Melee A Trois / Anime & Manga

• Attack on Titan: In what will be adapted as the fourth season, the plot becomes a four-sided conflict between Eren, Zeke, the government of Paradis, and Marley. The former three all disagree on how to combat Marley, with constant betrayals and alliances between these four factions.
• This becomes second nature in Baccano! due to its large cast.
  • The Grand Punk Railroad Arc has originally the Lemures vs Ladd's gang vs Jaccuzi's gang, but then Czes, Rachel and the Rail Tracer also join in the fray.
  • The Slasher Arc has Jaccuzi's Gang vs The Gandors vs Larvae vs Martillo Family
  • The Alice in Jails arc has Huey vs Nebula vs Police, in a sense.
  • 2002 Arc has The Masked Makers vs SAMPLE vs Angelo+Firo
• Battle Royale has aspects of this, both of the indirect type and the very direct type. There are several "groups" involved- Mitsuko, Kiriyama and 3 or 4 minor characters, all out actively hunting all the other students (and thus, each other), although 3-way confrontations are rare. However, there is the moment when Kyoichi confronts Shuya/Noriko, and Shogo appears, aiming at them both (although mainly at Kyoichi because he has clearly snapped. And, obviously, who could forget the Melee a Cinq/Six in the lighthouse?
• In Black Butler, at the climax of the Campania arc. When the mastermind behind the zombie dolls is revealed to be Undertaker the rogue shinigami, Ciel and Sebastian try to arrest him to answer to the Queen for his crimes, while Grell and Ronald try to bring him in to answer to their superiors how he was able to revive the dead. This conflict of interests leads to Sebastian fighting the reapers for arresting rights, at the same time both sides are trying to overpower Undertaker.
• In Bleach's Bount arc, Byakuya and Ichigo fight Kariya, but Byakuya doesn't seem to care if he hits Ichigo with his attacks, so it looks like this trope at times.
• Volume 15 of A Certain Magical Index is this. Five organizations from the dark side of Academy City made up of four people each fight it out. Add in how three of the groups have Level 5's, one group hires 5000 mercenaries and a subordinate of one of the organization's rebels, and you have one book practically made of awesome moments.
• Code Geass:
  • Happens fairly often, particularly in the second season with Lelouch vs. Schneizel vs. Charles, the father of the previously mentioned two.
  • In Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally, most of the battles involving Nunnally have this, with Britannia trying to suppress the Japanese, the Japanese trying to defeat Britannia, and Nunnally trying to stop the violence.
• In Darker than Black, just about every intelligence agency in the world is out for every other one's blood, which is only exacerbated by the activities of The Syndicate and PANDORA. And then Evening Primrose gets involved, making the already Gray-and-Gray Morality into an even more tangled mess. Things do not get any easier in the second season, either, where we have the CIA, MI6, Japanese special forces, bits of The Syndicate, and Madame Oreille all playing their own games with what's going on, plus messages left by Amber, making her a postmortem chessmaster.
• About two thirds of the way through Death Note, following the end of the original Light vs. L feud, two new characters are introduced: Near, replacing L as the new mind-gaming uber-sleuth, and Mello, a criminal mastermind. All three have very good reasons to eliminate the other two, although Near and Mello's relationship is a tad more confusing, and Light treats the whole thing as an extension of fighting L.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Way back in the original Dragon Ball, this happened briefly in the Red Ribbon arc with Goku, Pilaf, and the Red Ribbon Army all chasing after one of the balls at the same time.
  • This appears in Dragon Ball Z early in the Freeza arc. You have three separate factions (Gohan and Krillin vs Freeza and his men vs. Vegeta) all looking for the Dragon Balls and trying to undercut each other at the same time.
  • Happens again in the middle of the Cell arc. The Z team wants to stop the Androids, who want to kill Goku and treat it like a game. Then Cell shows up and wants to eat the Androids...so he can attain his perfect form and begin his own reign of terror.
• Fairy Tail has Erza vs. Kagura vs. Minerva. While both Kagura and Erza hate Minerva for holding their mutual friend hostage, Kagura is also after Erza because Erza is in love with Jellal, whom Kagura wants dead because he murdered her brother.
• In Food Wars!, the final match of the Tootsuki's 43rd Autumn Election is between Souma, Hayama and Kurokiba. It's the first time in the history of Tootsuki that a three-way final is held.
• In Gate, teams of special forces from America, Russia, and China all collide in their efforts to capture the royals from beyond the gate. Then, in the manga and anime, demigoddess Rori the Reaper joins the battle.
• Multiple times in the Gundam multiverse:
  • Zeta Gundam: Titans vs. Axis Zeon vs. AEUG. The most memorable of the Free for Alls, homages of this set-up continue down to Gundam 00.
