Byronic Heroes in anime and manga.
- Yuri from Angel Beats!. Having failed to prevent her siblings' deaths, she spends her days in the afterlife rallying others to kill God in order to get revenge for the horrible lives they've suffered. She refuses to accept the terms of her own death (an implied suicide following her crossing the Despair Event Horizon), and it's not until the end when she realizes where her hatred has taken her.
- Berserk:
- Guts is a notable example of this and fits most of the classical traits. He spent the years after the Eclipse wandering from town to town and killing Apostles, largely indifferent to the people he saved and hanging onto his humanity by a thread. He eventually starts to return to his original personality after he sees where his obsession with revenge has left him.
- Griffith also counted, prior to being broken during a Trauma Conga Line that eventually led to the Eclipse.
- Black★Rock Shooter: The anime incarnation of the titular character counts as one. Unlike her OVA, manga, or video game counterparts, who all fall on the side of good, she just wants to make her real-world counterpart Mato happy, and thus kills other people's Other Selves out of a desire to keep her happy. After triggering an event that makes Mato cry, she goes insane and goes on a rampage.
- From the Leijiverse, Captain Harlock is a brooding badass whose devotion to Earth leads him to abandon its corrupt government and defend it alone.
- Code Geass:
- Manipulative Bastard Lelouch Lamperouge is arrogant, is generally fine with slaughtering his enemies, is fairly vengeful, and frequently lies to and keeps secrets from his own men, as well as his friends and family. Although the universe has screwed him over a couple of times, and the enemy he fights is an expansionist empire who preaches Social Darwinism to justify their policies of oppression and racism, and frequently engages in mass genocide. Although to his credit, he never thinks he is a good person, and actually reveals the full extent of his crimes to the world, and publicly has himself executed for them. He didn't have to do any of that as soon as he became Emperor, but he did anyway because he knew he deserved no less. The director said that he specifically chose Jun Fukuyama to voice Lelouch on the grounds that his voice, along with the character's traits, would make him such that the viewer would side with him no matter what he'd say.
- Suzaku Kururugi could also count. Brooding, uncompromising, self-destructive Death Seeker who seeks atonement for killing his father and causing Japan to be enslaved by Britannia. He tries sacrificing himself under the guise of chivalry to both Britannia and supposedly Japan as an excuse to fulfill his death wish but mostly serves to derail Lelouch's plans before they would otherwise bear maximum results. In season 2, he becomes even worse, descending into Knight Templar territory and conquering EU nations for Schneizel. He eventually joins Lelouch, but not before they're both broken beyond repair.
- A third example is C.C. As a young girl, she was unable to experience true love thanks to the Geass bestowed upon her, and she was later cursed with a Code that sent her through centuries of torture. All this tragedy left her a Broken Bird and Empty Shell by the present day. After giving Lelouch his Geass, she makes it clear that she sticks with him for her own reasons (namely, getting rid of her Code so that she can finally die), but she regains her humanity through her interactions with him.
- Cowboy Bebop:
- Faye Valentine is a con artist, selfish, impulsive, self-centered, rude and manipulative. She's also lonely, heartbroken, wounded, and desperately searching for her place in the universe.
- Despite being our hero, Spike Spiegel's actions for most of the show cause a lot of collateral damage and bystander injury. Not to mention he's not the nicest or most caring guy. However, in the inside, he's a broken man who longs for the woman he fell in love with and wants to leave his chaotic life and troubled past behind.
- Cross Ange: Alektra Maria "Jill" von Loewenherz, a Fallen Princess, calculating, cold, and manipulative. She's a hardened woman who is hellbent on killing Embryo to the point she wants to use anyone to that end. Also, fellow Norma Ange herself qualifies; much like Jill before her, a fallen princess who is exiled into Arzenal, whose life changed her forever to cynical levels. Unlike Jill, Ange survives so many adversities, such as nearly falling into Embryo's control, and becomes the leader when the series heads towards the Grand Finale.
