History WellIntentionedExtremist / AnimeAndManga

* Furumori from ''LightNovel/DragonCrisis''. He was angry at the society because, [[spoiler: when he was a researcher there, a female researcher he was working with was afflicted with a cursed precious treasure. He wanted to get a lost precious from one of the higher ups, but they constantly refused, which caused her to die.]] As a result, he went rogue and kidnapped/raised a girl to help him steal lost precious in order to share it with the world. Unfortunately, he didn't care how he got it and who had to get hurt or die in the process (although, in the anime at least, they never show him or [[spoiler: Ai, his "dog",]] actually killing anyone, although he does try to do that to Ryuuji).

* The Space Defense Force from ''{{Anime/Planetes}}'' were essentially space terrorists. They consisted of people from various nations that didn't have sufficient space-faring technology, and therefore fell behind while other nations that had a presence in space continued to get richer due to being able to exploit the resources out there such as from asteroids. Their main objective was to ensure that poorer nations got to benefit from technology and resources found in space, since many of them were suffering from civil war or lawlessness. And they tried several different methods to convince said nations to accept their demands, such as blowing up a space station or later, crashing a colony onto a moon base.

* ''Literature/{{Shimoneta}}''

** The balance of souls between worlds is so critical disruption can destroy existence itself. 200 years ago, the Quincies were so zealously trying to protect humanity from hollows that they destroyed too many souls and refused to listen to shinigami warnings. The shinigami were forced to go to the same extreme by wiping out the Quincies to save existence itself. The Ishida Quincies agree the shinigami did the right thing. [[spoiler:The Vandenreich Quincies disagree. When they try to disrupt the balance of souls again, Mayuri is forced to kill 28,000 Rukongai subjects to correct it. Yamamoto says Soul Society would have supported Mayuri's act but he's angry that Mayuri didn't clear the bureaucratic red tape first before doing it.]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':

* ''LightNovel/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The residents of the Dragon Village [[spoiler:want to sacrifice Elulu to create the holy sword Igzasion, all to defeat Gaeabrande's Demon Lord. They'll go as far as to slip the party paralytic drugs to ensure that they can't interfere with the ritual. They also killed any of their citizens who opposed the sacrifice, including Elulu and Mash's families.]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}''

* ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir''

** Both of them were Char Aznable from the first ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' series, or, to be more precise, ''Char's Counterattack'', in which Char tries to make the Earth uninhabitable to force the population to migrate into space, which he believes will prevent wars by making everyone a [[EvolutionaryLevels Newtype]]

** It's often forgotten that the protagonists are outright called terrorists, though, unlike most, they limit their attacks to the military and have no intention of harming innocent civilians. The line still gets crossed a few times, though: Heero destroys a plane full of OZ leaders ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero only they were actually planning a peace treaty with the colonies, and he was tricked into shooting them down without knowing that fact]]), and Wu Fei blows up a barracks full of sleeping soldiers ([[NeverLiveItDown sadly, people tend to gloss over his obvious displeasure with this act]]).

** Zechs Merquise/Milliardo Peacecraft of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'', who became convinced, in the final episodes of the anime, that the only way to end humanity's penchant for war was to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy the Earth]], the cradle of humanity's bloody history, as he believed that the people of the space colonies were purer in purpose in regard to peace than those who lived on Earth. More than that, though, it was an idea hatched by Zechs and Treize to show humanity a conflict so bloody and violent that humanity would lose the will to fight ever again. It's sort of like an intentionally planned World War I, and actually ends with the same results: mainly, that people DO lose the will to fight...for a while.

** It's often forgotten that the protagonists of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' are outright called terrorists, though, unlike most, they limit their attacks to the military and have no intention of harming innocent civilians. The line still gets crossed a few times, though: Heero destroys a plane full of OZ leaders ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero only they were actually planning a peace treaty with the colonies, and he was tricked into shooting them down without knowing that fact]]), and Wu Fei blows up a barracks full of sleeping soldiers ([[NeverLiveItDown sadly, people tend to gloss over his obvious displeasure with this act]]).

* Guy from ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi''. [[spoiler:In order to remove the Pet Ring that binds his ex-lover Riki as a sex slave to Iason, he cuts off Riki's penis where the ring was attached. He then attempts to murder the aristocratic Iason to free Riki once and for all.]]

** Jellal Fernandes wanted to create a world where everyone could be free and no-one would ever suffer. He decided to do this by [[spoiler:attempting to resurrect Black Mage Zeref, the UltimateEvil of the entire series, and using his power to achieve that goal.]]

* ''Manga/{{Akumetsu}}'': ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Comicbook/VForVendetta'' [[RecycledINSPACE In JAPAN!]] is an apt description of the series.

* Paul von Oberstein in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is a well-intentioned revolutionary with [[TheUnfettered no moral borders whatsoever]]. He won't even blanche at such tasks as to [[spoiler:allow the whole planet get nuked into oblivion for propaganda purposes.]] The most disturbing thing is that his ideas all ''[[TheExtremistWasRight work]]''.

** [[TheChessmaster Lelouch vi Britannia]] is actually a well-intentioned extremist. His primary goal is overthrowing the oppressive SocialDarwinist [[TheEmpire Britannian Empire]] because it tramples on those who are weak or kind-hearted. Oh, and there's lots of mass murder of its third-class citizens and anyone who lives in a country that it wants to take over. In a subversion, even he has trouble stomaching some of the steps it takes to achieve his goal, as seen when [[spoiler:he becomes physically sick after killing his half-brother Clovis, who fully supported the Empire -- and more than that, killed several thousand people to keep his illegal experiments hidden -- and nearly breaks down after unintentionally making his beloved half-sister [[TheCutie Euphemia]] go AxCrazy, so [[KillTheCutie Lelouch had to kill her]] and make the best out of a bad situation.]] In all, he often has a choice between a terrible, terrible thing, and an even more terrible thing.

** And then there is [[AcePilot Kallen Kozuki]], who is, without a doubt, the most straightforwardly heroic character in the series. But that didn't stop her from [[spoiler: seriously considering stabbing [[TheCutie Shirley Fenette]] to death for almost blowing her cover. In her defense, she contemplated doing the same to Suzaku and Lelouch, and she seemed more reluctant with Shirley.]] Fortunately [[CharacterDevelopment she develops beyond this and resolves harder to keep her friends out of the conflict]]. Even considering her development, her Guren [=MKII=] has a brutal, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath face meltingly devastating]] signature attack meant to ''kill'' the pilots of the Knightmare Frames that she engages in battle. Yeah, the whole series is filled to the brim with this trope.

