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4[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/GirlsLoveStories https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rco021_1700197785.jpg]]]]
5
6->''"Looking for love, in all the wrong places\
7Looking for love, in too many faces..."''
8-->-- '''Johnny Lee''', "Lookin' for Love"
9
10The character indulges in an endless series of one-night stands and impulsive sexual encounters. Consciously or unconsciously they use such promiscuous behavior as a substitute for a lack of parental love and affection (either actual or perceived).
11
12Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places differs from TheCasanova in that the Casanova is a predator indulging his desires and sating himself with his conquests while Looking For Love is desperately searching for someone who respects and cares for them. This does not mean that Looking For Love is necessarily clingy or "wimpy"; they can appear to be as aggressive and self-centered as TheCasanova, and the two can easily overlap.
13
14A variation on this trope is the unlucky variation of SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan; the character ([[AlwaysFemale nearly always a woman]]) who is permanently on the lookout for Mr. (or, more rarely, Ms.) Right. Whilst she might settle for Mr. Right Now if things are particularly bleak on that front, she'll go into every relationship convinced that "this is The One!" — however, unfortunately for her, every relationship she engages in will result in {{hilarity ensu|es}}ing as every single man she dates either turns out to be a RomanticFalseLead, [[MinorFlawMajorBreakup has some small imperfection]] or otherwise turns out to be a complete jerk, thus leaving her right back where she started. It's often a complete waste of time anyway, since a bit of close self-examination would probably reveal — [[ObliviousToLove much to her shock]] — that she's in love with TheHero anyway.
15
16See also CasanovaWannabe — the two character types complement each other. Compare LadykillerInLove.
17
18[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces or ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry2LookingForLoveInSeveralWrongPlaces''. Though if the character likes to have public sex, it may overlap.
19
20----
21!!Examples:
22
23[[foldercontrol]]
24
25[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26* Nana "Hachiko" Komatsu from ''Manga/{{Nana}}'' epitomizes this trope: she has the worst possible taste in men, falls in love at the drop of a hat, and throws away the one good relationship she gets into (with Nobu) to stay with SmugSnake Takumi,[[spoiler: who is also the father of her baby.]]
27* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', [[HandsomeLech Prince Kail]] has had ''many'' relationships with women, however, none have been long-lasting. He has vowed to only take one legal wife, and since he's all but assured to be the next king, he wants to make sure that wife has the [[NiceGuy goodness]], [[TheSmartGuy intelligence]], and [[PluckyGirl inner strength]] to handle holding the second-most powerful position in the kingdom. [[spoiler:At one point, Princess Guzel tells Yuri that Kail never actually fell asleep with any of the women he slept with, herself included, implicitly because he wasn't able to let down his guard enough]]; therefore, the fact that [[spoiler: Kail is willing to sleep with Yuri in ''both'' senses (as in, have sex with her and stay the night) is a HUGE sign that [[LadykillerInLove she has the qualities he's been looking for]].]]
28* BoisterousBruiser Hanamichi Sakuragi from ''Manga/SlamDunk'' has fallen for 50 girls in his three years of junior high, and ''all'' of them have rejected him. Similarly, his friend and the team's FragileSpeedster Ryouta Miyagi has been hopelessly in love with his best friend, the {{Tsundere}} Ayako, but she's not receptive to his open affections. Curiously, the time they met Miyagi attempted to beat the shit out of Sakuragi after mistaking him for Ayako's date.
29* David Kruegel (a.k.a. Tekkaman Sommer) of ''Anime/TekkamanBlade II'' is hopelessly in love with his boss, Aki Kisaragi, who has been devoted to Tekkaman Blade since day one of the original series. He disguises/denies this by surrounding himself with the Space Knights' {{Wrench Wench}}es and BridgeBunnies, then taking all his evenings to the nearby bar and having frequent one-night stands. Then he [[HoYay meets]] Dead End, who is [[UnsettlingGenderReveal really, really feminine]].
