History FromNobodyToNightmare / AnimeAndManga

** Once upon a time, there was a young boy who dreamed of becoming a hero but his father rejected the notion because his own mother, gave him up for adoption to protect him from her enemies. The boy would never know the truth about his grandmother. The boy would [[AbusiveParents suffer his father's wrath sunrise to sunset]]. [[UselessBystanderParent The mother and her family would do nothing lest they suffer too]]. The stress of this lifestyle would cause the boy's skin to itch. All it took was one really bad day for the boy to finally snap and [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his father]]. Unfortunately the rest of the family to get caught in the crossfire. [[FromBadToWorse Then the greatest villain of the world took the boy under his wing]]. The boy thought what's the point of saving this damaged world so I might as well destroy it completely. The boy's name? Tomura Shigaraki.

** Once upon a time, there was a young boy who dreamed of becoming a hero but his father rejected the notion because his own mother, gave him up for adoption to protect him from her enemies. The boy would never know the truth about his grandmother. The boy would [[AbusiveParentssuffer his father's wrath sunrise to sunset]]. [[UselessBystanderParent The mother and her family would do nothing lest they suffer too]]. The stress of this lifestyle would cause the boy's skin to itch. All it took was one really bad day for the boy to finally snap and [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his father]]. Unfortunately the rest of the family to get caught in the crossfire. [[FromBadToWorse Then the greatest villain of the world took the boy under his wing]]. The boy thought what's the point of saving this damaged world so I might as well destroy it completely. The boy's name? Tomura Shigaraki.

** Once upon a time, there was a young boy who dreamed of becoming a hero but his father rejected the notion because his own mother, gave him up for adoption to protect him from her enemies. The boy would never know the truth about his grandmother. The boy would [[AbusiveParents]]suffer his father's wrath sunrise to sunset. [[UselessBystanderParent The mother and her family would do nothing lest they suffer too]]. The stress of this lifestyle would cause the boy's skin to itch. All it took was one really bad day for the boy to finally snap and [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his father]]. Unfortunately the rest of the family to get caught in the crossfire. [[FromBadToWorse Then the greatest villain of the world took the boy under his wing]]. The boy thought what's the point of saving this damaged world so I might as well destroy it completely. The boy's name? Tomura Shigaraki.

** Once upon a time, there was a young boy who dreamed of becoming a hero but his father rejected the notion because his own mother, gave him up for adoption to protect him from her enemies. The boy would never know the truth about his grandmother. The boy would suffer his father's wrath sunrise to sunset. The mother and her family would do nothing lest they suffer too. The stress of this lifestyle would cause the boy's skin to itch. All it took was one really bad day for the boy to finally snap and kill his father. Unfortunately the rest of the family to get caught in the crossfire. Then the greatest villain of the world took the boy under his wing. The boy thought what's the point of saving this damaged world so I might as well destroy it. The boy's name? Tomura Shigaraki.

** One of Ippo's juniors and former fellow boxers, Yamada Naomichi, eventually becomes this. When first introduced to the manga he was the temporary buttmonkey of the gym, and wasn't expected to make it very far as a boxer- when he's reintroduced later in the series under the ring name Hammer Nao, his appearance has changed massively and he's gained a reputation for being a powerful underdog who rose through the ranks despite all odds. Even Ippo is astounded by how far Nao has come.

** Yukio Oikawa started out almost the same way, having Iori's father, Hiroki, as his only friend. But after Hiroki was killed in line of duty, Oikawa promised himself that he'd make their dream visiting the Digital World one day real no matter what. With the help of [[spoiler:Vamdemon]], he becomes a ruthless [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] who almost brought both worlds -- and potentially the entire universe -- to ruins in chasing his mad dream.

