History Main / ResetButtonEnding

->'''Lisa:''' Don't worry, Bart. It seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons. My advice is to ride it out, make the occasional smart-alec quip, and by next week we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure.\\

* ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} ~After Story~'' Episode 22 [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] this by having the death of Ushio/The Girl from the Illusionary World causing the release of the light orbs. Tomoya obtains one, and he forces a TimeSkip a la ResetButton to occur where Nagisa gives birth to Ushio and this time, ''survives''. While a DeusExMachina, this is actually the true end of the visual novel, and by extension, the anime. See [[http://tstorm.bwys.org/2009/03/clannad-after-story-17-22/ this]] detailed analysis for more details.
* ''Manga/{{Diece}}'' probably contains the most straight-forward use of this trope ''ever''. [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qn7UuDMghbM/TPh3DNuqv5I/AAAAAAAAEzs/JRBxTMT3dnE/s1600/DD42end_046.jpg A button that says "Delete" is pressed]], and bam - all the previous events of the manga never happened. Characters that ended up broken and/or dead (which is every character) can now live happily. [[SarcasmMode Who needs character development?]]

* A huge use of this trope, one that made an anvil gentle, was the end of ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'''s second season.
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' had one of these that managed to take a series notable for rending your soul in half constantly and give it a happy ending.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'' has an interesting spin on this. After using Made In Heaven to speed up the flow of time until the end of the universe, forming a new one where [[YouCantFightFate everyone is aware of their future actions and will be able to live happily with that knowledge]], [[GreaterScopeVillain Enrico Pucci]] is ultimately defeated by Emporio just when he started to accelerate time once again, creating a new universe out of his control where all the deceased characters from the part are alive with new names, different identities and happier lives, and where [[EarnYourHappyEnding all the remaining conflicts have being solved]]. As a result, from [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun the following part]] onward the series focuses on a completely different universe with only some elements and recurring themes linking it to the others.

* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'':

** Played incredibly straight with the fourth ''Shippuden'' Movie under StatusQuoIsGod effect. Naruto has gone back in time to meet the younger version of Minato, his own father, but never confirms his suspicions (until later in the series). The BigBad was the one who initially went to the past for the sake of world domination. When he's down for the count, Naruto goes back to the present, but Minato has to mind wipe everyone so there won't be any ripple effects in the future from this event... save for one involving a little girl.
* The manga adaptation of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' ends this way, in stark contrast to the original anime series. Or is it?

* The spinoff manga of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', including ''Kazumi Magica'' and ''Oriko Magica'', have Homura hitting the ResetButton after losing Madoka yet again. The series proper ends with Goddess Madoka rewriting the universe so that witches cannot exist, which has the effect of bringing back everyone who was ever killed by or because of a witch (such as Mami and Kyouko) as well as {{Mercy Kill}}ing those who would have become witches (such as Sayaka). Madoka herself cannot come back because her wish would have turned her into a witch herself, and because of the sacrifice she made, only one person (Homura) remembers who she was. And magical girls have a new enemy to fight in the form of wraiths, because Kyubey still needs energy to counter the entropy of the universe (and moreover, because Madoka didn't remove human suffering from the universe, just that one particular manifestation of it).

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'', though in this case, it's a rare variation in which it gives the series a sense of closure. Of course, the fact that it wasn't a complete reset definitely helps...

* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' pretty much ended this way, to the dismay of many fans of the show, due mainly to the fact that several characters integral to the story (Quent, Blue, Hubb and Cher) were not included in the ending.

* ''Superman and Batman: World's Funnest'' has a squabble between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk after Batman and Superman apprehend the Joker and Lex Luthor go awry when the two reality-warping imps kill everyone in the DC Universe, things eventually escalating to the point that they wind up destroying ''the entire DC multiverse''. A snap of their fingers later, they restore their original universe (and presumably the rest of the multiverse as well) and the ending implies that Bat-Mite and Mxy do this kind of thing on a routine basis.

* ''Film/DudeWheresMyCar'': after they recover the [[MacGuffin continuum transfunctioner]], the benevolent aliens reset time back to when Jesse and Chester first woke up. They find the car right away. The ending makes the whole film completely pointless.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E10JourneyToTheCentreOfTheTardis "Journey to the Center of the Tardis"]] has a more literal use of a ResetButton --after an episode full of dangerous secrets revealed and Arc Questions answered, the Doctor has to slip into a Time Crack to reset (with the [[BigRedButton "big friendly button"]], no less) back to the start of the episode in order to save everyone involved.

