History MisaimedFandom / AnimeAndManga

** One of the core themes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is "follow your dreams your own way, no matter what anyone tells you, because only you can decide what's right for yourself". Characters regularly achieve the impossible through sheer force of will, and villains' dreams are only presented as bad if that villain decides that achieving their dream means hurting others. Good luck explaining any of this to certain people whenever Yamato is being discussed. While Yamato is physically female, he clearly identifies as male. Characters all refer to Yamato as male (even the villains), and he's unambiguously shown in the men's bath at the end of the arc in which he's introduced, cementing his gender identity. [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity His exact gender identity is ambiguous]] in the sense that there are countless ways a person can be transgender. Yet some fans of ''One Piece'' insist that Yamato is female because he looks like one/was born as a woman, in spite of what the narrative is consistently saying about how Yamato identifies himself. To suggest any gender identity or sexual orientation is unrealistic for any reason, especially in a world like ''One Piece'', is outright incorrect.

* Many ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' fans completely ignore the point that ''Robotech'', due to its origins as a CutAndPasteTranslation, is supposed to be a multigenerational epic, with characters coming along and leaving (either through death or simply time passing) when their stories are finished. Instead, a large number of them are obsessed with Rick Hunter as though he were the central main character of the ''Robotech'' universe. When he appeared briefly in the 2007 followup film ''WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles'' as a barely-recognizable, aged, white-haired version of himself (actually, he looked far older than what he was supposed to be), this naturally upset fans who wanted to see Rick, Max, and the others flying their Veritechs and kicking serious alien ass like in the original "[[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross Macross Saga]]" despite the fact that ''Shadow Chronicles'' takes place about 35 years later.

** Ayanami Rei was meant to fall into UncannyValley and be unsettling, but a combination of GenericCuteness plus BlankSlate meant that people could project absolutely everything and anything onto her.

* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', Marines are often played as evil by the fandom; the Marines are run by corrupt {{Jerk Ass}}es and {{Smug Super}}s, while the pirates are romanticized as freedom-loving people who want to live life to the fullest outside the law. For the most part, the Marines are portrayed as morally questionable, and several good pirate crews are seen (such as the Straw Hats). However, it is made clear that crews like the Straw Hats are exceptions. Several pirates are evil, cruel, and murderous, many of them infinitely worse than the Marines. For the most part, the Marines are at least trying to do the right thing, and want to protect people from pirates and other criminals. The dynamic between pirates and Marines is more a case of GreyAndGreyMorality, while fans tend to simplify it to pure Black and White.
** One of the core themes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is to follow your dreams no matter what anyone tells you. Characters regularly achieve the impossible through sheer force of will, and villains' dreams are only looked down on if that villain decides that achieving it means hurting others. Good luck explaining any of this to [[HeteronormativeCrusader certain]] [[TwoDecadesBehind people]] whenever Yamato is being discussed. [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity His exact gender identity is somewhat ambiguous]] in the sense that there are countless ways a person can be transgender (so [[BoobsOfSteel his body]] is not a strong counterargument) but to suggest any orientation is unrealistic for '''any''' reason means [[FlatEarthAtheist you don't understand the world of]] ''[[FlatEarthAtheist One Piece]]''.

* ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' has this running two directions with the fate of its BigBad Ryo. He wins the FinalBattle and kills the series protagonist Akira, [[PyrrhicVillainy and quickly regrets after realizing the horror of killing his best friend]]. Some fans sympathize with Ryo in this scene, missing that the point of it was that the audience was instead meant to sympathize with Akira since [[AllForNothing all of his actions were for nothing]] and he failed to save humanity. Ryo is in fact meant to be seen as AssholeVictim since even though he loved Akira, everything that happened to him was his own fault. On the flipside, Ryo is meant to be seen as a tragic character, but among many fans, especially his detractors, he is not regarded as a tragic or sympathetic character and instead viewed as a HateSink since he displays almost no redeeming qualities throughout the entire series.

