History RetiredBadass / AnimeAndManga

* Gran Torino from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is the retired pro hero that taught [[SupermanSubstitute All Might]]. He enjoys ObfuscatingStupidity during Izuku's training, but that doesn't prevent Izuku from learning exactly why All Might was virtually quaking in his boots when he recommended that Izuku accept Gran Torino's internship offer. Even in his old age Gran Torino's steam-jet quirk gives him enough speed and maneuverability to take on a [[HumanoidAbomination Nomu]] virtually single-handedly.

** King Aultcray of Melromarc focuses solely on governing early in the story but later on it is revealed that in his youth he was a very powerful adventurer who led a successful war against a demi-human nation. He's even revealed to be the Hero of the Cane, one of the Seven Star Weapons whose power is second only to the Four Legendary Weapons.

** Ginji also qualifies. Initially appearing as a big, imposing, but polite fellow selling masks at a festival, his identity as a retired assassin for the Yakuza was soon made apparent when Hotel Moscow tried muscling in on Yakuza territory.

* ''Manga/TentaiSenshiSunred'' is about a prematurely retired {{Sentai}} hero, Sunred, whose exact age is unknown but is implied to be in his thirties. Having retired from the hero business he's found that he has no marketable skills in the civilian economy and spends most of his days lounging around, playing pachinko or doing odd jobs, and being challenged to fights to the death by his former ArchEnemy the Evil Organization Florsheim, who don't seem to have understood the whole 'retired' part yet.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Joseph Joestar in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]''. It's worth noting that he looks quite a bit like Sean Connery in his later years, and Connery tends to play Retired Badass character quite a bit. Loses the "badass" part in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' when his age finally catches up to him, although anyone who [[spoiler:is willing to open a vein when an invisible baby falls into a lake so the blood can make her show up[[note:Just for clarification, he chopped off his whole hand to locate the baby.]]]] can't completely relinquish it.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Joseph Joestar in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]''. It's worth noting that he looks quite a bit like Sean Connery in his later years, and Connery tends to play Retired Badass character quite a bit. Loses the "badass" part in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' when his age finally catches up to him, although anyone who [[spoiler:is willing to open a vein when an invisible baby falls into a lake so the blood can make her show up]] can't completely relinquish it.

* ''Manhua/RetiredHeroes'': Basically all the main characters, obviously. Chris and Saliy are the heroes who saved the world but are now just living in a random town, their friends are wandering the world as nameless adventurers, and they left the party mage to look over the kingdom.

* By the time of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', many of the Z-Warriors have essentially stepped down from actually fighting. This is mostly because they know that Goku and Vegeta completely outclass them and, for a few of them, they actually have families who they prioritize. Gohan is hit the worst of this as, since he prioritized his wife and newborn child along with his studies over training, his fighting strength went down the crapper, being unable to sustain basic Super Saiyan form for long periods of time. With the exception of Gohan, many of these guys are still fighting prime, including Master Roshi, who last honestly fought ''way'' back during the middle part of ''Dragon Ball''.

* Joseph Joestar in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] of ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. It's worth noting that he looks quite a bit like Sean Connery in his later years, and Connery tends to play Retired Badass character quite a bit. Loses the "badass" part in Part 4 when his age finally catches up to him, although anyone who [[spoiler:is willing to open a vein when an invisible baby falls into a lake so the blood can make her show up]] can't completely relinquish it.

-->'''Dr. Kureha''': If you guys can't handle it, I'll come save you.

* ''LightNovel/TheGreatestMagicmastersRetirementPlan'': There's an unspoken rule that each country should only have one active single-digit Magicmaster at a time and that if a country gains two, one of them will have to retire in order to maintain the power balance between countries. Unfortunately for [[TheHero Alus]], Alpha's brass won't allow him to retire because there's no new single-digit to replace him.

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'':

