History BatmanGambit / AnimeAndManga

* As part of being CrazyPrepared, top assassin ''{{Golgo 13}}'' uses Batman Gambits among others all the time. One example is in Episode 42 of the animated television series. Where four assassin are hired to take him out - one of them being female. After being attacked, Golgo 13 kills the three men, but leaves the woman alive. He knocks her out and takes her to a wood cabin. He strips her naked and burns the clothes. He pays a young woman to allow him to use her cabin in exchange for a bright red coat. When Golgo leaves the cabin, the woman knocks the young lady out and takes her red coat. She meets up with her boss and they try again to kill Golgo 13. But this is what he wanted: To make the woman lure the mastermind out of hiding, and to make her boss and himself an easy target by the bright red coat she was now wearing. Golgo 13 kills them both with a single rifle shot.

* In ''GundamSEED'', Rau Le Crueset's plan to kill everyone hinges on a few Batman Gambits towards the Earth Alliance, namely revealing Operation Spitfire and sending out Flay with the N-Jammer Canceller plans. As expected, Blue Cosmos came out and armed themselves with nukes with Patrick Zala hauling out GENESIS to fight back.

* In KurokonoBasuke near the end of the final quarter of the Seirin vs Shutoku match, Midorima was about to make a 3-point shot, but believed that Kagami would be able to jump and block his shot once more despite being completely exhausted. So in response he feinted and didn't shoot when Kagami thought he would. Unfortunately for him Kuroko also believed that Kagami would jump and that Midorima would feint so he was able to steal the ball just before the final quarter ended.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[spoiler: Blackbeard successfully defeats and captures Ace and hands him over to the Marines, earning him the title of Shichibukai/Warlord of the Sea]]. Knowing [[spoiler:Whitebeard's familial protectiveness,]] [[DisasterDominoes a chain of events]] would led up to [[spoiler: a war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines at Marineford, which gave him a clear opening to break into Impel Down and recruit the most dangerous and powerful prisoners into his crew]].

* The entire plot of the ''GhostInTheShell'' movie is one big BatmanGambit by an opponent aptly called ''the Puppetmaster''. [[spoiler: At one point he hacks into the heavily secured factory that builds the replacement parts for the Majors and Batous cybernetic bodies and had it create a unique cybernetic body. Then he had the body walk out of the factory and to the next highway to step in front of the next passing truck. As access to the factory would also allow him to temper with the replacement parts for Section 9, they really want the remains of the rogue cyborg body in their lab for analyzation. Exactly where the AI wanted to be, but couldn't get to without his handlers stopping him. Everything that happens in the movie is all part of his plan to get an opportunity to talk with the Major.]]

* ''[[TenchiMuyo Katsuhito Masaki]] is the main reason that Tenchi netted so many beautiful alien women. Just that it worked a little 'too'' well - he got Tenchi to be curious enough about the mysterious cave that he would be able to go in and investigate, freeing Ryoko, which would catch Ayeka's attention (which he figured would happen) and bring her to Earth so that he could send Tenchi back in his place. Nothing in his plans, however, would prepare him for the other four girls who would show up.

** But the gambit doesn't stop there; after that part's success, [[spoiler:he takes his crew to Marineford, where he knew Whitebeard would have been worn down from taking on the World Government's full force. He then has his entire crew attack Whitebeard, finally killing him, and then proceeds to steal the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from him. And as if his threat level wasn't already UpToEleven with that move, he then proceeds to usurp Whitebeard's territories and titles, both that of the Strongest Man in the World and that of Yonkou]]. The bottom line? A CompleteMonster pulled off a successful Batman Gambit, and has officially become the series' BigBad.

* In KurokonoBasuke near the end of the final quarter of the Seirin vs Shutoku match, Midorima believed that Kagami would be able to jump and block his shot once more despite being completely exhausted. So in response he feinted and didn't shoot when Kagami thought he would. Unfortunately for him Kuroko also believed that Kagami would jump and that Midorima would feint so he was able to steal the ball just before the final quarter ended.

* Once Link finally catches up with her in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', Zelda reveals the true reason for her disappearance from Skyloft: [[spoiler:the goddess Hylia needed her [[TheChosenOne chosen hero]] to go through the steps needed to create the Master Sword and become worthy of bearing the Triforce, so that he could destroy Demise for good. However, instead of relying on him to risk life and limb to save a world he never even knew existed, she reincarnated as someone Link would go above and beyond the call of duty for - his lifelong friend Zelda - and used herself to provide his motivation.]] Zelda, for her part, was not aware of this plan until very recently, and is quite apologetic about manipulating Link in this way.

