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Nice Mean And In Between / Anime & Manga

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Examples of Nice Mean And In Between in Anime & Manga.

  • Ah! My Goddess gives us the three goddesses. Belldandy the All-Loving Hero and resident Magical Girlfriend is the nice one, the aggressive Skuld is the mean one, and trickster, half-demon Urd is in-between.
  • In Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, the Super Peace Busters can be divided into this, with one girl and one boy in each category. The Nice members are Menma, who was The Heart of the group until she died, and Poppo, who's the only one who remains relatively friendly years after the tragedy. The Mean members are Tsuruko, a snarky and unemotional Defrosting Ice Queen, and Yukiatsu, an arrogant Jerkass with a cutting wit who's jealous of Jintan. The In-Between ones are Anaru and Jintan, both of whom are temperamental but ultimately good-hearted.
  • Assassination Classroom has Nagisa as the Socially Awkward Hero, Karma as the Jerk with a Heart of Gold with psychotic tendencies, and Kayano as the Genki Girl who harbors a secret hatred for their teacher, whom she assumed killed her older sister.
  • Azumanga Daioh gives us Child Prodigy Chiyo, Cloud Cuckoolander Osaka and Shrinking Violet Sakaki who are all Nice Girl types. Meanwhile, rude Genki Girl and Jerk with a Heart of Gold Tomo is mean, and brash yet kind-hearted Passionate Sports Girl Kagura, and mischievous Deadpan Snarker Yomi who is nonetheless the Only Sane Woman are the in-between types.
  • Bloom Into You:
    • The main cast. Touko is the Nice, since she's a pleasant and good-natured individual whose Establishing Character Moment involves gracefully turning down a suitor. Sayaka is the Mean, since she can be a bit snippy and passive-aggressive with those who get on her bad side, but is a decent person at heart. Yuu is the In-Between, since she can be brutally honest and snarky, but nevertheless will always help others who need it.
    • In the School Play, the main character meets three people who knew her in different ways. Her classmate is the Nice, since he gives a highly flattering account of her as The Ace, and hopes for her to get back to school. Her younger half-brother is the Mean, since he doesn't shy away from telling her that she was cold and distant from him, their mother and his father, albeit hoping that they can come together as a family. Her girlfriend is the In-between, since she was apparently the only one the main character trusted with her vulnerable side, but can't help but tease her at times.
  • In Bokurano, Machi, Koyemshi and Kokopelli are this, as the three people who came from a victorious universe to recruit pilots to continue the game. Machi is surprisingly compassionate, believing that everyone is special to their loved ones, and is quite kind and supportive of Kana. Koyemshi is a jerkass who treats virtually everyone like dirt and often takes sadistic pleasure in what's going on. Kokopelli is a polite yet somewhat distant mentor figure to the protagonist, but fails to tell them what's really at stake.
  • Bungo Stray Dogs: Atsushi is nice, being a shy, scaredy All-Loving Hero, willing to help anyone who (whenever or not) need, Kunikida is mean, being the hot-tempered controlling Jerk with a Heart of Gold, constantly chewing Dazai's head out for his antics, and Dazai is in-between, being a cheery, manipulative, but well-meaning Suicidal maniac.
