History Main / PlotBasedVoiceCancellation

* In ''Literature/DiamondBrothers: South by South East'', the [[AlmostDeadGuy Almost Dead Spy]]'s last words are made unclear by the sound of a passing train. Tim interprets them as the titular 'south by south-east', but only near the end of the story it becomes clear that the spy actually said [[spoiler: "Sotheby's, Tsar's Feast", a reference to an auction house and a painting about to be sold there]].

* In the ''Creator/AgathaChristie's Series/{{Poirot}}'' adaptation of ''The Big Four'', while Literature/HerculePoirot is narrowing down the suspects until he gets closer to the true culprit, he gets a phone call from the mystery caller, whose voice we don't hear often, before heading for one apartment.[[spoiler:.. and into a DeathTrap in which he survives while [[FakingTheDead faking his own death]].]] After the confrontation [[spoiler:with the mystery man, who is revealed to be Albert Whalley]], while Poirot explains to his friends the whole story toward the end of the episode, we get a flashback to the same scene when he answers the same phone call, [[spoiler:and this time, Albert's voice tells Poirot to come into his apartment for a supposed interview, in the hope of luring Poirot into the DeathTrap... a trap that Poirot is clever enough to discover just in time to escape.]]

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': After the first murders in Ep 1, Maria says that the murderer isn't human and that the people killed was just XXX chosen by the XXX. Unusually, it's just the readers who doesn't find out exactly what she said and while Battler heard her it was just so distanced from what had happened that he couldn't connect it. He finally understands what she said once he reads the Epitaph in Kinzo's study and the line [[spoiler: ''On the first twilight, offer as sacrifice the six chosen by the key'']]
* Text example in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata''. At one point, 9S is told "You're thinking about how much you want to ＊＊＊＊ 2B, aren't you?" Considering 9S has a massive and poorly-disguised thing for his aloof partner, this just seems to be censorship. The truth is wrapped up in an unrelated sidequest and a [[TheEndingChangesEverything game-changing endgame reveal]]. [[spoiler:The endgame reveals that 2B has killed 9S numerous times when he [[HeKnowsTooMuch got too curious]] to force him to revert to an older, more ignorant backup of his memories, and he'd like nothing more than to return the favor one day. The sidequest reveals that androids get a psychological reward response to killing an enemy that's modeled after the human hormonal state of "love". In short, the blanked out word stands for "fuck" and "kill" ''simultaneously''.]]

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': When Marty tries to tell Doc about the future while the latter is on top of the clock tower:

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Hawks, the #2 Hero, who'd infiltrated the League of Villains, tells Dabi, a member of the group, that he'd investigated the backgrounds of all the League members, but couldn't find anything on Dabi or [[BigBad Shigaraki]] (whose identity is known to the readers, and a handful of characters). Hawks asks Dabi who he is, and Dabi responds with a completely black speech bubble, before [[BadassBoast declaring that he's the one Hawks should have been most worried about]].

* In ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'', Ms. Froy tries to introduce herself to the heroine but loud train noises cancel out what she is saying. This prompts Ms. Froy to write her name on the window, which turns into a ChekhovsGun later when the heroine sees the writing again, proving to herself that she was not imagining their encounter.
* In ''Film/MyLittleChickadee'', a train whistle is used to cover up that the main characters never actually pronounced their marriage vows.

* In ''Film/UpTheChastityBelt'', Lurkalot asks the Voice who he really is, only for her reply to be drowned out by the dramatic thunder happening outside.
* In ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', when Bart approaches Rock Ridge, Gabby Johnson's message to the town that its new sheriff is Black getting interrupted by the town bell.
* ''Film/DeadtimeStoriesVolume1'': In "House Call", the mother phones the doctor and tells there is something wrong with her son. However, when she she says "He thinks he is turning into a...", the final word is obscured by a crash of thunder.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': When Marty tries to tell Doc about the future while the latter is on top of the clock tower:
-->'''Marty:''' (''shouting up at Doc'') On the night I go back, you will get—
-->(''The clock strikes ten, drowning out Marty and startling Doc'')

* In ''Literature/DiamondBrothers: South by South East'', the [[AlmostDeadGuy Almost Dead Spy]]'s last words are made unclear by the sound of a passing train. Tim interprets them as the titular 'south by south-east', but only near the end of the story it becomes clear that the spy actually said [[spoiler: "Sotheby's, Tsar's Feast", a reference to an auction house and a painting about to be sold there]].

