Limp and Livid

Sometimes, when a character is angry or deranged and is just about to snap, they start moving head down, everything limp, lurching as if they were a marionette that's had its strings cut. Kubrick Stare, and inability to form coherent sentences optional. This is sometimes taken as a sign of Unstoppable Rage—any character that dares to get close risks serious injury, especially if the character is also dragging a weapon across the ground.

Probably taken from Western horror flicks, where it's associated with zombified/possessed characters. Compare with Primal Stance, Marionette Motion and Zombie Gait.

Examples of Limp and Livid include:

Anime & Manga

• Occurs a few times in Code Geass.
• Guaranteed in Zero no Tsukaima with Louise every time her and Saito's relationship gets rocky.
• Since the two main female leads of School Days are Yandere for Makoto, they do this towards the end.
• Done by the more Woobie characters in Naruto. Namely Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto.
  • Maybe that kind of Woobie.
• Genshiken - when Saki gets called an otaku by Ogiue.
• The Wallflower - Sunako cracks after her chocolate is destroyed by the Instant Fanclub.
  • She also does this when the four main Bishonen characters first meet her.
• Non-aggressive example: in the Read or Die TV series, Maggie is forbidden to go into any bookshops in a town full of them, despite her being a total bibliomaniac. Cue lurching from shopfront to shopfront.
• In Elfen Lied, whenever Nyuu flips over to Lucy her head drops so her hair covers/shades her eyes.
• When brutally questioned by The Men in Black about her family, Lain from Serial Experiments Lain does this. And then reverts to her Wired persona and chews him out.
• After his Freak-Out, Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion does this. He also strangles Asuka in this pose.
  • The Evangelions themselves could be considered to always be assuming this pose.
• Most of the main cast in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni tend to do this eventually, but Satoshi and Keiichi usually bring their Weapon of Choice, the baseball bat with them.
  • Shion walks around like this whenever she's pacing about the Sonozaki Theater and Torture Chamber during Maekashi-hen.
• In Minami-ke,Chiaki does this briefly when Kana challenges her to decide who goes out for drinks in the rain.
• Kuro, an early villain from One Piece, goes like this and sways back in forth in order to put himself into a blind trance where he slashes up everything around him.
  • Luffy himself does it in Movie 6, after Lily eats his friends, turns into millions of arrows, and shoots them all into his skin. It's one of the creepiest things in One Piece history.
• Mai in My-HiME does this for a little in the midst of her Trauma Conga Line.
• Crona and Maka when they use the black blood.
  • The 'marionette' description is particularly apt for Crona's first appearance. Firstly, they look as though being dragged by Ragnarok rather than wielding him, secondly they're being at least provoked into killing Maka by Medusa, if not physically controlled by her.
• Rurouni Kenshin uses this in one of the OVAs.
• Noa briefly in Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• Sumire in Venus Versus Virus gets this when fighting Luca. Her Berserker mode gets shot with lightning to no effect.
• Ginias from Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team ends up like this once he goes over the edge towards the end of the series.
  • It's worth noting it could stem from the fact that he seems two steps away from falling on the floor and going into cardiac arrest at this point, presumably due to neglecting even his most basic health needs in favor of working on his pet project.
• Invoked by Haruko in the first episode of FLCL, while attacking Naota in the hospital.
• If memory serves, Goku struck this pose when Frieza killed Krillin. And the rest, as they say, is history.
  • Majin Vegeta
• Juvia Loxar, after her Implied Love Interest Gray Fullbuster's life is threatened.

Film

• This is Septimus' fighting style in Stardust after Lamia kills him and uses him as a puppet.

Live Action TV

• In the final video of the R. Tam Sessions, River is shown sitting behind a table with her head bowed....right before she stabs her interrogator in the throat with a pen.

Professional Wrestling

• Randy Orton tends to do this as part of the setup for his finisher, the RKO. He also tends to just move like this overall, especially when acting as a Heel, as part of his "viper-like" persona.

Theatre

• Most stage portrayals of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street have the title character do this after the most decent character in the play royally bollixes up his revenge.

Video Games

• Alma.
• Riot of the Blood Iori's (The King of Fighters) default stance is this, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom and steam coming out of his mouth.
  • Leona too. Also Vice in her KOF 98 fighting stance.
• Zappa from Guilty Gear adds some additional Nightmare Fuel into his version.
• In Diablo 2, a certain type of skeletal enemy fits this trope to a T. They shamble around dragging enormous broadswords, but if a player gets too close they can swiftly attack.
• The Tails Doll from Sonic R isn't overtly malevolent, but the way it remains almost constantly limp has given it a legendary reputation.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy does this to Terra in the Onion Knight's storyline. However, it doesn't quite work due to the limited expressive range of the character models used, and she ends up looking hung over more than anything.
• Persona 4 In the battle against Adachi.
• Oichi in the third Sengoku Basara game, due to being little more than a living puppet animated by malevolent shadows. Mitsuhide and Mitsunari also have tendencies towards acting like this, highlighting their mental instability.
• Kyojiro Kagenuma in Way of the Samurai 2 stands neutral with her sword to the side, but her combat style most assuredly fits, underlying her bloodthirsty nature.
  • Also you in WOTS 2 and 3, if you obtain Okyo's sword, Biteikotsu.
• Asura from Asura's Wrath does this when in Wrath Form. Goes into a Primal Stance occasionally, too.
• Dark Souls: In the trailer for the Updated Rerelease, Abysswalker Artorias does this after impaling a monster with his sword.

Western Animation

• Azula goes like this during her final battle with Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as a sign of her Villainous Breakdown.