Knowing when to fold 'em in Anime and Manga.
- In The Black Swordsman story arc of Berserk, after Guts's ally Vargas has been captured by the Count's men and about to be executed, Puck asks why Guts isn't going in and rescuing him. The guy who once slew 100 warriors in one sitting, tells Puck to screw off since there's about 50 guards in the area lying in wait for him and he's not going to risk fighting so many for a weakling. Instead Guts just witnesses Vargas's execution, leaving Puck to attempt a rescue alone and fail.
- A Certain Scientific Railgun: Gunha Sogiita, one of the most Hot-Blooded, Idiot Heroes of all time, ran away when he was confronted by the Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor. What makes it funny is that the Dorm Supervisor is a Badass Normal, while Gunha once refused to run away from Ollerus, a near Physical God.
- When Chrono and Rosete of Chrono Crusade are ambushed by an enemy, Chrono tells Rosette urgently that they have to retreat. Rosette — being a Determinator — argues with him, shouting "Why are you saying we should give up?!" She then grabs his arm as he tries to take her away. This distracts him and gives their opponent a chance to shoot at Chrono, nearly killing him. Things only go downhill from there.
- Code Geass — One of Lelouch Lamperouge's flaws is his inability to back down. This stems from a personal variation on the Sunk Cost Fallacy: if he doesn't achieve his goals, then all the people who died aiding him will have their deaths rendered meaningless. That, and he simply refuses to accept defeat.
- He plays it straight during the Battle of Narita by ordering a retreat after Kallen loses her Radiant Surger Wave claw in a Diabolus ex Machina. He knows full well that in spite of his side's tactical advantage this battle, continuing would be a war of attrition. Exactly one season later, Schneizel himself orders a retreat, only in this case on account of Zero inciting a rebellion in China via publicly exposing the eunuchs' plans, knowing that the eunuchs are nothing without the support of the public.
- Also, while Lelouch hates backing down once a battle has started, he also recognises that he is hopelessly outmatched in terms of brute strength, so generally prefers to use guerilla tactics. In addition to the Battle of Narita, there are a few other times when he doesn't continue to press his advantage because it would become a war of attrition, and his battles often end with him ordering his forces to use various pre-planned escape routes, showing that he does fully appreciate the necessity of retreating, even if he hates doing it.
- In an episode of Digimon Adventure 02, TK successfully convinces all but one of the Digi-Destined group to make a strategic withdrawal. Subverted when Davis, the one who isn't convinced, succeeds despite ignoring the logic, but only through pure dumb luck.
- Dragon Ball:
- In the first Tournament Arc, after regrowing his tail, Goku tests his power by demolishing a brick wall with a single kick. Seeing this, his opponent Giran pulls out a white flag and forfeits.
- King Vegeta surrendered to Frieza and allowed the Saiyan race to become his servants, knowing that they didn't stand a chance against him, but was patiently biding his time to try to stab him in the back. His son Vegeta similarly feigned loyalty to the tyrant instead of trying to fight him right away. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods revealed that King Vegeta similarly bent the knee to Beerus The God of Destruction.
- Goku surrenders the fight against Beerus after barely managing to stop a powerful energy ball he threw towards Earth. Exhausted and unable to match his power, Goku concedes defeat to Beerus instead of trying to continue fighting like most of his other battles. Beerus spares the Earth partly for this reason.
- During her "fight" with Spopovich. Videl realizes she's way out of her league and allows herself to be thrown out of the ring; however, Spopovich grabs her in mid-air and tosses her right back in so he can continue beating her senseless.
- As revealed in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', for all of his arrogance and smugness, even Frieza knew better than to cross Beerus and Majin Buu. Discovering that Goku beat Buu fuels his decision to train in preparation for their rematch, and even after unlocking his Golden Super Mode, Frieza dreads Beerus to the point of shamelessly kneeling and groveling before him.
- Durarara!!: Several people do this when confronted with Shizuo Heiwajima, the most ridiculously overpowered human being alive. In fact, it's remarkable how many people don't run when they see him; the city is filled with Too Dumb to Live people who either assume his reputation is exaggerated or fail to identify him until it's too late. Kasane Kujiragi, one of the most powerful characters in the series, who is both a Dhampyr and an undisputed master of Saika, immediately drops her plans and walks away when Shizuo shows up.
