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Wait, are we describing Apologizes A Lot Here already? Ahh, oh no!! I'm so sorry, I'll get started!
Alright, this trope is about a character who apologizes a lot. When called on it, may actually apologize for being so apologetic, leading to a common gag where they apologize when asked to stop apologizing so much. Often a trait of a Cute Clumsy Girl and not out of place on a Shrinking Violet. Often comes with Self-Deprecation. Some Apologetic Attackers do this, some only apologize once or twice. Sorry I Fell on Your Fist is an extreme example. Sometimes associated with Courteous Canadian and Japanese Politeness.
Can also be a trait of real people.note Often, the apology is used as a form of commiseration, in the sense of "I recognize you are suffering" and not as a way to admit fault. The culture clash often results in Americans reacting in bafflement at the sight of Canadians apologizing about the weather. In some cases, can be a warning sign that someone is a victim of abuse. For the trope's opposite, see The Unapologetic.
Sorry, was that okay??
Sorry, sorry! Thank you for waiting! I'm here with the examples!:
- Abnormal Kei Joshi: Masami does this to Shinya, but it's mainly an act.
- Belldandy of the Ah! My Goddess manga. Keiichi even calls her on it during the Peorth arc.
- Ai Yori Aoshi: Excuse me, I have to apologise, but I want to say that there are sometimes dozens of apologises in just one episode.
- Battle Spirits Shonen Toppa Bashin: Subverted with Suiren. She apologizes a lot, but she's doing it in a completely mocking way.
- Bleach:
- Rukia Kuchiki gets punched in the face by Kukakku Shiba when she does this too much. Granted, she did have a good reason to want to apologize...
- Hanataro Yamada does this compulsively.
- Cells at Work!: The protagonist is a Red Blood Cell who's constantly getting lost and messing up when trying to transport oxygen and nutrients, so she's constantly apologizing when she inconveniences or has to ask for someone's help.
- Chrono Crusade: Azmaria (who is also a Cute Clumsy Girl) does this quite often. In one scene in the anime, she tries to cook a meal and has several clumsy accidents happen as she does, and follows up every accident with kneeling on the ground and folding her hands together while squeaking out "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
- In Code Geass, C.C. does this when she loses her memories. It's because she grew up a slave.
- The Dangers in My Heart: Yamada is quick to apologize if she feels she's bothering someone or did something wrong. Feels being the keyword. Ichikawa notices this trait and is bothered by how hard she is on herself. He grows accustom enough to ask her "why" whenever she does to ease her mind, and eventually makes it his goal to keep her from saying "sorry" on a date.
- Death Parade: Usually, Decim is just apologizing to guests at his bar for being unable to explain anything to them, but he also apologizes to his coworkers and boss for any mistake he makes. However, it seldom seems like he actually means it, until he ends up hurting the one person he cares about, at which point he begs her to forgive him while breaking down and crying.
- Destiny of the Shrine Maiden: Himeko, largely cause she doesn't (for most of the series) regard herself as being worth the space she occupies. This even sort of happens during the infamous episode 8.
- Subverted in Junji Ito's Dissolving Classroom. The main character, Yuuma Azawa, has a compulsive need to apologize to everyone around him, even when an apology is not necessary. He appears to be doing it in remorse for the actions of his sister Chizumi and for his apologies actually killing people who hear them enough, but according to his sister Chizumi, he's actually apologizing to the devil for summoning him, and is addicted to it because it gives him pleasure.
- Doraemon:
- There's a gadget in the first volume, the "Apology Fleas", which makes anyone it latched upon feel guilty over whatever "sins" they've comitted, regardless how minor they are, where they can only speak in apologies. Nobita originally asks for a gadget to make his fellow classmates - Gian, Suneo, Haruo, Yasuo and a bunch of other guys in class - apologize after they refuse to do so when breaking Nobita's glasses during a football game (even telling Nobita "it's his own damn fault for not looking where he's going"), and Doraemon takes out said gadget only for it to backfire when the fleas' container breaks.
- Occurs in "Soap Bubbles". When someone's under the effects of the Soap Bubble Straw, they will greatly apologize for everything they have done, even if other people don't need them to apologize.
- Eyeshield 21: Sena can go from improbably badass running back to compulsive, apologizing bowing fool in an instant if he gets flustered.
- Fairy Tail: Aries has almost no lines at all that don't include an apology.
- Food Wars! has two characters(Megumi and Jun) with this trait meet and promptly get stuck in an infinite loop of apologies.
- Fruits Basket:
- Ritsu Sohma is a male crossdresser who basically has fits of BERSERK APOLOGIZING whenever anything whatsoever goes the least bit wrong anywhere in his immediate vicinity, or if he even picked up the slightest implication that something was wrong. Apparently, he become this way from listening to his parents apologize for him throughout his childhood.
- Tohru as well, to a lesser extent. Just don't let them start apologizing to each other.
- GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: Kisaragi, being a Cute Clumsy Girl, also apologizes a lot.
- In Girls Beyond the Wasteland, Uguisu has a tendency to do this, even when the situation doesn't call for it, such as being praised for her artwork.
- Meanwhile, in Hataraki Man, created by Hideaki Anno's wife Moyoco, Hiroko keeps telling her boyfriend Shinji to stop apologizing so much, fueling fan speculation that Anno really did marry an Asuka in his own life.
- In The Hating Girl, Asumi has a tendency to loudly and vigorously apologize whenever she thinks she's offended someone, prostrating herself on the ground and usually saying she's lower than a drone beetle in the process. This is pretty frequent at the start of the manga but decreases as she becomes more sure of herself.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers: Canada has this Verbal Tic. He has 12 ways to say "I'm sorry", but rarely apologize.
- Japan does this too. In fact, his Character Song is called "Excuse Me, I'm Sorry"
- Kuroko's Basketball: Sakurai Ryou. He even apologizes to his opponents during basketball matches.
- In one episode of Maburaho, Kuriko tells Kazuki that he does this too much. His response is to apologize for it.
- Magic User's Club: Sae Sawanoguchi does this whenever her magic screws up. Meaning when she gets stuck in a room, and teleports things in, rather than teleporting themselves out (crowding the room further), she apologizes for almost two straight minutes.
- Minawa from Mahoromatic, usually because she's just dojikkoed the place up. "Gomen nasai" is practically her catchphrase.
- In Marginal Prince, Mikhail's is always saying "Sorry, it's my fault!" At one point, Yuuta asks him why he's apologizing all the time and Mikhail's answer is... an apology, of course.
- Naruto: Darui. His habit of apologising a lot actually becomes plot-relevant during a battle.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Nodoka, especially when she's either thinking an improper thought, or using her mind-reading ability in a diabolical manner (what else to be expected from a Shrinking Violet?). Negi tends to do this as well.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Asuka and Shinji play the "Sorry for apologizing so much" gag... with a variant. Asuka gets mad because she realizes that Shinji doesn't apologize because he thinks he has done something wrong but because he tries to avoid a scolding, and it drives her mad that he will not stand up for himself.
