History KarmaHoudini / Anime

* Mykage from ''Anime/AquarionEvol''. Despite killing Jin, Izumo and Alicia and manipulating Kagura and Zessica into doing his evil bidding. He gets trapped in Apollonius/Zen which is what he wanted all along.
** Zen himself far outstrips Mykage as a Houdini, given Mykage only even exists because Zen [[ItMakesSenseInContext tricked his dog into thinking he was him]], and the entire plots of both ''Evol'' and the original ''Anime/GenesisOfAquarion'' are the direct result of his deception. He receives no punishment for any of this.
* Waiting for that treacherous BitchInSheepsClothing Rosemary from ''Anime/AshitaNoNadja'' to finally get what's coming to her? Well, when the series ends, you'll ''still'' be waiting. A slap in the face is the most she receives for her crimes.
* In ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia: Paint it, White!'', the Pictonians nearly get away with converting almost all of Earth into their species, and only are convinced to reverse it all after Italy amuses them by drawing faces on them. Of course, given that the Pictonians vastly outnumber the nations and have them all outgunned, just getting the Pictonians to undo their damage and leave was probably the best to be hoped for.
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'':
** Mr. Kimura always manages to get away with blatant sexual harassment towards female students, especially towards Kaorin.
** Similarly, Yukari always gets away with bullying Chiyo, a 10-13-YEAR OLD GIRL. And nothing is ever said as to whether she got in trouble for hitting Tomo with cafeteria plates. To be fair, though, Tomo hit Yukari first while aiming for Yomi, but teachers are never supposed to retaliate.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', three of the serial killers get away with all of their crimes, including not only complete killing sprees but also torture and mutilation. One of them is apparently about to get married.
** Care to be more specific? Because the one about to get married only killed hijackers and an immortal boy who wanted to use one of said hijackers to kill the innocent passengers.
* Almost all of the villains in ''Manga/BlackCat'' do not die or suffer any permanent injury. Some are never even defeated or fought. Only one member of the Apostle of the Star dies. Some undergo a HeelFaceTurn. Creed is defeated but spared and actually saved by Train, in spite of the things he had done. Even the [[ManBehindTheMan leaders of Chronos]] who turn out to be pulling the strings are never defeated.
** This is also true in the manga. Letting Creed go may actually be excusable (as his mind is more or less broken) but [[PyroManiac Kyoko]]? [[TheDragon Shiki]]? ''The Doctor''?!


* Yuka Amino from ''Anime/BloodC'', the 28 year old woman who wanted to become the Governor of Tokyo in exchange for helping to kill an entire village of people. Although Yuka herself doesn't actually kill anyone personally, she still willingly went along with the massacre of the village and showed no qualms about it to get what she wants. She gets her wish, becomes governor, and nothing bad happens to her at all. The fact that she indeed does a good job as a head of government also helps.
* ''Manga/BloodyMonday'' has the assassin Maya Orihara who gets away from all the crimes that she committed which includes shooting a high school girl, aiding a terrorist cult, and the evil Prime Minister Masamune Kujo, who is also a Karma Houdini himself. In the end, she gets no punishment and remains on the run and the Prime Minister is treated as a victim without his crimes being exposed to the public.
* Hatagai Morihiro, from ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', seduces Honda Chizuru, has sexual intercourse with her, takes pictures of the act and then uses them to blackmail her into allowing his friends to gang rape her. He ends up becoming the private secretary of a high-ranked member of Japan's ministry of education, and it is implied that he had done the same thing with other children before Chizuru and will continue to do so.
* Apparently Kenichi Sonoda loves this trope. His other well-known manga, ''Manga/CannonGodExaxxion'' features General Shes'ka, ruthless field commander of the AlienInvasion, who is directly responsible for upholding brutal policies of the occupation regime in general, personally gives orders that lead to countless civilian deaths, patently doesn't give a shit about the lives of his fellow Riofaldians as well, and [[TheStarscream schemes against the central Riofaldian government at the expense of everyone, caught in the crossfire]]. He doesn't even attempt to hide what a heartless monster he is. What happened to him? He survived and became the leader of remaining Riofaldians on Earth.
* Accelerator in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' killed ten thousand innocent people in the name of an experiment and an unknown but undoubtedly large number before that, though they were admittedly less so. Punishment? A hit to his ego and being punched a few times. At least until he voided the KarmaHoudiniWarranty, anyway...
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'''s infamous ending is chock full of it. Lelouch decides to pull off the [[ZeroApprovalGambit Zero]] [[ThanatosGambit Requiem]] with Suzaku; he would build himself up as an EvilOverlord, conquer the world, and be such a monster that no one would want to do anything associated with him. Then, after Suzaku (having spent time as his Knight of Zero) fakes the dead, he'll return as "Zero" himself, and assassinate Emperor Lelouch, uniting the world against him and behind Zero. It works. Problem? The only reason this entire plan ended up necessary is thanks to the ''Black Knights betraying'' Lelouch by listening to [[DevilInPlainSight Schneizel]] and tossing him into a KangarooCourt that he only survived thanks to Rolo rescuing him. Do any of them get their just deserts, especially Ougi and Viletta? No! They all get to live happily ever after while Suzaku remains "dead" and must live his life as Zero while Lelouch dies; the only ones to be punished are those two who ''willingly'' arranged it to be so. Time will tell if the upcoming third season will be addressing any of this.
* In one episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', Chessmaster Hex gets away scot-free simply on the grounds that he's too old and senile to remember the plan he set into motion 50 years ago that just now activated. That is, until his old age takes its final toll and he passes away in his sleep.
* Despite being a SuperRobot OVA series, ''Anime/{{Dangaioh}}'' is heavily on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism... and ''loves'' Karma Houdinis! To drive the point home, the main villain of the show ([[BigBad Garimos]], leader of a population of parasitic beings who depopulate planets to fatten themselves) never gets punished for his crimes. Another villain, the psychotic cyborg [[BloodKnight Gil Barg]], dies in the first OVA, but is then resurrected as an even worse AxCrazy murderer, thus making his comeuppance null and void.
* During the events of the Killing Game in ''Anime/DanganRonpa''; Byakuya Togami, the [[RichBitch SHSL: Affluent Progeny]], does not only despises all his friends, but arranges murders for his entertainment, collaborates with the main antagonist: [[BigBad Junko Enoshima]], puts in danger the only person who likes him in the first place, disgraces the dead, and yet lives, What's worse, he was [[JerkAss willing to let his friends die in Danganronpa 3: Future Arc]], and did not get any redemption or development.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'':
** Ryuk was the catalyst for several years' worth of murders, simply because he was "bored." At the end, he just goes back to the Shinigami world from whence he came, with nothing to stop him from returning to the human world and causing another murderous streak. It doesn't help that the only way a Shinigami can die is by using a Death Note to save the life of a human, something Ryuk would never do.
** Hitoshi Demegawa in the film. While in the manga he's just a greedy, obnoxious character, the films take it up a notch, wherein he [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain sexually harasses Takada]]. He is killed by Teru Mikami in the manga and anime, but does not die in the film.
** Misa Amane, in the films. At the end of the second film, she is shown to have been let go of by the police after losing her memories of having used the Death Note, despite having previously killed Mogi (who dies here [[DeathByAdaptation in place of]] Ukita in the manga). [[HandWave However]], the police couldn't convict her without exposing the existence of the Death Note. Plus with the Note's destruction, she will as mentioned before lose her memories.
** Misa and Mikami, in the TV drama. Both not only survive, they also [[AmnesiacsAreInnocent lose their memories]] of having ever been Kira.
* Muraki Kazutaki (''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'') got away with a impressive number of things. Even though he was stabbed by Tsuzuki at the end of Kyoko it can be assumed that he survived somehow. After all, his body was never found and Hisoka's marking didn't disappear...
* Black Organization from ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': due to the apparently never-ending [[ArcFatigue Myth Stalling]], Conan never gets to encounter Gin and Vodka in person, while the terrorists keep piling up bodies, killing failures/traitors, and escaping even the most complex of FBI's [[BatmanGambit Batman Gambits]]. That, and nobody knows who or where the mastermind is.
* Tonogai's works seem to have this as a theme. In ''Manga/{{Doubt}}'', the actual mastermind behind the incidents Rei is never reprimanded or prosecuted for having used her ability to hypnotise people and force them to kill others. In fact, since that part is unknown, and hard to believe, it would be difficult prosecute her. She also has [[TheMole moles]] in various locations, including the police and crime scene investigators, so any clue that may lead to her being at the scene of a crime is close to nill. ''And'' she implies that her hypnotism of those people isn't going to be lifted when she dies.
