Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Heel Face Turn / Anime & Manga

Go To

Heel–Face Turn in Anime & Manga.

  • In Ah! My Goddess Belldandy is implanted with a devil familiar, allowing Hild to temporarily control her. However Belldandy's pure spirit eventually wins over the familiar, causing it to become good and devoted to Belldandy.
  • It is unclear when Yuri Nakamura in Angel Beats! made the turn, but there are two very likely candidates. The first is in episode 11 when she orders the SSS to put some serious thought into passing on before the Shadows overtake them like they did Takamatsu. If that doesn't seal the deal, then the climax of episode 12, where she blows those computers to hell that were responsible for the Shadows in the first place definitely does.
    • Kanade Tachibana goes from Type IV Anti-Villain to Woobie very quickly after being deposed from the Student Council. Her subsequent reinstatement at the end of Episode 9 can be seen as a Heel–Face Revolving Door, but Yuri quickly starts agreeing with her after one of her own boys gets taken down by the mysterious and malevolent Shadows.
  • In Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad, Ali Baba used to be a member of the Forty Thieves before joining the main character's gang.
  • In Arata: The Legend, this is, so far, what essentially happens for any Shou who unites under Hinohara's cause, whether it be through joining his travelling group or submitting to him and his hayagami.
  • Bakugan, to name a few:
    • Masquerade and his Gang in the first arc.
    • Ace and Percival joins the resistance after Dan Kuzo bests him in a brawl.
    • Spectra Phantom and Gus Grav, and Helios, Elico, Brontes, and Vulcan in third arc.
    • Rubanoid, Ren, Linehalt, and the Twelve Orders Members who were punished for their failures.
  • Happens with a large majority of the villains in the Battle Spirits franchise:
  • Brave10 has two examples:
    • Anastasia is brought back by Sasuke and Saizo, expecting to be executed but Yukimura offers freedom instead. Although she is more miserable for being granted this mercy, she still gives her all for the Braves up until her death.
    • The far more controversial turn belongs to Hanzo, who is personally responsible for a lot of the trauma that Ana and many of the other Braves went through in the first series. He tries to claim he was only doing his job and has no hard feelings and that he's only here because Yukimura offered him a job and he needs to eat, but the rest of the Braves are understandably upset and it ends up causing the breaking of the fellowship. Nonetheless, to all appearances, he stays loyal to the end of the sequel.
  • Creed from Black Cat does this in the anime, though this was not present at all in the manga. Which makes it all the weirder why they decided to make him more perverted and depraved than in the manga.
  • Bungo Stray Dogs:
    • Prior to the series, Dazai went from ruthless Mafia executive to Armed Detective Agency agent due to the last request of a dying friend that he "be on the side that saves people".
    • In the series proper, Kyouka and Lucy both end up leaving their respective antagonist groups (Port Mafia and Guild, respectively) due to Atsushi's influence. Kyouka joins the ADA, while Lucy gets a job at a cafe the detectives frequent.
    • Poe also leaves the Guild and find himself aligned with the ADA instead, though in his case it's due to Ranpo.
  • Buso Renkin: While he had been fighting on the side of the heroes for a while, Papillon finally gives up his plans to burn the world after being spared Kazuki defeated him in a rematch and gave him a Patrick Stewart Speech, and eventually becomes a beloved urban legend.
  • A Certain Magical Index is partial built on this trope, as one of the themes of the story is that there are no bad guys in the conventional sense. In order of appearance they are:
    • Accelerator, who then goes on to become the secondary protagonist of the series.
    • Unabara Mitsuki
    • Sherry Cromwell
    • Agnese Sanctis and the Agnese Forces. Though it could be argued that it was a change of situation, rather than a change of heart.
    • Hamazura Shiage, who then goes on to become the tertiary protagonist of the series.
    • William Orwell (Acqua of the Back)
    • Carrissa and Knight Leader
    • Vento of the Front
    • Misaka WORST
    • Mugino Shizuri (The Number Four: The Meltdowner)
    • Fiamma of the Right
    • Kuroyoru Umidori
    • Kakine Teitoku (specifically Rhinoceros Beetle 05)
    • Magic God Othinus
  • In Claymore, Isley does this during the timeskip when he was living with Priscilla and Raki. Too bad the audience only finds out right before his death.
  • Code Geass:
    • This is done by Orange boy, Jeremiah Gottwald.
    • Actually it happens to everyone. Schneizel leaves Britannia and makes up his own rebel side after failing to murder the Emperor, the Black Knights join him, Gino joins the Black Knights, and Suzaku betrays Charles, though joining Lelouch could be considered a Heel Face Turn anyways. Because the definition of what each side is changes so drastically, the rest of the Rounds are harder to place: Betraying Britannia or staying loyal to their former boss? This being Geass this could be a Face–Heel Turn depending on how if you believe the new Britannian emperor is an antihero or an antivillain. Really after the betrayal there are no good side or bad side, just a bad side, and an even worse side.
  • In D.Gray-Man, General Cross can turn Akuma good. This isn't perfect; they have trouble rejecting explicit orders from the Millennium Earl. To compensate, Cross has these Akuma rigged to self-destruct instead of killing people.
