Deuteragonist / Anime & Manga

• The relationship between Mira and Ao forms the core of Asteroid in Love's premise. Since the story is often told in Mira's voice, this makes Ao the deuteragonist. The two have a Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo dynamic is is intended to complement each other.
• Attack on Titan:
  • At first it seems Mikasa would serve as deuteragonist with Armin being a likely candidate for tritagonist, making them the classic Power Trio with The Protagonist Eren. Eren is apparently killed on their first mission, making the main focus shift to Mikasa, while Armin and Jean share the role of deuteragonist. By the time Eren comes back, the narrative focus is more spread out.
  • However, it does become clearer that the real deuteragonist is Armin, Eren still being the main hero, Levi as the tritagonist (though advertising might have you believe he's the main hero), and Mikasa (who is mostly Eren's Satellite Love Interest) sharing the role of tetragonist with Jean.
  • After the Time Skip, Reiner becomes the new deuteragonist, with Gabi and Falco as the tritagonists, and Armin being demoted to tetragonist. Eren himself has been turned into a Villain Protagonist.
• Beastars: Despite ostensibly being "The Story of a Wolf and a Rabbit" as the title of the final chapter will tell you, the deuteragonist is actually not the Rabbit in question but Louis the Red Deer. Haru receives less and less focus as the story continues to the point where you could count the number of times she appears in the last 70 chapters on your fingers.
• Griffith from Berserk plays this role, as well as being the main antagonist of the story. While learning about Guts's past in the Golden Era arc, we learn who Griffith was, what his motivation were, how he and Guts became friends and what turned him into a member of the God Hand. Casca becomes this to Guts later in the series, while she was an important part of the Golden Age arc as his blossoming Love Interest and Action Girlfriend, his journey soon shifts entirely to focus on Casca’s recovery after she mentally regressed due to the trauma of the Eclipse with Guts and rest of the True Companions acting as her shepherds to the island is Elfhelm where after a Journey to the Center of the Mind Casca is cured and brought to how she was pre-Eclipse.
• In the Beyblade series, there is a different deuteragonist for each series and season:
  • In Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, there's two characters that earn the description. One is Kai, The Rival, who pushes the narrative opposite of or in preparation of Takao's input. The other is Daichi, who is the protagonist of the side story in the manga. This side story was not included in the anime, although it still has to have happened for Daichi to be on par with Takao when they meet up.
  • In Metal Fight Beyblade, the deuteragonist starts off with Kenta but soon, Kyoya Tategami takes over the role halfway through the season. It should be noted that Ginga Hagane is always The Protagonist of this series.
  • In Metal Fight Beyblade Explosion, the deuteragonist is Masamune Kadoya as he is the newcomer of the season who serves as The Lancer of Team Gan Gan Galaxy. He also receives the most Character Development of the season and becomes the main focus of the final arc of Metal Masters.
  • In Metal Fight Beyblade 4D, the role changes between the first and second halves.
    • The deuteragonist of the first part is Yuki Mizusawa. Like with Masamune, he is a newcomer who receives a lot of screentime especially since he is the one trying to gather the Legendary Bladers in order to stop the revival of Nemesis. He is also always seen by Ginga's side after joining forces with him.
    • Kyoya Tategami takes back the spot in the second half of the season. He gets the most screentime and focus after Ginga and has his own character arc about wanting to prove that he's a loner that grows stronger on his own and defeat the other Legendary Bladers but later accepting that it's his fate to be surrounded by others and returning to the group to help stop the revival of Nemesis, although keeping his desire to defeat the Legendary Bladers, especially Ginga.
    • Kenta Yumiya is the tritagonist in 4D. He definetly has the most Character Development and has his own story separated from the others where he's traveling with Ryuga trying to convince him to take him seriously and join them, by the end he manages to get Ryuga's respect to the point he gives Kenta his Star Fragment, making him a Legendary Blader.
  • In the Beyblade Burst series, Valt Aoi serves as the main hero of the series with the deuteragonist changing each time. In Beyblade Burst, the deuterangoist is definitely Shu Kurenai. He is one of Valt's best friends and strongest rivals. Like with past characters, Shu is the one besides Valt that receives the most focus in the series and it is pretty clear the series is built around the two of them trying to best the other.
  • In Beyblade Burst God, the deuteragonist seems to change at every moment. It starts off with Free de la Hoya as he is the one who interacts with Valt the most in the beginning of the series and is one of few Bladers that Free shows the most respect for. However, due to him team relying on him to win matches too much, he left the team for the Raging Bulls. Afterwards, Rantaro "Honcho" Kiyama takes over the deuteragonist role as he is Valt's friend from the first season and is the only returning character from that season to be on the same team as Valt. He is also often seen beside Valt and is always the guy that supports him. However, this changes yet again where Rantaro received a bit less focus and finally, Silas Karlisle moves up to the mantel is the proper deuteragonist after joining the team. He is the one that has the most Character Development, is very strong rarely losing battles, and is often beside Valt in the later episodes once the other characters lost focus.
• Black Clover:
  • Despite debuting in Chapter 4 and not appearing in the first cover page, Noelle ends up taking this role, having the most focus after Asta himself and appearing alongside him in almost every arc.
  • Yuno is this at first, but soon falls out of focus despite appearing with Asta in the first chapter and being his best friend and rival due to being in a different squad. He later ends up sharing this role with Noelle, with him regaining an important role in the arcs starting with the Magic Knights Exam and fighting together with Asta against Licht and Zagred in the Reincarnation Arc. It’s not until the Spade Kingdom Arc where a lot of the story starts to focus on him just as much as it has with Asta and Noelle.
