Single-Stroke Battle

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Shwing! And the gibs paint a lovely picture in the moonlight.

"Now, Superstar Funana, we will retreat to opposite ends of the arena. We will run at each other. We will pass the other in mid-air. And fifteen seconds later, you will burst into blood." —Rick, Shortpacked

Two enemies of nearly equal skill meet, about twenty yards apart. They may be Ninja or Samurai. They observe each other from a distance. The aspect ratio is widescreen, letterboxed if the show is shot in 4:3. They stand at opposite ends of a very wide, low-angle shot.

On cue—sometimes triggered by an outside event, such as a slowly falling flower petal touching the ground—they break into a sprint toward each other, leaning far forward, hands on weapons. Each character is shown in a frontal shot from the other's perspective.

Reaching critical distance, they leap. Each is shown leaping in a closeup, probably from the waist down, although the leap is simultaneous.

The characters move past each other in midair, weapons drawn, but no weapon strikes are shown. This happens in slow motion. They face forward and do not look back. Alternately there is the sound of steel on steel, but events pass too quickly for the audience to see what happened. If this is an anime, expect the screen to go black and the stroke to be painted by a white or blue streak across the screen.

Both characters land in a crouching position. They are shown in a shot from the front of one character, with the other in the background. This shot is usually shown for both characters.

A Beat goes by.

One character falls to the ground, dead. Sometimes in pieces. The other stands.

Note: it is also incredibly common to have a beat go by, one character (99% of the time the hero) falls to one knee as if he has been hit, and then have the other character fall over dead. In Real Life, kendo kata #7 ends this way. Another common subversion involves revealing both combatants to have been injured (or killed).

An increasingly favoured method of ending the final fight in a movie already heavy on well-orchestrated brawls.

Contains some Truth in Television, even if embellished. Real swordfights often take only a few or even a fraction of a second (constrast this with Flynning).

Swordplay equivalent to Showdown At High Noon. One use of the Flash Step. Probably implies a One-Hit Kill. If the battle is one sided and the winner uses a flash step, then there is a good chance that the loser will preform a Snap to the Side before realizing that they've just been cut in two.

Examples of Single-Stroke Battle include:

Anime and Manga

• Lone Wolf and Cub. Regularly.
• Valkyria Chronicles does this once in the battle between Selvaria and Alicia. Despite the fact that Selvaria was winning for most of the battle.
• Tenchi and Kagato's final clash in Tenchi Muyo!. They actually both get hit. But Tenchi's sword somehow cancels Kagato's normal regenerative powers, and his armor blocks Kagato's blade.
  • They were both bisected. Tenshi's newfound powers allowed him to regenerate instantly.
    • And the ship was cut in half also.
  • The Tenchiverse was rife with this trope, taking it to absurd levels. It was practically the national pasttime. This trope could be renamed "The Tenchi Cross."
• Most of the duels in Revolutionary Girl Utena end this way, after quite a bit of preliminary sparring.
• Any number of battles in The Hakkenden.
• Samurai Champloo played it straight in the fourth episode—Mugen and a yakuza clash in a single blow, with Mugen walking away—and subverted it in a later episode—as Mugen approaches two people who betrayed him, one reaches for his sword and Mugen cuts him down without even stopping.
  • In one of the last episodes, Jin and Master Swordsman Kariya Kagetoki charge each other dramatically on the docks. In a flashback later in the episode, Jin is seen plummeting to the waters below while Kariya nonchalantly sheathes his sword.
• Erza's final showdown with Ikaruga in Fairy Tail.
• In One Piece, the finale in the fight between Sanji and Mr. 2 Bon Clay was this - though they had no weapons save for their feet.
  • Was also done during Zoro's battles with Mihawk, T-Bone, and Mr. 1.
  • Happens to an even greater extreme in a match between Brook and Ryuuma - both characters are so adept at launching attacks faster than the eye can follow that they do so while appearing to walk casually past each other.
  • Brook has an attack that prolongs how long the strike takes to be visible to the audience, allowing Brook to walk around as this trope is slowly killing his opponet.
• Subverted in one of the theatrical films for The Slayers—what falls to pieces is not Lina's opponent, but Lina's opponent's cheap-ass wicker armor and wooden sword.
• Also parodied in the first Slayers TV series, when Zelgadis fights Dilgear. Neither can be hurt by normal swords.
• Also subverted in Seishoujo Senshi Saint Valkyrie—Yuuki wins one of these in the first episode by stealing a pair of pink panties from the jacket pocket of the Monster of the Week.
• Considering that the non-leaping non-ninja version of this phenomena is essentially the most extreme form of Iai or Battoujutsu, it's rather surprising that Rurouni Kenshin doesn't make heavy use of the technique; whenever Kenshin uses a battou attack, the location of the weapon in his opponent is clearly shown. That may have something to do with the fact that being a blunt weapon, he's not exactly capable of cleaving enemies to pieces.
  • Except when using Amekakeru Ryu No Hirameki, in which case it was always a double lens flare. We saw the immediate after effects, but never the sword physically connecting. Given the nature of the attack, this is justified.
  • This trope is (ab)used in Trust and Betrayal OVA, where Kenshin was still willing to kill.
• Outlaw Star does this frequently, although usually after a long battle. Subverted in episode five when Aisha doesn't collapse as expected, shattering the blade instead, because it turns out she is Made of Iron
• This is done at least twice in the original Dragon Ball, though with fists and feet instead of swords. First, Goku faces off barehanded against Yamcha's "Wolf Fang Fist." Later, capping off his match against Jackie Chun at the World Martial Arts Tournament (after a series of ridiculous events have already transpired such as blowing up the moon) Goku has a single stroke jump-kick faceoff with Chun. And loses to Chun, who is really Master Roshi in disguise, because Roshi's legs are longer.
  • Parodied mercilessly earlier in the same Tenka Ichi Budokai, during Jackie Chun and Krillin's match. They rush each other, there's a flash of action too fast for the eye to follow, and they land... and Krillin collapses. But since the audience (and the announcer) missed it, they pantomime the entire event all over again, for the audience's benefit, with running commentary on the dozens of techniques and attacks they used in that split-second rush.
  • Actually played straight in one instance. Yajirobe defeats Cymbal with one stroke of his sword.
• Bleach plays with this. Few battles are truly of this trope in their entirety but will end this way. After a few episodes of monologuing, taunts, releasing zanpakuto and explaining their abilities, flashbacks, Superpowered Evil Sides, random philosophy, and building up one's Battle Aura, both parties agree to end the fight in a single strike. At that point, this trope gets played straight.
  • Ichigo versus Kenpachi. Ichigo is the first to fall (with an intact sword), believing he's lost. Then Kenpachi confirms Ichigo won and collapses next to him, his sword being revealed as shattered. Confirmed in the Official Bootleg that Kenpachi did indeed lose the fight.
  • Ichigo versus Byakuya. They agree that they have no strength left to prolong the fight so decide to end it in a single strike. Ichigo staggers, blood flowing everywhere as he desperately tries to prop himself up with his sword to avoid falling over. Then Byakuya staggers (but doesn't fall), blood spurts and he opens his hand, revealing his sword had shattered. He graciously concedes defeat to Ichigo on those grounds.
  • Ichigo and Jin Kariya at the end of the anime Bount arc.
  • Ichigo and Captain Amagai. Subverted. It looks like this but Ichigo's opponent isn't killed and goes on to attack someone else.
• In Yu Yu Hakusho, Hiei and Shigure fight to the death for Mukuro's edification. Both deal out lethal wounds too quickly to spot, and have a keel-over moment afterwards. Of course, Mukuro revives them both, and even ends up falling in love (sorta) with Hiei.
  • Hiei also pulled this trope out much earlier, in the battle against Seiryuu of the Four Saint Beasts (in the manga, anyway; the anime extended the fight by a few minutes, though Seiryuu still went down faster than the other three beasts).
• A non-sword version of this trope occurs in the Battle Frontier season of Pokémon: at the end of the battle between Charizard and Articuno, both Pokémon hit each other with one last attack. Charizard falls to the ground, while Articuno lands seemingly unharmed. The referee begins to declare Articuno the winner, but Charizard manages to struggle back to his feet. Then Articuno suddenly collapses.
  • In an earlier episode, Team Rocket's Meowth has a Single Stroke Battle with a Persian involving an incredibly long and drawn out beat.
  • Parodied in a duel between an Electabuzz and Scyther. After a lengthy buildup, the two charge at each other, the action freezes at the point of contact... and both fall, having run headfirst into each other.
  • Brock's Croagunk is involved in one against a Politoed in an episode of DP.
  • The final move between Ash's Grovyle and Norman's Slaking.
  • A variation of this happens a lot in Pokémon, similar to the Charizard/Articuno example above. Both combatants score a final attack, they stand panting with their backs to each other, one feints fainting, the other faints for real.
  • And Ash's Oshawott in his battle with Cilan's Pansage. It ended up giving Ash the Gym badge.
• Hellsing did this in a scene decidedly not drawn from the manga during the battle between Alucard and Anderson. Subverted in that Alucard doesn't actually win the showdown, but that hardly matters.
• Setsuna in Mahou Sensei Negima suggested she and Negi do this to finish their match in the Tournament Arc seeing as they only had 15 seconds left in the match.
• in Fate/stay night Saber and Assassin end their fight with a Single Stroke Battle.
• In Digimon Adventure 01, Wargreymon has one of these with Mugendramon(Machinedramon). Wargreymon charges at Mugendramon who just makes a dismissing sound and raises his metal claw. They strike simultaneously, and end up standing back to back for a second, then Wargreymon reverts back to Koromon and a cut appears on his face. Mugendramon looks back and gloats, but Koromon says he won't lose because all his friends are backing him up. The camera cycles through all of said friends, and then Mugendramon falls to pieces while groaning in disbelief. Single-Stroke Battle powered by The Power of Friendship
  • Alternatively:

Koromon: "Uh, I think you forgot something when I was Wargreymon!" *Top third of Machinedramon slides off and disintegrates, then the middle, and then the bottom disappears*

• • • Or even more alternately:

Koromon: When I was Wargreymon, I sliced you like an onion! *Cue sliding and dissolving as stated above*