    • And then there's poor what's-his-name, turned into a death-headed servant of darkness. And Suman, who Allen gave so much, pointlessly, to drag back. And poor, poor, broken Alma Karma.
  • Digimon has one every year, often used to switch plot arcs partway: Season 1 has Gatomon (Tailmon), Season 2 has Ken, Season 3 has Beelzemon (Beelzebumon), Season 4 has Koichi, and Season 5 has Keenan (Ikuto).
    • Season 3 also has Yamaki (the Hypnos guy), who functions as the initial main villain of the series, goes from being defined by his hatred of the "Wild Ones" to a staunch ally and sympathetic behind-the-action helper. There is also Antylamon, one of the Devas working for Zhuqiaomon, and Zhuqiaomon himself (the second main antagonist of the series).
    • There's also the manga: For instance, V-Tamer has Alias 3 and Neo Saiba, all four, do Heel Face Turns.
    • Digimon Next has Shou Kahara and Murmuxmon.
    • Season 1 also had Ogremon.
    • Season 2 also has BlackWarGreymon and Oikawa...though, to be fair, the latter was only evil due to being Hijacked by Ganon.
    • Season 4 also had Cherubimon and all the corrupted Legendary warriors make Heel Face Turns after their deaths, with their spirits coming back to assist the heroes in the final battle.
    • Season 5 also has Nanami and Ivan at the end, as well as the Royal Knights, Gotsumon, and Merukimon
    • Nene, Kiriha, and Yuu from Season 6. The rival hunters from its sequel also eventually pull one off.
  • Dragon Ball practically built its cast this way. By the end of the series, most of the heroes are former villains; it's easier to list the characters who didn't try to kill or at least beat Goku up when they met him than otherwise. For that matter, Goku himself had a Backstory heel-face turn, when his inherent Saiyan nature was subverted by a blow to the head. It took Vegeta the longest to fully turn, and he actually turned all the way back to heel right before it happened.
    • Goku himself was sent to Earth initially to depopulate it as a mindless ape.
    • Oolong had terrorized a village with his shape-shifting ablities to the point where he was believed to be a demon. He had kidnapped many women from the village to take care of his house, despite many women being okay with living under wealth.
    • Yamcha and Puar tried to rob Goku, Bulma, and Oolong when they were first introduced (Puar not only being loyal to Yamcha, but also motivated by revenge on Oolong for bullying him back at the Shapeshifting Academy), then tried to steal their Dragon Balls, and then they pretended to ally with them with the intention of Yamcha stealing the wish for himself (so he could get rid of his crippling shyness and get a girlfriend) before realizing that he and Bulma liked each other.
    • Krillin wasn't a villain per se, but he was pretty weasely, annoyed by Goku's personality and very willing to cheat at a task Master Roshi had set them. A few months of training alongside Goku majorly improved his personality.
    • Tien and Chiaotzu were students of Master Chen, Roshi's rival, who taught them to be thugs. They were first introduced (in filler) pulling a scam where a pet monster would terrorize a village, and they would pretend to kill him. In the tournament, Tien broke Yamcha's leg for the hell of it. Roshi starts Tien questioning his path, and Goku cements it during their fight. Chiaotzu follows Tien to the good guys' side.
    • Piccolo started off as literally pure evil, the evil side of the Nameless Namekian given form, while the good side became Kami. Then King Piccolo was killed by Goku, and his last act was to spit out an egg that hatched his sort-of-son-sort-of-reincarnation, Piccolo Jr. Because he was sort of his dad but not really, Piccolo was capable of being good, so even though he started out bent on avenging his father/himself, he ended up becoming attached to Gohan while training him to fight the Saiyans, and performed a Heroic Sacrifice for his first friend.
    • Vegeta is the one who takes the cake, with the absolute longest arc developing his character. He starts out as gleefully evil, all too happy to kill anyone between him and what he wanted. Then Frieza's quest to acquire the Namekian Dragon Balls was a major problem for him, because he wanted to get out from under Frieza's thumb and there was no way he could if Frieza was immortal, so he wound up doing an Enemy Mine with the Z Fighters. He stuck around because he wanted to figure out how Goku became a Super Saiyan, then trained to fight the androids Future Trunks traveled from the future to warn them about, screwed everything up by letting Cell become complete, then just sort of settled into domestic life with Bulma and Trunks. He went full heel again in a desperate bid to catch up to Goku, only to pull a Heroic Sacrifice when he realized the threat Majin Buu presented. Finally, he helped save the universe from Kid Buu and made peace with Goku being better than him.
    • Androids 17 and 18 were rebellious punks who caused a Bad Future in Future Trunks' timeline.
    • Majin Buu was a childlike pink blob monster who didn't even realize that causing death and destruction was bad until Mr. Satan set him straight.
    • Beerus was a malevolent god of destruction who planned on destroying the Earth unless he could fight a Worthy Opponent.
    • Finally subverted in the Universe Survival Arc with Frieza, though even then he still comes to see Goku as a Worthy Opponent of sorts.
  • Louise from Endride, betrays the Ignauts after revealing they've been The Mole the whole time. However, in the ensuing fight, Demetrio says he knew all along and uses his Warrior Therapist skills to convince them to defect from Les Collaborateurs, which is easy since the character had become genuinely sympathetic to the cause while playing the spy.
