Examples of Adaptational Nice Guy in anime and manga.
- The Ace Attorney (2016) anime changes the character of Ini Miney, Turner Grey's murderer. In the original game, she was quite happy to kill Turner to keep her secret, that she's actually Mimi. In the anime, however, the plan is actually Morgan Fey's idea. When Ini refuses, Morgan blackmails her into helping.
- Aggretsuko: In the original shorts, Haida, the hyena, is a playboy who coasts on his looks to make women around the office do his work for him. In the Netflix series, Haida is a kind-hearted guy who is close friends with the protagonist and never hits on anyone, having a devoted love for Retsuko.
- In the anime adaptation of Another, while Akazawa does blame Misaki for causing the "calamity," which resulted in the deaths of their teacher and several of their classmates, because she didn't do her role as the "non-existent student" (someone no one can speak with or even acknowledge) well enough, Akazawa also takes responsibility for what happened. In the original novel and manga, she not only scapegoats Misaki but also takes Sakakibara to task.
- Ascendance of a Bookworm: In the early parts, Myne was pretty contemptuous of her family because they lived a lifestyle fitting for commoners. She was also quite the leech, tending to get in the way of their work and showing no gratitude for how much they did for her. However, she gradually comes to understand her position and tries to be better. In the anime, they downplay her entitled behavior and almost completely eliminate her distaste for the poor hygiene, which makes her look less stuck up.
- In the anime adaptation of Asteroid in Love, Misa's personality as Mira's supportive Cool Big Sis mostly stays intact, but with one change. Misa doesn't flick Mira in the forehead for falling asleep during the speech that Mira, as Student Council President, gives to Mira's incoming first-year class at their high school.
- Gen from Barefoot Gen, in the manga he was more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, he was very short-tempered and violent and often picked fights with adults, but he did care a lot about his family and people who were suffering from the effects of the atomic bomb, the anime has him being much nicer and he only gets violent once when he's repeatedly mistreated by the painter he was taking care of who was badly burned.
- Chainsaw Man: Makima's Heel–Face Reincarnation Nayuta is a Whole-Plot Reference to Tatsuki Fujimoto's earlier work Nayuta of the Prophecy. While they're both Creepy Children, Chainsaw Man's Nayuta is far more personable than her namesake, having friends and pets she cares for while the original Nayuta was potentially a budding psychopath with an instinctive urge to mutilate livestock.
- The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, being a Lighter and Softer Spin-Off to its parent series, softens up a lot of the characters. Kyon goes from a cynical Deadpan Snarker with Selective Obliviousness to an all-around Nice Guy (except around Haruhi) who is genuinely Oblivious to Love. Haruhi herself is still a jerk, but her more crueler moments are dialed back considerably, being presented as more of a teasing Jerk with a Heart of Gold. And title character Yuki, while not openly hostile, was a stoic Emotionless Girl with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality, while here she's a introverted but approachable bookworm who is capable of showing emotions. The most notable example, however, would have to be Ryoko Asakura, who goes from a psychopathic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and the Trope Codifier of Uncanny Valley Girl to a kind-hearted Cool Big Sis to Yuki with a few Beware The Nice One moments, usually directed at Kyon.
- In Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, the titular character is far more personable than she was in the original webcomic. In the manga and anime, she's a Loving Bully who genuinely cares for Naoto, whereas in the comic she's a sadistic Fetishized Abuser (emotionally and physically) who gets off on driving him to tears.
- Doraemon:
- For the movies in general, Takeshi “Gian” Gouda, the Fat Bastard bully of the series who steals people’s stuff, intimidates other kids into doing what he wants, and goes around looking for other kids to beat up, often gets this treatment, with his Boisterous Bruiser traits being played up more so he comes across as merely a lovable jock who, as the biggest and strongest member of the main cast, always looks out for his friends and has their back when the going gets rough. Granted, with each reboot and run of the series he has gotten less mean in general, but even then “Movie Gian” is memetic for how much of an utter bro he is in contrast to his usual self in the series, and in the original manga specials these movies are based on this was already the case.
- Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur does this to The Dragon, Black Mask; while a villain in all versions, his 2006 version has a few Pet the Dog moments, like giving Nobita and friends food and supplies after seeing them as a Worthy Opponent.
- Doraemon: Nobita and the Galaxy Super-express have the Terrible Trio from the future, Ashton, Don and Jane, who makes fun of Doraemon and gang for being "cavemen" after realizing they're from a century in the past, and behaving like dicks to the gang for most of their screentime before the trio gets a Break the Haughty moment (via Ashton getting posessed by the Yadori parasites, and Don and Jane nearly getting killed). The anime added a scene after the final battle where the trio apologizes to the gang for being jerks, unlike the manga.
- Although Jeanne from Doraemon: Nobita and the Robot Kingdom has a Heel–Face Turn in both versions, but her anime counterpart's happens almost immediately after she's saved by Doraemon and gang and realize her old friend, Poko, still cares for her. In the manga Jeanne continues berating Poko for "being a robot" and it takes Shizuka giving Jeanne a well-deserved Bitch Slap for her to snap out.
- Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves turns Gusuke's bully Tsubakuro into a Reformed Bully after the climax.
- Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey: While he is by no means a full-blown Jerkass, in the manga, Hachi acts more hostile to Nobita and the gang and even scolds Duc for nearly revealing their secret by pulling his tail, and only acknowledges Nobita as his friend after the drill incident. In the movie adaptation, he befriends Nobita after the chase scene, and even going as far as to wish him luck in his quest to find Ichi right in that moment. He does retain his distrust of the gang at first regarding their secret in the movie though— however, the scene of him pulling Duc’s tail was cut from the movie.
- Doraemon: Nobita's Chronicles of the Moon Exploration is an Adaptation Expansion of the manga story, "Doctrine Association Badges", both shorts containing a prototype kaiju brought to life by Doraemon's life clay and going on a rampage. In the original manga the monster was in one scene before it leaves, but the anime gives it an Ascended Extra role where the monster gets tamed and become one of the good guys.
- Dragon Ball:
- Jiren's heroic traits are much more clearly shown in the manga version of Super, where he is first introduced stopping a criminal riot and saves the other Pride Troopers from a monster they were struggling on, even postponing a talk with his leader until all the citizens are safe. He is also unwilling to join the Tournament of Power since that would mean the erasure of 7 other universes and only relents when Belmod offers him a wish from the Super Dragon Balls, but even then, he is fully willing to withdraw if there is any trouble that happens in the universe. This is in contrast to how is represented in the anime, where all we know of him is that he is an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who does not hesitate to show them just how superior he is to everyone, doesn't seem to care for his comrades when they are defeated, insulting his leader for his less-than-stellar performance and even tries to murder all of Goku's friends and family just to spite him.
- In the manga and the original Japanese version of the Dragon Ball Z anime, Vegeta is a bloodthirsty, amoral villain who slowly develops into a Nominal Hero, and then an Anti-Hero. In some English dubs of the anime, while he's still definitely a bad guy at first, he's also more pragmatic and less sadistic, to the point where he even makes a We Can Rule Together offer to Goku. The dub of the Namek arc also gives him a Freudian Excuse (that he was raised by Freeza to be evil with no choice in the matter), which he didn't have in the original. From that point on in the dubbed version, he's more of a straight Anti-Hero.
- Goku himself. The English dub tends to play up his heroic side while somewhat downplaying his less noble aspects that are present in the Japanese version. A prominent example is after the fight with Vegeta during the Saiyan Saga, when Goku convinces Krillin to spare Vegeta's life; in most versions of the English dub, Goku invokes If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him! while also wanting to give Vegeta the same chance for a Heel–Face Turn that Piccolo got, whereas in the original Japanese, Goku does so only because he found the fight with Vegeta exciting and wanted to fight him again even at the risk of the Earth's safety, which he openly admits is a selfish desire.
