History Main / PreMeeting

* Early on in ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'' Maou ran into a girl who doesn't have an umbrella while it's raining and gave his umbrella to her. The next day, the girl came back and attempt to attack him, revealing herself to be his arch-enemy Emilia Justina. Volume 14 reveals that this isn't coincidental, however: Emi was already investigating Maou's possible locations beforehand, and got lucky meeting him in person when the rain hits, since she already suspected that he might live in that particular area (Sasazuka).

* Early on in ''Characters/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'' Maou ran into a girl who doesn't have an umbrella while it's raining and gave his umbrella to her. The next day, the girl came back and attempt to attack him, revealing herself to be his arch-enemy Emilia Justina. Volume 14 reveals that this isn't coincidental, however: Emi was already investigating Maou's possible locations beforehand, and got lucky meeting him in person when the rain hits, since she already suspected that he might live in that particular area (Sasazuka).

* Early on in ''Characters/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'' Maou ran into a girl who doesn't have an umbrella while it's raining and gave his umbrella to her. The next day, the girl came back and attempt to attack him, revealing herself to be his arch-enemy Emilia Justina. Volume 14 reveals that this isn't coincidental however: Emi was already trying to investigate Maou's possible locations beforehand, and got lucky meeting him in person when the rain hits.

Compare with MeetCute, a related trope where a (future) couple meet in an unusual way and will obviously fall for each other in the future; and ChekhovsGunman, a character who is introduced but only gradually revealed (or re-introduced) to be important to the plot ''much'' later. Also see EarlyBirdCameo.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': In the first six books, Harry always meets or hears about his new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher before school starts.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': Professor Quirrell is in the Leaky Cauldron when Hagrid takes Harry to buy his school supplies and Hagrid introduces them.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': Professor Lockheart is in Flourish and Blotts when Harry goes there with the Grangers and Weasleys to buy textbooks and seizes on the opportunity to take some photos with Harry since he knows it will make the paper.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': Harry just happens to choose the same compartment as Professor Lupin on the Hogwarts Express on the way to school.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': Amos Diggory asks Arthur Weasley to help out after a reported disturbance at Alastor Moody's house while Harry is with the Weasleys and he soon learns that Moody is to be the new DADA professor.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Harry gets a hint of Umbridge's unpleasant personality when she is at his hearing for underaged magic prior to the start of the school year.
** The [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince book 6]] DADA teacher doesn't count because he had been teaching Harry a different subject for years. But the trend continues with the new Potions teacher.
*** And ironically, he usually doesn't know it. Quirrell is introduced by Hagrid (though from the reader's point of view, at this stage he's just another relatively generic teacher and there's nothing significant about the DADA position), and Lupin is worked out by Hermione (though given Lupin's friendship with James, it's reasonably likely that Harry and Lupin did 'meet' when Harry was a baby) but on the other four occasions he's unaware that the person he's meeting or hearing about is his teacher. In the case of Slughorn he ''thinks'' he knows, but turns out to be wrong as Slughorn is actually Potions teacher.

** And, in the anime, Shinji meeting Rei[[spoiler:in the alternate universe/dream sequence.]]

** And, in the anime, Shinji meeting Rei[[spoiler: in the alternate universe/dream sequence.]]

** At Water 7, the crew comes across the foremen shipwrights. Several of them turn out to be [[spoiler: CP 9 agents.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': Rinoa asks Squall to dance at the party, but doesn't think much of it. Squall's first mission as a [=SeeD=] is...

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', [[spoiler: the main character meets a chatty gas station attendant at the very start of the game who shakes his hand. Turns out the "guy" is actually the goddess Izanami who orchestrates all of the strange murders in the game and gives the main character the power to summon Personas via this very hand shake]]

* It's fairly common in {BritCom}}s for the protagonist to meet and insult somebody they think they'll never see again, only to discover that the person they've insulted is their new neighbour or work boss or bank manager etc.

* ''ConfessionsOfAShopaholic'': Rebecca is on her way to a job interview and "absolutely must" have a new scarf for it. She stops at a hot dog vendor to get change so she can purchase the scarf "for her sick aunt". A nice young man hands her $20 so she can be on her way and he can get his hot dog. When she arrives at the interview, the man conducting it is.... none other than the nice guy at the hot dog stand.

* In ''HanamaruKindergarten'', our protagonist, a male kindergarten teacher who is LateForSchool, sees a four-year-old girl standing alone by the side of the road. He stops and asks her, "Excuse me, ''ojou-chan''. What are you doing here?" ''Ojou-chan'' essentially means "Miss" or "young lady" - not an unusual way to address a young girl one doesn't know. Anzu, the girl, has an active imagination, however, and immediately jumps to the conclusion that he's hitting on her. Naturally, he turns out to be her kindergarten teacher, and the misunderstanding persists. Hilarity of course ensues.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/negi_pre-meeting.jpg]]]]

* ''{{Freezing}}'': New student Kazuya mistakes Satellizer for his dead sister, causing her to lose a fight. Also accidentally runs into a Rana in town, who happens to be transferring into his academy.

* Used to disastrous effect in ''KoiKaze'' where Koshiro and Nanoka meet first on a train, go on a date together, THEN find out [[BrotherSisterIncest they're siblings.]]

