Animecomes in all forms, shapes, and sizes. There’s everything from fluffy rom-coms to dark, twisted horrors. But there’s one thing that many anime series cannot escape from: tragedy. No matter what the genre, there is generally a character who is mistreated either in their life or in their poor writing. From tragic backstories to untimely deaths, there are endless characters who have broken the hearts of heir audiences.
Here are some of the top anime characters who deserved better!
10Naofumi from The Rising of the Shield Hero
The Rising of the Shield Herofollows a young man, Naofumi, who was transported to a new world as one of its chosen heroes. There are four heroes in total, including on who wields the spear, the sword, the bow, and Naofumi’s legendary equipment, the shield. Because the shield isn’t an offensive weapon, he has trouble finding a team to train with. There is one woman who volunteers, Myne, who seems extremely sweet and caring toward Naofumi.
Naofumi quickly finds out that she’s not quite who she seems when she falsely accuses him of sexually assaulting her. This leaves him alone, broke, and without support from the Kingdom or any of its people. He’s universally hated for something he didn’t do, resulting in him becoming more cynical and less trusting of the people around him.
9Bojji from Ranking of Kings
Ranking of Kingstells the story of Bojji, the heir to the throne of the Bosse Kingdom. Despite technically being a giant, he is cursed to be tiny, strength-less, and without the ability to hear or speak. Because of this, the people of the kingdom are cruel and mocking toward him. His mother died in front of him when he was younger, leaving him with his stepmother, who turns on him as well when she realizes just how “useless” he is compared to her biological son.
Bojji has his crown stolen from him, despite his father’s wishes for him to be heir. The people he cares about the most betray him, claiming that he doesn’t have what it takes to be king. With his brother in charge, it’s ordered that he’s killed, and the attempt was from his trusted teacher, one of the few people who was actually kind to him. Bojji keeps a kind heart through it all, proving that he was the last person in the series who deserved to be treated like that.
8L from Death Note
Death Noterevolves around the seemingly perfect high school student, Light Yagami, as he finds a notebook that can kill anyone if he writes their name in it. He takes it upon himself to be a vigilante, killing criminals or anyone he feels deserves it. When the suspicion arises that just one person is behind all of these killings, Interpol gets involved in trying to track him down. They hire a consulting detective, L, to help. L is odd, but he’s also highly intelligent and the only person who can keep up with Light.
L wasn’t mistreated so much in life as he was in his death. L was killed off partway through the show, and that decision has been considered a giant mistake by the majority of the fans of the series. Light manages to trick the people around him into killing L, which was somewhat unbelievable in the first place. But most disrespectful was the way that he was immediately replaced by someone who was a carbon copy of the character. The show, the fans, and L deserved better than that.
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7Baam from Tower of God
Tower of Godfeatures Baam and Rachel, two childhood friends who have lived around a mysterious tower for their entire lives. The tower has many different levels, some even having their own societies, and it’s said that if you reach the top, your wish will come true. Climbing it can prove to be deadly, however, as there are tests set up to stop people from ascending. Baam is horrified when Rachel sets off to make the climb, immediately following her to help her in any way that he can.
Despite Baam’s good intentions and all that he’s done to help Rachel, she betrays him. She pushes him off of a ledge and into a substance that should have killed him because she knew from the beginning that it was the only way she would get to the top of the tower. Baam lives, but the treatment from his beloved friend scars him.
6Eri from My Hero Academia
My Hero Academiafollows agroup of students with powerful quirksat an academy specifically made to help them eventually become superheros and protect the public from villains. At the center of the story is Deku, who was born without a quirk, but was gifted one from the world’s number one superhero, All Might. Deku, partially through his training, meets Eri when she manages to escape to the outside world for the first time.
Eri is stuck with her “father,” Overhaul, who uses her powers for vicious, inhumane experiments. He is physically and verbally abusive to her, and that’s why she comes running back to him when he comes for her. Deku ends up rescuing her and learns that she thinks she’s cursed because of her “rewind power” which caused her father to disappear out of existence. As the sweetest character in the show, it’s difficult watching Eri suffer so much abuse, making her eventual, happy rescue all the more satisfying.
