Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Breather Episode / Fan Works

Go To

  • Chapter 9 of Ace Combat: The Equestrian War has Pinkie Pie throwing a huge party for Rainbow Dash and her wingmares before they will go on a mission to destroy the griffin superweapon.
  • Aeon Entelechy Evangelion, a Neon Genesis Evangelion/CthulhuTech/First Encounter Assault Recon crossover fic with individual chapters having 20,000 words avarage of heavy descriptions of Eldritch horrors, madness-inducing technology and other stuff has Chapter 6, a very short chapter about the cute and adorable 4-year old Asuka living happily with her mother.
  • Between Dreams and Memories Universe: In the second installment, Between Heroes and Villains, the arcs titled "The Entertainer" and "The Game" has Love or Host, a dating show, integrated into the plotline as this, partially to cut through the horrors of Tommy's exile from L'Manberg.
  • Examples from the Calvinverse:
  • Clash of the Elements: The battle against the Lightning Djinn is noticeably less tense in comparison to the other guardian battles before and after it, though this is because the "battle" is actually a simple, friendly game of chess instead of a physical brawl. Though the threat of death still exists for the heroes.
  • The Chaos Verse has Twilight: Puppet or Pony, which is all about the chaos world Twilight realizing she and the others are constructs, and Discord helping her come to terms with it. Overall, it's a very lighthearted story — which happens to come right after the installment that covers the Starts of Darkness for Discord, Luna and the Big Bad Nightmare Phobia, and right before the Final Battle with said Big Bad.
  • In between case 4-3, with Klavier's near murder and Daryan's convinction and 4-4, the return of Kristoph in Dirty Sympathy has Apollo and Klavier just hanging together and visiting the Obon Festival with Trucy.
  • Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness:
    • The author does attempt to put a few comic episodes in between the doom and gloom. Like a Fish out of Water scene where Neville and co. attempt (with more success than most wizards) to navigate the byzantine mazes that is British Rail and Marks & Spencer to get to a wedding. And a similar episode in Sluagh where Neville and Utterson try to pump a muggle cultural anthropologist for information on magical sites in Ireland.
    • Also during the run-up to the battle of Hogwarts, persecution by the Death Eaters has driven most of the student body into the safety of the Room of Requirement, which quickly assumed the atmosphere of a rather morbid slumber party. The students noted how ironic it is that the only time they got to relax in the whole year was the week before they will go into a suicidal battle.
  • In the Facing the Future Series, following the epic first story of the series, we have the hilarious Strength In Numbers. We also have the humorous and lighthearted Pairing Off which takes place between the emotional Heart and Minds and the whammy A Family Thing.
  • Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons: After Chapter 33 and all that happened in it, things can only go up. And they do in Chapter 34. Blackjack comes Back from the Dead, learns how to use her new cybernetic implants, and goes on a drunken romp with Littlepip.
  • Chapter 20 of Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path, titled "Byleth's Birthday," is a much chiller and less dramatic chapter than the chapters preceding it, which involved quite a bit of fighting and tragedy.
  • Chapter 80 of FREAKIN GENSOKYO. Brad and Renko comment on the fact that it's the first chance they've had to relax since the latter arrived.
  • Friendship Is Magical Girls:
    • "Golden Week" (Magic 14 and 15), the two-part Hot Springs Episode set between the massive battle with the Infestation that saw the Elements of Harmony fully awakened, and the final build up to the Magic Arc's finale.
    • "Pool" (Magic 18), the final chapter before the two-part arc finale, which has the heroes having a pool party as a final bit of relaxation before the showdown with Sunset Shimmer.
    • "Date" (Loyalty 5), is a Valentine's Day episode that takes a break from all the fighting to focus on Twilight and Spike's respective dates with Flash and Sweetie Belle. Until the Mood Whiplash in the final scene, anyway.
    • "Refresh" (Loyalty 10) has the characters taking a chance to recover from the intense battle between the mahoushoujo and the Shadowbolts in the previous chapter, while letting all the factions prepare for making their next moves.
    • "Rival" (Loyalty 11) also has shades of this, as while it does feature a fight scene with the Infestation, it's mostly about a jealous Sweetie Belle following Spike as he shows Silver Spoon around town.
