Basic Trope: The Hero discovers they aren't The Chosen One, but continue their quest anyway, either because they want to or because they have to.
- Straight: Ichigo was told that she's destined to help defeat Emperor Evulz, and has been honing her magic ever since. However, she's suddenly informed that she's not part of the prophecy after all — somehow she got confused with Ringo. Despite this, Ichigo decides to Screw Destiny and bring the Emperor down herself anyway.
- Exaggerated: Ichigo has been trained since birth with the belief that she was The Chosen One, and has been pursued by Emperor Evulz' forces her whole life. Whoops?
- Downplayed: When told she is not The Chosen One, Ichigo becomes Ringo's sidekick.
- Justified:
- The High Priest of the Oracle's temple lied about the wording of the prophecy as a Batman Gambit to get Emperor Evulz looking in the wrong place.
- The High Priest misread the prophecy.
- The prophecy was only partially preserved.
- Inverted:
- Ichigo has been fighting Emperor Evulz while unaware of the benefit of any prophecies, but abruptly discovers that she is, in fact, The Chosen One.
- Ichigo knows for a fact that she is The Chosen One destined to defeat Emperor Evulz. She packs some supplies and plans to set off on her journey the next morning, but then learns that Ringo (who is not even mentioned in the prophecy) has beaten her to the task. That is to say, the story is told from The Chosen One's perspective rather than that of the protagonist.
- Subverted:
- Ichigo has been told that she is not, in fact, The Chosen One. After deciding to Screw Destiny and defeat Emperor Evulz anyway, she's told that it was a false alarm. Ringo isn't the real chosen one, Ichigo was all along.
- When told that she is not The Chosen One, Ichigo immediately gives up. This leads to Ichigo proceeding to sit out the rest of the mess someplace far away from the conflict, assuming Evulz doesn't wish to destroy everything.
- The priest discovers an error in his interpretation of the prophecy, but doesn't tell Ichigo.
- Double Subverted:
- ...At least until new evidence comes to light that neither Ichigo nor Ringo is the real chosen one; it was that guy they met in part 3 with the weird haircut.
- Emperor Evulz defeats Ringo, so now it's up to Ichigo to save the day, Chosen One or not.
- Ichigo finds out about the error some other way.
- Parodied: Chosen Ones are alerted of their status by a Prophetic Hotline, which regularly gets its numbers mixed up and results in several mis-Chosen Ones. Indeed, Emperor Evulz's job was supposed to go to a farmer in the next country over.
- Zig Zagged: There is serious doubt as to which one is the actual Chosen One, Ichigo or Ringo. The series goes back and forth, implying that first one, then the other, is the one referred to in the prophecy. Ultimately, it becomes a moot point as the pair work together to defeat the Emperor...
- Averted:
- The prophets pick the right Chosen One every time.
- There is no prophecy or Chosen One.
- Enforced: One of the intended themes of the series is Screw Destiny, but the plot requires a prophecy anyway.
- Lampshaded:
- "Try not to get too cocky, Ringo. After all, the Oracle's been wrong about the identity of The Chosen One once already..."
- "Good to know I wasn't necessary all along. Time to make myself scarce."
- Invoked: Ichigo was intentionally set up as a false chosen one in order to draw Emperor Evulz' attention away from the real Chosen One, Ringo. Not only would this help protect Ringo, it would create a powerful potential Unchosen One as an ally, assuming she survived and they played their cards right. (Ichigo, naturally, was not aware this was the plan.)
- Exploited: The real Chosen One discovers the mix-up and lets Ichigo continue in her stead so she doesn't have to deal with that icky "risk bodily harm" business.
- Defied: "Make sure that you don't mix up the scrolls! We need to have the proper Chosen One identified correctly."
- Discussed: "It would sure suck if after all this time and trouble, I wasn't the Chosen One destined to defeat Emperor Evulz."
- Conversed: "This show is so confusing! Who's the real Chosen One? Or is the prophecy just a meaningless piece of paper?"
- Deconstructed: Having sacrificed a great deal because she was The Chosen One — having seen her Doomed Hometown destroyed, fleeing the Emperor's forces for years, fighting and training and going through hell — Ichigo doesn't take the news that there was some sort of cosmic mistake well. Her True Companions are similarly torn; having bonded with Ichigo, they suddenly learn she wasn't meant to be part of their team, and everything she went through was apparently all for nothing.
- Reconstructed: Ultimately, Ichigo decides she's come too far to give up now, and continues the quest with even greater resolve to Screw Destiny and save the world.
- Played For Laughs:
- Ichigo was rather obviously not the chosen one, but Jumped at the Call and wouldn't be dissuaded. Everyone else is more hung up on the idea that she's OMG-not-Chosen than she is — comically so, as she's also better at fighting monsters than her Chosen One companions. This makes a sharp contrast with Ringo, who is Brilliant, but Lazy and perfectly happy to let Ichigo do it instead...
- Rather than force Ichigo out of the group, Ringo simply joins alongside her, and the pair become instant BFFs — much to the shock of their comrades, who expected more drama and angst over the whole debacle.
- Played For Drama: Ichigo is immediately kicked out of the group and Ringo brought into the fold. Despite no longer have the team's backing, Emperor Evulz still wants her death just because. Ichigo has to go it alone until she can figure out what to do next — and being Hot-Blooded, she isn't even considering just going into hiding while her old "friends" do all the work.
Back to Missed the Call
