Beach Episode

Or in this case, beach tournament!

Art: Why does every anime series under the sun have to have a fan-service episode? An episode in which the cast all wander around in swimwear or less for no real reason? It's so low-brow.
Pip: Shall we confirm that by watching it again?
Art: Absolutely.

— Sequential Art

The Beach Episode or Pool Episode is, simply put, an episode where the cast decided to take a break and go to the beach or a swimming pool for some wet and splashy fun.

Often combined with or immediately following a Recap Episode, in a lot of shows, the Beach Episode generally exists solely for the purpose of getting the cast into bathing suits, either for titillation or just because some people want to see what the characters' bathing suits look like. Sometimes the bathing suits can be Played for Laughs if they look similar to the characters' already-Limited Wardrobe's. For example, if Alice generally wears purple, expect her swimsuit to be purple too. In shows that small children can watch as well as the adults (therefore being child-friendly), they have a beach episode because the beach is typically considered fun. Sadly for the fanboys, beach episodes are usually (except for the romance genre in which it is part of the plot) considered extreme examples of filler and treated accordingly. Sometimes you'll meet the Surfer Dude here, and the Muscle Beach Bum, or have a Summer Romance. Also a good spot for a random Beauty Contest. Besides having a dip, characters may also hit the nets for a game of beach volleyball. Japanese works might also show them trying to smash a watermelon or two. And since people usually go barefoot at the beach to feel the sand and surf, shoes and socks are usually the first things to go. Even if the cast isn't changing into bathing suits, they'll probably shed their footwear at the very least to avoid being labeled a tourist like the derided "shoobie", so don't be surprised if this happens, and/or this sets up someone to step on something sharp or jagged while barefoot (often followed by a Green Aesop if that something happens to be a piece of beach litter). Also expect some Beachcombing and someone getting buried in sand.

Naturally, it also acts as a Breather Episode in arc-heavy stories. However, it's not uncommon for the episode to be a fake-out breather and suddenly take a serious turn with a dramatic plot twist, such as if a storm hits, a threat from below the deep decides to emerge, or there's a shark attack.

Common in, but hardly limited to, anime series. Often shows up in Side-Story Bonus Art. In anime and live-action television, a Beach Episode might overlap with the Vacation Episode, usually as a trip to a tropical locale. Expect one of the characters, usually a female, to exclaim "It's the ocean!" when the gang first arrives on the scene.

Cousin to the Hot Springs Episode, which usually takes place in highlands. Often, the actual beach also gets replaced by a swimming pool. Also compare Palmtree Panic, which is when (usually) a single level of a video game takes place on a beach.

Note: It sometimes occurs that the Beach Episode is interrupted by the actual plot of the story. For example, the heroes are taking their well deserved beach trip when the villains decide to show up and cause trouble.

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Example Subpages:

• Anime & Manga
• Live-Action TV
• Western Animation

Other Examples:

Advertising

• In the series of campaign advertisements of Orangina, they made one which set in the beach... with animal people. Compare it to the older commercials where it was all about people in bottle costumes. This ad then became the basis for the newer commercials of the campaign.
• Air New Zealand Safety Videos: The video "Safety in Paradise" with Special Guest appearances from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models on the beaches of Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands.
• The earlier HBO promos had a woman at a beach house, singing the "HBO" jingle while walking on a beach, having fun.
• A trailer for Warner Home Video had a short clip from a earlier Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Salt Water Tabby") in which Jerry closes the umbrella on Tom getting him stuck, sticks a crab in Tom's bathing suit which pinches Tom's butt and then the crab to cut a hole in Tom's bathing suit, showing the "Coming Soon from Warner Home Video" bumper layered over Tom's butt. This, however, was a preview for a brand new Tom and Jerry DVD movie (from a recently released Leap Frog educational DVD).
• One Claude the Cat PSA has Claude at the beach, though not for fanservice naturally, talking about summer safety.
• A couple of the Monster Cereals commercials exist with this theme for the characters:
  • One has Count Chocula and Frankenberry using the castle's moat as a pool substitute.
  • Another has Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry at the beach in the middle of a thunderstorm (considered good weather for them).

Animation

• In episode 24 of Happy Heroes, the Supermen and their non-biological father Doctor H. all go to the beach, but not to have fun - they're investigating claims that a Sea Monster resides there. Big M. and his assistant Little M. take the opportunity to pretend to be the aquatic beast, leading to a fight between them and the heroes. Ironically, this proves to be less beneficial for the beach than expected - it was getting visitors because they were interested in the supposed monster.
• Lamput: "Evolution" takes place on the beach, where Lamput tries to mold his body to look more appealing when a boy makes fun of his normal self's walking.
• Simple Samosa:
  • "Jaa One" has Samosa and his friends go to the beach near Vada's house to have fun. They later get stuck in a pod that sinks underwater and encounter a giant octopus called the Javan.
  • "Bonda Kumari Kabhi Na Haari" takes place during a party on the same beach. Bonda Kumari, a former friend of Vada's, shows up and annoys him with her impeccable skill at the games everyone plays at the party.

