Breather Episode / Anime & Manga

• In Accel World, the two stories in Volume 10, which takes place between two major story arcs. One features Haruyuki fighting alongside Aqua Current, a "bodyguard" and former member of Nega Nebulus, to gain some points after prematurely leveling up, while another has Kuroyukihime teaming up with an old acquaintance and his friends to fight a rival Burst Linker while on a trip in Okinawa. The timing is a little different in the anime, since the first story is between the first and second main story arcs, while the latter is in the middle of the Dusk Taker saga, but they're still an example.
• Subverted in episode 8 of Another. It's fairly lighthearted in stark contrast to the earlier episodes, being a Beach Episode in which Reiko takes her nephew Koichi and some of his friends to visit her old classmate, who might know about stopping the curse once it's started. As Reiko talks with her friend, the other students hang out on the beach, until one goes after a beach ball and dies, becoming the latest casualty and (seemingly) proof that the curse can strike outside Yomiyama.
• Assassination Classroom:
  • After the intensity of the Assassination Island arc, Koro-sensei decides to spend their remaining time on Fukuma Island by treating the kids to a test of courage.
  • After the Second Semester Exam arc, the next chapter focuses on 3-E putting on a hilariously dark play. The chapter after that is Chapter 128.
  • Following the tension of the civil war game, the subsequent reconciliation and an audacious space trip to retrieve data that could help Koro-sensei, Class 3-E takes some time off during Valentine's Day to spend time interacting with each other.
• Attack on Titan: Chapter 70. You can almost see everything that can go wrong with the Hope Spot, but given the nature of the series, this chapter was surprisingly upbeat. Krista sets up an orphanage town, the remaining nobles are prosecuted for their part in the slaughter, Levi is given free reign by the Military to use his titan augment as he sees fit, technology that was supposedly destroyed was collected by a few dissidents in the Military Police, so that they invent more effective ways to kill titans instead off throwing soldiers into the slaughter, the underground crystals are mined for lighting, and Eren discovers a new clue about his father.
• Basilisk, otherwise a very brutal and tragic story, has a breather episode two-thirds through which consists of flashbacks to flesh out some characters who have previously not been seeing doing anything but fighting. There are some very funny scenes with Oboro as a child, which are perhaps the only comedic moments in the series.
• Black Butler:
  • After the Jack the Ripper arc and Madam Red's funeral we're treated to a much more lighthearted chapter where Ciel's aunt and his fiancee Elizabeth stop by for a visit.
  • After the ship arc, which had a high body count and several revelations (with the Undertaker revealing himself to not only be a Deserter Shinigami, but to also be behind the zombie creations out of a twisted desire to experiment), the next chapter revolves around Easter and has the cast get together for a wacky, lighthearted egg hunt.
• Black Clover:
  • The Forest of Witches Arc has the Black Bulls face off against three threats: The Eye of the Midnight Sun, Diamond Kingdom, and the Witch Queen. Afterwards the story focuses on the festival shenanigans and training at the Yultim Volcano.
  • The immediate aftermath of the elves' reincarnation, aside from a trial and brief battle that's actually a test from Lolopechka, is much less serious than the preceding Elf Reincarnation Arc, which was full of Wham Episodes. Afterwards, the Dark Triad invade.
• Black Lagoon had one breather episode between the Nazi arc and the Roberta arc, and a very over-the-top free-for-all gunfest mini-arc between the disturbing Hansel & Gretel arc and the final Japan arc (which was surprisingly deep at times... For Black Lagoon, anyhow).
  • Greenback Jane is a breather mini-arc. While it does have some disturbing moments, mostly it's just a Roanpur Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.
• The Bleach musical No Cloud in the Blue Heavens has a rather obvious one, where the dramatic reveal of Aizen being alive and the Big Bad is delayed so Aizen, Hinamori, and Hitsugaya can sing a happy little song while watching winter fireworks (A scene that happened in an omake that appears at the start of the volume in which the said development occurred).
• Blessing of the Campanella sets up the catalyst for the second half of the series in episode 7, which it does follow up on in episode 9. Episode 8, however, focuses on the comic relief characters of the Tortilla sisters and has hijinks ensue for all the cast involved during the harvest festival.
• Bloom Into You has Chapter 24. The preceding chapters deal with Touko dealing with the knowledge that her sister may not have been the perfect person Touko believed her to be, and the subsequent chapters focus on rewriting the play's ending, which are fairly dramatic and serious. Chapter 24, however, focuses on Yuu and Touko going to an aquarium and having fun together, which cheers Touko up a bit.
• The entire reason why Fuuko makes appearances throughout CLANNAD After Story is so that the audience doesn't curl up into a little ball in the corner and cry.