* ''Anime/MagicalAngelCreamyMami'': Yuu's mother is a former motorcycle gang leader.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' likes to play with this one. Notable examples include:
** Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin's former mentor that he has been estranged from for a dozen years by the time Kenshin comes to him for help in the series (It doesn't help that he left against Hiko's wishes). Although Hiko is probably the most powerful character in the series, he is content to live away from people and make a living by creating pottery. After much persuading he helps Kenshin [[TookALevelInBadass take yet another level in badass]], and protects some of Kenshin's friends from a giant member of a QuirkyMinibossSquad (as well as [[WarriorTherapist helping the guy work his issues]]). Despite knowing about the threat of BigBad Shishio, however, he gives no hint he had any intention of doing anything about it.
** Nenji Kashiwazaki aka Okina, the former mentor of Kenshin's WorthyOpponent Aoshi, works along with other former {{ninja}} as the owner and manager of an inn. He still has contacts among spies in Kyoto that he uses to aid Kenshin. Aside from a fight with Aoshi, however, when he sees that his former pupil has gone a little too [[DarkerAndEdgier dark and edgy]] for his taste, he mostly stays on the sidelines, acting more as TheStrategist and advisor from now on. (Although considering the HUGE wounds Aoshi inflicted on him, it's well justified. no wonder poor Misao, who saw Aoshi almost kill Okina, was more than a bit disturbed).
** In a filler episode from the anime, it is revealed that a former first rate swordsman who fought Kenshin in the revolution now works as a children's teacher, having given up the sword. An old student who turned into an assassin tries to recruit him nonetheless.
*** That plot was recycled for the ''Ishinshishi e no Requiem'' movie, where one of the main characters (Takimi Shigure) was an ex-samurai who became a school retainer and the caretaker of his best friend's sister [[spoiler: whom Kenshin killed in the war]].
** The title character himself is a Retired Badass, and would very much like to stay that way.

* Andrei Rublev, Team Satomi's [[ZenSurvivor Zen-style]] coach from ''Anime/IGPXImmortalGrandPrix'' doesn't seem very Badass-y at first: portly, almost perpetually sullen, with an inflated ego way out of proportion to his apparent effect on the team. However, he's a prime example of this trope because of who he used to be: [[spoiler:the legendary IGPX pilot known as Rocket G]]. In the second season, he dusts off his skills [[spoiler:to act as a temporary replacement for Amy, who was injured in a race against newcomers Team White Snow, ]] and steps onto the track twice more before fading back into his coach role.
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'':
** Ginji also qualifies. Initially appearing as a big, imposing, but polite fellow selling masks at a festival, his identity as a retired assassin for the Yakuza was soon made apparent when Hotel Moscow tried muscling in on Yakuza territory.
** [[NinjaMaid Roberta]] is even worse. She's a maid, complete with the obligatory [[{{Meido}} uniform]], but she's a former veteran of FARC nicknamed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "The Bloodhound"]] (El Sabueso), and if you get on her bad side ([[MamaBear like kidnapping her boss's son]]) [[RoaringRampageOfRescue you are likely to be dead in just a few days, tops.]]
* BattleButler Walter of ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' is retired from his former career as a top Hellsing agent, mostly doing standard butler duties and occasion bodyguard work for his boss. But when an attack by a pair of low rent vampires and their small army of ghouls overruns Hellsing headquarters he has a chance to show he can still live up his "Angel of Death" nickname, complete with a "What can an old man do" moment first. He also advises Integra Hellsing, shows newcomers to the organisation the ropes, deals with other threats to the organisation and even designs some of the weapons the main characters use.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'':
** "Miss Yomoko," actually [[spoiler:post-timeskip Yoko]], finds a calm job as an [[HotLibrarian elementary school teacher]], occasionally fighting against bandits in Ganmens who [[MuggingTheMonster have the misfortune of attacking her school]]. [[spoiler:That is, until the Anti-Spirals arrive to wreck massive havoc on Kamina City.]]
** And at the end of the series, we're shown [[spoiler:Simon]], of all possible people, WalkingTheEarth, poor and unrecognized but apparently content.
* Though much younger than most, Nanjiroh Echizen from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' fits quite well.

* Cologne from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a quintessential example of the trope. She has been shown to be ''the'' most formidable martial artist in the series, with abilities far surpassing anything the main characters can do (and quite possibly above Happosai's level.) Yet, she's perfectly content running the Cat Cafe and letting the weirdness erupt around her, occasionally providing nuggets of information and only rarely being an active participant herself.
* [[spoiler: Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald]] becomes one of this after the ''Anime/CodeGeass'' GrandFinale. [[spoiler: (Prosperous [[BrickJoke orange farm]] and Anya as his partner and/or adoptive daughter included)]].

* Thors from ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', following the birth of his daughter. Unfortunately he wasn't allowed to stay retired.

** An even more badass example would be Silvers Rayleigh, [[spoiler: Gold Roger's former first mate]]. These days he runs a small business in Sabaody Archipelago, coating ships with a special substance, which enables travel to Fishman Island.
** Dr. Kureha too. She's demonstrated that she can probably take all of the Drum Island baddies herself despite being 139 years young, but is content to just watch. She even outright mentions it.

