A character trait is later recontextualized into something bad/tragic, it's always been there, we just never paid attention

[u/RedNUGGETLORD]

Deku's self sacrifice - My Hero Academia

Initially portrayed as purely heroic, it's later shown to be extremely detrimental when he refuses any aid from his friends, abandoning them to "protect them"(of course, leaving them also puts them in danger since he can no longer be there to save them if something goes wrong

The same quality that makes him a great hero, also leads him to nearly lose everything and get EVERYONE killed(since if this tired, weakened Deku did encounter AFO/Shigaraki, he would almost certainly die and have his powers taken)

Seiya Ryuuguuin's cautiousness - Overly Cautious Hero

The whole series is about how the main character is prepared for any circumstance to an insane degree(being the highest level half-way through, perfectly predicting that an ally would betray them through ridiculous jumps in logic, etc)

It turns out that the reason for this was that in a past life(unknown to him) he was extremely easy-going and unprepared for everything, always winning due to luck and skill, however, one day he ends up losing due to not finding out about a bosses weakness, this leads to the demon king murdering his friend, eating his Goddess, and then devouring his girlfriend and the child inside of her right in front of him. The Demon King then takes over the world and basically turns it into Berserk on steroids

Erens entire character - Attack on Titan

He hates the titans not because of what they've done(though that's a part of it), but because they've stolen his freedom, so when he learns that in reality, the Marleyans are the true enemies, the ones who have taken his and everyone elses freedom away, he does exactly what he said he was going to do, just to a different enemy

Erens philosophy is that anyone that tries to take his freedom deserves to have theirs taken away, Zeke becomes a slave because he tried to take away the Eldians ability to breed, the Marleyans lose the freedom of living because they tried to take his, it's always been a core character trait, but when he becomes to antagonist of the story in the last parts, this character trait of his is front and center

[u/Lost-Syllabub362]

Gon Freecss from Hunter x Hunter has always been a "risk it for the biscuit" kind of guy. But under the lens of him being a child protagonist, you kind of just assume that it's just Gon being the heart of the story. But it's so much more than that. He refuses to believe that his father was a scumbag, constantly excusing his father's absence because of the "awesomeness of being a Hunter". Consistently risks himself for the sake of others, to extents that could only be described as psychopathic. Gon is malleable in a way that only he himself manipulates—but when faced with moral ambiguity that conflict with his interests; like the child that he quite literally is, he clings to what he's already convinced himself to believe.

https://giphy.com/gifs/2FDBn9eGYMi2Y

[u/AdFlat1014 → u/Lost-Syllabub362]

I don’t remember the exact line but during the razor game “be safe of his attack” “ok” “try to dodge” “ok” “don’t overdo it” “ok” “are you even listening to me?” “Ok” “fine go get yourself killed”

[u/Mediocre_Forever198 → u/AdFlat1014]

Spoilers: That fight really made me think different of Gon when he was perfectly okay with wrecking killuas hands. Prior to that it felt like his stubbornness only put himself in danger, but there he is being fine with destroying Killua’s hands just cause he has to beat razor and thinks he can’t do it without Killua 🙄

[u/a-moody-curly-fry → u/Mediocre_Forever198]

Killua goes along with it as well however because Killua is also there to beat Razor and his presence is what makes Gon work at his best, because it’s his best friend. Killua chooses it and accepts it and wants to do it because he also wants Gon to do it.

[u/moneyparty → u/Mediocre_Forever198]

Killua has agency also

[u/Discoyo → u/moneyparty]

I dunno why you are getting downvoted. Killua putting his agency to the side for Gon is something he learns he needs to overcome. From his family/assassin training he doesn’t know how to show up for someone he loves other than by putting his wants to the side. In the chimera ant arc he starts realize that Gon can’t be his guiding light and he needs to step up for himself.

[u/frozen2665 → u/AdFlat1014]

“OSU!”