Gold Digger / Anime & Manga

• Aggretsuko: In the Netflix adaptation, the protagonist, Retsuko, becomes a rather sympathetic version of this. She hates her job and desperately wants to get out of it. After talking with her co-worker Haida, who says that if they were married, he would like for both to keep working (as he doesn't make enough to sustain both and they could motivate each other), she decides she needs to marry a rich guy for this to work. She eventually grows out of it though, as when she does starts dating a very rich man, she is in love with him, rather than wanting his money (in fact, she thought he was poor and was willing to sustain them both), and even then, eventually breaks up with him because he doesn't want to get married and have kids.
• In Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari , Mrs. Moffat herself is an interesting variant. The only reason she allows her daughter Annie to invite Meg to their ball is so she can have her daughters meet Laurie, even telling her servant, "it's a parent's job to think in the best interests for her children". It doesn't work.
• Berserk: Griffith's courtship of princess Charlotte is solely so that he'll gain a kingdom by marrying her. It ultimately works.
• In Bi no Kyoujin, Kabu's stepmother is heavily implied to be this, which is one of the main reasons why he can't stand her.
• Subverted in Boys over Flowers. One of the reasons why Tsukushi Makino attends the very elite Eitoku Academy school is her parents' wish that she'll marry a rich guy who'll pull them out of their Perpetual Poverty. Tsukushi, however, is a Tsundere Plucky Girl who will have none of it, engaging into Slap-Slap-Kiss dynamics with the male lead Tsukasa.
• Nadeshiko Amamiya's family accused Fujitaka Kinomoto of being this in Cardcaptor Sakura because she was a wealthy Uptown Girl, and he was a poor novice teacher (it also didn't help that this was a May–December Romance). Subverted because he did genuinely love Nadeshiko, and she genuinely loved him; money actually didn't factor in at all. They did marry, although Nadeshiko was disowned (and her cousin Sonomi still vehemently resents Fujitaka); Nadeshiko started working as a successful model, Fujitaka continued his teacher work, and the two lived their lives happily with their kids in a small but cozy apartment. (The Big Fancy House is much more recent.)
• Case Closed has suspects and victims that either qualify as gold diggers or are referred to as such. Surprisingly, many of them are males:
  • In the "Luxury Liner" case, the husbands of Natsue and Akie are accused of being this. On one hand, Akie's husband Tatsuo openly admits it before he becomes the second Asshole Victim in the case — much to the horror of Akie, who actually loved him. On the other, Natsue's husband Takashi turns out to not be one, and while he at first approached her to get at her cruel grandfather Gozo for destroying his family's business, he came to actually love Natsue for her person.
  • In the "Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case" case, it's strongly implied that the businessman Mitsuaki Nagato married his best friend Hideomi's little sister Yasue just to get closer to her dad Dousan, a very rich and very ill entrepreneur who isn't expected to live for too long. At the same time, Hideomi and Yasue's big sister Nobuko accuses Hideomi's girlfriend/Dousan's Sexy Secretary Miyuki of being one and taking advantage of Hideomi's feelings for her. Things get increasingly darker from there: Mitsuaki not only fits in here to a T, but he also was planning to murder Dousan to become the CEO of the Nagato enterprise. He recruits Miyuki for his plan... but Miyuki double-crosses and kills him since years ago Mitsuaki and Hideomi caused the Deadly Prank that killed Miyuki's parents and Hideomi had already committed suicide over it.
  • And in yet another case, a woman named Machiko Yabuchi married a very rich and much older man named Yoshichika Yabuchi, and after he died of illness and his old age, she may be planning to kill at least one of the other heirs to get a bigger share of the super large inheritance. It backfires fatally on her: When she tries to stab her brother-in-law Yoshifusa, he turns out to be a stand-in for the already dead Yoshifusa and a talented martial artist, so he kills her in self-defense.
• In Dame na Watashi ni Koisite Kudasai, Michiko's first "boyfriend" seems to be more interested in getting gifts and money from her than an actual relationship. She ends up dumping him after he admits to being this trope.
• The filler character Maron from Dragon Ball Z is implied to be this, and ultimately leaves her boyfriend Krillin.
• One of the Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War mangas has Patty, the local thief in Generation 2, as this, playing it completely for the lulz. She ends up falling in love with a poor guy, though: her cousin Lester.
• Fruits Basket: Kimi Toudou. Possibly one of the few good-natured examples of this trope, as she uses her wiles to "earn" the Student Council needed supplies and perks (in addition to gifts for herself).
• Future Robot Daltanious: Catine is an Alien Princess from Planet Proxia, but for unknown reasons, she wants the Heliosian throne. When she finds out the heir to it is on Earth, she immediately flies there and tries to woo him, only for it to go nowhere because she has the self-awareness of a brick.
• Galaxy Angel: Ranpha Franboise is always trying to hook up with a rich husband to settle down for life. Ironically, the Sequel Series Galaxy Angel Rune reveals that she succeeded, but ended up divorcing because she found the married life too boring.
• Hello! Sandybell: Marc is the son of the Countess of Wellington, but after she dies, and his father makes a series of poor financial choices, the family is on the brink of being penniless. To save face, Marc's father proposes an Arranged Marriage with Kitty Shearer, the daughter of a wealthy conglomerate business owner. Marc hates this idea because he loves Sandybell, and later breaks off his engagement to Kitty knowing he'll stay in poverty, much to her shock and horror.
• Isabelle of Paris: In spite of being wealthy himself, Léon uses his daughters as tools to expand the Laustin family's status and wealth and wants them to both marry Bourgeoisie men. When Geneviève rejects the Arranged Marriage he set up with her and Victor, he disowns her.
