History JerkWithAHeartOfGold / Anime

* In a couple of recent arcs, Gin from RosarioToVampire has had some character development that takes him from the JerkAss / HandsomeLech territory he's been inhabiting for most of the series to JerkWithAHeartOfGold when he [[spoiler: silently takes the fall for an ex-girlfriend inadvertently causing problems on campus. (Implication being that, far from the simple conquests he claims them to be, he still holds feelings for at least some of his exes.) Then he becomes a one-man wrecking crew to take down the Fairy Tale organization because they hit his BerzerkButton of messing around with his friends, specifically Sun, the one girl who has [[DefeatMeansFriendship gone toe-to-toe with him and gained his respect]].]]

* Tasuki in ''FushigiYuugi'' is a thieving, HotBlooded, hard-drinking HeManWomanHater who is constantly offending the hell out of his teammates with obnoxiously blunt remarks both intentional and [[RaisedByWolves unintentional]]. But he's also ferociously loyal to the group, cries the hardest at [[spoiler:Nuriko's death]], reams out [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] Tamahome for ''hurting Miaka's feelings'' and breaking her arm. To top it off, he is nearly [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beaten to death]] making a YouShallNotPass sacrifice for her.

* Asuka Langley Soryu/Shikinami from ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'''s "heart of gold" is [[YourMileageMayVary debatable]] in the series and especially ''The End Of Evangelion'', but definitely there in the ''RebuildOfEvangelion'' movies.

* Asuka Langley Soryu/Shikinami from ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' was pretty much a straight up {{jerkass}}, not even really a {{tsundere}}, as is widely believed. Come ''RebuildOfEvangelion'', she gets the gold heart needed to qualify for this trope.
** She definitely had a heart of gold in [[NeonGenesisEvangelion the show]] too; she just spent too much time being an asshole out of insecurity to really show it.

** And Sakura.
** Kakashi could also arguably qualify. He's always late, loves messing with his students head, and enjoys reading pron. However, he genuinely cares for them and is willing to protect his comrades no matter what.

* Alto Saotome from ''MacrossFrontier'' acts like a jerk to a lot of people and in the beginning mutters about how much he hates his home, Frontier, but in spite of it does everything he can to protect it. He's particularly a JerkAss with [[Tsundere Sheryl]] at her teasing, leading to [[BelligerentSexualTension the obvious conclusion]].

* [[TheDragon Bad Bird]] from SamuraiPizzaCats gets into this sometimes. Especially when his childhood friend Carla is around. [[TheLancer Guido]] also fits, though being one of the good guys, he has more "Heart", and ''a lot'' less "jerk".

** Neji is introduced as a {{Jerkass}} until Naruto beats it out of him.
*** Neji was never really a Jerk With a Heart of Gold, however. Before the fight he was just a JerkAss; after the fight he's a pretty nice guy.

* Naoki Shinjyo from ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'' was a {{Jerkass}} at the beginning of the series, lashing out on mechanics and has gets angry over his poor driving skills despite being TheAce, but once Miki Jounouchi blames him for having no respect towards mechanics and [[CharacterDevelopment he proves himself as a true racer]], he begins to show more of his softer side.

* Kittan in ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann''.

* Why hasn't [[YuGiOh Seto Kaiba]] gotten a mention yet? Sure, the guy's a jerk, but he really, truly, deeply cares for his little brother, and deep down, he's really very lonely, but doesn't want to be friends with anybody, thanks mostly to his [[Jerkass]] stepfather Gozaburo. [[JerkassWoobie The guy just wants a hug.]] Although if you try to give him one, he'll probably smack you.
** It HAS been mentioned. Pay attention.

* Why hasn't [[YuGiOh Seto Kaiba]] gotten a mention yet? Sure, the guy's a jerk, but he really, truly, deeply cares for his little brother, and deep down, he's really very lonely, but doesn't want to be friends with anybody, thanks mostly to his [[Jerkass Jerkass]] stepfather Gozaburo. [[JerkassWoobie The guy just wants a hug.]] Although if you try to give him one, he'll probably smack you.

* Why hasn't [[YuGiOh Seto Kaiba]] gotten a mention yet? Sure, the guy's a jerk, but he really, truly, deeply cares for his little brother, and deep down, he's really very lonely, but doesn't want to be friends with anybody, thanks mostly to his [[Jerkass Jerkass]] stepfather Gozaburo. [[JerkassWoobie The guy just wants a hug.]] Although if you try to give him one, he'll probably smack you.

* Guts from ''Berserk'' qualifies. He's violent, cruel, cold, and obsessed with his personal goals, which are often achieved at great cost or risk to others. But unlike his nemesis, he genuinely cares about the people around him, is a compassionate leader, and his distant, uncaring demeanor seems to come from a desire to keep people away from the danger he's constantly in. It ... doesn't always work out that way. But he tries.

* Youichi Hiruma, from ''Eyeshield 21''. He never refers to anyone by their real name, only by his personal nickname, and all his personal nicknames start with "fucking" (toned down to "damn" in Viz's translation of the manga). (Sena is "Fucking Shrimp", Mamori is "Fucking Manager", and then there's his best friend Kurita, "Fucking Fatass", and so on.) He's a violent gun nut who slings a constant string of verbal and physical abuse on his team, uses blackmail to get his way like some people say "please", and lies like it was going out of style. He also ''never'' fails to reward perseverance, dedication, and effort as long as the team doesn't suffer for it, has his own unique brand of showing affection which he doles out with regularity, and puts himself through [[strike:''all'' the same crap that]] '''worse''' crap than he puts everyone else through.

* Youichi Hiruma, from ''Eyeshield 21''. He never refers to anyone by their real name, only by his personal nickname, and all his personal nicknames start with "fucking" (toned down to "damn" in Viz's translation of the manga). (Sena is "Fucking Shrimp", Mamori is "Fucking Manager", and then there's his best friend Kurita, "Fucking Fatass", and so on.) He's a violent gun nut who slings a constant string of verbal and physical abuse on his team, uses blackmail to get his way like some people say "please", and lies like it was going out of style. He also ''never'' fails to reward perseverance, dedication, and effort as long as the team doesn't suffer for it, has his own unique brand of showing affection which he doles out with regularity, and puts himself through [[strikeout:''all'' the same crap that]] '''worse''' crap than he puts everyone else through.

* Youichi Hiruma, from ''Eyeshield 21''. He never refers to anyone by their real name, only by his personal nickname, and all his personal nicknames start with "fucking" (toned down to "damn" in Viz's translation of the manga). (Sena is "Fucking Shrimp", Mamori is "Fucking Manager", and then there's his best friend Kurita, "Fucking Fatass", and so on.) He's a violent gun nut who slings a constant string of verbal and physical abuse on his team, uses blackmail to get his way like some people say "please", and lies like it was going out of style. He also ''never'' fails to reward perseverance, dedication, and effort as long as the team doesn't suffer for it, has his own unique brand of showing affection which he doles out with regularity, and puts himself through ''all'' the same crap that he puts everyone else through.