->''The cardinal rule in going after someone with an intention to kill was not to make it personal -- which it almost always ended up being anyway. It did with me.''
->-- MaxPayne

The protagonist catches bad guys for a living (usually at a rate of about one a week), but this time, the bad guy has decided that he doesn't like the protagonist. Instead of doing what any sensible psychopath would do and simply [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim toss a grenade in the character's window]], the psychopath takes creepy photos of the character's kids, [[IHaveYourWife abducts the character's wife]], [[KickTheDog kicks the character's dog]], and above all, leaves calling cards and clues to ensure that eventually he'll get caught. The bad guy (often a BigBad) knows about the protagonist's FatalFlaw and is more than willing to exploit it.

Related trope -- In order to [[KickTheDog establish]] that a bad guy is ''really'' bad (as opposed to the not-so-bad guy last week?) he kills the [[AndYourLittleDogToo hero's family, brother, mother, dog, or what have you]]. Or [[YouHaveFailedMe his own henchmen]]. Or easily dispatches some other bad guy who's previously been established or otherwise appears to be really bad.

The StuffedIntoTheFridge and FriendlyTarget tropes are invariably a setup for this.

Usually eventually leads to NotSoDifferent. For a more specific form of this, see YouKilledMyFather. Often enough, ThisMeansWar.

The {{Disposable Woman}} is a character who exists only to make ItsPersonal happen. When it gets personal, characters insist they must [[IWorkAlone work alone]].

One common variant is to order/trick allies aside to set up an one-on-one duel without interference. This can be risky but the avenger wouldn't risk anyone else getting hurt/someone stealing his precious right to do that peculiar kill himself!

If a character has this as his primary motivation rather than as part of another quest, then he's NotInThisForYourRevolution.

Contrast when it's [[NothingPersonal not personal]], or at least they claim it's not.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''SoukouNoStrain''; as if her beloved older brother [[EverybodysDeadDave killing her whole school]] didn't already give Sara Werec this complex, [[spoiler:he goes and offs Carris too, just after exposing her true identity.]] True, he ''did'' have a bit of a suicide wish...
* The final arc of ''RurouniKenshin'' has Kenshin fighting Enishi Yukishiro, his brother-in-law because Kenshin accidentally killed [[spoiler:Tomoe Yukishiro, Enishi's sister, and Kenshin's first wife]]. Enishi makes it clear that this is personal, by sending Kenshin into a "living hell" by defeating him and killing Kenshin's lover [[spoiler:Kaoru, though he actually only kidnaps her]].
* This seems to run a lot in ''{{Gundam 00}}''. DarkActionGirl in training [[spoiler: Louise Halevy]] wants a piece of the Celestial Being for what she thought to be [[spoiler: massacring her whole family and crippling her.]] Meanwhile, many people wants a piece of [[CompleteMonster Ali]] [[BloodKnight Al-Saachez]] for several reasons:
** Setsuna F. Seiei wants him dead for manipulating him to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his own parents]] and becoming a purposeless [[Main/TykeBomb child]] [[ChildSoldiers soldier]].
** Tieria Erde wants him dead for [[spoiler:killing Lockon Stratos, his partner and first love]].
** Nena Trinity wants him dead for killing her brothers. [[spoiler: Ironically, she's the one who actually killed Louise's family]]
** And Ali's eventual killer? [[spoiler:Lyle Dylandy, the twin brother of the original Lockon Stratos who now took his name. In an aversion of this trope, he didn't exactly kill Ali because he killed his brother.]]
* Despite already hunting him for the nine-tailed fox, [[CompleteMonster Pain]] happened to make things very personal for Naruto when he killed [[spoiler:Jiraiya]], forced [[spoiler:Kakashi]] into a HeroicSacrifice, and [[spoiler:destroyed the Leaf Village]]. After injuring and potentially killing [[spoiler:Naruto's toad allies]], his [[MoralEventHorizon stabbing]] [[spoiler:Hinata after she told Naruto she loved him]] is enough to force Naruto into his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide six-tailed]] [[UnstoppableRage state]].