  • Loads of villains in Fairy Tail go through this. You can count on at least one Heel Face Turn per every major arc, and sometimes it happens to most of the current enemy team. Sometimes this is due to The Power of Friendship. Sometimes due to the villains being not that villainous to begin with, simply misguided or deceived.
  • Fresh Pretty Cure! has Setsuna Higashi/Eas defecting from Labyrinth, undergoing a Disney Death, and in the process becoming Cure Passion, Fourth Ranger to the girls—all in episode 23. At the end of the series, her ex-comrades Westar and Soular join her on the side as good as well, also suffering a Disney Death when it happens.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Amiboshi and Yui from Fushigi Yuugi.
  • Bootsvorz from Future GPX Cyber Formula does this after being betrayed by his evil boss Smith one too many times, he uses his car and drives it through Smith's helicopter, killing him.
  • Rocket from Ginga Densetsu Weed starts off as one of Hougen's spies but after about 3 episodes, he becomes one of the nicest dogs in Weed's pack.
  • In Guardian Fairy Michel, the final episode has Biam turned into a monster against his will. He reforms after snapping back to normal.
  • Umezawa Masahiko in Hajime no Ippo, turns from a bully who constantly picked on Ippo to a faithful fan. However, Umezawa has one of the best character developments in the show.
  • In an inversion of the Moral Event Horizon trope, Haruhi Suzumiya becomes more sympathetic toward the end of the second light novel, Sigh, as well as its anime adaptation following a close brush with Kyon's fist for not only spiking Mikuru's drink and leaving her open to possible rape but also calling her her toy.
  • In I'm Gonna Be an Angel! Mikael, after acting like a nice guy for the majority of the series and then turning into an evil and insane twit, does exactly this. Yes, the boy has issues.
  • Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru went from a human-hating jerk who wanted to kill his own brother to a fiercely protective sibling and mentor after taking in an orphaned human girl. After he and Inuyasha end up protecting each others groups a few times, they finally throw in their lot together and fight the Big Bad as a united force.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Phantom Blood: Speedwagon led a very rough life on account of being born and raised in Ogre Street, a slum that housed only crooks and murderers, and being overlooked by the wealthier only caused him to resent them. Incidentally, he undergoes a Heel–Face Turn because Jonathan was the first person to even acknowledge how harsh his life was.
    • Battle Tendency: While Rudol von Stroheim is a Nazi through and through, he begrudgingly joins forces with Joseph to take down the Pillar Men.
    • Stardust Crusaders:
      • Kakyoin and Polnareff are introduced as brainwashed servants of DIO. After being freed from his control, they join the team.
      • After being beaten by the heroes twice, Boingo resolves to change his ways. Until Iggy mauls him after Boingo accidentally kicks his old box onto his head, leaving him even more insecure than before.
    • Diamond is Unbreakable:
      • Okuyasu is initially very callous to Josuke during their first fight, flat-out admitting that he doesn't owe Josuke anything for sparing his life, but once his brother is killed by Red Hot Chili Pepper and he has to make decisions on his own, Okuyasu becomes a significantly nicer person, and even best friends with Josuke.
      • When Koichi is kidnapped by Terunosuke Miyamoto, Josuke asks Yuya Fungami to find Koichi with his heightened sense of smell, but Yuya warns him that this is the only thing he will do. They find Terunosuke and Josuke is turned into a paper by Enigma. Inspired by Josuke's bravery in his attempt to save Koichi, Yuya thinks about how he would do the same for his admirers and saves Josuke and Koichi.
    • Stone Ocean: F.F. after seeing Jolyne's decision to spare her life, even though they were enemies, motivated her to join Jolyne's side and protect her from future threats.
    • Steel Ball Run: After he's beaten by Gyro, Wekapipo learns that his sister is still alive, and then decides to assist Gyro and Johnny in their mission.
    • JoJolion: While more of a general nuisance and Unknown Rival to Josuke than an outright villain, Joshu saves Yasuho from being killed by Jobin by kicking the phone Paisley Park was inhabiting to an outlet and later brings her the New Locacaca to heal her injuries.
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Absolutely everywhere. To wit:
    • In line with the series Defeat Means Friendship nature, virtually every disciple-level opponent Kenichi defeats prior to the series climax pulls one eventually.
    • More markedly, during the series climax Ma Sogetsu, Hongo Akira, Agaard Jum Sai, Sehrul Rahman, and Alexander Gaidar turn Face and fight alongside the Katsujinken masters.
    • Kii Kagerou is probably the most dramatic example in the series. In his first appearance he is a cheerfully unhinged sociopath who considers cutting down a child to test his new sword. By the climax of the series he has sworn to never kill again, and joins the Katsujinken masters in their face-off with the One Shadow Nine Fist.
  • Nearly every villain in Kero Kero Chime. In fact, in a bizarre and random musical sequence in the last episode, Demon King Bao, the Sealed Evil in a Can who turns out to be the true reason most of the Hebizoku and Kaeruzoku disappeared 10 years ago, as he took them with him upon being banished, reveals that he's completely reformed, and he and his former enemies like being trapped in another world, as it's allowed them to become such great friends.
