"Sunohara likes me." "EHHH?!"
A great shock is emphasized in the background with metaphorical lightning. As a gag, the character might be literally shocked as a result.
Not to be confused with Lightning Glare or Beam of Enlightenment. Or Dramatic Thunder, which is... dramatic. And thunder. For a more direct metaphor of the effects of being struck by actual lightning (or other electric surges), see X-Ray Sparks.
Note that in French, this is an expression ("coup de foudre") meaning Love at First Sight.
Also not to be confused with the Electric-type attack from Pokémon.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: The Love at First Sight sensation is described as such, complete with a ZING!! sound effect.
- Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh, overwhelmed by the cuteness of a photo of kittens.
- Same series, when Kaorin and Chihiro discover that Chiyo not only makes her own lunch, but is actually quite good at it.
- A Certain Magical Index: Index and Aisa (plus a Color Failure), when Komoe starts happily talking about how Touma was a naughty boy, and how "various things" happened. Though in this case it's more like a Thunder Rage: "Another one?" "That bastard."
- In Dragon Ball, Goku's first transformation into the Great Ape is heralded by this.
- Happened to Misaki in Maid-Sama!, when Hinata chooses "Misa-chan" in a photo op prize should he win the Sweets eating event in the Maid Latte.
- Fruits Basket: Shigure explaining he writes high-literature has him pull out an entirely different book, causing everyone in the room to Thunder Shock.
- Scar, Serial Killer on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge in Fullmetal Alchemist, has this reaction when he sees Xiao Mei, a tiny panda.
- Jin overuses it to the point of being narmtastic. Sometimes it feels like a third of a chapter are Thunder Shock panels.
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Narancia's reaction at seeing Giorno healing Mista in a relatively bizarre manner strikes bolts.
- In the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS supplementary manga, privates Alto and Lucino gush over a cute, floating, child-like mage in a military uniform... shortly before said mage floats over to them and introduces herself as Sergeant Major Reinforce Zwei, their superior officer. Cue shock.
- This happened to Setsuna in Negima!? (second season) when she made a particularly bad word-play joke (uncharacteristic of her in that she made a joke at all). She apologized for it after the lightning cleared.
- Used often by the members of the Ouran High School Host Club, especially by the highly theatrical Idiot King, Tamaki.
- Amusingly enough in the anime the resulting lightning bolt will actually hit Tamaki resulting in X-Ray Sparks more often than not.
- Used interchangeably with the Beam of Enlightenment in Ranma ½, both for comedic and serious purposes, but mostly the former.
- Snow White with the Red Hair:
- When Obi and Mitsuhide are trying to give Zen pointers on complementing Shirayuki they ask if he's never told her that something she's wearing suits her, only for Zen to hesitate and glare at Obi then tell him he has said so of the hairpin Obi bought her which gets the lightning shocked background treatment for Mitsuhide and Obi. Obi then starts laughing at him.
- Ryuu mentions to Shirayuki and Obi, who have already had the thought that he's probably going to start growing quickly and catch up with his age mates in height on their mind, that his legs have been aching and they both freeze with a dark background struck through with lightning. Obi picks him up to carry him on his shoulders since he knows Ryuu's growth spurt will bring an end to such activities.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: After Shuna and Shion catch Rimuru at a girls bar, he tries a quick apology. It worked... until Shuna makes him promise to eat Shion's cooking for a week, prompting a Big "WHAT?!" with lightning.
Comic Books
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Scott gets a shock of lightning when he senses Ramona and his sister Stacey chatting at the coffee shop.
Video Games
- In Catherine: Full Body, Vincent is stricken by lightning in the background upon seeing Rin is actually a guy and envisioning himself falling into a vortex.
- Shows up in a Freak Out in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Damon Gant's, to be specific.
- Experienced by both Nagisa and her theatrical mother, Sanae, CLANNAD. In Nagisa's case, her antennae-hair is temporarily withered as a result.
Web Comics
- Exploited in Tsunami Channel, with one comic having the characters intentionally saying shocking (untrue) things (i.e. "I'm pregnant!") in order to repeatedly electrocute another character.
- In El Goonish Shive, Tedd experiences this when Grace tells
her the theme of Grace's birthday party was chosen for Tedd's sake.
Western Animation
- Steven Universe:
- Greg Universe experiences this in "We Need to Talk" when realizing Rose Quartz hasn't quite got a grasp on how seriously he wants to take their relationship.
- Also, as part of the episode "Restaurant Wars"'s more-Animesque-than usual style, Mr. Fryman gets one after tasting Steven's creation.
Fryman: The ketchup... IS INSIDE THE FRIES?!?!
- Happens again in "Alone at Sea", when Lapis is reeling in what she thinks is a fish and sees a large shadow in the water (presumably Jasper herself), reminding her of Jasper and her time fighting her as Malachite.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power episode "Mer-Mysteries" goes all in with this trope, having a thunder shock appear everytime anyone (especially Mermista) makes a shocking conclusion about who the spy is. As the episode is a parody of a typical detective tale, this trope was bound to be a running gag.
- In The Legend of Korra, when Ikki asks Asami if she knows that Korra has a crush on Mako, Korra gets a Thunder Shock in the background, as well as a very odd expression across her face, complete with Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises.
- Expertly lampshaded in Dexter's Laboratory with both Mandark and his Sister Olga.
- Happens often in The Fairly OddParents! with Vicky.