• Parodied in Ranma ½. Happosai wants Ranma to wear a one-piece Playboy Bunny outfit. Ranma wants to beat him up in righteous anger (and also because his mother is in the next room, waiting to meet him for the first time.) They lunge at each other, cross fists, land in a crouch... and Happosai collapses, knocked out. But Ranma's entire outfit has changed into a schoolgirl's sailor uniform, which Happosai dressed him in without Ranma even noticing.
• One of these occurs in the first episode of Real Bout High School between Ryoko and the last member of the Amateur Ninja Club. Ryoko wins.
• In Weiss Kreuz the final confrontation between Ken and Kase turns out to be a single stroke battle, though Ken's armed with Wolverine Claws and Kase has a gun. Kase turns out to have missed. Ken more sort of doesn't.
• Signum and Zest of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha finish their duel with this. Signum won of course, since by the time they did this, she had reduced Zest to his fists after chopping his weapon in two.
• In the 22nd episode of Macross Frontier, Alto and Ozma somehow manage to pull this off, even though both are flying Humongous Mecha that fire energy beams. They charge at each other in their respective space-planes, and fire at each other as they barely avoid collision, and follow this trope closely by only showing the results a few seconds afterwards. They both suffer damage, though only Alto is crippled.
• Zoids, of all things, does this between the Liger Zero and the Berserk Fury in their first fight. They jump at each other clash bright light we can't see... the Liger lands on its gut with a noticeable cut on its shoulder but quickly gets back up. The Fury lands on its feet with a cut across its chest, both turn around, ready for round two.
• Claymore's cast of hot chicks with swords pull these off on a regular basis. Best example? When confronted by an execution squad of six Claymores, #1 ranked Teresa takes them all out at once this way.
• In the Soul Eater anime: the third and final showdown between Black☆Star and Mifune ends like this.
• The new Fullmetal Alchemist anime has Fuhrer King Bradley pull of a pair of these in the first few episodes, apparently slicing up enemies too quickly to be seen by the viewer.
  • Episode 15 has a variation in Scar's fight with the Silver Alchemist. The Silver Alchemist isn't killed by Scar's attack, but his prosthetic leg shatters, causing him to fall into the water and drown.
    • Or, rather, fall into the water and then has his face exploded by Scar.
• This pretty much happens in the Cloud fight during the Ring Conflict arc of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Mosca flies at Hibari of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council, and it looks like he might be in trouble. But unsurprisingly for him, Hibari one-shots him and can't even walk away fast enough before he turns to attack Xanxus. Granted, Mosca was a Caped Mecha who ran on the power of a Nice Old Man who loves puppies, and is a Mafia Boss at the same time. And it was playing dead. All apart of Xanxus' Evil Plan.
• In Black Blood Brothers, when Jiro fights Auguste.
• The fight between Shirahime (Sai) & Suzuka (Hatoko) in Angelic Layer. Suzuka loses.
• Happens at least a couple of times (with unarmed fighters, though) in the Saint Seiya anime; also, the first to fall to the ground is the one who actually survives.
• A non-lethal version of this occurs in Utawarerumono when Nawunga tests out Karula's skills in battle.
• Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the anime was about to set up one of these between Kurogane and Seishiro when they are stopped at the last moment by Mokona. Just as well too because both characters had Plot Armor and neither could die, being that Kurogane is a main character in Tsubasa and Seishiro's last battle is destined to be against Subaru in X1999.
• Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin and all it's sequals are known to do this, in tune with the idea that The dogs are like Samurai. For example.
• Ital wins most of his fights this way in Genesis Survivor Gaiarth.
• Although This Is a Drill and not a sword, the way the Giga Drill Breaker from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann goes off - Gurren Lagann passes through the victim, swings its right arm back while retracting the drill, followed by the victim exploding - is stylistically identical to the archetypal Diagonal Cut Single-Stroke Battle.
• The climax of the final battle between Heero and Zechs in Gundam Wing is one of these... in giant robots with light sabers!!!
• The fight between Afro Samurai's father and Justice ends with one of these coupled with a Diagonal Cut... with the winner using a revolver. It is not until the last episode that we learn Justice has a hidden third arm with a blade.
  • The duel between Afro and Kuma aka Jinnosuke ends with one of these. Just before the clash, Afro switches to a thrust, allowing him to fully utilize the greater length of his sword as well as strike faster than even the cybernetically-enhanced Kuma.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Mizoguchi's Samurai Deck has a trap, Pause of the Certain Kill, that turns battle between monsters into this. It even has Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro in the illustration.
• Much of Goemon's battles from Lupin III are like this. One of the best examples is in the movie The Secret of Mamo where he faces off against Mamo's lead henchman Flinch; when they land Goemon has a deep cut on his arm and a broken sword-tip. Flinch laughs at him only for his head to separate into three pieces—the broken sword was still plenty sharp.
• The second duel between Guts and Griffith of Berserk is carried out this way. Guts wins by breaking Griffith's sword with one strike.
• The climax of the final showdown between Spike and Vicious in Cowboy Bebop is one of these, with an additional Shout-Out to A Better Tomorrow II (Spike has Vicious' sword, Vicious has Spike's gun). After both weapons are returned to their original owners, and the final attacks are made, both men fall, but Vicious goes down first, with Spike living just long enough to deliver his final line to the Red Dragons gathered before him: "Bang."
• Done at the climax of "The Duel" (part of Halo Legends). It results in a Mutual Kill.
  • Something worth noting: that episode was heavily based on a samurai legend.
• Basilisk has an interesting variation: Yakushiji Tenzen gets to be on both the receiving and giving end of this trope... and in that order! First Jimushi Juubei pierces Tenzen's cheast with his hidden blade, killing him. Then Tenzen comes back and cuts Juubei in half with his katana.
• Kamui Den: Any fight involving Kamui's "kasumi-giri" is likely this. Also of note is Matsubayashi Kenpu's fight with a marauding duelist. He severs both of the man's legs with a single draw and cut.

Comic Books

• Usagi Yojimbo, lives and breathes this trope... although considering how much it owes to Lone Wolf and Cub, along with the classic samurai films, that's hardly surprising.
  • Any duel involving Usagi is pretty much guaranteed to leave Usagi the last one standing. But the most suspenseful of these duels took place in Duel At Kitanoji, where Usagi's mentor is called into an Honor Duel with the rival who lost to him twenty years ago and now seeks to regain his honor. Said opponent had already beaten Usagi in a duel once, and it was genuinely uncertain which of them would win. After the Single-Stroke Battle took place, the beat was held for several pages before one of them fell down dead. Usagi's mentor wins, but commented that it could easily have gone either way.
• The last issue of Robin's solo title has Tim Drake being challenged to a duel to the death by his teacher, Lady Shiva. They meet, and have what looks like one of these, after which Tim is stumbling, with three broken ribs, while Shiva is standing triumphantly. Then, Shiva collapses, and Tim explains that he slipped her a paralytic poison, activated by a heightened heart beat, before she even made the challenge.
• The duel between Scott Pilgrim and Roxanne is a direct Shout-Out to Ninja Gaiden, ending with a Diagonal Cut.
• The final battle between Leonardo and the resurrected Shredder ends this way in the first volume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage.