* In ''{{Manga/Shiki}}'', resident badass and vampire expert Toshio Ozaki [[spoiler:pulls one of these on Chizuru, "matriarch" of the vampiric Kirishiki family. Among their many vampire powers is the power of suggestion: the first vampire to bite a victim can instruct that victim to do anything. Up until this point, the vamps have used this power to prevent their victims from seeking medical attention from Ozaki, who is the only doctor in the village. But because Ozaki, who experimented on his vampire wife, now knows all their weaknesses and is a real threat, Chizuru bites him and implants the suggestion that he burn all his notes regarding the vampires and their connection to the deaths in Sotoba. Ozaki carries out her wishes the next day. Later, Chizuru notices the Kagura Festival and expresses interest in it, but can't go due to the religious symbolism. Ozaki convinces her to go anyway, assuring her that if she changes her mind, they can go back. Chizuru agrees, but starts to chicken out when they get too deep into the festival. She orders Ozaki to escort her back to the clinic, but he refuses and reveals a second set of bite marks in a place that Chizuru never bit him. Chizuru was actually the *second* vampire to bite Ozaki, the first being Natsuno, who is working with Ozaki to take down the other vampires. Ozaki went along with Chizuru's wishes to gain her trust, lure her to the festival, and then reveal her as a vampire to the rest of the villagers.]] It totally works.

* ''Anime/{{Inukami}}'': One episode featured the inukami plotting to take advantage of Keita's perverted tendencies, sure their plan would work immediately. Except he showed restraint, foiling their plan.

* Aeolia Schenberg's feats in ''{{Gundam 00}}'' are oft barely noticed. In spite of living 200 years before the events of the anime, he managed to lay down a framework for Celestial Being and created an A.I. that would be able to create missions and postulate possible strategies for the group to carry out. Not only that, he theorized and developed technologies that were to come to be centuries beyond his time, including the Twin Drive for the Gundam 00 (and the solar furnaces themselves for that matter) and the orbital elevators. Although he planned to go into cryogenic sleep and wake up in the future, he also ''planned for his death''. He made sure that if he was ever killed, the Trans-Am system would be activated in all Gundams, as well as making other information stored outside of Veda accessible (like the aforementioned Twin Drive). Aeolia's [[BatmanGambit surprise 200-year old plans]] often manage to foil Ribbons's, the resident MagnificentBastard, [[XanatosGambit own machinations]], to which he frequently expresses frustration at. After all, he thought [[WellIntentionedExtremist he was just carrying out Aeolia's wishes too]].

* Xellos does this all the time in ''{{Anime/Slayers}}'', which is not particularly difficult, as everyone in that series is extremely predictable. Usually, whatever he does serves his plans in some way, but a lot of the time he just manipulates them because he thinks it's funny. It generally is.

** And in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]], the villains' main schtick is that they use many small acts of violence to cause social unrest, then sit back and watch as that unrest blossoms into war and people kill each other by the thousands. [[HumansAreBastards If humanity wasn't so willing to resort to violence, the villains' plans would never work.]] At one point, a VillainWithGoodPublicity actually orders his subordinates ''not'' to attack a civilian population, because he knows they'll find some excuse to attack anyway, but when the blood settles he'll still be blameless in the public eye.

** Prof. Yumi -and later Prof. Kenzo Kabuto- also used the BatmanGambit fairly often.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Gendo Ikari had an elaborate BatmanGambit in motion, manipulating people throughout the entire series to react in ways he expected and behave right like he wanted or needed. However, his plan completely hinged on all acting like he had foreseen, so when his most important pawn [[spoiler:Rei]] refused do what he wanted, [[spoiler:she]] completely ruined his plan.

