I've decided to start a cleanup thread for Narm, since it seems to attract a lot of misuse and complaining. Like I said in my ATT post
, "some misuse is easy to catch (e.g. saying a joke is Narm when Narm by definition can't be a joke), a lot of examples fall into grey areas that seem like misuse but it's hard to tell. Like nitpicks that at first glance seem to be valid examples, but feel like stretches the more you think about them."
I think one of the main reasons for misuse is that most people aren't clear on what Narm actually is. To my understanding, it's when a scene is intended to be dramatic, but comes off as cheesy/funny unintentionally. But going by the page description, it's kind of vague what actually qualifies something as Narm. At the top, it says "Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of surpassing "cheesy" and becoming unintentionally funny." But then later on in the same page, it gives a much more vague definition:
In CGI movies or video games unrealistic movements or facial expressions may result in Narm. Dated special effects during dramatic scenes can cause Narm for younger audience members who were raised on nothing less convincing than the Phantom Menace. Totally Radical dialog in cartoons or commercials pandering to children can also be a rich source of Narm. Even a good performance in a bad movie can evoke Narm if the actor's performance isn't enough to save the scene.
That last sentence I feel just confuses the whole thing. It makes it sound like absolutely anything can count as Narm, no matter if it works in context or not.
Most often, Narm is misused to mean "anything I personally don't think worked," whether or not it was intended as dramatic or comes off as funny. And when a work is high-profile enough, hoo boy, pretty much every scene is Narm to somebody. You can look at the Narm subpages for Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones and find tons of examples of people nitpicking the tiniest of details in a scene and blowing whatever it is out of proportion.
Another problem is that since it's such a subjective trope, it's not clear if there's supposed to be any sort of in-fandom consensus on the example in-question, or if every example is valid under the "it's called YMMV for a reason" excuse, even if the only person who thinks the example is Narm is the troper who adds it in.
I think it needs to be clearer whether nitpicks are valid examples of Narm, especially since nitpicking overlaps so often with barely-disguised complaining. The most frequent offenders for Narm entries I see are complaining, nitpicking, adding jokes, and ZeroContextExamples. I'm going to use Venom (2018) as an example, with my comments in bold:
- The scene of Eddie freaking out on the medical table is presented as the teaser's Money-Making Shot. It... doesn't quite work as intended, which isn't helped by it being sped up, making it look like a parody.
- The final trailer features a more complete version of the clip showing Venom's face "shutter" over Eddie. Whether or not this works or if it looks like a cheap special effect depends on who you ask.
- What makes the freakout even more narmful is that Eddie's screams are different screams playing on top of each other. The actual film lacks this strange effect. This example seems fine to me, but falls into the "The trailer is Narmy but the finished product isn't" doublespeak.
- The leaked trailer revealed some pretty terrible lines (“The guy you work for is an evil person.”). Tom Hardy's horrible New York...ish(?) accent isn't doing the delivery any favors either. And it really does not help that his voice cracks on the reading of "evil person". Thankfully, that line is not in the film proper. Do we keep examples that are purely in the trailers? Also an example of "thing falls flat" instead of "thing is funny."
- Hardy's line reading of "You're not real, you are just in my head." sounds like he's suffering from Elmuh Fudd Syndwome. At worst, he sounds like Adam Sandler's signature Manchild babbling. However there's some speculation that, based on the context of the scene and Eddie's stumbling movements, he's actually drunk, or perhaps even overdosed on medication (considering he was seen taking a bunch of pills, thinking he's sick). That and it could be a case of Reality Ensues, as it's unlikely anyone would keep the mental clarity to speak normally as an alien parasite is slowly bonding with their body. Natter. Goes back and forth between snarky complaints and defending the moment. Also nitpicking.
- Movie trailers cutting quotes out of context to form a new sentence is nothing new, but the editing on the line "you will only hurt bad people" is particularly poor, and it's very easy to hear that the line has been cut together out of separate pieces of dialogue. Not really a dramatic thing, so I don't think it counts as Narm. And it definitely isn't funny, it just falls flat.
- How Jenny Slate's character pronounces "symbiote" note . Plus, her giving firm, equal stress to all three syllables like she's speaking some foreign language. Luckily, this was cut from the theatrical release. Nitpicking and not funny.
