Ignored Epiphany in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Avenger Goddess, according to Diana, the Twelve Labors were intended to help Herakles learn humility after he was temporarily driven mad and killed his family, but instead he viewed them as an opportunity to hone his skills and avenge his family by training to kill the gods themselves.
- Le Commencement du Diable Blanc:
- Petunia immediately regrets slapping her nephew for being smarter than her son, and it's compounded by the kid stating he hates her afterwards — the first words he ever said to her. But she's ultimately too jealous of her late sister to start treating the boy differently, resolving to never raise her hand against him again.
- Dumbledore was acutely aware he condemned baby Harry to a loveless, neglected childhood when he sent him to the Dursleys, but stubbornly maintains this is the only way for Harry to become Voldemort's true equal.
- Contract Labor: Motoko has a brief My God, What Have I Done? moment after realizing she attacked an innocent Keitaro with intent to kill, but her very next scene has her back to blaming men for everything and refusing to own up to her actions.
- Fate/Long Night: The Stranger's Champion helps Zouken Matou realize how his obsession with immortality has ruined his life and cut him off from his loved ones. Zouken seems to consider it for a few seconds, then angrily declares his goal is all that matters.
- Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters:
- Tharquin has a moment or two where he can realize that Shapeshifters aren't all evil through the example Jade, who is a hero of the Rebellion alongside the Guardians, provides, but rejects them and doubles down on his current course of action.
- Even when admitting Caleb has several good points about why the Rebellion's old black and white views are wrong, Aldarn refuses to let himself be swayed by them, feeling that he's done and sacrificed too much to just change his ways.
- At some point during her years of isolated imprisonment in Mount Thanos, Nerissa had a Heel Realization. Unfortunately, having no one to guide her through her guilt caused it to turn to bitterness, solidifying her Face–Heel Turn.
- While spying on Alex and Ranko for potential blackmail material in How I Learned to Love the Wild Horse
, Caitlyn witnesses Ranko break down crying over her life and being comforted by Alex. For a moment she considers that editing the tape she's filming to make it look like an intimate moment is a dick move. But then she decides she'll simply advise Mandy not to post it online (and thus cause Genma and the Tendos to find out where he is) but if Mandy does anyway, oh well. - Gladion has major issues with this in Infinity Train: Knight of the Orange Lily. Before the main plot kicks into gear, he reflects upon recent events and muses whether things might have turned out better if he'd actually informed anyone about what he'd witnessed on the night his sister was traumatized. Had he done so, her Poké-phobia could have been treated more effectively much sooner, sparing her years of grief. However, he immediately dismisses that notion, deciding he was completely right to leave her behind while he embarked on a quest to 'grow strong enough to protect her'. When Lillie subsequently calls him out on this, he treats her like an Ungrateful Bastard, and his inability to consider her feelings is part of what traps him on the Train.
- Jaune Arc goes through this in Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger. In the chapter "Gnawing", Pyrrha helps Jaune gain a moment of clarity, during which he comes to the realization that Darth Nihilus has been manipulating him the entire time and that his use of the Dark Side has deteriorated his mind. Unfortunately, Jaune is addicted to the Dark Side at this point and has developed a total dependency on it. Rather than coming clean to his friends about the Mask of Darth Nihilus, Jaune doubles down and believes that the problem is he hasn't drawn enough power from the Dark Side. He then concludes that there's no point in trying to resist Nihilus' influence since he feels like he's already lost control over his life anyway.
- Kage:
- Justified. Elyon and the Guardians assume that Jade is a minion of Phobos and chase her to interrogate and imprison her. But when she's knocked unconscious, they acknowledge they made mistakes and Elyon orders that she's be treated as a guest and her wounds be tended to. Unfortunately, after Caleb disobeys those orders and Nerissa uses her position as the Mage to lie about Jade's origins, the situation is made so that the girls lose any sense of guilt about how they treated Jade, now viewing her as a monster.