- According to Toriyama
this holds true even for the original Japanese anime. He was dissatisfied by the "righteous hero"-type portrayal the anime gave him. In the manga, Goku is supposed to be depicted as someone who doesn't fight for others, but fights for himself to get stronger. He wanted to depict someone who isn't a classic hero and can even be seen as not being a good person because of his selfish desire (a little bit of poison that sneaks through his character as Toriyama puts it). However, even going purely off the manga, this depiction of Goku is lost in translation since most of Goku's motives still nonetheless pertain to protecting or avenging his family and friends, and he does help people he barely knows when it didn't completely relate to fighting, like storming Muscle Tower to repay Suno for saving him from freezing to death, and avenging Upa's father who was murdered by Tao before taking down the Red Ribbon Army and getting the Dragon Balls to revive him. He wanted to fight the Saiyans not because they were powerful, but because they were going to murder everyone he knew. He didn't want to help fight Buu, despite having the power to do so, because he didn't want his friends to depend on him to save them, which if he was completely selfish he wouldn't care and fight Buu for the sake of having a good battle. It could be said that Toriyama's original intentions for Goku ended up evolving into something slightly different as Character Development took over. - Chi-Chi actually gets this too in the anime. In the manga, while she of course still loves her husband and sons, Toriyama put more focus on her worst traits such as her Hair-Trigger Temper towards Goku, with even Master Roshi joking that Goku is refusing to come back to earth because he's scared of his wife. In the anime, it's made very clear Chi-Chi does adore Goku as seen when he recovers from the heart virus and she runs into his arms crying with joy before he spins her around. This scene does not exist in the manga. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Super inverts this bringing Chi-Chi back to full angry housewife mode who's more willing to painfully armlock her husband, but also ignores the Character Development she had in the Buu Saga like how she was the one who trained Goten in martial arts.
- Downplayed with Bardock in Dragon Ball Minus and Dragon Ball Super: Broly, in his debut TV special. He is still a bloodthirsty Villain Protagonist who is dedicated to massacring populations but shows a genuine concern for his son that was not demonstrated in the original subbed version of the special.
- Broly himself undergoes this in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. In the non-serial movies that came before, Broly was a sadistic Blood Knight who proudly likens himself to a demon and is utterly obsessed with killing Goku. In the Super movie, however, Broly is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds who lived in isolation and readily makes friends with the people that find him. By the movie's end, not only does he survive, but he also becomes a friendly rival for Goku.
- Elfen Lied: While still a murderous Villain Protagonist, Lucy is considerably less sadistic and Ax-Crazy in the anime than in the manga, where she was prone to Evil Laughs and Slasher Smiles while literally tearing people to shreds.
- Aquarius in Fairy Tail was a virtually through-and-through Jerkass who belittled, threatened, and sometimes even attacked Lucy whenever the two appeared together, with just a few Pet the Dog moments to show that she wasn't totally heartless. The anime adaptation sprinkled in a few more kind gestures towards Lucy and toned down her harsh attitude, particularly in the Filler arc leading up to her Heroic Sacrifice in the manga's next major arc, which helped make the scene more poignant.
- Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA:
- Illya is a total far cry from the Creepy Child Anti-Hero that she was in Fate/stay night. This version of Illya is a Born Lucky Magical Girl. Her attraction to Shiro also devolves from a creepy obsession to Big Brother Worship. Justified in that in this Alternate Timeline, so she doesn't go through the same events as the one in FS/N along with the fact the darker side of her personality was sealed away and eventually manifested in her clone Chloe.
- Likewise, Kirei is just a ramen (read: mapo tofu) shop owner and he apparently satisfies his sadist urges by serving hellishly spicy mapo tofu. It turns out he's from Miyu's universe, not Illya's universe (where his counterpart implicitly died in the Fourth Holy Grail War, so he had about the same level of Character Development into a villain-to-be up to Fate Zero), and he's been helping Shirou protect Miyu from the Ainsworth.
- The titular character of King of Bandit Jing is a lot more noble and gentlemanly in the Anime than in the Manga.
- Lady!!: In the manga, Sarah was even meaner to Lynn and declared that she hated crybabies when Lynn cried into her arms after hearing about her mother's death. In the anime, this is changed to Sarah instantly comforting Lynn. She even stands up to Thomas and Mary's bullying and helps prove Lynn's innocence when she's accused of harming Edward.
