10 Most Tragic Anime Protagonists

Anime has a lot of tragic characters, and protagonists aren't spared. Self-sacrifice and a life filled with pain are expected from these heroes, and sometimes they don't even get a happy ending.

Some of my favorite anime are those where the protagonist is having the worst time. The appeal often comes down to catharsis, but it's also inspiring to watch characters do the right thing in spite of everything, or to see them create change in the world around them. Not all of them are good, though, and sometimes too much pain can break a character, turning them into their own worst enemy, a process that's both fascinating and entertaining to watch.

10 Light Yagami: Death Note

His Own Worst Enemy

It's difficult to see Light as tragic considering he causes all his own problems in Death Note, but this also makes him something closer to the classical Greek ideal of a tragic hero, hero in the sense that he's the protagonist of the story rather than someone noble. Light goes from someone who is respected by everyone around him and has everything going for him: he has a supportive family, he's well-liked in school by his teachers and peers, and he has every opportunity to live a meaningful and successful life.

Instead, he chooses to be evil, and just uses his talents to dig a deeper and deeper hole for himself. Eventually, it all catches up to him, and he dies barely out of high school.

9 Denji: Chainsaw Man

Aspiring For Normality

This list is filled with tragedy, but nothing hits quite as hard as characters who face problems that are all too common in reality. Chainsaw Man's Denji spends his childhood living in poverty, and faces the death of his mother and the neglect of his father in his most vulnerable years. His most lofty dream is to live a normal life, something that is consistently out of reach.

The part of this show that was the hardest for me to watch was seeing his body thrown into a dumpster like trash. It's a fate that should never be placed on a kid, and yet happens too frequently in real life. Even after he merges with Pochita, his aspirations of living a normal life slide further away than ever.

8 Ken Kaneki: Tokyo Ghoul

In the Name of Survival

Tokyo Ghoul's Ken is one of those anime protagonists who live a life of constant misery and loss. This poor guy cannot catch a break, in either the manga or anime versions. He's inherently a gentle person with a gentle nature, which clashes with his new state as a half-ghoul. Stuck between the worlds of humans and ghouls, he's constantly torn between his two natures.

This is even before considering everything else he goes through when following the events of the story. He brutally maims his best friend, which is made unambiguous in the manga, and has to live with the violent life he leads just to survive.

7 Violet Evergarden

Healing Through Connection

Violet Evergarden is all about healing from trauma, and a lot of time that healing comes through empathy and shared experiences. Violet experienced the world as a child soldier, and finds herself lost when the war ends and is now expected to live a normal life in society.

The tragedy of Violet is the suffering and violence she's experienced at a young age, and how that affects her long after the war is over. Anyone who's experienced PTSD knows that sometimes recovery can be more painful than the actual traumatic event, and Violet's healing is an unflinching depiction of it. Her slow healing through creating words for others to express their pain and sorrow means she experiences pain over and over again on her path to healing.

6 Guts: Berserk

Violence and Tragedy

Berserk is the darkest anime on this list, and Guts experiences some of its worst moments. Guts' life is one violent event after another, and any kindness he receives is cruelly torn away from him. He's an incredibly skilled and physically strong character, but over and over again it's proven that he can't save the ones he loves no matter how powerful he is.

Unlike many of the other characters in Berserk who also endure violence and tragedy, Guts holds onto his humanity and ultimately remains a good person. Even the ultimate betrayal from Griffith, his best friend, doesn't change his inherently good nature, even if choosing the other path would make his life easier.

A Tragic Childhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is one of my favorite anime, and a lot of that has to do with the journey of the Elric brothers. They had a happy ending, but they went through a lot of hardship and pain before getting there, especially as children. Abandoned by their father, the death of their mother, and their failure and subsequent punishment for attempting to bring their mother back to life all happened before they were even teenagers.

Despite their losses, both boys decided to choose kindness and went on to become good people, rather than using their pain to fuel bitterness and resentment. While they never had a positive relationship with their father, the anger that defined their relationship with him was dimmed by the end of the series, and they were able to make peace with the tragic events of their lives.

4 The Assistant: Death Parade

Hope For the Next Life

Chiyuki, known as the Assistant for most of Death Parade, is a mystery for much of its story and her origins and history are only revealed in the final few episodes.

Her friendship with Decim is the heart of Death Parade, and the revelation of her identity and the reason behind her death hits hard. She was a figure skater, and her story is told through memories as she dances, a more gentle version than the death games that other characters play. Her departure from the bar is sad but is a hopeful ending for her, and Decim becomes a better arbiter and person for having known her.

3 Madoka Kaname: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

A Sacrifice That Transcends Reality

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is what happens when you combine the kind of angst you find in something like Neon Genesis Evangelion with magical girls. The series starts off pretty normal for a magical girl show, but each trope is pulled apart until the entire thing is a deconstruction.

A large part of that is the show's protagonist, Madoka. Despite being the protagonist, she never actually becomes a magical girl until the final hour, where she sacrifices herself to time and becomes an intangible concept. She's tragic in her sacrifice, that no one will remember her, and that she never truly got to know her best friend until it was too late.

2 Shinji Ikari: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Trial After Trial

Shinji reigned as the most tragic anime protagonist for a long time. He's put through a series of trials in the series proper, and that's after he watches his mother die and is abandoned by his father. He constantly reaches to meet a standard he has no hope of achieving, while also self-sabotaging because of his low self-esteem and fear of being seen.

These features may make him irredeemably annoying to some, but he's a very real depiction of what mental illness and trauma can do to a person, especially in their formative years. Shinji is doomed to experience trial after trial, and they don't make him a better person. It's a harsh truth for those of us watching, with the message being that the only option we have is to find happiness and meaning in being alive.

1 Eren Yaeger: Attack on Titan

At the Mercy of Fate

Attack on Titan is a depressing story from start to finish, but at least some of the characters get a happy ending. Eren is not one of them. Eren's character lies at the center of everything terrible that happens in AoT, whether by his own will or fate, and is emblematic of the phrase "doomed by the narrative".

As the ultimate tragic protagonist, Eren's story is tragedy from start to finish with very little reprieve. We see him go from tragedy to tragedy with hope, which is all destroyed when the reveal happens and he unlocks the true power of the Attack Titan. Eren goes from being a passionate and angry kid to a jaded and apathetic adult who's resolved to die, and history will remember him as the worst villain humanity has ever seen.