The Chosen One / Anime & Manga

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• In Arata: The Legend, Arata is at first made out to be this, but it's actually Hinohara who is destined for greatness in Amawakuni.
• Eren from Attack on Titan:
  • Considering his prophetic dream at the beginning of the anime, and its puzzling counterpart in the manga with the Mysterious Girl, and also adding to the memories of Grisha Yeager and Eren Kruger that he later inherited (keep in mind, this all happened before Eren gained the Attack Titan), it's heavily implied that Eren was always meant to inherit the Attack Titan.
  • As the military junta poises him as the flag-carrier for their cause, his followers and the public in general at Paradis see Eren as a messiah of sorts, who will lead them in glorious victory against their enemies. Of course, the junta loses control of Eren completely, as it's implied that Eren both drank the Kool-Aid and is being led by the nose by his brother Zeke's agenda.
• In Bakugan, the third season reveals that Drago and Dharak are the direct descendants of the original Dragonoid and Dharaknoid due to possessing the Ultimate Warrior Gene as well as being two sides of the same coin, Drago representing light and Dharak representing darkness and both having the potential to be the strongest Bakugan in existence making them both the Chosen Ones.
  • Their respective partners, Dan and Barodius are also this, since they were both destined to be their partners.
• Griffith of Berserk is a good example of a villainous Chosen One, what with being chosen by the Crimson Behelit to become the fifth member of the Godhand during the Eclipse.
  • Goes even further than that. He's the chosen king of Midland.
• Birdy the Mighty: Decode brutally and horrifyingly deconstructs this trope with Satyajit Shyamalan, the villain of its first season. He thinks that because he was the Sole Survivor of an attack that killed 4,000 people, and, to a lesser extent, because he was a Child Prodigy, he is the Chosen One in question and that therefore the only people who matter are him and those he's willing to accept as equally special. As a result, he spends the season trying to track down a super weapon with the power to wipe out all life on Earth, because he thinks he can control it and that it will eliminate everyone but those he considers most worthy of life. It ends up being too powerful and kills him. He's one of the most evil and repulsive characters in the series and to top it all off, it's implied that his entire motivation is rooted in Survivor Guilt. The idea seems to be that no sane person would ever seriously consider that they were the Chosen One.
• Bleach: It's been made clear from the earliest parts of the manga that Urahara has been looking for "The One" for a long time. When Ichigo defeats the story's first Menos Grande, Urahara's followers become convinced Urahara has finally found "The One", with Yoruichi becoming convinced of this only after Ichigo's bankai training. Later on, it's indicated that Ichigo's path will take his future away from him, but that he needs to follow it to "protect everyone". When the Vandenreich begins tracking down the five "Special War Potentials", Ichigo's revealed to be one of them when Yhwach tries to forcibly recruit him. The Sternritters regard Ichigo as the "head" of the Special War Potentials.
• Ryou in The Dark Queen and I Strike Back is summoned because of his suitability to wield the Holy Sword, and thus allow the humans to finish their victory over the inhumans. However, he ends up turning against the very humans who summoned him and sides with the inhumans.
• Subverted in Death Note. When Light is approached by Ryuk, the original owner of the Death Note who sent it to the human world, Light asks why he was the one given the notebook. Ryuk laughs in his face and tells him he dropped the notebooks so anyone could find it, which is why he wrote the instructions for the Death Note in English, the most popular language in the world.
• Subverted and then played straight in Demon King Daimao right on the first episode where the protagonist is calculated to be this generation's demon king. Six chapters later, Hiroshi is also shown to be sorted as the next Hero, and this is confirmed by taking on the legendary weapon.
• In its various continuities, Digimon has two distinct categories of humans partnered with Digimon, the second and most well-known falling under this trope. The Chosen Children (dubbed as "DigiDestined") are chosen by some higher power for the purpose of partnering with a Digimon to save the Digital World. The term is explicitly used in reference to the protagonists in Digimon Adventure and its sequel (who are picked by the members of Gennai's order), and Digimon Frontier (where Ophanimon is the one who chose them). Unlike most examples of the trope, there are multiple Chosen Children, to the point where the Adventure continuity had an arc where the main characters assisted Chosen around the world and concluded with everyone in the world becoming one.
