Jerkass/Anime: Difference between revisions

* Zelgadis Graywords of the ''[[Slayers]]'' franchise, though only in the original novel series. It really doesn't help that he was [[Put on a Bus|shipped off without any justification]] after the first eight novels were over. And even [[Obfuscating Stupidity|''Gourry'']] showed scant shades of this trope in the novels; justified because he isn't [[The Ditz]] in that media.

** No, that would be Novel-only. He's not like that in the mangas, the animes, or the mangas not connected to the anime.

* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' has a cast that's almost all villains, but even among them, {{spoiler|Chaka}} stands out for sheer Jerkassery. From the moment we see him {{spoiler|he gets a call on his cell when he's supposed to be in a meeting, and tells his girlfriend that for calling him when he said not to call, he's going to knock some of her teeth out}} to later {{spoiler|when he beats Rock without any provocation on Rock's part, to try to get Revy either interested in him or into a gunfight -- the concepts are mixed in his mind}} and his final exploit where {{spoiler|he kidnaps Yukio, strips her half-naked with the help of his [[Mooks]] and plans to rape her and sell her into sexual slavery}}, he goes on in the same old way. He gets his comeuppance big-time when {{spoiler|Ginji Matsuzaki, the [[Badass]] guardian of Yukio, slices up his gun, chops off his hands, and sends him into a swimming pool to drown}}.

* In the [[OAV|OAVs]], Princess Ayeka's petty rivalry with Ryoko in ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' was a humorous chink in her formal armor, deflating her pomposity. Through several TV series -- especially ''Shin Tenchi Muyo'' (''Tenchi In Tokyo'' in the US) - made it so noticeable that she became rather [[The Ditz|ditzy]].

** In the spin-off, you have Yume from the manga and Ramia and Konoha from ''Pretty Sammy''.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Gin Ichimaru.

* Tomo from ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', though the characters tend to treat her appropriately. Yomi occasionally hits her, but probably not as often as she deserves. Although there are quite a few examples that show Tomo DOES care.

** Also Yukari. You can just ''tell'' she's got no other friends apart from Nyamo. But then, strangely, neither does Nyamo. This may be justified, though, because they work at a [[Two-Teacher School|Three ...ish Teacher School]], and the third teacher, Kimura, is a [[Dirty Old Man]]. <small>And then there's [[Stern Teacher|that one]] no one remembers who made Chiyo freak out.</small>

** In Tomo's case, getting scratched by Maya is taken as an opportunity for Yomi and Kagura to point out several times over that she should learn a lesson about how she treats others. It goes over her head.

* Dr. Eggman in ''[[Sonic X]]''. Lampshaded in the final episode of series 1, where he's yelling for Sonic over a microphone (keeping everyone in the forrest up at an unreasonable hour) he says 'This world will have to face the music!' before disco lights come on in his ship and he starts doing a dance that his robots call 'The Jerk'.

* Envy from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is not only one of the [[Complete Monster|more evil]] homunculi, but he also enjoys taunting and insulting his enemies, prisoners, allies and even fellow homunculi. Basque Grand is also a huge one in the first anime.

* Aika from ''[[Aria]]'' has a very competitive attitude and she often corrects her friends in a loud tone when she thinks they make embarrassing remarks. Nobody really cares though and [[Tsundere|she has her nice moments as well]]. Her [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|mild crush on Alicia]] is also pretty cute.

* Almost entire cast of ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]'', save for the protagonist and his love interest.

** Notable jerkass-exceptions aside from those two: Grandpa Otonashi, the Godai family (save for Grandma Godai, who can be a jerkass just for kicks), [[The Ojou|Asuna Kujo]] (she's just sheltered and somewhat naive... if she's ever being a jerkass, it's entirely unintentional) and possibly Ikuko Otonashi, who isn't able to keep her attention focused on anything for longer than half a minute. Oh, and Soichiro (Otonashi, anways; the dog, most of the time)

* While James and Meowth of the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime have been played sympathetically many times since their first character development episodes, Jessie has always been the "nasty one" of the trio and doesn't get many episodes to herself. To her credit, she has had [[Pet the Dog]] moments, like when she let Dustox go away to mate or her bond with a certain Blissey...but these are somewhat sparse.

