Corner of Woe

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    I think we broke him.

    When things look depressing for our comical Anime hero, what's the best course of action? Why, go Super-Deformed, sit in a corner, wrap your arms around your knees, and sulk like you've never sulked before! Preferably in a Dramatic Spotlight. Bonus points if you manage to act gloomy enough to attract Ghost Lights or grow mushrooms in your dark, damp corner of woe. Often combined with Color Failure. The technical term for this is latibulating.

    Contrasts with Berserk Button, where the comment or action results in the character reacting in a more violent manner.

    Examples of Corner of Woe include:

    Anime and Manga

    "It's not my fault I'm big!"

      • Mustang does this whenever someone (usually Hawkeye) points out that he's useless when wet.
      • Hawkeye gets her own Corner of Woe during the flashback to Ishval, when Kimblee suggests that she secretly really enjoys killing and takes pride in her work.
    • This happens quite often in Yakitate!! Japan; most of the characters get a scene like this.
    • In The World God Only Knows, Keima did this when he was unable to beat a buggy game.
    • Kurosawa did this once in Azumanga Daioh at the beach house, after being upstaged, embarrassed, and verbally and utterly trashed by Yukari.
    • Shiratori Ryushi did this the first time he got picked on for his 'girly looks' in Mahoraba. He even got the ghost lights in the manga.
    • In AIR, Uraha and Ryuya do this when Kanna tells them not to sit so close to her.
      • Repeatedly.
    • Soul Eater--
      • Every time you mention Death the Kid's "Sanzu Lines" (the three lines that only wrap around the left side of his head), he goes into a spiral of depression due to his obsession over symmetry.
      • Crona spends so much time in the Corner of Woe that s/he's nicknamed it Mr. Corner.
      • S/He can even inflict the corner on others; Crona once wrote a poem so depressing that Maka, Marie, Soul, and even Black☆Star crept into a corner mumbling "I wish I'd never been born," after reading it. Sid the zombie followed them with "I wish I'd never come back to life," ...except we never see him reading the poem.
    • Jyabura does this in an episode of One Piece after finding out that Fukurou told everyone Jyabura's girlfriend dumped him.
      • Perona's Negative Hollow's force anyone hit by them into this trope.
    • In Hidamari Sketch, the Four-Girl Ensemble was having a chankonabe—or sumo wrestler's hot pot—prepared mainly by the weight-conscious cook Hiro. And then Miyako and Sae uttered lines usually reserved for sumo wrestlers—likely to be incidental—and prompted Hiro herself to leave her apartment and sit in the Corner of Woe in the backyard.
      • Yuno almost walked off into a garbage pile of woe in one chapter upon discovering that someone she thought as more talented than her was forced to leave school while she was still there. The anime handled the chapter somewhat differently, by only giving Yuno the spotlight.
    • In one Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure episode, it happens sometime after the heroines find a videoke house (unknowingly) set up by the bad guys that somehow had the songs they sang against their enemies. In trying out their songs, they somehow keep getting low scores. When Rina sings one of her image songs "Piece of Love", when she got a measly 16, she enters this pose.
    • Happens at least Once an Episode in Oruchuban Ebichu, usually after Ebichu gets pulverized by OL.
    • Happens during THAT SCENE in Girls Bravo, coupled with a Heroic BSOD moment, when Kazuhara finds out one of the girls is packin' a nasty surprise...
    • Fushigi Yuugi does this twice, though both instances aren't actually in corners.
      • In the first instance, we see Miaka trying to cheer Tamahome up after the Kodoku arc. She tells him that none of the evil things he did, which she bluntly explains in detail, was his fault.
      • The second instance occurs in the omake, where everyone is disguised as a woman. Chichiri is so awesome that he changes his appearance entirely, and Miaka wonders aloud if he was trying to look like the fiance his best friend stole from him, driving him to kill said best friend.
    • In K-On!, Mio goes into the corner, not when she's upset, but whenever something scary or disgusting happens. In one episode, Yamanaka-sensei tries to enter the corner for some good old-fashioned weeping, only to find Mio there already.
      • Yui did this once in the Manga after Ritsu tears off the protective film on Yui's guitar.
    • Surprisingly, it happens to Ichigo Kurosaki when he is told by Isshin to stay out of the way while Isshin, Yuzu and Karin tend to victims of an accident.
    • Keiichi goes into the corner, complete with dark clouds and spirals, after returning home from a visit to the sea where he accidentally confessed his love to Skuld, not Belldandy.
    • In the Rurouni Kenshin anime, Kenshin does this a few times whenever Seijuuro Hiko brings up a funny or otherwise embarrassing memory of Kenshin in his youth. This comes complete with purple floating spirits.
    • In Busou Renkin, Kazuki has one of these instants when Okakura's report card grade turns out to be higher than his.
    • Germany in Axis Powers Hetalia has one of these incidents in his cell after Italy reveals his deepest, darkest, fetishes to the Allies.
      • England also has one as well when he and France decide to let little America choose who he wants to be his big brother. France offers America a gourmet meal, which England knows he can't compete against with his cooking.
    • Even Ranmaru has done this in a chapter of The Wallflower when the gang ate some strange mushrooms. Of course, it isn't really a corner, since they're outside, but it still manages to give that impression.
    • In Mai-Otome, Nina does this after her plan to capture the Gelle Anguille fails because the labels on the sugar and salt were switched, although she doesn't realize it at the time. She had been hoping her plan would succeed to make up for the humiliation of almost drowning because of the Gelle Anguille.
    • In one of the Death Note four panel comics, Ryuk does this after Light tells him that he's more human than most of the human characters, and should quit being a Shinigami.
    • In the Ranma ½ manga, Ranma starts sulking in a corner when he sees Shinnosuke's head on Akane's lap.
      • He sulks again when he is seperated from Akane by moving out of the Tendo household.
    • Bertie Wooster does this in the manga Please, Jeeves after he overhears Jeeves calling him "mentally negligible".

