History TheBadGuyWins / AnimeAndManga

** ''Manga/PhantomBlood'' ends with Dio Brando succeeding in his plan to [[HeroKiller kill]] [[TheHeroDies Jonathan]] and steal his body, though Jonathan's [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]] results in Dio getting trapped at the bottom of the ocean until the events of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders''.
** At the end of ''Manga/StoneOcean'', Enrico Pucci (and by extension, [[GreaterScopeVillain DIO]]) succeeds in his plan to fast-forward time with his new [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[TimeMaster Made in Heaven]]. He then slaughters every single hero bar one, including [[TheHeroDies Jolyne Cujoh]], Anasui, Ermes, and the protagonist of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' and Jolyne's father, Jotaro, and then resets the universe. However, Emporio manages to survive and kills Pucci before the reset can be complete, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory resulting in a the creation of a new universe where the dead heroes have been reincarnated and Pucci never existed]].
** A [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example in ''Manga/SteelBallRun''. While Funny Valentine's goal of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans using the Holy Corpse to turn America into a utopia is never realized, the Corpse still ends up in the hands of the American Government, meaning no other country will be able to use it against them]].

** Despite Tobi a.k.a. Obito Uchiha not fully possessing the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails from Naruto and B respectively, he and Madara ''[[ForWantOfANail still]]'' resurrect the [[EldritchAbomination Ten-Tails]] using the portions of the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails chakra; thus technically, Obito had won the Fourth Shinobi World War despite the protagonist's best efforts.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon''. If only the Sailor Guardians had arrived just a little bit earlier at the end of Episode 24, Nephrite might have been alive and could have completed his HeelFaceTurn.

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': In the extended ending, BigBad Hao actually manages to win the Shaman Fight and become the titular PhysicalGod, but it comes at a cost: the heroes convince him to not destroy humanity in order to establish a shaman-only world, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory ultimately rendering a thousand years of careful planning utterly]] ''[[MeaninglessVillainVictory useless]]''.

* Emperor Dornkirk/[[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Isaac Newton]] gets everything he sets out to get in ''Manga/TheVisionOfEscaflowne''. It takes him awhile but he does eventually activate the Atlantean machine that creates the Zone of Absolute Fortune where everyone's wishes are granted. It turns out badly and threatens to destroy Gaea just as it did Atlantis forcing Van to destroy it, but [[{{Foreshadowing}} who didn't see that coming]].

** In a twist on the usual Z movie format, the 2013 ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'' movie introduces a shiny new power-up for Goku...that ''still'' isn't enough to beat the villain. He's too spent to blow up Earth like he planned, so call that a win.

* ''Manga/MagilumiereCoLtd'': The first part of the series ends with the Deregulation Faction managing to perform a FalseFlagOperation on Magilumiere, causing the company to go under while they get free reign to push for magic deregulation laws and all members scatter to the winds.

** Despite Tobi a.k.a. Obito Uchiha not fully possessing the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails from Naruto and Bee respectively, he and Madara ''[[ForWantOfANail still]]'' resurrect the [[EldritchAbomination Ten-Tails]] using the portions of the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails chakra; thus technically, Obito had won the Fourth Shinobi World War despite the protagonist's best efforts.

* The one true constant in ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', since ''[[EvilVersusEvil everybody]]'' [[EvilVersusEvil is a villain]], and in Rock's case, [[StartOfDarkness becomes one]] (he still wants to help people, but technically he becomes a villain since he joins and cooperates with villains).
** That said, the show's ''antagonists'' seldom win. Although the crew is villainous, they usually do the job they're hired to do without fail. The closest thing the show has gotten to this trope is the Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise arc, in which Rock fails at saving Yukio, Ginji stops trying to be a better person and is subsequently killed by Revy, while Balalaika sweeps the board and dismantles the Washimine Clan and successfully backstabs her erstwhile allies, while disillusioning Rock on top of it. Unusual in that the 'BigBad' was still technically TheHero's ''employer''...

* The ending of the first season of ''Anime/CodeGeass'', the finale ends with a Britannian victory, though [[PyrrhicVictory a Pyrrhic one]], and the deaths of several Black Knights, including main members, and the incarceration of the survivors, and with the main hero, as revealed in the OddlyNamedSequel, captured, having his memories erased.

