It does not have to be a romantic rivalry; the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter often feels conflicting loyalties between the hero and her father, and has to learn the extent of his evil before she is willing to support the hero whole-heartedly.
She may have been seriously burned by the first love, and think Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!; The Power of Love will have to overcome her reluctance. Or it was with a Bad Boy and she is confused; she thought she felt love when it was really adrenaline, and is now Oblivious to Love that doesn't come with danger packaged in.
They face no internal problems, but external forces try to tear them apart. Star-Crossed Lovers frequently fall under this, as does It's Not You, It's My Enemies. This was particularly popular in the 1700s when romantic comedies were typically not stories about falling in love, but stories about getting married without being written out of the will.
The hero or heroine (or both) face difficulties in admitting their attraction. One of them might even be in a preexisting relationship — and since he's such a nice guy, he's not going to stomp on his current girlfriend's heart or go after someone who's already taken.
Love Hina: In the end, Naru does finally marry Keitaro (after she tones down the worst of her Tsundere traits), and we have Shinobu and Motoko suffering from unrequited love.
Maison Ikkoku: Though occasionally a jerk, most of Godai's jerkish behavior comes from being too nice (and hence unreliable), if that makes any sense.
Played straight all the way with Atan Hadas from Threads Of Time. She despises the ruggedly good looking, sociopathic, Ax Crazy Sali Tayi, and instead falls desperately in love with the shy, polite Bishōnen protagonist Moon Bin. Especially during that time period, Moon Bin is a really nice guy.
Berserk plays it straight between Guts and Casca. It's not Guts' ultra-macho behaviour nor his ability to destroy a whole army single-handedly that made Casca fall for him, it's rather his righteousness, his consideration towards her as well as their Not So Different backgrounds. The series then deconstructs the trope cruelly as the Eclipse goes down and Griffith-turned-Femto brutally rapes Casca to insanity and taints her unborn child right in front of Guts. Yet Casca was attracted to Griffith because she thought he was a formidable man after he saved her from servitude and prostitution. The same can be said as for the Griffith-Charlotte couple.
Alita falls like a brick for the idealistic and sweet boy Yugo, but he isn't much into her and turns out to be a spine thief. When Alita finds out however, she doesn't care. And when Yugo finally seems ready to return Alita's feelings, he dies.
Happens again later in the manga when she falls for Figure Four, a happy-go-lucky Big Guy who can handle himself against cyborgs. The moment seems to be after he stands up for his friend against her, despite his friend being a spineless wimp.
In Battle Royale, it's revealed that pretty much half the girls in class harbored a crush on protagonist Shuya (and he was completely oblivious to it all). And to drive in the idea of how they seek a "good" man, Shuya is revealed to be one of the most idealistic, naive, kind-hearted boys in the entire series.
The "bad girls" in the class all fall into this category. They've all slept with numerous sleazebags — almost exclusively for cash, yet all they really want is a nice guy who cares about them. Hirono Shimizu is one of the aforementioned girls with a soft spot for Shuya; Yoshimi Yahagi is in love with her boyfriend Yoji Kuramoto, who despises the bad things she's done but loves her anyway. The most notable example, however, is the head honcho, Mitsuko Souma. She doesn't give a damn about any guy who lusts after her, but is deeply distressed when Yuichiro Takiguchi, the only person who was ever kind to her, dies.
In H2, Haruka comments in an early chapter that all the guys she's ever liked have turned out to be jerks. Noticing the way she's looking at Hiro, his childhood friend Hikari comments "I don't think you're off this time". She isn't.
Also, possibly one of the reasons for the Sweden / Finland pairing being so popular. Sweden is afflicted with a bad case of Face of a Thug, but he's very sweet and gentle underneath.
Tokyo Mew Mew gives us Ichigo Momomiya, a sweet, slightly ditzy girl who has an adorable crush on, and eventually develops a romance with Masaya Aoyama, who's a really nice guy. Sort of subverted later, as despite being a good-hearted person, Masaya is also her Mysterious Protector... and the Big Bad. But his and Ichigo's love conquer it all in the end.
Allen Walker from D.Gray-man is one of the nicest guysin anime, and is also quite the Chick Magnet. Rohfa has a huge crush on him, Road is openly smitten with him, and it is implied in one of the Reverse novels that Lenalee is interested in him romantically.
Shakugan no Shana: It is Yuji Sakai's kind and friendly personality that draws both Shana and Kazumi toward him.
Eureka falling for friendly and sensitive Renton for his good-nature fits this trope like a glove.
In Freezing, the fact that Kazuya Aoi is respectful and kind towards the very troubled Satellizer makes her develop affection towards him.
Lacus Clyne falls for Nice Guy and male Shrinking Violet Kira Yamato in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, even though this means breaking her arranged engagement to Athrun Zala. While Athrun is himself a good person, the engagement was arranged by their parents, and it's all but stated that Athrun and Lacus considered each other friends rather than prospect lovers and were going along with it because their parents were expecting it, hence why when Lacus hooks up with Kira, Athrun doesn't mind, and vice versa..
Oscar from Rose of Versailles develops a romance with Andre, who's described as a "very sensitive and passionate young man", and a "true working-class hero".
One of the things that makes Kimi ni Todoke so refreshing to read is that unlike 99% of all other shojo manga where the heroine falls for the Troubled, but Cute guy, the heroine's love interest is a genuinely Nice Guy who wins her over by simply being sweet and kind to her.
In Future GPX Cyber Formula, Asuka Sugo doesn't return the affections of the Royal Brat rich kid and racer Randoll, she instead went for the sometimes temperamental but Nice Guy Hayato, who also happens to be her longtime friend.
