History Determinator / Anime

Let's just get this out of the way -- many anime and manga, especially of the {{Shonen}} and {{Seinen}} variety, have protagonists like this.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Bleach]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Ichigo seems to ''need'' to get beaten to within an inch of his life before he can call on his true power. When the BigBad tried to split him in half, the wound only reached the spine. Aizen commented that it was Ichigo's will to live that was keeping him conscious and alert when he should have been dead. At one point, he gets a hole blown in his chest, and it was stated to be unhealable. He gets better.
** Chad attacks and attacks Kyoraku, who is much faster and stronger than him. Even though, he never hits him, Kyoraku is very impressed by Sado's determination. Also, when Sado is badly cut by Nnoitra, he still continues his fight until he loses his consciousness.
** [[BloodKnight Kenpachi]] doesn't think death is an excuse for losing a fight. He lives by the code that anyone who wants to give up with an "honorable death," instead of fighting on to MAKE what you want happen, is just a whiny little bitch. It's eventually confirmed that he needs to be brought to the verge of death to grow stronger.
** Renji during his battle against Byakuya. After being cut over a thousand times by his opponent's Bankai and being cut again by some thrown swords, he still continues his battle and attacks him with his sword and reaches him. The blade of Renji's sword falls apart before it could pierce through Byakuya, but he still hits him with it, and then falls unconscious. Highly impressed by Renji's willpower, Byakuya appreciates this by throwing his incredibly expensive scarf at him to show his respect.
** Rukia during her battle against Aaroniero. At the edge of death, being pierced through her chest by a trident doesn't stop her from killing him.
** Byakuya is willing to cut his own tendons and keep fighting with only one functioning arm and leg. He went through hell to both defend Rukia's execution from Ichigo and then protect her life from the BigBad, due to conflicting vows he'd made to uphold the law and protect her life. When brainwashed into believing a villain was his mentor figure, Byakuya still resisted the brainwashing purely because it didn't change the fact the villain was an enemy of Ichigo's.
** Grimmjow doesn't give up on continuing his battle against Ichigo, despite him having already technically lost. Badly injured, transformed back to his weaker form, he still tries to attack Ichigo. Until Nnoitra attacks him with his big freaking weapon. Grimmjow survives.
** Nnoitra himself as well. Due to his nature as a BloodKnight DeathSeeker, he won't stop attacking his opponent until one of them dies. He's scared from Kenpachi several times during the battle, but it doesn't prevent him from attacking his enemy. Just telling this Espada that the fight is over and walking away, after you just cut four of his six hands off (in the manga) and sliced him from his shoulder to his chest, just pushes Nnoitra's BerserkButton.
** [[AlmightyJanitor Yumichika]] doesn't use his zanpakutou's power in battle. He would rather die than have his division [[CoverBlowingSuperpower find out]] what he's [[VampiricDraining capable of]]. As a result, he ''[[WillfullyWeak pretends]]'' to activate his power and then simply fights on sheer willpower alone.
** Baraggan, even when he's dying and his body is dissolving away, still tries to kill Aizen by throwing his axe at him.
** Sui-Feng loses her left arm to Baraggan, but that doesn't make her surrender. She even uses her Bankai twice, despite her limit being once in three days.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragon Ball]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** Son Goku. Before the Cell Saga, he didn't know the meaning of the word surrender! And even when he did then, it was because he knew what he was doing. However, the greatest example was fighting [[OmnicidalManiac Kid Buu]] at Super Saiyan 3, which consumes a hell of a lot of energy. As intense as the fight was, Goku was losing energy...and fast. He finally collapses from exhaustion, leaving [[TheRival Vegeta]], to take his place in the fight instead. It was for five minutes, or less and Vegeta found himself nearly killed only for Goku to save him and transform into Super Saiyan 3 again, and battle him.
*** Another good example would be his fight against Piccolo - he's not going to let something simple like having a hole blasted through his shoulder and losing the use of all of his limbs prevent him from winning. And without help either, because [[HonorBeforeReason that would be against the tournament rules]]!
*** Goku's {{Determinator}} nature actually got him in trouble when he was fighting Android 19. Despite knowing he was getting sick, he kept trying to fight and push through the pain he was in. Not only was he knocked down and nearly died from having his energy sucked, he put his friends in danger when they rush to try to save him. It would have been better for Goku to either step aside or asked for help.
** Vegeta is a bit of Determinator himself. Perhaps even more than Goku, part of why he's such a badass is the insane amount of punishment it takes to bring him down. Seriously, he gets his ARM SNAPPED IN HALF, but when Trunks tries to jump in and help he's all like "NO STAY BACK I GOT THIS."
*** His saga as a villain proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. No matter what any of the Z-Fighters throw at him, he simply refuses to stay down. He gets knocked around by Goku's Kaio-ken, knocked into the sky with the Kamehameha-- overwhelming his own attack-- and the most powerful move in the anime, the Spirit Bomb. He had his tail cut off, reverting himself from his Oozaru form after expending the energy needed to create the power ball letting him turn into it. And then he fought Gohan in HIS Oozaru form and ''beat it''. No matter what happened, he just kept going. Even when he was finally defeated, he didn't stop moving. He crawled to his spaceship to flee so he could heal up and fight another day.
*** Vegeta then one-ups this in the next saga by wasting all his energy in an attack on Freeza, taking a subsequent [[NoHoldsBarredBeatDown beating from Freeza]], and then after coming within an inch of his life, mocking Freeza after Goku's arrival, which prompts Freeza to blow a hole directly through his heart, and then wills himself to live long enough to explain to Goku about what Freeza did to their home planet, prompting Freeza to [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] the fact that he's still talking even though he's been blasted through the heart in both the dub and original, and making everyone realize that he isn't ''quite'' the monstrous bastard they originally thought he was after crying and begging Goku to finish off Freeza so that he will never turn anyone else into someone like himself.
*** Vegeta outdoes himself again in the final saga (twice), fighting Fat Buu by himself. Buu does not kill him. Instead it took Vegeta '''[[HeroicSacrifice HIMSELF]]''' to kill him. He fights Kid Buu later on, this time only to buy time for Goku to "charge up." Cue the most brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown in the entire series. But Vegeta just kept getting back up, taunting Buu as he did so.
** Son Gohan inherited the Determinator trait from his father - most famously, defeating Cell with only one good arm.
** Every last Z-Fighter during the [[KameHameHadoken Kamehameha]] [[BeamOWar struggle]] between Gohan and Cell, in the anime. By this point, even Piccolo is completely outclassed in terms of power, but he and the by-this-point-barely-relevant human warriors just keep blasting Cell from the sidelines, not caring what happens to them if they can do something to help Gohan.
--->'''Cell:''' Why can't you people ''JUST STAY DOWN?!''
** Let's not forgot Fat Buu once he made his HeelFaceTurn. He gets beaten into pudding by his evil half Kid Buu, but he just kept going despite being so badly outmatched. When Vegeta was being held down by Kid Buu, Fat Buu used his remaining strength to tackle him so Mr. Satan could save Vegeta, allowing Goku to throw his Spirit Bomb.
** Freeza pretty much exemplifies this trope. Let's see, he engaged in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown with Goku after he went and [[BerserkButton killed his best friend,]] prompting Goku to turn [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge SSJ]], and then he was in a losing battle with Goku, so he decided to [[PlanetKiller blow up the planet they were on]] to win. At this point, he's out of energy and [[BloodFromTheMouth badly injured]]. So, he decides to play a deadly version of double-kienzan Frisbee with his opponent...which [[HoistByHisOwnPetard backfired spectacularly.]] On the verge of death from being vivisected, he finally breaks down & starts begging. Goku of course gives him his own energy out of [[strike:spite]] mercy. Guess what he does with it? ''Promptly tries to shoot Goku in the back''. This finally provokes Goku to blast him into oblivion...or so we're led to think. About a year later in canon, we not only find that he's managed to survive planet Namek EXPLODING, ''he got stronger'', and he's come back for more. Understandably, everyone was quite shocked that he had survived, considering that about two thirds of his organic body was destroyed, even some parts of his ''head''. The anime also shows that he was still talking in space, despite being unconscious and near death, before he was found by his father.
** Tenshinhan deserves special mention for ''coming out of freaking nowhere'' with a long string of Kikohos - just to keep Cell on the ground temporarily. (The Kikoho saps huge amounts of energy, to the point that it's quite possible to die from exhaustion when using it - Tenshinhan keeps it up for several minutes before he passes out.)
** Krillin has shades of this, too - the little guy gets flattened on a regular basis, but is just as regularly seen dragging his bleeding self off the ground to keep fighting, even when he knows that the best he can do is buy time.
** Videl. When she wants to do something, she does not give up. Ever. Even when it's clear that she has no chance of accomplishing the task at hand. Her fight with Spopovich at the World Martial Arts Tournament is the best example of this one could give. After it became clear that she wasn't going to win, people kept telling her to give up. It took Spopovich's partner telling him to stop torturing her because they had more important things to do, to finally end the match by him kicking her out of the ring. After a certain point, he was just torturing her and she wasn't moving on her own anymore, but, given the opportunity to stand up again, she would've surely continued attacking the guy.
** Gloriously subverted with Android 19. He seems like this at first, but...
** Cell will stop at ''nothing'' to achieve his goal of absorbing Androids 17 and 18. Even the fact that they were deactivated in his timeline is just a minor speedbump to him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Naruto]]
-->''You'd better give up... [-THINKING I'M GOING TO GIVE UP-]!''
* In ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', trying to list all of his examples could fill a separate page:
** The title character's "Way of the Ninja" basically consists of this trope.
** [[{{Deuteragonist}} Sasuke Uchiha]] is as a part of his role as Naruto's {{Foil}}. While it's not as overstated as his rival's, Sasuke takes an insane amount of punishment in many of his battles and just keeps going. Making it even more impressive is that he doesn't have a bijuu sealed inside of him to augment his stamina. The best example of this is probably when he fights through four kages, kills Danzo, and then, while near-blind due to Mangekyo overuse, fights Kakashi to a standstill, and then still has enough energy left to clash with Naruto one last time before he leaves the battlefield. [[spoiler:Later, during the battle against Madara, even after he is run through on his own sword, he keeps trying to get up, despite the fact that he's dying.]]
** [[FanofUnderdog Hinata Hyuuga]] is one of the first people to adopt Naruto's ninja way. Knowing that he's watching, she refuses to give up against Neji despite severe injuries, even standing up one last time after the referee ends the match to keep her from getting ''killed''.
*** [[AdaptationExpansion In the anime]] she got to do it ''again'' and even ''more'' impressively when she fought [[TheDragon Pain]]! Unlike in the manga where she gets effectively [[OneHitKill One Hit Killed]] (though she actually survives), in the anime she keeps getting up... [[PluckyGirl and getting up]]... ''[[TearJerker and getting up]]...''
** [[CuteBruiser Sakura Haruno]], in her fight against [[MarionetteMaster Sasori]], gets out of a cloud of poison gas by detonating a ''bomb'' against herself to blow away the gas. This entire battle is Determinator moment after Determinator moment for her, including a scene near the end where she stays standing and continues healing herself while a poisoned sword is completely impaling her, and even tries to insist that Chiyo use the last antidote on herself instead of helping her.
*** Just to remind you, ''you don't die on her watch''. She will [[spoiler: cut open your chest and give you a heart massage to keep you alive if she's out of chakra to do it the ninja way, dammit.]]
** [[BruceLeeClone Rock Lee]] sometimes out-Narutos even Naruto, once assuming a fighting stance even though nearly all the major muscle groups in his body were torn and his left forearm and leg had been completely shattered. While ''unconscious'', presumably from the pain. In his next battle, he breaks out of the hospital immediately after massive reconstructive surgery to [[BigDamnHeroes save]] [[IdiotHero Naruto]] from getting into a HopelessBossFight with [[BadWithTheBone Kimimaro]].
*** During his match against Gaara, his mentor was shown telling him in a flashback that his perseverance is what makes him a genius. This is echoed by Kakashi when he sees Lee pull off a DangerousForbiddenTechnique through sheer effort alone.
** [[BunnyEarsLawyer Might Guy]] gets major points during the War when he repeatedly activates the Gates despite [[HeroicRROD not having recovered/healed fully from the prior activations]], leaving him practically paralyzed in some instances. Then when even that is proven ineffective, he goes ahead and pulls out the [[DeadlyUpgrade Eighth Gate]].
** Taken to extremes in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, where no less than ''five'' characters pull a Naruto. Even BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru breaks his own finger to dispel an illusion.
