Non Sequitur Scene/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Sometimes, due to the nature of the medium, it's hard to spot moments in manga or anime that just seem to come out of left field.

  • In Junjou Romantica, Miyagi, straight up until that point, suddenly grabbing a heartbroken Hiroki and attempting to kiss him. He never showed any serious interest in him before, and it's never mentioned again afterwards.
  • The entire Island/Africa arc of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, aside from being badly animated, has plenty of such moments, from King's "human-like" antics to Jean's extended dream of building inventions to caves with hallucinogetic mushrooms to races between two mechanical lions resembling King to misadventures in a (badly stereotyped) tribal village. None of which are ever referenced again by the time the show recovers at Episode 35. (Only exceptions: parts of episode 30 and most of 31, which even director Hideaki Anno admits would have saved out of the twelve "filler" episodes.)
  • The Kanamemo episode "My First Diet" was a fairly normal episode... until the ending. Haruka gets arrested and is seen in jail, even (no reason was given, but given her lecherous personality...), but it's all back to normal on the next episode.
  • Legend of Galactic Heroes, of all things, manages to get one in early in its second season, in the form of a bizarre sequence where Reinhard and Kircheis turn into angels and fly away into the sunset. It lasts all of five seconds, comes out of nowhere right during the middle of another character's speech, and has absolutely no bearing on the plot at hand (Reinhard and Kircheis both remain firmly on and in the latter's case, in the ground afterwards).
    • Worth noting that this is not actually something that happened. It was the illustration of a metaphor about their relationship, which is what Annerose was talking about. The "wings" metaphor recurs now and then throughout the series, though never again accompanied by the weird-as-hell imagery.
    • In the third season, we cut to a scene of Dusty in a fancy pirate outfit complete with a pirate hat with a large feather and a hook hand. We never see this outfit again. Ever. And no one mentions it.
  • In the Pokémon anime, Ash gets turned into a Pikachu by a magic spell that was supposed to make him capable of understanding Pokémon language (which, oddly, it doesn't; he still talks normally in that state). The transformation lasts the last 3 minutes of the episode and the first 3 seconds of the next—at which point it wears off. Totally irrelevant to the show's plot, and after it wears off, it's never mentioned again.
    • The episode "Island of the Giant Pokémon" features a scene where, after having endured an encounter with a giant mechanical Rhydon, Ash's Pokémon and Team Rocket's Pokémon are suddenly crying and drinking away their troubles at a oden stand that's attended by a Slowbro. The next morning they wake up in a completely different area and the Slowbro oden stand never explained or referenced again. In the Japanese version of that episode, there are captions translating the Pokémon's speech. Basically, the point of the scene is that the Pokémon are acting like stereotypical salarymen, going out late drinking with their coworkers and commiserating about their jobs. It's never explained or referenced again in that version either.
    • Also, near the end of the episode "The Case Of The K-9 Caper!", Jigglypuff just walks right in the middle of a semi-climactic scene and sings for 4 seconds (which surprisingly brings no one to sleep), then just walks off. Save for an off comment made by Ash immediately after (and a meaningless hook at the end of the episode), this has nothing to do with the episode at all, making it more of an extreme case of both this and Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
  • The sing-along sequence in the Love Hina special "Kimi Sakura, Chiru Nakare!"
  • The manga Qwan derailed itself at the climax of its plot to transport the hero to a strange place full of people obsessed with their own hair and beards. This also happened close to the end of the third volume and the next volume still isn't out yet, almost pushing this into Gainax Ending territory.
  • At one point in the manga Beelzebub, a side panel is used to explain a slightly obscure term one of the characters uses. This explanation is placed over an image of a teddy bear at a bar, with a footnote saying "This picture has no relevance what-so-ever."
    • Kuma-chan strikes again later on, for absolutely no reason this time, when instead if sitting at a bar it's taking a bubble bath.
  • This disco zombie dance number in One Piece. There is no lead up beyond zombies shuffling to a mansion carrying a disco ball, and no mention of it ever made again, though the dance hall is mentioned as a possible location for a wedding reception later in a one-off gag.
    • The entire arc is a play on Michael Jackson's songs and videos—the name Thriller Bark (Thriller), Brook the skeleton's 45-degree angle pose joke (Smooth Criminal), and the aforementioned dancing zombies (disco dancing, but sadly not the music). But yes, it's a throwaway joke.
      • The dance sequence was originally intended to be a more direct parody of Thriller (with similar music and dance moves) but someone in the legal department got worried about the potential for a lawsuit so the bit was changed to a far more generic number, which makes the whole thing seem random and out-of-place.
