Royals Who Actually Do Something in Anime & Manga.
- Attack on Titan: Queen Historia Reiss announces her bid for the throne by finishing off the biggest and the baddest Titan her kingdom has ever seen. And while the Survey Corps did most of the work for her, she might have just as well slain that Titan in single combat, as far as her adoring subjects are concerned. Lampshaded when, after being ordered to stay back, she says that "the people won't bow to a queen in name alone."
- Black Clover has the Silva Family, a family that composes the Silver Eagles knights, some of the strongest mage knights in the Clover Kingdom, they are though, very elitist and jerks. This can be expanded to most royals, as nobles tend to have higher magical power and a lot of them decide to become mage knights.
- In Code Geass:
- The Emperor strongly encourages his children to take up positions of influence (and fly around in a Humongous Mecha). The Social Darwinist philosophy and all that. However, the Emperor himself rarely takes an active role in running Britannia, considering war and diplomacy to be "mundane affairs" unworthy of his attention. He's a little too busy trying to kill God to worry about that sorta stuff.
- Euphemia's position as sub-viceroy of Area 11 was supposed to merely be a figurehead to attend to public functions while her sister ran the country (or rather, tried to destroy the resistance movements), but she instead spends most of her time trying to improve things for oppressed people, doing "little" things like knighting the first Number, running into a dangerous situation to save said knight, and going on to toss the biggest Spanner in the Works to the entire plot to try to solve the problems plaguing everyone and creating a "gentle world" for the people.
- Princess Cornelia is certainly one of the most prominent examples of this in the series. An extraordinarily skilled Knightmare pilot on par with several of the main cast, and a skilled politician, and a very experienced and successful battle strategist. Two of her Establishing Character Moments are 1. taking out an army of Humongous Mecha almost single-handedly, and 2. finding and storming a terrorist base, spearheading the operation herself. She is good enough to beat Lelouch in early episodes, and can still give him some serious headaches later on. As if she needed more badassery, she is shown to be very intelligent. Perhaps not to the extent of Lelouch and Schneizel, but she is able to efficiently run an entire country, garner intense loyalty and respect from her subjects, and is very skilled in predicting how other people will act very similarly to how Lelouch can.
- Emperor Lelouch more than exceeds the requirements for this trope when he flies head-on into a nuclear explosion to neutralize it and prevent thousands of deaths.
- In Delicious in Dungeon, King Delgal was the only member of the Golden Kingdom who managed to escape, retain his sanity and reach the surface to get help for his people. He kicks off the plot by promising his kingdom to anyone who can defeat the Lunatic Magician, i.e. the Big Bad who trapped him and his subjects in the first place.
- Dragon Ball Z gives us King Vegeta. He was the commanding hero of the Saiyan Army and led his people to victory in the Saiyan-Tuffle war. Naturally his son, Prince Vegeta, follows suits taking the role of Warrior Prince to ludicrous levels.
- Akira Takizawa in Eden of the East spends the last of his money as a Seleção to make himself the King of Japan, in order to try and "fix" the country and finish his work as a Savior. He ends up undoing this at the end of the movies, realizing that it's up to the people as a whole to fix their country, not any one man. He instead uses the last of his influence to give them a push in the right direction.
- In Fairy Tail:
- Mystogan is a prince who is also a member of Fairy Tail. In the Phantom Lord arc, he's the one who singlehandedly wipes out most of Phantom Lord's bases.
- Princess Hisui E. Fiore, who is the true mastermind behind the Eclipse Project which aims to save Fiore from a dragon apocalypse. Unfortunately, she's an Unwitting Pawn as the Eclipse Project is actually what causes said apocalypse.
- King Toma J. Fiore, is this to a much lesser extent. He's the Pumpkin referee of the Grand Magic games, but he does help out with the Eclipse project by talking to the crowds once he knows about it.
- Raoh, the "Fist King" in Fist of the North Star not only rides with his men into battle but is the best fighter around. By contrast, the Big Bad Thouzer/Souther/Thouza rarely fights unless he is forced to do so, instead leaving things to his army of mooks.
- Ling Yao and May Chang from Fullmetal Alchemist, the 12th Prince and 17th Princess of Xing respectively. Due to the Succession Crisis occurring in their country, their roles in the story are triggered by their active search for a means to gain favor in inheriting the throne. Both are highly skilled in martial arts, and May is also capable of using the alternate form of Alchemy called Alkahestry. Also, throughout the story Ling would frequently tout his belief that kings exist to serve their people. Which he intends to uphold, considering that once he secures his place as successor the first thing he promises to do as Emperor is quell the warring between the clans of his country.
