Karma Houdini/Anime

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Shou Tucker from the 2003 anime version of Fullmetal Alchemist. This prick turns his sweet daughter, and her dog, into an abomination, which Scar has to Mercy Kill. The worst punishment he gets is getting turned into some kind of twisted chimera. He even lives through the whole show, unlike likeable characters like Hughes. Bullshit.
    • Well actually he did get punished in a way. His goal was to make a body for Nina and try to bring her back to life using the Philosopher Stone. He manages to make the body but it's nothing more then a soulless doll. Whatever was left of his mind is completely gone after this. Still, he never really did get a proper punishment for tricking Al into using the stone like that.
      • It should probably also be pointed out that Tucker between the first anime and manga are somewhat different in character. In the anime, it's clear he's already rather out of his gourd when they meet him, although it doesn't show until what he did was revealed and he just kept slowly losing his mind as the series progressed. By the end, any physical punishment as a normal person would know might not even apply to somebody who had gone as insane as he had. In the manga, he wasn't as crazy and basically did it For the Evulz.
    • This isn't so much of a problem in the manga and the second anime adaptation. When he turns poor Nina into a chimera, he doesn't survive to the end of the episode. Thanks, Scar.
    • On top of Tucker, another example from the 2003 anime series was General Hakuro. A corrupt man whose men gang-raped Rose after she was sent under his custody, you just know from the scene where he captures her that he would be the type of creep who might do it himself. When the dictatorship is overthrown, we aren't shown if Hakuro even got his. We can assume he did, but we are not shown him get comeuppance.
  • Dakki from Houshin Engi devoured human beings for seemingly no reason, stopped someone from being executed just to build a burning pillar to use on said person, invites people to parties and then sics tigers on them, turned a guy's son into hamburger and had said guy eat it (the guy later starved to death), and in general made things miserable for the inhabitants of Ancient China. But the worst she did was plot with a godlike entity who's been manipulating the history of the Earth for centuries in order to serve her own interests. What happens to her? she takes control of the body of said godlike entity and uses it to become the Great Mother and merge with the Earth. Talk about Karma.
  • The Necks of Orochi from Kannazuki no Miko, after having their plot to destroy the world foiled (also, a couple of massacres early on), basically just get revived and live on as if nothing had happened.
  • Aion from Chrono Crusade falls into this trope depending on your interpretation of the ending in each version.
    • Anime: Although he's apparently killed during a battle with Chrono and Rosette, in the epilogue he appears before Father Remington and seems to be behind the assassination attempt of the Pope in the 1980's. Debate rages within the fandom on if he's literally there, or if it's an allegorical representation that even though he was defeated, what he wanted to happen came true anyway.
    • Manga: Chrono and Aion face each other in a final battle, charge toward each other, and then...the scene cuts away. We never find out whether he was killed in the battle as he's never seen again, although it's heavily implied Chrono probably defeated him. But we never truly know for sure one way or the other.
  • Griffith from Berserk sacrificed his hand-picked military unit he had ever since he was a teenager, raped his best friend's love interest in front of him (this after said best friend went out of his way to rescue Griffith from a dungeon he was rotting in for over a year) and his reward at the end of it all was to become a literal God. However, this was only due to the anime's Gecko Ending; the manga is still ongoing.
  • Hell Kaiser Ryo in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX has several Kick the Dog episodes where he abuses his former friends and even his own brother just to demonstrate how cruel and hateful he's become since his Face Heel Turn. He faces no retribution for how he treats them, save for "dying" at the hands of Yubel, which isn't really notable because everyone "dies" that season, and they all get better, including Zane. By the time Season 4 comes Zane's friends are treat him like nothing has happened and he and his brother - the same brother he electrocuted with a Slasher Smile - are closer than ever.
    • YUBEL -- once Judai remembers the nature of their past lives, he completely forgives her for everything she put him, his allies, and 12 dimensions through because of her obsession with him. Albeit he blamed himself for her mental state, she had been corrupted by the Light of Destruction (turning her more dangerous), and reconciling was the best way to beat her at the time. He also took responsibility by taking her soul inside himself and thus prevented her from causing any further harm while her mind healed.
    • Kagemaru: who did God only knows what to the missing students and who attempted to destroy the world just to stay young. Juudai hugs him and wishes him well and nothing bad ever happens to him at all.
    • Let's not forget the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Kemo is one of Pegasus's biggest and meanest thugs in the first season, who just disappears after the battle with the Big Five in Season 1. Look at his bosses, Pegasus does a Heel Face Turn and the Big Five actually die in the anime (when the virtual world where they are imprisoned is destroyed), but Kemo is last seen running through a door with some of his goons. Although maybe Kaiba beat him up again.
    • Nezumi of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga escapes after tricking Yugi and Jounouchi into confronting Hirutani, avoiding getting beaten up or put into a Shadow Game.