• Chainsaw Man: Chapter 81 on is a massive Wham Episode with many loveable Characters Dropping Like Flies, a huge death toll, and Denji suffering a horrendous Trauma Conga Line that leaves him utterly broken. Then there's Chapter 85, where the Chainsaw Devil decides to take a break from fighting and go to a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger, where Kobeni also happens to be working as a waitress after quitting the Devil Hunters. It's played for extreme Black Comedy, because the Chainsaw Devil keeps accidentally decapitating the employees and other customers, but it's okay because they were jerks. Kobeni is made to bring the hamburger over, but she's so utterly terrified that she trips and drops the order, twice. This then carries over partly into Chapter 86, where the Chainsaw Devil forcibly takes Kobeni on a date (who is blubbering in fear the whole time), getting her ice cream (slicing up the ice cream truck in the process), and making her play DDR. Unlike many breather episodes however, it does have a purpose in the narrative, showing that the Chainsaw Devil has such a low opinion of Makima's threat that it never bothers trying to kill her for good and seems more annoyed she keeps interrupting its date.
• Code Geass uses School Festival episodes to keep the show from getting too serious. However, as per the show's standard operating procedure, even the silly comedy episodes contain at least one serious plot point or a Cliffhanger ending in order to keep things running.
  • In the audio commentary for Stage 21 (the infamous "pizza festival" episode), it's actually directly stated that head writer Ichiro Okouchi thought that the plot at that point in the show was getting very serious and wanted to give everyone a break.
• Episode 23 of Darker than Black is a breather between November 11's death and the Grand Finale. In particular, about half the episode is spent on a Ship Tease-y sorta-date between Hei and Kirihara.
• Episode 7 of DARLING in the FRANXX serves as this. Squad 13 gets to take a well-deserved break from fighting klaxosaurs by spending some time at the beach.
• In Day Break Illusion, episode 7 is mostly fluffy Slice of Life, focusing on the girls' day off from fighting Daemonia and Akari's reunion with her fortune-telling aunties. Then comes the next episode.
• Episodes 20 and 21 of Dear Brother feature Nanako, Tomoko and Mariko going a school festival in Takehiko's university, as well as Mariko meeting Takehiko's friend Takeshi and being very Tsundere towards him. (Pretty much the only time Mariko's misandry is Played for Laughs.) And it happens right in between Nanako's Anguished Declarationof Love to Rei (episode 19) and Nanako witnessing Fukiko's vey eccentric behavior (episode 22) and Fukiko's absolutely disastrous birthday party (episode 23).
• Death Parade has episodes 3, 6 and 10, which have more optimistic or bittersweet endings and are more comedic or pleasant and relaxed than the show's usual dark and violent episodes that they follow. In Episode 3 the characters even comment on the relaxed nature.
• Chapter 40 of The Demon Girl Next Door is an invoked example. Anri, after reviewing Yuko's summer-vacation journal, opined Yuko's summer was far too eventful for a 15-year-old girl, and had Yuko do something more like a normal summer vacation on her last free day of it.
• Some Doraemon films:
  • Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure into the Underworld a dark, borderline scary film with the gang facing demons from another planet trying to wipe out the universe, and nearly getting devoured alive by horrible monsters (multiple times!) in the process, followed by Doraemon: Nobita's Little Space War, a fun space adventure on Planet Pirika, with the villains being finger-sized Lilliputians and the final battle being confined to a single city and an easy Curb-Stomp Battle for the heroes.
  • Doraemon: Nobita and the Animal Planet is a Green Aesop-heavy film where the gang and the titular Animal Planet's inhabitants nearly gets enslaved by a horde of hostile aliens, and the gang narrowly avoids death in a bombing. The following film, Doraemon: Nobita's Dorabian Nights is an exploration into the world of Arabian Nights where the villains are nowhere as dangerous as the prior film.
  • Doraemon: Nobita's Three Visionary Swordsmen is a High Fantasy-themed adventure where Nobita and gang once again face demons, with several intense scenes including one where the Demon overlord Odorom tries to disintegrate Nobita's friends while Nobita's Forced to Watch and both Nobita and Shizuka actually dying onscreen (though it's reversed thanks to the dreamworld's logic). The next film, Doraemon Nobitas Diary Of The Creation Of The World, is a summer vacation-themed episode with Nobita Playing God with an Earth Creation Kit gadget, with zero stakes since the whole show is just the main characters trying to catch up with their summer homework.
  • Doraemon: Nobita and the Galaxy Super-express throws the gang into an Assimilation Plot where a sinister race of alien Puppeteer Parasites tries taking the inhabitants of a space-train hostage. Next movie in the line is Doraemon: Nobita and the Spiral City, set in a world of Living Toys, the villains being a bunch of bumbling human criminals, and most instances of onscreen violence being played in a slapstick manner.
  • Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters is a rather heavy-hearted, borderline depressing Death by Newbery Medal story ending with a bleak, Kill the Cutie moment, the world nearly getting destroyed by an eldritch monster, and a Bittersweet Ending with Nobita resolving to be stronger and better. But then the next film Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey have the gang befriending a race of andromorphic cats and dogs with loads of mostly fun, lighthearted adventures and a far more optimistic ending than the previous film.