30* The princess of {{Tengu}}, Kurama from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''. Every potential mate is a failure. Ataru is a pervert, Mendo turned out to be too pathetic and cowardly, Ryuunosuke wasn't really a man like she thought and Rei seemed like the one until she saw he was really an idiotic tiger-cow.
31* ''Manga/TheWallflower'': Main character Sunako's aunt. Most every time one of her relationships is the main plot, it won't end up working out. She managed to find and marry a good man, her 'darling', in her backstory, but unfortunately, he passed away. It's noted she was lucky to find him, given she has no judgment when it comes to men.
32* Team Rocket's Meowth in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' has been through several infatuations over the years, and they've ended in just about every way imaginable. He learned to walk and talk to impress a girl Meowth, who was already in love with a Persian. He's also been hot for several Skittys, and a Glameow. His desire for a romantic companion has even led to him being tricked a few times; once by a Purrloin [[UnsettlingGenderReveal who was pretending to be a girl]], and once by a Zorua who turned into a girl Meowth to distract him and help thwart Team Rocket's latest scheme.
33* Yuka Kunimoto of ''Manga/RandomWalk'' has changed boyfriends three times over three volumes (five if you count her middle school exploits), and aside from the first one (whom she's now [[AmicableExes good friends]] with) and the final one (whom she's still together with), they all left her for a different girl.
34* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Carol being TheOldestProfession was partially motivated by this. She had a deep dark secret that could destroy her life if it came out, and so she would find strong hunters, get them addicted to her, and make them struggle to pay her, before asking for information as ProBonoBarter. Everyone she slept with gave up their information eventually, proving they’re not someone that could be TheConfidant to her. But Akira ends up serving as that without sleeping with her, which makes Carol consider quitting prostitution.
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:Comic Books]]
38* ''ComicBook/UltimateVision'': Of all the women Sam could have fallen in love with, did he have to do it with a female alien robot?
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Films — Animation]]
42* ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'': While the Miyazaki adaptation doesn't play up Howl's TheCasanova tendencies quite as much as in the book, it's more heavily implied that [[spoiler:his inability to take things like romance seriously is because he removed his heart as a child, and it was thus never able to grow and mature]].
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
46%%* Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character in ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer''.
47* After being dumped by his girlfriend of seven years, Peter from ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall'' has a series of meaningless one-night stands in an effort to get over his ex.
48%%* Diane Keaton's character in ''Film/LookingForMrGoodbar'', which is BasedOnATrueStory.
49* In ''Film/SinTakesAHoliday'', Stanton doesn't want to be held down by any woman, and [[MakesSenseInContext even gets married to escape]] a crazy girl.
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Literature]]
53* In ''Literature/ApparatusInfernum'', Mikani has a long list of ex-girlfriends, none of whom lasted very long and almost all of whom are now on bad terms with him. His developing relationship with Ritsuko is a break from the pattern and is considerably more solid even though it hasn't actually gone nearly as far.
54* ''Literature/AuroraCycle'': Scarlett Jones has at ''least'' 48 ex-boyfriends. Each one mentioned is also mentioned with a pro and a con, the latter being indicated as the reason why she dumped that particular ex.
55* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'': For most of his youth, Jondalar is searching for a woman to be his mate and several characters remark it's strange he still hasn't settled down yet at his age; Jondalar does want to get married but despite having [[ReallyGetsAround many short-term lovers]] and [[ChickMagnet being desired by plenty of women]] [[BoldlyComing everywhere he goes]], he still can't fall in love with any of them, much to his frustration. He seriously considers just throwing in the towel and mating Serenio despite not being in love with her; he does care for and respect her, they have a good sex life, he's close to her son and she has many attributes he admires. However, Serenio points out that neither of them would be truly happy and encourages him to keep looking. Part of him fears that the spirits have denied him romantic love because of his [[StarcrossedLovers past transgression]] [[TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest with Zolena]]. He even briefly wonders if he should be considering ''men'' instead, despite feeling no attraction to the same sex. He finally finds true love with Ayla, though as he notes he had to travel across an entire continent and nearly die to meet her.
