Beach Episode/Anime and Manga

Sun, sand, bikinis, and grenades... wait, what?

What shonen anime or manga would be complete without a Beach Episode?

A-E

• Ai Yori Aoshi has a two-episode beach arc, which also included a Furo Scene and a festival scene.
• Asu no Yoichi actually has its beach episode mixed with storyline and one character's development, in the manga this is when the villains of the arc show up (they weren't even hinted at before this) for the first time as well.
• Asatte no Houkou has this as its first episode.
• Axis Powers Hetalia: Germany, Italy and Japan get shipwrecked on a tropical island, and don't seem to mind too much. They actually enjoy themselves. In another strip, America and England are both stranded together, both being themselves.
• Azumanga Daioh has several, though as a Slice of Life series, they aren't filler. One even provided the infamous scene of Osaka waking Yukari up with a knife. And Nyamo's drunken lecture. And Yukari's driving. Heck, a good chunk of the memorable things about Azumanga Daioh were from the beach episodes.
• Beach Stars. The sports-manga is mostly a Beach Episode-manga as the sport in question is beach volleyball.
• Berserk. Guts and his newfound True Companions reach the ocean after leaving Schierke's Doomed Hometown. No swimming happened, but it did offer a break for the crew for a short while, and some crowning moments of heartwarming occurred, especially when the Child appears for the first time in human form, and Guts and Casca had a very awkward "family" scenario with him.
• Bleach conveniently has a Beach Episode that pops up right in the middle of a major arc. The twist: although the reason for the beach party is expanded into the realms of anime filler, the fact one occurs at all is actually based on a series of omakes Kubo inserted into his manga, so the premise of it is actually Canon. It focuses on the Shinigami Women's Association (accompanied with the boys). Such highlights included skimpy bikinis (including Captain Unohana wearing one of the skimpiest swimsuits), Matsumoto teaching Orihime how to use her breasts as a bucket, a sandcastle-building competition, and a watermelon/tentacle monster hybrid. And Hitsugaya and the ice. Good lad to have around in hot weather.
• Blue Drop. There is one in the anime, leading to an important turning point in the relationship between Mari and Hagino.
• Subverted in episode 6 of Bodacious Space Pirates. Marika and Mami are ready to go to the beach... only for Misa and Kane to pike up Marika to fill out a few trees' worth of paperwork.
• Bokurano begins with kids playing at the beach. It Gets Worse from there...
• Boys Empire. The sixth issue of has Hitomi leading Makoto to a beach her family knows about and considers fairly private... only to find Ikki and Those Two Girls already on it. Then Ikki declares it a nude beach, and... well, it's a Hentai.
• Burst Angel has a beach episode with very skimpy swimsuit. And a tentacled Squid Monster. Made even better once you find the dirty hidden commentary on that DVD.
• Busou Renkin also involves such an episode. In the manga, it is stated that Nobuhiro Watsuki originally did not plan to do it, but insistent letters from fans and encouragement from his staff eventually won him over. The Bravo Kiss and Pappillon wearing Borat's swimsuit? What's not to like?
  • Of course, this also directly leads into the wham episode of the next arc, with serious consequences for the rest of the series. Just not, perhaps, all of the episode.
• Zig-Zagged in Cardfight Vanguard, with the characters having getup of varying levels of conservativeness.
• Chobits anime series: one of the many deviations from the manga is a Beach Episode. Completely useless for the plot and hammered in without fear of splinters....
• The Daughter of Twenty Faces has a Beach Episode that furthered both plot and character development, and the actual beach scenes were rather short and almost completely devoid of fanservice. Unless you're into conservative 1950's style swimsuits or something.
• Excel Saga -- Lampshaded. The show's creators introduced one episode by saying that they needed better ratings, and as a result there would be no men in the episode, and all the women would be wearing swimsuits.
  • The manga had two Beach Episode chapters as well. One was a Something Completely Different chapter that turned the manga into a high school drama, and the other was a regular chapter, where the Department of City Security were on break and the ACROSS girls were trying to win a Birdman competition.
• Eyeshield 21: The Devilbats go to Texas and, while there, visit a beach. Of course Hiruma doesn't do anything without a plan and it turns out he brought the team there so they could A) participate in the Beach Football tournament, and B) to meet up with Hiruma and Kurita's old coach. Also averts the fanservice aspect by throwing in the "Sexy Queens", a band of gangly, hairy, spandex-clad men.

