Villainous Breakdown/Anime and Manga

Examples of s in include:

"Frieza, looking with horror as Trunks goes SSJ: It's- It's those eyes!"
 * Marluxia has one in the manga adaptation of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Just compare his first appearance with this.
 * The last episode of the 2003 Astro Boy series could have easily been renamed from "The Final Showdown" to "Dr. Tenma's Breakdown."
 * Mazinger Z: Dr. Hell had several breakdowns: The first of them happened in episode 3, right after Mazinger-Z defeated his first Mechanical Beasts, and he realized Juzo Kabuto still could surpass him and thwart his lifelong plans even after death. He destroyed all Mykene Humongous Mecha he had found, declaring them being uselesss, and he very nearly gave up right then, but The Dragon Baron Ashura convinced him to not forfeit his wolrd-domination dream. Another memorable one happened in episode 68, when finally he saw himself unable to triumph over Kouji Kabuto. He destroyed all of his newest Beasts, and swallowing his pride, asked help to Archduke Gorgon.
 * Great Mazinger: Great Marshall Of Hell -The Dragon of the second season- also had several of them at the end of series, mainly in the Gosaku Ota manga continuity. His expression and subsequent fit when was particularly beautiful.
 * Zofis in Zatch Bell suffers a really nasty one. Even after he gets his ass handed to him he remains defiant and tries to keep Koko's memories of her atrocities intact. Then Brago steps in and confronts Zofis with the fact that Zofis has been afraid of him from the beginning. He then threatens to hunt Zofis down and make his life miserable even after he returns to the mamodo world unless he erases the memories. At this point Zofis BREAKS DOWN CRYING WHILE LAUGHING INSANELY AT THE SAME TIME before finally yielding.
 * Tomoe has an absolutely huge freakout in Mai-Otome when she realizes that everyone (including her Valkyrie team) has deserted her for the side of the Garderobe Alliance, and Shizuru gives her the what-for about trying to manipulate everyone she comes across. Even in the end, Tomoe still tries to paint herself as a victim, saying that it's their fault for not cooperating with her.
 * Dragonball Z:
 * Vegeta, in the moment that leads to his Beam-O-War, where he freaks out after he realizes that Goku has succeeded in making him bleed. He gets a little blood trickle from his mouth, and suddenly he decides that he wants to destroy the planet.
 * Captain Ginyu has an even BIGGER freakout when he reads Goku's Power Level. So much that, at least in the dub, Goku says to Jeice, "I think your friend's having a nervous breakdown!"
 * You know what? Frieza and Cell, upon seeing their opponents' new transformations. Frieza especially. He goes from using a very polite form of Japanese (shown in translation by not using contractions) and treating the whole thing like a workout, to using a rougher speech form (contractions now in subtitles!) and attempting to destroy the whole planet. Considering Frieza had nearly wiped out the Saiyan race and made the few survivors into (supposedly) loyal underlings specifically to prevent any possibility of a Super Saiyan ever showing up, because it was thought that only a Super Saiyan would be able to beat him, when Goku magically transforms into the dreaded instrument of prophecy... yeah, that would necessitate a Villainous Breakdown.
 * Later shown even quicker when Frieza shows up to get his revenge on Earth. Goku is MIA, and Trunks shows up instead. Frieza, not knowing who Trunks is, goes on long winded posturing about the backwater weakness of Earth and laughs at him thinking he can win... and when Trunks turns into a Super Saiyan, Frieza goes from gloating to absolutely terrified to completely enraged in seconds, going from standing around talking to frantically trying to blow him up.

"You say you strive to protect those who need your help? WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU?"
 * The episode in which Cell has his Villainous Breakdown was actually called "Cell's Mighty Breakdown" in English. In summary, after Gohan delivers two punches that make him drop to his knees, Cell decides to blow up the planet; only for Gohan to to fire an even bigger Kamehameha that almost reduces to him to nothing. This results in a Clipped-Wing Angel that is easily beaten back to Semi-perfect form in one hit. From there, Cell decides to do suicidal bombing in order to win the fight, becoming completely unstable at this point.
 * When Cell returns as Super Perfect Cell you can tell he was going insane from being humiliated by SSJ2 Gohan. He was yelling nonsense, and had facial tics that only a demented madman would have. When he finally dies at the hands of Gohan, he can do nothing but scream "I AM PERFECTIOOOOOOOOONNNNN!!!"
