History BrokenAce / AnimeAndManga

** As the [[{{Expy}} Chariest]] of the {{Char Clone}}s, Zechs Marquise of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' is another Broken Ace. His partner-in-crime and eventual enemy, Treize Khushreneda is an even better example. He's a genuinely gentlemanly CulturedWarrior and MagnificentBastard, who has the world in the palm of his hand, and the respect of everyone, including his [[WorthyOpponent enemies]]. He's also depressed by his attempts to make the world make sense, isolated from society and the other villains by a [[ValuesDissonance set of morals]] that [[BornInTheWrongCentury would have been more appropriate to 19th Century Europe]], unable to connect with other people or even recognise his own feelings for them, and as is revealed in the finale, a bonafide DeathSeeker. Treize basically has all the abilities of TheAce (albeit a villainous one) combined with the personality of a StepfordSmiler.

** Seto Kaiba mixes this with VillainWithGoodPublicity on one hand and NobleDemon on the other. He's a world-famous duelist, a child genius, and the billionaire head of a hugely successful multi-national gaming company. He's also completely uncaring of anyone outside his MoralityPet Mokuba, is filled with hatred for [[TheHero Yugi]] for being a better duelist, is haunted by the memory of his abusive stepfather, and is completely absorbed in his work and his dueling, showing little, if any, interest in anything else.

* [[KnightTemplar Light Yagami]] from ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an incredibly handsome, straight-laced, straight-A, genius student who happens to believe that murdering masses of criminals (and anyone else who stands in his way) will create a perfect utopia with himself as its all-powerful omnipotent God. Also, he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking loves]] [[MemeticMutation potato chips]].

** And Suzaku. Oh ''God'', Suzaku. Handsome, sweet, idealistic, [[AcePilot skilled pilot]], superhuman fighter...DeathSeeker, SelfMadeOrphan, {{Hypocrite}}, IdiotHero, [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cutie]].
** Lelouch may also count--as a student, he's a [[{{Bishonen}} gorgeous]], BrilliantButLazy GentlemanSnarker who half the school is a bit sweet on, and as Zero, he's a [[TheStrategist tactical genius]]. What neither of these descriptions mentions is that he's mostly driven by [[ByronicHero rage]] and ''extremely'' severe ParentalIssues.

* ''Anime/{{Daltanious}}'': Kloppen is the feared and respected Commander of Zaal, but he's secretly forced to put up with abusive regulations from his father, Dolmen, and threatened with violence whenever he fails. Dolmen even forces him to assassinate [[spoiler:Professor Namil]], who was actually a caring father figure to Kloppen even if he was complicit with Dolmen's manipulation.

* Sun Ce from ''Manhua/RavagesOfTime'' -- a [[OneManArmy warrior with few peers]] who can and ''has'' single-handedly torn his way through ''armies'', a MagnificentBastard even to the point of outdoing his oath-brother Zhou Yu (one of the Eight Geniuses), leader of an army at age twenty and military hegemon of southeastern China under his family banner by his mid-20s...but underneath it all, a boy still lashing out at a cruel world that got his beloved father Sun Jian killed ''right'' after ''finally'' showing his son some affection. Moreover, it's a father whose public reputation for loyalty to the Han Dynasty and righteousness is at odds with Sun Ce's own beliefs and public persona[[note]]and both Gan Ning and Cao Cao use this against Sun Ce in decrying him to his face[[/note]]. It doesn't help that in the side-novel ''Bofu'', he's got a case of the GreenEyedMonster regarding his younger brother Sun Quan.

** Judai Yuki becomes a deconstruction of TheAce in Season 3 of SequelSeries ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. Success has always come so easily for him that he puts too much pressure on himself to be a perfect, invincible hero who can never let anyone down until he finally snaps under it and falls over the DespairEventHorizon. In this series, when it comes to the psyches of teenagers burdened with saving the world, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs.

* ''Anime/VoltesV'': Subverted. While Heinel graduated at the top of his Military School, is the only one competent enough to lead the EarthernInvasion, is a MasterSwordsman and an excellent pilot, he is also a laughing stock amongst Zambajil and his court of nobles.[[spoiler: By the end of the series, all his comrades have been killed off one by one, the Empire he's fighting for is falling and he finds out that he's been fighting against his own family. And then he goes out via RedemptionEqualsDeath]].

