History Main / SecondEpisodeMorning

After the events of the first episode that upended everything the main character knew, the second starts with them waking up out of bed, muttering something about a [[AllJustADream strange dream]] or nightmare. The character then realizes the first episode [[ThatWasNotADream actually happened yesterday or gets reminded it did]]; usually by the relevant characters actually appearing ''in'' their home waiting for them to wake up. In some works, the protagonist may get to remain blissfully unaware for a bit longer, only realizing the truth upon seeing that NewTransferStudent when they get to school later. And for works heavy on FanService, our hero may not even get the chance to vocalize their thoughts on the "dream" at all, as they look over to see that the magical girl they met yesterday is sleeping next to them in bed, naked.

Since this is technically not the [[MultiPartEpisode second-half of a two-parter]], being more in line with the ImmediateSequel trope, it can be guaranteed that someone will provide a [[AsYouKnow monologue]] of the first episode's important bits for the [[ViewersAreGoldfish especially absent-minded audience]]. This may be helpful for the character in-universe as well, since they obviously haven't digested the extent of their situation before the end of the previous episode. Because of this, some viewers may decide to ''skip the first episode entirely'' in favor of starting here, as you get an explanation of the premise and a showcase of how the "usual" episodes are going to be structured.

After a potentially unusual first episode, the second starts with the character waking up out of bed, muttering something about a [[AllJustADream strange dream]] or nightmare. The character then realizes the first episode [[ThatWasNotADream actually happened yesterday or gets reminded it did]]. Any characters they met frequently appear ''in'' their home (or at school as a NewTransferStudent) bright and cheerful as if nothing special happened and they've been buddies for ages. (For works heavy on FanService, "in their home" equals "she is sleeping in his bed, naked".)

Since this is technically not the end of a two-part episode arc, someone will provide a [[AsYouKnow monologue]] of the first episode's important bits for the [[ViewersAreGoldfish especially absent-minded audience]]. It's also useful for the character, since they might not have even had time to digest the situation before the last episode ended. This can be so effective the viewer can ''skip the first episode entirely'' if they want to see how a 'real' episode is handled.

* ''Anime/SpacePirateMito'' plays with this by having Mito, caught climbing out of her [[PoweredArmor Mom suit]] by her son, Aoi, at the very end of the first episode, climbing back in at the beginning of the second and assuring her son that what he saw was just a dream. The two of them laugh it off until she realizes that her non-human crewmates are still hanging around. With no other choice, she shows him her true self (an alien that looks like a 3rd grader), causing Aoi to faint. The very next scene shows Aoi [[CatapultNightmare waking up screaming]] and deciding that he must have dreamt the previous scene. Until his house is destroyed by a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant version of his mom that suddenly takes to the air]]. Aoi flees, then is hit by a car, and then [[DreamWithinADream wakes up screaming again]], this time for real. He hears his mom's voice from the other room, but when he sees her in her true form again, he leaps back into bed, hoping that this, too, is AllJustADream. ([[CaptainObvious It's not.]])

Since this is technically not the end of a two-part episode arc, someone will provide a [[AsYouKnow monologue]] of the first episode's [[ReCap important bits]] for the [[ViewersAreGoldfish especially absent-minded audience]]. It's also useful for the character, since they might not have even had time to digest the situation before the last episode ended. This can be so effective the viewer can ''skip the first episode entirely'' if they want to see how a 'real' episode is handled.

* Through dub editing, ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' originally opened with Bloom waking up in the morning, before eventually finding Stella (who's fighting an ogre and various creatures). In the 4Kids "dub", [[{{Macekre}} Bloom finds Stella and her fight first, and then the 2nd segment of the show opens with Bloom waking up in the morning, and finding that she didn't just dream all that up]].[[note]]It must be noted that this series, which was produced in Italian originally, [[TheyJustDidntCare already had an existing English version]].[[/note]]

