History Determinator / Anime

* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', Nikaido plays shogi with this mindset.

* 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".

*** [[AdaptationExpansion In the anime]] she got to do it ''again'' and even ''more'' impressively when she fought FREAKIN' PAIN! Unlike in the manga where she gets effectively [[OneHitKill One Hit Killed]] (though she actually survives), in the anime she keeps getting up... and getting up... ''[[TearJerker and getting up...]]''

* ''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 [[TheDeterminator 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.]]

** Also, Rei. He had to kill Yuda, but due his earlier fight with Raoh he was dying 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).

** A more awesome example is provided by Pip Bernadotte of the Wild Geese:
*** Pip, while wounded in the stomach, 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.

*** [[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 Jubi Jinchuriki.]] 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.]]

** [[FanofUnderdog Hinata]] 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, [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler:FREAKIN' PAIN! Unlike in the manga where she gets effectively [[OneHitKill One Hit Killed]] (though she actually survives), in the anime she keeps getting up... and getting up... ''[[TearJerker and getting up...]]'']]
** [[CuteBruiser Sakura]], in her fight against [[MarionetteMaster Sasori]], gets out of a cloud of poison gas by [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: 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.]]

** 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 [[spoiler:immediately after massive reconstructive surgery]] to [[BigDamnHeroes save]] [[IdiotHero Naruto]] from getting into a HopelessBossFight with [[SuperSoldier 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.
** Taken to extremes in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, where no less than ''five'' characters pull a Naruto. Even BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru [[spoiler:breaks his own finger to dispel an illusion]].
** In the same arc, Kimimaro [[spoiler:[[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.
** Jiraiya. [[spoiler: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 originally [[spoiler:Nagato/Pain's]] line. And it probably inspired this line in the book Naruto got it from.
** The Raikage. [[spoiler: 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.]]
** Danzo. [[spoiler: Despite all these years, he never gave up on becoming Hokage, and he is utterly determined to kill Sasuke, even going as far as to use one last TakingYouWithMe attack on him (That didn't work.)]]
** Orochimaru, due to his obsession with immortality. By the end of Sasuke's arc, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: Itachi. Orochimaru ''returned from that''. Granted, he needed help this time, but he still returned.]]
** Ironically, the BigBad Tobi[[spoiler:/Obito]] 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 Jubi'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]]. [[spoiler: Not even the might of the Jubi 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.]]

** Most people who carry the "Will of the D." would probably qualify as Determinators as well (or is it "D.terminators"?).

*** [[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 [[BadAss Fourth Hokage]], poisoned with microscopic insects, set on eternal fire from [[BadAss 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 Jubi'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]]. [[spoiler: Not even the might of the Jubi 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.]]

* 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 {{BadAss}}es 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.

** 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.

** 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.

* ''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.]] [[{{Badass}} Matter.]] While considered a GeckoEnding, her climactic battle with [[BerserkButton Pris]][[GodModeSue cilla]] in the anime is the best example of this.

* ''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. The City is roughly a light-year across.

*** [[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 [[WomanInBlack Pandora]] from Alone's attack and teleport her away from the Lost Canvas probably does it.]]

** [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] when [[spoiler: Caesar]] fought [[spoiler: Wham]]. After the latter managed to give the former an ungodly beatdown, he turned 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 [[JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle one of the games]]. 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.

** 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 the D." would probably qualify as Determinators as well (or is it "D.terminators"?).

* 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/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.

* ''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!"
** 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]]
** 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.

-->''You'd better give up...[-THINKING I'M GOING TO GIVE UP-]!''

* ''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 [[TheObiWan Kaito]] ]]

* Ash Ketchum of the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, 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''.

* ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' gives us Gold. Kick his ass multiple times? Doesn't matter. He'll still try to fight you.

* 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.

* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': Syaoran will get Sakura's feathers back without fail. No matter what. This becomes quite [[{{Squick}} creepy]] in the Acid Tokyo Arc.

** 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 ''StarOfTheGiants'' ("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/{{Gunnm}} Battle Angel Alita: Last Order]]'': 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 herself. 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.

* 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/{{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.

* [[KenichiTheMightiestDisciple Kenichi]]: His masters are firmly of the opinion that sheer stubbornness is the only reason he survives at all.

* ''Manga/RaveMaster'': Let insists on fighting the BigBad even if he's [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow broken every bone in his body.]]

* ''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 [=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.

* Protagonists of ''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.

* Starscream from ''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.]]

* Psycho-Pass: 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.

** The hero, of course. Or at least his SuperpoweredEvilSide.
** And his [[TheRival rival]], Seto Kaiba.