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Hopeless Suitor

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flowerkid_2005.jpg
Points for courage, kid. Points for courage.note 

"There's a girl I know
He loves her so
I'm not that girl..."
— Elphaba, Wicked

It's a simple story:

  1. Boy meets girl.
  2. Boy and girl like each other.
  3. Girl meets other boy.
  4. Other boy likes girl too, but the girl's attention is already so consumed by the first boy that she doesn't even notice the other boy's affections.

This is a type of Love Triangle: a character who has a crush on someone who's already engaged in (at least potential) Shipping with someone else. After all, All Love Is Unrequited. Distinct from the Romantic False Lead in that the latter will actually catch the Girl's attention and make Boy jealous and uncomfortable.

The Hopeless Suitor thinks that their rival is a Romantic False Lead when in reality there was no competition in the first place; the object of their affection simply doesn't notice them. The center of the love triangle will always think the Hopeless Suitor is just a friend, at best.

In rare, very rare occasions, through sheer determination as befitting a Dogged Nice Guy, they might win over the object of their affection. It very well might take years or decades, like a Victorious Childhood Friend. The key is that there isn't any hinting towards Unresolved Sexual Tension between them, the tension is all one-sided for a very long time before feelings are reciprocated. If any sign of affection is just to keep the suitor from falling for anyone else, this is Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along.