* The ''Series/{{Witchblade}}'' season finale rewound the entire season after some irrevocable events.

* Used to remove the confusing plot of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' from the canon. In the end, the entire plotline is undone through one last bout of time travel, and the final thing we see is the opening cutscene again, except in the new timeline. Much to the relief of the fanbase.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' ends with the universe imploding and being reborn.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' GrandFinale [[Recap/FuturamaS7E26Meanwhile "Meanwhile"]] ends with a literal one. Because the time-rewinding button is destroyed, [[TimeStandsStill time is frozen]] for everyone-- except for Fry and Leela. The two get married and spend decades exploring the frozen world, growing old together. Eventually, Professor Farnsworth repairs the device, but modifies it so that it would rewind time back to before it was invented, erasing everyone's memories of events after that. Fry and Leela are okay with giving up their perfect life together and starting all over again--although the point of divergence was notably ''after'' Fry decided to propose to Leela.
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' movie ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' ended with the [[MacGuffin Tempus Simia Idol]] being destroyed, thus resetting everything that happened from the second minute of the movie out of existence.
** But Ron still hates meat cakes, but he doesn't know why.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' had everything go to hell as the ending neared, and either God or Satan (at Kenny's request) reset the events of the movie.

** In "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted," Candace busts her brothers, which causes them to be sent to a reformatory school. Turns out it was AllJustADream (or more like a DreamWithinADream).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' television movie "WesternAnimation/{{Wishology}}" was to have everyone know of Timmy's fairies. He was also to get together with his crush Trixie. However, when the network decided to order another season, it was [[StatusQuoIsGod re-written to show that everyone's memories will be erased]]--which makes one wonder how/why Trixie's memory was erased, when it's been stated ''several'' times in ''every'' season that fairy magic can't interfere with true love...

* ''Fanfic/RedDeadVirgo'' asks "[[WhatIf What if]] all of the trolls [[ForWantOfANail were born with different blood colors]]?" In the end, this is revealed to have been a doomed session that took place before the canonical one.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mary Skelter|Nightmares}} 2'' uses this in its True Ending to undo its ForWantOfANail setting in favor of returning to the first game's timeline. Little Mermaid, who dies in the first game's backstory but is alive here, is [[HeroicSacrifice fine with this because it will save her fellow Blood Maidens from the gruesome slaughter that she just witnessed]].

** In the movie ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'', everyone's memories get erased at the end in order to preserve Perry's {{Masquerade}}.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' ends with Mewtwo erasing everyone's memories so no one will ever remember what happened in the film. Although the main characters do meet it again later in a special without their memories being erased.

->'''Lisa:''' Don't worry, Bart. It seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons. My advice is to ride it out, make the occasional smart-alec quip, and by next week we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure.
->'''Bart:''' Ay, caramba!
->'''Lisa:''' That's the spirit.

* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'':
** The Pain Invasion arc ends with Pain using one last jutsu to revive all the people he killed in the invasion, while there is still time for him to do so.
** Played incredibly straight with the fourth ''Shippuden'' Movie under StatusQuoIsGod effect. Naruto has gone back in time to meet the younger version of Minato, his own father, but never confirms his suspicions (until later in the series). The BigBad was the one who initially went to the past for the sake of world domination. When he's down for the count, Naruto goes back to the present, but Minato has to mind wipe everyone so there won't be any ripple effects in the future from this event... save for one involving a little girl.
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' had one of these that managed to take a series notable for rending your soul in half constantly and give it a happy ending.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' -- both manga ''and'' TV series, but at different points in the story. This is especially true later on in the manga, when the last page of an arc was often a non sequitur. However, the manga explicitly resolved ''the'' major conflict in the series, and handily did away with at least four points of contention.
%%* ''Manga/CheekyAngel''.

