Juggle Fu

This is an action trope. It is performed by a character who throws an object in the air, performs some action sequence while it is airborne, then catches it on its way down. Pays off if the object in question is cumbersome and makes desired action impossible. Can be used in other situations too.

The velocity with which it would need to be launched tends to make this implausible in Real Life.

Compare Precision-Guided Boomerang and Dish Dash.

Examples of Juggle Fu include:

General

• Dancers. Usually dancers with superpowers, very little discretion and partners who aren't forewarned.

Anime & Manga

• Dragon Ball Z
  • During the Namek arc, Zarbon does it with one of the Dragon Balls.
  • Also, in the Gohan vs. Cell fight, upon becoming SSJ2 in a blaze of glory and awesome, he snatches back the bag of senzu from Cell, gets attacked by several mini-Cells, throws the bag in the air, brushes his opponents away and... casually waits for the bag to fall in his hand, his near-permanent Death Glare locked on the horizon. This cements how much the mini-Cells are not a match against Gohan.
• In an early episode of Baccano!!, Firo does this with his brand-new hat several times while fighting four thugs.
• Cho in Rurouni Kenshin does it with a baby hanging to the handle of his sword.
• In Full Metal Panic!, Sōsuke is carrying Kaname in one hand of his Humongous Mecha and Kurz in the other, while being pursued by enemy gunships. As one closes in, he throws Kaname into the air, draws his gun, blows up the helicopter, discards the gun, and catches her—all in one smooth motion. Somewhat atypically for the "toss a person" variant used in this and several other listed examples, Kaname is knocked unconscious by Sōsuke's stunt.
• Ranma ½
  • Ranma does this with a fishbowl containing an eel, which he keeps from spilling as he's attacked by Ryōga.
  • Even earlier, Ranma was trying to grab the Phoenix Pill medicine which hung from Cologne's neck, but the old woman kept giving her bowls of piping-hot ramen. Their hands, moving back and forth in jabs and defenses, kept at least one bowl floating in midair for a few instants.
• This is Jubei's introduction and Establishing Character Moment in Ninja Scroll. He simply had to take care of three disgruntled assailants before he could finish his declicious rice-ball. So, he tosses said rice-ball straight into the air as two of his would-be muderers leapt into him, blocks the first with his sheathed sword and knocks him silly with a headbutt, takes his spear and smashes the second incoming idiot unconcious with it, then cuts the pistol of the third in half and sheathes his sword in one fast motion so fast the audience couldnt' see it, and then opens his hand and let's the rice ball fall back into it, nonchalantly finishing his lunch afterwards. It's as Badass as it sounds.
• In vol. 4 of the manga Tokyo Akazukin, Meganekko assassin Vivian throws both her swords into the air to reload her two handguns before catching them again. It helps that she has four arms...

Fan Works

• In the fanwork Manga Advent Cirno #0-1, Letty tosses a young Cirno into the air to keep her out of harm's way while she fights a monster. Twice.
• Also featured a couple of times in Fan Film Ryan vs. Dorkman 2 with their sabers.
• In his first fight against a boomer in Drunkard's Walk II, Doug Sangnoir starts off by juggling ketchup bottles -- which he then flings on a coordinated set of trajectories that lead them to break over the boomer's head, coating its eyes and blinding it briefly.

Films -- Live-Action

• Jackie Chan does this (as well as Dish Dash) frequently with ancient vases and other stuff.
• Trinity in The Matrix Revolutions does a trick with throwing and catching a gun.
• The same stunt is performed in The Transporter.
• A heroine of the Dead Or Alive movie, when being caught by enemies immediately after taking a shower, managed to pull this trick with her bra. And she not only caught it on its way down, but also put it on.
• A particular example with a vase in a museum in Batman and Robin.
• Hellboy pulls a version of this in Hellboy II: The Golden Army while carrying a baby. He tosses it in the air long enough to load his giant pistol and fires it after the baby is back in his other hand.
• Done hilariously near the beginning of Hidalgo. "Heads or tails? *WHACK* Tails. You lose."
• Part of the stage trick "The Transported Man" in The Prestige.
• In the first Inspector Gadget movie, the title character does this with a dog, but it is All Just a Dream.
• The Mask, done by a superpowered embodiment of id with the girl he's dancing with.
• In The Princess Bride, Inigo does this with his sword during his fight with the Man In Black. The Man in Black then sees him and raises him with his own sword.
• Sonny in I Robot throws the container of nanites forward (while running very fast), disables a hostile robot and catches it further down the corridor.
• Kill Bill put a spin on this in a deleted scene. Bill is being rushed by three swordsmen. He balances his sheathed sword on the ground, draws it, and kills the three men... re-sheathing the sword afterward. The scabbard hadn't had time to fall down.
• In the Will Smith movie Hancock, the title superhero does this with a small child.