    • Kaiba from the original manga. Sure, Yami punished him with a Shadow game and became somewhat more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in the process, but he still got away with extorting the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons from their original owners, one of whom committed suicide.
  • Rimelda of Madlax kills off or is responsible for the deaths of the most likable members of the cast, including Madlax's apparent romantic interest, Vanessa. Not only does she survive in the end, but she gets together with Madlax. Presumably Bee Train was trying to replicate their success with Noir.
  • Despite ostensibly being one of the "good guys" throughout 2/3 of the series Mai-Otome, Nina Wang, who is the poster child for Love Makes You Evil and fits into about several dozen other tropes, pulls a selfish, spoiled, bratty Face Heel Turn. She willingly and freely betrays everything she's ever stood for, tosses her morals and decency aside, murders her best friend, attempts to murder several of her other good friends, aids The Empire in conquering the world, and almost single-handedly completes 90% of a plan to bring about The End of the World as We Know It. Her excuse? She's a little cranky that her father (yes, they're not related by blood, but he's still her FATHER) refuses to see her as a woman and fell in love with her friend instead of her. She continues down this path even after her father, the only thing she cares about, basically DIES (he later lived, but she didn't know...) trying to stop it. Her outcome at the end of the series? Happily ever after, never answering for anything she caused or even having to face anyone or anything from her old life to remind or accuse her, taking advantage of her father's amnesia to make him fall in love with her for real this time.
    • On the other hand, she becomes The Atoner in Mai-Otome Zwei, working with Nao to investigate the ruins and helping Arika defeat the Big Bad.
    • Which is not to forget that throughout the course of the Mai-Otome anime, Psycho Lesbian / Smug Snake Tomoe has amassed for herself a pretty long rap sheet: assault, vandalism, attempted murder, kidnapping, blackmail, attempted rape... of a high-ranking school official, aiding and abetting terrorists, and at one point openly declared that she intended to kill anyone who stood in her way (read: everyone), and has shown no remorse for any of it. She never receives any sort of formal punishment, and the only retribution she gets for this is a few broken bones after falling out of the sky... which barely counts as a slap on the wrist compared to the lives she tried to ruin. She comes back in Mai-Otome Zwei clean as a whistle, presumably to do the same things all over again.
    • John Smith from Mai-Otome 0~S.ifr~. He kidnaps Sifr to take control of the ancient technology, and while he loses the Schwarz Space Station, M9 and quite a few of his men, he escapes in the end, albeit because the heroes' mission was about protecting Sifr rather than defeating Schwarz.
  • Nagi is not only arguably the main villain of My-HiME (even though The Man Behind the Man was technically more powerful than him), but is directly responsible for everything the characters go through. He survives unscathed and mostly unconfronted for this, admits to the entire thing being a riotously entertaining good time, and happily takes Mashiro (one of the supporting characters) with him to his home... wherever.
  • Because it only covered about 60% of the manga, the Elfen Lied anime ends with Kakuzawa laughing maniacally and declaring his victory. In the manga, Lucy slices his head off for being a pathetic Diclonius poser, and his plans ultimately come to nothing.
  • Schwarz of Weiss Kreuz were most likely allowed to become Karma Houdinis, despite being the Evil Counterparts of the protagonists and perpetrating quite a lot of carnage, by virtue of gaining enough of a fan following to become Ensemble Dark Horses. Sequel series Weiss Kreuz: Glühen sees two of them recast to some extent as Heroic Sociopaths and one more performing an arguable Heel Face Turn, but none of them have been redeemed or seen any justice for their various acts of villainy. (Meanwhile, none of the protagonists escape anything like unscathed.)
    • Farfarello. The fourth member of Schwarz. He's arguably the worst of them all; aside of everything else, he accidentally killed Ouka, purposefully killed his mother and Tot (although she got better), and his ultimate fate? Apparently, he quits being an assassin and lives happily ever after with his girlfriend. Weiss is specifically ordered to assassinate Farfarello, and Schwarz curb stomps them within an inch of their lives. What the hell?
  • In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, the Book of Darkness decides to kill Nanoha and trap Hayate and Fate in eternal dreams. The one responsible for setting up the whole thing turns out to be Gil Graham. That person's fate at the end? Retiring back in his home country of England, Earth, with his two familiars to keep him company. He thought it was the only way to get rid of the Book of Darkness once and for all. It took Nanoha's over-powered ten-member party, which included the current master of the book plus the Arc-en-Ciel to finally destroy temporarily regain control of it.
    • Perhaps a more troubling example is the above character's accomplices, the Lieze twins, who, in order to activate the Book Of Darkness, absorb Shamal and Signum's linker cores, beat up Zafira to do the same to him, and then finish off Vita in front of Hayate while disguised as Nanoha and Fate. While all the people in question get better, no one brings up what happened or proposes any punishment for the responsible parties.