  • In Digimon Frontier, they were actually chosen twice. Ophanimon sent a text message to thousands of people in the human world, and only those pure of heart responded to her message. Out of those hundreds of children, she didn't know who was fit to possess the Spirits until they crossed the border into the Digital World, and even after that, they had to find the Spirits and prove themselves courageous enough to be worthy of them before they could use them. Slightly different case with Koichi, who wound up in the Digital World by another method, but was nonetheless chosen as the proper bearer by his particular Spirits.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Played With this. During Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta firmly believes that one needs to be the Chosen One to become a Super Saiyan, something that should be achieved by him since he is the Saiyan Prince. After being beating to near death by Frieza, he concludes that Goku is the real Chosen One destined to ascend and defeat Frieza. In Bardock's final vision in the TV Special, he foresees Goku challenging Frieza, and Goku is the first one to ascend to Super Saiyan in a thousand years and does defeat Frieza. Then Super Saiyan gets hit with Uniqueness Decay and any Saiyan can become one with the right amount of anger and power, and Goten and Trunks achieved Super Saiyan without even trying.
  • Then the Chosen One idea is brought back in Battle of Gods and it’s Super retelling, where Goku becomes a Super Saiyan God and the soundtrack for the ascension is even called the Chosen One. Also, unique to Goku, he keeps the power of godhood even after the time limit runs out, as Beerus himself states that Goku somehow absorbed the Super Saiyan God power.
  • Broly was created on the idea of creating a true Chosen One by him being the Legendary Super Saiyan born every thousand of years.
  • Kale, the Universe 6 equivalent of Broly, is also this. However, unlike Universe 7, her form is called a Demon Saiyan, and unlike Broly, she doesn’t require a wrathful state to use this transformation. In the manga, she purposely hid her true power so she couldn’t shame Caulifla's pride.
• Entaku No Kishi Monogatari Moero Arthur: The archbishop declares that one who draws the sacred sword is the king, so all the kings of Logres challenge him, but none of them can draw their sword. However, the moment Arthur puts his hand on the handle, the sword begins to emit a dazzling light, signifying he's the chosen one.
• In Eureka Seven, whoever makes a human Coralian smile first naturally makes that person "the chosen one". "The chosen one" will pair up with the particular human Coralian to lead humans and Coralians to co-existence and prevent war. The protagonist Renton Thurston was that very person, and the only one shown in the entire series to achieve things where no one else can. He wasn't "chosen" in the prophetic sense, but chosen by Eureka to be her mate. A bonus line for this trope, said by Maurice in the final episode: "The only one who can save our mama(Eureka), is our papa!(Renton)"
• Parodied in Fairy Tail. Lucy wonders if she's this when she's the only one who can use magic in Edolas. She is immediately shot down. Then everyone else gets their own mana potions to drink, and they're right back to using their powers.
• Fist of the North Star: While it is common for a master of Hokuto Shinken to take many pupils under their tutelage as Ryuken had Kenshiro and his adoptive brothers, the laws of Hokuto Shinken dictate there may be only one master, and those not chosen must vow to give up using Hokuto Shinken, or face the consequences. Kenshiro is ultimately chosen as the new master of Hokuto Shinken, and in the time following the nuclear war, becomes revered by many as the "Savior of Century's End" when he uses Hokuto Shinken to save the innocent and condemn the wicked.
• Subverted in Flame of Recca where it turns out that the hero is NOT the chosen flame-wielder, and the villain IS.
  • Don't worry, he is still a chosen one...to destroy all other flame-wielders and their creations.
• In HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!, Blue has called Megumi the one who would save the world for the Phantom Empire. In a world where there are Cures for just about every corner of the world, it's kinda hard to see that, but seeing how as she's gotten Hime to start working to be a better Cure and faced down Phantom, the Precure Hunter and not get herself captured, it's easy to see why Blue would call her that.
• In Haruhi Suzumiya, Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi tell Kyon that he is the Chosen One, the person that Haruhi has chosen.
  • In "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya," Koizumi speculates on whether Haruhi herself is some sort of chosen one, chosen by the true god to fix a flawed world.
• Subverted in Hitoribotchi no Uchuu Sensou (literally "One-Man Cosmic War"), a short sci-fi manga by Fujiko F. Fujio. A sci-fi-enthusiastic schoolboy gets chosen by some aliens from another planet like Earth to fight his clone for the sake of his own Earth. He asks the aliens why they choose him, to which they simply reply that the selecting process is completely randomized.
