First Girl Wins

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"Life is so crazy
 And love is unkind
 Because she came first, darling
 Will she hang on your mind?"

—Gladys Knight & The Pips, "If I Were Your Woman"

In works featuring a male protagonist, the first girl introduced—either overall or as a potential love interest—has a very good chance of ending up with him.

There are all sorts of explanations as to why this is. Things ending up the same place they started is a very old narrative technique. The First Girl "winning" has a Because Destiny Says So kind of a appeal—she metaphorically "called dibs" on the hero and tied a string to his heart. This might actually strike a chord with readers because of its Truth in Television overtones; recent psychological studies suggest that the first people someone meets in a new or unfamiliar social situation have a greater chance at becoming their close friends later on.

From a Doylist point of view, actually introducing the First Girl early is a solid writing tactic. The girl who is going to "win" needs an early introduction for a lot of reasons — to get the audience interested in her and rooting for her, to gain characterisation, to give her relationship with the hero time to develop. And with all that said, it's such a common device that in all likelihood, it sometimes gets played for its own sake. It telegraphs, "lookie here, a serious Love Interest contender". From this perspective, it's not so much that the First Girl wins because she comes first as much as she comes first because she wins.

As weird as it may sound, sometimes it isn't that obvious which girl is the First. Is it the first girl the protagonist meets according to In-Universe chronology, even if we first see her halfway through the show's run? The first one to show romantic feelings? The first new girl the protagonist meets? If we have different adaptations, by which of them are we going? If you're suspecting some girl is supposed to be the First Girl, a good idea would be to take a look at how the writer has played her up. Is she a major character? Is her "first" interaction with the hero led up to, emphasized, treated as a big deal? All other things being equal, is she a strong contender for being the hero's Love Interest? These things may be the difference between the First Girl and a girl who happened to be first. Most writers will take care to put some effort into building a would-be triumphant First Girl as a romantic option in her own right, so as not to get the hero Strangled by the Red String.

The First Girl will rarely be the first one to confess her feelings, admit them, or sometimes even develop them. In fact, she's much likelier to be the one who does it last- maybe near the end of the series when she and the main character become the Official Couple. The logic behind this is that she's the one who the main character loves (even if he doesn't want to admit it or doesn't realize it himself); if she showed him romantic affection, then he would immediately choose her. That's tantamount to throwing the Romance Arc (or in some genres, the whole plot) out the window, and we can't have that.

Of course, a writer can't outright admit that's what they're doing, which is why you can expect an in-universe justification for how these two people met so early and took so long to figure out they belong together. Their first impression of each other will be that of immense dislike.

Complications will abound, Romantic False Leads will show up, misunderstandings will arise between them, pride and denial will keep them apart. In extreme cases, it may turn out her apparent lack of interest in him was a major turn-on. Paradoxically enough, nothing screams "major romance incoming" like this sort of thing. A more subtle tactic is to get the First Girl "off the radar" somehow- Demoted to Extra, Put on a Bus and similar tactics- though writing her transition from a nobody to a love interest in a believable way can be a problem.

Inevitably, most shippers will already have their own idea of who the "right" girl is, so if she might conceivably have any sort of claim to being the First Girl they will gleefully reach out to put this feather in their Ship's cap. Given the above ambiguity of what exactly it means for a girl to be the "First", it's not a surprise that the question of which girl was first tends to become yet another front of Ship-to-Ship Combat.

Be warned before you proceed. "Winning", in this sense, tends to be very spoilerific.

See also Victorious Childhood Friend. Contrast Second Love and Last Girl Wins.

Be wary of adding Beta Couple examples. Their lack of screen-time means the "introduce the relationship early to get space for development" consideration becomes crucial, and as a result meeting "first" is all but a staple of the Beta Couple. They will sometimes have obvious C-List Fodder Romantic False Leads in orbit that we're not supposed to take seriously, but that's pretty much it. For those, list aversions, or instances where more than one possible relationship involving a cast regular gets seriously played up but the "first" one ends up winning anyway.

Examples of First Girl Wins include:

Anime and Manga

  • In Ai Kora, Sakurako is the first girl introduced as Maeda comes to Tokyo, and they are arguably the closest couple. Though, Maeda actually wants all the girls (for a special reason) and quite a few of the other girls want him too. In the end, Sakurako is the one he falls for.
  • It's made very clear early on in Ai Yori Aoshi that Aoi has already "won" Kaoru, and vice-versa. The fact that they are forced to hide the relationship amongst the Unwanted Harem is when Hilarity Ensues.
  • Like its sister manga, Ayashi no Ceres does this with Aya and Tooya: Tooya is the first guy Aya kisses, and Aya in turn is the first girl Tooya meets. Yup, even in childhood.
  • Captain Tsubasa loved to play around with this at the beginning. The first girl shown is NOT the female lead Sanae but Tsubasa's old friend Yayoi Aoba, who's seen when he is moving to Shizuoka and she barely manages to say goodbye to him. This is brought up later when Yayoi reappears with a crush on Tsubasa, much to Sanae's despair... but several years later, Yayoi hangs out more with Jun Misugi than Tsubasa himself. He later comes to aknowledge and return Sanae's feelings for him.
  • Subverted in Code Geass when Shirley reveals that she has feelings for Lelouch (to Rolo), and is promptly killed.
  • Miyako from ef: A Tale Of Memories may not technically be the first girl Hiro meets, but she is the first girl introduced to him in the anime.
  • In Elfen Lied, the first main character shown is Lucy (aka. Nyu), who Kohta does not actually end up with. He instead ends up with the first one he meets - his cousin Yuka (Note that's NOT as Squick in Japan as it is in many other parts of the world). Although Yuka's insecurity and paranoia could lead her to believe otherwise, The other girls who boarded with them (Mayu, Nana and Nozomi) never really had a chance in the Unwanted Harem, and most of them simply didn't really like Kohta in that way.
    • In the anime the outcome is different. Kohta briefly reciprocates Yuka's feelings with a kiss, but almost immediantly after forgets he ever kissed and it's never mentioned again. At the end of the anime he appears to have gotten with no-one, but it is hinted Lucy returned to him. I suppose, however, this depends on if you prefer Kohta with Lucy or Yuka, if you believe the anime exists, or your interperetation of the ending.
  • Excel Saga pays Homage to this—the designer of a pair of Ridiculously-Human Robots gave them "imprinting" so they would love the first things they see. "Like," he explains, "a dating simulation game."
  • Flame of Recca: Sakoshita Yanagi and Kirisawa Fuuko both like Hanabishi Recca, but Yanagi is guaranteed to win since she is introduced first. However, as the story goes on, Fuuko's interest shifts from Recca to Ishijima Domon, giving her a happier end than most later-introduced love interests.
  • Fruits Basket has the trope and a Gender Flipped subversion: The main female character, Honda Tohru, meets Sohma Yuki before Sohma Kyo but develops mutual romantic feelings for Kyo. Later, Yuki starts a relationship with the first student council girl introduced, Kuragi Machi.
    • Played with, however, in the manga: when discussing the various Zodiac signs, Tohru makes reference to the Cat first, which turns out to be the animal Kyo is cursed with. In the flashback which introduces the story, Tohru's mother tells her the story of the zodiac and how the Cat was tricked by the Rat; Tohru insists that from that moment on, she is going to "be" a Cat. It also may be relevant that Tohru's Mom knew Kyo well before Tohru did.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist- Winry wins. Duh. It probably helps that A. Ed really has more important things to do than be in a relationship, and B. he seems to be Winry-Sexual.
  • In Full Metal Panic!, although Sousuke knew Tessa before Kaname, the first girl who is introduced is Kaname. She's also the first girl to show (at least to the audience - obviously, Tessa had already been romantically interested in him offscreen) romantic interest in Sousuke. And she's also one of the last girls to admit her feelings for him. This makes Tessa something of a sort of Unlucky Childhood Friend (although she didn't know him since childhood - just much earlier than Kaname did). Interestingly enough, it's been speculated by quite a few fans that if he had actually met Nami (from the novels) before Kaname, he would have fallen for her (seeing as how, after spending a little time with her, and even after having already fallen in love with Kaname, he started developing feelings for her and even considered settling down with her).
  • Gender Flipped on Fushigi Yuugi: Hotohori, Tamahome, Nuriko (maybe) and Tasuki all like Yuuki Miaka. Tamahome was the first guy introduced. Draw your own conclusions.
    • Fushigi Yuugi plays this straight and subverts it with Miaka (first girl introduced in the series) and Tamahome (first Seishi whom Miaka meets). And no, we're not counting the fact that Yui and Tamahome met at the same time.
  • In Gun X Sword, the first girl Van encounters in series is Wendy. The first girl he met chronologically would be Elena, assuming that dead women count. His devotion to Elena keeps him a Celibate Hero throughout the series, but the finale hints that Van and Wendy will end up as a couple, albeit after a delay of a few years.
  • Hanaukyo Maid Tai
    • Subverted in season 1. While Mariel "won", the first girl Taro met was Sango, who was also his first kiss, and by the end of the first episode she and her sisters had all slept with him.
    • Played straight in La Verite. Taro met Mariel first and fell in love with her.
  • Gender-flipped in Howl's Moving Castle, where the first guy Sophie met was Howl. Howl on the other hand has met several other women.
  • Inuyasha: Played with. In both the manga and anime, Kikyou is the first girl introduced. She is also the first girl we see with Inuyasha (despite the fact they're fighting), and we later find out the two had a prior relationship established before Naraku tricked them. Even at the very end, Inuyasha still declares his love for Kikyou. The back and forth manner of Rumiko Takahashi could honestly lead a person to be unsure of whom Inuyasha will pick, if he picks at all. Inuyasha's feelings for Kagome and the fact Kikyou is essentially undead works against Kikyou, but Inuyasha doesn't seem to care that she is made of bones and dirt. Kagome ultimately wins, but kind of by default; since Kikyou ends up dying for real. I don't believe it qualifies for Last Girl Wins because for awhile we're lead to believe that Kikyou remains dead after the opening sequence. She doesn't, ultimately becoming both a rival in love and a major character.