• Bleach: Each story arc is about one of Ichigo's companions, deliberately placing them in a situation where they become the least physically active companion so that their powers, personalities and feelings come to the fore and they become the driving force that guides how the arc's plot unfolds. Each arc is designed to reveal a new facet about Ichigo's back story and powers. The Soul Society Arc is about the rescue of Rukia, which introduces Shinigami abilities and society. The Arrancar Arc is about the rescue of Orihime, which explores the Arrancar and Orihime's strange abilities. The Lost Agent Arc reveals what Sado's abilities are and uses his faith in Ichigo to draw Ichigo into a situation where he needs to restore his powers. The Thousand-Year Blood Warfare Arc centres on the defection of the Ishida to the side of the man who killed both his and Ichigo's mothers, and the quest of the group to both understand Ishida's position and defeat the Big Bad.
• Blue Exorcist:
  • Yukio serves as the overall Deuteragonist to his older brother Rin. They tend to serve as Foils to each other and Character Development is heavily focused on the impact they have on each other; not to mention as the Sons of Satan the whole plot basically exists in part thanks to their very existence. The Tritagonist is Shiemi; but not as the Love Interest. Though she's (unknowingly) in the middle of a Sibling Triangle with Yukio and Rin, her entire development is from her going from a Shrinking Violet to a Badass Adorable Plucky Girl. Recent revelations reveal she has no interest in romance and even heavily hints at her being tied to the overall plot putting her as just as important as the Okumura brothers for plot reasons.
  • Arc wise, Ryuji ends up as the Deuteragonist during the Kyoto/Impure King arc as it's heavily tied into his family and own personal issues. Inari has Izumo as the Deuteragonist, with Renzo as the Tritagonist; something he continues on afterwards thanks to The Reveal making said character much more important to the intrigues and plots.
  • A Day in the Limelight arcs and chapters are common enough that sometimes Rin himself plays as the Deuteragonist while another character gets the focus. The most recent arc revolving around Shura is a good example as Rin took backseat to said character and his own brother in regards to importance to events.
• Blue Gender: Marlene Angel is the deuteragonist and Love Interest to the series protagonist Yuji Kaido.
• Bubblegum Crisis: Though Sylia leads the Knight Sabres, her role in the series is secondary to her subordinate, Priss. Which is justified, since Sylia spends half her time operating behind-the-scenes to oppose the Genom Corporation.
• Captain Tsubasa: During the elementary school and middle school arcs, The Rival Kojirou Hyuga gets as least as much focus as Tsubasa does, and it actually makes both characters sympathetic enough that you could route for either of them. In the elementary school's national championship, Tsubasa's goal of winning the tournament is to go with his mentor Roberto Hongo to Brazil and become a better soccer player, while Hyuga wants to win the tournament to get scouted by Touou and earning financial support for his family. While Tsubasa wins, Roberto flies back to Brazil without him, and Hyuga is scouted thanks to Tsubasa's decline. In the middle school's national championship, both of them want to win it for competitive reasons: Tsubasa wants to win the championship a third time in a row while he has to endure all the injuries he has to take that year, Hyuga wants to finally win the championship and defeat his rival for once. Both of their teams eventually win the championship as their final match ends in a draw.
• Cardcaptor Sakura: Syaoran Li gradually evolves into one, especially in the anime adaptation where he gets numerous spotlight episodes and almost as much Sympathetic P.O.V. and Character Development as Sakura herself.
• Case Closed: In Osaka arcs Heiji is often this, while in Non Serial Movies deuteragonists has become a common scene—some use recurring characters, but some used One Shot Characters.
• Despite the title, Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian is the deuteragonist of The Case Files of Jeweler Richard, as the series is narrated by his employee, Seigi Nakata, and focuses on Seigi's growth and development while Richard supports, educates, and helps him.
• Chainsaw Man: While the series protagonist without a doubt is Denji, the role of deuteragonist can be given to either Aki or Makima while Power serves as the tritagonist. During the final arc of Part 1, Aki dies and Makima shows her true nature as the Big Bad, leaving Power to graduate into the deuteragonist role.
• Choujin X splits the deuteragonist role between Azuma Higashi and Ely Otta. Early on, Ely is squarely the deuteragonist while Azuma is more or less on the sidelines and only really contributes to the story through his relationship to the main character Tokio Kurohara. However, once Azuma enters the story proper by awakening as a choujin, he and Ely receive equal focus. It becomes especially pronounced after the timeskip, with Ely and Azuma becoming partners at Yamato Mori and Azuma developing romantic feelings for Ely.
• Claymore: In the first chapters Raki fits this role, but once he's separated from Clare then it is Miria who quickly takes his place and keeps it until the end. Miria acts as the leader of Clare's group of Claymores and many of her decisions shape the plot in a significant way, from figuring out how to survive the Suicide Mission assigned to them in Pieta to discovering many of the things going on with the Organization (and then explaining it at length). When Clare is incapacitated the story temporarily switches its focus on Miria and her successful attempt to provoke a rebellion among the Claymores against the Organization.
• Code Geass:
  • Suzaku Kururugi. There is at least one interview from the creators stating that Code Geass was intended as a double narrative of Lelouch and Suzaku's stories. He even gets a spin-off manga called Suzaku of the Counterattack.
  • C.C. and Kallen, the female leads, are the tritagonist and the tetragonist. It becomes apparent in R2 that C.C. is the tritagonist, as her backstory is greatly expanded upon while Kallen slowly slips Out of Focus.
  • In Season 1, Euphemia fulfills the tetragonist spot more than Kallen, having a healthy amount of Character Development and major impact on the plot by the end. Come R2 and Rolo takes the stage, going from an emotionless assassin to a caring, if very damaged, human being who also impacts the plot a lot. Also in R2, Shirley was about ready to possibly upgrade to tritagonist, only for her death to put an end to that.
  • In Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection, Lelouch becomes the deuteragonist by taking over in the second half after his full revival performed by C.C., who is considered to be the main protagonist of the movie as indicated on the poster.