** The Cell Arc of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' - no, really. Even though Dr. Gero can only watch his triumph from Hell, he is the only villain in the entire ''Dragon Ball'' franchise to have got exactly what he wanted: the death of Son Goku at the hands of his creations.
*** Not to mention that Cell came from a timeline different than that of the present or Trunks' and in that timeline, he successfully eradicated the Saiyan race. Sure, he was eventually killed in the main one, but that timeline is doomed and will probably be destroyed by either Majin Buu or Zamasu. He only traveled back because he wanted to be Perfect, so he technically already won.

** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' adds another one: Zamasu and Goku Black, fused into Merged Zamasu, are technically defeated in the classic usage of the word, but then he becomes law itself and kills everyone in the BadFuture timeline save Future Trunks and Mai, Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, and the Supreme Kais. Even though [[DeusExMachina Goku calls upon Future Zen'O who obliterates Zamasu (albeit at the cost of the entire timeline itself)]], Zamasu got what he wanted: the extinction of all mortals. It's only thanks to Whis' LoopholeAbuse that Zamasu's genocide only extended to one timeline.

* The Tower of Paradise arc of ''Manga/FairyTail''. The true objective of Ultear was completely accomplished: the dissolution of the Magic Council, which also gave the Dark Guild Grimoire Heart the chance to acquire one of the keys to [[SealedEvilInACan Zeref's seal]]. [[DramaticIrony And only the readers know about any of this.]]

* The Marineford arc of ''Manga/OnePiece''. Blackbeard kills Whitebeard and steals his powers, Luffy has sustained a massive amount of damage and sacrificed part of his lifespan in vain, and several villains from previous arcs have now been freed from prison (by Luffy himself, no less).
** The earlier Skypiea arc is a partial example, as Eneru's master plan is to a) build a giant golden airship and fly to the moon and b) annihilate Skypiea on his way out. While Luffy gives him a vicious beating and saves Skypiea, Eneru is still able to flee on his airship to the moon anyhow. Seeing as Eneru was the Straw Hats' toughest opponent up to that point (to the point that the only way they could even lay a finger on him was for Luffy to [[ContrivedCoincidence just so happen to have the right Devil Fruit power for the job]]), and Skypiea being an isolated [[FloatingContinent Sky Island]], no one had any way to restrain him after he was beaten, so this was probably for the best.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' ends with the eponymous character finally making a contract with Kyubey, which he made his goal from the start. Madoka gets rid of the witch system, but Kyubey still gets what he always wanted, now at slower rate, but with no risk of accidentally creating a universe-destroying monster.

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', the original series concludes with [[BigBadEnsemble Eto and Souta]] completely victorious. Anteiku has been destroyed, many prominent Investigators have either been [[CareerEndingInjury maimed]] or killed, Kaneki has been defeated and possibly even killed by Arima, and [[BigGood Yoshimura]] has been captured by Eto and [[AntiHumanAlliance Aogiri]] [[TheSyndicate Tree]] so they can use him to create new {{Half Human Hybrid}}s. The survivors of Anteiku and CCG are all left emotionally broken, realizing that no one really won in the end, while [[WildCard Souta]] and [[MonsterClown The Clowns]] celebrate having the "last laugh".

** Following the Yotsuba arc, anyway. [[HeroAntagonist L]] is killed along with Watari, having been successfully tricked into thinking of the Kira as someone other than [[VillainProtagonist Yagami Light]]. Light, now with all the nuisances out of the way, begins to rule the entire world with his iron fist - until the introduction of Mello and Near, the latter of who later successfully brings about the downfall of the evil Kira after a TimeSkip in the final arc.

** Following the Yotsuba arc, anyway. [[HeroAntagonist L]] is killed along with Watari, having been successfully tricked into thinking of the Kira as someone other than [[VillainProtagonist Yagami Light]]. Yagami Light, now with all the nuisance out of the way, begins to rule the entire world with his iron fist - until the introduction of Mello and Near, the latter of who later successfully brings about the downfall of the evil Kira after a TimeSkip in the final arc.

** Near shares this trope to an extent, for sabotaging Light & stealing the Death Note.

* The first season of ''LightNovel/AsuraCryin'': although the heroes successfully foiled Kagakagari's evil schemes, the BigBad took a VillainExitStageLeft, and [[KarmaHoudini got away scot-free]] while leaving our heroes bereft of their most valuable asset.

* ''Manga/{{Devilman}}''. It ends with [[HellOnEarth Hell coming to earth]], humanity being annihilated, and the hero, his love interest, and her little brother all dying. However, even Satan doesn't get what he wants, as Akira is dead and God ends up destroying the world, killing him and all his devils.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/FateZero'', which ends with Gilgamesh and Kotomine riding off into the sunset after causing immense destruction to the city of Fuyuki... but that's because they ''have'' to survive, in order to menace the heroes in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''.