* ''LoveHina'': [[spoiler:doubled up: Keitaro meets Naru 15 years prior, when they were little. He meets her again while looking at test scores.]] Then he meets her when he moves into the Hinata House.
* ''[[MahouSenseiNegima Negima]]'': Negi bumps into Asuna on his first day on campus, who mistakes him for a lost elementary schooler.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Shinji meeting Asuka in the manga.

* In ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', Kafuka Fuura meets her suicidal teacher Nozomu trying to [[UnusualEuphemism "make himself taller"]] before class on the first day of school.

* ''{{Manga/BeastMaster}}'': Yuiko Kubozuka's pet cat climbs up a tree and is rescued by a mysterious guy. He runs away before she can thank him. The very next day Yuiko is shocked to find out that the mysterious guy's name is Leo and he's the new transfer student in her class.

* Used several times in ''OnePiece,'' especially with villains. Considering [[{{Gonk}} how crazy all the important characters look,]] it's pretty easy to tell who we will and will not be seeing again.

* ''RosarioToVampire'' begins with a CrashIntoHello between [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Tsukune]] and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Moka]]. They walk to school together, but separate at the opening ceremony. Then it turns out they're in the same class.

* In ''{{Grease}}'', Sandy and Danny meet over the summer, but split ways as they assume that since Sandy's family is going back to Australia, they'll never meet again. Naturally, next fall, Sandy's family is now in America and she's a transfer student at Danny's school...
* ''HighSchoolMusical'' pretty much rips off ''Grease'' with Troy and Gabriella meeting at a ski resort, singing a duet, and then assuming they'll never meet again...though this being a movie made and set in 2006, they swap cell phone numbers with the intent of keeping in touch. Which they strangely don't do, which leads straight to them having a surprise meeting at East High after Gabriella's family moves to Albuquerque.
* ''LakeHouse'' (for Sandra Bullock's character).

* ''CrossingJordan''.
* It's fairly common in [[BritCom BritComs]] for the protagonist to meet and insult somebody they think they'll never see again, only to discover that the person they've insulted is their new neighbour or work boss or bank manager etc.

* At the end of the first episode of EXDriver, Lisa declares she's finally met her dream man after seeing his driving skills... and as he steps out of the car, it turns out he's a young kid. Then he shows up at her class, because he skipped grades and transferred to her school.

[[MahouSenseiNegima http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/negi_pre-meeting.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:That's her new teacher she's manhandling.]]

* ''GreatTeacherOnizuka'': Prospective teacher beats up a pervert who is feeling up a woman on the bus. Turns out both he and the woman are applying for work as teachers, and the pervert is the vice-principal...

** He also meets ArchEnemy Draco Malfoy before school starts, indeed he's the first fellow student he meets.

* The Cutie Mark Crusaders in MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, due to an animation mistake

** In "The End of Time", [[spoiler:the Doctor, dying of radiation poisoning, travels back to New Year's Eve in 2005, the year he met Rose. He sees her on the street and pretends to be a drunk, telling her she's going to have a great year. Rose thinks nothing of it, presumably because thanks to time travel, the Doctor she actually met was the [[TheNthDoctor 9th Doctor]].]]

Compare with MeetCute, a related trope where a (future) couple meet in an unusual way and will obviously fall for each other in the future; and ChekhovsGunman, a character who is introduced but only gradually revealed (or re-introduced) to be important to the plot '''much''' later. Also see EarlyBirdCameo.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' companions frequently meet the Doctor like this. And in some cases, thanks to time travel, he arranges these events himself.

** In "Voyage of the Damned", the Doctor first meets Wilfred Mott as a newspaper seller in the otherwise abandoned London. Wilf turned out to be Donna's maternal grandfather. This actually happened due to ActorExistenceFailure - the role of Wilf hadn't been planned during the special, but the actor playing Donna's father passed away early into the filming of series 4. His role was reworked into the character of Wilf and before the special with his small cameo aired, the credits were altered to change his name (he never said it on screen) to sync it up with series 4.
** In "The End of Time, Part Two", [[spoiler:the Doctor, dying of radiation poisoning, travels back to New Year's Eve in 2005, the year he met Rose. He sees her on the street and pretends to be a drunk, telling her she's going to have a great year. Rose thinks nothing of it, presumably because thanks to time travel, the Doctor she actually met was the [[TheNthDoctor 9th Doctor]].]]

The main character runs into someone out of the blue. The next day, (usually at school or work) they think of how they'll never see this person again, when the teacher announces they have a new student... guess who? This can be considered a '''VERY''' shallow form of {{Foreshadowing}}. Whenever a work takes the time to show someone "accidentally" bumping into a random character, you just know they're not random... and the "reveal" is usually only 5 minutes away at most, anyways. Sometimes it's done so that the main characters can have a different first impression of each other than the rest of the cast, who simply go by a "oh, it's just a new student" attitude. In a LoveDodecahedron it can often be used to establish the OfficialCouple from the beginning.

Used most often in romance stories, but it doesn't have to a love interest; they can be a rival, mentor, employee, or whatnot.

Compare MeetCute, a sub-trope where a (future) couple meet in an unusual way and will obviously fall for each other in the future; and ChekhovsGunman, a character who is introduced but only gradually revealed (or re-introduced) to be important to the plot '''much''' later. Also see EarlyBirdCameo.

* In ''{{Persona 4}}'', [[spoiler: the main character meets a chatty gas station attendant at the very start of the game who shakes his hand. Turns out the "guy" is actually the goddess Izanami who orchestrates all of the strange murders in the game and gives the main character the power to summon Personas via this very hand shake]]