History Main / SuperDrowningSkills

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Neither [=SpongeBob=] nor Patrick know how to swim in Goo Lagoon. At first, this sounds like a winking nod to the show's liberal use of the WaterIsAir trope, until you remember [[FridgeBrilliance sponges and starfish can't swim in real life, either. They crawl]].

* The arapaima, the largest freshwater fish in South America, is one of the few fish that can't actually extract oxygen from the water. Instead, it must regularly surface to gulp air or it will drown. This is an adaptation to being stuck in shallow, oxygen-poor pools during the dry season, but it also means that they're easy for fishermen to find by watching for disturbances on the surface of the water. This in turn led to overfishing and caused to their heavy decline during the 20th Century.

* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSEries'':

** ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'': The Outsiders manage to stop an attempted invasion by Gorilla Grodd and his army by pushing the gorilla soldiers into the water -- gorillas can't swim.

** Colossus in his steel form is also too heavy to swim, though he at least has the advantage of not needing to breathe.

* ''Franchise/TheTransformers'': [[ButtMonkey Nautilator]] has always been depicted as enthusiastic but completely incompetent in the water in all continuities of the comics. He rusts like a '67 Fiat, has the [[NoSenseOfDirection navigational skills]] of [[Manga/OnePiece Roronoa Zoro]], and in spite of being a giant living robot with an alternate mode made to traverse the ocean, he's been defeated by ''the tides changing.'' [[TheLoad The Decepticons are hampered by just having him around]]. Inexplicably, [[WrongLineOfWork the Decepticons made him part of their main underwater strike team]] (it's suspected that they might just have been trying to get him as far away from the Decepticons' main forces as they could). He does have a limited saving grace of [[AchievementInIgnorance accidentally finding valuable resources]] just about every time he gets stuck underwater, but that's not nearly enough to stop the rest of the Seacons from detesting being stuck with him.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

** The Magikarp James bought from the salesman during the S.S. Anne mini-arc couldn't swim, either. It's a ''fish''. That '''''can't swim'''''. (We saw Magikarp swimming in the first episode, for bonus points.)

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Akane Tendō's swimming skills, or lack thereof, has earned her the nickname "hammergirl". Akane panics and cannot swim even when her life really does depend on it. Even wearing a ''flotation device'', she manages to sink like a rock. Even when the water is only knee-deep. Until she was explicitly told otherwise near the end of the manga, she honestly believed you were ''supposed to breathe while underwater''. Discovering that you have to hold your breath was nothing short of an epiphany for her. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] [[KickTheDog in a very nasty way]] when, during the final arc of the manga, the villains kidnap her and ''deliberately'' drown poor Akane in a [[TransformationRay Jusenkyō spring]], creating the [[CloningBlues Spring of Drowned Akane]]. Fortunately, her experience with drowning is so extensive, she survives the ordeal. But it is still [[ContinuityNod a surprisingly cruel reference]] to a character flaw that was always treated for comedy.

In some extreme cases, characters will drown in water that is visibly too shallow for anyone to drown in, coming up to their waist or even lower. In which case you may see them suddenly [[DefeatEqualsExplosion explode]], thrash around while clearly being able to touch the floor if they tried, or [[DeathThrows just fall off the screen]].

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Upon learning the Carmia Island has a Dragon Hourglass, and a Wave is due to come in a little over two days, Ren tries to bow out. When questioned why by the others, he shouts that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial of course he can swim, why would you even ask that]]? Completely deadpan, Motoyasu and Itsuki proceed to grab him, frogmarch him outside and toss him into shallow water to test the obvious conclusion. He's drowning in less than waist high waters.

* In ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'', one challenge involved an underwater photoshoot, but not all the drag queens could swim. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensued.]]

* Masuzu in ''LightNovel/{{Oreshura}}'' nearly drowns in Episode 5 after climbing slowly into the swimming pool upon hearing rumors from other girls that she was deliberately not swimming to draw attention to herself from the guys. Eita is forced to perform [[CPRCleanPrettyReliable CPR]] on her when he sees the swim teacher giving CPR to another student at the time, causing the other students to {{Squee}} at the "kiss" he's giving her.

* In ''Fanfic/TheArianaBlackSeries'', while swimming to escape an underwater base, Ariana gets caught up in completely mundane seaweed and drowns. And while magic doesn't work to revive her, CPR ''[[CPRCleanPrettyReliable does]]''.
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', the {{Kaiju}} spawn that Izuku encounters on Korusan Island are completely incapable of swimming, recoiling after they touch water for the first time. Ironically enough, they have the appearance of a [[MixAndMatchCritters shark's head atop a pile of tentacles]].
* In ''Fanfic/AlienExodus'', the Human Exodus mentions Rodians are unable to swim at all, because Rodia is a jungle world where rain evaporates as soon as it hits the ground, meaning there are no open bodies of water.
* In ''Fanfic/SupermanOf2499TheGreatConfrontation'', the [=XXVth=] century descendants of Franchise/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} are unable to survive in water because several generations ago the witch Hecate's curse made saltwater lethal to the House of El. Even a seconds-long dip in the ocean would kill them.
* ''Fanfic/LeaveHerJohnny'': Apparently, all ship girls who are not submarines are incapable to dive underwater. Izumi does not take this well, and asks Goto if she can teach the rest of the Kanmusu how to swim.