Assassin Outclassin / Anime & Manga

• Haru of Akuma no Riddle has survived many attempts on her life thanks to the sacrifices of her family.
• In Aldnoah.Zero Asseylum Vers Allusia survived no less than four attempts to her life. In the order: her motorcade got hit by missiles (turns out the one in the car was a body double), got strangulated (and CPR'd back in the land of living by Inaho), shot (saved by being stuck in a tube filled with medical gel or something), and evaded several teams of special forces sent in specifically to kill her. It reached the point when the fans seriously doubted her "death" in the first series' finale would stick. Being the third one mentioned here, it obviously didn't.
• The premise of Assassination Classroom is this trope plus Serial Escalation Played for Laughs, since Sensei's stated goal is training the class of children to be able to kill him, so they aren't in any danger from him (unless they fail to kill him before his deadline, in which case he'll blow up Earth).
• In Baccano! 1932 — Drugs & the Dominoes'', Gustavo hires three assassins in order to kill the Gandor brothers (including the adopted Claire Stanfield). This backfires spectacularly both because the Gandors have Complete Immortality and because one of the assassins hired is actually Claire Stanfield himself, who took the job because he thought it was funny.
• In Berserk, a conspiracy of nobles attempt to have Griffith assassinated twice. He fakes his death after the second, blackmails one of them into going Turn Coat, and kills the rest, mostly by trapping them in a fire.
• In Brave10, Anastasia goes on a mission to assassinate Yukimura and can't believe her luck when she sees him sneaking out to the brothel completely alone. She flies in from above to make the kill, only for him to trip on his own feet just short of where she's landing, giving him the chance to see her. Her real mistake, however, is letting him speak before she kills him because people who talk to Yukimura for too long usually end up working for him.
• In Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto, Cesare Borgia is 16 years old, but his father has powerful enemies who know Cesare is smarter than his age would imply, and want to do away with him as soon as possible. But he doesn't need a Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards, one will do — Miguel da Corella, his most loyal right-hand companion in real life. While many stories have them meeting as adults, it's Truth in Television that they were childhood friends, as depicted here. Whenever Cesare doesn't manage to fight off an assassin himself, Miguel is there with a perfectly timed dagger (unless he comes in too soon, and Cesare was still trying to interrogate the poor thug). (A note on "foreign" — Cesare was foreign (Spanish) as well. His mother was Italian and he grew up in Rome, but to the xenophobic Italians, he was still as foreign as Miguel, who came from Spain to work for the Borgias in Italy when he was 7 or 8 years old).
• Ryo Saeba of City Hunter's fame, being a Hitman with a Heart, has to do this rather often. As Ryo is the best, they always fail. The four most notable instances:
  • A serial killer, having learned the famed City Hunter was on his case, broke into his home to kill him, only to shoot a puppet in his bed and get tortured psychologically in return.
  • An actress has hired Umibozu to kill her and her agency hired Ryo as her bodyguard, leading to Ryo thwarting his initial attempts before bribing him into throwing the job and scare her into wishing to live (it helped Umibozu was a fan of hers).
  • A Corrupt Cop capable of shooting a target at one km wanted to kill Ryo and Reika (who had hired him), and Ryo, at the same distance, shot the barrel of his rifle (twice), his belt and the buttons of his shirt, getting him to surrender.
  • Umibozu got hired to kill Ryo, and, the two being on the same level, they agree to fight a Duel to the Death that ends with Ryo breaking Umibozu's gun with his last bullet.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Dragon Ball: The Red Ribbon Army hires Mercenary Tao to take Goku out and steal his Dragon Balls. He survives the first fight, and later beats Tao in a rematch.
  • Played straight to an extent in Dragon Ball Super. Somebody has hired Hit to kill Goku, and yet Goku successfully fends him off (although he does die but then bring himself back to life), fighting Hit to a standstill. However, it's also played for a bit of comedy considering that it is eventually revealled that the person who hired Hit to kill Goku is in fact, Goku himself, who hired Hit to kill him so that he could fight Hit at his best, which technically makes this an Invoked Trope.
• The Elusive Samurai: During the Kyoto arc, the Elusive Warriors manage to lure Takauji away from his retainers before launching a 3 on 1 attempt on his life. Takauji easily counters by grabbing Kojiro's and Fubuki's swords with a single pinkie each and catching Tokiyuki's arrow between his nose and his lip. All at the same time.
• Hilariously, in both Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero, the Assassin class Servants, named Assassin, have a terrible track record. At least in Fate/Zero, Assassin's Master did this on purpose while the others have no such excuse. It helps that Assassins are explicitly the weakest class in all areas except stealth, so in direct combat against another Servant, an Assassin will always lose.
  • To be perfectly honest, the Assassin in Fate/stay night is an oddity, and not the actual standard Assassin, because he is not only a Servant summoned by a Servant, he's a fictitious hero for which the most compatible wraith was chosen, and with a ton of limitations on what he can do, such as not being able to leave the Temple gates. As for direct combat prowess, though, in pure swordsmanship, Saber outright acknowledges she is at a disadvantage against him (and she cannot spare Excalibur's true power against him to circumvent that, given that she's preparing to face an even more formidable opponent afterwards).