*** And in the same arc, Kimimaro [[WhyWontYouDie Just Won't Die]]. First, he somehow survives being crushed inside a ton-sized ball of sand (which splatters almost everyone it hits like a bug on a windshield) and keeps fighting. Then after being crushed a second time under a ''desert's worth'' of sand, he wills himself to life long enough to almost kill his opponents with one last attack. Oh, and he did all of this while suffering from a [[IncurableCoughOfDeath disease]] that was on the verge of killing him. Note that it was even stated that he was literally moving on willpower alone.
** [[BigGood Jiraiya]] believes that the most important thing for a ninja to have is the willingness never to give up. And in his last fight before he dies he brings himself back to life by ''willpower alone'' long enough to give Naruto one last clue to defeating Pain.
** Ironically, "GIVE UP TRYING TO MAKE ME GIVE UP!" was [[FallenHero Nagato]] aka [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pain's]] originally line. And it probably inspired this line in the book Naruto got it from.
** [[AloofBigBrother Itachi Uchiha]] in his last fight with Sasuke. Due to disease, Itachi had taken medicine to prolong his life until the day he fought Sasuke. In their battle; Itachi had his thigh punctured with a shuriken, his right arm burned, his eyesight deteriorate into nothing, and coughed up blood numerous times. In the end, he succeeded in removing Orochimaru's curse seal and implanted Amaterasu within Sasuke before dying.
** [[LightningBruiser The Fourth Raikage]]. When confronted by Sasuke's incomplete Susano'o ultimate defense, coated by Amaterasu's unquenchable flames, the Raikage ''punches through it anyway'', sacrificing his dominant arm in order to hit Sasuke. A later move would have done the same thing to his leg, but Gaara stops him from turning himself into [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail The Black Knight]]. And losing the arm doesn't seem to have slowed him down a bit since then.
** [[KnightTemplar Danzo]]. Despite all these years, he never gave up on becoming Hokage, and he utterly refuses to let go after his defeat at Sasuke's hands. Even badly wounded and with an arm lost, he tried [[TakingYouWithMe to kill the latter and Tobi]]. One feels a bit sorry when his desperation technique doesn't even manage to hurt them.
** [[MadScientist Orochimaru]], due to his obsession with immortality. By the end of Sasuke's arc, wasn't he killed about three times? And he was significantly weaker than he used to be in his fight against Sasuke, who admits to that being the reason for his victory.
*** Sasuke's arc ended with Orochimaru killed in a definitive way by Itachi. [[spoiler:Orochimaru ''returned from that''. Granted, he needed help this time, but he still returned.]]
** Ironically, the BigBad Tobi [[spoiler:aka Obito Uchiha]] has shown to be the biggest determinator in the series. Nothing, absolutely '''nothing''' will stop him. [[spoiler:The destruction of his organization; the five great shinobi nations, the immortal zombie Hokages, AllLovingHero and his ''own'' eye battling him at the same time and beating him to an inch of his life or even Madara betraying him and robbing him of his life support. He will simply get up and keep going]].
*** [[spoiler: Losing half of his body at age 13 only slowed him. So far he has been: struck with a fully powered Rasengan from the Fourth Hokage, poisoned with microscopic insects, set on eternal fire from Itachi, hit by 600 billion bombs from [[DarkActionGirl Konan]] blowing up at his face, [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice pierced in the heart]] by a [[ShockAndAwe Raikiri enhanced kunai]] from [[BadassTeacher Kakashi]], [[VillainOverride taken over by his]] EvilMentor, [[TheDreaded Madara Uchiha]], through the plant side and cut from shoulder to waist by the revived Fourth Hokage a second later. Once he becomes the Ten-Tails's Jinchuuriki this is taken UpToEleven as he takes a dozen mountain size gate seals from the First Hokage (a.k.a. God of Shinobi) dropped at his head at supersonic velocity before blowing them up with just raw strength. Not even the might of the Ten-Tails ripping his mind apart gave him pause; he subdued it by the clinging to his love of Rin and the desire to recover his former team. Bonus points for doing with his own [[DeterMinator willpower]] what took Naruto help from his parents to subdue a weaker Bijuu. Makes it ''even more'' impressive when later even [[WorldsStrongestMan Madara Uchiha]] couldn't fight the will of the Ten-Tails despite being powerful enough to [[NoSell shrug off everything thrown at him]] before that.]]
*** [[spoiler: And even that is not enough. After his defeat against Naruto and returning to his old self after a talk with Naruto, Kakashi and Minato, [[VillainOverride Black Zetsu possesses him and forces him to revive Madara]], and then makes Obito fight against Kakashi and Minato while slowly and painfully dying, [[DarkestHour while Madara extracts the Kyuubi from Naruto, stabs Sasuke in the heart, and becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchuuriki.]] What does Obito do? He overpowers Black Zetsu and uses him as life support, then proceeds to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice shove his hand into Madara's chest]] and absorb some of the chakra. He then, along with Kakashi, uses both his Sharingan to teleport both Naruto, Sakura, and himself to the space-time dimension, where he gives Naruto the chakra and thereby effectively saves his life. This guy is, unarguably, THE Determinator of the manga.]]
*** [[spoiler: Think he's done? Afterwards, Madara overpowers him, and rips out his eye. And then Black Zetsu, his only source of life support, abandons him, and possesses Madara to revive Kaguya. Then, after almost gettting plunged into a river of lava and surviving some dimensional shifts, he is revived by Naruto's Healing Hands. At which point he retrieves a separated Sasuke so he and Naruto can defeat Kaguya and finally become killed by the ninja goddess herself, with an instant-kill technique, no less. Think he's finally done? He then proceeds to TELEPORT OUT THE AFTERLIFE temporarily and passes his chakra to Kakashi to give him a limited time's worth of his Mangekyo eyes, to which the latter unlocks Susanoo. This man is quite possibly THE most unkillable manga character in history.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:OnePiece]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Luffy...just...LUFFY. Sure, he's the title character and thereby required to win in the end, but he's gotten his ass handed to him multiple times, and all of those times he's pulled himself out through sheer willpower. During his third fight with Crocodile, he got injected with a poison that could MELT SOLID ROCK, collapsed from it, and then got back up again after he should have been long dead. Not to mention, he took Lucci's most powerful attack at point blank range that damaged him INTERNALLY and even then, he refused to let himself even touch the ground!
---> '''Zeff''' "I've seen one or two like him before. Stubborn brats who'd rather die then turn their back on a fight once it starts...I'm glad he's on OUR side because people like that are hell to fight."
** This trait of Luffy's is eventually [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in the Impel Down/Whitebeard War arc. His determination to save Ace is so great that he travels to [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] where he is curb stomped by the warden, goes through a procedure that shaves off some of his life span, recieves a temporary adrenaline superboost, has to claw his way out of the prison after missing Ace, then travels to Marineford, where an armada awaits. He has to fight through the Marines, including [[AntiVillain The]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Three]] [[GeneralRipper Admirals]], the [[PsychoForHire Seven Warlords of the Sea]] and his own grandfather. And despite all the obsticles he has to push through, [[spoiler: He '''still''' didn't save Ace!]]
*** Well, technically he did, but [[spoiler: Ace pulls a heroic sacrifice to save Luffy instead.]]
*** And then it gets reconstructed, because Luffy's ultimate response to the whole situation is simple: Get stronger. And he does. [[TookALevelInBadass Now he really does have the power to back up his words.]]
** One of Luffy's greatest feats of determination was during the [[spoiler:climax of the Fishman Island arc. After defeating [[BigBad Hody]] [[IrrationalHatred Jones]], [[RaceAgainstTheClock Luffy took on the task of destroying Noah,]] [[ColonyDrop a ship that was sinking towards Fishman Island,]] [[RaceAgainstTheClock which was surrounded by a giant bubble. If said bubble pops, the entire island and the people on it would be completely wiped out.]] Anyway, Luffy uses Gear Third with '''''[[UpToEleven both fists infused with Haki]]''''' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome to try to smash Noah into pieces]], all while [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank blood gushes out of a shark bite wound]] he received from his fight with Hody. He manages to destroy ''half'' of Noah. To put this in perspective, Noah isn't your average sized ship. It's so huge ''that it was designed to be pulled by several [[SeaMonster Sea Kings]] at once!'' Thanks to Princess Shirahoshi, [[PowerIncontinence she unknowingly summoned a couple of Sea Kings]] that stopped the ship from sinking, saving Luffy's life. Even if they didn't show up, ''[[HeroicWillpower Luffy would have continued his giant ship smashing barrage, despite his severe blood loss and fatigue.]]'' 2 of the Sea Kings [[SuddenlyVoiced put]] [[TalkingAnimal it]] [[SapientAllAlong best]] after all was said and done:]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Sea King #1:''']] "Boy, what a human!"
--->[[spoiler:'''Sea King #2:''']] "He is a very strong one, isn't he?"
** When Hannyabal is faced with Luffy and his [[BadassCrew group of extremely powerful prison escapees]], he takes several attacks from Luffy's Gear 2 form (including Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling, the attack that beat [[spoiler: [[WorthyOpponent Rob Lucci]]]]) and keeps going, refusing to let Luffy leave despite [[BadassNormal having no Devil Fruit abilities]].
** Usopp; not only is he the weakest member of the Straw Hats (And according to WordOfGod, will always be the weakest, no matter what), he is completely normal. No [[AppliedPhlebotinum Devil Fruit]]. No [[KiAttacks Haki]] [[spoiler: until Dressrosa where he discovers unconscious observation haki]]. No CharlesAtlasSuperPower. Completely. Effing. Normal. He survived a ''4-ton bat to the face'', multiple ''explosions'', having almost every bone in his body ''shattered'', and got up to continue the fight, winning through cleverness and sheer determination. This after traveling through the desert for several days (admittedly, so had the others).
*** He is a CharlesAtlasSuperPower after his 2 years training for the new world, he's just still the weakest member of the crew.
** No one who's travelled the Grand Line for this long can be considered normal, though. Usopp and Nami are at least BadassNormal from sheer experience alone.
** As of the latest chapters, we now know why [[spoiler: Whitebeard is known as the WorldsStrongestMan. Even though he's been stabbed and slashed 267 times, filled with over 560 bullets, hit by 46 cannonballs, and ''having half his damn face melted off'', he continued to mow down everything in his path, only stopping when he [[DyingMomentOfAwesome dies standing up]].]]
---> ''And in testament to his pride, upon the back of his body, throughout his entire life as a pirate, '''there was not even a single wound telling of displays of cowardice.'''''
** Most people who carry the "Will of D." would probably qualify as Determinators as well (or is it "D.terminators"?).
** Zoro. Good God, Zoro. This man has experienced every form of bodily trauma just short of decapitation. You name it: slashed, stabbed, burned, exploded, crushed, bludgeoned, buzz-sawed, took in a pure distillation of pain. He is the poster-child of OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank. At one point, when his leg is trapped during a fight, he decides cutting off his own leg to keep fighting is a perfectly rational thing to do. ''Nothing'' stops this man. He doesn't even have any powers, like Haki[[labelnote:Spoiler]]'''UPDATE:''' Zoro can now use Haki after the TimeSkip, so he's even ''more'' formidable now![[/labelnote]] or a Devil Fruit. He's just [[CharlesAtlasSuperPower that]] [[MadeOfIron tough]].
** Sakazuki is a great villanous example of this trope. After being handed a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown by the WorldsStrongestMan, he was presumed dead by many both in-universe and out. Cue shocked faces when he gets up, bleeding from the mouth, and starts wrecking shit with his MagmaMan abilities again.
--->'''Sakazuki:''' "The minute I said 'I'm not letting them get away' ...it means you need to abandon the idea that he's going to survive, shit-for-brains."
[[/folder]]

!!Other series

* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', Nikaido plays shogi with this mindset.
* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'': Lind. Most goddesses faint due to the sheer feeling of loss and shock when their Angel is ripped out of them, but when confronted with the fact that the angel eater has latched onto her own angel, what does she do? Why, rip her own angel out. Granted that she had a second angel, but she gives that away to Keiichi to a last minute gambit to defeat said Angel Eater. And when later confronted with a possessed [[spoiler: Belldandy]] during the same arc, she [[spoiler: tells her allies (one of whom still had her remaining angel) to deal with the Angel Eater and leave demon-Bell to her, all the while knowing that the only way that she could do this was to use booster patches that would eventually leave her unable to fight ever again]].
* ''Manga/{{Airmaster}}'': Sakamoto Julietta In one fight he gets his both legs and right arm broken, and yet he still stands up and attacks his opponent with his left arm... [[UpToEleven and then a kick]]. The referee decides that the match ends in a draw (as both are unable to move at the end) though some spectators disagreed as he has fallen a bit latter.