* In Yu Yu Hakusho, Toguro capitalizes on this trope in order to get Yusuke to fight him at his full strength. He does this by first killing [[spoiler:Genkai]] before the finals, and then during his fight with Yusuke, seemingly kills [[spoiler:Kuwabara]], [[spoiler: but he had only pretended to]]. Ironically, [[spoiler:50 years ago, a demon named Kairen had killed all his students and forced him to come to the Dark Tournament, which precipitated his StartOfDarkness]].
* In ''{{Monster}}'', Eva is only linked to Johan by her connection to Tenma. But when [[spoiler: Martin dies, Eva decides she's going to go after him herself.]]
* ''SonicX'': Seeing his friends attacked, injured and imprisoned by the Metarex in the episode ''Testing Time'' gives us the first appearance of [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FcVITZ-chlc Dark Sonic]] in animated Sonic continuity. And also show us a side of Sonic that we've really never seen in full swing before - namely the part of him that you do not, under any circumstances, piss off.
* The Demon Arc in ''MahouSenseiNegima'' turned out to be very personal indeed for Negi when [[BigBad Wilhelm]] revealed to him that [[spoiler:he was the demon that [[TakenForGranite petrified]] [[DoomedHometown his hometown]]]]. Cue Negi blindly charging, and having to be pulled out of the line of fire by Kotaro.
** Also, Fate Averruncus. Initially, to Negi, it was just a really powerful evil guy that had to go down, but it was personal for Fate [[MinorInjuryOverreaction because Negi managed to hit him]]. Subsequent encounters made it personal for Negi as well.
** Happened again with Negi to Governor General Kurt Godell after learning Godell was one of many responsible for the destruction of his [[DoomedHometown hometown]]. It gets pretty intense after Negi literally turns into a demon. Even got to the point that ShrinkingViolet Nodoka couldn't use her mind reading book to tell what was going on inside Negi's head save for three sentences "Make them atone. Don't Forgive. Kill them all."
* Terrorist group in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' that threatens the safety of TheMultiverse? Pretty bad, but saving worlds and stopping such threats are part of [[HeroesRUs Nanoha's job description]]. Terrorist group that kidnapped the MysteriousWaif that Nanoha had taken in as her daughter? Okay, [[MamaBear now it's personal]].
* In Bleach, Leroux Zommari, on the verge of defeat against Byakuya, rants about Soul Reapers persecuting hollows and declaring that they have no right to judge them merely for eating humans. Byakuya then cuts him down, replying that his actions had nothing to do with Soul Reaper duties, but for Zommari's trying to kill his sister Rukia.
* In ''FullMetalPanic'', it's revealed that Gauron and Sousuke initially had nothing against each other. And then Gauron decided to attack the Guerilla village Sousuke had been living in, mass slaughtering all the citizens while Sousuke and Kalinin were out. Not to mention how, after that, he decided to accept a job from the KGB to go after Sousuke and Kalinin and kill them. After all ''that''... it became personal.
* In ''{{Knights}}'', Mist is especially driven to stop the CorruptChurch and their [[BurnTheWitch witch-hunts]] after seeing his own mother burned at the stake, [[spoiler:and at his father's hands.]]
* AntiVillain example: In EurekaSeven, [[spoiler: Ray and Charles Beams]] fight against Gekkostate not merely because the military pays them to (though that is a factor), but also because of a grudge against Eureka, whom they believe is to blame for [[spoiler: Ray's infertility.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ThePunisher'' MAX series had one story arc that involved a vengeful mob boss trying to get revenge on Frank Castle - and he started by unearthing the bodies of Frank's deceased wife and children and ''urinating'' on their bones. [[UnstoppableRage Frank wasn't very happy about this.]] The arc ended with Frank [[spoiler: dragging the man out into the woods and shooting him in the stomach, then leaving him to die a long, inevitable death.]]
