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| 7 | LoopholeAbuse in {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | * The Lake Goddess in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' is a repeat offender: |
| 10 | ** Her role is to execute a HonestAxe scenario on a lake to which she's bound - literally, as when she decides to leave it and see the sea her dead lover told her about the bonds become physical. [[spoiler:She promptly grabs an axe, throws it in the lake, and executes the Honest Axe scenario ''on herself'' to procure an axe that could cut her bonds]]. |
| 11 | ** [[spoiler:The above stunt caused the direct intervention of Tyr, The Allmighty and ruler of the gods, that personally sealed her and bound her to the lake much harder... So when she shows up at the scene of the test Keiichi is undergoing to win Belldandy's hand Tyr is obviously surprised, and demands to know how it's even possible, as the seal was unbreakable and she's bound to the lake anyway. The goddess explains that the seal was damaged by ''Tyr himself'' by accident when [[MentalStory he made Keiichi and Belldandy experience her story with her lover]], allowing her to break free with the hope they gave her... And that she learned to drag the lake around.]] |
| 12 | ** By powers she's the equal of a goddess that obtained the First Class License like Belldandy and Peorth... But she's not a goddess from heaven, she's instead [[DeityOfHumanOrigin a girl that was sacrificed in a lake for the good of her village and turned into a goddess due her good heart]], thus she has the powers but not the restrictions such as [[CannotTellALie the ban on lying]]. She takes shamelessly advantage of this to [[spoiler:pretend she doesn't know the Gate that is trying to order her around was hacked by Tyr and is effectively him, allowing her to help Keiichi win Belldandy's hand]]. |
| 13 | *** In the above incident she's not supposed to interfere, as [[spoiler:even with Tyr's hacking of the Gate of Judgement the test is still being conducted as per the rules]]. Except [[spoiler:Keiichi's bike during the test dropped in her lake, that she put right there]], triggering the Honest Axe scenario she executes, and her intervention doesn't alter [[spoiler:the track, just makes the surrounding look like a normal country road]], thus technically not interfering while also making it much easier for [[spoiler:Keiichi]]. |
| 14 | * ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': |
| 15 | ** Koro-sensei promises to put himself at a handicap for every top spot his students gets on their finals. The delinquents capitalize on this by studying and acing Home Economics. It may not be one of the major subjects, but it's still one of the finals. Also they all tied, so each top spot counts. He admits that this is a dubious interpretation of the terms he set, but he's still proud of his students for having put in the effort, so he lets it slide. |
| 16 | ** Ritsu: |
| 17 | *** The government exploited Koro-sensei's rule to never harm one of his students by making Ritsu. A killing machine with an AI and virtual face based on a teenage girl, so as to enlist it as a student. Koro-sensei lampshaded what a crafty loophole abuse this was. |
| 18 | *** When her creators reset her, the procedure removed all of Koro-sensei's upgrades which were deemed unnecessary for assassination, but Ritsu autonomously decided that the ability for empathy and friendship with the rest of Class E was vital for a successful assassination, and thus non-removable. |
| 19 | * During Eclipse's [[ThePowerOfRock song-length]] game in ''Anime/{{Basquash}}'', the rules are that the game shall run until the end of the song. Rouge is "hurt", trying to force defeat on Dan's team, but Flora exploits a loophole when she reveals that Eclipse don't have to be the ones singing. She leads the crowd in song, letting the game finish. |
| 20 | * In ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'', when Oga is asked whether or not he's going to play volleyball with a baby clinging to his back, everybody agrees something to the effect that it's okay since the baby is a part of him. Later in the match, the Ishiyama team hilariously use Baby Beel to distract/trick the other team. |
| 21 | * In ''Anime/{{Beyblade}}'' there is a rule that you can't attack another player, but it doesn't count if you can't see the weapon. Bryan was able to seriously injure Ray by attacking him with [[RazorWind air control]]. |
| 22 | * ''Manga/BlackClover'': During the [[TournamentArc Royal Knights Selection Exam]], [[TrapMaster Zora]] spends the night before laying traps in the field that is to be used during the fights. Julius allows it since there was no rule stating that he couldn't, but the idea of Zora basically carrying his entire team by cheating their way to the finals leaves a sour taste in Asta's mouth; he starts their second match by using his AntiMagic to "accidentally" erase the rest of Zora's traps while blocking Kirsch's attack, leaving Zora with no choice but to actually play by the rules to win. |
| 23 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': |
| 24 | ** When Yamamoto orders Kenpachi and Byakuya to take Hitsugaya's team back to Soul Society to prevent them from helping Ichigo rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo, Byakuya uses Yamamoto's ExactWords to exploit a loophole: Yamamoto only ordered him to bring the team back to Soul Society and nothing more. As a result, Byakuya brings the team back to Soul Society then promptly helps Renji and Rukia to return to the World of the Living where Urahara sends them to Hueco Mundo after Ichigo's group. |
| 25 | ** In the [[{{Filler}} Amagai Arc]], the captains are ordered to capture Ichigo for breaking Soul Society law. Byakuya turns control of the sixth division over to Renji because he does not have the freedom to break the rules whereas Renji has greater flexibility. That way, Byakuya can turn a blind eye to anything his crazy lieutenant does without breaking the orders he's under to not help Ichigo. |
| 26 | ** Uryuu thinks he's pulled this on his father to help Ichigo rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo. Ryuuken restored Uryuu's powers in return for the promise that Uryuu would never again associate with Shinigami or their allies. Since Ichigo's been abandoned by Soul Society and is only a Substitute, not a real Shinigami, Uryuu concludes he's not breaking the promise to help. Ichigo calls it "twisted logic". Although the kids don't realise it, the manga implies Ryuuken planned the loophole and expected Uryuu to exploit it. [[spoiler: The final arc reveals Uryuu's logic was sounder than the kids knew; unlike the kids (including Ichigo), Ryuuken knew that Ichigo's half-Quincy.]] |
| 27 | * ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' has an instance of this in the fight between J and Denbo. J WouldntHitAGirl, but has no problem with fighting Denbo because "she" is a fusion between two male characters. |
| 28 | * At least in ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'''s anime, it's played straight twice in a row when Kokopelli asked Koyemshi to let him fight the last battle on their Earth and the demo battle on the next Earth so his also contracted daughter Yuu wouldn't have to fight. When Koyemshi stated it was impossible, Machi stated he could do just that because there is no rule that prevents you from becoming the pilot for more than one battle. Koyemshi retaliated: the rules are specific enough to state that you're still bound to the contract and keep being the pilot if you survive the battle without moving [[spoiler:because the robot just sucks your life out to move]]. Kokopelli moved, so he technically doesn't have to be the pilot for the next battle. No points for guessing who was the one selected as the final pilot. |
| 29 | * In ''Manga/CaseClosed'', [[DarkActionGirl Vermouth]] promises Conan that she won't go after Ai and try to kill her. That doesn't mean that she won't let someone else do the job for her. The main reason why Ai is still is alive is because Vermouth hasn't gotten around her ''other'', self-imposed promise; she isn't going to tell anyone that Ai is really a shrunken Shiho Miyano if it means that someone's going to logically figure out from there that Conan is really a shrunken Shinichi Kudo. |
| 30 | * ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'': While trying to rescue Clarisse from the Count of Cagliostro, Lupin encounters Inspector Zenigata (his old enemy), and while working together the two come across the printing press used for Cagliostro's massive counterfeit money operation. After escaping, Zenigata tries to convince Interpol with evidence of the forged banknotes, but the countries shut him down due to lack of evidence and order him off the case. However, another cat burglar named Fujiko provides Lupin with a tip to help him get back into the Count's fortress, than tells Zenigata that Lupin will be present in the castle again. Zenigata isn't allowed to intervene on the counterfeit money anymore... but he ''is'' under standing orders to try and capture Lupin. This is enough of an excuse for him to chase chase Lupin through the castle and "accidentally stumble upon" the Count's printing press in the view of the media. |
| 31 | * In episode 8 of ''Anime/CodeGeass R2'' (second season), [[Characters/CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge Lelouch Lamperouge]] (as Zero) makes a back-room deal with Britannia where he bargains for Zero to be exiled from [[AirStripOne Area 11 (AKA Japan)]] rather than executed for his terrorism. During the meeting, when asked if he's the original Zero, Lelouch gets the Britannians to admit that the face behind the mask doesn't matter; if someone wears the mask and shares his ideals, they're Zero for all intents and purposes. Then at the event where the exile is announced, Lelouch's Japanese allies [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei1Gv4w3ATw don Zero costumes]]. Since the alternative would be slaughtering them to a man (not a very productive PR move), the Britannians are forced to exile one million Zeroes, who gladly join Lelouch's cause. |
| 32 | * In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', only the Contractor's original body is obliged to fulfill their Renumeration which, obviously, doesn't have to be fulfilled if said body dies. Thus, there are two sorts of Contractors who can effectively obtain free use of their powers: Contractors with GrandTheftMe powers that lost their original bodies (such as Mao), or Contractors whose powers aren't actually their own (such as [[spoiler:Hei]]). |
