History DealWithTheDevil / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/MyBalls'', [[LoserProtagonist Satou]] [[KavorkaMan Kohta]] enters in a contract with [[HornyDevils lesser devil]] Elyse to prevent him from [[CantHaveSexEver ejaculating and dooming the World]].

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' Devils provide deals with a multitude of tiers and benefits. Souls and/or human lives aren't common currency and are far from the norm presented in the series as demons typically want immediate payment and few summoners are willing to enact deals that will just kill them right away with no benefit. However, there are three major wrinkles. Firstly, it's a seller's market; a demon can provide the same service to different people at drastically varying rates which range from huge swaths of their lifespans or just the use of certain organs and limbs. Secondly, a person doesn't necessarily have to pay the price themselves as they can just pluck whatever is required from people who they have authority over. Thirdly, there are no refunds should the service be rendered moot; if say, someone paid years of their life to kill an enemy with a devil's power, they will not get those years back if that enemy is revived by a third party.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', during the Buu arc, Vegeta willingly allows Babidi to brainwash him for the power boost that comes with it so he can finally surpass Goku, and it's referred to as Vegeta "selling his soul". However Vegeta's desire to fight Goku allows him to completely ignore all of his new "master"'s orders, and Vegeta dies trying to destroy the monster Babidi unleashed, and it seems either his or Babidi's death released Vegeta from the mind control.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', during the "Universal Survival" arc, Majin Buu falls asleep shorting before the Tournament of Power and a replacement needs to be found for him quickly. With no other candidates available [[ButtMonkey (except for Yamcha, who everyone forgot)]], Goku gets the idea to recruit [[spoiler:Frieza, by having him resurrected for a day like he was. Frieza eventually agrees to join them, only under the condition that should they win he be resurrected. Goku tells him about the Super Dragon Balls, but says he can only use them if he gets to them before anyone else on the team, so Frieza, not thinking it is worth the trouble if his resurrection isn't guaranteed, says [[ExactWords "Earth's Dragon Balls will do fine"]]. However, Frieza still manipulates things behind the scenes, knowing he can manipulate the Gods of Destruction and have fun torturing the other fighters as long as he doesn't kill them. He plans that should he gain the Super Dragon Balls he will use them to have complete control over the Gods of Destruction, which could include both Zen'os. Frieza actually turns out to be a vital member of the team though, and [[EnemyMine teams up with Goku]] to eliminate Jiren in the final fight of the tournament. Since Frieza failed to win the Super Dragon Balls himself, he expected the others to send him back to hell right away since [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness they don't need him anymore]], but to everyone's surprise, Whis revives Frieza himself, saying it is a gift from Beerus as thanks for Frieza's help. Frieza however states [[RedemptionRejection he has no plans to give up being evil]] and vows to get his revenge on Goku one day. TheStinger of the episode shows that he has already rebuilt his army and plans to rebuild his empire before challenging Goku again.]]

** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Lust's shtick was to tempt desperate alchemists into creating the Philosopher's stone with her help. Her backstory contains at least one concrete example of an alchemist she 'inspired' into making the attempt, though her method on the Elrics boiled more down into [[spoiler:[[IHaveYourWife "make the philosopher's stone or I kill Al."]]]]

** In another episode, you see the half-demon Gyu-oh, who is an [[InvoluntaryShapeshifter involuntary shapeshifter]]. He joins forces with a group of demons to obtain a pure jewel that will transform him into a pure human being, but to make the demons stronger.

* In ''Manga/KamisamaKiss'' [[spoiler: Tomoe]] made a deal with a Fallen God to become human in order to live out the rest of his life with the woman he loved, the catch being that the moment she died he died. [[spoiler: By making him forget this, the contract was nulled....but once he does...]]

* You'd never expect to see this in a RealRobot show, but it happened in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', if metaphorically. [[spoiler: By the end of the first season, Mika asked Barbatos for extra power to take on the [[EvilIsBigger Graze Ein]], and he got it, at the cost of losing the ability to use his right eye and right arm while not connected to the machine. Considering the name is taken from ''Literature/ArsGoetia'', you can easily draw the parallel of Mika summoning a demon to defeat his enemy, who then took his arm and eye as payment. The fact he can only use his arm and leg while connected to Barbatos further reinforce the image 'The arm and eye are still there, they just don't ''belong'' to you any more.' Even more disturbingly, his right eye activated WHEN NOT CONNECTED TO BARBATOS upon the reactivation of the buried autonomous Mobile Armor that Tekkadan found. In this setting, the Gundams were created specifically to destroy the Mobile Armors, making it look as if the Barbatos was looking through Mika's eye upon sensing an old enemy reawakening.]]
** Happened before this in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', between DesperatelySeekingAPurposeInLife Meer Campbell and {{Narcissist}} ControlFreak Gilbert Durandal, and has a major factor on the plot. Also arguably, ''anyone'' who decides to work with Durandal.
** In ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'', there are Mass-Divers, players of the Gunpla Battle Nexus Online game who willingly buy illegal modification parts known as Break Decals from a man named Tsukasa Shiba, not caring that doing so is damaging the game and only want the self-gratification of being stronger than everyone without the work to get there.