  • Mayuri Kurotsuchi from Bleach is a Mad Scientist, who loves performing experiments on living subjects. In his first arc he routinely abused his daughter both physically and emotionally and he turned some of his subordinates into living bombs without their knowledge. He also arranged for the death of Uryu's father in order to study him and some other Quincy's. He does so while remaining a high-ranking member of a corrupt organization, nor does he suffer any lasting consequence for them. Yes, Uryu, after being taunted with a photograph of his grandfather, did once try to kill Mayuri by blasting a gaping hole through his chest, but he recovered going on to save and consequently bully Uryu for comic relief.
    • Not much is known about Kenpachi Zaraki's past, but it's implied that he has his own massive body count. His stated purpose in life is to fight and kill others, bringing carnage and bloodshed wherever he goes. And he doesn't have much of a reason forit either. Also. from what we know Zaraki just showed up one day and killed the previous Kenpachi because he could.
  • Keel Lorenz, the Nietzsche Wannabe Big Bad from Neon Genesis Evangelion, not only gets to see his delusions come to pass, but we get to see him reacting with sadistic glee as he is assimilated into the "perfect being" that he has created. Though his actions were implied to have been reversed by the end of the movie, we never do see him get his comeuppance.
  • Taisuke Sawanaga in School Days. He rapes his crush Kotonoha (or at least, takes advantage/bypasses her very frail state of mind) during the School Festival and the worst he gets is a broken heart. Not that broken, either.
    • Otome Katou's so-called "friends" (Natsumi, Minami and Kumi) who cruelly bully Kotonoha, bring Sekai's friend Nanami to tears and ruin her reputation at school by showing a tape featuring her sex scene with her boyfriend/sempai and have sex with Makoto just For the Lulz, despite knowing their "friend" Otome is also sleeping with him get clean away too. Though with Kotonoha's mind snapping like a twig, one can only imagine the School Days version of what happened to those bullies in Elfen Lied
    • It looks like Taisuke is, if anything, even worse in the PS2 game extension. In the extended version of Sekai's Yandere ending (the one where she's pregnant and kills Makoto), Kotonoha strongly hints that Sekai's child (born few after the murder, taken care of by Sekai's mother and Kotonoha herself since the traumatised Sekai has disappeared) is not only Taisuke's child, but may have been conceived through rape as well.
  • In the manga of The Prince of Tennis, Akaya Kirihara is never directly punished for his highly violent play. In the TV series, he does get chastisement from An and Ryoma, does say he wants to change and gets a taste of his own medicine (sorta) via playing another Tykebomb, Kevin Smith, but the developments in the OAV have rendered that void. The only punishment Kirihara received was indirect: Rikkaidai loses in the finals... but he wins his doubles match, injuring one of his rivals and almost inducing a similar Unstoppable Rage on the other. What have we said about "violence isn't allowed in-courts and those who use it are always punished", huh?
    • The Higa team. The coach is a Jerkass, and doesn't receive any more comeuppance than being hit with a tennis ball by the captain of the team when he tries to leave. Half the team itself is comprised of unsportsmanlike Jerkasses who attack other teams' coaches, and the other half is just slightly less unsportsmanlike than that. Once they're beaten by Seigaku, it's as if all grievances disappear. They even show up in a comedic Breather Episode, and no mention is made of their earlier conduct.
  • Akito of Fruits Basket, in spite of spending most of the manga series being nigh-on Ax Crazy and making the lives of every member of the Zodiac as miserable as possible at every opportunity, gets a last-minute redemption story via Tohru and ends up friends with her, Uotani and Hanajima, with Shigure as her lover.
    • Then again, that's kinda the point of having Tohru Honda as the main character. The fact that Akito herself realizes how horrific she's been, questions whether she's redeemable at all, and is the one who ultimately and willingly frees the Zodiac are points in his favor.
      • Those "points in his favor" don't make up for the extended physical, mental, and emotional abuse that nearly every single family member of his had to suffer because of him.
    • Shigure also gets away with his various manipulations, and jerkassery, getting Akito in the end to boot.
  • The resident Psycho for Hire Yazan Gable in Zeta Gundam, notorious for being the most cruel and immoral of the Titans, gets away scott-free even after Kamille completely dismantles his Mobile Suit. Although he does seem to meet his doom in the sequel, viewers never get to actually see his demise, which suggests that he may have cheated death once again. Hey, Yazan is not known as "the Immortal Cockroach" for nothing!
    • Yazan makes a brief cameo in episode 27, and while unnamed, his identity is later confirmed in Gundam Ace. "Immortal Cockroach", indeed.
      • He might have brain damage as a result of his exploits in Shangri-La however, considering he seemed to get crazier and stupider as the series went on.
    • Also subverted with Louise, who committed many atrocities with the A-Laws, but lives in the end and has an apparent happy ending. The show director, apparently unsatisfied with this, makes it more clear in the following movie that Louise's life is far from happy now and that dying would have been easier on her, but she must instead live as The Atoner. At least, however, she has Saji by her side.