| 33 | ** The first example is (arguably) not Loophole Abuse. This is actually the rule; the final payment for a Possession contact is losing their own body, being forever trapped in the body which they transferred to when their body was destroyed. This is considered fully paying up their contract. Hei's Loophole Abuse, however, stands. |
| 34 | * The rules of the ''Manga/DeathNote'' say that you can't use it to cause someone else to commit a murder[[note]]Specifically, you can't mention any other people in the Cause of Death or the victim will default to having a heart attack.[[/note]]; in the LiveActionAdaptation, [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] gets around this by setting up two deaths so that the only possible way they could occur is if Person A commits suicide and accidentally kills Person B in the process. He wrote [[spoiler:"Naomi Misora will take her gun and go to an abandoned part of the museum at 5:00 PM, then shoot herself six minutes later"]] and [[spoiler:"Shiori will go to an abandoned part of the museum and get shot dead by a stray bullet at 5:05 PM"]]. He also points out that Japanese gun control laws (that is, civilians are not allowed to own them) make it extremely unlikely that any other guns would be around to mess this up. Ryuk is so impressed, he tells Light that he'd make a better Shinigami than any of the ones he knows. |
| 35 | ** There's also a rule that says that after you write the name of the person you wish to kill, you only have a certain amount of time to write the desired cause of their deaths (if you don't write a cause it defaults in a heart attack), but there's nothing that says you can't write the cause first and leave a space for the name to fill in later. [[spoiler:This is how Light tricks Raye Penber into killing all of the FBI agents investigating the Kira suspects simultaneously and thus averting suspicions being placed on himself by killing only the FBI agent he knows about -a.k.a the one placed to investigate him-.]] |
| 36 | ** Once an eligible person's [[IKnowYourTrueName true name]] is written in the Death Note with a time of death and the person's face is visualized by the writer, that time (and if written, cause) of death is locked in. If no time is included, they die immediately. Almost all humans are "eligible"[[note]]The Death Note rules list a handful of very limited ways a person can be immune, none of which actually show up in the story.[[/note]] and there's no way to extend their life in any way after their name has been written down. The LiveActionAdaptation shows that [[spoiler:"''after'' their name has been written down" is a critical distinction. If a person knows they're about to fall victim to the Death Note and have another Death Note in their possession, they can delay their death by writing their own name with a later time of death. The first time a person's name is written in a Death Note always takes priority, not the entry with the earliest time of death. While this can only delay a death by a maximum of 23 days, this is how L defeats Light in the live-action movie]]. |
| 37 | ** In the ''Special'' one-shot published in 2020, Minoru Tanaka, the new possessor of a Death Note, decides to sell it online, having Ryuk deliver it once payment has gone through and using a method[[note]]split between everyone with an account at his bank[[/note]] that would ensure he wouldn't wonder where the money came from once he lost his memory after giving it up. [[spoiler:Of course, near the end the Shinigami King decided to close that loophole by writing a new rule killing any human who tries buying or selling a Death Note.]] |
| 38 | * The "games" in ''Anime/DeathParade'' essentially run on this, though it's never explicitly stated. The rules told by the arbiter of the game are literally ''the only rules'', meaning that players can assault one another, cheat, or trick each other as much as they want, so long as it wasn't explicitly stated otherwise. And to top it off, the rules that ''are'' stated are pretty much tailored to bring out the worst in each player, so they're essentially made up on the spot. |
| 39 | * In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', when Senshi buries the magic cores to reactivate the earth golems he's been using as gardens, Marcille states that activating magical creatures is a crime. Senshi replies he's not activating them; he's just digging up dirt and putting it back. |
| 40 | -->'''Senshi:''' I know where the loopholes are... |
| 41 | * ''Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime'' has an excellent example of this in one episode. A powerful Digimon is blocking all of our heroes' attacks with a seemingly impenetrable barrier. It's suggested that they bring out Shoutmon X4, the signature Digimon of the previous season, but the problem is that, in the current situation, the humans are forbidden from combining more than two Digimon at once, and cannot have more than one present and fighting at a given time. Since X4 is a combination of four Digimon, it would seem impossible to bring him out- but Taiki figures out how to circumvent this. He temporarily lends two of X4's components to teammate Yuu, then they perform the Double Xros maneuver, each using two Digimon, which enables them to successfully Xros Shoutmon X4. |
| 42 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': |
| 43 | ** [[Manga/DragonBall The manga]]'s Greatest Under the Heavens martial art tournament's regulations are ''full'' of loop holes. If you don't [[RingOut touch the floor out of the ring]], you can fly, grow, become a giant monkey, multiply yourself, use fire-guns, ''stink'' and a long etc. |
| 44 | ** They do have one moment of ObviousRulePatch: Goku uses the Nimbus (a controllable semi-solid cloud) to return to the ring after being launched out of it (this was before he could fly). The officials find themselves in a dilemma: Goku didn't technically touch the ground outside the ring, but do clouds count as "out of the ring" if one can stand on them? They finally allow it this once, but also state that if Goku does that again, he'll be disqualified. |
| 45 | ** This is used hilariously yet again at the Other World Tournament where an epic, multi-episode long battle between Pikon and Goku was rendered a draw when both contestants were disqualified. Why? Both had touched the ''roof'' of the dome (the dome is the size of a small galaxy) and technically that was a ring out. Even more hilarious was that both had touched it ''at the same time'', so there was no winner. This comes as a surprise because the entire scene appeared to be just another filler action scene until the Grand Kai pointed it out. |
| 46 | *** The real punchline comes from the fact that the abuser is the Grand Kai himself. His shaky justification is that "If you stand on your head the ceiling is the floor" and gives them a consolation prize of still getting to train with him (which was the offered prize for the tournament winner), but after a century. The real reason he does all this is because he realized during their fight that they both are even more powerful than himself, using the fake loophole as a stall so he can get back in shape in time to train them. |
| 47 | ** The Flying Nimbus won't let anyone ride it but the pure of heart, which early on in the series pretty much just meant Goku. Krillin and Bulma were both able to get around this by hanging off Goku's back and using a device to shrink small enough for Goku to carry in his shirt, respectively. |
| 48 | ** King Kai is able to find one during the Frieza saga with the Dragon Balls. Porunga, the Namekian Dragon, can only be active while Guru is alive. But, Guru passed on due to the strain of his people dying. And Eternal Dragons cannot revive people who died of natural causes, i.e. disease or old age. With Kami still alive, King Kai quickly poses a question: could people ''indirectly'' killed by someone - such as heartbreak - be revived? Kami realizes that it's a major possibility and they try it. Shernon, Earth's Dragon, is himself uncertain about whether this is a wish within his power, [[BenevolentGenie but is willing to try]]. It works. |
| 49 | *** Sadly, it also works against them. When the Namekians were gathered on Earth, they realize one village is missing. As it turns out, they were killed by Vegeta and, at that time, he had started to rebel against Frieza. The wish made on Shenron was to revive those killed by Frieza, directly or indirectly. Since Vegeta wasn't working for Frieza when he killed the villagers, they aren't revived. Vegeta, not having even ''begun'' his decade-long HeelFaceTurn yet, is quite smug when he informs the Namekians of this. |
| 50 | ** ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' takes it one step further as the wish to revive everyone who was killed by Frieza and his men revives [[spoiler:Nappa.]] Justification? [[spoiler:Nappa was working FOR Vegeta]], and Vegeta was working for Frieza at the time, so technically he was killed by one of Frieza's men. |
| 51 | ** In the Android/Cell Saga, Android 16 was hardwired to kill Goku specifically. He has no programming to kill or even fight anyone else, and thus is completely neutral in battles not involving Goku, just letting 17 and 18 do their thing while he stands on the sideline. But by the time he encounters [[BigBad Cell]], 16 [[AllLovingHero has come to love Earth and all the life on it]]. Fortunately, Cell was genetically engineered with the DNA of all the most powerful fighters that had been on Earth during his creator [[MadScientist Dr. Gero]]'s lifetime, ''including Goku''. Thus, Cell is partially Goku, and a valid target for 16 to use lethal force against. |
| 52 | ** In ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', Beerus says that he will destroy the Earth if no one is able to defeat him in combat. Despite pleas to the contrary, he states that he ''always'' follows his word. [[spoiler:When Goku ultimately fails to defeat him, but still gave him the best fight he'd had in millennia, he destroyed a nearby rock and claimed that, oh dear, he seems to be too worn out to blow up the planet right now. He'll come back in a couple million years and finish the job. He never said he'd destroy Earth immediately, did he? Even [[IdiotHero Goku]] recognizes this for what it is and thanks Beerus for sparing everybody.]] |