• Danganronpa 3:
  • In Future Arc, Kyosuke Munakata is the deuteragonist as the preview material and OP imply. He acts as a foil to protagonist Makoto Naegi, and opposes him.
  • In Despair Arc, Chiaki Nanami and Chisa Yukizome share this role.
• DEAD Tube: Mai Mashiro as the female lead to Machiya's protagonist.
• Death Note: There is the main antagonist, L, as the deuteragonist with the main focus being on Light Yagami. During the first season, the narrative shifts between them almost evenly, tearing the fandom in half on who to root for.
• Digimon: This role is usually given to The Lancer.
  • Digimon Adventure: Yamato Ishida gets eventually more screentime than the other characters other than Taichi, and him leaving The Team during the Dark Masters arc heavily affects the story. He is also the only character besides Taichi to have his Digimon Partner evolve to his highest level in that season.
  • Digimon Adventure 02: Ken Ichijouji is the prime example of the franchise, since he's the first Big Bad of the season and serves as The Heavy. His importance to the story overshadows the other main characters' (except maybe Daisuke's) and due to him being a Weirdness Magnet and the consequences of him being the Digimon Kaiser, Ken Ichijouji is connected to every single antagonist and villain of the entire season.
  • Digimon Tamers: While it's hard to argue whether Jenrya Lee or Ruki Makino qualify as which type, Juri Katou would later become the deuteragonist in the final arc where her angst drives the Big Bad.
  • Digimon Frontier: Kouji Miyamoto. Like Yamato before him, Kouji gets all the exclusive evolutions that Takuya has (and Kouji gets two of those even earlier than Takuya). While it wasn't that bad in Adventure, Takuya and Kouji eventually overshadow their fellow teammates very hard. Among the original five, he has the most serious family issues and he's connected to Cherubimon's dragon, Duskmon, who later turns out to be Kouji's older twin brother Koichi, who would serve as the tritragonist. Speaking of the tritragonist, Koichi's character arc is about how his life is different from his twin, how Cherubimon brought him to the Digital World and turned him into the Warrior of Darkness and the story gives us the sub-plot of him being Dead All Along.
  • Digimon Data Squad: Thoma H. Norstein gets more screentime than Yoshino and Ikuto do and unlike them, his partner's Burst Mode is introduced in an episode where he fights solo, while the other two got theirs at the same time. His Fake Defector episodes also has great impact on the story. Ikuto is the tritragonist, due to him being a child raised by Digimon, which gives him a very close connection to the enemies the heroes are fighting in the first half of the series. He would eventually learn to trust humans and he reunites with his birth parents.
• Don't Meddle with My Daughter!: The narrative treats Clara as its main heroine, but her role is actually secondary to her mother, Athena. She's a fledgling superheroine who has to learn what it means to be true one, while also coming to terms with her growing attraction to her best friend, Mei.
• Dragon Ball: The roles of deuteragonist and tritagonist shift from arc to arc:
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Opening arc: Bulma as the deuteragonist and either Oolong or Yamcha as the tritagonist.
    • First Tournament Arc: Krillin as deuteragonist, Master Roshi the tritagonist.
    • Red Ribbon Saga: No one, because Goku was on his own for most of the time.
    • Second Tournament Arc and King Piccolo Arc: Tien is the deuteragonist, Master Roshi is the tritagonist.
    • Piccolo Junior Arc: Tien is the deuteragonist, Kami is the tritagonist.
  • Dragon Ball Z: In the Saiyan Saga (back when Vegeta was the primary antagonist), Piccolo shared the Deuteragonist role with Gohan, while Krillin took the Tritagonist role. By the time of the Namek and Android/Cell sagas, Krillin and Piccolo shifted to Tetragonist roles (with Piccolo briefly claiming the Tritagonist title after fusing with Nail and Kami, respectively). The first three quarters of the Buu saga has both Goten and Trunks in the Deuteragonist role (with Gohan as the Protagonist and Piccolo as the Tritagonist). By the end of the Buu Saga where Goku comes back to life as the Protagonist once again, Gohan and Vegeta share the Deuteragonist role with Piccolo as the Tritagonist.
  • Dragon Ball Super: Super does away with any ambiguity over who the Deuteragonist for the modern interaction of the franchise is with Vegeta firmly placed in the number two role and frequently dominating the story focus over Goku.
  • The movies in particular are in love with switching this around. Goku himself even gets to serve in the deuteragonist role in a few of them (mainly movies Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound and Dragon Ball Super: Broly to Gohan and Broly respectively) rather than his usual one of protagonist.
  • There have even been few movies where Goku isn't a major character whatsoever:
    • Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly: Android 18 is the deuteragonist and Krillin is the tritagonist with Trunks and Goten sharing the protagonist role.
    • Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon: Tapion takes the protagonist role with Trunks as the deuteragonist (though Goku is the one to defeat the Big Bad).
    • Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero: Piccolo is the protagonist with Gohan as the deuteragonist and Pan as the tritagonist.
• Dropkick on My Devil: As a whole, either Jashin or Yurine could be considered the deuteragonist to the other's protagonist depending on who you ask, while Pekola serves as the uncontested tritagonist due to having the most character development and being the primary angel character. The case for Jashin is due to being the series mascot, having the most screen time both in the anime and manga, being the titular character, and have most promotional material dedicated to her, while Yurine's case is from being the first designed character, being the one who allows events of the series to happen in the first, and being named as the main protagonist by Yukiwo himself once. General consensuses seem to lean towards both being the main character.
• Free! : Rin Matsuoka serves as the deuteragonist from Samezuka, Iwatobi's rival school.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Alphonse Elric is the second main character after Edward (the main protagonist).
  • Roy Mustang is the tritagonist of the series after Elric brothers.