- Downplayed. After Jade calls out Will for how Raythor was framed, Will discusses it with her friends and admits Jade's point, but her friends tell her she did the right thing at the time and that there's nothing they can do to change it. While Will still feels guilty, she comes to agree with the others.
- This continues into the fan sequel Shadows over Meridian, where it's generally Downplayed:
- While Irma and Cornelia are horrified and feel guilty for their actions when they learn the truth about Kage, at the same time they try to justify their actions and state that Kage chose to be their enemy, ignoring their actions that caused her to become their enemy in the first place.
- Before Jade reunites with Phobos in the ninth chapter, she hesitates with the acknowledgement that her plan to help him back to power will begin a new war in Meridian, no matter how she chooses to look at it. However, she remains set on her course because she already promised Raythor her help, and learning about the rebels' shady activities that can be used against Elyon gives her hope there could be some justice achieved along the way.
- Kir-Ben 10: Poyo Force: After being contacted by Nightmare, the Highbreed commander ponders over the struggles they have had conquering Earth. He recognizes that their difficulty invading Earth is not a good sign, as they also have to deal with planets that are far less hospitable like Khoros (a desert planet), Vulpin (a toxic waste dump), Pyros (a literal star), and Kinet (a world plagued with constant lightning storms). He also laments that humans are weaker, and they will have contend with the stronger inhabitants of the worlds they plan to invade (Pyronites, Tetramands, Galvans, and Galvanic Mechamorphs). However, this insight is soon undercut by his Fantastic Racism, planning on continuing their Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum due to his belief that the Highbreed are superior.
- Operation: B.U.T.T.E.R.F.L.Y.: The Delightful Children are thrown for a complete loop when Holly tells them that she would have happily shared her cake with them if they'd just asked. They then immediately go back to antagonizing her.
- Danny Phantom: Stranded:
- At first, it appeared that Misty Smith-Yang in Envied realized how horrible her actions were when she was forced to confront the fact that Star was not the selfish girl she thought she was, nor did Star had the easy life that she believed that she had due to her wealth. Learning about Shi's past and how delusional he was in regards to his crush, Meilin, and the fact that his feelings had been unrequited and that he actually tried to kill his own brother to have her, Misty seemed truly disgusted by his actions and tried her best to stop Shi from hurting Danny and Star, ultimately trapping him by turning into wood.
- However, despite these realizations, Misty eventually shows that she learned nothing from this whole experience when she faked amnesia to escape the consequences of her actions and have a clean slate with Danny and Star. Misty also manipulates them by pretending to be innocent, faking being friendly to Star while secretly still plotting to steal Danny for herself. She also still resents Star, despite learning about her own hardships, and still plans to use magic to give her an advantage, despite knowing how dangerous her envy and obsession with Danny can be, and how unpredictable magic is and how she is still inexperienced with it. It shows that despite all she's learned, she is still a very stubborn and selfish girl that is willing to do anything to achieve her goals.
- Misty Smith-Yang is a more tragic version of this trope by the end of Empowered.
- After being caught and being forced to give up her spell book, she was heartbroken that she had to give up her magic and no longer be special. However, simultaneously, she genuinely wanted to make up with Danny and his friends for all the trouble she caused. Also, after meeting Colette in person and realizing that Star WASN'T exaggerating on how awful she is, she feels truly bad for dismissing Star's woes. Seeing how much trouble she caused by granting Colette's wish and getting called out by her. Misty realized that she was being selfish and spiteful and felt ashamed of her actions, especially since they nearly got Star killed and Danny in the claws of an unstable Yandere. At the end of the fic, it appears that she finally learned her lesson this time and tries to let go of her envy of Star and move on from her obsession with Danny and be a better person. However, the magic book she gave up appeared and revealed that it could not be destroyed without magic. It also reveals to be sentient and manipulates Misty, playing on her insecurity, jealousy of Star, and desire to be with Danny in order to take up magic again. What makes this more tragic is that Misty genuinely made an effort to learn her lesson and be a better person, but the magic book manipulated her into thinking that Star has not really forgiven her and hates her. It also prayed on her insecurities about being ordinary and promised her a future with Danny by showing a (possibly fake) vision of their future child. This is what ultimately causes Misty to ignore what she had learned and throw away her chance at redemption and a possible friendship with Danny and Star, choosing to go back to her selfish and obsessive ways in the end.
