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Shwing! And the gibs paint a lovely picture in the moonlight.
"Now, Superstar Funana, we will retreat to opposite ends of the arena. We will run at each other. We will pass the other in mid-air. And fifteen seconds later, you will burst into blood."
Two enemies of nearly equal skill meet, about twenty yards apart. They may be ninja or samurai. They observe each other from a distance. The aspect ratio is widescreen, letterboxed if the show is shot in 4:3. They stand at opposite ends of a very wide, low-angle shot.
On cue — sometimes triggered by an outside event, such as a slowly falling flower petal touching the ground — they break into a sprint toward each other, leaning far forward, hands on weapons. Each character is shown in a frontal shot from the other's perspective.
Reaching critical distance, they leap. Each is shown leaping in a closeup, probably from the waist down, although the leap is simultaneous.
The characters move past each other in midair, weapons drawn, but no weapon strikes are shown. This happens in slow motion. They face forward and do not look back. Alternately there is the sound of steel on steel, but events pass too quickly for the audience to see what happened. If this is an anime, expect the screen to go black and the stroke to be painted by a white or blue streak across the screen.
Both characters land in a crouching position. They are shown in a shot from the front of one character, with the other in the background. This shot is usually shown for both characters.
A beat goes by.
One character falls to the ground, dead. Sometimes in pieces. The other stands.
Note: it is also incredibly common to have a beat go by, one character (99% of the time the hero) falls to one knee as if he has been hit, and then have the other character fall over dead. In Real Life, kendo kata #7 ends this way. Another common subversion involves revealing both combatants to have been injured (or killed).
An increasingly favoured method of ending the final fight in a movie already heavy on well-orchestrated brawls.
Contains some Truth in Television, even if embellished. Real swordfights often take only a few or even a fraction of a second (constrast this with Flynning).
Swordplay equivalent to Showdown at High Noon. One use of the Flash Step. Probably implies a One-Hit Kill. If the battle is one sided and the winner uses a flash step, then there is a good chance that the loser will preform a Snap to the Side before realizing that they've just been cut in two.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Board Games
- Depending on your point of view, the en passant rule in Chess could be seen as an example of this; one pawn takes a two-square charge forward, the other immediately steps past to end up standing behind it, and the first pawn is out of the game. However, the move is actually supposed to represent one pawn attacking the other "in passing" (which is what en passant means), so it is more accurately viewed as the first pawn being killed before he actually reaches his destination two squares away. This rule was added at the same time the option of moving a pawn 2 squares on its first move was added, to prevent players from using it to evade an opponent's threatening pawn.
Comic Books
- Usagi Yojimbo, 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.
- The last issue of Robin's solo title has Tim Drake being challenged to a duel to the death by his teacher, Lady Shiva. They meet, and have what looks like one of these, after which Tim is stumbling, with three broken ribs, while Shiva is standing triumphantly. Then, Shiva collapses, and Tim explains that he slipped her a paralytic poison, activated by a heightened heart beat, before she even made the challenge.
- The duel between Scott Pilgrim and Roxanne is a direct Shout Out to Ninja Gaiden, ending with a Diagonal Cut.
- The final battle between Leonardo and the resurrected Shredder ends this way in the first volume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Film
Literature
- Played seriously in David Weber's Flag in Exile, where Honor Harrington has to face a traitorous nobleman in a Trial By Combat. She took a second stroke, swinging back the other way from her initial stroke, but the first would've been fatal by itself without the second one decapitating her opponent.
- The final battle in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a magical variant of this trope. Harry and Voldemort circle each other. Harry explains that the horcruxes are gone, Voldemort is mortal, and he's doomed to lose the fight ahead. Harry's words lay out how hopeless the situation is and offer Voldemort a chance at salvation. Voldemort scoffs at the offer, the two each cast a single spell, Voldemort's wand flies from his hand, lands in Harry's, and Voldemort drops dead on the floor.
- Codex Alera has one of these in the final clash between the Vord Queen and Tavi at the Princeps Memorial.
- The Iliad is an endless series of these - of the literally hundreds of duels, only a few take more than a stanza.
- The fight between Willikins and Stratford near the end of Snuff. Willikins doesn't even bother to do the runup.