• Get Backers: Anomalous example. Due to the anime being produced while the manga was less than halfway through its storyline, Ban, whose past and personality is explored much later on in the manga than his partner and best friend Ginji's, appears to be a cross between the Deuteragonist and The Artifact. In the manga he is the Deuteragonist during the first 12 or so volumes, but is later promoted to share the protagonist role with Ginji.
• Ghost in the Shell:
  • Batou. Long-time partner of The Major, he even becomes The Protagonist after The Major vanishes. Fits the role in the TV series too.
  • In the first season, Togusa might be this or the tritagonist, given that he does a lot of the actual legwork in investigating The Laughing Man and tends to have more Days In The Limelight. He's also used as a foil to the rest of the cast, being more down to earth and much more of a newcomer (having been recruited recently as a police officer and having virtually no cyborg implants until the third movie). Not to mention he's almost always Locked Out of the Loop to set up The Reveal of unspoken plans (the best example being the final episode of the first season, which recaps on the events entirely from his perspective and avoids revealing the team survived and he's the last member to be brought back and debriefed until the end).
• Haibane Renmei: Reki initially serves as a mentor to protagonist Rakka, but it soon becomes clear she has a whole story of her own.
• Kageyama Tobio in Haikyuu!! is both the rival and the friend of The Protagonist Hinata Shouyou. They are always framed as the main duo of the story, both in and out of the series, with Kageyama having his enough share of storylines and character development,behind those two is Kei Tsukishima who served as the series Tritagonist.
• Hamtaro: Laura Haruna, who is the owner of the titular character and has a subplot of her own in every episode.
• Hunter × Hunter: Killua Zoldyck is this next to Gon Freecss for the majority of the series. In the current arc, both are separated from each other and Demoted to Extra, so the two other Demoted to Extra main characters can get the focus back (and this is not even counting resident clown assassin Hisoka, who tends to get his own sub-plots and could be argued to be the series' overall Tritagonist). However, it seems every arc has different Protagonists, Deuteragonists and even Tritagonists and so on, with the main characters even taking the backseat sometimes to make way for other supporting characters and even villains to shine.
• If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die: In a series that focuses on the the fan side of idol culture, Eripiyo is clearly The Protagonist from the very beginning to end. However, the member of ChamJam - the central idol group that the ongoing plot follows - who receives the most focus and development is Maina Ichii, whose ever growing and evolving relationship with Eripoyo forms the emotional core of the storyline.
• Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku tells the story of exiled shinobi Gabimaru the Hollow trying to achieve an official pardon by recovering the mystical Elixir of Life at the mysterious island of Kotaku. Monitoring him throughout his journey is the story's secondary main character, Yamada Asaemon Sagiri, desperate to prove herself and make her own way in the world.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders has Jean-Pierre Polnareff take this role alongside The Hero Jotaro Kujo, as once he joins the team he receives the most character development of the heroes as well as getting into the greatest number of fights only rivaled by Jotaro himself (even if not-as-graceful). He's also the only one of the Crusaders aside from Jotaro and (by-the-skin-of-his-teeth) Supporting Leader Joseph to make it through the arc alive.
  • Diamond Is Unbreakable has Koichi Hirose as one. As the friend of Josuke Higashikata, he gets almost as much screen time and Character Focus as Josuke himself, as well as even more Character Development. He also gets 3 versions of his Stand, earns the respect of Jotaro, of all people, and gets many fights across the part with him in both a main and supporting role in almost all of them.
  • Golden Wind has Bruno Bucciarati as the deuteragonist. While Giorno Giovanna may be The Hero of Part 5, Bucciarati is The Leader among the part's main cast, is highly respected by almost everyone, and Golden Wind is about him as much as it is about Giorno. He gets many significant fights across the part, is entrusted by the boss of the organization to perform hefty tasks like guarding his daughter, and kicks off the part's most significant story arc in the 2nd half. On top of all this, the part's Big Bad sees Bucciarati, and not Giorno, as his personal nemesis.
  • Stone Ocean features an interesting take on the trope. Ermes Costello is the deuteragonist for the first half, as she is present in most of Jolyne Cujoh's scenes and aids her quite a lot. However, after her battle with Sports Maxx, she's critically injured and is Put on a Bus for a majority of the story. From this point on, Narciso Anasui takes up the role, with Weather Report and even Big Bad Enrico Pucci slipping into it on occasion.
  • The Steel Ball Run arc has an interesting variant. Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli share the protagonist role equally for the first 21 volumes, but Gyro dies at the hands of the arc's Big Bad after failing to defeat him, leading to Johnny taking the spotlight completely in the last 3 volumes.
• K:
  • There is an Ensemble Cast divided into several Clans. In the first season, the trio that would become the Silver Clan are the protagonists, and HOMRA, the Red Clan are the deuteragonists. Scepter 4, the Blue Clan, are more like tritagonists, as they aren't given much viewpoint in the first season. In the movie, HOMRA is the protagonists, with Kuroh and Neko from the aforementioned trio as the deuteragonists. Scepter 4 finally gets the spotlight in the second season, which becomes more apparent in the second half, with the Silver Clan as the deuteragonists, and HOMRA as the tritagonists.
  • The tritagonists in each case react more to the protagonists and deuteragonists, rather than acting on their own, particularly Misaki Yata of HOMRA in the second season, as he comes to understand Saruhiko - notice how he's closer to Saruhiko and Scepter 4 than to his own Clan in this poster◊ (spoilers if you look closely).
• While Kaguya is the primary protagonist of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Shirogane's side of their Duel of Seduction gets amost as much focus. Ishigami also ends up becoming the tritagonist starting with the lead-up to the sports festival arc.
