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Paper Fan of Doom

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It's just an ordinary, if large, paper fan — accordion-pleated white paper, taped at one end to form a handle, but some characters wield them the way others do the dreaded Hyperspace Mallet, and get much the same results — the unfortunate target usually goes rolling down the street from the force of the blow.

Sometimes used as a symbol of dubious authority, the paper fan (or harisen in Japanese) has roots in the Japanese equivalent of vaudeville comedy, particularly of the slapstick variety — and like an actual slap stick it makes a lot of noise with little real hurt. It is the tool of a tsukkomi, or "straight man", of a standard two-man comedy team in a kind of routine common to the Kansai region called manzai; it's used to upbraid the other member of the team (the buffoonish boke) when he says or does something foolish. Naturally, this has been carried right over into anime and, being a tradition stemming from the Kansai region, it should be noted that, usually, either the wielder or the target are The Idiot from Osaka.

This may go back even further though, since fans with sharpened metal ribs were allegedly used as weapons of war and assassination, being particularly suited to the latter due to ease of disguise. (In fact; there are arts about using fans, as well as fans made for weapons). For such weapons, see Combat Hand Fan, though these two tropes can overlap.

A similar western version is the archetypal rolled up newspaper. Compare Dope Slap. If the paper fan is used as an actual weapon, see Combat Hand Fan.

Has nothing to do with the dangers of fans with exposed rotating blades.


