Do Not Go Gentle moments in Anime and Manga.
- Mikasa in Episode 7 of Attack on Titan after suffering from a Despair Event Horizon seems to give up at first when she runs out of gas for her maneuver system. However, she starts to actively resist as best as she can against the Titan trying to eat her after she starts remembering Eren telling her to fight back.
- Most people can't do much besides squirm even if they wanted to once they're in the grasp of a Titan. One exception is the unnamed Survey Corps member that basically spits defiance at the Titan holding him and keeps stabbing it in the face even as he's getting chewed on.
- Jun Misugi from Captain Tsubasa has a heart disease. but he loves soccer, and is willing to die playing it. He tones this attitude down as he grows up, still he wants to play whenever he can.
- A Certain Magical Index:
- Acqua of the Back loses the will to live when he loses his powers. Shiage Hamazura convinces him to stand up and keep fighting.
- Kakine Teitoku tells Accelerator and Shizuri Mugino that their struggle is pointless because they will go to Hell no matter what they do. Mugino says maybe that's true, but if it is, they might as well kick some ass before they go.
- Dragon Ball Z, being a story about heroes facing off against superpowered villains who often power up or transform to levels far beyond them, this trope is relatively common. Notable examples include:
- Goku and Vegeta powering up to Super Saiyan to face 500 Meta Coolers (having just been beaten to the point of exhaustion trying to destroy just one).
- Tien facing off against Semi-Perfect Cell to buy time for Android 18 to escape despite knowing it would mean his death either from overuse of the Tri-Beam or from Cell's wrath afterwards.
- The remaining Z Fighters attacking Perfect Cell to help Gohan and avenge the death of Goku, despite how all of their combined power bar Vegeta's amounts to little more than an insect bite to him; they want to go out doing right by their friend and ally.
- In a non-death example (though it may seem like death since American football is Serious Business) in Eyeshield 21, after Kid and Tetsuma are benched due to injuries and the team is painfully aware that they don't have a chance and losing by a large amount of points, Riku refused to let the team throw the game and continued to play against Gao until he dropped.
- Fist of the North Star marries up the second form of this trope with a drawn-out version of a Dying Moment of Awesome in the form of Rei's final chapters. Mortally wounded by Raoh's Finger Poke of Doom, which has activated a pressure point that will drain all his blood from his body in three days, Rei chooses not to give up, and instead dedicates his final days (later extended by one more day thanks to Toki activating a pressure point which allows someone to live on for 24 hours) to tracking down Yuda so he can defeat him, in turn returning Mamiya's honour. With Kenshiro's help, Rei triumphs over Yuda, and only then does he finally die, only a few hours later.
- Hijikata in Hakuouki is aware that as early as the battle of Toba-Fushimi that the Shinsengumi are fighting a war that they cannot win. However, he will not let despair show and demoralize the troops and throws himself whole-heartedly into making things work.
- Hellsing was quite fond of this.Pip Bernadotte: Let us die like mangy dogs!
- Jewelpet Twinkle☆: in a non-fatal example, Sara chooses to fight against Laiya after seeing her seriously injure Leon and understanding that she has no chance of winning. Nevertheless, she cooks up a plan to weaken her enough for Akari to stand a chance.
- Subverted in Koihime†Musou. Kannu and Chouun are cut off from all reinforcements and facing an entire bandit gang in their own lair armed only with whatever they could take off their defeated enemies. They exchange true names as people facing death together and decide to go out fighting. They not only live, they managed to wipe out the entire gang between them denying Kousonsan any chance of glory.
- Macross Frontier has an example in Sheryl Nome, who is given an opportunity to save the fleet because while her illness means her days are numbered, it also means she can affect the Vajra with her song, which may be crucial to Frontier's survival in the Final Battle. Sheryl goes into the last battle expecting to be dead by the end of it, by her infection if not by gunshot.
- Something similar happens in the first movie, where Sheryl's farewell concert is interrupted by a Vajra attack, and she goes on singing to bring hope to the soldiers, even if it means attracting the Vajras' attention and getting killed.
