Hes Back / Anime & Manga

• Berserk has a happy variant of this. After the horrors she suffered through in The Eclipse and spending the last three years in-series as The Ophelia, Chapter 355 shows the return of Casca.
• Bleach:
  • Ichigo spends the entire Arrancar Arc struggling with his fear of his inner Hollow, falling into despair after he obliterates Ulquiorra and almost kills Uryuu. Gin tells him to run away as he's no longer in any state to fight Aizen. However, Isshin encourages Ichigo to train one last time, which allows Ichigo to confront and reconcile with his inner spirits. Upon returning to the battlefield, Gin acknowledges Ichigo has regained his fighting resolve, and Ichigo then proves it by curb-stomping Aizen.
  • During the Lost Agent Arc, Ichigo's friends and family are brainwashed against him, and the one ally remaining to him turns on him, stabs him and steals his power. Ichigo is left on his knees, powerless and sobbing. The Shinigami turn up to restore his Shinigami power in the same fashion as Chapter 1. His resolve returns in full force and he thrashes the Arc Villain.
  • In the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, Ichigo is utterly defeated by Yhwach and then has his bankai destroyed by Haschwalth. After reforging his zanpakuto in the Soul King Palace and training with the Royal Guard, Ichigo returns to Soul Society, bypassing the safer but slower stairway by simply jumping off and falling like a meteor. When he arrives, Ichigo absolutely manhandles multiple Sternritter, at first with only his bare hands and still not even bothering to use bankai when they all activate Volstandig.
• During Blood+, David begins drowning his sorrows after a major tragedy, but recovers and reverts to his old Badass Normal self when Saya returns.
• In Light novel Volume 8/Episode 7 of the second season of A Certain Magical Index Accelerator gets one of these. After being shot in the head and hospitalized, ending up with severe brain damage in Volume 5, he comes back to mop the floor with Awaki Musujime, showing that he's still the strongest in Academy City. You can see the scene here.
  Accelerator "But you see, just because I'm weaker, doesn't mean that you're stronger, does it?!"
• After Lelouch lost a critical battle and was rejected by his sister Nunnally early in the second season of Code Geass, he abandoned his troops and fell into a deep depression, even resorting to drug use. Later, when the Black Knights' submarine has been surrounded by Britannian Navy vessels and they have all but given up hope, Lelouch shows up with a handheld radio and some marine charts and singlehandedly leads them to victory against the entire Britannian fleet. Oh yeah, he's back.
  • Earlier, when he gets his memories back at the beginning of R2, you watch as his Geass comes back into his eye and he repeats the first scene where he got it. He even makes a gloating, over-the-top speech.
• In Season 2 of Darker than Black, Hei is introduced in bad shape, drinking heavily, and acting like a jerkass. He starts to mellow a bit from roughly Episode 3 onward, but what seems to mark him as being "back" is regaining his Big Eater habits in Episode 8 which he had abandoned during his funk, and sticking to his promise to stop drinking.
  • And immediately after that he actually gets around to shaving, cuts his hair, and digs out an Iconic Item stash to replace the stuff he lost. He's definitely back now.
• Villainous example in Death Note. Following a Memory Gambit that ranks as one of the best in the history of the universe Light let's the audience know he's back on form.
• An excellent example of this comes from Dragon Ball Z, when Goku comes back after his first death. First Nimbus scoops Gohan up right out of the blue. Then everyone turns around to see Goku looking all badass as he's standing a few feet away.
  • Cell has a villainous example when he's back as Super Perfect Cell after having been blown to bits by his own Taking You with Me technique; Once he's done regenerating, a wind kicks up out of nowhere, blowing sand up and obscuring vision, then lightning starts circling around said obscuring sand, and finally a pointed index finger extends from the sandstorm, firing a ki-attack which nearly One Hit Kills one of the heroes. The kicker is Cell's nonchalant quote afterwards.
  *evil chuckle* "My aim is as good as ever!" *smug laughter* "It's so good to be back!"
