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Tranquil Fury / Anime & Manga

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Tranquil Fury in anime and manga.

  • The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Mei Meido is the quintissential maid. Almost always smiling, rarely a bad word to say of anyone, and utterly devoted to her master Hahari. The only person Mei typically shows negative emotion towards is her subordinate maid, Mai, and always in the context of disciplining her for errors. If, however, one presses her Berserk Button of insulting or harming Hahari, the master she's utterly devoted to, she will casually suggest disposing of the perpetrator with no change in expression. When idol trainer Tina Quali slaps Hahari, Mei almost immediately slaps Tina right back with no word, no warning, and no hesitation.
  • Ace of the Diamond: Protagonist Eijun Sawamura. You wouldn't know it by his usual attitude, but as it turns out, when is really, truly angry, he goes straight into this trope. During Act II, his absolute fury at the mess Furuya made of the game against Ichidai Sankou doesn't cause him to scream, lose focus, or forget his duty. Instead, he puts Ichidai's top batters away with two strikes and one foul each, pitching faster and more accurately than ever before. Miyuki was getting goosebumps from the raw control Sawamura was displaying, and even Kataoka was shocked.
  • The eponymous Afro in Afro Samurai uses this to call upon his subconscious to come up with an on-the-fly fighting style to counter his Mirror Match robot double. It could be argued that Afro is in a constant state of quiet rage for the entire series.
  • Maomao in The Apothecary Diaries is typically eerily calm when pushed too far. In an early episode of the anime, she discovers a lady-in-waiting of Lady Liuha has been using a poisonous makeup on her despite it being banned in the palace after causing the death of Lihua's son. When Maomao confirms who administered it, she slaps the lady-in-waiting across the face, drags her by her hair, and dumps the poisonous makeup all over her, then explains how it will slowly kill her unless she washes it off. All the while, Maomao barely raises her voice and stares down the lady-in-waiting with cold, piercing eyes. Once she's made her point and the lady-in-waiting is left a crying heap, Maomao gets embarrassed at her behavior and awkwardly shuffles away.
  • Briareos in Appleseed is quite good at this. Having a blank metal plate and five cameras in lieu of a face certainly helps.
  • In the final battle of Assassination Classroom, Kayano is fatally impaled by Number Two's tentacles. Koro-sensei barely raised his voice or uttered a word despite his absolute fury, instead turning pure white, concentrating his entire power into one final, decisive attack that made short work of his enemies. But only in the manga. The anime has Koro-sensei roaring in rage for several seconds when this happened.
  • Levi in Attack on Titan genuinely showed so little emotion that the only way to tell if he is angry is through the shadowing of his eyes and his tone. For example, when speaking to the Female Titan, his voice is icy and it's clear he is pissed that his soldiers are dead because of her. And again, when he sees his personal squad being killed by the Female Titan, his eyes are shadowed almost completely black before he eventually unleashes hell on the Female Titan while showing the most emotion he probably will ever while still containing himself and his desire for revenge.
    • He's like an even darker version of Batman: whenever a regular person would scream at a spineless coward to suck it up, or passionately torment a captain to spill the beans, Levi does that without the emotion showing. His usual suck it up speeches involve choking or otherwise threatening death while calmly explaining the do-or-die decision the person has to make. His usual torment interrogation involves crippling his victim while simultaneously debating with the victim's point-of-view.
    • Turns out his uncle taught him that. Kenny REALLY hates his nephew, enough to pull twin guns in an otherwise fair fight, but remains focused and humorous while going on a regular murderous rampage after him.
  • Luck Gandor demonstrates Tranquil Fury in the first Baccano! light novel, in contrast to his brother Berga's furniture-smashing rage over the deaths of several of their men. When Berga rejects Luck's request for him to calm down, Luck patiently explains — while gripping a piece of broken wood hard enough to draw blood from his own hand — that he is in fact very angry, and that he wants to rip those responsible to pieces with his own hands, and that he is keeping himself occupied with thinking over the details lest he go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and possibly even kill police or innocent bystanders if they got in the way. He then asks his brother to shoot him if it's necessary to keep him from doing so; all the while, his expression never changes, and by the time he's done Berga apologizes and says that Luck needs to calm down even more than he himself does.
  • Berserk
    • Though his signature reaction to most serious situations is Unstoppable Rage, Guts often starts out with Tranquil Fury. When he confronts the man who tortured and mutilated Griffith for a year, Guts gives an expression that is on the same level of creepiness as his signature Slasher Smile, just to show how dangerously enraged he is inside.
    • Another time came in volume 17, when a possessed and demonized horse is about to rape Farnese, who was Guts' hostage at the time. This scene was particularly triggering for Guts, as it reminded him of the rape of his lover Casca by Griffith and so after brutally decapitating the demon horse, he rather creepily and nonchalantly chastises Farnese for reminding him of his past, and goes onto saying in flat voice, "Thanks. Now I'm in a really bad mood. I've got until dawn to kill all of you." Cue to the next morning, where everything in Guts' radius save for Farnese is obliterated.
    • It's rather telling that the few times when Puck gets really scared of Guts are when he reacts gleefully to the prospect of violence or when he becomes horrifyingly calm.
    • In contrast to Guts, when Griffith gets pissed, his anger usually takes this form, like when he finds out that Guts and Casca have gotten into a relationship together.
  • Black Butler: No matter how much Ciel's behavior pisses off Sebastian, he will hold a polite smile and behave agreeably while in his presence. While also making sure that Ciel's enemies meet a gruesome end.
    • The Black Butler II anime showcases Sebastian in this mindset. When he realizes that Ciel's soul has already been taken from his body before he could consume it, after a brief moment of shock, he smiles, laughs to himself a little...and releases a massive burst of demonic energy, devastating the castle he was in at the time. It happens again on two separate occasions - first when he learns that Claude has turned Ciel against him and second when he sees Hannah holding Ciel's hand. In both cases, Sebastian emits a demonic black aura, showing his anger reaching the surface.
  • Train Heartnet of Black Cat is a living incarnation of the Let's Get Dangerous! trope, so he has many moments of this. The crowning example, however, has to be when Creed is killing Saya. Train doesn't even shout or anything. He just punches Creed away and says, very calmly, "Creed, what the hell are you doing?" Then, as Creed attempts to justify himself, he punches him hard enough to smash him into a wall more than 10 feet away. "Cut the crap. You have a death wish don't you?" Keep in mind, Train is a gunfighter, so punching Creed that far means that he's spectacularly pissed. On top of that, he's currently had his Hades confiscated by Sepheria, so he's effectively picking a fight with Creed, who is every bit his equal, without his weapon of choice. Even Creed doesn't like the odds of taking on Train in this state, as he runs away without a fight.