* The first episode of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Rockman.EXE Axess]]'', the third season, has Netto performing Cross Fusion, defeating the [[TheDragon Dragon to the Dragon]] Beastman, and then passing out from the exertion. The episode ends with Rockman frantically calling for him after he's out on the ground. He wakes up in the second episode, spaces out for a bit, then goes into a panic when he remembers the events of the previous day and can't find his partner. (In ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'', Lan wakes up immediately and banters with Mega Man at the end of the first episode.)
* A particularly strange example of this trope occurred with the American broadcast of ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne'', in which Fox network executives made good on that whole "the viewer can skip the first episode entirely" thing by actually skipping most of the first episode, which details how Hitomi got from Earth to Gaia. Instead, the show starts off with her "new life" already underway. The subsequent episodes were chopped up in a similar way, [[ExecutiveMeddling combining halves of episodes together and moving things around]], until they just dropped it altogether.

* Through dub editing, ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' originally opened with Bloom waking up in the morning, before eventually finding Stella (who's fighting an ogre and various creatures). In the 4Kids dub, Bloom finds Stella and her fight first, and then the 2nd segment of the show opens with Bloom waking up in the morning, and finding that she didn't just dream all that up.

Since this is technically not the end of a two-part episode arc, someone will provide a [[AsYouKnow monologue]] of the first episode's [[ReCap important bits]] for the especially absent-minded audience. It's also useful for the character, since they might not have even had time to digest the situation before the last episode ended. This can be so effective the viewer can ''skip the first episode entirely'' if they want to see how a 'real' episode is handled.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'':

** As well, ''Back to the Future Part II'' ends on a cliffhanger, with Marty announcing to Doc that he came back from the future, just after Doc sends him back ''to'' the future in a sequence first shown in the first movie. This causes Doc to faint, and after waking up at home in the beginning of ''Part III'', he dismisses the encounter as a hallucination... until he bumps into Marty, who's right there with him in the room and who continues to claim that he came back from the future.

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* Played with in the ''final'' episode of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler:Shinji briefly imagines an alternate reality where it's still the SecondEpisodeMorning, and the ''entire series'' has been a bad dream he was having.]] Most of the audience only wishes the final episode in turn was [[GainaxEnding a bad dream]].

** And eventually that sequence in the final episode went on to become its own AU series, providing us with a slightly happier version of Eva.
** Due to the nature of the ending, its not even necessarily imagination, it might for all intents and purposes be real, considering the state of things at that point.

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* All three ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' movies have a sequence where Marty awakens and tells his mother he dreamed he traveled back in time, only to be told "you're safe here in good old 1955/the 27th floor/the [=McFly=] farm".

** Also, at the end of the trilogy, Jennifer believes that her time in the future was a dream - until she finds the fax paper in her pocket.

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* Not done for a character, but the town of Storybrooke in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' wakes up in the morning of the second episode

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-->'''Kim''': How many times do I have to tell you? We kissed, we're dating.\\
'''Ron''': So you leaving me for [[NonHumanSidekick Rufus]] was...?\\
'''Kim''': Dream.\\
'''Ron''': Me being Middleton's [[AccidentalAthlete new running back]]? Dream?\\
'''Kim''': No, that's actually happened.\\
'''Ron''': Oh, I'm on a team, that's cool. Ok, how about you [[Series/HappyDays water-skiing]] [[JumpTheShark over a shark]]? (Kim hangs up) Hello? Hello? Kim?

* Not done for a character, but the town of StoryBrooke in OnceUponATime wakes up in the morning of the second episode

* The first episode of ''Series/WarpZoneProject'' shows how thing work in a world where the fact that ComicBooksAreReal is hidden via WeirdnessCensor. Two average humans see a super-hero and super-villain fighting right in front of them, but they go about their business as if nothing has happend the second they vanish. Their conversation, however, turns to discussing the comic depicting the two supers and remebering it to include a fight much like the one they just witnessed. The second episode has the protagonist waking up after dreaming of the real fight, than quickly getting a visit from the super-villain.

* ''Manga/OmamoriHimari'': First day, Himari shows up at the way to school. At school, Yuuto is attacked, Himari comes out of nowhere and defends him. At night, she sneaks into his house (and bed). Then, the second chapter starts with booth getting woken up by Rinko...

* ''Seikon No Qwaser'' has this.

