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All Girls Want Bad Boys in Anime & Manga.


  • Both played straight and inverted in Angel Densetsu, with the same character. More than one girl falls for the main character, who is exactly everything a Bad Boy is NOT. He is, however, seen as one by everyone else in the cast. Also either played straight or inverted with most other cast members. At one point, king of the Idiot Ball Kuroda tries to "save" Ryoko from Kitano, because he thinks she's suffering from this trope, and sees himself as the good guy. Ryoko, of course, likes Kitano because he's a All-Loving Hero and despises Kuroda (who poses as a bad boy). Oh, and Ryoko is quite the bad girl herself, but poses as mostly harmless. Confused yet? Because that's just the start of it.
  • Subverted in Assassination Classroom where the girls are discussing who is the most attractive boy in the class. Troublemaker and Bully Hunter Karma comes up... only for them to declare he'd only be desirable if he wasn't such a delinquent.
  • Berserk:
    • Subverted when Casca becomes the love interest of the towering, brooding, rugged, and usually maladjusted Guts. However, Guts isn't really a bad guy, he just looks like one. You just have to get to know him to know that.
    • Farnese has been romantically involved with at least three other characters, being her nice-looking half-brother Serpico, something she isn't aware; her fiancé Roderick, who is a handsome prince from another land; but the one who makes her feel jealous due to his loyal attention to Casca and the one who gives her Tears of Joy with any compliment is the violent Guts, who isn't actually bad, but the story puts him always in a very bad position. He was even chased at first by the Holy Iron Chain Knights, commanded by none other than Farnese herself. Later in the story, she finds that following him in his journey would help her to truly understand the world.
    • Sonia, the resident Mission Control of the Neo-Hawks, is childishly infatuated with Griffith, and later with Irvine. The first is the story's Big Bad. The other is an Apostle, which means a member of The Legions of Hell. Played With in both case though, because from her perspective, Griffith is the Messiah and a heroic Knight in Shining Armor all around, and Irvine is an aloof but seemingly friendly Noble Demon. Neither of them have done anything that could be construed as malicious in front of her yet, and their evil deeds are completely under wraps.
  • The Castle of Cagliostro concludes that Lupin III, Gentleman Thief that he is, has stolen the heroine's heart.
  • Played for Laughs in Chainsaw Man when Sword Man joins Denji's class. He acts aloof and abrasive during his introduction, causing all the girls to instantly fawn over him, much to both their frustration.
  • Tomoya from CLANNAD is a bad boy who is often outright nasty towards the girls he meets (maybe due to how he often interacts with Kyou, a fierce and masculine girl), confronting them with his sarcastic attitude and making snide remarks at their expense. He also loves to play pranks on them (especially on Fuko), but that doesn't stop most of the girls from swooning over him toward the end of the series. He ends up with the good girl, Nagisa. Though he starts like this (with girls falling for him left and right), he gets considerable character development in the anime.
  • In the "Cupid's Day" episode of Code Geass, Shirley says that it is her duty to "reform" Lelouch because she believes that he's "a failure as a person". That being said, it is also very clear that Shirley only is attracted to Lelouch for his noble qualities, having gone from hating him to admiring him after she saw him stand up for an elderly couple and not take credit or brag about it afterwards. If Lelouch was just a bad boy Shirley would not want anything to do with him.
  • Coyote Ragtime Show: This is essentially Angelica Barnes's reason for chasing the rogue Mister.
  • Death Note: Light Yagami, a sociopathic Knight Templar. In series, he has both kinds of girls that like him: the type that is infatuated with his goody-two-shoes Mr. Perfect personality on the outside, and the type that is obsessively in love with him because he's the brutal, condescending killer Kira (most notably Misa Amane).
  • Dr. Slump: Tsururin has an attraction for Taro, who is a rebellious teenager, troublemaker, and proud of it (although later he happens to be a police officer).
    • Gender inverted. Tsukutsun falls in love with Akane, who like Taro is a rebellious girl, breaks rules for fun and play pranks on many of the residents of Penguin Village.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Tenshinhan and blonde Launch in the original manga. Launch falls in love with him because of how ruthless he was in fights. In the anime especially in Z, Launch falls in love with Tien for his newfound compassion despite her own criminal nature.