Usually doesn't get as far as Stalker with a Crush, unless he's Wrong Genre Savvy enough to be a Prince Charming Wannabe. Compare Romantic Runner-Up and Unrequited Tragic Maiden. When the suitor is unattractive and/or otherwise unpleasant, and it's usually supposed to be funny, see Abhorrent Admirer. When the suitor is straight but their target is gay, or vice versa (or a suitor of any orientation is pursuing an aromantic person), see Incompatible Orientation. When the admirer is too young or immature, see Precocious Crush. May result in Mad Love or Yandere if the suitor ends up being nuts.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • In a slight twist on the harem genre, none of the girls aside from Aoi in Ai Yori Aoshi ever really had a chance. To blow up any shipping attempts, the first few episodes make it pretty clear that Kaoru can't/won't choose anyone other than Aoi.
  • Attack on Titan. Jean meets Mikasa. Jean has a severe and instantaneous crush. Mikasa's brain on the other hand, is locked on "protecting Eren" position and unlikely to change its function anytime soon. That's only one of the poor guy's many misfortunes.
  • Beauty Pop: Ochiai for Kiri, although he doesn't give up; possibly Billy for Kiri as well, but it's hard to say.
  • Baron Kelvin from Black Butler falls in Love at First Sight with a seven-year-old Ciel Phantomhive and has surgery on his face from parts taken from actual children to make himself more beautiful, thus having a greater chance of becoming Ciel's suitor. It doesn't work out for either of them.
  • Asta, The Hero of Black Clover, is head over heels in love with the sister of his church. A nun. He doesn't quite get that it'd be hopeless even if he wasn't a short loudmouth.
  • Kazumi from Brynhildr in the Darkness very badly wants to have Ryouta take her virginity. He's in love with Neko Kuroha, however, and Kazumi's a little small-breasted for his taste regardless. This doesn't stop her from aggressively pursuing him even after she realizes that she's really not going to get anywhere.
  • Candy☆Boy has a lesbian variety in the shape of Sakuya, who keeps running after Kanade, even though she has lost by default to Kanade's fraternal twin sister Yukino.
  • Cat Planet Cuties: Both Aoi and Manami feel they are this towards Kio, and they both resent Eris because they feel she's the reason why they won't stand a chance against her with Kio. At least until Eris mentions sharing him between the three of them.
  • In CLANNAD, pretty much any girl who's not named Nagisa in the anime. All of the main girls even show up at Tomoya's house in episode 18 with food after he got expelled taking the blame for a fight for Tomoyo. Tomoyo and Kyou even blame the awkward lunch date on him for not making it clear who he likes. But at the end of the episode, after a tennis game, Tomoya indirectly makes it clear who he wants to be with, crushing all of their hopes in one fell swoop.
    • For those of you who refuse to accept the Official Couple that the anime chose, luckily there are two episodes where Tomoyo and Kyou both get a shot with Tomoya, and how their lives would've played out had Nagisa not been there. And there's always the Visual Novel too.
    • The biggest example is Ryou. Even in the visual novel, there is no happy end if you choose her as your girlfriend.
  • Rivalz Cardemonde in Code Geass, is head over heels for Student Council President Milly Ashford. It doesn't work out.
  • In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Rebecca has feelings for David and she blatantly flirts with him. However, David declines her advances, as he only has eyes for Lucy. Rebecca even lampshades David for being Oblivious to Love when she asks Kiwi if she should change up her loud and aggressive style of flirting.
  • The former Trope Namer, Daisuke/Davis Motomiya from Digimon Adventure 02 has a crush on Hikari/Kari and sees her friendship with Takeru/T.K. as a genuine romantic threat. He becomes very jealous, characterized in the English dub by Davis never getting T.K.'s name right (ex: T.J., T.A., T.L. instead of T.K.). The character dynamics vary between the English dub and the Japanese dub, but the lack of success of Daisuke's romantic pursuit is there for both. note 
  • Krillin of Dragon Ball Z showed every sign of crushing hard on Bulma. She, of course, was deeply in love with Yamcha (until she wasn't) and Krillin himself was too easily cowed to even hint to her at his interest. Besides, he ends up married to another girl — Android #18.
  • In Dragon Crisis!, Misaki, one of Ryuuji's classmates. She never really stood a chance, since he's snatched away by his older cousin within the first 5 minutes of episode 1, and is quickly taken away by Rose. Not that it stops her friend Mao from attempting to hook them up anyway.
    • Ai falls into this trope as well, although it's largely because she's introduced later in the series well after Ryuuji's already been with Rose for a while, and she doesn't attend the same school as they do. But despite that, she decides to show up on the fourth-floor window of their school at the end of the series, which one of Ryuuji's friends wonders how she managed to get up there from the window.
  • Fairy Tail:
    • Juvia, whose crush on Gray is so huge that it can get her to forfeit major battles and lose focus of absolutely anything she was doing before seeing him. Her "rival in love" isn't actually interested in Gray, though. There was just a misunderstanding. She does get to spend time with him, but until she joins Fairy Tail she's just a Stalker with a Crush. Things are looking up for her though, as by the series end, Gray starts to show that he reciprocates her feelings.
    • Jet and Droy have occasionally fought with each other for their Childhood Friend Levy's affections, but she's only ever viewed them as friends. And that was before she started to obviously crush and fall in love with Gajeel, to both of their despair. And any lingering hopes they might have had were blown out of the water when it turns out by series end Levy is not just in a relationship with Gajeel, but pregnant.
  • FAKE has JJ, who cheerfully refuses to acknowledge that Dee 1) has a new man in his life, and 2) never even liked him in the first place. Also Berkely, who thinks of himself as a Romantic False Lead but really, really isn't. However, both of them give up on their crushes in the epilogue "Like, Like, Love". Berkley hooks up with Action Girl Diana and JJ surprise kisses his semi-partner Drake.
  • A tragic version happens to Shin in the first arc in Fist of the North Star in regards to Yuria. Though he's the Big Bad (through the manipulations of Jagi, Kenshiro's disgraced adopted brother), he genuinely loved Yuria, and despite defeating Kenshiro to claim her the first time, she never loved him. Her attempted suicide broke him ( but she survives but was willing to give her up for her safety from Raoh).
    • A somewhat of a love triangle version happens with this: Rei loves Mamiya who loves Kenshiro. And it's pronounced for both of them. Rei is unable to act upon it later on as he was dying after fighting Raoh. And Mamiya did not act upon hers because she knows Yuria is the only woman Kenshiro loves.
  • In Food Wars!, Ikumi develops a crush on Souma after he defeats her in a Food War and he's the only person she permits to call her "Meat Meat", but it's painfully obvious Souma is oblivious to her feelings and only considers her a friend, whereas his relationship with Megumi and Erina are given a lot of focus and importance over the course of the series, making Ikumi look rather pitiful in comparison.
  • Randoll from Future GPX Cyber Formula is this for Asuka. He has a crush on her despite the fact that she's in love with Hayato. In fact, he and Hayato once competed for her love. He keeps on presenting her with little gifts, even after her engagement to Hayato.
  • Gamers! (2015): Chiaki, as noted by her friend Tasuku. To make a long story... slightly less long; Keita and Karen fall in love and, after many trials and tribulations, eventually start a relationship. In the meantime, Tasuku gets Keita acquainted with Chiaki, who was pretty much Keita in a skirt. At first, Chiaki was hostile to Keita due to some differences in their gaming preferences. Over time, however, they worked out their differences and became friends. Well, Keita considers her a friend; Chiaki actually fell in love with him, partially because they were actually friends in online gaming under aliases. Chiaki put 2 and 2 together but Keita didn't. Afraid a romance would ruin things between them (by that point, Keita and Karen had started dating), Chiaki asked her sister Konoha to pretend she was the person behind Chiaki's online accounts. To make things even more complicated than they already were, Konoha fell in love with Keita as well.
  • Gantz:
    • Kei Kuruno kind of suffers from this, since his love interest Kichimoto has fallen for his best friend Kato.
    • Reika also suffers from this, since her love interest Kei Kuruno has fallen for Tae.
  • In Hajime no Ippo, being a Hopeless Suitor is a national sport. The main character falls in Love at First Sight with Kumi, the sister of Mashiba and Kumi ends up falling for him too. Although Neither Of Them Can Spit It Out, they basically act as a couple. Then Itagaki Manabu, Ippo's kouhai appears and falls for Kumi, while his younger sister Nanako and Iimura Mari both fall for Ippo. Knowing Ippo and Kumi are made for each other (which Nanako can't seem to admit), Manabu later asks Mari out on the pretext that they are both "runner-ups"! Add to all this that Manabu's rival Imai Kyousuke is also a Hopeless Suitor for Nanako and you have a fine little mess. Oh, and in the early volumes, Kimura falls for a nurse and, when he thinks this is serious, discovers she has a man. Seconds before entering the ring for a match. Ouch.
  • Itsuki Koizumi is this to Haruhi herself in Haruhi Suzumiya. He knows that acting on his feelings would just confuse her, however; so he mostly just teases Kyon about her feelings for him and plays Yes-Man to her.
  • In Haruka Nogizaka's Secret, although she tries, Shiina never really had a chance to get with Yuuto, since the first episode makes it pretty clear he ends with Haruka.
  • In a completely odd turnaround, Hayate the Combat Butler has something of this between Hinagiku, Ayumu, and Hayate. Hayate does notice Ayumu's affection for him (helped by the fact that she's the first of the Unwanted Harem to have confessed), even stating that they could have been dating, but Ayumu realizes that Hinagiku is the one he's infatuated with, and thus invokes this trope on herself by trying to get Hinagiku to admit her own feelings for Hayate (though she hopes Hina wouldn't mind sharing...). It doesn't help at all that Hinagiku herself is trying to play matchmaker between Ayumu and Hayate because She Wants Her Beloved to Be Happy.
    • Also, Miki for Hinagiku, as Miki realizes the Incompatible Orientationness of her situation, to her regret. But that doesn't stop her teasing of Hinagiku one bit.
  • To an extent, Korea from Hetalia: Axis Powers borders on this with his two older brothers, constantly groping them and downright flirting with them. This is taken to a further extent with China in the strip parodying a dating sim game, in which he's given a 'yes' or 'no' answer to Korea's seemingly innocent question of "Do you like me?" No matter which option China chooses, it ends with either sex or rape.
    • Belarus is the female version of this, due to the person she is "courting" is her own BROTHER, Russia.
    • Prussia can also be viewed as one, due to hints in canon that he's attracted to Hungary and/or Italy, both of whom are overtly paired up with other characters. He's even treated to the sight of Hungary and Austria being happy together on Christmas as he walks alone in the cold and tries to tell himself that he doesn't mind being alone at all. Ouch.
    • The Turkey/Japan/Greece triangle is marked as ambiguous in the author's notes (Turkey and Greece both like Japan, Japan hasn't explicitly favored one of them over the other), but well... just take a look at the number of Turkey/Japan fics vs. Greece/Japan fics on Fanfiction.net. Needless to say, virtually all fans who believe that Turkey likes Japan also believe that he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell against Greece, the one who not only actually gets enough page time with Japan to show just how well they get along but also has had Umbrella of Togetherness and Did They or Didn't They? scenes with him. Even fans who don't ship Greece/Japan and want Japan to be with someone livelier almost never consider Turkey to be a viable option. (He fares somewhat better in J-fen, though. Somewhat.)
  • Natsume in Hidamari Sketch has a crush on Sae, who is more or less platonically married with Hiro.
  • Hungry Heart: Wild Striker: Yuuya Kiba tries to set himself up as The Rival to protagonist Kyousuke Kanou, for the position as the team's ace striker and for the heart of Miki Tsujiwaki. Unfortunately, it's very much clear she only has eyes for Kyousuke, no matter how much she denies it.
  • If I See You In My Dreams has Miho Hamaoka, who's head over heels in love with Masuo Fuguno, but the latter has already fallen for Nagisa Shiozaki. It's a rather poignant example because Masuo is aware of her feelings, but doesn't have the heart to openly reject her because he doesn't want to hurt her (having been rejected his entire life).
  • Narciso Anasui from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean is instantly smitten with Jolyne, who in turn wants nothing to do with him. His counterpart in the new timeline created by Made in Heaven, Anakiss, seems to have much better luck than he did, as he's dating Jolyne's counterpart Irene.
  • In ...Junai no Seinen, Ian comes to Japan hoping to get together again with his ex-sex friend Kaoru. Kaoru's lover thinks that Ian is the Romantic False Lead, as does Ian himself, but he's actually the Hopeless Suitor and never stood a chance.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
    • It has been noted multiple times that Maki doesn't really have any chance of getting together with Tsubasa due to him already being in a relationship with her best friend Kashiwagi.
    • Moeha has even less of a chance with Shirogane, given the fact that he is solely focused on Kaguya by the time her crush is revealed.
    • Maki's twin brother Mikado has been in love with Kaguya since they were kids, but he was never able to get close to her due to the rivalry between their families. By the time he's actually has a chance to tell her how he feels, she and Shirogane are already firmly a couple.
  • In Kotoura-san, Hiyori keeps courting her Childhood Friend Manabe, who keeps ignoring her actions. He instead fall for the telepathic New Transfer Student Haruka.
  • In Love Hina, it was obvious from early on that Naru was going to get together with Keitaro, despite being unable to clarify her feelings for him, but the other girls never really had much of a chance, particularly Shinobu since she was always too young for him. Su hints at liking Keitaro, but never really pursues it and it's later clarified she likes Keitaro because he reminds her of her older brother. Motoko and Mutsumi were presented as slightly more serious contenders, but ultimately Mutsumi was mostly comic relief and Motoko's extreme dislike of men and loyalty to her family dojo meant that ultimately they ended up single as well. And then there was poor Kitsune who never even got her own A Day in the Limelight like the other girls.
  • Maken-ki!: Usui and Celia find themselves pining after Himegami and Takeru respectively.
    • In the manga, while Usui does have genuine feelings for Himegami, he's mostly driven by lust. Which she's well aware of because it's the reason she doesn't take him seriously. Her attitude towards him ranges from indifference, to sociable at best. But it's finally subverted in chapter 65 when she tells him he juus~sst might have a chance with her after all.
    • Celia is actually an inversion. She has it all: looks, a stunning figure, a singing career, and she's a pro wrestling champion. All she's missing is Takeru's love, especially now that he knows she's really a guy. But she continues to try anyway.
  • Mazinger Z: Boss had a painfully obvious crush on Sayaka. Of course, given that she's The Hero's Tsundere girlfriend and he's the Gonkish comic relief, he doesn't stand a chance (although some people would argue by the end of the original Manga, he actually does have a chance, judging from how Sayaka acts in front of him, but by this time, either he realized he has no chance or he already became such a good friend with Koji, that he doesn't care about it anymore).
  • My-HiME: Masashi Takeda is infatuated with Natsuki Kuga. Since she is only interested in finding out who killed her mother and why, she views romance as an unnecessary distraction. There is some Ship Tease between them, such as when Takeda fell on her when she was hal undressed and she didn't immediately fly into a rage, but instead looked mildly embarrassed (she only attacks him when Mai sees them together and thinks they were making out. She later gives him a note saying that she appreciated his feelings, but had someone else she had to acknowledge (Shizuru). Given that the video game and manga give Natsuki male love interests it could be Adaptational Sexuality or a case of Ambiguously Bi.
  • Naruto:
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Most of the girls at least have some chance of getting together with Negi... Except poor Anya, who has no chance whatsoever.
  • Asuka attempts to flirt and even throws herself at Kaji in Neon Genesis Evangelion but is never successful in getting him to reciprocate. Even if she weren't just fourteen compared to his late twenties, he only has eyes for Misato.
  • Safu from No. 6 is desperately in love with her best friend Shion. Unfortunately for her, Shion sees her just as a friend and only has eyes for Nezumi.
  • Chris Portman could have been Haru's perfect match in Ojojojo if she hadn't already undergone character development and wasn't in a relationship with Tsurezure by the time he showed up.
  • One Piece:
    • It's Played for Laughs in with Boa Hancock's unrequited love for Luffy.
    • Sanji gets heart-eyes for darn every girl in the series, including his crewmates.
  • The Ouran High School Host Club manga gives us both Hikaru AND Kaoru as Hopeless Suitors for Haruhi's affections. It's mostly Hikaru since Kaoru decides to confess to Haruhi telling her he loves her, but that there is still someone more important to him (his brother). After this Kaoru tells Hikaru he's stepped back and will support him as he goes against his love rival, Tamaki. It was already a losing battle for Hikaru, but he gave it a try anyway.
  • Patlabor: Captain Gotoh's got it bad for his fellow Captain, Shinobu, who's aware of his feelings for her, but maintains a strict working-class relationship between them. It doesn't stop him from trying, though it inevitably ends in disappointment.
  • Nanami from The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. She may have a chance for Sorata prior to Mashiro's appearance, but after that, she falls right into this trope.
  • In Please Teacher!, Koishi is this in regards to Kei. Maybe if she acted in the first episode, but after that, her chances were blown.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Grovyle to a Meganium who's apparently already with a Tropius. The revelation causes him a Heroic BSoD, even when he's evolved into Sceptile.
    • Tierno is shown to have a crush on Serena. Unfortunately for him, she has eyes for Ash (even if he's dense about it) and she politely turns down Tierno's repeated attempts to flirt with her.
  • In Pumpkin Scissors, we are given Schultz and Alice. Schultz likes Alice even enough to shamelessly pursue her even though she's engaged to Leonir Taylor. This is not out of selfishness, really; Alice was, after all, put into an Arranged Marriage with Taylor. However, chances are that even if she wasn't engaged, she would probably not consider Schultz because of her dedication to her job.
  • Ranma ˝:
    • Much of the cast is a Supporting Harem for Ranma (as either sex) that he thinks of as Just Friends (Ukyo), neutrally (Shampoo), or downright despises (Kuno, Kodachi, and countless One Shot Characters). Kodachi even admits to Ranma that she knows he doesn't love her back, but that this will in no way stop her from continuing to pursue him anyway.
    • Ryoga has feelings for Akane that he never admits to and she never picks up on.
    • Mousse is openly in love with Shampoo, which she rejects again and again, and sees Ranma as his enemy for earning her affection.
  • Rebuild World: Sheryl, being a Dude Magnet whose specialty is manipulating men in a Honey Trap, is surrounded by Dogged Nice Guy boys in her slum gang, when she only has eyes for Akira, who's at best Tsundere towards her. This is most notable with Tiol, who after his Emergency Transformation into a Tragic Monster decides to Murder the Hypotenuse, with The Power of Hate driving him onwards in his new form. And then there's Katsuya, who is charmed by Sheryl for his information, but she actually distains him and that's without knowing he's The Rival to Akira, when even just disrespecting Akira is Sheryl's Berserk Button. As soon as Sheryl finds out, she goes Intentional Heart Breaker on Katsuya, and Akira ends up killing both Katsuya and Tiol in self-defense after an extended Męlée ŕ Trois Tiol sets up.
  • In Sakura Trick, Student Council President Mitsuki is this towards Haruka, as the latter's is already an Official Couple with Mitsuki's sister Yuu.
  • Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi:
    • Ayame is this towards Yoichi, although it's because of her sister Ibuki; the fact that she doesn't seem to spend much time with him; and when she does, she seems hostile. Then she wonders why he doesn't seem to romantically notice her.
    • Washizu is this towards Ibuki, who never really acknowledges his feelings, either because he can't say it to her directly, or when he tries, it gets misinterpreted.
  • Harima from School Rumble is this with regard to Tenma and Karasuma, and Nara with regard to Tenma and Karasuma, Tenma with regard to Karasuma and some delicious curry...
  • Scryed has Scheris Adjani for Ryuho, who only sees her as a comrade and has feelings for Mimori. Scheris ends up letting go and giving her life to save Ryuho's. But in a twist of cruel irony, she gets the last laugh from beyond the grave when her sacrifice is the reason Ryuho cites for NOT getting in a relationship with Mimori in the end.
  • In the SHUFFLE! anime, although the series teases us as to who Rin ends up with, the biggest loser is probably Kaede, the girl he's living with. It gets worse when Rin does choose a girl to spend time with, and causes Kaede to go a little Yandere. Averted in the Visual Novel however, since you get to choose who Rin ends up with.
  • So, I Can't Play H!: Applies to both Mina and Quele, in regard to their mutual affection for Ryosuke, because he eventually falls for Lisara. Quele accepts it once they officially become a couple and, initially, so does Mina. But the OVA episode concludes with Mina wondering whether she might still have a chance with him.
  • Kyouko from Sweet Blue Flowers keeps pining for Yasuko, even though Yasuko won't even give her the time of day. Kyouko's plight gets worse when she finds out Yasuko is actually dating another girl, which means Yasuko is not rejecting her because of her gender, but for other reasons. The scene in which Kyouko begs Yasuko to give her a chance after all has to be one of the saddest in the series.
  • Tiger & Bunny's Word of God confirms that Karina is unlikely to have any luck when it comes to her crush on Kotetsu — for reasons ranging from a rather big age difference to Kotetsu being married (though widowed, he is still devoted to his wife) with a kid. Not to mention his complete and utter obliviousness to her advances.
  • Kish for Ichigo in Tokyo Mew Mew. Even though his Villainous Crush supposedly evolves into true love, he's unable to win Ichigo over. She views him as her enemy and spends the entire series falling in love with Aoyama. A lot of fans feel bad for Kish when Ichigo rejects his confessions, regardless of his Yandere tendencies and stalkerish behavior.
  • Ren in To Love Ru. The poor guy never had a shot. So much that his male half was essentially Put on a Bus and he remained as the very female Run for pretty much the rest of the series, who was naturally a haremette in the Unwanted Harem of his romantic rival. Ouch.
  • UQ Holder!: While it's clear that none of the girls outside of Yukihime have a chance with Touta, Mizore is the only one that he's confirmed to not be in love with (via truth potion).
  • Niki from Urotsukidouji, whose unrequited love for Akemi drives him to chop off his own dick and turn into a rampaging monster.
  • Cat Girl Merle in The Vision of Escaflowne, who wants to get into a Childhood Friend Romance with Van. But try as she might, Van only has eyes for Hitomi.
  • Wandering Son plays several characters' affections as this, both minor and major. The most apparent is Mako and every boy she's ever liked, along with Saori having unrequited feelings for Nitori.
  • Yona of the Dawn:
    • Yona for Su-won. She spent years trying to impress him and make him see her as a woman, but he never responded to it. Su-won may or may not be a Celibate Hero (or rather, a celibate Antihero). Even if he wasn't and did return Yona's feelings to some degree, he made a conscious choice not to pursue them, knowing any chance they had together died when he killed her father.
    • Hak was in love with Yona for years, knowing full well she loved Su-won. Since they were both equally important to him, he never acted on his feelings, and tried his best to encourage them to get together. Even after Su-won betrays them and they are forced to flee the castle, Hak still refuses to pursue her. Believing Yona would never return the feeling, he even insists she not bother answering his Love Confession. Thus, he is the only one unable to recognize that she eventually falls for him and that he's actually a subversion of the trope.
    • Kija and Jae-ha for Yona as well. They both have feelings for her, but both also know that Yona and Hak are meant to be together, and make no effort to pursue Yona.
    • Kan Tae-Jun for Yona. While it's implied that his earlier interest in her was purely in pursuit of her throne, later he does come to have a genuine crush on her. However, as in-denial about it as he is, even he can tell that Yona's come to love Hak.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! this seems to be a curse for each series' protagonist in the whole franchise; either he is a Hopeless Suitor, or there's one or more girls who are Hopeless Suitors to him.