  • Comic Girls: The three adults. Ririka Hanazono, the dorm mother, is the Nice one, being kind and nurturing to her manga artist tenants. Mayu Amisawa, Kaos' editor, is the Mean one — she does care for Kaos, but also doesn't hesitate to tell her when her submissions aren't any good. Miharu Nijino, who's homeroom teacher for Kaos, Tsubasa and Ruki, is the In-Between one, being a Stern Teacher who's serious and professional, but happens to have a soft spot for Tsubasa's manga.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: 3 of 4 main characters fit this dynamic, The selfless All-Loving Hero Tanjiro is the Nice one, the brash, loud-mouthed, Boisterous Bruiser Inosuke is the Mean one and the emotionally fragile Cowardly Lion Zenitsu is the In-between, additionally the sweet, docile Nezuko could be considered the Nice one too
  • Digimon Tamers has this dynamic among the three main human characters. Ruki is the mean one, starting out as a cold and ruthless fighter who treats her Digimon as a tool, and even after she opens up to her partner and fellow Tamers and befriends them in earnest she remains brash and no-nonsense. Jianliang is the nice one, a kind and polite boy who tries a pacifistic approach to taming Digimon until his hand is forced, and is something of a mediator among his friends. And Takato is in-between; sure, he's gentle and a bit shy and ends up growing into a very brave and heroic person, but he can be a bit self-focused (as fifth graders are prone to being), and you really don't want to get him angry - at one point he gets so angry he forces his Digimon to evolve for revenge and nearly causes the end of the world.
  • Doraemon:
    • Nobita's friends in regular episodes: Shizuka is the only good-natured one (nice), Gian is often the villain that bullies, terrorizes, and beats up all the kids in the neighborhood (mean), and Suneo is spoiled, arrogant, and a complete jerk to Nobita, but usually harmless when it comes to other people (in-between).
    • In the movies, Shizuka is still the nicest, but Gian and Suneo switch roles. Gian is still brash but shows a lot of bravery and Hidden Heart of Gold (in-between), while Suneo is much more of a selfish Dirty Coward (mean).
  • Dragon Ball: Although the three of them rarely work together, goofy yet cheerful Goku is the Nice one, prideful and sour faced Vegeta is the Mean one, and Piccolo who has gone from enemy to ally is In between.
  • Fairy Tail:
    • The First Generation Dragon Slayers (Laxus is a Second Generation so he doesn't count) fit this trope: Wendy Marvell is nice, Gajeel Redfox is mean (and even attacked the Fairy Tail members during his days as a part of Phantom Lord), and Natsu Dragneel, who is a good-hearted hero with a temper and a love of fighting, is in-between.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Genesis of Aquarion has Tsugumi as a Nice Girl, Silvia as the Clingy Jealous Girl, and Reika as the misunderstood Jinx.
  • In Great Pretender, with the members of Team Confidence:
    • Cynthia is the Nice, being a kind and supportive Team Mom who looks after her fellows.
    • Abbie is the Mean, being a rude and taciturn muscle-woman who's unafraid to use violence.
    • Laurent is the In-Between, being cunning, manipulative, and unafraid to use his teammates, but a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who seems to truly care about them deep down.
  • Great Teacher Onizuka, the trio of childhood friends Tomoko, Urumi, and Miyabi:
    • Tomoko is the nice one, partially due to Dumb Is Good but also just being a genuinely nice person, hoping to remind Miyabi that We Used to Be Friends.
    • Miyabi is the mean one, hating all teachers and getting the whole class to join her in driving them to quit. When most of her classmates have "betrayed" her by coming around to Onizuka's side (and he himself has shown her kindness), she doesn't stop, and reveals Urumi's secret to the whole school.
    • Urumi is the in-between, though she has some Token Evil Teammate and Manipulative Bitch moments, especially in retaliation for Miyabi's more horrible actions.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers:
    • The Axis Powers, with Germany as the mean one (a Drill Sergeant Nasty with some less-than-pleasant ambitions), Italy as the nice one (a relatively good-natured — if easily manipulated — pasta-loving ditz), and Japan as the in-between (a socially awkward and somewhat strange The Stoic).
    • The Bad Touch/Friend Trio sometimes also qualifies as this (in Fandom at least). Prussia usually played off as the mean, arrogant jerk (usually ignoring all the nice things he does in canon). Spain is usually the super nice, I don't care what you do to me I will still be friends with you (loosely true when with Romano. But debunked with the whole 'armada' situation. And France is the middle ground.
  • Jewelpet: The energetic, cheerful yet absent-minded Ruby is the Nice one, the girly and sassy Garnet is the Closest-to-Mean one and the intelligent, friendly yet responsible Sapphie is In-Between.