 * A much earlier breakdown contained an infamous shot of him screaming with his mouth wide open, which eventually became the infamous Lazer image.
 * Light Yagami of Death Note lost his cool from time to time, especially . The manga is especially an excellent example, as.
 * Parodied in this blog entry, which was also made into an animated gif and video.
 * He also gets a smaller one in episode 9, when L meets him at university and tells him, "I'm L." He manages to stay calm until getting home, where he screams in anger about how L got him, eventually giving his first psychotic laugh of the series.
 * There's also the deleted scene in the anime where Light stays in the graveyard, and remains composed until everyone leaves, whereupon he starts laughing madly, proceeds to crawl on top of grave and shouts, "  This is my perfect victory! That's right—I win!" with a crazed look on his face.
 * It really began on episode 2 when L first outfoxed him with a broadcast from a fake L. L on the other hand is rarely ever fazed.
 * suffered one of these too. In the anime version,
 * Lelouch from Code Geass degenerates into anger rather quickly during those few times when he is tactically outmaneuvered (typically when the white Knightmare shows up unexpectedly), in stark contrast to his usual smug and self-confident behavior.
 * When he discovers the identity of the Lancelot pilot. Lelouch was in position to terminate him at the time, but ordered a retreat when he was torn about what to do.
 * His reaction to the . Once he gets back to somewhere private he ends up sitting around crying about the fact that
 * The above instances could alternatively be Heroic BSOD 's depending on your interpretation of Lelouch.
 * Jeremiah Gottwald started this after he was stripped of his rank in the wake of the supposed "Orange-kun" incident. At the Battle of Narita he nearly lets himself get killed while trying to kill Zero, and is seen after the battle gibbering crazily and fainting in the middle of a road.
 * Rolo goes through this in Episode 4 of R2. After Lelouch takes a bullet meant for his Knightmare, Rolo inadvertently joins the Black Knights, despite knowing his brother is Zero. Therefore, he can't capture C.C., which was his mission from the start. Lelouch plays the part of loving him as a brother in order to get Rolo on his side.
 * Gackto in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch starts to crack at the end of the first arc with . He gets better pretty quickly. Michel is less lucky, going through a series of Freak Outs and Villainous Breakdowns near the end of his arc that involve Most of this is caused by the medication he's been given, which is slowly driving him insane.
 * Ukyo from Samurai 7 maintains his Magnificent Bastard demeanor right up until he's attacked by Kikuchiyo in the last episode, upon which he snaps.
 * Dilandau in Vision of Escaflowne wavers between this and just being outright Ax Crazy. In his first few appearances, he's merely sadistic. Once Van scarred his pretty face, he moved up to outright screaming psycho killer. Near the end, after Van killed his entire squad, he starts hallucinating and babbling and only snaps out of it long enough to slaughter a bunch of people.
 * Brooklyn the invincible world champion from Beyblade, after
 * One of the most heartbreaking examples comes from Rurouni Kenshin,
 * One of the most heartbreaking examples comes from Rurouni Kenshin,

"Opacho: ...I don't understand. I thought we were friends... (walks away sadly) Hao: Hah... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Opacho's gonna miss out on all the fun! HEAR ME NOW, SPIRIT OF FIRE! (Spirit of Fire appears) REGENERATE, AND ARIIIIIISSSEEEE!!! Devour him! (Spirit of Fire lunges at the Great Spirits and starts absorbing their energy)"
 * Just watch it.
 * Makoto Shishio also has a breakdown after being hit with Kenshin's ultimate technique, though this is due in part to his badly burned body going over its 15 minutes limit of fighting, causing him to lose what little sanity he has.
 * also has a breakdown of epic proportions at the end of Jinchuu arc. When, during his second fight with ... oh boooooooy, he loses it.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, in which The Rival, Jack Atlas, turns into a revenge-fueled lunatic upon finding out he technically lost to protagonist Yusei. Interestingly, Big Bad Godwin appears to be egging this breakdown on.
 * More recently,, and went One-Winged Angel by.
 * Later on,
 * Yubel has a similar breakdown in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX; after Judai finally gets it through her head that he doesn't share her twisted view of love, and is ready to commit to an Heroic Sacrifice to take her down, the normally-cool Duel Monster goes psycho and decides she won't omit herself and Judai from The End of the World as We Know It, after all.