    • Train has another terrifying example in the pilot chapter. After hunting down the assassin who killed his and Sven's sweeper target, he has the man pinned to the ground with his gun to his head. All he says is "when you see the old man, tell him that one day we're gonna break bread together." And then he kills the guy with a smile on his face.
    • Another when the Doctor has injected Mundock and Fudou with the Berserker nanomachine and forced them to fight Train and River, as well as badly hurt Kevin, because it's fun for him. River starts roaring at him over the intercom, but Train simply says "When I find you, I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life." He proceeds to make good on that threat with two punches once he finally reaches the bastard.
  • Revy's "Whitman Fever" from Black Lagoon, which is more of a relapse of Ax-Crazy than anger — when she starts to look like she's sleep-deprived and stops yelling and swearing, there will be blood and there will be lots of it.
    • And Balalaika is almost always calm, controlled and polite, even when she's furious.
  • Bleach:
    • In a Filler arc, Shusuke Amagai is so chillingly icy during his fight with Ichigo that he seems to combine Tranquil Fury with Creepy Monotone.
    • Uryuu can get ratty, mostly where Ichigo is concerned, but true anger is a different matter entirely. Ulquiorra lampshades this when Uryuu attacks after Ichigo is almost killed, stating he believed Uryuu was the calm one. Uryuu points out that he is calm. It's Mayuri, however, who has felt the true sting of Uryuu's tranquil rage. After boasting about how he tortured Uryuu's grandfather to death, he found both himself and his Bankai defeated in a single strike by an icily infuriated Uryuu.
    • The terrifyingly cold, precise rage runs in the Ishida family. Uryuu's father Ryuuken lost his beloved wife to Yhwach's Auswählen six years before the main story. His response to abject personal tragedy was to spend days autopsying his wife's body to find the cause of her death (accidentally traumatizing Uryuu in the process), locating said cause, transforming it into a weapon that could be used against Yhwach, and then waiting almost a decade to hand said weapon to Uryuu in the climactic battle. In all that time, his composure never breaks. No wonder even ''Urahara'' is worried about getting on his bad side.
    • Byakuya never visibly loses his temper; his level of focus simply changes to 'lethal'. When Byakuya arrives in Hueco Mundo, he finds Zommari standing over Rukia's unconscious body. He asks if Zommari's responsible for his sister's condition; Zommari isn't, but informs Byakuya that he was going to finish the job his dead colleague began. Byakuya's eyes narrow in response. In the ensuing fight, Byakuya's mood doesn't so much as twitch and he spends his time lecturing Zommari on every single move the Arrancar attempts and fails. Even when Byakuya disables his own arm and leg to counter Zommari's ability to control his body, he doesn't twitch, much to Zommari's amazement. When Zommari is finally defeated, he rants that Soul Reapers have no divine-mandated right to hunt Hollows. Byakuya calmly replies that he's not killing Zommari because he's a Soul Reaper, he's doing it because Zommari dared to point a sword at his sister.
      Zommari: What's that look? Are you telling me you won't show me mercy?! Are you going to cut me?! Are you going to execute me?! Don't you see how arrogant that is?! You Soul Reapers slay us as though we were vermin! Who do you think you are?! A god?! By what right do you slaughter us Hollows?! Is it because we devour humans?! Who made you their protectors?! No! No-one gave you that authority!! You Soul Reapers call us evil and slay us because you think you hold the power of justice in your hands!! But you're just...
      Byakuya: What makes you think I'm acting as a Soul Reaper? I'm going to slay you because you aimed your blade at my pride.
    • Ulquiorra is The Stoic to the point he doesn't really know what emotions are all about, but Ichigo's refusal to stay down and stay dead throughout their fights starts chipping away at his patience. By the time he finally activates his release form during their final showdown, Ulquiorra begins shouting at Ichigo to just give up even as he No Sells Ichigo's strongest attacks and beats him to a pulp.
    • Kyouraku is usually the most laid-back Captain in Soul Society, preferring to drink and party his days and nights away. However, when Wonderweiss stabs his best friend Ukitake straight through the chest, Kyouraku's whole demeanor turns murderous and he doesn't waste a second in trying to kill the young Arrancar.
    • When Yamamoto defeats Harribel's three fracción, Harribel proceeds to unleash a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Hitsugaya in an attempt to finish the fight as fast as possible so she can take her revenge against Yamamoto. She fails, if only because Aizen cut her down himself for failing to live up to his expectations.
    • After the invasion of Soul Society resulted in the deaths of half Yamamoto's division, Yamamoto enters this state (and his Bankai) and doesn't ever leave it again. It's driven by the death of his lieutenant Choujirou Sasakibe, who's been at his side for at least a thousand years. The only thing that ends his tranquil fury is his death.
      • Ok, so he briefly loses the "tranquil" part when he meets and obliterates Sasakibe's murderer, but still...
    • Rose enters this state after learning what the Stern Ritters have done to the Shinigami, but especially after learning what they've done to Kira, someone he had bonded closely with during the Time Skip due to their shared artistic natures.
      Rose: My guitar is already crying. Do not expect to leave this place alive, Quincy.
    • Ichigo becomes desperate enough as it is when Quilge Opie traps him within an unbreakable reishi cage inside the Garganta, leaving him unable to help the Shinigami as the Wandenreich begin to decimate them while he senses each individual soul being snuffed out, but then he manages to eventually break free and sees for himself the sorry state the Seireitei has been left in. He becomes so enraged that he goes back to being calm... before slowly going back to angry as a half-dead Byakuya begs Ichigo to save Soul Society. Then he confronts Yhwach and finally snaps into murderous rage the second he admits that yes, he's the one responsible for wrecking Soul Society.
  • Call of the Night:
  • The end of the first arc of the A Certain Scientific Railgun anime has Mikoto, a Tsundere with Shock and Awe powers going Tranquil Fury on the AIM Burst. You can pick your jaw off the floor now.
  • In Change123, if Motoko Gettou is in tranquil fury mode, then that means Zero has come out to play. And if that said tranquil fury is directed at you, you had better start praying. Fast.
  • Code Geass: This becomes Suzaku Kururugi default mode for the majority of the second season. He finally gets over it after agreeing to join the Zero Requiem.
  • Cross Ange:
    • The typically hotheaded protagonist has a moment of cold, calculated anger as she cleaves through the hull of her treacherous brother Julio in her Vilkiss, exposing him, and then emerges from the cockpit to shoot him in the leg with a pistol, and asks him to stop the purge of the Norma he instigated. When Julio follows up by her not backing down from her threat by offering anything, she gives one Pre-Mortem One-Liner in disgust before delivering the final blow... until Embryo takes over, expressing his disgust with Julio and his interest in Ange.
    • Salamandinay is one of the most composed characters in the series, so it's little surprise she falls under here when she addresses Embryo, though she follows it with a not-so-serene draconic scream to shatter the Mana connection he's using via Emma.
    • Embryo himself can be considered to have these moments given his smug, sociopathic attitude. He finally begins to crack when Tusk brags about how Ange had sex with him instead in their battle near the end of the series.