** Before this he kills fifty eight mobsters in one night and vows to continue until the police bury his family, tortures the assassin said mobster hired and is saved from a suicide strike on mobster by hot sex crazed Punisher fan lady. On the plus side? Crime rate went down.
** Which gets a "Fuck you Johnathan" as the mayor's reply.
** Another hot sex crazed Punisher fan lady shows up, going to far as to take his clothes and seek out revenge on those who wronged her, before beating one of them to death, naked, in front of Castle. Compared to Jenny, O'Brian is perfectly sane.
** All the psycho ladies love the Punisher (I remember a Christmas special where a female assassin tried to kill Castle because she ahd a crush on him). Good think Frank himself isn't sane enough to mind.
* At one point in ''{{Preacher}}'', Allfather D'aronique explains to Jesse Custer why he changed his plans from exploiting [[CompellingVoice the word]] to killing him:
-->'''Allfather D'aronique''': You killed her, Custer. [[spoiler:You killed my Aunt Marie!]]\\
'''Jesse''': ''[[spoiler:Grandma.]]''
* In the Archie ''Comicbook/{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' comic, Mammoth Mogul told Sonic that he now understands he can never defeat Sonic. He is content to outlive Sonic and make sure that Sonic never knows peace until the day he dies.
* The newest SpiderWoman comic series revolve around SpiderWoman (Jessica Drew) coping at her new life after she has been rescued from the Skrulls after 2 years in captivity, the Skrull Queen posing as her, and now she got an even ''worse'' reputation than what she got in the first place. Needless to say, she came to hate Skrulls, and when she found a Skrull posing as SpiderMan, trying to trick her again, ''[[UnstoppableRage boy, is she pissed off like hell.]]''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
*The popularity of the phrase possibly originates from ''[[{{Jaws}} Jaws 4]]'''s tagline: "This time... It's personal." Given that the film came out in 1987, the concept is probably substantially older.
** It was the driving plot point in most, if not all of the action films of the [[http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/80actionguide.cfm 80s and early 90s]]. It was particularly egregious in martial arts films revolving around a tournament (''Bloodsport'', ''Kickboxer'', ''The Karate Kid'', ''The Best of the Best''). It's not enough motivation for the hero to just compete with honour in a competition. Nope, his main rival has to have killed his brother, molested his girlfriend and [[KickTheDog kicked his dog]] too. Cop movies were bad too--in every ''Lethal Weapon'' movie, the villains threaten Murtaugh's family, and in the second film [[spoiler:we learn the villains have not only killed Riggs' current squeeze, but also killed his wife ''previous to the events of the first movie'']].
** Parodied in ''BackToTheFuture'', when Marty sees an ad for ''Jaws 19'' with the tagline "This time it's really ''really'' personal!"
* The 1989 TimBurton ''{{Batman}}'' movie adds this to the relationship between Batman and the Joker -- it is revealed that the Joker was the man responsible for murdering Bruce Wayne's parents.
** Subverted, however, in ''Batman Begins'': Bruce plans to murder Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents, but is denied the chance when a crime boss' assassin kills him instead to prevent Chill from testifying against him. Ironically, being denied this chance for personal closure is partly what leads Bruce to the path that will result in his becoming Batman.
* The JamesBond film ''LicenceToKill'' exemplifies this trope. The slimy villain, Franz Sanchez, throws Felix Leiter (Bond's best pal) to [[SharkPool the sharks]]. Bond is naturally pissed, and subsequently blows up windows, laboratories and trailer trucks to get to Sanchez.
** As bad as almost killing Felix by shark is, the real MoralEventHorizon was that the gang also raped and killed Felix's wife... ''on the night of their honeymoon!''
* This is one reason why ''TheRing 2'' was less successful than the first: Samara's wrath was horrifying in the original precisely because it was ''impersonal''. Not only was she out to kill people who had never done anything to her, she was out to kill anyone who watched the video, regardless of whether they had done anything wrong ever. In the sequel, however, she targets Rachel and Aiden specifically, and the feeling of "it could happen to you," so powerful in the first film, was accordingly defenestrated.