 * Panik from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! suffers a huge one. At the beginning he delights in putting Yugi through the same torture as Mai and countless other duelists, but at the end, he's reduced to a screaming, raving wreck as Yugi proceeds to push as many of Panik's buttons as he possibly can.
 * Team Kenya leader Victor of Medabots tournament arc managed to pull of The Stoic to an admirable degree, never once shifting from his slightly angry looking frown for the whole season. He continues this throughout the whole of the final, calmly and ruthlessly sacrificing his teammates and outright destroying two of Team Japan's Medabots without once raising his voice... right up to the point where The Hero expresses his intention to keep fighting despite having lost weapons, mobility and all of his armour. Then Victor laughs. Joker style. Along with his previously silent Medabot, who unleashes the hero's signature Finishing Move amid vitriolic ranting about the heroes abject stupidity from the Slasher Smile sporting Victor. As one of the heroes notes, "Woah."
 * That is nothing when compared to The Japanese version.
 * breakdown at the end of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni..
 * And another one in Higurashi Kira Episode 2 during a battle with Oyashiro Rika and Trap Satoko alongside Ritual Tool Devil Nail Ripper. becomes furious after Satoko transforms and helps Rika back up after which the two take her and Nail Ripper on together. The girls overpower Nail Ripper and Satoko creates a pitfall trap underneath its foot that it falls into, causing Takano to Freak-Out and afterwards receive an Oh Crap moment upon seeing the girls about to unleash their 07th Explosion attack which destroys Nail Ripper and sends  flying into the horizon, screaming "Sorry, Brother!" along the way before becoming A Twinkle in the Sky.
 * Kohane's mother in ×××HOLiC has one that starts just after she suspects her daughter's medium abilities are fading. This culminates in a truly epic scene where she snaps, attacks Kohane, and then proceeds to beat Watanuki senseless for daring to intervene. All of this on live television.
 * In ×××HOLiC: A Midsummer Night's Dream, this happens to the dude who collects collectors when Yuuko walks towards him and is unfazed by anything he throws at her to keep her away. As she picks up the pace and begins to run, he gets even more desperate.
 * Queen Nehellenia the Big Bad of the fourth season of Sailor Moon has one after
 * What about the four sisters of the Dark Moon—or rather two out of four of them?
 * Koan (Catsy).
 * Berthier's (Berty or Birdy, depending on dub or sub) Villainous Breakdown is more depressing.
 * "WE... WE WERE SUPPOSED TO WIN 5-0! AND YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"
 * In the final of Witchblade anime slips into complete drooling insanity when his shady enterprises bring more disastrous effects than he could imagine. Looks like little backstabbing is one thing, but possibility of being obviously guilty in flattening half a city or so...
 * Berg Katse in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman spent his/her whole life being manipulated by Big Bad Sosai X, whom s/he worked his/her ass off to please. In the finale, however,.
 * Rau Le Creuset, the Big Bad of Gundam Seed spent most of the series being portrayed as a very calm and calculating individual. However near the end of the series
 * Well, that's because as far as he can see his plan has already succeeded, so all that is left to do for him is to find a suitable death on the battlefield, while watching the world burn, Hannibal Lecturing his enemies, and otherwise having some fun . If anything, that's the opposite of the Villainous Breakdown.
 * Have you guys forgotten 's horrendous one in the second-to-last episode? Come on,
 * What about his desperate "I always win."? Watching Natarle tell him "you lose" was a crowning moment of awesome.
 * too. He goes from the most reasonable of the Extended Trio, to a Laughing Mad Empty Shell following.
 * While Flay is more sympathetic, she has a rather tragic one in episode 28. By this point she has genuinely fallen in love with Kira despite her original plan, and as such has become even more confused than she was earlier. When she suspects Kira of pitying her she completely looses her composure, and breaks down sobbing while asking how he can possible pity someone like her (implying that she is filled with self-loathing).
 * The side-story Gundam SEED Astray has Rondo Ghina Sahaku suffering one after Lowe Guele defeats him, despite the Red Frame losing the Gerbera Straight. It's especially shown when Ghina tries to shoot him in the back and is blocked by the Gerbera Straight's broken blade randomly floating by. Thankfully, Gai Murakumo puts Ghina out of his misery.
