History ButtMonkey / AnimeAndManga

* Kafka Hibino in ''Manga/KaijuNumber8'' might be TheProtagonist, however, that doesn't stop him from being humiliated on a fairly regular basis. His first InvoluntaryTransformation has him destroy a hospital room, reflexively eat a bird alive, and then accidentally urinate himself [[BizarreAlienBiology through his nipples]]. Before he ever even gained powers he was often given the more disgusting jobs as part of Kaiju Cleanup. He also regularly gets called "Oldman", despite only being 32, due to the age gap between him and much of the core cast.

** Everything Lelouch "One the universe hates" vi Brittania does just gets messed up, even if it's all treated deadly seriously. Save his best friend? Short-term, friend gets court-martialed for insubordination, long-term [[spoiler:Tokyo gets wiped out because of the Geass command he uses to do it.]] Everything eventually comes back to bite him in the ass. The only one that actually goes off without a hitch or a ButterflyOfDoom chain of cause-and-effect is the plan where [[spoiler:he [[ZeroApprovalGambit makes everyone hate him]], then ''[[ThanatosGambit dies]]''.]]

** While to Usagi's degree, but her brother Shingo Tsukino does have his moments, usually whenever Usagi {{troll}}s with him.

* Jadeite and Sailor Iron Mouse from ''Manga/SailorMoon'' -- both try their hardest and get no respect for their efforts. Jadeite gets imprisoned in a crystal, and Iron Mouse just gets killed as she is pleading for mercy.

* Han-Kyul from ''Manhwa/NeedAGirl'', the guy is nice at heart, is seen as handsome by his classmates, then he became acquainted with a group of perverts, he himself did not change, but his reputation in the other hand. Now Han-Kyul is the Butt of all Punishments for his friends actions: peeping on girls and harassing them, even when he had nothing to do with with, or was outright trying to prevent it; there are some who even credits him as being the group's leader and greatest pervert, the guy's reputation went downhill from that point on.

* Nanako Shichigusa from ''Amazing Nurse Nanako''.

* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'' has arguably a cast of them as there is probably none who doesn't get at least a KickTheDog moment. Though the most suffering is probably Katou Yue, who is not only a drug addict in real life because his father hates him. He gets killed no less than four times throughout the series.

** And to a lesser extent, Yuuji.

** An arguably bigger example is the [[GoldfishPoopGang MK5]], what with their "talent" of being beaten in the space of one page by protagonists and antagonists alike (Even in volleyball, no less!).

** His ButtMonkey status becomes Deconstructed big time when we see what kind of effects it has on a person, in Chapter 173. [[spoiler: The tissues mentioned prior are Demon Tissues. By using them as nose plugs, he could channel the power of a demon, specifically from Behemoth's gang, up to ''Behemoth'' himself. He uses this to effortlessly win against several powerful characters before fighting Oga. Oga tried telling him that the tissues are poisonous (and we do get to see Furuichi begin to succumb to the side-effects such as delirium), only for Furuichi to reveal he knew from the start because the first demon told him. More importantly, ''he doesn't care.'' All the experiences, insults and mocking have taken a toll on him and being the ButtMonkey was as good as being dead in his eyes. This desperate determination is so potent that when he actually gets ''Behemoth himself'' as the demon of that bit, he lends him some of his power, understanding his pain, but also knows that Behemoth's power could ''destroy Furuichi.'']]

*** [[spoiler: This could be seen as a brutal case of realism, since what Furuichi experiences is technically bullying and many victims develop low self-esteem and become suicidal.]]

** Omaeda Marechiyo, Vice Captain of the 2nd squad, aside of being abused daily by Soi Fon, had the honor of being taken out in one punch by Ichigo. Then in the Arrancar invasion arc, he finally did a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome... only to negate it by reverting into his UpperClassTwit self and the Fraccion he just beat comes back ready to kick his ass and ends up dead by a thrown rock, not by his power. Then he ran off in full fear when Barragan chases him (it's justified, though). Then in the Zanpakutou Tales filler, [[spoiler:he didn't get to beat his Zanpakutou Gegetsuburi, Ichigo defeated him first, and then Ikkaku, a third seat officer, belittles him "It's Omaeda. Who cares about him." And then, Mayuri bisected and presumably destroyed Gegetsuburi, but since it's Ichigo who beats him, it doesn't return to Omaeda, now leaving him presumably without a Zanpakutou.]]
*** And now, in the newest filler arc involving copies of the shinigami, after seeing identical (if a little crazy) copies we see...someone new. Turns out he's Omaeda's copy who refused to look like Omaeda, explaining exactly why. The real Ikkaku and Yumichika laugh uncontrollably, agreeing completely.

* The list of Butt Monkeys in ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' is quite long. Really, really long. More than anyone else, Jelly Jiggler is the main Butt Monkey, although Don Patch and Dengaku Man are great examples of this trope, too. Hell, even Bobobo is!