** Grimmjow from his most popular series (''Manga/{{Bleach}}'') has a huge fan following. You know, the guy who's basically an [[EvilCounterpart Ichigo/Renji hybrid minus any sense of morality.]]
*** The treatment that people like Gin Ichimaru or Ulquiorra Cifer get from some fans is just as bad. According to them, Gin's decision to [[spoiler: stage a very bloody revenge on Aizen for having stolen part of the soul of his OnlyFriend Rangiku]] '''totally''' justified actions as bloody and cruel as [[spoiler: verbally taunting Rukia ForTheEvulz and causing her an HeroicBSOD with words alone when she was at her lower point,]] gleefully [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bifurcating]] [[spoiler: Hiyori Sarugaki]] or causing [[spoiler: the aforementioned Rangiku]] ''decades'' of emotional pain [[spoiler: for a {{revenge}} that she would've likely been opposed to.]] Similarly, Ulquiorra's more insane fans like to gloss over how he killed Ichigo twice and horribly maimed Ishida, or how he contributed to Orihime's BreakTheCutie process (how much of it was his doing is another matter).

* ''Anime/BakuganBattleBrawlers'' has the Doom Card, a symbol of evil that basically sent losing Bakugan to hell and was an implement of the BigBad and all around made people do nasty, terrible things. [[EvilIsCool The kids LOVE the Doom Card...]]

** There's also the fact that most YaoiFangirls rather conveniently forget that Grell is transgender (male to female) and ''not'' a crossdresser. To be fair, the show makes her ''seem'' more like a guy in drag, but everyone calls her by female pronouns and she identifies as female. Of course, recognizing her identified gender would make it no longer constitute yaoi, so the fangirls aren't having any of that.

* Considering that ''Manga/CandyCandy'' is a {{shoujo}} manga from TheSeventies, it had [[FairForItsDay pretty revolutionary]] 'messages': "Be honest to yourself", "Don't throw away your own beliefs", "Work hard to earn what you get in life", "Romance is important, yes, but not the end and be all to a woman's life". [[LoveFreak The fandom]] however, ignores almost all of them (and specially the last one) '''only''' to focus on the romantic part of the plot, and '''''especially''''' on [[spoiler:loudly complaining because Candy and Terry didn't end up together]]. Even older fans in their 30's and 40's, who should know better, fall into this trap.

** There are some fans that root for Light even through his most callous casualties, and perceive him as the god proxy he says he is, [[VillainProtagonist as opposed to the insane serial killer he actually is]]. In ''Death Note 13'', both creators say they consider Light to be evil.[[note]] Ohba said that Light was "a young man who could understand the pain of others" when he first encountered the Death Note. Ohba said that if Ryuk never developed an interest in the human world, Light would have become "one of the greatest police leaders in the world" who, with L, worked against criminals. Ohba described Light's life as "ruined" once he obtained the Death Note, and that Light became a victim of the Death Note "in many ways". Ohba described Light as bearing good faith intentions and having a "very conceited" nature. Ohba also describes Light as having a "warped" "desire to be godlike," bearing love for his family, and intending to transform the world into "a better place". Ohba added that he believed that debating whether Light's actions were good or evil is not "very important." Ohba said that he personally sees Light as a "diabolical" character.[[/note]] The infamous "Manga Murder" case -- a Belgian man murdered people whose names he wrote in a "Death Note" replica, presumably imitating Light -- is an extreme view of this mindset. That said, there are SOME who [[RootingForTheEmpire cheer Light on because he's so brilliantly twisted and evil]], which doesn't qualify as misaimed. But for those who ''actually believe'' he's TheHero... they ''definitely'' qualify.
*** Note that this even extends to the Director of the anime. He's gone on record of saying part of him was pulling for Light to be the victor of the manga, despite his evilness. This is in contrast, however, to the Director of the live action movie adaptations, who has said that one of his goals (particularly in the second film) was to convey Light's evil properly like he felt it was conveyed in the manga. It's also suspected that the reason his downfall at the end of the manga was made so devastating was specifically as a TakeThat to the fans rooting for him.
** Also, in another instance of this there's L, the socially inept, disheveled, insomniac [[TheRival rival]] to Light, who was [[WordOfGod admittedly]] designed to be ugly and unpleasant looking. Some fans massively disagree. Death Note 13's "How to Read" also reveals that Takeshi Obata tried to complicate the morality of the series by purposefully ''giving L an ugly character design that no one would be attracted to.''