  • The Dangers in My Heart: Anna Yamada pouts when she's angry in normal circumstances. She's generally so cheerful and amicable that it would be hard to even think of her as terrifying at first... Which changes quickly whenever another girl gets close to her crush Ichikawa. At which point any sense of warmth fades from her face, her eyes turn pitch black, and she quietly, calmly stares as if she's plotting a murder.

  • Only to be expected given the slightly weird mindset of contractors in Darker than Black. We see it the most from Hei (unless someone hits his Berserk Button, in which case the "tranquil" part disappears), but it's also fairly prominent when November 11 is really mad.
    • Good November 11 example would be after his partner, April, gets badly injured. As he watches her at the hospital, his face is no longer his perpetual smirk, or even the expected rage; it's expressionless, although slightly glum. This is Dull Surprise made terrifying.

  • Death Parade:
    • In episode 1, when one of the guests begins to suspect that his wife cheated on him, he gives her a cold look and says something condescending to her, before turning away from her and aiming his dart at a dartboard that’s connected to her organs while she cries out to him.
    • Tin Man Decim does this in episode 5 when Ginti attacks his assistant and tries to pick a fight with him, coupled with a Death Glare. He then attacks him by throwing him through a glass aquarium and launching furniture at him with his threads, all without moving an inch or uttering a word.
    • A rather serious example occurs in episode 9. While the guests are both murderers, one of them is young and emotional, and somewhat redeemable until the very end of the episode. Tatsumi, however, is extremely cold and calculating, murdering his victim while looking him dead in the eye. He spends the rest of the episode antagonizing other characters while hardly even raising his voice.

  • In Demon King Daimao, while Sai Akuto is capable of Unstoppable Rage, in some of his fights, he will comment on how calm he is despite a ton of power flowing through him at the time. Some of the other characters accuse him of this as a sign of him becoming the Demon Lord.

  • In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, after the Spider Mother kills her human puppets once Tanjiro and Inosuke immobilize them by tangling up her strings, Tanjiro kneels before one. Inosuke does not see the face he makes, and neither does Tanjiro make a sound, but every fiber of Inosuke's being senses the immeasurable fury emanating from Tanjiro, and he becomes visibly unnerved as a result. When Tanjiro gets back on his feet and says "let's go", Inosuke agrees in an uncharacteristically quiet manner.

  • In Digimon Adventure Season 2, The Digimon Emperor is using data from multiple Digimon to Frankenstein together his own artificial Digimon, Kimeramon. When T.K. finds out that one of the Digimon whose data the Digimon Emperor is using is Devimon, the Disc-One Final Boss from the first season whom the Digidestined were only barely able to defeat because a then-eight-year-old T.K.'s Mon performed a tempory Heroic Sacrifice, T.K. doesn't take it well. When he confronts the Digimon Emperor, he gives him a cold "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how Evil Is Not a Toy and takes a whip crack from the Emperor into his face without even flinching, calmly wipes the blood off with his fingers and looks at it, then proceeds to beat the crap out of the Emperor.