** Lelouch is actually a well-intentioned extremist. His primary goal is overthrowing the oppressive SocialDarwinist [[TheEmpire empire]] because it tramples on those who are weak or kind-hearted. Oh, and there's lots of mass murder of its third-class citizens and anyone who lives in a country that it wants to take over. In a subversion, even he has trouble stomaching some of the steps it takes to achieve his goal, as seen when [[spoiler:he becomes physically sick after killing a half-brother who fully supported the empire - and more than that, killed several thousand people to keep his illegal experiments hidden -- and nearly breaks down after unintentionally making his beloved half-sister go AxCrazy, so Lelouch had to kill her and make the best out of a bad situation.]] In all, he often has a choice between a terrible, terrible thing, and an even more terrible thing.
** Then the show ''really'' messes with the audience when it reveals that [[spoiler:'''both''' of Lelouch's parents, Emperor Charles (whom he despises) and Marianne (whom he admires) intended on creating an ideal world free of war, strife, or lies, by slaying the gods and starting their own version of Ragnarok. Oh, and they ask him to go along with it too.]]
** Lelouch [[spoiler:throws the "Well-Intentioned" out of Extremist when he becomes a despotic overlord and Emperor of the world, and moves to execute any and all political opponents. Oh, wait, no, that's how he '''wants''' to portray himself, so that once the world's hate is concentrated on him, he can arrange for himself to be publicly assassinated, ending the chain of hatred by setting up the infrastructures and political status quos he had set up earlier himself and [[ThanatosGambit achieve world peace through his death]], symbolically killing the world's hatred with him.]]
** Schneizel [[spoiler:had his own designs for bringing about world peace. They just happened to involve nuking a bunch of key cities and using the Black Knights and his own sister Nunnally as pawns.]]
** Even [[spoiler:Nunnally, [[AllLovingHeroine of all people]], [[CharacterDevelopment becomes]] one when she mixes parts of both [[SilentScapegoat Lelouch's]] and [[NukeEm Schneizel's]] strategies for world peace to concoct her own, somewhat less drastic, [[EnforcedColdWar scenario]]. She had indisputably good intentions, but the plan still involves threats, nukes, social engineering, and effective world-domination. [[ItRunsInTheFamily It most definitely runs in the family]].]] To her defense, [[spoiler:she didn't plan to use nukes, but she just couldn't stop Schneizel, who had been using her. So her plan was to get along with him and, when an opportunity arrived, to get rid of him and Damocles, which would become symbol of hate]].
** And then there is Kallen, who is, without a doubt, the most straightforwardly heroic character in the series, but that didn't stop her from [[spoiler: seriously considering stabbing [[TheCutie Shirley]] to death for almost blowing her cover. In her defense, she contemplated doing the same to Suzaku and Lelouch, and she seemed more reluctant with Shirley.]] Fortunately [[CharacterDevelopment she develops beyond this and resolves harder to keep her friends out of the conflict]]. Plus her mecha's [[CruelAndUnusualDeath face meltingly devastating]] signature attack. Yeah, the whole series is filled to the brim with this trope.

* Dartz from the original ''Anime/YuGiOh'' qualifies, because he wants to [[OmnicidalManiac kill off humanity, who is corrupting the world]]. Unlike the above example, he [[ManipulativeBastard toys with his minions when he would easily sacrifice them to resurrect an ancient monster]], [[MoralEventHorizon uses thousands of humans AND duel monsters as sacrificial pawns]]. But his worst acts are [[spoiler: using Yugi, Pegasus, Joey, and Mai as human shields against Seto and Yami in the final duel, and causing the events that made his minions so screwed up in the first place.]] However, at the end of the Doma arc, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Dartz was [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by the Orichalcos]] so it wasn't exactly his fault.

** [[spoiler: Rex Godwin]], who just wants to deal with the Signer conflict permanently by [[spoiler: combining the powers of his brother's Signer Birthmark and his own Dark Signer Birthmark he picked up to overpower both gods and destroy the world to rebuild it anew so that the cycle doesn't start all over again in 5000 years' time.]]
** All of Yliaster count as this, especially their mastermind, [[spoiler: ZONE. His plan is to wipe out Neo-Domino and Momentum to prevent his BadFuture from happening again. The tool is his [[ColonyDrop Arc Cradle]], which he aims to use to destroy Neo-Domino and everything in the surrounding 30 miles, sacrificing millions of lives, all in a last effort to save not only billions, but the planet itself.]]

** Kaito probably qualifies in the first season. He doesn't particularly like what he does to the people who he takes Numbers from, but he does it in order to heal his younger brother. Even Yuma respects him for this, despite the fact that Kaito never lets Yuma forget that he is on his "hit list". [[spoiler: To make this worse, what Kaito was doing in the first season wasn't helping Haruto at all; it was a lie used by [[BigBad Dr. Faker]], who was being manipulated by [[GreaterScopeVillain Barian]] in order to destroy the Astral World]].
** In fact, [[spoiler:Dr. Faker himself falls into this category, but we don't find out until the end of the first season. For all his ranting like an AxeCrazy MadScientist who wanted to TakeOverTheWorld, his true goal was simply to find a cure for Haruto. His mistake, it seemed, was trusting the Barians and letting them manipulate him, forcing him to commit horrible crimes in exchange for promises they never planned to keep.]]
** Actually, ''Zexal'' is ''full'' of this Trope. [[spoiler: [[LightIsNotGood Elphias]] is willing to commit genocide on the Barian World in order to protect the Astral World, while the Barians are willing to do the same thing to the inhabitants of the Astral World to protect their people. (Except for Vector; he clearly doesn't even have good intentions.)]]
** Then there's Mr. Heartland, who ''claims'' he's this, even quoting the quote on the main page by Bernard of Clairvaux nearly word-for-word before his duel with Kaito in the second season (cut from the dub); however, given his actions, it's ''very'' hard to believe he has any intentions for what he does except greed.

** [[spoiler:Gouda]], who tricked [[spoiler:Kuze into [[ChessMaster doing all these things]].]] If Japan wasn't willing to face all it's social issues, [[spoiler:he would force them to deal with them]].

** The spin-offs introduced characters who took extreme measures to fight against the effects of [[spoiler: Kyubey's magical girl system]] ''Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica'' has [[spoiler: the [[AmazonBrigade Pleiades Saints]]. When their leader became a witch they began a complicated plan to reject Kyubey's system. This includes, among other things, hunting down magical girls and making them {{Human Popsicle}}s so they won't become witches. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard This backfires on them hard.]]]] ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' has [[spoiler: [[AntagonistTitle the eponymous Oriko]]. When she [[{{Seer}} has a vision]] of a witch that could destroy the world, she begins a [[GambitRoulette complicated plan]] to stop the [[ApocalypseMaiden girl who will become that witch]] from contracting. This includes, among other things, sending her PsychoSupporter to kill other magical girls. Oriko ultimately succeeds in her plan [[TakingYouWithMe at the moment of her death]].]] In ''Manga/PuellaMagiSuzuneMagica'' [[spoiler: the title character [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim skips the convoluted plots]] and just [[SerialKiller kills magical girls]] before they become witches.]] There's also a bit of DramaticIrony going on; in the end of the anime [[spoiler: all witches are [[RetGone retroactively erased from existence]]]], so everything the extremists did [[ShaggyDogStory proved to be meaningless]].

* Neo Saiba's goal in ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01'' is to create a world where no one can be hurt. His way of going about this involves a massive army of demons enhanced by the data of a genetic abomination, and the destruction of the Digimon World down to its [[NumerologicalMotif base elements]] (ZeroesAndOnes).

** Juzo Sakakura is TheDragon to Munakata, and [[{{Yandere}} fanatically loyal]] to his cause to the point where he has no issue turning on people he considered allies moments before just for questioning him, and doesn't even bat an eye when his recklessness indirectly gets one of them killed at the start of the new DeadlyGame. However, he's not a complete sociopath as he [[CruelToBeKind (violently) dissuades]] Hajime from investigating the murder of Fuyuhiko's sister during the Despair arc so he isn't [[HeKnowsTooMuch silenced]] by the academy.

** In fact, [[spoiler:Dr. Faker himself falls into this category, but we don't find out until the end of the first season. For all his ranting like an AxeCrazy MadScientist who wanted to TakeOverTheWorld, his true goal was simply to find a cure for Haurto. His mistake, it seemed, was trusting the Barians and letting them manipulate him, forcing him to commit horrible crimes in exchange for promises they never planned to keep.]]

* Sensui from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' who wishes to eliminate humanity because his [[BlackAndWhiteMorality strict views of good and evil]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation can't prepare him for]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters witnessing some humans' sadistic actions]] -- ironic, given he is human himself AND, at the time, a spirit detective, whose job description is ''to protect humankind''. He was this ''even when he was a Spirit Detective''. He considered ''all'' demons pure evil before his FaceHeelTurn.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has many examples depending on who's talking, but the most obvious one is [[spoiler:Eren Yeager]]. He ultimately fights for freedom and peace, even if that means [[spoiler:invading enemy nations, psychologically tormenting someone who you've already made suicidal, killing innocent civilians and making your homeland within the walls of Paradis Island a sitting target for the world's militaries to attack]]. Granted, from the beginning of the series he wanted to [[spoiler:wipe out all the titans in the world, and his goal has just shifted from killing titans to killing Marleyans]], but he still exhibits extremist behaviour that's similar to his enemies'.

