Gory Discretion Shot / Anime & Manga

Gory Discretion Shots in anime and manga.

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• AKIRA:
  • In the movie version, when Tetsuo murders Yamagata, all you see is Tetsuo pointing his hand at his head as he screams in terror and the scene cuts away, while in the manga version we get to see what happens.
  • Also averted when Takashi is shot in the head in the manga, as a huge panel that is almost half-a-page big shows us the outcome.
• Attack on Titan:
  • Happens to Eren's mother in the first episode. While the audience doesn't see everything that happens, both Eren and Mikasa get to witness it in full as Hannes runs away with them. In the manga however, her death is a lot more violent.
  • Happens in Episode 5, when most of Armin's squad is slaughtered by the Titans. We see Mina Karolina with a Titan's mouth around her head as she struggles ineffectually to get free, but we never see it bite her head off. Averted when Eren's arm is bitten off and flies right at the camera as the Titan chomps down. Ironically, he was the only one who actually survived.
  • Also happens to both of Mikasa's parents in Episode 6's Flash Back.
  • Subverted in Episode 6. We only see the upper half of Franz's body when his girlfriend Hannah is trying desperately to resuscitate him, then the camera pans down and we see that his upper half is all that's left.
  • Happens again in Episode 7. A soldier turns his gun on himself and fires, horrifying his fellow soldiers who are splattered with his blood. Another random soldier being eaten later in the episode is given this treatment as well, and viewers can hear the cries of fear from another one.
  • In the anime, soldiers who are caught in a Titan's grasp are usually killed offscreen, although we may see blood splatter as well as hear their screams.
  • Averted in Episode 13. After the battle, Jean sees Marco half-eaten, and lying on side of a building.
  • In episode 17, we only see the spray of blood from the Female Titan's fist when Reiner allegedly gets popped like a grape. Includes a bit of Bait-and-Switch, as the Female Titan is actually the one bleeding.
  • Averted again in episode 21. The remains of Levi's squad are shown at least twice after they've been killed. It's not too pretty either.
  • Mostly averted in episode 22 during the messy fight against the Female Titan (except for its eyes getting stabbed through).
  • Played straight in episode 25, when Eren crushes the Female Titan's skull with his bare hands. Her eyes are seen bulging out briefly before the scene cuts away to blood splattering on nearby buildings.
• Baccano!:
  • Done really cleverly in episode 2. The Sacrificial Lamb murder of the train conductor is given what is probably the only Non-Gory Discretion Shot in the entire series, as the gunshot rings out at the exact moment the credits come in. Probably to hide the fact that it's the "murderer" who ends up shot. A flashback in episode 9 shows the whole event with considerably more clarity. The fact we've seen much more gruesome violence already but this is the one the camera cuts away from can be taken as a clever hint that things didn't go the way we thought they did.
  • Though the series is generally not shy about showing gore, it does also employ a couple of standard gory discretion shots on some of the occasions that main characters are shot in the head - for example, when Gustavo has his mooks gun down the Gandor brothers late in the series. On other occasions, not so much.
  • Also played straight in Episode 4, when Ladd Russo punches a guy in the face until he dies, we just see Ladd's grinning face, fists, and suit growing increasingly bloody as he keeps whaling on the poor bastard.
• Baki the Grappler: The series normally doesn't shy from showing blood, gore, and grievous injuries the fighters sustain, but one notable exception is when Yuujiro fights against Ryuu Kaiou and tears off his face. The ripped-off face itself is shown up front, but Ryuu from that point on is always facing away from the reader, keeping the front of his head mercifully hidden.
• Berserk:
  • In the first episode of the 1997 adaptation, all we see is a shot of a table top being splattered with blood when Guts cleaves a mook in two with the Dragon Slayer. Coming from a series that thrives on gorn, it sticks out.
  • We would have seen Guts splattering Giant Mook Bazuzo's head in two with the added bonus of his eyeball popping out from blunt trauma like in the manga, had there been no gory discretion shot in the second episode as well.