  • Dragon Ball:
    • Dragon Ball Z: When Goku returns from King Kai's planet, he proceeds to tear Nappa a new one with a somewhat stern look on his face the entire time. The chapter was fittingly called The Quiet Wrath of Son Goku.
    • The Super Saiyan form is typically unlocked after emotional stress and anger reaching peak. Once they do this, the Saiyan becomes truer to their nature, becoming colder and more sadistic, although with enough training these negative traits fade away.
    • Goku describes the Super Saiyan form the first time he reaches it as "a calm quiet heart awakened by intense anger".
    • When Son Gohan hits Super Saiyan 2, he becomes completely calm and completely cruel. He spends several episodes just dodging and parrying Cell's attacks with zero effort, giving him cold gazes in-between. It's more noticeable in the movie Bojack Unbound when he, with some reluctance, reaches Super Saiyan 2 once again. In that state, he's merely advancing towards Bojack at an eerily slow pace. Bojack's minions use a ki-attack that tries to bind him, but he just keeps walking through, not giving a damn, still creepily slow. This was the most frustrating technique Bojack's gang had, deployed with frightening ease, completely paralyzing and sapping energy. Gohan showed it no respect.
    • When Gohan faces off against the Cell Jrs., one of them takes Krillin hostage, threatening to kill him if Gohan tries anything. Gohan raises his hand to kill both Krillin and the Cell Jr., causing it to run away.
    • In the video games, this is one of Gohan's special attacks. The name? Quiet Rage.
    • Future Trunks' final showdown with the Future Androids has him toying with and blasting them out of existence with an almost completely stone-cold demeanour outside of a calm glare.
    • In Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', Vegeta, of all people, takes this tack when it's his turn to fight. Freeza probably shouldn't have called him "Prince of No One" a second beforehand.
    • He also does this again in Dragon Ball Super, as when Frost threatens to poison him, he only bothers holding back only enough to keep himself from killing him and then knocks him to hell and back with one blow. Later, after learning that Goku Black killed Future Bulma and tried to kill Future Trunks, he becomes strangely melancholic and subdued about the matter outwardly, although he's plotting to kill him brutally and savagely, and it's only when he trains for this that the true extent of his rage does become visible.
    • Goku Black mixes this with Faux Affably Evil. He utterly hates mortal life, but he remains completely composed as he vaporises their cities and he can maintain a conversational tone when meeting anyone unfortunate enough to stand before him. When he realizes that he can grow stronger through The Power of Hate, he very matter-of-factly lists his grievances against humans, gods, and his own past self Zamasu before yanking a giant energy scythe out of his hand and cutting a hole in reality itself.
    • Goku's reaction to Goku Black confessing gleefully to him that he had murdered his wife and son while acquiring his body elicits from him the angriest response since his first Super Saiyan transformation, and although he freaks out for several seconds, he quickly becomes focused and controlled in his new goal of killing Goku Black with his bare hands. One moment highlighting this is when he delivers an Offhand Backhand to Future Zamasu with only a scowl to show his desire to see Black dead.
    • When Future Zen'o sees what Infinite Zamasu has done to the Future Trunks timeline (essentially, merged with it and murdered everyone in it), he doesn't bother showing anger. He just states his intention to erase the entire multiverse and Zamasu with it, before following through.
    • And the time Beerus actually does his job as God of Destruction
    Sub!Beerus: "Don't get so cocky. Hakai."
    Dub!Beerus: "Sorry kai but your luck has run out. Hakai."

  • Dr. STONE: Series protagonist Senku usually isn't one to get angry, seeing it as a "distraction". But in the New World arc when Gen and Soyuz arrive and tell him that everyone left behind on the Perseus has been petrified, Senku doesn't say a word and just glares at the camera with his face half in shadow, clearly furious.

  • Elfen Lied: The Diclonius. All of them, and in Lucy's case, all the time. Whenever a Diclonius hits the breaking point they become deadly calm, their eyes become empty, and everything around them dies.

  • In episode 22 of Fairy Tail, after Natsu learns that Lucy has been kidnapped, he captures a mook and drags him across a mountain trail. While dragging the guy, he orders him to reveal where Lucy is being held. When the mook won't answer, Natsu sets him on fire, then calmly declares that if he doesn't answer, the flames won't go out until he's ash.
    • Black Mage Zeref needs only to flash a Death Glare at somebody and announce they've angered him to have everyone on the floor shitting themselves.

  • Circe Augusta von Zerbst, from The Familiar of Zero. Usually hot-blooded, she gets unusually calm and lady-like when angered.

  • Kenshiro of Fist of the North Star does this every single time that there's anything shown between the mook of the week crossing the Moral Event Horizon, and Ken getting into his screaming Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs.

  • Free!:
    • Happens to Miho Amakata when Nagisa suggests her to wear a swimsuit to get more members of the swim club, and at one point, she threatens to quit as the club's supervisor.
    • Gou Matsouka, in a conversation with the above-mentioned Nagisa, he calls her by her first name, and then she sharply corrects him by telling him to call her "Kou", which is accompanied by a plastic smile and awkward silence for a couple of seconds before resuming the discussion.

  • Fruits Basket: When Tohru's Jerkass cousin calls Tohru a "little tramp" in front of Yuki and Kyo, Yuki calmly gets in his face and stuns said cousin and his equally-jerkish parents speechless with a single sentence, in his usual stoic manner:
    Yuki: Don't you ever talk about Miss Honda that way again, you lowlife.

