History XanatosGambit / AnimeAndManga

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': At the climax of Part 1, [[spoiler:Denji, knowing that he couldn't beat Makima head-on, pulls a magnificent one by having Pochita act as a decoy and fight her while he himself hides within one of her slaves so he could finish her off once she's worn down from fighting Pochita. Denji's gambit has a three-fold positive outcome: If Makima were to find out where Denji is hiding and tries to kill him, she would likely be too distracted to fight back against Pochita. If Makima beats Pochita, then Denji would finally step in and attack her by surprise while she's exhausted (and that is ''exactly'' how the fight played out). And if Pochita won the fight against Makima, well... [[ShapedLikeItself the result would be the same]] as Denji would still show up to kill her anyway.]]

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': At the climax of Part 1, [[spoiler:Denji, knowing that he couldn't beat Makima head-on, pulls a magnificent one by having Pochita act as a decoy and fight her while he himself hides within one of her slaves so he could finish her off once she's worn down from fighting Pochita. Denji's gambit has a three-fold positive outcome: If Makima were to find out where Denji is hiding and tries to kill him, she would likely be too distracted to fight back against Pochita. If Makima beats Pochita, then Denji would finally step in and attack her by surprise while she's exhausted (and that is exactly how the fight played out). And if Pochita won the fight against Makima... the result would be the same as Denji would still show up to kill her anyway.]]

* Rau Le Creuset from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'': [[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.]]

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': This turns out to be the real reason for [[spoiler:The Tournament of Power. The Zenos announce that 8 of the 12 universes must compete in it and any universes that lose will be automatically erased. Meanwhile, one member of the winning universe will be granted a wish on the super dragon balls, which have no limits to the wishes they can grant. It turns out that the Zenos [[SecretTestOfCharacter are hoping that the winner of the tournament will be someone with a virtuous heart and will give up the opportunity to have anything they want, instead using the wish to resurrect all the universes erased during the tournament]]. This act of selflessness, apparently defying the Zenos, shows that universes are indeed capable of change and growth, since the Zenos said that the weaker universes were being erased because there has been a lack of change and development recently. This also serves as a wake up call to the erased universes, showing that they ''can'' be erased and must get their universes in better shape ASAP, and shows the 4 exempt universes that they still have work to do as well, since they see how strong the beings from "weaker" universes are. On the other hand, if a '''selfish''' wish had been made, the Zenos would have simply erased '''everything''' on the spot, including the exempt universes. Either way, whether a selfless wish or selfish wish was made, the Zenos would still get to have their entertainment by watching the tournament and seeing so many cool fighters and techniques, and the end result would mean they no longer need to worry about the mortals, for better or for worse.]]
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** [[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[[note]]Prior Retconning by Toriyama, as of now he did not get to see any visions of the massacre and just suspected it, so he and Gine sent their son to Earth in secret[[/note]], 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 soldiers, 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 Saiyan becomes non-existent, it was a win-win scenario for Frieza no matter what happened.
** ''The entire battle'' between Vegito and Super Buu was this. It didn't matter what Super Buu threw at Vegito as he had a back up plan or counter strategy for anything. Any outcome in that fight would have suited Vegito, if Super Buu turns Vegito into candy, Vegito still retains his power, as he is much stronger than Super Buu, and it just makes Vegito a harder target to destroy, if Super Buu absorbs Vegito then it becomes easier for Vegito to remove his sons and friends from Super Buu's body and depower him and if Super Buu tries to kill Vegito... Vegito would instantly slaughter him. Of course, while that option would be just as effective, it would have been personally immoral for Vegito as he would be unconsciously murdering his own sons and friends. And while they could be brought back to life with the Dragon Balls, Vegito would still have somewhat of a heavy conscience for what he did.

* ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': The true goal of the Hoshin Project is to [[spoiler:procure a large number of souls by harvesting them from deceased people of great power, [[CombinedEnergyAttack so they can lend Taikobo their power in the final battle]]]]. Whether Taikobo's many other battles result in victory or defeat is irrelevant: [[spoiler:so long as SOMEONE dies, and someone always does, the Project is working, and there's a failsafe against his own death in the form of Otenkun.]]

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'' The true goal of the Houshin Project is to [[spoiler: procure a large number of souls by harvesting them from deceased people of great power, [[CombinedEnergyAttack so they can lend Taikoubou their power in the final battle]]]]. Whether Taikoubou’s many other battles result in victory or defeat is irrelevant: [[spoiler: so long as SOMEONE dies, and someone always does, the project is working, and there’s a failsafe against his own death in the form of Outenkun.]]

** Creating Pluto was this for Tenma. Either Astro losses or evolves and becomes stronger. He's perfectly happy either way. [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption When Pluto instead]] has a HeelFaceTurn, Shadow reveals he has another robot in the wing, Archeron, who has no emotions.]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': [[spoiler:Aleister]] is under a curse that makes him fail at everything he attempts. To achieve his goals in spite of this, he sets up a XanatosGambit of monumental proportions that could take over a thousand years to fully unfold depending on how events play out, containing plots within plots and many backup plans, wherein success or failure at each individual step will propel events towards the same inevitable conclusion no matter what.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. After Izaya's failure to [[spoiler:kill Shizuo due to the interference of Celty]], he decides to employ a desperate 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 [[SomeoneHasToDoIt Vorona's intervention by shooting him to prevent Shizuo from doing the deed]]. However, [[SpannerInTheWorks thanks to Simon]], neither Shizuo nor Vorona deliver the coup-de-grâce and Izaya does survive, if barely]].