* Fans of ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' seem to be obsessed with Ruki, from the ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'' season, even coming to claim her to be better than those "[[RealWomenDontWearDresses lame girly girls]]" like Sora and Mimi just because she's rude and unemotional at the start of the series. People often accuse the latter part of Tamers of being sexist for having Ruki turn into a soft and caring person...Despite the anime strongly suggesting that that was her TRUE form all along, and that her "Ice Queen" persona she was at the start was just a mask she used to hide her insecurities with. Not to mention Ruki still remains gender non-conforming even after her character development, keeping her punk fashion and [[spoiler: even growing up to become a motorcycle stuntwoman in the 2017 drama CD]].

** Similarly to the above, the perception among Western fans that Vegeta is a badass who fears nobody. In reality, Vegeta is repeatedly shown to be a very hotheaded and impulsive warrior, with his short temper and strong sense of pride repeatedly getting everyone around him in serious trouble. There was once a T-shirt with Vegeta on it, and a caption along the lines of "What's that, did I offend you? Are you really so weak that mere words hurt you?" This ignores that Vegeta's main role in the general bulk of ''DBZ'' boils down to him getting offended at others' words and making everything worse as a result.

** There's a subset of Japanese hyper nationalist who praise the series as a brilliant satire of Japan's national enemies. According to them the Red Ribbon Army represents the USSR/Russia, Frieza represents China (because he's obsessed with real estate), and Majin Buu represents the United States (because he's fat and stupid, but is inexplicably powerful). This all falls apart when you look at any of the author’s statements. China is the easiest to debunk because Creator/AkiraToriyama says Frieza is based on ''Japanese'' real estate speculators, and the setting itself is inspired by ancient China (which is less evident as time has passed, but it's still there). There is nothing communist or Russian about the Red Ribbon Army; it’s likely that the name is a bad pun (which Toriyama is fond of). Majin Buu being a parody for America is downright goofy; not only does Fat Buu become a good guy, but Akira Toriyama has said time and time again that he loves American cinema, which is evident in the series. [[note]]Not to mention the fan theory started in the United States and spread to Japan.[[/note]]

* An ''Manga/Eyeshield21'' fan basically has to introduce him/herself first as either a fan of the football games, or a fan of the boys, before talking at all about the series.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' fans who think either Blue Cosmos/LOGOS or WellIntentionedExtremist Durandal were right. WordOfGod is that Durandal '''thought''' what he was doing was right, which some fans have exaggerated into claiming that it outright ''states'' that Dullindal[=/=]Durandal[=/=]whatever translation you use was ''right'' in the first place. but [[spoiler:he was going to use a weapon of mass destruction against the countries who were against his Destiny Plan]]! This is one of those cases where fan claims about WordOfGod must be taken with a grain of salt. Also, in ''Char's Counterattack'', there are quite a few fans who maintain that Char was the hero. Despite, you know, his trying to drop an asteroid on Earth. Char himself considers this act NecessarilyEvil, but evil nonetheless.

*** The fact Zeon is still labeled as having fought the OYW over "spacenoid independence" shows how misaimed the ''Gundam'' fandom really is on the subject. ''Gundam'' backstory has long established that Zeon, specifically Side 3, had gained independence from the Federation long before the One Year War took place (how could Zeon Zum Daikun form the Republic of Zeon without it?), while Zeon's method of "liberating" the other colonies from the Federation was either to gas or nuke them out of existence; only Side 6, which chose to remain neutral (though secretly supporting the Federation), and Side 7 (which was on the other side of the planet) remained untouched by Zeon's genocidal onslaught. Basically, Zeon fought for spacenoid independence the same way Nazi Germany fought for European freedom and liberty, yet it's still seen in the same light as the American Minutemen by a large contingent of ''Gundam'' fans.

** The [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor end result of fans wanting a ruthless hero who does the job clean and clear]] is the [[AscendedFanon very existence]] of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans Mikazuki Augus]], a SociopathicHero who always go for the most violent option in every situation, his status as an InvincibleHero was meant to be a deconstruction of a ruthless hero since he killed several sympathetic enemies while disregarding their reasons and he inadvertently started a CycleOfRevenge between Tekkadan and Gjallarhorn. Despite this, the audiences rarely questioned his behaviour and even rooted for him when he was [[spoiler: [[KilledMidSentence killing Crank in cold blood]] and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge dismembering Carta in his vendetta]] instead of going for a quick kill like usual]] regardless of if it was right or not.
** ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'' has had viewers rooting for BigBad Tsukasa Shiba because they felt he was trying to bring back the style of fighting made popular by its [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Predecessors]] ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' and ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry''. Never mind the fact that [[spoiler: he was a [[ItsAllAboutMe a selfish prick]] who hated the Gunpla Battle Nexus Online game that everyone else loved because [[NoTrueScotsman he considered their kind of Gunpla Battle fake because they weren't devoting time, money and energy battling their Gunpla]] with the old Gunpla Duel game.]] Never mind the fact that [[spoiler:he was essentially a criminal by selling devices that literally hacked into the Main Programming into the game to boost other players' stats and causing the game to be riddled with ravaging bugs that eventually threatened to destroy the entire game.]]