    Fanfic

    • In The Mad Scientist Wars, third-rung character 'Calypso', a Caribbean Retired Hero James Bond parody who now works as a secretary, is described as doing this briefly in one scene, supposedly due to being beaten in arm wrestling by the new girl. It's likely he was fooling, as he recovers suspiciously quickly.
    • After they break the masquerade for her via mini-rocket-launcher-to-her-friend's-face (though he isn't too hurt by that) Alice decides to find her Corner of Woe as part of her 'panic response'.

    Live Action Television

    • A rare live action version occurs in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, when the team meets Kyosuke Jinnai, the former Red Racer. He tells Don that since losing his powers he's become cowardly (and assumes the hugging-the-knees pose). Don, himself a scaredy cat, says he can sympathize and sits down next to Kyosuke in the same pose. This results in the two of them nodding solemnly to one another as the Monster of the Week shouts at them in confused frustration.
      • In order for Ninjamen to relinquish the Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Grand Power, the Gokaigers try various ways to impress him (Luka dresses up in a kimono, Joe bakes him a cupcake shaped in Ninjaman's likeness, and Marvelous performs a comedy routine with Navi). When Marvelous' routine goes awry, the food gets ruined, and Joe was devastated when the Ninjaman cupcake was destroyed. In a Funny Background Event, he spends the rest of the scene in the Galleon sitting inside a treasure chest, moping.

    Music

    • The best way to describe the current page image, courtesy of REM:

    That's me in the corner
    That's me in the spotlight
    Losing my religion

    Video Games

    • This is the shot you get when finishing a Tokimeki Memorial 1 playthrough with a Bad Ending (i.e. without getting a confession of love from any girl).

    Web Comics

    Western Animation

    • In the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode "Party Of One", Pinkie Pie gets one of these scenes when she believes her friends don't want to be her friend anymore. She remains sad even after the spotlight on her is turned off and revealed to be the same one she was using to interrogate Spike.
    • Happened once to the Crimson Chin from The Fairly OddParents, to the point where a comic Timmy purchased has all the panels showing CC in a fetal position and sucking his thumb.
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