Knockback Slide



When two characters fight, sometimes a character will get hit hard enough that they should be Punched Across the Room or otherwise thrown clear through the air ... but instead, they will brace for impact, take the hit, and sliiide backwards on their feet, carving or ripping trails in the ground (and kicking up plenty of dust) as they do so, until they come to a stop. Bonus points if they also reach one hand down to the ground for extra grip.

Improbable as this may be for a character to get forced backwards without getting flipped over in the process, damn, it sure looks cool! and any character with enough Badassery can pull it off.

A similar phenomenon can happen in Video Games specifically, when a character blocks their opponent's attack with a Defend Command—it pushes them back, but without them losing their guard, taking (much) damage, or actually getting knocked off their feet in the process.

Compare Three-Point Landing for a similarly awesome-if-improbable occurence.

Anime

 * Bleach (pictured) does this on more than one occasion.
 * JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a good one around 0:30 in this clip.
 * Appears in Haruhi-Chan, episode five, when they're playing dodgeball.
 * Happened at least once or twice in the Inuyasha anime.
 * Seen here in Mahou Sensei Negima, where Setsuna has just been pushed back by Negi's attack in the previous page.
 * Ninja battles in Naruto are often the cause of much sliding.
 * Happens at least once per episode in Pokémon.
 * Happens every so often in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Odd since said monsters are holograms and thus have no physical substance nor can create wind.
 * Might be slightly justifiable (as justifiable as something betraying the laws of physics in multiple ways can get) in the sense that the holograms are known as 'Solid Light'-type holograms - in other words, they're holograms that, while not bearing actual physical substance in the traditional sense, do still create physical effects and damage.
 * This happens quite a few time during Genkai's Tournament in Yu Yu Hakusho.
 * Happens a few times in Hajime no Ippo, when a character takes a particularly strong hit with their guard up. Kind of ridiculous when you realize the canvas they're standing on is meant to provide solid footing so the boxers won't slip when throwing their punches.
 * Rurouni Kenshin, at least once.
 * Heartcatch Precure: Cure Moonlight does one after receiving a big hit from Dark Pretty Cure, unlike most examples here the fact that she withstood the attack with just a slide back is treated as Badass for Moonlight as she lost to the same attack in the first episode.

Film

 * The Matrix Revolutions plays with this one during the final fight between Neo and Smith: at one point, they hit each other and go flying in opposite directions. Neo makes an elegant Three-Point Landing while Smith crashes into the ground and slides several yards.
 * Subverted in that the ground slides with him.
 * In "Big Brother", Sunny Deol gives a thug a knockback with such force it looks as if the guy is being pulled by a speeding narm truck when he hits the ground.
 * In Supercop during the training exhibition for Michelle Yeoh, the cadet in the red tank top pushes Jackie into a knockback slide with a Battering Ram Head move. Jackie blocks it and is pushed backward several feet in the gravel, kicking up some dust in the process.
 * In The Host, a main character

Video Games

 * Although Pokémon (as a turn-based RPG) doesn't actually utilize knockback, in its 3D incarnations (such as Pokémon Colosseum) various Pokemon species have recoil animations that portray them as taking a hit and sliding back while on their feet.
 * Super Smash Bros.: Wavedashing in Melee works as an example, except the throw is self-induced by using an air-dodge to force oneself into the ground. It kicks up a cloud of dust in a similar fashion. A more easily seen version of this trope in Melee (and Brawl) is in the Home Run Contest, while the sandbag is slowing to a stop.
 * The Touhou platformer Super Marisa World has this as well.
 * The MMORPG Mabinogi uses this.

Real Life

 * It actually can happen in real life, but it takes certain kinds of surfaces, such as dusty dry earth or sand (the particles give up a lot easier than the person's stability does) or hardwood floor (as in the Risky Business slide.)
 * Playing tennis on clay courts will also cause the players to slide in this manner (though of course not nearly as dramatically as in fiction).

Web Comic

 * We don't see the slide, but in Antihero for Hire Crossroad lands in this pose after being tossed.
 * In Girl Genius, Merlot does this with a giant robot here.

Western Animation

 * Batman tends to do this in The DCAU and Batman the Brave And The Bold when he's thrown, except usually without the dust. In "The Color of Revenge!", Robin gets the chance to pull this off.