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Since NGE was basically created by committee with no clear goal at the start, it is one series where these claims of specific deep and meaningful "authors intent" definitely needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

** There is also an astonishing number of people who walk away thinking that piloting an EVA would be the coolest thing in the world. This is despite the fact that the show ''repeatedly'' [[{{Anvilicious}} beats you over the head]] with the idea that EVA pilots are basically {{Child Soldier}}s, and that [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing no sane person would ever want to live that life]].

** One of the core themes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is to follow your dreams no matter what anyone tells you. Characters regularly achieve the impossible through sheer force of will and even the dreams of villains are only looked down on if that villain decides hurting others is a key component. Good luck explaining any of this to [[HeteronormativeCrusader certain]] [[TwoDecadesBehind people]] whenever Yamato is being discussed. [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity His exact gender identity is somewhat ambiguous]] in the sense that there are countless ways a person can be transgender (so [[BoobsOfSteel his body]] is not a strong counterargument) but to suggest any orientation is unrealistic for '''any''' reason means [[FlatEarthAtheist you don't understand the world of]] ''[[FlatEarthAtheist One Piece]]''.
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' has attracted a large host of fans who like to argue about power levels and who can beat who, similar to ''Dragon Ball''. This is due to Saitama often being touted as the most powerful character in all of anime, or even all of fiction. However, this is missing the point of ''One-Punch Man'' - Saitama is supposed to be so powerful that ''no one'' will ever defeat him, and that is his curse. He is as strong as the narrative needs him to be, and his strength is literally limitless. A similar issue arises when discussing the Disaster Levels of monsters, since the Hero Association's Disaster Level system is known to be inherently flawed in-universe.

** In a cross-media example, there's the Ash vs. Red debate. Ash is anything but a perfect Trainer, even to this day, but the self-insert status of Red has encouraged many fans to demand the same level of virtual flawlessness from Ash, ignoring the fact that Ash's world has a far different and more difficult take on the Pokémon League than the games. They completely ignore Ash's accomplishments and qualities while playing up Red's. It's arguably the most evident when comparing the [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries main anime series]] to ''Anime/PokemonOrigins'': even though that version of Red relied on largely the same cliches and PlotArmor that Ash does, he got off far easier with fans because of his "cooler" aesthetic and the fact that he won the League on his first try.

* In ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'', people who think that An Tachibana has a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in the anime-only Senbatsu arc are missing the point of said sub-plot and the consequences it brought for the characters involved. [[spoiler: In the Senbatsu arc, An confronted Kirihara for having injured her older brother. An's actions were not supposed to be seen as commendable, as she was consumed by rage and had tried to attack Kirihara some days before, but was restrained. Also, her second attack on Kirihara finished with him taking a StaircaseTumble that could have been fatal. Then, Akira Kamio was wrongfully accused for said fall and almost got kicked out of the Senbatsu for something that he didn't do, while Kirihara himself decided to not tell who attacked him as he was scared of the consequences and didn't want any more problems.]] However, some fans praise An and say she's badass for what she did, missing how her supposed {{Revenge}} was simply not worth it and only caused lots of pain for everyone involved, to the point that An breaks down in tears and apologizes for the consequences!
* Despite the fact that the entire latter half of the anime was supposed to showcase how awful being a MagicalGirl can be, there are still quite a few people who walk away from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' thinking it would be [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing the coolest thing in the world]] and wanting nothing more than to make a contract with Kyubey.
** The above has led to more than a few fanfics or quests (on forums like Sufficient Velocity or Spacebattles) where the downsides are downplayed or mitigated completely, usually by a clever wish that likely wouldn't be granted in the actual series. This often leads to most of the story being about [[StoryBreakerPower the increasingly broken things]] [[WishFulfillment they can do]] [[SuperpowerLottery with their powers]], pairing off the OriginalCharacter with someone, or both.

