Attack Hello



For some people, just saying hello is too easy. Where's the fun in that? It's much more entertaining to greet someone by attacking them out of nowhere to see how they react.

Why? Why not! Maybe you're a Trickster Mentor putting your student through Training From Hell and making sure they stay on their toes. Maybe you're sizing someone up as a potential ally and you want to find out what they're capable of. Maybe you have an ongoing rivalry with them and this time, you hope, will be your turn to win. Maybe you just like to fight. Whatever the reason, saying hello to a friend or a potential new friend by attacking them makes much more of an impression than just saying hello.

Not to be confused with Let's You and Him Fight, which is when the attacker honestly believes that the other is an enemy, instead of knowing they're not an enemy but attacking them anyhow for fun and/or profit. Compare Stab the Scorpion and Stab the Salad, in which it only looks like an attack.

Closely related to Click Hello and Twang! "Hello.", but rarely actually employs those tropes. It does, however, often involve a Dynamic Entry or "Hey You!" Haymaker.

Anime and Manga
"Mosuke: I missed you, Amidamaru. Amidamaru: It's been a while, Mosuke."
 * Yuzuru Narazaki of Penguin Revolution is fond of this trope. He pulls it on Yukari twice just to see how she'll react.
 * In Ouran High School Host Club, Honey's younger brother Yasuchika does this to Honey regularly enough that the rest of the Host Club considers it routine. Turns out it's actually a Haninozuka family tradition.
 * Isshin kicks Ichigo around a little early on in Bleach. In fact, he makes it a family tradition, as he does it many times throughout the series.
 * Also, in a flashback during the Soul Society arc, Yoruichi does this to Soifon (and also to young Byakuya in the manga) when she first meets her during one of Soifon's training exercises. Later Soifon becomes her bodyguard.
 * Nel Tu often tends to say hello to Ichigo with a super headbutt to his stomach... Sometimes intentionally.
 * Sesshoumaru does an abbreviated version of this once in Inuyasha when, arriving on the scene of a standoff between Inuyasha and Naraku, he marches straight up to Inuyasha to punch him in the face before turning to confront Naraku.
 * Su pulls a Dynamic Entry on Keitaro in the second volume of Love Hina for no adequately explored reason, too.
 * Happens midway through the manga version of Hellsing with Alucard and Anderson.
 * In Yu Yu Hakusho, after Yuske trains with Genkai for the Dark Tournement, Hiei attacks him upon greeting him to test his improvement.
 * Belfangan Clouseaux (or something) of Full Metal Panic The Second Raid introduces himself to Sousuke and Kurz by insulting their late superior, picking a bar fight, and then challenging Sousuke to a mech battle. He turned out to be their new superior (and actually very close friends with the dead guy, though for some reason he chooses not to reveal that to them during TSR).
 * When Amidamaru and Mosuke meet again early in Shaman King, they yell at each other and then punch each other in the face (while Mosuke was incorporated into Ryu's body and Amidamaru in Yoh's). Then, with their fists buried in each other's faces, they talk to each other properly:


 * Immediately lampshaded by Anna: "Men are so incredibly dumb. They can't even greet each other without getting flashy."
 * In Kanon, Ayu leaps and tackles Yuiichi every time she meets him on the street. Eventually, he gets used to it. And occasionally dodges, sending her crashing into the ground/telephone poles. Played for adorable.
 * AIR (also produced by Kyoto Animation) does the same thing with Michiru tackling Yukito (much to his annoyance). Again, played for cute.
 * Haruhi Suzumiya does this once or twice.
 * RANMA! Prepare to DIE! was occasionally Ryouga's way of saying hello to Ranma.
 * Ranma ½ had a lot of Trickster Mentor versions of this.
 * Ranma does the same to his enemies, he just saves the "Hello" part for after the "Attack" part.
 * The girls of 3-A in Mahou Sensei Negima have a bad habit of saying "hi" feet-first.
 * Anya does it with her feet on fire in her "proper" introduction.
 * Also, when Setsuna and Asuna were travelling in the Magic World, Setsuna gave Asuna the go-ahead to do this to her whenever she wants, treating it as a form of training for the both of them.
 * Eiken, in which Yuriko has a tendency of jump-greeting the male lead Densuke. In the face. With her crotch.
 * Tamayo from Angelic Layer.
 * When Clare arrives in Pieta, Helen greets her by swinging her BFS at Clare's head and cackling maniacally.
 * This is how Master Asia introduces himself in G Gundam for the first time, although the whole thing looks more like an overly violent secret handshake than anything else.
 * Real men speak with their fists!
 * This isn't a metaphor. He and Domon actually have several conversations that consist entirely of punching one another, in which meaningful information was demonstrably conveyed somehow.
 * In Naruto, Sai does this to the titular character, in the sizing-up-an-ally version. Unusually for this trope, not only does Sai fail to explain himself until he appears again as Naruto's teammate, he remains rude and passive-aggressive for quite some time after his Attack Hello.
 * How could it get this far without the infamous Love Fist attack from Garp in One Piece? We first get introduced to him (outside of the cover story) where he smashes through the wall of where his grandson was sleeping, passes by two of the three top fighters of the Straw Hats, and punches Luffy in the head.

