History Main / JerkassRealization

* ''Manhua/GoddessCreationSystem'': Xiaxi ends up suffering a harsh setback because another maid ratted her out on attempting to seduce Mingluan. She realizes that she actually had it coming and that Ting Zhu, the maid, was absolutely not the one at fault. She had consciously snubbed several attempts to get along and shown herself as a complete professional ass-kisser, which made her a threat to Ting Zhu's own chances of getting anywhere. She goes out of her way to get on Ting Zhu's good side and doesn't make the mistake of alienating other servants again, even though she probably still doesn't actually care about them.

* ''Manhua/MyWifeIsADemonQueen'': Aisi is constantly rude to and dismissive of Xiang Ye, considering him "useless lumber". She realises just how wrong of her it was to treat him like that when he starts whipping out spells at a level of power and proficiency that rivals Rennes, TheAce of her class.

* During the ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'' for ''Film/{{Zookeeper}}'', Jerrid blasts Jake for not showing up, thus forcing Jerrid to watch the movie. In the recent ''Film/HarryPotter'' movie, Jake says the reason he didn't show up was that he had a huge family emergency. The audience also probably thought Jake was dipping out so it gets the audience with a Jerkass Realization, along with Jerrid's.

* ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'': Lebron has a ''big'' one when after arguing with the Looney Tunes about his coaching methods, he realized he was crushing them ([[FantasyForbiddingFather and by extension, his son]]) with his expectations and finally started making things right by [[{{Calvinball}} their version of basketball]] as well as apologizing to Dom for not having supported him on his computer skills.

* ''Film/SpaceJamANewLagcy'': Lebron has a ''big'' one when after arguing with the Looney Tunes about his coaching methods, he realized he was crushing them ([[FantasyForbiddingFather and by extension, his son]]) with his expectations and finally started making things right by [[{{Calvinball}} their version of basketball]] as well as apologizing to Dom for not having supported him on his computer skills.

** In ''Friends to the End'', Ash [[HeroicBSOD was very upset]] about losing the Indigo League in an unflattering way and accused Misty of calling him lazy, [[BothSidesHaveAPoint which was technically true at the time]]. However, Ash realized that he was acting like a big baby when he sees and listens to how Ritchie dealt with his losses.
** In ''Charizard Chills'', Ash's Charizard, who's been refusing to obey its Trainer ever since it evolved twice as it would sleep instead of battling, disrespectful and [[TheBerserker Berserker]] attitude leads it to nearly getting the flame on its tail doused by a Poliwrath's Water Gun, and then nearly killed by an Ice Beam, leading Ash to spend the entire night unfreezing him and nursing him back to health. Seeing and listening to Ash, Charizard remembers everything its Trainer did for it, beginning when he saved its life when its original trainer abused and abandoned it. With that, Charizard realizes how badly it has treated Ash, and by morning, it regains its loyalty and respect for him.
** In ''Turning Over A New Bayleef'', Ash lashed out at his Bayleef to get away and stay from him, after she tried to approach him slowly, as he kept getting tackled by her. However, after a while, Ash realized Bayleef's absence and went looking for her. With the help of his friends, Ash realized that he didn't consider Bayleef's feelings and felt bad for yelling at her. Despite his attempts to apologize to Bayleef, Ash kept getting the silent treatment from her but he earned her forgiveness when she saw his attempts to save her from Team Rocket.
** In ''Brave the Wave!'', Ash gets [[WhatTheHellHero frustrated]] about his Gym Battle loss with Brawly as he thought he wasn't being serious because of his carefree personality. Ash even snapped at his friends when they scolded him and tried to help him then he ran off with Pikachu not far behind him. However, while walking with Pikachu, Ash realized that he really lost it towards his friends and was wrong about Brawly as he can be a serious Gym Leader, after witnessing him train with his newly evolve Pokémon.
** In ''Seeing the Forest for the Trees!'', after losing his Gym battle against Wulfric and decided to leave for the Winding Woods alone, Ash became very upset with his confidence shattered and questioning himself. A very worried Serena attempted to cheer him up, but he ended up snapping at her. After seeing a frustrated and heartbroken Serena pointing out that he's [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan not acting himself]], Ash realized that he really hurt her and was right about his behavior. Meanwhile, Serena [[WasTooHardOnHim felt bad for losing her temper]] towards Ash as [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she believed to be responsible for making him leave further into the Winding Woods.]] After reuniting with one another, Serena attempted to apologize first for losing it but Ash stopped her from saying anything as he assured her that he was the one who really lost it then apologized and thanked her for helping him get out of his depression.
** In ''Mission: Total Recall!'', Lusamine was hit hard when Gladion [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech called her out]] for failing to notice Lillie's trauma. Hearing Gladion's words, Lusamine felt ashamed and instantly apologized to Lillie when she meets up with her.
** Chloe distanced herself from befriending Pokémon and treated the family Yamper with coldness. Although she did come to respect him during the events of ''Best Friend... Worst Nightmare!'', Chloe still kept her distance around Yamper and other Pokémon. However, in ''There's a New Kid in Town!'', Chloe realized how she badly treated Yamper, after hearing how jealous she was during her childhood and remembering that he rescued her from a group of Venonat. Since then, Chloe has grown closer to Yamper and opened herself back up into befriending and loving Pokémon again.

* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: ComicBook/FantasticFour'': After a TraumaCongaLine of his experiment going wrong and endangering thousands of lives, Professor Ito admits to Reed Richards that the latter is not a GlorySeeker as he had thought, but a true scientist, while he is what people in their profession refer to as a "{{jerk|ass}}".

* ''ComicBook/BatmanTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': It's discovered that Splinter and the Turtles are slowly being BroughtDownToNormal as a result of their presence in the Franchise/DCUniverse, with them allying with Batman to get back home. During this time, Raphael gets impatient with Batman and gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, outright declaring him to be nothing but "a selfish little rich kid" who beats up bad guys for the fun of it who he refuses to put his faith in. Raph gets hit with this trope when Batman takes him to Crime Alley, where his [[DeathByOriginStory parents were gunned down in front of him]], and explains how that loss motivates him to do what he does.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'': Chaz has one after seeing Coco for who she really was, it dawns on him that he got caught up in the romantic atmosphere of Paris, he didn't realize who he was romancing until it was almost too late.

* ''[[Film/SixteenWishes 16 Wishes]]'': Abby waited for eight years of her life for her sixteenth birthday as she wanted things her way and made a list. When the day arrives and got sixteen magic candles from a fairy godmother, Abby got everything she wanted at first until she made a wish that everyone would stop treating her like a kid but it instead made her an adult. However, through that wish, Abby realized how bratty and selfish she was to everyone around her, especially her friends and family. After making a wish to redo her sixteenth birthday, Abby starts treating everyone around her better.

* In the film version of ''Literature/{{It}}'', the now-adult members of the Losers Club hold a meeting to talk about old times and discuss their plans for taking down the eponymous creature. One of their number, Stan, is conspicuously absent, which causes the other members of the club to playfully ridicule him and berate him for being late. Soon afterwards, they get a phone call that puts an immediate end to the frivolity--[[spoiler:Stan had committed suicide the night before.]]
* ''Film/HomeAlone1'': Kate [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes]] how [[WasTooHardOnHim unfair]] and [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] she was towards Kevin when she finds out that she left him behind while rushing to the plane and [[MustMakeAmends spends the rest]] of the movie [[MamaBear doing everything she can to get back to him.]]

* In the film ''Chasing Christmas'', as Jack Cameron is [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol dragged through the past]] when Christmas Past goes rogue, he comes to acknowledge that his attitude towards Christmas has been excessive (he caught his wife cheating on him and since then has hated the holiday), while seeing himself from outside helps him realise how and why he failed as a husband. Ultimately, when he learns that Past’s presence in his past will erase him from existence, Jack is initially prepared to accept that as he recognises he’s been unfair, but Present convinces him to keep fighting when she points out that erasing Jack from existence will also erase his daughter.
* In ''Film/DennisTheMenace'', Mr. Wilson gives Dennis a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech when the latter tells him that his house has been robbed, causing him to miss the blooming and death of a rare flower he bred at a garden party he hosted. Dennis runs away as a result, and when Henry and Alice return from their business trips, Mr. Wilson realizes that Dennis running away was his fault and searches everywhere for him. Though he doesn't succeed in finding Dennis, who is instead found by [[BigBad Switchblade Sam]], he is very distraught and relieved when Dennis returns the next morning on his bicycle, carrying a defeated Sam in his wagon.
* In ''Film/Shazam2019'', After Billy searching for a long time to find his mom and found out that [[spoiler: she wants no part in his life]], he realized that his obsession to find his mother had made him selfish and he was being cold, and distant to his foster family and makes it up by embracing his new life with them.
* ''Film/NotOkay'': As her lie falls apart and the world turns on her, Danni is forced to acknowledge to a support group that she wasn't that nice a person before this all started and even worse once she got famous. Notably, a member of the group calls her out on "you're saying you learned but at the end of the day you're a privileged white girl who thinks she's the main character." Danni admits that's right in how she's not sure if she really has grown and learned anything from this. The final scene does have her affected by hearing Rowan's poem railing on her lies and leaving in tears at how Rowan is a true survivor while Danni was only pretending to be.
* ''Film/HocusPocus2'': Mike regularly makes fun of people's interests but doesn't realize he's doing it, instead thinking he's just making casual conversation. He's genuinely horrified when Becca and Izzy call him out on this and he realize he'll have to apologize to a lot of people.
* Subverted in ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety''. After discovering that [[spoiler:Neil has committed suicide]], [[FantasyForbiddingFather Mr. Perry]] initially shouts "[[SayMyName Neil]]!", but starts saying "[[ItsAllAboutMe My son, my son]]!" afterwards.