- The shot of Eddie crashing straight through a half-fallen tree in the forest that he could just as easily have ducked under comes across as more comedic than cool, as if they just needed an additional gratuitous shot of something breaking. Especially if your mind goes to Victor from Wet Hot American Summer and his inexplicable refusal to jump over anything. It really does not help that the evil bad-guy vehicle chasing him looks like a slightly modified golf cart. The context for this one in the movie is that Venom is taking control of his body and forcing him to blindly flee through the woods to escape the Life Foundation. Context makes it not-Narm. Cut?
- Although it may look better in the context of the full scene, Eddie flying 50 feet into the air on his motorcycle off a slightly steep hill seems to rather severely break the laws of physics. Clearly written before the movie came out. Cut?
- The Jump Scare (on both sides of the fourth wall) where Venom suddenly shouts Eddie's name as he brushed his teeth would have been much more scary if not for the fact that the latter Screams Like a Little Girl. There's also the fact that he somehow throws himself backwards so hard that he crashes into the bathroom wall. Intended as comedic, so it isn't Narm.
- Remember how creepy and awesome that shot from the second trailer of the symbiote forming around Eddie's face in order to eat a guy was? In the third trailer, the potential Nightmare Fuel of that moment is significantly undercut by Venom slobbering all over the man's face with its tongue in an amusingly over-the-top manner. One is reminded of the scene with Patrick licking the yellow popsicle, or perhaps "This is the taste of a liar".... This seems pretty in-character for Venom. I'm not sure with this one.
- The guy who Carlton Drake subjects to Orifice Invasion in the third trailer would have been disturbing, if not for the victim's bland expression. Moment that falls flat; not funny. Cut.
- The symbiote's Venom-face forming on the end of Eddie's arm to talk to him strongly resembles a deranged hand puppet rather than a vicious alien parasite. There's also the fact that they can communicate telepathically, making that sequence unnecessary. Seems fine.
- Venom's violent threats to his enemies are this if they're not aggressively tasteless Black Comedy. His threat to mutilate a man until he's "like a turd on the wind" is particularly groan-inducing, especially coming after a genuinely frightening threat. How It Should Have Ended was even driven by this to make a video on just the trailer for the very first time, in which he mangles a bunch of other sayings. Pretty sure they are intended as comedy, so it's not Narm. Cut.
- The animation of the yellow symbiote just looks like mozzarella cheese come to life. Nitpick. Also... inaccurate? It's more of a mucus yellow.
- After Venom heals Eddie's broken legs, he flatly states "My legs! They were broken... and now they're not broken..."
- "My leg!" Seems fine to me.
- "HOSPITAL!!!! (extremely long pause) Now!" Zero-Context Example.
- Eddie and Anne quite casually discussing cannibalism as one of the symbiote's favorite activities. It's something that would probably sincerely shock and disgust the average person and likely require therapy, and yet it's bandied about like it's a pretty normal occurrence. These kinds of entries are tricky to me. They seem valid at first glance, but there's something off about them. I don't think this one counts if the work itself is treating the moment lightly.
- Any menace from Cletus Kasady is completely undercut by Woody Harrelson's truly ridiculous wig. A common comparison is that it causes him to look like a live-action Sideshow Bob, or a make-up-less Pennywise. Uses complainy word-choice. Otherwise fine.
- Kasady promising that there will be "carnage" after he gets out is so on-the-nose that it feels like it's straight out of a parody. First off, that's not an example of Anvilicious. Secondly, this verges on a nitpick to me. I'm not sure. It's not really funny, just lame.
- The final trade of words between Venom and Riot before the final battle is nothing but total Ham-to-Ham Combat - that and the two symbiotes happen to be Perpetual Smilers, which just gives off the feeling that they don't really give that much of a damn about their goals.
- Towards the end of the film, it's revealed that Venom used to be something of a loser on his home planet, like Eddie. This is his entire reason for wanting to save the Earth. Moment played as a joke, so it isn't Narm.
- Despite angrily forcing Eddie to spit out cooked meats because they're no longer living animals, the symbiote develops a taste for tater tots, and it practically demands that Eddie buy some during a conversation in the ending. The director admitted in an interview that the writers just thought it was funny and put it in the script. It unfortunately invites comparisons to a similar tots-focused scene in Napoleon Dynamite as a result. Entry admits it's a joke. So it isn't Narm.
- Drake having bonded with Riot is treated as a huge shocking twist going into the final battle... except for the fact that the audience was already well aware of it and saw the whole process. It feels very much like a consequence of Executive Meddling to give Riot more screentime. Another tricky example. Seems to fall under "scene doesn't work" instead of "scene is funny."