  • Futari Wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon has a handful of them, none more obvious than episode 19. The preceding arc revolves around the girls losing all but one of their Moon Pieces, discovering Echoes, and learning about Mekuramast's and Kainatrol's Start of Darkness. The following arc starts with the School Festival being derailed and leading into the climax. Episode 19, aside from revealing Dawn's identity, just focuses on the main characters trying to put together a talent show in under a week.
  • A Growing Affection: Chapter 26: The Night Out has Naruto and Hinata go out dancing. Sandwiched between Sasuke's crushing defeat and the loss of his team, and the Leaf going to war with the Sound.
  • Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters:
    • Chapter 10, which gives all the various characters a chance to recover from the intense action of the previous chapter.
    • Chapter 14 has angst and very important plot developments, but is still much lighter than the several chapters before it.
    • Chapter 19 deals with all the fallout from the conclusion of the Dark Hand arc, and gives all the heroes a chance to recover from it... then it turns into a Wham Episode in its last scenes.
    • Chapter 27 follows up all the drama of the previous chapter (the Duel to the Death between Caleb and Aldarn, Ikazuki's mask possessing the latter, and Alchemy calling out Elyon for her actions) with some lighthearted developments among the various romantic subplots and some relatively light stage setting for the action to come.
    • Chapter 30 similarly comes after two action-packed chapters and focuses more on advancing several subplots (romantic and otherwise) while preparing for the three-part finale to the first "season" of the story.
  • Hail to the Jewels in the Lotus has the short story "Spit and Hope", a heartwarming story about Nezha's closeness with Steel Meridian and Clem as well as the story behind the construction of the Larunda Relay. It's immediately followed by "Fata Morgana", whose latter half features a Corpus Mook Horror Show at the hands of Mirage.
  • Hours 'Verse:
    • Chapter 28 of Butterfly Cascade. Akira finds Akechi stressing over Okumura's death, so they, Yusuke, and Futuba visit the planetarium and buy glow-in-the-dark star stickers to put up in Akira's attic.
    • Also in Butterfly Cascade, chapter 48. Akira and Akechi go on a date to Akihabara in disguises so the famous Akechi and the supposedly-dead Akira don't get recognised, and Akira gets the second Jack Frost doll he needs for his present to Caroline and Justine.
  • Two of these are in the Glee fic Hunting the Unicorn: "The Outlaws" (chapter four) is a well-needed heartwarming and funny moment chapter after three chapters of slowly breaking Kurt. "The Men At Arms" (chapter ten) comes after seven chapters of exposing Blaine as an insecure, fragile, seriously damaged Love Martyr who's put Kurt on a huge pedestal. It's also right before the Warblers drag Blaine into therapy, where he reveals that he's not a virgin and had a horrible, horrible breakup with his first. Oh yeah, and he now has a Stalker with a Crush.
  • The Infinite Loops is about numerous universes stuck in a time loop, usually consisting of the events in their canon story. Not only will the loopers sometimes take vacation loops and screw with their own canon, Equestria has declared itself a sanctuary loop for any looper that visits, encouraging them to relax and helping them psychologically heal.
  • Zig-Zagged in Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail. The Plush Penguin Car is all about Chloe, Lexi and Atticus having ice cream and talking about an adventure they had in The Midnight Car while in the Pokémon world, Ash and Professor Cerise learn about the Infinity Train. Then Part 2 of the same car brings about some darker themes including Trip being tortured by the Apex and how the Apex not only wreaked havoc in the Plush Penguin Car but may have also killed off Nico's best friend Cara. Part 3 goes back to being light when it's revealed that Cara survived, although Ash and Professor Cerise are still being called out for being oblivious to Chloe's problems.
  • Chapter 19 of Jonathan Joestar, The First JoJo is mostly this, focusing on the interactions between Jonathan, Holly and the Crusaders.
  • As the first show after the Chris Benoit tragedy, Episode 54 of the Professional Wrestling series The JWL was this, with all the Faces winning to send the fans home happy. (Benoit had been the inaugural JWL World Heavyweight Champion.)
  • Leave for Mendeleiev: "A Horrifying Time" sees Marinette forced to deal with Chloe despite Nino's promise that she wouldn't be involved with his movie, along with coping with his Acquired Situational Narcissism bringing out the worst in him. Several increasingly unpleasant situations follow in rapid succession. The following chapter, "On Ice", is much lighter in tone, as Aurore deals with her attempt to help her friend relax getting derailed by an akuma in hilarious fashion.
