History Main / FirstGirlWins

* ''LoveHina''; Narusegawa Naru is the first girl introduced, and despite [[DefrostingIceQueen Aoyama Motoko]], [[ShrinkingViolet Maehara Shinobu]], [[GeniusDitz Otohime Mutsumi]] and even his adopted sister [[BrotherSisterIncest Kanako]] [[UnwantedHarem also liking]] Urashima Keitaro, the pairing of Naru and Keitaro is inevitable.
** Additionally, Keitaro met Naru long before any of the others (except Mutsumi) as a child. She is [[spoiler: the girl he made the Tokyo U promise with long ago.]]
** Actually, this trope is ''inverted'' on Love Hina. The first girl Keitaro met was ''Mutsumi'', and then both befriended a sick, bed-ridden and lonely Naru. The three of them made the Tokyo U promise and years later, Mutsumi politely stepped aside for Naru's sake.
** It's somewhat muddied in ''LoveHina'', because Keitaro ''doesn't know'' who the girl was. For a long time, he believes it's Naru. It takes some time for him to realize that since she's younger than he is, she couldn't possibly be the girl of the promise (at the age they're shown in flashbacks, even a year makes a big difference). Yes, he should have figured this out sooner, but if Keitaro were ''smart'', he wouldn't be having that much trouble getting into Tokyo U.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima''. There are three, count 'em, ''three'' "First Girls." Chronologically, Anya is the very first, being a childhood friend and appearing in the first page of the manga--but she then disappeared for a hundred chapters. Then we've got Asuna, a standard {{Tsundere}} type who seems like the traditional love interest. However, from the beginning, its unclear whether she cares for Negi as a brother-type figure or something else. And finally Nodoka (the CovertPervert bookworm). She is the first girl to show an interest in Negi. She's also the first to confess to Negi. However, none of them has "won" yet.
** Well now that the manga has ended it seems that [[spoiler: none of them "win". Negi tells Asuna the girl he likes and it isn't her (not that she cares), Anya wasn't around when Asuna told Negi to confess to the girl he liked right away, and the epilogue explicitly states that it wasn't Nodoka]].

** The trend continues in ''TheLegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler: with Mako ultimately realizing that he was in love with Korra, who he met first in episode two, rather than Asami, who he met and started dating in episode four.]] Averted with Korra herself, however; she meets Mako's brother Bolin first, but never returns his romantic interest. Once he got over his initial heartbreak, he seemed to handle it fairly well. [[spoiler: ... And then, at the end of the second season, [[Shipsinking Mako and Korra break up]] and decide to be JustFriends.]]

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia'':
*** Sheeda/Caeda is the First Girl for Marth.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'':
*** Lewyn only has three potential wives whose children can bring his holy weapon into the next generation: [[LadyOfWar Ferry]], [[GenkiGirl Sylvia]], and [[RebelliousPrincess Tailto]]. Sylvia can be this since she's the first one ''seen'' in the game, but Ferry plays the trope straight as she knew Levin long before the others did. This is made canon in ''Thracia 776''.

** On the ''other'' other hand, the ''very'' first girl, Iwanako, is a subversion. Hisao liked her at one point, but they never come close to getting together...except for the part where [[spoiler:her LoveConfession gives Hisao a literal heart attack and leads to them drifting apart]]. All of the actual heroines are technically SecondLove candidates.

* Either played straight or averted for {{Superman}}, depending on your point of view: Lois Lane appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1, so she was the first potential love interest for Clark introduced in the series, but it was later established that Clark had Lana Lang as a potential love interest before he left Smallville, and had relationships with both Lori Lemaris and Terri Chung, before he ever met Lois.

* Played with in ''{{Hollyoaks}}'': Craig was John Paul's first love, but not his first boyfriend. But after a break-up, a long period apart, and a fiance who got a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on him]], they ended up together.

* Marshall and Lily in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. They are each other's first and only sexual partner (may be a technicality for Lily), a point of pride for the couple. However, it was averted with Robin and Ted.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Possibly Sakura. She was the first girl introduced into the series and the first girl Naruto ever showed romantic interest in. Not only that, but their relationship is very well-developed late in the series ...

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the two main contenders for "winning" the title character both have differing and equally valid claims to being the "first" girl - so while this will inevitably be played straight by the letter, it will be averted in spirit (There's no point to "first girl wins" if it happens ''whichever'' girl wins). One contender is the first girl to be introduced in the ''manga'' and the first to have the main character express interest in ''her'' in both media; the other gets a just-as-early and more pronounced introduction but only in the ''anime''.