  • Despite being a Super Robot OVA series, Dangaioh is heavily on the cynical side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism... and loves Karma Houdinis! To drive the point home, the main villain of the show (Garimos, leader of a population of parasitic beings who depopulate planets to fatten themselves) never gets punished for his crimes. Another villain, the psychotic cyborg Gil Barg, dies in the first OVA, but is then resurrected as an even worse Ax Crazy murderer, thus making his comeuppance null and void.
  • Glass Fleet's Manipulative Bastard Vetti Sforza uses his allies as tools and turns against them when they've served their purposes, is responsible for the deaths of Michel's father and brother, seduced if not actually raped his foster mother in order to get her to kill his foster father and then murdered her once she'd done it, drugs and apparently rapes Michel, and even kills Cleo, his own twin brother, while Cleo is trying to save the world. He states up-front that all of his efforts are for the sole purpose of prolonging his own life. Not only does he never receive any particular comeuppance, he ends up receiving instant and total redemption courtesy of some last-minute Epiphany Therapy with Cleo's spirit, and becomes the rightful leader of the entire galaxy, with Michel's apparent ungrudging support.
  • Inuyasha
    • He's not a villain for very long, but after Koga makes his Heel Face Turn, everyone seems to forget that he made his introduction to the series by feeding an entire village to his pet wolves. Then again, villages get destroyed so often in that series, they may have genuinely forgotten. On the other hand, it's probably just as well that Inuyasha's group never learn that one of the villages he destroyed was Rin's and that he even killed Rin.
    • Sesshomaru receives a very long Character Development arc to end the story as an Anti-Hero with a happy ending, having gained the sword he always wanted, had his missing arm restored, his conflict with his brother resolved, and being much more easy-going than he used to be towards humans. In the early stages of the manga, however, he was prone to putting himself in positions where humans would attack him. Human death inevitably was the end result.
    • In the manga though, it wasn't that they were attacking him but more than he was so cruel that he'd rip peoples' heads off for no reason.
  • Vandread has Rabat, more of an Honest John, but later on he says that he deliberately leads Harvest Fleets to wipe out potential dangers in return for them sparing him. And before that, deceiving the Nirvana's crew, trying to steal Hibiki's mech, and then beating him senseless whilst lecturing him on 'using his own words' despite his own deceit and greed, before escaping. Despite helping out later on, it's a wonder he doesn't receive some sort of misfortune for his actions.
    • To be fair, the Nirvana's crew did try to rob him blind after his first encounter with them, but he got away. By the second time they got him, they were busy with other matters, he returned on his own to return Hibiki, and he escaped mostly unnoticed, and the third time he helped them again.
  • Akabane Kuroudo in the GetBackers manga.
  • Paul in the Pokémon anime, has gotten away with countless cases of psychological and physical abuse towards his own Pokemon, equally countless cases of neglect and abandonment, multiple counts of poor sportsmanship, conduct unbecoming a Pokemon trainer outside the arena, one count of critically demoralizing a Gym Leader, and one Rage Quit, among others, with nary a word in reprimand for it. In fact, he's quite often praised for being a "strong trainer" instead!
  • Cain from the Trinity Blood anime, was pulling the strings behind all those events and...he gets away at the end.
    • This is mostly due to Author Existence Failure. Sunao Yoshida, the author of the novels that Trinity Blood was based on, died before he finished the series.
  • Any of the abusers from Mai-chan's Daily Life. (This is not a manga for the weak at heart. Seriously.) Because Mai and Kizuna can regenerate from anything short of total cellular destruction, they are constantly being mutilated throughout their lives as slaves, with nary a shred of payback in sight. The sole exception is the American-looking president of country "A", either because he crossed the line with baby mutilation or because he pissed off the proprietress. Kaede-san is NOT to be messed with.
  • At the end of Code Geass, Most notably Ohgi, who not only receives no punishment for his actions but is rewarded for it as he became Prime Minister of Japan. Villetta, too, to a lesser extent, and various surviving Britannian soldiers, including Princess Cornelia li Britannia, who in the real world would no doubt be tried for their war crimes. Not to mention that Ohgi and Villetta, who were responsible for the betrayal for somewhat unfounded, and a few hypocritical reasons, got the happiest ending. (To add to this, Villetta herself was no stranger to screwing over Lelouch for her own ignoble reasons, to which effect she used a traumatized Shirley to capture him.) Compare and contrast to the self-sacrifices of Lelouch and Suzaku, who alienated from and made themselves dead to the world, literally in the case of the former and figuratively in the case of the latter, who also became the new Zero as per the Zero Requiem, which made the new peace possible for everyone else. Consider also that the two may not have went with such a plan, which also had a high degree of inferred destruction, if not for the aforementioned betrayal, and it only looks even worse.
