Take Our Word For It / Anime & Manga

When characters insist you take their word for it in anime and manga.

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• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: rumours abound that beneath her bangs, Meme is incredibly beautiful. However, only Mimimi and Rentarou have seen for themselves; even the readers are left to trust their pronouncements that she truly is so. This is parodied with a character from the school newspaper who is desperate to photograph her face because she needs to see for herself the real deal: even 'fanart and stuff' won't satisfy her.
• Azumanga Daioh:
  • In one of the summer trip episodes, "responsible" teacher Kurosawa-sensei has been drinking pretty heavily (to keep Yukari-sensei out of the stuff). When the girls bring up the subject of boys/men, she cuts in "let me tell you about men", at which point we cut to a series of headshots of all the girls, with steadily deepening blushes on their faces (except for Child Prodigy Chiyo, who looks completely puzzled, and Osaka, who's intensely interested), interspersed with Relax-o-Vision shots of peaceful meadows and the like, with equally serene music playing in the background. Next morning, Chiyo approaches Kurosawa to ask for clarification about last night. The same music cuts again just as Chiyo gets to what was said, while we are shown a headshot of Kurosawa becoming more and more freaked out. The other girls show up and bow to her and thanking her for the "enlightenment". She's so hung-over she (and the audience) isn't even sure what she said.
  • This also happens before the first summer trip, when the series shows Yukari's car in a beat-up state and heavily implies her traumatizing driving (showing Chiyo and the other passengers as white as ghosts immediately afterwards and having Chiyo suffer PTSD in other scenes afterwards in which she recounts some of what happened) while never showing just how bad it is.
• As horribly graphic as Berserk is in every damn possible way, we never clearly see Griffith's post-tortured face, as Guts and Judeau are so horrified at what the torturer did, they can't bring themselves to show the rest of the team. Arguably one of the scariest moments in the entire series is when we see Guts take off Griffith's mask, gasp in horror, and put the helmet back on.
  • For those curious enough, the movie art staff drew a picture of Griffith's face post-torture◊. He had the skin on the upper half of his face and one of his cheeks torn off, showing the muscle underneath it. We told you to take our word for it.
• In Bleach, when Mayuri fights Szayel, Szayel uses his Gabriel ability on Nemu. In the manga (though not the anime) this leaves her body as a dried husk, but Mayuri does something off-screen which instantly restores her. Renji and Uryu had an obscured view and mostly just heard it and still find it incredibly disgusting, though Mayuri calls them stupid for not understanding what it was or suspecting it was something lewd^note Note that, with Mayuri, this could easily make it worse..
• Blue Gender: Supposedly, the Blue are immune to standard weapons and tactics but we just have Marlene's word for it. The only times we see humans engaging the Blues in combat is with single-handed firearms or with the pathetically designed melee mech that seems designed to give the humans a staggering disadvantage.
• Blue Seed references Monty Python below, with an Omake about the TAC testing out their latest weapon: A sign with a lethally-funny joke on it.
• Sakurako of Boys over Flowers is stated to have been an intensely ugly child before her plastic surgery, but her face is never shown.
• Apparently, the scars that make a Claymore are so disgusting and grotesque, that they have the capability of turning off an entire horde of raping bandits. Eventually, we do see them for ourselves. And it's safe to say that a single massive cut from neck to genitals that never, ever heals and must be held together with stitches is, in fact, pretty horrible and disgusting.
• Code Geass's ending gives us a time skip, then another time skip, then says that Lelouch has done stuff in the first time skip that is so horribly evil that his death makes the entire world less racist, bigoted and selfish by the end of the second time skip. We're not sure how. Indeed, this is a poor usage of the trope, as the conclusion of the entire premise of the series hinges on something that we don't really understand. As such, the fan base is split between those who accept that it's true because they say it is, and those who can't accept it because that part is so vague that they don't know how to fill in the gap.
• D.Gray-Man:
  • At the end of the zombie arc, after everyone (yes, everyone) in the Black Order has been turned into a zombie infected with Komuvitamin D, we are told that Bak managed to make a cure for everyone "after much hardship."
  • The soul of lvl4 Akuma.
• Franken Fran: In one chapter, a painter who is losing his eyesight allows Fran to help him, and ends up seeing many, many more visual spectra than humans should. Some of the things he sees are horrible (including a Cthulhu cameo) and he flees into the woods, where he meets a pretty girl, falls in love, and finds true happiness. He later gives Fran a painting of his sweetheart (who looks pretty to him), and while we don't see the painting, Okita's truly horrified reaction (this coming from a cat-man who lives with Fran) suggest that the image is not nice to behold; common fan theory is that the girlfriend is something like Saya.. Since the artist is pushing the envelope enough already with the guro and horror, anything this revolting would be beyond anyone's ability to show.

