Gainaxing - Television Tropes & Idioms

Cowboy Bebop has the character Faye Valentine, who is breathtakingly beautiful with gigantic pneumatic bosoms that seem to have minds of their own. She also almost invariably dresses in a manner that would, in any American city in the late 20th Century, cause everyone who saw her to conclude immediately that she is a streetwalker. Perhaps she bought all her clothing at the Dirty Pair's garage sale.
- Canon indicates that she does this on purpose to distract men. On one occasion she wears a perfectly normal evening gown.
The seventh One Piece movie had the girls bounce from doing absolutely anything.
- Hell, in a few scenes, Nami will simply be standing around, perfectly still, and her boobs will just randomly bounce quite forcefully all on their own.
Gunbuster (called "Bustgunner" by some fans) and Otaku No Video from Gainax are the two productions which allegedly inspired the term.
- Perhaps ironically, Gunbuster actually features what can be considered as close to realistic as possible physics for the bouncing breasts. Noriko's bounced so much mainly because she moved around a lot even when she wasn't wearing a bra.
Just about any female character in the various Burn Up animes.
Mune-mune in Gainax's Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai is a deliberate parody — right down to her name, which actually translates as "Tits-Tits".
- And she's the main character's late grandmother.
Kurono Kurumu in Rosario To Vampire. The movement of her breasts even produces audible sounds! And in episode 4, Kurumu's fat stalker (or rather, his belly).
To Love Ru seems overly fond of this. Espically Lala. Just watch the OVA opening, 1 minute and 30 seconds of pure bounce.
Every female character that appears in the various Ranma 1/2 motion pictures — even the ones who are supposed to be small-breasted. This contrasts with the main series where they never seem to move at all, since the show is kind of old and didn't have a huge budget.
- Especially since the characters are considerably less endowed in the television series.
The sheer quantity of gainaxing found in the anime Plastic Little inspired ADV, the North American distributor/dub house, to include an on-screen "Jiggle Count" meter as one of the special features in their DVD release.
The anime Shinkon Gattai Godannar takes Gainaxing to the extreme, since even the mecha have breasts (and in one particular case, both the mecha and the pilot have humongous jiggling breasts). The only exception to this is Lou, the show's Token Loli.
Taeko and a few others in Ai Yori Aoshi.
Practically every female role in Divergence Eve and its follow-up. It may be noted that outside of this and the Fanservicey opener and closer, the series is remarkably serious in tone and tells its story in blissful, perhaps defiant ignorance of the laws of physiology, if not physics, being broken in the character designs.
Caldina in Magic Knight Rayearth.
Virtually any adult female in Devil Hunter Yohko
The opening credits of Landlock.
While not exactly as flagrant, Murrue Ramius of Gundam SEED has the dubious honor of having her bouncing chest be one of the few whose bouncing was actually animated and used as Stock Footage every time the Archangel took a particularly nasty hit in battle. This seemed to be limited to her, until first officer Natarle Badguirel ended up in command of her own ship, whereupon she gained the suddenly bouncing breasts (albeit not as dramatically given her modest proportions), as did Flay Alster as part of her crew. Whether this is actually an accurate depiction of how breasts move in zero gravity is debatable.
- Murrue is also the only woman so far in the Gundam franchise to have her jiggle in the opening credits of the actual series itself. The James Bond opening credits level nudity is also bra-less and even had male viewers often going "...those don't work that way." Female tropers, on the other hand, winced in pain and often skipped those credits.
Yoko, and Kittan's three sisters (who come in small, medium and large for your viewing pleasure) in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Guess who it's made by. In fact, the English trailer for Gurren Lagann contained the words "that famous Gainax bounce".
- Yoko is an especially amusing example because her breasts seem to spontaneously Gainax without any movement on her part, whenever any attention is called to them.
  - This Troper swears that you can tell how she's feeling by their position and size: down for sad, perky for happy, fuller for determined...
Mikuru Asahina, the Moe character in The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, displays Gainaxing, particularly in the opening credits.
Kyon: Too many beach balls!
Rushuna Tendo, every episode of Grenadier. However, as she keeps her ammo in her cleavage, this is actually somewhat practical. The Big Bad Setsuna, being similarly well-endowed and trained, does the same thing.
The AMV "The Fanservice Video: Bouncing Back For More" by Zarxrax is dedicated to this effect.
Almost every female character in the anime Girls Bravo.
Naga the White Serpent, from The Slayers.
Angela, an American visitor to Genshiken, displays this conspicuously (complete with bouncing sound effects) to make the differences between Japan and America (or at least Eagleland) more obvious, and to highlight her more upfront attitudes about sex (she is an unashamed Yaoi Fangirl) and maybe a bisexual (she was at least interested in the male oriented hentai as well).
- Oono also gets this quite often.
A certain animation team in the rotation for Digimon Savers used this technique on Rosemon, and it's probably not a coincidence that they animated BioLotusmon's only appearance.
Siesta from Zero No Tsukaima, pictured here.◊ You're probably not looking at the Love Bubbles surrounding her.
- Siesta is nothing compared to Tiffania, who barely has to move to set her breasts bouncing around like Flubber.