  • In Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Libertus comes to his senses and helped Nyx help Luna escape towards the end of the movie, this after going through a Face–Heel Turn and siding with rebels after Crowe's death.
  • This happens in Kinnikuman. A LOT. To the point where at least 3 Big Bads and 2 Dragons have done. Ironically, two have gone to do Face Heel Turns in the sequel series, Ultimate Muscle, which features even MORE Heel Face Turns.
  • Hiyori from Kotoura-san does one after episode 4, when she realized she caused a lot of trouble for Manabe and didn't understand how much pain Haruka was trying to hold in.
  • Ayaka Steiger in Kurau Phantom Memory turns from the main bad chasing the protagonists to their biggest ally after discovering that her boss ordered the murder of her father.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • Lupin III: Part 1 has Goemon, who provides one of the most downright efficient and drama-free turns ever. When first introduced, Goemon is an all-business samurai who has declared that he alone is worthy of killing Lupin. They duel a couple of times, each time ending in a stalemate. Their final confrontation ends with Lupin chasing Goemon in half a car. Realizing the absurdity of the entire situation, the two of them begin laughing and hugging like a couple of old drinking buddies. The episode ends there, and from the next episode on, Goemon is a dedicated member of Lupin's gang.
  • Lyrical Nanoha: Nanoha befriends many of her enemies. To put it in perspective, the only returning good member of the regular cast in the third Season who didn't start out as a villain in one way or another is Nanoha herself (it helps that most of them are Anti-Villains):
    • In the original series it was Fate and Arf.
    • In A's, Hayate and her knights.
    • In StrikerS, seven of the twelve Numbers, Agito and Lutecia.
  • Pixy Misa in Magical Project S. Considering her concept, it was inevitable.
  • Magic Knight Rayearth has a quite few of these, the number of which depending on whether you saw the manga or anime. In the manga and anime, Ascot, Caldina, and Lafarga, who all served Zagato in the first storyline for various reasons (wanting somewhere to belong, money, and mind control, respectively), all do a Heel Face Turn thanks to the Magic Knights. The anime also adds Alcyone, Eagle Vision, and Nova to this list.
  • The Big Bad of Mahoromatic's first season becomes a reluctant hanger-on in the second.
    • Ryuga wasn't really a Big Bad, but a rival to Mahoro. Difference is motivation. A better example of this is Minawa from the second season, who is The Mole until her turn She realizes she has a heart after she lured Mahoro to Management's fortress, using Suguru as bait. A heart (ability to have emotions) was the prize the real Big Bads dangled in front of her. She didn't realize she'd get one through The Power of Love, simply by staying with Mahoro and Suguru. She is then instrumental in freeing Mahoro from the trap she herself lured Mahoro into. This also catalyzes the end of the series, as it cuts Mahoro's life short, well short of the original deadline.
  • Lady Liebert and half of her comrades of Nepos does this midway through Majin Bone.
  • Mashin Hero Wataru Series: Kurama took on the job as an agent for Doakudar for one, being forced, and two, solely for his own benefit to turn back human without considering his fellow townsmen. As he befriends Team Wataru and slowly understood their genuine friendship with him, he became intensely remorseful; eventually learns to put his benefits behind and aid Team Wataru to atone for his misdeeds.
  • There are several Heel and Face turns in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Loyalties and what one fights for are driving themes for the entire series, in fact.
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, A-LAWS members Kati Mannequin and Patrick Colasour vanished after the Time Skip. Then they come back under the Katharon to help the Celestial Being attacking the A-LAWS, while reciting just how corrupted the A-LAWS is, the reason of their defection.
  • Char Aznable in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. This reverses into a Face–Heel Turn. Emma Sheen pulls one off pretty early, as well.
  • Most antagonists in Mob Psycho 100 soon turn to Mob's side, with Dimple and Teruki Hanazawa being two of the most notable examples, albeit it sticking much better for the latter, as well as most of the Scar members of the 7th Branch of Claw.
  • In Nabarino Ou, just about all of the main "bad" characters introduced early on end up teaming up with the good guys in the end to defeat Fuuma. Though most switch sides much earlier on.
  • Naruto:
    • Used twice in the "Land of Waves" arc. Traitorous ninja Zabuza and his androgynous young henchman Haku, have been hired by gangster Gato to stop the Land of Waves villagers from building a bridge that will be economically vital to their island. Naruto and his friends are sent to make sure the bridge gets built. When Haku seems to kill Sasuke, Naruto swears revenge until he learns of Haku's tragic past, which calms him down (besides, Haku made sure that Sasuke is Not Quite Dead). Then, Haku does a Heroic Sacrifice to save Zabuza, and the rogue ninja's guilt over his abuse of his dead partner causes him to Freak Out; Haku dies nobly and Zabuza is unfeeling about it, and Naruto in the middle of a freaking ninja battle, freaks out at him about how much Haku cared and how wrong this is, until the Demon of the Mist turns around slowly...and there are tears running down his cheeks. Subsequently Zabuza switches sides, killing Gato before getting killed himself.
      Zabuza: You talk too much...
    • Twice in the "Land of Waves" arc, but far more frequently later. Hyuuga Neji, who is half-inspired by Naruto's (an obvious All-Loving Hero) victory into rethinking his fatalistic Jerkass-itude and goes on to claim that Naruto saved him (Guy and Lee were also important to the change). Or Gaara, who is so stunned by Naruto's empathy and suckerpunch, that he stops living to kill people and begins living to help people, enough to become the Kazekage.
