History HumansAreTheRealMonsters / AnimeAndManga

* ''Anime/AndroidKikaiderTheAnimation'': At the end of the ''Kikaider 01'' OVA, the android Kikaider "takes the final step to humanity" by becoming capable of performing evil acts despite his conscience.

* Pretty much all the evils in "Manga/JuJutsuKaisen" can be traced back to humanity in one way or another. For starters, CursedSpirits themselves are formed from the negative emotions of humanity, with most powerful and malicious of the Disaster curses, Mahito, being the embodiment of the fear, hatred, and negativity humans have for each other. On top of that, the most powerful and dangerous Cursed Spirits seen are Vengeful Cursed Spirits, which consist of humans who become curses after their death.

** The of Falmuth’s army discriminately hurt the monster citizens of Tempest with one Otherworlder even thinking of violating Shion and Shuna here. Anime and Manga spin-off only makes it worse here.

* Exaggerated in ''Literature/LivingAsIPleaseAsALoliDemonKing'' where a class of teens is summoned to a new world by the Church of Human Supremacy (though they simply call themselves Church of the Goddess) to be used as disposable high-yield {{Tyke Bomb}}s, with the main character getting murdered by one of his class-mates in the prologue and reincarnating as ''The Demon King of Insanity'', then learning that not only did the humans start the war with the demons, but the demons are only the first target of genocide, with one of the two elven princesses captured, put through all sorts of horrific tortures and experiments, and turned into a LivingWeapon that is in so much agony [[DeathSeeker she just wants to die.]]

* ''Manga/GegegeNoKitaro'' often [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] this trope, though it commonly [[SubvertedTrope Subverts]] it. Throughout all iterations we do see a lot of nasty selfish humans who abuse the environment and try to manipulate both yokai and other humans. As Kitaro himself will quickly point out though, most of the time yokai are not any better and we see countless examples of them being just as greedy, arrogant, and hateful as humanity.

* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime''
** The of Falmuth’s army discriminately hurt the monster citizens of Tempest with one Otherworlder even thinking of violating Shion and Shuna here. Anime and Manga spin-off only makes it worse here.

* ''Literature/That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime''

* [[Literature/That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime]]

* {{Literature / That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime}}

* Lampshaded at the end of the [[Series/{{Kikaider}} Kikaider 01 OVA]] where the android Kikaider "takes the final step to humanity" by becoming capable of performing evil acts despite his conscience.

* Exaggerated in ''LightNovel/LivingAsIPleaseAsALoliDemonKing'' where a class of teens is summoned to a new world by the Church of Human Supremacy (though they simply call themselves Church of the Goddess) to be used as disposable high-yield {{Tyke Bomb}}s, with the main character getting murdered by one of his class-mates in the prologue and reincarnating as ''The Demon King of Insanity'', then learning that not only did the humans start the war with the demons, but the demons are only the first target of genocide, with one of the two elven princesses captured, put through all sorts of horrific tortures and experiments, and turned into a LivingWeapon that is in so much agony [[DeathSeeker she just wants to die.]]

** The humans ''controlling'' the giant mech-slaughtering [=DRAGONs=] ironically prove to be some of the ''best'' characters in the setting, purely because they ''abandoned'' their humanity. [[spoiler:Learning to both adapt into new forms of thinking (and into giant fire-breathing lizards) and conform to a greater purpose of healing the original human world has made them closer to what most of humanity merely pretends to be.]]
** Not helping matters is that [[spoiler:most humans were created by [[BigBad Embryo]] to be a superior successor race to humanity after they destroyed themselves in World War ''Seven'', but ultimately his ego and lack of anyone to restrain his impulses meant his attempts at perfecting human nature always came out flawed and two-dimensional. His mind control of them through Mana side-effects and direct brainwashing only made them even worse.]]

