History JerkassWoobie / AnimeAndManga

** Yukio Oikawa from ''Anime/{{Digimon Adventure 02}}''. Growing up as a lonely boy in a unforgiving world, the only friend he ever had was Hiroki Hida, Cody Hida's father. During their youth, they became the very first humans ever to discover the Digital World, and they together promised that they would one day travel to it. Of course, fate decided to be a mean bitch one day and killed off Hiroki during his line of duty as a police officer before it could happen, leaving Oikawa with no one else in the world but his promise. Depressed and lonely, he became a easy target for [[spoiler:Myotismon's ghost]] to possess, who promised him that he would help him to get to the Digital World and fullfill his promise to Hiroki...at the expense of everything and everyone else.

* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'': [[DysfunctionJunction Pick a character, any character]]. The entire freaking cast is full of [[TheWoobie woobies]] ([[spoiler:[[GodIsEvil save for God Himself]]]]), the overwhelming majority of which are [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] ''[[BlackAndGreyMorality at best]]''. One character wins gold on both counts, however. Is it [[BrotherSisterIncest Setsuna or Sarah]]? [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Kurai]]? [[NobleDemon Kato]]? [[StalkerWithACrush Kira]]/[[EmpathicWeapon Nanatsusaya]]/[[spoiler:[[BecauseDestinySaysSo Lucifer]]]]? [[TheAtoner Zaphkiel]]? [[UnwittingPawn Raziel]]? [[IJustWantToBeLoved Astarte]]/[[SharingABody Astaroth]]? [[BrokenBird Alexiel]]? [[TragicMonster Rosiel]]? [[MadLove Katan]]? [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Belial]]? [[CantCatchUp Michael]]? [[TheUnfavourite Arachne]]? [[LonelyRichKid Metatron]]? [[AndIMustScream Sandalphon]]? No. Believe it or not, it's [[EvilChancellor Sevothtarte]]/[[spoiler:[[BreakTheCutie Lailah]]]]. [[spoiler: As an up-and-coming scientist, [[ShrinkingViolet Lailah]] was outshone ([[UnknownRival unintentionally]]) by [[TheAce Anael]] in both work and love. When she finally rose in status, jealous co-workers {{rape|AsDrama}}d [[RapeAsBackstory her]]. Though she murdered them and [[TheScapegoat successfully blamed]] [[LoveMartyr Nidhogg]], [[NoSexAllowed losing her virginity]] (even non-consensually) left her branded a FallenAngel. [[FreakOut Her entire world crashing around her]], Lailah [[DealWithTheDevil sold herself to Sandalphon]], taking a new face to [[VillainousCrossdresser impersonate a dead male soldier]]. As Sevothtarte, Lailah became a Seraph, Chairman of [[CouncilofAngels The High Council]] and caretaker of [[RegentForLife Metatron]]. From there, Lailah tried to "purify" heaven of all sinful/deformed angels. However, [[TheHero Setsuna]]'s interference and [[EvilVersusEvil Rosiel's return]] [[LaserGuidedKarma publicly]] [[HumiliationConga exposed her fraud]] and freed Sandalphon, who [[TheDogBitesBack raped her]] and [[VillainousBSOD destroyed her psyche completely]].]]
* ''Manga/AshitaNoJoe'' has two:
** On one hand, Yong-bi Kim has what's probably '''the''' worst DarkAndTroubledPast in this series: he was a survivor of the horrifying Korean War at quite the young age, [[spoiler: saw his mother die in front of his very eyes, and later killed his father due to a terrible mistake, which gave him a phobia of blood.]] But on the other hand, his sordid past clearly gives him a sense of entitlement; it makes him feel that he's better than anyone else in the sport, looks down on boxing as just a game that shouldn't be treated with any passion just because there are ''rules'' in the sport, and looks down on Joe especially for struggling with his weight, just because nobody else he knows had to go through what he did. ''Not a good way to win sympathy points''.
** Joe Yabuki himself becomes this during the prison arc when it looks like Danpei has given up on him for Aoyama. He's pretty much all alone and surrounded by people who really want to see him get hurt at that point. [[spoiler:Of course, it gets better when it turns out to have been a SecretTestOfCharacter.]] Hell, Joe in general can be this before he (mostly) drops the {{Jerkass}} part; at the end of the day he's still a runaway orphan with trust issues and who, until meeting Danpei and his TrueCompanions, had never really experienced any real kindness.