Comic Books

• All-New Ultimates had all the female members hit the beach in issue 4.
• In Cavewoman: It's Not Quite Malibu, Meriem, Carrie and Mona take time off to recover from their recent travails by going to the beach. Much gratuitous Fanservice ensues.
• The second issue of the first ongoing Gen¹³ comics series is a veritable beach/swimsuit extravaganza, made even more notable by the revelation of a major cast member as a homosexual.
• Gold Digger, already a fanservice-laden comic, has a "Summer Annual" of pinup beach pictures and short comics drawn by a variety of artists.
• Hellblazer. Subverted in that it quickly turns terrifying. Luckily it was All Just a Dream.
• The Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi story "Mermaid Pants" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The girls are at the beach where Ami is wearing a pair of pants designed like a mermaid's lower half. She gets a pair for Yumi, and together they dive to the deep where they enter a club populated by actual mermaids and mermen.
• Les Légendaires:
  • A brief scene where the protagonists are going to swim, including a scene with Jadina stealing Shimy's top swimsuit (which doesn't reveal much, considering they have the bodies of 10-year-old kids). The scene only lasts a few pages at the beginning of the Anathos Cycle, a saga basically put a nightmarish Cerebus Syndrome on the series.
  • Hilariously parodied on a page of Book 13, with a postal card showing the Hellions posing in bathing suits on the beach with "Kiss from Hell" written.
• Legion of Super-Heroes:
  • The post-Zero Hour comic has a Beach Issue with Legionnaires #77, when most of the Legion takes a vacation on the resort planet Summer World. This was the outgoing creative team's swan song, giving the kids one last nice day of fun times before the incoming creative team would turn everything Darker and Edgier with a story called "Legion of the Damned."
  • Legionnaires #7, in which the kids take a vacation in Atlantis, allowing for much swimsuit fun.
• Marvel Comics had several Swimsuit Specials in The '90s featuring such exotic locales as Dinosaur Island, Madripoor, and the Dark Side of the Moon.
• Nintendo Comics System: Mario, the Princess, and Toad end up on a tropical island of surfer Toads in "Beauty and the Beach."
• The Powerpuff Girls plan a day at the beach until Mojo Jojo creates a snowstorm in the middle of summer, having cornered the market on winter supplies in "No Business Like Snow Business".
• In Robin (1993), Tim Drake and his classmates from Brentwood Academy take a trip to the beach. Of course that night the hotel is attacked by Kobra ninjas.
• Scooby-Doo issue #9 from Marvel had "Mystery At Malibu," about a ghost surfer tying in with an oil rig. Scooby and the gang are joined by Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels in solving the mystery.
• The main characters of Scott Pilgrim go to the beach in Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together. The sequence is the only coloured part of the otherwise black-and-white series.
• The Sensational She-Hulk has one part in issue #50 in which She-Hulk reads an Atlantis Attacks parody, starring herself on a beach trip. The author of the parody claimed the setting would attract male teenage readers — by providing ample opportunities for fanservice shots of Marvel heroines.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In The Smuggler's Code, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan take a vacation at the beach.
• A lighter issue of Strangers in Paradise takes place on the beach following a serious story arc. Katchoo is still angsting, though.
• In one of the later chapters of Superman storyline The Unknown Supergirl, Linda Danvers accompanies her new parents on a beach picnic where she meets Dick Wilson -now Malverne- again and begin their short-lived romance.
• In the German comic Werner: Usually involves Flachköpper (head dives in shallow water).
• Wonder Woman Vol 1: In "Spies From Saturn", Diana and the Holliday Girls take a trip to Virginia True's family beach house. While there, they go swimming, attend a party, and discover a spy from the planet Saturn has a submarine there from which he is helping his Emperor plan an invasion of Earth.