Mai from Mai-HiME dresses conservatively, but her somewhat large (but not Gag Boobs-level) chest still has a bit of bounce to it. A scene early in the anime replicated during an argument with Yuuichi and Shiho gives them an audible "boing". According to supplemental materials, it's not even Mai who has the largest bustline... she's beaten out ever-so-slightly by Haruka, who doesn't have a whole lot of bounce, but still looks good in a swimsuit.
Macross Frontier features a whole raft of characters with sufficiently Gainaxed breasts, including Sheryl and the Miss Macross Frontier contestants (which makes Ranka uncomfortable.) Also, zero gravity bouncing. Very unique.
- Interestingly the show also subverts the trope slightly: when a fully sized, thirty-foot-tall Zentraedi, Klan Klein has a rather terrifying bust that may actually be capable of killing a normal-sized human. Micronized, however, she doesn't possess anything that can be Gainaxed.
R.O.D. TV had one particularly infamous chase sequence where Nenene finally finds her long lost friend (love?) Yomiko Readman. Yomiko runs away and Nenene gives chase. As they sprint, their bosoms (which had been largely still until then) bounce and sway like jello earthquakes. It's also worth noting that Yomiko's bustline went from a mild C-Cup in the OVA well into DD territory for the TV series, set several years later. A late blooming?
- It isn't just the chase scene. Watch Nenene's bosom in the first episode. They ripple like water.
Happens quite frequently to the females with boobs... any female character with boobs... in Code Geass. Only lampshaded once, and enhanced ten fold during the School Festival and activity episodes.
After the Time Skip in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Nanoha and Fate, no longer lolis, displayed this trope during their Transformation Sequence, as did Subaru.
Surprisingly, several girls in the Saiyuki anime jiggle around in action, even though the show is mostly fangirl fodder.
- Then again, Saiyuki was originally marketed as a Shonen.
Done poorly with Bekira in Wagaya No Oinarisama. Kind of lampshaded by Noboru taking a quick glance at Kou's assets for comparison. Subverted later on when it turns out those weren't actually her breasts.
Parodied and lampshaded in an anime-original RPG Episode of Hayate The Combat Butler where the bouncing boobs of the RPG game's boss is focused on constantly and has a sound so audible a character points out that she hears the sound of the bouncing from a considerable distance away.
Plentiful in Gravion, especially with Ms Fanservice Mizuki, who bounces considerably with the slightest movement, even swallowing.
In Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka's eighth episode, whenever the camera focuses on Tsukasa, her breasts appear to take on a life of their own. The first scene, which is just a profile shot of her laughing, has them bouncing up and down like crazy.
In one episode of Naruto, the seriousness of Gaara transforming is lost thanks to Temari's Gainaxing.
Eiken has a ridiculous amount of Gainaxing happening in almost every scene. Chief among the guilty are Kirika and Token Loli Komoe, who quite literally bounces part of the opening credits on her chest.
Margery Daw in Shakugan No Shana's Festival Episode.
Junko Asagiri from Desert Punk, during the end credits.
- And, you know, everywhere else.
Rosette does this in the third episode of Chrono Crusade — unfortunately bad animation makes it look as if she had bags filled with water instead of breasts.
Done with refreshing realism in Gargoyle Of The Yoshinagas. A character's breasts do bounce... after one other character steals her bra.
Yurika in Akikan! actually uses Gainaxing as a strategy. In a baseball game with Yell (who's distracted by moving objects), she apparently plays without a bra on purpose, leading to very springy bouncing that Yell just can't take her eyes off of.
Izumi in Kemeko Deluxe!, all the time.
Hideously subverted in Twentieth Century Boys with Maruo. You know what I'm talking about.
Studio Gainax is responsible for animating the most recent Re: Cutie Honey OVAs. Hoo boy, is there ever Gainaxing in that show.
Ninin Ga Shinobuden gives Shinobu a few good bounces in episode 4. Then again, the first half of the episode is a spoof of Fan Service anyway....
- The baseball episode has a ninja distracting himself by imagining Kaede in a tiny bikini, complete with bouncing. The real Kaede bowls him over because he's not paying attention.
Lampshaded in Samurai Champloo when small-chested Fuu decides to carry a couple of cherry bombs by sticking them down the front of her kimono. And then she goes for a run. The result is quite comical, which is compounded by the occasional viewer who didn't notice the cherry bomb thing and thinks that her breasts have just gone insane.
The appropriately-named Bouncy Tiff, who is created to the real Tiff's dismay. She is drawn like a stereotypical magical girl and... err, deserves the "bouncy" portion of her name. Even the youngest character in the crew knows to cover his eyes. The anime she appears in? Kirby: Right Back At Ya. Uhh...
Miyuki in Basquash, who has her bouncing breasts take up the entire screen for a good few seconds.
Check the Beach Episode of Onegai Teacher.
In the Makai Senki Disgaea anime, we have Jennifer, the female assistant of Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!. The sight of her chest bouncing is enough to make Laharl sick.
Team coach Momoe from Ookiku Furikabutte.
Green Green, to a truly ridiculous extent.
In the same vein as Mikuru and Suzumiya Haruhi above, Kyou Fujibayashi of Clannad Gainaxes like mad in the opening credits of the first season, while bouncing a basketball.
- Kotomi also does so in the Baseball Episode.
Also on the same vein, Patricia Martin displays it during while cheerleading in the opening Dancing Theme.
The Shuffle OVA had Sia and Asa Gainax within the first three minutes. Then when Sia's dad replaces the water in the pool with eels, Nerine does as well.