** In its SpiritualSuccessor manga ''Manga/{{Judge}}'', the masterminds behind the Judge game are Hiro and Hikari. Both have caused the jury, the judge and their children to die to fulfill their revenge for giving a mild sentence to the man who killed [[TheLostLenore Atsuya]] and are free to leave, with the judge's reputation also heavily ruined and it looks like both will be free and ready to start their new life. {{Subverted|Trope}} with Hiro, who suddenly falls ill and learns that Hikari poisoned him. Played straight with Hikari, who lets her boyfriend's brother die and is implied to have no problems in the near future.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** Subverted with Mercenary Tao. The character kills a couple of innocent people and nearly kills Goku and another kid, and after his supposed death it's later revealed he was brought back as a cyborg. Though he's last seen being defeated by Tenshinhan, ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' {{filler}} reveals he's still causing trouble during the Cell Saga. But then you remember that at the very end of the series, Kid Buu blows up the Earth with everyone on it, and when the heroes used the Dragon Balls to revive everyone, they made sure that the truly evil people were excluded, [[FridgeBrilliance and considering that Tao definitely isn't a good person...]]
*** Although in his case it's played straight if you count ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline'' as canon, he either survived Kid Buu destroying Earth or SOMEHOW got revived along with all the good people on Earth. 216 years after Goku trains Uub and he's still causing trouble, and he even gets an upgrade!
** Played completely straight by the Red Ribbon Army's Colonel Violet, who in the anime flat-out murders several of her own men in cold blood to distance herself slightly from a pursuing crocodile and spends her remaining time in the series stealing huge quantities of money. Not only is she one of the only three major officers to survive the events of the saga, she escapes without taking so much as a punch.
** Beerus from ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' is another straight example. While he's friendlier and less evil than Frieza, Cell, or Buu, he still gets away with some unpleasant actions. He cruelly used King Vegeta's head as a footstool in front of his own son Prince Vegeta while making him treat him to an Eight-Course Banquet, knowing that he is much weaker than him and with no possibility of defense, and has been responsible for numerous genocides throughout the universe. Then again, he is [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil a god needed to keep creation in balance]].
** Goku Black and Future Zamasu from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' are this in a roundabout way. In the name of creating a universe free of mortals, they go on a genocidal campaign across the universe to kill all of them, and also go out their way to kill all the gods so they won't interfere with their plans. The former came into existence when an alternate version of Zamasu used the Super Dragon Balls to [[GrandTheftMe steal Goku's body]] and kill him and his family in cold blood before going on [[TheCorrupter to corrupt another version of himself]], and the latter has CompleteImmortality, so he can't die no matter how badly the heroes beat him up. They clash multiple times with the heroes and often come out on the better end while [[KickTheDog gleefully admitting to the atrocities they've done]], and are only truly pushed by the final battle. What ultimately happens? They use [[FusionDance Potara Fusion]] to become Merged Zamasu, and since a fused character is considered a different entity entirely, neither of them will ever face punishment as an individual for their crimes despite being ultimately defeated. This is especially true of Goku Black, as while Future Zamasu suffers a VillainousBreakdown before fusing, Black [[InvincibleVillain remains in complete control of himself to the end]] even after being beat up by a vengeful Vegeta.
** King Yenma tried to subvert this to Dabura with an "IronicHell" twist by sending him to Heaven since Dabura would have enjoyed Hell, but Heaven's innate goodness in essence "purified" the former Demon King and he ended up enjoying Heaven.
* [[{{Troll}} Izaya Orihara]] from ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' ''does'' get punched for his actions. Once. In the anime only. For emotionally destroying a middle schooler and causing a huge gang war that puts an incredible strain on the relationship between three of the main characters. He also gets hit once by a trashcan Shizuo threw, but this is PlayedForLaughs and has no effect on him, and blatantly doesn't make up for having framed Shizuo for numerous crimes and sending wave after wave of thugs to attack him when they were in highschool. The novel however subverts this as karma is starting to come back and hit him particularly getting stabbed by Jinnai, leaving him in the hospital for days when anyone who hates him can come and kill him. Karma seems to have hit him in volume 9 when he's tortured by Earthworm but this is later subverted too as it turns out he had everything planned out from the beginning and was waiting for the best moment to humiliate her.
* Chaos Choir's leaders and main villains (and WellIntentionedExtremist) in ''Anime/ElementalGelade'' were beaten in combat but were not punished for their villainy.
* The ''Manga/ElfenLied'' anime was CutShort at the 60% mark, two characters got better fates than they did in the manga.
** In the ending, Kakuzawa is seen laughing maniacally and declaring his victory.
** Lucy is a more ambiguous example. First off, in the manga, Kouta never forgave her for her crimes, while in the anime, Kouta was far more willing to do so; at least, he was more concerned with stopping the killing than placing blame or seeking revenge. Secondly, it's implied she survived her final showdown with the army in the anime, while in the manga, she died by SuperpowerMeltdown.
** Special mention goes to Mayu's stepfather and mother, who are unpunished in BOTH anime and manga.
* Dilandau in the ''Anime/TheVisonOfEscaflowne'' movie gets away scot-free with his surviving Dragonslayers, without showing any remorse for his previous actions. He just shrugs, comments that there will always be new wars for him to fight, and rides off into the sunset. What's worse is that the scene has an extremely positive tone to it, like he somehow deserved to live and continue his life of violence and bloodshed without learning a thing, except maybe "don't try to fight Escaflowne".
* ''Manga/FrankenFran'' is better-known for its particularly vicious LaserGuidedKarma...but the villain of Chapter 21 manages to pull this off. Not only does the greedy, self-serving, abusive child molester live, but he manages to get a job at an amusement park where he'll be surrounded by children. The sum total of his "punishment" is that he's trapped in a living mascot costume... which will only make it easier for him to find victims. Fran is too much of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} to see anything more than slightly odd about just how happy he is with this outcome.
* Akito of ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', in spite of spending most of the manga series being nigh-on AxCrazy and making the lives of every member of the Zodiac as miserable as possible at every opportunity, gets a last-minute redemption story via Tohru and ends up friends with her, Uotani and Hanajima, with Shigure as her lover.
** Shigure also gets away with his various manipulations, and jerkassery, getting Akito in the end to boot.
** It should be noted that the point of the story of Fruits Basket is that you should forgive and move on with your life so this is intentional with Akito. Also whenever Shigure manipulated people he did it to either break the curse or just for some amusement.
* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** General Hakuro. A corrupt man whose men possibly gang-raped Rose after she was sent under his custody, you just ''know'' from the scene where he captures her that he would be the type of creep who might do it himself. When the dictatorship is overthrown, we aren't shown if Hakuro even got his. We can assume he did, but we are not shown him get comeuppance.
** Envy. Despite starting the Ishvalan civil war, beating Ed to a pulp multiple times (and eventually brutally killing him ''and'' Major Hughes, one of the series' most sympathetic characters), causing a lethal epidemic in a small village, and being an all-round sordid {{Jerkass}}, Envy gets a relatively happy ending. After 400 years of doing whatever he wants, punting countless puppies, he more or less gets off scot free. Sure, he dies, but it happens while his life's greatest wish is being fulfilled, so it couldn't be considered comeuppance by any standard. Perhaps, in response to this, the author made ''sure'' Envy got what was coming to him in the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime in an absolutely spectacular fashion.
* Mitogawa in ''Anime/GaReiZero'', who, by virtue of playing a major role in [[Manga/GaRei the manga]] actual, escapes any form of punishment for what he did, despite being the one who singlehandedly kick-started Yomi's downfall. Thankfully, he gets his in the manga.
* Akabane Kuroudo in the ''Manga/GetBackers'' manga, gets away with a surprising amount of this by the end.
* In ''Anime/{{Gilgamesh}}'', Dr. Monica and the rest of the original scientists survive to the very end of the series with no one else left alive to exact retribution upon them. Monica killed off many people especially during the Twin X incident. At the end of the series he manages to kill off the main characters and the rest of the human race. What happens to him after the end of the series is unknown. Even if he ceased to exist, which is likely what happened, it's still not karma, because that's exactly what he wanted to happen.
* ''Manga/GlassFleet'''s ManipulativeBastard Vetti Sforza uses his allies as tools and turns against them when they've served their purposes, is responsible for the deaths of Michel's father and brother, seduced if not actually raped his foster mother in order to get her to kill his foster father and then murdered her once she'd done it, drugs and apparently rapes Michel, and kills Cleo, his own twin brother, while Cleo is trying to save the world. He states up-front that all of his efforts are for the sole purpose of prolonging his own life. Not only does he never receive any particular comeuppance, he ends up receiving instant redemption courtesy of some last-minute EpiphanyTherapy with Cleo's spirit, and becomes the rightful leader of the entire galaxy, with Michel's apparent ungrudging support.
* In ''LightNovel/GoshuushouSamaNinomiyaKun'', the main villain is duly punished, essentially with death (Reika's dark side disappears or gets reabsorbed or something). But Hosaka has happily assisted with every step of the evil plan, from simple kidnapping to ''chucking a woman out of a helicopter''... and his comeuppance consists entirely of losing to Shungo in a fight. The woman even forgives him! (So okay, she survived, but he wasn't sure she would.)
