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Group Hug

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Arwin: Ooh, group hug! I love group hugs! Especially with other people! [old lady walks by]
Maddie: Hey, lady! Come on, I could really use the heat. [lady walks away] After her! [whole hugging group walks together, following the lady]
Arwin: Wow! She's fast!

The main characters stand in a tight circle and stretch their arms around their two nearest neighbours. Tends to happen fairly often and for lots of reasons such as supporting one character who just went through something difficult or emotional, the final group action before splitting up or carrying out a big plan, or as part of the denouement.

Often times there will be one character who is reluctant to participate in a group hug whenever they occur. That character usually warms up to the idea by the end of the series.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • The final episode of the first season of Free! features this, in which Rin is being hugged by his old friends at end of the swimming preliminaries.
  • Chapter 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ends with a teary-eyed group hug between Jotaro, Polnareff and Joseph.
  • Afterschool Teatime of K-On! share one after their last school festival performance.
  • In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, during an early chapter, several of Negi's students hug him simultaneously and sandwich his head in between their boobs again as they do so, also providing the Trope Namer moment for Marshmallow Hell.
  • An instance occurs in PandoraHearts Retrace XXXII where Oz and a rather reluctant, scowling Gil both embrace Break after learning about his past while Alice proclaims, "We're friends!" Observe. Break plays the whole thing off like it's annoying, but there's a panel a few pages later that shows him wearing a contented smile.
  • Episode 42 of Smile PreCure! has Nao/Cure March having a group hug with her younger siblings after defeating Majorina.
  • Chizu initiates one with Sawako and Ayane in Kimi ni Todoke after Sawako's friendship with the two other girls is cemented.
  • Subverted in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. A biowarfare agent is released in the school resulting in Crowd Panic until Kaname dresses down the class. Everyone starts hugging, determined to Face Death with Dignity... until Sousake reveals he has enough vaccine for one person. Cue the students backing away from each other with evil looks on their faces.
  • In Snow White with the Red Hair Mitsuhide drags Obi and Kiki into a hug after the incident at the Sereg fortress.
  • Near the end of Tamagotchi: The Movie, as Tanpopo is about to leave Tamagotchi Planet, she gets a group hug from Mametchi and his gang and they all cry since she and the Tamagotchis are going to miss each other.

    Comic Books 
  • Firefly: The Sting: Inara, Kaylee, and Zoe all gather around River in a group hug after the heist, assuring her that she's one of them.
  • In Red Robin # 20 Tim meets up with the Teen Titans and it's the first time he, Bart, Conner, and Cassie, the core four of Young Justice, have all met up since Bart and Conner were brought back from the dead. For a moment the other three seem to be staring Tim down and he wonders if they're judging him for some of the less savory things he's done since they last saw him before they all pounce on him in a group hug as Beast Boy cheerfully yells "psyche".
  • At the end of The Powerpuff Girls story "The Trouble With Bubbles" (DC issue #18), the girls do a group hug after defeating the monster lucha libre butterfly.

