History DesignatedVillain / AnimeAndManga

* King Gurumes, the villain of ''Anime/DragonBallCurseOfTheBloodRubies''. He ruled his land with tyranny because he became addicted to blood rubies. So Goku and his friends try to stop the evil king from gathering the Dragon Balls and making his "terrible wish" of wishing himself free of the blood ruby hunger... ''which would solve the problem itself!'' Averted in the Japanese version, where he wanted to [[VillainousGlutton wish for finer foods]].

** [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} with his alternate universe counterpart brought in by Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, who is hellbent on directing all the luck in the world [[ItsAllAboutMe towards him and himself alone]]. Crosses the MoralEventHorizon when he attempts to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] [[PaedoHunt Lucy Steel]], whom he had never known about before.]]
* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'': Hardy, the dentist monster. True, his patients aren't normally willing to let him check them, but he does his job rather efficiently and painlessly; yet Kirby still offs him without an actual motive. Justified in that Dedede was the one who tricked Kirby into beating him in order to save his own hide. At least he gets taken to Yabui, so we get to revel in Dedede's torment as he freaks out over nothing.

* Gauche and Droite (Nistro and Dextra) from ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' debut as villains because they want to expel Tokunosuke (Flip) from the World Duel Carnival tournament. Why did they want to expel Tokunosuke from the tournament? Because he was swindling people out of their Heart Pieces. He was breaking the rules of the tournament and directly screwing over other people. Even if the punishment (confiscating his deck and expelling him from the WDC for life) was pretty excessive, Gauche and Droite were just doing their jobs. Even though the moral of the franchise has been that CheatersNeverProsper since day one, we're expected to root for Yuma when he comes to Tokunosuke's defense, because he's Yuma's friend (and even [[{{Jerkass}} that's a pretty dubious title]]) when, if that weren't the case, Yuma would almost certainly be the one dueling ''him''.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': The [=DigiDestined=] turn against Homeostasis in ''Coexistence'' because it's trying to kill Meicoomon to restore harmony. We're supposed to believe that Homeostasis is unjustified, but Meicoomon is shown to do more harm than good if she were to be kept alive any longer as she spreads her infection that drives other Digimon berserk just by existing. Not helping is that the [=DigiDestined=] here are portrayed as jerks who do not have a valid point in keeping Meicoomon alive other than she's Meiko's partner, and some of them like Kari will even crudely tell Meiko that they don't care despite she literally asked them to slay Meicoomon to put her out of her misery, something that is considered reasonable by the narrative despite it's anything but in the audience's point-of-view. To put insult to injury, the [=DigiDestined=] also end up mercy-killing Meicoomon-as-Ordinemon, so Homeostasis gets exactly what it wants anyways.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': The [=DigiDestined=] turn against Homeostasis in ''Coexistence'' because it's trying to kill Meicoomon to restore harmony. We're supposed to believe that Homeostasis is unjustified, but Meicoomon is shown to do more harm than good if she were to be kept alive any longer as she spreads her infection that drives other Digimon berserk just by existing. Not helping is that the [=DigiDestined=] here are portrayed as jerks who do not have a valid point in keeping Meicoomon alive other than she's Meiko partner, and some of them like Kari will even crudely tell Meiko that they don't care despite she literally asked them to slay Meicoomon to put her out of her misery, something that is considered reasonable by the narrative despite it's anything but in the audience's point-of-view. To put insult to injury, the [=DigiDestined=] also end up mercy-killing Meicoomon-as-Ordinemon, so Homeostasis gets exactly what it wants anyways.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': The [=DigiDestined=] turn against Homeostasis in ''Coexistence'' because it's trying to kill Meicoomon to restore harmony. We're supposed to believe that Homeostasis is unjustified, but Meicoomon is shown to do more harm than good if she were to be kept alive any longer as she spreads her infection that drives other Digimon berserk just by existing. Not helping is that the [=DigiDestined=] here are portrayed as jerks who do not have a valid point in keeping Meicoomon alive other than she's Meiko partner, and some of them like Kari will even crudely tell Meiko that they don't care despite she literally asked them to slay Meicoomon to put her out of her misery. To put insult to injury, the [=DigiDestined=] also end up mercy-killing Meicoomon-as-Ordinemon, so Homeostasis gets exactly what it wants anyways.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': The Chosen Children oppose Homeostasis in Part 5 because it wants Meicoomon killed to restore world harmony and they are intent on saving Meicoomon and handing her alive to Meiko rather than seeing their friend slain. The problem is that Homeostasis's solution is actually ''correct''. It's very clear that Meicoomon is going to devastate the world if left completely unchecked and it will happen again as long as she's left alive, and the [=DigiDestined=] are just {{Jerkass}}es over it (that they outright ignore Meiko's pleas to slay her rather than keeping her alive). The [=DigiDestined=]'s defense for keeping Meicoomon is also very weak, only summing up as she should be reunited with Meiko as a partner. At the very end, they also kill Meicoomon-as-Ordinemon and do exactly what Homeostasis is trying to do, rendering their opposition against Homeostasis moot.

* Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor) from ''Manga/YuGiOh'' is more of a "villain by proxy", as his best friend (only in the anime) is the downright rotten Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood). He is shown helping Jonouchi (Joey) on occasion, and is more just a jerk than an actual villain, but ends up selling his soul for power in the Doma arc anyway (also only in the anime, and filler no less, making this a case of AdaptationalVillainy).
* Gauche and Droite (Nistro and Dextra) from ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' debut as villains because they want to expel Tokunosuke (Flip) from the World Duel Carnival tournament. Why did they want to expel Tokunosuke from the tournament? Because he was swindling people out of their Heart Pieces. He was breaking the rules of the tournament and directly screwing over other people. Even if the punishment (confiscating his deck and expelling him from the WDC for life) was pretty excessive, Gauche and Droite were just doing their jobs. Even though the moral of the franchise has been that CheatersNeverProsper since day one, we're expected to root for Yuma when he comes to Tokunosuke's defense, because he's Yuma's friend (and even [[{{Jerkass}} that's a pretty dubious title]]) when, if that weren't the case, Yuma would almost certainly be the one dueling ''him''.
* King Gurumes, the villain of ''Anime/DragonBallCurseOfTheBloodRubies''. He ruled his land with tyranny because he became addicted to blood rubies. So Goku and his friends try to stop the evil king from gathering the Dragon Balls and making his "terrible wish" of wishing himself free of the blood ruby hunger... ''which would solve the problem itself!'' Averted in the Japanese version, where he wanted to [[VillainousGlutton wish for finer foods]].

* Luc displays an odd case of this in the ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' Mameanga, where he goes to considerable effort to hide the fact that he's trying to save the world (through mass genocide, but still). When the hero finds this out, he even rants about not needing sympathy for his actions. He was a {{Jerkass}} even when he was a good guy.
** He got his PoorCommunicationKills from his mentor, who when he ''asked'' if there was any way to save everyone without killing everyone, just looked at him and was silent. Lady Leknaat might have realized the comedy of errors in the ending when she asked the world to forgive them all.

* ''Anime/StarDriver'' has a bit of this. Yes, the Glittering Crux Brigade kidnapped the maiden to allow them to summon giants to Earth for some reason that probably involves fighting since we never see anything else happen, but when they aren't wearing their masks, they're pretty nice guys. Even the leader of Adult Bank, President, who is a schoolgirl wife who kisses men other than her husband through the glass because her husband is never around - Openly! Like, ''in class''! - only has a massive boat to live in, not because she's uber-rich and spoiled, but because she's pretty sure that [[spoiler: volcanoes will explode when they succeed, and wants to evacuate everyone off the island, so no one dies]]. After asking why else she would possibly have such a thing, both of her subordinates - who give her drinks and massages whenever she wants - simply stare at her, bewildered. [[spoiler:The only true villain in the series turns out to be [[BigBad Head]] who was manipulating the rest of Glittering Crux from the very beginning.]]
* Invoked in ''Manga/{{Ratman}}'' in that Hero and Villain are official designations in the society. The Protagonist/Hero is made into a villain due to a XanatosGambit and is forced to work for a villain group. So he's only a villain due to red tape.
* [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Humanity itself]] is eventually portrayed this way in ''Anime/BlueGender'', where [[GaiasVengeance the Earth itself]] is spawning [[BigCreepyCrawlies the Blue]], horrific monsters, for the sole purpose of [[KillAllHumans killing all humanity]] for [[ScienceIsBad daring to develop technology that elevated humans above the natural order]] (and also overpopulating). In particular, the leaders of the space colonies, Chairman Victor and the [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness High Council]], are demonized and portrayed as the BigBad for the grave crime of wanting to leave the bug-infested Earth (which had apparently decided to kill them all itself) behind for good and wanting to keep technology around, while Seno Miyagi and his group of humans who try and flee Earth to settle on more hospitable planets elsewhere in the galaxy [[StrawmanHasAPoint are portrayed as]] [[DirtyCoward the worst of the worst]], and all of them wind up going insane and “karmically” dying.

