Failure Is the Only Option/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Failure Is the Only Option in Anime and Manga include:

  • Gender-bending series - Goal: Un-genderbend.
    • Ranma ½ and Tenshi na Konamaiki both feature Megumi Hayashibara's character trying to get rid of a Gender Bender curse.

      Other characters in Ranma try to get rid of other Jusenkyo curses as well; also, Akane's efforts to learn to swim or stop being a Lethal Chef, and Ranma's attempts to shoo off members of his Unwanted Harem.

      Ranma ½ did have one exception: Ryoga; who, by the last chapter, only had lingering feelings for Akane, and was perfectly happy to let Ranma and Akane wed as long as he wasn't there (unfortunately, he was the only one that felt that way and ended up at the wedding anyway). The pig curse, on the other hand, is still there, but that just makes his girlfriend like him more. The whole Nodoka subplot was also resolved -- fitting, as the various reasons for the endless string of failures for Nodoka to see Ranma as a man are some of the most convoluted that this troper has seen in a long, long time.
  • Baki the Grappler: Baki, and just about every other fighter in the series, dreams of beating Yujiro. Not. Gonna. Happen. The only fighter who's ever come within a thousand miles of beginning to give Yujiro a decent fight is Kaku Kaioh, and that all went south as soon as Yujiro figured out the secret to his Xiao-Lee technique. It's likely that Yujiro's defeat will finally come when the manga ends, but that seems very far off.
  • In Bakuman?, the main characters are trying to get a manga published that will get an anime, so that Moritaka Mashiro's love interest Miho Azuki can star as the heroine, and they can marry after fulfilling their dreams. Not counting the many times they submitted one-shots or names that got rejected even before they could be considered for serialization, their first manga, Detective Trap, gets canceled and their second manga, Tanto, ends after they decide that they're unable to make it popular enough, and that it would likely be canceled before it got an anime. Their third manga, PCP, defies the Rule of Three when parental concerns that kids will imitate the "perfect crimes" prevents it from getting sponsors for an anime despite being popular. They're secure in their manga career for now, but they're back to square one as far as getting an anime goes.
  • Subverted in Chrono Crusade to earth-shattering effect, when Aion actually successfully goes through with the Atonement Ritual.
    • And failure is the only option for the heroes.
  • Cowboy Bebop - The crew of the Bebop: they're reasonably competent in fighting, killing, or catching bounty heads. But, some random technicality or accident always prevents them from actually getting the reward and escaping Perpetual Poverty -- and worse, any money they DO get is usually bled away to nothing by the bills run up by Spike's destructive tendencies on the job.
    • From the very beginning of the series:

Spike: What happened to the million-woolong reward we got for that last guy?
Jet: The repair bill from that cruiser you wrecked...and the one from that shop you trashed...and the medical bill from the cop you injured...KILLED THE DOUGH!

