Refuge in Audacity/Anime And Manga

• G Gundam. Every Gundam in it represents some national stereotype, from Spain's Toro/Matador Gundam (It turns into a giant bull's head and fights like a matador), and India's Cobra Gundam (Piloted by a snake-charmer who is green skinned for no apparent reason), to Germany's Nazi SS officer inspired Shadow Gundam, and Mexico's sombrero wearing Tequila Gundam. But it's so over the top, and everyone takes all the insanity so seriously that you can't help but love it.
  • The Giant Robo OVA, directed by the same guy, does like-wise.
  • And he does it again in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen.
  • However, apparently naming Gundams after God and the Devil was too offensive, and they were renamed Burning and Dark Gundam, respectively. This was done to appease the almighty Walmart, which had previously sent every action figure of the Gundam Deathscythe Hell back to Bandai because of the name.
    • In their defense, it would make no sense to most in the US as to why the "God Gundam" was so named, unfamiliar with the imagery of the six fans coming out of the back of the Gundam. "Burning Gundam" and "Dark Gundam" are just silly, though, and sound like something a Walmart exec would suggest.
• Mazinger Z features two FemBots -Aphrodite A and Diana A- employs their breasts like weapon by shooting them. This feature was inherited by Venus A, Great Mazinger Fembot. And the series not only featured a half-male, half-female being -Baron Ashura- but also Go Nagai drew one scene where he/she was taking a shower (such a lovely vision was recreated in Mazinkaiser and Shin Mazinger).
  • The uh ... boob missiles are parodied/given an homage in other anime including the recent iDOLM@STER anime.
  • Furthermore, Venus A was given a homage in Marvel vs. Capcom. Via Roll's Hyper Adapter form. Hmm.
• Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass is known for this using his Magic Eyes to perform actions in such a way that makes it look like he performs miracles. Though he's actually at his best when he instead uses only his wits, brains and knowledge of people.
  
  A good example of this is the "we are all Zero" gambit which is so outrageous it simply cannot fail, even though the logistics behind it make no sense.
  
