Single-Stroke Battle: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Now, Superstar Funana, we will retreat to opposite ends of the arena. We will run at each other. We will pass the other in mid-air. And fifteen seconds later, you will burst into blood."''|'''Rick''', ''[[Shortpacked]]''}}

Two enemies of nearly equal skill meet, about twenty yards apart. They may be [[Ninja]] or [[Samurai]]. They observe each other from a distance. The aspect ratio is widescreen, letterboxed if the show is shot in 4:3. They stand at opposite ends of a very wide, low-angle shot.

 

 

Reaching critical distance, they leap. Each is shown leaping in a closeup, probably from the waist down, although the leap is simultaneous.

* Most of the duels in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' end this way, after quite a bit of preliminary sparring.

* Any number of battles in ''[[The Hakkenden]]''.

** In one of the last episodes, Jin and [[Master Swordsman]] Kariya Kagetoki charge each other dramatically on the docks. In a flashback later in the episode, {{spoiler|Jin is seen plummeting to the waters below while Kariya nonchalantly sheathes his sword.}}

* Erza's final showdown with Ikaruga in [[Fairy Tail]].

** Happens to an even greater extreme in a match between Brook and Ryuuma - both characters are so adept at launching attacks faster than the eye can follow that they do so while appearing to walk casually past each other.

** Brook has an attack that prolongs how long the strike takes to be visible to the audience, allowing Brook to walk around as this trope is slowly killing his opponet.

* Also parodied in the first Slayers TV series, when Zelgadis fights Dilgear. Neither can be hurt by normal swords.

* Considering that the non-leaping non-ninja version of this phenomena is essentially the most extreme form of Iai or Battoujutsu, it's rather surprising that ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' doesn't make heavy use of the technique; whenever Kenshin uses a battou attack, the location of the weapon in his opponent is clearly shown. That may have something to do with the fact that being a blunt weapon, he's not exactly capable of cleaving enemies to pieces.

** Except when using Amekakeru Ryu No Hirameki, in which case it was always a double lens flare. We saw the immediate after effects, but never the sword physically connecting. Given the nature of the attack, this is justified.

** Parodied mercilessly earlier in the same Tenka Ichi Budokai, during Jackie Chun and Krillin's match. They rush each other, there's a flash of action too fast for the eye to follow, and they land... and Krillin collapses. But since the audience (and the announcer) missed it, they pantomime the entire event all over again, for the audience's benefit, with running commentary on the dozens of techniques and attacks they used in that split-second rush.

** Actually played straight in one instance. Yajirobe defeats Cymbal with one stroke of his sword.

** Ichigo versus Kenpachi. Ichigo is the first to fall (with an intact sword), believing he's lost. Then Kenpachi confirms Ichigo won and collapses next to him, his sword being revealed as shattered. Confirmed in the [[All There in the Manual|Official Bootleg]] that Kenpachi did indeed lose the fight.

** Ichigo versus Byakuya. They agree that they have no strength left to prolong the fight so decide to end it in a single strike. Ichigo staggers, blood flowing everywhere as he desperately tries to prop himself up with his sword to avoid falling over. Then Byakuya staggers (but doesn't fall), blood spurts and he opens his hand, revealing his sword had shattered. He graciously concedes defeat to Ichigo on those grounds.

** Ichigo and Jin Kariya at the end of the anime Bount arc.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Hiei and Shigure {{spoiler|fight to the death for Mukuro's edification. Both deal out lethal wounds too quickly to spot, and have a keel-over moment afterwards. Of course, Mukuro revives them both, and even ends up falling in love (sorta) with Hiei.}}

** Hiei also pulled this trope out much earlier, in the battle against Seiryuu of the Four Saint Beasts (in the manga, anyway; the anime extended the fight by a few minutes, though Seiryuu still went down faster than the other three beasts).

* Setsuna in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' suggested she and Negi do this to finish their match in the [[Tournament Arc]] seeing as they only had 15 seconds left in the match.