• While Black Butler is often not afraid to show Sebastian's hand impaling bad guys and blood spewing all over, this trope is played straight during the end of the Jack the Ripper arc. Ciel and Sebastian are standing outside Mary Kelly's home, who was the Ripper's last victim (in the series and believed to be in real life), so they can catch him. We hear a scream from inside and as Ciel throws the door open a single drop of blood hits his face. Afterwards we see Grell Sutcliff walk outside with blood covering her face and clothes. We never see the body, just a very shadowed shot of an arm and a pool of blood. In real life the Mary Kelly murder was believed to be the most gruesome out of the Ripper's five victims. So, perhaps leaving it up to the viewer's imagination was worse than showing us what the Ripper really did to Mary in the series.
• Black Lagoon usually does not bother hiding the impact of its violence, but there are two primary examples: Revy's rampage on the Neo-Nazi boat and Hansel and Gretel torturing Balalaika's goon just for the hell of it. Not to mention their horrifying backstories, which, thankfully, we don't see in detail at all.
  • Subverted in the OVA, when Roberta beats the FARC commander to death, at first we only see her pounding on him just below the level of the screen, but then the camera gives us a good view of the body with his face caved in.
• Bleach:
  • In the anime, when Hisagi slices through Findorr's head, there's a silhouette keeping the details from the camera.
  • Soken's death is never directly visible. In Uryu's flashback to Souken's first death, we only see his reaction and a group of Soul Reapers standing respectfully around a lump carefully concealed by a blanket. In Soul Society, Mayuri shows Uryu a photo of Soken's body at death and a hazy reflection of the body can be seen in Uryu's eyes, implying mutilation and beheading but not clear enough to display any detail. The expression on Uryu's face, however, is very clear.
• Buso Renkin:
  • At one point in the series a homunculus, already in pain from wounds inflicted by Tokiko, pleads for her to stop. Tokiko responds by plunging her blades into him. Jump cut to shot of the sky, and a moment later, scream of agony.
  • In the manga, when Tokiko yanks out Hanabusa's eyes her body and a dialog bubble block the reader's view of the act.
• Ceres, Celestial Legend:
  • In the manga, Aya's cousin Miori (whose genes were altered to make her a Tennyo) uses her powers to fly to the top of a very, very tall building, then lets herself fall and then goes SPLAT. The look on poor Aya's face as she witnesses this (which is Miori's revenge against Ceres for killing her beloved mother in her first rampage), as well as her hysterical cries, is enough to tell that a gory discretion shot is MUCH better than showing the outcome.
  • Used in a... less appealing and effective way later. The camera pans away every single time Tooya is gunned down to almost death repeteadly by Mikage-in-Aki's body, but the trope gets repeated so many times that the originally dramatic scene becomes downright comical.
• Cells at Work and Friends!: A censor mosaic makes an appearance when a virus-infected cell gets knocked out of a tree.
• Cheeky Angel cuts away to a passing train before a big fight, and cuts away from other scenes of violence.
• Code Geass:
  • Used almost perfectly by the book in the first episode. The Britannian soldiers put the guns to their throats and pull the triggers, then the camera immediately cuts to Lelouch as we hear the gunshots and blood splashes on his face.
  • In episode 8 "The Black Knights", Lelouch (as Zero) meets with a Japanese Liberation Front commander who has taken a number of civilians, including some of his classmates, hostage and has made chucking one off the roof of a hotel building a means of negotiation. When the terrorist leader learns of Euphemia being among the hostages, he tries to chop Zero off the block; cue multiple thuds when the camera shifts outside the room and one of the commander's men goes in to investigate. That poor fool was the only guy Zero blew away in that scenario, as the viewer saw Lelouch geass them to die before the GDS. Expect more of the same in subsequent episodes.
• Cowboy Bebop:
  • In the opening of "Ballad of Fallen Angels", we only see the mob boss's eyes grow wide and the blood on Vicious's sword when Vicious slices his throat. Inverted when Vicious walks out of the room, and while we don't get to see the actual battle, the hallway Vicious walks through is knee-deep in the bloody bodies of the mob boss's goons.