  • In the first Kara no Kyoukai movie, Shiki invokes this during her second fight with Fujyou about Mikiya.
  • Subverted in the manga of Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. In the anime she wins at first, but this gets "corrected" in the OVA—in a way most fans found quite contrived.
  • Kimagure Orange Road: Kyosuke meets Madoka long before Hikaru's in the picture.
    • A couple of days max. Now Madoka meeting Kyosuke.. time travel is fun!
  • In Koko ni Iru yo!, it's played with, as both contenders are "first guys." Hinata was the first person who "noticed" Hikage, the first to confess to her, and the first love interest introduced. But Black Rabbit -- revealed to be Teru—is Hikage's first friend, the first to support her, and knew her first. And while Hinata was introduced before Black Rabbit, Hinata and Teru were introduced into the series at the same time. In the end, Hikage chooses to be with Hinata instead of Teru.
  • Love Hina; Narusegawa Naru is the first girl introduced, and despite Aoyama Motoko, Maehara Shinobu, Otohime Mutsumi and even his adopted sister Kanako also liking Urashima Keitaro, the pairing of Naru and Keitaro is inevitable.
    • Additionally, Keitaro met Naru long before any of the others (except Mutsumi) as a child. She is the girl he made the Tokyo U promise with long ago.
    • Depending on the medium, this trope may be inverted on Love Hina. The first girl Keitaro met was Mutsumi, and then both befriended a sick, bed-ridden and lonely Naru. The three of them made the Tokyo U promise and years later, Mutsumi politely stepped aside for Naru's sake.
  • Macross - Hikaru first had his butt handed to him (verbally) by a fairly cross "old lady" before he ever came to Lynn Minmay's rescue. And that "old lady" turns out to be Misa Hayase.
  • Macross Frontier second movie came with Kawamori's promise to end the triangle. Alto confesses his love to Sheryl Nome. They first met when they were very young, in Galaxy.
  • Macross Zero is yet another case in Macross. Shin met Sara first, if only by thirty seconds.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima. There are three, count 'em, three "First Girls." Chronologically, Anya is the very first, being a childhood friend and appearing in the first page of the manga—but she then disappeared for a hundred chapters. Then we've got Asuna, a standard Tsundere type who seems like the traditional love interest. However, from the beginning, its unclear whether she cares for Negi as a brother-type figure or something else. And finally Nodoka (the Covert Pervert bookworm). She is the first girl to show an interest in Negi. She's also the first to confess to Negi. However, none of them has "won" yet.
    • Well now that the manga has ended it seems that none of them "win". Negi tells Asuna the girl he likes and it isn't her (not that she cares), Anya wasn't around when Asuna told Negi to confess to the girl he liked right away, and the epilogue explicitly states that it wasn't Nodoka.
  • Mamoru and Usagi take the trope to the extreme, as they met in their previous life.
  • In Martian Successor Nadesico, after Akito both ran into Yurika before anyone else and later bring up their shared childhood on Mars, all of the other girls lost right there and then.
    • Although this turns out to be a half-subversion in the last episode, when you consider Akito met Hot Scientist Inez Fressange way back in the prologue as a little girl, Ai-chan. His childhood friendship with Yurika probably still counts, though. Still lampshaded, when Yurika was briefly shown as willing to let go of Akito for Inez's sake when she learnt the truth, but Inez herself talked Yurika out of it.
      • It's not a subversion at all, he still met Yurika first. Shortly after Akito meets her, Ai Boson Jumps 20 or so years into the past and becomes the the woman we see today through The Slow Path.
  • In Midori Days, although Seiji had asked out another girl earlier, the first girl who was properly introduced was Midori, who of course (as this trope goes) wins out against the various other girls introduced later. Midori also had the advantage of being the title character.
  • Naruto due to the ambiguity of the claim to the title of the first girl, has two main contenders; Sakura and Hinata. With Sakura being both the first to be introduced to the audiance and the first for the protagonist to show a romantic interest in, while Hinata is the first to show romantic feelings for the protagonist and the first to confess them as well. Neither has won yet, and the Ship-to-Ship Combat continues.
  • At least three possible interpretations in Omamori Himari - Kuesu was the first girl Yuuto kissed (when they were children), Rinko was the first girl Yuuto met when he moved out to live on his own, and Himari was the first girl to appear in the series. Right now it seems that the series is going in the direction of having Yuuto and Himari be the Official Couple.
  • Please Teacher: Kazami Mizuho is introduced to the audience before Herikawa Koishi is, leading to her inevitable romantic pairing with Kusanagi Kei.
    • Yeah, but Koishi was already Kei's classmate by the time the story starts. Should that count as a subversion then?
  • Onegai Twins: Miyafuji Miina meets the main male character, Kamishiro Maiku, before Onodera Karen does, and Miina also shows up at Maiku's house before Karen. Then, in the end, it turns out that Karen is Maiku's twin sister while Miina is unrelated to them, thus allowing her to end up in a romantic relationship with Maiku.
  • In Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi falls for the first Host guy she meets, Tamaki.
  • Averted in the manga Outanders (the much-abriged OVA manages to avoid the subject altogether by paring down the cast and storyline considerably). The first girl that we're introduced to is Aki Okizawa, the coworker and boss of protagonist Tetsuya Wakatsuki, but he winds up marrying alien princess Kham—who tries to kill him when first they meet, later kidnaps him, and is finally won over by him...before being brainwashed into trying to once again kill him, by the most overprotective father in the universe. But even then Tetsuya remains faithful to her, rather than turning to another, less abusive member of his modestly-sized harem.
