History Main / PreMeeting

* ''HEN'': Chizuru runs into Azumi in her boyfriend's apartment when Azumi first moves in, turns out she'll be attending the same school. GirlsLove ensues.

* 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 with a knife, 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 a bit lucky meeting him in person when the rain hits, though she already suspected that he might live in that particular area (Sasazuka) due to how cheap it is.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pre_meeting_0.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/negi_pre_meeting.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:That's her new teacher she's manhandling.]]

%%* ''[[Manga/KissHug Kiss/Hug]]''.

* In ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', Kafuka Fuura meets her suicidal teacher Nozomu trying to [[UnusualEuphemism "make himself taller"]] before class on the first day of school.
* In the softcore {{Hentai}} manga and anime ''Cinderella Express'', a young man on his way to his wedding meets an attractive young woman on the train. It turns out that she's a hooker his friends hired as a "farewell gift." After some apparently very hot sex (windows are steamed over), the woman leaves the train a stop before the man's destination, and he figures he'll never see her again. The next day at the wedding, it turns out she's his new sister-in-law, and she'll be staying with the newlyweds until she can get a place of her own....
* In ''Manga/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.
* At the end of the first episode of ''Anime/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.
* ''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 ''Manga/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.
** During the Arlong Park arc, Arlong's foremen see Luffy walking on his own. They intercept his path, ask him where he's going, Luffy casually says he's going for a walk, and he... keeps going. About an hour later, they'll be killing each other.
** Mr. 2 Bon Clay ends up on the Going Merry for a little bit, and they spend the day dancing about the Okama way. Mr. 2 hasn't realized they're the Straw Hats, and none of the Straw Hats knew he works for Baroque Works.
** At Water 7, the crew comes across the foremen shipwrights. Several of them turn out to be [[spoiler:CP 9 agents.]]
* ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'' 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.
* Used to disastrous effect in ''Manga/KoiKaze'' where Koshiro and Nanoka meet first on a train, go on a date together, THEN find out [[BrotherSisterIncest they're siblings.]]

* 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 with a knife, 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 a bit lucky meeting him in person when the rain hits, though she already suspected that he might live in that particular area (Sasazuka) due to how cheap it is.

* ''Film/LakeHouse'' (for Sandra Bullock's character).
* In ''Film/DanInRealLife'' Dan meets Marie at a bookshop and the two have a natural rapport, although it turns out that Marie has a boyfriend. The next day, Dan's brother Mitch turns up with his new girlfriend... guess who! And {{UST}} [[HilarityEnsues Ensues]]...
* Subverted in ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'' -- on his first day at a new school, Frank Jr. is accosted by a couple of students who snidely remark that he looks like a substitute teacher. He responds by ''pretending'' to be a substitute teacher, much to their dismay.
* In ''Film/GetSmart'', Max is contemplating being rejected on the field agent exam to a dog in some pet store display window, when a female jogger crashes into him, and they both fall down. They exchange a few words, and then she gets up and continues on her way. In the ''very'' next scene, as Max is looking around the shambles that remain of CONTROL's offices, someone briefly holds him at gunpoint, and it is....the same jogger, who turns out to be Agent 99.
* In ''Film/TopGun'', Maverick flirts with a woman at a bar, but crashes and burns. The next day, she's introduced as a civilian instructor at Miramar.

* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', the circus that the titular half-vampire travels with has a cadre of Little People -- strange, silent, zombie-like creatures with blue robes and glowing green eyes -- who seem to be guarding the circus from something, though they also do tasks like move equipment and sell souvenirs. In book 2, when he first joins the circus, he notices that one of them has a limp in his left leg, and nicknames that one Lefty. No one knows what the Little People are, and everyone is convinced that they can't talk, but in book 4, Lefty reveals that he can talk, and he has a name -- Harkat Mulds. Harkat becomes Darren's closest friend, and a large part of the plot from then on.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks''
** In the first episode, titled "First Day", Miss Brooks and Walter Denton have an altercation with Mr. Conklin on the road not knowing that he's the new high school principal hired to replace Mr. Darwell. Later, this incident was retconned as Miss Brooks was shown to have started working at Madison High School long after Mr. Conklin was hired as principal (i.e. the television episode "The Novelist")
** In the radio episode "Poison Ivy", Miss Brooks offends two important state board officials in the same morning - not knowing that she would be meeting them that afternoon.
** In the fourth season television episode "Transition Show", Miss Brooks twice bumps into Winona Nestor, causing her to spill the change in her purse. Later in the episode, Miss Brooks would find herself seeking employment with Miss Nestor.

%%* ''Series/CrossingJordan''.
* Some ''Series/DoctorWho'' examples:

* ''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...
** Earlier in the same game: a "random" transfer student asks Squall to give her a tour of the Garden. The girl is actually party member Selphie. [[spoiler:And a childhood friend Squall forgot about thanks to the memory loss he suffered from junctioning Guardian Forces.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': After the first "job," Cloud runs into a girl selling flowers...
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'': Zidane shows up to kidnap the princess and gets bumped into by a cute girl wearing a White Mage hood departing the castle.

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. Supertrope of IntroductionByHookup, when the previous meeting consists of the characters sleeping together.

* ''Manga/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.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/negi_pre_meeting.jpg]]]]

%%* ''[[KissHug Kiss/Hug]]''.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Negi bumps into Asuna on his first day on campus, who mistakes him for a lost elementary schooler.

* ''{{Peridot}}'': Akira, running from would-be rapists, bumps into Mahiru... who doesn't help her. Next day, at school...

* 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.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/negi_pre_meeting.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:That's her new teacher she's manhandling.]]

Used most often in romance stories, but it doesn't have to a love interest.

* ''[[KissHug Kiss/Hug]]''.

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' (second book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): When Shallan is traveling to the Shattered Plains to meet the man she is supposed to marry, she runs into Kaladin, who is in charge of patrols outside the warcamps. Due to a prank from Shallan's conwoman mentor, she ends up pretending to be a Horneater princess and stealing Kaladin's boots. It's only when Shallan arrives in the warcamps a few days later that she finds out that Kaladin is her soon-to-be father-in-law's captain of the guard.

[[folder:Television]]
* ''Series/CrossingJordan''.

** Harry Sullivan has a minor role in ''Robot'', but they do not ''really'' get to know each other until the following story, ''The Ark in Space''.
** In "Smith and Jones", Martha meets the Doctor when he approaches her in the street, takes off his tie and says "Like so!", and leaves. In the hospital where she's interning, she sees him posing as a patient but he claims not to know her. At the end of the episode, he proves that his TARDIS can move through time by time-traveling to the morning of their first encounter, then hopping out of the TARDIS while clutching his undone tie in his hand.

* 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]]