Monkey High!: Dignified, aloof Haruna falls for Macharu. Why? He was the first person who went out of his way to befriend her in spite of her cool demeanor. Plus, he's Adorkable and has a fun sense of humor that gets even Haruna.
Spice and Wolf: Holo sometimes makes unfavorable remarks about Lawrence's soft-heartedness, but his kindness is probably the main thing he has going for him. That said, she does cultivate him to be more assertive and outgoing to an extent. And she dislikes it when he holds back from risky business endeavors for her sake.
One Piece: Boa Hancock falls in love with Luffy Because He Was Nice To Her. Well, that, and he punched out a World Noble, one of only two people in the world with the guts to go through with it. And the World Nobles were those who actually enslaved and tortured Hancock and her sisters nearly into insanity, making her the... really troubled person she is.
Hinata wasn't QUITE this for Naruto at first, because what attracted her to him was his hidden strength as a person despite being a failure in every conventional sense. It becomes this when he starts to become more actively heroic and less selfish and bratty. (and to be fair, she probably always thought he was really a good kid at heart anyway.)
Asuma Sarutobi is a Former Teen Rebel, but by the time he got together with the local Team Mom Kurenai, he had matured into a well-loved Team Dad.
While a lot of fans like to believe that Tenten has something for the dark, stoic, cynical Neji, there is actually no sign that she has interest in him, not in the official series and in not the spin-offs either, whereas her relationship with Lee has been teased both in the official series and in the Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth spin-off. There was also a scene, prior to Shippuden, where Tenten lovingly looked at Lee and blushed as she admired his devotion and hardworking personality.
While Hikaru's attraction to Kyousuke Kasuga in Kimagure Orange Road comes from her accidentally seeing him use his Psychic Powers and thinking he's the most awesome guy around, Madoka's own crush on him comes from how Kyousuke is among the few males at their school who treats her as a person instead of just fearing her. (Well, the other guy who does it from the start is Yusaku but he's smitten with Hikaru instead, while Hatta and Komatsu only start talking more to Madoka once Kyousuke does so.)
Tsubasa Ohzora might be a member of the Chaste Teens Group, but outside of the soccer fields he's a very kind-hearted guy. No wonder Sanae and Kumi (and lots of nameless fangirls, in the TV series) fall in love with him. Double if you adhere to the fanon theory about the old anime series having a mostly impliedLove Triangle between Tsubasa, Sanae, and "bad boy" Koujirou Hyuuga.
Actually, the pilot manga chapter directly alluded to this trope. There was a Love Triangle between main guy Taro Tsubasa, main girl Aki Yamazaki (who'd later become Sanae) and Hot BloodedLancer Genzo Wakabayashi: Genzo openly declared his love for Aki, but she apologized and turned him down because she already was in love with Taro.
There's also the sweet Fragile Flower Yoshiko. She's completely in love with Matsuyama, a kind and responsible Team Dad.
The flighty and boy-crazy Sonoko Suzuki from Detective Conan ultimately swears by the trope as her long-distance boyfriend is the AdorkableGentle Giant Makoto Kyougoku. Her best friend Ran Mouri does so too, as the guy she likes is the Amateur Sleuth Shinichi Kudou who is very protective of his loved ones and has a strong sense of justice (And unbeknownst to them, he's living with her... as her sort-of little brother Conan Edogawa)
And recently, local Action Girl Miwako Satou joned the group, by choosing Nice Guy Takagi over Princely Young Man Shiratori. Not to say that Shiratori is a Bad Boy; he's a bit of a jerk, but he's an honest cop, a quality that he's had ever since he was a child... Which helps him win the heart of local Hot Teacher Sumiko Kobayashi, who he helped when they were children.
Genderflipped in Toradora; The protagonist Ryuuji is actually interested in the bright and cheerful Minori in contrast to most of his male classmates, who are smitten with Lovable Alpha Bitch Ami Kawashima instead. Of course, his interests change to Taiga as they get to know each other... though Taiga has to tone down the worst part of herTsunderenessand start resolving her issues with her family, for their relationship to work, thus acquiring her own set of Nice Girl traits. Taiga as well, in her attraction to Nice Guy Kitamura and later to Ryuuji, who's a Nice Guy too.
Hana No Ko Lunlun is a Magical Girl series in which the titular heroine searches for a MacGuffin through Europe. The closest to a Love Interest that she has is a handsome photographer named Serge, who's a Nice Guy and some more and keeps helping her when she needs it.
In Tiger & Bunny, Karina ends up falling for the selfless, hyper-compassionate Kotetsu. Likewise, Tomoe (Kotetsu's late wife) started warming up to him once it became apparent that the supposed Delinquent was skipping classes to perform after school superheroics rather than to get into pointless fights like she assumed.
Honoo No Alpen Rose has the kind and sweet Jeudi falling since the beginning for the Nice Guy Lundi, despite Count Germont's pursuing and the appearance of Teen Genius Leonhardt. (Although Leon is also a Nice Guy, Lundi still has the advantage.)
D.N.Angel has every female fall for the phantom thief Dark, with the exception of Riku Harada who falls in love with the sweet, good-natured Daisuke.
Perhaps the ultimate example is in the Anime featured film, Paprika, where the attractive Dr. Chiba reveals that she's in love with the seriously obese Tokita, because of his kind, loving, heart.
In Fruits Basket, this happens quite frequently. Kyoko falls deeply in love with Katsuya (though very sarcastic, he was the first person to ever try to understand her and treated her kindly). Machi falls for the gentle, good-natured Yuki. Mitsuru becomes very close to Ritsu, bonding over the stress Shigure causes them. Komaki is practically married to Manabi who, zaniness aside, is very attentive and caring towards her. Rin actually says that the reason she fell in love with Haru was because he was "a kind boy", who took care of her after everyone else abandoned her. Even in the case of Kyo, Tohru is attracted to the sweet, loving side of him that becomes more and more prominent as the series goes on.