** There's also Ash's Sinnoh rival Paul...whose methods of training make Kanto Gary seem tame by comparison. This was so bad [[Even Evil Has Standards|even Jessie was appalled by it]].

** Unova rival Trip didn't really care about Pikachu currently lacking access to its Electric attacks, though he's a bit more friendly than Paul. However, this is subverted later when he has more of a [[Jerkass Facade]] as shown when he does care about Ash's Pokemon as saving Ash's Pidove from Venipede that attacked her and then later telling Ash that his Oshawott needs to open his eyes when using Aqua Jet.

* The title character from ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'' comes across like this for any scene where she loses her temper and says nasty things to Jean and occasionally Nemo (both of who obviously don't deserve it). Nonetheless, she ''does'' apologize numerous times to Jean for her outbursts and even does something reconciliatory (e.g. comforting him about his father, bringing him something to eat, or going on walks with him) {{spoiler|but she never gets to do so with Nemo, until she realizes, too late, that she could have been nicer}}.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Nie A_7]]'' is a lazy, loudmouthed freeloader who seems to care so little about other people that it sometimes crosses into full-fledged sociopath territory. Why the other characters put up with this is a mystery.

* The agents of the O'Hara Foundation tend to act this way towards Ray Steam in the movie ''[[Steamboy]]''. By the end, it seems that they're trying to kill him out of sheer spite, despite having no particular reason to do so and much, ''much'' better things to do with their time (such as {{spoiler|trying to escape the giant, flying steam-powered castle that's about to self-destruct around them}}).

* The whole soccer club in ''[[Clannad]]'' are made of douchebags, it is no wonder why Sunohara left the club since day one. This gets even worse in the Sunohara path (and in ''After Story'' anime adaptation), when Youhei's sister Mei asks to let her brother rejoin to get his spirit back, they instantly dismiss him roughly. Then when Tomoya helps out in requesting, they tell him, Mei and Nagisa to be ball-catcher, and purposely throw the ball out just so they can see the three struggle. And when Mei begs about it again, they start bullying her ON PURPOSE. No wonder when Sunohara saves her in a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment, it becomes a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for someone who's usually treated like a [[Butt Monkey]].

** Too bad they revert Sunohara's status back in the episode ''right after it'', when he gets {{spoiler|beaten up by Misae several times}}.

* Luxus from ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. One of the most powerful mages in the guild (''the'' most powerful, according to him, but he's pretty full of himself so that might not be very accurate), he has absolutely no redeeming features and seems to exist solely to anger other people, and try to get into the pants of the guild's female members. His accomplishments thus far include goading the protagonists into putting themselves into life-threatening danger, refusing to help in the conflict with rival guild Phantom Lord, even after the Guild Master, Makarov, was badly injured in the fight, and afterwards ''mocking'' the people who got hurt in the conflict, calling them weaklings. When he succeeds Makarov as the guild's master, he fully intends to rid the guild of anyone he deems too weak. He's quite certain he'll be named the next guild master, as not only is he the only qualified mage in the guild at the moment, he's also Makarov's flesh-and-blood grandson. This is, in fact, precisely the reason why Makarov hasn't retired yet: because he knows that if he does so, Fairy Tail will be left in his [[Jerkass]] grandson's hands.

** Most recently Luxus, tired of waiting for his inheritance, pit the entirety of Fairy Tail against itself in a [[Battle Royale]] situation. This is accomplished by turning the guild's female members to stone, threatening that they'll turn to dust if not healed soon, then setting up various traps that won't fade unless the male members fight one another. When this fails, by virtue of the hostages being freed, Luxus ups the ante and takes the entire town hostage. All to force Makarov to step down as master and place himself there instead.

