History LoopholeAbuse / AnimeAndManga

** Kaido and Orochi have ordered the execution of Kozuki Oden and the Nine Scabbards by boiling them to death in a giant pot of burning oil. Oden makes a deal with Kaido; if they can stay in the pot for one hour and survive, he'll let them go. Oden then jumps into the burning oil, picks up a huge plank of wood and has the Nine Scabbards stand on top of it. Orochi protests because they're not all boiling in the oil, but Kaido allows it because ItAmusedMe. [[spoiler:Oden actually manages to withstand standing in burning oil for an hour, but right before time is up, Orochi changes their execution to firing squad out of spite to ensure they're all killed.]]

** Yuma exploits the wording of his "Half Unbreak" trap [[note]] Targeted monster cannot be destroyed by battle this turn, and you take half the damage you would have [[/note]] twice to do this (once on Number 53: Heart-eartH and the second on Skypalace Gangaridai. Namely, it doesn't have to be ''his own'' monster, so he uses it on the opponent's instead.

** Yuma exploits the wording of his "Half Unbreak" trap [[note]] Targeted monster cannot be destroyed by battle this turn, and you take half the damage you would have [[/note]] twice to do this. Namely, it doesn't have to be his own monster, so he uses it on the opponent's instead.

** In the ''Special'' one-shot published in 2020, Minoru Tanaka, the new possesser of a Death Note, decides to sell it online, having Ryuk deliver it once payment has gone through and using a method[[note]]split between everyone with an account at his bank[[/note]] that would ensure he wouldn't wonder where the money came from once he lost his memory after giving it up. [[spoiler:Of course, near the end the Shinigami King decided to close that loophole by writing a new rule killing any human who tries buying or selling a Death Note.]]

* ''Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime'' has an excellent example of this in one episode. A powerful Digimon is blocking all of our heroes' attacks with a seemingly impenetrable barrier. It's suggested that they bring out Shoutmon X4, the signature Digimon of the previous season, but the problem is that, in the current situation, the humans are forbidden from combining more than two Digimon at once, and cannot have more than one present and fighting at a given time. Since X4 is a combination of four Digimon, it would seem impossible to bring him out- but Taiki figures out how to circumvent this. He temporarily lends two of X4's components to teammate Yuu, then they perform the Double Xros maneuever, each using two Digimon, which enables them to successfully Xros Shoutmon X4.

*** Ungalo's stand, Bohemian Rapsody, manifests fictional characters in reality and railroads its victims into the stories of any character they relate to. Weather Report beats Ungalo by creating a story about a superhero who rescues people trapped in other realities against their will and returns them to their home reality, and eventually Bohemian Rhapsody generates this story, causing the Stand to instantly undo itself.

** The only criteria for taking part in the tournament is that entrants must be unmarried, and over the age of fourteen. This allows both Senku (who isn't actually a citizen of the village) and Kohaku (who's female, and the priestess' ''sister'') to enter. This is actually the second time Kohaku has exploited this particular loophole; the tournament was previously held before Senku's arrival but has to be repeated because Kohaku won, but obviously can't marry Ruri.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', Beerus says that he will destroy the Earth if no one is able to defeat him in combat. Despite pleas to the contrary, he states that he ''always'' follows his word. [[spoiler:When Goku ultimately fails to defeat him, but still gave him the best fight he'd had in millennia, he destroyed a nearby rock and claimed that, oh dear, he seems to be too worn out to blow up the planet right now. He'll come back in a couple million years and finish the job. He never said he'd destroy Earth immediately, did he? Even [[IdiotHero Goku]] recognizes this for what it is and thanks Berus for sparing everybody.]]

* ''Kimihagu'': Emily becomes the disciplinary committee president and forbids any romantic behavior on the school. However, there are no rules against ADateWithRosiePalms, so when Emily goes to the bathroom in Episode 2, well... let's just say that she gets a little carried away, all by herself.

