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* The second season of the ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' anime showed the perspectives of the SWA who were trying to protect Italy and the Padanian terrorists who were trying to free their country from an oppressive government.
* In the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga the near-genocidal Ishval Massacre is told from the point of view of the invading Amestrian soldiers, the Rockbells (heroic war-zone doctors), and an unnamed Ishvalan Warrior Priest (Scar). Nearly all the Amestrian soldiers are shown as disgusted by the orders of the higher-ups, who are mostly [[Complete Monster|remorseless bastards]], to the point where about 20% of the Amestrian officers are killed by subordinates tired of killing innocent people. By the end of the volume everyone except the actual villains are traumatized. In one scene Alex Louis Armstrong, mainly a source for comedy relief, is shown having a nervous breakdown right on the field while cradling a dead Ishvalan child.
* ''[[Scryed|sS-CRYCry-ed]]'' features Ryuho, who is at first supposedly the villain, but throughout the show, both the characters have their heroic and villainous moments. {{spoiler|After Ryuho loses his memory and Kazuma goes through a masochistic phase, neither character appears to be the villain. This also happens to Asuka Tachibana, who goes from being a villain talking about his [[Have a Gay Old Time|balls]] to a heroic, lone ranger}}
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] A's'' does this for the Wolkenritter. While they at first appear to be evil when their motives haven't been revealed, the narrative POV later occasionally changes and focuses on them, their past and such. Turns out they are just trying to save an innocent [[Ill Girl]] that showed them what a real family is like.
* The staff and cast of ''[[Code Geass]]'' openly admits that [[Magnificent Bastard|Lelouch]] is a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]]. Ultimately subverted, intentionally or not, in that he often suffers [[Disproportionate Retribution]], and that some of his problems are a result of [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], especially later on in the series, whereas [[Karma Houdini|the comparable if not worse transgressions of a few other characters]] [[Moral Dissonance|are never addressed]].
* On the flipside, it seems that part of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' fanbase feels that the show's token [[Draco in Leather Pants|leather pants wearing]] [[Anti-Hero]] Seto Kaiba would be a case of this if he were the main protagonist, owing to his [[Dark and Troubled Past]], especially since many believe the Pharaoh isn't any better and consider him a case of this trope.
* [[Smug Snake]] Makoto Isshiki of [[Rah XephonRahXephon]] has an episode-long flashback of his childhood living with the [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Bahbem foundation]], revealing a [[Start of Darkness]] which makes his child-self a complete [[Woobie]]. Although he remains a bastard throughout the series, this insight colours his [[Kick the Dog|future actions]] effectively and makes his motive much more understandable, if not entirely likable.
* In any other setting, ''all'' of the characters (except Kasumi Tendo and Akari Unryu, both of whom are practically background characters) of [[Ranma One Half]] would be horrible monsters who might occasionally do good deeds (some more then others), but are still horrific [[Jerkass|JerkAsses]] whose sole good quality is they constantly tear into each other instead of teaming up and wreaking havoc on the countryside. As Ranma 1/2 focuses specifically on them, however, they can come off as amusing, sympathetic, even tragic.
* Zig-zagged in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]''. Light is the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] protagonist, he is shown to get quite depraved and insane. While the police do their share of morally dubious and illegal things in their pursuit of him.
* A large factor of the Magic World arc as a whole in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. From Negi's point of view, Fate Averruncus is a dangerous terrorist who is trying to destroy the world. When we see the matter from Fate's point of view, he's trying to stop some brat from interfering with his plan {{spoiler|to save over a billion lives}} in the only way he knows how. {{spoiler|Both are right, so they manage to come to a compromise, unlike the previous generation.}}
 
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== Comicbooks ==
* This is the entire reason Rorshach of ''[[Watchmen]]'' is considered an [[Anti-Hero]] and not a [[Serial Killer]].
* The comic ''[[Lex Luthor Man of Steel|Lex Luthor: Man of Steel]]'' looked at [[Superman]] from the perspective of his [[Arch Nemesis]]. Here, Superman comes across as a cold, distant, incredibly powerful alien whose immense natural abilities make a mockery of human accomplishments.
** Although in this case, for all his supposed humanism and the angry glowing super-eyes of his rival, Luthor's actions in the comic still make it absolutely clear who the villain is.
 
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* ''[[Four Lions]]'' is a black comedy from the POV of four Islamist terrorists who are just young guys who happen to want to blow themselves and other people up.
** There are actually ''five'' of them. [[Token Evil Teammate|It's just that they're not all nice young guys.]]
* ''[[Damsels in Distress (Filmfilm)|Damsels in Distress]]'': The Damsels - an arrogant clique trying to shape their university to their way of thinking - would be the villains in most other movies but we get to know them and for all their eccentricity and flaws they are deeply lovable. Likewise the dimwitted jocks of the local fraternities are adorable goofs and characters who would normally be heroes in a university story - the editor of the college paper and a depressed goth girl come across as judgemental jerks.
 
