History BrokenAesop / AnimeAndManga

** It has been stated that trained Pokémon are stronger than wild ones, so Pokémon Trainers must train them and can't expect to win battles using untrained ones. This sends the message that you must work hard in order to attain your goals and can't be lazy and expect to get things done the easy way. Yet every time Ash used Pokémon that he had never trained or even used once (ie: Tauros and Krabby) during Pokémon League [[note]]whose trainers participaing in are supposed to be some of the strongest in the region[[/note]] matches during the original series, they kicked far more ass than most of those he had used through most of his journey (ie: the Kanto starters). His Krabby evolved into Kingler ''in the very first Pokémon Battle it participated in'' when most of the Pokémon Ash had with him for most of his journey and had participated in dozen of battles were still unevolved. The same thing had happened earlier with Ash's Primeape: it won a Pokémon fighting tournament despite being a freshly caught Pokémon that had never been trained or used in a battle before. In the same tournament participated a guy called Anthony who used a Hitmonchan he had been obsessively training to to the point of neglecting his family, yet he didn't even get to the finals. In fact, Anthony was so impressed by Ash's Primeape that he offered to take it under his mantle and train it, apparently thinking it was worth more than his highly trained Hitmonchan.
*** To add insult to the injury, during the Johto League, the Pokémon that won most matches and proved to be Ash's strongest was Charizard, who had been training in Charicific Valley without Ash's participation. So while it was a trained Pokémon this time, it sends the message that you can be lazy and let others do the work for you. It even beat Gary's strongest Pokémon, Blastoise, despite this one having a type advantage and being probably the Pokémon Gary had spent the most time training.

*** Kabuto believes that ninja without natural talent are worthless unless they learn and copy talents from others. Thus, he [[BioAugmentation injected blood from Orochimaru and several subordinates]] as part of his goal to be recognized. Much of his battle with [[spoiler:[[OurZombiesAreDifferent Edo Tensei'd]] Itachi]] and Sasuke consists of the former trying to convince him that he should take pride in his own identity instead of trying to add others' to his own. However, copying other characters' abilities occurs everywhere in this series without such criticism. "Copy Ninja" Kakashi is ''famous'' for his ability to copy his opponents' jutsus, the goal of the BigBad is to become identical in power to the [[PhysicalGod Sage of the Six Paths]], [[GenerationXerox Generation Xeroxes]], [[MagicalEye Sharingans and Rinnegans]] passed around right and left... the worst thing about Kabuto doing this is simply the method of blood injections. Even putting all those examples aside, we would be left with the message "[[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop If you're not born into a bloodline granting you power naturally, just accept your place as second class]]". Again, it doesn't help that someone like [[spoiler:Itachi]], whose bloodline gives him an ocular-based SuperpowerLottery and who receives [[CharacterShilling constant praise from everyone around him]] is telling Kabuto to just be satisfied with his unmemorable self.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' just doesn't treat its aesops very kindly.

*** Kabuto believes that ninja without natural talent are worthless unless they learn and copy talents from others. Thus, he [[LegoGenetics injected blood from Orochimaru and several subordinates]] as part of his goal to be recognized. Much of his battle with [[spoiler:[[OurZombiesAreDifferent Edo Tensei'd]] Itachi]] and Sasuke consists of the former trying to convince him that he should take pride in his own identity instead of trying to add others' to his own. However, copying other characters' abilities occurs everywhere in this series without such criticism. "Copy Ninja" Kakashi is ''famous'' for his ability to copy his opponents' jutsus, the goal of the BigBad is to become identical in power to the [[PhysicalGod Sage of the Six Paths]], [[GenerationXerox Generation Xeroxes]], [[MagicalEye Sharingans and Rinnegans]] passed around right and left... the worst thing about Kabuto doing this is simply the method of blood injections. Even putting all those examples aside, we would be left with the message "[[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop If you're not born into a bloodline granting you power naturally, just accept your place as second class]]". Again, it doesn't help that someone like [[spoiler:Itachi]], whose bloodline gives him an ocular-based SuperpowerLottery and who receives [[CharacterShilling constant praise from everyone around him]] is telling Kabuto to just be satisfied with his unmemorable self.

** There's the theme of the new generations surpassing the previous ones - this is, in theory, why [[TheHero Naruto]] and [[TheRival Sasuke]] manage to [[ObsoleteMentor become stronger than]] [[CoolTeacher Kakashi]], [[OldMaster Jiraiya]], [[MadScientist Orochimaru]], and the like. However, that idea is utterly negated by the revelation that [[spoiler:[[VillainSue Madara Uchiha]]]] is capable of effortlessly defeating all five [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Kages]] at once. Hashirama was even stronger than that, and it seems as though only characters who were members of the older generation are allowed to accomplish anything meaningful during the Fourth Great Shinobi War - [[spoiler: Itachi is the only one who can negate Edo Tensei, Tobi's plan would have failed a long time ago without Madara, in fact it actually was Madara's plan in the first place and the First Hokage (instead of Naruto, who would be the logical choice) talked Sasuke out of his insane vengeance scheme]].