* The novel ''How To Rock Braces and Glasses'' by Meg Haston is basically a book-long one of these for protagonist Kacey Simon. She's the AlphaBitch of her school, but she genuinely believes that her BrutalHonesty is helpful and beneficial to those she uses it on. After losing her popularity due to the sudden acquisition of braces and glasses, she realizes that her fellow students mostly consider her a colossal {{Jerkass}} and sets out to change this fact by being nicer.

* In ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords'', Melodía, after acting condescendingly to all of her ladies-in-waiting, realizes that they all have HiddenDepths and are smarter than they look. She concludes gloomily that she's been a self-righteous jerkass and the most shallow girl in her clique.
* ''Literature/MenAtArms'': Angua discovers a notebook in Vimes' desk, filled with women's names and corresponding amounts of money. She voices her outrage that Vimes, a married man, is spending so much money on prostitutes, when Carrot informs her ([[TranquilFury voice entirely devoid of inflection]]) that they're the widows and orphans of watchmen who fell in the line of duty.
* ''Literature/TheWitchlands'': Merik realizes that for the past few weeks, he's been going full-on IRejectYourReality and ItsAllAboutMe when the only person left willing to put up with his moods leaves him after giving him a brief TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.

* In ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', Bernie Skampersky is a TroubledSympatheticBigot mouse who [[FantasticRacism hates and fears rats]] because one of them killed her brother. When she's accepted into the titular HeroesRUs team she's paired up with another rookie, a rat named Jarvis Slinktail. Bernie struggles with her prejudice, alternating between accusing Jarvis of being [[TheMole a traitor]] and starting to like him in spite of herself until TheReveal that another character is the actual traitor causes her to realize how wrong she's been. She apologizes to Jarvis at the first opportunity and finally accepts him as a friend.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Harry gets several of these, mostly involving Murphy: a few books into the series, he starts letting down the "secretive wizard" routine and sharing more important information, realising that she deserved to know and he wasn't doing anyone any good with it, and much later on, in ''Small Favor'', she mentions her concerns with his increasingly short temper and destructive streak ([[DestructiveSavior even by Harry's standards]]), and he starts working to get a hold on it.
** In ''Proven Guilty'', Molly rakes her mother over the coals for continually treating Harry like some kind of craven, selfish parasite no matter how much he did for them. Charity gets a ''lot'' nicer to Harry from then on, even after [[spoiler:Michael is seriously injured in a magical crisis involving Harry]].
** In ''Turn Coat'', Morgan finally seems to have realised that his InspectorJavert nonsense directed at Harry in the early books was out of line; while he's still crabby, aggressive and argumentative, he's lightened up a bit and seems to trust Harry to have his back. [[spoiler:He dies less than a minute after effectively admitting he was wrong.]]
--->'''Morgan:''' I knew that you knew how it felt to be an innocent man hounded by the Wardens.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Wiliger goes through this a few times in book four, but it doesn't tend to stick and he goes back to being a Jerkass after another (real or imagined) slight from his subordinates. However, witnessing his men and dragons dying in a terrible manner during the battle at Tog Utbek horrifies him, and makes him finally realize what an awful man he was towards them until this point.

