Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: Difference between revisions

Almost universally, this becomes a point for a flashback later in the series, either once the characters (or audience) have learned the rest of the line, or once the conditions have been met for everyone to be clued in as to what happened. Clearing up the issue of what was said usually qualifies as [[The Reveal]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' has one of these in a [[Mexican Standoff]] between {{spoiler|Minamoto and Kaoru}}

* In the ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' episode ''Mysterique Sign'', we have [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Emiri Kimidori]] have her stating of the [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|Computer Club President's]] name interrupted by Shamisen meowing.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', we never hear what Kuma tells Rayleigh until two years in and out of story (there was a [[Time Skip]] and there were break weeks in order to get that to sync up). We knew what it was about, that he was splitting up the crew to help them escape, but we didn't get most of the details on why until after that time had passed.

* In ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' Tamaki says something to Lady Eclair right before he jumps off the bridge to rescue Haruhi. What he says is revealed later in flashback.

* As the image above shows, the manga version of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' uses a visual example, where the text in the text bubble is scribbled out. Interestingly, that frame is when Rosette remembers [[The Promise|the important promise being made]], with the audience themselves being left in the dark until Joshua (the boy in the image) remembers it himself.

** Like the [[Chrono Crusade|Chrono]] example, the psychological mystery manga "'''''Lying Mii-kun And Broken Maa-chan: Precious Lies'''''" by Iruma Hiruma features a very similar visual trick; {{spoiler|the boy known throughout the book as "Mii-kun" is revealed to be a substitute for the original Mii-kun, who was also the real serial killer, and the unknown ''third'' kidnapped child from 10 years ago. The real Mii-kun screams the fake's name at one point but the text is scribbled out. Later, a detective calls the fake by his real name, but it's X'd out. He then recalls his mother speaking a 4-letter word that's also X'd out, and finally when "Mii-kun" [[Unreliable Narrator|had a monologue about his feelings]] for Maa-chan, he says "I really xxxx you" deliberately making it ambiguous whether what he said was "love," "hate" or something else entirely. [[The Un-Reveal|We never find out what these omissions are]].}}

* In [[To Aru Majutsu no Index]], Touma makes an obscured promise to a {{spoiler|shapeshifting}} villain that apparently gets Misaka very flustered. {{spoiler|In fact, it's because of this promise that she falls in love with him.}} It isn't until the end of the second series that we actually learn what he said. {{spoiler|It was a promise that sounds similar to [[I Will Definitely Protect You|Zettai ni Mamoru]]. He promises to "guard the world that Misaka lives in."}}

 

 

* The Bride's name in ''[[Kill Bill]]'' is bleeped out until halfway through the second movie; this is more of a ''theme''-based voice cancellation -- the point at which we first hear her name coincides with the point at which we begin to see her as less of a pissed-off, vengeful force of nature, and more of a wounded and put-upon human being.

** Though we can see her name earlier in the story on her airplane ticket. Also many characters refer to her by her last name: {{spoiler|Kiddo}}, though until her full name is revealed, the viewer is not aware of it.

** The German dub of the film makes the line much clearer, avoiding this altogether.

** One wonders if the use of [[Dramatic Thunder]] and the soundtrack to cover the name up was a stylistic choice on the part of the director, so that each viewer could imagine the name to be whatever they wanted (example: "Moriah!"), or if it was unintentional.

* A unique variant appears at the end of the 1999 Sean Connery/Catherine Zeta-Jones heist film ''Entrapment''. Robert MacDougal (Connery) escapes from police custody, leaving Virginia Baker (Zeta-Jones) and several police officers at a train station. After the officers leave, frustrated by the thief's escape, MacDougal appears and asks Baker what she wants to do next. Baker explains a plan that is drowned out by the passing of a train through the station, directly between the two characters (standing on two platforms). What exactly the plan ''is'' never gets explained.

* This is used for a more romantic ending to ''Public Enemies''. When John Dillinger dies, he whispers something which a fed pretends not to have heard. He only just barely heard it and it didn't make much sense to him, but he relates it to Dillinger's lover, forming the last line of the film. "Tell Billie for me: bye-bye, blackbird."

** Grant is English, a criminal recruited by SPECTRE. Bond only assumes he's Russian because he doesn't know yet that {{spoiler|SPECTRE has been playing the British and Russians off against each other so they can get the Lektor.}}

** In the original novel he's stated to be from County Armagh in Ireland, but this doesn't seem to be the case in the film.

* In ''[[Rushmore]]'', when Max tells Mr. Blume's wife that he's having an affair, he meets her on a highway overpass ([[Rule of Funny|no reason for this location is ever given]]) and what he says is inaudible due to the sound of a truck going by, but it's evident from her horrified reaction. In the script, he says, "[[Sophisticated As Hell|Your husband's fucking a schoolteacher, pardon my French.]] I thought you should know."

* In "Suspiria" the heroine arrives at an exclusive ballet school in the midst of a storm. A student appearing outside her cab says something unintelligible. The student is killed shortly afterward. When the heroine finally realizes what she said it drives the plot toward its resolution.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* This drives the plot of [[The Mysterious Disappearance Of Leon I Mean Noel]].

{{quote| "Uh . . . why does your partner keep saying ' 'ing' ', Mr Pin?"}}

** It's made even clearer later in the book that he really is simply pausing and saying 'ing':

* ''[[Eastenders]]'' had a scene where Jack Dalton told Dennis Rickman the truth about what really happened to his father Den Watts. Predictably it was drowned out by the noise of a passing train. It wasn't until several weeks later that viewers learned that Dalton told Dennis that Den was alive.

* Young Jae confesses his love just when the Zamboni machines zips by at an iceskating rink in the [[Korean Series]] ''[[Pul Hauseu|Full House]]''. Naturally, Ji Eun is left looking puzzled...

** But that was actually a case of [[Unreliable Narrator]].

* ''That Mitchell and Webb Sound'' had a sketch involving a condition where a character makes a random sound instead of the key word in a sentence - making it very difficult to get their point across. Everyone in the sketch had it.