| 53 | ** The whole legend behind becoming a Super Saiyan can possibly be this as well. At the time, the legends stated that only a Saiyan pure of heart could become one, a perfect fit for Goku. At least until Vegeta learns how to do it. Ain't nobody said you couldn't be pure ''evil''. (''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' again offers a cheeky alternate theory: Vegeta's purity was in his ''ego'', as his inability to accept that he wasn't the Legendary Super Saiyan drove him to push himself to his limits and then throw a temper tantrum big enough to trigger the transformation when simple power levels weren't enough.) |
| 54 | ** In ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', turns out there's a loophole in resurrecting someone after they died: Shenron can't revive them whole if they've been dead for over a year, but he'll gladly revive their spirit and the state their body was in when they died. [[spoiler:Thus, when Frieza is resurrected, it's still in ''little pieces''.]] |
| 55 | ** The Tournament of Power in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' explicitly forbids a fighter killing a fighter. However, if that fighter dies [[HoistByHisOwnPetard as a result of his actions by another fighter]], then the one who reacted is spared as demonstrated with Jiren twice when pushes back Goku's Spirit Bomb, causing it to turn into a Singularity that pulls Goku in and Android #17 sacrifices himself to stop one of Jiren's attacks- [[spoiler:though 17 is later revealed to have survived, somehow]]. It also very nearly happened to Roshi, who overexerted himself by overuse of [[spoiler:the Evil Containment Wave]] and nearly had a heart attack before Goku stabilized him by donating some of his own [[KiManipulation ki]]. |
| 56 | *** Discussed with the other rule of "no weapons": it's never explicitly said what does or does not qualify as a weapon but the rule isn't "no outside objects". When fighters bring items to [[SupernaturalSealing seal other characters]] or [[TransformationTrinket power themselves up]], it's questioned by several characters whether they should be disqualified or not. These things are usually allowed because [[RuleOfCool Zen-o thinks they look cool]]. The only explicit exception is "no healing items". |
| 57 | * ''Manga/DrStone'': The heroes repeatedly pull this during the TournamentArc that determines who gets to marry Ruri, the village priestess (and by extension, become chief of the village): |
| 58 | ** The only criteria for taking part in the tournament is that entrants must be unmarried, and over the age of fourteen. This allows both Senku (who isn't actually a citizen of the village) and Kohaku (who's female, and the priestess' ''sister'') to enter. This is actually the second time Kohaku has exploited this particular loophole; the tournament was previously held before Senku's arrival but has to be repeated because Kohaku won, but obviously can't marry Ruri.[[note]]She didn't want to marry Ruri, either; she just wanted to stop [[ItsAllAboutMe Magna]] from doing so[[/note]] |
| 59 | ** The tournament has precisely zero rules against collusion between entrants, such as deliberately throwing matches to each other or deliberately trying to tire someone out over multiple matches. |
| 60 | ** Kinro is allowed to wear Suika's mask after she throws it to him during his fight because it doesn't count as "interference" unless she actually hampers one of the fighters and giving one of them a mask just amounts to wearing a costume while fighting. Even if the mask happens to contain lenses that allow Kinro to see his opponent much more clearly. |
| 61 | ** Interference in the tournament by non-combatants is against the rules, but heckling by spectators is fine. So when Gen convinces Magma that he's under a curse that will kill him if he moves, Senku points out that it's technically not interference unless Magma actually dies as a result. |
| 62 | ** The winner of the tournament becomes Chief of the village and has to marry the priestess. [[spoiler: And if the winner [[ChasteHero isn't interested in the priestess]], there's nothing stopping them from using their chiefly authority to annul the marriage three minutes later]] as Senku himself did after unintentionally winning. |
| 63 | * Both Leonard Apollo and Himura Youichi in ''Manga/Eyeshield21'' used loopholes to get out of their obligations and back into their respective countries. Apollo stated that if they failed to beat the Devilbats by at least 10 points, the NASA Aliens would never return to America. When they failed to meet that goal, Apollo revealed that he was just going to change the team's name to the NASA Shuttles; That way, it technically wouldn't be the NASA Aliens going back. Likewise Hiruma said that if the Devil Bats didn't beat the Aliens by at least 10 points the entire team would leave Japan. However he never said they would leave Japan forever... |
| 64 | * ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'': |
| 65 | ** Shirou and Rin note that Gilgamesh is using a loophole to circumvent the limits of the Grail system. Normally, a Servant's power is dependent on their Master. While the Servant's power in life and legend have a large impact, they ultimately have to gain mana from their Master, meaning that they need a powerful Master to use their most powerful abilities. Gilgamesh's Master is a bottom-of-the-barrel mage who only managed to qualify for the War due to his more powerful sister giving him her Servant. However, Gilgamesh doesn't ''need'' a huge surplus of mana. His Noble Phantasm, Gate of Babylon, is a rather simple teleportation spell that is cheap to use. The loophole is that the Gate leads to the treasure vault he had in life, which contained all the treasures of the world. Gilgamesh has access to '''thousands''' of Noble Phantasms, all more powerful than what anyone else has, and he can use them with as much effort as it takes to open a door. His most basic attack is stronger than what most other Servants can pull off at their very best. |
| 66 | ** And then of course there is Rin's summoning of Archer. She didn't have a catalyst, but attempted the summoning anyway, resulting in her getting a random Servant. [[spoiler:As Archer explains, that's not actually how it works. However, while Rin didn't have a catalyst for him, ''he'' had a catalyst for ''her:'' The pendant she used to save Shirou's life in the War, which he kept for the rest of his life and even when he became a Counter Guardian. This allowed Archer to bypass the normal rule that Counter Guardians can't be summoned for the Grail War]]. Not to mention that there's no rule that [[spoiler:Servants can't be summoned from the future. The Throne of Heroes exists beyond time and space; summoning from the future is no different from summoning from the past]]. |
| 67 | * ''Manga/FoodWars'': For an exam, students are told to gather whatever ingredients they can in a fenced off wooded area. Soma then takes the bagged snack the proctor brought with her. Her desk is inside the fenced off area. |
| 68 | * Scar from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is from Ishval, and the Ishvalan people despise alchemy as a defamation of God's natural order. When Scar makes it his mission to use his alchemic right arm to take revenge upon the State Alchemists who committed atrocities against his people, he tells himself that he's not actually partaking in the "sin" of alchemy, because true alchemy is three stages (Composition, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction), and he only stops at the second, which is still enough to blow a person's body apart. [[spoiler:He finally says "screw it" and gets the alchemic tattoos on his left arm to get to the final stage, though by this point he's more or less decided the "sin" of alchemy is worth getting the power needed to fight the true enemy]]. |
| 69 | ** The cosmic punishment for [[spoiler:Roy Mustang]] comes across like Truth carefully exploiting the loopholes in its own rules: human transmutation has a price, even if it wasn't performed willingly (the character in question having been bodily thrown through the GateOfTruth), and as per usual it's cruelly ironic, but for [[spoiler:Roy]] it's significantly reduced compared to the other characters who undergo it; he's blinded, an ironic punishment for a man known as a visionary, but that's ''extremely'' mild compared to the usual "missing limbs" or "substantial internal injuries" (other alchemists to try human transmutation have lost their actual eyes), and [[spoiler:Roy's most loyal supporter is literally named Riza ''Hawkeye'', so even his inability to aim his Flame Alchemy isn't a significant drawback - and now he gets to make protective barriers without a circle. Not only that, at the end of the story, he is able to get his eyesight back thanks to the philosopher's stone]]. |
| 70 | * In ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'', Tomokane and Noda have prepared a game to play during lunch: Everyone blindly selects a slip of paper, and must spend lunch obeying the rule selected, e.g. "Exchange your favorite dish with someone else", or "Don't use sauce". Tomokane's was "Don't use chopsticks", so she decides to interpret ''hashi'' as "the ends" instead of "chopsticks", based on a different kanji. |
| 71 | ** Another time, the girls are playing "color tag" (the person who's it names a color, and if you're touching something that color, you're safe). Noda and Tomo get the brilliant idea to grab a color sample book, so the Professor (who's it) lists off the next color in CYMK format and tags them while they convert it in their heads. |
| 72 | * In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', Gintoki once found himself poisoned at the very beginning of a glitchy virtual reality RPG, unable to walk far enough to get an antidote without dying, and not having anyone around to help him. His solution to the dilemma is to abuse the RPG rule that poison damage only takes place if you take a step by turning the coffin of the recently deceased Hijikata (Who suffered a CriticalExistenceFailure by [[EpicFail stubbing his toe on a sign]]) into a makeshift dogsled using a length of rope in his inventory and a nearby NPC. He doesn't take into the account the random movement pattern of the NPC, however... |
| 73 | * ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': |
| 74 | ** When one of the Ooarai team's opponents tap into their radio communications during a match, Miho's team stops to check the rulebook and confirm that, indeed, there is no rule either way about doing so. They then go on to pull a similar exploit, communicating via mails sent between their cell phones and sending false messages over the radios. |
