Extreme Doormats in Anime & Manga.
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Mei never questions a single order (real or perceived) from Rentarou or Hahari, to the point where she won't hesitate to attempt suicide if she thinks she failed either of them in any way, shape, or form.
- Cooro from +Anima. While he has his own opinions and was a Cheerful Child who loves apples, he won't go against anyone's decisions, even if they were made under stress, frustration or stubbornness. While the early chapters pointed it out, it wasn't until the final volume that it was properly addressed.
- Bertolt Hoover, from Attack on Titan. He seems to be exceptionally aware of his own failings, and resigned to it even with his exceptional talents as a soldier. However, his claims that he has "no will" of his own and simply goes along with what society expects from him leave absolutely horrifying implications when it's revealed that he is the Colossal Titan and a spy sent to infiltrate and exterminate humanity.
- Before she was passed the torch by her senpais, Mai "Ino" Inose from Asteroid in Love effectively acts as Mikage's The Heart and have little personality of her own. However, she does Grew a Spine afterwards.
- Tick Jefferson of Baccano! tells Luck that he'll do anything to prove his worth to them. He'll also do anything that will let him use his scissors.
- Mihashi Ren from Big Windup! suffers from extreme self-confidence issues due to getting bullied all three years at middle school by his own teammates from the baseball club. The bullying, combined with his naturally sensitive personality has left him with next to zero confidence and a great deal of mental health problems. He gets better with the support of his new team in high school.
- Train from the anime version of Black Cat was this for quite a few episodes during his time in Chronos. Speaking in a monotone, hardly having any opinion on anything, and being quietly wangsty. He was also the strongest assassin in Chronos.
- Nemu from Bleach is a somewhat Rei-like example of the trope. In her case, she was actually created by Mad Scientist Mayuri to serve as his obedient assistant. He has no compunction about injuring or even potentially kill her, as he can simply rebuild her. And yet she still cares for him on some level.
- Also, Hanataro Yamada.
- Haji from Blood+ is characterized entirely by his complete devotion to Saya and his obedience to her wishes, even when she makes him promise to kill her. Her adopted brother Kai finally goads him into expressing his Bodyguard Crush at the end of the series.
- Fiore from Chrono Crusade, who calls herself 'only a doll' and lives only to serve Joshua and Aion.
- In Code Geass, Kallen Stadfeldt/Kouzuki's biological mother, an Eleven maid who was used by an adulterous Britannian, seems to be one of these, which earns her the scorn of the family and disappointment from Kallen's part. Kallen mistook her mom's devotion towards her and her dead brother Naoto as devotion towards the father, and when heartbreakingly proved wrong, she had a change of heart and decided to make Mrs. Kouzuki her reason to keep on fighting, aside of Zero and the Black Knights.
- Dolls in Darker than Black are incredibly submissive. People tend to think they outright have no will of their own, although some develop the ability to think for themselves to an extent.
- Gohan from Dragon Ball Z was one for most of the series: a total Momma's Boy who worked diligently at his studies, whenever Goku wasn't stealing him for more training to save the world. Characterization Marches On, however, and we see him gradually learning to stand up for himself and the people he cares about in the Namek saga, though Vegeta's criticism still got him to clam up. Even when he was a teenager, Videl managed to blackmail him into submission.
- Durarara!!:
- Anri Sonohara. She eventually starts to develop a spine.
- Also, Saki Mikajima. She'll listen to whatever Izaya tells her to do, even if it means endangering her life. Even after she betrays him, she continues loyally obeying him afterward, too.
- Emma: A Victorian Romance: Monica's husband, which might be part of why she married him.
- Tetsuma in Eyeshield 21 is this to his old friend Kid, to the point he is very Literal-Minded and takes orders to the extreme, doing ONLY what Kid told him to do. It was only after Monta defeated him in a catching battle that Tetsuma began to develop his own ambitions and more emotions.
- Zenji Marui from Food Wars! His dormmates always pick his room to have hangouts, reunions and welcoming parties and leave him to do the cleaning. And even after showing his dormmates how skilled he is and they declare a newfound respect for him, Zenji notes they're still using his room without asking.
- Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket starts out like this. She constantly apologizes for the smallest of things, rarely stands up for herself, often chooses to belittle or instantly forgive very serious wrongs done to her, and is very much a Pollyanna. Much of the series centers around Tohru steadily gaining the courage to face herself and her problems and to defend what she loves.
- Sloth from Fullmetal Alchemist is so lazy, he lacks the basic will to say no to what Father and the other Homunculi tell him to do.
- Sousuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic! is often compared to a dog thanks to his tendency to obediently carry out orders with little to no complaint, and he even finds himself at a loss to answer when a frustrated Mao asks if he has any long-term plans besides following orders until the day he dies. Kaname winds up beating a solid spine into him, finally giving him the confidence to break rank, openly defy one (and indirectly threaten) the head of Mithril's Intelligence Division, strongarm the board of executives into giving him a better contract after coming out of his reassignment-induced Heroic BSoD.
- Yukiteru Amano of Future Diary starts out as an Extreme Doormat, and becomes less of one as the series goes on.
- Sanada Yukimura from Gate 7 is so much of a doormat that he's called to shut up by his students...kindergarten students.
- Yukinari Sasaki from Girls Bravo. Granted, he tries to stand up for himself when people ridicule him but he usually ends up backing down. People mock him for this by saying "You're too much of a coward to talk back! If you're a man then act like one!" Also, he takes frequent beatings from his friend Kirie for being an Accidental Pervert and hardly ever complains to her about it afterwards. He also never decides to say, stop being friends with her and frequently blames himself for when bad things happen to him.
- Hinata from H₂O: Footprints in the Sand acts this way initially towards her grandfather.
- Haruhi Suzumiya:
- Yuki Nagato starts out as this, but reveals independence, free will and opinions over the course of the story. Ultimately, her loyalty lies to Kyon, more than her Boss or The Leader Haruhi.
- Present-day Mikuru seems to fit this trope. It's hinted that Mikuru is less of a 100% doormat than she looks like, pretending to be super ultra submissive in order to hide her true identity. Plus there's evidence that if Mikuru wasn't an extreme doormat, Haruhi would make her one. Future-Mikuru, on the other hand...
- The Captain from Hellsing basically follows Major around like a big, quiet dog that doesn't do anything unless commanded to. Which sort of makes sense considering he's a werewolf.
- Lithuania in Hetalia: Axis Powers seems to border on this — he's sweet, humble, obedient, and pretty happy considering how much he gets bossed about, especially by Bad Boss Russia and best friend Poland.
- Honey Hunt: Yura, up until her Abusive Parents divorce and reveal they couldn't care less about her. This results in her first Moment of Awesome when she tearfully announces to the press that she no longer considers them her parents and that "people like them should just burn in hell". Even after that though, she still shows instances of this trope at times.
- Hatsumi from Hot Gimmick is so spineless she nearly defines this trope.
- A spoilery example to back that up: Hatsumi is so spectacularly doormat-like that she actually apologizes to a guy while he's having her gang-raped by his friends. She's apologizing because of something her father did to the gang-rapist's mother, which prompted the gang-rapist to attack Hatsumi as a form of proxy revenge. I repeat: she's apologizing to her rapist for something she didn't even do. The cherry on top: we later find out that it was someone else's father who wronged the gang-rapist's mother, not Hatsumi's. The whole thing was a "Shaggy Dog" Story.
- Soushi of Inu × Boku SS, who became a Professional Butt-Kisser in order to appeal to his higher ups and worm his way to freedom from a life-long house arrest. One of his previous masters noted that he'd willingly do an embarrassing act with a smile on his face. He's something of a subversion since he uses this tactic to achieve his own ends, but it's also true he assigns so little value to his life that he'd even commit suicide if that was what was wished of him.
- Holly Joestar-Kujou of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. An extreme Daddy's Girl, she's so weak-willed she can't even take control of her own Stand (something that babies and animals have literally been able to do), puts up with her husband's constant neglectful absence, and joyfully endures verbal abuse from her son without ever once scolding him about it.