- Mobile Suit Gundam:
- We have General Revil's famous "Zeon is exhausted" speech, mentioned in the backstory but not shown in the anime (it does, however, appear in the novelization and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin). In the first week of the war, The Federation suffered devastating losses to Zeon's mobile suits, Sydney was reduced to a gigantic crater by a Colony Drop, and General Revil was captured. Just when the Feds were preparing to sign the surrender agreement, Revil was rescued by a Federation commando team and made a speech announcing that Zeon had depleted its fighting strength as well and encouraged the Feds not to give up. The speech worked, and the Federation ended up winning the war by hanging on against overwhelming odds until they could develop MS of their own.
- Dozle Zabi also goes out this way, when his Big Zam is disabled by the Gundam, he gets out and starts shooting a machine gun at it. He never expected this to have any effect, but it is widely regarded as his Dying Moment of Awesome both in and out of universe. In fact, his defiant spirit is so strong that Amuro's Newtype powers pick it up as a great demonic shadow rising out of Dozle, giving Amuro quite the scare despite his victory.
- Naruto has Zabuza in a perfect, shining example of this trope, no Rousing Speech needed.
- Jiraiya dies while fighting against Pain, but temporarily comes back from death through sheer willpower only to leave behind enough information to help someone else defeat Pain.
- Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, give up their life while saving the Konoha village from the Kyuubi's attack, but also take steps to ensure that the Big Bad would be eventually defeated, by sealing the Kyuubi inside Naruto. Minato even adds two fail-safe mechanisms into the seal just in case things go wrong.
- In the face of the overwhelming power of Obito and the God-Tree and his ability to instantly consume all the chakra in the planet, the entire shinobi army was morally broken, including Naruto. Then a panel later Sasuke cut said tree with Susano's black flames and taunted Naruto, Obito, and Madara's resolve, implying that they were cowards who couldn't face reality and that he will destroy said tree alone if he had to, which snapped Naruto out of his fear. This allowed the rest of the army to regain the will to fight and die to the bitter end by watching Naruto and Hashirama's memories and sincere hope for humanity.
- Faced with Madara Uchiha, who has defeated everyone who has crossed his path, even Naruto and Sasuke, proven immune to ninjutsu, with nobody left to assault him with senjutsu, and now with the Juubi inside him, Might Guy proceeds to attack him with the only effective way: taijutsu. However, Madara shrugs off every attack of his, even his 7th gate's Afternoon Tiger. Kakashi sees this and loses faith, urging Guy to stand down. However, Guy states that it is never too late to give up, and while things may not work out, it's worth having faith in one's efforts. With that, he opens the Eighth Gate and gives Madara the fight of a lifetime.
- One Piece:
- The Pirate King Gold Roger was dying from an incurable disease. He then conquered the Grand Line, became known throughout the world as the Pirate King, found a lover and had a kid with her, and then turned himself in. Then, at his execution, which the World Government intended to use as a warning to all pirates for what awaits them, turned it into the moment that started the Golden Age of Piracy. Then he laughed, smiling as they lopped off his head."My wealth and treasures? If you want it, it's yours. I left everything I gathered in one place. But you'll have to search the entire world!"
- Similarly, his Friendly Enemy Whitebeard did the same thing at his own death. As a marine victory was poised to snuff out the Golden Age of Piracy, Whitebeard shouted out his last words, reigniting the idea once again, and started an entirely new age of piracy. Those words?"ONE PIECE EXISTS!"
- The Pirate King Gold Roger was dying from an incurable disease. He then conquered the Grand Line, became known throughout the world as the Pirate King, found a lover and had a kid with her, and then turned himself in. Then, at his execution, which the World Government intended to use as a warning to all pirates for what awaits them, turned it into the moment that started the Golden Age of Piracy. Then he laughed, smiling as they lopped off his head.
- In Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Souichi and Souji suffer from rapid de-aging/Rapid Aging, respectively, thanks to the experimentation that was forced on them, and therefore don't have much longer left to live. Rather than sit around, feeling sorry for themselves, they've decided to stick it to the government that did this to them in the first place before they kick the bucket.