* in ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' Saber and Assassin end their fight with a Single Stroke Battle.

** Alternatively:

*** Or even more alternately:

* One of these occurs in the first episode of ''[[Real Bout High School]]'' between Ryoko and the last member of the Amateur Ninja Club. Ryoko wins.

* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' the final confrontation between [[Hot-Blooded|Ken]] and [[Beleaguered Childhood Friend|Kase]] turns out to be a single stroke battle, though Ken's armed with [[Wolverine Claws]] and Kase has a gun. Kase turns out to have missed. Ken more sort of doesn't.

* A non-lethal version of this occurs in ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' when Nawunga tests out Karula's skills in battle.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' the anime was about to set up one of these between Kurogane and Seishiro when they are stopped at the last moment by Mokona. Just as well too because both characters had [[Plot Armor]] and neither could die, being that Kurogane is a main character in Tsubasa and [[Contractual Immortality|Seishiro's last battle is destined]] to be against {{spoiler|Subaru in ''X1999''}}.

* Ital wins most of his fights this way in ''Genesis Survivor Gaiarth''.

* The climax of the final battle between Heero and Zechs in ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' is one of these... ''in giant robots with light sabers!!!''

* The fight between ''[[Afro Samurai]]'''s father and Justice ends with one of these coupled with a [[Diagonal Cut]]... with the winner using a ''revolver''. {{spoiler|It is not until the last episode that we learn Justice has a hidden third arm with a blade.}}

** The duel between Afro and Kuma {{spoiler|aka Jinnosuke}} ends with one of these. {{spoiler|Just before the clash, Afro switches to a thrust, allowing him to fully utilize the greater length of his sword as well as strike faster than even the cybernetically-enhanced Kuma.}}

* In [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]], Mizoguchi's Samurai Deck has a trap, ''Pause of the Certain Kill'', that turns battle between monsters into this. [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|It even has Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro in the illustration]].

* The second duel between Guts and Griffith of ''[[Berserk]]'' is carried out this way. Guts wins by breaking Griffith's sword with one strike.

* The climax of the final showdown between Spike and Vicious in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' is one of these, with an additional [[Shout-Out]] to ''A Better Tomorrow II'' (Spike has Vicious' sword, Vicious has Spike's gun). {{spoiler|After both weapons are returned to their original owners, and the final attacks are made, both men fall, but Vicious goes down first, with Spike living just long enough to deliver his final line to the Red Dragons gathered before him: "Bang."}}

** Something worth noting: that episode was heavily based on a samurai legend.

* [[Kamui Den]]: Any fight involving Kamui's "kasumi-giri" is likely this. Also of note is Matsubayashi Kenpu's fight with a marauding duelist. {{spoiler|He severs both of the man's legs with a single draw and cut.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Usagi Yojimbo]], lives and breathes this trope... although considering how much it owes to Lone Wolf and Cub, along with the classic samurai films, that's hardly surprising.

* The last issue of [[Batman|Robin's]] solo title has Tim Drake being challenged to a duel to the death by his teacher, Lady Shiva. They meet, and have what looks like one of these, after which Tim is stumbling, with three broken ribs, while Shiva is standing triumphantly. {{spoiler|Then, Shiva collapses, and Tim explains that he slipped her a paralytic poison, activated by a heightened heart beat, ''before she even made the challenge''.}}

* The duel between [[Scott Pilgrim]] and Roxanne is a direct [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'', ending with a [[Diagonal Cut]].

 

 

* ''[[Kill Bill]] Volume One'''s showdown between the Bride and O-Ren Ishii concludes with one of these.

* Played for shock value in ''Equilibrium'', where a confrontation between Preston and [[The Dragon]] Brandt is teased throughout the film. When the time finally comes for them to face off, {{spoiler|Preston chops Brandt's face off without any effort at all and barely breaks stride.}}

* The final fight in the pulpy ''Underworld'' is this trope down to a tee, although somewhat more drawn out than usual.

