Establishing Character Moment / Visual Novels

---

• Ace Attorney:
  • Edgeworth firmly establishes his threat as the opposing prosecutor who'll seemingly resort to anything by claiming that the autopsy report you just presented is "outdated" and presenting an updated autopsy report (that's implied to have been doctored) that destroys your contradiction, all the while implicitly making Phoenix look like an unprepared fool. This is the establishing moment of Edgeworth as the infamous "demon prosecutor", and moreover an introduction to the types of tricks rival prosecutors will generally pull all throughout the series.
    • In Turnabout Samurai, the moment Edgeworth objects to the obvious killer's testimony when Phoenix is out of arguments, outright stumbling over his words at first, acts as a separate establishing moment for Edgeworth and the qualities initially buried underneath his cynical reputation - showing that while he is a competent and harsh prosecutor with a haughty streak, he does have an earnest value for the truth in him, even if he can get flustered trying to prove that. While this is only the start of the turnabout in his story and his initial reputation is something he's still a ways away from moving past, this is the establishing moment of Miles Edgeworth as you'll come to know him.
  • Manfred Von Karma's first line in the first game involves him, instead of telling the Judge a standard "The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," saying "Fool... You seriously think that I would stand here were I not completely prepared?" showing his arrogance (which, admittedly, is backed up by extensive preparation) and showing that unlike Payne or even Edgeworth before him, he isn't afraid to talk back to and over the Judge. Edgeworth might have been the "demon prosecutor", but von Karma is the one with a 40-year record of guilty verdicts, and his attitude shows it.
  • The prodigal Franziska von Karma's entrance into the plot involves literally whipping poor Gumshoe. This immediately sets up the fact that she may not have the legendary record and status of her father yet, but she will liberally use her whip to try and physically command a similar level of intimidation and respect in court, and she's about as nasty to her subordinates and generally anyone else.
  • Godot in Trials and Tribulations has one during The Stolen Turnabout. He sips a mug of coffee that slid in from off-screen, throws out an oddly philosophical quip about his favorite beverage, and generally acts like he owns the place, even claiming that he's never lost a trial... only to reveal that this is his debut as a prosecutor. All while his smooth and melancholy jazz theme plays.
  • Matt Engarde's second appearance after he's revealed to be the true murderer, towards the end of Farewell, my Turnabout.
    Engarde: (brushes back hair to show scars, smirks, holds up a brandy glass and swirls it menacingly) How do you do, Mr. Lawyer? I'm Matt Engarde.
  • Kay introduces herself to Edgeworth by jumping into the room through a high window (which she can't get back up to, effectively trapping her in the room) with a great flourish and proudly introducing herself as the second Yatagarasu, a great thief of justice. This tells you most of what you need to know about Kay.
  • Police Chief Damon Gant just silently stares at you for about a good 30 seconds before finally speaking... all the while wearing a jolly smile on his face. His name is a swap away from Demon Gent for a reason. Fittingly, that silent stare gets longer and longer the deeper you dig into the case and come into odds with him.
    Emma: Hey! The temperature rose 5.7 degrees when this man came in!
  • Athena's occurs during the animated opening cutscene for Dual Destinies: she gets pumped up for the trial then trips and tumbles down a flight of stairs.
  • Professor Aristotle Means of Dual Destinies introduces himself with a terrifying grin that unnerves Athena before going on to espouse his "ends justifies the means" philosophy with regards to battles in court, securing victory at any cost. This lets you know that this guy is not nearly as wholesome as he appears even before anything goes wrong, as per usual.
  • Rayfa's first trial appearance in Spirit of Justice. She starts out acting cocky about her "infallible" insights, but when Phoenix exposes their contradictions she throws a tantrum, hurls a string of childish insults and runs out of the courtroom. This reminds us that, despite being the princess of a kingdom and a key figure in their religion, Rayfa is still 14-years-old.