F-J

• Fairy Tail got one, complete with erza wearing a bikini, a hot dress (thay went to a casino after, double win anyone?) and lucy gets tied up in a rope (bended backwards even).
• Full Metal Panic! contains several subversions.
  • Twice, Kaname gets primed and ready for a beach vacation only to end up having Sôsuke drag her somewhere else (once to a submarine, once to a military festival) instead. When Kaname does go to the beach for a vacation in the middle of the series, the episodes focus almost entirely on Sôsuke's mission in the Middle East instead, with only a few brief cuts to Kaname showing her bored and worrying about him.
  • An actual Beach Episode, meanwhile, takes place in Full Metal Panic Fumoffu.
• Genshiken has fun with this type of episode, as most of the cast were otaku and thus not the sort to go to the beach on a regular basis. ("What the hell am I doing in a place like this... Isn't it embarrassing to go to ComiFes with a tan?") Also notable was Cosplay Otaku Girl Ohno, who wears some fairly risque things, being shy enough to cover most of her outfit with a long shirt.
• Gravion has a Beach Episode that gets interrupted by the Zeravire planning to assault a peace summit, resulting in the hero and the Gran Divas having to do battle in their swimsuits.
• Great Teacher Onizuka: The double beach episode is an opportunity for two of Onizuka's students to deal with their UST.
• Gun X Sword had a plot episode where they needed to kidnap a character living in the Kingdom of Mizugi Missoghi, a port which only women wearing swimwear could enter. In a solid effort it managed to provide fanservice and plot at the same time. With a nice dose of Fan Disservice in the closing moments.
• Hajime no Ippo has one featuring not only humor, but also some degree of plot as the guys went there not just to relax and have a good view of girl booty, but to train. In fact, Ippo realizes one of his early flaws (lack of leg strength) there.
• Hana Yori Dango. The anime and manga continuities of have two beach plot arcs, one during a summer break and one on the Domyoji private island.
• Hanaukyo Maid Tai. The second half of episode 7 (the first half is a Hot Springs Episode).
• Haruhi Suzumiya
  • A Beach Episode with a twist, a parody of a Locked Room Mystery that has been set up, Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre-style, to keep Haruhi from getting bored. And since it was taken directly from the novels, it is not filler but canon.
  • And also the Phoenix Wright Parody.
• Happiness! has a Beach Episode for its eighth episode, taking the opportunity to show off the female cast in their swim attire. Later parts of the episode do contain material that is slightly more plot-relevant.
• Hayate the Combat Butler has its Beach Episode set in an artificial beach constructed inside the Sanzenin property.
• High School of the Dead: The cast finds an island where not a single zombie exists, and decides to take this oppertunity to have some fun in the sun... until they realise that no-one was on the island in the first place because of dangerous halloconogenic plants which cause all the adult women to get randy for the only good-looking guy in the group. It got also zombie bikini girls trying to eat (or even try to have sex with) a sleeping Takashi, while Takashi himself was dreaming of sex with his female companions!
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has a beach arc (one day), which was adapted into a one episode. In the anime, it's a pool arc. Also, the manga has a few swimsuit omakes, and there are quite a few beach/pool official arts.
• Hitohira has a dramatic beach episode in which Nono and Risaki beat each other up until they collapse.
• Ichigo Mashimaro has Nobue take the girls to the beach one summer break; slightly parodies the trope, as Miu comments that her friends should have "sexy" swimsuits like hers.
• THE iDOLM@STER
• I''s Yep, there is two in this manga.

