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  • After God: Waka keeps calling Nayuu a "child chief" due to being slightly shorter than her.
  • Assassination Classroom:
    • Discovering or displaying Koro-sensei's weaknesses.
    • Koro-sensei's poor disguises.
    • Koro-sensei being tricked by his students into comedic situations.
    • Poking fun at Nagisa's androgynous appearance.
    • Kayano's hatred for big boobs as well as her lack of chest.
    • Karma's tube of wasabi.
    • Terasaka's lack of book smarts compared to the rest of the class.
    • Irina's failed attempts at Fanservice.
    • Whenever Koro-sensei and the class have a "sinister" plan at the end of a chapter, everyone makes the same Nightmare Face, with a single student as an exception. This also applies to other kinds of group faces, and in both cases the student with the different face is usually (but not always) Nagisa, who instead either has a meek smile or bored look.
  • Azumanga Daioh:
    • Sakaki repeatedly encounters Kamineko throughout the course of the series, who always acts friendly only to bite her hand when she tries to pet it.
      Osaka: Sata Andagi!
    • There was one episode where various things were said to be "flying" — Yukari's car, Kaorin after Tomo interrupted her photographing Sakaki, the knife in Osaka's hand...
      Osaka: Sata Andagi!
    • Anytime poor Chiyo-chan gets bonked, hurt, or otherwise hit.note .
      Osaka:note  Sata Andagi!note 
  • A frequent, rather hilarious visual joke in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts involves an Art Shift, Yuuji placing his hand on Akihisa's shoulder, saying something in a sagacious manner, and Akihisa looking back in awe, often while saying "Yuuji...".
    • Hideyoshi being mistaken for a girl. So much that they create a third gender.
    • Kouta getting nosebleeds.
  • The Yellow Flag bar in Black Lagoon has been constantly trashed and flat out blown up on a regular basis over the course of the series. It's owner, Bao, actually has kept count of how many times this has occurred (15 times trashed, 6 times completely annihilated, to be exact). Despite this, Bao has rebuilt every single time.
  • Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Everyoen who visits Marucho’s house mistakes his bathroom for some grand, important room.
  • Bleach:
    • Ichigo refering to Byakuya and Mayuri by their first names. He does this to most people (or just nicknames them) but they tend to get irked by it.
    • Ichigo interrupting Renji's emotional moments mostly with Rukia or Byakuya or upstaging him when he's trying to be dramatic
    • Urahara claiming to be a "simple perverted businessman"
    • Rukia's horrible artwork and bunny fixation.
    • The fact that Byakuya's artwork is just as horrible as Rukia's (and his fixation is the Ambassador Seaweed rather than bunnies).
    • Chizuru's crush on Orihime.
    • Zaraki Kenpachi and Yachiru always getting lost.
    • Kon and Keigo's lechery. Most of the breast jokes revolve around one of them, including an occasion when the shinigami come to the living world and are greeted by Keigo leaping towards Rangiku's breasts. Shortly afterwards, they meet Kon who reacts in the identical fashion to Keigo.
    • Yachiru's incredibly embarrassing nicknames for people.
      • Her hyperactivity being caused by a permanent sugar high due to her unstoppable Sweet Tooth is also a Running Gag
      • Also, her relationship with Byakuya.
    • There's also the Shinigami Men's Association, constantly getting shafted.
    • The Shinigami Women's Association constantly holding its meetings on in the sprawling Kuchiki grounds without Byakuya's knowledge or permission and his constant attempts to get rid of them whenever he does find them.
    • Isshin constantly ambushing and attacking Ichigo at inappropriate times.
    • How many times do I have to tell you that Ikakku isn't bald?
      • Yachiru's obsession with his bald head.
      • A visual example in the anime: The anime goes to extremes to give Ikkaku's shaven head a sparkly twinkly (white tooth smile style) even at the most inappropriate moments.
    • Hisagi's crush on Rangiku (anime only, the manga barely covers it).
    • Do not call Hitsugaya a midget (oh, and his voice actor is Edward Elric's voice actor, so the anime loves this one). Or try to give him sweets like he's a child. In fact, don't treat him like a child, full stop.
    • Rangiku's obsession with shopping (anime only).
    • Kenpachi deciding to ignore his enemies to fight his allies
    • The Visoreds quirks and constant bickering all come up a few times for comic effect
    • The fact Urahara's dimensional gates always always results in its users exiting so high in the sky they wind up having to be rescued by someone who can either help them fly or float gently down to the ground before they tumble to their deaths. Lampshaded in Chapter 487.
      Nel: "Aaaah!! The sky! We're up in the sky!"
      Ichigo: "Yeah, this is par for the course with Urahara-san's entrances!"
      Urahara: "Why, I'm flattered you noticed!"
    • Nel accidentally injuring Ichigo (either via glomp or headbutt)
    • Of course there's Ichigo's difficulty remembering people's names, which comes up every 50 episodes or so. Although sometimes, it's a minor character barely worth knowing.
    • Karin telling Yuzu that their life isn't like some manga.
    • Shunsui Kyoraku fighting people who wield guns.
  • The title character of Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan killing Sakura only to resurrect him a couple seconds later.
  • One could say that the entirety of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is this.
    Torpedo Girl: And that's because...I'm a torpedo!
    Bo-bobo: [fires Torpedo Girl out of a cannon] That's what SHE said!
    Beauty:note  [insert random expression of shock here] Anyway, now can I have a pony?note 
    Don Patch (Poppa Rocks in the English manga): Hmph! Well, everyone knows that I'm the star of this show.
  • Bungou Stray Dogs: with some quite lampshaded in the official chibi strips, BSD Wan!.
    • Atsushi's hair, and him being a walking meme.
    • Dazai's constant suicide attempts, and his way of courting beautiful ladies by asking them to commit double suicide with him. The series even started with Atsushi saving him from drowning. The story behind this might not be so funny, though.
    • Kunikida's habit of organising his life to every little detail and than have it spoiled by someone else (usually Dazai).
    • Yosano's ability requires one to be nearly dead for her to be able to heal them, so any agency member gets to be scared when their wounds are not so...massive. Yosano seems to be pretty fond of it.
    • Naomi's very obvious crush on her brother and Junichirou's face whenever he deals with it. Some lines though implied that it's not quite one-sided.
    • There goes Fukuzawa's fondness of cats.
    • Akutagawa admires Dazai so much he even fainted when Dazai praised him for the first time. Ironically the situation were quite the opposite for their real-life counterparts, with RL!Dazai being RL!Akutagawa's massive fan.
    • The fact that Akutagawa is stated to be pretty frail and is often seen coughing. In the April fool's special spinoff where the cast were normal students (and teachers), Akutagawa was even introduced as “the Prince of the Hospital Wing”.
    • Chuuya's height and his Fedora, both lead to events that causes him to lose his sanity in Wan!. Him being a bad drinker is another one.
    • A huge one is Chuuya's rivalry with Dazai, with both mainly use their breathes to throw insults at each other. Once Chuuya asked Dazai to took care of him after he used his ability, and the latter ended up leaving him alone in the forest.
