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{{trope}}
{{quote|''There's not a word yet
''For old friends who've just met
''Part heaven, part space,
''Or have I found my place?''|'''Gonzo''', ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'', "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday"}}
Characters whose memories are wiped of certain events may retain the sense that they've lost something.
If that sounds unfulfilling, no worries. The character will often recall their memories through some token gift or heirloom left behind. They will then reunite with their lost comrades.
This is probably the most tolerated version of the [[Reset Button]]. [[An Aesop|The Aesop]] of this trope is usually that everything and everyone's connected, and even if you can't remember a friend, there will be a part of you that will never be the same without them.
For obvious reasons, this occurs in shows with a mystical or fantasy element, although science fiction shows can do this if they have memory-erasing [[Applied Phlebotinum|Phlebotinum]] available. Compare [[Amnesiac Lover]], where a present romance is forgotten.
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* Subverted in the OVA of ''[[Ah
* Rukia's existence is wiped this way when she is captured in ''[[
* ''[[
** Lelouch uses his Geass to alter the memories of a classmate who happened to find out his role as the terrorist [[Secret Identity|Zero]]. Psychological torture at the hands of one of his enemies left them emotionally devastated and very nearly homicidal/suicidal, so he erased ''all'' memories of himself from their mind (not just his identity as Zero). Humorously enough, everyone else at school can't seem to understand why {{spoiler|Shirley}} has forgotten him, and Lelouch convinces them that the whole thing is an act the amnesia-ee is putting on because they're angry from an argument with him.
** In the second season, {{spoiler|the classmates all have their memories changed ''again'': nobody remembers Nunnaly, and instead remember Rolo as Lelouch's brother. As an interesting side-effect, Shirley is back to relative normalcy- she forgot Lelouch was Zero and has a crush on him again. Another weird note is that they still remember the other missing cast members, and why they are gone.}}
* In the first season finale of ''[[
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days
* In ''[[
* Similarly, Kei remembers Mizuho in ''[[Please Teacher
* The final minutes of ''[[
* The first season of ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo
** This happens in ''[[Tenchi
** One short arc in ''The All-New Tenchi Muyo'' has Washu's [[Evil Twin]] force Washu to make the rest of the cast forget about her. Ryoko's clone, Minaho, was unaffected (due to the fact she was off-planet) and is able to get everyone to realize something's wrong. Washu restores Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka and Mihoshi's memories (though, Tenchi's very displeased she removed them in the first place), but Sasami remembers on her own.
* ''[[
** {{spoiler|Subverted}} in that not all of the girls {{spoiler|have fond feelings for Keima -- one thinks he ran away, while another is creeped out by this weirdo who acts like they've met before.}}
** Another girl eventually {{spoiler|gets over the amnesia and then thinks that ''Keima'' doesn't remember.}}
* At the end of the ''[[
* Although it's (probably) not intentionally induced, {{spoiler|Yoji}}'s amnesia at the end of ''[[
* Homura shows signs of this for {{spoiler|Madoka}} at the end of [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]].
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==
* ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'': "Meet me in Montauk..."
* Agents who retire in the ''[[Men in Black (
== Literature ==
* At the conclusion of ''[[The Dark Is Rising]]'' series, this form of amnesia is inflicted upon {{spoiler|the Drew children and Bran Davies}}, as their destiny is to live in the mortal world and leave memories of the (now concluded) conflict between the Light and the Dark behind. However, Merriman tells them that they may still remember the supernatural world in dreams, and they will always carry with them a sense of the wonder that is now past.
* This happens in ''[[Dokkoida
* Literary example: the ''[[Mennyms]]'' books by Sylvia Waugh are about a family of life-size rag dolls attempting to live like normal humans without being found out. In the second book, the ghost of the woman who made them drafts in her nephew, an ordinary man, to help the Mennyms when their house is threatened with demolition. He falls in love with Pilbeam Mennym, but is given amnesia at the end of the book, the stated reason being that their relationship could never work since Pilbeam will never get any older. The family certainly could have used his help in the next three books. When he returns later in the series he is married to a woman who subconsciously reminds him of Pilbeam, but even though he sees the Mennyms again he never finds out that he knew them before or that they are alive.