    Art 
  • Lawrence Alma-Tadema's A Vain Courtship, as the title implies. The painting portrays a captivated man gazing at his female companion, who is far more interested in looking out the window. Is she waiting for a lover or a friend, or just admiring the garden? In any case, it's clear she's not interested in him.

    Comic Books 
  • In Asterix, Obelix has a crush for Panacea (Falbala), but she's engaged (and later married).
  • Batman:
    • Batman Eternal has Jason Todd (Robin II/Red Hood II) confess his love for Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I)... by reminding her of the first time they met, and her telling him that he'll never be Dick Grayson (Robin I/Nightwing/Batman III), Jason's older "brother" and Babs' first love. Notably, Dick was presumed dead at the time. Jason and Babs have a small moment, but nothing romantic. At the end of the story, Jason confesses all of his feelings... in a voicemail which he then deletes. About a year later, Dick comes back and goes back to having mutual sexual tension with Babs.
    • During her nicer moments, Poison Ivy harbors an attraction to Batman that sometimes borders on genuine affection. She sometimes believes he loves her and has even considered giving up crime for him. While he's sympathetic to her (at times) and doesn't deny she's attractive, his heart is divided between Talia Al Ghul and Catwoman.
  • In Supergirl/Batgirl storyline Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, the Joker has a crush on Batgirl. It's utterly hopeless since Batgirl hates his guts.
  • In Quantum and Woody, Eric Henderson (Quantum) has this with his longtime crush Amy Fishbein.
  • In Scooby Apocalypse, Fred has this with his best friend Daphne. The two actually dated once back in college, but Daphne broke it off immediately due to feeling that they were Better as Friends. This hasn't stopped him from continuing his attempts to win her over though, with him regularly proposing marriage to her on at least a monthly basis despite knowing he has no chance whatsoever.
  • Ultimate Marvel
    • Ultimate Galactus Trilogy: Tony tries to flirt with Sue at first sight, but she only has eyes for Reed.
    • The Ultimates: Ultron loves the Scarlet Witch, but she will never, ever, have eyes for anyone else other than her brother. This kickstarted the events of Ultimates 3.
  • Wolverine is this for Jean Grey aka Marvel Girl in pretty much every media.

    Comic Strips 
  • Peanuts had quite a few:
    • Charlie Brown was one towards the Little Red-Haired Girl, Sally was one towards Linus, and most of all, Lucy was one towards Schroeder. (Many fans had to wonder just why he even let her into his house to bother him, as she could often be an outright vandal when he ignored her, destroying his piano on two separate occasions.)
    • There were times Schroeder could get along with Lucy. Also, when she was away for a while, he realized that she was his muse, much to his chagrin.
      Schroder: Don't tell me I've grown accustomed to ''that'' face.
  • Susanita towards Felipe in Mafalda, as she has a strong and unrequited crush on him. Sometimes borderline in Abhorrent Admirer for Felipe.
  • For Better or for Worse: Gordon was this to Allyson Creedmore, a popular girl in high school. Gordon is a rather shlubby guy while Allyson looked like a model. It didn’t help that Gordon would go into "hormone attacks" around her.

