History Main / WideEyedIdealist

* PJ in ''AceCombatZero''. Given ''AceCombat'' tries to use "WarIsHell" as AnAesop, [[{{Retirony}} and he mentions his ]] [[FatalFamilyPhoto girlfriend back at the base...]] [[spoiler:He dies.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', David Sarif is this to an extent. In a world of high tech cybernetics, ruthless conspiracy, corporate warfare, [[ArsonMurderAndJayWalking And]] [[CyberPunkWithAChanceOfRain Bad Weather]]-- signs that would warn a GenreSavvy individual that s/he's in a CyberPunk setting, Sarif believes that the best thing to do with augmentation technology is to remove all restrictions on it, and that doing so will help the people of the world. Of course, despite the multiple endings, this is a prequel to ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', so we know that all four endings will result in the exact same scenario a few decades down the line.
* Flonne in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' falls under this trope. She never ceases to be an overoptimistic idealist who believes that demons can love, and that Seraph Lamington is a good guy. In the best ending [[spoiler:she's absolutely right]].
* Tahlkora from ''VideoGame/GuildWars: Nightfall''. "I signed on for the heroic songs and the praise. I did not sign on for the blood-sucking bugs."
* The ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series plays with this trope, ultimately subverting it: [[TheHero Sora]] is so idealistic that villains often take advantage of his [[ChronicHeroSyndrome do-gooder tendencies]] and manipulate him in various ways. The villains all insist that the protagonists are Wide-Eyed Idealists who should just give in and admit [[CrapsaccharineWorld that the world is nothing but darkness at its heart]]. A notable example is in KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories, when Sora is manipulated into [[spoiler: erasing his own memory.]] Ultimately, his idealism and [[ThePowerOfFriendship his bonds with friends]] protect him.
** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'', where [[spoiler: [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy the villains depend on Sora's idealism to lead him into a trap]]. [[GrandTheftMe Sora nearly gets his body taken over by the villain of the piece]]. [[DeconReconSwitch Double subverted]] when [[TheLancer Riku]] descends into Sora's heart and saves him, proving once again that [[TheMessiah Sora's]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship friends are]] [[TrueCompanions his power]]]].
* "Will / Ed" from ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin / Dark Conflict]]''. His idealism arguably pushes him dangerously close to being an IdiotHero, as he is often wildly optimistic and consequently sometimes fails to look at situations properly. However, his will and [[{{Determinator}} sheer determination]] in even the worst of situations often leads to at least one crowning moment of heartwarming. Case in point -- mission 16, which starts off with desperate music playing pushing ever closer to the DespairEventHorizon, when suddenly Will/Ed decides he's going to fight, and the music changes from desperate to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCD6ribbc-4 sheer awesome]].
* Her {{Expy}}, Marona from ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'' definitely fits into this ([[AllOfTheOtherReindeer despite her situation]]).

** NPC rather than party member, but ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has Seamus Dumar. He's an outspoken opponent of the unthinking fear the qunari in Kirkwall inspire, and believes in bringing the two sides closer together (no easy task, since qunari aren't that approachable themselves). Too bad he lives in a WretchedHive and his father is a well-meaning SlaveToPR. [[spoiler: Mother Petrice has him murdered and tries to frame the qunari for it to spark a race war.]]

* Luisa Fortuna in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' is an exceedingly idealistic individual in the CrapsackWorld. She genuinely believes in rebel leader Abraham Reyes, who John quickly learns is a GloryHound with a penchant for MeaninglessMeaningfulWords and chastises John for working with Allende when he constantly makes it clear that he's NotInThisForYourRevolution.

* Seiko from ''Webcomic/UsedBooks'' is a great example. She is constantly standing up for people the others deem as villains. She holds fast that people are [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Used_Books/index.php?p=437135 basically good]], even if they have done nothing but cause hardship. She also stops in the middle of a battle to [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Used_Books/index.php?p=633715 bandage up]] an enemy someone on her own team just injured.
* Lisa from ''Webcomic/MechagicalGirlLisaANT'' is one of these... only thing is, not only she ''still'' firmly believes her life is a MagicalGirl anime despite all she's been through, but she ''doesn't even cares'' about her robot outfit being actually a HumongousMecha for ants.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace is this in all things including [[InnocentFanserviceGirl nudity]], and so was [[spoiler:Susan]] before [[spoiler:her MercyKill [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-05-31 of the aberration.]] Literally so -- her eyes change into her current half-droopy state when she looks down at his corpse, and while she still [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-07-11 has]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-01-22 wide]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-23 eyes]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-02-10 quite]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-30 often]], they do tend towards the "half-droopy". After the encounter of a weird kind with Jerry led to FreakOut, though, she now tends to having wide open eyes more often than not.]]