    • Where to get started with Bulma? She briefly fell for one of the forms adopted by Oolong (who was a villain at the time) and then Yamcha, who was a former bandit until his Anti-Hero streak reached its expiry date. She also went head over heels when she first saw General Blue from the Red Ribbon Army and Zarbon from Frieza's army in Namek Saga of Dragon Ball Z, before breaking up with Yamcha. Vegeta, the mass-murdering, ki-blast happy alien and Sociopathic Hero of the group actually managed to get Bulma knocked up, and she gave birth to their son Trunks (she eventually married Vegeta and they had a second child).
    • In a gender-inversion, Krillin, an all-around good guy, married Android 18, a killer Cyborg and someone who stated she wanted to kill his best friend, simply for giving him a kiss on the cheek. Also Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound Krillin gets a crush on the titular Big Bad’s minion Zangya.
  • Christie from Dramacon falls for Matt. A subversion, as he's really not a bad guy at all — just socially inept and very cynical.
  • Not quite invoked in Eureka Seven. The trope is referenced in one of Renton's men's magazines, which advises readers to be a little wild with girls and not to come across as too friendly. Renton just keeps on being nice to Eureka, however, since romance in the series mostly works on the principle of Single Woman Seeks Good Man. The sole exception is Talho's relationship with Holland, but even that is tempered by her insistence that he act more maturely.
  • In Excel♡Saga, Excel has the hots for Il Palazzo, a villain. She also gets a crush on Key in episode 21, a brooding guitarist.
  • Toyed with in Eyeshield 21. Marco from the Hakushu dinosaurs wants to impress his Cute Sports Club Manager Maria badly enough that he's more than willing to use Gaou as a weapon, turn Kisaragi into a psycho, and break other team's quarterbacks in order to win... but she actually loves him for the Nice Guy he used to be, and is so conflicted over his "bad boy" attitude that she becomes an Emotionless Girl and is willing to secretly give tips to others so they can defeat Marco and Co., and knock him down his pedestal. It's only after Marco straights his act that Maria shows him her feelings for him.
  • Fairy Tail: Subverted when Levy starts falling for Gajeel only after he shows that underneath his violent Blood Knight attitude he does care about her and the guild while wanting to atone for his actions against them and her specifically during the Fairy Tail-Phantom Lord guild war. It takes him saving her life several times before she really gets those feelings going.
  • Fist of the North Star: Subverted when Mamiya falls for Rei only after Kenshiro redeems his violent attitude by saving his long-lost sister, Airi, and revealing him as actually a good person. Sadly... Rei dies before he can share the romance with her.
  • It's more or less the same deal in Fruits Basket, when Tohru falls in love with Kyo—also socially inept and terribly cynical, but then, he may have a right to be, just a little, considering that not only was he was born under the influence of a curse that turns him into a cat whenever a girl embraces him — or into a monstrous cat-like beast if he ever removes his Buddhist rosary — as soon as he graduates from high school, his own family is going to lock him up for the rest of his life. As a result, a good part of his "bad boy" attitude comes from genuine psychological problems rather than him being mean just because.
  • Full Metal Panic!: Sousuke Sagara is a subversion. A highly-skilled military specialist who works for a mercenary company, who knows half-a-dozen ways to kill you before you hit the floor, and who's been an assassin since he was eight, with enough of a Dark and Troubled Past for two or three protagonists, is prime bad-boy material. And yet the qualities for which he's best loved, both in the series and in real life, are his loyalty, dedication to duty, determination, stalwart protectiveness (in a good way), chastity, and frequently naive earnestness. Furthermore, his tendency to seek violent solutions whether or not they are appropriate drives off prospective matches (except Gauron, but that's because he's Gauron).
  • Gangsta.:
    • Subverted with Alex becoming the Love Interest to the bloodthirsty mercenary Nic. She’s understandably scared of Nic at first due to his violent tendencies, but much like the Guts and Casca example above she soon learns he’s actually got a softer side to him and develops feelings for Nic after he comes to her aid several times in different ways. It’s also made clear Alex wants nothing more to do with bad men, after the physical and sexual abuse she got from her pimp Barry.
