[[GundamSEED http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fllaga-16.jpg]]
[[caption-width:400:You truly want to learn how to make the impossible possible?]]

This character is the hero's good friend. The hero can fool around with him, go to the bar with him for a drink and talk about some good old man-business with him. Additionally, the character, being older (though mental age matters more than physical age) and wiser than the hero, also acts as a mentor to the hero in times of need or advice.

However, just because the BigBrotherMentor cares about the hero doesn't mean that he can't suddenly break out of his buddy personality and sock him in the jaw if he thinks he deserves it. He only wants the best out of the hero, but won't hesitate to educate him the hard way if the hero shows reluctance to learn or has a tendency to run headlong into danger. And his punches ''are'' hard. In essence, he's the ideal big brother figure who knows when to get friendly or strict.

In {{anime}}, this kind of character is often [[{{Honorifics}} addressed]] as "Aniki" instead of "Onii-san".

Often, this character is [[MentorOccupationalHazard doomed to die]] -- both to bring the Hero out of the character's shadow, and to give the character an emotional buildup.

This is a subtrope of TheObiWan.

Differs from AloofBigBrother in that the BigBrotherMentor doesn't have to be a ''literal'' big brother and actually gives a damn about his "little siblings" (Or shows it quite more often than a merely emotionally repressed AloofBigBrother). Compare with the SternTeacher, tough and strict but loved by everyone.