  Another example is the ending of the series. Lelouch becomes the biggest, most evil dictator in history, then has his Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain ally free the world by killing him. People unite against him! This allows people like Nunnally, Suzaku (as Zero), Kaguya (as AFN representative), Empress Tianzi and Ougi to help rebuild the world, with the side benefit of erasing Euphemia's Geass-incited machinegun massacre from public memory.
• In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, when Ed is doing his practical demonstration for his State Alchemist qualifications (at the age of 12, incidentally) he proceeds to not only create a spear from the ground without a circle in front of dozens of high ranking military officers, but to then threaten the Fuhrer King Bradley with it, just to prove a point. He had no idea of just what Bradley was capable of then, though Bradley did show Ed why he's not worried.
  • Later, this is subverted when Roy Mustang makes a joke about Bradley being a homunculus, and it is in fact taken very seriously. This is because, while Ed's threat was ultimately revealed to be an empty one, due to Bradley's prowess, Roy's questioning was taken very seriously because he's right, and too dangerously close to the truth for the corrupt higher-ups to let him go.
• Isaac and Miria from Baccano are able to fly under police radar despite being active criminals by virtue of the fact that the heists they pull off are so bizarre that the police don't want to be involved with them. They once tried to steal a museum, after having infiltrated it as a pair of mummies. After discovering that the museum was too heavy to lift, they decided to make off with the entrance door so no-one else could enter the museum (the logic is impeccable, impeccable I say!). They get caught on camera in the process, and pose for the pictures. While still in their mummy disguises. The police, upon being delivered images of two mummies posing for the camera while carrying the entrance door to the city museum, do nothing.
  • They also manage to steal from Mafia by simply relying on the fact that nobody would be crazy enough to jump on them in clear daylight and run away laughing.
  • Their idea of disguises are so absurd and flamboyant that they're able to hide in plain sight. Their heists appear so bereft of criminal planning or malicious intent that they're taken for performance artists, perhaps pulling some dada stunts.
  • Vino is also prone to this. For instance, we find out in the OVA how he tracked down Chane after the end of the Flying Pussyfoot fiasco (when he'd proposed to her out of the blue minutes after having met her, while soaked head-to-toe in blood and having just thrown Ladd off the train, which counts in and of itself): he grabbed Nicholas in an alleyway, got on a nearby train, and threatened to grate his face off on the rails if he didn't talk. Vino is Ax Crazy Awesome.
  • Ladd makes use of this a lot as well. He thinks murder is a fun game, and is the embodiment of Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor, but his behavior is so outrageous he remains likable, at least to fans of the series.
• Eyeshield 21 has Hiruma and his guns.
  • His 10-plane carpet F bombing throughout the entire series. Ordinarily, even one use of the word is enough to raise alarm, but he uses it so profusely that it's strangely okay.
  • During the school sports festival, he actually drove through the streets... in a tank.
• Akira Takizawa from Eden of the East pulls this off when the Japanese-English language barrier (as well as his own weirdness) leads him to conclude that the best way deal with the police officer questioning him is to drop his trousers and flash her. Far from arresting him on the spot for indecent exposure, the cop thanks him and lets him off the hook (leading many viewers to conclude that Akira's "Johnny" is so amazing that it has mind control powers).
  • Then there's the time when he flashed a random businessman on the street, then says something that causes the guy to laugh, then hand over his pants. Charm Person, indeed. And this happens in the first episode. It builds up from there.
• Captain Freakshow, Mayuri Kurotsuchi of Bleach, is only not a villain because if he were, someone would have to arrest him. The biggest fan debate surrounding him is whether he's a Complete Monster or just a Jerkass, but either way he loves being whichever one he is.
• Shiki stabs a hallway to death with a fruit knife. And he only has to stab once.
• In Kanamemo, this trope is the primary reason Haruka, one of the most blatant lolicons ever, is listed as a Base Breaker and not The Scrappy.
• Gravion is filled with things that can all be sumed up by, Sandman does Crazy Awesome stuff with maids, Humongous Mecha, and some robot piloting teens. IT WORKS.
• Ayame from Fruits Basket. In a flashback to his school days, the only reason he was able to keep his long hair was he came up with an outrageous story about him being royalty and wouldn't shut up about it. And that's nothing to what he went on about as class president when some classmates got caught in the red light district.
• This trope is Sousuke Sagara's hat in Full Metal Panic. After all the Crazy Awesome stunts he had pulled, he would've been expelled for about a hundred times had he not have enjoyed Mithril's backing.
• Ed from Cowboy Bebop once hacked into a Kill Sat to draw her trademark smiley face. She vandalized South America, and the resulting graffiti could be seen from space.
• The director's next project after, Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt, took that title and made sure nothing would ever come close. This series can only be described as what would happened if you threw Butch Hartman, Quentin Tarantino, Charlie's Angels, Invader Zim and various blaxploitation movies in a blender, pulled out some LSD for that extra zip, hit "frappe", and drink the entire thing while watching a six-hour marathon of The Powerpuff Girls. Why yes, it IS made by Studio Gainax, why do you ask?
• Ultimate Girls makes a respectable attempt though. Three schoolgirls are accidentally killed by the local Ultraman, resurrected by him, and have to take his place. They do this by touching a long rod that UFO Man extends out from his body, and transforming into hundred foot tall superheroes who fight Kaiju whose weaknesses are in their crotches (and in the case of a doctor themed monster is also a stethoscope). Like Ultraman, there's a three minute time limit on their power, signified by their clothing gradually disintegrating as the fight goes on. Not only that, but the girls' embarrassment at their forthcoming nudity actually increases their strength with the power of M.O.E. Last but not least, the UG universe averts Magic Pants, meaning when their clothes are removed in the course of their Magical Girl transformation they don't come back when they return to normal, forcing them to strip down prior to transforming.
• One of the reasons My Balls just plain works. Take the basic premise of "The Queen of Terror is trapped in this guy's family jewels" and run with it down the street, naked, screaming and being pursued by Horny Devils.
• Getter Robo No more explanation is needed.
• Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure runs on this trope. Sagas 1 and 2 were already over the top, but when they introduced Stands in Saga 3 up... Damn.