- Death Note:
- Light Yagami is a villainous one. Physically attractive, cunning and intelligent, arrogant with a major God complex, prone to quiet brooding when things don't go his way, very passionate about his ideals, and absolutely convinced that what he is doing is right.
- He could also be a deconstruction of one: While people in and out of the series think he's misunderstood, he is genuinely evil and dangerous. Of course the "misunderstood" conception changes at the end, at least in-universe.
- Mello. He's handsome, passionate, ruthless and VERY rebellious. He's obsessed with becoming L's successor and being the best with no regards to what anyone else thinks. He tries to achieve his goal through illegal means and has questionable morals.
- In the end, he realizes that his goals are not going to achieve the bigger picture that L, his mentor and idol, wants. He takes it upon himself to handle what he believes needs to be done with the mindset of "someone has to do it". He seems not only leave behind his inferiority with not being #1 but even helps his rival Near, leaving him with all the glory.
- Light Yagami is a villainous one. Physically attractive, cunning and intelligent, arrogant with a major God complex, prone to quiet brooding when things don't go his way, very passionate about his ideals, and absolutely convinced that what he is doing is right.
- Rika Nonaka from Digimon Tamers, who before her Character Development, was cold, brooding, and ruthless on the outside. She was a fierce battler, both in the Digimon card game and with her partner, with having the drive for being the strongest. She also has a strained relationship with her mother, a professional model who tries to get her daughter into a similar way and Rika is quite bothered by it. She also tries to keep her distance from Takato and Henry at first. While she does remain snarky and cool-headed, she does become more amicable and openly-caring for those close to her and she reaches an understanding with her mother, her even informing Rika that she is responsible and will choose her path (for those needing context, Rika's mom was implied to have been a teenager when she had her and thus, is referring to her own lack of regret on being a model and single mom.)
- Dragon Ball:
- Piccolo, considering he was born to kill Goku and conquer the Earth in Dragon Ball, before being forced to team up with the heroes in Dragon Ball Z. He has a very serious, melancholic outlook on life. After fusing with Kami he also becomes very noble with very strong morals, even further fitting this trope.
- Vegeta fits this role like a glove during the Namek Arc of Z. Having essentially been a slave working under Frieza from the age of 12, he was hell-bent on surpassing Frieza in strength and eventually overthrowing him so that he and the Saiyans could, in his opinion, rightfully claim their position as the dominant force in the universe. Following Frieza bringing the Saiyan race to the verge of extinction, despite the Saiyans loyalty to Frieza, Vegeta became even more determined. His first step in achieving his goal was to gain immortality, and he was willing to do anything to gain immortality, ranging from slaughtering innocent men and children, fighting dirty and swallowing his pride and teaming up with the heroes. After failing to achieve immortality, his goal then turned to surpassing Goku, no matter how bad of a situation he would have created, if it meant he got one-up on Goku, it was worth it. Ironically, his drive to surpass Goku led to him pulling a Face–Heel Turn in the Buu Arc and killing 200 people just to coax Goku into fighting him again so that he could prove that he was stronger than him.
- Lucy from Elfen Lied is a perfect example. Morally neutral? To put it mildly. Largely concerned with personal interests? Check. Disrespect of common authority? Check. Tragic past? Dear God... Defined by conflict, inner and outer? Definitely. Attractive? Oh yes. Introspective loner? Check. Cynical, jaded, brooding and self-destructive? Definitely.
- Fate/Zero seems to love exploring these kinds of traits.
- The protagonist, Emiya Kiritsugu, failed to Shoot the Dog as a child and caused a village to be massacred. He vowed never to let this happen again and dedicated his life to ruthlessly killing the few to save the many. In the process, he had to sacrifice anything resembling normal human emotion. Realizing that this was just stopping minor tragedies instead of solving the fundamental problems of human nature, he agreed to work for the Einzberns so that he could use the Grail to end all warfare forever. During the war, he consistently succeeds while slowly sacrificing everything that made him even slightly happy, ending up the story a broken man who had nothing left.