Most of the girls in Mahou Sensei Negima! fall under this - at least, those who have a crush on Negi. (So still most of them, then.) Negi himself is a very kind, caring, protective boy, and most of the time the girls initially fall for him because they see that kindness as they become friends with him or he helps them out.
In Midori no Hibi, Ayase initially despises Seiji seeing him as nothing but a violent delinquent. This starts to change when a bunch of delinquents from another school try to take her away for some "fun" and Seiji is the only person who defends her (the other students taking a "not my problem" stance). She falls for him for real when she sees him willingly taking a beating to protect his friend.
In Oregairu, the trope likely applies to Yui. According to the Other Wiki, Hachiman saved Yui's dog from a car accident that had him in hospital for 3 weeks.
Comic Books
Spider-Man may be the poster boy for this trope; he's attracted plenty of cynical women in Marvel due to his nice and heroic personality. Most notably Black Cat.
Blacksad has Alma Mayer who simply wants a man who will be dedicated enough to bring her to Niagara Falls.
Jean Grey choosing Cyclops in X-Men over Wolverine. (Before she died, anyway.)
Diamondback, a villainess member of the Serpent Society, dated Captain America and offered to drop crime for him on their first meeting. She took awhile getting around to it, but she did do it.
Although Catwoman sometimes gets sick of Batman's sense of honor, she is in love with him because of his righteousness and kindness towards her.
Earth-2 Catwoman fell for Batman (after she had reformed — this was not a Love Redeems situation).
Also from the Batman comic books, Stephanie Brown (Spoiler/Batgirl IV) was in a relationship with a sleazy douchebag who knocked her up and left her to fend for herself. Her next boyfriend was nice guyTim Drake, who took care of her during her pregnancy, brought her to birthing classes, and even crossed hundred of miles in one night just to see her at the hospital during her labour.
In Watchmen, Laurie eventually realizes that Jon really loves her. Although his detachment from humanity caused him to be used as a walking murder weapon during the Vietnam war, she's attracted to his omniscience, his virility and his power over her. She also realizes that, as a god, he's unable to care for her the way a normal guy could. So she ends up with the nerdy, mild-mannered, fat, balding, initially impotent Dan Dreiberg, and they live happily ever after.
Lois Lane (eventually) for Clark Kent, before she found out he was also Superman. That freaked her out a little, but she decided that since he's still a Nice Guy and Clark is his natural personality, it would be foolish to throw him over.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after seven seasons of screwing two "good" (according to her screwed-up definition of soul + dead + still walking + penis + about as old as Independent America = good) vampires, a genetically-altered idiot soldier, and a one-night stand with a college sleazeball, she goes after the one good man who had pined for her way back in high school. Only to find that he was now in love with her little sister, Dawn.
In Jennifer Blood, the title character fell in love with and married a mild-mannered, goofy, and good-natured accountant precisely because he was the opposite of every man — all hardened ruthless criminals — she had ever known in her life. In her own words, her husband is the kind of man her evil uncles would have dismissed as "weak", because he's the kind of man who makes society work instead of preying on it.
Unfortunately, as her choices and needs cause her life to spin more and more out of control, she ultimately decides she loves her children more. Then it gets even worse...and WORSE...it's that kind of comic.
In some versions, the other brothers try to force the princess to marry one of them. She keeps them away by clawing at the eyes of whoever comes near her, but quickly recognizes the youngest brother when no one else does and welcomes him back.
In "The Golden Mermaid", the mermaid refuses to leave the body of the murdered youngest son, who actually carried out The Quest, even when his older brothers threaten her.
"Beauty and the Beast" has this trope written all over it. The heroine is terrified at first by the Beast's monstrous appearance, but he is kind and caring from the start. This causes her to eventually fall in love with him, as she realizes that True Beauty Is On The Inside.
In Bearskin, the youngest daughter agrees to marry the frightful-looking hero because only a good man would have paid off a total stranger's debts.
Films — Animated
This is a staple of Disney Princess movies. The princes might be rather bland (especially the early ones), but one cannot deny that they are good people who love the heroines. Even in the case of Beast, Naveen, and Flynn Rider, who all start off as jerks, the respective princesses don't fall for them until they undergo Character Development and become better people.
In the 1956 classic film High Society, Tracy Samantha Lord is wooed by her ex-husband while falling in love with Mike Conner, a bad-boy reporter sent to cover her wedding with the austere George Kittredge.
X2: X-Men United has Jean Grey give a major speech about this that sounds a lot like Princess Leia's, though the outcomes of the two speeches are quite different.
In The Adventures of Robin Hood, Maid Marian is quite cold to Robin despite his obvious charm, until he reveals that he is actually acting on behalf of the suffering innocent. (Then, he was not interested in her good opinion until it dawned on him that when she called him a "Saxon hedge-robber", what she really objected to in that list was the "robber".)
In The Rocketeer, in the Love Triangle between Jenny, Neville Sinclair, and Cliff, it is Cliff's concern for her welfare and Sinclair's manifest phoniness that sends Jenny back to Cliff.
Well, that he's phony, and that he's a Nazi spy.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jessica is madly in love with Roger, for the reason cited above. After Eddie saved the day, she gave him a cool "My hero" and pounced on Roger for a Sickeningly Sweethearts moment.
Furthermore, when Eddie incredulously asks for confirmation that she's married to Roger, Betty Boop responds with "What a lucky gal."