    Fan Works 
  • Advice and Trust:
    • Chihiro and all remaining Shinji's female classmates chase after him obstinately. They have absolutely no hope, though. He is already in a relationship with Asuka, and even if Asuka was out of the picture, they would have to deal with Rei. When Shinji and Asuka finally come clean about their relationship, Asuka declares that "contest" was over before it began. After their declaration, some girls seemed to be unwilling to give up but most of them seemed to accept they had no hope.
    • In a way, Rei to both Shinji and Asuka. She fell for them but they are in a fully committed relationship and are not looking for an additional romantic partner, even if they love her. And she does not want to disrupt their bond, either.
  • The Beast Of Gusu:
    • Jin Guangyao, not aware of his history with Nie Mingjue, mistakes Lan Xichen’s kindness and friendliness for romantic gestures.
    • Lan Qiren was this to Cangse Sanren, even going as far as to ask his ancestors for permission to marry her, which they deny since she doesn’t love him and they would both be miserable. It’s part of the reason why he resents Wei Wuxian so much.
  • Children of an Elder God: Asuka to Kaji in the early chapters when she still chased after him. Meanwhile, Kaji (who was after Misato) ignored her or treated her like a little girl.
  • Cissnei's Path:
    • Yuffie's crush on Vincent. She pretty much knows it's hopeless, which is why she doesn't bother trying to confess.
    • Yuri feels the same way about Yuffie as well, though she's at least more open to it.
  • A Crown of Stars: Rei to Shinji. Even if he was not fully committed to Asuka and Rei still owned a physical body, he has already decided that she is his sister.
  • A Diplomatic Visit: In chapter 7 of the sequel Diplomat at Large, Tempest displays a very brief interest in Pharynx when they have a moment to talk and she finds he's a military stallion, but immediately backs off when he says he's taken right afterward.
  • Doing It Right This Time: All main characters were or thought they were this in the original timeline. Shinji to Asuka and Asuka and Rei to Shinji. In the new timeline, they are so sick of crappy Love Triangles and all worry, angst, and heartbreak that go hand in hand with them that they opt to share.
  • Evangelion 303: Saburo is this towards Kaworu. They dated for a while but Saburo broke up in a fit of jealousy. Later he regretted it, but for then Kaworu had moved on, was developing a growing relationship with Rei, and wanted nothing with Saburo. Saburo is constantly trying to get him back, but all that is he achieving is pushing Kaworu away from him and towards Rei.
  • Edward Elric in The Flower Princess and the Alchemist. He's in love with Orihime Inoue, but too bad she's singularly deeply devoted to Ichigo Kurosaki. Not that he would ever admit his feelings in the first place.
  • Brainiac 5 from Hellsister Trilogy. Kara used to like him back, but by the beginning of the story, she has already moved and fell for another person.
  • HERZ: Kurumi is this towards Shinji. Neither Sinji’s marital status nor intellectual realization that she IS hopeless stops her from keeping trying to seduce him.
  • Higher Learning:
    • Asuka to Kaji at the beginning. After the fifth chapter, she and Shinji became a couple and she forgot about her crush.
    • Kaoru to Misato. He pursued Misato for a while, but it was soon clear that she would only love Kaji.
  • The Hurricane: Slade Wilson towards Laurel Lancenote . In addition to Laurel still being in love with Oliver, she flat-out did not know Slade was even an option, as he was almost two decades older than her, married, and had an adult son around her age. When Slade confesses to her, Laurel does her best to let him down gently, admitting she does love him, but only as a friend/brother. Unfortunately, by that point, Slade is on the Mirakuru, and refuses to take no for an answer.
  • Kara of Rokyn has Jara's crush on Kara, who is straight and not even is particularly fond of Jara.
  • Last Child of Krypton:
    • Kaworu to Asuka in the redux. She is already in love with Shinji, and even if she was not, she finds Kaworu creepy.
    • And in both versions, Asuka to Kaji, who still carries a torch for Misato and regards Asuka as the daughter he never had.
  • My Ideal Academia: Kodai develops feelings for Shirou after he saves her during the entrance exam. However, her love is quite a hopeless endeavor since not only is Shirou oblivious to another person's love for him if it isn't a direct confession, but he also still loves and yearns for Rin after getting separated from her due to being sent to a different dimension.
  • Of the Dragon, of the Stars has Turino, who knows Akera has already set her heart on someone else.
  • Once More with Feeling: Chihiro and most of Shinji's female classmates chase after him. However, Shinji only has eyes for Asuka. Several times he says he will never consider dating any of them.
  • The Overwatch fandom sees this as an aspect of the Junkrat/Mei ship: Junkrat/Jamison Fawkes has a crush on Mei-Ling Zhou, but because he's a loud, crass, filthy, bomb-throwing career criminal, his attempts at flirting just annoy her. Not that all the strikeouts stop him from trying, and Mei does have feelings for him she doesn't want to admit.
  • Subverted in The Second Try. Since she and Shinji need to hide that they are time-travellers, Asuka has to pretend that she still has a hopeless crush on Kaji, even though she's not interested in him anymore.
  • Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: Asuka to Kaji. Gradually she realizes he never got over Misato before finding out that he was not as wonderful as she believed him to be.

    Films — Animation 
  • In Balto, Steele repeatedly and obnoxiously comes on to Jenna even though she couldn't make it clearer that not only does she have no interest in him for being a Glory Hound, she much prefers Balto's company to his. This only gives him another reason to hate Balto and go out of his way to spite him, up to and including endangering the town's children by sabotaging his own team's route home just so Balto can't succeed in bringing the town medicine.
  • Gaston of Beauty and the Beast. Despite being handsome, Belle is the only person who sees that Gaston is a rude and pompous egomaniac, which is why she rejects his proposal. Rather than try to better himself, Gaston clearly shows no respect for Belle's opinions or wishes to be left alone and goes to far more villainous lengths to make Belle his wife, which ends up having the opposite effect of what he wanted.
  • The three sons of the three lords in Brave who are competing for Merida's hand in marriage and are all undesirable in her eyes. At the end of the movie, the three sons reveal that they didn't want to marry just yet either.
  • A mild and comedic example in An Extremely Goofy Movie, Bobby, an Attention Whore Surfer Dude is attracted to a Tall, Dark, and Snarky Beret Girl. She is significantly more interested in PJ, a Shrinking Violet Nervous Wreck, to the point she bluntly rejects Bobby and then immediately flirts with, comforts, and asks out PJ. Their mutual friend and third member of their Power Trio Max teases Bobby for this. After the initial meeting, Bobby is happy to let the two be.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Bernie Kuntz, a hopeless-dorky overweight appliance salesman with a bad combover toward Stephanie Plum, the spunky, ridiculously-attractive heroine of One for the Money.
  • Tucker (Lee Evans), Mary's British friend (before it's revealed he's an in-universe Fake Brit named Norm) who Mary (Cameron Diaz) sees as nothing more than that in There's Something About Mary.
  • In A Face in the Crowd, Marcia spends a long time waiting in vain for Lonesome Rhodes to propose to her. He actually does propose to her once, but shortly after that, she gets a visit from the wife he never told her about. After his divorce is taken care of, she bluffs to a guard that she's his fiancée, only to find out that he's just eloped with another girl.
  • Freddy vs. Jason: Lori has two of them in the form of Linderman and Blake. It's painfully obvious Linderman has feelings for her and goes to great lengths despite all the mockery he goes through. However, he realizes she's still in love with her first boyfriend Will and gives up. Blake is much more straightforward than Linderman, but Lori has even less interest in him as a result. Again, Lori saving herself for Will doesn't help much.
  • Janine in Ghostbusters (1984) to Egon. Janine does not realize he's an Absent-Minded Professor more interested in his fungi collection. The sequel scratches this and pairs Janine with Louis as a request from Harold Ramis who felt discomfort with the trope.
  • Deconstructed by David in Shaun of the Dead. He's clearly been in love with Liz for years. Unfazed by being rejected in high school, he dated Liz's best friend Dianne for years to position himself as a Nice Guy ideal boyfriend for Liz and belittle Shaun for his failings, ignoring all the signs that Liz is not interested in him and happy with Shaun (if only wishing he would be a bit more active in his life). Making it worse, Dianne can tell he would rather be with Liz. His attempts to woo Liz during the Zombie Apocalypse are juvenile and even creepy, and it comes to a head when he stands by as Shaun is attacked by a zombie in the garden (he meekly excuses his cowardice with "I didn't want to cramp your style"), where The Reveal that he fancies Liz opens up the question if he intentionally didn't interfere so he could remove Shaun from the picture and get with Liz over her grief.