* Ruka's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Mami in ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' may be totally correct in context, but many fans miss the point that it's not supposed to show Ruka in a good light--rather, it's meant to show her extreme [[ClingyJealousGirl jealousy, insecurity, and hypocrisy]] issues. She only went off on Mami because of her jealousy of any girl being around Kazuya and worry that she had been further demoted to third-most important person in his life, and everything Ruka accused Mami of is something she's equally guilty of doing. Most importantly, Ruka does realize she went too far in her actions and apologizes to Kazuya for putting words in his mouth and causing him trouble that could have been avoided. But since Mami is [[BaseBreakingCharacter hated by a large section of the fanbase]], they fail to see the consequences of Ruka's actions and instead look at her callout as a well-justified SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, failing to see that it only made things worse for everyone.

** ''Rurouni Kenshin'' as a whole was supposed to be a {{deconstruction}} of the JidaiGeki fiction, showing the bitter consequences of being a samurai in the Meiji Era -- the times when samurai totally lost their influence in Japanese society. Seems some people ''definitely'' missed that message.

** On the other hand you have people who decided to become pacifists after seeing or reading the series, when the series goes out of its way to point out Vash's beliefs are flawed, and Vash's entire arc is about him learning he needs to let go of his ideals because they're unhealthy and unsustainable, and only causing more suffering for himself and others. At the very end of the anime he even states "I will continue to believe in you but from now on I will look to my own words for guidance".
* The ''Manga/WanderingSon'' fandom can be this at times. A lot of the fandom seems to be under the impression that either, or both, of the protagonists [[TransEqualsGay are just gay]] despite the fact that the manga explicitly states several times that they are UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}}, and even has a post-op trans woman like Yuki who they compare to (Nitori has mostly shown attraction to girls as well). Similarly, many OtokonokoGenre fans are drawn to the series. Other fans think it's a romance shojo where PlatonicLifePartners Takatsuki and Nitori are going to end up in the end, despite it being marketed as ''{{seinen}}'' instead. They have ShipTease [[spoiler:(though nothing becomes of it),]] however, it is a ComingOfAgeStory instead of a romance.

** In the infamous scene in which Serena threw snowballs at Ash, many fans believed that Serena was salty because Ash was moping about his loss to Wulfric. The truth is, Serena reacted that way because Ash was being unnecessarily rude to her when she tried to console him. While Serena was wrong to compare gym battles to showcases, she still meant well and she just wanted to give Ash Sympathy.

** In the infamous scene in which Serena threw snowballs at Ash, many fans believed that Serena was salty because Ash was moping about his loss to Wulfric. The truth is, Serena reacted that way because Ash was being unnecessarily rude to her when she tried to console him. While Serena was wrong to compare gym battles to showcases, she still meant well and she just wanted to give Ash Sympathy.

* There is a huge percentage of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfiction that portrays Ranma as eventually coming to enjoy his GenderBender status, or even to outright prefer his female form to his male one. Many of these go so far as to show "her" acting more conventionally feminine by preference, sometimes even to the extent of falling in love with men and bearing children. This seems to stem from a combination of MostFanficWritersAreGirls and transgirls latching onto Ranma as a wish-fulfillment character, completely ignoring that, in canon, Ranma absolutely ''hates'' his GenderBender status, wants nothing more than to be all male again, and [[LossOfIdentity the idea of physically and/or mentally changing permanently into a girl absolutely terrifies him]]. He has a particular hatred of guys trying to flirt with him, being vehemently straight. The fact Ranma has more innate domestic skills than [[FirstGirlWins Akane Tendo]] is supposed to be part of the comedy. Ditto his tendency to engage in feminine roles to achieve something he wants; that's just HypocriticalHumor, given his professed distaste for acting that way. On the other side, the male fanbase wants to see him stay female [[RuleOfSexy because he's cuter that way]]; they can get all the fun of a [[TheLadette Ladette]] character, but none of the drawbacks of the boorishness of "natural" males and shallowness and emotions of "natural" females (making him the perfect girl to pair up). Again, this ignores that Ranma delibreately plays up these traits for his own ends, and that the Three Laws of Gender-Bending don't apply to him (and he doesn't ''want'' them to) as often as most would like.