** One of the biggest ones in ''Naruto'' is the CycleOfRevenge. It's a stick that Kishimoto keeps on [[{{Anvilicious}} beating his readers over the head with]]; Sasuke wants to avenge his clan, and this keeps on leading him down the path of evil, [[BrokenBase for better or for worse]]. However, EnsembleDarkhorse [[CastingAShadow Shikamaru]] avenges the death of [[spoiler: his teacher, Azuma]], who is killed by an Akatsuki member. An entire StoryArc is devoted to Shikamaru hunting said Akatsuki member down and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutally murdering him]]. This is depicted entirely as a heroic action, despite, y'know, the PlotTumour character Sasuke having this as his whole shtick.

*** Kabuto believes that ninja without natural talent are worthless unless they learn and copy talents from others. Thus, he [[LegoGenetics injected blood from Orochimaru and several subordinates]] on his QuestForIdentity.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', dubbed version: the moral was that all ''fighting is bad''! [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} In a series]] which most Pokémon were competitively fighting ''[[OncePerEpisode every episode]]'' - the sheer idea that ''fighting'' is bad was apparently lost on many younger children. The original Japanese version ''averted'' this, as that moral was "Doesn't matter how you were born, everyone is equal." (However, as is noted on that film's page, the moral is more that ''pointlessly fighting to the death'' is bad.)

* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', dubbed version: the moral was that all ''fighting is bad''! [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} In a series]] which most Pokémon were competitively fighting ''[[OncePerEpisode every episode]]'' - the sheer idea that ''fighting'' is bad was apparently lost on many younger children. The original Japanese version ''averted'' this, as that moral was "Doesn't matter how you were born, everyone is equal."

