Anime Theory

[Traab]

We all know the various tropes, its time to come up with reasons why they work! Ill start off with this one, and no, its almost definitely not its official tvtropes name.

The Second Wind- This is when the hero is being horribly beaten by somebody. They are, depending on how "adult" the anime is, bruised, bleeding, and possibly broken. Lying on the ground, out of breath, out of energy, out of options. They decide they cant quit now, struggle back to their feet, then suddenly BOOM! They get a boost of power that lets them unleash a new level of whatever their skill happens to be and they obliterate the bad guy. Happens throughout a series, most famous in the final battles though.

How does this work? Its simple really. The anatomy of an average anime hero has a special pouch of adrenaline that is sealed up in their ankles. This is concentrated energy here people, its heavy duty. What happens is, when they struggle back to their feet, their bodies are too weak to support themselves properly, and the damaged body crushes the adrenaline pouch, releasing a sudden burst of energy that is roughly twice as powerful as their currently thought limit. It lets them ignore pain, and reach higher levels of awesome that they wouldnt have normally seen untill they did far more training. If that adrenaline pouch wasnt there, their bodies would give up, and likely, their ankles would have snapped under the pressure.

It is generally only good for a short period of time, either a sudden burst of physical contact, or some ultimate move. This is why the hero often passes out after the fight ends. Its also why you often see the hero struggling to consciously call up the new move later on. His body knows how to do it, but he isnt yet strong enough to do it without the extra boost.

[KingofMadCows]

That's a pretty common trope in a lot of action movies/television shows. Look at Rocky and Superman Returns.

[Radar]

That's a pretty common trope in a lot of action movies/television shows. Look at Rocky and Superman Returns.

Not quite: Rocky gets gradually stronger, while being pummeled - he is obviously using Favor of The Martyr spell.

[Cespenar]

Getting a burst of strength from adrenaline and sheer desperation isn't an unrealistic thing, y'know.

Also, if the hero was superhumanly strong in the first place, the resulting effect being earth-shatteringly massive isn't inconsistent too.

The way that it's used over and over in all action movies and shonen anime makes this an issue in the first place.

[Traab]

You guys are kinda missing the point. The purpose of this topic is to think of, then find a way to explain, all the different tropes you see in anime. Things like,

Perverted nose bleeds powerful enough to send a man flying through a wall, that dont cause any harm

How a man can be horribly beaten by a crowd of women and yet a minute later doesnt even have dusty clothes, let alone huge lumps and bruises.

Hammerspace

Why the wind always blows in the perfect direction for a cloak flutter entrance.

All these and more. The goal is to figure out a tounge in cheek, yet realistic reason these things could happen. As in my example, a crushable pocket of adrenaline that can only be broken open under the right circumstances.

[Yora]

Reminds me of the 100 rules of anime physics and biology.

[Traab]

Yeah a bit, but most of those are more "serious" explanations than silly ones.

[H Birchgrove]

Maybe they just get that ticked off and/or desperate.

[Radar]

Perverted nose bleeds powerful enough to send a man flying through a wall, that dont cause any harm.

Apparently anime dwellers have abnormaly large ammounts of blood in them at much higher pressure then humans. It's also observable during serious fights, when combatants bleed heavily without dying or being even inconvenienced.

Not being harmed by wall crushing, sledgehammer hits and other typically lethal events is as prevelant as it is a mystery.

How a man can be horribly beaten by a crowd of women and yet a minute later doesnt even have dusty clothes, let alone huge lumps and bruises.

Hammerspace

Why the wind always blows in the perfect direction for a cloak flutter entrance.

It might be some hyper advanced cloth technology (like Superman's super-weaving or even better, since he wasn't even a tailor). Since anime dwellers are obviously aliens (big eyes, small mouth), their science looks like magic to primitives like us.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Yeah a bit, but most of those are more "serious" explanations than silly ones.

#3 - Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics- In space, loud
sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.

Strikes you as serious?

[Traab]

Apparently anime dwellers have abnormaly large ammounts of blood in them at much higher pressure then humans. It's also observable during serious fights, when combatants bleed heavily without dying or being even inconvenienced.

Not being harmed by wall crushing, sledgehammer hits and other typically lethal events is as prevelant as it is a mystery.

It might be some hyper advanced cloth technology (like Superman's super-weaving or even better, since he wasn't even a tailor). Since anime dwellers are obviously aliens (big eyes, small mouth), their science looks like magic to primitives like us.

1) My theory was that they have a circulatory system that works like sharks teeth. You destroy one set of veins, and another system, complete with blood, rapidly forms to replace it. Thats why you rarely see a lingering death in anime. Generally, if it isnt an instant kill, or at least a wound that takes less than a couple minutes to be lethal, you get better.

2)Ill buy the cloth line, but my backup circulation idea could also explain the rapidly fading bruises and lumps.

[Radar]

1) My theory was that they have a circulatory system that works like sharks teeth. You destroy one set of veins, and another system, complete with blood, rapidly forms to replace it. Thats why you rarely see a lingering death in anime. Generally, if it isnt an instant kill, or at least a wound that takes less than a couple minutes to be lethal, you get better.

2)Ill buy the cloth line, but my backup circulation idea could also explain the rapidly fading bruises and lumps.

The problem is, sharks loose teeth at the same rate as they make new ones. If anime characters constantly grow new circulatory systems, then the old one has to be shunted out somehow - it would be like snake's skin shedding only anime characters would shed their insides (resulting in a bit of gore). Plain high regeneration rate is on the other hand proven by ample examples. It certainly requires enormous ammount of energy, but it explains nicely abnormal apetite. I wish I knew, how their digestive systems work - it's seems to be akin to future-upgraded Delorian's power generator.

[Traab]

True, but you rarely see the aftermath of the big battles. What happens is there is a final attack, the bad guy dies, the good guy passes out, then we fade to black and the next scene is generally a couple days later in the hospital. We skip over the somewhat gory part of their body spitting out spaghetti. Another possibility is the old circulatory system is absorbed for raw materials as the new one forms. If you could see inside their body you would see a similar thing to an old school western movie burning fuse as the veins dissolve, but right behind it new ones are replacing them. Only without the sparks. :p

[Radar]

There is another possibility: there is no closed circulatory system at all. In most situations, anime characters bleed plentifuly regardles of, where they ware injured. Maybe they have an open system with circulation increased by convection caused by overheating stomach or liver (that level of metabolism would produce humongous ammounts of heat). Blood would double as a heavy duty coolant.

Now that I think about it, we rarely see any distinguishable internal organs at all. They definately have fairly normal bone structure though, since they move around like humans most of the time.

[Yora]

Apparently anime dwellers have abnormaly large ammounts of blood in them at much higher pressure then humans. It's also observable during serious fights, when combatants bleed heavily without dying or being even inconvenienced.

It's not just anime. The same is true for big budget historical epics.

[Radar]

It's not just anime. The same is true for big budget historical epics.

Yes, it's also true for Tarantino movies (warning: bad language inside).