- Zigzagged as Kwan shows that he still misses Star and wishes she would return to the A-Listers. This is despite Star having made it clear that she hated her time at the A-Listers and no longer wished to be a part of them. Star has shown that she desires to become a better person and has outgrown her former "mean girl" mentality. Kwan, for a while, tried to respect her decisions, and while he did want to confront Danny out of jealousy and blame him for Star's change, he did not actually want to start a fight with him.
- However, when he THOUGHT that Danny had cheated on Star with Colette, Kwan jumped at the chance to confront him in an effort to get Star back, only to be disappointed to learn that Danny never cheated on her and Star had no intentions of breaking up with him nor returning to the A-listers. This pushes Kwan to reveal that he wants Star back and wishes to go back to how things were before, ignoring what Star said about WHY she dumped him and left their old clique in the first place.
- Kwan continues to insist that there is nothing wrong with the A-Listers and misguidedly believes they bring order to the school. However, Star wastes no time lashing out at him, explaining why they broke up and why she left the A-listers; they were a toxic influence on Star and Kwan, while marginally nicer than most of the jocks, wasn't a very good boyfriend to her and is spineless when dealing with Dash, always going along with what he says even when it's wrong. It's also revealed that Kwan is deeply insecure, as he remains with the A-listers due to wanting to belong someplace and fears that if the group were to disband, he wouldn't have anything else, admitting that he's afraid that without the A-Listers, he's nothing.
- Even after Star calls him out, Kwan stays with the group due to stubbornness and not having anywhere else to go. However, later installments show that he was deeply affected by Star's words about how toxic the A-Listers are and that he is a sheep for always going along with them. While he may still idolize the A-Listers and longs for his former relationship with Star, he can't completely ignore the issues she told him.
- At first, it appeared that Misty Smith-Yang in Envied realized how horrible her actions were when she was forced to confront the fact that Star was not the selfish girl she thought she was, nor did Star had the easy life that she believed that she had due to her wealth. Learning about Shi's past and how delusional he was in regards to his crush, Meilin, and the fact that his feelings had been unrequited and that he actually tried to kill his own brother to have her, Misty seemed truly disgusted by his actions and tried her best to stop Shi from hurting Danny and Star, ultimately trapping him by turning into wood.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
- Goku suggests that Freeza made Vegeta evil, but Vegeta insists he'd be evil anyway.
- Teased when Freeza is trying to hold off the Spirit Bomb before ultimately being averted.Freeza: If I had any single regret for the countless horrific events that have transpired in my wake, it's that I'm dying.
- Played straight with Freeza after he becomes half the man he used to be. When Goku spares him some energy, he begins to ponder if he should turn over a new leaf.Freeza: He's... really just leaving me here... He gave me his energy and... left me... Maybe this is a sign... Maybe I should change... Maybe this is, my second... and last... chance... Maybe I was wrong... [pause] Nah!
- In History of Trunks Abridged, Android 17 actually becomes truly and completely bored with the pointless destructive rampage that he and his sister have been on. He begins pondering changing his life, becoming a park ranger and sparing the human race... and then in the middle of his reverie Gohan lands a surprise hit on 17. This immediately makes 17 change his mind and decide that he is definitely going to entirely wipe out the human race, then range the shit out of that park.