Fan Works

• The My Hero fanfic, Beach Trip, is this in a nutshell. With Class 1-A going on a school trip to Okinawa while also dealing with a villain on the loose.
• The Child of Love: In chapter 6 of the sequel Asuka and Shinji go on a vacation to the beach.
• Fanfic writer CVGW James has made so many stories that take place at a beach that listing them all would probably overload the subfolder. "Beach Scenes" are even on his list of things he likes to write on his FanFiction profile. Sometimes, resorts and spas are thrown into the mix, making them double as Hot Springs Episodes.
• Chapter 58 of Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty is even titled "The Beach Episode". Given that it's set after the beginning of the Androids/Cell arc, it also doubles as a Breather Episode as well.
• Eiga Sentai Scanranger has one that can’t decide if it’s advancing the plot (the Terrible Trio get their Mid-Season Upgrade, and the Scanrangers discover the Arc Villain survived their last encounter) or a Breather Episode (the whole point of the trip is to unwind, most of the antics are silly and the villains’ plan is more low stakes than normal).
• Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Chapter 95 is largely this, featuring Sunset and the girls all enjoying a day a the beach. Eventually even Twilight and the Shadowbolts join in, later remarking how easy it is to put aside the animosity between Soul Reaper and Quincy for the moment. Too bad it doesn't stay that way...
• Chapter 52 of For the Glory of Irk is actually called "The Mandatory Beach Episode" and features the main cast stopping for a supply run on the resort planet Acrilla and spending some time on the beach.
• Chapter 80 of FREAKIN GENSOKYO sees Brad and company relaxing in the pool outside the Palace of the Earth Spirits.
• A Growing Affection has a beach arc, in which a subset of the Konoha 11 go undercover to the beach to protect the Daimyo's daughter. Much later Naruto and Hinata spend a day relaxing at the waterfall lagoon after the Jonin Trials, until things take a turn for the worse.
• In Heroic Myth, the Hestia Familia heads to Port Melen for a quest, taking the time to enjoy Archer's beachside barbecue as well some volleyball. Both the boys and the girls get a Swimsuit Scene, and the boys in particular get to appreciate the girls' bikinis.
• Hours 'Verse: As the Bells Toll opens with the Phantom Thieves taking a Shadow Operatives-sponsored trip to Yakushima. It's alluded to in Alternate Timeline Patchwork Hearts, but they end up too busy on their change-of-heart roadtrip to go.
  Goro: Arisato-san mentioned taking all of us on a trip at some point. Apparently Kirijo-san has a mansion on an island, with a private beach?
  Akira: ...please be nice to Kirijo-san so we can go to the private island mansion.
• In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, the SOS Brigade has one of these arranged for the weekend after Kyon went back in time to create a massive stable time loop and getting 96 on a Math test.
• Lincoln's Memories: A non-fanservicey one occurs in "The Ultimate Sand Castle", where the Louds go to the beach and an eight-year-old Lincoln and an eleven-year-old Luan build a sandcastle.
• Chapter 57 of Marigolds is mostly the Phantom Thieves spending a day at the beach blowing off steam. Futaba even refers to the day as a Beach Episode.
• In the fourth part of Max Wolf Revolutions, there is a chapter named "Obligatory Filler Beach Chapter".
• In Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race, Episode 13 takes place while the Lights and Bonnes are on vacation, and both Kalinka and Splash Woman act a bit sensually towards Mega Man. The girls are also in swimsuits.
• There is one of these in More Than Human that actually advances the plot.
• Naru-Hina Chronicles:
  • Chapter 43, which is the start of a vacation arc, focuses on Naruto and his True Companions having fun together at some beach in a resort town. Among other things, Gaara builds a sandcastle that results in Shikamaru having Blank White Eyes given its size, while Naruto and Kiba both have a Nosebleed upon seeing Hinata and Mina in their swimsuits.
  • Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes:
    • All the guys are ordered to the lake for the day to relax. Right about the time they are all bored and ready to leave, all the girls show up in very revealing swimsuits.
    • Naruto is specifically invited to the Hyuga picnic. Contrary to his expectations of a very stiff and formal event, it turns out to be a fun picnic at the beach.
• Episode 15 of The New Adventures of Invader Zim features the school forcing all the students to go on a mandatory field trip to the beach. It results in Dib, Zim, and Tak's groups all having to team up to defeat a demon sea hydra.
• The Prince's Rebellion Arc in One Piece: Parallel Works starts with the Capricorns going to the beach, but it ends with Yuki-Rin being led to the castle of the Arc Villain.
• The Radio Still Plays serves as one for The One to Make It Stay, as it follows Marinette and Kitty Section as they head off to the Summer Sesh music festival.
• Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: The latter part of Chapter 36 has Ash's group enjoying a day off at the beach while making a stop in the Seafoam Islands, and later during the start of Chapter 43 they have another after Ash wins his final Gym Badge. To a lesser extent, the Brock & Lucy Gaiden sidestory also features a scene where the title characters hang out at the local indoor pool.
• Power Rangers: Oceania acts like this to the entire Power Rangers canon. Justified by taking place in Hawaii, where the Rangers will either enjoy themselves or wind up in a fight on the beach. Bonus points for one of the Rangers being a lifeguard.
• Used in Seduction to advance the plot.
• Chapter 17 of Serendipitous Fate, has most of the class hanging out at a beach by a lake. Eventually culminates in Adrien and Marinette Skinny Dipping and Alya stealing their clothes.
• The Naruto/TMNT crossover fic Teenage Jinchuriki Shinobi has the new team seven (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Himeko, and Kin), Hinata, Kakashi, Kushina, the turtles and Splinter, and Casey Jones' family on one as break, and while the resort was legitimate, it turns out to be a trap set up by Kira and Sakyo.
• In This Is A Wild Game Of Survival, the fic Sun, Sea And Alcoholic Decisions is this for the series, being a ten-chapter fic where the kids take an overnight field trip to the beach for three days, letting all the students indulge in swimsuits, the ocean, the sand, and other beach activities while many characters reach turning points in their relationships.
• Throw Away Your Mask: SEES' trip to Yakushima, complete with beach volleyball, Operation Friend Hunt, sandcastles, and an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon.
• Touhou Galaxy: Chapter 19 of Odyssey is this as the gang arrives at Bubblaine where most of the gang such as Ezra and Pit go to relax and in the process are reunited with Byleth, Dorothea, Kamui, Camilla, Sakura, Elise, Claude and Hilda. Unusually, it's not all fun in the sun: Marisa overcomes her aquaphobia to save Reimu from Maw-Rays and Gray has to talk down Bea from wanting revenge on Esdeath due to Esdeath's "The strong live and the weak die" really angering Bea. This works once Gray points out that Bea is losing sight of herself and that's what happened to him before he was temporarily killed by Esdeath. Bea apologizes which Gray accepts saying it happens to the best of them. The team then fights and beats Mollusque Lanceur. The chapter ends with the gang relaxing some more and Chapter 20 has them setting off again.
• Ultimate Spider-Woman: In between fighting supervillains and trying to juggle everything going on in her personal life, Mary Jane Watson needed a break. She got one at first... but then one of her enemies showed up and she was forced to don her Spider-Woman costume anyway. Go figure.
• In chapter 6 part 2 of SlifofinaDragon’s Sengoku Basara modern day fic series, we’ve got one set at the Date summer villa.
  • We get one again in chapter 8 part 6.
• The Pirate's Soldier: The second half of Chapter 27 serves as this, as the entire cast visits a private lake belonging to the Jurai royal family for some relax and rest. They even engage in the typical activities like volleyball, chicken-fight, and jet-skiing.

Films — Live-Action

• The '60s saw a plethora of "beach party movies" about fun-loving teens hanging out on the beach to a soundtrack of pop music, many of them made by American International Pictures and starring Annette Funicello and/or Frankie Avalon. The eponymous Beach Party in 1963 kicked off the trend, and the list includes (but is not limited to) How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Beach Blanket Bingo, Bikini Beach, and Muscle Beach Party. Not much fanservice by today's standards, with the teens being fairly clean-cut and chaste and never seen smoking or drinking anything, but at the time they were considered passably risqué.
• During a severe Thunderstorm in Aquamarine (as the girls stayed in one of the beach houses), washing a mermaid away from the ocean and into their swimming pool.
• This is pretty much the only thing one can say about Blue Crush (and its sequel).
• A Running Gag in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is Caractacus Potts attempting to take his two children and Truly Scrumptious to the beach, before it gets interrupted by some plot-relevant action.
• Club Paradise has an All-Star Cast of 1980's comic legends, and was probably made for this excuse.
• Gidget and its sequels focus on the eponymous heroine and her adventures around the local beach community.
• Into the Blue has Jessica Alba and Paul Walker in the Bahamas having a sexy adventure.
• This trope dates all the way back to 1895 and La Mer, one of the pioneering films shot by the Lumière brothers, which features five guys having fun jumping off a short pier into the water.
• The beach scene in The Princess Diaries has a beach party setting up the third act conflict. Mia blows off appearing on her friend's cable show to go to the party with the Jerk Jock. When paparazzi swarm the scene, said jock plants a kiss on her to get his fifteen minutes of fame. The Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse also expose Mia getting undressed in front of the photographers.
• Summer Lovers is a Beach MOVIE, specifically, the beaches of Greece.