  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • King Bradley is the embodiment of wrath but never seems angry. He swaps between this and Dissonant Serenity. This is because he is the embodiment of WRATH, not rage. The former lasts longer than the latter, and Big Bad is even more long term in his plans.
    • Lust points this out about Roy Mustang when he incinerates her about eight times without even blinking. Later when he takes on Envy he becomes alarmingly less tranquil, almost to the point of crossing his moral event horizon. Yet even when Mustang is visibly and audibly pissed at Envy and becomes a terrifying walking nightmare, Mustang is still capable of rational thoughts, quick and methodical thinking and precise control over his flames.
    • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Izumi Curtis enters South Headquarters and tears the place open with a calm, blank look on her face to retrieve Wrath.
    • An earlier example is when the Elric brothers find out that Shou Tucker painfully, forcefully, and remorselessly fused his dog and his five-year old daughter into a twisted abomination. Ed enters Unstoppable Rage mode and has to be calmed down by his brother, but Al makes it clear that even though he is calm, he is just as close to ripping Tucker a new one.
      • In fact, Ed is so consumed by his rage, all that stops him from beating Tucker to death with his metal arm is said amalgamation of pet and little girl biting his coat and asking him to stop hurting her daddy.
    • In the first episode of the Brotherhood anime, Isaac "the Freezing Alchemist" McDougle figures out through Edward’s automail arm and Al’s soul being bound to a suit of armor that the Elric brothers had attempted human transmutation, and taunts them over it. Ed is generally quick to anger, but this time he doesn't go into an Unstoppable Rage, instead proceeding to silently beat the tar out of Isaac for crossing a line he really shouldn’t have crossed.

  • About 3/5 of the way through King of Braves GaoGaiGar, GGG takes on the first major Big Bad, EI-01, aka Pasder. After being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle, GGG pulls out Projectile X which radically powers up the four mecha in the fight. Right before letting out one of his loudest Hot-Blooded screams and opening the biggest can of whoop-ass in the entire series at that point, Guy Shishioh AND the titular mecha have that look on their faces.

  • Gintama: Whenever Gintoki's Berserk Button (harming his friends) gets triggered, he transforms from lazy layabout to White Demon in an instant.

  • After spending the whole movie, and by extension 2000+ years, gripped in rage Colin from Highlander: The Search for Vengeance finally manages to control his emotions to kill the big bad in a couple of seconds.

  • High School D×D shows this with Kiba as the group storm Diadora's castle to save Asia. They're stopped by Freed Sellzen who, after a grisly transformation, pokes the group with Diadora's involvement with Asia's Dark and Troubled Past. This enrages Issei, but Kiba firmly holds him back, calmly telling him to save his anger for Diadora, and volunteering to end Freed himself, primarily due to his involvement with the Holy Sword Project, and he does in one slash.

  • Hunter × Hunter has done this with a number of characters, such as Gon. Ever since his mentor Kaito was savaged by the Chimera Ants, Gon's been getting progressively more scary quiet, to the point that people will recoil from him when he's just sitting there. After finding out Kaito is Killed Off for Real, Gon has apparently aged ten years and unlocked incredible power.
    • This also happens to Killua during the Chimera Ant arc when he uses Godspeed for the first time on Youpi. He stated very calmly that "He is just releasing stress" before beating up Youpi.

  • In Inu × Boku SS, Soushi does this in episode 3 when two young men are insulting Ririchiyo. After dousing them with his drink, he very calmly, very politely says, "Pardon me, it's just that, you've angered me."

  • Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru is a stoic in all circumstances except where his brother is concerned. His tranquility even when being insulted or having his protectorate attacked is so infamous, deviation results in in-universe comment. When Mouryoumaru tries to press Inuyasha's Berserk Button by insulting Kagura's death, it's Sesshoumaru who snaps; seeing Sesshoumaru's tranquil fury expand into an Unstoppable Rage leaves both Inuyasha's group and Mouryoumaru himself absolutely shocked.

  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's Giorno Giovanna can seem calm at the tensest of moments, but really, he is just plotting your demise in a very sneaky and sometimes quite horrific way. The best example of this is once he gains Gold Experience Requiem and faces off with Diavolo floating in the air with his new Stand.
    • Let's not forget what he did to Cioccolata. He was eerily calm to the entire time he was talking to him, but there was no question Giorno was pissed for what Cioccolata did to the Innocent Bystanders with his Stand. It isn't until the bastard tried to attack him that Giorno unleashes his fury through Gold Experience giving him a 7 page/30 second long No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
    • Jotaro Kujo's defining character trait is this, as he believes showing emotions is unnecessary as people can easily read him just by looking at him. During his fight against DIO, he was notably more furious than usual, with the deaths of Avdol, Kakyoin, and Joseph being pretty huge contributing factors to his infernal rage. He even mentions that DIO would've won if this hadn't been his final straw.
      Jotaro: There's only one reason you lost, DIO. One simple reason... You really pissed me off.
    • In the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders, Polnareff enters this state after accepting Avdol and Iggy died saving him when facing Vanilla Ice for the last time. It's striking, given Polnareff's usual buffoonish and blubbering demeanor, to see him calmly rip into his opponent and then quietly deduce his transformation into a vampire, defeating him with a gentle shove into the setting sun.
      Polnareff: Go to Hell.
    • Josuke of Part 4 enters this state when he's truly angered. Whether it be insulting his trademark hair, or threatening someone close to him, you will regret your crimes as soon as Crazy Diamond gives a furious beatbown. That said, however this is thoroughly averted when Rohan pushes him way past the edge, causing Josuke to be completely consumed by Unstoppable Rage.
    • One of the few times we see Erina Pendleton mad is in Battle Tendency, when a racist customer at a restaurant heaps abuse on the Joestar's friend Smokey (he's black, and this is pre-World War II). Joseph asks if he should ignore it; Erina, visibly seething, gives him the green light to do whatever he feels like to the racist, with the sole exception that he leave the other patrons out of it.