* In ''Manga/MyBalls'' [[LoserProtagonist Satou]] [[KavorkaMan Kohta]] enters in a contract with [[HornyDevils lesser devil]] Elyse to prevent him from [[CantHaveSexEver ejaculating and dooming the World]].

* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', BigBad Fate Averruncus offers Negi a deal, but manages to word it in a way that if Negi had accepted it, Negi would have been magically bound to keep his end of the bargain while Fate would not. In the end of the anime he almost makes one of these [[spoiler:to bring Asuna back to life]] but is stopped before he can go through with it. Actually, this deal seems to contradict [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demonic nature in this series]] where they are generally no more than a PunchClockVillain or in the case of the Demon God in the Kyoto Arc, TooPowerfulToLive. And the reason why [[spoiler: Asuna is dead]] is one of these too, in which [[spoiler: she agreed to die in her 14th birthday in exchange for not having demons following her everywhere.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', a deal with the ''Endless Witch'', Beatrice, sets a large portion of the plot into motion.
* In one ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' episode, Ataru Moroboshi manages to fulfill all the complicated conditions to make a pact with a demon COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT! After which it becomes painfully obvious that the demon made up a bunch of BS in hopes of duping Ataru into giving up his soul quietly (he doesn't even get his own damn ''name'' right). It doesn't work out so well...not only does he fail to get Ataru's soul, he ends up losing all the other souls he's collected! He's last seen trying to convince a woman to trade her soul for a newspaper subscription. Man, even evil incarnate can't catch a break in that town...
* Witsarnemitea in the anime/RPG ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'' ''loves'' to grant 'wishes', particularly in the mysterious backstory. For instance, DO YOU WANT A STRONGER BODY? [[ImmortalitySeeker DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?]] ENJOY [[spoiler:BEING TURNED INTO A RED JELLY]], ASSHOLE. DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ME, PHILOSOPHER? HOW ABOUT I [[spoiler:TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY]], LOL. Sometimes you have to swear your entire being away in a contract in order to get help, though. However that was more of [[MoralEventHorizon giving them what they]] [[KarmicDeath deserved]]. Rather subverted by his sane half though, as [[spoiler:Eruru makes the 'ALL YOUR BEING IS MINE' pledge in order to save her sister, but is never really held to it aside from being his companion.]] For a cosmic ''thing'' that offers wishes in exchange for their being, it's like he just uses that as an excuse to have friends. He even [[spoiler:completely nullifies her debt to him once he figures out his identity, with no payment or repercussions.]] His other side, on the other hand...

* This is the whole premise of the fourth season of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and the second season of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX,'' the "deal" being gain unstoppable dueling skill, power, and strength in exchange for your free will/soul and vow of service to the leader of the {{cult}}. In fact, ''GX'' developed quite a fondness for this trope with...

* Happens in an obscure one-volume manga, ''Ponko from the Stars and Tofu Shop Reiko''. Ponko is an alien salesperson offering highly advanced alien goods to Reiko's family. They settled for a copier (which can copy anything, including physical objects such as money) which will be paid with 'Hahise'. Ponko then [[YourSoulIsMine took Reiko's brother's Hahise as payment.]] Reiko spent the next 5 years of her life trying to track Ponko down for revenge. [[spoiler: In a subversion, the deal was done out of BlueAndOrangeMorality rather than any actual malicious intent. Once this was straightened out, Ponko and her supervisor worked to remedy the whole situation.]]

* [[spoiler:Impmon]] in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', who was allowed to evolve in exchange for his servitude. Ironically, he's a devil-themed Digimon striking a deal with a Digimon god. Even more impressive in that you consider his deal is with Caturamon, who shares his English voice with Devimon, Devidramon, and [=MarineDevimon=].

* ''Manga/AkumaNaEros'', one of the first mangas by Creator/MayuShinjo, has Satan as a BastardBoyfriend who agrees to help a school girl named Miu Sakurai, who somehow managed to get her paws on a spellbook and invoked him, to snatch the attention of the resident highschool heart-throb, Amamiya. Yet he demands her virginity as a payment, and is Hell-bent on collecting... especially when he sees that Miu not only is very cute-looking, but somehow has a power that can potentially reject his own.