  • The 2011 remake of Doraemon: Nobita and the Steel Troops ups the stakes from the original, with an ending where nearly all the heroes died if not for their new friend Riruru pulling a Heroic Sacrifice causing the Steel Troop (and herself) to suffer a Ret-Gone, with the aftermath played for all the drama and emotions it's worth. It's followed by Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles ~Animal Adventure~, an adventure on a futuristic zoo with far less threats, and the villains now are a bunch of bumbling poachers who suffers a humiliating beat-down at the end. The very next film, Doraemon: Nobita's Secret Gadget Museum, is even more of a breather, as it's a No Antagonist story and a climax that's resolved in four quick minutes.
  • After Stand by Me Doraemon, probably the biggest Tear Jerker of the franchise in whole, we get Doraemon: Nobita and The Space Heroes, a Superhero Episode where Nobita and friends obtain superpowers from Doraemon's gadgets and fights a gang of silly, ridiculous alien invaders.
  • The remake of Doraemon: Nobita's Little Space War repeats it's status as a breather, as it's roughly as light-hearted as the original, and follows the emotionally-heavy Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur that have the gang being denied help from their Time Police allies because Good Is Not Soft before permanently losing their friends in the past.
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • The final episode of the Garlic Jr. filler arc takes place after the titular villain's defeat, and revolves around Krillin and Gohan trying to find a giant pearl in the ocean so Krillin can propose to his girlfriend Maron. Master Roshi also calls everyone to Kame House to celebrate Turtle's 1000th birthday. In the next episode, Mecha-Frieza and his father King Cold come to Earth seeking revenge.
  • The Android Saga episode where Chi-Chi gets fed up and forces Goku and Piccolo to take driving lessons, commencing an episode of Goku failing spectacularly at even the fundamentals of driving, and Piccolo doing moderately well except when Goku challenges to impromptu drag-racing the middle of practice. This episode is also an acknowledged Breather Episode in-universe, as when his driving instructor fumes that at this rate, it'll take Goku a hundred years to get his license, he freaks out:
    "That's too long! I still have to get in shape for a big battle against two killer androids and Chi-Chi's gonna kill me if I don't get my —" [sinks underwater because he landed his car in the middle of a lake]
  • The anime used the ten-day waiting period before the Cell Games to tell a few lighter stories, such as an episode dedicated to Gohan's eleventh birthday and another with Goku hunting down the new Dragon Balls.
• "Curtain Call" in Dragon Ball GT. This episode is between the Baby and Super 17 arcs, and focuses on Mr Satan, who is still grieving Buu's death in the Baby arc, announcing his retirement after the next World Martial Arts Tournament. He changes his mind at the end of the episode.
• Dragon Ball Super has the Universe 6 arc. In stark contrast to the other major arcs of Z and Super, this storyline is about a friendly tournament between Universes 6 and 7, and the only things at stake (which universe gets to keep Earth and who gets a wish on the Super Dragon Balls) would not have any major negative effects on the cast. In addition, shorter Slice of Life stories are typically interspersed between major arcs.
• The Elfen Lied OVA (a.k.a. episode 10.5) takes place between Nana's settling in the inn and Mariko's arrival, and consists mostly of comedic Slice of Life and bonding between Nana and Nyu. And heartwarming.
• Eureka Seven most notably has a breather episode where the main protagonists take a break to play a soccer match at the direction of their spiritual leader. When asked why he directed them to do so, he reveals that it is, literally, a breather episode for both the audience and the characters.
• Eyeshield 21's breather episodes tend to be pretty justified, given that serious athletes DO have to take rest days right after big games. Even the breather episodes tend to have bits of relevant information.
• In Fairy Tail, after a long arc about a war with a rival guild and Lucy confronting her father, we get a one-chapter story about the main cast taking a mission to perform at a failing theater then having to replace ALL of the actors who left after it got a bad review.
• Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) featured a comedic episode centering on the State Military members directly under Roy Mustang's command, right in the center of an intense plot arc involving a rebellion in a remote city.
• Full Metal Panic! gave us an entire breather season in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, which served to seriously crank up the Mood Whiplash for when The Second Raid came along.
• Ga-Rei -Zero-: Episode 5 deals with the romance between Yomi and Noriyuki, and is all lighthearted fun before the tragic main storyline kicks in.
• GEAR Fighter Dendoh managed to fuse this with a Wham Episode: episode 12, set right after the three episodes with an epic and desperate battle with Ogre, is a light-hearted episode, set in the middle of an in-universe breather (as the Galfa have ceased to attack and are planning the next move) and with part of it composed by footage from previous episodes... And then, right at the end, Vega's true identity as mother of one of Dendoh's pilots and younger sister of Altair is revealed, and Eris deduces the existence of a seventh Data Weapon.
• GTO: The Early Years:
  • After the Kamakura Mad Dogs arc wraps up, Chapter 32 has all the boys go to the public baths, where they compare dick sizes.
