Nominal Heroes in Anime & Manga.
- In the Anime version of Afro Samurai, the title character is something of a tragic example of this; he is not without some humanity in him but ends up burying it in his all-consuming pursuit of vengeance and adherence to his brutal code of honor, to the point where it's not clear whether he's a Nominal Hero or a Villain Protagonist. Afro's goals are, effectively, identical to those that he fights, and a strong argument could be made that the audience only sympathizes with him because we saw his back story, and didn't see theirs. The manga (and by extension, the original doujin) just turn him into a full-on villain.
- Akuyaku Reijo ni Koi wo Shite brings us Maria as an example. The world of the story openly forces her into the "protagonist" role and holds her up as the standard of "heroism" for the entire "The Academy Arc," regardless of what she does. Once that arc has passed, this trope starts being deconstructed as she has completely deluded herself into believing that she, and she alone, is a "real" person, while everyone else is an "NPC" with pre-scripted lines and actions, none of which matter, as long as she follows her "strategy guide." She continues to be shocked and perplexed that the praise and glory she expects... just don't happen.
- Area 88: The Area 88 mercenaries, who engage in war for pay. Despite being the protagonists, they're deliberately shown to be morally grey or even evil (i.e., Nguyen).
- In Bastard!! (1988), Noble Demon Dark Schneider has some Pet the Dog moments, but on the whole is an egocentric Jerkass and sadist who openly admits that as soon as he takes down the Big Bad of the series, he will subjugate the world through mass-murder and warfare. He also shamelessly gropes girls and treats almost everyone rudely.
- Guts of Berserk fits here. His phase as the vengeance-obsessed Black Swordsman takes this up to eleven, though. An utterly ruthless warrior who cared about nothing except killing demons, and would not lift a finger to help innocents caught in the crossfire, considering them small fry without the strength to truly live, and in many cases, he could be seen as even more horrifying than the Apostles that he was driven to kill. Only after finding Casca again has he been able to mellow out, though not exactly move out of this territory (since, besides his friends, he's only been concerned with keeping her safe). He also has to deal with a particularly nasty Enemy Within that represents who he used to be.
- Most of Guts' friends and allies, pre-Eclipse and post-Eclipse, are in this territory as well. The original Band of the Hawk are probably one of the most likeable examples as far being mercenaries goes since they were hired by the Kingdom of Midland and became its national heroes (despite still having little heroic motivations). Guts' current True Companions are all following him for various reasons that also aren't really heroically charged, but they end up doing some good wherever they go.
- In Black Clover a huge problem with the Magic Knights is that they aren't really good people. Several of them want to help their country, but a huge part are just elitist nobles and Royal Brats. Zora's backstory included how he decided to become a vigilante mage that attacks Magic Knights after witnessing two of them causing a ruckus in a tavern, demanding service for their good deeds and them attempting to rape the waitress, as well as learning that Magic Knights killed his father, who was the first peasant to become a Magic Knight and they didn't want to be associated with him. The man Zora is introduced attacking, the vice captain of the Purple Orcas, turns out to have just been about to attack an old lady who begged him for help to find her missing granddaughter, because he was too tired to do it.
- Blast of Tempest:
- Mahiro states that his only goal is avenging his sister's death and that his saving the world is incidental to that. Later on, he does seem to care about the world's well-being.
- Megumu initially wants to become a hero to impress his ex-girlfriend.
- Bleach:
- Mayuri's sole interest is to work for the advancement of scientific discovery and much of his science does prove beneficial to Soul Society. For example, he's the person the Fourth Division goes to when a patient needs organ transplants. However, he's a sociopath who doesn't care at all for his subordinates and sees everybody as either a tool or a research experiment (which are often cruel and sadistic in nature); he'll go to any lengths For Science! Word of God states he's an example of necessary evil.