  • Ranma ½, Follows this trope pretty straight, Akane is the first fiancee introduced in the series, and serves as the primary love interest, and takes up the most screentime of any of the fiancee brigade. Ukyo, while introduced earlier in the series timeline-wise shows up pretty late story-wise, and is relegated to being the Unlucky Childhood Friend. Shampoo shows up earlier in the backstory (though later than Akane) and winds up acting more like a Stalker with a Crush than an actual fiancee. Although Ranma never ends with him outright choosing anyone, it ends with his wedding to Akane being crashed by his other fiancees/stalkers.
    • Of course that wedding was forced on him when Soun Tendo bribed him into it by promising him Jusenkyo water if he married Akane so their planned wedding doesn't mean much.
  • In Pokémon Special, Misty is the first girl Red meets on his journey and the first girl who develops a crush on him. Unfortunately, this trope is subverted as she never gets the chance to properly confess to him.
  • While there's no real confirmation of this in the show itself, it sure seems as though Lime wins out at the end of Saber Marionette J, given that she seems to get the most attention from Otaru. Now... J to X, that's another story.
  • Played with in School Days. The first girl the audience sees is Kotonoha Katsura (better said, her photo in Makoto's cellphone), Sekai Saionji is the first girl we see him interact with, and Otome Katou is the first of all his possible love interests that he ever met (during junior high times; he only met the others in highschool).
    • Well Katsura ends up 'with' the guy in the end. Assuming cuddling the decapitated head of the protagonist while drifting off into the sunset on a nice boat counts as 'with'.
  • School Rumble: By the end, it's obvious that Tenma's endless devotion to Karasuma has paid off, even if he lost his memories.
  • Seto no Hanayome: it's obvious from about the second episode that Nagasumi is dedicated to San.
  • In Sorcerer Hunters, Carrot met both Misu sisters at the same time, but Tira was the first sister introduced in the manga and the one Carrot marries at the end. This doesn't stop Chocolat, as she can be seen having snuck into their bed to be with Carrot after the marriage since she wants him to live up to his promise to let her bear his first child.
  • Steel Angel Kurumi: both Kurumi and Karinka like Kagura Nakaito, but Kurumi is introduced first (and has the extra advantage of being the title character).
  • Somewhat averted in the Tenchi Muyo! OVA. While many fans remain firm in their insistence that Ryoko should — as the first girl that Tenchi meets (both in spirit and later physical form) -- be the obvious "winner", we learn that Juraian marriage customs allow for the Emperor, at least (and possibly lesser nobles and even commoners), to legally take two or more wives. As Tenchi is the male Heir Apparent to the throne, it would seem that he is not limited to just one member of his harem. The first girl he's engaged to however is Aeka when Katsuhito passes his engagement to her over to Tenchi before the fight with Kagato. See also Tenchi Solution.
    • Played straight in the Tenchi Universe continuity: Ryoko does "win" this time around. She's strongly hinted to be the one to end up with him near the series' climax, and does concretely end up with him by the end of Tenchi Forever.
    • Tenchi Muyo! GXP takes this to new extremes, combining First Girl Wins with Tenchi Solution to produce "First Girls Win".
    • See also Halfbreed.
  • There are two possible interpretations of first girl wins in To LOVE-Ru. Haruna or Lala. The former was the first girl that Rito was shown to have known, while Lala is the first girl that the audience is shown, as well as the first to confess her feelings. In the end he falls in love with both and can't choose between them. Then Lala suggests the Tenchi Solution...
  • Toradora! is another prominent example for this trope as it seems obvious from the beginning that the main characters Ryuuji and Taiga, who are are introduced simultaneously in the first scenes of the show, later become a couple. Nevertheless, the way to that outcome is executed in such a wonderful and lovely manner that the show still won't be boring for anyone who does see it coming.
  • True Tears has the main character choosing Hiromi at the end, who is the first girl introduced and the first girl he crosses paths with.
  • Umi no Misaki, by the same mangaka as Ai Yori Aoshi, is still up in the air as to who "wins," and is doing its best to manipulate this trope for all it's worth. Each girl can count as a different "first" for Nagi: Shizuku is the first girl he meets, Karin is the first who realizes and confesses her feelings to him, and Soyogi is his First Kiss (not counting Shizuku giving him CPR) as well as the first to make further overtures towards gaining his "favor" in the same night. Each girl has roughly equal potential to win, at this point.
    • This was lampshaded when Karin and Soyogi realize that Shizuku may have had a leg up on them because he met her first.
  • In Urusei Yatsura, the first girl introduced is Shinobu, but Ataru ends up with Lum, which seems like a subversion... but Lum's popularity took the author by surprise and at the start of the series Shinobu was intended to be the girl Ataru ended up with.
    • Not necessarily a subversion since Ataru and Lum's first meeting occurs during the Pilot and Ataru first met Shinobu before the series started.
  • Bunny Drop: Daikichi ends up marrying Rin in the end. Yes, that Rin. The 6 year old he adopts at the beginning of the series.
  • In Vandread, Dita Liebely is the first female with whom Hibiki has personal contact. In the end she gets to hop on the space ship home with him.
    • She's probably the first girl anyone from his planet (outside of spies) has seen. In about a hundred years. What an surprising act of diplomacy.
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Fa ends up with Kamille, by virture of being the only love interest left alive. And only after he recovered from his Mind Rape at the end of the series in the sequel.
  • Played straight in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Ma Renka tells Miu: "He only saw you first. That's all there is!".
  • In My-HiME, this is played straight for Mai, as Yuuichi s the first boy she meets in the series besides her brother. In the manga, in which Yuuichi is the main character instead, he meets Mai first, although he has known Shiho in the past (who averts this trope).
  • Louise is the first person Saito sees upon being summoned in The Familiar of Zero.

