Laughing Mad / Anime & Manga

• In the penultimate issue of the Area 88 manga, Shin emotionally overwhelmed by the deaths of Saki, Mickey, and Sela that he starts laughing uncontrollably. He returns to his senses when Kanzaki contacts him.
• Akira Takaoka from Assassination Classroom breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter when he blows up the remedy to cure the students who were poisoned by him during the Assassination Island arc, further pissing off Nagisa.
• Attack on Titan:
  • In a very jarring scene, Annie Leonhart breaks into this during The Reveal. The Slasher Smile included along with it only signals that things are about to get very bad for everyone.
  • Eren himself ends up breaking into hysterical yet despairing laughter upon seeing the Smiling Titan eat Hannes as he is powerless to watch. It ends up playing a part in his Traumatic Superpower Awakening as he finally unlocks the Coordinate shortly afterward.
• In Azumanga Daioh, after a Beach Episode and everyone's back to school, quote Tomo: "this is the first day of vacation" repeating it like a mantra, following a Butthead-like laughter.
• Nanamine in Bakuman。 after his manga drops to 19th and the rest of his online contributors desert him for lying about his rankings.
• In Banana Fish, when Ash is forcibly under Golzine's custody again and learns he's to be married to his abuser and rapist, he bursts into hysterical laughter talking about how he and the other kids were always treated as objects, until he's slapped and snaps out of it.
• In Barefoot Gen, Gen's mother Kimie falls into this. It's quite appropriate after watching her entire family burn to death amongst their pleas for help.
• Berserk, with all of the madness that happens in this universe, expect it to happen a lot.
  • Jill laughs during the climax of the fight between Guts and Rosine, when the slimy, deformed corpse of a child that was undergoing Rosine's apostle spawn transform spilled from its cocoon. Jill remarked that the experience pretty much ruined her childhood.
  • Griffith, upon his Despair Event Horizon and his failed attempted at suicide.
  • And then there's Guts, who is the most disturbing case. He did this a lot during his Black Swordsman days, caving in deeper and deeper into insanity with each apostle kill. His laugh sends extra chills down the spine when he flashes his Slasher Smile afterward.
• Alois Trancy of Black Butler II out of nowhere breaks into hysterical laughter when he's alone in his room in episode 1 to help show how insane he is.
  • On the other side of the spectrum, Ciel gives us an absolutely gleeful one after the circus arc, when he travels to the workhouse only to find out that it's in ruins. It's frightening in context, considering that the revelation would mean that the circus children all died trying to protect nothing.
• Ax-Crazy Creepy Child Gretel of Black Lagoon laughs once when Eda asks her why they're still after Balalaika even though they killed the guy who hired them.
• Grimmjow of Bleach laughs madly as he's beating the crap out of Ichigo during one of their fights and right after he kills Luppi.
  • Mad Scientist Szayel does so at times.
  • The Inner Hollow/Zangetsu also does this often.
• Suzaku Kururugi does this in Episode 19 of Season 2 of Code Geass after accidentally killing several million people with the FLEIJA bomb.
  • Lelouch Lamperouge does this as well at the end of Episode 17 in the first season. He has other laughs too, but that's the only one that actually sounds legitimately crazy.
    • The English dub of Episode 23 also manages this perfectly.
• Cowboy Bebop: Mad Pierrot Tongpu from "Pierrot le Fou" is a seemingly indestructible, psychopathic assassin, and the audio for the episode preview is just his maniacal laughter for 30 seconds.
• Jeremy when he finds out that Greg's car crashed thanks to Vehicular Sabotage and when he is moved dorms because he kissed his roommate William. He laughs because he finds it ironic that he gets in trouble for kissing his roommate, yet he is sexually abused every weekend which leads William to Get A Hold Of Yourself Man in A Cruel God Reigns.
• David from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners does this after he destroys a convoy of Arasaka vehicles. This fit of maniacal laughter is brought about from his cyberpsychosis that builds up from personal trauma and the installation of the cyberskeleton.
• Kurumi Tokisaki from Date A Live does this several times, such as summoning a second spacequake before Kotori in her Spirit form stops it.
