History Main / AloneInACrowd

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim finds himself feeling alone in the crowd during the massive gang war that started after he retired from the role of Robin. This in addition to feeling like a heel for not helping as much as his training meant he could lead to him diving back into the Batfamily permanently during the mess.

* [[http://www.misfile.com/misfile/2008-11-20 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' FillerStrip spells it out [[AnvilOfTheStory hard]].

* In the first episode of ''Anime/AngelicLayer'', Misaki watches a match between two "Angels", although she didn't know what they were at that time. When it looked like the smaller of the competitors (Athena) was about to lose, she undergoes this state, thinking how people of her own stature could never go far, but breaks from it when Athena wins the battle.

* In the first episode of ''Anime/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'', Misaki watches a match between two "Angels", although she didn't know what they were at that time. When it looked like the smaller of the competitors (Athena) was about to lose, she undergoes this state, thinking how people of her own stature could never go far, but breaks from it when Athena wins the battle.

''[Bo[=Jack=] reveals his ulterior motive after some minutes then is indirectly cued to leave via Sarah Lynn mentioning how exhausted she is]''\\
'''Sarah Lynn:''' It's always nice to see a-- ... you.
* Referenced verbatim in the obscure cartoon ''WesternAnimation/CaptainStar''. "Limbs" Jones, who has nine heads with independent personalities, is upset because he is alone. TheCaptain points out that he has nine heads, and Scarlet replies "One ''can'' get lonely in a crowd".

* In the pilot of ''Series/VeronicaMars'', Veronica sits at the lunch table, reading a book, as the entire student body moves around her in fast-forward. This isn't exactly the same, however, as Veronica has already ''been'' jaded [[spoiler:by the death of her best friend, the disgrace of her father, and her own date-rape]], she has simply accepted her status as a loner. And then the new kid sits down beside her...

* The Good Ending of ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS}}'' has it to where Cole [[spoiler: after his best friend Zeke betrayed him, his girlfriend was murdered, and it turned out that this was all orchestrated by himself from the future]], he states how he couldn't feel more alone.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbJjAJnODck animated intro]] for Hanako's route in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' has her standing alone in a fast-forwarded crowd. And then, subverted: she notices Hisao is also there, and the rest of the crowd vanishes as they walk towards each other.

* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Freckles had felt always lonely in the orphanage, and not lonely in the solitude of Limberlost Swamp.

** The new manga of TheMovie explores this. The titular character is loved, has a family, has friends; she smiles for all of them...but something's....wrong.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''FanFic/APikachuInLove'': Pikachu feels this way at the start of the fic, being unable to communicate directly with Ash like Brock and Misty can and feeling alienated by Ash's other Pokemon due to being Ash's [[TheAce ace]] Pokemon.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' - "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, and cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man."

* [[http://www.misfile.com/misfile/2008-11-20 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' FillerStrip [[{{Anvilicious}} spells it out]].

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061216 This strip]] of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', shortly after [[spoiler:Lars]] dies from [[TakingTheBullet jumping in front of an attack meant for Agatha]]. While the battle continues to rage around her, [[PaintingTheMedium it's all washed out and out-of-focus]] as she kneels over [[spoiler:his]] body in stunned shock.

Compare HeroicBSOD and FreakOut. See also FriendlessBackground. Contrast AloneAmongTheCouples.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E30IslandAdventure "Island Adventure"]], being stranded on an island with Sadie & Steven causes Lars to break down crying, and he asks Sadie "Do you ever feel lonely even when you're with people?"

* [[http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=1127 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' FillerStrip [[{{Anvilicious}} spells it out]].

* In the second ''ComicBook/AtariForce'' series, Morphea the Canopean empath in a flashback to her past as a child her feeling of loneliness to the Hive Mother, which the Mother disdains on the basis of her being alone among a multitude of sister Canopeans and daring to identify herself as an individual with a need instead of part of a collective, thus driving the Mother to punish Morphea with a mind assault.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1296511984028130700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

%%%
%%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct alphabetical order.
%%%

* Played with in the opening to the first ''Anime/{{Hell Girl}}'' season. Near the end of it, we see a greyed-out, bustling crowd, with the Hell Girl herself in the middle of the crush, staring in full color at the camera. Possibly used in this case to highlight that Ai is not part of this world and as such literally alone in the crowd.