56* Johnny Truant in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves''. He idolizes one woman--a ''stripper'', to boot--but never works up the nerve to talk to her.
57* Howl of Diana Wynne Jones' ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'', who thinks he's in love but loses interest as soon as the girl begins to reciprocate. It's implied that he cannot genuinely love anyone due to [[spoiler:having given up his heart in a DealWithTheDevil]]. Despite this, he remains a sympathetic character. [[spoiler:And gets better.]]
58* Jimmy of ''Literature/OryxAndCrake'' clearly thinks of himself like this. As we find out in the companion novel ''Literature/TheYearOfTheFlood'', his lovers see him as more TheCasanova.
59* Diana Gabaldon's ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'': Lord John. [[TheWoobie The author just won't leave this man alone.]]
60** Lord John gets his own series, and ''still'' he doesn't find a lasting relationship.
61* Seth Hammerstaal, the male protagonist of ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt, is a reconstructed example. He's believed to be a [[TheCasanova casanova]], but really, he's looking for "the right one". And after he meets Beatrice, the story's female protagonist, he starts losing his interest in any other woman.
62* Ophira Eisenberg's memoir ''Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy'' recounts her efforts to, in her words, "build her own perfect Frankenmate" from her experiences "traveling from futon to futon and gathering data" until she met [[TrueLoveIsExceptional a man who wanted marriage and monogamy]].
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66* Arguably Angela Montenegro from ''Series/{{Bones}}'', at least according to Sweets' interpretation.
67* Deb in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has this syndrome, seasoned lightly with FatalAttractor and the CartwrightCurse.
68* Martin Tupper of ''Series/DreamOn'', who went through woman after woman in an effort to replace his true love, his ex-wife, Lilith.
69* ''Series/TheFollowing'':
70** Series BigBad Joe Carrol falls under this in the first season when he honestly thinks he can convince his perfectly sane and normal wife Claire Matthews to reconcile their marriage after he is exposed as a SerialKiller, starts a murderous cult, plants cultist Emma Hill (herself an example as she ''also'' is attracted to Joe) as a babysitter for their son Joey, has Emma ''kidnap'' Joey, and goes so far as to have another cultist murder women with Claire's ''name'' to get to her. Needless to say, he's delusional, and by the end, they are trying to kill each other.
71** Season 2 has a particularly twisted example. According to her adopted son Luke, Lily Gray - a wealthy psychopath who fostered a large number of children she raised to be killers- spent years looking for a soul mate amongst the homicidal maniacs of the world, one being a SerialKiller who abducted prostitutes and [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted them for sport]], the most recent being Joe Carroll himself, whom she saw as an "artist" and lured out of hiding (via orchestrating a killing spree in his honour) in order to be his lover and patron. Since Joe is a ControlFreak, [[EvilIsNotAToy he did not take this well]], and the two end up ''despising'' each other.
72* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler and Monica. Chandler tries humiliating hookups that never fulfill him or committing to women who cheat on him. Monica dates her [[MayDecemberRomance parents' best friend]], a millionaire, and several jerks. They finally realize the love of their life is living across the hall and end up HappilyMarried. Jeez, it wasn't like they had to look far.
73* Jay from ''Series/HermansHead'' eventually admits that his CasanovaWannabe behavior is really motivated by a need to find someone who loves him.
74* Ted from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. Especially for the viewer, who already knows where he'll find his true love. Robin herself points this out to Ted. He chased her when he knew she was the wrong woman for Ted (didn't want kids, apprehensive of marriage, etc) and continued to harbor feelings for her even after their amicable breakup. He pursued Stella who was still in love with the father of her child. He went after Zoey who was married at the time and actively trying to destroy his career. His poor judgment gets called on several times by other characters.
75%%** Also [[TheCasanova Barney]].