* Uzuki of ''Manga/BetrayalKnowsMyName''. When we first see him in the anime, he lashes out at people who express concern for him, stating that he hates feeling pathetic, and dislikes Yuki, who genuinely sees him as a friend because, like him, Yuki was abandoned by his parents, but Yuki is a lot more popular than him. A demon ends up playing off Uzuki's jealousy and resentment, giving him the power he needs to try to kill Yuki. However, Yuki ends up saving him and we learn that his parents abandoned him, his mother tried to kill him several times, and he's pretty much a loner at school. We then get a [[{{Tearjerker}} heartbreaking]] scene where he's suicidally depressed and states that he should have died along with the demon that possessed him. He then states that he's a horrible person for giving into his resentment and apologizes to Yuki, wondering why, even though he was mean, Yuki is still being nice to him. Yuki responds: "Because when I first came to this school I was all alone and you were the only one who went out of his way to befriend me. That meant a lot to me and it made me very happy. I'm glad that you're my friend, Uzuki-kun."

** How about Alucard for that matter? See volume 8 of the manga for more details.

* To an extent, Caesar Zeppeli from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Part 2: Battle Tendency''. At first he's really just a {{Jerkass}}, until he shows that he cares about Joseph/Jojo's survival [[spoiler: while hanging to the Hell Climb Pillar when the latter accidentally activates a trap (although Jojo mistakes his facial expression for resentment),]] and saving him not long after, cementing their friendship for good. TheWoobie element comes after Caesar gets in an argument with Jojo (briefly going back to his jerk self) and goes to face the baddies on his own, at which point Lisa Lisa tells Jojo of his difficult past and [[spoiler: how his father sacrificed himself to save him without even recognising him.]] Then, [[spoiler: while he has the upper hand on Wamuu, he does that one '''really''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero stupid mistake]] that earns him an instant NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. As Wamuu (and the audience) thinks that he's going to die miserably, he uses his very last strengths to make an inspiring speech about the human spirit and to steal an item from Wammu that can save Jojo's life. And if one of the most magnificent deaths in the series didn't earn the viewers's sympathy, then Joseph's heartbroken reaction upon finding Caesar's remains ought to.]]

* ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo'': Rune. By now, it's safe to say that he's done more things to garner {{Squick}} than sympathy from the fanbase. ''Especially'' to Yamato. But in a way, it's justified, as Ultimo did kill his past self. And then there's the fact that the current Yamato will never return the current Rune's [[HoYay feelings for him]].

** And Break. Sure, he's not always nice, and it's not obvious that he's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but he does have his moments. In the past, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he signed an illegal contract to try to change the fact that the family he was bound to protect was betrayed and massacred. Then, he was dragged into the Abyss and had his eye torn out, only to have the family die off anyway.]] Currently, [[spoiler:he's going blind in his remaining eye.]]

* [[spoiler:Yuri Tokikago]] from ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}''. [[spoiler:Her]] actions in episode 14 put the JerkAss in her title, then episode 15 made [[spoiler:her]] a {{Woobie}}.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* [[spoiler:Yuri Tokikago]] from ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum''. [[spoiler:Her]] actions in episode 14 put the JerkAss in her title, then episode 15 made [[spoiler:her]] a {{Woobie}}.
** And [[spoiler:Keiju Tabuki]] becomes one after episode 18.
** [[spoiler:Kanba]] ends up as this, after [[spoiler:his FaceHeelTurn [[LoveMakesyouEvil fueled by his deside to save Himari]]... followed by DeathEqualsRedemption.]]
* Pinocchio (Mock) in Anime/MokkuOfTheOakTree. He might have flaws and even tried to murder a child once, but he's one of the biggest Woobies in the Anime industry because he is continuously tormented, persecuted, taunted, hectorized, chastised, assaulted, picked on, humiliated, tricked, ridiculed, ostracised, beaten, downtrodden and subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment, and even shot in the final episode.
* Eva Heinemann in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''. Terrible, psychotic RichBitch WomanScorned... who still doesn't deserve what happens to her and [[spoiler: her beloved bodyguard, Martin]].

