A Day In The Limelight / Anime & Manga

• In Alice in Borderland, despite Arisu is the main focus of the story, several characters in the manga are also portrayed as the main characters, mainly in the special chapters, to give their point of view about the games that they have to endure. One of the best examples is in the Jack of Hearts chapter, which focuses on 20 players in a deadly game of solitary confinement. Most of the characters in said chapters have no relationships with Arisu or the other side characters who had been featured in previous chapters.
• Ao Haru Ride: Shuuko gets her own side story in volume 3, an Origins Issue that describes her life in middle school and first meeting with Tanaka-sensei.
• Attack on Titan: Episode 15 for fan fave, Hange Zoë.
• About five episodes in Baccano! work as such (although, with three plots going on, nobody gets the episode entirely to themselves), usually indicated by the title with a general statement about the character in question. The most memorable of these episodes is probably "Ladd Russo likes talking a lot and killing a lot"
• Bleach:
  • While the vice captains were defending the towers in the Arrancar arc, Ikkaku lampshaded this. When a captain asked if he needed help, he said "No way! This is like the one time where the vice captains get the spotlight!"
  • After hundreds of chapters as a plot-important but perpetually enigmatic Trickster Mentor, Urahara Kisuke became the focus of a flashback arc set one hundred years prior to the series proper, explaining why he left the Gotei. Other supporting characters prominently featured include: Yoruichi, Tessai, Aizen, Gin and The Vizards.
  • A second flashback arc to twenty years before the story starts gives the spotlight to Ichigo and Uryuu's parents. Until the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, Isshin and Ryuuken had only minor roles in the story, Masaki's Plot-Triggering Death was the only thing known about her, and Uryuu's mother Kanae had never been mentioned. The flashback makes all four vital to the Myth Arc.
  • The anime had to produce many Filler episodes without contradicting any manga development while waiting for the main plotline to advance, so it would frequently feature off-duty antics or extended flashbacks for minor characters. Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yachiru, Matsumoto, Don Kanoji, Kon, Ichigo's sisters, and Hitsugaya all have at least one episode dedicated to them in some way.
• Blend-S: Let's assume Cafe Stile's new recruits as "supporting" characters.
  • The first half of Episode 4 introduces Miu, the recruit, her role in the Cosplay Café, and her oddities arising from her being mainly a doujinshi artist.
  • The entirety of Episode 8 is about Hideri; the first half is his introduction and the second, a shopping trip between Miu and Hideri.
• Season 2 of the Blood Blockade Battlefront anime has several episodes dedicated to characters who were Demoted to Extra by Season 1.
  • "Day In Day Out" is about Steven Starphase's daily life.
  • "Werewolf Mission: Chainpossible" is one for Chain, revolving around her taking on a dangerous mission in the Werewolf Agency.
  • "One Butler's Blitzkreig" is one for Gilbert, going over his powers and the reason why he works for Libra.
  • "Branchial Blues" explores Zed's backstory as an experiment.
  • "Bratatat Mom" is this for K.K., involving her trying to balance her relationship with her son and her work with Libra.
• Bloom Into You has this for various characters outside of the main three. Yuu's older sister Rei gets a few, such as one extra that shows her point of view in Chapter 9, as well as Chapter 33, in which she goes out shopping with Yuu and talks about how she got together with her boyfriend, Hiro. Chapter 25 focuses on Yuu's friend Koyomi as she takes a break from rewriting the play's ending to attend her favorite author's book signing. Special 4 focuses on Yuu's homeroom teacher and the manager of a local café, who happen to be in a relationship with each other.
• Case Closed:
  • Both anime and manga use this to give development to the members of the constantly-growing cast. i.e., the "Metropolitan Police Love Story" chapters tend to focus on Miwako and Takagi's budding romance and the "Sakura" themed episodes are dedicated to Shiratori and his soon-to-be girlfriend Sumiko.
  • Some anime filler episodes released right before the yearly non serial movies are dedicated to cast members that will have plot relevance to the films. i.e., since the 20th movie focuses on the Black Organization, an anime episode released few before its theater debut is dedicated to Tooru Amuro/Rei Furuya/"Bourbon", a member of the Japanese Secret Police who's acting as The Mole in the Organization.