 * The sequel, Gundam Seed Destiny has a major one in Rey Za Burrel. Having been defeated by Kira, and unable to avenge Rau, Rey comes to the realisation that he and Chairman Durandal have been in the wrong. This culminates in him  and going out crying for his mother.
 * In Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Dekim Barton has an epic one when his entire plan unravels.
 * In the Gundam Wing anime, the Treize Faction and the colonies have become White Fang and revolt against Tsubarov, and when his mobile dolls and Lunar Base are being destroyed by Wufei, he begins ranting about how "he is invincible" shortly before.
 * Fullmetal Alchemist is no stranger to this trope either. In the anime, Envy nearly breaks down after Dante sends Hohenhiem through the gate (thinking she killed him) but is talked into calming down when Dante promises to let him kill the Elrics. Even after killing Ed, he isn't satisfied. Upon being sent to the gate (thanks to Al using the stone and him trying to prevent it) and learning that Ed's Father is still alive, he practically forces his way into the gate and loses it transforming into a dragon in the process. Also Dietlinde Eckhart, the main baddie from the movie, near end of the climax goes into a tirade about how Ed's world is full of monsters when Ed gains the advantage. Ironically she ends up turned into something of a monster on the the trip back to her world through the gate and shot as result of her appearance.
 * The Manga on the other hand. Envy somewhats goes through this (this version isn't very sane).
 * Envy's worst breakdown was.
 * Central Command, with each General more or less losing it due to.
 * Other than, Envy, there's the Big Bad himself, Father, who.
 * But Father's true breakdown
 * Popo from Kaiba begins to lose it just as he wins. First, his mother's memory chip accidentally slips from his fingers and is destroyed, then he finds out his accomplice Cheki has had her personality wiped clean to become an obedient servant. Having lost these things precious to him and seeing the giant memory/PlanetEater plant coming towards planet Lala, he decides that letting it eat the world and achieving Instrumentality is the only solution.
 * "Margaret! What's happened to you?! You BITCH!!"
 * Creed from Black Cat has one of these in a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Train. When Train goes to Creed's Supervillain Lair, pops in, saves Rinslet, then runs off leaving everyone confused, Creed doesn't take it very well.
 * Isshiki gets one in RahXephon. After spending the entire show trying to play the Magnificent Bastard to prove that he isn't worthless he finally gets into a position where he can strike a definitive blow against the Mu... only to have it backfire spectacularly, leading directly to him losing his position and the Omniscient Council of Vagueness that he was working for denying ever having heard his name. He...doesn't take it well.
 * At the end of the first arc of Digimon Adventure 02, the Digimon Emperor starts having one of these as a result of trying to control Chimeramon. When he's finally defeated and learns the Digital World isn't some video game to win, he finally goes What Have I Done and turns back into his true identity, Ken Ichijouji. Think they're done there? It Got Worse—minutes later, his partner Wormmon dies; when he goes back to the real world, he goes into a Heroic BSOD for two episodes.
 * Ken's breakdown is even more awful in the Japanese and uncut German version where most of the things he does after Chimeramon is yell a lot and whip Wormmon while it tries to explain the situation.
 * Trigun
 * During the first arc of Digimon Tamers, Yamaki has a long and escalating sequence of these, starting with angry rants when particularly stubborn "Wild Ones" resist deletion up to a full-on, possibly partially insane breakdown when the Juggernaut program doesn't work as planned, including choking a kid and stumbling off yelling angrily to himself in proud Lovecraftian fashion. Surprisingly, he does not have one when he's
 * Lucemon from Digimon Frontier generally shows no emotion except cold disdain—but he loses it on the two occasions he's outmatched by Susannoomon. The second time is particularly extreme, as he's reduced to screaming about his "utopia."
 * Kurata has a major one when ShineGreymon enters Burst Mode and gives his One-Winged Angel form a Curb Stomp Battle. He goes from Smug Snake to frantically begging for his life. It continues after his final plan backfires, having him screaming for help as.
 * Naruto:
 * Gaara, whose sand provided him with such perfect protection that he'd never been hit, much less felt physical pain (up to a certain point, though), is stabbed in the shoulder by Sasuke. Gaara wonders what that warm, wet stuff is and then goes nuts when he realizes it's his own blood.