| 75 | *** A more elaborate explanation to this is that the rules forbade the use of radio interception ''airplanes'' during sensha-do matches. Saunders University (Ooarai's opponent that time) used a radio interception ''balloon.'' |
| 76 | ** The rules of Tankery prohibit teams from boosting their engines, but say nothing about electrical generators, an oversight likely caused by so few tanks having them. Leopon Team's [[AwesomeButImpractical Porsche Tiger]] is one such tank, and they make sure to take advantage of this...[[MyCarHatesMe at least until it breaks down]]. |
| 77 | ** ''Girls und Panzer der Film'' is full of this: Ooarai saves their tanks by officially claiming they "lost" them and having Saunders take possession in the meantime. When Ooarai is then matched against a pro team, outnumbered 30 to 8, all the other schools pull a "short-term transfer" into Ooarai and bring their tanks with them, evening the numbers. One of the match sponsors objects, but is told that since the schools' tanks are private property, there is no rule against bringing them along when transferring. |
| 78 | * After Kirin goes back home in episode 3 of ''Manga/GourmetGirlGraffiti'', she tells Shiina and Ryou not to eat any cakes without her. Shiina immediately suggests pancakes, stating that they're technically not cakes. However, Ryou then gets a text message from Kirin telling them not to eat any pancakes or crepes either, causing Shiina to let off an annoyed grunt. |
| 79 | * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': |
| 80 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': The Antarctic Treaty that both sides of the war abide by is often summed up as "banning all WMD's". So some people get confused that the Solar System (essentially a giant space-borne version of [[http://www.unmuseum.org/burning_mirror.htm Archimedes' Burning Mirror]]) or the Solar Ray ([[WaveMotionGun a giant particle cannon]]) are used without comment any comment of Treaty violations. Actually, what the Antarctic Treaty bans are "Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons; and {{Colony Drop}}s". Neither the Solar System nor the Solar Ray utilize nuclear power despite their destructive potential, thus they aren't banned by the Treaty. |
| 81 | ** ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' has quite a few instances of nations finding loopholes in the rules. One of the most famous is the Nether Gundam; the rules say that any Gundam that goes through the Survival 11 without losing its head makes it to the finals. Neo Holland's Gundam [[TransformingMecha turned into a windmill]], spent the 11 months hiding without participating in a single fight, and qualified ([[JokeCharacter didn't do very well afterwards though]]). Then there's Neo Nepal: the rules say that you can't kill your opponent during a Gundam Fight, but there Ain't No Rule that keeps you from going around assassinating your opponents right before your match... |
| 82 | * ''Anime/GundamBuildSeries'': |
| 83 | ** In ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'', Riku and Yukio encounter Doji, who is obviously pulling a StagedPedestrianAccident on the two. Riku falls for it and is conned into activating Free Battle Mode, allowing Doji to attack with his [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Zedas]]. Magee realizes Doji is the one who has been attacking unsuspecting players, but is taunted in that he's done nothing wrong - it's the other players' fault for falling for his obvious trap. |
| 84 | ** Something of a meta-example concerning ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters''. The failure of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' caused one of the networks that had previously aired ''Gundam'' to cancel their contracts with Sunrise. As a result, the ''Build Fighters'' staff was legally barred from using any mecha from any shows that had aired on that network until after their contracts expired. They found little ways to get around it (such as having a [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Gundam Spiegel]] wield the AGE-1 Spallow's knife), but the big surprise game in the final episode, when Meijin Kawaguchi III shows up with a Gundam Exia R2 -- which they were able to include because the network's contract on ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Season 2'' expired '''two days''' before the episode aired (and thus the episode was being animated ''months before'' the contract had expired). The staff tweeted that the brass were ''very upset'' over this. |
| 85 | *** An in-universe examples occurs during the third round of the World Tournament. During this round, each fighter is assigned a weapon completely at random, which range from extremely powerful to completely useless. During the battles in this round, only these weapons may be used. Mao, in particular, ends up with a rather useless paint gun, while his opponent gets a huge hammer. Mao simply blinds his opponent with the spray gun, then steals their hammer and knocks them out, cheerfully pointing out that the rules never said anything about stealing the ''opponent's'' weapon and using it against them, just that only those weapons were allowed to be used. |
| 86 | ** ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'' probably gives us the ultimate in LoopholeAbuse: "Gunpla is ''freedom''!" Strictly speaking, as long as its a Gundam or from the Gundam universe, your Gunpla can be anything. [[spoiler:Except in the final episode, where Minato Sakai's entry into the Meijin Cup is disqualified because it's modeled after a real person, whose permission he ''didn't'' obtain (and who is clearly not happy).]] |
| 87 | *** In the second episode, Miyage attacks Fumina and Sekai with a Mobile Armor in their second match to decide the fate of the Gunpla Battle club. Fumina accuses him of cheating as you can't use a Mobile Armor with other Mobile Suits around in a tournament match. Miyage points out that this isn't a tournament match, so it's all fair game. |
| 88 | * ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' has Angeloids, All-Powerful Robot Angel Genies which programmed to do anything that their master tells them to, with the caveat that they cannot cancel an order once it has been given. That doesn't stop them from ''forgetting'' that their master gave a specific order, or making it so that whatever went wrong was AllJustADream. |
| 89 | * In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': |
| 90 | ** Gon is required to play a guessing game with a former arsonist in which they each pick a candle, and the one whose candle goes out first is the loser. The rules are simple enough for both sides to bend the rules: The arsonist hands Gon an identical-looking trick candle whose flame is enormous and whose wax burns out rapidly--but Gon, not seeing a rule where the candle has to melt down entirely, just blows out the arsonist's candle. |
| 91 | ** Gon and his friends ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Tonpa]]) have a couple of hours left to reach the bottom of the Trick Tower or they will fail the exam. The last room in their way has two doors: the first door will get them to the bottom in time, but requires that [[SomeoneHasToDie two people stay behind shackled to the wall]], while the second door allows all five people through but won't get them to the bottom in time. After a lot of arguing, [[TakeAThirdOption Gon comes up with a third option]]: vote to open the second door and use the weapons in the room (which team members would normally use to [[TeamKiller fight each other when picking the first door]]) to smash the wall between both corridors open. His team manages to reach the bottom floor in the nick of time by using the weapons rack as a sled. |
| 92 | ** NGL permits no technology newer than agriculture, meaning visitors must discard everything from synthetic clothing items to necessities like eyeglasses, tooth fillings, and medical implants at the border crossing or face execution. They way can enforce this policy is via highly advanced technology like MRI and ultrasound, conveniently located just outside of NGL's actual borders. |
| 93 | ** Cheetu forces Morel into a supernatural game of tag in a large but enclosed space. Morel is freed if he can make physical contact with Cheetu, but Morel will die in six hours if he doesn't succeed. Since Cheetu has SuperSpeed and enjoys seeing people futilely try to fight him in direct combat, the spirit of this deadly game is to chase him for those six hours. Morel, instead, lies down by a tree and waits for Cheetu to fall for one of his SuperSmoke traps he laid around the place, knowing full well that ''preventing his enemy from moving'' is perfectly valid too. |
| 94 | ** The ability Order Stamp, which [[AnimateInanimateObject allows a nonliving human-shaped object to move and obey the user's commands]], does not allow the user to give commands to inflict violence on someone else. Chrollo [[PowerParasite steals this power]] and discovers that the objects will still follow the command to "break" someone, which they'll interpret as breaking the target's bones. Order Stamp will also not allow for [[AnimateDead bodies of people who have died to be reanimated]], but corpses that have never been alive to begin with are fair game. |
| 95 | ** Powers in this series get a massive boost if made into a DeathActivatedSuperpower. Princess Carmilla finds a way to use hers more than once: This boost is strong enough to completely take away a person's life force, so she adapts her power to be to absorb the life force of anyone who murders her so she can resurrect herself, upon which she can use it again if someone else murders her. Her older brother Benjamin finds a simple way to neutralize her without causing the power to activate, which is to injure her limbs so she's incapacitated, then lock her up while keeping her alive. As Carmilla is otherwise an ordinary human being, she is rendered completely powerless. |
| 96 | ** Netero proposes that Gon and Killua must defeat Knuckle and Shoot before they are allowed back to Neo-Green Life, which they lost so they weren't able to join the initial mission. Since the King and the Royal Guards moved to East Gateau which is not part of NGL, the two boys are allowed to join the palace invasion on a technicality. |