- In Fushigi Yuugi, the emperor Hotohori accompanies Miaka on her quest to find the other Suzaku warriors, and is handy in combat against zombies, bandits, and the occasional possessed comrade. He is also the person who convinces Miaka she is the priestess who will save his kingdom.
- Something of a trend in Gundam. If royalty/nobility shows up in the story (and they often do), you can generally be sure they are not idle.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: While Sovereign Degwin Zabi doesn't do much beyond sit on his throne and look depressed, his children are very involved in the running of the One Year War. "Well Done, Son" Guy Garma leads a large chunk of the Earth Invasion Force (and in fact dies in battle fulfilling his duties), Genius Bruiser Dozle and Evil Genius Kycillia are both highly respected fleet commanders (and again, Dozle dies in battle, in his case covering the retreat of his forces), and Non-Action Guy Gihren organises the war effort, plots overall strategy, and keeps up troop morale via Rousing Speech. Even Mineva Zabi, Dozle's daughter and heiress of Zeon, is quite active throughout Gundam Unicorn, though technically by this point her family had lost most of the power it once had, so her title was mostly empty.
- Shakti Kareen, Princess of Zanscare, of Victory Gundam, who spends the story aiding the resistance and generally trying to overthrow the corrupt and malevolent government of Zanscare.
- ∀ Gundam: Dianna Soriel, Queen of the Moon. She personally leads the Moonrace returning to Earth, and is shown to be very involved in her society's administration. She's extremely active throughout the story, often present on the front lines of battle, even helping out at a war hospital at one point (she was incognito at the time). In fact, one of the main reasons the other noble houses of the Moon agreed with her going to Earth was to get her out of the way so they could rule more directly.
- There is also Relena Peacecraft, princess of the Sanc Kingdom in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (later Queen of the World) who is a very active diplomat on the global stage.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and its sequel have Cagalli Yula Athha, a princess of ORB who is far more at home on the battlefield than in government. Yuna Roma Seiran is quasi-royalty from the same nation, and commands a battle fleet from the front lines... though he's actually pretty terrible at strategy, so this isn't a good thing...
- Even Marina Ismail of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. She is shown doing everything in her power to improve her people's lot in life. Unfortunately, since she is a figurehead, that power doesn't amount to very much, but she is at least trying. After Azadistan is dissolved and subsequently rebuilt at the end of Season 2, she seems to have garnered some measure of actual political power, and is shown aiding her countrymen in The Movie.
- Gundam Build Fighters gives us Reiji, who claims to be the prince of a fantasy kingdom named Arian. While the protagonist Sei dismisses this as nonsense, it seems to be completely true. Though he doesn't work in the sense of other Gundam royals, he's still very active, participating in the Gunpla Battle World Tournament and being more than willing to beat up thugs who harass innocents, especially women.
- In The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Parsian royalty is expected to be war heroes. The king serves as the main commander and is on the front lines while the prince is expected to go on the front lines at a young age. Arslan had his first campaign at age fourteen and is basically trying to reclaim his throne at age fourteen.
- Azalyn, the Empress of the Raaglon Empire in Irresponsible Captain Tylor, rules from the throne room of the Melva, the biggest, baddest ship in the Raaglon fleet. She's even involved in some of the strategic decision-making, and the Melva (though normally kept behind the lines) sees some main battle action.
- Seen in the anime Izetta: The Last Witch, with Finé von Eylstadt. First while still Princess, she crosses through enemy territory, evading capture by the Germanic Empire to hopefully broker a marriage alliance with a noble from Britannian to secure her nation's independence. Later, when she becomes Arch Duchess she continues to take a hands on approach in defending Eylstadt from Germania, including engaging in operations on the front lines with Izetta.
- La Seine No Hoshi: Simone is the daughter of Franz I, husband of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and an opera singer. This means she is Marie Antoinette's half-sister. However, she doesn't find this out until much later, with her adoptive father telling her she's not their biological child as he succumbs to his death.
- Sankt Kaiser Olivie of Ancient Belka in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, who, as an Ancient Belkan queen, not only qualifies as a Warrior Prince(ss), but was also the one to unify the remnants of Ancient Belka after they destroyed themselves, and was instrumental in the forming of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. By technicality, Vivio, as the clone of Olivie, also qualifies, as she serves as a librarian and is receiving training to be a magical girl. She'd rather forget the royalty part and wants to follow in her adopted mother's footsteps.