  • Chapters 70 through 74 are three side stories focusing on Tsukai, Makoto, and Saejima respectively. (Makoto's is three chapters)
  • The "Midnight Angels Revival" arc, which introduces Nagisa, Yasha, and Akutsu, is interspersed with three silly chapters about Nanno trying to get revenge on Eikichi and failing, Makoto dealing with a problem on his own, and Saejima, Kamata, and Tsukai meeting a student who supposedly has Psychic Powers.
  • A few chapters between the end of the Midnight Angel arc and the beginning of the Natsu arc focus on Ryuji and Nagisa running away from home to live in an abandoned bus, and their friends helping them make it feel like a home.
• Episode 6 of GUN×SWORD is a goofy parody/comic episode, coming right after a fairly intense episode about revenge. The episode provides the opportunity for some development for the two main characters, but it doesn't do anything to advance the story arc until the last few minutes... when it drops a Wham Line.
• Odd One Out in Halo Legends is the only non-canon short of the group; it's a lighthearted comedy shown between the two most tragic episodes.
• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • The first episode of each arc is usually nice and light-hearted, spending most of its time displaying anime comedy tropes, or simply showing a slice of life in Hinamizawa village. The episode will usually end on a slightly chilly note... And next episode, it gets dark. Big time. Umineko: When They Cry is like this too, following a similar episode structure to Higurashi, except the spike from cheerful to fearsome is much sharper.
  • The Second Raid also has a breather episode of its own; episode six takes some time off from the warfare to focus on Sousuke and Kaname's relationship, providing some comedy and some quiet, touching moments before things get worse.
  • The original series had these in a fixed rhythm: serious story - comedy episode(s) - serious story - comedy episode(s) - serious story... so things never got too gloomy.
• During the bleakest part of the series, Hikaru no Go aired two back-to-back episodes set in happier times. The first one, "Keichou Flowerpots," is purely a fluffy side story about Hikaru and Sai in seventh grade as they play Go to punish a dishonest shopkeeper. The second, "The Fated Encounter," is about a couple of pivotal games in Akira's backstory, and ends with his first meeting with Hikaru, shown from his perspective.
• HuGtto! Pretty Cure episode 24 starts out as this, with the girls having fun in a swimming park and meeting two of their former foes who were healed of their evil energies and revived as normal humans. Then, partway through, Hana ends up suffering from PTSD from the events of the previous episode and is struck harder when the bad guys attack.
• Jewelpet:
  • Jewelpet Twinkle☆: Two examples.
    • Between the second time Alma attacks the heroes and going back to hunting for Jewel Stones, there's episode 40, a very silly episode about a Jewelpet getting lost in the human world and the chaos he creates in Akari's school.
    • Smack in the middle of the very serious Tournament Arc there's a Valentine's Day episode, where everyone takes a break and Hilarity Ensues at Akari's school due to Valentine's chocolate and a love potion gone awry.
  • Jewelpet Sunshine: The show decided to have a very strange and inconsequential Bizarro Episode (39) right before going all heavy and character-driven for the last thirteen episodes.
  • Lady Jewelpet: Episodes 27 and 28 are very airy and comedy-driven for this show; they come after the conflict of Momona's shaky status at the Jewel Palace and Ruby's guilt about it gets resolved.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • In Part IV, a story arc where Josuke and Okuyasu visit an Italian restaurant happens in between two action-packed arcs. The majority of this arc is Okuyasu eating food that heals all that ails him. Josuke suspects the chef of being an evil stand user that means harm to Okuyasu, but he turns out to be a good guy with no ulterior motive other than to help people.
  • Part III has the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain brothers Oingo and Boingo, whose series of plans mess up, backfire and send themselves into the hospital without the heroes even realizing they're being attacked.
  • In Part VIII, immediately after the climactic battle with Disc-One Final Boss Damo, and before the plot goes back on the rails, there is Milagro Man - a wacky adventure starring a supporting character Joshu, with no ties to the main plot about rock humans and the Rokakaka.
• The seventh episode of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress sees the cast finally arrive in a station that hasn't been overrun by Kabane. The plot is mostly about celebrating a holiday while they restock on supplies.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
  • The "Fujiwara eating ramen" chapters come right before or right after very heavy arcs. The first one was right before the Fireworks arc, while the second one came right after Tsubame's Christmas party.
  • Chapter 91's balloon game concludes Volume 9/Season 2 after a series of very emotionally heavy moments before.
  • Chapter 181's "fanservice" chapter is mostly light in comedy in the middle of the very dramatic Kyoto Class Trip arc.
  • Chapter 195 is a Valentine's Day chapter which, in Japanese tradition, involves girls giving chocolate to the boys they like^note Though there's also giri-choco ("obligation chocolate") given to non-romantic associates like friends and co-workers. The twist is that there isn't a twist. There are no misunderstandings or hurt feelings, there aren't even a lot of gags either, just cute and heartwarming moments. Or to quote the narrator:
    Narrator: Sometimes, it's just nice to have a stress-free day. No drama, no twists.