- In The Warrior's Daughter, Gero sometimes met Lapis and Lazuli's mother while she was searching for her missing children, and felt a very brief twinge of remorse... which he proceeded to completely squash down.Gero never returned to that village. Was it relief what washed over him when he found out [their mother] was dead, that she would no longer send search crews every year on the anniversary of their [children] disappearance? Or was it a sense of sadness that he had caused this innocent woman to suffer? He reasoned with himself for many, many years that he had done those kids a favor. He made them elite fighting machines. He gave them a purpose.
- In Boys und Sensha-dō!, this can be seen as applying to Miho's mother. At the end of the first season of the anime, after seeing Miho defeat her older sister Maho's until recently undefeated school, sighs and claps, signifying some degree of acceptance of Miho's style of tankery, even if it goes against that of the Nishizumi family. In the fic, however, she is still planning on disowning Miho, as she was in Episode 8, because of what had happened and because Miho now has boys on her team. She ultimately ends up disowning Miho in Chapter 7.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Alan Jonah has obviously responded this way to the aftermath of Ghidorah's death and the human-Titan coexistence — so long as there are human beings in the world, he'll never be satisfied. Downplayed by MaNi/Elder Brother, who seems to pause and distantly recall his tragic origin story when Vivienne says the right word with the right context, but he promptly brushes it off.
- Eden, by Obsessmuch: Upon assaulting Hermione, Lucius realizes that she's not some clever manipulator trying to use him, but an innocent girl who is terrified of him and wants him to stay away. He realizes this, but then clarifies that he's a grown man and she can't do anything to him, so he rapes her. After that, he silently regrets what he did.
- During his massacre of the pandas in The Vow, Lord Shen momentarily feels some pity upon spotting Po (a baby at the time) before he brushes that aside.
- For His Own Sake:
- When Granny Hina learns just how hellish Keitaro's time running the Hinata Inn has been, not only is she remorseful, she rebukes Naru and Motoko for trying to drive his father away as well, informing them that they are to treat her family with respect. Unfortunately, she later slips back into seeing herself as the only one who understands the girls, and starts trying to manipulate everyone into doing what she wants again.
- In Chapter 24, an exhausted and defeated Motoko has a breakdown, admitting that she'd previously realized that her behavior was wrong. But rather than facing what that meant, she chose to double down and continue down her destructive path, leading to her facing much more severe consequences than she would have if she'd stopped then and there.
- Haruka spells out to Mutsumi that Keitaro left the Hinata Inn because of how Naru and the other girls mistreated him, that he's clearly much happier with his new life, and that they have no right to try and force him to return, much less back into a relationship that neither he or Naru want. But when Kagura and Chisato offer to help Mutsumi get them back together, she immediately latches onto them, missing all the signs that they're less than trustworthy.
- Basically where Eleanor Bishop finds herself in Spider-Man: Finding Home. Rather than taking being arrested and awaiting trial as a sign of how bad her decisions were and how much danger they placed her and her daughter in, Eleanor insists she did nothing truly wrong, trying to convince Kate "grease the wheels" to get her out, disapproving of Kate’s vigilantism, and finally threatening to take both Bishop Security and the family wealth away from Kate. In short, prison has not made Eleanor reflect and become a better person, it's made her worse.
- In Mega Man Reawakened, Robert seems to be paying attention to what Wood Man is saying about his anger issues, but when he goes to talk it out with Dr. Light he becomes enraged at things being hidden from him, resulting in a huge argument.
- Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race:
- Wily has one in the episode 11 epilogue as he realizes ProtoMan leaving was his fault. Then he decides it can't be entirely his fault and rages at Dr. Light.
- Tiesel has one in episode 13 when he feels guilty for what the Conduit is making him do, but suppresses his guilt when he remembers the Conduit's threats against him.
- The Cosmos: Alya starts noticing holes and inconsistencies in Lila's stories, but writes them off as side-effects of her 'lying disease'. By the time she finally forces herself to recognize the truth, it's too late.