      • Speaking of which, try to forget for a moment that Michael Jackson's Thriller is a music video, and then think about the scene where he starts dancing with the zombies.
    • Generally though, Eiichiro Oda's very good at subverting this trope. Many events that might appear to be a Non Sequitur Scene at first in fact turn out to be a Chekhov's Gun for much later.
      • Oda also subverts this trope by making all these seemingly random moments so ridiculously absurd that the audience just goes along with it.
  • In a movie that's already one hell of a Mind Screw, the brief moment in the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie when the strange, offbeat and surreal video of Nanami the cow is put in by the shadow girls manages to be one of these, coming right after a dramatic and horrifying scene, and of course never being mentioned again. Of course, according to Kunihiko Ikuhara, this was intentional. He's just that sort of guy. While the scene is so weird that even the shadowgirls are speechless, the video is kind of foreshadowing. If you think of Chuchu as Utena, The crocodile thing as Shiori and Nanami the cow as Akio... It makes sense if you think of the entire movie being on acid, but when even the characters are going "What the hell?!" in Utena you know it's something special.
    • "You're not the only one who can turn into a car!" After Utena turns into a car... The car-wash is never mentioned again (as well as Utena's clothes or transformating ability)
  • The very first scene in Transformers Victory - in a Wild West town populated by Transformers, a pair of Decepticons arrive and are driven off by Star Saber, who seems to be a gunslinger, in front of a Christian church. This has nothing to do with the plot, and is never mentioned in any context throughout the show.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia's 18th episode. The Axis and Allies are fighting, and the giant Godzilla-sized embodiment of Roma Antiqua just rose from the...sea...and... just watch... [dead link]
    • Although this one is mentioned again in episode 32, by Roma Antiqua himself to Germany.
      • How could we forget the mochi strips? I don't know how those were handled in the anime, but in the webcomic, the aliens really sum it up best: "O god...wtf?" This is for a good reason.
  • There is an early episode of Digimon Adventure 02 that, although comedy-driven and not supposed to be taken seriously, has a pretty jarring scene. Simply putting, V-Mon all of a sudden admits having romantic feelings for Tailmon and decides to train hard to evolve and impress her. It's a very strange scene, mainly because in the Digimon series (especially the Adventure continuity) almost no Digimon ever show romantic affection for other species of Digimon. And of course, this affection was never even hinted before, and it's never mentioned later.
    • That's only a semi-Moment. The event indirectly leads to V-mon evolving for the first time—and even though it's not mentioned in the actual series, the fans tend to have issues...
    • Even more so is the episode "Dagomon's Call". While the V-mon evolution episode fits the tone of the series' more comedic moments, this episode suddenly and with no apparent reason shifts into a dark, Lovecraftian story where Hikari is targeted by an (apparently?) evil being; gets depressed, sick, and a little neurotic; and is spirited away to an alternate dimension (which may or may not be different than the one they're usually going to), where she might have been stuck if her friends hadn't come to find her. It's especially jarring since the tone of the story does a complete 180, suddenly using minimal dialogue and few sound effects in a way that completely clashed with the show's overall tone. The most that's ever mentioned again is the recurring (and never entirely explained) Dark Ocean setting.
      • The Dark Ocean storyline visited in the episode was originally planned to see expansion, but this was scrapped due to meddling from Bandai and disputes amongst the writing staff.
      • The only time the Dark Ocean is mentioned again is when Daemon is sealed in it. Speaking of Daemon, he's another example. He's extremely powerful villain that has no connection to the events of the main story shows up with no explanation for what he is or where he came from that nearly decimates the protagonists, and isn't mentioned again.
    • Also in Digimon Tamers, which is much more serious than its predecessors, there was this bizarre scene with a talking owl. What it said was important to the plot, but it is never revealed why it could talk, or why it spoke like a preacher, or how it even knew what it knew. The owls words are recounted, but no one ponders why it talks, or where it got its knowledge. It is very bizarre compared to the overall tone of the show. Here is a link to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fDdK1T_oDM
  • As pointed out by the guys at Deconstructing Comics, in the original Ghost in the Shell manga the plot is abruptly interrupted by several pages of a lesbian sex scene that ends equally abruptly. This is not only never brought up again, but the rest of the manga is fairly prudish compared to Shirow's later work. Besides being basically several pages of porn in an era when manga was still a new art form in the US and seen as a kid's medium, it was seen as pointless enough that most early editions of the book left it out completely (besides the fact that it would have never gotten past the censors).