** Asuka is a huge EnsembleDarkhorse [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff in the West]] with many going as far as to say she's the only good character in the show because "she's not a [[{{Wangst}} whiny]] [[EmoTeen emo]] like the rest of the cast". However, they seem to forget that later on in the series she has a mental breakdown including the Trope Namer for MindRape showing she's secretly like Shinji and is [[DysfunctionJunction just as psychologically damaged as the rest of the cast]].

* Subaru of ''LightNovel/ReZero'' is in no way a StockLightNovelHero. He is instead his own character with his own feelings, personality, and flaws. He has no useful powers to use in combat and always got his ass handed to him, often in fatal ways. Initially, he was hated by the fanbase because they ''couldn't'' project themselves onto him, but later learned that projecting themselves onto him was never the point and soon grew to love him. However, he still does have several detractors, especially when it came to his interactions with the [[TheUnfairSex female characters]], and many of them dislike Subaru for how he treats them at his worst while putting them on pedestals and claiming they did nothing but be kind to him. Some even consider Subaru to be irredeemable and ignore that he is broken from what he's been put through. One [[https://youtu.be/r18P_uNI4AM Youtuber]] went on a RantInducingSlight on every horrible thing the female characters (sans [[NiceGirl Emilia]]) has ever done to Subaru.

** Those who ship Levi/Eren out of the belief that Levi is genuinely a BastardBoyfriend who kicked Eren at the court trial out of [[ForTheEvulz sadism]], even though Levi reveals it was an act and apologizes in the very next scene. To say nothing of the really uncomfortable implications of such a relationship.

** Sayaka Miki was supposed to deconstruct or at very least criticize tropes like LoveMartyr, UnrequitedTragicMaiden and PatientChildhoodLoveInterest, as well as the unrealistic concepts of love and romance they rely on. This is evident ''even at the start of the series'', when she implies that she wants to be a MagicalGirl and use her wish to heal the IllBoy she has a crush on, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion and Mami immediately points out the self-interest behind such an intention]]. Fandom, however, embraced Sayaka as a straight-up example of the tropes she was created to "attack", and still believe Sayaka is [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to have the]] IllBoy's affection [[spoiler: and that he and Hitomi are the ONLY reason for her FaceHeelTurn.]]

** Bardock is a case of it leaking into canon. ''Anime/BardockTheFatherOfGoku'' entirely focuses around the idea that Bardock is ''not'' special for a Saiyan, being as cruel, stoic, and battle-hungry as the race is known to be; he's a NominalHero at most. He's also DoomedByCanon to ultimately accomplish nothing, and does exactly that, being killed by Frieza with absolutely no effort. Essentially, he's a pointed subversion of the idea that Goku's good nature and great skill were the result of HeroicLineage rather than his upbringing on Earth. However, the whole idea of "Goku's dad, who is cooler and gruffer and wears black armor", as well as his appearances in fighting games, has caused him to go through a nigh-constant train of AdaptationalHeroism and AdaptationalBadass. This has resulted in stories like ''[[Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman Dragon Ball Minus]]'', which rewrites the special to make him suddenly be far kinder and more protective to his son, or ''Anime/DragonBallEpisodeOfBardock'', where he ''survives'' his death, kills Frieza's ancestor, and becomes the first Super Saiyan (making him essentially a carbon copy of his son and the most important Saiyan ever).

** One of the core themes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is to follow your dreams no matter what anyone tells you. Characters regularly achieve the impossible through sheer force of will and even the dreams of villains are only looked down on if that villain decides hurting others is a key component. Good luck explaining any of this to [[HeteronormativeCrusader certain]] [[TwoDecadesBehind people]] whenever [[{{Transgender}} Yamato]] is being discussed. [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity His exact gender identity is somewhat ambiguous]] in the sense that there are countless ways a person can be transgender (so [[BoobsOfSteel his body]] is not a strong counterargument) but to suggest any orientation is unrealistic for '''any''' reason means [[FlatEarthAtheist you don't understand the world of]] ''[[FlatEarthAtheist One Piece]]''.

