Single Woman Seeks Good Man in Western Animation.
- There was an episode of All Grown Up! where Betty said something along the lines of "Every girl dates at least one bad boy, but then they settle down and marry a Howie." Everyone assumed Kimi's new friend, Z, was a bad boy by his matter of dress, but it turns out he is a genuinely nice and well-mannered young man who just liked to dress that way and even secretly donates to charity with his father.
- When Chuckie and friends confront them during an incident and Kimi calls them out for making wild assumptions, Z points out that Chuckie only did this because he cares a lot about her and doesn't show any bitterness for their assumptions. He appeared in one other episode and was also a nice guy there.
- The Amazing World of Gumball: Despite Richard being lazy, hedonistic and childishly excitable, Nicole loves him for who he is and that he is always true to himself. The importance of this (as well as the origins of their relationship) is expanded upon in the episode "The Choices". Nicole's parents were massive Control Freaks and her own mother an extreme perfectionist, demanding nothing but success from her. Richard was the first person who liked her for being her and made her feel like she already has self-worth, contrasting on how she felt like she had to win to mean anything as a result of her upbringing. He taught her how to be happy and to like her for who she was.
- Arcane:
- Part of the reason for Mel becoming In Love with the Mark is because Jayce has many attractive virtues - in particular when, after initially thinking he selfishly left her after they slept together, he reveals it was because his friend Victor was in the hospital and he starts casually sharing his intimate fears with her. She’s clearly stunned by it all.
- A same-sex example is between Vi and Caitlyn. Vi has plenty of Ship Tease with Caitlyn, with it all but stated they are each other's love interests. In the beginning, Vi is nothing but dismissive, rude, belligerent, and hostile towards Caitlyn for being a Piltovan Enforcer. Her opinion of the Enforcer begins to shift of the latter treating her with patience and kindness: Never making a classist insult at her for being a Zaunite, saving her life from both Sevika and the wound the said woman inflicted on her, and not resorting to corruption or violence to get her way. Vi's romantic feelings begin to form after Caitlyn makes a genuine heartfelt speech to Ekko about wanting to heal Zaun; the feelings only grow further when Caitlyn speaks positively about her when they meet with the Piltovan Council.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Despite the reputation that precedes the entire Jet debacle, Katara was only attracted to him when he appeared to be Robin Hood-esque hero who also happened to sport the roguishly aloof personality of a bad boy. When Jet showed his true colors, Katara turned against him and was shown to be embarrased over how smitten she was with him. The rest of the series then proceeds to develop her relationship with Aang. Naturally, they end up together in the end.
- Also Mai seems to have been attracted to Zuko in the first place, exactly because he was not a megalomanic evil aristocrat like his father and his sister. They only get back together after he gets over his anger issues (during the Troubled, but Cute phase he is in for the early half of the series) and returns to being a nice friendly young prince. While she's seriously pissed about him leaving in the dark of the night to join the Avatar, she's impressed enough by his decision to do the right thing that she fights Azula to cover his escape.
- Ty Lee, who was also inspired by Mai's aforementioned turn to finally revolt against Azula as well, has typical Fire Nation college party dudes dreaming about being with her. Yet who's she got a crush on? Sokka.
- Yue falls for Sokka because he is shown loving her for who she is and genuinely wanting to make her happy, in contrast to her fiance (who brags about the "perks" that come with marrying the princess, prompting Sokka to call him "a jerk with no soul").
- Suki, starts to show affection for Sokka after he humbles himself and asks her to teach him the Kyoshi fighting style (even agreeing to wear a dress) and apologizes for being rude to her and the other warriors.
- Batman: The Animated Series: In this show, the first time Catwoman develops a crush on the dark knight is after he stops chasing her during a robbery in order to rescue her pet cat from an oncoming truck.
- Beast Wars: Blackarachnia is the Dark Action Girl of the Predacons, who regularly tries to get her claws on power and took delight in her misdeeds on Maximal and Predacon alike. However, she falls in love with Silverbolt, dorky Knight in Shining Armor who treats her kindly and encouraged a Heel–Face Turn.
- The reason Aelita fell for Jeremie in Code Lyoko seems to be his persistence in helping and trying to make her happy without seeking thanks or reward.
- In the Darkwing Duck episode "U.F. Foe", Tia is interested in Launchpad because he's kind, has a good heart, and taught her how to laugh and have fun.
- The Dragon Prince: A mutual example occurs between Rayla and Callum. They start off as simply allies, but witnessing the others genuine bravery and selflessness throughout their journey together, leads to both admiration, and eventually love, blooming between them in Season 3.
- Ed, Edd n Eddy:
- May, from the Kanker sisters, is into Ed, who is a very friendly Gentle Giant, and has expressed her love for him in the Valentine's Day special.
- May's older sister, Marie, is surprisingly into Edd, who is a highly well-mannered Child Prodigy, even though she is a naughty girl herself.