    • Gin's gender is rather ambiguous to other characters due to her Tomboy looks and how she rarely speaks. The series has had several mistaking her as a guy or at least uncertain about her gender.
    • Fitzgerald's ability has been joked among the fandom due to it's...amusing nature.
  • Campione!:
  • In Cardcaptor Sakura, Sakura's brother, Touya, has a new part-time job wherever Sakura happens to be that episode.
  • Any time in any Cardfight!! Vanguard series when Kamui refers to (Katsumi) Morikawa as "Make-mi"note .
  • Carnival Phantasm':
    • We can't really go without mentioning the show's most famous running gag now, can we? Say it with me now:
    • In the sequel, Fate/Grand Carnival, it returns with the gag being extended to all versions of Cú Chulainn. To quote the first episode, where Ritsuka kills all four versions (Cú, Proto Cú and Caster Cú for not being 5* servants, and Cú Alter because there were too many versions of Cú running about):
      Ritsuka: "Cú Chulainn died!"
      Mash (to Ritsuka): "You bastard!"
  • A Certain Magical Index has plenty of these, usually involving Touma's immense misfortune. There's also Misaka's tendency to chase down and try to electrocute Touma in A Certain Scientific Railgun anytime she sees him (several times she chases him for a whole day and well into the night).
    • Touma often walks into a room without knocking and finds a girl in a state of undress inside.
    • Whenever Touma does something to piss Index off, she'll jump on him and bite him.
    • Almost every Index arc ends with Touma in the hospital. If he gets through an arc without getting injured, he'll still go to the hospital to say, "Hello" to everybody.
    • No information is available on the #6 Esper. This comes to a head in NT Volumes 6 and 7, with two incidents involving the Level 5s as a group. A cyborg can copy the power of all of them except for #7, whose power cannot be copied because it doesn't make sense. The Cyborg runs through the set, then stops on reaching #5. Later, all the other Level 5s show up for a big fight, along with someone pretending to be the #6. The only information revealed about this person is their name (Aihana Etsu), but nothing else is known, including their power or even their gender.
  • Momoko's spotlight hogging in Chou Kuse ni Narisou.
  • Chrono Crusade: Rosette violently responding to something Chrono said, normally meant to be a barb by him, but not always. The manga also has Satella flirting with Chrono because she "likes younger boys" and Joshua hating carrots.
  • City Hunter:
    • Kaori's Hyperspace Mallet and Ryo's Mokkori, with all possible variants.
    • The ones mentioned above continue for the entire series, but most arcs have their own exclusive running gags, like the Ryujin boss being compared to a tanuki (even by his daughter!), or a fashion designer friend of Kaori trying to hire particularly good-looking people as models (including Saeko while she was trying to arrest her. Poor Saeko fell on the floor when she realized it was this and not an attempted bribe) and criticizing bad taste in clothing (including that of the Big Bad of the arc, twice).
  • CLANNAD: Akio Furukawa talking about his wife Sanae's bread when he doesn't notice she's in the same room as he is. That is all.
    Sanae: So my bread is...my bread is...<insert whatever Akio said here>! [runs down the street in tears]
    Akio: [stuffs her bread in his mouth] I love your bread! [chases after her]
    • Also, hurting Sunohara. There's actually a running tally of how many times he gets kicked.
    • Kotomi, when asked by Tomoya to introduce herself, ends up saying numerous times, "Hello, Tomoya-kun." Tomoya even lampshades the gag.
      Tomoya: This is getting really old.
    • Kotomi's violin playing, and her non-awareness of its "quality."
      [everyone nearby collapses in pain]
      Kotomi: So pretty...
    • When Fuuko starts an imagine spot, Tomoya plays weird tricks on her due to her refusal to accept she's doing any such thing.
  • Code Geass has several:
    • One could argue that the Pizza Hut Product Placement ascends to the level of a running gag, along with C.C.'s obsession for said pizza and the lengths she'll go to get some.
    • Kallen, the show's Action Girl, often ends up embarrassingly naked or half-naked.
    • Lelouch's horrible physical skills, as seen during one Festival Episode where he's outrun even by Milly in a big fancy dress; when, in the penultimate episode, when he makes it up several flights of stairs with relative ease, many fans were shocked. This is how many fans assumed it should have been.
    • The side materials' propensity for putting the male cast in drag, with Lelouch being mortified and Suzaku...enjoying it just a little too much.
    • Suzaku gets bitten regularly by Arthur the cat.
    • Cecile has some unique cooking skills that show up a few times. She's a Cordon Bleugh Chef.
    • C.C. strolling openly on the school campus much to Lelouch's annoyance who wants her to remain hidden.
  • Cromartie High School: Nobody except the main characters realizing that Mechazawa is a robot (including Mechazawa himself), Hokudo's Lackey being interrupted before he can tell someone his real name.
    • At least in the anime, 2 out of 3 field trips are cancelled or go completely wrong. The one that goes 'well' (i.e., where the class actually arrives at its intended destination) has Takanouchi pass out. So in essence, Takanouchi missing out on all the field trips is the real Running Gag.
    • Anytime Bass High kidnaps somebody, that somebody will be Maeda, every time.
  • Cross Ange: From their first encounter, Tusk frequently finds himself with his face in Ange's crotch. She reacts with varied degrees of being uncomfortable, except in the final episode.
  • Death Note:
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
    • At first it seems the jokes on Zenitsu’s behalf are those played upon his cowardice and wanting to score a girl, in truth it is his extreme mood swings that forms a circle around all the attempted humor with his character; coward tantrums, wanting to impress a girl, losing his cool over harsh training sessions, having little patience for eccentric personalities (while he is one to talk), jealousy of others having a mate, all of that is to instigate an extreme chain reaction of emotions on Zenitsu.
    • Murata becomes enraged when he assumes a fellow demon slayer is ordering him around or talking back to him, Murata immediately yells at the supposed disrespectful fellow asking for their rank, as in he won’t accept being told to do anything if it isn’t by a slayer who ranks above him; with Tanjiro & friends however Murata mellowed out as he saw how really helpful they were in the Nagatumo Mounain event, Murata grows to admire them and see them as friends.
  • Devil May Cry: The Animated Series has a running gag of Dante frequently being stuck with the bill for jobs he does and expenses incurred by Lady and Trish, when he's already in Perpetual Poverty.
  • Not a particularly funny (and actually a little tragic) example, perhaps more Hilarious in Hindsight: every time Leomon (or a Leomon lookalike) shows up in a Digimon series, he's either terribly abused or outright killed in short order. This extended to the tri movies as well, where the Leomon from the first anime was killed off again.
  • Dinosaur King: Ursula being called an old lady (which always hits her Berserk Button), and her noticing it, no matter how far away she is, and getting mightily offended. In one episode, this became a plot point-Ursula's uncanny hearing allowed her to find the D-Team after they referred to her as 'old lady' one too many times.
  • Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san! features a Running Gag of Akina and her brother Makoto constantly walking in on each other. Doubly funny since this usually happens with Makoto's room, he doesn't need to knock, but is punished anyway.
  • The anime version of Elfen Lied gave Nana a habit of losing control of her prosthetic limbs and having them pop off, prompting amusingly horrified reactions from others around her while she calmly reattaches them. This doesn't happen in the manga, and seems to have been added to give her some Cute Clumsy Girl traits.
