History HisOwnWorstEnemy / AnimeAndManga

* ''Manga/DeathNote'''s [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]]/[[SerialKillerKiller Kira]] is a brilliant student who can make long-term plans to counter the Kira Task Force who's trying to bring him to justice for using the [[ArtifactOfDoom titular notebook]] to murder people he deems "bad" (which [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope starts off]] as criminals, but quickly includes anyone who [[CantTakeCriticism disagrees with his vision]], let alone tries to stop his vision). However, his [[{{Narcissist}} hubris]], raging [[AGodAmI god complex]], and inability to take criticism cause him to make several mistakes that eventually lead to his undoing, most notably, murdering Lind L. Tailor on live television [[DisproportionateRetribution for saying that what he is doing is evil]], which allows the real L to narrow down Kira's location to the Kantō region of Japan. Ultimately, what seals Light's fate is when [[spoiler:he [[EvilGloating gloats]], "Well, Near, looks like I win" ''before'' the Death Note takes effect, only to find out too late that the notebook had been replaced with a fake one. Near even says that Light could have still thwarted him had he not prematurely gloated]], proving that, in spite of L and Near's efforts, the biggest threat to Light's plans to become the "God of the New World" is Light himself.

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* Many of Vegeta's defeats from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' often have him solely responsible for it. One such example is when He has Cell on the ropes and could easily destroy him when they fight but due to his pride and belief that he is the strongest, allows Cell to absorb Android 18 and reach his perfect form. To his shock, he finds Cell is now far more powerful than him and is easily defeated.

** The tragedy in Kokushibo's human life comes from a succession of choices he made and had no one else to blame but himself, unlike several of his fellow Kizuki members who suffered under completely external factors. [[spoiler:Michikatsu chose to harbor jealousy over Yoriichi's talent which nurtured a massive inferiority complex, to the point he created his own false memories of absolutely hating Yoriichi over the centuries in order to force himself to believe his choices were valid, not petty; Michikatsu chose to abandon the life as the head of the Tsugikuni family, leaving his wife and children behind to pursue strength under Yoriichi's teachings; Michikatsu chose to betray the Demon Slayer Corps with the growing fear of dying under the effects of the Mark and wasting all the years he gave into perfecting his martial arts, turning into the demon Kokushibo to retain all of it. As Kokushibo is about to die he is left with nothing but regrets, coming to terms all of his efforts to remain alive as a demon led to absolutely nothing truly beneficial to him, and he just couldn't hate Yoriichi as much as he believed he did, wondering why he was even born]].

** At the end of the series, [[spoiler:it becomes clear that Shinji's father Gendo isn't that different from his son.]] Essentially, [[spoiler:Gendo abandoned Shinji as a child and keeps him at a firm distance as a teenager because his exceptionally low opinion of himself has led him to believe that he is unworthy of being a parent and would only hurt his son by being close to him. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Of course, Gendo's abandonment of Shinji is one of the main reasons]] ''[[SelfFulfillingProphecy why]]'' [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Shinji is such an emotionally damaged individual]]]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'', Heinz, leader of the adventuring party, The Five Colored Blades, is a ByronicHero responsible for the death of the protagonist's mother, after blindly accepting a quest to capture "a high ranking member of an evil cult" ''which she pointedly was not'', and after ignoring her public torture for three solid days, and watching her be set ablaze at the stake, flees into another country, '''doing absolutely nothing''' in regards to Vandalieu himself. He spends the next 10 years desperately fleeing his own guilt, downplaying or even lying about his involvement to everyone he can, including himself. He seeks to end the system of oppressive discrimination which brought about the quest in the first place while still being seen as a hero to that very same system. He also refuses to admit responsibility for his actions, shifting the blame as much as possible to things beyond his control, rather than learning from his mistakes or changing his behavior, still taking that very same type of request, but wiping out entire villages, rather than just random individuals, and then hosts lectures in the public square how oppression is wrong and adopting another orphan of the same race as the protagonist, to tell himself he's changed, when he clearly hasn't. This does nothing to help his self-proclaimed goal of atonement, but instead makes him the most hated enemy of the protagonist, the very oppressed races he states he wants to champion, and the very goddess who created those races.

* Katsuya of ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'' is genuinely heroic and wants to make the world a better place, but his own flaws and insecurities undermine and sabotage him at every turn. His GloryHound ways cause him to either dive into or instigate fights way, way above what he's prepared for, getting people around him killed as they try to bail him out. His shameless skirt-chasing causes an endless string of easily avoidable problems and conflicts. His propensity to fly into an UncontrollableRage puts him and everyone around him in terrible danger whenever things go wrong. Lastly, his completely unjustified envy towards the main character, Akira, who has to struggle for every accomplishment and perk, as opposed to being grateful for what he already has, causes Katsuya to antagonize Akira at every opportunity, and threatening the latter's life, earning the latter's enmity and destroying any hope that he can actually rescue people, as he intends, instead of getting them killed.

* Zenitsu from ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' is too obnoxious, grabby and clingy for the comfort of the women he meets. As he approaches women with unbound zeal and behaves like a showoff, instead of approaching out of sincere drive to help and sympathize (like Tanjiro does), said women generally dislike him. Sure, he's a nice guy... ''but he's no gentleman''.

* Katsuya of ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'' is genuinely heroic and wants to make the world a better place, but his own flaws and insecurities undermine and sabotage him at every turn. His GloryHound ways cause him to either dive into or instigate fights way, way above what he's prepared for, getting people around him killed as they try to bail him out. His shameless skirt-chasing causes an endless string of easily avoidable problems and conflicts. His propensity to fly into an UncontrollableRage puts him and everyone around him in terrible danger whenever things go wrong. Lastly, his completely unjustified envy towards the main character, Akira, who has to struggle for every accomplishment and perk, as opposed to being grateful for what he already has, causes Katsuya to antagonize Akira at every opportunity, and threatening the latter's life, earning the latter's enmity and destroying any hope that he can actually rescue people, as he intends, instead of getting them killed.

* Katsuya of ''LightNovel/RebuiltWorld'' is genuinely heroic and wants to make the world a better place, but his own flaws and insecurities undermine and sabotage him at every turn. His GlorySeeking ways cause him to either dive into or instigate fights way, way above what he's prepared for, getting people around him killed as they try to bail him out. His shameless skirt-chasing causes an endless string of easily avoidable problems and conflicts. Lastly, his completely unjustified envy towards the main character, Akira, who has to struggle for every accomplishment and perk, as opposed to being grateful for the perks and accomplishments Drakham gives him, causes Katsuya to antagonize Akira at every opportunity, and threatening the latter's life, earning the latter's enmity and destroying any hope that he can actually rescue people instead of getting them killed.

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