• Kill la Kill: Satsuki Kiryuin, who zigzags between Anti-Villain and Anti-Hero as she challenges Ryuko Matoi. A lot of the first half of the series focuses on how she managed to take control of Honnouji Academy and how she befriended the Elite Four, and the latter half reveals her true motives, and she even manages to take over as the main character when Ryuko becomes Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Kimi ni Todoke: The cast are easier to categorise in pairs than as individuals; Sawako and Kazehaya would be our protagonists; Chizu and Ryu would be our deuteragonists; Ayane and Kent would be our tritagonists.
• The deuteragonist shifts in Knight Hunters: Weiß Kreuz. Omi holds the title for Kapitel, Sena does for Glühen, and Ken takes over for Side B. Youji, meanwhile, only ever gets as high as the tritagonist in Glühen.
• Laughing Under the Clouds: If one takes the Kumo brothers as the protagonists, since each gets about the same amount of pagetime, Shirasu is the deuteragonist, who also doubles as The Antagonist. This is driven home by the last pages of the manga being flashbacks and memories of him.
• Little Witch Academia:
  • Shiny Chariot or Professor Ursula plays a role as the Tritagonist in all adaptations with her role as The Mentor and unresolved issues from her past.
  • TV series: Diana Cavendish gets this role in the second half of the series adaptation as the plot delves into her history and ties to the role of magic in society alongside The Hero Akko. By contrast, Akko's best friends Sucy and Lotte are Demoted to Extra.
• The resident New Transfer Student and pianist Riko Sakurauchi serves this role in Love Live! Sunshine!! after series protagonist and Aqours's leader, Chika Takami as the story focuses just as much on her growth and character development as it does Chika's.
• Lyrical Nanoha: Due to The Heroine Nanoha Takamachi being a Supporting Protagonist by nature, she barely gets any focus other than kicking some ass. And with kicking some ass we mean "shooting people with giant pink beams".
  • Fate Testarossa in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Nanoha's quest of collecting all 21 Jewel Seeds for Yuuno is overshadowed by the family drama of the Testarossa family where Fate is in the center of it. Nanoha's other main goal is befriending Fate (and we know how she accomplishes that) and we learn more and more about Fate's story in at least two perspectives and it ends with Fate pulling a Heel–Face Turn.
  • A's:
    • While Nanoha is still The Heroine, the story focuses on the antagonist side again, this time it's Hayate Yagami who is the deuteragonist who is surrounded by the active antagonists, the Wolkenritter, who become her new family. While we learn the story of her knights, it is all centered around Hayate and it concludes with her overwriting the destiny of her family.
    • Fate becomes the tritragonist and the other part of the season focuses on her post-Heel–Face Turn Character Development. This is also the point where she starts becoming a heroine equal to Nanoha.
    • Chrono Harlaown is the the tetragonist, since the Book of Darkness Incident deeply involves the history of his family and Chrono has to face his two mentors and his late father's former superior who are actually behind the whole incident.
  • StrikerS:
    • Depending on whom you think is The Protagonist of Nanoha or Subaru, the other one would be the deuteragonist. Nanoha's story is about training the Forwards and raising and protecting her adopted daughter Vivio who she has to fight and rescue at the end. Subaru's story is about her getting stronger, so she can help and rescue people from disasters like her idol Nanoha did to her, and unlike Nanoha, Subaru has at least some connection to the Big Bad.
    • Fate is the tritragonist, being Nanoha's equal in terms of ranks and storytelling. While Nanoha's story is more tied with Vivio, Fate's story is tied with the Big Bad who serves as an Archnemesis Dad to her and she is the one who actually defeats and arrests him.
    • Hayate is the tetragonist this time around. The Team is founded by her and her goal is to close the incidents involving the Relics, which is the whole purpose of Riot Force 6. She gathered her friends and family and other reliable soldiers for that taskforce and Hayate has to deal with the inter-military stuff, especially because of her reputation as an ex-criminal. In the end, after the Jail Scaglietti Incident is resolved, Riot Force 6 has fulfilled its purpose and is disbanded and Hayate earns all the credits for it, earning a respectful and fearsome reputation in the progress.
  • ViVid:
    • Einhard Stratos is essentially the Fate of ViVid, and like Vivio (who is the protagonist), Einhard has ancestral connections to the Ancient Belkan Era, and basically half of the story focuses on her.
    • Miura Rinaldi is the tritragonist, with the story showing the readers how far she advances through the Inter-Middle Championship. And since her introduction, she has essentially become one of the main characters and she would eventually join Team Nakajima much later on.
  • Force: With Thoma Avenir being the protagonist, Nanoha is the deuteragonist due to being the franchise's heroine, unless you view Lily-Strosek as the deuteragonist and Nanoha as the tritragonist since the former is deeper involved with the Eclipse plot and has direct ties with with Thoma.
  • ViVid Strike!: Much like with Nanoha and Fate in the first season, Fuka is the viewpoint character and primary protagonist, but Rinne is the one who recieves the lion's share of focus.
• Madlax: Madlax and Margaret Burton, though it's difficult to say who is the main girl and who, the second, since technically, they are the same person in two separate bodies.
• Maken-ki!: In an inversion of the trope, Himegami is actually the most plot relevant character, with Takeru being a supporting protagonist. As the daughter of Yamato no Orochi, her blood lineage makes her vital to Kamigari's plan, since only one of her descent can break the seal atop Amanohara. Plus, she's been fated to face her uncle, Takeru Yamato in battle, with Takeru and the others acting as her support.
• March Comes in Like a Lion: The narrative implies early on that it would be either of the two eldest Kawamoto sisters, Akari and Hina. Once the character gets their own story arc well into the series run that does not intrinsically involve Rei until he steps in to help with their problems, the deuteragonist is made clear. It's Hina, who begins to go through some rather nasty bullying problems, leaving Rei to prevent her developing trauma.
• Medaka Box: Kumagawa Misogi to the Official Couple. As the Arch-Enemy, his storyline has continued to be linked with Medaka and Zenkichi as well as expanding on his character.
