History HopeSpot / AnimeAndManga

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' is full of these, particularly in the later arcs.

* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNiKai'' [[KillEmAll The Massacre Chapter]] it seems like Rika and her friends will win against [[spoiler: [[BigBad Takano]]]], but no, they all get snuffed. Fortunately they get to try again.

* In ''[[{{Zoids}} Zoids Chaotic Century]]'', in [[TheRival Raven's]] introductory episode, he goes on a rampage -- destroying countless Zoids (and [[KickTheDog aiming for the cockpits of said Zoids, assumedly killing the pilots]])... cue the [[TheHero appearance of Van's Shield Liger]] and the {{Leitmotif}} [[ThemeMusicPowerup of the anime playing in the background as Van challenges Raven to stop his rampage]]... Van horribly loses that fight, and only survives due to Raven leaving on imperial orders.

* SonicX has one in the SonicBattle arc [[spoiler: Emerl goes crazy after getting his hands at a Chaos Emerald and starts destroying everything in sight while Cream begs him to stop and Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge can't do anything to stop him, when Cream steps up and tries to talk Emerl into his good self again, it seems her words are affecting him as his eyes go from red to his usual blue, but the second Emerl takes a step forward he starts mal-functioning again, and attacks Cream just for Sonic to take the blow for her, at which point [[TearJerker Cream gives up on making Emerl good again and works together with Cheese to destroy him.]]]]

*** In episode 91, finally [[spoiler:the main characters defeat Dr. Hell.]] Naturally, they think the war is over and they have finally achieved peace. However, the music playing during the last scenes is eerie, and the narrator voice reminds the viewers that [[spoiler:Archduke Gorgon is still alive,]] and he warns the heroes are about of facing the worst battle of their lives. In the next episode, two Mykene War Beasts, more powerful anything Hell had ever constructed, utterly crush the heroes and destroy their HomeBase.

** Another example happens to adult Clare, herself, after she's sent to work on a job with #4, Ophelia, who turns out to be AxCrazy and hellbent on killing her, just because. After realizing she was outmatched, Clare decides to fake her death by letting Ophelia cut off her arm and send her off a steep cliff. Just when it seemed like the ploy worked, Ophelia appears and tells Clare that she saw right throw her tactics leaving her terrified. Fortunately, a BigDamnHeroes moment happens shortly afterwards.

* ''Manga/SailorMoon Stars'', the final season of ''Sailor Moon'' has one of these. Of course it turns out [[spoiler: that it's all a [[TragicDream dream]], and nothing has changed]].

** When [[spoiler: Konan faced off against Tobi, she released her ultimate attack, billions of explosive notes capable of exploding continuously for ten minutes. Tobi takes some damage but survives and gives her a HannibalLecture. The rain overhead breaks and a rainbow shines through, giving Konan the will to shout out her defiance and prepare a- Tobi grabs her, finishes his lecture, and [[MindRape tears the vital information out of her mind]].]]

* Used in ''Manga/DeathNote'' in that the VillainProtagonist Light Yagami gets one of these. Even after it appears Near's completely beaten him, he pulls a hidden notebook piece, and even after the pen he was holding is shot away he attempts to at the very least take out Near by ''writing in his own blood''. [[spoiler:Matsuda, madder than hell at being played for a fool by Light, doesn't give him the opportunity, putting several more bullets into him and nearly killing him before the others stop him]].

* Used in ''Manga/DeathNote'' in that the VillainProtagonist Light Yagami gets one of these. Even after it appears Near's completely beaten him, he pulls a hidden notebook piece, and even after the pen he was holding is shot away he attempts to at the very least take out Near.
* In ''[[{{Zoids}} Zoids Chaotic Century]]'', in [[TheRival Raven's]] introductory episode, he goes on a rampage-- destroying countless Zoids (and [[KickTheDog aiming for the cockpits of said Zoids, assumedly killing the pilots]])... cue the [[TheHero appearance of Van's Shield Liger]] and the {{Leitmotif}} [[ThemeMusicPowerup of the anime playing in the background as Van challenges Raven to stop his rampage]]... Van horribly loses that fight. (Raven leaves due to imperial orders afterward, however)

** The beginning of Ryuuken's disaffection with the Quincies is initially caused by Aizen's activities which sink him into a giant HeroicBSOD whereby he concludes his only option left is self-imposed exile from both his family and the Quincies. He is stopped by Katagiri who makes him realise he's not as abandoned, and his future not as bleak, as he thought. That hope lasts only as long as Katagiri lives: when she is murdered by a Quincy, Ryuuken exiles himself somewhere beyond the DespairEventHorizon.

* Episode 4 of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. The 104th trainee squad is about to graduate, Eren had managed to convince a number of his class mates to join the Recon Corps, and he begins to think things are actually looking up... except right as he thinks that, the colossal titan shows up once again and breaks the wall, leading to another titan invasion that kills a number of people, including many of the trainees.
** Another happens during [[spoiler:the first battle with the female titan. After she murdered many soldiers in her search for Eren, it seems like the recon corps was actually able to capture her, only to have her break free, kill Levi's special ops squad, and nearly succeed in kidnapping Eren.]]
** With the kind of series this is, this kind of thing happens near constantly.

* Episode 4 of ''AttackOnTitan''. The 104th trainee squad is about to graduate, Eren had managed to convince a number of his class mates to join the Recon Corps, and he begins to think things are actually looking up... except right as he thinks that, the colossal titan shows up once again and breaks the wall, leading to another titan invasion that kills a number of people, including many of the trainees.
** Another happens during [[spoiler: the first battle with the female titan. After she murdered many soldiers in her search for Eren, it seems like the recon corps was actually able to capture her, only to have her break free, kill Levi's special ops squad, and nearly succeed in kidnapping Eren.]]