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 
  • The Potter Puppet Pals video "Trouble at Hogwarts" ends with a group hug.
  • This parody of Steven Universe has Yellow Diamond and White Diamond give a mopey Blue Diamond a group hug. White knows that this is exactly what cheers Blue up, but Yellow is extremely reluctant to participate in it.
  • Happens quite often in the Avantasia Protag AU series. For all sorts of reasons. One or another of the main characters is usually the center everyone else is hugging. If it's Scarecrow, he usually objects but doesn't fight against it very hard.
  • In Blood Ties Remus receives a group hug when he's upset by a medical report listing the Dursleys' extensive abuse of Harry.
  • In Champion's Date Sirius receives a group hug after being found innocent of everything except being an unregistered Animagus.
  • In Changing Lives the Marauders give a time-traveling Harry and his new friends a group hug at the end of Harry's first year at Hogwarts.
  • Throughout the final act of Cheyenne, Kirby, and the Forgotten Land, our heroes did a ton of group hugs, especially when they were reunited with their loved ones, and even at the end of the fanfiction, where we lest not forget this last line inspired by Kirby: Right Back at Ya!:
    Kirby: Yeah. Ever since then, we became... the best of friends. Poyo!
  • In Cult Potter Edith receives a group hug after revealing her abusive upbringing and fear of becoming a victim again.
  • In Deafening Silence Harry receives a group hug after a five-year separation from his friends.
  • In eXtra power twin several Xavier Institute students give Harry a group hug after he tells them about his abusive childhood.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Italy is prone to giving Germany and Japan these. After all three got together, Hungary gave all three one while squealing in joy.
  • The Inside Out fanfic Intercom has Riley give no less than three group hugs to her emotions during her first Journey to the Center of the Mind: one with Disgust, Fear and Sadness who came to greet her in Dream Productions and two with the whole gang in Headquarters. First when she impersonates Joy, then after naming Possibility Island, just before the lucid dream breaks.
  • Lavender: After Sandie remembers she stabbed John, she feels remorseful and nervous about facing him. He forgives her and proves it with a hug, with Ellie joining in.
  • Loved and Lost: In the 17th chapter, the Mane Five and Spike hug Twilight after she reunites with them in Ponyville. Not only because they're glad to be given a second chance to make up for abandoning her at the wedding rehearsal, but also because they now have a better chance to stop the Big Bad now that Twilight has joined them.
  • In No Hurry At All Hermione receives a group hug when Harry leaves Hogwarts after the Department of Mysteries battle.
  • Quizzical:
    • Thweet Geniuth - The Hard Part:
    "Quiz, you do know that you are about to get glomped but good, right?"
    Quiz nodded. "I accept that you cannot resist, Sweetie Belle. Thank you for allowing me a moment to brace myself."
    The others had been waiting until Sweetie Belle joined them for this.
    "Cutie Mark Crusaders Group Hug!!!"
  • In Soul Mate Harry's dorm mates and Hermione give him a group hug when he announces that he's not returning to his abusive relatives.
  • If you were cynical you might comment that a group hug is a Succubus's most frequent action in The Return.
  • In Violence Inherent in the System, the other Sailor Scouts give Sailor Moon a group hug when she comes back to life after spending several months as a spirit.
  • Moonshadow: Chapter 31 ends with the Owl House residents hugging each other on the floor.