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. While Lelouch himself did live [[spoiler:and die]] according to his own personal code, in the sense that only the ones who are prepared to be killed should be willing to kill, several other characters who did not follow the same ethical standards weren't punished for their own crimes. In that respect, the initial Aesop would still apply to the protagonist, but not to certain characters like Cornelia, Ohgi and Villetta that can be classified under KarmaHoudini. Another issue concerns whether Lelouch's [[spoiler: [[TheAtoner atonement]] through SuicideByCop may have resulted in an unspecified amount of [[InferredHolocaust implied death and destruction]]]] that could have been avoided by using other alternative methods.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' just doesn't treat its aesops very kindly.
** While the story stresses the importance of working hard, HardWorkHardlyWorks for anyone. All ''powerful'' characters have ''some'' form of [[TheGift power]] such as a bloodline limit, sheer talent, a sealed demonic beast or a cursed seal. Some people get lots of these. On the other hand, the characters notably lacking in talent like Rock Lee are badly outclassed despite working far, far harder than the likes of Naruto or Sasuke. Naruto, to put these points together, was a slacker at the beginning of the series, doesn't work as hard as Rock Lee and has TheGift in at least three forms. In other words, Naruto's sheer talent and plot coupons steamrolled all resistance.
** The track record of ScrewDestiny is also rather poor.
*** The moral of the Chuunin Exam's Naruto vs Neji fight was rather ironic: hard work will trump natural talent and a big heap of ScrewDestiny was thrown into the mix. What brought him victory? If you guessed Naruto utilizing TheGift, you're actually right! His own natural gift/curse was simply way stronger than his opponent's! Seeing how his opponent's belief was that, regardless of your efforts, you'd never beat someone who was simply more talented, Naruto inadvertently proved Neji right. Eventually [[spoiler:Neji fulfills his destined role as a branch member by sacrificing himself for Hinata, thus choosing to remain a caged bird.]]
*** The intended aversion of YouCantFightFate was also slapped in the face right from the start, considering how prevalent GenerationXerox, family bloodlines and prophecy are in this series. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto match up with the legendary Sannin and the latter two are members of powerful clans that trace back to the creator of Ninjutsu. Sasuke and Naruto in particular match up almost perfectly with the Sage's two sons.
*** Naruto only has the gift/curse of the Kyuubi chakra because of who his parents are. If he hadn't been born the son of the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, he'd never have had the Kyuubi sealed in him. So, Neji was right in the fact that your birth determines your lot in life.
*** On the other hand, Neji, after his defeat and finding out the truth about his father's death, concedes in an internal monologue that some things are predetermined, but the ones who pursue their dreams are truly strong. Naruto had the gifts from the beginning, but he wouldn't have succeeded as a ninja if he didn't put so much effort into improving himself.
** There's the theme of the new generations surpassing the previous ones - this is, in theory, why [[TheHero Naruto]] and [[TheRival Sasuke]] manage to [[ObsoleteMentor become stronger than]] [[CoolTeacher Kakashi]], [[OldMaster Jiraiya]], [[MadScientist Orochimaru]], and the like. However, that idea is utterly negated by the revelation that [[spoiler:[[VillainSue Madara Uchiha]]]] is capable of effortlessly defeating all five [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Kages]] at once. Hashirama was even stronger than that, and it seems as though only characters who were members of the older generation are allowed to accomplish anything meaningful during the Fourth Great Shinobi War - [[spoiler: Itachi is the only one who can negate Edo Tensei, Tobi's plan would have failed a long time ago without Madara, in fact it actually was Madara's plan in the first place and the First Hokage (instead of Naruto, who would be the logical choice) talked Sasuke out of his insane vengeance scheme]].
** In the beginning, teamwork was considered very important and nearly everytime someone tries to apply this, someone end up greviously injured or worse. Particularly the Chunnin Exams, where you use teamwork to get pass but the finals stage completely turns this around. Turning everything into a one-on-one tournament.
** One of the main morals of Naruto, as stated by Kakashi, is that while those who break the rules are scum, those who forsake their fellows are even lower than that. We found out that Kakashi inherited this philosophy from Obito, who would have been killed if Kakashi had just followed through with the mission. Instead we have Kakashi rescue Obito, who through a series of events was able to become [[spoiler:Tobi. So if Kakashi had abandoned his comrades and completed the mission, Obito would have died instead of becoming Tobi. Then Nagato probably wouldn't have gone as insane, Naruto's parents would have survived and Naruto wouldn't have been an outcast, the elders wouldn't have ostracized the Uchiha which led to the Uchiha Massacre (making Sasuke nowhere near as messed up), the Moon's Eye Plan would have died with Madara, the Fourth Great Shinobi World War would have been avoided, and Akatsuki wouldn't be hunting down and killing Jinchuriki.]] Nice job screwing over the aesop, Kishimoto.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', dubbed version: the moral was that all ''fighting is bad''! [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} In a series]] which most Pokémon were competitively fighting ''[[OncePerEpisode every episode]]'' - the sheer idea that ''fighting'' is bad was apparently lost on many younger children. The original Japanese version ''averted'' this, as that moral was "Doesn't matter how you were born, everyone is equal."
** In a ''very'' early episode of the anime, a moral about finishing what you started (and not making up excuses for stuff) was broken. The first thing that happens is that [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the Samurai]] pulls a sword on Ash ''just'' when he's about to catch a little Weedle. When Ash naturally didn't catch the Weedle, it gets away and then warns a swarm of Beedrill, which attacked everyone before seizing Ash's new Metapod! Now Ash goes out to fetch Metapod, making his best effort- when Team Rocket ''shows up'' to harass him more! In the end, Ash's last "excuse" was that he got sidetracked, he admits that [[ItsAllMyFault everything was his fault]] - when in fact, NOTHING was. So it's a case of NeverMyFault by the Samurai, [[{{Hypocrite}} who blamed Ash for the mess he started in the first place!]]
** The Trubbish episode had a teacher trying to get rid of a Trubbish, which is a living garbage bag. The kids in her class scream and disobey their teacher because they want to keep it. We're supposed to see Daniella as a mean, stubborn teacher who wasn't listening to their concerns. But the kids just demanded they get their way, and Daniella was concerned about the kids ''playing with living garbage that spat out toxic fumes'' - there's a reason kids in this series have to be a certain age to own Pokémon, after all.
** It has been stated that trained Pokémon are stronger than wild ones, so Pokémon Trainers must train them and can't expect to win battles using untrained ones. This sends the message that you must work hard in order to attain your goals and can't be lazy and expect to get things done the easy way. Yet every time Ash used Pokémon that he had never trained or even used once (ie: Tauros and Krabby) during Pokémon League [[note]]whose trainers participaing in are supposed to be some of the strongest in the region[[/note]] matches during the original series, they kicked far more ass than most of those he had used through most of his journey (ie: the Kanto starters). His Krabby evolved into Kingler ''in the very first Pokémon Battle it participated in'' when most of the Pokémon Ash had with him for most of his journey and had participated in dozen of battles were still unevolved. The same thing had happened earlier with Ash's Primeape: it won a Pokémon fighting tournament despite being a freshly caught Pokémon that had never been trained or used in a battle before. In the same tournament participated a guy called Anthony who used a Hitmonchan he had been obsessively training to to the point of neglecting his family, yet he didn't even get to the finals. In fact, Anthony was so impressed by Ash's Primeape that he offered to take it under his mantle and train it, apparently thinking it was worth more than his highly trained Hitmonchan.
*** To add insult to the injury, during the Johto League, the Pokémon that won most matches and proved to be Ash's strongest was Charizard, who had been training in Charicific Valley without Ash's participation. So while it was a trained Pokémon this time, it sends the message that you can be lazy and let others do the work for you. It even beat Gary's strongest Pokémon, Blastoise, despite this one having a type advantage and being probably the Pokémon Gary had spent the most time training.
** In the second N-related episode, he tries to protect a Braviary from Team Plasma.[[note]]N isn't a member of Team Plasma in this continuity. Just go along with it.[[/note]] When Team Plasma sends out two Pokémon to fight him, he expresses his wish that he could rescue them from Team Plasma so that they could return to the wild and live in peace. The problem is that the two Pokémon he's talking to are ''Zangoose and Seviper'', who are using successful teamwork while in Team Plasma's hands, while their entire characterization in the franchise is how they will fight each other to the death in the wild. While some of N's opinions are countered by Ash and friends, this one is not addressed.

* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'': An episode of the Naisho {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA ends with Seki-sensei chewing out the anchor leg of her room's opponents in a swimming relay for not trying as hard as Aiko. [[spoiler:One, the opponents ''won'' that race, and two, after all her hard practicing, Aiko didn't even compete.]]
* ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' ep. 14 ends with a message about how people shouldn't be so intolerant of other people's cultures. The hypocrisy is that this is delivered in reaction to the antics of possibly the most xenophobic and offensive depiction of an [[{{Eagleland}} American]] in anime since 1945. However, a later chapter reveals that the American had been [[spoiler:the first test subject of the electronic drug, which exaggerates something a person likes in order to warp them into psychotic killers]], making the Eagleland stereotype something of an ExploitedTrope. If Yako and the others (possibly even the readers) hadn't been blinded by the stereotype of Americans, they likely would have realized that something was wrong much sooner. So, don't let yourself be blinded by negative stereotypes, kids. If you do, [[spoiler:[[AIIsACrapshoot an evil computer]] [[SpaceWhaleAesop will take over the world]]]].

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' states repeatedly that having fun at a game is more important than who wins and who loses. Judai, the main character, very nearly ''wins every time'', and many of his duels have nothing at stake, so it's not as though he couldn't afford a few black marks on his record. It's even worse when you take into account how much [[SeriousBusiness importance]] the card game is given in-universe; the same level as friggin ''politics and economics''. This is eventually deconstructed and becomes the driving point of the plot, with Judai realizing how broken his Aesop is after the duels stop being fun, the stakes are increased, and that he wins all the time regardless.
* Amu Hinamori, lead MagicalGirl in ''Manga/ShugoChara'', spends most of her filler episodes telling other children a number of different aesops, usually variations on "you're great just the way you are", but Amu herself can't grasp these lessons when they apply to herself. Particularly in the latter half of the season when [[spoiler:Amu's fourth egg, Dia, turns into an X-egg, resulting in several episodes worth of HeroicBSOD]].
* In an episode of ''Manga/WeddingPeach'', the message is that no matter if you are fat or thin, [[TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside true beauty comes from within]]. Only, there is a student, Yukiko, whose boyfriend dumps her when she has been turned fat by the VillainOfTheWeek, but takes her back when she is restored to her former, slim self.

* In one episode of ''Manga/AiToYuukiNoPigGirlTondeBuurin'' Karin once got a demo of the MagicalGirl form she wished for to try for one day, however she failed solving a dangerous situation making her deliberately become Buurin again to do that. While this was probably meant as a ''"maybe what you already have is better than you think"'' but is broken since her demo did not possess any [[StockSuperPowers super powers]] aside flight making it useless as a super form.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' suffers from this a bit:
** The running theme of the entire franchise is "WarIsHell", but it demonstrates this by having giant, awesome battles between slick, badass HumongousMecha, and often the "Hell" aspect only comes from people dying, sometimes in [[DiabolusExMachina ludicrously tragic ways]] (see: ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam''), making the lesson look like "[[DoNotDoThisCoolThing War is awesome, it's dying that sucks]]."
** Lampshaded by Lacus Clyne in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', when she points out the apparent hypocrisy of their actions: "... calling out for peace with guns in our hands."
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has this happen InUniverse; the protagonists' plan to end war involves attacking anybody who participates in war, regardless of any other factor. Several characters comment on the blatant hypocrisy, and the heroes themselves wonder what they're doing. [[spoiler:Turns out it's part of a larger plan, to unite humanity against a common enemy.]]