    • Also subverted with Connie’s love for her fiancé Marco who was once part of the villain team Destroyers and was absolutely Ax-Crazy in his youth. But when Marco met Connie, he pulls a Heel–Face Turn and becomes a good man for her and the Cristiano Family whom he faithfully serves. To the disgust of his former teammate Striker.
    • Played straight with Beretta with her partnership with aforementioned Striker who’s a violent depraved brute. She adores his carnage, being an awful sadist herself.
  • Subverted in Gungrave. Maria likes Brandon not because of his bad boy image; instead, she immediately falls for him when he saves her from some hoodlums. Brandon himself, too, is actually a loyal, caring man despite being a street punk who often gets in street brawls. Unfortunately, said profession becomes a problem when Uncle Jester (Maria's guardian/foster father) sees him walking home with Maria.
  • Van of GUN×SWORD is rude, lazy, and oblivious to other people most of the time. He still gathers an Unwanted Harem. One suspects that his harem members like him at least in part because of this trope. (In the series' comic omake, the puppet version of Wendy explicitly invokes this trope, claiming that "girls are more attracted to bad boys.")
  • Hellsing:
    • Integra does get awfully flustered at the exploits of her Bodyguard Crush, the mass murdering sociopathic super vampire Villain Protagonist Alucard. Although ironically for the most of the series, Alucard is on his best behavior when directly in her presence, due to Undying Loyalty to her family. In the epilogue she consents to him turning her into a vampire.
    • Downplayed with Seras and Pip, she finds his French merc bad boy attitude more annoying than hot. Although she does end up falling for him after spending a few missions together with him and he stops being a pompous jerk. Pip’s Heroic Sacrifice after having a Last Kiss with her, is the catalyst for her Unstoppable Rage against Pip’s killer Zorin Blitz.
  • Hime-chan's Ribbon: Hime-chan, while disguised as Daichi (a boy with a huge fanbase in the school due to his dequilent nature), tries to tell Hikaru, his number one fan, to stop liking him because he's dangerous... which only makes her like him even more and declare that he is extremely "cool".
  • Hori from Horimiya really likes it when Miyamura abuses her. Being the Nice Guy he really is, he's more than a bit creeped out by it.
  • Good lord, Freya from Immortal Rain. She has no interest in Rain, who stays by her side to comfort her, plants a garden of beautiful flowers to cheer her up, and generally does everything chivalrous and gentlemanly when it comes to her. And just to add to how horrible her taste is, she goes after Yuca, who is not actually all that friendly towards her, and is actually jealous of how Rain liked her, being unhealthily obsessed with Rain himself. (Seriously, how could she not notice?) This ends very badly for Freya, as Yuca ends up murdering her-presumably as a form of Murder the Hypotenuse, and feeds her flesh to a paralyzed, unconscious Rain.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Diamond is Unbreakable: Josuke Higashikata looks like the archetypal Japanese delinquent and is just as much a Chick Magnet as his nephew(!) Jotaro (It's complicated). Subverted in that he only looks that way for street-cred, and is very much a Nice Guy (unless you manage to piss him off).
    • Dio Brando naturally, since Vampires Are Sex Gods has attracted scores of women through his powerful evil charisma and his devastating sexiness. Both Mariah and Midler claim as handsome they find the Joestars (Joseph and Jotaro), they would never betray their beloved lord Dio for them. Apparently, a large number of women have fallen so hard for his charms that they willingly gave their life to him, letting him drink all of their blood. The only two women in the series who have resisted Dio's charms are Erina and Poco's unnamed sister, the former even washed her mouth out in a puddle after Dio gave her a Forced Kiss - much to Dio's narcissistic fury.
  • Karim of Jyu-Oh-Sei is madly in love with her superior, Zagi, despite his role as the psychotic murdering bastard with not a hint of respect for either his opponents or his allies. He hits her, manipulates her emotions, and completely rejects her when she disobeys a single order.