• In the karaoke episode of Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens it is stated that Shino would have to "open her eyes" to sing leading to the only point in the anime that she does. All the viewer sees is her profile against the setting sun as the light shines past her eyes hiding them from view, the other characters obviously see them and by their expressions, Shino's eyes must be of godly radiance.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode "SA: Tachikoma Runs Away; The Movie Director's Dream - ESCAPE FROM". Major Kusanagi dives into a cyberbrain to discover its secrets. She discovers that it's playing a movie (created by the brain's original owner) which is described as being incredibly beautiful and moving but with no specifics. The actual movie is not shown to the viewers.
• In Kanamemo, Kana is at one time asked to practice smiling to her customers. She gives a smile that, while unseen by the audience, scares the wits out of those watching.
• Katanagatari spent three episodes building-up the upcoming battle against Hakuhei Sabi, the greatest swordsman of Japan. Then episode four is focused on Shichika's sister Nanami, and end with Shichika and Togame eating dango while talking about how incredible the fight with Sabi was. With Shichika mentioning that he could barely defeat him thanks to Togame elaborating the most brilliant strategy she ever came up with. From what little of it we see in the next episode trailer at the end of episode 3, it likely was just as awesome as they say.
• At one point in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Kenichi is walking with Akisame who uses a group of attacking thugs to demonstrate jujitsu. When one of the thugs pulls a gun, Akisame drags them into a back alley and tells Kenichi to wait a couple of minutes. We don't see what happens, all we see is Kenichi's horror after he peeks into the alley.
• Lucky Star gives us these:
  • In the second episode of the anime, Konata makes a funny face that causes even the usually stoic Kagami to lose her composure, but we only see Konata from the back during the scene.
  • Nakatani smiling in manga vol. 7's Akira Nation special.
• Makura no Danshi: Kanade Hanamine, the focus boy of the 3rd episode, is said to be a pretty good violinist— but the viewer is left to their own judgements about this ability, since his violin solo isn't heard at all when he plays it. Taken to ridiculous levels since this performance takes place right in front of the viewer's face.
• The final episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has Relena reading a birthday card left for her by Heero. We don't see what it says, but in the end, it's sort of irrelevant, as she tears it up (part of a Call-Back/Bookend) and tells him to deliver his message in person next time. The novelization has the note being a farewell since Heero is heading to help with the colonization of Mars; presumably, this isn't what the note says in the anime since that was a rejected alternate ending. The manga Blind Target shows a simple torn-and-taped-together Happy Birthday note next to the teddy bear Heero gave Relena, strongly implying that it was the letter in question.
• Monster: Totally averted. One of the reasons the show is so good is because it doesn't flinch from showing exactly how the main antagonist, Johan, psychologically manipulates adults and children into committing horrific acts of murder, destruction, and suicide.
• Naruto:
  • Temari vs Tenten, during the manga. We didn't actually see the fight, we just saw the reactions after the Curb-Stomp Battle. While the anime shows this battle in full, it's not much to look at.
  • There's a chapter and an episode devoted to finding out what is under Kakashi's mask. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura (and the viewers) never see it, but the ones that do (the ramen shop owners) are absolutely stunned by what he looks like under the mask.
  • The fact that Naruto hasn't used his sexy jutsu since the Time Skip because he has a new "even more perverted technique", and when he uses it later it's offscreen (Kakashi just barely missing seeing it) and Konohamaru describes it as even better looking than before. However, the second fanbook has an omake about when Naruto trained with Jiraiya that actually does show it.◊
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi has Jack Rakan telling Negi about the huge, important, and extremely epic war that his father Nagi fought in. Needless to say, his description was rather... undetailed.
  Jack: A thrilling series of battles that would take a whole trilogy of movies or about 14 volumes to actually illustrate!
• One Piece:
  • During chapter 561, we are expected to take Oda's word for it that the Whitebeard Pirates vs. the Marines and Seven Warlords of the Sea "hardly appears to be of this world" and is "a true ultimate battle". This would be all well and good if they didn't then go on to say that they skipped almost an hour and a half of battle.
  • In the special Chapter 0, the battle with Shiki and Garp and Sengoku isn't shown. However what is known is that half of Marineford (the battleground) was destroyed, and apparently at one point, a battleship was thrown with only half of it sticking up to the sky.