* One episode of the ''Videogame/BlueDragon'' anime had the main characters meet a brother/sister pair. The brother wanted to be a Shadow Wielder like the main characters, while the sister hated them. They're then attacked by bandits, and Shu decides not to fight in order to teach the kid that fighting isn't always the answer. This is broken because not only does Shu get the crap beaten out of him, but also because in the end of the episode he ''goes back and beats up the bandits'' after the sister tells him that she doesn't hate all Shadow Wielders anymore.
* In ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', the message of the arc in which Mashiro and Takagi get in trouble with their girlfriends is that people in relationships shouldn't keep secrets from one another. Later, when [[spoiler:PCP doesn't get an anime, Takagi considers illustrating Shiratori's manga while Mashiro, despite being uncomfortable with the idea, doesn't mention it to Takagi]]. At the same time, Miyoshi and Azuki never hear [[spoiler:that there won't be an anime]] until Takagi inadvertently mentions it in Miyoshi's presence, and the conflict is mainly between Takagi and Mashiro (mainly because of their conflicting goals; [[spoiler:as Mashiro realizes, PCP would help Takagi earn a living as a mangaka, while it does not put Mashiro any closer to fulfilling his promise]]), not between them and their girlfriends.
* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': The theme of on-court violence. Tezuka loses his cool a few times in order to deliver this very aesop, yet some of the strongest players such as Kirihara employ this very strategy with [[KarmaHoudini few repercussions]].
* ''Manga/FairyTail'' is ''big'' on ThePowerOfFriendship. So much so that many a third of the battles can't be won without it. Lucy gets half her powerups because spirits like how friendly she is with them. Sticking it out for your friends is always the right thing to do... unless you're Jellal, in which case doing so gets you tortured and [[spoiler:brainwashed]], hated by everyone, and robbed on any semblance of life or freedom.
* In ''Manga/LoveHina'', the idea is that ''everything'' is possible if you try your hardest, even getting into Japan's top university and charming a really hot girl, even though you're a total loser. However, while Keitaro does start off as a really pathetic individual, it does not take long before he turns out to not only be [[BeautifulAllAlong handsome]] but also a gifted archeologist and martial artist. You'd ''expect'' someone who is not really cool or talented to captivate through {{determinat|or}}ion and [[{{Adorkable}} charm]]. While Keitaro is very determined, his defeatist, whiny and relatively immature personality, as well as his tremendous clumsiness deeply annoy the girls... It's only when he drops his usual act that the females show ''any attraction'' for him, often pointing out that he is very handsome when he is not being annoying. Ultimately- instead of ''Manga/LoveHina'' being about an underdog accomplishing goals far beyond his reach through {{determinat|or}}ion and ThePowerOfLove, it's actually about someone who was CrazyAwesome from the start but never had the proper motivation to unlock his potential until he met the girl.
* Being that it is essentially an [[RecycledInSpace In Space!]] retelling of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' naturally lifts a lot of its material from the original film. This, unfortunately, includes Kanbei using his movie counterpart's line about how, with the bandits and the samurai having slaughtered each other, the peasants are the only ones who have truly won, at the series end. In contrast to the movie, though, not only are the samurai portrayed here as genuinely heroic, sympathetic characters, but the peasants themselves genuinely care about and trust the samurai.
* Lampshaded in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. A one-chapter story involves Yusuke investigating an alleged demon haunting at Keiko's school, only to find out that it was perpetrated by two girls trying to force a third off the basketball team because they didn't like her, and as a scholarship student, she wouldn't willingly leave. As the story ends with Yusuke selling the school uniform he borrowed from Keiko online because she refused to pay him, the narrator declares that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans are as bad as demons, if not worse]]. The author's editor then reminds him "But [[spoiler:Yusuke's]] part demon."
* ''Manga/ZekkyouGakkyuu'': In "The Bonds of a Curse", the lead girl, Ai is friendly to a StringyHairedGhostGirl-esque CreepyChild with a bad reputation, but openly admiring of a cool-looking, nice-seeming upperclassman. It then turns out said Creepy Child is good-natured and kind, while the upperclassman is a sociopath and bully who tortured a puppy Ai and her class were taking care of, eventually to death. Since the Creepy Child's reputation for cursing is well-founded, Ai asks for her own curse doll, and uses it to kill the upperclassman in retaliation. It's a nice Aesop against BeautyEqualsGoodness and judging people by first impressions, with LaserGuidedKarma for the villain. Except that the presenter of the story tacks on an aesop against killing that isn't really supported by the story where the girls face no consequences for their actions, and the final panel of the chapter is a cheerful picture of the two playing with the puppy.

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime starts picking up a message in its second half that revenge is always wrong, and only leads to a cycle of violence. Trouble is, Al, the one most adamant about this, physically stops Marta from taking revenge on Kimblee, who is then left free to do lots more bad stuff before successfully being killed off. You can't help but think a lot more people would have been better off if Al had just let her do it.

** One of the main morals of Naruto, as stated by kakashi, is that while those who break the rules are scum, those who forsake their fellows are even lower than that. We found out that Kakashi inherit this philosophy from Obito, who would had been killed if Kakashi just follow through with the mission. Instead we have Kakashi rescue Obito, who through a series of events able to be come [[spoiler:Tobi. So if Kakashi had abandoned his comrades and completed the mission, Obito would have died instead of becoming Tobi. Then Nagato probably wouldn't have gone as insane, Naruto's parents would have survived and Naruto wouldn't have been an outcast, the elders wouldn't have ostracized the Uchiha we led to the Uchiha Massacre not mention the (making Sasuke nowhere near as messed up), the Moon's Eye Plan would have died with Madara, the Fourth Great Shinobi World War would have been avoided, and Akatsuki wouldn't be hunting down and killing Jinchuriki.]] Nice job screwing over the aesop, Kishimoto.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro preaches to Kuina how her being a girl doesn't make her any less capable of being a fighter than if she were a boy (albeit in large part because he's frustrated at the possibility that he would defeat his greatest rival because she reached the limits of her growth), but he plays the "defenseless woman" card on Eneru when he fries Robin (who has been shown multiple times to be combat capable), and is shocked and appalled when Eneru responds with apathy[[labelnote:note]]Interestingly, the Funimation dub changed this line: And now Zoro ''doesn't'' bring up her gender, but Eneru himself does before he attacks her[[/labelnote]]. Then after the time skip, he explicitly claims that he is going to hold back against [[spoiler:Monet]], a DarkActionGirl because of her gender. Poor Kuina may very well be turning in her grave.