Literature

• Biff, Chip and Kipper: The book "On the Sand", has Biff and Chip visit the beach with Dad, who plays a trick on them.
• In the Fairy Oak series, the beginning of Flox Smiles in Autumn describes what the children of the village do during the summer time, detailing the places they go to and the games and pranks they do with each other.
• Can a non-visual book have a Beach Episode? Apparently so! In Larry Bond's First Team series, the main character, basically a Cowboy Cop of spies, once refuses to meet his overseer anywhere but on a beach. In a Middle Eastern country where women's swimsuits come in only two sizes: tiny, and microscopic. And she does it! In another scene, one of his female agents is wearing a tiny Wicked Weasel bikini.
• I'm In Love With the Villainess has one, when the protagonist, Rei, and her love interest, Claire, vacation at a peaceful, idyllic coastal town for the summer. In a bit of meta-humor, Rei explains why exactly the world has skimpy, form-hugging swimsuits in what should be a largely Victorian Era kingdom with magic: fanservice.
• Roys Bedoys:
  • In "Let's Go to the Beach, Roys Bedoys!", the Bedoyses (including Charlie, but excluding Panther) go to the beach. ** Attempted in "We Can't Go to the Beach, Roys Bedoys!", where the Bedoyses try to go to the beach, but can't, because first Joys gets an upset stomach, then it rains.
• Chapter 10 of The Yellow Bag takes place at a beach, where Raquel gets rid of her wishes of being an adult and being a boy, and Alfonso and the Umbrella fly away in order to travel the world.

Music

• Atomic Kitten's music video for "It's OK" was shot in South Africa, and featured the Kittens on the beach and of course a midnight beach party.
• The Muppets had one in album form: Muppet Beach Party.
• Rammstein video "Mein Land" is basically a beach episode for the band.
• S Club 7's music video for "Natural" showed the band on a desert island, with lots of swimwear shots and Waterfall Showers.
• The Sugababes (or, as they were known at the time, MKS) filmed the video for "Flatline" in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

Podcasts

• Episode 24 of Find Us Alive, aptly named "The Beach Episode". Subverted in that, since the cast is obviously stuck in the building and can't leave to go to a real beach, the site inexplicably floods with two feet of water instead. They take advantage of the end of the cycle to relax and goof off by building makeshift boats, having singalongs, and generally taking a chance to relax and enjoy the Breather Episode. The only shade of drama is Raddagher's paranoia as to what caused the flood, and the final line from Lancaster, who cryptically references something he did that "worked".

Pro Wrestling

• WCW used to hold a yearly pay-per-view called Bash At The Beach, where all the matches would take place at a beach somewhere. The 1996 installment saw the formation of the New World Order.
• WWE:
  • WWE had a PPV sometime in the mid-90s where they set up an entire beach indoors. Ostensibly it was to give Sunny, Marlena and Sable a chance to prance around in bikinis. It also featured most of the undercard roster playing around like they were at a real beach, Golddust rubbing baby oil all over himself, and TL Hopper the wrestling plumber eating a turd^note Actually a Baby Ruth bar - Jerry "The King" Lawler thought he saw a turd in a pool, TL Hopper was summoned, discovered it was just a candy bar, and ate it.[[//note]]
  • The promotion also used to do summer-themed episodes of Raw and Smackdown as an excuse to give the Divas a swimsuit contest. Sometimes accompanied by a wrestling match in the bikinis.
  • SummerSlam - the summer PPV of the 'Big Four' in WWE[[note]]Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and Survivor Series are the other three[[//note]]- usually has a marketing campaign involving the wrestlers on the beach (as it's often held in Los Angeles).

Puppet Shows

• In Die Liewe Heksie, the Little Witch goes for a beach picnic with the Bloemmieland elves. Alas, while her back is turned, the evil GeleHeks kidnaps a baby elf. Livinia then has to interrupt her day at the beach to get him back.
• The Oobi short, "Prince Oobi!" has Uma make a sand castle at the beach, she then declares Grampu it's king, Oobi it's prince, and herself as the mighty castle builder.
• Sesame Street:
  • The "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" video takes place on the beach, as do the songs "Hello Happy Happiness", and "Skin".
  • There is also a clip from the mid 90's where a girl and her dog play on the beach set to the Bobby McFerrin song "Simple Pleasures".
  • One Elmo: The Musical segment is entitled "Beach: The Musical", where Elmo visits Happy Crab Beach. On Happy Crab Beach, everyone is happy, except for a little shrimp who is unhappy with her diminutive size. When a wave washes King Crab's crown into a narrow cove, the shrimp is the only one small enough to recover it, and when she does, she realizes there are advantages to her diminutive size.

Radio

• The Space Gypsy Adventures story "The Daytrip to Tower City" could be considered one of these, even though most of the action takes place on the Pleasure Beach/Central Pier hybrid theme park visited by the characters.