* A toned-down version of Penny in ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog''. "...a generally nice person whose idealistic attempts at solving the problems of their world turn out to go ''horribly horribly'' awry..." Do I detect a bit of irony?

** Emma Babineaux arguably fits this. After winning a fight against J.R. Rizzolo, instead of shooting him, she tries to convince him to stop killing and escape the island with her -- this being after he attempted to murder her ''twice''. [[spoiler: And then she gets killed for her troubles. Poor, foolish Emma.]]

* Tragically, we see in ''ScoobyDoo'' that WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic was like this as a seventeen year old, happy and bouncy and positive everything will get better. [[DiedHappilyEverAfter They will, but not for a long time.]]

* Wally from the ''Literature/WheresWally'' cartoon series fits this trope to a T but manages to avoid the horrible death part. He's too cheery for his own good and his dog Woof has more common sense than he does yet he always escapes unscathed from his dangerous journeys.

* Subverted with Yoink from the "Yoink Of The Yukon" short on ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow''. Oddly enough, he survives and his cynical partner gets to be TheChewToy.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
** Aang starts off this way. But being shouldered with the weight of the Avatar Spirit, his entire people dying, Appa's kidnapping and the horrors of war quickly got rid of it.
** Zuko also started out this way. [[BreakTheCutie Then his father burned his face off and kicked him out of the country as punishment for his idealism.]]
** Katara is this to some degree, at least in the earlier episodes. Her idealism is {{lampshaded}} by the portrayal of her by an actor in the Lampshade Extravaganza epsiode, The Ember Island Players:
---> "it just gave me so much hope...!"

* Tomcat in the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Jedi vs. Sith]]''. He believes everything he hears in the songs and stories that claim the Jedi are invincible heroes. [[spoiler:When he ends up in the middle of the battle against the Sith and sees Jedi dying in the mud with their non-Force sensitive comrades, [[StartOfDarkness it does not end well]].]]

* Will Proudfoot in ''SonOfRambow'' in spite of having lost his father and being raised in a repressively conservative religious household.
* [[BreakTheCutie Alice]], the innocent younger sister from ''Film/LastOfTheMohicans''.
* In ''MrSmithGoesToWashington'', all Mr. Smith wants is a Boy Scout camp and nature preserve on a piece of land. Too bad the rest of the Senate is against him.

* While Charles Xavier in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' isn't exactly naive, he still has an extremely idealistic attitude towards Mutant/Human relations. Even when the humans turn on the X-Men in fear, he still continues to beieve that the mutants should try to be the better men, in the hope that they will someday be accepted.
* Otto from ''Film/OneTwoThree'' about Communism. He even thinks it's a capitalist lie that Siberia is cold, and is happy that the Communists assigned them "a magnificent apartment, just a short walk from the bathroom!"

** Sansa's TricksterMentor, [[StepfordSmiler Littlefinger]] is implied to have been ''even more'' idealistic than her as a child, having had a mischievous, adorable and optimistic nature before his own BreakTheCutie process. [[{{Yandere}}He hasn't]] [[DisproportionateRetribution handled it well... AT ALL!]]

* Moomin-"all I want is to grow potatoes and live in peace"-troll of ''Literature/TheMoomins''.
* Jane Bennet of Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice''. Her younger, more cynical sister, Elizabeth, is convinced that Jane's new friend, Caroline Bingley, deliberately sabotaged her romance with Caroline's brother in order to hook him up with his best friend's sister -- all to increase her ''own'' chance of getting hitched to said best friend. Jane remains convinced that Caroline is her affectionate friend and would ''never'' do ''anything'' to hurt anyone, and more importantly, never do anything less than beneficial to her brother's happiness. ''Obviously'' he ''must'' prefer Georgiana... It takes a surprise face-to-face meeting with Caroline for Jane to admit Elizabeth was right about her, but she displays the same naivete and belief in love and the innate goodness of man when Wickham seduces their youngest sister, Lydia--despite Jane and Elizabeth ''knowing'' that he's tried the same technique on at least two other girls.
* Dorden, TheMedic of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: GauntsGhosts'' has aspects of this, in trying to adhere to ThouShaltNotKill and preventing Gaunt from carrying out necessary ShootTheDog despite their WorldHalfEmpty.
* Voltaire's ''Literature/{{Candide}}''. Among many, ''many'' other examples in the book is Dr. Pangloss's thoughts on having caught syphilis, and having had an eye and an ear removed as part of the treatment:
-->''"O sage Pangloss," cried Candide, "what a strange genealogy is this! Is not the devil the root of it?"\\
"Not at all," replied the great man, "it was a thing unavoidable, a necessary ingredient in the best of worlds; for if Columbus had not caught in an island in America this disease, which contaminates the source of generation, and frequently impedes propagation itself, and is evidently opposed to the great end of nature, we should have had neither chocolate nor cochineal."''
* The main character of ''Literature/InvisibleMan'' is both this and a LoveFreak, albeit with (absolutely desperate) followers. Since he's also a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter, he runs into a few problems . . .