 * Gaara has an even bigger one during his final battle with Naruto. For all his life Gaara's been driven by his hatred and rage, and in the final decisive clash, Naruto's love for his friends gave him the power to overcome Gaara. Realizing that his entire philosophy was wrong causes Gaara to lose it completely and scream at Naruto as the latter continues to crawl towards him. Eventually he realizes that Naruto's love is what gave him the strength to overcome Gaara, causing him to finally let go of his hatred.
 * Although implied that, Itachi has a rather frightening one during his fight with . When he finally reveals his reason for , he flips out into a maniacal scream session at him in an almost psychotic fashion, sharply contrasting his usual stoic behavior. Itachi later implied that this was not a breakdown, it's how he truly is on the inside.
 * Sasuke himself gets one.
 * And then there's his Laughing Mad moment in Shippuden episode 214 and manga chapter 483. See it here. There's also the crazy look in his eyes when he declares that he wants to kill Kakashi and everyone in Konoha. And how he lost his sanity after Itachi  and when he learned from Madara what Itachi's true intentions were.
 * Also, Deidara. He gets pretty unhinged when he realizes that Itachi's Sharingan is more artful than his bombs and tries to kill himself by blowing himself and Sasuke up at the end of their battle.
 * Filler Villain Fuka has one every time Naruto manages to hurt her or damage her hair.
 * When Kabuto was attacked in the beginning we see his eyes go bloodshot as he reveals a bloodthirsty side. Also, after, Kabuto had an existential crisis, but he claims that the person who inspired him to continue was Naruto.
 * During Kabuto's fight with Sasuke and Itachi Kabuto has some more of these. Confident in his beliefs and victory, he begins to shed tears when the Uchiha brothers fend off his attacks. However, after suddenly emerging from Orochimaru's mouth and bisecting Itachi, he tearfully declares that a genius with everything wouldn't understand his desire to find his true self and that no one would stand in his way.
 * Hellmaster Phibrizzo from Slayers NEXT. When his plan to have Lina cast the Giga Slave and destroy the world backfires due to, he completely flips out, eventually screaming out "I WANNA BE DESTROYED!". His wish is granted shortly afterwards.
 * Valgaav from TRY inverts this trope. At first, he's fueled by vengeance against both Lina and the Dragons, with the anger and psychosis you'd expect from such a motive,
 * Almost every One Piece Big Bad has one. Kuro, Don Krieg, Arlong, Wapol, Crocodile, Eneru and Moria all have epic breakdowns while fighting Luffy.
 * So far, the only major enemy that Luffy has actually defeated to NOT have a breakdown was Arrogant Kung Fu Guy Rob Lucci. He only had time for an Oh Crap.
 * Moria's breakdown came at about the same time as he used Shadows Asgard.
 * as he fights Luffy during the Enies Lobby arc
 * Part of the reason he's so horrified at what Luffy is doing is because this particular As he doesn't know what it's like to not curb stomp everyone in his way, let alone run out of options the moment the match had begun, he momentarily loses all coherent thought. The whole squad is in such disbelief that Luffy was victorious that some of his comrades pretend it didn't happen and the others decide to accept hasty (and incorrect) conclusions of what just happened.
 * While the New Fishman Pirates were never entirely sane in the first place, they go completely nuts when . They start killing their own men as "sacrifices" for their hatred towards humans.
 * Hody Jones, leader of the New Fishman Pirates, undergoes a physical breakdown to go with mental one. Near the end of his fight with Luffy, Hody's face seems to degenerate, becoming less human.
 * In Gun X Sword,.
 * This happens to Griffith in Berserk when Guts defeats him in one single stroke to earn his freedom. Guts' desertion marks a turning point in Griffith's life and ambitions and everything falls apart for Griffith from there on, making it an apt breakdown.
 * Johan from Monster has two of these—one, and the other , the latter leading to the climactic scenes in Ruhenheim. Given what he is, these make him even scarier.
 * Arguably three, given the freakout he has at the climax when . The boy has issues.
 * Harry McDowell of the Gungrave anime is always completely calm and collected, no matter how bad a situation he's in, and never fires a weapon himself, until Brandon Heat, his best friend points a gun at him. Harry draws his own gun, fires at least five shots into him, then rams the barrel into his eye and fires a sixth. Later on he gets two other breakdowns as he's trying to deal with the fact that he killed his best friend whom he's trusted and relied on since they were children and whom he wanted to stay by his side.