* Sara of ''Manga/TegamiBachi'' prevents all mail from coming to or leaving Honey Waters under the guise of being a Reverse operation, which results in the death of a man who tries to deliver on his own. But it turns out that she and Hunt had lived in a freak show, and Hunt had a dead creature's arms sewed onto him in a desperate bid to avoid being sold. When the people of Honey Waters happened upon them, Sara made up a story about Hunt being the Man Who Could Not Become Spirit in order to protect him from them, and all the other lies were necessary to maintain the first one. It helps that Sara gets a HeelRealization, leaves the money to the citizens, and leaves town with Hunt to start anew.

[[folder: Axis Powers Hetalia]]
* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'':
** Russia. A creepy, mentally unstable StepfordSmiler who [[PsychopathicManchild has fun]] terrifying and abusing his subordinates, especially TheWoobie, Lithuania...but the times we [[RussianGuySuffersMost seem him suffer]] are nothing short of heartbreaking, and he truly loves his ProneToTears older sister, Ukraine, as much as his insanity lets him and the pressure he puts on her. You also can't help but feel sorry for him as he's constantly being pursued by his even crazier sister Belarus (also an example of this trope, as seen below), who wants to marry him. Also, Himaruya's new profile on him points out that he truly wants to have new friends. However it won't happen in a long time, because he's so scary that he ends up driving away potential friends, and he's had bosses who tell him force is the best way to make friends.
** Prussia can also qualify. He's an unrepentant, egotistical MemeticBadass who delights in causing trouble for others and seems to only think about himself...but at the same time, he's also something of a ButtMonkey who [[SmallNameBigEgo isn't as awesome as he likes to think he is]], and is shown to be secretly lonely and trying to pretend that he doesn't care about not being a nation anymore or not having any friends at all. And if you see him with ShippingGoggles on, there's the added "pain" of being the UnluckyChildhoodFriend to a NinjaMaid, who's head over heels in love with the local PrincelyYoungMan. But even then, he still ''is'' a HotBlooded, borderline childish jerk that often treats his own neighbors and friends like crap. (''Including'' said NinjaMaid and PrincelyYoungMan.)
** England. He was quite ruthless and manipulative in his acquisition of his empire, and willing to lie to and betray others for his own gain. He's still very rude and judgmental of others. However, [[LonelyAtTheTop his actions eventually left him lonely]] and he tends to be very misunderstood. Also, when raising America, he showed almost no cruelty; only kindess and love, only for America to declare independence, start a war, and abandon him. The UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution left England heartbroken, and he doesn't get much respect from others when he does let his guard down and tries to be nice.
** Japan sometimes gets this kind of interpretation, from fans who believe that as ruthless and double-crossing as he may have been toward his siblings during his [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan imperial period]], he probably still did not deserve to have two atomic bombs dropped on him and may very well have become as [[BreakTheCutie emotionally]] [[BrokenAce broken]] as his siblings in his [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided]] [[LonelyAtTheTop pursuit of empire status]].
** Romano, the elder of the Italy brothers and a notorious {{Tsundere}}, has shades of this: harboring a HairTriggerTemper and generally negative demeanor, yet also having an inferiority complex and abandonment issues stemming from [[ParentalFavoritism his grandfather ignoring him in favor of his more talented younger brother]] and feeling like others only wanted to use him for said grandfather's inheritance. An early profile even stated that being pushed around by TheMafia made his viewpoint of the world more slanted and negative. Of course, [[TheWoobie the more sympathetic traits]] run the risk of being blown out of proportion by Fanon, where [[FanDumb some fans]] opt to [[RonTheDeathEater lay all the blame instead on the younger brother, Veneziano]], who ''does'' care for his "fratello" and tries to help him with mixed degrees of success.
** Belarus, a terrifying AxCrazy {{Yandere}} became this when Russia threatened to send her to Siberia because Lithuania expressed reservations about accompanying him to a meeting. Can you imagine your own brother caring so little about you that he uses sending you to the horror that was the gulags as an incentive to make someone else do what he wants? If this happens on a regular basis, her bitterness comes as no surprise. Even if it's Belarus, that's just not right. There's also the fact that the poor girl is hopelessly and creepily but also very genuinely in love with Russia, her brother, who will never, ever return her feelings. The JerkAss part, specifically how she scares off anyone who is around her brother because she's jealous of them and how she once broke Lithuania's fingers on a date with him (the poor guy is such a sweet NiceGuy... but he refuses to see that Belarus not only is flawed, but that [[DoggedNiceGuy she does NOT owe him anything just because he likes her]].)
*** The autor's notes also put her in this trope, explaining not only her strange behavior as well as what she's good at (gymnastics, fortune telling, etc.) but saying that she's [[TheEeyore always depressed and pessimistic]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belarus due to her history.]] It kinda puts her in a new perspective, though it doesn't exactly justify her bad behavior either.
** Even though France is a [[AnythingThatMoves lech]], a liar and an all around [[ManipulativeBastard bastard]] at times, he has his moment to be pitied. At the end of the first volume, there is a sketch of a much younger France with a girl with short hair and wearing armor. And she tells him, "I'm fighting for you, you know!" Yeah, she's Joan of Arc. We know how that ended. To think of France, hedonistic and arrogant, startled and then drawn to this one girl, only to lose her- it makes you feel for him at least a little, right? That's not counting the French Revolution, the Terror...on second thought, those pretty much explain (along with Jeanne's death) why France became the way he is. But that still does NOT erase how he flips skirts, gropes people without their consent, comes on them way too strongly on them for their comfort...
* A LOT of characters can actually be interpreted this way. Everybody gets a sympathetic side, but most of the characters are capable of being cruel as well.
[[/folder]]