• Though the invaders are virtually incompetent, the Gag Series Keroro Gunsou contains a lot of references to, terminology from, and vague satire of World War II (Imperial) Japanese militarism, which was a fairly touchy subject when the show was released in other Asian countries. As the anime slowly leaned towards more mainstream humor and positive subject matter, the producers have modified it accordingly, making more of the jokes about post-war consumerism.
  • One major initial change is the avoidance of calling Earth Pokopen (instead opting for Pekopon), which was a derisive way to refer to Sino-Japanese War era China.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei is successfully pulled off as comedy because of this law.
• Excel Saga does this quite often, every episode has at least one example of this (usually multiple examples). Then the infamous twenty-sixth episode deliberately went so far it hit "unacceptable" again and wasn't broadcast on TV, although being one minute too long was probably the actual deciding factor.
  • The director (Nabeshin himself) has said that the 26th episode was intended to break as many broadcasting regulations as possible, since it was intended to be a DVD-only release.
• Would you believe that there's a manga and anime series about a boy who's forced to serve a girl whom he was trying to kidnap to repay a large debt by the Yakuza some 'very nice people', and defend her at all costs against all kinds of kidnappings, boredom, and giant robots? And gets forcibly dressed up as a girl and sexually molested by an African Tiger and it's played for laughs? And it's a shonen comedy with a fairly earlier time-slot? That's Hayate the Combat Butler in a nutshell for you.
  • The second season was broadcast in a late-night timeslot, though.
• Black Lagoon, a Heroic Bloodshed anime that can, at its finest, be described as the Adaptation Distillation of every single Hollywood action movie into one series and cranked up to eleven through the Rule of Cool. Amongst the series' collection of over-the-top concepts is a main cast consisting of a hacker, a Japanese Salaryman, a Vietnam vet turned independent contractor and an ex-hitman Dark Action Girl. The antagonists include amaid with a shotgun umbrella and a suitcase full of guns and a villainous group of Neo-Nazis, all taking place in a city where the coroner is a mute Elegant Gothic Lolita who uses a chainsaw in combat and the local church sells weapons to the city gangs for a living. To top it off, the series contains more narmful Gratuitous English than you can shake a stick at.
  • The ultimate refuge in audacity, however, occurs in the final episode when Ms. Balalaika shows up at the home of a powerful Yakuza leader (under 24/7 police surveillance, no less), asks to see his gun and proceeds shoots him with it. Afterwards, she exits, shows a fake diplomatic passport to the policemen who came to investigate the gunshots, and then casually gets into her limo and drives away before anyone can figure out what happened.
  • Which makes Mood Whiplash hit you like a brick to the face when the serious Story Arc actually shows up. If you've seen the series then you'll know what I'm talking about.
• Only GaoGaiGar would be able to pull off a hammer the size of a planet. Two words: "Goldion Crusher".
  • How about setting yourself on fire just to ram someone with bigger effect?
  • Or playing rock music on Tower Bridge?
• One Piece occasionally dabbles in this. Most notably, the character of Mr. 2 Bon Clay, a Camp Gay, shapeshifting martial artist who dresses as a hairy-legged ballerina and uses swans as weapons.
  • Many of the characters in the show in general fall into this trope when taken abstractly. A swordsman who competently wields a katana in his mouth, a reindeer who can turn into humanoid forms and is also a skilled doctor, and later on a cola-powered cyborg who rebuilt his own body from scrap ship parts after being hit by a train, and a reanimated skeleton musician who can play the violin with a sword and still has his afro attached... because he has "strong roots".
  • A series known for bizzarre character designs has a character inspired in part from Dr. Frank-N-Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show that can forcibly Gender Bender people and is the "Queen" if an island of transvestites.
• Dead Leaves. Jesus Christ. First of all, the animation is utterly insane and the movie plays like one continuous action sequence. As for the actual plot: A man with a TV for a head and a woman with a spot around her eye regain consciousness outside of a city naked. They go on a crime spree, and after a long chase are caught and sent to a super secure prison on the torn-up remains of the moon. There inmates receive cruel treatment rivalling Superjail, spending the entire time tied up in straitjacket/sacks while tubes are used for both force-feeding and force-excretion. The fellow inmates include such bizarre things as a man that has either asscheeks or a scrotum for a head, and a man with a gigantic drill for a penis. The pair then have sex together in their cell and somehow undo their restraints of themselves and then their fellow inmates, after which they all attempt a breakout. I don't want to spoil anymore, but suffice to say it must be seen to be believed and it is freaking awesome.
• In contrast to the semi-seriousness of the Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome anime, their manga counterparts push the Fan Service and plot points into the realms of absurdity, essentially making them Magical Girl harem comedies in the process (at least for the first half, before they get darker toward the end). Most fans who watched the Anime First were not pleased with the differences, though.
• The premise of Chintsubu is this trope. Magical talking penises that switch from one man to another, and if that isn't bad enough, punny situations keep coming up.
• Does anything more than the name Axis Powers Hetalia need to be said? The history of the world especially through war turned into comedy. The First Sino-Japanese war is represented by a crazed Japan showing up at China's door and attacking him with a sword. The anime tones this down; for example the strip that ends with Japan attacking China has its ending removed so Japan comes off as an annoying genius instead of someone who takes China's help and repays it by attacking him.
  • And the English dub manages to turn it Up to Eleven.
  • It's almost as though the aforementioned hijinks of G Gundam was meant to prepare the world for Hetalia.
• Haruhi Suzumiya's "Endless Eight", the anime version. This is actually Refuge in Audacity on the producers side, not inside the show. Whether it's trolling or something else is anyone's guess.
  • For non-viewers: The plot involves a Groundhog Day Loop. The producers have shown the same events, animated slightly differently, for eight episodes in a row. Even Adolf Hitler was angry.
  • Much of Haruhi's antics in general can be this. Stealing, blackmail, sexual harassment; not funny. But shoving a guy's hand onto a girl's breast, taking falsely incriminating pictures of them, and threatening to turn him and his friends in for groping and/or gang-rape unless they give up their fancy new computer? Both hilarious and effective!