- Right after Eddie is separated from the symbiote, a rather obvious ADR overdub replaces the intended "fuck you" with the much less vicious "we're done". Not really funny, just falls flat.
- Eddie's "DRAKE! STOP!" sounds less like he's in pain and more like a little kid telling his Big Brother Bully to stop giving him a wedgie. Nitpicking. Most people wouldn't even pay this sequence any mind.
Another issue with Narm is the distinction between moments that are unintentionally funny on their own, and moments that are only unintentionally funny after Memetic Mutation or similar feat. Does the latter truly count as Narm? Because you can make the case that everything that has ever been made can fall under that.
Edited by MisterApes-a-lot on Mar 31st 2019 at 7:06:31 AM
MisterApes-a-lot
Since: Mar, 2018
#1802: Sep 20th 2022 at 12:07:40 PM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Your reasoning seems solid.
Regarding the other entries in the second folder:
- Just seems to be a non-funny complaint.
- Maybe fine?
- Maybe fine
- Reads as a non-funny complaint.
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1803: Sep 20th 2022 at 4:06:04 PM
Bringing up the following examples from Sailor Moon S: The Movie:
- Narm:
- The original 2000 dub has many examples:
- The scene with Luna crying was ruined with her making cat "meow" noises, and basically just sounding like a dying cat instead.
- The Snow Dancers made strange vocal noises that reminded many fans of "barking chihuahuas."
- Sailor Pluto's voice actress' ditzy delivery of "You know, it's almost as if time has stopped!"
- The 2018 dub is a huge improvement, but still has Luna tell Kakeru, "I love you, my space man." Resulting in unintentional laughter from audiences.
- The original 2000 dub has many examples:
Edgar81539
Since: Mar, 2014
#1804: Sep 20th 2022 at 4:55:06 PM
Needs better context on the entries, comment out for now.
TantaMonty
Since: Aug, 2017
#1805: Sep 21st 2022 at 6:22:18 AM
The Naruto page is awful. I've cut the following examples because I'm fairly certain they are unsalvageable, but there may be others that I've missed. Of course, if any of them should be restored, please let me know.
ZC Es/Shoehorns
- In Shippuden Episode 159, Choji's run to escape the last missile sent by Pain's Ashura Path is ridiculous.
- Shippuden Episode 166: Naruto's reaction to seeing Pain use his power to throw Hinata to the ground was hilarious here◊.
- Some people find this◊ scene, in which Hinata is crawling over to Naruto, funny because she looks like a dog sniffing the ground at first.
- Some people find this
- The 4:54 point of this scene, where Naruto's clones act as missiles. Notice how stretched out and fishlike their faces are.
- Naruto crying at Gaara's death; it looked like he was crying crystals. Sparkly crystals.
- Also, Naruto's dramatic turning around and Big "SHUT UP!" directed at Chiyo when the latter tells him to calm down following Gaara's death.
- Sasuke's Evil Laugh at the end of Part 1 and the way he threw his arms while doing it were incredibly forced on his part and hilarious. Naruto's vision in his monologue of him when it looks like Sasuke's jogging away from him might be kind of narmy too.
- "YOUR HEART IS MINE!!!" Seriously, as if this line from Kakuzu to Kakashi isn't enough, let's add some context: the former has the latter pinned to the ground with tentacles, is straddling him, and is about to literally rip his heart out to keep powering his immortality.
- Itachi's crowjob.◊
- Chapter 486: Seeing Sasuke say the word "fuck" in response to Naruto saying that they'll die together the next time they fight.
- That noise the Hachibi makes whenever he comes out to fight. "WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"
- Naruto's Megaton Punch that makes a huge imprint in Sasuke's face and sends him flying through the air at the Valley of the End fight.
- Chapter 581: Kabuto saying he'll be Sasuke's older brother in place of Itachi right after he tried to eat him and requesting that he join him again after Sasuke refuses the first time.
- Chapter 579: "EVEN HE COULDN'T BECOME A TRUE SAGE IN THE END JUST LIKE ME! My power in the sage mode... If you're Dr. Snakes, I hope you keep that in your mind... I'm no longer a snake... The perfect force of sage helped me shed my snake skin... AND I'M A DRAGON NOW!!" What.
- Made ironic given that Kabuto was The Dragon to Orochimaru.