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'':

* ''{{Manga/Naruto}}'': many, if not ''most'', of Naruto's opponents over the course of the series, notably:

* To an extent, Caesar Zeppeli from Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Part 2: Battle Tendency. At first he's really just a {{Jerkass}}, until he shows that he cares about Joseph/Jojo's survival [[spoiler: while hanging to the Hell Climb Pillar when the latter accidentally activates a trap (although Jojo mistakes his facial expression for resentment),]] and saving him not long after, cementing their friendship for good. TheWoobie element comes after Caesar gets in an argument with Jojo (briefly going back to his jerk self) and goes to face the baddies on his own, at which point Lisa Lisa tells Jojo of his difficult past and [[spoiler: how his father sacrificed himself to save him without even recognising him.]] Then, [[spoiler: while he has the upper hand on Wamuu, he does that one '''really''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero stupid mistake]] that earns him an instant NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. As Wamuu (and the audience) thinks that he's going to die miserably, he uses his very last strengths to make an inspiring speech about the human spirit and to steal an item from Wammu that can save Jojo's life. And if one of the most magnificent deaths in the series didn't earn the viewers's sympathy, then Joseph's heartbroken reaction upon finding Caesar's remains ought to.]]

* ''Anime/KillLaKill''

* Nao Yuuki of the ''Anime/MaiHime'' anime. She's quite bitter towards others, uses her Child for selfish purposes, acts hostile toward Mai merely for being well-liked for caring for Takumi, and tends to cooperate only when she enjoys it rather than out of a sense of right and wrong. During the Hime Carnival, after [[spoiler:her eye gets put out by accident]], she [[DisproportionateRetribution swears revenge]] and [[spoiler:tries to kidnap Takumi via RevengeByProxy, indirectly causing his death, and tries kidnapping Natsuki twice]]. However, it's later revealed that [[spoiler: her father is dead and her mother is comatose (causing her desire to seek vengeance on perverts)]], and after [[spoiler:Nao's child is destroyed, killing her mother, and Shizuru is about to finish off Nao]], Natsuki intervenes and says that if she had not met people like Shizuru, [[NotSoDifferent she might have turned out the same way]], showing that, in spite of Nao's bitter and selfish attitude, she has suffered quite a bit and is ultimately human. By that point, [[spoiler: Nao is a complete wreck, and ends up weeping hot bullet tears for her now dead mother.]]

* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', readers are given healthy doses of how much of a bitch she can be to Rei (and perhaps in general) in a fairly regular basis through her attempts at manipulation and verbal abuse. However, it is also easy to see how and why she has grown to develop such resentment toward him and her childhood.

* Anemone from ''Anime/EurekaSeven''. Behind the DarkActionGirl CutePsycho, there is a terribly broken and unstable young woman who [[spoiler: used to be horribly experimented on]]. It's no wonder that she totally breaks down when [[spoiler: her LoveInterest ''and'' OnlyFriend walks out]].