* ''Series/EastEnders'' had a scene where Jack Dalton told Dennis Rickman the truth about what really happened to his father Den Watts. Predictably it was drowned out by the noise of a passing train. It wasn't until several weeks later that viewers learned that Dalton told Dennis that Den was alive.

* This was actually forced on the creators of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero''. The title character had the last name "Hinkley", which became pretty awkward when John Hinkley Jr. tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan shortly after the show began airing. He spent a lot of time being called "Mr. H." after that, but there wasn't enough time to do reshoots for the very next episode to air, so instead noises are obviously dubbed in every time someone calls him by name.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** An in-universe version happens in "The Trial of a Time Lord -- The Mysterious Planet," whenever Sabalom Glitz talks about the Matrix. It's the first clue that something is ''really'' fishy about this trial.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]": At the museum, Future Doctor appears via vortex manipulator and whispers to Present Doctor before collapsing. Present Doctor says he was from 12 minutes in the future, and now he's dead. Present Doctor leads the others up to the roof to await the inevitable. After the 12 minutes he's shot by a Dalek and vanishes. It turns out that [[spoiler:he didn't really die before: he told Present Doctor to create a diversion so he could get to the Pandorica and set up the Big Bang 2.0 to reboot the universe.]]
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]": The Doctor whispers in River Song's ear to convince her to reset the timeline and [[spoiler:kill him to preserve history]]. He tells Amy and Rory (and the audience) that he told her his name, but it is revealed later that he really said [[spoiler:"Look into my eye." She does, and she sees that he's really a robot disguised as the Doctor, so she can appear to kill him and avoid altering the fixed point in time without actually killing him.]]
** "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]": (Man, Creator/StevenMoffat really seems to like this trope!) As the Doctor and Clara leave the Time Lord painting "No More"/"Gallifrey Falls", UNIT scientist [=McGillop=] receives a phone call; we don't hear the other end of the conversation. Toward the end, we learn who the caller was: [[spoiler: the Doctor himself ("I'm a time traveller, figure it out!") He tells [=McGillop=] to move the painting to the Black Archive so that he and the other Doctors can hide themselves in it like the Zygons did and emerge to save the day.]]
* In the ''Series/That70sShow'' episode where Fez is introduced, he gives his full name to Hyde - which is drowned out by the school bell. (In actuality, Wilmer Valderrama was just reciting the names of all the lead actors to fill time.)
* In the ''Creator/AgathaChristie's Series/{{Poirot}}'' adaptation of ''The Big Four'', while Literature/HerculePoirot is narrowing down the suspects until he gets closer to the true culprit, he gets a phone call from the mystery caller, whose voice we don't hear often, before heading for one apartment.[[spoiler:.. and into a DeathTrap in which he survives while [[FakingTheDead faking his own death]].]] After the confrontation [[spoiler:with the mystery man, who is revealed to be Albert Whalley]], while Poirot explains to his friends the whole story toward the end of the episode, we get a flashback to the same scene when he answers the same phone call, [[spoiler:and this time, Albert's voice tells Poirot to come into his apartment for a supposed interview, in the hope of luring Poirot into the DeathTrap... a trap that Poirot is clever enough to discover just in time to escape.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Anime/MelodyOfOblivion'', when Sayoko is talking to Bokka as the door to the maze closes, and (audience only) what the Melody says to Bokka in the final episode.
* ''Anime/UtaKata'': Manatsu talking to Ichika in her dream.

* Creator/{{CLAMP}}:
** The manga ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'', precursor to ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', includes a promise between the two main leads made years before their second meeting, and only remembered by the elder of the two. They conversed rather innocently under a sakura tree, and a convenient blast of wind obscured Subaru's hearing... making him miss a critical part of their "promise".
** At the end of their showdown in ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', a dying [[spoiler:Seishiro]] whispers something to Subaru. All the audience hears is "I ... you."
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', The only time C.C.'s name is spoken it's replaced by the sound of a drop of water falling. Like the ''Evangelion'' example above, Creator/JunFukuyama actually did say C.C.'s real name, so presumably the main cast all knows it. (Unlike most anime, ''Geass'' was recorded in a studio with all the actors present to let them better play off each others' performances.)