    • A Cyberspace lesbian threesome. When we cut back to the participants, they are in the real world, on separate beds and couches, and fully clothed. If we ever perfect that technology, our species is doomed.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima! has the infamous chapter 235 cheerfully starting with "Yes, we're worried about the captive Asuna, but right now..." Cue thirteen pages of "relaxation, healing, and group nakedness!" in the bath, including massive Skinship Groping of the cast by a girl who calls herself "Chichigami" (Breast Goddess), and their mild retaliation. This is never mentioned again.
    • Even more surreal because it includes the minor Reveal that the Sick and Wrong Powered Armor Bounty Hunter from chapter 218 who is obsessed with "boobies" to the point of assaulting women so they can't resist... is actually the above said girl. Naturally, this reveal has no plot relevance whatsoever.
  • At the end of the first Japan-only Ranma ½: Nettou Uta Gassen OAV, the trailer for the second OAV involves movie trailer parodies: Shampoo in a Shout-Out to The Last Emperor, Akane in a silent film, and Mousse staring down an Apache helicopter. None of this ever happens, but it's funny.
  • Near the end of the sixth episode of Kure-nai, all the characters (who are currently practicing for a play) suddenly burst into a seemingly-improvised song—out of nowhere—that has nothing to do with the play. (For one thing, all the names in the song are English, while the play is Japanese). The song goes on for a surprising amount of time before it stops, confuses everyone watching on, and just sort of... ends there.
  • In the pre-title sequence of Episode 10 for Seikon no Qwaser, Mafuyu has trouble fitting into her bra, which for some reason prompts Tomo to create what appears to be a butter bust of both of their tits. Even Mafuyu has no idea what the hell prompted her to do that as the opening credits roll.
    • The one where Tomo uses her breasts as puppets too. Really, any scene involving Tomo and not relevant to the main plot (Read: Only in for fanservice) has a 90% chance of being a BLAM.
  • An early chapter of Hellsing features Seras sleeping in a coffin after it was transported to Brazil. Before Alucard tries to wake her up, she breaks into a bizarre dream about her gun having the spirit of Baron Harkonnen that talks to her. As the scene keeps going, the art eventually devolves into random scribbles that only sort of look like humanoid shapes before Alucard eventually gets her up. The OVA has an equivalent sequence involving Alucard and a lot of spirits, most notably a Bruce Willis spirit.
    • Let it be noted that Seras' gun is named Harkonnen and Alucard's is Jackal.
  • Robotech: The Macross Saga, in episode four, sees Rick and Minmay trapped deep within the title dimensional fortress for several days. Looking out of one of the ship's windows, they spy a giant tuna fish floating through space. Having almost run out of food, they immediately decide that it would be a good idea to go out into space and bring it inside the ship. Lacking spacesuits, Rick improvises by wrapping a towel around his helmet and holding his breath for the duration of the expedition. He succeeds in bringing the fish into the airlock, but in their haste they manage to slam the door down on the tuna, leaving only its head. Nonetheless, they still manage to make a meal out of it, which consists of little more than the fish head facing skyward in a simmering pan. Although their bizarre food acquisition plan can be explained by hunger-induced madness, the existence of the giant fish and its ability to withstand the effects of being teleported into the vacuum of space is never discussed, nor is the incident brought up again.
    • The fish came along with the rest of the surrounding ocean and Macross Island. It wasn't implied to be alive, merely intact—along with a lot of other debris. Vacuum isn't nearly so damaging as fiction tends to place it. Sure, it'll kill you, but you'll be an open-casket funeral.
  • The wing scene in Eden of the East. It's rationalized, somewhat, but the fact that it is so fuck-outta-nowhere in a political thriller, you'd think the characters would be shaking their heads in disbelief for at least an episode. Though given the amount of hallucinogens they just inhaled, they may be forgiven for it.
  • In the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode "Not Equal", Batou and Saito decide on a course of action and start running through a slummy market and they run past two people dressed as teddy bears being led along on a leash by a man holding a sign with a heart on it.
  • In the Jack and the Beanstalk anime near the middle after bringing home some of the treasure and celebrating with his mom Jack's dog Crosby suddenly gains the ability to speak and he sings about how he loves the moon, after the song is over Crosby never speaks again and Jack points out how weird that was.
  • Death Note has a very brief but nevertheless incomprehensible one when L, hearing a mention of Shinigami (death gods) in connection to the Kira case, screams, falls propels himself out of his chair, and lies, trembling, on the floor, stammering about how shinigami cannot exist. He then gets back up as if nothing has happened. This reaction is never mentioned again.