** Juzo Sakakura is TheDragon to Munakata, and fanatically loyal to his cause to the point where he has no issue turning on people he considered allies moments before just for questioning him, and doesn't even bat an eye when his recklessness indirectly gets one of them killed at the start of the new DeadlyGame. However, he's not a complete sociopath as he [[CruelToBeKind (violently) dissuades]] Hajime from investigating the murder of Fuyuhiko's sister during the Despair arc so he isn't [[HeKnowsTooMuch silenced]] by the academy.

** Even [[spoiler:Nunnally, [[AllLovingHeroine of all people]], [[CharacterDevelopment becomes]] one when she mixes parts of both [[SilentScapegoat Lelouch's]] and [[NukeEm Schneizel's]] strategies for world peace to concoct her own, somewhat less drastic, [[EnforcedColdWar scenario]]. She had indisputably good intentions, but the plan still involves threats, nukes, social engineering, and effective world-domination. [[ItRunsInTheFamily It most definitely runs in the family]].]] To her defense, [[spoiler:she didn't plan to use nukes, but she just couldn't stop Schneizel, who had been using her. So her plan was to get along with him and, when opportunity arrived, to get rid of him and Damocles, which would become symbol of hate]].

* Kyosuke Munakata in ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' is obsessed with winning the war against [[ApocalypseCult Ultimate Despair]] to the point where he goes full HeWhoFightsMonsters and tries to kill [[TheParagon Makoto]] for wanting to rehabilitate them instead of killing them outright.

** And then there is Kallen, who is, without a doubt, the most straightforwardly heroic character in the series, but that didn't stop her from [[spoiler: seriously considering stabbing [[TheCutie Shirley]] to death for almost blowing her cover. In her defense, she contemplated doing the same to Suzaku and Lelouch, and she seemed more reluctant with Shirley.]] Fortunately [[CharacterDevelopment she develops beyond this and resolves harder to keep her friends out of the conflict]]. Plus her mecha's [[CruelAndUnusualDeath face meltingly devastating]] signature attack. Yeah, the whole series is filed to the brim with this trope.

* Many of the "[[AntiVillain villains]]" in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', but especially [[BigBad Fate]], who claims to be trying to save the inhabitants of the Magic World [[spoiler:by erasing it from existence.]] Fate and his band also make a point of not harming anyone from Earth, except when Fate notices that [[spoiler:Mahora will be collateral damage]]. But by that time, he has switched to full-on BloodKnight and no longer cares about anything else. [[ManipulativeBastard Kurt Godel]] also claims to be trying to save the world [[spoiler:by keeping Fate from destroying it.]] And it turns out that [[spoiler: Fate and Kurt both have very similar plans. The magical world's running out of energy, and when it goes, most of its 1.2 billion inhabitants will vanish, with 67 million being dumped onto an empty, airless Mars. Kurt wants to evacuate those 67 million before it's too late to save those that ''can'' be saved, whereas Fate realizes that it isn't fair to those that can't be evacuated, and Earth can't deal with 67 million refugees -- so he'll just kidnap everyone and send them to a pocket dimension that is suspiciously afterlife-like.]]
* While not so much evil as [[AntiVillain antagonistic]], Haruka of the ''Manga/MaiHime'' manga has the goal of having her Ori-Hime unit deal be the only one entrusted with destroying the Orphans. To accomplish this and dispose of her Orphan Resistance rivals, she tries to have Nao lure Yuuichi away by [[HoneyTrap seducing him]], orders Akira to steal Mikoto's Element, and kidnaps Mikoto and Kazuya. When word of this gets out, her approval rating plummets, and Mai and Natsuki defeat her and Yukino, ending her plans and resulting in the two groups working together.

* Nagi from ''Anime/MaiOtome'' believes that the Otome system of sending female bodyguards off to war in place of their country's leaders is an outdated model, and wants to put an end to it (which is exactly what series protagonist Arika wants to do)...by destroying the system from which the Meisters derive their abilities, using [[LostTechnology ancient weaponry]] and a horde of sentient monsters (summoned by {{cult}}ists willing to give up their lives for the cause).

* ''Manga/ElfenLied'': Nozomi's father only attempted to prevent her from realizing her dream of becoming a singer because she suffered a throat defect that may cause her to lose her voice, the very same kind that her mother suffered from and which eventually drove her mother to suicide. Unfortunately, his methods of preventing her involved [[AbusiveParents physical abuse]], which left Nozomi with self-esteem issues and a [[BringMyBrownPants bladder control problem]], at least until she asserted herself about her dreams. It also doesn't help that there were also other alternatives instead of abusing her, yet he [[spoiler:ultimately [[TheExtremistWasRight turns out to be right]] as Nozomi indeed loses her voice towards the end of the series]].
* Furumori from ''LightNovel/DragonCrisis''. He was angry at the society because, [[spoiler: when he was a researcher there, a female researcher he was working with was afflicted with a cursed precious treasure. He wanted to get a lost precious from one of the higher ups, but they constantly refused, which caused her to die.]] As a result, he went rogue and kidnapped/raised a girl to help him steal lost precious in order to share it with the world. Unfortunately, he didn't care how he got it and who had to get hurt or die in the process (although, in the anime at least, they never show him or [[spoiler: Ai, his "dog",]] actually killing anyone, although he does try to do that to Ryuuji).
* ''LightNovel/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The residents of the Dragon Village [[spoiler:want to sacrifice Elulu to create the holy sword Igzasion, all to defeat Gaeabrande's Demon Lord. They'll go as far as to slip the party paralytic drugs to ensure that they can't interfere with the ritual. They also killed any of their citizens who opposed the sacrifice, including Elulu and Mash's families.]]
* ''Manhwa/IWish'': Dee comes across as this. Since she's a witch, she studies like crazy to improve her abilities in repeated attempts to help make the world a better place for people. Unfortunately, her hyper and rather carefree attitude about her powers often leads to her magic failing or ultimately making things worse. While she wants to help K by having him experience love through a LovePotion, she tried it on all of her servants first and it resulted in them becoming obsessed with her, to the point that they'll [[{{Yandere}} kill her]]. Fortunately, once [[spoiler:Wye goes through a convoluted plan to get himself temporarily killed and Dee's powers become better]], Dee learns the lesson that [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility using her magic can cause severe consequences]] and she isn't as carefree about it anymore.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Stain, the hero-killer, targets only the heroes that he feels are acting only in their self-interest because he idolizes "real" heroes, those who act selflessly and for the sake of right as opposed to for fortune or fame, such as All Might. It's even stated that he tried to become a legit hero before becoming disillusioned with the scene and turning to darker methods to enforce his ideals of justice. However, what constitutes as "self-interest" to him includes even those genuinely heroic ones who do it because they see it as a family occupation or as a way to make money for their struggling loved ones, which is [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity just as worthy as death to him]].
** [[spoiler:Kai Chisaki/Overhaul created his EvilPlan with the intention of saving the Yakuza and repaying the Boss's kindness to him throughout his life. However, the Boss [[EvenEvilHasStandards was appalled by the lengths Chisaki is willing to go to do it, specifically the torment Eri goes through with the process of harvesting her blood and cells for the Quirk-canceling and restoring bullets]] and forbade it. Chisaki disagreed with that and decided that only ''he'' knew best about what the Boss would want, so he put the Boss on the life machine so he wouldn't be able to interfere with the operation. However, Chisaki genuinely believes what he's doing is in the Boss's best interests and that the Boss simply needs to see the plan come to fruition himself to understand that too]].
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Gendo wants to reunite with his dead wife and not cause his son pain...which causes him to be a {{jerkass}} of a father and a cruel manipulator of a lover. [[spoiler: Plus there's the whole [[AssimilationPlot instrumentality thing.]]]]