* Eguchi in ''[[Wa Ga Na Wa Umishi]]'' isn't content with being an arrogant genius. No, he's gotta go out of his way to ruin other people's efforts as sneakily as possible just so he can keep being better than them. Even his bosses don't like him, even though he's their best worker.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke Uchiha wavers for quite a while between being a straight-up [[Jerkass]] (especially after the [[Time Skip]]) and a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] and/or wearer of the [[Jerkass Facade]]; despite his constant posturing, and especially prior to his [[Heroic BSOD]] (Rival edition) and [[Face Heel Turn]] courtesy of his [[Aloof Big Brother]], he ''is'' shown warming up to his team mates and putting his life on the line to protect them. Then he [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|Jumps over The Slippery Slope]], which is a pity.

** Neji Hyuuga is introduced as this until Naruto [[Defeat Means Friendship|beats it out of him]]. Before this happened, the nicest thing we have seen him do is offer his cousin a chance to surrender before their match. And then, for all intents and purposes, he tries to kill her and only fails because the adults in charge are quick enough to jump in and stop him.

*** And then he has the audacity to get upset and cry favoritism when they stop him from essentially murdering his defenseless cousin.

* Makoto Ito from ''[[School Days]]'' starts out as a fairly typical loser protagonist only to turn into one of the biggest jerks of all time by the end of the series, first cheating on his girlfriend Kotonoha with his classmate [[Matchmaker Crush|Sekai]], then cheating on ''her'' with most of the rest of the female cast - and, when Sekai {{spoiler|reveals that she is pregnant with his child}}, Makoto {{spoiler|ditches her for Kotonoha}}. [[Hoist by His Own Petard|It does not end well]].

** He isn't as much of an asshole in the [[OVAs]] or the spin-offs though.

* Futana from ''[[Futaba-Kun Change!|Futaba Kun Change]]''. She even attempts to sexually molest her own brother and at one point vomits into his mouth simply because he is closer than the toilet is.

** The bus driver and guy running the school are okay. They're still jerks but they're watching out for him.

** Gin, the werewolf, is more of a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], actually.

** And the male members of the recently introduced Wong family seem to be more-or-less decent guys. [[Cloudcuckoolander|Kinda weird]], but nice. Which is ironic, considering they're a 'family' in both the blood-related sense and the ''Mafia'' sense...

* Floe from ''[[Simoun]]''.

* Sesshomaru from ''[[Inuyasha]]'' definitely counts. The guy is a cold-hearted, emotionless killer who tried to kill his own brother simply because he's half-human! It's only when he gets a ''[[Morality Pet]]'' that he FINALLY starts to care for something other than himself, and that's an understatement. The guy went {{spoiler|into hell, of which there is no return, killed the hell god and then ''purified hell''}} to save the little girl.

** Arisa is just a fluffy bunny compared to Precia Testarossa. She constantly batters and abuses Fate whenever she fails on a mission- she ''whips'' the poor eight year old girl with a bullwhip! All Fate wanted to do was see her mommy smile again. She didn't care how much she had to suffer, as long her "mommy dearest" became nice again. Unfortunately for her, {{spoiler|Precia reveals that she was just a clone of her dead daughter, Alice, that she was simply a tool and that she never loved her at all; if anything, she hated her! Fate tries to give her one last chance to repent for her crimes, telling her that while she isn't Alice, she can still be her daughter. And the queen bitch laughs at her face and chooses to die instead!}}

* Nijima of ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]'', otherwise known as "that guy who could solve all of Kenichi's problems by ''shutting the hell up'' and not attracting attention". Although he does have some moments that prove that he's not [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|all bad]].

* Pretty much everyone in ''[[Sekirei]]'' who isn't part of the main cast.

** Bonus points for Higa, the Ashikabi of the East. His crimes thus far: holding a sickly Ashikabi hostage and making her Sekirei fight for him, kidnapping the protagonist's sister (apparently he wants to marry her!), manipulating ''her'' Sekirei into fighting for him, using both the first and third things to rampantly cheat at the game {{spoiler|(like when he had Uzume and Shiina take out the winner of the second round of the current arc's game and steal the [[Plot Coupon|prize]])}} as well as cheating in general (he brought at least one extra Sekirei to the current round of the game), and (very important in this sort of plot) he treats his Sekirei like objects. He tried to form an alliance with Minato a few chapters ago, which was rejected because of that last point alone (Minato doesn't even ''know'' about his sister yet, and I don't think he'll be happy when he finds out!). If Higa made that offer knowing Minato and Yukari were siblings, then he's an idiot on top of the [[Jerkass]] thing...