    Films — Animation 
  • Aladdin ends with Genie pulling everybody nearby — including the Sultan and Jasmine's pet tiger Rajah — into a group hug. "Mind if I kiss the monkey? *MWAH!* *KAFF!* Ooh, hairball!"
  • Happens between the main characters in The Land Before Time once they finally find the Great Valley.
  • In Tangled. Rapunzel embraces her mother, looks longingly at her father, and he comes and hugs them both, so she's in the middle. Whereupon Flynn/Eugene gets too close and pulled in.
  • In Beauty and the Beast, the now human Beast embraces Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts after they change back into humans.
  • This happens near the end of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue and The Pirate Fairy.
  • Near the end of Monsters University, Mike and Sulley hug with their friends from Oozma Kappa before parting ways with them.
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks has two linked examples:
    • This is how the Humane Five welcomes Twilight when she's back to the school — not including Sunset Shimmer, who backs away.
    • And then, it's the conclusion following the climax for the protagonists, this time with Sunset Shimmer in the middle, to her surprise.
  • In My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), the Mane Five and Spike group hug Twilight Sparkle after it is revealed that she is okay after the tornado stops and that she has the Staff of Sacanas.
  • Possibly one of the most heartwarming examples happens twice at the end of Inside Out when Riley returns home in tears after her abortive attempt at running away and she and her parents all end up sharing one big family hug. Inside Riley's mind, after Joy and Sadness control together for the first time, the two hug by resting on each other's heads.
  • At the end of Toy Story 4, Woody decides to part ways with the toys to stay with Bo. This is how Jessie, Bullseye, Slinky, Rex, Hamm, and the Potato Heads say goodbye to him.
  • In Turning Red, Mei and her friends hug twice after cheering Mei up and again at the concert with Tyler at the centre after they find out he's a 4*Townie.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Bem Bom: Lena is hugged by all of her bandmates at once when she cries at the news of her mother's death.
  • Christmas Blood: Sanne, Ritika, and Annika have one with Julie when they arrive at her house to celebrate Christmas Eve.
  • The main cast gives one at the very end of For Colored Girls. Trust me they deserved it.
  • The Cloudcuckoolander engineer in Galaxy Quest shares one with his crew after they successfully solve a problem.
  • The Longest Yard
    Punky: [after the convicts won the game] We win! Group hug in the shower tonight!...or not. Or not.
  • In Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Sophie, Hans and Christoph share One Last Smoke and embrace each other just before their execution.
  • In Into the Woods, the Baker, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Jack do this just after they kill the Giantess.
  • Roma: Near the end, two of the kids Cleo is charged with looking after nearly drown in the sea and Cleo goes in to save them despite not knowing how to swim. She succeeds and she and the whole family hug each other as an affirmation of love. Shown in the poster.
  • Combined with Cooldown Hug, at the end of Schindler's List, Schindler completely breaks down in tears when he realizes he could've saved at least one more person but he didn't. Stern and dozens of his workers all join him in a hug to remind him he did a lot.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home:
    • When they find Peter on the roof of their school, MJ and Ned hug him to console him after May's death.
    • The denouement has one occur between all three of the live-action film Spider-Men.
  • In Zathura, Walter and Danny simultaneously hug Lisa once she awakens from cryo-sleep and catches them stoking a fire in the kitchen, but funnily enough, said kitchen-fire isn't the boys' main concern during that scene.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Boy Meets World had a few of these, most memorably in the graduation episode when Cory, Shawn and Topanga give Minkus one after they receive their diplomas.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In "Primeval", Buffy and Willow apologise for their falling out in the previous episode as they rappel down an elevator shaft to take on the Big Bad. Once they reach the bottom, they invite Xander to join in a group hug.
    Xander: Oh God, we're gonna die, aren't we?
    • Lampshaded when Spike asks Buffy in "After Life" if she's "not leaving a hole in the middle of some soggy group hug". She's already had the hug as it turned out, it's just a pose she's putting for her friends, as Buffy is suffering chronic depression from being brought back from the dead.
  • There's an adorable one between the titular girls in episode 2.06 of Cable Girls, when Lidia decides to stay in Madrid after all.
  • In Community the study group is fond enough of this for "bring it in" to become on of Jeff's catchphrases.
  • Doctor Who:
  • Friends numerous times, but most memorably when Phoebe becomes pregnant, which Phoebe comments can't be good for the baby with her in the middle, so the others have a group hug for her without her.
    • Towards the end of the final Thanksgiving episode, Monica gets news that she and Chandler have been selected to adopt a baby. The gang celebrate this way except for Joey, who had just landed chest-first on the serving cart and is now covered in food. He settles for standing a few inches away from the gang and miming as if he's part of the hug.
  • Pretty much ubiquitous on Full House.
  • The final scene of the final episode of The Golden Girls.
  • The infamous final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show featured one.
  • Mimpi Metropolitan:
    • After spending most of episode 25 refusing to talk to him because of a misunderstanding, Alan and Prima share a hug with Bambang after apologizing to him in the ending. Melani and Pipin share a separate hug, which Mami Bibir join in.
    • During Prima's farewell in episode 60's ending, Bambang, Alan and Prima share a group hug, twice. Mami Bibir, Alexi, Juna and Topan join the second one (Melani and Pipin stick to just hugging each other).
  • NCIS had a particularly heart-rending example. After Franks dies, Tony draws Ziva into a hug on the elevator, and lets her cry on his chest. The elevator doors ding open ... cue McGee and Abby in the exact same position. Cue Tony drawing them into a big elevator group hug. Cue waterworks.
  • Odd Squad: This is a trend when it comes to season finales. All of them are guaranteed to have at least one of these between the main characters.
    • "O is Not For Over" has Olive, Otto, and Oscar all hugging Oprah just before Olive and Otto set off for their new precinct after being promoted to the Management position and becoming Odd Squad Directors.
    • "Odds and Ends", the second part of the Season 2 finale, has a notable one. Shortly after Oprah, who is now the new Big O after having been promoted to the position as well as being promoted to the department of The Big Office, says that she'll miss Olympia, Otis and Oona, Otis says that the feeling is mutual and goes for a handshake. Oprah declines, and tells the trio to give her a hug instead. They all comply...including Otis himself, who is known to prefer handshakes over hugs.
    • "End of the Road", while a mid-season finale, is also a notable example for having the actors who play the main characters actually crying as they share a hug, shortly after Opal announces she's leaving the Mobile Unit (but not Odd Squad) to travel around the world with her sister. It's both heartwarming and tearjerking at the same time, especially since Opal never returns for the second half of the season and is only mentioned once.
    • Outside of season finales, "Dr. O: Party Time, Excellent" has Dr. O, set to leave Precinct 13579 for the Odd Squad Space Station, shares a hug with Olympia, Oprah and Oona after it's revealed that she loved the disastrous goodbye party Olympia and the other agents threw for her. The only one who doesn't participate in the hug is Otis, who opts for a handshake instead.
    • "Odd Off The Press" is another non-season-finale example, with Omar, Orla, Oswald and new addition Osmerelda Kim all sharing one as Oprah loses contact with them when going into space, and by extension, leaves the show permanently. It's quickly ruined by Orpita, however.
  • Red Dwarf: Happens as a way to show Rimmer that he is loved so they can build up his self-esteem and escape. His expression is priceless.
  • Schitt's Creek: All the main characters share a jubilant hug when Johnny announces he has gotten financing to expand the motel chain, but Patrick looks worried because he's not excited to move to New York.
  • Sister, Sister played it straight at the end of the episode, "You Are So Beautiful" with Tia, Tamera, Ray, and Lisa after learning about the twin daughters' birth mom.
  • The Suite Life of Zack & Cody episode "Team Tipton". Maddie, Zack, Cody, Esteban and Arwin.

