History Main / Anticlimax

* In the final episode of ''{{The Animals of Farthing Wood}}'', the confrontation between the rats and the other animals is brought to a conclusion when the rat's leader has his tail bitten off, and everyone laughs at him.
** Which, considering the rather darker battle that takes places in the books, is [[AdaptationDecay a little off the mark.]]

** 4th Espada Ulquiorra gives Ichigo a terrifying NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, ending with [[spoiler:killing him by blowing his chest out with a Cero in front of Orihime and Ishida. Ichigo, out of his immense will to protect Orihime, suddenly gets a new hollow form and proceeds to make [[CurbStompBattle mince-meat out of Ulquiorra]]... then after regaining his senses and sees what he's done, he suddenly forgets about protecting anyone, starts whining about how he didn't want to win the fight like that and demands that Ulquiorra ''cut off his arm and leg so they can fight on equal terms.'']] Then the fight ends with [[spoiler:Ulquiorra disintegrating]]. [[FlatWhat What the hell]].
** 3rd Espada Tia Harribel is about to take on Hiyori, Lisa, and Hitsugaya at the same time, finally showing what she can do as the 3rd Espada rather than just play ElementalRockPaperScissors with Hitsugaya. Before we see a single exchange of blows as the two Vizards prepare to fight seriously for the first time, [[spoiler:[[BadBoss Aizen]] [[WomenInRefrigerators kills Harribel for no reason.]]]]

** While the final battle with [[spoiler:Barragan]] wasn't the worst fight in ''{{Bleach}}'' history, having the coolest villain in the history of the series get killed by the unknown and uncared about [[spoiler:Hachigan]], regardless of how powerful he was, would easily been the most painful moment in any series with less anti climaxes.

** [[spoiler: Aizen]] recently underwent several transformations using [[spoiler:the Hogyoku]]'s power, and they all looked totally ridiculous. The "Walking Condom" form was bad enough, but then it was revealed to be just a "cocoon" while his next form developed... which turned out to be him, [[PowerMakesYourHairGrow with a mullet]]. And after that, the {{Narm}} reached a level previously unknown to mankind: [[spoiler:he grew butterfly wings. Let us repeat that, ''the BigBad [[EpicFail grew butterfly wings]]''.]] The form [[EndingFatigue after that]] actually ''was'' [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel freaky]], but it was very difficult to take him seriously after all that, particularly given [[spoiler:the CurbstompBattle [[ClippedWingAngel that followed]].]]
*** The final fight of an arc that's been going on for [[ArcFatigue five years]]: against a being that single-handedly proved himself to be stronger than all of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Arrancars]] and most of [[SpotlightStealingSquad Soul Society]] combined ''[[ShonenUpgrade three forms ago]]'', Ichigo [[spoiler:[[CurbstompBattle beats him without receiving any notable damage in roughly two or three chapters]][[hottip:*:keep in mind that this is the length of most of the fights against mooks]], thanks to training for [[YearInsideHourOutside either three months or an hour, depending on how you look at it]], and said training consisting of him getting beaten up, stabbed through the chest, and spontaneously powering up because of it. He then uses a move which allegedly removes all of his power, despite being so much more powerful than the BigBad without it, simply for the sake of giving himself a DramaPreservingHandicap for future arcs.]] To sum all of this up: OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow on a ridiculous scale.

* ''{{Monster}}'' the anime did this ''repeatedly for 74 episodes''. The manga managed to nimbly dance around it.