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A truly groan-worthy live action example in ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'', in which Mikaela (played by Megan Fox) bounces like Pamela Anderson on Baywatch in Michael Bay slow-motion... in what is supposed to be a dead-serious escape sequence.
The Z-grade film Hollywood Hot Tubs had Crystal, whose entire reason for existence was jogging braless in every scene, even jogging in place when standing still.
Black Mama White Mama, every time Pam Grier (or many of the other nameless women) run.
One of the Tomb Raider movies had a particularly glaring example even for them, where Lara runs (in slow motion of course) at full pelt resulting in a lot of... movement that looked like it would be quite painful really.
In the Uwe Boll film House of the Dead, Ona Grauer becomes outright pneumatic during a slow motion run during an explosion. Like Jell-O on springs, indeed...
In The Legend of Zorro, there's a scene where Catherine Zeta-Jones runs away from dogs in a low-cut dress. It's probably not intentional, given the shortness of the scene.

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In Arthur C Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, Commander Norton notes how distracting women can be in zero-gravity, particularly if "sympathetic vibrations" occur.

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Allo Allo — let's just say "vibrating ice cream truck".
The Bill — a couple of incidents described as "Bouncy Bouncy Jo Masters".
BBC Garden-show hostess Charlie Dimmock received a certain degree of fame for her tendency to go braless and jiggle.
- So, forty years ago, did children's TV host Susan Stranks. Fetish Fuel for the under-fifteen set, anybody?
Baywatch.
- Referenced in Friends: "See, this is the brilliance of the show. I say always keep them running. All the time, running. Run. Run Yasmine, run like the wind."
Long before Pam Anderson hit the beach, Lynda Carter perfected the art of running in slow-motion in a bustier.
The Price Is Right. Seriously. Don't believe me? Watch this.
Elliot from Scrubs is pretty much the show's Ms Fanservice, and it often happens because she can be neurotic and excitable. A particularly notable one is when they are in a bar with J.D. and Turk playing a game, Elliot wants to play along too, saying "Oh... Do me! Do me!" while jumping up and down.
Kelly Bundy from Married With Children often did this whenever she got excited.
This also often happened to Chrissy Snow from Threes Company whenever she got excited, resulting in the coinage of the term "Jiggle Show".
Ghost Whisperer has taken numerous opportunities to have Jennifer Love Hewitt run in something low-cut. In fact she seems to find a way to introduce some jiggle to every project she's in, including the bra ads.

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Rayne, the main character of the Bloodrayne series of games, and most of the other female characters in it, was notorious for it and noted by the media several times for its realistic breast physics.
- This troper has fond memories of the "juggy dance squad" cheat...
- I wouldn't say realistic, I think of them as 'hyper kinetic', the slightest twitch for a character and there all over the place for a few seconds.
Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Fury and King Of Fighters series. The Fatal Fury anime movie, in particular, was infamous for the animators actually showing (very, very briefly) the inevitable wardrobe malfunctions her Gainaxing would cause in her distinctive costume during fight scenes. Viz Video, who released Fatal Fury in the U.S., used to show her bouncing in the trailers while the narrator made enthusiastic reference to "dual-independent-suspension ninja girl Mai Shiranui". Although her design in the first few games was relatively more conservative, the anime (and the 2D Jiggle Physics in the King Of Fighters videogames) resulted in her Flanderization into a walking incarnation of this trope.
Soul Calibur II's Jiggle Physics...
Rouge the Bat, from the Sonic The Hedgehog series boobs would bounce around alot.
Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. The breast movements were synchronous until Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, when they consequently lost any resemblance to actual bosoms.
