Stating the Simple Solution in Anime and Manga.
- Angel Beats!: One of the SSS's plans to get at Angel is to forge her name on the midterm exams and submit terrible answers in her name so she fails her classes. Problem: "Angel" is a nickname they've given her, and none of them know her real name. They panic, and spend a while brainstorming elaborate schemes like breaking into the teachers' lounge and find some way to look at their notes... then Otonashi just walks up to her and asks what her name is. She gives it freely.
- A variant appears in Bleach. During the beginning of the Hueco Mundo arc, the Big Bad sends one of his minions, Ulquiorra, to Earth to antagonize Ichigo and test his Power Level. After slapping Ichigo around a bit and leaving him in the dust, Ulquiorra reports back to the Big Bad that Ichigo is Not Worth Killing. Another of the Big Bad's minions, Grimmjow, gets annoyed and demands they just kill him anyway to be sure. Grimmjow eventually goes over his boss' head and hunts down Ichigo on his own, but the Big Bad reins him in before he can finish him off: Turns out the Big Bad had a secret plan in store for the hero.
- Code Geass offers a non-fatal version: when Lelouch learns that his best friend is the pilot of the Humongous Mecha that's thwarted him at every turn, his partner C.C. asks why he doesn't just use his Geass to make said friend join La Résistance. She guesses that it's either pride, sentimentality, or distaste for robbing another person of their free will; Lelouch responds that it's all three.
- In Cross Ange, when Ange, Tusk, and Vivian meet up with the survivors of Arzenal inside the Aurora, Ange proposes a simple solution so that Libertus will succeed: "Why not just join with the DRAGONs? We have a common enemy and they're willing to cooperate with us. They're humans who can be reasoned with unlike our humans here". Everyone does agree, except for Jill.
- In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, the Big Bad Junko reveals to The Dragon Mukuro that she knew all along Makoto would be a Spanner in the Works for their Evil Plan, and is asked Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? After illustrating the difficulty of this by throwing a large wrench at his head only for his Born Lucky ability to cause him to perform a Coincidental Dodge, she then states that it'd be more fun to leave it up to chance. Later on in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc she changes her mind and does attempt to kill him herself after he proves to be a bigger thorn in her side than she imagined, but as she expected he's saved at the last second by his luck and Kyoko's Spider-Sense.
- Death Note: Inverted when Soichiro confronts Mello with the eponymous Artifact of Doom; Light spends a few unpleasant moments at his desk before his father's refusal to take a human life gets him shot. Light, of course, finds this incomprehensible.Light: What are you doing, hurry up and write his name down!... Now's the time to kill him! Kill him right now!!
- In Digimon Adventure, after Myotismon has captured Gatomon and starts rounding up the citizens of Odaiba (separating children from adults so that Gatomon can identify the eighth Child), DemiDevimon asks why they don't just kill them all at once to be sure. Myotismon states that it doesn't suit his aesthetic, although there's also the implication that he wanted to feed off of their fear (and their blood). While this wouldn't have made any difference at the time anyway since the child he wanted wasn't in the group he gathered, had Myotismon heeded DemiDevimon's advice, he would have unknowingly eliminated the child responsible for his ultimate defeat 4 years later in Digimon Adventure 02.
- Dragon Ball:
- In the original series, Staff Officer Black insists to Commander Red that they're no match for Goku and the smartest thing to do is simply to let him have the Dragon Balls, escape while they can, and rebuild the Red Ribbon Army later. Of course, after killing Red and taking over the army for himself, Black refuses to take his own advice and tries to beat Goku using a Mini-Mecha.
- In Dragon Ball Z, King Cold advises his son Frieza that revenge would be easier by just blowing up the Earth from space. Frieza rejects this notion, stating that he wants to see Goku suffer. One episode later, both Frieza and Cold are killed by Trunks.
- After being warned from the future that in three years, two androids built by Dr. Gero will murder all of them, Bulma does this when she suggests simply finding out where Dr. Gero is and killing him before he activates the androids. She's promptly shot down because Goku and Vegeta like the sound of the challenge these androids will bring. Krillin also tells her in secret that it's best to give former villains Piccolo and (especially) Vegeta a mutual enemy. Goku also suggests that since Dr. Gero hasn't built the androids yet, it would be tantamount to killing an innocent person, which he doesn't want to do (of course, he's forgetting that Gero was the lead scientist of the Red Ribbon Army, and so most of their tech was probably built by him).
- In Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and the subsequent Dragon Ball Super adaptation; after being revived, Frieza announces his plan for revenge against Goku. Tagoma, one of his minions, speaks out against it, telling him that he could just go back to ruling his empire in space with Goku and the Z-Fighters never the wiser. In response, Frieza either kills him on the spot (Resurrection 'F') or uses him as his personal training dummy for four months (Super).
- In Fairy Tail, Gajeel is fighting an enemy who can surround everyone with poisonous water. He's fighting but running out of air when Levy swoops in and uses an Underwater Kiss to give him air. Levy is horribly embarrassed when Gajeel later points out she could have just used her particular ability- magical writing that becomes whatever word is written- to conjure air without having to do that.