* ''Literature/AccelWorld'': Kuroyukihime is able to get away with wearing [[NonUniformUniform a school uniform that has a black dress shirt rather than a white one]] because the school rules require her to wear an "uncolored" shirt, and black is not a color, so she placed a custom order for a black shirt and used this loophole against anyone who objected. It's unclear how she was able to get away with wearing a dark blazer rather than a blue one with her winter uniform, though.

* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': Izaya is way too fond of this. He tells [[spoiler:Mikado]] he won't sell the information that he the boss of the Dollars to anyone. However, Izaya gives the info away for free to both Masaomi and Akabayashi. He also hates Shizuo despite loving all humans, and justifies it by saying that Shizuo is a monster.

* ''Literature/FateZero'' also gets in on this action, in the form of a Geas scroll, a magically binding contract. By the terms stated Kiritsugu Emiya was forbidden from harming Kayneth El-Melloi or his wife in return for Kayneth ordering his Servant to commit suicide and withdrawing from the Holy Grail War. However, the contract does not stop Kiritsugu's associate, Maiya, from shooting both of them. In a dark twist, this shot doesn't kill them immediately and Kiritsugu is not allowed to perform a [[MercyKill mercy kill]].

* The Adventurer class in ''Literature/KonoSuba'' allows Kazuma to learn [[PowerCopying any skill shown to him]]. Key word being ''any''. While it is obviously intended to be used on the abilities of other classes, there is nothing preventing it from being used to learn forbidden and restricted ones like Drain Touch. Normally, of course, a human would never have the opportunity to learn skills like that, but Kazuma just happens to be good friends with a supremely powerful lich...

* In ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'', one of the Ten Pledges everyone in [[FantasyKitchenSink Disboard]] is bound to states, "Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss". Sora quickly realizes this means that if the other person can't prove that you're cheating, [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught you can cheat all you like and get away with it]]. Of course, he's not the only one who realizes this.

* The last arc of manga ''Manga/Reborn2004'' is a battle royal with one set of rules so really straightforward and simple, it's a wonder why no team tried to exploit for seventeen chapters. [[spoiler:Vindice]] exploit the loophole [[spoiler:by attacking other teams outside of the assigned time without wearing their representative watch]], and [[spoiler:Varia also did the same, though in their case Squalo just made a comeback because they happened to have a spare watch and, as lampshaded by himself, there is no rule about using the spare watch]].
* In ''Literature/RebuildWorld'', the [[AdventureGuild Hunter's Guild]] provides benefits depending on a hunter's rank, which is determined mostly by LostTechnology relics that the hunter finds and turns in, to be researched by the MegaCorp government. While they get paid for these artifacts, hunters can often earn more by selling them elsewhere, because buying an artifact to hand over to the guild secures you the benifits of higher guild rank without risking your life (hunters have extremely high mortality rates). Colbert mostly does this because of [[TraumaButton his phobia of monsters]] after they devoured both his arms.

* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'':
** "God", or "Being X" as Tanya derisively calls Him, promises to not interfere with Tanya's life. Aside from taunting her occasionally, He keeps this promise. As for ''everyone else'' in Tanya's life? ''Deus lo vult''!
** Before launching a bombardment on an enemy munitions plant, Tanya is required, [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar as per the rules of engagement]], to warn the plant's workers of the impending attack. The rules of engagement never say ''how'' Tanya should give this warning, so she issues the warning in the cutest, most innocent-sounding voice she can muster, making the workers think they are being pranked and ignoring it.
** Tanya even goes on to write a thesis for how to interpret wartime law to justify the shelling of cities and the killing of civilians. Her philosophies would be put to use in the Battle of Arene, where she warns the people in the city to evacuate: according to her thesis, anyone who chooses to stay could be considered "unlawful combatants", and soldiers could engage them as such.