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Asuka Langley Soryuu may come across like an annoying brat initially, but she has an ''incredibly'' heartbreaking FreudianExcuse: When Asuka was very young, [[spoiler:her mother, Kyoko, went insane and ceased to recognize her as her daughter]]. When [[spoiler:Kyoko]] committed suicide, Asuka found her body, with [[spoiler:the doll Kyoko believed to be her own daughter]] hanged right beside her, in a sort of would-be murder-suicide. Her father seemingly never cared about [[spoiler:her mother]] or Asuka in the first place, and began having an affair with the head nurse in charge of her. So far in her life, the people she cared about either a) killed themselves or b) revealed that they didn't care at all. Asuka threw herself into learning how to pilot EVA-02 in a desperate attempt to earn affection from others. She also feels that anyone she cares about will leave her, so she developed a fake arrogant personality to [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex hide her real insecure self]] and push everyone away. [[FromBadToWorse And then the events of the series kicked in]]. Including the TropeNamer for MindRape.\\\
Then the second episode after the MindRape features Asuka [[spoiler:naked, hollow-cheeked, and lying in a tub]], well past the DespairEventHorizon, stating that she no longer has the will to live. The tub appears to be filled with a red liquid indicating that ''she tried to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]] by slitting her wrists''. Poor Asuka...\\\
And in ''End of Evangelion'', she finally gets to [[spoiler:see her mother inside Unit 02]] and feel love and acceptance from her... only to be shortly thereafter forced through the experience of [[spoiler:being {{eaten alive}} by the Mass Production Evas]].\\\
On the other hand, the story also [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructs]] the trope by showing that just because you have a bad past, does not justify having a crappy attitude towards others and offloading your anger on others, as the other characters get more and more fed up with the Jerkass half and stop caring about her as they have other things to worry about than her. In fact, the only person who cares about her in the end is [[spoiler:[[TheHero Shinji]]]], whom she [[UngratefulBitch still abuses]] when [[spoiler:[[TheEndoftheWorldasWeKnowIt Third Impact]]]] happens.

%%* ''Manga/DawnOfTheArcana'': initially, Caesar. Cain possibly counts as well.

* Sakuya Ookochi from ''Manga/SensualPhrase'' is a BastardBoyfriend to his girlfriend Aine largely because of a scene where he attempted to rape her out of jealousy, and even when not being a BastardBoyfriend, he's a huge jerk even to his own bandmates. Then, it's shown that he has an extremely DarkAndTroubledPast (as in, [[spoiler:he's an HeroicBastard ChildOfRape, his "father" left him when he learned that baby Sakuya wasn't his kid, he was bullied all the time because of his heritage, and his LadyDrunk mom drank herself to death when he was a child).]] While said past explains pretty well why he's such an asshole, it still doesn't justify his horrible treatment of other people around him, which had to be toned down in the anime quite a bit... and it still wasn't enough to make him anything but a JerkAss.

* ''Manga/OniisamaE'':
** Mariko Shinobu is selfish, clingy, creepy, acts like she owns Nanako [[spoiler: and once tries to kill her]], and at the start she's a bitch to Nanako's friend Tomoko. She's also one of Nanako's few friends in Seiran, protects her from bullies like Aya Misaki, [[spoiler:and is very screwed up after her father first cheated on her mother, and later abandoned Mrs. Shinobu and young Mariko.]] She genuinely cares for Kaoru, and when Kaoru acknowledges it, [[{{Moe}} Mariko becomes freaking adorable for a second.]]
** Also, to the shock of many, [[spoiler:''Aya Misaki herself'']] becomes one after [[BreakTheHaughty she gets utterly broken]] by the last part of the TV series. To the point of [[spoiler: being this close to commit suicide.]]

* ''Manga/ReimeiNoArcana'': initially, Caesar. Cain possibly counts as well.

** [FieryRedhed Nami]], the self-centered, [[{{Tsundere}} mood swinging]], thieving InsufferableGenius of the Straw Hat Pirates. However, her personality, in particular, her [[MoneyFetish obsession]] [[{{greed}} with money]], [[FreudianExcuse is explained as a result of being an orphan raised]] by the Marine officer Bellemere, along with another girl Nojiko. The family was too poor to afford the things Nami wanted, and when [[ThreateningShark Arlong]] came along and imposed a tax on the people in her village, with the penalty for not paying as death, Bellemere only had enough money to either pay for herself and hope they don't find out about Nami & Nojiko or pay for the two of them; she chose to save her children rather than herself, and was shot in front of her children's eyes. Arlong then forced Nami to be a part of his crew, even going so far as to [[TattooedCrook forcibly tattoo her]], and said that if she manages to get 100 million berries, her village will be freed as well as herself. Even worse is that [[ILied Arlong had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain]], and wanted to enslave her for the rest of her life. Good thing she met Luffy and the other RagtagBunchOfMisfits who dealt with Arlong personally.