Live Action TV
- Asuka / Abareblack and his brainwashed love interest Mahoro / Jannu do this in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (after they'd already nearly killed each other more than once). The moment they run past each other becomes a a plot point - Mahoro uses it to touch their cheek-markings, which lets them communicate mentally. She uses this moment to tell him she's no longer brainwashed, and is going to be helping them from inside the enemy base.
- Happens near the end of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, 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—YEARGHH!" and violently exploding.
- Kaiketsu Lion Maru, Kamen No Ninja Akakage, and Henshin Ninja Arashi have all had battles like this at one time or another.
- Happens in a swordless manner in Ultraman Tiga 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.
- Satirized in Kamen Rider Kabuto in a single-pass duel between makeup artists (both male). Whoever ends up prettiest (due to the opponent's makeup application) loses.
Video Games
- The Explorer in Age of Empires is always given 2 or 3 special attacks that often end in a single stroke battle
- Baiken's Instant Kill from Guilty Gear is a classic Single Stroke Battle, concealed by a paper screen. (After the beat, there's a splash of blood onto said screen as the blow takes effect.)
- Sora in Kingdom Hearts II can initiate a reaction command when fighting a Samurai Nobodies. When pressed, everything else on the screen freezes as Sora and the samurai take stance. There are even cherry blossoms fluttering over their heads. After about 2 or 3 seconds, the words "The End" appear in one of your (now empty) command boxes. You have to get to and click on "The End" in time to win the face-off. Regardless of who wins or loses, the two opponents suddenly strike each other, the screen goes white for a second, and the victor is shown behind the victim with their weapon drawn as the opponent recoils with pain.
- In the Japan-only Final Mix+ version of the game, the same applies to their controller, Roxas (now a boss, instead of a cutscene). Initiating the Duel Stance reaction command shows a scene of the two charging at each, Keyblades at the ready and in slow-mo. If Sora selects the right command in time, he'll knock Roxas into the air and telekinetically steal his Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades, using them in tandem with his regular combos for a short period of time until Roxas (now reduced to his light powers) steals them back. If Sora fails, let's just say he'll be feeling sore in the morning. Or not.
- After fighting Luxord in the World That Never Was, the battle ends when Luxord tries to put up a wall of cards around himself, but Sora just sprints right at him and slices through the cards (and Luxord) with one swing. Cue Sora's Ass Kicking Pose.
- Also in II, Bonus Boss Sephiroth always opens up the battle with and afterwards periodically uses a move called "Flash", where the screen darkens, Sephiroth makes a short remark ("That's enough."), and he dashes past Sora with quick footwork. If Sora doesn't use the "Reflect" reaction command (or—with very good timing—use Reflect or even jump), Sora is struck by multiple invisible blows that usually bring Sora's health down to critical levels (if underleveled/unprepared, this almost certainly spells disaster).
- Terra in Birth by Sleep can meld together other commands to get Zantetsuken to use in normal combat. Much like its Final Fantasy origins, it can take out a normal enemy in one swing, if you're lucky. Otherwise, it just does regular damage. It's ineffective against bosses though.
- At the end of the "YMCA" level of Elite Beat Agents, a ship captain engages in this against a pirate skeleton. The level "La La" also uses it, as a white blood cell (portrayed as a nurse) fights a virus this way... several times. Yes, it's a weird game.
- Not to be outdone, the "Julia ni Shoushin" level of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 features a Single Stroke Battle between two rival barbers. The winner shaves the kanji for "loser" into his opponent's head.
- Naturally, this is also the ending to one of the multiplayer scenarios— the vampire and the yeti do this, and depending on which player played better (or maybe they tied, it's surprisingly common), one (or both) of them falls down in defeat.
- The opening to the NES game Ninja Gaiden features such a scene. It plays out almost exactly as the scene described in the main article.
- Its arcade predecessor, featuring Ryu versus one of the hockey-mask Mooks. The Continue screen is just as dramatic.
- Capcom's cutesy arcade fighting gameSuper Gem Fighter Mini-Mix features the ninja Ibuki from Street Fighter III. One of her Supers in this game was to dash at the enemy (all kitted out for it, too!): contact results in a single stroke that slices the enemy into tiny cubes (it's all very cartoonish).
- Parodied in the Samurai Kirby minigame where Kirby and his opponent dress up as samurai and attack each other with silly weapons such as paper fans and frying pans.
- Except for Meta Knight, who you attack with your sword. He's damn near impossible to beat, as well.