• Mission: Yozakura Family: Naturally, as a Romantic Comedy action series, the deuteragonist is Mutsumi Yozakura, the new head of the Yozakura clan and the wife of series' protagonist Taiyo Asano. Although Mutsumi and Taiyo are somewhat forced into tying the knot via Shotgun Wedding, the two of them are absolutely head over heels for each other. Their relationship as a couple is just as much of a point of focus as the main plot, if not moreso, which heavily involves both of them. If one were to look for a tritagonist, the most obvious answer would be Kyoichiro Yozakura, Mutsumi's Knight Templar Big Brother, who generally gets the most focus out of all of Mutsumi's siblings. While all the siblings do get their own chapters focusing on them and fleshing them out, Kyoichiro constantly tries to butt in between Taiyo's and Mutsumi's relationship and as such he's definitely the sibling the audience sees the most of.
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Athrun Zala in the Cosmic Era timeline of Gundam Seed.
  • Disputed in Destiny. Before POV shift, Destiny had Shinn as protagonist, Athrun as deuteragonist, and Kira as triteragonist. At the end, Kira is the protagonist, Athrun still deuteragonist, and Shinn is the triteragonist. On average, and in the Special edition anyway, Athrun is the main character (which is odd because he always pilots a red Gundam, while the hero's Gundam has to be white/blue/red).
  • The Astray spinoff as a whole has Lowe Gear as primary protagonist and Gai Murakamo as a deuteragonist. Jess Rabble and Ergnes Brahe have also been protagonists for specific story arcs, but are thereafter reduced to side characters.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: Mikazuki is the pilot of Gundam Barbatos and the main protagonist, while his closest friend Orga Itsuka is the leader of Tekkadan and the one pushing the plot forward. Kudelia, who hired Tekkadan and acts as Mikazuki's Love Interest, is the tritagonist as much of the conflict revolves around Gjallarhorn trying to stop her from getting to Earth. In Season 2 however, Kudelia becomes Out of Focus and the role is shifted to McGillis, who becomes Tekkadan's new employer and is the one advancing the plot with his planned uprising within Gjallarhorn.
• In Moriarty the Patriot, Hero Antagonist Sherlock is such a major character that he runs several arcs of the series himself, with William either completely absent for several chapters in a row or barely present and only from afar. Since the main emotional core of the series is their relationship and the themes spawned from it, this role is necessary for him to shoulder.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Katsuki Bakugo plays this role to Midoriya. They are the only two characters who receive consistent focus through all arcs of the manga, while the other main characters, Iida, Uraraka and Todoroki are prone to falling Out of Focus in some arcs. Bakugo is also the only one Midoriya told to that his Quirk is actually borrowed and has consistently gone through Character Development.
  • Shoto Todoroki takes this role in the Tournament Arc, his back story and relationship to his father and quirk being deeply explored.
  • All Might is the most important character in the setting as a whole, as his relationship with Midoriya and his own story are both major focuses for most of the series. The main villain group are also more personally connected to All Might than any other hero character, even Midoriya.
  • In The Internship Arc, both Bakugo and All Might fall Out of Focus, and have almost no presence in the arc. The roles of Deuteragonist and Tritagonist are them moved to Mirio and Kirishima, respectively, with the former sharing Midoriya's objective and working as a Foil to him, while Kirishima's Character Development and backstory are explored through it.
  • In the Pro Hero Arc, Endeavor becomes the main character for that Story Arc, with Hawks being his main support and second most plot relevant character.
  • In the Meta Liberation Arc (or My Villain Academia Arc as some call it), The League of Villains take CenterStage. Tomura Shigaraki, who has been the main antagonist of the series so far, becomes the Villain Protagonist- and the deuteragonist role is shared by Toga, Twice, and Spinner (who is the narrator of the arc).
  • For the story overall, Shigaraki kind of functions as the tritagonist (under Midoriya and Bakugo/All Might) for the series as a whole. This is due to his growth as a villain being framed as a sort of Hero's Journey running in parallel to Midoriya's growth as a hero.
• Sasuke Uchiha develops into this near the end of the first half of Naruto. Shippuden has had some full length arcs with Sasuke as the lead character and he plays a very important role in Naruto's motives.
  • While Kakashi may be seen as this this in terms of screen time and due to his connection to the Big Bad, in terms of impact to the story, Jiraiya and Itachi are very clearly the tritagonists, at the end of the day, despite being Out of Focus at times for different reasons. The ideologies of Naruto and Sasuke are ultimately formed around, and take further, those of Jiraiya and Itachi (at least in life) respectively, two main threats (Pain's invasion and Kabuto's army) are ultimately stopped because of them ^note Without Jiraiya's intel, Konoha would've lost harder against Pain's invasion, Naruto likely would've lost to Pain, and Naruto ultimately saves their lives by convincing Nagato to give up his to bring them back, because of Jiraiya's legacy. Meanwhile, while the Shinobi Alliance likely could've won without it, Itachi releasing the Edo Tensei army lead to significantly less casualties and turned the tide significantly. Sasuke ultimately follows in Itachi's footsteps in a way as a "Shadow Hokage" after being redeemed, while Naruto realizes Jiraiya's dream.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion's Misato Katsuragi serves as this behind The Protagonist, Shinji Ikari. Word of God said from the very beginning that Misato is the secondary hero following Shinji.
• While the series is mostly an ensemble slice of life, the first ending and second opening themes of Nichijou treat Yuuko & Nano as this, giving them the most prominent roles. The majority of segments in the show itself also focus on Yuuko and her school friends or Nano an the Shinonome household.
• Nyatta from Nekojiru, who gets as much screen time as his sister Nyako, but is too limited in his vocabulary ("Nyaa!" "Bwaka!") to have as large of a role. In the OVA (which doesn't have verbal dialogue), the roles are flipped: Nyatta is The Protagonist going into the underworld to retrieve the lost half of his sister's soul.