* Mireille in ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' quotes ''Creator/ErnestHemingway'' after a done job, which earns her a confused reaction from Kirika. While she says she simply quoted Hemingway and doesn't exactly feel that way, it does fit the whole situation the two are in - no parents, no other relatives and being {{Professional Killer}}s, they can't have real relationships with anyone else, either.

* In ''Anime/DeathNote'', in a half-episode dedicated to a character's StartOfDarkness as the "Hand of Kira" -- who's started to gain real influence in the larger world -- there's a brief scene close to the present watching, distinct to the camera out of a crowd of banner-waving enthusiasts.

* In ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', right before Rose attempts suicide, she's sitting at the table in the lobby, narrating, but her body doesn't move. This has less to do with a shocking revelation, and more to do with her feeling that if she screamed, no one would hear, or even care.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': At the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]], after the Sun expands to swallow the Earth in the year five-billion and change, the Ninth Doctor takes Rose back to an ordinary, bustling city street in her own time. The two of them stand there for some time, with the Doctor explaining how he's now the LastOfHisKind. They don't join the flow of the crowd until Rose decides they need to get some chips.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Referenced verbatim in the obscure cartoon ''WesternAnimation/CaptainStar''. "Limbs" Jones, who has nine heads with independent personalities, is upset because he is alone. TheCaptain points out that he has nine heads, and Scarlet replies "One ''can'' get lonely in a crowd".

----

Something has happened to TheHero. A shocking revelation, new information brought to light, revealing their [[BigBadFriend best friend]] is a [[EtTuBrute traitor]] or that nothing they did [[StatusQuoIsGod changed anything]] or maybe they can finally [[JadeColoredGlasses see the world the way it is]]. Or perhaps it's something even simpler, perhaps they just simply lose their [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids idealism]] and plunge into a contemplation of existential meaninglessness. Or maybe they're just feeling alone and unloved in the world. They don't go into a HeroicBSOD, they just simply stand there, as a crowd of people moves around them (sometimes in fast-forward, even further isolating them). They're simply [[TitleDrop alone in a crowd]]. Sometimes known as "calm in a chaotic world" if the crowd moves in fast-forward.

* ''Anime/NinetyOneDays'': In part of the opening credits sequence Avilio is walking down the sidewalk as crowds of people pass him in fast-forward, and a short distance away he sees his slain parents and little brother walking together at normal speed as if they were still alive. This isolation in a crowd represents how he is alienated from society and unable to move on with his life since the night when they were murdered, while the memories that continue haunt him spur his quest for vengeance.
* Played with in the opening to the first ''Anime/{{Hell Girl}}'' season. Near the end of it, we see a greyed-out, bustling crowd, with the Hell Girl herself in the middle of the crush, staring in full color at the camera. Possibly used in this case to highlight that Ai is not part of this world, and as such literally alone in the crowd.

** The new manga of TheMovie explores this. Titular character is loved, has a family, has friends; she smiles for all of them...but something's....wrong.
** In the first season, Yuuno talks about how he grew up without parents, being raising communally by his clan. In the drama [=CDs=], he mentions the Scyra family tent, which was often full of a lively, bustling crowd of people, and how comforting he finds such an atmosphere. He tells Nanoha that he's always been alone in the crowd, [[AngstWhatAngst but he appreciates what they did for him, and he's happy to bear the name "Scrya".]]

** Except in this case it's a bit of a subversion, considering that he's walking through the crowd because his mission is over and the world is now a place where he can live like anyone else.