- If you do manage to beat him, his mask gets cut in half.
- The minigame was originally a western gunslinger duel, where the guns that Kirby fire get increasingly ridiculous.
- A version of this appears in Soulcalibur III, just before the penultimate battle in story mode (regardless of which character is played or the story path). Siegfried and Nightmare square off in the cutscene, swing their swords simultaneously, there's a one-second beat, then one of them falls over. Which one survives to fight the player depends on which character you are playing at the time: good characters fight Nightmare, evil ones fight Siegfried. If you have chosen either of those characters, you simply fight the other.
- This is also how Siegfried kills Nightmare in his ending in Soulcalibur IV.
- Also, playing vs matches with health set to 0% can do this, handy for farming the vs match total count.
- In the awesome manga adaptation of Rockman X2, 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 Big Bad, 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, 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.
- The PS2 game Shinobi carries this to its logical conclusion: upon defeating an opponent, a timer would start to count down at the bottom of the screen, and each time another opponent was defeated the timer would start over. Meanwhile, the protagonists magical vampiric katana would glow, with the glow intensifying with each successive kill, and the damage inflicted by an attack also increasing. When all goes well, every enemy in an area is killed within the fairly limited time available, at which point the camera flashes to each defeated enemy in turn before returning to the protagonist (in a suitably cocky victory pose, sword sheathed), at which point every enemy would simultaneously slide apart. Also, several boss fights are effectively impossible without the extra damage potential that comes from killing six monsters in seven seconds.
- The Odin summon from various Final Fantasy games would randomly kill all on-screen enemies (or would simply deal a good chunk of damage to a single foe). The Final Fantasy VIII version follows the trope to a T (except for Odin being mounted). Appropriately, Odin's unexpected death in that game at the hands of Seifer came in the form of a one-stroke battle as well.
- To put that last part in perspective, Seifer counters Odin's Zantetsuken with a move (judging by the kanji shown afterward) called the "Zantetsuken Reverse". It only involves Seifer raising his free hand. That's right. The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort was used to enact a Single Stroke Battle. Luckily for the player, this cutscene leads to a Big Damn Heroes moment from Gilgamesh, who shows up several turns later to one-shot Seifer with some Razor Wind and then joins the party as a semi-Guardian Force replacement for Odin.
- Odin and Raiden show up in Final Fantasy VI, but Cyan is capable of doing this by himself, and without magic. His top-level Swordtech/Bushido skill has him charge across the field of battle with his sword out, leap back to his original position, flourish his blade, and (hopefully) watch all the enemies on the field fall to pieces. He can even kill ghosts with that move.
- Final Fantasy VII has a "Flash" command obtainable by increasing the level of the "Slash-All" materia. Flash instantly kills all enemies...but only if "Death" attacks are allowed by them.
- The Yojimbo summon in Final Fantasy X has the special move zanmato, which follows the trope exactly and cleaves pretty much any in-game enemy in half, as a non-standard enemy death scene to boot.
- In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, one of Zack's memories of Sephiroth triggered by the DMW involves him doing this to a monster. Of course, it's Cutscene Power to the Max.
- Final Fantasy Tactics has a variation. In an early cutscene, we are shown two knights fighting. One rushes at the other, sword raised for a downward strike, but the other merely steps out of the way before striking.
- The final ability of the Samurai in Final Fantasy V, Iainuki, attempts to kill off all enemies when used, after a long charge time. The catch? It doesn't always hit, and undead enemies get back up with full health.
- Similarly, in Breath of Fire 2, Jean's "Chop" wiped out all enemies.
- Vergil of Devil May Cry 3 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: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.
- This shows up a lot in Samurai Warriors. Notable instances of the trope are the endings for Ranmaru Mori, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Oda Nobunaga.
- The closely related Dynasty Warriors series also has a few examples, such as Guan Yu's death in DW5.
- The Mortal Draw technique from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an on-demand Single Stroke Battle. Link has to have his sword sheathed and not targeting his intended target to pull it off, but in most cases, as the instructor says, "the Mortal Draw deals death."
- Read: It works on mooks. Doesn't kill the armored lizards let alone dark nuts. So much for armor not mattering.
- It also works on mini-bosses; once you've used whatever item you need to stun them and expose their weakpoint, you can use the Mortal Draw to finish them quick.