- Early on in Eyeshield 21, Monta learns that it's okay to give up playing baseball because he's just bad at it and find a sport he can be good at instead.
- Forfeiting the match against the Hakushuu Dinosaurs is also the reason Taiyo Sphinx quarterback Kiminari Harao is still walking properly; If he had kept the game going, the Dinosaurs' monstrous Rikiya Gaou would've definitely crippled him. The Sphinx had no other option but to forfeit as they had no linemen left.
- In a literal gambling example, Hiruma folds in a poker game against Clifford when he realizes that Clifford has the winning hand (hopefully this isn't foreshadowing.) This was played as a win on Hiruma's part though, since the real game was a bluff-off between himself and Clifford. Clifford had the better hand and was not happy that Hiruma folded before he could show that he had won.
- In Chapter 206 of Fairy Tail, Natsu, of all people, surrenders after realizing just how great the gap between him and Gildarts really is. Good thing it was a Secret Test of Character meant to test Natsu's judgment, and he passed.
- In the Grand Magic Games, the free-for-all event on the start of the second day has the participants race across a series of carts, an event that Dragon Slayers, who are susceptible to motion sickness, don't stand a chance of winning. The event awards points based on how well the participants do, with 10 points for the winner and 0 for the one in last place, so the Dragon Slayers could, at most, hope for sixth place and two points. Sting, who's competing for Sabertooth (which is in the lead at the moment), decides it isn't worth the humiliation, and drops out after a brief conversation with his rivals Natsu and Gajeel (whose teams are at the back of the pack), whereas Natsu barely passes Gajeel to get sixth place. Sting ends up coming to regret this decision after Natsu defeats him and Rogue, resulting in Natsu's team pulling one point ahead of Saber Tooth. In the end, Sting surrenders rather than fight the five members of Fairy Tail's combined team, even though he's uninjured and they're on their last legs, since he's come to realize how determiend they are.
- After the Time Skip, Natsu fights Orochi's Fin alongside Lamia Scale, and easily defeats Bluenote Stinger. After he wins, the rest of Orochi's Fin surrenders on the spot, knowing they don't stand a chance against the one who defeated their strongest fighter.
- Girls Bravo: Kirie had a crush on her next door neighbor (and classmate), Yukinari. In Episode 4, she tried to get closer to him by preparing a special box bento, in hopes of going on a lunch date with him. Except it failed due to a series of unforeseen events and, with Lisa now entering the picture along with Miharu, Kirie decided it was no longer worth it and quit. From the fifth episode onwards, she settles for just being friends with him.
- Deconstructed in Hunter × Hunter with Killua, whose first instinct when he's certain he's facing a more powerful opponent is to run. Unfortunately, this proves to be more of a hindrance a lot of the time, as running isn't always an option, and with his tendency to underestimate himself, it ends up holding him back from going all-out. This provides a hilarious moment when he and Gon are trapped in a room by Nobunaga. With Nobunaga blocking the only way out of the room and being far too strong for the two of them to fight, they suddenly rush him...only to break down the walls of the room and flee. When Nobunaga runs out to look for them, Killua declares that they'll come out to face him...only to take Gon and flee the building while Nobunaga waits for them to show themselves. It's later subverted when it turns out this behavior is actually manipulation from his older brother Illumi, who is overbearingly protective of him. To ensure he never fights opponents stronger than himself, he planted a mind-controlling needle in his forehead that puts that instinct in his mind. Once Killua figures this out, he immediately removes the needle, and along with it, the crippling desire to run.
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, Joseph's final super special plan consists of basically making the best use of his legs. In other words, to run the hell away. He usually comes up with a better plan while he's at it. (It sees use again in the part's finale, and gets a brief Call-Back in the next part.)
- Even Joseph's son Josuke and grandson Jotaro do this occasionally, once again to strategize against Hopeless Boss Fight at first glance.
- This carries on to Giorno, Joseph's uncle, (don't ask how), as he ran away rather than face Koichi and his Echoes Act 3.
- Most fighters in Kengan Ashura avert this, as they refuse to concede and fight until incapacitated — or even until death — in any fight, regardless of opponent or conditions. However, Muteba Gizenga, being a mercenary first and foremost, notably concedes in his battle against Wakatsuki, after he is hit with the Blast Core as he judges that further combat would affect his long-term career as a mercenary.
