Shooting stars are so magical, aren't they?
Despite not actually being stars
, a lot of people around the world see them as something with magical powers to make a wish on and they even have some religious ties in faiths like Christianity and Islam.
As such, it's no surprise that they've seeped into so much of our pop culture and fictional media, as well!
Most of the time, they're there for something literally magical, like for making wishes or as some kind of omen. However, there are occasions in which a shooting star is there purely for the aesthetic to make something more emotional.
Maybe two characters are sharing their First Kiss on a moonlit evening and a shooting star goes by to make it that much more romantic. Maybe a father and a son have reconciled and embrace each other under the stars as one goes by. Maybe a character is appreciating the beauty of the night sky and gets excited when they see one.
Whatever the reason, shooting stars make an already emotional scene so much better.
Not to be confused with Wish Upon a Shooting Star, which is more about the wishing side of things than the actual aesthetic though they can overlap. Also a sister-trope of Stargazing Scene and a Sub-Trope of Garnishing the Story.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Future Robot Daltanious: When Kaori bemoans that she'll never see her missing brother again, Tanosuke tells her to have hope. Just then, a shooting star passes, and Kaori takes this as a sign he's right. The next day, the two travel to it's location. It turns out the "shooting star" is actually a Zaal Bemborg sent by General Mizuka.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stone Ocean: While on his way to Cape Canaveral, Pucci comes across three men being brought to a hospital, and after seeing three shooting stars pass by at the same time, it signifies to him that they are the sons of DIO.
- Steel Ball Run: Upon being attacked by Diego in his Scary Monsters form, Johnny and Gyro are holding him behind a door until Gyro sees a falling star towards the direction of a hill where he spots the formation of the Big Dipper, showing the location of a Corpse Part.
- School Rumble: One episode concludes with all of the main characters looking up at the night sky from various spots around the city as the sky is filled with hundreds of shooting stars and the song "I'll be There for You" plays in the background. Eri is shown drinking a glass of champagne to the sight, Yakumo staring up in wonder, Harima holding out a fishing pole with the wish to be smarter held at the end of it, and Tenma sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the spectacle.
- Squid Girl: In Episode 5, a miniature Squid Girl meets and is befriended by Eiko, who takes her in as a pet. The two are shown in a montage doing everything together. The scene concludes with an aged Eiko lying in a hospital bed, expiring from old age as the narrator says that mini-Squid Girl has a life span of 150 years, considerably longer than the average human. Cue mini-Squid Girl crying out in grief and anguish as a shooting star streaks by in the night sky overhead. This is the point where it was revealed to be a dream had by Squid Girl's obsessive stalker Sanae, who was upset that she wasn't the one to grow old with Squid Girl in the dream. Eiko wonders how this is her fault.
Films — Animated
- Disney Animated Canon:
- After the climax of Bambi II, when it's revealed to his father and to his friends that Bambi survived Man's dogs as well as falling off a small cliff, he and the Great Prince properly reconcile and nuzzle each other. And as the storm clouds fade in the background, a shooting star goes past.
- The Lion King (1994): Various shooting stars fly by in the night sky as Simba makes the fateful decision to return to the Pride Lands and face his uncle Scar.
- In The Lion King 1 ½, after a fairly cheesy yet still touching scene in which Timon and Pumbaa finally become best friends instead of just acquaintances like they were at first, the night sky is briefly shown and a shooting star goes by.
- In Hercules during "I Can Go the Distance", Hercules is admiring the night sky and a shooting star goes past as he's singing about his desire to be accepted. And later on, during a romantic scene between Hercules and Meg, a shooting star goes by to make the scene more romantic.
- Frozen (2013): When Anna and Hans escape to the roof together during the song "Love is an Open Door," a shooting star passes by.
- Home (2015): While Tip is alone over the ocean, and quietly watches a video of her and her Missing Mom, a shooting star flies by her, which she silently witnesses.
- In Madagascar, this trope overlaps with Wish Upon a Shooting Star when the gang is admiring the night sky and a shooting star goes past, prompting Marty to get excited and tell Alex to make a wish.
Films — Live-Action
- Back to the Future Part III: When Doc and Clara share a kiss, a shooting star whizzes by.
- The Muppet Christmas Carol: At the end of the song "One More Sleep 'Til Christmas", Bob Cratchit looks up at the night sky over London as a star shoots past.
- The Muppet Movie: When the gang gets stranded in the desert on the way to Hollywood, Kermit blames himself for bringing them out into the middle of nowhere. His inner self literally appears to talk things out with him. At the end of their conversation, when Kermit realizes he still believes in his dream of becoming a star and making millions of people happy, a shooting star flashes across the sky.
- Muppet Treasure Island: A shooting star is seen as Captain Smollett (Kermit) is looking out at sea while thinking about his Old Flame, Benjamina Gunn (Miss Piggy).
- In the Shah Rukh Khan film Zero, SRK's character somehow has the uncanny ability to countdown from 0 and allow shooting stars to appear. When talking to his love interest to demonstrate his powers, a shooting star storm falls down to represent his feelings for her, with the second one even being seen by astronomists in NASA who are bewildered at the appearance. Notably, his abilities are associated with his mental state — the one time he tries to show off at a celebrity party, the shooting stars don't fall no matter how many times he counts down.
Literature
- An incredibly dark example in Blood Meridian depending on how one views the ending. The Kid is said at the beginning to have been born during the Leonid meteor shower of 1833, and decades later, as he approaches the outhouses from a saloon, he sees another meteor shower above him. If you interpret Judge Holden ambushing him in one of the jakes as him killing and possibly doing other things to him, then the shooting stars could be seen as an omen that the Kid, having been brought into this world with a meteor shower, would be taken out with one as well.
Video Games
- Monkey Island examples:
- After Guybrush buys the Sea Monkey in The Secret of Monkey Island, he and Stan (who sold it to him) stand on the dock and bask in its glory. Then a shooting star zips by. This apparently makes Stan change his mind about selling the ship...until the mast falls off.
- In Monster Rancher 2 a cutscene with a shooting star always plays before your monster dies.
- Amaterasu of Ōkami fame can create shooting stars with a flick of her Celestial Brush in the night sky — an ability only relevant during exactly one instance, but it's pretty either way.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Near the end of the opening cutscene to World of Light, a shooting star flies across the ruins of the world Galeem laid waste to. The shooting star is revealed to be Kirby on a Warp Star, revealing him to be the Sole Survivor of Galeem's wrath.
Western Animation
- Gravity Falls: During "The Deep End", Mabel attempts a First Kiss with Mermando and you can see a shooting star go by.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Applejack's parents have been heavily implied to be dead numerous times in the series. One such implication is seen in "Apple Family Reunion", in which Applejack wishes they could come to the eponymous reunion, and then two shooting stars go by.
- In The Owl House episode "Witches Before Wizards", Eda Clawthorne helps cheer Luz Noceda up after she falls victim to a scammer by taking her to see the entirety of the Boiling Isles at sunset, making a point that while the world may seem cruel and ugly up close, there's beauty to be found if you look at it from a different perspective. A single shooting star can then be seen streaking across the sky as if to punctuate her point.