- It really verges on Useless Useful Spell in all honesty. The instruction specifically states that "there is no counter" along with "the mortal draw deals death". It's VERY strongly suggested that it ALWAYS kills the target. Trick being there are several enemies that can BLOCK it outright ("no counter" right?) and most of the others you'd want to use it on, it simply does (VERY) high amounts of damage rather than killing them. But everything you really, really, really want to one hit kill... it doesn't, in direct contradiction of the instruction you get when you unlock it. And not just bosses either.
- The first trailer for No More Heroes features Travis and Helter Skelter in a Single Stroke Battle. Travis wins, and Helter either collapses, or has his head removed, depending on the trailer version. "Your shining armor and fine words won't get you anywhere!"
- In Tekken 3, Yoshimitsu's move "Yoshimitsu Blade" is a nasty two-handed whack in the stomach with the hilt of his energy sword. However, if the target happens to be running at full pace towards you, Yoshi quickly turns the sword upwards at the end of the move and runs the poor sap through, dealing heavy damage.
- Tekken Tag Tournament: the ending cutscenes for Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu begin the same way, with them engaging in this. Whoever the player used wins against the other.
- Also happens in the ending cutscenes of Tekken 5 for Anna and Nina, although in this case, it was for a movie shoot. If it's Anna's ending, she (the victor) fakes her defeat against the script (unlike Nina's ending). It does pay off for Anna, though, as the blow had the unintentional effect of causing a wardrobe malfunction for Nina, treating the film crew (and the player) a peak at an embarrassed Nina hastily trying to cover herself as a Sexophone plays in the background. Anna gets a chuckle out of her sister's predicament.
- In the Samurai Shodown games, the player has the ability to break their POW gauge in order to allow an Issen attack, which effectively describes this trope, but it's generally seen as a cheap attack. Issen will do more damage to the enemy the less damage your character has, and will do almost a 3/4 of the maximum health when only a sliver of health is left for your character. If both characters use Issen, the battle will usually end in a draw.
- One of the Samurai Shodown 64 games resolved draws using this trope. Also one of Ukyo Tachibana's desperation attacks from that era was an issen-like attack. Genjuro also can use it in one of the crossover games he appears in.
- The Bushido Blade series may do this trope the best for video games. Any attack can be fatal, so while some battles involve extensive parrying or countering, others end with a single, perfectly placed stroke.
- This editor and his cousin used to accidentally do the same basic leap attack at the same time about one duel in five. See the trope description.
- Jin and Hakumen from BlazBlue have the Yukikaze move *
Jin gets it in Continuum Shift, if you're playing Calamity Trigger and about to say "I don't see shit, captain". , which follows a counter. Yeah, they're the same person... sort of, why do you ask?
- The third mission of Vanguard Bandits features a duel between Kamorge and Faulkner that ends this way. There is also a move called the Wind Strike, which essentially allows players to do this to enemies.
- God Hand: The Daisy Cutter God Reel move looks like this. Gene blows the target into the air, slides past it, then punches his fists together, causing an explosion. Azel kills off the Three Evil Stooges this way.
- This can happen in Halo 2 if both players use the sword dash.
- Straw Hat Samurai is a game based on this trope.
- The first trailer for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood shows Ezio slashing at a horseman who goes past and stays on his horse for a while before falling off.
- A sword in Team Fortress 2, called the Half-Zatoichi, allows the player to one-hit kill another player who is also wielding this sword.
- In Dragon Quest 9 the move 'Blind Man's Biff' has an animation which looks rather like this. Although, as it strikes a random opponent, it's not going to allow for a Single Stroke battle unless it's against a single opponent you're assured of OHKO-ing.
Webcomics
Web Original
- Outright abused in Ree v. Seth, parts two and three, when the trope starts as usual. All of Ree's demons fall off, and she congratulates her opponent. He informs her that she probably shouldn't be in the tournament, then tells her she won. Then he basically explodes blood. The artist even lampshades it in the description.
- Bunny Kill just can't get enough of these. Part 3.2 has a grenade-vs-blade standoff.
- The final boss fight in College Saga ends with one of these.
Western Animation
- Occurs twice in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, first during a duel between Leonardo and the Shredder in the show's first season, in an adaption of a similar battle in the first volume of the original comic, the second in a duel between posthumous character Hamato Yoshi and rival turned evil Yukio Mashimi in the fourth.