  • Episode 6 of Life Ore Death is titled "Inspire, Respire, Expire," as a potential reference to this trope. It also deals with the main character traveling to Atlantis, so breathing is a pertinent topic, but the episode averts A Birthday, Not a Break and has no criminal activity or combat at all.
  • In Mass Effect: Human Revolution, the crew take a break on Ilium after the insanity of Caleston. Then a bunch of goons show up looking for Conrad... and a Justicar for Manah...
  • For the Want of a Nail Series:
  • Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race has Episode 13, which involves the Lights on vacation in Hawaii. Wily still attacks, though.
  • Mega Man Reawakened has Arc 4, chapter 3, which is all about a birthday party for Megaman.
  • Mega Man Recut has "20,000 Leaks Under The Sea" and "Robosaur Park," which are a lot less intense and more comedic than "Cold Steel" and "Future Shock."
  • The Mission Stays the Same: After the Battle for Horizon, where the crew learns the Reapers destroyed the Mass Effect universe's Eldar in a previous cycle, the Normandy heads to Illium for some rest and refitting. While there are some serious points in the arc, most of it is more light character development (especially Part 2, which focuses on Kelly, Kasumi, and Maeteris having a Girl's Day Out buying clothes and doing some sightseeing).
  • The Miracles AU has Mop Heroism, in which Chartette and Ney fight Satan. It's utter crack, in stark contrast to literally every other story in the AU.
  • A New Order: Invoked or lampshaded. The first chapter which doesn't have Sailor Moon fighting a youma is titled, "Just Breathe, the Bus is Here."
  • Nobody Dies has piles of them, the most memorable being the one where Rei learns to drive. Most of them end up being Innocuously Important Episodes, though.
  • One Piece: Parallel Works:
    • After the awesome, heartwarming, sad, and epic Baleeira Porto and Tequila Wolf Arcs, we have the Restaurant Row Arc, a light-hearted (if you can get past Sebastian's backstory) and comedic arc where the Capricorn Pirates look for a chef to join their crew.
    • The one-shots "Kazuma and the Magic Toaster", "Why we Can't Celebrate Spring Break", and "Blame it on Flogging Molly Songs" can be considered breather episodes to One Piece: Parallel Works, since they're comedic, Crack Fics that have nothing to do with the main storyline.
  • In Out of the Dead Land, the middle section of Chapter 2 where Bucky recuperates in Stark Tower serves as one in between him being recaptured and nearly mind-wiped again by Hydra and Zola capturing Steve, Sam, and Natasha and attempting to hack into the Tower.
  • In Perfection Is Overrated, Chapters 11-13 take a break from the action for the characters of My-HiME to reflect on some of the challenges they have faced and will face in the future, and write in diaries about their Character Development.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has the following:
    • Chapter 24 is set between between the game-changer that was Chapter 23 and the start of the Fuchsia Tag-Tournament Arc in Chapter 26.
    • Chapters 30 and 31 are a lot more relaxed and low key than the Tag Tournament and Janine gym battle chapters, with the end of Chapter 31 showing that the story will soon be going into high action again.
    • Chapter 36 is this in the aftermath of the above, after leading to another major Wham Episode in Chapter 34, and in preparation to the eventual trip to Cinnabar Island for Ash's seventh badge.
    • Chapters 39 through 41 also double as A Day in the Limelight for each of Ash's female companions (Misty, Iris and Anabel), as they focus on them while they're resting at Pallet Town before Ash challenges Giovanni for his final gym badge, and right after that begins the Mewtwo Strikes Back arc.
    • Chapter 45 takes place right after the Mewtwo arc, being the main cast's last break before the Indigo League begins.
  • In the Pony POV Series, this happens in "Second Family". It comes right after the fearsome-filled Final Battle with the first Big Bad Loneliness. It's pretty much just the Mane Cast getting to know their Sixth Ranger Trixie and celebrating her Heel–Face Turn with a party. This is directly followed by Fluttershy breaking completely and transforming into Princess Gaia.
    • Happens again with "New Game Plus", which is set right in the middle of the "Mind Games" arc — the first half of Mind Games involves Onyx Tiara finally dealing with his issues and getting over them while Discord goads Diamond Tiara into freeing him, then New Game Plus has the author trying to link some more canon episodes with the fic's universe (there are dark moments, yes, but it's still mostly light-hearted), and then the second half of Mind Games has Diamond working up to freeing Discord and going completely insane in the process, and is set to lead right into the Finale arc.