- Another possible Byronic hero is Matou Kariya, a man who fled from his corrupt family to escape their evil. In order to protect the daughter of the woman he loved but could not marry, he agreed to reenter the family and participate in the Grail War. While he begins with noble intentions, his grudge against the father of the girl eventually twists him and with some help from Kotomine he destroys everything he cared about. At the end he dies without saving the girl, alone, miserable and deluded.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Edward Elric has the less destructive traits of this. As cheery as he may seem, he is rigidly stubborn and spends a good amount of time brooding over the terrible things that have happened to him. His Byronic aspects are more emphasized in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), however.
- Greed also has elements of this, mostly in his second incarnation. A greedy but rebellious being, he listens to no one but himself. To this end, Greed only acts on his whims without much regard to others. He's passionate about his desires, intelligent, hedonistic, is very intense about his emotions and struggles with morality, and he can be quite cynical. He also shows some charisma as he is able to attract followers. The Second Greed's conversations with Ling also resemble internal conflict.
- Subverted with Roy Mustang. Mustang is certainly saddled with a lot of angst and guilt from Ishval, and although he is set up to be an Anti-Hero when he stages Maria Ross' murder, he remains one of the most idealistic characters in the entire series. To the point where he is able to refuse to perform Human Transmutation when an opportunity presented itself twice.
- Scar. Morally neutral? He develops from an Anti-Villain to an Anti-Hero. Largely concerned with personal interests? He's driven only by his feelings and his quest for vengeance, at least for a time. Dark and Troubled Past? He lost his arm, his brother, most of his people, and his country in a brutal genocide. Defined by conflict, inner and outer? He has his moments. Introspective loner? Definitely so. Guilty of horrible crimes? He is responsible for dozens of murders, including Rockbells, who were in no way responsible for the Ishvalan massacre. An exile? He's a wandering Vigilante Man. Cynical and self-destructive? He doesn't even care about his own life.
- Maho Nishizumi of Girls und Panzer is an Aloof Big Sister to Miho who is willing to do whatever it takes to live up to the expectations associated with being the heir to the Nishizumi family so that Miho can live and practice tankery the way she wants, and to that end shot an enemy flag tank when it tried to rescue some of her teammates, which she seems to feel some measure of guilt over. She even has a pose similar to the page image in Episode 10, when she looks on her school's tanks.
- This fits well to subcommander, Erika Itsumi. Cruel, Cold and Relentless, but very competent and determined, she would sacrifice even her own physical health for victory.
- Gundam:
- Grodek Ainoa from Mobile Suit Gundam AGE - Driven by tragic events from his past, a bit brooding, charismatic and with no problem or remorse wrecking all possible rules to achieve his goal.
- Haman Khan from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is a female example who checks most of the other boxes. She is a supremely intelligent and charismatic Glorious Leader, highly physically attractive and dominant towards others, yet inside she is a highly conflicted individual; Lonely at the Top, as well as cynical and disillusioned with humanity to the point of being a Misanthrope Supreme. Her philosophy is essentially nihilistic; she wants to conquer all humanity because of a belief that Humans Are the Real Monsters, and so they deserve nothing better than to be crushed under her iron boot. However, she only embodies the "introspective" part of the trope when she meets Judau Ashta, whose idealism causes her to re-examine her own worldview. Her internal conflicts lead to her downfall; her inability to firmly deal with an apparently harmless traitor, despite knowing of his treachery, leads to the decimation of her forces. Shortly thereafter, her complicated infatuation with Judau leads her to fight a duel with him, at a severe enough handicap that she can be fought to a draw, and she commits suicide afterward.
- Hathaway Noa the eponymous hero of Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash - as a teenager he tried to join the war against Char to follow in the footsteps of his father, but was forced to kill his Tyke Bomb girlfriend to save the Earth. To the public as a war hero who retired to become a botanical researcher to restore nature that's been damaged by human conflict. But in reality he's a broken and cynical man who despises the very Earthnoids he fought to protect and so he became the head of the terrorist organisation "Mufti" who assassinate corrupt Earth Federation officials who cruelly oppress the Spacenoids in the name of peace. This puts him against his father who builds a team of Federation pilots to hunt down the criminal Mufti completely unaware of his son's true nature. By the end of the story Mufti is destroyed, Hathaway has been captured and his father gives the order for an illegal execution before the news of Hathaway's identity is reported to him. While Hathaway's revolution failed, he became a martyr for Spacenoid resistance which causes the irreversible collapse of the Federation.