  • The Elusive Samurai:
    • General Nitta gives his men the impression that he has no idea what's happening around him, so almost every panel he's in has a "?" hidden somewhere in the background. Some are partially obscured by a speech bubble, panel edge, or background object, while another is the body of a decapitated man shaped like a question mark.
    • Uncle Yasuie takes the phrase "wears his heart on his sleeve" to the next level: whatever he's truly thinking appears on his forehead as text that is visible to other characters.
      Yasuie: They wanted me to kill myself too, but I said, "I care not for my life...but I must avenge you by restoring Hojo rule!"
      Yasuie's forehead: "I just didn't want to die."
      Ayako and Kojiro: There's something on his forehead...
  • In Engaged to the Unidentified, whenever Mashiro begins collecting cryptid-themed toys from her favorite candies, she always ends up with a ton of Nessies, and nothing else.
  • One episode of Excel♡Saga featured Il Palazzo playing a Dating Sim throughout. Every multiple choice branch featured a third "Put it in" option regardless of context (which eventually returned for the final episode.)
  • Eyeshield 21 has a number of running gags, including:
  • Fairy Tail:
    • The most notorious one would be Gray's stripping down to boxers without noticing, or simply forgetting to put more than that on before going out.
    • In the first arc she was in, Erza would frequently hug people as a sort of congrats only to have them hurt by her thick armor. She would also explain something before turning to a bystander and giving them orders as if they were expected to have also been paying attention to her.
    • Not to mention the ridiculous amount of luggage Erza would take with her.
    • Any rumor about an accomplishment of a Fairy Tail member, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous it is, somehow ends up being about Lucy.
    • Cana being a horrendous drunk.
    • Makarov freaking out about the trouble he'll have over the destruction caused by the guild (usually Natsu).
    • Speaking of Lucy, her failure to seduce anyone with her looks, while Erza always succeeds when she isn't armored.
    • Natsu's motion sickness every time he gets on a vehicle. Later serves as Foreshadowing and Chekhov's Skill in the Grand Magic Games as Gajeel develops the same travel sickness and Sting (who is likewise a Dragon Slayer) commenting that his travel sickness indicates his growth as a Dragon Slayer.
    • Elfman thinks that running gags is JUST WHAT A REAL MAN WOULD DO! *cue muscle flexing*
    • Lucy walks along the edge of the walkway, and someone in a boat tells her "Hey, that's dangerous kid!"
    • Lucy coming home only to find her teammates have already made themselves at home. According to an omake, Mirajane's the one who gave them the spare key.
    • Mirajane's comical transformations, which are completely unsuitable to the occasion. For example, she transforms into Happy and Gajeel during the Miss Fairy Tail contest, and then transforms into a snake during the Fantasia parade.
    • Aquarius abandoning Lucy in the middle of a battle to go on date with her boyfriend. With her boyfriend.
  • Chobi chewing on Ai's hair in Final Fantasy: Unlimited.
  • Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: Frieren, despite centuries of experience and vast magical knowledge, will always fall for any Mimic she encounters. Even in situations where she's knows there's a very good chance that a treasure chest is probably a monster and has no reason to believe that there's anything valuable inside, she goes for it anyway on the basis that there might be something in there. Inevitably, this results in a Smash Cut to a panel of her bottom half sticking out of the mimic's mouth.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Fushigi Yuugi's list of running gags consists of the following:
  • In Gakuen Babysitters, Kotarou will often either call the Chairman "Fluffy" due to her large and extremely curly hair or point out something with as fluffy texture or appearance in reference to her.
  • Gintama: Alright, stay calm. We just need to find a time machine...
    • SOAP OPERA RERUNS!
    • Yamazaki's badminton.
    • "It's not [x], it's Katsura."
    • "I've been on standby the entire time."
    • The Shogun having something bad happen to him whenever he shows up.
    • Characters acting as though Shinpachi is actually the pair of glasses he's wearing.
  • Expect many characters voiced by Kikuko Inoue to declare that she's 17-years-old, be they from anime or video game. Because she did so in Real Life and formed a club about it!
    "Oi, oi!"
  • In Great Teacher Onizuka, Hiroshi Uchiyamada's Cresta constantly gets damaged badly due to accidents, much to Uchiyamada's dismay.
  • In a meta-case for the Gundam franchise overall...if you see Daisuke Namikawa being listed as a cast member, you probably shouldn't put much hope on him because his character will usually end up being the resident scrappy. As noted with Al Izuruha, Katz Kobayashi (although that's only in the newer remakes, when he replaced Keiichi Nanba, and the hatedom has thrived before he took over) Michael Trinity and Riddhe Marcenas. It's almost making you wonder if the Gundam cast directors hate Namikawa.
  • Whenever Van eats in GUN×SWORD, he always demands "all the condiments you have". He also tends to yell his reaction to the meal at the top of his voice.
    • Van's many nicknames.
    • And Carul Mendoza insisting on being called Carmen 99.
    • As well as Van saying he is a virgin, while whoever he's talking to also being one.
  • Haikyuu!!: The main character Hinata tends to meet most of his opponents in or just outside the bathroom first. In season 2 episode 14, this is lampshaded by Hinata himself who's reluctant to enter a public bathroom because he fears running into someone "scary" again. He does get approached by Oikawa (Iwaizumi in tow) shortly after and when he tries to run away, he bumps into Ushijima and later Aone. Four "scary" guys at once.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler has Isumi who gets lost at every opportunity.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers has the classic 'vital regions' gag.
    • Subverted: The times it's actually used in-stry can be counted with the fingers of your hands. Fanon greatly exaggerates how common is it.
    • People forgetting who Canada is.
    • Italy's first instinct in battle — making a white flag and instantly surrendering.
    • Every single character seems to have one, to some extent: America and his hero complex, Belarus's 'married married married', Prussia and his 'awesomeness', England's cooking and his fairies, Russia and his Slasher Smile (and the pipe! The pipe!) and so on and so forth?
    • Whenever Himaruya draws a character that no one recognizes, it's pretty certain that someone will comment with, "It's Mexi-/shot"
    • The same metal bucket keeps showing up (Randomly falling from the sky onto Italy's head, Switzerland pulling it out of nowhere and putting it over his head)
    • The announcer-lady in the American dubbed has a habit of insulting its viewers, well, more so American-anime viewers at any rate.
  • Rena, from Higurashi: When They Cry's obsession with cute things. Also, Hanyuu's habit of "Hau"-ing.
  • I Had That Same Dream Again: Nanoka is constantly saying "Life is like [X] because [Y]", with X and Y changing every time she says it.
  • Inuyasha has several:
    • Inuyasha's running gag is him saying something stupid or derogatory and in retaliation is usually pulled to the ground HARD due to the rosary beads around his neck by the command "Sit!", stated by Kagome Higurashi. Some intrepid individual even took the time to make a video compilation of every sit command from the anime.