** Lelouch is actually a well-intentioned extremist. His primary goal is overthrowing the oppressive SocialDarwinist [[TheEmpire empire]] because it tramples on those who are weak or kind-hearted. Oh, and there's lots of mass murder of its third-class citizens and anyone who lives in a country that it wants to take over. In a subversion, even he has trouble stomaching some of the steps it takes to achieve his goal, as seen when [[spoiler:he becomes physically sick after killing a half-brother who fully supported the empire - and more than that, killed several thousand people to keep his illegal experiments hidden - and nearly breaks down after unintentionally making his beloved half-sister go AxCrazy, so Lelouch had to kill her and make the best out of a bad situation.]] In all, he often has a choice between a terrible, terrible thing, and an even more terrible thing.

* Celestin from ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' TheMovie is, in tune with the emphasis on romance in the series, a much lighter version of this. Still, the fact that he [[spoiler:purposely erases Belldandy's memory of her love for Keichi specifically, infects her with a virus that uses her as a contact point to infect Yggdrassil, and forces her to undergo a procedure that has a 16% chance of working properly, otherwise erasing ''all'' of Bell's memories of not only Keichi but her sisters and Heaven itself, all in order to gain the power necessary to eliminate sadness and suffering from the world by force shows that he's not exactly ''nice'' either.]]
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'':
** Lordgenome a brutal though world-weary dictator who was the only thing preventing his masters from wiping out his species.
** The [[spoiler:Anti-Spirals]] are out there to [[spoiler:prevent the universe from being destroyed by an overload of Spiral Power]], and in order to do that, they take TheHeartless way and prevent any feelings of hope and courage from sprouting around the Universe.
** Rossiu from the same arc of the same series qualifies, as he [[spoiler:betrays his friend Simon by placing the blame for the Anti-Spiral attacks on him, sets him up in a [[KangarooCourt phony trial]], and sentences him to death so he can stop the riots. He realizes that the [[WrongGenreSavvy only way to save any part of humanity]] is to let a majority of them die. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo There's no other option, he tells himself]]. After Simon escapes custody and saves the day (and the world), Rossiu remembers what genre he's living in and decides to [[DrivenToSuicide take his own life]], but Simon forgives him and shows him the light. And by "the light", we mean [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan a clenched fist moving slightly below the speed of sound]] followed by a pep-talk. Gotta love that little guy.]] Ironically, he actually commented on this ''himself'' a while earlier:
--->'''Rossiu:''' Sometimes the best intentions can lead us down the wrong path.
** Finally, at least from the viewpoint of the four above, Simon himself and the Dai Gurren-Dan, who are doing exactly what the antagonists fear will destroy humanity/the Earth/the universe, and with no other justification than "Who the hell do you think we are?" [[HeelFaceTurn Some of them come around by the end, though]].
* Makubex of ''Manga/GetBackers'' is a great example of this trope. He's introduced as the villain of the I.L. story arc with the goal of [[spoiler:creating an atomic bomb to use as a bargaining chip for the God of Infinity Fortress, in order to say 'stop controlling us or else'. Trying to make a deal with God by using an atomic bomb]] may not be the best METHOD of madness, but, at heart, his goals are to make life better for the enslaved masses of Infinity Fortress' Lower Town, which has become a living Hell since Ginji left.
* In ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', the Buff Clan's supreme military leader, Doba Ajiba, was willing to risk the destruction of the majority of his race if it meant the destruction of the Ideon. When one considers that the power of the Ide was forcing the Earthlings and Buff Clan to genocidally slaughter each other, it probably is the lesser of two evils.
** [[spoiler:The home planets of both the Earthlings and the Buff Clan were just destroyed by meteors, leaving those fighting as the few left of their kind.]]
* The villain of the third ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' OVA, Z, becomes one due to unfortunate circumstances.