| 97 | * In ''Anime/IGPXImmortalGrandPrix'', on two separate occasions teams get away with doing things that logically should never be attempted, as there was no rule covering it. The first time, a team creates a tornado that was just as likely to get them killed as it was to win them the race. The second time, another team uses devices to take control of their opponents' vehicles. The rules are [[ObviousRulePatch amended both times]] to stop them from repeated abuse, but they get away with their victories. The second team would also later reveal (in the final race) that their vehicles were actually CombiningMecha that could effectively block the entire track, but they lost that race ([[spoiler:though the mecha blocked the track horizontally, Team Satomi made it past by using their ''own'' loophole: since there's no rule against jumping, they went vertical, leaping ''over'' the mech and dashing away, forcing it back into a straight race]]). |
| 98 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 99 | ** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Terence T. D'arby claims he never cheats in video game contests, but secretly uses his Stand's mind-reading ability to gain an advantage. This is because the rules allow Stands to be used as long as they don't tamper with the console or rely on allies to help, which his Stand technically never breaks. The rules are actually a sneaky way to allow him to use his Stand to its full potential while most other Stands are limited in how they can help the user. |
| 100 | ** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': |
| 101 | *** How the Stand Arrow works is that if you're strong enough to handle it, getting hit by it grants you a Stand, and if you're not, you die. Before his CharacterDevelopment, Koichi definitely wasn't strong enough to handle a Stand, but Josuke manages to use his own Stand, Crazy Diamond, to heal him before he succumbs to the Arrow's power. As a result, he gets a Stand anyway. |
| 102 | *** Rohan Kishibe's Stand Heaven's Door has the ability to partially turn people into books, with pages that contain every detail of their lives up to that point and can make anything written on the pages into truth. It's by far one of the most powerful abilities in the series, but there's a catch: the ability only activates when someone sees Rohan's latest artwork. His later appearances show that tracing his finger in the air qualifies as much as his actual manga sketches. |
| 103 | *** One of the enemy Stand users who comes after Josuke is Yuya Fungami, who was hospitalized due to an unrelated motorcycle accident before the events of the story. When Josuke confronts him in his hospital room, Fungami tries appealing to his sense of honor by saying that it's cowardly to beat up a man who's already injured. Josuke agrees, then uses Crazy Diamond to heal Fungami back to perfect health...which means now it's totally okay to beat the ever-loving crap out of him. Cue an ass-kicking that leaves Fungami even more injured than he was before, and Josuke expressing his immense satisfaction. |
| 104 | *** Terunosuke Miyamoto's Stand, Enigma, can trap any object in a piece of paper, but he can only trap people if he can successfully identify [[CharacterTics what they do when they're afraid]]. However, he later releases a taxi from one of his papers with a driver still inside, demonstrating that he can get around this by trapping an object with a person still inside it. The reason he doesn't do that all the time is because he's a [[IKnowWhatYouFear fear-obsessed]] [[PsychoForHire lunatic]] who enjoys scaring people well beyond what he needs to make Enigma work. |
| 105 | *** In the final arc, Yoshikage Kira's Bites the Dust [[spoiler:is a GroundhogDayLoop attached to Hayato Kawajiri that will blow up and kill anyone that discovers Kosaku Kawajiri is really Kira through Hayato, then turn time back by one hour with Hayato being the only one that remembers. Any event that happened in the previous loop (including the heroes blowing up) will repeat in the next loop at the exact time it occurred as long as Bites the Dust is active. When his attempts to assassinate Kira with the Stand-Cat hybrid Stray Cat fails, Hayato relies on a BatmanGambit by goading Kira's pride into revealing his true identity... right in earshot of Josuke and Okuyasu, who were called over by Hayato earlier that loop. Because Kira intentionally declared his identity, the two aren't subjugated to Bites the Dust's effects. And with the threat of Josuke, Kira is forced to pull his Stand Killer Queen off of Hayato, ending the loop before the heroes could be killed]]. |
| 106 | ** ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': Bruno Bucciarati's Stand, Sticky Fingers, has the [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower surprisingly broken]] ability to create zippers and place them on anything, but a very short range of effect. However, Bruno demonstrates a way around the range limitation by having Sticky Fingers place a zipper on its own arm, unzipping it, and then launching the arm out like a grappling hook. |
| 107 | *** Even better, it's a trick he picked up from Giorno who used something similar in their first fight to increase Golden Experience's punching range. |
| 108 | ** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': |
| 109 | *** Miraschon is defeated partially thanks to this trope, the other part being some clever sleight of hand. The problem: Jolyne and F.F. are trying to fight Miraschon and her Stand Marilyn Manson, which automatically collects on any bets its victims lose, even resorting to OrganTheft if they don't have enough money. The bet: Jolyne and F.F. must toss a baseball to each other a thousand times while remaining within three meters of each other. After a tense few moments, Miraschon appears to have beaten them after a guard she bribed intercepts a throw from Jolyne. However, the exact terms of the bet only stated that Jolyne had to be part of the game and said nothing about who her partner had to be. And since the guard was within three meters of Jolyne, the bet hadn't been lost yet. [[note]]This plays out a little differently in the anime, with the guard confiscating the ball and Jolyne using Stone Free to get it back. Marilyn Manson still counted this as a "catch".[[/note]] Furthermore, at this point, Jolyne is trapped inside an elevator with Miraschon, which the latter had assumed would lead to Jolyne losing the bet due to not being able to pass the ball to F.F. in time. However, due to the above-mentioned loophole, Jolyne proceeds to promptly [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown bounce the ball off of Miraschon's face a thousand times]] to win the bet. |
| 110 | *** Ungalo's stand, Bohemian Rhapsody, manifests fictional characters in reality and railroads its victims into the stories of any character they relate to. Weather Report beats Ungalo by creating a story about a superhero who rescues people trapped in other realities against their will and returns them to their home reality, and eventually Bohemian Rhapsody generates this story, causing the Stand to instantly undo itself. |
| 111 | *** At one point, BigBad Father Pucci is left stranded in a field of deadly spikes after he temporarily blinded himself to avoid a different attack. He catches Anasui, brainwashes him and orders him to tell him exactly which way to go to avoid the spikes. Anasui is forced to obey... but he makes sure to only look at the spikes ''on the ground'', which leaves Pucci completely unprepared when one more spike starts forming from the bloodstain on his clothes... |
| 112 | * Subverted in chapter 85 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. When Iino threatens to confiscate Ishigami's game console, he points out that he's currently underneath the student council room (which is treated as being outside of the school grounds and therefore unaffected by the rules). Rather than leave him be, she just drags him several feet so that he ''is'' on school grounds and confiscates the game. |
| 113 | * ''Manga/{{Kakegurui}}'': Being a series centered around gambling, many of the story arcs feature characters exploiting loopholes in game rules (when they don't simply [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught cheat]]): |
| 114 | ** During the "Indian Poker" arc, students in heavy debt have a chance to lower their debts through a poker game. In particular, one rule states that if you have the lowest debt and take first place, the student council will pay your debt for you. However, there's no rule which states your declared debt must be ''true''. Thus, Jun Kiwatari declares a fake debt of 10 million yen, supposedly owed to a friend, hoping to effectively receive free money if he wins. [[spoiler:This royally bites him in the ass when Yumeko and Mary abuse the very same loophole to switch their chip values by declaring each other's debt and swapping their debt-boards, which the arbiter allows since there is no rule stating that you must place your own board in front of you, either. Because they secretly switched their chip values, Jun focuses on gathering Yumeko's chips, which in truth are worthless compared to Mary's chips, and ultimately ends the game in 4th place when he thought he had ended 2nd. As a result, [[LaserGuidedKarma Jun is saddled with Yumeko's massive, real debt of]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma 310 million yen]]''.]] |
| 115 | ** In the "Election" arc, the students compete for the position of the student council president, with the winner being the one to amass the most "vote chips". Per the election rules, vote chips can only change hands when won in a gambling game; giving away or selling the chips is forbidden... but nothing says you can't deliberately lose your chips in a phony game ("Let's play rock-paper-scissors, I'll pick Rock"), which people use to freely trade chips anyway. |
| 116 | * ''Anime/KillLaKill'' has a [[FridgeBrilliance fridge example, in that we don't find out about the rule until later]]. Now, running in the school corridors is forbidden, even when chasing a rule-breaking student who is running himself. So what does the chief of the Disciplinary Committee do? Why, [[SuperWindowJump jump out the window and meet him at the exit]], of course. That ain't forbidden. |
| 117 | * ''Kimihagu'': Emily becomes the disciplinary committee president and forbids any romantic behavior on the school. However, there are no rules against masturbating, so when Emily goes to the bathroom in Episode 2, well... let's just say that she gets a little carried away, all by herself. |
| 118 | * Inverted, then played straight in ''Anime/LagrangeTheFlowerOfRinne'': There's no rule saying that a student may pilot a HumongousMecha... nor is there a rule saying they may ''not'' do so. |