  • Ryuk from Death Note was the catalyst for several years' worth of murders, simply because he was "bored." At the end, he just goes back to the Shinigami world from whence he came, with nothing to stop him from returning to the human world and causing another murderous streak. It doesn't help that the only way a Shinigami can die is by using a Death Note to save the life of a human, something Ryuk would never do.
    • Not to mention Hitoshi Demegawa. While in the manga he's just a greedy, obnoxious character, the films take it up a notch, wherein he sexually harasses Takada. He is killed by Teru Mikami in the manga and anime, but does not die in the film.
    • Also Misa Amane, in the films. At the end of the second film, she is shown to have been let go of by the police after losing her memories of having used the Death Note, despite having previously killed Mogi (who dies here in place of Ukita in the manga). However, the police couldn't convict her without exposing the existence of the Death Note. Plus with the Note's destruction, she will as mentioned before lose her memories.
  • Momoko from Telepathy Shoujo Ran has quite a history of atrocious behavior throughout the series, ranging from putting masses of people under mind control up to getting a woman killed so she can get her hands on some special plant. At one point she also plays a major part in an effort to eradicate all of mankind. Her fate? She gets to bring her grandmother flowers in the hospital. That ought to teach her.
  • The Psycho Lesbian Duo from Strawberry Panic got away with attempting to wreck a school play, messing around with the Etoile Elections, and two separate cases of Attempted Rape. Kaname takes this one step further by pretty much using Momomi to get closer to Amane, her real crush...and they got back together in the finale. To a lesser extent, Shizuma gets away with pretty much messing around with every attractive student in the school.
  • Tsukiko from Paranoia Agent destroys most of Tokyo because of her mental instability. Her fate? She walks the streets two years later as if nothing ever happened.
  • The Twelve Kingdoms has Yuka and Kouya, both of whom are Easily Forgiven.
  • Asuham Boone from Overman King Gainer. Towards the end of the series, his obsession with getting back at Gain for the whole mess with Asuham's sister Karin degenerates to the point where Asuham willingly manipulates Cynthia and a lot of his underlings (not to mention President Munt himself) in order to awaken the Overdevil, an Eldritch Abomination capable of destroying the world. He never seemed hesitant nor regretful about it... and all that happens to him is that he gets his Dominator shot down and gets a What Were You Thinking? speech from Karin herself (who had come to terms with the fact that Gain's relationship with her wouldn't have lasted). Not much of a punishment, huh? Understandable in that Yoshiyuki Tomino had come out of his problems with depression and was producing lighter and more idealistic shows... but still, some were dissatisfied letting Asuham go like that, after all the crap he pulled.
  • Rau Le Crueset from Gundam Seed, Omnicidal Maniac and Nietzsche Wannabe (although many would consider him a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds). Dying at Kira and the Freedom's hands after killing Flay was not much of a punishment for him, considering Le Creuset was also a Death Seeker. So, in the end, he got what he wanted, and was Hannibal Lecturing the hero from beginning to end. Some have theorized that Le Crueset shot down Flay's shuttle exactly because he wanted Kira to be enraged enough to kill him...
  • Genpou Saji in Ikki Tousen. He orchestrated everything and somehow no one feels compelled to harness their rage and kick the crap out of him. If he had an actual reason to be forgiven, or had some further development later then it would work, but he's let go like he never did anything. Saji's appearance in Great Guardians doesn't fix things.
    • Strongly subverted in the manga, where his manipulations are not only generally well-intentioned and far less damaging, they eventually do get him killed by Hakufu. This, in fact, is even part of his plan, which he thinks of as his due comeuppance.
    • And wasn't he given a somewhat more sympathetic role in Great Guardians, by having him show genuine concern and love towards the real Saji Genpou, retaking his places as Ouin Shishi (Wang Yun) and de-brainwashing Ryoufu? That's not 100% enough to redeem him, but it's far from simple handwaving.
  • In Tokyo Babylon, Seishirou Sakurazuka is this, managing to walk away at the end of the series with nothing more than a lost eye (which is lost willingly, by the way) after killing one main character and horribly breaking another, in addition to many other murders he himself claims to have committed. It's not until X 1999 that he finally gets some karmic retribution, but considering that even then he dies on his terms by what amounts to assisted suicide...
  • Franken Fran is better-known for its particularly vicious Laser-Guided Karma... but the villain of Chapter 21 manages to pull this off. Not only does the greedy, self-serving, abusive child molester live, but he manages to get a job at an amusement park where he'll be surrounded by children. The sum total of his "punishment" is that he's trapped in a living mascot costume... which will only make it easier for him to find victims. Fran is too much of a Cloudcuckoolander to see anything more than slightly odd about just how happy he is with this outcome.
  • In Heat Guy J, Daisuke's older brother (and boss), Shun stages a coup d'etat and tries to enforce martial law in Judoh, but gets granted amnesty because of the good things he'd done leading up to that as the police chief
  • Ms. Nomura of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, who along with her cohorts in Tokyo, funded the schemes of Big Bad Miyo Takano to wipe out Hinamizawa and its residents get off scot free when said scheme fails by making Takano their scapegoat for the entire plot. This is in spite of them being as quite guilty of causing the disaster as Takano, and unlike her, having NO Freudian Excuse.