** Yukio Oikawa started out almost the same way, having Iori's father, Hiroki, as his only friend. But after Hiroki was killed in line of duty, Oikawa promised himself that he'd make their dream visiting the Digital World one day real no matter what. With the help of [[spoiler:Vamdemon]], he becomes a ruthless MagnificentBastard who almost brought both worlds -- and potentially the entire universe -- to ruins in chasing his mad dream.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' this applies to both our hero Monkey D. Luffy, and his EvilCounterpart Marshall D. Teach AKA “Blackbeard”:

** [[spoiler:BigBad Tobi]], who turns out to be none other than [[spoiler: Obito Uchiha]]. That's right folks, the same kid that [[spoiler:spent his childhood [[EpicFail failing at everything]], [[AllLoveIsUnrequited pining for Rin]], [[TheRival feeling jealous of Kakashi]], and pretty much being the [[IdiotHero Naruto]] of his day]], is now the guy who [[spoiler:indirectly killed Naruto's parents (one of which was his own ''sensei'') by taking control of Kurama and unleashing him on Konoha, took part in the Uchiha massacre, corrupted Nagato and later Sasuke, co-led the aforementioned evil army against the five great powers of the ''Naruto'' universe, worked to unleash the universe's resident Satan (albeit depowered somewhat) and briefly became the WorldsStrongestMan as the first Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails since the Sage of Six Paths, to say nothing of a whole laundry list of additional heinous acts he committed between his "death" and the current story.]] Basically he's Naruto on Evil. In fact, the only reason he was defeated was [[spoiler: he was convinced there was still hope for the world, and was struggling with himself about the path he took.]]

** Once, there was a simple healer who lived amongst humans and dragons who bemoaned the fact that the most he could do with his [[HealingHands magic]] was stop blood loss, not heal wounds, regenerate limbs, or even ease the pain of his patients. That man then witnessed [[DoomedHometown a horrible tragedy]] that pushed him down the path of {{revenge}} no matter the cost. That is the origin story of [[spoiler:Acnologia, the Dragon Slayer who slaughtered so many dragons that he turned into one himself, went completely insane, crowned himself the Dragon King, and for the next 400 years was the undisputed WorldsStrongestMan surpassing even the immortal Zeref and ultimately desired nothing less than [[OmnicidialManiac the destruction of the world and everything in it]] to sate both his bloodlust and unresolved grief.]]

** Luffy went from being a no-name rookie pirate (sure, his family is kind of important, but it wasn't common knowledge at the time) from the weakest sea in the world, to having a [[spoiler:1.5 Billion beli]] bounty, declaring war on the [[OneWorldOrder World Government]], and slapping down their elite privateers, The Warlords of the Sea, left and right (as well as being in good terms with some of them). Hell, [[spoiler:a former Warlord -one of the aforementioned pals- ends up joining his crew!]] He's even [[spoiler:the leader of his own ''fleet'', with 7 sizable pirate crews serving him after he and his crew rescued them in Dressrosa. After butting heads with ''one of the Four Emperors'' just to save a crewmate, his achievements (both real and coincidental) had him labeled as ''the Fifth Emperor'', and then after ''defeating'' another Emperor, he ''becomes one of the Four Emperors''!. What makes Luffy such a notable example is that his pirate career was only a few months prior to the 2 year TimeSkip (a period of time where he went through TrainingFromHell and TookALevelInBadass), then a couple months more after that. Meanwhile, other infamous pirates gained their status after many years! And yet, Luffy (along with his crew) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time that the World Government makes it their top priority to capture him like the other big names.]]

** Kaneki slowly becomes an AntiHero version of this trope. He begins the story as a meek college student, but his life takes a ''very'' different turn when he's transformed into a HalfHumanHybrid. After Yamori tortures him, he decides that he will "[[KillEmAll remove]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil all the weeds]]" and spends six months becoming one of the most feared Ghouls in Tokyo. Between [[spoiler: satisfying his HorrorHunger through cannibalism and slaughtering the members of the Ghoul Restaurant]], he becomes something of a mythological figure feared by Ghouls and [[HunterOfMonsters CCG]] alike. Our first glimpse of him after the TimeSkip is an ominous figure in shadows with one glowing eye, as imagined by a group discussing the infamous "One-Eye".

* Pretty much any Puella Magi in any version of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' could qualify; most of them were ordinary girls upon making their [[DealWithTheDevil contract]], and many of those were so desperate they needed the wish. Upon making the contract, they become powerful magical warriors who tend to treat the rest of humanity as livestock. [[spoiler:When they [[TheCorruption become Witches]], they almost universally qualify; particularly the apocalyptically powerful Kriemhild Gretchen, born from someone who described herself as [[HeroicSelfDeprecation not having any real talents]].]] Homura Akemi is a particular example; as we learn, before the series, she was a meek and flustered IllGirl who seemed fairly weak even after contracting. [[spoiler:By the end of TheMovie, she's a GodOfEvil.]]