* In ''Animation/GuardianFairyMichel'', Salome stole Kim's father's inventions and the resulting explosion killed him, but at the end of the series she still has Dr. White's floating castle and robots.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** The resident PsychoForHire Yazan Gable in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', notorious for being the most cruel and immoral of the Titans, gets away scott-free even after [[TheHero Kamille]] completely dismantles his Mobile Suit. Although he ''does'' seem to meet his doom in [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ the sequel]], viewers never get to actually ''see'' his demise, which suggests that he may have cheated death once again. Hey, Yazan is not known as [[FanNickname "the Immortal Cockroach"]] for nothing!
*** Yazan makes a [[http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/193/yazanep27ko0.png brief cameo]] in episode 27, and while unnamed, his identity is later confirmed in Gundam Ace. "Immortal Cockroach", indeed.
*** MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden makes Yazan's survival explicit and makes him part of the regular cast.
*** Also subverted with [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Louise]], who committed many atrocities with the A-Laws, but lives in the end and has an apparent happy ending. The show director, apparently unsatisfied with this, makes it more clear in the following movie that Louise's life is far from happy now and that dying would have been easier on her, but she must instead live as TheAtoner. At least, however, she [[ThePowerOfLove has Saji]] [[ThrowTheDogABone by her side.]]
** Nina Purpleton in ''Anime/{{Gundam 0083}}'' is partially responsible for the success of the colony drop, stabs Kou in the back (after lots of tedious relationship development setting them up as a couple that culminated shortly before this) by running back to her old boyfriend (who happens to be Gato, one of the major villains) and then ''pointing a gun at him'' to ''protect'' the villain, and this on top of being a bitch to Kou for most of the series. And not only does she get off scott-free in the end, she has the audacity to ''smile'' at Kou in the epilogue!
** ''Anime/TurnAGundam'''s [[MagnificentBastard Guin Sand Rhineford]] does presumably lose his power in Inglessa, but it is never shown on screen; in the epilogue, Guin and [[PerkyFemaleMinion Merrybell]] are seen calmly sailing off on a yacht.
** Rau Le Crueset from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', OmnicidalManiac and NietzscheWannabe (although many would consider him a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds). Dying at Kira and the Freedom's hands after killing Flay was not much of a punishment for him, considering Le Creuset was also a DeathSeeker. So, in the end, he got what he wanted, and was {{Breaking Speech}}ing the hero from beginning to end. Some have theorized that Le Crueset shot down Flay's shuttle ''exactly'' because he wanted Kira to be enraged enough to kill him...
*** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', Rau's "brother" Mu La Flaga faces no consequences of any kind for the atrocities he committed while [[AmnesiacDissonance suffering from amnesia]] as Neo Roanoke. In this case, it's most likely a combination of the fact that he himself is a victim of LOGOS's brainwashing, and that the crew of the ''Archangel'' know basically nothing about what he was up to before they took him in.
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', Rustal Elion was never punished for his atrocities such as attempting to assassinate the Arbrau Prime Minister Makanai just to provoke a war between two Earth blocs, manipulating media into making Tekkadan as terrorists and using illegal weapons. And yet, for a man who wants to keep the status quo, he ends up ironically reforming Gjallarhorn only because three of the Seven Stars families had been extinct. In the end, he's seen as a "hero" for putting down [=McGillis=] and Tekkadan and helping Kudelia abolish the Human Debris system. Many viewers see this more of PragmaticVillainy.
* Care to guess the ultimate fate of Goldie Musou, the main antagonist of ''Anime/GunsmithCats'', a brainwashing, drug-dealing PsychoLesbian crimelord? She ends up in a happy, debatedly consensual relationship with Misty Brown, a protagonist she once kidnapped, brainwashed and presumably raped. And she doesn't even quit being a drug-dealing crimelord, albeit becomes a less psychopathic one, because [[VetinariJobSecurity apparently, it'd be worse if she was ousted]].
* CharacterDevelopment or no, there have been times where Karma seems to love giving LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya the longer end of the stick. From [[BlackComedyRape groping Mikuru]], to blackmailing the Computer Club, [[KickTheDog to spiking Mikuru's drink]] and calling her Haruhi's toy, many come to wonder why she hasn't been suspended/expelled/arrested.
** She did almost earn a punch from Kyon for those last two offenses (the last straw being the "Mikuru is my toy" thing), which [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone prompted]] [[HeelRealization her]] [[TookALevelInKindness immediate]] HeelFaceTurn (even more immediate in the anime version), so this could be a subversion. Doesn't stop her from molesting Mikuru in "Someday in the Rain" just for old time's sake, but then again, that may just be the author confused about the timeline he had set up in AnachronicOrder.
* In ''Anime/HeatGuyJ'', Daisuke's older brother (and boss), Shun stages a ''coup d'etat'' and tries to enforce martial law in Judoh, but gets granted amnesty because of the good things he'd done leading up to that as the police chief.
* The local YakuzaPrincess and sadic Mikako Satsukitane in ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty''. She never gets any sort of true comeuppance for her misdeeds.
* Rome-Ro from ''Manga/HeroicAge'' gets away with quite a lot of things from mass genocide, to brutally abusing Yuti-Ra. The two princes cheat death three times and eventually become the rulers of the known universe, after blowing up Jupiter, leading their entire fleet into suicide and bombarding the Bronze tribe homeworld, killing billions of helpless larvae.
* Ms. Nomura of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', who along with her cohorts in Tokyo, funded the schemes of BigBad Miyo Takano to wipe out Hinamizawa and its residents get off scot free when said scheme fails by making Takano their scapegoat for the entire plot. This is in spite of them being as quite guilty of causing the disaster as Takano, and unlike her, having NO FreudianExcuse.
** Takano herself arguably qualifies too, as despite all she's done her mental illness is used to absolve her of responsibility, she is taken in for treatment, and even keeps her boyfriend that she tried to murder. But then again, she was ''literally'' granted divine forgiveness by Hanyuu after breaking down and showing remorse for her actions, so perhaps this all is understandable.
* The Genei Ryodan from ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' kill a huge amount of people across the series just to find valuable items. The leader himself says that he does not care about the victims. Kurapica is on a quest to destroy them but instead the main characters worry more about him killing others rather than the Ryodan's activities. Across the story, only two members die and group is still doing whatever they want.
** Subverted in the recent chapters. Two more members suffer gruesome deaths and the rest ot the troupe has embarked in a cruise that is very very likely to be one-way.
* ''Anime/{{Hyouka}}'': Houtarou Oreki. He always gets away with {{blackmail}}.
* President Kuroi on the anime version of ''[[Anime/TheIdolmaster THE iDOLM@STER]]'', shows himself to be a {{Jerkass}} on a great caliber, attempting to sabotage the 765Pro idols only to prove himself 'superior' to 765Pro's President Takagi. In the end he's shown laughing to himself as his last scheme agaisnt the 765Pro Agency works wonderfully and they can't do anything to get back at him. He ''did'' lose his Project Jupiter, who's sick of his sabotaging, especially that one event involving slandering Chihaya with her DarkAndTroubledPast to the point of traumatizing her, but considering that in his last words, he said that the Jupiters are expendable and he can find another group, it's only a matter of time until he rises back up to try and slander 765Pro again.
* Genpou Saji in ''Manga/IkkiTousen''. He [[MagnificentBastard orchestrated everything]] and somehow no one feels compelled to harness their rage and kick the crap out of him. If he had an actual reason to be forgiven, or had some further development later then it would work, but he's let go like he never did anything. Saji's appearance in Great Guardians doesn't fix things.
** Strongly subverted in the manga, where his manipulations are not only generally well-intentioned and far less damaging, they eventually ''do'' get him killed by Hakufu. This, in fact, [[ThanatosGambit is even part of his plan]], which he thinks of [[DeathSeeker as his due comeuppance]].
* Throughout ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'', a shadowy conspiracy launched a [[FalseFlagOperation False Flag]] terrorist attack against a school, tried to murder everyone aboard (resulting in the deaths of the entire faculty and many students,) chased after the surviving students (all children) and attempted to kill them all, caused massive collateral damage in the process, blocked the students' attempts to communicate with anyone, framed the students for everything that happened so far, and [[EarthShatteringKaboom blew up an inhabited moon]]. In the last episodes, one of the naval officers they've duped finds out about the situation and publicly exposes the whole thing before killing himself in shame, the result? They're apparently given administrative control over researching the SuperPrototype spaceship the students survived aboard while being hounded around the solar system in. Oh, and the protagonist (who, up to this moment has been an utter ButtMonkey) [[MyFistForgivesYou slugs one of them in the face after considering their apology]].
* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Sesshomaru gets a very long CharacterDevelopment arc to end the story as an AntiHero with a happy ending, having gained the sword he always wanted, had his missing arm restored, his conflict with his brother resolved, and being much more easy-going than he used to be towards humans. In the early stages of the manga, however, he would kill people just because he could.