Video Games

• Ape Escape has the Crabby Beach stage about a third of the way through that's a beach episode for the monkeys. Your first visit is by far the easiest in the game (even compared to the first level) as the monkeys you are supposed to capture only lounging around building sand castles instead of attacking you. However, there is a UFO pilot and a couple of hard-to-get monkeys that make it a bit harder when you come back to 100% complete the stage.
• The 18th (19th, technically. beatmania IIDX substream is not part of the numbering scheme) installment of beatmania IIDX, beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem, is primarily themed around tropical resorts and beaches. Naturally, promotional art of it consists of the female DJ characters in bikinis. Many songs introduced in Resort Anthem are themed around summer vacation, such as "Golden Palms", "Everlasting Resort", the Extra Stage Latin-esque song "ANTHEM LANDING", and the One More Extra Stage song "灼熱 Beach Side Bunny [[note]]The first two characters are read as Shakunetsu, meaning scorching ". Ironically, the game was released on September 15, 2010, right around the end of the summer season.
• Bikini Karate Babes is an entire video game made of this trope. More specifically, a large group of motion-captured women get stranded on an island and have to wait for a rescue boat to come. So how do they pass the time? By fighting in front of each other. The winner gets to rip off either the top or bottom half of her opponent's bikini. Yes, this is a real game, and no, it's not very good.
• BioShock Infinite has Battleship Bay, a level that takes place on a Victorian-style Boardwalk and beach in the sky. Given that everyone there is wearing an Old-Timey Bathing Suit at least, there's not much fanservice appeal - although several women (and men) say that they'd like to see Booker in one.
• BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm has one of these as a part of its Playable Epilogue. While you’re free to hang out and enjoy the sand and sun with your party members, the beach also serves as the staging area for six truly maddening Brutal Bonus Levels… which you’ll be doing in your swimsuit, of course.
• Burnout Paradise manages to do this by including the setting Big Surf Island, which has much more open, ramp-filled streets and generally easier events compared to the main game.
• CookieCats went to the beach, 2 times!
• The first section of the Charlie's Angels video game has the characters on a beach.
• There is a set of "vacation" missions set in Costa Del Sol in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, with Fanservice for both the girls (Zack in swimming trunks) and the boys (Cissnei in a bikini). Zack even beats the crap out of giant caterpillars with an umbrella... which does just as much damage as his regular weapon!!
• Dancing Line of all games has one in the form of the level "The Beach". It even features cubes lounging on beach chairs and partying on the dance floor.
• The Dead or Alive Xtreme spinoff series are the video game equivalent of this (as the parent series was already notorious for its Fanservice, Xtreme exists to put that front and center instead of making it merely the enticement). Also counts as Go-Karting with Bowser since it's possible to pair characters who don't like each other in the proper canon together.
• Dawn of the Breakers:
  • The 2018 Summer Event was set on a beach and featured summer-themed (read: swimsuit-clad) variants of some of the playable heroes.
  • For 2019, the fifth and sixth parts of the hololive crossover were released in the summer, and largely focuses on the imposters over at the beach. The game also brought back the Summer Capsule during the first week of the event and added swimsuit alts of the new crossover characters when the sixth part began. Downplayed as the plot mostly focuses on buildings that popped up in the middle of the ocean. It's still on a beach, but set on a dock by shrine or inside a corporate building.
• Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach, an expansion for Duke Nukem 3D has Duke kill aliens and inflatable sea monsters with water guns and pineapple grenades for ruining his vacation.
• Dragalia Lost
  • Two within July and August 2019, A Splash of Adventure and A Crescendo of Courage. The former involves the party looking for buried treasure that gets stolen by the Arc Villain, Barbary, who becomes that episode's raid boss. The latter involves building a stage for the dragon Siren who proceeds to perform a concert for everyone. Each event also gave new Summer alts for characters as well.
  • 2020 also gives two new events for the summer. "Summertime Saviors" which has a beach being defended from the invading Dyrenell Empire. "Doomsday Getaway" is a twist in that it's a murder mystery by way of Danganronpa.
• If you get a high enough total score in Elite Beat Agents, you can unlock a picture of the agents at the beach with some rather fanservicey material for both genders (J surfing with a dolphin, Spin playing volleyball with Missy, and Chieftain apparently checking out Foxx's body). The tenth stage is also on the beach, essentially.
• EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: The gang have one in Hawaii when they have to wait for military transport to continue their journey. With a little bit of downtime, they take a well earned day off and hit the beach.
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: As part of the plot progression, Cloud and co. stay at the Costa del Sol beach resort town, with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith made to acquire proper beach outfits in order to enter a certain part of the resort where the mysterious robed figures are gathering.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Awakening has a DLC set on the beach, where the members of the first generation can have conversations, while clearing out bandits who have invaded.
  • Fates has its own beach-set DLC, where the Royal Siblings and their retainers "battle" each other to win a trip there.
  • Every year, Heroes has up to two paralogues taking place on the beach, featuring special units dressed in swimwear. These episodes usually feature Anna trying to make a quick buck by exploiting Sex Sells, but it was deconstructed in Paralogue 35, where Anna gets strained trying to resist her usual summer schemes. Fortunately, she recovers by the very next paralogue. The units featured in these paralogues can also be obtained in limited-time banners during the months of June, July, and August.
• Genshin Impact: The 1.6 special event was very much this, as much of the main Mondstadt cast accompaniying Klee to a tropical archipelago, and the sisters Jean and Barbara both getting beachwear outfits.
• Get in the Car, Loser!: The DLC chapter "Battle on the Big Boardwalk" takes place on the beach, and playing through it unlocks swimwear outfits for the main cast.
• Granblue Fantasy has an event story every summer about the cast relaxing at the beach. They usually get caught up in the conflict about fishing for the Monster of the Week.
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards:
  • On the 3rd planet, Aqua Star, the 3rd stage is an actual beach, which, oddly enough, is after a stage featuring a freshwater river, but appropriately enough, the stage after 3-3 takes place underwater.
  • The cutscene that plays after you get a Crystal Shard from Acro, the boss of Aqua Star, shows Kirby and his friends skipping stones on the ocean.
• Last Cloudia: The main setting for the campaign Mid-Summer Vacation! Maidens on the beach. Theria and Lilebete can earn their swimwear as alternate costume. A swimwear version of Lilah can also be summoned alongside several beach-themed Arks.
• League of Legends has several champions with a Pool Party alternate skin, which places them in attire appropriate for a swimming pool or a beach (with their splash arts depicting them at such locales). Since 2013, they've become League's resident fanservice skin theme for almost every summer, comprising some of the game's sexiest (or generally most comical) cosmetics in the game.
• Mass Effect 3 follows this in a spiritual sense with the Citadel DLC, which has a plot that doesn't have any impact or bearing on the rest of the story, and is simply the cast taking a break, catching up with each other, and blowing off steam. It is noticeably more goofy and self-referential than the rest of the game.
• Mega Man Star Force: The school trip to Alohaha is an example of a Beach Episode gone horribly wrong. How wrong? Criminal Wizards steal various character belongings, the Evil Duo corrupt the Wizard in charge of the environmental system, said corrupted Wizard starts an earthquake that threatens to sink the island and everyone on it, and it all ends with one villain killing three separate characters, one of which is human! She ends up okay though.