* Gender-flipped in [[TortallUniverse Song of the Lioness]], George is the first boy Alanna meets. Similar with her daughter Aly and Nawat.

** In ''[[VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope The Last Hope]]'' [[GuysSmashGirlsShoot Edge and Reimi]] have known each other since early childhood. [[CatGirl Meracle]] and [[TheTease maybe]] Myuria express an interest in Edge, but he ultimately ends up with Reimi.

* ''Franchise/StarOcean'' uses this trope in at least three games.

** In ''[[StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime Till The End of Time]]'', Fayt starts the game with a girlfriend who later becomes a party member and remains the easiest to woo.

*** Levin only has three potential wives whose children can bring his holy weapon into the next generation: [[LadyOfWar Fury]], [[GenkiGirl Sylvia]], and [[RebelliousPrincess Tiltyu]]. Sylvia can be this since she's the first one ''seen'' in the game, but Fury plays the trope straight as she knew Levin long before the others did. This is made canon in ''Thracia 776''.

*** Soren is Ike's First ''Guy'', while Geoffrey ends up as Elincia's first guy.

**** Actually, that's from a gameplay perspective. Story-wise, Chrom's First Girls can be either Sully or Maribelle (both of them his childhood friends, though we don't know which one he met first), while Lissa's First Guy can either be Frederick (explicitely mentioned to have been her FirstLove), Vaike (VitriolicBestBuds with Chrom since childhood) or Ricken (whom Chrom is a BigBrotherMentor to).

*** Soren is Ike's First ''Guy''.
*** Geoffrey ends up as Elincia's first guy.

**** Actually, that's from a gameplay perspective. Story-wise, Chrom's First Girls can be either Sully or Maribelle (both of them his childhood friends); Lissa's First Guy can either be Frederick (explicitely mentioned to have been her FirstLove), Vaike (VitriolicBestBuds with Chrom since childhood) or Ricken (whom Chrom is a BigBrotherMentor to).

* In ''{{Persona 3}}'', the player invokes this by completing the Lovers arcana [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 Social Link]]
* Similarly, in ''{{Persona 4}}'', the player can invoke it by choosing to make the Chariot arcana [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 Social Link]] romantic.

** The trend continues in ''TheLegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler: with Mako ultimately realizing that he was in love with Korra, who he met first in episode two, rather than Asami, who he met and started dating in episode four.]] Averted with Korra herself, however; she meets Mako's brother Bolin first, but never returns his romantic interest. Once he got over his initial heartbreak, he seemed to handle it fairly well.

** Ross and Rachel. It's revealed in the pilot episode that Ross has been in love with her for years even though he moved on with his life. She didn't reciprocate and the entire span of the show follows them falling in and out of love with each other, often completely out of sync with the other, so they're never in the same place at the same time. After several failed attempts, they finally get back together for good at the very end of the show.

* ''RuneFactory'' games all have a [[OfficialCouple "main heroine"]] that is the first girl the protagonist meets after [[EasyAmnesia losing his memory]]. That's Mist in ''Rune Factory'' (and ''RuneFactoryFrontier''), Mana in ''Rune Factory 2'', and Shara in ''RuneFactory3''.
** The one exception to this rule so far is ''RuneFactoryOceans'', in which neither player character has amnesia and there's no one main heroine (instead, having three "main heroines"; none of them are the First Girl, and there's no OfficialCouple). Sonja, the female protagonist, is the first girl [[TheHero Aden]] meets and the first girl the audience sees, and that they ''both'' get [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] when the other starts forming a relationship with other candidates (along with the trope's prevalence in the series) makes it seem as though this was the intended outcome.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''- Winry wins. Duh. It probably helps that A. Ed really has more important things to do than be in a relationship, and B. he seems to be [[SingleTargetSexuality Winry-Sexual.]]

* In ''ElfenLied'', the first main character shown is Lucy (aka. Nyu), who Kohta does not actually end up with. He instead ends up with the first one he meets - [[KissingCousins his cousin Yuka]] (Note that's NOT as {{Squick}} in Japan as it is in many other parts of the world). Although Yuka's [[ClingyJealousGirl insecurity and paranoia]] could lead her to believe otherwise, The other girls who boarded with them (Mayu, Nana and Nozomi) never really had a chance in the UnwantedHarem, and most of them simply didn't really like Kohta in ''that'' way.
** In the anime the outcome is different. Kohta briefly reciprocates Yuka's feelings with a kiss, but almost immediantly after forgets he ever kissed and it's never mentioned again. At the end of the anime he appears to have gotten with no-one, but it is hinted Lucy returned to him. I suppose, however, this depends on if you prefer Kohta with Lucy or Yuka, if you believe the anime exists, or your interperetation of the ending.

