nearly every main character has a different, epic, method to slide a card through their Digivice, complete with fancy card spinning and flipping, and kung-fu moves. The payoff comes in the form of two sequences which come close to being actually epic, including a split-screen triple slash, and the final one where all four mains slash the same card.
    • There is a mega-crossover fanfic that included Tamers that lampshades this. One character slashes their card slowly and carefully to avoid damaging it, and nothing happens. The device explains to them that the effectiveness of a card depends on how quickly it is slashed. Hearing this, another character does a fancy spin before slashing, and their card is much more effective.
  • The Ramen King subplot in episode eight of Kemeko Deluxe turns eating ramen into Serious Business.
  • Crocus's abuse of the dramatic moment, part of one of the more bizarre episodes of One Piece. Also Lampshade Hanging.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Water Gun fights and Zombie Tags are awesome to many viewers. However, they are rather over-exaggerated.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei episode 1: Who would've thought that taking off Keiichi's trunks would be Serious Business. Takano's Kunai Syringes, Ciel's Black Keys Chie's T-squares, the Yamainu lurking in the pool, Oishi's riot police, Kasai's stun grenade among many others. Oh, and Keiichi's fur seal. The fighting is like in Daybreak.
  • Kurozuka's anime gives us the incredible, breath-taking, five-minute 'throwing a bag of excrement into the river' scene. I really wish I was just making that up.
    • There is also a scene later on where Karuta gets rather too into making hotpot before the big battle, complete with dramatic beats and zooms.
  • The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok manga had a scene where the eponymous character taught the others how to drink milk... awesomely. Possibly referencing the Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time example in the video games section.
  • The last episode of Macademi Wasshoi features an intensive manga drawing scene complete with evil overlord pencil techniques, maniacal laughs, and pencils leaving streak marks across the sky... all too similar to a certain other anime.
  • General Hengel in Tentai Senshi Sunred takes on even the most boring of everyday tasks -- like buying furniture -- with an incredible seriousness and lightning effects in the background. His subordinate sees him as slightly loony, but is loyal nonetheless.
  • School Rumble LIVES off this trope
  • Saki has Mahjong played with dramatic camera angles, speed lines, flashing lights, and gusts of wind. Being able to get plus-minus zero score every time is pretty awesome and somewhat inhuman, but that is just the beginning. It's not just dramatic music and lighting, this turns it Up to Eleven in ways you would not imagine. Winged creatures, transformation and lightning are only the beginning. Good luck understanding any of the actual mahjong play except through context, but it is frikkin' epic.
  • What terrifying event upon the Flying Pussyfoot drives Isaac and Miria to horrified tears? It's not the hijackers, or the apparent appearance of the Rail Tracer. Nor is it the mutilated, unrecognizable corpses scattering the train cars. The truly terrifying thing is the sudden realization that they forgot to get Ennis a present! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
    • Poor Firo is extremely confused when he discovers that attempting to question, examine, or touch the huge, elaborate domino design Isaac, Miria, and the rest of his assorted friends have constructed will earn him a thorough scolding. He's quickly drawn into the fun of it though.
  • Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club explains the ways of the common people in this fashion. In the first episode, he gets a round of applause for announcing he's going to give instant coffee a try, to the bafflement of Haruhi.
  • In the Pokémon anime, releasing a Pokémon onto the battlefield is often done with great emphasis, and a flashy background. When contests were introduced, it got a little more flashy. Thanks to a new contest upgrade in the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games though (which then got introduced in the anime too), releasing a Pokémon into a contest now is similar to setting off several large, bright, fireworks -- all at the same time.
  • It looks like the Gintama anime learned a few things about this trope from Death Note (even throwing in a shinigami at the end), seeing how it kicked off its 3rd season with what else but tactical warfare over...who'd get to eat sukiyaki?
    • Whoever "won" would become the "nabe shogun/emperor".
    • How about the psychological warfare over toilet paper during Kyuubei Arc?
    • Or the rousing speech on the epic truth of Strawberry Milk. ICHIGO GYUNYU!!
    • Hijikata actually does the dramatic writing thing (and possibly to an even more dramatic extent than Light) when helping Shinpachi write a letter.
    • The time the Yorozuya trio broke into Hattori's house to dramatically cook fried rice. To an awesome soundtrack no less.
  • On an episode of Mars Daybreak, the Ship of Aurora is trapped on a drained dock and Earth troopers are trying to cut their way in. The Captain calls to deploy the "Elizabeth Cannon." The rest of the crew suddenly get Oh Crap looks on their faces and promptly cover their ears to prepare for the weapon's deployment... which consists of the captain (Elizabeth) yelling in the loudspeaker at the top of her lungs with the external loudspeakers turned all the way up. Don't laugh, it worked.
  • Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie uses extreme close-ups, cuts to amazed onlookers and inspirational music when Ryu ties his headband on.
  • Everything about Captain Tsubasa is done in awesome fashion with slow-motion and special effects. To count -- soccer balls catching on fire, shoots that are strong enough to rip clothing and send an adversary flying, inner monologues that sometimes evolve to mental dialogues, special kicks that need to be shouted before used...
    • Altough nothing compares to the awesomeness that are Kojiro Hyuga's training sessions. To learn a new kind of special kick, he usually has to shoot balls through waves on a beach or shoot balls to pierce through trees by summoning lightning. I'm dead serious.
  • More than one moment in Medabots, but especially when Ikki inserts Metabee's medal in its body. Seriously, I know it's his soul and everything, but is camera rotating, excessive posing and shouting really necessary to show a kid inserting something in a robot?
    • Did you know that Mr Referee has a way of dealing with rule-breakers? He calls upon a satellite to get justice! With a blow gun! And knock out darts!
  • Cowboy Bebop gives us the best way to get rid of a fridge ever, with sparkles and orchestral music to boot. Then Ed eats the monster that's been attacking them. Seriously.
  • Samurai Champloo shows us that learning to read IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima gives us one of the most epic arm wrestling matches ever. It blasts a hole in the floor.
  • Rust Blaster manages to turn getting to the cafeteria first into a combination race/battle for survival, complete with the main character fighting off five guys at once to get the best meal possible.
  • Wouldn't debate competitions be so much more interesting if they were as bright and shiny as the red and blue text in Umineko no Naku Koro ni? This is so far more true in the VN than in the anime. In the VN, they'll show bright sword slashes flying through the dark while intense music like Dread of the Grave or Dreamenddischarger plays.
    • Umineko Chiru has Dlanor and Battler actually having a SWORD FIGHT with their respective truths...and it's pretty epic especially when Battler decides to whip out the Gold Sword of Truth and completely trump her.
  • Onani Master Kurosawa is Death Note but with fapping. Yes, really.
  • Kami no Shizuku combines the truly epic act of decanting wine with Engrish. Decantering from such a height... Incredible...
  • Black Butler's Sebastian Michaels. THAT IS ALL.
    • Alois Trancy, the new master, destroying some egg yolk while having a little speech about how pitiful sunny-side up eggs are. Add in that it's one of his psychological complexes and has an underlying prelude to the loss of Hannah's eye, it's creepy awesome.
    • Ronald Knox popping up at the end of the Circus Arc with his Death Scythe. I mean, come on, it's a freaking lawn mower that reaps souls. Who knew that'd be so cool?
    • Baldo cooking.
    • And who knew photography could be so... explosive?
    • Making curry is Serious Business.
  • The World Only God Knows has Keima's Capturing God Mode, which pushes his concentration and stamina to increase his speed times six, to a point where he loses three years of his life for every hour he uses it (his words). And what is this awesome technique used for? Playing Dating Sims.
  • Super Milk-chan. BELGIAN WAFFLLLLLSSSS!
  • Comic Party is this trope. The entire plot centers around drawing and selling doujin, and about half the cast is constantly screaming about how awesome it is.
  • The Legend of Koizumi, in which all world politics are decided by mahjong. At several points characters have set themselves on fire from sheer hotbloodedness of playing mahjong. The Vatican team refer to it as "man's attempt to recreate Genesis".
    • The pope does just this in his first match against the eponymous character. The resulting mahjong plays are so powerful that it causes koizumi to collapse and bleed from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
  • Cyborg Grandpa G gives us dramatic farming. It doesn't help that Grandpa thinks that explosives and flechettes are appropriate farming tools... which actually does make it awesome.
  • Mikado Ryugamine uses the internet so epically that his mouse catches on fire. If you've ever wondered why your mouse has yet to catch fire during your epic internet browsing, that's because you have never weaponized Anonymous.
  • Seikon no Qwaser goes beyond Fan Service to frame breastfeeding as the centerpiece of ACTION! Surrounded by swarms of flashing blades, whirling ribbons of clothes, spiraling chains, flashes and beams of light and the moon itself! Pretty stirring music, too.
  • Mayoi Neko Overrun's Onsen Episode gave us badass ping-pong playing (Though sandwiched in it there was a minute of Padding)
    • Episode 8 brings in the director of Saki to deliver a spot-on parody via the medium of Epic Jenga.
  • The snowball fight in episode 19 of ×××HOLiC. Too awesome to spoil with extra words.