* A huge use of this trope, one that made an anvil gentle, was the end of ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'''s second season.
%%* ''Anime/ThoseWhoHuntElves''

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'', though in this case, it's a rare variation in which it gives the series a sense of closure. Of course, the fact that it wasn't a complete reset definitely helps...
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'' would have originally ended this way had it not been extended to 5 seasons (4 for TheNineties english dub) from the original 1. The first arc ended with shots of the Sailor Senshi living happy civilian lives without memories of the Dark Kingdom, having met each other or anything that happened during the arc due to Usagi asking the Silver Crystal to let them live normal lives during the final battle. Luna and Artemis are shown to have kept their memories and comment on this. This ending is undone in two episodes via Luna restoring the Sailor Senshi's memories once the Makaijiu, Ail and Ann arrive and attack humans.
* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' pretty much ended this way, to the dismay of many fans of the show, due mainly to the fact that several characters integral to the story (Quent, Blue, Hubb and Cher) were not included in the ending.

* The OVA ''Ai City'' ends with everything suddenly re-starting back at the car chase in the beginning. There is no explanation for this and no reason.
* The spinoff manga of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', including ''Kazumi Magica'' and ''Oriko Magica'', have Homura hitting the ResetButton after losing Madoka yet again. The series proper ends with Goddess Madoka rewriting the universe so that witches cannot exist, which has the effect of bringing back everyone who was ever killed by or because of a witch (such as Mami and Kyouko) as well as {{Mercy Kill}}ing those who would have become witches (such as Sayaka). Madoka herself cannot come back because her wish would have turned her into a witch herself, and because of the sacrifice she made, only one person (Homura) remembers who she was. And magical girls have a new enemy to fight in the form of wraiths, because Kyubey still needs energy to counter the entropy of the universe (and moreover, because Madoka didn't remove human suffering from the universe, just that one particular manifestation of it).
* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' ends with Mewtwo erasing everyone's memories so no one will ever remember what happened in the film. Although the main characters do meet it again later in a special without their memories being erased.

* ''Manga/{{Diece}}'' probably contains the most straight-forward use of this trope ''ever''. [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qn7UuDMghbM/TPh3DNuqv5I/AAAAAAAAEzs/JRBxTMT3dnE/s1600/DD42end_046.jpg A button that says "Delete" is pressed]], and bam - all the previous events of the manga never happened. Characters that ended up broken and/or dead (which is every character) can now live happily. [[SarcasmMode Who needs character development?]]
* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' ends with a needed one, considering the current world was in the process of being redone, with several major characters having died before it was hit. It also makes a fitting {{Book End|s}}, as the very first crisis ended with the problem being magically undone.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' is especially cruel with this, with a literal reset button hit on '''''everything in the entire series''''', bringing back everyone they defeated even all the way back in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', while temporarily stripping them of their ties to their Digimon.

* ''ComicBook/{{Druuna}}: Carnivora'' concludes with the entire crew of the spaceship having been [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced by clones]], minus the Doctor. He saves the ship by piloting it into a mirror dimension where time runs backwards, which somehow resets everything to several months before all the bad things started happening. As a consequence he is [[RippleEffectProofMemory the only person with any recollection of what happened]], though it's implied that Druuna might have too.

* Richard Donner's version of ''Film/SupermanII'' ends with Superman undoing the entire movie by spinning the world back (as he did in the theatrical release of the first Superman), to keep Lois from knowing his identity. This is ''after'' the villains have been defeated.

%%* ''Series/QuantumLeap''.

* The ''Series/{{Witchblade}}'' season finale rewound the entire season after some irrevocable events.
* The TV series ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' makes a very obvious reference to this -- the writers clearly intended Will Smith's story arc to reach a natural dramatic end with his moving back to Philadelphia in Season 4 to be with his mother, in what was intended to be the series finale. However, the network picked up the show for another season, resulting in the writers breaking the FourthWall by having TV executives show up and literally dragging Will back to Bel-Air, citing the title of the show. ("It's not called the Fresh Prince of Philadelphia!") Nearly every story element affected by this arc was simply dropped in later seasons of the show. (Will's mother seemed to cease to exist, etc.)