** By definition, this is going to be true of Code Geass' spin-off, Akito the Exiled. As Akito is part of the EU forces, which are canonically defeated and conquered by Britannia both offscreen, and quite early, in Code Geass R2. Not to mention the appearance of Suzaku.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'': Nearly everyone loses at the end of the series except for one -- Haman Karn, leader of [[TheRemnant Axis/Neo-Zeon]]. With the [[TheFederation Earth Federation]] crippled, the [[StateSec Titans]] wiped out and the [[LaResistance AEUG]] weakened, she's emerged as the strongest player in the Earth Sphere, and is now poised to begin her own invasion of the planet.

** An episode in the Hoenn arc had this with a Team Magma agent named Brodie, who is notorious for his many disguises. He disguises himself as a researcher at the Weather Institute named Millie (think Millibar) to steal data on Groudon, and succeeds. And his Ditto is formidable.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 The 2003 version]] of Envy has succeeded in killing Edward in the penultimate episode. He also gets to kill Hohenheim in the movie moments before dying. This makes Envy the only villain to succeed in his endeavors combined with "KarmaHoudini".

** Despite Tobi aka Obito Uchiha not fully possessing the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails from Naruto and Bee respectively, he and Madara ''[[ForWantOfANail still]]'' resurrect the [[EldritchAbomination Ten-Tails]] using the portions of the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails chakra, thus technically, Obito had won the Fourth Shinobi World War despite the protagonist's best efforts.

** The NEO organization ends up on top in the Cooking Festival -- they left both the IGO and the Gourmet Corp in shambles, finished their spaceship and found a substitute for Komatsu, the one target that they don't get in the end. Basically everybody, except the good guys stood strong the Cooking Festival arc.

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': in the extended ending, BigBad Hao actually manages to win the Shaman Fight and become the titular PhysicalGod, but it comes at a cost: he loses his will to destroy humanity in order to establish a shaman-only world, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory ultimately rendering a thousand years of careful planning utterly]] ''[[MeaninglessVillainVictory useless]]''.

* Technically, every arc in ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' since the limited arc ends this way, with each of them having [[BigBad Pythie Frederica]] being one step closer of her ultimate goal of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans reforming the Land of Magic]]:
** In limited itself: Pythie Frederica escaped prison, brainwashed [[{{Deuteragonist}} Ripple]] turning her into her slave, indirectly destroyed B-City, and with Pukinˈs sword on her hand, now she can brainwash anyone on her way.
** In JOKERS: Pythie Frederica formed an alliance with [[WellIntentionedExtremist Pfle]] and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Grim Heart]] (one of the 3 leaders of the Land of Magic) died.]
** In ACES: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Ripple]] killed [[LivingMacGuffin Premium Sachiko]] and Pythie Frederica formed an alliance with [[TheFaceless The First Lapis Lazuline]]. Downplayed on this case, since she lost Ripple, but it was her decision that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she didn't need her anymore]].
** In QUEENS: Puk Puck (the most important out of the 3 leaders of the Land of Magic) died, Pythie Frederica herself sent [[BenevolentAI Fal]] (the one that kept [[AntiHero Snow White]] sane) to the space, but most importantly, she turned into the only one [[OverlyLongName Ratsumukanahonomenokami]] (the last of the 3 leaders of the Land of Magic) trusts, leaving her closer than ever to her goal.
** Pythie gets her biggest victory in White, where she actually becomes the Caspar sage.

** In ACES: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Ripple killed [[LivingMacGuffin Premium Sachiko]] and Pythie Frederica formed an alliance with [[TheFaceless The First Lapis Lazuline]]. Downplayed on this case, since she lost Ripple, but it was her decision that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she didn't need her anymore]]]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 The 2003 version]] of Envy has succeeded in killing Edward for the time in the penultimate episode. He also gets to kill Hohenheim in the movie moments before dying. This makes Envy the only villain to succeed in his endeavors combined with "KarmaHoudini".

** And despite Naruto and Sasuke being powered up by gaining Six Paths Chakra by the Sage of Six Paths himself, Madara, upon resurrection, still becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and finally retrieves his left Rinnegan, awakens the Rinne-Sharingan and promptly casts the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The entire world except for Team 7 is trapped in it. Until Madara is betrayed by Black Zetsu using Madara's body as a vessel for Kaguya Otsutsuki's return.

