A stock anime visual when a character eats ramen by slurping it up in a single long, flowing mass. If interrupted during this process, they'll often stop mid-slurp and turn to look at whatever distracted them, resulting in a waterfall of noodles overflowing out of their mouth and down over their chin (this is usually their cue to realize what they've done and suck the hanging ramen into their mouth). Since this is hardly the most dignified of things to do, it usually helps emphasize the character's immaturity or childishness. If they're slurping from a styrofoam instant noodles cup, it carries an air of patheticness as well.
In many Korean Series, it is used to show the difference between commoners and the rich.
In certain Asian countries, this is actually considered good etiquette — if you were really enjoying the food, you would get ahead of yourself and get sloppy, right? In Japan itself there are some older folk who hold that slurping makes the ramen taste better, similar to the 'bubbling' of wine tasting. There's also an entirely practical matter of not scalding one's mouth: ramen is traditionally served and eaten very hot, close to the boiling temperature, so slurping cools the noodles and broth, allowing you to eat them without getting scalded.
Examples:
- Dr. Layon from Zoids: New Century does this more than once. It's definitely to help show how childish he actually is, despite his almost painful attempts at securing his dignity. The similarly-pathetic Tigers Team does it at one point as well.
- Domeki, the Teenage Gadgeteer Genius of Dai-Guard, usually does this while hunched over in her Hacker Cave, analyzing the newest Heterodyne or designing parts for Dai-Guard.
- In Pokémon Advanced Generation, May is seen doing this (with nearly 30 bowls no less!) in her Image Song ending.
- Hideki, Mako, Ichiro, and Yukika of Nerima Daikon Brothers do this as part of a song, including singing the sound of slurping.
- Dragon Ball Z
- Goku, after his Year Inside, Day Outside training in the Cell Saga, is scarfing down a bowl of ramen when Tenshinhan, astonished by how much Goku and Gohan are eating, asks him if there was enough food inside the Room of Spirit and Time. Goku stops mid-slurp to respond, only to get reprimanded by Piccolo for talking with his mouth full, so Goku slurps up the rest of the noodles.
- Beerus in Dragon Ball Super becomes an enthusiastic slurper when he's introduced to instant ramen. He even introduces his fellow God of Destruction, Champa, to the practice.
- Lupin III: Inspector Zenigata is known for eating ramen, seeing as his lengthy chase after the titular character doesn't allow enough time for a full-course meal. There's also the matter of what he can afford on his salary. (Particularly worthy of note in The Castle of Cagliostro, in which the cheap ramen eaten by Zenigata and his police force are contrasted with the fancy meals enjoyed by Count Cagliostro.) Lupin himself might eat ramen, but he can usually afford fancier meals with his stolen money. He still slurps them, though.
- Psycho-Pass used Yayoi Kunizuka pausing mid-slurp to show her surprise at Akane's idea that they better avoid discussing gruesome murders during lunch.
- This is done frequently by Naruto himself.note Bonus for it becoming a loading screen in one of the video games!
- Tetsuro of Galaxy Express 999 eats ramen at every opportunity and does so with speed and gusto, usually slurping up whole bowls in minutes.
- Happens Once an Episode in Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles.
- In Food Wars! whenever ramen is served in a cooking contest, the judges note that slurping the noodles up is the traditional way to eat it, and then proceed to do so with great enthusiasm.
- Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus: Paul London is shown doing this in the Noodle Car when the Windchasers encounter him.
- Tampopo has a scene in which Japanese people are supposed to be learning how to eat spaghetti properly. Slurping ensues. (In a Genius Bonus in-joke, the foreigner who is seen to be eating noisily and sloppily is actually the owner of a fancy chain of restaurants in Japan.)
- In Boys Before Flowers Jan Di frequently slurps her instant noodles, to the annoyance of her boyfriend and to the amusement of the rest of the F-4 companions.
- In Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, the preview of episode 3 features Etna slurping a bowl of ramen.
- Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5 have really loud bits whenever the characters are in ramen shops.
- Heihachi in Playstation All Stars Battle Royale has a taunt where he loudly slurps on a bowl of ramen in the midst of the fight.
- Due to what appears to be a bug in Fallout 4, Preston Garvey has a habit of doing this in inappropriate situations.
- Fate/Grand Order: After her animation renewal, one of Mysterious Heroine X's skill animations has her slurping a cup of ramen. This is part of a Running Gag where Artoria/Altria Servants consume food or drinks during their skill animations.
- Dasher Inoba's ending in Ehrgeiz has him patronizing a ramen shop, downing bowl after bowl of ramen. It continues indefinitely until the player hits Start to skip the FMV.
- In Min Min's reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Captain Falcon slurps his bowl of ramen at her family's restaurant to the point where it reaches an over-the-top level. He's eating alongside Kirby, who literally inhales his ramen. Min Min herself also indulges in a bowl at the end of the trailer, albeit in a less over-the-top manner compared to those two.
- In Great, ramen is a major plot point, so this type of slurping shows up a lot.
- This page
in Druid City.
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pakku does this while training Aang in "The Waterbending Master". For an added bonus, he seems to be slurping not just noodles, but some sort of squid as well.
- In The Legend of Korra, Bolin takes Korra to a Water Tribe restaurant that serves seaweed noodles. When Tahno wanders over to harass them, Bolin begins frantically slurping to avoid eye contact.
- Panda of We Bare Bears does this in a couple episodes.