* In the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' episode "Mysterique Sign", we have Emiri Kimidori have her stating of the [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Computer Club President's]] name interrupted by Shamisen meowing.
* The thing the Rail Tracer whispered into Rachel's ear in ''Literature/{{Baccano}}!'', which she eventually reveals when she relays the story to the [[KnowledgeBroker Daily Days newspaper company]]: [[spoiler: "[[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay Ticket, please.]]"]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', we never hear what Kuma tells Rayleigh until two years in and out of story. We knew what it was about, that he was splitting up the crew to help them escape, but we didn't get most of the details on why until after that time had passed.
* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' Tamaki says something to Lady Eclair right before he jumps off the bridge to rescue Haruhi. What he says is revealed later in flashback.
* In ''Manga/VideoGirlAi'', Yota is searching through his memories and recalls his last conversation with Moemi. [[spoiler: Due to the drug Ai gave him, Yota cannot remember her at all and]] Moemi's line is left partially obscured with her words being "Please take care of..."
* Parodied in the ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' anime. The Man in the Iron Mask's final words to Nabeshin are drowned out by a passing train that appears out of nowhere just for the sake of making it inaudible.
* As the image above shows, the manga version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' uses a visual example, where the text in the bubble is scribbled out. Interestingly, that frame is when Rosette remembers [[ThePromise the important promise being made]], with the audience themselves being left in the dark until Joshua (the boy in the image) remembers it himself.
* The psychological mystery manga ''Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan: Precious Lies'' by Iruma Hiruma features a very similar visual trick: [[spoiler:the boy known throughout the book as "Mii-kun" is revealed to be a substitute for the original Mii-kun, who was also the real serial killer, and the unknown ''third'' kidnapped child from 10 years ago. The real Mii-kun screams the fake's name at one point but the text is scribbled out. Later, a detective calls the fake by his real name, but it's X'd out. He then recalls his mother speaking a 4-letter word that's also X'd out, and finally when "Mii-kun" [[UnreliableNarrator had a monologue about his feelings]] for Maa-chan, he says "I really xxxx you" deliberately making it ambiguous whether what he said was "love," "hate" or something else entirely. [[TheUnreveal We never find out what these omissions are]].]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou]]'' episode 16, the first time Yorihisa has a flashback to his brother's death, his brother's last words are muted; the actual line -- "Yorihisa, believe in yourself" -- isn't revealed until the episode's climactic battle.
* In the doublet arc of ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', the only thing that can stop the demon's plan is for his doublet (Belldandy) to say his name. Every mention of [[spoiler:Welsper's]] name in flashback scenes is blotted out until Belldandy remembers it (it had been blocked from her memory; the whole point of the doublet system is that the people involved aren't supposed to know who their doublet is) and says it out loud.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Madoka's dream that opens episode one features Homura shouting something that we don't learn for nine episodes. [[spoiler:Homura realized that Kyubey was offering Madoka a [[DealWithTheDevil contract]] and was screaming for her not to accept it. Unfortunately, just as the viewer couldn't hear Homura, neither could Madoka.]]
* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma makes an obscured promise to a [[spoiler: shapeshifting]] villain that apparently gets Misaka very flustered. [[spoiler: In fact, it's because of this promise that she falls in love with him.]] It isn't until the end of the second series that we actually learn what he said. [[spoiler: It was a promise that sounds similar to [[DeclarationOfProtection Zettai ni Mamoru]]. He promises to "guard the world that Misaka lives in."]]
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Used in their ending parody. "Gin-san... I have no idea what you've just said..."
* In an episode of ''Literature/{{Haganai}}'', Kodaka has a dream about his past, and when his friend mentions their name, you can see their mouth move, but its inaudible. Kodaka then wakes up shortly afterwards.
* In the second episode of the OVA for ''Literature/InfiniteStratos'', Houki gives a LoveConfession to Ichika during a festival, but she says it just as some fireworks start going off in the distance, so he gets distracted by that.
* In episode 10 of Season 2's ''Literature/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'', an angry Miharu berates Akihisa because of his treatment of the two girls in his class, Himeji and Minami. The former he treats like a princess, but the latter he treats like "one of the guys" and never seems to compliment her the same way. He later says something to Miharu, and although its inaudible, Miharu has an angry look on her face and claims he's lying. At the end of the episode, Kouta, one of his classmates, secretly recorded what he said, and plays it back so that their classmates (and Minami, who's just outside of the classroom), can hear it. [[spoiler: He tells Miharu that he treats Minami that way because he feels very comfortable around her, and finds that he can be himself. He also finds her a little charming as well. Which causes Minami to fall in love with him again.]]
* The first scene of ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'': Motoko Kusanagi is spying on a meeting between a foreign diplomat and a computer programmer, discussing a 'Project 2501' that is behaving strangely. The programmer says that the project was originally intended to -- but Batou calls Motoko mid-sentence. [[spoiler:Project 2501 is 'the Puppetmaster', a sentient entity created by a confluence of digital information struggling to escape that Section 9 mistakes for a human super-hacker and pursues throughout the film.]] Motoko wasn't observing the meeting to gather information -- she was just there to [[spoiler:assassinate the diplomat]].
* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'': When it was revealed that [[spoiler: Xerxes Break]] had been tasked with fulfilling the Will Of The Abyss's wish, what she asked for is left a mystery to the audience. In the manga, the chapter simply ends with her request censored by dash lines, while in the anime the words are drowned out by the environment crumbling around them. Roughly three years later, the wish is finally revealed to the audience when [[spoiler: Break reveals it to Sharon -- she wants to be set free from the Abyss, as she suffers from a century-long case of IJustWantToBeNormal]].
* In the Season 2 finale of ''Anime/SonicX'', when Sonic returns to his home world and reunites with Amy, she demands that he tell her how he really feels about her. His answer is muted, but Amy's reaction gives a general idea of what he said. The 4Kids dub is... a bit less subtle.
* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'': When Rem makes her HeroicSacrifice to save Vash, she yells something at him that is cut off by the blast doors closing. Vash still takes this "something" as gospel some twenty years later. (The English version translates this as "Take care of Knives!" but in Japanese, the verb is missing. The dub relies on colloquial ambiguity, as the phrase could mean either to save Knives or to kill him.)
* In the anime of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', Zagato tells Emeraude [[spoiler:that he loves her]] in the final episodes of season 1, but the viewers don't get to hear it--though Alcyone does.
* One scene in ''Manga/LoveHina'' has Keitaro apologize to Naru. Naturally, a firework goes off during the most important word of "It's all '''my''' fault!", [[NeverMyFault Naru thinks he's blaming her]], and punches him.
* ''Anime/ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays'': Early on, Sayuri tells Takuya something that she's afraid will make him laugh, to which he assures her he won't. As she says it, though, the sound of a train covers up whatever it is. It isn't until about two-thirds through that we go back and learn it's really about [[spoiler:the strange dream she's been having.]]
* In Episode 10 of ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'', Zorome talks to an old lady he accidentally falls in front of. Before some guards arrive to escort him back, he asks her if she can be his family when he becomes an adult and moves into the city, but then cuts himself off and asks to be her friend instead. She refuses, but her answer is obscured by static before it can be heard.
* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'', Tengan's line is muted when he tells Munakata the identity of the killer.
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Hawks, the #2 Hero, who'd infiltrated the League of Villains, tells Dabi, a member of the group, that he'd investigated the backgrounds of all the League members, but couldn't find anything on Dabi or [[BigBad Shigaraki]] (whose identity is known to the readers, and a handful of characters). Hawks asks Dabi who he is, and Dabi responds with a completely black speech bubble, before [[BadassBoast declaring that he's the one Hawks should have been most worried about]].
* This happens twice in ''Anime/LizAndTheBlueBird'', both during pivotal plot moments:
** When the in-universe "Liz and the Blue Bird" story is read, Mizore is compared to the lonely Liz and Nozomi to the fleeting blue bird who brought her happiness. Near the climax, the two of them individually come to a realization about this, which is represented through a split-screen: [[spoiler:"Mizore is Liz, and Nozomi is the blue bird. Except that right now..."]] and then it cuts off. The exact meaning of this is unclear, and deliberately so; the likely answer is that [[spoiler:Nozomi is supposed to be Liz and Mizore is supposed to be the blue bird, but it's equally likely that they are ''each other's'' blue bird]].
** At the end, Nozomi and Mizore walk side-by-side [[spoiler:after having come to terms with their relationship and mutual envy]], when suddenly Nozomi turns to Mizore and says something. We don't hear what she says, but Mizore is left visibly shocked and blushing. Smash cut to the end titles.
* One scene of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' has Garaku make a suggestions to Shadow Mei [[UnspokenPlan shown as a single speech bubble with ellipses]] even as we sees Mei's pleased reaction.
* In the animated adaptation of ''Literature/IWantToEatYourPancreas'', the protagonist revealing his name to Sakura is blocked out by the sound of the train they're on.
* Twilight's OriginsEpisode in ''Manga/SPYxFAMILY'' has [[NoNameGiven his original name]] covered in black bars whenever it's spoken. Given he's told to abandon his original identity upon becoming a spy and the whole thing was him DreamingOfTimesGoneBy, Twilight may have willed himself to ''[[NameAmnesia literally forget]]'' his own name.
* ''Manga/FourKnightsOfTheApocalypse'' uses this trope to reveal that Sin is faking his identity. In a dream he has, a strange woman says ''something'' in three dialogue clouds that prompts Sin to snap, "How do you know my name?" The text that would normally be in the clouds is replaced by a squiggly line. However, [[https://animechick344034.tumblr.com/post/663015539977961472/im-starting-to-fucking-think-weve-had-it-wrong some]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/NanatsunoTaizai/comments/r2txkx/sin_is_lancelot/ fans]] used the scene to deduce [[IKnewIt ahead of time]] that the woman was [[spoiler:enunciating "Lancelot", a name with three syllables]]. This was confirmed sixteen chapters later.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', Geppetto is searching for Pinocchio in the rain when Stromboli's cart, with Pinocchio caged inside, passes by. He calls out one more time, but is drowned out by thunder.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'', the end of Red Hood's line after a fight with Batman is obscured by a passing train. Later, it becomes a WhamLine when Batman enhances the recorded audio and [[spoiler: discovers that Red Hood knows his real name]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Done to hilarious effect in Creator/LuisBunuel's ''Film/ThePhantomOfLiberty''.