* The face-off between Kyuuzo and an anonymous opponent early in [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' is probably the West's first exposure to this.

* While it was led up to with a long choreographed battle, all that was was a long lead up to one of these between [[Highlander|Connor MacLeod and the Kurgan]] to end it all.

* In the beginning of ''[[Troy]]'', Brad Pitt as Achilles does this to an enemy army's champion, who didn't even have time to react because Achilles strolled up to him so casually.

* ''[[Zatoichi]]''. The duel on the beach between Zatoichi and Hattori Gennosuke probably counts for this, with bonus points for having the two duellists' badassery played up throughout the film, so it's clear that the fight between them will be epic. They even have a sequence of Hattori imagining how the fight will go, and altering his stance and grip to give himself a chance. It isn't enough.

** In the 1964 ''Adventures of Zatoichi'', the final duel takes place at night in the snow and ends with them running at each other, swinging, continueing past one another and then pausing. Zatoichi's opponent starts to drip blood into the snow, concedes defeat, and falls dead.

* Maximus in [[Gladiator (film)|Gladiator]] does this against a soldier on a horse. It even includes Maximus falling to his knees from the attack before the soldier falls off, dead.

* Nameless and Long Sky engage in this after first playing out a battle in their minds in [[Hero (film)|Hero]].

* In the opening scene of ''The Impostors'', we are introduced to two con-artists who fake an altercation in an outdoor diner, culminating with a knife fight. At the climax of the fight, they both rush each other, simultaneously cry out, and then one of them falls "dead" and the other runs off without paying his bill. In the next scene we see them argue over the fact that the wrong man "died".

* At the very end of ''[[Legion]]'', between the angels Michael and Gabriel.

 

== Literature ==

* [[Codex Alera]] has one of these {{spoiler|in the final clash between the Vord Queen and Tavi at the Princeps Memorial.}}

* The Iliad is an endless series of these - of the literally hundreds of duels, only a few take more than a stanza.

 

* Asuka / Abareblack and his brainwashed love interest Mahoro / Jannu do this in ''[[Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger]]'' (after they'd already nearly killed each other more than once). {{spoiler|The moment they run past each other becomes a a plot point - Mahoro uses it to touch their cheek-markings, which lets them communicate mentally. She uses this moment to tell him she's no longer brainwashed, and is going to be helping them from inside the enemy base.}}

* Happens near the end of ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'', between the Black Ranger (Will) and his primary antagonist (as there were four enemy groups, each individual Ranger got one or more individual rivals). This was the alternate version, with the Black Ranger falling to one knee first, and the enemy going "Now that that's out of the way, time to go find the--[[You Are Already Dead|YEARGHH!]]" and [[Made of Explodium|violently exploding]].

* Baiken's Instant Kill from ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is a classic Single Stroke Battle, concealed by a paper screen. (After the beat, there's a splash of blood onto said screen as the blow takes effect.)

* Sora in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] II'' can initiate a reaction command when fighting a Samurai Nobodies. When pressed, everything else on the screen freezes as Sora and the samurai take stance. There are even cherry blossoms fluttering over their heads. After about 2 or 3 seconds, the words "The End" appear in one of your (now empty) command boxes. You have to get to and click on "The End" in time to win the face-off. Regardless of who wins or loses, the two opponents suddenly strike each other, the screen goes white for a second, and the victor is shown behind the victim with their weapon drawn as the opponent recoils with pain.

** After fighting Luxord in the World That Never Was, the battle ends when {{spoiler|Luxord tries to put up a wall of cards around himself, but Sora just sprints right at him and slices through the cards (and Luxord) with one swing.}} Cue Sora's [[Asskicking Pose]].

** Terra in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth by Sleep]]'' can meld together other commands to get Zantetsuken to use in normal combat. Much like its ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' origins, it can take out a normal enemy in one swing, if you're lucky. Otherwise, it just does regular damage. It's ineffective against bosses though.