* Sunohara Youhei of ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}''. Even his cute little sister treats him poorly.
-->'''Tomoyo''': [[StrawLoser You]] really ''are'' useful for gags.
-->'''Tomoyo''': [[LampshadeHanging You exist for that.]]

* The Manga/{{Claymore}}s in the series titled after them are infused with the blood of Yoma, the monsters they are trained to fight and will eventually become them if they exert themselves too much; plus, if they start asking too many questions, the organization will send them on suicide missions to shut them up. The main character, Clare, generally has it the worst, since she started out as a human who was a companion to the most powerful Claymore, only to have her killed before her eyes. Her body is then used to turn Clare into a Claymore herself, except since she's only a quarter Yoma, she's the lowest ranked Claymore and everyone looks down on her.
** A running gag in the series is somebody (usually a fellow Claymore) pushing her face into the dirt whenever she is about to do something too reckless.

** What about the main character? Lelouch "One the universe hates" vi Brittania? Everything Lelouch does just gets messed up, even if it's all treated deadly seriously. Save his best friend? Short-term, friend gets court-martialed for insubordination, long-term [[spoiler:Tokyo gets wiped out because of the Geass command he uses to do it.]] Everything eventually comes back to bite him in the ass. The only one that actually goes off without a hitch or a ButterflyOfDoom chain of cause-and-effect is the plan where [[spoiler:he [[ZeroApprovalGambit makes everyone hate him]], then ''[[ThanatosGambit dies]]''.]]
** And Shirley... Oh my gosh, Shirley... That poor girl ''cannot'' catch a break. Her butt monkeyness is both PlayedForLaughs ''and'' PlayedForDrama.

* Nobita Nobi from ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', [[ThisLoserIsYou so much]] that one of his descendants has to send him his robot to help dealing with that. Not that it's getting any better unless [[NonSerialMovie when they're going on an adventure.]]

*** Arguably, his high point is beating See-Through the Invisible Man during the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. Then he loses to Bandages the Mummy.
*** Alternatively, his high point might be in the next tournament, catching Tien off guard and giving him a better fight than expected. Then Tien breaks his leg while he's down ForTheEvulz, putting him out of commission for the duration of the King Piccolo Saga.
*** In the ''next'' tournament, he's easily defeated by Kami in disguise as Hero.

** To a lesser extent, Krillin is one too. The man's died three times, he CantCatchUp, and his signature attack, likely the most deadly in the manga, just can't score a critical hit. However, unlike Yamcha, Krillin continues to receive screentime and plot importance, and he actually comes through with the occasional cool moment at several critical points. He also got to marry Android 18, and have a daughter with her.

*** Hell, TheAbridgedSeries even has the ''Krillin Owned Count'' (a running gag where anytime Krillin is beaten up, disrespected[[note]]in episode 2, Master Roshi told him to shut up after Krillin blamed him for letting Piccolo escape with Gohan[[/note]], or acts like a loser [[note]]in episode 13 from season 2, Krillin gets owned after failing to come up with a witty one-liner[[/note]], a little counter appears featuring a silhouette of Krillin with a Band-Aid on his head and the words: "Krillin Owned Count" followed by the number of times he's been owned. He once found his new girlfriend is a government agent sent to bust him on insurance fraud charges, then telling him that he has to pay back all the money he spent on her out of his own pocket. Also, in the first episode, Goku compares Raditz's power level as stronger than "Krillin's losing streak" (to which Krillin replies: "You know, you guys are the reason I go to therapy"). Odd upside: He eventually reveals to Trunks that he can tell, even from a distance, when someone's ''holding back.''

** And in the AbridgedSeries, Raditz is treated as a butt monkey for Vegeta and Nappa. They constantly mention how weak he is, and at one point, Nappa compares Krillin to Raditz, saying "He's like the Raditz of their group!" But eventually, Krillin shows he's stronger than Raditz, amusing Nappa.
*** It's just as true even in the series proper. The only reason this is played up in the Abridged is based on the actual treatment of the real character from then on. That is to say, Raditz may as well have never existed. Despite being brothers, Goku never spares so much as a thought about him until the end of forever. Vegeta dismisses him from memory outright (albeit the same happens with Nappa, though at least Vegeta and Nappa have scenes together). And worst (and most telling) of all, Raditz disappears from even the AFTERLIFE, never to so much as be heard from again (although he does get a teensy little cameo in the non-canon ''GT''). Granted, they were evil, but no more evil than Vegeta, who got to have a redemption arc.
** Even Goku himself has had his fair share of pluckiness over the course of the entire series, often occurring when neither Krillin or Yamcha are present. In fact, one of his first mishaps involved falling off a cliff as a toddler and nearly dying from the impact to his head. A scene later in the ''DBZ'' series involved Goku having his hand be trampled on by a ''herd of elephants'', and the ''GT'' series amps up Goku's abuse. Fortunately, Goku's brick-tough nature usually lets him shrug it all off.

