A dramatic montage-like sequence where a character has a vision of all the people he cares about, which enables him to win a battle or overcome some great hurdle. Related to the tropes Hot-Blooded and The Power of Friendship, and very definitely related to Heroic Resolve. This trope also frequently overlaps with a Heroic Second Wind.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Phantom Blood: Jonathan experiences this twice. First when his life flashed in his first battle with Dio, and later when he is facing off in the last battle as he envision his allies.
- Stone Ocean: As Pucci is moments away from killing him, Emporio, the only surviving member of the heroes after Pucci killed them, is stunned with terror until his memories of Jolyne appears, and remembering her final words gives him a Heroic Second Wind.
- In Dragon Ball Z, as Goku fights a losing battle against Frieza, at one point he's forced underwater, and seems to drown and stop struggling. However, this comes into play as the faces of his friends flash before his eyes, giving him the motivation to break Frieza's grip and continue the fight.
- Sesshomaru in the climax of Inuyasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler despite the fact that he denies "having anyone to protect". The manga had the theme since midway through the arc where Inu Yasha acquired Tessaiga, but didn't belabor it.
- Naruto: The Third Hokage does this before preparing to use Reaper Death Seal on Orochimaru, declaring that the entire village of Konoha is his family.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: In the Noah Arc of the anime, this gives Tea the courage to cross a rickety rope bridge to escape from some monsters that wanted to eat her.
- This continues well into Yu-Gi-Oh! GX as well. The best example is easily at the final moments of season 3's final showdown when Judai flashes back to everyone he's ever befriended at Duel Academy, though that was more along the lines of "This one's for you, everybody."
- Hunter × Hunter has one in the Chimera Ant arc, when Killua is trying to defend a depowered Gon from an ant they met earlier. While Killua fights against the psychological effects of Illumi's needle, we get an entire montage of his memories of Gon. This enables him to finally remove the needle, and kick some serious ass.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin has a flash of his experiences (friends and enemies alike) just before learning his ultimate technique; Yahiko has a similar one later to reflect how much he'd unconsciously picked up just by witnessing the same set of events.
- Happens to Vash in one of the last chapters of Trigun Maximum. The "I see dead people!" scene, which might be a hallucination, or maybe he's really seeing his dead friends.
- Train from Black Cat has one (though not all of them are his friends, one is an assassin promise to rematch him, for example) before he starts the process of delivering Coup de grâce to Creed.
- In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Cloud has one during his fight with Sephiroth, allowing him to overcome, then beat the tar out of Sephiroth.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
- Simon meets Kamina and other lost friends during the end of the Lotus-Eater Machine dream sequence.
- A more serious example happens while Kamina is getting fired up for the battle where he and Simon hijack the Dai-Gurren.
- Sailor Moon:
- During the final episode of the first storyline. It actually happens twice - first at the end of Episode 45, where Sailor Moon nearly gives up from the grief over the deaths of her friends, which summons the spirits of her fallen comrades to remind her not to let them die in vain. This scene was cut from the English dub. The second happened at the climax of Episode 46, where Usagi, as Princess Serenity, is struggling to fight off the powered-up Queen Beryl and she sees a vision of her friends. This was kept in the English dub, but they changed the circumstances - the dub made them appear to be talking specifically to Serena, the original script was merely Usagi having a vision of their lost hopes and dreams. Either way, it still summoned their spirits back to her side to finish off Beryl for good.
Serena: I hear you. I am not afraid anymore.
- The inverse of this happens in Sailor Moon R: The Movie, where each of the senshi remembers how they used to be alone and friendless, and then a pivotal moment in which Usagi extended her friendship to them.
- During the final episode of the first storyline. It actually happens twice - first at the end of Episode 45, where Sailor Moon nearly gives up from the grief over the deaths of her friends, which summons the spirits of her fallen comrades to remind her not to let them die in vain. This scene was cut from the English dub. The second happened at the climax of Episode 46, where Usagi, as Princess Serenity, is struggling to fight off the powered-up Queen Beryl and she sees a vision of her friends. This was kept in the English dub, but they changed the circumstances - the dub made them appear to be talking specifically to Serena, the original script was merely Usagi having a vision of their lost hopes and dreams. Either way, it still summoned their spirits back to her side to finish off Beryl for good.
- Bleach: Ichigo does this during his final battle with Grimmjow. And again, when first activating his Fullbring powers.
- Heartbreakingly inverted in One Piece during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc where Luffy has a Heroic BSoD after being unable to defend his True Companions from being vanished by an enemy and a montage set to Binks' Sake shows his friends and the circumstances which led to them joining his crew to reinforce his absolute shock and horror, as well as his ultimate helplessness. Later played straight and pulls Luffy out of his Heroic BSoD after Ace's death when he remembers his crew and decides to reunite with them.