    • There's also "Different From Everypony Else", which is set right after "New Game Plus", but was published between the last two chapters of "Mind Games", giving one last break from the darkness of that arc. True, this installment still has its dark moments, but it's ultimately lighthearted, and even it's dark moments don't compare to the content of Mind Games.
    • "ecnarbmemeR-Remembrance" is a short little chapter establishing how Shining Armor fits in this series. And while it has a few moments of creepy undertones, it's still pretty light hearted. It also happens to be published right smack in the middle of the Dark World arc.
    • "Family Reunion" is about as lighthearted as it gets in the Dark World arc: before meeting the Apple/Pie family to recruit Apple Pie as the new Element of Laughter, Twilight and the gang decide to make themselves look more presentable by taking a bath; Hilarity Ensues as they try to bathe Rarigreed, the filthiest of the gang after spending a thousand years wallowing in rocks and dirt. Even their meeting with the family that follows goes over fairly smoothly (that is, as smoothly as things can get after some of the family members greet them with a few cautionary explosives).
    • "Retcon-Struction Blues" is sandwiched between two Dark World chapters, one being the beginning of an all out brawl between Discord's remaining minions and the heroes, and the other being the continuation of that battle and a major Wham Episode. The chapter itself is about Twilight reconciling with the CMC from the Smartypants Incident.
    • Shining Armor Part 11 is a short, uncomplicated story about the trip to, and the group enjoying their first day in, the zebra nation Zamura. This comes right after all the drama Shining went through in Columbia, and is posted right after the Dark World Mane Cast confront Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox.
  • Remnant Inferis: DOOM: The "Inferno Road" arc is just one massive horrific bloodbath after the next, with team RWBY left far more scarred than previously and Ruby herself turning into a psychological mess. The first chapter of the "Kingdom of Tyrants" arc is a lot lighter and is mostly comprised of the Slayer and co. humiliating and roasting some particularly smug members of Atlas for comedy.
  • Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K: The Tatooine subplot from Episodes 32 and 33 is one, taking a break from the grim and serious Second Battle of Axum which had been the entire focus of Season 2. The subplot itself is a comparatively lighthearted adventure starring Boba Fett and the Space Wolves as they stop Tusken Raiders from stealing a spice train. This is also after Episode 31, which saw General Grievous rebel against Dooku and lead the Separatists in their first major victory over the Crimson Razors (who had largely been Invincible Villains up until that point).
  • In The Tainted Grimoire, after all that happened during the Grazton arc, Clan Gully took a much needed break during the arc's conclusion.
  • There's More Magic Out There
    • Chapter 25 to 27 focuses on Chloe and Alix getting akumatized and the latter trying to burn Audrey and the rest of Paris before Ladybug and Chat Noir stopped them. Chapter 28 focuses on the others recovering from the events of the Akuma attack, with The Reveal that Juleka and Rose have been dating without Juleka realizing it.
    • Chapter 36 to 39 are about the Mystery Gang saving Sabrina from being traded for her human counterpart and the immediate fallout, with Sabrina emmanipating herself from her father and moving in with the Couffaines. Chapter 40 focuses on Sabrina and Aurora spending the day together in America, along with Aurora's internal struggles when it comes to her Succubus nature.
    • Chapter 44 and 46 had the Mystery Gang entering a haunted mansion that forces them to face their worst fear, along with Juleak finding her amnesiac vampire father and then fighting him after he regains his memories. Chapter 47 is about them visiting a spa operated by the Loch Ness Monster to relax and destress.
  • Universe Falls:
    • "Soos and the Real Girl" serves as one, being a self-contained and relatively lighthearted adventure taking place after the darker, angstier chapters "Sock Opera" and "Do It For Them".
    • "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons" is a lighter episode following a series of heavy reveals and dramatic moments in the last two chapters of arc five and the first two chapters of arc six.
    • "Catch and Release" largely serves to wind down the sixth arc, especially after "Pyrite" and the Crystal Gems' showdown with a fusion of Peridot and Bill Cipher.
    • "Log Date 7 15 2", much like the original episode, is a series of comic vignettes involving Peridot struggling to adjust to life on Earth, following the more dramatic "Message Received" and serving as a buffer to the build-up for the arc 7 finale.
    • "Mismatched Making" has a bit of drama at the end, but is otherwise a lighter, heartwarming chapter focusing on the developing relationship between Dipper and Pacifica and their eventual Relationship Upgrade.
