Examples of this trope in Anime and Manga
Examples A-B[]
- The Hentai Boku no Pico has a character called Tomotsu who only appears in the first OAV. After that, he's never seen again...
Examples C-D[]
Examples E-F[]
- El Hazard: The Alternative World introduced a (seemingly nameless) farmer as a love interest for princess Rune Venus. One episode ended, for him, on a Literal Cliff Hanger, about to fall to his doom. However, the cliffhanger was never resolved and the character was never seen (or even mentioned) again. Presumably one of the consequences of the series being half as long as originally planned.
- Kimi Toudou, Kawaiiko and shameless Gold Digger from Fruits Basket. The last scene we see with her is her interrupting a love confession between Yuki Sohma and Machi Kuragi while looking for her missing hair brush. She never appears again. This is somewhat surprising as virtually every other minor character in the series makes some sort of appearance for a Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends chapter at the end. (Even Naohito Sakuragi, equal to Kimi in terms of importance, gets paired off with Motoko Minagawa [the Yuki Sohma Fan Club President] at the end.)
Examples H-J[]
- Klaus in Hayate the Combat Butler disappeared for around two hundred chapters with absolutely no explanation. Once or twice, it was helpfully noted that yes, he's still alive.
Examples K-M[]
- Shamal from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. He got a passing mention in the beginning of Future Arc and is never seen or mentioned anymore.
- This happens to Yuuno in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. He was basically Demoted to Extra in Striker S, and then he vanished completely by the time of Vivid and Force.
- Several major characters in Medabots, such as Dr. Aki's niece Karin, never showed up in the second season.
- For a Hentai with so few characters, it's quite noticeable when Io Azuma in Moonlight Lady simply vanishes.
Examples N-O[]
- In Onani Master Kurosawa, the unnamed younger sister of the protagonist appears in some boxes trying to talk to Kurosawa, only to be solemnly ignored (even by the author, after some chapters).
Examples P-S[]
- Doctor Tofu from Ranma ½, disappeared after the first third of the manga series because his role as Mr. Exposition for weird martial arts was adequately filled by Cologne, one of the Trickster Mentors in the series. Fanfic writers keep using him to provide a second opinion or comedy relief, though there was a joke in the fan community that he had fallen into an open sewer and died. This was only in the manga; he made minor appearances in the anime throughout the series.
- Sailor Moon started ditching the entire supporting cast of the anime (including Usagi's parents and brother) sometime after the second season. All except Usagi's mother completely disappeared in the fifth and final season. As well as her best friend Naru and classmate Umino, whose final appearances are in the direct to DVD special Ami-chan no Hatsukoi at the end of the 4th season. They actually never appear in the 5th season and were already relegated to extras by the 3rd.
- The Steel Saints from Saint Seiya, characters original to the anime's first season, completely disappeared before the 12 Zodiac Temples Arc. A common joke among the fandom was that they took the wrong plane from Japan to the Sanctuary.
- Happens egregoriously in the Slayers novels, moreso the Special series. The most notable example is a mercenary named Lantz, who helps with the fight against Copy Rezo in lieu of Amelia in the third novel. He literally runs off, never to be heard of again. The only novel-exclusive character who is returned and remembered is the female swordswoman Lemmy, who manages to make it to Amelia's side story and a radio drama. In the anime, similarly, Amelia's uncle, Christopher, doesn't get a single mention again after Slayers Next.
Examples T-W[]
- Rumiko's manga Urusei Yatsura does this with Princess Kurama: after some time, she disappears altogether. She continues to get small cameos in the anime because of the crowd scenes.
- This happens a lot in car racing manga. In Wangan Midnight, literally dozens of minor characters, including Rumi Aikawa, Ma, Kochan, Yoshiaki Ishida, Harada, and Makoto Morishita, have been dropped without so much as a footnote.
Examples X-Z[]
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga:
- A character named Hanasaki appears. The characters become friends with him, he's around for some chapters, but after the Death-T arc, he disappears and is never mentioned again.
- Miho Nosaka. She was a very minor character and Honda's love interest in the manga. She gets promoted as a main character in the first anime series, but is not in the second series Duel Monsters. But she was referenced in GX when she was listed among the missing Domino residents who are sent to the World of Darkness.
- Back to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome