This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Dark Sasami: Since aside from The Karate Kid, the only examples I have are from anime, I marked it as an anime trope. Feel free to reorganize it if there's a better place or more non-anime examples.
Cosmetor: I removed the following examples, for reasons listed along with each of them.
- Card Captor Sakura used a variation; the plot of the Sakura Card Story Arc was for Sakura to muster enough strength to upgrade all 53 of her Clow Cards.
- Reason for removal: The plot revolves around her regaining use of her powers from last season. She doesn't stop using them due to uselessness.
- In Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki started out with Shinigami powers borrowed from sidekick/mentor Rukia Kuchiki. When two Shinigami who had come to arrest Rukia broke Ichigo's Empathic Weapon and stripped him of his powers, another character rescued him and helped him awaken his own, more powerful abilities so he could rescue her. When those powers proved insufficient to defeat the Big Bad, another character rescued him and trained him to a higher level. This was repeated again in the most recent story arc, when a group of hybrid Shinigami/Hollows trained Ichigo to tap into his latent Hollow powers.
- Reason for removal: Even when Ichigo gains new powers, he doesn't stop using his old ones. He didn't really have any "techniques" at first, his Bankai still uses his Shikai's special attack, and he uses his Bankai in his Hollow form.
- Card Captor Sakura used a variation; the plot of the Sakura Card Story Arc was for Sakura to muster enough strength to upgrade all 53 of her Clow Cards.