    • After the Time Skip, Naruto manages to get his Evil Counterpart, Pain/Nagato, to pull it, after talking with him and forcing him to realize that he is сhose the wrong path. Subsequently Nagato uses a jutsu to revive many of the Konoha ninja he killed, dying in the process.
    • During Fourth Shinobi World War the Nine-Tails/Kurama, who was thought of to be the very embodiment of hatred, eventually becomes Naruto's ally of his own volition, though this was based on mutual respect more than anything. He was impressed with Naruto being the first human since the Sage who treated him as a living being worthy of respect rather than a weapon.
    • This trope is Zig-Zagging with Obito Uchiha. When in Obito's mindscape, Naruto verbally beats him down with one of his most epic speeches and offers him a chance to at least not go down as one of the worst monsters in the Naruto-verse's history. Obito resists, but eventually reaches out to Naruto's extended hand... and starts strangle him, saying he regrets nothing. In the end, he gets Mind Screw by his memory of his childhood love refusing to look at him and Naruto grabbing his hand and dragging him forward. This makes all the Tailed Beast burst out of him and Obito lose entirely. However after of this and сonversation with Kakashi and Minato, he suffers from Heel Realization and decides to use Rinne Tensei in order to sacrifice himself reviving his victims, admitting that he now understands why Nagato betrayed the Akatsuki. However Black Zetsu interrupts him, hijacks his body and forces him to use the resurrection technique on Madara. However later he overpowers Black Zetsu and uses him as life support, then proceeds to shove his hand into Madara's chest and absorb some of the chakra to save Naruto and states that he is not Madara, but Obito Uchiha, the person who wanted to become Hokage, in this way performing a full Heel–Face Turn.
    • Also Kabuto has joined the fray, helping to revive Sasuke. The reason? Imprisonment by Itachi's Izanami helped him realize his true nature, that he's really a good person deep down, and that he has a home to return to.
    • After a long period of wildly changing goals and sides, Sasuke Uchiha finally makes it after his final battle with Naruto when he admits his defeat to Naruto, regarding their battle over ideals.
  • In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Kotaro underwent one of these after the Kyoto arc. More recently, Shiori/Luna seems to be on Negi's side now, although Ala Alba is still certainly suspicious of her. Though now that Fate survived the attempted door slam on his own Heel Face Turn, it's assumed that all of Fate's pactio partners including Shiori have officially switched sides as well.
  • Now and Then, Here and There has two of these: Lala Ru and Abelia
  • Dewey from Nurse Angel Ririka SOS starts off as a minion to Buros who wants to kill Ririka and turn the Earth into ruins. After being almost killed by Buros and saved by Ririka he betrays Dark Joker and becomes a neutral character. He initially won't join Ririka but also won't go back to Buros (not that he can). Eventually he says to Ririka that he'll join her but only because he doesn't think she can beat Buros by herself.
  • One Piece does this a lot. Nami, Robin, and Franky are Straw Hat members who were all initially portrayed as villains, or simply antagonistic to Luffy.
    • Nami did a double High-Heel–Face Turn, posing as a pirate hating thief, while being a pirate, then joining Luffy after he kicked the crap out of Arlong.
    • Robin played a Dark Mistress to Crocodile until doing a High-Heel–Face Turn.
    • Franky beat up Usopp before joining the crew, and if CP9 hadn't come into the picture and cut the Cycle of Revenge short, he may have never joined them.
    • Several villains experience this as well to varying degrees. Buggy, while still evil, became more caring for his crew after his defeat. Hatchan (one of Arlong's subordinates), Bon Clay, and Mister 3 (of Baroque Works) all showed up again much later to become an ally of the Straw Hats; even the arrogant leader of Baroque Works, Crocodile eventually allies himself to Luffy in his escape from Impel Down, and though dismissing it simply as something he's doing because his own convenience, he ends going out of his way to save Luffy from a certain death in the battle of Marineford. Notably, CP9 defects from the World Government after their defeat… but post-Time Skip, we find out that Rob Lucci, at least, was not only reinstated, but promoted, with his former boss who framed them now a subordinate to him.
    • Technically, there's even Vivi, who started off as a de facto Arc Villain before it was revealed that she was Good All Along.
    • Heck, a lot of the Straw Hat Pirates' friends are formed from Enemy Mine, Fire-Forged Friends, or Defeat Means Friendship: the Shandorians, the Franky Family and Galley-La Company, the Rosy Life Riders, the Kuja tribe, the prisoners of Impel Down, the Whitebeard Pirates, Neptune's Army, the Ax-Crazy Marines of G-5 and a pirate-hating samurai by name of Kin'emon (though he's far from the first pirate-hater that the Straw Hats befriended), and dozens of One-Man Armies that they saved from spending the rest of their lives as enslaved Living Toys.
    • In the Reverie Arc, we have Saint Mjosgard, the World Noble that Queen Otohime saved many years ago. In the past he was, well, a World Noble, who tried to re-capture some fugitive slaves and went so far as holding Otohime hostage despite the fact that she saved his life seconds earlier. In the present, due to Otohime's kindness, he has freed all his slaves, got rid of his god complex and is perfectly willing to beat up another World Noble in order to save Shirahoshi, Otohime's daughter.
