Times where someone demands others kneel before them in Anime and Manga.
- Subverted in one arc of Ah! My Goddess. Belldandy's "rival" makes a Deal with the Devil to defeat Belldandy and successfully forces her into complete servitude, obeying her every whim. But not long after her victory, the rival realizes it's all pointless because Belldandy's pride and spirit are intact.
- In the island arc of Assassination Classroom, Takaoka forces Nagisa to apologize for beating him in Takaoka's first arc, to save the lives of his comrades.
- Berserk: Guts being pinned to the ground by some demons before Femto, so that he's Forced to Watch as Femto rapes Casca.
- In Black Butler season 2 episode 6 Alois requests that Claude make Sebastian do this.
- In Black Clover, after everyone realizes he's present, Lucifero comments that everyone's heads are raised "far too high", and in an extreme version of this trope forces everyone to face the ground with his Gravity Magic.
- Balalaika of Black Lagoon does a truly ruthless one of these with Hansel, one of the Creepy Twins of the Vampire Twins arc, during their confrontation. When Hansel doesn't comply, a sniper blows out his kneecap with one shot, then blows off his hand when he tries to hurl his axe at her. Balalaika then delivers a withering "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Hansel before sitting back and watching him bleed to death right in front of her.
- Even better in the dub. "I SAID KNEEL!"
- Bleach:
- When Grimmjow starts getting rebellious, Aizen activates his Battle Aura, which is enough to force Grimmjow to his knees.
- After moving to the roof of Las Noches, Ulquiorra's ultimate goal in fighting Ichigo is to get him to give up trying to win, first by activating Resurreccion and overpowering him, and then releasing his second form just to drive his opponent's inferiority home. Ichigo refuses despite being outgunned, so Ulquiorra settles for going for the kill. That backfires on him.
- In Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Lord Giga, the Cyber City arc's Big Bad, has an attack where the opponent must show them respect.
- Happens in Code Geass during the beginning of the second season. Subverted when Lelouch kneels before the unintimidating and completely scared Prince Clovis, before killing him as the Trope demands.
- Digimon Adventure 02:
- The Digimon Emperor threatens to kill Davis' friends unless he bows down and begs for their lives. Davis actually complies. Then he gives Davis a Sadistic Choice (choose one friend to be spared), leading the poor kid to attempt a Heroic Sacrifice / Take a Third Option.
- The same character is later defied by a tranquil yet furious TK.Emperor: You're nobody! You will bow down before me.
TK: Sorry, the floor's kinda' dirty.
- Turles commands this of Goku (Whilst planting his foot onto the head of the latter) in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, particularly the infamous UK dub.Turles: Goku, if you would request my pardon, kneel before me and lower your head.
Goku: No way, I told Gohan one thing... that I would never surrender!
Turles: You'd rather I crush your head?! - In Fairy Tail:
- Evergreen threatens to shatter everyone whom she has turned to stone unless Erza takes off all her clothes and prostrates herself. Erza responds by telekinetically holding a dozen swords and threatening to turn Evergreen into a pincushion unless she breaks the spell and frees her victims. It works.
- Brain orders the heroes to kneel and beg for mercy. Instead, Jura kicks his ass.
- In Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, Moon Dragon God Selene declares herself the new leader of Diabolos after killing Georg Raizen and tells the assembled Dragon Eaters to kneel while flexing her Battle Aura. Everyone but Kiria struggles to stand and she goes on the attack. It doesn't end well for Kiria.
- The last episode of the 2001 anime adaptation of Fruits Basket has Akito angrily grab a kneeling Tohru by the hair and force her to get on both her hands and knees before him. He then states that he will "make her regret she ever had anything to do with the Sohmas", that she will "suffer as we suffer", and demands that she "beg him for forgiveness" and "swear that she'll never interfere with the Sohmas again." It fails in the end: while Tohru does briefly give into despair, she ultimately brings herself back and helps Kyo anyway. As a result, Kyo's Parental Substitute Kazuma bows to her.
- In Fushigi Yuugi, the Emperor of Kutou wants to get his arch-rival Hotohori to bow before him. That doesn't end up happening, however.
- In Jujutsu Kaisen, after Yuji is forcefed more of Sukuna's fingers and he takes over possession of his body, he casually comments to the people responsible that they are holding their heads a little too high. Nanako and Mimiko immediately get the message and prostrate themselves. Jogo, however, only gets down on one knee (much to his own surprise, since his body moved without thinking); Sukuna retaliates by cutting off the top of his head for his "insolence".Sukuna: You thought kneeling on just one knee would be enough?
- Mazinger Z: One of the main reasons of Big Bad Dr. Hell to Take Over the World is that he wishes to force the entire humankind to bow down to him. He feels that will make up for years of suffering spite and abuse when he was young.
- Peach Girl: Sae, master of the Wounded Gazelle Gambit, manages to convince her fellow peers that Momo's been bullying her and trying to steal Toji from her when it's really the other way around. She cries after Momo hits her for badmouthing Kairi, which arouses the anger of their classmates. Sae gets a few people to restrain Momo and pin her to the ground, attempting to force her into apologizing by calling her names and repeating, "Apologize to Sae!" Luckily for her, Toji arrives in time and that starts the end of Sae's reign over Momo, for a little while, at least.
- Pokémon: The Series episode "Control Freak!". Jesse of Team Rocket puts on a golden mask that gives her control over Pokémon. It takes over her mind and makes her even more arrogant than normal. She calls herself Queen of the Pokémon and commands her "lowly subjects" (James and Meowth) to bow to her. After she demonstrates the mask's power, they do so.
- Sailor Moon: In the Japanese version, there is a scene where Sailor Moon is captured by Prince Diamond. He puts her in a trance and orders her to swear eternal loyalty and love to him. She drops to her knees and is about to kiss his hand as a sign of allegiance but manages to snap out of it before she does so.
- Played with interestingly in The Twelve Kingdoms. The mythical beasts known as the kirin are the only ones able to locate the future Kings/Queens of their lands, and the biggest proof of one person's worth to be chosen as the sovereign is that they're the only persons a kirin can kneel in front of. They're literally and physically unable to kneel to anyone else, even if they do try doing it. That's why evil princess Joei gets Keiki stuck in his Beast form, aside of keeping him mute: if he cannot bow to her, the falsehood of her claim to the throne would be revealed.
