History HonorBeforeReason / AnimeAndManga

** That's not the best example in the series though, oh no. The best example is the protagonist's ChildhoodFriend and {{Meido}} (of the non-battle variety) staying in the protagonist's mansion when an invading army ransacks the town, only starting to flee when the enemy general enters the mansion and announces his intention to rape her. Why? ''Because the protagonist told her to watch the house''.

** Sanji also straight up used this trope when, against the advice from his crewmates, gave food to starving and ObviouslyEvil pirates [[UngratefulBastard who then immediately attacked him]]. Sanji then said that he stood by his decision. This is because he [[spoiler:starved almost to death as a kid]] starving is something he literally does not wish on his worst enemy. No exceptions.

** [[TheLancer Kazuma]] [[RatedMForManly Kuwabara]] is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. He [[HotBlooded loudly]] declines his teammates' offers to keep him from dying, insisting that men fight their own battles, and later, after whupping a kid who nearly killed him and his {{Muggle}} friends, Kuwabara opts to save the kid's life by dragging not only his unconscious body, but the unconscious bodies of all three of his friends to safety despite sustaining heavy injuries himself.

** Subverted with Kyouraku. He's a devoted CombatPragmatist and lectures other captains that idealistic fighting is a distraction captains can't afford when in battle. Kyouraku and Ukitake are acknowledged as the greatest partnership in the Gotei 13, and it's made clear that while one side of the partnership plays this trope painfully straight, the other blows it to hell.

** In Part 7, ''[[JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', Ringo Roadagain is determined to make sure that not only is he aware of everything that could play a role in a duel; he wants his opponent to be likewise aware. There's actually a great reason for this--those duels are to help purify his spirit of uncertainty. If neither side has an advantage (and before you ask, although Mandom's good at [[GroundhogDayLoop saving Ringo's neck,]] it gives his opponent the same capacity to avoid Ringo's attacks), then he can be sure that his victories were genuinely deserved.

* Examples from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' and its sister show ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'':

* In ''LightNovel/CombatantsWillBeDispatched!'', the royal army is discussing how to climb the monster-filled tower and defeat the demon generals. Agent Six proposes lighting a fire and letting the monsters suffocate from lack of oxygen. The army admits that would certainly be effective and prevent casualties on their side, but deem it too cruel and resolve to just fight their way up the tower conventionally, getting utterly destroyed for their troubles.

* Welf Crozzo of ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' refuses to craft magic swords for this reason. [[SuperpowerLottery Despite being spared from the curse that prevented people in his family to craft the weapons]], he instead chooses to make a normal sword that can surpass one. Unfortunately, this mindset has [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer made him somewhat of a pariah both in the Guild and his previous familia]], and even Hephaestus herself warned him not to let his pride get those close to him hurt.
* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'': Because Azusa was tricked into touching her horns, by law of the blue dragons, Flatorte has become her servant. There is nothing binding her to this, no spell, no physical threats, and when Azusa offers to free her since she doesn't want a slave, Flatorte states she'll have to kill herself. Flatorte, despite hating this, states she has to as per her pride as a blue dragon. Azusa decides to order Flatorte to do as she pleases, granting her some agency in her new life.

** In Part 7, Steel Ball Run, Ringo Roadagain is determined to make sure that not only is he aware of everything that could play a role in a duel; he wants his opponent to be likewise aware. There's actually a great reason for this--those duels are to help purify his spirit of uncertainty. If neither side has an advantage (and before you ask, although Mandom's good at [[GroundhogDayLoop saving Ringo's neck,]] it gives his opponent the same capacity to avoid Ringo's attacks), then he can be sure that his victories were genuinely deserved.

* ''LightNovel/LordMarksmanAndVanadis'':