- Kuroe Akaishi of Kaiju Girl Caramelise starts off as this, as she feels that it's not worth sticking up for herself if it means interacting with people long enough for them to see one of her emotion-triggered transformations. The first chapter alone shows her awkwardly, silently requesting her desk back when Nagiko steals it to get better pictures of Arata Minami for social media posts; when it's clear that Nagiko won't give it back, Kuroe silently walks away.
- Byaku from Kekkaishi is an example of this trope who is also a Big Bad of a major arc. Having no drive or desires of his own, he spends both his flashback and the main story fulfilling wishes of whatever woman happens to be next to him, no matter how potentially dangerous to him, her and innocent bystanders, not because he loves them or anything, but seemingly because he can't think of anything better to do although the manga suggests that he loved Hime after all. This is presented as extremely creepy.
- Kemono Jihen has Kabane. His Evil Aunt knows that he's half-ghoul, thoroughly stomping all over his self-esteem and exploiting him for manual labor for not being fully human. By the time he's rescued from her by Kohachi Inugami, Kabane has no idea how to spend time for himself. On a slow day at the office, he sits and stares at the corner and waits for instructions because he doesn't know what else to do. When Mihai asks him to be his bellbo, Kabane can't say no and does as he's told without any complaint, going so far as to open cans of food and bottles of water for him.
- Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke is this normally, but it's subverted when she refuses to help Kurumi get together with Kazehaya, on the basis she can't support her fully due to her own feelings for Kazehaya.
- The titular character from Komori-san Can't Decline! is a girl who can't decline requests. Downplayed however, since she does say no every so often. The joke of the series, however, is that she becomes extremely competent at nearly anything she does, provided she's been asked to do it, first.
- Kotoura-san's titular heroine. Haruka doesn't speak up because she would likely and unintentionally reveal people's inner selves
which often infuriates them even more and validates their Abomination Accusation Attack hence why she's the perfect victim from their perspective. Because of this, she doesn't even bother trying to be social which is affecting her mental health despite how much her she denies it. Much of the show is devoted to having her growing away from this. - Lady!!: Lynn's grandmother is this to Mary while she temporarily stays with the Midorikawa family. Mary yells at her, insults her house for being "poor" and also demeans her cooking. While Lynn is aghast at her behaviour, her grandmother isn't offended and offers to order French food to lift her spirits. Eventually Mary can't stand living there anymore and leaves, where she instead lives in a fancy suite provided by Sonoko.
- Lucciola in Last Exile starts out this way, but his loyalty and friendship to Dio helped him take the initiative to save him. And then he dies. * Sniff*
- Little House with an Orange Roof: For a tsundere, Natsumi has serious problems saying "no", especially when challenged to "prove" she's worthy to marry Shoutarou. This has led to her being groped by slimy salarymen in a cabaret, and being utilized for slave labor by her in-laws, among other things.
- Keitaro of Love Hina. He constantly lets the girls walk all over him and beat him up, even though as the landlord of the girls dormitory where they live, he could EASILY evict them at any point. In fact, it's ONLY because he's a doormat that the girls still have a roof over their heads!
- Soubi in Loveless. Ritsuka tries to break him out of it, but Seimei would prefer he stay that way.
- Fate Testarossa in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Despite being repeatedly abused by her mother, Fate remains loyal to her until the end, when Nanoha finally befriends her. Justified because she remembers how Precia treated Alicia, and doesn't know that those aren't her memories.
- Rei from March Comes in Like a Lion is a bit lacking in the ability to stand up for himself, especially when it comes to Kyoko, who regularly belittles him without receiving complaints and attempts to manipulate him into losing. While he refuses the worst of her commands, he's never able to completely turn her away and always acquiesces to her smaller (but still generally unreasonable) requests. His narrative heavily implies it's because of his affections toward her.
- The titular Saki Meguro from Meguro-san wa Hajimete Janai doesn't want to hurt anyone, so refuses to turn down anyone...ever. This results in a long line of boyfriends that dominate her and discard her after they get tired of having sex with her. When her latest boyfriend, Koga, asks her what she would like to do, she doesn't even know how to respond because it isn't something that she ever had to think about before.
