Love At First Punch



""Yusa Chiemi! That spin kick you gave me... Hit me in the right spot! Go out with me, please!""

- Hirata, Jun'ai Tokkou Taichou

Love At First Sight, only a whole lot more violent.

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but if that first impression involves you insulting, smacking or punching anyone with an arrogant personality, then you'd best watch out. You may have just made yourself a cruel and brutal enemy...

... and if they don't become your enemy, they may become something even worse.

Yes, that's right. The snobbishly Bishonen Student Council President, the hulking school bully, the stuck-up Alpha Bitch—admire them, grovel before them, and they'll barely take any notice of you. Make a snide, cutting remark about their attitude or launch your foot into their face, and they'll be putty in your hands. It is not known why people with Jerkass tendencies tend to go gaga over the people who stand up to them—maybe because it is so rare for someone to stand up to them, and when someone does they don't just become worthy of respect, but often the only ones they are able to perceive as an equal partner.

The hero or heroine who puts the bully into their place very rarely appreciates his or her amorous attentions. This is because bullies are usually villains, and villains tend to have a rather perverted and/or amoral approach to most aspects of their lives, including love. Bully Love tends to be a rather obsessive and one-sided affair, which can be played for comedy if the object of their affections is equally strong and aggressive (and if they're not, the whole thing can just come off as damn creepy). Some heroes find themselves completely flustered by a bully's attentions, especially if the bully is female and the hero is a male who has qualms about hitting women. An aggressive heroine with no such qualms against violence may likewise find it hard to launch into a bully who is less physically strong than she is—and even if he's a gigantic brute, the heroine may find herself feeling just a little bit guilty about tossing him into a wall if he's approaching her with hearts in his eyes and a bouquet of flowers in his arms.

Occasionally, the bully may try to reform in an effort to win the heart of his beloved. In series where Status Quo Is God, this oftentimes will not go very well. If the villain becomes pathetic enough in his or her endeavors, the hero/heroine may start to love them out of pity. This can lead to a Slap Slap Kiss type of situation wherein the protagonist and the bully enter into a period of bickering which may eventually bear fruit when they graduate to Takahashi Couple. Death might be preferable.

In a number of situations, it is a form of Meet Cute - haloed in light and slightly out of focus, she's the first thing you see upon waking up from the horrific beatdown she just inflicted upon you. What better way to meet the love of your life?

The stronger version of Defeat Means Friendship, and the lighter version of You Got Spunk. See also Hot Amazon, Well, Excuse Me, Princess!. Compare Dating Catwoman. Contrast Best Her to Bed Her, where the defeated is bound by vow/law etc to marry the victor regardless of their feelings; they may overlap.

Not to be confused with the Chinese drama Love At First Fight.