- Dad Villain AU: When Sabine's mysterious illness sends her to the hospital, Rolland attempts to exploit his son asking him to help out at the bakery by attempting to force Marinette to follow his recipes and methods, berating her when she protests and insulting her mother. Marinette stands her ground, pointing out that their customers expect bread made with rice flour, not wheat; when he asks how she intends to make all that bread by herself, she retorts that "Considering you think my mom is never gonna come back, I'd better get used to opening up the store alone, right?" Having his cruelty thrown right back in his face causes him to briefly look remorseful, but when Marinette refuses to let him help, not trusting him to follow their methods, he slams the door behind him as he storms from the bakery, abandoning his granddaughter.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Notably absent with Adrien. Despite having it repeatedly spelled out to him throughout the story — by Plagg, Marinette, Ladybug, his classmates and the Agreste family lawyers — how his own actions have led to him being Hoist by His Own Petard and facing serious karmic backlash, he never allows himself to consider the possibility that any of them are right. Instead, he remains firmly convinced that he is supposed to be getting everything he wants because he's a 'good guy', and that it's unfair for him to be suffering consequences when he hasn't done anything wrong.
- Tellingly, Adrien only acknowledges all of Plagg's warnings about what is happening when he realizes that he can blame the concept of the karmic backlash for his problems. At no point does he acknowledge that he actually did anything to bring down said karmic backlash on his own head, insisting that he's merely a tragic victim of circumstance.
- Downplayed with Alya and the majority of Marinette's former friends/classmates. Juleka notes that while they, like her, likely realize that they wronged Marinette by shunning her in favor of Lila, they refuse to admit any fault, expecting to be Easily Forgiven and for Marinette to accept them back with open arms... and go right back to letting them exploit her generous nature.
- Highlighted by Alya's Moral Myopia — while scheming to force Marinette to take them back by appealing directly to her parents, Alya gloats about how she intends to hold Marinette's 'mistake' over her head forever. While ignoring the fact that said 'mistake' is ignoring her former friends in exactly the same way they were ignoring her.
- Notably absent with Adrien. Despite having it repeatedly spelled out to him throughout the story — by Plagg, Marinette, Ladybug, his classmates and the Agreste family lawyers — how his own actions have led to him being Hoist by His Own Petard and facing serious karmic backlash, he never allows himself to consider the possibility that any of them are right. Instead, he remains firmly convinced that he is supposed to be getting everything he wants because he's a 'good guy', and that it's unfair for him to be suffering consequences when he hasn't done anything wrong.
- Alya takes this to impressive levels throughout LadyBugOut:
- When confronting Ladybug about being Retired and Replaced as the Fox Bearer, Ladybug points out that the anger she's feeling over this parallels how she felt about Alya posting the photo she'd taken of the amnesiac Ladybug and Chat Noir Kissing Under the Influence without context or permission. Alya appears to realize this, only to stubbornly insist that it's different.
- Even after Lila unintentionally outs herself as a liar to Alya and Nino by claiming to have been Rena Rouge herself, causing Nino to have his own realization, Alya continues insisting that she was betrayed first and harder, and that Marinette should apologize to HER for taking Ladybug's side. This leads to Nino breaking up with her, something that only adds to her victim complex.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral):
- In Gabriel's Lament, he finds that the consequences of his actions as Hawk Moth have followed him into the new reality created by his Wish. He also admits to himself that Emilie likely wouldn't agree with him that everything he did to save her was Worth It, particularly when it comes to how he neglected and abused their son. Yet he continuously insists that his actions were completely justified, and balks at the prospect of doing anything that might endanger his 'happy ending', despite how it's already unraveling before his eyes.
- Chloe's Lament features her spiraling into increasingly intense levels of denial as Adrien stands up to her and takes her to task for being such a self-absorbed Spoiled Brat. Faced with mounting evidence that Marinette isn't Secretly Selfish like her, she rejects reality and makes a Wish to swap places with her, expecting Marinette to become just as despised as she was... while ignoring that she was hated for her cruel, bullying ways. The straightest example comes with she overhears Adrien confessing that he doesn't really consider her a friend anymore, and mostly just pities her for isolating herself. This brings Chloe right to the cusp of a Heel Realization, only to back away and insist that he's betrayed her just like everybody else.