* ''Manga/{{Claudine}}'': Claudine de Montesse becomes this when he goes to university. While he's genuinely book smart, kindhearted, world-weary and all, his BreakTheCutie past as well as his identity issues coming from being a UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} man in early XX century France cause [[TheWoobie the poor dude]] lots of emotional trouble.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' Yoriichi, the founder of Breathing Techniques and the greatest swordsman in the whole series has a pretty sad life from failling to kill Muzan due to distractions, losing his family in the process with his wife and their unborn kid dead and seeing his own twin brother turned into a demon.

* Loid Forger aka Twilight from ''Manga/SpyxFamily''. Being the world's best spy admired by multiple women and his fellow agents, he's a very attractive and intelligent man with countless talents and skills that enables him to complete innumerable missions without a hitch. However, he also has a horrific past where he was orphaned and emotionally scarred due to war and discards any chance in having an ordinary life just to prevent another one from happening.

* Loid Forger aka Twilight from ''Manga/SpyxFamily''. Being the world's best spy admired by multiple women and his fellow agents, he's a very attractive and intelligent man with countless talents and skills that enables him to complete innumerable missions without a hitch. However, he also has a horrific past where he was orphaned and emotionally scarred due to war.

* In ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'', [[spoiler:Miyako Miyamura]] is cheery, athletic, funny, with top grades, a superb cook and housekeeper. [[spoiler:She's actually unable to socialize with people since she was practically abandoned by her parents after their VERY bitter divorce, so she became TheAce to [[WellDoneSonGuy try regaining their affections]] -- and failed badly]]. So she's also out-of-reality, selfish, clingy, childish, love-starved...and in dire need of both a swift slap to the head and a tight, warm hug.

** [[NinetiesAntiHero Guts]] is gaining this status with his new companions. They all look up to him as an awesome force of nature against impossibly strong foes more or less, but it's obvious or at least suspected by them all that Guts is hiding some serious issues about his past (which, funnily enough, none of actually inquired about).

* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'''s Johann Liebert is something of a subversion, in that he has virtually no actual personality or drive of his own, to the point of being almost more of a force of nature ''read'' as TheAce than even a broken one. His sister Nina, on the other hand, is brilliant, driven, and a genuinely good person, but plagued by first her lack of memories and then the horrors of the ones she recovers.

* [[CheerfulChild Oz]] [[StepfordSmiler Vessalius]] of ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' is, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the guidebook PandoraHearts 24 + 1: Last Dance,]] good at pretty much everything. Unfortunately, he has more [[BrokenHero emotional issues]] than...well.

* Kouji Nanjo from ''Manga/{{Zetsuai 1989}}''. He's handsome, smart, good at kendo, excellent in singing and songwriting, and from a powerful and rich family. And he's also a BUNDLE of issues.
* In ''Manga/MissionYozakuraFamily'', Kyoichiro is an ImplacableMan said to be the family's finest spy, easily overwhelming his siblings despite their best efforts to impede him. But his lingering guilt over how a mistake of his badly injured Mutsumi has made him a KnightTemplarBigBrother who brutally beats or even murders anyone he perceives as a threat to her.
* ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'' establishes that even though Yu Narukami pretty much an expert at ''nearly everything'' and can max out a Social Link within a short amount of time, he's actually broken inside due to having to leave his school and friends in Tokyo for a year. This gets even worse due to the fact that he now has to leave his new friends in Inaba which was apparently the most fun he's had, leading to the point where [[spoiler:he's willing to let Izanami trap him in a LotusEaterMachine just so he doesn't have to leave everyone behind. Margaret manages to snap him out of it and forces him to confront his Shadow, who [[ReallyMovesAround panics about him constantly having to leave everything and everyone behind, rendering him alone and helpless]].]]
* Anime/ZombieLandSaga

* Taichi in ''Manga/{{Chihayafuru}}'': he's very rich, good-looking, charming, popular, and very intelligent -- he even has a whole room filled with trophies of various competitions he's won, as he's immediately succeeded at almost everything he's ever tried. However, karuta is ''not'' one of those things: there, while he does possess some natural abilities (his memory is incredible even by professional standards), he is leagues away from matching Arata, and has a terrible track record of bad luck that kept him from officially making Grade A for a long time. Multiple characters have envied him for this, most obviously Tsutomu who hated him at first for consistently beating him at school despite having so much else going for him. But Taichi himself is consumed with self-doubt and envy -- his mother is incredibly strict and would punish him whenever he failed to succeed (and highly discouraged him pursuing anything he wouldn't immediately succeed at), leaving him terrified of failure. Meeting Arata and seeing his skill left him aware of how little he's actually capable of in the one area that really matters to him, and the fact that Chihaya is much closer to Arata's skill level (despite herself being an airhead who gets terrible grades and is nicknamed 'beauty in vain' for her difficult personality) doesn't help his jealousy issues at all.