- The snake that apparently has its eyes fixed on Kabuto's ass.
- Zetsu's super-enthusiastic "HALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" in Shippuden Episode 201 will make the viewer crack a smile.
- In Chapter 591 after Itachi disappears for good there's a panel where Sasuke is shown just standing there staring straight ahead... and then his hair springs up on top of his head.
- From the Three-Tails filler arc: "Guuuuuuuren!" "Red Camellias!". Every. Bloody. Episode.
- Shippuden Episode 281: The evil Sumo wrestlers.
- Chapter 605. Obito's reaction is more than a bit over the top. As is his pain-filled "WOOOOOHHH"!
- Chapter 629: Obito's "There is nothing in my heart!" as he's pointing at the gaping in his chest.
- Everything about the final panel of the chapter is narmy. Especially the fact that the reader is treated to Kakashi looking through the hole in Obito's chest, with a facial expression that resembles mild confusion rather than shock or sadness.
- Presumably he was confused. Obito's hole in his chest was just an illusion, which Kakashi could easily see through with his Sharingan. Essentially, Obito just wanted to let Kakashi ram his hand inside of him to prove a point, which makes the whole argument seem ridiculous.
- Everything about the final panel of the chapter is narmy. Especially the fact that the reader is treated to Kakashi looking through the hole in Obito's chest, with a facial expression that resembles mild confusion rather than shock or sadness.
- Itachi to Kisame in Shippuden Episode 251: "We are not fish, we are human". Considering the gravity of the topic being discussed, it just comes off as misplaced and badly delivered.
Examples that are just plain bad
- The second part of Sasuke's name is Narmy because it sounds like the word Uke which is the bottom in homosexual relationships.
- Sometimes when Naruto says or shouts Sasuke's name in the English dub, it sounds like "SAUCE GAY!"
- Some think this about Sasuke's hairstyle which resembles a duck's ass.
- When Tobi uses his teleportation power on Torune, it just looked wrong as Madara sneaked up on him from behind, leading to many "SURPRISE BUTTSECKS" jokes.
- Behold. Sasuke and Orochimaru screaming. It sounds more like they're taking a poop.
- Naruto and Sasuke have a lot of Ho Yay between them. Because of this any attempts on Sasuke's part to kill Naruto by stabbing him with his sword come off looking like he's trying to have sex with him. Case in point: Their first reunion in Part I where Sasuke half hugs Naruto and tries to stab him with his sword. As well as if you rewind any part in the anime where Naruto straddles Sasuke for whatever reason it comes off looking more like they're having sex.
- Odama Rasengan. Hard to take seriously when you keep hearing "Obama" instead.
- Hidan bleeding from underneath his cloak after fatally torturing Asuma eerily looks like he's having a period.
- And then there's his EXTREME fits of maniacal laughter. "GEH-WA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!"
- And the last line he screams before Shikamaru's trap completely buries him:
Hidan: I'LL BITE YOU IN HELL, MOTHERFUCKER!!!
- In the dub, he shouts, "I'll just need my TEETH!" Hello again, Monty Python.
Fan Myopia
- Shippuden Episode 48, "Bonds", ends with a dramatic speech by Naruto in which he declares his determination to destroy Orochimaru. While admittedly a Moment of Awesome, it becomes Narm Fuel for Monty Python fans.
Naruto: If he tears off my arms, I'll just kick him dead. If he tears off my legs, I'll bite him dead.
- Konan's dying flashback about her former team and Jiraiya... all dressed and positioned like they're wearing the frog suit in SMB3. It kind of ruins the drama of the scene when they look like they're about to tackle a swimming level.
- A bit of Latin-American dub induced narm. Moisés Iván Mora's effort to try breaking through his Butt-Monkey-like Pigeonholed Voice Actor "roles" via playing Kabuto is commendable, but when one hears him speaking and all one can think of is how he STILL sounds like Tadao motherfucking Yokoshima... uh, nope, it's not working. (He did better as Yumichika Ayasegawa, but still.)
- Sasuke Uchiha was played by Víctor Ugarte, who also played Shinji Ikari both in original and new dub (plus Rebuild of Evangelion), so during the chapter when they reveal via flashback the night Itachi killed the whole Uchiha Clan, a little Sasuke is heard yelling "¡Padreeeeeeee!" ("Fatheeeeeer!") with Víctor using exactly the same tone as Shinji whenever he yells at Gendo, which can be a bit funny for those who watched it. Had Fugaku been played by Humberto Solórzano alias Gendo, the scene would've been even "funnier".