*** Levin only has three potential wives whose children can bring his holy weapon into the next generation: [[LadyOfWar Fury]], [[GenkiGirl Sylvia]], and [[RebelliousPrincess Tiltyu]]. Sylvia can be this since she's the first one ''seen'' in the game, but Fury plays the trope straight as she knew Levin long before the others did.

From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] point of view, introducing the First Girl early is a solid writing tactic. The girl who is going to "win" needs an early introduction for a lot of reasons: to get the audience interested in her and rooting for her, to gain characterisation, to give her relationship time to develop. And with all that said, it's such a common device that in all likelihood, it sometimes gets played ''for its own sake''. It [[{{Foreshadowing}} telegraphs]], "Lookie here, serious contender for LoveInterest." From this perspective, it's not so much that the First Girl wins because she comes first; rather, she comes first because she's going to win.

Of course, a writer can't outright admit that's what they're doing, which is why you can expect an in-universe justification for how these two people met so early and took so long to figure out they belong together. Their first impression of each other will be that of [[SlapSlapKiss immense dislike]].
Complications will abound, {{Romantic False Lead}}s will show up, [[ThirdActMisunderstanding misunderstandings will arise]] between them, pride and denial will keep them apart. In extreme cases, it may turn out [[NoGuyWantsToBeChased her apparent lack of interest in him was a major turn-on]]. Paradoxically enough, nothing screams "major romance incoming" like this sort of thing. A more subtle tactic is to get the First Girl "off the radar" somehow- DemotedToExtra, PutOnABus and similar tactics- though writing her transition from a nobody to a love interest in a believable way can be a problem.

* Averted in ''Film/EdWood,'' if only because it was a biopic. May be an example of RealityIsUnrealistic,

** And then of course there's the two main characters [[KidHero Aang]] and [[TheChick Katara]]. She had never met a boy her own age before who wasn't her brother, while her face was actually the first thing he saw after being frozen for a century, and they likewise hook up by the end of the show.
*** Also there's the fact that he probably never met a girl other than the older Air nuns back 100 years ago.
** The trend continues in ''TheLegendOfKorra'', with Mako ultimately realizing that he was in love with Korra, who he met first in episode two, rather than Asami, who he met and started dating in episode four. Averted with Korra herself, however; she meets Mako's brother Bolin first, but never returns his romantic interest. Once he got over his initial heartbreak, he seemed to handle it fairly well.

* ''SetoNoHanayome'': despite the fact that Lunar, the Class Representative, Mawari, and possibly Akeno are all interested in him, it's obvious from about the second episode that Nagasumi is dedicated to San.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Souken Ishida's wife set up an ArrangedMarriage between her son and niece Ryuuken Ishida and [[spoiler: Masaki Kurosaki]]. She had also assigned [[NinjaMaid Kanae Katagiri]] to Ryuuken when Kanae and Ryuuken were both very young children. Ryuuken and his cousin were [[BlueBlood socially compatible]] but not [[NoSparks romantically compatible]] whereas Ryuuken and Kanae had a lot of UnresolvedSexualTension but were [[UptownGuy socially incompatible]]. [[spoiler: Aizen accidentally ruins the viability of the ArrangedMarriage, allowing [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Ryuuken and Katagiri]] to MarryForLove. However, Kanae [[TheLostLenore later dies]].]]

** And then, Yuki went and fell onto [[CannotSpitItOut Kobayashi-kun]] from [[IHaveTheHighGround the top of a power pole]], leaving him in hospital with concussion and fractured ribs. I guessit goes to show - the quickest way to a man's heart is through his ribcage.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', it's pretty clear that Agatha is going to end up with first love interest, Gil. At this point, the only question is whether [[OneTrueThreesome Tarvek will be included as well]]. That question will probably be answered [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder when we figure out whose side he's on]].

-->--'''Gladys Knight & The Pips''', "If I Were Your Woman"

* ''StarOcean'' uses this trope in at least three games.

* ''FinalFantasyIX'' - Zidane is a notorious womaniser and skirt chaser, flirting with nearly every female character in the game. Yet Princess Garnet is the first one we see him interact with as well as being the first character we're introduced to.