- The first game even had a meter on the options screen that allowed static, semi-normal, and downright comical jiggle physics.
Tomb Raider's main character, Lara Croft, gets pretty jiggly.
Odin Sphere (or should that be Spheres?). It's especially obvious when playing as Velvet, and even more obvious when battling the Queen of the Dead. It doesn't help that Velvet's particularly Stripperiffic to boot.
Super Robot Wars does this rather extensively, despite being a video game where all the action is done by Giant Robots, all the bounces come from the anime-ish cut-in pictures. Very prevalent in the Alpha series, whereas you can expect any original female characters to have Gainaxing bounce. Unless your name is Ibis Douglas. This also gets carried over to the latter handheld SRW games, such as J and W. (Un)fortunately, Original Generations somewhat mellowed or stopped this practice.
- Only for Endless Frontier to bring it back in a grand fashion: 3 of the playable characters happily show off their bosom every time you perform their Limit Break (two of them involving a mechanism specifically designed to remove the cloth covering their cleavage), and most female bosses are happy to do this as well.
  - Funnily enough, even Xiaomu, from Namco X Capcom has what little cleavage she has bounce. In fact, every female character with the exception of Suzuka and Kyon Feulion have bouncy breasts.
Tales of Symphonia played with this with the well-endowed (but not shockingly so) female ninja Sheena. However, it's only most noticeable when using her as the party avatar walking around, and it's hard to spot normally (there are a couple of places where you can get a closer look and have her run in place). It's also present in the animated ending cutscreen on Martel, the credits credit Gainax themselves for said animation.
Queen Valentina from the original Super Mario RPG had a conspicuously long after-hit animation that consisted solely of her flinching and jiggling for a few seconds.
April May in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney shook her stuff when flirting or when she got extremely pissed off.
- And then there's the hilarious hentai game Phoenix Drive, in which female characters' breasts spontaneously Gainax every few seconds, much as humans' eyes spontaneously blink.
Jessica from Dragon Quest VIII, to the point where she distracts from the action taking place on screen whether you like it or not.
Lucia and Sheena, the unlockable characters of Contra 4. That is, if you look closely at their sprites.
Lyn, from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword, every time she attacks while wielding her end game weapon.
In Elite Beat Agents, celebrities Norma and Isabella Carrington get stuck on a deserted island. In order to woo the animals, Isabella Gainaxes at them. How they let this (and the Fire Emblem and Mario RPG examples above) fly in a ''second-party Nintendo game'' is beyond me.
In Metal Gear Solid 4, the player can induce this manually by jiggling the SIXAXIS controller during cutscenes.
The Tekken spinoff ''Death By Degrees'' has "breast physics" as its selling point (along with Clothing Damage in boss fights).
In Skies Of Arcadia, Belle, one of the crew members you can recruit, is rather... bouncy. Especially since she's also a Genki Girl and source of much Innocent Fanservice. Did we mention you can end up talking to her while she's polishing an artillery shell?
Fiona from Haunting Ground suffers this. Especially noticeable when you unlock some of her other very revealing outfits.
Nearly every female character that isn't a Pettanko in Disgaea.
World Of Warcraft features Gainax physics in the ears of the elven races, though more prominently in the Night Elves than the Blood Elves (ears are bigger).
Nidoqueen in Pokemon actually displays this in the Stadium games upon release and before executing a physical attack.
The World in her win animation in the puzzle game Magical Drop.
This happens during the opening cutscene of Namco X Capcom. Really establishes the character being from Soulcalibur...
Early Golden Sun 3 gameplay footage shows at least one summon with gainaxing.
- Excuse me, did you just say you actually saw early footage from Golden Sun 3? You've just made my day.