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* Played straight with Kira Yamato, the protagonist of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]''. He realizes that although stopping one's enemies without murdering them may be difficult, but doing otherwise would breed more hatred and thus not bring an end to war. [[JustifiedTrope Of course,]] [[ImprobableAimingSkills his aim is so good]] [[BeamSpam and his arsenal so large]] [[TheAce that against anything other than a top ace]] [[MartialPacifist the fact that he shoots to disable rather than destroy]] [[OneManArmy really makes no difference at all.]]
** In the sequel series he takes this to ridiculous levels, allowing himself to be defeated losing his mecha and seriously risking his own death rather than allow his side to wipe out an enemy force instead they try to outrun and only disable and shoot near misses. He also refuses to hold a grudge and kill enemy pilot Shinn Asuka when the guy has nearly killed him and killed countless pilots on his side and it's clear the man as a very nasty vendetta against him.
** Played equally straight, previously, with Shiro Amada of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam '', who believed in killing only as an absolute last resort, despite being the commander of a mobile suit unit.
*** And the fact that Zeon ''gassed his home colony in front of him during the first week of the gas'' doesn't change his mind about this. They're a reason why people laughed in his face when talking about this.
** Both these instances can be traced back to Judau Ashta from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'' who began acting like this about the same time they touched down on Earth and the show started GrowingTheBeard, simply because he couldn't handle any more death. Sometimes it actually worked, such as with Masai and Puru 2. However, it usually failed miserably (the death of the entire Blue Team, Rommel, [[spoiler:Chara Soon]], and Haman). At the end of the series, having born witness to the Federation dragging its heels before mobilizing a fleet to defeat Neo Zeon and showing up after the battle was over, he was at the breaking point. To let him blow off steam, Bright let Judau deck him in the face... something awesome for both of them.
** Then there's Char Aznable in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'', who purposefully leaked the specs for the cutting-edge Psycoframe system, knowing that Amuro would get it and have it built into his next Gundam. The reason he did this was because he thought there would be no point in defeating Amuro if he and Amuro weren't evenly-matched in the battle.
** In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'', Wufei tracks down Treize Khushrenada in an attempt to kill him to prevent him from taking control of the Earth Sphere Alliance. However, instead of blowing Treize to smithereens with his Gundam, Wufei accepts a challenge to a sword duel from Treize which he loses. Treize reciprocates Wufei's earlier gesture of honor and allows him to leave in his Gundam rather than seizing the state-of-the-art machine for study or reverse-engineering. Wufei departs -- again passing up the perfectly good chance to eliminate the would-be dictator with superior firepower.
** Played as a major defining character trait for Zechs Merquise. He won't defeat an opponent if it not a fair fight. This translates to, he can disarm them in mid-combat, then spare them because they are no longer armed with a weapon. His need to be honorable certainly seems to cloud any sense of priority, as he will give his rival a powerful and destructive Gundam, just so they can have a fair duel, while in the middle of a war.
*** Notably ''averted'' with Milliardo Peacecraft however. During the events of the series, he is routinely pushed to [[ReasonBeforeHonor employ deceit, seize opportunities wherever they present and accept aid from others.]] When Treize challenges him to a duel, Peacecraft refuses on the grounds that honor and ceremony make a mockery of the conflict.
** In ''Endless Waltz'', Zechs, Noin, and the Wing boys also do this. After they defeat hundreds of enemy mobile suits without killing a single soldier, Quatre comments that if they were fighting to kill, they could have blown through the Mariemeia Army far more easily, but then there would have been no point to their intervention.
** In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'', Graham Aker is the embodiment of this trope. "Sounds reasonable! Too bad I'm an unreasonable man!!!".
*** Especially pronounced in the second season where he and Setsuna are dueling over an ocean. Setsuna's Gundam malfunctions in the middle of the fight and Graham leaves him be because he can't see any value in defeating a disabled opponent.

** Another notable example from Lelouch is shown in how he uses his [[HypnoticEye Geass power]] throughout the story. After most of the series using it to make people perform specific tasks that are only done once in his quest to destroy [[TheEmpire Britannia]], by the final arc of the series [[spoiler:he uses it to completely enslave the Britannia Royal Court and it’s soldiers to take over as emperor.]] Why didn’t he do that from the beginning? Because despite his Geass, Lelouch respected free will too much to do so, and his taking such a route is done as another sign that he’s crossed the DespairEventHorizon after a brutal TraumaCongaLine. [[spoiler:It’s also later revealed to have been deliberately temporary, as material explains that after Lelouch and Suzaku enacted the [[ThanathosGambit ZeroRequiem]], Jeremiah freed everyone with his Geass Canceler.]]

*** In ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', after they perform the ritual to turn Goku into a Super Saiyan God, which involves the other Saiyans pouring their energy into him, Goku is unenthusiastic in his fight with Beerus. He explains that he prefers to become stronger by training, and becoming stronger by getting it handed to him with a ritual just feels wrong.

* ''Anime/PokemonChronicles'' was a SpinOff of the original anime where each episode provided ADayInTheLimelight moments to many of the show's secondary characters. One episode centred around Ash's friendly rival Richie, who met an older trainer named Silver who dreamed of catching a Moltres. Unfortunately, Team Rocket tried to kidnap the Moltres, and Richie and Silver had to team up to rescue it. They succeeded, but Moltres was injured and exhausted from what Team Rocket did to it. Silver knew he could have captured Moltres easily but he chose to let it go. He wanted to [[EarnYourHappyEnding catch Moltres fairly]], beating it in an honest fight.
** Though in a way, this ''can'' qualify as reasonable. Catching a legendary Pokemon in such a weakened state creates the very real possibility of ending up with a Pokemon well beyond your ability to control once its healed, and taking advantage of its moment of weakness sounds like a fantastic way of ruining any goodwill you had just earned from it.

** Vegeta is almost as bad about this as Goku, with a distinctly Saiyan-centric cultural influence to it. While Goku will allow his opponents to power-up or transform to their maximum power before fighting them, Vegeta will take it a step further and let his opponents ''eat'' another person to reach their full power, as he has done with Cell and Android 18. With that said, he is also more willing than Goku to be [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]], usually when his ego isn't out of control.