Examples

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Haruko in AIR uses one to reinforce that she likes to be called by her first name.
    • Uraha also uses one in the feudal arc.
  • In Attack on Titan: Junior High Levi wields paper fans instead of blades.
  • In Blue Exorcist's Anime, during an early filler episode, Rin briefly suddenly has one in his hands to whack his brother Yukio for being an idiot and ultimately being responsible for the current problem re demon that runs the dorm's kitchen is trying to cook a bunch of girls who, through a misunderstanding, smashed some bento he made with Rin.
  • Inagawa Yuu from Comic Party is also a fan-wielder. And similar to Tomoko above, she also weaponizes it in Party's Breaker: The Queen Of Heart 2001, and later when she appears as an Assist Character in Aquapazza.
  • The third Crayo N Shin Chan movvie, Crayon Shin-chan: Unkokusai's Ambitionhave the Nohara family traveling back to Feudal Era Japan to battle the titular villain, Lord Unkokusai, whose sole weakness is a sacred giant paper fan.
  • Daitarn 3 carries two of these. Note that Daitarn 3 is actually a Humongous Mecha.
    • And Daitarn uses them for defense. Which may or may not be more outlandish.
    • In Super Robot Wars, Daitarn 3 can use said paper fan to either block attacks in defense by opening the fan, or use it like a sword to block sword attacks and missiles. Note that Daitain already has a pair of swords and it still uses the paper fan like this.
  • Rahzel uses one against the other Alzeid when he comes to her school and gets in a fight with Fay in Dazzle.
  • In episode 18 of Excel♡Saga, Sumiyoshi's secret weapon as part of the Municipal Force Daitenzin is a harisen, called the "Giga Paper Fan" in the dub by ADV Films.
  • Suzuna from Eyeshield 21 used a fan twice in one episode on her brother. Well, he's an idiot, why shouldn't she?
  • Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA: Chloe Traces a paper fan and smacks Gilgamesh after she and Bazett find that he slept through Illya getting kidnapped and then didn't want to do anything after being told.
  • In Full Metal Panic!!, Kaname acquires a paper fan from episode 8 and onward, and relentlessly whacks Sousuke with it in order to teach him how to be a civilized civilian.
    • Her use of said paper fan becomes much more frequent in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. And boy does Sousuke start to fear it; on one occasion, the mere sight of it was enough to shut him up.
  • In Genshiken, Saki Kasukabe's frequent role as the tsukkomi to the rest of the group's boke is lampshaded when the group makes her a paper fan.
  • In Haré+Guu, Guu produces a fan and pummels Wadi for his incessant laughing, then swings it threateningly like a baseball bat.
  • Sakuya Aizawa from Hayate the Combat Butler doesn't just wield an ordinary paper fan — it's a telescoping one that can be reduced to the size of a golf ball and stowed in her pocket.
  • In Inuyasha, Kagura the Wind Sorceress uses a fan to assist her in summoning her various wind magics.
  • In Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Ishigami makes fun of Kaguya and Fujiwara's breasts (nonexistant and comically large respectively, in his opinion)...while the girls are standing right behind him. Fujiwara responds by crafting a paper fan on the spot, then furiously whacking Ishigami upside the head until she's out of breath.
  • Mei Mer's mother in K.O. Beast uses a Paper Fan of Doom as a greeting.
  • During an episode of K-On!, Yui and Azusa perform a Boke and Tsukkomi Routine before a show with just the two of them. Azusa, as the tsukkomi, "corrects" Yui's blunders as the boke with a large fan.
  • Rika uses one sometimes in Kuroko's Basketball.
  • Used and referred to by name often in Love Lab, with most subtitles translating it as "a slapstick". The very shy and clumsy Suzune Tanahashi comments that her only real talent is to make these very fast, and almost every character gets the fans from her.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT gives us Alicia and her Paper Fan Smash, where she transforms her Magic Wand into a paper fan to smack a target hella far.
  • Arumi from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi beats Sasshi mercilessly with her paper fan, but then, Sasshi's a moron.
  • Hidaka Azumi from Mirumo de Pon! also use one to beat up her fairy Yatch.
  • Naruto:
    • Temari's attacks are all centered around the giant fan she carries.