Film

• Kill Bill Volume One's showdown between the Bride and O-Ren Ishii concludes with one of these.
• Played for shock value in Equilibrium, where a confrontation between Preston and The Dragon Brandt is teased throughout the film. When the time finally comes for them to face off, Preston chops Brandt's face off without any effort at all and barely breaks stride.
• Ultraviolet, which is also written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, features a similar scene. Several Curb Stomp Battles establish that Violet's hemophage superpowers prevent any mere human from challenging her. Then she's confronted by a whole room full of her fellow hemophage assassins. Prepare for an epic battle, right? Wrong. She cuts off all of their heads with a single swing. Yay.
• The final fight in the pulpy Underworld is this trope down to a tee, although somewhat more drawn out than usual.
• The face-off between Kyuuzo and an anonymous opponent early in Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is probably the West's first exposure to this.
  • It actually happens twice in a row. Kyuuzo and his opponent first fight with bamboo shoots. The opponent claims a draw, but Kyuuzo replies, "A real sword would have killed you" (and it would have). When the man presses the issue, Kyuuzo draws his sword, muttering, "Stupid... It's so obvious." They repeat the previous battle, this time lethally.
• The last fight in Kurosawa's Sanjuro.
• Shogun's Samurai features a Cool Old Guy vs. Retired Badass SSB that dramatically uses a stylistic conjuction of Diagonal Cut.
• Most of the fights in Elektra amounted to this.
• The final battle of Azumi: Azumi and the Big Bad do this after a long swordfight. After the unseen swordstrike, both fighters are standing with their backs to each other, filmed from different angles. A small trail of blood starts to encircle the Big Bad's neck, he tries to turn while jumping and he lands.....with his head pointing the wrong way. The decapitation takes full effect only as he collapses.
• The Star Wars fan film Duality uses this quite nicely when the two Sith wannabes simultaneously kill each other, leaving the Emperor to grieve at the lost opportunity.
• Arguably, The Matrix Reloaded has one....in the form of Morpheus vs. an SUV. As Trinity and the Keymaker make their getaway, the Twins try to run Morpheus down. He rolls to the side at the last minute, and uses his katana to slice through one of their tires as they pass him. The SUV starts to flip over, setting up Morpheus's next move - emptying his gun into the tank.
• While it was led up to with a long choreographed battle, all that was was a long lead up to one of these between Connor MacLeod and the Kurgan to end it all.
• In the beginning of Troy, Brad Pitt as Achilles does this to an enemy army's champion, who didn't even have time to react because Achilles strolled up to him so casually.

"Is there no one else? Is there no one else?"

• Zatoichi. The duel on the beach between Zatoichi and Hattori Gennosuke probably counts for this, with bonus points for having the two duellists' badassery played up throughout the film, so it's clear that the fight between them will be epic. They even have a sequence of Hattori imagining how the fight will go, and altering his stance and grip to give himself a chance. It isn't enough.
  • In the 1964 Adventures of Zatoichi, the final duel takes place at night in the snow and ends with them running at each other, swinging, continueing past one another and then pausing. Zatoichi's opponent starts to drip blood into the snow, concedes defeat, and falls dead.
• Maximus in Gladiator does this against a soldier on a horse. It even includes Maximus falling to his knees from the attack before the soldier falls off, dead.
• Nameless and Long Sky engage in this after first playing out a battle in their minds in Hero.
• Hanzo, a Yakuza gangster and one of the Predators do this in Predators. Both die, but the Predator falls first.
• In the opening scene of The Impostors, we are introduced to two con-artists who fake an altercation in an outdoor diner, culminating with a knife fight. At the climax of the fight, they both rush each other, simultaneously cry out, and then one of them falls "dead" and the other runs off without paying his bill. In the next scene we see them argue over the fact that the wrong man "died".
• At the very end of Legion, between the angels Michael and Gabriel.

Literature

• Played seriously in David Weber's Flag in Exile, where Honor Harrington has to face a traitorous nobleman in a Trial By Combat. She took a second stroke, swinging back the other way from her initial stroke, but the first would've been fatal by itself without the second one decapitating her opponent.
• The final battle in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a magical variant of this trope. Harry and Voldemort circle each other. Harry explains that the horcruxes are gone, Voldemort is mortal, and he's doomed to lose the fight ahead. Harry's words lay out how hopeless the situation is and offer Voldemort a chance at salvation. Voldemort scoffs at the offer, the two each cast a single spell, Voldemort's wand flies from his hand, lands in Harry's, and Voldemort drops dead on the floor.
• Codex Alera has one of these in the final clash between the Vord Queen and Tavi at the Princeps Memorial.
• The Iliad is an endless series of these - of the literally hundreds of duels, only a few take more than a stanza.
• The fight between Willikins and Stratford near the end of Snuff. Willikins doesn't even bother to do the runup.