** Even moreso with Kouga. While Sesshomaru in his early appearances would kill humans who happened to be in his path, Kouga and his wolf demon tribe ''actively sought out human villages to massacre'' [[ImAHumanitarian and eat]], despite being perfectly capable of surviving on the meat of non-sentient animals. His wolves were even the ones who killed [[WouldHurtAChild Rin]]. After he becomes an ally against [[BigBad Naraku]], all of this is completely forgotten and his [[ThoseTwoGuys two minions]] are even treated as PluckyComicRelief despite being mass murderers.
* In [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Part 7]] of ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', the Stand Ticket to Ride is able to make its user a literal Karma Houdini with Love Train - while in effect, all misfortune directed at the user is deflected and sent to someone else far away, leaving only good fortune behind. [[BigBad Funny Valentine]] acquires this ability and can use it more effectively thanks to his Stand, [=D4C=].
* In the anime ''Anime/JyuOhSei'', the evil character Nagi murders innocent people. He is never punished for what he does and never shows any remorse. Not only does he live at the end of the series, but the good characters like Thor and Tiz continually defend him and save his life.
* The [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Necks of Orochi]] from ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko''... is a subversion. After having their plot to destroy the world foiled (also, a couple of massacres early on), just get revived and live on as if nothing had happened. Seemed that way, until it's revealed that the universe resets itself so Orochi and Chikane never existed, and without Orochi, the tragedies that would spur them into becoming Necks and committing all those horrible plots never happened and they become better people (Miyako and Girochi never lost faith after the war, or the war never occurred; Corona was able to grow into a successful idol on her own; Reiko's type of favorite stories found success so she didn't have to write dark stories just to survive; Nekoko was treated fairly rather than being a guinea pig... and Tsubasa and Souma's parents aren't THAT abusive now so they led a fairer life.)
* Ogata from ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple''. Despite having conducted dangerous "experiments" on his disciples, despite having killed Tanaka's pregnant wife, master, and Tanaka himself, despite having played a major role in nearly kicking off a world war... at the end of the manga, he has not received a single defeat and is still alive and well.
%% Kouga's example has been moved to discussion.
* In ''Manga/LoveHina'', Kanako nearly rapes Motoko while disguised as Naru to sow chaos among the residents. The incident is briefly mentioned when the residents attack Naru, and then when the real culprit is found, completely forgotten. Kanako suffers no punishment for this and other cruel acts.
* In ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', there is Touka, who gets her happy ending when Rikka is forced to get over her chunibyou and goes to Italy to pursue her dream of becoming a master chef while everyone back in Japan angsts and struggles with the situation that she left behind.
* In ''Manga/{{Magi}}'' While Most villains are killed, Arba is not even emprisonned. The ManipulativeBitch is responsible for most of the misery in the world, she has caused many wars, betrayed and killed her surrogate And real children but in the end she only loses her power that she planned to use to cause an EldtrichAbomination to destroy the world. She is seen at the very penultimate page of the manga casually flying with only a bored look, perfectly free to do whatever she wants.
* ''Manga/{{MW}}'': If [[Manga/{{Monster}} Johan]] got away in the end, Michio Yuki also counts. He may have failed to gas the whole world and lost Garai, but he manages to get away clean from it by posing as his younger lookalike brother. Although, it's downplayed by the fact he has a few months to live.
* Nagi is not only arguably the main villain of ''Anime/MaiHiME'' (even though TheManBehindTheMan was technically more powerful than him), but is directly responsible for everything the characters go through. He survives unscathed and mostly unconfronted for this, admits to the entire thing being a riotously entertaining good time, and happily ''takes Mashiro'' (one of the supporting characters) ''with him'' to his home... wherever.
** Alyssa Searrs seemed to subvert this trope when Joseph Greer shoots her...and then is brought back to life. She is seen using religion to terrorize some student in the final episode.
* Despite ostensibly being one of the "good guys" throughout 2/3 of the series ''Anime/MaiOtome'', [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Nina Wang]], who is the poster child for LoveMakesYouEvil and fits into about several dozen other tropes, pulls a selfish, spoiled, bratty FaceHeelTurn. She willingly and freely betrays everything she's ever stood for, tosses her morals and decency aside, murders her best friend, attempts to murder several of her other good friends, aids TheEmpire in conquering the world, and almost single-handedly completes 90% of a plan to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Her excuse? She's a little cranky that her father (yes, they're not related by blood, but he's still her FATHER) refuses to see her as a woman and fell in love with her friend instead of her. She continues down this path even after her father, the only thing she cares about, DIES (he later lived, but she didn't know...) trying to stop it. Her outcome at the end of the series? Happily ever after, never answering for anything she caused or even having to face anyone or anything from her old life to remind or accuse her, taking advantage of her father's amnesia to make him fall in love with her for real this time. On the other hand, she becomes TheAtoner in ''Anime/MaiOtomeZwei'', working with Nao to investigate the ruins and helping Arika defeat the BigBad.
** Throughout the course of the ''Anime/MaiOtome'' anime, PsychoLesbian / SmugSnake Tomoe has amassed for herself a pretty long rap sheet: assault, vandalism, attempted murder, kidnapping, blackmail, attempted rape... of a ''high-ranking school official'', aiding and abetting terrorists, and at one point openly declared that she intended to kill anyone who stood in her way (read: ''everyone''), and has shown no remorse for any of it. She never receives any sort of formal punishment, and the only retribution she gets for this is a few broken bones after falling out of the sky... which ''barely'' counts as a slap on the wrist compared to the lives she tried to ruin. She comes back in ''Anime/MaiOtomeZwei'' clean as a whistle, presumably to do the same things all over again.
** John Smith from Anime/MaiOtome0Sifr. He kidnaps Sifr to take control of the ancient technology, and while he loses the Schwarz Space Station, M9 and quite a few of his men, he escapes in the end, albeit because the heroes' mission was about protecting Sifr rather than defeating Schwarz.
* Rimelda of ''Anime/{{Madlax}}'' kills off or is responsible for the deaths of the most likable members of the cast, including Madlax's apparent romantic interest, Vanessa. Not only does she survive in the end, but she gets together with Madlax. Presumably Bee Train was trying to replicate their success with ''Anime/{{Noir}}''.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]] decides to kill Nanoha and trap Hayate and Fate in [[LotusEaterMachine eternal dreams]]. The one responsible for setting up the whole thing turns out to be Gil Graham. That person's fate at the end? Retiring back in his home country of England, Earth, with his two familiars to keep him company. He thought it was [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the only way]] to get rid of the [[ClingyMacGuffin Book of Darkness]] once and for all. It took Nanoha's over-powered ten-member party, ''which included the current master of the book'' plus the [[WaveMotionGun Arc-en-Ciel]] to temporarily regain control of it.
** Perhaps a more troubling example is the above character's accomplices, the Lieze twins, who, in order to activate the Book Of Darkness, absorb Shamal and Signum's Linker Cores, beat up Zafira to do the same to him, and then finish off Vita in front of Hayate while disguised as Nanoha and Fate. While all the people in question get better, ''no one'' brings up what happened or proposes any punishment for the responsible parties.
* Many were disappointed that [[BigBad Haruki Kusakabe]] from ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' didn't die at the end. However, [[DeathByAdaptation you can kill him]] in several ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games, and in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau Le Creuset]] will KickTheSonOfABitch.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has quite a few examples:
** The Hidden Cloud village doesn't appear to undergo any hardship for the kidnapping attempt they made on the 3-year-old Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan head, during diplomatic negotiations, and indeed their RefugeInAudacity response, to demand the body of the man that had killed their ambassador while he was running off with Hinata, resulted in the death of a Konoha ninja and inflicted 9 years of mental trauma on Neji. The only time this is brought up is when Yamato reminds the Raikage that the Leaf Village had to accommodate their demands for the sake of peace in the past.
** Orochimaru. Unlike most villains in the series, he's completely irredeemable having performed numerous massacres and experiments on prisoners (including children and infants, which were usually fatal) to become immortal. Yet after [[EnemyMine siding with the heroes against Madara]], [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse he's never seen again nor mentioned after the Great War.]] As of ''Manga/{{Naruto Gaiden}}'', which takes place 15 years after the main series, Orochimaru is still alive and up to his old tricks. And not only Sasuke but even ''[[MessianicArchetype Naruto]]'' has no problem with casually paying a visit to him in his hideout and chatting with him as if he were an old friend, completely ignoring not only his huge death toll in general but also the fact that he killed the Third Hokage, who was like a grandfather to Naruto. Not even the fact that Orochimaru has once again swapped into a younger body seems to phase them, beyond their finding his new appearance even odder than the old one. WordOfGod even confirmed that [[http://qaelios.tumblr.com/post/130767854594/notes-from-the-kishimoto-interview Orochimaru gained immortality]] later on. This is even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] [[AdaptationExpansion in the anime adaptation]] of ''[[LightNovel/KonohaHidenThePerfectDayForAWedding Konoha Hiden]]'', where Orochimaru openly strolls around town and even participates in a video to send [[OfficialCouple Naruto and Hinata]] well-wishes for their upcoming wedding, and only Yamato who was assigned to keep an eye on him finds anything wrong with this.