Anime and Manga
"Mizuho, on Meguro's face: *crash* *slam* *smash* *splurt* Meguro: Nice punch, Mizuho Nishina ... I'm in love..."
 * Hiei of Yu Yu Hakusho has this late in the series with . She sets him against an old acquaintance who slices him into pieces; after he's healed from this, she fights and defeats him in a tournament. Finally when he annoys her too much, she punches through his stomach and throws him out... and he not only doesn't hold it against her, but he arranges a really, er, nice gift for her.
 * Chu also has this with in the Demon World Tournament arc.
 * Tenshi na Konamaiki has the "bully falling in love with the girl who disciplines him" angle as part of its main plot, although this situation has a twist—the girl the bully falls in love with is not what she seems.
 * Akane Tendō from Ranma ½ often became the object of boys' affections because of her Tsundere attitude.
 * In the second movie, Nihao My Concubine, the prince chooses Akane to be his bride (from the hundreds of other candidates available) after she climbs on his throne, smacks him in the face and gives him a What the Hell, Hero? speech for humiliating her and the other girls. (It is implied that the only woman who ever disciplined him before was his mother...)
 * Then there's the manga chapter about the young resort heir who is seeking the girl whose foot matches the marks she left in his head—a literal "first impression".
 * Similarly, Kunō's obsessive love for Akane and "the pigtailed girl" seems to grow the more they beat him into submission.
 * In the manga, the "Hentai Horde," as fanon dubs it, actually comes back together and resumes its original purpose of ambushing Akane and trying to knock her out cold in order to claim the right to date her when Akane gives her status as Ranma's fiancée to her elder sister.
 * The trope is actually codified into the law of the Chinese Amazons and thus effectively defines Shampoo's relationship with Ranma: ever since he defeated her while in his male form, she genuinely considers him her husband.
 * Hell, Ranma and Akane's relationship could be considered to fall under this. Though Akane does initially greet him with the offer to be friends, due to mistaking him for another girl, once the explanations are over after their Naked First Impression, she starts insulting Ranma, who rises to the bait and zings her back by pointing out his female form is more heavily stacked then hers. Akane promptly bashes Ranma over the head with a table, knocking him/her out cold, and the rest is history.
 * Pictured above: Domyouji Tsukasa, the leader of the snobbish clique in Hana Yori Dango, falls for Makino Tsukushi, the Plucky Girl, who isn't afraid to slam her foot into his face and dress him down as a Jerkass. She's the first person outside of his family (the original one being his sister Tsubaki) to ever do so.
 * Military nut Giroro on Keroro Gunsou fell for Natsumi after she navigated his booby traps, dodged his missile fire, and smacked him out the window with her school bag. He declares his love just before he loses consciousness.
 * Subverted by poor Makoto of Sailor Moon fame, whose horrid luck with love persisted despite her ability to wail on any and all bullies. She fared better in the live-action adaptation, but this trope was irrelevant in the relationship.
 * This is how Miyoshi and Akito start dating in Bakuman｡: she finds out he had talked to her just to know about Azuki and relay the information to Mashiro. She (who's trained in karate and boxing and, according to Shujin, "packs a punch like three men together") then decks him in the face. Four times. Then she tends to him.
 * In Blue Drop, Hagino tries to strangle Mari when they first meet in the dorms. It is needless to say that their relationship is a tad strained for a while after that, although they keep hanging out with each other.
 * In Jun'ai Tokkou Taichou the school's most troublesome delinquent, Hirata, asks out the main character Chiemi after she punishes him for causing trouble.
 * Arguably, Ukyō from Samurai 7 only became more obsessed with Kirara after she refused to become part of his harem.
 * One of the myriad reasons Hot-Blooded Shizuma Kusanagi is attracted to The Hero Ryoko Mitsurugi in Real Bout High School is because she's the only one who can beat him in a fight.
 * Taiho Hashiba, The Brute of the villainous Five-Bad Band, winds up going out with The Big Guy Megumi Momoi after she defeated him.
 * Wannabe ninja Asuka Kuronari, on the other hand, becomes a borderline Stalker with a Crush for real ninja Kyoichi Kunugi after he took pity on her in their fight.
 * Childhood sweethearts Ai and G also go at it, though there it's actually an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight.
 * Patrick Colasawar fell for his colonel Kati Mannequin this way in Mobile Suit Gundam 00. He was an incorrigible Casanova and Ace until Kati punched him for being late. Now, The Strategist can't get the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain off her back.
 * In Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Jerid Mesa falls for his commander Lyla after she hits him. In fact, Kati and Patrick are like a more sympathetic version of this, as both are nominally on the bad guy side, and
 * Flame of Recca: Kurei only starts warming up and opening himself when Kurenai gave him a slap, her being the first woman to ever slap him on the face. Then... horrible shit happens.
 * Nanjiroh Echizen was a popular tennis player and a Handsome Lech. Rinko Takeuchi was a law student and Type B Tsundere. She was the first girl who didn't tolerate his Handsome Lech traits, he groped and teased her for being flat-chested... but after an incident where he rescued her from a Jerkass tennis coach, they got hitched up, married and had a son named Ryoma, the lead character in The Prince of Tennis.
 * In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, Mrs. Bradley tells Ed and Al that her first meeting with Fuhrer Bradley ended with her slapping him.
 * Subverted and played straight in Kodomo no Omocha. The first girl (Mami) who called out the local Jerkass (Hayama) was almost drowned by him and his gang in the school pond, since she accidentally pushed his Berserk Button. The second girl (Sana) fared quite better and the Jerkass slowly became a Jerk with a Heart of Gold thanks to her.
 * In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, this is probably to be expected, given the series' preferred method of making friends. Most obviously, Fate thoroughly owns Nanoha in their first meeting, and all Nanoha can think of afterward is how beautiful Fate's sad eyes are.
 * Girls Bravo: Both Kosame and Hijiri fall madly in love with Kirie after she attacks them, and by mad I mean in a Psycho Lesbian Black Comedy Rape kind of way.
 * If anything, Kirie's constant beat downs of Fukuyama actually make him even more determined in his pursuit of her. Same with his sister Lisa whenever Yukinari fights back against her advances.
 * Tyki Mikk from D.Gray-man has had a bit of a thing for Allen since the latter cheated him out of everything up to and including his clothes in a poker game. The actual fights have only made it more severe. Road has a similar, more explicit crush on him that dates back to the time she nailed his arm to the wall and he ripped it free to save a friend and an innocent. Since then, she's Road has issues.
 * Wolfram from Kyou Kara Maou toward Yuri after he slapped him and later defeated him in a duel. Let's just say he's very possessive over Yuri now...
 * In Peach Girl it's noticeable that after Momo punched Kairi he developed an attraction towards her.
 * Ookami-san applies this trope to the Cinderella story. Instead of seeing whom does the shoe fits, the prince asks to kick him with said shoe, as the only thing his love did was kicking him unconscious. Unlike all competitors who made sensible kicks, his beloved used Waif Fu.
 * Black Butler: Grell Sutcliff, for Sebastian and Will. It seems she likes them both for the cold shoulders they give her. And the bruises.
 * Lady Frances was rumored to have made Marquis Middleford fall in love with her after besting him in fencing.
 * Sakamoto Julietta: "...that kick... gave me the biggest shock I've ever felt in my life... AND PIERCED MY HEART!!"
 * Sumomomo Momomo has this to an extent. In a flashback scene Momoko and Tenka have a friendly duel as children in which Momoko loses. Momoko and Tenka agree to meet again in the future after she gets stronger. He thinks it is so she will become strong enough to be befitting of his bride, while she just wants a revenge duel. Played for laughs, but it is a semi-important plot element as the unrequited love is why Tenka ends up assisting Momoko throughout the rest of the series.
 * Sensitive Pornograph: Mizuho's violent reactions to Meguro's offers for friendship, or compliments about cuteness don't slow Meguro down a bit from falling for him. Notable Meguro never raises his fist against Mizuho, accepting his frequent beatings with giddy happiness.