- The Kenpachi's, Zaraki and Yachiru/Unohana have a shared trait that they just really, really like to fight and kill strong opponents. Both characters have very few genuine positive traits and Unohana specifically made it a habit to travel around the Soul Society and kill enough people to fill a graveyard in her search for someone strong to alleviate her boredom. Zaraki even admits that they'd both be considered criminals if they weren't so powerful.
- Masaru "Kodama" Kodaka of Bokurano, is fighting to save the world like everyone else, but not only does he not care about collateral damage, he thinks it's a good thing since he sees people as divided into those who deserve to survive and those who do not, and thinks that his father (of the former type) would benefit from being able to rebuild.
- Chainsaw Man has quite a number of these, but Denji, the main lead, is a big candidate. Having spent much of his life deprived of any real comforts, his only motivation for a lot of the early chapters is just to enjoy what he has, now that he can afford to put jam on his bread and sleep in a real bed. He self-admittedly notes in one chapter that he only sides with humanity because they're currently giving him what he wants and doesn't start taking truly altruistic actions until very late. This escalates further in Part 2 of the manga, where he's only continuing to be Chainsaw Man because 1. He wants female attention and 2. It makes him feel good to be powerful and kill devils. Denji will often let innocent people die unless they're cute girls or animals and it doesn't bother him whatsoever.
- Code Geass: Another way to view Lelouch Lamperouge in R1, along with Anti-Hero, and Anti-Villain referenced above. Despite a sympathetic backstory, and that the government he rebels against is a brutal Darwinian Empire bent on conquest, he's fighting for selfish reasons rather than noble ones, and at his worst he uses lies, deceit, manipulation, and murder to get what he wants. This all-for-one mentality results in his defeat and capture at the end of the season due to not having built up enough faith in his subordinates to be able to successfully carry out a battle strategy without him.
- Mello from Death Note is this with hints of an Unscrupulous Hero. But despite intending to catch Kira, he is more than willing to shoot anyone in his way, become a mob boss, kidnap innocent girls, and in the manga, threaten the President to sabotage his rival so that said rival can't catch Kira.
- Near also fits in a similar way; his sole goal lies in "winning the game," and he is far from opposed to putting others in the line of fire or (as Matsuda suggests he might have) using the Death Note himself in order to do it. Unlike their predecessor, both Mello and Near are more preoccupied with personal ambitions and competition than the actual idea of doling out "justice," which is maybe why their target — the Visionary Villain Kira — never develops the same Worthy Opponent respect for them as he had for L. The creators have suggested that Near took the route he did out of respect for L; if he were allowed to fight Kira his way, he'd just release all known information on Kira to the world and let the problem sort itself out.
- Matt, despite being third in line to succeed L, doesn't seem terribly interested in the Kira case, and to have only gotten involved in it for Mello's sake.
- There are actually hints that L himself fits into the Boredom category and doesn't so much care for justice as he does for the challenge, and thus distraction, a case will provide him. The fact that he only takes on cases with at least a certain amount of people murdered, or those that personally interest him, supports that, as well as the fact that the authors have said many times that L and Light are two sides of the same coin. Light was bored out of his mind, found the Death Note, and with it something to sufficiently distract himself from the ennui of his daily life. L, who, as the world's top three detectives, has been shown several times to not care about playing by the rules if it furthers his cases, thereby keeping him occupied the same way Light does; only he's still only the good side of the law because of his detective status—even if sometimes that's only because there's simply no one above him to reign him in.
- Desert Punk gives us more than one:
- Kanta has no real redeeming moral qualities and doesn't care about anything except money, boobs, and staying alive. However, much of his work ends up being vaguely heroic because the jobs he's assigned tend to be things like "Take out this gang terrorizing our town." By the end of the series he crosses the Moral Event Horizon and does a Face–Heel Turn.
- Junko is equally amoral and only not a villain because her job is taking out people who tend to be worse and like Kanta, she ultimately pulls a Face–Heel Turn.
- Rainspider is a heartless enforcer for loan sharks and implied deviant who has a tendency to abandon his teammates when battles are stacked against them. However, he's hilarious and always follows his fleeing by a Big Damn Heroes moment at the right time. He's kind of more likable than Kanta, if no morally better.