** Genzo Wakabayashi is very proud of his goalkeeping skills, and during the Nankatsu vs Shutetsu match he almost leaves his team on account of losing his personal duel with Tsubasa (that Tsubasa would be able to score him a goal during the match). His coach Mikami quickly delivers him an ArmorPiercingSlap [[WhatTheHellHero and calls him out]] on leaving his teammates on a personal whim.

* [[IdiotHero Alice L. Malvin]] of ''Anime/PumpkinScissors'' insists on charging ahead and "destroying evil" no matter what the odds are against them. She also will not hesitate to call out ''anyone'' who she sees as contributing to or aggravating that damage, up to and including TheEmperor of her own country, regardless of how capable they might be of physically or politically squashing her like a bug. Even after she [[CharacterDevelopment started using more reason]] after she was kidnapped, [[WideEyedIdealist she stayed true to her ideals]].

** Sanji also straight up used this trope when, against the advice from his crewmates, gave food to starving and obviously evil pirates who then immediately attacked him. Sanji then said that he stood by his decision.
*** Because he [[spoiler:starved almost to death as a kid]] starving is something he literally does not wish on his worst enemy. No exceptions.

* Red from ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' is subject to this as part of his firm belief that it's not a victory if your opponent is at a disadvantage. This has led to a few minor WhatAnIdiot moments, but even though this series is [[DarkerAndEdgier grittier]] than the anime, it's still an idealistic shonen, so it rarely bites him in the butt.

** It's also a case of vengeance over reason, but Thorfinn spends years risking life and limb to protect and further the interests of Askeladd, the man he wants to kill. The reason why is that Thorfinn always insists on doing the killing the 'honourable' way, in a one-on-one duel. Askeladd, who is a far more experienced warrior, is skilled at manipulating the younger man, and is far more of a CombatPragmatist, considers Thorfinn's methods to be a major case of WhatAnIdiot. At one point Askeladd contrasts this with his own experience [[spoiler:when he once was in nearly the same position as Thorfinn; instead of trying to win an honorable duel Askeladd assassinated his victim while the man was in bed, and Askeladd only did it after spending two years worming himself into his victim's good graces and Askeladd could believably pin the blame on someone else.]]

** The dueling giants Dorry and Broggy are this UpToEleven. In short, according to their homeland traditions, if two warriors of Elbaf get into a dispute and neither will yield, they must fight, and the God of Elbaf grants victory to whoever is right. Fast forward 100 years, and these two guys are STILL FIGHTING. What's more, neither of them can remember what caused the argument in the first place; they still fight because its a manner of honor. [[spoiler:it was who caught the bigger fish.]] This is also why Dorry fights even when a bomb goes off in his stomach; he doesn't want to lose face and disgrace Broggy by quitting, and Broggy, even knowing that Dorry isn't at 100%, doesn't want to upset his friend by showing sympathy. Interestingly, even though they're determined to kill each other for petty reasons they can't recall, they're still best friends.

* Welf Crozzo of ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' refuses to craft magic swords for this reason. [[SuperpowerLottery Despite being spared from the curse that prevented people in his family to craft the weapons]], he instead chooses to make a normal sword that can surpass one. Unfortunately, this mindset has [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer made somewhat of a pariah both in the Guild and his previous familia]], and even Hephaestus herself warned him not to let his pride get those close to him hurt.

* [[TheLancer Daewi]] in ''Anime/TheGodOfHighSchool'' does this in his first real fight in the tournament when his opponent trips during an attack and he stops to offer him help to get back up (getting hit in the face by his [[BatterUp bat]] in the process), arguing that attacking him while he's down would be cowardly.

* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesForThreeHundredYearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'': Because Azusa was tricked into touching her horns, by law of the blue dragons, Flatorte has become her servant. There is nothing binding her to this, no spell, no physical threats, and when Azusa offers to free her since she doesn't want a slave, Flatorte states she'll have to kill herself. Flatorte, despite hating this, states she has to as per her pride as a blue dragon. Azusa decides to order Flatorte to do as she pleases, granting her some agency in her new life.

* In ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'', the titular character is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and TheGamblingAddict who winds up stuck in a DeadlyGame and developing ChronicHeroSyndrome after bearing witness to [[KillThePoor all the suffering the masterminds inflict on people like him]]. He can always be counted on to do the right thing when it comes down to it, which is ''[[BeingGoodSucks not]]'' a good quality in this series as he's surrounded by backstabbers, and the number of times his heroism hasn't completely screwed him over [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished can be counted on one hand]]. His hero complex ends up seeming more like an excuse to keep getting himself into more dangerous gambling scenarios and after a while, even the friends that he saved start to get sick of his shit because even when he wins big and finds a way out, [[ShouldntYouStopStealing he just worms his way back in because its never enough]].