  • In chapter 355, shipwright Tom (who built the boat of the Pirate King, the only ship known to have traveled the entire world) shows his two apprentices Iceberg and Franky the blueprints for the legendary ancient battleship Pluton. While we're not shown what it looks like, both of them break out in a cold sweat just skimming it, with Franky exclaiming his disbelief that such a thing could actually be built by people, and both Tom and Iceberg agree if a ship was built from these blueprints it would certainly mean the end of the world.
  • The early chapters give an estimate of a pirate or Marine's worth either through bounty or just second-hand accounts of feats. Good examples include Iron-Fist Fullbody, Alvida, and Axe-Hand Morgan.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • The episode "The Fortune Hunters" has the characters looking through a book that tells what Pokémon they are and what their fortunes will be as connected to that creature. James erroneously believes that he is a Moltres and finds newfound confidence and attitude (so much he even dresses as the Legendary Bird Pokémon). At the end of the episode, he learns which creature he really is and his fortune, but it's not revealed to the audience whatsoever, although we can guess based on his reaction ("OH, NO! IT CAN'T BE!!") that it's not a good one.
  • In one Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon episode, Lillie makes a face to calm down Nebby. We don't get to see it, but everyone else in the room is horrified.
• In the Read or Die manga, Joker plays an audiotape recital of a cursed book to a pair of prisoners he's interrogating. Of course, we never actually get to hear the audio, much less find out what is written in the book. However, by the time he's finished, both prisoners are complete psychological wrecks.
  • The same thing happens in the OVA, with Beethoven's "Suicide Symphony". A team of unwitting audio analysts off themselves gruesomely as soon as they listen to it. The audience never hears a note of it.
• In Rave Master when the leader of the Jiggle Butt Gang distracts Haru by talking about his past, we only get to see his two lackeys trying to figure out how to disarm a bomb they'd intended to hijack a train with. Then we cut back to Haru, the guy with a Disappeared Dad from age 1 and a mom who died when he was 6, crying like a baby saying "That's the most depressing story I ever heard!"
• In the Rurouni Kenshin manga, the details of Kenshin's ultimate maneuver is not shown except for a dramatic spray of Clothing Damage until his battle against Shishi-O; the anime adaptation chooses to cut away to a rainbow-colored lens-flare/halo irising out.
• Buddha's manga in Saint Young Men, which is apparently extremely funny for people in Heaven but too in-jokey for mortals. All that's shown to the readers is the first panel featuring a pun on Ananda and a few hints about something called a rib dance.
• Comedic example from Slayers: Ultra-powerful sorceress Lina Inverse is so utterly terrified of her elder sister Luna (who never appears) that just a letter from Luna is enough to send her into hysterics.
• Soul Eater: We don't actually know what Crona's poem consisted of, but it must have been depressing if it was able to send anyone who reads it into a Corner of Woe wishing they had never been born (Or brought back to life, in Sid's case).
• Episode 17 of Sgt. Frog features a scary-story contest between the Keroro Platoon and the Pekoponians. We only hear snatches of Fuyuki's story, which is apparently enough to terrify everyone else (including an actual ghost!). In Funimation's Gag Dub, the narrator explains during this part of the episode that he's talking over Fuyuki's story so they don't get sued for scaring anyone to death.
• In Starship Operators whatever tactics Shinon devised when Amaterasu and Shenron are fighting the Kingdom was not shown to the audience, and the tactics failed to execute since they are supposed to win. Of course, the look of everyone when she presents it means that the plan must be really good.
• The Finance Minister Ko Kijin of The Story of Saiunkoku wears a mask because his face is refuted to be so terrible it has to be hidden behind a mask. It is later revealed that his face is so terribly beautiful that birds fall from the sky and people become catatonic at the mere sight of it.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds there was Zero Reverse, the disaster (caused by a portal to Hell being forcibly ripped open) that demolished half of Domino City and broke it into two pieces, creating Satellite. Only still images of the disaster are shown, and we really have to take the word of those who witnessed it - and survived - how terrible a cataclysm it was, and it was clearly one of the biggest disasters in history. In the dub, Tetsu Ushio describes it to Rua and Ruka this way:
  Ushio (somberly): Take every disaster movie you've ever seen, throw them all together in one big, jumbled mess, and multiply that by ten, and you'll get a general idea.
• In YuYu Hakusho, Kurama causes Kaito to lose at his own game by making a face, causing Kaito to laugh and lose his soul.

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