**It was thrown out a window?
* ''QuantumOfSolace'' has this at its heart. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Cars crash, boats explode and planes fall]] as the two protagonists battle their way to get revenge.
* StarWars:
-->'''Vader''': "[[TheObiWan Obi Wan]] never told you what happenned to your father."
-->'''Luke''': "He told me enough. He told me [[YouKilledMyFather you killed him]]."
-->'''Vader''': "No. [[IAmYourFather I...am you father]]."
** It continued getting personal for Luke in the ExpandedUniverse when [[spoiler:the new Sith Lord, his own student and nephew killed his wife]]. Yeah, he had a bit of a problem with that.
* The first lesson learned from the movie ''{{Taken}}'' is [[BrokenAesop never travel out of the country]]. The second is never, ''ever'', '''ever''' kidnap a [[RetiredBadass retired federal agent's]] daughter, as he will proceed to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge mercilessly carve a bloody swath]] through your organization to get her back.
--> '''[[spoiler: Saint Clair]]''': "Please understand... it was all business. It wasn't personal."
--> '''Bryan''': "It was all personal to me." (shoots him with every round in his pistol)
** I thought the first lesson learned from the movie was "Never trust nice strangers you meet at airports in France." Heck, I'm French by descent, and I know that if someone is happy at the Paris airport, they can only have evil on the mind.
* The whole reason Tom Sawyer wants to join the League in the film version of ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' is because the Phantom killed his Secret Service partner, who was also his childhood friend. He never actually comes out and says this was Huckleberry Finn, but it's pretty well implied. Unfortunately, the scene in which Tom explains this to the League was cut from the film and only appears in the DVD extras.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* This trope is OlderThanDirt. It's even in TheBible. God promises to punish all who harmed and will harm his children
**An infamous and brutal example in Genesis 34. Shechem, prince of Shechem, rapes Jacob's daughter Dinah, and then has the audacity to ask for her hand in marriage. Dinah's brothers say sure, but first you and the entire male population of Shechem have to be circumcised in accordance with their tradition (keep in mind that at this time, the "kingdom" of Shechem was probably a small city-state with a few hundred people). Shechem and the males agree, and are circumcised. With the newly circumcised men too sore to do anything, two of Jacob's sons, Levi and Simeon (and probably a number of servants and retainers Jacob's family, making it the size of a small tribe), enter Shechem and kill all the men, enslaved the women and children, and looted the town.
* A dramatic literary subversion, from TerryPratchett's {{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/MenAtArms'':
--> "He killed Angua. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"\\
"Yes. But personal isn't the same as important."
** In a later book, ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', Carrot decides to go to have a nap while pursuing [[spoiler:Angua's]] kidnappers by boat, on the basis that if he stayed awake fretting about her, he would be useless when they caught up to them.
* Partially subverted in [[TerryPratchett Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/{{Thud}} Thud!]]''. The baddies [[spoiler:and the Summoning Dark]] try to get the main character Vimes to make it personal multiple times. Whether they succeed is subject to discussion (though it does seem so in the end).
* [[HarryPotter Harry's]] conclusion of Dumbledore's reasoning for Harry's position as TheUnchosenOne. He doesn't really ''have'' to do it, but of course [[YouKilledMyFather Voldemort killed his parents]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
*''{{CSI}}'' usually starts or ends a season with an "It's Personal" episode.
** When the investigators fly off the handle, they sometimes violate some of the suspects' rights with their outbursts (Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle are especially guilty of this) or some of the ways they try to obtain evidence. As just one example, getting a suspect to give a urine sample through saying it's required by law, when it actually isn't, sounds like grounds to have the evidence thrown out of court, given that it was obtained under false pretenses, or was coerced.
