History Main / SimultaneousArcs

* In the latter half of Season 4 of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', following [[BigBad the Governor's]] destruction of the prison, many of our survivors escape in fragmented groups, with each episode focusing on a different one. (e.g., Carl, Rick, and Michonne; Daryl and Beth; Maggie, Bob, and Sasha; etc.) Small hints and clues of one group's whereabouts and actions show up in other groups' stories, with the common driving force among all the survivors is following the railroad tracks to [[SafeZoneHopeSpot Terminus.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} V's'' second stage has you infiltrating an enemy ship alongside your future self. Then the final stage has you pursuing the enemy ship into the past where you and your past self finish the job.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' reveals that [[spoiler:the events of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' happens simultaneously in a different dimension. The Architect is revealed to be Klaus, also known as Zanza in the original game. The difference is that the Architect is the [[TheAtoner good yet sorrowful]] half who wishes for lifeforms to control their own destiny, while Zanza is the [[ForTheEvulz evil]] half that wishes to create a destroy-and-recycle mechanism.]]

* Episode 0 and Episode 1 of the TV series ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight Unlimited Blade Works'' take place at roughly the same time, from the points of view of Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya.

* In ''[[Anime/{{Bakemonogatari}} Monogatari Series: Second Season]]'', the first arc ''Nekomonogatari (Shiro)'' and the fourth arc ''Onimonogatari'' occur simultaneously.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' "4 x 4" depicts four separate cases being worked by different members of the cast at the same time. Each segment has a scene connecting it to another case (where its characters are seen in the background), with the first such intersection doubling as ItMakesSenseInContext.

* New Zealand's Outrageous Fortune and probably Scoundrels.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds''almost always does this, especially at the end of the episode (and often at the beginning of it as well). They often show the [[VillainoftheWeek killer's]] actions, then cut to the [[Heroes BAU agents]] and show them getting introduced to the case. Then once the team have worked out the killer's method, they'll show the killer starting to commit his crime once again. In most cases, the team will then be introduced into the picture (usually, they literally drive into the frame or walk through the door). Sometimes the camera actually cuts to them though, usually on the occasions when the bad guy is not sympathetic.

** The first three campaigns, ''Long Live the Queen'', ''Dungeons & Devils'' and ''Spoils of War'', take place roughly concurrently with one another. ''Long Live the Queen'' follows Queen Catherine as she lands in Erathia, learns that Nighon and Eofol have invaded, and prepares to march to secure Steadwich, Erathia's capital. ''Dungeons & Devils'' follows the forces of Nighon and Eofol as they continue the invasion of Erathia, learns that Queen Catherine has arrived in Erathia and is preparing to secure Steadwick, and so have to rush to occupy it before she can arrive. ''Spoils of War'' follows Tatalia and Krewlod taking advantage of the demoralization and distractions of Erathia's soldiers to launch border wars, only to end up bogged down in one with each other (now that they actually ''had'' a border -- before, Erathia was a buffer between them).

** Issues 26-28 (during the ''All or Nothing'' Arc) has Sonic's friends travel to separate parts of the world to take 5 of the Chaos Emeralds back from five of the Deadly Six at the same time. Justified as they had to prevent them from warning each other. Near the end of #28, everyone makes it back with all 5 of the Emeralds. [[spoiler: Well, [[MoreHeroThanThou almost everyone]]... [[note]]Cream the Rabbit is infected by the virus, so Gemerl sends the Chaos Emerald to the portal of the rendezvous point, choosing to stay with Cream until the crisis is over. Jet the Hawk does the same to stay with his fellow Babylon Rogues in a LastStand against a Zombot horde.[[/note]]]]

** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' take place at roughly the same time, which gets used to [[spoiler: make a SuddenDownerEnding when the Pym family get disintegrated in TheStinger.]]

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' Book the Twelfth. ''The Penultimate Peril'' has simultaneous arcs with each of the three siblings, which is especially confusing when [[spoiler: they each meet one of the twins at exactly the same time]].