* ''[[Anime/{{Slayers}} Slayers NEXT]]'': Phibrizzo has a NICE one, just because of how he uses it. [[spoiler: He wants to destroy the world by having Lina use the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Giga Slave]] and lose control over it. To make this happen, he sets her against Gaav. If she uses the Giga Slave and it destroys the world, great. If it doesn't, he'll provoke her himself. If she uses the Ragna Blade instead, Gaav will be weakened enough for Phibrizzo to take him out himself and ''then'' he can provoke Lina into using the Giga Slave. Being the [[NamestoRunAwayFromReallyFast Hellmaster]] he has power and influence enough to make sure she doesn't die until this happens. Lina has no choice but to play right into his hands.]] Unfortunately, Phibrizzo forgot one thing. Summoning someone more powerful than you [[EvilIsNotAToy is NOT a good idea.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'':

** In the beginning of the final arc of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', this was the first step of Owikawa [[spoiler:(actually Myotismon)]]'s plan. He opened Digiportals around the world, allowing Digimon and control spires to appear everywhere across the earth. If the control spires remained intact, they would alter the boundaries of the Digital World from the human side and allow him to cross over. However, if the Digidestined left Japan to go around the world and undo the damage, Owikawa and his minions could use the time they were gone to kidnap appropriate children [[spoiler:to be implanted with dark spores]].

* In ''Manga/TomodachiGame'', GuileHero Yuuichi manages to pull one of these off to win the [[spoiler:sixth]] round. [[spoiler:After being forced to bet all of his winnings against TheDon's [[TheAce ace gambler]] daughter, it's revealed after he loses that he made a ''second'' bet with the non-participating members of the opposing team on the game's final outcome in which they'd transfer all their team's winnings to him if they failed to guess the correct ranking order. If he had won, he would've finished with an ~$8 million dollar bonus on top of the five he already had, but by losing he finished with the same $13 million dollars he would've gained from winning. Because of the way the game was set up, he was the only person the non-participants could talk to, which prevented their leaders from knowing the truth until it was too late.]]

* ''[[Anime/SaiunkokuMonogatari The Story of Saiunkoku]]'':
** In the first season,[[spoiler:Sa Enjun]] enacts a plot to assassinate Emperor Shi Ryuuki and replace him with his long-lost brother Seien. The second season reveals this to have been a XanatosGambit -- if it had succeeded, [[spoiler:Enjun]] would have been the power behind the throne and would have [[spoiler:finally surpassed [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Grand Master Shou]]]], but the plot's failure provided the Emperor with a reason to investigate and rectify [[spoiler:the corruption of the Sa Clan]], exactly as [[spoiler:Enjun]] had hoped.
** The second season also includes a neatly-constructed XanatosGambit on Shuurei's part when she approaches the Merchant's Guild to negotiate for their help in dealing with an outbreak of disease in her province. The Guild is reluctant to have any part of it, and their representatives remain noncommittal until a message arrives from the Emperor commanding them to do the work ''for free'' if they have not already reached an agreement; Shuurei pleasantly suggests that she's willing to pretend they'd sorted things out by the time the message got there, if the Guild will give her some extra concessions in return for the favour. The possible results of Shuurei's plan thus break down to 1) she gets what she wants; 2) she gets what she wants plus a little extra; or 3) she ''still'' gets what she wants and the Guild doesn't even get paid for it.

* ''Anime/VoltesV'': A seemingly weak [[MonsterOfTheWeek Beast Fighter]] sent by the [[HumanAliens Boazanians]] to fight was in fact designed to unknowingly perform detailed physical scanning on the eponymous CombiningMecha during their fight. The Boazanian's then use the data gathered from the battle to develop a countermeasure for the mecha's TransformationSequence, which they utilize during the next fight to render the FiveManBand helpless.

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' Mercurymon's plan when he put the 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, [[DidntSeeThatComing 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.

** [[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 soldiers, 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 Saiyan becomes non-existent, it was a win-win scenario for Frieza no matter what happened.

** When the League of Villains first attacked the USJ, though Nomu was defeated, they managed to leave a mark to the Pros by making the League of Villains known, and All for One got confirmation that All Might was weakening, and had the bonus intel that Izuku Midoria was able to move as fast as All Might, making All for One realizing that One for All was passed down.

** In ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', [[BigBad Bagramon's]] plan is this. He wants to take over the Digital World, which has been divided into 108 different Zones, represented by the Code Crown. He gathers an army to take the Code Crown fragments from everyone, but several Digimon start fighting back, some of them summoning humans to fight him. So he sits back and does nothing, allowing them to gather all the Code Crown pieces, while bringing a human into the Digital World himself so that they can be gathered faster. Once the Code Crown is assembled, Bagramon immediately steals it, while at the same time his top henchmon Tactimon winds up in the human world, showing Bagramon how to reach it. Then step two of his plan begins. He uses the Code Crown to merge all the Zones into Lands, ruled by his Death Generals, who are instructed to turn each Land into a living hell, allowing him to absorb the despair of their inhabitants and funnel it into the Code Crown. As this happens, the last human Generals are running around fighting his rule, but that's okay, because they still can't beat the Death Generals on their own. And should the Death Generals actually be beaten (which is what happened), the negative energy from their deaths would still be enough to initiate [[ApocalypseHow D5]].

* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield21}}'', Hiruma's trick plays are made of this trope, to the point where almost any failure OR success contributes in some way to setting up the next play, which might in turn be setting up yet another, etc. It gets to the point where even [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow anticipating a trap within a trap still lands you in a third trap.]]

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'':
** This is a common interpretation of [[spoiler: Chao Lingshen]]'s plans; If she wins, magic is revealed to the world and [[spoiler: a future disaster is averted. If Negi defeats her...then he's strong enough to avert the disaster himself.]]
** Kurt Godel is obviously pulling one of these on Negi, but his ultimate goal is unclear. [[spoiler: Although, it seems to have blown up in his face. Mainly because he didn't know Negi had knowledge from the future]].
** And on the villainous side of things, as soon as Dynamis [[spoiler:showed up to fight Ala Alba with the Fatettes]] he had won. [[spoiler:Beating them means he wins, losing meant Negi was disabled because of how it was set up, and if ''neither'' of those two worked, then Dynamis has still stalled for so long that the other three Averrunci would be awoken, drastically changing the power balance of the two sides.]]
** Negi acts as the SpannerInTheWorks by just being ''[[HeroicWillpower that goddamned awesome]]''.

%%''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': [[spoiler:Aleister]] is under a curse that makes him fail at everything he attempts. To acheive his goals in spite of this, he sets up a XanatosGambit of monumental proportions that could take over a thousand years to fully unfold depending on how events play out, containing plots within plots and many backup plans, wherin success or failure at each individual step will propel events towards the same inevitable conclusion no matter what.

** An early one is Schneizel - he faces the terrorist leader, Zero, in a chess match in which the victor will gain a valuable prize. If Schneizel wins, Zero has to unmask himself (something that would greatly disadvantage Zero). If Zero wins, he gains Suzaku, TheDragon to Schneizel, who up until this point has been a massive {{Heel}} to Zero. During the match, [[spoiler: Lelouch fears this trope when Schneizel deliberately sets himself up to lose, believing that Schneizel is attempting to make this trope and that by losing, Schneizel will also gain an advantage.]] As a result, Zero [[spoiler: intentionally avoids winning the game]]. This turns out to be his downfall, as Schneizel claims [[spoiler: that the Emperor would have instantly seized victory, giving Schneizel some insight to Zero's true identity without even needing to win the match and forcing Zero to unmask himself.]]

** In season 2, Lelouch pulls an even more devious one (combined with a KansasCityShuffle, see the entry on ''that'' page) to recruit Rolo to his side: He geasses a Britannian sniper to shoot Rolo, and Lelouch plans to push Rolo out of the way to show he "cares" for his fake brother. If Lelouch fails in pushing Rolo out of the way in time, he removes a threat to himself. If he does and [[BatmanGambit Rolo buys it]], he gains a powerful new pawn. Further, WordOfGod says that if Rolo hadn't bought it and had tried to kill Lelouch or CC immediately afterwards, the sniper had already been geassed to keep shooting till Rolo was dead.

** [[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 Saiyan becomes non-existent, it was a win-win scenario for Frieza no matter what happened.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[DragonWithAnAgenda Archduke Gorgon]] agreed to help [[BigBad Dr. Hell]] to destroy [[HumongousMecha Mazinger-Z]] with his visibly more powerful Mechanical Beasts. However his true intentions were watching Hell closely and [[spoiler:making both sides weakened each other battle after battle until one side won. Then, he would annihilate the weakened victor, and the Great General of Darkness -his real boss- would conquer the surface world without any real opposition.]] Consequently, he could not lose, not matter how the war between Dr. Hell and Kouji Kabuto ended. Indeed, he was successful: [[spoiler:he betrayed Dr. Hell in the worst possible moment, leaving him to die or personally murdering him -depending on the version-. Straight after he sent several [[{{Robeast}} Mykene Warrior Beasts]] after Mazinger-Z, and they destroyed the HumongousMecha.]] In one single day and from one single stroke he had looked after all his enemies. However, his plan did not cause the expected outcome due to a SpannerInTheWorks: Kenzo Kabuto and ''Anime/GreatMazinger''.

* Rau Le Creuset from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'': [[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.]]

* ''Manga/RaveMaster'': The heroes occasionally use one of these to defeat their enemies' [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phlebotinum]]-powers. In volume 27, for instance, ActionGirl Julia, badly injured, grabs an acid-powered villain and jumps out of the air ship, so that he will plummet to his death. He responds by sneering at her and transforming his body into acid. Julia then taunts him about the [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/rave_master/v27/c223/15.html stupidity of turning yourself into a liquid substance while falling at terminal velocity]].

** In the first season,[[spoiler:Sa Enjun]] enacts a plot to assassinate Emperor Shi Ryuuki and replace him with his long-lost brother Seien. The second season reveals this to have been a XanatosGambit - if it had succeeded, [[spoiler:Enjun]] would have been the power behind the throne and would have [[spoiler:finally surpassed [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Grand Master Shou]]]], but the plot's failure provided the Emperor with a reason to investigate and rectify [[spoiler:the corruption of the Sa Clan]], exactly as [[spoiler:Enjun]] had hoped.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Nanoha and Fate's final battle is one for the Time and Space Administration Bureau:
** 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.]]

** In the beginning of the final arc of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', this was the first step of Owikawa[[spoiler:actually Myotismon]]'s plan. He opened digiportals around the world, allowing digimon and control spires to appear everywhere across the earth. If the control spires remained intact, they would alter the boundaries of the digital world from the human side and allow him to cross over. However, if the Digidestined left Japan to go around the world and undo the damage, Owikawa and his minions could use the time they were gone to kidnap appropriate children [[spoiler:to be implanted with dark spores]].

** In ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', [[BigBad Bagramon's]] plan is this. He wants to take over the Digital World, which has been divided into 108 different Zones, represented by the Code Crown. He gathers an army to take the Code Crown fragments from everyone, but several Digimon start fighting back, some of them summoning humans to fight him. So he sits back and does nothing, allowing them to gather all the Code Crowns, while bringing a human into the Digital World himself so that they can be gathered faster. Once all 108 Code Crows are brought together, Bagramon instantly steals them, while at the same time his top hencmon Tactimon winds up in the human world, showing Bagramon how to reach it. Then step two of his plan begins. He uses the Code Crown to merge all the Zones into Lands, ruled by his Death Generals, who are instructed to turn each Land into living hells, allowing him to absorb the despair of their inhabitants and funnel it into the Code Crown. As this happens, the last human Generals are running around fighting his rule, but that's okay, because they still can't beat the Death Generals on their own. And should the Death Generals actually be beaten (which is what happened), the negative energy from their deaths would still be enough to initiate [[ApocalypseHow D5]].

** When facing All Might, regardless on the victor, All for One would have attained a form of victory. If he had won and killed All Might, he would have destroyed the symbol of peace in the eyes of the people. If he lost, he managed to at least make it so All Might is no longer a threat to the villains by making him exhaust what was left of One for All, which would in turn cause more villains to rise and society to go into unrest. And by being defeated, Shigaraki's anger and hatred would make him grow even more dangerous now that his teacher was at a place that Shigaraki could no longer reach.

** ''The entire battle'' between Vegetto and Super Buu was this. It didn't matter what Super Buu threw at Vegetto as he had a back up plan or counter strategy for anything. Any outcome in that fight would have suited Vegetto, if Super Buu turns Vegetto into candy, Vegetto still retains his power, as he is much stronger than Super Buu, and it just makes Vegetto a harder target to destroy, if Super Buu absorbs Vegetto then it becomes easier for Vegetto to remove his sons and friends from Super Buu's body and depower him and if Super Buu tries to kill Vegetto... Vegetto would instantly slaughter him. Of course, while that option would be just as effective, it would have been personally immoral for Vegetto as he would be unconsciously murdering his own sons and friends. And while they could be brought back to life with the Dragon Balls, Vegetto would still have somewhat of a heavy conscience for what he did.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': [[spoiler:Aleister]] is under a curse that makes him fail at everything he attempts. To acheive his goals in spite of this, he sets up a XanatosGambit of monumental proportions that could take over a thousand years to fully unfold depending on how events play out, containing plots within plots and many backup plans, wherin success or failure at each individual step will propel events towards the same inevitable conclusion no matter what.

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.]]

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' Sensui had a XanatosGambit within a BatmanGambit. He knows the heroes are going to come storm his base to stop him, so he sends Amanuma to face them. Amanuma is an eleven-year-old kid whose special power is to [[IKnowMortalKombat bring video games to life]], and Sensui selects one that very clearly kills the antagonist if the heroes win, or the heroes if they give up. Amanuma's powers will make that ending a reality if that's how the game goes, so the heroes conclude that the intent was to stall them; they're stuck until they or Amanuma die. Kurama [[ShootTheDog shoots the dog]], but then Sensui reveals the ''other'' side of the plan: ''[[ImmortalImmaturity Koenma]]'' was really the only character who had the power to stop him all by himself, and Sensui needed to neutralize him. Since Koenma was the one who hired Sensui as Spirit Detective and sent him on the road to madness anyway, Sensui knows that Koenma feels [[TheAtoner extensively guilty]] about the whole affair, and, if the heroes killed Amanuma, he knew Koenma would drain his power to bring Amanuma back to life. Either way, the Makai Tunnel would open.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. After Izaya's failure to [[spoiler:kill Shizuo due to the interference of Celty]], he decides to employ a desperate 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 [[SomeoneHasToDoIt 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]].

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Nanoha and Fate's final battle is one for the Time and Space Administration Bureau: 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.]]

* ''Anime/VoltesV'': A seemingly weak [[MonsterOfTheWeek Beast Fighter]] sent by the [[HumanAliens Boazanians]] to fight was in fact designed to unknowingly perform detailed physical scanning on the eponymous CombiningMecha during their fight. The Boazanian's then use the data gathered from the battle to develop a countermeasure for the mecha's TransformationSequence, which they utilize during the next fight to render the FiveManBand helpless.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' Sensui had a XanatosGambit within a BatmanGambit. He knows the heroes are going to come storm his base to stop him, so he sends Amanuma to face them. Amanuma is an eleven-year-old kid whose special power is to [[IKnowMortalKombat bring video games to life]], and Sensui selects one that very clearly kills the antagonist if the heroes win, or the heroes if they give up. Amanuma's powers will make that ending a reality if that's how the game goes, so the heroes conclude that the intent was to stall them; they're stuck until they or Amanuma die. Kurama [[ShootTheDog shoots the dog]], but then Sensui reveals the ''other'' side of the plan: ''[[ImmortalImmaturity Koenma]]'' was really the only character who had the power to stop him all by himself, and Sensui needed to neutralize him. Since Koenma was the one who hired Sensui as Spirit Detective and sent him on the road to madness anyway, Sensui knows that Koenma feels [[TheAtoner extensively guilty]] about the whole affair, and, if the heroes killed Amanuma, he knew Koenma would drain his power to bring Amanuma back to life. Either way, the Makai Tunnel would open.

* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': Atobe 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.]]
* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', the crew find themselves a part of one such gambit. An old ex-Nazi finds out about a valuable painting from the war (one possibly painted by Hitler himself) in a sunken submarine. He tasks a Neo-Nazi group, who want his connections and funding, to salvage it and hires the Lagoon Company through an intermediary to do the same job. Neither group knows about the other. If the Nazis defeat the Lagoon Company, he gets the painting and knows the Neo-Nazi group is competent and worthy of his further patronage. If the Lagoon Company wins, he gets the painting and does not have to help incompetents. The only thing he didn't count on was for Dutch and Rock to figure out they were being played, but since the crew needs the money for the job (and because their reputation would plummet if they betrayed an employer) they can't do anything about it.
* ''[[Anime/SaiunkokuMonogatari The Story of Saiunkoku]]'':
** In the first season,[[spoiler:Sa Enjun]] enacts a plot to assassinate Emperor Shi Ryuuki and replace him with his long-lost brother Seien. The second season reveals this to have been a XanatosGambit - if it had succeeded, [[spoiler:Enjun]] would have been the power behind the throne and would have [[spoiler:finally surpassed [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Grand Master Shou]]]], but the plot's failure provided the Emperor with a reason to investigate and rectify [[spoiler:the corruption of the Sa Clan]], exactly as [[spoiler:Enjun]] had hoped.
** The second season also includes a neatly-constructed XanatosGambit on Shuurei's part when she approaches the Merchant's Guild to negotiate for their help in dealing with an outbreak of disease in her province. The Guild is reluctant to have any part of it, and their representatives remain noncommittal until a message arrives from the Emperor commanding them to do the work ''for free'' if they have not already reached an agreement; Shuurei pleasantly suggests that she's willing to pretend they'd sorted things out by the time the message got there, if the Guild will give her some extra concessions in return for the favour. The possible results of Shuurei's plan thus break down to 1) she gets what she wants; 2) she gets what she wants plus a little extra; or 3) she ''still'' gets what she wants and the Guild doesn't even get paid for it.
* ''Anime/AstroBoy'':
** Creating Pluto was this for Tenma. Either Astro losses or evolves and becomes stronger. He's perfectly happy either way. [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption When Pluto instead]] has a HeelFaceTurn, Shadow reveals he has another robot in the wing, Archeron, who has no emotions.]]
** Skunk has one early on. He uses robots to hunt other robots and sell their parts on the black market. He hid his home base in a abandoned ice cream factory and here's where the gambit comes in. If no one finds him, he can continue unbothered but hopes Astro ''does'' find him because he has a trap set up.
* ''Anime/MonColleKnights'': [[spoiler:Redda]] of has a one. [[spoiler:he summons Dread Dragon, who traps the real Rockna within its neck, and Redda explains to Mondo that he can either destroy Dread Dragon and take Rockna with it, or get destroyed himself trying to save Rockna without harming the dragon. In the end, Gabriolis comes just in time to help and Rockna is saved anyway, and both heroes fuse with Gabriolis to destroy Dread Dragon. Nevertheless, either way, this still provides enough time of a distraction for Redda to get away and thus, Redda still succeeds in getting all of the Monster Items, which he plans to use to revive Oroboros and destroy everything himself]].

* Rau Le Creuset from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'': [[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.]]
* Haman Karn in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' played with this. No matter who won the Gryps Conflict -- AEUG or the Titans -- one side would be weak enough for Axis Zeon to move on in and wipe them out.

* 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.

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', no matter the outcome of [[spoiler:the 57th Expedition beyond the wall]], Erwin won. If they succeeded in [[spoiler:capturing the Female Titan]], not only would the Survey Corps eliminate a major threat, they would have learn more about [[spoiler:any spies in their ranks]]. If they didn't succeed, Erwin would still be able to [[spoiler:identify the infiltrators(and by extension the Female Titan).]]
** Also Erwin's plan to [[spoiler:capture the Female Titan a second time]]. If the suspect didn't help, Eren would have [[spoiler:escaped while Jean took his place.]] If the suspect did help, they would have [[spoiler:lured them into the trap]]. If the suspect was a false lead, they would [[spoiler:use the tunnel to smuggle and hide Eren]]. If the suspect was correctly identified, they [[spoiler:had people waiting to ambush her]]. If [[spoiler:the Female Titan transformed]], Eren and the Survey Corps would fight and [[spoiler:try to capture her again]]. If they failed to [[spoiler:capture her]], they just exposed a spy. If they [[spoiler:captured her]], then they could use that as a reason to [[spoiler: not execute Eren]].

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** [[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 Saiyan becomes non-existent, it was a win-win scenario for Frieza no matter what happened.
** ''The entire battle'' between Vegetto and Super Buu was this. It didn't matter what Super Buu threw at Vegetto as he had a back up plan or counter strategy for anything. Any outcome in that fight would have suited Vegetto, if Super Buu turns Vegetto into candy, Vegetto still retains his power, as he is much stronger than Super Buu, and it just makes Vegetto a harder target to destroy, if Super Buu absorbs Vegetto then it becomes easier for Vegetto to remove his sons and friends from Super Buu's body and depower him and if Super Buu tries to kill Vegetto... Vegetto would instantly slaughter him. Of course, while that option would be just as effective, it would have been personally immoral for Vegetto as he would be unconsciously murdering his own sons and friends. And while they could be brought back to life with the Dragon Balls, Vegetto would still have somewhat of a heavy conscience for what he did.
* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': This turns out to be the real reason for [[spoiler:The Tournament of Power. The Zenos announce that 8 of the 12 universes must compete in it and any universes that lose will be automatically erased. Meanwhile, one member of the winning universe will be granted a wish on the super dragon balls, which have no limits to the wishes they can grant. It turns out that the Zenos [[SecretTestOfCharacter are hoping that the winner of the tournament will be someone with a virtuous heart and will give up the opportunity to have anything they want, instead using the wish to resurrect all the universes erased during the tournament]]. This act of selflessness, apparently defying the Zenos, shows that universes are indeed capable of change and growth, since the Zenos said that the weaker universes were being erased because there has been a lack of change and development recently. This also serves as a wake up call to the erased universes, showing that they ''can'' be erased and must get their universes in better shape ASAP, and shows the 4 exempt universes that they still have work to do as well, since they see how strong the beings from "weaker" universes are. On the other hand, if a '''selfish''' wish had been made, the Zenos would have simply erased '''everything''' on the spot, including the exempt universes. Either way, whether a selfless wish or selfish wish was made, the Zenos would still get to have their entertainment by watching the tournament and seeing so many cool fighters and techniques, and the end result would mean they no longer need to worry about the mortals, for better or for worse.]]

* 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 or rather [[spoiler: to have considerable force to Satsuki's impending rebellion against her mother Ragyo]]. In the end, everything benefited her.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Zeref eventually decides that humans are beyond saving and need to be wiped out. He announces his desire to exterminate humanity in front of Mavis Vermillion, knowing that she and her allies will do everything in their power to stop him. Since he's a DeathSeeker as well, this works out perfectly. He will destroy humanity, or they will destroy him. Either way, he gets something he wants.



* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. After Izaya's failure to [[spoiler:kill Shizuo due to the interference of Celty]], he decides to employ a desperate 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 [[SomeoneHasToDoIt 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]].

* This is how Vicious takes over the Red Dragon Syndicate in ''Anime/CowboyBebop''. He attempts a coup d'etat on the elders of the Syndicate after he found out Spike was still alive. While Vicious would have been happy with success, he expected to fail. He indeed fails to assassinate the elders, and gets sentenced to death. But he stacks the execution squad with his own men, who gun the elders down for real.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': All for One perfectly embodies this trope, as seen by multiple parts of the story:
** When the League of Villains first attacked the USJ, though Nomu was defeated, they managed to leave a mark to the Pros by making the League of Villains known, and All for One got confirmation that All Might was weakening, and had the bonus intel that Izuku Midoria was able to move as fast as All Might, making All for One realizing that One for All was passed down.
** By approaching Stain and then having Shigaraki try to have a competition with him, it allowed chaos to be ensued, which would allow the League of Villains to form a connection with Stain to the public. Even though Stain was captured, this connection and Stain's charisma allowed every other villain to see the League of Villains as a group that fought for a goal, thus allowing Shigaraki to attain allies.
** When facing All Might, regardless on the victor, All for One would have attained a form of victory. If he had won and killed All Might, he would have destroyed the symbol of peace in the eyes of the people. If he lost, he managed to at least make it so All Might is no longer a threat to the villains by making him exhaust what was left of One for All, which would in turn cause more villains to rise and society to go into unrest. And by being defeated, Shigaraki's anger and hatred would make him grow even more dangerous now that his teacher was at a place that Shigaraki could no longer reach.
** Shigaraki is another part of All for One's goals in this trope. 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.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' uses this trope now and then, to varying degrees. An early one is Schneizel - he faces the terrorist leader, Zero, in a chess match in which the victor will gain a valuable prize. If Schneizel wins, Zero has to unmask himself (something that would greatly disadvantage Zero). If Zero wins, he gains Suzaku, TheDragon to Schneizel, who up until this point has been a massive {{Heel}} to Zero. During the match, [[spoiler: Lelouch fears this trope when Schneizel deliberately sets himself up to lose, believing that Schneizel is attempting to make this trope and that by losing, Schneizel will also gain an advantage.]] As a result, Zero [[spoiler: intentionally avoids winning the game]]. This turns out to be his downfall, as Schneizel claims [[spoiler: that the Emperor would have instantly seized victory, giving Schneizel some insight to Zero's true identity without even needing to win the match and forcing Zero to unmask himself.]]

* Sensui from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' had a XanatosGambit within a BatmanGambit. He knows the heroes are going to come storm his base to stop him, so he sends Amanuma to face them. Amanuma is an eleven-year-old kid whose special power is to [[IKnowMortalKombat bring video games to life]], and Sensui selects one that very clearly kills the antagonist if the heroes win, or the heroes if they give up. Amanuma's powers will make that ending a reality if that's how the game goes, so the heroes conclude that the intent was to stall them; they're stuck until they or Amanuma die. Kurama [[ShootTheDog shoots the dog]], but then Sensui reveals the ''other'' side of the plan: ''[[ImmortalImmaturity Koenma]]'' was really the only character who had the power to stop him all by himself, and Sensui needed to neutralize him. Since Koenma was the one who hired Sensui as Spirit Detective and sent him on the road to madness anyway, Sensui knows that Koenma feels [[TheAtoner extensively guilty]] about the whole affair, and, if the heroes killed Amanuma, he knew Koenma would drain his power to bring Amanuma back to life. Either way, the Makai Tunnel would open.
* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' chapter 331, Pariston is revealed to not think of winning, though he does know how to win; neither is he thinking of losing. He's playing around with the election [[spoiler:because he saved 5000 Chimera Ants to use as a power base. Each of the Chimera Ants can use nen, the minimum requirement to be a Hunter. Come next Hunter Exam, those 5000 Chimera Ants will become Hunters almost automatically. Once they become Hunters and are added to Pariston's group of Temp Hunters, he'll have majority support and an overpowered standing army. Since according to Article 8 of the Hunter Commandments the Hunter in charge has to have majority support, if Pariston loses this election he can just force the winner out of office and set up another election under more favorable circumstances.]]
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[DragonWithAnAgenda Archduke Gorgon]] agreed to help [[BigBad Dr. Hell]] to destroy [[HumongousMecha Mazinger-Z]] with his visibly more powerful Mechanical Beasts. However his true intentions were watching Hell closely and [[spoiler:making both sides weakened each other battle after battle until one side won. Then, he would annihilate the weakened victor, and the Great General of Darkness -his real boss- would conquer the surface world without any real opposition.]] Consequently, he could not lose, not matter how the war between Dr. Hell and Kouji Kabuto ended. Indeed, he was successful: [[spoiler:he betrayed Dr. Hell in the worst possible moment, leaving him to die or personally murdering him -depending on the version-. Straight after he sent several [[{{Robeast}} Mykene Warrior Beasts]] after Mazinger-Z, and they destroyed the HumongousMecha.]] In one single day and from one single stroke he had looked after all his enemies. However, his plan did not cause the expected outcome due to a SpannerInTheWorks: Kenzo Kabuto and ''Anime/GreatMazinger''.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': 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.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', the country of Taribia declares its withdrawal from The Union, prompting a military action from America, the community's most powerful member. Taribia intends for Celestial Being to intervene in the conflict against America (who they perceived to have a monopoly over The Union), but the organization instead moves against Taribia, who they designated as the instigators of the conflict. Taribia is forced to return to The Union for America to instruct its forces to aid Taribia in fighting off Celestial Being. However, Taribia's current government is now secured with America's support, and America coming to Taribia's aid quells the anti-American sentiment within the country. It is implied by Ms.Sumeragi's exposition after the mission that Taribia planned this from the beginning, the government wins support from conservatives in their country by taking a hard stance against America but doesn't actually have to suffer the consequences of leaving the Union. They get their cake and eat it because they expected Celestial Being to show up and intercede.
* The true goal of the Houshin Project in ''Manga/SoulHunter'' is to [[spoiler: procure a large number of souls by harvesting them from deceased people of great power, [[CombinedEnergyAttack so they can lend Taikoubou their power in the final battle]]]]. Whether Taikoubou’s many other battles result in victory or defeat is irrelevant: [[spoiler: so long as SOMEONE dies, and someone always does, the project is working, and there’s a failsafe against his own death in the form of Outenkun.]]

* The heroes of the manga ''Manga/RaveMaster'' occasionally use one of these to defeat their enemies' [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phlebotinum]]-powers. In volume 27, for instance, ActionGirl Julia, badly injured, grabs an acid-powered villain and jumps out of the air ship, so that he will plummet to his death. He responds by sneering at her and transforming his body into acid. Julia then taunts him about the [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/rave_master/v27/c223/15.html stupidity of turning yourself into a liquid substance while falling at terminal velocity]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Itachi attempted this by setting up a few outcomes to [[MakesSenseInContext protect his brother's innocence]] and to keep him away from the BigBad's influences. [[spoiler: This doesn't work so much as it goes wrong in the worst possible way. The only thing that goes right for him is that after being revived by Kabuto, he is freed by]] [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Crow]] [[spoiler: which he had previously planted in the titular character's body prior to Itachi's imminent death.]]
** Also in ''Anime/NarutoTheMovieRoadToNinja'', [[BigBad Tobi]] makes one. [[spoiler:He sends Naruto and Sakura in alternate universe and to force Naruto fight a battle with Menma and unleash the Kyuubi in order to weaken his seal. If Menma wins he will get Kyuubi but if he loses, it he will take the body Menma and is trying to get Kyuubi on one's own. But if he nevertheless lose, he destroy the illusion so as he in any case performs its main goal: this a field test how the Moon's Eye Plan will work at a basic level.]]

* A seemingly weak [[MonsterOfTheWeek Beast Fighter]] sent by the [[HumanAliens Boazanians]] to fight ''Anime/VoltesV'' was in fact designed to unknowingly perform detailed physical scanning on the eponymous CombiningMecha during their fight. The Boazanian's then use the data gathered from the battle to develop a countermeasure for the mecha's TransformationSequence, which they utilize during the next fight to render the FiveManBand helpless.
* Hellbat pulls one towards the end of ''Anime/TransformersVictory'', when he suggests that Deathsaurus raise {{Atlantis}} to harvest the energy and says it's Leozack's idea. If this plan succeeds, the Decepticons benefit. If it fails, Deathsaurus kills Leozack.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': This is a common interpretation of [[spoiler: Chao Lingshen]]'s plans; If she wins, magic is revealed to the world and [[spoiler: a future disaster is averted. If Negi defeats her...then he's strong enough to avert the disaster himself.]]
** Kurt Godel is obviously pulling one of these on Negi, but his ultimate goal is unclear. [[spoiler: Although, it seems to have blown up in his face. Mainly because he didn't know Negi had knowledge from the future]].
** And on the villainous side of things, as soon as Dynamis [[spoiler:showed up to fight Ala Alba with the Fatettes]] he had won. [[spoiler:Beating them means he wins, losing meant Negi was disabled because of how it was set up, and if ''neither'' of those two worked, then Dynamis has still stalled for so long that the other three Averrunci would be awoken, drastically changing the power balance of the two sides.]]
** Negi acts as the SpannerInTheWorks by just being ''[[HeroicWillpower that goddamned awesome]]''.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** 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.
** In the beginning of the final arc of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', this was the first step of Owikawa[[spoiler:actually Myotismon]]'s plan. He opened digiportals around the world, allowing digimon and control spires to appear everywhere across the earth. If the control spires remained intact, they would alter the boundaries of the digital world from the human side and allow him to cross over. However, if the Digidestined left Japan to go around the world and undo the damage, Owikawa and his minions could use the time they were gone to kidnap appropriate children [[spoiler:to be implanted with dark spores]].
** ''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, [[DidntSeeThatComing 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.
** In ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', [[BigBad Bagramon's]] plan is this. He wants to take over the Digital World, which has been divided into 108 different Zones, represented by the Code Crown. He gathers an army to take the Code Crown fragments from everyone, but several Digimon start fighting back, some of them summoning humans to fight him. So he sits back and does nothing, allowing them to gather all the Code Crowns, while bringing a human into the Digital World himself so that they can be gathered faster. Once all 108 Code Crows are brought together, Bagramon instantly steals them, while at the same time his top hencmon Tactimon winds up in the human world, showing Bagramon how to reach it. Then step two of his plan begins. He uses the Code Crown to merge all the Zones into Lands, ruled by his Death Generals, who are instructed to turn each Land into living hells, allowing him to absorb the despair of their inhabitants and funnel it into the Code Crown. As this happens, the last human Generals are running around fighting his rule, but that's okay, because they still can't beat the Death Generals on their own. And should the Death Generals actually be beaten (which is what happened), the negative energy from their deaths would still be enough to initiate [[ApocalypseHow D5]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': General Grumman pulls one off when [[spoiler:he deliberately leaks plans for a terrorist attack in Central while the Fuhrer is in the east. If the Fuhrer stays, Central remains exposed for Mustang's coup. If he leaves, his train gets blown up over a ravine]].
** Kimblee pulls one at Briggs where he needs to cause a massacre for [[spoiler:Father's plan to proceed]]. Unable to cause the disaster from within he recruits a hostile army and lays siege. Whichever side wins the battle, the resulting deaths create exactly what Kimblee needs.
* Atobe from ''Manga/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.]]

* [[spoiler:Redda]] of ''Anime/MonColleKnights'' has a one. [[spoiler:he summons Dread Dragon, who traps the real Rockna within its neck, and Redda explains to Mondo that he can either destroy Dread Dragon and take Rockna with it, or get destroyed himself trying to save Rockna without harming the dragon. In the end, Gabriolis comes just in time to help and Rockna is saved anyway, and both heroes fuse with Gabriolis to destroy Dread Dragon. Nevertheless, either way, this still provides enough time of a distraction for Redda to get away and thus, Redda still succeeds in getting all of the Monster Items, which he plans to use to revive Oroboros and destroy everything himself]].

* 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.