• Frequently in One Piece the Straw Hat Pirates will join forces with a secondary character who, while not a part of the crew, still has their own story which frequently ties in strongly with the history of whatever island the Straw Hats happen to be on.
  • Every Straw Hat was this in the arc they were introduced until their eventual joining. The only exception is Nico Robin, although she could be considered the Deuteragonist of the Enies Lobby arc, alongside Franky.
  • The longest-running and best known is Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta, who tags along for the entire Baroque Works Saga. The ultimate goal of said saga is the liberation of her kingdom from the evil Sir Crocodile. A good case can be made that the Alabasta arc is Vivi's story first and foremost, and the Straw Hats are the means by which she liberates her people.
  • In the Skypiea arc, we have Wyper the Berserker, who leads the resistance against the tyrannical "God" Eneru. Wyper also functions as a one-man Info Dump for the history of the Sky Islands. Gan Fall, the disgraced former God attempting to win his title back from Eneru, is the Tritagonist.
  • Princess Shirahoshi in the Fishman Island arc, whose Character Development from Prone to Tears to brave leader takes up a good portion of the arc. She also has ties to both halves of the local Big Bad Duumvirate.
  • The Marineford War arc has Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's adopted brother. An unconventional example as he stays a Distressed Dude for most of the arc and ends up dying close to the end. Whitebeard functions as the arc's Tritagonist and Big Good.
  • In the Punk Hazard arc, Luffy runs into fellow Supernova Trafalgar Law, and teams up with him to take down the archvillain Donquixote Doflamingo, of whom Law is a wronged former subordinate. The subsequent Dressrosas arc adds two Tritagonists: Rebecca, the island's exiled princess, and her father Kyros, the kingdom's greatest warrior.
  • The Whole Cake Island arc features Sanji in this role, since it is his wedding to Pudding that is the central event of this whole storyline, with his family backstory crucial to the plot. If one were to look for a Tritagonist, then Big Mom fits the role the best as her character and motivations are fully shown and explored, which drive the overall conflict of this arc.
  • The Wano Country arc decidedly features Momonosuke in this role. Out of all the Straw Hats' many allies active during the arc, Momonosuke receives the most focus and development out of all of them.
  • One of the most unexpected cases comes in the form of Jewelry Bonney of the Eleven Supernovas and Bartholomew Kuma of the Seven Warlords. Both of them are introduced as minor characters way earlier in the story and, despite some hints that both of them have a bit more going on than meets the eye, only make a couple sporadic appearances post-timeskip. Come the Egghead arc, however, both of them quickly shoot up to the Deuteragonist role. While the Egghead arc features plenty of other characters and storylines, at its core it's ultimately about the deeply tragic relationship between Kuma and Bonney, with the love they have for each other being the driving force behind both of their stories.
• Outlaw Star is as much about Melfina as it is about Gene, as she gradually becomes his Love Interest. More importantly, the Kei Pirates, the McDugal Bros., and Hazankou, are all after her, because she's the key to unraveling the mysteries of The Galactic Leyline.
• Patlabor: While Noa is the PoV character, her partner, Asuma, receives a near equal amount of focus as the series follows their growing partnership (and their budding relationship).
• Persona 4: The Golden Animation elevates Marie into the role of Deuteragonist, as she becomes the focal point of the story, has scenes with Narukami that never happened in the original game source, and is featured more prominently in promotional art than anybody that isn't the protagonist.
• Pokémon Adventures: Sapphire in the RS chapter, White in the BW. In the Sinnoh-based chapters, it's a little hard to say who among Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum have this role seeing how the focus is on all of them near equally.
• Starting from the Advanced Generation series onward, Pokémon: The Series isn't just about Ash Ketchum anymore. His female companions (May during the aforementioned AG saga, then later Dawn, then Serena, then Lillie, and as of now, Goh) also get their focus by having a quest running concurrently with Ash's.
  • Dawn from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl is notable for being mentioned in the Japanese title scroll (a brief summary of the gist of the show shown at the beginning of every intro) alongside Ash, something that neither May nor the female companions after Dawn got, until Lillie in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, reflecting how much focus Dawn had.
  • Goh from Pokémon Journeys: The Series is considered Ash's co-lead rather than a secondary companion like most of his friends. Their role in the show is that of partners rather than hero and sidekick.
• Homura Akemi of Puella Magi Madoka Magica is this to Madoka's protagonist, with Sayaka as the Tritagonist and Kyouko as the Tetragonist. In Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion it's switched - Homura is the protagonist of the movie with Madoka as the deuteragonist.
• Pumpkin Night: Kazuya Makino plays this role to Naoko Kirino's Villain Protagonist as he was close to Naoko and felt guilty about what happened to her.
• Queen's Blade: Hide & Seek: While only a minor character in the anime and gamebook continuities, the manga has Claudette take a much more active role in the Queen's Blade tournament and deals with her hidden feelings for her youngest sister, Elina.
• Ranma ½: As Ranma's fiance, Akane naturally receives a significant amount of focus, as much of her screentime is divided between their rocky relationship and having to compete with Ranma's other "fiancees". While Ryoga serves as Ranma's chief rival for Akane's affections (albeit, hopelessly one-sided), making him the tritagonist.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena has Anthy (the Rose Bride) as the deuteragonist and Touga (the Stu Co President) as (arguably) the tritagonist to Utena’s protagonist
• Rosario + Vampire: Moka Akashiya serves as the deuteragonist and The Heroine to Tsukune's Supporting Protagonist. While Tsukune does become an action hero later on, Moka still serves as the one saving the day for a couple of arcs, and she later gets more involved into the plot of the manga's second season where we learn more about her family and backstory.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Sagara Sanosuke after his defeat. There are a few arcs where we delve into his past. Kenshin himself even states that Tokyo wouldn't be able to contain him and by the end of the series he leaves Japan to explore the world.