- Sasuke picking up Sakura and choking her is pretty funny if you look at it with the sentence "Is Sasuke Uchiha gonna have to choke a bitch?" in mind.
Pure complaining
- Chapter 523 has Kakashi telling his team what they should do to deal with Zabuza and several other members of Kabuto's "Zombie Army". But did Kishimoto really need to use Super Deformed for that? It completely killed the drama, damn it.
- The fact that there's a character named Santa. WTF?
- In 529: the super-powered Ino-Shika-cho attack's name? It's called "Meat Tank" Come ON, Kishi! You're not even trying!
- "Meat Tank" is actually the name of Chouji's jutsu, which he uses to turn into a giant ball. Still pretty narmy, though.
- When Sasuke meets Itachi the first time since the anime/manga started, he gives that speech. "In order to defeat you..." after which he charges up his Chidori. After powering up, though, he looks at Itachi, screams the last line of his speech, and his left hand pulls the collar of his shirt down. WHAT. THE. FREAK. That took much of the awesomeness out of what's otherwise a tense scene, since there is no reason as to why he'd want to do that. If it's to show his curse seal, that's on the back. This is just... odd.
- The changing of Deidara's catchphrases for the Viz manga. His first "Art is a Bang/Blast" was short and to the point as well as helping describe his personality. It has been changed to "Art is an Infinite Explosion" which comes off as long winded and somewhat tedious. His second catch "Katsu" is also an activator for his explosive jutsu and has been translated as "Yeaargh" which makes no damn sense what so ever and ruins every scene he uses it in. To be fair it's a specific Japanese phrase, but it could have easily translated as boom or something similar.
- Viz Manga has recently come out with the 3rd Databook completely ignoring the first two that came before it. While the character profiles follow the original and fan translations pretty well, the jutsu are a series of hit and miss regarding names and descriptions. The jutsu names are a grab bag of completely literal translations, partially translated techniques or just technique names that vaguely have to do with the actual description, especially those that weren't named in the series before hand. For example naming a character's reincarnation technique "Self Destruct Jutsu" is one of the bigger offenders.
- The epic battle between Gai and Kisame is ruined by the wonky animation of their attacks with Afternoon Tiger looking more like a bear than an actual tiger and every single one of Kisame's sharks and related jutsu having way more teeth then should fit in their mouths. Gai's Glowing Eyes of Doom being changed from white to red don't help matters either as it makes him look like a robot.
- Chapter 640: If there was ever a chance of anyone taking Tobito seriously, it ends with "Ri... n" being his Madness Mantra. It seems less creepy and more whiny.
- Karin's facial expression's in Chapter 662. Supposed to be heartbreaking, but when her half-assed characterization comes into play, her crying over Sasuke's defeat just seems ridiculously pathetic.
- When Sasuke is hunting down escapees from Orochimaru's lab, amongst the screams one person can be heard shouting, "Please, please, not the face!" It rather undermines the drama of the situation.
- The Sharinhead of Naruto Gaiden. The fact it's not only utterly ridiculous how it's a recycled version of Danzo's "Sharingarm" makes you think if Kishimoto has any sense of ridiculous or any creativity left.
- Everytime he tries to smile diabolically falls flat on his face when one of his eyes is stapled open on top of his many eyes in head.
- Meta example: the new art style for the sequel Boruto manga, debuting Spring 2016. Naruto looks to have bulked up a bit, and Sasuke looks like he started doing drugs.
- Towards the end of the original manga/anime, the animated rendition of the scene where Rock Lee closes the dead Neji Hyuuga's eyes is completely ruined when Neji's eyebrows literally disappear after Lee does this.
General examples
- Some of the dialogue in the last few volumes of the english manga has been... awkward. Especially the way everyone suddenly refers to their parents as "ma" and "pa". This makes for some serious Narm when Naruto first meets his parents.
- The 10th opening of Shippuden. Just... the 10th opening of Shippuden.
- Partially justified as this particular opening happened during a twenty-episode long stretch of light-hearted filler.
- But exceptionally narmy when placed alongside the flashback to the night the Kyuubi attacked.
- Partially justified as this particular opening happened during a twenty-episode long stretch of light-hearted filler.
- That butt-bow that Sasuke (in Part II), Orochimaru, and his minions wear.