- Little Witch Academia (2017): In the films, Diana is a fairly jerkish Academic Alpha Bitch who is prejudiced against Akko for not being from a magical family, never misses a chance to berate her for lack of skill when it comes to magic, and refuses to help her when there's nothing for her to gain. In the TV series, Diana is helpful to the other students and a very hard worker when it comes to learning magic, while her criticisms of Akko comes from a genuine but condescending desire that she be a better student.
- Shioriko in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a straight-up Nice Girl and significantly more mellow and tolerant than she was in Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (where she's rather aggressive and antagonistic). In both versions, she is a disciplinarian and believes that pursuing something that she isn't suited for will only lead to hearbreak and regret, but in the game, she applies this philosophy to everyone, and is a major antagonist for multiple chapters in her attempts to interfere with Nijigasaki's clubs and the Idol club particularly. She is also pretty ruthless in her ultimately successful campaign to become Student Council President over Setsuna, whereas in the anime she is highly supportive of Setsuna and says she has no problem with her being the president on top of being an idol because she's doing really well at both already. The ultimate result is that game Shioriko is a Spock-like Defrosting Ice Queen, whereas anime Shioriko merely seems shy and lacking in self-esteem.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Rebellion: Much like the video games, Bernard Monsha toned down from his original perverted asshole characterization from Stardust Memory. His sexual harassment of the crewmembers is dropped, and his attempt to crash Kou's fighter for petty reasons is done by Allen instead. He doesn't like Kou but doesn't hone in on him nearly as much as in the OVA and late in the series he saves Kou's life by finding a blood donor when he's injured.
- Neptunia:
- In the Megami Tsuushin manga, which was made after the release of the first game, Blanc is depicted as being withdrawn and quiet all the time, lacking her game counterpart's Hair-Trigger Temper until later in the manga (and even then, her outburst are treated as being rare and shocking rather than frequent), and is very approachable to everyone else. This characterization of hers would eventually be adopted in the later games starting with Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, as she was previously depicted as being grumpy and antisocial.
- Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation:
- Plutia is a lot nicer here than in her debut game, as while she had her moments of kindness there, those were largely overshadowed by her controlling, self-centered, and borderline jerkish behavior, where she would intimidate and bully her friends by threatening to transform if she doesn't get what she wants in spite of being aware of how much her sadism disturbs them. In the anime, she's a Kindhearted Simpleton who acts like a supporting ally to the other CPUs and shows a lot more self-control over her Iris Heart form that she didn't have in her introduction game. Iris Heart herself is also shown to have several moments of genuine compassion that she didn't have in the games, such as hugging a broken Neptune about what happened to Peashy and even telling her that she genuinely likes hernote .
- Neptune is nowhere near as rude and selfish as she was in Victory, and is much closer to how she was in mk2. She treats Nepgear far better here, whereas in Victory she was an Aloof Big Sister who didn't hesitate to leave her own sister in another dimension for a whole decade while she and her friend slack off in the former's home dimension. This characterization would be carried over to the games proper, Re;Birth1 and VII in particular, where she gets a good dose of Character Rerailment.
- Even the Ultra versions of Noire, Blanc and Vert get this in the first OVA. While they still bicker with each other as shown in the elevator scene, its not as mean-spirited as in Victory, and they do get along with Plutia, the Hyper versions of Neptune and Vert, and each other quite well, acting much more like their Hyper Dimension counterparts.
- One Piece:
- Several characters such as Zoro, Nami, Sanji or Law occasionally have their rude and jerkass behaviour from the manga downplayed in the anime and their nicer attributes played up. Law for example, due to censorship, doesn't flip off Eustass Kid upon meeting him in Sabaody. A better example would be Sanji, who in the manga doesn't readily show compassion to his male crewmates, and even at the start of Wano arc, when the Sunny is being sucked in a whirlpool, Sanji says he only cares about carrying Nami and Carrot to safety, much to the despair of Chopper and Brook. In the anime version, Sanji makes it clear to a sobbing Chopper (who's clinging to his leg) he was just joking and he of course wouldn't abandon him.