- Discussed by Reinhard von Lohengramm in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, where he told his attendant that first-rate commanders are commanders who at least knows when to retreat, although he himself never needed to retreat, since he always enters the battlefield with overwhelming advantages (except in one occasion).
- Maria no Danzai: Tsuyoshi Kinugawa may be a violent brute who will beat up anyone who ticks him off or tries to calm him down, but even he has enough sense to book it when the police show up.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny:
- Knowing when he no longer has anything to gain by continuing to fight is one of the things that makes Neo Roanoke one of the most effective tacticians.
- Of his subordinates, Sting Oakley is the only one of the Extended trio to follow Neo's example. Auel and Stella will fight to the end, but Sting is smart enough to know when the battle is going against them, and typically bails soon afterwards, taking the other two with him.
- The "Unknown Enemy" of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE don't bother fighting battles they know they can't win. Only once has an entire UE attack force been wiped out in the course of a battle, and that's because they were blindsided by two extremely powerful mobile suits they had no way of predicting. In every other case, they've retreated the moment the battle started going against them. This stops happening past the first season though... perhaps the vanguard force was more elite than the main army.
- Naruto:
- During their match in the Chuunin Exams, Shikamaru appears to have Temari on the ropes, only to give up at the last minute, commenting that he doesn't have the ability to continue. While Naruto is furious, the proctors observing this note to themselves that this is wise judgment, and he gets promoted as a result.Shikamaru: I used up too much chakra, using the Shadow Imitation so many times. I can only hold you for an additional ten seconds. So I've thought about 200 possible moves... but time's up. It's too troublesome to do more.
- Itachi and Kisame did this twice during their attempt to capture Naruto. The first was when Guy showed up; while they had dealt with Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai fairly handily and probably could have dealt with Guy as well, they retreated because they figured that Guy was the first of many and they weren't equipped to fight off a bunch of jonin. The second time was against Jiraiya; the minute he showed up and made it clear that he wasn't playing, Kisame admitted that he would stomp them in a fight and they immediately abandoned the mission and fled.
- During their match in the Chuunin Exams, Shikamaru appears to have Temari on the ropes, only to give up at the last minute, commenting that he doesn't have the ability to continue. While Naruto is furious, the proctors observing this note to themselves that this is wise judgment, and he gets promoted as a result.
- An ep of Ojamajo Doremi has perennial athlete Aiko give up her spot to Hazuki in a swim relay. Despite Hazuki taking the lead, she cramps in the homestretch.
- One Piece:
- In an early story where Sanji is introduced, the armored pirate "Foul Play" Don Krieg (who's as rotten as his title implies) barges onto the restaurant-ship demanding food for his crew of fifty men. Several of the staff try to drive him off, but are curb-stomped quickly. Eventually, Zeff decides to do the smart thing, and simply give him what he wants, bringing out the food and telling him sternly to take it and go. (Unfortunately, this makes it worse, as Don Krieg recognizes Zeff as the former captain of the Cook Pirates, and now wants to stay around for a different reason.)
- In the same story arc as the one where Sanji is introduced, Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, shows up pursuing Krieg due to boredom. Later on, Mihawk has fought and beaten Roronoa Zoro, Luffy's crewmate, and been impressed by his spirit. When Krieg tries to attack Hawkeye again (ignoring how the last time his crew fought Hawkeye it cost him his entire fleet save one ship), Krieg's men start begging him to just let Hawkeye leave unmolested."For the love of God, if the man wants to leave, let him leave!"
- At the end of the Enies Lobby Arc, after the Straw Hats defeat the CP9, rescue Nico Robin and escape the Buster Call Navy fleet, the Marines still want to give chase. Admiral Aokiji, however, declares the battle a total defeat for the World Government.
- Luffy decides to order his crew to focus only on running away when facing Admiral Kizaru, Sentoumaru and Bartholomew Kuma, after having already exhausted themselves beating one of the latter mere moments earlier. Although not their first defeat, this is the first time they've ever run away from a fight. It doesn't work. By God, it does not work.
- Akainu also demonstrated this at Marineford. After a lengthy battle against Whitebeard that resulted in huge casualties on both sides and very nearly destroyed Marineford, Akainu was still totally prepared to mop up what was left. When Shanks and his crew showed up, he pulled a 180 and opted to back off and call it a wrap rather than deal with someone on par with the dude who just crippled them in the first place.