 * Plays out a little differently in the game's storyline. Harry just gets a punch to the face because he had plans to manipulate Maria into being Brandon's wife, something that Brandon would never do. Harry's also oddly calm when Grave/Brandon confronts him at the very end of the game. With all of Harry's lieutenants and monsters destroyed, he simply.
 * The Anti-Spirals (represented by their avatar the Anti-Spiral King) of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are archetypal inhumanly calm and dispassionate Scary Dogmatic Aliens. Until the last episode. During the Final Battle the Anti-Spirals unleash thousands of years worth of repressed emotion and Hot Blood, ranting about the sacrifices they made to protect the universe and screaming that the protagonists are idiots who don't realize that their actions will lead to the end of everything.
 * It's actually a vital plot point if you look at it right.
 * Cytomander also loses a fair chunk of his self-control during the Battle of Teppelin, such as cackling like a maniac after.
 * In Fruits Basket,  has a rather fragile grip on reality and thus it takes little to shake   up. A first breakdown comes, causing   to go from a scared but mostly kind child to full-on possessive and clingy, beating and locking up the other Zodiac members to keep them from "leaving" too. A second one comes towards the end of the series, , panicking   again to the point of nearly stabbing   mother with a knife. This breakdown is only intensified when  in the middle of the attack, leading   to . However,.
 * 's mother Ren, who is just as screwed-up, has a breakdown of her own when she learns that, thus causing her to enter 's room with a knife and demand that   hand over a box which supposedly had something of Akira 's in it..
 * In Darker than Black, The Man Behind the Man does not react well at all to In fact, he starts strangling someone who he was asking not 5 minutes earlier to join him.
 * Bleach
 * Ulquiorra gets a brief one in his fight with Ichigo:
 * In chapter 385 of Bleach,  loses his composure and goes on a tirade explaining why  . To add to the effect,   And in the next chapter he goes completely insane after
 * After being hit with a second Bankai from Soi Fon, Barragan Luisenbarn loses all composure and goes on a rant that covers every facet of this trope. He proclaims himself to be a god, orders his opponets to bow before his might, and keeps muttering "you insects!" over and over again. It only gets worse after he starts to evaporate, culminating in him throwing his axe at his own boss!
 * Sosuke Aizen spends most of his screen time being invincible, and talking about how invincible he is, while never raising his voice or getting mad.
 * Also, Szayel Aporro Granz, who starts out smug and confident in his superiority. When Mayuri starts messing with him, however, he throws a temper tantrum and starts swearing a lot. He's also breaking down shortly before his death, begging for Mayuri to hurry up and kill him, but then again from his perspective, he's been frozen in place with a sword slowly piercing him for an ETERNITY by then.
 * Zommari probably had the biggest one out of all the Espadas, he comes off as being the most composed of the group, going on long tangents on how his opponent cannot beat him, believing his powers is enough to stop him from moving. When he attempts to have that man's sister to be killed, he gets tired of this game and simply casts a Kido to paralyze her. Zommari, more explict in the anime, immediately loses it and demands his target to move; immediately following a 360 attack by his enemy, causing him to use his full power while proclaiming loudly, even though it fails miserably. The Next chapter has him in Madness Mantra mode, going on a speech about What Measure Is a Non-Human?, ending with a clear Villainous Breakdown of him praising the Big Bad as he dissolves.
 * Kenpachi's clear enjoyment of what appears to Nnoitra to be a losing battle starts to strongly unnerve Nnoitra. As Kenpachi continues to laugh and enjoy himself, Nnoitra descends into raving and swearing at him. Eventually, this psychological edge causes Nnoitra to be too shaken to think to defend himself when Kenpachi finally goes for a killing strike, crippling him in one blow.
 * In chapter 466 Xcution member Yukio drops his Dissonant Serenity and goes completely off the handle when Hitsugaya brings up his Parental Neglect issues.
 * In chapter 477 Tsukishima who's normally calm and composed has a Freak-Out moment following  He gets this look on his face and screams at her to "MOVE!!!" In chapter 478 we see Tsukishima acting deeply upset over   and having another Freak-Out moment.