- More disturbingly, a throwaway line in the manga version of the Saobaody arc has Sanji grinning about beautiful slave-girls for sale. In the anime, he immediately expresses disgust at the slave auction (something that, depending on how far one views Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil, may well tip the scale into outright Adaptational Heroism). The anime version also better lines up with Sanji's past, where he himself was chained and imprisoned by his father.
- Rob Lucci gets this in One Piece Stampede. In the manga, Lucci is such a brutal Knight Templar and Psycho for Hire that he is willing to kill innocent civilians in the name of "justice", mauls Luffy as a Leopard and by his post-Time Skip appearance stands guard with a Psychotic Smirk as a Celestial Dragon attempts to make Shirahoshi a Sex Slave. In Stampede, however, Lucci willingly helps the heroes as an Aloof Ally against Douglas Bullet and even saves Buggy's life.
- Several characters such as Zoro, Nami, Sanji or Law occasionally have their rude and jerkass behaviour from the manga downplayed in the anime and their nicer attributes played up. Law for example, due to censorship, doesn't flip off Eustass Kid upon meeting him in Sabaody. A better example would be Sanji, who in the manga doesn't readily show compassion to his male crewmates, and even at the start of Wano arc, when the Sunny is being sucked in a whirlpool, Sanji says he only cares about carrying Nami and Carrot to safety, much to the despair of Chopper and Brook. In the anime version, Sanji makes it clear to a sobbing Chopper (who's clinging to his leg) he was just joking and he of course wouldn't abandon him.
- In One-Punch Man, after following the webcomic mostly in the same structure and tone for years, the manga slowly started to show a tonal shift in how the characters, heroes and antagonists alike, are portrayed; by the later parts of the Monster Association arc and beyond the manga went further with adding original content, or slightly diverging, from the source material, not only that but characters with pronounced flaws, such as many heroes in the S-Class, or an antagonist such as Garou, had several positive traits added to them, shying away from their apparent flaws present in the webcomic. One specific plot point was completely altered between the webcomic and manga to settle that tonal shift, Garou's disdain for heroics originally used the entire S-Class as an example for what he truly hated about the status quo, but since the manga mixes their flaws with much more apparent qualities, Garou's motive rant does not use the S-Class as a backdrop at all, instead the type of heroes Garou despises is portrayed by random lower class heroes who antagonize him after his defeat. Characters who were already good people in the webcomic become even nicer in the manga as well, Saitama for one is friendlier than his original counterpart, his proximity toward Genos much later in the series is a shining difference between versions.
- Persona 5: The Animation:
- Ryuji is already a good person, but unlike in the game, he doesn't threaten Ren out of fear of being ratted out to Kamoshida. Before going to Kamoshida's Palace for the third time, he doesn't yell at Ann to stay out, even if his intention was to make sure she didn't put herself in danger. Also, when Morgana left as a result of his insecurities, Ryuji is the most concerned and tries to genuinely apologize for calling him useless, whereas in the game, he was forced to do it, and the backhanded nature of his apology ended up protracting the conflict.
- Sojiro is a lot less harsh with Ren in his first appearance and reprimands him far less harshly after his first day at school. He also doesn't need to be convinced to let Ren keep Morgana like he did in the game, despite the fact that as the owner of a café, he has a legitimate reason to not want a pet. Later, when he finds Futaba's calling card, he waits until they've both calmed down from the initial shock before discussing it with her and Ren in a very polite, civil manner, unlike the game where his Anger Born of Worry causes Futaba to break down in tears. That said, he does apparently drive her into a days-long Heroic BSoD by harshly confronting her about the calling card.
- During the food buffet scene in Episode 5, Ann does not briefly lash out at Ren and Ryuji like in the game, since she's more hurt than angry as over the incident. Instead, the three reasonably talk things out concerning the adults' mistreatment of them. Ann is not as resentful towards Makoto as in the game, and more readily admits that she couldn't do anything for Shiho, either.