  • In the DLC case of Spirit of Justice, Sorin gets his moment at the start of the first trial, in which his fiancee Ellen is accused of murdering a butler on her wedding day. He shows up for her trial to ask her about where his blueprints are, and she tells him exactly where they are. While Phoenix, Maya and even Ellen, to some degree, are shocked by his apparent indifference to his wife's plight, the usually unemotional Sorin asks Ellen to come home, since he's lost without her, proving that he does care. Even more subtly, the fact that his wife is familiar with his blueprints' location shows how much he trusts her, as well as foreshadowing Sorin's anterograde amnesia.
• Being A ΔΙΚ has several characters introduced in scenes which establish their personality:
  • Dawe, before he is even properly introduced, shows his basic personality when he, seeing the MC and Neil give each other a hug before the former's first day at B&R, calls them "gay". His first named scene has him wedgieing the MC.
  • Derek is introduced casually walking up to the MC while eyeing a departing Sage, putting his feet up on the table, being notably shirtless, and immediately giving the MC a nickname (which he proceeds to use for the entire game), before introducing himself as a "lover and a gentleman" and then immediately making a crass comment on the ample bosom of a teacher at a nearby table.
  • Jill is introduced rushing to the aid of the MC, at this point a complete stranger to her and over the complaints of her friend, after he has been wedgied by Dawe, and then giggling when he uses saliva to clean off some dirt on his face, clearly establishing her to be fairly upper-class and a Spoiled Sweet Nice Girl.
  • Isabella is established fairly concretely as the formidable "Ice Queen" of the library, responding with curt answers to the MC's questions and attempted small talk (she may even chase a DIK MC out of the library if he makes a joke).
  • Tommy is introduced as the DIKs' resident Jerkass in his introductory scene, where he beats Jacob in a drinking competition and then tells the MC to steal a pair of panties from the HOT house (even though Rusty is open to him staying), before immediately calling Quinn to get her to ambush him. Even after the MC returns to the DIK mansion with the panties and begs for a place to stay the night, Tommy, over Rusty's objections, refuses to grant him a place to stay, leaving him outside naked.
• While most characters in the Danganronpa franchise have enough Hidden Depths to put the lie to initial expectations of them, there are some times when first impressions prove accurate:
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Makoto Naegi tries to break up a fight between two other students, and gets punched in the face, establishing that he's a Nice Guy who goes to great lengths for people he barely knows.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair:
    • Hiyoko Saionji, a cute-looking girl who looks young for her age, is first shown squishing ants with her fingers, simply because she enjoys the sound it makes.
    • Gundham Tanaka boasts about his animal breeding exploits as if he were a mythical demon lord or evil sorcerer.
    • Fuyuhiko's pre-Character Development personality is summed up when, after curtly introducing himself and insisting he has no desire to get friendly with everyone, he rudely tells Hajime and Nagito to "fuck off."
• In Daughter for Dessert, Mortelli’s first entrance into the diner. He’s a friend and regular customer of the protagonist's, and a skilled and dedicated police officer, and he can be more than a little pervy toward women.
• There are a few of these in Double Homework:
  • The encounter with Henry at the carnival. Henry is friendly and nonthreatening, but also clueless with gaps in his knowledge, and some of the things he does know are wrong.
  • The hallway scene where Dennis approaches the protagonist and offers to split the dating rights with the girls in their class. It pegs Dennis as slimy, sneaky, perverted, and more confident than he should be.
  • The scene where the protagonist runs into Amy in public. She values both her streaming channel and her personal liberty, but nervous about face-to-face interactions.
• Fate/stay night:
  • During the Fate route, the most deadly Servant Gilgamesh turns up, kills Caster and shows clearly that he is even worse. And then he leaves because he thinks that Shirou's house is too low class a place for him to fight. Oh, and he refers to Saber as his property near constantly.
  • Even before his status as a villain was officially cemented in the plot, it's obvious that Kotomine Kirei is up to no good. One of the things that contributes to this is his introduction, where he unnerves Shirou by pointing out the Holy Grail War is going to be a bloody battle, and that not even he may be able to keep his hands clean of it if he participates. And when Shirou does resolve to participate in the Holy Grail War, he gleefully tells him to rejoice as now his wish to be a hero will finally come true since now there exists an evil for him to fight and rescue people from, further unnerving Shirou.