K-O

• Katekyo Hitman Reborn: Of course there is one! The part when Tsuna gets a lifeguard job with his friends.
• Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho has several beach episodes, including the start of the first episode when Amuro's house arrives at the beach.
• Keroro Gunsou does about one of these a year. The anime tries to balance the fanservice in the first one by throwing in a comedy contest, whereas the original manga was a straight-up swimsuit contest. Involves at least one girl losing her top in front of many geeks, who are there for the Gundam models as much as the swimsuit models. Inverted in the manga with a women's skiing contest during a trip to the mountains, and in an episode of the anime featuring a man-only beefcake contest.
• Kimagure Orange Road. The Pilot is a Beach Episode. There is another one later heavily based on it. Both of these episodes were based on the same story in the manga, with the second one (set in a skiing resort) being the accurate one. Even more surprising was that during these two episodes, things between Kyôsuke and Madoka progressed somewhat, especially without Hikaru around as much to be a Clingy Jealous Girl.
• K-On! has two beach episodes in its first season - out of a grand total of 12 episodes. (Perhaps to balance this, there are no beach episodes in the 24-episoe second season.)
• Kurogane no Linebarrel (anime) has one, and it plays out like a cross between the Bleach beach episode and a satire of something from a hentai.
• Lamune is, apparently, a beach series.
• Lotte no Omocha: Happens in both the anime and in the manga. The anime added a subplot where Naoya got a fever for being turned on by all the girls in bikinis during that episode.
• Love Hina does this twice, extending the second into a miniarc.
• Lucky Star also features a Beach Episode, complete with characters bemoaning the lack of interest from guys, the protagonist's attempts to be more appealing with an inner tube, and a scene picking apart the trope of vacation food actually being pretty terrible.
• Macross 7, never accused of being the most plot-heavy of series early on in its run, has one as well... only an emergency related to an attack by the Varuta caused Basara and Mylene to get trapped in between two emergency bulkheads and nearly freeze to death in a rather ironic subversion.
• Madlax has this, sort of, in episode 9, unless you count a luxury resort as a beach. It is also one of the few times in the entire series that we get to see Elenore wearing something other than her uniform.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The third Megami Sound Stage, which took place in a beach, parodied the tendency for this trope to be used as an excuse for Fan Service when Hayate cheerfully announced that she, Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio were doing the recording in swimsuits. When everyone else reacted in surprise at her comment, saying that they're all in uniform, Hayate explained that since this is an audio media, she's sure everyone listening was imagining them in swimsuits regardless of what they're wearing.
• Mahou Sensei Negima The manga has several chapters taking place at beaches. The original Marshmallow Hell incident occurred at one of them. Also notable that most Beach Chapters do have important or at least notable events occur during them.

"How does a shark know kung-fu?!"

• Maicchingu Machiko Sensei has a few of these. One of which even took place in Hawaii.
• My-HiME: Fan Service and plot advancement in a Beach Episode? Yep. Episode 9 of Mai-HiME managed to get (most of) the girls in bathing suits, but also included a B-story that delved into Natsuki's past (and there was the whole Laser Hallway subversion, too).
• Mai-Otome: Subverted in Episode 9. Looks like a Beach Episode on the surface, but the beach actually serves as the starting point for a survival test (that later goes horribly wrong).
• Mars Daybreak manages to get one despite the fact that there aren't any beaches on Mars: The pirates found a spot on the planet where The Federation's satellite surveillance system was blind for one day out of the year, and so take advantage of the situation to open up a swimming pool on top of their sub.
• Martian Successor Nadesico has both a bonafide Beach Episode early in the series, and a swimsuit contest onboard of the eponymous spaceship later in the series. And even so, things still occurred that were quite amusing, and didn't end up as something that 'never happened.' Especially with the Admiral's fate in the first of these two.
• Mazinkaiser': The OVA even has a classic Beach Episode with explicit Fan Service that may have given Kouji's perverted little brother a permanent... yeah. The Professor's shapely twin assistants need someone to oil them, for starters.
• Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. Practically every episode has the beach in it, though as expected for the demographic a lot of Fan Service is male. There are more traditional Beach Episodes, though, such as the "Mermaid Contest" episode, where the girls try to show off talents and compete with the Dark Lovers in a beachside beauty contest. In the manga, Lucia even wins by inadvertently flashing the audience when her bikini top comes undone.
• Naruto has yet to have a Beach Episode (or have anything set anywhere near a beach). However, at the end of the third movie, there is a beach scene. And yes, Sakura is the focus of the scene. Shippuden also has a Beach Ending Credits.
• Toyed with in Neon Genesis Evangelion: the rest of Shinji's class goes to Okinawa for a class trip, leaving the pilots to sit around and wait for something to attack Tokyo-3. In a reversal of the usual pattern, they find something to attack instead, leading indirectly to a Hot Springs Episode of sorts. This being Eva, of course, this doesn't turn out to be overly enjoyable.
• Ninin ga Shinobuden. The 4th episode is parody of these. It doesn't even take place at a beach.
• Nodame Cantabile. In the OVA, the main characters go to the beach, offering Nodame a chance to show herself off in a bikini.
• Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu has a Beach Episode as the prelude to the title character's birthday party. On a island that her father had bought for her especially for the occasion. Is canon, as a VERY important plot character is introduced during this episode Haruka's grandfather, a man that even when retired, causes industrial giants to cower in fear
• While Noir doesn't have a beach episode per se, one early episode has them operating out of a beach house, and includes a scene where Mireille plans the next stage of their current job while lounging on the beach in a bikini.
• Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo episode 7 shows Kagura going on a date to the beach.
• Onegai My Melody even puts the plush bunnies in bikinis for its "Beach Episode".
• Please Teacher, for the honeymoon.
• Onegai Twins
  • For... well, just a vacation, really.
  • The Onegai Twins OAV also qualified, given the greater prevalence of swimsuits and absence of plot or character development.
• One Piece has one that doubles as a double Breather Episode, a two-part run at a resort after the Thriller Bark Arc, complete with requisite Fan Service for Nami and Robin, as well as stranger elements, like candy raining from the sky.
• Ouran High School Host Club. There is a Beach Episode that features guys in bathing suits, but the one main female character is of course in a T-shirt and shorts, as she cannot reveal her gender. This was compensated for by having the club's customers prance about in swimwear. Hilarity Ensues? Well, not really. Instead, Kyouya acts like a creepy sexual offender, and Tamaki teaches Haruhi a vaguely sexist lesson.
• Outlaw Star has the wonderful Hot Springs of Planet Tenrei in which the crew of the ship visit an entire planet that was turned into a resort. Rather unusually it was canon since Gene collects some rare caster shell bullets from some of the monks that made them in the past. The fact that this episode contained canon information caused a bit of a plothole when CN refused to air it, given that the rare shells Gene receives in this episode are important to the finale.