  • Kamisama Kiss lives this trope. The lead male, Tomoe, is a snarky, rude, and conniving fox demon. His main rival, Kurama, is a narcissistic, manipulative, and perverted crow tengu. And yet, The Heroine, Nanami, is involved in a complicated love story with these guys, primarily Tomoe. To be fair, in all cases, the boys are Jerks With Hearts Of Gold and Tomoe in particular is quite kind and caring underneath his gruff and rude exterior.
  • In King of Thorn, Kasumi develops a crush on Marco Owen, who is a muscular, foul-mouthed, Tattooed Crook. Several of the other survivors notice Kasumi's crush and comment on it, but it's hard to tell what Marco thinks, as he's somewhat hard to read. Although he does come back from the dead in order to save Kasumi...
  • Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu has Tsubaki Kyota. Despite acting like a delinquent and switching girls like he switches shirts, he is the most popular guy at school.
  • Lovely★Complex: Koizumi's love interest, Otani, has a real attitude problem and Koizumi often has to endure quite a bit of verbal abuse. It doesn't prevent her from pursuing him relentlessly, competing with the other girls who like him — which includes his neighbor Mimi, a fashion model. Then again, she is not always lovey-dovey herself.
  • Deconstructed in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack where Quess Paraya falls for the ruthless Char Aznable, only for her to be manipulated into becoming a psychotic killing machine. Amuro Ray even calls him out for it.
  • Unavoidable in Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, which is an Affectionate Parody of Shoujo Genre manga:
    • Nozaki decided to come up with a "bad boy" character at Chapter 30, because they seem more appealing.
    • Parodied in Chapter 32 when Nozaki received an over the top Otome Game from his editor and decided to play it with Hori and Wakamatsu. The trio soon became amazed by the persistence of the female lead in chasing the cast of largely Jerkass guys.
  • Gender-flipped in Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, when softhearted healer Tanda pines after fierce female bodyguard Balsa. And she likes him too!
  • Naruto:
    • Even after everything he's done, Sakura still loves Sasuke. In her case though, it's Deconstructed: she's aware that he's broken and ruined beyond belief, and that the gruff yet inwardly kind-hearted boy she fell in love with is long gone... yet still can't help having feelings for him. In Chapter 693, Sasuke mocks Sakura for this. He states that he isn't the least bit interested in her and admits that he has no idea why she has feelings for him, given everything he's said and done. Which is ironic, as they end up married with a daughter, years after said lost kindness was restored by Naruto, their teammate whom they both had been neglectful towards.
    • Karin. Dear God, Karin. Although at the end of the Kage Summit arc Karin ditched Sasuke after he tried to kill her, in Chapter 574, we see her torn between fawning over and bashing a hand-made portrait of him. Sasuke needs only make the briefest of apologies to get her back on his side. She does vent her angst by pounding the snot out of Suigetsu, though.
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The titular All-Loving Hero heroine has a Love Interest in the aggressive and violent prince Asbel, even keeping the bandage he wrapped her wound as a token in the manga. Even though Asbel killed many people, including the insects she cherishes. Played with though, as Nausicaa was rightly cold and angry to Asbel at first and only got cozy with him when he stopped being a dick and became nicer, such as treating her wound and helping her stop the war between Pejite and Torumekia.
  • In Nichijou, Weboshi admits to liking Nakanojou, the boy with the mohawk. What she doesn't know, nor believes when told, is that Nakanojou is actually a very sweet guy. His mohawk is simply his natural hairstyle.
  • Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge has Morrigan fall for the Vampire Evil Overlord Demitri and betrays the Demon World to join him in the finale. Then again, Morrigan is obviously no saint herself being a Succubus, making it a Unholy Matrimony.
  • Ojamajo Doremi:
    • Hazuki: She is drawn to the local juvenile delinquent Masaru Yada, though it's downplayed in that he is Troubled, but Cute in her eyes. He reciprocates and cares deeply for her, and he even gets jealous when Fujio tries to woo her. The two are dating as of Ojamajo Doremi 16/17/18.
    • Doremi herself is drawn to her Evil Counterpart Akatsuki, though she didn't know he was bad until he revealed his true colors. She still reciprocates his feelings, though they do not become an Official Couple.