- In Shippuden when Naruto goes Kyuubi he gets black lips, making it look like he has black lipstick on.
- Any scene with Hotaru in it of the Shippuden filler is made funny due to how big her forehead is.
- Every time Obito expects us to take him seriously after he reveals he was Tobi. For Pete's sake, anyone who remembers how silly he acted all the time will feel that it's a bit hard to take seriously somebody who acted that kooky just because he wanted to. Let's face it, Obito, once you've established yourself as the silliest person in the entire show it's just not that easy to take you seriously.
- One that's been running through the English dub since its very foundation is the sheer hilariousness of how Sasuke's voice actor Yuri Lowenthal says Naruto's name. Instead of pronouncing it as "NA-RUE-TOE" like most of the other cast members do, he says it like "NAH-RUE-TOE" with a vaguely Japanese-sounding accent. Unintentionally goofy for how jarring it is to hear when pretty much everybody else pronounces it by how the dubbers want it vocalized.
- During the pre-Time Skip portion of the series, it can be a bit jarring to hear the voices of grown men coming out of 12- and 13-year-old boys (especially the deep, imposing baritones from Itachi in flashbacks and Shino).
Contradictory examples
- Naruto's head butt move against Tobi in Chapter 563, while awesome, was hilarious with the shocked look on Tobi's face and the strained look on Naruto's face.
- Sasuke's Evil Laugh in Chapter 483/Shippuden Episode 214 is Narm Charm. It's hilarious mainly because it's Sasuke but it also shows how far gone he is. See it here. Some of the comments on the video are pretty funny too like "Nothing says sanity like a psycho laugh after no one told a joke."
- Continuing on the translation issue is the video game's name for one of Itachi's Genjutsu. His Ephemeral technique has its own description on the series nightmare fuel page and is rather creepy to see in action. Of course the Japanese word for Ephemeral can also mean bubbles...
- Chapter 639: While it very clearly falls under Narm Charm, seeing as it still manages to be quite horrifying, Obito's body spontaneously bloating and crashing into the ground while he is charging his enemies still falls under this. Especially since his balloon body still carries his stoic expression.
Examples that describe fan works
- Chapter 579 is rather serious with the revelation that Kabuto has trained to become a Sage like Naruto from the Snake Summons among other reveals. This is broken by Itachi of all people calling Sasuke Dr. Snakes in a popular scanlation due to his knowledge of snakes when he was planning to kill Orochimaru. It's even funnier with there being a pause before saying it, as if Itachi added it in. Kabuto follows this up by saying "But you won't defeat me by becoming Dr. Snakes!". In the official translation, Itachi calls Sasuke a snake expert.
Fridge snark
- Despite Chapter 578 being really intense, it had a bit of a gem. Sasuke complained about how Itachi always left him for "later". Itachi notes that we keep our natures and habits until we die... but then, he's done that already, so he might want to work on a new way for dealing with his brother!
- Shippuden Episode 175's montage about Naruto becoming accepted by the village becomes more and more Narmy as you go, culminating in people asking if Naruto is alright after Jiraiya dies, even though almost no one knew about his death and absolutely no one but Iruka and Shikamaru tried to comfort him.
- Gaara's father, who subjected him to a childhood of isolation and torment, is very surprised to learn that he ACTUALLY HAS FRIENDS. The Second Mizukage even takes a shot by saying everyone Gaara's age has friends.
Misses the point of the scene
- Chapter 698. Naruto and Sasuke have literally exploded each other's arm with an big open wound left bleeding. They are lying down on the ground. The narm here is that the trails of blood of the wounds are mixing together, with Naruto and Sasuke in such position that is like they are holding hands. Even better, it takes very little editing to change the blood trail into a heart-shape.
Edited by TantaMonty on Sep 21st 2022 at 8:28:39 AM
punkcrow
Tobias/TJ (He/Him)
from Northwest Indiana
Since: Dec, 2020
Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Tobias/TJ (He/Him)
#1806: Sep 21st 2022 at 1:24:55 PM
The YMMV page for the film Gods of Egypt has two entries for narm. One seems okay, but the other one is "Chadwick Boseman being an Egyptian god is utterly hilarous now that his most famous role also worships a god from it."
I don't think that fits the definition of narm. To me, that feels like more of a Hilarious in Hindsight thing, and also makes me think of an accidental version of Actor Allusion. By this logic, you could call it narm if, say... Christopher Lloyd played another scientist, just because one of his most famous roles is one.
