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Crunchyroll: Character Deaths: Which Shocked Anime Fans the Most? (Spoilers)

Z

Zolo

Member
Crunchyroll: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-ne...cter-deaths-which-shocked-anime-fans-the-most

Original Japanese source (with top 50): https://ranking.goo.ne.jp/ranking/category/026/vote_1032/

Top 10:

10. Raoh, Fist of the North Star
9. Maes Hughes, Fullmetal Alchemist
8. Kite, Hunter x Hunter
7. Tooru Rikiishi, Ashita no Joe
6. Kuririn, Dragon Ball
5. Kaworu Nagisa, Neon Genesis Evangelion
4. Lelouch Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
3. Kazuya Uesugi, Touch
2. Mami Tomoe, Puella Magi Madoka Magica
1. Portgas D. Ace, One Piece

#1 I suppose should be expected with One Piece's popularity as well as having been known for characters never dying outside of flashbacks. Oda made a choice to kill Ace and Whitebeard for the benefit of the story.
 
T

the_sun_king

Member
I guess because up until then OP characters only died in flashbacks that #1 was surprising...

But Ace was a plot device and not a character. So, at the time, I didn't care at all. He didn't become an actual character until the posthumous flashback.
 
H

Hugstable

Banned
Surprised Kamina for TTGL didn't make the list, when I originally watched it it kinda blew me away that he didn't last very long
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
Michael Blanc in Macross Frontier was a gut - wrenching scene. Btw, If spoilers are needed in this topic, let me know and I'll put this in tags.

Not much beats Maes and Spike for me, though.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Of course Ace won. He was the first death in the series and it happened almost 600 chapters in. No one believed it would actually happen until it did. That shit made the Japanese news it was so shocking.
 
J

Jakten

Member
Hugstable said:
Surprised Kamina for TTGL didn't make the list, when I originally watched it it kinda blew me away that he didn't last very long
Click to expand...

I'm also surprised it isn't in this list at all, I came in here expecting that. I still haven't watched past that episode because I couldn't believe they did that.
 
D

DerekOfTheDykes

Member
Yeah, Kaworu does not belong on this list at all. And neither does Mami from Madoka, much less at the number 2 spot! She's basically a side character, she existed for all of 2.5 episodes and her only purpose was to be the pre-existing magical girl who gets offed at the beginning to raise the stakes.

Meanwhile, as has been noted,
Kamina
's death in Gurren Lagann is left off (despite being only about a quarter of the way in, it's absurdly impactful and not telegraphed at all).

Also, really confused how neither
---L---
nor
Light
from Death Note is on the list. In a show full of twists and turns, both of those deaths are still massive moments.
 
S

Sandfox

Member
DerekOfTheDykes said:
Yeah, Kaworu does not belong on this list at all. And neither does Mami from Madoka, much less at the number 2 spot! She's basically a side character, she existed for all of 2.5 episodes and her only purpose was to be the pre-existing magical girl who gets offed at the beginning to raise the stakes.

Meanwhile, as has been noted,
Kamina
's death in Gurren Lagann is left off (despite being only about a quarter of the way in, it's absurdly impactful and not telegraphed at all).

Also, really confused how neither
---L---
nor
Light
from Death Note is on the list. In a show full of twists and turns, both of those deaths are still massive moments.
Click to expand...
Light
is #11

I haven't watched the series in a long time, but I could see Mami death being shocking given how the show approaches the magical girl genre.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Was Krillin an early death in the Dragonball canon or something, and that's what made it shocking? I could swear the entire cast of that franchise takes turns dying and coming back to life every other week or so.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
Was Krillin an early death in the Dragonball canon or something, and that's what made it shocking? I could swear the entire cast of that franchise takes turns dying and coming back to life every other week or so.
Click to expand...

Before Krillin died the show was very lighthearted compared to what came after. It also happened literally right after Goku and Tien's fight at the world tournament (like, 20 minutes later), which you normally expect to be a downtime in shonen series. That arc was the first death for Roshi and Chaotzu as well.

Edit: and he doesn't even get a "fight". He gets one shotted by a monster who basically appears out of nowhere.
 
A

Allard

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
Was Krillin an early death in the Dragonball canon or something, and that's what made it shocking? I could swear the entire cast of that franchise takes turns dying and coming back to life every other week or so.
Click to expand...

He was the first major character to die, literally died after a major tournament out of no where to introduce King Piccolo's henchman.
 
R

Ray Down

Banned
B-Dubs said:
Of course Ace won. He was the first death in the series and it happened almost 600 chapters in. No one believed it would actually happen until it did. That shit made the Japanese news it was so shocking.
Click to expand...

Yup it was a joke in the fandom that Oda doesn't kill, turns out he will when it's need to end part of a story and really effect Luffy security.
 
S

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Sandfox said:
This is a fair list, though I would've put Mami a bit lower.
Click to expand...

In terms of pure shock, I think it's a damn good choice for 1. Because it completely comes out of no where and turns the entire show on its head.

Ones like Kaworu, Ace, Raoh, and Lulu. Aren't particularly shocking. They were well set up well in advance.

Hughes is another damn good example of a shocking death, largely because the author has been very reluctant with killing characters and the first use of any sort of major cast, was him. You basically picked the weak link to die.

Kite from HxH is good too, since you seem him battling, next scene is his head in her lap. The strongest hunter outside of Nero... taken out like nothing. After Gon finally gets reunited. It's done is what, a chapter or two that sets the pace for the Chimera arc.