* ''Series/{{Coupling}}'' does this in a few episodes. 9 1/2 minutes (The first of season 4) is probably the most obvious example.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has done this in increasing amounts since season three. Episode 3x01 tells what's happening to Jack, Kate, and Sawyer after the season 2 finale. Episode 3x02 shows what's happening to Sun, Jin, and Sayid. Episode 3x03 shows what's happening back at the beach camp with Locke and others. Season five has delved into this style even further, with some episodes focusing only on those still on the island and others focusing entirely on those who left (though "simultaneous" is somewhat a relative term when time travel is happening.)
** Subverted in the Season 4 episode "Ji Yeon". The audience is first shown Sun in the hospital about to give birth, screaming for her husband Jin. We then cut to a scene of Jin on his cellphone, saying he'll be at the hospital soon. We follow Jin's day as he tries to buy the perfect gift before heading to the hospital. Only at the end of the story do we learn that [[spoiler: the scene with Jin is a flashback to when he was delivering a gift to his boss's client in the hospital, while the scene with Sun was a flash '''forward''', and that Jin could not possibly be at the hospital (Sun screaming for him is thus taken to be hysterical ravings due to the emotional and physical pain of childbirth)]]
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' did this in Season four with ''Sine Qua Non'' and ''The Hub'', which first showed the Fleet's story, and in the next episode the base star's simultaneous adventures.

* A season 3 episode of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' did this: the first half followed Sydney and Vaughn around, while the second half repeated the first half's events from Sark and Lauren's POV.

* Frequent device on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. It was first done in the season 1 episode "Cupcake" with two threads as the group is split between Marshall at a tailor and Lily shopping for a wedding dress. The technique's been used several times since but its more common form in the show was first exhibited in the early season 2 episode "Brunch". In this episode there are three groups rather than two and the contact points before the last one are actually different parts of the same event, as well.

* In the latter half of season four of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', following [[BigBad the Governor's]] destruction of the prison, many of our survivors escape in fragmented groups, with each episode focusing on a different one. (e.g., Carl, Rick, and Michonne; Daryl and Beth; Maggie, Bob, and Sasha; etc.) Small hints and clues of one group's whereabouts and actions show up in other groups' stories, with the common driving force among all the survivors is following the railroad tracks to [[SafeZoneHopeSpot Terminus.]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had two season 8 episodes [[Recap/StargateSG1S8E11Gemini Gemini]] which followed O'Neill, Carter, and Teal'c dealing with Carter's replicator double while [[Recap/StargateSG1S8E12PrometheusUnbound Prometheus Unbound]] followed Daniel as well as Hammond who were on the Prometheus on their way to Atlantis.

** ''Chain of Memories'' also has a mode where you play as [[spoiler: Riku in the castle basement]] instead of Sora.
*** And right after Sora reaches the top of the castle, [[spoiler: [[BookEnds Riku reaches the main/front door of the castle]].]]

* ''VisualNovel/{{Remember11}}'' uses this, with the entire story being told first from the perspective of Kokoro, and then restarting from the beginning, seen through Satoru's eyes. The comes the mindscrew that [[spoiler: Satoru's arc cannot exist without doing Kokoro's implying that [[AnthropicPrinciple his reality was made after the fact]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' has the hunt for the Iacon relics arc in season two -- the episodes "Tunnel Vision", "Triangulation", "Triage", and "Toxicity" all happen at the same time. For bonus points, each episode has some scenes set back at the Autobots' base with [[MissionControl Fowler and Raf]], and Toxicity shows all these scenes in context.

** The Season 5 finale "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 The Cutie Remark - Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]" and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', although Friendship Games aired several weeks before. During Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer attempts to contact Princess Twilight Sparkle and ask for her help, but she doesn't respond. Later, after the conflict has already been resolved, Princess Twilight appears and apologizes for not coming sooner, but she was dealing with her own adventure involving time travel, which was then shown in The Cutie Remark. It makes sense since both this two-parter and Friendship Games were written by Josh Haber. [[spoiler: And both of them end with TheHero stopping the ArcVillain not with violence, but by offering their hoof/hand in friendship, which they accept]].

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' - Many chapters occur at the same time as other chapters, and the first 800 pages of ''A Dance With Dragons'' will take place during the same time period as ''A Feast for Crows.''

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' also did this with the episodes "Bubble Boys" & "Isabella and the Temple of Sap". The first of the pair episodes had the boys building a bubble type contraption after sending the Fireside Girls to go get some sap. The next episode showed the girls' point-of-view with their adventure, as well as that of a different secret agent.

*** "Bubble Boys"/"Isabella and the Temple of Sap" and "Bee Day"/"Bee Story" also did this for the Agent P subplot, with the Fireside Girls focused ones looking at Perry's fellow OWCA Agent, Pinky the Chihuahua (Isabella's pet) fighting his own nemesis, Professor Poofenplotz.

