History KarmaHoudini / AnimeAndManga

* Many were disappointed that [[BigBad Admiral Haruki Kusakabe]] from ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' didn't die at the end. However, [[DeathByAdaptation you can kill him]] in several ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games, and in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau Le Creuset]] will KickTheSonOfABitch.

* ''Anime/MyHime''
** Nagi is not only [[DragonInChief arguably the main villain]] of (even though the [[BigBad Obsidian Lord/Prince]] was technically more powerful than him), but is directly responsible for everything the characters go through. He survives unscathed and mostly unconfronted for this, admits to the entire thing being a riotously entertaining good time, and happily ''takes Mashiro'' (one of the supporting characters) ''with him'' to his home... wherever. He then returns in ''Anime/MyOtome'' [[DragonAscendant as the full-on main villain]], a Grand Duke, and causes even more trouble for the heroes. [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty Thankfully he’s finally arrested in the end]], and in the manga [[EvilerThanThou he’s betrayed and killed]] by the ''[[ManBehindTheMan real]]'' villains.
** [[EnfanteTerrible Alyssa]] [[TheMole Searrs]] seemed to subvert this trope when Joseph Greer shoots her...and then is brought back to life. She is seen using religion to terrorize some student in the final episode.
* Despite ostensibly being one of the "good guys" throughout 2/3 of the series ''Anime/MyOtome'', Nina Wang, who is the poster child for LoveMakesYouEvil and fits into about several dozen other tropes, pulls a selfish, spoiled, bratty FaceHeelTurn. She willingly and freely betrays everything she's ever stood for, tosses her morals and decency aside, murders her best friend, attempts to murder several of her other good friends, aids TheEmpire in conquering the world, and almost single-handedly completes 90% of a plan to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Her excuse? She's a little cranky that her father (yes, they're not related by blood, but he's still her FATHER) [[ParentalIncest refuses to see her as a woman and fell in love with her friend instead of her]]. She continues down this path even after her father, the only thing she cares about, DIES (he later lived, but she didn't know...) trying to stop it. Her outcome at the end of the series? Happily ever after, never answering for anything she caused or even having to face anyone or anything from her old life to remind or accuse her, taking advantage of her father's amnesia to make him fall in love with her for real this time. On the other hand, she becomes TheAtoner in ''Anime/MyOtomeZwei'', working with Nao to investigate the ruins and helping Arika defeat the new BigBad Yuna.
** Throughout the course of the ''Anime/MyOtome'' anime, PsychoLesbian SmugSnake Tomoe Marguerite has amassed for herself a pretty long rap sheet: assault, vandalism, attempted murder, kidnapping, blackmail, AttemptedRape of a ''high-ranking school official'', aiding and abetting terrorists, and at one point openly declared that she intended to kill anyone who stood in her way (read: ''everyone''), and has shown no remorse for any of it. She never receives any sort of formal punishment, and the only retribution she gets for this is a few broken bones after falling out of the sky... which ''barely'' counts as a slap on the wrist compared to the lives she tried to ruin. She comes back in ''Anime/MyOtomeZwei'' clean as a whistle, presumably to do the same things all over again.

* The protagonist Yamaguchi in Creator/SuehiroMaruo's ''[[http://samehat.blogspot.com/2005/10/poison-strawberry-chapter-one.html Poison Strawberry]]''. Karma Houdini for its own sake.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'':
** Mr. Kimura always manages to get away with blatant sexual harassment towards female students, especially towards Kaorin.
** Similarly, Yukari always gets away with bullying Chiyo, a 10-to 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL.). And nothing is ever said as to whether she got in trouble for hitting Tomo with cafeteria plates. To be fair, though, Tomo hit Yukari first while aiming for Yomi, but teachers are never supposed to retaliate.