** In the season 2 premiere "When She Was Bad", Buffy comes back to Sunnydale having TookALevelInJerkass as a result of [[ShellShockedVeteran her temporary death at the Master's hands]]; she is sullen, actively lashes out at people, and flirts with Xander purely to upset Angel (and hurts Xander and Willow as a result). She gets hit with this when her refusal to cooperate with the other Scoobies leads to Giles and Willow being kidnapped and nearly ritually sacrificed.
** In the season 3 episode "Revelations", Xander, furious that Angel is BackFromTheDead and Buffy withheld it from the rest of the Scoobies, gives Faith the bare minimum of details regarding it, knowing she won't hesitate to stake Angel. However, Angel [[HeelFaceTurn isn't evil anymore]] and helps in the resulting fight against the treacherous Watcher Gwen Post. While his lie to Buffy in "Becoming, Part 2" was a bit justified, since Angelus ''was'' actively trying to bring about [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt an apocalypse]], Xander realizes that he crossed a line here, and makes it up to Buffy by helping her save Angel from the First in "[[ChristmasEpisode Amends]]."
** During the season 5 episode "Forever", Willow and Xander run into Spike, who's in the process of trying to deliver a bouquet of flowers to the Summers home. Xander believes he's trying to take advantage of Buffy's mother's death to score points with Buffy, but Spike adamantly insists that he was actually trying to [[DueToTheDead pay his respects to Joyce]], as she was the only one of Buffy's "lot" that was ever nice to him. Xander refuses to believe Spike, who eventually gives in, throws the flowers down, and storms off, telling Xander to think whatever he wants. As soon as he's gone, Willow picks up the bouquet and informs Xander that Spike didn't include a card with the flowers, surprising them both with the knowledge that Spike really ''was'' trying to pay his respects.

** In the season six episode "Entropy", once Buffy's SecretRelationship with Spike is revealed, while the other Scoobies accept it relatively easily, Xander is left shocked and horrified, spending the majority of the next episode, "Seeing Red," confused and disgusted as to why she would ever want to have sex with him. Eventually, however, Xander realizes and acknowledges that he gave her plenty of reason ''not'' to tell him, and he reacted exactly as badly as she feared he would.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': In "Words Hurt", the Winslows hire a hypnotherapist to find out why Steve is sleepwalking and attacking Carl at night. It turns out that a few months ago, Steven accidentally wrecked Carl's prized model ship and Carl, after throwing him out of the house, ranted about how he wished that he would just go away and never come back, not knowing that he heard everything. Carl is absolutely mortified when he learns this and his family starts to alienate him for his words.

** In "Just Say No Way", Jesse is absolutely furious when he catches D.J. holding a can of beer at a school dance he was performing for, not knowing that she was actually trying to prevent her then-boyfriend Kevin from drinking it. After Kevin vouches for D.J. (the principal having caught him red-handed and about to suspend him from school), Jesse realizes that he's been throwing the book at his niece for no reason and promptly heads back to apologize.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In "Lifeboat", Daniel Jackson becomes the host for about a dozen different consciousnesses, and the team goes back to the planet where it happened, they find the person responsible, then Sam and Teal'c pretty much ordered him to remove the said consciousnesses from Jackson's mind, thus killing them, theorizing that they are already dead. Then they find out they've just asked the man to kill his 10-year old son. Yep, Sam and Teal'c are Jerkassess.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Junpei suddenly comes to the conclusion that he had been a jerkass to the protagonist, apologizes, and is more pleasant afterwards. What makes this so surprising is that despite the franchise, this did ''not'' require a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind or a revelation gained from battling one's [[ADarkerMe dark reflection]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': At one point, Makoto Niijima has a discussion with her elder sister Sae about the morality of the [[AntiHeroTeam Phantom Thieves of Hearts]], during which Makoto innocently comments that she believes their [[DisappearedDad late father]] would have supported them. Sae has a rather low opinion of their father's ideals, especially since said ideals led to him being killed in action, and hearing Makoto say that causes Sae to lose her temper and verbally attack her younger sister, going so far as to flat-out tell Makoto to her face that [[ResentfulGuardian she's useless and does nothing but eat away at her life]]. Makoto is visibly distraught, and Sae immediately regrets it and apologizes, but it's too late to take it back.
** Sae gets hit by this again during the interrogation after Makoto gets implicated as one of the Phantom Thieves. The protagonist will pick up on this and can opt to twist the knife a little further.
--->'''Joker:''' You never noticed?
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': In their B support, Nino calls out Canas for leaving his family and letting his mother cast hexes on his one-year-old son; he agrees to tell her to stop, but hedges until Nino yells at him and says that his son needs him. Canas laments that he's ashamed of himself and his ending sees him going home to said son, suggesting it had an effect.
* Quite a dark example with Say'ri in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Because her brother Yen'fay betrayed their country to join [[ArcVillain Walhart]] TheConqueror, Say'ri openly declares [[IHaveNoSon she has no brother]] and vows to kill him personally when they meet on the battlefield. After she does so, [[SissyVillain Excellus]], the SmugSnake tactician of Walhart's forces, pops in at that very moment and reveals to Say'ri that [[spoiler: the only reason Yen'fay even joined Walhart in the first place was to protect her, and that if it wasn't for him, Walhart's forces would have already killed Say'ri herself]]. Say'ri is left absolutely ''horrified'' at the fact that she [[spoiler: hated and killed a brother who still loved her]].

