History Main / PaperCutting

%%* Kato does this to Yuri as a warning halfway through ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts: Covenant''. Yuri ignores it, but the rest of the party talks him down.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode ''Sympathy for the Devil'', Spike takes a paper-cut bullet to the cheek, without flinching, and proceeds to shoot his target.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' does this during the fight between Ladd and Graham. Ladd fires his shotgun at Graham and Graham deflects the bullet back at Ladd with his giant wrench, causing it to graze Ladd's cheek.

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Paper Cuts'' from Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Bleach|Album}}''.
[[/folder]]

* The intro to the boss fight against Vamp in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''.
* Kato does this to Yuri as a warning halfway through ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts: Covenant''. Yuri ignores it, but the rest of the party talks him down.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', where the papercut effect is not deliberate from the point of the attacker, but rather to emphasize powerful magical defenses of the target. The great dragon Bahamut fires his breath weapon at Kuja, just one, normal-sized, [[DudeLooksLikeALady not very manly]] wizard who should by all accounts be [[SquishyWizard squishy]]. A whole war fleet is firing cannons at the same guy. The results? Ow, a paper cut.
* A variant in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': near the end of the first "execution" cutscene, where [[BigBad Monokuma]] demonstrates his power by [[spoiler: gunning down Monomi]], a single ricochet leaves a cut on protagonist Hajime Hinata's cheek in exactly this fashion, underscoring just how real the stakes are.
* If Clementine stayed in Wellington at the end of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo'', she will have a scar on her cheek when you meet her again in ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonThree A New Frontier]]''. A flashback in the first episode will explain that this is something she sustained from [[spoiler:a bullet that grazed her while she was fleeing from Wellington, the stronghold having been overtaken by a rival group]].

* ''Paper Cuts'' from Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Bleach}}''.

* ''ComicBook/ThePowerpuffGirls'' story "Eenie Meanie Mini Mojo" (DC runs issue #33) has Bubbles making cut-out paper dolls at the Pokey Oaks kindergarten playground. When Mojo Jojo tries to intervene, he suffers a paper cut.[[/folder]]

* ''Manga/{{Black Cat}}'''s Train Hartnet receives one of these in the first volume from an old friend from Chronos. It doesn't seem to do much except piss him off.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' does this occasionally. The most straightforward example is probably the training exercise where Asuna does this to Evangeline using ''a PaperFanOfDoom''. Eva is disturbingly blissed-out by this, and [[DisproportionateRetribution encases Asuna in a block of ice as a response.]]

A subtrope of CouldHaveBeenMessy. Highly pervasive in [[ShonenDemographic shonen]] series, though thanks to the RuleOfCool, it has surfaced in nearly every form of fictional violence. Frequently seen with attacks that use PetalPower, FeatherFlechettes or a DeathDealer's projectiles. If the combatant actually used paper as the weapon in question, see PaperMaster. Compare FirstBlood.

Paper cutting is done with equal yet ever improbable frequency both with actual bladed weapons such as swords and knives and with bullets and magic projectiles. Never mind what properties have been attributed to the latter and that a bullet passing right by the skin would more likely burn and bruise it than cut it with surgical precision. A leading cause of {{Cool scar}}s

Paper cutting is done with equal yet ever improbable frequency both with actual bladed weapons such as swords and knives and with bullets and magic projectiles. Never mind what properties have been attributed to the latter and that a bullet passing right by the skin would more likely burn and bruise it than cut it with surgical precision.

* Happens quite a lot in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', mostly of the 'Shoulder ClothingDamage' or 'Cheek Papercut' varieties. The latter usually gets followed up by the recipient of the wound taking a finger to the cut and then licking blood from it.

* A variant in ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa2'': near the end of the first "execution" cutscene, where [[BigBad Monokuma]] demonstrates his power by [[spoiler: gunning down Monomi]], a single ricochet leaves a cut on protagonist Hajime Hinata's cheek in exactly this fashion, underscoring just how real the stakes are.
* If Clementine stayed in Wellington at the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo The Walking Dead: Season Two]]'', she will have a scar on her cheek when you meet her again in ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonThree A New Frontier]]''. A flashback in the first episode will explain that this is something she sustained from [[spoiler:a bullet that grazed her while she was fleeing from Wellington, the stronghold having been overtaken by a rival group]].

[[caption-width-right:350:You should see the [[{{BFS}} size of the sword]] that made that...]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Manga/{{Bleach}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ichigo_smallcut.jpg]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:300:You should see the [[{{BFS}} size of the sword]] that made that...]]

* ''Manga/{{Black Cat}}'''s Train Hartnet recieves one of these in the first volume from an old friend from Chronos. It doesn't seem to do much except piss him off.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' does this all the time, as seen in the picture. The attack that caused that cut was probably powerful enough to destroy a building.

A subtrope of CouldHaveBeenMessy. Highly pervasive in [[ShonenDemographic shonen]] series, though thanks to the RuleOfCool, it has surfaced in nearly every form of fictional violence. Frequently seen with attacks that use PetalPower, FeatherFlechettes or a DeathDealer's projectiles. If the combatant actually used paper as the weapon in question, see PaperMaster.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' story "Eenie Meanie Mini Mojo" (DC runs issue #33) has Bubbles making cut-out paper dolls at the Pokey Oaks kindergarten playground. When Mojo Jojo tries to intervene, he suffers a paper cut.[[/folder]]

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Guts' SingleStrokeBattle with Serpico in the ''Chapter of the Binding Chain'' has Serpico end up with the front of his boot busted open because he narrowly avoided Gurs' [[{{BFS}} Dragon Slayer]] by jumping, while Guts finds that he received a very thin, shallow cut on the cheek from Serpico's saber. Guts, impressed at how Serpico almost got him, licks the blood that flows from the cut and says "Nice draw style".

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Guts' SingleStrokeBattle with Serpico in the ''Chapter of the Binding Chain'' has Serpico end up with the front of his boot busted open because he narrowly jumped to avoid the [[{{BFS}} Dragon Slayer]], while Guts finds that he received a very thin, shallow cut on the cheek from Serpico's saber. Guts, impressed at how Serpico almost got him, licks the blood that flows from the cut and says "Nice draw style".