** In the original series, Bulma was the Butt Monkey whenever Goku was around. Just in the first arc alone, she had her panties taken off by Goku and then flashed Master Roshi, being unable to ride the Nimbus, had to rough it when she wasn't used to it, and being turned into produce.
*** Bulma becomes this in the {{filler}} of the Frieza Saga when she ended up being switched into the body of a frog that Captain Ginyu inhabited. It seems to be directly proportional to how much screentime she gets.

* Every diclonius and even some humans suffer extreme Butt Monkey effects on the anime ''Manga/ElfenLied''.
** But nobody does it better than our Nana, though Manga-version Yuka is competitive, often placing herself in ecchi situations, to the point she even stops hitting Kouta for them. Even a primal Tsundere can hit this point, it seems.

** To be fair, Kuchiki is a complete and utter tool, all the time. Considering how likeable and "well-adjusted" Kio Shimoku makes the rest of the uber-geek Genshiken members, Kuchiki's behaviour is not only annoying, but embarrassing. Despite the Genshiken members acknowledging his creepy behaviour, they still include him as a form of loyalty.

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', while almost everyone is prone to being a victim of gags, Shinpachi, Kondo, Hasegawa, and the Shogun are the especially common targets.

* Taniguchi (to a minor extent) in ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya''. And let's just say it is ''not'' good to be the Computer Club president, unless you enjoy [[DynamicEntry flying kicks to the head]] ([[RuleThirtyFour and hey, some do]]).
** Then there's [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Kyon]], who is surrounded by various supernatural events every day, and [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be left alone]]. Oh, and if he starts dating anyone, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Haruhi will destroy the universe]]. Also, Mikuru, though what type of Butt Monkey she is varies from time to time; sometimes she's TheChewToy and her suffering is funny, other times she's TheWoobie and her suffering...isn't.

** Also, [[{{Tsundere}} England]] sometimes in {{Fanon}}. Fans make use of his magical powers by making him fail in order to create a plot, while implying that England does ''every'' spell wrong, which isn't true in Canon. They also poke fun at his [[BigOlEyebrows eyebrows]], [[LethalChef cooking skills]], eyebrows, [[CantHoldHisLiquor alcoholistic tendencies]]...did I mention eyebrows?

* The Producer in ''Anime/TheIdolMaster'', although watered down a little. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the final episode by the Futami Twins.
-->'''Mami:''' This place is boring without you to play around with.

*** Speaking of whom, Jean-Pierre Polnareff is frequently the butt of his friends' jokes, and very often the first to be subjected to an enemy [[FightingSpirit Stand]] or even non-Stand-related slapstick. One of the biggest examples is when he finds out that [[spoiler:Avdol, whose "death" he felt responsible for, was actually alive the whole time; after reuniting with him, the overjoyed Polnareff presents him to Jotaro, Joseph, and Kakyoin...only to find out that all three of them already knew he was alive (Joseph and Jotaro knew from the beginning, and Kakyoin found out the day after Avdol's supposed death), and ''decided not to tell Polnareff about it'' for fear that he would accidentally reveal it to the enemy, leaving Polnareff as the ''only'' one in the dark despite knowing how broken up he was about it. WithFriendsLikeThese]]

*** And then there's Narancia Ghirga, who, like Polnareff and Okuyasu before him, is almost always the first to be affected when a Stand User attacks their whole group, whether it's Soft Machine deflating him, Talking Head making him unable to tell the truth, or Grateful Dead rapidly aging him.

* Agari Yamato from ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo''. In the time span of '''ONE DAY''', he had events ranging from having the girl he loves mistake him for a child molester, to being blamed for the earth's destruction. Seriously. Not one chapter can be made without something happening to Yamato.
** And then even after he hits the ResetButton (because of said earth's destruction), it goes FromBadToWorse. So far, he has had a gun pointed to his head just because he's the master of the greatest good doji, got stabbed almost numerous times by one of the evil doji, got one of his comrades into a comatose state, failed to prevent his best friend from turning to TheDarkSide ''again'', who later [[AttemptedRape attempts to rape him]], before Yamato convinces him to come to the Good Side. We later learn that this [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor fails too]]. And this took place in the matter of about ''five hours''.

* Bucky from ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion''.

* While most of the main characters in ''Literature/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'' are unlucky, Isshiki is arguably the most unlucky. For example, [[spoiler:the poor fellow's attempts at wooing Kumin (in the anime) with the later never noticing one bit. Even better, when he finally does confess in episode 10, it's on a stage in front of the entire school, unfortunately [[HeavySleeper she was asleep at the time]].]]

* Taniguchi's voice actor Shiraishi "Sebastian" Minoru in ''Anime/LuckyStar''.
** Don't forget Tsukasa from the main part of the show.