  • Jujutsu Kaisen:

  • Akira Hongo, the YAMI group's "God Fist" from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, has this as his way of showing when he's well and truly pissed off. As Sakaki Shio, Hongo's rival from their teen years, points out while watching Hongo's fight to the death against fellow YAMI master "Demon Fist" Silcardo Junazard, Hongo won't lose control of his emotions when he gets angry — instead, his movements in battle become colder and more precise. Specifically, he attempts to use his hands as stabbing implements multiple times after Junazard insults the memory of Hongo's dead student Sho Kanou.

  • In Kuroko's Basketball, we get to see kindly, blank-faced, pacifistic Kuroko Tetsuya completely enraged all of once. Faced with Kirisaki Dai-Ichi's underhanded tactics and after being talked down to by Hanamiya Makoto, Kuroko sits in the locker room staring at the wall. When we see his expression, his normally blank blue eyes and neutral face are locked into a near-expressionless Death Glare terrifying enough to make even Kagami flinch. When he goes back out onto the court, he almost single-handedly destroys Hanamiya's Spider's Web formation, then proceeds to launch an Ignite Pass so close to Hanamiya's face that he audibly chokes in shock and terror. The scariest part? All of this is done without dropping his usual polite manner of speaking. Kuroko becomes one of the scariest examples on the list without resorting to any actual violence.
    Aomine: "You're going to lose. [...] It's because you made Tetsu angry. That's all."

  • Lyrical Nanoha:

  • This is said to be the highest state of mind for a fighter in Mobile Fighter G Gundam, a serene calm that cannot be broken by the strongest of maelstroms. It is through this rather than his trademark Unstoppable Rage that Domon Kasshu finally manages to become truly worthy of his status.
    • This is a state of mind only — Domon becomes arguably more hotblooded when his Hyper Mode activates. It appears that his is a hot blood tempered controlled, but not stemmed, by calm. It also demonstrated the difference between excitement and flat out anger.

  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: This is Mikazuki's default state when in battle. Not that Mikazuki emotes much anyway, but out of battle he's more relaxed and laid-back. When in battle with an enemy before him, every line in his face seems to be set in stone-cold fury, with a look in his eyes that clearly says anyone obstructing his path will die in short order. It's like watching a berserker, but with no trace of the screaming rage.

  • Kira Yamato's "SEED Mode" in both Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. At first it was a sort of Unstoppable Rage but even after it became this, it is still just as exciting.

  • In Muhyo and Roji, Tohru Muhyo tends to comically fly off the handle with relatively little provocation, especially when his assistant Jiro "Roji" Kusano gets on his nerves. However, there are times when he gets truly angry, like when Roji goes off to confront a spirit without Muhyo and makes a mistake with his magical pen — trying to save Nana with pre-prepared seals, not knowing that seals only take effect just after being written — that nearly gets Nana killed. Muhyo then delivers the following line without raising his voice, strongly implying that he'll fire Roji if he makes the same mistake again.
    So you can use the talismans. However, you acted without authorization, and Nana almost died because of your actions. Magical law doesn't exist to end up costing people their lives. It exists to save them. So make certain you always remember that, Jiro Kusano. You wish to continue practicing magical law, right?

  • My Hero Academia:
    • Present Mic is normally a loud, bombastic, energetic guy who talks a lot. During the USJ Villain attack, though, all this changes. He spots student Tentacole carrying off a bloodied, barely conscious Aizawa, who’s one of his best friends. There are no jokes, no funny stuff, just a supremely ticked off Mic calmly stepping forward from the newly arrived pro heroes, taking a deep breath, and unleashing a Super-Scream so loud that it brings down half the building and knocks all the villains off their feet.
    • Aizawa is a master of this. He can intimidate even villains with just his signature Death Glare Power Nullifier without saying much or visibly doing much. Tick him off even more though, and he is definitely a powerful, skilled fighter who can quickly beat your ass.
    • You will know All Might is fuming inside when he stops smiling. Izuku becomes apprehensive upon noticing this during the USJ Incident.

  • Naruto:
    • Kakashi. After Zabuza completely disregards Haku's sacrifice and attempts to cut right through him to get at his enemy, Kakashi decides It's Personal now. He proceeds to destroy the previously impregnable Zabuza in four economical moves.
    • When Naruto faces the Filler Villain Fūka, he accidentally cuts off a small part of her hair at one point. This sends Fūka, who up until then had simply teased and toyed with Naruto, into a quiet fury for damaging her most important feature. She barely keeps her rage in check before screaming he will pay for it and uses a paralysis jutsu to turn his legs to stone to trap him. She appears to calm down immediately after this, smiling happily at him and speaking in a gentle, almost loving tone, that now the two of them should forgive each other and make up by sharing a "nice hot kiss" together. But it is clear she is still mad and wants him dead when she tells him in a dark tone that as payment for the kiss she'll take his soul, and violently grabs his shoulders to stop him from struggling against it.
    • After Pain destroyed the village, he came on the receiving end of Sage Mode Naruto's Tranquil Fury. By the time he managed to get control of the battle again, Naruto had destroyed five of his bodies. Pain finally pressed Naruto's Berserk Button and triggered his Unstoppable Rage later, when he nearly killed Hinata right in front of Naruto.
    • One way or another, it seems Zabuza is Kakashi's Berserk Button. In one manga arc Zabuza and Haku's resurrected bodies were taken over to fight in the war and their minds blanked out for greater efficiency. This disrespect to their friendship and sacrifice is the final straw...
      "Look, it takes a lot to get me worked up, but this time my boiling point's as low as it's ever been. The Copy Ninja Kakashi, the man who copied one thousand techniques… is about to go on a rampage!"
    • We never see Jiraiya get truly angry during the series, but the few times he gets close to it, he hints at this trope. When Jiraiya and Tsunade talk about Orochimaru's offer, Jiraiya very coldly and calmly tells Tsunade (who, by the way, he is in love with) that if she ever betrays the Leaf Village, he will kill her.
    • In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Hinata Hyuga. Suffice to say that, to the guy who ripped out Hanabi's eyes, her response is to calmly say that she's taking them back, and do so.