I'm not very familiar with the film, so I don't know if it accidentally comes off as funny in the film itself, but I don't think that works with the definition of narm. Should I remove it?
Cold turkey's getting stale. Tonight I'm eating crow.
MisterApes-a-lot
Since: Mar, 2018
#1807: Sep 21st 2022 at 1:28:20 PM
Yeah, you can remove that. It's misuse on top of being too general.
spyland2
Since: Jun, 2021
#1808: Sep 21st 2022 at 8:10:36 PM
I'm wondering if this can be added to the main page of Narm
- Important. This isn't simply any moment that falls flat. It needs to be played seriously and the audience needs to find it unintentionally funny for it to count as an example. If the example is Played for Laughs, it isn't an example.
spyland2
Since: Jun, 2021
#1809: Sep 22nd 2022 at 9:42:18 AM
Any updates on my previous post?
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1810: Sep 22nd 2022 at 2:24:40 PM
Bringing up the following examples from YMMV.Black Rock Shooter:
- Narm: Most of the fight sequences are pretty violent and dramatic, but an unintentionally hilarious scene in Episode 7 has Strength grab B★RS by the ankles and slap her against several walls like a wet towel.
- Narm: Sure, humanity has been nearly wiped out by the aliens, but when we actually get to see that the Armaments (the cannon fodder army of the aliens) look like blocky creatures made out things resembling LEGO bricks, they are no longer that intimidating than what the story tells them to be.
katrinahood
Since: Feb, 2013
#1811: Sep 22nd 2022 at 2:52:40 PM
- Can stay because that makes for an unintentionally hilarious image.
- More of a design failure...?
TantaMonty
Since: Aug, 2017
#1812: Sep 22nd 2022 at 6:19:51 PM
The second one is an example of Nightmare Retardant.
ArthurEld
Since: May, 2014
#1813: Sep 22nd 2022 at 6:21:27 PM
Yeah, there's a lot of Narm misuse that is just "scary thing doesn't look scary."
Which sometimes that's a failure of CGI, or other visual design, and sometimes things just don't look scary.
If you had no idea what plastic explosives were, you might find a big bar of what looks like silly-putty laughable. But that wouldn't make it's use Narm.
spyland2
Since: Jun, 2021
#1814: Sep 22nd 2022 at 6:49:34 PM
Hey, can I get some updates on this post here?
TantaMonty
Since: Aug, 2017
#1815: Sep 22nd 2022 at 7:39:42 PM
To be honest, I think that note would be redundant. In the Narm page, both the first sentence and the last paragraph plainly state that the trope doesn't apply to intentional humour.
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1816: Sep 23rd 2022 at 1:30:08 AM
Bringing up the following examples from Not Cool:
- Narm:
- Janie unironically says the phrase "totes retar".
- Scott's tearful confession of love while shaving his head.
MisterApes-a-lot
Since: Mar, 2018
#1817: Sep 23rd 2022 at 2:57:54 PM
They're both ZCEs.
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1818: Sep 24th 2022 at 2:26:03 AM
Bringing up the following examples from Narm.Gundam:
- From the original Mobile Suit Gundam series: Ryu's Heroic Sacrifice is turned into Narm when the whole crew is awkwardly crying over how it's all their fault he had to die.
- Rectified in the compilation trilogy, where this is replaced by Amuro & Hayato savagely beating each other because each blames the other for Ryu's death. Very dramatic.
"My own father never hit me like that."
- In the English dub of the movies, nobody quite got the pronunciation of some names, so Amuro is the pilot of the Gundamn Also, "Sha Znable".
- The subplot from Sayla's Agony where the White Base is dangerously low on SALT! The chef is clearly worried about the loss of salt, and Frau tells Amuro that salt is as important to the human body as water.
- In the first episode, Amuro drops everything he's doing to lie down and read the Gundam's operating manual... in the middle of a battlefield.
- At the end of episode 33, as the White Base departs from Side 6, we're shown a distant shot of Mirai apparently Flipping the Bird.
- The 1979 airing also had quite a few Off-Model moments that can look downright hilarious for all the wrong reasons, such as the infamous "wide" Gundam.
- Rectified in the compilation trilogy, where this is replaced by Amuro & Hayato savagely beating each other because each blames the other for Ryu's death. Very dramatic.