  • In "Pierrot le Fou", Tongpu is crushed under the heel of a giant mechanical toy dog. The scene shifts from focusing right on him to Spike's perception a ways away. We see nothing but his silhouette disappearing. Also inverted in the same episode. When Tongpu escapes from the research center that created him, we don't get to see how it happened, but we do get to see the horrifying aftermath.
• Danganronpa:
  • In the anime series, this is averted in the death of Junko Enoshima — or better said, Mukuro Ikusaba impersonating Junko, but then it's played straight in Leon Kuwata's execution.
  • Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School employs lots of shadows and camera cuts to avoid showing the gorier parts of the (already horrifically violent) Mutual Killing Game among the Hope's Peak Student Council.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, at the very final battle, during its climax, Mitsuri gets both of her arms brutally torn off by one of Muzan's last maneuvers; she losing her arms is portrayed by a very tiny drawing in a single panel, where no gory details can be perceived due how simple the drawing is, after that when Mirsuri is put on display, in her dying breath, Obanai puts a haori over her, so her mangled body can't be seen in full detail by anyone present.
• Digimon:
  • Digimon Adventure: When Myotismon kills Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon in "Out on the Town", the camera cuts away before he actually strikes them down — but we do see Pumpkinmon's axe and a small pebble that's clearly part of Gotsumon falling to the ground and then dissolving into air. Matt also creates one in-universe for TK, telling him not to look when the crucial moment hits.
  • The torturous death of Arukenimon in Digimon Adventure 02 also falls under this. Every hero has to close their eyes from the sight of MaloMyotismon likely impaling her body twice before finishing her off.
  • Happens again with another Arukenimon in Digimon Ghost Game. She abducts a group of humans and messily devours one's head as the camera pans to his horrified associate. When Hiro comes across the survivors, he sees the headless corpse (which is given a Censor Shadow). It's actually subverted for Moon=Millenniumon much later on, who kills a person by crashing her into the wall, all on-screen and in full display. There's no blood coming out, however.
• In Katsuhiro Otomo's earlier work Domu: A Child's Dream, one of the policemen who arrives at the scenes of the apparent "suicides" remarks that it's far gorier than it should be, and another mentions that he's never eating spaghetti again. We have to take their word for it.
• Dragon Ball Z, which is normally not gore-shy, has two scenes gets one of these when the scene really would have been too horrific to contemplate (or hard to draw) in the Buu saga.
  • Piccolo is turned to stone; Trunks accidentally tips him over, shattering the majority of his body. When the character who cast the spell is killed, Piccolo is changed back while he's still in pieces. Trunks sees the aftermath, but we don't - and judging by the look on his face, it's the bloody mess you'd expect. However, fortunately for both our hero and Trunks' delicate eight-year-old psyche, Piccolo can regenerate lost limbs and is good as new a few seconds later.
  • A different example occurs when Krillin charges Super Buu to buy Goten and Trunks more time to train. Buu turns him to chocolate, then turns 18 and Marron to chocolate, and then decides to turn everyone else in the Lookout that he can find into chocolate. We don’t get to see him doing it to everyone, but the screams indicate that he’s gone and done it.
• In Elfen Lied, this trope is both played straight and subverted. The first instance is in Lucy's epic escape, as she knocks down one of the guards, all we see is Lucy's masked face with a blood stain flashing here and there and hear the guard beg for his life as the sickening crack of various bones and organs being crunched is heard. We never even see the outcome. Later, the camera cuts away as Lucy supposedly rips a dog to shreds. It turns out she was actually just cutting the leash. Also if you ever see a discretion shot after this point, you can assume nobody died, or at least not who you though was going to.
• Occurs in Eureka Seven, in a scene where a Coralian attacks a fleeing civilian; again, the camera immediately pans away once the creature reaches him, and only a large amount of blood, along with an arm, is seen.
• Fairy Tail: In chapter 404, Minerva picks up Erza's sword after the latter falls and finishes off their fallen opponent, Kyouka, by stabbing her through the head. There's a spray of blood visible, but the view of the wound itself is blocked by, of all things, Kyouka's cleavage.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • A variation occurs in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003); in a flashback scene where Colonel Mustang is about to immolate a child soldier with his flame alchemy, the camera suddenly pans off to the side at the critical moment, showing the wall behind them lighting up and his shadow stretching.