    • And now there's a slightly more literal version called Bashosen. Powerful, but it takes a heavy toll on whoever uses it, I.E. Chakra Drain. (Tenten is the last one seen holding it. Make of that what you will.)
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Asuna has a ridiculously enormous harisen as her magical weapon, which dispels summoned enemies in addition to packing a comedic wallop. It can turn into a BFS when things get serious.
    • In a lighter vein, Chao and Setsuna evoke the manzai routine twice (complete with harisen) during the Mahora Festival arc, when Chao tries to explain that she's a Martian.
  • Nodame Cantabile has Etou Kouzou, one of the teachers, carry one of these around at all times to the point where he is referred to as Harisen-sensei by the students. He later gives up his harisen in order to get Nodame to come to her lessons, however.
  • Pictured is Senoo Aiko from Ojamajo Doremi.
  • Kanou uses this to reign in Kaoruko when the otaku gets a little too flamboyant in Okane ga Nai.
  • Kuromi from Onegai My Melody loves to smack Baku with her fan. Some people compare them to a comedy duo. In one episode, Baku gives her a golden fan for her birthday and she vents her rage on him through it.
  • The women of the Rainsworth House in PandoraHearts are fond of this. Break frequently makes himself available for Sharon to practice on.
  • In one episode of Pokémon: The Original Series ("The Purr-fect Hero"), Misty convinces the boys to do what she wants by beating them with a fan. Jessie has also been known to use a fan on her Team Rocket partners.
    • In another episode called "The Tower of Terror," a Gengar also uses a paper fan to hit Ash in the back of the head. Said Gengar does the same to his buddy Haunter in the face. Both actions were learned from a late-night slapstick comedy TV show.
  • Played with a bit in Princess Tutu: Ahiru (or Duck, whatever) blocks a sword with a fan.
  • As it's a common tool in rakugo already, Rakugo Tennyo Oyui has Enchou and Yui using a precise, strong paper fan that, if given significant height, can let Yui slice through a black dragon.
  • Ranma from Ranma ½ countered a punch from Happosai with a paper fan and used a fan to blow powder/incense back into peoples faces.
  • In perhaps the deadliest example of the harisen, Anita King from R.O.D the TV (the TV sequel to Read or Die) uses one much of the time. This coupled with Anita being a Paper User and her own not-inconsiderable strength means each hit with the fan can carry the force of a sledgehammer, or, at least, a lil harder than a normal paper fan, when the target isn't an enemy, but her ditz of a sister, who blew the food money on books.
  • The priest Genjou Sanzo in Saiyuki exercises his moral and scholastic authority over Son Goku by hitting him with a fan. Gojyo's not exactly exempt, either.
    • Lampshaded in the sixth episode when Gojyo, faced with the wrath of the fan, exclaims "where did that paper fan come from, anyway"?
  • The primary weapon of Sanada Yukimura in Samurai Girls. In her Master Samurai form, it even has wind powers.
  • Mai Otsuka from School Rumble.
  • In Slam Dunk, Ayako the manager girl usually smacks Sakuragi, his friends and/or Miyagi with her paper fan.
  • In the first episode of Strawberry Marshmallow when the girls are making a birthday present for Nobue the one who falls asleep gets hit with a paper fan (they even keep a tally of paper fan hits). Also, in the Encore OVA Miu's Ironic Hell involves making a fool of herself and not getting hit by a paper fan for it.
  • Kosuzu Sakurazaki/Tanpopo of Dokkoida?! is a cute little schoolgirl/alien mission controller who wields a mean paper fan.
  • Hoshina Tomoko from To Heart carries a paper fan. And she actually weaponizes it in The Queen of Heart.
  • Eva from Umineko: When They Cry puts the "doom" in Paper Fan of Doom. Especially in the manga.
  • The paper fan is the usual weapon of the Karasu-tengu who guard the Zashiki Warashi in both the manga and anime ×××HOLiC.
  • Yuzu Hiragi's main shtick in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V. Even her own father isn't safe. Her other target is Yuya, and since she primarily dishes out this punishment when someone's being stupid, and her father and Yuya are a Bumbling Dad and Idiot Hero respectively, this happens frequently. It ends up being an important plot point. After Yuzu is Ret-Gone, her father sees the fan and is able to remember his daughter.