* Akito of ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', in spite of spending most of the manga series being nigh-on AxCrazy and making the lives of every member of the Zodiac as miserable as possible at every opportunity, gets a last-minute redemption story via Tohru and ends up friends with her, Uotani and Hanajima, with Shigure as her lover.
** Shigure also gets away with his various manipulations, and jerkassery, getting Akito in the end to boot.
** It should be noted that the point of the story of Fruits Basket is that you should forgive and move on with your life so this is intentional with Akito. Also whenever Shigure manipulated people he did it to either break the curse or just for some amusement.

* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers: Paint it, White!'', the Pictonians nearly get away with converting almost all of Earth into their species, and only are convinced to reverse it all after Italy amuses them by drawing faces on them. Of course, given that the Pictonians vastly outnumber the nations and have them all outgunned, just getting the Pictonians to undo their damage and leave was probably the best to be hoped for.

* An uncountable '''many''' characters in most {{hentai}}. The sex is just as likely to be nonconsensual for one side or the other as it is to be consensual, and if it is nonconsensual, don't expect the rapist to see any consequences.
** Take Etsuko Yamanobe, from ''Foxy Nudes''. She's a newscaster covering a hostage crisis, but to get hot ratings, actually manipulates the drunk kidnapper into raping his boss's daughter repeatedly, gives him a gun, tells him it's fake, and when he opens fire, a sniper tries to shoot him and accidentally hits... the hostage. The kidnapper goes to jail while Etsuko goes to have happy sex with her cameraman and enjoy great ratings, and the show treats it like a ''happy ending the entire time.''
** Sometimes it isn't even one of the participants who is the wrongdoer who doesn't get punished. In the ''Kusuri mo Sugireba Chichi to Naru'' series, a pharmaceutical company tests a drug that boosts women's sex drives and induces lactation on girls getting routine check-ups, then sneaks it into mass-produced cake mix once it's perfected. Once the company is caught, the legal system isn't able to properly bring them to task [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization because most of the women affected don't mind the results]].

* ''Manga/{{MW}}'': If [[Manga/{{Monster}} Johan]] got away in the end, Michio Yuki also counts. He may have failed to gas the whole world and lost Garai, but he manages to get away clean from it by posing as his younger lookalike brother. Although, it's downplayed by the fact he has a few months to live.

* Accelerator in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' killed ten thousand innocent people (all clones of the character Mikoto Misaka) in the name of an experiment and an unknown but undoubtedly large number before that, though they were admittedly less so. Punishment? [[HumblePie A hit to his ego]] and being punched a few times due to the upper-echelons in charge of Academy city still needing him and his power to counter the Magic-Side being led by a literal Demon trying to kill Humanity. Accelerator himself has shown disgust that he got away with the murders, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone has shown trauma and guilt over the acts]] as he tries to [[{{Protectorate}} protect Last Order and Misaka Worst]] (Clones 20001 and 20002, respectively). And as of the Genesis Testament novels he has voluntarily voided the KarmaHoudiniWarranty, by insisting he go on trial for them.

* Akabane Kuroudo in the ''Manga/GetBackers'' manga, gets away with a surprising amount of this by the end.

* The Genei Ryodan from ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' kill a huge amount of people across the series just to find valuable items. The leader himself says that he does not care about the victims. Kurapica is on a quest to destroy them but instead the main characters worry more about him killing others rather than the Ryodan's activities. Across the story, only two members die and group is still doing whatever they want.
** Subverted in later chapters. Two more members suffer gruesome deaths and the rest ot the troupe has embarked in a cruise that is very very likely to be one-way.