    • In the Wano Country arc, during the Onigashima Raid, X Drake is outed as a spy working for an unknown third party (the Marines) and the Beast Pirates immediately try to kill him. Left with little other choice, he switches sides and asks Luffy to let him join the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, having been told repeatedly and at length by Koby how amazing he is. While most of the Alliance is rightfully suspicious that Drake would so readily betray the Beast Pirates and ask to join them, Luffy accepts his aid without issue, and Drake spends the rest of the arc fighting off the Alliance's enemies in the form of Apoo and later CP0.
  • Oumagadoki Zoo has a few of these. Two of the most prominent examples occur in the Aquarium arc, first from Ikakku the Narhal, who was moved by Kassai's resolution to protect his love interest to the point of turning on his own partner. Second comes from Sakamata the Killer Whale, who acted as The Dragon to Isana, the arc's Big Bad before finally snapping from being fed up with the constant abuse he and the other animals had to endure and turning on Isana, landing the final blow on him, and then dragging him into the sea for a well-deserved Karmic Death.
  • In Outlaw Star, the evil Anten Seven's leader Hazanko sends elite assassin Shimi (a.k.a Leilong) to eliminate Gene Starwind when he is considered a threat to his plans. Gene faces a much weaker assassin and impostor of the real Shimi but barely wins. The real assassin converses with Gene in a bar as Leilong and you can tell he is thinking about making a serious change in his life while not revealing his true identity as an assassin to Gene. Later on, Leilong engages in a Curb-Stomp Battle against Gene and his crew. Gene the last one standing of his crew agrees to a gun duel to the death which has Leilong get "killed" because of his faulty gun. Turns out the whole battle was orchestrated by the assassin to fake his own death, and to leave the Anten Seven. Word of God states that Shimi was actually a Dragon and his power was SECOND to Hazanko's level, so if Shimi didn't have that Heel Face Turn the Outlaw Star crew (who were much weaker at the time) would have been killed off before the hunt for the Galactic Leyline.
  • Adette Kistler from Overman King Gainer joins the Exodus once she is forced to stay in the city units for a while. She eventually even takes command of her own group of fighters.
  • Several characters in Pokémon Adventures, namely: Sabrina, Koga, Lt. Surge, Blaine and Mewtwo, the Kanto Elite Four (save for Agatha), Will and Karen, Pryce, Courtney, Tabitha, Amber, Deoxys, Cyrus and all the Team Galactic commanders (except for Charon.)
  • Sasame in Prétear after his earlier Face–Heel Turn is seen in the end happily living with Takako. Takako also decides she's had enough and switches sides in the end, it doesn't help much because she's still used by the Big Bad Tree of Fenrir but can't hate her for trying.
  • Princess Tutu has several characters who follow this trope. In the first season, it's Fakir (sort of) and Edel. And towards the end of the series Rue discovers that the Raven is not her true father, and risks her life to save Mytho.
  • In Rave Master, this happens more often than not. Julius, Shuda, Let and Lazenby all making prompt turns after losing to Haru or others. Also notable are King, Jegan and Captain Hardner, who make Heel-Face Turns the exact moment before they die. And then there's the case of Reina, who makes a Heel Face Turn but then undergoes a Heroic Sacrifice afterwards.
  • Rokudo Mukuro in Reborn! (2004), but it only half counts because his Heel Face Turn coincides with his possession of Chrome Dokuro's body
  • In Record of Ragnarok, when Round 6 of Ragnarok comes around, Buddha is announced as the representative for the gods for the round. He walks out into the arena... and then quickly walks over to humanity's side and announces his intention to fight for them. Of course, given the previous implication that he's been helping the Valkyries from behind the scenes by creating the Volund system, it's questionable if he was ever actually a heel in the first place.
  • Touga in the manga adaptation of Revolutionary Girl Utena.
  • In Rosario + Vampire, every girl in Tsukune's Harem, other than Moka (and possibly Yukari, who initially behaved more like a prankster than anything), started out trying to kill, control or abuse him. As did their club president, Gin.
  • Ryu's Path: Condor was initally a gang leader and loyal to the cult. After witnessing Ryu's powers and realizing that he had been misled for a long part of his life, he switches sides and chooses to aid Ryu.
  • In the Sailor Moon anime, the Ayakashi Sisters, Amazoness Quartet, and Professor Tomoe have Heel Face Turns and survive. Nephrite, Saphir, and Prince Demand have them and do not. The Amazon Trio have an odd in-between case, "dying" on Earth but getting to go live in Elysion (the world of dreams) rather than the afterlife.
    • The Amazoness Quartet actually play this trope two different ways, depending on the medium: in the anime they turned on their own free will, aided the Senshi and then went on to live normal lives, in the manga and Crystal they were revealed to be Brainwashed and Crazy, and after Serenity healed them, revealed that they're Sailor Senshi themselves-specifically, meant to be Chibiusa's team when she comes of age.
