Basic Trope: In Anime, the eyes of a character who is in great distress become a lifeless color.
- Straight: After it's revealed that Takashi is cheating with Chikako, Arisu's eyes become that of a lifeless color.
- Exaggerated: After the reveal, Arisu become unable to see with her eyes, which are now lifeless.
- Downplayed: After it's revealed that Takashi is cheating with Chikako, Arisu's eyes become lifeless until she blinks a few times.
- Justified: Arisu's eyes have special condition that is affected by the hormones in her body, it's reflecting her unhappy feeling.
- Inverted:
- Subverted: After the reveal, Arisu's eyes become a lifeless color... but it's because she's wearing new contact lenses.
- Doubly Subverted: ...which she does to subtly show the world around her that she's unhappy.
- Parodied:
- After the reveal, Arisu's eyes become heterochromatic and/or Technicolor Eyes.
- There is a infomertial about the dangers of dull lifeless eyes.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Despite the convention of anime extensively using the eyes of the character to express their feelings, no character have Dull Eyes of Unhappiness even when they're in Heroic BSoD.
- Enforced: "We don't have enough budget to show subtle character emotions, so just give them Dull Eyes of Unhappiness".
- Lampshaded:
- "Arisu-chan, your eyes are scarily lifeless"., said Chikako.
- "I'm pretty sure bad eyes would be the last sign of an impending breakdown".
- Invoked: Arisu gets dull contacts in order to get sympathy from others.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "You know Arisu from the next class? After she caught Takashi cheating with Chikako, her eyes become lifeless. Scary!"
- Conversed: MST3000 comments that "Arisu should REALLY get some visine about now".
- Deconstructed:
- After the reveal, Arisu's eyes become lifeless, but it's actually a manifested physical condition of serious mental breakdown. And as she spiral downward into insanity, her eyes become more and more lifeless.
- Without the natural protective coating, her eyes become very dry, which causes some serious problems.
- Reconstructed: After therapy and proper medication assisting in a beneficial spiral where she regains her mental health, Arisu's eyes are shown to become more lively over time (or in specific circumstances after therapy, like the healing power of kittens)
- Played For Laughs: Jamememba sees Arisu's eyes and attempts to use an eydropper to cheer her up.
- Played For Drama: The characters know that Arisu's lifeless eyes are indicator of her nearing snap, so they do their best to prevent it from happening. Arisu is a known Yandere.
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