History Main / FetalPositionRebirth

* In the final episode of ''Anime/FLCLProgressive'', Aiko is rebirthed from a giant pumpkin.

* Towards the end of the first ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime series, [[spoiler:the souls of Princess Serenity, Endymion and the Senshi]] [[http://xgracigloo.tumblr.com/post/143810267907 are seen like this]] ''and'' encased inside bubbles, as [[spoiler:a dying Queen Serenity uses the Silver Crystal to make sure they will reincarnate on Earth.]]

Here, "rebirth" is taken in a very general sense and can mean many things: [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]], experiencing a great revelation, [[{{Metamorphosis}} going through a massive physical transformation]], healing after a very serious mangling, [[HumanPopsicle waking up after hibernation]], being [[GirlInABox removed from storage]], etc.

This is of course highly symbolic, this position being one of an unborn child. The character will also often be nude (for reasons like NakedOnRevival or OutOfClothesExperience), and sometimes floating (in a void or liquid) to better deliver the analogy with a baby in the mother's womb. Compare SereneSymbolicSubmersion.

This is of course highly symbolic, this position being one of an unborn child. The character will also often be nude (for reasons like NakedOnRevival or OutOfClothesExperience), and sometimes floating (in a void, in a liquid...) to better deliver the analogy with a baby in the mother's womb.

* Naomi from ''Series/{{Skins}}'', in the S4 finale when having a massive emotional epiphany about Emily. Considering the major themes of the fourth series revolved around death and rebirth (well, [[spoiler:Freddie kinda [[KilledOffForReal missed out on the rebirth part]])]], it was probably inevitable that there'd be one of these scenes at some point.

* Towards the end of the first ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime series, [[spoiler: the souls of Princess Serenity, Endymion and the Senshi]] [[http://xgracigloo.tumblr.com/post/143810267907 are seen like this]] ''and'' encased inside bubbles, as [[spoiler: a dying Queen Serenity uses the Silver Crystal to make sure they will reincarnate on Earth.]]

* Naomi from ''Series/{{Skins}}'', in the S4 finale when having a massive emotional epiphany about Emily. Considering the major themes of the fourth series revolved around death and rebirth ([[spoiler:well, Freddie kinda [[KilledOffForReal missed out on the rebirth part]])]], it was probably inevitable that there'd be one of these scenes at some point.

* In ''VisualNovel/KisetsuODakishimete'' (the 2nd game of the ''VisualNovel/{{Yarudora}}'' series), the "[[spoiler:Spirit of the Cherry Trees]]" storyline has an event where the player character dreams of [[spoiler:Mayu]] floating in the darkness in fetal position, then [[spoiler: [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence dissolving into a storm of]] CherryBlossoms]]. Seeing this event is ''mandatory'' to get the storyline's Good Ending.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Superwoman -Lucy Lane- is killed off in ''ComicBook/WhoIsSuperwoman''. When she is reborn in ''ComicBook/DeathAndTheFamily'', Lucy is found naked and lying on her left side with her eyes closed. Her legs are folded against her body, her chin is nearly touching her knees, and her arms are folded across her chest.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': At the end of the first season, [[spoiler:when Darla comes BackFromTheDead and is in that box, when we first see her, she's curled up in a rather fetal pose.]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Angel's own return from Hell in season 3.
** Also Amy, momentarily, in "Something Blue", though she is sitting upright.

* When Kikyo's naked body is resurrected in ''Manga/InuYasha'', she collapses into a fetal position shortly after being revived.
* Alicia of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' floats in this position in her {{People Jar|s}} while [[spoiler:Precia]] [[{{Necromantic}} looks for a way to resurrect her]].

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Just before Asuka makes a recovery from her coma during the final assault on NERV HQ, she has been placed inside her Eva for protection and hidden at the bottom of the Geofront's lake. When painfully roused by enemy forces deploying depth charges against her, a gradual-zoom in on her is shown for a full minute while her "I don't want to die" grows from a faint whisper into an anguished scream. She has a vision of her mother, then ''violently explodes from the lake''.