Neha, the heroine of the Bollywood movie Dostana doesn't end up with either of the two good-looking guys, Sam and Kunal, who are willing to lie and cheat their way into her heart. She falls for Abhi instead, a kind family man.
In Just Friends, Chris Brander is mocked during his teenage years for being a fat, but smart and sensitive young man. He decides to abandon his old persona in order to chase wealth, power, and financial success, which he gains in spades. But when his flight is accidentally grounded in his old home town ten years later, he realizes that he needs to rediscover many of the character traits he left behind in order to court his highschool crush, a small town "girl next door" character. A variation of the Childhood Friend Romance.
The Party has a sweet and shy French singer looking to break into Hollywood with the help of her 'willing' agent. All throughout the movie she talks with A-list members of the scene, and is ready and set to become a star. But during the climactic scene, when it comes down to becoming a starlet or being with extra-good guy Hrundi V. Bakshi? She chooses Bakshi.
Most of Tyler Perry's movies have this. Usually the woman is someone who has serious problems (i.e. on drugs, single parent) and resists at first, then falls in love.
From Where The Heart Is, Novalee was initially with her Jerk Ass boyfriend Willy Jack, having no one else and carrying his baby at the time, until he abandoned her at a Wal-Mart. Ultimately, she fell in love with and married Forney, the local librarian.
The same situation with Novalee's friend Lexie, who was attracted to several bad boys. Who tended to leave her pregnant and run off on her. She would later marry Adorkable Ernie the Exterminator who, despite looking rather frumpy and plain, had a heart of gold.
The titlular Honey starring Jessica Alba, was attracted to the sweet and friendly barber compared to the big-time producer who made unwanted sexual advances to her and then fired her when she declined.
Isabel and Donald in Mozart and the Whale. In this case there was no question of choosing a bad boy over Donald. The problem was that they were both autistic and thus constantly and very painfully stepping on each others emotional toes.
In Something New, Kenya has to choose between two very different nice guys.
In Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil Allison rebuffs Chad's creepy advances and eventually falls in love with the awkward yet decent hillbilly Dale.
In Kate and Leopold Kate says that Leopold is handsome, honest, courteous. Stands when you walk in a room. Brings you brioche in bed. She realizes that he is someone who came along who knew exactly what she wanted without asking.
In The Court Jester, Maid Jean seems indifferent toward Hawkins at first, and the fact that Hawkins comes off as a bumbling fool, especially compared to the Robin HoodExpy The Black Fox, seems to justify her attitude. When they spend some time alone together, prior to his taking the role of Giacomo the Jester, she confesses her true feelings to Hawkins, saying that she was attracted to his kindness and sensitivity; she is seen glancing longingly at Hawkins as he sings a lullaby to the infant king. She only seems cold and distant because she is focused on the task of overthrowing the usurper Roderick.
In The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Becky has been friends with Dave since childhood. At first, Becky only considers Dave a friend but at the end of the movie, she genuinely falls in love with him.
Literature
In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, while Darcy's apparent arrogance puts Elizabeth off, she is won over by the revelation of his actual dealings with Wickham, the testimony of his servants, and his generosity to her family when Lydia elopes.
Indeed, all her heroines are won by good men. Usually after being temporarily interested in and/or pursued by thorough cads.
Audrey, Wait!: All of the successful romantic leads are decent, all around reliable guys.
Pretty much all of the Happily Married couples in the 1632 series come from women who fall in love with genuinely good men.
In The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore, the character who insists she is entitled to marry a handsome prince is shocked and repelled by one brother of the unhandsome prince she disenchanted; she seriously considers marrying the unhandsome prince. As he has fallen in love with someone else in the meantime, she ends up marrying the third brother, who is both handsome and nice.
In Piers Anthony's Xanth, the Gorgon fell in love with the Good Magician Humphrey after he prevented her from turning everyone she saw to stone. So she went to his castle, where he would answer any question in return for a year's service, to ask, "Will you marry me?" He made her work the year. He explains to Dor that while he knew from the beginning that he would say "Yes," she was just infatuated with the man who had rescued her from her curse; after a year working for him, she would know him well and thus know whether she wanted to marry him. A bit later, the Gorgon tells Dor she realized this and asks Dor what sort of man would do such a thing. Dor realizes that only a good man, a man worth marrying, would do such a thing. So they do.
In Harry Potter, female lead Hermione Granger has a long-running Belligerent Sexual Tension-style attraction to fundamentally good guy Ron Weasley. The thing that finally pushes her to kiss him senseless? It's when Ron realizes in a panic that the House Elves are unprotected during the Battle of Hogwarts. Which is this trope to an almost absurd level, since the welfare of House Elves has long been a moral cause close to Hermione's heart, and one that had opened her up to general ridicule in previous books (especially from Ron). Although it's worth pointing out there's a difference between forcing unwanted freedom on them, and trying to make sure they don't get killed.
And even Hermione's brief love interest Viktor Krum, although he's introduced as an intimidating world-class athlete from a rival school, turns out to be a pretty nice guy.
In fact, this is a trend throughout the series. Fleur Delacour falls in love with Bill Weasley, Cho Chang falls in love with Cedric and later pursues Harry, Ginny goes to the Yule Ball with Neville (before he fully Took a Level in Badass, even). Arthur and Molly Weasley must also count - after all, they're into each other enough to have seven children! Lily Potter, meanwhile, is specifically turned off by what she considers to be Snape's moral failings (consorting with Death Eaters, dropping the slur "mudblood"). Her eventual choice, James, was a Jerk Ass in school but later it was outright-stated that by the time he and Lilly married, James had matured into someone who wasn't such an a-hole. Perhaps a nod to Truth In Literature, given this tends to happen to a lot of people in Real Life (i.e. When in junior high/high school, some kids were insufferable jerkwads with no concept to the consequences of their actions and years later, once they've out in the real world, most tend to become wiser and more compassionate).