    • Doremi is also drawn to Jerk Jock Kotake, even though he is more antagonizing. The earlier seasons show a lot of Belligerent Sexual Tension between the two, and it is pretty obvious he has a crush on her but can't spit it out. She confesses to him at the end of the anime but the light novels reveal that he didn't accept her feelings. This changes later on when he gets his head on straight and the two become an Official Couple.
    • Onpu: In a daydream she had in Naisho, her ideal boy was depicted as bad.
  • One Piece:
    • Parodied completely throughout Franky's "hard boiled" fight with Senior Pink. The gathered women go wild at the both of them, despite Franky and Senior Pink telling them to buzz off and repeatedly telling them to shut up which only gets the ladies even more hot and bothered.
    • It’s strongly hinted by her Luminescent Blush when he gives her the Over-the-Shoulder Carry that lawful Marine girl Tashigi has a crush on Zoro even though he’s a dangerous and wanted Pirate.
    • In the Wano Flash Back resident bad boy Kozuki Oden gathers a massive harem of women from the capital to utter fury of their husbands, causing a conflict known as the “Harem War”. Subverted later though as Oden becomes more good natured and settles down with good girl Toki.
    • Black Maria, one of the Flying Six isn’t shy about expressing her attraction to her ultra violent and cruel Evil Overlord Kaido. While the rest of her teammates spread out at his orders, she elects to snuggle close to him something Kaido happily doesn’t object to. On the other hand Black Maria gets quite attached to hero cook Sanji, as her personal plaything and is furious at his escape.
    • Speaking of which, Sanji can be seen as a Gender-Inverted example. As he falls completely for multiple bad girls such as Classy Cat-Burglar Nami, former assassin Robin and several villainesses like Kalifa, Ulti and the aforementioned Black Maria. One seemingly exception is his fiancée Nice Girl Pudding who turns out to be a Master Actor and is actually Cute and Psycho, though she falls for Sanji for real.
  • Ouran High School Host Club parodied this in a chapter where otaku fangirl Renge attacked nearly every club member for not being angsty enough, and declared that filming all of them wallowing in some form of angst would increase their appeal. She was crazy but apparently right, as evidenced by the huge demand for the video.
  • Paradise Kiss: This is Hiroyuki Tokumori's curse. When he was a kid, Miwako chose Arashi instead of him. Series heroine Yukari was in love with him for who knows how long, until she met George and fell for him on the spot. In the end, it's subverted when Yukari ends up marrying him, since both she and George realized that their relationship wasn't going anywhere.
  • Princess Tutu:
    • Played with. When Mytho, former Extreme Doormat, goes through a Face–Heel Turn in the second season, he picks up a new girl almost every episode, but it's because he's casting a spell on them so he can manipulate them into being a sacrifice for the Big Bad, not because they're suddenly attracted to him now that he's a Bad Boy.
    • Subverted with Fakir in that he actually isn't "bad". When Mytho jumps out a window due to the influence of Raven's blood, everyone assumes that Fakir pushed him. This leads girls to believe he is "bad" and cool, as seen in episode 16.
    Pique: In the end, I've always been a Fakir girl!
    Lilie: Yeah, he's definitely been cool lately, hasn't he?
    Pique: Like that air of mystery he has.
    Lilie: The air of a shady crook.
    Pique: And that slightly dark aura.
    Lilie: Oh, yeah, the gloomy mood.
  • In Reborn! (2004), every female in the class swoons over cigarette-smoking, dynamite-throwing, foul-mouthed juvenile delinquent Gokudera Hayato, including main love interest Sasagawa Kyoko —much to The Hero, Sawada Tsuna's chagrin... Ironically, Gokudera spends time fanboying over Tsuna himself.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • The anime version of Mamoru plays with this dynamic, since he's given a motorcycle and an Age Lift from high-schooler to college student while dating a middle-schooler. He's a snarky jerk to Usagi for a long time, but they don't progress beyond Belligerent Sexual Tension until he shapes up.
    • Played straighter with Naru and Nephrite. Naru knows he isn't a good person and is aware that he has tried to use her, particularly since he tells her as much. Yet she admits to a worried Usagi that she can't help loving him. Then Nephrite turns out to not be a monster... only to die in her arms.