- Sesshomaru of Inuyasha. Unlike Inuyasha, he is a full-fledged demon, as well as a powerful one. He's apathetic, deadly, and has a short temper for specific things. He grew up as an aristocrat, and his family situation and surroundings molded him into the ruthless killer he is.
- He is not inherently evil, but rather accustomed to having things his way no. He uses others to achieve his goals, but never falters from his own beliefs and goals. He does not have the materialistic greed many other demons in the show possess and wants to achieve his goals through his own means.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- DIO Brando fits all criteria save broodiness (supplementary materials make it clear he actively tries to avoid it), but presents a fairly interesting case in terms of representation. While due to limited screentime the audience doesn't get to see the full scale of his personality until well after his death, in publication terms almost a full decade his characterization as this is alluded to throughout his tenure in his treatment as a Dark Messiah and the focus on showing him reading on the few occasions he shows up and isn't actively fighting. It shines through most strongly in the semi-canon novel Over Heaven, which is intended as a copy of his in-series diary and contains all the personal thoughts and philosophical musings the audience wasn't privy to while he was alive.
- DIO's disciple, Enrico Pucci, has a tragic backstory behind his evil motivations. Born with a twin brother switched at birth for a stillborn, Pucci hated himself and thought himself to be guilty for what happened, and became a priest to understand why people felt despair and suffering. When his sister is killed in an attempt to prevent her and their brother from dating, Pucci stole his brother's memories with his Stand, which developed out of a desire to preserve his sister's memories, essentially destroying his family. This made Pucci come to the conclusion that You Can't Fight Fate, and this mentality and his interactions with DIO led to Pucci becoming an evil that doesn't recognize his own misdeeds.
- Weather Report, Pucci's twin brother and a main protagonist from Stone Ocean, fits this trope like a glove upon getting his memories back. He's extremely perceptive of scientific details surrounding his Stand, he internally feels torment due to his Dark and Troubled Past and expresses it through violent mood swings, he's crossed the Despair Event Horizon and grew overtly cynical and self-loathing as a result, and he stops at nothing to complete his goal of striking Pucci dead. Narciso Anasui even notes after Weather's death that the heavy winds have become a gentle breeze, indicating that his anguished soul had been put at ease for the first time in his life.
- Johnny Joestar, the protagonist of Steel Ball Run, definitely counts. As a child, he was The Unfavorite to his father who showered praise on his older brother, and blamed himself when said brother was killed in a horse-riding accident. As a teenager, he became a star jockey, only to lose it all when a violent confrontation left him paraplegic. As a result, he has crippling self-esteem issues which he conceals by acting cruel and standoffish. Over the course of the story, he slowly learns to open up and be nicer to others.
- Koko Hekmatyar from Jormungand. She fits all the common characteristics: Cunning and able to adapt; very attractive physically; has a lot of charisma, sophistication, and intelligence, as well as emotional sensitivity; cynical and jaded; mysterious Dark and Troubled Past; Disrespectful of rank and privilege (despite being very rich) and has a distaste for social institutions and norms (in this particular case, geopolitical ones); social isolation; is extremely passionate, with strong personal beliefs which conflict with the values of the status quo, and she views them as superior to others' beliefs; Emotionally conflicted and possibly bipolar; perceptive; world-weary; Mysterious, magnetic, and charismatic; rebellious; Self-critical and introspective; Sophisticated and educated; Struggling with integrity; Self-destructive (possibly); and is socially dominant (maybe sexually dominant but we never see her in a sexual relationship).