- Used often in Samurai Jack, though one example stands out. A race of mountain-dwelling rock people drive their entire culture towards the creation of a sword of incredible power. It is frozen in a block of ice after being molded out of hard crystals and molten slag, tempered by dragon fire and hammered by dozens at once, sharpened on a grindstone powered by starving boars with meat hanging in front of them running on a treadmill, has runes written on it by a druid, who calls down lightning to strike it. It crackles with lightning as we see it cut through solid stone as if it were butter. A gladitorial competition is held to find the mightiest of their warriors, who is sent to face Jack with the sword. Jack cuts the sword in half without even breaking his stride.
- However it should be noted that Jack's Own Blade has also passed trhough a Similar Process, making this also a case of "Jack's Sword is Holier than yours
- Used by Asajj Ventress to take care of the last fighter in the battle that introduces her, and the nearest thing to an actual threat to her, in Clone Wars.
- Used without swords in the fourth-season finale of Jackie Chan Adventures. Two of the best fighters in the show both charge Tarakudo at the same time, in mid-air...and both of them are knocked to the ground completely beaten a second later, with Tarakudo landing on his feet completely unharmed.
- G.I. Joe: Resolute has this with Snake-Eyes vs a random mook. The mook had an assault rifle. I think we all know what happened. (Hint: this.) Subverted later when he does the SSB with Storm Shadow and neither fall.
Real Life
- Supposedly, this is how Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō.
- Historically Kojirō then proceeded to attack again from on the ground, until Musashi stoved in his ribcage with an oversized bokken. Said oversized bokken was carved from an oar Musashi picked up while traveling to the island where the duel took place. It should also be noted that the duel counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for both men: Musashi, beating the toughest swordsman he ever faced, and Kojirō, proving he could stand toe-to-toe with the greatest swordsman who ever lived. Interested tropers can read up on the whole thing at Kojirō's wikipedia article.
- The fleche, a fencing move, works like this. It's basically a way to make a running attack relatively gracefully. The point of the move is that the referee will halt the match and allow both fencers to reassume their stance if one fencer passes the other without scoring, solving the obvious problem that if you miss you're going to end up in a bad position. Sabre fencers especially became notorious for turning matches into jousting contests until the fleche was banned for that sword.
- Sabre was practically reduced to this trope until the ban - which was not on the fleche (though this was the primary cause for the ban), but specifically on crossing one's feet while advancing (which effectively rendered the technique impossible), through crossing on the retreat remains legal. Here's a breakdown of pre-ban sabre: "En garde! Ready! FENCE!" *both sabreurs meet in the middle* "Halt! Simultaneous action. En garde!" If this repeated three times (which it often did), the president would activate a "coin toss" function on the score box, which would randomly indicate one of the sabreurs, who would then have priority and thus be awarded the hit if the next action was simultaneous. The ban has improved the quality of sabre fencing beyond measure - not only is it more technical than it had previously been, it has become the fastest, most energetic weapon and now boasts the best footwork of any weapon as a result.
- Incidentally, a technique known as the "flying lunge", or "flunge", - essentially a lunge accompanied by a forward leap - has been incorporated to replace the fleche, which is more difficult to pull off and is more easily defended against. Cool though...
- There's also a rather well known (in fencing circles anyway) picture of two fencers attempting simultaneous fleches and running straight into each other. It's probably the sport's Crowning Moment of Funny.
- Iaido is an art that teaches cutting an enemy in the act of drawing your sword, among other skills, and most actual Japanese sword arts center around killing or maiming an opponent in a One-Hit Kill.
- Professional kendo is made of this. Normaly, both contestants taunt a bit, maybe try to pull off a feint and then strike almost at the same time; all that in no more than three seconds. Though it's more of a Single Stroke Round, if the fighters were using real swords (which was the case of the ancient samurai duels) the first one to strike would be the winner.
- Replace swords with lances, and this trope is how medieval jousts worked. Even the subversions are the same.
- In Judo and Brazilian Jiujitsu the flying armbar can end matches in a single move.
- During the Bakumatsu, Ishin Shishi assassin Gensai Kawakami famously cut down Shōzan Sakuma in broad daylight in a single stroke.
- This boxing match from the 90s between fringe heavyweight contender Jimmy Thunder and Crawford Grimsley. Grimsley made the mistake of trying to come right at the 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.
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