  • Frieza gets a double-dose of this: first, after his defeat on Namek, he comes to Earth as a cyborg to dole out some vengeance...before being dispatched by Trunks; then a second time in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', where he's wished back with the Dragon Balls, more dangerous than ever. He triple-dips in Dragon Ball Super when Whis restores his life as Beerus' thanks for his actions in the Tournament of Power, instead opting to go and rebuild his empire instead of trying to squash Goku again.
• Renton Thurston in Eureka Seven. After his Freak Out in Episode 20, which resulted in his Heroic BSoD and Renton thinking Eureka and most of the crew hated him, leaves the Gekkostate in Episode 21. This moment comes around Episode 26.
• In Episode 84 of Fairy Tail, a heart-to-heart talk with Happy's parents allows Happy and Charle to regain their confidence and their ability to fly.
• A villainous version by Envy in Fullmetal Alchemist. After he's reduced to his true powerless form, May brings him to the underground of Amestris, where they encounter Mannequin Soldiers, mindless humanoid creatures powered by human souls. Envy slips out of his jar and right into the mouth of one of them, who proceeds to swallow him whole. Envy then takes over the creature (while yelling "I'M BACK!"), has it start devouring and assimilating the others, until he has enough energy to morph into his One-Winged Angel form, which then transforms into his default human form. At this point, he lets out a maniacal Evil Laugh and screams "I'M ALIVE AGAIN!!"
  • Lan Fan's epic return, complete with a new, bladed Automail arm, which she uses in her best impression of a human Cuisinart on Gluttony.
  • Performed by Roy Mustang in The Conqueror of Shamballa. After spending the entire movie moping up in the north, he returns to Central just in time to save the city and his men from the Thule Society's soldiers.
• Shishioh Gai in GaoGaiGar FINAL. After being forced to fight and destroy (clones of, though nobody knew at the time) Mamoru and Galeon, being left to fight alone thanks to the rest of GGG being taken out of commission via chemical warfare, finding Cain (the creator of Galeon and the G-Stones) in league with the enemy, losing to Palparepa, Gaofighgar's destruction, and being forcibly mind-controlled by the Sol Masters to fight his own allies in a replicant Gaofighgar, he had a pretty reasonable Heroic B So D. Good thing he snapped out of it just in time to become the one force capable of stopping them: The God of Destruction, Genesic GaoGaiGar!
  • The Gutsy Geoid Guard get one in Episode 34, snapping back from their apparent annihilation by Pasder and the first three Primevals and showing up just in the nick of time to curbstomp ZX-04.
• Eiji Date from Hajime no Ippo spent years outside the ring after horribly losing to the World Champion, suffering several injuries and seeing his Delicate and Sickly wife suffer a Convenient Miscarriage. After his spouse tells him to try it again one last time, he returns to the boxing rings most amazingly.
• Mel leaving Meltic Star before the events of Kiratto Pri☆Chan caused Anna to stop doing concerts and even go as far as removing any trace of them from the channel. In Episode 9, after gaining motivation to "challenge herself" thanks to Sara's guest appearance in Miracle Kiratts' newest stream, she announces her return to the concert world, which caused the stream she announced it in to be bombed with likes instantly as the fans were screaming out that "Anna is back"! And to top it off, her re-debut song was none other than Play Sound, a duet with Sara that is a complete BANGER.
• In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, Vivio suffers from Redemption Demotion, due to her inner injuries she received during her fight against her Nanoha-mama in StrikerS, thus making her a Handicapped Badass. Her Adult Mode is notably weaker than her Sankt Kaiser Mode, as it lacks the Anti-Magic Field and strength. The result is that Vivio loses to opponents she wouldn't lose normally. However, after training with Nanoha for her second rematch with Einhard, Vivio retains her Sankt Kaiser Mode and curb-stomps Einhard.
  • Way back in the first season, there was Fate recovering from her Heroic BSoD. Complete with a Theme Music Powerup being sung by her voice actress.
• After getting sidelined in the second episode of Mazinkaiser, Tetsuya Tsurugi and the Great Mazinger return in style for the finale, rescuing the members of the Photon Power Plant from a massive Mechanical Monster with a Double Thunder Break.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Kira Yamato has one of these, gaining a kickass new Humongous Mecha and dropping his Wangst for good.