* In ''{{manga/Shiki}}'', resident badass and vampire expert Toshio Ozaki [[spoiler:pulls one of these on Chizuru, "matriarch" of the vampiric Kirishiki family. Among their many vampire powers is the power of suggestion: the first vampire to bite a victim can instruct that victim to do anything. Up until this point, the vamps have used this power to prevent their victims from seeking medical attention from Ozaki, who is the only doctor in the village. But because Ozaki, who experimented on his vampire wife, now knows all their weaknesses and is a real threat, Chizuru bites him and implants the suggestion that he burn all his notes regarding the vampires and their connection to the deaths in Sotoba. Ozaki carries out her wishes the next day. Later, Chizuru notices the Kagura Festival and expresses interest in it, but can't go due to the religious symbolism. Ozaki convinces her to go anyway, assuring her that if she changes her mind, they can go back. Chizuru agrees, but starts to chicken out when they get too deep into the festival. She orders Ozaki to escort her back to the clinic, but he refuses and reveals a second set of bite marks in a place that Chizuru never bit him. Chizuru was actually the *second* vampire to bite Ozaki, the first being Natsuno, who is working with Ozaki to take down the other vampires. Ozaki went along with Chizuru's wishes to gain her trust, lure her to the festival, and then reveal her as a vampire to the rest of the villagers.]] It totally works.

* In ''manga/Shiki'', resident badass and vampire expert Toshio Ozaki [[spoiler:pulls one of these on Chizuru, "matriarch" of the vampiric Kirishiki family. Among their many vampire powers is the power of suggestion: the first vampire to bite a victim can instruct that victim to do anything. Up until this point, the vamps have used this power to prevent their victims from seeking medical attention from Ozaki, who is the only doctor in the village. But because Ozaki, who experimented on his vampire wife, now knows all their weaknesses and is a real threat, Chizuru bites him and implants the suggestion that he burn all his notes regarding the vampires and their connection to the deaths in Sotoba. Ozaki carries out her wishes the next day. Later, Chizuru notices the Kagura Festival and expresses interest in it, but can't go due to the religious symbolism. Ozaki convinces her to go anyway, assuring her that if she changes her mind, they can go back. Chizuru agrees, but starts to chicken out when they get too deep into the festival. She orders Ozaki to escort her back to the clinic, but he refuses and reveals a second set of bite marks in a place that Chizuru never bit him. Chizuru was actually the *second* vampire to bite Ozaki, the first being Natsuno, who is working with Ozaki to take down the other vampires. Ozaki went along with Chizuru's wishes to gain her trust, lure her to the festival, and then reveal her as a vampire to the rest of the villagers.]] It totally works.

* In [[Shiki]], resident badass and vampire expert Toshio Ozaki [[spoiler:pulls one of these on Chizuru, "matriarch" of the vampiric Kirishiki family. Among their many vampire powers is the power of suggestion: the first vampire to bite a victim can instruct that victim to do anything. Up until this point, the vamps have used this power to prevent their victims from seeking medical attention from Ozaki, who is the only doctor in the village. But because Ozaki, who experimented on his vampire wife, now knows all their weaknesses and is a real threat, Chizuru bites him and implants the suggestion that he burn all his notes regarding the vampires and their connection to the deaths in Sotoba. Ozaki carries out her wishes the next day. Later, Chizuru notices the Kagura Festival and expresses interest in it, but can't go due to the religious symbolism. Ozaki convinces her to go anyway, assuring her that if she changes her mind, they can go back. Chizuru agrees, but starts to chicken out when they get too deep into the festival. She orders Ozaki to escort her back to the clinic, but he refuses and reveals a second set of bite marks in a place that Chizuru never bit him. Chizuru was actually the *second* vampire to bite Ozaki, the first being Natsuno, who is working with Ozaki to take down the other vampires. Ozaki went along with Chizuru's wishes to gain her trust, lure her to the festival, and then reveal her as a vampire to the rest of the villagers.]] It totally works.

** In one example, Shirasagi plays a high stake spoker game against a magician who is a master of dealing and swapping out cards to ensure she always gets a winning hand. Shirasagi constantly loses all his money until eventually he has one last thing to bet: His own finger. He loses this round, and the finger gets chopped off with a chainsaw. But it turns out this was his master plan all along, as he is able to use his bloody hand to mark the cards, ensuring his opponent is unable to use her card tricks and forcing her to forfeit.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Gendo Ikari has an elaborate XanatosGambit in motion... probably. Mostly we get to see his various Batman Gambits using Rei and Shinji, most notably micromanaging Shinji's gradual emotional breakdown, and (perhaps) master minding Rei's GiantMecha kamikaze run. Add his near supernatural power over women and you have an antagonist who is far beyond any of the main cast's league.
** It's definitely a BatmanGambit rather than a XanatosGambit, as he himself is unable to actually accomplish his goal, and the person who is capable of accomplishing it is able to completely ruin his entire efforts if they just refuse to do so. [[spoiler: This is, of course, exactly what happens in EndOfEvangelion. "I am not your doll."]]