* Drizzt Do'Urden in ''[[TheDarkElfTrilogy Homeland]]''; he gets mildly [[JadeColoredGlasses bitter]] during the later portion of the novel when he finds out that his favorite mentor Zak [[TechnicalPacifist kills clerics by the dozens]], [[spoiler:not that he always enjoys it...]].
* The young baby-faced soldier boy in ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'' definitely qualifies. [[spoiler: as should be completely obvious given the nature of the book and this page, he dies.]]
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' severely deconstructs this trope: In the first part, Don Quixote cares more for fulfilling his fantasies than for anyone else. He confides that the farmer Haduldo will stop floggin the boy Andrés and that the Galley slaves he liberates will be grateful enough to make him a favor. (They're not.) His actions make him the original LordErrorProne. In the second part it goes FromBadToWorse: Don Quixote really acts ForHappiness and after some MassiveMultiplayerScam aventures that convince him he is a real KnightErrant he must face the sad fact that he has not helped anyone and therefore, all those ChivalricRomance tropes were BlatantLies. This is so heartbreaking that he becomes BoredWithInsanity and dies. [[AnAesop Being called "Quixotic" is not always a good thing]].
* [[spoiler:God-King Susebron]] from ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}''. His entire experience of life outside his palace consists of having been read a book of fairy tales by his mother as a child. Semi-subverted in that while he does develop a more realistic view of the world, he never loses his almost childlike sense of [[TheMessiah straightforward goodness]].

* Cosima from ''Literature/ComradeDeath''. She flat out refuses to see Sarek for what he really is. [[spoiler:He confesses to [[MurderTheHypotenuse abandoning her husband to die]], and later refuses to save her grandson from going to war, and both times she dismisses his spite as being concealed guilt and claims he would have helped if it had been in his power to do so.]]

* Zoë in ''Literature/SavingZoe'', and this trait is why her sister Echo believes she was killed [[spoiler: by a serial killer who pretended to be a modeling agent.]]
* Isherwood Williams in ''Literature/EarthAbides'', although he's not a ''complete'' naïf.

* Tyentyetnikov starts as this in ''Literature/DeadSouls'', tries to improve the lot of his serfs, with at best mixed results, and becomes apathetic in the end.
* In a twisted way, InspectorJavert of ''Literature/LesMiserables''. He might be a snarky hardass, but he has absolute faith in authority and the law, believing that no judge or politician has ever erred, that leaders can all be counted upon to have nothing but the public good in mind, and that whoever has met the harsh punishments of the justice system therefore deserves it. This runs up hard against the story's FullSpectrumMorality, with fatal results.
* Played with in ''Literature/RedeemingLove'' with Michael, whose LoveMartyr tendencies make him look like this trope (especially when [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism placed beside the noticeably more cynical members of most of the rest of the cast]]). The heroine mocks him for his idealism, and his brother gives him a lecture on how it’s going to ruin his life. However, even though he looks like this trope to everyone else, Michael is actually not ignorant at all, and he struggles with the seeming impossibility of the task that’s been given to him (healing the BrokenBird with ThePowerOfLove). However, ultimately LoveRedeems, and although it was a hard and very rocky road, idealism actually wins the day.