** Happened before this in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', between DesperatelySeekingAPurposeInLife Meer Campbell and {{Narcissist}} ControlFreak Gilbert Durandal, and has a major factor on the plot. Also arguably, ''anyone'' who decides to work with Durandal. Subverted as [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard Rau Le Creuset]] may have struck an old deal with Gilbert -- they are shown shaking hands -- and been setting up his downfall and aiming to KickTheSonOfABitch ever since.]]

* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', [[BigBad the Earl of the Millennium]] promises his victims to bring back to life the person they have lost. He creates a metal skeleton and makes the victim call the name of the one he wants to come back. Then, the skeleton kills the victim and wears his skin, creating a monster, an "akuma".

** Alois Trancy AKA Jim Macken from season 2 of the anime makes a similar deal with Claude Faustus, however, after tasting Ciel's blood, Claude is quick to want to get his hands on Ciel's soul instead after finding it tastier than Jim's ever could be.

* We're [[UnreliableNarrator told]] that this is how [[spoiler:titans were originally created]] in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. [[spoiler: The Marleyans say that the ancestress of the Eldian Race, Ymir Fritz, made an unspecified deal with the Devil of All Earth, granting her the ability to be the first Titan Shifter. After she died, the ability was passed on to the Eldians, with her power being split into the nine used by current Titan Shifters. This is corroborated to an extent by an Eldian storybook that Freida once read to Historia, which shows a young girl holding out something to a cloaked figure. InUniverse, this is not the sole hypothesis; another conclusion was that Ymir stumbled upon the source of all organic matter and gained her powers by accident.]]

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Viola, a KnowlegeBroker with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder offers these all of the time, always selling people information or services that come back to bite them, and she actually has a reputation for it. She asks for money, while convincing someone to take an action that will lead to their demise, as part of PlayingBothSides typically. An example of Viola's deals, is her selling Inabe a valuable relic in secret he can plant in his domain to increase investments in it, while selling that he's doing that to Inabe's political rival who can now call in investigators to expose Inabe and take him down. In that case it was also a XanatosGambit because whoever won that confrontation, she had ties with, and when it blows up on Inabe’s rival due to a SpannerInTheWorks, Inabe thinks that was part of her plan.

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', a little demon in Soul's head (who [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic resembles the Devil]], actually) offers him power in exchange for his sanity. The demon is actually a manifestion of the Black Blood that Soul got in his system early on. In essence, drawing on the power of Madness.

* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' has a more typical example- [[spoiler:Syaoran]] made a deal with Yuko's evil counterpart, Fei Wong Reed (aka the "person" mentioned above), to reverse time in order to save someone, for the low, low price of allowing [[FanNickname Ass-chin]] to [[spoiler:clone him]]. Oh, and ''[[spoiler:borking up the entire space-time continuum in the process]]''.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Decades ago, when Quirks first emerged, [[BigBad All For One]] helped people by taking away their undesirable Quirks or giving strong Quirks to people who needed them- in exchange for their loyalty. In his own words, he offered choice to the powerless and mercy to sinners as long as they joined him. In reality, All For One cared nothing for people. Instead he killed those who opposed his command and abandoned those who could no longer follow his command.

* The Behelits from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' are a means to summon the Godhand, evil demonic gods who offer their bearers the chance to become demonic Apostles (or in the case of those bearing a Crimson Behelit, a new member of the Godhand) in exchange for the sacrifice of those closest to them, who are transported to hell along with the one presented with the deal and marked with the Godhand's Brand of Sacrifice if the bearer should accept, at which point the monsters come out of the woodwork to eat them alive. They're particularly insidious because they are activated by their bearer hitting the DespairEventHorizon, making the bearer particularly receptive to the Godhand's offer.

* Happens in an obscure one-volume manga, ''Ponko from the Stars and Tofu Shop Reiko''. Ponko is an alien salesperson offering highly advanced alien goods to Reiko's family. They settled for a copier (which can copy anything, including physical objects such as money) which will be paid with 'Hahise'. Ponko then [[YourSoulIsMine took Reiko's brother's Hahise as payment.]] Reiko spent the next 5 years of her life trying to track Ponko down for revenge. [[spoiler: In a subversion, the deal was done out of BlueAndOrangeMorality rather than any actual malicious intent. Once this was straightened out, Ponko and her supervisor worked to remedy the whole situation.]]

* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', demons such as the protagonists routinely form Contracts with humans to build their own influence and power. Contracts like [[LighterAndSofter modeling a cosplay outfit in exchange for some snacks]]. Demons are actively trying to get away from the your-soul-for-power negative PR after the GreatOffscreenWar hugely depopulated the race and left extinction as a very real threat. They can't afford to risk getting hunted down by Angels or church assassins just because bigger contracts are quicker.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', BigBad Fate Averruncus offers Negi a deal, but manages to word it in a way that if Negi had accepted it, Negi would have been magically bound to keep his end of the bargain while Fate would not. In the end of the anime he almost makes one of these [[spoiler:to bring Asuna back to life]] but is stopped before he can go through with it. Actually, this deal seems to contradict [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demonic nature in this series]] where they are generally no more than a PunchClockVillain or in the case of the Demon God in the Kyoto Arc, TooPowerfulToLive. And the reason why [[spoiler: Asuna is dead]] is one of these too, in which [[spoiler: she agreed to die in her 14th birthday in exchange for not having demons following her everywhere.]]

* ''Manga/HaremRoyaleWhenTheGameEnds'' is driven by one of these between Asunaro and Zepfur: to reward Asunaro for releasing her from her [[SealedEvilInACan seal]], she grants him his desire for a harem. The twist (and Asunaro is unaware of this part) is that Zepfur accomplishes this by torturing the girls Asunaro is interested in, making them experience painful deaths countless times, then forces them to act interested in Asunaro. Moreover, only one of the girls can ultimately be with him, and the rest will be killed and sent to hell.
* This is the subject of one of the fairy tales in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''. [[spoiler:As is typical of ''Monster'''s fairy tales, the guy who didn't do it ends up just as screwed as the guy who did, just in a different manner. The moral appears to be: "Sell your soul or don't; it doesn't really matter since you're screwed either way".]]

* The one shot manga, ''Manga/{{Rokuyoku}}'', had Yoshika make a deal with a demonic cat to steal Yukina's traits so that she can get her friend's boyfriend. It doesn't end well.

* The plot of the {{Hentai}} ''Bible Black'' is set in motion because of one these. [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Years before the first series takes place,]] the [[BigBad antagonist]], Reika Kitami, reveals that she was offered as a human sacrifice to summon the devil. Since she was not a virgin, the devil refused her and [[TheDogBitesBack she managed to kill the leader of the "coven" that tried to sacrifice her]] and was allowed to stay alive for a certain amount of time by the Devil. In order to avoid going to hell, she has chosen the soul of the hero's LoveInterest as payment to the Devil.

* ''Manga/RenaiHaremGameShuuryouNoAgaKuruKoroni'' is driven by one of these between Asunaro and Zepfur: to reward Asunaro for releasing her from her [[SealedEvilInACan seal]], she grants him his desire for a harem. The twist (and Asunaro is unaware of this part) is that Zepfur accomplishes this by torturing the girls Asunaro is interested in, making them experience painful deaths countless times, then forces them to act interested in Asunaro. Moreover, only one of the girls can ultimately be with him, and the rest will be killed and sent to hell.

*** The manga also adds another angle: Sebastian's willingness to fulfill Ciel's every whim isn't just his being LawfulEvil. Nor is it the HoYay. Ciel's job as the queen's watchdog, and the trauma it brings him (e.g. Madame Red, the Noah's Arc Circus etc), is ''tenderizing'' his soul. Who needs trickery when his prey is ordering him to season it to perfection already?

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', during the "Universal Survival" arc, Majin Buu falls asleep shorting before the Tournament of Power and a replacement needs to be found for him quickly. With no other candidates available [[ButtMonkey (except for Yamcha, who everyone forgot)]], Goku gets the idea to recruit [[spoiler:Frieza, by having him resurrected for a day like he was. Frieza eventually agrees to join them, only under the condition that should they win he be resurrected. Goku tells him about the Super Dragon Balls, but says he can only use them if he gets to them before anyone else on the team, so Frieza, not thinking it is worth the trouble if his resurrection isn't guaranteed, says [[ExactWords "Earth's Dragon Balls will do fine"]]. However, Frieza still manipulates things behind the scenes, knowing he can manipulate the gods of destruction and have fun torturing the other fighters as long as he doesn't kill them. He plans that should he gain the Super Dragon Balls he will use them to have complete control over the gods of destruction, which could include both Zen'os. Frieza actually turns out to be a vital member of the team though, and [[EnemyMine teams up with Goku]] to eliminate Jiren in the final fight of the tournament. Since Frieza failed to win the Super Dragon Balls himself, he expected the others to send him back to hell right away since [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness they don't need him anymore]], but to everyone's surprise, Whis revives Frieza himself, saying it is a gift from Beerus as thanks for Frieza's help. Frieza however states [[RedemptionRejection he has no plans to give up being evil]] and vows to get his revenge on Goku one day. TheStinger of the episode shows that he has already rebuilt his army and plans to rebuild his empire before challenging Goku again.]]

* ''Manga/AkumaNaEros'' has Satan as a BastardBoyfriend who agrees to help a school girl named Miu Sakurai, who somehow managed to get her paws on a spellbook and invoked him, to snatch the attention of the resident highschool heart-throb, Amamiya. Yet he demands her virginity as a payment, and is bent on collecting... specially when he sees that Miu not only is very cute-looking, but somehow has a power that can potentially reject his own.