** What was his motivation for all this? He wanted to go to his [[StalkerWithACrush beloved girl.]]
** [[ButWaitTheresMore But that's not the end.]] His ''friend'', after the fight, takes him to his daughter's (aka The Main Heroine's) apartment ([[WhatAnIdiot Said daughter is mentioned love interest.]]). Before leaving he renders him unconscious with a [[ChokeHolds choke hold]]. But the moment Sakamoto hears her voice he gets on his feet. Poor girl attacks him repeatedly (and she is a fighter herself), but he goes down only after a [[GroinAttack precise kick]].
* Manga/{{Akagi}} pursues outrageous, life-threatening gambles with absolute determination. Part of it is due to completely trusting in his abilities (which would already qualify him for this trope), but his total disregard for the possible consequences of failures even when large amounts of luck are needed has forced every single character, including a batshit insane serial-killer, to call him "a devil" and "a lunatic with a deathwish".
* The whole cast of ''Manga/AstraLostInSpace'' could qualify, but Kanata in particular, thanks to surviving a harrowing disaster that included the death of his teacher, has grown averse to hopelessness.
* Eren Yeager in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. In a bit of a deconstruction, his refusal to give up nearly gets him killed during his first Titan battle. In a bit of a reconstruction, that same refusal to give up [[spoiler:activates his Titan shifter powers, saving his life.]]
* Eiichirou in the [[SportsStories sports manga]] ''Manga/BabySteps'' shows shades of this early on, as when he can't remember how he made his first "perfect shot" in tennis by accident, he practices for hours against the wall every day until he can duplicate it.
* ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'': Koyomi Araragi, helped in no small part by his vampirically-gained HealingFactor. Notably, whilst fighting the [[spoiler: demonically-possessed Kanbaru]], he ignores [[spoiler: having several of his limbs broken, having his teeth knocked out, and having a ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown hole punched through his abdomen]]''. He only stops fighting- presumably due to being physically incapable of it- when he is '''''swung around the room by his intestines.''''']]
* In ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', Nobuhiro "Taro Kawaguchi" Mashiro never gave up, continually trying to make another successful series even after his contract expired. His brother, Moritaka's father, finds the idea that he could have been DrivenToSuicide, a misconception Moritaka had for years, ridiculous, as he does not believe Nobuhiro was the type to give up.
** Shujin and Saiko as well; they've perpetually been in Eiji's shadow for 8 years, and yet never given up on firmly taking the number-one spot.
** Nizuma, too. Whenever it looks like Shujin and Saiko will FINALLY take the commanding lead, that's when he REALLY starts getting interested, and cranks the awesome meter UpToEleven. The worse the situation, the more determined he is to retain his position.
** It's even invoked right on the first volume when Moritaka talks to his dad on the phone: he reminds him of Ryoma Sakamoto of ''Star of the Giants'' ("If a man should fall, he must fall forward, even if face-first into the mud") and [[Manga/AshitaNoJoe Joe Yabuki]] (who protagonizes Moritaka's own favorite series).
* ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'': Guts is a pure example of this trope. No matter how hellish his life is, no matter how many soldiers he faces, no matter how large and invincible the demons he fights are, no matter how seemingly impossible his goals are, he will simply not give up! It probably helps that he knows what will happen to him if he dies, and that he needs to complete his revenge against Griffith before he gets taken out.
** There are numerous examples of that in the manga. Just to make two examples, Guts [[spoiler: ''chisels off his own arm with a broken sword'' to free himself from a demon's jaws during the Eclipse where he is made a sacrifice. Later on, he gets both his legs and his arms (the remaining one and the artificial one) broken with ease by the ''God Hand'', a group of 5 major demons that are actual gods of evil, and he, despite the obvious difference of strength that makes him look like an ant confronting an atomic bomb, rises back to his feet and uses HIS TEETH to swing his [[{{BFS}} humongous sword, the Dragonslayer]].]]
** There is also a lot of emotional drive behind Guts' determination. Perhaps the saddest example came during the Eclipse, when [[spoiler: Guts sees Casca, his lover, about to get the, ah, ''tentacle treatment'' by a mess of demons, starts to go into a FoeTossingCharge to get to her, gets his arm nommed by a demon with a set of impressive choppers, then hacks off that arm we were talking about when Femto starts raping her, and then continues his rampage to try and save her... [[HopeSpot But it was all in vain.]] But even after he gets dogpiled, ''Guts is still trying to get to her'' '''by trying to force himself up from beneath the demons on his bloody stump of an arm''' which evidently causes one of the demon's talons to claw out his eye.]] After all of that occurred, Guts not only remains a determinator to ensure his own survival, but also Casca's survival, since if he dies, [[DeclarationOfProtection she also dies.]]
** Guts was a determinator even as a ''baby''! Guts was born after his mother was hung from a tree, and despite being exposed to the elements for who knows how long before a band of mercenaries found him, he absolutely refused to die. He's been fighting for survival his entire life.
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': [[{{Meido}} Roberta]]. ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' jokes are made, but saying them will be regretted to a point where any {{Shounen}} protagonist you want elected for this trope should just step aside.
** The "Goat, Jihad, Rock N' Roll" arc has Masahiro Takenaka, a somewhat unusual example. He has been a [[TerroristsWithoutACause Terrorist Without A Cause]] for well over 20 years and has lived through innumerable setbacks and conceded a lot because being an enemy of the state is the only thing he finds meaning in. In his own words, he is willing to concede battles but never the fight itself.
* ''Manga/{{Blame}}'': Killy. Broken arm? Use the other one. Three-fourths of your body incinerated? Grow a new one. Half of your skull blown off? Just shoot back. Seriously, there is nothing that can stop this killing machine. Now add in the fact that his quest takes 3,000 years to complete, during which he does not complain or quit ''once''. Furthermore, he ''walks'' through the majority of TheCity, which a growing Dyson sphere roughly the size of Jupiter's orbit.
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', although the quality is generally shared among the Braves, there are two standouts:
** Saizo, who has been [[CurbstompBattle curbstomped]] and left cut up and bleeding countless times against Hanzo (as well as a few others), and still stands up and fights rather than staying down for count.
** Rokuro, who doesn't fight very often and is WeakButSkilled, meaning it's very easy to get him down if you land your blow, but nothing will stop him standing up again if the threat's not over. You can [[spoiler:[[EyeScream stab out his eye]], it's okay, he'll replace it with a magic stone that [[CastFromHitPoints casts from HP]], because when his [[YouCanBarelyStand HP is down to zero]], he's just gonna get back up again and keep protecting his [[UndyingLoyalty lord and kin]].]]
* ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' not only [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this behavior in its protagonist Kazuki, it uses it as a major plot point. [[spoiler:The kakugane serving as Kazuki's heart is a highly dangerous, modified version, which has given Kazuki energy-draining abilities and is slowly turning him into a monster.]]
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Kamijou Touma. Burn him with fire of about 4000ºC, cut his arm off, crush him with I-Beams, send a giant golem, call an angel or fight him using the power of God's Right Hand, ArchangelMichael and he won't step back, he will keep going on to acomplish his goals. Is it any wonder he's called [[FanNickname [=TouMAN=]]] by the fandom?
** On at least one occasion Stiyl has also demonstrated this. Despite being having exploded into what was described as a constellation of organs and viscera that filled an entire room, he not only remained conscious and aware but also managed to perform magical spells and reassembled his own body.
* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'': Rosette Christopher, in the manga. She'll do ''anything'' to get her brother back, going as far as making a DealWithTheDevil that would ultimately cost her much of her life to do so. She even [[spoiler:comes BackFromTheDead]], almost entirely by sheer force of will.
* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'': Clare is a positively epic Determinator. She can get filled with holes, lose her limbs, knocked down over and over again, and it [[BloodKnight just.]] [[UnstoppableRage Doesn't. Matter.]] While considered a GeckoEnding, her climactic battle with [[BerserkButton Pris]][[GodModeSue cilla]] in the anime is the best example of this.
** Though, her fight with Priscilla in the manga might be an even better example. [[spoiler: When Clare is assumed to have been killed by the Destroyer, she ends up taking control of it and attacking Priscilla.]] There's a ''reason'' quite a few people consider her the DistaffCounterpart of [[{{Manga/Berserk}} Guts]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': [[AcePilot Kallen Kouzuki]] and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Jeremiah Gottwald]] are competing fiercely for this title, with the former having succeeded in [[spoiler: fighting Suzaku to a CombatBreakdown standstill]] in the GrandFinale, and the latter [[spoiler: having survived everything from Kallen blowing his mech to hell to getting hit point blank with an EMP device specifically designed to work on the mineral his later cyborg parts were powered by, and continuing to ''keep moving by sheer force of will.'' And what's left of his human muscles, of course.]]
** This makes it fitting that the first R2 opening shows Jeremiah while screaming: "I CONTINUE TO FIGHT/FLY!! I CONTINUE TO FIGHT/FLY!!!!"
* ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'': Almost every Abh embodies this trope, but for Captain Lexshue it becomes a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. When her ship discovers a fleet of warships trying to launch a surprise attack, she orders Lafiel to escape with Jinto and warn their allies. Then to buy them time, she turns and fights despite being outnumbered ten to one, [[spoiler:and keeps fighting even as the ship is being destroyed sector-by-sector and finally crippled. As she's ordering her beloved crew to ram the last ship, a beam pierces the hull in slow motion and the scene [[FadeToWhite fades to white]].]]
* ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' has Chiaki Nanami. [[spoiler:Her execution involves her powering through a dungeon from hell, avoiding or straight-up tanking death trap after death trap fueled by nothing but the desire to see her friends again. Even when blood loss finally does her in, she goes out stubbornly clinging to life to her last breath.]]
* Both Light Yagami and L of ''Manga/DeathNote'' are known to be "childish, and hate to lose" and "don't know any limits." Both are convinced that they are in the right and will stop at nothing to prove that their "justice" is correct.
* ''Manga/DGrayMan'':
** Allen and Lenalee in particular push their Innocence past all reasonable limits, willing to sacrifice themselves in the process to save their friends. Allen also has his promise to Mana to never stop walking the path he's chosen until he dies.
** The Fourteenth is arguably this too seeing how [[spoiler:he devised a way to come back to life ''just'' so he could kill the Earl with his "own" hands.]]
*** Why does [[BigBad Adam]] care about him [[SympathyForTheDevil so much]]?!
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** Tai Kamiya/Taichi Yagami of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', BIG TIME!
** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': Daisuke/Davis Motomiya - "No! I'll never retreat! Not as long as there's a fighting chance! I've never quit before, and I'm not going to start now!"
** Impmon of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' survives literally getting [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] and ''thrown in lava'' through sheer stubborness, and is incredibly durable as Beelzemon. He also digivolved into Beelzemon Blast Mode with just his willpower--no Digimodification, no [[MacGuffin Calumon]], just pure determination to help his friends.
** Ditto Masaru from ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' for being the first human in the history of the franchise to punch a digimon and do real damage. He does this several times, in fact [[spoiler: he broke through a shield made by the god of the digital world (even if it had been weakened) with a ''punch'' using his determination]]
* Played straight by several characters in ''Manga/ElfenLied''. Nana in particular is on the receiving end of several [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp Battles]], but still gets up for the next one. Bandou doesn't let the loss of his eyes stop him from being one of the biggest badasses in the story. Lucy is this and especially in the manga finale. [[spoiler: The Agent]] demonstrates this in every fight [[spoiler: she's in]] looking for ways to survive and win [[spoiler: even in the final scene she's in, trapped in a cave with the BigBad's daughter, after a brief discussion, she turns to a hulking tumorous mass, and asks if its edible.]] That last scene MakesSenseInContext.
* In ''Anime/EurekaSevenAO'', the Secrets are hellbent on chasing the Scab Coral to whatever timeline and dimension they went in order to eliminate them.
* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'': [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. In one early match against the Oujou White Knights, Hiruma stops playing because he realizes Deimon's chances for victory have reached 0%, although he is willing to keep playing in any other match as long as his team's chances for winning are even marginally greater than nil. In recent chapters, he's gone from being a subversion to almost an embodiment of sheer determinatorism: [[spoiler: He plays half a game with a broken arm and apparently heals it in less than a month by willpower alone. Well, willpower and his oxygen tank/segway. Hahahaha.]]
** Then there's Yukimitsu Manabu, who has more determination than any of the other Devil Bats, and managed to overcome ''Agon'' in the game with the Shinryuuji Nagas. Ojou's Sakuraba and Takami both elevated themselves into great players by never giving up; Takami, particularly, had to overcome a lack of speed that many said killed his chances of being a quarterback. He compensated by practicing the living Hell out of throwing until there wasn't a more precise QB in the country. Monta managed to overcome the Nagas' catching ace, as well. Because catching is all he's good at, he's vowed to become the number one catcher in the world if it kills him. Interestingly, characters who started out hearing threats of "do it, or I'll kill you!" (Sena, Monta, the Ha Ha brothers, etc.), end up deciding for themselves "I'll do it even if it kills me!"
