Magnificent Bastard/Anime: Difference between revisions

* Akio Ohtori from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''. He seduces multiple women including {{spoiler|Utena, his sister Anthy, and his fiancee's mother}} as well as some guys {{spoiler|Touga}}. He also: rigs {{spoiler|the entire series of duels}}; creates {{spoiler|a false timeline}}; convinces {{spoiler|his own sister to stab Utena}}; and runs a private school in his spare time. [[Karma Houdini|And he gets away with all of that.]] ( {{spoiler|Well, ''almost'' all. Anthy ''does'' shake off his mind control in the end and leaves him to find Utena.}}

* Lord Laertes Van Di Montague from [[Romeo X Juliet]], who {{spoiler|pretty much [[Self Made Man|rose from the slums]] after the death of his prostitute mother, infiltrated himself in the Montague clan as a kid, killed its leader when he was of age, slaughtered the rival clan of the Capulets both to gain power and as revenge for his destitute origins, and ruled Neo Verona with a hand of steel for almost 15 years.}} And that's just the beginning...

** Also, Sailor Galaxia. Her super effective manipulations of all of her soldiers (and Queen Nehelenia, in the anime) as well as her sheer power puts her squarely here in this trope.

* Xellos for ''[[The Slayers]]'' fits this bill quite nicely, even moreso in the original novels.

** There is actually quite a suprising number of Magnificent Bastards for a manga about blood thirsty vikings.

* Sakyou from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''. Even before his main role in the Dark Tournament arc, he effortlessly used Yusuke's team to cause the downfall of one of his rivals.

** There's also Shinobu Sensui, who expertly manipulated disadvantaged superpowered youths into heinous acts in an attempt to stall the good guys, {{spoiler|forced Kurama into a situation where he would have to kill a young child in order to proceed, tricked Makihara/Gourmet into eating Elder Toguro, who took control of him and killed him, and kidnapped Kuwabara so that Gourmet/Toguro could eat him and absorb his newfound dimension cutting powers in order to destroy a powerful barrier}}. Later, after {{spoiler|killing Yusuke}}, Sensui manipulates Kuwabara into {{spoiler|cutting down the Kekkai barrier, which is the only thing preventing not only Sensui's plan, but also preventing Kurama and Hiei from crossing over to try and exact revenge}}.

* Although she is one of the good guys, [[Mahou Sensei Negima|Haruna Saotome]] [[Chaotic Neutral|herself]] is this in regards to pactios, or anything involving magic. Ships everyone with Negi, DRAGS Negi to ''Comiket'', and makes plans to conquer the entire Magic World.

* ''[[Durarara!!]]'' has Orihara Izaya. Everything that happens in Ikebukuro is a result of his massive game of [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]. Except in book four, but he makes up for it in five and six because he felt left out.

* ''[[Black Butler (anime)|Black Butler]]'' has Lau in the anime and {{spoiler|Claude}}

*** Ciel Phantomhive himself is basically a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in training (if he's not already one). He's a [[Badass Adorable]] [[Deadpan Snarker]] [[The Chessmaster|Chessmaster]] who's arguably even more dangerous than his demonic [[Battle Butler]].

* Souichi of ''Challengers'' and ''[[The Tyrant Falls in Love]]'' is a relatively down-to-earth version of this. When a professor attempts to rape him, Souichi attempts to murder the guy. {{spoiler|Morinaga}} stops him, but Souichi still manages to stab the guy ''deep'' in the ass with a pair of scissors. When Soichi and Morinaga witness a guy on his cellphone ignoring the pleas of a woman who has an assistive device in her heart, Soichi gets fed up when the woman collapses and snatches the phone out of the guy's hand then snaps it in half. Soichi is not a supervillain and he hasn't got the world under his thumb, but he's a damned terrifying force when his protectiveness of his brother, his sense of justice or his hatred of gays is crossed, which is often.

* Kanako from [[Star Driver]], you are fighting against the Ginga Bishounen who has beaten everyone else and you are ineveitably next on the chopping block? Why you betray your call to be "professional" (Splitting real life from your life in the Crux) and steal the first kiss of the Ginga Bishounen (without using a glass wall to make it innocent).

* {{spoiler|Kyuubey}} from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' seems to be the kind of person who walks the line between [[Complete Monster]] and [[Magnificent Bastard]]. So far his plans are ''very'' cruel and have had ''huge'' consequences (like {{spoiler|tricking young girls with deep wishes into becoming pretty much liches, then withdrawing info about the tremendous disadvantages of the Magical Girl job, and watching as they become witches and end up killing or being killed}}), but except for {{spoiler|Madoka (the girl with the most potential) not making the contract (and once only becaue Homura stopped her from doing so)}}, it has all gone ''just as planned''. It's even better/worse when you see that {{spoiler|his goals aren't 100% self-serving... but very akin to those of [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|the Anti-Spiral]]: sacrificing some... to save everyone. And for that, he had Sayaka become a witch, then Kyoko to pretty much join her in death... and thus, he left Madoka and Homura in such a position that if Madoka doesn't become a Puella Magi, ''the universe will die''.}}

*** Even then, he doesn't exactly 'lose.' {{spoiler|Madoka recreates the world and eliminates all witches. So instead Puellae Magi fight demons, and harvest energy from them.}} It's not as efficient a method of harvesting energy, but it still allows {{spoiler|Kyuubey}} to accomplish his mission, just in a somewhat more modest way.

*** Some fans take this further, speculating that {{spoiler|Madoka's final wish}} was in fact [[All According to Plan]]; indeed, some ascribe ''[[Gambit Roulette|everything that happened in the series]]'' to [[The Chessmaster|his machinations]], even the parts that seemed to go against his intentions.

* Kenneth Yamaoka from ''Eagle: The Making Of An Asian American President''.

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'''s [[Big Bad|Shishio Makoto]] came up with the plan to burn Kyoto right to the ground {{spoiler|as a ''DISTRACTION'' while he and his minions [[False Flag Operation|sailed a warship into Tokyo]] and let sheer panic rip the government apart}}. This is just his biggest, most expensive example though. He practically lives for this trope.

* The main point of Iason Mink's character in ''[[Ai no Kusabi]]'' is that he is both magnificent...and a complete and utter bastard. Only his high status in society let's him get away with it.

* Toua Tokuchi, the protagonist of ''[[One Outs]]'', definitely qualifies.

* [[Well Intentioned Extremist]] Choji Suitengu of [[Speed Grapher]].