** In the pilot, Naruto is even more of a brat than at his worst in canon, having no friends or [[NoSocialSkills social skills]]. He traps another boy in a hole and ''urinates'' on him for bad-mouthing him, although it arguably edges on KickTheSonOfABitch when the boy goes from insincerely claiming to be Naruto's friend to trying to blackmail him in a matter of seconds. And yet, when he's framed for murdering Takashi, his horror and grief over the death of the man who was willing to befriend him is heartwrenching. You also have to wonder what he went through when he is almost completely unable to understand why Kuroda would be willing to trust him enough to go to prison in his place.
*** Kuroda himself. He's very cynical, even to the point of telling Naruto to give up his training journey and that he can only trust himself. Then we learn about his friend Saburo...

** In the pilot, Naruto is even more of a brat than at his worst in canon, having no friends or [[NoSocialSkills social skills]]. He traps another youkai boy in a hole for bad-mouthing him, although it arguably edges on KickTheSonOfABitch when the boy goes from insincerely claiming to be Naruto's friend to trying to blackmail him in a matter of seconds. And yet, when he's framed for murdering Takeshi, his horror and grief over the death of the man he was starting to befriend is heartwrenching. You also have to wonder what he went through when he is almost completely unable to understand why Kuroda would be willing to trust him enough to go to prison in his place.

* Gareki from ''Manga/{{Karneval}}'' has a terrible past where he was first sold to slavers by his own parents, then had to watch his loving adoptive family fall apart. Doesn't stop him from being a jerk, though he does seem to have a soft spot for [[HeroicAlbino Nai]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has Nami, the self-centered, [[{{Tsundere}} mood swinging]], thieving InsufferableGenius of the Straw Hat Pirates. However, her personality, in particular, her obsession with money, [[FreudianExcuse is explained as a result of being an orphan raised]] by the Marine officer Bellemere, along with another girl Nojiko. The family was too poor to afford the things Nami wanted, and when [[ThreateningShark Arlong]] came along and imposed a tax on the people in her village, with the penalty for not paying as death, Bellemere only had enough money to either pay for herself and hope they don't find out about Nami & Nojiko or pay for the two of them; she chose to save her children rather than herself, and was shot in front of her children's eyes. Arlong then forced Nami to be a part of his crew, even going so far as to [[TattooedCrook forcibly tattoo her]], and said that if she manages to get 100 million belli, her village will be freed as well as herself. Even worse is that [[ILied Arlong had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain]], and wanted to enslave her for the rest of her life. Good thing she met Luffy and the other RagtagBunchOfMisfits who dealt with Arlong personally.
** Similarly, Boa Hancock was introduced as a [[KickTheDog puppy-kicking]] VainSorceress. She showed herself to be an aloof, arrogant, complete JerkAss who wasn't above defenestrating her grandmother for giving the sincerest of warnings and [[TakenForGranite petrifying]] her subjects for allowing a man (Monkey D. Luffy) [[LadyLand onto their island]]. She was even complacent with her two younger sisters, Marigold and Sandersonia, ''breaking them in their petrified state'' just to mess with Luffy - just a hair's breath of crossing the MoralEventHorizon. However, when Luffy defeated the sisters and spared their pride by hiding their tattoos, this brought to light another side of Hancock unseen before: as she explained to Luffy, the tattoo was forced upon Hancock and her sisters (sensing a pattern here...), and is an eternal source of shame from slavery under the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]], descendants of the founders of the World Government and, as shown in the previous arc, a whole 'nother ball of the MEH wax, known for kicking, shooting, and ''blowing up'' their slaves if they get frustrated or bored with them. The 3 sisters, who were just pre-teenage girls back then, spent 4 whole years enslaved to those bastards and were force-fed a Devil Fruit [[ForTheEvulz strictly for their entertainment]]. Hancock's own experience was such that she couldn't even talk about it without being reduced to tears. The very fact that she kept the law of her island to the letter could be explained due to her personal experience with one particular World Noble who was in her words "the very object of terror itself", [[DoesNotLikeMen which jaded her view on the opposite gender]]. It's only that Luffy didn't care that she and the other two were slaves, and hates the World Nobles anyway (for shooting a friend of his, who ''wasn't even one of their slaves'') that caused [[DefrostingIceQueen her icy persona to warm up a bit]], and even fall in love with the guy.
** Kuina came off as rather arrogant and insulted Zoro a lot but she was covering up her huge self-esteem issues about her gender and being a swordswoman, being told that despite her talent, she will not be able to pursue being the best swordswoman in the world. Her father's suggestion that she might just have overcome her own limitations if she hadn't died makes her sudden and pointless death in an accident that much more tragic.