    Literature 
  • Laurie to Jo in Little Women, forcing him to Settle for Sibling.
    • Tom's pursuit of Nan in the final sequel Jo's Boys.
  • Jane Austen liked this:
    • Henry Crawford pursues Fanny Price in Mansfield Park, unsympathetically as he's a Stalker with a Crush and a shameless womanizer. Fanny is determined not to fall for him and does not like him despite his certain charms and despite her entire adoptive family's approval of the match.
    • ''Emma: Mr Elton, a local vicar, to Emma Woodhouse. Emma is the most prominent lady in the community and a wealthy heiress of thirty thousand pounds. She seemed encouraging because she wanted him to marry her friend Harriet, but Emma never imagined he could be so bold and she's deeply insulted by his advances.
      "Contrary to the usual course of things, Mr. Elton’s wanting to pay his addresses to her had sunk him in her opinion. His professions and his proposals did him no service. She thought nothing of his attachment and was insulted by his hopes. [...] But—that he should talk of encouragement, should consider her as aware of his views, accepting his attentions, meaning (in short), to marry him!—should suppose himself her equal in connexion or mind!—look down upon her friend, so well understanding the gradations of rank below him, and be so blind to what rose above, as to fancy himself shewing no presumption in addressing her!—It was most provoking."
    • Pride and Prejudice: Mr Collins fancies himself a very desirable catch, and he's very surprised when his distant cousin Elizabeth Bennet refuses to marry him and for a while, he actually fails to understand that her no means no.
      "To such perseverance in wilful self-deception Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as to be decisive, and whose behaviour at least could not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female."
  • Word of God has it that Leopardstar of Warrior Cats loved Tigerstar. However, Tigerstar does not return her affections as he loves Sasha.
  • Housemaid Rosanna Spearman is hopelessly in love with protagonist Franklin Blake in The Moonstone. Hopelessly because not only is he a "gentleman" and thus out of her class, but he's in love with Rachel Verinder.
  • Lettice Protheroe for Lawrence Redding in The Murder at the Vicarage. He is in love with her stepmother, however. He is also a murderer—and her stepmother, too—so his indifference is probably for the best.
  • Michael for Rosamund in the Knight and Rogue Series. He actually helps to reunite her with her love, figuring that if she tries a few days of Ruby's less glamourous lifestyle she'll be disenchanted. He's wrong.
  • Brienne of Tarth in A Song of Ice and Fire, hankering after the confirmed-gay Renly Baratheon.
  • In An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers, there's one for each side of the Official Couple:
    • Alexander tries to confess his love to Hadassah, but she shuts him down with a Bait-and-Switch Sentiment speech because she is still in love with Marcus despite thinking their relationship is impossible.
    • It's genderflipped with Tabitha, who falls in love with Marcus and hopes he'll propose, only to be disappointed by his lack of attention because he is pining for Hadassah despite thinking she's dead.
  • In Jane of Lantern Hill, hired man Step-a-yard is in love with Miss Justina Titus but knows that it's hopeless as she is faithful to the memory of Alec Jacks, who died in World War I. The main character mentions that Miss Justina still wears her hair in a pompadour, as that was how she wore it when she said goodbye to Alec.
  • The Twilight Saga:
    • Just about every guy who isn't Edward. Most of the guys at school have either tried to court Bella or had secret crushes that were never revealed. Mike Newton especially is a sensitive guy who tried for about two books to win her over. Poor guy.
    • Jacob is definitely this. He had known Bella for a long time and had helped her get through her Heroic BSoD after Edward left her. And yet, despite all of his kindness and devotion, he's rejected for Edward. Any pity for him is lost when he develops an Entitled to Have You behavior.
  • Vampire Academy:
    • Mason Ashford acts as the boyfriend of Rose briefly in Frostbite but she is still obsessed with Dimitri throughout. She eventually plans to break up with him, realising that it's unfair of her to lead him on while being attracted to another man.
    • Adrian Ivashkov is a persistent suitor for Rose and even becomes her boyfriend briefly. However, she is obsessed with Dimitri the whole time. He's heartbroken, at least until he meets Sydney.
    • Tasha Ozera has an unrequited crush on Dimitri. She eventually proposes to him and is turned down, as he preferred Rose to her.
  • Thomas Middleton's The Changeling has De Flores. He has a facial disability and his love interest, Beatrice insults and berates him constantly. He doesn't care. He goes as far as committing murder for her, but this is hardly a Woobie of any sort. His payment for one of the many schemes he devised to help her? Exactly what he's been after all along.... He wouldn't take anything else despite being offered jewels and money.
  • Ice Age: Chills, Thrills and Spills: Sid to Jennifer and Rachel, though this is due to his beliefs about mating for life.
  • The The Irregular at Magic High School setting is one where total, head-over-heels, can't-live-without-you soulmates exist, so when Masaki falls in love with one of a couple, the poor guy gets his heart broken. Even worse is the fact that he initially accepted the girl's decision, but Masaki's family forced him to court her anyway for political reasons.
    • He's complemented by Honoka, who is in love with the male half of the couple (or at least thinks she is) and remains so even into the sequel series three years later, when all her rivals have moved on. It's theorized that this is because of her elemental bloodline, which was genetically engineered so its members would develop Undying Loyalty to one "master" (yes, the setting is very dark in tone); unfortunately for all concerned, she might have imprinted on Tatsuya that way.
  • In Anne of Green Gables, Charlie Sloane is this to Anne. They're classmates and it was rumored he and Gilbert Blythe were vying for her affection, but whereas Gilbert actually befriended her, Charlie didn't really do anything except propose out of the blue and get very offended when Anne, understandably, rejected him. Nobody really thought he had a chance with her, anyway.
  • The Chronicles of Dorsa: Linna laments that she always falls for women who don't share her feelings. First it's Tasia, who only has eyes for Joslyn. Later it's Adela, who is a straight girl. Then it's Megs, who loves Akella.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Xander Harris in the first season. He gets over it.
    • Spike fills this role in Season Five after he falls for Buffy. He recognises that a relationship with her is probably a bad idea and that he probably doesn't have a chance to begin with - but at the same time, he observes that the relationship she's currently in isn't really working for either party and feels that chance for success or not, a bloke's gotta try. He does eventually succeed in removing his rival, and much farther down the road, is finally able to date Buffy.
    • Scott Hope in season 3. It's pretty obvious that Buffy only dates him because she's trying to move on from her relationship with Angel, which ended with her having to kill him.
    • Robin Wood in season 7. He goes on one date with Buffy but only takes him having to watch her interact with her ex Spike once for him to realize that there probably won't be a second date. He ends up hooking up with Faith instead, as a Last-Minute Hookup in the last few episodes of the season.
  • In Choujin Sentai Jetman, Raita unlike Gai, didn’t even have a remote chance with Kaori which is probably why he was so quiet and didn’t butt himself into the main love triangle.
  • In Smallville, it is a poorly kept secret that Chloe wants Clark for the first part of the series, while Pete in turn secretly wants her.
  • In Grounded for Life, Brad pined after Lily and assumed that her emotions were divided between himself (whom she barely noticed and openly discouraged any kind of advance) and her boyfriend Dean (whom she was all too ready to get hot and heavy with). Eventually, Brad decided to "back down" and openly referenced the concept that they were in a "love triangle" to Dean, whose only concern was "The two endpoints don't touch, do they?" Though it might have been subverted later on when Lily broke up with Dean and ended up dating Brad anyway. Who's hopeless now?
  • Steve Urkel in Family Matters is a special case in that he knows he's the Hopeless Suitor — he's just not willing to let that stop him, hence the catchphrase "I'm wearing you down, baby!" His only shot at Laura was the transformation chamber that turned him into Stephan Urquelle, the epitome of smooth and cool. Steve Urkel himself managed to win Laura over in the show's last season, after some 8 years of Laura insisting on Just Friends.
  • iCarly: Freddie towards Carly. Although he isn't so hopeless anymore since Season 3.
  • There are elements of this in Sheriff Carter's relationship with Allison Blake in Eureka, especially after she agrees to marry former husband Nathan Stark for a second time. Even to the point that when Stark sacrificed himself, Carter decided not to pursue.
  • George played this in the first and second season of Grey's Anatomy - he was in love with Meredith, who spent the time pining over her married ex-boyfriend and sleeping with random guys she met at a sleazy bar. Eventually, they slept together, but she started crying in the middle. It kinda didn't go too well. Lexie, Meredith's half-sister, becomes romantically interested in George, but he's the only one who doesn't notice and is interested in other women.
  • Crais is interested in Aeryn in Farscape, and it takes her a long time to realise that's why Crichton's acting like a two-year-old around her. Of course, the fact that Crais continually called her "Officer Sun" is probably one of the reasons it didn't occur to her that he was interested in that way.
  • In ER, Ray was this towards Neela. At the end, they are seen together. Another case would be Romano and his friend Dr Corday.
  • For at least 7 episodes during the first season of Glee, Emma plays the hopeless suitor to the seemingly oblivious Will.
    • And Karofsky to Kurt in the second and third seasons.
  • Friends: Gunther had an obvious longtime crush on Rachel, but she never even knew about his feelings until the last season and the entire audience knew that she was going to be with Ross in the end.
  • Martha from Doctor Who just can't compete with her crush's Lost Lenore. It doesn't help that he is the king of Oblivious to Love.
  • Moriyama towards Tenkaichi in Lessons for a Perfect Detective Story who loves the attention but ignores how honest her feelings out. Banzo tells her every single episode that she isn't his love interest, Fujii is.
  • Gossip Girl is currently playing this straight with Dan and Blair. Blair (as always) is in love with Chuck. She treats Dan like her closest friend and confidante, and even ships him with her friend (and his ex) Serena, apparently oblivious to the fact that he's been in love with her for half a season.
  • Lennier on Babylon 5. In this case, Delenn obviously has a great deal of affection for him; she is simply unconditionally in love with Sheridan, and that, as they say, is that.
  • C.C. Babcock, Maxwell Sheffield's business partner on The Nanny, wanted him to be with her rather than Fran Fine. However, she does get together with Niles, Maxwell's butler in the end.
  • Pushing Daisies: Poor Olive never stood a chance with Ned once Chuck appeared on the scene.
  • Very briefly on The Big Bang Theory, Raj to Penny. The reasons are a little complicated, Penny was having dinner at Sheldon's apartment with Raj and, because Sheldon can be hard to be around, was drinking a little too much. Sheldon went to bed and while she continued talking with Raj she confessed she still had feelings for Leonard but he was now taken in a very serious relationship. The combination of alcohol and both feeling romantically frustrated ended with them waking up in bed together the next morning. Raj interpreted it as him being Penny's "#2" after Leonard in the social group, while she was too embarrassed and apologized for leading him on. Unusual for the trope once the dust settles Penny and Raj do become closer friends Also Raj reveals to Penny that they actually never slept together and instead just fell asleep, much to her relief.
    • Leonard viewed himself as this with Penny during the first season, at one point ready to sell his geeky collectibles because he felt they would be a deterrent to Penny's interest. Penny was largely ignorant of his crush until later in the season, and her feelings for him grew as she realized how different he was to the obnoxious meatheads she would normally date.
    • When Penny became a pharmaceutical salesperson, one of her clients, Dr. Lorvis, becomes smitten with her and goes to her apartment to woo her. It seems he took her flirting sales tactics too seriously, a problem he also had with the woman at the pet store who got him to buy an iguana and later with Sheldon's girlfriend Amy.
  • Baby Gat from Noah's Arc relentlessly pursues Noah, particularly in the movie (to no avail).
  • Jonathan, Jack Donaghy's assistant on 30 Rock, is hopelessly obsessed with Jack and devoted to him.
    • Funnily enough, the same actor who plays Jonathan, Maulik Pancholy, plays Sanjay on Weeds and is similarly obsessed with Nancy.
  • Elaborated into an entire episode of How I Met Your Mother, crossing into Master of the Mixed Message. It referred to letting someone be on your "hook" where (intentionally or not) you allow someone to be enamored with you and you gather all the benefits of an ego-booster without having to commit to them, sometimes sprucing up your dialogue with "I can't be with you... right now." Ted was doing this by accident to a girl at the university library, and when he realized a girl was giving him the runaround too he sought to make things right with her. In a more long-term issue, Lily's high school boyfriend Scooter has shown up throughout the series and has made it clear he wants her back.
  • Joy Mercer on House of Anubis is this for Fabian Rutter, having liked him for at least a year BEFORE Nina even knew Fabian. even AFTER Nina leaves, Fabian still turns her down, and rather rudely too.
  • One Tree Hill: Dorkily cute Mouth for Lovable Alpha Bitch Brooke (who doesn't lead him on, and in fact they develop an Odd Friendship out of it). He also is a hopeless suitor for Alpha Bitch Rachel, who does lead him on, repeatedly, which pisses Brooke off (because of the stated friendship between her and Mouth).
  • Arrowverse
    • Arrow: Laurel turns out to be this for her ex-boyfriend Oliver when she confesses her love for him in Season Four. A particularly tragic example as when they were together Oliver cheated on her multiple times (with her sister Sara to boot) and hasn't shown any interest in her for years, including getting together with Sara again and excluding Laurel from his secret, crime-fighting life. It also puts the fact that Laurel spent two seasons watching Oliver fall in love with Felicity in a much more depressing light. Though Season Five subverts it, with the revelation that Oliver did love her, even when he was with Felicity (the season confirms that Laurel was his One True Love), but had given up on her because he believed he didn't deserve her, thinking himself to be the Hopeless Suitor — unfortunately, by the time he learned that Laurel didn't care about his faults and loved him anyway, she was already dead, and they lost their chance to be together for good this time, making it even more tragic.
    • The Flash (2014):
      • Played with, but ultimately subverted in regards to Barry and Iris. Barry Allen spent most of his life as this to his best friend Iris West. Iris remained oblivious to his feelings for years, and she didn't find out until Barry finally confessed to her. Unfortunately, by that point, Iris was in a serious relationship with Eddie Thawne. The subversion is that it's obvious he isn't a Hopeless Suitor. Barry and Iris had so much Unresolved Sexual Tension between them that Everyone Can See It, including Eddie and eventually Barry himself (thanks to Time Travel). Iris just continued to deny the truth of what was happening between them because she did love Eddie (though not as much as she did Barry), and didn't want to face the possibility that she was choosing the Wrong Guy First.
      • Eddie Thawne in regards to Iris West. The problem isn't that they didn't love each other, it's the fact that Iris clearly loved Barry more and just didn't want to admit it, to others and to herself. The last straw was the revelation that Barry and Iris were married in the future — after that, Eddie realized that no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he loved Iris, Iris would always love Barry more, even if she had yet to realize it. This led to them briefly breaking up.
      • Linda Park was also this to Barry. While Barry did genuinely like her, his feelings for Iris were just too strong for their relationship to go anywhere.
      • Played With in regards to Patty Spivot. Patty was the closest Barry had ever come to moving on from Iris West, who, at the time, was still mourning Eddie's death. However, Barry ultimately couldn't tell her that he was the Flash, for fear of compromising her dream of becoming a CSI, which would take her out of Central City. She calls him out on it, having figured it out on her own. This difference in goals and Barry's own closed-off nature doomed their relationship. Patty was a Hopeless Suitor because Barry couldn't find it in himself to be as open with her as he is with Iris.
  • A Running Gag in El Chavo del ocho with Doña Clotilde and her crush on Don Ramón, much to his dismay. Essentially the same dynamic, but with children, between Chilindrina and his unrequited crush on Chavo. Chespirito uses the same trope in the Caquitos sketches with Doña Nachita (played by the same actress, Angelines Fernández, who plays Doña Clotilde) and her crush on Chómpiras.
  • Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure: Karl makes a terrible first impression on Weilan by hitting on her as they search Mako Island for a missing twelve-year-old girl, which she's incredulous about. She angrily responds with "Never in a million years," which he interprets as "Maybe." The rest of his appearances are him trying to get her attention and her reacting with obvious distaste at his presence.
  • Scoundrels (2010):
    • Hope's Best Friend Tad has a huge crush on Heather, who's barely aware he exists and when she does she calls him "Ted".
    • Mack's detective partner also has a hopeless crush on Heather, which only gets worse after he sees her doing a striptease at the strip club she works at.
  • Wednesday: Eugene has a precious crush on Enid. However, as Wednesday points out, he has next to no shot with Enid, not just because she is out of his league, but because she has a crush on Ajax. Eugene doesn't let this stop him from innocently hitting on her, though.