* This is the subject of one of the fairy tales in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''. [[spoiler:As is typical of ''Monster'''s fairy tales, the guy who didn't do it ends up just as screwed as the guy who did, just in a different manner. The moral appears to be: [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop "Sell your soul or don't; it doesn't really matter since you're screwed either way"]].]]

* In ''Manga/BlueExorcist'', many exorcists make deals with demons in order to be able to use their power or to summon them when they want. In return, the demon asks a set of rules to follow or something in exchange. This varies depending on the aspiration of the tastes of the demon. For instance Garuda [[spoiler: has made a deal with the Myoda sect that guarantees he will serve the leader of each generation under the condition they keep secret the deal and the presence of an asleep eldritch abomination under the temple. This is because Uschuma feeds of the lies and the doubts it creates]]. Then we have Mephisto Pheles himself (ironically surnamed Johann Faust) who has passed Morinas contracts with some humans that is enforced by a demon . Should the signer of the contract defy the conditions contained within, the demon will hunt them down and kill them.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', during the "Universal Survival" arc, Majin Buu falls asleep shorting before the Tournament of Power and a replacement needs to be found for him quickly. With no other candidates available [[ButtMonkey (except for Yamcha, who everyone forgot)]], Goku gets the idea to recruit [[spoiler:Frieza, by having him resurrected for a day like he was. Frieza eventually agrees to join them, only under the condition that should they win he be resurrected. Goku tells him about the Super Dragon Balls, but says he can only use them if he gets to them before anyone else on the team, so Freiza, not thinking it is worth the trouble if his resurrection isn't guaranteed, says [[ExactWords "Earth's Dragon Balls will do fine"]]. However, Frieza still manipulates things behind the scenes, knowing he can manipulate the gods of destruction and have fun torturing the other fighters as long as he doesn't kill them. He plans that should he gain the Super Dragon Balls he will use them to have complete control over the gods of destruction, which could include both Zen'os. Frieza actually turns out to be a vital member of the team though, and [[EnemyMine teams up with Goku]] to eliminate Jiren in the final fight of the tournament. Since Frieza failed to win the Super Dragon Balls himself, he expected the others to send him back to hell right away since [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness they don't need him anymore]], but to everyone's surprise, Whis revives Frieza himself, saying it is a gift from Beerus as thanks for Frieza's help. Frieza however states [[RedemptionRejection he has no plans to give up being evil]] and vows to get his revenge on Goku one day. TheStinger of the episode shows that he has already rebuilt his army and plans to rebuild his empire before challenging Goku again.]]

* In ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'', Yuko, a descendant of UsefulNotes/{{Lilith}}, asks the local MagicalGirl Momo to become her vassal, mostly [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou to keep]] [[BondingOverMissingParents Momo from]] [[YouAreNotAlone abandoning Yuko]] to seek out new leads on her long-missing sister, who she's been looking for for ten years without success because of magical seals and barriers that deter and repel magical girls. Becoming a demon's vassal would negate those obstacles, and Yuko remarks that with Momo's [[BrokenBird sullen personality]], penchant for [[UnscrupulousHero thinking of evil ways to use powers]], and [[LethalChef poor eating habits]], she'd make a better demon than a magical girl anyway. Momo is ''strongly'' tempted to do it, [[PleaseDontLeaveMe but declines]] [[DeclarationOfProtection with her]] [[TrainingFromHell own counteroffer]] upon a last-second realization that she'd [[DePower lose most of her strength]]--and risk NeverFoundTheBody--because Yuko would become her power source and...Yuko doesn't have much of it to give. Still, Momo promises to accept her offer [[StrengthEqualsWorthiness when Yuko can defeat her in a duel,]] expecting she'll never do so [[spoiler:but really hoping she will someday]].

* ''Anime/BelladonnaOfSadness'': Jeanne makes a series of deals with the Devil to gain increasing material and magical power until she finally sells her soul to him, has sex with him, and becomes a HotWitch.

* Lelouch Lamperouge from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' accepts a contract with MysteriousWaif C.C., by which he gains a power to give absolute orders and, in a long run, to change the world in exchange for an unspecified service for her. It turns out, [[spoiler:this "unspecified service" is to be CursedWithAwesome[=/=]BlessedWithSuck by taking C.C.'s place as an undying Geass dispenser]]. Lelouch even lampshades it towards the end of the first season.
** Mao, Mao, Mao.... He had made a contract with C.C. previously, but his out-of-control Geass drove him completely insane, and turned him into a PsychopathicManchild when C.C. abandoned him. Ultimately, [[spoiler:he has to be {{Mercy Kill}}ed by her at the age of seventeen.]] The sad thing is, that part of the reason he accepted his Geass might have been to have a caretaker in the first place, since at the time he was ''horrifically young'' and living on the streets all alone.
*** Given the Geass is always twinned to the user's deeper desires in some way (sometimes with brutal irony), Mao probably wanted to be able to understand people better so he could get them to care about him, or something like it.