** In early seasons, even if there weren't a direct relationship between the investigators and the criminals, the nature of the crime would often make the investigator ''take it personally'' themselves. For instance: domestic abuse, or overall violence towards women? Sara would sympathize. Broken marriages, or mothers (especially the working kind)? Catherine. Damaged childhoods? Nicky. Grissom himself explicitly stated that drug dealers and people who harm children make him furious.
*** "You prey on innocent children, and you think we came all the way out here to bust you for posession, you dumb punk?!"
* ''CSIMiami'', by contrast, features such episodes all the time. And when it's not threatening the characters, it's ''arresting'' the characters. It's so frequent, you'd think the whole place would get shut down by Internal Affairs just on...(cue dramatic sunglasses removal)general principles.
** '''''[[MemeticMutation YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHH!]]'''''
*''LawAndOrder,'' ItsPersonal episodes give us rare glimpses into the characters' home lives/personal histories (Logan confronts the priest who abused him in childhood, Logan tracks down his partner's killer, Briscoe tracks down his daughter's killer).
*''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law And Order: Special Victims Unit]]'''s Det. Olivia Benson is searching continuously for her mother's rapist/Benson's biological father. While only one ''SVU'' episode dealt with investigating Ma Benson's rape, this BackStory was touched on in any episode involving pregnancy from a rape and at other times as well. Det. Benson has also been stalked by perpetrators at least three times in six seasons. On the other hand, her partner, Elliot Stabler, has his buttons pushed by any crime involving children (which is roughly every episode that doesn't involve a rape). The series itself could be said to be made up almost entirely of ItsPersonal episodes, with each investigator having buttons that make them consider the case personal. (Why let someone work on a case they are clearly biased towards? No one ever plants evidence in this world, I guess...)
** Benson took it to the extreme when someone who was convicted because of her testimony and was later cleared by DNA evidence ''eight years later'' started ''actually'' killing people. Other people ''she'' had brought in and testified against. She took it so personally that she said she would accept responsibility for the man's ''crimes''. He committed SuicideByCop before the situation was resolved.
*''[[LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' did it too, with Goren and Eames finally solving the murder of Eames' late husband and also with the illness and death of Goren's mother.
* Happens with some frequency in ''{{ER}}''.
* This is the entire character description for ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''AngelTheSeries'' villain Angelus. And, for that matter, his {{Nemesis}}, Holtz.
** Also, Oz references the line as a suggestion after some failed quipping during sans-Buffy patrolling at the beginning of Season 3.
* Punned in ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Runaway Bride":
-->'''The Doctor''': It was all in the job title: Head of human resources.
-->'''Lance''': This time, it's ''personnel''.
** A suspiciously similar joke was made by Rory Bremner on MockTheWeek about David Blunkett.
** It's possible that "The Idiot's Lantern" went this way after the Wire fed on [[spoiler: Rose]], since the Doctor says upon finding out:
-->'''The Doctor''': There's not a force on the planet that can stop me now!
*Used as a StoryArc in ''{{Profiler}}'' and season one of ''{{Millennium}}''.
* After distinguishing itself in the beginning by ''not'' having episodes of this type, ''WithoutATrace'' has since had at least three.
* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' features this in pretty much every series. Over six hellish days, Jack has had to deal with [[spoiler: people he's already killed, his former partner, his former mistress, his mentor and his own family.]] He seems to have accepted this as standard practice, though- [[spoiler:he gets quite upset early on when his wife is murdered, but when his best friends are killed in Series 5 he barely even blinks.]]
* Alex Mahona and Wyatt in ''PrisonBreak''.. And it's [[PlayedForDrama not the cool kind]].
* Common on ''{{NCIS}}'', which contains quite a few examples of members of the team being either targeted for or accused of murder, in addition to the fact that Gibbs especially takes his ties to both the Navy and the Marine Corps seriously.
* If there is an episode of [[TheXFiles The X-Files]] that involves anything relating to Samantha Mulder, it's probably this trope.