** The Season 5 finale "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 The Cutie Remark - Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]" and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', although Friendship Games aired several weeks before. During Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer attempts to contact Princess Twilight Sparkle and ask for her help, but she doesn't respond. Later, after the conflict has already been resolved, Princess Twilight appears and apologizes for not coming sooner, but she was dealing with her own adventure involving time travel, which was then shown in The Cutie Remark. It makes sense since both this two-parter and Friendship Games were written by Josh Haber. [[spoiler: And both of them end with TheHero stopping the ArcVillain not with violence, but by offering their hoof/hand in friendship, which they accept it]].

** Birth By Sleep features three storylines of the three main protagonists all taking place at the same time with paths of the three converging at times. The final chapter of the story can only be played when all three branches have been completed.

* On at least two occasions, ''Manga/OnePiece'' has switched between this and TwoLinesNoWaiting, depending on the exact point in the story. When the Straw Hat Pirates get separated, we see Luffy's story reach its conclusion, then the other eight Straw Hat crewmembers, each with his or her own small arc, rapidly switching between each other. It happens again in the Dressrosa story, only the reader (or viewer) gets introduced to each of the five separate stories taking place, where it then proceeds to tell each simultaneous story until the necessary plot points come up before backing up and moving to another one where that information is necessary.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' games follow this trope nicely. Each game consists of around ten different characters experiencing the apocalyptic events simultaneously over the course of a few days, and the story is told through snippets out of chronological order via a little timetable-style level selector. Being told like this, the story is very hard to follow at times, and very disjointed when one minute you're playing Kei on day 3 around noon, then suddenly you're back to Kyoya around 7 AM on day 1. Once you do have a decent handle on the story, though, it is pretty rewarding. The first two games even make this an explicit part of getting their true endings, as after you've completed a mission the first time you have the option of completing a "secondary objective" if you replay it, and the vast majority of the time these secondary objectives can't be completed until you've accomplished something as an entirely different character, such as opening a door as one character that was locked when you came through as another one later in the day, leaving items you can't use as one character in an area another character who will have a use for it comes by later, etc.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' was popular for its two-disc "zapping" system. You'd play through the game with one character, then you could start a NewGamePlus with the other, giving the second character a slightly different story than if they'd been played first. The game treats the two playthroughs as simultaneous, intertwining stories, and the things you did in the first playthrough affected the world in the second, such as weapons in some areas not being available to the second character if you already took them as the first. In addition to this, the events of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' take place in the same general area, with the events of the second game taking place within the timeframe of the third.
** The remakes of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake Resident Evil 2]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake Resident Evil 3]]'' make a few changes, but keep the side-by-side timelines. ''3'' explicitly takes place a day or two either side of ''2'', with a one-day TimeSkip in the middle to allow for the other story to play out. Notably, in ''3'' Carlos blows up a wall in the police station that later becomes an obstacle for Leon and/or Claire in ''2''. There are a few other minor crossovers as well, such as Leon finding a note from Jill in Kendo's Gunshop, which she visits early in her story (this was added to the game in an update to promote the upcoming remake of ''3'').

* The first mission of the first ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' occurred at the same time as the mission "Rendezvous with the Resistance" in ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault Allied Assault]]''. ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne Airborne]]'' also has a mission set during Operation Market Garden, which was the setting of one of the campaigns in ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline Frontline]]''; interestingly, the two handle the battle entirely differently, ''Airborne'' being set earlier and treating it as a major success, with your team accomplishing all of their objectives with no problem, while ''Frontline'' takes place a few days later and shows it as the screw-up the real battle was, depicting the player simply trying to keep himself and his local allies alive long enough to get away.

This differs from RotatingArcs because RotatingArcs is a method of dealing with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and the arcs occurring in RotatingArcs don't have to occur at the same time.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': ''Crossroads of Twilight'' revisits the time of the previous book's climax from the perspective of all the other major ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and not-so-major]]) characters, who are spread out across the continent at the time. Unfortunately, while said climax saw TheChosenOne [[spoiler:win a huge victory over the BigBad]], other characters are doing stuff like... taking a long bath while jockeying for political power in a SuccessionCrisis.

** The events of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' wrap up right around the time ''Series/{{Hawkeye|2021}}'' begins, as both installments take place during the 2024 Christmas holidays. In ''No Way Home'''s final scene, Peter can be seen swinging past the Rockefeller Tree, which is eventually knocked down by Clint and Kate during ''Hawkeye'''s finale.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* The events of ''Film/SawIII'' and ''Film/SawIV'' are revealed at the end of the latter to be occurring simultaneously.