** In chapter 692, [[spoiler:Sasuke reveals he wants to remove from the world everything that led to the just-passed crisis and start over completely, which means killing the Five Kages and controlling the Tailed Beasts.]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Aureolus Izzard, who isolated himself three years ago after [[spoiler:failing to save Index from having to have her memories erased to supposedly prolong her life]] and has been desperately trying to find a cure ever since. However, his plan involves manipulating many innocents with no regard to if they get hurt or killed in the process [[spoiler:plus turning Index into a vampire]], and his [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope sanity takes a hit]] when he learns that [[spoiler:not only has Index already been saved from this fate by Touma, but his method wouldn't have worked anyways since Index's condition was caused by the Lola Stuart's manipulations, not by any natural consequence of her grimoires like he thought]], which causes him to just start trying to kill people in a rage.
** Several magic side characters fall under this, especially under the Roman Catholic Church, and most especially, God's Right Seat, with most of them bordering on KnightTemplar.
** Also Accelerator, who tried at least to make the Sisters run away by talking in an aggressive way before each "experiment" starts and killed them in such brutal fashion in the faint hopes that the memories shared by the HiveMind would cause the next Sister to refuse to fight him.
** Fiamma of the Right, who wishes to save the world through a sort of forced purification. Touma acknowledges Fiamma's basic goal as being a good one, but condemns his extremely destructive methods and his disdain for individual lives.
** From the spin-off ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', [[spoiler:Professor Kiyama Harumi]], who developed the Level Upper as part of a scheme which ultimately led to the saving of a group of comatose children from a [[spoiler:failed AIM diffusion experiment.]] What sets her apart is that, while her plan does involve putting at least ten thousand esper aspirants in comas, she prepared a cure beforehand and has the full intention of using it once she's done. She also tried more legitimate means first, but after nearly two dozen failures and the fact that the city's administration and law enforcement aren't going to budge, [[spoiler:not least because of the whole Academy City conspiracy]], she resorted to this.
* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Meruem, the Chimera Ant King, suddenly makes a dramatic change into becoming a WellIntentionedExtremist from wanting to KillAllHumans. After [[ThePowerOfFriendship befriending a human girl]] (whom he originally kept alive so he could one day defeat in the only strategy game he wasn't prodigal at), he learns that there are certain humans that deserve to live, and remakes his plan for the [[TakeOverTheWorld Chimera Ants inheriting the Earth]]. Instead, he decides to protect the weak and remake the world so that it is ''so'' equal, the word "equality" doesn't even exist anymore. The extremist part? He wants to abolish the old system by force, and is only willing to protect the weak that he deems "have the right to live."
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** [[spoiler:Admiral Gil Graham]] from ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' wanted to stop the [[OmnicidalManiac Book of Darkness]] and its multi-dimensional destructive ways, even if [[spoiler:it would cost the lives of the Wolkenritter and result in Hayate being sealed away with the book]].
** From ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', the TSAB high council, who are responsible for [[spoiler: creating Scaglietti and letting him build combat cyborgs and artificial mages for them]] to ensure the safety of the TSAB controlled worlds.
* Donan Cassim, the governor of the colony planet Deloya in ''Anime/{{Fang of the Sun Dougram}}'', stages a fake coup d'état and uses it as an excuse to order a planet-wide hunt for dissidents and guerrillas, simply because he believes that the planet can only prosper as a part of the Earth Federation and that most Deloyans are opposed to independence anyway.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' adaptations:
** Elite Four Lance in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''. He views humans as completely incompatible with Pokémon, so he plans to commit genocide against the human race so that Pokémon can live in peace and the world can return to its natural glory.
** Maxie and Archie from ''Adventures[='=]'' R/S arc had the same ambition in the manga as they did in the games. [[SanitySlippage Corruption by the Red and Blue Orbs]] drove them bugfuck insane before all was said and done.
** There's also Mewtwo from ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''. Enraged by humanity using Pokémon as tools and disgusted by the acceptance of this by the Pokémon, he sought to remake the world by exterminating everyone and replacing them with clones. This way, he thought, Pokémon would have the freedom they deserve.
** Marcus in ''Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife'' wanted to preserve Miichina Town, something he believed would result in it reverting to a wasteland if the Jewel of Life was returned to Arceus. However, he ended up [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing Damos and forcing him to betray Arceus]], and it was implied that he did the exact same to the other Pokémon.
** Damon, the BigBad of ''Anime/PokemonTheMovieBlackAndWhite'', wanted to restore his civilization by reviving one of the two legendary Pokémon (which one depends on which movie is viewed).
* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'', various people are chosen to participate in a battle royale, with the winner becoming God of Time and Space. They all need to do some pretty messed up stuff to succeed in this goal: even the protagonist, who starts out as TheWoobie, ends up doing things such as [[spoiler:slaughtering an entire orphanage and killing his best friends]], which he justifies by promising to use his God powers to bring everyone he killed back to life once he wins the game. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, bringing people back from the dead is one of the few things that a god can't do.]] Even then, the alternative would be to let the current god die of old age, which would result in all causality falling apart.
* Hitomi in ''Manga/CodeBreaker''. He just wants recognition for the scores of anonymous, mostly teenaged Code: Breakers who died in the line of duty [[spoiler:by killing 50,000 people and the prime minister of Japan, whose estranged son is also a Code: Breaker. His goal is spat back in his face by his own protégé, who reminds him that all Code: Breakers are just superpowered murderers put to good use and that their anonymity is for the best.]]
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** The truly faithful Father Pucci of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'', whose ultimate goal is [[spoiler:to reach the "Heaven" he heard his mentor Dio talk about. He'll do anything and sacrifice anyone to get to it, and apparently, he does: he rewinds, remakes, and resurrects the world (that he completely messed up), but is killed before he can join it.]]
** Funny Valentine from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'' also qualifies. [[spoiler: His motivation for gathering the Corpse Parts was so he could use them in conjunction with his Stand [=D4C=] to deflect any misfortunes that might have befallen America elsewhere, thus ensuring an everlasting golden age for his nation.]]
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'':
** Kuze is a complete AntiVillain and all around likable. You kind of have to cheer him on once his motives become clear and you learn more about what he has accomplished so far. But arming terrorists with guns, trying to kill the rather well-meaning prime minister with a katana, using [[spoiler:kokaine]] as a weapon to damage the leadership of the countries he opposes, and [[spoiler:building [[NukeEm nuclear bombs]] to threaten his enemies]] puts him quite far in the deep end of extremist territory.
** [[spoiler:Gouda]], who tricked [[spoiler:Kuze into [[ChessMaster doing all these things]].]] If Japan wasn't willing to face all it's social issues, [[spoiler:he would force them to deal with them]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** The balance of souls between worlds is so critical disruption can destroy existence itself. 200 years ago, the Quincies were so zealously trying to protect humanity from hollows that they destroyed too many souls and refused to listen to shinigami warnings. The shinigami were forced to go to the same extreme by wiping out the Quincies to save existence itself. The Ishida Quincies agree the shinigami did the right thing. [[spoiler:The Vandenreich Quincies disagree. When they try to disrupt the balance of souls again, Mayuri is forced to kill 28,000 Rukongai subjects to correct it. Yamamoto says Soul Society would have supported Mayuri's act but he's angry that Mayuri didn't clear the bureaucratic red tape first before doing it.]]
** The major ArcVillain of the Captain Amagai {{filler}} arc turns out to have been motivated by an attempt to correct a perceived family wrong. [[spoiler:Captain Amagai was trying to avenge his father who had been killed by Yamamoto when he was a child. He didn't realise what his father had done, or why Yamamoto was forced to kill him, until it's too late for him to do anything other than take his own life in atonement for his mistaken vengeance.]]
** Maki Ichinose is disgusted with Kenpachi's [[KlingonPromotion method of gaining the Captaincy of the 11th Division]], as well as the contrast between [[BloodKnight him]] and the former Captain. As a result, he becomes a villain to try and take Kenpachi down.
** Ichigo's inner hollow legitimately does want Ichigo to survive, but he'll go to any lengths to ensure Ichigo's survival - even if it means usurping Ichigo's body and turning him into a hollow with no moral restraints. This is why he appears whenever Ichigo is close to dying and whenever he grows stronger when Ichigo despairs -- he grows stronger to eliminate the ''source'' of that despair. [[spoiler:The "well-intentioned" part is best emphasized when the merged form of Hollow Ichigo and Zangetsu begins to cry after teaching Ichigo the Final Getsuga Tenshou, knowing that when Ichigo uses it, they will never see each other again -- ultimately, the Inner Hollow has only ever wanted to ''protect'' Ichigo]].
** It turns out that [[spoiler:Gin Ichimaru]] is this [[spoiler:or at least, this is how he started]] although he deliberately cultivates the image of a [[spoiler:Noble Demon]]. His motive is something the protagonists could sympathise with and support but the methods he's willing to (and does) use put him well outside the hero scale and firmly in the anti-villain scale. His methods are very extreme and drag him towards the [[spoiler:Noble Demon]] he claims to be.
** [[spoiler:Old Man Zangetsu]] is revealed to be this in the final arc. [[spoiler:It turns out that he's actually a personification of Ichigo's Quincy powers, taking the image of Yhwach as he appeared 1000 years prior, and had been trying to slow Ichigo's potential growth as a Soul Reaper and take his Hollow/Zanpakuto's place as his core powers. Why would he do this? To protect Ichigo from the inevitable fights and dangers he would face if he became a Soul Reaper. And for additional points, he'd originally intended to ''kill'' Ichigo if he were to become a Soul Reaper. Thank goodness he changed his mind.]]