  • Whenever Gluttony has a meal. Particularly in both anime series, where we can hear him chomping down after the screen blacks out.
  • Scar killing the chimera-fied Nina with his signature alchemy. The screen blacks out and, depending on the version:
    • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Ed (along with the viewers) merely see her splattered remains on the wall.
    • In the manga and Brotherhood anime, after the cutaway, her body remains intact, but it is only seen in shadow and, later, covered by a tarp during Lt. Col. Hughes' investigation.
• Tsukiyono's brother dies like this in Gamble Fish.
• Slightly subverted in Goblin Slayer. The Wizard was stabbed by a poison knife which pretty much paralyzed her and would've slowly killed her had the actual Goblin Slayer not shown up and fulfilled her request to Mercy Kill her. He cut her head off, which was not actually seen, but while Priestess was speaking to Goblin Slayer it's hard not to notice Wizard's head is a bit... dislocated.
• Haou Airen:
  • Used when Hakuron kills Kurumi's first would-be rapists.
  • Also, when Fuuron kills the shopkeeper for refusing to sell him the Dragon Sphere in Volume 8.
  • Averted in the case of Reilan, who is clearly seen collapsing into a pool of blood after being shot to death by Hakuron. Made worse by how the reader thinks it'll be played straight when the scenery changes to the building facade... only to return to the fatally injured Reilan. It's really, really horrifying.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • Switzerland blows France's brains out in silhouette during the Christmas Episode.
  • In another strip, after Japan pulls a sword on China the next panel consists of a panda eating and China's screams.
  • Like the above, when France is captured he's shown tied to a chair and, after trading a few words, the camera cuts away and France's screams can be heard.
• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Mainly used in the original visual novel version. This series gain its fame for being able to tell horrifying and mentally-scarring stories just by using words combined with pictures of splattered, dripping blood combined and sound effects instead of using real graphic scenes of gore during the "violence parts".
  • Occasionally used in the anime adaptation. This makes the scenes like Rika commiting suicide via headbutting a kitchen knife before Shion can torture her to death in Meakashi-hen, or a shot of Rina's completely destroyed face after Rena beats her to death in self-defense in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, that much more disturbing.
  • The manga adaptation on the other hand is far more violent. Though, a variation occurs in Onikakushi-hen. We cut from Rena (supposedly) pining Keiichi down and trying to inject him with a poison to Keiichi waking up thinking the entire arc was All Just a Dream until he sees that he beat them to death. In comparison, the anime shows the scene (albeit using mainly silhouettes); the manga still ends up being more gory as it has close ups of Rena's and Mion's dead faces
  • The semi-sequel, on the other hand, has no problem whatsoever with Gorn, and Japanese TV has actually had to censor it many times.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • In the anime of Stardust Crusaders, the scene where DIO forces American senator Wilson Phillips to circumvent a traffic jam by driving on the sidewalk cuts out all shots of pedestrians being mowed down. Right when Phillips gets onto the sidewalk, the scene cuts to Jotaro and company pursuing DIO on a motorcycle, then cuts back to Phillips barreling down the street with blood splattered all over the front of his car. Among all the various bits of censorship the anime had to go through, this is one that was not undone for the Blu-Rays.
  • In Diamond is Unbreakable, whenever Reimi shows the scar on her back from her stab wounds (first to Rohan and Koichi, and later to Kira's ghost), the reader never actually sees the scar. It's implied to be totally horrific — and since she's a ghost, it probably looks as fresh as the day she was killed.
  • Also in Diamond is Unbreakable, Kira's Death by Ambulance cuts away before we see the aftermath. The anime does give the moment in progress though, which is just as gruesome.
• The first episode of Knight Hunters shamelessly abuses the non-gory gory discretion shot when Aya kills the target of the day with a dramatic slow-motion horizontal sword cut... and the target's death is immediately illustrated by a shot of his mask falling to the ground in two pieces, having somehow been cut in half vertically.
• Kagewani has scenes fading to black or a scene not showing a direct attack by a cryptid on a helpless civilian.