  • Doubt has a massive one in Rei. Who orchestrated the entire event, is shown to have done it at least once before, and comes out from it all with everyone who knows the truth dead and the only survivor hypnotized, psychotic, and ripe to take all the blame while she dances of scott free to do it again gloating all the way.
  • Sae from Peach Girl. She does do some make-goods, and she encounters some serious setbacks and heartache, particularly in the manga sequel/spinoff, Sae's Story. But the pain she puts Momo through - at one point threatening to disgrace her on an international level, just so Toji will break up with her, and making Momo believe she's been raped - means that she should have had some kind of beatdown. Note that the classmates she tricks early in the series to hate Momo are ready to hold Momo down and maybe hit her, but no such brutality is even mentioned when Sae is majorly exposed. She doesn't do a complete Houdini, except when the level of her actions is taken into account. Her pain with Ryo was largely self-inflicted, so it really doesn't balance the scales.
  • Nabiki Tendo from Ranma ½. She runs small scams and petty blackmail schemes all over the place but was only called out once.
  • Almost all of the villains in Black Cat do not die or suffer any permanent injury. Some are never even defeated or fought. Only one member of the Apostle of the Star dies. Some undergo a Heel Face Turn. Creed is defeated but spared and actually saved by Train, in spite of the things he had done. Even the leaders of Chronos who turn out to be pulling the strings are never defeated.
    • This is also true in the manga. Letting Creed go may actually be excusable (as his mind is more or less broken) but Kyoko? Shiki? The Doctor?!
  • Rome-Ro from Heroic Age pretty much gets away with quite a lot of things from mass genocide, to brutally abusing Yuti-Ra. The two princes cheat death three times and eventually become the rulers of the known universe, after blowing up Jupiter, leading their entire fleet into suicide and bombarding the Bronze tribe homeworld, killing billions of helpless larvae.
  • Care to guess the ultimate fate of Goldie Musou, the main antagonist of Gunsmith Cats, a brainwashing, drug-dealing Psycho Lesbian crimelord? She ends up in a happy, consensual relationship with Misty Brown, a protagonist she once kidnapped and presumably raped. And she doesn't even quit being a drug-dealing crimelord, albeit a less psychotic one.
  • Apparently Kenichi Sonoda loves this trope. His another well-known manga, Cannon God Exaxxion features General Shes'ka, ruthless field commander of the Alien Invasion, who is directly responsible for upholding brutal policies of the occupation regime in general, personally gives orders that lead to countless civilian deaths, patently doesn't give a shit about the lives of his fellow Riofaldians as well, and schemes against the central Riofaldian government at the expense of everyone, caught in the crossfire. He doesn't even attempt to hide what a heartless monster he is. What happened to him? He survived and became the leader of remaining Riofaldians on Earth.
  • Hao of Shaman King. Screw Freudian Excuse, the guy had an entire organization made of people whose lives he ruined after him, he ruthlessly killed all of his opponents in the Shaman Tournament and then devoured their souls, many members of said organization among them. His punishment in the manga version? He succeeds in becoming the titular Shaman King.
  • In the first season of Shakugan no Shana the anime, Ball Masque (the main villains) do not get their comeuppance.
  • Chaos Choir's leaders and main villains (and Well-Intentioned Extremist) in Elemental Gelade were beaten in combat but were not punished for their villainy.
  • In the Shangri-La anime, Nagiko and Tarsian instituted a system of child sacrifice yet are never called to account for this and are seen flying off together scott free in the last episode.
  • Nina Purpleton in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory is partially responsible for the success of the colony drop, stabs Kou in the back (after lots of tedious relationship development setting them up as a couple that culminated shortly before this) by running back to her old boyfriend (who happens to be Gato, one of the major villains) and then pointing a gun at him to protect the villain, and this on top of being a bitch to Kou for most of the series. And not only does she get off scott-free in the end, she has the audacity to smile at Kou in the epilogue!
  • Accelerator in A Certain Magical Index killed ten thousand innocent people in the name of an experiment and an unknown but undoubtedly large number before that, though they were admittedly less so. Punishment? A hit to his ego and being punched a few times. At least until he voided the Karma Houdini Warranty, anyway...
  • Throughout Infinite Ryvius, a shadowy conspiracy launched a False Flag terrorist attack against a school, tried to murder everyone aboard (resulting in the deaths of the entire faculty and many students,) chased after the surviving students (all children) and attempted to kill them all, caused massive collateral damage in the process, blocked the students' attempts to communicate with anyone, framed the students for everything that happened so far, and blew up an inhabited moon. In the last episodes, one of the naval officers they've duped finds out about the situation and publicly exposes the whole thing before killing himself in shame, the result? They're apparently given administrative control over researching the Super Prototype spaceship the students survived aboard while being hounded around the solar system in. Oh, and the protagonist (who, up to this moment has been an utter Butt Monkey) slugs one of them in the face after considering their apology.