- Nichijou: Sakurai-sensei, being a cute but shy young teacher, apologizes a lot when she speaks to people. Also, a minor recurring character is a young shop clerk, who is just as shy, just as cute, and just as prone to apologizing as she is. The two of them even meet at one point, and as you can guess, awkwardness ensues, with the two of them being too shy and busy apologizing to continue a normal conversation.
- One Piece: Pagaya apologizes nearly every time he speaks, to the point where this is almost a Verbal Tic.
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: Ai Kaga was specifically designed to lampshade and parody this trope. Even her name is a giveaway: "Kaga Ai" sounds like "kagai", "perpetrator" in Japanese, and she, indeed, believes that she is to blame for everything bad. In her spotlight episode in the anime, the main cast wanders into a city where nobody can stop apologizing for even the slightest of slights.
- Seraph of the End: Yoichi, giving his Shrinking Violet personality, does this occasionally which Yuu expresses annoyance at. Yuu does this as well after he makes the mistake of giving into his Superpowered Evil Side.
- Servamp: Tsurugi will apologize frantically to anyone who looks remotely mad at him. He even literally bows down before anyone can get any words out. Of course, he is almost always taking advantage of people's kindness to avoid getting a pay cut since he never does his work. Mahiru is utterly appalled.
Tsurugi: They usually forgive you if you apologize sincerely.
Mahiru: You've got zero sincerity. - Sgt. Frog: Rabbi is constantly apologizing for her brother...and sometimes herself. Possibly lampshaded, when she is apologizing in the third movie for not being more useful, despite being mind controlled.
- Skip Beat!: Kyoko apologizes excessively, often dropping into a dogeza. This was conditioned into her by a combination of her training at a ryokan, the emotional manipulation/abuse she's strongly hinted to have experienced with her actually-not-so-charming childhood "friend" and first-love Fuwa Sho (and the jealous female classmates who adored him), and from enduring her mother's openly hateful attitude towards her before the woman abandons her entirely to be raised by the ryokan's owners. This frustrates and saddens the friends she makes as the series goes on, but so far no one has really called her on it, understanding the source of it. Her main would-be love-interest Tsuruga Ren makes a point of not directly bringing up subjects that would hurt her or scare her away, although he does try to give her comfort and praise in indirect ways that won't set off a verbal barrage of self-deprecation.
- Tokyo Babylon: Sumeragi Subaru does this a lot. In Book 4 he apologizes so much that his sister tells him to stop saying sorry, and he apologizes for apologizing.
- Tokyo Ghoul: Kaneki has a marked tendency to apologize in every situation. While being trained, Yomo asks Kaneki to punch him, and he apologizes before doing so...and misses anyway. Later in the same arc, he apologizes to the Scrapper before breaking his arm, while the Scrapper is actively trying to kill and dismember him.
- In Tonari no Kashiwagi-san, both Yuuto and Kotone apologise at first sign of something being wrong, before trying to find out if they're actually at fault, or even if something is wrong to begin with.
- Wedding Peach anime: Hinagiku always must scold Takurou for apologizing all the time. (Not seen in the manga.)
- Welcome Back, Alice: Yo, the main character, is incredibly conflict-averse and starts stammering out "sorry" as soon as anyone confronts him.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bakura sometimes did this, at least in the dub. When he accidentally set off a Booby Trap in one scene, he started chanting, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" etc. Maybe not the wisest thing to do while attempting an Indy Escape. Possibly related to the fact that in the dub, he has an I Am Very British accent, and the British are notorious for excessive apologizing.
- Christopher Titus: "I'm Whitey, and I apologize!"
- Larry the Cable Guy does this with his "Lord, I Apologize" bit, though this is usually after he's made a joke that might actually warrant an apology.
- John Mulaney: "You could pour soup on my lap, and I'd probably apologize to you."
- An Ace Attorney doujinshi, "Turnabout Illusions", featured a client named Ian Knottworthy who was prone to starting every conversation by going into the Pose of Supplication and saying "I'm so sorry!"
- Advice and Trust: In chapter 3 Shinji and Asuka are pretending to be arguing, but Shinji is so distracted by the sight of Asuka wearing nothing but a towel that he is barely capable to answer "sorry" once and again. It prompts Asuka to criticize his habit to apologize for everything constantly without being really sorry.
Asuka: You always apologize right away, but do you actually feel sorry?!
Shinji: Um.
Asuka: It's like you apologize as a conditioned reflex to avoid being scolded!
Shinji: I'm sorry.
Asuka: Exactly like that. You're just fundamentally too self-deprecating! - Asuka & Shinji's Infinite Playlist: When the titular couple meet each other in the dream world, with no memory of their formers lives, Shinji instinctively starts apologising for any little thing. When Asuka remarks how weird it is, Shinji wonders why he keeps doing it.
"Shinji Ikari? Nice to meet you," and she pumped their hands up and down. "Now, you can let go again."
Shinji pulled his hand away and rubbed his head, blushing again embarrassedly. "I'm sorry."
Asuka looked at him. "You don't need to apologize every other sentence."
"I'm so-" he stopped himself and took a deep breath, collecting himself. Shinji's voice was suddenly calmer as he put his brain back together, "Sorry. I don't know why I keep doing it. I usually don't. Today's been a lot." - In Children of an Elder God, Shinji has this habit. When Asuka tells him that her parents are dead he apologizes, and Asuka reminds him that he has nothing to apologize for.
Shinji: "So what are your parents like?"
Asuka: (sharply) Dead.
Shinji: I'm sorry.
Asuka: Don't be such a wimp, Shinji. It's not your fault they died. - Weiss in Craving the Sky straddles the line between this and The Unapologetic, and plays it for drama. Thanks to her abusive father regularly blaming her for things outside her control, she spends a lot of her time at home apologizing, and this has left her with a habit of doing so reflexively for anything she thinks she might even be remotely blamed for when under stress. That said, she absolutely hates it and struggles to give apologies to other people because she believes they are supposed to be humiliating by definition.
- A Crown of Stars: Shinji has to fight against his impulse to apologize constantly because it drives Asuka very, very mad.
Shinji: Don't say "I'm sorry," or she'll kill me. Don't say "I'm sorry," or she'll kill me. Don't say "I'm sorry," or she'll kill me.
- In the crossover The Dragon That Will Pierce the Heavens, like in canon, Aries is a compulsive apologist, alongside minor character Pagaya and eventually Bepo from the Heart Pirates.