* The pacts between humans and Shinigami on ''Manga/DeathNote'' work in this manner, as Death Note users gain the power to kill anyone using the book if they know their name and face, but is "cursed to live a life of misery and unhappiness". An alternate interpretation of the curse (and an idea independently suggested by Near, who never heard of the curse) is that by using the Death Note, Light had become corrupted.
** The shinigami can also offer a second deal, exchanging half of the user's remaining natural lifespan in exchange for [[MagicalEye Shinigami eyes]], allowing the user to know the true name of whomever they look upon, [[YourDaysAreNumbered the exact date in time that they will die]]. The value of the second deal for the Shinigami isn't immediately apparent, but if a Shinigami lost their only note the deal could become the only way for them to extend their lifespan.

* In ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'', the Shinigami have to go to the rescue of a boy receives a cornea transplant that results in him taking on the burden of the previous owner's deal with a demon.
** This is the violin storyline. Highlights include 'The Devil's Trill' (mentioned below as supposedly having been gotten this way in the first place) and the total failure of the animators to even try to make the bow move approximately with the sounds. Also, Tsuzuki gets possessed. No deals necessary.

* [[spoiler:Impmon]] in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', who was allowed to evolve in exchange for his servitude. Ironically, he's a devil-themed Digimon striking a deal with a Digimon god.
** Even more impressive in that you consider his deal is with Caturamon, who shares his English voice with Devimon, Devidramon, and [=MarineDevimon=].

* In ''Manga/{{Dororo}}'', Hyakkimaru's back story involves his father striking a deal with 48 demons in exchange for political power. In exchange, each of the demons takes a part from his then-unborn son.

* You have any interactions with [[DevilInPlainSight Hiruma]] [[TheTrickster Youichi]] from ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' (actually, even if you don't), you're automatically his slave for life. God help you if you actually make a deal with him

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ling agrees to [[spoiler:let Greed possess him, effectively making him into a homunculus, if it means he'll be that much closer to obtaining a Philosopher's Stone and thus the secret to immortality.]]
** It's not that clear cut. [[spoiler:Ling obviously found immortality tempting, but temptation wasn't the only factor in play. "Father" wasn't letting him out of the situation alive, he couldn't do anything to prevent the infusion and if his body "rejected" Greed he'd have turned out like the poor shmucks that failed to become "Wrath" -- not pretty. So his choices weren't "take the deal or don't get your wish" but "take the deal (and sorta get your wish), or don't take it and die a horrible painful death", and it's not clear whether he would have done it if it'd been played straight. As it was, he made the best of an otherwise hopeless situation.]]

** [[spoiler:Amestris' Central Command was tempted by Father into a similar deal, which resulted in an [[TheIlluminati absolutely sinister]] [[AncientConspiracy conspiracy]]. ''Father actually [[MagnificentBastard secretly engineered the formation of Amestris for that exact purpose.]]'' This is often overlooked because of the Umbral Circle reversal in the end, but Father betrayed them all to "become God" the same way he did to the last king of Xerxes and his guys. All of this only fuels speculation that he is indeed an analogue of {{Satan}}.]]
*** He ''thinks'' he's God, [[spoiler:although making that true is his aspiration.]] The beard, the detached arrogant pseudo-benevolence, the 'my son' dropping, the explicit comparisons...the Greed thing, though obviously Father didn't catch that one.
** ''[[GateOfTruth The Gate]]''. It will give you a lot, especially knowledge with which you will have extreme power over the physical world, but it will take 'something of equivalent value' in exchange, and it will make sure that that is the most ironically painful thing it could take. 'Equivalent Exchange' is the catch phrase, but look at that shit-eating grin on Truth Guy: in this universe, '''God exists, and he is a total dick.'''
*** So...Ed is a witch, but it's okay because God and the Devil are one?
*** Eventually, he finds the back door, too...but he still has to give up a lot.

** Finally, in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Lust's shtick was to tempt desperate alchemists into creating the Philosopher's stone with her help. Her backstory contains at least one concrete example of an alchemist she 'inspired' into making the attempt, though her method on the Elrics boiled more down into [[spoiler:[[IHaveYourWife "make the philosopher's stone or I kill Al."]]]]

* The anime ''Anime/HellGirl'' revolves around Ai Enma, a demonic young girl who offers people the chance to instantly send one of their enemies to Hell -- although the price for this "service" is that the sender's ''own'' soul will also be sent to Hell after their death.
** It turns out at the end of the first season that [[spoiler: Ai, too, has made a deal with the devil: As long as she makes deals with the devil and, in doing so, provides him with more souls, he'll keep the souls of her family and friends that she cursed to death when she was still alive from falling into hell.]]

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', BigBad Fate Averruncus offers Negi a deal, but manages to word it in a way that if Negi had accepted it, Negi would have been magically bound to keep his end of the bargain while Fate would not.
** In the end of the anime he almost makes one of these [[spoiler:to bring Asuna back to life]] but is stopped before he can go through with it. Actually, this deal seems to contradict [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demonic nature in this series]] where they are generally no more than a PunchClockVillain or in the case of the Demon God in the Kyoto Arc, TooPowerfulToLive. And the reason why [[spoiler: Asuna is dead]] is one of these too, in which [[spoiler: she agreed to die in her 14th birthday in exchange for not having demons following her everywhere.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[TheRival Sasuke]] makes a deal with [[BigBad Orochimaru]] -- in exchange for giving him the power to defeat his brother, Sasuke will allow Orochimaru to [[GrandTheftMe possess his body]]. [[spoiler:However, he merely learns all Orochimaru has to teach him, at which point Sasuke kills him. [[NotQuiteDead Only, not really]], as Orochimaru comes back as TheVirus.]]
** Subverted in that Orochimaru didn't intend to honor the deal [[spoiler:either]] and was going to possess him the moment he arrived. TheHero's FiveManBand (well, TheSmartGuy's FiveManBand) managed to delay the QuirkyMinibossSquad delivering him long enough that a substitute had to be used and [[TimeSkip bought everybody three years.]]

* The one shot manga, ''{{Rokuyoku}}'', had Yoshika make a deal with a demonic cat to steal Yukina's traits so that she can get her friend's boyfriend. It doesn't end well.

* In at least the anime of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', [[BlackMagicianGirl Lina Inverse]] was offered this during the Gaav/Phibrizo story arc.
** Various deals with the Mazoku exist in Slayers canon. One option is the "Pledge of Immortality", where the human becomes immortal and invulnerable as long as they serve the Mazoku. One signatory of such a deal was Halcyform the White, a wizard from Atlas City.

* In one ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' episode, Ataru Moroboshi manages to fulfill all the complicated conditions to make a pact with a demon COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT!
** After which it becomes painfully obvious that the demon made up a bunch of BS in hopes of duping Ataru into giving up his soul quietly (he doesn't even get his own damn ''name'' right). It doesn't work out so well...not only does he fail to get Ataru's soul, he ends up losing all the other souls he's collected! He's last seen trying to convince a woman to trade her soul for a newspaper subscription. Man, even evil incarnate can't catch a break in that town...

* Witsarnemitea in the anime/RPG ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'' ''loves'' to grant 'wishes', particularly in the mysterious backstory. For instance, DO YOU WANT A STRONGER BODY? [[ImmortalitySeeker DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?]] ENJOY [[spoiler:BEING TURNED INTO A RED JELLY]], ASSHOLE. DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ME, PHILOSOPHER? HOW ABOUT I [[spoiler:TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY]], LOL. Sometimes you have to swear your entire being away in a contract in order to get help, though.
** However that was more of [[MoralEventHorizon giving them what they]] [[KarmicDeath deserved]].
** Rather subverted by his sane half though, as [[spoiler:Eruru makes the 'ALL YOUR BEING IS MINE' pledge in order to save her sister, but is never really held to it aside from being his companion.]] For a cosmic ''thing'' that offers wishes in exchange for their being, it's like he just uses that as an excuse to have friends. He even [[spoiler:completely nullifies her debt to him once he figures out his identity, with no payment or repercussions.]] His other side, on the other hand...

* This is sometimes the way Yuuko does her work in ''Manga/XxxHolic''. She plays the Mephisto straight, where she grants people any wish they desire as long as they can pay something of ''equal'' value to the wish (She even refers to this price as a "soul" in one occasion, tough only to mess with Watanuki). For example, when a woman wanted to have a cursed picture that showed her murdering her friend locked away, Yuko's price was that the woman could ''never'' have her picture taken or recorded ''again'' - dooming her to a life of exile due to the abundance of security cameras around.
** It isn't always the case, though. Although sometimes the results of wishes ''are'' quite nasty, sometimes the Faustian parts simply learn a lesson the hard way and move on with their lives, and there are even quite a lot of times where there are no tricks whatsoever and the whole thing is treated as a simple transsaction where both parts get what they want and happily go their own ways. In one case, an internet addict asked for Yuuko to help her break her habit - Yuuko asked for an ordinary baby's chair, then destroyed her computer. When called on this, Yuuko says that all she did was destroy her computer - the addict can always get a new one. Yuuko hopes that seeing her computer destroyed would cause her to rethink her addiction and get help. And since destroying a computer isn't exactly all that hard to do, she didn't have to pay that high a price.
** Also, in keeping with the CLAMP mantra that the dead cannot be revived, Yuko cannot bring the dead back to life because no payment exists to make such a wish "fair".
*** [[spoiler: Incidentally it turns out Yuuko herself is the prime example of what happens if someone tries to bring back someone to life, as an accidental wish froze her in a state that is neither death nor true life. The universe ends up screwed over because of one person's attempt at truly resurrecting her and it still doesn't work.]]

