History TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou / AnimeAndManga

** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Envy literally bases his entire existence on [[spoiler:killing his father/creator, Hohenheim]]. Then he throws a floor-destroying temper tantrum when he thinks [[spoiler:Dante]] beat him to it.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': When Sesshoumaru initially enters the story he doesn't seem to care who, if anyone, kills Inuyasha, as long as he gets possession of the sword that their father bequeathed to Inuyasha. As the plot goes on, however, his behaviour becomes much more complicated; it becomes increasingly common for him to aggressively enforce his claim on Inuyasha's life whenever a situation occurs that could involve Inuyasha losing his life to others. It becomes increasingly clear it's a face-saving excuse to step in whenever Inuyasha and even any of his friends are in trouble without Sesshoumaru having to admit that he's not [[IWasJustPassingThrough Just Passing Through]]. Eventually, even the excuses stop when, during a fight with the UltimateEvil, he openly admits he's protecting them all.

* Somewhat inverted in ''Manga/DeathNote'' where [[VillainProtagonist Light]] [[SerialKiller Yagami]] seems to feel that [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist L]] ought to be the only one allowed to defeat ''him'', and he's very bent out of shape when [[spoiler: [[AntagonistInMourning somebody else takes over]] and does it instead]]. This is also one fan explanation for why Light sees L [[spoiler: as he's dying]], though there are [[FoeYay other theories]].

* Chapter 290, as well as chapters 310+ of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' shows that Fate really just wants to fight and defeat Negi. [[FoeYay Above all else.]] He takes it up a level in chapter 314, to the point of [[spoiler:attacking one of his "brothers" about to finish off one of Negi's students]].

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': Kamishima is determined to kill Akutsu for [[ManOnFire trying to burn him to death]], and will fight anyone else who gets in his way. Unfortunately, Ryuji also has a good reason to want to take down Akutsu, and later on, so does Eikichi.

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* ''Manga/BlackButler'': Especially season 2, Sebastian contractually owns Ciel's soul and will kill anyone who tries to kill Ciel before he can eat his soul, even other demons. In the anime, he actually does try to murder Ciel.

* In ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'', this is the defining basis of Yuko's relationship with Momo. At the beginning, Yuko--the titular demon girl--saw Momo, the local MagicalGirl, as a genuine adversary, out of the desire to take some of Momo's blood to break the curse on her family. [[spoiler:Then she succeeds in breaking a part of it, entirely by accident.]] Even when they develop a genuine friendship, Yuko is still determined to get the better of Momo to show that she's a WorthyOpponent deserving of respect. She even worries that some other demon is going to beat her to it and take Momo away. [[spoiler:It's still the case much later on when they have essentially become sisterly HeterosexualLifePartners with both of them ''willing to die for the other''. She just can't be honest with her feelings.]]

* In chapter 213 of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' Kanda tells Link "If your mission is to assassinate bean sprout (Allen), I'll cut you down where you stand. I'm the one who'll kill him."

** Also Goku and Piccolo (Junior) early on, which is why they teamed up against Raditz in the first place. After Piccolo got to kill them both, his motive for being a villain dried up - he claimed that the revived Goku would be next if they could beat the Saiyans, but the HeelFaceTurn had already taken hold by that point.

* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' subverts this in that Johan handpicks Tenma to be the one to kill ''him'', but it is also played straight in that he will not let anyone - the police, random Nazis, or sundry criminals - lay their hands on either Tenma or Nina without aid to the two and swift retribution to their enemies.

** In season zero, Kaiba defeats the three Hekate for Yuugi as Yuugi's puzzle was stolen and thus he could not transform. The final words of the episode were him saying "And don't forget! The one to defeat you... Has to be me."

** In something of a lesser example, when Zatch and Kiyo earn Sherry's respect even in defeat, she spares them and tells them not to lose to anyone else. [[spoiler:And it ends up being the four of them in the final battle for the throne.]]

** Revy and Shenhua are about to ambush a group of US special forces when Balalaika's soldiers intervene and shoot them in the limbs, declaring that they alone will deal with the Americans. They don't actually get the chance, as the Americans hightail it out of Roanapur almost immediately afterwards, so Balalaika instead settles for a "demonstration".

* In ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', this is the default attitude of Emi Yusa, hero of Ente Isla, towards her arch-nemesis Satan, or Maou Sadao as he goes by on Earth. Unfortunately because neither one of them can use their magic for very long and Maou appears to be a regular human due to his lack of magic, to Earthlings she just comes off as a ClingyJealousGirl and StalkerWithACrush who hasn't gotten over her breakup with Maou.

* Variant: ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}}'' has been known to stop other people from killing his target, and even stop his target from killing himself, in order that he cause the target's death.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': Kamishima is determined to kill Akutsu for [[ManOnFire trying to burn him to death]], and will fight anyone else who gets in his way. Unfortunately, Ryuji also has a good reason to want to take down Akutsu, and later on so does Eikichi.

* Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto, or rather "the other Yugi", in ''Anime/YuGiOh''. In Season 4 of the anime, Yugi loses to TheDragon. When Kaiba hears this, he throws what can only be described as a "temper tantrum".
** In season zero Kaiba defeats the three Hekate for Yuugi as Yuugi's puzzle was stolen and thus could not transform. The final words of the episode were him saying "And don't forget! The one to defeat you... Has to be me."