** One of the main morals of Naruto, as stated by kakashi, is that while those who break the rules are scum, those who forsake their fellows are even lower than that. We found out that Kakashi inherit this philosophy from Obito, who would had been killed if Kakashi just follow through with the mission. Instead we have Kakashi rescue Obito, who through a series of events able to be come [[spoiler:Tobi. So if Kakashi had abandoned his comrades and completed the mission, Obito would have died instead of becoming Tobi. Then Nagato probably wouldn't have gone as insane, Naruto's parents would have survived and Naruto wouldn't have been an outcast, Minato might have stopped the Uchiha Massacre (making Sasuke nowhere near as messed up), the Moon's Eye Plan would have died with Madara, the Fourth Great Shinobi World War would have been avoided, and Akatsuki wouldn't be hunting down and killing Jinchuriki.]] Nice job screwing over the aesop, Kishimoto.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. While Lelouch himself did live [[spoiler:and die]] according to his own personal code, in the sense that only the ones who are prepared to be killed should be willing to kill, several other characters who did not follow the same ethical standards weren't punished for their own crimes. In that respect, the initial Aesop would still apply to the protagonist, but not to certain characters like Cornelia, Ohgi and Villetta that can be classified under KarmaHoudini. Another issue concerns whether Lelouch's [[spoiler:the [[TheAtoner atonement]] through SuicideByCop may have resulted in an unspecified amount of [[InferredHolocaust implied death and destruction]]]] that could have been avoided by using other alternative methods.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. While Lelouch himself did live [[spoiler:and die]] according to his own personal code, in the sense that only the ones who are prepared to be killed should be willing to kill, several other characters who did not follow the same ethical standards weren't punished for their own crimes. In that respect, the initial Aesop would still apply to the protagonist, but not to certain characters like Cornelia, Ohgi and Villetta that can be classified under KarmaHoudini. Another issue concerns whether Lelouch's [[spoiler:the [[TheAtoner atonement]] through SuicideByCop may have resulted in an unspecified amount of [[InferredHolocaust implied death and destruction]] that could have been avoided by using other alternative methods.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. While Lelouch himself did live [[spoiler:and die]] according to his own personal code, in the sense that only the ones who are prepared to be killed should be willing to kill, several other characters who did not follow the same ethical standards weren't punished for their own crimes. In that respect, the initial Aesop would still apply to the protagonist, but not to certain characters like Cornelia, Ohgi and Villetta that can be classified under KarmaHoudini. On top of this, [[spoiler:the former's death felt more an artifact of the creators' original decision to have him die without a logical buildup; the so-called [[TheAtoner atonement]] resulted in [[InferredHolocaust even more death and destruction]] and SuicideByCop, when alternatives existed that likely would have resulted in less lives lost and Lelouch not abandoning the responsibility of the world's reconstruction.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. There is some debate among fans about whether or not this applies to the ending and to what extent. While Lelouch himself did rightfully live [[spoiler:and die]] according to his own personal code, in the sense that only the ones who are prepared to be killed should be willing to kill, several other characters who did not follow the same ethical standards weren't punished for their own crimes. In that respect, the initial Aesop would still apply to the protagonist, but not to certain characters like Cornelia, Ohgi and Villetta that can be classified under KarmaHoudini.

** In a ''very'' early episode of the anime, a moral about finishing what you started (and not making up excuses for stuff) was broken. The first thing that happens is that [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the Samurai]] pulls a sword on Ash ''just'' when he's about to catch a little Weedle. When Ash naturally didn't catch the Weedle, it gets away and then warns a swarm of Beedrill, which attacked everyone before seizing Ash's new Metapod! Now Ash goes out to fetch Metapod, making his best effort- when Team Rocket ''shows up'' to harass him more! In the end, Ash's last "excuse" was that he got sidetracked, he admits that [[ItsAllMyFault everything was his fault]]- when in fact, NOTHING was. So it's a case of NeverMyFault by the Samurai, [[{{Hypocrite}} who blamed Ash for the mess he started in the first place!]]

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Remember the show-capping aesop about how those that would kill should be prepared to be killed, using [[spoiler:the main character as an example]]? Tell that to the likes of [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudini Villetta, Cornelia, and Ohgi]]]], characters who accomplished much less for peace and somehow get to reap the benefits instead. Or how about the people who don't hurt a fly [[spoiler:like Princess Euphemia and Shirley]] and still get killed. In other words, consequences for your actions and/or paying for your crimes. Clovis, Mao, [[spoiler:Charles, V.V., Marianne, Rolo (remember Shirley, let alone his other assassination targets), arguably Schniezel (he essentially had his life taken from him without killing him)]]. One could say Lelouch, but that might not be fair to him; he may have caused a lot of damage, but some of that stuff was on account of necessity, and he did a lot of good for the world against the Britannian empire; he was [[CosmicPlaything a near-constant victim of Murphy's Law]], which, all combined, made his final act excessively destructive towards [[DeathSeeker himself]] and [[InferredHolocaust the rest of the world]], even though other options may have existed. Yet in the end, some of the people who committed horrible crimes, or who should have had some form of comeuppance for their actions (the names [[spoiler:Villetta [war crimes], Cornelia [even worse war crimes], Ohgi [the betrayal that led to Lelouch's GenghisGambit and death], and Nina [''trying to set off the series' equivalent of a nuke in the middle of a heavily-populated city''[=]=]]] spring to mind again) just got away with it, and had some of the happiest endings [[spoiler:(particularly Oghi and Villetta)]].