 * In Nerima Daikon Brothers, Mako doesn't have any feelings for Ichiro until after he slaps her.
 * At her insistence, since she demanded he emulate rival host Number One, who seduces women by causing them harm.
 * It doesn't work for Hideki.
 * Toradora! Ryuuji's first encounter with Taiga swiftly ends with a SHORYUKEN!
 * A Certain Magical Index Mikoto started liking (in her own way) Touma after he first blocked her electricity while she was zapping some delinquents
 * Though their  didn't come until volume 9, Guts and Casca's relationship started as a sword fight as enemies (though he only engaged her because he thought Casca was man.). After that, a very interesting timeline developed between them over the span of four years...
 * Although there are other less volatile, events that create the initial meeting, one of the things Hinagiku does to Hayate in Hayate the Combat Butler is jump from a tree branch to 'accidentally' land with her foot in his face.
 * Ayumu crashes into Hayate while riding an out-of-control bike, after she'd woken up to dreaming about their first encounter when he'd saved her from going over a cliff in a similar situation, which was admittedly a year ago.
 * Toy Ship version of sorts: In Hamtaro, Roberto seems to have a slight crush on Laura... the girl who called him out on his Jerkass behavior.
 * In Hinako Takanaga's one-shot Boys Love manga Love Round, the protagonist falls for the Pint-Sized Powerhouse Komatsuna when the furious punch he gives him after being teased about his girlish looks convinces him that he needs to get him to join the boxing club.
 * Fandom theorizes that Hibari and Mukuro are like this to Tsuna in fanworks in Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Comic Books
"Omega: Such destructive power...I like you! Let us burn things together! Blaze: ?!?"
 * In Batman this is pretty much what Joker says happened when he first met Bats in several versions.
 * In the case of Robin (Tim Drake), it was love at first 'brick' with . After their first encounter, Tim couldn't get her out of his head and proceeded to stalk her civilian identity.
 * In Bowling King, the bratty, rich Handsome Lech Jen Ni falls for Tz'zun for real (having only been superficially attracted to her before) after she violently refused his advances. "I know, she's playing hard to get!" This, of course, is him being a moron; Nobody else in the world would interpret a Groin Attack as anything but "no."
 * In Preacher, Rev. Jesse Custer's parents met when his mother ran up to his Marine father, spat in his face, and called him a "baby-killer". Later she found him and apologized, explaining that she felt pressured into her actions by the hippies she traveled with.
 * Knuckles and Julie-Su ended up meeting this way in the Archie Sonic comics. Granted, Julie-Su was his Capulet Counterpart at the time (and still is, in a sense,) but still...
 * Additionally, Rob O The Hedge the Hedgehog and Mari-Ann the echidna instantly developed feelings for one another, after Mari-ann kicked his ass - such big feelings that in the same story, she leaves her family to stay with him. Later on in the comic's history, they would be seen married and with a son.
 * A particularly hilarious version that occurred between Omega and Blaze.


