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Asian Cleaver Fever

160 statements
30 feature instances
20 referencing feature instances

Asian Cleaver Fever	type	FeatureClass
Asian Cleaver Fever	label	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever	page	AsianCleaverFever
Asian Cleaver Fever	comment	The Asian continent is home to many culinary traditions, each distinct and unique. Many of these cuisines are noted for their extreme care and delicacy in balancing flavors and meticulous presentation; for example, a Japanese sushi chef will spend years learning to cook rice properly before they're allowed to touch a knife to a fish. From Korea's infinite varieties of kimchi, to Vietnam's pho noodle soup, to Thailand's love of fiery chilies, to India's mastery of spices, to China's wealth of regional cuisines, the flavors of the Orient are highly prized by eaters the world over. In Western media, however? Asian food often means exactly one thing: theatrically swinging around knives, regardless of the environment, circumstances, or even the food being prepared. Whether it's a sushi feast or a humble plate of beef and broccoli, a fictional character cooking Asian food will often pick up a knife or cleaver and start cutting in all manner of exaggerated, theatrical, extremely dangerous ways, as though they're fighting a martial-arts battle instead of making dinner. Yet despite all of this, the cook isn't just swinging a blade around at random, their actual cuts can be inhumanly precise. When this happens, the character has caught a serious case of Asian Cleaver Fever. While it does crop up in the Action Genre from time to time — especially when combined with the Chef of Iron trope — Asian Cleaver Fever is primarily a Comedy Trope. It's more commonly a Sight Gag, or a setup for a joke involving Amusing Injuries, than a serious plot point in itself. Thus, examples should be limited to instances where cooking in such a way would be absurd or at least unexpected, or where such behavior ends in Amusing Injuries, a fight, or some similar consequence. Naturally, the idea that all — or even most — Asians cook with hazardously exaggerated knife work is nonsense. Asian cookery is no more theatrical or martial than any other type. Nevertheless, there is a tiny amount of Truth in Television to this trope, in the sense that a particular style of restaurants serving Asian food — typically referred to as "hibachi grill" (or, more precisely, teppanyaki) restaurants — really do incorporate knife acrobatics and general theatrics into the process of cooking and serving patrons. The most widely known example is the Benihana chain of restaurants. Given that Benihana started out when the popularity of Asian cuisine was still in its infancy in America, it's likely at least one source of inspiration for this trope. Another possible inspiration may come from the cutlery used in Asian cookery, namely the caidao, or Chinese vegetable cleaver. It's a rather large and intimidating blade that certainly looks like a weapon, and swinging it around makes for a striking visual. However, despite its visual similarities to a Western meat cleaver, it's a fairly thin blade designed for everyday slicing and chopping, not heavy tasks like hacking meat or bone. It's worth mentioning that this trope often plays into National Stereotypes — while the cook wildly flinging around knives need not be Asian to fit this trope, they very often are. Depending on how the trope is played, this can result in either a harmless, good-natured joke or a gag that's insulting or even kind of racist. However, this trope isn't strictly a Western one: it does appear in Asian media from time to time, often to drive home a character's skill with bladed weapons, or skill in the kitchen. Almost always involves at least one Absurdly Sharp Blade. Can overlap with the Chef of Iron trope, especially the variety that uses cooking implements in their style of combat. May involve Martial Arts and Crafts, if the chef uses his knife skills for combat purposes or considers his cooking to be a martial art. Not to be confused with Asian Cleavage Fever. Compare Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes.