* Alibaba, the main character of ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'',because the mangaka enjoys trampling on his inability to do the do with attractive females, which becomes comedic highlight -- at the expense of the poor guy's pride.
** There is a running gag between Aladdin and [[DesperatelyCravesAffection Alibaba]] whenever they visit a pleasure house:Alibaba [[BlackComedyRape ends up getting tousled]] by the female-equivalent of Arlong from ''Manga/OnePiece'' while the 10 years old Aladdin gets all the goods.
*** Pitiful dude is also constantly cockblocked by his own obliviousness and, later,[[spoiler: Garda, a gigantic female gorilla he rescued.]]
** [[TheAlcoholic Sinbad's alcoholism]] also occasionally makes this [[MagneticHero badass]], [[HandsomeLech handsome lech]] the butt of the jokes, such as when street thieves stripped off his clothes and [[spoiler: magic vessels]] after he passed out drunk on side of the dirt road.
*** The above scenario happens on multiple occasions, one of which resulted in a gigantic tribal orgy.

* Nagasumi of ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' is one of these, when he isn't being badass.
** His father has it even worse, as the only time in the entire show anybody treats him nicely is in the first episode, and even then...

* The title character of the anime ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is the resident Butt Monkey at the beginning of the series, and relapses in this role in the more comedic fillers and episodes as the manga -- and anime -- went on.
** Yamato is looking to be the next ButtMonkey. First, he was tricked by Naruto's clone into believing he was still asleep when he was, in fact, long gone. Next, Kakashi teases him about the fact that Naruto got away from a tracker and ANBU member. Third, when Naruto pretends his head gets cut off in the training chamber in episode 245 (manga Chapter 496). [[spoiler: Not to mention he's been captured for 100 chapters straight now and no one either remembers him, or cares enough to mount a rescue!]]
*** You forgot how Kakashi ropes Yamato into doing things he doesn't want to, like paying for [[BigEater Naruto's]] ramen and when Naruto wanted to go see the Raikage, Kakashi said that he and Yamato were going with him. Cue BlankWhiteEyes from Yamato. Poor guy.

*** A bit of a FridgeBrilliance if you think about it....

* Despite being the main characters, Yuuko and Mio from ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' tend to be the butts of most of the show's jokes, particularly embarrassing physical ones that often result in them getting injured. Nano also qualifies, as most of her scenes tend to show her being tormented by Hakase.

* The title character in ''Manga/OdeToKirihito'', pretty much from the minute he leaves the hospital. He is inevitably exposed to disease, human cruelty, murder, rape, imprisonment, pretty much everything possible that would destroy a person's faith in mankind. [[spoiler: He doesn't even know about what his best friend is capable of as his mental fortitude disintegrates in Kirihito's absence]]. Here it's played for drama -- Kirihito is a good person at heart, but hardens considerably as a result of his experiences.
** [[spoiler:In the end, it's implied that his final visit to Japan led Kirihito to dare to hope again.]]
* Does Okayado have a male protagonist who, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe thanks to his niceness,]] finds himself [[UnwantedHarem the head of a harem of]] [[CuteMonsterGirl monster girls?]] Kimihito Kurusu of ''Manga/MonsterMusume'', and his [[AlternateUniverse fantasy]] [[{{Expy}} counterpart]] Mamoru Onodera of ''Manga/DeadlineSummoner'' just cannot catch a break.
** Good thing they're [[MadeOfIron practically indestructible]] and [[{{Determinator}} very driven besides.]]

** A rare example of a villainous ButtMonkey who nonetheless remains an effective and dangerous villain: Spandam from the Enies Lobby arc. Constantly abused by his subordinates, his enemies, and his teammates, his suffering evokes not a bit of sympathy or pity from the audience. Probably because his EstablishingCharacterMoment involves him merrily skipping over the MoralEventHorizon, and he [[KickTheDog kicks dogs]] [[EvilIsPetty at every possible opportunity.]] [[spoiler:Snapping his spine in two was letting him off too easy, if you ask me.]]
*** Well, it's lucky then that during [=CP9=]'s cover story, [[spoiler: Spandam decides to frame [=CP9=] for the disaster at Enies Lobby. This backfires spectacularly when the Marine force sent to capture [=CP9=] are brutally curbstomped, and now Spandam has six of the most dangerous assassins in the world out for his head. Nice work, idiot.]]
** Buggy also qualifies, after his initial defeat by Luffy he suffers long in putting his body back together, trying to execute Luffy only to have the universe intervene on Luffy's behalf, get captured and put in Impel Down, gets abused countless times in aiding Luffy's escape attempt, and is frozen solid and used as a human shield at Marineford, all played for laughs. [[spoiler:After the Time-Skip, he is a new Warlord of the Sea. It has, as of writing, yet to be seen if this makes up for it, or will lead to yet more hilarious abuse.]]
*** [[spoiler:Nope, it leads to ''[[SerialEscalation even more abuse]]''. After the Seven Warlords are abolished, Crocodile starts an organization named Cross Guild with Mihawk and Buggy (the latter owing Crocodile the money he used to start his own mercenary company, which is effectively absorbed into Cross Guild), but because of Buggy's {{Overzealous Underling}}s, [[EntertaininglyWrong the World Government is left under the impression that Buggy is the leader]], and assume that he must be incredibly powerful to get [[PersonOfMassDestruction people]] like [[MagnificentBastard Crocodile]] and [[MasterSwordsman Mihawk]] to follow him. After [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable Kaido and Big Mom's defeat at the hands of the Worst Generation]], their positions as Emperors of the Sea are given to Luffy ''and Buggy'', who despairs that all of his power brings him nothing but misfortune. And because Buggy's underlings regularly piss off Crocodile and Mihawk with their antics, the two regularly take it out on Buggy in the [[UnusualEuphemism meeting room]] (read "[[Room101 torture room]]"). The only reason they let him live is because [[PromotedToScapegoat he effectively stands to be at the front if anyone should target them]].]]
---->'''Buggy:''' ''Where is my life taking me?!''