* Shinnosuke Yamazaki from ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' was a brilliant engineer and a hero alongside his team (Team Hanagumi's predecessors). According to [[Anime/SakuraWarsTV the anime]], he was also obsessed with finding a permanent solution to Tokyo's monster problem; [[spoiler:he went mad after finding out they exist AsLongAsThereIsEvil. When he couldn't beat them, he joined them and became Aoi Satan]].

** Jiren is the strongest Pride Trooper of Universe 11, an hero team devoted to justice. Moreover, he is easily the strongest mortal known to exist and incredibly skilled. So great in fact that he defeated Universe 11's Destroyer Belmod. [[spoiler: Only being defeated thanks to Goku attaining and completing a mythical technique called Ultra Instinct that even Gods of Destruction like Beerus have not mastered.]] From his introduction onwards Jiren is presented as an unstoppable force of power so great that Hit, Freeza and [[BloodKnight even Goku]] are unnerved and reluctant to face him. In every fight he brutalizes and crushes his foes like it was child's play and with minimum effort whether it is Golden Frieza, SSB Vegeta, Hit or SSB Kaioken x 20 Goku. And unlike so many other fighters his strength is pure willpower and effort, no inherent potential or Saiyan biology or rare unique abilities like Buu. Just pure strength. As a side effect however, Jiren is TheStoic who barely involves himself in a tournament he could win until the end and selfishly lets his teammates fail. [[spoiler: A tendency due to his DarkAndTroubledPast, where after seeing his family, mentor and friends either die or abandon him, Jiren spits on the idea of trust and believes only in MightMakesRight.]] As a result his mental state is quite poor, and only worsens as the Tournament goes on and Universe 7 overcomes obstacle after obstacle through teamwork. [[spoiler: As the endgame continues and Goku defiantly fights for his friends and attains Ultra Instinct one last time and overwhelms Jiren, the Pride Trooper completely breaks down down due to this triggering his past trauma and history of loss, refusing to acknowledge he is wrong and in a rage attempts to murder Goku's friends and team to prove ThePowerOfFriendship is a lie.]] However Jiren in the end thanks to the efforts of Universe 7 [[spoiler: in particular the mutual trust and excellent teamwork of Goku and Frieza]] and support of Toppo is able to experience a TookALevelInKindness and finally grow beyond his past.

* Sakuya Ookochi from ''Manga/SensualPhrase''. TallDarkAndHandsome, with a great singing voice, extremely sexy and charismatic, and with a [[TheCutie very cute and loving girlfriend]] who's also [[CuteBookworm a talented songwriter]]. However, he's also completely messed up due to [[DomesticAbuser his seriously fucked up views on love and sexuality]] (poor, ''poor'' Aine) as well as a terrible past that involves [[spoiler:his LadyDrunk mother's death, the discrimination he faced as both [[ButnotTooForeign a half-foreigner]] and an HeroicBastard, and lots of other stuff]].

** This trope definitely runs in the family. Itachi's brother, Uchiha Sasuke -- prodigy, handsome, extremely-skilled ninja, wanted by a lot of girls. But he's also incredibly damaged inside because of his past. It gets worse as the series goes on. He's extremely gifted, able to use some of the strongest attacks seen yet at the ripe age of about seventeen, and can hold it his own against foes like the Raikage. He's even more damaged inside than before and it gets brutally thrown back at him.

** Sasuke's ex-sensei, Hatake Kakashi, is another Broken Ace, albeit one who remains on the side of good. He was a child prodigy who became a jounin before he even entered his teens, is one of the only non-Uchiha to have mastered the [[MagicalEye Sharingan]], is a skilled elemental user and has [[InformedAbility over 1000 jutsu at his disposal]]. He's also eaten up with self-loathing and guilt at not being able to protect his teammates, both of whom are dead, and [[ParentalIssues his father committed suicide in front of him when he was a child]]. One of his quirks -- chronic lateness -- is explained by his constant visits to his old teammate Obito's memorial, although it's actually an [[LegacyCharacter aspect of his having turned himself into a living memorial]]; Obito was always late for the reasons that Kakashi uses as excuses in the present. [[spoiler:As expected, Kakashi does not take TheReveal that Obito survived and [[FaceHeelTurn went off the deep end]] [[HeroicBSOD very well]]]].

* In ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'', [[spoiler:Miyako Miyamura]] seems to be a walking PuritySue: cheery, athletic, funny, with top grades, a superb cook and housekeeper. [[spoiler:She's actually unable to socialize with people since she was practically abandoned by her parents after their VERY bitter divorce, so she became TheAce to [[WellDoneSonGuy try regaining their affections]] -- and failed badly]]. So she's also out-of-reality, selfish, clingy, childish, love-starved...and in dire need of both a swift slap to the head and a tight, warm hug.