Asian Cleaver Fever	fetched	2024-03-05T11:30:06Z
Asian Cleaver Fever	parsed	2024-03-05T11:30:06Z
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingComment	Dropped link to BreathOfFire2: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingComment	Dropped link to OnceAnEpisode: Not an Item - FEATURE
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingUnknown	BreathOfFire2
Asian Cleaver Fever	isPartOf	DBTropes
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_1c1c599	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_1c1c599	comment	Madagascar: When Alex gets hungry, Rico the penguin prepares him a plate of sushi by putting on a headband, taking a knife in each flipper, slashing at the fish (which remains whole), tossing it up into the air, and having it land as perfect pieces of sushi, rice and all.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_1c1c599	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_1c1c599	featureConfidence	1.0
Madagascar	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_1c1c599
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_261c8d3f	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_261c8d3f	comment	In The Simpsons episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blow Fish, Blue Fish", the master sushi chef is shown swinging a knife around, tossing fish up in the air, and slicing through it several times while it hangs in midair. By contrast, the assistant sushi chef does no such thing while preparing Homer's fugu — he's too nervous and overwhelmed to make any such motions.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_261c8d3f	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_261c8d3f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Simpsons	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_261c8d3f
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_26ef42e7	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_26ef42e7	comment	In Kevin & Kell, a chef of this type costs Vin part of his tail. This leads to the discovery that he's Rudy's half-brother, their now-late father having cheated on Kell.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_26ef42e7	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_26ef42e7	featureConfidence	1.0
Kevin & Kell (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_26ef42e7
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_28d3e438	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_28d3e438	comment	The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan: In the very first episode, Ryoko Asakura manages to cut a bunch of veggies in midair with extreme precision, which makes Kyon nervous, though he can't say why that is.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_28d3e438	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_28d3e438	featureConfidence	1.0
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (Manga)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_28d3e438
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3a4f4fdd	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3a4f4fdd	comment	The Muppets Mayhem: In the third episode Animal discovers that his wild drumming style translates extremely well to working as a tepanyaki chef. The owner of the restaurant declares him The Chosen One for how quickly he takes to it.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3a4f4fdd	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3a4f4fdd	featureConfidence	1.0
The Muppets Mayhem	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3a4f4fdd
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3ba81aa2	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3ba81aa2	comment	In Toriko, sometimes chefs cooking this way (by swinging knives at incredibly fast speed) demonstrate their skill, preparing intricated food with great skill. Subverted during the Blue Grill Arc by Yuda, when he's seemingly wasting time by swinging his giant kitchen knife back and forth... only to reveal that he was actually "cooking" the surrounding air bubble to alter the gravity and avoid falling from a giant seesaw into a brazier of flames (It Makes Sense in Context ).
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3ba81aa2	featureApplicability	-0.3
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3ba81aa2	featureConfidence	1.0
Toriko (Manga)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3ba81aa2
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3cc61f13	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3cc61f13	comment	In the We Bare Bears episode "Losing Ice," Ice Bear is shown to be very skilled in cooking this way. His prowess gets him a job at the local Japanese restaurant Teppan Yaki, where he amazes the customers with his high-flying knife twirls.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3cc61f13	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3cc61f13	featureConfidence	1.0
We Bare Bears	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_3cc61f13
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_5562da6a	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_5562da6a	comment	3rd Rock from the Sun: For their first date Dick and Mary go to a Benihana-style restaurant where the chef performs tricks using food thrown to him by the diners. Mary gets carried away and throws a pepper mill at him, knocking him out cold. Dick takes over and actually turns out to be pretty skillful with the knife, even throwing in a joke where he pretends to cut his finger off.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_5562da6a	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_5562da6a	featureConfidence	1.0
3rd Rock from the Sun	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_5562da6a
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_612cfd29	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_612cfd29	comment	ClayFighter 63â…“: One of the many stereotypes displayed by Chinese Chef of Iron Kung Pow is the flamboyant swinging around of cleavers, as shown through both his intro animation and one of his Claytalities.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_612cfd29	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_612cfd29	featureConfidence	1.0
ClayFighter (Video Game)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_612cfd29
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_671d5c19	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_671d5c19	comment	Mojo Jojo does a hibachi-grill routine while cooking for The Powerpuff Girls when he has to babysit them. He professes to be "the best chef in Townsville", yet despite amazing the girls with knife-based stunts, they hate his food.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_671d5c19	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_671d5c19	featureConfidence	1.0
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_671d5c19