** The earlier Skypiea arc is a partial example, as Eneru's master plan is to a) build a giant golden airship and fly to the moon and b) annihilate Skypiea on his way out. While Luffy gives him a vicious beating and saves Skypiea, Eneru is still able to flee on his airship to the moon anyhow. Seeing as Eneru was the Straw Hats' toughest opponent up to that point (to the point that the only way they could even lay a finger on him was for Luffy to [[ContrivedCoincidence just so happen to have the right Devil Fruit power for the job]]) and, Skypiea being an isolated [[FloatingContinent Sky Island]], no one had any way to restrain him after he was beaten, this was probably for the best.

* Even though he gives up on his plan of creating a shaman-only world, Hao becomes the ''Manga/ShamanKing'' at the end.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'': Nearly everyone loses at the end of the series except for one -- Haman Karn, leader of [[TheRemnant Axis/Neo-Zeon]]. With the [[TheFederation Earth Federation]] crippled, the [[StateSec Titans]] wiped out and the [[LaResistance AEUG]] weakened, she's emerged as the strongest player in the Earth Sphere, and is now poised to begin her own invasion of the planet.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', Rustal Elion, the main antagonist of season two, ends Tekkadan as an organization, wipes out [=McGillis=]' Revolutionary Fleet and succeeds in reforming Gjallarhorn into a democratic organization and further enhancing his personal reputation [[KarmaHoudini without facing any form of justice for his atrocities]]. Although Gjallarhorn is heavily reformed by the end of the series, there is little doubt that throughout the series they are the villains, and were fighting to remain the authority in the world. Tekkadan was simply trying to find a place to belong in the world, which put them in direct opposition to Gjallarhorn by necessity rather than any actual enmity at first. It's made clear that there are still elements of resentment on both sides by the series' end though, particularly in light of the look of anger and distrust that Eugene sends Julietta's way. This makes sense when you remember Julietta, a devoted, borderline fanatical follower of Rustal Elion, is the one who murdered Mikazuki on the battlefield. Julietta doesn't miss it, or its implications, either.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'': Technically speaking, Treize Khrushenada got everything he wanted: the destruction of several organizations, control of Earth's entire forces, and to die in combat. But then again, he's a WellIntentionedExtremist who ''wanted'' to have a war so destructive that humanity will be more receptive to eternal peace afterward.

** At the end of ''Manga/StoneOcean'', Enrico Pucci (and by extension, [[GreaterScopeVillain DIO) succeeds in his plan to fast-forward time with his new [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[TimeMaster Made in Heaven]]. He then slaughters every single hero bar one, including [[TheHeroDies Jolyne Cujoh]], Anasui, Ermes, and the protagonist of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' and Jolyne's father, Jotaro, and then resets the universe. However, Emporio manages to survive and kills Pucci before the reset can be complete, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory resulting in a the creation of a new universe where the dead heroes have been reincarnated and Pucci never existed]]]].

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', while Zeke and Eren are in the dimension of the Paths, they learn that the Attack Titan can see the past ''and future'' actions of its holders. This leads to Zeke hearing from his father's memory that [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Eren]] needs to be stopped because his dream will come true, as Eren used his presence in the paths to manipulate and ''force his father'' into killing most of the Reiss family, so that he will gain the Founding Titan's power and eventually give it to a younger Eren, creating a StableTimeLoop. Eren's plan succeeds, having gained the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan, as he wanted, and manages to obtain the ''true'' power of the Founding Titan, leading to him starting the Rumbling. In the end, [[spoiler:although the other Titan Shifters defeat Eren, it is only because Eren allowed them to do so. Even then they couldn't prevent Eren from massacring 80% global population of the human race. By letting himself get killed, Eren successfully erases the Power of the Titans.]] Ironically, one of the few things that ''didn't'' go to plan [[spoiler:that being Eren's desperate desire to avert YouCantFightFate and find another way]] might have actually made things ''better'' for everyone.

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Alucard comes back, meaning that the Major's goal of being the man who killed [[spoiler:Dracula]] was a failure.