- Marinette Dupain-Cheng's Spite Playlist Remix: With Adrien's encouragement, Alya starts researching Lila's various claims and discovers evidence that she was lying... but instead of convincing her to analyze her own behavior, she backs off, hastily latching onto the idea that Marinette and Ladybug were both secretly Manipulative Bitches all along, as she'd rather believe that than face the idea that she was wrong.
- Missing: Faced with the notion that one of his akuma might have actually killed Marinette, Gabriel seriously questions whether he might have gone too far, but quickly decides that he can't stop now.
- The One to Make It Stay:
- Zig-Zagging Trope with Alya after she posts a heavily edited video to the Ladyblog. Though she brushes off most of Ladybug's concerns, one point gives her pause: the fact that Hawkmoth might follow her blog for intel. However, that is the only thing she is willing to apologize for. The rest she still attempts to dismiss as no big deal, and accuses Ladybug of overreacting and punishing her too harshly. When Marinette brings up the same issue later, Alya blows her off completely, declaring that the Ladyblog isn't likely to attract his interest. She later recants and goes full-blown My God, What Have I Done? after learning that Chat's Ring was stolen, fearing that her video inspired Hawkmoth's plan.
- When Marinette confronts her and points out that Ladybug wouldn't approve of her bullying Aurore, Chloe briefly looks horrified before scoffing, dismissing her warning by proclaiming that Marinette's just jealous of her being Queen Bee.
- In his Interlude, Don't Step over My Head, Gabriel is slightly shaken by the revelation that he was fighting his son all along. However, he is all too quick to shift the blame, refusing to reexamine or reconsider his methods.
- All three have a Foil in Adrien, who notably averts this thus far by virtue of not having any kind of epiphany about his actions whatsoever, despite having done plenty of things one might expect would trigger a moment of self-reflection. The closest he has come is blaming Marinette and Alya for the guilt he feels over overhearing a private conversation — by his logic, if Marinette just told him what he learned that way, he wouldn't have to feel bad about accidentally eavesdropping. Considering that his actions and inaction have led to consequences like Miracle Queen swiping his ring and Hawkmoth setting Feline Fatale loose on Paris, the fact that said eavesdropping is the only thing he feels mildly guilty about says a lot about his priorities.
- Of Patience and Pettiness: When Marinette spells out just how much Alya hurt her when she kept ignoring her in favor of Lila, her words seem to strike a cord. Then Alya asks how long it will take for them to repair their relationship, and Marinette replies that she doesn't know; it's going to take time for her to regain her trust. Hearing this, Alya's expression immediately hardens, and she angrily accuses her of abandoning her after she made 'one mistake'.
- Villain Of Your Own Story: Alya eventually realizes that Marinette was right to warn her to be careful with the Wish, as it altered reality and granted her knowledge of Hawk Moth's Secret Identity by making HER Hawk Moth. However, she blames this entirely on the Wish distorting her desires, and decides the only way to fix things is by getting the Ladybug and Black Cat so she can make another Wish.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Lila notices that the rest of the class turned upon Marinette much faster and with far more vehemence than she'd expected them to. While Lila actually has standards here, she initially ignores her conscience nagging at her. It takes several incidents for her to start paying attention to the warning bells going off in the back of her brain.
- Alya has a massive Villainous Breakdown after her parents learn the full extent of how she betrayed Marinette, sobbing about how she just wants her 'bestie' back and begging them to reassure her that she's not a bad person. However, it's somewhat unclear whether this is a full Heel Realization or if she's Playing the Victim Card in hopes of regaining their sympathy. Either way, the next time we see her, she's gone right back to her usual behavior, demanding to see Marinette again with every intent of forcing her to take her back as a friend.