** Riku from the Seibu Gunmans. After [[spoiler: Kid and Tetsuma are benched due to injuries from [[TheBerserker Gaou]]]], Riku refused to throw the towel and [[DoNotGoGentle continued to play even when his team is painfully aware they are going to lose.]]
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', pretty much everybody from the eponymous guild is a {{Determinator}}. Natsu and Erza in particular stand out for taking the determinator status to ludicrous levels.
* Kariya Matou from ''LightNovel/FateZero'' really tried so damn much to save the daughter of the woman he's loved from FateWorseThanDeath. To that end, he willingly endured Zouken's parasitic worms for an entire year even though he had never been educated in magic.
** [[spoiler:"Sometimes, a broken machine did not simply and silently give up functioning. On rare occasions, it could surprisingly continue working. The fact that Kariya was able to crawl back to the Matō mansion in Miyama was one of these very rare examples."]]
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': Juuza and Fudo definitely exhibit this in their respective fights against Raoh. Despite all the punishment they're put through, they absolutely refuse to surrender. At points in both fights, Raoh specifically states they should have already died from their injuries, '''yet they continue to fight on, even in death'''.
** Raoh, Souther and especially Kenshiro himself also qualify big-time.
** Also, Rei. He had to kill Yuda, but due his earlier fight with Raoh he was dying and in horrible pain. And he soldiered on. But Yuda was still running, so he had Toki treat him in a way that could extend his life for a while... Assuming he survived the horrible pain, ''ten times worse than what he had experienced from Raoh's attack and concentrated in a few minutes''. He survived (even if his hair went white from the pain), and continued fighting, living until he had killed Yuda (and doing so in spite of Yuda ''flooding the town'' to rearrange the battlefield).
* ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'': Satellizer L. Bridget is a true female pinnacle of this trope. Because of her late mother's dying wish, she refuses to give up in any situation and refuses to be bossed around by anyone. Even with her body paralyzed or brutally maimed, or even after [[NoOneShouldSurviveThat having her throat slit]], [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow she will not give up]]. She has pushed her will so high that she defeated a superior opponent ''while unconscious'' (she has "dead eyes" during the latter stage of the fight).
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** Edward. OH SO MUCH. Not one injury he receives during the entire series is enough to make him give up on a fight. Ever. Special mention for [[spoiler: his final fight with Pride. The one where he ''invaded Pride's philosopher's stone'' to make him stop trying to possess him, while Pride was pulling a GrandTheftMe via ''shadow tentacles burrowing into his skin'']].
** Mustang has to endure [[spoiler:the loss of his best friend, the crippling of one of his best men, having the rest of his most trusted men reassigned all across the country by Fuhrer Bradley as punishment for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, and ''having his eyesight forcibly removed by Truth for a human transformation he didn't initiate'']]. And he still keeps on trucking right through the final battle.
** Lan Fan also deserves special mention. She is one of those people willing to [[spoiler:cut her own arm off]] for the cause, and does not give up on the Young Master even after he is [[spoiler: turned into a homunculus]]. She went through [[spoiler:automail rehabilitation (this normally takes upwards of two to three years) in six months, cutting Ed's record of one year in ''half'']].
** Let's not forget Kimbley. They guy got his soul added to Pride's Philosopher Stone and is essentially dead. Then, when Ed is in the final fight with Pride, Kimbley's soul emerges from the legions of other souls to stop Pride because he had lost his fierce pride by trying to take over Ed and thus lost the fight in Kimbley´s eyes.
* Sousuke of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' is a prime example. He’s done everything in his power to overcome his [[ChildSoldier very difficult life]] in the name of [[CrazySurvivalist sheer survival]]. Let’s account the events of the final arc alone: when [[spoiler:Leonard kidnaps Kaname]], Sousuke embarks on a long journey to [[spoiler:bring her back]]. He loses all backup and watches friends die. He is hunted by a multitude of assassins and almost dies several times. He is revived just so he can fight off more assassins. He endures rigorous training, prompting the little gem below. He storms enemy bases and [[spoiler:loses Kaname again and again]]. He’s betrayed by a deeply-trusted comrade. The guy doesn’t even give up when the girl he does all this for seems to have [[spoiler:joined the enemy]] to work against him. He’s not giving up, whether the object of his search (and everyone else in the world) likes it or not.
--> '''Lieutenant Colonel Courtney:''' "He's got what it takes. Just fucking guts."
--> '''Lemon:''' "Guts?"
--> '''Courtney:''' "No, ''fucking'' guts."
* Akise Aru of ''Manga/FutureDiary''. [[spoiler:In Chapter 51, he is stabbed and slashed in the neck by Yuno. Knowing that he's pretty much screwed, he decides to give Yukiteru a final warning about Yuno by texting it into his cell, running up a hill, and shoving the message in his face. And so he does. AFTER BEING DECAPITATED.]]
* Some of the racers in ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' are this, but the biggest one of all is the protagonist, Hayato. He has a "hate-to-give-up" mentality that gets him out in most situations.
** Shinjyo also has his moments. In episode 32, near the end of the African GP, his Fire Superion has stopped running when it runs out of gas as the car is about to cross the finish line. So he gets out and he pushes his car into the finish line. He learned this trick from his F3 days, when his car also stopped.
* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'': Katou Masaru is a determinator ''AllLovingHero'', of the "Leave no man behind!" and "There is no 'Combat Ineffective' in 'Sudden Battlefield Limb Amputation'!" variety. In one case he beats an unstoppable alien demigod equipping his own severed arm, and in another he crawls over to a BFG, props himself up on his bleeding leg-stumps, and cuts loose on yet another unstoppable alien demigod. His favored tactic? Talking people down. And he's not even the main character. Main character Kei Kuruno isn't far behind, except for the AllLovingHero thing at the beginning.
* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'': The Gutsy Geoid Guard actually had written ''into their bylaws'' (Called the "Oath Sworn through Courage") : "Article 5, Section 120: ...Under no circumstances must a GGG member ever give up."
** [=ChoRyuJin=] = Determinator Incarnate, even out-"never give up"-ing '''''Guy.''''' Even [[spoiler: '''''THE END OF THE''''' (prehistoric) '''''WORLD''''']] cannot and '''will''' not stop him.
** But even [=ChoRyuJin=] faltered before the might of the Sol Masters in FINAL. In the darkest hour of the final battle, with the Brave Robot Corps in pieces and Guy seemingly defeated by Palparepa, it was ''[[TagAlongKid Ma]][[TookALevelInBadass mo]][[KidHero ru]]'', alone and armed only with his purification abilities, who refused to surrender in the face of Pei La Cain's superior firepower. It was Mamoru's unflagging courage that empowered the G-Stones of the Brave Robot Corps via the "all G-Stones are connected" reveal moments later, giving 3G's warriors the strength to come back from defeat one last time and blast the Sol Masters to kingdom come.
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Pretty much all characters in main cast have their moments, but the all-out Determinator has to be Gintoki. When things get serious, he shows this more [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass focused side of his]] and it's often combined with few CrowningMomentOfAwesome moments. Not very surprising, since he ''is'' the protagonist of shounen series.
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' embodies this trope. The best example is when Onizuka has to substain a student national examination to avoid forced resignation, and he manages to [[spoiler:rescue a girl in danger from a dozen yakuzas, armed with guns, just with bare fists, then he arrives to the 5-hours exam 4 hours late and he does it in 1 hour. After completing it, he passes out and the other characters realize that he took the exam WITH 4 BULLETS IN HIS STOMACH.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has a bunch of 'em.
** Domon Kasshu of the ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' is probably the best example, but in G your fighting spirit is your most powerful weapon anyway. Sai Saici deserves a special mention for continuing to fight after his Gundam's arms were ripped off. Keep in mind that Gundams in this show work through transmitting the pilot's movements directly to the machine--so Sai Saici actually felt like his ''own'' arms were severed.
** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'''s Determinator surely is... Patrick 'the Immortal' Colasaur unwilling to stop fighting Gundams (and for his love interest) [[ButtMonkey no matter how often he gets shot down.]] Though, there is Graham Acre (aka Mr Bushido) who keeps fighting up to the point where he 'overcomes reasoning with his recklessness' - and it works. Also, Setsuna. Most people who experienced his childhood would have suffered from massive PTSD for the rest of their lives, but he is able to [[spoiler: break away from his past and start looking towards the future]] through sheer determination. This trope is also the leading cause of Setsuna [[TookALevelInBadass Taking Many Levels in Badass]] throughout the series, not least of which is [[spoiler: when he activates the [[SuperForm Trans-Am Burst]] on 00 Raiser while screaming "Everyone's lives are fading away...I...am [[PunctuatedForEmphasis NOT GONNA LET THAT HAPPEN!]]"]]
** [[BadassNormal Garrod Ran]] from ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX Gundam X]]'' is another example. This trope is the entire reason why Garrod is able to debunk Newtype prophecies again and again. [[spoiler: D.O.M.E. even says this outright in the final episode.]]
** Heero Yuy of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]''. Shoot him, blow him up, he's gonna complete his mission even if it kills him. Though that's pretty unlikely, even he can't manage to kill himself. He screams "I WILL SURVIVE!" [[spoiler:as Wing Gundam Zero literally dissolves around him, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere unshielded and backwards, in the series finale]]. TurnedUpToEleven in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW'' where the only way to fire the two cannons at the same time is by that method.
** Amuro of the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' certainly qualifies, especially in later entries. He's the one UC protagonist to keep returning to the battlefield, war after war, even when it's not required of him, and even though he's suffered a great deal psychologically. He's had a few moments where the stress of battle has gotten to be too much, but he always comes back eventually. The first thing he does after coming out of a TenMinuteRetirement in ''MobileSuitZetaGundam'' is fly a plane into an enemy mobile suit during the middle of a battle. In fact, [[spoiler:his final act in the UC continuity is to ''push an entire asteroid out of Earth's orbit.'']] His resolve prompts even Char to call him crazy... [[spoiler:''but it works.'']]
* ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'':
** Niz holds "persistence" as his core tenet, and manages to impress the local badass, Sechs, enough to learn what she can from his philosophy. Considering that Sechs had much more combat experience, was more physically capable, was kicking his ass for most of the fight, and on top of that was notorious for ignoring anything apart from a straight-on berserker assault, the mere fact that Niz made such an impression on her was pretty amazing. Then again, remaining standing and not crying or grimacing in pain after your arm, artificial heart, and half of your chest is blown away would probably have an impact on whoever you were fighting.
** And let's not forget Gally/Alita. She's quite the dogged survivor and determined fighter -she has even survived [[spoiler: war on Mars, being sentenced to dying in outer space two hundred years before the events of ''Gunnm'', nearly getting mashed and thrown to the garbage on Chief Bigot's order, being blown apart by Desty Nova, and, depending on whether you're reading ''Last Order'' or the ending of the first ''Gunnm'', fusing with the Ladder or being entirely destroyed at the nano-level while looking for the fata morgana]]. On top of all the more 'regular' fighting and danger, which include the destruction of several of her cyborg bodies. And let's not forget that *just* achieving the Panzer Kunst and the whole training around it is a feat in itself.
* ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'': Sho Fukamachi, unlike many of these heroes listed, does not seem to be very strong willed, that is until his friends and family are threatened. He frequently suffers from some of the most horrible injuries, including limbs being torn off, getting impaled, his skull smashed open, and even melting and dying (thankfully the Guyver can regenerate), but he always keeps fighting. In his rematch with Aptom, he manages to get over the trauma [[spoiler: of killing his father]] to bio-boost again and save Mizuki, and he wills his megasmasher to open and fire when his arms are disabled. Much later, Sho fights for control of the Gigantic from Agito, TheAce, and wins through his sheer will power. This is notable because Agito himself is also quite the determinator who will do anything to win.
* ''Gyakkyou Nine'': Fukutsu Toshi's name literally translates to "Indomitable Determination." Being a Kazuhiko Shimamoto character, he is a walking inferno of [[HotBlooded hot blood]] and believes that with determination, his baseball team can achieve anything.
* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'': Virtually every boxer Ippo faces shows a will of steel and HeroicResolve. The "determination" is even commonly seen as a green flame in the eyes of the person. However, the title of ''Determinator'' must go to Takeshi Sendo who, in one fight, after fracturing several ribs, not only fights savagely for a whole 'nother round, but after being brutally KO'd (and shattering two ribs in the process) he stands up, simply ''refuses'' to let his body go unconcious just so he could stare directly into Ippo's face and later walks out unassisted.
** And Date Eiji, who kept fighting with a broken rib, fist ''and'' jaw against the world champion.
** An interesting variant is Ichirou Miyata, who combines a will of steel with low stamina and durability. He really can't take much and his weight management makes his stamina even worse, but he just ''won't give up'' regardless.
