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Not Tropeworthy: Gainaxing

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Crediting Acebrock for the OP. They gave permission for others to launch this thread on TRS Queue
Gainaxing is one of the oldest tropes on the site, being launched way back before June 2007 (the earliest date given for any trope page is June 14th, 2007, apparently. Gilligan Cut, the oldest trope page on the site, gets the same creation date), and it has all the baggage you can expect from a trope that old. The name is bad, relying on an anime fandom meme for a now largely defunct company that was coined almost thirty years ago, but that doesn't seem to have affected the growth. However, Big Bouncy Wick Check showed that the trope is a magnet for ZC Es and examples of "breasts bounce" without any meaning. Not helping is that the description doesn't really offer any possible meaning to the trope. Misty May is a closely tied YMMV concept that has zero links from YMMV pages, and falls under not thriving regardless (18 wicks). It's also a weird concept (one full breast bounce = one misty may) that doesn't seem like a trope, ymmv or anything at all that fits on mission.

Specific numbers:

  • Linked within example, apparently played for fanservice 5/ 64 7.8%
  • Linked within example, not enough context about this trope 7/ 64 10.9%
  • Focused on jiggling and/or bouncing without any other context to what the trope means 17/ 64 26.5%
  • ZCE (includes examples that apparently expect you to know what gainaxing is before reading the trope example) 22/ 64 34.3%
  • Played for fanservice, enough context 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Linked in quote, not enough context 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Doesn't refer to breast bounce 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Played for fanservice, not enough context 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Played for laughs, seems like enough context 2/ 64 3.1%
  • Author Appeal 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Something other than breasts jiggling 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Weblink as example 1/ 64 1.5%
  • Other 4/ 64 7.8%

Based on the above, Gainaxing desperately needs some sort of help.
I have three proposals in mind for this trope:

  1. Redefine and rename to focus on the fanservice aspect
  2. Split between two tropes. One for fanservice focused boob bounce and the other for comedy focused boob bounce
  3. Disambiguate between other boob focused tropes.

My preference would be number 2, because it covers the most bases and the concept behind it being used for comedy or fanservice seems tropable (though not under one umbrella), but no matter what, it can't stay like it is.

For the record, the definitions I'm thinking of:

  • Fanservice focused: the breasts receive camera focus as they bounce or one or more characters stare at or call attention to the bouncing chest (including, in the latter case, the owner of the bouncing boobs herself)
  • Comedy focused: the bouncing boobs cause comedic issues (like knocking something down) or receive comedic reactions from other characters (like a snarky response, like those included in the wick check, or comical overreaction (for example, Blanc getting angry at Vert's bouncing boobs in Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth 1 and trying to cut them off, which is played for laughs).

As to Misty May, I say cut it and be done with it. It doesn't really fit anywhere and comes off as mildly creepy to me.

Wick check:

Wick check for Gainaxing

    Linked within example, apparently played for fanservice 5/ 64 7.8% 
  • (Sexy Secretary) The Suicide Squad. Camila—President Luna and later Suarez's assistant—is seen for only like a total of 5 seconds, but even in that miniscule amount of screen time, we can see that her defining characteristics are her massive tits that bounce all over the place.
  • (Theiss Titillation Theory) Endless Frontier:
    • The game's leading lady, one HRH Kaguya Nanbu, has huge tracts of land stuffed into a microdress held on by the cruelty of the Universe. She has an extremely acrobatic fighting style, which results in, uh, earthquakes, in keeping with the metaphor, but never a wardrobe malfunction. Whoever enchanted that thing deserves either a medal or to be hanged, depending on your perspective.
  • (Raw Deal (1986)) Show Some Leg: A mobster is sitting in his car, gaping at the sight of a female jogger Gainaxing towards him. She leans down with a big smile, sticks a gun in his face and suggests he go tell the drug house he's guarding that he needs to take a leak. With the sentry taken care of, a squad of detectives pull a crash-bang-gotcha on the occupants.
  • (Sol Trigger) Fanservice: From Gainaxing by Ema and Sophie as well as Wilma and some from post-timeskip Cyril to Fran and Sophie's as well as Wilma Stripperific choice of clothing to shots of half-naked characters being revived in the Sol pool.
  • (Super Robot Wars) Fanservice:
    • Gainaxing: Holy crap, particularly whenever an original female character has a Super Move Portrait Attack. Some of them get so ridiculous you'd think their chest has its own gravity field. Latter games tried to tone this down, however, with the bounciness being reduced to a more respectable levels for the mainline games. The newer handheld games like X-Ω and DD still goes more all out, though. Borderline between this folder and the one below