** Unsurprisingly (given it's the culmination of 300 chapters of buildup), the battle against Aizen includes many of these. Yamamoto gets involved at long last only to find out Aizen was prepared to face him, Aizen's finally distracted enough for Ichigo to attack him but it AllAccordingToPlan, Isshin interrupts Aizen's BreakingSpeech to Ichigo only to get flicked away like a bug a few chapters later...
** To prove its DarkerAndEdgier[=/=]BloodierAndGorier cred, the first major assault in the Thousand Year Blood War arc opens with a series of HopeSpots...[[spoiler: and ends with Seireitei a pile of bloody rubble, in the GrayRainOfDepression.]]

* ''Manga/{{Holyland}}'': [[spoiler:Yuu has beaten King and had his final showdown with Masaki, where he admits Yuu's the better fighter. Then, on the way back from his final fight in the series, [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Yuu is stabbed with a knife by a nobody and left to die alone in an alleyway]]. The final TimeSkip chapter plays with whether or not he's really dead, as nobody has seen him in the interim and they NeverFoundTheBody, [[SubvertedTrope until Yuu finally shows up alive in the last two pages]].]]

** Renji's fight against Byakuya was essentially a series of Hope Spots. First he uses his new Bankai to supposedly defeat Byakuya. Then, when Byakuya tears it apart with his flowers, Renji reveals he can animate the seperate parts of his flail and fires them at Byakuya. Byakuya then uses his Bankai to utterly ''shred'' Renji. Then, despite bleeding all over, Renji reforms his sword and charges at Byakuya, but gets impaled in the arms and legs by Byakuya's swords, pinning him to the ground. He then gets up ''again'', breaking Byakuya's swords with his will alone, and actually manages to strike Byakuya with his sword... only for his sword to break, and for him to collapse on the ground, nearly dead.

** Ichigo defeats Grimmjow after a lengthy battle. Just as things are looking good for him, [[spoiler:Nnoitra appears and]] proceeds to beat the crap out of him.
** Mayuri's fight with [[spoiler: Szayel Aporro-Granz]] is actually an inversion, as the... er... "[[TokenEvilTeammate good guy]]" is the one [[JerkAss deliberately]] invoking this trope on the [[EvilerThanThou villain]]. Mayuri gives [[spoiler: Szayel]] ''several'' hope spots, [[AndIMustScream before killing him in an absolutely horrific fashion]].
** Ichigo and Ulquiorra fight. [[spoiler:Ichigo goes all SuperpoweredEvilSide on Ulquiorra and kills him. It seems like they're finally done in Hueco Mundo, when...Yammy shows up and turns out to be the 0 Espada. This is then subverted when Kenpachi ''and'' Byakuya show up to take care of Yammy.]]
** The villain Abirama Redder is fighting Izuru Kira, who uses his special ability and multiplies Abirama's weight, pinning him to the ground. Izuru declares that fighting only leads to despair and prepares to finish him off, but Abirama laughs and powers up, allowing him to stand again. Izuru simply multiplies his weight again, and finishes him off.
** During the fight with Allon in the Fake Karakura Arc, Hisagi believes that he's found Allon's weakness to be Kido, but Allon manages to get back up, break the chains of his zanpakuto, and grab him. Tetsuzaimon Iba tries to attack from a blind spot, but one of Allon's eyes opens and shoots a Cero at him, defeating him in ''20 seconds''.
** The Fake Karakura arc: [[spoiler:Yamamoto has imprisoned Aizen and his fellow defectors, allowing the participating captains to handle the Espada and their subordinates. As the battle drags on, all but the last and most powerful Espada are defeated and even Starrk is looking hard pressed as he finds himself up against two of the oldest and most experienced captains in Soul Society. Then, Wonderweiss shows up out of nowhere, accompanied by a gigantic uh...thing? Wonderweiss promptly one-shots Ukitake and then proceeds to apparently revive the previously defeated Espada as the big "thing" blows away the fire-prison containing Aizen and the others. With several characters worn out or otherwise out of commission, it looks as though the good-guys are set up to be wiped out. Fortunately, who should show up at that moment but [[BigDamnHeroes Shinji and the other Vaizard]].]]
** In chapter 391, Aizen apparently [[spoiler:gets pwned and Hitsugaya stabs him in the back]]. Then, in chapter 392, it turns out [[spoiler:Aizen was using his Complete Hypnosis ability and had switched places with Hinamori]]. Worst of all, Ichigo may well have been screaming the truth at the top of his lungs the whole time; they wouldn't have been able to hear him if Aizen didn't want them to.
** Near the end of the Deicide arc, a ''villain'' gets a Hope Spot. [[spoiler:Aizen manages to regenerate from Ichigo's Mugetsu. Aizen sees his Zanpakutou vanishing and thinks this means that he's about to attain the same level of power Ichigo just lost thanks to Mugetsu. He has the hero dead to rights and is about to become a true PhysicalGod -- then the Hogyouku depowers him and he gets sealed by Kisuke Urahara's hidden kidou.]]

* In ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia'' [[spoiler: Alice is this to Hatou. That's what prevents Hatou's [[HeroicBSOD breakdown]] from turning into a free pass to the other side of the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' have numerous ones scattered throughout, but one particularly cruel one happens in DBZ during the Frieza fight. Finally realizing his limits against Frieza, Vegeta is helplessly and slowly beaten by the tyrant. A rejuvenated Goku then comes in and exchanges a few initial blows with Frieza, proving to be even with him while everyone else has been outmatched. Despite his weakened condition, Vegeta takes consolation in the fact that he'll at least be able to watch Frieza finally get his comeuppance. Frieza then proceeds to shoot an energy blast right through Vegeta's heart.