Kyon: It's like a bad comedy skit or something...

• Narutaru's anime opening actually spoils a large portion of the plot, including several parts of the manga that weren't animated -- but the way it's animated and the opening theme song ensures that nobody will ever take notice of this. In fact, the whole opening is just this trope writ large.
• NEEDLESS is chock full of crazy shit, most notably the overblown Lolicon fanservice. Recently in the manga, Non-Action Guy Cruz Took a Level In Badass as a Wholesome Crossdresser.
• Cutey Honey was a pioneer of this. Just watch the opener of the original series, which debuted in 1973. Not only are there clips of Honey's clothes ripping off, the lyrics to the theme song praise her boobs and ass.
  • The latest installment, Re: Cutey Honey, takes this even further by showing ass and cleavage shots when those exact lyrics are sung. They're not even trying to be subtle.
• Mad Bull 34 is so blatantly offensive that you can't help but love it. In fact, nearly every series released by Manga UK fits this description.
• Naruto gives the example of a diplomat attacking under a flag of truce in order to kidnap a three year old girl to steal her eyes. Her father catches him in the act and kills him on the spot. So what do his comrades do? Deny the kidnapping attempt ever happened, brand her father a murderer, and demand his execution and have his body turned over to them for confirmation, in order to obtain the set of eyes they couldn't get from the child! It would have worked but for a Heroic Sacrifice on the part of the man's twin brother, and is the source of a considerable amount of angst. They have yet to pay for this action in any way. This status was Lampshaded during a negotiation, and promptly dismissed.
• And we got this far without mentioning FLCL how?
• What about the Great Kamina? Anything he does qualifies. He's so crazy that he even kept fighting after his vital signs were gone.
  • In Episode 2 he shows just how crazy he is.

Kamina: "That red thing sure is tough-looking. Alright. This settles it. I'm gonna pilot that thing." Yoko: "What?" Kamina: "I said I'm gonna pilot that thing!"

• • • He actually managed to pull it off without anyone else questioning it.
  • Kittan deserves some mentioning too. He went on a suicide mission, on purpose, with a 0% chance of success, and succeeded, by hiding King Kittan inside Space King Kittan and then flying straight towards the Death Spiral Machine, got crushed, survived, ejected in King Kittan and proceeded to Giga Drill Break the Death Spiral Machine, turning the ultra-dense space into pure Spiral Energy for Simon to use. All in 3 minutes. If pulling off something established in-universe to be impossible doesn't qualify, then what does?
• Invoked in-story in Honoo no Alpen Rose. The music genius Leonhardt "Leon" Aschenbach is being pressured by Those Wacky Nazis alongside his best friend (and the female lead) Jeudi, and must write an "Austrian Symphony" as well as use it in a concert. What does he do? He accepts to play... but then he uses said concert to actually escape from Austria alongside Jeudi (via turning the lights off in a critical moment and then rushing out with the hep of his and Jeudi's entourage) AND give them the musical finger via inserting the melody of an anti-Nazi song (written by Jeudi's Disappeared Dad as the "hymm" of La Résistance) in his "Austrian symphony". And he gets away with it cleanly.
• Those Who Hunt Elves. Series premise: a motley crew of heroes have to go around stripping every female elf they see.
• Urotsukidouji aka Legend of the Overfiend. While it did have potential to be creepy, the over the top ridiculousness of it (read: cum turning into a laser that blows a woman's head off) and dubbing prevented this.
• Medaka Box has become this. It was originally a Slice of Life high school comedy series. Then it shifted genres a few times.