*** The intended aversion of YouCantFightFate was also slapped in the face pretty much right from the start, considering how prevalent GenerationXerox, family bloodlines and prophecy are in this series. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto match up with the legendary Sannin and the latter two are members of powerful clans that trace back to the creator of Ninjutsu. Sasuke and Naruto in particular match up almost perfectly with the Sage's two sons.
*** Hell, Naruto only has the gift/curse of the Kyuubi chakra because of who his parents are. If he hadn't been born the son of the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, he'd never have had the Kyuubi sealed in him. So, Neji was right in the fact that your birth determines your lot in life.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Remember the show-capping aesop about how those that would kill should be prepared to be killed, using [[spoiler:the main character as an example]]? Tell that to the likes of [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudini Villetta, Cornelia, and Ohgi]]]], characters who accomplished much less for peace and somehow get to reap the benefits instead. Or how about the people who don't hurt a fly [[spoiler:like Princess Euphemia and Shirley]] and still get killed. In other words, consequences for your actions and/or paying for your crimes. Clovis, Mao, [[spoiler:Charles, V.V., Marianne, Rolo (remember Shirley, let alone his other assassination targets), arguably Schniezel (he essentially had his life taken from him without killing him)]]. One could say Lelouch, but that might not be fair to him; he may have caused a lot of damage, but some of that stuff was on account of necessity, and even so, he did a lot of good for the world against the Britannian empire; he was [[CosmicPlaything a near-constant victim of Murphy's Law]], which, all combined, made his final act excessively destructive towards [[DeathSeeker himself]] and [[InferredHolocaust the rest of the world]], even though other options may have existed. Yet in the end, some of the people who committed horrible crimes, or who should have had some form of comeuppance for their actions (the names [[spoiler:Villetta [war crimes], Cornelia [even worse war crimes], Ohgi [the betrayal that led to Lelouch's GenghisGambit and death], and Nina [''trying to set off the series' equivalent of a nuke in the middle of a heavily-populated city''[=]=]]] spring to mind again) just got away with it, and had some of the happiest endings [[spoiler:(particularly Oghi and Villetta)]].

** It has been stated that trained Pokémon are stronger than wild ones, so Pokémon Trainers must train them and can't expect to win battles using untrained ones. This sends the message that you must work hard in order to attain your goals and can't be lazy and expect to get things done the easy way. Yet every time Ash used Pokémon that he had never trained or even used once (ie: Tauros and Krabby) during Pokémon League [[note]]whose trainers participaing in are supposed to be some of the strongest in the region[[/note]] matches during the original series, they kicked far more ass than most of those he had used through most of his journey (ie: the Kanto starters). Heck, his Krabby evolved into Kingler ''in the very first Pokémon Battle it participated in'' when most of the Pokémon Ash had with him for most of his journey and had participated in dozen of battles were still unevolved. The same thing had happened earlier with Ash's Primeape: it won a Pokémon fighting tournament despite being a freshly caught Pokémon that had never been trained or used in a battle before. In the same tournament participated a guy called Anthony who used a Hitmonchan he had been obsessively training to to the point of neglecting his family, yet he didn't even get to the finals. In fact, Anthony was so impressed by Ash's Primeape that he offered to take it under his mantle and train it, apparently thinking it was worth more than his highly trained Hitmonchan.

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'', the "Sailor Moon Says" segments forced Aesops into the dub that were never intended. It's notorious for ridiculous morals that have nothing to do with the episode. In one particular episode, Serena is distraught over Molly's infatuation with Nephlyte, the villain of the current arc. Serena attempts to convey this by blurting out a bunch of nonsense at her, and then running away to avoid talking about her personal life. Molly then goes on to steal a priceless gem from her mother's jewelry store at Nephlyte's request and is creepily seduced away from her normal behavior as Nephlyte, being around twice her age, easily manipulates her. When the Sailor Scouts confront them both in a park and attack Nephlyte, Molly attempts to protect him by throwing herself in front of Sailor Moon's tiara. When another monster appears, Nephlyte protects Molly from it, and she passes out. Nephlyte teleports away, gloating about how he's one step away from basically destroying humanity. Sailor Moon's response? To ''wish upon a star'' that Nephlyte will conquer the bitterness in his heart. She watches her friend get coerced into sneaking out at night, lying, and stealing from her mother by an abusive older boyfriend, and her solution to seeing how much her friend cares for said abusive boyfriend is to ''pray that he gets better''. That on its own would not be so awful, if [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop difficult to deal with]], except that the Aesop we're handed at the end of the episode is that it's important to talk to your friends if they're doing something dangerous-- just like it was important to tell Molly the truth about Nephlyte.
* In one episode of ''Manga/AiToYuukiNoPigGirlTondeBuurin'' Karin once got a demo of the MagicalGirl form she wished for to try for one day, however she failed solving a dangerous situation making her deliberately become Buurin again to do that. While this was probably meant as a ''"maybe what you already have is better than you think"'' but is broken since her demo did not possess any [[StockSuperPowers super powers]] aside flight making it pretty much useless as a super form.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has this happen InUniverse; the protagonists' plan to end war involves attacking anybody who participates in war, regardless of any other factor. Several characters comment on the blatant hypocrisy, and the heroes themselves wonder what the hell they're doing. [[spoiler:Turns out it's part of a larger plan, to unite humanity against a common enemy.]]