Live-Action TV

• Asuka / Abareblack and his brainwashed love interest Mahoro / Jannu do this in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (after they'd already nearly killed each other more than once). The moment they run past each other becomes a a plot point - Mahoro uses it to touch their cheek-markings, which lets them communicate mentally. She uses this moment to tell him she's no longer brainwashed, and is going to be helping them from inside the enemy base.
• Happens near the end of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, between the Black Ranger (Will) and his primary antagonist (as there were four enemy groups, each individual Ranger got one or more individual rivals). This was the alternate version, with the Black Ranger falling to one knee first, and the enemy going "Now that that's out of the way, time to go find the--YEARGHH!" and violently exploding.
• Kaiketsu Lion Maru, Kamen no Ninja Akakage, and Henshin Ninja Arashi have all had battles like this at one time or another.
• Happens in a swordless manner in Ultraman Tiga during the final fight with Evil Tiga. After an evenly matched battle, the two run passed each other and jump with strikes. Tiga falls to his knees but as he's celebrating his victory, Evil Tiga collapses to the ground. Subverted slightly as this doesn't kill Evil Tiga, but merely allows Tiga to hit the finishing move.
• Satirized in Kamen Rider Kabuto in a single-pass duel between makeup artists (both male). Whoever ends up prettiest (due to the opponent's makeup application) loses.