** Wet-Haired Caribou is one as well. He gets trapped in a barrel by the Straw Hats while on their ship planning to kill them, escapes from the barrel to capture mermaids on Fish-man Island only to get beaten down by the Straw Hats. Tries attacking one of Big Mom's crewmates only to get one-shotted again. Tries to capture mermaids again, only to have Jimbei find him and beat him down before taking him to Marines. Is almost burned alive at the stake, but escapes thanks to his crew saving him and sets out to sea alone, only to end up in a terrible storm. He survives this and is taken care of by a kindly old woman...only to be mistaken as her son, a deceased Revolutionary Commander. Even after he manages a win and liberates Kaido's favorite island for the Revolutionaries, he gets attacked by a post-TimeSkip X. Drake, who promptly captures him, drags him to Wano, and imprisons him there. In essence, his life has just been one long-running joke ever since he met Luffy.

** Nami is one of the rare female versions and one of the biggest '''''ever.''''' She's more so known as [[FieryRedhead that one chick who blows up at her crew mates idiocy]], and [[{{Greed}} a greedy pirate girl]], but whenever something goes wrong, ([[PlayedForLaughs which is all the damn time,]]) she'd be no better than ''[[CowardlyLion Usopp]]''. Best exemplified in the [[HalloweenEpisode Thriller Bark Arc]], where after Enies Lobby is all said and done, you would think that nothing could faze her. [[{{Bathos}} Cue the ghosts and zombies.]]

* One could argue nearly the whole cast of ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'' consists of Butt Monkeys rather than humans (or other species). Let's list them: "[[CatchPhrase Maho]]" girl Himeko, plain girl Kurumi, super forehead Miyako, small girl Akiyama and clumsy girl Miyata are prone to this a lot. Even the main character and child genius Rebecca Miyamoto gets her fair share. The actual incarnation of this trope though is Mesousa, a bunny not even capable of HOLDING stuff, getting used as guinea pig by nearly everyone, harassed by a strange catlike entity and is the target of a goddess of bad luck in training.
* Chuck and Brief share this role on ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt''.
** Panty becomes this in the series finale when Stocking goes to heaven and Panty loses her powers and promptly goes through a HumiliationConga and has her only remaining friend kidnapped right in front of her. [[CameBackStrong She bounces back, though.]]

** Dawn isn't too far behind them in ButtMonkey status. She's easily the least respected main character in the series. Numerous characters (Ash, Brock, and her own Pokémon included) have made fun of and dissed her, is near-unanimously labeled as an incapable coordinator, and has her hair constantly ruined after being shocked numerous times. Oh, and then there's [[BreakTheCutie all the]] [[StepfordSmiler hell]] she went through...

** Not to mention the Team Rocket trio in the anime, who have sad back stories, are poor, incompetent, hated by their boss and co-workers, and, oh yeah: they get blasted off at the end of almost every episode. However, this is slowly changing as the trio is becoming more competent... Only to revert back to this all over again. For example, in ''Sun and Moon'', just when they were about to actually defeat Ash and Pikachu in a Pokemon battle, [[YankTheDogsChain Bewear swoops up and prevents them, much to their dismay.]] There's also James being on the recieving end of his ''own'' Pokémon's painful method's of affection such as Victreebel constantly trying to eat his head and Cacnea constantly hugging him, despite having pins all over its body.

* Kaidoh from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' can be counted as Seigaku's Butt Monkey in some SliceOfLife-like anime chapters. Just see episode 22 [[LampshadeHanging named "Kaoru's Misfortune"]]: Can't finish his morning lap? Check. Is run over by his rival on a bike? Check. Is ''stepped on'' by another guy? Check. Is mistaken for a thief? Check...