* Lain at the EP of ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain''. Bonus points for the heavy-machinery fetal.

** ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'': ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} slept curled-up inside her rocket until she crash-landed on Earth, woke up and left her pod.

* Happens in ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'' when [[spoiler:Henry enters the "deepest part" of Walter. Rather than symbolizing rebirth, though, it symbolizes regression to a fetal stage (which is what Walter wants)]].
* ''VideoGame/HeartOfTheSarm'': If Kerrigan dies in the campaign, she respawns in a cocoon while her body reforms in fetal position.

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion The End of Evangelion]]'' has possibly the most symbolism-overdosed example of this trope in history: just before Asuka makes a [[ShesBack triumphant recovery]] from her AngstComa during the penultimate assault on NERV HQ, she has been placed inside her Eva for protection from assassination and hidden at the bottom of the Geofront's lake (with the Eva also lying in the fetal position for good measure). When painfully roused by enemy forces deploying depth charges against her, we are treated to a gradual-zoom in on her (flipped upside down as a real fetus would be positioned) for [[LeavetheCameraRunning a full minute]] while her chanting of "I don't want to die" grows from a faint whisper into an anguished scream. She has a serene, dreamlike vision of her mother, then ''violently explodes from the lake'' and returns to the HotBlooded ScreamingWarrior she used to be, [[UptoEleven and then some.]]

* In the ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' storyline "ComicBook/KravensLastHunt", Peter Parker dreams of himself naked in the fetal position, floating in a white void, while drugged and BuriedAlive by Kraven the hunter. Then the drug-induced sleep turns nightmarish, with amongst other niceties Peter "birthing" out of a GiantSpider.

* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', during one of the early appearances of the Brood, ComicBook/{{Storm}} commits suicide by blowing up her space capsule when she discovers the baby Brood Queen hatching within her. She gets better because one of the space-whales the Brood MindRape with drugs and turn into living ships (the nascent space-whale ''prophet'', in fact) rescues her and psychically merges with her because it's {{just a kid}} and needs a responsible adult to look after it. She flits around psychically for a while, the reason being her actual body is curled up in the fetal position inside the space-whale to regenerate.

* Melfina is [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c364c64538bbb1a4f8a19eec590cca1b.png introduced like this]] in ''Manga/OutlawStar''.
* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', when Ahiru undergoes her TransformationSequence, she curls into a fetal position while being enveloped in an egg made by golden feathers before the egg turns to water and she hatches as Tutu. This happens in the span of 10 seconds or so each episode.

** In ''[[Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman The Reign of the Supermen]]'', this was how the Last Son of Krypton emerged from his regeneration matrix as seen on [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/e/ed/Action_Comics_687.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/323?cb=20180304131333 the cover]] of ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' #687. It was also how the ''actual'' Superman was later reborn, with some sneaky writing making it look like this was the Last Son "recharging".
** The ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Post-Crisis]]'' version of ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' slept curled-up inside her rocket until she crash-landed on Earth, woke up and left her pod.

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion The End of Evangelion]]'' has possibly the most symbolism-overdosed example of this trope in history: just before Asuka makes a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome triumphant recovery]] from her AngstComa during the penultimate assault on NERV HQ, she has been placed inside her Eva for protection from assassination and hidden at the bottom of the Geofront's lake (with the Eva also lying in the fetal position for good measure). When painfully roused by enemy forces deploying depth charges against her, we are treated to a gradual-zoom in on her (notably [[RuleofSymbolism flipped upside down]]) for [[LeavetheCameraRunning a full minute]] while her chanting of "I don't want to die" grows from a faint whisper into an anguished scream. She has a serene, dreamlike vision of her mother, then ''violently explodes from the lake'' and returns to the HotBlooded ScreamingWarrior she used to be, [[UptoEleven and then some.]]

* Alice in the first three ''Film/ResidentEvil'' movies. In the first one, it's where she's knocked out when fumes come into the shower. In [[Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse the second film]] she's being resurrected (or cloned, hard to tell) at the end. In [[Film/ResidentEvilExtinction the third one]], there's hundreds of clones of her, all in the fetal position in water bubble suspension things. Naturally, she's bare-ass naked in all of these, and while her hands do hide her bits, she always moves them by the time the scene is over.