    • And they always pass on the opportunity to get rich by less ethical means. For example, once they stumbled onto a secret that could make them billionaires, but when they blackmail the Gate Corporation with it, all they demand is that they stop trying to find an old man their resident kid hacker has befriended in online chess games...who drops dead of old age a few minutes later anyway.
  • Detective Conan - Goal: Find the men in black that shrunk Shin'ichi and get the antidote.
  • Excel Saga - Goal: Conquer Fukuoka/F City for the glory of ACROSS. Between Excel's energetic stupidity, Hyatt's penchant for dying and coming back to life (sometimes multiple times within an episode) and Il Palazzo's side hobbies, it doesn't look like the citizens will be subjugated any time soon. How far ACROSS progresses in this goal depends on the continuity.
    • In the manga: Il Palazzo starts a electronics company and floods Fukuoka with cheap and effective products, earning him a lot of influence in Fukuoka. Il Palazzo doesn't progress from there though, and starts to feel like he has gotten sidetracked.
    • In the anime: Il Palazzo gets rid of Excel near the end of the series and successfully conquers the city in the next episode.
      • In both instances Il Palazzo does a lot better once he gets rid of Excel.
  • The goal in the 2003 anime version of Fullmetal Alchemist is to create the Philosopher's Stone, and once it's actually created, the only way for the brothers to accomplish their goal is to have Al die. Failure IS the only option, even until the end.
  • Haruhi-chan - Nyoron Churuya-san : Ashakura will never get Kyon and Churuya will never get her smoked cheese, nyoro~n.
  • Hell Girl: Hajime's goal: Stop people from using Hell Corrospondence for sending people to Hell, and thus damning themselves in the process. No matter how close he gets to stopping somebody from pulling the red thread on the Curse Doll, they'll always do it. Probably the worst example is in episode 18, where a Fat Bastard Rich Bitch has been holding a little girl's dogs hostage and killing them whenever she suspects the little girl might be telling somebody about what she's doing. Both Hajime, the little girl's teacher AND two police officers manage to break into her house when they hear the little girl over the intercom begging the Rich Bitch not to kill the puppies one of the dogs had, and subdue her, uncovering the fact that she'd not only murdered her parents to get her inheritance, but also her infant son to keep him from potentially trying to steal her money. At first it seems that Hajime finally stopped somebody from pulling the thread, and was just moments away from taking the doll from her, when she discovers that the Rich Bitch had already drowned the puppies in the bathtub...
    • There's one exception to the rule, and even then the show leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not the victim will simply try again.
  • Inuyasha - Goal: Twofold. One, to defeat Naraku, the villain whom everyone in the cast, be they main character, side character, hero, villain, or occasionally filler cast, has reason to hate (Except Shippo, directly at least). Second, to collect all the shards of the Shikon Jewel. In the manga, the pace moves like a snail giving a lap dance, with the ratio of jewels collected goes approximately from 1/2, to 3/4ths, to 7/8ths, to 15/16ths, and so forth. Until only one shard remains, and remains so for about half the series. The anime, on the other hand, moves at a pace that makes the heat death of the universe seem downright zippy, until it reaches the point where plot progress is made but it still feels like it's spinning its wheels.
    • Even after the entire jewel is accounted for (all shards in possession of one of the main characters), the manga is only 60% over. The final battle alone takes almost 50 chapters (10% of the series!).
      • Honestly, with the length of Rumiko Takahashi's other works, did you expect it to go quickly?
  • Keroro Gunsou: The successful invasion of Pekopon (i.e. Earth) would pretty much end the series.
  • Inspector Zenigata will never catch Lupin III. He's even admitted that he wouldn't know what to do afterwards if he did.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion. Humanity was doomed no matter what happened. In one corner, the Angels trying to bring about 3rd Impact, in the second corner, SEELE trying to bring about 3rd Impact and lastly NERV (Gendo) trying to bring about 3rd Impact.
    • In the middle of the arena, we have Shinji who decides to settle it all quickly and initiates the Third Impact and kills humanity by himself. Despite having fought to prevent this the whole time.
      • Well, that was after he crossed (again) the Despair Event Horizon with Asuka's death. And even then, he manipulates Third Impact from within so that any who want to come back can. Though only Asuka and Shinji seem to have taken advantage of this by the end of the movie.
  • Nerima Daikon Brothers - Goal: Get enough money to buy a dome for the band to play in. Even after defeating the villain and getting enough money to buy the dome, something happens (The people usually come back for their money), and the band ends up just as penniless if not in debt by the end of the episode.
  • Outlaw Star has Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking's desire to make it rich. Instead, partially due to the fact they are Blessed with Suck in the form of having a Grappler ship (a very rare and large ship that consequently costs a fortune in docking fees, ammo and basic maintenance) that is sought after by the Kei Pirates (which means they're constantly getting shot up and thusly needing to spend more money on ammo and repairs), they're constantly on the edge of bankruptcy. The one time it looks like they might succeed, heading after an ancient sunken Outlaw ship containing a stolen shipment of Unobtanium, they succeed... and discover at the episode's end that, because the treasure comes from a time when the Unobtanium was harder to find and consequently it's purity level isn't up to current standards, it's actually worth less now than it was when first stolen, so their net gain is $0 -- what money they did make from selling it was just enough to pay the bills and fix the damage the ship took getting it in the first place!
    • In the very end, Gene manages to survive the whole Galactic Leyline incident and gets just enough notoriety to get the honor of a nickname in the Outlaw's hangout Blue Heaven: "I'll Pay You When I Make It Big". Yup, he's still at it, his nickname is a joke. At least it's not all thorns for him, though; he's used to space now and he's even got a girlfriend.
  • Pokémon - Goal: To Be a Master. Ash can never seem to win a major Pokemon battle tournament. The only time he did so was in the Orange Islands (and that was filler). It's also left rather vague about what it actually takes to be a Pokemon Master: whether Ash would qualify even if he did win one of the regional tournaments is dubious. Indeed, it's never even stated whether "Pokemon Master" is any kind of officially sanctioned ranking or simply a status of recognition.

    Also consider Team Rocket. Since their goal is usually to capture Ash's Pikachu, they simply can't win. Ironically, several episodes make it appear that if they tried going after someone else's Pokemon (or tried a non-criminal path) they'd be successful. Unfortunately for them, the plot dictates that they must follow Ash and Co. around the planet.
    • Team Rocket have actually recently stopped following Ash around, and immediately become Badass legitimate threats. Still, whenever they do challenge Ash and the others...
  • Shaman King: From the beginning, Yoh's goal was to become Shaman King. Later on, it gets to the point where Yoh admits that his brother Hao/Zeke is going to win...period. There's only a matter of what to do next.
  • Marie Kagura in the Tona Gura manga has the goal of restoring her 'perverted' brother to his pre-puberty status as her friend and playmate. She does not understand that, even if he behaves himself, that boy is never coming back.
  • Most of the cast of Urusei Yatsura had differing and often conflicting goals which would never be achieved: Lum, to get Ataru to settle down; Ataru, to be free of Lum without actually losing her; Shutaru and the Stormtroopers, to get rid of Ataru; Ataru's mother, to be a respected member of the community; and so on.
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