  • Kirby: Right Back at Ya!:
    • The main trio: there's the happy and cheerful Kirby (Nice), the impulsive and sometimes bratty Tuff (Mean), and his more intelligent, well-balanced, but also short-tempered sister Tiff (In-Between).
    • The three main villains also qualify. Escargoon is the Nice, usually pulling an Enemy Mine with Kirby on some rare occasions, loves his mother, and is even implied to have a crush on King Dedede, which is made more apparent through the Paul Lynde-esque voice he was given in the English dub. Nightmare/eNeMeE is the Mean, being a sadistic monster who owns a business that sells monsters, and someone who really wants Kirby to be destroyed at all costs, as well as being the Greater-Scope Villain of the anime. King Dedede balances between them; while he still calls himself evil, he's clearly not as bad as Nightmare, and can show some level of compassion to Kirby (which is to say, very rarely, given the Adaptational Jerkass and Adaptational Villainy he has in this).
  • Well, as far as a K-On! character can be described as mean, as the members of Hokago Tea Time are overall very kind girls. That being said, compared to each other, the Cloud Cuckoolander Yui, Spoiled Sweet Mugi, and Shrinking Violet Mio are all nice, The Prankster Jerk with a Heart of Gold Ritsu is a bit mean, while the somewhat serious Azusa is in-between.
  • Little Witch Academia:
    • The main trio of Akko, Lotte and Sucy all form this dynamic. Lotte is mild-mannered, kind to others and quiet to the point of being an occasional doormat (nice), Sucy is an aloof and sarcastic Jerk with a Heart of Gold who isn't afraid to speak her mind and has a tendency to subject Akko to her experiments (mean), and Akko is a good-hearted and caring person to her friends, but has a tendency to cause trouble and is prone to being impulsive, arrogant, childish and self-absorbed (in-between), even though at heart she's as much of a Nice Girl as Lotte, ultimately.
    • There's also the trio of Amanda, Constanze and Jasminka, who also form this dynamic. Amanda is a rebellious Lovable Rogue who tends to cause acts of delinquency and can be a bit of a jerk, but is also very loyal and caring to her friends (in-between), Constanze is a very quiet, aloof and stand-offish loner who prefers to work alone, to where she threatens Akko to leave her workplace with a gun at one point in the TV series (mean), and Jasminka is a very friendly Nice Girl whose biggest crime is her tendency to eat snacks in the classroom when she isn't supposed to (nice).
  • The Love Live! anime series:
    • In the first anime series Love Live! we have the trio of the third year girls fitting here. Nozomi is the Nice Girl with the role of the kind, warm and supportive Team Mom (nice), Nico is the aggressive, brash, bossy Attention Whore and Jerk with a Heart of Gold (mean), and Eli is the Defrosting Ice Queen, at first an Obstructive Bureaucrat who Took a Level in Kindness (in-between).
      • Still in the first series, the BiBi subunit members fit the dynamic quite nicely as well: in this case, though, Eli is nice, Nico is mean again, and Maki is in-between. Eli is, again, the Defrosting Ice Queen, who nonetheless Took a Level in Kindness and turned from an Obstructive Bureaucrat to a nice Cool Big Sis figure. On the other hand, while both Nico and Maki are Jerk with a Heart of Gold types, Nico is more actively nasty, unpleasant, jerkish, mischievous, egotistical and attention-seeking, while Maki is proud, aloof, introverted, not very sociable, and near constantly denies her feelings and acts of kindness, in a typical modern harsh tsundere manner.
    • The third series Love Live Nijigasaki Highschool Idol Club gives us an example as well with the girls of the trio added in the second season. Shioriko is a Nice Girl, always friendly and supportive to the group, even when she didn't join at first (nice), Lanzhu is quite stuck-up and arrogant, yet still a Jerk with a Heart of Gold (mean), and Child Prodigy Mia, while not exactly a jerk, is rather standoffish, aloof and very reserved (in-between).