• A couple characters get this in A Certain Scientific Railgun. Tessou Tsuzuri gets one halfway through and this episode was also used to connect it more with A Certain Magical Index. The 'no power' character Saten gets one as well to highlight her talents.
• Cells at Work!:
  • Cells at Work: Platelets!: While the parent series is an action/comedy manga focusing largely on how cells face various diseases and other bodily issues, this entire spinoff is completely dedicated to the adorable Platelets doing their regular, non-danger-related jobs.
  • Cells NOT at Work! essentially places Macrophage, who was a fairly minor character in the original Cells at Work! manga, into the leading role as a parent figure to a bunch of Erythroblasts...who happen to be a bunch of grown-up NEETs who refuse to grow up and seize their destiny as full-fledged Red Blood Cells.
  • Also, the Erythroblasts to some extent, as they are mostly absent from the parent series. This allows Cells NOT at Work! to explore youth-related issues that the original series couldn't easily address.
• In Classi9, most members of Class S- gets a chapter focusing on their backstory or character. These chapters usually give an explanation for the composers' presence in the class, such as Tchaikovsky's weakness fetish or Haydn's past misbehavior.
• The Cowboy Bebop episode "My Funny Valentine" is this for Faye. "Mushroom Samba" is Ed's (and Ein's) episode. "Hard Luck Woman" is a Day in the Limelight for both of them — Spike and Jet only show up to get angry when the girls leave, get beat up by Ed's dad, and hide their sadness when they realize that both girls have left the crew.
• Daltanious: In episode 12, it's revealed how Sanae lost her parents to the Zaal, and how she met Kento, Danji and the other children. When she was a young schoolgirl, the Zaal invaded, and Sanae tried to enter a burning building to save her parents, but was held back by two other civilians, who knew that it was futile as the building was already crumbling. Sanae was forced to watch her parents die, while screaming. In another flashback, it's shown that she bonded with Ochame over being a War Orphans, and asked if she wanted to live with her. Kento, who had just come back from his ransacking food with his gang, noticed the two girls and offered them some of his stock. Sanae was against it because of the fact that it was stolen, but Ochame eagerly accepted the candy bar he offered. She met Danji when she found him injured on the ground, and took him to Kento's base so that he could be treated. She was the first person Danji saw when he awoke, and he thanked her for saving his life.
• Danganronpa has a manga which featured every character who died in their own special chapter, immediately before their deaths.
• Matsuda and Mikami each get one of these in Death Note. Matsuda's chapter/episode is even named after him.
• Episode 14 of Desert Punk with the titular character's right hand girl (as well as apprentice and possible sex slave in his fantasy harem) Kosuna. It's a nice piece that shows her get somewhat closer to achieving her dream of becoming the Kanto Desert's "number one power babe."
• Digimon Adventure and Adventure 02 do this quite a bit. Generally in episodes where one of the Digimon evolves the episode centers around them and their human partner or if said partner finds a crest/Egg which generally goes hand in hand with the evolving bit. There are a lot of main characters which is probably why. Villains tend to get one if they're about to do a Heel–Face Turn ie Gatomon in Adventure and Ken in 02.
• Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san! gives such chapters to characters many times. For example, chapter five focuses on Gamer Chick Micchy, chapter 16 on Genki Girl Konatsu, or chapter 19 for Cosplay Otaku Girl Hibari. Despite being the main character, Akina herself gets one in chapter 17, where she gets to take her otaku friends clothes shopping like she's always wanted.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Usually whenever Goku is out of commission, Gohan or some of the other character will take the spotlight instead, most frequently during the Saiyan/Frieza arc.
  • After he killed Babidi, Majin Buu struck out on his own, petted some dogs (including a literal dog), made a house for himself and eventually befriended Mr. Satan. The day in the limelight was cut short when Evil Buu absorbed the regular one and became Super Buu.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' gives one to many members of the supporting cast: with Goku and Vegeta training with Beerus and Whis at the time Frieza launches his invasion of Earth, it is left to a handful of Z-Warriors to fight off Frieza's army until they can arrive. Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, and even Master Roshi, along with Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, each get a chance to show off their might as they run Frieza's soldiers through the wringer.
  • Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero focuses primarily on Gohan and Piccolo as they take on the new Red Ribbon Army. Goku and Vegeta, meanwhile, are relegated to a B-plot revolving around them training on Beerus's planet with Broly.
• Dream Festival!: Each of the members of DearDream gets their own episode that focuses on the issues that stop them from joining the unit and their motivations for becoming idols.
• While Encouragement of Climb have 4 mains characters, the focus is usually on Aoi, with her friend Hinata as a close second, and the viewer get to know of her thoughts and feelings more than thoses of the other girls. The 15th episode of the second season put the spotlight on Kaede and is a Flash Back to her midle-school days about her and her friend Yuuka. Likewise, episode 20 is centered on Kokona's day.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Fairy Tail Gaiden is a manga spin-off with stories focused on the Saber Tooth guild, Gajeel, and Laxus.
  • Another manga spin-off was given specifically to the female members of Team Natsu, titled Fairy Girls.
• Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) spent one episode focusing on the travails of Roy Mustang and his five aides (and Black Hayate◊). The manga (and Brotherhood) generally averted this, as most characters were already actively contributing something to the overall story arc.
• The Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid OVA focuses on Tessa Testarossa, in a humorous Day in the Life story with no advancement of plot.
• Future GPX Cyber Formula does this with some of the characters (like Shinjyo, Randoll, Osamu and others) in both the TV series and OVAs. And SIN, the last OVA, focuses on Kaga and his rivalry with Hayato.
• In Gakuen Babysitters, Saikawa gets his own chapter when he has to take care of Kotarou while Ryuuichi is out with his friends.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex:
  • The show devoted an episode to one of the Tachikomas, its sentient robot tanks.
  • Other episodes, and in the subsequent series 2nd Gig, have spotlighted the members of the team who don't usually get it such as Saito and Pazu. Unfortunately, they never got around to fleshing out Borma.
• Very common in Godannar. There are 4 teams of pilots belonging to bases in other countries that occasionally show up to help Goh, Anna, and company. Each of those teams get at least an episode centered mostly around them. Most semi-major characters around the main base get an episode or two dedicated to them as well.
• This is a rule of thumb for Golgo 13. In most of the stories, all of the character drama generally revolves around the targets and those who contract the hits. Justifiable since Golgo himself isn't supposed to develop much as a character.
• Great Teacher Onizuka:
  • Azusa gets this from time to time, which gives the audience a chance to look into her character a bit, and saves her from being a young, cute and idealistic Satellite Love Interest.
  • Uchiyamada's personal life gets examined, parts of which build up sympathy for the poor guy.
  • There are a number of intermezzos showing a first-person view of Onizuka as he's visiting his 'friend' Saejima. These pieces invariably show the Dirty Cop trying to pull Onizuka into Ponzi schemes, black market dealings, smuggling and a lot worse, all the while pretending it's all perfectly legal. Saejima later got his own spinoff, Ino-Head Gargoyle.
  • Fujiyoshi gets one in the anime, where we learn about him and his family.
• GTO: The Early Years primarily focuses on the protagonists Eikichi and Ryuji, but supporting characters like Saejima, Tsukai, Makoto, and Shinomi all got chapters focused on them. Jun Kamata even got an entire arc — although all the main characters appear in the Natsu/Yokohama Cavalry arc, it's told from his point of view, since Natsu's his old friend.
• Gundam is infamous for this, with a cruel twist: a day in the limelight usually ends in your death. When a minor character suddenly gets an episode focused on him and characterization, s/he usually will not be alive by the end of the episode.
• Common in Haikyuu!!:
  • While The Protagonist is Hinata and Deuteragonist is Kageyama, most of the Karasuno team gets fleshed-out throughout the series and do their equal lifting of the show. Except for three The Benchwarmer characters Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita:
    • Ennoshita gets his day in the limelight during the second season, in a match against Wakutani when The Captain Daichi gets hit in the face and has to leave the game. He steps up as the captain on the court and we get a look into his psyche about previously getting scared and leaving the team. It ends with him being acknowledged by Daichi for doing a good work and the manga later reveals that he became the team captain during his third year.