On the flip side, the two biggest cases of lust instead of love - Riddle Sr. and Merope and Bellatrix and Voldemort - all involve men that are very not nice. Riddle Sr. was shown to be extremely shallow and cruel.
Harry himself is a pretty nice guy, and Ginny has feelings for him for six books, before they finally hook up. At the end of Half-Blood Prince, she says that one of the things she loves about him is his Chronic Hero Syndrome. Meanwhile, it's hinted that her crush on him only got stronger after he saved her life at the end of Chamber of Secrets.
From the Star Wars Expanded Universe: it is explicitly stated several times in profic (and a lot more in fanfic, but that's us mushy shippers for you) that this is exactly why Mara Jade fell in love with Luke Skywalker; she admires his idealism, honor, and willingness to give most everyone a second chance. In Survivor's Quest she affectionately calls him "Farm Boy", and says in the narration that she's both exasperated by and loves the fact that he's always four or five rungs higher up on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism than she or almost anyone else is.
Galaxy of Fear's Tash Arranda seems to be crushing on Luke for this kind of reason. She hasn't had a crush since Alderaan was destroyed. Not only is Luke six years older than her classmates, but he carries the weapon of the Jedi she so idolizes, is Force-Sensitive like she is, and he's encouraging and understanding of her and her oddness in a way she's never experienced before, from anyone.
This is a large part of why Maris Ferasi in Outbound Flight, who was in a relationship with a coarse, suspicious smuggler, idolized Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo. She saw him as like the high-minded people she knew in school, but the mature version, grounded in reality. Cultured, intelligent, noble... Of course, she's the Wide-Eyed Idealist character, and Thrawn's much darker than that, even if he does possess the qualities she sees. Thrawn does tell Car'das, who sees Thrawn a little more clearly, not to disillusion her, because true idealists are so rare, and he wouldn't want to be responsible for crushing even one.
In John Hemry's Paul Sinclair novel A Just Determination, Paul Sinclair testifies on behalf of a captain whom he neither liked nor respected, did not think a good officer, and never wanted to serve under again, because while the man had done wrong, he was being hammered. Jen Shen's original view of this is that it's crazy, but on reflection, finds it an attraction.
From Holes, we have Miss Katherine who fell for Sam the onion man because he was a generally friendly Nice Guy, compared to Trout Walker, who was rich, disrespectful, loud, and stupid. It doesn't end well for them,alas.
We also have Sarah, who married the sweet Eliya Yelnats despite the fact that he was apparently cursed. Eliya himself could be considered a gender-flipped version, since he initially pursued the idiotic Myra and ended up Happily Married to the sensible and capable Sarah.
The "Beta Male" theory is explained in detail in A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. It boils down to the observation that the nice-but-average guys who make up most of the population win in the end after girls get kicked to the curb one time too many by the Jerk Jock and cutthroat businessman.
In the Dresden Files, Margaret La Fey ultimately found happiness with Malcolm Dresden, who is always described as a genuinely good guy.
In Warlock Of Gramarye this was Christopher Stasheff's in-story explanation for why gorgeous redheadedwitch Gwen chose to marry "lean, well-muscled, ugly" Rod Gallowglass:
[I]f a beautiful woman is betrayed often enough, she will begin to value trustworthiness, warmth, and affection more than romance. At least, she will if she is the kind of woman to whom love is the goal, and romance just the luxury....
In the Mage Storms trilogy of the Heralds of Valdemar series, this more or less sums up Nice Guy Karal and Genki Girl Natoli's relationship, although neither realizes it at first — Karal because he's too self-conscious, and Natoli because she's more obsessed with technology than with boys. At least at first. They work it out in the end.
In Crime and Punishment, Dounia ends up marrying Razumihin instead of the rich but immoral Luhzin.
In Death: Even though Eve and Roarke's relationship may have started out as All Girls Want Bad Boys, it seems to have turned into this. Coltraine and Alex Ricker had an All Girls Want Bad Boys relationship, but she broke that off, and got together with Li Morris, the relationship of which clearly has this trope written all over it.
Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: After getting rid of their cold-blooded murderer bad boyfriends, Countess Anne de Silva and Isabelle Flanders are single once again. In the book Home Free, Anne forms a relationship with Fergus Duffy and Isabelle forms a relationship with Abner Tookus. Fergus and Abner are geniune good men.
Wuthering Heights deconstructs this along with All Girls Want Bad Boys. It shows that Catherine is unable to resist the attraction of bad boy Heathcliffe and how her attempting to keep a relationship with Edgar proves destructive for both of them.
At first Daniar couldn't stand Kalak because he was a jerkass but when she finds out this is a Jerkass Façade and he's actually a good guy, she's all over him.
In Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson's Hoka story "Don Jones", Doraleen sneers at Terwillinger as a stuffed shirt — until he defies Jones's attempt at Blackmail — whereupon she persuades him not to punish Jones because after all Jones and Tanni are in love, just like the two of them.
In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga novel Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, Tej tells Ivan that his attractive points are that he's nice and he makes her laugh — even when they are trapped underground and awaiting the end of their air.
In Sarah A. Hoyt's Draw One In The Dark, it's finding that Tom has not eaten all her food, and had cleaned up after himself that really makes Kyrie think about him.
Happens in pretty much all of Alex Flinn's fairy tale novels.
Beastly, being a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", has Lindy only develop feelings for the cursed Kyle after he shows genuine affection for her.