* The ''[[Anime/{{ptitlei015gc004kw4}} Pokémon]]'' episode "The Battle of the Badge". In the first act, we're treated to Giovanni luring Gary into a false sense of security and then pwning him with a thinly-disguised Mewtwo. If Gary can't beat Team Rocket's leader and his BigGuy, how is Ash, whom we ''know'' has to win the Earth Badge in order for the series to continue, going to beat him? Answer: Giovanni and Mewtwo just happen to leave the gym right when Ash comes in, and instead he has to put up with battling Team Rocket once again, but this time for an actual prize; thus, the writers sit out on having Ash meeting Giovanni.
** [[spoiler: Interestingly, Ash would've met Giovanni because he got to the Virdian Gym first, but Gary cut in front of him. What's more, Gary didn't even need to challenge the gym because he already had all the gym badges he needed to qualify for the Pokemon League. Basically, it was all just an excuse to keep Ash from meeting the leader of the organization he has foiled time and again]].

[[quoteright:350:[[ElGoonishShive http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AntiClimax_3698.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-05-23 Hedge: Master of the Anti-Climatic Moment]]]]

* {{Watchmen}}: [[spoiler:"[[YouAreTooLate I did it 35 minutes ago.]]"]]

* In ''The Ball,'' after the [[AdventurerArchaeologist protagonist]] braves myriad deadly traps, fights off hordes of mummies, a handful of gigantic, vicious monsters, [[spoiler: and explores a massive, terrifying, practically ''[[HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]]'' factory at the center of a volcano, the aliens take their ball and go home.]] This is not a metaphor.

* In ''The Ball,'' after the protagonist braves myriad deadly traps, fights off hordes of mummies, a handful of gigantic, vicious monsters, [[spoiler: and explores a massive, terrifying, practically ''[[HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]]'' factory at the center of a volcano, the aliens take their ball and go home.]] This is not a metaphor.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hedge: Master of the Anti-Climatic Moment]]

* Hedge of ''ElGoonishShive'' pulls this enough for it to be considered a RunningGag. Some examples can be seen [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-05-23 here]] and [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-10-22 here]] (complete with LampshadeHanging via the titles).

** Not alot of people wipe their feet on the mat when they leave the house.

->Bloodnok: Seagoon, look here, a right twit you made of yourself firing that photo of a dinner at the enemy. Do you know what they've fired back?
->Seagoon: What?
->Bloodnok: The photograph of an empty plate.
->Seagoon: Ha ha ha... An empty plate..! Well, there you are folks, the old anti-climax again!

* The ''LeftBehind'' series has an anticlimax ending for the ages. The only two heroes left are dying, Carpathia's armies are storming the walls of Jerusalem, resistance is rapidly crumbling and there is no chance of turning the tide. Suddenly, [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Jesus arrives!]] The stage is set for a titanic showdown between TheMessiah and the Antichrist and his armies. Then Jesus opens up a hole in the ground leading to a fiery pit of eternal damnation and Carpathia jumps right in with a [[IncrediblyLamePun devil may care]] attitude. Presumably saying something like, "Alright, good game, guys. Time to pack it in. We had some fun the last seven years though, didn't we?". On top of this, Carpathia's [[TheDragon Dragon]] jumps in right after him, plugging his nose as if jumping into a swimming pool.

** Ash's battles against Tyson and Morrison in the Hoenn League could also be this. In the Johto League, Harrison's Blaziken was able to give us an extremely good fight against Ash's Charizard. Morrison's Swampert, which looked like one of his strongest? [[spoiler: Beaten in [[DoubleKnockout a draw]] by Ash's Corphish in a battle where only three moves were used by each Pokemon. Tyson's Sceptile, which looked like one of ''his'' strongest Pokemon? A DoubleKnockout with Ash's Glalie after a Solar Beam/Ice Beam BeamOWar.]] A bit of a disapointment in this troper's opinion.