 * Maxima really fell for Superman after he beat her up.
 * The very first thing Olive Oyl ever said to Popeye was, "Aw, shut up, you bilge rat!" And the two continued to fight for weeks.

Film - Animated

 * Disney is rather fond of this:
 * In Beauty and the Beast, Belle is the first person after the Enchantress to actually tell off the Beast for his behavior and stand up to him.
 * In The Princess and the Frog, likewise, Tiana is possibly the only person besides the King and Queen of Maldonia to confront Naveen about being a lazy womanizer. Of course, unlike his parents, she also takes time to teach him how to take care of himself which is a bit more effective than cutting him off and saying "You're on your own".
 * While Phoebus seemed attracted to Esmeralda at the beginning of the movie, he openly admires her spirit and cunning as she fights off himself and the rest of the soldiers. "What a woman!"
 * Mulan is all about this. Mulan manages to first win Shang's respect after beating his challenge, then he falls for her after finding out she's actually a girl. She literally punches him at one point during the training montage, which gets a smile from him.
 * In Enchanted, Giselle and Robert seem to get very close after their "Can you say anything but 'no'?" argument, which was actually the first time Giselle felt angry about anything (she's quite thrilled).
 * This is the basis of Tangled. Rapunzel and Flynn's relationship kicks off with her knocking him out with a frying pan after he breaks into her tower.
 * In Pocahontas, John Smith starts falling for Pocahontas after she outright chews him out for his automatically assumed European superiority and racist attitude against the naives - although she, of course, did it through song.
 * Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo: Many BB/Rae fans wondered this about Beast Boy and Raven and if they would have a steady friendship and or relationship in end. Sadly they didn't, after all. Still, the TT comics paired them up.

Film - Live-Action

 * Gone with the Wind has Rhett Butler falling head over heels in love with Scarlett after witnessing her not-so-ladylike behavior and being on the receiving end of her insults. Likewise, Scarlett probably fell in love with him because of his sexy boorishness and his refreshingly brutal frankness in a world where no one ever calls anything by its right name. (And just note how ga-ga she goes over him after he drunkenly grabs her and whisks her away upstairs to bed.)
 * In Just Married, the main couple meet when the guy accidentally hits the girl with a football.
 * One variant was Kate in The Cutting Edge. She fell in love with Douglas after a whole movie full of Belligerent Sexual Tension, because he was the only man who could keep up with her as a figure-skating partner. Note that her training involved years of splattering into the ice, sometimes breast first before she could look like an angel when ice dancing in front of an audience. Skating was not fun for her, it was war. Naturally the man tough enough to partner her was a hockey player looking for a new job.
 * Kate was a bit of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and had gone through partners faster then Henry VIII through wives. What makes you forgive her bullying ways is the knowledge that she was coming back on the ice again and again after all this time and was something of a Shell-Shocked Veteran.

