History Main / SingleStrokebattle

** The duel on the beach between Zatoichi and Hattori Gennosuke probably counts for this, with bonus points for having the two duellists' badassery played up throughout the film, so it's clear that the fight between them will be epic. They even have a sequence of Hattori imagining how the fight will go, and altering his stance and grip to give himself a chance. It isn't enough.
** In the 1964 ''Adventures of Zatoichi'', the final duel takes place at night in the snow and ends with them running at each other, swinging, continueing past one another and then pausing. Zatoichi's opponent starts to drip blood into the snow, concedes defeat, and falls dead.

%%** Brock's Croagunk is involved in one against a Politoed in ''"A Faux Oak Finish!"''.
%%** The final move between Ash's Grovyle and Norman's Slaking.
** A variation of this happens a lot in Pokémon, similar to the Charizard/Articuno example above. Both combatants score a final attack, they stand panting with their backs to each other, one feigns fainting, the other faints for real.
%%** And Ash's Oshawott in his battle with Cilan's Pansage. [[spoiler: It ended up giving Ash the Gym badge.]]

JustForFun/SwordCounterpart of ShowdownAtHighNoon. One use of the FlashStep. Probably implies a OneHitKill. If the battle is one sided and the winner uses a flash step, then there is a good chance that the loser will perform a SnapToTheSide before realizing that they've just been cut in two. A SingleStrokeBattle can also be a CurbStompBattle if the victor defeats the loser so easily as to humiliate them. In a video game, a fight decided by PressXToNotDie may be a single stroke battle if there is only one button prompt.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', when Zenitsu fights against weaker demons it goes accordingly to the theme more precisely, in one single stroke of his Thunder Breath Style, which invokes an Iaijutsu discipline, Zenitsu quickly dispatches the foe with a swift slash to the throat; on longer battles however Zenitsu tries to charge his speed to a ludicrous degree till he blitzes through the area, all to find that sweet spot to behead the enemy.

** Taken UpToEleven. Selene is armed with a scalpel and is facing a corridor filled with armed Mooks. She sprints down the hall and slices all their throats in about a second.

*** SPD has another example. Sky Tate and his EvilFormerFriend Dru Harrington. Sky repeats wisdom Dru had told him while they were training: "Never make the same mistake twice."

** Happens near the end of ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'', between the Black Ranger (Will) and his primary antagonist Kamdor (as there were four enemy groups, each individual Ranger got one or more individual rivals). This was the alternate version, with the Black Ranger falling to one knee first, and the enemy going "Finally! Now to find the--[[YouAreAlreadyDead YEARGHH!]]" and [[MadeOfExplodium violently exploding]].
** Taylor and Zen-Aku have this in ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce.'' After they strike each other in passing, it is Taylor who falls and involuntarily demorphs, allowing ZA to snag two of her Animal Crystals (and thus control two more of the Rangers' HumongousMecha. ZA was all about the Gundam Jacking.) However, the previously-untouchable ZA was made to bleed a little - red blood, proving he wasn't what he seemed.

** Happens near the end of ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'', between the Black Ranger (Will) and his primary antagonist (as there were four enemy groups, each individual Ranger got one or more individual rivals). This was the alternate version, with the Black Ranger falling to one knee first, and the enemy going "Now that that's out of the way, time to go find the--[[YouAreAlreadyDead YEARGHH!]]" and [[MadeOfExplodium violently exploding]].

* [[https://youtu.be/OvTpZQyfeVA This boxing match]] from the 90s between fringe heavyweight contender [[AwesomeMcCoolname Jimmy Thunder]] and Crawford Grimsley. Grimsley made the mistake of trying to come right at the [[MeaningfulName powerful Thunder]], and Thunder's first punch was a smashing right hand that laid Grimsley out in what would have been record time if the referee hadn't insisted on doing a full 10 count.

* ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'' has this as a gameplay mechanic known as "standoffs". Jin can challenge any enemy and the player has to hold down the heavy attack button until the enemy attacks. If the enemy lands a hit or Jin attacks before the enemy charges Jin's health bar will completely deplete, but a successful hit instakills the enemy.

* PRIDE 10. Garry Goodridge vs. Gilbert Yvel. Two men, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky9VTC4QeRk one well timed head kick]], fight over.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJLA_e8gOds&t=1m25s This boxing match]] from the 90s between fringe heavyweight contender [[AwesomeMcCoolname Jimmy Thunder]] and Crawford Grimsley. Grimsley made the mistake of trying to come right at the [[MeaningfulName powerful Thunder]], and Thunder's first punch was a smashing right hand that laid Grimsley out in what would have been record time if the referee hadn't insisted on doing a full 10 count.