** Luffy went from being a no-name rookie pirate (sure, his family is kind of important, but it wasn't common knowledge at the time) from the weakest sea in the world, to having a [[spoiler:1.5 Billion beli]] bounty, declaring war on the [[OneWorldOrder World Government]], and slapping down their elite privateers, The Warlords of the Sea, left and right (as well as being in good terms with some of them). Hell, [[spoiler:a former Warlord -one of the aforementioned pals- ends up joining his crew!]] He's even [[spoiler:the leader of his own ''fleet'', with 7 sizable pirate crews serving him after he and his crew rescued them in Dressrosa. After butting heads with ''one of the Four Emperors'' just to save a crewmate, his achievements (both real and coincidental) had him labeled as ''the Fifth Emperor''. What makes Luffy such a notable example is that his pirate career was only a few months prior to the 2 year TimeSkip (a period of time where he went through TrainingFromHell and TookALevelInBadass), then a couple months more after that. Meanwhile, other infamous pirates gained their status after many years! And yet, Luffy (along with his crew) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time that the World Government makes it their top priority to capture him like the other big names.]]

* Hajime Nagumo from ''LightNovel/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'' goes from a scrawny nerd who was bullied viciously by most of his class, to a OneManArmy who rarely faced an actual challenge [[TookALevelInBadass since his forced foray through the entirety of the first dungeon.]] Granted, [[DieOrFly he kinda had to if he wanted to survive it,]] [[SerialEscalation and everything that came after.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'': [[VillainProtagonist Sadao]] [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Maou]] began life at the very bottom of the demonic peking order [[spoiler:until his life was saved by an angel -- Emi's mother, Laylah. While he was recuperating, she tutored him in various things to pass the time, mainly politics, diplomacy and the proper use of military power]], which he used to rise up through the ranks and become the Demon King, nearly conquering Ente Isla until he was defeated by Emi and forced to retreat to Earth. Now, he plans to work his way up through the ranks at [[BlandNameProduct MgRonald's]] to eventually conquer the Earth.

* Starting with Volume 9, an important subplot in ''LightNovel/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'' is about averting this with Fuuga Haan, who Souma thinks has the potential to conquer the entire continent.

* The main character of ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'' was just a salary man with no friends, lovers or family, obsessed with a video game his guildmates had all long since quit. Then he gets pulled into a world that operates on that game's rules, in the body of his character, a Level 100 [[OurLichesAreDifferent Elder Lich]] EvilSorcerer, with all his guild's NPC's (Including demons, dark elves, vampires, and more) becoming his [[UndyingLoyalty fanatically loyal]] [[TheLegionsOfHell army]]. The New World never knew what hit it.
** In a more benevolent example, Enri Emmott. From a helpless girl almost slaughtered with her sister by the enemy kingdom's evil knights, after Momonga gave her 2 goblin horns, she ascended rapidly to the Chief of Carne Village, with her second horn [[spoiler: outright giving her the reigns of the top Goblin Clan fully loyal to her]], which helps in her army mercilessly defeating Prince Barbro's army without taking much losses. You know you are this when even ''Momonga'' appreciates your current power status.