* ''Franchise/{{Jewelpet}} Twinkle''. Episode 2 opens with Akari having a nightmare of the events in the first episode and she wakes up thinking that all that happened was a dream. She sulks until she spots Ruby on her table and realizes it was real after all, [[IJustWantToBeSpecial which makes her perk up]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', after the titular character and Ron Stoppable [[JustFriends finally]] [[RelationshipUpgrade get together]] after three seasons, the first episode of the fourth season begins with the last of the third: the last dance, the [[SealedWithAKiss kiss]]. That is, until Kim [[NightmareFuel begins to melt]]. Cue Ron [[CatapultNightmare waking up screaming]] and calling his new girlfriend for the assurance that indeed, they were dating. And again, at the end of the episode:
-->''Kim'': How many times do I have to tell you? We kissed, we're dating.
-->''Ron'': So you leaving me for [[NonHumanSidekick Rufus]] was...?
-->''Kim'': Dream.
-->''Ron'': Me being Middleton's [[AccidentalAthlete new running back]]? Dream?
-->''Kim'': No, that's actually happened.
-->''Ron'': Oh, I'm on a team, that's cool. Ok, how about you [[Series/HappyDays water-skiing]] [[JumpTheShark over a shark]]? (Kim hangs up) Hello? Hello? Kim?

* Usagi has a SecondEpisodeMorning in ''Manga/SailorMoon'' and is shocked to find that Luna can, in fact, talk to her, and that the previous episode's battle wasn't a dream.
* Similarly, the main character of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' has trouble waking up in the second episode, until newly introduced cute-animal sidekick Keroberos speaks to her, both startling her and jogging her memory of the previous evening's events.

* ''{{Cardcaptor Sakura}}'': Sakura wakes up on the second episode of the anime after a 'weird dream' about flying and a talking stuffed toy called 'Kero-chan'... Then [[FairyCompanion Kero-chan flies over]] to say good morning.

* Played with in the ''final'' episode of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler:Shinji briefly imagines an alternate reality where it's still the SecondEpisodeMorning, and the ''entire series'' has been a bad dream he was having.]] Most of the audience only wishes the final episode in turn was a bad dream.

* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'' episode 1 starts with Kyon waking up, going to school, introducing himself to his new classmates and meeting Haruhi, the girl who would make him do that [[StylisticSuck god-awful]] movie shown in Episode 00.

* After initially encountering Mone in a dream during the first episode of ''{{Yumeria}}'', Tomokazu Mikuri wakes up to find her laying in his bed next to him.
* Played with in the ''final'' episode of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler: Shinji briefly imagines an alternate reality where it's still the SecondEpisodeMorning, and the ''entire series'' has been a bad dream he was having.]] Most of the audience only wishes the final episode in turn was a bad dream.
** Technically happens in Episode Two but has more of a hospital bed than his own also, it's more of an Episode Two Hangover from the events of Episode One

* Hazumu discovers in the second episode of ''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' that A) yes, she's still a girl, and B) aliens have moved in to her house.

* In ''MamotteShugogetten'', after a destruction-filled first night with Shaorin, the hero wakes up thinking it was all a dream, only to have Shaorin cheerfully greet him. (Never mind the obvious problem of him wondering how he woke up to hot coffee being right next to him.) This actually all happened in the first episode, but it was the same idea.
* ''MaiOtomeZwei'', being an {{OAV}} series, has a second ''scene'' morning, that otherwise exactly duplicates the trope.