A Kiss in Time has Talia end up undergoing some Character Development and loving the modern-day guy who kissed her awake, because he helped her out while she was in a strange place and treated her like a capable person (instead of being treated like a baby, as everyone else did).
In Cloaked, the adorkable shoemaker Johnny has a number of girls fall for him, one of which is a beautiful princess (though she later admits that while she cares for him, she doesn't actually want to marry him.)
In E. D. Baker's The Wide Awake Princess, Lizette actually ran away with the ogre, because he was the first person in her life to make her laugh.
Live-Action TV
In the very short-lived ABC series Life As We Know It, after Dino's dad found out his wife was cheating on him, moved out, and started dating someone else. Her reasons: the hockey coach is funny and good with kids.
Friends: At first, Rachel did not know Paolo was a nasty guy. When she realised he was, she complained to Ross that what she really wants is a nice guy, a sweet, caring guy etc. She did this more than once before they finally got together.
Also Monica dated the Badass from her high school days and got to ride his motorcycle... but he hadn't ever grown out of that old persona and still lived with his parents, so she relished dumping him. Her first two serious boyfriends were Richard and Pete who both fit the "Nice Guy" stereotype pretty well. Pete was a little obsessed, but he was still "stupidly charming", as he described himself, and also a billionaire who took Monica to Italy for pizza on their first date. (At least until he went crazy.) She ended up with best friend Chandler who was incredibly sweet and arguably the nicest guy on the show.
Charlotte from Sex and the City kept saying how she was after a good marrying man. She dated a bunch of handsome men, many of whom turned out to be jerks or losers. She finally falls in love with Harry Goldfarb, a short, bald, pudgy lawyer with irritating habits and wound up happily married to him.
Both Miranda and Samantha's respective men, Steve and Smith, fit this as well. Smith was as sweet and loyal as he was Mr. Fanservice, and Steve is the embodiment of what women say when they wish they could meet a nice man. Big... never at any point resembled this trope.
In Charmed, Piper married Leo who was nice and sweet and literally an angel.
While Prue is known to have been attracted to bad boys, the only man she was ever in love with was her season one Cop Boyfriend Andy, who pretty much fits the "Nice Guy" stereotype to a tee.
In Beauty and the Beast, Catherine falls in love with Vincent while unable to see, and constantly stresses that to him that he is a good man, not the monster he thinks himself to be.
In Firefly Kaylee has a crush on Simon. Simon can't figure out what to do about it.
Also, Zoe is Happily Married to Wash, who is decidedly not a bad boy.
It's implied that while Saffron has conned a ton of men into marrying her, she still has some amount of affection for Husband Number One, at least enough so that she tries to have him think well of her when she robs him. Mal figures this out when he sees how affectionately the husband greets her, and notes that Saffron could have waltzed right in if she'd wanted.
In Chuck, Sarah Walker is a tough, fighting-geared spy who falls in love with the show's titular character, a nice, caring, normal guy who she's protecting.
Amy with Rory from Doctor Who. Although she initially had doubts about their marriage, and was attracted to the Doctor (still is, superficially, if her flirting says anything), they finally get married. Rory had to die, be erased from existence and wait 2,000 years, but they finally got together.
Amy: You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful, and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick. Then there's other people, and you meet them and you think, "Not bad, they're okay," and then you get to know them and, and their face just sort of becomes them, like their personality is written all over it, and they just, they turn into something so beautiful ... Rory is the most beautiful man I've ever met.
Guinevere from Merlin shows no interest in prattish Arthur whatsoever until he begins to show some humility.
Alison from Teen Wolf has no problem being with apparent loser Scott.
Scott's mother seems to be seeking a good man, too. Too bad the one she found was Peter Hale.
Mildred Hubble in Weirdsister College found herself attracted to the bad boy and Jerk Ass Nick Hobbes but eventually chose nice guy Ben instead.
In Magnum, P.I.Lest We Forget a prostitute tries to elope with a navy flier in World War II because of this reason. After Pearl Harbor they each think each other dead and have to wait fifty years before Magnum reunites them.
Anna on Downton Abbey, who believes her love Mr Bates is a good man even when he doesn't.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer deconstructs and then reconstructs the trope. Buffy definitely has a thing for bad boys and when she tries to have a relationship with nice guy Riley it doesn't work out because he feels he can't compare to Angel, and Buffy clearly doesn't love him like she loved Angel and later Spike. The reconstruction comes in when we see that, while Buffy does need some darkness in her men, she really does want a good man as she only truly falls in love with Spike after his full Heel Face Turn.
Inverted when Buffy thinks that Angel might be interested in Faith. Angel, however, assures her that he doesn't want a "bad girl".
Whoever the mother is will eventually marry Ted, who is also kind and good natured.
Bones has plainly stated in one episode that she's attracted to good men, and eventually falls for Booth who is charming, kindhearted, and loyal.
In similar fashion to the entry in the Comic Books section, this trope is pretty much the raison d'etre of the first two seasons of Lois and Clark. Lois has a history of jerk boyfriends (if you can call them that), but still has romantic longings — though she'll deny it vehemently if you ask. Then she meets Clark and finds that he's not a jerk, though those pesky Secret Identity problems make this less clear-cut to her than viewers may think. Once they get together, the trope morphs into How To Live With A Super-hero.
In Being Human, Annie definitely goes for the Nice Guy. Sadly, this usually doesn't end too well for her. The closest she came would probably be Mitchell, who was her friend since he moved in with George, defended her after Tully tried to sexually assault her and faced his own demons to rescue her from Hell. Meanwhile, Nina is very happy with the sweet George, to the point of being happy to have a family with him.