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' the protagonist is an introverted loner reincarnated as a [[GiantSpider Lesser Taratect]], one of the weakest monsters in her new world. Within two years of hatching she's killed dragons, decimated two armies, earned the title "[[TheDreaded Nightmare of the Labyrinth]]", and [[spoiler:become a ''god'']]. [[SerialEscalation The fun doesn't stop there,]] as she goes on to become TheManInFrontOfTheMan to [[spoiler:the Demon King]], becomes infamous for ''[[spoiler:killing the Hero]]'', orchestrates [[spoiler:the extinction of the Elves]] and eventually is revealed to ''the entire world'' as [[spoiler:a so-called GodOfEvil who will [[WellIntentionedExtremist cause global genocide to save the world.]]]]
** For bonus points, [[TomatoInTheMirror the protagonist turns out to have been]] [[spoiler:not a reincarnated human, but ''[[UplitftedAnimal a common house spider,]]'']] and the fact she was even reincarnated in the first place was because she was meant to be [[spoiler:a practical joke played by [[JerkassGods an uncaring God]] who just wanted some more time to play hooky.]] By the time of [[spoiler:her apotheosis]], the {{Irony}} of everything hits the protagonist [[spoiler:and said God]] like a ton of bricks, and while [[BrokenBird the protagonist experiences a considerable amount of angst over this]], [[spoiler:the God is so utterly ''[[VillainTakesInterest fascinated]]'' by her that she is basically adopted on the spot.]]
** Kyouya was a normal higschool boy, if [[BornInTheWrongCentury somewhat maladjusted due to having a strong sense of justice in modern conservative Japanese society.]] One death later, he was reborn into [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent a lowly, but happy and loving family of goblins]] . One ''extremely'' [[TearJerker gut-wrenching tragedy]] later, ThePowerOfHate eventually lets him become [[spoiler:''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Wrath]]'']], [[PersonOfMassDestruction a monster regarded as a walking calamity who spreads mass terror and destruction]] before [[PhysicalGod a literal God]] had to step in to stop him. After ''that'', [[spoiler:the now-ascended protagonist]] steps in, [[SanityHasAdvantages helps him restores his sanity]], takes him under their wing and sets him up as [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority one of the ten Demon Army Generals who answer directly to the Demon King.]]
** There was once a MadScientist who [[ImmortalitySeeker sought to live forever,]] and for some of his many unethical experiments to achieve it, he [[HarmfulToMinors sired children to use as fodder.]] Several of the survivors would go on to [[ShroudedInMyth become legend in the present story]], but one stood out: [[HalfHumanHybrid a spider-human hybrid girl]] who was [[IllGirl constantly weak and ill]] due to [[PoisonousPerson the poison produced by her own body;]] she was so weak she spent most of her time bedridden. This same, pathetically weak girl would go on to be known as [[RedBaron "The Oldest Divine Beast"]], revered as the messenger of the Goddess, [[MonsterProgenitor the progenitor of the Taratect species that the protagonist reincarnates into]] [[note]]A species that is feared far and wide for being capable of producing Queen Taratects, beings regarded as ''stronger than Dragons''[[/note]] and then becomes [[spoiler:Demon King Ariel]], a being so powerful she could [[PersonOfMassDestruction single-handedly destroy the entire world on a whim,]] and indisputably [[WorldsStrongestWoman the most powerful living being on the planet]] short of the Gods themselves.

** For bonus points, [[TomatoInTheMirror the protagonist turns out to have been]] [[spoiler:not a reincarnated human, but ''[[UplitftedAnimal a common house spider,]]'']] and [[UpToEleven the fact she was even reincarnated in the first place was because she was meant to be]] [[spoiler:a practical joke played by [[JerkassGods an uncaring God]] who just wanted some more time to play hooky.]] By the time of [[spoiler:her apotheosis]], the {{Irony}} of everything hits the protagonist [[spoiler:and said God]] like a ton of bricks, and while [[BrokenBird the protagonist experiences a considerable amount of angst over this]], [[spoiler:the God is so utterly ''[[VillainTakesInterest fascinated]]'' by her that she is basically adopted on the spot.]]

** Oikawa started out almost the same way, having Iori's father as his only friend. But after Iori's dad was killed in line of duty, Oikawa promised himself he'd make their dream visiting the Digital World one day real no matter what, and with the help of [[spoiler:Vamdemon]], he becomes a ruthless MagnificentBastard who almost brought both worlds -- and potentially the entire universe -- to ruins in chasing his mad dream.

** Buggy the Clown is an interesting example. On his first appearance, he's the arc's BigBad. Shortly afterwards, he comes back to take revenge on Luffy, and the only thing that keeps him from succeeding is being struck by lightning. He doesn't appear again until a few hundred chapters later, when the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil has left him in the dust. But one thing leads to another, resulting in him amassing a powerful crew from [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] [[spoiler:and becoming a Warlord after the time-skip]], and later during the Wano arc [[spoiler:joins the Four Emperors]]. Yeah, he's a nightmare in the eyes of the general public, but the Straw Hats and everyone beyond the fourth wall knows that he's just a [[FakeUltimateHero Fake Ultimate Villain]]. On the other hand, WordOfGod confirmed once that Buggy falls under the BrilliantButLazy category; it is fully possible that he TookALevelInBadass during the time skip to become worthy of his position…but that's yet to be seen.