** Russia. A creepy, mentally unstable StepfordSmiler who [[PsychopathicManchild has fun]] terrifying and abusing his subordinates, especially TheWoobie, Lithuania...but the times we [[RussianGuySuffersMost seem him suffer]] are nothing short of heartbreaking, and he truly loves his FragileFlower older sister, Ukraine, as much as his insanity lets him and the pressure he puts on her. You also can't help but feel sorry for him as he's constantly being pursued by his even crazier sister Belarus (also an example of this trope, as seen below), who wants to marry him. Also, Himaruya's new profile on him points out that he truly wants to have new friends. However it won't happen in a long time, because he's so scary that he ends up driving away potential friends, and he's had bosses who tell him force is the best way to make friends.

** Yukina Minato is a top-class vocalist and the founder and leader of the band Roselia, and amongst her bandmates she is known for being cold, [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest]], and accepting nothing short of perfection from her band, bluntly telling those who can't keep up to leave the band. This stems from her father's failed career as a band vocalist; Yukina gives it her all and encourages her bandmates to do the same in order to impress him and inspire him to set foot on the stage once more. After an incident where she [[spoiler:almost accepts a shady business deal in order to get into a world-class music festival on the condition that she dissolve the band]], she realizes that she's been acting only in the interest of herself and her father and starts to work to make Roselia a band where everyone can excel together.

** Chisato Shirasagi is the bassist of Pastel*Palettes, an agency-formed band heavily inspired by idols. She makes every excuse to avoid band practice and [[HardWorkHardlyWorks looks down upon her bandmate Aya for believing that hard work alone will lead her to her dreams]]. But as a former child actor, it's hard not to see why she thinks and acts the way she does, having seen the dark side of the Japanese entertainment industry. She eventually comes around to the rest of the group once she realizes that she and her bandmates need each other to succeed, even standing up for them when the agency credits her for the band's success while leaving the rest out of the spotlight.

** Sayo Hikawa is the guitarist of Roselia, and is similarly standoffish and competitive, again not being afraid to dish out criticism. She also has a sister, Hina, who she constantly berates at home even when Hina makes an effort to reach out to and care for her. This is because Hina has an uncanny talent for picking things up very quickly, and [[SiblingRivalry Sayo wanted to do something that would make her stand out from her sister instead of simply being Hina's shadow]], so Sayo started playing the guitar, only to find out that Hina did the same, causing Sayo to develop some friction with her and push herself hard to become better than her and become her own kind of guitarist. It takes a heart-to-heart conversation in an event story for them to reconcile and realize that neither of them is better than the other and that they depend on each other to further themselves as guitarists.

** Yukina Minato is a top-class vocalist and the founder and leader of the band Roselia, and amongst her bandmates she is known for being cold, [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest]], and accepting nothing short of perfection from her band, bluntly telling those who can't keep up to leave the band. This stems from her father's failed career as a band vocalist; Yukina gives it her all and encourages her bandmates to do the same in order to impress him and inspire him to set foot on the stage once more.

** Sayo Hikawa is the guitarist of Roselia, and is similarly standoffish and competitive, again not being afraid to dish out criticism. She also has a sister, Hina, who she constantly berates at home. This is because Hina has an uncanny talent for picking things up very quickly, and Sayo wanted to do something that would make her stand out from her sister instead of simply being Hina's shadow, so Sayo started playing the guitar, only to find out that Hina did the same, causing Sayo to develop some friction with her and push herself hard to become better than her and become her own kind of guitarist. It takes a heart-to-heart conversation in an event story for them to reconcile and realize that neither of them is better than the other and that they depend on each other to further themselves as guitarists.