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Young Ruri: Excuse me. What is the meaning of this word? " Baka"? Teacher: Um... That's a word that you shouldn't use in polite conversation. Young Ruri: Baka...
A major character has some sort of catchphrase or other profound statement which defines his/her character. A Flashback to Catchphrase is a flashback which takes place before the series chronology (or at least before this major character was introduced) which shows the moment in which the phrase came into their vernacular.
Sometimes they come up with it themselves and automatically remember it due it occurring at a pivotal moment in their lives. Other times it's depicted in more of a throwaway-moment where they just like the way it sounds.
In some situations it's another character, sometimes appearing only in this flashback, giving some sage advice which forms the basis for said catchphrase or profound sentiment.
Some examples even show that hitherto, the character had been engaging in the opposite fashion of their familiar, later, catch-phrase spouting self before learning their signature words!
Compare Ironic Echo, Meaningful Echo.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- At the beginning of Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin says his motto that "a sword is a weapon, and kenjutsu is the art of killing". Later we learn this phrase comes from his sensei Hiko.
- Early on in Naruto, Kakashi says "Ninjas who break the rules are scum. But ninjas who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Later, there's a flash back in which, on a mission, Kakashi had been attempting to follow the rules strictly to the letter at the expense of a captured teammate, and his other teammate pretty much says this.
- On paper, though this looks like an asspull, as the flashback takes place in the Shippuden series, which takes place after a 3-year time skip, which is also after the 200+ episodes of the original series...
- In the manga though, the flashback happened much earlier - they just didn't animate it until Shippuden, for some reason.
- During Martian Successor Nadesico's origin episode for Ruri, among the other things she experienced in the facility where she was raised, we learn that she was inexplicably drawn to the word "baka" the moment she saw it, as shown in the page quote. By this point the viewer knows well that she latched onto it for the rest of her life.
- Several times in Gundam Wing, Heero Yuy states "The best way to live your life is by acting on your emotions." The prequel manga Episode Zero shows that he picked up the phrase from his mentor-slash-father figure Odin Lowe and it's one of the last things he says to 8-year-old Heero before dying.
Film
- Interestingly inverted in Back to the Future, with Doc's "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything!" being repeated by Marty to his 17-year-old father while in 1955, to discover back in the future that George has adopted it as his motto.
- Another inversion, Older Doc's use of the word "heavy".
- Star Wars-The creation of C3PO's name comes from the sequels.
Literature
- In the Discworld novel Night Watch, a Time Traveling Vimes, buying a pie from a young CMOT Dibbler, says "And that's cutting your own throat, eh?". While the young salesman is initially confused he later decides he likes the sound of it, supposedly creating a Stable Time Loop (although not really, as the man Vimes is pretending to be was a real person in the original timeline. On the other hand, who knows?
- In Honor Harrington, the main character's Catch Phrase is "Let's be about it." On her midshipwoman's cruise, guess what her first commanding officer seems to say at every opportunity?
- A number of Harry Dresden's spell phrases and sayings are this. Being Jim Butcher's works, these almost always overlap with Stealth Pun. Fliccum Bicus? Harry tried to cheat at a fire-starting spell. [DuMorne] told Harry that he wouldn't always be able to "flick his bic".
- Happens a ton in Ghost Story, though it's justified at length as part of being a ghost.
Live Action Television
Video Games
Web Original
- The Order of the Stick's Big Bad, Xykon, adopted his name as a teenager after meeting a thinly-veiled parody of Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men?specifically because he thinks names that start with "X" sound cooler.
- Also, Haley's distaste for her lime green Boots of Speed (mentioned several times throughout the strip) is shown to be the result of Crystal mocking them on their first meeting.
- "Memory is the key." in Red vs. Blue. So much that ''Caboose'' lampshades this ("Aren't we done with this already?")
Western Animation
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