    • Inuyasha's dog-like behaviour: following trails, nose to the ground, scratching his ear with his leg, playing fetch with a stick (anime-only), chasing butterflies. Eventually lampshaded when Inuyasha is trying to explain that Sesshoumaru (who doesn't overtly display dog-like behaviour) has a far superior sense of smell to his own. The gang jump into a huddle to discuss whether this means Sesshoumaru's closer to being a dog than Inuyasha, and conclude that if it does, appearances really are deceiving.
    • The gang insulting Inuyasha among themselves at a distance and Inuyasha's sharp hearing detecting it.
    • Miroku groping Sango and Sango smacking him for it.
    • Miroku's habit of asking EVERY cute girl he meets to bear his child.
    • And everyone mistaking any demon based on small mammals (Foxes, Otters, etc.) for a Tanuki (dubbed rather well as a Raccoon-dog). Shippo is often at the end of this but other characters get it from time to time.
    • Jaken saying something that earns a thump from Sesshoumaru.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Regarding the title JoJos; if it's a vehicle, it flies and it contains at least one of them, it will crash.
    • If any of the JoJos find themselves stuck in a corner during a fight, they'll initiate The Joestar Secret Technique...run away and think of a better plan!
    • If a dog appears, there's a good chance it will end up dead by the end of the scene.
    • Some Parts have their own self-contained gags. From Battle Tendency, if Stroheim enters combat, expect for at least his lower body to be gone by the end of the fight.
    • Throughout Stardust Crusaders, Polnareff tends to encounter trouble (or something strange) in bathrooms; first, he attempts to use a toilet in India only to find that a live pig sticking its head out of the commode. Seems that the toilets were placed over a pigsty and the lines weren't dug properly. Later on, when he's attacked by the Stand, Justice, he gets trapped in a bathroom; once he's injured by the Stand and placed under its control, he's forced to lick the toilet clean. It's even lampshaded by Joseph, who mentions Polnareff when he's about to use a bathroom in Egypt, where he would have had to let his...dung turn into dust and use sand to clean his hands.
    • During Diamond is Unbreakable, the sites of battles tend to end up becoming urban legends or tourist attractions, such as the stone Josuke fuses Angelo into at the end of their fight.
    • Throughout Golden Wind, Giorno seems to take a lot of damage to his arms and hands.
    • Throughout Stone Ocean, Jolyne seems to have a habit of forgetting to wear panties.
  • In K:
    • In various circumstances — eating a meal, making a friend, deciding whether or not to kill you — the usually Samurai-stoic Kuroh starts blushing like a schoolgirl and plays recordings from a device he carries of his former master, Ichigen Miwa, reciting his rather cheesy haiku poetry — there's always one that Kuroh believes to fit the situation they're in. It's always followed by Shiro saying "Creepy!"
      • In this radio drama Shiro is substituted with Saruhiko Fushimi who interrupts Kuroh's rambling about how wonderful Ichigen-sama this way.
      • Misaki does the response in the movie.
    • Neko's unique style of narration. Used multiple times with Kuroh's...uncomfortable encounter with the Blue King.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has a lot of these, occasionally mixing them up or dropping them altogether to reflect changing dyamics and Character Development:
    • Shirogane imagining Kaguya mocking him by saying "how cute" (or occasionally the other way around).
    • Kaguya mentally cursing someone (usually a member of the Fujiwara family), only for her to make a complete 180 when they unknowingly say something to get back on her good side.
    • Fujiwara getting dragged into training Shirogane at something he sucks at.
    • Maki standing in the background as a Jealous Romantic Witness to Kashiwagi and her boyfriend.
    • Ishigami heading home early after getting depressed and declaring that he wants to die.
    • Iino walking into the Student Council room at the worst possible time.
    • The narrator dramatically declaring "That was a lie!" whenever someone makes a false statement during an exam focused chapter.
    • Characters making overly generalized statements, accompanied by a caption box that says "Individual opinions may vary."
    • Kaguya and Maki both being unable to say the word "sex".
  • Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl:
    • Hazumu's father's attempts to photograph her naked.
    • Hazumu's fathers attempts to get her to bathe with him, and his inevitably getting beaten senseless by his wife as a result.
    • The aliens showing up at strange times.
    • Asuta getting knocked about.
    • Namiko-sensei's speeches about 'having no boyfriend for 35 years', and the inevitable fall that follows.
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple:
    • Miu always throws anyone who comes up behind her.
    • Apachai constantly answering the phone with some variant of "Hello. We have your child."
    • Sakaki acting like he doesn't care about Kenichi when he worries about the kid more than any other master. And getting called on it. It's gotten so bad that SHIGURE has started making fun of him for this.
  • Kimagure Orange Road has a running gag of a couple confessing their love to each other with a variation of William Shakespeare's "wherefore art thou Romeo" speech. They appear in the most unlikely places and are often interrupted by the antics of the regular cast.
  • Kodomo No Jikan has what may be the most cringe-inducing running gag ever: Aoki getting kicked in the nuts.
  • In both Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, and its Gag Dub version, Samurai Pizza Cats, there's Omitsu / Lucile firing missiles whenever she gets upset (or even really happy).
    • There's also Otama / Francine occasionally missing the target slightly when she launches the Nyankee / Pizza Catsnote , resulting in them crashing into a wall, among other things.
    • The Gag Dub has the narrator's occasional use of Added Alliterative Appeal.
  • The panty-loving pervert Naotsugu in Log Horizon has a running gag with the small female assassin/tracker Akatsuki: anytime Naotsugu tries to say "panties" in Akatsuki's presence, she will always kick him in the face and send him flying (and then ask her "lord" if it's OK to do so). If she's not next to him but is in the same city, she will somehow know and use her assassin/tracker skills to teleport and kick him, then immediately teleport back before anyone gets a good look. If he's not even in the same city, her "curse" follows him and causes falling debris and other accidents to nearly kill him. Since he met Akatsuki, he has not once been able to say "panties" in any context.
  • In many a romantic-comedy anime such as Love Hina, where a Tsundere female protagonist's daily beating the crap out of the male protagonist is used as a primary source of laughs, expect her assaults become increasingly more violent to keep the joke going, despite the fact that their growing relationship should cause it to be the exact opposite.
  • Lucky Star:
    • Any time when any of the girls say that something stinks.
    • Any time they have to censor anything copyrighted, such as G***m, or P***mon.note 
  • The Sound Stages and Comics of Lyrical Nanoha has a few, such as Shamal's cooking skills ("Shamal is not a bad cook!"). In the series proper, we have Vita's inability to remember Nanoha's name, which subverts the three times rule by getting it right by then.
  • In March Comes in Like a Lion, Akari's cats, who have been spoiled somewhat due to her care, will often beg or react wildly to the sight, and sometimes even mention, of food and/or dinner.
  • In MegaMan NT Warrior (2002), Lan will call his commander "Mr. Famous"/"Meijin-san" every single time they meet, or he's called. Meijin always responds with "Just Famous!"/"-san wa iranai."
  • Cagalli Yula Atha of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is repeatedly mistaken for a boy, first by Kira and then by Athrun. Her hatred of dresses, despite being a princess and her said displeasure at mistaken gender, also reoccur throughout the series (both in Seed and Destiny).