- Dragon Ball:
- In Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta goes through a Nominal Hero phase as part of his slow but eventual Heel–Face Turn, starting in the Namek arc as a Villain Protagonist seeking to overthrow his former master, and in the Cell and Buu arcs, defending Earth, but only for his own selfish reasons. After his death and subsequent pseudo-revival in terms of coming back to Earth for one day, he fights for the Earth for the sake of defending it for the first time.
- While the anime and moreso the English dub made him an outright hero, Goku in the manga just likes to fight stronger opponents and get stronger himself. Dragon Ball Super has caused something of a Broken Base as it favors the original character interpretation. One episode in particular has Goku himself saying that he's not a hero, just a guy who wants a good fight; however, he does also say that if he sees someone in trouble then of course he'll help them out because it's the right thing to do.
- Bardock, in his original special, certainly qualifies; he opens the story by wiping out an entire race with no small amount of satisfaction. The only redeeming quality to him is his genuine relationship with his crew, which is what motivates him to rebel against Freeza.
- Dragon Goes House-Hunting is set in an RPG Mechanics 'Verse, where "heroes" are merely a job class that a large number of the human population has. But while the virtuous connotations of the title is acknowledged, it is agreed by the rest of the non-humans that "heroes" are terrible, Glory Hound brutes who commit wanton acts of murder, robbery and treason in their delusional quest to "purify" the world's evils.
- In Elfen Lied, Noble Demon Bando has some Pet the Dog moments, but he's largely an egocentric Jerkass and sadist who joins the SAT to legally kill For the Evulz or for revenge, particularly towards Lucy after his fight with her. He does get Character Development in the manga, giving him a softer side and redeeming features, though he still retains his obsession with killing Lucy. The anime adaptation just turns him into a full-on villain without any redeeming moral qualities whatsoever.
- Future Diary has resident Yandere Yuno Gasai since the only reason she's not trying to kill the main character is that she loves him
- Fairy Tail gives us Laxus Dreyar, who is only in the title guild because his grandfather runs the place. That's actually the source of his rage: he believes he's seen as "the guildmaster's grandson" and not his own person. After being booted out and spending six months or so traveling and finding himself, he returns and softens into a Pragmatic Hero.
- Gundam:
- Domon Kasshu of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, at least in the first half of the series. What we know about his brother (and the Devil Gundam) certainly shows that stopping him would be a good thing, but Domon is ruled by his bitterness and anger until he obtains enlightenment and masters Meikyou Shisui. He'll even rudely barge into others' battles just to get information and has no problem roughing people up to get answers either.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 has a few; Hallelujah Haptism, the Superpowered Evil Side of Reluctant Warrior Allelujah Haptism, and Lockon Stratos, who seems like a regular hero but hides a powerful desire for revenge. Nena Trinity becomes one in the second season by virtue of being against Ali Al-Saachez and Ribbons Almark, who are much, much worse than her.
- Giuse of Gunslinger Girl, albeit with shades of an Unscrupulous Hero. As he reveals to Henrietta, he's only nice to her until things go to hell and Henrietta is "reset to factory settings", leading Giuse to take a very steep dive over the Despair Event Horizon and treat her like he does practically everybody else following the realization that he could do nothing to help her. Later on, though, he thinks his behavior led Henrietta to frag him during the nuclear power plant strike.
- Hellsing: The TV series' version has Alucard (since in the OVA/manga, he's more of a Villain Protagonist). The only reason he can be considered a hero is that he happens to be bound to the right Kid with the Leash. Not only is he a monster who enjoys shedding blood, but he's also aware enough of this fact to declare that only a man can kill someone like him. Alucard is made more sympathetic by his sense of honor and the fact that his enemies are even worse than him, but he is by no means a nice guy (though this isn't actually clear until the end of the TV show, mind you).