• Some of Overwatch's 2017 Summer Games skins are essentially this; namely, for Widowmaker, Sombra, and McCree. It's also somewhat of a subversion of the typical purpose of a beach episode: Sombra's swimsuit skin is fairly modest (clearly designed more for snorkeling than lounging around, as evidenced by the rather large flippers hanging off her belt), and Widowmaker's doesn't reveal anything that hasn't already been revealed by one of her many other skins. Instead, it's McCree who has the most fanservice-y skin, with just swim trunks, a towel, and a rather large straw hat.
• Paladins has a seasonal Summer chest that contains revealing beach skins for Cassie and Lex, along with star-spangled weapon skins for the 4th of July. Cassie's Sun Kissed skin turns her into a Valley Girl with a bikini top, beach skirt, and a cockatoo in place of her pet falcon, Zigs. Lex's Longboard skin turns him into a Surfer Dude clad in swimming trunks, sunglasses, and a towel around his neck.
• Persona:
  • In Persona 3, the beach segment of the game, which doubles as a vacation, in addition to fanservice, features a Robot Girl, the revelation of what the shadows really are, some of the characters coming to terms with said reveal, and, most importantly, Operation Babe Hunt!
  • The Golden remake of Persona 4 adds a beach scene, complete with an unexpected Slippery Swimsuit scene.
  • Persona 5 has the characters spend a day at the beach after saving Futaba from her own Palace and then later go on a Class Trip to Hawaii, both where the party hangs out on the beach in a variety of swimwear.
• Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time has Big Wave Beach, based on 1960s American beach movies. Complete with zombies in bikinis.
• The first level of Pokémon Snap is the Beach, where you can take pictures of unique Pokémon such as a "Surfing" Pikachu and a dancing Meowth.
• Romancing SaGa 3 has Great Arc, a large tourist spot on the beach, where the heroes can get directions to Pirate Black's Treasure. The Old Man at the port holds the correct map; said old man is Pirate Black
• Rumble Roses has a beach arena.
• There is a DLC taking place in Hawaii in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse of all places. Unsurprisingly, it's an illusion, laid by Mephisto in an attempt to lure the protagonist into handing over his soul.
• Stardew Valley: The Ginger Island Resort, which can be built late in the game. Each day you go to it, a random selection of villagers will be visiting, wearing swimsuits. It does serve a practical purpose, in that you don't have to track those villagers down to interact with them.
• The second act of Sunrider Mask of Arcadius begins with the crew taking some much-needed shore leave on a beach resort space station, with all the hijinks that entails.
• Super Mario Sunshine is set on the tropical Isle Delfino. Two of the stages are calm, relaxing beaches (one of which even has a hotel).
• There's a beach episode in Super Robot Wars Z3: Jigoku-Hen, but all the girls lost their tops. They have to cover themselves and fight. The quotes before battle are hilarious. Asuka, Noriko and Fa slap Kamille for trying to peep. Shinji gets yelled at by Aoi and Youko. Viral doesn't care. Kittan, Andy, and Ozma lose their shit. Basara doesn't care. Sousuke is busy being Bonta-Kun. Amuro makes a remark about how well "fitted" the team is. Lockon and Kurtz are having a blast. Lockon wonders how Tieria would wear a swimsuit. Tieria smacks the shit out of Lockon. Allelujah blushes in response to the naked Marie/Soma and says, "Ma..Marie!" Soma slaps Allelujah. Setsuna doesn't care. Kouji gets slapped by Sayaka for peeping. Ryouma doesn't care. Benkei gets excited. Hayato doesn't care. Amata is a clueless idiot. Chirico doesn't care. Zero has a smirk inside his mask. Suzaku doesn't know where to look. Kallen is annoyed. C.C is having fun being topless. Andy is sad because Mix isn't with them.
• In Super Robot Wars 30, one of the DLC missions combines the beach episodes from SSSS.GRIDMAN and Majestic Prince with a twist... Izuru and Yuuto are missing — they're off being trained by the Combattler V team with sweet innocent Chizuru acting as the Drill Sergeant Nasty. Akane sends a kaiju after Kei and Tamaki for ruining her fun with Rikka and poor Utsumi has to pedal a bicycle to power up Junk so Gridman can help... who has absolutely no idea where he is.
• Tales Series: A staple of the series since Symphonia, where all characters get swimwear costumes.
  • Late in Tales of Symphonia, there is a sidequest that allows you to get some beach-based alternate costumes for some of your characters. It takes a minimum of three plays to get all eight characters' costumes. In the same game, there is not one, but two Hot Springs scenes.
  • A short cutscene in Tales of Graces involves a pickup competition on a beach. It's where you get the swimsuit costumes for your party. Whether you wanted to see Malik in a speedo or not...
• Trails Series:
  • The Intermission chapter of The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure has the SSS and their companions having a vacation in Mishelam Wonderland‘s beach area.
  • In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, Musse's final bonding event takes place at Ordis' beach and she and Rean are in their swimsuits. She also ends up kissing Rean in this event, which catches Rean off-guard.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie: The Mishelam Vacation Daydream lets the combined Class VII (as well as Celine, Duvalie, Elise, and Princess Alfin) put on swimsuits for a "beach vacation" at Mishelam Wonderland, featuring mini-games like splitting a watermelon blindfolded with a wooden sword, or riding a banana boat being pulled by a boat while collecting flags. Through downloadable content, the Special Support Section (as well as KeA and Rixia) can do the same.
• The Touryst is all about this trope, being a game based around taking a vacation in some tropical islands. Special mention goes out to the island of Hawayy, which contains such things as an ice cream vendor, palm trees, and even a surfing competition.
• Twisted Wonderland: "Lost in the Book with Stitch'' event, in which a handful of characters are trapped in a book on a tropical island setting, meet Stitch, and engage in beach vacation antics while Stitch repairs his spaceship so the crew can leave the book. The whole story may or may not be just a dream.
• Undertale's in-universe anime Mew Mew Kissy Cutie had at least one, and it's the only one that's specifically mentioned. The dismissive review of the show in Deltarune, meanwhile, suggests that there were others, saying the show "treats the viewer...like an animal that will die if it goes ten seconds without seeing a beach ball."
• The Untold Tales Of The Vocaloids: After defeating Garon and Onigami, the Vocaloids except Teto and Gumi decides to take a break and go to Mizuki Beach to have fun. The swimsuits they're wearing are from the swimsuit modules in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA.
• Valkyria Chronicles has a feature that lets you purchase extra chapters — some are just story, some have missions that can gain you extra cash and XP. The most expensive of all of these? "Squad 7's R&R", where they all head to the beach...
  • Valkyria Chronicles 4 has a DLC mission pack where the party raids an enemy coastal facility that turns out to be a beach house Imperial officers use for R&R. Beating the aces in the first half yields swimsuit skins for the main characters that can be used the rest of the game, even though most of the game takes place in the middle of winter.
• The Warframe tactical alert Dog Days saw Kela de Thaym, intoxicated by a gas leak, pitting the Tenno against Rathuum executioners on a Terran tropical island to see which team can soak the other the most using Soaktron pump-action water guns.
• WarioWare: ''WarioWare: Move It!" has this as its main aesthetic.
• Averted with Wii Sports Resort. While the game's events take place at an island resort, most of the events take place on land or indoors. The only ocean events are powerboating and wakeboarding, and the only event occurring on a beach is tossing a frisbee to a dog.
• Wild ARMs: Million Memories has one of these as a time limited sidequest. Count Pegucci invites your party to his personal tropical island for a brief vacation, which actually turns out to be because he wants them to get rid of a giant fish monster menacing the coast. Of course this means putting some of the female characters into fanservice bikinis and poking a little fun at how JRPG heroes seem to be keen fishermen by having Rudy get a little too enthusiastic about, well, fishing.
• Xenosaga, being a game of cutscenes, has a beach "episode" around the half-way point of Der Wille zur Macht. Also sprach Zarathustra quickly gets a scene of Shion in a bikini on the beach.