    • The fourth series Love Live! Superstar!! also provides a nice example with the first three Liella! members, with Sumire joining Kanon and Keke while they were a duo. Kanon is nice (a sweet, selfless and empathetic All-Loving Hero), Sumire is mean (brash, vain, somewhat bossy and egotistical, yet a Jerk with a Heart of Gold) and Keke is in-between (generally a Nice Girl, outgoing and with Infectious Enthusiasm, but has something of a Jerkass to One tendency towards Sumire, being much more argumentative and vitriolic towards her).
      • The last joining members in S2 fit the dynamic as well. Shiki is nice (stoic and reserved but a kindhearted Nice Girl who does her best to support Mei following her dream), Natsumi is mean (greedy and egotistical, though she eventually undergoes a Heel–Face Turn) and Mei is in-between (initially hides her shyness and awkwardness behind a brash tsundere attitude).
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny:
  • My Hero Academia: The main power trio consists of sensitive Nice Guy Izuku "Deku" Midoriya (Nice), The Bully Katsuki Bakugo (Mean) and icy, but withdrawn Shoto Todoroki (In-Between). They even get officially paired in Endeavor Agency arc.
  • Naruto has this dynamic with most of the Genin teams, who generally have at least one Nice Guy, one somewhat stuck-up and hot-tempered "mean" individual and one stoic or dispassionate "in-between" person.
    • Team 7: Naruto is highly compassionate and forgiving, if sometimes immature and lacking in social skills. Sasuke is cold, aloof and has a growing obsession with revenge that he places before those close to him. Sakura is hot-tempered and quick to punch those who annoy her, but also cares for her friends.
    • Team 8: Hinata is incredibly kind and reluctant to hurt others, to the point at which it holds her back as a ninja. Kiba is loud, boisterous and determined to prove himself. Shino is quiet and unemotional.
    • Team 10: Chouji is a kindhearted person and loyal friend to Shikamaru. Ino is somewhat vain, bossy and competitive. Shikamaru is lazy and can often be sarcastic, but cares a lot for his friends.
    • Team Guy: Lee is a somewhat dorky and incredibly polite young man who's very honorable and sincere. Neji is cold, arrogant and dismissive of others before Naruto defeats him and helps him become a better person. Tenten is the straight man of the group, even if she often gets exasperated with her teammates and teacher.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Asuna/Konoka/Setsuna. Asuna is the mean girl, often belligerent to the main character and sometimes her friends, while Konoka is very patient with her and nice to basically everyone she meets. Setsuna falls somewhere in the middle, nowhere near as off the handle as Asuna, but doesn't possess Konoka's level of kindness either.
    • Nodoka/Yue/Haruna. Haruna frequently teases and bullies her friends, forcing both Yue and Nodoka to keep her in line. Most of the time though, Nodoka is almost impossibly sweet, putting the needs of her friends before her own, while Yue quietly snarks about, but wouldn't hurt anyone without a good reason.
    • To a lesser degree, the three cheerleaders. Misa is the sexually agressive, somewhat bossy and frivolous borderline Mean, Sakurako is the cheerful and bubbly happy-go-lucky Nice, and Madoka is the more stoic and grounded In-Between.
  • Ojamajo Doremi: Similar to Sailor Moon, there is the main trio in the first season. Hazuki, being very similar to Ami, is shy, mild-mannered, and sweet (nice), Aiko is the snarkiest one and with her Brutal Honesty sometimes comes off as rude (mean), Doremi, just like Usagi, is friendly and compassionate, but also bratty and immature (in-between).
  • In One Piece:
    • The original three Straw Hat Pirates: Luffy is nice, Nami is mean, and Zoro is in between. Both Zoro and Nami can be said to be jerks with a heart of gold, but Nami is more actively unpleasant (beating up people when they act stupid, manipulating them for favors and money), while Zoro is just very reserved and slightly antisocial. Zoro and Nami's roles switch in more dramatic situations (such as the case of Usopp leaving the crew), when Nami is more likely to let compassionate feelings or worries take over, while Zoro keeps his cool and isn't afraid to state the harsh truth or threaten people.