- Your Wish is my Command: Upon realizing that switching places with Adrien means that her mother has gone missing, Lila wonders whether making her Wish was worth it. She quickly shoves that away, reminding herself of everything she expects to gain from being Lila Agreste.
- Apotheosis: Katsuki breaks the rules in order to attack Izuku, and gets absolutely trounced for his efforts, with Izuku savoring the chance to pay him back for everything he'd done. This also got another one of his classmates expelled. Rather than reflecting upon his mistakes or regretting anything he's done, Katsuki doubles down and gets even worse.
- The Emancipators: Izuku repeatedly catches himself fantasizing about murdering Bakugou or members of the League of Villains in various gruesome ways. Though he recognizes that these aren't thoughts befitting a hero, he shunts them aside and never really addresses them. It takes him tricking Monoma into blowing his own arm off with One for All and realizing that he'd enjoyed his anguished screaming for him to realize that something is seriously wrong, giving him a full Heel Realization.
- Haigha: After the USJ, Katsuki struggles with the recent revelations about just what had happened to Izuku after he disappeared, coupled with how All Might called him out for trying to use lethal force during a training exercise and Izuku acknowledging that they'd stopped being friends long ago. Sadly, despite subconsciously recognizing that all their criticisms of his behavior are valid, his Inferiority Superiority Complex kicks into overdrive, and he grows all the more desperate to prove himself better than everyone else by winning the Sports Festival.
- Mastermind: Rise of Anarchy: Katsuki becomes a violent vigilante as a way of coping with his frustration over 'useless Deku' becoming an infamous criminal mastermind. When this leads to him accidentally killing somebody, he's briefly horrified... then gets furious at his own victim for dying. Following his fall from grace, he's actually insulted by the notion that he's still considered less dangerous than Midoriya, and runs away from home intending to prove his superiority by becoming the #1 Villain.
- Sleeper Hit AU:
- Zig-Zagged. On one hand, Aizawa would sincerely come to regret expelling Midoriya on his first day at U.A. long before Sleeper Hit mentioned that little detail in an interview. But this is partly because he believes that Midoriya would've been useful to have around during the League's assault on the USJ, which he considers his greatest failure due to the loss of Asui and Mineta. When Shinsou confronts him, he still attempts to defend and justify away his decisions despite those regrets, and has difficulty admitting just how much he wronged Midoriya.
- Bakugou serves as a much straighter example. Not only does he show absolutely no remorse for how he treated Midoriya, he doubles down on his cruelty, insisting that Izuku deserves to be broken. This causes Kirishima to stand against him, calling him out with a Meaningful Echo of Shigaraki's claims that King Nitro is more villain than hero. This cracks through Katsuki's denial... but he quickly pins the blame on Izuku instead.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Aftermath of a Fallen Star: Twilight's death has had minimal impact upon those who disliked her and her policies. In fact, many despise her even more after she was murdered, since her plans to modernize Equestria are still being put into effect.
- Loved and Lost: When ordered to massacre the entire population of Ponyville, the sadistic and extremist Commander Hildread is disturbed by the idea of massacring ponies she believes she's protecting. However, she obeys her master regardless and chooses her delusions over her conscience when her rival Shining Armor calls her out.
- Severing And Reconnection: In Reconnection, Twilight realizes that being reborn offers her a second chance... to try and collect all of the Elements of Harmony again.
- In Spectacular Seven, Moondancer seemingly has a Heel Realization when she learns that Twilight Sparkle loves Sunset Shimmer of her own free will, and that everything she did for Twilight was All for Nothing. Unfortunately, because she is determined to make Twilight Sparkle hers, she shrugs it off.