- The Newtype effects tend to ruin the drama of scenes as it make it look like Amuro is taking drugs rather than being sad.
- The obscure FMV game Gundam 0079: The War for Earth is so much of this its a wonder it tends to get passed over for G-Saviour. One particularly silly aspect that even gets mocked by Japanese fans is the actor playing Char Aznable- sorry, Shar Aznabull having a very prominent chin, but those who watch the game all the way through get to bear witness to the Gundam Tank (Gundam with Guntank's treads) and the Gundam now being so weak it could easily be taken out by proximity mines or a few bursts from a Zaku- sorry, ZACK machine gun. The best part, though, is the English voice track's noteworthy pronunciation of "Zeon" as "John". Sure its in line with the Japanese audio track but lets face it, everyone's saying "john." The game becomes arguably funnier with the Japanese audio track, as almost every VA from the anime reprise their roles here, so even the dopey, big-chinned version of Char seen here still has Shūichi Ikeda's butter-smooth voice coming out of his mouth.
- Char's mask looks particularly laughable. It looks less like equipment designed to protect his eyes, and more like he cut a piece of gray paper to put over his face. Rerez compared it to “a mask made out of cereal boxes”, and mocked the hell out of it in their review of the game.
- “FOR THE FREEDOM OF JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHNNNN!” Really, Garma?
MisterApes-a-lot
Since: Mar, 2018
#1819: Sep 24th 2022 at 10:17:43 AM
- Not seeing how that's funny. It just seems to be that one particular user doesn't like the writing.
- Natter
- Not funny. Also at this point the indentation is incorrect.
- Doesn't say what's funny.
- Just a dry scene description
- ...Okay? What's funny? What wasn't intended to be?
- General and redundant with Off-Model.
- General and written as Fridge Snark.
- Poorly written wall of text that just lists general regular flaws.
- General, regular flaw, unnecessary reference to a reviewer.
- ZCE and Word Cruft.
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1820: Sep 24th 2022 at 9:55:44 PM
Bringing up the following example from Star Trek S1 E4 "The Naked Time":
- Narm: "Hey Joey, put the knife down, huh?" Otherwise, you might do someone an injury with that tiny, blunt table knife.
katrinahood
Since: Feb, 2013
#1821: Sep 24th 2022 at 10:35:22 PM
Just complaining about a plot flaw. Cut it.
NitroIndigo
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
from West Midlands region, England
Since: Jun, 2021
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#1822: Sep 25th 2022 at 5:44:38 AM
I found this on YMMV.Spec World:
- Narm: Any particularly gratuitous pop-culture-reference creature, such as the stimpy, or the whale-platypus-like Moby Duck, completely breaks the semi-scientific atmosphere and one's Willing Suspension of Disbelief. The same goes for any creature that seems to have been imagined purely for the sake of gross-out humor, such as the Rectal Probe and the Nerd-Of-Paradise.
Since this stuff was probably intended to be funny, this example is the opposite of Narm. Permission to cut?
MisterApes-a-lot
Since: Mar, 2018
#1823: Sep 25th 2022 at 9:00:42 AM
Yeah, go ahead.
NitroIndigo
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
from West Midlands region, England
Since: Jun, 2021
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
Anddrix
Since: Oct, 2014
#1825: Sep 25th 2022 at 2:58:13 PM
Bringing up the following example from Code Lyoko: Evolution:
- Narm:
- Introducing a spectre in the form of a child who, rather inexplicably, attacks the heroes with easily escapable (literally, they just shove the kid away) yet somehow debilitating hugs. It's revealed the spectre drains energy from the Warriors by way of skin contact, but it still looks rather silly. A William spectre does it in the fifth episode, but he was at least strong enough that it took Ulrich's intervention for Yumi to get free, and he later (offscreen) broke down a door. Amusingly, Odd cannot take the child spectre seriously for this very reason.
- Even more ridiculous in "Soupçons", where XANA's attack consists in summoning three clones who... stay in front of a door doing nothing to attack the Lyoko Warriors (who are right in front of them) until Aelita deactivates the tower. Even more ridiculous, one of them uses his lightning to repair a stereo, for no apparent reason. In the end this attack ended up helping the Lyoko Warriors more than it hurt them.
Total posts: 2,633
Bringing up examples from DEATH BATTLE!:
Any opinions before I request the cuts?
Edited by TantaMonty on Sep 20th 2022 at 10:59:03 AM