- A minor example happens in a mini-comic in Fruits Basket. Kyo learns that he'll be going to the same school as Yuki and throws a tantrum about it. Yuki asks why, if he's so determined to not go, did Kyo simply not bomb the entrance exam on purpose.Kyo: Why didn't I think of that?!?
Yuki and Shigure: Because you're stupid. - Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu inverts the trope — ("No, you can't just shoot him!") — when Sōsuke is challenged to a no-holds-barred martial arts battle and, after being warned by his opponent not to pull any punches, calmly shoots the guy with a rubber bullet. Once it's explained to him that using a gun isn't allowed, he repeats the performance with his next opponent by gassing him with a fire extinguisher — and when it's further explained to him that he's supposed to be fighting solely hand-to-hand, he downs his third opponent via a Hey, Catch! with a grenade followed by several Groin Attacks, explaining afterwards that the pin was still in the grenade, and clearly never quite grasping the concept of a "fair fight" at all.
- Sort of inverted in chapter 54 of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Ed and Ling are discussing how best to attack the Big Bad. Ling seems to think it's a better idea to take on the mooks first since their enemy clearly outmatches them. Edward would rather go to the point. They share this exchange:Ling: Haven't you heard the saying, "if you want to shoot the leader, first aim for his horse"?!
Edward: If you want to shoot the leader, then you should just SHOOT HIM!!
Ling: (thinking) Is he stupid...?- Also played with in an early chapter where Envy, Lust, and Gluttony were caught by a human. While they debated what to do with him, Gluttony gave his usual two cents: "Can I eat him?" Envy and Lust stare at him for a moment, and the next panel shows them conversing while Gluttony eats the witness in the background.
- Practically said verbatim in Gantz. Some of the recruits have difficulty being willing to do what they're tasked with and pay the price for it.
- In Hetalia: Axis Powers, the main eight nations are discussing horror movies, when America proposes some ways to stop Sadako/Samara from killing the protagonists: namely by keeping them in the TV and not answering the phone.note America: It's easy!
Russia: Classic America comment. - In Karin, as the titular character angsts over how her vampiric instincts react to Usui's depression, her family just tells her to "Bite him already" since that would fix both their issues.
- Mazinger Z: In one episode The Dragon Baron Ashura captured Kouji and Mazinger-Z and gave him the "join-us-or-die" choice. After Kouji's predictable answer, Ashura sentenced him to death, starting a bunch of giant power saws and drills to cut Mazinger-Z to pieces. The other Dragon Count Brocken was watching the scene through a monitor and he stated Ashura beated around the bush too much and complicated things unnecessarily, and shooting Kabuto would be easier and quicker.
- At the climax of the Non-Indicative First Episode (filming a movie) of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Nagato confronts Itsuki, who refuses to join forces with her. Nagato's shoulder-mounted cat suddenly starts talking, asking why she doesn't just use mind control on the guy already, since judging by what she's shown so far it ought to be well within her powers. But that's not in the script, so after a scramble to shut him up Nagato has her final battle with Mikuru.
- Musuko ga Kawaikute Shikataganai Mazoku no Hahaoya: After demon idol Valentine's live concert, which resulted in her Compelling Voice causing multiple demons in the audience to involuntarily demonify, she approaches Merii with a request to use her Healing Hands to remove her voice so she can't sing anymore to prevent a repeat of the incident from occurring, even though doing so means the end of her career as an idol. Only after Merii is able to fix the problem without rendering Valentine mute does she point out that Valentine could have avoided a repeat of the concert incident by simply quitting being an idol. However, she also acknowledges that Valentine's more extreme choice of action was an indication of how much she didn't want to quit and instead took steps to make certain that she wouldn't have a choice.
- In My Monster Secret, Youko, a half-vampire, gets deep suntans from just brief exposure to sunlight (so much so that just walking to school leaves her looking like she was deliberately tanning on the beach the day before). She undergoes military-style training from Aizawa in order to learn how to go from shadow to shadow and minimize her exposure, but stops short when she reaches a point were there are no shadows. Just when she's about to give up, Asahi remarks that it's too bad Youko can't just use sunblock, figuring that she must have already tried it before...only for Youko to get embarrassed and look away. She comes to school the next day with her skin lily-white and admits to her friends that she'd never thought of sunblock before, to which they both reply "We already figured that out."
- The unnamed Monkey Girl in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! reincarnated as Catarina Claes, the villainess of the game Fortune Lover. Since Catarina is either dead or exiled in every route, she immediately starts planning to avoid her fate. The Monkey Girl does realize that the easiest solution is to just not bully Maria, but also realizes that her Beta Bitch posse would still be bullies and Catarina could easily be framed. So she cultivates a wide variety of skills that would directly help her survive, such as swordsmanship, earth magic, and farming. And in a Double Subversion, her original plan of not bullying Maria works.
