You Are Better Than You Think You Are / Anime & Manga

Times where somebody tells another that "You Are Better Than You Think You Are" in Anime and Manga.

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• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Rentarou has given at least one such speech to each of his girlfriends at some point, and has even received one from a few of the other girls.
• Attack on Titan:
  • Marco says this to Jean, who is feeling guilty about his orders getting people killed during the battle in Trost. Marco tells Jean that his understanding of weakness makes him a good leader, as it helps him to clearly judge a situation. Marco credits Jean with saving his life.
  • Marco also defends Jean's leadership skills to Eren at the end of OVA 3.75.
  • Eren, Mikasa, and Armin feel this way about Hannes, particularly after the Fall of Shinganshina, where he elects to run away with the former two rather than go back to rescue Carla Yeager. He blames himself so much that he looks to have sworn off of alcohol and devoted himself to getting better. That said, the kids hold him in high regard and place the blame for the whole situation solely on the Titans.
• In Koimonogatari, Kaiki is hired by Senjougahara to deceive the recently-made Snake God Nadeko in order to save her and Araragi's lives. When she finds out he's been tricking her and attacks him, he tells her in a rather roundabout way that she's got more to live for than just jealousy of Senjougahara.
• Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost:
  • Despite bullying Belle into cleaning the castle (although she had been offically hired as a seamstress), the cat maids are shocked at her low self-esteem, reminding her that she saved the Beast from poisoning.
  • A case when a Shut Up, Hannibal! is also a motivational speech. When Beast returns to the reign of Issus (with Belle tagging along), he finds a devastated place with the population turned into crystal statues... and La Medium sitting on a spider, shattering his former subjects with a smile as she gives him a "look what you made me do" lecture. All he can do is sit down with a Thousand-Yard Stare, reacting only - slightly - when he notices that La Medium has caught Belle. The villainess then proceeds into listing to Belle how ugly he is now and how much he wronged - in front of Beast - but the girl cuts her off:
    Belle: You don't know what you're talking about. The Beast can be mean. He can be reckless. Anyone could tell you that. I was terrified when I first met him. He's big, strong and his fangs can tear flesh. But, deep down, he's gentle and kind. You's know that if you really loved him... La Medium.
  • Last but not least, during the ball, Beast finally realizes that Belle still believes she is ugly because her mom - the only person that loved her when she was a kid - said so. He explains that her mother lied to keep her from being kidnapped by La Medium's demon, and that she should forgive herself for not having been able to save her.
• Bleach:
  • When Ichigo and his friends are defeated by Yammy because Ichigo's too afraid of his inner Hollow taking control of him to fight properly, he is inconsolable. Rukia forces him to fight a mook Hollow and lectures him to overcome his fear by getting stronger. When she declares her belief in his ability to become strong enough to protect his friends, and also himself from his inner demons, he regains his resolve. Soon after (partially forced by Rukia), he apologizes to Orihime and vows to get stronger.
  • Rukia being able to fix Ichigo's resolve breaks Orihime's confidence. As the person who ended up most badly damaged, she is unable to ease Ichigo's guilt and feels completely useless when Rukia succeeds. Feeling mortified by her own jealousy, especially because she likes Rukia, she finally caves to pressure from Rangiku and confesses how she's feeling. Rangiku resolves the situation by explaining that she's wrong because Ichigo needs both her and Rukia equally, but in different ways; Rukia herself comforts Orihime as well, telling her how valorous she is and thanking her for the role she had in her rescue.
• In Bloom Into You, Touko Nanami, despite being at the top of her class, a star athlete and the well-respected Student Council President, struggles with self-esteem problems and self-loathing since she started out as a fairly unremarkable girl before changing herself to emulate her older sister Mio, who'd died seven years ago. When Touko realizes that Mio was also putting up a facade, she's shaken to the core, but her friend/kouhai/possible Love Interest, Yuu, reminds Toukao that none of Touko's friends and colleagues know Mio and that everything they feel for Touko is only directed at Touko herself.
  Touko: What everyone thinks is me is really just me acting like my sister.
  Yuu: But you are the one who's worked so hard to be like her, senpai!
• A Certain Magical Index:
  • Last Order analyzes Accelerator's behavior during the Level 6 Shift experiment and deduces that deep down he never wanted to hurt anyone and was unconsciously trying to find an excuse to not kill the Sisters. She even thanks him for her existence, as the Sisters were only created due to Accelerator joining the experiment. Accelerator refutes her claims, but in the end proves willing to risk his own life for Last Order.
  • Othinus manages to temporarily defeat Touma by warping reality to create a perfect world where everybody is happy and alive, but nobody remembers him. She tells him this world has no room for heroes, and it can become permanent if he simply dies. He falls into despair, because Othinus has made him irrelevant, and reasons that he's become the villain because only a truly selfish person would want his old life back at the expense of the smiles of everybody in this world, then attempts suicide. The Will of the Sisters Network, who retained her memory of the original world, stops him and says he matters. She also points out that Othinus "cheated": if she hadn't made everybody forget about Touma, they would have rejected the new world and wanted the one with him in it. The Will also says it is okay to be selfish because he has a life he deserves to be happy in too. This restores his resolve to oppose Othinus and get the world back to normal.
• In Code Geass, Euphemia for a time feels like she's completely useless in this world. She realizes that she has the power to try making a better world after getting a "you're fabulous" speech from her Psycho Lesbian fangirl.
• At the resolution of A Cruel God Reigns climax deprogramming scene, Ian reaffirms this to Jeremy.
  Jeremy: [crying] I smell, don't I? I smell like I'm rotting, right?
  Ian: Even though he raped you, and you prostituted yourself, you don't smell rotten. What happened to you was an incident. It doesn't change you into something else.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
  • Aoi felt a bit less of an important member of the Demon Slayer Corps because, while she did take the selection exam to fight demons and passed, Aoi sees it as pure luck, explaining she is too scared to actually fight demons, going to volunteer as a medical and training assistant in the Butterfly Estate, away from immediate danger. Tanjiro doesn't agree with Aoi thinking she is less of a hunter because of that and reassured her she is an important part of all hunters that came to the Butterfly Estate seeking for medical assistance and training; this takes Aoi back a little, being shown gratitude to this extent.
  • The driving force on the arduous path to make Zenitsu grow up. The boy has abysmal self-esteem, thus he thinks nothing will ever come out of him putting any effort in doing anything by himself, and that’s where people who expect something out of Zenitsu come into place to give him that much-needed confidence boost. His master Jigoro was the first to see something underneath Zenitsu’s layer of cowardice and laziness, Tanjiro was the second; in the moments Zenitsu realizes there are people out there who believe in him, those are the events where he shows what he can really do, and he does not disappoint when things get going.
• In Digimon Tamers, Calumon gives a speech of this nature to Jeri, when she finally hits the Despair Event Horizon while they're both trapped in the D-Reaper's clutches and starts implying a desire to kill herself. As she talks through her puppet about how it's all her fault that everyone's suffering and using it to "bite" her throat, Calumon, having tried and failed to convince her of this through his cutesy antics, simply pulls the puppet out of her hand and begs her not to listen to it, telling her that everyone cares about her, especially him, and that she's lucky to have so many people who want her to be happy. It's this moment that pulls her out of her Heroic BSoD and gives her the strength and willingness to fight back.
• In Dragon Ball, Jackie Chun, having been revealed to be a disguised Master Roshi, gives one of these speeches to Tien Shinhan during their fight in the series' second world martial arts tournament. It leads to the latter's Heel–Face Turn.
• Shizuo's main character arc throughout Durarara!! (particularly in the Light Novels) is learning that although he may be a very messed-up individual, he isn't quite the inhuman monster he's resigned himself to be. Once that actually gets through his head, Shizuo starts gradually learning how to restrain himself and channel his violent impulses in more heroic (if still destructive) ways.
• Fairy Tail. While waiting for the next day to fight the villains on Galuna Island, Lucy summons the harp Celestial Spirit to pass the time. Said spirit starts singing this trope in musical form, which helps Gray, who was plagued with doubt over the death of his teacher years before.
  Lyra: You are stronger than you were yesterday.