* Kuwabara is like this to Yusuke in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', at least for the first few arcs. It doesn't come up for a while afterwards, [[spoiler:but then, in the Chapter Black storyline, when Yusuke's about to die, Kuwabara reveals that his only dream is to one day defeat him, and basically, for him, [[SpiritedCompetitor mostly everything worthwhile about his life has been getting there]].]]
* In ''Manga/ZatchBell'' Sherry Belmont is rather insistent that no one but her defeat Zofis, which would send him back to the demon world. Since Zofis has brainwashed her best friend into being his evil, sadistic partner, it seems like a case of ItsPersonal. However, when she finally has him cornered, Sherry reveals her real motivation was she needed him to stick around until she could make him undo the brainwashing and return her friend to her original gentle self.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', while Ladd Russo and Lua Klein are not rivals, Ladd does promise to be the one to kill her, and will let no one else do it.

* ''Manga/BlackButler'': Especially season 2, Sebastian contractually owns Ciel's soul and will kill anyone who tries to kill Ciel before he can eat his soul, even other demons. In the anime he actually does try to murder Ciel.

* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': Papillon is single-mindedly obsessed with ensuring that nothing and no-one else kills the protagonist Kazuki Mutou before he can get a rematch with the StockShonenHero. He takes this obsession so far that he eventually becomes one of the heroes' most valuable allies [[AntiVillain despite technically being a villain]].

** Mikoto Misaka wants to beat Touma Kamiou in a fight, and is displeased when he runs away from common street thugs. She says that if he can beat her yet runs away from them, it will make her look bad as it implies she's weaker than the thugs.

* In ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', this is the default attitude of Emi Yusa, hero of Ente Isla, towards her arch nemesis, Satan, or Maou Sadao as he goes by on Earth. Unfortunately because neither one of them can use their magic for very long and Maou appears to be a regular human due to his lack of magic, to Earthlings she just comes off as a ClingyJealousGirl and StalkerWithACrush who hasn't gotten over her breakup with Maou.

** In one of the non-canonical movies, Vegeta shouts ''"Kakarotto wa '''ore no mono da!!!'''"'' ("Kakarot is ''mine!''") when Android 13 is beating his rival to death, and charges in to protect Goku. Obviously in context it's something like "he's ''my'' prey, screw off," but it was all too easy for {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s to squeal "HoYay!"

** Done yet again in ''Anime/FusionReborn'', where Goku is backed into a corner by the newly-transformed Janemba. Just when Janemba is about to deliver the final blow, Vegeta rescues him in the nick of time, and pretty much re-iterates this trope.
** There's also Android 16, who is programmed by Dr. Gero to kill Son Goku. And by kill Son Goku, we mean ''only'' Goku. He's completely uninterested with killing, or even fighting, anyone not named Goku (and Cell, because he had some of Goku's DNA). Even after he became a FriendToAllLivingThings, he's ''still'' obsessed with killing Goku. 16 then happily exploits the loophole that Cell is made partially of Goku in order to fight him as well, since Cell is a threat to all of the life that 16 wants to protect. Naturally ''[[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged Abridged]]'' amps up this bit, to the point when Dr. Briefs tries to check what is inside 16's original programming, he is greeted with [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uuO_Qk4P96E/hqdefault.jpg this image]] and Dr. Gero chanting "Kill Son Goku!" over and over.

* In ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', Kasukabe saves the club for precisely this reason. She hates otaku, but doesn't want anyone else to shut them down (and later mellows out about ending the club).
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Kamui [[InLoveWithYourCarnage gets excited]] watching Gintoki fight Hosen. He declares Gintoki is his (prey) and that he won't allow anyone else to touch him. He even leaves Yoshiwara alone so that nobody will come after Gintoki, and to a lesser extent Kagura. He also think the same thing of Takasugi after meeting him.
** Gintoki and Takasugi both think this of each other, to the point that Gintoki would stand up to defend Takasugi against a enemy, while himself severely wounded.

* In ''Series/{{Kikaider}}'', Hakaider/Saburo's main objective is to destroy the titular android. He resolves the existential crisis of that being his only reason to exist by destroying any other MonsterOfTheWeek that comes close to killing Kikaider, while pushing him to his limits so he can get his money's worth out of his goal when the time comes.

** Detective Zenigata is absolutely determined to be the one to catch and arrest Lupin, firmly convinced at this point he is the only one capable of doing so. He's GenreSavvy enough to know when others catch Lupin, the master thief is up to something and has let himself be caught... and he's always right. [[Anime/LupinIIIVoyageToDanger On one occasion]], when he was removed from the case in favor of an assassin, he actually ''joins'' Lupin's gang because he think the thief deserves prison, but not execution.

** In the side stories, this trope is how [[PsychoForHire Fon Spaak's]] relationship with Celestial Being begins. In 00P, he manages put together some clues and begins to suspect the existence of some sort of secret organization. He then organizes an ambush and has his ass promptly handed to him a Gundam, but Celestial Being's supercomputer orders the pilot to let Fon go, because he's too good to just kill off and won't leak the information anyway because... well, see the page title.

** Also, the sound ninja Dosu wants to be the one to fight Sasuke in the Chunin exams, so he tracks down Sasuke's assigned opponent, planning to kill him. Unfortunately that opponent was Gaara, who murders Dosu in about five seconds.