** Buggy the Clown is an interesting example. On his first appearance, he's the arc's BigBad. Shortly afterwards, he comes back to take revenge on Luffy, and the only thing that keeps him from succeeding is being struck by lightning. He doesn't appear again until a few hundred chapters later, when the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil has left him in the dust. But one thing leads to another, resulting in him amassing a powerful crew from [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] [[spoiler:and becoming a Warlord after the time-skip.]] Yeah, he's a nightmare in the eyes of the general public, but the Straw Hats and everyone beyond the fourth wall knows that he's just a [[FakeUltimateHero Fake Ultimate Villain]]. On the other hand, WordOfGod confirmed once that Buggy falls under the BrilliantButLazy category; it is fully possible that he TookALevelInBadass during the time skip to become worthy of his position…but that's yet to be seen.

* In ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'', Yoshio Tamaru was a weak, timid BullyMagnet who needed Eikichi to save him from bullies. After hearing his grandfather's dying wish to "become strong", he completely changed his personality, becoming an AxCrazy delinquent. He ends up leading his own gang and [[spoiler:trying to kill Ryuji and get Eikichi to join him]].

** Neo as well, big time. [[spoiler:He was a pretty weak appetite demon (diminute, to boot) that was who was thought to have no power or will, mocked and deemed by its Nitro masters to be unfit to travel with them. After it experienced its first meal, he began eating any animal no matter how big it was, and ''then'' began eating planets, stars and ''the entire blue universe'', at which point it slowly became the planet devouring demon king that even the Nitro fear, so much that their entire scheme is simply a last ditch effort to seal Neo away for keeps, and Acacia's whole plan against Neo was based on the hope that Neo might finally be straying from this trope, its insatiable appetite sated to the point when feeding it enough of something which taste it loathes would make it essentially vomit back everything it consumed.]]

* Lucy in ''Manga/ElfenLied'' was resigned to getting bullied by [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer the other children]] at the orphanage for being a [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair freak]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning of]] [[UnusualEars nature]]. Then she got [[PersonOfMassDestruction the power to turn a perfectly ordinary living room into a blender]].

* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', Russia went from being a tiny, weak country under the control of the Mongols and constantly picked on by bigger nations, to being much larger and stronger. This would not be so bad, except that years of revolution and bloodshed mean have left him a PsychopathicManchild who terrifies pretty much all of the other nations he runs into. Exactly how bad he actually is is uncertain. He's shown snapping and firing on a crowd of protestors in the Bloody Sunday comic and it's implied that he whipped Lithuania when the Baltics were under his control, but he certain is not the [[FanNickname rapetruck]] he's portrayed as in a lot of {{fanon}}.

** [[BigBad Tomura Shigaraki]] starts out as the personification of Saturday morning cartoon evil. The characters in-universe and even the audience initially don't see him as capable of bearing the title of Big Bad and think he's just the front man for All For One, who is the true main villain of the series. By the beginning of the 3rd act, however, America is willing to ''nuke Japan'' just to give someone who is stated to have the strongest superpower in the story's world a ''chance'' at killing him.

** Neo as well, big time. [[spoiler:He was a pretty weak appetite demon (diminute, to boot) that was who was thought to have no power or will, mocked and deemed by its Nitro masters to be unfit to travel with them. After it experienced its first meal, he began eating any animal no matter how big it was, and ''then'' began eating planets, stars and ''the entire blue universe'', at which point it slowly became the planet devouring demon king that even the Nitro fear, so much that heir entire scheme is simply a last ditch effort to seal Neo away for keeps, and Acacia's whole plan against Neo was based on the hope that Neo might finally be straying from this trope, its insatiable appetite sated to the point when feeding it enough of something which taste it loathes would make it essentially vomit back everything it consumed.]]