  • Negi from Negima! Magister Negi Magi spends most of Chapter 315 in this state after he sees that Quartum has cut Chachamaru in half. He curb stomps Quartum, culminating in Quartum being ripped in half.
    • Back in chapter 195, Negi had a truly epic moment of tranquil fury when he saw Jerkass Tohsaka use a Shock Collar to punish a student of Negi's who had been Made a Slave. The page starts with a full-blown Death Glare, and ends with Negi, who usually speaks politely even to his enemies, giving a quiet, deadly, "Shut up."

  • Whereas Rei II of Neon Genesis Evangelion was quiet but obedient to orders, even starting to show signs of a Defrosting Ice Queen, her successor Rei III harbors an unspoken resentment toward Gendo, and by the end, stops him from carrying out Instrumentality on his terms, instead choosing to give that power to Shinji. Despite this, her betrayal of Gendo is carried out in the same Emotionless Girl tenor that Ayanami is famous for.

  • One Piece:
    • Main protagonist Monkey D. Luffy is a master of this, especially in the original Japanese. He's a bouncy young man with a wide grin, and often keeps an exuberant demeanor even while fighting enemies. When he stops smiling and goes quiet, it's a sure sign that whoever he's facing is about to be very, very hurt.
      • During his fight with Arlong, Luffy winds up in the room where Nami was forced to make her maps. He's initially confused until he notices a bloodstain on a pen, at which point he goes very still and quiet as the reality of what this room represents to Nami sinks in. After Arlong finishes his speech about how he will "use" Nami, Luffy calmly sets the pen down, gently places his hand on Arlong's sword, and then shatters the blade bare-handed.
      • Perhaps the best example of this is during his fight with Rob Lucci. After fighting a mostly even battle (with the assistance of Gear Second), Lucci brings out an attack that causes severe internal damage, even to a Rubberman like Luffy. Then he hits him with it AGAIN. Luffy is near death, until Usopp gives him his own speech, and he gets back up, glaring down Lucci whilst saying, in a completely calm tone, 'Until I beat you, I am not going down again.'
      • Another memorable example is when the World Noble Charloss shoots Hachi, leaving him bleeding out on the steps of a slave auction. Luffy adopts a Death Glare, but otherwise forgoes his usual Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Instead, he calmly walks up the stairs, dodging bullets with almost no visible movement (without Gear Second), and punches Charloss (without even the use of his rubber) hard enough to send him across the building. This, all the while knowing that striking a World Noble will summon an Admiral to attack them.
    • Whitebeard is known for going apeshit over anyone harming his "sons". Killing one of them is a different story. In fact, it's this trope when Akainu kills Portgas D. Ace, and Whitebeard silently but brutally punishes him by using a Megaton Punch and sending him through a fault with his earthquake-powers. The only words he said were after Akainu burnt half his face off: "I'm just getting started". Fittingly, the chapter was called Silent Rage. Of course the Marines promptly panic knowing what kind of force Whitebeard tends to be.

  • Ouran High School Host Club: Honey Senpai is normally depicted as cheerful. However, when he is threatened or refused something, his face will become extremely calm and he will most likely attack, even if it isn't a big deal like when Mori Senpai refuses him cake. He is also shown to be powerful enough to take down over 100 men with minimal effort and help.

  • Overlord:

  • In Persona 4: The Animation, Yu prefers to keep his emotions under wraps, so when he does get mad, it's this trope. One of the more chilling examples comes in Episode 23, when he drags Namatame over to the TV and nearly throws him into it (essentially trapping him in a Death World) without a hint of emotion on his face.

  • Diamond of Pokémon Special. Whenever he finds himself with less than savory characters, he will simply state that he doesn't approve of what they're doing before fighting. What really stands out though, is when he tells Pearl that he has his own mind and refuses to be bossed around without ever raising his voice.

  • Princess Mononoke had a good example with this when Ashitaka simply walks up to the dueling Mononoke and Eboshi — surrounded by the blue-black glow of the demon inside him, but still calm nonetheless. Which was preceded by a Foe-Tossing Charge... while he leisurely walked forward through the crowd.

  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: When she's not totally emotionless, this is Homura Akemi's default state. Of particular note is the final few minutes of Episode 3, where, having realised that Mami is dead, she coldly disposes of the Witch, and then coldly chews out Madoka and Sayaka for ever even considering becoming magical girls, leaving the latter two in a shattered state.

  • When switching on his blue lantern, Randel Oland from Pumpkin Scissors enters a trance that focuses him single-mindedly on his goal, making him impervious to pain and turning him into a fearless, heartless, lethal automaton. He only retains enough humanity to know when to switch it off, and then he returns to normal.

  • Ranma ½ offers the Three-Year Smile of Death, a terrifying technique of the Chinese Amazons where they store their anger at a target, hide it behind a smile, and then attack him in small but painful and potentially lethal ways that seem accidents for three years. Mousse reveals the existence of this technique after he tripped and had a rocket go off in Shampoo's face and she didn't beat the crap out of him but forgave him with a smile, and shortly after that discovers all his spare glasses and weapons have been mysteriously broken, but it turned out Shampoo doesn't even know of the Three-Year Smile of Death, she had just accidentally broken the glasses and weapons and so when Mousse had that rocket go off in her face she forgave him with a smile-that once. The next time he annoyed her in the attempt of breaking the technique, she beat him up as usual.