  • Patrick Colasour of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 cannot die. No matter how spectacularly he fails in battle, he always lives through it. The other characters notice and mockingly nickname him "The Immortal Colasour".
    • He gains a second Running Gag in The Movie, where he can never remember to call Kati Mannequin by her new rank: Brigadier General. He always refers to her as "Colonel". Did we mention they are also married by this point?
    • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 subverts the "It's a GUNDAM!!!" meme. Even though it's said every other battle, everyone from mooks to major characters, most of the people who say it survive, or, in the case of mooks, aren't necessarily among the dead.
  • Shiho's "maki maki" spiral cursing device in My-Otome.
  • My Hero Academia:
    • Izuku Midoriya has a habit of vocalizing his Internal Monologue, resulting in him muttering to himself in a way that the other characters find creepy.
    • Katsuki Bakugo's standard battlecry is to shout "DIE" at his target, even when said target is another student during training, a teammate that he is propelling for a tactical advantage, or the bacteria on his teeth while he brushes them.
    • Denki Kaminari electrocuting his own brain with his superpower and rendering himself a complete idiot.
    • Minoru Mineta trying to do something perverted only to get comically foiled.
    • Twice saying something and then immediately saying the opposite in a different voice.
    • Spinner going on long rants about his idol Stain and his ideals, which have led to him interfering with his teammates and getting jumped from behind while he monologues.
  • Naruto:
    • Guy fails to recognize Kisame every time they clash, which Kisame takes great umbrage in. In Chapter 505, Guy managed to mistake Kisame for his own dark side due to some bizarre timing, and laid him out before processing the warning others were shouting that Kisame wasn't. Every time they meet just gets funnier and funnier. In a complete reversal of this gag, after Kisame bites off his own tongue and makes his summoned sharks eat him alive to protect Akatsuki, Guy is so impressed that he vows to remember him forever.
    • There's also Shino taking issue with frequently being ignored or left out, culminating in this exchange:
      Shino: We must avoid drawing attention to ourselves.
      Ino: You'll be fine, Shino.
    • Kakashi being purposely late for mostly everything.
    • Naruto charging out enthusiatically and then stopping abruptly to ask, "Where is this place anyway?"
    • Sakura punching Naruto.
    • Naruto also has a knack of being forced to swallow extremely unpleasant things, including huge insects, a frog whose midsection is a scroll, and even a crow.
    • Jiraiya's lecherous habits and Tsunade's gambling issues.
    • Shikamaru being a lazy bum, as well as being forced to fight an unpleasant woman and complaining about it.
    • In the anime adaptation of Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, there's a running gag of reformed Orochimaru appearing in the background or cutaway scenes, usually doing random stuff one doesn't expect from his character while Yamato is trying to supervise him in secret (and comically sticking out from the audience's perspective).
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Nodoka using her artifact to read her own mind. She finds out more about herself than she wanted to know.
    • The Mahorafest Arc had Takane D. Goodman, who ended up getting stripped naked every time she showed up. Using magically summoned clothes is bad idea when 1) they disappear when you faint, and 2) the lead heroine uses Anti-Magic. Even the other characters start calling her a stripper, despite the fact that in the Negiverse Clothing Damage is a regular occurrence.
    • Negi sneezing off Asuna's clothes. In UQ Holder! when he finally shows up again, the first thing he does is to sneeze. He manages to strip the entire public's clothes off.
    • Clothing Damage in general has gotten to this point. Asuna ( well, actually Shiori, but she's copied Asuna's personality) actually asks Negi if he's capable of getting anything done without blasting people's clothes off.
    • There's also the gag where Koyomi attempts to use her artifact repeatedly, but is always foiled by Jack Rakan flipping her skirt up after stealing her panties. It's happened on at least three separate occasions.
    • Kind of a background Running Gag, but pay close attention whenever the girls are betting on something. Sakurako always wins.
  • One Piece has numerous examples:
    • The normally serious and badass Roronoa Zoro gets lost any time he is left alone. Or when he's being led by other people, for that matter. This even extends to the Zombie that is possessed with his shadow. It sort of reached a crescendo post-Time Skip when a ship suddenly appears sliced in two. Guess who's sitting in the crow's nest.
      Zoro: "I got on board the wrong ship."
    • Zoro is known for sleeping through anything. Even storms at sea, and when the crew is learning important information. He also fell asleep even when he said he wanted to hear Nami's backstory.
    • Luffy has a tendency to call Mix-and-Match Critters the animal they look the least like. This lead to him calling Bananawani (crocodiles with banana-like growths on their heads) "bananas".
    • He also refers to anything new as a "Mystery ______". This little quirk was completely absent in the 4Kids dub.
    • Nami is often adamantly against anything reckless that the crew (aka Luffy) wants to do, but will Heel–Face Turn in an instant if there's money involved.
    • Chopper will insult anyone that compliments him while waving his arms cutely or doing a joyful little dance.
    • People will mistake Chopper for a different kind of animal (usually a tanuki).
    • All of Usopp's lies eventually come true.
    • Sanji's quest to earn himself a bounty. From consistently losing out on getting one to, when he finally does get a bounty, getting a poster featuring a Godawful composite sketch because they couldn't get a good picture (darn tricky lens caps). The topper though, is a man who hated Sanji because his face is near-identical to the godawful composite sketch.
      • Post-timeskip, his new wanted poster...is a picture of the back of his head.
      • This actually stretches to any attempt to photograph him ends in failure.
    • Robin's tendency to give extremely morbid descriptions, usually to the disgust of Usopp or Nami.
    • Luffy asking biologically-different creatures if they can poop (notably skeletons and mermaids).
    • When the Straw Hats are in Laboon and meet Crocus, they do a series of cuts that end with close-ups of Crocus' eye. It sounds ominous, but ends funny every time. Crocus even lampshades it:
      Crocus: "Can't you appreciate a good running gag?"
    • Luffy has been known to ask any strange person or creature to join his crew, much to the annoyance of his crew (except Robin, who only became a crew member because of his spontaneousness).
    • Luffy and Chopper will admire their enemy's techniques in the middle of a battle, with sparkling eyes, and will even temporarily forget their hatred for the said enemy. They will then request the enemy to explain how they did it. The enemy will often oblige before resuming the battle.
    • Eneru's reaction face gets used whenever one of the Straw Hat's skills/abilities allows them to No-Sell their enemies.
    • The women of Amazon Lily thinking that everything Luffy does is totally normal for a man.
    • Zoro and Luffy's obsession with Sake and Meat respectively. They even both make the same argument for why the don't want to be heroes (neither hears the other's) with the only difference being the use of "Meat" or "Booze".
    • Luffy being a reckless dumbass who ignores all planning sessions (even though it looks like he's paying attention) or just straight up misinterpreting what's happening.
    • Whenever Brook meets a woman, he politely asks them if he can see their panties. When he meets a mermaid, he asks her if he can borrow some money. One time, an Older Than They Look character was so flattered by him thinking her young she obliges him (offscreen).
    • Brook makes constant jokes about his state of being, such as saying he could not believe his eyes before pointing out that he doesn't technically have any. As he calls them, 'Skull Jokes'
    • Luffy and Usopp imitating other members of he crew. Why? It's funny.