** A more subtle example is in Season 3's "Revelations," where Scully, investigating a case of a young boy with ''stigmata'', is forced to confront the gulf between her Catholic faith and the scientific procedures she must follow as a federal agent.
* Used ''twice'' in the pilot to ''{{Leverage}}''. Dubenich gets Nate to take on the job because the company they're targeting is ensured by Nate's old company, who refused to pay for the procedure that could have saved his son. [[spoiler: When Dubenich turns on Nate and the team, Nate strikes back because he used his son's death as emotional blackmail.]]
*''SurvivalOfTheFittest has another example of this being done to a villain. [[AxCrazy Lenny Priestly]] takes any attack ([[LawOfDisproportionateResponse or anything he ''thinks'' is an attack]]) as personal and immediately becomes even more psychotic than usual. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] one at least on occasion though, where somebody had, to be fair, stabbed his sister through the chest.
** And we can't forget Adam Dodd's vendetta against Cody Jensen for [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon the murders of Amanda Jones and Madelaine Shirohara, with Madelaine haven been raped by Cody before having her throat ripped out with his teeth.]]]]
* Played with on ''LittleMosqueOnThePrairie'' when Reverend Magee beats Baber in a Koran quiz and the two of them have a fight over it: on accepting a rematch, Magee declares that this time it's personal, but Baber points out it was personal for him the first time, too. "Seriously, my feelings were hurt."
* In ''Lost'', The Others tend to see the survivors of the plane crash as interlopers on their island, and take a somewhat detached attitude to them, but their decisions, [[spoiler:particularly abducting Walt]], end up being personal for the survivors, especially when [[spoiler:Sawyer executes Tom after he surrenders "for taking the kid off the raft"]].
* In a pivotal scene in ''Firefly'', Mal and his tormentor are struggling near the edge of a {{Malevolent Architecture}} pit when Mal's allies arrive. It is played straight at first: Jayne raises his gun to shoot the tormentor, but is stopped by Zoe. "Jayne. This is something the Captain has to do for himself." Then [[spoiler:they invert it. Mal: "No! No it's not!" Zoe: "Oh." The ensemble promptly riddle the tormentor with bullets.]]
* In {{Life}}, Crews has pretty much taken the Roman situation to an ItsPersonal level after finding out that his partner's been abducted, probably by Roman, who has shown an increasing interest in her.
* Although on ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', the team seems to take it personal every time one of the main characters is hurt/threatened/kidnapped/killed/whatever, the conflict with the Goa'uld were personal for both Daniel (because of what happened to his wife) and Teal'c (because of his history as Apophis' First Prime). The team actually gets called on taking things too personally a few times, but they generally shrug it off.
* Fundamental to the show ''TheMentalist'', where the titular mentalist, Patrick Jane, is only helping the California Bureau of Investigation because they're his best shot at catching Red John, the SerialKiller who murdered Jane's wife and daughter. Also the reason why, at the start of the second season, the CBI has taken the Red John case away from the team Jane works with, because the team head was also losing her detachment from the case and indulging Jane's recklessness too much.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''FinalFantasyX'''s Auron is the stoic, quiet, [[OlderAndWiser all-knowing]], BadassLongcoat of the group, never losing his cool or raising his voice. He doesn't have to - his reputation and obvious awesomeness compels everyone else to fear and respect him. The one and only time we see any passion from him is when he and the heroes confront Yunalesca... [[spoiler:who, when he last saw her, calmly explained how his friends' deaths were meaningless, then killed him]]. Yes, he has a bit of a grudge there.
* [[MegaManZX Vent and Aile]] lost their mother to a Maverick raid on Area H ten years ago, and the lack of intervention on Slither Inc's part gave them a reason to hate the company. The truth behind it gives them a reason to search for Model W[[spoiler:... and that's to destroy it]].
** While we are on the subject of MegaMan, this is why Omega-Xis steals the Andromeda Key in the first MegaManStarForce game. His reason behind stealing the item is so that King Cepheus can't use it to [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up anymore planets]], like he did to Omega-Xis's home planet.