* The plot of ''Manga/MairimashitaIrumaKun'' kicks off when the protagonist, Suzuki Iruma, is sold off to a demon by his [[AbusiveParents irresponsible parents]]. Fortunately for Iruma, the demon he was sold to turns out to be a DotingGrandparent who wants him as his grandson.

* The plot of the {{Hentai}} ''Bible Black'' is set in motion because of one these. [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Years before the first series takes place,]] the [[BigBad antagonist]], Reika Kitami, reveals that she was offered as a human sacrifice to summon the devil. Since she was not a virgin, the devil refused her and [[TheDogBitesBack she managed to kill the leader of the "coven" that tried to sacrifice her]] and was allowed to stay alive for a certain amount of time by the Devil. In order to avoid going to hell, she has chosen the soul of the hero's LoveInterest as payment to the Devil.

* In ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'', demons need a type of spiritual energy called astral energy to use their powers and survive. Typically they use their horns to siphon the energy from their surroundings, but when a demon's horns are broken or for some other reason they need to augment their intake, demons can make a contract with a human. The demon serves the human they make the contract with, in exchange for the demon being able to drain their soul in place of astral energy, shortening the human's lifespan drastically. Most of the demons who make contracts in the series follow the typical archetype of being tricksters, but the title character subverts this. He makes a contract with Rosette, a nun, so that he is able to use his powers to help her save his brother, both of whom had befriended him. Throughout the series Chrono questions his decision to make the contract, causing quite a lot of his angstier moments.

* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', [[BigBad the Earl of the Millennium]] promises his victims to bring back to life the person they have lost. He creates a metal skeleton and makes the victim call the name of the one he wants to come back. Then, the skeleton kills the victim and wears his skin, creating a monster, an "akuma".

* ''Manga/TheElderSisterLikeOne'': The demon Shub-Niggurath offered lonely orphan boy Yuu anything he wanted in exchange for that which was most precious to him. He asked her to be his big sister. Yuu knows that this is unlikely to end well for him, but "Chiyo" loves and cares for him more than any of his real relatives ever did, so it's worth it. [[spoiler:Apparently, the author has stated that [[{{Hentai}} the original materials of the series]] is canon, but farther down the timeline [[note]]The H-doujin started out with Yuu decides to allow Chiyo to collect her payment, in fact[[/note]], which means that the most precious thing that Chiyo wanted from Yuu is his "potential", or: his sperm. Lots of sex ensues.]]

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', a little demon in Soul's head (who [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic resembles the Devil]], actually) offers him power in exchange for his sanity. The demon is actually a manifestion of the Black Blood that Soul got in his system early on. In essence, drawing on the power of Madness.
* Satomi Yajima's deal with Damian in ''Anime/VariableGeo''. Damian manipulates her into entering the tournament so that [[spoiler:Miranda, the true BigBad, can pull a GrandTheftMe on her, stealing her body and her power]].

* Happens in an obscure one-volume manga, ''Ponko from the Stars and Tofu Shop Reiko''. Ponko is an alien salesperson offering highly advanced alien goods to Reiko's family. They settled for a copier (which can copy anything, including physical objects such as money) which will be paid with 'Hahise'. Ponko then [[YourSoulIsMine took Reiko's brother's Hahise as payment.]] Reiko spent the next 5 years of her life trying to track Ponko down for revenge. [[spoiler: In a subversion, the deal was done out of BlueAndOrangeMorality rather than any actual malicious intent. Once this was straightened out, Ponko and her supervisor worked to remedy the whole situation.]]

* The one shot manga, ''{{Rokuyoku}}'', had Yoshika make a deal with a demonic cat to steal Yukina's traits so that she can get her friend's boyfriend. It doesn't end well.

* The plot of ''Manga/MairimashitaIrumaKun'' kicks off when the protagonist, Suzuki Iruma, is sold off to a demon by his [[AbusiveParents irresponsible parents]]. Fortunately for Iruma, the demon he was sold to turns out to be a DotingGrandparent who wants him as his grandson.