    • The author, Eiichiro Oda, never gets to start his SBS answer pages: a fan always gets to go first.
    • Usopp claiming he has "can't-go-on-the-island disease" when he's scared to go on an island. Eventually other characters start doing this too.
    • Franky's post-timeskip creations thrilling young boys, Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy while girls and women stare with blank expressions.
    • If you see Luffy, Law and Kidd in the same place at once, expect them to start bickering with each other.
  • Haruhi's obliviousness to others' attraction to her (usually culminating in her asking "Do you mean [obscure interpretation of professed attraction]?") is repeatedly played for laughs in Ouran High School Host Club, finally lampshaded when one of the boys asks her to go out with him:
    Haruhi: Do you mean—
    Hikaru: No, I do not mean "Will you go somewhere with me?" I'm asking you on a date.
  • Persona 4: The Animation has a couple:
    • Yosuke getting set on fire.
    • Yu and his attempts to tape the Midnight Channel programs.
    • Aika making deliveries/working in increasing unlikely places. Not only does she work at Aiya, make a delivery in the middle of a chase scene, and bring food to the protagonists on top of a mountain in the middle of the school camping trip, but she also has a job at a noodle shop at Tatsumi Port Island and at the Amagi Inn. They try to explain away the job at Tatsumi Port Island, but by the Amagi Inn episode, the writers stopped caring.
    • Scenery Censor: In addition to Censor Steam, Episode 20 uses this to hide the girls' lady bits from the audience. There are many, many conveniently positioned arms. At one point, a washtub held at a funny angle is used to hide Naoto's entire upper half.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Pikachu seems to have taken on the habit of frying girls' bikes, causing them to tag along with Ash until they get it replaced. From Best Wishes onward the girl doesn't have to have a bike; she gets fried instead. The only one out of all of Ash's female traveling pals to not be the victim of a Thunderbolt so far is Serena.
    • During Kanto, a wild Jigglypuff would follow Ash and friends around and sing everyone around them to sleep...then get annoyed and doodle on their faces. Hilarity Ensues when people don't even know they had their faces doodled. It seemed to have stopped partway through the Advanced Generation anime — before returning when Ash and his latest group of friends visit Kanto.
    • And then there's the ultimate running gag — Team Rocket's ubiquitous exits. This gag finally ended when they Took a Level in Badass, and they just rocket off themselves when the twerps beat them. After the Unova League, old habits die hard. In Sun and Moon this is seemingly replaced by Bewear grabbing Team Rocket before a blast-off and taking them to its den. One time it happened even when Team Rocket weren't in any danger; in fact they were actually, legitimately winning for once.
      Team Rocket: WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!!
    • There's always one instance of Team Rocket (James especially) getting duped into buying a useless Pokémon from the Magikarp Salesman. The gag actually stopped in Black and White, and hasn't returned since.
    • And Brock flirting with every girl older than him but younger than his mother, and subsequently getting pulled away by Misty or Max or get poison jabbed by his Croagunk. This specific gag was so overused that it ends up being exploited at least twice. Once to determine which Officer Jenny was an impostor and another time to get Croagunk to free him from an Ariados's String Shot. During the lasst leg of Ash's tenure on the show, Croagunk and Misty actually team up to do it.
      • This trait would seldomly carry on to Alder and Miles.
      • Bonnie, Clemont's sister, would somewhat carry this trait during XY, asking any girl to marry her brother before getting pulled away by his Aipom arm.
    • There are multiple Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys in the series that most characters can't tell them apart. This gets carried to Unova with the Don Georges.
    • No one getting Butch's name right to the point that he breaks the fourth wall.
      • Doctor Namba get this treatment as well, every time Team Rocket gets names wrong. Only this time, he senses when it happens. (Picks up ringing phone) It's Namba!
      • Stephan in Unova is the embodiment of this to the point where he yelled at the organizers on public television, even after winning the Clubsplosion. Lampshaded near the end of the series when Ash and company says his name right.
    • Psyduck loves to pop out of his Pokeball at inappropriate times. Psyduck would do it when Misty's trying to call out another Pokémon in battle.
      • Wobbuffet pops out when Team Rocket's trying to do their evil stuff or say their motto or whatever. Wobbuffet's interruptions are actually a fairly clever Easter Egg which is mostly Lost in Translation from the original Japanese version. In Japan Wobbuffet is called Sonans, which can be interpreted as saying "that's the way it is". The implication is that the statement "that's the way it is" is what Wobbuffet is actually saying most of the time, making his seemingly-random interruptions make sense in context.
      • Ash's Oshawott does this as well, though does it in competitive spirit and Ash most of the time accepts.
    • James's Pokémon always show affection in painful ways. His Victreebel always wanted to eat his head and so did his Carnivine. His Cacnea always tried to hug him. His Mareanie always wraps its tentacles around his head and poisons him in the process, turning his face purple.
    • Ash's Dracovish bites his head. Made even funnier that Dracovish's ability is Strong Jaw and that his bite is Fishious Rend.
    • Excluding the anime-only Orange Islands, Ash would end up crossdressing at least once per region. It didn't happen in Kalos (though he technically was still involved — it was Serena crossdressing as Ash in a similar scenario to a James crossdressing moment in Sinnoh), only to return in Alola.
    • Ash's Fire-type starter Pokémon having a rough background before joining up with Ash.
      • Charmander was left abandoned on a rock for being weak, causing him to almost die in the rain (if the flame on a Charmander's tail goes out, the Pokémon dies).
      • Cyndaquil was not subject to a rough background, but instead ended up joining Ash before being captured by an abusive trainer.
      • Chimchar was abused, and overworked, to bring out its Blaze ability. Paul, Ash's main Sinnoh rival, was the former trainer responsible for this one.
      • Tepig was left abandoned for being weak, and got a rope stuck around his snout, which prevented him to open his mouth and eat, causing him to nearly starve.
      • Litten follows a similar path where he was basically a lost orphan that was taken in by an old Stoutland, and then joined up with Ash after Stoutland passed on to the afterlife.
    • Ash catching the main regional bird Pokémon (Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant, and Talonflame), until Alola broke that streak. He has not caught the Pikipek line (though his Rowlet was raised amongst a group of them) nor the Rookidee line.
    • Ash's Water-type Pokémon never evolving was a myth running gag ever since Krabby's evolution all the way back in Kanto. This was finally broken with Froakie's evolution, which occured in "A Stealthy Challenge!".
    • Ash's Grass-type Pokemon are always the peacemakers and the nurturers. His Bulbasaur and his Turtwig would break up fights, while his Snivy tried to get his Tepig out of its funk.
    • Charizard will always use Flamethrower on Ash whenever he shows up. Initially to show defiance, but now apparently a sign of affection.
    • Ash's failure to catch a Dunsparce; happened in Unova and Kalos, respectively.
    • Brock singing while dressed in a Mexican outfit to stall an audience while Ash & the others thwart Team Rocket.
    • In Kanto there was the one where Meowth would claw Jessie and James' faces. This has since been dropped (alongside most Pokemon-on-human violence), however Meowth has done it a few times in later seasons.