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stardust Crusaders:
- Jotaro Kujo starts out as this, wanting nothing to do with the battle against DIO and only agreeing to fight because his mother's life is on the line. But he gradually softens into Good Is Not Nice over the next few Parts.
- Iggy, while a good boy deep down, has absolutely no desire to help the others, runs at the first sign of trouble, and the only reason he's even tagging along is out of force. His only real heroic moments come near the end of the Part with his fights against Pet Shop and Vanilla Ice.
- Narciso Anasui from Stone Ocean is a violent murderer who is only on the side of the heroes out of love for the main protagonist, Jolyne Cujoh. Over the course of the story, he mellows out quite a bit, with him developing genuine concern for his allies, but never quite moves out of Nominal Hero territory.
- Steel Ball Run:
- Johnny Joestar is a once famous jockey whose life fell apart as a result of a gunshot leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. After learning that the power of The Spin could potentially restore the use of his legs, he sets off on a continent-spanning race with Gyro Zeppeli. At the start of Part 7, Johnny is an insecure individual plagued by self-hatred and motivated by a purely self-serving goal. However, thanks to Character Development, he grows into a man determined to get his life back and will not hesitate to kill those that stand in his way. With that said, Johnny does have lines he's unwilling to cross.
- Diego Brando, while assisting the heroes on multiple occasions, is ultimately just pursuing his goal to win the Steel Ball Run.
- Stardust Crusaders:
- Kill la Kill's Ryuko Matoi plays with this: While she's a good person who cares for Mako and her family, she's not fighting Satsuki and the Elite Four to overthrow them and bring peace to Honnouji Academy, she's doing it because she believes that they know who killed her father. She eventually grows out of this, though.
- Kingdom has Kanki, who would be one of the most despised villains in the series if he wasn't on the side of the protagonists (and is still hated by many of the more morally upright heroes). He is a General who will ruthlessly do anything at all to achieve a victory, no matter what. Whether this means wearing enemy uniforms, setting entire towns ablaze, allowing his men to pillage and rape, or even create horrific forests of civilian corpses, nothing is out of the question. And, unlike Shin and his compatriots, he doesn't fight because he believes in unification — he fights for the wealth and power that comes from success, and because he is very, very good at what he does.
- Invoked in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016). Link asserts that he is this this when Faron asserts he's The Chosen One, pointing out the heroic deed allegedly qualifying him for the role was simply him fumbling about blindly and trying to get back to being human and/or not die.
- My Hero Academia:
- Endeavor is the second-highest ranked hero in Japan, only surpassed by All Might. He's also a petty bastard with an obsessive desire to become Number 1, and abused his wife and children in order to reach that goal through his "favorite son", Shoto. Of course, most of the world is blissfully ignorant of his failings as a husband and father, so they just see him as an extremely efficient superhero with a giant stick up his ass. Character Development has him slowly trying to become more heroic in personality once he finally achieves that Number 1 spot and has a talk with All Might on what it means to be the "Symbol of Peace". Ultimately, he comes to realize the error of how he had treated his family and resolves to be a better hero and rebuild his relationship with his loved ones.
- One somewhat Played for Laughs example is Minoru Mineta. He's a massive pervert, coward, and a sudden egomaniac whenever he actually succeeds at something and he admits that he initially wanted to become a hero because they were cool (and thus have people, especially girls, like him.) However, he is going through Character Development as he passes his big hero exam, noting that people don't become heroes to be cool, they are cool because they are heroes. He proceeds to use his wit to pass the exam and even save his comrade (which he didn't have to do to pass, but doing so shows his growth.)
- Nao Yuuki of My-HiME strongly believes that the Himes should use their powers for whatever they want, but allies with them to stop the Searrs foundation. And then she is attacked by the other Himes when they think she attacked Yukariko, loses an eye and undergoes a Face–Heel Turn.
- Boa Hancock from One Piece is of the "Relationships" type. She has a Love Interest, Luffy, and some Morality Pets (her sisters and to a lesser degree Nyon and Rayleigh) that she cares about, and she has a genuine Freudian Excuse, but otherwise she is quite the ruthless and selfish bitch who literally kicks dogs (and baby seals and baby kittens) and petrifies people on a whim.