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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Kuwabara to Yusuke later on in ''YuYuHakusho''.
* Bronco Dino to Tsuna in ''{{Reborn}}''.
* Kamina to Simon in ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann''; Simon even calls him "aniki". The dub uses "bro", and Kamina even refers to him them as "BloodBrothers" a few times.
* As Setsuna's [[SempaiKohai sempai]], Kira in ''AngelSanctuary'' often acts that way towards him. Yue Katou too to some extent. Sarah calls Setsuna "aniki," but towards his own sister he is more of a... [[BrotherSisterIncest oh well...]]
* Roy Fokker in Macross/Robotech
** Ozma in MacrossFrontier is played almost as a subversion of the archetype. He's an older mentor, and even flies Skull One, but it's usually other characters who give the most advice, he's made lots of mistakes, and [[spoiler: ''he completely fails to die, even when pineapples are involved'']]
*** And he's too much of a JerkAss, anyway. Mikhail plays the part much, ''much'' better.
* An evil example comes from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure with the two mafia members Pesci and Prosciutto. Pesci is the little brother and ironicly like other mentors Prosciutto dies by getting run over by a train and getting lodged in the wheels before Pesci gets how to be a good mafia worker. Then he dies by getting is head unzipped from his body and throw into a lake.
* In the ''FullMetalAlchemist'' anime, Hughes is Roy's Big Brother Mentor, he hits pretty much every single qualification for one listed above at some point. He is one year older, but he has a family whereas Roy doesn't, and thus a very different perspective on life. He has one notable moment of snapping out of his easy-going attitude.
** In an evil example of this trope, Pride acts as this towards Wrath, the youngest of the Homonculi. This becomes quite ironic when you learn [[spoiler: Pride masquerades as his son, Selim Bradley.]]
* In the anime version of ''{{Planetes}}'', Hakim Ashmead fills this role for Hachimaki, at least until his [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn where he was revealed to be TheMole for the terrorist Space Defense Front]]. ''Their'' mentor, Gigalt Gangaragash, straddles the line between a BigBrotherMentor and an actual TheObiWan.
* 2 prominent pairs on ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'': Sho adopts Judai as his "aniki," whom he prefers to his biological AloofBigBrother (until Judai [[HoYay dumps him for Johan]]). Manjyome also looks up to Asuka's brother Fubuki, who's a much better older brother than the two {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s who disown him in the first season.
* Gotho from {{Armored Trooper VOTOMS}} fits this role to some extent.
* The {{Gundam}} franchise has several examples as well...
** {{Mobile Suit Gundam}} has Ryu Jose, who doesn't actually teach Amuro how to pilot a Gundam, but how to be a man and soldier; [[spoiler: he of course performs a {{Heroic Sacrifice}}.]]
*** Liutenant Sleggar Rowe would've been one of these, had he gotten more screentime. [[spoiler: He ''does'' get the death part, though.]]
** {{Zeta Gundam}} has Quattro Bajeena, aka Char Aznable, as the main character's mentor; however, he neither dies nor holds back from kicking ass himself.
** The closest to a BigBrotherMentor in {{Gundam Wing}} would be Trowa Barton, the GeniusBruiser BigGuy of the FiveManBand. His interactions with TheSmartGuy Quatre Raberba Winner walk the line between this and straight-up HoYay, but he also helped Heero Yuy sort his thoughts after his infamous suicide attempt.
** Don't forget Roy Fokker's {{Expy}}, Mwu La Fllaga from GundamSEED. So much he's the one pictured above.
*** He's actually referred to as Kira's Sempai on one occasion.
** {{Gundam 00}}'s [[spoiler: Neil Dylandy aka the first Lockon Stratos]] was some kind of advisor to not only Setsuna but the most of CB. Even if he's dead he'll probably return as a spiritual advisor. Still, [[spoiler: Tieria Erde]] seems to fit a bit better in the second season, even dealing some Bright Slaps when needed.
*** Also, [[spoiler: Lyle, Neil's twin younger brother and the second Lockon]] had some BigBrotherMentor moments as well, specially in episode 18 where he counsels two of his teammates when they had romantic problems.
* Played straight and subverted in GGundam. Argo Gulskii is the oldest, more mature of the Shuffle Alliance and plays the role straight towards Domon and Sai Saici, whereas Schwarz Bruder subverts it by being Domon and Rain's own BBM... [[spoiler: and a clone of Domon's AloofBigBrother Kyouji, who specifically created him with some DG cells [[DeadPersonImpersonation and the dead body of the real Schwarz Bruder]] to play this role before he was fully brainwashed by the Devil Gundam.]]
* Big Sister Mentor example: Freya to Kisara in ''KenichiTheMightiestDisciple''. Kisara calls her "Freya-nee", even when they were on opposite sides.
* Yashichi, to his followers Sasuke and Hanzo in ''Mirumo de Pon!''
* Zoro, to Luffy in ''OnePiece''. Given that he's the {{Lancer}}, and {{Fan Speak}} sometimes denotes him as the First Mate of the crew, he often steps in to help Luffy make the tough choices given [[IdiotHero Luffy's personality]]. This was especially obvious when [[spoiler: Usopp temporarily left the crew and Zoro both supported Luffy's decision to fight Usopp and later forced him to wait for Usopp's apology when it became apparent that Usopp wanted to return to their crew]].
* Albert/004 in {{Cyborg 009}}. His "little brother" Jet/002 later also has some BigBrotherMentor moments in the Little Psychics mini-arc.
* Subaru Sumeragi becomes this to Kamui in the {{X 1999}} manga and TV series .
* Though Tomohiko Yamada of ''SatouKashiNoDanganWaUchinukenai'' mostly subverts this, he has his moments of wise advice for his younger sister... [[{{Hikikomori}} before going back to his room and tuning out the world around him.]]
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[[folder:Comics]]
* Due to the nature of it's "legacy" focus on characters, these pop up quite often in the DCU:
** Although it's a bit moot now that they're ''actually'' brothers, Richard "Dick" Grayson decided early on to take a more active role in the mentoring of the third Robin, Tim Drake, than he did with the second, and the two developed a sibling-like relationship in the process. This was so well-liked by fans that ''Nightwing'' writer Chuck Dixon chose to devote what is normally a landmark issue - #25 - of that series not to a major battle or character death, but to Tim and Dick discussing life, Batman, and Dick's seemingly endless parade of hot girlfriends for an entire issue.
** Although he initially played the role of the older brother who didn't want to be around the younger one, Wally West eventually grew quite fond of Bart "Impulse / Kid Flash" Allen.
** Wonder Woman and Donna Troy refer to each other as sisters, although it's been a while since Donna's actually been mentored by Diana. Much like the Batman / Nightwing / Robin relationship above, however, Donna served as an older sister to the second Wonder Girl.
* [[XMen Wolverine]] to practically any younger female character. Most notably [[KidSidekick Kid Sidekicks]] Jubilee and Kitty Pryde.
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[[folder:Film]]
* Han Solo to Luke Skywalker in ''StarWars''.
* Ken to Ray in ''InBruges''.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* HarryPotter has [[spoiler: Sirius Black]], his godfather, and Remus Lupin. [[spoiler: Too bad that both of them die, just like every other father figure the poor kid ever had]]...
* Seregil to Alec in ''{{Nightrunner}}'', and also Micum and Beka to Alec at times.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Tom Paris to Harry Kim in ''{{Voyager}}''.
* In the ''{{Highlander}}'' series, Methos falls somewhere between this and a TricksterMentor to Duncan. The only problem is that Methos has spent hundreds of years avoiding fights and thus is disinclined towards beating a lesson into the [[HonorBeforeReason overly stubborn and idealistic]] Duncan, and thus he often has to hope that his points get through Duncan's thick skull on their own merits.
* Toby Ziegler to Sam Seaborn on TheWestWing
* Simon Tam in {{Firefly}}. He is kind of a doting big brother but he also has to extend that role far beyond what that would normally imply due to the extreme situation. And he never punches her.
*Don Eppes in {{Numb3rs}}
*Michael Weston in BurnNotice.
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[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Inverted with Hakuoro playing the big brother to Oboro in {{Utawarerumono}}. He even uses 'aniki' which gives Hakuoro pause for a moment.
* Axel is this to both Roxas and Xion in ''KingdomHearts 358/2 Days.''
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Noel from ''LeastICouldDo'' is mostly more of a DeadpanSnarker {{Sidekick}}, but he's also a a voice of sanity that counters the main character's {{Psychopathic Manchild}}ness, and on [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20071006 one occasion tried to beat some sense into Rayne.]]
* The Serpent from {{Webcomics/HERO}}, down to the [[http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/167.html jaw-socking]].
* Kel'noz from DrowTales is a [[spoiler:[[BigBrotherMentor Uncle]]]] [[BigBrotherMentor Mentor]] to Ariel. More of a standard mentor to the rest of her classmates, though.
* Wendy of [[CwensQuest Cwen's Quest]] is a female version of this trope as well as Cwen's {{Animal Sidekick}} and the good guys' {{Only Sane Man}} though she tends to dead pan snark rather the hit people upside the head when they are doing something stupid due to her small size. [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=415926 When hasn't always returned this consideration]]. She avoids being the {{Team Mom}} by only offering her snarky advice to Cwen and letting most other people [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=410033 make horrible, horrible mistakes]] or [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=462855 suffer for their ignorance]].
** Might be more of [[MentorMascot Mentor Mascot]].
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
*''DannyPhantom'' fulfills the role to his younger OppositeSexClone, Danielle, constantly protecting her whenever she is threatened.
* [[spoiler:Zuko]] for Aang in the second half of the third season on ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''; made all the sweeter by the ([[{{Reincarnation}} sort of]]) LukeIAmYourFather revelation that season.
* Huey, the main character of ''TheBoondocks'' is an example to his younger brother Riley (and possibly to his ''Grandfather'' as well). Considering though that Riley is quite the arrogant JerkAss, Huey ends up "educating him the hard way" more often than most [[BigBrotherMentor Big Brother Mentors]].
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