    • The three main admirals (before the timeskip at least) fit this to a T. Aokiji is the nice being the most laidback, noble, and honorable of the three admirals. It definitely helps he'll put his foot down if he seems something as unjust. Akainu is most definitely the mean being one of most ruthless, heartless, and most sadistic characters in the entire series. He stands by "Absolute Justice" and will use any means necessary to achieve his goals even if that means killing hundreds of innocent people in his way including his own men. And Kizaru is the in-between being the most lazy and relaxed of the admirals. He can as polite and laidback as Aokiji but as brutal as Akainu in battle.
      • After the timeskip, Aokiji left the Marines after Akainu got promoted to Fleet Admiral. Fujitora replaces Aokiji as the nice, since he has even more honor and is friendlier than Aokiji. The brutal, fascist Ryokugyu, meanwhile, fills in for Akainu as the mean.
    • The Big Mom Pirates' Three Sweet Generals fall into this as well. Katakuri, surprisingly, is the nice. Despite being the most brutal of the Three Commanders, Katakuri is the most honorable of them. He is also fiercely protective of his younger siblings and will go through hell and high water to protect him. He also views Luffy as a Worthy Opponent and is one of few villains (if you can even call him that) to actually wish Luffy luck on his quest to becoming Pirate King. Cracker is the mean being the most foul-mouth and arrogant of the Sweet Commanders. He also likes to hide inside of his biscuit solider armor saying he hates pain making him a bit of a coward and constantly has a Slasher Smile on his face. Smoothie is the in-between being the perfect balance of the three. She is the most polite and is always a good host serving them drinks... of the animate animals by using her powers to squeeze the juices.
    • Arlong's three subordinates. Hachi is the Nice, since he unwittingly helps Zoro due to not recognizing him as Arlong's prisoner, and later regrets what he did. Kuroobi is the Mean, since he's especially distrustful of Nami (albeit reasonably so), and is especially contemptuous of humans. Chu is the In-Between, since he lacks Hachi's redeeming characteristics or Kuroobi's more unpleasant ones.
    • During the Enies Lobby Arc, the apparently three-headed Judge Baskerville, who's actually a trio of people with very peculiar physiques sharing one shirt, is this, with the right head in favor of acquitting defendants, the left head in favor of convicting defendants, and the middle head favoring the "compromise" of executions.
  • Pokémon: The Series' very own Team Rocket: while a villain, James is a mostly harmless Upper-Class Twit who forms a close bond with his Mons and prefers to give his opponents a fair fight when given a chance, Jessie is the mean, bossy, temperamental dog kicking one and Meowth is between the two, very often pretending to be good to trick our heroes but also has kind moments especially towards the main heroes' Pikachu.
  • The Quintessential Quintuplets have a special case of this, since there are five sisters in all, three of them fill the Nice role in their treatment of male lead Fuutarou, albeit each in different ways, with the remaining two being the Mean and In-Between.
    • Eldest sister Ichika loves to tease Fuutarou for kicks, but is willing to act as the mediator to get the others to eventually accept him as their tutor, encouraging her sisters to treat him nicely. Middle sister Miku is shy and withdrawn, but is revealed to be a total sweetheart when she opens up, and after she accepts him she's shown trying to do nice things for him like cooking, despite being a Lethal Chef. Lastly, Yotsuba is the first of the quints who accept him as their tutor, and she tries to get him to have fun and smile more to snap him of his Perpetual Frowner state.
    • Second sister Nino is the Mean one, being a harsh-type Tsundere whose personality is the one most likely to incite conflict, and she wants to get Fuutarou fired from his tutor job simply because she sees him as an interloper in their home, with no consideration whatsoever for the troubles that implicates (for him because he needs that money, and for herself and her sisters because they need the help to study).