- Kaguya Shinomiya from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is attractive, highly intelligent, and (mostly at first) an aloof Broken Bird, who really suffers inner conflict because of her past and the cruel and petty environment she grew up in. She used to be rather haughty, manipulative, and arrogant, because of her unhealthy upbringing, but deep down she's a good person. This is due to the fact she genuinely wants to be one, as she wasn't raised to be a good person at all: her family just taught her to be a selfish jerk, concerned with other people only for personal gain and because it could fit her interests. Some traits of her upbringing are still there; she's rather cynical at times and can be somewhat manipulative and underhanded when it comes to getting the job done (though it's ultimately very much for others' sake), but she has genuinely evolved into a kind, selfless, and well-meaning person.
- Despite being a kindhearted and good-natured Nice Guy, Yu Ishigami fits here as well. Is he intelligent and talented? Check. Is he brooding and depressed? Check. Is he self-destructive in his behavior? Socially speaking, yes at times. Is he cynical and idealistic at the same time? That's pretty much his personality summed up. Is he attractive? Well, yes, despite his gloomy appearance he's good-looking and used to be more athletic.
- Alexander Row of Last Exile is a pretty good example. He's Tall, Dark, and Handsome, an officer and captain of his own one-of-a-kind Cool Airship, which he essentially stole from the government and is operating on his own, outside of the law. He is stoic, withdrawn, and brooding (half the time when we see him, he's just sitting in the dark alone), doesn't really listen to a damn thing anyone else tells him and is driven by revenge and revolution. He's also an expert strategist with a crew that will follow him anywhere. He has a troubled past that is revealed to include a dead wife. The princess is also in love with him, and it's doomed to be unrequited. Oh, and he's a total badass.
- The methodically loyal and incurably self-destructive Reuental from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Reinhard also qualifies in this area very much.
- Villain Protagonist William of Moriarty the Patriot is a charming, charismatic man with incredible intelligence. He is also moody, depressed, and withdrawn, keeping himself and most of his internal life to himself, with a dramatic streak a mile wide and ten deep. He strives to save the entire country from evil, carrying the burden entirely himself. His life is somewhat tragic and culminates in becoming The Atoner for his own crimes and sins.
- Consider Hachiman Hikigaya in My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected. Is he intensely introspective? Yes. Is he cynical and jaded and has he experienced a bargain bin of a dark and troubled past bundled with regrets? Yes. Does he see his own values or passions as above everyone else's? Yes. Is he doggedly determined to follow his values and passions despite trampling over others? Yes. Is he especially physically attractive?... No — well, good enough (though it becomes clear later on that while not gorgeous, he is fairly good-looking and it's really his "dead fish" eyes that earned him a reputation for being unattractive.
- Naruto:
- Itachi Uchiha was assumed by many to be a stoic, ice-cold villain who slaughtered his clan in order to test the power of his new Mangekyo Sharingan. Posthumously, he is revealed to be a conflicted and tragic person who witnessed bloodshed at the age of four (and given that he may have unlocked the Sharingan, which grants its users perfect memory and thus unable to forget such a sight) and who saw his comrades get run through. He orchestrated a plan to kill off his family after killing his best friend (who let him do it after his failure) to gain the power. All in order to prevent decades-long bitterness from escalating into civil war. He also traumatized his brother in the hopes of molding him to have the power to stop him and become a hero. Unfortunately, his Fatal Flaw of not trusting others or communicating led to every one of his plans failing and having to entrust his brother's best friend to bring him back into sense.
- Sasuke Uchiha, having been deliberately traumatized by Itachi, begins the series as a brooding revenge-obsessed loner. While he starts to grow out of this, he ends up running into Itachi again (who is targeting his best friend Naruto). He not only gets beaten easily but is forced to relive the slaughter of his family all over again, undoing all of his recovery and breaking him further. In desperation and growing madness, he turns toward Orochimaru in search of more power. After learning the truth of his brother's past, Sasuke swears to avenge Itachi by destroying Konoha, casting aside his allies as his hatred consumes him. After speaking with the resurrected Itachi, Sasuke then decides to overthrow the current system by killing the Kage and setting himself up as the ultimate evil, so that the villages will have to remain united to oppose him. He is finally snapped out of it once and for all in his final battle with Naruto.