* At the end of the "YMCA" level of ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'', a ship captain engages in this against a pirate skeleton. The level "La La" also uses it, as a white blood cell ([[Anthropomorphic Personification|portrayed as a nurse]]) fights a virus this way... several times. Yes, it's a weird game.

* The opening to the NES game ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' features such a scene. It plays out almost exactly as the scene described in the main article.

* Capcom's cutesy arcade fighting game''[[Street Fighter|Super Gem Fighter]] [[Super-Deformed|Mini-Mix]]'' features the ninja Ibuki from ''[[Street Fighter III]]''. One of her Supers in this game was to dash at the enemy (all kitted out for it, too!): contact results in a single stroke that slices the enemy into tiny cubes (it's all very cartoonish).

* Parodied in the ''Samurai [[Kirby]]'' minigame where Kirby and his opponent [[Cosplay|dress up]] as samurai and attack each other with [[Improbable Weapon User|silly weapons]] such as paper fans and frying pans.

** Also, playing vs matches with health set to 0% can do this, handy for farming the vs match total count.

* In the awesome manga adaptation of ''[[Mega Man X|Rockman X2]]'', X is challenged to a duel by Flame Stag, who previously lost a duel and is itching for revenge. Stag, having received an upgrade from the [[Big Bad]], and X, who has been blinded, rush past each other in a dormant volcano. X is then shown bleeding (oil?), while Stag is completely unharmed. X then crumples to the ground. Of course, {{spoiler|there's no way X is going to lose here, and Stag suddenly bursts into flames, due to some crazy close-range tampering by X earlier when passing by. The Irony is that had Stag not been upgraded, he might have been able to contain the damage.}}

* The Odin summon from various ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games would randomly kill all on-screen enemies (or would simply deal a good chunk of damage to a single foe). The ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kma-7vYJ43Y version] follows the trope to a T (except for Odin being mounted). Appropriately, {{spoiler|Odin's unexpected death in that game at the hands of Seifer came in the form of a one-stroke battle as well.}}

** To put that last part in perspective, {{spoiler|Seifer [[Counter Attack|counters]] Odin's Zantetsuken with a move (judging by the kanji shown afterward) called the "Zantetsuken Reverse". It only involves Seifer ''raising his free hand''. That's right. ''[[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort]] was used to enact a Single Stroke Battle.'' Luckily for the player, this cutscene leads to a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment from [[Final Fantasy V|Gilgamesh]], who shows up several turns later to one-shot Seifer with some [[Razor Wind]] and then joins the party as a semi-Guardian Force replacement for Odin.}}

* This shows up a lot in ''[[Samurai Warriors]]''. Notable instances of the trope are the endings for Ranmaru Mori, Mitsuhide Akechi, and [[Oda Nobunaga]].

** The closely related ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series also has a few examples, such as Guan Yu's death in ''DW5''.

** Read: It works on mooks. Doesn't kill the armored lizards let alone dark nuts. So much for armor not mattering.

** It also works on mini-bosses; once you've used whatever item you need to stun them and expose their weakpoint, you can use the Mortal Draw to finish them quick.

* The ''[[Bushido Blade]]'' series may do this trope the best for video games. Any attack can be fatal, so while some battles involve extensive parrying or countering, others end with a single, perfectly placed stroke.

** This editor and his cousin used to accidentally do the same basic leap attack at the same time about one duel in five. See the trope description.

* The third mission of ''[[Vanguard Bandits]]'' features a duel between [[The Obi-Wan|Kamorge]] and [[Big Bad|Faulkner]] that ends this way. There is also a move called the Wind Strike, which essentially allows players to do this to enemies.

* ''[[God Hand]]'': The Daisy Cutter [[Limit Break|God Reel move]] looks like this. Gene blows the target into the air, slides past it, then punches his fists together, causing an explosion. {{spoiler|Azel kills off the Three Evil Stooges this way.}}

* This can happen in ''[[Halo]] 2'' if both players use the sword dash.