[[caption-width-right:246:[-''Shwing!'' And the [[LudicrousGibs gibs]] paint a lovely picture in the moonlight.-] ]]

* Happens in a swordless manner in ''Series/UltramanTiga'' during the final fight with Evil Tiga. After an evenly matched battle, the two run passed each other and jump with strikes. Tiga falls to his knees but as he's celebrating his victory, Evil Tiga collapses to the ground. Subverted slightly as this doesn't kill Evil Tiga, but merely allows Tiga to hit the finishing move.
* The backstory for ''Series/UltramanMebius'' reveals that at the end of the war against Alien Empera in the distant past, Empera and the Father of Ultra ended their battle with this. While neither one was killed by their wounds, [[WoundThatWillNotHeal neither one was able to truly recover from it.]]

* In the [[UpdatedRerelease Special Editions]] where he's [[PromotedToPlayable playable]], Vergil has this as a special attack - his "Rapid Slash" move consists of [[DashAttack charging straight ahead]] and drawing his katana. Half a second later, anything that was in his path gets cut to pieces. The effect is more evident in his [[SuperMode Devil Trigger]] form; a powered-up Rapid Slash will also impale the enemies with a Summoned Sword that explodes after a short delay.

* Vergil of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'' has this as a special attack - his "Rapid Slash" move consists of charging straight ahead and drawing his katana. Half a second later, anything that was in his path gets cut to pieces.
** Also used plot-wise: [[spoiler:Vergil and Dante end up finishing their last confrontation in demon world this way]], providing almost spot-on example of the trope. The "almost" resulting from the fact that you see the finishing blow.
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', [[spoiler:Dante and Vergil]] get to do this again, [[spoiler:in full Sin Devil Trigger]], to close off their final confrontation. [[spoiler:Except Nero is in no mood to let either of them kill each other]].

* ''Manga/OutlawStar'' does this frequently, although usually after a long battle. Subverted in episode five when Aisha doesn't collapse as expected, shattering the blade instead, because it turns out she is MadeOfIron

* The final battle of ''Film/{{Azumi}}'': [[spoiler: Azumi and the Big Bad do this after a long swordfight. After the unseen swordstrike, both fighters are standing with their backs to each other, filmed from different angles. A small trail of blood starts to encircle the Big Bad's neck, he tries to turn while jumping and he lands.....with his head pointing the wrong way. The decapitation takes full effect only as he collapses.]]

* Nameless and Long Sky engage in this after first playing out a battle in their minds in Film/{{Hero}}.

* The backstory for ''Series/UltramanMebius'' reveals that at the end of the war against Alien Empera in the distant past, Empera and the Father of Ultra ended their battle with this. While neither one was killed by their wounds, [[WoundThatWontHeal neither one was able to truly recover from it.]]

* ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'', which is also written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, features a similar scene. Several {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s establish that Violet's hemophage superpowers prevent any mere human from challenging her. Then she's confronted by a whole room full of her fellow hemophage assassins. Prepare for an epic battle, right? [[spoiler:Wrong. She cuts off all of their heads with a single swing. Yay.]]

* Also subverted in ''Seishoujo Senshi SaintValkyrie'' – Yuuki wins one of these in the first episode by stealing a pair of pink panties from the jacket pocket of the MonsterOfTheWeek.

** Parodied mercilessly earlier in the same Tenka Ichi Budokai, during Jackie Chun and Krillin's match. They rush each other, there's a flash of action too fast for the eye to follow, and they land... and Krillin collapses. But since the audience (and the announcer) missed it, they pantomime the entire event all over again, for the audience's benefit, with running commentary on the dozens of techniques and attacks they used in that split-second rush.

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure 01'', Wargreymon has one of these with Mugendramon (Machinedramon). Wargreymon charges at Mugendramon who just makes a dismissing sound and raises his metal claw. They strike simultaneously, and end up standing back to back for a second, then Wargreymon reverts back to Koromon and a cut appears on his face. Mugendramon looks back and gloats, but Koromon says he won't lose because all his friends are backing him up. The camera cycles through all of said friends, and ''then'' Mugendramon falls to pieces while groaning in disbelief. Single-Stroke Battle powered by ThePowerOfFriendship

* In the ''Manga/SoulEater'' anime: [[spoiler: the third and final showdown between Black☆Star and Mifune]] ends like this.