* Granny Chiyo from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. First portrayed as a doddering, almost-senile old woman who wants nothing more to do with her village and its politics, beyond berating the village elders of Sungakure for relying on Konoha instead of training to be more powerful themselves. [[spoiler: Then she and a young CombatMedic with SuperStrength, Sakura Haruno, make a ''formidable'' team up and defeat Sasori, Chiyo's own grandson/pupil and member of the [[BigBad Akatsuki]] -- using puppets that were built by Chiyo herself, as well as better made and with more tricks/better builts than Sasori's own.]] Notable in that the aforementioned [[spoiler: Sasori]] is one of the most powerful members of the Akatsuki, an organization exclusively composed of unbelievably badass rogue ninja who generally require a combination of multiple high-level protagonists and convenient plot devices to take down. Put in context; [[spoiler: Pain, who killed half the supporting cast of the series and destroyed the hero's hometown single-handedly, basically just has the ability to manipulate six nearly-indestructible corpses at once and utilize powerful jutsu through them. Sasori could do this with a hundred corpse "dolls" at a time. Although Pain had the good sense not to tell his opponents all about how his powers worked]]. Then she brings [[spoiler: [[DarkMagicalGirl Gaara]] back from the dead, not only pulling an HeroicSacrifice for him, but atoning for having sealed the Shukaku in Gaara as a newborn, [[DefectorFromDecadence which is the reason why she left Sunagakure in the first place]].]]
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':
** Genkai had been happily retired for years before she took Yusuke on as an apprentice and promptly got dragged right back into the crap she'd worked so hard to get out of.
** Also Kuroko Sanada, Yusuke's predecessor as (the first) spiritual detective, who now lives happily on an estate with a husband and two kids. Although from time to time she (or one of her kids) has to kill a demon who dared to trespass.
* Half the members of Ala Rubra in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' are retired badasses. The most prominent would probably be Eishun, Konoka's father. He's a master Shinmeiryu swordsman implied to be about on par with the likes of Jack Rakan or the Thousand Master, but the only arc he appeared in without being in a flashback he was petrified by a minor mook. [[spoiler:Who turns out to be the BigBad, and defeated Jack Rakan. So it doesn't make Eishun look ''that'' bad.]]

* Fujimaru "Falcon" Takagi appears to be this in ''Manga/BloodyMonday: Season Two'', claiming to have not even touched a keyboard since the first season [[spoiler: but this is just a facade to prevent his friends from getting involved again.]]
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** Nanoha herself during ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'' due to injuries she sustained in the ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers StrikerS]]'' finale, though the existence of ''Force'' shows that she'll be back in action after [[TimeSkip two years]]. [[TheRival Einhart]] mistakes her for an ordinary housewife in Chapter 10, leading to lots of barely constrained snickering from Nove.
** Nanoha's father used to be a bodyguard before being badly injured. [[RealMenWearPink Now he runs a cafe]].
** Megane Alpine permanently retired after waking up from her nine-year long coma.
** Jill Stola from ''Anime/VividStrike'' used to be a competitive martial artist, but she had to retire after she received an unspecified injury.
** [[SmallRoleBigImpact Lyra Caprice]], also from ''[=ViVid=] Strike!'', had retired from fighting so she could help out her family. She mentioned before her final fight that she wanted to give it her all so she could retire without any regrets. Unfortunately, her opponent was Rinne, who not only subjected her to a CurbStompBattle but implied that she was weak and didn't try very hard. Poor Lyra was carried out of the arena on a stretcher in tears. [[spoiler: During the finale it's revealed that said loss convinced her to continue fighting competitively, just at the local level.]]
* Takumi's dad Bunta from ''Manga/InitialD'', currently the owner of a tofu-shop in the sticks, but is still driving star. Demonstrated when he drifts his car, then proceeds to light a cigarette and smoke it in the middle of the drift. Also the fact that the unnamed person who's calling on his cellphone for advice is hinted to be real life Drift King [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiichi_Tsuchiya Keiichi Tsuchiya]].
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': The BigBad, Kariya Kagetoki. While he spends most of the series gardening and listening to reports of what's happening to the main characters, their exploits eventually coax him out of retirement...and that is is a very bad thing for Jin, Mugen, and Fuu.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'':
** Kira Yamato starts off like this. Though it's not long before circumstances get so dire that he decides step out of retirement. It helps that [[spoiler: the BigBad tried to assassinate his girlfriend]].
** The rest of the [[BadassArmy Three Ships Alliance]] is this [[spoiler: seeing as they went into hiding following the end of the Bloody Valentine War]] except for the Kusanagi which is understandably protected [[spoiler: by their lack of having to do a HeelFaceTurn and therefore become wanted criminals]]. Once back in action, [[spoiler: they [[CurbstompBattle wipe the floor with everyone]]]].
* Before Kira, there was Amuro Ray in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', who had essentially left the fighting and the military (and placed under house arrest because the Federation feared his Newtype powers), but came back when the battle between the AEUG and the Titans came to his doorstep.
* ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' has a semi-retired badass in TheCaptain, Jamil Neate. A former AcePilot and Newtype from the last war, his cockpit phobia prevents him from piloting mobile suits. Instead he uses his leadership and tactical ability to lead a scavenger ship across the landscape in a quest to protect other Newtypes from exploitation. He eventually starts getting treatment for his phobia so he can get back in the pilot's seat again.
* ''Anime/MagicalAngelCreamyMami'': Yuu's mother is a former motorcycle gang leader.
* Cure Flower of ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' comes out of retirement once to kick some major ass. Her fairy partner Coupe also qualifies seeing as how he appears several times to save the Pretty Cures and does so my kicking serious ass.

