All The Tropes

Break the Cutie/Anime: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Break the Cutie/Anime (view source)

Revision as of 15:59, 8 January 2014

3 bytes added ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
(clean up)
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
* The main character of ''[[Elfen Lied (Manga)|Elfen Lied]]'', Lucy, started out as this, and was tormented from a young age by the other children for being different. Unfortunately, those differences extended far beyond anyone's expectations of her, and when she finally snapped {{spoiler|after the other kids literally [[And Your Little Dog, Too|murder her puppy in front of her]]}}, she started killing people efficiently and indiscriminately, with the ultimate goal of human extinction.
** Don't underestimate the part where Lucy is captured shortly after her childhood breakage {{spoiler|after her only friend is shot by government agents who are after Lucy and are terrible shots (Then again, their target WAS just a 'little girl'). And she agrees to go with the director of the program peacefully instead of murdering everyone there because he says he'll save her friend. He doesn't/can't}} and so she spends ''the rest of her childhood and most of her teen years'' [[And I Must Scream|incapacitated in a mega-straitjacket and stored in a high security vault, with strict orders for nobody and nothing to approach within 6 feet of her on threat of being viciously murdered, and finally being treated as an experimental lab animal given absolutely no compassion, emotional or physical contact. As if she wasn't already broken]]...
** There's a fair few characters in Elfen Lied that are this {{spoiler|"fair few" meaning every single protagonist, without exception}}. Nana gets [http://manga.clone-army.org/nana.php a special mention.]
Line 9:
** It's made even worse in the manga, where Kaori's role is more fleshed in and [[Iron Woobie|she manages to mildly resist all the shit thrown at her]] until almost the end. {{spoiler|Then she's gunned down by Tetsuo's treacherous lieutenant, and dies in the arms of Tetsuo himself}}.
** According to Kaneda after {{spoiler|Yamagata got killed}}, everyone at school teased Tetsuo and tried to make him cry. This would have [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|serious consequences]] when Tetsuo's powers awakened.
* The Golden Dragon [[Holier Than Thou|Filia]] from the third season of ''[[Slayers]]'' is a competent mage who, at a first glance, is [[Jerk Sue|haughty and arrogant]], but in reality is [[Naive Newcomer|naive and sheltered about the gray morality of the human world]] (which she has never travelled upon), and simply doesn't know that {{spoiler|her own race slaughtered the Ancient Dragons}}; the season's [[Big Bad]], Valgaav, belonged to that race before [[Half -Human Hybrid|he was turned into a half-Mazoku.]] When the girl finds out about ''that'', [[Heroic BSOD|she splinters]] ''[[Heroic BSOD|massively]]''. Only in the finale does she fully get better, return from the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and find a new purpose.
** [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Amelia]], princess of Seyruun, reaches this trope several times, but she manages to [[Genki Girl|snap back without breaking]]. It's kind of strange, granted that her mother was killed by an assassin when she was young, {{spoiler|and her older sister left her because of it.}} The closest that she was to it was in NEXT, when {{spoiler|she thought her father was dead too, and she collapsed in tears over that.}}
** [[Jerkass Woobie|Zelgadis]] was a [[Wide Eyed Idealist]] (albeit a more hardened one), as shown in some flashbacks, and he was a cheerful fanatic of his great-grandfather, Rezo. When he desired power for protecting others and for himself, Rezo gives it to him...by [[Heinz Hybrid|turning him into a strange-looking chimera.]] He has the power he desires, but he's often viewed as a monster, and he breaks down into the [[Deadpan Snarker|cold, snarky,]] [[Jerkass]] seen in the series.
Line 20:
*** Ash was broken way back in The Indigo League. In the Indigo League Championships, the day of his match with [[The Rival|Ritchie]], he was kidnapped by Team Rocket. After spending the entire episode using all of his Pokemon to escape (almost missing the match, and only not missing it because Ritchie kept stalling for time), he finally makes it back. Most of his Pokemon are too exhausted to battle by this point, meaning that he's handicapped. On top of that, he lost solely because Charizard refused to listen to him, thinking Ritchie's Pikachu was too weak to battle. Ash, feeling that his dreams were now over, was understandably depressed the next day, only everyone treated him like he had no right to mope. He bounces back, but after all he went through (not just losing the match for arguably unfair reasons, but also Team Rocket's harassment), a little depression was understandable.
** After {{spoiler|having to develop her training abilities from scratch, pulverizing a Drilbur in lieu of a Pokemon battle so it can serve as her starter, and wiping 99 trainers in a row}}, Iris had every right to brag. Then {{spoiler|Drayden came along and stomped her so hard she lost her composure and Excadrill stopped obeying her out of despair. It takes losing to Langley for Iris to begin rediscovering herself and helping Excadrill out of his funk. It seems to have paid off, as the rematch ended in a draw between Excadrill and Beartic. [[Tempting Fate|We'll see how long that lasts.]]}}
* In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'' this happened retroactively to {{spoiler|Koya}} and his Growlithe. After battling a trainer that was way above their level, Growlithe was so traumatized that it didn't even want to be touched by its trainer. {{spoiler|Koya}} became more aggressive and [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|serious]].