- In Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, virtually anyone who's both royalty and has the capacity to own a metal vessel Does Stuff. Everything is justified by the in-series system of determining who's worthy of becoming King: being badass enough to go into a dungeon and survive.
- The Ren family probably exemplify this the best, as not only three of the crown princes are heavily involved in the politics of the Kou empire but they along with their two sisters are also generals of the Imperial army.
- Maken-ki!: As the daughter of Yamato no Orochi, Himegami is both royalty and a demigoddess. And her Orochi blood is the only thing that can break the seal atop Amanohara, which is the reason Ouken Yamato was after her. So Takeru and the others tried to protect her from him, but In the end, Himegami defeated Ouken, herself.
And she's now tasked with the greater responsibility of trying to find a way to stop her uncle, Takeru, permanently. - Hanon in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch fights evil with everyone else, but constantly worries about her country and does whatever she can to help her people. Later, everyone in the cast takes charge of rebuilding their kingdoms as well as sending aid to that of the Rebellious Princess, whose running away would be seen as irresponsible even if it hadn't led to all it did.
- Every single Kage in every country in the world of Naruto. Prime examples are the fourth Hokage of the main character's village, who died protecting his village, and the fifth Hokage in the same village, who almost killed herself healing injured villagers on a large scale during a massive assault. The factors of being a village leader are wisdom, experience, and a desire to protect, complemented with the ability to kick ass.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the main character (taking over for her father, who is no longer capable of doing anything on account of terminal illness), as well as most Periphery clan leaders. Torumekian and Dorok royalty also lead from the front, especially Princess Kushana and both Emperors.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi has several princesses who are actually useful:
- Theodora supported Negi's father Nagi during the war, and helped in Negi's training and match with Jack Rakan.
- Then we have Asuna, another, much older princess, who has been fighting next to Negi for quite a while. She doesn't know that she's a princess...
- And lastly, Negi himself, who is a prince by virtue of being Arika's son. Like Asuna, he wasn't initially aware of his royal lineage.
- One Piece:
- Rather common when royalty is involved. The first example is Nefertari Vivi, the princess of the desert kingdom of Alabasta. She successfully infiltrated the evil organization that was attempting to overthrow her government, and when she was exposed, took an active role in helping the Straw Hat Pirates stop Sir Crocodile from completing his plan.
- And her father, Nefertari Cobra (and yes, his subjects know him as King Cobra). An unknown, shadow organization is manipulating the people into a rebellion against him? He refuses to send the royal army against his own people without knowing what's happening. When Vivi sends him info on Crocodile, he immediately mobilizes the entire army to leave the capital (where the rebels are planning to meet the army in battle) and send them against Crocodile. Crocodile kidnaps him? He'd rather die, collapse the ancient burial grounds, and try to take Crocodile with him, than lead him to Pluton.
- Boa Hancock also counts, as the empress of Amazon Lily. Her Red Baron also happens to be "Snake Princess". She may be an Alpha Bitch, and a personification of Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!, but with Haki, a Charles Atlas Superpower, and the ability to turn others to stone, she has more than enough power to back up her title…which she shows regularly as the captain of the Kuja Pirates.
- And then we have the royalty of the Ryugu Kingdom on Fishman Island. King Neptune isn't afraid to protect his subjects when the need arises, including doing an underwater version of Kamehame Hadoken to utterly defeat the New Fishmen Pirates. His deceased wife Queen Otohime stopped a thief by slapping him several times and was very active in trying to promote peace between mermen and humans while making time to be a caring mother of four, a school teacher, and a rescue worker. The three princes are all Warrior Princes and are said to be the strongest of the Nepture army, which they also lead.
- There's also Donquixote Doflamingo. He may not look like it, but he is the king of Dressrosa. Later on, this becomes extremely notable when it's revealed that he's a World Noble, who are often noted to be anything but this. Then subverted a bit when you find out how he gained the kingdom. And that it was all mostly a front to hide his operations. But played straight with the former rulers, the Riku Family, who indeed had the people's best interest at heart, proven by the fact that until they were usurped, the country hadn't been involved in a war for 700 years.
- The Vinsmoke Family counts as well. Despite having no land to rule over, they are still allowed to participate in the Reverie. They also maintain an influential role in the Underworld, which certainly contributes to this trope.