* Clover/Chima from ''Manga/HappyHappyClover'' is hyperactive and optimistic. [[http://rupanana.fam.cx/images/upload/%255D%255D%255D%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255D%255D%255D%255D%255D%255D%255D%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255B%255D%255D%255D%255D%255D%255D%255B.jpg However when she first meet Rambler, she dreams of wanting to go exploring with him.]] Throught the manga, she would constantly ask him the same question, and he would mostly say no. Since he tells her she's too young and it's dangerous. [[http://www.animeclick.it/prove/serie/HappyHappyClover/HappyHappyClover12.jpg She would sometimes not take his answer very well]]. But even if he says no, she still won't give up very easily. Rambler and Cinnamon's Sister would mostly say she's "Stubborn" but [[http://www.animeclick.it/prove/serie/HappyHappyClover/HappyHappyClover17.jpg she would tell them that she doesn't give up easily.]]
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'': Alucard suggests that this is part of the reason why Humanity fascinates him, after Father Alexander Anderson refuses to roll over and give in despite having a partly blown off left arm and being severely outnumbered.
** A more awesome example is provided by Pip Bernadotte of the Wild Geese: while wounded in the stomach, he cracks a Vampire Nazi over the head with a rifle butt, shoots them (ineffecively) with a pistol several times, then fires smoke grenades for cover, picks up Seras and carries her down the hall while having his legs shot at, whilst he's losing blood from the wound in his stomach, and doesn't stop until Zorin Blitz throws her scythe at him and impales him on it.
** To its credit, the anime (as opposed to the OVA) depicts a flashback of Integra, aged around 12 or 13, facing down a newly rejuvenated Alucard. Even after he instantly heals the wounds she inflicts with her pistol (and being absolutely horrified of him up to this point, not to mention he's currently right in her face) suddenly CUTS ALUCARD OFF in the middle of his "I am ImmuneToBullets" speech, and delivers a kickass speech almost crying BerserkerTears. Amused by this sudden display of spine, Alucard formally recognizes her as her master (and thus the rightful head of the Hellsing Organization).
* Yuu from ''Manga/{{Holyland}}''. He's a CowardlyLion through and through, but when the Lion is awake he will force himself to get up from things that are previously shown taking down lesser men and keep going until either him or the opponent is thoroughly down for the count. Things like [[spoiler: getting thrown to the concrete by a judoka or being a GroinAttack victim.]]
* ''Manga/HoneyCrush'': Mitsu doesn't even let a pesky thing like death stop her from pursuing her love interest. Her unwillingness to ever give up is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by her rival, Kyouko.
* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Gon makes everyone else look like pansies, mostly because unlike the rest of 'em, he's far from the strongest fish in the pond. This is a trait all Hunters share, since the final exam is to eliminate the least Determinator among them (it's an inverse fighting tournament where the loser moves forward, and the only way you can lose is by admitting defeat--killing an opponent will disqualify you). During this exam, Gon's opponent Hanzo clearly outmatches him, beating him unconscious several times, and breaking his arm. Even after ''hours'' of this, he still refuses to surrender. He finally wins as Hanzo realizes that Gon has won him over and that he's not willing to do what it would take to win (actual torture and permanent damage). As soon as he recovers, Gon pulls the same trick again when he's trying to find Killua--each time he crosses the boundary, he's smacked several yards back, but he keeps it going all day long until the person who's smacking him cries out in desperation, eventually persuaded to let him pass. A later arc has him getting his arm blown off--and counting that as a victory because he made his opponent use his special ability. Frankly, Gon's determination (or stubbornness) would probably get any non-protagonist killed within minutes. In the manga, he has gotten even worse since [[spoiler: the death of Kaito ]]
* Protagonists of ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' series are known for being over-the-top Determinators, whose determination is emphasised [[TheAnimeOfTheGame in the anime of the original games.]] While Endou Mamoru is already determined enough [[CharacterDevelopment to make others character develop]], Tenma is argubly even more so than him, thanks to his show being a lot [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] than Mamoru's, and every member in Zen Raimon, save his best friend, are [[{{Wangst}} whinny and useless]] until Tenma's determination put senses into them.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'':
** The entire [=InuYasha-tachi=] team. [=InuYasha=] himself, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, even gentle Kagome and Shippo, who usually plays comic relief. The only time any of them could be said to give up [[spoiler: is when Sango thinks Miroku is about to die from his curse. "Take me with you."]]
** Kagura, who persisted through the most relentless circumstances, and didn't even [[spoiler:let dying bring her down]].
** And Sesshoumaru, who will take anything that's thrown at him and still keep going. Even losing an arm resulting in him shrugging it off with the comment that it benefited him in the long run by making him even stronger than he was before. This culminates in a climactic moment when his enemy [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabs him]] [[spoiler: through the chest, cocooning him to absorb him into [[BigBad Naraku's]] body. Instead of dying, he [[{{Determinator}} digs deep]] for a strength that even he [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong never even knew]] he possessed]].
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': This is half the point, for both flavors of 'tagonist. (The other half is being wicked clever bastards.) JJBA fights are traditionally won by the protagonist being put under an ungodly amount of pressure causing him to figure out something completely, well, bizarre and thus turn the tables on the unfortunate villain involved. Or sometimes to just [[spoiler: stop time]].
** [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] when [[spoiler: Caesar]] fights [[spoiler: Wamuu]]. After the latter manages to give the former an ungodly beatdown, he turns away before catching the victim out of the corner of his eye, back on his feet and ready for more. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: Caesar]] had lost far too much blood and wasted far too much energy that he wawsn't even able to throw any kind of punch with any kind of force behind it, let alone produce a Ripple. So, even though he refused to go down, in the end, standing back up didn't do anything at all.
** This is even included as a gameplay element in the LicensedGame ''[[VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle All-Star Battle]]''. Once their health has dropped below a certain threshold, certain characters (Giorno, Bucciarati, Mista, Fugo and Ermes) enter "Resolve Mode", which gives them a bunch of advantages. They gain super armor when attacking, they do more damage, and they gain more energy from being damaged.
* ''Anime/JubeiChan'': Koinosuke survives 300 years by force of will alone to keep searching until he finds the true successor for the Lovely Eyepatch. (He also [[spoiler:abandons his wife and daughter]] to do so, but you don't find that out until later.) It's nearly [[spoiler:the last DespairEventHorizon]] for Jubei when she realizes what he went through to get her something she's done nothing but reject.
* ''Anime/{{Karas}}'': Otoha definitely falls into this category. He was "killed" twice in the series that we saw--and both times just pissed him off. And yes, he ''was'' in human form both of those times. The second time was stated that Otoha was revived by "the will of the city." It seems whatever entity governs the Karas was so impressed by Otoha's sheer dragging-on-the-ground balls that they refused to give up such a valuable guardian.
* Yukino Miyazawa, the protagonist of ''Manga/KareKano'', is an AttentionWhore who wants above all to be praised by others. What makes her a determinator is the lenghts she goes in order to do that, always trying to be the most helpful, beautiful and the best in school and sports.
* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'': Hibari Kyouya. Even when half of bones in his body are broken [[spoiler: by Mukuro]], he continues fighting so hard that he was said to be moving too fast to be seen. And don't forget about the time he was been poisoned by the Cervello during the Varia arc and is supposed to take the Cloud Ring that was held up above him twenty feet high. The poison is said to stop a rampaging elephant into a standstill, but not for Hibari!
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'':
** Kenichi. His masters are firmly of the opinion that sheer stubbornness is the only reason he survives at all.
** The same series gives us Akira Hongo, one of the members of the [[BigBadEnsemble One Shadow Nine Fists]] group, Sakaki Shio's RivalTurnedEvil and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold [[EvenEvilHasStandards and Standards]]. Sakaki reveals via flashback that as a young man, and prior to his FaceHeelTurn, Hongo once got shot with a semi-automatic gun and sustained injuries serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room; yet he got up and left the hospital on his own power, went to a karate tournament ''and won even with the severity of his injuries''--all because the day before, he declared that he was NOT going to go back on his appointment with said tournament no matter what. [[spoiler:That same determination translates in the modern day to him being ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice several times in his fight with fellow Nine Fists member Silcardo Junazard and yet not quitting until he himself stabs Junazard through the torso with his injured arm. "[[BadassBoast I'll be the one to kill you]]," indeed]].
** And of course let's take a moment to remember the fucking [[CrazyAwesome awesome]] Siegfried. This guy sensed his friends need him (during the middle of his training which consisted of spinning for 40 days straight at this point!) finds and pilots a plane for another ''three days straight'' and when he finds his friends, he dives out of the plane amidst missiles and gunfire, singing all the while like the fucking [[CrazyAwesome badass]] he is, lands safely and then proceeds to kick the all mighty hell out of his opponents. Only then does he collapse from the sheer exhaustion of being awake and physically straining himself for ''forty-three days''!!
* ''Anime/KillLaKill'':
** Satsuki dominates Junketsu, a dangerous monster trying to devour her whole, with sheer force of will. She even manages to achieve its ultimate form, despite having ''no'' synchronization with it. It's notable that part of her transformation sequence is "Life Fiber Override."
--->'''Satsuki:''' ASK NOT THE SPARROW HOW THE EAGLE SOARS!
** When Satsuki was five years old, her father [[spoiler:told her of her mother's plans for world domination, as well as the fact that she had murdered her baby sister]]. Satsuki spent the next twelve years dedicating her life to vengeance, recruiting the Elite Four--often by impressive shows of will--and building Honnoji Academy [[spoiler:as a boot camp to train people to fight Life Fibers]].
** [[spoiler:After Ryuko is brainwashed and wears Junketsu herself]], Satsuki wears Senketsu to fight her. Despite Senketsu's best efforts, the attempt is unspeakably painful for Satsuki, but she still presses on, mostly [[WeNeedADistraction as a distraction]].
* In ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'': almost all of the character's qualify. Buffaloman fought Akuma Shogun (The god of evil choujin) for a FUCKING MONTH while Kinnikuman (A determinater in his own right) trained to fight Akuma Shogun. Terryman fought Ashuraman after having literally lost both of his arms, he didn't win, but he still fought Ashuraman hard. He also went up against The Mountain (The heaviest choujin in the series by that point), who not only body splashed him, but also damaged Terryman's already injured leg. Terry come back and beats the Mountain by lifting him over his head and giving him a brainbuster down a casm they were fighting over. When Kinnikuman and Brocken Jr. couldn't find Terryman, they though him dead. Lo and behold, Terry survived the staggering fall. Near the end in the Scramble for the Throne Arc, Robin has to face Mammothman in death match. After Mammothman freezes Robin in an iceberg, Robin bursts out, steals Mamothman's own move, the procedes to give the Rope-work Special, all the while Robin is fading out of existence. Geronimo probably deserves this more title the most. Way back in his first fight with Sunshine, Geronimo's heart stops. Given that he's a regular human being, you'd think that would kill him, but hell no! Geronimo shoves his hand into his own chest and FUCKING MASSAGES HIS OWN HEART UNTIL IT STARTS BEATING AGAIN!
* ''Manga/TheLawOfUeki'': Ueki just ''will not'' go down until he succeeds, no manner how much damage he takes. His absolute determination is so great that many characters have incredulously asked: "Is this guy immortal?" It helps that he ''is'' a cosmic being, albeit still killable, who was raised as a human, but even other cosmic beings are awed at his refusal to go down.
* ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub'': Ogami Itto. Enough said. Well no, not really. Er... go read the page!
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'':
** We have [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Zenigata]]. Whenever he's chasing Lupin, ''nothing'' will stop him. Jailing him? He'll break out to continue the chase. Reassigning him to another case? He'll solve it while still chasing Lupin. Beating the crap out of him? He'll beat ''you'' up and continue chasing. A ''war'' is closing the border between the country he's in and the one Lupin is going into? We never saw what he did, but he was later seen leading the police of the second country while chasing Lupin.
** More subtly, we have Characters/LupinIII himself: He ''always'' gets what he's after. No matter the challenges he has to overcome, they will be left in ruins by the time he's walking away with the treasure.
* The titular character of ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is one hell of a determinator. She doesn't give up, even in the face of a PersonOfMassDestruction that is clearly more powerful than her. Quite possibly deconstructed in that her constant pushing beyond limits bites her back ''hard'' at one point. She later teaches her students not to go down that path.
** Exemplified in the beginning of the second season. She fights a stronger opponent, gets knocked through a wall and nearly killed outright, is told by her TrueCompanions to stay put, heal up and let them handle the rest, and instead pulls out the biggest spell in her arsenal to end the fight - and manages to cast it despite an enemy mage ''shoving a teleporting hand through her chest'' to try and neutralize her.