    Linked within example, not enough context about this trope 7/ 64 10.9% 
  • (World of Buxom) Divergence Eve: Despite being very dramatic and nearly devoid of comedy or mention of them, the entire female cast (with the exception of the flat-chested android) have very large breasts that begin Gainaxing with every turn.
  • (FLCL) Unusual Euphemism: A number of fans think of the title of the show as one — either as a mispronunciation of "Furry Curry" or as the onomatopoeia of bouncing breasts. Also a YMMV entry masquerading as an objective example.
  • (D-Frag! 1/2) Accidental Pervert: Twice towards Takao and her Gag Boobs — in Chapter 6/Episode 3, Roka shoves her in jealousy for trying to come closer to Kenji (only to be rebuffed by his spiky hair), causing him to turn around and get a faceful; and in Chapter 9/Episode 4, the first thing he sees upon exiting the clubroom is her Gainaxing while jumping up and down trying to remove the "True Game Development Club" poster hung over his clubroom after winning the School Festival contest against Takao's Game Development Club.
  • (Anime & Manga) In Macross Frontier, Ranka Lee enters the Miss Macross competition and suffers a case of A-Cup Angst as several other contestants bully their way past her with copious amounts of Gainaxing. Ranka's best friend Nanase tries to reassure her by telling her that size doesn't matter and cue Nanase's own Gainaxing because she's the most well-endowed woman on the entire show. More so than those contestants even.
  • (Sanity Not Included 2/2) Gag Boobs: Nina, as per Gainaxing above.
  • (Batman: The Brave and the Bold 1/2) Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the prologue before "Chill of the Night!" featuring Bats teaming with Zatanna, they take on the evil master magician Abra Cadabra. He battles Zatanna, and in order to keep her from verbalizing her spells, gags her, and then promptly does the old scarves-down-the-throat gag... which lasts curiously long and looks, well...
  • (Bunny Maloney) Jiggle Physics: Applies to the women's breasts and Débilouman's nose.

    Focused on jiggling and/or bouncing without any other context to what the trope means 17/ 64 26.5% 
  • (Seven Mortal Sins) Gainaxing:
    • At one point during the Beach Episode, Lucifer's breasts bounce wildly when she calmly turns aside. What's more impressive is that her no-no bits remained covered, despite the fact that if her bikini isn't tight enough to prevent such a movement in first place then it shouldn't be able to prevent her breast from slipping off either.
    • This trope is the bread and butter of the X-TASY mobile game, as the character models - both the full portrait seen on the menu and cutscenes and the chibi version used for battles - are animated with heavy usage of Jiggle Physics so that the breasts are always bouncy.
  • (Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid) Gainaxing:
    • Even when they're not moving that much, there's quite the bounce to a lot of characters' breasts.
    • Charlotte's breasts almost bounce out of her top just by walking.
  • (Bleach: Thirteen Court Guard Squads 8-13) Gainaxing: Twice. The first was at the end of the Soul Society arc, when Hitsugaya scares her so much her chest almost flies out of her top. The second instance was in the Beach Episode, where she yells at Hitsugaya for not partying with everyone else.
  • (Clue) Gainaxing: A rare live-action example — her first scene shows her breasts visibly bobbling as she dusts a room.
  • (D-Frag! 2/2) Gainaxing: ...and in the anime they're quite prone to bouncing and squishing. That is relies on the example above it is not a point in its favor
  • (Dungeon of the Endless) Gainaxing: Her breasts bounce noticeably in her idle animation.
  • (Fairy Fencer F 1/3) Gainaxing: Among the Fencer girls, she clearly has the largest and bounciest breasts. Several of her animations not-so-subtly make her breasts bounce as well.
  • (Fairy Fencer F 2/3) Gainaxing: Her well-endowed chest can be seen bouncing near the end of her Ulimate attack.
  • (Fairy Fencer F 3/3) Gainaxing: The opening video for Refrain Chord shows her well-endowed chest bouncing.
  • (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) Gainaxing: We have Emma Frost's slow-motion bouncing near the end before the helicopter.
  • (He Is My Master) Gainaxing: Every now and then, Izumi's breasts bounce around while she's running.
  • (Digimon Adventure 02 E 36 Steel Angel Shakkoumon) Gainaxing: It's subtle, but as Arukenimon angrily gets up to snap at Tapirmon, her chest jiggles.
  • (Conker's Bad Fur Day) Gainaxing: The sunflower's and Jugga's jiggling breasts, and probably, the latter's name is a pun of that.
  • (Trials of Mana) Gainaxing: Female characters in the remake have a little bit of bounce if they're showing cleavage (especially Angela). And so does Sylphid. Just enough context to end up here
  • (X-Men: Children of the Atom) Gainaxing: Psylocke's breasts are drawn to bounce or droop depending on her posture and actions.