• Happens all over the place in Katanagatari, which actually makes the horrific levels of violence much more disturbing. For instance, Emonzaemon killing a child by sticking a gun in his mouth springs to mind.
• A particularly artistic example occurs at the beginning of Kigeki, where the camera pans across a field of white roses that become increasingly more blood-soaked, eventually revealing the aftermath of a massacre.
• Lupin III:
  • Lupin III: Island of Assassins, where someone apparently thought they were making an animated John Woo film, frequently employs these. The film opens with an assassination where the victim's blood is seen splattering over his own birthday cake. Near the end, they get creative; Jigen and Fujiko are seen dealing with a Wire Dilemma, Lupin is preparing to kill the film's Big Bad, he pulls the trigger... Cut to the island rigged to explode not exploding.
  • The Castle of Cagliostro has two: Count Cagliostro's death as he is being crushed to death by the clock hands (they close on him and we hear the sound of his bones being crushed), and Goemon, who always complains that any inanimate object he just cut was unworthy of it, announcing his sword was about to feel happy just as he's about to fight the Count's henchmen before the camera pulls away (by the time they surrender, many henchmen aren't moving anymore).
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS:
    • The death of the Combat Cyborg Due. We see the character that's about to kill her break out of his bonds, then we cut to a scene in the hallway where a character who's rushing to the scene hears a loud crash. When we get back to the room, we now see the Combat Cyborg lying in a pool of her own blood with the implication that she was impaled. Kinda weird in a way, since we had just seen Vita get bloodily impaled a few episodes ago.
    • Also, in episode 17, Ginga's defeat shows her Power Fist lying in a pool of blood and far away from her body, greatly implying that her hand had been severed. Implication became fact later, when we see her now sporting a detachable hand.
  • When Rinne goes for revenge against her bullies in ViVid Strike!, the camera cuts away just before she slams the glasses wearing one face first into the lockers.
• Used in Episode 1 of Macross Frontier, when the vajra picks Henry Gilliam up in one clawed hand and squeezes him to death in front of Alto. All the viewer is shown is blood and bits of armour falling to the floor in a messy puddle. This was also frequently used in Episode 20 where the vajra brutally cut someone in half and crush another into a long smear of blood.
• Mnemosyne uses this, thankfully. One such scene involves a sadistic research scientist torturing the protagonist, and it pans up to her face right before the woman's long, sharp knife is driven through her breast, splashing blood on both her and the scientist's face.
• Although Monster has a good bit of overt blood and violence, some shootings are shadowed or otherwise implied. Due to its Psychological Horror nature, it's most likely done because it's scarier that way.
• Though not really any gore, there is a moment in Monster Rancher where Evil General Durahan confronts Lilim on his ship, raises his sword, and is about to stab her... Cut to Moo's troops firing on Durahan's ship, eventually blowing it up.
• The Mysterious Cities of Gold: During his Heroic Sacrifice, Esteban's father is thrust backwards by the flames, causing his golden mask to fall and melt. Since flames were already consuming his clothes, his fate is certain.
• My Hero Academia: In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War, Midnight's body isn't seen. When the UA students find her, the audience doesn't get a look at anything besides her hand and mask. Considering she was killed by villains, it's not a pretty sight. This was likely done so her sendoff could be considered tasteful.
• Naruto:
  • In Chapter 437, when Pain stabs a downed Hinata, the camera cuts away to the sky while a sound effect is heard, and then blood is shown dripping from the nearby stones. This also hid the fact that the wound wasn't fatal... at least not immediately. Had Sakura not healed Hinata within few minutes, we would've had one dead Hyuuga heiress
  • During the fight with Zabuza, a gory discretion shot is used when Zabuza attacks Sakura and Tazuna, accompanied by Sakura's scream, to imply that he killed them. It is soon revealed, however, that he injured Kakashi, but Tazuna and Sakura survived.
  • When Asuma cuts off Hidan head, both the manga and anime noticeably obscure his neck, so the point where it was cut is not visible. The anime takes this even further: during the attack, his head is completely obscured, and in all future shots where his head is detached, the headless stump on the body is out of frame, as is his neck when his head is in shot.