This is used for the main plot in an episode of Boy Meets World. A girl Shawn likes says he's a good kisser, but that Cory is better boyfriend material. Shawn realizes that his Casanova ways aren't doing him any favors and changes his tune, which impresses the girl and convinces her to give him another chance.
For the vast majority of Community, Britta's character falls firmly into the All Girls Want Bad Boys camp- a trait which causes her endless grief and highlight's her self-hating nature. When she gets into a relationship with TroyBarnes, it shows how much she's grown as a person.
Music
The premise of the Joan Baez song "If I Knew" which is bascially a hippy love anthem from a girl to boy who will not hunt innocent animals or destroy rare flowers; not for money and not for love. And she loves him even if he is 'called a craven.'
Theatre
Kate Monster from Avenue Q goes for nice, college-educated Princeton.
Carmen Diaz from Fame falls in love with the shy, Adorkable, music-loving Schlomo Metzenbaum.
In Les Misérables, Cosette is charmed and instantly falls for Marius after he sings a sweet song, proclaiming his love for her. Eponine also seems to love Marius because of how nice he is, since she lives with her cruel parents and their fellow con men.
In Odin Sphere, Gwendolyn started out hating Oswald (her marriage was a punishment and Oswald was once her enemy), but she eventually discovers his true colors. He's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who was about the only one to respect her as a person, and fiercely defended her right to make her own decisions.
In Metal Gear Solid 4 there are two examples. There's Naomi who fell for Otacon and then there's Meryl who fell for and married Johnny who turned out to be a good guy.
Subverted in Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures: Felicity Flitt who at first had a thing for Wallace (who is a very nice guy) even commenting on how she likes his kindness and selflessness, in the end goes for the Jerk Ass Duncan McBiscuit (who was always trying to woo her). Mind that Wallaceis relieved by this.
Leliana of the same game is only interested in a Warden who gains her approval through acts of charity and heroism to the general populace as well as generosity with gifts.
Final Fantasy X has the lead female Yuna falling deeply in love with the sweet, happy-go-lucky Tidus. Also, Lulu eventually falls for the jovial, good-natured Wakka, after previously falling for his equally good-natured, but deceased, brother Chappu.
Quite a few of the possible pairings in the Fire Emblem series fall into this trope, with the woman falling in love with the man because of his kindness, nobility, care for others and classiness. These men are:
Marth, Julian and Merric in FE 1 and 3.
Sigurd, Dew, Fin, Azel, Midayle, Noish, Jamka, Holyn, and Claud in FE 4. The second generation gives us Celice, Leaf, Oifaye and Sety.
Leaf again, in FE 5. Also Fred, Brighton and the already Happily Married Glade. ( And Fin in the past, since it's all but stated he is Nanna's dad and thus Lachesis's Second Love.) Also, while Pirn is a Punch Clock Hero, what draws Lara to him is how he did not take advantage of her when he could have done so, and released her from child slavery instead.
Roy from FE 6. Also Noah, Lance, Klein and Zealot, who is also already Happily Married.
Eliwood, Guy, Heath, Wil, Kent, Erk, Harken, Lowen, Matthew, and Lord Pent from FE 7.
Prince Ephraim, Artur, Seth, Franz, Joshua, Ross, Forde, Saleh and Kyle from FE 8.
And played with in the case of Gerik. He has the perfect Bad Boy appearance (well-toned body, a sexy scar across his face, Badassery)... but personality-wise he's a very serene and sweet-natured Team Dad, which is exactly the reason why Tethys and Marisa are in love with him.
Geoffrey and Haar in FE 9 and 10. And despite having no official female love interest outside Ship Tease with Elincia in 9, Ike has a good number of women attracted to him.
Prince Chrom, a male Avatar, Stahl, Frederick, Donnel, Kellam and Libra from FE 13. The second generation gives us Yarne, Laurent and, in a Strange Guy way, boy!Morgan.
Final Fantasy VII: Tifa loves Cloud for the shy awkward guy that he is, rather than the faux badass persona he displays through the early parts of the game.
Played completely straight in Tales Of The Abyss. The main point of Luke's Character Development is how he grows from a whiny Spoiled Brat into a kind and compassionate, if self-depreciating, Hero. As Tear Grants watches him grow, she falls deeply in love with him.
This is exactly why Alicia Melchiott and Juno Coren fall for the sweet, peaceful, nature-loving Welkin Gunther in Valkyria Chronicles.
Also: Lynn and Karl, Varrot and Largo, and Edy and Homer, if their Ship Tease is anything to go by. And Rosie and Zaka in the anime. Heck, even Selvaria's feelings for Maximillian stem from the fact that he saved her from a Fate Worse Than Death at a young age.
Jaheira's marriage to Khalid in Baldur's Gate is a perfect example.
BioWare makes a long and lovely tradition of this with their romantic interests for female characters. Carth Onasi is a genuinely Nice Guy, despite the paranoia. Kaiden Alenko is a soft-spoken Lawful Good sort. Alistar is a hunky prince of a guy (literally). Even roguish types like Garrus, Corso Riggs, and Sky are genuinely nice fellows.
Colette and Sheena, the two female leads in Tales Of Symphonia, are both in love with Nice GuyHero Lloyd Irving for this very reason.
Pretty much any girl that falls for The Legend of Zelda's Link, considering that most of them only know him because he saves their butts from whatever evil is at hand.
In the Tokimeki Memorial series, the kinder, the more affectionate, and the more attentive you are towards basically all the winnable girls of the series, the deeper they will fall in love with you. But this is especially true with the Broken Bird characters of the lot, Mira Kagami, Kaori Yae, and Hotaru Izumi, who have been burned by previous painful experiences with others (the first being on a Revenge Of The Nerd crusade after continuous heartbreak, the second having suffered of Et Tu, Brute? after Taking the Heat, and the third still suffering of The Mourning After), and will only fall for you if you're particulary kind and considerate towards them.