** Gold Lion Shiki fancied himself as [[GreaterScopeParagon Gold Roger's]] rival when the latter was still alive, believing that only they had the right to kill each other. That ended up ''not'' happening (Roger was captured and executed by the Marines, and [[SecretlyDying was terminally ill anyways]]), and Shiki has since become deeply jaded with the current Pirate Era, seeing all the pirates that came after Roger as nothing but treasure-mongering losers. He's also developed [[FantasticRacism a major hate-boner for the East Blue sea and it's residents]] because Roger died there.
** Roronoa Zoro has this attitude towards Dracule Mihawk, the current World's Greatest Swordsman and his eventual mentor during the TimeSkip. Interestingly, Mihawk ''also'' has this attitude towards Zoro; at the end of his first appearance in the Baratie arc, Mihawk declared to Zoro that he would keep his title for however it long it took for Zoro to reach his level so they could have a rematch.

* Until their promotion in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite'', the only reason that the Team Rocket trio continued to exist in the show was for the sole purpose of capturing Pikachu, giving it to their boss, and becoming ridiculously wealthy, according to their fantasies of how well their boss will reward them. They take serious exception to anyone ''else'' beating Pikachu, because if Pikachu can be beaten then where does that leave them?

* Atobe Keigo's attitude towards Tezuka Kunimitsu in ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis''. In the manga it's more like the most prominent of several rivalries that Atobe has with several players (Sanada and Echizen are the other two), while the anime (and the fandom) exaggerates it to the point of almost stalkerish obsession.

* In ''Manga/RiskySafety'', Risky decides to try and rescue a young girl from burning to death, and prior to that, yells at to not go into her father's burning workshop. Why? Because Risky's supposed to take her soul, and she can't do that if the girl dies by someone/something other than Risky herself. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Or so she claims, anyway...]]

** Becomes the main theme throughout the show, especially with the main characters: [[RedOniBlueOni Jin and Mugen]] each live this trope in their [[FriendlyEnemy friendship]] and ardently believes that they are only ones to kill each other. This also is ''the only thing'' that keeps them with Fuu throughout the show as they promised her that they would not kill each other until they help her find "the samurai that smells of sunflowers". Additionally Fuu spends the entire show trying to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers [[spoiler:so that she can exact her revenge against him for abandoning her and her mother when Fuu was little. She is robbed of this pleasure when she finds him dying in the last episode.]]

* Played with in ''Manga/TheWallflower''. Earlier in the manga Sunako states this to be her reason for saving Kyouhei from anyone who tries to hurt or kill him. As the series progresses however, it becomes a very obvious excuse.

* Kyouko, the main character of the manga ''Manga/SkipBeat'', views her relationship with Shou in this way.

* Goemon and Lupin from ''Franchise/LupinIII'' is an archetypal example of the HeelFaceTurn variant of this trope in Anime. In addition, Detective Zenigata and Lupin are another example from the same series.

** Gintoki and Takasugi both think this of each other, to the point that Gintoki while himself severely wounded,would stand up to defend Takasugi against a enemy.

* Nagi and Ryoko in the 1st ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' TV series. [[spoiler:Nagi joins in the heroes' effort to save Jurai from the usurper Kagato, just to make sure nobody else gets a chance to kill Ryoko.]]
* Kuwabara is like this to Yusuke in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', at least for the first few arcs. It doesn't come up for a while afterwards, [[spoiler:but then, in the Chapter Black storyline, when Yusuke's about to die, Kuwabara reveals that his only dream is to one day defeat him, and basically, for him, [[SpiritedCompetitor mostly everything worthwhile about his life has been getting there]].]]

* Rau Le Creuset in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' believes he is the only one who can kill... [[DarkMessiah everything]]. Especially Kira.
* [[LargeHam Graham]] [[HotBlooded Aker]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' believes that he's the only one allowed to defeat Setsuna F. Seiei (or more to the point, Setsuna's Gundam). Setsuna has more important things to do.
** In the side stories, this trope is how [[PsychoForHire Fon Spaak's]] relationship with Celestial Being begins. In 00P, he manages put together some clues and begins to suspect the existence of some sort of secret organization. He then organizes an ambush and has his ass promptly handed to him a Gundam, but Celestial Being's supercomputer orders the pilot to let Fon go, because he's too good to just kill off and won't leak the information anyway because... well, see the page title.