  • Shinji Matou establishes himself as an entitled little asshole in his first interaction with Rin in the prologue. He calls himself the captain of the archery club (a title that belongs to Ayako Mitsuzuri) instead of vice-captain as he really is, arrogantly assumes that Rin is attracted to him by virtue of watching the archery club practice, gets a little too close to Rin for her comfort as he's telling her this, and then gets indignant when Rin sets him straight and turns him down, which more than foreshadows his rapey streak in Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel.
• Heart of the Woods
  • The first scene is one for Madison and Tara. Madison's initial Internal Monologue reveals that she's rather skeptical about being invited to investigate supernatural phenomena in Eysenfeld, showing that her passion for managing her best friend's Vlog Series Taranormal has waned. She ends up annoying Tara by waking her up, and Tara passive-aggressively reminds Madison of her decision to quit the show, showing that things are tense between the two friends. However, once they calm down, they engage in some playful banter, showing how they interact when they get along.
  • An unused prologue scene further establishes both characters by showing Tara recording an episode of Taranormal. During that scene, Tara shows her enthusiasm about the show, and brings up some of her misadventures, then demonstrates her sometimes scatterbrained nature by revealing that she wasn't planning on packing until the day before the trip, praising Madison as the best manager ever. This scene also shows that it isn't always easy for Madison to deal with Tara, but also that Madison does consider Tara a friend and is reluctant to tell Tara about her decision.
  • Evelyn Fischer, mayor of Eysenfeld and Morgan's mother, waits for Morgan, Madison and Tara at the cabin, demands to know which one is Tara, and intimidatingly promises to speak with them later.
• Highway Blossoms
  • The protagonist Amber's first internal monologue has her thinking about her grandfather's passing, the debts she accrued and other such things. She then willingly helps Marina, someone she's just met, despite being rather annoyed with Marina.
  • Marina unhesitatingly waves over Amber, a stranger, to help her with her car, having found herself in trouble due to running out of gas and not charging her cell phone. This shows that she's a friendly and somewhat naive individual who doesn't always think things through.
  • Marina gets another moment in the Next Exit DLC, if you choose to view the story from her perspective at the first prompt. In her first Internal Monologue, Marina bitterly complains about Amber treating her like a kid, but isn't willing to talk about it because she's afraid of how Amber might react, up to and including leaving her behind. This effectively underscores how Marina's issues with her relationship become relevant in the DLC, and that she's a more complex character than she first seems.
  • Mariah is first shown ordering Joe around on the phone in a rather abrasive manner, and it later turns out that she was telling him to dismantle Marina's car.
• In Katawa Shoujo:
  • In Kenji's second scene, he accuses Hisao of being a "psychic spy", and claims that Yamaku's predominantly female student body is evidence of a feminist conspiracy plotting to take over the world.
  • Lilly is introduced sitting in a disused classroom, having tea, and politely greeting Hisao.
  • Hanako's first time interacting with Hisao in the library has her incredibly nervous at merely having his attention, eventually getting up and running away while saying "Ivegottogodosomething!"
  • Emi runs into Hisao in the hall, late for an errand because she went running, then defuses any anger he might have felt with puppy dog eyes.
  • Rin is introduced sitting on a table in the art club, eating with a fork held in her foot. Her conversation with Hisao, with topics ranging from asking what to call a meal between lunch and dinner to suggesting that his disorder is "in (his) pants".
  • Hideaki's moment in Lilly's route is when he guesses that something is wrong with Hisao's heart just by looking at him (and reasoning that there are no external deformities and he would not be attending Yamaku with a mental disorder), showcasing his intelligence and bluntness. In his introduction to Shizune's route, his competitive streak, which is more prevalent in that route, is showcased when he argues with Hisao over how much either is like Shizune.
  • In Jigoro's first scene, after introductions, he starts insulting the Yamaku student council for being lazy compared to the student councils of his childhood, and reacts to Hisao's politely asking what he does for a living by asking "Are you some kinda tax man, boy?". Things go downhill from there.
• Melody:
  • Amy has the scene in which she buys the guitar for Melody from the protagonist. It sets her up as devoted to the people whom she cares about, especially Melody. Plus, she’s a work-oriented woman who’s in town on business.