* New correspondent Kristin Schaal is currently playing this (along with TheWoobie) on ''Series/TheDailyShow''. It remains to be seen how long it will last, as she is [[ThisIsReality cruelly disillusioned]] in just about every appearance.
* Lieutenant George in ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'', despite having spent three years in the trenches of WorldWarI, is still mindlessly optimistic about giving the Germans a good bashing, and readily believes all war propaganda to be true. The grim reality of his situation (in particular, the event of "going over the top" he's been looking forward to for all the series) dawns on him when he realises that he's the only one of his class group left, all the rest having been killed. [[spoiler:He goes over the top shortly afterwards in a BolivianArmyEnding.]] His response to realizing all his friends are dead is "Well, I guess I'm the only one left... oh.... I mean, if it wasn't for the excitement of going over the top tomorrow, I might be a bit down!" Subverted when he says to Blackadder: "Captain, I'm... scared." Up until that point, it's not clear whether the whole thing was intended to be more of the show's black humor, or if it was actually supposed to be horrifying. That line cleared it right up. Then, it goes FromBadToWorse.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Edith Keeler in "The City on the Edge of Forever". [[spoiler:If she had lived, her peace movement would have delayed America's entry into WorldWarII and Hitler would have won]].
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Naive, gentle Tora Ziyal, despite growing up as a prisoner of the Breen, despite being rejected by Bajorans and Cardassians for her hybrid status, still remains trusting and hopeful that she can somehow help, with her art that resembles that of both cultures, in proving that the groups aren't so different after all. She knows her [[MagnificentBastard father]], Dukat's past, but loves him anyway, sincerely believing he's changed, and keeps right on forgiving him. [[spoiler:Too bad that choosing saving her friends over staying with her father gets her shot by her father's [[TheDragon Dragon]] as a traitor. Dukat goes mad as a result.]]
* David Shephard and Michelle Benjamin both fit this trope to a T in ''Series/{{Kings}}'' although David seems to be growing out of it.
* Shinji in ''KamenRiderRyuki'', caught in a fight for a single wish, Shinji fights to try and stop this but learn he could not...
* Annie in ''Series/{{Community}}''. She even thinks her nickname is "Irony-free Annie".
* A.W.Merrick and Reverend Smith of {{Deadwood}}. Since they both live in [[WretchedHive Deadwood]] this doesn't work out too well for either of them. Reverend Smith's religious faith is seriously undermined [[spoiler: when he develops a fatal brain tumor and must question the purpose of his suffering]]. Merrick gets off easier, he's able to hang on to his world view for most of the series but has to toughen up to deal with what life keeps throwing at him.
* Lady Sybil Crawley of ''Series/DowntonAbbey''.
* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': Quinn, which will perhaps lead to her being TheScrappy.

** Also the Chaos God Nurgle, in a [[BlueAndOrangeMorality very weird way.]]
* In the backstory of the old ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' world, the last First Lord of the Star League, Richard Cameron was orphaned as a boy, and grew up with idealistic, Arthurian vision of his supposed role as head of the multi-kingdomed, federal empire. Since politics in the Battletech universe are much more realistic than that, he was the worst possible choice for the critical throne at the worst possible time, and catastrophe followed. Not helped by the fact that an EvilChancellor, who would later go on to kill Richard and bring the Star League to ruin, was warping his mind and constantly clouding his judgment towards said idealism.

* "Will / Ed" from ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin / Dark Conflict]]''. His idealism arguably pushes him dangerously close to being an IdiotHero, as he is often wildly optimistic and consequently sometimes fails to look at situations properly. However, his will and [[{{Determinator}} sheer determination]] in even the worst of situations often leads to at least one crowning moment of heartwarming. Case in point -- mission 16, which starts off with desperate music playing pushing ever closer to the DespairEventHorizon, when suddenly Will/Ed decides he's going to fight, and the music changes from desperate to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCD6ribbc-4 sheer awesome.]]
* Flonne in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' falls under this trope. She never ceases to be an overoptimistic idealist who believes that demons can love, and that Seraph Lamington is a good guy. In the best ending [[spoiler:she's absolutely right]].

** [[JeanneDArchetype Leliana]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is an inversion. While definitely cheerful and idealistic, she used to be MUCH more cynical and manipulative in her role as [[spoiler:a spy and assassin]] where she prided herself on her ability to "be the woman" her target was looking for in order to get close to them. Her current role as a lay sister in the chantry is her BecomingTheMask, although her old teacher would have you believe otherwise. As with ''Jade Empire'', you can encourage her one way or the other.

* PJ in ''AceCombatZero''. Given ''AceCombat'' tries to use "WarIsHell" as AnAesop, [[{{Retirony}} and he mentions his ]] [[FatalFamilyPhoto girlfriend back at the base...]] [[spoiler:He dies.]]