* Tiir and many Cursed Eye bearers from ''LightNovel/TheLegendOfTheLegendaryHeroes'' view humans this way. Though [[MoralMyopia Tiir isn't much better at times]] and [[spoiler:the protagonist eventually convinces him that not ''all'' humans are bad]], it's easy to understand how they came to think that way to begin with, living in a CrapsackWorld where FantasticRacism is rampant. Tiir says the trope title almost word for word, after recounting an incident where thirty-eight of them were slaughtered in the name of "monster extermination".
--> '''Tiir''': Who are the real monsters here?
* Exaggerated in ''LigntNovel/LivingAsIPleaseAsALoliDemonKing'' where a class of teens is summoned to a new world by the Church of Human Supremacy (though they simply call themselves Church of the Goddess) to be used as disposable high-yield {{Tyke Bomb}}s, with the main character getting murdered by one of his class-mates in the prologue and reincarnating as ''The Demon King of Insanity'', then learning that not only did the humans start the war with the demons, but the demons are only the first target of genocide, with one of the two elven princesses captured, put through all sorts of horrific tortures and experiments, and turned into a LivingWeapon that is in so much agony [[DeathSeeker she just wants to die.]]

* Played with in ''LightNovel/TheFruitOfEvolution''. While the human citizens are mostly law-abiding, honest, and merely wish to live their lives in peace, Seichi learns, from the history of many dungeon bosses, that human rulers are vicious sots who are directly responsible for the tragic backstories that made them into dungeon bosses in the first place, by summoning "heroes" and trying to subjugate or kill them, leaving them no chance for a peaceful life. Even in the current day, an entire school of 800 people, save Seichi himself, were summoned to be "heroes" and are slaves in all but name, and the only reason Seichi isn't in that situation? He was abandoned and left to his own devices by said school-mates.

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'' actually zig-zagged this. Humans are able to use Mana and yet, that made them decadent and corrupt, being over the top in racism against the Norma, female humans who couldn't use Mana, and sent them off to fight off [=DRAGONs=], draconic invaders of the world. When Ange, a royal princess, was revealed as a Norma, she got sent into this camp but ended up finding out that [[spoiler:the [=DRAGONs=] came from a world that has been ravaged by multiple World Wars and they were formerly humans, evolving into such draconic creatures in order to survive the new harsh world. And they're actually decent. And then Ange found out that the current Mana-using humans were basically formerly normal humans but given modification by [[BigBad Embryo]] to be attuned with his Mana, making them more submissive to him, and has taken over the world from the former Ancient Humans (the most recent one being Tusk), who act more like a normal human. Conclusion: The term 'human' has been taken over by Embryo's creation, and they're making the term 'humans' look really monstrous, whereas the other races consist of beings closer to a normal human (Ancient Humans, [=DRAGONs=] and Norma, whose 'birth defect' means that it's looking more like a normal human than Embryo's design), and they're not monsters, aside of the form some [=DRAGONs=] took, but never judge a book by its cover.]]

* In the CrapsackWorld of ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', filled with [[OurDemonsAreDifferent violent monsters]] formed from {{Primal Fear}}s that regularly kill people in rampages, there's no shortage of human depravity direct at devil or other humans.

** Though the overwhelmingly majority of devils are malicious and dangerous, they [[InhumanableAlienRights have no rights]] in either case. The public are fine with them being forced to [[HunterOfTheirOwnkind hunt their own]] until they're killed in battle or [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness executed by their own handlers]]. Aki starts out seeing his devil partners as just tools to exterminate as many devils as possible, but comes to see some of them as deserving of empathy and becomes uncomfortable with how expendable Public Safety treats them. It's also completely legal and accepted for devil hunters (who are often desperate for revenge or money) to sacrifice their bodies and lives to devils for power, so long as it's used against other devils.

* In the CrapsackWorld of ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' filled with [[OurDemonsAreDifferent violent monsters]] formed from {{Primal Fear}}s that regularly kill people in rampages, the treatment the {{yakuza}} put Denji though in early childhood stands out as being monstrously cruel and exploitative, showing no regard for his well-being and outright contempt towards him despite all he does for them just to keep living day-to-day on the bare essentials. The leader even admits that he's always hated Denji [[StupidEvil and was glad to betray his loyalty for more power from a Devil]]. Despite being otherwise inconsequential small-fries, the horrific situation they put Denji through proves to have [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror greatly desensitized him]] to the horrors of the world and the job he performs, something which Denji struggles with towards the tail end of part one, worried that something's wrong with him.
** Makima [[spoiler:was a {{foil}} to Denji, as she may have been born [[TheAntichrist the Control Devil]] but it was the exploitation she suffered at the hands of the Japanese government [[TykeBomb that turned her into a monster]]. [[PresidentEvil To make matters worse, most of the other governments are shown to be just as bad]]]].

* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', plays around with this trope. In some parts it's played straight, like when Teresa is almost raped by the bandit she previously cut his hand off (much to her apathy though) and she wonders why Claymores even bother risking their lives fighting Yoma to save creatures like the Humans, or when these same bandits are said by Teresa to be "even lower than Yoma" as they pillage a town Teresa herself had previously freed from a Yoma, [[spoiler:it is even revealed later on that all the Yoma and Awakened beings in existence have been actually created by the very Human [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Organization]] in order to create weapons for [[GreatOffscreenWar the war in the mainland]]]]. In other parts instead are also shown positive Human characters and groups (mostly the city of Rabona) who overcome their initial distrust for the Claymores and end up giving a hand in battle even if Humans are completely outmatched in that universe. Considering that one of the theme of ''Claymore'' is exploring what is to feel Human and what is Humanity from the point of view of half-human, half-monster warriors this probably shouldn't surprise too much.

** In ''Anime/InuYashaTheMovieSwordsOfAnHonorableRuler'', three [[{{Youkai}} youkai]] say that humans are the world's most selfish creatures, and that their greed for power knows no bounds. The demonic sword So'unga seeks only humans as allies, because it is believed that they quickly fall to evil. Later in the film, however, it is inverted when Inuyasha explains that humans, because they are selfish and power-hungry, do not give up easily when it comes to fighting for their friends. Ironically, if humans do not use such demonic weapons as So'unga, [[PunyEarthlings they can not do much against youkai]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' usually don't go here but in ''Slayers Premium'' sentient octopi cast the CurseOfBabel on humans for this reason. In the ending scene [[spoiler: The assistant healer had, after the demon that the octopi had been mistakenly worshiping as a god is destroyed, admitted to the whole town that they were wrong to hunt the sentient sea-going cephalopods and eat them. However, she then declared that the town's economy was mostly built on their reputation for delicious octopus-based dishes, and suggested that, rather than having the humans go on hunting and eating octopi, the octopi just start cutting off their tentacles [[GoodThingYouCanHeal (which regenerate)]] and letting the humans have them for meat instead, a suggestion that the octopi agreed with. This works out best for both sides because the octopi are no longer killed and the humans avoid an economic collapse.]]

* Downplayed, but present in ''LightNovel/SuteraretaYuushaNoEiyuutan'', the protagonist, after being brought to the world of Randolia, and examining the history of both sides of the human vs demon conflict learns that all humans on the world, including himself, are armed invaders brought there by the goddess Claire in her CosmicChessGame with goddess Messiah, mother of the demons. [[spoiler: The one who truly summoned Daichi.]]

* This is played with in ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs''. Humanity, with the exception of the main character, has been extinct for 500 years. They are viewed as monsters from myth and legend who destroyed all life on the surface through their heinous actions. In truth, humanity was no more evil than any of the other races. It’s true that they were racist expansionists, but they weren’t the only ones engaging in such behavior. The apocalyptic destruction of the surface meant that most surviving records of humans came from their former enemies, who naturally weren’t too fond of the damn emnetwytes. As a result, they were scapegoated for the creation of the [[EldritchAbomination 17 Beasts]].

* ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'': [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]].
** Humans start the RobotWar purely out of FantasticRacism (the robots literally came before humanity bearing flowers and open arms) and that the robots locked humanity in the Matrix purely as self-defense against genocide and attempting to give them an utopia which human minds did not want.
** In the present day, they create a device to show the machines that not ALL humans are/were bastards and that they wish for peaceful co-existence. It also gives them free will to decide whether or not to fight alongside the humans or continue the war at all. [[spoiler:It ends with the deaths of the humans involved and the machines sent to destroy them, leaving the machine all alone to decide his purpose now...]]