    • And in the anime, Misa dressing herself up in an Elegant Gothic Lolita outfit and walking down the street singing to herself.
    • She is shown in the Lolita outfit During the credits of the final episode, just before her implied suicide. Perhaps she only wears it when she's really depressed?
    • There's also the scene where L is washing Light's feet, in a sort of ironic friendship bonding moment, but what makes it so confusing and weird is that L's death by Light's plan takes place not too long after it, making it a rather pointlessly odd scene.
      • Actually this is a Bible reference. When Jesus was about to be betrayed he washed the feet of his friends, including Judas who would later betray him. Hence L washing Light's feet before his betrayal and L's death.
        • It still doesn't make sense though since the roles are reversed and that the original tradition had a slightly different meaning in the Bible. You can't even say it's another reference to Light's belief that he is a god since people didn't only wash a god's feet. They did it as general respect.
          • But it's supposed to be referencing that Light is Judas and L is Jesus by comparison. It's not supposed to be making any references to Light's perception that he is god.
  • Episode five of Ookamikakushi starts out focusing on Hiroshi slowly realizing there's something not quite right about the town he moved to...and then suddenly cuts to a scene wherein a man is reunited with his two dogs in the antarctic, and gets eaten by said dogs. And then it turns out this is a commercial for an upcoming movie to be shown in Jougamachi. Of course, the only people who are actually shown seeing said commercial are Hiroshi's sister and father, who promptly go back to reading and never mention it again.
  • Naruto: During the Invasion Of Pain Arc in the anime, Ibiki Morino summons a giant metal cat doll to trap a giant winged rhino. This is never mentioned again.
    • Anime filler in general does a lot of weird stuff, but the weirdest, most out-of-nowhere moment might be when a villain was revealed to be a floating, talking, body-snatching wig, with zero explanation for how that came to be. She's killed almost immediately after this reveal, and is never mentioned again.
  • In the 1980s episode of Astro Boy "Uran's Twin", Uran and her double suddenly go into a song and dance about who is the real Uran. The song is never mentioned again afterwards and is not even in the dubbed version.
  • During the second season of Strike Witches, the girls find a treasure chest in the ocean and Lucchini attempts to use lock picks to open. The picks came from seemingly nowhere, disappear afterwards, and her lock-picking skill is never mentioned.
  • During the first episode of Black Butler's second season, we are introduced to Claude Faustus. During one scene, Claude starts randomly tap dancing before doing some sort of fancy ninja setting the table thing. The dancing never comes up again, and the reason for it is never explained.
  • Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo: being a series that is nothing but BLAMs, one stands out in particular, where Beauty, the Only Sane Man of the group, suddenly snaps and begins playing along with the wierdness for no reason, once Bobobo and Don patch get back on screen and do something strange, she's right back to normal, no explanation given, no comments made.
  • Excalibur in Soul Eater is the living embodiment of this trope.
  • In the first Dragon Ball movie The Dead Zone, Gohan eats a magic apple, which causes inebriation in children. Cue musical sequence with dancing dinosaur hallucinations. The next movie has another spontaneous Gohan song, and while the lyrics and visuals are just as trippy, this one doesn't even have a magic apple to justify it.
  • The end of Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt, where Stocking decides out of nowhere to actually kill Panty, and reveals that she has been a demon all along. It has been described as "Gainax trolling the fanbase" by fans.
  • Pretty much all of Fuuko Ibuki's appearances after her initial arc in the first season count as this, mostly because all of the main characters don't remember her. This is mainly due to the fact that she's the Astral Projection of a girl who's in a coma, but that doesn't make them any less hilarious nor more, or any less random.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler has its fair shares of BLAMs, like random scenes of a girl gushing about Hayate while eating several episodes before she is properly introduced. There's also a Cold Opening in episode 10 where Maria is singing on the TV for some reason, the stage apparently being a Humongous Mecha hand, a group of big tough bald guys is watching her in an old TV set, then it explodes.
  • Another has an scene in epiode 6 where the main guy and Mei start dancing in middle of the classroom, during class. Justified in that it turns out to be the guy's imagination, but it doesn't make it any less WTF-tastic.
    • Actually, there is a reason for this. Both he and Mei were officially un-personed, meaning that no one is allowed to speak to them or acknowledge that they are there. He was imagining one of the things they could therefore get away with, as no one would be allowed to react to that in-universe BLAM.
  • Arashi no Yoru ni has this random female wolf with white fur just show up there for no reason and having nothing to do with the film's plot. Once she disappears, she's neither seen, heard, nor mentioned again.
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