* In ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'', while most villains are killed, [[BigBad Arba]] is not even emprisonned. The ManipulativeBitch is responsible for most of the misery in the world, has caused many wars, betrayed and killed her surrogate ''and'' real children. In the end, she only loses her power that she planned to use to cause an EldritchAbomination to destroy the world. She is seen at the very penultimate page of the manga casually flying with only a bored look, perfectly free to do whatever she wants.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Several villains, like Wapol and Eneru, don't get punished in the long run. Sure, Luffy kicks their asses seven ways to Sunday, but things turn out OK for them in the end anyway. Wapol's life in particular is ''much better'' now than it was during his time as an evil king, without any sort of HeelFaceTurn required. This is also globally the case for the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]], the biggest assholes in the series, who are so above the law that they can get away with anything (And by anything, we mean, among other things, kill children because their boat ''crossed paths with theirs'', feed little girls Devil Fruits for their own twisted pleasure, own and abuse the fuck out of slaves, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and all around being]] [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking motherfuckers]].)
*** One reason for Eneru getting away and accomplishing at least one of his goals (to fly off to Endless Verth on his airship) could be justified as a sort of DeusExitMachina. Being one of the most powerful characters in the ''One Piece'' universe (to the point that the only way he could be beaten was because Luffy's Devil Fruit powers [[ElementalRockPaperScissors just happened to be able to counter his lightning abilities]]) and being in a location where the Marines and their Devil Fruit-cancelling sea prism stones wouldn't be able to reach and capture him, it would've been easier to just let him escape and go far away where the plot can't reach him.
*** Wapol, in the meantime, had his KarmaHoudiniWarranty expire because the plot had ''big'' plans for him: [[spoiler:he witnesses Nefertari Cobra being assassinated by GodEmperor Imu, a man so impossibly high up the World Government's ladder even knowing he ''exists'' is punishable by death. The man has to actively throw everything he's got, noble titles and factories included, because he will be executed on sight from that point forwards and he ''knows'' it]].
** In the Dressrosa arc, Baby 5 is the only officer of the Donquixote Family who is not arrested following Doflamingo's defeat. She performed a HeelFaceTurn and is set to marry one of the side characters who allied with Luffy. However, she is still as guilty of crimes as the rest of the Family and the traits that make her sympathetic, such as [[ChildSoldiers being in a pirate crew since childhood]], are matched by others in the crew who ''were'' taken into custody. In particular, Señor Pink is arguably the most sympathetic of the Donquixote officers, due to his tragic backstory and VillainousValor, but he gets shipped off to prison and is unlikely to get an opportunity to share drinks with his WorthyOpponent Franky like they'd promised at the end of their duel.
** Subverted and played straight with Caesar Clown. [[spoiler:Initially, despite the major ass-kicking he got from Luffy, Admiral Issho's men pointed out that he's Doflamingo's subordinate, pardoning him for all of his crimes. However, after Doflamingo was ousted and defeated by the Straw Hats and then arrested by the Marines, Caesar's immunity went down the crapper, with him becoming a KarmicButtMonkey ever since he was captured by the Straw Hats. In the Whole Cake Island arc, in particular, he gets imprisoned by Big Mom of all people and forced to create the gigantification drug he kept promising her within two weeks, lest he gets turned into candy and eaten by her eldest son, Perospero. He at least escaped that predicament — into being rallied by Bege into helping him in his Big Mom assassination plan. After he fulfills his end of the deal, Bege returns Caesar his heart and he parts ways with his captors without any further hassle.]] Very much played straight in Germa's cover story. [[spoiler:After everything that Caesar did, he ends up even better than where he started, as he and Vinsmoke Judge rebuild their friendship and become co-captains of NEO MADS.]]

** The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} species seem to have Karma escapism as one of their superpowers. One of the flaws of the series is that no matter what they do, no matter how much destruction, chaos, havoc, pain, death, suffering, anguish, fear, etc they cause or plan to cause, usually to humanity, they will not only be EasilyForgiven, they will never even be considered ''[[BenevolentMonsters really]]'' evil. This becomes particularly egregious for cases of mass arson, mass murder and the occasional OmnicidalManiac.

* In ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'', Wallace [[spoiler:seduces Todd to get back at Envy, then tells him to his face that they're just an on-set fling and that Todd's genuine infatuation with him isn't reciprocated]]. This is one of the major factors leading to the film crashing and burning, and while this is able to be salvaged thanks to Matthew Patel and Sex Bob-Omb's interest in a musical version of the screenplay, Wallace still walks away with enough money to visit Paris in the epilogue.