** Kabuto also qualifies. Like Orochimaru [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse we have no idea what happened to him after he helped save Sasuke]] despite causing the events of the war in the first place by reviving Madara along with every other famous shinobi and forcing them to fight against their will to assist Obito in essentially destroying the world. ''Naruto Gaiden'' reveals that he not only wasn't punished for his part in the war, but is now running an orphanage with the Leaf Village's approval. This isn't ''quite'' as egregious, since Kabuto seems to have at least undergone a genuine HeelFaceTurn thanks to Itachi's genjutsu forcing him to reevaluate his life, whereas Orochimaru didn't change at all and simply [[EnemyMine joined forces with the heroes out of pure pragmatism]] [[EvilVsOblivion in the face of a far more powerful villain who was just as much of a threat to him as to everyone else]].
** Similarly, Sasuke Uchiha is pardoned for his crimes following his HeelFaceTurn, despite declaring war on Konoha, kidnapping Bee (which nearly starts an international incident), trying to kill the Kages, brainwashing the Tailed Beasts, and trying to kill the few people who still care about him (namely, [[TrueCompanions Team 7]]). To top it off, Sakura still forgives him to the point of marrying him, despite the horrible genjutsu he used on her in Chapter 693. [[FridgeBrilliance However, it might explain]] why he takes his [[TheAtoner role of investigating potential threats to the world so seriously]] instead of taking the easier choice of settling down in the village with his friends.
* Keel Lorenz, the NietzscheWannabe BigBad from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', not only gets to see his delusions come to pass, but we get to see him reacting with sadistic glee as he is assimilated into the "perfect being" that he has created. Though his actions were implied to have been reversed by the end of the movie, we never do see him get his comeuppance.
* Mori Soiken from ''Anime/NinjaResurrection''. He murders two innocent children to blame it on the attacking ninjas, after Shiro the priest is fatally wounded Soiken convinces him to give up Christianity and be reborn as a demon to get revenge on the ninjas, the process involves sacrificing his own daughter having the reborn Shiro burst through her body killing her, then the reborn Shiro slaughters the villagers indiscriminately while he watches proudly, if the series had continued he would've likely been punished.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Several villains, like Wapol and Eneru, don't get punished in the long run. Sure, Luffy kicks their asses seven ways to Sunday, but things turn out OK for them in the end anyway. Wapol's life in particular is ''much better'' now than it was during his time as an evil king, without any sort of HeelFaceTurn required. This is also globally the case for the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]], the biggest assholes in the series, who are so above the law that they can get away with anything (And by anything, we mean, among other things, kill children because their boat ''crossed paths with theirs'', feed little girls Devil Fruits for their own twisted pleasure, own and abuse the fuck out of slaves, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and all around being]] [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking motherfuckers]].)
*** One reason for Eneru getting away and accomplishing at least one of his goals (to fly off to Endless Verth on his airship) could be justified as a sort of DeusExitMachina. Being one of the most powerful characters in the ''One Piece'' universe (to the point that the only way he could be beaten was because Luffy's Devil Fruit powers [[ContrivedCoincidence with just happened to be able to counter his lightning abilities]]) and being in a location where the Marines and their Devil Fruit-cancelling sea prism stones wouldn't be able to reach and capture him, it would've been easier to just let him escape and go far away where the plot can't reach him.
** In the Dressrosa arc, Baby 5 is the only officer of the Donquixote Family who is not arrested following Doflamingo's defeat. She performed a HeelFaceTurn and is set to marry one of the side characters who allied with Luffy. However, she is still as guilty of crimes as the rest of the Family and the traits that make her sympathetic, such as [[ChildSoldiers being in a pirate crew since childhood]], are matched by others in the crew who ''were'' taken into custody.
* Asuham Boone from ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer''. Towards the end of the series, his obsession with getting back at Gain for the whole mess with Asuham's sister Karin degenerates to the point where Asuham willingly manipulates Cynthia and a lot of his underlings (and President Munt himself) in order to awaken the Overdevil, an EldritchAbomination capable of destroying the world. He never seemed hesitant nor regretful about it... and all that happens to him is that he gets his Dominator shot down and gets a WhatWereYouThinking speech from Karin herself (who had come to terms with the fact that Gain's relationship with her wouldn't have lasted). Not much of a punishment, huh? Understandable in that Creator/YoshiyukiTomino had come out of his problems with depression and was producing lighter and more idealistic shows... but still, some were dissatisfied letting Asuham go like that, after all the crap he pulled.
* Tsukiko from ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'' destroys most of Tokyo because of her mental instability. Her fate? She walks the streets two years later as if nothing ever happened.
* Sae from ''Manga/PeachGirl''. She does do some make-goods, and she encounters some serious setbacks and heartache, particularly in the manga sequel/spinoff, Sae's Story. But the pain she puts Momo through - at one point threatening to disgrace her on an international level, just so Toji will break up with her, and making Momo believe she's been raped - means that she should have had some kind of beatdown. The classmates she tricks early in the series to hate Momo are ready to hold Momo down and maybe hit her, but no such brutality is even mentioned when Sae is majorly exposed. She doesn't do a complete Houdini, except when the level of her actions is taken into account. Her pain with Ryo was largely self-inflicted, so it really doesn't balance the scales.
* The protagonist Yamaguchi in Creator/SuehiroMaruo's ''[[http://samehat.blogspot.com/2005/10/poison-strawberry-chapter-one.html Poison Strawberry]]''. Karma Houdini for its own sake.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The KidSamurai in the episode "Challenge Of The Samurai" is a pretty infamous example. He rudely interrupts Ash just before he's ready to catch a Weedle, leaving the Weedle to warn its Beedrill swarm. He makes Ash and Misty flee with him and doesn't let Ash recall his Metapod, and then he has the gall to call Ash a terrible trainer for abandoning his Metapod and causing all of this trouble...[[{{Hypocrite}} if he weren't the one causing all this to happen in the first place]]. In the end, the samurai doesn't receive a telling-off or anything, and Ash is the one who ends up learning a lesson about [[BrokenAesop accepting the blame for something that really wasn't his fault]].
** He's not really malignant, but as far as anyone knows, the Magikarp Salesman has never received any comeuppance for all the times he conned James and Jessie (the closest was one episode where James was wise to his scheme, but he still escaped).
** Sabrina is also guilty of being one of these. At a young age, she transforms her mother into a doll, later does the same to Ash and his friends, nearly kills them inside of a toybox, and all of these are brushed aside because ''Ash got her to laugh'' and earned his Marsh Badge (without a single sentence of gratitude or apology given), yet Pokemon League Inspectors have come down hard on people and threaten to revoke their licenses for less than that.
** Melvin the magician hypnotizes Ash into slavery. His excuse? "I hate to do this to you, but I hate exercise." He makes Ash pull him in a cart, then send his Pokemon to battle a whole bunch of Exeggutor, capturing them for himself. After catching a bunch of Pokemon without doing even a little work, he intends to hypnotize people into coming to see his magic show instead of not sucking. The Exeggutor become confused and stampede, destroying the carnival. His Exeggcute evolves and he gets the hang of one big trick, so he seems to abandon his plan, and the trio bid him a cheerful farewell, having no hard feelings over him mind-raping Ash.
** Shinji/Paul has gotten away with countless cases of psychological and physical abuse towards his own Pokemon, equally countless cases of neglect and abandonment, multiple counts of poor sportsmanship, conduct unbecoming a Pokemon trainer outside the arena, one count of critically demoralizing a Gym Leader, and one Rage Quit, among others, with nary a word in reprimand for it. In fact, [[CreatorsPet he's quite often praised for being a "strong trainer" instead!]]
** The [[BigBad Red Genesect]] (and to some degree the Genesect Army as a whole) in ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'' seeks a new area to live in. To this end, it injures and drives out an entire nature reserve's worth of Pokémon, endangers the entire city by building its nest near the power transformer, mind controls its minions more than once (and at least one of them is controlled unwillingly), and attacks and tries to kill anyone who disagrees with it (up to and including [[WouldHurtAChild children]] and [[BadBoss its own kind]]). And then it makes a last-minute HeelFaceTurn and [[EasilyForgiven absolutely no-one holds it responsible for the nasty stuff it did]].
* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Karen and Will were {{Elite Mook}}s who gleefully attempted to MindRape Blue, made it ''very'' clear that they willingly followed the BigBad ForTheEvulz, and ditched the BigBad not because they went through a HeelFaceTurn, but because they got scared and ran away. And yet, somehow, they're now part of the Indigo League Elite Four as of the HGSS arc.