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_7c827c0	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_7c827c0	comment	In the second episode of The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, the episode opens at an elementary school holding "Career Day", where one of the professionals is a sushi chef wearing golden samurai armor, who upon being introduced, immediately draws his katanas and leaps around the room screaming like a maniac.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_7c827c0	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_7c827c0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_7c827c0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_8d84a932	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_8d84a932	comment	Soap: Jodie seems to be fond of taking his girlfriends to hibachi grills. He takes Carol, where she tells him that she's pregnant. He's nonplussed at best because he's gay (they did sleep together, but it was a one-night stand). The chef is so distracted by their conversation he accidentally stabs himself in the leg.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_8d84a932	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_8d84a932	featureConfidence	1.0
Soap	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_8d84a932
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_96f1ceb4	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_96f1ceb4	comment	In Police Academy 2, Capt. Pete Lassard visits a Benihana-style restaurant to meet with this brother, Commandant Eric Lassard, where the cook does all kinds of knife theatrics... much to Pete's chagrin. At the get-go, Pete pulls a gun on the cook when he plunges his knife into the wooden table as part of his act, and he later angrily asks the cook if all the theatrics are necessary. Alas, neither noticed that the goldfish Eric brought as a gift was left on the hibachi surface.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_96f1ceb4	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_96f1ceb4	featureConfidence	1.0
Police Academy	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_96f1ceb4
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_976efc02	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_976efc02	comment	The opening skit in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Riding With Death shows Mike having a flashback to his days as a teppanyaki chef. He cuts Crow's hand off whilst swinging knives around.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_976efc02	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_976efc02	featureConfidence	1.0
Mystery Science Theater 3000	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_976efc02
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_9971755d	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_9971755d	comment	In the Stormbreaker film, there's a bit with an American woman making sushi, where she dresses up in a martial arts costume, swings knives around in a ridiculously dramatic way, and starts speaking Japanese.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_9971755d	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_9971755d	featureConfidence	1.0
Stormbreaker	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_9971755d
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_99e49e94	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_99e49e94	comment	Bug Fables: Kut the mantis chef in the Golden Settlement can prepare meals for the party hibachi-style in a knife-slashing Big Ball of Violence. Funnily, he does this with various bug-sized ingredients that wouldn't usually need to be chopped up in real life, including leaves, honey, and water droplets.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_99e49e94	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_99e49e94	featureConfidence	1.0
Bug Fables (Video Game)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_99e49e94
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aa7c302e	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aa7c302e	comment	Son of the Mask: At the end where Tim's new cartoon show has a baby giving his father a little Asian man chopping some sushi for him.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aa7c302e	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aa7c302e	featureConfidence	1.0
Son of the Mask	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aa7c302e
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aace9697	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aace9697	comment	In Solar Opposites, Cherie's proficiency with knives is justified by her background as a Benihana chef.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aace9697	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aace9697	featureConfidence	1.0
Solar Opposites	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_aace9697
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_abf4c9b3	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_abf4c9b3	comment	Dead or Alive: There's a bit of animation showing Hitomi slicing veggies midair to make an omelet.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_abf4c9b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_abf4c9b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Dead or Alive (Video Game)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_abf4c9b3
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b0fc9724	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b0fc9724	comment	Saturday Night Live: Exaggerated and parodied in the "Samurai Delicatessen" sketches, which feature John Belushi as a samurai running the counter of a New York deli. Sketches feature the samurai angrily chopping up meat for sandwiches using his katana. One infamous gaffe was when Belushi accidentally hit veteran host Buck Henry in the forehead, causing Henry to wear a bandage for the rest of the episode.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b0fc9724	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b0fc9724	featureConfidence	1.0
Saturday Night Live	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b0fc9724
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b962c879	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b962c879	comment	Fairy Tail: during a filler arc, Fried uses his swordsmanship to turn some flying fish into delicious-looking sushi... unfortunately, it does nothing to improve its abysmal taste.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b962c879	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b962c879	featureConfidence	1.0
Fairy Tail (Manga)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_b962c879