- Hong Long from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a prime example. Not only does he suffer from being the less desired child in his family, but he spends his time taking Wang Liu Mei's abuse and criticism without resentment. The ultimate example of this is at the end of his run where, after they escape the destruction of the Trinity Mothership, they are cornered by Nena Trinity, who has grown tired of being treated as a utility by Liu Mei. As she plans to put a bullet in her, Hong Long takes the shot... and another, and another. Pushing Liu Mei out of harm's way and telling her to live, he confronts Nena... and gets a bullet in his head for his troubles. Not only does Liu Mei not appreciate it, but Nena STILL gets her revenge.
- In Monster, Tenma starts off as a complete bitch of his fiancee and his boss, who publishes his research under his own name and takes credit for his extremely difficult surgeries. Although he grows a spine early in the series' run, both his and Eva's flashbacks characterize him as woefully passive and exploitable.
- My Lady Just Wants to Relax: Being abused, mentally and physically, by her family has led to Ronia not talking back when confronted. This leads to her expulsion and broken engagement, as she doesn't refute the accusations against her strongly enough.
- Minor character Miya from My-Otome is an unhappy and unwilling accomplice to all of Tomoe's misdeeds, but is afraid to stand up to her. She ultimately gets blamed for everything and is forced to leave school permanently, never to be seen again.
- Naruto:
- Hinata was shown to be one of these during her childhood. Her interactions with Naruto enable her to grow out of it.
- Itachi of all people, fits this trope pretty well, combining it with Well-Intentioned Extremist and My Country, Right or Wrong. What's that, Danzou? You need me to kill my entire clan to prevent a war? No problem! Okay, it's not that simple, but you get the point.
- Speaking of Danzo, his ideal of a shinobi leans toward this: An individual with exceptional combat skills, a willingness to die for his country, and no emotions or opinions to prevent him from doing so. He does his best to mold Root in this image but falls short himself, to his own disgust.
- Unfortunately for the Shinobi, this is also true for the Daimyo. They all seem to be pretty spineless, not to mention stupid.. And they're supposed to lead the country?
- Ayumi of Neighborhood Story. When she's chosen as the receptionist at the fashion contest and can't move from the hall, she even gets a comment from Yuusuke, that it suits her just perfectly.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion:
- Shinji, the protagonist, has, due to extreme issues with Parental Abandonment (his mother died when he was young, and his emotionally distant father left him in the care of a guardian shortly afterwards) developed a subconscious belief that he is unwanted and has no value as a person and he therefore has no real drive to anything for and by himself, leading him to adopt a life philosophy of keeping his head down and doing what he is told.
- There is also Rei, who shows no emotion, carries out any order given to her with absolute obedience, and has no problem being considered completely expendable for the sake of the mission. On one occasion, she even admitted that she would kill herself without a second thought if Gendo ordered her to; there's a reason Asuka calls her a wind-up doll. That is, up until End of Evangelion, when she finally openly defies Gendo and tells him "I am not your puppet."
- Lala-Ru from Now and Then, Here and There is an Extreme Doormat in all but one respect. She can provide water with the use of her pendant, which is an invaluable ability in her desert planet... so much so that wars have been fought over her, often civil wars. She has thus retreated into extreme stoicism and refuses to give anyone water when told, since it just causes death. In this regard, she is more steely than an iron mine, taking heaps of abuse and threats (and implied rape) rather than give in. By the series' end, she becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen and Mama Bear, using her power to help save Sho and her loved ones. Super ending spoiler: she even makes a Heroic Sacrifice to fill the planet with oceans.
- Abelia is also this towards King Hamdo for most of the series. No matter how much he shrieks and rants and raves at her, or how insane/barbaric his orders, she quietly carries out his instructions and never, ever speaks back or shows signs of being disgruntled. She gets over it.
- One Piece has a minor villain in the Dressrosa Arc named Baby 5. She cannot say no to anyone. Because of this, she's been engaged multiple times, and has a debt of nearly a hundred million. Even in battle, she accepted a sarcastic request from her enemy to just die and was prepared to shoot herself before that same enemy stopped her. While this was at first played for laughs, it became Harsher in Hindsight when her backstory was revealed. She was abandoned by her parents as a small child, with the last thing her mother said to her being "you're of no use to anyone." This is why she's so utterly desperate to feel needed. Even so, when one of her fellow villains says right in front of her that their group only values her because she's "convenient" (and not because they actually care about her at all), she breaks down crying.