    Music 
  • The narrator of Eric Ethridge's "If You Met Me First", who laments that the taken woman he pines for would have returned his feelings if only they'd met before she got together with her current boyfriend. Some lyrics imply she might feel the same way but doesn't act on it, but the song is ambiguous enough so it could also just be the narrator indulging in wishful thinking.
  • Biz Markie's "Just a Friend" is entirely centered around this trope. Although he does have some suspicions, Biz continues to pursue a relationship with the woman, oblivious to the fact she's already spoken for, and she has no intentions of telling him.
  • "He Loves U Not" by Dream is about telling off a woman for futilely chasing after the singer's boyfriend, as well as only wanting him because she's never satisfied with what she actually has.
    No chains to unlock
    So free to do what he wants
    He's into what he's got
    He loves me, he loves you not
    No matter what you do, he's never gonna be with you
    He's into what he's got
    He loves me, he loves you not

    Theater 
  • Helen Chao in Flower Drum Song. Wang Ta does get her in the Dream Ballet, but when he's awake he gives her no reason not to reprise "Love, Look Away."
  • Eponine's feelings for Marius in Les Misérables.
    Eponine: And although I know that he is blind, still I say there's a way for us...
  • In pantomime, Buttons is always this to Cinderella, who considers him more the brother she never had. Fortunately for him, most productions have him fall in love with somebody else, usually the Fairy Godmother or her assistant.
  • Roderigo in Othello is a particularly nasty, and disturbingly accurate version of this. He clearly has no chance with the object of his adoration Desdemona, but he is willing to go to murderous ends to win her love. Which makes him perfect prey to be manipulated by Iago
  • Boq from Wicked would qualify. Galinda diverts his attention with Nessarose but he covets a long-lasting infatuation with her, so much so that he attempts to declare his feelings for her... at her engagement party.
    • Elphaba also sees herself as this towards Fiyero, as reflected by the page quote. When Fiyero and Elphaba do get together near the end of the play, Glinda finds herself in this position, singing a reprise of Elphaba's earlier song.
  • In The Cat and the Fiddle, following Commedia dell'Arte tradition, "fickle Pierrette" has abandoned "poor Pierrot" for Harlequin by the final scene of the Show Within a Show. Pierrot vainly tries to woo her with his violin and looks upon the happy couple sadly from a garden wall, then drops his bow and accidentally falls to his death trying to retrieve it.
  • The Misanthrope:
    • Célimène cultivates a herd of them. She trash-talks each one to the others, but can't seem to break it off with any of them.
    • Éliante is one for Alceste, although she is perfectly aware of this and really wants him to be happy.