Video Games

• The Explorer in Age of Empires III is always given 2 or 3 special attacks that often end in a single stroke battle
• Baiken's Instant Kill from Guilty Gear is a classic Single Stroke Battle, concealed by a paper screen. (After the beat, there's a splash of blood onto said screen as the blow takes effect.)
• Sora in Kingdom Hearts II can initiate a reaction command when fighting a Samurai Nobodies. When pressed, everything else on the screen freezes as Sora and the samurai take stance. There are even cherry blossoms fluttering over their heads. After about 2 or 3 seconds, the words "The End" appear in one of your (now empty) command boxes. You have to get to and click on "The End" in time to win the face-off. Regardless of who wins or loses, the two opponents suddenly strike each other, the screen goes white for a second, and the victor is shown behind the victim with their weapon drawn as the opponent recoils with pain.
  • In the Japan-only Final Mix+ version of the game, the same applies to their controller, Roxas (now a boss, instead of a cutscene). Initiating the Duel Stance reaction command shows a scene of the two charging at each, Keyblades at the ready and in slow-mo. If Sora selects the right command in time, he'll knock Roxas into the air and telekinetically steal his Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades, using them in tandem with his regular combos for a short period of time until Roxas (now reduced to his Light'Em Up powers) steals them back. If Sora fails, let's just say he'll be feeling sore in the morning. Or not.
  • After fighting Luxord in the World That Never Was, the battle ends when Luxord tries to put up a wall of cards around himself, but Sora just sprints right at him and slices through the cards (and Luxord) with one swing. Cue Sora's Asskicking Pose.
  • Also in II, Bonus Boss Sephiroth always opens up the battle with and afterwards periodically uses a move called "Flash", where the screen darkens, Sephiroth makes a short remark ("That's enough."), and he dashes past Sora with quick footwork. If Sora doesn't use the "Reflect" reaction command (or—with very good timing—use Reflect or even jump), Sora is struck by multiple invisible blows that usually bring Sora's health down to critical levels (if underleveled/unprepared, this almost certainly spells disaster).
  • Terra in Birth by Sleep can meld together other commands to get Zantetsuken to use in normal combat. Much like its Final Fantasy origins, it can take out a normal enemy in one swing, if you're lucky. Otherwise, it just does regular damage. It's ineffective against bosses though.
• At the end of the "YMCA" level of Elite Beat Agents, a ship captain engages in this against a pirate skeleton. The level "La La" also uses it, as a white blood cell (portrayed as a nurse) fights a virus this way... several times. Yes, it's a weird game.
  • Not to be outdone, the "Julia ni Shoushin" level of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 features a Single Stroke Battle between two rival barbers. The winner shaves the kanji for "loser" into his opponent's head.
    • Naturally, this is also the ending to one of the multiplayer scenarios—the vampire and the yeti do this, and depending on which player played better (or maybe they tied, it's surprisingly common), one (or both) of them falls down in defeat.
• The opening to the NES game Ninja Gaiden features such a scene. It plays out almost exactly as the scene described in the main article.
  • Its arcade predecessor, featuring Ryu versus one of the hockey-mask Mooks. The Continue screen is just as dramatic.
• Capcom's cutesy arcade fighting gameSuper Gem Fighter Mini-Mix features the ninja Ibuki from Street Fighter III. One of her Supers in this game was to dash at the enemy (all kitted out for it, too!): contact results in a single stroke that slices the enemy into tiny cubes (it's all very cartoonish).
• Parodied in the Samurai Kirby minigame where Kirby and his opponent dress up as samurai and attack each other with silly weapons such as paper fans and frying pans.
  • Except for Meta Knight, who you attack with your sword. He's damn near impossible to beat, as well.
    • If you do manage to beat him, his mask gets cut in half.
  • The minigame was originally a western gunslinger duel, where the guns that Kirby fire get increasingly ridiculous.
• A version of this appears in Soulcalibur III, just before the penultimate battle in story mode (regardless of which character is played or the story path). Siegfried and Nightmare square off in the cutscene, swing their swords simultaneously, there's a one-second beat, then one of them falls over. Which one survives to fight the player depends on which character you are playing at the time: good characters fight Nightmare, evil ones fight Siegfried. If you have chosen either of those characters, you simply fight the other.
  • This is also how Siegfried kills Nightmare in his ending in Soulcalibur IV.
    • And Setsuka's Critical Finish, also in IV.
  • Also, playing vs matches with health set to 0% can do this, handy for farming the vs match total count.
• In the awesome manga adaptation of Rockman X2, X is challenged to a duel by Flame Stag, who previously lost a duel and is itching for revenge. Stag, having received an upgrade from the Big Bad, and X, who has been blinded, rush past each other in a dormant volcano. X is then shown bleeding (oil?), while Stag is completely unharmed. X then crumples to the ground. Of course, there's no way X is going to lose here, and Stag suddenly bursts into flames, due to some crazy close-range tampering by X earlier when passing by. The Irony is that had Stag not been upgraded, he might have been able to contain the damage.
• The PlayStation 2 game Shinobi carries this to its logical conclusion: upon defeating an opponent, a timer would start to count down at the bottom of the screen, and each time another opponent was defeated the timer would start over. Meanwhile, the protagonists magical vampiric katana would glow, with the glow intensifying with each successive kill, and the damage inflicted by an attack also increasing. When all goes well, every enemy in an area is killed within the fairly limited time available, at which point the camera flashes to each defeated enemy in turn before returning to the protagonist (in a suitably cocky victory pose, sword sheathed), at which point every enemy would simultaneously slide apart. Also, several boss fights are effectively impossible without the extra damage potential that comes from killing six monsters in seven seconds.
• The Odin summon from various Final Fantasy games would randomly kill all on-screen enemies (or would simply deal a good chunk of damage to a single foe). The Final Fantasy VIII version follows the trope to a T (except for Odin being mounted). Appropriately, Odin's unexpected death in that game at the hands of Seifer came in the form of a one-stroke battle as well.
  • To put that last part in perspective, Seifer counters Odin's Zantetsuken with a move (judging by the kanji shown afterward) called the "Zantetsuken Reverse". It only involves Seifer raising his free hand. That's right. The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort was used to enact a Single Stroke Battle. Luckily for the player, this cutscene leads to a Big Damn Heroes moment from Gilgamesh, who shows up several turns later to one-shot Seifer with some Razor Wind and then joins the party as a semi-Guardian Force replacement for Odin.
  • Odin and Raiden show up in Final Fantasy VI, but Cyan is capable of doing this by himself, and without magic. His top-level Swordtech/Bushido skill has him charge across the field of battle with his sword out, leap back to his original position, flourish his blade, and (hopefully) watch all the enemies on the field fall to pieces. He can even kill ghosts with that move.
  • Final Fantasy VII has a "Flash" command obtainable by increasing the level of the "Slash-All" materia. Flash instantly kills all enemies...but only if "Death" attacks are allowed by them.
  • The Yojimbo summon in Final Fantasy X has the special move zanmato, which follows the trope exactly and cleaves pretty much any in-game enemy in half, as a non-standard enemy death scene to boot.
  • In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, one of Zack's memories of Sephiroth triggered by the DMW involves him doing this to a monster. Of course, it's Cutscene Power to the Max.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics has a variation. In an early cutscene, we are shown two knights fighting. One rushes at the other, sword raised for a downward strike, but the other merely steps out of the way before striking.
  • The final ability of the Samurai in Final Fantasy V, Iainuki, attempts to kill off all enemies when used, after a long charge time. The catch? It doesn't always hit, and undead enemies get back up with full health.
• Similarly, in Breath of Fire 2, Jean's "Chop" wiped out all enemies.
• Vergil of Devil May Cry 3 has this as a special attack - his "Rapid Slash" move consists of charging straight ahead and drawing his katana. Half a second later, anything that was in his path gets cut to pieces.
  • Also used plot-wise:Vergil and Dante end up finishing their last confrontation in demon world this way, providing almost spot-on example of the trope. The "almost" resulting from the fact that you see the finishing blow.
• This shows up a lot in Samurai Warriors. Notable instances of the trope are the endings for Ranmaru Mori, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Oda Nobunaga.
  • The closely related Dynasty Warriors series also has a few examples, such as Guan Yu's death in DW5.
• The Mortal Draw technique from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an on-demand Single-Stroke Battle. Link has to have his sword sheathed and not targeting his intended target to pull it off, but in most cases, as the instructor says, "the Mortal Draw deals death."
  • Read: It works on mooks. Doesn't kill the armored lizards let alone dark nuts. So much for armor not mattering.
  • It also works on mini-bosses; once you've used whatever item you need to stun them and expose their weakpoint, you can use the Mortal Draw to finish them quick.
  • It really verges on Useless Useful Spell in all honesty. The instruction specifically states that "there is no counter" along with "the mortal draw deals death". It's VERY strongly suggested that it ALWAYS kills the target. Trick being there are several enemies that can BLOCK it outright ("no counter" right?) and most of the others you'd want to use it on, it simply does (VERY) high amounts of damage rather than killing them. But everything you really, really, really want to one hit kill... it doesn't, in direct contradiction of the instruction you get when you unlock it. And not just bosses either.
• The first trailer for No More Heroes features Travis and Helter Skelter in a Single Stroke Battle. Travis wins, and Helter either collapses, or has his head removed, depending on the trailer version. "Your shining armor and fine words won't get you anywhere!"
• In Tekken 3, Yoshimitsu's move "Yoshimitsu Blade" is a nasty two-handed whack in the stomach with the hilt of his energy sword. However, if the target happens to be running at full pace towards you, Yoshi quickly turns the sword upwards at the end of the move and runs the poor sap through, dealing heavy damage.
  • Tekken Tag Tournament: the ending cutscenes for Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu begin the same way, with them engaging in this. Whoever the player used wins against the other.
  • Also happens in the ending cutscenes of Tekken 5 for Anna and Nina, although in this case, it was for a movie shoot. If it's Anna's ending, she (the victor) fakes her defeat against the script (unlike Nina's ending). It does pay off for Anna, though, as the blow had the unintentional effect of causing a wardrobe malfunction for Nina, treating the film crew (and the player) a peak at an embarrassed Nina hastily trying to cover herself as a Sexophone plays in the background. Anna gets a chuckle out of her sister's predicament.
• In the Samurai Shodown games, the player has the ability to break their POW gauge in order to allow an Issen attack, which effectively describes this trope, but it's generally seen as a cheap attack. Issen will do more damage to the enemy the less damage your character has, and will do almost a 3/4 of the maximum health when only a sliver of health is left for your character. If both characters use Issen, the battle will usually end in a draw.
  • One of the Samurai Shodown 64 games resolved draws using this trope. Also one of Ukyo Tachibana's desperation attacks from that era was an issen-like attack. Genjuro also can use it in one of the crossover games he appears in.
• The Bushido Blade series may do this trope the best for video games. Any attack can be fatal, so while some battles involve extensive parrying or countering, others end with a single, perfectly placed stroke.
  • This editor and his cousin used to accidentally do the same basic leap attack at the same time about one duel in five. See the trope description.
• Jin and Hakumen from BlazBlue have the Yukikaze move, which follows a counter. Yeah, they're the same person... sort of, why do you ask?
• The third mission of Vanguard Bandits features a duel between Kamorge and Faulkner that ends this way. There is also a move called the Wind Strike, which essentially allows players to do this to enemies.
• God Hand: The Daisy Cutter God Reel move looks like this. Gene blows the target into the air, slides past it, then punches his fists together, causing an explosion. Azel kills off the Three Evil Stooges this way.
• This can happen in Halo 2 if both players use the sword dash.
• Straw Hat Samurai is a game based on this trope.
• The first trailer for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood shows Ezio slashing at a horseman who goes past and stays on his horse for a while before falling off.
• A sword in Team Fortress 2, called the Half-Zatoichi, allows the player to one-hit kill another player who is also wielding this sword.
• In Dragon Quest 9 the move 'Blind Man's Biff' has an animation which looks rather like this. Although, as it strikes a random opponent, it's not going to allow for a Single Stroke battle unless it's against a single opponent you're assured of OHKO-ing.