  • Gundam ZZ briefly dabbled in AEUG vs. Zeon vs. Blue Team during one episode, but that was quickly swept away once the titular mech showed up. However, at the end of the series, it does essentially become a showdown between the AEUG, Neo Zeon, and Glemmy Toto's faction of Neo Zeon.
  • Crossbone Gundam: Ghost has a confusing four-way battle erupt among the Crossbone Vanguard, the Zanscare Empire, ThouCus, and the League Militaire at one point.
  • Gundam Wing: Gundam Team vs. World Nation vs. White Fang. Though eventually, the Gundams decide to side with the World Nation, mainly because White Fang is the actual threat. Though Wufei ended up fighting Treize, the World Nation's leader, anyway.
  • Gundam X: Vultures vs. New United Nations Earth vs. Space Revolutionary Army
  • Gundam SEED: ZAFT vs. Earth Alliance vs. Orb the Three Ships Alliance
    • Subverted in Gundam SEED Destiny, in which, in the final episodes, ZAFT defeated the Earth Alliance, and after that, the Three Ships Alliance defeats ZAFT.
  • Gundam 00: At the start of the series, the main conflict would be between the three major power blocs of the Union, the HRL, and the AEU. Also known in modern times as the United States, Communist Russia and China, and the European Union, but mostly actually just small conflicts in the Middle East in countries supported but not formally belonging to any one of these and no major war.
    • After everyone gets GN Drives the first season winds up to be Celestial Being (with Aeolia Schenberg/Sumeragi Lee Noriega as "proxy") vs. Thrones (Alejandro Corner, but really Ribbons Almark) vs. everybody else (UN Forces). It's interesting because it kind of goes back to being a Mexican Standoff considering that this season ended in a complete STALEMATE. Remember,while the Thrones and Corner himself did die, Ribbons was controlling them. It's his set-up of A-Laws that begin the second season. Celestial Being didn't get wiped out, they build new Gundams for the second season, and the regular military gets left alone, which doesn't matter as they're the weaker force that's just happy to be there.
    • In the second season, after the timeskip, and especially after the endgame really gets going, you can see that the entire season has interconnecting melees. The main story arc is essentially the continuation of the first season with Celestial Being and Regene Regetta vs. A-Laws read Fucking Ribbons and The Innovators vs. everyone else (Earth Federation (the "Regular" army with Smirnoff and Mannequin calling the shots, serving the Kingmaker role). However, the B story is Katharon vs. A-Laws (SPECIFICALLY. No Ribbons) vs. Celestial Being, and in that specific order because Katharon and Celestial Being were technically not allies unless A-Laws did something stupid, and even then, it was because global catastrophe would ensue otherwise.
  • A variant of this exists twice in Gundam AGE. First, we have Zalam and Euba fighting each other, with Flit fighting to stop Zalam and Euba from fighting, and later we have the Diva's crew who wants to destroy the UE, the corrupt Earth Government who wants to capture Grodek and the Diva, and the UE who just seems to be killing everyone they see mercilessly...
  • You can make the point that Flit, Asemu and Kio do this ideologically since while both Asemu and Kio disagree with Flit's kill-em-all attitude about the UE, Kio doesn't agree with Asemu. And they're family that each have their own personalized Gundam and backing army. (Literally. Diva Crew, Bisidian and Abis Team/Algreus, respectively]] for Chrissakes! If it weren't for the fact that the entire goddamn thing was an Ezelcant setup from the very start that provides some very convenient enemies who are in fact the VICTIMS they'd be at blows themselves.
  • The closest it gets to this is in the infamous Girard Sprigan arc where Asemu intrudes on a battle between the Earth Forces and Vagan in order to settle his personal score with Zeheart. The Earth Forces have him flagged as hostile and Flit tells him to get lost and not get involved in their business but when he shows he's willing to cooperate Flit relents and lets the three Gundam's team up.
  • Gundam: Reconguista in G does this all over the place; fans have counted at least six or seven different factions, each with their own objectives. Alliances are formed, fall apart, and shift on a near episode-by-episode basis, and is further confused by the antics of various double agents. The primary conflict, however, is the Earth nation of Ameria vs the also Earth-based Capitol Tower vs the space nation of Towasanga.
• After the Knight of Cerebus makes their entrance, the conflict in Gushing over Magical Girls at first is Enormeeta vs Tres Magia vs Lord's Legion, until the last faction gets dismantled and subsumed by the first. Come chapter 35, it becomes Enormeeta vs Tres Magia vs Shio-Chans, who make it clear that although they're on the same side as Tres Magia, they are not going to work together with them and are in fact condescending and openly, violently hostile to their nominal comrades.