* A unique variant appears at the end of ''Film/{{Entrapment}}''. Robert [=MacDougal=] escapes from police custody, leaving Virginia Baker and several police officers at a train station. After the officers leave, frustrated by the thief's escape, [=MacDougal=] appears and asks Baker what she wants to do next. Baker explains a plan that is drowned out by the passing of a train through the station, directly between the two characters (standing on two platforms). What exactly the plan ''is'' never gets explained.
* This is used for a more romantic ending to ''Film/PublicEnemies''. When John Dillinger dies, he whispers something which a fed pretends not to have heard. He only just barely heard it and it didn't make much sense to him, but he relates it to Dillinger's lover, forming the last line of the film. "Tell Billie for me: bye-bye, blackbird."
* In ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove,'' Robert Shaw plays a Russian assassin, Grant. Immediately prior to meeting Film/JamesBond, there's a scene in which Grant dupes and kills another agent, and his dialogue is deliberately too quiet for the viewer to hear. His assumed English accent when he finally talks to Bond is thus that much more surprising. Grant is English, a criminal recruited by SPECTRE. Bond only assumes he's Russian because he doesn't know yet that [[spoiler:SPECTRE has been playing the British and Russians off against each other so they can get the Lektor]]. In the original novel he's stated to be from County Armagh in Ireland, but this doesn't seem to be the case in the film.
* In ''Film/{{Rushmore}}'', when Max tells Mr. Blume's wife that he's having an affair, he meets her on a highway overpass ([[RuleOfFunny no reason for this location is ever given]]) and what he says is inaudible due to the sound of a truck going by, but it's evident from her horrified reaction. In the script, he says, "[[SophisticatedAsHell Your husband's fucking a schoolteacher, pardon my French.]] I thought you should know."
* About two-thirds of the way through ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'', the Professor explains the whole "George Kaplan" scenario to Thornhill at the airport, and his voice is drowned out by the roar of plane engines. This is actually a rather clever inversion of the trope, in that we the viewers already know about the stuff he's talking about, so making the conversation inaudible is sparing us from the redundancy.

