History Main / FirstEpisodeResurrection

* This happens in ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokurochan'', but it is a subversion both because Dokuro is the one who kills Sakura, and she kills him in almost every episode, sometimes more than once.

* The first episode of ''LightNovel/HighschoolDXD'' has Issei Hyoudou murdered by his (ex-)girlfriend, a Fallen Angel named Raynare, and then revived by Rias Gremory as one of her servant devils. [[spoiler:The same later happens to Asia Argento, which can be considered one for the light novels.]]

All you have to do is die in front of a supernatural protagonist (often of the opposite sex) by the end of the pilot episode of your series. [[HeroicSacrifice Sacrificing]] yourself is a huge bonus. Chances are good that you will be resurrected in short order. Most of the time, you will be granted some form of {{immortality}} -- and, if you're lucky, you may even get [[HowToGiveACharacterSuperpowers other]] [[ViralTransformation powers]] [[CameBackStrong to go along with it.]]

* ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'': It happened to Tsutomu Senkawa after the titular Space Cop accidently killed him and merges with him to save his life... though depending on which version you watch, how far into the first episode he dies varies; in the OVA, he dies within the first few minutes while in Decode, he dies after the episode is halfway through.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' involves Rex being killed by Jin during the first chapter after accidently touching the Aegis sword. Pyra revives Rex using part of her core crystal and makes him her Driver.

[[caption-width-right:261:Dead, now undead. Problem solved... sorta.]]

* This is the basis for [[KidHero Hiro's]] servitude to [[BadassPrincess Hi]][[ChainsawGood me]] in ''Manga/PrincessResurrection''. Hiro dies saving Hime, and she brings him back to life. The catch is that he has to be her servant forever, protecting her from all the dangers that come with the job. [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap This makes him effectively immortal, being able to heal from any injury]]...[[ConditionalPowers as long as he gets regular blood donations from Hime.]] If he doesn't, he dies.

* The Abyssal Exalted in ''{{Exalted}}'' flirt with this trope. While no actual resurrection occurs, they are brought back to vitality from the brink of death by virtue of Exaltation, without which they would succumb. It is possible for a character to play a prologue for their Exaltation scene, and all Abyssal prologues inevitably involve this.

* The first Carmilla story of the WhateleyUniverse begins with famed horror writer Michael Waite dying of cancer. And then waking up in the morgue and completing a horrific transformation into something which may not be human at all. Carmilla then has to deal with supervillains, [[EldritchAbomination eldritch abominations]], and the fact that Michael Waite's best-selling horror fiction ''Incongruity'' is not fiction.

* In the prologue of ''Webcomic/{{Wingless}}'', the protagonist is decapitated by a booby trap and then resurrected by an unknown, but presumed evil, entity.

* Drax the Destroyer was raised from death by Cronos and Mentor in order to defeat Thanos, in MarvelComics. Possibly a subversion, in that almost nothing of Mr. Douglas's personality remains--Drax is a giant green humanoid with energy powers and about the same level of intelligence as that [[TheHulk other giant green humanoid]] from Marvel.

Based on ancient archetypes about death and transformation; usually a hero has to go through his darkest hour to get a powerup, but in some series, they cut to this moment right away. Compare SacrificialLamb, DeathByOriginStory. See FirstEpisodeSpoiler for when it is supposed to be a surprise. Can overlap with DeadToBeginWith. Also compare FirstChapterDisplacement.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' has the protagonist Nanashi killed in an encounter with a major demon not long after the game starts. He is revived afterwards by Dagda, and [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist will be every time a game over happens]], but in turn he must serve as the [[KillTheGod "Godslayer"]] and [[PeoplePuppets human puppet]] to Dagda.

* In TheDCU, this was the key trope in the origins for Deadman and ComicBook/TheSpectre (at least before the latter was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] as something completely different).

* The hero of ''Manga/{{Kurokami}}'' technically doesn't ''die'', but since he lost an arm, the bleeding would have killed him if Kuro hadn't taken matters into her own hands.

* ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'': Main character Tsutomu, though depending on which version you watch, how far into the first episode he dies varies; in the OVA, he dies within the first few minutes while in Decode, he dies after the episode is halfway through.

* Happened to Tsutomu Senkawa in ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'' after the titular [[SpacePolice Space Cop]] accidently killed him and [[TwoBeingsOneBody merges with him]] to save his life.

%% * Tsutomu from ''BirdyTheMighty''.

* The first ComedyCentral episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' starts with every main character except Fry and the Professor dying when the Planet Express Ship and the Nimbus (Zapp Brannigan's ship) explode, and the episode opens with the Professor resurrecting them, with complications leading to Leela being resurrected in a comatose. [[spoiler:Actually, it was Leela who survived the explosion instead of Fry. Fry was rendered somewhat deader than the rest, and when it looked like he was gone for good Leela made a robot duplicate of him out of grief, who shorted out and accidentally killed Leela, which also wiped their short term memories.]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* The second chapter of ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'' begins with Larice, a [[MechaMooks Starman]] who attempted to reason with Giegue only to be attacked and killed by him, booting back up.

* The first episode of ''{{Gungrave}}'' ("Destroyer in the Dusk") shows Brandon Heat, freshly resurrected as Beyond the Grave, in action, and the rest of the series is an extended flashback of Heat's mortal life until it catches up with the first episode.

* The main character of ''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' dies after being hit by a spaceship, but is brought back to life as a [[GenderBender girl]] instead of a boy.

* The hero of ''KuroKami'' technically doesn't ''die'', but since he lost an arm, the bleeding would have killed him if Kuro hadn't taken matters into her own hands.

* In TheDCU, this was the key trope in the origins for Deadman and TheSpectre (at least before the latter was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] as something completely different).

* In TheDCU, this was the key trope in the origins for Comicbook/{{Deadman}} and TheSpectre (at least before the latter was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] as something completely different).

*SandmanSlim. While he wasn't ''technically'' dead, the series kicks off with missing-presumed-dead James Stark [[LikeABadassOutOfHell crawling out of a cemetery after being in hell]] a good eleven years.

* {{Lamb}} begins with Biff being raised from the grave to write his own version of the Gospel.