Against the Setting Sun

"Next time, you're not allowed to stare at me like that with your back to the sunset."

— Sami, The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer

A common usage in sports/competition shows, and occasionally parodied in other genres, the hero, team, or group in question will swear allegiance to fulfilling their dream while facing the setting sun (often while standing on a cliff or beach overlooking the ocean, but not always).

A Sub-Trope of Watching the Sunset.

See also: Battle Against the Sunset, Cue the Sun, and Riding into the Sunset.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Parodied at the end of the first episode of Brigadoon: Marin and Melan. After Melan rescues Marin, they face each other against the sunset. He's worried about whether she was injured. She's just worried about whether he saw her patched underwear.
• CLANNAD had Tomoya confess to Nagisa in the Theater Club's room with the setting sun's beams shining through the partially open door exactly between the two of them. D'AWW...
  • In the same vein, SHUFFLE! had Rin confess to Asa at a lookout point above their town, with the kiss scene ensuing right there and then.
• Parodied in Daily Lives of High School Boys. Instead of celebrating Motoharu's feat of successfully riding a bike, aren't they supposed to do something else? Like, chasing the guy who snatched your wallet?
• Episode 11 of Eyeshield 21 has one of these scenes, and is actually called "Oath Beneath the Setting Sun".
• Parodied in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu ("Let's run towards that setting sun!").
  • And similarly in Excel♡Saga.
• Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl opens with a How We Got Here classroom scene lit by this trope that is repeated three times.
• Kill la Kill: After Ryuko airs her grievances against Satsuki (and is prevented by the Elite Four from punching her), she apologizes for manipulating Ryuko, admits that she has been as bad as Ragyo by using the same methods she did and asks Ryuko to lend everyone her strength in the coming fight against Ragyo. All of this with the setting sun in the background.
• The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer: At one point, Yuuhi affirms his absolute loyalty to Sami and ends with a resolute stare. Sami blushes heavily and forbids him from staring at her like that again with his back against the setting sun.
• In Macross 7, Basara sits on the roof and writes a song against the red setting sun — only the red setting sun is a fake projection against a humongous screen, designed to make the interstellar colony ship that's his home seem more Earth-like. In the song, he refers to a red sunset projected on a screen....
• Parodied in the School Festival episode of Mahoraba, where the Symphony Club (all three of them) swear to become a true symphony instead of an appreciation club, despite lacking both the number of members necessary and the talents required.
• Mon Colle Knights' Show Within A Show sees this happen with Sergeant Bunchou and an ally, which later tops off a delusion by Count Collection where he sees Mondo against such a sunset, and believes it to be proof of his newly formed bond with Mondo, complete with hallucination of Mondo wearing the clothes of the sergeant. Mondo for his part is actually thinking about Rokuna.
• Used in My-HiME when Tate dies. In a slight twist, it's not Tate who is framed against the setting sun, its Mai's face as she desperately tries to tell him she loves him before he disappears
• Parodied frequently by Rock Lee and Might Guy in Naruto, where an inspiring speech is enough to cause a beach to appear out of nowhere.
  • In Naruto fanfictions, the response of people seeing the moment is usually a combination of awe (because they can't break the genjutsu or... whatever it is) and sheer, unadulterated horror (they want to look away... but they can't).
• One Piece:
  • Sogeking's personal introduction ends with him staring out from a cliff at the setting sun. Fitting, since the whole sequence was a massive parody of the opening sequences of Japanese hero shows.
  • The Nine Red Scabbards gained their epithet after being seen marching to battle with Kozuki Oden against Kaido to the backdrop of the setting sun, which made their katanas shine burning red.
• Ouran High School Host Club has a scene where Tamaki is carrying Haruhi out of the ocean after having saved her from drowning. There's a beautiful sunset behind him as he walks onto shore.
  • The last episode of the anime also has Tamaki and Haruhi falling from the bridge with this kind of sky, toward the water below holding onto one another.
• Ranma ½:
  • The third episode ends with Kunou confessing his love to girl-type Ranma in this setting.
  • In The Movie, Big Trouble in Nekonron, China, the cast address their resolve to rescue Akane from Kirin and the Seven Lucky Gods against an image of the setting sun with the word "youth" stamped on it.
  • In a story where Principal Kuno vows to teach Akane how to swim, she has all but given up (and has a mild neurotic breakdown) when Ranma, the Principal, and all her classmates encourage her to try again, with the setting sun framing them. She tries again. And fails.
• In Saint Beast, Judas and Luca repeatedly end promises or finish important conversations by staring off at the setting sun. Kouin Jojishi Tenshi Tan finishes with all six main characters deciding to rebel together before gazing at the sunset.
• In Gensomaden Saiyuki, the four heroes regularly pose on cliffs facing the setting sun, dwelling on their journey West and how nothing is going to stop them.
• The second episode of Venus Five briefly features a movie shoot with a man in Speedos (and director coaching him to do it more over the top) dramaticly cursing the setting sun.
• The final scene of episode 18 of Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo had Syrup and Urara having a meaningful conversation in this setting, and then he gave her an "air ticket" as a gift for her, in case she wants to ride him (not that way) to feel the wind on her face.

Films — Live-Action

• The Trope Codifier is the famous ending scene of Gone with the Wind.
  "After all, tomorrow is another day!"
• Steven Spielberg is particularly fond of this trope.
• Michael Bay loves this trope, especially if a chase scene is involved. Even his music video for Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love" makes use of it.
  • The Transformers Wiki even includes among its goofs for the first movie: "Sunset occurs roughly every fifteen minutes."

Live-Action TV

• Early in Angel, he made a speech reaffirming his commitment to protecting people while watching the sun set, and as it went down smashed the magical ring that made him invulnerable so he could see it.
• In the Ultra Series, whenever vows are made involving the Ultra's human forms.
  • Ultraseven have Dan confronting the fake Dorothy Anderson at the end of a cliffhanger during a two-parter. Dan then runs towards the camera with the sun in the background.
  • The pilot of Return of Ultraman, where Hideki - as Ultraman Jack, having killed his first monster, Earthron, and made a vow to the MAT crew, then faces the setting sun as the credits roll.
  • Ultraman Leo have the returning hero, Ultraseven, and the show's new hero Ultraman Leo as they made a pact to fight any and all alien threats against Earth. Dan even compares himself to the setting sun and Leo to the rising sun.

Video Games

• After navigating through the Dead Sea in Chrono Cross, Serge and his party find Miguel, the area's guardian, in the ruins of Leene's Bell from Chrono Trigger, frozen against an endless sunset. After a long bit of exposition, their fight occurs with said sunset prominently featured.
• One level in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan involves a teacher trying to inspire his female students — one segment has them going jogging, and if the segment is failed, the students pass the teacher on scooters, laughing at him, as he laments "The setting sun is crying!"
• In the true ending of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Crocodile Isle sinks away into the ocean against a setting sun.
• Done in Suikoden V near the start of the game, as Lyon vows to protect the Prince no matter what as the two watch the sunset.
• An iconic backdrop in the Rygar games. The first stage of the PS2 version uses this as a homage to the original arcade game.
• Anor Londo in Dark Souls is sitting under an eternal sunset, which is actually an illusion covering The Night That Never Ends.

Western Animation

• Green Lantern and Hawkgirl say their goodbyes at the end of Justice League: Starcrossed against such a backdrop, complete with Hawkgirl flying towards the horizon.

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