Anger Born of Worry

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again!"

Alice is in love with Bob. Bob goes and does something crazy heroic, risking himself. Once the crisis is over, Alice rips into Bob with utmost anger. Eventually, she comes out and admits she was worried about him. This may occur in the context of the After-Action Patchup.

Of course, this trope can apply to either gender on both the giving and receiving end, it's the caring that brings it about that makes the trope. It is also particularly common for parents to show this trope when their children return from whatever world saving adventure they've been on.

Related to How Dare You Die on Me!, except it's milder, as in, "how dare you put yourself in so much danger." May also involve a Slap Slap Kiss. Contrast Tearful Smile, which occurs when Alice is still distraught even when she's happy. Good odds for a Punchy Love-type to be this if he/she is far enough on the "punchy" side.

Examples of Anger Born of Worry include:

Anime and Manga

  • This trope is pretty much a requirement for all Tsunderes.
  • This is what happens in the end of Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid, although Tsundere Kaname Chidori was afraid not only for Sousuke (who disappeared without a word in the middle of the series) but also for herself (since villains are constantly after her and Sousuke was supposed to protect her). The progression of fear to relief to anger causes her to deliver an epic Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! beatdown to Sousuke - himself in the throes of a massive Heroic BSOD - when they're finally reunited.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion played with this one in the Sea of Dirac arc. Asuka is clearly aiming for the trope, but she keeps having to take a number as first Misato and then Rei "butt in", after Shinji reappears. She's left at a low simmer, but Shinji sees her the second time and seems to understand.
  • In Ouran High School Host Club, Tamaki yells at Haruhi for trying to take on a group of bullies by herself and nearly getting killed in the process. The rest of the episode has Haruhi and Tamaki giving each other the silent treatment until they make up near the end.
    • Also in Ouran, the Creepy Twins Hikaru and Kaoru pull this off in the vacation episode to score Moe points through Twincest subtext. Whether it was intentional or not is up to debate.
  • Naruto goes to town with this. With only a few exceptions, Sakura always worries about Naruto's safety in a combat situation. This persists despite him proving his skills over and over, and her claims that she doesn't feel "that" way about him.
    • Possibly the best example is the page image from Chapter 450 when Naruto returns after defeating Pain, Sakura punches him for being so reckless, then embraces him, thanking him.
  • In Princess Tutu, Fakir constantly treats Mytho harshly and orders him around. When Mytho begins to finally grow a backbone and stand up for himself, Fakir starts getting so distressed that his harsh demeanor escalates until he finally snaps and slaps Mytho. At first it's played to show him as a control freak, but it's soon revealed that he's really a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and he's terrified of Mytho getting hurt because of past experiences. (He just has a very, very poor way of expressing himself when he's upset.)
  • In one chapter of the Inuyasha manga, Kagome breaks down into tears when she thinks Inuyasha's dead, calling him "Idiot!" When Inuyasha shows up alive and well, she yells at him, causing him to think that she's mad at him at first before she says that she's just so relieved that he's alive.
    • In the anime, a similar scene has Kagome yelling some more at him because she's embarrassed at having broken down in tears.

Kagome: I'm not crying because I'm sad! I'M CRYING BECAUSE I FEEL HUMILIATED!