  • Shigurui deconstructs thoroughly this trope with what becomes of Lady Iku, a beautiful high-class woman who had the misfortune of being loved by the ruthless and murderous Kogan who was entranced by her beauty. She eventually becomes his concubine after he had her 2 previous fiancés murdered. What are the results for her? Her reputation as Kogan's concubine might ensure her protection...but Kogan treats her like a whore and is just as violent and ruthless to her as he is to his men. What's more, everybody in town hate her and shun her everywhere she goes, not even talking to her unless necessary and children made a song about her, mocking her status as the mistress of a "tiger", the tiger being Kogan who is identified as a bloodthirsty predator. Plus, with Kogan's sanity slipping, it goes even more downhill for her.
    • She later becomes the lover of Irako Seigen, yet another proverbially amoral samurai who treats her a bit better (which isn't that difficult) but her relationship with him still leaves her completely forlorn and miserable since he becomes blind and the violent life of her man only ensures her misery.
  • Shugo Chara! milks this trope for all it's worth with Ikuto, the Not Evil, Just Misunderstood/Troubled, but Cute/Tall, Dark, and Snarky/Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Punch-Clock Villain who has hordes of swooning fangirls in the real world and manages to fluster the heck out of the heroine, even though she officially has a crush on another boy.
  • A Silent Voice plays with this and ultimately subverts it with the troubled protagonist Shoya and his two love interests Shouko and Ueno.
    • Ueno is a tragic case of this. She fell in love with Shoya during elementary school when he was a feckless cruel bullying brat. Wanting to do anything to please him, she joined in on his troublemaking and bullying of new (deaf) student Shouko which led to the class using Shoya as a scapegoat when Shouko‘s mother complained. Years later Ueno regretted not standing up for Shoya and was eager to catch up with him, only to discover much to her distress that bad boy she liked is long gone and Shoya has turned over a new leaf by making amends with Shouko whom he has gotten very close to, much to Ueno’s jealously. She even tries to get him to bully Shouko again, yanking her hearing aid out and handing it to him saying the “old Shoya” would throw it, Shoya just hands it back to Shouko apologising. This causes Ueno to tearfully laugh mockingly at him, but in actuality she goes off to cry in misery.
    • Shouko’s attraction to Shoya plays with this, before averting it. During elementary school, she longed to have a friend and really wanted Shoya to be hers, much to his embarrassed disgust and he brutally rejected her. In spite of his bullying of her when the class turns against Shoya, bullying him and graffitiing his desk, Shouko spends her time wiping his desk clean, (Ueno who witnesses this immediately understands Shouko has a crush on Shoya and is filled with jealous hatred). Yet when Shoya out of frustration bullies Shouko again, she surprisingly bites back, showing she won’t constantly put up his aggression no matter what her feelings for him are. Averted in the Time Skip, as Shouko falls more in love with the compassionate boy Shoya has become, although her speech impediment leads to a Anguished Declaration of Love.
  • In Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note, this is how viewers see Aya's crush on Sunahara, as the latter is a G-rated depiction of a Japanese Delinquent and she did say he looked "a bit intimidating." Although, Aya herself sees it as a case of Single Woman Seeks Good Man.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh!, while technically not a "bad boy", Dark Yugi's darker personality immediately attracts Anzu's interest, contrasting with her attraction to Yugi for being a Nice Guy.
  • Yui Kamio Lets Loose: Despite Kiito being very cold to regular girls, they are excited to be able to speak to him even as he dismisses them.
  • Bad boy Yusuke in YuYu Hakusho is the object of good girl Keiko's desires. It helps that they are childhood friends. Being a Tsundere, Keiko also isn't really attracted to his bad boyness, never hesitating to bitch slap him when he acts bad in her presence. Keiko is the only girl attracted to Yusuke. The other girls in Sarayashiki are afraid of him, and more than once, they ask her "Keiko-chan, just what do you see in him?!" It helps that (delinquent rebelliousness aside), Yusuke is actually surprisingly nice most of the time, especially as he matures as the series goes on.

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