* ''Anime/{{Shinzo}}''. They're trying to say that racism and such is bad and forgiveness is good, yet Enterrans outside of the three heroes are at the best depicted as greedy, sneaky and deceiving, and with one mild exception all of the villains are pure, sadistic evil. If Yakumo forgives someone, they will endanger her life shortly after. The real message becomes : forgiveness is stupid and you can totally judge people on their appearance.
* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime starts picking up a message in its second half that revenge is always wrong, and only leads to a cycle of violence. Trouble is, Al, the one most adamant about this, physically stops Marta from taking revenge on CompleteMonster Kimblee, who is then left free to do lots more bad stuff before successfully being killed off. You can't help but think a lot more people would have been better off if Al had just let her do it.

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime starts picking up a message in its second half that revenge is always wrong, and only leads to a cycle of violence. Trouble is, Al, the one most adamant about this, physically stops Marta from taking revenge on {{Complete Monster}} Kimblee, who is then left free to do lots more bad stuff before successfully being killed off. You can't help but think a lot more people would have been better off if Al had just let her do it.

** In the beginning, teamwork was considered very important and nearly everytime someone tries to apply this, someone end up greviously injured or worse. Particularly the Chunnin Exams, where you use teamwork to get pass but the finals, it's every man for him/herself. Sakura's case DemotedToExtra.

** In the beginning, teamwork was considered very important and nearly everytime someone tries to apply this, someone end up greviously injured or in. Sakura's case DemotedToExtra.

** There's the theme of the new generations surpassing the previous ones - this is, in theory, why [[TheHero Naruto]] and [[TheRival Sasuke]] manage to [[ObsoleteMentor become stronger than]] [[CoolTeacher Kakashi]], [[OldMaster Jiraiya]], [[MadScientist Orochimaru]], and the like. However, that idea is utterly negated by the revelation that [[spoiler:[[VillainSue Madara Uchiha]]]] is capable of effortlessly defeating all five [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Kages]] at once. Hashirama was even stronger than that, and it seems as though only characters who were members of the older generation are allowed to accomplish anything meaningful during the Fourth Great Shinobi War - [[spoiler: Itachi is the only one who can negate Edo Tensei, Tobi's plan would have failed a long time ago without Madara, and the First Hokage (instead of Naruto, who would be the logical choice) talked Sasuke out of his insane vengeance scheme]].

*** [[spoiler:Arguably, that can be considered a GenerationXerox of what his father had done. With Hiashi poised to give his life to prevent the village from going to war, Hizashi volunteered to go in his place, not for the sake of the main family, but for his brother. Neji's death is not only to protect Hinata, but also Naruto (possibly the best hope of winning the war, and the person Hinata was willing to sacrifice herself to protect). His last thoughts indicate he's realized what it means to choose death for his comrades.]]

** The series' main anvil, "revenge is bad", gets this as well. Shikamaru, the EnsembleDarkhorse, goes through an arc with a lot of character development when [[spoiler: Asuma dies]]. And his defining moment - the moment where all that development comes to a head and he's learned from his experiences, he... takes revenge on [[spoiler: Hidan for murdering Asuma]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro preaches to Kuina how her being a girl doesn't make her any less capable of being a fighter than if she were a boy (albeit in large part because he's frustrated at the possibility that he would defeat his greatest rival because she reached the limits of her growth), but he plays the "defenseless woman" card on Eneru when he fries Robin (who has been shown multiple times to be combat capable), and is shocked and appalled when Eneru responds with apathy. Then after the time skip, he explicitly claims that he is going to hold back against [[spoiler:Monet]], a DarkActionGirl because of her gender. Poor Kuina may very well be turning in her grave.

** The series' main anvil, "revenge is bad", gets this as well. Shikamaru, the EnsembleDarkhorse, goes through an arc with a lot of character development when [[spoiler: Asuma dies]]. And his defining moment - the moment where all that development comes to a head and he's learned from his experiences, he... takes revenge on [[spoiler: Kakuzu for murdering Asuma]].