History DeconstructedCharacterArchetype / AnimeAndManga

* ''Literature/KonoSuba'': Kyouya Mitsurugi deconstructs the StockLightNovelHero and TheChosenOne. Like Kazuma, he was a Japanese teen who was sent to a fantasy world by Aqua, with his cheat item being a powerful sword that allowed him to act like the chosen hero he saw in the media he enjoyed. Instead of becoming a heroic figure and the savior of the world, he becomes somewhat of a creep because he sees himself as deserving of Aqua's affection as her "chosen one", and he becomes arrogant and sure he can't lose. Kazuma beats him by simply playing a bit dirty when Kyouya forces a duel, and the heroines express disgust for how entitled he acts due to viewing himself as the protagonist of an "isekai" story, when in truth he's just another rando who Aqua convinced to go to the fantasy world as part of her job.

* Ken Kaneki, the protagonist of ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', deconstructs the ExtremeDoormat. As a child, his mother taught him the idea that it was better to be hurt than to hurt others, a lesson he took to heart as he grew up and tried to be a selfless person. The story goes to show how flawed this mindset is by revealing his mother worked herself to death helping her greedy sister, showing how being so focused on selflessness can be unhealth. To reinforce this, Kaneki is later captured by Yamori and brutally tortured by him for several days, ending with Yamori bringing out a Ghoul mother and daughter, and making Kaneki decide who lives and dies. When he can't [[TakingAThirdOption find a third option]] or a way to TakeMeInstead, he ends up freezing up due to his ExtremeDoormat mindset despite the Ghoul mother begging for her child's life, prompting Yamori to kill both instead. This causes Kaneki to mentally break, realizing how stupid being an ExtremeDoormat was. The sequel series, ''RE'', takes it further by revealing that Kaneki's own mother would physically abuse Kaneki when she got angry, making her a hypocrite when it came to following her own advice. All of this demonstrates how making yourself someone to be trampled on out of a sense of "selflessness" is a self-destroying mindset that leads to unhappiness.

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': deconstructs PrinceCharming, PrincessClassic, WitchClassic and LadyAndKnight. In addition to deconstructing common shoujo romance tropes at the time, it showed just how limiting being forced into those fairy-tale roles - or only seeing people as those roles - could be. Anthy, the Princess, is seen as by many as nothing more than a tool or a prize to be won and whose only real power is in her doll-like façade and passive-aggressive rebellion in her hidden identity in as the Witch. Akio, the Prince, is not a gallant savior but a manipulative monster who feels entitled to control everything around him because of the circumstances of his birth. Utena is the Knight who, out of a misguided hero complex, wants to be seen as the Prince to Anthy's Princesss without understanding exactly what that role means or who the Lady she wants to protect truly is until the very end.

* [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]] of ''Manga/DeathNote'' deconstructs the VigilanteMan, as one of the main points of the series is showing just how narcissistic and self-serving one would have to be to delude themselves into thinking that their own judgment is better than the law's. After finding proof that the titular [[ArtifactOfDoom Death Note]] works, Light initially sets out to [[SerialKillerKiller only kill criminals]] with it because [[WellIntentionedExtremist he wants crime to end for good]]. However, a combination of [[AGodAmI his growing God Complex]], [[CantTakeCriticism wounded pride]], and self-preservation drives him to start murdering Law Enforcement Officers, who know that killing criminals is still murder and are trying to bring him to justice, and innocent people, regardless of whether or not they support his actions. In fact, in the second half of the series, Light even starts to consider killing off people who he deems as weak or lazy in the eventual future. This shows how these sort of people will inevitably {{Jump Off The Slippery Slope}} and see everybody as an enemy that needs to be eliminated. [[spoiler:When Near finally catches him in the end, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he outright tells Light that]] he's nothing more than a crazy serial killer who got DrunkWithPower and deluded himself into believing that he became God through the Death Note]].

* Ken Kaneki, the protagonist of ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', deconstructs the ExtremeDoormat. As a child, his mother taught him the idea that it was better to be hurt than to hurt others. Kaneki would grow up with this mindset, becoming a kind and selfless person who puts others before himself whenever he can. However, the story goes to show how flawed someone doing so would be, as Kaneki mentions his mother worked herself to death helping her greedy sister. Later on, Kaneki gets captured by Yamori and brutally tortured by him for several days, ending with Yamori bringing out a Ghoul mother and daughter, and making Kaneki decide who lives and dies. Kaneki is unable to bring himself to decide, because without a [[TakingAThirdOption third option]] or way to TakeMeInstead, he cannot force himself to chose who lives and dies, prompting Yamori to kill both instead. This causes Kaneki to snap, realizing how stupid being an ExtremeDoormat is, and decides to throw it away. The sequel series, ''RE'', takes it further by revealing that Kaneki's own mother was fundamentally a hypocrite, because she would physically abuse Kaneki when she got angry, demonstrating how ultimately making yourself someone to be trampled on is a self-destroying view.