- In Blackkat's Reverse, Kakashi recognizes that Naruto is being neglected, mistreated and outright abused in Konoha, treated like utter crap for being a jinchuuriki while denied any knowledge of his own heritage or even any explanation as to why everyone treats him like garbage. He also recognizes that Naruto would likely be much better off with somebody like Kurama, who claims him as family and treats him with actual kindness and empathy. Yet he decides that his loyalty to Konoha supercedes all else, and that he will follow orders regardless of their cruelty.
- Advice and Trust:
- In chapter 7 Shinji manages to get Hikari out of Unit 03's core where she was trapped. Gendo could have realized maybe it meant Yui could come out but she did not choose not to -therefore he should stop his little "I'll get the entirety of mankind killed in order to save my wife" scheme-, but he chooses to focus on the fact that it is possible for a soul to come out of an Eva.
- In chapter 8 Rei shows many signs that she isn't interested in Gendo and she doesn't even like him. Still Ritsuko refused to realize the implications, and kept drugging Rei because she thought that "the doll" was "competition".
- A Crown of Stars: Jinnai was present when Asuka declared she liked neither -former Big Bad- Winthrop nor Jinnai and she only agreed to being their plaything for her own protection, and Winthrop hinted that Asuka had acted to protect Shinji. However he paid little heed to the exchange, and he got shocked -and jealous- when he heard Asuka had hooked up with Shinji.
- The One I Love Is...:
- In the third chapter, Shinji is making out with Rei. Suddenly he starts thinking about Asuka, and he is unable to go on. If he would have realized that it meant he loved Asuka the most, the Love Triangle could have been resolved right then, but instead of getting a clue he complained about Asuka mucking things up.
- In the next chapter, Asuka dares Shinji to kiss her because she was bored. Typically clueless, Shinji replies that "You don't kiss a guy because you're bored", but he does not figure out that Asuka was just using a lame excuse to kiss him.
- Subverted later, when Shinji says Asuka her parents surely care about her. She lets him know that his father does not give a damn about her and her mother is dead. After few seconds it hit him that she was just like him.
- Guan Yu has one after his death in Farce of the Three Kingdoms. Yes, he'd killed just as many people as Lu Meng, and had no right to complain... so clearly, he needed to kill a few more people.
- Steven Universe: Future (REWRITTEN): In Chapter 7, Spinel realizes from their comments towards an unconscious Steven that the Diamonds aren't calling Steven "Pink" out of stubbornness, but because they honestly believe Steven is just Pink Diamond having an extended temper tantrum and playing a role, which by extent, means nothing Steven has told them in the past few years in an attempt to reform them has actually stuck. When they continuously dismiss Spinel's arguments, Volleyball angrily steps in to call out White on the fact that she should at least be completely aware of Steven's true identity, given that she had already tried separating Steven from his Gem years prior, and thus has visual confirmation that Pink Diamond no longer exists. White admits that she's deliberately been trying to forget.
- A Boy, a Girl and a Dog: The Leithian Script: Subverted. Lúthien is telling her family her and Beren's history, and she has just gotten to the part where the giant wolf Carcharoth is blocking their path for the second time, her cousin's fiancée Amarië wonders whether Carcharoth wasn't actually grateful, since Lúthien previously magically puts him to sleep, giving him a dream where he was happy, innocent cub instead of the Dark Lord's man-eating slave. Lúthien sadly answers: "I tricked him and humiliated him and made him a slave to my power. — That's how he saw it. No, he wasn't grateful. Why? Did you think he would have recognized me as a friend, and let us go, or even helped us, let me ride him like Huan, or fought against his pack-mates to defend us? He was a Hellhound. That was the life he knew. You didn't really think that the fact that I was able to pity him, would make him able to reciprocate, or change all that?" Later, though, it turns out that being shown mercy by an enemy got Carcharoth so badly confused that he is suffering from an existential crisis, and he might actually be redeemed.
- Leopardstar in the Better Bones AU genuinely regrets her role in forming TigerClan and the persecution of half-Clan cats, but over time comes to forget that regret and look on that time fondly, leading to her relapsing into her old behavior.