• KanColle infamously pulled this off. After killing off a sacrificial lamb, they spend the episode focusing on the resident ensemble darkhorses Kongou and Shimakaze. The problem being that the hi-jinks involving them is taking place in between the fallout of the death. As you might expect, it's hotly debated whether the episode works or not.
• Episodes 6 & 7 of Is This A Zombie? is fairly light-hearted in tone compared to the vicious fighting that takes place in episodes 5 & 6. Episode 12 is more like a Slice of Life episode where they hang out at a water park and then the female characters have a singing contest, in stark contrast to episodes 10 & 11, where they fought the Big Bad and attempt to foil his plans.
• The first 4 episodes of Kotoura-san was unusually intense and dramatic for a Romantic Comedy—we're talking about how a girl was broken and cured. The episode that follows it was mainly about the cast enjoying some time together and at school.

• One episode of Inuyasha dealt with Inuyasha trying to get Kagome's brother a date, most episodes have them fighting horrible demons. Inuyasha in general loves these. After every multi-part epic battle against some Naraku-related/Jewel-shard-related uber-powerful demon you can bet there will be some goofy filler episode(s) before the action returns. And most of them are pretty hilarious, too.
• Although cut from the anime adaptation, Moriarty the Patriot has "The Tea Party" single-chapter in between the heavily emotional The Adventure of the One Student and The Merchant of London, and the Moriarty family...hosts a tea party for frivolous women of the upper class, and shenanigans ensue.
• My Hero Academia:
  • The Hideout Raid Arc ends with a huge Wham Episode and some very dark and/or emotionally heavy moments. The arc is soon followed by a 2-chapter mini arc focused on dorm room shenanigans as the students vote for who has the best bedroom. Uraraka implies that this was intentional on the students' part, as many of them were uncomfortable with the events of the hideout raid and wanted things to go back to normal.
  • The Internship Arc ends with the first death of a major hero onscreen and Mirio losing his quirk, followed by implications that Midoriya, Kirishima, Tsuyu and Uraraka didn't came out of that psychologically unscratched. This is followed by the Remedial Training arc, in which Bakugou, Camie, Inasa, and Todoroki try to befriend rowdy schoolchildren, and the Culture Festival arc, where Class 1A puts on a band performance for the titular festival and the only threat is an Anti-Villain just there for Youtube views.
  • After the Meta Liberation Army arc, a battle between the League of Villains and the Army that ends with both organizations merging under Shigaraki's leadership, creating an unprecedented threat to society, Mt. Lady and Midnight hold a class on students making a good impression while giving interviews, and there's a brief Christmas Episode. Following that is the Endeavor Internship arc, which provides hints of the conflict to come and explores Endeavor's troubled relationship with his family.
• My-HiME had no less than two breather moments (the first consisting of two episodes), each directly following a Wham Episode. Episodes 9-10 were a Beach Episode followed by a Cooking Duel, but even they advanced the plot. Episode 16 turned out to be a Wham Episode by itself, thus making it two Wham Episodes in a row.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi breaks formula a little by dumping a Furo Scene episode in the middle of a dramatic arc, right as the plot was building toward The Reveal.
  • There are other breather episodes (usually a Beach Episode) between the other arcs; the abovementioned scene is just the most infamous because it's smack dab in the middle of a dramatic arc rather than before or after one.
• One Piece:
  • After a huge, epic adventure where they fought a wannabe god, and right before another huge, epic adventure where they declared war on the world government, the Straw Hat pirates took part in a decidedly light-hearted and thoroughly odd series of athletic challenges known as the Davy Back Fight. Although the crew would have been enslaved by a rival pirate captain if they had lost, the overall tone and the severe goofiness of the arc's villain made the whole thing feel like a nice break in between more serious storylines.
  • The Amazon arc is not as lighthearted as many examples, but compared to Kuma blasting the Straw Hats apart and both Impel Down and the Whitebeard War it's practically cotton candy.
  • The anime features many examples in the form of short filler arcs or small series of individual filler episodes. The infamous moment mentioned in the above point was followed immediately after by a strictly Alternate Universe story about the Straw Hats participating in a palanquin race in an Edo Era-esque town. The climax of the Alabasta Arc was followed (even before the Rainbow Mist filler arc) by a trio of lighthearted episodes focusing each on Chopper, Nami, and Usopp. Similarly, a trio of lighthearted filler episodes premiered after the intense Enies Lobby arc focused on Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji individually. Toei loves this trope.
  • The Zou arc is a relatively short, almost villain-free arc that serves as a cooldown from the much longer and intense Dressrosa arc that preceded it. The Straw Hats don't meet any opposition in the present; the one villain who does make an attempt at messing things up gets dispatched very quickly, and before the Straw Hats even meet him. The rest of the arc is spent on important exposition, introducing more allies for the Straw Hats, and setting up the next arc as well as other major events.
  • The Reverie Arc is likewise a short mini-arc, serving as a cooldown between Whole Cake Island and the Wano Country Arcs. The Straw Hats take a backseat to the various royal families they befriended, and the arc drops several major reveals, as well as sets up some major events in the future. Just like the Zou arc, the lone villain who attempts to mess things up is dispatched as soon as he makes his move.