** The first three campaigns of, ''Long Live the Queen'', ''Dungeons & Devils'' and ''Spoils of War'', take place roughly concurrently with one another. ''Long Live the Queen'' follows Queen Catherine as she lands in Erathia, learns that Nighon and Eofol have invaded, and prepares to march to secure Steadwich, Erathia's capital. ''Dungeons & Devils'' follows the forces of Nighon and Eofol as they continue the invasion of Erathia, learns that Queen Catherine has arrived in Erathia and is preparing to secure Steadwick, and so have to rush to occupy it before she can arrive. ''Spoils of War'' follows Tatalia and Krewlod taking advantage of the demoralization and distractions of Erathia's soldiers to launch border wars, only to end up bogged down in one with each other (now that they actually ''had'' a border -- before, Erathia was a buffer between them).

* The plot of the GameMod ''VideoGame/FalloutSonora'' is set in 2167, the same year as the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}''. This is a very deliberate choice by the developers, who wanted players to be able to fit ''Sonora'' within the official ''Fallout'' canon without it causing too many {{Continuity Snarl}}s. ''Sonora'' is set in a relatively unexplored corner of the ''Fallout'' universe, that is too far away from the setting of the first ''Fallout'' for that game's plot events to directly affect it, and though ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' takes place a bit closer to the area explored in Sonora, and you even get visit a couple of locations described in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', ''Sonora''[='s=] events took place so far back in the past compared to those games that it can easily be justified that no one really talks about them.

** The events of ''Film/{{Thor}}'', ''Film/IronMan2'' and ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' take place during the same week. The tie-in comic ''Fury's Big Week'' also takes place at this time.

** ''[[Film/BlackWidow2021 Black Widow]]'' takes place between two scenes in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', after Natasha's final scene and before Steve breaks out his team from the Raft. It also establishes that the gap between the two ''Civil War'' scenes is at least two weeks, meaning that ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' (set one week after an assassination at the beginning of ''Civil War'') also takes place during that span and may overlap with ''Black Widow''.
** The events of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' wrap up right around the time ''[[Series/Hawkeye2021 Hawkeye]]'' begins, as both installments take place during the 2024 Christmas holidays. In ''No Way Home'''s final scene, Peter can be seen swinging past the Rockefeller Tree, which is eventually knocked down by Clint and Kate during ''Hawkeye'''s finale.

** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' takes place between two scenes in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', after Natasha's final scene and before Steve breaks out his team from the Raft. It also establishes that the gap between the two ''Civil War'' scenes is at least two weeks, meaning that ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' (set one week after an assassination at the beginning of ''Civil War'') also takes place during that span and may overlap with ''Black Widow''.

* ''TheSimpsons'', "Trilogy of Error": Each of the show's three acts follows Homer, Lisa and Bart respectively as they go on simultaneous adventures, which occasionally cross each other before meeting at the end.

** ''Directions'' takes place at the same time as ''Through the Mirror''. In the ladder, Twilight and Spike chase Sunset through the mirror in the nuptialverse version of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]], while in the former the rest of the mane 6 must learn how to work as a team and protect Equestria without Twilight's help.

** This was also done in an earlier episode with "Unfair Science Fair" & "Unfair Science Fair Redux" -- the first one focused on Dr. Doofenshmirtz, the second focused on Candace, and then a third time with Bee Day and [[{{Pun}} Bee Story]] (again focused on Phineas and Ferb, and then on the Fireside Girls.
*** "Bubble Boys"/"Isabella and the Temple of Sap" and "Bee Day"/"Bee Story" also did this for the Agent P subplot, with the Fireside girl focused ones looking at Perry's fellow OWCA Agent, Pinky the Chihuahua (Isabella's pet) fighting his own nemesis, professor Poofenplotz.

** The Season 5 finale "The Cutie Remark [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]" and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', although Friendship Games aired several weeks before. During Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer attempts to contact Princess Twilight Sparkle and ask for her help, but she doesn't respond. Later, after the conflict has already been resolved, Princess Twilight appears and apologizes for not coming sooner, but she was dealing with her own adventure involving time travel, which was then shown in The Cutie Remark. It makes sense since both this two-parter and Friendship Games were written by Josh Haber. [[spoiler: And both of them end with TheHero stopping the ArcVillain not with violence, but by offering their hoof/hand in friendship, which they accept it]].