Basic Trope: An anime gag where a crow flies past and calls a character an idiot for saying/doing something stupid.
- Straight: Akiko and Baizou are wondering how they will cross a lake of lava. Akiko suggests that they just drink the lava, and a crow flies past, chanting, "Aho!" ("moron").
- Exaggerated: Akiko suggests drinking the lake of lava, and a whole murder of crows flies past, giving her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech on her idiocy.
- Downplayed: The crow just looks at Akiko judgmentally.
- Justified:
- The caw of a crow does sound like the Japanese terms "aho" and "baka", so Akiko, who had realised the stupidity of her suggestion, thinks the crow is judging her.
- The crow can actually talk.
- Akiko is starting to lose it from either stress or the heat of the lava, or she's already a bit nuts, causing her to both come up with stupid suggestions and hallucinate talking crows.
- Inverted:
- Akiko comes up with some brilliant suggestion for crossing the lake of lava, prompting a passing crow to comment on how smart she is.
- Akiko and Baizou are surrounded by crows while they're wondering how to cross the lava. When Akiko suggests drinking the lava, the crows fly away.
- A crow immediately tries to start drinking the lava. Baizou and Akiko yell out "AHO GA!?" (YA DUMB!?) and "ANTA BAKA!?" (ARE YOU DUMB!?) respectively at the crow.
- Subverted: When Akiko sees the crow fly past after suggesting she drink the lava, she thinks it'll insult her, but it remains silent.
- Double Subverted: It is then followed by a second crow, who does shout, "Aho!".
- Averted:
- Akiko does not suggest anything particularly bone-headed.
- Akiko does suggest drinking the lava, but no crows fly by.
- Enforced: "Add in that crow to make it clear that Akiko's suggestion is supposed to be dumb and it's not just bad writing."
- Lampshaded: "That crow's smarter than you are, Aki."
- Invoked: Akiko deliberately suggests stupid things to summon crows.
- Exploited: Akiko realizes that her suggestions summon crows, so she intentionally comes up with absurd ideas to distract enemies or create chaos when needed.
- Defied: Akiko is afraid of crows, so she avoids sounding too stupid lest they show up.
- Implied: We see the crow chanting, "Aho!", and Baizou saying to Akiko, "Seriously?", but we never learn what Akiko suggested.
- Discussed: "I made such a dumb suggestion that I could swear even that crow was judging me."
- Conversed: "Where did that anime gag with the taunting crows come from?"
- Deconstructed: Akiko's constant exposure to the crow's taunting takes a toll on her self-esteem, leading to serious self-doubt and anxiety. She becomes increasingly paranoid and starts questioning her every decision, making her an easy target for manipulation.
- Reconstructed: The Crow is a Stealth Mentor, and Often Appears to help Akiko realise whenever an idea of hers needs more thought into it.
- Played for Laughs: Akiko's interactions with the crow become a recurring comedic element in the anime, with each of her ludicrous suggestions followed by an increasingly exaggerated response from the crow, turning it into a running gag.
- Played for Drama: Akiko isn't usually this dumb, so her suggesting something so stupid and then insisting a crow is judging her for it is a sign something is seriously wrong with her.
- Played for Horror: The crow is demonic, and is actually the Big Bad who has shapeshifted into another form to mock Akiko for her stupitidy.
Back to Idiot Crows.