5Koro-Sensai from Assassination Classroom
Assassination Classroomrevolves around Koro-Sensai, an extremely powerful tentacle creature who claims that he’s destroyed the moon. Warning everyone that he would destroy the Earth next if they don’t stop him, he teaches a junior high school class on how to assassinate him. A huge bounty is put on his head, but it’s found that he’s more difficult than he seems. He tells everyone it’s because he wants to give humanity one less chance, but the truth is much more heart-breaking.
It turns out that Koro-Sensai actually had nothing to do with the destruction of the moon. He teaches others to try and assassinate him because he knows that his body will explode, decimating anything and everything, and he wants to avoid the tragedy. His students loved him, but they were forced to kill him anyway for the sake of the world. His students didn’t deserve to be put through that, and Koro-Sensai didn’t deserve to die.
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4Junpei from Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisentells the story of an unnaturally athletic high school student named Yuji, who finds himself face to face with a powerful curse when he and his occult club discover a dark artifact. In order to save his friends, Yuji eats a finger of Sukuna, which results in him being possessed by the powerful curse. However, because he has an unusual amount of control over Sukuna,the Jujutsu High Schoolallows him to live so that he can help track down all the rest of Sukuna’s fingers.
In his search, he comes across a lonely student named Junpei. He’s only featured in a couple of episodes, but the impact he makes is strong and unforgettable. Junpei is severely bullied at school and is being manipulated by a cursed spirit, Mahito. Despite Junpei’s apathetic exterior, Yuji manages to bond with him over movies, surprising Junpei with his warmth and kindness. Yuji even stays at his house for dinner, giving Junpei a glimmer of hope for humanity.
However, things take a turn for the worse when the next day, Junpei finds his mother brutally murdered. He becomes blood-thirsty, attempting to kill one of his bullies at the school. Yuji manages to remind him who he is, inviting Junpei to join him at the Jujutsu High School where there would be a lot of people who would love to be his friends, but it’s too late, as Mahito turns Junpei into a monstrous abomination who ultimately dies.
3Levi from Attack on Titan
Attack on Titantells the story of a group of soldiers who are trying to protect their walled cities from the Titans, giant creatures who are capable of mass destruction. Eren is at the center of the story with his friends Mikasa, Armin, and eventually, Levi, who is the leader of the special operations squad.Levi and his squadtake Eren in because of his immense power, and also because he wanted to have his squad around to take Eren out if he got out of control.
Levi is forced to live through so many tragedies throughout the series. He comes from a background of extreme poverty, with his mother dying while he was young. He refused to leave her side after her death, and nearly died because of it. He was taken in by a serial killer, Kenny, who taught him combat and then abandoned him when he thought he was strong enough. The ultimate tragedy comes when his hand-picked, elite squad were all brutally killed facing off against one extremely powerful Titan.
2Subaru from Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World
Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another Worldfollows the typically lazy Suburu as he gets transported to another world on his way back from the convenience store. It’s there that he meets Emilia, who he is immediately stricken with, and ultimately learns that she is one of the contenders for become the next ruler of the Kingdom of Lugunica. When he realizes he has the unexplained power of coming back to life after he’s killed, he dedicates himself to protecting Emilia and doing anything he can to help her take the throne.
While his powers are definitely indispensable, they take a harsh toll on Suburu. Not only does he have to go through the pain of dying over and over again, he witnesses countless tragedies before being brought back to life, where no one else remembers any of the events that happened. He’s seen his friends die multiple times, and the emotional ramifications of it all pushes him to the point of break constantly.
1Itachi from Naruto: Shippuden
Naruto: Shippudenfollows Naruto after theevents of the original seriesas he continues on his way to becoming a master ninja and ultimately, a Hokage. In this series, some of the main antagonists are members of the Akatsuki, and, in particular, Itachi. Itachi is Sasuke’s older brother who was responsible for killing their entire clan. Sasuke blames him fully, and pledges to avenge their clan by killing him.
After Sasuke kills him, it’s revealed that Itachi had important reasons for his villainy. He was asked by his village elders to kill the clan as they were planning on forming a coup and starting a huge war. In order to minimize the amount of death to come, Itachi begrudgingly follows the order, only leaving Sasuke alive. He joins Akatsuki as a spy, acting coldly to his brother because he wanted Sasuke to kill him for what he did, and he wanted to make sure that Sasuke was the one to do it. He was forced to make an extremely difficult choice, and he paid for it by having the person he cares about most hate him.