- Asuka Langley Soryuu from Neon Genesis Evangelion is selfish, impulsive, self-centered, rude, and borderline misanthropic. She's also lonely, heartbroken, wounded, and desperately searching for her place in life.
- Trafalgar Law from One Piece. He is very attractive when compared to most other One Piece characters, with more distinguished facial features like Shanks and Robin. He boasts enough charisma to gather a crew with 20 members. He is intelligent and cunning, having devised a plan over 13 years to bring down Doflamingo's empire and hamper an Emperor's plan to increase his power. He has experienced two great losses in his life: first his family, friends, and homeland of Flevance, then the father-figure to whom he owes his life. Eventually, everything adds up to him being able to avenge his fallen hero (with Luffy's help) and also have enough determination go on living afterwards.
- Panty Anarchy of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a more comical (but no less fitting) take on the trope. She's very attractive and skilled at what she does, has lustful desires, and can bed the entire population of Daten City with little effort. However, she's also incredibly lazy, fights only for her own benefit, and does a bunch of insane things that go against what's expected of her. Eventually, these flaws come to bite her in the ass, and she spends a good deal of the last two episodes suffering for them. Her Badass Boast in the final episode summarizes her character pretty well:"You're right, I'm just a little bitch and I'm proud of it. But guess what, douchebag? That's not the point. News flash, I don't need special fucking powers to beat the shit out of you. You know why? Because I'm a bitch who doesn't give a fuck. You and your half-dead face can preach about hymens and demons and other weird words that supposedly mean shit, but that doesn't change the fact that if any of you fuckers get in my way, I'm gonna kick some twisted-ass ass. You hear me, dick? I'm a hot bitch angel named Panty. And no matter what anyone says, I DO WHAT I FUCKING WANT!"
- Stocking counts to a lesser extent. While her Byronic traits are less pronounced, she shares many traits with Panty, has strong romantic ideals compared to her, and is of demonic origin.
- Werner Locksmith from Planetes. A genius engineer and businessman, he is a total sociopath who, by his own words, "can love only spaceships". He does desire to bring a better life to humanity, but his emotional detachment makes him a ruthless case of Well-Intentioned Extremist, as he firmly believes that Utopia Justifies the Means.
- Starzinger: Jan Kugo despises Dr. Kitty for imprisoning him (after he massacred the military) and in the first episode, is so enraged that he can't kill people during his mission, he actually leaves his post. He later comes back when he realizes that deep down, he has a fondness for Princess Aurora.
- Pokémon the Series: XY gives us Alain. He is a good looking loner with has a pessimistic personality but is extremely passionate about what he does, thus many people show him admiration. However, he has numerous flaws that makes him easy to be manipulated while also driving away the people who really care for him.
- Princess Principal: Ange, the super-skilled savant of the five-girl band of spies, is a bit of a Bunny-Ears Lawyer due to her Byronic characteristics. She rarely shows emotion, mainly to conceal her true intentions and identity, since she does have her own subversive goals she cares deeply about, most of which revolve around Princess. Ange is actually the original princess, but she accidentally swapped places with a street-urchin child right when a bloody revolution broke out, and they both struggle to maintain their mixed-up sense of self. Unlike the other characters, Ange doesn't care about the political-warfare goals of her bosses... but Princess absolutely wishes to make the world a better place, even if she has to suffer or die to achieve that. Ange has difficulty deciding whether to help Princess with her ambitions or protect her from the world against her will.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
- Kyoko Sakura. She was once a good girl with good intentions, but then those intentions backfired on her and she lost her innocence. She stopped fighting for good as a result and became a selfish Blood Knight and social Darwinist who fights only for her benefit. Her arc is all about regaining the optimism she once had while Sayaka (who she takes a shine to) goes down the same dark path, redeeming the two of them in death.