• Wanda of Kamiwaza Wanda was chosen by his father to stop the Bugmin before his planet was frozen.
• Akko in Little Witch Academia is chosen to be the wielder of the powerful Shiny Rod wand much like her idol Shiny Chariot. In the original short movie, she comes across it in a treasure room of a dungeon, while in the TV series, she finds it in the Arcturus Forest on the outskirts of her school.
• The Book of Darkness, an all-powerful magical tome from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's chooses its master at random, and the most recent one is a paraplegic young Japanese girl by the name of Hayate Yagami. This also makes her a different kind of Chosen One, as Gil Graham, the TSAB admiral who had been tracking the book down decided that she will be the last master, as he planned to seal her together with the book when it goes berserk when it is completed since she was alone and nobody would mourn for her. Nanoha and Fate have other plans.
• Magic Knight Rayearth: Three schoolgirls are dropped into an alternate reality where they are declared to be "the legendary Magic Knights" and are set off on a journey to become said legendary Magic Knights. Subverted in that what you (and they themselves) think they're chosen for and what they're actually chosen for are in no way close. They were informed that they have to save Cephiro, but mislead on who they're saving it from.
• In Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, the Magi appear throughout history to choose people who will become the rulers of the current age. Aladdin is the only Magi so far who has chosen his King Candidate, his friend Alibaba. The other Magi seem to have other goals in mind besides choosing a king. As the bearer of Solomon's Wisdom, Aladdin is a Chosen One, too.
• In Make the Exorcist Fall in Love, Father is a uniquely powerful exorcist declared by the pope to have been chosen by God himself to exorcize Satan. His "Miracle Amplification" ability lets him recreate any of God's miracles from the Bible and enables him to go toe-to-toe with the Demon Lords of Hell single-handedly. As a result, the Vatican repeatedly refers to him as the "Child of Hope" destined to deliver them from the demonic threat. But this is also Deconstructed, as this position puts enormous pressure on Father's shoulders and completely deprived him of a normal life. Being constantly sent against the forces of Hell and forced to suffer for the sake of others has left him with lasting trauma and severe mental health issues.
• In My Hero Academia, protagonist Izuku Midoriya is chosen by All Might to be the ninth holder of One For All, a powerful Super-Strength Quirk passed from wielder to wielder. With it, he inherits the privilege and burden of becoming the world's greatest superhero to protect people and ensure peace. As the series progresses, this trope is played with for all it's worth concerning the power of One For All: First, it was revealed that Izuku wasn't the first choice — Mirio Togata, alias Lemillion, was scouted as the recipient but All Might ran into Izuku. When Mirio is Brought Down to Normal, Izuku attempts to pass it on to him, but he refuses. Later on, it's revealed that the previous seven weren't special at all — the first holder was All For One's brother and everyone after him was given the power so they could continue the fight against All For One. Nana Shimura, the seventh holder, decided to play this trope when she gave it to Toshinori Yagi, the man who'd become All Might. However, it seems that Izuku might be using this trope in a new way, as the first person to use all of One For All's gathered Quirks.
• Naruto: A title "Child of Prophecy" variously ascribed to Minato, Nagato and Naruto. Since Nagato and Minato both died without doing anything nearly as Chosen One-y as Naruto, it's a safe bet that Naruto's the real one. Later in the series, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, it's revealed that there isn't just one Child of Prophecy, there are two and Sasuke is revealed to be the second Child of Prophecy, as both Naruto and Sasuke are the ones prophesied to change the Shinobi World and to seal away Princess Kaguya. They are then revealed by The Sage of Six Paths to be the reincarnations of his two sons, Asura and Indra, and after their conversation, they're both given half of the Sage's power.
  • Obito Uchiha in a manner of speaking could be this, probably more so than Naruto as his actions are largely responsible for the plot and all opportunities Naruto has to show he is the chosen one are derived from them.
• Though it doesn't fit perfectly, Nasu says that in the Nasuverse, only one person can be born with the potential to possess "Eyes of Death Perception". It implies that Ryougi Shiki and Tohno Shiki exist in separate universes.
