Mr Exposition / Anime & Manga

• Attack on Titan has a couple of examples:
  • The first is Eren Kruger, whose exposition is given via Grisha Yeager's flashbacks. He's essentially a case of a Posthumous Mr. Exposition.
  • Secondly we have Willy Tybur. He shows up for a few chapters to deliver a speech about the supposed true history of Paradis Island and how Eren holds evil powers and could destroy the world... and is then promptly killed by Eren, who was listening to all the exposition.
  • Another minor example is Kiyomi Azumabito. Her main purpose seems to be providing exposition about Mikasa's mother's homeland, Hizuru, and the nation's role in supporting Paradis.
• Dew Yamamoto from Cap Revolution Bottleman describes how different Bottleman attacks and other parts of Bottleman battles work.
• Darker than Black:
  • Subverted at the beginning. One of the characters is a scientist who had been working on the Gate. She gives us a rather hefty dose of Expospeak to explain the Contractor-related weirdness; however it turns out she doesn't even know who she is. As such, 90% of anything anyone says in the first two episodes is misinformed at best and Blatant Lies at worst.
  • Later the trope is played straight with Dr. Schroeder, who appears to be the only person on (or off) the show who both has some idea what's going on and is inclined to share.
• Delicious in Dungeon has Laios dumping info on monsters, Senshi on cooking and proper nutrition, and Marcille on magic.
• Digimon Adventure tri.: Since the first three films are astoundingly tight-lipped on just what the hell is going on, in the fourth the Mysterious Man and Hackmon take turns explaining things, the former as he's trying to kill the main characters.
• Dragon Ball Z often has exposition but this particular line spoken by Krillin in The Tree of Might recapping what happened moments prior is particularly egregious, especially considering he delivered it while lying on the ground in pain, speaking to absolutely no-one but himself.
  Krillin: No! Earth's energy was sucked up by the Tree of Might and Goku couldn't find enough power to form a Spirit Bomb to defeat Turles! Now we're dead for sure...
• Ergo Proxy had a very interesting method of revealing its backstory: the characters ended up in a bizarre gameshow, where most questions and answers were directly related to the plot. The gameshow host MCQ played the part of Mr. Exposition.
• Reversed in Eyeshield 21 in the form of Yamamoto Onihei, ace lineman of the Hashiritani Deers. More than any other player on the sideline, this is Onihei's role, and a running gag is formed around the fact that his analysis has yet to be accurate. It doesn't help that the team he usually tries to predict is one of the most unpredictable teams in the whole of Japan....
• Fairy Tail had Klodoa, a sentient staff who spends about three chapters explaining the Oracion Seis's plans. Once he's explained everything he's fulfilled his plotline purpose and promptly dies. He's insignificant enough that that's not worth a spoiler tag.
  • Happy tends to be this when everyone's caught up in battle, and Lucy's also played this at the beginning of the series.
• Subverted in FLCL by Commander Amarao. He tells Naota (and the audience) that Haruko is searching for her lover Atomsk, the pirate king (the scene is accompanied by a humanoid fire creature). Amarao was just guessing, Haruko really wants to eat him.
• Highschool of the Dead: Saya Takagi was the smartest girl at Fujimi High and possesses near encyclopaedic level intellect. So she'll often provide the reader and the other characters with detailed analysis of their current situation.
  • During the outbreak at the school, she explained why going to the staff room for help was a bad idea. She was also able to accurately assess why the police weren't responding and why they hadn't heard any sirens yet, when Hirano brought it up.
  • When all the electronics at the Takagi Estate went dead in Chapter 15, she was able to deduce it'd been the work of an EMP blast and gave a detailed summation of how they worked, to Takashi and the others.
  • And during Chapter 28, she tells them about the JGSDF's evacuation plan, after finding a report about it (albeit, with help from Alice) on one of the computers at the police HQ, where Rei's father was stationed.
  • It was even lampshaded by WatchMojo.com, during their countdown of the Top 10 'Anime Cliches'. No.8 on the list, was: "overuse of exposition" where they specifically singled out Saya (seen at 2:20-2:31):
  WatchMojo: "An example of this is Saya Takagi, from Highschool of the Dead, who — due to her outstanding intellect, will often analyze the group's condition and sum it up for the audience."