Webcomics

• The Homestar Runner cartoon Under Construction parodies this trope, with the anime-inspired Stinkoman battling "Stickly Man," a shovel-wielding animated GIF, in a Single Stroke Battle that's clearly an Homage to Ninja Gaiden.
• The Adventures of Dr. McNinja plays with this one. It's a single-stroke battle, all right... but only because the battle takes place on a small platform. The assailant falls over the edge into a deep crevasse below.
  • In another instance, he slices past an enemy, and expects him to fall apart; but, instead, the enemy disappears while his back's turned. So, naturally, he decides he must have sliced the poor guy's atoms to bits, making him disintegrate. He also realizes that he must have missed.
• Kobayashi the Discount Ninja from Kid Radd tries to use this several times. All attempts end badly for him. It's also used in the Fourth Wall Week episode "SAMURAI", between Radd and Bogey, with the variation that both sides lose.
• Used seriously in the main storyline of the comic No Need For Bushido in the duel between Yorikiro and Ryoku(It is notable that they agree to sheathe their swords during a battle to invoke this), but subverted in the second video of No Need for Bushido: Squeaky's Paper-Cutout Theater, where the camera perspective flashes back and forth repeatedly between Yorikiro and his opponent, seemingly to draw out the tension of the moment, only to have the camera pan out and show the two still far apart slowly ambling towards each other, meaning that they really have been taking that long to reach each other.
• This is indeed how Ninja Rick imagined his fight with Pat Lee went down in Shortpacked, as noted in the page quote.
• Parodied in Questionable Content here.
• Also parodied in this Penny Arcade strip, just one of several examples. Basically, any sequence involving the Cardboard Tube Samurai will invoke this trope.
• Done in Dead of Summer, more literally than usual. Panther's evil clone doesn't even get a chance to react before being destroyed.
• Parodied in Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki:

Hermod: Repeat after me: Despite what magical girl anime has taught me, the monster does not go down with the first strike.

• Truck Bearing Kibble, with Potato Heads.
• Parodied in this Diesel Sweeties battle between a toaster and a coffee machine.
• How the fight between Daniel and Dark Pegasus was resolved in the "Warrior for Hire" arc.
• Appears in Girly, with fakeout Clothing Damage on the victor and a trace of Alas, Poor Villain.
• Played straight in The Water Phoenix King, "Temple of the Comet," when Gilgam's old comrade Momba Kawunei arrives at the inn, having been sent to the wilderness in hopes that the bandits will finish him off which doesn't encourage his subordinate's respect very much. It helps that one of them has a Magitek weapon.

Web Original

• Outright abused in Ree v. Seth, parts two and three, when the trope starts as usual. All of Ree's demons fall off, and she congratulates her opponent. He informs her that she probably shouldn't be in the tournament, then tells her she won. Then he basically explodes blood. The artist even lampshades it in the description.
• Bunny Kill just can't get enough of these. Part 3.2 has a grenade-vs-blade standoff.
  • After a Curb Stomp Battle as the result of heroic Unstoppable Rage because his new girlfriend and partner got killed, Part 4 ends with Snow Ball delivering a Flash Step punch to the Big Bad. After a second, the Big Bad starts coughing up blood, then he stumbles forwards and expires on the floor.
• The final boss fight in College Saga ends with one of these.

