History Main / PhantomZone

* The Midnight Channel in ''{{Persona 4}}'' is a spooky, fog-filled dimension that exists inside televisions. ''{{Persona 3}}'' has a Phantom ''Time'' in the form of the Dark Hour, 60 extra minutes between one day and the next that most people can't perceive.

* A nameless, [[CosmicHorror Lovecraftian]] dimension exists in ''Dominic Deegan'' that has, so far, been used as a convenient way to get rid of villains so they can return later. Although [[NaughtyTentacles the indiscriminate infiltration of tentacles into their various orifices]] seems to be a bad side effect of staying in this dimension for too long.

* The Ghost Zone from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' (pictured).

** Before that it was shown in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' as an prison for criminals too dangerous to be kept on Krypton... and after Krypton was gone, their sentences all became permanent. Superman lets one Kryptonian out because she's (supposedly) served her sentence and when he refuses her advances she lets her old boss out so they can conquer Earth.

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* The Noise Plane and Imaginary Plane in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''.
* Eternity Space in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' more or less works this way, though it's technically already not involved in the story any more by the time the game begins.

* The boss battle with Giygas in ''Earthbound''.
* The entire plot of ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Subspace Emissary]]'' revolves around the titular subspace.
* Your final battle against Lavos in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' happens in one of these, with backgrounds from various eras overlayed with a lightshow.
** Also, when you enter Lavos's shell, if you save, it has "???" as the time period. Fights with the Mammon Machine and Lavos's Shell also happen in some kind of a lightshow.

* The Midnight Channel in ''{{Persona 4}}'' is a spooky, fog-filled dimension that exists inside televisions. ''{{Persona 3}}'' has a Phantom ''Time'' in the form of the Dark Hour, 60 extra minutes between one day and the next that most people can't perceive.
* Purgatorio in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has some elements of this. Anyone in it is InvisibleToNormals, but it ''does'' allow people in it (such as the title character) to interact with the real world to some degree. In fact, it's the only place where the demons of Inferno and the angels of Paradiso can interact with the mortal world.
* In ''GuildWars'', the [[CrystalDragonJesus crystal dragon Glint]] hides inside a grain of sand... ''in the middle of a desert''. It just so happens this magical grain of sand contains a PhantomZone where Glint makes her home. The place is pretty huge and includes six areas, one of which houses Glint herself. You can even optionally fight Glint as a BonusBoss. She's arguably tougher than most endgame bosses.
[[/folder]]

* The webcomic ''[[http://www.captainsnes.com Captain SNES]]'' shows "What a RPG battle looks like from outside".

* ''Series/VRTroopers'' had the Battle Grid for when they wanted to deal with [[{{Mooks}} the Skugs]] in relative privacy. For the actual MonsterOfTheWeek, the usual MO was for JB to return them to {{Cyberspace}}, which had a suspicious resemblance to ''SuperSentai's'' BBCQuarry (''every time'').
* ''Series/UltramanNexus''. Ultraman creates a so-called "Metafield" that surrounds him and the MonsterOfTheWeek, creating a pocket dimension with a weird-colored sky and a rocky, craggy ground. In an interesting twist, the evil counterparts of Ultraman, [[SarcasmMode subtly]] named Faust and Mephisto, can transform this Metafield into the "Dark Field," a pocket dimension with a darker sky (natch!) that weakens Ultraman slightly. Also, when the battles do threaten a real-world city, it becomes a major plot point.

* The ''{{Supergirl}}'' movie has the title character thrown into the Phantom Zone by her nemesis Selena using the power of the Omegahedron, which strips her of her powers in the process. Zaltar, who came to the Phantom Zone as a self-imposed exile for losing the Omegahedron in the first place, pulls a HeroicSacrifice to allow her to escape and regain her powers.

* The Twilight in ''Literature/NightWatch''.
* The NeverNever in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''

* We may as well put the trope namer in here. The Phantom Zone from the ''{{Superman}}' comics, the harsh dimension to which Kryptonian criminals are banished. [[SealedEvilInACan Sometimes they don't stay]].
** Creator/GrantMorrison's ''{{JLA}}'' introduces the Still Zone, where the League battle the White Martians and, later, Prometheus. According to these stories, the Still Zone (or, as Prometheus call it, the Ghost Zone), which the White Martians use in place of {{Hyperspace}}, is both the Phantom Zone and (according to the angel Zauriel) Limbo...and probably also the Stasis Zone that was at the time standing in for the Phantom Zone in [[ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} M'Onel's]] origin and the Buffer Zone that [[IntangibleMan Bgzltians phase into]]. A more recent story adds [[TimeMaster Epoch's]] "timeless void" and ComicBook/DCOneMillion's "tesseract space" to the list.

* The GrantMorrison ''Marvel Boy'' series had the "pocket battlefield", a small cube that essentially does to physical space what the "incoming games" did to Mainframe on ''{{Reboot}}''; impose a virtual yet tangible interactive environment on the local reality, but the twist being that said environment gives anyone in it ''except'' the designated user a major case of the heebie-jeebies, giving him an advantage over his foes.