- Doing It Right This Time: Shinji's automatic impulse to apologize for anything drove Asuka mad the first around, so in this timeline she tries to break his habit early on:
Asuka: And if you promise to try not to be a wet blanket who apologizes for his very existence, I promise I'll try to use less tsun and more dere this time, because I want to be a better friend too.
- Evangelion 303: This trope was present in the original, so this doujin plays the gag where Shinji apologizes a lot and Asuka replies "No, you are not!
" or "Quit apologizing!
"
- In Flash Fog, Fluttershy spends thirty minutes apologizing to the mayor - then apologizes for apologizing so much.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, UnitÃ
: Japan is this to a fault. Due to the abuse he had to suffer through for hundreds of years, Italy is also this to some extent.
- Ghosts of Evangelion:
- Shinji keeps this habit after Third Impact. At the beginning of the story Asuka explains why she hates his excuses:
"Let me remind you of something, idiot," she sneered. "You owe me. That angel defiled me, the commander threw me away, Misato abandoned me, and those fucking Evas..." she laughed shortly. "All of that, and you didn't do a thing to help. Not one goddamn thing."
"I'm sorry—" he began.
She squeezed harder, and he yelped. "I don't want your fucking apologies, Third Child. 'I'm sorry' doesn't do me a bit of good, y'know? It's useless. Instead, I want someone I can rely on. Someone who can help me out. And there's no one else here, so that someone is you, get it?" He nodded, trying not to whimper. "So get your shit together, or I swear to God I'll make you regret it." - He keeps doing it when Asuka dies. He apologizes to her, to Ryuko…
- His daughter does the same thing when she realizes she has done something wrong.
- Shinji keeps this habit after Third Impact. At the beginning of the story Asuka explains why she hates his excuses:
- A Glass of Wine: Shinji manages to get Asuka annoyed as soon as the second scene when he apologizes for Misato's apartment lacking a couch, even though she was not blaming him for it.
"We need a couch," she told him. When he didn't respond, she whent on. "Sitting on the floor all the time really bites."
"I'm sorry."
Asuka glared at him. It was the glare that always served as a harbinger for angry German-speak, and a glare he had learned well. "You're really the most frustrating person I know."
"I'm sorry?"
"Gott im Himmel." Asuka took a breath. - Hail to the King (Thuktun Flishithy): Shinji's habit to apologize automatically gets several eyebrows raised in chapter 3:
Ritsuko: Good morning, Shinji. I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, head of Project E, [...] You gave us quite a scare with that head wound.
Shinji: I'm sorry.
Misato: (giggling) You don't to apologize, Shinji.
Shinji: Sorry.
Zone Fighter: What's the deal with the apologizing? You're not offending them by surviving a head wound.
Shinji: Sorry! - Main character Zoe Elm in Heart To Heart is almost constantly apologizing, a trait that Trafalgar Law is trying to break her out of.
- In the Gravity Falls fic Home Is Where the Haunt Is, Mr. Mason even apologizes for apologizing so much. Then again, his apologies are rarely sincere.
- Last Child of Krypton: Par for the course, Shinji apologizes a bit too much for Asuka's taste. In chapter 9 of the rewrite she tells him that if he wants to be her boyfriend he must stop to apologize constantly:
Asuka: Quit being such a doormat!
Shinji: Sorry.
Asuka: Stop apologizing all the time. That's the first rule. - Tavros, just like in canon, is like this in Moiraillegiance is Science
. So much so that Eridan actually gets annoyed with it.
- My Huntsman Academia:
- Pyrrha. Weiss internally lampshades this at one point, too.
Weiss: You're a warrior queen. STOP BEING SORRY!
- Izuku and Inko aren't much better, falling into an endless loop of apologies for several minutes while on the phone until Inko breaks it with a Full-Name Ultimatum.
Izuku: [apologizing for not considering her feelings] Well, I'm sorry mom but it is my fault that you felt that way and I should've been more considerate of that!
Inko: Well, I'm sorry-
Izuku: No, I'm sorry!
Inko: Izuku don't interrupt your mother when she's apologizing!
Izuku: I'm sorry, mom!
- Pyrrha. Weiss internally lampshades this at one point, too.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide, Shinji is repeatedly shown making a conscious effort to attempt to circumvent this habit, but he cannot help but slip up sometimes, and it drives Asuka up the wall whenever he does. In response, Misato tries reminding Asuka that verbal habits are just really hard to break, and asks Asuka how she would feel if someone asked her to stop using the word "stupid" all the time. Asuka finds herself unable to come up with a reply to that.
- The Night Unfurls: The beginning of Chapter 6, remastered version has Chloe repeatedly apologising to her queen Olga while crying quietly in shame due to being molested by the Black Dogs two nights ago.
- Once More with Feeling: Asuka can't stand when someone does this. In chapter 10 she gets angry because Rei has been ordered to live in a hellhole. Rei apologizes for it, and Asuka gets angrier since Rei is sorry for something is not her fault.
Asuka hissed her breath out from between her teeth. God, she hated people who apologized for everything, even when it wasn't their fault!
- The One I Love Is...: Shinji has the habit of constantly apologizing, and it gets Asuka mad. However she gets mad because she feels that Shinji doesn't apologize for he feels that he has done something wrong but because he tries to avoid a scolding, and it drives her mad that he is unable to stand up to himself.
- The Second Try: At the beginning of the story Asuka still got angry cause Shinji's constant apologies (and Shinji mentions that he knows how much she hated his excuses). After several years of relationship and marriage, though, she joked about it.
- The Star Trek (2009) fanfic Written in the Stars (a genderswap fic in which the Kirks, both Prime and Alt Reality, are women) has the Alt Kirk apologizing pretty much any time she screws up. These apologies are almost always for Spock, who in turn doesn't know why she's even apologizing to him in the first place. It's a Kirk thing, as Kirk Prime later apologizes to Spock Prime.
- Sweary She-Ra: Scorpia swears as much as the rest of the cast, but she's so nice that she always apologizes for the curse words- though not for her acts of violence against the main characters.
Scorpia: Sorry I said fuck, not sorry about the murder!
- In Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- fic Shatterheart, R!Syaoran frequently apologizes. Kurogane is actually rather annoyed them and succeeds in getting R!Syaoran to stop.
- Shinji the Casanova: While talking to Shinji for the first time, Cupid finds himself agreeing with Asuka: Shinji apologizes way too much.
- You Are (Not) At Fault: Many things have changed since the Third Impact, but Shinji's constant apologising still gets on Asuka's nerves. It does not help it is rubbing off on Rei, too.
Asuka: "Shiesse, sorry Shinji!"
Shinji: "And... you keep telling me not to... apologise."
Asuka: "Enough of the sass from you, Third! I'm tired and sore!"
Shinji: "Sorry..."
Asuka: "What did I just say?!"