  • Webwork has the "Downtime" chapters, set between various multi-chapter, action-heavy arcs, which allow all the characters a chance to catch their breath and regroup.
  • What Lies Beyond the Walls spends nearly four chapters focusing on the Long Patrol relaxing and eating a huge feast in Tearmann after spending countless days walking around in a Crapsack World and dealing with the loss of allies from a previous battle.
  • After a string of high-intensity chapters with a lot of revelations and character introspection, chapter 14 of What Tomorrow Brings mainly consists of Cassie telling Jake what she got up to at vet school.
  • In With Strings Attached, the craziness and near-constant running around in the New Zork chapter is followed by a quiet chapter where John and Ringo sit on the edge of the cliff near their house and just talk.
  • PeabodySam's chapters towards the end of The Rock Raiders Meet BIONICLE Season 3, in comparison to the darker and more serious tone that Primis's chapters had adopted by that point.
  • With This Ring: After intense episodes with the League getting mind-controlled, setting the stage for Nabu's capture and fighting back a jailbreak, the Team helps the government deport a Martian porn star and go to the Thymyscira for a holiday before the island gets attacked.
  • Young Justice: Darkness Falls:
    • Preparation. Instead of fighting super villains or stopping Apokolips, it's just the League and team preparing and training, trying to be ready for the hardest fight of their lives.
    • Countdown might count as a subversion of this. While nominally it's about the team's last free days before the invasion, some of the members actually have important work they'r doing in that time whether it's confronting their father about having more men or preparing to rescue Wally.
  • A Flower's Touch: After all the chapters of Aerith going back in time, revealing to the Turks and the Trio their dark and tragic fates, and then digging through her own Dark and Troubled Past, Chapter 23 is "Ace Reporter Angeal Hewely" following "the rare and elusive pup (Zack) in its natural habitat". It ends with Zack and Aerith in the sewer facing off against the sewer monster and getting humiliated until Angeal steps in and saves them. And catches the whole thing on video.
  • What is a Person Worth?: Chapter 5, relatively speaking, has a more positive tone in comparison to the previous chapters with Lincoln being accepted into the Santiago household after finding him out and alone along with the sisters trying desperately to find Lincoln so late at night.
    • Despite Luan's breakdown after Lincoln calls her out on her April Fool's Day pranks, Chapter 16 counts as it's all about Luna, Luan, and Leni making peace with Lincoln and even ends with Lincoln going out of his way to talk Luan out of her breakdown and even laughing happily at her lame joke about her pasta.
  • Where We Don't Belong: Chapter 18, which deals with the emotional aftermath of the events of Chapter 17, with Sena coming terms with her vengeful behavior. However the chapter ends with Egil deciding to imprison Lanz as he no longer found him trustworthy.
  • Code Prime has several of these now and then. But, seeing how this is a crossover with Code Geass, even the breathers have serious plot points or Cliffhanger endings. For instance:
    • The Stolen Mask, the seventh chapter of R1, mostly takes place at Ashford, but ends with Megatron and Soundwave figuring out Zero's true identity.
    • School Festival Declaration, which has Ashford's yearly festival, has Megatron obtaining his own Geass, and Euphemia declaring the formation of SAZ.
    • The Next Move, the sixth chapter of R2, has all of the Autobots and Black Knights recovering and celebrating their biggest victory yet over the Decepticons in the previous chapter, with both sides planning what to do next.
    • Leave of Absence may be the most lighthearted compared to others, as besides a few scenes of characters discussing their troubled pasts, it's just the Autobots and Black Knights relaxing after the Battle of Slonim.
    • A United Front Facing the Dark Horizon has the Autobots and Black Knights recover from the battles in the E.U. and Chinese Federation, leading to some character scenes. It ends with the Constructicons digging out a wounded Shin Hyuga Shaing, and Megatron repairing the Nemesis with Dark Energon, preparing the next story arc.
    • The Undited Federation of Nations is the last one in R2. While the majority of it has the Autobots and Black Knights officially form the UFN, and the heroes reminiscing about their past experiences and thinking about the future. Subverted when the end has Megatron is pulled out of the Shadowzone by Shockwave and Soundwave, reveals to have taken V.V.'s Code of Immortality, and is ready to enact Neo-Ragnarok, while Starscream and Schneizel prepare to make their move with Damocles.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top