* ''Film/TheConversation'' starts with Harry Caul spying on and recording the title conversation. He can decypher most of it easily, except for one whispered sentence. When he finally [[EnhanceButton cleans up the recording]], it's a WhamLine. [[spoiler:It becomes a WhamLine again later when he realizes that the sentence meant something different than he thought.]]

* In the second episode of the OVA for ''LightNovel/InfiniteStratos'', Houki gives a LoveConfession to Ichika during a festival, but she says it just as some fireworks start going off in the distance, so he gets distracted by that.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma makes an obscured promise to a [[spoiler: shapeshifting]] villain that apparently gets Misaka very flustered. [[spoiler: In fact, it's because of this promise that she falls in love with him.]] It isn't until the end of the second series that we actually learn what he said. [[spoiler: It was a promise that sounds similar to [[DeclarationOfProtection Zettai ni Mamoru]]. He promises to "guard the world that Misaka lives in."]]

* The first scene of ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'': Motoko Kusanagi is spying on a meeting between a foreign diplomat and a computer programmer, discussing a 'Project 2501' that is behaving strangely. The programmer says that the project was originally intended to -- but Batou calls Motoko mid-sentence. [[spoiler: Project 2501 is 'the Puppetmaster', a sentient entity created by a confluence of digital information struggling to escape that Section 9 mistakes for a human super-hacker and pursues throughout the film.]] Motoko wasn't observing the meeting to gather information - she was just there to [[spoiler: assassinate the diplomat.]]