** One of the core themes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is to follow your dreams no matter what anyone tells you. Characters regularly achieve the impossible through sheer force of will and even the dreams of villains are only looked down on if that villain decides hurting others is a key component. Good luck explaining any of this to [[HeteronormativeCrusader certain]] [[TwoDecadesBehind people]] whenever [[{{Transgender}} Yamato]] is being discussed. [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity His exact gender identity is somewhat ambiguous]] in the sense that there are countless ways a person can be transgender (so [[BoobsOfSteel his body]] is not a strong counterargument, especially since [[{{Sarashi}} an easy fix]] exists in Wano that Yamato never uses) but to suggest any orientation is unrealistic for '''any''' reason means [[FlatEarthAtheist you don't understand the world of]] ''[[FlatEarthAtheist One Piece]]''.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': Over the course of the anime/manga, there are fans who still view Seto Kaiba as TheWoobie, even though he's long since become self reliant, and that Yugi and his friends are jerks who don't understand what he's been through, or fawn over Kaiba's badass traits so much that they will overlook or pardon his {{Jerkass}} moments. Even the writers for [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries the Toei anime]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad seemed to feel this way]]. In the manga though, it ''should'' be clear that outside his few redemptive moments, Kaiba's behavior should not be idolized or emulated and that, while you are supposed to ''sympathize'' with Kaiba's troubles, you're not supposed to think that ''excuses'' the crap he pulls.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': Over the course of the anime/manga, there are fans who still view Seto Kaiba as TheWoobie, even though he's long since become self reliant, and that Yugi and his friends are jerks who don't understand what he's been through, or fawn over Kaiba's badass traits so much that they will overlook or pardon his {{Jerkass}} moments. Even the Toei staff working on the anime [[SpotlightStealingSquad seems to feel this way.]] In the manga though, it ''should'' be clear that outside his few redemptive moments, Kaiba's behavior should not be idolized or emulated and that, while you are supposed to ''sympathize'' with Kaiba's troubles, you're not supposed to think that ''excuses'' the crap he pulls.

** Bardock is a case of it leaking into canon. ''Anime/BardockTheFatherOfGoku'' entirely focuses around the idea that Bardock is ''not'' special for a Saiyan, being as cruel, stoic, and battle-hungry as the race is known to be; he's a NominalHero at most. He's also DoomedByCanon to ultimately accomplish nothing, and does exactly that, being killed by Frieza with absolutely no effort. Essentially, he's a pointed subversion of the idea that Goku's good nature and great skill were the result of HeroicLineage rather than his upbringing on Earth. However, the whole idea of "Goku's dad, who is cooler and gruffer and wears black armor", as well as his appearances in fighting games, has caused him to go through a nigh-constant train of AdaptationalHeroism and AdaptationalBadass. This has resulted in stories like ''Manga/DragonBallMinus'', which rewrites the special to make him suddenly be far kinder and more protective to his son, or ''Manga/EpisodeOfBardock'', where he ''survives'' his death, kills Frieza's ancestor, and becomes the first Super Saiyan (making him essentially a carbon copy of his son and the most important Saiyan ever).
* An ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' fan basically has to introduce him/herself first as either a fan of the football games, or a fan of the boys, before talking at all about the series.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': A certain section of the fandom (especially [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff in America]]) is attracted to the series for being RatedMForManly and DarkerAndEdgier borderlining on TrueArtIsAngsty and bashes modern anime for not being as mature and manly, and especially has a... well, BerserkButton for {{Moe}}. The problem? One of the messages of Berserk is that [[TestosteronePoisoning this mindset]] is a horrible way [[WarIsHell to treat war]] and how it can harm one's psyche. In fact ironically, creator Creator/KentaroMiura is an open fan of the very Moe VideoGame/TheIdolmaster and designed the Music/{{Vocaloid}} [[{{Bishounen}} Kamui Gackpo]], both of which are the kind of stuff that part of the fandom hates.

* The fact that plenty of ''Manga/BananaFish'' fans sexualize Ash, via Rule34 or otherwise, can come across as downright disturbing given his massive sexual trauma being a major part of his character.

** On the other hand you have people who decided to become pacifists after seeing or reading the series, when Vash's entire arc is about him learning he needs to let go of his ideals because they're unhealthy and unsustainable, and only causing more suffering for himself and others. At the very end of the anime he even states "I will continue to believe in you but from now on I will look to my own words for guidance".