    • Youngest sister Itsuki is a Tsundere as well, but leans less on the harsh side than Nino and thus falls into In-Between her and the other three. Her introductory scene had her butting heads with Fuutarou, yet she still attempted to be nice by offering him some of her food when she saw he didn't eat much, only for him to reply rudely (thus unlike Nino giving her a more valid reason to reject him). Despite not wanting his help due to that, she's shown to be sympathetic to his economical struggles, and gradually swallows her pride upon realizing they both need each other, even stepping up to defend him from Nino when she goes too far, causing a spat between them.
  • Ranma ½: Out of the Tendo sisters, Kasumi is nice, Nabiki is mean, and Akane is in between. Kasumi plays surrogate mother to her sisters, and is extremely sweet and docile. Nabiki divides her time between ruthlessly exploiting people for money-making schemes, and toying with their emotions for her own amusement. Her Pet the Dog moments are relatively rare. Akane is a kind and typically friendly person, but she has a violent temper and a tendency to overreact to perceived insults.
  • Rent-A-Girlfriend provides 3 examples of this.
    • Kazuya and his friends (to an extent):
      • Kibe is somewhat mean - brash and strict towards Kazuya, even beating him up, but genuinely means well and wants Kazuya to be a better, stronger man;
      • Kuri is nice - friendly, honest and gentle towards everyone, if a little goofy;
      • Kazuya is in-between - a Nice Guy all in all, but has bad habits such as lying and often behaves cowardly and pathetic.
    • The potential love interests (barring Mami pretty much The Sociopath):
      • Ruka is mean - not a bad person but rather immature, annoying, self-absorbed and underhanded, willing to do anything to be Kazuya's girlfriend;
      • Sumi is nice - the sweetest character in the series and treats everyone with kindness and empathy, as terribly shy as she is;
      • Chizuru is in-between - kind-hearted and overall a reasonably Nice Girl but more prone to lose her temper and yell when dealing with annoying or pathetic people.
    • The girls actually romantically involved with Kazuya:
      • Mami is far more than just mean - sociopathic, cruel and extremely spiteful;
      • Chizuru is nice - again, somewhat prone to lose her temper around the ones who annoy her but a very kind person essentially;
      • Ruka is in-between - again, not a bad person but can be underhanded and self-centered.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: Whenever Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Saitou are together, they share this dynamic. Kenshin as the Wanderer is the nicest of the three, being genuinely cheerful, friendly, and the easiest to get along with as long as he isn't in his Battousai mode. Saitou is the mean one, being the most caustic and harshest of the three, and generally dishes out cold, insulting remarks, beatdowns, and/or executions with zero hesitation. Meanwhile, Sanosuke is in-between the two. He's colder and more cynical compared to Kenshin, being the Anti-Hero of Team Kenshin, but is still considerably less ruthless and mean compared to Saitou, having more moments of warmth and friendliness towards others by comparison.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • From the first season, Ami/Mercury is always sweet, gentle, and patient (nice) and Usagi/Moon is nice and optimistic, yet a little bit bratty and whimsical (in-between) but they're both sweet ultimately, while Rei/Mars is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold with a Hair-Trigger Temper (mean). Minako/Venus and Makoto/Jupiter count as in-between and nice, respectively (Minako is a Nice Girl overall but slightly cocky and insensitive at times, while Makoto, despite her reputation, is one of the nicest and most selfless girls hands down).
    • Of the primary Outer Senshi, Setsuna/Pluto is open and friendly to the Inner Senshi, Haruka/Uranus is more cold, bitter and less agreeable, but at the same time still behaves polite and cordial to them, and Michiru/Neptune is more ladylike but yet distant.
    • Of the Tsukino children, Usagi is a friendly girl who wants to help people out (nice), Chibi-Usa is a Bratty Half-Pint who belittles Usagi (mean), and Shingo is an Annoying Younger Sibling towards Usagi but does love her deep down (in-between).