* A fox spirit in LightNovel/{{Kanokon}} uses these to provide privacy when she attempts to have sex with the show's protagonist. At one point the zone breaks down, returning them both to the middle of a crowded street in front of about fifty of their schoolmates.
* The [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne Alice Game]] in ''RozenMaiden'' is fought in ''N-space'', while the series otherwise takes place primarily in a single BuildingOfAdventure.
* [[KagihimeMonogatari The Merveille Space in Kagihime]]. [[spoiler: It becomes a plot point because Aruto is the second male to be able to enter it apart from Alternate L. Takion.]]
* The Kekkai Fields in ''[[{{X1999}} X/1999]]''. An interesting thing about this example is that if a "good" character wins a battle in a Kekkai, all the destruction is undone...but if the "evil" character wins, the destruction becomes reality.
** Wasn't it if the field's ''creator'' (who tended to be the good guy anyway)was killed the damage became real?
* Similarly, the Barriers in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', which works by displacing magic users into a contained Phantom Zone, though damages to the environment are still retained and need to be fixed by TheFederation afterwards. Useful in the first two seasons where the setting was the non-magical earth, so only the magical heroes would be trapped with the current threat. Nigh useless in the third season and beyond, where the setting is Mid-Childa [[EveryoneIsASuper where everyone is a magic-user]], including the {{Innocent Bystander}}s.
* Seal of Suppression (Fuzetsu) from ''ShakuganNoShana''. Stains everything red, everyone outside forgets that the sealed area exists and avoids it subconsciously, and lets the Flame Hazes and Denizens wreak as much havoc as necessary within its limits.

* ''GaoGaiGar'''s Dividing Driver created a pocket dimension where the HumongousMecha could fight the MonsterOfTheWeek without the property damage usually associated.
* Aversion: The dream world of ''{{Yumeria}}'' looks like a PhantomZone, but as Mone's appearance in the real world at the end of the first episode attests, there's a very real connection between the two.
* Closed Space in ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'', where giant ethereal beings known as Celestials rampage about destroying everything. No damage is reflected in the real world, but the Celestials still need to be destroyed in order to destroy the Closed Space and prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* In one episode of the OVER arc in ''BoboboboBobobo'', Bo-bobo, Don Patchi, and Tokoro Tennosuke [[FusionDance combine]] into "Bobopatchnosuke" to defeat a trio of oddball ninjas. He does so by pulling them into an alternate dimension called "Majide Time" ("Maji de?" roughly translates as "seriously?" in Japanese), where he performs attacks that are even more bizarre than normal, growing more powerful as his thoroughly confused opponents repeatedly shout "Maji de?!"
* In ''{{Pretear}}'', Shin, who is too young to fight anyway, has the job of setting up the zone where the outside world can't be influenced or damaged and then watching as the grown-ups take care of business.

* An interesting version occurs in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. The local MadScientist rigged up an entire town, sent it to the afterlife, and created an exact copy of the town, and set it up where the original was, in order to attempt to fool the BigBad, and also to prevent people from dying while the Shinigami and Hollows are fighting each other. How the scientist prepared for people trying to enter/leave the town while this switch is in place is never explained.
** Leaving is no problem - the inhabitants are all asleep (even the spiritually powerful ones, except maybe Kurosaki Sr. Entering... well, maybe [[HandWave it's a Sunday]].
*** Soul Society has devices that can alter memories so who's to say they don't have a people repellant device.
* ''ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'' - One technique simply creates an area where people are somehow absent; another employs a "sides of a coin" metaphor that prevents people on one side (like magicians) from interfering with those on another (those who aren't involved).
** The distortion created from the clash between various supernatural powers in Baggage City produces one of these, which drew in the people involved in the battle and also made tragedy more likely to occur. It was engineered by GREMLIN as an experiment into Holism and its existence proven when it was shattered by the [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] with Touma's appearance.

* In ''MahouSenseiNegima'', Evangeline is able to create one of these with her magic, transporting herself and the victim to her special resort. Naturally, [[YearInsideHourOutside only seconds actually pass while this is happening]].
** Later, [[spoiler: we meet two of [[ThePsychoRangers Fate's minions]], Koyomi, who has some power over time and Tamaki, who has some power over space, by combining their abilities can create one of these which they can trap enemies in. Its' AchillesHeel was physical contact with the user, so it didn't last ([[DefeatByModesty one can't become distracted when using magic]])]].
** There's also one contained in Eva's BlackMagic scroll.
* The HumongousMecha of ''[[MachineRobo Sortie! Machine Robo Rescue]]'' have the ability to create special fields known simply as Zones to contain any enemies or obstacles that might get in the way of their rescue efforts.
* Zero Time in ''StarDriver''.
* The witches of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' hang out in bizarre "barriers"[[note]]"sealed space" would be a more accurate translation, but "barrier" is what everyone uses...[[/note]] that are only accessible in a small area, and the entrance is InvisibleToNormals. But normal people can still get sucked into them, usually to their doom. [[spoiler:Walpurgisnacht is so powerful that it doesn't need a barrier, so it rips the city to bits instead.]]