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_bb7d6a95	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_bb7d6a95	comment	In the Duckman episode "About Face", the titular Duck takes his butt-ugly date to a place featuring one of these, who happily chops away... Including after Duckman induces a power outage so he doesn't have to see his date's face. Various people are heard screaming about the chef cutting things other than the food.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_bb7d6a95	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_bb7d6a95	featureConfidence	1.0
Duckman	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_bb7d6a95
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_cf39ca4f	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_cf39ca4f	comment	In Pearls Before Swine, Pig goes to a Japanese restaurant to see a chef swing his knives around. Pig loses an ear. The second time, he loses his other ear.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_cf39ca4f	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_cf39ca4f	featureConfidence	1.0
Pearls Before Swine (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_cf39ca4f
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d3111230	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d3111230	comment	In Monster Hunter: Rise, the Gathering Hub animation for a pre-hunt meal involves a Felyne drawing a knife and using it to cut a large ball of dough into tiny pieces at lightning speed then resheathing his knife like an Iaijutsu Practitioner, just before his colleagues leap through the air to catch the pieces to reassemble them into dango.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d3111230	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d3111230	featureConfidence	1.0
Monster Hunter: Rise (Video Game)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d3111230
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d57d722e	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d57d722e	comment	In Ōkami, sidequest NPC Chef Umi's Cyclone Slice is exactly what it sounds like: slashing at a marlin that's bigger than he is fast enough to levitate it in a tornado of Razor Wind and having it land as five perfectly arranged sashimi platters, each decorated with a smaller marlin's head and tail.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d57d722e	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d57d722e	featureConfidence	1.0
Ōkami (Video Game)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_d57d722e
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dd638dbf	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dd638dbf	comment	Shark Tale has a gag that may count as a downplayed example — it features the martial arms headband and a knife, but latter is only used to stab the counter.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dd638dbf	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dd638dbf	featureConfidence	1.0
Shark Tale	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dd638dbf
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dedab746	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dedab746	comment	Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic: Sharrkan's battle against a rampaging giant monster eel takes this bend to show his Implausible Fencing Powers, as in a few wide swings he decapitates the monsters, removes the fins, bones, scales, and inner organs and cuts the flesh in such way it falls into a beautiful sashimi composition.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dedab746	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dedab746	featureConfidence	1.0
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (Manga)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_dedab746
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_e7bb061c	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_e7bb061c	comment	Justified in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Our Chinese-American heroine Evelyn does have a scene where she does a lot of fancy knife work while cooking, but it's explicitly an Alternate Self who happens to be a hibachi chef at a restaurant where flashy tricks are a selling point.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_e7bb061c	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_e7bb061c	featureConfidence	1.0
Everything Everywhere All at Once	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_e7bb061c
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_ec80dae4	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_ec80dae4	comment	Referenced in Yahtzee's review of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, where the only way to survive monster encounters "is to flee like a man in an expensive suit from a teppanyaki restaurant."
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_ec80dae4	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_ec80dae4	featureConfidence	1.0
Zero Punctuation (Web Animation)	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_ec80dae4
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_f835d84d	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_f835d84d	comment	In Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Anthony, his family, and his girlfriend Celia go to a hibachi restaurant called Nagamaki's before prom. The chef rapidly flings sushi rolls at Ben, whose sleeve catches fire on a decoration as he moves around trying to catch them in his mouth.
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_f835d84d	featureApplicability	1.0
Asian Cleaver Fever / int_f835d84d	featureConfidence	1.0
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day	hasFeature	Asian Cleaver Fever / int_f835d84d

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Asian Cleaver Fever	processingCategory2	Comedy Tropes
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingCategory2	Food Tropes
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingCategory2	Index Syndrome
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingCategory2	Sublime Rhyme
Asian Cleaver Fever	processingCategory2	Weapons and Wielding Tropes
Pearls Before Swine (Comic Strip) / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Everything Everywhere All at Once / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Police Academy / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Son of the Mask / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Stormbreaker / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
The Wing or the Thigh / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Technomagia i smoki / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Mystery Science Theater 3000 / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Soap / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Breath of Fire II (Video Game) / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Ōkami (Video Game) / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Madagascar / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
Madagascar / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever
We Bare Bears / int_9f802a25	type	Asian Cleaver Fever

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