  • Becca’s breakfast with the protagonist. She’s lacking in confidence but craving some social interaction, and more competent than she thinks.
  • Sophia’s video chat with Melody. She likes to have fun, and she encourages the same behavior in other people. And even though she ribs others, she doesn’t make cruel jokes at their expense.
• Missing Stars:
  • Erik notes that Class Representative Ela is very clean-cut and pristine looking.
  • Irene abruptly falls out of a tree, disrupting a tender moment between Erik and Ela. She promptly begins to act like nothing weird happened. In that same scene, Irene's shown to be interested in spying on others.
  • Erik notices Annaliese sitting by the window and listening to music on her headphones. When he talks to her, she quietly panics and even after she calms down they don't exchange a word. Annaliese runs out of class ten minutes early without Erik even learning her name.
  • Erik meets Katja in the hallway by a vending machine. He notices her humming a tune and notes that it sounds good.
  • Fran laughs at Erik's second failed attempt to befriend Annaliese. They then ask Erik if he wanted to have sex with Annaliese.
  • Natalya seems like a cool, mature Ojou... Until she makes a really bad pun.
  • Lena first appears lying down in a classroom lazily. Even when she does talk, she doesn't really care much about what she's doing and is frank with her wording.
• Chiaki in Our Two Bedroom Story is first seen receiving a gift of homemade cookies from a female colleague, which he accepts happily... and then dumps in the trash as soon as he thinks no one is looking.
• Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair:
  • Runa politely greets Raiko and Nobara, while chiding her own friend Rie.
  • Mika's first scene has her try to scare Raiko, only to fail, establishing her as a prankster.
  • Kamen's first scene involves her gushing over how "sexy" her best friend Momoko's costume looks, warning Momoko's boyfriend Hiro not to break Momoko's heart, and then making snide comments about Raiko, summing up her three most important relationships.
  • Kotoba is first introduced hitting on the girls, resulting in Kamen whacking him on the jaw.
• In Tsukihime, Nero/Nrvnqsr Chaos's first scene is meeting Shiki late at night while dogs howl and it's made very clear that Shiki is about four seconds from death. The next time we see him, he's just eaten every single person inside a hotel before attacking Shiki and Arcueid. The manga skips the first scene and shows Chaos' entrance into the motel, where he brutally murders everyone including a pair of cowering children. Apart from Makihasa Tohno (who's already dead) he's the easily the least sympathetic character introduced in the entire game because everyone else is a gigantic woobie. Even Especially the next baddie, SHIKI.
• Willard H. Wright's first appearance in EP7 of Umineko: When They Cry consists of him busting into a sham trial of a falsely accused maid and using Van Dine's rules to save her.
• Zero Escape:
  • The cast of Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors are designed to emulate certain stereotypes, so that the player will be surprised when they show their Hidden Depths. Their appearances are actually quite different from their true personalities, as first displayed when...
    • ...Lotus does the Cold Equation and asks everyone to choose who they're going to sacrifice, as the Deadly Game's rules dictate that at least one person will have to be left behind. We know from this scene that Lotus is intelligent and coldly pragmatic.
    • ...Seven recounts a memory from his past as a P.I, when he tracked down a group of kidnapped children and unsuccessfully tried to save them. This shows us that Seven is smarter and more heroic than he looks, as well as giving us vital information on the plot's backstory.
    • ...June enters the incinerator room for the first time. Why she's there and what she does in it is vital for understanding her character.
  • The cast of Zero Time Dilemma wake up in adjoining prison cells. From there:
    • Eric paranoically assumes that Q, a child, is somehow responsible for their confinement and moves to strangle him.
    • Mira coldly suggests that Q is a "mistake" born from somebody's one-night-stand.
    • Diana asks everyone to focus on escaping.
    • Junpei watches calmly, contributing only a few sardonic remarks, as if he's accustomed to such situations. Which he is.
  • In ZTD's DLC booklet, Akane's character is revealed when she calmly asserts authority over Sigma and Phi, despite their doubt of her capability, and reminds Sigma that he can't let his emotions relating to the approaching apocalypse interfere with their mission. Her conversation with Junpei in the following scene establishes the other side of her personality.

---