Not Me This Time / Anime & Manga

• Assassination Classroom:
  • Koro-sensei is framed as a Panty Thief in one arc, but when he initially protests his innocence, no one believes him, mostly because he's a total pervert who constantly ogles women and keeps dirty magazines in his desk. Everyone Has Standards, however, and he considers stealing women's underwear to be a touch too gross, even for him.
  • Despite being a former Professional Killer and possessing a skewed moral compass, Koro-sensei did not actually blow up the moon at the start of the story. Unlike the above, however, Koro-sensei has no issue taking credit for it, since he wants his students to be properly motivated to kill him.
• Ayakashi Triangle: After multiple corrupted ayakashi attempt to kill Suzu, Matoi wrongly points to Shadow Mei as the most likely culprit because it seems like something she would be capable of. When Matsuri counters that Mei needs Suzu alive, she says Mei's behavior is too erratic to predict. (In Matoi's defense, Shadow Mei had attempted to kill Matsuri by setting an ayakashi on a rampage that almost killed Suzu as well.)
• Bleach: In a flashback, a soldier under Captain Yachiru Unohana reports to her saying he was unable to find a Worthy Opponent for her. He figures that the mountain of corpses she was standing by was her way of expressing frustration over this, but she denies having killed these people (with an undertone of having done something like that before) — turns out it was a young Kenpachi Zaraki, also looking for a worthy opponent.
• In an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura, Kero attempts to convince Sakura and Tomo that Spinel Sun, not him, was the one who ate all of the school festival's sweets.
• A Certain Magical Index: Vento of the Front invades Academy City and starts blowing up buildings and hurting people around the same time that Amata Kihara kidnaps Last Order. Touma Kamijou confronts Vento and orders her to release the child, only for Vento to say she has no idea what he is talking about.
• In Cross Ange, Ange blames a lot of things that Hilda did to her while she was at Arzenal and thus she can't trust her. As part of her Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking accusations, one of said accusations was that the Perolina costume stinks, something Hilda never did. Ersha was the one wearing the costume, handing out the balloons before Ange stole it. Hilda even calls her out on that one.
• Happens with Monaca in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Yes, Komaeda promised to teach her to become the next Junko Enoshima and she did Kill and Replace Gekkougahara with a robotic avatar of the Ultimate Therapist. However, she was so disturbed over Komaeda's antics that she decides not to be the next Junko Enoshima and she only used Mecha!Gekkougahara (in which she killed during Komaeda's training into becoming the next Enoshima) to observe Makoto Naegi.
• Happens twice in Death Note. The first time, a man connected with the Kira investigation gets a (survivable) heart attack simply from the stress of the job; the second time, it's someone else running around with a Death Note supporting Kira's aims.
• Fairy Tail: The Fiore Royal Family blames Zeref for Acnologia, convinced the former transformed the latter into a dragon. While Zeref is responsible for nearly every major event in series and a lot of strife in the characters' backstories (either due to his research and creations, people's desire to attain his power, and/or ironically his plan to defeat Acnologia), he is not responsible for Acnologia. Acnologia's transformation was actually a natural consequence of the use of Dragon Slaying magic — if anyone is to blame for him becoming the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, it'd be Spriggan 12 member Irene Belserion, who created Dragon Slaying magic.
• In a non-villainous version, the first plotline in Haiyore! Nyarko-san W has two aliens ransack the Great Celaeno Library looking for a forbidden book. Mahiro suspects that they wanted Nyarko's overdue library book, because she (unwittingly) tends to be behind these events. When it turns out that he had the book they wanted^note he was looking at it while in the library and shoved it into his jacket pocket without thinking with the aliens attacked, he gives a Big "NO!" and Nyarko says that it was unfair for him to instantly assume it was her.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: When all of the heart shaped balloons disappear from the culture festival overnight, Karen automatically assumes that the Tabletop Gaming Club must be responsible due to their reputation as troublemakers. It was actually Shirogane (with Momo's help) who gathered them all up for his Grand Romantic Gesture to Kaguya.
• When Thoma of Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force gets captured by the Hückebein, an infamous family of killers, he accuses them of being the culprits behind the destruction of his hometown. Not so, says Fortis. He double-checked, and they're not behind that particular massacre. After all, Thoma survived, and if they were the ones responsible, they would have made sure to kill everyone.
• Maria no Danzai: About a week after Shikimi's death, Iijima's corpse is found by the police buried near the roadway. While the investigation team suspects a connection to the disappearances of Kowase and Shikimi, it turns out Maria did not kill him (she considered it, but ultimately chose to spare him since he had nothing to do with Kiritaka's death). It also turns out Okaya and his gang weren't responsible for his death, either (while Kinugawa did think he was the one responsible for Shikimi's death and wanted to kill him in retribution, he wasn't able to find him in time). Both Maria and Okaya independently conclude that a third, unrelated party with questionable motives was responsible.