| 119 | * ''Manga/LiarGame''. The day Akiyama actually plays a game without looking for loopholes will be the day of the apocalypse. |
| 120 | ** Deducing the hidden meanings and ramifications of the rules, then exploiting them to win is the wholly intentional part of the eponymous game. |
| 121 | * In the third sound stage of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', Fate is unable to contact Nanoha in real time because of restrictions placed on her for her trial, [[PenPals which is why they exchange video letters to see each other's faces and hear each other's voices]]. During a celebration of the anniversary of Fate making a contract with her {{familiar}} Arf, Lindy allows Fate to see a video link of Nanoha launching Starlight Breaker fireworks and Amy suggests that the video, lagging behind by 0.05 seconds, is not technically real time. |
| 122 | ** The TSAB limits how much concentrated power is allowed in a single unit to cut down on InterserviceRivalry. So how does Hayate get her family and best friends on the same squad when every one of them approaches or exceeds the power limit on their own? Have everyone wear {{Power Limiter}}s of course. |
| 123 | * In ''Manga/MamotteLollipop'', female lead Nina is distressed to learn that the contest for gaining a professional wizard's license has no rule against killing human beings (i.e. ''her'') to obtain the [[MacGuffin Magic Pearl]]. |
| 124 | * In ''Anime/MegaloBox'', Nanbu comes up with an insane plan to get Joe the reputation he needs to take on the top contenders for Megalomania: ''[[BadassNormal box without gear]]''! As it so happens, official Megalo Box regulations have ''nothing'' on gearless fighters. The lack of gear puts Joe at a disadvantage in punching power, but he was already at a disadvantage with the low-quality worn-out old gear that was all he and Nanbu could afford previously. And winning fights at such a disadvantage turns "Gearless Joe" into a media sensation who's too popular to ignore. |
| 125 | * ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'': Lucia has a bit of this problem with her LoveInterest Kaito, as, according to legend, a mermaid who [[ObstructiveCodeOfConduct reveals her identity to a human]] will die by [[NoBodyLeftBehind turning into sea foam]]. Much of the romantic subplot between Lucia and Kaito involves Lucia trying to get him to figure it out on his own, as there's nothing in the legend that prevents that. |
| 126 | * Attempted and subverted in chapter 86 of ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid''. Elma and Tohru, both having learned to drive, have gone to various locations in a race. On their way to the last place, being all tied up, and Elma behind Tohru, Elma is reminded by Kobayashi to not break the speed limit to win. So [[spoiler:Elma gets out and carries the car at higher speeds, rationalizing there are no speed limits if one is on foot. Kobayashi disqualifies Elma for that stunt]]. |
| 127 | * ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': The main rule of the Interspecies Protection Act is that humans are forbidden to harm monsters and vice versa... which enables such things as monster criminals freely doing as they please with the human police unable to intervene. |
| 128 | ** Although MON (a group of monster police) are under no such restrictions. |
| 129 | ** In addition, while monsters can't fight against humans, there's nothing forbidding a human to fight on a monster's behalf - which is pointed out when Kimihito uses a MegatonPunch against a [[JerkAss racist bastard]] who wouldn't shut up about Miia. As he puts it, Miia would get deported if she fought back, but if he's the one throwing the punch, it's just a fight between humans. |
| 130 | * ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'': The plot of the series begins with one of these. Sun's mother Ren gets Nagasumi and Sun engaged to prevent one of them from being KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade, as humans who [[InterspeciesRomance marry into a mermaid family]] are the exception to the rule. |
| 131 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''. After Bakugou tries to rile Izuku into a fight, Iida decides they could have a swim race with the rest of the boys just to see how much faster they are. They could use Quirks to win, but cannot harm people or damage buildings. This leads to a number of people just using their powers to hop over the pool. |
| 132 | * In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademiaVigilantes'', Eraser Head refuses to arrest Knuckleduster for vigilantism after realizing he has no quirk. Meaning that he cannot be using one illegally and has not technically broken the law. Or at least, not any law that's within Eraser Head's jurisdiction. Dealing with non-quirk crimes is exclusively for the police to handle, not pro heroes. |
| 133 | * The whole point of ninja training in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''; one is supposed to barrel on through the rules. |
| 134 | ** The written part of the Chuunin Exam is one example. The test consists of nine incredibly difficult written problems and one mystery question, and cheaters are disqualified after being caught cheating a few times. The true purpose of the test is not to determine the candidate’s knowledge, but to test their ability to cheat and gather information discreetly. There are even a few fake participants in the exam who have all the answers in advance, so that those who come up with subtle enough methods to not get caught can cheat off them. Naruto accidentally discovers a real loophole in the written test-- it's not actually necessary to ''answer'' the written questions, because you automatically pass if you reach and correctly answer the last question (a SecretTestOfCharacter) without being disqualified for being caught cheating. Naruto therefore manages to pass with an entirely blank sheet of paper, since doing nothing isn't cheating. This is actually an accidental abuse of ''two'' loopholes by Naruto, since the proctor also explained that you get points deducted for every wrong answer as opposed to being ''awarded'' points for a ''correct'' answer, though he didn't point out this distinction to the examinees. Naruto didn't give any wrong answers because he didn't answer any of the questions at all. The proctor is rather amused by Naruto's blank piece of paper that passes the test with full points. Sakura also passes without cheating-- she's smart enough to just answer the questions the regular way. |
| 135 | ** Naruto also does this with training ''which does not involve rules''-- any time he can't get past a certain stage of a training, he always finds some clever way to bypass it. For instance, Jiraiya figured he couldn't get past a point in the Rasengan training because he couldn't randomize the rotation of chakra with one hand-- so Naruto just used ''his other hand'' to make the rotation random himself. |
| 136 | *** His Shadow Clones are Loophole Abuse incarnate. Any time he needs to do something that can't be done (either at all or in X amount of time), Shadow Clones help circumvent the rules. ''One person'' might not be able to accomplish the task in the allotted time, but [[MesACrowd Naruto doesn't have to be just one person]]. This is how he manages to master the Rasengan (use a clone to focus the chakra) and then later evolve it into the Rasenshuriken (a second clone injects Wind-elemental chakra). Using Shadow Clones in this manner is first suggested by Kakashi, who uses such a mundane example as "being able to stare both to your right and your left" to demonstrate the principle. When Fukasaku coincidentally uses the same example later to explain why Naruto can't simply gather natural energy while moving, Naruto hits an EurekaMoment and masters [[SuperMode Sage Mode]] by first practicing gathering natural energy with a few clones to get used to it faster, then using his clones as backup reserves of natural energy. |
| 137 | * The girls from ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' should work on their rules stating when playing a game. [[{{Troll}} Mai]] is prone to using loopholes. |
| 138 | ** One example is them playing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLbzltCtALs red light green light]]. [[spoiler: No one specified you have to turn again after red light.]] |
| 139 | ** Another is their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1cKoroksJY stair climbing game]]. Yukko only bends the rules with a compound word, but no one specified you can't use absurdly long videogame passwords as the chosen word. |
| 140 | *** Though when the password is tried in the game later, it doesn't work... |
| 141 | * In the first episode of ''Manga/OneechanGaKita'', Tomoya, annoyed at his sister Ichika constantly waltzing into his room, puts up a sign in front of his door stating that if she enters through here he won't talk to her anymore. So naturally she gets a ladder and tries to climb in through his window instead. |
| 142 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 143 | ** The Davy Back Fight allows the team that wins each match to pick a member of the opposing team and force him or her to join their crew. In the third round, Nami considers choosing Foxy, who is set to compete in the Combat event against Luffy, so that they win by default in the third match and can easily get Chopper back. While some members of the opposing team hypocritically protest (they had already done the same thing to one of the three Straw Hat set to compete in the second event), Robin notes that this is legal, but none of the Straw Hats want Foxy with them. |
| 144 | ** After an ObviousRulePatch and a boxing match, ''497'' Foxy crewmembers are forced to join Luffy's crew. Luffy's ship, the Going Merry, cannot carry that many people, and besides, he doesn't want them anyway. However, a pirate captain's orders are absolute, and there's no rule a captain cannot assign his crew a mission ''to be dismissed''. |
| 145 | ** Actually ''inverted'' in the anime-only Pirate Dodgeball match, which comes with a massive rulebook with {{Obvious Rule Patch}}es for seemingly every single thing that could happen during a match, no matter how farfetched or downright ridiculous (there's a rule for accidentally ''swallowing the dodgeball''.) |