* In the manga of ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis,'' [[{{Tykebomb}} Akaya Kirihara]] is never directly punished for his highly violent play. In the TV series, he ''does'' get chastisement from An and Ryoma, ''does'' say he wants to change and gets [[HoistByHisOwnPetard a taste of his own medicine]] (sorta) via playing ''another'' Tykebomb, Kevin Smith, but the developments in the OAV have rendered that [[CanonDisContinuity void]]. The only punishment Kirihara received was indirect: Rikkaidai loses in the finals... but he wins ''his'' doubles match, injuring one of his rivals and almost inducing a similar UnstoppableRage on the other. What have we said about [[BrokenAesop "violence isn't allowed in-courts and those who use it are always punished"]], huh?
** The Higa team. The coach is a {{Jerkass}}, and doesn't receive any more comeuppance than being hit with a tennis ball by the captain of the team when he tries to leave. Half the team itself is comprised of unsportsmanlike {{Jerkass}}es who attack other teams' coaches, and the other half is just ''slightly'' less unsportsmanlike than that. Once they're beaten by Seigaku, it's as if all grievances disappear. They even show up in a comedic BreatherEpisode, and no mention is made of their earlier conduct.
* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', even his own grandson ruining things doesn't discourage Drosselmeyer (at worst he's a bit disappointed), and it's hinted that he'll continue writing new stories, the only difference being now he faces some serious competition.
* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' has those sociopathic brains in the Sibyl System. Despite that they got "judged" by the BigBad of Season 2, Kamui, they're still standing strong and became more efficient and ruthless because [[NiceJobFixingItVillain he only got rid of those defective brains with high crime coefficients]]. Then, [[Anime/PsychoPassTheMovie the movie]] has them taking over the Southeast Asian region and having its chairman assassinated. And when Akane confronted them, she can only remind them to stop what they're doing. It's unknown whether they're taking her word seriously but since they're sociopaths and their puppet chairman is winning the elections, it's unlikely that they won't take her seriously in the future.
** Mika is this too. Though she did get threatened by Togane and the Sibyl System to be their pawn and realized that her investigation led to Aoi Tsunemori's death, those only made her worse and [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror she accepted it]], making her a full-fledging agent of Sibyl. She even denies responsibility for Aoi Tsunemori's death and moved on. In the movie, it doesn't help that she's the only one who knows the system's plans for the region and yet, she has the audacity to call out Akane for not knowing their plans despite that she never told her about it.
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Kyubey ultimately does not receive any punishment for his (species's) millennia-long campaign of turning little girls into [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]] and, eventually, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, all in the name of [[PoweredByAForsakenChild anti-entropy energy production]], while having no real regard for the well-being of the victims or humanity as a whole. The ending replaces the "eldritch abomination" part with regular old death, making Kyubey's questionable power-generation tactic less efficient, but he suffers no direct consequences and gets to continue [[DealWithTheDevil making satanic contracts with children]]. In TheMovie, he attempts to bring back the old system, and this time he ''does'' get some sort of punishment, [[MindRape possibly psychological]]; but [[BrokenBase this ending is controversial for other reasons]].
* A large portion of ''Anime/QueensBlade'''s cast are murderers, thieves, and general self-centered [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] psychopaths. The franchise is also a fan of giving happy endings to [[MerchandiseDriven any character with an official game book]]… Then came [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty Vanquished Queens]].
* Nabiki Tendo from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. She runs small scams and petty blackmail schemes all over the place but was only called out once. Creator/RumikoTakahashi is on record as saying that Nabiki's ability to avoid punishment is [[RuleOfFunny part of what makes her so funny.]]
* [[StalkerWithACrush Taisuke Sawanaga]] in ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays''. He [[RapeAsDrama rapes his crush Kotonoha]] during the SchoolFestival and the worst he gets is a broken heart. Not ''that'' broken, either.
** [[AlphaBitch Otome Katou]]'s [[GirlPosse so-called "friends"]] (Natsumi, Minami and Kumi) who cruelly bully Kotonoha, bring [[{{Bokukko}} Sekai's friend Nanami]] to tears and ruin her reputation at school by showing a tape featuring her sex scene with her boyfriend/senpai ''and'' have sex with Makoto just ForTheLulz, despite knowing their "friend" Otome is also sleeping with him get clean away too.
** It looks like Taisuke is, if anything, even ''worse'' in the [=PS2=] game extension. In the extended version of Sekai's Yandere ending (the one where she's pregnant and kills Makoto), Kotonoha strongly hints that Sekai's child (born few after the murder, taken care of by Sekai's mother [[PromotionToParent and Kotonoha herself]] since [[MissingMom the traumatized Sekai has disappeared]]) is not only Taisuke's child, but may have been conceived through rape as well.
* [[{{Yandere}} Hatori]] from ''Manga/SekaiichiHatsukoi'' comes off as one. While most semes in yaoi anime tend to get away with raping their uke and said uke falling for them, this series is known for avoiding the Rape is Love trope to make it more realistic. However, what has made people remember Hatori is in the novel he ''brutally'' rapes his best friend Chiaki after thinking that he lost said best friend to his rival Yanase. What makes it stand out though is during the rape scene, Chiaki is shown to be screaming and begging him to stop and not enjoying it at all unlike other yaoi rape scenes. Hatori tries to atone by quitting his job but Chiaki, being an [[TooDumbtoLive idiot]], begs him to stay and they hook up...thus starting their rather [[TheMasochismTango unbalanced relationship]] in the series.
** It gets worse as the series progresses. By episode 16, it's like Hatori is trying to see how much he can get away with his {{yandere}} tendencies. In the episode he gets to cancel his date with Chiaki and expect him to be fine about it, goes to meet his ex girlfriend (he was meeting her due to work but Chiaki thought he was cheating on him behind his back, and it's later revealed by Yanase that he went out with a lot of girls during his high school year and that it's not impossible to think that), and finally barges into Yanase's house proceeding to beat the crap out of him and then forcing himself into Chiaki's house. And what does he get? He gets yelled at by Chiaki for simply skipping out on the date and he gets Chiaki to calm down easily. The last concerning Yanase is the cause of a huge backlash given that Yanase was just rejected by Chiaki a second time and entered a HeroicBSOD and Hatori proceeding to beat him up counts as a huge KickThemWhileTheyAreDown moment that leaves a bitter taste in the viewer's mouth.
* Taken UpToEleven and through the other side in ''Manga/SeigiNoMikata''. Makiko ''should'' be a VillainProtagonist. She delights in cruel pranks and acts of DisproportionateRetribution. However, Karma seems to be full-on inverted for her. The target of her cruelty always either ends up benefitting in some way, or turns out to be an AssholeVictim who deserves it. She keeps getting civic awards and approbation for being a pillar of the community.
* Yukari Sahashi from ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'' rightly earned her title as the "Devil Ashikabi" for violently assaulting and hospitalizing her rivals. However, her violence against even innocent Ashikabi is played for laughs, and no one even remotely calls her on behavior. She was last seen escaping the Sekirei Plan with Shiina.
* Hao of ''Manga/ShamanKing''. Screw FreudianExcuse, the guy had an organization made of people whose lives he ruined after him, he ruthlessly killed all of his opponents in the Shaman Tournament and then devoured their souls, many members of said organization among them. His punishment in the manga version? He succeeds in becoming the titular Shaman King.
* In the ''LightNovel/ShangriLa'' anime, Nagiko and Tarsian instituted a system of child sacrifice yet are never called to account for this and are seen flying off together scott free in the last episode.
* ''LightNovel/{{Shiki}}'' has Sunako, being the mastermind of all the murders and kidnappings in the Sotoba village which resulted to all of her people being massacred by the vengeful villagers. While she felt remorseful for her actions and does accept her fate to be staked, Seishin saved her and helped her escape in the end.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''
** To a lesser extent, [[JerkassWoobie Zelgadis]]. One of his favorite methods of getting something involves either murder or getting someone hurt, but he does it far less often than Lina so it might be justified in that context.
** Rezo, Rezo, Rezo...a priest who healed people far and wide...and experimented on others, often to the point of death, and sacrificing ''a kingdom'' to open his eyes...sure, he apologized in the end, but ''still.''
* Dakki from ''Manga/SoulHunter'' devoured human beings for seemingly no reason, stopped someone from being executed just to build a burning pillar to use on said person, invites people to parties and then sics tigers on them, turned a guy's son into hamburger and had said guy eat it (the guy later starved to death), and in general made things miserable for the inhabitants of Ancient China. But the worst she did was plot with a godlike entity who's been manipulating the history of the Earth for centuries in order to serve her own interests. What happens to her? she takes control of the body of said godlike entity and uses it to become the Great Mother and merge with the Earth. Talk about Karma.