* Mousse and Kuno, from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', are always knocked around or be played as the fool for laughs. Yes, Kuno is an idiot and sometimes that idiocy is the cause of it, but it doesn't mean that he deserves it.
** Ranma can count at times for this too. Not only is he the frequent target of multiple fiancees, but whenever one of these females hug him or even ''talk'' to him at times he's treated like a vile pervert. Even when he's clearly shown trying to shove the girls away and loudly protesting, Akane will always attack ''him'' over it.
* Tsuna and Kozato Enma of ''Manga/Reborn2004''.
** Among the Arcobaleno, Skull definitely counts. He doesn't exactly have it easy in the manga, but the anime's Arcobaleno filler arcs abuse him beyond belief.
* ''Literature/ReZero'': Subaru is one during it's more lighthearted moments

** And Harima might well be the biggest ButtMonkey of them all, always on the bad end of some serious misunderstandings, one of them making Tenma (the girl he's had a crush on forever) believe him to be a pervert when he'd just saved her from a gang of them.

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': Due to his status as TheComicallySerious and as [[IJustWantToBeNormal a chimera who desperately seeks a cure for his appearance]], [[IWorkAlone which often makes him try to ignore or belie his comrades]], Zelgadis is this in multiple filler episodes. One memorable episode from the second season had him being used as an ''anchor'', nearly get killed twice by a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Lake Dragon]], and almost drown. In the latter scenario, he winds up getting [[{{Squick}} CPR from the elderly (male) captain]] of the boat they were on instead of [[GenkiGirl Amelia]], whom he secretly hoped would do it...

* Poor Mitsuhide of ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'' is always being picked on. Zen and Kiki always take the chance to casually dismiss his importance and competence.
** And then there's Prince Raji, who absolutely no one takes seriously. Even the narration refers to him as "the stupid prince".

* One could argue Simon of Anime/{{Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann}} fits this trope well. Early in the series, he [[spoiler: contributes to the death of his best friend/brother figure]]. Then, years later, [[spoiler: his wife-to-be is kidnapped, and he has to fight to rescue her, and all of humanity. Once he succeeds, they're married, and she promptly vanishes.]] The series ends with [[spoiler: humans (and Viral, now immortal) going out to explore the galaxy. Simon is, by this point, an old man, alone, and will probably be forgotten by almost everyone before long.]]

* The protagonist of ''Literature/TokyoRavens'' can never catch a break. He's currently the subject of many [[AccidentalPervert horrible rumors]] due to circumstances beyond his control, most of them caused by the fact that no one can know his cousin [[SweetPollyOliver has to pretend to be a boy for her own safety]] and he's [[ObliviousToLove terribly oblivious]] to her feelings -- and she, along with most of the other girls in the cast, is [[PsychicPowers very powerful]] and ''[[ClingyJealousGirl very jealous]]''. Oh, and [[GiveTheDogABone the two girls who actually told him they liked him?]] [[YankTheDogsChain Of course it didn't work out:]] the first, his childhood friend [[spoiler: was really a shikigami (like an artificial human) and died protecting him]] and the second, a classmate [[spoiler: turned out to be a cross-dressing boy]].

* Keima's father of ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' is this, despite the fact that he has yet to actually appear. When Elsee needs a place to stay, she convinces Keima's mother (using a forged note) that she is the husband's illegitimate daughter. Dear Ms Katsuragi then picks up the phone, dials up her husband and screams that if he ever shows up again, she'll kill him. Keima explains to Elsee that she used to run in a street gang.
** His position's not helped when Hakua later claims, jokingly, she's another illegitimate daughter.

** Nate himself is this as well, because Yo-kai often cause him trouble and ends up being possessed and/or humiliated by them. He has a crush on Katie, whom he tries to woo many times, but his chances are always ruined.

-->'''Jibanyan''': [[SweatDrop I haven't seen an adventurer like this before]].

* When reading ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'', one will think "Poor Fuuka!" at least once every few pages.
** One will also wish Yanda got ''more'' crap than he already gets.
* Insector Haga and Dinosaur Ryuzaki in ''Anime/YuGiOh''. They were considered to be the top two duelists in Japan, until the main characters showed up, at least. They never quite make it back to their former glory, even after utilizing an ArtifactOfDoom. They end up constantly humiliated by the main characters, and even Filler villains.
** As well as Joey, who is constantly at the mercy of [[{{Jerkass}} Kaiba's]] cruelty, ruthlessly humiliating him whenever he has the chance.
*** For example, the Dub named a dueling monkey "Wheeler" (Joey's dubbed last name) and heavily implied Kaiba named the monkey.
** What about Ryou? He isn't even in control of his body most of the time. Said body is being controlled by an evil spirit trying to kill his friends.
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters'', both Joey and Tristan are this.
* After his CharacterDevelopment from JerkJock, Jun Manjoume in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' tends to have ridiculosly bad luck, from his [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited crush]] on Asuka to [[TheWorfEffect being the first of the main cast to lose to the new villian]]. Occasionlly, he'll return to his badass self, but it always falls apart in the end, until his final steps of CharacterDevelopment in Season 4.