* An in-universe example from ''Anime/ReCreators'' (in which [[RefugeeFromTVLand fictional characters come to life]]) would be Yuuya Mirokuji, who was supposed to be the main villain and leader of a street gang in his original work, but turns out to be a friendly, caring and intelligent guy. Eventually, he acts more like a [[CoolBigSis Cool Big Bro]] for the rest of the Created group than his designated AntiVillain role.
* Goku is hit with this in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''[='s=] Universal Survival Saga. The Gods of Destruction and their Supreme Kais are angry that they're being forced to fight for their very existence and since they're scared shitless at the idea of calling out [[TopGod Zen'o]], they've all turned their attention to Goku as he's the one who reminded the two Zen'os of the tournament idea, not the fact that Zen'o was already planning on wiping out those universes, so Goku actually gave them a chance to live. Admittedly, Beerus and Shin do call the others out on this, and Goku [[NotHelpingYourCase really doesn't help his case]] when he openly admits to caring more about fighting strong opponents than the whole universal destruction thing.

* An In-universe example in ''Literature/AkuyakuReijoNiKoiWoShite'': the world has a will of its own and ''outright forces'' the citizens to view both the Windhill siblings, Vincent and Ariel as villains, no matter what they do, say, or think, twisting each and every little thing they do into horrible character destroying rumors [[spoiler: until Vincent is executed for treason, and Ariel is sold into slavery, rescued by Rion, who then marries her and becomes the Baron of a distant land, thus meeting the world's desired "scene."]]
* Hachiman Hikigaya of ''Literature/MyYouthRomanticComedyIsWrongAsIExpected'' invokes this trope on himself when dealing with social problems. He does this on the idealogy that conflicts are unable to be resolved unless both parties focus on a single enemy, i.e, him. This becomes [[DefiedTrope defied]] later on during the field trip to Kyoto when Hachiman confesses to and subsequently gets rejected by Hina in Tobe's stead. As a result, Yukino [[WhatTheHellHero voices her comtempt for Hachiman's methods]] while Yui tearfully asks him why he does not understand the feelings of others.
* Mami Yagihara of ''Manga/BlueFlag''. Readers don't have a good vibe from her due to being an Alpha Bitch character that would potentially wreck havoc upon the story, but as far as an Alpha Bitch go she's not even that bad; being slightly hostile towards Taichi's group after Toma's injury is fairly reasonable for someone that can be immature, and while In-Universe the other girls dislike her for hogging up Touma for herself, it turns out that Touma never clearly turned her down & gave her the impression that she still has a chance.
* Diego Brando from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun''. He acts like a SmugSnake, but contrary to what the narrative wants you to think, that's about the worst thing he ever does. He's a talented jockey in search for the Corpse Parts, but that's literally what every other contestant in the Steel Ball Run race is doing, and although it takes a while to get to this point, he eventually [[spoiler:assists the heroes in attempting to defeat the main antagonist, Funny Valentine]]. There's a rumor that [[TheBluebeard he married an old woman, then killed her to inherit her fortune]], but throughout the story, it was never proven. Really, compared to his original universe counterpart, [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDIO Dio Brando]], a complete and utter [[TheSociopath psychopath]], there isn't anything Diego does to fully warrant his reputation as an antagonist besides being a bit full of himself.
** [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} with his alternate universe counterpart brought in by Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, who is hellbent on directing all the luck in the world [[ItsAllAboutMe towards him and himself alone]]. Crosses the MoralEventHorizon when he attempts to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] [[PaedoHunt Lucy Steel]], whom he had never known about before.]]
* ''Anime/OneStormyNight'': While they don't seem like a very nice bunch in general, the wolves are still primarily portrayed as villains for doing what wolves do: eating meat to survive. Though they may have crossed the line when they decided to chase after Gabu and Mei out of spite alone.