- Post-timeskip, he displays another moment of restraint when he absolutely refuses to touch the Wano Country, stating that between Kaido and Big Mom's alliance, the amount of serious heavy hitters in the Wano Country in general, and the abolition of the Shichibukai system and current struggles with former members of the latter, the Marines don't have enough resources to take on that many serious heavy hitters and not get stomped into the ground.
- Blackbeard may be an ambitious bastard, but he really knows when to pick his battles.
- After gaining Whitebeard's Devil Fruit abilities, he opts to quit while he was ahead and get the hell out of there. Sure, he may have just gained an enormous power boost, but considering that he had very nearly been killed by an enraged Whitebeard moments before and was going to have to deal with the likes of Shanks, Sengoku, the Admirals, the Warlords, and tons of other major-league hitters with something that he had no experience with using if he pressed the attack, he is very smart to take the safe road.
- Not long after, he captures the Bonney Pirates and offers to trade them off to the Marines for a warship. When he's told that they sent Akainu to deal with him, he quickly bails from the scene and leaves Bonney behind to distract Akainu.
- After the Time Skip, following the abolition of the Seven Warlords, Blackbeard leads a raid on Amazon Lily while the Marines are trying to arrest Hancock, aiming to steal her Devil Fruit ability even if he has to kill her and sacrifice most of his men to do so. Then Rayleigh shows up and threatens to fight Blackbeard if he does not let go of Hancock and leave at once. Though unhappy, Blackbeard relents and takes Koby hostage as a consolation prize.
- Rather than attack Wano Country after Kaido and Big Mom are defeated by the Worst Generation, Blackbeard opts to set up an ambush on Winner Island, aware that at least one of his targets will go there and he will only have to deal with them instead of all of them at once.
- Doflamingo also demonstrated this after Kuzan showed up at Punk Hazard and stopped him from killing Smoker. Yeah, he probably could have done okay against him. That wasn't the point, however; he came to Punk Hazard to clean up a mess and eliminate key witnesses to activities that he didn't want the World Government to know about, not fight a pissed off ex-Admiral, and he already had enough on his plate as is and didn't need anything else that could add to it.
- When Kaido drops in on Captain Kid, Killer, Hawkins and Apoo's pirate alliance, because Apoo was already under Kaido's fold and tricked the others, Hawkins gave up without a fight because he saw, using his clairvoyance, that there was a zero percent chance they could get away or defeat Kaido. Kid and Killer refused to submit and, as predicted, were thoroughly thrashed.
- At the end of the Wano arc, Ryokugyu showed up to kill off the Straw Hats, and was demanding they be brought before him. Shanks, knowing exactly what he was up to, sent a warning shot of Conqueror's Haki from a great distance. As soon as Ryokugyu figured out who it belonged to, he immediately abandoned his original mission and fled the scene.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- It is stated on numerous occasions that it's a trainer's duty to end the battle if there is any serious danger to their Pokémon (the first battles with Brock, Sabrina, and Blaine all ended in this fashion). However, this is pretty much a Broken Aesop as Ash will determinate himself through anything, even winning one badge when Pryce forfeited despite Ash ignoring the option to do the same earlier.note
- During his first attempt at the Dewford gym, Ash is warned several times that his Treecko is wearing itself out and he should forfeit the match before he pushes it too far, but he decides to continue fighting a hopeless battle against Brawly's Hariyama because Treecko's still hanging in there.note Ash is understandably upset with himself for continuing the battle when he inevitably loses the hard way and everyone else agrees that he shouldn't have forced Treecko to overexert itself.
- The Team Rocket trio did this for a good portion of the Unova arc. When things start going too far south, they get the heck of there instead of fighting until they're sent blasting off. It's worked much better for them.
- They do it again near the end of the XY series, where the twerps' Pokemon have become so overpowered even they lampshade they don't stand a chance anymore, working in the background until the twerps disband to other regions and Ash is vulnerable again.
- During Ash's first full battle with Paul, Ash is on the verge of withdrawing his Buizel because it's taken massive damage from Paul's Ursaring, but decides to leave Buizel in because it signals to him that it can still battle... and Buizel gets knocked out by Ursaring's next attack before it can get another hit in. Ash is promptly called out for not trusting his own judgement regarding the well-being of his Pokemon by Paul's brother Reggie. Moral: The trainer is responsible for knowing when a Pokemon should be switched out, and relying simply on faith in your Pokemon doesn't always cut it when the odds are stacked against you.