• In Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, Nodoka is suffering a crisis of conscience as she ran off in terror when Daruizen asked her to let him return to her body to heal after King Byo-gen did a number to him. Nodoka's fairy partner, Rabirin, confronts her and asks if she honestly wanted to help him. When she tells her no, Rabirin reassures her that it was perfectly okay, that she had no obligation to help anyone she felt didn't deserve it, especially anyone who brought harm to her.
• Latvia of Hetalia: Axis Powers lacks social tact, is somewhat spacey and is Prone to Tears, but he's amazing at things when he actually puts forth the effort. Of course, as he lacks confidence and doesn't work hard unless he's ordered (and threatened), he never seems to realize it. One instance of him building an entire working railroad without any experience doing so seems to trigger this realization within him:
  Latvia: [completes the railroad] Whoa, it worked?!
  Latvia: [trembling in excitement] A-Amazing...! To think that I made it by imitation and succeeded in one shot! All these talents and powers have always been hidden inside me!
  Latvia: [calms down immediately] Not a chance, right? I'm really no good, getting that puffed up over this.
• Kamisama Kiss has Tomoe say this to Nanami when she is trying and failing to perform a holy ceremonial dance after being an all-around asshole and a Drill Sergeant Nasty towards her from literally the first minute he met her.
• In Kimi ni Todoke, Kurumi began the series as a manipulative Alpha Bitch In Sheep's Clothing who bullied her rival-in-love Sawako in order to drive her apart from Kazehaya. After Character Development ensues, Kurumi is perpetually plagued with guilt over her past actions, prone to Self-Deprecation, and fearing that Sawako and those close to her might not fully forgive her, a case of projecting since she can't forgive herself. And so on several occasions, Sawako and her friends make it clear to Kurumi that not only do they forgive her completely, but that Kurumi is a good person who shouldn't be so down on herself.
• The message behind the lyrics of K-On!'s first ED.
• In Little Busters!, Kyousuke and occasionally other characters often think this towards Riki and Rin, but the thought is rarely vocalised. However, there's a good example at the end of the first season where Kyousuke insists on making Riki captain of their baseball team, and when Riki rejects the title and insists that he'd be happy just following Kyousuke forever, Kyousuke tells him firmly that he knows he can do it and become so much stronger if he tries.
• The Love and Creed of Sae Maki has a laconically brief moment when Kokai tells Misao that she's getting stronger than when they first met. She was a timid girl crying when Sae wasn't around to see it, participated in two of his plans to get rid of Sae, and came up with their third strategy. Not only is it her plan, but Sae will know that she's responsible and directly working against her. They break into the school to arrange this new trap for Sae and he simply tells her "You've gotten stronger" before leaving.
• A lot between Noi, Yuuhi, and Sami in The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, and even from Hangetsu to Yuuhi. Yuuhi has no confidence in himself whatsoever at the start, but the trust and belief others put in him lets him grow immeasurably. Meanwhile, Yuuhi starts to use it to pay back the others' belief and help them get over their own insecurities.
  Yuuhi: Princess... do you love this world?
  Sami: ...yeah.
  Yuuhi: Then the world definitely loves you back. You are not damaged goods.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS:
  • Episode 9, where after various incidents begat by Teana's feelings of inadequacy from being the normal one in the team which drove a fanatical need to prove herself, Nanoha goes to have a talk with Teana, explaining to her that her skills which she felt were mediocre were powerful when used correctly and that Nanoha did feel that Teana can stand on her own as an enforcer and had already planned to eventually train her in that direction after she had mastered the skills she specialized in and gained enough confidence in them. After this realization, Teana would go on to become one of the most effective members of the team.
  • Also, in the last episodes, after Fate nearly suffers a Heroic BSoD at the hands of the Big Bad (who attempts to prove that she isn't different from her Evil Matriarch mother), her adoptive kids Erio and Caro explain to her just what exactly makes her awesome, putting her right back into the fight.
• In March Comes in Like a Lion, Rei, near the end of his first year in high school, begins to feel as if he's accomplished nothing in the year he's moved out of Kouda's house. Mr. Hayashida quickly counters with exactly why that's not the case, pointing out that Rei's learned to take care of himself, pay his own bills, and other things, achieving a level of independence uncommon among people his age.