* Hajime Saitou and Kenshin Himura in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''. Also, to a lesser extent, Aoshi Shinomori and Kenshin Himura.
** And Sanosuke Sagara and Saitou, though that is [[UnknownRival one-sided]] on Sanosuke's part.
* Kirisawa Fuuko and Hanabishi Recca, Ishijima Domon and Recca, and Kurei and Recca (mutual) in ''Manga/FlameOfRecca''.
* Oogami Souma and Tsubasa in ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden''. In an odd, twisted way, also Himemiya Chikane and Kurusugawa Himeko.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Vegeta has this attitude towards Goku, and has saved Goku's life (repeatedly, counting the non-serial movies) just so ''he'' can have the chance to take him down someday.
** Also Goku and Piccolo (Junior) early on, which is why they teamed up against Raditz in the first place. After Piccolo got to kill them both, his motive for being a villain dried up - he claimed that the revived Goku would be next if they could beat the Saiyans, but the HeelFaceTurn had already taken hold by that point.
** In one of the non-canonical movies, Vegeta shouts ''"Kakarotto wa '''ore no mono da!!!'''"'' ("Kakarot is ''mine!''") when Android 13 is beating his rival to death, and charges in to protect Goku. Obviously in context it's something like "he's ''my'' prey, screw off," but it was all too easy for {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s to squeal "HoYay!"
** Likewise (but without the HoYay potential), when the main series, Goku (weakened by disease) is being trounced by Android 19, Vegeta comes to his rescue. He then informs 19 that "Nobody kills Kakarot while I'm around! Destiny has reserved that pleasure for me!"
** Of course in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' there's both of Vegeta's [[DynamicEntry dynamic entries]], which involve him flying in yelling "...mineminemineminemine mine mine mine mine MINE MINE MINE MINE!"
** Done yet again in ''Anime/FusionReborn'', where Goku is backed into a corner by the newly-transformed Janemba. Just when Janemba is about to deliver the final blow, Vegeta rescues him in the nick of time, and pretty much re-iterates this trope.
** There's also Android 16, who is programmed by Dr. Gero to kill Son Goku. And by kill Son Goku, we mean ''only'' Goku. He's completely uninterested with killing, or even fighting, anyone not named Goku (and Cell, because he had some of Goku's DNA). Even after he became a FriendToAllLivingThings, he's ''still'' obsessed with killing Goku. 16 then happily exploits the loophole that Cell is made partially of Goku in order to fight him as well, since Cell is a threat to all of the life that 16 wants to protect. Naturally ''[[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged Abridged]]'' amps up this bit, to the point when Dr. Briefs tries to check what is inside 16's original programming, he is greeted with [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uuO_Qk4P96E/hqdefault.jpg this image]] and Dr. Gero chanting "Kill Son Goku!" over and over.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', the protagonists and antagonists both constantly forsake team combat and outside intervention in favor of fighting the same opponent they faced in the first episode one-on-one. This most notably produces the Fate/Signum rivalry, for which the HeelFaceTurn, MirrorCharacter, and AntagonistInMourning options are all realized.
* Iscariot is this to ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', to such an extent that Anderson's squad of {{Church Militant}}s actually go out of their way to save Integra [[BigDamnHeroes from the clutches of a squad of Millennium soldiers]], declaring that they, not some creatures of the night, will be the ones to defeat the Hellsing organization.
** Well, that is because of this trope ''and'' the fact that Iscariot is a rival vampire-killing organization anyway.
* In ''Anime/AfroSamurai'', the hero is, literally, the only one allowed to defeat the main villain. In contrast, for the sake of multiple action sequences prior to the climactic battle, just about everyone and his uncle is allowed to challenge the hero. The reason: the main villain has the "Number 1 Headband", while the hero has the "Number 2 Headband". Only the Number Two can challenge the Number One, but anyone can challenge the Number Two.
** Based on the final fight between [[spoiler:Justice and Afro]] it would seem in reality that the only one who should've been allowed challenge the Number 2 was [[spoiler:the Number 3, Number 10 being the one anyone and everyone could challenge. Given the other 8 headbands had been lost/collected by Justice and nobody knows about them, Afro]] is the one left dealing with the irritating hoards of wannabes.
* Suzuhara Misaki in ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' has Hatoko, and in the anime, Oujirou and Shuu have the same relationship.
* ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'': Sara and Lottie's initial roadblock to being TrueCompanions is that they both claim to be the only one that can or should defeat Ralph. Lottie eventually relinquishes her claim to Sara.
* Kai felt this way for a short time early in ''Manga/BakutenShootBeyblade'', the manga much more so than the anime. He was furious the Shell Killers had tried to best Takao and kicked the Shitennō out of the group for it.
* Ichigo and Zaraki Kenpachi in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Although, Ichigo wants nothing to do with that fight. Zaraki tends to want to go to the Human World whenever Ichigo's involved with anything there so he can fight him again. Though it's not so much that he wants to kill him, he just wants a sparring partner who can actually challenge him.
** Later, Ichigo with Grimmjow, to the point where there is not one rematch, but ''two''. Also, Grimmjow gets inordinately pissed when he finds out other rival Ulquiorra's been going after "his prey."
** Loly pulls out the stops for this one. She wants to kill Orihime twice, but when Orihime's threatened by Yammy, even though Loly clearly stands no chance, she calls on her released form to defend the human.
* In ''Series/{{Kikaider}}'', Hakaider/Saburo's main objective is to destroy the titular android. He resolves the existential crisis of that being his only reason to exist by destroying any other MonsterOfTheWeek that comes close to killing Kikaider, while pushing him to his limits so he can get his money's worth out of his goal when the time comes.
* Kyuzo embodies this trope with regards to Kambei in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven''.