    ZCE (includes examples that apparently expect you to know what gainaxing is before reading the trope example) 22/ 64 34.3% 

    Played for fanservice, enough context 1/ 64 1.5% 
  • (Tropes I to P) Pec Flex: A non-comical version at the end of Descent where Guts is fighting ghosts in the field, he jumps to attack and his pecs gainax upon landing. Serious a scene as it as, the display did not disappoint. Put here because it seemed the best fit, even if I don't know whether it was intentional. Also, that it assumes the trope is usually played for comedy is telling...

    linked in quote, not enough context 1/ 64 1.5% 

    Doesn't refer to breast bounce 1/ 64 1.5% 

    Played for fanservice, not enough context 1/ 64 1.5% 

    Played for laughs, seems like enough context 2/ 64 3.1% 

    Author Appeal 1/ 64 1.5% 

    Something other than breasts jiggling 1/ 64 1.5% 
  • (Plus-Sized Elf) Gainaxing: It's a common trait this manga has. All the Mon-Girls have certain parts, mostly their stomachs, that jiggle to display their weight issues.

    Weblink as example 1/ 64 1.5% 

    Other 4/ 64 7.8% 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 28th 2022 at 3:49:57 AM

Arawn999 Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#76: Nov 29th 2022 at 12:31:34 AM

Huh. Just found out about this, and I'm a bit surprised by the verdict. I would've been in favour of the "Split between two tropes. One for fanservice focused boob bounce and the other for comedy focused boob bounce" option.

Acebrock He/Him from So-Cal Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: My elf kissing days are over
He/Him
#77: Nov 29th 2022 at 3:06:27 AM

[up]It is what it is

Anyway, can someone look over the examples in the De namespace? At least one of those examples needs a rewrite and I don't speak German.

My troper wall
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#78: Nov 29th 2022 at 5:51:57 AM

[up] You could try @-ing someone from the German translation project thread?

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#79: Nov 29th 2022 at 6:17:27 AM

[up][up][up]I already pointed out multiple times that comedic examples are already covered by Gag Boobs. Which I should probably add to the list of tropes on the page if it's not already listed.

Edit: OK, so I didn't forget to list it. Never mind, then.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 29th 2022 at 8:17:53 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
VerySunshine Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#80: Nov 29th 2022 at 12:21:33 PM

De-wicked Headscratchers and most of the Laconic pages, leaving only Gainaxing itself. Cleaned out Radar.

What do we do with examples that are unclear?

Edited by VerySunshine on Nov 29th 2022 at 1:51:13 PM

PresidentBrit Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate from Nagel und Hammer Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Reincarnated romance
Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate
RamenChef Since: Dec, 2017 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#82: Dec 4th 2022 at 8:13:21 AM

Shouldn't it be spelled "license", like all the other Artistic License subtropes?

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#83: Dec 4th 2022 at 8:29:16 AM

While the redirect is pending, yeah probably will have to be swapped for consistency.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#84: Dec 4th 2022 at 8:50:07 AM

I don't really care either way per American and Commonwealth Spellings, but I did make Artistic License – Anatomy a redirect.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 4th 2022 at 10:50:33 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Since: Aug, 2020 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#85: Dec 4th 2022 at 6:16:42 PM

As a reminder, we don't make trope titles consistent per MST3K Mantra. That's what redirects are for.

Kirby is awesome.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#86: Dec 9th 2022 at 5:03:48 PM

<700 wicks. Also oops, I'd been writing "IUEO now" instead of "def-only now" for a bunch of edit reasons. My brain is elsewhere...

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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#87: Dec 9th 2022 at 6:22:11 PM

[up]I wouldn't worry about it; I've made mistakes in edit reasons in the past. Worst case scenario, if someone PMs you about it, you could mention that you meant definition-only.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 9th 2022 at 8:22:34 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#88: Dec 9th 2022 at 7:02:56 PM

Had to remove an instance of Gainaxing where we don't see movement at all, just a girl referring to another girl's assets. Definite misuse right there.

Edited by Berrenta on Dec 9th 2022 at 9:03:25 AM

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
VerySunshine Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#89: Dec 10th 2022 at 1:31:06 PM

Thanks to whoever got the rest of the anime examples!

Acebrock He/Him from So-Cal Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: My elf kissing days are over
He/Him
#90: Dec 11th 2022 at 10:26:53 PM

Cleaned out the rest of the Manga namespace, while also picking away at characters/. Under 540 now

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Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#93: Dec 18th 2022 at 12:21:44 PM

Wait, how much has everyone been removing? We weren't supposed to remove everything — just examples, since references to the term are fine.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#94: Dec 18th 2022 at 12:54:18 PM

Got the examples in the Characters/, so I think everything's done. I'll have to look into whether too much was removed, though.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Add Post

Trope Repair Shop: Gainaxing and Misty May
21st Nov '22 6:36:57 AM

Crown Description:

Gainaxing often attracts examples of breasts bouncing without meaning, and Misty May is an obscure in-joke whose page isn't thriving and has a fairly small inbound count for a page that's existed since before 2007, with 2,002 inbounds since 2012 (compare 127,755 inbounds for Gainaxing), and it's been questioned whether its concept (which is "a unit of measurement for Gainaxing") is worthy of a page. What should be done with Gainaxing and Misty May?

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