  • In Saint Seiya, both Saga and Kanon have a Heel-Face turn. Saga, right before he kills himself, and Kanon after realizing that even after all he had done, (corrupted his brother and made him try to kill Athena, besides trying to flood the world by tricking Poseidon), Athena still saved him multiple times and cared about him. That made him turn into a Face and fight for Athena; Milo at first doesn't trust him, but after he attacks Kanon and the latter doesn't retaliate even once, Milo realizes Kanon has truly become good.
  • Bad Bird in Samurai Pizza Cats who joins up with the good guys after a speech from Speedy saying that if Bad Bird helps Cheese win, everyone in Little Tokyo dies, including Bad Bird's girlfriend. He also ends up changing his name to "Good Bird".
  • Is a defining characteristic of Shaman King, particularly so in the manga. The Messianic hero converts all villains to his side, one after another, with his laidback attitude and genuine empathy for their motives. The heel face turn often is so through, it recast the character in a whole new light. Homicidal Chinese boy Tao Len is shown as a proud warrior with a sense of duty, while bully and delinquent Ryū is revealed to be a working-class champion and a road-travel hero.
  • All the villains in Shugo Chara!. Yuu Nikaidou was a case of Defeat Means Friendship after Amu foiled his plan to create an Embryo, which is the MacGuffin of the series. Kairi Sanjo was convinced by Amu to do his Heel Face Turn in a The Power of Friendship/The Power of Love moment. Utau Hoshina realized she didn't want to sing to ruin people's dreams, but that she wanted to sing to make people happy. Yukari Sanjo was more or less another case of Defeat Means Friendship. And the latest villain, Lulu, seems to be succumbing to The Power of Friendship.
  • Happens frequently in Slayers though they are more Hazy-Feel Turns, most foes being Chaotic Neutral mostly:
    • Zelgadis's two henchmen Zolf and Rodimus in the first season, as well as Rezo. Zelgadis is also established as a villain early on, but the Spoiler Opening notes his turn ahead of time.
    • Zangulus and Martina in the second season (they even end up together romantically!)
    • Duclis manages to come around by the end of the fourth, although he becomes more of The Atoner. The manga adaptation plays this straight, though. And due to his entirely different role in the novels, this never occurs there.
  • Effective in both the Soul Eater anime and manga with Crona, though the way it plays out is rather... different.
    • To a lesser extent, Black Star. He's not really a villain, but he's an arrogant son of a bitch only looking out for himself and generally willing to injure anyone in his way to prove he is the "strongest", even once threatening to his own friend, Maka, that he would beat her up. Later, he becomes more caring towards others and more noble.
  • Space Battleship Yamato's Back from the Dead Ensemble Dark Horse Desslok starts to turn good after Wildstar faints of blood loss when trying to challenge him to a duel. Upon realizing Wildstar cares for Earth as much as Desslok cares for Gamalon, he realizes they aren't so different after all. In the third movie, Dessler and the Yamato are Enemy Mine, both trying to save Iscandar. By the time of the third TV series and final movie, full Heel–Face Turn has been completed and he is Earth's most powerful ally.
  • In Tamagotchi! Miracle Friends, Smartotchi takes on the guise of the villainous X-Kamen to steal the Dreambakutchis that Miraitchi and Clulutchi need to return to the future. In episode 21, he finally reveals his identity as X-Kamen to the Tama-Friends and states he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist (for those curious, his intentions amount to stopping a piano from being destroyed). The gang agree to help him with his quest, and he abandons his X-Kamen alter ego.
  • Ryoko in Tenchi Muyo! especially the TV Alternate Universe of Tenchi Universe who starts out as a space pirate (Along with Hakubi Washu) who reforms upon falling in love with Tenchi. In the original OVA it turns out she was under a type of mind control.
    • Zero fills the trope much better in the OVA after uhhhhh ... she? betrays Dr Clay because she refuses to follow his orders to kill Tenchi. She later merges with Ryoko.
  • Viral from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann goes from being the Decoy Protagonist's rival to being The Lancer. Lordgenome himself also "joins," but in this case it's just a bio-computer whose core is his disembodied head. He does later regain his full memory, though, and fights alongside the heroes in the final battle.
  • In Transformers: ★Headmasters, Sixshot turns against the Decepticons at the end, after befriending Daniel in an earlier episode when both were stranded on the planet Daira.
  • Trinity Blood has several examples Abel and Tres do this in their backstories. Then is Radu (who has a Heel Realization) in The Iblis ending. Surprisingly Dietrich in the Stories Untold.
  • Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- seems to love this trope. The most noticiable example is Fai, who is revealed to have been working for Fei Wong, but has a change of heart following the events of the Acid Tokyo and Infinity arcs. Xing Huo might count as another example, as she eventually betrays Fei Wong by helping the real Syaoran to escape, and the clone Syaoran also undergoes this transformation durring the Final Battle with Fei Wong. Although, one might say that Fai's was a bit more sucessful than the latter two's...
  • In Moon Phase, Elfriede breaks free from her servitude to her vampire father and joins the main cast in their hunt against the bad vampires whilst remaining a vampire herself.
  • Usagi-chan de Cue!!: Benten Chou is a merged being exploited by the Public Welfare Board to sniff out other merged beings. When Chou sees just how backstabbing and ruthless his bosses are, he decides to help Haru and Miku escape from the shopping mall.