    • Kinoshita gets his limelight in a match during the Nationals arc, though it is not as expanded as Ennoshita's.
    • Averted with Narita. He is mostly a Bit Character and is mostly there to fill in the ranks.
  • It is the structure of the show to also focus on opponent teams during the matches. While some characters such as Oikawa in Aoba Johsai and Kenma in Nekoma are throughly developed characters throughout the series, some teams and players only get one day in the limelight:
    • Daichi's middle school friend Ikejiri and Karasuno girls team's captain Michimiya in the episode Winner and Losers.
    • Ohgi High and their former captain Akimiya get this treatment too.
    • During their game against Johzenji, the characters of team captain Terushima and team manager Misaki get explored.
    • Wakutani Minami High's Takeru also gets this.
    • Aoba Johsai's new addition Mad Dog Kentaro gets his episode.
    • During the third season, the only focus is the match between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa. While Ushijima is a character explored before the match, most of his teammates only get a day in the limelight, such as Tendou, Goshiki, Shirabu etc.
    • During the Nationals arc, previously established Miya Atsumu's teammates also get this treatment. Especially team captain Kita's attitude towards volleyball, passion, talent, work ethic get quite explored in his episode.
• In the Happy Happy Clover anime and manga, sometimes the manga would give one of Clover's friends a story that would focus more on her friends and other forest animals.◊ Some would focus on how they meet and what their lives we're like when they we're very little. For example, one story focused on how Shallot meet Clover and Kale when they we're younger. Shallot didn't want to be friends with Clover and Kale since he cared more about his books. But after an incident where a berry got squished in one page of the books he was reading. He got angry and left them behind, later he felt guilty and decided to be friends with them. In a later volume, one story focused on Kale who learned that his mother was going to have a baby and how he became a big brother when he was young.
• When Hayate the Combat Butler does these with recurring minor characters, the fact is usually stated enthusiastically by said characters. Sometimes with the main characters complaining that they've been pushed to the sidelines. This is a given since the series has No Fourth Wall.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers gave the first episode of World Series over to Ensemble Dark Horse and Fountain of Memes Prussia, including him expressing a complaint that he hasn't had more screen time.
• His and Her Circumstances has an episode near the end which focuses on Yukino's two little sisters, Tsukino and Kano, that takes a delightful turn away from the romantic melodrama toward a very light hearted comedy.
• In Hunter × Hunter, Kurapica is pretty much the main protagonist during the York Shin arc, with Gon and the rest of the main characters helping him get revenge against the Phantom Troupe.
• I Think Our Son Is Gay:
  • I Think Our Son is Gay is narrated by Tomoko and usually focuses on her eldest son Hiroki, but the younger son Yuuri narrates Chapter 37, in which he muses on the idea of romance, which he doesn't personally experience but feels he can learn a lot about from his brother.
  • A half of Chapter 27 puts the spotlight on Daigo, Hiroki's Love Interest, showing school life in his angle, as well as his relationship with Hiroki.
• The iDOLM@STER:
  • Each of the idols gets their own episode that focuses on them and their issues.
  • THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls is more subtle about it, but every Cinderella Project idol gets a chance to be in the spotlight. Some of the veteran idols also get some attention to further the character development of their juniors (Mika for Rika and Miria, Sachiko for Kanako and Chieri, Nana for Miku, and Natsuki for Riina).
• Inazuma Eleven did this with Megane in the match versus Shuuyou Meito (episode 9); up until then his main contributions to the team were naming techniques and holding the bench down so it doesn't fly up into the air. While he obviously doesn't get A Death in the Limelight at the end of the episode, he does injure himself in a Heroic Sacrifice where he bounces the ball off his face to redirect it into the goal and score the game-winning point, after which he returns to being a benchwarmer.
• Inukami!: Some episodes have Youko hardly appear at all, like the one focusing on Tomohane searching for Keita.
• Inuyasha has a few episodes focusing on Sesshomaru and his entourage, where Inuyasha's team only shows up for a few Mandatory Lines.
• Multiple characters outside of the Student Council in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War have gotten their own focus chapters (Maki, Osaragi, Onodera, Kashiwagi, Kei...). Hayasaka even got an entire arc focused on her that led up to her resigning as Kaguya's valet.
• Kaze no Shōjo Emily:
  • Episode 17, Ilse's Secret, reveals her home life with her dad. Ilse has always wanted to know more about her mother, but her father never told her about her because he was broken from her death. Despite this, Ilse held out hope that she was alive. After a particularly nasty storm, Ilse became angry at her father and ran away from home.
  • Episode 11, Perry's Hopes and Dreams for the Future, showcases his family life. It's revealed that ever since he was young, his aunt forced him to work as a help in richer people's households because she saw reading and writing as a waste of time.
• Kingdom Hearts II:
  • Chapter 41 (Minion Pete) is a Villain Episode focusing on Pete and the Gullwings trying to save their boss, Maleficent.
  • Chapter 45 (Make a Break For It) stars Kairi and her break-out from her prison in The World That Never Was.
• Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear oftentimes features side-stories which bring the spotlight on characters other than Yuna. One example is the chapter dedicated to Count Cliff Foschurose and his rooting out a massive fraud and corruption case happening with the nobles in his territory.
• Laid-Back Camp has this in the first episode. While Rin is predominantly featured during the first episode, Nadeshiko is the main protagonist of the series, something viewers only get a grip in the ending credits.
• Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! has this in its 5-minute Lite episodes.
  • The third episode of Lite focuses on Kuzuha, back in the day when her big brother Yuuta was still deep in his Dark Flame Master delusion, when she is chaperoned by him while meeting a friend late at night.
  • The fifth episode of Lite focuses on Kumin, mainly on her love of napping and the entire "Far East Magic Nap Club of Summer" in her own words.
• Majikoi! Love Me Seriously!:
  • Episode 3 focuses on Miyako's and Yuki's relationships with Yamato and their motives for wanting him.
  • Episode 5 focuses on Fushikawa, who gets her own route in the second Visual Novel.
• One of the chapters of March Comes in Like a Lion is centered on and narrated by a minor character, Smith, who muses over the preceding chapter's events revolving around the protagonist Rei and later goes up against an antagonistic character Rei's set as his mark in a shogi tournament match.
• In the second season of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, this was generally the only way the Out of Focus characters got any attention.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Rebellion: The manga adapts the OVA Stardust Memory up until volume 16. Volume 17 and 18 take place after the climax and focus on the secondary pilot Bernard Monsha as he and the surviving Immortal 4th team enroll in the Titans and hunt down Zeon remnants.
• Very common in Monster. Perhaps at its most extreme with volumes 10-11 of the manga, where Tenma all-but-disappears and Wolfgang Grimmer acts as the main protagonist.
• My Hero Academia has a huge cast of characters, making this a very common trope in its storytelling:
  • While now top-billed and possibly the tritagonist of the series, Todoroki Shoto started as one of several other guys in the hero academia. Sports Festival Arc episodes 'The Boy Born with Everything' and 'Shoto Todoroki: The Origin' explored his impressive quirk and tragic backstory.
  • The same arc had the limelight on Uraraka in the episode 'Bakugou vs Uraraka', examining her desire and reason to become a hero.
  • Iida got the episode 'Fight On, Iida' in the same arc, later getting more focus in the following arc Vs Hero Killer.
  • Asui Tsuyu got a whole anime original episode focusing on her internship, titled (funnily enough) 'Everyone's Internship'.
  • The episode 'Yaoyorozu: Rising' and partly the episode 'Class 1-A' focused on Yaoyorozu Momo's immense skills and smarts, and her hindering insecurities (and her overcoming these).
  • Kirishima Eijiro got two episodes ('Let's Go, Gutsy Red Riot' and 'Red Riot') in the Shie Hassaikai arc, exploring his backstory on how he came to want to be a hero and showcasing him beating two villains on two occasions.
  • The same arc also had a limelight episode for the third-year student Tamaki Amajiki also known as Suneater, fittingly titled 'Suneater of the Big Three'.
  • Lemillion aka Togata Mirio - who has been getting limelight for the entirety of the arc - got his episode fittingly titled 'Lemillion'.
  • Jiro Kyoka gets a lot of spotlight in U.A. Culture Festival arc, being a lead singer in Class 1-A performance.
  • The episode 'His Start' is about Endeavour finally officially becoming the number one hero and immediately facing a Nobu, exploring his current psyche about how he feels about it, his infamy among civillains, his past, and how he wants to change now.
  • The whole Meta Liberation Army Arc saw the student and pro-heroes cast take a backseat while League of Villains became the acting protagonists.
  • The U.A. Traitor Arc has [spoiler:Yuga Aoyama, one of Class 1-A students WHO got revealed as Anti-Villain.]]
  • In the Final War Arc Shoji Mezo and Koda Koji get some spotlight in a fight between heroes and heteremorph army led by Spinner.
  • In the same arc All For One gets a lot of moments as Final Boss, even finally getting his Origins Episode.
• Naruto:
  • Shikamaru became the de facto main character of the series for most of the Immortal's arc. Lampshaded in the anime Naruto Shippuden with an aftershow omake where Shikamaru jokes that the show will be renamed Shikamaru Shippuden. Then Asuma suggests changing it to Asuma Shippuden — and even made his own logo!
  • Subverted of all things by Kakashi Gaiden, which initially seemed to be simply an explanation of Kakashi's backstory. Several reveals later, and it's become clear that the real purpose of the arc was to showcase Kakashi's best friend Obito Uchiha who would go on to have a big impact on the series as Tobi.
  • Hinata gradually became a more prominent character during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, which eventually culminated in the Grand Finale movie that bridges the ending of the manga and the epilogue being dedicated to her and how she and Naruto fell in love.
  • Hanabi is Hinata's younger sister who appeared during the Chunin Exams as a Satellite Character and never appeared again except for a cameo in a dream sequence Hinata had hundreds of chapters later. In the anime there are two Shippuden episodes of her made to coincide with The Last: Naruto the Movie, as her kidnapping in that film drives the plot, that goes into detail about her relationship with Hinata.
  • Team Guy's Tenten was the member with the least amount of backstory in the group, but some of the anime's filler episodes expanded on her character and gave her some reasons for becoming a ninja.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi has so many main characters, it tends to have limelight chapters/episodes for them between or within major story arcs.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Episode 13, Lilliputian Hitcher, has NERV's head-scientist Ritsuko as its heroine, but the MAGI computer-system is also explored as a character in its own right.
  • Episode 21, The Birth of NERV, while mainly a Whole Episode Flashback, is seen mostly from the point of view of Gendo's Number Two and background character Kozo Fuyutsuki and relates the backstory for the series via his personal history with the major players.
  • Episode 22, Don't Be, is centered around Asuka's Dark and Troubled Past and her on-going psychological breakdown. The Director's Cut version of the episode especially strengthens this feeling, as it completely does away with the Shinji-centric Title Sequence.
• One Piece:
  • The manga features "mini-arcs" on the title pages of issues. These detail the fates of villains and minor characters. Only two of them have been animated: Buggy's search for his crew and body and Coby's and Helmeppo's marine training.
  • The special "Episode of Nami" TV Special that aired between episodes 560 and 561; a retelling of the Arlong Park Arc. It is actually post-Time Skip Nami reminiscing while on their way to Fish-man Island.
  • The Levely arc is a more direct example that take place within the chapters, excluding the Strawhats since the event is about the rulers of the kingdoms allied with the Rule Government. The viewpoint shifts between the Strawhats allies from Alabasta, Dressrosa, Fishman Island, and Sakura Kingdom and the Revolutionaries.
• One-Punch Man: Despite being a story about titular Saitama, he does get sidelined so other heroes can get some limelight, often so Saitama can perform One-Hit KO at the end against a threat (unless he doesn't):
  • S-Class Heroes, the most powerful individuals in Hero Assocation, have some focus in Alien Conquerors arc, fighting off a monster Melzargard. Later they also get some spotlight in Monster Raid arc and in the Monster Assocation arc they receive a lot of screentime fighting off monsters, while also receiving some development.
  • Psychic Sisters arc gives Tatsumaki a Origins Episode and her fight with Saitama.
  • The Ninjas arc has Speed O' Sound Sonic some spotlight after being largely Out of Focus in Human Monster Saga, and also Flashy Flash.
  • Supreme Hero arc gives Sweet Mask a lot of screentime, to say it enough.
• Penguindrum gives episode 9 almost entirely to Himari, and later episodes are dedicated to Masako (and her brother Mario), Yuri, Tabuki and Ringo's dead sister Momoka
• Persona 4: The Animation has episode 13, which focuses on his younger cousin Nanako. We get to see Yu's summer vacation through her eyes.
• Happened in Pokémon: The Series: Despite being one of the first Pokémon Ash captured, Krabby spent the entire first season in Professor Oak’s Lab, until the heroes arrived at the Indigo Plateau. Despite Misty and Brock's concerns about Krabby never being in a fight before, Ash used him in the first round of the Pokémon League, and Krabby turned out to be an incredible fighter, winning the entire round by himself and even evolving into Kingler during the process.
  • The point of the Pokémon Chronicles sideseries.
  • Misty had a mini-series in the Limelight in the Tournament half of the Whirl Islands arc. Notable instances include Brock being a Moment Killer for Misty squeeing over a Corsola and Ash being designated as the "Minor Friendly Rival." A possible justification is that she would leave the show a little over a year later.
  • Team Rocket got a few episodes starring them, with minimal appearances by the main characters.
  • Prior to every Pokémon movie, a "Pikachu short" is shown, giving limelight to either Pikachu or the main cast's Pokémon as a whole. Episode 17 of the regular series did something similar.
  • Speaking of movies, Pokémon 4Ever puts Professor Oak (albeit it's his time-displaced younger self) as a central character, while Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea focus on Max and May, respectively.
  • Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master sees Ash rotating in every Pokémon he owns across the 11-episode series, giving all the old favorites some much-needed screentime. (Except Primeape.)
• In the Ranma ½ anime, Nabiki and Kuno got a limelight episode when a fortune teller persuaded Kuno that his true love was Nabiki. The usual cast only appeared in three scenes.
  • In the manga, Nabiki got her own story arc and wacky challenger in the Kinnosuke Kasaoh chapter where she was the one taking the lead against a very similar character. Ranma and Akane provided the Combat Commentator role that Nabiki usually filled.
  • The OAV An Akane to Remember is memorable for being set away from the usual Furinkan hijinks. Only Ranma and Akane appear in this story, with Ryoga joining them later. The rest of the cast (Genma and the rest of the Tendos) appear only briefly in the beginning where most of them have no lines and the rest of the cast (Kuno et al) don't appear at all. This is a quieter story that focuses more on guests Shinosuke and his grandfather. Ranma and Akane's relationship is explored slightly but mostly in relation to Akane's past acquaintance with Shinosuke. There's no usual "Ranma you IDIOT!" in this story and Ryoga is there mostly to lend moral support.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena had a season of this, where every minor character gets their own episode, has their backstory explored, and then has that backstory exploited by the villains in an attempt to destroy Utena.
• The rest of the Sailor Senshi in Sailor Moon get their share. Minako takes the honours with fifteen episodes centred around her, presumably to make up for not introducing her until the end of the 29th episode. One of these episodes will usually coincide with the relevant girl learning a new attack.
• Chapter 22 of School-Live! focuses entirely on Megu-nee and her guilt over how she could have been aware of the possibility of a Zombie Apocalypse before it had happened due to a just-for-emergencies manual she had been given. She obeyed instructions not to open unless something went wrong, and immediately regretted not taking a peek earlier. More horrifying is she's having this flash of memory not long after she's already become a zombie herself.
• Shimeji Simulation's Chapter 46 heavily focuses on Majime becoming a Physical God, creating her own world basing on her ideas, as well as detailing her time as one before her disappearance, narrated by a member of the Chiho tribe.
• Knuckles and Rouge receive their own episodes early on in Sonic X. Later, Shadow got his own episode as well.
• Soul Eater has Excalibur's second episode, which is mainly about Ox Ford, and his third, which is about the one-shot character Hiro, and explores what happens when somebody actually manages to wield Excalibur - at least for a few days.
• In Summer Time Rendering, the start of the fourth loop follows Hizuru's point of view on the morning of July 22nd and reveals what she was up to during Ushio's funeral. Thanks to her prior experience with shadows, she too suspects that Ushio's death was no accident and is able to come up with a plan to eliminate Shadow Alan before it can murder Alan.
• Episodes 8 and 9 of Tenchi Muyo! are special episodes to Washu and Sasami respectively: Episode 8 reveals a chunk of Washu's past and episode 9 reveals the connection between Sasami and Tsunami.
• Sometimes, Tokyo Mew Mew padded out its episode count by recycling scripts for different characters. For example, Minto and Zakuro both got 10-Minute Retirement episodes, Lettuce had an episode about her unrequited First Love and Bu-Ling had a Sick Episode that explores her complicated family situation. It also occasionally had episodes more or less focused on relatively minor characters — such as Keiichiro and Masha.
• Tower of God:
  • The Knot of Wool OR Competing Fences arc shows a day in the life of Khun Aguero Agnes after the time skip, preparing to scale the next floor of the Tower.
  • The FUG arc starts with a typical day of Yeon.
• The Turning Red spinoff 4★Town 4★Real follows 4*Town as they spend their day just prior to their performance in Toronto as well as some time after.
• Chapter 60 of Urusei Yatsura is about Ran's attempts to seduce Ataru and steal his youth. Lum doesn't appear in the story at all, except for the chapter cover, where she is shown Bound and Gagged in an equipment locker (explaining why Ran is able to go after Ataru without any interference).
• In the thirteenth episode of both seasons of Wagnaria!! Matsumoto Maya finally gets actual lines and appearances instead of just showing up in the background occasionally. It turns out she's actively trying to stay uninvolved with her eccentric coworkers, but she's trying so hard to be completely normal that she ends up almost as weird as they are. Still, she's the only one to bother pointing out obvious sensible things instead of turning into a drama queen, such as pointing out that Popura should wait to see if her studies actually suffer before worrying about whether she should quit.
• Makoto from Wandering Son was given a few chapters late into the manga dealing with her being transgender. She went out as a girl alone for the first time only to be seen by her crush and friend, Oka, and later came out to her mom. Makoto considered dropping out of school during this arc but didn't.
• The Warrior Cats manga, which all are days in the limelight. So far, they have been given to Graystripe, Scourge, Sasha, Ravenpaw and soon SkyClan and Sol.
• Whispered Words: Chapter 19 of the manga focused on Tomoe and Miyako.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Seto Kaiba got an arc (half a season) in the limelight — the Virtual Nightmare Arc that explored his Back Story and featured a face-off with his step-father. Too bad it didn't happen in the manga.
  • In Duelist Kingdom, there's an episode (also not based on anything in the manga) where Honda, Anzu, and Bakura snoop around Pegasus's castle, nearly break their necks climbing, and ultimately do nothing to advance the plot whatsoever.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions has Seto Kaiba as the main character of the film, even featuring more prominently in the poster than Yugi. The film also doubles as one of these for Yugi, who is able to step out from under Atem's shadow (and away from his guidance) for the first time since he left.
  • Common in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: In Season 1, Manjyome got his own episode and an abridged Heroic Journey at the North School. Kaiser got his own episode in Season 2, and Sho stepped into the spotlight once in Season 3.
• Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs: Every major girl has at least one chapter dedicated to them.
• Zatch Bell! had these episodes from time to time, which usually began with Gash wondering what a particular demon was up to, and cut to said demon doing something interesting. Brago, Ted and Wonrei have had episodes centered around them in this fashion.

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