Hate at First Sight

Yozora: Why would I ever, ever want to be friends with someone like her? Sena: And why would I ever, like ever want to be friends with someone like her? Kodaka: They just met? How can they hate each other so much already? —Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Everyone's heard of Love at First Sight, right? Two people meet and they are instantly drawn to each other, falling in love when they barely even know one another. Sometimes, however, the opposite happens. Sometimes people despise each other and develop an antagonistic relationship from the moment they first meet. That is Hate at First Sight.

The reasons for this can vary. Maybe it's their instincts giving them a hint that they just can't get along with this person or maybe it's just something random and unfounded. Or maybe one or both are just terrible at making a good first impression. Whatever the reason, one or both characters will simply never get along or at least not without a great deal of trial and tribulation. While you might think that this trope would be particularly common between a hero and a villain, it's actually quite common between two good characters as well. If the two ever get along, they will likely be Vitriolic Best Buds.

Compare Irrational Hatred.

Anime and Manga

• Aikatsu! Stars Caroline (a sheep) knows immediately what kind of person Erza the moment she come to scout Kirara
• Amagi Brilliant Park Moffle immediately hates Seiya and starts punching him from the moment they meet
• Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Almost everyone is some kind of antisocial misfit, so there's a lot of early antagonism of this sort.
  • Yozora and Sena both have a tendency to dislike people who act friendly over their first interaction, due to suspicion of betrayal in the end. They also hate each other from the moment they meet. Kodaka lampshading this provides the page quote.
  • Kobato also hates Sena immediately, though in her case it's justified as she acts like a creepy stalker towards her.
  • Kobato and Maria subvert it though. They look like they hate each other, but are actually best friends. For Kobato, Maria seems to be the only person she does consider a friend: She avoids all her classmates who want to get along with her.
• Durarara!: Izaya and Shizuo hated each other instantly. Shizuo could tell exactly what kind of person Izaya was while Izaya was constantly unable to manipulate Shizuo due to his hostility. This hatred only grew over the years due to numerous Noodle Incidents during their high school years, and by the time the series starts, there is no hope of any civility between them.
• Inuyasha: Subverted. It looks like Inuyasha hates Kagome at first sight, but soon it's clear that he doesn't really hate her at all; he just can't stand looking at her because she looks so much like Kikyou, the woman who pinned him to a tree fifty years ago.
• Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: Dio Brando saw Jonathan Joestar as an enemy the moment he laid eyes on him. Poor Jonathan only wanted to be friends with Dio. It's not until Dio pulls stunts like stealing Jonathan's girlfriend Erina's first kiss, killing his dog, poisoning his father, and becoming a mass-murdering vampire that Jonathan sees Dio as an enemy. Even then, Jonathan still considers Dio a brother.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: This is Sayaka Miki's attitude towards Homura Akemi.
• Vampire Knight: Zero Kiryu and Kaname Kuran hated each other from the moment they first met, to the point that the former tried to stab the latter. In Zero's case, it's because he could sense he was a Pureblood vampire, one of which was responsible for the death of his family and his transformation. Kaname in return hated Zero for trying to stab him. This, combined with their mutual love for the same girl, developed into an antagonistic relationship in which they never pass an opportunity to taunt one another and only work together for the sake of Yuki.
• In Igano Kabamaru, Kabamaru Igano fell in Love at First Sight with Mai Ookubo. Unfortunately, her first impression of him is so horrible that she swears by this trope instead. For a while anyway.

Films- Live-Action

• Aliens: Ripley immediately takes a disliking to Bishop after discovering he's an android. It's justified though, due to her experience with the android Ash on the Nostromo, not to mention he eventually manages to earn her respect and friendship.

Video Games

• Mass Effect 2: Jack dismisses Miranda as a 'Cerberus bitch' before she even opens her mouth.

Visual Novels

• Fate/stay night: Believe it or not, Shirou Emiya has two cases of this.
  • He and Archer are instantly in opposition because Shirou recognizes that Archer embodies his ideals as a hero of justice, but absolutely despises his methods. Archer, in turn, views Shirou as a naive fool whose insistence on fair play, honor and trying to help everyone will just get even more people killed and will lead him to being crushed by his ideals like Archer himself, who is Shirou's future self.
  • He's also instantly hostile to Kirei Kotomine, though in this case Shirou doesn't really try to think about it too much and just calls him a fake priest. In truth, he doesn't really dislike Kotomine, but feels he must oppose him because like Archer he is someone that is just different enough to merit his instant hostilities. He actually likes Kotomine since they're so similar.
• Tsukihime: Akiha has a tendency to hate people quickly; she instantly takes a disliking to both Ciel and Arcueid. As far as Ciel goes she has pretty solid reasons: Ciel is a member of an organization that often opposes non human beings such as herself. Arcueid, on the other hand, pisses her off because of how whimsical she is as well as how close she seems to her brother, whom she is very possessive of.