Non-Lethal Warfare: Difference between revisions

In [[Real Life]], [[War Is Hell|warfare is hardly an entertaining and carefree experience]], and [[Harmful to Minors|can seriously mess with kids' heads]]... [[Child Soldier|not to mention their bodies]]. However, warfare and fighting can easily make for good, clean fun in entertainment media, and is often marketed to children. Most parents and [[Media Watchdogs]] are okay with media portraying '''Non-Lethal Warfare''', regardless of the nature of the combat, its origins, the fridge logic or the unfortunate implications it may engender. No matter how lethal the weapons are, how dangerous the environment is, what the attitudes to enemy combatants and civilians are, [[Bloodless Carnage|no-one gets hurt]] and no-one dies. At least, not on-screen.

Compare with [[Bloodless Carnage]]. Contrast with how [[Snowball Fight|Snowball Fights]]s and [[Paintball Episode|Paintball Matches]] are [[Played for Laughs]] with exceedingly 'gory' acting from the participants, especially when those involved act excessively militarily. Compare ''and'' contrast [[Nobody Can Die]], where death is a narrative impossibility even when dealing with explicitly deadly weapons and situations.

* In ''[[Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual]]'', the war between the UN and the Rara Army is deliberately handled this way, with either side surrendering before the risk of serious losses. Of course, nobody tells the protagonist Kazuki this before his first battle -- whatbattle—what, and spoil the angst?

* Zigzagged in [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]. The fluff details horrifically violent conflicts in the distant past featuring -- amongfeaturing—among other things -- [[Night of the Living Mooks|armies of cyborg zombies]], universe-destroying starships, and [[Person of Mass Destruction|human WMDs]] under every freaking rock, all used at one point or another in a series of interdimensional wars which lasted thousands of years and devastated countless universes. It's enough to make a [[Warhammer 40000|Space Marine]] wince. However the main series takes place over 100 years after the end of those wars and the Time-Space Administration Bureau has outlawed mass-based kinetic weapons in favor of magic-based weapons, the logic there being that magic can be set to stun living targets even when it's being used to level buildings [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|or blast halfway through the interior of an ancient starship]]. The titular character follows this religiously as does most of the main cast, but several characters die anyways even with these weapons in use. And then there's the ''Force'' manga, which features a team of villains who are completely immune to magic, forcing the good guys to ditch the stun guns and use perfectly lethal magic-powered kinetic weapons against them. But that's okay, [[Good Thing You Can Heal|they can regenerate]].

* The ''[[Sonic Sat AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' cartoon ("SatAM" to fans) was set in a world where the heroes were a small band of [[La Résistance|Freedom Fighters]] fighting against difficult odds, so they had to have some losses. However, they also could [[Never Say "Die"]]. The solution? Robotnik's main way of disposing of his enemies was to "roboticize" them--thatthem—that is, use a machine to turn them into mindless robots that would follow his orders. This was very effective, as the person's personality essentially "died", and they were also forced against their will to act as Robotnik's soldiers. Robotnik's forces also used laser weapons, but predictably, they never caused any fatal damage.

* ''[[Spiral Zone]]'' justified this trope in its premise, since the "Zoner" [[Mooks]] are all [[Mind Control|Mind Controlled]]led innocents; the heroes want to save them, and the villains want as many warm bodies as they can get.