Times where somebody who's been mistreated rises up and asks "Who's Laughing Now?" in Anime and Manga series.
- Tetsuo Shima in AKIRA not only pulls it off, but moves to the next level and creates his own universe.
- Lelouch from Code Geass got a lot of mockery from various nobles. He winds up leading a resistance movement that topples them all.
- Teru Mikami in Death Note.
- And, in a way, Touta Matsuda.
- All the Death Note users in the pilot chapter (see the anvils?)
- Kiyomi Takada in the live-action movie.
- Arguably Light Yagami- he was seriously considering the school bully for his second kill despite how it might implicate him to kill someone he knows.
- Lucy from Elfen Lied. After suffering years of abuse, the final straw is when the bullies beat her puppy to death right in front of her—and they only found out about it because the Alpha Bitch in Sheep's Clothing pretended to be her friend. "You know who isn't human? You know who isn't human?! PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" ...and the bullies explode in Ludicrous Gibs.
- Plus her first fight scene with that Badass Normal gun-maniac. He attacks her in the form of Nyuu, and when she turns back into Lucy, she outright says the trope phrase as she blinds him and removes his arm.
- GunBuster: It's never brought up in-series and is therefore something of a meta example, but Noriko Takaya definitely qualifies. First episode? She has almost no talent or self-confidence, and is the academy's Chew Toy / Butt-Monkey, qualifying for Chief Woobie after she has a short mental breakdown. Episodes five and six? Turns out, Simon is a genderflipped version of her in the future.Fandom: "Who's laughing now, you sadistic bitches? WHO'S?! LAUGHING?! NOW?!"
- Minoru in the Show Within a Show in Lucky Star.
- Naruto:
- Sasuke thinks that he's acting out this trope. While reflecting back on his memories of Konohagakure, he recalls everyone laughing, concluding that they must have been laughing at him and swearing to get his revenge! In reality, they weren't actually laughing at him; he's just gone Ax-Crazy.
- Alternatively, the above sequence is a dramatic way of illustrating his hatred of how everybody in Konoha has been living peacefully, unaware of how Itachi sacrificed everything in order to protect them from the insurrection that the Uchiha Clan was planning. So what better way to punish them for that than to render Itachi's sacrifice completely meaningless by slaughtering everyone in Konoha? Again — he's gone completely off his rocker at this point.
- Naruto has a few shades of this early on; over time, however, he grows out of being a Butt-Monkey and loses his status as the village pariah. Naruto himself acknowledges that if not for his True Companions, he might have wound up taking a darker path.
- In A Place Further than the Universe, Shirase is mocked by many of her schoolmates for her obsession with Antarctica. In episode 9, when she actually sets foot in Antarctica, her pent-up emotions burst out and she lets loose, yelling "In your face!" to everyone who made fun of her and told her she wouldn't make it. And is then joined by Kimari, Hinata and Yuzuki. Then the ship's crew. Then most of the Crunchyroll comment section.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Ash's rival Paul is a Jerkass who treated Chimchar, a fire ape, like a literal Butt-Monkey, insulting it and yelling at it every time it lost a battle. Paul finally got so fed up that he pulled a non-lethal You Have Failed Me and released Chimchar. Luckily, Chimchar is quickly brought on to Ash's team, who promised to take better care of it. Thanks to Ash, Chimchar becomes successful and confident. It soon evolved to its final stage. What's more, both evolutions happen right in front of Paul, who's shocked to see the power that his old Pokémon has gained. In your face, Paul! Later he gets Hoist by His Own Petard in the Sinnoh League, as he ends up losing to that same Infernape that he abused as a Chimchar.
- Which is also how Ash got his Charmander. Charmander's original owner hated how 'weak' he was and abandoned it in a rainstorm to die. That Charmander grew into Charizard, Ash's strongest Pokémon.
- In "A Shroomish Skirmish", Ash's Corphish and May's Torchic settle their differences after Corphish protected Torchic from a herd of angry Breloom, and Torchic returned the favor by evolving into Combusken to save him. At the end of the episode, Corphish attempts to steal Combusken's food again (which started their squabble in the first place) but was now more intimidated by the more powerful Combusken, and Combusken simply laughs it off.
- And then there's the Team Rocket trio, who were originally constantly kicked around by the heroes, but during the Best Wishes series, they actually became like this. But they still lose anyway. And then they go back to being goof-offs.
- In the second season of The '90s Sailor Moon, Wiseman convinces ChibiUsa that everyone saw her as an annoying little brat and wanted her gone. She uses the powers he gives her to turn into Black Lady and treats her former friends this way.
- In the original Codename: Sailor V manga, Minako outright admits her actions as a vigilante weren't out of a strange sense of justice but because she disliked cops and wanted to show them up (the fact she also helps people in situations where she can't show them up and at her own detriment indicates it wasn't the only motivation).
- A variation happens in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, when Rossiu, who's had more than a few digs sent his way by Kamina, grows up to be an Evil Chancellor and nearly has Simon (The Hero and Kamina's main protege) executed- albeit for an unrelated reason.
- Another variation with Simon. He went from being the Butt-Monkey of his village, shunned by everyone except the chief and that was only for his digging skills, to being the savivor of humanity twice over! Also, the girls of his village dismissed him as gross. Their loss is Nia's gain.
- Used to absolutely horrifying effect in Tokyo Ghoul:Re. Remember Seidou Takizawa, the Plucky Comic Relief from the CCG that was always being shown up by his brilliant peers and made to feel like he was Always Second Best? After being Reforged into a Minion, he proceeds to go on brutal killing spree to show off the powers he's gained as Aogiri's new Half-Human Hybrid and quickly establishes himself as the major threat of the Arc.
- The sequence in Umineko: When They Cry where Maria tortures Rosa over and over as revenge for all the abuse she has suffered at her hands over the years. It doesn't help that most of the torture is graphic and that Beatrice resurrects Rosa over and over for Maria to torture. This is later implied to be All Just a Dream.