** However, Kurogane gets a real one when [[spoiler: he kills/maims Fei Wong Reed - it's not entirely clear which, but it certainly fills the prerequisite for epic.]]

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kirito does this to a wolf at the end of the first episode when he rushes off to the next village shortly after Kayaba tells the players they're stuck in the game. He also does this consecutively to two Salamanders right after he first arrives in ALfheim Online.

* In the awesome manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', X is challenged to a duel by Flame Stag, who previously lost a duel and is itching for revenge. Stag, having received an upgrade from the BigBad, and X, who has been blinded, rush past each other in a dormant volcano. X is then shown bleeding (oil?), while Stag is completely unharmed. X then crumples to the ground. Of course, [[spoiler: there's no way X is going to lose here, and Stag suddenly bursts into flames, due to some crazy close-range tampering by X earlier when passing by. The Irony is that had Stag not been upgraded, he might have been able to contain the damage.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** The finale in the fight between Sanji and Mr. 2 Bon Kurei was this - though they had no weapons save for their feet. [[spoiler:It's also exaggerated like crazy. They do the usual jump, hit each other, and land thing. Sanji coughs and falls to his knees, while Bon Kurei remains standing... then suddenly Bon Kurei ''goes flying through the air and crashes through a building''. Despite nothing having touched him since Sanji's attack.]]

* ''LightNovel/ChromeShelledRegios'' - an early fight between Haia and Layfon comes down to this, both waiting for the other to show an opening, since both are trained in the same techniques.

* Comicbook/UsagiYojimbo lives and breathes this trope… although considering how much it owes to Lone Wolf and Cub, along with the classic samurai films, that's hardly surprising. Any duel involving Usagi is pretty much guaranteed to leave Usagi the last one standing. But the most suspenseful of these duels took place in ''Duel At Kitanoji,'' where Usagi's mentor is called into an Honor Duel with the rival who lost to him twenty years ago and now seeks to regain his honor. Said opponent had already beaten Usagi in a duel once, and it was genuinely uncertain which of them would win. After the battle took place, the beat was held for ''several pages'' before one of them fell down dead. [[spoiler: Usagi's mentor wins, but commented that it could easily have gone either way.]] [[WordOfGod Stan Sakai]] has said it even took ''him'' a while to decide how that one should end.

[[folder:Film]]

* Most of the fights in ''Film/{{Elektra}}'' amounted to this.

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' has one....in the form of Morpheus vs. an SUV. As Trinity and the Keymaker make their getaway, the Twins try to run Morpheus down. He rolls to the side at the last minute, and uses his {{katana|sAreJustBetter}} to slice through one of their tires as they pass him. The SUV starts to flip over, setting up Morpheus's ''next'' move - emptying his gun into the gas tank.

* ''Film/{{Zatoichi}}''. The duel on the beach between Zatoichi and Hattori Gennosuke probably counts for this, with bonus points for having the two duellists' badassery played up throughout the film, so it's clear that the fight between them will be epic. They even have a sequence of Hattori imagining how the fight will go, and altering his stance and grip to give himself a chance. It isn't enough.

* In ''Film/WarCraft2016'', [[spoiler:the climatic fight between Lothar and Blackhand]] goes this way, with the former sliding low and striking under the latter's guard. He adds a second strike, but that's mostly a finishing touch - his opponent would've bled out of the first cut anyway.
* ''Film/TheLastJedi'': [[spoiler:Holdo does this on an ''entire fleet'' using a suicidal hyperspeed jump. She uses the ''Raddus'' to cut the First Order's flagship in half, and as a side effect most of their Star Destroyers are destroyed as well. The shot is framed exactly like a normal single-stroke battle, with one frame where the fleet seems unaffected, and in the next destruction]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon ''[[http://www.homestarrunner.com/underconstruction.html Under Construction]]'' parodies this trope, with the anime-inspired Stinkoman battling "Stickly Man," a shovel-wielding animated GIF, in a Single Stroke Battle that's clearly an {{Homage}} to ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''.

* Done in ''WebComic/DeadOfSummer'', more literally than usual. [[spoiler: [[Music/TheProtomen Panther's]] evil clone]] doesn't even get a chance to react before being destroyed.
* Parodied in Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki:
--> '''Hermod''': Repeat after me: Despite what magical girl anime has taught me, the monster does not go down with the first strike.
* TruckBearingKibble, with [[http://truckbearingkibble.com/comic/2007/10/19/potato-head-san/ Potato Heads]].

* How the fight between [[Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures Daniel and Dark Pegasus was resolved]] in the "Warrior for Hire" arc.

