History Main / SeizaSquirm

In anime, a character's tolerance of seiza immediately separates those who possess charm and grace from those who merely want to show that they do. Any character who lacks sufficient natural dignity must then undergo a heroic battle not to squirm, fidget, or otherwise show any sign of the agony that she is in.

* Extremely averted in ''Fanfic/UndocumentedFeatures'', where anyone who has need to get into seiza will do so without squirming or any other problems. In another Eyrie work, ''FanFic/NeonExodusEvangelion'', the main characters can even get into seiza in the EVAs.

** And again in episode 27 of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure''

* Extremely averted in ''UndocumentedFeatures'', where anyone who has need to get into seiza will do so without squirming or any other problems. In another Eyrie work, ''FanFic/NeonExodusEvangelion'', the main characters can even get into seiza in the EVAs.

* Happens as a punishment to Lavi and Allen in ''DGrayMan''.

* ''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'': Yasuna and Hazumu can sit in ''seiza''; Tomari and Asuta can't.

* ''TwentiethCenturyBoys'': Shouhei Chouno is kneeling in front of the portrait of his legendary grandfather. He's been trying to follow in the grandfather's footsteps and has so far been a failure. He vows to keep trying, and starts to stand up to stride off dramatically, only to find that his legs have gone to sleep.

* Extremely averted in ''UndocumentedFeatures'', where anyone who has need to get into seiza will do so without squirming or any other problems. In another Eyrie work, ''NeonExodusEvangelion'', the main characters can even get into seiza in the EVAs.

* Happened in the animated version of ''YoakeMaeYoriRuriiroNa''. There, also used as a punishment.

* In ''Anime/StrikeWitches'', there is a short story of [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} Fuso]]-born Shimoraha teaching [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Orussia]]-born Pokryshkin seiza for mental training, with Pokryshin having so much trouble with it, she later adapted it as a form of punishment for the rest of of the Brave Witches.

* In the ''RanmaOneHalf'' manga and one of the [=OVA=]s, there is a form of martial arts called the [[CookingDuel Martial Arts Tea Ceremony]], conducted entirely from ''seiza''. Ranma-chan requires a ribbon tied around his/her ankles to stay that way for the entire fight.

* ''AsagiriNoMiko'', episode 17. The two junior members of the cast fidget and squirm in the seiza, while the rest hold their position with grace.

* When the title character of ''HikaruNoGo'' takes the exam to become an insei, his mother is convinced that he will fail, seeing that the boy "can't sit seiza for five minutes". Had seiza been a criteria for Go ability, she would have been right.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In episode 22 of ''SaintSeiyaOmega'', Ryuhou's seiza is flawless during the tea ceremony with [[spoiler:Haruto's father]], but as soon as he thinks nobody is watching him, he begins to squirm and fidget.

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''ParallelTroubleAdventureDual'', the [[{{PMC}} Earth Defense Force]]'s inexplicable Traditional Japanese Obaa-Sama at one point drags most of the main cast into some Flower Arrangement training on the reasoning that 'During times of war, it is doubly important to maintain a high level of culture'. The training includes sitting in Seiza, and while all the girls manage just fine, OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Kazuki almost instantly collapses as his feet fall asleep. Followed seconds later by MadScientist Ken Sanada. How [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Ken's daughter]], Mitsuki, wound up being so comfortable with Seiza is somewhat of a mystery. The other two girls, however, are easily explained, since one of them is from an old Japanese family, and the other is an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Alien Bioroid]] EnergyBeing CloudcuckooLander, who most likely can't [[FeelNoPain feel pain]] anyway.

* A teacher in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' used seiza as a punishment while on a field trip. Some students took to it better than others. he also punished one of his fellow teachers along with the students, on the basis that it appeared that said teacher was helping them break curfew. Apparently, if a co-worker lacks tenure, you get to do that sort of thing. [[note]] Said teacher was also only [[ImprobableAge ten years old]]. [[/note]]

* In the ''RanmaOneHalf'' manga and one of the [=OVA=]s, there is a form of martial arts called the [[CookingDuel Martial Arts Tea Ceremony]], conducted entirely from ''seiza''. Ranma-chan requires a ribbon tied around her ankles to stay that way for the entire fight.
* In ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'' the entire cast take part in a tea ceremony where they sit like this. Kaoru, Aoi and Miyabi who all come from rich families find little problem with this while the rest of TheUnwantedHarem squirm -- and of course find another point to moe over Kaoru.

* Pictured above: Erika in episode 7 of ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure''.
** Also, we have a brief moment like this in episode 5 of ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure''.
** And again in episode 27 of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure''

* One of the training minigames in ''Kengo: Master of Bushido'' has the player meditate in ''seiza'' with a man standing behind him with a board. Fail to keep a bobbling cursor in the middle and your character will squirm, earning him a smack. Mess up enough and you fail.

* ''Anime/GreatTeacherOnizuka'': After some particularly over the top antics (even for him), Onizuka gets punished by being tied up in seiza position (along with weights just to make it all the worse).

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* In the first episode of ''{{FLCL}}'', after hitting Naota, Haruko didn't squirm while in seiza, she ''rolled and slid'' around, seemingly at random. She also managed to maintain it perfectly, so even though she was freaking out trying to figure out what to do about running over Naota, she was doing it with style, dignity, and grace.

* In the first half-season's opening credits of ''HanasakuIroha'', there is a scene where Ohana and Nako, dressed in kimonos, are getting up from the seiza position and, while Nako gets up normally, the much less experienced Ohana crumbles down with a painful face expression.

* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' had an episode that played on this: neither Usagi nor Chibiusa was able to last through a tea ceremony, while their slapstick attempts to remain dignified highlighted the VictimOfTheWeek's "pure heart."

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* In ''The Sighs of HaruhiSuzumiya'' light novel, when the cast films in [[BigFancyHouse Tsuruya's house]], Kyon tries to imitate Yuki, who is sitting in what's described as seiza. He can't take it for more than a couple of minutes.

* A teacher in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' used seiza as a punishment while on a field trip. Some students took to it better than others.
** Notably, he also punished one of his fellow teachers along with the students, on the basis that it appeared that said teacher was helping them break curfew. Apparently, if a co-worker lacks tenure, you get to do that sort of thing.
** Said teacher was also only [[ImprobableAge ten years old]].
*** ''Said teacher'' also used improperly-created magical copies of himself to hold down the fort while he went out on some magical errand. HilarityEnsues.

* In the first episode of ''{{FLCL}}'', after hitting Naota, Haruko didn't squirm while in seiza, she ''rolled and slid'' around, seemingly at random.
** She also managed to maintain it perfectly, so even though she was freaking out trying to figure out what to do about running over Naota, she was doing it with style, dignity, and grace.
*** Well... style, anyway.

* In the ''RanmaOneHalf'' manga and one of the [=OVA=]s, there is a form of martial arts called the [[CookingDuel Martial Arts Tea Ceremony]], conducted entirely from ''seiza''. Ranma requires a ribbon tied around her ankles to stay that way for the entire fight.

* In ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'', Richard Brown does a highly exaggerated version of this, especially for live action, as part of his instruction in being a samurai.
* Done as a punishment to Momotaros and Urataros of ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}''

* Pictured above: Erika in episode 7 of ''HeartcatchPrettyCure''.
** Also, we have a brief moment like this in episode 5 of ''SmilePrettyCure''.

* In the ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' manga and one of the [=OVA=]s, there is a form of martial arts called the [[CookingDuel Martial Arts Tea Ceremony]], conducted entirely from ''seiza''. Ranma requires a ribbon tied around her ankles to stay that way for the entire fight.