Literature

 * Britomart and Artegall in The Faerie Queene, who first met in a brutal, bloody swordfight grudge match while the former was disguised as a man.
 * When Luke Skywalker first met Mara Jade, she wanted to kill him more than anything. She later changed her mind and, ten years later, married him. Talk about a false start.
 * Vladimir Taltos's first encounter with his eventual wife consisted of her trying to assassinate him for a rival crime boss (she technically succeeded, but coming back from the dead isn't impossible in this setting).
 * In Anne of Green Gables, Gilbert fell in love with Anne after she smashes his slate over his head, retribution for calling her "Carrots". Anne is a little sensitive about her red hair.
 * In Guards Guards, the tiny swamp dragon Errol sends the gigantic, bullying dragon King tumbling out of the sky using a sonic boom ... and the (female) King starts mewling like a kitten, so impressed that she accepts the pugnacious little critter as a mate.
 * Discworld trolls as well. At least one couple got their start after a rock being thrown at a head.
 * This is a traditional method of flirting amongst trolls. For reasons of romance it is often insisted that it be a pretty rock.
 * The Legend of Phoenix Mountain has the main character's grandfather, who fell in love with the main character's grandmother after she slammed her fist into his right eye.
 * There is a PG Wodehouse short golf story parodying this, where a timid young man falls for a brash, strong willed female explorer who has never married because she wants the type of man who'll drag women around by their hair. He can't bring himself to act like that and gives up all hope of winning her and focuses on golf. When he's in some tournament she stops on the fairway to tie her shoe and he strikes her with the ball. This causes him to tie rather than win and when he find out it was her and not a sheep (his glasses were missing) he throws his putter in a fit of anger. It hits her on the shin quite by chance and as she rushes to kill him he rushes forward to apologize and winds up biffing her in the eye on accident. She's now convinced that they can't both have been coincidences and falls into his arms. He has the sense not to correct her and she ends up his doting and submissive wife.
 * The Dragaera book Five Hundred Years After mentions a gender inversion (which makes sense since most female Dragaeran characters are Action Girls). Rollondar e'Drien, who was the Warlord (commander of all military forces) fell in love with his wife after she defeated him in combat. It's noted that he receives a lot of ribbing in the barracks because of this.
 * Somewhat implied with Malta Vestrit in Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders cycle, with her subconscious view of herself and Reyn showing an ancient kidnapping marriage.
 * And explicitly stated with her aunt Althea, who apparently could never fall in love with a man who asks permission before kissing her.

Live Action TV
"Joyce: Honey, did you somehow, unintentionally, lead him on in any way? Uh, send him signals? Buffy: Uh... I do beat him up a lot. For Spike, that's like third base."
 * In Clarissa Explains It All, Clarissa stands up to a bully to stop him from picking on her brother. Before she can even land the first blow, he starts serenading her. A later episode has her resolve this issue, but before the end he's crooning to her again.
 * Jackie's sudden crush on Hyde after she breaks up with Kelso on That '70s Show. Textbook example—Hyde never actually changes his relationship to her, mostly consisting of unremitting cruel snark, even after they actually begin dating.
 * In Stargate SG-1, when Daniel and Vala first meet, Vala shoots him with an energy wrist blaster and later beats him up (including whacking him in the groin with a fire extinguisher) and Daniel shoots her with a painful stun gun twice. However, in the final episode they have a Last-Minute Hookup (although time travel undoes it). To be fair it was more of a last minute 50 year relationship.
 * Last minute is stretching it, as there were hints in that direction dropped as far back as her introduction, and definitely since she became a recurring character. During their first fight she outright commented (after Daniel punched her in the nose) "You know we could've just had sex instead."
 * This is either a Shout-Out or a blatant rip off of her introduction in Farscape - John Crichton becomes The Hero of his series in less than ten minutes - by being shot into a distant part of the universe, making a vicious enemy and is thrown into a cell, where he meets his Dream Girl, the lovely and deadly Aeryn Sun. Who immediately beats the crap out of him.
 * One of the later season episodes of Red Dwarf has the crew looking for excuses to get into the prison sickbay. The Cat decides the best method is to provoke a fight with the biggest, baddest guy in the prison block—shoving him, stealing his food, and so on, culminating in calling him the Cat's "bitch". Given it's being cited here, the results are obvious.
 * Referenced in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Crush":