* The ''Series/DontTrustTheBInApartment23'' episode "Whatever it Takes ..." is built around June finally getting the kind of Wall Street job she lost after one day in the show's pilot. After she signs the contract, she finds herself not liking the moral compromise she had to make of letting her roommate Chloe have an affair with a mentally-disabled man who [[RelationshipReveal turns out to have a wife and child]], and quits.
* The final season of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' had the Conner family winning the lottery, visiting exotic locales, Roseanne and Dan breaking up and reconciling, and Darlene giving birth. Then in the final episode, Roseanne revealed those events were [[AllJustADream all just imagined by her in her writings]]: They never won the lottery, Dan was DeadAllAlong, and she had switched out her daughters' spouses (Becky married David, not Mark; Darlene, vice versa).
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Apology Insufficiency" has this. Sheldon has seriously offended and caused real damage to Howard, and makes a significant sacrifice to him in order to make amends. In the last few minutes of the show, Sheldon takes his sacrifice back, yet Howard has no angry or offended reaction and has forgotten all about everything by the next episode.
* ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'' ends with this, as Cole manages to break the series of {{Stable Time Loop}}s by [[RetGone erasing himself from the timeline]], thereby creating an AlternateTimeline where the plague, the Army of the 12 Monkeys and [[BigBad the Witness]] never existed.
* ''Series/CoryInTheHouse'' episode, "Gone Wishing", featured a literal "Undo" button when Cory wishes to be in charge of the White House from a shooting star. The wish comes true when he suddenly wakes to a reality where kids were given the right to vote and he was made the president. All seems well but he keeps ignoring reports of an AlienInvasion from alien robots from his secretary and goofing off. Eventually, the robots infiltrate the White House aided by Sophie whom betrays Cory since he kept fostering all the work on her and they're on the verge of surrounding him when he remembers the Undo button and pushes it just before they overwhelm him, erasing the reality and bringing things back to normal.
* The Series/DoctorWho episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E10JourneyToTheCentreOfTheTardis "Journey to the Center of the Tardis"]] has a more literal use of a ResetButton --after an episode full of dangerous secrets revealed and Arc Questions answered, the Doctor has to slip into a Time Crack to reset (with the [[BigRedButton "big friendly button"]], no less) back to the start of the episode in order to save everyone involved.
* The series ''Series/JoshKirbyTimeWarrior'' ends with Josh saving the Nullifier, and (somehow) saving the 25th century. The series ends up with him being returned (somehow) to the morning before his departure, where he manages to avert a tense situation by calling on Azabeth's [[IdenticalGrandson identical ancestor]] Elizabeth.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' television movie "WesternAnimation/{{Wishology}}" was to have everyone know of Timmy's fairies. He was also to get together with his crush Trixie. However, when the network decided to order another season, it was [[StatusQuoIsGod re-written to show that everyone's memories will be erased]]--which makes one wonder how/why Trixie's memory was erased, when it's been stated ''several'' times in ''every'' season that fairy magic can't interfere with true love...
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' had everything go to hell as the ending neared, and either God or Satan (at Kenny's request) reset the events of the movie.
** PlayedForDrama at the end of "Ass Burgers". After Stan spends the episode overcoming his cynicism and learning to embrace the major changes in his life brought about by the previous episode "You're Getting Old", the ending [[AssPull suddenly undoes all of the change brought about by that episode]], which leads to Stan sinking back into cynicism and beginning to rely on alcohol to get through the day.
* Almost every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' ends with this, except for a few plot points such as Apu and Manjula getting married (and later having octuplets).
** The episode where Maude dies actually has Reverend Lovejoy list the various plotlines that never snapped back, which also included Kirk and Luann's divorce. (Ironically, [[DivorceIsTemporary they've since remarried.]])
** Also averted with Lisa's decision to become a vegetarian. This was done at the insistence of Paul and Linda [=McCartney=], who only agreed to lend their voices and likenesses to the episode if Lisa's decision stuck, so as not to make the lifestyle choice seem cheap or easy. And Lisa has been a vegetarian ever since.
*** Also, Lisa's Buddhism seems to have been retained, although the episode when it was introduced also ended with her learning not to be so obvious about it.

* The original series finale for ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Dexter's parents find out about his lab and Dexter find out about Monkey being a superhero. At the end, everyone except Dee Dee loses their memory of the episode's events. Just as well, since the show would get UnCanceled for two new seasons some years later.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' GrandFinale [[Recap/FuturamaS7E26Meanwhile "Meanwhile"]] ends with a literal one. Because the time-rewinding button is destroyed, [[TimeStandsStill time is frozen]] for everyone-- except for Fry and Leela. The two get married and spend decades exploring the frozen world, growing old together. Eventually, Professor Farnsworth repairs the device, but modifies it so that it would rewind time back to before it was invented, erasing everyone's memories of events after that. Fry and Leela are okay with giving up their perfect life together and starting all over again--although the point of divergence was notably ''after'' Fry decided to propose to Leela.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' has the world come to an end, and the only way to prevent it is to travel back in time and stop the series of events that lead to the end of the world to begin with. Namely, to stop the entire show from ever happening.
* The ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' finale has Scooby destroying the Nibiru curse which causes everything in Crystal Cove to be reset as if the curse had never existed. The only people who are still aware of what happened prior is the gang and [[InkSuitActor Harlan Ellison]], who jumped the same timeline. This is basically where [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou the gang's mystery-solving exploits begin.]]