• Hunter × Hunter: Kurapica filled this role early on, before being Put on a Bus. In later arcs, the exposition is usually provided by whoever's training Gon and Killua.
• I Got My Wish and Reincarnated as the Villainess (Last Boss)!: Unlike most works of the "Reborn as Villainess" Story genre, Elizabeth never actually played The Saint and the Four Knights. As a result, Luna has to provide the Infodumps to the reader, explaining the content of the game.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Phantom Blood: Perhaps one of the most memorable examples from the series, Robert E. O. Speedwagon narrates almost every single fight that Jonathan take part in, some perceive it as annoying, but most older fans like him.
  • Golden Wind: Pericolo is the one who informs Bucciarati's group of Trish's identity as The Boss' daughter, provides a brief explanation of Trish's mother and informs the group that she is being targeted by La Squadra.
  • Steel Ball Run: Through Mountain Tim, the audience learns the way of obtaining a Stand, and that's by passing through the Devil's Palm and surviving.
• Kotetsu and Onikiri from Kamisama Kiss. Their main purpose in the story is to provide infodumps when needed.
• Kemono Friends: Lucky Beast will provide information on geography and Friends as they're encountered. Does not (directly) provide much information regarding the show's main mysteries.
• Kill la Kill:
  • Aikuro (Ryuko's homeroom teacher) combines this with Mr. Fanservice, as he will start seductively taking off his clothes while delivering exposition for absolutely no discernible reason.
  • Inumuta also explains a lot of things going on in the story, such as some of Ryuko's powers like Senketsu Mubyoshi. Though unlike most examples, he needs data to explain what's going on, leading to some times where he can't explain the situation itself. Nonon lampshades this in "I'm Not Your Cute Woman".
    Inumuta: A Three-Star Goku Uniform unravelled by pulling out a single thread! How can that be?!
    Nonon: Isn't it your job to explain how these things work?
    Inumuta: Impossible. I cannot analyze anything without data.
• Terryman from Kinnikuman would often explain the various attacks and holds used by the characters. His son sometimes takes up the role in Ultimate Muscle, especially on matters of science and technology. When he is not busy yelling at Suguru/Mantaro or torn to pieces, Meat does a fair share of this as well.
• Komi Can't Communicate: The author himself is this, as he tends to shortly describe what characters are doing and why, also often saying what they want to do next. Later on, a character named Kometani is introduced, whose sole purpose is to fulfill this role.
• Akiyama in Liar Game spends a lot of time doing this as he explains various strategies throughout. A rare example where this is completely justified because unless you're well-versed in game theory, studying every panel, and calculating everything with a pen and paper, you'd be left with no idea of what is going on. And even then...
• For the first half of Lupin III: Dead or Alive, Lupin has to explain what's going on to Jigen so that the audience is aware of what's going on with the plot and what treasure the gang is after.
• The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure: Lupin and Sir Archer take turns providing the audience with exposition about the three bronze statues, the Loyd Insurance Co., and the eponymous Harimao, himself.
• Dr. Inez Fressange of Martian Successor Nadesico abuses this trope to the point of parody: she is actually acknowledged as the "explanation woman" by the whole crew of the Nadesico battle spaceship. There have been cases where she senses her explanations are needed from several rooms/decks over, and she once uses exposition as her talent in a beauty contest. One episode has several of the crew, including Inez, find their personalities inverted from their normal ones and are all in desperate need of an explanation? She's shown in her room quietly enjoying a glass of fruit juice, not saying a word.
• Mazinger Z: Professor Yumi is both The Professor and The Mentor, so he frequently explains to the characters — and the audience — plot points. He was the one guessed first what was Mazinger-Z and who had created it. He explained how Dr. Kabuto had discovered Photon Atomic power and Alloy-Z and built Mazinger-Z with them. He narrated how Dr. Kabuto met Dr. Hell and what happened in Bardos Island. He recognized Minerva-X and explained what she was and how she worked. He explained what were the Mykene and where they came from... And often during the series he explained what strategy the enemy or Kouji was using, how worked the Mechanical Beasts' weapons... or simply what kind of training Kouji was undergoing. In Mazinkaiser he retained that role (he recognized Mazinkaiser as soon as he saw it, he explained how they had modified to Mazinkaiser in the movie...)
• Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun: In the Dating Sim Nozaki plays in Chapter 8/Episode 4, Tomoda is supposed to be this. Due to an In-Universe case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading, he is seen by Nozaki and Mikoshiba as a Gay Option.
• Tobi in Naruto. He's got a tendency to drop in and explain the plot as needed. Of course, whether or not he's telling the truth at any given time is another matter.
• Yue Ayase in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, usually due to her innate smarts or her Great Big Book of Everything. She tends to indulge in Walls of Text, but isn't usually heard.
  Yue: [long explanation about Celtic mythology, the "other world" and paradise]
  Nodoka: Yue, they're not listening.
  Yue: Say what!? This is important background information!
  • Kamo's usual functions are snarky commentary and exposition at a moment's notice. With diagrams! Whether or not anybody is listening!
• On the too few occasions when The Omniscient Council of Vagueness in Neon Genesis Evangelion told anyone anything, they have been told "But I already know all of this" by the person they were speaking to. It serves solely to inform the audience, and yet it doesn't.
• One Piece lampshades this with the character of Sentomaru. He considers himself "the most tight-lipped man in the world," as he is a member of a highly secretive government branch and as such is privy to hundreds of secrets. The thing is, he's constantly blabbing those secrets and often without the slightest provocation. Whenever he does, he'll start by saying something to the effect of "I'm the most tight-lipped man in the world! You'll get no information from me!" and then proceeding to inform everyone.
  • Hatchan went from Dumb Muscle in Arlong Park to this trope in the Sabaody Archipelago soon after meeting Camie.
• In Patlabor, this is usually Asuma's job:
  • During the police pursuit in chapter 1, he broke the 4th wall when Noa complained she couldn't keep up with all the geographical data, by saying he'd explain two pages later. Sure enough, he whipped out a map and pointer to explain where their units were positioned and how they intended to set up the dragnet!
  • And whenever Noa goes up against enemy Labor units, he usually gives her a brief analysis of their make and model, as well as any design flaws they may have. Highlighted during the tunnel scene near the climax of Patlabor 2: The Movie, when Asuma provides intel on the Ixtl units and devises how to systematically take them down.
• Brock from Pokémon: The Series (and later Cilan) became this more as the series has gone by. RotomDex also serves as this in Sun & Moon.
• Princess Tutu:
  • This is Autor's main function in the final episodes. Well, that and putting Fakir through the Training from Hell.
  • Edel's entire function in the first season, until she dies. Sort of.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: After being introduced to the Infinity Library, Yuuno was reduced from being The Lancer to this.
• Ranma ½: At first, it appears that Dr. Tôfû Ono is going to fulfill this role, but it fails to happen, partially because of his tendency to become a bumbling idiot when Akane's sister, Kasumi is around (to the point where he actidentally destroys potential cures for their problems), and partially because of the introduction of the and Trickster Mentor Cologne. To lesser extent, Happôsai. In fact, the manga gave him Chuck Cunningham Syndrome; he vanished by the end of the first Cologne story arc. The anime kept him on as a bit-character and an excuse for filler episodes.
• Reborn in Reborn! (2004) does this almost every time a battle is plot-important and he happens to be watching. Most of the rest of the cast is guilty of this at various occasions as well, but it's usually Reborn that does the exposition. In fact, it's consistent enough that one can tell if a fight is plot-important when Reborn is nearby by whether he's beating people up or currently being Mr. Exposition. For everything not related to the most recent level-up, there's Ranking Futa, who seems to be a recurring character primarily for random exposition.
• Meteora in Re:CREATORS is often heard dumping infos and explaining what's happening.
• The Invid Regess in Robotech seems to have an almost compulsive need to dramatically explains what is happening and what she's doing. This gives us a rather funny scene in The Sentinels, where the one scene she shares with her estranged husband has her insulting him and give detailed justifications for each insult.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Sanosuke is often relegated to providing commentary during Kenshin's fights, to either explain Kenshin's attacks, or his opponent's, or simply how the fight is progressing insofar as which of them has the upperhand at the moment.