A character is seen in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_position fetal position]] before or after going through some kind of "rebirth": legs replied against the body, head close to the knees and arms crossed in front of the legs.

* At the start of ''VideoGame/PrincessMaker 2'', you get a heavenly child who is being sent to the world of mortals by her guardian deity. She is shown from a front fetal position as she is floating down in the light and to you, seemingly forgetting everything that happened in her ten years of life in Heaven. Since it's '''''not''' really'' [[HGame that kind of game]], it's artistically done and you don't actually see anything.

* Alice in the first three ''Film/ResidentEvil'' movies. In the first one, it's where she's knocked out whem fumes come into the shower. In [[Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse the second film]] she's being resurrected (or cloned, hard to tell) at the end. In [[Film/ResidentEvilExtinction the third one]], there's hundreds of clones of her, all in the fetal position in water bubble suspension things. Naturally, she's bare-ass naked in all of these, and while her hands do hide her bits, she always moves them by the time the scene is over.

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* The ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Post-Crisis]]'' version of ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' slept curled-up inside her rocket until she crash-landed on Earth, woke up and left her pod.

* In ''[[Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman The Reign of the Supermen]]'', this was how the Last Son of Krypton emerged from his regeneration matrix as seen on [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/e/ed/Action_Comics_687.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/323?cb=20180304131333 the cover]] of ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' #687. It was also how the ''actual'' Superman was later reborn, with some sneaky writing making it look like this was the Last Son "recharging".

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls2013'': Sunset Shimmer shortly takes this posture while [[spoiler:turning into her demon form, surrounded by a black flames aura]].

* This can be seen in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, in which Sonic curls up in the fetal position before going [[SuperMode Super Sonic]].

* The final shot of the third season of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has Clark floating in a black void, in the nude, doing this with the Superman Shield logo appearing behind him, after he has agreed to accept his inheritage and become Kal-El.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Season 1 episode "Code Earth": Aelita is materialized for the first time, and she arrives inside the scanner in a fetal position. Since everybody thought she was an A.I. at the time, this is treated as her birth into the real world.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion The End of Evangelion]]'' has possibly the most symbolism-overdosed example of this trope in history: just before Asuka makes a [[CrowningMomentofAwesome triumphant recovery]] from her AngstComa during the penultimate assault on NERV HQ, she has been placed inside her Eva for protection from assassination and hidden at the bottom of the Geofront's lake (with the Eva also lying in the fetal position for good measure). When painfully roused by enemy forces deploying depth charges against her, we are treated to a gradual-zoom in on her (notably [[RuleofSymbolism flipped upside down]]) for [[LeavetheCameraRunning a full minute]] while her chanting of "I don't want to die" grows from a faint whisper into an anguished scream. She has a serene, dreamlike vision of her mother, then ''violently explodes from the lake'' and returns to the HotBlooded ScreamingWarrior she used to be, [[UptoEleven and then some.]]

It can even be an actual birth if preceding a {{Reincarnation}}, or in the case of an ArtificialHuman or {{Clon|ingBlues}}e (frequently seen floating in some PeopleJars).

To be clear, this trope doesn't concern every instance of a character curling in a fetal position, most likely after a traumatic event — the latter being TroubledFetalPosition. Fetal Position Rebirth is used when illustrating a symbolic (re)birth or major upheaval for the personage.

* In ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'' is Hiei appears to be standing up from the fetal position after [[spoiler: becoming the dragon of the darkness flame and going through a fake death]] but due to the terrible animation that episode has it's a bit hard to tell.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Sunset Shimmer shortly takes this posture while [[spoiler:turning into her demon form, surrounded by a black flames aura]].

* ''Webcomic/RuneHunters'': After being nearly killed and becoming one with the Master Fire Rune and turning into a being of primordial fire able to jump from fire to fire, Ada is finally reunited with her sister, jumping out of her campfire. When she return to human form in a patch of scorched forest floor, it's naked and in the fetal position.