• Death Note: the deleted scene where Light Yagami stays in the graveyard after L's funeral, starts laughing madly, proceeds to crawl on top of L's grave and shouts "What do you think of that, L? This is my perfect victory! That's right—I win!" with a crazed look on his face... and looks suspiciously like he's humping L's grave.
  • And another one in the final episode where Light admits he's Kira.
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • Broly definitely applies, especially in the flashbacks where it is clear that his laughter was uncontrollable after destroying at least one planet as a child.
  • Frieza also gives one off while destroying Planet Vegeta. Well, he did seem a bit too exhilarated at blocking Bardock's attack as well as destroying Planet Vegeta.
  • Majin Buu in his true, Kid Buu form. Kid Buu is, by a significant margin, the batshit-craziest of the Buus, and 95% of his dialogue is either grunts/screams or deranged laughter to show just how far off his rocker he is.
• Fate/Zero: Kotomine Kirei does this at the end of the story, along with a Villainous Breakdown upon witnessing the destruction caused by the corrupted Holy Grail and being told that this destruction is his own unconscious desire. He laughs, then cries, then laughs while crying, both disgusted and amused to realize what a twisted individual he truly is, before resolving to fully unleash Angra Mainyu during the next war to better understand his own evil nature.
• Franken Fran: Mr. Umimiya appears on the verge of a laughing nervous breakdown upon discovering his long lost daughter Ruri's (whom a maniacal cult worshipped as their prophet) body had become a part of the facility they're standing in due to the cult requesting Fran that she create an enormous artificial body when she fell ill.
• Akito does this in Episode 25 of Fruits Basket while tormenting Tohru.
  • Akito also has a tendency to do this in the manga.
• While he's sane afterward, the new Greed of Fullmetal Alchemist Ling is shown ending his Painful Transformation with a frightening Slasher Smile and some truly maniacal laughter.
  • Edward has one after he realizes that trying to resurrect Trisha was a Senseless Sacrifice.
  • The fake Ashleigh Crichton in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos begins giggling insanely when his plan enters the final phase. He stops when Julia gets the Sanguine Star, and he's come a lot of the way down from his high when the real Ashleigh Crichton vaporises his head.
• Full Metal Panic!. Kaname has a crazy laugh that she gives whenever she's lying about something — such as the possibility of being attracted to that nutcase Sōsuke. Or denying that his latest bone-headed antic bothers her in the least. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
• Yoko Wakana, the mad policewoman from Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, plays the trope straight.
• Future Diary: Yuno does this quite a few times.
• Andrea of Gankutsuou is not exactly sane. One of the ways he shows this is by giggling/laughing creepily at random times.
  • In one scene, the Count watches Albert leave his ship, quite peeved with him. Although we're led to presume that the guy is deep in grief over the event, we quickly see him break out into hysterical laughter. And from then on, he's out there, madly pursuing his revenge.
• In GeGeGe No Kitaro (2018), when Kirara Fusano's attempt at exchanging her gonkish face for a pretty one results in it turning invisible. After the boy she (is not) in love with explains that he doesn't mind her appearance, Kirara suddenly laughs madly, explaining that the reason she changed her face was solely that people would stop humiliating her.
• GUN×SWORD: Van gets this for a moment when he sees the Claw pass.
• Alucard of Hellsing certainly enjoys many inappropriate moments of insane laughter... but as he was crazy before, and is crazy after, the incidents don't represent any character development for him.
• Higurashi: When They Cry. All over the freaking place.
  • In fact, the first thing you see in the second arc, even before the opening, is a scene of Rika stabbing herself in the neck while Shion laughs maniacally. It then takes about 10 episodes before you're finally told the context, and that makes it even creepier.
  • For your viewing pleasure, some YouTube Poop of Shion laughing... for ten minutes.
  • There are also instances of Rena entering into bouts of insane laughter.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders:
  • In the midst of a seemingly hopeless battle against the Sun Stand, Kakyoin, Jotaro and Polnareff all suddenly burst into creepy hysterics while taking desperate shelter from the heat and laser rays as Joseph assumes that they all lost it. However, it's a subversion; they're all laughing because they figured out that the nearly-unstoppable Stand actually has a glaring weakness.
