History XanatosGambit / AnimeAndManga

** [[BigBad Frieza's]] plan to destroy the Saiyans and ensure that the Legendary Super Saiyan is never born to oppose his reign. If Bardock was successful in convincing the Saiyan Army, Frieza already had an [[BadassArmy army of his own that was greater in depth and in strength to that of the Saiyan's]], even if he personally didn't bother to join the fight (and his power level [[spoiler:without transforming]] was over 500,000. The strongest Saiyan at that time was King Vegeta, who had a power level of 10,000 which was nowhere near that of any of Frieza's elite soilders, so if the two armies were to clash, Frieza's army would come on out top, no question; if Bardock was unsuccessful in getting the Saiyans to believe that Frieza was planning on killing them all, [[spoiler: [[CassandraTruth which he was]]]], then the job of ensuring that every Saiyan was killed was made even easier because nobody would or could prevent it. In short, it didn't matter whether or not the Saiyans, or Bardock himself alone, attempted to stop Frieza from killing them all, because either way all the Saiyans would have been killed by either Frieza himself or by Frieza's Army and the possibility of the Legendary Super Super becomes non-existent, it was a win-win scenario for Frieza no matter what happened.

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' Myotismon goes into the real world, sending the [=DigiDestined=] and their Digimon back home to fight him and his henchmen in hopes of saving both worlds. Yet their absence in the Digital World during this time is what allows the four Dark Masters to take over, who, as Mega-level Digimon, turn out to be much more formidable villains than the Ultimate-level Myotismon.
** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' Mercurymon's plan when he put Chosen Children in his Beast Spirit form. He pits them against various opponents while recording every attack used and gaining the ability to use it himself. If the opponents he has set up win, fine. The children win, he gains the power to use whatever attacks he saw them use and immunity to the attack. Even the defeat of [=ShadowSeraphimon=] and his Human Spirit, something he didn't count on, worked in his favor because of this. The only reason he failed to kill them was because he spent so much time toying with them that by accident Takuya finds out that they can use a CombinationAttack against him. This falls out of any plausible outcome since even the children didn't know they could do that before and found out by accident.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. After Izaya's failure to [[spoiler:kill Shizuo due to the interference of Celty]] He decides to employ the gambit. He does this by running into a large crowd with Shizuo [[spoiler:hellbent on killing him and they engage in a fight]]. As LampShaded by Aoba, if Izaya [[spoiler:manages to beat Shizuo, then he's achieved his goal. Conversely, if Shizuo defeats him and kills Izaya in front of everyone, then society will reject him, and Izaya still wins. Unfortunately, Izaya did not plan for Vorona's intervention by shooting him to prevent Shizuo from doing the deed. However, thanks to Simon, neither Shizuo nor Vorona deliver the coup-de-grâce and Izaya does survive, if barely]].

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. After Izaya's failure to [[spoiler:kill Shizuo due to the interference of Celty]]. He decides to employ the gambit by running into a large crowd with Shizuo [[spoiler:hellbent on killing him and engaging him in a fight]]. As lampShaded by Aoba, if Izaya [[spoiler:manages to beat Shizuo, then he's achieved his goal. Conversely, if Shizuo defeats him and kills Izaya in front of everyone, then society will reject him, and Izaya still wins. Unfortunately, Izaya did not plan for Vorona's intervention by shooting him to prevent Shizuo from doing the deed. However, thanks to Simon, neither Shizuo nor Vorona deliver the coup-de-grâce and Izaya does survive, if barely]].

* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', Karma attempts to pull one off to kill Korosensei. Knowing Korosensei as a teacher cannot allow any harm to come to his students, Karma planned to jump off a cliff with an Anti-Sensei gun to shoot his teacher when Korosensei came to save him. However, even if Korosensei managed to evade the shot, Karma would still have achieved his goal as Korosensei would 'die' as a teacher for having allowed Karma to die. This is subverted when Korosensei saves Karma by making a web out of his tentacles, coated with sticky mucus so when Karma fell into it, his arms were pinned down making him unable to shoot.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': All for One perfectly embodies this troupe, as seen by multiple parts of the story:

** Shigaraki is another part of All for One's goals in this troupe. Due to Shigaraki being the grandson of Nana Shimura, All Might's mentor and previous holder of One for All, All for One managed to have someone that would hurt All Might one way or another. If Shigaraki succeeds, then All for One is victorious, and All Might will be killed by his mentor's grandchild. But if Shigaraki is defeated, then All Might will know that he failed to save the grandson of his mentor, as regardless of circumstances, Shigaraki was a villain that had to be stopped.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light must have studied the works of David Xanatos because he pulls off his XanatosGambit masterfully. When TheDragon Misa Amane has been found out as the second Kira, he forms a plan in less than 24 hours that involves a MemoryGambit, and due to his HeelFaceTurn as a result of this, he will either [[spoiler: live his life as a free man with no connection to his actions as the BigBad, or regain his memory with all possible threats neutralized and Misa, and himself, cleared of all suspicion. Refer to the Death Note trope page for a more detailed explanation.]]