Live-Action TV

• Xena: Warrior Princess: Xena does this frequently. Once, with a baby.
• Hilariously parodied in Scrubs during the fight against the "ninja surgeons". The briefcase conveniently stays in the air during the whole Kung Fu Fighting. Of course, it is one of J.D.'s Imagine Spots.
• In the live-action |The Flash show, The Flash uses this to fight the Trickster. He grabs a bunch of juggler's clubs, throws them in the direction of the Trickster, then runs the other side of him, catches the clubs and throws them back, and repeating. The Trickster is trapped in a circle of rapidly moving Flash and flying clubs until one of the clubs hits him on the head and knocks him out.
• Kamen Rider Double: When Kamen Rider Accel uses Trial form, this is part of that form's Finishing Move. He throws the secondary Transformation Trinket into the air, kicks his opponent an insane amount of times, then catches the device while his opponent blows up behind him. "9.8 seconds...that's the time until your despair."
• Hustle "Conning the Artists". A Japanese man, seeking revenge for a con, forces the gang to each eat a piece of fugu fish, one of which is poisoned. Billy tries to fight him instead of eating his piece, which gets knocked into the air and lands in Billy's open mouth after he's been taken down.
• In the Angel episode "The Prodigal", Angel is facing a demon when he's attacked a two vampires. He throws the axe he's carrying in the air, stakes both vampires with hidden wrist-mounted stakes at the same time, then catches the axe and beheads the demon with it.

Sports

• Rugby players who are carrying the ball sometimes do this to avoid a tackle, as the rules only permit tackling a player who currently has the ball.

Video Games

• Resident Evil
  • Resident Evil Code: Veronica: In the intro, Claire is confronted by a large group of guards, who tell her to drop her gun. She does, then drops to the floor, catches it before it hits the ground, and shoots the conveniently placed fuel tanks they're standing in front of. Rodrigo still catches her, though.
  • Homaged move-for-move in Resident Evil Apocalypse by Alice.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Ocelot plays 3-gun Russian Roulette. The Last Days of Foxhound illustrates.
• Dante and the girl chasing him do this in almost every Devil May Cry 3 cutscene. In the first one Dante throws a pizza up in the air...
• In numerous Tool-assisted Speedruns, the authors tend to juggle items while racing through levels or beating bosses for entertainment value.
• Dancer example: the first Leisure Suit Larry game, done by a perpetual loser nearing forty years old. He's just that good.
• In Musashi Samurai Legend, you do this with girls. Apparently very heavy girls, since Musashi's movement speed slows to a crawl while you carry them.
• This is doable in Super Smash Bros..
• Some Super Mario World ROM Hacks of the Nintendo Hard variety require Mario to juggle multiple items across a chasm to continue onward. If the creator is savvy, they'll also have eliminated the carry two items at once glitch.
• A lot of Fire Emblem critical hit animations have the character throw their weapon or shield in the air, make a jumping attack, and catch it on the way down. Ike is particularly known for this—his trademark Aether move involves him throwing his sword up and jumping after it—and it even carries into his Super Smash Bros Brawl moveset.
• One of the moves from the Dual Pistols power set in City of Heroes involves tossing your pistols in the air, catching them, and "punching" them forward. This serves no purpose other than Rule of Cool, but then, so is most of that power set.
• The intro to Sonic and the Black Knight has Sonic do this with a chili dog.
• Up to ridiculous amounts in Sonic Generations. At the beginning of the game, Sonic throws a chili dog in the sky. After the whole game and action, the universes are back to normal, and he catches the chili dog, simply saying "Still warm! Time travel.". Also doubles as Brick Joke.
• In Legend of Dragoon, Dart's initial Dragoon Magic attack, Flame Shot, has him throwing his sword into the air, charging a ball of fire in front of him and shoulder-tackling it to the target. He catches his sword after the impact.

Web Comics

• In a strip of Girl Genius, Gil throw a fishbowl in the air, and catches it again in the first panel of the next page.
• Narbonic: Second strip on the page.
• Another dancer example: The webcomic It's Walky!, done by a superpowered alien abductee.
• In this Wapsi Square strip, Shelly drops her drink, beats up three men, and still has time to catch her drink before it hits the ground.

Western Animation

• Robin does this at least Once Per Episode with his bird-a-rangs on Teen Titans.
• One of General Grievous' signature moves in Star Wars the Clone Wars.
• Variation: In one SpongeBob SquarePants episode, Sandy and SpongeBob are shown playing "extreme jacks", where one rolls a bowling ball down a chute and must pick up jacks positioned under the other end of the chute before the ball hits them on the head.
• Grougaloragran does it with Yugo's baby carriage in the first episode of Wakfu to dodge Nox's Sword Beam. But then the carriage just stay hanging in the air (showing there is some magic at work) even before Nox stops time.
• Jun the Bounty Hunter of Avatar: The Last Airbender tosses her steaming cup of tea in the air, throws the large, burly man she's been fighting across the room, catches the cup without spilling a drop, and nonchalantly takes a sip.

Toph: I don't know who this Jun lady is but (crosses her arms and smiles widely) I like her.