    • And another after the defeat of the Thunder Brothers. When Inuyasha sees Shippo and Kagome surrounded in foxfire, and thinks they're ghosts.
  • Ranma ½:
    • Akane is wracked with worry over Ranma going to fight their first bonafide lethal opponent, who had locked him as a woman permanently. When he finally comes back, manhood restored (well, unlocked, anyway) he sneaks into the bathroom before greeting her. When she sees him, she's very obviously relieved to the point of tears, even as she's angry at him that he didn't go see her first.
    • Shortly afterwards, Akane is the one who faces a legendary eight-headed dragon to repay a life debt, without asking for Ranma's help. After she's nearly killed, and Ranma rescues her, he berates her (albeit gently) for making him worry.
    • After Shampoo and Akane have their first physical fight in the series, Ranma finds Akane unconscious on the grass. Thinking she might be dead, he urges her to wake up. When she does, he looks relieved, right before he promptly calls her an idiot and reprimands her for fighting Shampoo.
  • In the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Sound Stage X, Nove has this reaction when a severely wounded Subaru meets up with her after fighting her way out of some ruins.
  • Chisame delivers one to Negi after he risks his life trying to study Evangeline's Black Magic. For all the chaos he has (unintentionally) brought upon her, she still cares about him more than she's willing to admit.
    • Asuna does this to him quite often too.
  • Miaka goes through a mild version of this in Fushigi Yuugi the first time Tamahome really risks his life saving her. When the tables are turned and she ends up risking her own life for her Seishi, Tamahome gives a Meaningful Echo.
  • Rukia is a sort of protective mother figure to Ichigo whenever he does something she deems stupid or reckless at the start of the series, first Played for Laughs, which is usually revealed to be her way of being worried about him. In the Soul Society arc, it's Played for Drama.
  • Happens in one episode of G Gundam involving Rain and Domon.
  • Saber from Fate Stay Night has this reaction whenever Shirou puts himself in danger. Makes a lot of sense, since she is essentially his bodyguard and he's less than cooperative with her efforts to protect him.
  • Anemone from Eureka Seven, who has only just realized she is in love with Dominic when he leaves around the same time, goes to save him when she accidentally attacks him with her mech while he's falling from the sky, clinging to a ref board to try and save her. She admonishes him for doing something so reckless, even though they're both in a freefall at this point. Now she's normally been pretty harsh on poor Dominic until now, but fortunately for him, she lets it slide. Cue Big Damn Kiss.
  • In the My-HiME side novel "Natsuki no Prelude," after Natsuki returns to school after her first battle with an Orphan, covered in wounds, Shizuru is quite shocked to see her hurt, and (not being a Hime at the time) tells her that if falling off her motorcycle caused it, she will keep her away from it even if she has to hit her. Natsuki insists that she's all right, but is touched that Shizuru cares about her.
  • In Kamisama Kiss Tomoe has a Bodyguard Crush towards the heorine Nanami who she keeps pulling stunts that send his blood pressure sky-rocketing and causing him to rip her a new one verbally. It doesn't help that Tomoe is a definite Jerk with a Heart of Gold.


Comics

  • In Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog this was Princess Sally's reason for dumping Sonic. He had just returned from a lengthy absence during which he had been presumed dead, and yet he now continued risking his life at the drop of a hat. The fear of potentially having to mourn him a second time was more than she could stand.


Fan Fiction

  • In White Devil of the Moon, after Nanoha, who has recently been injured, collapses from using Divine Buster against Jadeite, Fate yells at her for using high-level magic despite her being warned about the strain on her Linker Core, before breaking down crying and telling her how worried she is about her.
  • In Christian Humber Reloaded, Season-Bringer punches Blade for making him think that he'd died in the explosion that destroyed Chaos near the end of Part 2.
  • In Kyon: Big Damn Hero Haruhi reacts this way to Kyon being injured after fighting some Yakuza with all his supernatural tools disabled.


Film

  • In The Dark Knight, Jim Gordon pretends to be dead in order to capture the Joker and doesn't inform his family of this plan. Upon seeing her "dead" husband on the front porch, his wife immediately slaps him across the face, then starts sobbing and hugs him.
  • In Monsters, Inc., when Sulley and Mike find Boo after she ran away in the office building and they presumed she got killed in a garbage masher, Sulley reveals his parental instinct toward her by sternly saying "Don't you EVER run away from me again!" Then he hugs her and adds "But I was so worried...!"
  • In Thor, Odin gets furious at Thor when he foolishly goes to the Jotunheim to pick a fight with the Frost Giants which nearly gets him, his brother, and his friends killed. This leads to Thor getting stripped of his powers and banished from Asgard to teach him some humility and wisdom on Midgard.


Literature

  • CS Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Reepicheep goes overboard, and the first mate burst into exclamations that he's more trouble than the rest of the crew and ought to be thrown into irons.
  • Belgariad - Polgara and Durnik, after the fight with the mud creatures.
  • In the third Kate Daniels book by Ilona Andrews, we get this exchange.

Kate: "What the fuck is wrong with you? He was silver! I had it under control. What was going through your head? Here's a toxic silver golem; I think I'll jump on his back! That's a damn good idea!"
Curran: "Were you worried about me?"
Kate: "No, I'm ranting for fun, because I'm a disagreeable bitch!"