*** The Yukari thing is actually extra stupid because not only does Minato have powerful Sekirei on his side, {{spoiler|Minato and Yukari's mother is the [[The Dragon|second-in-command]] of Minaka, the guy running the Sekirei game. Not that she seems to ''care'' about her kids...}}

** For those who ''aren't'' outright [[Jerkass]] material, though, they fall more into [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]. Examples include: Seo Kaoru and his twin Sekirei, both Yukari and Takami Sahashi, Haruka Shigi, and ''possibly'' even Hiroto Minaka (when he ''does'' Pet The Dog). Outright aversions include #95 Kuno (Haruka's Sekirei), #107 Shiina (Yukari's Sekirei) and Chiho Hidaka.

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Kururu/Kululu]] in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]''. He's far more interested in dicking around with <s> the other members of his squad</s> anyone and everyone around him, than actually doing anything useful.

* [[Yotsuba&!|Yanda]] seems to genuinely enjoy picking on a ''five-year-old girl''. Koiwai probably wouldn't have anything to do with him if he had a choice (he doesn't; Yanda is his kohei and thus he's socially expected to let him hang around). As it stands, Yanda does get put in his place - [[Butt Monkey|a lot]].

* Hibari, Byakuran, and Reborn from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''.

* Naru from ''[[Love Hina]]'' can come across as this at times, especially in the anime.

* ''[[Gundam]]'' has lots of this: Amuro Ray, Kamille Bidan, Judau Ashta, Setsuna F. Seiei, etc... you name it!

** Nena Trinity from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|00]]'' especially deserves mentioning, being a [[Yangire]] who enjoys killing people simply out of boredom.

* Hiei from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', and egregiously so, especially in the manga. By the end of the anime, he manages to squeak into [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] territory, but just barely. Considering that he's a demon who was [[Parental Abandonment|cast out]] of the [[Lady Land|female-only society he was born in]], despite his own mother ''actually wanting'' to raise him, he would naturally be an ass, but Kurama's noteworthy companionship and respect makes it more of a [[Freudian Excuse]].

* Excalibur from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' is an absurdly powerful being, his weapon form once wielded by King Arthur. But his fame seems to have gone to his head, turning him into an insufferable jerkass, with a list of 1000 rules you must follow if you want to wield him. Yes, 1000.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has a bunch:

** Seto Kaiba pretty much starts out as this, forcing Yugi's grandpa to duel and mocking anyone, especially Joey, who he considers beneath him in terms of dueling skills.

** Bandit Keith is like the above, only worse. When Bones fails to beat Joey in a duel, he not only has his cronies block the exit to a cave where Yugi and Co. are in, but beats the crap out of said cronies and steals their star chips.

* Tsugawa the manager in ''[[Japan Inc]]''.

* Asuka Langley Soryu of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is practically the epitome of a jerkass who regularly announces that she hates everyone and everything at times of emotional intensity (which is mostly when she fails due to her own fault and tries to blame it on something else). She is not even trying to be playful or joking when she says she hates people; she almost always ''means'' it, especially in the case of Shinji or Rei for merely not being nice to her, despite the fact that they did absolutely nothing to deserve it; in other words, she hates them just for ''being'' there. There is a good reason for this, though: [[Freudian Excuse|like all the main characters, she has an extremely traumatic past, which has instilled her with a severe inferiority complex]], for which she compensates by aggressively attempting to keep the people around her from getting too close to her, as she does not want anyone controlling or [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|pitying]] her.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Kira is one, in part thanks to [[Loners Are Freaks]]. His main issue is his aloofness and that he enjoys [[The Bully|getting a rise]] out of angels like [[The Chick|Rey]].

 

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