* By the time of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', many of the Z-Warriors have essentially stepped down from actually fighting. This is mostly because they know that Goku and Vegeta completely outclass them and, for a few of them, they actually have families who they prioritize. Gohan is hit the worst of this as, since he prioritized his wife and newborn child along with his studies over training, his fighting strength went down the crapper, being unable to sustain basic Super Saiyan form for long periods of time. With the exception of Gohan, many of these guys are still fighting prime, including Master Roshi, who last honestly fought ''way'' back during the middle part of ''Dragon Ball''.
* The ending to ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' shows that [[spoiler:Claes and Rico]] retired from being TykeBomb ChildSoldiers to live their [[YourDaysAreNumbered remaining days]] on a boat.
* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', [[spoiler: Professor Oak]] enters the Pokemon League finals as [[spoiler:"Dr. O"]], and defeats Green fairly easily. When Blue Oak, [[spoiler:his grandson]], tells him that he'll have to face either him or Red in the finals, [[spoiler:Oak]] forfeits, saying he already won a championship and he doesn't need another.
* [[GentleGiant Sweden]] of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', as a personification of [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} the country]], was once a terror, controlling the Baltic region and Scandinavia (in fact, he was known as "The Lion of Northern Europe" and "The Supreme Ruler of Scandinavia"), and in one instance defeated an alliance of ''five'' countries/their personifications. [[note]]Norway and Denmark, Poland-Lithuania, Russia, France, and Spain[[/note]] In the present, though, he's calmed down considerably, puts his efforts and strength toward welfare, and is fond of making furniture and decorative arts.
* In the final volume of ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Tsurezure is actually a former assassin]].

* Gran Torino from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is the retired pro hero that taught [[SupermanSubstitute All Might]]. He enjoys ObfuscatingStupidity during Izuku's training, but that doesn't prevent Izuku from learning exactly why All Might was virtually quaking in his boots when he recommended that Izuku accept Gran Torino's internship offer. Even in his old age Gran Torino's steam-jet quirk gives him enough speed and maneuverability to take on a [[HumanoidAbomination Nomu]] virtually single-handedly.
* ''Manhua/RetiredHeroes'': Basically all the main characters, obviously. Chris and Saliy are the heroes who saved the world but are now just living in a random town, their friends are wandering the world as nameless adventurers, and they left the party mage to look over the kingdom.
* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'':
** King Aultcray of Melromarc focuses solely on governing early in the story but later on it is revealed that in his youth he was a very powerful adventurer who led a successful war against a demi-human nation. He's even revealed to be the Hero of the Cane, one of the Seven Star Weapons whose power is second only to the Four Legendary Weapons.
** Elrasla is a 95 year-old woman who had retired to a quiet life in a farming village until she was saved from a life-threatening illness by Naofumi. She decided to accompany Naofumi as thanks, revealing 95 was also her ''level'' and that she was the last master of the powerful Hengen Musou technique. Her strength is easily enough to rival most of Naofumi's party for quite some time.

* ''Manga/WayOfTheHouseHusband'' is about Tatsu, a former {{yakuza}} member who takes being a devoted HouseHusband [[SeriousBusiness just as seriously]], often with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious consequences]].

* Maria from ''Anime/MaiOtome'' is a retired Otome who works as an administrator and SternTeacher at Garderobe Academy, temporarily un-retiring when it comes time to take back her school near the end of the main series. Natsuki, Shizuru, Mai and the other Meisters are amazed to see her in action, and also by the fact that [[IWasQuiteALooker she used to be a hottie]].