* Kishibe in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' was the WorldsBestWarrior who started out as an arrogant [[DemonSlaying Devil Hunter]] but after nine years of near-death experiences (and violent rejections from his SexyMentor Quanxi) he became so scarred, disheveled, and visibly tired that he's pretty much turned into a completely different person. He's made [[DealWithTheDevil contracts]] with three different Devils but he's [[DentedIron so physically beaten down]] that he has nothing left to trade to use their power, [[InexplicablyAwesome which he apparently doesn't even need]] as he's capable of curbstomping almost any Devil or Fiend [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower without any supernatural ability whatsoever]]. He's also [[DrowningMySorrows an alcoholic]] who's [[HighTurnoverRate watched so many of his colleagues and proteges die horrible deaths]] he seems barely able to feel ''anything'' anymore.

** When we are first introduced to Erza Scarlet in ''Manga/FairyTail'', we are introduced to a stern, powerful, and charismatic S-Class wizard, who was able to keep rivals Natsu and Gray in line. However, she had a dark past as a slave to a dark cult devoted to bringing back Zeref, who took one of her eyes after an escape attempt gone wrong. She gained the strength to fight after her closest friend Jellal was captured in his attempt to free her, and she unlocked her magic because of the death of her grandfather figure Rob. When she found Jellal, he had seemingly changed from his torture, becoming obsessed with bringing back Zeref, and keeping Erza from interfering by holding the lives of their unaware friends hostage. Erza attempt to fight him years later ends up with her hesitating, allowing Jellal to finish the steps for the Tower and leading to her friend Simon taking the bullet to save her and Natsu's life. At the end of the arc, she tries to sacrifice herself to stop the Tower of Heaven from overloading, but is kept from passing one by the vision of her guildmates morning her death.
** Jellal Fernandez started as TheLeader for his and Erza's group during their days as slaves. However, during his torture by the cultists, he was brainwashed by Zeref's ghost ([[spoiler:Really Ultear from Grimoire Heart as part of their guild's goals.]]), and turned into a sociopath obsessed with bringing back Zeref, manipulating the Magic Council (while under the guise of their Wizard Saint Councilor Siegrain) into firing their super-weapon Etherion onto the tower. After his defeat by Natsu, he is seemingly killed during the destruction of the R-System. Months later he is brought back as an AmnesiacHero by Brain, hoping that the former's evil persona will help them find a super-weapon called Nirvana. Jellal breaks down when he learns of his past misdeeds from Erza (who was under the impression that was still his villainous self), and tried to destroy both himself and Nirvana as repentance. Years later, he became a member of Crime Sorcery, a guild dedicated to stopping dark mages as a mean of atonement, but still has self-resentment to keep himself away from Erza despite their mutual feelings for each other.
** Mirajane Strauss was one of Fairy Tail's S-Class Wizards and the famous She-Demons. However, prior to joining Fairy Tail, she and her siblings were orchestrated by their village after a demon she defeated caused her arm to turn demonic. It took arriving to Fairy Tail and her siblings learning Take-Over magic to help her recover. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes again when she takes her siblings on an S-Class quest that leads to her brother attempting a full-body takeover on a Beast and pushing him into a berserker state, causing him to [[spoiler:apparently]] kill his younger sister Lisanna. This leaves Mirajane as a seemingly cheerful barmaid and famous model, but really a StepfordSmiler who was unable to use her magic until her brother's life was put in danger.

