Loved Ones Montage

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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 Hot-Blooded and The Power of Friendship, and very definitely related to Heroic Resolve.

No real life examples, please; Real Life does not have montages.

Examples of Loved Ones Montage include:

Anime and Manga

  • Samurai Deeper Kyo makes particularly gratuitous use of this.
  • Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle gave one to Syaoran, I think--I think.
  • In Katekyo Hitman Reborn:
    • Tsuna had one.
    • The effect of the Rebuke/Insult Shot is basically this, triggering a Calm Fury.
  • Sesshomaru of Inuyasha, in the climax of Swords of an Honorable Ruler (third movie) 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:
    • Naruto does this in....well, basically every fight he gets in.
    • 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:
    • In the Noa Arc of the anime, this gives Anzu the courage to cross a rickety rope bridge to escape from some monsters that wanted to eat her.
    • This continues well into 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 X 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.
  • Done in Gunnm and Gunnm: Last Order quite a few times.
  • 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 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 the Sailor Moon R Non-Serial 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.
  • In Bleach:
    • Ichigo does this during his final battle with Grimmjow.
    • And again, when first activating his Fullbring powers.
  • Heartbreakingly inverted in One Piece anime Wham! Episode 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 Mahou Sensei Negima (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 Weiss Kreuz, 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 Yu Yu Hakusho anime, Yusuke has the montage, but still loses his fight against Yomi.
  • Happens in G Gundam prior to the final attack against Ulube.


Film - Animated

  • In Advent Children, Cloud has once during his fight with Sephiroth, allowing him to overcome, then beat the tar out of Sephiroth.


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 Berry Gordys the Last Dragon.
  • Early drafts of the script for 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.


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, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as he is walking to confront Voldemort from the last time. They give him another pep talk.


Live-Action TV

  • Happens to both the Fourth and more notably the Fifth Doctors before regenerating.


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 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.
    • Persona 3 did this as well 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.
  • Breath of Fire 2 has this as well, as part of the sequence leading up to the final Battle Royale With Cheese.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Tragically subverted in Crisis Core during Zack's Last Stand.


Western Animation

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