* Variant: ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}}'' has been known to stop other people from killing his target, and even stop his target from killing himself, in order that he cause the target's death.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'': When Sesshoumaru initially enters the story he doesn't seem to care who, if anyone, kills Inuyasha, as long as he gets possession of the sword that their father bequeathed to Inuyasha. As the plot goes on, however, his behaviour becomes much more complicated; it becomes increasingly common for him to aggressively enforce his claim on Inuyasha's life whenever a situation occurs that could involve Inuyasha losing his life to others. It becomes increasingly clear it's a face-saving excuse to step in whenever Inuyasha and even any of his friends are in trouble without Sesshoumaru having to admit that he's not [[IWasJustPassingThrough Just Passing Through]]. Eventually, even the excuses stop when, during a fight with the UltimateEvil, he openly admits he's protecting them all.
* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Colonel Mustang invokes this trope after finally tracking down Envy, [[spoiler:Hughes's killer. The other characters leave him to it, but soon realize that [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he won't be coming back]] [[MoralEventHorizon from that path]], and come back to stop him]].
** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Envy literally bases his entire existence on [[spoiler:killing his father/creator, Hohenheim]]. Then he throws a floor-destroying temper tantrum when he thinks [[spoiler:Dante]] beat him to it.
* Rukawa and Sakuragi to Sendoh, and later Rukawa to [[spoiler: Sawakita]] in ''Manga/SlamDunk.''
* The reason Van and Ray are opposed to each other in ''Anime/GunXSword'' is because both are determined to be the one who kills the Claw.
* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': Papillon is single-mindedly obsessed with ensuring that nothing and no-one else kills the protagonist Kazuki Mutou before he can get a rematch with the StockShonenHero. He takes this obsession so far that he eventually becomes one of the heroes' most valuable allies [[AntiVillain despite technically being a villain]].
* In ''[[Manga/RozenMaiden Rozen Maiden Träumend]]'', the first season's BigBad Suigintou gives an entire speech about how she will be the one to ultimately defeat Shinku [[spoiler:while taking a fatal barrage of crystal arrows, shielding Shinku from harm and dying in her arms]].
* Pixy Misa in ''[[Anime/PrettySammy Magical Project S]]'' often talks about how she will be the one to defeat Pretty Sammy and nobody else.
* Kyouko, the main character of the manga ''Manga/SkipBeat'', views her relationship with Shou in this way.
* This is pretty much Aptom's raison d'etre in ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'', his sole goal in life is to defeat Sho in combat.
* Until their promotion in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite'', the only reason that the Team Rocket trio continued to exist in the show was for the sole purpose of capturing Pikachu, giving it to their boss, and becoming ridiculously wealthy, according to their fantasies of how well their boss will reward them. They take serious exception to anyone ''else'' beating Pikachu, because if Pikachu can be beaten then where does that leave them?
** Even in ''Best Wishes'' Team Rocket pulled one of their most badass {{Enemy Mine}}s to protect Pikachu from Team Plasma. Meowth in particular randomly became a fighting machine and took down half their army.
** Also, if you think about the movies, Team Rocket often helps out Ash and company because, as Meowth put it in the dub of the third movie, "[[BreakingTheFourthWall If anything ever happened to you, we'd be out of show biz!]]"
** In XY&Z the trio warn off Team Flare, declaring Ash and Co. as their prey and nobody else's. [[UnknownRival Team Flare is unimpressed.]]
* As revealed in chapter 4 in ''Manga/PocketMonstersBWTheHeroesOfFireAndThunder'', [[spoiler:N, having taken over the Pokémon League, knows very well that no one is allowed to battle N...with the exception of Shin. As such, he sends Alder to ensure that the Light Stone chooses Shin as the Hero of Fire so that he can battle N.]]
* Rather explicitly used in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' with Vicious and Spike, with Vicious even telling Spike in the final episode: "I've told you before that I am the only one who can kill you." Unlike most examples of this trope though, Vicious never rescues Spike from any other opponents who might be able to off him. His attitude seems to be not so much that no one else is ''allowed'' to kill Spike, but that Vicious genuinely believes no one else ''can''.
* Atobe Keigo's attitude towards Tezuka Kunimitsu in ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis''. In the manga it's more like the most prominent of several rivalries that Atobe has with several players (Sanada and Echizen are the other two), while the anime (and the fandom) exaggerates it to the point of almost stalkerish obsession.
* ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer'': "Princess" Sami is determined to save Earth from a mage bent on cracking it open with a gigantic hammer... so that ''she'' can destroy it herself!
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', while Ladd Russo and Lua Klein are not rivals, Ladd does promise to be the one to kill her, and will let no one else do it.
** He gives a similar response to [[TalkativeLoon Graham Spectre]], stating, "I like brazen, impudent guys that only I can kill." Graham may as well have [[HoYay taken it for a love confession]].
* Yajirou towards The Jester in ''Anime/{{Grenadier}}'' after he finds out who he really is.
* {{Hilari|tyEnsues}}ously {{subverted|Trope}} in ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} ~After Story~'' episode 2, where Sunohara wrongly imagines himself and Tomoyo to be this:
-->'''Youhei:''' It's got nothing to do with you.\\
'''Tomoyo:''' Exactly. See you. ''[begins to walk away]''\\
'''Youhei:''' No! You're supposed to say, "I don't want to see you lose to anyone other than me."
* In ''Anime/BattleBDaman'', AntiHero Enjyu is obsessed with defeating TheHero Yamato Delgato and ends up secretly helping the main gang because doing otherwise would let BigBad Marda-B defeat Yamato.
* Yami from ''Manga/ToLoveRu'' acts this way towards Rito, to the point of saving his life repeatedly so that she can kill him. Of course, she's had dozens of opportunities to off him, but never actually ''does'', so it seems that the whole "only I can kill him" thing is just an act to justify saving him all the time.
** Or it is because, as Yami justifies it, so that she can stay on Earth since she likes it there.
* Hermit to Kenichi in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple''.
* ''Anime/KiddyGrade'': Un-ou to Éclair.