- Futurama: The most reasonable explanation as to why Fry is such a Chick Magnet. He is by far one of the kindest characters in the whole show and a lot of women have found this attractive. It's implied Leela eventually fell in love with Fry due to his kind nature and how accepting he is of her, as she often remarks on how sweet he is.
- Harley Quinn (2019):
- At first, Poison Ivy disliked Kite Man for being a pervert who tries too hard to get her interest. However, when he tones down and shows that he's a pretty Nice Guy despite being a supervillain, she starts returning his advances.
- A same-sex example. Once Harley finally gets over her abusive ex-boyfriend Joker, she realizes she's really in love with Ivy, her best friend who truly cares about her and has always been there for her through good and bad times. When confessing to Ivy yet again, Harley tells her she fell in love with her because they always have fun together and Ivy shows her the best version of herself that she can be.
- In Hey Arnold!, Helga Pataki's relationship with Arnold plays this trope. When her family forgot about her on a rainy day, Arnold offered her an umbrella, and from then on she has adored him.
- Heloise, the sadistic girl genius who works for a company that brings misery to others in Miseryville, falls for the sweet, optimistic, Jimmy Two-Shoes. According to co-creator Edward Kay, one reason is that there's "something about sweet, innocent guys that appeals to the last shred of humanity in her".
- Justice League: In Injustice for All, Wonder Woman's vicious archenemy Cheetah develops feeling for Batman after he takes the time to genuinely get to know and comfort her, realizing that she's not entirely evil.
- Justice League Action: The episode "Repulse" reveals that Superman and Wonder Woman go on dates together. While they still have Lois Lane and Steve Trevor in their respective lives, it's their superhero personas they're in love with. Wonder Woman enjoys Superman since he's someone who knows the real her.
- Kim Possible dated the nice guys despite claiming to like Troubled, but Cute type bad boys. The one bad boy she dated pretended to be a nice guy but as soon as he dropped the facade, she moved on from him.
- In The Legend of Korra, Asami and Korra both decide to go for this sort of relationship after their respective break-ups with Mako, who had a bad habit of cheating on one while dating the other. Except for the man part, since they start dating one another.
- The Loud House:
- This trope seems to be the reason why the mature and rational Lori Loud is in a relationship with Bobby Santiago. Sure, Bobby is dense and simple-minded, and until his transition into The Casagrandes, he came off as rather bland, but he is nothing but nice to Lori and treats her with the utmost respect.
- Though not the the same extent as her older sister, it's implied that the main reason why Luan is attracted to Benny is because he seems to be, for the most part, a really nice and decent guy.
- In "L is for Love", when Winston gave Lola a ten during one of her pageants, she immediately developed a crush on him.
- From the same episode, although it's debatable whether they got together or not, Paige does get Ship Tease with Nice Guy Lincoln.
- Miraculous Ladybug: Main heroine Marinette develops her feelings for Adrien after he showed her kindness despite how coldly she had treated him to that point and his own loneliness.
- My Life as a Teenage Robot hints that Jenny will eventually pick Sheldon because she's sick of smooth operators, and wants someone sweet and sincere. Sheldon walks by, and she greets him, still wondering where she can find someone like that, though as the series was Cut Short, it's unknown if they would have actually gotten together in the end.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic features Princess Cadance who wants/has Shining Armor.
- In My Little Pony Tales, Bright Eyes only has eyes for the sweet, mature, kinda shy Lancer.
- Same-sex variation in The Owl House. Amity falls for Luz due to her being the first real friend she's had since her parents forced her to cut ties with Willow when they were children. The fact that Luz helps her reconnect with Willow and later volunteers to take her place to face Grom just make her fall even harder.
- The only problem that Phineas and Ferb fans can find with Candace's Love Interest Jeremy is that he's so ridiculously nice that he seems too perfect. Which is probably good, because a less calm and understanding guy might not be able to handle a girl as neurotic and excitable as her.
- Isabella and Phineas for the Puppy Love version.
- Linda and Lawrence for a Happily Married take on this.
- As of the episode "Minor Monogram", Vanessa has decided she would rather date good guys instead of bad boys. She does have an on and off relation with Monty Monogram (the son of Major Monogram), but it doesn't go anywhere due to their fathers being on the opposite sides (and both of them went a bit too far with joking about the others' father.) In the penultimate episode (which showcases the cast around ten years in the future, ) it's revealed that she has been dating Ferb for a while now; long enough to be friends with his and Phineas' friends, even well-aware of the romantic feelings Phineas and Isabella have to one another.
- Samurai Jack: Ashi was among a group of sisters born and raised solely to kill Samurai Jack. Instead, she fell in love with him for showing her that Aku wasn't the force of good her vicious mother forced her to believe and for being the first person to treat her like a human being as opposed to a mindless soldier.
- The Simpsons:
- In "Large Marge", Cookie Kwan and Lindsey Naegle both look for dates and develop an interest in Homer when they see him helping Lisa out.
- In "A Star Is Born Again", a movie star becomes attracted to Ned's down the Earth nature, finding him far more tolerable than her superficial ex-boyfriends.