    Fan Works 

    Film — Animation 
  • Mulan uses an ordinary fan to disarm the villain in their final showdown.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • At the beginning of the movie Battle Royale, the psycho killer character, Kazuo Kiriyama, receives a paper fan as his weapon. While a group of kids who received guns are teasing him about it, he uses their own guns to kill them all and takes the guns, leaving the fan behind.
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione uses a parchment for this purpose when informing Harry that Romilda Vane has taken an interest in him.
    Hermione: She's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One.
    Harry: (beginning to smile in Romilda's direction) But I am the Chosen One (whack!) Sorry.
  • Jackie Chan uses a fan as his preferred weapon in Drunken Master 2, released in America as Legend of Drunken Master. His character had been made to decorate such fans as punishment by his father, but when he battles some thugs, his step-mother throws him the fan to use in self-defence.

    Literature 
  • An incredibly rare non-anime example: In Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small, the Yamani women of the warrior class use shukusen, the delicate, deadly Japanese "war fans". Said women carry these fans when they feel endangered but can't carry a weapon openly. They are silk with razor-sharp steel ribs, are much heavier than they look, and can slice fingers like sausage - -as Neal finds out when he interrupts a game of fan toss. (Luckily it doesn't end in Fingore, but Lady Yukimi demonstrates its cutting power on a tent pole to demonstrate what could have happened.) Queen Thayet immediately requests one for herself. Ilane also used to whack her children with a normal fan when they didn't cooperate with healers.
  • In Eric van Lustbader's Sunset Warrior Series, Ronin's mentor and ultimately Big Bad the Salamander is a master of using the fan as a weapon. Though the fans he uses are more like the War Fans in the real life section than simple origami.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende's Year 2000 Endurance Tag batsu game, one of the punishments the guys were chased with was a large, black paper fan. This all culminated at the end of the game with an entire mob of punishers going after the guys with fans.
  • Retsu from Juken Sentai Gekiranger uses dual bat-themed fans that can inflict pain and deflect energy beams. He can also fly with them. Considering he got this by dancing with a giant bat, it's not entirely surprising.
  • Natsumi produces one of these against Tsukasa in the File 17 of the Net Movie Spinoff of Kamen Rider Decade's movie. (It helps that the Net Movies in general are purely for comedic purpose to begin with.) Daiki then somehow gets a hand on it a few seconds later to whack Yuusuke with it.
  • Gotou uses one on a completely lovestruck Eiji in #24 of Kamen Rider OOO, although the attempt of knocking sense back into Eiji doesn't work.
  • "Sailor Luna" from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (the live-action version of Sailor Moon) used a wand that transformed into a harisen as her primary weapon. She also turns it into a golden fan and once, a butterfly net. She uses it as a wand more often as that's the only she can use her only magical attack, Luna Sucre Candy.
  • Mako/ShinkenPink from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, whose weapon is the Heaven Fan. It may be a fan, but it's no less effective than any other weaponry on the team.
    • Even better is Kaoru Shiba's fan; she's never seen actually using it as a fan. Instead, she only uses it to emphasize when her personal aide needs to shut up.
      • Eventually he learns to dodge her Paper Fan of Doom. The result? The Kuroko give her an even bigger one. Hits from the previous one shut her aide up by leaving him in pain; this one shut him up by knocking him out cold.
    • Same goes for Mako's counterpart Mia from Power Rangers Samurai.