  • The protagonist Yamaguchi in Suehiro Maruo's Poison Strawberry. Karma Houdini for its own sake.
  • Needless to say, many characters in Hentai. Rare is the sex scene that's consensual throughout for both parties.
  • Waiting for that treacherous Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Rosemary from Ashita no Nadja to finally get what's coming to her? Well, when the series ends, you'll still be waiting. A slap in the face is literally the most she receives for her crimes.
  • In Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, the main villain is duly punished, essentially with death ( Reika's dark side disappears or gets reabsorbed or something). But Hosaka has happily assisted with every step of the evil plan, from simple kidnapping to chucking a woman out of a helicopter... and his comeuppance consists entirely of losing to Shungo in a fight. The woman even forgives him! (So okay, she survived, but he wasn't sure she would.)
  • In Pokémon Special, Karen and Will were Elite Mooks who gleefully attempted to Mind Rape Blue, made it very clear that they willingly followed the Big Bad For the Evulz, and ditched the Big Bad not because they went through a Heel Face Turn, but because they got scared and ran away. And yet, somehow, they're now part of the Indigo League Elite Four as of the HGSS arc.
  • In one episode of Cowboy Bebop, Chessmaster Hex gets away scott-free simply on the grounds that he's to old and senile to remember the plan he set into motion 50 years ago that just now activated.
  • In the anime Jyu-Oh-Sei the evil character Nagi murders innocent people. He is never punished for what he does and never shows any remorse. Not only does he live at the end of the series, but the good characters like Thor and Tiz continually defend him and save his life.
  • In the Gilgamesh, Dr. Monica and the rest of the original scientists survive to the very end of the series with no one else left alive to exact retribution upon them. Monica killed off many people especially during the Twin X incident. At the end of the series he manages to kill off the main characters and the rest of the human race. What happens to him after the end of the series is unknown. Even if he ceased to exist, which is likely what happened, it's still not karma, because that's exactly what he wanted to happen.
  • Dilandu in the Escaflowne movie gets away scot-free with his surviving Dragonslayers, without showing any remorse for his previous actions. He just shrugs, comments that there will always be new wars for him to fight, and rides off into the sunset. What's worse is that the scene has an extremely positive tone to it, like he somehow deserved to live and continue his life of violence and bloodshed without learning a thing, except maybe "don't try to fight Escaflowne".
  • Surprisingly, AIR of all things have this in the form of the Buddhist Monks. Their crime? Killing an innocent (albeit powerful) girl who left the temple to go see her mom, then proceeding to put a curse on her soul so that she will die every time she feels love. This leads into Misuzu's death as well. They get away with their crimes. The sadder part? Someone was considering going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge on them, but was stopped because it wouldn't be what that girl would want.
  • Turn a Gundam's Guin Sand Rhineford does presumably lose his power in Inglessa, but it is never shown on screen; in the epilogue, Guin and Merrybell are seen calmly sailing off on a yacht.
  • Izaya from Durarara!! does get punched for his actions. Once. In the anime only. For emotionally destroying a middle schooler and causing a huge gang war that puts an incredible strain on the relationship between three of the main characters. He also gets hit once by a trashcan Shizuo threw, but this is Played for Laughs and has no effect on him, and blatantly doesn't make up for having framed Shizuo for numerous crimes and sending wave after wave of thugs to attack him when they were in highschool. The novel however subverts this as karma is starting to come back and hit him particularly getting stabbed by Jinnai, leaving him in the hospital for days when anyone who hates him can come and kill him. Karma seems to have hit him in volume 9 when he's tortured by Earthworm but this is later subverted too as it turns out he had everything planned out from the beginning and was waiting for the best moment to humiliate her.
  • If Johan got away in the end, so is Michio Yuki? He may failed to gas the whole world and loses Garai, but he manages to get away clean from it by posing as his younger lookalike brother.
  • Character Development or no, there have been times where Karma seems to love giving Haruhi Suzumiya the longer end of the stick. From groping Mikuru, to blackmailing the Computer Club, to spiking Mikuru's drink and calling her Haruhi's toy, many come to wonder why she hasn't been suspended/expelled/arrested.
    • She did almost earn a punch from Kyon for those last two offenses (the last straw being the "Mikuru is my toy" thing), which prompted her immediate Heel Face Turn (even more immediate in the anime version), so this could be a subversion. Doesn't stop her from molesting Mikuru in "Someday in the Rain" just for old time's sake, but then again, that may just be the author confused about the timeline he had set up in Anachronic Order.