 
== Literature ==
* Notable in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Truth|The Truth]],'' in which the protagonist is a journalist who causes some friction with the City Watch (effectively the city's police force). The Watch had been portrayed in previous novels as likable good guys, but here they appear sinister and obstructive, even though they're just the same as they always were.
** The later book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'' takes the POV of [[Boxed Crook|con artist-turned-government employee]] Moist von Lipwig. From his perspective, the newspaper started by the main character from ''The Truth'' becomes little more than a tool to be played with by whoever's clever enough, instead of the struggling moral emblem it was in the previous book. Also, from his perspective, he sees the ''Times'' editor William de Worde as a pompous windbag, while in ''The Truth'' de Worde is living on his wits and trying to stay a step ahead of his enemies, much like Lipwig does in his books.
** And in ''Thud!'' we see the trouble both the ''Times'' and, to a lesser extent, the Post Office are causing from the Watch's point of view.
** Many think that this is Vetinari's doing, since his whole modus operandi for staying in power is that everyone hates him, but hates each other more.
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** GRRM pulls a dirty trick with this re: Stannis-- [[The Ghost|throughout the first book]], we're told that he's rigid and unpleasant. Then the prologue to the second book sets him up as a possibly-evil [[Knight Templar]]. ''Then'', for the rest of the series so far, we see Stannis through the eyes of Davos, who is both the most honorable POV character we still have and probably the person who loves Stannis the most in the Seven Kingdoms (including his wife). So after 900 pages of thinking this guy might be the [[Big Bad]], and watching him let his [[Evil Chancellor]] {{spoiler|''kill his brother''}}, we still can't hate the guy-- though to ''like'' him is at least equally difficult.
* ''For Love of Evil'', the sixth book of the series [[Incarnations of Immortality]], which [[POV Sequel|features different protagonists for each volume]], gets told from the POV of Satan, the antagonist of all the previous books, giving him [[Satan Is Good|noble motives]] for all his actions in the previous novels. Turns out Satan wants for good to triumph and all that.
* [[Judy Blume]]'s ''[[Fudge (Literature)|Fudge]]'' novels (''Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing'' and its sequels) are written from the perspective of Peter Hatcher, an ordinary pre-teen boy who has to put up with such torments as his goofy kid brother Farley ([[Only Known Byby Their Nickname|better known to all and sundry]], including his parents, as "Fudge") and his [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]] Sheila Tubman. Blume also wrote a book starring Sheila, ''Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'', around the time ''Fourth-Grade Nothing'' came out.
* ''Ender's Shadow'', the sequel to ''[[Ender's Game]],'' is mostly from the view point of Bean, whose POV is much more sympathetic and more profound. It's Bean who gives the actual final order of the War to detonate the MD device within the last fighter remaining.
* ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'': The first few novels give the viewpoints of a [[Punch Clock Villain]] from time to time. Rob S Pierre and Oscar St Just are given more and more time over the book series, while more minor characters given viewpoints earlier eventually take over. Not only did the former leaders of Haven gain much sympathy, as they were doing the only course of action they thought could save the government, but the ones who replace them are some of the most heroic characters of the series, despite being still at war with the Heroes. Thiessman himself goes from [[Punch Clock Villain]] to [[Worthy Opponent]] to Cincinnatus.
* ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'' takes Dr. Impossible's POV for alternating chapters, and makes him remarkably sympathetic for a [[Super Villain]] on his thirteen attempt to [[Take Over the World]].
* Each [[Women of the Otherworld]] book is written from a different point of view, so the obnoxious little upstart from ''Stolen'' becomes the sincere young woman struggling to fulfill too many varied responsibilities in ''Dime Store Magic'', and the antivillain motivated by greed in ''Bitten'' turns out in ''Personal Demon'' to have good reasons for his trust issues with the world in general and the former protagonists in particular.
* ''[[I Lucifer|I, Lucifer]]'' by Glen Duncan is told from the point of view of Lucifer himself, all whilst he is inhabiting a mortal body for a chance at redemption. It details his take on the fall from heaven and many other aspects of his life. It's a surprisingly sympathetic take on the Father of Lies.
* The early chapters of ''Wolf of the Plains'' are mostly told from the view of Temujin, who will grow up to be Genghis Khan, but a few segments take the view of Temuge, his youngest brother. When we look through Temujin's eyes, Temuge comes across as a greedy, whiny brat, but when Temuge tells the story, we see him as a poor kid who constantly suffers the bullying of his four older brothers and cruel father.
* This happens a lot in '[[The Wheel of Time]]'', often from one chapter to the next. This is most noticeable with Rand, who is increasingly insane throughout the books. In chapters that take his perspective, his actions and decisions make some kind of consistent, if twisted, sense. Conversely, with other characters, his behaviour seems dangerously erratic.
* ''[[Grendel (Literaturenovel)|Grendel]]'', a novel by John Gardner, tells the story of ''[[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]'' from Grendel's point of view. Both Beowulf ''and'' Grendel are portrayed as monstrous, though since we're seeing through Grendel's eyes, we understand his motivations, but not Beowulf's.
* Will Parry of [[His Dark Materials]] comes across as very sinister to anyone who doesn't know him well in-universe.
 