  • When Sasuke is put in an illusion functioning as a Pensieve Flashback by Itachi, he gets a full-view of Madara pulling out his brother Izuna's eyes, whereas all we see is him staring at it while some of the blood splatters on his face.
  • When Itachi uses an illusion to simulate pulling Sasuke's eye out of its socket we see his eye slowly bulge out of the socket and then pan away as we hear the gory sound of his eye being pulled out and Sasuke screaming.
  • In the pilot, when Takeshi gets killed, the last we see of him is a gun pointed at his head.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • In a later episode, after a very long shot of an Eva gripping Kaworu, a "crunch" is heard as the screen goes to black, and then we see the Eva's hand covered in blood afterwards.
  • An earlier episode has a berserk Eva 01 pummelling an Angel-possessed Eva 03 into a fine meaty paste, mostly shown through blood splatters covering entire buildings and turning an entire river pure red. Though later, there is a scene of what can best be described as 'angel squish' being pressure-washed off Eva 01's hand. In one shot, only Eva 01 can be seen, while the Angel is hidden from view by a hill. But the river running around the hill is deep red.
• Both played straight and averted in Now and Then, Here and There; the camera pans away when Boo, a six-year-old, is shot to death; you expect the same sequence to occur when Soon, a seven-year-old, meets the same fate, but the camera focuses on her bloody collapse the entire time, complete with slow-motion falling and wailing from the protagonist.
• One Piece usually doesn't shy away from showing fatal wounds and the like, but there have been exceptions:
  • Towards the end of the Thriller Bark Arc, Bartholomew Kuma uses his powers to push out all of the pain and fatigue from Luffy's unconscious body and place it all in a bubble so that Zoro can experience it himself. He had to do this to prevent Kuma from taking Luffy to the World Government. At first, Kuma tossed only a small piece of the bubble into Zoro's body and he felt nothing but sheer agony. Afterwards, we're only left with a shot of Zoro leaping into the bubble hands first. We never get to see what he went through, but all we know is that he survived, was covered in blood, and went into a coma for three days.
  • A flashback to Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom's childhood in the Totto Land arc, has a particular event hidden this way: a then six-year old Linlin eating Mother Carmel and the children of the Sheep's House alive. While the event wasn't stated to have happened, it's still made obvious by Japanese onomatopeas for crying and screaming, shredded Empty Piles of Clothing littering the ground, and an eyewitness being horrified by what he saw. It's justified in that the event would have been far too violent, horrifying and disturbing to be shown on-panel.
• In the third episode of the TV anime adaptation of Phoenix, Bowman pins the titular Phoenix down with fireproof iron arrows before approaching the bird, machete in hand. Right as he deals the final blow, the scene cuts to Himiko in the palace.
• Not really much gore in this instance, but Pokémon: The Series does this with liberal use of the Hit Flash trope, though we still see the after-effect of the hit. One instance of this is from Primeape Goes Bananas, when Charmander starts getting beaten up by the titular Primeape. After a few seconds of Charmander getting punched in full view of the audience, we get shown shots of Pikachu and Ash just sitting there and watching. During this in the background there's the very noticeable rapid-fire delivery of "whackwhackwhackwhackwhackwhack" as Primeape continues turning Charmander's face into pulped meat. When we get a shot of Charmander's tail, its body is still jerking around as Primeape keeps punching. Then the fight clears up and we see Charmander get punched more before it beats Primeape.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica uses this in a way that doesn't make it even slightly better when Charlotte bites off Mami's head, and then devours her body. While you can't see it happening, you can hear it. The camera never shows teeth meeting flesh, just the lower part of the body twitching, and then it falling (silhouetted) to the ground from a distance, a bit shorter now. In the manga, this is averted. Unfortunately.
  • Also used in the prequel Puella Magi Oriko Magica, when Kazuko is eaten alive by a witch. Then averted when the witch barrier is lifted and we get to clearly see Madoka's Impaled with Extreme Prejudice lifeless body.