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Nauseatingly parodied in this Ctrl Alt Del strip.

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Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Her breasts were purposely drawn to bounce in the opposite rhythm of a normal female's chest while walking; she bounces down when a real person would bounce up, and vice versa.
World renowned cartoon sex idol Betty Boop was also known to do this in certain cartoons.
Tiny Toon Adventures seemed to have a little fun animating a female anthro bear character called Julie Bruin (based on, and voiced by, comedienne and singer Julie Brown) this way in one episode. Here's proof.
Believe it or not, Teen Titans got away with doing this to Starfire from time to time.
And The Backyardigans does it with Tyrone's ears, particularly in season 1's opening (who cares if it's in Spanish? Just pay attention on the bouncing).
- The "Caveman's Best Friend" episode has Tyrone control the bouncing of his ears, even though it looked more like flapping during that episode.
Several episodes of King Of The Hill seem to have a rather excessive amount of closeups of Luanne's breasts while they jiggle.
Victor's mum from The Corpse Bride is subject to this trope, although it's hardly your typical case seeing as how she's middle-aged and overweight.
Tripping The Rift's resident Ms Fanservice Six was animated this way.

Close Western Animation

Scientists — God bless them! — are looking for ways to transform the sheer kinetic energy provided by bouncing breasts into stored electric power. At the very least, an ample chest could provide a source of current for your iPod.
Other scientists (and programmers) have created the simulator a level or two below the link to illustrate
1. How well their firm's sports-bra works
2. How well they know the physics of moving breasts, and how to simulate them in code
3. How many hits they can get from men with no intention of ever buying a sports-bra, ever.
- Note: not work-safe in its default mode. Work-safe, maybe, if you eliminate the "nude"/photo example. Even less work-safe in wire-frame mode, for some of us at least.
This.◊

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