• Hellsing descends into a four-way war between Millennium, Iscariot, Hellsing, and Enrico Maxwell (who conducts The Purge against all Protestants and Catholics who disagreed, including Iscariot).
• Jubei-chan 2 has this; Jiyu vs. Freesia. vs Kita. Kita was the weakest of the 3, but Jiyu and Freesia couldn't ever focus on him because of each other. That is, until the end, where he gets possessed by the spirit of his father. By then, though, the two Jubeis have made up.
• In the first season of K HOMRA and Scepter 4 oppose each other, while both are trying to hunt down the protagonists Kuroh and Shiro. This comes to a head at the end of the season, when Kuroh ends up fighting both sides (particularly Red and Blue's strongest fighters, Misaki and Saruhiko).
• The Musical Chairs arc of Liar Game is a three-way battle of wits between Akiyama, Yokoya, and Harimoto. Throughout the game, Yokoya and Harimoto are repeatedly making fake alliances before someone betrays the other, Akiyama's schemes often being the catalyst to the latter.
• Martian Successor Nadesico, as a series, is a three-way running brawl between The Federation, Corrupt Corporate Executives, and an Alien Invasion. Sometimes the former two work together, sometimes they don't, and the titular Cool Ship is always stuck in the middle.
• In Moriarty the Patriot, The Two Criminals arc culminates in a confrontation between William Moriarty, Charles Augustus Milverton, and Sherlock Holmes before Sherlock and William turn on Milverton as one without prior discussion. Once Milverton has been dealt with, Sherlock and William have a brief discussion and then both retreat for the time being.
• My Hero Academia:
  • The Overhaul arc of culminates in the heroes attacking Shie Hassaikai, who have entered in an alliance with the League of Villains or so it seems; Tomura Shigaraki sent Twice and Toga to infiltrate the yakuza and then betray them to the heroes as revenge for Overhaul killing one of Shigaraki's followers and daring to speak down to the villain, and ultimately gets the last laugh when he ambushes and cripples Overhaul as he's being sent to jail by the victorious heroes.
  • The Meta Liberation Army arc culminates in a final battle with Shigaraki's League of Villains vs the titular terrorist group vs Gigantomachia (who's normally allied to the League but has been fighting them due to feeling Shigaraki is an Inadequate Inheritor to former leader All for One).
• Naruto: Tsunade vs. Jiraiya, Shizune and Naruto vs. Orochimaru and Kabuto. Although Tsunade takes up Jiraiya and Naruto's side more or less right away, she does first poison Jiraiya.
• In the anime of Ninja Scroll: The Series, there's the Hiruko and Jubei's group vs. the Kimon vs. the Yaguya.
• One Piece:
  • Ladies and gentlemen... The Battle of Marineford. Whitebeard and his entire fleet set to attack Marine Headquarters, where the Admirals, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and all the important Marines have gathered. Luffy had brought in the Impel Down convicts, among them Crocodile, Buggy, and Jimbei, with the former two not feeling any particular loyalty to him. Meanwhile, Hancock attacks everyone, be it Pirates or Marines, without prejudice. Luffy had a chat with Whitebeard and while they do not work against each other, they do not work together. Luffy also basically declared his hostilities towards Whitebeard even as he protected him from Crocodile, who attacked him because he defeated Crocodile in the past and Crocodile wants revenge. The remaining Seven Warlords are all practically factions in themselves. It's hard to tell just how many factions actually fight, and for whom. In the end, another faction, the Blackbeard Pirates, shows up so that Blackbeard can take Whitebeard's power and use it to destroy Marineford, and yet another faction, Shanks and his Red Hair Pirates, shows up shortly after to end the war by basically threatening that his fresh crew will beat down the exhausted survivors if they keep fighting. All in all, there are at least five different factions, with individuals breaking off from their group to do their own thing in the middle of all of this.
  • The Survival Game in Skypiea is a struggle between three factions; the Straw Hats, who want the gold, the Shandians, who want to reclaim their homeland, and Eneru's minions, who want to see who is worthy to go to Endless Vearth. The Ordeal of Iron features Zoro and Gan Fall vs. Wyper and the Shandians vs. Ohm and the Enforcers vs. a giant snake that swallowed Luffy, Nami, and Aisa.
  • In the Water 7 Arc, while Luffy and Franky are fighting each other over their respective grudges (Luffy has a grudge against Franky for attacking and robbing Usopp, while Franky wants revenge against Luffy for destroying his house), the Galley-La shipwrights attack Luffy because they believe he sent Robin to shoot Iceberg, and attack Franky for getting in the way, as he doesn't appreciate their taking on Luffy.
  • In the Dressrosa arc a fight takes place in Greem Bit between Law, Fujitora, and Doflamingo.