* The PsychoLesbian Duo from ''LightNovel/StrawberryPanic'' got away with attempting to wreck a school play, messing around with the Etoile Elections, and two separate cases of AttemptedRape. Kaname takes this one step further by using Momomi to get closer to Amane, her real crush...''and they got back together in the finale''. To a lesser extent, Shizuma gets away with messing around with every attractive student in the school.
* Invoked OnceAnEpisode in ''Anime/SuperMilkChan'': Milk performs a number of bad deeds and behaves irresponsibly, and by the end of every episode, her assistant Tetsuko, the only character with a strong moral fiber and a good work ethic, receives all of the blame while Milk gets the credit as a hero. Occasionally, other characters will also pile blame on Tetsuko.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', the surviving members of player killer guilds such as Laughing Coffin and Titan's Hand committed murder over the two years 10,000 players spent trapped in the eponymous VRMMORPG and got away with it (outside of being hunted and killed by the official guilds during the mass purges that happened in retribution in-game if they didn't surrender) due to officially [[DeceasedFallGuyGambit Akihiko Kayaba, the game's creator and the one who trapped them all in the first place]], being blamed for all the deaths. Even if they identified players with all the data deleted there is no way to tell if they did kill players, and the worst said players got were being placed under ''close'' supervision during their counseling sessions to reintegrate them into society. Not to mention Kibaou who wants to rob beta tester, sends guild members to their death, extorts weak players, and send a rival guild member to his death to cover up his crimes.
* Momoko from ''Anime/TelepathyShoujoRan'' has quite a history of atrocious behavior throughout the series, ranging from putting masses of people under mind control up to getting a woman killed so she can get her hands on some special plant. At one point she also plays a major part in an effort to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt eradicate all of mankind]]. Her fate? She gets to bring her grandmother flowers in the hospital. That ought to teach her.
* In ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'', Seishirou Sakurazuka is this, managing to walk away at the end of the series with nothing more than a lost eye (which is lost willingly, by the way) after killing one main character and horribly breaking another, in addition to many other murders he himself claims to have committed. It's not until ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' that he finally gets some karmic retribution, but considering that even then he dies on ''his'' terms by what amounts to assisted suicide...
* Cain from the ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'' anime, was pulling the strings behind all those events and...he gets away at the end. It doesn't helped that in the notes left by the author who died when the anime premiered, Cain continues to commit horrific crimes which sets another Human/Methuselah war and while he did have a final battle with his brother Abel, it remains unknown on who won that fight since the notes just stops there.
* ''LightNovel/TheTwelveKingdoms'' has Yuka and Kouya, both of whom are EasilyForgiven.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' has Rabat, more of an HonestJohn, but later on he says that he deliberately leads Harvest Fleets to wipe out potential dangers in return for them sparing him. And before that, deceiving the Nirvana's crew, trying to steal Hibiki's mech, and then beating him senseless whilst lecturing him on 'using his own words' despite his own deceit and greed, before escaping. Despite helping out later on, it's a wonder he doesn't receive some sort of misfortune for his actions.
* The idols who bully Oze Romi in Episode 3 of ''Anime/VenusProjectClimax'' get no comeuppance whatsoever.
* Schwarz of ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' were most likely allowed to become Karma Houdinis, despite being the {{Evil Counterpart}}s of the protagonists and perpetrating quite a lot of carnage, by virtue of gaining enough of a fan following to become {{Ensemble Dark Horse}}s. Sequel series ''Weiss Kreuz: Glühen'' sees two of them recast to some extent as {{Sociopathic Hero}}es and one more performing an arguable HeelFaceTurn, but none of them have been redeemed or seen any justice for their various acts of villainy. (Meanwhile, none of the ''protagonists'' escape anything like unscathed.)
** ''Farfarello.'' The {{four|IsDeath}}th member of Schwarz. He's arguably the worst of them all; aside of everything else, he accidentally killed Ouka, purposefully killed his mother and Tot (although she got better), and his ultimate fate? Apparently, he quits being an assassin and lives happily ever after with his girlfriend. [[ProfessionalKiller Weiss]] is ''specifically ordered'' to assassinate Farfarello, and Schwarz {{curb stomp|Battle}}s them within an inch of their lives.
* ''Anime/{{Windaria}}'' Lagado and Selenia. Both of them apparently get away with their evil deeds.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
** Saruwatari is one of Pegasus's biggest and meanest thugs in the first season, who just disappears after the battle with the Big Five in Season 1. Compare him with his bosses; Pegasus does a HeelFaceTurn and the Big Five actually die in the anime (when the virtual world where they are imprisoned is destroyed), but Saruwatari is last seen running through a door with some of his goons. Although maybe Kaiba beat him up again. In the manga, though, he was probably fired.
** There was also Zigfried. His crimes may have been tame compared to most villains, and he wasn't capable of murder, but still, if he was punished at all for his attempts at industrial espionage that threatened to wipe out [=KaibaCorp=]'s records, the viewers never saw it. (In fact, the epilogue at the end of the series suggested that he and Leon were making a business deal of some sort with Pegasus, meaning he could well have gotten back on his feet because of it.)
* From the original ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga, Nezumi escapes after tricking Yugi and Jounouchi into confronting Hirutani avoiding getting beaten up or put into a Shadow Game.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'':
** Yubel. Once Judai remembers the nature of their past lives, he completely forgives her for everything she put him, his allies, and 12 dimensions through because of her [[StalkerWithACrush obsession with him]]. Albeit he blamed himself for her mental state, she had been corrupted by the Light of Destruction (turning her more dangerous), and reconciling was the best way to beat her at the time. He also took responsibility by taking her soul inside himself and thus prevented her from causing any further harm while her mind healed.
** Kagemaru, who did God only knows what to the missing students and who attempted to destroy the world just to stay young. Because he's already so old, sick, weak and almost dead already, the characters decide there isn't anything they can do to him than let him go. Judai hugs him and wishes him well, though this hug is enough to break Kagemaru's spine and send him to the hospital.
* Anna Kozuki from ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL''. Collateral damage is kind of rare in this franchise, but she tends to cause a lot of it, practically blowing up a good deal of downtown Heartland City trying to get to Yuma the first episode where she appears. She also ambushed, beat up, and then tied up one of the finalists of the WDC in order to take his place on the Duel Coaster. Not only was she never punished for what she did, Yuma and Kotori were strangely willing to overlook it, probably because she helped Yuma defeat the Fallguys.
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Sensui is killed by demon Yusuke...which is what he wanted. Then Itsuki takes him away so his spirit won't be judged in the Spirit World.
** Minor examples are Mr. Iwamoto and Mr. Akashi. Iwamoto steals a bunch of stuff and frames Yusuke for it, while Akashi arranges for Kuwabara to be ''beaten up''. Neither really gets their just deserts.
* ''Many'' characters in {{hentai}}. Rare is the sex scene consensual throughout for both parties.
** Take Etsuko Yamanobe, from ''Foxy Nudes''. She's a newscaster covering a hostage crisis, but to get hot ratings, actually manipulates the drunk kidnapper into raping his boss's daughter repeatedly, gives him a gun, tells him it's fake, and when he opens fire, a sniper tries to shoot him and accidentally hits...the hostage. The kidnapper goes to jail while Etsuko goes to have happy sex with her cameraman and enjoy great ratings, and the show treats it like a ''happy ending the entire time.''
* The Military Uniform Princess/Altair of ''Anime/ReCreators''. Her goal? To lash out at the world for taking her author away and leaving her in essentially Creation Limbo. How does she accomplish this? By plotting to kill ''everyone else'' in that world and take the Creations' universe with it. Despite being directly or indirectly responsible for all the death and destruction that occurred in the real world due to her scheme to destroy it, as well as the deaths of all the Creations that ended up in the crossfire, she ultimately is stopped by giving her exactly what she came for: a manefistation of said dead author, and ran away with her without receiving any consequences for her actions. And to top it all off, this was pretty much the only thing left that could stop her from destroying the world; she had gotten simply too powerful for the cast to try anything else.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'', during the ''Owarimonogatari'' chapter, we are introduced to [[RotatingProtagonist Sodachi Oikura]], a classmate of [[TheProtagonist Koyomi]] since his first year. A flashback then shows an incident where everyone who attended the study session had scored unusually higher than those who did not attend, causing Sodachi to suspect that someone leaked the exam questions. After Koyomi insists on ending the meeting due to the discussion becoming chaotic, Sodachi decided that they should resolve this incident by having people vote for the person they suspect. However, this backfired, because everyone save for Koyomi voted for Sodachi, causing Sodachi not to come to school anymore and Koyomi to lose faith in friends and relationships in general. [[spoiler: The culprit was eventually revealed to be the homeroom teacher of the class, who has also attended the study session. The homeroom teacher, who turns out to also be a math teacher, wants to raise the average score of her class in order to increase her own reputation.]] As she was directly responsible for the incident and also for voting against Sodachi while knowing that she is innocent, she's basically the reason as to why Koyomi had become an anti-social, sparking the events that lead to Kizumonogatari. As the culprit was never revealed publicly, she got away scot-free and is even leading a happy life.

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', Karen and Will were {{Elite Mook}}s who gleefully attempted to MindRape Blue, made it ''very'' clear that they willingly followed the BigBad ForTheEvulz, and ditched the BigBad not because they went through a HeelFaceTurn, but because they got scared and ran away. And yet, somehow, they're now part of the Indigo League Elite Four as of the HGSS arc.

** Envy. Despite starting the Ishvalan civil war, beating Ed to a pulp multiple times (and eventually brutally killing him ''and'' Major Hughes, one of the series' most sympathetic characters), causing a lethal epidemic in a small village, and being an all-round sordid {{Jerkass}} Envy gets a relatively happy ending. After 400 years of doing whatever he wants, punting countless puppies, he more or less gets off scot free. Sure, he dies, but it happens while his life's greatest wish is being fulfilled, so it couldn't be considered comeuppance by any standard. Perhaps, in response to this, the author made ''sure'' Envy got what was coming to him in the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime in an absolutely spectacular fashion.

** Take Etsuko Yamanobe, from ''Foxy Nudes''. She's a newscaster covering a hostage crisis, but to get hot ratings, actually manipulates the drunk kidnapper into raping his boss's daughter repeatedly, gives him a gun, tells him its fake, and when he opens fire, a sniper tries to shoot him and accidentally hits...the hostage. The kidnapper goes to jail while Etsuko goes to have happy sex with her camera man and enjoy great ratings, and the show treats it like a ''happy ending the entire time.''

* In ''Manga/Magi" While Most villains are killed, Arba is not even emprisonned. The ManipulativeBitch is responsible for most of the misery in the world, she has caused many wars, betrayed and killed her surrogate And real children but in the end she only loses her power that she planned to use to cause an EldtrichAbomination to destroy the world. She is seen at the very penultimate page of the manga casually flying with only a bored look, perfectly free to do whatever she wants.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'''s infamous ending is chock full of it. Lelouch decides to pull off the [[ZeroApprovalGambit Zero]] [[ThanatosGambit Requiem]] with Suzaku; he would build himself up as an EvilOverlord, conquer the world, and be such a monster that no one would want to do anything associated with him. Then, after Suzaku (having spent time as his Knight of Zero) fakes the dead, he'll return as "Zero" himself, and assassinate Emperor Lelouch, uniting the world against him and behind Zero. It works. Problem? The only reason this entire plan ended up necessary is thanks to the ''Black Knights betraying'' Lelouch by listening to [[DevilInPlainSight Schneizel]] and tossing him into a KangarooCourt that he only survived thanks to Rolo rescuing him. Do any of them get their just desserts, especially Ougi and Viletta? No! They all get to live happily ever after while Suzaku remains "dead" and must live his life as Zero while Lelouch dies; the only ones to be punished are those two who ''willingly'' arranged it to be so. Time will tell if the upcoming third season will be addressing any of this.

** Minor examples are Mr. Iwamoto and Mr. Akashi. Iwamoto steals a bunch of stuff and frames Yusuke for it, while Akashi arranges for Kuwabara to be ''beaten up''. Neither really gets their just desserts.

** Sabrina is also guilty of being one of these. At a young age, she transforms her mother into a doll, later does the same to Ash and his friends, nearly kills them inside of a toybox, and all of these are brushed aside because ''Ash got her to laugh'' and earned his Marsh Badge (without a single sentence of gratitude or apology given), yet Pokemon League Inspectors have come down hard on people and threaten to revoke their licenses for less than that. (In fact, some could say that being a gym leader is a necessary form of PlotArmor.) In Sabrina's case, the probable reason (if her actions were actually known) that the League Inspectors never tried to revoke her license and shut down her gym is [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers fear of her powers]].

** Envy. Despite starting the Ishvalan civil war, beating Ed to a pulp multiple times (and eventually brutally killing him ''and'' Major Hughes, one of the series' most sympathetic characters) and being an all-round sordid JerkAss Envy gets a relatively happy ending. After 400 years of doing whatever he wants, punting countless puppies, he more or less gets off scot free. Sure, he dies, but it happens while his life's greatest wish is being fulfilled, so it couldn't be considered comeuppance by any standard. Perhaps, in response to this, the author made ''sure'' Envy got what was coming to him in the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime in an absolutely spectacular fashion.

* An example from the 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime series was General Hakuro. A corrupt man whose men possibly gang-raped Rose after she was sent under his custody, you just ''know'' from the scene where he captures her that he would be the type of creep who might do it himself. When the dictatorship is overthrown, we aren't shown if Hakuro even got his. We can assume he did, but we are not shown him get comeuppance.
** Envy in the 2003 anime. Despite starting the Ishvalan civil war, beating Ed to a pulp multiple times (and eventually brutally killing him ''and'' Major Hughes, one of the series' most sympathetic characters) and being an all-round sordid JerkAss Envy gets a relatively happy ending. After 400 years of doing whatever he wants, punting countless puppies, he more or less gets off scot free. Sure, he dies, but it happens while his life's greatest wish is being fulfilled, so it couldn't be considered comeuppance by any standard. Perhaps, in response to this, the author made ''sure'' Envy got what was coming to him in the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime in an absolutely spectacular fashion.

** Orochimaru. Unlike most villains in the series, he's completely irredeemable having performed numerous massacres and experiments on prisoners (including children and infants, which were usually fatal) to become immortal. Yet after [[EnemyMine siding with the heroes against Madara]], [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse he's never seen again nor mentioned after the Great War.]] As of ''Manga/{{Naruto Gaiden}}'', which takes place 15 years after the main series, Orochimaru is still alive and up to his old tricks. And not only Sasuke but even ''[[MessianicArchetype Naruto]]'' has no problem with casually paying a visit to him in his hideout and chatting with him. Not even the fact that Orochimaru has once again swapped into a younger body seems to phase them, beyond their finding his new appearance even odder than the old one. WordOfGod even confirmed that [[http://qaelios.tumblr.com/post/130767854594/notes-from-the-kishimoto-interview Orochimaru gained immortality]] later on. This is even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] [[AdaptationExpansion in the anime adaptation]] of ''[[LightNovel/KonohaHidenThePerfectDayForAWedding Konoha Hiden]]'', where Orochimaru openly strolls around town and even participates in a video to send [[OfficialCouple Naruto and Hinata]] well-wishes for their upcoming wedding, and only Yamato who was assigned to keep an eye on him finds anything wrong with this.
** Kabuto also qualifies. Like Orochimaru [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse we have no idea what happened to him after he helped save Sasuke]] despite causing the events of the war in the first place by reviving Madara along with every other famous shinobi and forcing them to fight against their will to assist Obito in essentially destroying the world. ''Naruto Gaiden'' reveals that he not only wasn't punished for his part in the war, but is now running an orphanage with the Leaf Village's approval.

** In the Dressrosa arc, Baby 5 is the only officer of the Donquixote Family who is not arrested following Doflamingo's defeat. She performed a HeelFaceTurn and is set to marry one of the side characters who allied with Luffy. However, she is still as guilty of crimes as the rest of the Family and traits that make her sympathetic, such as being in a pirate crew since childhood, are matched by others in the crew who ''were'' taken into custody.

** Sabrina is also guilty of being one of these. At a young age, she transforms her mother into a doll, later does the same to Ash and his friends, nearly kills them inside of a toybox, and all of these are brushed aside because ''Ash got her to laugh'' and earned his Marsh Badge (without a single sentence of gratitude or apology given), yet Pokemon League Inspectors have come down hard on people and threaten to revoke their licenses for less than that. (In fact, some could say that being a gym leader is a necessary form of PlotArmor.)

* In ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari'}}', during the ''Owarimonogatari'' chapter, we are introduced to [[RotatingProtagonist Sodachi Oikura]], a classmate of [[TheProtagonist Koyomi]] since his first year. A flashback then shows an incident where everyone who attended the study session had scored unusually higher than those who did not attend, causing Sodachi to suspect that someone leaked the exam questions. After Koyomi insists on ending the meeting due to the discussion becoming chaotic, Sodachi decided that they should resolve this incident by having people vote for the person they suspect. However, this backfired, because everyone save for Koyomi voted for Sodachi, causing Sodachi not to come to school anymore and Koyomi to lose faith in friends and relationships in general. [[spoiler: The culprit was eventually revealed to be the homeroom teacher of the class, who has also attended the study session. The homeroom teacher, who turns out to also be a math teacher, wants to raise the average score of her class in order to increase her own reputation.]] As she was directly responsible for the incident and also for voting against Sodachi while knowing that she is innocent, she's basically the reason as to why Koyomi had become an anti-social, sparking the events that lead to Kizumonogatari. As the culprit was never revealed publicly, she got away scot-free and is even leading a happy life.