** Nanoha's [[EmpathicWeapon intelligent device]] Raising Heart also appears to show shades of her master's Determinator traits, especially in the second season when she INSISTED that Nanoha cast [[WaveMotionGun Starlight Breaker]] despite the possibility that she may break completely and during the battle between the PersonOfMassDestruction, INSISTED that they use her new form, again despite Nanoha's protests of her possibly breaking.
** As mentioned above, at one point in her career, Nanoha suffered near fatal injuries, as a result of overexerting herself. Doctors (not earth doctors but Mid-Childian ones) told her that her injuries may lead to the end of her career and a high possibility of losing her ability to walk ever again. Yet she went on to become one of the TSAB's most powerful mages, earning the title of "Ace of Aces." That's right, Nanoha simply refused to go down.
** Vita is another example. She is quite possibly an even bigger determinator than Nanoha, or at least it ''looks'' more impressive since she has [[MadeOfIron insane endurance]]. Fighting through hordes of combat machines, getting stabbed right through the chest, fighting through more hordes of combat machines for more than half an hour until she arrives at her goal, only to be greeted by automatic defense systems (laser shooting cubes) after her first attack fails. And her only response? [[BringIt "Bring it on."]].
*** Then she keeps on fighting until her weapon literally shatters from overuse of her [[CastFromHitPoints Full Drive]] and she collapses from the pain and exhaustion. Fortunately, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome it was enough]].
* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': "Cephiro, the world that is shaped by the strength of the believing heart." And no one, absolutely ''no one'', has a stronger heart than little pint-sized Hikaru Shidou, even when she's torn apart with injuries that would have killed a grown man. It's actually a plot point in the {{anime}}'s second season, when [[spoiler:her loss of will is downright catastrophic for the entire ''world'', and her subsequent recovery makes her virtually [[AGodAmI omnipotent]]]].
* Alibaba from ''Anime/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', when he first started to use his Djinn Equip fire power, failed because he couldn't concentrate the flames into his blade enough to summon [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Amon's sword]]. When he faces up against a fighter who he absolutely cannot beat without Djinn Equip, he still can't, so he ''engulfs his entire body in fire to create enough flames to summon the sword'', an act which blackens the skin of his sword-wielding arm. He then slices the fighter in half with once slice. "Set ablaze!" indeed.
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'':
** Parodied when Negi is accidentally turned into one of these after Nodoka asks him for a kiss, unaware that the nearby TheWorldTree forces him to accept. He's going to kiss somebody, dang it, or die trying. He eventually kisses Asuna so intensely that she does an incredibly suggestive EyeTake just before the scene is jokingly censored.
** Right after Negi and crew arrive in the magic world, [[spoiler:Fate]] attacks Negi, putting a stone spear through his chest. When he moves to attack the students, Negi pulls the spear out and beats [[spoiler:Fate]] in the head with it.
** Negi gets attacked by a shadow mage. During the course of the fight [[spoiler:his right arm gets cut off. His response? "''I still have my left!''", before attempting a finishing blow. Unfortunately, Jack Rakan stops the fight before we find out if it would have worked or not. And don't worry, he gets the arm back.]]
** The finals between Negi [[spoiler:and Rakan]]. Good Lord. Negi's got TearsOfBlood, a gaping chest wound and is puking up blood... and he still gets up to fight on. Even [[spoiler:Rakan]] is surprised by his tenacity.
** Negi's tendencies along this line showed as early as vol. 7. When he first asked Evangeline to train him she refused unless he could use the kung fu he started learning from Ku Fei ''a couple of days earlier'' to land a hit on expert fighter [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]]. At the appointed hour he came, got sent sprawling halfway across the courtyard, and was told to go away. He simply picked himself up and pointed out to Eva that no time limit was set. The resulting [[CurbStompBattle beating]] lasted for over an hour before Chachamaru got distracted and Negi landed a feeble blow before collapsing.
** Then there's Rakan, who takes this to absurd levels. Nothing short of [[spoiler: ''[[RealityWarper erasing him from existence]]'' will stop him, and even then, he puts up one ''hell'' of a fight.]] Even after that, he [[spoiler: ''willed himself back'' just to give his student one important information that he must absolutely must know, and also gives some parting words to everyone.]]
** Ayaka shows that being a {{Determinator}} doesn't require combat when she [[spoiler: lived to the age of 115 through sheer willpower, [[IWillWaitForYou just so she could see Asuna when she woke up from her 100 year long sleep]]. [[TearJerker Sadly, this was as long as she could hold on, and Asuna overslept by 30 years]].]]
* Haruka in the anime incarnations of ''Anime/MaiHime'' and ''Anime/MaiOtome'' is the resident determinator. Whether kicking a tank as a normal human, head-butting someone while literally dissolving into green sparkles or blowing the head off a monster after getting hit by its petrification ray, Haruka does not know the meaning of the word "quit".
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji never gives up. Not even when he is going against several [[{{Robeast}} Kikaiju]] at once. Not even when the {{Robeast}} is completely impervious to his HumongousMecha's attacks. Not even when it has abilities his robot could not match (he faced submarine and flying Kikaiju long before Mazinger got upgraded to be able to fly or swim or got weapons worked under water or in air). Not even when he is buried under rubble. Not even when he gets dumped into a freaking volcano! Not matter the odds, he will think fast, analyze his foe (and its weapons and capabilities), come up with a plan or cheat like crazy.
** Geez, not even when he KNOWS the fight is utterly hopeless and there is no way to win he will quit. In the last episode of ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and in the movie Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishogun he deployed Mazinger Z as stating he was not walking alive out of that battle and he knew that... but he did not care.
** The only way you can get him stopping to fight is holding someone hostage. And even then he will try to exploit any edge to release the hostage and giving you a sound trashing.
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': Tetsuya is even greater of a TheDeterminator than Kouji. Not matter how hurt he is or how badly damaged Great Mazinger is, he will NEVER give up (because in his mind giving up would mean he would let his surrogate father down).
** In the Great Mazinger tai Getter movie, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the monster]] [[{{Robeast}} Gilgilgan]] ate Great Mazinger's left fist, shrugged a [[ChestBlaster Breast Burn]] attack off, reflected a Thunder Break, blew Great Mazinger's right fist up and endured a Navel Missile, melted Great Mazinger's right leg... What did Tetsuya do? He tried to headbutt it. He tried his last weapon -Great Typhoon- and although it had no effect either, he YET refused leaving.
** A ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' {{Manga}} plays with it, showing he can not care less if he is outnumbered or hurt.
--> '''Tetsuya:''' That's right... It's fine if you tell me... to fight... I'll keep answering with the same answer... MAZIN GO...
** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Even though Duke is calmer than his predecessors he is not a quitter, either.
** In the Creator/GoNagai manga he fought Mazinger and Great Mazinger at once in spite of all told it was crazy and hopeless, and he held his ground and even sliced one Great Mazinger's arm off.
** And during the first season's two-part finale, Grendizer had been beaten by a pair of giant robots, [[CoDragons Duke's nemesis Blacki]] had taken control of the Science and Space Center and was torturing [[TheProfessor Dr. Umon]], [[TheLancer Koji's]] flying saucer was too damaged to help and Grendizer was forced into hiding. Still, Duke did not give up. When he made his comeback, he engaged in a duel with one of the enemy mechs in a crumbling cave, he leapt up, shot lasers to bore his way back to the surface, decapitated the five-headed mech, and then flied straight at Blacki's command ship in a game of chicken. And he won!
* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'': [[InspectorJavert Inspector Lunge]] obsessively chases Tenma all over Germany trying to get him to confess to the murders [[spoiler:that were actually committed by Johan]]. Nothing - not even [[spoiler:his wife and kids leaving him, or losing his job]] - matters as much as catching Tenma. In a more traditional example, not even being stabbed so badly that he quickly falls unconscious from the blood loss stopped Lunge from trying to smash the windows of Tenma's car in order to catch him.
* ''Manga/MutekiKanbanMusume'' is a GenreDeconstruction of the FightingSeries, and ''Determinator'' is also deconstructed with Nishiyama Kankuro, the UnknownRival who constantly defies Miki to a duel because she bullied him when Kankuro was a teenager (and Mike a child four years younger than him). Kankuro's hope of defeating Miki in a fair fight exists only in his head, as his refusal to give up is fairly foolish. In fact, he can easily defeat Miki working as a Poster Boy for the Ramen Restaurant, but he is so obsessed with the fair play that he never realizes it.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
** Asuka downright refuses quitting. She shot a MacrossMissileMassacre on Zeruel--that it shrugged off--, and when it cut her mecha's arms off, she tried lunging at it. She stated she preffered dying rather returning in defeat when Arael was [[spoiler:mindraping her]]. She fought the nine [[spoiler:Mass-Production models]] and she nearly won. And when they [[spoiler:plucked her right eye out, pinned her on the ground with their spears and her HumongousMecha was out of power]] she still was trying to goad her EVA into a Berserker rage. She tried to battle until the very end.
** Shinji also has some moments. During his battle against Zeruel he kept going, even though he lost an arm, his robot ran out of energy, and he was being thrown around and whipped.
* ''{{Anime/Noein}}'': Karasu is the series' Determinator. If you threaten Haruka, he will smack you down. It is that simple. In the last episodes he took this to the extreme, by taking on an entire universe just to get to her.
* ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'': Shu keeps repeating "Everything's OK!" in the most extreme circumstances, to the point that he might seem completely unconscious or heartless - as when he tells [[spoiler: Sara that "everything's okay" because she's alive, even though she was spirited away from her world, unfairly imprisoned, raped by a soldier whom she had to kill, and ran away from a military fortress to avoid getting executed. Oh, and the rape resulted in a pregnancy that she tried to terminate by bashing herself in the stomach with a rock, until the ever-determined and optimistic Shu talked her into carrying it to term.]].
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' has a lot of determined heroes (and villains!), but this trophy probably belongs to Mumen Rider. He is the 1st-ranked C-class hero, with no special powers or abilities to his name, barely any different than the average bike cop. In spite of this, he refuses to back down even from superpowered enemies if it means that it will keep a civilian safe for a few more moments. He's fully aware of his weakness, yet refuses to give up or retreat when the alternative is someone else getting hurt. This actually earns him Saitama's respect after Mumen Rider continually stands up after having his ass handed to him by the Sea King, who's already trashed A- and S-rank heroes alike.
* ''[[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Orguss 02]]'': Verifer Decimator shrugs off absolutely ''everything'' the Rivellian army throws at it, from artillery to bombs aimed directly at its head. Even when it's finally damaged (by having ''nuclear weapons'' detonated right against its body) it only loses both legs, continuing to drag itself forward with its hands until it's destroyed by an even ''bigger'' Decimator.
* In ''Anime/PlasticMemories'', Isla is quite persistent in attempting to retrieve Nina, a Giftia, or android, from Chizu. However, almost everything she does fails, until Chizu hears a conversation between the two girls, in which Nina says she doesn't want her "grandmother" to feel sad when she starts to malfunction.
* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime:
** Ash Ketchum, full throttle. A good example of how Ash absolutely refuses to give up, no matter how outclassed he knows he is, comes in the first movie. What does he do when confronted with [[PhysicalGod Mewtwo]] disabling all the other Pokémon's abilities and forcing them battle [[SendInTheClones clones of themselves]], eliminating all the normal attack options? He charges Mewtwo and throws a punch at his face. When he hits a psychic barrier instead and gets knocked on his ass? Ash ''gets up and does it again''.
** The Team Rocket trio. Hell, they friggin' follow Ash EVERYWHERE, from the Kanto region to Sinnoh and appear in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE except the first, 99% of the time ending in them getting their asses handed to them and flying off into space AND THEY STILL COME BACK FOR MORE.
*** In the ''Advanced Generation'' series this trait was {{Flanderized}} even further. Their inability to recognise any target as too big or too dangerous can be somewhat awe-inspiring. Consider their attempt to catch Kyogre, the Legendary Creator of the Sea:
---->"I hope you have a plan."\\
"Of course I do... we'll catch it in a net!"
*** However, this waters down a bit in ''Best Wishes'', where the trio leaves Ash alone in favor of getting a special mission from their boss. They still come around to bother Ash from time to time when Giovanni leaves them to their own devices, though.
** Some Pokémon could also qualify, such as Scraggy, and to a lesser extent, Tepig. More "classic" examples include Squirtle and Charizard (though the latter only applies after he stops being a JerkAss).
** ''Lysandre''. He'll stop at nothing to achieve his vision of a perfect world. [[spoiler: Even when taking on two Lumiose Conference finalists, eight Gym Leaders, an Elite Four member, a regional Professor, and two regional Champions all at once, he refuses to admit defeat. It takes Zygard Complete Forme to finally take him out, and [[DefiantToTheEnd even as he seemingly dies, he still won't admit he lost]].]]
* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'':
** Gold. Kick his ass multiple times? Doesn't matter. He'll still try to fight you.
** Pearl is one too. It helps that he's closely associated with Azelf, the Pokemon of Willpower.
* Ashitaka from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' fits this trope to a T. Remember--[[spoiler: he was ''shot through the chest'' and yet still had the strength to open a gate that it normally takes 10 men to open.]]
* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': Averted and Played Straight. Only one character who tries to play it straight survives, and she averts it. Playing it straight in any context is also considered a latent crime.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Subverted with Homura, who tries to be one to [[spoiler: save Madoka]] and fails spectacularly -- turns out her determination didn't accomplish anything except [[spoiler: bringing about the apocalypse]]. But then [[DeconReconSwitch reconstructed]] when [[spoiler: Madoka uses her wish to make herself into a force of nature that destroys witches before they're born]].
** AllThereInTheManual states that [[EldritchAbomination Charlotte's]] nature is tenacity. Inverted with [[spoiler: Walpurgis Night]], whose nature is stated to be helplessness.
* ''Anime/PumpkinScissors'': Alice L. Malvin can't stand injustice or inequality - so much so that she will literally jump into any fight and won't back down, no matter what the odds are. This usually means her troops have to end up dragging her out of situations. There is an upside to this though - she's definitely not just the IdiotHero when she gets serious.
* ''Anime/QueensBlade'' has [[FourStarBadass Claudette]] who fights off a BrainwashedAndCrazy [[spoiler: Risty]] for a ridiculous amount of time against ridiculously stacked odds.
* Ayato Kamina ([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant no, not]] [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann THAT one!]]) of ''Anime/RahXephon'' plays this trope straighter than a ruler. At one point, upon being told it'd take a miracle to save someone, he ''accepts it as a challenge'' '''''and pulls it off!'''''
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Pretty much every character. Hell, Rumiko Takahashi is FAMOUS for making characters like this. It'd be quicker to list the ones that AREN'T [[{{Determinator}} determinators]].
* ''Manga/RaveMaster'':
** Let insists on fighting the BigBad even if he's [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow broken every bone in his body.]]
** And let's not even get started on some of the crazy things that [[TheHero Haru]] pulls off in the series!
* The protagonist of ''Anime/RingingBell'' is a lamb whose mother dies early in the film. He won't stop at anything to be powerful like a wolf. He even [[spoiler:grows up into a murderer]].
* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': Tsukune is something of a deconstruction of this trope. The reason he got his [[EmergencyTransformation vampire powers]] was that he kept [[TakingTheBullet protecting his friends from enemy attacks]] despite being the weakest among them, which obviously put his life in danger. In his fight with [[BigBad Hokuto]], he kept getting up after taking numerous severe beatings. His feats in ''Season II'' place him firmly under this trope, particularly when he agrees to endure the [[TouchedByVorlons Human Modification Technique]].
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
** More in the manga than in the anime, Kenshin Himura defeats enemies seemingly by pure willpower alone, such as his determination not to kill. He survives several seemingly insurmountable fights in quick series, sustaining massive injuries each time and still managing to win every single time.
** The young man who gave Kenshin the first slash of his X-shaped scar, Akira, did so despite being nowhere near Kenshin's level as a swordsman. Kenshin told witnesses, "His skill was nothing. But his desperation to live... was incredible." It didn't save him.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Usagi/Sailor Moon. Even when all her friends are dead and she's all alone against impossible odds, she keeps going.
** Minako too. [[Manga/SailorMoon The manga]] had her soldiering on after a series of traumas that culminated in her [[spoiler: having to kill her true love]]. TheNineties [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]]... Well, when the Death Busters take your Heart Crystal anyone else fainted, she ''outran a car''. And when the Dead Moon Circus manacle you and looks in your Dream Mirror anyone else fainted in pain and was useless for a while, she was briefly ''turned on'' before fainting, then she recovered in record time, ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome broke the manacles and opened a Goddess-sized can of whoopass on Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye to make them pay for breaking her heart]]'' (not that she hadn't dated both of them at the same time...).
* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'':
** Pegasus Seiya is one of the finest examples of this trope, if not the epitome of it. He gets dunked on his head in nearly every fight he puts himself into; he's taken punches thrown at light-speed with his face; he was once stomped so far into the Earth that it might as well have been a burial; and oh, he gets knocked off a cliff once every arc/movie. And he still manages to stand up tall at the end of each and every encounter. Somewhat subverted in the conclusion of the Hades arc, where [[spoiler:he gets stabbed in the heart with a sword by the hands of Hades himself, and the blow was laced with a curse that's currently keeping him comatose. But chances are good that he'll be back.]]
** Gemini Saga, Capricorn Shura and Aquarius Camus: In the Hades Chapter: Sanctuary, they go as ''[[FakeDefector Hades Spectres]]'' through the 12 temples course. They get out from the Gemini Kanon's [[PlatonicCave illusion at the Gemini Temple]], they survive Virgo Shaka's [[FantasticNuke Tenma Kofuku]] at Cancer Temple. Then at the Virgo Temple while they get to kill Shaka they get their ass kicked and lost 4 of their 5 primary senses. After that they receive Leo Aioria's Lightning Plasma and Scorpio Milo's Scarlet Needle. They still pull a full fledged [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Athena Exclamation]]. And they just won't give up. Their mission: get to Athena to tell her the whereabouts of her cloth.
** In the prequel manga, ''Manga/SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas'', we have several examples among Athena's Saints and also among the Specters, but there are some people who deserve special mention:
*** [[TheAce Sagittarius Sisyphus]]. [[spoiler:He had blinded himself]], his body was broken by [[spoiler:the fight against [[AMillionIsAStatistic Aiacos]]]] and he had [[spoiler: just ripped his own heart out to open the Gate to the Lost Canvas]]... and he was still able to join Shion and Regulus [[spoiler: in launching Athena's Exclamation]].
*** [[ImplacableMan Radamanthys of Wyvern]], who takes this to [[UpToEleven ridiculous levels.]] Relying on his UndyingLoyalty to Hades (and Hades alone), he lives through: all the attacks of [[ToThePain Scarlet Needle]], being burned alive from the inside, ripping his own heart out, all the strength of [[spoiler: Leo Regulus]]], Regulus' [[spoiler:[[CombinationAttack Athena Exclamation]]]], Regulus' [[spoiler:''Zodiac Clamation'', which has the power of all TWELVE GOLD SAINTS]], and Regulus [[spoiler:[[TorsoWithAView punching a hole through his chest]]]]. What finally kills him is[[spoiler: [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe being split in half]] by Alone]]... But not before he [[spoiler: destroys Athena's picture, restoring her power and turning the tide of the Holy War.]] If this wasn't enough to earn him his {{Determinator}} status, the fact that, after doing all that, he still was [[spoiler:alive enough to save Pandora from Alone's attack and teleport her away from the Lost Canvas probably does it.]]
* ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'': The Sanzo-ikkou. Throw anything at these guys, ''anything'', and they will get up, kick your ass, and continue West. Godlike powers, weapons that neutralize existence, whole armies of demons, or just filling them full of lead...whatever. And it's not because they're heroic or have ideals to live up to, it's just because they're adamant about setting their own path and too damn stubborn to quit. Ever.
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': Mugen. In the series' final episode, he fights three all-out brawls, loses the use of an arm ''and'' is nearly blown to bits with dynamite, and is still [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou determined to finish his duel with Jin]].
* ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'': Kyuzo is willing to destroy as many enemies as necessary just so he'll be around for the one duel he actually wants to fight. After destroying countless mecha and getting his arm severely damaged, he responds that he can still fight with the other one.
* ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'': Kazuma, and possibly Ryuhou as well.
-->'''Kazuma'': "I'm not quitting. Even if I fall, I'm gonna fall forward! [[TalkingToTheDead Right Kimishima?]]"
* In ''LightNovel/SeikenTsukaiNoWorldBreak'', Moroha, despite getting knocked back or down repeatedly by Isurugi, refuses to quit, and keeps getting back up for more.
* ''Anime/ShadowSkill'', as eloquently stated by Diaz Ragu:
-->'''Diaz Ragu:''' As long as I can yet stand, I can still fight. And as long as I can still fight, I remain undefeated!
* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Yoh Asakura, [[spoiler: after ten or so volumes of trying to become the Shaman King, gives up without a fight. Granted, it was to bring Ren back to life, but he didn't even think twice about it.]]
* ''Manga/SkipBeat'': Kyoko Mogami has this as one of her defining characteristics, (the other being [[{{Revenge}} holding intense grudges]] against anyone who mistreats her). In a flashback in Act 7 of the manga, she is given a ''daruma'' doll as a gift from her old boss, which is a symbol for unwavering persistence.
* ''Manga/SlamDunk'': Most (if not all) of the teams, but in particular the main protagonist Sakuragi Hanamichi, who helps will his team to victory against all odds and a nigh-invincible opponent, [[spoiler: despite crippling pain from a potentially career-ending back injury]].
* Maka and Black*Star from ''Manga/SoulEater''.
* Oh so much determination in the second season of ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' - the Argo has been badly damaged, the Wave Motion gun inoperable, the Earth Defense Force has surrendered to Prince Zordar and the Star Force only has a couple of fighters and a handful of missiles left to their name - and yet they fight back, drive the Comet Empire Citadel off earth and manage to save the day.
* ''Manga/SpecialA'': [[DisproportionateRetribution Because Hikari lost a wrestling match against Kei as a kid]], she's attempting to beat Kei at ''anything'', and will stop at nothing to achieve that.
* After the 75th floor boss battle in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', when Kirito is fighting [[spoiler:Akihiko Kayaba]], he is actually [[spoiler:''killed'' with a sword through the chest]]. Then he stabs his opponent fatally, [[spoiler:winning the game and saving his own life]]. A few minutes later, [[spoiler:he wakes up in the real world, his body weak from two years on life support, and immediately goes looking for Asuna]].
* ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'': D-boy lives on this trope. Early in the series when his [[TransformationTrinket crystal]] was disabled, he still kept going until it actual broke. In the next episode he took on a Tekkaman with no powers whatsoever. In the final chapter, his Determinator status gave him the means to achieve UnstoppableRage.
-->'''Noal:''' "He fights Radham with his human body. Geeze, he really is a dangerous guy!"
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'':
** Kamina inspires the BadassCrew to fight even when they have ''no'' chance of winning. Being blasted apart by the pure awesome he radiates isn't worth missing the show for when he starts to fight. His line early in the series, "A real man never dies even if he's killed!", sums up this trope as perfectly as a single sentence can. [[spoiler:Considering the posthumous influence his attitude and ideals enjoyed, both in the series and in real life, it seems he was right.]] Simon also becomes just as much a Determinator as time goes on.
** And if you do think about the first one to three episodes, even Kamina's massive determination was inspired from his [[spoiler: dead]] father.
*** More or less how it was spread: Kamina's father=>Kamina=>Simon=>everyone and anyone else.
** Of course, due to the way Spiral Energy works, sheer willpower and fighting spirit can make the impossible happen. Hell, Lagann uses it as fuel.
** All of Kamina's {{catchphrase}}s are pure Determinator stuff: "Kick the reason to the curb and do the impossible!", "Who the hell do you think I am!?", "Don't believe in yourself, believe in me who believes in you!" The whole anime is about human determination to overcome the obstacles. Every episode, the characters confront a seemingly impossible obstacle, then Kamina/Simon refuse to surrender and somehow overcomes it performing impossible feats it by sheer determination, only to discover a new obstacle that dwarfs the previous one, then they perform and EVEN MORE IMPOSSIBLE FEAT, and so on, in a continous excalation. Even the two recurring themes of Spirals and Drills purposedly remind the concepts of ''excalation'' and ''destroy obstacles'', all driven by determination.
** Hell, when they talk about the heroes on the Deteminator main page they say "For heroes, "hit the villain until he drops" is a virtue that will be rewarded in a Heroic Second Wind moment, especially if they're the Badass Normal with a Screw Destiny attitude." This describes Kamina's last Battle to a T. [[spoiler:Willing himself back to life with the Heroic Second Wind and owning the Big Bad General who has been unharmed so far with one attack. Not to mention that despite how awesome he is, his spiral power is average, qualifying for Badass Normal. As for the ScrewDestiny part... Do I really have to say it?]]
*** He does admit in-series that a great deal of his hot-bloodedness is faith in his allies and exceptional bluffing skill more than actual confidence in himself. WordOfGod in one of the supplementary art books comparing characters' relative Spiral Energy levels actually pointed out his is quite low compared to most of the rest of the cast, due to his hidden lack of confidence in himself. It's his ability to inspire others that makes him a great leader and team player.