* The first trailer for ''[[Assassin's Creed]]: Brotherhood'' shows Ezio slashing at a horseman who goes past and stays on his horse for a while before falling off.

* A sword in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', called the Half-Zatoichi, allows the player to one-hit kill another player who is also wielding this sword.

 

== Webcomics ==

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' plays with this one. It's a single-stroke battle, all right... but only because the battle takes place on a small platform. The assailant falls over the edge into a deep crevasse below.

** In another instance, he slices past an enemy, and ''expects'' him to fall apart; but, [[Subverted Trope|instead]], the enemy disappears while his back's turned. So, naturally, he decides he must have sliced the poor guy's atoms to bits, making him disintegrate. [[Mind Screw|He also realizes that he must have missed.]]

* Used seriously in the main storyline of the comic [http://www.noneedforbushido.com/ No Need For Bushido] in the duel between Yorikiro and Ryoku(It is notable that they agree to sheathe their swords during a battle to invoke this), but subverted in the second video of ''No Need for Bushido: Squeaky's Paper-Cutout Theater'', where the camera perspective flashes back and forth repeatedly between Yorikiro and his opponent, seemingly to draw out the tension of the moment, only to have the camera pan out and show the two still far apart slowly ambling towards each other, meaning that they really ''have'' been taking that long to reach each other.

* This is indeed how Ninja Rick ''imagined'' his fight with [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Pat_Lee Pat Lee] went down in ''[[Shortpacked]]'', as noted in the page quote.

* Done in [[Dead of Summer]], more literally than usual. {{spoiler|[[The Protomen|Panther's]] evil clone}} doesn't even get a chance to react before being destroyed.

* Parodied in [[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]:

* Parodied in [http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/2457 this] Diesel Sweeties battle between [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|a toaster and a coffee machine]].

* How the fight between [[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|Daniel and Dark Pegasus was resolved]] in the "Warrior for Hire" arc.

== Real Life ==

* Supposedly, this is how Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō.

* The fleche, a fencing move, works like this. It's basically a way to make a running attack relatively gracefully. The point of the move is that the referee will halt the match and allow both fencers to reassume their stance if one fencer passes the other without scoring, solving the obvious problem that if you miss you're going to end up in a bad position. Sabre fencers especially became notorious for turning matches into jousting contests until the fleche was banned for that sword.

** Sabre was practically reduced to this trope until the ban - which was ''not'' on the fleche (though this was the primary cause for the ban), but specifically on crossing one's feet while advancing (which effectively rendered the technique impossible), through crossing on the retreat remains legal. Here's a breakdown of pre-ban sabre: "En garde! Ready! FENCE!" *both sabreurs meet in the middle* "Halt! Simultaneous action. En garde!" If this repeated three times (which it often did), the president would activate a "coin toss" function on the score box, which would randomly indicate one of the sabreurs, who would then have priority and thus be awarded the hit if the next action was simultaneous. The ban has improved the quality of sabre fencing beyond measure - not only is it more technical than it had previously been, it has become the fastest, most energetic weapon and now boasts the best footwork of any weapon as a result.

* High-level kendo (say, 7-dan and above) is made of this. It's common to see opponents barely move for most of the battle, trying to get the precious few degrees, seconds and centimetres that would give them an advantage. Then, before you've realised what happened, they've passed each other and the judges have awarded a point.

* Replace swords with lances, and this trope is how medieval jousts worked. Even the subversions are the same.

* In Judo and Brazilian Jiujitsu the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih4LJ3e4Y2g flying armbar] can end matches in a single move.

* During the Bakumatsu, Ishin Shishi assassin Gensai Kawakami famously cut down Shōzan Sakuma ''in broad daylight'' in a single stroke.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fight Scene]]

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]

[[Category:Sniper Index]]