- One-Punch Man has several examples, which helps underscore its critique of superheroes being a paid government service like the police and fire department. S-Class hero Metal Knight only cares about developing his weapons technology and sees protecting the innocent as a side-effect. A-Class hero Amai Mask is a Bishōnen pop idol who cares more about appearance than saving lives and has enough sway with the Hero Association that he gets a say over which heroes are allowed to advance to S-Class. The protagonist Saitama initially only cares about getting fans, but his actions when the cameras are off show that he's actually very noble deep down. Genos also starts the series as an example of the Revenge variation of this trope but grows out of it thanks to interacting with Saitama. A major defining moment comes with the end of the alien invasion: Saitama and Genos help fight off the invaders while Metal Knight and Amai Mask only show up after the battle is over, the former to salvage the alien spaceship for tech, and the latter so he can bawl out the other heroes for not doing a good enough job (in his opinion) and slaughter some aliens who had already surrendered. Tatsumaki is an arrogant bitch who only cares about letting everyone else know she's the strongest hero and therefore they should show her the respect she thinks she deserves. She also doesn't care to get into fights she believes "are beneath her" and doesn't care about any collateral damage she causes.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt has Panty and Stocking Anarchy, who are incredibly rude and selfish and usually have no desire to help others. They only fight the bad guys because it slowly earns their way back into Heaven.
- Re:CREATORS: Aliceteria February in her fictional homeworld is supposed to be a brave and heroic knight, but ends up opposing the other heroic characters and puts innocent people in danger if it means saving her world. After her friend Mamika gets killed, she ends up flying off the rails and attempts to kill Meteora based on circumstantial evidence and even when Sota attempts to appeal to her better nature, she refuses to listen to him and even attempts to kill him if it means getting her hands on Meteora. Fortunately, she later gets her act together.
- The titular Healer of Redo of Healer is a sadistic, revenge-obsessed Serial Rapist who starts wars against entire kingdoms and demonic realms just to get back on a few "heroes" who raped and abused him in his adventurer career. He delights in capturing those who abused him, subjecting them to horrific rape and Cold-Blooded Torture, and brainwashes two of his victims to put into his pocket as obedient slaves. He's only considered a hero because all of his enemies are literally just sociopathic Asshole Victims who do similar things as him but are even less sympathetic.
- Kyo of Samurai Deeper Kyo — pretty much see the description of Dark Schneider, except in Sengoku Japan and with no interest in world domination.
- Natsumi Hinata from Sgt. Frog is Earth's primary defender from the Keronians...even when they're doing something good or just nothing at all. Oh, and Angol Mois the Human Alien Apocalypse Maiden is one of her best friends. That said, she does care for her friends and family, even her weaker brother, Fuyuki, so she's not completely heartless.
- In Slayers, Lina Inverse and Zelgadis Graywords both fall in this category in different ways.
- Lina is fully conscious of her status as one of the greatest magical prodigies in the world and is not above using her vast power to intimidate and extort food/treasure for herself.
- As far as Zelgadis is concerned, he is hell-bent on changing his chimeric body back to normal, and is even nastier than Lina in the intimidate/extort department. He will help save the world....if it'll save himself really.
- Token Evil Teammate Xellos is a much straighter example.
- Texhnolyze: Doc and Ichise. The former being interested in the pursuit and propagation of Texhnolyze technology, regardless of how it aids others, while the latter, while not actively out to hurt anyone, has little to no qualms about hurting people for even stopping him in the street, shows little hesitance or guilt in caving in a man's skull with his bare hand, and is attached to the people around him purely out of personal interest or even because they asked him to, rather than any idealism or heroism.
- In Valvrave the Liberator, L-Elf is this, firmly contrasting to the more typical protagonist, Haruto. He's on the good guys' side because it will help him get what he wants, and really only sees them as tools, not allies.