** [[spoiler: 4th Espada Ulquiorra gives Ichigo a terrifying NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, ending with killing him by blowing his chest out with a Cero in front of Orihime and Ishida. Ichigo, out of his immense will to protect Orihime, suddenly gets a new hollow form and proceeds to make [[CurbStompBattle mince-meat out of Ulquiorra]]... then after regaining his senses and sees what he's done, he suddenly forgets about protecting anyone, starts whining about how he didn't want to win the fight like that and demands that Ulquiorra ''cut off his arm and leg so they can fight on equal terms.'' Then the fight ends with Ulquiorra disintegrating. What the hell.]]
** [[spoiler: 3rd Espada Tia Harribel is about to take on Hiyori, Lisa, and Hitsugaya at the same time, finally showing what she can do as the 3rd Espada rather than just play ElementalRockPaperScissors with Hitsugaya. Before we see a single exchange of blows as the two Vizards prepare to fight seriously for the first time, [[BadBoss Aizen]] [[WomenInRefrigerators kills Harribel for no reason.]]]]
** [[spoiler: 1st Espada Coyote Starrk has seemed quite powerful, devastating his two Vizard opponents with his Cero and energy wolf attacks...until Kyoraku, who he previously blasted in the back, gets up and whips him like a chump in the space of one chapter, adding insult to injury by not even using Bankai.]]

** [[spoiler: Tousen reveals his Vizard mask and Resurrecion, only to get stabbed in the head and killed by his ex-lieutenant, flouting several established rules of the series in the process (you need to have a spiritual pressure close to your target's in order to hurt them, lieutenants are nowhere near captains in terms of strength, knowing a Bankai increases your strength exponentially (Tousen does, and his Resurrecion forms are more powerful, while his ex-lieutenant does not), Tousen had high-enough defense that he could block Komamura's Bankai and crack it)]]
** [[spoiler: While the final battle with Barragan wasn't the worst fight in ''{{Bleach}}'' history, having the coolest villain in the history of the series get killed by the unknown and uncared about Hachigan, regardless of how powerful he was, would easily been the most painful moment in any series with less anti climaxes. Did I mention [[WallBanger that Hachigan has pink hair?]]]]

*** The final fight of an arc that's been going on for [[ArcFatigue five years]]: [[spoiler: after training for either three months or an hour, depending on how you look at it, and said training consisting of him getting beaten up, stabbed through the chest, and spontaneously powering up because of it, Ichigo becomes stronger than a being that single-handedly proved himself to be stronger than all of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Arrancars]] and most of [[SpotlightStealingSquad Soul Society]] combined [[ShonenUpgrade three forms ago]], and Ichigo [[CurbstompBattle beats him without recieving any notable damage in roughly two or three chapters]] (keep in mind that this is the length of most of the fights against mooks). He then uses a move which allegedly removes all of his power, despite being so much more powerful than the {{BigBad}} without it, simply for the sake of giving himself a {{DramaPreservingHandicap}} for future arcs.]] To sum all of this up: {{OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow}} on a ridiculous scale.

** [[spoiler: Aizen recently underwent a transformation using the Hogyoku's power,]] and his new form looked ridiculous, fortunately, it was just a cocoon for his ''actual'' new form... which was even worse than his cocoon form because now he has a mullet so tacky, BillyRayCyrus [[BeyondTheImpossible would think it looked stupid.]]

* {{Watchmen}}: [[spoiler:I did it 35 minutes ago...]]

* ''TheDarkKnight''. After taking out a SWAT team, Batman faces off against the Joker. The Joker sics The Chechen's dogs on him, they scuffle, and Joker ends up going over the side of the building and gets arrested. Of course, the real climax was whether the boats would explode or not. [[spoiler: And what happens to Harvey Dent afterward.]]

* In ''{{Raiders of the Lost Ark}}'', IndianaJones needs to rush off and save Marion, but in his way is a dark clad man with a sword, posing and swinging his sword dramatically, it looks to be a good set-up for a whip vs. sword fight, and... [[TheCombatPragmatist Indy shoots him]]. For being both an AntiClimax and a ThrowItIn, it's often considered one of Indy's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome crowning moments]], as well as an EstablishingCharacterMoment. The official story is that Harrison Ford came down with dysentery on the day of the shoot, and forced a last-minute rewrite for the scene.

* [[{{Watchmen}} I did it 35 minutes ago...]]