    • The Ash-reset! Every time a new generation begins, Ash brings only his Pikachu to his new journey. The only exceptions are Johto since that is merged with the first season and Aipom in Diamond and Pearl due to sneaking out.
    • Mr. Sukizo, the male judge who keeps saying "remarkable," after reviewing a performance or battle in different Pokémon Contests.
    • Also, in the episode he appears in, Byron's constant and at times unfitting, "I LOVE BASTIODON/STEELIX/FOSSILS/DEFENSE/THIS HOLE!"
    • Nearly every time when Ash's Gible uses Draco Meteor, it hits Dawn's Piplup.
      • On at least two occasions, it's even used to find Piplup. When used while Piplup was being kidnapped by Team Rocket, it ended up landing on them instead.
      • One of them only hit Piplup because Barry told his Empoleon (the actual target on that occasion, who the Draco Meteor was falling towards) to "Hit it back."
    • Recurring character in the DP saga Rhonda always being the victim to her camera crew's boom mic.
    • Barry demanding a payment fine for anyone who does something wrong. Even Dawn lampshades this in one episode.
    • Barry bumping into people and blames it on the person he bumps into.
    • In a similar clumsiness to Barry, Bianca running to the main characters by accident. The only difference is that she often apologizes immediately and with a mortified look. Often times, she's accidentally knocking Ash into a source of water such as a pond or fountain. In the first time "Minccino—Neat and Tidy!", she knocked both Ash and Cilan. In "Crisis at the Chargestone Cave!", this happens not once but twice. During the Clubsplosion tournament, Bianca accidentally knocked Cilan just to talk to Stephan about muscles.
    • A lot of people in Unova fawning over Ash's Pikachu because wild Pikachus in general are not from Unova.
    • Iris calling Ash a "kid" when she seems to be the younger of the two.
    • Iris having Pokemon disobey her. Most notably Dragonite.
    • Cilan being overly eccentric on Evaluation time. Most people would not understand what he is saying.
    • Ash's 30 Tauros stampeding towards their trainer and knocking him into the air in their excitement when he returns home.
    • Clemont's inventions blowing up and leaving everyone with funny hair in the X and Y saga. The Aipom Arm mentioned above is the only one that consistently works properly.
    • Dub-only, Delia reminding Ash to change his underwear.
    • In the short time period that Meowth tricked the twerps into thinking it had been fired from Team Rocket, and stayed with the twerps, he was nearly caught three times, but always escaped the ball.
  • The Franchise, Pretty Cure has a running gag in which the main character is hit in the face by the mascot in the first episode.
  • Prétear the anime: Himeno's older step-sister, Mayune, repeatedly attempts to seduce the Leafe Knights by having them stand outside the bathroom and hold her bathrobe while she takes a shower (usually after meeting in a Crash-Into Hello-style). This happened to three of them, with the victim escaping each time before Mayune could continue her plan. The fourth time, in the epilogue, she attempted to do this with Mannen, who turned out to be "too young to appreciate her beauty" and just fell asleep.
    • There's also Yayoi thinking that things happening in real life are like a romance novel, and the butler's pay being cut for things that weren't his fault at all.
    • The above three gags are notable for their collective re-appearance in the series' "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, when the comedic side characters returned from their "final battle absence".
    • Also in the anime, Mayune repeatedly tries to set up traps in order to prank Himeno. For the most part these backfire on her, although Himeno does intentionally walk into one in order to make Mayune happy.
  • In Episode 11 of Princess Tutu, Ahiru forgets that she's naked when she transforms from her duck form to her girl form and transforms in front of Fakir, who responds by blushing and holding out her clothing, then throwing them at her when she forgets she's naked again. By the time the second season rolled around, there was a running gag of her transforming around Fakir (often with Uzura's help) and him reacting in increasingly over-the-top ways. There's also Uzura's obsession with people's tails and "lovey-dovey", Professor Cat threatening Ahiru with marriage and Autor yelling at people to be quiet in the library. Fandom has also decided that Mytho not liking to wear pants is a running gag, although it's hard to tell if this was meant to be a gag or not.
  • Ranma ½:
    • And while on the subject, Ryōga has getting lost as a major character trait. As Ryōga is an incredibly fit and highly durable martial artist, he is capable of getting very lost, even finding himself in other countries (or even other hemispheres) while trying to travel between two points in Japan. Whenever Ryōga demands to meet Ranma at a specific place and time, he will show up a week late, which is invariably when Ryōga finally finds the place.
    • Two points in Japan? Ryōga gets lost walking down the street. In one episode of the anime (don't think it happened in the manga) he became hopelessly lost in a park, which had a figure-eight shaped path, and not much else besides trees. Early on, he goes to Cologne's house where Cologne offers to train him. He declines and leaves. Cologne then makes a snack and watches a television show, then goes downstairs to find him still there. He asks her where the front door is. While standing right next to it.
    • Another Running Gag in said series is main character Ranma Saotome getting splashed by water (usually triggering his Jusenkyō "spring of drowned girl" curse if the water is cold) at the worst possible time. Or just to irritate him.
    • There's also the Nerima district's tendency for conspicuously specific warning signs. ("Please do not hang people on this tree.")
    • Shampoo has a few, such as breaking through walls and landing her bike on top of Ranma.
    • Akane's HORRID cooking.
    • Mousse and his habit of not wearing his glasses due to his vanity. Every time he appears, he WILL attempt to woo Shampoo, only to end up propositioning someone else (usually an annoyed Ranma), animals that will scratch or bite him, or even inanimate (and typically very ugly) objects.
    • This is the source of all humor in Ranma. Each character has at least 3 or 4 running gags.
  • Rebuild World:
  • In Rurouni Kenshin, the other characters made frequent remarks about Kenshin's horrible handwriting.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • The first anime has many: Ami's obsession with studying, Makoto's always comparing boys to her sempai, Minako's always getting proverbs wrong, Usagi's appetite and unwillingness to study and Rei & Usagi always fighting are only some, and a literal Running Gag; Usagi being late to school. One that's especially funny is how Chibi-Usa's scepter never works the first time, a joke used a few times during the S season, with even the daimons stopping confused and once in the subsequent season, SuperS.
    • Exclusive to the S season — the Witches 5 lab has a sign on the door saying "Witches 5 Research". After Eudial is killed and Mimete takes over, we frequently see a sheet of paper saying 4 has been taped over the 5. After Mimete is killed, there's now a 3 clumsily taped in its place...with the previous sign still being visible. Sadly, we don’t get to see the sign change when Tellu and Viluy die. Also from the S season, recurring villain Eudial frequently made her escape in a car, which would appear from increasingly improbable locations.
    • A Viz dub running gag is people making fun of Mamoru's fashion sense, even once when he's Tuxedo Mask.
  • Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei:
  • In s-CRY-ed, Kimishima's' ride would constantly get smashed (or destroyed in some odd way), causing to cry out (or a variant of), "NOT THE CAR!"
  • Takeda Shingen from Sengoku Basara punching his subordinate Yukimura into a wall about once an episode, while they shout each other's names at the top of their voices.