Comic Books

 * In the current run of Batman and the Outsiders, Cassandra (Batgirl) Cain tosses Thunder through plate glass as a greeting to the group. (This is not followed up in the next issue, which has Cass peacefully co-existing with Thunder and no mention of how they met.)
 * In Universe X, the Thing has come to visit the Sub-Mariner for the first time in years--since Namor broke the Human Torch's neck during a team-up with Doctor Doom. He promised not to hit Namor, for very good reasons. Sadly, his self-control isn't up to the challenge.
 * In issue 13 of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man, the hog-themed trucker hero Razorback from Texarkana picks a fight with Spidey because he thought that's how all the hero-types introduced themselves.

Fanfic

 * Imperfect Metamorphosis: Flandre does this to Marisa. In keeping with Marisa's status as the story's recent Butt Monkey, Yukari saves her by teleporting Flandre away into Marisa's home. As of several months later, they still haven't fixed replaced the back wall.

Film

 * Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded. At least he apologized beforehand, though.
 * This was the standard greeting between Clouseau and Kato in the original films, and they introduced a version of it into the 2006 version.
 * Cato attempts these on Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.
 * Captain America The Movie- Heil Hitler!!!
 * The Guns of Navarone. When Maria meets her brother Spiro (who had been in America for many years), she slaps him as a reminder to write more often.
 * The title character does this to a fellow officer in The Great Santini.
 * NED? *BAM!*

Literature

 * Ender's Trickster Mentor is introduced this way, sort of.
 * In Sewer, Gas & Electric, Philo Dufresne is in the habit of attacking his polyandrous girlfriend's other boyfriend when they get together, as a way of dealing with his own gender-insecurities about being in a threesome that includes another man.

Live Action TV

 * Torchwood's Captain Jack and Captain John do this in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." For...no good reason, really. After they've snogged, and before they have a drink together.
 * There was an episode of Burn Notice in which Michael & Co. helped to save a woman and sons from an abusive husband. Mike took the history personally and made a point of attacking the husband every time they had to meet.
 * Also in the first appearance of Michael's Brother, Nate, when Michael walks into their mother's home and is grabbed from behind by Nate, only to be thrown.

Newspaper Comics

 * Calvin and Hobbes had Hobbes pounce Calvin at full speed when he returns from school, often knocking him out of his shoes.

Tabletop Games

 * In the Classic D&D supplement "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk", this is how the intensely hot-blooded race of satyrs tend to greet other males. It's noted that casting Charm Person on a satyr will immediately cause it to pounce upon the caster for a friendly tussle.

Video Games

 * Kimahri's attack on Tidus near the beginning of Final Fantasy X could be this or Let's You and Him Fight depending on what you think Kimahri's reasons were.
 * Because of the nature of the Spellcard rules, fandom conjecture often says that the cast of Touhou often greet each other with furious attacks. It even happens in Subterranean Animism game during the Extra Story.
 * Lily White tends to use danmaku rather than words to herald spring.
 * This is the preferred method of greeting programmed into PROXY, the protagonist's Robot Buddy in The Force Unleashed. It's all part of the Sith Training From Hell: Vader has no need for an apprentice that cannot shrug off sneak attacks.

Webcomics

 * In Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire, this is basically the standard method of greeting between Hoffmanites like the main character. We see this early in The Gallimaufry, where he runs into his uncle Frakkus, and they engage in a lengthy battle until interrupted by a marine-squadron (which they then proceed to demolish together). Frakkus later mentions that Hoffmanites find handshakes to be 'lacking in substance'.
 * And that's just casual greetings. They start courtship with high explosives.
 * In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, the titular medically inclined ninja has to sneak past his mother (and his brother's army of animal robots) every time he returns home. Or, if that fails, fight his way past.
 * In Errant Story, Sarine is returning to the elven city when an old friend of hers - Misa - decides to sneak up on her for fun. Unfortunately, Sarine is a tad JUMPY after a crazy and/or obeying-the-Ancient Conspiracy elf attempted to assassinate her earlier, and nearly kills the girl before she realizes who she is.
 * In Circumstances of the Revenant Braves Sol greets Kei with a Falcon Punch, claiming that as a warrior, he deserves a "manly warrior's greeting".
 * In El Goonish Shive, Grace likes to welcome Tedd home this way ("Beats Getting Tackled by Some Stuffed Tiger Everyday at Least").

Web Original

 * Parodied multiple times in the TGWTG Year One Brawl, where nearly everybody made their entrance this way.

Western Animation

 * When Herb Powell, Homer Simpson's half-brother, who owned the most prosperous auto company in the country until Homer "helped" him, visits the family, he wonders how to greet Homer. He debates whether Homer should be treated as the man who ruined his life or as his brother. When Homer opens the door, Herb punches him out.
 * So, as his brother, then.
 * Enzo unintentionally does this whenever he sees Bob courtesy of a big pouncing hug. Leads to a humorous moment, post-Time Skip, when Enzo-- now a hulking brute calling himself "Matrix"-- when Bob stops him before the pounce begins with a "Whoa, I think you're a little big for that."
 * South Park has the infamous ending to "Jared Has Aides".
 * To elaborate, Cartman had tricked Butters' parents into thinking their son mocked and swore at them over the phone. At the end, they came home to an unspspecting Butters and went to town on him.

Real Life

 * In ancient times when a hawaiian chief would come ashore be it in war or peace the locals would throw at least one spear at him. In peace this would probably be considered 'a test' not an attack.