Featured graphic by Shamani Salahuddin
Story by Beth Summers
If you want more news like this, sign up for the Sidelines weekly newsletter here! Find it in your inbox every Thursday afternoon.
You’re mistaken if you think anime is all sunshine and rainbows.
The animation can be light and fun, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a dark side. Anime is a large category with an even larger fan base; it’s hard to watch a show and not feel invested with the characters.
Some of these shows build a character just to kill them off and for the emotional fall-out. The characters are relatable because of their actions, emotions or connections with the other main characters. Although many are killed, it doesn’t mean their legacy dies. It lives on with the show’s fan base.
Here are five times anime showed us no mercy in tearing out our hearts for beloved characters.
Sasha Blouse: Attack on Titian
Since season one, Sasha Blouse, better known as “Potato Girl,” gave Attack on Titian a light feeling to the show with her goofy personality. The show is known for brutally killing off any characters left and right, but being the fourth and final season, you think you’d be safe. Sadly, this was not the case for Blouse fans. She met her end with a fatal wound in the stomach, dying surrounded by her friends.
Portgas D. Ace: One Piece
As the older brother to one of the show’s main characters, Luffy, and an entire war fought over this character’s fate, you can’t say he didn’t matter. Right before his escape, Ace is badly wounded and dies from a punch through his chest to protect his brother. To add salt to the wound, Ace dies in Luffy’s arms. It is truly a touching moment for One Piece fans.
Koro-Sensei: Assassination Classroom
From the start of the show, we know that the goal of the eighth-grade students is to kill their teacher, Koro-Sensei, a yellow-smiling alien, a year before he blows up Earth. Although we can guess the outcome of how the show ends, it’s hard not to love Koro-Sensei. Primarily through the many adventures he and his class had and the heartbreaking flashbacks that showed his life. He dies smiling with a dagger to the heart by one of his students after battling to protect them from an evil force.
Kyojuro Rengoku: Demon Slayer
With a short introduction to a character, some might think the impact of their death would lessen. This was not true for the beloved Rengoku. A movie was released, and as fans watched, it was hard not to love him as a character. Upon his death, he protected hundreds of people from one of the show’s primary antagonists, an upper-class demon. This doesn’t come without cost; he dies from his wounds while he sees his mother, who died when he was younger.
Jiraiya: Naruto Shippuden
A father figure and mentor to the show’s main character, Naruto Uzumaki. This death hit hard and was a shocking moment in the story. Fighting against one of his old students, Jiraiya lost his life when six metal rods pierced his back as he floated at the bottom of the ocean. Sinking, he thinks about the book he’ll never finish, with the main character being Naruto, and how he’ll never get to write how the story ends.
Beth Summers is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell and Assistant Lifestyles Editor Shamani Salahuddin, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Instagram at MTSUSidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