    Music 

    Pro Wrestling 

    Puppet Shows 
  • Barney & Friends: Happens during "I Love You" on the line "with a great big hug". If everyone can't join in on a big one, they'll just hug the closest person.
  • Teletubbies: Big Hug!

    Video Games 
  • A group hug is the focal point of whichever route Sunny finds himself on in OMORI. On the Sunny Route, the hug is Sunny and his friends all embracing Aubrey to cheer her up, while Basil is noticeably absent. In the Omori route, It's Omori and his friends in Headspace embracing Basil, representing how Sunny has buried the last possible key to the truth.
  • This is the second thing the Gorons try to give you when you clean out Dodongo's Cavern in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Given that Darunia, their chief, Does Not Know His Own Strength and sends you to the ground with a simple pat on the back, Link wastes no time in running like hell as the Gorons approach.
  • "Group Hug" is the name of a party healing spell in Super Mario RPG. It doesn't go so far as to portray the hug, however.

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 

    Real Life 
  • Sports teams after a big victory.
  • After getting drunk together ... "I love you guys!"
  • Antarctic penguins do this, although in their case it's less a display of affection and more a survival mechanism to conserve body heat in freezing temperatures.

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We're Your Friends

Sean, Sydney, and Mindy assure Jet that they're his friends and they're there to help him.

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