* From ''Manga/LiarGame'', it appears that Yokoya is heading towards this path in regards to both Nao and Akiyama. At first, it seemed that he only wanted to crush Nao in an attempt to defeat Akiyama. But after the Pandemic Game, he's got his sights set on defeating Nao as well.
* Suzaku is this to Zero (and, indeed, whoever he feels is "wrong") in ''Anime/CodeGeass'', though somewhat subverted in that he does not go out of his way to protect them from others who decide to take the opportunity. He will complain, but that's about it.
** This is pretty much his role in [[spoiler: Zero Requiem]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** This is [[spoiler: Trafalgar Law]]'s ''stated'' motivation for saving Luffy despite ''frequently'' denying that he and Luffy are friends. He considers Luffy a WorthyOpponent and thinks it would be "lame" for Luffy to die prematurely. There are hints, however, that there's a bit more to it than that...
** Gold Lion Shiki fancied himself as [[GreaterScopeParagon Gold Roger's]] rival when the latter was still alive, believing that only they had the right to kill each other. That ended up ''not'' happening (Roger was captured and executed by the Marines, and [[SecretlyDying was terminally ill anyways]]), and Shiki has since become deeply jaded with the current Pirate Era, seeing all the pirates that came after Roger as nothing but treasure-mongering losers. He's also developed [[FantasticRacism a major hate-boner for the East Blue sea and it's residents]] because Roger died there.
** Roronoa Zoro has this attitude towards Dracule Mihawk, the current World's Greatest Swordsman and his eventual mentor during the TimeSkip. Interestingly, Mihawk ''also'' has this attitude towards Zoro; at the end of his first appearance in the Baratie arc, Mihawk declared to Zoro that he would keep his title for however it long it took for Zoro to reach his level so they could have a rematch.
* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' subverts this in that Johan handpicks Tenma to be the one to kill ''him'', but it is also played straight in that he will not let anyone - the police, random Nazis, or sundry criminals - lay their hands on either Tenma or Nina without aid to the two and swift retribution to their enemies.
* ''Anime/TheTowerOfDruaga'' blatantly uses this in its first episode (which is a [[AllJustADream dream sequence]]/wild parody of video game and anime tropes) with the Black Knight and a random innkeeper declaring this to the main character. Unfortunately, in the main character's dream world, this phrase (along with [[{{Retirony}} "When this is all done I plan to return to my homeland and get married."]]) is taboo, as both of them die seconds after saying it.
* Chapter 290, as well as chapters 310+ of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' shows that Fate really just wants to fight and defeat Negi. [[FoeYay Above all else.]] He takes it up a level in chapter 314, to the point of [[spoiler:attacking one of his "brothers" about to finish off one of Negi's students]].
* A really weird inverted example in ''LightNovel/{{Corsair}}'', where [[ProfessionalKiller assassin-trained]] [[TheStrategist Kanare]] is only happy once he has [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial repeated assurances]] from his lover MasterSwordsman [[TheStoic Ayace]] that if he goes on a killing spree Ayace will kill him. [[SarcasmMode Uh-huh.]] [[LoveMakesYouDumb Suuuurrre.]]
* Hayato and Kaga in ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'', as Kaga sees his rivalry with Hayato as this, In fact, he doesn't anyone else to be his rival, [[spoiler:and he even beats Hayato in his final race in ''SIN''.]]
* In ''Manga/RiskySafety'', Risky decides to try and rescue a young girl from burning to death, and prior to that, yells at to not go into her father's burning workshop. Why? Because Risky's supposed to take her soul, and she can't do that if the girl dies by someone/something other than Risky herself. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Or so she claims, anyway...]]
* Both [[ZigZaggedTrope played straight and averted]] in ''Manga/BlackCat''. [[TheHero Train]] and Creed seem to have a mutual attitude along these lines, although neither of them actually go out of their way to help the other. Also, in volume four of the manga, an assassin appears who believes that killing is an art. After witnessing Train shoot '''bullets out of the air''', the assassin ignores his current target and leaves, before flat-out telling Train (paraphrased) "You'd better stay alive, so I can kill you myself." Averted, in that the character never makes another appearance.
* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': Pretty much invoked word for word by all of Medaka's former enemies, including the Plus in support for her against [[spoiler: Kumagawa]].
* ''Anime/VariableGeo'': Just as Yuka's on the cusp of being defeated by Jun, she recalls the oath she and [[ChildhoodFriends her best friend, Satomi]] made to each other: that they wouldn't allow themselves to lose to ''anyone'' [[FriendlyRivalry until they had the chance to face each other]] in the VG tournament. Which gives Yuka the impetus she needed to defeat Jun.
* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', [[spoiler: Ryoko Asakura]] invokes this when [[spoiler: she protects Kyon from Kuyo Suou, calling him "her prey", and drives the point home by holding a knife at his throat while fighting]].
* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', after Saber and Lancer's duel was interrupted by the other Servants getting in on the action, Lancer developed a major case of this towards Saber, [[IWasJustPassingThrough even going blatantly out of his way to save her on numerous occasions.]] Given that, in said duel [[spoiler: she received an incurable wound that will only go away if she defeats him]], the feeling is probably mutual.
* In chapter 213 of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' Kanda tells Link "If your mission is to assassinate bean sprout (Allen), I'll cut you down where you stand. I'm the one who'll kill him."
* Sheila of ''Manga/{{Superior}}'' claims, repeatedly, that this is why she won't let anyone else kill Exa. She also claims she won't kill him herself because she's not done toying with him yet. (It becomes obvious pretty quickly that she just likes him too much to want him dead.)
* ''Anime/CasshernSins'': Lyuze tells Casshern that "You're not allowed to die until I kill you." [[YouKilledMyFather She wants revenge for her sister]] and the world in general. [[spoiler: Eventually she has a different reason.]]
* ''Manga/RamenFighterMiki'': PlayedForLaughs ''Almost'' invoked word by word:
-->'''UnknownRival:''' ''Onimaru Miki! How could you have a showdown with someone else without letting me know, nya? The one who will defeat you is me, Nishiyama Kanku-'' [[{{KilledMidSentence}} Knocked Out Mid Sentence]]
* Somewhat inverted in ''Manga/DeathNote'' where [[VillainProtagonist Light]] [[SerialKiller Yagami]] seems to feel that [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist L]] ought to be the only one allowed to defeat ''him'', and he's very bent out of shape when [[spoiler: [[AntagonistInMourning somebody else takes over]] and does it instead]]. This is also one fan explanation for why Light sees L [[spoiler: as he's dying]], though there are [[FoeYay other theories]].
* Played with in ''Manga/TheWallflower''. Earlier in the manga Sunako states this to be her reason for saving Kyouhei from anyone who tries to hurt or kill him. As the series progresses however, it becomes a very obvious excuse.
* In ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', main character Thorfinn has sworn a blood oath to kill his raider band's leader, Askeladd, for [[YouKilledMyFather killing his father]] and repeatedly (and irrationally) protects his own father's killer from harm in order to be able to kill him in a "fair" fight. It becomes a deconstructed trope as it's made clear that ten years with this attitude has more or less ruined Thorfinn's life and he wouldn't know what to do ''if'' he ever killed Askeladd, which he's unable to do anyway because Askeladd pretty taught him how to fight in the first place and can beat Thorfinn effortlessly every time he's challenged. Askeladd eventually calls Thorfinn out on his entire attitude and calls him an idiot. [[spoiler:He is stabbed fatally by Canute on the following day and Thorfinn finds himself unable to even give him a MercyKill, instead going into a HeroicBSOD and attacking Canute.]]
* In ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', this is the default attitude of Emi Yusa, hero of Ente Isla, towards her arch nemesis, Satan, or Maou Sadao as he goes by on Earth. Unfortunately because neither one of them can use their magic for very long and Maou appears to be a regular human due to his lack of magic, to Earthlings she just comes off as a ClingyJealousGirl and StalkerWithACrush who hasn't gotten over her breakup with Maou.
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' and ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'':
** Mikoto Misaka wants to beat Touma Kamiou in a fight, and is displeased when he runs away from common street thugs. She says that if he can beat her yet runs away from them, it will make her look bad as it implies she's weaker than the thugs.
** Shizuri Mugino steps in and saves Shiage Hamazura from soldiers, as she wants revenge for him previously defeating her, and she feels the only way to restore her wounded pride is to kill him herself.
* In ''LightNovel/SoICantPlayH'', Ilia gets pissed if anyone interferes with her rivalry with Lisara, as she feels a victory over her would be meaningless unless she defeats her herself.
* In ''Manga/UshioAndTora'', the titular Tora, seemingly only biding his time before he can kill the protagonist, uses this reason for helping him (although taking the def out of defeat for his intentions).
* In ''Manga/ZatchBell'' Sherry Belmont is rather insistent that no one but her defeat Zofis, which would send him back to the demon world. Since Zofis has brainwashed her best friend into being his evil, sadistic partner, it seems like a case of ItsPersonal. However, when she finally has him cornered, Sherry reveals her real motivation was she needed him to stick around until she could make him undo the brainwashing and return her friend to her original gentle self.
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', this is [[TokenEvilTeammate Kamanosuke's]] reason to help Saizou and [[DefeatMeansFriendship join the Braves]]. He [[InLoveWithYourCarnage fell in love with Saizo's carnage]] when they first fought and wants to stick around so that he ([[CrazyJealousGuy and only he]]) can fight ToThePain with Saizo until Saizo kills him. [[OnlySaneMan Saizo]] neither understands, cares, nor appreciates this.
* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool Side:Future'', this is why [[spoiler: Juzo Sakakura]] hates [[TheHero Makoto Naegi]] so much. [[spoiler:After [[GreaterScopeVillain Junko Enoshima]] beat the shit out of him, [[{{Gayngst}} used his unrequited feelings for Munakata to emotionally blackmail him into letting her off the hook]], and destroyed the world, Sakakura had to live with the guilt of failing to stop her ever since and swore to be the one to kill her. However, Naegi defeating Enoshima in the Mutual Killing Game put a wrinkle in his plans, causing Sakakura to develop a grudge against him]].
* Inverted in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' with HeroKiller Stain, who declares that only [[TheCape All Might]] (the only hero who has his respect) has the right to kill him.
* ''Manga/BananaFish'''s Dino Golzine frequently has to remind his staff and any authorities to capture Ash Lynx alive... so that Dino can kill him. His justification for this is that he was the one who "created" Ash (in that he nurtured Ash's talents) and thus has the right to destroy him. [[spoiler:Dino is killed by a third party before he manages to get to Ash. Ash is also killed by a third party at the very end of the manga.]]
* In ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'', this is the defining basis of Yuko's relationship with Momo. At the beginning, Yuko--the titular demon girl--saw Momo, the local MagicalGirl, as a genuine adversary, out of the desire to take some of Momo's blood to break the curse on her family. [[spoiler:Then she succeeds in breaking a part of it, entirely by accident.]] Even when they develop a genuine friendship, Yuko is still determined to get the better of Momo to show that she's a WorthyOpponent deserving of respect. She even worries that some other demon is going to beat her to it and take Momo away. [[spoiler:It's still the case much later on when they have essentially become sisterly HeterosexualLifePartners with both of them ''willing to die for the other''. She just can't be honest with her feelings.]]
--> '''Yuko:''' Momo has been my mortal enemy ever since the moment I first laid eyes on her. I'll chase her to the ends of the Earth until I can finally claim victory over her!
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'': A justified example. In the second Squad Jam tournament, Pito has decided that if she dies in the game, she'll kill herself in real life. However, earlier she promised her friend LLENN that if LLENN managed to defeat her in a duel, they could meet up in real life. So LLENN has to be the one to kill Pito to save her life.