- Yusuke doesn't blackmail the Phantom Thieves with trespassing charges in order to get Ann to pose nude for him. When Ann shows up to pose nude, Yusuke apologizes for losing his temper and telling them to Get Out! during their previous meeting.
- Eiko in Makoto's Confidant. In the game, she gets angry with Makoto after Makoto tries to convince her to break up with Tsukasa, mistakenly believing that Makoto wants to steal Tsukasa from her, and is cold toward Makoto the next time they meet. In the anime, she simply asks Makoto for money and repeats her request when Makoto finds her in Shinjuku. While in the game, Eiko's last heard from when Makoto mentions that they made up at the start of the Rank 10 event, in the anime, she proceeds to post Tsukasa's misdeeds to the Phan-Site, turning Tsukasa into a Mementos target. Afterwards, she texts an apology to Makoto and invites her to come to her house and share her Buchimaru collection.
- While Hifumi's mother is still an overbearing Stage Mom, since the confrontation with her Shadow isn't shown, she may not have actually taken extreme and illegal measures to build up her daughter's career.
- Several of the Shadows end up being downplayed examples:
- In the game, Shadow Kaneshiro's final warning about Black Mask sounds like he's taunting the Phantom Thieves; in the anime, it sounds more like a Villain's Dying Grace.
- Shadow Kunikazu in particular is a much more sympathetic character. In the game, he merely mourns his utopia with his dying words, but in the anime, he dies with tears in his eyes, lamenting that he'll never get to rekindle his relationship with Haru. Additionally, in flashbacks, Kunikazu was shown to be at least happy during his father's time as a kind cafe owner, and when the happy customers came to offer flowers for the shop's closing, he was crying Tears of Joy from the compliments of the customer before he started going down a dark path. Most of these weren't heavily implied within the game. Finally, during the encounter, thanks to Morgana's angst problem being simplified, Shadow Kunikazu doesn't resort to the Crocodile Tears and an I Surrender, Suckers strategy, so when he's apologizing, he's not faking at all. It also helps that the game omits most of the scenes with the Phantom Thieves observing the cognitive versions of Okumura's workers as robots, along with Haru confirming that she knows about the abuses of the workers happening in real life.
- While Shadow Sae still pulls her Moving the Goalposts trick at the Bridge of Judgement, and forces Ren to fight three Rangdas in the first round of the Battle Arenanote , the rest of her Palace isn't as blatantly rigged as it is in the game. Her boss battle is even fought fair and square, skipping the opening phase with the rigged roulette wheel. However, this does cause some of her speeches about how everything is rigged in her favor to ring somewhat hollow.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Generally speaking, any Pokémon species that's sinister, a jerkass, or insanely violent even by Pokémon standards in the games, can and will get those traits toned down or outright omitted in the anime. Dark-type Pokémon (which includes the likes of Tyranitar, Hydreigon, and Hoopa Unbound) get hit with this more often than not.
- Clair's anime personality is far nicer than her Jerkass game one, complimenting Ash mid-battle and not showing any of her Sore Loser moments like in the game.
- Ditto with Pike Queen Lucy, who is portrayed in the anime as an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl, but overall rather nice and friendly. This could be attributed to her being attracted to Brock, though.
- This happens with Gladion:
- In the Pokémon Sun and Moon games, Gladion is an enforcer for Team Skull who is incredibly abrasive in conversation and a perfectionist in battle due to being disowned by Lusamine as a result of not wanting to follow her example. While his counterpart in the Sun and Moon series has shades of these traits, he is also shown to have a more noble attitude towards his relationships with people; such as treating Ash in a more friendly manner and fighting off Team Rocket and the recurring Team Skull grunts.
- He also doesn't seem to have any relation to Team Skull and has a different reason for running away from home, which may imply the anime version of the character may be an even more morally-gray rival than his video game counterpart.