76* Used in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' with a woman who quite literally had a sex addiction. However, this was not due to lack of affection but due to indirect sexual abuse by her father. It is presented as tragic rather than sexy or humorous.
77* With ''Series/TheLWord'''s Shane, it seems to be a toss-up between this and a benign lesbian TheCasanova, considering her 1000+ sexual conquests, propensity for one night stands, almost supernatural talent at seduction (e.g. while working at a wedding, managing to have sex with the mother and both sisters of the bride), compulsive cheating, and a trail of broken hearts. The thing is, though, she's portrayed as an extremely caring person who gets laid so easily in part because of her empathy and has genuinely fallen in love a few times, only to inevitably sabotage those relationships with her impulsiveness and pathological commitment issues. Her [[DisappearedDad long-lost deadbeat dad]] gives her behavior a FreudianExcuse as well as a hint of InTheBlood when she finally meets him and learns that he's a huge womanizer too.
78* Dan Fielding from ''Series/NightCourt'', whose TheCasanova reputation was revealed to be a desperate desire not to die alone.
79* Mark Corrigan from ''Series/PeepShow'', whose never-ending search for "the one" drives a lot of the show's events.
80* Charlotte in ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' is all about this. While not really desperate, she has a string of bad boyfriends (and one husband), all because she's obsessed with settling down with [[GoldDigger a rich]], handsome, tall man. She also has a weak spot for artists (she's an art dealer). [[spoiler: She settles for her bald and plump, but more or less {{nice|guy}} and ''really'' [[SexGod good in bed]] divorce lawyer.]]
81* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Harry Kim has so far fallen for a Borg, a dead crewmember, two holograms, three vampire girls, a rebellious girl from a xenophobic species, and was once the crewmate of a race saboteur.
82* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E03LookingForParMachInAllTheWrongPlaces Looking for Par'Mach in All The Wrong Places]]" references this. Ironically, this is the episode in which OfficialCouple Dax and Worf get together. It also has a very strange LoveDodecahedron in it, with Worf lusting after the Klingon chick but eventually helping Quark woo her and Dax helping Worf help Quark and calling him out on not looking for someone more attainable (her). Not to mention Kira and O'Brian feeling intimate whilst he was caring for her (Don't ask).
83%%* The early seasons of ''Series/TheWestWing'' portray Donna as something like this.
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:Music]]
87* The {{trope name|rs}} comes from the classic early '80s country hit "Lookin' for Love" by Johnny Lee.
88-->''I was lookin' for love\
89 In all the wrong places\
90 Lookin' for love in too many faces\
91 Searchin' their eyes, lookin' for traces\
92 Of what I'm dreamin' of\
93 Hopin' to find a friend and a lover\
94 I'll bless the day I discover\
95 Another heart lookin' for love''
96* The Survivor song "The Search Is Over" is about this trope. In the end, the guy realizes that the perfect girl for him has been there [[ChildhoodFriendRomance all along]].
97* "Save the Best for Last", performed by Music/VanessaWilliams, tells a similar story from the viewpoint of the one who's always been there for the searcher.
98-->How could you give your love to someone else\
99And share your dreams with me?\
100Sometimes the very thing we're looking for\
101Is the one thing we can't see.
102* Music/{{POD}}'s "Youth of the Nation" mentions a twelve-year-old girl named Suzie who falls into the wrong crowd:
103-->She finds love in all the wrong places\
104The same situations, just different faces
105* Music/BobSeger's "The Fire Inside":
106-->Now the hour is late and he thinks you're asleep\
107You listen to him dress and you listen to him leave\
108Like you knew he would\
109You hear his car pull away in the street\
110Then you move to the door and you lock it when\
111He's gone for good\
112Then you walk to the window and stare at the moon\
113Riding high and lonesome through a starlit sky\
114And it comes to you how it all slips away\
115Youth and beauty are gone one day\
116No matter what you dream or feel or say\
117It ends in dust and disarray...
118* Mentioned by name in the Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence song "I Hate Jimmy Page" but not actually a theme of the song.