• Medaka Box. Misogi Kumagawa is head of Class -13, a collection of "Minuses" that are all self-proclaimed weaklings, losers, and villains who never truly win. In his climactic duel with Medaka in the student election battles, he reveals what he believes to be the most sure-fire way for him to actually win; "Book Maker", a skill that brings his opponent down to his emotional level, essentially turning a "Plus" into a "Minus". He figures that Medaka will simply give up the fight upon being hit by "Book Maker"... but while she is brought down to his level by it, she not only keeps fighting but points out that Misogi is clearly not as weak and despicable as he thinks he is. Things like this happen from that point onward, all a message that the main thing maintaining Misogi's unnatural losing streak is his own self-perception.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Izuku Midoriya, after being offered a superpower from All Might accepts it, but by the time he has proven himself to be a worthy candidate by going through a Training from Hell, gaining the Heroic Build necessary to contain the extremely destructive power of All Might and by cleaning up the entire beach, something not even All Might expected, wonders if he deserves the #1 hero's power. All Might is taken aback and very impressed by the young man's humility and tells him he has earned what he is about to get and it is not just pure, dumb luck.
  • Katsuki Bakugo, of all people, gives one to Eijiro Kirishima, when he opens up about his insecurities about having a mundane quirk, not standing out in a class full of his peers with extremely flashy quirks. He reminds Kirishima what he told him during the sports festival and what All Might himself proved by fighting All For One: If you stand up and refuse to go down against bad guys, you are strong. This inspires Kirishima to come up with his own Ultimate move, which is not flashy, but extremely effective and he not only saves a lot of civilians' lives, he also becomes one of the most discussed heroes in the news. Later on, he also earns the respect of one of his enemies in the same arc.
• Naruto said this to Hinata in Chapter 559 when she felt bad about him having to rescue her in the Fourth Shinobi War, despite having vowed to herself that she'd protect him. He reassures her that she already did protect him, by proudly referencing how she defended him against Pain and even acknowledges that she's strong.
  • It doubles as a Meaningful Echo: in Chapter 98, Naruto admitted to Hinata that he wasn't sure he could defeat Neji in the finals. Hinata reassured him that he is strong because no matter how many times he falls, he always gets back up; in her eyes, he's a "proud failure."
    • Naruto immediately returned the favor by telling her that, at first, he thought she was "a plain-looking, dark weirdo," but he has since realized that she was a person he really liked. You can bet they both needed that.
  • For that matter, it was with a speech to this effect that Naruto managed to break through Neji's cynical fatalism and convert him to the good guys' side; by pointing out to Neji that if a failure of a ninja could overcome his destiny as a failure by defeating a recognized genius like Neji, then Neji should be able to overcome his own destiny as well since, unlike Naruto, he wasn't a failure.
• No Longer Allowed in Another World: Part of Sensei's "Storyteller" ability is how he acknowledges that otherworlders his power affects aren't the straight-up villains or losers they are initially made-out to be, but rather broken people that can be mended (the Cowardly Man is more brave than he thinks, that Yuriko isn't greedy, but wants to be acknowledged, etc) before tearing up the rough-draft, sending them back to live their old lives with renewed hope in their futures.
• Onani Master Kurosawa: Kurosawa attempts to convince Kitahara that she's strong enough to fight through her troubles on the train home from their school trip. He's not exactly correct, but then again, he's not exactly wrong, either. She just needs a little help.
• One Piece: When Usopp is going through an emotional crisis because he sees himself as the weakest Straw Hat, Sanji, who is known not to hand out compliments to the male crewmates, is quick to point out that everyone has something that only they can do and things they cannot do, and at this very moment there is a job only Usopp can handle. When Usopp shoots Spandam, giving Robin a chance to escape, Sanji shouts out, "Look! Our sharpshooter rules!"
• Persona 4: The Animation uses these liberally. Basically any time a hero is facing down his or her shadow (essentially the personification of his/her flaws, as well as the parts about him/herself (s)he does not want to admit to him/herself or show to others), another character gives him/her either one of these or a You Are Not Alone.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • In The Fourth Round Rumble, Brock gave Ash a pep talk, after he slightly considers giving up when the competition heating up.