- Both Charizard and Pikachu get this treatment in Pokémon: I Choose You!. In the main continuity, Charmander lost his respect and loyalty towards Ash when he evolved into Charmeleon and it takes a long time for Ash to earn his respect again. In I Choose You, he keeps his friendly personality even after evolving. On Pikachu's part, he kept his original personality from before the Spearow attack, however he lost most of his other bratty or jerkish moments from the Original Series. Ash's personality in the film also doesn't resemble his personality during the Kanto arc. He lacks Ash's brattier and more immature elements that disappeared after his Character Development. Instead he's more like his Hoenn or Sinnoh character.
- This happens with Silver in Pokémon Adventures. His game counterpart from Pokémon Gold and Silver is the most Jerkass rival thus far, literally pushes you around, and is mean to his Pokemon prior to his Character Development. Silver in the manga is aloof but not as confrontational or aggressive.
- In Queen's Blade, Elina Vance is one of the most jerkassy of all the jerkass characters in the series, being a Spoiled Brat and a Psycho Lesbian for her sister Leina and treats everyone else like dirt, especially those who are of lower class. In the Queen's Blade Unlimited OVA, she is much, much nicer, and it's easy to see it. She still holds a high opinion of Leina but it's much more subdued, and she is shown treating commoners more decently.
- In the original manga version of Ranma ½, Ranma's other suitors are treated as fairly generic villain characters—if not from the start, then they rapidly devolve into it. In the anime version, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi all receive a much softer touch and are presented in a more positive light—they still do many villainous things, but there is a much greater emphasis on the sincerity of their feelings for Ranma, and they also get to show off more benevolent, even heroic, sides to themselves. Shampoo is shown doing things like being willing to put her life on the line for Ranma's sake, and helping him train to overcome Happosai even without any stake in the matter, whilst Kodachi shows a genuine kindness and desire to help Ranma that would be unthinkable for the lunatic Self-Proclaimed Love Interest of the manga.
- Naofumi Iwatani from The Rising of the Shield Hero is far less embittered and angry about everything in the manga, and more prone to acting light-hearted. The anime makes him come across as overall a better person due to not being able to truly adapt his internal thoughts and views on people like the original Light Novel did. Taking this full circle, instead of demanding for the King and Malty's execution when they were finally exposed, he has their names forcibly changed as an act of Cruel Mercy, mostly to spare the Queen from being forced to execute her husband and eldest daughter.
- Inner Moka from Rosario + Vampire was a very prideful piece of work and it took a long time for anyone to get on her good side, especially Tsukune. In the anime, she warms up to everyone much quicker and her remembering all the good Tsukune did for her Outer Self motivates her to save him from being executed by Kuyou. She since puts on more of an effort to get along with everyone and also lacks the haphephobia of her manga counterpart, making her every bit as touchy-feely as her love rivals.
- Sailor Moon:
- Professor Tomoe was a full-on Mad Scientist in the manga, happily experimenting on his daughter Hotaru and serving Pharaoh 90 without any remorse. The classic anime instead gave him a tragic backstory of his wife being killed in a lab experiment and Tomoe trying to find a cure for Hotaru's condition, this being his only reason for working with Pharaoh 90.
- Sailor Moon Crystal:
- Sailors Uranus and Neptune in Sailor Moon Crystal are nowhere near as antagonistic towards in the Inner Senshi like they were in the original anime despite remaining prideful overall. In the end of the Death Busters story arc, they outright attempt to kill Sailor Moon because they couldn't stand her idealism, forcing Sailor Moon to outsmart them before they admitted defeat. In Crystal, no such thing happens and they part ways from the Inners on peaceful terms.
- Chibi-Usa, who was bratty in the original anime, is more civil, mature, level-headed and friendly in Crystal. She had some Character Development and Took a Level in Kindness afterwards, seeing as she and Usagi get along even better here.
- Sailor Moon Eternal had Villain of the Week Hawk's Eye as a downplayed example. He's incredibly pleasant to Makoto, talks to her about her dreams. After he is defeated by her, he gracefully accepts his defeat and tells Makoto she has beautiful dreams and she should make them a reality. Compared to Fish's Eye and Tiger's Eye, who simply corrupt their targets, Makoto is actually sad that she killed him.