• Played with in Neon Genesis Evangelion, where Shinji is one of the handful of people who can defend humanity by piloting the titular Evangelion biological mecha. Subverted and deconstructed thoroughly, like all other things on the show. The biological mech he is forced to pilot by his dad has his mother's soul in it. Same situation with Asuka. They were chosen because their mothers would accept no substitutes, and his father had plans with his mother's soul. Then again, said mother also had plans for Shinji...
• In One Piece, it's implied that main character Monkey D. Luffy is this, with there being a lot of hints that Luffy is meant to fulfill a long prophesied role that has been predicted for centuries. He's been outright said to be a specific person that Roger was waiting for and his Devil Fruit turns out to be that of the Sun God Nika, a figure spoken of in secret by slaves as a liberator. Said Devil Fruit has a will of its own and has been avoiding the World Government's efforts to capture it for centuries before it chose Luffy to be its user. The Devil Fruit was also held by Joy Boy, a legendary figure in the setting, and upon Awakening the Devil Fruit Luffy becomes a new incarnation of Joy Boy.
• Pokémon 2000: Ash is the chosen one, for really realsies. It became a meme for him to be the chosen one of everything. Though he was initially adverse to the idea himself.
  Ash: Right now I wish my mom had named me "Bob" instead of Ash.
  Ash (during a trek across a frozen Tundra): Right now, I feel more like the frozen one.
• Duck is chosen by Drosselmeyer to become the eponymous Magical Girl of Princess Tutu, in order to move along the plot of his story. He conveniently fails to mention how the story is supposed to end...
• Invoked, played with and ultimately subverted in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The eponymous main character is identified early on as having huge potential as a magical girl, and Weasel Mascot du jour Kyuubey spends most of his time trying to convince her to contract with him and thus become one. The catch? Madoka, being your typical magical girl protagonist, never actually musters up the courage to do it, or hasn't yet as of Episode 10 at least ( not in this timeline, that is); she nearly does on a few occasions, but something always intervenes, for better or for worse. The kicker? Despite the fact that it places an enormous burden on Sayaka, who for all her heroic efforts simply isn't as strong a magical girl, and that this does not end well, this is actually for the best, given what magical girls, and Madoka in particular, will inevitably become.
  • At the end of the anime, Madoka becomes a magical girl and uses her wish to keep witches from being born, though she ultimately Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence because of it and renders herself Ret-Gone because the wish would have transformed her into a witch herself.
  • Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of this and several other tropes. Homura, one of Madoka's friends, has the ability to travel through time. When Madoka was killed (In Homura's timeline), she kept going back to stop her from dying. She failed repeatedly, causing numerous new time lines to form. These actions to prevent Madoka from becoming a Magical girl, inadvertently made her to become the chosen one, as so many timelines tied into her, her power greatly increased. She was chosen to be the great savior/destroyer because of Homura's actions.
• Sailor Moon: the title character, and to a lesser extent, all the other "Sailor" characters...the non-evil ones, at any rate.
• In Tokyo Mew Mew, the creation of the eponymous Magical Girls is initially presented as an accident, but even with LEGO Genetics in place, the whole thing seems too convenient. Near the end, Mission Control reveals that they were lying and had actually gone and tracked down five girls that were perfect matches for the DNA they had lying around. It's explicitly stated as the Earth itself having chosen the five of them to protect it.
• Kamui in X1999, as well as the rest of the Dragons of Heaven and Earth.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yugi (the little one) is referred to as a Chosen One, though in this case, a more appropriate description might be chosen vessel as his body provides the spirit within the Millennium Puzzle with a physical connection to reality allowing him to save the world. Though Yugi turns out to be the one who will defeat the pharaoh in battle allowing him to move on to the afterlife. Yugi tends to have more messianic associations to his name than Yami Yugi.
  • In the filler Waking the Dragons arc, Yugi/Yami, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler are the chosen ones to free Timaeus, Critas, and Hermos from their crystal prisons and wield them against the Orichalcos.
  • Atem is referred to as 'the chosen Pharaoh' in the Millennium World arc, and reference is made to him being part of some prophecy that is never exactly defined, except that he would be able to summon the Gods.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX follows its predecessor, with Juudai being the Chosen One to protect the universe from the Light of Ruin. Johan is also apparently a Chosen One, but of what is isn't ever revealed.

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