Line #17 LovableCoward/AnimeAndManga


1	* ''Manga/BigWindup'': Mihashi. Although you're supposed to take his backstory of bullying seriously, his nervous tics are mostly played for laughs. He mostly expresses this by being an ExtremeDoormat to his catcher Abe.
2	%% * Takayuki Furuichi from ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}''.
3	* Finral Roulacase from ''Manga/BlackClover'' is always trying to avoid fights as much as possible. His magic suits his personality well: it's not particularly good for fighting but it's great for running away. He nonetheless musters up the courage to support Asta with his magic against Vetto. By the time he enters the Royal Knights Exam, he's no longer a coward in any way even though he still can't use magic to attack directly.
4	* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Keigo Asano. [[spoiler: [[TookALevelInBadass At]] [[TheSoCalledCoward first]], [[ActionSurvivor anyway.]]]]
5	* ''Manga/CrimeZone'': Shiro often finds himself tearing up and running away in battle. But that is because he's an ordinary human surrounded by vampires and vampire-human hybrids, all of whom are capable of tearing grown men apart limb from limb. When it comes down to his safety or theirs however, he'll gladly give himself up to the vampires out to kidnap him if it means his friends are spared.
6	* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' there’s the resident nervous wreck: Zenitsu Agatsuma, a seemly cowardly guy who can give others a bad impression at first but he quickly turns that around by being one of the most good natured characters in the series, boasting some real hidden talent only overshadowed by his lack of confidence, whereupon Zenitsu has overcame his fears many times to protect those he cares about and slay demons with his companions.
7	* ''Manga/DragonGoesHouseHunting'': Letty the dragon is a coward who initially tries to run and hide whenever he encounters something scary or dangerous. However, he's so sweet and innocent that one can't help be fond of him. It's not unjustified, either. He lacks any special combat skills while all his body parts are highly sought after by Heroes, so he has good reason to be afraid.
8	* Protagonist Dr. Onotera in ''Manga/{{Emerging}}'', at least in the beginning. He freaks out twice during his initial operating room examinations of victims of the virus... a mistake that could have cost both his life and the lives of the other hospital staff. Despite this, it's easy to root for him as he attempts to overcome his fears and put a stop to the disease spreading through Tokyo.
9	* ''Literature/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': Protagonist Kururi's father Toral Helan is a feudal lord who just wants to relax and be a gourmand, while being a caring father, but runs off claiming stomach pain at the first sign of trouble. He ultimately just pushes everything onto Kururi and HyperCompetentSidekick Lotson, and approves whatever they say. Toral eventually abdicates and becomes a court painter.
10	%%* GB from ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed''.
11	* Makoto from ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'' is pretty cowardly, but his status as a ButtMonkey means you almost always feel sorry for him. And he does support his friends, just usually while hiding behind them.
12	* Italy from ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Oh God, ''[[{{Keet}} North Italy]]''. [[note]] [[CreatorsCultureCarryover (If anyone's wondering why he's here, the author is JAPANESE and thus all Personifications are subjected to some rather...unusual national stereotypes, like this one.)]] [[/note]]
13	* Myoga from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' will run away every time things get tough. Of course, he's a flea that's an inch tall and couldn't even inconvenience a normal human in combat, much less do anything to the giant demons that the group regularly fights.
14	* In the early stages of ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' the main hero Kenichi would sometimes hide or run away from the thugs hunting him both due to his fear and his knowledge that he was incapable of defeating them. As the series goes on this becomes less and less of the case, and every time Kenichi runs its less out of cowardice and more about living to fight another day. "Strategic Retreat" indeed.
15	* Haruka in ''Manga/KotouraSan'' is ''ridiculously'' timid, and can get scared by her closest friends merely acting tough for laughs. In less serious situations, she usually responds by crying and/or running away.
16	* In ''Literature/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'', the main character Sanada Shirou is very cowardly and avoids battle whenever humanly possible, and lets everyone know it. The one time he does go into a fight willingly, he's using a "borrowed" magic artifact which arms him out the wazoo, rescues Cecily from a swarm of ogres and the FlunkyBoss generating them, then sighs in relief when it's all over, letting others take the credit.
17	* Misora of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. Her artifact is a pair of [[SprintShoes running shoes]] [[SuperSpeed that lets her flee with great haste]] when danger appears. However, when push comes to shove, she can do some daring rescues, which could blindside villains since she's the last person you'd expect to do daring rescues.
18	* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
19	** Usopp's cowardice is one of his main comedic traits, though he stays lovable by being a CowardlyLion where it counts.
20	** Nami to a lesser extent. For example, her preparing to abandon her friends to avoid the wrath of [[TheDreaded Crocodile]], one of the Seven Warlords, is played entirely for laughs.
21	%%* Mei and Gabu from ''Anime/OneStormyNight''.
22	* Grasshop from ''Anime/SpiderRiders'' becomes one after his transition from a DirtyCoward.
23	* ''{{Manga/Radiant}}'': Doc prefers to stay away from trouble and panics even at the thought of danger but is not a bad guy at heart and cares for his friends.
24	* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
25	** Genma Saotome, [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation though some]] view his frequent moments of ComedicSociopathy in a harsher light, seeing him as a DirtyCoward.
26	** Soun Tendô qualifies too. In fact he fits the "lovable" bill better than Genma.
27	* Tsunayoshi Sawada from ''Manga/Reborn2004'' is the perfect example of both a LovableCoward and a AccidentalHero.[[spoiler: [[TookALevelInBadass But that was just]] [[TheSoCalledCoward in the start of the series.]]]]
28	* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Hikaru is assigned as TheHandler to Akira, being a sheltered and ambitious woman used to being far from harm, unlike most of the cast, and planning to exploit Akira to advance her own career. After thinking it'll be easy, she comes to the sudden OhCrap realization after it's too late, that Akira has no understanding of how a justice system works (having spent all his life outside of one), and that he's quick to resort to killing. Hikaru spends the rest of the story an [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] panicking one way or another while trying to avoid getting banished from her home or worse as a consequence of her own initiatives regarding Akira, as they go FromBadToWorse.
29	* A somewhat non-traditional example played for ''absolutely no laughs'' is Toru Mutou from ''Literature/{{Shiki}}''. Toru is at heart a good person, and starts off the series being a squeaky-clean NiceGuy popular with the jerks and the cool kids in Sotoba--[[spoiler: but once he becomes a vampire, he has to start killing people in order to survive. Which he does, time and time again. He mourns the deaths of those he kills, but he never even considers stopping because he's terrified of dying himself, and of being punished by the older vampires who threaten his family. What stops him from being a DirtyCoward is that he never really loses his good-natured personality, and when another vampire begs him to let her still-living friend go, he eventually complies.]]
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Context LovableCoward / AnimeAndManga