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During the series, it happens quite often, where Naruto does something stupid
(usually sexy jutsu related) and gets hit on the head, which follows by this
huge bumps on his head. This happens quite often even in other series.

![Naruto with bumps on head](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PYcV1m.png)

What caught my eye is that objects also seem to be affected by this
phenomenon:

![Log with large bump](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0GikXm.png)

And in a earlier episode, this also seemed to happen to the chair Tsunade
threw out of the window.

What is trope called, and why is it used?


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2015-07-30T16:17:53.013
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2015-07-30T16:40:16.627
2015-07-30T16:40:16.627
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question
naruto tropes
Trope where objects are physically harmed and receive giant bumps?


The giant head-bump thing is common in other anime (and media, at least in
East Asia), and is used to indicate an injury to the head, as you've stated.
For instance, a Chinese search for "撞头" on Google Image (literally "hitting
head [on something]") gives images such as this one, which don't seem to be
connected to any anime:

![child with swollen bump on head](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VysV7m.jpg)

I am pretty sure I have seen this in other anime before (e.g. Keroro), but I'm
having trouble locating similar screen-caps. In a sense, it has become
something of a "convention", the same way sweat-drops are kind of a
"convention", which explains the usage here.

**Thus, the Naruto extension of this to _inanimate objects_ appears to simply
be an extension of this trope -- the _objects_ have been "injured", and so
like the heads of these individuals, swollen, overly stylized bumps form on
them.**

TV Tropes calls the head case a ["cranial
eruption"](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CranialEruption).
However, any searches for the term don't produce many results beyond sites
like TV Tropes (and some similar site), and [this small anime
wikia](http://animanga.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Terminology) doesn't seem to
have a listing for the trope, despite it being a fairly prevalent thing.
(Conversely, it doesn't have "ahoge".) So it seems that there's no real,
_generally accepted_ English term for this trope.


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2015-07-30T16:38:21.030
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answer