  Brock: Listen. You're a great trainer. And as long as I'm around, you're not even gonna think about quitting, okay?
  • In Tears For Fears!, Ash is able to comfort his troubled Chimchar by telling him that he doesn't need his Blaze ability to be strong and that Chimchar can show his strength without it.
  • In Coming Apart at the Dreams!, after finding out that Alain was tricked by Team Flare, Ash tells a remorseful Alain that he doesn't care what he has done in the past and believes in the friend he knows. Inspired by this, Alain decides to fix his mistakes and turns against Lysandre.
  • In This Could Be The Start Of Something Big, upon hearing Goh doubting himself about traveling alone, Ash tells a concern Goh that he'll be alright as he was able to participate in Project Mew and meet the Mythical Pokémon through his own effort.
• In Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion, Mami says if she had never met her friend Bebe, she would have given up long ago. Homura, who knows Bebe had not existed until recently and everybody's memories had been tampered with, says Mami is a lot braver and stronger than she thinks.
• The Quintessential Quintuplets: In the climax of the Sisters' War arc, Miku is sulking over her inability to confess to Fuutarou, thinking that he could never fall for a girl like her, while comparing herself unfavorably to Ichika and Nino, both of whom are outgoing and popular. Nino angrily tells her that, if she's able to call her and Ichika cute so easily, then she should see herself as cute too, since they're identical quintuplets after all.
• In Act 6 of Sailor Moon Crystal, while the rest of the Sailor Guardians are fighting an enemy, Usagi nearly passes out on the street from having her energy drained and is woken up by Tuxedo Mask. She muses about having no real powers like other Guardians despite supposedly being the leader (apparently without realizing that this is a clue to her identity as Sailor Moon), and when Tuxedo Mask tells her to transform, she complains about this again. Tuxedo Mask hugs her and reminds her that she was the one who made the rest of the team realize their purpose as Sailor Guardians, and thus she is the ideal leader.
  "You have the special power to make everyone smile."
• Happens over and over in Spiral, where the protagonist has a serious problem with being overshadowed by his older brother.
• Sword Art Online: In the climax of the Alicization Arc, Kirito is given one of these. He's plummeted past the Despair Event Horizon due to Eugeo's death, and regaining his memories, including the Moonlit Black Cats, and is attempting to end his own life, when visions of his friends appear, Eugeo, and give him a speech to this effect. It works, Kirito wakes up from his Angst Coma and proceeds to deliver a rather epic He's Back! moment.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • Simon has zero self-confidence. Kamina supplements Simon's lack of confidence by telling him to "believe in the me who believes in you" over and over through the first third of the series. Later on when Kamina is dying, he tells Simon to "believe in you, who believes in yourself", citing all the great things Simon did.
  • Also, in-between those he told him: "Believe in yourself, who believes in me."
  • Basically, he's trying to tell Simon that Simon needs to believe that Kamina sees something in him that even Simon doesn't. Going by the flipped versions of the Cave-In story, told first from Simon's POV and then from Kamina's POV, Kamina clearly takes this as fact.
  • Kamina's entire relationship with Simon is a crowning achievement of this trope. Throughout the show, he is constantly singing Simon's praises and telling him that he's better than how he portrays himself.
• In Tiger & Bunny, an early episode is about a young NEXT boy who used his powers to go on a rampage, because his classmates bullied him. By the end of the episode, though, Kotetsu is able to convince the boy that his powers are meant to protect people. It ends up working, just as it did on Kotetsu himself when he was around the boy's age, and his childhood hero, Mr. Legend, encouraged him to be a hero.
• In Wandering Son Makoto laments that she isn't pretty or cute like Nitori, which causes Nitori to retaliate and tell her she is. This only deepens Mako's crush on her friend.
• Yuri!!! on Ice: This is pretty much the central point of the entire plot. The titular Yuri, having anxiety, hardly thinks much of himself, despite the fact he is technically the sixth-best skater in the world by the start of the plot and Japan's pride. He gets a lot of confidence when his main inspiration, the Living Legend Victor Nikiforov becomes his coach and shows him what an amazing skater he is.

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