Revealing something about somebody through their personal effects, often posthumously, in Anime and Manga.
- In Bakuman。, Moritaka Mashiro, looking through his uncle Nobuhiro's office, finds an old yearbook and realizes that the woman Nobuhiro was in love with is the mother of Miho Azuki, whom Moritaka loves.
- In Bleach, Sosuke Aizen, after apparently being killed, leaves a letter behind for his lieutenant Momo Hinamori, which Rangiku says is a great honor for a lieutenant. He's actually trying to manipulate her into getting killed by Hitsugaya, since (he claims) he can't bring himself to kill her himself.
- In [C] – Control, Kimimaro was looking through his father's things and found a book. This book revealed that his father had been an Entre and has a picture of his mother holding him as a baby. It showed that his father did care for him.
- In Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally, after defeating Rolo, Alice finds his locket, showing Lelouch, Nunnally, and Marianne; he's an Artificial Human conditioned to think that he's Lelouch's long-lost twin brother.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), two Ishvalan boys have one of their mother's effects in their possession for a while before realizing what it is. The revelation that eye medicine is inside her locket gives her running into their room when soldiers came an entirely new meaning; she was unable to see them and was trying to confirm that they were safe when she was killed.
- Gundam:
- Although there's no reveal, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED gets great effect from having Natarle order Sai to pack up the personal effects of Kira and Tolle after they are declared MIA following a mid-series Wham Episode.
- Also, in Destiny, Lacus has an experience similar to this trope with the photo of the pre-plastic surgery Meer, after the latter dies. It really doesn't help that Meer herself was carrying the photo with her and gave it to Lacus when she lay dying in her arms. Later, she and the others find an electronic journal that Meer was also carrying, and which depicted what Meer thought and felt as she went through the process to "become Lacus".
- Gunslinger Girl. When Angelica dies, her fellow First Generation cyborgs pack up her personal belongings, but rather than feeling sad they reflect how little this affects them due to the Emotion Suppression from their conditioning.
- Kagerou Project: After her mother Shion's demise, Mary reads the small blue book she always wrote in, discovering that she only kept Mary inside because she was afraid that going outside would result in Mary getting hurt, and she loved her too much to bear thinking about it (while it is implied Mary believed it was because her mother resented her). Of course, considering that Shion only died because Mary ignored her warnings and went out when she wasn't looking, this makes Mary break down.
- In My-Otome, after Erstin dies when Nina destroys her Slave while trying to attack Arika, Miss Maria finds a letter in her possessions addressed to Arika and Nina, and gives it to Nina. The letter reveals that while she was a Schwarz agent at the school and her mother warned her not to get close to anyone, she found herself becoming close to her friends. She then says that despite this, she couldn't go against them in the end, but believes that Arika and Nina are stronger than she is. Nina, disagreeing with this, breaks down in tears.
- It's not death (she's just been fired) but a very important scene in RahXephon is when Megumi Shitow is sent to pick up her older sister Haruka's old stuff from her office and finds a certain picture there...
- Rurouni Kenshin: After the death of his first wife Tomoe, a depressed Kenshin reads through her diary and comes across an entry that explained the death of her fiance, Akira. Seeing that name reminds Kenshin of the man he had slain months earlier as Tomoe's first love - and that Kenshin himself was the man who had killed her first shot at happiness, which makes him all the more depressed.
- In Valvrave the Liberator, when the surviving members of the Karlstein team get H-neun's earrings.