  • The Egghead arc plays with the trope. It starts off as a light-hearted relief from the Wano Country arc, with funny antics around the island and exposition reveals from the eccentric Dr. Vegapunk, who becomes Unseen No More. But stakes gradually get higher when Rob Lucci, and especially Jaygarcia Saturn, get involved.
• After the plot heavy first four episodes of Outlaw Star ( which culminated in the death of Hilda), the fifth is a mostly comedic affair involving the Outlaw Star crew being chased around Blue Heaven by Aisha.
• The first segment of the eleventh episode of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt tells Garterbelt's backstory, which ends with a hint of what his motives are. The second segment is literally just Panty and Stocking talking to each other on the couch. The next two episodes make up the Grand Finale of the series.
• Paranoia Agent gets 3 after the prime suspect for all the attacks is murdered in his own cell by the actual perp, Lil' Slugger, who then vanishes into a wall, the two main characters are fired from the force for letting it happen, and one of them begins to go insane. The next episode, easily the lightest and goofiest episode in the whole series, is about 3 people trying and comically failing to commit suicide together. Seriously. The next two episodes are still comical in tone, but each one is darker than the last. After that, its back to the plot for the rest of the series.
• The first half of the The Pet Girl of Sakurasou anime is jam-packed with drama—except episode 7, which doesn't progress the plot much, nor does it contain a lot of drama like the other episodes, and instead allows the characters to have a little fun, largely at Sorata's expense.
• Persona 4: The Animation:
  • Episode 5, bringing the plot to a halt after the Shadow Yukiko battle.
  • Right after Mitsuo's capture, we get episodes 13 and 14 (summer vacation).
  • Episode 19 focuses on the cultural festival right after a tense episode about Nanako's mother's death.
• Pokémon: The Series has a lot, due to the series involving more plot as the time passes:
  • EP-018 "Beauty and the Beach" (originally skipped in the English dub due to it's inappropriate humor) is this, as there isn't much of a plot or battles in the episode, and is placed between the St. Anne Shipwreck Arc and a group of 6 episodes with very heavy and mature themes.
  • EP-114 "The Underground Round Up". Episode based on Voltorb, placed between Ash's victory on the Orange League, Lapras' release and the Pallet Town Reunion.
  • EP-135 "Grin to Win". Episode placed after Charizard's release, focused on cheering a sad Sunflora.
  • AG-124 "Island Time". Episode based on the group landing on a abandoned island, placed between the Grand Festival and the arrival in Ever Grande City, location of the Pokemon League.
  • AG-134 "A Real Cleffa-Hanger". Episode focused on Mt. Moon. placed between the Oak's laboratory reunion and the debut of the first Frontier Brain.
  • AG-165 "King and Queen for a Day". Episode focusing on a TV show in which Bonsly and Mime Jr. participate, placed after Ash's reconciliation with Sceptile and his victory on the Battle Palace.
  • AG-173 "All That Glitters is Not Golden". Episode focused on a Golden Sudowoodo, placed between the Deoxys crisis and May's final contest.
  • AG-179 "Slaking Kong". Filler-like episode focused on a giant Slaking, placed between Brandon's debut and Ash getting possesed, and the Kanto Grand Festival.
  • AG-188 "Pinch healing". Filler-like episode focused on attending an emergency room, placed between the culmination of May's arc and the return of Ash's Bulbasaur, Charizard and Squirtle.
  • DP-017 "Wild in the streets". Episode based on stopping a fossil Pokemon rampage, placed between Ash's two battles at the Oreburgh Gym.
  • DP-056 "The Keystone Pops! ". Episode focused on a Spiritomb's revival, that despite the Pokemon's dark origin is a comedy episode. After Aipom and Buizel's trade, Chimchar's overcoming of his fears and Cacnea's release the audience won't want more sadness for a long time.
  • DP-070 "The Bells Are Singing!" Episode focused on a Chingling show, placed between two important groups of episodes, the first one being the Veilstone Arc (that included Ash and Dawn's battles with Maylene and the group encountering Team Galactic) and the second being the Riolu two-parter (only in Japan)and Dustox's release.
  • DP-130 "Frozen on Their Tracks!" Episode that shows Looker's debut while investigating a mystery on a train. Placed between Brandon and J's return and the Ash vs Paul full battle.
  • DP-153 "The Treasure Is All Mine!" Episode that shows Jessibelle's return, placed between the Team Galactic Climax and Gliscor's release.
  • DP-178 "For The Love Of Meowth!" Episode showing Meowth falling in love with a Glameow, placed between the Sinnoh Grand Festival and the Sunnyshore Gym Battle.
  • BW-069 "Climbing the Tower of Success!". Episode showing a Rally Competition, placed between the Mistralton Gym Battle and the Clubsplosion Arc.
  • BW-074 "Battling the Leaf Thieves!". Slow-paced Episode focusing on saving Axew from a group of Durant, placed between the Clubsplosion Arc and the Tirtouga two-parter.