* The day after [[spoiler:Mami's death]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Madoka feels like she's in a foreign country, surrounded by strangers. Sayaka agrees, and explains that it's because [[TheMasquerade no one else knows what happened]]. The visual version of the trope is used a few times, such as at [[spoiler:Sayaka's funeral]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim finds himself feeling alone in the crowd during the massive gang war that started after he retired from the role of Robin. This in addition to feeling like a heel for not helping as much as his training meant he could led to him diving back into the Batfamily permanently during the mess.

* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' - "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, and cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm god's lonely man."

* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Freckles had felt always lonely in the orphanage, and not lonely in the solitude of Limberlost swamp.

* This trope is almost synonymous to Mika Waltari's stories, but most prevalent in ''Literature/TheEgyptian'' and ''The Wanderer''.

* Cordelia describes her life this way in the first season of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Buffy asks, if she's so miserable, why does she work so hard to stay popular, Cordy replies that it's better than being alone and a loser.

* In the pilot of ''Series/VeronicaMars'', Veronica sits at the lunch table, reading a book, as the entire student body moves around her in fast-forward. This isn't exactly the same, however, as Veronica has already ''been'' jaded [[spoiler:by the death of her best friend, disgrace of her father, and her own date-rape]], she has simply accepted her status as a loner. And then the new kid sits down beside her...

* "Home" by Music/MichaelBuble is a combo with this and the world weary traveler.

-->''To walk this streets without you, I hate being on my own''\\

* The "fast-foward" variation is used in Music/LinkinPark's video for "Numb".

* Referenced,though not verbatim, in ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' when Sarah Lynn, an [[TeenIdol extremely popular singer]] and ex-child actor at the time, tells [=BoJack=] that everyone just wants to be her 'friend' for her fame. She refers to him as her only genuine friend left... up until he reveals he's there in an attempt to get her on his new TV show, leaving her in a completely new level of isolation amongst a crowd.

* A truly heartbreaking version happens in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "The Return Of Harmony Part 2". [[spoiler:[[BigBad Discord]] has [[BreakTheCutie broken Twilight completely]] and sent her over the DespairEventHorizon by turning her friends against her by breaking and brainwashing them. He then one ups this by [[DrivenToMadness driving all of Equestria insane]] ''except'' Twilight. We see her walking dejectedly through town, surrounded by the citizens of Ponyville she's spent the entire last season with, but unable to turn to a single one for help because of Discord's actions, not even her TrueCompanions.]]

* At some point, everyone has looked at a huge group of people and say "I'm not one of them", because they truly feel like they don't belong.

** Certain other mental illnesses, if unnoticed or left untreated, can cause one to subconciously consider themselves to be "different" from others, and cause self-esteem issues that often lead to this.[[labelnote:Example]]Let's take a teenager with unnoticed [[SideTrackedByTheGoldenSaucer ADD/ADHD-PI]]: The teen struggles to finish their schoolwork while others do it in half the time and thus have time to socialize. Not only does the teen have less chances to make friends, seeing their peers outperform them in everything often causes feelings of inferiority. This in turn may lead to a vicious circle; the teen doesn't feel confident enough to interact with others, and in turn the others assume the teen is either weird or that they want to be left alone. [[/labelnote]]

* Reference, though not verbatim, in ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' when Sarah Lynn, an [[TeenIdol extremely popular singer]] and ex-child actor at the time, tells [=BoJack=] that everyone just wants to be her 'friend' for her fame. She refers to him as her only genuine friend left... up until he reveals he's there in an attempt to get her on his new TV show, leaving her in a completely new level of isolation amongst a crowd.

* Due to a HeroicBSOD after watching ''Film/BabyGeniuses'', WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic forces himself to go out of his hotel room but is still completely lost and broken even with all the con-goers around.
** While not seen, he also goes by himself to amusement parks and eats alone at Chuck E Cheese's, just to blend in with everyone else.

-->'''Sarah Lynn:''' [=BoJack=]! Bring him in! It's always nice to see an old friend!
-->''[=BoJack=] reveals his ulterior motive after some minutes then is indirectly cued to leave via Sarah Lynn mentioning how exhausted she is.''
-->'''Sarah Lynn:''' It's always nice to see a– ... you.