- South Park:
- It's all but implied that the main reason why Wendy Testaburger loves Stan so much is because he seems to be, for the most part, a really nice and decent guy.
- Also, in the episode, Clubhouses, Bebe falls for Kyle, who, Fiery Redhead moments aside is a Nice Guy... only for her to dump him and then hook up with Clyde, who, Kids Are Cruel and Dirty Kid moments aside, he means well and seems to be a really nice and decent guy.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
- Star's previous boyfriend Tom was a demon and she grew even more interested in her crush Oskar when she finds out he has a "record". However, her latest crush and the person she ultimately falls in love with is her best friend Marco, known as the Safe Kid at school and a Nice Guy all round.
- Flashbacks show that Star's mother Moon went through something similar. Moon's primary suitor was Count Mildrew, a maudlin Drama Queen who was convinced that she was absolutely distraught following her mother's death and kept trying to shove her out of decisions so that she could go cry somewhere. River was much lower-class, but he was the only person who offered her honest condolences, while still trusting that she could lead the kingdom and speaking up on her behalf when everyone tried to talk over her. Moon of course ended up marrying River.
- Steven Universe:
- Connie Maheswaran is romantically interested in the titular character — who is a very Nice Guy, treats her as an equal, and is honest.
- Pearl was deeply in love with Rose Quartz. The very Gem who was the first who treated Pearl as an individual, instead of "just another pearl". This is deconstructed in the series though. Pearl put Rose on a pedestal and couldn't accept that Rose would keep stuff even from her. This is something that was explored in "Rose's Scabbard". In addition, this gave Pearl a very large codependence complex toward Rose and believed her own worth was only tied to Rose, ironically missing the point of what Rose said. As of Season 5, Pearl is very slowing moving on though her attraction toward a rocker girl who happens to resemble Rose. However, then came the reveal that Rose Quartz is actually Pink Diamond. Pearl's attachment to Pink is in part due to how she was programmed (or at least framing their relationship, due to how casual Pink Diamond was with Pink Pearl, who became corrupted into White Diamond's herald.) It also explains Pearl's devotion to Pink and that she did not undergo the same problems other Pearls or Gems did with their superiors.
- This trope is then reconstructed with Rose's relationship with Greg Universe. While both of them clicked well, they had to work to understand and communicate with one other. Greg was aware of Rose's faults and he inspired her to learn more about humanity and truly see them as individuals and equal to the Gems, something that would allow Rose to grow and become even more of an All-Loving Hero. Greg was also willing to learn whatever he could about the Gems and puts effort into understanding them (such as when he talked to Garnet about fusion.) As such, it's why Rose's relationship with Greg over her other past suitors (including Pearl) lasted and functioned as well as it did.
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: As annoyed as Nova might get at his antics sometimes, she's still clearly in love with Sprx, the easy-going, fun-loving, brave, and loyal team comedian and hotshot ace.
- Teen Titans (2003): In "Go!", the flashback episode showing how the Titans first met, it's shown that one of the reasons why Starfire became so attracted to Robin was because he freed her from the handcuffs the Gordanians placed on her, even though they had been fighting before because their language barrier had kept them from understanding what she wanted — according to her, only her guardian had ever been so kind to her before.
- Total Drama
- The reason Gwen developed feelings for Trent the first time they actually interacted.
- This was even proven in the episode "Full Metal Drama" of Action, where Izzy genuinely thinks that Owen is cute, while Justin isn't (the latter was the cause of her second elimination of that season).
- Harold wrote a haiku about Leshawna, and she fell for him when she found out that it was him who wrote it.
- When Tyler approached to Lindsay after the cockroach incident in "Not so Happy Campers, Part 1", he declares to her that he will do the same thing as what Duncan did to the insect. Thus, she immediately fell in love with him.
- The main reason why Zoey fell in love with Mike is because he's a nice and decent guy.
- Why did Dakota fall in love with Sam? Because he's a Nice Guy who treats her equally, even when she's been turned into a monster.
- Wakfu: Princess Amalia, as she eventually grows into the role of Queen of the Sadida is courted by numerous suitors in the later seasons for her considerable beauty and the immense wealth and respect her family commands. Her heart, however, belongs to Yugo, the kindhearted, humble son of an innkeeper whom she has traveled with since they were both kids. It is revealed in the second season that Yugo himself is actually the newest incarnation of the immortal King of the Eliatrope people, an ancient civilization of highly advanced spacefarers who have a symbiotic relationship with dragons and powerful connections to the World of Twelve's most raw form of magic. At present, however, Yugo has no kingdom or people to rule, as they were sealed away following a devastating apocalypse in the ancient past. Yugo has also been reluctant to respond to Amalia's advances, for even though he loves her, his powers greatly stunt his physical growth, Aging in something like double reverse dog years compared to normal humans.
- In Winx Club, Bloom, Flora, Tecna, Aisha, and even Stella's Love Interests have been shown to be really decent guys. Musa... not so much. (Though he does go through Character Development.)