* Until their promotion in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}: Best Wishes'', the only reason that the Team Rocket trio continued to exist in the show was for the sole purpose of capturing Pikachu, giving it to their boss, and becoming ridiculously wealthy, according to their fantasies of how well their boss will reward them. They take serious exception to anyone ''else'' beating Pikachu, because if Pikachu can be beaten then where does that leave them?

* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', the protagonists and antagonists both constantly forsake team combat and outside intervention in favor of fighting the same opponent they faced in the first episode one-on-one. This most notably produces the Fate/Signum rivalry, for which the HeelFaceTurn, NotSoDifferent, and AntagonistInMourning options are all realized.

* ''Manga/MutekiKanbanMusume'': PlayedForLaughs ''Almost'' invoked word by word:

* Oogami Souma and Tsubasa in ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko''. In an odd, twisted way, also Himemiya Chikane and Kurusugawa Himeko.

* Chapter 290, as well as chapters 310+ of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' shows that Fate really just wants to fight and defeat Negi. [[FoeYay Above all else.]] He takes it up a level in chapter 314, to the point of [[spoiler:attacking one of his "brothers" about to finish off one of Negi's students]].

* Played with in Manga/TheWallflower. Earlier in the manga Sunako states this to be her reason for saving Kyouhei from anyone who tries to hurt or kill him. As the series progresses however, it becomes a very obvious excuse.

* In ''Anime/DanganRonpa3 Side:Future'', this is why [[spoiler: Juzo Sakakura]] hates [[TheHero Makoto Naegi]] so much. [[spoiler:After [[GreaterScopeVillain Junko Enoshima]] beat the shit out of him, [[{{Gayngst}} used his unrequited feelings for Munakata to emotionally blackmail him into letting her off the hook]], and destroyed the world, Sakakura had to live with the guilt of failing to stop her ever since and swore to be the one to kill her. However, Naegi defeating Enoshima in the Mutual Killing Game put a wrinkle in his plans, causing Sakakura to develop a grudge against him]].

* Suzuhara Misaki in ''Anime/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' has Hatoko, and in the anime, Oujirou and Shuu have the same relationship.

* Papillon of ''Manga/BusoRenkin'' takes this to its logical conclusion, being so single-mindedly obsessed with ensuring that nothing and no-one else kills the protagonist Kazuki Mutou that he effectively ends up as one of the heroes' most valuable allies despite technically being a villain.

** Also, if you think about the movies, Team Rocket often helps out Ash and company because, as Meowth put it in the dub of the third movie, "[[GenreSavvy If anything ever happened to you, we'd be out of show biz!]]"

* Papillon of ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' takes this to its logical conclusion, being so single-mindedly obsessed with ensuring that nothing and no-one else kills the protagonist Kazuki Mutou that he effectively ends up as one of the heroes' most valuable allies despite technically being a villain.

--> '''Yuko:''' Momo has been my mortal enemy ever since the moment I first laid eyes on her. I'll chase her to the ends of the Earth until I can finally claim victory over her!

* ''Manga/BananaFish'''s Dino Golzine frequently has to remind his staff and any authorities to capture Ash Lynx alive... so that Dino can kill him. His justification for this is that he was the one who "created" Ash (in that he nurtured Ash's talents) and thus has the right to destroy him. [[spoiler:Dino is killed by a third party before he manages to get to Ash. Ash is also killed by a third party at the very end of the manga.]]

** Vegeta has this attitude towards Goku; despite vocally hating him for much of the series, he's still willing to save Goku's life (repeatedly, counting the movies) just for the chance to take him down himself.

* Goku and Vegeta in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Also Goku and Piccolo (Junior) early on, which is why they teamed up against Raditz in the first place. After Piccolo got to kill them both, his motive for being a villain dried up - he claimed that the revived Goku would be next if they could beat the Saiyans, but the HeelFaceTurn had already taken hold by that point.

* The jury is still out, but this may have been [[spoiler: Trafalgar Law]]'s motivation for saving Luffy in ''Manga/OnePiece'' due to him ''frequently'' denying considering Luffy a friend.
** He says he considers Luffy a WorthyOpponent and thinks it would be "lame" for Luffy to die prematurely.

* Tyson and Kai in ''Anime/{{Beyblade}}''. And Tyson and Ray. And Tyson and Max. And Tyson and Daichi. And...