• Sailor Moon:
  • In the anime, when Ann and Prince Diamond are both stabbed, the actual stabbing is not shown onscreen. Although we do see Ann's silhouette as she's impaled alongside blood trickling from her mouth before she dies, and about a second's shot of Wiseman's energy blades embedded in Diamond before they disappear, and a bit of blood.
  • Also, when Zoycite non fatally stabs Tuxedo Mask not once but twice, the stabbing is not shown onscreen, although blood is seen on the first occasion.
  • Averted in that when Neflite dies; the thorns are clearly shown stabbing him, remain embedded in his chest and stomach, and there is green blood everywhere.
• In Act 2 of Sailor Moon Crystal, Sailor Mercury's Aqua Mist attack produces a Fog of Doom that obscures seeing Sailor Moon's tiara tear the Monster of the Week in two, as only an indistinct silhouette is visible.
• Saiyuki:
  • Flashbacks of Koumyou Sanzo's death are usually shown in this sequence (or any one of the three alone): him shielding Kouryuu; his shadowed coronet, arm and head lying in puddles of blood; Kouryuu looking up from the sight, drenched in blood.
  • Kanan's suicide. She holds the knife to her neck, tells her lover good-bye, cut to him him screaming her name with drops of blood on his face. Shadowed shot of Kanan lying dead on the floor optional.
• School-Live!:
  • The anime does this, while the manga usually opts for being more violent. For example, when Kurumi killed her zombified crush the anime cuts out the stabbing and instead shows Yuki's reaction to it. In the manga we saw the impact, albeit a silhouette, and Kurumi's reaction was depicted (she ended up being splattered with blood).
  • The manga occasionally does this. One instance has Rii reluctantly going to attack a zombie with a bat, but the scene changes before anything is shown.
• Combined with a reaction shot in Serial Experiments Lain: when the shooter in the nightclub turns the gun on himself all we see is blood spatter on Lain's face. In this case, it's her lack of a visible reaction that's significant.
• The last two episodes of Shadow Star were filled with this. Contrast with the manga, which was considerably less shy about showing blood and gore. A good example is the scene where Oni rapes and then bisects Aki as punishment for her torture of its master, Hiroko; in the (uncensored) manga all details are seen, in the anime the shadows "reflect" it...
• In Sound of the Sky, Filicia's old tank platoon's communications officer, Anna, is killed by a HEAT round (along with everyone else). The viewer gets a Lightning Reveal of Anna's arm, still holding her trumpet, protruding from under a heap of twisted metal.
• About three quarters through Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry Ralph takes over the Deague ship by killing everyone aboard except Medlock. The discretion shots come in every time he kills someone, of course.
• In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, for the first minute of Chun-Li and Vega's fight, the audience is treated to a shot of Chun-Li's trashed living room where sounds of their scuffle can be heard. In between muffled thumps against the wall and the sounds of breaking furniture, she can be heard crying out in pain. This also becomes an in-universe example when Chun-Li knocks over her phone right as Guile is trying to call her and all he hears through the receiver are her screams.
• Tower of God: Kang Horyang beating up Rapdevil. All we see is a door. Lurker eviscerating Nia. It is only heard over the com line.
• In Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, a rogue Syaoran Clone decides to gouge out Fai's left eye to gain magical power. We only see poor Fai's eyes trembling in fear just before Kurogane rushes down the stairs to meet everyone watching a big cyclone of water. Right when he gets there, the cyclone falls apart, and we only see the result of the eye-gouging. Luckily Kurogane was able to stop the clone from biting out Fai's other eye.
• Played straight at least thrice in The Twelve Kingdoms: when Rangyaku is stabbed to death, when Ribi sacrifices herself to release Enki and when Shoryuu gives a fatally injured Atsuyu a Mercy Kill.
• Season five of Yu-Gi-Oh!, we get one when a character is eaten alive by an insect monster. We only see the silhouette of him being crunched up (though we do hear the bones crunching, the swallowing, etc). Also seen in a less gory scene in season two as the camera cuts away when Yami Marik stabs his father to death, although we do see his bloodied corpse lying against the wall afterwards, and the equivalent scene in the manga where he skinned him alive.

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