  • BW-095 "Unrest at the Nursery!" Episode based on calming down baby Pokemon, placed between Cameron's battle in Humilau City and the Unova Team Rocket Climax.
  • BW-105 "Lost at the League!" Episode placed exactly on the middle of the Unova League Arc, showing Axew getting lost.
  • BW-113 "The Light of Floccesy Ranch!" Episode showing an Amphaross in said ranch, placed between Team Plasma's first and second attacks.
  • XY-059 "Under the Pledging Tree!" Episode based on the group getting presents for their Pokemon, placed between the Courmaine Gym Battle and the Wham Episode of the Courmaine Showcase. Nevertheless, it was hyped by Shipping fans as a Wham episode.
  • XY-063 "A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways!" Episode based on Jessie falling for a doctor, placed between Goomy and Luxio's evolutions; and Fennekin and Sligoo's evolutions.
  • XY-124 "A Gaggle of Gadgegt Greatness!" Light-Hearted Episode based around the main characters having fun with different Mouse Trap-like contraptions, placed between Ash winning his 8th gym badge, and Ash's reunion with his previously released Goodra; and The League, and the Team Flare invasion arc
• Most of the sixth and seventh volumes of The Promised Neverland, from chapter 46 to chapter 59, sandwiched between the escape from Grace Field and the Goldy Pond arc. The first five volumes feature the children having to outwit their caretaker Isabella. Then, after managing to flee the place, they have to outrun the demons secretly running the orphanage of Grace Field, where children are raised without knowing they're cattle that will be eaten by the demons. To do all this, they are desperately alone and have to contend with adversaries that are bigger and stronger, meaning that flight is their only option. In Volume 6, they meet the first friendly faces of the story: Mujika and Sonju, two demons that are part of a small cult that doesn't eat humans due to a religious taboo. Thanks to the help of their allies, they manage to outrun their pursuers and to learn survival skills necessary to survive. Then in Volume 7 the kids are finally in a secret hideout safe from the demons and, in spite of the hostility of the other adult survivor they met there, they are shown being able to finally relax.
• Episode 5 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica is considerably lighter than the episodes that preceded or followed it. No mind-scarring trauma, Awful Truths, or horrible angst. Still not actually happy, though.
• Rave Master takes a breather chapter before the final battle where everyone gets incredibly drunk and Haru fails to confess to Elie.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena gets a few of these, though they get less common as the series goes on and becomes more serious. The best examples are the ones focused around Nanami that don't revolve around her relationship with Touga - namely, the episode in which she is turned into a cow, the episode in which she believes she's laying eggs, and a Clip Show episode revolving around her Break the Haughty moments in previous episodes.
• Sailor Moon Chapter 5 of the Dark Kingdom arc is a less story heavy chapter where Usagi meets and recruits Sailor Jupiter to the team, and receives the Moon Stick sandwiched inbetween the chapter where Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask have their first kiss, and Luna finds out more about Tuxedo Mask's identity, and a string of three chapters consisting of Usagi finding out Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask, Zoisite's death and Sailor V joining the team. Granted, this chapter does do a good amount of plot development since the manga has little to zero filler.
• School-Live! had a random Beach Episode (especially notable as the series takes place during a Zombie Apocalypse) set on top of the school's roof. In the next episode the characters find an emergency manual about zombies and learn the government knew all along. The manga included no such chapter— the closest things were the fanservicey cover arts that have nothing to do with the manga and a chapter by a river. In comparison, the manga chapter preceding The Reveal is anything but cute. It involves Miki being told why dogs shouldn't be mentioned around Yuki. Yuki once befriended a stray puppy, however it was bit and Megu-nee threw it away. Zombies return to places they remember most so the puppy ended up scratching on their classroom door. It ends with implications that Kurumi had to kill it. The Oneshot Character was made into a major anime character named "Taromaru".
• Slayers:
  • NEXT has an episode, in the middle of a Stern Chase, where they stop everything to fish for lake dragon, when Lina tries to buy some "dragon cuisine" and finds that it is fake. The series breaks the fourth wall at the end of one such episode right before the final act of the series, when Zelgadis laments that the adventure will probably be the last easygoing thing they'll get to do this series.
  • Slayers TRY has a breather episode disguised as a plot episode. Lina finds herself in a strange sort of wonderland pastiche, and is given to believe that it is the chaos between worlds, and that she ended up here after having failed to save the world from destruction the previous episode. Turns out it's just a theme park they got knocked into.
• Sky Girls has several breather episodes. However, each breather episodes almost always turn to plot-relevant, and sometimes a Wham Episode combined. Examples: one episode has Otoha running around the base to look for the owner of a very large bra. It's all fun, but the beginning starts as Elise's backstory (her home getting destroyed). One Hot Springs Episode gives The Reveal as the girls learn that they're not just an aerobatic team, they're there specifically to take down a breed of monsters long thought to have been extinct.