Comic Books

  • The Patterson children in For Better or Worse all seem destined to end up with the first person of the opposite sex they met in pre-school, which is a more extreme example of this trope. All but April. She gets a line or two in the finale strip that says she ends up with some nameless guy she meets when she moves far, far away from the rest of the family.
  • Either played straight or averted for Superman, depending on your point of view: Lois Lane appeared in Action Comics #1, so she was the first potential love interest for Clark introduced in the series, but it was later established that Clark had in his youth had Lana Lang as a potential love interest, before he met Lois.
  • Played straight in Captain Atom: Plastique appears in the second issue, before Cap meets Nightshade, Catherine Cobert, or the Crimson Fox.
  • Played straight in Nexus, since Horatio meets Sundra first; it didn't hurt that her only real competition, Ursula, is one of the villains. Also sort of averted though, in a manner similar to what happened with Superman, since it was revealed in Nexus: Liberator that Horatio had had another love interest, Juyl, before he met Sundra.
  • In the movie adaptation of Spider-Man, Peter has a crush on Mary Jane since long before boys are even supposed to like girls, and only ever looks at any other girl when he suddenly had the urge to hurt her (and even then only when he's been corrupted by an alien.)
    • Played straight in the Ultimate comics where Peter and Mary Jane are childhood friends and fellow book worms.
  • Jean was Scott's first love... until she died. And then she came back. And then, later, they got married. For a few years, anyway, before Emma Frost showed up... but they are STILL Happily Married to a lot of fans.
  • In Archie, Betty was intended to be this, but usually on a day to day basis Veronica is his girlfriend and Betty just wants to be, and the days when Betty was Archie's sole love interest and Veronica hadn't yet come to town are unknown to modern readerships.

Fan Works

  • Tales of the Frog Princess fanfiction Confessions of a Vampire Prince. Garrid's two best friends are Andrea ("Andy") and Ben. Ben dates a girl named Miranda, oblivious to Andy's love for him. In the second-to-last chapter, Miranda dumps him. Guess who he ends up with.

Film

  • In Unicorn City Marsha is quite obvious from her first interaction with Voss.
  • Indiana Jones - Jones has just managed this, also with a childhood friend. Well, anyway he knew her before we meet her.
  • In Disney's Hercules the first girl he meets after becoming a hero will be his love interest. Bonus points for a Meet Cute. Pretty much every Disney movie is this way.
  • Averted in Scaramouche, where Andre Moreau ends up married to the woman he met half an hour into the movie over the woman he was engaged to at the beginning. Interestingly, in the book the woman he married was a childhood friend while he was engaged to the other one for about six chapters (in a 50+ chapter work) somewhere in the middle.
  • This trope is a staple of teen movies where the main character will spend the whole movie going after one girl because All Guys Want Cheerleaders, but ends up realizing his Hollywood Homely best friend is the girl for him. There are too many examples to list here.
    • In The New Guy, at the end the main character and his female friend have a close moment, complete with poetic music... Then she reaches over and snogs another of their group instead. Then the cheerleader comes back to him.
  • Subverted several times in the James Bond franchise. The major love interest can sometimes be the first woman (besides Miss Moneypenny or Judi Dench's "M") that Bond meets in the film, but because James is a such a womanizer, the first girl he meets will often be either a quick fling, or a quick fling that ends in the woman's untimely and bizarre death, ala Casino Royale, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, You Only Live Twice, and so on.
    • In fact, this happens often enough that one might say that the Bond films tend to follow the Last Girl Wins trope rather faithfully.
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Averted as the original ending to the movie was Scott getting back together with Knives, but test audiences didn't approve.
  • Averted in Ed Wood, if only because it was a biopic. May be an example of Reality Is Unrealistic,
  • In Definitely Maybe, the mother of Maya is Emily, getting together again with Will after spending years apart. Subverted in that the two of them are divorced in the present.

Literature

  • Arguably, this is a convention of just about any story which revolves around romance. During the opening chapter, the first character of preferred gender our protagonist meets and is attracted to is almost guaranteed to be the character s/he ends up with. (This might be First Boy Wins if the viewpoint character is female.)
  • Harry Potter: Despite Harry's notable Just Friends relationship with Hermione, his crush on and disastrous date with Cho Chang, his other disastrous not-date with Parvati Patil, and a school full of devoted fangirls, fans will note that Ginny Weasley, whom he ultimately fell in love with in The Half-Blood Prince, and married, according to Deathly Hallows, was the first Wizarding girl Harry ever crossed paths with in the series.
    • Similarly, the first girl we see Ron meet outside his family is Hermione, and by the end, in spite of Ron's misconceptions about her and Harry's aforementioned Just Friends relationship, they're married, too.
  • In Robin Hobb's Assassin cycle, Fitz and Molly, though only after the Fools trilogy, not after the initial three books.
  • In Anahita's Woven Riddle, the prince Arash is established as the first of Anahita's potential suitors even before he and Anahita actually meet. Schoolteacher Reza and Unlucky Childhood Friend Dariyoush have no chance because their introductions come after Arash's (Dariyoush may have known Anahita for a long time, but we don't hear about him until after Arash's introductory chapter), not to mention that it's obviously Love At First Sight for Arash when he does meet Anahita.
  • Gender-flipped in Song of the Lioness, George is the first boy Alanna meets. Similar with her daughter Aly and Nawat.
  • Another male example in Jane Gardam's Bilgewater, although this is toyed with. You're led to believe that Terrapin will get together with the heroine, since he's the first boy her age to have a meaningful encounter with her and displays elements of Beautiful All Along... but a careful reader would see the first boy mentioned by name is Boakes, who she ends up marrying.
  • Reconstructed for Kelson in the Deryni novels.
    • He first marries Sidana, daughter of the Mearan Pretender and a human, in an effort to resolve the conflict with the Mearan sepratists. The effort fails, and her brother kills her at the altar.
    • Later, Kelson meets Rothana nur Hallaj, a Deryni princess who is also a novice at a convent sacked by Mearans. Rothana is the first Deryni woman of his own age he's ever met, and she shares a rape victim's memory with him, which, as Morgan points out afterward, is an intensely intimate experience. Morgan and others suggest to both of them that they would make a suitable couple, and they make plans to wed, but Kelson and Dhugal are washed away in a mudslide and presumed dead. Kelson's cousin Conall plays upon Rothana's sense of duty and her sympathies, persuading her to marry him instead shortly before Kelson and Dhugal return.
    • Although Rothana is free to marry after Conall's execution, she plays Cupid for Kelson and his cousin Araxie Haldane, and we learn that Kelson had met Araxie and played with her when they were children. Thus, Araxie is the First Girl all along.
  • In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth is the first demigod female that Percy comes into contact with and they eventually get together at the end of the fifth book, after a long Just Friends relationship.