P-T

• The first part of episode 9 of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Panty and Stocking go to the beach and get into a beach volleyball match with the Demon Sisters. The opening narration even admits that they're condensing the set-up for the benefit of the male audience.
• Pokémon has an episode named "Beauty and the Beach" that was—you guessed it—a Beach Episode with a swimsuit contest. It was originally cut from airing outside of Japan, but later aired as a lost episode with the most questionable part cut out: James entering the contest in a skimpy bikini with inflatable breasts.
• Episode 7 of Popotan. Subverted in that it's only a small part of the episode, no one actually goes for a swim and it introduces a character, Keith, who becomes rather important later on.
• The Prince of Tennis: Inverted when the main characters take a break to play in an unofficial beach volleyball tournament. Male ass is revealed, and the only woman in a swimsuit is pushing 50, resulting in severe nausea when she tries to be seductive. Also a parody, since this episode was an Alternate Continuity version of PoT where the cast played beach volleyball rather than tennis. When Inui realized the truth and tried to tell the others, the word "tennis" was censored out, as if some cosmic force were trying to stop him...
• Prunus Girl has a beach trip in the second chapter. Kadoyama is eager to see what Aikawa picks out to wear, but it ends up just being shorts and a hoodie.
• Psychic Academy had a short arc which tool place during a summer training session at the beach. It's actually plot relevant, as it reveals the existence of the Paradream and that the girl that Ai met on the beach all those years before was Mew, not Orina. It was the last story arc to be animated, despite it happening roughly a third of the way through the manga.
• RahXephon: Subverted in episode 8 is set up as a Beach Episode, with everyone wearing swimsuits, but... it's Christmas, it begins to snow, and the rest of it is played more or less like a typical Christmas episode.
• Rail Wars! has episode 4, complete with the women being assigned Fan Service swimsuits by the woman in charge (yes, she wears one, too) so that they can serve as distractions while their male teammates carry out a security sweep.
• Ranma ½ has almost an entire movie as a Beach Episode, as well as a pair of regular ones. An interesting note is the transition from manga to anime actually removes one as the setting was changed from a beach to a ski resort (though it also adds another one as filler). The "Ranma Goes Hawaiian!" chapter in the manga functions also as a beach episode.
• Rental Magica has the rare plot-related version. While the entire staff of Astral goes to the beach for Fan Service (or, in the case of Nekoyashiki, in-universe Fan Disservice), Itsuki and Kuroha - the two weakest members of the company - end up needing to figure out how to resolve a situation on their own, with no resources other than their swimsuits and their inherent powers.
• Rosario + Vampire gets one in the anime and one in the manga, which are completely unrelated. In the anime, the Witch's Hill arc began with a beach trip, whereas the manga focused a later arc around a beachside hostel. There was Fan Service, yes, but both were Darker and Edgier than the typical example.
• Saber Marionette J does not have a true Beach Episode in its TV run, but it does feature a contest with several of the female characters in swimsuits instead. Also, the manga version has an actual beach chapter, complete with two beach volleyball games.
• Sailor Moon. This Shojo anime has at least one Beach Episode per season. Notably, the one for Sailor Moon R was absent not only from the dub, but also from the uncut DVD release; the incident is often presented as "the creators didn't like it", however it's possible that DiC simply decided to not even bother with this episode and didn't acquire it (ADV apparently used the same masters). The episode is rather silly: it isn't a part of the season's main storyline, and involves Chibi-Usa and what appears to be a baby plesiosaur.
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei has a fairly normal episode in which the cast are all at a water park for some reason and Nozomu is mistaken for a pervert due to a trick played on him by Majiru and Kafuka. There's also a rather bizarre episode in which it is revealed that the cast aren't actually at a beach—it's just a fake background --, they are actually just at school. However, it's not the school that they are usually at, it's one on the other side of the country. And everyone is there, including the Hikikomori.
• School Rumble: The beach episode had an awkward moment for Eri and a very naked Harima.
• SHUFFLE!: The first half of episode 9 involves the whole cast enjoying themselves at the beach, including Asa getting her bikini top washed away by a large wave. The second half takes a slightly more serious turn to get in some character development between Rin and Sia, but it still ends on a silly note.
• Sonic X. Even this has a beach episode, for those of you who like to stare at Amy Rose in a swimsuit (yes, she has a prominent focus in this episode).
• Strike Witches: First season has a run-of-the mill type of Beach Episode; girls relaxing in bikinis have to scramble when the enemy attacks. As for the second season, there is this quote from Sankaku Complex:

The 9th episode of Strike Witches 2 is the obligatory beach swimwear service episode -- however, fan enthusiasm was muted by the presence of rather more "quality" in the episode than Strike Witches fans have come to expect...

• Tenchi Universe has a Beach Episode once with the obilgatory bikini contest. Funny considering every other episode IS a Hot Springs Episode
• Tenshi ni Narumon episode 5 is a Beach Episode.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann plays with this. When the crew arrive at the sea for the first time and the the girls demonstrate the connection between beaches and skimpy outfits, almost everyone turns expectantly to Yoko. After "voicing" her dissatisfaction, she appears in a beach outfit that is rather more conservative than her usual attire. Considering that she normally wears a string bikini and daisy dukes, if it got any skimpier she would just be naked. Even so, the episode is no filler as it features Yoko developing trust in Nia for the first time, as well as the death of a recurring villain.
• This Ugly Yet Beautiful World has one right after a Hot Springs Episode.
• A Certain Magical Index has a Beach Episode right after the Radio Noise arc. It initially appears as a simple family reunion between an amnesiac Touma and his parents he doesn't remember. Unfortunately for Touma, the beach happens to be the beginning of the Angel Fall arc... specifically, everyone but a handful of people gets their physical appearances switched without realizing it. And then one of the arc's good guys turns out to be an angel Touma's father accidentally summoned and which is now hell-bent on killing the summoner in order to get back to Heaven. Hell-bent, as in, ready to unleash the fire and brimstone rain on his head.
• Then comes A Certain Scientific Railgun which returns the favor. All eight of the primary female cast don swimsuits for a photo shooting on a holographic beach. Mikoto initially wants to don a frilly, girlish swimsuit but ultimately settles for a one-piece. Then comes the shocker when Kuroko tries wearing something that would make even adult women blush... only to get one-upped by Kongo appearing with a live snake^[1] coiled around her one-piece... only to get one-upped in turn by Konori showing up with a bikini she complains is too small for her. She's not kidding; even the snake is staring at her.
• Tokyo Mew Mew has a Beach Episode that focused mainly on Lettuce trying to help a little girl learn to swim and learning to swim herself.

U-Z

• Urusei Yatsura generally incorporates several Beach Episodes into every summer vacation arc. Interestingly, while most of the Aliens in the cast wear swimsuit-type outfits for daily wear, they usually change over to Earth-style swimsuits to hit the beach. Or the pool as it may turn out.
• Uta Kata takes place in the Japanese town of Kamakura, known for its beautiful beaches, so the occurrence of a Beach Episode is almost inevitable. In fact, there are two of those and both of them are relevant to the plot.
• Wedding Peach averts the filler part by having the Beach Episode in the first part of the OVA, and it's where their new enemy appears.
• Witchblade has one. Perhaps memorable for having possibly the most prominent use of Gainaxing in the series, as Masane runs towards the screen, whilst undressing to a white bikini.
• xxxHolic has one. It exchanges fanservice and being filler for a downright creepy Stinger and a plot about Watanuki needing to trust Doumeki rather than being too headstrong.
• Yu-Gi-Oh GX episode 47 has Manjyome challenging Asuka to a duel on the beach in an attempt to win her heart.
• Zero no Tsukaima may be set in a medieval European fantasy world, but that does not stop it from having a Beach Episode. It helps that Headmaster Osmond is a Dirty Old Man who will make up whatever excuse he can to get the girls into swimsuits that have somehow appeared from our world.

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1. ↑ as she says in Engrish, "Sexy and exotic!"; not that the other girls (except Uiharu) liked the idea