* Brother-Sergeant Thaddeus in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'', with most of his older and wiser fellow sergeants pointing out his relative naivete at several points. In the ExpansionPack ''Chaos Rising'', [[spoiler:Thaddeus will go rogue if his [[KarmaMeter Corruption level]] is the highest in the squad -- unlike all the other squadmates, who go rogue over NecessarilyEvil reasons, DemonicPossession or over bitterness, Thaddeus' corruption is revealed to be over his idealism -- [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter he willingly believed the word of a daemon]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', David Sarif is this to an extent. In a world of high tech cybernetics, ruthless conspiracy, corporate warfare, [[ArsonMurderAndJayWalking And]] [[CyberPunkWithAChanceOfRain Bad Weather]]-- signs that would warn a GenreSavvy individual that s/he's in a CyberPunk setting, Sarif believes that the best thing to do with augmentation technology is to remove all restrictions on it, and that doing so will help the people of the world. Of course, despite the multiple endings, this is a prequel to ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', so we know that all four endings will result in the exact same scenario a few decades down the line.
* The ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series plays with this trope, ultimately subverting it: [[TheHero Sora]] is so idealistic that villains often take advantage of his [[ChronicHeroSyndrome do-gooder tendencies]] and manipulate him in various ways. The villains all insist that the protagonists are Wide-Eyed Idealists who should just give in and admit [[CrapsaccharineWorld that the world is nothing but darkness at its heart.]] A notable example is in KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories, when Sora is manipulated into [[spoiler: erasing his own memory.]] Ultimately, his idealism and [[ThePowerOfFriendship his bonds with friends]] protect him.
** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'', where [[spoiler: [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy the villains depend on Sora's idealism to lead him into a trap.]] [[GrandTheftMe Sora nearly gets his body taken over by the villain of the piece.]] [[DeconReconSwitch Double subverted]] when [[TheLancer Riku]] descends into Sora's heart and saves him, proving once again that [[TheMessiah Sora's]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship friends are]] [[TrueCompanions his power.]]]]

* 25th Baam from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' cannot understand why people have to fight each other to reach the top of the [[MakeAWish Tower]]. [[spoiler:This leads to him being a BrokenBird after the TimeSkip.]]
* [[Manga/RurouniKenshin Rurouni Kenshin Himura]] is a good example of this trope. Some might consider him IncorruptiblePurePureness, but [[SuperpoweredEvilSide old]] [[DarkMessiah habits]] die hard... Except his intro speech at the end of the first chapter goes, "no, swordsmanship is an art of killing. Kaoru-dono believes a sweet, naive lie. But if this one had a wish... it would be that her sweet lie would become the truth of this world." Kenshin's WalkingTheEarth with ObfuscatingStupidity routine involves some serious ideals, but despite avoiding his battle expression most of the time he's not too wide-eyed. He's got the world-weary thing going, but values Kaoru as a WideEyedIdealist. Some of the stupidity probably isn't fake. The line is impossible to find, as is common with CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass types. His backstory involves a bit of this, despite all his childhood trauma--it caused him to wind up a sworn assassin in a civil war.

* ''Manga/GetterRobo'': Musashi Tomoe in the original manga combined this trope with WrongGenreSavvy. After meeting Ryoma and co. for first time he insists on becoming a [[HumongousMecha Getter Robot]] pilot. When he is said he is not strong, sturdy and intelligent (or crazy) enough to pilot Getter (a task which is ''very'' taxing for both body and mind), he replies he has got the most important skill to become a mecha pilot: [[HotBlooded hot-bloodedness]]. Ryoma and Hayato wondered if he was serious. Apparently nobody told him that ''Manga/GetterRobo'' is a CosmicHorrorStory and GoNagai and KenIshikawa HumongousMecha mangas (''Anime/MazingerZ'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'', ''Anime/KotetsuJeeg'') [[UnbuiltTrope are way darker]] than [[LighterAndSofter the idealistic fare of later series]] that the genre would be stereotyped with.
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'': Minami Kikukawa is a training teacher who would love teaching in a private school because in a public school she would have got to deal with troubles such like bad students and administrative corruption. Fuyutsuki quickly warns her that she is TemptingFate with that naive attitude. After meeting the class four students (who prior Onizuka's arrival and lessons hated all adults and tried to drive all teachers crazy or suicidal), she realizes things are not so simple.
* ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'' is based around this trope.
* Judai of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was once an IdiotHero [[TheAce Ace]] who believed life was one big game and the only thing worth caring about was having fun. His journey of [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] TheAce [[DespairEventHorizon is not a pleasant one.]]