* The blue ogre from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. He's so pathetically treated by Koenma, we don't even learn his real name (George) until partway through season 3.
** Kuwabara gets some of this. His first appearance sees him beaten into the pavement and establishes that he's been getting his ass kicked by Yusuke on a regular basis for quite some time, with no wins for him. He gets slapped by Kayko after Yusuke hugs her while possessing his body. A sadistic teacher ropes him into promising not to fight on pain of expulsion, and rival gangs take advantage to beat him up. And that's just for starters.

* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''. A significant chunk of the cast. Ataru, first and foremost. Also Ran, Tobimaro, Onsen-Mark, and the Spice Girls (Sugar, Ginger, & Pepper). To a lesser extent, Mendou, Ryuunosuke, and Cherry.

* Zenitsu from ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', due his cowardly and negative forefront personality Zenitsu tends to fall in embarrassing situations due being the first to complain about the current situation he or the group find themselves in, the team going undercover in a Red Light District shows Zenitsu getting the short end of the stick pretty well.

* Matsuda of ''Manga/DeathNote''.
** Everyone on the investigative team doesn't hesitate to point out what an idiot he is, with L especially treating him like crap. This despite Matsuda having repeatedly proven his bravery: he never took one of the several chances he got to honourably walk away, and he risks his life every day trying to find and capture a supernatural serial killer.
** When he gets kidnapped everyone calmly talks about it while monitoring the situation, even mentioning how ''his eventual death would prove the second Kira's identity''. They ''do'' launch a rescue mission, but this is the only time nobody gets angry at L for being insensitive towards a member of his team.

** Buggy also qualifies, after his initial defeat by Luffy he suffers long in putting his body back together, trying to execute Luffy only to have the universe intervene on Luffy's behalf, get captured and put in Impel Down, gets abused countless times in aiding Luffy's escape attempt, and is frozen solid and used as a human shield at Marineford, all played for laughs. [[spoiler: After the Time-Skip, he is a new Warlord of the Sea. It has, as of writing, yet to be seen if this makes up for it, or will lead to yet more hilarious abuse.]]

** Dante, to some extent due to his constant {{running gag}}s of losing gambles, or accumulating more debt when he's already in PerpetualPoverty. The latter is more prevalent, since not all of his demon-slaying jobs pay him enough (at the end Episode 2, he's even charged for [[DestructiveSavior destroying a bridge]]), or Lady and Trish leave their shopping bills to him (as seen in Episode 4).

* Partially, Dante in the ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries''. He says that people "usually leave him a bill instead of paying him".

* Masao from ''Manga/{{Shiki}}'', to the extent that his entire character arc is being put in increasingly desperate situations and getting beaten up [[spoiler: and killed]]. To be fair, some of the abuse he gets is for [[{{Jerkass}} legitimately dick moves]]. This trope is also more obvious in the anime than it is in the manga, where he's closer to being an outright villain.

** Officer Kuhou is a perfectly normal cop with the unforunate status of being a recurring character in a horror comedy manga. Poor girl had to be temporarily committed to the hospital for psychological analysis after witnessing BodyHorror, then later subjected to CloningBlues by Fran. Each chance meeting with Fran after the first one has her going in sheer hysterics thanks to all her past experiences with her, with even her clones developing an instinctual fear of the doctor.

* Naru-chan in ''Manga/GirlFriends''. Her students don't respect her, since they call her by her nickname when they ''should'' be calling her "[[LastNameBasis Narumatsu]]-sensei," talk to each other when she's conducting homeroom and make fun of her behind her back. It gets even worse when you learn that [[spoiler:she had a bad breakup in the past, losing her friends when they took her ex's side, and later on in the story, she ends up getting pregnant and forced into a ShotgunWedding with a rather unattractive man]].

* Fate Testarossa-Harlaown of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' gets this sometimes, being socially awkward and easily embarrassed into adulthood. She gets teasing from Signum about their new relationship (in which Fate is reluctantly Signum's superior officer in [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS StrikerS]]), is not told about a final mock battle between the captains and forwards that includes her or her daughter Vivio's ability to turn into her OlderAlterEgo at will, and occasionally gets subject to loving teasing by Vivio, particularly in the "[[HasTwoMommies 2nd Mother's Day]]" one shot.

* Dallas Genoard from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' seems to exist for the sole purpose of getting smacked around by every other character he comes in contact with in increasingly painful and embarrassing ways, starting with Firo effortlessly handing him his ass and ending with [[spoiler: the Gandor brothers dumping him off to be [[AndIMustScream perpetually]] [[CementShoes drowned]] at the bottom of the Hudson River]]. Though, given that he tends to be a [[{{Jerkass}} grade-A asshole]] most of the time, it's hard to feel sorry for him.
* Akihisa from ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts''. He gets horribly abused by everyone in the series. Even his [[{{Tsundere}} love]] [[{{Yandere}} interests]].