    Video Games 
  • Art of Fighting inverts the trope, as at the rate Yuri's going, she'll die an unwed virgin because her dad and her brother won't let her have a love life. Ignoring the fact that she's an adult and mutually attracted to Robert. So, she and her would-be boyfriend are stuck in the same boat.
  • Advanced V.G.: Yuuki has nursed a one-sided crush on Satomi, ever since meeting her. But Satomi isn't into other women, nor is she interested in romance. At least, not yet.
  • Disgaea 5 has Seraphina for Killia, who only sees her as a comrade and has feelings for Liezerota.
  • Dragon Quest V: If the Hero didn't marry Debora, Tuppence has a hopeless crush on her.
  • In Duel Savior Destiny the main character's new best friend Selbium is constantly trying to get together with Mia, but whether she's aware or not (she probably is) it's pretty clear that it's never going to happen. She's clearly much more interested in jumping her brother's bones despite his disinterest.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Catria from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and its sequels has a crush on the main character, Marth, but gives up on him since Marth is engaged to his childhood friend Caeda. On the other side, Catria's elder sister Palla likes Abel the Cavalier, but gives up to make way for her youngest sister Est.
    • Fire Emblem Gaiden:
      • Catria's original Expy was actually Clair, who had a crush on Alm. Since Alm marries Celica in the end, she ends up settling for Gray despite still having feelings for Alm. That last detail is removed in Echoes, implying that she did get over Alm and treating Gray as a genuine Second Love.
      • Echoes: Shadows of Valentia adds a new character, Faye, who also has a crush on Alm, though unlike Clair it's implied she doesn't wed and never really gets over him.
    • Any guy not named Erk who can romance Priscilla in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade will sadly end up as this, as Priscilla is of ultra-high nobility and her non-Erk suitors consist of a mercenary who defected from his country and a mercenary nomad.
    • Meg from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Zihark does find her charming and thinks that whoever is supposed to marry her would be a lucky guy... until he finds out it's him. Zihark has had no interest in starting a new romantic relationship with anyone since he lost his important girlfriend, something he had attempted to tell Meg's father in Path of Radiance to no avail. In the end, Meg finds a different, off-screen husband and Zihark remains single.
    • Catria's Expy, Cordelia, from Fire Emblem: Awakening has the same relationship with her leader Chrom. To add insult to the injury, while she clearly shows an attraction toward him, she is unable to build supports with Chrom within his own pool of love interests.
    • Flora from Fire Emblem Fates seems to have a crush on Jakob, but for whatever reason chooses not to act on it, and the only character she can marry in the routes she's playable in is the Avatar.
  • In Kathy Rain, the local Clueless Deputy, Lenny, is this to the titular Player Character. During the game, he eventually works up the courage to ask her out to eat some food with him (though his nervousness causes him to screw up and say "foot" instead), with him, and the only answers the player are presented with are as follows (though Kathy's actual spoken answer is a bit more polite):
    No.
    God, no!
    Absolutely not.
    Actually, I'd rather eat a foot.
  • The Legend of Zelda features characters who have an unrequited crush, usually on the titular princess, but never get her interest.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask has two on both sides. Cremia apparently has a crush on Kafei, who's firmly in love with Anju and is planning to marry her. Anju isn't totally convinced of Kafei's love for her, however, since he goes missing a few days before their wedding because he's been turned into a child and had his precious Sun Mask, a token of his affection, stolen from him. Anju's mother assumes the worst and insists that he and Cremia are having an affair. Meanwhile, one of Mutoh's carpenters has a crush on Anju and threatens Link if he speaks to him while wearing Kafei's Mask.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Meza, a hard worker who lives in Outset Island, is currently looking for a wife, but evidently hasn't had much success. There's also Kamo, who is in love with Linda but she only has eyes on Anton, and after Link's involvement in the hookup between the latter two characters, Kamo is indeed left alone, much to his bitter resentment.
    • Groose in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is hopelessly in love in the headmaster's daughter, Zelda, which is why he bullies her closest male friend, Link. When Zelda goes missing and discovers what happened, he goes Wrong Genre Savvy and believes he's destined to save her and earn her affections. He's absolutely crushed to learn he's no hero and eventually comes to accept Zelda will never return his feelings.
    • Osfala, one of the sages from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds has the same problem, being just as Wrong Genre Savvy as Groose and thinking he's destined to be a hero and earn the affections of Princess Zelda. One kidnapping and eventual rescue later, Osfala accepts he's no hero.
    • According to Kass in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, his mentor, a Sheikah who served as the court poet, had fallen for Princess Zelda. However, she only had eyes for Link, who she was cold and distant towards until he saved her life. Granted this Sheikah could have been an Unreliable Narrator, but the Ship Tease between Link and Zelda does suggest this wasn't just his jealousy at work. He got over this when Link nearly dies saving her, forcing him into a 100-year sleep in the Shrine of Resurrection and decides to dedicate songs to help him when he wakes up.
  • Tia from Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals tries to push a romantic attempt which doesn't go anywhere because the fans already know who Maxim is going to end up with. If anything, it only makes Tia even more sympathetic character.
  • In Medieval II: Total War, your royal family's princesses serve as diplomats until they get married and focus on popping out heirs. If one conducts negotiations with a settlement containing a marriable character, they may pick up a Persistent Suitor as part of their entourage, who penalizes the princess' Charm rating and reduces their personal security viz a viz assassination attempts.
  • Mega Man X8 introduces a new member of the Maverick Hunters' Mission Control, a very Stripperiffic (which is saying something, since she's a Reploid) Layer. She obviously has feelings for Zero. However, the latter is not only a Celibate Hero, but he's also very clueless to these advances.
    • This seems like a case of Zero being handed the Idiot Ball, or Chastity Ball, in this case. Fans can only speculate that Iris had a lot more pull on him than originally indicated. Could be a failed Author's Saving Throw , or even just Plot Induced Stupidity, on the script writer's part as a whole.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 3: Kenji Tomochika has a crush on a teacher. He somehow starts believing she likes him back, only to be crushed by the revelation that she has a fiancé, and is understandably creeped out by Kenji's feelings. Ironically, Kenji's Childhood Friend Rio Iwasaki has a crush on him and tries confessing to him to sort out her feelings. He replies that he likes her as much as he likes ramen.
    • Persona 4:
      • Yosuke has a crush on his upperclassman Saki Konishi, based on her being one of the few people who is nice to him. After she is murdered, he finds out she actually resented him for multiple reasons, the crush being one of them. Even if said resentment was just her Shadow saying things that sound true, Saki only felt pity for Yosuke at best and had a secret boyfriend he didn't know about.
      • Teddie with every girl he meets. Having been created out of the desire to feel loved, Teddie is actually serious about winning the hearts of all the female cast, and gets even more serious if he meets a non-human girl, like Aigis or Labrys. Unfortunately for Teddie, his immaturity, perverted habits, and lack of commitment fail to win any girl over.
    • Persona 5: Morgana has a massive crush on Ann. He refers to her as "Lady Ann" exclusively, fawns over her, and any attempts to insult her "chastity" gets Morgana instantly angry. But physically being a cat is just the main problem with Morgana's attempts at wooing her, and is also the reason no one tries to help him or even comment on the situation. For her part, Ann either doesn't notice Morgana's attempts to impress her, or notices and pretends not to. Even then, she's implied to be in love with Joker even if she wasn't part of a Romance Sidequest.
  • In the first Pretentious Game, the blue square turns out to be this to the pink square.
  • A Running Gag in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is that Anthony, one of the crewmen on the Red Sprite, keeps falling in love with demons. Your job is to convey his feelings to the demons... who always turn him down. Eventually, the second-to-last mission has you deliver an apology to a demon who saved him (Anthony was terrified by her appearance, which the demon, a Skogsra, is used to), and ultimately he gets dating advice from Gemari, a goddess of love.
  • Amy Rose is deeply in love with Sonic the Hedgehog and isn't afraid to let him know about it. Sonic on the other hand makes it clear that Amy is a good friend.... and only a good friend.
  • In Until Dawn, Hannah is this for Mike. A personality test found in her room lampshades their incompatibility, to say nothing of Mike's unavailability, as he was currently dating Emily at the start of the game. This hopeless pining for Mike is what kick-started the prank that later had dire consequences for everyone.
  • Valkyria Chronicles has a few cases of these among the supporting members of Squad 7; Noce has a thing for Alicia (who loves Welkin), Jann really likes Largo (who is both straight and in love with Eleanor), and Juno has a crush on Welkin (who only has eyes for Alicia).
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, Jean-Claude Magnum tries and fails to propose to Mai again, dueling the player for her hand in marriage when she backs out of dueling him.

    Visual Novels 
  • Danganronpa:
    • It's heavily implied (and outright confirmed in supplemental materials) that Mukuro Ikusaba has a major crush on Makoto Naegi, because he was the first person to not be put off by her title as the Ultimate Soldier and smile at her. The problem is, not only does Makoto have other love interests, Mukuro is also devoted to her sister, Junko Enoshima, who traps all of their class in a Deadly Game and murders Mukuro For the Evulz. Even after Makoto escapes, his opinion on Mukuro has decidedly cooled and she's the only classmate whose death isn't shown among his regrets.
    • Kazuichi Soda from 'Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is this big time toward Sonia Nevermind. Throughout the game, all he tries to do is win over the affections of Sonia. However, because of how forceful he is about it, Sonia always turns him down and will even take time to take certain jabs at him (like even saying that she wished he could've been the culprit of a case so he would be killed off). Plus, Sonia had the hots for Gundham Tanaka who is the only person that understand his erratic behavior.
    • Interestingly, if he tries to pursue her in the Bonus Mode part of the game, Hajime is this for Peko Pekoyama. Hajime develops genuine feelings for Peko but Peko makes it very clear to him that she only has eyes for her childhood friend, Fuyuhiko.
    • Hajime himself has one in the form of Nagito. It’s heavily hinted that Nagito has feelings for Hajime, giving what’s clearly an Aborted Declaration of Love at the end of his Free Times Events. On Hajime’s end, however, he quickly grows to dislike Nagito after he arranges the first murder and isn’t afraid to voice his annoyance with him. He also primarily (in the main story) shows interest in Chiaki. That being said, Nagito’s implied to be more worried about his luck cycle potentially getting Hajime hurt than anything involving him and Chiaki.
  • At the end of Fragment's Note, Yukitsuki, after being freed from her Yandere state, realizes that she practically shattered all hopes of fulfilling her love for Yukiha and accepts this role for a while. She gets over it later, though.
  • In The Fruit of Grisaia Chizuru shows every bit as much of a crush on Yuuji as anyone but doesn't get any kind of acknowledgement. In The Labyrinth of Grisaia's bonus section she got even more fun poked at her expense thanks to her fantasizing about him in public. In The Eden of Grisaia Kazuki goes through a list of everyone on the island and rating their chances with Yuuji. Chizuru is the only one who gets a zero percent chance, which she acknowledges with a laugh since her family wouldn't approve anyway. That said, she gets a bone thrown to her with a bonus H scene that would actually fit neatly into canon without a ripple. And even the treatment before is better than what Millie gets: Punches to the face and complete lack of mention in the epilogue.
  • Tsukihime:
    • Akiha in the canon ending. Shiki will generally notice that all the girls around him are attractive, except for Akiha, as she's his adoptive sister. Akiha tends to respond very poorly to all his love interests except Hisui, not just Arcueid.
    • Although she doesn't seem to mind Sion in the sequel game Melty Blood, possibly because, of all the girls that fall for Shiki, he shows less of a romantic interest in her than any other heroine (except Satchin).
  • In Princess Evangile, Tamie repeatedly flirts with Masaya and hints that she likes him repeatedly. However, due to his close involvement with the White Lily and Rose Society girls, she decides not to try anything further. Thankfully, this is subverted in W Happiness, where she gets her own route, and, in a realization, flirts with Masaya more and manages to get to date him.
  • A sidequest in Mass Effect: Andromeda has a member of the Outcasts ask Ryder to pass along a message to a dancer in the Kadara slums that he's been imprisoned for failure to pay his debts. When Ryder passes the message along to the dancer, her reaction is annoyance. She'd told him to buzz off and leave her alone.