  • The same thing happens (for real) to Senator Wilson Philips later on, after he's violently assaulted by DIO and unwillingly forced by the vampire to commit mass murder — by driving through a crowded sidewalk of people — while pursuing Joseph and Kakyoin. He loses it completely upon DIO telling him that he never had any intention of letting Philips live regardless of whether he did so or not, giggling incoherently as he goes completely insane from the resulting trauma.
• Precia Testarossa in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, although she was fairly mad to begin with.
  • Jail Scaglietti does it frequently.
• Gundam:
  • Quatre from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing after witnessing the deaths of his father and most likely his sister Iria (it's only confirmed in the manga version of the scene).
  • Clotho Buer from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED descends into a huge Villainous Breakdown after his fellow Bio-CPUs, Orga Sabnak and Shani Andras, are killed by Athrun Zala and Yzak Joule. Even more so as he is suffering from drug withdrawal as the power of his Raider Gundam is running out, and all he can do is laugh like a madman as he desperately tries to kill Yzak and Dearka one last time... until Yzak and the Duel Gundam finally put him out of his misery and use the damaged Buster's rifle to blow a hole in the Raider. And Clotho keeps laughing until his Raider starts to combust, at which he can only scream as he is engulfed in the Raider's explosion.
• Uchiha Sasuke from Naruto has an epic one in chapter 483, coupled with Sanity Slippage and Villainous Breakdown in a fashion very similar to his brother.
  • Not to mention Hidan of the Akatsuki. This guy wasn't sane to begin with, but once he gets into his rituals...
  • Gaara has a great one during his fight with Naruto.
  • In Chapter 356, Kabuto has lost quite a bit of sanity following Orochimaru's death and reveals he has absorbed Orochimaru's remains. At one point he bursts into hysterical laughter.
  • In Chapter 577 Kabuto does this after talking with the resurrected Itachi.
• Nichijou: When Yuuko, Mio, and Mai are stuck on a disabled elevator, the former two are initially in the midst of a sullen Heroic BSoD halfheartedly trying to pass the time while Mai naps. At one point Mio randomly says "eggplant", which gets her and Yuuko laughing uncontrollably while simultaneously verbalizing their despair at anyone coming to rescue them.
• One Piece:
  • Monkey D. Luffy does this the moment after Portgas D. Ace dies.
  • Donquixote Doflamingo is pretty much this series' version of The Joker, so he's usually this. But it's most obvious in the Dressrosa arc, when he turns from recurring sideline psycho to the main antagonist, after finding out just how severely he underestimated the Straw Hat Pirates.
• Occurs occasionally in PandoraHearts such as in Chapter 67 by Miranda. And in Episode 15 by Oz when he's in Love Makes You Crazy mode for Alice.
• In the intro of Paranoia Agent, everyone is laughing. In the most unlikely situations, such as a guy in freefall, a drowning woman... what better way to tell you're about to get mindscrewed?
• Peacemaker Kurogane: Suzu gets one of these in the sequel manga, after he goes Ax-Crazy.
• In Pokémon Adventures, this happens to Ghetsis at the end of the Black 2 / White 2 arc, when he finally comes to terms with his defeat and the horrifying realization that he's made practically the entire population of Unova's Pokemon his enemy.
• In Princess Knight, when Friebe finds out that the brave knight she planned on marrying was really Princess Sapphire in disguise, she bursts out laughing and shouts "That's too perfect!" She pulls herself together and agrees to help the princess escape her pursuers.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: During a fight with a witch, Sayaka laughs maniacally as she gives it a violent beating, with no regards to her own safety. Really hammers in how close she is to the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Also, Walpurgisnacht, who won't stop letting out peals of echoing laughter, even while taking a humongous beating and literally being blasted away from existence. In this case, it underscores both her inherent madness, and the utter futility of fighting her.
• Mukuro of Reborn! (2004) was never entirely sane to begin with so he does this a few times, most notably during his fight with Tsuna.
  • And Daemon Spade. In Chapter 329, he orders Enma to "take Sawada's skull and crush it like glass", and then he laughs maniacally...