• In the Moomin (1990) episode "Hurry Up Snufkin", Moominpappa and Snork catch Moomin and Snorkmaiden searching for Snufkin alongside Stinky, the resident Jerkass and troublemaker of Moominvalley. Since both of them had been warned not to hunt for Snufkin (especially Moomin, who was bedridden with fever), Moominpappa and Snork both assume that Stinky manipulated them into going. Stinky was actually hesitant to tell Moomin where to start looking for Snufkin, and only accompanied him to make sure he would stay safe.
• Moriarty the Patriot: When William and Sherlock happen upon a murder on a train they happened to be traveling on at the same time, it carries all the hints of being another one of William's killings. But it turns out he had nothing to do with it!
• Subverted in Naruto, when Tobi claims that the Uchiha clan was not behind the Kyuubi attacking Konoha despite confirming or expanding on much of what Sasuke was told about him. A later flashback arc shows that he really was, but he acted alone.
• Pokémon: The Series
  • The show has its share of villains that aren't Team Rocket, whether single-episode Pokemon menaces, thieves, the region's local villainous team, or Bill and Cassidy. As Jessie and James end up appearing in nearly every episode, they get more than their share of this trope.
  • Iris's Emolga — usually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing — gets hit with this when she gets blamed for attacking Axew. If not for Her trainer reading Axew's heart at a critical moment, her attempted trick to get back at her (pretending to side with Team Rocket) would have ended far more poorly than it did already.
• Subverted in the first season of Rosario + Vampire; in Chapter 27, Tsukune gets a centipedia sent after him. Although his current problem (the monstrels) are not shown in that chapter themselves, he does suspect that his 'centipede thing' opponent is allied with them. He's wrong: Headmaster Exorcist Mikogami sent him after Tsukune to test his ghoul powers and damn did it work.
• Sgt. Frog has a rather sad example in one chapter. Keroro is expecting praise for doing a good job cleaning the house, but is instead met with furious accusations by Natsumi and Fuyuki of screwing with computer networks across the city, and has a nervous breakdown when they refuse to believe his pleas that he's not responsible. The real culprits turn out to be the Garuru Platoon, as a prelude to taking over the invasion of Earth.
• Shi ni Aruki starts with many people in Tokiko Kurosu's adoptive family dying mysterious deaths from accidents, and naturally, murder is suspected. Sou Aoya, a journalist who wants to "purify" himself through killing "pure" people and consuming their blood turns out to be a murderer, but this person turns out to only have killed one of the last victims, Rina Kurosu. Everyone else (outside three suicides) were just bizarre accidents that (may or may not) have been the result of a supernatural curse.
• SPY×FAMILY has the Forgers' undergoing several Secret Test of Character being administered to them by the school faculty to see if their daughter is "Elegant" enough to attend Eden Academy: Saluting the statue of the Schools' first Headmaster, Helping a boy stuck in a grate without getting their clothes muddy. Loid wonders how deranged the Academy is when a stampede of farm animals is charging right at them and other school applicants. Cut to said Headmaster wondering who exactly among his staff would take things this far, only to have them respond that they thought he was the one that unleashed the farm animals.
  Henry: You mean to tell me, this is an actual accident?!
• In Touhou Ibarakasen ~ Wild and Horned Hermit, someone has been attacking the people at the Myoren Temple, and Reimu is the first suspect not only because of the religious rivalry between the two shrines but because she's been kicking more Yōkai butt than usual lately. When confronted, Reimu insists that it wasn't her and points out that if she had done it, she'd be bragging about it (since it would improve her standing with the human village). The culprit was actually Suika, using her density manipulation powers to prank the temple for not paying proper respects to her when they set up near Yokai Mountain.
• Vinland Saga:
  • During the Baltic War arc, the deaths of chieftain Sigvaldi of the Jomsvikings, following the deaths of several in his inner circle who could succeed him, creates a giant Succession Crisis. Everyone automatically assumes it's Floki because the deaths oh-so-conveniently put his grandson next in line, but while Floki might have assassinated some of Sigvaldi's inner circle, Sigvaldi's death was not his fault — Floki was in fact trying to keep him alive as long as possible in order to secure his grandson's position. Canute, on the other hand, had recently found that the Jomsvikings were too old-fashioned and too powerful for his liking and in a very precarious political position...
  • Floki falls afoul of the trope again later in the arc, when his main rival Vagn is assassinated. Thorkell, who had originally sided with Floki in the Civil War, automatically assumes Floki arranged for it and is so incensed he promptly switches sides and joins Vagn's army against Floki. Once again, Floki had nothing to do with it — Psycho for Hire Garm, who Floki hired to kill Thorfinn, happened upon Vagn and killed him as a target of opportunity. Floki suffers an Oh, Crap! moment when he's informed, knowing perfectly well everyone will assume he did it and no-one will believe him (or in Thorkell's case, even care) if he says otherwise.

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