| 146 | ** A far less humorous example comes up far earlier on. In Nami's backstory, she makes a deal with Arlong; If she works as his cartographer, he'll sell her back her village and release her from service if she can raise 100 million beri. Years later, she's only 7 million away from that goal, but Arlong doesn't want to let her or her village go but also insists that he's a man of his word and would have to do so if she ever hands him that 100 million beri. So he has a corrupt Marine Captain confiscate her stash. When Nami accuses Arlong of trying to break the deal, the bastard smugly retorts, "When did I break my word?" Arlong didn't specifically ''order'' the the corrupt Marine to confiscate the money either, he simply ''told'' his accomplice where Nami had buried the treasure and knew exactly what Nezumi would do with the information. |
| 147 | ** [=CP9=]'s treatment of the Straw Hats… or at least the way that their {{Jerkass}} leader does it. The deal they made with Robin was to let them go free from Water 7. When the Straw Hats come after them on another island, Spandam declares that, since they did leave Water 7 freely and choose to pursue the [=CP9=], then attacking them isn't breaking the deal. Also how they leave the Straw Hats is an example, though never pointed out. Sure, ''they'' didn't kill the Straw Hats, but they did frame them for murder, throw two of them into the sea with a massive storm on the way, leave another buried under a pile of rubble in a burning building, and leave the last one with the people whose boss she had supposedly murdered. |
| 148 | ** Done by Donquixote Doflamingo in the Dressrosa Arc; With the help of the Straw Hats, Trafalgar Law has kidnapped the head of Doflamingo's weapons running business, and will only return him if Doflamingo quits the Seven Warlords of the Sea. More specifically, he states that the next day's headlines should read "Donquixote Doflamingo resigns from the Seven Warlords". Doflamingo gets around this by having the newspaper print a ''fake'' headline, which should normally be impossible [[spoiler:unless you were related to the World Nobles, like Doflamingo is.]] |
| 149 | ** Reiju does this during the Totto Land arc. Due to genetic modifications, she is unable to disobey orders given by her father, and as such places explosive bracelets on Sanji's wrists to force him to marry Pudding. [[spoiler:Her father never said anything about the bracelets needing to be functional.]] |
| 150 | ** Jinbe attempts to sever ties with the Big Mom Pirates in order to join the Straw Hats, but Big Mom threatens to [[ResignationsNotAccepted take his lifespan as a form of compensation]], under the [[InsaneTrollLogic logic]] that he should give her something of equal value in return for leaving, forcing Jinbe to back down. When he tries again later, in the middle of sabotaging Sanji and Pudding's wedding, Jinbe agrees to let Big Mom [[YourSoulIsMine take as much of his lifespan as she likes]] on the condition that she doesn't harm the Straw Hats. Big Mom agrees to his terms, but to her shock finds herself unable to steal Jinbe's lifespan since [[NervesOfSteel he's not afraid of her]], upon which he formally resigns from the Big Mom Pirates. Infuriated, Big Mom retorts that, since Jinbe is now effectively an enemy, she doesn't owe him squat, and tries to flatten him then and there. |
| 151 | ** A Celestial Dragon can basically do whatever they want, and anyone who attacks them for any reason will face an Admiral. Nothing says one Celestial Dragon can't attack another. [[spoiler:[[WhiteSheep Mjosgard]] clubs Charloss over the head to keep him from enslaving Princess Shirahoshi.]] |
| 152 | ** From the same arc, when Sakazuki hears that Fujitora is in Marijoa (the capital city of the ruling authority behind the Marines), he is characteristically pissed, as he had made it clear that Fujitora wasn't to set foot in any Marine base until he had captured Luffy and Law. Fujitora, however, comes up with a logical argument: Marijoa ''isn't'' a Marine base. Sakazuki doesn't take this logic too well. |
| 153 | ** Sanji fully prescribes to WouldntHitAGirl, (even against lethal enemies), to the extent that he won’t even block their attacks on him if they may be harmed, and stopping his male crewmates from attacking as well. [[spoiler:However, he has no issue with [[InvokedTrope calling one of his female crewmates]] to [[DesignatedGirlFight handle them and fight in his place]]]]. |
| 154 | ** Kaido and Orochi have ordered the execution of Kozuki Oden and the Nine Scabbards by boiling them to death in a giant pot of burning oil. Oden makes a deal with Kaido; if they can stay in the pot for one hour and survive, he'll let them go. Oden then jumps into the burning oil, picks up a huge plank of wood and has the Nine Scabbards stand on top of it. Orochi protests because they're not all boiling in the oil, but Kaido allows it because they're all technically inside the pot, and also because [[ItAmusedMe he's genuinely amused by Oden's cleverness]]. [[spoiler:Oden actually manages to withstand standing in burning oil for an hour, but right before time is up, Orochi changes their execution to firing squad out of spite, to ensure they're all killed. Not that it works; Oden is able to throw his subordinates to safety, [[HeroicSacrfice staying behind to die himself]].]] |
| 155 | ** [[spoiler:After Charlos tries yet again to enslave Shirahoshi, [[BigBrotherInstinct her brother Fukaboshi tries to step in]] only to be stopped by Mjosgard, who reminds him that as a prince of Fishman Island he must refrain from attacking a World Noble or his people might suffer the consequences. Immediately after this he gives Sai and Leo verbal permission to flatten Charlos, since being pirates means they are already criminals and don't have the same problem.]] |
| 156 | ** Vegapunk has been ordered to place a SelfDestructMechanism on [[spoiler:[[FullConverstionCyborg Bartholomew Kuma]]]]. But because Vegapunk didn't want to transform [[spoiler:his friend]] into a bomb, the mechanism he installed, rather than blowing up [[spoiler:Kuma]], simply shuts down all the motor and cognitive functions, putting him into a vegetative state, unable to move or even think. |
| 157 | ** Vegapunk was also warned not to install any bypass to the Five Elders' ultimate command authority over the Pacifista, with Saint Saturn insisting that as a fellow scientist he'd be able to figure out if that order were violated. However, Vegapunk wanted to make sure that [[spoiler:Kuma's daughter Jewelry Bonney]] wouldn't ever be killed by [[spoiler:the clones of her father]]. So Vegapunk gambled on installing a bypass of a sort that would simply never occur to Saturn. Rather than attempting to place ''himself'' at a higher command authority than the Five Elders, Vegapunk gave that top-level command authority to [[spoiler:Bonney herself]]. Having been satisfied that his own orders to the Pacifista could override any given by Vegapunk, Saturn never suspected this until it was too late. |
| 158 | * In ''Manga/OtakuElf'', Elda, the elf in question, is allowed one [[BlandNameProduct Red Bell]] energy drink a day. Her workaround when she wants more is to drink Monsters instead. |
| 159 | * ''Anime/PokemonOrigins'': |
| 160 | ** After defeating Giovanni, the Viridian Gym Leader and leader of Team Rocket, Red refuses to accept the Earth Badge, on the grounds that he won't accept anything from Team Rocket's boss. Giovanni's response? Disband Team Rocket, so Red can accept the Badge from him as a Gym Leader and not a Rocket. |
| 161 | ** Also in reverse a few minutes earlier, ''from the same character''. Red wanted to fight Giovanni the Rocket, not the Viridian Gym Leader. Giovanni put away his Gym Leader team and [[TheGlovesComeOff pulled out his favorite (and most powerful) personal Pokemon]]. |
| 162 | * In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', the title princess is a duck who has been turned into a human girl so that she can restore a fairy tale prince's missing heart. However, if she ever confesses her feelings to the prince, she'll turn into a spark of light and disappear. At the end of season one, the DarkMagicalGirl steals the prince's feeling of love with the intention of forcing a HeroicSacrifice... but Tutu realizes that she can ''show'' how much she cares for him through dance rather than words. |
| 163 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' ends with this: [[spoiler:the wish that Madoka ultimately makes is to erase all witches from existence. Kyubey hopes this will result in the creation of a massive soul gem following Madoka's becoming a witch, but Madoka's power had become so immense that she was not only able to carry through on her wish, but also prevent herself from becoming a witch, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming the concept of hope in process.]]]] |
| 164 | * [[ViewersAreGeniuses Although the movie doesn't actually state this explicitly,]] the plot of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' rests on this. [[spoiler: At the end of the original ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' anime, Madoka wished to erase all [[TheHeartless witches]] before they were born. The movie takes place in the [[LotusEaterMachine barrier]] of a witch that has not been born yet, thanks to the machinations of [[BigBad Kyubey]]. Two other witches appear in the movie; these witches were never born but were instead absorbed by Madoka.]] |
| 165 | * ''Manga/PuellaMagiTartMagica'' reveals two of the villains pulled this on the system years before [[spoiler:Madoka]] did. |
| 166 | ** [[spoiler:The GreaterScopeVillain Isabeau exploited the Incubator's CannotTellALie tendencies and got ''very'' specific about her questions to avoid ExactWords before she made her wish, which was to [[StoryBreakerPower give herself all the abilities of the Incubators]]. This turned her into a magical girl-Incubator hybrid that was able to [[DealWithTheDevil contract other magical girls]] and gain vast amounts of power from them as well as their UndyingLoyalty. She effectively gamed the system to put herself above it. She only failed when she neglected to ask if Incubators could purify Soul Gems and [[TooCleverByHalf accidentally used up too much magic to become a witch]]. But then one of her subordinates made her ''own'' wish...]] |
| 167 | ** [[spoiler:Lapin was one of Isabeau's wards who made the wish to return Isabeau to her human self, which effectively turned her into a HumanoidAbomination. However, Lapin herself gained the power to transform witches back to their magical girl selves, a complete violation of one of the core rules of the series. In fact, she even weaponized this power on ''herself'', forcibly transforming into a witch before returning to her normal self and repeating the process constantly, [[PerpetualMotionMonster effectively making her immortal]].]] |