* Most of the villains from ''Manga/GetterRobo'', curious for a classic SuperRobot series. The Dinosaur Empire was caught up in a war of species dominance, trying to stop their extinction, while Burai and the Andromeda Flow Country were committed to stopping the use of Getter Energy - the power of evolution - before it endangered the whole universe.
** Burai followed the imperative to destroy Getter, imprinted into him by [[spoiler: the Andromedian machinery]] that gave him power, but he also wanted [[EvilOverlord to take over the Earth because he could]].
* Lucif from ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'' sought the True World, which is some kind of {{Utopia}} without suffering.
%%* ''Manga/SailorMoon'': Sailor Galaxia started out like this, at least in the anime.
* In the ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' anime, Emperor Dornkirk and [[TheDragon Folken]] sought an AssimilationPlot where there would be no war or fighting, even if it involved [[KickTheDog kicking a few puppies]] along the way.
* Sensui from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' who wishes to eliminate humanity because his [[BlackAndWhiteMorality strict views of good and evil]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation can't prepare him for]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters witnessing some humans' sadistic actions]] -- ironic, given he is human himself AND, at the time, a spirit detective, whose job description is ''to protect humankind''. He was this ''even when he was a Spirit Detective''. He considered ''all'' demons pure evil before his FaceHeelTurn.
* [[spoiler:Yoki]] in ''Waq Waq'', who wants to [[spoiler:end the tyranny of the red-blooded humans over the black-blooded ones by sacrificing a red-blooded girl, then betraying the villains]].
* Many of the "[[AntiVillain villains]]" in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', but especially [[BigBad Fate]], who claims to be trying to save the inhabitants of the Magic World [[spoiler:by erasing it from existence.]] Fate and his band also make a point of not harming anyone from Earth, except when Fate notices that [[spoiler:Mahora will be collateral damage]]. But by that time, he has switched to full-on BloodKnight and no longer cares about anything else. [[ManipulativeBastard Kurt Godel]] also claims to be trying to save the world [[spoiler:by keeping Fate from destroying it.]] And it turns out that [[spoiler: Fate and Kurt both have very similar plans. The magical world's running out of energy, and when it goes, most of its 1.2 billion inhabitants will vanish, with 67 million being dumped onto an empty, airless Mars. Kurt wants to evacuate those 67 million before it's too late to save those that ''can'' be saved, whereas Fate realizes that it isn't fair to those that can't be evacuated, and Earth can't deal with 67 million refugees - so he'll just kidnap everyone and send them to a pocket dimension that is suspiciously afterlife-like.]]
* The eponymous ''{{Anime/Noein}}'' is suffering from grief from losing the love of his life, Haruka. He then searches for other dimensions where she might have survived, but finds that she's always destined to the same fate in every universe. His intention is then to converge all universes to stop all suffering, erase all existence and start it anew.
* Neo Saiba's goal in ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01'' is to create a world where no one can be hurt. His way of going about this involves a massive army of demons enhanced by the data of a genetic abomination, and the destruction of the Digimon World down to its [[NumerologicalMotif base elements]] (ZeroesAndOnes).
* Yamaki in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' wants to destroy all Digimon, or, at the very least, every single one in the real world, good or not. [[spoiler:He has a HeelFaceTurn when he realizes that his efforts are actually ''helping'' Digimon get into the real world by damaging the barriers.]]
** Mirroring this, Zhuqiaomon wants to destroy all humans and conquer the real world because he feels they endanger the Digimon's chances of defeating the [[BigBad D-Reaper]]. [[spoiler: He also does a HeelFaceTurn when Azulongmon convinces him that they should be focusing on defeating the D-Reaper instead.]]

* ''Manga/{{Akumetsu}}'': ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Comicbook/VForVendetta'' [[RecycledINSPACE In JAPAN!]] is an apt description of the series.
* The three ruling students in ''Fly High'' control their school with an iron fist and won't allow anyone to start a student council because [[spoiler: their friend, who didn't stand out physically or academically, was horribly bullied by the previous student president and stopped coming to class. At the end, they acknowledge that they've become the kind of people they wanted to stop.]]
%%* Ciel from ''Manga/BlackButler''. Overlaps with VillainProtagonist.