    Music Videos 
  • While it may only be five minutes long, the music video for PassCode's song Ninja Bomber is shot like a (parody of a) samurai film. Near the end, Kaede mows down several armed men by dual-wielding giant paper fans.

    Video Games 
  • Fan Geisha from Battle Realms use these.
  • In Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, the character Nina is able to use a weapon called Chopper that can be found in a bonus area. Note that Nina is a Squishy Wizard that mainly uses wands with spells. The Chopper increases her physical attack stat far higher than any other weapon and the only spell that it has is a physical attack that does decent damage to enemies.
  • The principal weapon of Ichisumi in Double Dragon Neon.
  • In Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi the two Qiao sisters, Da and Xiao, take out entire armies with their twin paper fansnote . Strategists Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang use big feathered fans that shoot Frickin' Laser Beams. Sima Yi trades his in for Razor Floss and claws in DW6 but gets it back in 7, also where Zhuge Dan takes up the family tradition with a feathered fan of his own. Of course, they are actually incredibly weak weapons though by 7 the feathered fan users can summon lightning as part of their repertoire and attack more by blowing gusts of wind at their opponents than simply whacking them.
  • Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters uses paper fans as both melee and ranged weapons.
  • LeBlanc, the semi-comic-relief villain from Final Fantasy X-2 uses a metallic version of the fan for both tsukkomi and as a weapon.
  • God Hand has these as weapons Gene can pick up, but they aren't that strong compared to, say, a hammer or big club.
  • Twin paper fans are the preferred weapon of Anji Mito from Guilty Gear. These aren't just fans, however; they're actually from the same set of quasi-magical weaponry as Sol and Ky's swords. Thus their ability to grow to immense sizes, conjure up Ki Manipulation, and many other things that normal fans can't do.
  • In The Last Blade videogames, Lee Rekka uses a folding fan as his weapon, though he uses it very rarely, preferring fiery kicks.
  • One of Zero's weapons in Mega Man X8 is the B Fan, a pair of harisen which can deflect enemy attacks.
    • Auto, one of Dr. Light's helper robots in the classic series, holds out a paper fan when doing his "battle pose". If he actually uses the fan in combat, we never see it.
    • In the Mega Man Battle Network series, the Wind Rack chip makes Mega Man attack with a Paper Fan. It hits a whole column and knocks enemies back.
  • In Mortal Kombat, Kitana uses fans as her weapons. They appeared to just be paper fans in MKII, but in more recent versions they strongly resemble Japanese war fans, most likely tessen. She can decapitate people with them.
  • In Mother 3, a whack to the head with the Paper Fan item can cure a party member's Confusion status effect.
  • In the original Paper Mario, Lady Bow uses a pink fan to slap her opponents. Her attacks include the normal "Smack" and the powerful "Fan Smack."
  • Persona:
    • In Persona 4, Yukiko Amagi makes use of these. Oddly, she throws them at enemies rather than the typical smacking.
    • In Persona 4: Arena, Teddie smacks foes with a paper fan when he grabs them.
    • In Persona 5 a party member whose Confidant is at least at Rank 6 can cure a teammate's status aliment by grabbing a paper fan out of nowhere and slapping them with it.
  • Papillon of La Pucelle wields a paper fan as her main weapon and can do pretty good damage with it. This being Nippon Ichi, 'pretty good damage' means 'nearly unlimited with enough grinding.'
  • Kururu from Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure uses a paper fan as a weapon.
  • In the Samurai Shodown games, Kyoshiro Senryou uses a fan for light close range attacks. Oh, and also as a flaming projectile.
  • In Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi the Bishōnen Mitsunari Ishida, who wields a paper fan, happens to be a rather snarky and sarcastic fellow. Also, Takeda Shingen uses gunbai fans.
  • Hilariously enough, Oda Nobunaga from Sengoku Basara, one of the baddest and most feared badasses has a paper fan (like the one in the image) as his Joke Weapon.
  • Jet the Hawk of the Sonic Riders games uses a feathered variation of this to speed up as well as harm enemies.
  • Princess Peach uses a fan in Super Mario RPG.
  • Each of the Elemental Lords in Super Robot Wars (the best known of which is Masaki Andoh's Cybuster) has a familiar, and with that familiar comes the ability to release it in battle (called "High Familiar"). The familiars of the Elemental Lord of Earth Zamzeed are three... platypus things... and when released for High Familiar, two of them smash the enemy as normal, and the third finishes by clobbering the target with a metal harisen.
    • In Spin-Off Super Robot Taisen: OG Saga: Endless Frontier, character Suzuka uses folding fans. She primarily uses them as an unusual control scheme for her not-so-Humongous Mecha, but in at least one of her skills, she actually uses them to attack directly.
  • The Super Smash Bros. games feature the paper fan as a weapon. It does measly damage and no knockback, but its attack speed is so high that one can whack an opponent with it infinitely to rack up their damage up extremely quickly. Plus, it has high knockback when thrown and always sends the target upward, so it's very easy to just whack an enemy for half a minute with no escape then throw the fan at them for an easy kill. This is known as "fantrapping". The fan can also instantly break an opponent's shield if used as a smash attack and the shield will break no matter how charged it is. Alas, it was removed in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features Banjo & Kazooie and during Masahiro Sakurai's gameplay demonstration of them, he introduced their side smash known in Japan as "Harisen Kazooie" which in the West is known as "Breegull Bash". Banjo slams Kazooie to the ground to hit opponents and the move in Japan is meant to simulate smacking people around with a paper fan.
  • The Paper Fan is one of Lloyd Irving's most powerful weapons in Tales of Symphonia and is only attainable after an extremely expensive sidequest that spans half the game.
  • A few characters from the Touhou Project series use fans as their weapons, but primarily Yukari Yakumo and Yuyuko Saigyouji. The latter goes so far as to have a BFF behind her when she uses her strongest spellcards in Perfect Cherry Blossom.
    • It's not just PCB. She busts that fan out on one spellcard on Hard or Lunatic in Ten Desires, as the stage 1 boss.
    • Yukari just slaps people with it in the fighting games.
    • Hata no Kokoro also wields fans, but is a lot more flashy about it.
    • Watatsuki no Toyohime. She wields a fan that, according to herself, can vaporize a whole forest to atomic level with a single sweep of it. However, noone was able to confirm this, as she still hasn't used it.
  • In Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985), the opponent Fan, one of the first females in fighting game history, constantly throws deadly fans at the player.

    Webcomics 
  • Karin-dou 4koma: The punishment for laughing during the No Laughing Game is getting smacked in the ass by "Smacking-kun", an enchanted paper fan that deals no damage but makes a loud sound and causes great pain.

    Western Animation 
  • Mondine, the matriarch of the Glady family in La Famille Glady, has a magic fan that can actually teleport you through the world when she smacks her terraquean globe with it.
  • The Skunk Fu! episode "The Art of the Fan-Fan" has this in spades.

Alternative Title(s): Harisen

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