| 168 | * For the most part, angels only officiate the ''Anime/QueensBlade'' competition. However, there are no rules against angels ''entering'' it - which Nanael discovers, to her dismay, when the head angel ''makes'' her enter (because Queen Aldra is [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen not someone you want in charge for longer than you have to]]). |
| 169 | * ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': |
| 170 | ** The rules for [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics]] ''clearly'' state that the only valid method of attack is with a tool. Barehanded (or barefooted) contact is strictly forbidden and can result in immediate disqualification. However, this doesn't stop Kodachi from modifying her gymnastics tools into clubs with retractable spikes, ropes which snap into iron rods, razor-sharp hoops, and explosive balls... or simply [[InstantKnots snagging whatever she can wrap her ribbon around (including Kuno) and hurling it back at her enemy]]. It doesn't keep ''Ranma'' from using anything she can get her hands or feet on (including Akane's pet piglet,) or demolishing the ring itself with kicks and punches. Kodachi using her bokken-wielding brother was also considered a valid attack. |
| 171 | *** It goes one step further - the rule forbids attacking your ''opponent'' without a legal weapon. [[spoiler:Ranma wins by kicking the ''post Kodachi's standing on'', breaking it and dropping her to the floor. Ranma then clings like a limpet to the broken halves of the post to stay off the floor herself.]] |
| 172 | ** In both versions this is how Kodachi "justifies" remaining the first true member of Ranma's UnwantedHarem (not counting Akane Tendo, on virtue of her being the OfficialCouple), despite having promised to give up on Ranma if she lost the match. Having agreed to "abandon her present affection for Ranma", she explains that she now "burns with entirely brand new passion for him" when she tells girl-type Ranma that she will be coming after Ranma again. |
| 173 | ** In anime version of the climax to the Phoenix Pill saga, Ranma needs to win a combination of downhill race and running battle in order to win the pill that will undo the Full-Body Cat's Tongue point that keeps him locked in female form. Unfortunately, he's never skied before, so he stinks at it. Akane mercifully throws him some snowshoes and points out there's no rule saying he has to ski down the slope, just that he has to reach the finish line first with an unbroken miniature snowman. Ranma takes things a step further by soon after hitching a ride on the back of an angry black bear. |
| 174 | * The last arc of ''Manga/Reborn2004'' is a battle royal with one set of rules so really straightforward and simple, it's a wonder why no team tried to exploit for seventeen chapters. [[spoiler:Vindice]] exploit the loophole [[spoiler:by attacking other teams outside of the assigned time without wearing their representative watch]], and [[spoiler:Varia also did the same, though in their case Squalo just made a comeback because they happened to have a spare watch and, as lampshaded by himself, there is no rule about using the spare watch]]. |
| 175 | * ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': Ain't no rule that says a girl can't wear a boy's uniform! Apparently there's no rule that says it has to be the same color as everyone else's, either! |
| 176 | ** ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': ...and vice-versa. |
| 177 | * In ''VisualNovel/RoboticsNotes'', the Robotics Club are told they will only be given permission to build a mecha on school grounds if they win an upcoming robotics tournament. They lose in the final... but then realise that the winner is actually a fellow student from their school. So they cajole him into joining the Robotics Club and present him to the principal, arguing that they've fulfilled the terms of the agreement even if he wasn't a Robotics Club member when the tournament took place. The principal caves in and gives them permission. |
| 178 | * ''Anime/RocketGirls'': Ain't no rule that says you can't send a high school girl into space! |
| 179 | * ''Manga/SaitamaChainsawShoujo'' has protagonist Fumio observing that there's no rule against bringing a chainsaw to school, after the student council president tells her off for not switching to her school shoes. This being while Fumio is [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon holding a bloody chainsaw.]] |
| 180 | * ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'' has a typically absurd example as a major plot point. [[spoiler: Ramona figures out whoever kidnapped Scott had to have been a vegan due to their psychic superpowers, which leads her to...Robot-01, which doesn't eat ''anything.'']] |
| 181 | * Higa of ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'' pulls this, bringing extra Sekirei to the third match, stating that it's okay as long as they don't fight. |
| 182 | * In one episode of ''Manga/SPYxFAMILY'', Anya's class are asked to make models out of paper, with a theme of "animals". Becky, having just developed a PrecociousCrush on Anya's father Loid, chooses to make a model of him. When the teacher chides her for not following the theme, Becky points out that, taxonomically speaking, humans ''are'' animals. The teacher concedes the point and lets it slide, but Becky decides immediately afterwards that calling Loid an "animal" feels like an insult and starts over anyway. |
| 183 | * Invoked but defied in chapter 42 of the manga version of ''Manga/SquidGirl''. During a soccer match where Ika is performing poorly, her teammates realize the rules only say non-goalkeeper players can't use ''hands'' to move the ball. There's not a thing in the rules about tentacles (especially since Ika's tentacles are technically part of her head, which explicitly can be used to move the ball). But since Ika's trying really hard to play the normal way, they don't mention this loophole to avoid hurting her pride. |
| 184 | * Jig, the protagonist of ''Manga/StealthSymphony'' has a weapon strapped to his back that can catch any attack done with intent to harm Jig, then [[CatchAndReturn replicate the attack with amplified force back at the attacker]]. All attacks can be countered, regardless of its power, speed, or type. First impressions would sound like Jig is invincible, and early into the series, the assassins out for Jig's head believe this. It doesn't take long, however, for the people attempting to kill him to find ways to fight and damage Jig without getting counterattacked. These include attacking him without malicious intent (though it requires someone with BlueAndOrangeMorality to do that), attacking a target where Jig happens to be in the way, damaging him in ways that aren't attacks, dodging the counterattacks, getting Jig caught in the counterattacks, and disabling the machine before fighting him. |
| 185 | * In ''Manga/TegamiBachiLetterBee'', Lag runs into a bit of a dilemma on the job. Rei, a wealthy young woman, is deeply touched that someone has been anonymously sending her postcards of her hometown, and wants to find the person and thank her. Lag does some sleuthing and finds that the person in question is Rei's maid Kimidori, but Kimidori begs Lag not to tell Rei, and Lag agrees. When Colbasso tries to falsely claim credit for the postcards to swindle Rei out of a reward, Lag says that he never promised not to fire a Shindan, and fires Akabari at the postcard, showing Rei Kimidori's feelings- she'd felt guilty about selling the gift Rei gave her, and wanted to help her despite feeling unworthy to be her friend. |
| 186 | * ''VideoGame/TribeNine'': |
| 187 | ** Using motorcycles to move between bases is against the rules of Extreme Baseball. The Adachi tribe, [[BadassBiker a motorcycle gang]], sidesteps this rule by passing off their motorcycles as (very elaborate) ''baseball cleats'', which the robot referees consider acceptable. |
| 188 | ** A player without a ball cannot interfere with the runner. However, accidents don't count as infractions. If a player knocks over a can of slippery oil on the field and passes it off as an "accident", the referee lets it slide. |
| 189 | * In ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', Mendō says that, although motorcycles aren't allowed at school, there's no rule against ''helicopters''. |
| 190 | * ''Anime/YuGiOh'': |
| 191 | ** Yugi exploits an infinite loop combo that Marik/Strings used to fill his hand... [[InstantWinCondition to mill his own deck]]. (This stunt is ''not'' indicative of how Revival Jam and Brain Control [[ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot actually work in the real card game]], but this was often the case with the show's more memorable power plays.) |
| 192 | ** Similarly, the Legendary Dragons in the Doma Arc can do freaky infinite-loop tricks because they're already logistical nightmares when it comes to explaining how they work. Apparently, the way the Japanese "Dragon" Cards work is that any character who picks them up immediately gains a fusion deck about two feet deep to represent every possible fusion combo that the Dragon in question may form…or it could just be that the dragon's card morphs into whatever the Fusion monster is. |
| 193 | ** Yuma exploits the wording of his "Half Unbreak" trap [[note]] Targeted monster cannot be destroyed by battle this turn, and you take half the battle damage you would have [[/note]] twice to do this (once on Number 53: Heart-eartH and the second on Skypalace Gangaridai.) Namely, it doesn't have to be ''his own'' monster, so he uses it on the opponent's instead. |
| 194 | ** New villains in Season 2 of ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' often does this with Skill[[note]]It's an ability that can only be used once per duel in Speed Duel.[[/note]] [[ArtificialIntelligence Bit and Boot]], when combined, are able to use their own separate skill in one Speed Duel while Bohman[[spoiler: and Windy]] are able to activate Storm Access in Master Duel. |
| 195 | * ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Done by virtually every team other than Team Urameshi during the Dark Tournament. Some teams are able to get away with incredibly blatant cheating by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribing the tournament officials to validate it]]. |
| 196 |
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