Visual Novels

• Amnesia: Memories does a pool event in Clover World. Most of the employees of the Meido no Hitsuji café, and the heroine's boyfriend Kent, head to an in-door heated pool for some fun and bonding experience between the employees, and the heroine and Kent. They originally planned to head to the beach, but due to the uncommonly cold weather, they opted for the pool.
• Aquarium: In Chapter 3 Theo and Aqua go to the beach and Aqua tries her first swimsuit.
• After the protagonist of Daughter for Dessert gets out of jail on bail, Amanda takes him to the beach. She reveals that a time when he saved her from drowning was when she started getting romantic feelings for him. It is also a pivotal scene when the player can choose to stay with Amanda, or to be with one of the other women instead
• In Kokoro Baka Monogatari, there's a scene where Tuu, Kuuru, Genki, and Genko play volleyball in the latter two's backyard beach.

Web Animation

• Anon: Tucker and Hunter's sister got married at the beach house and Chelsea and Dani get invited.
  • Season 6 gives us a family vacation to Isla Paradiso (Also to show us the new expansion).
  • Season 8 gives us the music festival episode, where the entire family (minus Candace) end up inviting themselves along on Miranda and Arianna's trip.
  • Season 10 ends up being an entire beach SEASON when the creator moves the entire cast to the beach world of Sunlit Tides.
• BIONICLE has absolutely No Hugging, No Kissing, all Matoran are Asexual, the creators have never hinted at ''any'' romantic interactions between Macku and Hewkii, and they absolutely, most definitely did not dedicate an entire Beach Episode to them! And even if they did, the two certainly would not have had an Almost Kiss!
• Episode 2 of DSBT InsaniT (Beach Brawl), but unlike most examples, stuff actually happens.
• Etra chan saw it!:
  • A video has Karin try to enjoy a day at the beach but unfortunately all the antagonists disregard the lifeguard's warning about the waves being too rough to safely enter the water, and she has to rescue them.
  • Another video has Tachibana and Akamatsu go to the beach with Tachibana's sister Tsutsuji. Akamatsu disregarded Tsutsuji's warnings when he went for a swim and ended up nearly drowning but she was able to save him.
• Happy Tree Friends has a few of these, most notably Wipe Out, in which Cro-Marmot takes on Lumpy and some of the other characters in a surfing competition.
• Homestar Runner: In "Somber Vacation", Strong Sad shows off a slideshow from his vacation to the beach.
• Manga Soprano: One episode has Kairi be a lifeguard at a beach. When he saved Erica from drowning, her older sister Ram mistook ketchup for a knife and defended Erica from him believing him to be a dangerous man. Fortunately Erica convinced Ram that he saved her and she apologized.
• One episode of Shishihara involves Sota and Yurika going to a beach.
• SPARKLE ON RAVEN has a beach episode combined with a Christmas Episode, of all things. On their winter break, the characters go to the scorching-hot beach to swim in padded winter clothing, snowboard through sand, and eat Christmas crab legs at their favorite beach bar.
• In Issue 5 of Teen Girl Squad, the girls (sans What's Her Face) go to the beach for spring break. The Ugly One gets her head stuck in the sand, Cheerleader's attempt to convince some "olda boys" she's a college student is interrupted by a fatal "boating mishap", and So and So gets to go parasailing with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Henry Rollins.
• The Season 1 crossover episode of Zany To The Max starts out like this. If it wasn't for Jot finding that sign in the beginning, it probably would have remained one (and it wouldn't have been a crossover episode).
  • A Buttons and Mindy segment in Season 1 takes place on a beach.
  • The Season 2 episode "Sikko's Plan" involves Sikko inviting Coach Nurse and the Zarner siblings to the Warners' pool. Don't ask how the Warners can fit a pool in their water tower. They just can.
  • Part of the episode "Wakko Takes the Challenge" takes place on a beach.