* A huge use of this trope, one that made an anvil gentle, was the end of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'''s second season.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'' has an interesting spin on this. Enrico Pucci is able to use his Stand, Made In Heaven, to speed up to flow of time until the end of the universe, forming a new one with numerous alterations to its history.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** Played incredibly straight with the fourth ''Shippuden'' Movie under StatusQuoIsGod effect. Naruto has gone back in time to meet the younger version of Minato, [[spoiler: his own father]], but never confirms his suspicions (until later in the series). The BigBad was the one who initially went to the past for the sake of world domination. When he's down for the count, Naruto goes back to the present, but Minato has to mind wipe everyone so there won't be any ripple effects in the future from this event... save for one involving a little girl.
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' had one of these that [[spoiler: managed to take a series notable for rending your soul in half constantly and give it a happy ending]].

* ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} ~After Story~'' Episode 22 [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] this by having [[spoiler:the death of Ushio/The Girl from the Illusionary World causing the release of the light orbs. Tomoya obtains one, and he forces a TimeSkip a la ResetButton to occur where Nagisa gives birth to Ushio and this time, ''survives''.]] While a DeusExMachina, this is actually the [[spoiler:true end of the visual novel, and by extension, the anime]]. See [[http://tstorm.bwys.org/2009/03/clannad-after-story-17-22/ this]] detailed analysis for more details.

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'', though in this case, it's a rare variation in which it gives the series a sense of closure. Of course, the fact that [[spoiler:it wasn't a complete reset]] definitely helps...

* The spinoff manga of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', including ''Kazumi Magica'' and ''Oriko Magica'', have [[spoiler:Homura hitting the ResetButton after losing Madoka yet again]]. The series proper ends with [[spoiler:Goddess Madoka rewriting the universe so that witches cannot exist, which has the effect of bringing back everyone who was ever killed by or because of a witch (such as Mami and Kyouko) as well as {{Mercy Kill}}ing those who would have become witches (such as Sayaka). Madoka herself cannot come back because her wish would have turned her into a witch herself, and because of the sacrifice she made, only one person (Homura) remembers who she was. And magical girls have a new enemy to fight in the form of wraiths, because Kyubey still needs energy to counter the entropy of the universe (and moreover, because Madoka didn't remove human suffering from the universe, just that one particular manifestation of it)]].

* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' ends with a needed one, considering [[spoiler:the current world was in the process of being redone, with several major characters having died before it was hit]]. It also makes a fitting {{Book End|s}}, as the very first crisis ended with the problem being magically undone.
* The manga adaptation of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' ends this way, in stark contrast to the original anime series. [[spoiler:Or is it?]]

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/NightWatch'': Anton gets noticed and initiated as an Other while visiting a witch to perform a spell on his ex-wife, leading him to be brought into the Night Watch and indirectly causing the other events of this movie and the sequel. The sequel ends with Anton rewriting his own fate so that he changes his mind almost immediately after meeting the witch, never meets the Others and lives out the rest of his life as a mortal.

* ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'' ends with this, as Cole manages to break the series of {{Stable Time Loop}}s [[spoiler: by [[RetGone erasing]] himself from the timeline]], thereby creating an AlternateTimeline where the plague, the Army of the 12 Monkeys and [[BigBad the Witness]] never existed.