• Rebuild World,
  • After Katsuya falls for the lies of a pickpocket who stole from Akira and Akira nearly gets talked down by Katsuya’s female friends, Katsuya steps in and insults Akira, demeaning his achievements, making him react like this and beginning their Mexican Standoff.
  • Akira dissolves into broken laughter when he realizes that he's lost contact with Alpha after he's Eaten Alive by the Overgrown Snake. He's terrified that he's truly alone for the first time since he became a hunter, nearly giving up before composing himself and blasting his way out.
  • Tiol does this a lot during his second confrontation with Akira, since Tiol’s consciousness is so fragile from his Emergency Transformation, he has little more than the Amnesiac Resonance that if something bad happens to Akira, something good will happen for him (this being Sheryl becoming single because Tiol was originally a Dogged Nice Guy for her).
• Rosario + Vampire: Tsukune's Ghoul form definitely counts.
  • Akuha does so at the end of Chapter 53 after breaking down and seeing Moka with Tsukune.
• Shishio Makoto does this as he burns to ashes after overdoing in his final battle against Kenshin.
• Kotonoha from School Days does this frequently after her descent into crazyville.
• Shaman King's Big Bad, Hao Asakura does this near the end of the anime.
• Doctor Franken Stein of Soul Eater does this on several occasions. Definitely the Sanity Slippage variety.
  • The most striking would have to be after his fight with Medusa, with Stein breaking into a lovely example as stands with his scythe as the witch's blood rains down on him. Madness, apparently, feels good.
  • Anyone under the influence of the Black Blood would do this. Crona and Maka are examples.
  • Giriko does one in Chapter 75.
• Hikari of Space Pirate Mito: A Pair of Queens.
• In Steins;Gate basically every time Hououin Kyoma enters the scene, though it's actually just an act.
• Both Mashiro and Kuroi from Thou Shalt Not Die end up doing this but for different reasons. Mashiro ends up doing it when her day ends up a bit to rotten and she ends up snapping after being shot. Kuroi ends up doing it since he delights in the carnage Mashiro is causing leading him call out that he was right in believing in her and ends up declaring his love to her.
• Tokyo Ghoul includes a particularly disturbing scene, during Kaneki's 10-day long marathon torture. When Yamori sticks a centipede in his ear and wraps duct tape around his head, Kaneki begins laughing hysterically while the agitated insect begins crawling around and stinging him. Seeing his victim laughing instead of screaming, Yamori joins him into the crazed laughter.
  • Eto does this as she's declaring her love for Kaneki as he throws her mutilated body off of a building.
  • Mutsuki breaks down into hysterical laughter, after seeing Torso's mutilated body done at his hands and realizing the full scale of his past crimes.
  • Kaneki does this again in Season 2 of the anime when fighting Shinohara in his kakuja form.
• Appears in the series and film The Vision of Escaflowne, especially with Ax-Crazy Dilandau.
• In Wolf Guy - Wolfen Crest Inugami shows Haguro his werewolf form causing him to go crazy from it and laugh insanely.
  • Ryuuko does this in Chapter 65.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has its fair share, most notably with Yami Marik and Bakura, although Kiryu of 5Ds outdoes them all.
  • And then Vector of ZEXAL proceeds to outdo him.
  • It's not just with those guys, either—Noah had an insane bit of laughter like this in his arc, after which he temporarily believed himself to be Seto. He snapped out of it pretty quickly, though.
  • Jonouchi laughs hysterically (After being Brainwashed by Marik) at an injured Yugi during their Death-Duel. however this is cut from the 4kids version...For some unknown reason.
  • Pandora (Arkana in the dub), and how!
• In YuYu Hakusho, after being defeated and losing his entire fortune, Tarukane goes into convulsions of insane laughter, which only end after Toguro kills him.
  • Sensui is very fond of insane laughter in all of his personalities. His true personality has him laughing maniacally while causing powerful and violent tremors all around him.
• Zatch Bell!: Dalia Anjé, a somewhat notable antagonist from the Ancient Mamodo arc. The spells are her only dialog; beyond that, it's just mad laughter.

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