- In Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Rocky (voiced by Kelly Ripa) is a klutzy scientist working for Wayne Enterprises that apologizes frequently, even if there is no reason. Though this is arguably a cover, making this a subversion of sorts.
- The DVD for Brother Bear 2 has the Trample Off, Eh? quiz, where if you guess a question wrong, Rutt will apologize and Tuke will scold him for apologizing unnecessarily and too much.
- Victor in Corpse Bride is this from time to time, especially when he's around Victoria, his bride in an arranged marriage. (He's never seen her before, and he's shy and clumsy, desperate to hold on to his manners.)
- Inside Out: Sadness has this trait, because all she ever does seem to only hurt Riley, and nobody, not even herself, has figured out what her role among the emotions is.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games: Human Twilight Sparkle is clearly in the habit of constantly apologizing to her schoolmates, even if most of the time they're the ones pushing her around. Sugarcoat even tells her she's being a doormat.
- There's a song in My Depression about how Liz apologizes a lot. Sometimes it's for how depression changes her mood, but other times it's for things outside of her control (such as the weather or war).
- In Turning Red, Mei and Ming apologize a dozen times over the course of the film.
- John Ritter's character in Noises Off. Christopher Reeve's character does a variant on the theme.
- Hello, Wesley from Wanted. When he first meets Fox, he apologizes just to break the awkward silence. When Fox remarks on his tendency to apologize too much, he apologizes for that too, at least half-jokingly. After he Took a Level in Badass, he manages to sarcastically apologize as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner. While in an airborne, inverted car. Which is a Call-Back to an earlier scene, where in his spineless wimp phase, he apologizes in slow motion to the cops that Angelina Jolie's character is flipping another car over.
- According to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, God gets really annoyed at people who constantly apologize when He's trying to talk to them.
God: Every time I try to talk to someone, it's "Sorry" this and "Forgive me" that and "I'm not worthy"...
- C-3PO in Star Wars.
- Annie in The First Wives Club.
- Nina, the lead of Black Swan, shows this trope in spades.
- Frank Tupelo's first line in the movie The Tourist is "I'm sorry." The woman who just sat down in front of him actually asks what he is sorry for.
- Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man beat up an entire train car full of people by accident, apologizing the entire time. (He had provoked them — again, accidentally — and when they tried to attack him, his new super-reflexes made him counter before he knew what was happening).
- In The Party, Peter Sellers plays the unfailingly polite Hrundi Bakshi. After one of many gaffes he's committed, he apologizes profusely and incessantly to the host, who would just as soon ignore him.
- In Before I Wake, eight-year-old Cody apologizes to his caretakers every time he wakes up, because his dreams manifest in the real world, and while most of them aren't hostile, those that are have attacked his previous caretakers, and some of those that aren't can be upsetting.
- Stephanie from A Simple Favor seems to apologize for nearly everything she does, due to her social awkwardness leading her to accidentally coming on too strong and offending people. Emily decides to break her of the habit, commenting that women in general apologize too much. Stephanie agrees, but still struggles with it.
- Slash from Disaster Squad 2 Dawn Of Armageddon. In one scene, Slash apologizes to The Underlord for his wrong actions while trying to kill four of the main heroes. The Underlord refuses to accept Slash’s apology and becomes more evil.
- Yuriko the intern from Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars, whose dialogue consists mostly of "Sorry, sorry!" even if the mistakes which happened aren't her fault, and nobody is actively blaming her. Spilled coffee? "Sumimasen!" Knocked over something? "Gomen!" Alien gunk found in her file? "Gomenasai!"...
- In America (The Book), Samantha Bee apologizes a lot in her "Would you mind if I told you how we do it in Canada?" sections. In a footnote, she says "Sorry for the footnote". This is a parody of Canada's reputation for excessive politeness.
- Baccano!: Jacuzzi Splot does a lot of apologizing for very little provocation, including claiming that he should be the one to apologize for being run into and apologizing to someone because he called her a good person without actually knowing if she was or not, and finally, apologizing for introducing himself.
- Jim McCarthy in The War Against the Chtorr. His Colonel Badass girlfriend often calls him on it.
- Discworld:
- The imps in the various disorganizers. Mostly because, as the disorganizer name implies, they tend to screw up a lot.
- Magrat can open a door apologetically.
- Alfred in The Death Gate Cycle. This is because, as a Sartan, he feels that the mess the worlds are in is partly his fault.
- Similarly to the Canadian example, George Mikes in How To Be An Alien comments that if you stand on an Englishman's foot, he will be "so sorry", presumably for not having had it amputated.
- The Twilight Saga. Bella Swan apologizes all the time.
- In The Idiot, Lukyan Timofeevich Lebedev doesn't exactly say "I'm sorry", but will constantly criticize himself and agree vociferously with any insults flung in his direction, which has about the same effect.
- In The Book of the Dun Cow, Senex the rooster apologizes constantly when he makes mistakes, which he feels guilty about since he is technically his land's ruler. This leads to a Deal with the Devil which eventually turns fatal.
- Podrick Payne, the meek squire in A Song of Ice and Fire
- Many of the characters from The Mortal Instruments are prone to making profuse and dramatic apologies, Clary Fray most of all.
- Vincent Demabrien from Doctrine of Labyrinths. Mehitabel has to tell him at least twice to quit it. A justified example, given the fact that has spent much of his life being brutalized by pimps and clients.
- Mildmay (also a victim of lifelong abuse) is very self-deprecating and feels profound guilt over relatively small things, so he apologizes often. He notes that he's usually the one having to say sorry to his brother Felix after their frequent arguments, even when Felix has behaved horribly. A major turning point occurs when Mildmay finally gets sick of it and refuses to apologize for their latest row, demanding that Felix do the grovelling for once.
- In Laughing Winds Annika frequently apologises, its even pointed out to her and questioned by one of the other characters.
- Lauchlan of Mix Beer With Liquor And You Will Get Sicker apologizes so much that Corbin grows frustrated by it and says that it's beginning to lose its meaning. To which Lauchlan promptly apologizes.
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: Catarina frequently apologizes whenever she thinks she's screwed things up for other people, especially when she thinks that she might've either ruined the romance events for other characters or done something that might risk her "doom".
- In Francesca Lia Block's I Was a Teenage Fairy, the protagonist Barbie is overly apologetic. Her fairy friend Mab tells her to stop saying sorry, which causes her to predictably apologize for that.
- In The Goblin Emperor, the problem is not so much that Maia apologizes too much, the problem is that he apologizes to the servants. Which is highly inappropriate. Though to be fair, as he is emperor, it is not strictly speaking anyone's place to criticise him for it. One of his bodyguards looks very disapproving, though.
- The Stormlight Archive: Shallan, as befitting her meek nature.
Jasnah: You still blush too easily when confronted.
Shallan: I'm sorry.
Jasnah: And apologize too easily as well.