  • In Sgt. Frog if something lands at the Hinata household, you can be sure it will land on Giroro's tent. Bonus points if he's inside it when it happens.
    • Anytime Space Detective Kogoro appears.
      "HA, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
    • Kululu using anyone (including the other platoon members, or any the Hinatasnote ) as guinea pigs for his experiments
      "KUU, ku ku ku ku ku ku ku..."
    • Tamama's jealously over Angol Mois (AKA: "ano onna"note )
    • Dororo being forgotten by the rest of the Platoon.
  • Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro: "Just so you know, I'm a girl."
  • Slayers:
  • In Soul Eater, anyone who's ever had the misfortune of encountering Excalibur will inevitably get the same, identical, pained expression on their face when he's mentioned in their presence, at the same time.
    • Even The Table Of Contents grows a face simply to show his frustration/pain at Excalibur's existence.
    • Black*Star failing to sneak up on anyone because of his Voice.
    • Death the Kid whenever he encounters something unsymmetrical. Bonus points when he does said unsymmetrical thing he slumps to his knees and starts pounding the ground.
      Death the Kid: I'm a hideous pig. <Insert the unsymmetrical thing what he did> I'm a worthless piece of garbage. I deserve to die.
  • In Speed Racer X, when Go needs to travel through time, he will go to an old tunnel to reach 555 km/hr. Every time he does this, he nearly collides with one particular truck driver just before disappearing, leaving the driver very confused as to what just happened.
  • Miu, Strawberry Marshmallow's poster child for ADHD, is frequently the victim of (well-deserved) off-screen violence at the hands of her friends, ranging from a slap upside the head to being chucked out of a spaceship in the "Episode 0" series preview.
  • Another character with notoriously bad sense of direction is Masaki, pilot of Cybuster, from Super Robot Wars Gaiden.
  • Tamagotchi has several:
    • Mametchi's inventions go wrong and explode on a rather frequent basis.
    • Whenever the Gotchi King laughs, Princess Tamako and several Royal Guards attempt to get him to stop out of fear that he'll crack up.
    • The Spacy Brother's reactions to Pipospetchi's comments on their schemes.
    • In Miracle Friends, Enchoutchi keeps mistaking X's disguised form for an empty vase, and puts flowers in him. Becomes a major plot point in Episode 19.
  • The way Barnaby of Tiger & Bunny rescues his partner Kotetsu is lampshaded and played for laughs in-series twice out of the three times it makes an appearance. It has even acquired Memetic Mutation status among many members of the fandom.
  • In Tokyo Ghoul:
    • Juuzou's tendency to steal and promptly crash his commander's motorcycle in a fiery explosion. In the sequel, an omake featuring Juuzou and Taishi Fura involves the later refusing to let the former look at his motorcycle. Because of.....reasons.
    • Naki misunderstanding words, or generally being a Book Dumb Manchild.
    • Tatata's insecurity about not being respected by his subordinates, especially those going through a growth spurt.
  • Trigun has the black cat Kuroneko-sama appearing in every episode without fail (even in the Flashback episode; look in the statis capsules), and usually in some funny manner.
  • In Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, pans, metal objects, and such, will fall on characters' (who take no notice) heads with a loud CLANG! many times per episode, happening more and more frequently over the course of the series. Whether the scene is comedic or dramatic, with no bias.
  • Yet ANOTHER Rumiko Takahashi series, Urusei Yatsura, is almost nothing but running gags, from Ataru's flirting (inevitably followed by a "Darring no BAKA!(ZAP!)") to Jariten and Ataru's "Frying pan duels" to Shinobu's Desk Tossing.
  • Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches has a few:
    • Kimishima flipping Yamada every time they meet.
    • Seishuin brutally kissing Yamada every time he needs to copy her power, leaving him bruised and with a disheveled shirt.
    • Yamada being impossibly oblivious to all of Odagiri's advances (he also has this trait with other girls, but it's exaggerated a lot more when he's around Odagiri).
    • Noa trying to get romantic favors from Yamada such as dates whenever he wants her help.
    • Itou's Imagine Spots.
    • Yamada immediately, seemingly unconsciously, grabbing a girl's boobs after a body-swap. Similarly, any girl immediately looking at Yamada's genitals after a body-swap and deeply embarrassing him.
    • Yamada accidentally seeing some girls naked any time he enters a hot spring.
    • During the time stop portion of the ceremony, the seventh witch will always try to expose the undergarments of everyone present.
  • Yo-kai Watch:
    • Early on, there's Manjimutt getting thrown in jail whenever he does a hobby out of an obsession with young, pretty girls. Whisper lampshades that he and Nate should stop summoning him, and the writers do in favor of Komasan.
    • In only two episodes after Komasan's introduction, he is eventually reunited with his twin brother Komajiro, leading to scenarios with the two adjusting to life in the city. The funny part is that Komajiro apparently knows the city a little better than Komasan does.
    • Whisper constantly relying on his Yo-kai Pad to get information about Yo-kai and Nate always calling him out on it.
  • The bruise Kousei got on his forehead after being hit by a baseball in Episode 1 of Your Lie in April keeps opening at various points in the series, and nobody seems to care despite the stream of blood on his face, justified because usually the cause of his bleeding are Played for Laughs. It soon becomes Harsher in Hindsight when we first see that it really started when Kousei's mother beat him upside the head in a fit of rage in a venue lobby, opening the wound on his forehead and knocking off his now broken glasses.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Several, from Yuzu slapping people with her Paper Fan of Doom to Gratuitous English lines. But the most common running gag is:
    Yugo: Yugo janae! Yugo da!
    • To translate, Yugo's name sounds similar to the Japanese word for "Fusion", the Summoning method used by his best friend's kidnapper. Because of this, he flies off the handle whenever he thinks someone's calling him "Fusion".
    • On a related note to Yugo, whenever he tries to glomp someone that looks like Rin. Different retaliations happen. Yuzu hits him with the Paper Fan of Doom, Serena punches him in the face, and when he finally reunites with Rin...she gives him a knee to the gut that would make Captain Falcon proud. It only makes fans wonder what Ruri would have done to him...
  • In the dub version of the third season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, there's something like this involving Martin/Marcel. After being possessed by Yubel, his French accent vanishes, and everyone who talks to him asks "What happened to your accent?" before anything else happens. (This isn't present in the original version, where Martin doesn't speak with an accent.)
  • YuruYuri has a ton, like Akari's lack of presence and Sakurako's jealousy of Himawari's chest.
  • Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs has a few recurring jokes that frequently repeat:
    • Kogarashi revealing that he has mastered a skill perfectly suited for solving the problem at hand that he learned from a ghost that had possessed him in the past.
    • Yuuna waking up in a compromising position with Kogarashi, her spiritual powers acting up out of embarrassment and sending him flying out the window into the hot spring. A sign that she's falling for him as the series progresses is her not doing this.
    • Sagiri trying to stab Kogarashi with a kunai when he does something wrong. She starts to back off on this as the series goes along.
  • In Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Kencho repeatedly waves his "delicious ass" in the zombies' faces as bait to draw their attention away from something else. This works every time, often buying Akira and co. valuable time to pull off their latest plan.
  • Zombie Land Saga:

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