Live-Action TV

  • Scrubs: JD and Elliot met at the beginning of the series, and while technically both have dated other people before, Elliot is the first girl JD falls for and dated in the series. But it didn't work out so they moved on to other people. Until JD fell for Elliot again. So they hooked up again. Then JD realized he didn't love Elliot so they broke up again! Then two seasons later, oh wait, JD likes her again! So they start dating again! Now that the show's coming to a close the show has ended, it looks like this one will actually stick so maybe, just maybe First Girl Wins after all. Yay!
    • On a much smaller scale, it also happened with Dr Cox: the first woman he's seen with is his ex-wife, then he dates another one and a crush on Carla's revealed, but at the end (although it's still very early in the series) he picks Jordan (even though she was pregnant and he thought the kid wasn't his).
  • Ross and Rachel in Friends.
    • The Monica and Richard case is a grey area: he was her first serious boyfriend in the series, but it would be later ret-conned that she'd liked Chandler when they first met (it wasn't requited back then, though).
  • Quite obviously Grey's Anatomy with Derek and Meredith.
  • Ephram and Amy in Everwood. Also Andy and Nina for some extent, although at first there was no clear sign of UST between them.
  • Beverly Hills, 90210 subverted it most of the time: Dylan picked Kelly over Brenda (several times), Brandon never actually got together with Andrea, neither Steve nor David ended up with Kelly (both, especially the latter, became a brother figure to her in later seasons).
  • ER with Doug and Carol... sort of. Subverted with Mark and Susan when she left the show, and when she came back he'd moved on and married.
    • I don't know if there's a separate trope for the opposite, in which case I'll remove this comment, but there's a bit of a "First Boy Wins" concerning Abby Lockhart: the first man she kisses (in the series) is Luka, and that's the one she ends up with.
  • Gilmore Girls also has a "first boy wins" situation with Luke and Lorelai. But it's averted with Rory, Lane and Paris, as neither Dean nor Dave nor Tristan stick to the end.
  • Both of the Fisher sons in Six Feet Under eventually end up with the partners they are shown with in the pilot 'til death do they part. The Fisher women, not so much: Claire and Ruth both end up in relationships with men not introduced until much later in the series.
  • Played with in Glee. Will's first girlfriend was his wife Terri. However, it isn't portrayed as a good thing, as they are in an unhappy marriage. However, Emma was the first romantic interest of Will seen.
  • Lost this can be seen to an extent with Kate/Jack, he ended up with her in the sense that they embraced death together. They were portrayed as soulmates. However, this is subverted when Juliet is proven to be Sawyer's soulmate.
  • Played with in Hollyoaks: Craig was John Paul's first love, but not his first boyfriend. But after a break-up, a long period apart, and a fiance who got a bridge dropped on him, they ended up together.
  • Josh and Donna of The West Wing are this trope to each other, finally getting together after a bunch of other relationships or potential relationships and seven seasons of buildup.
  • In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it's a First Boy Wins—despite dating other guys, literally creating room in her heart for her fiance, and nearly getting married, Sabrina winds up with Harvey, her first love.
  • In Farscape, Aeryn Sun is the first Human-like female that John Crichton meets after his travel through the wormhole in the premiere. Naturally, they end up together.
  • Marshall and Lily in How I Met Your Mother. They are each other's first and only sexual partner (may be a technicality for Lily), a point of pride for the couple. Averted with Robin and Ted until the series finale.
  • A rather interesting gender-flipped subversion occurred in the Filipino series My Binondo Girl. Onyx, the protagonist Jade's childhood friend, was the first to be introduced. Word of God also stated that the original plan was indeed to have them end together. However, as the actor playing Onyx was sidelined by sickness, the writers chose to focus instead on the Jade-Andy (the second guy to be introduced) pairing. Eventually, the Jade-Andy pairing was declared as the Official Couple, and Onyx was turned into the Unlucky Childhood Friend and dies in the end.