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'': After Ratchet manages to get his revenge on Qwark, he realizes how selfish he was after he sees that Drek has managed to destroy Gorda City. This is ultimately what causes him to start acting more selfless.
* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': Vi's sister Jaune is initially cold to her, rejecting her apology. However, when Vi goes out of her way to get Jaune red paint for her painting, Jaune hears Vi out and realizes how truly sorry Vi is about what she said and also how unfairly she had treated Vi by trampling on her dreams. She immediately apologizes and asks for forgiveness. Vi accepts on the condition that Jaune forgives her as well. Jaune agrees and the two share a hug.
* Donned in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' is a sickly boy who is confined to a wheelchair, but he is able to walk when he is transported to the fantasy world of Ivalice. He becomes hostile towards his older brother Marche since they are trying to get everyone back to the real world and it would mean Donned would lose his ability to walk. When the two brothers finally settle down to talk, Marche reveals that no, he didn't get everything he wanted in the fantasy world and he basically was forced to give up the love and attention from his parents so that they could spend more time taking care of Donned. Upon hearing Marche vent, Donned realizes how much of a brat he was being towards his brother without knowing the sacrifices he was [[BecauseYouCanCope forced to make]] and cries into his brother's arms while apologizing.
* ''VideoGame/BestOfThree'': In one ending, the self-absorbed and sophisticated Grant realizes why Helen is so upset at him; she had wrote a poem in English class, and Grant gave her insulting, overly critical comments while unaware she wrote it. When this comes up, Grant genuinely apologizes by saying [[MoreInsultingThanIntended he didn't realize it would be taken so seriously]], and that he didn't really mean most of what he said. Helen can accept his apology to get them on better terms and have a happier ending.
* At the climax of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Raz's father enters the Meat Circus and sees the Evil Augustus projection made from Raz's own trauma. His response says it all:
-->'''Augustus:''' Is that... is that really how I look in your mind?

* When the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' is trying to convince Johanna that she’s the only functional one of her siblings, they discuss how Tamara is dysfunctional, lashing out at and manipulating others because she can’t process her own feelings in a healthy way. Tamara, who was listening to their whole conversation, then reveals herself... and agrees with everything they just said about her.

* ''Webcomic/AskWhitePearlAndStevenAlmostAnything'': After Pearl's self-defense lessons go completely OffTheRails, Rose steps in, clearly anticipating that she'll have to protect Pearl from his TranquilFury and admonishing him not to blame her. To her surprise, Steven [[ItsAllMyFault blames himself instead]], breaking down over his inability to keep [[ThePromise his promise to protect Earl]]. Rose then [[FlashbackEcho recalls a time]] where she was in a position similar to his... and that much like [[spoiler:Blue Diamond]], she isn't showing much in the way of sympathy. This spurs her to try treating him the way she wishes ''she'' would have been treated back then.
* ''Webcomic/BewareTheVillainess'': Ian and Melissa spend part of a festival together after spending months arguing. As a little joke, she puts a toy tiara on his head and gets seriously angry at how humiliated he is, calling him out on how disrespectful it is towards half the population to take offense at being put in a woman's role. He starts behaving more respectfully from here, though Melissa doesn't really notice since he already burned that bridge long ago.

* During the ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'' for ''Film/TheZookeeper'', Jerrid blasts Jake for not showing up, thus forcing Jerrid to watch the movie. In the recent ''Film/HarryPotter'' movie, Jake says the reason he didn't show up was that he had a huge family emergency. The audience also probably thought Jake was dipping out so it gets the audience with a Jerkass Realization, along with Jerrid's.
* ''Series/TheCryOfMann'': After discovering that [[spoiler:Jouglat is dead]], Jack temporarily snaps out of his "Jack Prime" state and admits that he should've been nicer to his brother while he was back from the war, rather than his stubborn insistence on being angry and caring only about his art show.