- Yaya Higuchi from Othello has been tolerating all her life being bullied and being toyed with by her supposed friends, without ever following her own wishes. Her cosplay hobby helped her to escape reality, but once this is discovered, she develops the Nana personality. However, since her original personality isn't aware of Nana's existence, she thinks she's going crazy and losing her memory, making her even more pitiful. By the end of the manga, she learns to stand up for herself.
- Gilbert Nightray of PandoraHearts is often this to his master Oz, but with Alice he normally stands up to her.
- In Princess Tutu, Mytho starts out as an extreme doormat, since he kinda shattered his heart, rendering him completely emotionless. The only thing he ever does of his own volition (at first) is protecting the weak.
- Yotsuba Nakano of The Quintessential Quintuplets tends to have big issues in expressing what she wants. It's only made worse by the fact that she can't say no to anybody who might need her help.
- Mousse of Ranma ½ but only if Shampoo is doing the walking. In a later manga story: the Mask of Submission is a pair of glasses that causes whoever is seen through them to kneel and grovel, begging to be trod upon. He uses them on Ranma a few times to satisfy his ego, then Shampoo, the girl he is a Stalker with a Crush towards, asked him to stop using them. Upon his initial refusal, she told him he was pathetic for taking advantage of items created to protect those who had no other way to fight off martial artists. Then he deliberately puts them on backwards, so he's the one begging and groveling.
- Also Konatsu towards Ukyo (She takes advantage of him a lot) and Sasuke towards Kuno.
- Tsuna from Reborn! (2004), though he gets better somewhat. Kozato Enma even more so. They become fast friends mainly because of how they can relate to each other in this aspect.
- Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena is actually described as being "less forceful than a doormat", but the truth is a bit different. She and her brother deliberately play up this trope in order to convince others that their plans for the future are honest, and then to convince themselves that their plans for her are righteous. And her Emotionless Girl act is a result of the massive trauma she's gone through and the way her brother keeps her emotionally anesthetized through their abusive relationship.
- Utena herself tries to become one of these in episode 12 to cope with losing a duel to Touga and losing Anthy. Fortunately, Wakaba snaps her out of it.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin was this during his days as an assassin. He never asked questions, made conversation, or gave his opinion with his superiors who gave him orders to kill. He only did what was necessary to bring on the new era — even if it would cost him his sanity in the end.
- Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon. Especially in the first season of the 90s anime, where Rei forces her to say or do things she doesn't want to do or is very reluctant, typically against Usagi. She knows Ami lacks confidence and is too meek to protest.
- Kotonoha from School Days due to her insecurity.
- Minato Sahashi of Sekirei is often pushed around by his mother and sister. However, he stands up for his friends when it counts.
- Ichimiya in Servant × Service is often defined by his lack of self-confidence or backbone, to the degree that despite being Hasebe's direct supervisor, he has absolutely no air of authority.
- Natsu from 7 Seeds lacks any kind of spine and will not voice her displeasure about anything, even when she's bullied or mocked by other people and apologize a lot, even when it isn't her fault. She does get better, though.
- Fuyuki from Sgt. Frog qualifies most of the time. Push him too far, though, and he's so terrifying, the manga can't even show his face.
- Sakurako from Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō. In one episode, she quickly withdraws her challenge to another character to play the princess as soon as said character said that she already practiced hard for the role, and even apologizes. This in addition to her Shrinking Violet nature — she's often very shy and hesitates to voice her opinion.
- SHUFFLE!: After discovering that it was not Rin's fault that her beloved mother died (it was indirectly her fault), Kaede Fuyou becomes a House Wife whose only purpose in life was, according to her, "to serve Rin-kun" so she can make up to him for all the tremendous abuse she piled on Rin (who willingly took the blame because Kaede was this close to just let herself die by despair) before the discovery.