  • In Love Hina, Kanako rapes Motoko while disguised as Naru to sow chaos among the residents. The incident is briefly mentioned when the residents attack Naru, and then when the real culprit is found, completely forgotten. Kanako suffers no punishment for this and other cruel acts.
    • The same can be said for the brutality the other female inmates of Hinata House put Keitaro through. Naru's antics on Keitaro, which, many times, are extreme overreactions, dip into sociopathy that could warrant arrests.
  • Both Lina and, to a lesser extent, Zelgadis from Slayers; Lina's reaction to anything minor (I.E stepping on a sardine in one of the movies, or a dragon not stepping on her in the anime) often results in wanton destruction of entire cities and kingdoms. She also mistreats her comrades to the point that she could easily be identified as a sociopath - she berates Gourry to no end, tends to put Amelia in life-threatening situations and brushes them off (like nearly letting her drown in a pickle barrel), and allows Zelgadis to be used as bait for a lake-dwelling dragon. As for Zelgadis, one of his favorite methods of getting something involves either murder or getting someone hurt, but he does it far less often than Lina.
    • Rezo, Rezo, Rezo...a priest who healed people far and wide...and experimented on others, often to the point of death, and sacrificing an entire kingdom to open his eyes...sure, he apologized in the end, but still.
  • In a rare heroic example, it's a wonder Ariel from Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? is still teaching at Matelis after trying to overthrow Lilia Lilith, Queen of Villiers, a century ago. Her accomplices weren't so lucky, though...
  • Windaria Lagado and Selenia. Both of them apparently get away with their evil deeds.
  • President Kuroi on the anime version of THE iDOLM@STER, shows himself to be a Jerkass on a great caliber, attempting to sabotage the 765Pro idols only to prove himself 'superior' to 765Pro's President Takagi. In the end he's shown laughing to himself as his last scheme agaisnt the 765Pro Agency works wonderfully and they can't do anything to get back at him. He did lose his Project Jupiter, who's sick of his sabotaging, especially that one event involving slandering Chihaya with her Dark and Troubled Past to the point of traumatizing her, but considering that in his last words, he said that the Jupiters are expendable and he can find another group, it's only a matter of time until he rises back up to try and slander 765Pro again.
  • Sakura Kyouko from Puella Magi Madoka Magica treats humans as feedstock to farm Witches, having probably directly or indirectly killed hundreds of people so she can throw magic around a little more freely. But oh well, she's got a Dead Little Sister and tries to save a main character (who she also previously tried to kill), so she gets a nice Heroic Sacrifice (and eventually gets a reasonably good ending).
  • A large portion of Queen's Blade's cast are murderers, thieves, destroyers of nature, and general self-centered dog-kicking psychopaths. The franchise is also a fan of giving happy endings to any character with an official game book.
  • Hatori from Sekaiichi Hatsukoi comes off as one. While most semes in yaoi anime tend to get away with raping their uke and said uke falling for them, this series is known for avoiding the Victim Falls For Rapist trope to make it more realistic. However, what has made people remember Hatori is in the novel he brutally rapes his best friend Chiaki after thinking that he lost said best friend to his rival Yanase. What makes it stand out though is during the rape scene, Chiaki is shown to be screaming and begging him his friend to stop and not enjoying it at all unlike other yaoi "rape" scenes. Hatori tries to atone by quitting his job but given that Chiaki is idiot, he begs him to stay and they hook up...thus starting their rather unbalanced relationship in the series.
    • It gets worse as the series progresses. By episode 16, it's like Hatori is trying to see how much he can get away with his Yandere tendencies. In the episode he gets to cancel his date with Chiaki and expect him to be fine about it, goes to meet his ex girlfriend (of course he was meeting her due to work but Chiaki thought he was cheating on him behind his back, and it's later revealed by Yanase that he went out with a lot of girls during his high school year and that it's not impossible to think that), and finally barges into Yanase's house and proceeding to beat the crap out of him and then forcing himself into Chiaki's house. And what does he get? He gets yelled at by Chiaki for simply skipping out on the date and he gets Chiaki to calm down easily. The last concerning Yanase is the cause of a huge backlash given that Yanase was just rejected by Chiaki a second time and entered a Heroic BSOD and Hatori proceeding to beat him up counts as a huge Kick Them While They Are Down Moment that leaves a bitter taste in the viewers mouth.
  • The Garden of Words: Aizawa and her fellow bullies get away with spreading nasty rumors about Yukari, leading to her resignation, with little lasting repercussion beyond a slap from Takao.
  • In one early episode of Komi Can't Communicate, Yamai shifts from Clingy Jealous Girl to borderline Yandere by kidnapping Tadano, tying him up, and stowing him in her closet, outright stating she never intends to let him leave. The story took this all way too seriously for her to have meant it as a joke (and if she did, it was not funny), but oddly, she is quickly forgiven by Tadano and Komi, and has never faced any comeuppance for this at all. This is, by the way, a big reason why Yamai is regarded as a Hate Sink by fans.

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