* Haru's friend Taku from ''Literature/AccelWorld'' is a friendly, smart, athletic...pretty much everything Haru wishes he was. All of this masks Taku's extreme resentment and jealousy of ''Haru''. Taku is horribly insecure about his relationship with his girlfriend Chiyu because he believes that Chiyu secretly loves Haru instead of him. In his eyes, Chiyu always looks happier hanging out with Haru than she does when she is with him. All of Taku's achievements -- athletics, academics -- were done for the sole purpose of making himself better boyfriend material than Haru. Taku even went so far as to use [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Acceleration]] to improve his performance -- he didn't actually achieve anything through effort alone. He also installed a virus in Chiyu's neuro-link so he can spy on her at any time, making him borderline StalkerWithACrush material. While Taku does turn over a new leaf after Haru forces him into a tie, it's later revealed that he was hazed during kendo practice when he was younger,with other students practicing thrusting techniques on his neck so much that he became suicidal at times, and given that a thrust attack {{trigger}}s him, he suspects he won't be able to do kendo in high school, since thrusting is legal in high school competitions. Subsequent arcs reveal that [[NotSoDifferentRemark he's ultimately just as capable of self-loathing as Haru is]], but doesn't deal with it in as constructive of a manner.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':
** Seiji Yagiri. Handsome, smart...and huge {{Yandere}} [[ALoveToDismember for a girl's head]].
** Namie, as well. In the novels, she's always described as an [[AloofDarkHairedGirl incredibly stunning young woman]] and she has enough smarts to give ''Izaya'' a run for his money. She's also rich, as well as the [[spoiler:previous]] head of Yagiri pharmaceuticals. Oh, and did we mention she's a virtually emotionless {{Jerkass}} who's [[BrotherSisterIncest madly in love with her brother]]?
** Another example is Shizuo Heiwajima's younger brother, Kasuka. Rich, talented, brilliant, beautiful and...''off''. The fact that he [[spoiler:[[UnholyMatrimony hooked up with a serial killer]]]] should tell you just ''how'' off. Even [[spoiler:said SerialKiller]], Ruri, described him as being out of his mind.
** Izaya Orihara. Smart, rich, connected, {{Bishonen}}, good at fighting, and an incredibly awful [[TheSociopath sociopath]] underneath, who will go as far as tricking girls into making {{Suicide Pact}}s with him ForTheLulz and manipulate other people for the same reason. If not for [[spoiler: Shinra]], he'd be a downright monster.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', practically every Ace among the Masters. Kiritsugu and his status as the number one competitor, along with everything ''else'', including Saber? [[spoiler:Horrible life prior to meeting Maya and Iri, emotional issues, has no choice but to sacrifice his family for his dream, has the worst compatibility with his Servant out of the seven Masters]]. Kayneth and his prestigious magical talent and status as a Lord? [[spoiler:Horrible luck, his fiancée is in love with his Servant, overwhelmingly arrogant]]. Kotomine and his superhuman abilities and immense talent for anything and everything he does? [[spoiler:None of it means anything to him because of his soul-afflicted emptiness]]. Tokiomi and his incredible magical skill and having the strongest Servant in the entire Nasuverse? [[spoiler:His Servant fully plans to betray him, and he tore apart his own family due to his misguided attempts to make his daughters "equals" while holding true to Magus philosophy]].
** Among the Servants, Lancer, Berserker, and Saber all qualify. Lancer is easily the most skillful combatant out of the lot, but he has terrible luck, bad compatibility with his Master, and [[spoiler:a curse that makes women fall in love with him, including said master's fiancée]]. Berserker is one of the strongest Servants in the Nasuverse, capable of giving even [[StoryBreakerPower Archer]] a hard time even while handicapped by a sickly Master, but he's insane, and so fixated on Saber that he tends to have tunnel vision and thus get blindsided whenever she's around [[spoiler:because of his intense guilt over betraying her and sleeping with Guinevere]]. Also, again, he's handicapped by his Master's frail condition. Saber is the best all-around combatant, and has the strongest overall abilities statwise, but she has the worst Master/Servant compatibility in the war ''bar none'', and is consistently a victim of circumstances, or her Master's underhanded tactics. In addition, [[spoiler:she's badly hampered by her guilt complex over her kingdom's fall, and her worry over Irisveil, who is literally dying in front of her with no way to stop it]]. And that's just how bad things are for them at the ''start'' of the conflict; by the end, everything is at least an entire order of magnitude worse for all three of them.
* The Saber of the related ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'' (aka [[spoiler:Richard the Lionheart]]) initially appears to be a handsome KnightInShiningArmor who is as clever, multiskilled, and charming as he is chivalrous and noble. However, many of the characteristics that made him likable as a person also made him [[TheCaligula an unstable and destructive ruler who bled his country dry and dragged it into war for thoughtless and ultimately pointless reasons]], and Saber himself readily admits that his eventual assassination was entirely deserved.

* The titular ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Talented in pretty much everything she does (especially music and studies), bright, cheerful, charismatic -- and dangerously out of reality, as well as so spoiled and pushy that she treats other people like toys. (Poor Mikuru). [[spoiler: And then we have her massive RealityWarper powers]]. The series is about Kyon and the SOS Brigade attempting to keep her worst traits at bay.

* Prince Geordo in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is skilled at absolutely everything, such as being more efficient in Catarina's farm than the girl herself, but his lack of struggles left him with an inability to understand those of others (especially Alan's), as well as being bored at everything since [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction all things come off as too easy for him]].