* Subverted in the {{Deconstruction}} of the mecha genre that is ''{{Bokurano}}''. The fights between the giant robots cause exactly as much damage as one would imagine. Cities are destroyed, thousands of innocents are crushed, etc.

* The Class Cards in ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'' hide in darkened replicas of portions of the real world, much like Closed Space in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', which collapse and vanish shortly after the card is captured. It's a good thing the collateral damage isn't transferred to reality, because some of the fights cause extreme environmental devastation.
* Rider's Reality Marble in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' generates these. [[spoiler:[[AchillesHeel Ultimately leads to his own destruction]], as it allows Archer to use his world-destroying weapon without damaging the real world.]]

* ''{{Supreme}}'' (the good AlanMoore version) has Looking-Glass Land, literally the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis same world visited by Alice]], but on a different continent of that planet, used to exile the criminals no normal jail could hold.

The name comes from an alternate dimension in {{the DCU}}, where Krypton sent its condemned criminals; they didn't die, but they were almost completely unable to influence the world outside. Much like Australia.

* Timestop Barriers (Fuzetsu) from ''ShakuganNoShana''.

** GrantMorrison's ''{{JLA}}'' introduces the Still Zone, where the League battle the White Martians and, later, Prometheus. According to these stories, the Still Zone (or, as Prometheus call it, the Ghost Zone), which the White Martians use in place of {{Hyperspace}}, is both the Phantom Zone and (according to the angel Zauriel) Limbo...and probably also the Stasis Zone that was at the time standing in for the Phantom Zone in [[ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} M'Onel's]] origin and the Buffer Zone that [[IntangibleMan Bgzltians phase into]]. A more recent story adds [[TimeMaster Epoch's]] "timeless void" and DCOneMillion's "tesseract space" to the list.

* Rider's Reality Marble ''LightNovel/FateZero'' generates these. [[spoiler:[[AchillesHeel Ultimately leads to his own destruction]], as it allows Archer to use his world-destroying weapon without damaging the real world.]]

* The witches of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' hang out in bizarre "barriers"[[note]]"sealed space" would be a more accurate translation, but "barrier" is what everyone uses...[[/note]] that are only accessible in a small area, and the entrance is InvisibleToNormals.

** The Americanized version, ''KamenRiderDragonKnight,'' has this element, but the mirror dimension is a ParallelUniverse named Ventara that was once populated until the BigBad came to town, and the monsters (except for the ones the Riders are contracted to) all belong to him. There's also a Phantom Zone in the true Superman-form: for NeverSayDie purposes, defeated Riders don't die, but are sucked into the "advent void," never to return.

* The witches of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' hang out in bizarre "barriers"[[hottip:*:"sealed space" would be a more accurate translation, but "barrier" is what everyone uses...]] that are only accessible in a small area, and the entrance is InvisibleToNormals.

* ''UltramanNexus''. Ultraman creates a so-called "Metafield" that surrounds him and the MonsterOfTheWeek, creating a pocket dimension with a weird-colored sky and a rocky, craggy ground. In an interesting twist, the evil counterparts of Ultraman, [[SarcasmMode subtly]] named Faust and Mephisto, can transform this Metafield into the "Dark Field," a pocket dimension with a darker sky (natch!) that weakens Ultraman slightly. Also, when the battles do threaten a real-world city, it becomes a major plot point.
* Battles in ''KamenRiderRyuki'' take place in a "Mirror Dimension" that is populated by ravenous monsters. This dimension can be accessed through any kind of reflective surface.

* A slightly ironic use in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', where {{Batman}} becomes disgruntled with {{Superman}} after he sends Doomsday into the literal Phantom Zone. The plot really isn't trying to cover up the fact Batman's anger is treating it as giving someone an actual death sentence.

* The NeverNever in ''TheDresdenFiles''

* ''VRTroopers'' had the Battle Grid for when they wanted to deal with [[{{Mooks}} the Skugs]] in relative privacy. For the actual MonsterOfTheWeek, the usual MO was for JB to return them to {{Cyberspace}}, which had a suspicious resemblance to ''SuperSentai's'' BBCQuarry (''every time'').

[[caption-width-right:350:His parents built a very strange machine; it was [[AnotherDimension designed to view]] [[PhantomZone a world unseen]].]]

* ''AstroCity'''s Samaritan has access to such a dimesion, but rather than use it for criminals or epic battles, he uses it as... [[MundaneUtility a storage closet]], mainly holding all the awards and plaques he regularly receives. It's also a convenient place to change his clothes when no phone booth is available.

* Purgatorio in ''{{Bayonetta}}'' has some elements of this. Anyone in it is InvisibleToNormals, but it ''does'' allow people in it (such as the title character) to interact with the real world to some degree. In fact, it's the only place where the demons of Inferno and the angels of Paradiso can interact with the mortal world.