** Simon's talk with Possessed Nia when she tells him there's a less than .01% chance of his success. "Maybe, but it ''isn't'' zero. And for me, that makes it the same as a 100% chance!!!" Distilled trope, thy name is Simon.
*** And later, they succeed at something even when the chance of success ''was'' zero. "It seems that theoretical calculations are pointless with you."
* ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'''s Kotetsu/Wild Tiger will fulfill his duties to protect the people in all circumstances and at all cost. [[spoiler:This is the case even when his powers start to decline. Rather than find new work, he decides he may as well become Sternbild's first NonPoweredCostumedHero.]] Barnaby also proves to have a mile-streak of stubbornness, albeit a far more self destructive one. Most of his life was spent on a single-minded, twenty-year quest to find his parent's killer at the expense of [[SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining anything resembling a well-adjusted life.]]
* Starscream from ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' has many determinator moments, but his greatest is when he takes on the entire Autobot team, getting directly hit by most of their most powerful attacks before defeating them. Visibly grievously damaged (in a show where most characters rarely show visible damage) he then takes on [[BigGood Optimus Prime]] who is at full power. He is briefly knocked unconscious, but revives in the nick of time to launch one final cheap-shot and [[spoiler:ultimately achieve his objective and acquire the Omega Lock.]]
** Also this villain-to-villain counter- BreakingSpeech [[spoiler: he gave to [[BigBad Galvatron]] before their final battle]]:
---> '''Starscream:''' "[[ShutUpHannibal Spare me your lectures!]] You know nothing of power."
---> '''[[spoiler: Galvatron]]:''' "Oh?"
---> '''Starscream:''' "Do you know what real power is?"
---> '''[[spoiler: Galvatron]]:''' "Get to the point."
---> '''Starscream:''' "''True'' power is simple ''determination'', making the impossible possible through sheer force of will. I have risked everything in pursuit of this power! I have given myself over to it, body and spark! Now witness...the power of one who has sacrificed everything!" ''(BattleAura flares up)''
* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'':
** Vash the Stampede. There's even a section where he explains he chose his [[BadassLongcoat red coat]] because Rem told him that in the language of flowers a red geranium meant 'determination.'
** [[BadassPreacher Wolfwood]] too, especially in the manga. He chemically pushed himself beyond all human limits to save those kids. And he saved all of them. Even "Crybaby" Livio.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'':
** Syaoran will get Sakura's feathers back without fail. No matter what. This becomes quite [[{{Squick}} creepy]] in the Acid Tokyo Arc.
** Also, Kurogane. He'll do ''anything'' to keep Fai from dying, even if it [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice costs him]] an [[LifeOrLimbDecision arm]]]]. He's also quite willing to go against Fai's wishes on this.
* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'':
** Ataru Moroboshi is a rather luckless, perverted version of this trope. Heaven help anyone between him and a beautiful girl, or the girl herself if she tries to use him to get at Lum and then underestimate how far he'll go for a kiss or grope. ''Nothing'' will stop him--common sense, decency, the law, fate, the gods, beatings, near-electrocutions, explosions, military-grade weaponry, armies, you name it. Even ''evil spirits'' are scared of him. He demonstrates a tenacity that makes his "friends" wonder if he's even human.
*** It even plays into the end of the series--Due to an odd series of events, Lum loses her horns temporarily, and they have to repeat the pilot episode's chase scene. Except this time Lum is tired of Ataru's refusal to commit to her, and is bouncing between flying well out of reach and hiding in orbit, refusing to come down until he admits he loves her--if he doesn't by the end of the time limit, the Oni will use their technology to wipe the memories of them from Earth's populace. At the end, after days of constant work, not sleeping nor once giving up, Lum is openly enraged, asking him "Do you really want to forget me?! Just say it!" while Ataru is constantly chanting "I won't." In the finale, it's revealed that he's really chanting "I won't forget you," and he was holding onto the horns she had previously lost as a keepsake--when he screams the previous line out, he falls to his knees and accidentally drops them, breaking down in the process. This is [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming touching enough]] that she picks him up as he collapses from exhaustion and places his hands on her horns, finishing the game for him.
** In a way, Mr. Fujinami is a huge parody of a determinator. He wants a son and therefore refuses to demonstrate any acceptance of the fact that his Daughter isn't a boy in the hopes that reality will eventually be bent by his determination. Well except for the two times he's offered genderbending technology.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'': Hibiki pulls through by sheer stubbornness, Meia is TheStoic, Jura pulled a BigDamnHeroes moment after being wounded in battle and on painkillers and Dita... Well, you'll [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome know it when you see it]]. Considering her [[TheDitz usual]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} behavior]], she is also a good example of a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.
* ''Manga/VinlandSaga'': Thorfinn will do ''whatever'' is required to earn a duel with Askeladd, even if it's down right suicidal.
* ''Anime/{{Windaria}}'': Marie, who defies death itself to wait for Alan to return.
* ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'': Masane Amaha was mostly a PunchClockHero, at first. However, since circumstance (being a single mother) forced her to do something to provide for her daughter Rihoko, she willingly put herself in harm's way for said daughter. In fact, she refused to DIE one episode because no one would be around to effectively parent her child. Once that wasn't a problem anymore, then she WAS willing to die.
** Like a total badass with a smile on her face. Basically, Rihoko was the one motivation that kept Masane from refusing to give up. Period.
* ''Anime/{{Xabungle}}'': Jiron Amos is possibly the most HotBlooded Real Robot pilot ''ever''. The guy has the guts to take on, ''catch'', and ''throw back'' an ICBM, isn't scared to take on the entire military force of the Innocent, and ignores the statute of limitations on his parents' murder so that [[JusticeWillPrevail their murderer is killed.]]
* Watanuki of ''Manga/XxxHolic'' proves to be incredibly stubborn, in a rather dangerous sense. The earliest example of this that stands out is when he starts visiting a woman he befriended, every day, without fail, because he doesn't want her to feel lonely. [[spoiler: Even when he learns that being in her presence is slowly killing him]]. Later it even becomes common for him to assert in a bad situation that he won't die, because he'll "survive through determination".
* ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'': Delivering milk is SeriousBusiness.
* ''Manga/YourLieInApril'': Kaori is very determined to be able to do the duet performance with Kousei once again [[spoiler:after she was hospitalized due to her growing serious illness, to the point she starts doing walking therapy and take the high risk surgery, which is sadly fails in the end and claim her life]].
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' has some, despite being [[SeriousBusiness about]] [[MerchandiseDriven card]] [[MemeticMutation games]].
** Yugi and Yami have gone to great lengths to rescue each other/their friends/the world, but Yugi deserves special mention. Highlights include forcefully swapping bodies when Yami tried to kill Kaiba, spending eight years trying to solve the Millennium Puzzle, and refusing to let go of said puzzle after it got nailed to a wall in a burning building.
** Seto Kaiba. As the teenage CEO of a major corporation, he has to be, but he'll get [[PapaWolf even worse]] if his little brother is in trouble.
** Katsuya Jounouchi, proven when he got all the way to the semi-final of Battle City without holding an [[GameBreaker Egyptian God]] card. He was almost about to defeat the BigBad in that duel, but he collapsed after withstanding an attack that [[ItMakesSenseInContext could've killed him]]. He lost by default. This was only one of two times said BigBad actually showed FEAR, the other being his eventual defeat. That's right, Jounouchi, the normal guy with no magic powers or God Cards SCARED Yami freaking Malik.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'':
** No amount of heartbreaking losses or near-fatal D-Wheel crashes will be able to keep [[HotBlooded JACK ATLAS]] down.
** Rua will go to hell and back to protect his twin sister. Even when he's tortured to the point of tears [[spoiler: or outright ''killed'' [[HeroicSacrifice in order to protect her]] (the latter of which apparently impresses the Signer Dragon so much that it brings him back to life)]]. Keep in mind that he's only about twelve years old.
** Team Taiyou, especially their leader Taro. They need at least one D-Wheel to race in the Grand Prix, so they fix up a piece of junk and share it between them. All they have are weak ComMons, so they figure out a WeakButSkilled strategy that can use them. The crowd is constantly booing them, so they focus on their one hope of success and keep on going. Their ace card is so impractical that it's thought to be impossible to summon, but they ''[[BeyondTheImpossible summon it anyway.]]''
* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''
** Yuya just never stops which is especially evident in the Synchro Arc. [[spoiler:In the last stretch of the Synchro Arc, Yuya is tortured by an electric shock chip which knocks him out and nearly killed him. After a few minutes of rest, Yuya rushes to save his friends and is unable to do anything by Barrett as Barrett tries to force Yuzu's location out of him. This gets worse as Yugo and Yuri arrive, which causes the three of them to awaken, causing him extreme pain. He's saved by this when Yuzu arrives but with the added "bonus" of launching him into the ceiling. He then loses against Sergey as Sergey's monster electrocutes Yuya so badly he can't stand. After a rest for a bit, he goes out to find Yuzu again!]]
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Kuwabara tends to win all of his major battles by refusing to stay down. One example is his battle against Rishou in the Dark Tournament. Kuwabara starts the fight severely weakened from a previous fight and proceeds to get the stuffing beaten out of him for an entire episode. In the end, he manages to pull off a win with some help from ThePowerOfLove. Yusuke and Kurama have had their Determinator moments as well.
** From the Four Saint Beasts arc, it's possible to sit through [[GloryDays sit through a ten-minute recounting]] of all the many hardships Kuwabara overcomes.
*** From the same arc, Byakko. Kuwabara blowing him up? Just a flesh wound. Kuwabara throwing him into boiling lava? ''That'' hurt and actually crippled him, but he would have recovered if Seiryu had let him borrow a a little yoki. But Seiryu blasted him into pieces... And his now frozen head still asked why he did that.
* ''Manga/WorldTrigger'' has a lot of fun with this trope. Osamu has more courage and determination than his fellow agents, but this does not help him win fights. In series, what wins battles are strength, strategy and luck. Determination does affect the flow of the battle, but only if the two sides are closely matched in power. As lampshaded by Tachikawa: "If you make the outcome of the match about passion, then you might as well be saying that the loser just didn't want it enough." At least he admits determination makes battles entertaining to watch.
----

* ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'':

** This trait of Luffy's is eventually [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in the Impel Down/Whitebeard War arc. His determination to save Ace is so great that he travels to [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] where he is curb stomped by the warden, goes through a procedure that shaves off some of his life span, recieves a temporary adrenaline superboost, has to claw his way out of the prison after missing Ace, then travels to Marineford, where an armada awaits. He has to fight through the Marines, including [[AntiVillain The]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Three]] [[GeneralRipper Admirals]], the [[PsychoForHire Seven Warlords of the Sea]] and his own [[BadassGrandpa grandfather]]. And despite all the obsticles he has to push through, [[spoiler: He '''still''' didn't save Ace!]]

** Kamijou Touma. Burn him with fire of about 4000ºC, cut his arm off, crush him with I-Beams, send a giant golem, call an angel or fight him using the power of God's Right Hand, ArchangelMichael and he won't step back, he will keep going on to acomplish his goals. Is it any wonder he's called [=TouMAN=] by the fandom?

* Alibaba from ''Anime/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', when he first started to use his Djinn Equip fire power, failed because he couldn't concentrate the flames into his blade enough to summon [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Amon's sword]]. When he faces up against a fighter who he absolutely cannot beat with Djinn Equip, he still can't, so he ''engulfs his entire body in fire to create enough flames to summon the sword'', an act which blackens the skin of his sword-wielding arm. He then slices the fighter in half with once slice. "Set ablaze!" indeed.

* Ayato Kamina ([[IThoughtYouMeant no, not]] [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann THAT one!]]) of ''Anime/RahXephon'' plays this trope straighter than a ruler. At one point, upon being told it'd take a miracle to save someone, he ''accepts it as a challenge'' '''''and pulls it off!'''''

** This trait of Luffy's is eventually [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] [[UpToEleven so]] [[TearJerker hard]] in the Impel Down/Whitebeard War arc. His determination to save Ace is so great that he travels to [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] where he is curb stomped by the warden, goes through a procedure that shaves off some of his life span, recieves a temporary adrenaline superboost, has to claw his way out of the prison after missing Ace, then travels to Marineford, where an armada awaits. He has to fight through the Marines, including [[AntiVillain The]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Three]] [[GeneralRipper Admirals]], the [[PsychoForHire Seven Warlords of the Sea]] and his own [[BadassGrandpa grandfather]]. And despite all the obsticles he has to push through, [[spoiler: He '''still''' didn't save Ace!]]

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': Averted and Played Straight. Only one character who tries to play it straight survives, and she averts it hard. Playing it straight in any context is also considered a latent crime.