History ManipulativeBastard / AnimeAndManga

* ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' has both Henri Claytor and Kyoshiro Nagumo (who can be considered to be Durandal's {{Expy}}), in ''ZERO'' and ''SAGA'' respectively. Henri in particular, in which episode 5 of ''ZERO'' shows him playing mind games with Shinjyo, Gudelhian and Heinel to make ''them'' believe that Hayato is crashing other racers to get ahead.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Lelouch Lamperouge isn't as bad as you might think in this department, considering his [[MindControl Geass]], which [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only works once per victim]], but he still has his moments. The greatest example of this comes in the second season: [[spoiler: Rolo, Lelouch's fake little brother, was actually a teenage assassin charged with the task of keeping an eye on Lelouch in case he regained his old memories. When Lelouch found out, he continued treating Rolo kindly and orchestrated a situation where Lelouch could pretend to risk his life to save Rolo, winning his trust and bringing him over to his side. After Lelouch's real sister died, he admitted to Rolo that he was just using him, actually hated him, and had tried to kill him on several occasions. Nevertheless, without being asked or influenced by Lelouch's Geass, Rolo sacrificed himself to protect Lelouch.]] and There's also his evil, evil abuse of Suzaku in Episode 18 of Season 1. He'd found out from [[spoiler:Mao that Suzaku's father hadn't killed himself, ''Suzaku'' had killed him and been carrying the guilt about it around for years.]] So when he, as Zero, has Suzaku trapped and wants to convince him to switch sides, he makes a NotSoDifferentRemark predicated on the fact that [[spoiler:the Prime Minister's death was murder, not suicide -- ''but he delivers it as if he expects this to be news to Suzaku''.]] He doesn't reveal that he knew about it until Suzaku has melted into a little puddle of guilt and self-loathing. Lelouch, you are a terrible person.

* Light from ''Manga/DeathNote''. He managed to manipulate a shinigami into [[spoiler: killing L at the cost of her own life]] for chrissakes. Plus [[spoiler: getting Naomi Misora's real name out of her simply by smiling, listening to her theories and then lying through his teeth.]] Not to mention [[spoiler:he manipulated the task force into believing his innocence and ''accepting him as their leader'' for years.]] Light really is ''the'' expert on taking people's emotional investments, patterns of thought and trust in him and twisting it all to his advantage.

* In ''Manhua/GoddessCreationSystem'', Xiaxi slowly master the skills of manipulation.
** First, she adopts the persona of a dedicated, extremely humble and supporting servant to appeal to Mingluan, then makes her get concerned about him by knowingly putting herself in a position where she'd be abused. There's a temporary setback when his sister Yixin finds out what Xiaxi has been doing and reveals it to her brother, but she eventually plays it off as having been blackmailed into it. Despite this not really making a great deal of sense and being really easy to check, he eats it up and falls in love with her as planned.
** Next, she goes to his brother, who is a trickier person. Knowing that the same kind of devoted appeal won't work on him, she instead puts up a mask of utter ''rejection'', taking on a cultured but lonely woman complete with [[CaptivityHarmonica playing a flute quietly by herself]] in a place where he's sure to stumble across her. She rouses his concern by conspiring with one of his concubines to be attacked and when his growing obsession reaches a peak she 'accidentally' reveals that she totally fell in love with him along the way, soothing his raging ego and completing the capture of his heart.
** After leaving the brothers' household, she ends up with the crown prince and takes on a new name and a completely different attitude, portraying herself as a sage in training complete with (fake) magic powers and unearthly wisdom, such as middle school level math. To make sure he gets interested, she adopts an air of complete stoicism to make him want to get an emotional rise out of her. Before long he's completely hooked on every word she says and she even has the tacit approval of his family because of the good influence she's been on him.

* Doe-Doe from the manhwa ''Manhwa/PigBride'' is a very subtle seductress: She's a violent, foul-mouthed, girl-gangleader-bully of the whole school disguised as a sweet and innocent girl trying to win the heart (and money and political power) of the main character. So far it's worked, although the main's friend really dislikes her but can't put his finger on why other than the fact that she doesn't know her target's heart at all ("He must love living in such a luxurious house!" "Actually he hates this house and couldn't care less about luxury").

* ''Manhwa/WitchHunter'' [[BigBad North]] is the mastermind who was pulling the strings on many people for her own benefit (most of the time bad, few times good), but the standout example is probably [[TheProtagonist Tasha Godspell]]. [[spoiler: (Hint: [[MacGuffinSuperPerson Reincarnation]])]].

* [[Characters/BerserkGriffithFemto Griffith]] from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' really likes to emotionally manipulate people for his own ends. From holding Foss's daughter hostage to foil an assassination plot, to pretending to be in love with Princess Charlotte so that he can marry her, to giving Casca the strength she needs to defend herself and thus gaining a powerful fighter, to giving thousands and thousands of people, including the CrystalDragonJesus equivalent of the Pope, visions of a saviour defeating darkness so that half the world effectively rallies behind him, Griffith does qualify for this trope to say the least. The [[DemonLordsandArchDevils God Hand]] as a whole to a lesser extent, as they offer people demonic powers and make them give up their loved ones at their lowest point. The goal of the Godhand is just [[CrapsackWorld making Midland an even shittier place to live in]], though. He may not have been too bad initially, creating personal connections with his subordinates and obviously feeling [[HeterosexualLifePartners something]] [[ImpliedLoveInterest or other]] for Guts and Casca. That said, his seducing Charlotte, kidnapping Foss's daughter and ''everything'' post-[[MoralEventHorizon Eclipse]] put him squarely in this trope. Among others.

* ''Manga/{{Lady}}'': [[spoiler: Jeanne Montgomery is a manipulative child abuser who doesn't care about her daughter. She explicitly ordered Sophie to debase Lynn in front of the Russells and reacted with anger when she said she didn't want to. She used the fear Sophie had of being sent back to France to keep her in place, and gave her further instructions on how to trick Isabelle]].

* ''Manga/{{Lady}}'': Mary Waverly.
** In one episode, Madeleine hires a tutor for Mary and Thomas. Mary doesn't want to study, so they play pranks on the tutor and blame it on Lynn, who Madeleine punishes. When the tutor finds proof that Lynn is innocent and it was actually Mary and Thomas, she tells Madeleine. However, Madeleine refuses to believe her and asserts Lynn did it, firing her afterwards and letting Mary and Thomas go scott-free.
** [[spoiler: Mary and Vivian host a party and invite all their mutual acquaintances. Mary blackmails Arthur by saying that if he doesn't come as her date, she'll reveal to Lynn that [[AwfulTruth George's deal to secure funding for the mansion has failed]]. Arthur is crestfallen but accepts, and Mary takes pride in knowing that Lynn will be hurt to see her with her friend. Edward declines the invitation but when Phillip tells him Arthur is arriving as Mary's date, he's furious (knowing that Mary has been a mean bully to Lynn ever since she started living at the Marble Mansion) and punches his brother in front of everyone.]]
** [[spoiler: Mary knows that Vivian likes Edward. She tells her she should compete against Lynn in a horse race to impress him. Then, Mary tells Lynn that George is unable to buy the Marble house and if she wins the race against Vivian, she can receive monetary compensation from insurance. In actuality it's all an elaborate scheme to get rid of both the girls in the race towards the Lady's Crest - she secretly cut the reins of Vivian's horse, while making it look like Lynn did it. Mary then insists Edward and the Principal arrive at the scene; upon seeing Edward Vivian is distracted and falls off her horse. Lynn is blamed for sabotaging her]].