* ''Literature/{{Shimoneta}}'': In the not-too-distant future, the Japanese government has passed strict censorship laws [[PoliticalOvercorrectness prohibiting anything considered obscene]]. Any offenders face stiff fines and/or imprisonment. So how does Ayame get away with streaking in public with [[ModestyBedsheet only a bedsheet]] to cover herself? Easy: because she knows the Public Morals Squad can't touch her without risk of exposing her body in public, which would also risk implicating them with a minor (she's 17). So Ayame's [[RefugeInAudacity free to shout all the obscenities she wants]], while all they can do is feebly give chase.

* In ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', during the Underworld arc, a young Kirito proposes the idea of going to a cave in the End Mountains to bring back icicles, but Eugeo warns him that going there would violate the laws of the village. Alice then points out that the laws forbid kids from playing there without a grownup accompanying them, but since gathering icicles isn't playing, the rules don't apply.
* In ''Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', M competes with LLENN in Squad Jam in Pito's stead, and Pito imposes a condition on him- if he gets shot dead during the game, [[spoiler:she will kill him in real life]]. The deal doesn't say anything about resigning, so he sees that as his way out, [[spoiler:and since LLENN is his squad leader(thus the only one who can resign on behalf of the team), he has to kill her first]]. After [[spoiler:thwarting his attempt on her life]], however, LLENN gives him [[TakeAThirdOption another choice]]- she'll fight and win on her own, so he can resign if she loses, and his deal is honored if she wins.

** During the "Indian Poker" arc, students in heavy debt have a chance to lower their debts through a poker game. In particular, one rules states that if you have the lowest debt and take first place, the student council will pay your debt for you. However, there's no rule which states your declared debt must be ''true''. Thus, Jun Kiwatari declares a fake debt of 10 million yen, supposedly owed to a friend, hoping to effectively receive free money if he wins. [[spoiler:This royally bites him in the ass when Yumeko and Mary abuse the very same loophole to switch their chip values by declaring each other's debt and swapping their debt-boards, which the arbiter allows since there is no rule stating that you must use your own board, either. As a result, [[LaserGuidedKarma Jun is saddled with Yumeko's massive, real debt]] of ''310 million yen''.]]

** During the "Indian Poker" arc, students in heavy debt have a chance to lower their debts through a poker game. In particular, one rules states that if you have the lowest debt and take first place, the student council will pay your debt for you. However, there's no rule which states your declared debt must be ''true''. Thus, Jun Kiwatari declares a fake debt of 10 million yen, supposedly owed to a friend, hoping to effectively receive free money if he wins. [[spoiler:This royally bites him in the ass when Yumeko and Mary use the very same loophole to switch their chip values by swapping their debt-boards, [[LaserGuidedKarma leaving Jun with Yumeko's massive, real debt]] of ''310 million yen''.]]

*** Discussed with the other rule of "no weapons": it's never explicitly said what does or does not qualify as a weapon but the rule isn't "no outside objects". When fighters bring items to [[SealedEvilInACan seal other characters]] or [[TransformationTrinket power themselves up]], it's questioned by several characters whether they should be disqualified or not. These things are usually allowed because [[RuleOfCool Zen-o thinks they look cool]]. The only explicit exception is "no healing items".

** During the "Indian Poker" arc, students in heavy debt have a chance to lower their debts through a poker game. In particular, one rules states that if you have the lowest debt and take first place, the student council will pay your debt for you. However, there's no rule which states your declared debt must be ''true''. Thus, Jun Kiwatari declares a fake debt supposedly owed to a friend, hoping to effectively receive free money if he wins. [[spoiler:This royally bites him in the ass when Yumeko and Mary use the very same loophole to switch their chip values by swapping their debt-boards, leaving Jun with Yumeko's massive, ''real'' debt.]]

** During the "Indian Poker" arc, students in heavy debt have a chance to lower their debts through a poker game. In particular, one rules states that if you have the lowest debt and take first place, the student council will pay your debt for you. However, there's no rule which states your declared debt must be ''true''. Thus, Jun Kiwatari declares a fake debt supposedly owed to a friend, hoping to effectively receive free money if he wins.