* [[{{Yandere}} Hatori]] from ''Manga/SekaiichiHatsukoi'' comes off as one. While most semes in yaoi anime tend to get away with raping their uke and said uke falling for them, this series is known for avoiding the Rape is Love trope to make it more realistic. However, what has made people remember Hatori is in the novel he ''brutally'' rapes his best friend Chiaki after thinking that he lost said best friend to his rival Yanase. What makes it stand out though is during the rape scene, Chiaki is shown to be screaming and begging him to stop and not enjoying it at all unlike other yaoi rape scenes. Hatori tries to atone by quitting his job but Chiaki, being an [[TooDumbtoLive idiot]], begs him to stay and they hook up...thus starting their rather [[TheMasochismTango unbalanced relationship]] in the series.
** It gets worse as the series progresses. By episode 16, it's like Hatori is trying to see how much he can get away with his {{yandere}} tendencies. In the episode he gets to cancel his date with Chiaki and expect him to be fine about it, goes to meet his ex girlfriend (he was meeting her due to work but Chiaki thought he was cheating on him behind his back, and it's later revealed by Yanase that he went out with a lot of girls during his high school year and that it's not impossible to think that), and finally barges into Yanase's house proceeding to beat the crap out of him and then forcing himself into Chiaki's house. And what does he get? He gets yelled at by Chiaki for simply skipping out on the date and he gets Chiaki to calm down easily. The last concerning Yanase is the cause of a huge backlash given that Yanase was just rejected by Chiaki a second time and entered a HeroicBSOD and Hatori proceeding to beat him up counts as a huge KickThemWhileTheyAreDown moment that leaves a bitter taste in the viewer's mouth.

* ''Anime/{{Windaria}}'' Lagado and Selenia. Both of them apparently get away with their evil deeds.

** Similarly, [[ObliviouslyEvil Yukari]] always gets away with [[SadistTeacher abusing her students]] (especially Chiyo, [[WouldHurtAChild a 10-to 13-year old girl]]). And nothing is ever said as to whether she got in trouble for hitting Tomo with cafeteria plates. To be fair, though, Tomo hit Yukari first while aiming for Yomi, but teachers are never supposed to retaliate.

** Similarly, [[ObliviouslyEvil Yukari]] always gets away with [[SadistTeacher abusing her students]] (especially Chiyo, [[WouldHurtAChild a 10-to 13-year old girl). And nothing is ever said as to whether she got in trouble for hitting Tomo with cafeteria plates. To be fair, though, Tomo hit Yukari first while aiming for Yomi, but teachers are never supposed to retaliate.

** Similarly, Yukari always gets away with bullying Chiyo, a 10-to 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL. And nothing is ever said as to whether she got in trouble for hitting Tomo with cafeteria plates. To be fair, though, Tomo hit Yukari first while aiming for Yomi, but teachers are never supposed to retaliate.

* An uncountable '''many''' characters in most {{hentai}}. Rare is the sex scene consensual throughout for both parties.

** Nina Purpleton in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'' is partially responsible for the success of the colony drop, stabs Kou in the back (after lots of tedious relationship development setting them up as a couple that culminated shortly before this) by running back to her old boyfriend (who happens to be Gato, one of the major villains) and then ''pointing a gun at him'' to ''protect'' the villain, and this on top of being a bitch to Kou for most of the series. And not only does she get off scott-free in the end, she has the audacity to ''smile'' at Kou in the epilogue!

** The [=CP-9=] commit incredibly heinous acts, in particular tormenting Nico Robin mentally and physically, and at the end of the Water 7 arc they appear to get their just deserts with the Straw Hats beating the ever living shit out of them and the assassins stripped of their positions. However, it's later revealed that not only were they never fired but the key perpetrators, Spandam and Rob Lucci, along with Kaku, were actually promoted and appear to be better off now than before they ever crossed the Strawhats' path.
** While most villains in One Piece don't suffer permanent consequences for their actions, by far the most blatant example is Caesar Clown. He's inarguably one of the most heinous villains in the entire manga, having done everything from performing torturous experiments on children to trying to kill off his own henchmen for cheap thrills to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking embezzling money]]. While he does face a couple arcs of being a KarmicButtMonkey, he ultimately ends up ''better'' than where he started, reuniting with his former associate (and fellow child abuser) Vinsmoke Judge and becoming co-captains of a successful scientist pirate crew with him.