 * has one in Prétear when Mawata is saved by her family and Sasame appears to have second thoughts about siding with her. However,, this isn't so much a sudden change in personality as it is a revelation that
 * In chapter 272 of Mahou Sensei Negima,  loses some of his composure when  . Negi then accuses him of betraying the ideals of the people he looked up to in his youth  .   gets pissed, calls Negi a "little boy who's too smart for his own good", and decides to force Negi to be his pawn.
 * And in chapter 298, Fate, who's normally coldly Stoic visibly trembles with wrath and looks upset when Negi declares that he will prevent the future in which the magical world collapses from happening.
 * FLCL has a strange one (Anyone surprised?) when Naota reveals that he's absorbed the powers of Atomsk... it's Haruko that snaps, who immediately grabs her weapon (read: guitar) and lunges at Naota, screaming "THAT POWER'S MINE!!!"
 * Yokoya in Liar Game could lie, deceive and bribe his way through any situation. That is, until he met Nao and Akiyama. At the end of the Second round, he managed to profit greatly from the game, when everyone else had just managed to pay off their debts and gained nothing. He began gloating to Akiyama that he had lost, when Nao of all people mentioned how Yokoya had contradicted his earlier philosophy of dominance. Instead, he had turned to tricks to profit and unknowingly had three traitors on his side. "Even though you made the big money, Mr Yokoya, you lost the game to me."
 * In the Pandemic game, when he tried to bribe money to one of his teammates who trapped himself in the examination room, his teammate continually kept demanding more and more money, until Yokoya visually lost his calm demeanor and began violently kicking at the door ... only to find out that
 * It's difficult to name a Hellsing villain who doesn't have a Villainous Breakdown.
 * Almost every single person who's faced down Alucard suffers such a breakdown at the end of their fight. Like Rip van Winkle (whom you could almost feel sorry for) and Luke Valentine (If only for Alucard's Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "If I'm a dog, then you're DOG FOOD!" Followed by mastication.)
 * Zorin Blitz gets seriously freaked out when she learns just why she shouldn't have fucked with Seras. She was all confident while she was pulling a Break the Cutie tactic on Seras, mind raping and maiming her, killing Pip, and referring to the dead Pip as an insect. Seras then snaps and Zorin had a permanent Oh Crap expression on her face up until.
 * If that wasn't bad enough
 * Enrico Maxwell has one when Anderson breaks the armored glass protecting him from Alucard's familiars. This is followed by him being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
 * In fact, there are probably only three villains who avert this trope: Jan Valentine (who goes out laughing his ass off), the Captain (who goes out the same way), and the Major (who just wanted constant and everlasting war, regardless of who won or lost).
 * Daniel D'Arby's breakdown in Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Jotaro beats D'Arby in a game of poker by messing him up through sheer bluffing! D'Arby is an expert gambler, had the whole game rigged to his advantage, and Jotaro had never played poker before that moment. Jotaro's poker face was just that good.
 * Aureolus Izzard from A Certain Magical Index goes from a calm, Magnificent Bastard to a murderous lunatic when Stiyl and Touma inform him that his complicated plan to
 * Accelerator also has one of these (not sure if other moments really count for this) after Touma slaps his hand away, something that has never happened due to his vector control ability redirecting any and all attacks or block attempts.
 * Katekyo Hitman Reborn: The normally calm and polite Byakuran goes apeshit following Uni's Heroic Sacrifice because of her key importance in his plan to become ruler of all time and space.
 * Daemon Spade loses it when . He becomes a screaming lunatic futilely lashing out in rage and denial. The breakdown is reflected in his appearance—his once bishonen form becomes a warped and hideous mass Body Horror.
 * Soul Eater is fond of these, since most of its characters aren't exactly stable.
 * Dark Magical...Person Crona is constantly on the cusp of a nervous breakdown anyway, but goes absolutely ballistic when Maka connects with their psyche.
 * Giriko has one following Arachne's death. And later, he follows it up with an even bigger one. In fact, he gets so angry that
 * Kishin Asura has these constantly in the anime, due to his overwhelming terror at anything he doesn't understand.
 * Iwao Washizu from Akagi completely breaks down and briefly goes catatonic when Akagi manages to outperform him in their epic Mahjong match. Akagi personally has to talk him into continuing their game, and gives himself a disadvantage for the next round.
 * Grings Kodai from Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions is normally quite the Smug Snake, but when
 * In the second-to-last episode of Shaman King, Hao gets a huge Villainous Breakdown when Yoh regains his soul and his consciousness to the joy of his friends and his fiencee Anna - leading Hao himself to lose his cool and get really mad as well as go Ax Crazy, to Opacho's upset.