* ''[[TenchiMuyo Katsuhito Masaki]] is the main reason that Tenchi netted so many beautiful alien women. Just that it worked a little 'too'' well - he got Tenchi to be curious enough about the mysterious cave that he would be able to go in and investigate, freeing Ryoko, which would catch Ayeka's attention (which he figured would happen) and bring her to Earth so that he could send Tenchi back in his place. Nothing in his plans, however, would prepare him for the other four girls who would show up.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[spoiler: Blackbeard successfully defeats and captures Ace and hands him over to the Marines, earning him the title of Warlord of the Sea]]. Knowing [[spoiler:Whitebeard's familial protectiveness,]] [[DisasterDominoes a chain of events]] would led up to [[spoiler: a war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines at Marineford, which gave him a clear opening to break into Impel Down and recruit the most dangerous and powerful prisoners into his crew]].

** He clearly gets this from Vegeta, who also pulls a couple Batman Gambits throughout the series. In the Namek saga he steals all of Freeza's dragon balls while both Freeza and Zarbon are in the same ship as he is, by fooling them into thinking he'd already left the ship.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji Kabuto from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' used several throughout the ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger whole]]'' ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer trilogy]], manipulating his enemies to make right what he wanted, often mixing them with CrazyEnoughToWork. For example, in one chapter a Mechanical Beast -Kirma K5- sliced a chunk of one Mazinger-Z's wing during an aerial battle. Kouji could not balance his HumongousMecha and he fell towards the ground. Then he ''goaded'' Kirma into attacking him again, and positioned Mazinger so his foe's SinisterScythe sliced a chunk of the another wing. Now the Mazinger wings were the same length again, and his enemy was nearby, he could balance Mazinger back and grab Kirma. As he was beating the crap out of the {{Robeast}} he gloated it should have let him drop.

* Though he frequently makes use of the IndyPloy to succeed, the titular character of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is not adverse to a good BatmanGambit, particularly in the manga. Though they do usually fail and force him to revert to IndyPloy, that's because Ranma Saotome's "friends" and enemies are extremely unpredictable, and so prone to reacting in ways other then what he expected. The best example would be the first [[EmbarrassingFirstName Pantyhose Taro]] story, where he sets up an elaborate plan intended to convince DirtyOldMan and JerkAss [[OldMaster Happosai]] to rename Taro by giving him a faked dream sequence in which Happosai sees a future in which Taro has, due to his name, become a terrible PantyThief, and is then sent back to the day he named Taro. Ranma expects Happosai to choose to give Taro a new name. Instead, Happosai proves his ChaoticEvil credentials by promptly trying to murder what he thinks is baby Taro with his bomb attacks.

** Lelouch often has plans that rely on the fact that while "other" people have a sense of {{honor|BeforeReason}}, he does not, and uses it to trip them up. Good examples include the way he tricked Guilford into a duul of honor, and then pulled a sneaky trick on him. There's also him using the UFN leaders as hostages to trick the Black Knights into preventing Schneizel from nuking his ass, forcing him into conventional strategy.
** The infamous episode "The Stolen Mask" has what may be a potential BG, at least as far as the fans are concerned. A cat has stolen the Zero mask, and Lelouch and Suzaku chase it to the top of the clocktower; Lelouch slips on the roof and Suzaku catches him. This allows Lelouch to express gratitude and friendship towards Suzaku without appearing suspicious, which he uses to get Suzaku onto the Student Council, giving him some real friends and slowly moving the school towards accepting him in spite of his being Japanese. It also has the unintended[[hottip:*:Because let's be realistic here, Lelouch is a MagnificentBastard but even ''he'' can't read a cat's mind]] benefit of keeping Suzaku from seeing the mask, as the cat gets it off when Suzaku isn't looking and Lelouch retrieves it while he's busy dealing with the cat.

* Both Marik and Dark Bakura in ''{{Anime/Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' tend to operate this way. One notable example is Dark Bakura's duel with Yami during the Battle City finals. When Yami secures certain victory by playing his god card, Marik's gambit to to release Bakura from Dark Bakura's control, and thus force Yami to lose the duel in order to protect his critically ill friend's life, has two flaws in it. The first is that Marik didn't expect Dark Bakura to protect Bakura by re-possessing him. The second -- and one which everyone seems to overlook -- is that Yami could simply ask Bakura to forfeit the duel.