* In Assassination Classroom, Karma attempts to pull one off to kill Korosensei. Knowing Korosensei as a teacher cannot allow any harm to come to his students, Karma planned to jump off a cliff with an Anti-Sensei gun to shoot his teacher when Korosensei came to save him. However, even if Korosensei managed to evade the shot, Karma would still have achieved his goal as Korosensei would 'die' as a teacher for having allowed Karma to die. This is subverted when Korosensei saves Karma by making a web out of his tentacles, coated with sticky mucus so when Karma fell into it, his arms were pinned down making him unable to shoot.

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* ''Manga/BokunoHeroAcademia'': All for One perfectly embodies this troupe, as seen by multiple parts of the story:

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Nanoha and Fate's final battle is one for the Time and Space Administration: Nanoha's victory or defeat is irrelevant. They would prefer she won (and thereby arrest Fate and recover the jewel seeds) but if she doesn't Chrono will step in and finish off the worn-out Fate. If nothing else the battle will allow them to track [[BigBad Precia's location.]]

** So to summarize: 1) If Schneizel wins, [[spoiler: he learns the identity of a super-terrorist.]]. If Zero won, [[spoiler: Schneizel would more-or-less have his enemy surrounded by a number of armed guards]]. What happened, [[spoiler: Schneizel baited Zero into losing and learned something about him,]] allowing him to get part of what he wanted and [[spoiler: due to Nina's interruption]] barring Zero from his prize.

** Charles' actual plan all along: his rule of expansionism is really a cover for his AssimilationPlot. He has already gained access to all Thought Elevators, and by the second season, an Immortality Code, leaving the final outcome of the war between Britannia and the rest of the world inconsequential to him, which he freely admits, as he's on the brink of his final goal. [[NearVillainVictory He nearly pulls it off]], only for his son Lelouch to interfere by [[DidYouJustScamChtulhu geassing the equivalent of God]], which has the effect of erasing both his parents who were together on the plan.

** A particularly [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments brilliant]] one in R2 involves an agreement with the Britannian government to let the Black Knights (Zero's organization) go unpunished and dissolve in exchange for getting Zero permanently exiled from Area Eleven. The event will be heavily publicized, and one million Elevens arrive to watch. However, Zero refuses to show himself and creates a massive smokescreen that lasts for only a few seconds. Once it dissipates, [[spoiler: the entire crowd is wearing a Zero costume]]. Since the agreement is [[ExactWords to banish Zero]] [[spoiler: and there are now one ''million'' of them]], the Britannians can choose to a) stay true to their word and release [[spoiler:all one million people dressed as]] Zero, thus letting him keep his power base in another country, or b) go back on their promise and slaughter them all, essentially repeating the Euphemia massacre, which will not only further incite rebellion among the Elevens, but also severely damage Britannia's reputation and credibility with the world's other two superpowers. Either way, Zero wins. [[spoiler:Suzaku allows all of the Zero impersonators to leave.]]

** ''Manga/YuGiOhZEXAL'' the manga has one of these at the end: [[spoiler: Astral needed all 100 Number cards to seal himself away for eternity and complete his mission, but Yuma refused to hand him over Utopia, the last Number he needed. He challenged him to a duel with said Number on the line. Unfortunately for him, Astral seemed to have already found a way to win [[PyrrhicVictory even if Yuma defeats him]]. He summoned a powerful Number that would either crush Yuma and win him Yuma's Number, or leave his partner no other choice than to Overpower it with Utopia, activating in the process its last effect which then allows Astral to take control and hold of Utopia momentarily, which is amply sufficient for him to harness its power.]]

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' Mercurymon's plan when he put Chosen Children in his Beast Spirit form. He pits them against various opponents while recording every attack used and gaining the ability to use it himself. If the opponents he has set up win, fine. The children win, he gains the power to use whatever attacks he saw them use and immunity to the attack. Even the defeat of ShadowSeraphimon, something he didn't count on, worked in his favor because of this. The only reason he failed to kill them was because he spent so much time toying with them that by accident Takuya finds out that they can use a CombinationAttack against him. This falls out of any plausible outcome since even the children didn't know they could do that before and found out by accident.

** ''Manga/YuGiOhZexal'' the manga has one of these at the end: [[spoiler: Astral needed all 100 Number cards to seal himself away for eternity and complete his mission, but Yuma refused to hand him over Utopia, the last Number he needed. He challenged him to a duel with said Number on the line. Unfortunately for him, Astral seemed to have already found a way to win [[PyrrhicVictory even if Yuma defeats him]]. He summoned a powerful Number that would either crush Yuma and win him Yuma's Number, or leave his partner no other choice than to Overpower it with Utopia, activating in the process its last effect which then allows Astral to take control and hold of Utopia momentarily, which is amply sufficient for him to harness its power.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Capturing Orihime allowed Aizen to lure in rescuers and rescuers for the rescuers. Then there's the battle in the Fake Karakura Town. He gets what he needs no matter who wins. By then, he makes a switch from gambits to GambitRoulette.
** Yhwach absorbs the strength and powers of anyone who dies. If his Sternritter army defeats the Soul Reapers, he wins. If the Sternritters lose, he'll take their strength and wipe out the Soul Reapers anyway.

** A particularly [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments brilliant]] one in R2 involves an agreement with the Britannian government to let the Black Knights (Zero's organization) go unpunished and dissolve in exchange for getting Zero permanently exiled from Area Eleven. The event will be heavily publicized, and one million Elevens arrive to watch. However, Zero refuses to show himself and creates a massive smokescreen that lasts for only a few seconds. Once it dissipates, [[spoiler: the entire crowd is wearing a Zero costume]]. Since the agreement is [[ExactWords to banish Zero]] [[spoiler: and there are now one ''million'' of them]], the Britannians can choose to a) stay true to their word and release [[spoiler: all one million people dressed as]] Zero, thus letting him keep his power base in another country, or b) go back on their promise and slaughter them all, essentially repeating the Euphemia massacre, which will not only further incite rebellion among the Elevens, but also severely damage Britannia's reputation and credibility with the world's other two superpowers. Either way, Zero wins. [[spoiler: Suzaku allows all of the Zero impersonators to leave]].

* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', Satsuki pulls off a nice one from time to time. She allows Ryuko Matoi to start a fight club, which gives Ryuko power and wealth within the city. Why? Well, the more fights Ryuko wins, the greater social standing she gets. The desire for more power could cause Ryuko to accept Satsuki's dominion over the people, therefore removing a threat. Does her plan fall apart when Ryuko chooses Mako as Fight Club President? Nope, just try to corrupt Mako instead and see if she'll kill Ryuko for you. Sure enough, Mako's desire to provide for her family eventually leads her and Ryuko to have falling out. When Ryuko and Mako make up and disband the fight club, did Satsuki lose? NOPE, Ryuko's fights against the other clubs have already allowed Satsuki to weed through who is not longer "worthy" of the powers she distributes to club presidents. Even better, her analysts had the chance to observe Ryuko more, in preparation for whenever she and Satsuki final clash. In the end, everything benefited her.

* Atobe from ''ThePrinceOfTennis'' also uses one against Tezuka. [[spoiler: Instead of just beating Tezuka normally, Atobe draws the match out in order to try to destroy Tezuka's injured shoulder.]] While that initially appears to be his goal, Fuji reveals that his true plan is [[spoiler: to force Tezuka to attack so as to expose his weaknesses. Surprisingly, Tezuka takes on the drawn-out match, fully aware of the consequences.]]

* Rau Le Creuset from ''Anime/GundamSeed'': [[spoiler:everyone dies, he wins; Earth Forces lose, he's with ZAFT - he wins. ZAFT loses, he was The Mole giving info to the Earth Forces - he wins. Kira Yamato kills him - he has CloningBlues and wants to die anyway, he wins.]]

** YuGiOhZexal the manga has one of these at the end: [[spoiler: Astral needed all 100 Number cards to seal himself away for eternity and complete his mission, but Yuma refused to hand him over Utopia, the last Number he needed. He challenged him to a duel with said Number on the line. Unfortunately for him, Astral seemed to have already found a way to win [[PyrrhicVictory even if Yuma defeats him]]. He summoned a powerful Number that would either crush Yuma and win him Yuma's Number, or leave his partner no other choice than to Overpower it with Utopia, activating in the process its last effect which then allows Astral to take control and hold of Utopia momentarily, which is amply sufficient for him to harness its power.]]