* In the second chapter of ''[[{{Yotsubato}} Yotsuba&!]]'', the title character wakes up in a strange house and panics, before remembering they just spent yesterday moving.
* The first episode of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Rockman.EXE Axess]]'', the third season, has Netto performing Cross Fusion, defeating the [[TheDragon Dragon to the Dragon]] Beastman, and then passing out from the exertion. The episode ends with Rockman frantically calling for him after he's out on the ground. He wakes up in the second episode, spaces out for a bit, then goes into a panic when he remembers the events of the previous day and can't find his partner. (In ''MegaManNTWarrior'', Lan wakes up immediately and banters with Mega Man at the end of the first episode.)
* A particularly strange example of this trope occurred with the American broadcast of ''VisionOfEscaflowne'', in which Fox network executives made good on that whole "the viewer can skip the first episode entirely" thing by actually skipping most of the first episode, which details how Hitomi got from Earth to Gaia. Instead, the show starts off with her "new life" already underway. The subsequent episodes were chopped up in a similar way, [[ExecutiveMeddling combining halves of episodes together and moving things around]], until they just dropped it altogether.
* Kamina Ayato from ''RahXephon'' gets one of these. After a...hectic day where several inexplicable events happen to him he wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what occurred. He gets his memory back later in the episode.
* The second chapter of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann -- [[HighSchoolAU Guren Gakuenhen]]''.
* ''OmamoriHimari'': First day, Himari shows up at the way to school. At school, Yuuto is attacked, Himari comes out of nowhere and defends him. At night, she sneaks into his house (and bed). Then, the second chapter starts with booth getting woken up by Rinko...
* ''SpacePirateMito'' plays with this by having Mito, caught climbing out of her [[PoweredArmor Mom suit]] by her son, Aoi, at the very end of the first episode, climbing back in at the beginning of the second and assuring her son that what he saw was just a dream. The two of them laugh it off until she realizes that her non-human crewmates are still hanging around. With no other choice, she shows him her true self (an alien that looks like a 3rd grader), causing Aoi to faint. The very next scene shows Aoi [[CatapultNightmare waking up screaming]] and deciding that he must have dreamt the previous scene. Until his house is destroyed by a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant version of his mom that suddenly takes to the air]]. Aoi flees, then is hit by a car, and then [[DreamWithinADream wakes up screaming again]], this time for real. He hears his mom's voice from the other room, but when he sees her in her true form again, he leaps back into bed, hoping that this, too, is AllJustADream. ([[CaptainObvious It's not.]])
* ''ToLoveRu'' has Rito waking to find his naked [[AccidentalMarriage alien fiance]] in his bed.
* ''SeikonNoQwaser'' has this.
* ''[[HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' episode 1 starts with Kyon waking up, going to school, introducing himself to his new classmates and meeting Haruhi, the girl who would make him do that [[StylisticSuck god-awful]] movie shown in Episode 00.

* The second episode of ''{{Frasier}}'' starts this way, with the main character waking up to find Martin and Daphne in his apartment. He is not pleased.
* In the second episode of ''{{Spaced}}'', Tim wakes up to find the flat clean and pristine, and his ex-girlfriend Sarah is there to assure him that she would never, ever break up with him. [[CatapultNightmare Then his alien costume comes to life and drags him under the door, screaming.]]

* In ''KimPossible'', after the titular character and Ron Stoppable [[JustFriends finally]] [[RelationshipUpgrade get together]] after three seasons, the first episode of the fourth season begins with the last of the third: the last dance, the [[SealedWithAKiss kiss]]. That is, until Kim [[NightmareFuel begins to melt]]. Cue Ron [[CatapultNightmare waking up screaming]] and calling his new girlfriend for the assurance that indeed, they were dating. And again, at the end of the episode:

* The first episode of ''RockmanEXE Axess'', the third season, has Netto performing Cross Fusion, defeating the [[TheDragon Dragon to the Dragon]] Beastman, and then passing out from the exertion. The episode ends with Rockman frantically calling for him after he's out on the ground. He wakes up in the second episode, spaces out for a bit, then goes into a panic when he remembers the events of the previous day and can't find his partner. (In ''MegaManNTWarrior'', Lan wakes up immediately and banters with Mega Man at the end of the first episode.)

* After meeting [[GentleGiant Hagrid]] for the first time, HarryPotter thinks, right before he wakes up the next morning, that the whole experience will have turned out to be a dream. Of course, once he opens his eyes he discovers that it wasn't.

* In the second episode of ''KurauPhantomMemory'' Kurau wakes up to find her Rynax-pair sleeping next to her, making her realize happily that she is not alone anymore.

* Played with in the ''final'' episode of ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler: Shinji briefly imagines an alternate reality where it's still the SecondEpisodeMorning, and the ''entire series'' has been a bad dream he was having.]] Most of the audience only wishes the final episode in turn was a bad dream.