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* ''[[Angel]]'s'' episode "Harm's Way" is done from the point of view of Angel's [[Comic Relief]] vampire secretary Harmony, and though she continues to be the [[Butt Monkey]] of the episode, also shows why she can't bring herself to trust the more or less reasonable protagonists; from her point of view they're seeking an excuse to terminate any employee of demonic persuasion with extreme prejudice.
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'' is perhaps one of the best examples of this trope, the fact that Topher and Adelle (and all Dollhouse employees) get so much screen time prevents the fact they mindwipe and pimp out "volunteers" for a living sinking in too far. And it is then only their very nastiest acts that horrify the viewers.
* ''[[The X -Files]]'' had an episode following the [[Monster of the Week]] ("Hunger"), a voraciously hungry [[Extreme Omnivore]] who was just quietly trying to follow his [[Tragic Dream]] of [[I Just Want to Be Normal|being normal]], despite his nature. Mulder and Scully only appear at the end.
 
 
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** There is a much better earlier in the game. From Hugo's POV {{spoiler|He comes home to find his village in flames. Than his best freind is cut down right in front of him by a knight.}} From Chris' POV {{spoiler|Her men are attacked at what was surpose to be a peaceful truce meeting and are forced to set a fire and escape though a village. On the way out someone attacks her and she kills him before she notices that he is just a kid.}}
* The game ''[[TIE Fighter]]'' applies this trope to the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies: [[The Empire]] are the guardians of peace and order, fighting terrorists and Imperial factions.
** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] takes it even further; there are a lot of books where the Imperial characters who don't jump ship to the New Republic are [[Card-Carrying Villain|blatantly evil]], but there are also Imperial [[Worthy Opponent]] characters who support only the non-evil aspects of the Empire. Some of them, as in ''[[Death Star]]'', never even go through a [[Heel Face Turn]] because they were never [[Heel|Heels]] in the first place - and some of ''those'', as seen in [[Star Wars (Franchise)/Allegiance|Allegiance]], don't even defect and join the New Republic. Eventually [[Hand of Thrawn|Supreme Commander Pellaeon]] actually [[Peace Conference|makes peace]] between the Empire and the New Republic, and they become two interstellar governments with different ruling systems and an uneasy history.
*** [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tenn_Graneet Tenn Graneet] could be the poster boy for this trope. In ''[[A New Hope]]'', he's the heartless Imperial bastard who push-buttons [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Alderaan into oblivion]]; in ''[[Death Star]]'' [[My God, What Have I Done?|he's]] [[Heroic BSOD|much]] [[Be Careful What You Wish For|more]] [[Doomed Byby Canon|sympathetic]] [[The Woobie|by far]].
* A campaign of ''[[Age of Empires II (Video Game)|Age of Empires II]]'' features Saladin vs. the Crusaders. Another, Barbarossa, at a certain point enters the Third Crusade and fights Saladin. And the expansion of the previous game had four campaigns on the [[Ancient Rome|Roman Empire]], and another with Rome's enemies.
* ''[[Iji (Video Game)|Iji]]'' has the [[Story Breadcrumbs|logbooks]] of the Tasen {{spoiler|and the Komato}}, including such things as one soldier gushing about her girlfriend (Yes "her", [[Les Yay|you overjoyed]] [[Yuri Fanboy]]), and another wondering if he has his gun loaded, because he thought he saw something big right around that corner. They show that not all of the alien soldiers you're killing are heartless monsters, after all. Some of them are, though.
* One of the four playable characters in ''Dreamfall: [[The Longest Journey]]'' is Kian Alvane, a faithful soldier and apostle of the Azadi Empire, which up until that point of the game is seen only as [[The Empire]]. His prescence in the game adds shades of grey to the empire's action, both by making the Empire's motivations seem more human, and by presenting a counterpoint to April Ryan's (one of the game's other protagonists and a rebel fighting the Azadi) seemingly-righteous goals.
* Used to great effect in ''[[Yggdra Union]]'' starting in the middle of the seventh chapter, where the game's [[Grey and Gray Morality]] becomes blatant. This is the first point in the game where the important scenes starting off each battlefield are shown from an Imperial perspective, {{spoiler|and happens to be just in time to make the remaining generals' [[Heroic Sacrifice]] moments considerably more poignant}}.
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== Web Originals ==
* In ''[[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'', the titular doctor wouldn't be anywhere near so sympathetic from a different angle. Okay, so he has an adorable crush on a girl he barely knows, but he's also a crazy bank-robber.
** Or to remove more of the Sympathetic POV, he's a bank-robber who's [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|stalking]] a girl he barely knows and has got it into his head that she'll be impressed by him being a [[Super Villain]].
 
 
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