* In ''Anime/SupercarGattiger'', the BigBad, Emperor Black Demon, wants to conquer the world so he can put an end to war.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** Jellal Fernandes wanted to create a world where everyone could be free and no-one would ever suffer. He decided to do this by [[spoiler:attempting to ressurect Black Mage Zeref, the UltimateEvil of the entire series, and using his power to achieve that goal.]]
** Laxus Dreyar is a more minor example. He wanted to make Fairy Tail a stronger guild, [[spoiler: but his plan for doing so was to take it over by force and boot out everyone who didn't meet his ideal of a powerful mage.]]
** Ultear is another example, though she ironically first becomes this type of character ''after'' her HeelFaceTurn. For example, she doesn't at all have qualms with inflicting the Fairy Tail members lots of physical pain so they can awake their Second Origin and become stronger. Later, she genuinely considers killing Rogue who had done nothing wrong, because she knows that he will turn evil in the future and she wants to prevent that. However, she has a HeelRealization and doesn't do it in the end.
* While not so much evil as [[AntiVillain antagonistic]], Haruka of the ''Manga/MaiHime'' manga has the goal of having her Ori-Hime unit deal be the only one entrusted with destroying the Orphans. To accomplish this and dispose of her Orphan Resistance rivals, she tries to have Nao lure Yuuichi away by [[HoneyTrap seducing him]], orders Akira to steal Mikoto's Element, and kidnaps Mikoto and Kazuya. When word of this gets out, her approval rating plummets, and Mai and Natsuki defeat her and Yukino, ending her plans and resulting in the two groups working together.
* ''Manga/FrankenFran'':
** Inverted with the Black Lotus Syndicate. They do things like establish orphanages and give aid to the poor...in order to cause overpopulation and drive mankind to self-destruction. This ends up driving Sentinel II into becoming a straight example, burning orphanages and the like for the greater good.
** Played more straight with Fran herself; since she follows [[ThouShallNotKill the doctor's code]] with absolute adherence, and thinks that there is no fate worse than death, [[BodyHorror there are no limits to what she will put her patients through]] [[FateWorseThanDeath in order to keep them alive.]] Due to her own convictions, Fran naturally [[ObliviouslyEvil does not see the extremism in her own actions]] but instead tends to get upset when people object to her methods.
* The villains in ''Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' are either this or out for {{Revenge}}.
** [[spoiler:Kyubey]] in [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica the original anime]]. What it's trying to do is [[spoiler: [[SaveTheWorld avert, or at least delay, the heat death of the universe]]]]. Doing this just happens to involve [[spoiler:turning young girls into TheHeartless by driving them over the DespairEventHorizon, since those emotions can be efficiently harvested as energy for that purpose. Kyubey doesn't see anything wrong with this: its species doesn't have emotions, and so does not understand human value systems. It even thinks that it's being unnecessarily ''nice'' in the way it goes about it, since it will only make a girl into a MagicalGirl if she agrees to it (though Kyubey almost never reveals all the details even ''after'' the agreement is made).]]
** [[spoiler: The [[EldritchAbomination witches]] themselves]] are revealed to be this in [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]]- [[spoiler: they [[DrivenToSuicide drive humans to suicide]] not out of malice, but because they genuinely believe that [[MercyKill dying is preferable]] to living life as disposable pawns for Kyubey]].
** The spin-offs introduced characters who took extreme measures to fight against the effects of [[spoiler: Kyubey's magical girl system]] ''Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica'' has [[spoiler: the [[AmazonBrigade Pleiades Saints]]. When their leader became a witch they began a complicated plan to reject Kyubey's system. This includes, among other things, hunting down magical girls and making them {{Human Popsicle}}s so they won't become witches. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard This backfires on them hard.]]]] ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' has [[spoiler: [[AntagonistTitle the eponymous Oriko]]. When she [[{{Seer}} has a vision]] of a witch that could destroy the world, she begins a [[GambitRoulette complicated plan]] to stop the [[ApocalypseMaiden girl who will become that witch]] from contracting. This includes, among other things, sending her PsychoSupporter to kill other magical girls. Oriko ultimately succeeds in her plan [[TakingYouWithMe at the moment of her death]].]] In ''Manga/PuellaMagiSuzuneMagica'' [[spoiler: the title character [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim skips the convoluted plots]] and just [[SerialKiller kills magical girls]] before they become witches.]] There's also a bit of DramaticIrony going on; in the end of the anime [[spoiler: all witches are [[RetGone retroactively erased from existence]]]], so everything the extremists did [[ShaggyDogStory proved to be meaningless]].
** Throughout the original anime [[spoiler: Homura was shown to be willing to do anything to [[{{Protectorate}} protect Madoka]] and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy ensure her happiness.]]]] In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' [[spoiler: Homura has a conversation with an AmnesiacGod Madoka where she comes to believe that Madoka had to give up her happiness to [[AbstractApotheosis become hope.]] This, among other things, causes Homura to steal Madoka's powers and transform into ''[[SatanicArchetype the devil itself]]'' in order to create a world where Madoka can be happy.]]
* Paul von Oberstein in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is a well-intentioned revolutionary with [[TheUnfettered no moral borders whatsoever]]. He won't even blanche at such tasks as to [[spoiler:allow the whole planet get nuked into oblivion for propaganda purposes.]] The most disturbing thing is that his ideas all ''[[TheExtremistWasRight work]]''.
* Guy from ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi''. [[spoiler:In order to remove the Pet Ring that binds his ex-lover Riki as a sex slave to Iason, he cuts off Riki's penis where the ring was attached. He then attempts to murder the aristocratic Iason to free Riki once and for all.]]
* The Space Defense Force from ''{{Anime/Planetes}}'' were essentially space terrorists. They consisted of people from various nations that didn't have sufficient space-faring technology, and therefore fell behind while other nations that had a presence in space continued to get richer due to being able to exploit the resources out there such as from asteroids. Their main objective was to ensure that poorer nations got to benefit from technology and resources found in space, since many of them were suffering from civil war or lawlessness. And they tried several different methods to convince said nations to accept their demands, such as blowing up a space station or later, crashing a colony onto a moon base.
* While she was never a villain, Ratchet Altair from ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' displayed an example of this trope in ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheMovie''. [[spoiler: When the Flower Division is fighting a BrainwashedAndCrazy Orihime, Ratchet was willing to kill her just to get it over with.]] However, she's mellowed out considerably by the time we meet her again in ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove''.
--> '''Ratchet''': I'm sorry, but, we must bring an end to this meaningless waste of time, [[spoiler: Orihime]].
* The main villain of ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia: The First Strike'' is, believe it or not, [[spoiler:Garista Luodur, the Imperial Knights' best strategist, who wanted to create a new type of blastia that could help the people gain full control of Aer. To do so, he created a gigantic blastia within the abandoned castle ruins and wanted to test out his own blastias. There was a negative side effect to this, though; the blastias he created and tested out produced abnormal amounts of red Aer, which turned the leaves on the trees unseasonably red and caused the resident animals and monsters of the forest to go berserk and threaten the people of different towns. None of the knights knew Garista was behind it all, of course, but Yuri and Flynn finally figured it out near the film's climax and had to attack him for the safety of the others]].
* Played with in ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''. Dung Beetle and Kokopelli enlist 15 kids to pilot a giant Robot named Zearth, which kills its pilot after a fight, just to give our universe a chance to fight for its own survival... at the expense of 15 kids, 328 trillion human lives and 32767 alternate universes! It doesn't get better by the fact that one of the originally enlisted kids wasn't even born yet!
* The titular character from ''Manga/TigerMask'' starts out as one. His goal is to defend the orphanage he grew up into, and, later, help all orphans of Japan. At the start, his method is to play the ForeignWrestlingHeel (and at one point skipping the 'foreign' part by coming back to Japan), beat the crap out of non-Japanese wrestlers (possibly other heels) and even main them, [[ZeroApprovalGambit and provoke the public to hate him, so they'll pay to see his matches hoping to see him defeated]]. The series is both about him rebelling against Tiger's Cave (the organization that trained him and others and forces them to be the most violent heels around and pay half their money to them) and outgrowing his role as an heel and fighting fair without getting back to be a true heel.
* Fifth Sector from ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven Go'', an organization that own and controls soccer (primarily middle school soccer apparently) and wants to make sure that everyone, no matter who they are, can experience the joy of playing and winning at soccer and won't be put down based on their lack of soccer skills. They do this by fixing almost all matches with pre-determined scorelines, forcing teams to comply to these score-lines, and, on a best case scenario, closing down soccer clubs that don't comply, while on a worst case scenario, flat-out destroying any school who's soccer club doesn't go along with them. On top of this, they treat the entire thing like some sort of empire, and even call their leader, the one who "holds soccer in their hands", "The Holy Emperor".
* Hyoubu Kyousuke from ''The Unlimited'' has has been betrayed many times by humans. He wants to create a world where espers could live in peace, but doing so would mean killing all "normals", thing Hyoubu will do without any hesitation.
* A much more child-friendly version has Mamuu of ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars 3: Friends Forever''. The mother of the tapir Yumeta, her only desire is to make her son happy. She does so by keeping children trapped in the dream world so Yumeta is happy forever. It takes the active Cures of that point of time to get it through her head that she's doing more harm than good.
* Tarta and Tatra, the twin princesses of Chizeta in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth''. While they do invade Cephiro and try to conquer it, it's established that they only did so because their kingdom has gotten so overpopulated that they need more space. When questioned, Tatra even outright says that they have no desire to oppress Cephiro's natives.
* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'': Bodol Zer, commander of the Zentraedi, attacked Earth with a devastating OrbitalBombardment and tried to destroy the troops that were previously fighting against Mankind when he was notified said troops were negotiating a ceasefire. His reasons aren't clearly stated in the original series, but ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'' shows that the frontline troops' actions looked suspiciously like the result of a [[EldritchAbomination Protodeviln]] awakening, and given that the last time that happened the galaxy-spanning empire that had created the Zentraedi self-destructed to seal them away, destroying the planet and killing everyone involved was the only intelligent thing to do.
* ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'':
** This series offers a different view for Dolza's actions: it's just that ''one million warships with incredible firepower'' are negotiating a ceasefire without informing him, and Dolza's reaction to the apparent desertion of such a force was to strike first before it could disperse and do god knows what.
** The current Robotech Masters. Successors to terrible tyrants, they're now trying to save their civilization by recovering the last known supply of [[MacGuffin Protoculture]], located on Earth, before the Invid or the Disciples of Zor come, and are genuinely puzzled by the Human hostility (to be fair, the high command of Earth wanted to negotiate, but before they could actually try and talk a trigger-happy officer fired nukes at them). Once the fighting started, however, they showed no compulsion against killing thousands of Humans nor willingness to explain their actions, and when they saw the Invid had found out of the Protoculture they grew desperate enough to demand the complete evacuation of Earth on pain of extermination and use their own civilians as brainwashed infantry;
** As ''Robotech'' never did anything halfway, we get the Invid. Sure, they're ruthless and paranoid and feel nobody else is worth of Protoculture, but they became like that after the Masters devastated their homeworld so they wouldn't have to share the secrets of Protoculture, and they're the only ones who knows about [[spoiler: the Haydonites planning to destroy the Flower of Life, Protoculture-based technology and all races using them]]. Also, [[PragmaticVillain the half of the Invid race on Earth has the habit of leaving Humans alone as long as they don't have the ability to harm them]], and even repaired the damage done by the Zentraedi;
** Supreme commander Leonard of the Army of the Southern Cross is a known hardliner (even if not as much as his superiors) and a borderline GeneralRipper, keeping secret the fact the Robotech Masters' troops are actually sentients and not biological robots, [[spoiler:[[VillainWithGoodPublicity actually being the last surviving leader of the Anti-Unification League]]]], and generally acting like a warmongering jerk. His goal, since his early days, was to make mankind strong enough to defend itself, keeping the truth about the Masters' troops serves to make his soldiers fight better in the defence of Earth, and his most aggressive tactics are the result of the Robotech Expeditionary Force leaving Earth to fight the war against the Masters away from there and bringing most of Earth's firepower with it (notably, the ASC scores a PyrrhicVictory only thanks to part of the REF being sent back as reinforcements while the bigger guns are kept in the Masters' former empire by other engagements, [[JerkassHasAPoint so he was completely right about this]]).
* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}''
** Anna's parents head [[MoralGuardians the Public Morals Committee]] and are responsible for creating the censorship laws that have strictly forbiddened pornographic material and use of crude language for the last 16 years. As a result, Japan is globally acknowledged as having the higest morality rating in the world. But their success has come at the expense of its citizens, who now lack understanding of even basic Sex-Ed. Which in turn, has contributed to Japan's already steadily declining birthrate.
** Further, because Tokioka Academy has the country's highest morality rating, it's seen as irrefutable evidence that the Public Morals Act is just. Making it Anna's responsibility as its {{student council president}} to ensure that the rest of the student body continues to live up to standards. And she's fully authorized by law to stamp out [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters all violators]], [[CorporalPunishment swiftly]] ''[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans and harshly.]]''
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', many Ghoul Investigators fall into this sort of thinking. While their actions might not be appreciated by the average person, they believe it to be necessary for the greater good.
** Koutarou Amon begins as one, firmly believing that ''anything'' is justified in the pursuit of a better world. This includes digging around a grave site, and killing child Ghouls without remorse. After meeting Kaneki, though, he begins to question his extremist view of the world and undergoes CharacterDevelopment in his quest to learn more about his WorthyOpponent.
** In the {{Prequel}}, ''Jack'', Latern turns out to be one. [[spoiler: She's intensely jealous of the happy, peaceful lives that humans lead. Because she loves human society so much, she goes about brutally killing criminals and delinquents as punishment for disrupting society's harmony and order. This includes killing Taishi's friends, because they caused trouble at school and [[EvilIsPetty their motorcycles were loud]] and annoyed her]]. Taishi immediately points out the hypocrisy of this, because someone that would kill people is even ''worse''.
* ''Anime/TweenyWitches'': Sigma nearly manipulates Arusu and her friends into giving him the True Book of Spells and later physically brainwashes Sheila into bringing the warlocks herself as a witch they need to cast dark magic. [[spoiler:In an attempt to get out of prison, he asks Tiana for a job to redeem himself for his failure, suggesting that the warlocks take his cellmate, Jidan, hostage to demand the True Book of Spells from the human's daughter, Arusu. However, as he reveals to Jidan, all of this is only to [[TheStarscream keep the pretense of obeying Grande]]. In truth, he wants to help the savior prevent the destruction of the Magical Realm so that he can avenge his father, who foretold her coming and was killed in front of him by Grande for advising against using dark magic.]]
* ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir''
** Major Loki Jotunheim forces the protagonist (and many others) to become a ChildSoldier and eventually declares war on Midgard. [[spoiler:This was done so he could control all inheritors of Code Lost (such as the main character) and kill Charlotte before her Code Acht will inadvertently destroy humanity.]] He also orders Yuu to kill any D in danger of mating with a Dragon and transforming into the same type of Dragon, though after Volume 1, he seems more open to his subordinate's attempts to TakeAThirdOption.
** "Black" Vritra is the one who turned girls into D, with the intent of turning them [[spoiler:and eventually all of humanity]] into Dragons. [[spoiler:Later, she reveals that she wants to turn humans into NighInvulnerable Counter-Dragons to increase the chances of life on Earth surviving the next True Dragon calamity.]]
* In ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}! Miracle Friends'', Smartotchi, under the guise of X-Kamen, attempts to capture the Dreambakutchis before Miraitchi and Clulutchi get a chance to do so, thus preventing them from getting back to the future where they belong. Now, what could Smartotchi possibly be doing by collecting the Dreambakutchis? [[spoiler:It's to prevent a piano from being destroyed in the future.]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has many examples depending on who's talking, but the most obvious one is [[spoiler:Eren Yeager]]. He ultimately fights for freedom and peace, even if that means [[spoiler:invading enemy nations, psychologically tormenting someone who you've already made suicidal, killing innocent civilians and making your homeland within the walls of Paradis Island a sitting target for the world's militaries to attack]]. Granted, from the beginning of the series he wanted to [[spoiler:wipe out all the titans in the world, and his goal has just shifted from killing titans to killing Marleyans]], but he still exhibits extremist behaviour that's similar to his enemies'.
** [[spoiler:Zeke, aka Beast Titan]] is similar, and can be seen as the counterpart to the above. He also fights for freedom in the form of wanting to [[spoiler:kill off all Eldians]], or, at least, [[spoiler:stopping them from being able to reproduce]].
* ''Manga/FoodWars'': Azami Nakiri's motivation is ultimately to create a cooking world where chefs are both recognized for their talents and so that they don't succumb to the pressures brought on by being a top class chef; something he witnessed firsthand with his idol, Joichiro and his wife, Mana. However, he's done a lot of questionable and outright criminal things to achieve that end, including but not limited to ousting his own father-in-law [[TyrantTakesTheHelm to become Dean of Tootsuki Academy]], [[AbusiveParents submitting his own daughter to]] TrainingFromHell [[PoweredByAForsakenChild to refine her God Tongue]], and plans to shut down every single restaurant in Japan that does not conform to his standards and replace them with "true gourmet" ones.

