History ArcWords / AnimeAndManga

%%* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The "[[SecretLegacy Will of D.]]", referring to those with the initial D. in their name. And when we say it's a Secret Legacy, it's so secret that none of the people with that initial know its significance, because the World Government (who ''do'' know the secret) actively suppresses that knowledge to the point of erasing it from characters' bounty posters. If someone pops up with that initial, expect them to make ''waves''.

%%* ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': "The Signpost of History".

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Alchemy's First Law of EquivalentExchange ("Mankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return") is a central piece of the story in all incarnations, being both the foundation of the story's magic system and a philosophical maxim that informs many characters' outlook on the world.
%%** "One is All, All is One"
%%** The referral to the alchemists who practised human transmutation as 'sacrifices' is very thinly explained until the relevant plot point.

* ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': "The Signpost of History".

%%** The FauxlosophicNarration BadassCreed at the start of each episode ("..Two maidens who govern death..") is promoted to Arc Words later on in the series itself. ]

%%* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
%%** The "Will of D."
%%** "the coming of Dawn", and "Dawn" in general has been fairly prominent in the latter half of the manga, not to mention terms such as Romance Dawn, the name of the first chapter, and its acociation with "the new Era"

%%** Making a finger gun and saying "Bang." Only happens twice, but the difference between those two occasions sums up pretty much the entire arc of the storyline.
%%** References to "the blues". The first and last episodes both have "Blues" in their title.
%%** [[BookEnds Green]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext bell peppers.]]

%%* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
%%** "Mankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. This is Alchemy's First Law of EquivalentExchange."

* ''Manga/GoodbyeMyRoseGarden'' "Black spot." It's first mentioned in a flashback, when a young Alice's governess Eliza tells her about the black spot, and how it must be excised lest it consume the rose garden. Later on, after Alice's fiancé Edward learns about her being in love with Hanako, he tells Hanako that she is the black spot in Alice's rose garden that must be removed. Later on, Alice considers herself the black spot on her family's rose garden.

%%* ''Anime/HellGirl'': "When one is damned, two graves are dug."

%%** Sonozaki's words ressonate through the series whenever Katsuhira thinks about bonds. "Everyone wants to carve their scars into someone else. Everyone wants to connect with someone else."

* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Amon and Kaneki both note that, ''"[[CrapSackWorld The World is Wrong]]."'' The final chapter of the original series repeats this over and over again, foreshadowing the DownerEnding. The words are brought back in the sequel, '':re''. By the end, it has changed as Kaneki has his HeelRealization that "the world isn't wrong. It just ''is''.

%%* ''Manga/GiantRobo'': "The Beautiful Night" and "Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?" from the {{OVA}}s.

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': "The Signpost of History".

%%* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': "The Signpost of History".

%%* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':

* ''Manga/AoAshi'': "A man is but a thinking reed." Said by Hana to Ashito during his tryouts for Esperion FC, it is based on a quote from Blaise Pascal's Pensées, which argues that although man is of a meek existence, it's ability to think for itself makes it more valuable than those that cannot, which reflects Ashito's ability to make up for his average build and poor football skills with his immense spatial awareness and game sense.

** ''Plus Ultra'' (Latin for ''Go Beyond''). It's U.A.'s motto, and exemplifies how heroes must learn how to go beyond their limits in order to save people and stop villains.
** ''Origin'': Some chapters/episodes show backstories on select heroes amd villains, with this in the title. Occasionally, someone tells them, or they tell themselves, to ''remember where they started from'', their "origin", if you will. Virtually everyone out there, hero ''or'' villain, has a reason to fight, and they all have some sort of end goal in mind.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': ''Plus Ultra'' (Latin for ''Go Beyond''). It's U.A.'s motto, and exemplifies how heroes must learn how to go beyond their limits in order to save people and stop villains.

%%* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': The Golem arc has "You get what you give".

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'':
** "If you don't fight, you can't win!"
** Armin's words ring out multiple times during Episodes 24 and 25:
---> To rise above monsters, we must abandon humanity. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters What we fight, we become.]]
** Variations of Mikasa's words often get used throughout the series by various different characters:
---> The world is a very [[CrapsackWorld cruel place]]...but that's what makes it beautiful.
** Key words relevant to each arc:
*** The Battle of Trost: "Human."
*** The Female Titan: "Trust" and "Regret."
*** Clash of the Titans: "Identity."
*** Uprising: "Power" and "Will."

* ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead'': "Sono me, dare no me?" ("Those eyes, whose are they?")
* ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'': "A person just for me..."
* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'': Mary Magdalene. Used to the point that the name is actually worked into the title logo.
* Lots of Creator/{{CLAMP}} works, especially ''Manga/XxxHolic'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', and ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', involve the idea of "hitsuzen" -- an event, meeting, or other twist of fate that was determined by previous actions or decisions, and is thus unavoidable. Usually, a phrase along the lines of "There are no such things as accidents. There is only hitsuzen." is used, with "hitsuzen" sometimes translated as fate or destiny. The idea is that people determine their fates with their decisions and actions.
** To make sure it was absolutely clear, the English dub uses the term inevitability.
** ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' also makes frequent reference to the phrase "daijoubu", meaning "alright", referring to the importance in Sakura's belief that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve everything will turn out okay in the end]].

** Also, Nagisa's "If you like, shall I take you to the place in town where dreams come true?" Appears in the first episode, later as the first line of her play, and [[spoiler:in the GrandFinale of ~After Story~]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has "The only who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed". Said first by [[MagnificentBastard Lelouch]] when using his [[NoEyeInMagic Geass]] for the first time to kill a corrupt military officer, he repeats it several times over both series of the show. It all ties together at the end when [[spoiler:after spilling oceans of blood on both sides of the war, Lelouch's [[ThePlan grand plan]] culminates in him [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing his life]] to bring peace to the entire world.]]

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' has references to dreams. "He lived his life as though it were a dream" and "It's all a dream" are the most common variations. When somebody mentions dreams, either something ''[[WhamEpisode big]]'' to happen, or it already did.
** Making a finger gun and saying "Bang." Only happens twice, but the difference between those two occasions sums up pretty much the entire arc of the storyline.
** References to "the blues". The first and last episodes both have "Blues" in their title.
** [[BookEnds Green]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext bell peppers.]]
* There is much significance to the word "Awakening" in ''Anime/ErgoProxy.''
** Occasionally the phrase "Can you feel the pulse of the awakening?" was used, too.
** "Raison d'Etre"(French, "reason for existence")
* ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'' -- "Are you there?"
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': The series has not an Arc Word, but an Arc Letter: "E". It's one of the letters Igneel is shown teaching main character Natsu Dragneel in a flashback early in the manga; Natsu later takes one of eight paths marked "E" during the exam on Sirius Island, thinking he'd get to fight Erza because her name begins with an E; Lucy also reasons that Mavis's grave is on the same path after [[BatDeduction deducing that "demise" is the only six-letter word related to "grave" that has two E's in it]]. [[spoiler:This takes a dramatic turn when the initials for [[BigBad Zeref]]'s most powerful demon, E.N.D., are revealed to stand for '''E'''therious '''N'''atsu '''D'''ragneel ("Etherious" being the standard name for any demon born from the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Books of Zeref]])]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** "Mankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. This is Alchemy's First Law of EquivalentExchange."
** "One is All, All is One"
** The referral to the alchemists who practised human transmutation as 'sacrifices' is very thinly explained until the relevant plot point.
** Lust's character arc in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has the arc words "Where did I come from? Where will I go?"
** "The truth that lies within the truth" (Dr. Marcoh's cryptic message to Ed).

** Anime/GaoGaiGar ''FINAL'' has the oft mentioned, never quoted Oath Sworn Through Courage, which serves as a source of strength for the cast as they encounter the enemy.
* "Voodoo Child" are Himiko's personal ArcWords in the ''Manga/GetBackers'' manga.

** In the form of the many [[spoiler:{{Title Drop}}s]] within the series, since [[spoiler:Stand-Alone Complex]] is the mastermind behind both seasons. [[spoiler:To be precise, there is no ManBehindTheMan, but rather people believing there is and becoming followers of no-one.]]
* ''Manga/GiantRobo'':
** "The Beautiful Night" and "Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?" from the {{OVA}}s.
** Another arguable example would be "Big Fire." For most of the series, we're led to believe that Big Fire is nothing more the name of the global criminal superorganization which opposes the Experts. Only in the next-to-last episode do we learn that [[spoiler:Big Fire is a ''person'', and all those worshipful chants the BF members were fond of shouting ("Hail Big Fire! Alliance or death!" and so forth) were in reference to him, not the eponymous organization over which he reigns.]]
* ''Manga/GirlsGoAround'': "Are you regretting something"?
* ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime'': "Time waits for no one."