    • Of the Senshi's three living mothers, Dr. Mizuno is kind, polite, and understanding (nice), Mrs. Aino is nagging and condescending to her own family (mean), and Ikuko Tsukino is a loving and supportive if somewhat pushy Education Mama (in-between).
  • Spy X Family: Eden Academy's three housemasters.
  • Steamboy has the three main protagonists be like this. Ray Steam (nice), Scarlet O Hera (mean), (but she does mature as the movie progressives) and Lloyd (in-between).
  • A major subplot of The Summer You Were There involves the guilt that Shizuku Hoshikawa feels over bullying her classmate Ruri Ichinose in elementary school in a misguided attempt to help Ruri. The rest of the main cast- Kaori Asaka, Seri Ichihara and Ruri- fits this trope.
    • Kaori is the Nice. She knows that Shizuku's self-loathing over what she did is proof that Shizuku has a conscience, and that Shizuku is a kinder person than she realizes, so she helps Shizuku write a letter of apology and arranges a meeting for her to deliver it to Ruri. Of course, she also doesn't downplay the severity of what Shizuku did to Ruri, although she hopes that both Shizuku and Ruri can move forward and heal their pain together.
    • Seri is the Mean. When Shizuku shows up to deliver the apology letter, Seri is immediately hostile to her, and bluntly calls Kaori out on manipulating Seri and Ruri into coming even though neither Seri nor Ruri wanted to. However, Seri does sympathize with Shizuku to a certain degree, such as telling her about Kaori's illness, and Ruri mentions that Seri told her that Shizuku had changed.
    • Ruri is the In-between. During the meeting, she politely tells Shizuku that she still suffers from the trauma of Shizuku's bullying, and the only thing Shizuku can do is leave her alone. Despite this, when Shizuku bows and thanks Ruri for coming, Ruri returns the bow, implying her wish to part on civil terms. Ruri ultimately realizes Shizuku has changed and asks to start over with her as acquaintances, if not friends, in the hopes of moving on from her past trauma.
  • Super Milk Chan brought us three particular characters from the King’s Idea Laboratory:
    • Nice: Tetsuko is the shy, curious, dreamy companion of the title heroine.
    • Mean: Robodog is the loud, shameless, rude canine robot.
    • In Between: Dr. Eyepatch is very humble to most characters he knows, but has a strong dislike for Tetsuko.
  • Tamagotchi: The trio, Mametchi is the nice one who cares about his friends and is a even a cool big brother, Memetchi is a downplayed version of the mean part because she is also nice, but has the most emotional outbursts of the group, and Kuchipatchi is in-between due to being The Ditz of the group, but can be more rude than Mametchi.
  • Tokyo Mew Mew: We have the first three Mew Mews: the good-hearted, outspoken, but somewhat immature Stock Shoujo Heroine Ichigo is the in-between to shy and sweet Retasu (nice) and spoiled Lovable Alpha Bitch Minto (mean).
  • A group example in Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches: Nancy's witch group is nice, with most of them being Nice Girls to some degree — only Nancy herself is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but the heart of gold is easy to find. Takuma's witch group is mean — most of them are villainous, and most of the ones who are on the side of good are still not perfectly pleasant. Rika's witch group is in between — all of them (except Asuka) are on the side of good, but some of them acted villainous at their introduction, and they are generally more rough around the edges than Nancy's witches.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Zombieland Saga: The first three Franchouchou girls:
    • Nice: Sakura, a Nice Girl The Heart of the group who is very open, empathetic, kind and supportive to everyone.
    • Mean: Saki, the brash, loud and temperamental Jerk with a Heart of Gold, who's very hot-headed and bluntly sarcastic, yet has a good heart and is ultimately pretty kind.
    • In-between: Ai, who, while not a jerk and fundamentally a Nice Girl, has a tendency to be stubborn and slightly standoffish, and is somewhat cynical and withdrawn at first.

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