* Katarina Claes from ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is a rare self-designated version of this trope. Upon regaining her memories of her past life as an otaku in modern Japan, she realized that she was the chief villainess and HateSink of the otome game ''Fortune Lover''. Ever since, she has been unshakably convinced that she is ''still'' the villainess and will face the same doom as her fictional counterpart, and is entirely oblivious to the fact that her kindness and friendship have her regarded as a living saint by every major character in the game and a good chunk of the background characters.
* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'': Hardy, the dentist monster. True, his patients aren't normally willing to let him check them, but he does his job rather efficiently and painlessly; yet Kirby still offs him without an actual motive. Justified in that Dedede was the one who tricked Kirby into beating him in order to save his own hide. At least he gets taken to Yabui, so we get to revel in Dedede's torment as he freaks out over nothing.

* TheEmpire[[note]]Essentially UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany[[/note]] from ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' comes across as this with respect to the war. The rest of the world vilifies them for their brutally efficient tactics as the war rages on, ignoring two important facts. First being that while the tactics they begin to use are brutal none breach international law,[[note]]For example, they cannot fire upon civilians so they warn civilians first to evacuate, those who do not are then legally designated as illegal combatants[[/note]] and the whole thing kicked off because one nation violated an international treaty and tried to invade the Empire. The world treats them as villains [[CrimeOfSelfDefense because of the fact they successfully fought off a war of aggression.]]
* An In-universe example in ''LightNovel/AkuyakuReijoNiKoiWoShite'': the world has a will of its own and ''outright forces'' the citizens to view both the Windhill siblings, Vincent and Ariel as villains, no matter what they do, say, or think, twisting each and every little thing they do into horrible character destroying rumors [[spoiler: until Vincent is executed for treason, and Ariel is sold into slavery, rescued by Rion, who then marries her and becomes the Baron of a distant land, thus meeting the world's desired "scene."]]
* Hachiman Hikigaya of ''LightNovel/MyYouthRomanticComedyIsWrongAsIExpected'' invokes this trope on himself when dealing with social problems. He does this on the idealogy that conflicts are unable to be resolved unless both parties focus on a single enemy, i.e, him. This becomes [[DefiedTrope defied]] later on during the field trip to Kyoto when Hachiman confesses to and subsequently gets rejected by Hina in Tobe's stead. As a result, Yukino [[WhatTheHellHero voices her comtempt for Hachiman's methods]] while Yui tearfully asks him why he does not understand the feelings of others.

* InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs''. Upon reincarnating in the Otome game world, Leon quickly realizes that Angelica was this, as her original role in the game was to oppose Olivia for undermining her engagement to Julius. Leon later acknowledges that from an outsiders' perspective, anyone would have gotten angry if put in her shoes. Likewise, many of the things she's accused of are not directly her fault: the people who harassed Marie and Olivia did so without her permission, but [[TheScapegoat used her as an excuse when confronted by others]], and since some of those people were followers of hers as well, she had little choice but to take responsibility. Leon quickly realizes that the game's ProtagonistCenteredMorality makes her seem like the villain, but he gets to know her and sees she's not an evil person at the core. It helps that [[HijackedDestiny due to Marie hijacking Olivias' story]], it allows for Angie and Olivia [[CharacterDevelopment to develop more as individuals]] after taking Leons' advice [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty to focus their efforts on self-improvement over seeking revenge.]] Other characters who get a similar treatment are Clarice and Queen Mylene, whose only "crimes" were being obstacles for the romance with Jilk and Julius respectively, the former acting as a DisposableFiancee much like Angelica, and the latter being worried about how her son's decisions could easily throw the kingdom into chaos.
* Katarina Claes from ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is a rare self-designated version of this trope. Upon regaining her memories of her past life as an otaku in modern Japan, she realized that she was the chief villainess and HateSink of the otome game ''Fortune Lover''. Ever since, she has been unshakably convinced that she is ''still'' the villainess and will face the same doom as her fictional counterpart, and is entirely oblivious to the fact that her kindness and friendship have her regarded as a living saint by every major character in the game and a good chunk of the background characters.

** [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} with his alternate universe counterpart brought in by Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, who is a CompleteMonster hellbent on directing all the luck in the world [[ItsAllAboutMe towards him and himself alone]]. Crosses the MoralEventHorizon when he attempts to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] [[PaedoHunt Lucy Steel]], whom he had never known about before.]]

* InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs''. Upon reincarnating in the Otome game world, Leon quickly realizes that Angelica was this, as her original role in the game was to oppose Olivia for undermining her engagement to Julius. Leon later acknowledges that from an outside perspective, anyone would have gotten angry if put in her shoes. Likewise, many of the things she's accused of are not directly her fault: the people who harassed Marie and Olivia did so without her permission, but [[TheScapegoat used her as an excuse when confronted by others]], and since some of those people were followers of hers as well, she had to take responsibility. Leon quickly realizes that the game's ProtagonistCenteredMorality makes her seem like the villain, but he gets to know her and sees she's not an evil person at the core. Other characters who get a similar treatment are Clarice and Queen Mylene, whose only "crimes" were being obstacles for the romance with Jilk and Julius respectively, the former acting as a DisposableFiancee much like Angelica, and the latter being worried about how her son's decisions could easily throw the kingdom into chaos.

* TheEmpire[[note]]Essentially UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany[[/note]] from ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' comes across as this with respect to the war. The rest of the world vilifies them for their brutally efficient tactics as the war rages on, ignoring two important facts. First being that while the tactics they begin to use are brutal none breach international law,[[note]]For example, they cannot fire upon civilians so they warn civilians first to evacuate, those who do not are then legally designated as illegal combatants[[/note]] and the whole thing kicked off because one nation violated a treaty and attacked the Empire. The world treats them as villains because of the fact they successfully fought off a war of aggression.

** Justified somewhat, as in their debut appearances, they were seen helping Kite and Mr. Heartland, the former of whom was already introduced as a villain. In addition, they approved of Tombo Tillbitty's "Basket Rule", when said rule had been seen causing physical harm to several Duelists. Their main "redemption" move was quitting the WDC staff to become entrants because they enjoy dueling more than working security.

* InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs''. Upon reincarnating in the Otome game world, Leon quickly realizes that Angelica was this, as her original role in the game was to oppose Olivia for undermining her engagement to Julius. Leon later acknowledges that from an outside perspective, anyone would have gotten angry if put in her shoes. Likewise, many of the things she's accused of are not directly her fault: the people who harassed Marie and Olivia did so without her permission, but used her as an excuse when confronted by others, and since some of those people were followers of hers as well, she had to take responsibility. Leon quickly realizes that the game's ProtagonistCenteredMorality makes her seem like the villain, but he gets to know her and sees she's not an evil person at the core.

* Hachiman Hikigaya of ''LightNovel/MyYouthRomanticComedyIsWrongAsIExpected'' invokes this trope on himself when dealing with social problems. He does this on the idealogy that conflicts are unable to be resolved unless both parties focus on a single enemy, i.e, him. This becomes [[DefiedTrope defied]] later on during the field trip to Kyoto when Hachiman confesses to and subsequently gets rejected by Hina in Tobe's stead. As a result, Yukino [[WhatTheHellHero voices her comtempt for Hachiman's methods]] while Yui [[CryCute tearfully]] asks him why he does not understand the feelings of others.

* Goku is hit with this in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''[='s=] Universal Survival Saga. The Gods of Destruction and their Supreme Kais are angry that they're being forced to fight for their very existence and since they're scared shitless at the idea of calling out [[TopGod Zen'o]], they've all turned their attention to Goku as he's the one who reminded the two Zen'os of the tournament idea and not the fact that he's the one who has given them the chance to live.

* InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs''. Upon reincarnating in the Otome game world, Leon quickly realizes that Angelica was this, as her original role in the game was to oppose Olivia for undermining her engagement to Julius. Leon later acknowledges that from an outside perspective, anyone would have gotten angry if put in her shoes. Likewise, many of the things she's accused of are not directly her fault: the people who harassed Marie and Olivia did so without her permission, but used her as an excuse when confronted by others, and since some of those people were followers of hers as well, she had to take responsibility. Leon quickly realizes that the game's ProtagonistCenteredMorality makes her seem like the villain, but he quickly realizes that she's not an evil person at the core.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': An Orange Islands episode involving a school of wild Lapras has, as its villains, a team of what are essentially pirates who are leaving the local police on edge by tracking a herd of wild Pokémon and then... weakening them with Pokémon they already have and tossing Poké Balls to capture them. In other words, exactly the same thing every trainer ever does. All the episode has to go on for [[SelectiveCondemnation why this is a bad thing when these pirates do it]] is mention of a "no-capture zone". Not even that Lapras are rare and endangered and need to be left alone to keep from going extinct, which would make sense with what its Pokédex entries have mentioned - no, just an arbitrary no-capture zone in the middle of the ocean with no actual reason specified for its existence.