Shallan: I'm... uh, indignant? - In Hidden Talents, Trash is a telekinetic teenager who spends a lot of time apologizing for the accidents his mild Power Incontinence causes. Once he makes a group of friends who know about his powers, they eventually tell him to make a blanket apology at the beginning of the day and leave it at that.
- "A !Tangled Web (1981)": A key element of !tang psychology. Even a minor slight such as being unable to answer a question is followed by an extreme apology beginning with "I die", progressing through some way this causes a mass extinction, and ending with "All die. O the embarrassment."
Navarro: What were the terms of his offer?
Uncle: I die. I breathe in and breathe in and cannot exhale. I explode all over my friends. They forget my name and pretend it is dung. They wash off in the square and the well becomes polluted. All die. O the embarrassment.
Navarro: He said not to tell me?
Uncle: That's right.
- As Time Goes By. Sandy dates a guy who is always apologizing, sometimes pre-emptively just in case something goes wrong. She leaves him when she realises this is an aspect of a fetish he has.
- Awkward. is an apology fest, with the main characters, adult and teenage, all constantly making horrible mistakes, treating other family members and their supposed friends horribly (cheating on them, abusing their trust, getting addicted to drugs, stealing, bullying, sabotaging them), before angsting over their behaviour and then apologising. Rinse repeat for 3 seasons until the original showrunner leaves and the new ones don't play into this cycle as much.
- During The Big Bang Theory, when Leonard and Penny are rekindling their relationship, they decide to list some problems, and then try to calmly deal with them, rather than getting angry. One of Penny's issues with Leonard is this trope.
- Blake's 7. Slave, the Master Computer of Scorpio, is programmed with a cringing sycophantic personality, so this trope happens constantly. Tarrant finds his servility less than convincing however.
Tarrant: That's no problem so long as Slave can match vectors.
Dayna: Well, he says he can.
Tarrant: He says he's sorry most of the time. I don't believe that either. - In Crownies Richard is constantly apologising "profusely" to Judge Walker, usually because he's brought in uncooperative witnesses. She lampshades it in one episode, while she's forcing him to copy by hand a list of prior convictions that he'd given her without a chance to properly format them, while dealing with a sprained wrist. He then informs her that his wrist was sprained in a bike accident on the way to her lecture two nights ago. She reveals that the ambulance that picked him up also dented her Prius. He apologises. Profusely.
- Doctor Who:
- Someone made a Supercut of every time the Tenth Doctor says "Sorry" throughout his 47-episode tenure. The final count: 120.
Played for Drama to an extent, however, as a lot of his apologies are because something has either Gone Horribly Wrong or is about to.
- The Thirteenth Doctor, in her first episode, rapid-fire apologizes to her new companions for: them having to see a mutilated corpse, that there are hostile aliens about, that they had bombs planted inside them, and that she hasn't figured out what's going on yet.
- Someone made a Supercut of every time the Tenth Doctor says "Sorry" throughout his 47-episode tenure. The final count: 120.
- Steve Urkel in a few Family Matters episodes.
- Quite a few of the characters from Gossip Girl are guilty of this, Serena being the worst. Chuck averted it for the first couple of seasons by hardly ever apologising for all the jerkass things he did, but come season three he started apologising as much - if not more - than everyone else.
- Elizabeth on the ninth season of Hell's Kitchen. Television Without Pity's tagline for the episode in which she was eliminated read as follows: "Elizabeth's gone. She's sorry, you guys. She's so sorry. So sorry. Sorry sorry sorry! (Sorry.)"
- Robin on How I Met Your Mother visits a Canadian bar in New York and tests its "Canadian-ness" by deliberately bumping into somebody to see if he apologizes for it. He does. And he offers her a donut. Marshall tests it by turning off the lights (because Canadians are afraid of the dark).
- In The Inbetweeners, this is a source of mockery for Simon, who has to apologise profusely to two angry Londoners after Jay's drive-by shouting of "Bus wankers!" doesn't go down very well.
- Iron Fist (2017): Kyle, the meek assistant to Harold Meachum. He is so passive and submissive to Harold that he can't even stop apologizing about it even as Harold mocks him about doing so.
- The eponymous hero of Merlin apologizes constantly, in stark contrast to Prince Arthur, who clearly hates having to say he's sorry.
- A running gag on Monty Python's Flying Circus is a stop anytime to apologize for either interrupting a sketch or the poor quality of it.
- The album Another Monty Python Record starts off with it:
Michael Palin: Good evening. We would like to apologize most sincerely to those of you who have bought this record under the impression that it was in any way connected with the television programme "Monty Python's Flying Circus." This was due to an error in the printing stage of the album cover. This album is in fact called "Pleasures Of The Dance," a selection of Norwegian carpenter songs compiled by Oskar Tritt.
John Cleese: Good evening. We apologize for the previous apology. That apology was unnecessary and appeared on the record owing to an administrative error. This album is not, as stated in the previous apology, "Pleasures Of The Dance," a selection of Norwegian carpenter songs, but a new album from the humorous television comedy show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." - And then there was the Trondheim Hammer Dance, which is performed every 25 minutes in the town of Trondheim, in which the old ladies are struck about the head with round sticks of clover—oh, sorry, I meant to put this in Dancing Is Serious Business. This appeared due to the same administrative error as the first apology. This appeared in error, and will not be repeated.
- Cleese described on Letterman that, owing to their terror that they might insult someone, Brits were so polite that if he (Cleese) wanted a piece of Letterman's toast, he would begin by apologizing to him: "Sorry, I wonder if I might be so bold as to possibly inquire if you could see your way clear to being so kind as to possibly if it's no bother giving me a piece of toast."
- The album Another Monty Python Record starts off with it:
- McGee on NCIS, though this is arguably just so Gibbs can deliver a Dope Slap and his overused line about how apologizing is a sign of weakness. This was mostly the case in earlier seasons, before he Took A Level In Bad Ass.
- A Royal Canadian Air Farce episode had then-Justice Minister Allan Rock apologizing for claims his government made about former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He then kept appearing throughout the episode to apologize for such things as broken election promises, fatty foods, long line-ups at bank machines, and all the cold weather they'd been having that winter. Finally, he apologized for making so many apologies and told the viewers that this would be the last governmental apology of the evening . . . "and for that, we are sorry."
- Ellen in Slings & Arrows. In her case, however, it's a clear case of passive-aggressive insincerity. People don't want her to apologise, they want her to start being on time and remember her lines!
- Pretty much every character in Smallville (at least in the first few seasons), but especially Clark. Most episodes finish with an apology duel, where they try to out-apologize each other. During the middle and later seasons, it seems that half the episodes have a scene in which Chloe and Clark mutually apologize and hug, e.g. Splinter, Hydro.
- As the title suggests, the lead character of the Brit Com Sorry!