* Check the quote at the top of the page.
*It's a common enough multiplayer game trick to have allies beat all the mooks on the way to some huge big bad monster, but that monster you must defeat alone (so you get to win a quest at a lower level than would be doable alone, get powerful and untradable monster drops, or make a memorable revenge video against some enemy gang). Bonus points if both gangs are into roleplaying enough to stand aside while 2 people duel it out without interference.
* In ''Starcraft'', Raynor, Zeratul, Mengsk and Artanis have all sworn revenge against Kerrigan for her general Not-So-Magnificent Bastardry.
* ''{{Guild Wars}}'' [[ActionGirl warrior Devona]] has this battle quote:
-->Forget duty! This is personal!
* In TheWorldEndsWithYou, Neku starts to distrust Joshua after he finds out that [[spoiler: Joshua shot him]]. At the end of the chapter, Neku goes totally berserk on Sho Minamimoto after it's revealed that [[spoiler: The image Neku discovered was incomplete and Minamimoto shot him instead of Joshua.]] Neku gets another "It's Personal" moment while facing Kitaniji, who [[spoiler: possesses Shiki and the rest of Shibuya.]]
* In ''ShadowHearts: From The New World'', Ricardo signs on with Johnny after [[spoiler:his lover, Edna, is given the Kiss of Malice by Lady and turned into a conduit for monsters. He's forced to kill Edna himself to free her, and follows Johnny to make sure the one who turned his beloved into a monster dies.]]
* Reversed in [[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]], with the villain declaring It's Personal on the ''hero''. Volgin already intended to kill the [=CIA=] operative who had infiltrated his base. But after he found out what Snake did to Major Raikov...
-->'''The Boss''': Are you going to kill him?
-->'''Volgin''': Of course. But first, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown I will make him pay for hurting Ivan.]]
* AmericanMcGeesAlice: [[spoiler:The Mad Hatter trampled your friend the White Rabbit into the ground, causing Alice to break down... and when the Queen of Hearts slaughtered the Cheshire Cat, you knew Alice was going to break her into pieces.]]
* In the first ''{{Mercenaries}}'', the player character was going after [[BigBad General Song]] for the One Hundred Million Dollar bounty on his head. In the sequel, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ramon Solano]] hires you to rescue General Carmona, a friend of his. Carmona then launches a coup, and Solano is installed as the President of Venezuela. Rather than pay the merc and let them be on their way, Solano tries to have them executed. People trying to kill them? That's something Jennifer, Chris, and Mattias are used to. Getting screwed out of a paycheck? ItsPersonal now.
* The whole reason for Riku's actions in ''KingdomHearts'' is because he was desperate to save Kairi.
* [[{{Persona 4}} Yosuke]] is the hardest hit by the murder as Saki gets killed, he gets rather flared up when he finds the murderers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Subverted in OrderOfTheStick. Roy pursues Xykon due to an oath of revenge, but not for his sake. His father swore the oath after his mentor was killed by Xykon, but [[JerkAss was too lazy to persue it and handed it to Roy]] who tries to fufill it out of duty.
*If you failed to kill the target personally, the next best thing is to [[http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/186 resurrect him so you can kill him personally one second later]]. Bonus KickTheDog points if you claim intention to do it over and over!
* In ''TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' it comes admixed with a BadassBoast
-->'''Doc''': Rayner, you killed my mentor, and you kidnaped my sidekick. I met Death himself last night, and he's going to follow me all the way to your house. You made it ''personal''.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''SluggyFreelance''. Torg is all set to kill Lord Horribus for [[spoiler:killing Alt-Zoe]]. But, at the last second, he decides [[SaveTheWorld saving the world]] is more important, and settles for knocking Horribus down a steep hill instead.
** Though he wasn't ''exactly'' trying to "make him pay" -- [[spoiler:he wanted to make up for failing to keep her safe as he had promised]]. "That which redeems consumes."