• Tenma in Monster; the series is long enough to provide several instances, but the most moving instance happens at the very end, when, after a long battle of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, he decides to stick to his original principles and save the life of the man who had put him through living hell.
• In My Hero Academia, during the Paranormal Liberation War arc, two of them occur, one right after the other:
  • In Chapter 291, before Dabi can attack Endeavour and Shoto Todoroki, Best Jeanist tangles up both Dabi and Gigantomachia, revealing he had survived his supposed death at Hawks' hands.
  • In Chapter 292, a group of Nobu race in to rescue Gigantomachia, only for Lemillion to phase up from the ground and slug them all down while shouting out his signature "POWERRRRRRR!" battlecry, signalling his restoration of his Quirk.
  • Another instance of this trope occurs in Chapter 403. All hope seems lost as All for One is poised to finally kill his longtime archnemesis All Might after denying everyone else in the area the chance to stop him. Suddenly, a new challenger literally explodes onto the scene— none other than Katsuki Bakugo, who was last seen around 40 chapters ago when his heart burst during his battle with TomurAFO. Thanks to Edgeshot's efforts, he's now fully revived and ready to rejoin the fight.
• After getting beaten to a pulp during his encounter with his brother and having to be bailed out on multiple occasions by his scrappy formerly-underachieving rival, Sasuke is able to regain his badassery after the timeskip of Naruto. Unfortunately, it involves him betraying his friends, defecting from his village, and joining up with the Big Bad, Orochimaru.
  • Actually, this is an inversion, as while Sasuke may figuratively 'come back', he literally LEAVES the team to do so, and the first scene of him afterwards was not him coming back to his team, but his team finding him; so it's less like this trope, and more like 'We found him'.
  • Rock Lee in Naruto, after spending an annoying amount of time in the hospital while supporting characters tell him he will never fight again, undergoes dangerous experimental surgery. Pretty much immediately upon recovery he rushes out to save Naruto from Kimimaro, The Dragon of Orochimaru's Sound Five. He does better than the main character, and for a time is able to hold him off and even take the upper hand.
  • The Ninja World War arc has seen tons and tons of these, with plenty of dead characters brought back suddenly as zombies (both characters that had been seen previously and even a few who were only known by reputation). Cue mass Oh, Crap! reactions when these zombie-ninjas arrive on the various battlefields.
  • In Chapter 665, Obito Uchiha betrays Madara, referring to himself by his true name, and adding that he's the man who wanted to be Hokage, not Madara.
• Negi in Negima! Magister Negi Magi. During the Eva story arc he runs away, convinced Asuna and the other girls are in danger because of his presence. Meeting up with Kaede changes his mind.
  • Negi plays with this trope a lot, three times in the festival arc getting freed from the prison, and waking up during the final battle, and after Yue's Bright Slap (although this one is told out of order so it's hard to tell he was lost before the He's Back! moment) and many times during the Magical World arc after getting stabbed though the chest by Fate, during the fight with Rakan, and mastering Magia Erebea.
• Shinji of Neon Genesis Evangelion has at least three such moments. Asuka also has a major one in End of Evangelion. (And if you expect them to subvert the trope, you're right — she's back, but it still isn't enough; rather than actually win, Asuka merely goes down fighting impossible odds.)
• One Piece:
  • Luffy undergoes a 10-Minute Retirement after Ace dies. Jinbe knocks him out of it relatively quickly, and he's back on his feet in no time.
  • Robin gets one earlier at the end of the Enies Lobby arc when she snaps Spandam's spine in two like a twig after spending 40+ chapters at his mercy.
  • The anime's 15th opening, "We Go!" is essentially "He's Back: The Song".
  • Heck, the entire "Return to Sabaody" arc might as well be titled "He's Back: The Story Arc", "He" being the entire Straw Hat crew.
• Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire: Ash's Grovyle's evolution into Sceptile coincides with a Heroic BSoD after being rejected by his love interest, losing his ability to use his attacks. After seeing Ash put himself in mortal peril just to save Sceptile two episodes later, Sceptile regains all his attacks, and uses them to save Ash.
• Crops up every now and then in Pretty Cure.