- In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Tobin Dax was one of these, as we see during Jadzia's zhian'tara ritual, where his personality is placed into O'Brien's body temporarily. Complete with being told to stop, and apologising for apologising.
- Supernatural:
- Sam, who thinks nothing of stopping in the middle of a fight to say sorry for bumping into his brother (which, of course, leads to him getting choked).
- Castiel tends to apologize frequently, particularly in the later seasons. Most of his major storylines at some point involve him making grovelling apologies to someone (usually Dean), although it's hard to tell whether it's an inherent factor of his personality or merely a result of the catastrophic series of mistakes he has made over the course of the show.
- This was part of why Amanda Kimmel came in third in Survivor: China, amongst other reasons.
- Sookie in True Blood.
- A justified example exists with Vanya during the first season of The Umbrella Academy, as she developed an inferiority complex from constantly told by her adoptive father that she wasn't special, and being left out of missions with her super-powered siblings. Ironically, she's also somewhat unremorseful and unapologetic towards the rest of her family, as she starts lashing out at them when she's reminded of being excluded in the past, or feels wronged by them in any way.
- In the beginning of The Vampire Diaries, Stefan seems to be saying sorry to Elena for every other thing.
- R.E.M.'s "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)", whose chorus is entirely made up of Michael Stipe yelling "I'm sorry!", while "The Apologist" is the same deal but with added "So sorry!"'s.
- They played the two songs back to back in concert on at least one occasion "to prove how sorry we are".
- The Vocaloid song Heta Lenka
ends each refrain with Len letting out a long, clumsiness-induced "Sumimaseeeeeeeeeennn!!" ("I'm sorryyyyyyyyyyy!!")
- The Vocaloid song "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" is this combined with victim blaming and some ambiguous abuse.
- "The Sorry Song" by The Tombola Theory
Why do I apologise when I've done nothing wrong?
You step on my toe and I sing The Sorry Song
I don't deny that I have tried the patients of a saint
I fail to see what there can be that's worthy of complaint - The Galaxie 500 song "Sorry".
Are you sorry that you love me
Am I sorry that I love you too
Seems it doesn't make a difference
That we're sorry all the time - Akon's "Sorry (Blame It On Me)"
- "Sorry" by Buckcherry
- Brenda Lee's wistful "I'm Sorry."
- Evillious Chronicles: The first line of "Daughter of White" is "'I'm sorry for living,' before I knew it, that became my catchphrase." Justified because Clarith's status as a Netsuma causes her to be frequently scapegoated for everything, including the death of her own mother. She is so unused to kind treatment that one time she even apologizes after receiving a compliment for her hard work from her friend, Ayn.
- Doppo from Hypnosis Mic, whose first instinct when something goes wrong is often apologizing, including things out of his control such as rain or his brother failing a test.
- Egg from AJCO says "I'm sorry" with great frequency, as is typical for a Shrinking Violet. She says it in virtually every event during the Silo arc, and even afterwards when she's recovering she's still apologizing for her past failures to Kube, or Req, or Kaja — or anyone she happens to talk to.
- The titular character of Dear Evan Hansen fits this trope as a result of his severe social anxiety. This is also Truth in Television, as people with anxiety tend to apologize excessively.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- Anju in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It's typically because of things involving how empty Clock Town is due to people evacuating to escape the falling moon.
- Prince Sidon from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild frequently apologizes to Link for things like being pushy in his requests for help and showing emotional vulnerability.
- Tales Series
- Colette from Tales of Symphonia apologizes so much, even tauntingly apologizing when she blocks enemy attacks. The apologizing happens so much, the LP Group Tipping Forties ended up making it a drinking game. Lloyd and Regal also apologize a lot too, but what sets Colette apart from them is that she apologizes mostly when she doesn't have to. Her Establishing Character Moment is saying she's sorry for worrying Lloyd about something. Lloyd tells her not to apologize for that, and Colette apologizes for apologizing. Colette believes that as The Chosen One, it's her responsibility to show Incorruptible Pure Pureness at all times, even though the game shows how much this weighs heavily on her mind and the kinds of things that putting all of the pressure in the world on one person would do.
- In Tales of the Abyss, Luke begins the game as a Spoiled Brat who acts like a Jerkass to everyone out of a sense of entitlement. After the Wham Episode, a massive Break the Haughty, and one Important Haircut, Luke starts apologizing a lot. However, his Guilt Complex and Heroic Self-Deprecation are deconstructed in that it's shown to be a very psychologically unhealthy thing for him to do, to the point that other party members start calling him out on trying to shoulder all of the world's burdens out of guilt. As time goes on and Luke gets more and more depressed, he gets even worse about it.
- There's an NPC, a Yakuza member, in Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, standing just inside of Fukagawa-Cho. He almost always says, no matter when you talk to him, "I don't mean to criticize ya..."
- In Eternal Sonata, Polka apologizes most of the times she's healed in battle, or after her turn of attacks. (She actually has two different versions of "I'm sorry" that she uses when healed.) She tends to do it a lot outside of battle too.
- Fire Emblem:
- Florina, the youngest of the Pegasus Knight sisters in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade tends to apologize in pretty much every scene she appears in. It goes to the point of Apologetic Attacker in Heroes, since two of her attack quotes are "Uh, sorry!" and "Pardon me!"
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has a conversation where Rafiel would over-apologize. Ike suggests that he doesn't need to be so soft, prompting a confused Rafiel to apologize again (this is how he was brought up in the heron tribe).
- According to Nailah, all herons were like this, Reyson is an exception because he has spent to much time picking up manners from Tibarn.
- The Avatar of Fire Emblem Fates has a habit of rapid-firing apologies if they do something to upset others. This trait appears to be hereditary, as Anankos' soul also did this quite often himself.
- Ignatz in Fire Emblem: Three Houses repeatedly apologises in many of his support conversations to the point that Leonie remarks that he has said sorry at least a dozen times in one conversation alone.
- Bernadetta in the same game constantly apologizes, assuming that anyone who interacts with her must be mad at her. She then apologizes more when people get exhasperated with her apologizing.
- Wild ARMs 4: Yulie Ahtreide. Dear god, Yulie Ahtreide. How often she apologizes is even a point of discussion among the main party at one point! (She stops doing it eventually, though, after taking several levels in self-confidence...)
- Battle Chatelaine Evelyn from Pokémon X and Y and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire apologises before both of her Double Battles with you, apologises for not trying hard enough after you beat her the second time — and if she beats you, she not only apologises, but bursts into tears and begs you to come back to the Battle Maison sometime. The poor girl just wants to entertain you.
- Re:Kuroi: Due to being a bullying victim, Kaito apologizes if he thinks he even slightly offended someone else.
- Oichi from Sengoku Basara. Oh sweet heavens for the love of GOD... Oichi!!