* Anime/{{Gunbuster}} and Anime/{{Diebuster}}:
** "[[{{Determinator}} HARD WORK]] AND [[HotBlooded GUTS]]!":
** "[[spoiler:Welcome Home]]."
* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** "Three years ago" in the anime (and first novels). {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Kyon, "I'm getting a little tired of the 'three years ago'."
** In the 9th novel, "three years ago" becomes "four years ago" since at that point roughly a year has passed since the start of the series.
** The name "John Smith".
* ''Anime/HellGirl'': "When one is damned, two graves are dug."

** From the ''[[Anime/{{Hellsing}} TV series]]'' only: "In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen."
* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', "Pure has now become Impure, Impure has now become Pure," for the Band of Seven/Mt. Hakurei arc.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has a few of these:

* ''Anime/{{Kiznaiver}}'':
** "One for all, all for one", which Sonozaki rephrases to "One for all, all for victory".
** Sonozaki's words ressonate through the series whenever Katsuhira thinks about bonds. "Everyone wants to carve their scars into someone else. Everyone wants to connect with someone else."

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': "When you pilot Mazinger Z, you can become a god or a devil with its power."
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', the Innovators often mention or allude to what they call "the dialogues to come", which according to Revive is a concept beyond human comprehension. However, after [[spoiler:[[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Setsuna becomes an Innovator]], it's hinted that these "dialogues" may be referring to what he believes is Aeolia Schenberg's plan for human evolution.]]
** It's suggested that it means humanity's first contact with aliens, and that humanity would have to suppress its warlike nature and internal conflicts to prevent an interstellar war.

* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'':
** "The monster inside me has grown so big!"
** Also, "People can become whatever they want to be" and "Welcome home" are both phrases that plague Nina's memory. Their significance is eventually explained.
* In ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia'', Hatou's considerations on storytelling are repeated in slightly different ways several times. Her struggle with how to tell the story suddenly becomes more understandable, considering we're talking about [[spoiler:a [[TheMultiverse multiverse epic]] [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold only she has the whole, huge perspective of.]]]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** "The Will of Fire"
** "The King" in the Hidan and Kakuzu arc.
** "Pain" in the Hunt for Uchiha and Pain Invasion arcs.
** "I'm an Avenger" -Sasuke
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** Variations on "[[{{Determinator}} Always keep moving forward]]" tend to crop up in plot-important moments.
** The manga is an interesting case, in that the actual ArcWords ("a little bit of courage") rarely show up. Rather, after the one time someone compared the need to rush bravely in (rather than hanging back and giving your opponent time to prepare) to the ArcWords, the concept of bravery and aggression, as well as trusting your training, comes up more and more. This makes it more of an [[ArcWords Arc Concept]] than anything.
** A straighter example would be "IAmYourOpponent", which recurs often, even in mundane fights.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has a few:
** The most recognizable by far is "[[SurvivalMantra I mustn't]] [[MadnessMantra run away.]]"
** "I'm home." "Welcome home."
** To a lesser degree, "Unfamiliar Ceiling".
** For a much more [[NeverTrustATrailer ironic taste]], "[[{{Fanservice}} Service]]."

* ''Anime/{{Noir}}'': The FauxlosophicNarration BadassCreed at the start of each episode ("..Two maidens who govern death..") is promoted to Arc Words later on in the series itself. Also, "If love can kill people, surely hatred can save them."
** ''Thus spake the Hermit, the blood of the soldats shall run through the wilderness and mingle with the great sea...''
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** The "Will of D."
** Also a rare case of a series where the title itself qualifies as arc words. The words "One Piece" are hardly ever spoken in the show's dialog. When it is mentioned, it's always a major event.
** "the coming of Dawn", and "Dawn" in general has been fairly prominent in the latter half of the manga, not to mention terms such as Romance Dawn, the name of the first chapter, and its acociation with "the new Era"

** "Go to Mima's room."

* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': "May those who accept their fate find happiness. May those who defy their fate find glory."

* ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' has the phrase "Deus lo vult"/"God wills it".
* ''Manga/SeigiNoMikata'': "My sister is a demon."
* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' -- "Everything is Connected" and "Close the world. Open the next."
** Or in some cases "Close the world. .txen eht nepO"
** Also, in one or two of the episodes: "Fulfill the prophecy."