*** Then again, Beerus' very petty and random destruction is shown to run contrary to his role and only further damages the balance he's allegedly supposed to uphold. Consequently, not only is his universe considered one of the worst in terms of quality and the 2nd least competently handled, but he's also looked down upon by the other Gods of Destruction and was almost erased along with his entire universe (and unlike Shin, who was Main/IncompletelyTrained due to the death of all the other Universe 7 Supreme Kais when he was younger, Beerus has no excuse for his incompetence as a god other than his own personality).

*** Wapol, in the meantime, had his KarmaHoudiniWarranty expire because the plot had ''big'' plans for him: [[spoiler:He witnesses Nefertari Cobra being assassinated by GodEmperor Imu, a man so impossibly high up the World Government's ladder even knowing he ''exists'' is punishable by death. The man has to actively throw everything he's got, noble titles and factories included, because he will be executed on sight from that point forwards and he ''knows'' it]].

** While most villains in One Piece don't suffer permanent consequences for their actions, by far the most blatant example is Caesar Clown. He's inarguably one of the most heinous villains in the entire manga, having done everything from performing torturous experiments on children to trying to kill off his own henchmen for cheap thrills to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking embezzling money]]. While he does face a couple arcs of being a KarmicButtMonkey, he ultimately ends up ''better'' than where he started, reuniting with his former associate (And fellow child abuser) Vinsmoke Judge and becoming co-captains of a successful scientist pirate crew with him.

* Despite ostensibly being one of the "good guys" throughout 2/3 of the series ''Anime/MyOtome'', [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Nina Wang]], who is the poster child for LoveMakesYouEvil and fits into about several dozen other tropes, pulls a selfish, spoiled, bratty FaceHeelTurn. She willingly and freely betrays everything she's ever stood for, tosses her morals and decency aside, murders her best friend, attempts to murder several of her other good friends, aids TheEmpire in conquering the world, and almost single-handedly completes 90% of a plan to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Her excuse? She's a little cranky that her father (yes, they're not related by blood, but he's still her FATHER) [[ParentalIncest refuses to see her as a woman and fell in love with her friend instead of her]]. She continues down this path even after her father, the only thing she cares about, DIES (he later lived, but she didn't know...) trying to stop it. Her outcome at the end of the series? Happily ever after, never answering for anything she caused or even having to face anyone or anything from her old life to remind or accuse her, taking advantage of her father's amnesia to make him fall in love with her for real this time. On the other hand, she becomes TheAtoner in ''Anime/MyOtomeZwei'', working with Nao to investigate the ruins and helping Arika defeat the new BigBad Yuna.

** Alain gets off completely scot-free for his involvement with [[ApocalypseCult Team Flare]], who tried to ''destroy the entire world.'' The closest punishment he gets is forking over his Mega Bracelet and Charizardite X to the authorities, and even then, he returns in ''[[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Journeys]]'' with those very same items during the Masters 8.

* ''Manga/{{Shiki}}'' has Sunako, being the mastermind of all the murders and kidnappings in the Sotoba village which resulted to all of her people being massacred by the vengeful villagers. While she felt remorseful for her actions and does accept her fate to be staked, Seishin saved her and helped her escape in the end.

** The original Elan Ceres from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'' conspired with [[EvilInc Peil Technologies]]. They had {{Disposable Vagrant}}s who impersonated him and destroyed their own bodies piloting Gundams for his benefit, only to be [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killed once they stopped being able to pilot]]. At the end of the show, he backstabs them and only the [=CEOs=] he betrayed suffer any consequences.