- Ninja Girl & Samurai Master: Chidori is sent to gain intelligence for an invasion, and gets amazing intelligence, and is stealthy enough to doodle on the enemy leader's face. After reporting back Nobunaga regrets that he didn't just have her assassinate the guy.
- Played for Laughs in the Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! mini-episodes Nyaruani. Mahiro is reading the first Nyarko-San novel and asks Cuuko: "You wanted to see Nyarko badly enough that you joined a criminal organization, but then you joined the Planetary Defense Organization thanks to an uncle in H.R. So why didn't you just join the PDO to begin with so you could see her as a colleague?" Cuuko responds by lighting the novel on fire and telling Mahiro it's a warning.
- In One Piece, Sanji's first wanted poster is a comically crude sketch of his face. The pirate Duval, who happens to look just like the sketch, keeps getting into fights because people constantly mistake him for Sanji thanks to the wanted poster. Eventually, Duval tracks Sanji down to get revenge for all the trouble he's been put through. When Sanji asks Duval why he didn't just change his appearance somehow (like getting a haircut), Duval takes a moment to think before he admits that he never thought of that.
- Most of the problems in One Pound Gospel revolve around the hero's love of food. Since he's a boxer, he needs to diet and keep his weight down, or else he can't compete within his weight class. One arc shows why Kosaku can't simply go up a weight class: weight classes are meant to measure muscle, not fat. Gaining weight with no muscle to show for it makes Kosaku slower, against an opponent who is physically stronger.
- Ramen Fighter Miki: Megumi as the Combat Pragmatist asks Miki in episode 3A why is she fighting an Angry Guard Dog when she could easily avoid it. In episode 5 B, after she and Miki beat someone to use him as a stepping stone to escape a well, she recognized that the guy had a rope and should’ve just let him rescue them.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, Shishio and Kenshin are having their climactic duel. Both of them are severely injured and weakened, and Shishio's 15 minute-time limit for fighting has elapsed. Yumi (Shishio's lover) and Houji (Shishio's right-hand man) are watching, and Houji has a rifle. Yumi asks Houji why he just doesn't shoot Kenshin... Houji throws his gun away, on the grounds of his belief that Lord Shishio will win. He doesn't.
- In the Saki Spin-Off "Saki Biyori", this happens twice in Shindouji's second chapter, in which, as a result of one thing leading to another, the "round robin journal" used to chronicle the club's activities ends up getting a comic strip that everyone contributes to. When Club President Mairu is unable to continue, her best friend Himeko asks her whether they need one, causing Mairu to issue a ban. Popular demand forces them to bring the comic strip back, though, but Himeko has another plan in mind- giving the comic an ending.
- At one point in Space Battleship Yamato 2199, one of the senior crew members asks why they don't just use the ship's Wave-Motion Gun to wipe out the Gamillas fleet. While the Wave Motion Gun would most certainly make life easier for the Yamato crew, Captain Okita declines the proposition: the Wave Motion Gun is a weapon of mass destruction, and thus, not to be used except for emergencies.
- In Spy X Family, Loid looks up information on all eligible women and hopes to find one that would agree to a false marriage for the sake of Operation Strix. Franky asks him why he doesn't just have one of WISE's female agents play the role, as it would be much simpler than finding someone to deceive for this whole thing. And Loid shuts that idea down fast because recent spy-hunts have majorly depleted the number of agents and WISE doesn't have the agentpower to spare.
- In Sword Art Online, in the prologue of the Alicization arc, a kid being trained for the task of spending his entire life trying to cut down an enormous tree asks the elders why their ancestors bothered founding a village in a place where an enormous tree that they had every reason to believe would take centuries to cut down was blocking expansion and casting shade over most of the places they could grow crops. Rather than thinking about moving the village to someplace where the tree wouldn't be a problem, they reprimand the kid and continue the way they always have.
- Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun:
- Asmodeus and Clara are upset they have no idea where Iruma goes when he just randomly leaves (to go read a manga to Ameri). Sabro just tells them to follow him and find out. Azz is against it but Clara immediately heads off to do just that.
- When Iruma and Lied are trying to figure out how to grow the Legendary Leaf, Nafra simply waters it. This one is justified in a short bit as Nafra holds the special watering can that is needed to make the Legendary Leaf bloom. She is a plant by the Student Council to judge a demon's kindness and worth of receiving this help in making the plant bloom.
- Towards the end of the Heartbreaker's arc, a test in which the second-year Misfit Class must defend new first-year students from attack by the faculty, the final two teachers to enter the fray are Kalegos and Balam. Iruma is panicking over how to deal with them only for Jazz to point out a very simple way to deal with Kalego: Summon him. As Iruma's familiar, once summoned Kalego can not hurt him is obliged to obey him. This isn't a perfect solution as Kalego is only restricted from attacking Iruma while summoned, everyone else is fair game. Iruma gets around this by clinging to Kalego so he can't attack anyone else without also attacking Iruma, and he's forced to concede. He also says he won't help the students, but it takes him out of the battle nevertheless.
