Death in anime can be many things. Sometimes it can be sad and heartbreaking, sometimes it can be shocking and completely out of leftfield, and sometimes it can be horrifically brutal. However, not all characters go out with a big and dramatic bang. In fact, some characters end up dying in pretty humiliating ways.
Intentional or not, quite a number of anime deaths can come off as sudden, weirdly over-the-top, pathetic, or sometimes even hilarious. Whatever the case may be, it seems that some characters don’t get to take their dignity to the grave with them.
10 Subaru Natsuki’s 3rd Death (Re:Zero): Don’t Play With Knives
Re:Zero’s Subaru Natsuki has the power of “Return by Death” which allows him to come back to life and start over anytime he’s killed. It’s also allowed him to die in a number of nasty ways throughout the series, but his third death might be arguably the most pathetic out of all of them. While trying to get the stolen insignia back, Subaru runs into the same trio of crooks again and tries to push past them, but this ends up getting him accidentally stabbed.
Subaru bleeds out in the alleyway, causing him to reset again. Unlike many of Subaru’s other deaths, this one was a complete accident due to his own impatience and is surprisingly among his less painful deaths.
9 Mondo (Danganronpa: The Animation): Time For Some “Mondo Butter”
The Danganronpa series is full of messed up and over-the-top ways in which characters are executed after a class trial. Among the likes of being pelted to death by baseballs, squished flat like a pancake, or even launched into space, Mondo’s execution has to be up there as one of the strangest.
After being found guilty of murder, Mondo accepts his execution with grace. However, Monokuma’s “Cage of Death” takes all the dignity out of it and sends him on an extreme final motorcycle ride inside an electrified cage that liquified his body into butter. To add further insult to injury, Monokuma even uses the “Mondo Butter” for a plate of pancakes.
8 Light Yagami (Death Note): The “God Of The New World” Dies
Even a mastermind like Light can’t outrun death. After being exposed as Kira, Light at first tries to talk his way out of it but soon admits his crimes while trying to justify his use of the Death Note. Enraged, Matsuda shoots Light several times and Mikami, with his beliefs of Kira shattered, takes his own life as Light begs for his help.
Light manages to pathetically slink away, but Ryuk ends up writing his name in the Death Note himself, fulfilling his promise. Watching Light practically beg for his life as all his aspirations crumble around him only reveals him for what he really was — not a god, just a human with delusions of grandeur.
7 Fukegao (One-Punch Man): Oops, Wrong Shoulder!
Saitama usually ends the battle with just one punch, but in the case of mad scientist Fukegao, Saitama never even laid a finger on him. After turning his brother, Marugori, into a powerful colossal mutant, the two go on a rampage until Saitama arrives on the giant’s shoulder.
Wanting to get rid of him quickly. Fukegao tells Marugori to crush the guy on his shoulder only for Marugori to absent-mindedly swat the wrong shoulder, squishing his brother like a bug. Poor Marugori doesn’t even realize the mistake until a few good seconds later.
6 Noda (Angel Beats): When Trying to Look Cool Goes Wrong
Turns out death prevails even in the afterlife, as Angel Beats shows that its characters can die in a number of ridiculous ways only to get back up again like it never happened. The ax-wielding Noda would often get it the most, talking big only to be taken out quickly.
On their way to the Guild, Noda stops the group as he tries to pick a fight with Otonashi. Before he can even finish his threat though, he’s suddenly knocked into a wall by a giant hammer, smashed again by it, and buried in the rubble. He may be alright after this Looney Tunes-style death, but his dignity sure wasn’t.
5 Yamcha (Dragon Ball Z): Dying To One Of The Saibamen
And here is the exact point where Yamcha started to become a joke. After training at Kami’s Lookout with the other Z Fighters for the arrival of the Saiyans, Yamcha takes on one of the Saibamen, and at first, it seems like an easy win. Unfortunately, Yamcha’s overconfidence ended up being his undoing.
Assuming the fight was over, Yamcha turns his back on the Saibaman only for it to latch onto him and self-destruct, leaving Yamcha dead in a heap. Yamcha dying first in the Saiyan Saga wasn’t just embarrassing for the character, but it ended up becoming a meme that was stronger than Yamcha himself.
4 Cioccolata (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind): It’s Garbage Day!
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has a habit of taking out its villains in various over-the-top ways, but for someone as tough and sinister as Cioccolata, this had to be humiliating. After taking a flurry of punches from Giorno’s Gold Experience, Cioccolata is thrown out of a helicopter and lands in a garbage truck. Soon after, Cioccolata gets crushed by the trash compactor.
Some JoJo villains get turned to ash, some get horribly mangled, many are lucky enough just to get the snot kicked out of them, but Giorno literally throws Cioccolata out like a bag of trash. That’s got to hurt in more ways than one.
3 Dolph (Nichijou): Tripping In The Middle Of His Own Villain Speech
Admittedly Yuuko ends up having a pretty epic daydream as the villainous Dolph tries to steal the sacred wooden cubes to give himself ultimate power. At first, this imaginary villain seems pretty imposing as he brings the Fey Kingdom’s army to its knees, but his scheme ends hilariously and abruptly.
As he tries to seize the wooden cubes, Dolph accidentally trips and instantly dies as he hits the ground in front of everyone. Ultimately, Dolph’s life came to an end due to his own clumsiness and Yuuko’s strange imagination. So much for being threatening.
2 Zepes (Misfit Of Demon King Academy): Getting Killed Like It’s Going Out of Style
The foes of Anos Voldigoad should never underestimate him because those who do get trounced as he flexes his overwhelming power on them, like Zepes Indu. During the entrance exams, Anos is challenged by the arrogant demon noble who he kills quickly and easily by only using his own heartbeat and a single snap.
Anos revives Zepes soon after, but he’s unwilling to admit defeat. So Anos further humiliates Zepes by killing him and reviving him over and over in front of his peers until he eventually surrendered crying in fear. Hail to the Demon King.
1 Kazuma (KonoSuba): Dying Despite Safely Dodging A Slow-Moving Vehicle
Kazuma Sato, believing that a truck was about to hit an innocent girl, jumped in the way of the vehicle to save her and wakes up in the afterlife, dead. However, his sacrifice turned out to be less than heroic. Kazuma soon finds out from Aqua that the truck was actually a slow-moving tractor, and his delusions sent him into shock.
Further rubbing salt in the wound, she also tells him that he peed his pants in fear, and while he was rushed to the hospital, the doctors failed to save him because they were too busy laughing at his pathetic state. Kazuma wins the prize for the most embarrassing way for an isekai hero to die.
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