** "This is a tale of humans and beings from other worlds. It is a tale of ancient times."

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': The Golem arc has "You get what you give".

* ''Manga/SoulEater'' has "A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body".
* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': "The Signpost of History".

* ''Anime/TamakoMarket'': [[GratuitousEnglish Everybody loves somebody]].
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Amon and Kaneki both note that, ''"[[CrapSackWorld The World is Wrong]]."'' The [[DownerEnding final]] [[TheBadGuyWins chapter]] of the original series repeats this over and over again.
** The words are brought back in the sequel, '':re''. By the end, it has changed as Kaneki has his HeelRealization that "the world isn't wrong. It just ''is''.
* ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' has Marin's "I love you!" It crops up very frequently as Marin and her relationships change.
* ''Manga/ValXLove'' has "Love is the source of a Maiden's strength".
* ''Manga/VinlandSaga:'' Once per story, expect someone to utter the words "somewhere not here."
* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' has NHK show up often, especially when the protagonist is about to have a nervous breakdown.
* ''Anime/TheWindRises'' has, well, "The wind rises", which also doubles as a TitleDrop.
* ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'': "Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark." This is followed by an abstract plot description for the next episode.
* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' -- Before Fuuma [[spoiler:awakens as Kamui's twin star,]] "Kamui, I am your..."

* The Japanese version of ''Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters'' (dubbed as Yu-Gi-Oh!) has the term "shin no duelist" which means "true duelist". You could make a drinking game out of it once it starts showing up.
** There's also the riddle "What can you show, but cannot see?" (or in some translations, "what can be seen yet not seen?") which is also a little more important in the [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]].

** Lust's character arc in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]] has the arc words "Where did I come from? Where will I go?"

** Gilthunder's catchphrase, "I am stronger than than all of the Seven Deadly Sins", turns out to be [[spoiler: a SurvivalMantra taught to him by Meliodas in his childhood]]. It ties closely to his character arc.

* ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'': The main character has the recurring flashback of a man saying "500 Zeus a body." Seeing as the main character is a robot, other robots can experience his flashback as well.

* ''Anime/FinalFantasyUnlimited'': The word "Unlimited" is used a few times in the series, often in reference to either Kaze or Kumo. [[spoiler:It turns out "Unlimited" is a noun, not an adjective - the Unlimited are beings of extraordinary power who have the ability to destroy Chaos, the BigBad of the series.]]

* ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'': Sensui's vow that "The seven of us will dig mankind's grave" is actually about his seven personalities rather than his QuirkyMinibossSquad, which, including him, numbers seven people.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' has "only one truth prevails" in the translated anime.

** A straighter example would be "IAmYourOpponent", which recurs often, even in mundane fights.

* ''Anime/{{Another}}''

* ''Anime/TheBigO''

* Lots of Creator/{{CLAMP}} works, especially ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', and ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', involve the idea of "hitsuzen" -- an event, meeting, or other twist of fate that was determined by previous actions or decisions, and is thus unavoidable. Usually, a phrase along the lines of "There are no such things as accidents. There is only hitsuzen." is used, with "hitsuzen" sometimes translated as fate or destiny. The idea is that people determine their fates with their decisions and actions.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo]]'' has "Resolve". The phrase is often associated with and symbolic of [[TheHero Giorno]], but is shared with his comrades and enemies alike as the story goes. Can be used in both noun and verb form, but generally translates to something with the effect of readiness to do something dangerous and/or costly without a second thought.

* ''Anime/MaiOtome'' has ArcWords in the form of a ''song'' ("Hoshi ga Kanaderu Monogatari"). Each of the three main characters -- Arika, Nina and Mashiro -- knows and sings one stanza each, and its real significance is only revealed in the final arc.
* "The Destination of Fate", "Survival Strategy", and "Never amount to anything" in ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum''.
** "Survival Strategy": Revealed to be [[spoiler:some sort of terrorism plot by the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Kiga group/Penguinforce]]]].
** "Never amount to anything": Initially, it was only used by the Princess of the Crystal in mocking those that she summons, but it's later revealed that this particular phrase has ties to the self-worth of several characters.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''

* ''Manga/OnePiece''

* ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins''

* ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' -- Before Fuuma [[spoiler:awakens as Kamui's twin star,]] "Kamui, I am your..."