  • However, subverted with True Assassin in the third route, Heaven's Feel, who is wholly another matter, though. This really drives the point that playtime is over. His track record includes dispatching Lancer and causing Saber to die (though it should be noted he cheated by relying on The Shadow in both cases to help him out), and the protagonist in quite a few bad ends. Also, he only loses against Kirei because he had the worst affinity with the dude, what with already being cursed, thus nullifying his own curse powers. Bluntly put, in the two first routes, the heroes are LUCKY they don't have to deal with the Paranoia Fuel of an actual "could be everywhere" spying, backstabbing and invisible Assassin, on top of everything else they have to contend with.
• Reima sends a bunch of assassins after Fuga in Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin after he runs away from home. Thanks to his own ability and Riki's help, Fuga gets away relatively unscathed.
• Heavy Object:
  • Nyarlathotep is in a Legitimacy Kingdom holding cell when an assassin arrives for him only to be easily killed, allowing Nyarlathotep to fake his own death yet again.
  • Frolaytia's assistant is revealed to be a spy sent from another unit to spy on the 37th and assassinate Frolaytia if needed. When the order comes to do the latter, Frolaytia easily dismantles her would-be killer while noting she'd already identified her as the mole.
• Both played straight and played with in Hunter × Hunter. When the Mafia hires assassins to take out the Phantom Troupe, their leader, Chrollo easily kills everyone that comes for him... until he meets Killua's father and grandfather, Silva and Zeno. After a destructive Boss Battle, the two receive a call from Killua's brother Illumi, who has just completed Chrollo's contract on the Mafia bosses responsible for calling hits on the Phantom Troupe in the first place. Their employers dead, Silva and Zeno figure the job is done and leave peacefully. Not so much a physical example of outclassin' for Chrollo, but he still out-gambitted the Mafia community.
• In Knight Hunters, Farfarello holds the honor of being Weiss' only known target to completely escape death. It reaches Karma Houdini levels when you sit back and realize he's murdered two teenage girls (both of whom were love interests for main characters), his own mother, tortured countless religious men, and actually has the happiest ending in the series: he settles down with the woman he loves and only ever cameos again.
• Played with in Lone Wolf and Cub. Protagonist Ogami Ittō is a master assassin who slaughters anyone who stands between him and his targets — no one in the series manages to prevent him from completing a contract once he's accepted it. However, Ittō is also on a quest for revenge against some very powerful enemies, who pull out all the stops in order to take him out. He outclasses every last attempt they throw at him, up to and including entire armies. (The last sentence is Not Hyperbole in any way.)
• In the Lupin III franchise, this trope comes in two flavours.
  • An Origins Episode for Goemon or Jigen may have them playing assassin to Lupin, and eventually allowing Defeat Means Friendship.
  • The Rival is introduced for one or more of the characters. Either brand-new or from their past. The rivals clash two or three times before the final confrontation calls for our protagonists to win.
• Bernard Wiseman tries to fell the eponymous Gundam in Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, and it looked like he'd be successful too before he was impaled by the Gundam in battle. The Gundam didn't get away without losing an arm, its head, and a good chunk of the torso though.
• In One Piece, the main characters manage to defeat two pairs of Baroque Works assassins, and eventually defeat their leader, Sir Crocodile, and destroy the whole syndicate.
  • Ace used to try to murder Whitebeard whenever he saw the chance. Judging from the flashback examples, Ace never managed to cut even a hair on his head.
  • An hilarious scene shows Doflamingo calmly talking to the phone while fending the assassination attempts from one of his own subordinates.
• Outlaw Star:
  • The manga (and originally not-aired-on-TV Hot Springs Episode of the anime) had a guy who was a specialist in assassinations for the Anten Seven. He was assigned to kill Gene while Gene was staying at a local resort. The guy disguised himself as a tourist in an effort to get close to Gene but kept getting derailed by accidents. Ironically, he looked suspiciously like the Epic Fail Guy.
  • This also happened with Suzuka. She spent her introductory episode trying to kill Gene's friend and financier Fred Luo, only to let up and join him until such time as her employer was bankrupted by said friend. Since Gene defeated her in his role as Fred's bodyguard, as a matter of pride she wouldn't be able to make another attempt on Fred's life until she defeats Gene. She then joins Gene's crew one the pretext of making sure nobody else can kill him before their rematch, so that she won't have to admit they've become friends.
• In an episode about Ninjas, Samurai Champloo has Jin perform a typically stylish version of this trope against five attackers at once who tried to ambush him but got quickly discovered.
• In Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R, Lina Inverse becomes the target of an infamous assassin who, as it is revealed later, also has a personal grudge against her. Of course, she is Lina Inverse, and the assassin gets his ass handed to him. Twice.
• Spy X Family: In the Cruise Ship Arc, Yor, normally an assassin herself, is instead put into the position of protecting a woman and her baby from assassination as she flees the country. Yor ends up pitted against an entire Carnival of Killers and the only reason she has any trouble at all against them is because she has to split her attention between fighting them and defending the woman.
• Tales of Wedding Rings: In the Land of Water arc, the fortune-teller's assassins make several attempts on Satou's life. First they try to poison his food. Then they try to sneak into his room while he's asleep. Finally, they try to snipe him with a bow and arrow while he's walking down the street. Thanks to the vigilance of Satou's allies, these attempts all fail.
• Vinland Saga: Askeladd sends Thorfinn on a mission to assassinate Thorkell during the Siege of London. Thorfinn ends up on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle (though he does take two of Thorkell's fingers) and only escapes because Thorkell gets temporarily distracted from pummelling him.