Oichi: I'm sorry... This is all Ichi's fault... I'm so sorry, please forgive Ichi...!
- Soul Series
- Definitely Talim, at least in the third one.
- In the second game, Sophitia Alexandra is the Apologetic Attacker. This doesn't make her any less vicious, however.
- The entire Alexandra family in the Soul Series can be called this- in the fourth game, Cassandra (Sophitia's sister) is the Apologetic Attacker though, again, equally vicious. Pyhrra (Sophitia's daughter) takes over this role in the fifth game, while Patroklos (Sophitia's son) will also be as bad if he's fighting Pyhrra.
- Never fight Patroklos against Pyhrra if you don't want to be completely desensitized to the phrase "I'm sorry"... they will both apologize after pretty much every single attack, including their Critical Edges.
- Yuna from Final Fantasy X. She often apologizes for doing stuff, even when Tidus walked in on her. For better or worse, she changes in Final Fantasy X-2.
- Angela Orosco from Silent Hill 2 takes this to a depressing extreme, with her habit of almost reflexively saying "I'm sorry" being an early indication that she's been a victim of abuse... and it's even worse than you might think.
- Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue; in a flashback story, her future friend Tsubaki remarks on this and tells her that she should save her apologies for an appropriate time.
- Riku from Kingdom Hearts often adds "Sorry" to his sentences. It's even one of his battle quips in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
- Believe it or not, Data-Riku in Kingdom Hearts Recoded has an even worse case of this:
Data-Sora: Forget that "on my own" talk.
Data-Riku: I'm sorry, you're right.
Data-Sora: And stop with all the apologizing. C'mon! We've got things to do!Data-Riku, literally one world later: Sora, I'm sorry.
Data-Sora: Come on, stop saying that!
- Believe it or not, Data-Riku in Kingdom Hearts Recoded has an even worse case of this:
- Dragon Age II: During her introduction, Merrill apologizes for, in no order, asking Hawke's name, the standoffish behavior of the rest of her elfy clan, and verbal rambling. On the other hand, she's pretty firm about defending her decision to cut a deal with a demon for wizardly might and arcane knowledge.
- Connor from Assassin's Creed III seems to be a downplayed version of this as a teenager but outgrows it rather quickly with age.
- Pyra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 apologizes quite a bit, largely as a result of the personality she has developed in response to her role in the Aegis War. At one point Rex points out how much she apologizes and insists that she shouldn't feel the need to do so that often.
- Ethel from Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Her very first line is an apology to a young Noah, Lanz, and Eunie for not arriving soon enough to save more of Colony 14's inhabitants. As the commander of Colony 4 in the present, she frequently apologizes to newly arrived people like Consul K and Noah's party for the barren colony's lack of amenities, and when her second-in-command Borealis gets mad at her for wandering off into the desert unannounced, she immediately apologizes to him upon returning.
- Naotora Ii from Samurai Warriors 4 keeps on apologizing even when she's not attacking. The expansion tries to explain that her constant apologizing is due to Naomasa, her adopted son, who is hotblooded. But even when Naomasa is not present, she says she apologizes a lot because of her lack of self esteem.
- In Disco Elysium you can play the Defective Detective Player Character as such, constantly apologizing for the awful mess you've made of your life and your clear lack of professionalism, which the game calls "Sorry Cop". Ultimately, however, this behavior only further undermines your authority as a police officer, as your partner Kim notes.
- Porky Minch, in his very short moment as a Guest-Star Party Member at the beginning of EarthBound (1994), ocassionally apologizes profusely, wasting his turn (much like all other possible actions he has). Mother 3 raises this to Running Gag levels, with several Pigmask enemies also wasting their turns to apologize profusely, foreshadowing that Porky is their leader, and one of Salsa's Monkey Tricks also involving him apologizing profusely to the target (although, in his case, it does do something as it can cause numbness on the target).
- Toontown: Corporate Clash: Ma Putrid, owner of the House of Bad Pies, apologizes profusely as a character trait and due to how bad her shop's inventory is. Even when she's grateful, she can hardly go a sentence without apologizing.
- In Akatsuki no Goei Kaoru apologizes for apologizing too much, for which she apologizes.
- Johanna from Double Homework apologizes when she's too blunt to anyone else, even after the other person admits that she's right.
- Rina from Fading Hearts apologizes to Ryou at the slightest chance of offence or disappointment she may have caused, especially when her behaviour becomes more evasive as the Visual Novel goes on.
- Sakura Matou from Fate/stay night.
- Higurashi: When They Cry has a rather dark example: Hanyuu tends to say "I'm sorry" over and over, but because she can't be seen by anyone except Rika, the only characters who can hear are those who are becoming increasingly paranoid. It never ends well.
- Danganronpa:
- Mikan Tsumiki in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair lives and breathes this trope. It gets a hell of a lot darker at the end of the third trial, where she angrily demands forgiveness over being accused of the murder of two students.
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Chihiro Fujisaki apologizes quite a bit, possibly due to having been heavily bullied in the past - with several apologies out of embarrassment coming in Chihiro's introduction alone.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations about half of conversations involving Iris has her apologise for something.
- Later in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2, Kay Faraday is temporarily this after becoming amnesiac. When Edgeworth and Gumshoe try to tell her what she was like before losing her memories, she feels guilty about everything she did and apologizes.
- Venus of We Know the Devil, so much so that during Truth or Dare Neptune dares her not to say sorry for the rest of the night. She fails, of course.
- The Fruit of Grisaia: Yumiko and Amane tends to do this. It actually becomes a plot point in both of there respective routes, where protagonist Yuuji tries to correct this habit of theirs.
- By the time the player character in Doki Doki Literature Club! points out to Yuri that she apologizes a lot — assuming that your first poem was most appealing to her — she's done so five times, four that day. And then she does so again afterwards, followed by "I mean—!"
- Becca from Melody has a tendency to apologize out of remorse whenever she says anything too blunt.
- Arby 'n' the Chief:
- Tissues from Inanimate Insanity, due to his constant sneezing.
- RWBY: Pyrrha Nikos. Even if she saves your life, she'll apologize. It becomes an Ironic Echo when she actually does have something to apologize for, like slamming her Love Interest into a pillar when he accidentally strikes a nerve.
- RWBY Chibi is a Gag Series, so Pyrrha's habit of apologizing becomes a Running Gag for various mishaps involving her Semblance, including messing up Jaune's compass and sending Nora into a corner with every pot and pan and other metal thing in the room.
- Parodied in "Soh-ry", part of a self contained series of "Canadian Stereotype Comics"
in Hark! A Vagrant.
- Modern-day Germany in Scandinavia and the World, out of guilt for Nazi Germany's actions. (They're separate characters here.)