  • Twisted inside-out and upside-down by Darken Rahl in Wizard's First Rule. While brainwashing a young child whom he intends to sacrifice, he asks about the boy's dog. The boy tells him that his dog once ran away, but was greeted lovingly when he was found. But one time the boy ran off without telling anyone and was punished with a belt when he returned. Darken Rahl asks him if his parents really love him, if they're willing to beat him and Pet the Dog for the same offense. While the boy's parents undoubtedly abided by this trope, Rahl managed to convince him that it was inverted just for him, causing the boy's love for them to be shaken.
  • In Patricia A. McKillip's The Book of Atrix Wolfe, when Tanis was unhorsed and injured, and then had to kill a boar, his brother descends on him dragging him away and pounded him—only when Tanis recovers from his shock does he realize he's saying that he thought Tanis had been killed.
  • In the fourth book of Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Annabeth has this reaction when Percy returns from Calypso's island, having been thought dead after an explosion in Hephaestus's workshop.
  • In John Connolly's Charlie Parker series, side characters Angel and Louis are lovers, gay, comic relief, snarky, kind of sort of insane, and just happen to be incredibly bad ass. Near the end of their own book where they act as main characters rather then supporting cast, there is a moment where Louis pretends to be dead to fake out the antagonist. Angel, wounded, weaponless, is pretty convinced Louis is dead, too, and has to fight to put aside emotion and focus. When it's revealed, then, that Louis was a big fat lying liar who was barely wounded, rather then being pleased, Angel kicks him, repeatedly, and without being gentle about it. It's made rather obvious this reaction is born of fear and adrenaline, and Louis takes it all in semi-amused stride.

Louis: I got shot!
Angel: Not shot enough!

  • In Deathly Hallows, Ron finds Harry and Hermione in the woods after leaving them several weeks previously. He saves Harry's life and destroys a horcrux before actually returning to the camp. Hermione greets him with nearly hysterical anger.


Live Action TV

  • Inara does this to Mal in Firefly. She even gave his unconscious but alive body a kiss, however it was also played with when her relief turns to anger when she realizes that the knockout agent Saffron used was on her lips, and she passes out moments later while halfway through insulting Mal's parentage.
    • At the end of the episode, just as she is about to admit that she kissed him, Mal assumes she instead kissed Saffron. Inara doesn't deny this, because she would rather not face the consequences of kissing Mal.
  • On White Collar, this is Peter's reaction every time Neal does something heedless. So basically, just about every episode.
  • Ziva and Tony on NCIS have a tendency to yell at each other and get really annoyed when they were worried about the other person. They'll both deny it's worry, though.
  • Brennan on Bones punches Booth when it turns out he wasn't really dead. She claimed it was because he didn't tell her. According to him, he requested that she be told, but his superiors decided not to. The audience can probably figure out why.
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Kirk and Spock are all over this one. In the episode "The Apple," Spock takes a poisoned dart for Kirk. Upon Spock's waking up, Kirk berates him for putting himself in danger, then afterwards adds "but thanks." This would be a Crowning Moment Of Ho Yay for any other couple, but for Kirk and Spock, for whom the original Slash Fic was written, this sort of Ho Yay is just par for the course.
  • In Kamen Rider Den-O, the events of the first movie has three out of four of Ryotaro's partner Imagin disappear from the timeline. When they reappeared just fine later the fourth Imagin, Momotaros (a possible male Tsundere), shows us how much he missed them.
  • In the Doctor Who episode "The Impossible Astronaut", River Song greets the Doctor with a slap after she's just seen his future self die.
    • Sarah Jane Smith had a lot of this when she traveled with the Fourth Doctor. A classic example is "Pyramids of Mars"—she thinks he's dead, and starts weeping over him, only to be flustered when he says, "You're soaking my shirt."
  • In Misfits, once the team has learned that Nathan is still alive and actually immortal after getting impaled on a fence post and being buried in the local cemetary for the past few weeks, Kelly immediately flies into a rage and starts hitting him.


Video Games

  • In Dynasty Warriors 5, if you're fighting on the side of Wei and your character takes a beating, Cao Cao will berate you, all the while sounding concerned for your well being.

Cao Cao: Are you trying to kill yourself!? Fall back!

Seolla: Do you know much I am worried!?
Arado: ... As big as your breasts, maybe?