Web Comics

• Chapter 3 of Apricot Cookie(s)! has the entire cast going to the beach. It's even titled "Fan Servicing" and the intro points it out as well.
• Bittersweet Candy Bowl had this during the vacation arc, though ironically the characters are wearing more clothing than usual due to the Barbie Doll Anatomy typically exhibited by the cast. This is played for laughs when one of the characters shows up naked (like normal) and other characters call him on swimming in the nude.
• Death Clown has this one-shot in which the characters visit the beach where Epper dumped human remains in the first chapter, which goes about as well as expected.
• Spanish webcomic ¡Eh, tío! has also a story arc in the beach. Here the author explains that this is not to attract readers, but only for pure vice.
• El Goonish Shive had a sketchbook strip with this as its theme for its 4th anniversary commemoration. It featured the main characters in swimwear but genderswapped.
• Karin-dou 4koma: Since Tamaryu's horn prevents her from going to the pool or beach, Seren creates a huge beach of their own inside a Pocket Dimension / closet, and several strips afterward take place there.
• Medic Pics: Chapter #32 provides one of these, quite literally. It's set on a beach, while being drawn on the beach's sand.
• Ménage à 3 only visits an actual beach in a non-canonical guest strip. However, there is a park episode which serves a similar purpose, albeit with a little plot development.
• Monsterful features a page of the Sexy Topaz with a sexier mermaid friend at the beach. Plus a beach episode has been announced for later.
• In Moon Crest 24, chapter 5 is one of these. Although, not being quite a filler "episode", it does have plenty of Fanservice, especially coming from the beachgoers and surprisingly not so much from the main cast.
• One Nerf NOW!! comic showed the aftermath of a beach episode. Alek had fun, Morgan didn't like the fanservice, but loved the part about the pirate curse, Jane learned a valuable lesson about friendship and sportsmanship, and something happened between Anne and Angie that Anne was embarrassed about, but Angie was blase about, saying 'what happens in the beach episode stays in the beach episode'.
• Questionable Content parodied this in the random-filler-art strip the night before the artist's wedding.
• Roommates has some too (the third part of the First Vacation Arc, and arguably also the Second (a tubing trip) mixed with Road Trip Plot). Being heavy on Fanservice, this surprises nobody.
• Sandra and Woo used a beach episode as a reason for Cloud's little friend to show up. Plot ensues. This plot arc is a fan favorite.
• Scary Go Round occasionally visits the beach, though nearly always for plot reasons (Portuguese man-o-war invasions, abductions to supervillain island bases, dream voleyball sequences) rather than fanservice. Still, the cast are willing enough to dress for the setting — especially, inevitably, Amy.
• For about a week, Schlock Mercenary had comics with two female characters talking in bikinis. This was lampshaded.
• Sleepless Domain: It's only for one page, but a piece of guest art between chapters has the girls of Team Alchemical visit an indoor swimming pool, the closest thing their domed City can provide to a beach. At Sally's request, the girls have a bit of fun with Undine's Making a Splash powers before it's time to leave.
• Sluggy Freelance has done a couple arcs at the beach. However, those contain plot, and the closest to a gratuitous beach episode happens not for the main cast but for the mostly nameless employees of an antagonistic evil organisation. For some reason.
• Spinnerette Issue 34 takes place at a superhero resort and includes a beach volleyball game with the characters in Fanservice-ready swimsuits.
• Issue 8 of Sonichu has a beach episode. While part of the story does drive part of the main plot, it was mostly done for the (wholly inappropriate) Fanservice.
• The penultimate arc of Treading Ground takes place on a beach, complete with skimpy swimsuits, jell-o wrestling, and Accidental Pervert action.
• TRU-Life Adventures gave a store refit as an excuse to send the staff to a nearby water park for a story arc.
• Wapsi Square featured a brief arc on a sandbar somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle starting here.

Web Original

• Stellar Ranger Dark Star Series One's epilogue chapter has the cast taking a break on a Florida beach. This one is actually plot important- it turns into a Busman's Holiday as a recurring villain, The Puppetrix, returns for one last brawl, and we actually get a look into the villain's past. In addition, a major cast member, Avril, is introduced here, and the chapter contains some foreshadowing for the conflict of the later two series.

Web Videos

• lonelygirl15, "At the Beach". Subverted in an earlier episode, "The Perfect Beach", which has an innocuous sounding description and starts cheerfully enough, only to pull a shock twist ending really severe.

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