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Basic Trope: Using martial arts for mundane tasks, and/or a martial art developed from something mundane.

  • Straight: Hiro practices a martial art inspired by house chores, and uses it to do said house chores.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Hiro uses his entire knowledge of martial arts to do everything in life.
    • Hiro manages to create martial arts styles that make everything in life a billion times more efficient — anything from painting to learning new languages to computer programming to washing socks to piloting airplanes, there is absolutely no limit to what he has given a Hand Wave of "martial arts".
  • Downplayed: If the opportunity comes up for Hiro to use his martial arts skills on something mundane, he'll take it.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: I Know Madden Kombat
  • Subverted: Hiro was about to use his skills, but changes his mind at a last minute.
  • Double Subverted: He decides to use his skills on another mundane task instead.
  • Parodied: Hiro's little sister uses martial arts for arts and crafts in kindergarten.
  • Zig Zagged: Hiro uses martial arts for mundane tasks at times (Martial Arts Scaffolding Making, for example), but some "mundane" tasks just cannot be done with martial arts, period (there is no martial arts technique that can instantly turn him into a Hollywood Hacking machine—he would need to go to school and improve his computer programming skills to do that).
  • Averted: Hiro practices a martial art made for combat and uses it only for fighting.
  • Enforced: Mundane Made Awesome
  • Lampshaded: "Okay... first thing you're supposed to learn in martial arts is how to steel your temper... sure. I can see how it would come in handy as a carpenter."
  • Invoked: Hiro starts training in martial arts just to use it in his house chores.
  • Implied: Whenever Hiro has to hang his clothes to dry we don't see him actually do it, but just hear him do some Funny Bruce Lee Noises and watch the occasional onlooker's surprised Reaction Shot before cutting back two seconds later to him having hung them all perfectly.
  • Exploited: Whenever he is looking for a job, Hiro is quickly hired because his karate skills allow him to do his job more efficiently.
  • Defied:
    • His master stops teaching Hiro, knowing it'll be wasted on doing chores.
    • Hiro refuses to learn martial arts in the pursuit of whatever skills he desires.
    • Hiro (with his hacker martial arts style) will never defeat Armitage (who knows plain kung fu).
  • Discussed: "Seriously, you get a black belt in Kung Fu and all of a sudden you can write programs better than Steve Jobs? Without any direct correlation? Just from watching me enter my password? ...so what the hell am I doing here, huh?"
  • Conversed: "This is one of those crazy shows where having a black belt in Judo somehow transforms you into the greatest computer hacker in the world, right?"
  • Deconstructed: Hiro is shunned by his fellow martial artists for improper use of his deadly skills.
  • Reconstructed: The martial arts school that Hiro practices is all about using martial arts in everyday life, as to both make mundane tasks easier and keep yourself in shape.
  • Plotted A Good Waste: Hiro is part of a comedy manga where all kinds of crazy martial arts-related things happen and he's asked by his master to do some cleaning of the house. Hiro babbles for a second that he assumes his master is asking him to do some Wax On, Wax Off for some secret move concealed in the cleaning actions and his teacher stops him and explains that no, he just wants him to clean the house to pay for his lessons and the reason he wants Hiro to perform things in a certain way is because that way he won't scuff the varnishes.
  • Played For Laughs: Hiro uses his martial arts skills to cut through paperwork in a government office.
  • Played For Drama: Hiro uses his martial arts skills in his job as a paramedic to save people's lives.
  • Played For Horror: Hiro is a martial arts Serial Killer who practices Serial Killer-Do. It's not a typo or a redundant phrase — he literally practices a special martial arts style that amplifies the effectiveness of the steps to perform a serial killing, has a code that is meant to apply a standardized ritual for the practicioners to follow (and you thought the Code of Harry was sick) and Fist of the North Star-style One-Hit Kill moves named after some of the most prolific killers in history.

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