* Played straight in ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-27/ if you ignore that]] [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-28/ it's fought between a Gelantious Cube and a slaad.]]

* ''Webcomic/Aurora2019'': The unnamed paladin [[https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-7-32/ cleaves]] a charging Cave Crawler in two with one strike from his weapon as it runs past him.

* ''WebAnimation/BunnyKill'' just can't get enough of these. Part 3.2 has a grenade-vs-blade standoff.
** After a CurbStompBattle as the result of heroic UnstoppableRage because [[spoiler: his new girlfriend and partner got killed]], Part 4 ends with [=SnowBall=] delivering a FlashStep punch to the BigBad. After a second, the BigBad starts coughing up blood, then he stumbles forwards and expires on the floor.
* The FinalBoss fight in ''WebVideo/CollegeSaga'' ends with one of these.
* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle''
** [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ryu Hayabusa]] and VideoGame/{{Strider}} Hiryu naturally ends with one as a reference to the intro of the original ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''. [[spoiler:As Hiryu was faster, he won the clash, leaving Ryu wide-open for his [[BladeSpam Ragnarok]] FinishingMove]].
** Happens again at the climax of the fight between [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Ragna the Bloodedge]] and [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Sol Badguy]], both having entered their ultimate forms: [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Black Beast]]]] for Ragna and [[DraconicHumanoid Dragon Install]] for Sol, and lunging at each other for the final clash. [[spoiler:Unfortunately (or [[AndIMustScream fortunately]]) for Rags, Sol has had experience destroying massive monsters like the Beast before.]]
** Happens at the climax of the battle between [[Manga/OnePiece Roronoa Zoro]] and [[Manga/FairyTail Erza Scarlet]], which is quite fitting since both of them have used this trope themselves. [[spoiler:Not only does Zoro's strike defeat Erza, but the ''mountain behind her'']].
** The finale of WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack and Anime/AfroSamurai uses this, fittingly enough, given their penchant ability to pull this off in their own canon. [[spoiler:Jack loses his right arm in the clash, but Afro lost ''both'' of his, and thus is left vulnerable to being sliced apart by his armed opponent]].
** The finale of [[Franchise/{{Naruto}} Sasuke Uchiha]] and [[Manga/YuYuHakusho Hiei]] has the two charging each other with Sasuke using [[InstantArmor Susanoo]] and [[ShockAndAwe black Chidori]] to strengthen his sword while Hiei turns his [[WreckedWeapon broken blade]] into [[FlamingSword the Sword of Darkness Flame]] to meet it. [[spoiler:Hiei comes out with a cut-open chest, but Sasuke gets BloodFromTheMouth before exploding into LudicrousGibs.]]
** The finale of [[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]] and [[Franchise/{{Naruto}} Kakashi Hatake]] has the two charge each other with their lightsaber and Raikiri respectively. [[spoiler:Mid-charge, Obi-Wan uses the Force to destroy Kakashi's eye, but he keeps coming. Obi-Wan comes out without a scratch, while Kakashi gets cut in half at the waist.]]
* Used in the Animutation "Holy Sh!t! Ninjas!"
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' Volume 3 Episode 11; Yang sees Adam Taurus [[spoiler: torturing Blake]]. She instantly shifts into [[UnstoppableRage Rage Mode]], charges in... [[spoiler: and Adam takes her right arm off at the elbow with one casual strike. Adam's Semblance allows him to store up energy from every strike that hits his saya and unleash it all in a single strike in true IaijutsuPractitioner style.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the finale in the fight between Sanji and Mr. 2 Bon Kurei was this - though they had no weapons save for their feet. [[spoiler:It's also exaggerated like crazy. They do the usual jump, hit each other, and land thing. Sanji coughs and falls to his knees, while Bon Kurei remains standing... then suddenly Bon Kurei ''goes flying through the air and crashes through a building''. Despite nothing having touched him since Sanji's attack.]]
** Was also done during Zoro's battles with Mihawk, T-Bone, and Mr. 1. Against Mihawk, Zoro was on losing end, and ended up with a ''massive'' scar across his chest, all the way from his left shoulder to his right hip, giving him a [[ScarsAreForever permanent reminder]] of the swordsman he couldn't defeat.

One way to fake out the audience is to have one character (almost always the hero) fall to one knee looking as if he's been hit, but then reveal that he's okay while the other character falls over dead instead. In RealLife, UsefulNotes/{{kendo}} kata #7 ends this way. Another common subversion of expectations involves revealing ''both'' combatants to have been injured (or [[MutualKill killed]]).