- Rodoreamon from Simoun starts like this, then grows a spine as the series progresses. By the Distant Finale, she's become the Iron Lady.
- Skip Beat! starts Kyoko Mogami off as one. After being abandoned by her emotionally distant mother, Kyoko was raised to never show her real feelings, and she chose to not speak up about things bothering her. When Sho breaks her world-view and reveals he never saw her as anything but a worthless childhood friend, she realizes that she has been letting people take advantage of and walk all over her for years. Even her skills in tea ceremony came from being shaped into a Ryokan Inn mistress. A good portion of her development revolves around her refusing to be a doormat anymore.
- Subverted with Yasuharu Yasuda of Slam Dunk. He is often pushed around by Hanamichi Sakuragi, but stands up for his teammates when it counts.
- Melinda Cakebread from Sylvanian Families — she will help anyone in need, no questions asked, leading some characters to take advantage of her hospitality.
- Tokyo Ghoul: Ken Kaneki's mother raised him with the belief that "it's better to be hurt than to hurt others." Unfortunately, Kaneki's abusive aunt took advantage of this at every opportunity, and his mom eventually worked herself to death trying to support herself, her son, and said aunt, in addition to being a Hypocrite who abused Kaneki as much as her sister did. Kaneki initially clings to this as a motto in life, but abandons it once a hallucination of the ghoul Rize makes him realize that his mother's inability to stand up to her sister and refusal to follow her own advice not only killed her but left him alone.
- Arcee in Transformers: ★Headmasters. After being an Action Girl throughout the movie and Season 3, she was turned into a docile, subservient secretary, who didn't wield a weapon once in the entire series, and rarely left the "office".
- Legato Bluesummers from Trigun wants to be one of these for his master Knives. He even admits in the manga that he has no reason to live without Knives, and eventually he gives up his own life just to torment Vash, whom Knives had ordered to make suffer.
- Hiren, funeral guide to Dante in Undertaker Riddle, is such an Extreme Doormat that he seems to have no problem referring to himself as "Master Dante's dog." This is despite the fact that Undertaker duos are typically supposed to be on equal footing, and Hiren being a stronger fighter than Dante. That being said, when Dante's in danger, Hiren suddenly becomes very determined and commanding...then as soon as the danger's been averted reverts to his normal self again. He's not quite so subservient to anyone else, but still apologizes a lot and never cares to stand up for himself.
- In Vinland Saga, this is the personality of Thorfinn, a slave in the second arc living on Ketill's farm. After having his purpose in life killed during the first arc, he has simply resigned himself to a life devoid of meaning and barely emotes beyond downcast politeness. Much of the second arc involves Thorfinn finding a way out of this funk and becoming a new man.
- Nataku in X/1999, as it befits him for his nature as a dead little girl's clone.
- Yugi Moto of Yu-Gi-Oh! starts out as one, particularly in the early episodic period. He frequently does as bullies tell him to instead of getting help, even when the situation escalates to the point when he could get hurt. One chapter has him forced to sell tickets for a bully classmate's concert. The bully classmate is a terrible singer, so Yugi can't sell a single ticket. Yugi then volunteers to take tickets from another classmate, so he has even more he can't sell. He does all this knowing not selling a ticket will earn him a beating, but promises to watch the classmate's concert himself to make up for it. Yugi growing to stand up for himself is the major arc of his character development.
- Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has the title character Iruma. Not only does he have an extremely hard time saying no when people ask for favors, he will be both physically and psychologically compelled to help others if they ask using certain phrases: "Please!", "Help me!", and "I beg you!". Even when he goes through his magically-induced wicked phase and becomes a far more assertive and confident version of himself, the most he can do when being requested for something is to try and resist it, and even then he'll comply if pushed a little further. He becomes less of this as the series goes on, however.
- Masato and Miku of Zeorymer are both the most doormatty of Extreme Doormats.
- Zombie Land Saga: Unlike the other girls who get fed up with Kotaro's treatment, Sakura tends to submit and let him yell at her while remaining polite to him. Sakura is shown to have her limits, though, finally snapping at Kotaro in Episode 10 after he forces them to spend days camped out on a mountain.