- Paul does know when to cut his losses, at least when his emotions aren't getting the better of him. He decides to concede his battle against Sinnoh region champion Cynthia after her Garchomp single-handedly knocks out four of his six Pokemon, realizing he isn't making any headway. This, however, gets him mocked by the spectators (except for Ash and his friends)
- In Pokémon: Kyurem vs. The Sword of Justice, Keldeo yields his rematch after protecting Ash and his friends from a stray attack made him too injured to continue. Kyurem and the other Swords of Justice praise him for his good judgment.
- Another early Kanto arc example is in "The Punchy Pokemon", where Anthony convinces Brock to throw in the towel when it's clear Geodude vs. Hitmonlee is a mismatch. Anthony himself does the same when his daughter Rebecca nearly gets herself seriously injured protecting his defenseless Hitmonchan.
- Ranma ½: The Saotome Secret Technique, employed by the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, relies on speed, obfuscation, and contemplation. Or, put more plainly, run away and hide until you come up with a better plan. While introduced mostly as a joke early on, this is actually Ranma's most useful skill, as most of his fights are won less through sheer skill (Having just learned how to fight with teacups and teaspoons a few days ago), and more through outsmarting his opponents.
- The majority of the characters in Sekirei are members of a Proud Warrior Race, and enjoy a good fight. This makes AntiVillains Mutsu and Akitsu noteworthy for their willingness to run from a fight. Unlike other Sekirei that flee because they're hopelessly outmatched, both are established as being among the most powerful fighters. Instead, they're simply pragmatic enough to see when a situation is unfavorable or a waste of time and too busy keeping their master safe.
- In The Seven Deadly Sins, Princess Elizabeth fleeing the capital to seek help after her father's murder is portrayed as both the smart and right thing to do. Especially since she had no hope in hell of defeating his usurpers or bringing them to justice legally (they were that high up in Liones' hierarchy).
- Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is an insanely badass Determinator, but is rational enough to walk away from a fight once he's exhausted every other option. This is the principal difference between him and Kamina. However, this isn't always a good thing. When Kamina and Simon were first fighting Thymilph, everyone was trying to convince them to retreat, before Simon himself points out they may need to this one time. However, Kamina (correctly) points out that they can't. If they did, they would be putting the others in danger because they'd be chased. This ends up with Simon taking advantage of a cliff to sink the Dai-Gunzan and win them the battle.
- Vinland Saga: Thorfinn declares to Canute that, if he will use his authority as King to force his way and subjugate those who will not submit to him, then Thorfinn will simply flee where his authority cannot reach, since fighting back will lead to senseless loss of life. Canute's response is to laugh at the fact that Thorfinn got himself beaten up just to admonish him, before expressing sincere respect for his conviction.Thorfinn: What else can I do? Do you want us to kill each other here?
- Violet Evergarden: Violet encounters a small squad of soldiers, and the leader recognizes her as the Maiden of the Battlefield. Despite being a warmongering asshole murdering his own countrymen because he thinks they're "weak" for choosing peace, he gives up and walks away without the slightest sign of embarrassment.Soldier: Let's go, boys. We're no match for her.
- Wangan Midnight has Tatsuya Shima, the driver of the legendary "Blackbird". Despite being one of the best race drivers on the Wangan expressway, he will pull out of a race if he feels that his vehicle is in danger of a breakdown.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi and his grandpa Solomon both did this. It turned out to be a Generation Xerox battle. Yugi's grandpa conceded a duel (water was at stake; they were stranded in Egypt) because his friend was in more need of the water. Years later, Yugi duels the other guy's granddaughter who had a related grudge. The duel went pretty much the way the old duel went, to the point that Yugi concedes at the exact same point: just before drawing the Game-Breaker. In Yugi's case, winning wouldn't have settled the grudge, and when the gentlemen revealed just what Yugi had done, the granddaughter finally realizes Yugi hadn't been acting selfish at all (which she had been believing the whole time).
- In Yugi and Mai's match during the Duelist Kingdom finals, when Yugi manages to summon Black Luster Soldier, Mai surrenders immediately, because it just destroyed her most powerful monster and she doesn't have anything else in her deck that can come close to beating it.note
- Its sequel series Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V also has this in the case of Yuzu Hiragi because she knows she can't beat Yuri, she opted to run away and wait until the Battle Royale is over. She was nearly caught, but credit is where it dues.