- In Negima! Magister Negi Magi (at least in the first manga), this trope is intentionally invoked by Setsuna on Negi during their fight (she wants him to win). She narrates the montage.
- In Knight Hunters, Youji does this for the rest of his team while contemplating death at the hands of a small private army. In a junkyard.
- In the YuYu Hakusho anime, Yusuke has one of these as he's being tortured to death by Suzaku. Yusuke has the montage, but still loses his fight against Yomi.
- It happens to Erza in Fairy Tail when she fights Azuma, to the point that the apparitions get behind her and push her forward.
- In Tiger Mask W, when Tiger Mask is about to be on the receiving end of Red Death Mask's Finishing Move second time in a row, his manager Haruna calls out to him. This causes him to see all of the people that helped him thus far. This brought back his spirit and he managed to turn the tables on his opponent, winning the match.
- Nanoha has one of these at the end of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation after the final battle is over. For some bizarre reason, her family is entirely absent from it.
Film — Live-Action
- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry drives Voldemort out of his mind with a montage of all the people he likes.
- The protagonist in Iron Eagle has an inspiring flashback. It allows him to put his own questionable fighter-piloting skills against trained professional pilots and win.
- Bruce Leroy has an inspiring flashback that makes him realize the true meaning of the quest his teacher put him on in The Last Dragon.
- Early drafts of the script for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi had this with Obi-Wan and Yoda appearing to Luke during the battle with the Emperor and helping him resist his power.
- During the Grand Prix at the finale of the live action Speed Racer film, Speed's Heroic Second Wind after restarting the Mach 6 is accompanied by flashbacks to his discussions with his friends and family throughout the film, mixed with cuts to each of them watching in pride as he comes from behind to take the lead for the second time in the race.
Literature
- This happens to Harry Potter twice. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the "ghosts" of Voldemort's most recent murder victims (including both of his parents) appear from Voldemort's wand and give him a pep talk while he's battling their killer. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone allows Harry to talk to the spirits of his parents and Sirius Black as he is walking to confront Voldemort from the last time. They give him another pep talk.
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Percy gets one when he bathes in the Styx. It's the thought of Annabeth that finally gets through to him.
Live-Action TV
- Doctor Who: Happens to both the Fourth and more notably the Fifth Doctors before regenerating.
- In the final episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus motivates himself to fight Crassus by thinking about the people he has loved most and lost; we see a montage of his wife Sura, his Second Love Mira and his best friend Varro.
Theatre
- Patrick Stewart played a man on the brink of death who relives his entire life. The play ends with everyone he has ever known in his life standing on the stage with him as his son is telling him "Time to say goodbye now." That's emotional enough, but an even more touching moment for Trek fans, is that Stewart said that in order to produce an emotional response every time he played that scene, he would imagine the faces of his fellow Star Trek cast members standing with him, and say goodbye to them. It worked every time.
Video Games
- Persona:
- Persona 3 does this, though with a more tragic end. After the Hopeless Boss Fight with Nyx, the hero has visions of his maxed Social Links, which gives him the strength needed for his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Persona 4 has this during the True Ending. After Izanami-no-Okami wipes out the entire party by pulling their souls into the netherworld, the hero is shown laid out and rapidly fading away. At this point, he will have a vision of every person whose Social Link you maxed out (which means at the very least seeing Teddie) cheering him on, allowing him to create the World persona and completely defeat Izanami.
- The final battle of Final Fantasy IV has this as a real event rather than purely a vision—one character who isn't in the party senses that the hero's in trouble, and all the rest join in a prayer for him. This translates to a brief vision of each major character who isn't present and full restoration of HP and MP. Interestingly, at least one character appears who was Killed Off for Real—perhaps the prayers called him back from the afterlife for a moment?
- In Street Fighter Alpha 3, this is how Ryu resists M. Bison's mind control by focusing on his friends.
- In Wild ARMs 2, Ashley calls upon the prayers and hopes of his friends and loved ones and channels them through the Argetlahm to defeat the Final Boss Lord Blazer.
Western Animation
- Samurai Jack: In the episode "Jack and the Monks", Jack sees visions of his home and his loved ones, motivating him to make the last push to the top of the mountain he's climbing.
- TrollHunters: Before Jim permanently turns himself into troll-form, he musters his resolve by thinking about his friends and family, humans and trolls alike.
- Wakfu: In the final battle of Season 1, Nox uses his powers to stop time for an opportunity to attack, Yugo immediately focuses his powers on wanting to protect his friends, allowing him to break through Nox's frozen time.