  • Soul Eater has an episode devoted entirely to the main characters taking a test. The whole thing is made of this trope, but some stand out moments include Soul's AWESOME CHEATING SKILLS, Patty's AWESOME GIRAFFE MAKING/KILLING SKILLS and Liz's AWESOME HAIR PLUCKING SKILLS. And then, just when it couldn't get anymore awesome, Black☆Star's AWESOME AUTOGRAPH, written in blood, with a backing track of heavy metal.
    • What do you mean it couldn't get anymore awesome? Death the Kidd suffers, sweats, cries and finally dies for not being able to WRITE A PERFECTLY SYMMETRIC LETTER "K". Also, his pencil broke and his testpaper ripped.
  • In the universe of Princess Tutu, ballet is a force of pure badass. Yes, ballet. Check it out. Did we mention this show is better than it sounds?
  • Escaflowne features an ultra-dramatic scene complete with Ominous Latin Chanting where a city-sized Fate Alteration Engine is used by the bad guys to...make the heroine fall in love with a different man. Requiring The Dragon to make out with one of his Catgirl minions to boot to achieve the effect. The result is hilariously Narmful
  • Rio -Rainbow Gate!- turns casino games into something on par with Yu-Gi-Oh!. A game of poker is represented with Rio talking to the cards in some sort of flowery dreamspace while her opponent summons giant charred slabs of cards down from the heavens. Casinos are loud and over the top already, Rio just makes it more so.
    • Oh it gets better. In the 2nd episode, they get to compete using a gigantic roulette with the symbolism as volleyball.
    • In episode 5, the most extreme slide ever. Seriously.
    • A flying casino.
  • Might Guy and Rock Lee of Naruto live this trope. No matter how they are viewed by their fellow shinobi or how unnerving their appearances have become over the years, NOTHING CAN EXTINGUISH THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH!!!
    • After a long and anticipated wait, Naruto brings you Kakashi Hatake vs Might Guy... at rock-paper-scissors.
  • In Clannad, Akio is the main source of this, often grabbing things and drawing out a baseball bat in a dramatic way with Speed Stripes, whoosh sound and all.
  • There was a ping pong match in Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru featuring Tatsuno Toshiko and Haribara Harue, with Badass Narration and music that belonged in the Crowning Music of Awesome section. It was one of the most epic moments in the Slice of Life genre.
  • Nichijou is full of this trope Played for Laughs. A robot girl that's chasing a cat accidentally bumps into a boy, AND CREATES A ATOMIC EXPLOSION THAT DESTROYS TOKYO! And a dropped piece of sausage is a world shaking, life or death event.
    • The bulk of the Mundane Made Awesome tends to go to the schoolgirl trio of Mio, Yuuko, and Mai. Besides the above, scenes featuring the little kid professor, wind up robot girl, and talking cat are generally far more mundane.
  • Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? has an series of epic games of Jenga, Mahjong, Twister and others, all for a cup of pudding.
  • C the Money And Soul of Possibility, seeing as it's a show about financial transactions carried out by way of elaborate shounen-style battles on an Eldritch and Technicolour Background. And then about halfway through the real Mind Screw sets in.
  • Inuyasha versus bicycle. With the main battle theme playing. Incidentally, the bike wins.
  • Cardfight Vanguard, being a card game anime, naturally runs with this. Any time a character rides a new Vanguard, it usually involves them dramatically slamming the card down onto the playing field. And then the sequences on Cray proceed to take it Up to Eleven.
  • Ben-To is a show about epic gang fights for... discount lunchboxes. But it's awesome.
    • Even the weapons are awesome from Ayame's Dual Wielding Chopsticks, to Monarch's One-handed cart swinging and finally Orthus's shopping baskets Speed Blitzzes.
  • The grand poo-bah of this trope could very well be the senseless wonder that goes on in every episode of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, from using one's nose hairs as a fighting style, making people bald Serious Business, constant Mind Screw, letting loose a surreal world inside the main character's afro, holding contests out of blowing into fans, super power-inducing jackets, using farts as weapons of doom, and on top of that, being so purely and utterly random ANYTHING can be transformed into an captivating battle- such as hanging upside down from bungee cords or just sleeping! Even facing an enemy with geometry-based powers can become epic- because when you're Bobobo, you can shut those 3-D-reliant moves down by turning reality into a literal 2-D video game!
  • Bakemonogatari gives us Koyomi brushing Karen's teeth. Epic toothbrushing.
  • High School DxD gives us the debut of one of Issei's primary powers he'll use later on called "Dress Break." The anime turned this debut Up to Eleven when it had Ominous Latin Chanting music playing while he spreads his demon wings out.
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