  • In Heart Catch Pretty Cure Yuri suffers from a massive Heroic BSoD due to her partner dying, losing her fight against Cure Dark and losing her powers. She easily rebuffs Tsubomi and Erika's attempts to get her to help them and rejects Potpourri's request to be the third Precure. It isn't until the Great Heart Tree allows her to reunite with her partner's spirit and she asks the tree to restore her powers that she comes back and aids the rest of the Precures in style.
  • In Smile Pretty Cure!, Aoki Reika is stressed out in Episode 43 from trying to balance her duties as Cure Beauty with her desire to study overseas, which leads to Joker delivering a Breaking Speech that leads to her suffering a Psychosomatic Superpower Outage. However, when her friends are in danger, she gains the resolve to put her duties before her desires, as while that might be a long and meandering path, it is one that is true to who she is.
  • Go! Princess Pretty Cure has a particularly epic moment. After being sent into a Heroic BSoD in Episode 38 so serious that all of Yumegahama was capable of being plunged into despair and Haruka couldn't even transform, Haruno Haruka managed to pull off a comeback in Episode 39, singlehandedly turning the tide of a losing battle.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin recovers from his Heroic BSoD when Tsubame pleads with him to save Yahiko. He races off to do that while an old man (later revealed to be his father-in-law) mentions that a cry for help, not for vengeance, is what spurs him on. He finally arrives and performs the Kuzu-Ryusen to save Yahiko. The good guys arrive, and all see that Kenshin has made his dramatic entrance, with the last bit of dialogue emphasizing who came back:
  Saitou: Battousai.
  Aoshi: No.
  Yahiko: Kenshin.
• Simoun: Neviril, after mourning Amuria's death for approximately six million episodes.
• In Soul Eater, Black Star is having trouble coping with his recent losses and not being able to master Shadow Star and the Uncanny Sword mode, so he and Tsubaki decide to take a leave from school for a bit. Chapters later, during the DWMA's attack on Arachnaphobia at Baba Yaga's Castle, Black Star and Tsubaki arrive on the scene and are told to wait for their cue to head into the battlefield. Instead of waiting, Black Star chooses to enter in a fashion more suited to his style: tearing through the woods at extreme speeds while yelling at the top of his voice, ready to destroy anything in his way.
• Steins;Gate: "I'll say it once more. I am the mad scientist Hououin Kyouma... and the world is in the palm of my hand!"
• In Sword Art Online, in the climax of the War of the Underworld Arc, we get a spectacular one of these, courtesy of Kirito. After spending most of the arc in an Angst Coma due to Eugeo's death, he finally wakes up, and proceeds to freeze 30,000 Korean and Chinese players solid, then turn PoH into a tree and defeat Gabriel, essentially saving everyone in Underworld.
• A perfect example of this would be Simon in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who completely breaks down following Kamina's death only to snap out of it several episodes later in a manner that is completely and utterly awesome.
• Vash from Trigun at least twice he hangs it up, only to come back with basically "I don't have time for this Emo idiocy! I have to save the world!
• Trinity Blood: Abel's self-esteem drops dramatically after he fails to save a colleague (who had just revealed that she was in love with him) from being crushed by rocks in a cathedral collapsed by the bad guys. It gets so bad he completely slides into apathy, convinced that he isn't capable of saving anyone, up to the point when he attempts to quit AX. He shakes it off sharply when he learns that Caterina is now in danger and rushes off to save her.
  • It's even better in the novels. After failing to save Noelle, Abel disappears for a while, only to reappear in Rome trying to stop the bad guy on his own. After basically quitting AX and rejecting two of his friends, he's confronted by Caterina. The two share a rather touching scene together, during which Caterina reminds him that, when they first met, he said he wanted to save humanity, and that in that struggle, he's not alone (meaning, among others, her). Abel gets his He's Back scene immediately after that.
• Judai's return to Duel Academia in Season 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX after recovering from the side-effects of a failed mind control spell.
• After sitting most of the season out on the sidelines, and with both his company and younger brother in peril, Kaiba got an epic one during the Duelist Kingdom arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!, complete with musical accompaniment.

  Listen up, 'cause now I'm back!