New Media

Online Role-playing

  • Although any specific examples would probably best be left to Troper Tales, most roleplaying communities tend to fall to this for different reasons. Players are excited to get their characters involved in as many ways as possible, so they tend to fall for the first reasonably aged, unattached person of the opposite (or in some cases same) gender they see. Since breakups rarely happen in these games unless preplanned, they tend to last the long haul.

Theatre

  • Taken to an extreme in The Tempest: Ferdinand is the first male (not counting the monster Caliban or her father) Miranda has ever seen. She instantly falls madly in love with him.
  • In Two Gentlemen of Verona, Proteus ends up returning to his first love Julia, after having spent most of the play pursuing Sylvia.
  • Averted in Hamilton. Alexander does indeed strike sparks with the first girl he meets in the story, Angelica Schuyler, and they keep a semi-flirtatious relationship for most of their lives. But she can see how hard her sister Liza has fallen for him, and stands aside so they can be Happily Married.

Video Games

  • Milfeulle and Apricot in the Galaxy Angel games.
  • In the Quest for Glory series, Elsa von Spielberg is the first of four eligible bachelorettes the player character meets, which plays this trope straight if she's wooed in the last game.
  • Princess Lilina of Ostia in Fire Emblem 6, if you get Roy's ending with her; she was his childhood best friend and classmate. In Fire Emblem 7, if Lyn goes off with her bodyguard Kent, it's first guy wins. (Though if you count all her possible endings, she knew Florina before she knew any of the males. * grin* )
    • Additionally, Florina is First Girl for Hector and Ninian (whom he rescued from the Black Fang before meeting Lyn) is First Girl for Eliwood, whereas Serra is First Girl for Erk, Wil is First Guy for Rebecca and Jaffar is First Guy for Nino.
    • Played with in Fire Emblem 8. Seth the Silver Knight is the first of Eirika's love interests we see, but technically she has known Prince Innes since they were kids, so both can be seen as First Guy. Of course, she can also end up with the mage Saleh and that would be Last Guy Wins situation, huh.
      • In the case of Ephraim, Tana is undeniably the First Girl, unless you count Eirika as a love interest as well.
      • Out of Lute's love interests, Artur is first boy since they're childhood friends. In Amelia's case, Franz is one of the charas who can recruit her for your side, so he is her first boy. And finally, Natasha is the first girl for Joshua.
    • In Fire Emblem 4, Levin only has three potential wives whose children can bring his holy weapon into the next generation: Fury, Sylvia, and Tiltyu. Sylvia can be this since she's the first one seen in the game, but Fury plays the trope straight as she knew Levin long before the others did.
    • And of course, there is Fire Emblem 1 where Sheeda is the First Girl for Marth.
  • In Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, the love interest for male characters is the first NPC to show up on screen. The main campaign has the 'first girl' die and deleted the romance arc with the second, leaving the third female party member as the only romance for male characters.
  • Jade Empire, if a male character sticks with Dawn Star.
  • Harvest Moon - The first potential love interest in most games, the one that lives closest to your ranch, is usually the easiest to win over. They're relatively low-maintenance and will accept most inexpensive gifts from you.
    • The Mineral Town games: Elli
    • A Wonderful Life: Celia
    • Another Wonderful Life: Rock.
  • Rune Factory games all have a "main heroine" that is the first girl the protagonist meets after losing his memory. That's Mist in Rune Factory (and Rune Factory: Frontier), Mana in Rune Factory 2, and Shara in Rune Factory 3.
    • The one exception to this rule so far is Rune Factory Oceans, in which neither player character has amnesia and there's no one main heroine (instead, having three "main heroines"; none of them are the First Girl, and there's no Official Couple). Sonja, the female protagonist, is the first girl Aden meets and the first girl the audience sees, and that they both get jealous when the other starts forming a relationship with other candidates (along with the trope's prevalence in the series) makes it seem as though this was the intended outcome.
  • Star Ocean uses this trope in at least three games.
    • In The First Departure, Milly is the easiest character to gain relationship points with, and she is a childhood friend of Roddick.
    • In The Second Story, while it is logical that Claude would have met other girls in his past, they are never mentioned and Rena, the first girl you meet, is the intended love interest.
    • In Till The End of Time, Fayt starts the game with a girlfriend who later becomes a party member and remains the easiest to woo.
  • Final Fantasy VII - You see Aerith first, but Cloud knew Tifa long before this. Tifa also joins your team first. Word of God has confirmed in the meantime that Tifa is the official love interest.
    • Aerith is herself officially paired with her first boy, Zack. He just happens to already be dead when the game starts. In fact, she confesses at on the Gondola Ride that the attraction between her and Cloud initially was largely based on his (unintentional and unaware) mimicry of Zack's personality and demeanor.
  • Uncharted: Nate and Elena at the end of Among Thieves.
  • In Jak and Daxter, Jak and Keira. So much so that after Keira got Darrined and Naughty Dog shipped Jak with Ashelin, the fans got so pissed that Naughty Dog put them back together in Jak X.
  • Dragon Age Origins - A female PC can be this for Allistair. Subverted for characters who fall for Morrigan; she doesn't want to win, even if she develops feelings for the PC.
  • Averted in Dragon Age 2, in which the potential Love Interests are the last four party members you meet, after your siblings, Aveline, and Varric. Though it might still apply as the order in which you recruit potential Love Interests is flexible, so you could go to Sundermount before anything else and then pursue a relationship with Merrill, for instance.
  • Tsundere Becky Fox of MLB Power Pros is the first girl introduced in the Sucess Mode. Although the possibility to woo her is based on luck, she's still the easiest girl to win if you play as a pitcher and good at it.
  • In Overlord, Rose is the first mistress that the Overlord gets to "liberate". While the game allows you to eventually dump her for her "saucy" sister Velvet, the sequel proceeds as if you had stuck with Rose, for she becomes the mother of the Fourth Overlord.
  • In the Shadow Broker DLC of Mass Effect 2, Liara T'Soni can be this for Shepard, depending on the player's choices during Mass Effect 1 and 2.
    • Ashley can also be this for Shepard assuming you carry the romance through the 3 games, as Ashley was the first female character introduced in ME 1 that isn't the middle aged non love interest doctor, or Shepard herself if you're playing Femshep.
    • Kaidan Alenko is the first potential love interest that you meet in ME 1, having been on the Normandy already before Shepard became XO and before even meeting Ashley on Eden Prime. You can play this trope straight with Femshep or become celibate as Broshep until the third game where you can have a Relationship Upgrade with him.
  • In the Dark Parables games, Prince James (a.k.a. The Frog Prince) is immortal, and marries five princesses. But Princess Ivy, his first wife, remains his very obvious favorite.

