History Main / SpeedStripes

* The Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles not only get Speed Stripes, they're coordinated to each Turtle's color.

Incidentally, it's useful for reducing the budget by avoiding having to draw a background, so you can reuse the footage to your heart's content. Because of this, speed lines are often used in StockFootage with a bit of an animation bump, such as transformations in ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' or Ash catching a Pokémon/giving orders in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''.

* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' is infamous for this, with characters flying in every direction in speedline backgrounds. Considering that the show's battles are strong enough to level cities and mountains and happen in nearly ever single episode (with some fights lasting for several episodes), it's easy to either mistake speedline backgrounds as the planet being destroyed or lose track of which episode you're watching.

%%* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' is infamous for this, with characters flying in every direction.

%%* Expect this nearly every time a Anime/{{Pokemon}} trainer says something or a Pokemon does something in the anime. (During battles, obviously.) They're used only rarely in Origins and the XY seasons, though.

%%[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

%%[[/folder]]

* Speed lines sometimes fill 'Webcomic/{{Huckleberry}}'' panels, when the protagonist uses his ElementalSpeed. In one page it's [[https://huckleberry.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1562479 subtle]], in another the lines make [[https://huckleberry.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1472041 purple and green stripes]].

-->-- '''Narrator''', a Creator/CartoonNetwork ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' spot

* ''VideoGame/Pokemon'': While the move animations vary from game to game, this effect is often used for high-speed attacks like Extreme Speed and Quick Attack.

In animated shows, characters moving at high speed often appear in front of a set of moving colored lines -- usually blue background with yellow stripes, although depending on the impact, any color combination may be used. This is usually done because drawing a proper background moving behind the character would require drawing a large background from a camera angle which would only be seen for a split-second. The direction of the lines indicates the direction; if the lines seem to be coming from a central point, then it is because the character is moving toward or away from the screen.

* ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'': This is {{exaggerated|Trope}} during [[https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-823-vantablackbelt/ a match]] between martial artists Jabberwokky and Math, in which nearly every action is followed by a heavy trail of speed lines -- to the extent that at one point, they form a loop-the-loop in the air. The artist {{lampshade|Hanging}}s their overuse:

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The {{magical girl}} Starlight Spear using her power of SuperSpeed is highlighted by the signature trail of cyan and yellow speed lines left in her wake. [[spoiler:When she overexerts this power in one last HeroicSecondWind, her speed lines are accompanied by sizeable drops of blood streaming behind her as she [[DePower burns out for good]].]]

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The {{magical girl}} Starlight Spear using her power of SuperSpeed is highlighted by a signature trail of cyan and yellow speed lines left in her wake. [[spoiler:When she overexerts this power as part of one last HeroicSecondWind, her speed lines are accompanied by sizeable drops of blood streaming behind her as she [[DePower burns out for good]].]]

* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' is infamous for this, with characters flying in every direction.
** ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'', being based on ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', also uses this trope heavily when characters are launched and often when they are fighting in midair.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' occasionally uses speed lines when a major character is playing a card.

* Even ''Manga/HikaruNoGo'' (an anime about, well, people playing ''Go'') gets in the act.
* Expect this nearly every time a Anime/{{Pokemon}} trainer says something or a Pokemon does something in the anime. (During battles, obviously.) They're used only rarely in Origins and the XY seasons, though.
** It's also used on the games in the animations for moves like [=ExtremeSpeed=], Hydro Pump, and Focus Blast.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'', every time one of the senshi uses a special attack.
* Used in ''Anime/SpeedRacer''. And the 2008 live-action [[Film/SpeedRacer film]] actually replicated this effect.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* For a Western CGI example, see ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''.
[[/folder]]

* Used in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series by Alucard and Soma Cruz.

* Referenced in this ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip "[[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=721 Speed Lines Equal INTENSITY]]".
** Also used [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1463 here]], [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1485 here]], and elsewhere.
* In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'', [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib096.html Dara to the rescue]].

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-39/ the weapon hurtling toward Madeline's head.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-18 Grace moving Jeremy]] is shown using this.
* In ''Webcomic/RedsPlanet'', [[http://www.redsplanet.com/comic/rp/ch04/chapter-four-18/ the final stages of the flight from the bobalux -- down hill -- show these.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{morphE}}'' there are [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1942334/chapter-3-page-41-the-right-to-bear-puns/ animated speed stripes during action scenes.]]
* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} (by the artist's own admission) in [[https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-823-vantablackbelt/ this trip]] of ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'', during a match between martial artists Jabberwokky and Math.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' would use this on occasion.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' Intro, and occasionally during action sequences in-show.

* Also, as mentioned in the page quote, Speed Stripes were also employed frequently in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/speed_stripes.jpg]]]]

A slight variation which can appear in both Western and Japanese works is the practice of using SpeedEchoes in the same way.

* The ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' series uses these, especially with the NitroBoost in the later [=OVAs=] and when the cars go fast.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': White lines appear around the edges of the screen when your main character uses the dash command or launches at high speeds past an environmental hazard.

-->'''Edgeworth:''' ''[SpeedStripes]'' Can you prove that? I THINK NOT!\\
'''Phoenix:''' ''[SpeedStripes]'' Oh, yeah? I THINK I CAN! It's simple!\\
'''Edgeworth:''' ''[SpeedStripes]'' WHAAAAAT!?

* Referenced in this ''WebComic/QuestionableContent'' strip "[[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=721 Speed Lines Equal INTENSITY]]".

* In ''WebComic/ImpureBlood'', [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib096.html Dara to the rescue]].
* Parodied during an early page of ''WebComic/TriggerStar''. When a {{Mook}} leaps at Avocado, he gets impaled on his own speed lines.

* In ''[[{{Webcomic/Morphe}} moprhE]]'' there are [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1942334/chapter-3-page-41-the-right-to-bear-puns/ animated speed stripes during action scenes.]]

* The Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles not only get SpeedStripes, they're coordinated to each Turtle's color.

* Even ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is guilty of this, while Marge is chasing Snake through the city in The Springfield Connection.
** The opening credits when shown in full seem to contain an example but when watched frame by frame the quick pan across their lawn is actually filled with people.

* As pictured above, this was done in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' for the Franchise/TheFlash's SuperSpeed. The moment in the picture comes from "Divided We Fall" when he's alone, fighting [[spoiler:the {{fusion|Dance}} [[TwoBeingsOneBody of]] ComicBook/LexLuthor and ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}.]]

* In the later episodes of the first season of ''Anime/WeissKreuz'', the animation budget was so low that sometimes even fast camera pans would make everything devolve into speed stripes for a second. As an example of TropesAreNotBad, it actually looked pretty awesome.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] [[CoolCar racing stripes]]. Or motion blur.

This is a {{Manga Effect|s}}, and is indicative of a stylistic difference between the west and Japan in the depiction of movement. While speed lines in the west are traditionally drawn on the character and leave the background in focus, the Japanese artist traditionally speed-lines the background, leaving the character in focus. In the western version, the observer is a stationary bystander being passed or approached by the character, but in the Japanese version the reader is moving ''with'' the character.