  • Later in the same arc, the fighting eventually boils down to the Straw Hats and their allies (including the Revolutionaries) who want to take down Doflamingo, the Donquixote Pirates who want their enemies dead, the Marines who want to capture the Straw Hats and Doflamingo's crew and stop the whole mess and the confused citizens who are trying to survive by capturing people on Doflamingo's blacklist.
• At the end of Outlaw Star, Gene and the crew of the Outlaw Star vs. the MacDougal Brothers and Gwen Khan vs. the Kei pirates. The C'tarl C'tarl Empire also shows up outside the Leyline but is unable to get in.
• In Pokémon: The Series, the Team Rocket Trio consisting of Jessie, James, and Meowth tends to serve as a wild card in major conflicts (typically when another villainous team shows up). They usually start out as a third distinct side, but eventually team up with the side that has most of their interests in common, reserving the right to betray them and/or switch teams at any given moment. Interestingly enough, it comes to the forefront most noticeably when they're fighting another Team Rocket group, Butch and Cassidy. Jessie and James hate Butch and Cassidy too much to ever work with them, but they are technically all on the same team, so usually Jessie and James will attempt to sabotage Butch and Cassidy's plans and steal the credit/spoils, while both groups are in opposition to Ash & co. and sometimes the local authorities.
• In the Arcobaleno Fight arc in Reborn!, there are seven teams all doing this; the number seven is kind of an ongoing thing in this manga.
• Rebuild World: In the chaotic Inner Kuzusuhara Ruins Assault, all communications have broken down, and Akira ends up in one of these against both Katsuya and Tiol on the top of his Awesome Personnel Carrier being driven through the war zone. Akira uses the Sticky Shoes function of his Powered Armor to take cover standing off the back of it, Tiol uses his Voluntary Shapeshifting to fight from another side, and Katsuya just hangs on with one hand. The stray bullets from the three fighting make holed up hunter squads in the area think they’re being attacked and fire back, and a feral monster jumps onto the vehicle mid-battle too. So it’s a Melee a Cinq.
• Steins;Gate 0 culminates in a three way battle between DURPA, Stratfor and Russia. DURPA (led by Judy Reyes) and Stratfor (led by Alexis Leskinen) want to acquire the Time Machine. While Russia want to destroy it so they remain as the only one with Time Machine technology. Add in Okabe and SERN Rounders (FB and Moeka) that aims to protect Suzuha and Mayuri who are going to use the Time Machine to go back to the past so they can complete Operation Archlight and prevent World War III.
• The Testament of Sister New Devil: The Tournament Arc begins as a way to resolve a Civil War between incumbent Demon Lord Leohart and a "moderate faction" led by Rasmus that backs deuteragonist Mio Naruse's claim (she's the daughter of the previous Demon Lord; Rasmus is his elder brother). However, it quickly turns into this, as the demon realm's Council (either Cabinet or Parliament to the Demon Lord) is trying to use the conflict to increase its power so that no matter which side of the war loses, they win. Leohart wants to take them down, after securing his throne against the moderate faction. Basara, Mio, and Rasmus ultimately join forces with Leohart to defeat the Council.
• Tomodachi Game contains several instances of multiple sides intellectually (or sometimes physically) fighting against each other. The most notable instances include the Gambling arc, where four different groups of people gamble against each other (although this mostly results in a series of one vs one or two vs two fights instead of full on battle royales), and the Friends Murder Arc where several people and groups are scheming against each other to feed the enemy players to the "money zombies," and of course, everyone is also trying to avoid the money zombies themselves.
• The☆Ultraman has the humans being trapped on the surface of a desert planet, with three kaiju from the past - Gokinezula, Arstron and Ghostdon - ripping each other apart with the humans caught in-between. There isn't a winner in this case, for the sudden appearance of the juggernaut kaiju, Red King, quickly forces all three duelling monsters to flee.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • In the film Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, Aigami, Yugi, and Kaiba have a 3-way conflict, with Kaiba trying to get the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle from both Aigami and Yugi, and Aigami wanting to foil Kaiba's plans and destroy Yugi, while Yugi had opposed both Kaiba and Aigami on separate occasions.
  • The Synchro Dimension arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V has multiple factions warring against each other. The first are the Lancers, the main characters, who came to the Synchro Dimension to rally people against the second faction, Academia. Academia has kidnapped people who are important to their plot while turning people into cards and using their souls for their grand scheme. A third faction is introduced in this arc: Jean-Michel Roget and his Security. He defected from Academia and has worked his way into a position of power in the Synchro Dimension, and fights the other two factions to keep them from getting in the way of his own power. A fourth faction exists in the city council, who Roget works under. Roget wants to overthrow them and take more power for himself, while the city council only acts to preserve their own interests. They hinder all other sides and only side with the Lancers in the end when they offer them protection from Academia and Roget.