- Homura as well. She's on the other end of the extrovert-introvert scale as Kyoko (at least at first), but she is no less committed to protecting Madoka despite the great amount of umbrage the other girls save for Madoka take from her extreme actions - things like shooting Kyubey on sight even if Mami considers her an enemy for it and intimidating Sayaka into taking a Grief Seed by making her think she was going to kill her in Episode 7 before the latter is consumed by her grief and becomes Oktavia von Seckandorff. Even into Rebellion, where she would hijack Madoka's goddess powers and become the Satanic Archetype if it means giving Madoka the happy life she deserves. The very Byronic outcome is a tragic, albeit successful, revolution.
- Oriko Mikuni, Villain Protagonist of Puella Magi Oriko Magica. A prodigy bound for success whose life was rocked by a political scandal that led to her father's suicide, she wished to learn the purpose of her existence and learned that the world would die unless she killed innocent teenager Madoka Kaname. She spends much of the series running a long-term gambit with the goal of accomplishing this, including killing several other people, all for the sake of proving that her life has some value to it. Despite viewing herself as above others, she forms a strong bond with her partner Kirika, and when Kirika is mortally wounded, she commits to a very public attack that leads to many deaths, including her own and Madoka. Her status as this is particularly evident in Sadness Prayer, which focuses heavily on her point of view and reveals her to fit pretty much all the major characteristics: brooding and lonely, driven by personal philosophy and past hardship, clever and charismatic, self-loathing yet arrogant, self-destructive to the point of tragedy, and capable of great love.
- Raideen: Lemuria/Reiko Hibiki, Akira's mother. She holds a cold facade because she feels as if she's not allowed to show love to her son, or all her efforts will be for nothing. She's secretly unhappy about the great responsibility placed on her shoulders, but bears it anyway because she knows she's her people's last hope. At least she dies smiling, enjoying a brief amount of happiness being able to see her son defeat Barao. There's also the fleeting hope that she reincarnates in the Mu empire after her death.
- Ryo Narushima from Shamo fits almost all characteristics, after killed his parents for mostly unknown reasons at the beginning of the series, he goes on to live a violent and solitary life as he struggles with his personal demons and later gives in to his own immorality and depravity.
- Zelgadis Graywords from Slayers, more so in the anime than in the novels. His absolutely undeterred lifelong quest for a cure that could turn his chimeric body back into its former human state fits this trope, and toss in the fact that it was his own great-grandfather that did it.
- A somewhat milder example in Tomorrow's Joe. Joe Yabuki, who goes through many hardships... and brings almost all of them on himself.
- Amon from Witch Hunter Robin. Amon is a dark and stoic man with a more than fair share of angst. As the series progresses, one can see him silently wrestle with the morality of his profession.
- Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!. Abandoned at an orphanage with his little brother, Mokuba, by his relatives when their parents died, he grabbed an opportunity to get him and his brother adopted by a big shot CEO. He beats him at chess (Gozaburo Kaiba is very skilled at chess mind you) and impresses Gozaburo so much that not only does he adopt the brothers, he decides to mold the young Seto into his protege and successor... which he does through strict education and training. Seto is hardened by these experiences and successfully overthrows his adopted father to become the new head of the Kaiba Corp. However, he has become much like the man he despises, has a very hard time letting go of the past, and looks down most people (notably Joey) with the only soft spot being toward Mokuba (and children in general) along with his rivalry with Yami Yugi.
- Zane Truesdale becomes one in Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. He's a complex, tragic, Secretly Dying Spirited Competitor with an indomitable drive to find a Worthy Opponent and go out on his own terms. Byronic Heroes don't get much more definitive. The passion in his dueling contrasts with both the "perfect" and collected duelist of Season 1 and the Blood Knight of Season 2.
- Tetsuo from Yuureitou is one of these. He's noted early on to have a "scary" personality and has at multiple times shown a rather Grey-and-Gray Morality with Magnificent Bastard tendencies. He has no qualms with killing people, and in fact, he killed his adopted mother two years prior to the manga beginning, but overall seems to be a heroic-neutral.