Western Animation

• Occurs twice in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, first during a duel between Leonardo and the Shredder in the show's first season, in an adaption of a similar battle in the first volume of the original comic, the second in a duel between Posthumous Character Hamato Yoshi and Rival Turned Evil Yukio Mashimi in the fourth.
• Used often in Samurai Jack, though one example stands out. A race of mountain-dwelling rock people drive their entire culture towards the creation of a sword of incredible power. It is frozen in a block of ice after being molded out of hard crystals and molten slag, tempered by dragon fire and hammered by dozens at once, sharpened on a grindstone powered by starving boars with meat hanging in front of them running on a treadmill, has runes written on it by a druid, who calls down lightning to strike it. It crackles with lightning as we see it cut through solid stone as if it were butter. A gladitorial competition is held to find the mightiest of their warriors, who is sent to face Jack with the sword. Jack cuts the sword in half without even breaking his stride.
• Used by Asajj Ventress to take care of the last fighter in the battle that introduces her, and the nearest thing to an actual threat to her, in Clone Wars.
• Used without swords in the fourth season finale of Jackie Chan Adventures. Two of the best fighters in the show both charge Tarakudo at the same time, in mid-air...and both of them are knocked to the ground completely beaten a second later, with Tarakudo landing on his feet completely unharmed.
• G.I. Joe: Resolute has this with Snake-Eyes vs a random mook. The mook had an assault rifle. I think we all know what happened. (Hint: this.) Subverted later when he does the SSB with Storm Shadow and neither fall.

Real Life

• Supposedly, this is how Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō.
  • Historically Kojirō then proceeded to attack again from on the ground, until Musashi stoved in his ribcage with an oversized bokken. Said oversized bokken was carved from an oar Musashi picked up while traveling to the island where the duel took place. It should also be noted that the duel counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for both men: Musashi, beating the toughest swordsman he ever faced, and Kojirō, proving he could stand toe-to-toe with the greatest swordsman who ever lived. Interested tropers can read up on the whole thing here.
• The fleche, a fencing move, works like this. It's basically a way to make a running attack relatively gracefully. The point of the move is that the referee will halt the match and allow both fencers to reassume their stance if one fencer passes the other without scoring, solving the obvious problem that if you miss you're going to end up in a bad position. Sabre fencers especially became notorious for turning matches into jousting contests until the fleche was banned for that sword.
  • Sabre was practically reduced to this trope until the ban - which was not on the fleche (though this was the primary cause for the ban), but specifically on crossing one's feet while advancing (which effectively rendered the technique impossible), through crossing on the retreat remains legal. Here's a breakdown of pre-ban sabre: "En garde! Ready! FENCE!" *both sabreurs meet in the middle* "Halt! Simultaneous action. En garde!" If this repeated three times (which it often did), the president would activate a "coin toss" function on the score box, which would randomly indicate one of the sabreurs, who would then have priority and thus be awarded the hit if the next action was simultaneous. The ban has improved the quality of sabre fencing beyond measure - not only is it more technical than it had previously been, it has become the fastest, most energetic weapon and now boasts the best footwork of any weapon as a result.
    • Incidentally, a technique known as the "flying lunge", or "flunge", - essentially a lunge accompanied by a forward leap - has been incorporated to replace the fleche, which is more difficult to pull off and is more easily defended against. Cool though...
  • There's also a rather well known (in fencing circles anyway) picture of two fencers attempting simultaneous fleches and running straight into each other. It's probably the sport's Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Iaido is an art that teaches cutting an enemy in the act of drawing your sword, among other skills, and most actual Japanese sword arts center around killing or maiming an opponent in a One-Hit Kill.
• High-level kendo (say, 7-dan and above) is made of this. It's common to see opponents barely move for most of the battle, trying to get the precious few degrees, seconds and centimetres that would give them an advantage. Then, before you've realised what happened, they've passed each other and the judges have awarded a point.
• Replace swords with lances, and this trope is how medieval jousts worked. Even the subversions are the same.
  • Real cavalry fights, dependent as they were on horses running past each other in opposite directions, or a horseman pursuing a fugitive at high speed, often allowed only one blow. Furthermore lances were often so long that even combat lances as opposed to jousting lances could only get one blow in. Several British observers noted that Polish Uhlans(who knew how to use a lance better then their Western counterparts)often did better simply because they did not mind losing a lance if they got a kill in the process.
    • The citation for this is, With Musket, Cannon, and Sword, a volume about Napoleonic tactics by Brent Nosworthy. The author cites one or two primary sources as claiming Westerners had a false sense of honor about retaining the lance and this tradition was unknown in Asia. He does not explicitly say Poles(who were affected by both traditions)were inclined in that matter, and in fact mentions Cossacks more in that respect but he does say that Poles were effective lancers and one might assume they retained some of the best technique. The author also points out that the lance had been out of fashion for a long time in the West before being reintroduced, presumably as a counter to tight formations, so it is likely that lancers from the knightly era were more practical being more fammiliar.
• In Judo and Brazilian Jiujitsu the flying armbar can end matches in a single move.
• During the Bakumatsu, Ishin Shishi assassin Gensai Kawakami famously cut down Shōzan Sakuma in broad daylight in a single stroke.
• This boxing match from the 90s between fringe heavyweight contender Jimmy Thunder and Crawford Grimsley. Grimsley made the mistake of trying to come right at the powerful Thunder, and Thunder's first punch was a smashing right hand that laid Grimsley out in what would have been record time if the referee hadn't insisted on doing a full 10 count.
• PRIDE 10. Garry Goodridge vs. Gilbert Yvel. Two scary black men, one well timed head kick, fight over.
• Robert the Bruce versus Henry de Bohun. At the Battle of Bannockburn, de Bohun caught sight of Bruce, lowered his lance and charged. Bruce stood his ground, and at the last moment spurred his horse aside, and split de Bohun's head and helm with one blow from his axe. He was admonished by his advisers for risking himself in such a manner, but Bruce said his only regret was that he broke his axe.