- Saint Seiya: Saori Kido was often a cruel Jerkass to the Bronze Saints charged with protecting her during her younger years and was not above manipulating Seiya. In the movie Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary, all of her negative traits have been removed in favor of making her into a Plucky Girl. She is seen being far nicer even at a young age, as she used her power to heal Seiya after he protects her from a feral dog.
- The School Days manga, which was based on the anime, turns Makoto from a sleazy asshole who would cheat on one girl for another to a caring person who treats every girl he meets with respect. By contrast, Sekai is turned into a Manipulative Bitch who uses Makoto's re-incorporated feelings of her for her own self-serving benefits.
- School-Live!: The anime changes The Reveal that Megu-nee has been Dead All Along and Yuki hallucinates her presence to happen much later than it did in the manga, and has Miki be a character from episode 1 instead of being rescued early on (thus adding her into certain scenes and having certain chapters become flashbacks). To avoid spoiling Megu-nee's death the anime removed all of Miki's confrontations with Yuki and Rii early on, making her a far more subdued character.
- The Secret Garden:
- In the book, Mary hit her servants and screamed insults at them, and when Martha spoke back to her, she was actually shocked. In the anime, she's still a Spoiled Brat, but doesn't harm her servants and is more mild-mannered. She's also more open to changing as a person, and has a Morality Pet in her cat Paddy.
- Dickon doesn't tease Mary by singing "Mary, mary, quite contrary..." like in the book. Then again, Mary here is also a Nice Girl, removing the need for that.
- In the book, upon meeting Mary for the first time, Martha stated that "There are a lot of blacks [in India] instead of respectable white people". The anime cut this out.
- Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. Compared to how Knuckles of the games was usually portrayed back then, he's pretty much just close friends with Sonic and Tails, and there is no hinted animosity past or present.
- In the Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee manga, Calibus Garrard is a cynical Jerkass from the get-go. He fires Largo Lloyd from his position as Bee Hive director and sends Lag to work in the Cold Letters division for daring to seek the Head Bee job. There's more to him than meets the eye, but he doesn't make the best first impression. His anime counterpart, who shows up earlier on, is still a cynical jerk, but he isn't quite as harsh with Lag, even as he pokes holes in Lag's more idealistic worldview. Subverted when it turns out that he's a Marauder who's even willing to murder Sylvette in order to achieve his goals.
- Jin Kazama gets this in Tekken: Bloodline. In the games Jin while more heroic than his father is still a Nominal Hero who actively shows distain for everyone who isn’t his mother Jun or schoolmate Xiaoyu, even in games as early Tekken 3 and 4 Jin was single minded in his need for vengeance and gave little heed for everyone else. In Bloodline Jin is genuinely a Nice Guy (something Heihachi spites him for) being extremely warm and caring to his friends Xiaoyu and Hwoarang the latter of whom he has a Friendly Rivalry with, unlike the games where it’s a bitter rivalry that eventually resulted in Hwoarang losing an eye. His turn into a demonic Anti-Hero after Heihachi’s traitorous attempt on his life is treated with real tragedy given how good Jin was before, whereas in the games it was mainly seen as inevitable given how Kazuya had turned out.
- Tokyo Mew Mew New softens up Mint and her brother Seiji quite a bit. In the original Tokyo Mew Mew, Mint was a Rich Bitch and slacker who eventually turned into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold while her brother was an Aloof Big Brother. In the reboot, she still slacks off at the café, but she does actually help out when it's needed. Meanwhile, Seiji becomes a Cool Big Bro who supports her decisions, although he still treats her like a child, much to her chagrin.
- While the Mitsumata Nozuchi we battle in the first three Yo-kai Watch games is a nasty and violent creature that does not seem to mind attempting to eat the player character alive, the Mitsumata Nozuchi (aka Micchy) we see in the Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside anime series is a friendly yokai who loves human culture and prefers to take on a humanoid form as opposed to his serpentine one, which he deems too uncool and scary-looking. Whether or not the two Mitsumata Nozuchi are the same person or two completely different yokai of the same species who also happen to share a name is up for debate.