  • Almost universal with villains in Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches:
    • Noa starts out as a not-so-pleasant villain, but ends up as a friend and suitor of Yamada's.
    • Rika starts working together with the main characters for the witch ceremony once Yamada offers to help her. Though she does state the condition that she wants them to bring Leona to school so that she can erase Leona's memory, so her heel-face turn is first complete when Yamazaki also turns good.
    • After getting his memories back, Yamazaki stops being an enemy of Yamada and the Supernatural Studies Club.
    • As Yamazaki's henchman, Tamaki is rather opportunistic and selfish, and his team-up with Yamada goes from We Can Rule Together to Enemy Mine to being actual friends, after which he loses the aforementioned traits.
    • After finally accepting that Odagiri doesn't love him back, Ushio drops out of the election race and becomes Yamada's friend again, leaving others to take up his Big Bad mantle.
    • Yuri fakes a heel-face turn when he joins Tamaki's student council as the secretary. He pulls a real heel-face turn when Yamada finally gets through to him and convinces him that the way of helping Himekawa is not letting her be an Empty Shell without any memories. By the end of the series, he's a competent and responsible student council president.
    • Kaori stops being an enemy when she expresses that she cannot forgive the chess club for what they did to her, when she makes friends with another unpopular girl by lashing out at her bullies, and when she apologizes to Noa.
  • At least one major villain or rival (but usually more) per season in Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX; balanced by the fact that the opposite is none too rare, either. This is often combined with Defeat Means Friendship, but not always. (In fact, villains who are truly incapable of redemption are kind of rare in this series.)
    • Aside from Seto Kaiba, who never became much more than a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to anyone aside from his brother, the earliest was when Pegasus from the original series allied with the protagonists following his defeat at the hands of Yugi, and the theft of his Millennium Eye by the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring, a.k.a. Yami Bakura. But that Heel Face Turn only happens in the anime; in the manga, he just gets an Alas, Poor Villain upon his defeat, when his motives and past are revealed, and shortly afterwards, Yami Bakura kills Pegasus when he takes his eye.
    • Ryuji Otogi/Duke Devlin was an odd example, because to many fans, his Heel–Face Turn made very little sense; one minute he was acting like the typical heartless villain, the next minute, he was apologizing for everything. Truth be told, the manga version of the story - where Otogi was used as an Unwitting Pawn by his Axe-Crazy father, who was the true villain - made much more sense, but was far darker than the anime version and the adaptation was probably at a loss to explain the transition because it had to leave him out.
    • Another example is Tetsu Ushio from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. He started out as a Dirty Cop and a pawn of Rex Godwin, who, like most citizens of Neo Domino, had nothing but contempt for the residents of Satellite. It was never a case of Defeat Means Friendship (two defeats at Yusei's hands only made their feud worse) but he started mellowing around the Fortune Cup (realizing that Godwin was treating him like garbage played a big part) and he was officially Yusei's ally at the end of the first season, mostly after starting to sympathize with the Satellite residents.
    • Several members of Academia in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V have defected from the said school and now help the Resistance. Named renegades include Asuka (though she defected before the storyline where she was introduced), Edo, Serena, the Tyler sisters, Noro (who was forced into becoming good), and Sora. While many of them had the old Defeat Means Friendship reason, most defected to being mistreated or double-crossed by the others.
      • The most significant ones are Yuri and Starve Venom Fusion Dragon. Without Zarc's darkness influencing them, Yuya's heart purified them. This becomes symbolic when Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon fuses with Starve Venom to become Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon, a violet and white dragon with a beautiful body and a cherry blossom motif to replace their old one. Odd-Eyes Venom heavily contrasts the other two hybrid dragons that symbolize Yuya's bond with Yuto and Yugo, as its description pronounces its kindness, while the other two are known for their wrath or fierceness.
    • In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, Aigami/Diva changes his ways after losing his powers to Yugi/Atem.
  • YuYu Hakusho has several of these throughout the series, including (in order of side-changing) Kurama (kinda; he wasn't really evil anyway, at least not within the show's scope), Hiei, Rinku, Chuu, Touya, Jin, Suzuka, Shishiwakamaru, and Seaman/Kyoshi Matarai.
    • Plus Yusuke himself, kinda, at the very start. And Yomi, sort of, toward the end.
  • Zatch Bell! has several of these: Pamoon, Penny (Patie), and Byonko in the Ancient Mamodo arc; Purio (Papipurio), Rodeux and Zeno (Zeon) in the Faudo arc; and Gorm (Goomu) in the King's Festival arc. Unfortunately, Redemption Equals Death (or returning to the Mamodo/Demon World) for all of the above examples except Purio (and Zeno, who was "dying" just as his Heel–Face Turn was finalized).
    • There's also Zeno's partner, the psychic genius Dufort (Dufoux); sold to a mad scientist by his mother at a young age, he met Zeno immediately after he was left to die. The hatred he had ran deep, but thanks to the true power of Zatch's (Gash's) Bao Zakeruga spell, it dissolves, and he becomes a crucial ally in defeating the final Big Bad.
  • At the end of Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh, Jin's parents convincing the villain's mook Taida to switch sides. Later on, Taida's boss actually follows and has a Heel Face Turn of his own.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top