* The Series/DoctorWho episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E10JourneyToTheCentreOfTheTardis "Journey to the Center of the Tardis"]] has a more literal use of a “ResetButton”--after an episode full of dangerous secrets revealed and Arc Questions answered, the Doctor has to slip into a Time Crack to reset (with the [[BigRedButton "big friendly button"]], no less) back to the start of the episode in order to save everyone involved.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'' has this [[spoiler:during the Restoration ending, where the Kid uses the Bastion to rewind time to before the Calamity. Unfortunately, since nobody remembers anything after the ResetButton is pressed, it's heavily implied that the Calamity just happens again, and the characters are stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop until the Kid chooses not to use it.]]
* ''VideoGame/BenThereDanThat'' ends with [[spoiler:after accidentally killing their past selves, Ben and Dan destroy the entire universe and later confront God, whom gives them a second chance by resetting everything before the adventure even began, although one difference is that the TV is fixed and Ben & Dan don't pay it any mind.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DontLookBack'', during your return trip to the surface, if at any point you turn around, [[OrpheanRescue the ghost you are rescuing]] evaporates with a breathy sound. After you reach the surface, [[spoiler:you return to the graveside where you began ... and you are still standing there, by the grave. Both you and the ghost evaporate with the same sound]].
* ''VideoGame/EvolveIdle'' uses various reset buttons, from [[spoiler:Mutually Assured Destruction to launching a bioseed ship to seed another planet with new life to blowing up the universe by destabilizing a black hole]]. These end up being very valuable, as they're only way of generating meaningful amounts of plasmids and phage, which provide huge production bonuses for subsequent races.
* Destroying the Improbability Drive in ''VideoGame/ImprobableIsland'' results in [[spoiler:the machine exploding in a burst of Improbability, then reconstructing itself in every outpost simultaneously before quantum-wavefunction-collapsing into just one location]]. This has the side effect of transforming you into a different race [[SchrodingersGun that you retroactively choose a bit later]], which is sufficiently distressing to you that the Watcher agrees to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia make you forget you were ever any other way]]. The upshot of all this is that you're back in much the same situation you were when you first landed on the island -- you even go through a not-quite-identical copy of the starting scenario.

* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'': [[spoiler:One of two possible endings has Max use her blue butterfly photo to completely undo her actions over the course of the week, starting with saving Chloe's life on Monday, preventing the storm]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Mary Skelter|Nightmares}} 2'' uses this [[spoiler:in its True Ending to undo its ForWantOfANail setting in favor of returning to the first game's timeline. Little Mermaid, who dies in the first game's backstory but is alive here, is [[HeroicSacrifice fine with this]] because it will save her fellow Blood Maidens from the gruesome slaughter that she just witnessed]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' ends this way [[spoiler:since the only way the surviving heroes can salvage the disastrous outcome of their fight with Nyarlathotep - Maya being murdered, fulfilling the Oracle of Maia and leading to the world ending - is to erase their initial meeting from history]], setting up the plot for the second game, ''Eternal Punishment''.
* Neko Entertainment's physics platformer ''VideoGame/{{Puddle}}'' pulls this off with the help of [[spoiler:radioactive liquid sodium and a nuclear singularity.]]

* Used to remove the confusing plot of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' from the canon. [[spoiler:In the end, the entire plotline is undone through one last bout of time travel, and the final thing we see is the opening cutscene again, except in the new timeline.]] Much to the relief of the fanbase.
* Regardless of what ending you get in ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', the game will reset right back to the office where you started. The Narrator seems to be aware of the game resetting, as in one ending he begs Stanley to stop trying to kill himself so the game won’t reset, but it is often out of his control.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2''. [[spoiler:After defeating Fortuna, every action she (and by extent, Elraine) took is erased from history, thereby completely erasing the events of the game, causing everyone to lose their memories of the journey (and the erasure of Judas). However, for some reason or another, Reala comes back anyway in the new timeline.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' had everything go to hell as the ending neared, and either God or Satan ([[spoiler:at Kenny's request]]) reset the events of the movie.

'''Lisa:''' Yeah. [[EndOfSeriesAwareness Maybe this means the end of our wacky adventures...]]%%NOTE: Don't put in the scene after this one, showing that things DID go back to normal.

* Anime/DigimonAdventureTri is especially cruel with this, with a literal reset button hit on '''''everything in the entire series''''', bringing back everyone they defeated even all the way back in Anime/DigimonAdventure, while temporarily stripping them of their ties to their Digimon.

* The TV series ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' makes a very obvious reference to this -- the writers clearly intended Will Smith's story arc to reach a natural dramatic end with his moving back to Philadelphia in Season 4 to be with his mother, in what was intended to be the series finale. However, the network picked up the show for another season, resulting in the writers breaking the FourthWall by having TV executives show up and literally dragging Will back to Bel-Air, citing the title of the show ("It's not called the Fresh Prince of Philadelphia!"). Nearly every story element affected by this arc was simply dropped in later seasons of the show (Will's mother seemed to cease to exist, etc.)