• Sailor Moon: Luna and Artemis tended to work as the ones to deliver exposition, but Ami in particular liked to inform them of their situation during battle... as more of a Captain Obvious than anything. Early on, Umino fills this role as well, talking particularly about current events and telltales around the school which usually leads the main characters into their weekly adventure.
• Hakkai in Saiyuki sometimes plays this role, explaining things from plot points to random background information on specific items to puns. On one occasion, when the ikkou are trying to escape from the scorpion youkai's underground trap and the ceiling starts to collapse on them, he goes into this mode to point out that they've just escaped their cell by breaking one of the walls (something Hakkai apparently tried to warn them against) and so the remains of the lair can no longer hold the weight of the sand above, prompting Goku and Gojyo to yell that he should be saying this sort of stuff sooner.
• Tales of Wedding Rings: Alabaster is a wise old sage who traveled the world extensively in his youth. Whenever Satou needs some aspect of the fantastical world of Arnulus explained to him, nine times out of ten it will be Alabaster who shoulders the burden.
• Tenchi Muyo!: Washu usually is Miss Exposition in the manga, popping in to explain one concept another character mentions to a third character... so when Yoshi uses Big Words when talking to a villain, Yoshi stops his exposition to wait for her. Both he and the villain just stands there awkwardly until Yoshi remembers Washu is on a mission in space, and excuses himself.
• The cloned head of Lordgenome is one in the second arc of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• Tokyo Mew Mew: Ryou and sometimes Keiichiro. A hilarious example of this occurs with Masaya in the first episode of Tokyo Crystal Mew. He even feels the need to describe what he looked like in his Deep Blue form.
• In Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu, Munakata usually serves this role, when she explains the incident of the week to the drivers as they're launching.
• Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-: Yuko Ichihara ends up becoming the Ms. Exposition, before she is temporarily removed from the story. When she returns in Chapters 216 and 217, these chapters were pretty much her exclusively explaining what the hell's been going on.
• Elsie of The World God Only Knows starts as this, explaining to Keima the nature of Hell and the escaped spirits. Of course, most of what she says is wrong, so when her friend Haqua starts coming around, Keima is quick to go to her for more accurate information.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Every single character in the 4Kids dub, often to downright ridiculous lengths. Everyone feels compelled to remind one another (i.e. the viewers) of the continuous effects of every card in play, the effect of a card that has already been played before in an episode (especially "Monster Reborn"), all the way to what happened two minutes ago. This expo-speak always happens at the start of episodes, (referencing previous events), which wouldn't be a bad thing if not for the fact that each episode includes a "last time, on Yu-Gi-Oh!" opening bit. Also always occurs after a commercial (because, well, you know), but sometime even for no reason at all. As an example of the last type, pick any duel in the Battle City finals/semi-finals and count how many times the fact that one of the characters possesses an Egyptian God Card is mentioned. For the truly ambitious, drink every time it's mentioned, and kiss your liver goodbye.
  • Subverted in the movie when Kaiba interrupts Pegasus' exposition of a card-effect with "Do you ever shut up?"
  • Also Lampshaded in one episode where an opponent starts to explain the effects of Painful Choice before Kaiba cuts him off with "I know what the card does, you fool."
    • ... And then he explains it anyway.
  • Misawa in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, to the point that it's the sole reason he occasionally takes a bus trip back.
    • GX is especially bad with card exposition. For example, Pot of Greed is used, and explained, in nearly ever single duel. Sometimes more than once.
    • And that's with a card anybody who's played the card game for some time already knows the effect of. Meanwhile, we only get skimpy explanations of more interesting cards' effects...
  • Rex Goodwin in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. There's a reason fans of 5D's use the term "Rexposition"
  • ZEXAL really loves this, at least in the first few episodes. Everyone that isn't dueling is only present to explain the rules to the viewers. Even Yuuma gets this treatment in the first episode, when he sees Shark Exceed Summoning a monster. Yuma then proceeds to explain how Exceed Summoning works to Kotori, who already knows how it works (but the viewers don't since it's a new game-mechanic added in ZEXAL). Later in the next episode, Shark explains with almost the same wording how Exceed Summoning works, right after having summoned his Levice Dragon. And then there's all the other Game Mechanics... Needless to say, the duels in the first few episode almost use more time explaining how to play the game than actually playing the game.

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