    Web Animation 
  • In Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, Ryan constantly tries and fails to make Barbie love him more than she does Ken. Ryan's sister Raquelle constantly tries and fails to make Ken love her more than he loves Barbie. Midge also has a one-sided crush on Ryan.
  • Jaune Arc of RWBY is a hopelessly inept Casanova Wannabe who has a crush on Weiss Schnee, and he's asked her out several times. Unfortunately for poor Jaune, it is obvious to everyone but him that Weiss despises him - although he shouldn't worry too much, Weiss has that opinion of a lot of people. Doubly tragic is Jaune, for all his fruitlessly chasing Weiss, his own partner Pyrrha Nikos is attracted to him, but he never realises it despite the anvil-sized hints she keeps dropping on his head.
  • Grim Reaper Flag-chan!: Heartbreak Flag-chan, who appears whenever there's a chance Mobuo will have his affections turned down, is in love with him, but he doesn't return her feelings.
  • In Bravest Warriors, Danny is this to Plum. In "Mexican Touchdown" he puts himself through a lot of unnecessary pain to show off to Plum, thinking it will lead to her falling for him. Plum, not wanting Danny to keep hurting himself for her sake in a vain attempt to gain her affections, has to bluntly tell him that she is so not attracted to him.

    Webcomics 
  • Therkla is this for Elan in The Order of the Stick. This is complicated by the fact that she is eventually ordered to kill him, but she defies said orders and declares her love for him. Unfortunately for her, Elan is already in a committed relationship with Haley, and has no interest in cheating or leaving her, even though they're miles away from each other at the time. Therkla eventually lays dying in Elan's arms, and when Elan brings up the possibility of resurrection, she asks him if he would leave Haley to be with her if she came back to life. He sadly tells her no, and she dies not wishing to be Raised.
  • In Nip and Tuck, Gilly has to have his role explained to him.
  • Homestuck:
    • Eridan continues trying to go after Feferi even after she rejects him and starts a relationship with Sollux.
    • Nepeta's crush on Karkat, who is in love with Terezi and later Dave.
    • Roxy's crushes on both Dirk and Jake: Dirk is gay from the outset and interested in Jake, who already has enough on his plate figuring out how to handle Dirk and Jane.
    • Kanaya's crush on Vriska, who is exclusively into Tavros (and later John) and who never sees Kanaya as any more than a faithful Morality Pet. In case it's not obvious, Homestuck is very dedicated to the All Love Is Unrequited trope.
  • Magick Chicks: It's no secret that Faith has a raging libido and has slept with much of the student body at Artemis... excluding her secretary, Sandi. She's deeply in love with Faith and would give anything for the chance to be with her. Except she's been permanently friend-zoned.
  • Furry Experience: Alice seems to be shaping into one for Louis, who barely notices her most of the time, and even more so when Diana's around which incenses Alice. In this case, though, it's unclear if Louis and Diana are actually in a relationship or just really good friends, but Alice still sees her as a rival.
  • Never Satisfied: Sylas towards Philomena. Not only is she just plain not interested, she's been mutually flirting with January since chapter two.
  • Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid: Haruko's crush on Uihyeon doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell (even if Uihyeon wasn't so taken with Su-a, he still resents Haruko for being the clueless representative of the Japanese occupying force), but she refuses to accept this.

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • In American Dad!, Snot has a huge crush on Hayley and often goes to great lengths to win her affection. He always fails. Miserably.
    • Subverted in one episode where with Jeff in space, Snot manages to win her affections for a short while only to no longer be interested in her.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • The Ulrich/Yumi pairing from Code Lyoko actually has two of these (William is a Romantic False Lead):
    • Sissi, who is crushing on Ulrich. However, even after losing his memory in one episode, Ulrich can't stand Sissi and would much rather be with Yumi.
    • Johnny, who has an all-too-blatant crush on Yumi. However, she'd rather be with Ulrich (and besides, Johnny is a little young for her). Hiroki (Yumi's little brother) even tells his friend how little chance he has with Ulrich around.
    • A minor version is Milly's affections towards Ulrich, only shown in a few episodes. Considering she is two or three years younger, that is why she was never considered a serious threat. The show really did dance around the Love Dodecahedron.
  • Danny Phantom:
    • A minor case in an episode has Valerie being pursued by a geek named Nathan, a situation she is not in favor of. She ends up dating Danny briefly instead.
    • Danny also has a case of this with popular girl Paulina. He tries in vain to hit on her and get her to like him, but certain situations prevent him from his crush blossoming into something greater. He does eventually move on and gets together with Sam.
    • Vlad is a more straight example. The show makes it all too obvious that Maddie will only ever love Jack, now or in an alternate reality where she married Vlad. Even as a computer program, one that is specifically designed to love and acknowledge him and disparage Jack, Maddie still rejects him and loves Jack (or "The Jack Program" in this case).
  • Family Guy does this repeatedly with Brian towards Lois, which is ultimately reconciled after a fairly big fight.
    • Stewie also tends to do this with Brian.
  • In Gasp!, Gasp has a completely hopeless crush on Ginger: hopeless because he is a goldfish, and she is a human girl.
  • Gravity Falls, Dipper (who is 12) has a crush on Wendy (who is 15). He eventually finds out she always knew and lets him down gently since she's too old for him. He accepts that the two are just friends though sees things a bit differently in "Roadside Attraction".
    Dipper: Look, earlier this summer, I ruined my chances with Wendy.
    Grunkle Stan: (Uncomfortably) Heh, yeah... "chances".
  • Peep in Jimmy Two-Shoes loves Heloise. Unfortunately, she has Single-Target Sexuality for Jimmy, so he has no chance.
  • The Loud House: Lincoln's best friend Clyde has an obsessive crush on the oldest sister, Lori. Lori isn't interested in younger men, especially since she has a boyfriend she's deeply in love with. Clyde frequently makes a fool of himself in a desperate attempt to get her attention.
  • Miraculous Ladybug: Both Adrien and Marinette are popular with the opposite sex, but due to their single-minded fixations on Ladybug and Adrien respectively, most of their would-be suitors are doomed to fail - so far, Kagami (for Adrien) and Luka (for Marinette) are the only ones (aside from each other) who've gotten any serious interest out of them. Adrien probably has it worse - due to his side job as a model, he has a number of fangirls, some of whom are not very nice people.
  • Chuck in Motorcity is this to Claire.
  • Janine in The Real Ghostbusters was this to Egon in the first seasons. Albeit with time, Egon started to reciprocate and they become Official Couple after the sixth season and in the Sequel Series Extreme Ghostbusters. Which, by the way, has a similar case with Eduardo and his crush on Kilie.
  • Mordecai of Regular Show started off as this to the rather promiscuous Margaret, but over the course of the series it's slowly deconstructed to nothing.
  • Robotomy: Thrasher is this to Maimy. He likes her, she's taken by Megawatt, and the only time Maimy shows any interest in Thrasher it's a ploy to use him so she can usurp him and become the new school president.
  • Milhouse to Lisa in The Simpsons.
  • Liz Allan in The Spectacular Spider-Man managed to hook up with Peter, but it was clear from the start that Peter's always had feelings for Gwen. Inevitably Peter dumps her to be with Gwen, causing her to hate his guts again.
  • Steven Universe:
    • Jamie the mailman develops a crush on Garnet in the episode "Love Letters". He doesn't know that she is a fusion of two gems who deeply love each other. After Steven and Connie's attempt to get him off her back gently gave him the wrong idea, she helps him get over his crush by making him see that Love at First Sight, which he based his feelings on, isn't real.
    • Mayor Dewey has a crush on Pearl. Unfortunately, Pearl only has had eyes for Rose Quartz, who gave up her physical form for Steven to be born. More than that, Pearl is completely disinterested in humans (Rose is the only gem who's expressed romantic interest in humans), and it took years of prodding from Steven before she finally started a friendship with Greg. The only human she ever showed interest in is a woman, who just so happened to resemble Rose.
  • Total Drama had Cody trying desperately to get with Gwen, who was officially with Trent. He usually came to great personal injury due to it. In later seasons, Gwen and Trent break up, and Cody tries to get with her again only to be snubbed in favor of yet another guy (Duncan). Cody himself has an unrequited admirer in Sierra.
  • In Thunder Cats 2011, Lion-O is this for Cheetara until she makes it perfectly clear that she loves Tygra. Lion-O is happy for them, but he does argue with Cheetara for her way of assisting and advising him. He then turns his affections to Pumyra... Who is then revealed to be a Sixth Ranger Traitor. Ouch.
  • Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Sideswipe has a crush on Windblade, who is easily turned off by his lack of respect for Optimus Prime. He's not very subtle about his crush or hiding it, Windblade seems to know he has a thing for her and despite getting along with him, she just isn't interested. When she returns to Cybertron, he gives a heartfelt goodbye, but as soon as she walks away, she shrugs in confusion.
  • Wander over Yonder: After learning Lord Dominator is a lady, Lord Hater instantly develops a crush on her and his new obsession is to get her to fall in love with him. He tries making himself a car, sing a concert, and even make a cartoon about himself. He doesn't seem capable of seeing she's not interested. That is until "My Fair Hatey", where she spells it out in her Villain Song she's incapable and uninterested in romance, only destroying the galaxy. Though he seems to remember things differently in "The End of the Galaxy".
    Hater: You can steal my planets, you can capture my enemy, you can even break up with me...
    Dominator: You realize we were never dating?
  • World of Winx has two undercover detectives: Evans and her partner Gomez. He's attracted to her, but she has no interest in returning his affections.
  • Rogue had this going on with Cyclops in X-Men: Evolution; it's not entirely clear whether he ever actually realized she had a hopeless crush on him but in any case, his feelings for Jean (even before they officially got together) made it a moot point.

 
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Video Example(s):

Chiyo and Saiki

Chiyo has a crush on Saiki and tries to initiate a romantic meet-cute (LOVE FANTASY). Unfortunately for her Saiki is a psychic with no interest in her, so he studiously defies this attempt.

Example of:
Thinks Like a Romance Novel

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Chiyo and Saiki

Chiyo has a crush on Saiki and tries to initiate a romantic meet-cute (LOVE FANTASY). Unfortunately for her Saiki is a psychic with no interest in her, so he studiously defies this attempt.

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Main / ThinksLikeARomanceNovel

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