** Before launching a bombardment on an enemy munitions plant, Tanya is required, as per the rules of engagement, to warn the plant's workers of the impending attack. The rules of engagement never say ''how'' Tanya should give this warning, so she issues the warning in the cutest, most innocent-sounding voice she can muster, making the workers think they are being pranked and ignoring it.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Izaya is way too fond of this. He tells [[spoiler:Mikado]] he won't sell the information that he the boss of the Dollars to anyone. However, Izaya gives the info away for free to both Masaomi and Akabayashi. He also hates Shizuo despite loving all humans, and justifies it by saying that Shizuo is a monster.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' also gets in on this action, in the form of a Geas scroll, a magically binding contract. By the terms stated Kiritsugu Emiya was forbidden from harming Kayneth El-Melloi or his wife in return for Kayneth ordering his Servant to commit suicide and withdrawing from the Holy Grail War. However, the contract does not stop Kiritsugu's associate, Maiya, from shooting both of them. In a dark twist, this shot doesn't kill them immediately and Kiritsugu is not allowed to perform a [[MercyKill mercy kill]].

* The Adventurer class in ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'' allows Kazuma to learn [[PowerCopying any skill shown to him]]. Key word being ''any''. While it is obviously intended to be used on the abilities of other classes, there is nothing preventing it from being used to learn forbidden and restricted ones like Drain Touch. Normally, of course, a human would never have the opportunity to learn skills like that, but Kazuma just happens to be good friends with a supremely powerful lich...

* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', one of the Ten Pledges everyone in [[FantasyKitchenSink Disboard]] is bound to states, "Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss". Sora quickly realizes this means that if the other person can't prove that you're cheating, [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught you can cheat all you like and get away with it]]. Of course, he's not the only one who realizes this.

* In ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'', the [[AdventureGuild Hunter's Guild]] provides benefits depending on a hunter's rank, which is determined mostly by LostTechnology relics that the hunter finds and turns in, to be researched by the MegaCorp government. While they get paid for these artifacts, hunters can often earn more by selling them elsewhere, because buying an artifact to hand over to the guild secures you the benifits of higher guild rank without risking your life (hunters have extremely high mortality rates). Colbert mostly does this because of [[TraumaButton his phobia of monsters]] after they devoured both his arms.

* ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'':

* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}'': In the not-too-distant future, the Japanese government has passed strict censorship laws [[PoliticalOvercorrectness prohibiting anything considered obscene]]. Any offenders face stiff fines and/or imprisonment. So how does Ayame get away with streaking in public with [[ModestyBedsheet only a bedsheet]] to cover herself? Easy: because she knows the Public Morals Squad can't touch her without risk of exposing her body in public, which would also risk implicating them with a minor (she's 17). So Ayame's [[RefugeInAudacity free to shout all the obscenities she wants]], while all they can do is feebly give chase.

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', during the Underworld arc, a young Kirito proposes the idea of going to a cave in the End Mountains to bring back icicles, but Eugeo warns him that going there would violate the laws of the village. Alice then points out that the laws forbid kids from playing there without a grownup accompanying them, but since gathering icicles isn't playing, the rules don't apply.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', M competes with LLENN in Squad Jam in Pito's stead, and Pito imposes a condition on him- if he gets shot dead during the game, [[spoiler:she will kill him in real life]]. The deal doesn't say anything about resigning, so he sees that as his way out, [[spoiler:and since LLENN is his squad leader(thus the only one who can resign on behalf of the team), he has to kill her first]]. After [[spoiler:thwarting his attempt on her life]], however, LLENN gives him [[TakeAThirdOption another choice]]- she'll fight and win on her own, so he can resign if she loses, and his deal is honored if she wins.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' ends with this: [[spoiler:the wish that Madoka ultimately makes is to erase all witches from existence. Kyubey hopes this will result in the creation of a massive soul gem following Madoka's becoming a witch, but Madoka's power had become some immense that she was not only able to carry through on her wish, but also prevent herself from becoming a witch, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming the concept of hope in process.]]]]