* ''Film/HomeAlone1'': Kate [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes]] how [[WasTooHardOnHim unfair]] and [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] she was towards Kevin when she finds out that she left him behind while rushing to the plane and spends the rest of the movie [[MamaBear doing everything she can to get back to him.]]

* ''Film/HomeAlone1'': Kate realizes how [[WasTooHardOnHim unfair]] and [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] she was towards Kevin when she finds out that she left him behind while rushing to the plane and spends the rest of the movie [[MamaBear doing everything she can to get back to him.]]

* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when Sheldon once again angers his friends by not caring at all about their personal lives, they are beginning to consider going home. They don't feel like supporting Sheldon when he never does so for them. When Sheldon complains about this to [[OfficialCouple Amy]], she tells him that [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he has always been putting his needs over his friends]] and the only reason they have tolerated it for years is that he has [[InnocentlyInsensitive never meant to]]. Sheldon asks if this also includes her. She sadly says that, at times, it has. [[BreakTheHaughty This leaves him stunned so much]] that when the actual ceremony comes, he takes every second to personally thank his friends and girlfriend for their impact on his life.

* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when Sheldon once again angers his friends by not caring at all about their personal lives, they are beginning to consider going home. They don't feel like supporting Sheldon when he never does so for them. When Sheldon complains about this to [[LoveInterest Amy]], she tells him that [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he has been putting his needs over his friends and the only reason they have tolerated it for years is that he has]] [[InnocentlyInsensitive never meant to]]. Sheldon asks if this also includes her. She sadly says that, at times, it has. This leaves him stunned.

-->'''Ilia''': I had no idea... I hadn't heard the details about Talo's capture...

--> '''Max:''' I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't go through all of this trouble for Camp Campbell. I did it...For you guys. Cause you're my friends, and I just didn't wanna admit it, cause once the time finally came for us to say goodbye, I'd have something to lose. But you know, going through life all on your own seems pretty fucking stupid now.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'': Homer's major character arc in the film is having one these is having one of these, after he finally drives his family away from by [[spoiler: selfishly choosing to stay in Alaska let Springfield and all the people in it be destroyed, because of a situation he caused, while throwing the very words he used to convince Marge to stick by him earlier back in her face]], and going back to save his family and town.
** There's also a major subject of him driving away his son Bart, who gradually turns to Ned Flanders as a ParentalSubstitute. Homer eventually recognizes his failure as a father and they rekindle their relationship while saving Springfield together in the climax.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' A rare moment when a character actually realizes that they've said something terrible:

* At one point in ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Junpei suddenly comes to the conclusion that he had been a jerkass to the protagonist; apologizes, and is more pleasant afterwords. What makes this so surprising is that despite the franchise, this did ''not'' require a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind or a revelation gained from battling one's [[ADarkerMe dark reflection]].

-->'''Augustus:''' Is ''that'' how you see me?

* In ''WesternAnimation{Cars1'', Lightning [=McQueen=] has his when he learns about Doc Hudson's DarkAndTroubledPast where a horrible crash cost him his racing career for good, and he finally discovers what an awful jerk he's been over the course of the movie, making him undergo his CharacterDevelopment. Doc also has one when he's called out by Sally for calling the press about where Lightning is so he can get him out of town and send him off to the tiebreaker race.

* ''LightNovel/FallingInLoveWithTheVillainess'': Lambert sees Rion's hostility towards Arnold as unforgivable despite being well aware of the history between Rion and Arnold and how Arnold went out of his way to provoke and antagonize Rion, went after Rion with an unsheathed blade for petty reasons, and is one of the parties responsible for Vincent's unjust death. At some point, Lambert realizes the grudge is justified, especially as Rion is the better king.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': Asuna's mother, Kyouko, is initially shown to be a FantasyForbiddingMother and very controlling of her daughter's life. By the latter parts of Volume 7 (Season 2 Episode 23 of the anime), she, using Asuna's "Erika" account, has a heart-to-heart with Asuna within ALO. When Asuna confides to Kyouko that her own parents are proud of her achievements and that Asuna's time in SAO and ALO taught her the value of having people who can appreciate her deeds, Kyouko realizes she has been an ungrateful mother and breaks down in TearsOfRemorse.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Lightning [=McQueen=] has his when he learns about Doc Hudson's DarkAndTroubledPast where a horrible crash cost him his racing career for good, and he finally discovers what an awful jerk he's been over the course of the movie, making him undergo his CharacterDevelopment. Doc also has one when he's called out by Sally for phoning the press to where Lightning is so he can get him out of town and send him off to the tiebreaker race.