• Itazura Na Kiss: Marina Shinagawa. The only reason she went to nursing school was so that she could find a rich doctor to marry.
• In Lady!!, George is being pressured into becoming this via marrying a minor noblewoman from a very rich family so he can use her money to pay his debts. He actually refuses.
• Fujiko Mine from Lupin III is always acting like this around her boy of the week. Often she's trying to wile out of them the same treasure that Lupin is trying to steal. She often pulls this on Lupin himself to boot, and most of the time he lets her get away with it, saying that betrayal is a privilege reserved for women. A couple of times though he's had enough of her and left her in the dust for Inspector Zenigata.
• Maris the Chojo: Whilst Maris has to rescue Koganemaru as part of her job, she hopes that he'll be smitten by her and propose out of gratitude for her saving him because he's a billionaire heir and she sees him as an escape from her Perpetual Poverty. This selfish motivation for saving him makes it more karmic when Koganemaru does not fall in love with her, but instead falls in love with and proposes to her old wrestling rival Sue, the woman who kidnapped him.
• Eva Heinemann of Monster before she went completely into her cups. In a subversion, she's extremely wealthy, with alimony payments from three wealthy ex-husbands, and genuinely wants companionship from Tenma. The only reason she goes after rich guys is that poor people are beneath her.
• Otaku no Video: Yoshiko. Part of the reason she and Kubo break up is because of his desire to become an otaku rather than a far more financially stable career. The next time they see each other, it is when she has been appointed the new president of GP by the president of Tozai Bank, whom she had married for his money, after he had acquired the company and gotten its board of directors to dismiss Kubo for his bad financial decisions. This trait of hers resurfaces yet again near the end for when her husband goes bankrupt after his own string of financial misfortunes (including GX, Kubo's new company, buying out the bankrupt GP), Yoshiko divorces him and takes their daughter with her in the proceedings.
• Pokémon: The Series: Iris's Emolga. She uses Attract to make Pokemon fall in love with her, then takes their apples for herself. Ash's Oshawott already has a crush on her without Attract, so she easily manipulates him and many of the other male Pokemon. Unfortunately for her, she often has to deal with Ash's (female) Snivy to get what she wants since they're usually sent out at the same time.
  • When James's background as a runaway noble is revealed, Jessie and Meowth force him to return to his parents and his arranged fiancee Jessiebelle for the inheritance by proxy. They later find out this was a bad mistake — not only do James's parents see through the ruse, Jessiebelle is a horrible enough person that the heroes form an Enemy Mine with Team Rocket to get him out of there.
• Usagi's motivation for being Sophie's manager in PriPara. He rides on Sophie's stardom just so he can get some for himself. He even sees Sophie as useless without her pickled plums.
• Ranma ½ exaggerated this to parody levels in a late manga story. Nabiki is going on a date with a boy whose face is pixellated (apparently for his dignity), having him pay for a bunch of expenses during the date, including jewelry, a movie ticket, and a large meal. When the date is over, Nabiki tells the boy they should break up and then sells him back copies of his Love Letter.
• Subverted with Ursula from Red River (1995). She poses as a Rich Bitch and a fake Ishtar under Nakia's orders and tries to seduce Kail to live a life of luxury. However, when Kail is not fooled, unmasks her, and then asks her why she even bothered when she knew she'd be found out... Ursula breaks down crying and not only admits her deeds but reveals her Dark and Troubled Past as a poor orphan desperate to have a bit of wealth for once in her life. She's then forgiven by Kail, becomes one of his girlfriend Yuri's ladies-in-waiting, falls in love with Kail's bodyguard Kash... and performs an Heroic Sacrifice some time later.
• Skyhigh: A hideous man kills his girlfriend because he thinks she was after only his money.
• Star Driver: Kanako openly admits that this is the reason she married her husband, a much older wealthy man. She claims that he is well aware that she does not love him, and is fine with the relationship as-is: she gets lots of money and a very comfortable lifestyle, he gets a hot young Trophy Wife. In her view, it's a win-win for them.
• In Sword Art Online, there are vibes that Asuna's mother Kyouko (who once was a very poor Country Mouse) married her husband Shouzou because of his money and she certainly wants Asuna to do so. She claims that it would be "stable" and she "wouldn't have to worry". However, she did use that stability to build a successful career of her own as a uni professor and wants Asuna to do the same as well.
• Transformers: Cybertron: Thunderblast is a power-digger. She flirts first with Starscream and then with Megatron, pursuing them for their prestige and strength. Not that they notice or care beyond using her for their dirty work... Interestingly, Thunderblast is powerful enough to carve out her own path but prefers to be a digger hanging off of someone else because that way she's not the one wearing a bulls-eye.
• Yo-kai Watch: Injurnalist gets fired from his newspaper for being a bad journalist. He then proceeds to make it big with his own gossip magazine. Injurnalist proceeds to meet a pretty woman and marry her a day afterwards. His to-be bride is actually an infamous swindler who marries rich men, then runs off with their money.
• The main character of Yurika's Campus Life is this. Due to her father's debts, she is left with no money and no place to stay other than the campus of the women's university she's enrolled in. She takes on a Gold Digger life by seducing and having sex with rich students, making them give her money, food, and a soft bed to sleep in.
• The Maid from YataMomo is a sympathetic version. She originally agreed to marry Suda so he could pretend to have a proper, respectable life while still carrying on his real relationship with Momo and she did it only for the money. However, she grew to love him for real, to the point of tearfully begging Momo to leave so she could have a real relationship with Suda. However, Suda couldn't get over Momo, causing her to leave him and take their son with her, though they eventually made up.

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