* Kanzaki Nao in ''Manga/LiarGame''. Almost every chapter. You'd think that one of these days she'd learn... Except you know, she's usually proven right by the end.

* Both Suzaku Kururugi and Princess Euphemia Li Britannia from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' genuinely believe they'll be able to reform the shockingly racist [[TheEmpire Britannian Empire]] and be facilitators for the peaceful integration of the Japanese people into the empire's fold. Cue DiabolusExMachina on a ''national'' scale. This is subverted in the second season, where Suzaku forms a reasonable, if rather myopic, plan to free Japan (the rest of the world isn't his concern) and begins suffering from a bad case of MotiveDecay until he realizes his ideals are nothing but smoke.
** This is spoofed in official side comics, where Suzaku and Euphy are portrayed as so blindingly naive that they still believe in the [[DeliveryStork Delivery Stork and Cabbage Patch Babies]], while Lelouch looks on in stunned disbelief.
** This trope is lampshaded artistically with Shirley, who has literally the largest eyes in the whole cast, with Euphemia just in second place.

** In the manga version, Scar's brother and the Rockbell family are wide-eyed idealists who believe in the basic good nature of man. The Rockbells leave their practice so they can heal the Ishvalans being massacred by the Amestris army, and Scar's brother wants to learn alchemy so that he can better understand the bonds of humanity. During an attack Scar's family is killed, and Scar's brother tries to shield Scar, [[spoiler:but is unsuccessful, and Scar loses his arm. Scar's brother sacrifices an arm and his life to save Scar, and Scar wakes up in the Rockbell's hospital. Finding out that his brother's arm is now attached to him and causes Scar to go temporarily insane, and he kills the Rockbells in a FreakOut.]]

* Ai Tanabe, the [[NaiveNewcomer newest member of Section 7]] in ''Anime/{{Planetes}}''. Her first name means "love," and it just picks up from there. She's taken to task for it countless times by [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold fellow Section 7 crewman Hachimaki]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Claire]], Hachi's former LoveInterest, the latter of which causes her to doubt her own ideals. And yet, although she's set up for a particularly cruel [[spoiler: DiabolusExMachina]], which she could avoid by betraying her convictions, she stands by them [[spoiler: to the absolute, [[HeroicSacrifice heart-wrenching end]], to Claire's shock]]. Given the nature of the series, [[spoiler:she's proven right at the end.]]

* This is what makes Alice L. Malvin of ''Anime/PumpkinScissors'' stand out from many of the other nobles of the setting. She firmly believes in her cause to "eradicate evil" and that others will push for it too. This is what got [[TheSmartGuy Machis]] and [[TheBigGuy Oland]] to join in the first place.

* Negi of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' starts out as one of these, but he eventually starts to realize that good and bad aren't quite as clear cut as he thought they were. [[CynicalMentor Evangeline]] actually deliberately discourages his idealism (despite the fact that she's a NobleDemon who's constantly sliding towards AntiVillain territory). Negi eventually admits that he can't always be the good guy, although he still tries to go with most "good" option available
* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', specifically in ''[[LightNovel Druge & the Dominoes]]'': turns out that even the [[TheIngenue widest-eyed]] of wide-eyed idealists can be provoked into [[BewareTheNiceOnes trying to blow your head off]] [[YouKilledMyFather if you push the right buttons]]. [[spoiler:The only thing that stopped her was the fact that [[NobleDemon Luck]] [[ShootTheDog got to him first]].]]
* Tenma and Nina from ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', despite being frequently subjected to [[BreakTheCutie horrific trauma]]. The fact that Tenma in particular absolutely refuses to become cynical about the human race drops him straight into BadassPacifist territory.

* Akari from ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' is a special case, in that she manages to stand out in a setting that is practically paradise incarnated.