119* The Suzaku Avenue song "I Think I Know what This is About" features the line:
120-->Cos I'm looking for love in all the wrong places\
121And leaving my love on all the wrong faces\
122Hunting and fucking and coming by rote\
123And I'm looking for the answers at the bottom of your throat
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:Roleplay]]
127* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'': Rosa Fiametta. She managed to wise up a bit, but that just made future searches for Mr/Miss Right even worse.
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:Video Games]]
131* The entire ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' series is like this, with the second game even being subtitled "Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)". In the first game, Larry is just out to lose his virginity, but once he does so he finds it hollow and realizes that what he really wants is love. As a result, each game in the series tends to have Larry pursuing every woman in sight in the hopes of finding Miss Right, only discovering her at the very end of the game...[[StatusQuoIsGod and then she dumps him at the start of the very next game]]. While Larry did find his perfect match in Passionate Patti, she [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared from the series]] with little explanation after ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry5PassionatePattiDoesALittleUndercoverWork''.
132* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'': Gannayev is revealed to be pretty much this, once you get to know him. To start with, he's a hagspawn (even if an abnormally handsome one at that), a race that basically consists of the offspring of evil hags seducing human men and later eating them, so no good rep there. He also grew up with the impression that his hag mother deliberately abandoned him in the wilds as a baby. Facing hatred and prejudice from human communities, Gann has a go strolling through the land seducing young farmgirl virgins (sometimes ''in their dreams'', no less). It takes meeting the player character, who acts in an understanding way, and meeting his mother and learning that she had in fact ''loved'' both him ''and his father'' and had been forced to abandon him to make Gann finally open himself to genuine love.
133* Zelos Wilder of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' does this, although it's also part of a general ObfuscatingStupidity persona.
134* This happens to Muffy in the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' games. All of her boyfriends break her heart. For example, one of them was married and cheating on his wife with her (Muffy didn't know). She's always saying how men won't date her because she is [[OldMaid "too old"]].
135[[/folder]]
136
137[[folder:Visual Novels]]
138* Betty Meyer in ''VisualNovel/LastWindow'' can be a bit of a flirt and asserts she can wrap men around her finger. She eventually [[spoiler:starts going out with [[TheRival Rex]]]], leading Kyle to confront her and her to eventually admit [[spoiler:she knows she's being used but is so lonely she doesn't care.]]
139[[/folder]]
140
141[[folder:Webcomics]]
142* Tybalt of ''Webcomic/BoyMeetsBoy'' has elements of this: He sleeps around even though he's waiting for The One, but as he explains, it's so he won't get lonely while he waits.
143* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Marquise Spinneret Mindfang would often take hostages from the ships she plundered. At night, she would solicit the hostages when it was too dark to tell their [[AlienBlood blood color]], hoping to find a matesprit among them.
144** She eventually resorted to looking into the future to find her destined matesprit. She soon regretted it (and stopped looking into the future) since [[spoiler:her destined partner was also the troll who was destined to ''kill'' her.]]
145** Then there's Eridan. After being rejected by Feferi, he turns to another potential love interest. And then another. And then, with increasing desperation, another...and then another...and then ''another''...
146* Nanase was like this in the backstory of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. She dated a large number of guys, never staying with any of them for more than a couple of weeks, and hoping that she would find one who was right for her. However, she never really felt anything for any of them. At the start of the comic, she's dating Elliot, the only guy she stayed with for any length of time. However, even though she likes him as a person, she isn't attracted to him. It isn't until Elliot's OppositeSexClone Ellen shows up that she [[ClosetKey realizes she's gay]] and finally has a successful relationship.
147** Later on, ''[[http://egscomics.com/comic/tlod-016 The Legend Of Diane]]'' clarified that this was how the titular character's serial dating got started, before eventually going from "maybe ''this'' one will be ''the'' one" to "we're all just kids hanging out and having fun" and finally [[MotiveDecay to "boys are for buying me stuff"]].
148[[/folder]]

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