• Samurai Champloo: While Mugen and Jin does the fighting, it's Fuu's quest to find The Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers that drives the plot, making her the protagonist. This makes Mugen the deuteragonist and Jin the tritagonist.
• Langa Hasegawa in Sk8 the Infinity. So much so that he steals the spotlight both as a character and as a skater In-Universe just in the first episode. His presence is the driving force of the story with both the strong friendship he shares with The Protagonist Reki and with The Antagonist Adam's obsession with him.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Throughout the series, there are several characters that play the Deuteragonist to Simon’s Protagonist:
  • The first one is Kamina, during the first half of the pre-Time Skip. During this time, Simon is the Supporting Protagonist, while Kamina is the one moving the plot forward.
  • Nia takes over for the second half of the pre-Time Skip after Kamina dies. She helps Simon come out of his Heroic BSoD, her relationship with the Big Bad is the closest of any member of Team Dai-Gurren, and her introductory episodes focus a lot on her interactions with the other team members. She lost her deuteragonist status shortly after the Time Skip, but regains it again during the finale. Nia is the character who plays the co-protagonist role the longest in the series.
  • Post-Time Skip, Rossiu and Viral interchangeably play the deuteragonist, the former undergoing a Big Bad Slippage brought upon him by The Chains of Commanding and his struggling to follow his Wrong Genre Savvy upbringing, and the latter going through his remnant phase and eventual redemption.
  • Throughout all of this, Yoko plays the role of the Tritagonist. She’s Simon’s ticket into the real world and his longest-lasting friend, but there’s always a character in front of her in terms of plot importance. To make up for it, she gets a couple spotlight episodes.
• In Tiger & Bunny, Barnaby is the Deuteragonist to his partner Kotetsu's Hero Protagonist. Their screen-time division is about 40% and 60% respectively; Barnaby's past and involvement with the show's Big Bad is what leads to Kotetsu being drawn into the main plot. Kotetsu is effectively the catalyst for the emotions, ideals and philosophies that the story tries to put across while Barnaby provides the drive for the plot.
• Tokyo Ghoul has protagonist Ken Kaneki giving us his viewpoint of the Ghoul world, and Koutarou Amon in the role of Deuteragonist as the viewpoint character for the CCG, the agency that chases Ghouls.
• Urusei Yatsura: Lum is the poster girl for the series and often believed to be the main character, but she's actually the deuteragonist and the love interest of Ataru. Shinobu serves as the tritagonist for the first few chapters, but after Shutaro Mendou is introduced and becomes the main foil and rival to Ataru (replacing Shinobu as the tritagonist), she's demoted to tetragonist for the rest of the series.
• In Valvrave the Liberator, L-Elf is this, and serves as a deliberate contrast to the main hero. They're both roughly the same age, but while Haruto is a normal teenage student, L-Elf is a Child Soldier, genius tactician, and brutal fighter. Haruto gets super powers and a bad ass mecha, L-Elf relies on his years of skills. Haruto is trying to defend his homeland (which L-Elf initially invaded), and L-Elf is trying to overthrow his homeland and defend his childhood love. Its only under very specific and unusual circumstances that they're working together.
• Variable Geo: Satomi becomes an Ascended Extra in the OVA adaptation, where her half of the story focuses on her struggles to support herself and her brother. But when The Jahana Group discovers the scope of her latent fighting potential, she becomes the key figure in their plan to resurrect their leader: Miranda Jahana. Which is why they pressure her into entering the VG Tournament.
• Askeladd is the deuteragonist in Vinland Saga's first arc, with main character Thorfinn serving more as a Supporting Protagonist to his machinations as a mercenary captain and later right-hand man of a young Canute the Great. Canute himself comes into his own and becomes the deuteragonist of subsequent arcs, as well as The Heavy who sets much of the plot into motion through his actions while Thorfinn has to deal with the ripple effects.
• Meeting, and subsequently providing shelter to, Tokito Minoru is the reason Wild Adapter's Anti-Hero protagonist Kubota Makoto becomes involved in the plot proper. Page-time division is something like 45% and 55%, especially later on in the story where Tokito becomes more and more involved with Kubota's life and vice-versa.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Jounouchi, according to Word of God, as a good chunk of the story follows his "journey". In the second anime adaptation, Seto Kaiba is made the deuteragonist and Jounouchi is the definite tritagonist, where Kaiba appears more prominently and more heroic than in the manga.
  • Manjoume takes on this role in the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, complete with whopping helpings of Adaptational Badassery and Stoicism. Not only does he get a more badass Spirit Card and beat the normally Invincible Hero in the campus tournament, he and Judai team up to duel the Big Bad in the final confrontation.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: The story follows the plots around the protagonist, the deuteragonist and tritagonist. Yuzu, the heroine of the series and one of four Living MacGuffins, is tied to a sub-plot that is important to the overarching main plot and she is often learning information first that Yuya and Reiji are unaware about. Fitting in the Final Battle, it is because of her and her alone that Yuya was able to regain himself to let Ray defeat Zarc. Meanwhile, Reiji is more involved with the battle against the main villain than Yuya and Yuzu (at least until it's revealed that Yuya does actually have a connection with the Big Bad). He is also the Supporting Leader, leading The Team that opposes the villains. However, Reiji does not get as much focus as Yuya and Yuzu do, yet his sub-plot is overall important to the main story.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS has Luke in this role to ridiculous extremes, to the point he often overshadows the rest of the cast, even The Protagonist Yuga, on occasion, such as him dueling almost as much as Yuga, his undefeated record, and his goal of being Duel King given just as much focus as Yuga’s goals.

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