• Shakugan no Shana episode 9 ("The Poolside of Love and Desire") is a breather after the defeat of the first major villain and the fierce fight between Shana and Margery Daw.
• For Soul Eater, only one word is necessary: EXCAAAAALIBURRRRRRR!!
  • A few more, technically: one breather chapter also followed the Asura resurrection arc. The kids play basketball, the grown-ups regroup and talk. And panic about getting fired, if you're Spirit. It serves to deal with the outcome of the arc, plus introduce some secondary characters in the form of three more of the Death Scythes.
  • Chapter 88 of the manga is mostly a Breather Episode, about the main cast helping a village in their annual Sky Whale hunt, coming right after the end of the Book of Eibon arc and Crona killing Medusa. At the same time it foreshadows The Reveal the next arc was based on (Asura is on the moon) and ends with the announcement that Spartoi have been ordered to kill Crona.
• Sword Art Online
  • The Caliber story, an adventure in which Kirito and his friends find the legendary sword, following up on a brief detour from Kirito and Leafa's journey to the World Tree in Volume 4.
  • To a lesser extent, there's "Mother's Rosary," which, despite having a terminally ill new character, has decidedly lower stakes than other arcs; the B-plot involves Asuna mending her relationship with her mother. Both are relatively lighthearted compared to the preceding Phantom Bullet arc and the following "Alicization" arc.
  • Within the Alicization arc, there's Volume 15. While not lighthearted by any stretch of the imagination, especially with Kirito in a vegetative state, it's a lull in the action between the climactic battle against Quinella in the previous volume, and the all-out war that truly begins in the following volume.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • Episode 6, which is focused mainly on Team Gurren's adventures in a hot spring that turns out to be a giant Gunmen. It's between episode 5, which is about encountering the gloomy Adai Village, and episode 7, which introduces the Four Generals and leads into the end of the first arc not long after.
  • Between Simon's He's Back! moment in episode 11 and the beginning of the assault on Teppelin in episode 13 is the Beach Episode which mostly focuses on Yoko forming an Unknown Rivalry with Nia. However, this proves to be a subversion, as they manage to make some progress on their journey and kill one of the Four Generals.
  • After episode 22, the creators understood that viewers wouldn't be able to withstand the incredible amounts of awesomeness present in the last four episodes without a breather. So episode 23 was mostly made up of Team Dai-Gurren preparing to launch themselves towards the final battle. Oh, and Simon invented teleportation just so he could punch Rossiu in the face in order to stop Rossiu from committing suicide.
• Transformers: Energon:
  • The episodes "Farewell Inferno" (Inferno struggles against Megatron's programming and ultimately dies) and "Scorponok's Scars" (Scorponok beats up Ironhide, and Alpha Q is forced to turn against his formerly constant companion) was followed up with "Crash Course", a silly episode about the Autobots having a big race. The characters themselves admit that having a race is a good way to release their recent tensions.
  • The English dub also had Distribution. A wacky tournament episode full of fourth wall breaking humor smack down in the middle of the series final arc and which comes out of nowhere.^note In Japan said episode was actually a special non-cannon episode made to celebrate the 500th transformers episode overall. It was still imported and dubbed as part of Energon for some reason, though.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • The "Dungeon Dice Monsters" story is an interesting case. In the original manga it most definitely wasn't a breather, as it saw regular Yugi fighting to reclaim the Millennium Puzzle and save his other persona all while almost going through a nasty case of Break the Cutie and nearly dying by the end. The anime version on the other hand saved these darker elements for a later episode, so the arc was subsequently made Lighter and Softer and followed this trope straight to the letter, with Yugi now instead trying to get Jonouchi out of debt.
  • The KC Grand Prix arc is notably less tense and didn't had the world being in danger. It mostly features Yugi and Jonouchi dueling in a tournament to help Kaiba Corp. recover from its losses in the last season, which the competition mostly being friendly and nobody's lives or souls being on the line this time. It does feature Siegfried von Schroder trying to sabotage Kaiba, but his goals are far less evil than the rest of all the villains in the series.
  • The episode "Lights, Camera, Duel" is definitely one of these, as following both a very dark plot which saw Yugi's best friends turned into Marik's mind-controlled slaves and Joey and Yugi nearly drowned and an equally dark one-episode duel between Yami Bakura and Bonz where the latter is killed off (or subjected to a Fate Worse than Death in the dub), it serves as a light-hearted episode where Mai duels a movie star to decide if she'll marry him or not. The Marik plotline is literally not mentioned once in the entire episode (at least in the dub, can't speak for the Japanese version), but is picked up again in the next one.
• A Yu-Gi-Oh! GX example is Jun's love-motivated duel with Asuka, coming directly between the defeat of the last 7 Star and the final battle of the arc.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL follows up three Barian duels in a row in addition to Yuma's Heroic BSoD, The Reveal that Ray Shadows is a Barian hunter and an episode where Astral is trapped in the key and the only way out is to free Number 96... with an episode about Orbital 7 falling in love with Lillybot and thinking Yuma is holding her captive.

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