- In the Pretty Cure franchise, a number of the heroines are members of royalty when they're not on Earth. This number includes Shiny Luminous, Cure Muse, Cure Scarlet, and Cure Majesty.
- Princess Principal Princess Charlotte is the leader of a steampunk spy ring for the Commonwealth, who oppose the Royals!
- Princess Tutu: Mytho is the prince from a Story Within A Story, and he'll go out of his way to help anyone (although this only tends to cause more work for his friends). Princess Tutu and Princess Kraehe do quite a bit as well, but they don't actually have kingdoms, so their titles are purely symbolic or honorary.
- Kashue the Mercenary King in Record of Lodoss War is a very competent ruler who actually fights well.
- Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars: Empress Yuinshiel Asteria is the main character of a Super Robot anime, with all fighting that entails.
- Sailor Moon:
- Although she doesn't know at the time, Usagi/Serena is a princess who fights evil. And she later becomes a Queen who fights evil.
- Endymion/Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask also counts, as in his first life he was prince of the Earth's most powerful kingdom and later becomes Usagi's husband and King. The other Sailor Soldiers of the solar system count too, as they were royalty of their own planets in their previous lives.
- The Secret of Twilight Gemini: Lara is the rebel leader of the Geltic gurrellas, who're fighting to reclaim their homeland from the Igo Tribe. Though she doesn't find out about her royal lineage until the night before they depart for their ancestral home, which is when The Elder finally tells her and Lupin.
- Slayers: Pokota/Prince Posel of Taforashia, an anime-exclusive character, is also this: a powerful practitioner of Black Magic and all too willing to save his disease-stricken kingdom.
- Many royals of The World is Still Beautiful tend to be very involved:
- Although the Sun Kingdom has a well-established bureaucracy, Livius often feels the need to personally contribute at times.
- Also quite literally in the case of Nike and her family, whose status as royalty does not exempt them from cutting firewood, doing the laundry, or peeling potatoes for a feast.
- Prince Taishi of the Sand Kingdom does his best to communicate and help his people in person whenever possible because he has a great urge to look after them at all costs.
- In Tenchi Muyo!, the Juraian Royal Family are the baddest mofos around, and additionally are paired off with sentient spaceships capable of generating super weapon fields of invulnerability. They actually have an Imperial Guard whose job is mainly to evacuate the civilians if somebody attacks the royals and they have to fight back.
- The Kings of The Twelve Kingdoms work their fingers to the bone. Lazy royalty are an offence against the heavens.
- Utawarerumono: Hakuoro, once he takes over the country by force. After that, he's a very responsible leader, but not afraid to kick ass when necessary. On the other hand, the other emperors also tend to take a very hands-on approach to war and politics.
- Voltes V: Prince Heinel. Unlike his uncle, who was handed everything to him because he has born the Emperor's son, Heinel worked to get where he is and actively takes command in missions. He is a skilled military commander and the first episode of the anime mentions that his forces managed to uproot several countries in the midst of Alien Invasion.
- Princess Allura/Fala became a pilot for Voltron / GoLion after Sven/Takashi was injured.
- Windaria: Both Warrior Prince Roland and Princess Veronica personally lead their armies.
- In Yakitate!! Japan, the royal family of Monaco intentionally send their children out to learn careers as commoners so that they may rule better. The current king learned to bake bread. To be fair, if he'd had the talent for it, breadmaking could have resulted in him being able to make disposable time machines.
- Pretty much every royal in Yona of the Dawn. Su-won may have achieved the throne in a less-than-honorable way, but he is an intelligent, capable emperor, uniting the five tribes and settling disputes with neighboring countries with a mix of diplomacy and military force.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the spirit of the Puzzle is a pharaoh, and not only is he one of the lead characters (and therefore takes part in everything), but in the Memory World arc he fights on the front lines with the rest of his court and the army. He also takes on Bakura single-handedly on multiple occasions, and uses Slifer to shield the city from his attacks at one point. Zig-zagged in that this is a shonen action manga, so most of the administration part is implied (one scene in the manga shows him with a scroll), no mention is made of the relationships with other countries, and if you take the anime timeline to be right, then Bakura's attack began the same day as Atem's coronation (the manga is more ambiguous).
- In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX there was Prince Orgene. He wasn't the most competent monarch, however. After a very lonely childhood, he built a powerful super-weapon simply to make himself feel important, only to fall victim to the Society of Light (twice, no less). Fortunately, he would eventually have a happy ending, more or less.