* The first ''[[Tennis Shoe Adventure]]'' book begins like this, then has Jim, the main character/narrator find an old story he wrote, which gives an explanation(in story) that if he ever told, he'd forget. the next book has him remember the story.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** In the two-parter "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" the Doctor's personality and memories have been wiped, replacing it with that of average school teacher John Smith. Despite being decidedly average, Smith displays the occasional feats of bravery, and has strange dreams of "the Doctor" and a blue box, which he writes stories about. His love interest Joan Redfern speculates that this is the man he ''wants'' to be. Subverted, however, that when he realises the truth, he's absolutely terrified by it, and wants to remain himself.
** Professor Yana in "Utopia", a man who is one of the most brilliant scientists ever, but stuck at the literal end of time, unable to truly realise his greatness. {{spoiler|He's actually the Master, and regaining his memory also makes him regain his evil personality.}}
** And {{spoiler|Donna, in the end of season 4}}.
** Amy's storyline for the last few episodes of her first season involved this. Even after her fiancé is wiped from existence, and she retains no memory of him, she still finds herself crying, unable to understand why. {{spoiler|Before she brings the Doctor back into existence, she has a similar moment with him.}}
** Gwen in the ''[[
* In the last scene of ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'''s {{spoiler|[[Reset Button]]}} finale, {{spoiler|Shinji and Ren}} accidentally bump into each other outside of Atori. They squabble a little, and presumably leave with bad impressions of one another, but before going their separate ways, take a short moment to glance towards the other's way.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', all the fairytale characters lose their memories and get sent to the real world, and several of them experience this.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[
** This is the result of a changeling succumbing to Banality or having their fae mien destroyed in a way that doesn't harm their mortal seeming; with their ties to the Dreaming severed, they
** This also applies to Bedlam, too, but only to in the first stage, where the afflicted will often self-treat by leaving the fae world temporarily, and taking up a very Banal existance; this is the only one that works in the typical [[Reset Button]] way, in that the character will remember and return to their friends after a while - being overcome by Banality generally requires large infusions of glamour to fix - if there's enough left to fix - and having their fae mien destroyed almost always leaves the character beyond recovery.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[
** The beginning uses this trope on Sora regarding Roxas's friends in Twilight Town. Although he does have an item of Roxas's, in a small subversion, he never does remember them directly, although he does learn Roxas's story.
** Roxas himself manages to avert this, though. He knows he doesn't remember his old friend Axel, but for the most part, he really doesn't care. He's more angry that Axel keeps butting into his new life and throwing it all into chaos. The old memories are only reawakened ''despite'' Roxas' best efforts. And it still takes a long and rocky time to {{spoiler|rekindle the friendship.}}
** On the other hand, Roxas plays it totally straight in the case of {{spoiler|Xion}}.
** This also applies to Sora's friends before he wakes up. Kairi in particular is ''living'' this trope: she knows there was a boy who was very important to her, but can't remember anything else about him, and this bothers her so much she refuses to return to the small island where they used to play until she can remember everything. Riku has the same thing to a lesser
** Completely subverted in Chain of Memories: Early on, Sora realizes he has forgotten a second girl he was friends with on Destiny Islands, including her name, and struggles (and succeeds) in remembering more and more about her. {{spoiler|It turns out that his memories of the "other girl", Namine, are all fake, placed in his mind as the story progresses by her in a [[Xanatos Gambit]] run by the game's [[Big Bad]]. Further subverted in that he's also losing his real memories of Kairi and doesn't even realize the loss}}.
** Xemnas gives the series a villainous example. He only recalls about a year of his human life, and one of his biggest
* The entire main cast of ''[[
== Visual Novels ==
* The bad ending for attempting to access the Unlimited Blade Works route too early in ''[[Fate/stay
* Several examples in ''[[
== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[Freefall]]'' has this discussed [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02644.htm]:
{{quote|'''Mr. Raibert''': Did you memory wipe her?
'''Dr. Mer''': [[Mundane Solution|Non-disclosure agreement.]] If you knew you were missing memories, what would you do?
'''Mr. Raibert''': [[Amnesia Loop|Try to find out what happened]]… [[Explain, Explain, Oh Crap|ooh, good call.]]
'''Dr. Mer''': We haven't kept this base secret by being amateurs. }}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[American Dragon
* One episode of ''[[Darkwing Duck (
== [[Real Life]] ==
* A particularly depressing case of [[Truth in Television]], Alzheimer's tends to invoke this a lot in its victims.
* Another example: [
* More [[Truth in Television]]: this is central to the concept of ''[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Memory Tropes]]
[[Category:
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