* [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Touma]] [[JapaneseDelinquents Kamijou]] from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Virtually everyday is a bad day for Touma and nothing ever goes right for him. On the first chapter alone he was chased by other deliquents, breaking his own credit card, having his refrigerator break down, losing 2000 yen in a vending machine, ending up in the same hospital and treated by the same doctor in nearly every story arch's end, [[spoiler: ''and losing his memories'']]. Justified though, considering what his AntiMagic [[BlessedWithSuck right hand]] [[PowerIncontinence is capable]] [[CosmicPlaything of doing]]. The only thing he's lucky on, however, is that his life is a DatingSim where he gets an UnwantedHarem, which is pretty much a good reason why many of his male classmates are ''jealous'' of him.

* Partially, Dante in the ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimation''. He says that people "usually leave him a bill instead of paying him".

* Shungo of ''LightNovel/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun''.

* Taniguchi (to a minor extent) in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. And let's just say it is ''not'' good to be the Computer Club president, unless you enjoy [[DynamicEntry flying kicks to the head]] ([[RuleThirtyFour and hey, some do]]).

* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma:'' Poor Yurika gets no respect. During the race in episode 3, her cosplay club dresses her up, but then brings her to the race course tied up in a bag. No one gets to see her outfit, which appears to be a maid outfit, before she's trampled on by other students during said race. And in episode 9, Maki makes her escape and takes away the memories of all the residents of room 106, including where they finally acknowledged her as a MagicalGirl, so they assume [[StatusQuoIsGod she's cosplaying again.]]

* While most of the main characters in ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'' are unlucky, Isshiki is arguably the most unlucky. For example, [[spoiler:the poor fellow's attempts at wooing Kumin (in the anime) with the later never noticing one bit. Even better, when he finally does confess in episode 10, it's on a stage in front of the entire school, unfortunately [[HeavySleeper she was asleep at the time]].]]

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'': Subaru is one during it's more lighthearted moments

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': Due to his status as TheComicallySerious and as [[IJustWantToBeNormal a chimera who desperately seeks a cure for his appearance]], [[IWorkAlone which often makes him try to ignore or belie his comrades]], Zelgadis is this in multiple filler episodes. One memorable episode from the second season had him being used as an ''anchor'', nearly get killed twice by a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Lake Dragon]], and almost drown. In the latter scenario, he winds up getting [[{{Squick}} CPR from the elderly (male) captain]] of the boat they were on instead of [[GenkiGirl Amelia]], whom he secretly hoped would do it...

* While it's not apparent in the anime, LightNovel/SwordArtOnline has Kirito show shades of this occasionally. Made most apparent in the supplementary material for the Blu-Ray releases, ''Sword Art Offline''. To note, Kirito suffers multiple embarassing, frightening or painful situations. For instance, having Asuna act like a Yandere, getting stabbed by Asuna (on no less than four seperate occasions), getting beaten up by Leafa thrice, getting shot by Sinon, constantly being either insulted or made fun of, getting hypnotised by '''his own sleeping face''' and promptly getting his face drawn on, getting slashed by Yuuki, and, most strangely, [[ArsonMurderandJayWalking getting an envelope lodged in his head]]. Kirito himself lampshades it when the physical abuse slows down in the second season, but the psychological abuse doesn't. Specifically in Season 2, Episode 2:

* The protagonist of ''LightNovel/TokyoRavens'' can never catch a break. He's currently the subject of many [[AccidentalPervert horrible rumors]] due to circumstances beyond his control, most of them caused by the fact that no one can know his cousin [[SweetPollyOliver has to pretend to be a boy for her own safety]] and he's [[ObliviousToLove terribly oblivious]] to her feelings -- and she, along with most of the other girls in the cast, is [[PsychicPowers very powerful]] and ''[[ClingyJealousGirl very jealous]]''. Oh, and [[GiveTheDogABone the two girls who actually told him they liked him?]] [[YankTheDogsChain Of course it didn't work out:]] the first, his childhood friend [[spoiler: was really a shikigami (like an artificial human) and died protecting him]] and the second, a classmate [[spoiler: turned out to be a cross-dressing boy]].

* In episode 4 of ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'', Iris tries to greet Tear in the classroom. However, she is ignored, and Tear later treats her more like a nuisance for much of the rest of the day when she constantly hovers nearby.

** In the original series, Bulma was the Butt Monkey whenever Goku was around. Just in the first arc alone, she had her panties taking off by Goku and then flashed Master Roshi, being unable to ride the Nimbus, had to rough it when she wasn't used to it, and being turned into produce.