 * This might also explain why Spike likes Joyce so much: the first time they met, she hit him with an axe.
 * Reinforced in one of the After the Fall comics, where a supporting character suggests that Spike only digs girls who can kick his ass.
 * He isn't a bully as such, and certainly isn't portrayed as a villain - more a caustic, shambling, one-man hurricane of snark - but Nathan from Misfits does form a very strong attachment to Kelly, the one person who regularly beats the crap out of him. Admittedly, no one is actually afraid of Nathan and pretty much everyone tells him to shut up when he's being a Jerkass, but apparently the message just doesn't get through unless accompanied by brute force. Slight variation in that Kelly does return Nathan's feelings (the fact that she hits him a lot is neither here nor there - she hits everyone) but Nathan does specifically say that he likes her partly because she will stand up to him and hit him when he deserves it.
 * Leverage: Nate the insurance investigator is protecting a painting, when he sees Sophie the thief/Grifter trying to take it. Their eyes meet, a quick smile, then they shoot each other.
 * John Rogers is proud to have written "The first Meet Cute sequence I can think of that involves the principals shooting each other."
 * Hana Yori Dango: In the Japanese version, theCrown Prince falls in love with the Ordinary High School Student after she roundhouse punches him. In the Korean Adaptation, it's a flying drop-kick.
 * Animal keeps interrupting Rita Moreno's performance of "Fever" on The Muppet Show. After repeatedly scolding him to get things under control, she grabs a pair of cymbals and crashes his head in them. Animal's reaction? "That my kind of woman!"

Music

 * Strongly implied in The Flaming Lips' "Hit Me Like You Did The First Time".

Mythology

 * Older Than Feudalism: In Greek Mythology and Epitome of the Bibliotheke, Achilles falls in love with Amazon queen Penthesilea at the precise moment that he kills her in battle and then orders a magnificent burial for her as an apology, which is very tragic.
 * And also killed Thersites for making fun of him crying over the body. Or saying "She's still warm."

Theater

 * In Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Petrucchio finds Katherine's shrewishness, wit, and stubbornness not only impressively equal to his own but a sporting challenge to overcome.
 * Beatrice and Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing get a double dose of this: They're equally matched masters of wit who save their best efforts for each other; their constant volleying of insults has lasted for years. This makes them dear friends at the start of the play—each one genuinely enjoys the wordplay and battle of wits—and by the end of the play they've realized that they're actually in love, and get engaged. None of this stops them from zinging each other.
 * Anton Chekhov's short play The Bear: the boorish Large Ham Smirnov is at first very disdainful to his debtor's widow Popova, finding her prissy and pretentious, but becomes smitten when Popova reveals to be a Hidden Badass.
 * Fiyero meets Elphaba in Wicked when his cart almost runs her down. In his defense, he was sleeping at the time.