** At the end of ''Manga/StoneOcean'', [[spoiler:Enrico Pucci (and by extension, [[GreaterScopeVillain DIO]]) succeeds in his plan to fast-forward time with his new [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[TimeMaster Made in Heaven]]. He then slaughters every single hero bar one, including [[TheHeroDies Jolyne Cujoh]], Anasui, Ermes, and the protagonist of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' and Jolyne's father, Jotaro, and then resets the universe. However, Emporio manages to survive and kills Pucci before the reset can be complete, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory resulting in a the creation of a new universe where the dead heroes have been reincarnated and Pucci never existed]]]].
** A [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example in ''Manga/SteelBallRun''. [[spoiler:While Funny Valentine's goal of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans using the Holy Corpse to turn America into a utopia]] is never realized, the Corpse still ends up in the hands of the American Government, meaning no other country will be able to use it against them]].
* Technically, every arc in ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' since the limited arc ends this way, with each of them having [[BigBad Pythie Frederica]] being one step closer of her ultimate goal of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans reforming the Land of Magic]]:

** In JOKERS: Pythie Frederica formed an “alliance” with [[WellIntentionedExtremist Pfle]] and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Grim Heart]] (one of the 3 leaders of the Land of Magic) died.]
** In ACES: [[spoiler:[[BrainwashedAndCrazy Ripple]] killed [[LivingMacGuffin Premium Sachiko]] and Pythie Frederica formed an alliance with [[TheFaceless The First Lapis Lazuline]]. Downplayed on this case, since she lost Ripple, but it was her decision that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she didn’t need her anymore]]]].

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'': Technically speaking, Treize Khrushenada got everything he wanted: the destruction of several organizations, control of Earth's entire forces, and [[spoiler: to die in combat.]] But then again, he's a WellIntentionedExtremist who ''wanted'' to have a war so destructive that humanity will be more receptive to eternal peace afterward.

** Despite Tobi aka [[spoiler:Obito Uchiha]] not fully possessing the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails from Naruto and Bee respectively, he and Madara ''[[ForWantOfANail still]]'' resurrect the [[EldritchAbomination Ten-Tails]] using the portions of the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails chakra, thus technically, [[spoiler:Obito]] had won the Fourth Shinobi World War despite the protagonist's best efforts.
** [[spoiler:And despite Naruto and Sasuke being powered up by gaining Six Paths Chakra by the Sage of Six Paths himself, Madara, upon resurrection, still becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and finally retrieves his left Rinnegan, awakens the Rinne-Sharingan and promply casts the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The entire world except for Team 7 is trapped in it. Until Madara is betrayed by Black Zetsu using Madara’s body as a vessel for Kaguya Otsutsuki’s return.]]

** While they still fail to steal Pikachu, early on in ''Sun & Moon'' Team Rocket actually managed to [[TeamRocketWins defeat Ash in a Double Battle]] with their Mimikyu and Mareanie. The only thing that stops them from making off with his barely-conscious Pikachu while he had no usable Pokémon is the [[DeusExMachina Bewear they befriended dragging them back to its cave]].

* The Alma Karma arc in ''Manga/DGrayMan''. Everything went exactly as the Earl planned. Allen was stabbed by Kanda's innocence which caused the fourteenth to awaken. The death of Alma Karma ruins the third exorcist program. The third exorcists were either killed by their former allies or taken by the earl to be used as {{mooks}}.

** In the ''short'' term, Demon King Piccolo from ''Manga/DragonBall'' succeeded in everything he wanted. He got the dragon balls to give him eternal youth and killed the dragon so no one could ever use the dragon balls against him. He also killed a number of the strongest fighters in the world, and seized control of the entire world. Too bad his reign was short-lived because of Goku.

* In ''FullMetalAlchemist'', the 2003 version of Envy has succeeded in killing Edward for the time in the penultimate episode. He also gets to kill Hohenheim in the movie moments before dying. This makes Envy the only villain to succeed in his endeavors combined with "KarmaHoudini".

* In ''Anime/2003FullMetalAlchemist'', Envy has succeeded in killing Edward for the time in the penultimate episode. He also gets to kill Hohenheim in the movie moments before dying. This makes Envy the only villain to succeed in his endeavors combined with "KarmaHoudini".

** At the end of ''Manga/StoneOcean'', [[spoiler:Enrico Pucci (and by extension, [[GreaterScopeVillain DIO]]) succeeds in his plan to fast-forward time with his new [[FightingSpirit Stand]], [[TimeMaster Made in Heaven]]. He then [[KillEmAll slaughters every single hero bar one]], including [[TheHeroDies Jolyne Cujoh]], Anasui, Ermes, and the protagonist of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' and Jolyne's father, Jotaro, and then resets the universe. However, Emporio manages to survive and kills Pucci before the reset can be complete, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory resulting in a the creation of a new universe where the dead heroes have been reincarnated and Pucci never existed]]]].