* Sayaka Miki of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Naturally, the series being what it is, it doesn't end well at all. Madoka is also one of these, although the story [[BreakTheCutie seems to jump through hoops to discourage it.]] [[spoiler: She finally gets it to work at the very end, although it takes a CosmicRetcon to do so.]]
* UC ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]]'' , have at least one pacifist who thinks they could stop the fighting, usually they are proven wrong and lives to watch the ramifications of their actions.
* The title character of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', which can be infuriating when you realize that she refuses to see the emotional hardships that her peers go through ([[DefrostingIceQueen Juri's]] conflict over [[BitchInSheepsClothing Shiori]] and her sexuality in general come to mind; Utena brushes it off and tells her to stop acting cold). Miki is this to a lesser extent, in regards to his sister Kozue, but it may be more that he's a genuine NiceGuy more than anything else.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''
** The anime and manga incarnations of [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Princess Amelia]], both genuinely and to a [[LordErrorProne comedic]] extent. She does have [[WrongGenreSavvy a blind eye]] towards the more wicked intentions of certain foes, especially the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Monster race]], but this is more of an ideology taught to her than anything else because [[RoyallyScrewedUp of her violent family history]]. In the novels, where she's more mature, she's still optimistic, but her idealism falls more into StepfordSmiler territory.
** The anime-exclusive character Filia, the Golden Dragon, is this combined with HolierThanThou taken to aggravating levels. It doesn't help that she was sheltered for most of her life, but even after she learning the AwfulTruth, during the last battle she believes that the BigBad isn't beyond salvation (it's established clearly that he is at that point) and doesn't want to destroy him, even as he's consuming the world at that moment...
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon''
** [[ThoseWackyNazis The neo-nazi band]]. Having no real experience with the way the criminal underworld works, they're sent on a fixed race to "test their ability" against the protagonists, where they overspend resources, repeatedly underestimate the crew of the Lagoon, refuse to see facts, and waste time making dramatic and hammy proclamations about their heroic destiny as champions of the white race. Revy and Dutch kill all of them, and their would-be patron abandons them the moment it's obvious to him they've failed (though not before admitting to the leader that he set them up in the first place).
** Rock also struggles with this in earlier arcs: His attempts to understand Revy makes her angry at him, trying to "save" Gretel failed utterly, and his attempt towards Yukio backfires completely. It isn't until "Le Baile de la Muerte" [[JadeColouredGlasses he starts to understand that]] if he wants to save people he'll have to become a cynical rotten power-player like Chang and Balalaika.
** Rotton the Wizard. Firmly believes that he's in a far, ''far'' more idealistic series. Only his CrazyPrepared-ness and association with a DragonLady KnifeNut and a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw-wielding]] body disposal expert keep him alive and kicking.
* ''Manga/{{Area 88}}''
** In the manga and OVA, Ryoko has very idealistic ideas about love, and seems to think that she is in a [[WrongGenreSavvy romance story instead of a war story]]. In the manga, even abandonment and heartbreak at the hands of her absentee boyfriend does not dent her idealism.
** Rishar Vashtal from the manga also qualifies. He has romantic visions of a democratic Asran and genuinely wants to empower the Asranian people. Mickey, however, warns him that the Asranian people may call for his death after the war.

* Gilly the PerkyGoth from ''Webcomic/DorkTower''.

* ''Manga/GetterRobo'': Musashi Tomoe in the original manga combined this trope with WrongGenreSavvy. After meeting Ryoma and co. for first time he insists on becoming a [[HumongousMecha Getter Robot]]. When he is said he is not strong, sturdy and intelligent (or crazy) enough to pilot Getter (a task which is ''very'' taxing for both body and mind), he has got the most important skill to become a mecha pilot: [[HotBlooded hot-bloodedness]]. Ryoma and Hayato wondered if he was serious. Apparently nobody told him that ''MangaGetterRobo'' is a CosmicHorrorStory and GoNagai and KenIshikawa HumongousMecha mangas (''Anime/MazingerZ'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'', ''Anime/KotetsuJeeg'') [[UnbuiltTrope are way darker]] than [[LighterAndSofter the idealistic fare of later series]] that the genre would be stereotyped with.

* Steve in Gilbert Hernandez's "Love and Rockets X" story within ''LoveAndRockets''.

** Similar to the above, Franchise/{{Spider-Man}}. While he's got a very misplaced reputation for being whiney and angsty (coming from the second two Raimi films playing up his Woobie points and the nineties being, well, [[TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the nineties]]), Peter Parker's main reason for being so popular isn't because of his powers, but because he'll always do the right thing, [[ThePollyana no matter what the]] [[TheDeterminator world throws at him.]]
** ComicBook/{{Robin}}. All of them, except Damian, which plays against Batman's seriousness and the grimminess of Gotham. Dick stayed happy and upbeat after his parents died in front of him and became the Boy Wonder, Jason too, until the world broke him in ''A Death In The Family'' and broke him again in ''Under The Hood'', Tim's entire reasoning for becoming Robin was that Batman needed one to keep him off the edge, and Stephanie's entire MO is to [[ThePollyana stay upbeat about everything even in the worst situation]]. Barbara too, though that shattered after TheKillingJoke.