 * In the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga, Shadow Link gets one when Vio is freed by the other three Links and the Links defeat his Hinox servants. His Villainous Breakdown has him fly into a rage and hit the four Links with a This Is Unforgivable! and make one last lash at them - only to be defeated by the combined power of their Four Swords.
 * He later returns, reformed after his Villainous Breakdown, to make a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the Dark Mirror and therefore help the other four Links defeat Vaati.
 * Moo in Monster Rancher Episode 47. During his final attack on the Searchers, he is completely overcome by the evil of his soul, and completely goes berserk, even destroying many of his own men.
 * Cyrus of all people has one of these in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure,.
 * Shugo Chara: Nikaidou,  seems to become more, and more unhinged, constantly ranting about his obssession with success and societal promotion,   and typing furiously upon his computer while once hitting his desk hard.   An odd case within the fact that only one protagonist   ever gets to see most of it within action. And his face. Good God, his face. Also
 * Throughout the Cowboy Bebop episode "Pierrot le Fou", Tongpu/Mad Pierrot is set up as a psychotic and seemingly invulnerable assassin who can stop bullets with the greatest of ease..
 * Somewhat similar to the Trigun example above, the protagonist, Shinji Ikari, goes through one in The End of Evangelion. Normally, it would probably just fall under Go Mad from the Revelation... except that Shinji's misery leads him to take it out on the rest of humanity.
 * Minor character Kashiwara has one in the first episode of Gunbuster. After Noriko "Wipe Out Girl" Takaya is chosen for a position that she felt should have been hers, and Coach doesn't do a damn thing to explain himself, Kashiwara tricks Noriko into a mecha battle - up to this point, Noriko's nickname of "Wipe Out Girl" was given to her for a reason. As Kashiwara keeps kicking Noriko's ass, she goes on a brief rant about how the latter girl has no skills or talent, and her epxression is truly frightening. And when Noriko turns off her monitor on a desperate gamble, then Kashiwara goes completely apeshit and evidently tries to kill her. Fortunately, though, Noriko responds with her legs.
 * Sakura Gari: Sakurako, Souma's Yandere sister, suffers a massive (and heartbreaking one near the end.  But not before...   Few later,
 * Karakuridouji Ultimo: In chapter 11 Rune completely looses it, with an ultimate crazed look on his face, while bawling his eyes out at the same time. Then there's the fact he's perfectly willing to kill his best friend because he doesn't love him back, then commit suicide.
 * Perfect Blue features both Rumi and Me-Mania experiencing this towards the end. Rumi ends up permanently institutionalized and delusional.
 * Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest: Kuro, multiple stages. Haguro's is pretty epic too.
 * Rosario + Vampire: Kuyou in chapter 52 of manga season 2.
 * Kanamori has two in the manga Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni. The first is when Marie Moriya, his Lolicon interest, threatened to tell others about their supplementary lessons, he snaps, . The second breakdown was when he , he breaks down, and told her that he always loved her. She tells him she loved him too, and gives him the Kiss of Death.
 * In Tokyo Mew Mew, Quiche gets this when he realizes that the Mew Aqua doesn't actually make people stronger, just stores power. He gets even worse with every rejection courtesy of Ichigo.
 * And later, Deep Blue gets this when which is a rather nice end to a Complete Monster like Deep Blue himself.
 * The Dark Precure goes through this near the end of Heartcatch Pretty Cure. When she first appears, she's calm, collected and a walking can of Curb Stomp Battle. However, once Yuri regains her Heroic Resolve and returns to action, she starts to snap, especially since Yuri's finally dumped her baggage and is fighting clearer. When we see her near the end of the series, hopped up on a major power boost, all she wants to do now is just kill Yuri and keep Professor Sabaku to herself.
 * The Dark Precure goes through this near the end of Heartcatch Pretty Cure. When she first appears, she's calm, collected and a walking can of Curb Stomp Battle. However, once Yuri regains her Heroic Resolve and returns to action, she starts to snap, especially since Yuri's finally dumped her baggage and is fighting clearer. When we see her near the end of the series, hopped up on a major power boost, all she wants to do now is just kill Yuri and keep Professor Sabaku to herself.