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Doctor Horrible's]] rivalry with [[DesignatedHero Captain Hammer]] is more or less a fact of life for the both of them, with the Doctor trying to take down Hammer with nonlethal means, and getting thoroughly pounded on every time by the Captain. However, when Hammer announces to Horrible that he's going to sleep with [[LoveInterest Penny]] "just because you want her," [[ItsPersonal it gets personal.]] The normally [[TechnicalPacifist pacifistic]] Doctor upgrades his [[StunGuns Stun Ray]] to a DeathRay, and makes his intentions quite clear with his next song:
---> ''It's a brand new day, and the sun is high\\
All the birds are singing that you're gonna die!''
**For reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMR_wm92k1w
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Spoofed in the ''KidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation DODGEBALL", where the self-proclaimed "Dodgeball Wizard" lures Numbuh 4 into a dodgeball match by kidnapping his family. After finding the ransom note, Numbuh 4 dramatically declares "This time, it's personal!". When Numbuh 2 points out neither of them have ever met this Dodgeball Wizard, Numbuh 4 responds he just [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat wanted to use that line]].
* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' has recurring character Sideshow Bob attempting to rig the election for Mayor of Springfield by including the names of dead people and animals as those who voted for him. When Lisa's cat Snowball appears on the list, she angrily declares that "''now'' ItsPersonal!" Bart [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that Bob had previously tried to kill him.
** Another episode has Alec Baldwin use this line (in reference to Homer). When Kim Basinger and Ron Howard just look at him, Alec says, "What? He has our underwear!"
** Another episode subverts with little subtlety - in an episode of Police Chief Wiggum becoming determined to be a good cop ([[StatusQuoIsGod for the episode, of course]]), he realizes evidence for a case which involves a food. He tells the other cops that they're going to the Kwik-E-Mart. Lou says with exasperation "Chief, you already sent us there two times today.", to which Wiggum answers "Yeah, but this time, its ''not'' personal."
* Parodied in an episode of ''{{Futurama}}'', when giant alien brains are trying to gather all knowledge in the universe.
-->'''Fry''': So they're trying to learn things? The bastards!
-->'''Nibblonians''': Yes. Then, once it has collected all data in the universe it will open its protective shell, so as to scan itself.
-->'''Fry''': I'm as mad as I've ever been!
-->'''Nibblonians''': Then, it will destroy the universe, so no new information can come about.
-->'''Fry''': ''Now it's personal.''
* Subverted in ''BatmanBeyond''. Terry believes his relationship with Season One BigBad Blight is personal. Blight is ignorant of this.
-->'''Blight''': [being stalked from the shadows by Batman] Who are you?!
-->'''Batman''': [unseen, pauses] You really want to know?
-->'''Blight''': Yes!
-->'''Batman''': [enters] [[YouKilledMyFather You killed my father]].
-->[[{{Beat}} [Slight pause] ]]
-->'''Blight''': Do you have the slightest idea [[ButForMeItWasTuesday how little that narrows it down]]?
** Then again, Blight was turned into a "walking meltdown" thanks to a fight with [[BatmanBeyond Batman]], and Batman kept foiling his various schemes, to the point where Blight visably lost his temper at even the mention of Batman's name. So in a way it was personal for Blight too...just for completely different reasons.
* In the ''KimPossible'' episode "Car Alarm", the tweebs supe up Kim's CoolCar after Motor Ed blows outruns them. Emphasized by the shifty camera angle and the fact that they actually say "This time its personal!"
** Kim herself claims that it's way personal when Ron is kidnapped. And after everything that happens to her in So the Drama, can you blame her for wailing on Drakken and damn near cold bloodedly killing Shego?
* The fighting that goes on between ThePowerpuffGirls and [[ArchEnemy Mojo Jojo]] is taken to a new level when it revealed early on (and mentioned several times afterward) that Mojo could actually be considered the girls' true father, since he was directly responsible for their creation.
[[/folder]]

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