* PJ in ''Ace Combat Zero''. Given ''AceCombat'' tries to use "WarIsHell" as AnAesop, [[{{Retirony}} and he mentions his ]] [[FatalFamilyPhoto girlfriend back at the base...]] [[spoiler:He dies.]]

** [[JeanneDArchetype Leliana]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' is an inversion. While definitely cheerful and idealistic, she used to be MUCH more cynical and manipulative in her role as [[spoiler:a spy and assassin]] where she prided herself on her ability to "be the woman" her target was looking for in order to get close to them. Her current role as a lay sister in the chantry is her BecomingTheMask, although her old teacher would have you believe otherwise. As with ''Jade Empire'', you can encourage her one way or the other.

* Zoe in ''SavingZoe'', and this trait is why her sister Echo believes she was killed [[spoiler: by a serial killer who pretended to be a modeling agent.]]

** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'', where [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy the villains depend on Sora's idealism to lead him into a trap.]] [[GrandTheftMe Sora nearly gets his body taken over by the villain of the piece.]] [[DeconReconSwitch Double subverted]] when [[TheLancer Riku]] descends into Sora's heart and saves him, proving once again that [[TheMessiah Sora's]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship friends are]] [[TrueCompanions his power.]]

* Isherwood Williams in ''EarthAbides'', although he's not a ''complete'' naïf.

* In a twisted way, InspectorJavert of ''LesMiserables''. He might be a snarky hardass, but he has absolute faith in authority and the law, believing that no judge or politician has ever erred, that leaders can all be counted upon to have nothing but the public good in mind, and that whoever has met the harsh punishments of the justice system therefore deserves it. This runs up hard against the story's FullSpectrumMorality, with fatal results.

* Goku of ''Manga/DragonBall'' is this full throttle. Throughout the series he is constantly offering his opponents a chance to change and be good people, even after they kill his friends he still has hope for them. He is overwhelmingly optimistic and nice to every person he meets. This will not, however, stop him from fighting to protect the people he loves.

* Kenshirō from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' is an idealist who lives in a CrapsackWorld where people daily dies and kills over a scrap of food or a sip of water. Still he believes it is easy being despicable in that age, but it takes a true HERO to keep your humanity and keep being a good person when everything and everyone around seems suggestng you otherwise. In the first chapter, Bat asks him bluntly how he has survived so far if he would not even try break himself out of jail because it could get a little girl in trouble. Not long after Bat finds out Kenshirō is idealistic because ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes he can afford it.]]'' Behaving like scum and harming helpless people in front of him is a very, ''very'' bad idea. Like in "he WILL disintegrate you" bad idea.

* This trope + WellIntentionedExtremist + IdiotHero + PerkyGoth with a side order of DemBones and BadSanta gives us Jack Skellington of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.

** NPC rather than party member, but ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has Seamus Dumar. He's an outspoken opponent of the unthinking fear the qunari in Kirkwall inspire, and believes in bringing the two sides closer together (no easy task, since qunari aren't that approachable themselves). Unfortunately, he lives in a WretchedHive and his father is a well-meaning SlaveToPR. [[spoiler: Mother Petrice has him murdered and tries to frame the qunari for it to spark a race war.]]

** [[JeanneDArchetype Leliana]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' is an inversion. While definitely cheerful and idealistic, she used to be MUCH more cynical and manipulative in her role as [[spoiler:a spy and assassin]] where she prided herself on her ability to "be the woman" her target was looking for in order to get close to them. Her current role as a lay sister in the chantry is her BecomingTheMask. With player input she can slide back into her old ways. As with Jade Empire, player input can change her back into her old outlook.

* A.W.Merrick and Reverend Smith of {{Deadwood}}. Since they both live in [[WretchedHive Deadwood]] this doesn't work out too well for either of them. Reverend Smith's religious faith is seriously undermined [[spoiler: when he develops a fatal brain tumor and must question the purpose of his suffering]]. Merrick gets off easier, he's able to hang on to his world view for most of the series but has to toughen up to deal with what life keeps throwing at him [[spoiler: like the trial he organized turning into a sham and failing to deliver justice, his office being vandalized, or the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he gets from one of Hearst's thugs]]

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