Ray Down said:
Yup it was a joke in the fandom that Oda doesn't kill, turns out he will when it's need to end part of a story and really effect Luffy security.
Click to expand...

While Oda didn't kill anyone prior, we had what, a year or two of chapters with Ace is going to be Executed. People are shocked he actually did it, but at the same time, it can't really come out of no where when the entire arc is about his execution. People are shocked he simply pulled the trigger.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Ray Down said:
Yup it was a joke in the fandom that Oda doesn't kill, turns out he will when it's need to end part of a story and really effect Luffy security.
Click to expand...

He basically came out and said he'll only kill a character off if it progresses the story as a whole or an important character arc. Even now he still gets quite a bit of flack for not killing characters off, which is kind of funny because looking back JK Rowling wishes she took a similar stance in the last Potter book since she feels she killed off a bunch of characters for no real reason. No one was really happy about that either. It's kind of why I like Oda's stance on killing characters off, it's a big thing to do and should probably have a larger purpose in the story.

shintoki said:
In terms of pure shock, I think it's a damn good choice for 1. Because it completely comes out of no where and turns the entire show on its head.

Ones like Kaworu, Ace, Raoh, and Lulu. Aren't particularly shocking. They were well set up well in advance.

Hughes is another damn good example of a shocking death, largely because the author has been very reluctant with killing characters and the first use of any sort of major cast, was him.

Kite from HxH is good too, since you seem him battling, next scene is his head in her lap. The strongest hunter outside of Nero... taken out like nothing.
Click to expand...

Ace's death went against almost 10 years of reader conditioning and came right after he had been saved by Luffy. I'd say it pretty much belongs in the top spot.
 
S

Sir Ilpalazzo

Member
I'm not sure how Raoh's death is shocking. He's the main antagonist of the series! I guess the idea is that this is supposed to be for really impactful deaths and not just surprising ones.

Gentleman Jack said:
Was Krillin an early death in the Dragonball canon or something, and that's what made it shocking? I could swear the entire cast of that franchise takes turns dying and coming back to life every other week or so.
Click to expand...

His initial death is something of a turning point, yeah.
 
R

Ray Down

Banned
B-Dubs said:
He basically came out and said he'll only kill a character off if it progresses the story as a whole or an important character arc. Even now he still gets quite a bit of flack for not killing characters off, which is kind of funny because looking back JK Rowling wishes she took a similar stance in the last Potter book since she feels she killed off a bunch of characters for no real reason and no one was really happy about that either.
Click to expand...
Well One Piece is meant to be light hearted adventure manga about dreams, so it's not going to drown in death doesn't really fit.
 
D

DerekOfTheDykes

Member
Sandfox said:
Light
is #11

I haven't watched the series in a long time, but I could see Mami death being shocking given how the show approaches the magical girl genre.
Click to expand...
Eh. I feel like even going into Madoka blind you realize pretty early that the show is not going to play by the rules. I just really don't like the idea that a death being more violent or horrific in tone is worth much weight, especially not that early on.

I mean, sure it's technically a "shocking death", but it holds basically no emotional or narrative weight. Mami's death really only serves to reveal the actual tone of the series. In that way, it's kind of like hitting the midway point in Blood C
when the Centipede eats one of the twins
. The character doesn't matter. The only weight comes from "wow I didn't know this show would kill people with names".
 
P

pbayne

Member
shintoki said:
In terms of pure shock, I think it's a damn good choice for 1. Because it completely comes out of no where and turns the entire show on its head.
Click to expand...

Aw i don't know if it come out of nowhere.
I mean the first episode literally had a character gunning down the cute mascot. Madoka set its stall out for what it was pretty early on.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Ray Down said:
Well One Piece is meant to be light hearted adventure manga about dreams, so it's not going to drown in death doesn't really fit.
Click to expand...

This is true, but I still like the reasoning behind him choosing when to kill a character off. I'd rather have the death of a character mean something to the other characters and the story than just having characters die off for no reason other than to kill them. Like, I don't even remember all the deaths in Attack on Titan simply because of how it treats death. It's almost as worthless as death in Dragon Ball Z in that it doesn't really matter. Naruto generally handled it well, until the war arc, in that the deaths that did happen meant something.
 
S

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
B-Dubs said:
Ace's death went against almost 10 years of reader conditioning and came right after he had been saved by Luffy. I'd say it pretty much belongs in the top spot.
Click to expand...

As I said, people are shocked Oda pulled the trigger.

Not that he created an entire arc, gave him the full flashback, stated he would only kill someone to advance the plot, and set up every aspect to it.

It's also hard for me to give it to a death that concludes an arc, since the tone was set for it. Hence why I don't see ones like Lulu at all. It builds up and makes sense. Typically, the ones that set the tone for the arc are shocking. Kite is an example of it, even though it was painfully obvious looking back. His death leads into it, so you don't have time to prep or prepare.

pbayne said:
Aw i don't know if it come out of nowhere.
I mean the first episode literally had a character gunning down the cute mascot. Madoka set its stall out for what it was pretty early on.
Click to expand...

I'll disagree. The initial bit was more an eccentric sailor moon. It has it's more violent overtone with the initial opening bit, but Death of Mami was a complete 180 for the series direction. Not just the death itself, but where it was going.
 
M

massoluk

Banned
Yoooooo, why is Biscuit from Gundam IBF ranked at 34. At what point is his death shocking? You couldn't make enough death flags for him.
 
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