** Jinbe attempts to sever ties with the Big Mom Pirates in order to join the Straw Hats, but Big Mom threatens to [[ResignationsNotAccepted take his lifespan as a form of compensation]], under the [[InsaneTrollLogic logic] that he should give her something of equal value in return for leaving, forcing Jinbe to back down. When he tries again later, in the middle of sabotaging Sanji and Pudding's wedding, Jinbe agrees to let Big Mom [[YourSoulIsMine take as much of his lifespan as she likes]] on the condition that she doesn't harm the Straw Hats. Big Mom agrees to his terms, but to her shock finds herself unable to steal Jinbe's lifespan since [[NervesOfSteel he's not afraid of her]], upon which he formally resigns from the Big Mom Pirates. Infuriated, Big Mom retorts that, since Jinbe is now effectively an enemy, she doesn't owe him squat, and tries to flatten him then and there.

*** Discussed with the other rule of "no weapons": it's never explicitly said what does or does not qualify as a weapon but the rule isn't "no outside objects". When fighters bring items to [[SealedEvilInACan seal other characters]] or [[TransformationTrinket power themselves up]], it's questioned by several characters whether they should be disqualified or not. These things are usually allowed because [[RuleOfCool Zen-o thinks they look cool]].

*** Miraschon is defeated partially thanks to this trope, the other part being some clever sleight of hand. The problem: Jolyne and F.F. are trying to fight Miraschon and her Stand Marilyn Manson, which automatically collects on any bets its victims lose, even resorting to OrganTheft if they don't have enough money. The bet: Jolyne and F.F. must toss a baseball to each other a thousand times while remaining within three meters of each other. After a tense few moments, Miraschon appears to have beaten them after a guard she bribed intercepts a throw from Jolyne. However, the exact terms of the bet only stated that Jolyne had to be part of the game and said nothing about who her partner had to be. And since the guard was within three meters of Jolyne, the bet hadn't been lost.

* ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'' has ruling Blondie Iason Mink making BadassBiker Riki his [[SexSlave Pet]]. Something that just isn't done since Riki is a "mongrel", disenfranchised with no hope of climbing the social ladder and owning Pets indicate one's social status. Iason claims he doesn't have to follow the protocols for owning a Pet with Riki because he's a mongrel, has no official identity and thus the rules don't apply to him.

* Scar from ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' is from Ishval, and the Ishvalan people despise alchemy as a defamation of God's natural order. When Scar makes it his mission to use his alchemic right arm to take revenge upon the State Alchemists who committed atrocities against his people, he tells himself that he's not actually partaking in the "sin" of alchemy, because true alchemy is three stages (Composition, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction), and he only stops at the second, which is still enough to blow a person's body apart. [[spoiler:He finally says "screw it" and gets the alchemic tattoos on his left arm to get to the final stage, though by this point he's more or less decided the "sin" of alchemy is worth getting the power needed to fight the true enemy]].

* ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'': Kuroyukihime is able to get away with wearing [[NonUniformUniform a school uniform that has a black dress shirt rather than a white one]] because the school rules require her to wear an "uncolored" shirt, and black is not a color, so she placed a custom order for a black shirt and used this loophole against anyone who objected. It's unclear how she was able to get away with wearing a dark blazer rather than a blue one with her winter uniform, though.

* ''Kimihagu'': Emily becomes the disciplinary committee president and forbids any romantic behavior on the school. However, there are no rules against ADateWithRosiePalms, so when Emily goes to the bathroom in Episode 2, well... let's just say that she gets a little carried away, all by herself.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Done by virtually every team other than Team Urameshi during the Dark Tournament. Some teams are able to get away with incredibly blatant cheating by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribing the tournament officials to validate it]].

* ''Anime/TribeNine'':