- Kieri from Slightly Damned, especially earlier on. At one point moves into Sorry I Fell on Your Fist territory when Kieri claims it is her fault
that she was cursed by a spiteful demigod. Justified by how Kieri is strongly suggested to have had an abusive mother.
- The horribly abusive childhood of Jeremy MacConnor (Platinum Grit) has made him honestly believe everything to be his fault, and he apologises accordingly.
- Rolan of Ears for Elves definitely fits this, since he blames himself for everything; he even apologises for triggering long-standing prejudice
, which makes Tanna mad at him as it wasn't his fault. In the second Q&A series
, he apologises for apologising so much, because it gives a wrong impression of his people.
- Mituna Captor from Homestuck. After pretty much every other thing he says or does.
- Questionable Content:
- The strip has been derided as 'Apologetic Content' because of the main character Marten's constant apologising, even for things he shouldn't be apologising for, or weren't his fault.
- Gentle Giant Elliott has the same problem, which he thinks
may be actually an autonomic response in his case. Clinton thinks Elliott may have an anxiety disorder, which Elliott considers plausible
.
- A one-off Coffee of Doom customer
apologises in every sentence. When Hanners asks Faye about it, Faye just says "Canadian."
- In Harbourmaster, Governor Tal Montblanc has tendencies in this direction — he even apologizes for laughing out loud.
- Asia Ellis from Morph E. She is exceptionally polite, but does apologize way too much. When given a one-off chance to speak with her guardian, while in captivity, she spends half the conversation apologizing because her guardian is trying to get information on her location and she is unable to speak about it.
- Woo-won in The Pizza Delivery Man and the Gold Palace apologizes a lot even for minor inconveniences, to Sea-an's mild annoyance. It's because he feels the need to not be a burden on others and resolve things by himself, having spent years working off his father's debt.
- Undine from Sleepless Domain. She has a tendency towards putting herself down or apologizing unnecessarily. She goes so far as to apologize for venting her grief to a friendly ear and admitting she feels selfish for enjoying a brief moment of normalcy after very recently enduring a tragedy. Said friendly ear, Heartful Punch, would later lampshade the irony when Undine tells her she's being too hard on herself during her own melancholy moment.
- Stand Still, Stay Silent:
- Reynir seems to have been prone to this, even before he became Little Stowaway to an exploration mission doing research in a Forbidden Zone. The latter did not make things any better.
- Early in Reynir's stay, Tuuri uses an underhanded trick to get Reynir out of the office but feels guilty about it after the fact, while Reynir realizes that she did it because he was bothering her at the exact same time. The author has the following comment about the page on which this happens:
If left to their own devices, Reynir and Tuuri would keep on apologizing to one another in perpetuity.
- Ronnie from Whomp! does this often, such as in the strip "Sorry For Your Boss"
- Dee in Tales of MU is anything but a Cute Clumsy Girl, but she apologizes at the drop of a cowl.
- The Onion: Area Woman Said "Sorry" 118 Times Yesterday
.
- The Jolly Roger Telephone Company is a company which makes bots that are designed to waste the time of telemarketers and other unwanted callers. A fairly regular time-waster with these bots is for them to claim to have forgotten what it was they were called about and apologize for having to ask the caller to start over.
- Communitychannel
Natalie Tran. Popular Australian youtuber
. She either apologizes for not making a video soon enough, or aplogizes for making one. Even after her most liked videos, like "We Just Touched Awkwardly
" she apologetically whispers "back to normal broadcasting, next video". She even titles some of her videos "Sorry, this is so crap
" or "sorry it doubles but there are outtakes
" or "sorry this isnt very good guys
" or "sorry this is crap. late merry christmas/hsm/favourite songs
" . She even has a video entitled briefly: "sorry
"
- You wouldn't expect it, but The Nostalgia Critic.
- For God's sake, his top fuck-up was not finding Optimus Prime's death depressing.
- Another notable moment was when he apologized for cracking a hurtful comment about Autism on his Ernest Scared Stupid Review.
- He's nothing compared to his actor, who even felt horrible guilt at his colleagues choosing not to wear sun-screen and thus getting sunburned on the Kickassia shoot.
- In ''10 Differences between Canadians & Americans!" by Matthew Santoro, Matthew says that he and his fellow Canadians apologize for almost everything.
- CollegeHumor's "If Canadians Made a Rap Diss Video
" has two Canadian rappers start by dissing America, only to stop and spend the rest of the song apologizing for everything they possibly can.
- My Dad's Tapes: Melissa describes Chris's father as someone who apologized constantly for very minor things, which she believed to come from a very deep-seated feeling of guilt.
- Super Therapy!: Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man says "Sorry!" a lot. Including when the therapist tells him to stop apologizing.
- Danger Mouse: Grovel, the robot servant to the alien Quark, drops to the ground and apologizes every time his name is called as he mistakes his name as an order.
- The Dick Tracy Show: Joe Jitsu does this when meting out punishment to criminals ("So solly. Excuse, prease.")
- Wilt from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. "Sorry. Is that okay?" Tragically, "Good Wilt Hunting" reveals that his behavior came from the shame of losing a basketball game for his creator, who calls him out for it when they reunite.
- In Futurama, Philip J. Fry does this while listening to his ex's story of what happened to her after he got frozen. He only apologizes because he feels bad for her and he does it at times when it's completely unnecessary.
Michelle: But it did give me a chance to think...
Fry: I'm sorry. - The Great Grape Ape apologizes a lot due to his height and his strength causing some form of collateral damage.
- The Looney Tunes Show: During his first appearance in the episode "Monster Talent", Gossamer apologises to Daffy repeatedly, even when Daffy tells him to stop.
- Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
Fluttershy: Oh, were we arguing? I'm sorry.
Fluttershy: Oh, sorry. I thought the open sign meant you were open, but I must have been mistaken.
Fluttershy: You understand, don't you? You're not mad at me, are you? Please don't be mad at me! - Mysticons: Emerald apologizes a lot, as shown by how she even apologizes during training exercises.
- Scootch Raccoon on PB&J Otter runs into people or things a lot and then apologizes for bumping into them, or knocking them over.
Scootch: Sorry, sorry, my fault.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Buttercup usually has trouble apologizing, let alone admit she did something wrong. But in "Moral Decay", after she accidentally clocks Bubbles and knocking out one of her baby teeth, she apologizes to Bubbles quite profusely.
- Total Drama:
- In All Stars, Jo lampshades this in regards to Zoey.
Jo: Nice try, apology breath!
- After Zoey shoots Jo with a leech, she makes fun of herself by saying "Not sorry!"
- In All Stars, Jo lampshades this in regards to Zoey.
- In Young Justice (2010), Asami Koizumi, the show's take on Samurai, is always saying Sumimasen! ("excuse me," though it can also mean "thank you."), though it goes unnoticed because she speaks only Japanese.