History Main / BirthdayBeginning

%%* ''Film/SixteenCandles''. Subverted in that everyone in her family forgot Samantha's birthday.

Tends to overlap with some of the other BirthdayTropes, especially DangerousSixteenthBirthday. A subtrope of LiminalTime. Doubles as EasingIntoTheAdventure. Contrast with ABirthdayNotABreak, where we only learn it's the hero's birthday after the event. For the literal day of the hero's birth, see AHeroIsBorn.

* While she isn't the main character and there's a six month TimeSkip immediately afterwards, the events of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' are set in motion on Hayate's ninth birthday at the stroke of midnight when she becomes master of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]].

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16916478320.66918500 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

* The B-plot of a ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode has the crew trying to find a surprise for Malcolm Reed's birthday.

* The ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' episode "Happy Birthday Zach", which was, naturally, Zach's birthday. Rita tried to crash it, of course, her [[MonsterOfTheWeek Knasty Knight]] being her idea of [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor a "present".]]

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' downplays this, as it is the 25th anniversary of the Knights' Academy that Link is attending, but it is also the day he graduates to the Senior class. Meta-wise, it is also [[MilestoneCelebration the 25th anniversary]] of ''The Legend of Zelda'' series.
** It also justifies the green outfit that all other [[LegacyCharacter Links wore and will wear]], explaining where the iconic clothes came from. It's the uniform for the Senior class, and ''it just so happens'' that that year's uniform is green. The principal wasn't keen on the color at first, but [[LampshadeHanging seeing it on Link, he can't help but feel like he was born to wear it]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. See the page quote above.
** Likewise, the Trolls' session started on Karkat's birthday – or rather, "Wriggling Day". The date of John's birthday, 4/13, is also [[ArcNumber plot-relevant.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'':
** The AnimatedAdaptation of "The Astro Smurf" begins on Dreamy's birthday.
** "Smurfette's Dancing Shoes" takes place the day before and leading to Papa Smurf's birthday.
** "The Smurfs' Halloween Special" (a.k.a. "All Hallows Eve") takes place on Jokey's birthday.
** "The Secret Of Shadow Swamp" takes place on Grouchy's birthday.

* While the day of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'s'' birth is already a dramatic and fateful one, his 17th birthday happens at the climax of the Fourth Shinobi World War. He and Team 7 end the war roughly at the same day and become the heroes of the war.

* ''Anime/PrettyCure'':
** ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5GoGoTheMovieHappyBirthdayInTheLandOfSweets'' takes place on Nozomi's birthday and opens on the celebrations, although Nozomi's age is never specified as a result of it being a NonSerialMovie.
** Episode 36 of ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' takes place on Megumi's birthday and eventually culminates with her gaining her own SuperMode.

* ''ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld'': On her seventeenth birthday, Amy's mother makes good on her promise to take her to their real home. Little did Amy know was that her real home was on Gemworld and that she is a princess of House Amethyst.

* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** Most mutants gain their powers during puberty. In a surprising number of cases, this happens specifically on their fourteenth or fifteenth birthday.
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} had a pretty rotten birthday when he was young, long before the experiment that gave him his adamantium skeleton and claws; it was his birthday when his first true confrontation with ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} occurred, right after the villain murdered his lover Silver Fox. (Or so he thought at the time; her death was actually a hoax and would cause him even more trouble in the future.)

** In "Days Of Future Smurfed", Empath celebrates his 1,150th birthday with his great-grandson, which ends up being the day that he dies, and his great-grandson becomes Traveler Smurf.

* ''Film/SixteenCandles''. Subverted in that everyone in her family forgot Samantha's birthday.

** The same is true of ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''.

* In the YA novel ''Literature/TheSilverCrown'', the heroine gets the titular crown for her birthday.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' downplays this, as it is the 25th anniversary of the Knights' Academy that Link is attending, but it is also the day he graduates to the Senior class. Much like the Sonic Generations example below, it is also the 25th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda series.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' starts with the hero's ''birth'', and continues through several more birthdays before it really gets going.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' - [=GLaDOS=] claims the day Chell woke up was her birthday, but this may just be a lie made up to hurt Chell, and give [=GLaDOS=] an excuse to give her a "surprise".
--> '''[[ManipulativeBastard GLaDOS:]]''' [[spoiler:I made it all up...surprise!]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''' plot starts with a party for Sonic's birthday (and meta-wise, the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise's [[MilestoneCelebration 20th Anniversary]]).

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' starts on Donkey's birthday, and much like the ''Sonic Generations'' and ''Skyward Sword'' examples it also signifies the 20th anniversary of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1''.

* ''Fanfic/TruePotential'': A good chunk of Chapter 56 focuses on Naruto celebrating his fourteenth birthday alongside his loved ones.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'':

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In the anime, trainers are able to get their license and begin their journey on their tenth birthday.

* The ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' novel begins on the main character's 150th birthday, which turns out to be the day when he is finally released from being in Psychelia, and most of the Smurfs in the village are preparing for his birthday and his arrival home. 150 years for a Smurf (particularly a male Smurf) is basically the age of entering adulthood, as in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' cartoon show.

* ''FanFic/LearningFromNightmares'''s first (and part of the second) chapter takes place on Hanyu's sixteenth birthday.

* Light novel ''LightNovel/FelineTherapy'' begins on focal character Izzy's birthday, having received a gift from their friend that's expected to be a weekend of FuzzTherapy, but turns out to be {{Animorphism}}. [[spoiler:The climax occurs on their next birthday, after having spent an entire year as a cat.]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' takes place on his sixteenth birthday, when the [[AllThereInTheManual mark of the Triforce suddenly appears on his hand]].

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* At the start of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' story "Pain Strikes Underdog", Sweet Polly Purebred told Underdog that she was planning a party for his birthday the next day.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' has a variation, with the first episode taking place on the Turtles' 15th Mutation Day, as in the anniversary of the day they got splashed with Mutagen.
* Rankin/Bass's ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing'' opens with an elderly Bilbo's birthday party, where a minstrel relates the story with the ballad "Frodo of the Nine Fingers."

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Out of the Past" begins with Terry and Bruce watching a Batman musical to celebrate Bruce's birthday. Bruce [[OtherMeAnnoysMe doesn't like the farcical portrayal]] and [[BirthdayHater prefers not to be reminded that he's another year older]].

* ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'' starts on protagonist Jackie Estacado's [=21st=] birthday, with two of his friends from the Franchetti crime family taking him out to party. Things go pear-shaped when Jackie's uncle Paulie tries to have Jackie killed with a "present" of a bomb in a closet. Lucky for Jackie, that's when the UltimateEvil, The Darkness, manifests in Jackie and saves his life.