Visual Novels

  • In Fate/stay night, there are three potential winners, each of whom can be seen as the First Girl. Sakura is the first girl introduced in the main storyline and also the first girl to show obvious interest in Shirou (who is, of course, completely oblivious to it), Rin is the first female character introduced and the first we get to see interact with Shirou because the prologue is from her point of view, and Saber is the first girl seen on-screen and heard as the second image in the Novel is of her.
    • Sakura is the girl Shirou first met as well (in the backstory). She's also the one Nasu always supported as his main love interest (even if Saber is more popular).
  • Kanon: Nayuki, the Unlucky Childhood Friend and cousin, seems to be the first girl introduced, because she's the first girl that Yuuichi meets upon his return. But if you remember the beginning of the series, with the first "dream" prologue... It had a narrator. (In the 2006 version, though, the prologue is moved, making it Last Girl Wins instead.)
    • Key Visual Arts did the same thing in AIR, except the first girl Yukito meets does turn out to be the same girl that the prologue talks about. (Not the narrator, though, considering she's a) his mother, b) the reincarnation of his ancestor, c) dead.)
      • It's quite ironic to talk about "winning" in this case though, considering how the story unfolds.
    • It's played anviliciously straight in Clannad with Nagisa, however.
  • Tsukihime: Quite a few female characters could possibly qualify as the "first girl" by some definition, but this title officially goes to Arcueid, who is the first girl whose story you see and Shiki meeting her starts the first plot.
  • In Frozen Essence, the first attainable character Mina meets is Rune, whose path is the only one that has a possible "True End", so he appears to fit this trope as well as a Dating Sim character can. ...Unless you remember that Mina actually met the Oracle before Rune, and find out how to unlock his path which reveals that he's actually Mina's childhood friend who met her long before any other character in the game did.
  • In Katawa Shoujo, you can make cases for both Shizune and Hanako as this for Hisao. On one hand, Shizune is the first of the five choose-able girls that addresses you directly (sorta, she's deaf/mute). On the other, when Hisao comes into the classroom, the first of the girls that he pays attention to is Hanako, due to the scars on her body.

Web Comics

  • Misfile is approaching this trope with all the subtlety of a berserk elephant.
  • Coga Suro: Yeah, Steve and Jane end up married with kids. Who saw that coming?
  • Dan Shive of El Goonish Shive is rather fond of this, all of the major relationships at the moment are examples of the first girl winning if you count Ellen's birth taking Susan out of the picture.
  • Used twice in Megatokyo: the first major female character introduced is Erika, who Largo tries to grope to find out if her boobs are real and gets another broken arm in return. The second, Kimiko, almost immediately accidentally hits Piro in the head with a coffee pot. Insert joke about winning girls injuring their future boyfriends here.
    • And then, Yuki went and fell onto Kobayashi-kun from the top of a power pole, leaving him in hospital with concussion and fractured ribs. I guessit goes to show - the quickest way to a man's heart is through his ribcage.
  • Kevin and Kell: Fiona and Rudy knew each other when they went to the same day care, but never got along. Then Fiona moved away, then back, and then they fell in love. Note that they didn't even remember being in the same day care until a former teacher told them about it.
  • In Girl Genius, it's pretty clear that Agatha is going to end up with first love interest, Gil. At this point, the only question is whether Tarvek will be included as well. That question will probably be answered when we figure out whose side he's on.
  • In General Protection Fault, Nick, who has never been in a relationship before, meets Ki early on in his time at GPF, and they get married in spite of Trudy's attempts to get Nick for himself (and the fact that he seriously considers her for a time).
  • Dubious Company's Tiren would have realized she was this, had she not been preoccupied by Mary and Sue goading her into a catfight with Sakura. The result lead her and Walter back to UST territory.

Web Original

  • Stefan 'Twoflower' Gagne's "Unreal Estate" uses this: the first girl's house falls on him while he's still on Grunwald. Nevertheless, possibly to obfuscate the first girl winning, the main character manages to run into each of the girls before finding himself in the 'harem', a la Ai Kora. Though it's technically not a harem comdedy towards the end.

Western Animation

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