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' -- both manga ''and'' TV series, but at different points in the story. Especially later in the manga the last page of an arc was often a non sequitur version. However, the manga explicitly resolved ''the'' major conflict in the series, and handily did away with at least four points of contention.

* Almost every episode of ''TheSimpsons'' ends with this, except for a few plot points such as Apu and Manjula getting married (and later having octuplets).

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'' has an interesting spin on this. Enrico Pucci is able to use his stand, Made In Heaven, to speed up to flow of time until the end of the universe, forming a new one with numerous alterations to its history.

* '[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'' has an interesting spin on this. Enrico Pucci is able to use his stand, Made In Heaven, to speed up to flow of time until the end of the universe, forming a new one with numerous alterations to its history.

* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean]]'' has an interesting spin on this. Enrico Pucci is able to use his stand, MADE IN HEAVEN, to speed up to flow of time until the end of the universe, forming a new one with numerous alterations to its history.

* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' had one of these that [[spoiler: managed to take a series notable for rending your soul in half constantly and give it a happy ending.]] It was perfect.

** In a lot of ways, ''So the Drama'' did this, perhaps most evidently with Bonnie's character development. She returns to being even more of an AlphaBitch from here on in.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' television movie "Wishology" was to have everyone know of Timmy's fairies. He was also to get together with his crush Trixie. However, when the network decided to order another season, it was [[StatusQuoIsGod re-written to show that everyone's memories will be erased]]--which makes one wonder how/why Trixie's memory was erased, when it's been stated ''several'' times in ''every'' season that fairy magic can't interfere with true love...

* ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} ~After Story~'' Episode 22 [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] this by having [[spoiler:the death of Ushio/The Girl from the Illusionary World causing the release of the light orbs. Tomoya obtains one, and he forces a TimeSkip a la ResetButton to occur where Nagisa gives birth to Ushio and this time, ''survives''.]]
** While a DeusExMachina, this is actually the [[spoiler:true end of the visual novel, and by extension, the anime]]. See [[http://tstorm.bwys.org/2009/03/clannad-after-story-17-22/ this]] detailed analysis for more details.
*** Game-wise, it's more of an EarnYourHappyEnding thing.
*** [[TraumaCongaLine It's this way for Tomoya, too, really.]]

* The ''Manga/{{Magikano}}'' anime reveals that the entire cast (and possibly, the world,) are reliving the same year forever, resetting a split second after the big love confession. YMMV, but it might actually be pretty bleak and pointless, seeing as to how they have no real means of ever breaking this cycle, and their memories are reset with everything else.

* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' pretty much ended this way, much to the utter dismay of the fans of the show, due mainly to the fact that several chracters integral to the story (Quent, Blue, Hubb and Cher) were not included in the ending.

* The series of ''Film/JoshKirbyTimeWarrior'' ends with Josh saving the Nullifier, and (somehow) saving the 25th Century. The series ends up with him being returned (somehow) to the morning before his departure, where he manages to avert a tense situation by calling on Azabeth's [[IdenticalGrandson identical ancestor]] Elizabeth.

** In "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted," Candace busts her brothers, which causes them to be sent to a reformatory school. Turns out it was AllJustADream (More like a DreamWithinADream).

* The ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' finale has Scooby destroying the Nibiru curse which causes everything in Crystal Cove to be reset as if the curse had never existed. The only people who are still aware of what happened prior is the gang and [[InkSuitActor Harlan Ellison]], who jumped the same timeline. This is basically where [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou the gang's mystery solving exploits begin.]]

-->'''Candace''': [[MediumAwareness I was robbed.]]

* The original series finale for ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Dexter's parents find out about his lab and Dexter find out about Monkey being a superhero. At the end, everyone except Dee Dee loses their memory of the episode's events. Just as well, since the show would get {{UnCanceled}} for two new seasons some years later.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' series finale [[Recap/FuturamaS7E26Meanwhile "Meanwhile"]] ends with a literal one. Because the time-rewinding button is destroyed, [[TimeStandsStill time is frozen]] for everyone-- except for Fry and Leela. The two get married and spend decades exploring the frozen world, growing old together. Eventually, Professor Farnsworth repairs the device, but modifies it so that it would rewind time back to before it was invented, erasing everyone's memories of events after that. Fry and Leela are okay with giving up their perfect life together and starting all over again--although the point of divergence was notably ''after'' Fry decided to propose to Leela.