    • Cue to a slap and more chewing from Seolla. But shortly after she expresses that she is thankful for the cover.
  • In the end to Star Ocean: The Last Hope, the party is forced to leave Edge behind in the collapsing dungeon because he was slowed down trying to help Faize. When Edge walks back into the ship after escaping by other means, Reimi immediately slaps him (again), then falls into his arms crying in relief.
  • In Mega Man Zero 3, Ciel pulls something similar. After Zero leaps onto a launching missile in an attempt to stop it from destroying innocent lives (he fails to stop the missile, though), she tells him to promise that he'll never do anything like that again. His response? "I'll think about it." Considering what happens to him in the next game, he never learns. Also consider that, technically, Ciel is Zero's superior, and that both times he's acted against her orders...
  • In Baldur's Gate 2, one event that shows up if you try to romance Jaheira is for the party to be ambushed by bandits who take her hostage to rob you. If the protagonist tries to exchange himself with her as a hostage, you'll get arrowed for half your current hit points, Jaheira fights free, and this trope will get evoked once the bandits are dead.
  • Final Fantasy IX: Zidane has opted to stay behind and rescue his brother Kuja, and, after a year, was presumed dead. Cue this absolutely touching ending.
  • In Grandia, Justin must go through one of two magical portals. The right one will let him put an end to the deadly, acidic rain that's harming the locals, while the wrong one will kill him outright. When he doesn't immediately come back out, Feena (who chose the portal) begins to panic. He only shows up again as they're leaving the collapsing dungeon, and Feena responds as expected.
  • In the True Ending for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Noel Vermillion manages to save Ragna the Bloodedge from a long fall into the Cauldron and a horrible fate as the Black Beast. As soon as she manages to haul him out of the Cauldron, she begins screaming at Ragna about how scared she was that he was going to die, repeatedly calling him stupid and punching his chest. It actually manages to get through the stoic attitude he tries to wear fairly quickly.
    • Noel does it again in the True Ending of Continuum Shift after Ragna frees her from Terumi's brainwashing and loses his arm in the process.
  • In Solatorobo, after Red takes on Nero and Blanck for the first time, he barely escapes with his life. Once he wakes up and everyone is sure he's okay, Elh socks him a few times for being such an idiot. Then they comment on how it's good to see each other again after several months.
  • Yang's ending in Street Fighter III Third Strike has his childhood friend Shaomei mentioning the trope to him when him and Yun come back home and her older sister Houmei gets pissed at them.

Shaomei: My sister can be so clumsy... She has been worried. She just has a hard time showing her relief. You know, she didn't eat a thing while you were gone.


Web Comics


Western Animation

[after Flash narrowly survives a death-defying fall]
Hawkgirl: [shouting] Don't you ever scare me like that again! [stalks off]
The Flash: [to Fire] She loves me. Seriously, she's like the big sister I never had. Only, you know, shorter.

Big Barda: "Scott! I thought you were dead! ... You insufferable showboat! I thought you were dead!"

Drew: [angrily] Do you have any idea how DANGEROUS that was?!
Zak: [a little bewildered] Mom...you taught me that move!
Drew: [calming to look sheepish] I know... I'm... just so proud you nailed it.

  • The Spectacular Spider-Man: Peter has to sneak off to fight the Sinister Six as Spider-Man, and Gwen thinks he has been crushed by the giant tree in Times Square. When he shows himself again, complete with lame excuse, she throws her arms around him and exclaims "PETE!" Then she starts with the "Where have you been, I thought you were dead!"
    • Then there's Sally Avril, who despite strongly disliking Peter is genuinely horrified when she thinks he's been killed in the episode "Probable Cause". She does hug him when he reappears and then demands, "Wait! How come you're still alive?!", and then punches him, saying "Do you know what you put me through?". Peter, taken aback, says that he didn't know she cared. Sally said that she didn't, but she didn't want him blown to bits either, she's not a monster. Then she tells him that if he told anyone that she'd hugged him, he'd wish that he'd died.
  • In the Swat Kats episode "Mutation City", when it's revealed T-Bone can't swim (and the city happens to be flooded), Razor has to rescue him from the rising water-levels. His reaction;

Razor: If you drown, I'm gonna kill ya!!

  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Mr. Krabs does this during the episode "Hooky", when he believes Patrick and Spongebob were caught on hooks and fished.

Mr. Krabs: Oh, if I could just hold 'em in me arms one last time...(Spongebob and Patrick float safely back down) I'D THROTTLE 'EM!


Real Life

  • An example of this occured with a British teenager travelling in Australia. He went out for a trek alone without a mobile phone or supplies and got lost. He survived two weeks in the wild. His dad, on hearing the news, said he felt partly, "Yay! My son is alive and well!" and partly, "OMG! What a fucking idiot! I am going to kick his arse!".
  • A common reaction, in fact, in parents whose children have done something silly like wandering off in a shop or park and getting lost, upon retrieving the child, is to tear them off a strip about it.
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