  • In The Rose of Versailles, Marie-Antoinette rarely if ever loses her temper in public (she'll then vent in private, where her public image won't be affected). Best shown at her trial, when she's accused of having sexually molested her own son and the only hint of just how furious she is is the Death Glare she levels on the accuser and the judge as she declares "If I have not replied it is because Nature itself refuses to respond to such a charge laid against a mother" and almost sets a lynching mob on the accuser.

  • Kenshin's golden-eyed "Battousai" state in Rurouni Kenshin is his state of Tranquil Fury. He's not necessarily mad, he's just done playing nice and is now ready to beat you to a pulp.
    • Though as the original Hitokiri Battousai he was more of a "kill off my emotion for efficiency" empathic killer.
    • Kenshin loses it in one story arc where the cast attacks a rich mogul who says that his only motivation for doing what he does is plain and simple: Money, saying that it can do anything. After he kills the henchmen that have turned against him with a gatling gun, Kenshin runs at him. Due to the efforts of said henchmen, the gun jams, and the guy starts begging for mercy. Kenshin replies by screaming "If you value your life, PRAY TO YOUR BELOVED MONEY!!" before smashing the guy's face in.
    • And again in the Kyoto Arc. During the fight with Chou "Sword Hunter" Sawagejou, Chou makes as if to impale an infant on his sword, in an effort to break Kenshin's concentration. It works. Sort of. Kenshin does indeed lose his focus, but instead of forgetting about Chou's special attack, Kenshin instead forgets that he doesn't want Chou's cervical vertebrae to part ways. He was only saved by the fact that the new sword was, unbeknownst to everyone, a sakabatou. Even then, the sheer force of the blow might have Darth Mauled him anyway(and would certainly have snapped his spine), if not for the BFS wrapped around his torso like a bandage.

  • Sailor Moon examples:
    • The anime has the protagonist in this mode as she confronts Queen Beryl in the final scene of Season 1 after the deaths of her fellow Senshi. Dub hate aside, Sailor Moon's voice actress Terri Hawkes evokes this powerfully:
      "I hear you, Luna. I am not afraid anymore."
    • The manga has a scene with the usually very emotive Sailor Venus: Queen Beryl was about to strangle Sailor Moon with her hair when Venus suddenly became very calm, announced that now she was furious, and then first cut Beryl's hair before cutting her belly open with a poisonous sword.

  • In Saiyuki, Stepford Smiler Hakkai is very good at this, able to carry on polite conversations as he is engaged in battle. But his past life Tenpou in the Gaiden manga raises this to a very creepy new level, politely saying "excuse me" before he calmly punches his superior's lights out, and in the battle where he sacrifices his life, engages in all manner of meaningless prattle that is unrelated to the battle at hand.

  • Samurai Champloo:
    • Mugen is usually crazy energetic, especially when he's enraged. However, after being betrayed, blown up, and left for dead by his childhood friends in Episode 13, he tracks them down and eerily limps towards them. when one of his old friends tries to attack, he immediately cuts him down in a few choice strokes, all with NO emotion.

  • In Sekirei, Yume seems rather calm when she beats up two Disciplinary Squad members effortlessly. Miya, the landlady of Maison Izumo, also seems rather calm as she trains Musubi and Tsukiumi in her backyard.

  • In Soul Eater Black*Star, a Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero, is most dangerous when he's not yelling at you.

  • Anya of Spy X Family normally wears her heart on her sleeve, to the point where the usual character popularity poll was replaced by "Which is your favorite Anya expression". On her first day of school, she gets teased and taunted by her classmates, but she doesn't drop her smile. Then they make fun of her father. There is a slight change in her eyes and then she delivers a punch so powerful even she is shocked.

  • In Tenchi Muyo!, if Tenchi gets mad at you, expect him to do this. A good example is in the manga series: Washu had UnPersoned herself to protect him and the others from an old robotic assistant that Dr. Clay took over. However, when Ryoko's sweeter space pirate clone Minagi is able to rattle a few things and they go to Washu's side, the scientist is forced to undo things and while Tenchi does hug her, the look on his face makes it clear she made a terrible decision doing that.

  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime:

  • Toriko: Toriko got into this mode for a brief moment when Komatsu's heart was literally smashed by Teppei and then Toriko proceeded to kill every NEO member on the spot. After that he got into a Unstoppable Rage against Teppei.

  • In Tsukihime, Shiki's occasional bouts of homicidal insanity come in a variety of flavors, depending on what triggers them. His usual version tends to be a "cold" fury, and he rarely if ever falls prey to a "hot" fury.
    • There's a convenient scale on Arcueid's path: Killing Arcueid? Definitely heated fury. Killing Nero? Middle-ground. Killing Roa? Pure calm.

  • Makoto in TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- gets a doozy of this after some hyuman adventurers attempt to pillage the demiplane, causing several deaths. Foolishly setting off an explosively charged Draupnir ring kills two of them and throws the third into a Mist Gate. Makoto catches up to her:
    Makoto: At this moment. From the bottom of my heart. The depths of my soul. I wish I’d killed you when I had the chance. (proceeds to No-Sell her sword strike with Defense Kai and cut off both her forearms with a single swipe from an orc shortsword.) You deserve this. (stabs her in the throat, killing her.)

  • One episode of Urusei Yatsura had Lum, Ran, and Benten mention how their friend Oyuki never gets angry, at the end she scolds her pet lemming for running away, her voice remains calm but things around begin to freeze due to her ice powers.

  • YuYu Hakusho:
    • Sensui (the real one). It's a really good idea to shake his hand.
    • Also, Kurama. He never loses his reserve, but you can always tell when he's mad. Yeah, you can definitely always tell.

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