Video Games

 * In Skies of Arcadia, Handsome Lech Vigoro becomes obsessed with chasing Aika after she is part of giving him a violent smackdown and insults his manhood afterwards.
 * As seen above, Bartre the Axefighter from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken comes to feel this way about Karla, the Princess of Swords... the first fighter who completely beated him in a duel.
 * In the Mitsuki Oosawa manga adaptation of Seisen no Keifu/Geneaology of the Holy War, it seems Rebel Prince Lex and Action Girl Ayra fell for each other this way: Their first scene together is him fighting her outside Genoa castle, and after that part of the chapter is wrapped up they're shown sitting side by side, awkward and blushing.
 * Not to mention, their fight itself was dripping with Foe Yay. He ends up on top of her at some point, ffs!
 * Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana has Lita thrown an insult at the protagonist when they first meet because he couldn't beat a hawk monster on his own, and we're supposed to know they're a couple from the intro a few minutes before that.
 * A client elf in Atelier Iris 3 falls in love with the short receptionist Phenyl after she beats him continuously. Following this scene, he is referred to as having newly-discovered "masochistic tendencies" in the character codex.
 * The player's first encounter with Silk Fox in Jade Empire consists of her trying to kill him/her for being one of Death's Hand's agents. She is a potential Love Interest for a male or female character.
 * In Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Karin was consistently hostile to Anti-Hero Yuri Hyuga, and once gave him a slapping. In one particular dungeon, she begins to hallucinate and Yuri slaps her out of it. She immediately starts acting gushy and switches to permanent Tsundere mode.
 * In Skyrim, one of the NPC's you can marry becomes an option after beating her in a bar brawl.
 * In Princess Maker 2 the younger dragon at the ruins coming to propose to your daughter after she kicks his butt refusing to pay a toll.
 * In Sengoku Basara 3, Keiji proclaims his undying love for Magoichi immediately after she delivers a flying kick to his face. Magoichi ignores this, until he starts following her everywhere.
 * In Konami's dating sim Mitsumete Knight, when you first meet the tough-as-nails Gene Petromolla as she has nearly ran over you with her stagecoach and yells at you for being on the way, choose to violently retort back and call her on her driving, and she'll be so impressed by your guts she'll befriend you instantly (and eventually fall in love with you if you target her).

Web Comics

 * This is how Amir and Nat first hooked up in Questionable Content. She kicked him in the face in a moshpit and kept the tooth he lost on her nightstand. [//questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=366Several other characters] remark on the absurdity of this.
 * Amber and Mike from Shortpacked! - are they fighting or making up?.. Note that these two have already been sharing a bed for weeks.
 * Jägermonstern in Girl Genius are like that. Their ideal is VonPinn—a violent construct who easily tears apart constructs very strong even by Jägers' standards. Maxim noticed and appreciated at the first knockdown de pretty gurl whom he completely ignored before this. Sparks suffer this too, but they also often have an inclination toward Grand Romantic Gestures, and sometimes do this on a greater scale.
 * xkcd's Black Hat Guy meets a woman who sees through his Jerkass trick, delivers a crushing turnaround, and steals his signature hat. It's love.
 * In Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic Lady Adwen and Sir Catianus met on a tournament... and quickly end up like this. After the tournament they go on in much the same style.

Western Animation

 * Code Lyoko: Yumi and Ulrich first met as sparring partners in a martial arts class.
 * This is how Mauricea expresses her affection for Todd on Wayside School. Her love, however, rapidly became onesided.
 * When Van Helsing (in his younger years) from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy couldn't find the thing that was missing in his life, he meets a girl on the street and she knocks the crap out of him. Of course, this was the thing that he had been searching for.
 * Unfortunately, she falls for Dracula instead, which is why Van Helsing wants to kill him.
 * Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't initially take Suki's Amazon Brigade seriously. After she shows him why he should, he swallows his pride and asks to be trained by them, impressing her.
 * Teen Titans: Starfire comes to earth, she bashes Robin in the face, she kisses Robin on the lips. It takes five seasons and a movie before they kiss again, but everyone saw it coming.
 * To be fair, the first kiss was so she could learn the language due to the Tamaranean ability to absorb languages through physical contact, she just likes doing it by kissing because it's fun.
 * Happens in Transformers Prime with Breakdown towards Airachnid. We're not given an exact indicator of how much it's reciprocal. Also doubles as Bile Fascination.

Real Life

 * In the second volume of his memoirs, Russell Brand mentions that he fell in love with Katy Perry when she flung a bottle at his head during rehearsals for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. They got married in 2010... then split up the next year.