* Almost the entire cast of ''Anime/CodeGeass''. In fact, it's probably the point of the series.
** Lelouch is actually a well-intentioned extremist. His primary goal is overthrowing the oppressive SocialDarwinist [[TheEmpire empire]] because it tramples on those who are weak or kind-hearted. Oh, and there's lots of mass murder of its third-class citizens and anyone who lives in a country that it wants to take over. In a subversion, even he has trouble stomaching some of the steps it takes to achieve his goal, as seen when [[spoiler:he becomes physically sick after killing a half-brother who fully supported the empire - and more than that, killed several thousand people to keep his illegal experiments hidden - and nearly breaks down after unintentionally causing the death of his beloved half-sister who was much nicer and dedicated to similar but less extreme goals.]] In all, it was a choice between a terrible, terrible thing, and an even more terrible thing. [[spoiler: Except for the Euphemia thing. He was willing to give up rather than oppose her. The plot would've ended right there if it wasn't for a DiabolusExMachina in form of Lelouch's Geass suddenly activating and making Euphemia AxCrazy and forcing Lelouch to make the best out of a bad situation.]]
** Then the show ''really'' messes with the audience when it reveals that [[spoiler:'''both''' of Lelouch's parents, Emperor Charles (whom he despises) and Marianne (whom he admires) intended on creating an ideal world free of war, strife, or lies, by slaying the gods and starting their own version of Ragnarok. Oh, and they ask him to go along with it too.]] Though it's likely that the plan wouldn't have worked anyway, due to certain things in the first season.
** Lelouch [[spoiler:throws the "Well-Intentioned" out of Extremist when he becomes a despotic overlord and Emperor of the world, and moves to execute any and all political opponents.]] Oh, wait, no, that's [[spoiler:how he '''wants''' to portray himself, so that once the world's hate is concentrated on him, he can arrange for himself to be publicly assassinated, ending the chain of hatred by setting up the infrastructures and political status quos he had set up earlier himself and [[ThanatosGambit achieve world peace through his death]], symbolically killing the world's hatred with him.]]

** Even [[spoiler:Nunnally, [[ThePollyanna of all people]], [[CharacterDevelopment becomes]] one when she mixes parts of both [[SilentScapegoat Lelouch's]] and [[NukeEm Schneizel's]] strategies for world peace to concoct her own, somewhat less drastic, [[EnforcedColdWar scenario]]. She had indisputably good intentions, but the plan still involves threats, nukes, social engineering, and effective world-domination. [[ItRunsInTheFamily It most definitely runs in the family]].]] To her defense, [[spoiler:she didn't plann to use nukes, but she just couldn't stop Schneizel, who had been using her. So her plan was to get along with him and, when opportunity arrived, to get rid of him and Damocles, which would become symbol of hate]].

* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Meryem, the Chimeran Ant King, suddenly makes a dramatic change into becoming a WellIntentionedExtremist from wanting to KillAllHumans. After [[ThePowerOfFriendship befriending a human girl]] (whom he originally kept alive so he could one day defeat in the only strategy game he wasn't prodigal at), he learns that there are certain humans that deserve to live, and remakes his plan for the [[TakeOverTheWorld Chimeran Ants inheriting the Earth]]. Instead, he decides to protect the weak and remake the world so that it is ''so'' equal, the word "equality" doesn't even exist anymore. The extremist part? He wants to abolish the old system by force, and is only willing to protect the weak that he deems "have the right to live."