All of the Love Interests for the Female Protagonist in Persona 3Portable are this. To wit, Akihiko Sanada is standoffish and Oblivious to Love but mostly is because he's still hurting from his dead little sister, Shinjiro Aragaki has a Badass exteror but has a Hidden Heart of Gold, Ryoji Mochizuki is a Casanova Wannabe but is kind hearted and Ken Amada is a cute boy with a Precocious Crush. (And if you count Theodore as a love interest of sorts, he also qualifies here.)
Similarly, in Persona 4 the Silent Protagonist will get the affections of the girls with more ease when he shows them kindness and understanding, thus helping them resolve their issues.
In Mass Effect 2, Jack, the biotic-Tyke Bomb who Really Gets Around, ironically plays to this trope more than any of the other females. If you take her up on her offer for casual sex, she'll end up being disgusted with you. It takes a kind Shepard who truly wants what's best for her to get to a real romance.
This goes triple for Samara, who isn't looking for a good man or woman at all. Her species are inherently bisexual and she is essentially a FetteredLawful GoodPaladinin Space. In Mass Effect 2, she will outright reject a Player Character who has committed questionable actions even if they were done in pursuit of saving the entire galaxy. A more virtuous ("Paragon") character can push her to admit she has feelings but she shoots Shepard down. In Mass Effect 3, she cannot be romanced in the vanilla game even if Shepard has no romantic interest, has remained utterly Paragon, and Shepard attempted to romance Samara in ME 2. Only in The Citadel DLC can a Chaste Hero Shepard who has remained fairly Paragon finally kiss Samara and share a brief moment, but even then Samara holds her code and virtues as more important than her attraction to Shepard.
Visual Novels
In Higurashi When They Cry, Mion's attraction to Keiichi is due to his being so fun to be around, as she talks to Shion about in the Eye Opening chapter. Shion drops the hint to Keiichi in the Cotton Drifting chapter and outright tells him that Mion loves him in the Festival Music chapter.
Interestingly played with in Katawa Shoujo. Hisao is a Nice Guy, yeah, and the girls come to love him as he gets over his initual depression and then begins to reach for them... but that doesn't necessarily mean he's gonna win their affections off the bat. In example, if he falls into White Knighting in Hanako's path, this will lead to the Bad End; similarly, trying to support and understandRin in her own path might bring him a heavy emotional toll
All of the Little Busters heroines fall under this, and usually Weakness Turns Her On, too, in falling for sweet, Adorkable Riki. Even if, for the most part, they only consider him a friend in the common route, it is when he shows friendship towards them and helps them out with their problems that they start to fall in love with him.
Webcomics
In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, Jean has said that the reason she fell for Bob is that he is a "genuinely nice guy,'' although she does frequently complain that he's not very bright.
Sabine: Sure, women like me swoon for a hero, but that's only because deep down, we think we can change them. But me, I'm done with that now. I want a nice, safe, reliable mass-murderer that I can depend on.
There was an episode of All Grown Up! where Betty said something along the lines of "All girls date a Z, but then they settle down and marry a Howie."
Though this episode was a subversion overall-everyone but Kimi thought Z was a badboy, but he was a genuinely nice, if quiet, guy who just liked to dress a certain way. He appeared in one other episode, and was also a nice guy there.
Avatar The Last Airbender: While there was an episode in Season 1 in which Katara was attracted to the thuggish Jet, she quickly realized her mistake at the end of the episode. The rest of the series then proceeds to develop her relationship with Aang. Naturally, they end up together in the end.
Also Mai seems to have been attracted to Zuko in the first place, exactly because he was not a megalomanic evil aristocrat like his father and his sister. They only get back together after he gets over his anger issues (during the Troubled, but Cute phase he is in for the early half of the series) and returns to being a nice friendly young prince. While she's seriously pissed about him leaving in the dark of the night to join the Avatar, she's impressed enough by his decision to do the right thing that she fights Azula to cover his escape.
Ty Lee, who was also inspired by Mai's aforementioned turn to finally revolt against Azula as well, has typical Fire Nation college party dudes dreaming about being with her. Yet who's she got a crush on? Sokka.
Speaking of Sokka, he also has Suki and Yue fall for him. With Yue, he is shown loving her for who she is and genuinely wanting to make her happy, in contrast to her fiance (who brags about the "perks" that come with marrying the princess, prompting Sokka to call him "a jerk with no soul"). With Suki, she starts to show affection for him after he humbles himself and asks her to teach him the Kyoshi fighting style (even agreeing to wear a dress) and apologizes for being rude to her and the other warriors.
The reason Aelita fell for Jeremie in Code Lyoko seems to be his persistence in helping and trying to make her happy without seeking thanks or reward.
Heloise, the sadistic girl genius who works for a company that brings misery to others in Miseryville; falls for the sweet, optimistic, Jimmy Two-Shoes. According to Word Of God, one reason is that there's "something about sweet, innocent guys that appeals to the last shred of humanity in her". Here's the info.
My Life as a Teenage Robot hints that Jenny will eventually pick Sheldon because she's sick of smooth operators, and wants someone sweet and sincere. Sheldon walks by, and she greets him, still wondering where she can find someone like that. Confirmed by Word Of God after the series' cancellation.
The only problem that Phineas And Ferb fans can find with Candace's Love Interest Jeremy is that he's so ridiculously nice that he seems too perfect. Which is probably good, because a less calm and understanding guy might not be able to handle a girl as neurotic and excitable as her.