* In [[Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]], Riza Hawkeye is a [[Backstory|retroactive]] example. She used to be a [[Shrinking Violet|cute and meek girl]] before {{spoiler|her parents died (and it's strongly implied her dad was rather unbalanced, which is confirmed later), leaving her an orphan}}, and she trusted Roy with {{spoiler|the secret to Fire Alchemy, inadvertently creating a [[Person of Mass Destruction]]}}. She then joined the army and went through Ishval, forcing her to [[Took a Level In Badass|toughen up]] the hard way, [[Sugar and Ice Girl|but without tossing all of her feelings away]].
** Let's not forget ''how'' she got {{spoiler|that secret: by having it ''forcibly tattooed on her back''}}. And Roy later had to {{spoiler|add more scars by burning said back so no one would be able to discover it.}}
Line 32:
* In ''[[Silent Möbius]]'', not long after Katsumi's [[Face Heel Turn]], Yuki Saikou starts seeing disturbing visions of the future. Needless to say, she doesn't take this well at all. {{spoiler|And we're not counting Yuki's own past as well...}}
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has C.C. who was apparently once [[The Cutie]] before the harsh realities of living in a [[Crapsack World]] turned her into a cynical person who gives people (including an orphaned child) [[Blessed With Suck]] {{spoiler|in an attempt to die.}} There are two other, cuties in the series {{spoiler|(Shirley and Euphemia)}} but neither are broken, and remain as [[The Cutie]] even {{spoiler|as they die}}.
** I'd say the first time around Shirley Fennette got kinda [[Mind Rape|broken]], before {{spoiler|Lelouch fixed everything by causing [[Laser Guided Amnesia|Laser-Guided Amnesia]] (and managing to screw himself over at the same time). [[Sarcasm Mode|Thank you, Mao]]. }}. But in ''R2'', {{spoiler|Gottwald brings her memories back after testing out his Geass canceller on her, which lead to her eventual death at Rolo's hands}}.
*** No, Lelouch didn't fix it -- he tried, but couldn't. In last episodes of season 1, she was really insecure, suffering both {{spoiler|knowing Lelouch was Zero and having forgotten her love for him, not understanding why}}. So the one we must thank for having the sweet Shirley back in the beginning of R2 is ''[[Big Bad|the Emperor]]''. '''That's how broken Shirley was.'''
** What about Nunnally? She's blind and crippled as a result of her mother being murdered in front of her. She maintains a happy smile and only wants to be with her brother. Although many things happen over the course of the show to separate them, she never lets herself look down. And by the second season she ''does'' manage to pull herself together and come into her own. {{spoiler|However, at the end of the show, she's trying to stop Lelouch from getting the key to a WMD. Lelouch Geasses her and steals it, and she pitifully tries to stop him from getting away. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]] when she's chained up as a prisoner in a parade. Then, she watches her brother get murdered at his own orders to unite the world in hating him. All this gets to her and she wails over his dead body.}}
Line 38:
**** No... he {{spoiler|geassed her into handing over the Damocles controller. Besides, does ''this'' sound optimistic to you? : ''"It's not fair... All I wanted and needed to be happy was to be with you! How can I ever look forward to the future without you?!"''}} You were thinking of {{spoiler|the Euphinator}}, I'm afraid.
** How have we gone without mention of Euphemia, who {{spoiler|was accidentally forced to slaughter hundreds of people against her will, and, just to add insult to injury, was forever known as the "massacre princess" or even "[[Fan Nickname|The Euphinator]]"?}}
** Mao, {{spoiler|the orphan whom C.C. gave Geass to,}} went through this as well. He [[Used to Be A Sweet Kid]] but his mind-reading powers drove him completely insane, rendering him the most irreparably broken character in the entire series, who has to be {{spoiler|[[Mercy Kill|Mercy Killed]] by C.C.}}. He's even [[One -Scene Wonder|famous for it]].
** Suzaku fits to an extent as well, since he starts off at the beginning of the series as a [[Knight in Shining Armor|chivalrous and gentle person]] before the series [[Serial Escalation|embarks on the path]] of [[It Got Worse]]. As it runs its course, he suffers a [[Heroic BSOD]] when it's revealed that {{spoiler|he killed his father}}, and then later {{spoiler|he's given a "Live" Geass order from Lelouch which means that he has to stay alive at all costs,}} after which {{spoiler|his girlfriend gets killed off in a very ugly fashion}} and then later {{spoiler|he ends up deploying nuclear weapons while under the effect of his Geass}}, and ultimately gets pushed across the [[Despair Event Horizon]]. And then finally {{spoiler|he's left to a potential [[Fate Worse Than Death]] by killing Lelouch as Zero as soon as he manages to hook back up with him, and has to spend the rest of his life as Zero all [[Lonely At the Top]].}}
** Lelouch also fits to an extent, dating back to his failed attempt at [[Calling the Old Man Out]] for apparently [[Somebody ElsesElse's Problem|not doing anything in response to Marianne's murder and Nunnally's crippling]] that led the expulsion of him and Nunnally to Japan. Then [[It Got Worse]]. [[Byronic Hero|And thanks to himself, in a way]].
* Mai Tokiha from '' [[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'' was a loving sister that worked hard for her [[Ill Girl|sickly brother's]] sake and an all-around nice girl, willing to sacrifice herself for others. However, {{spoiler|the combined weight of having to try to prevent her friends from killing each other, watching Shiho order Yuuichi to kiss her to ''deliberately'' make Mai jealous, and then watching her brother Takumi die in her arms (apparently the hands of her best friend Mikoto, but it later turns out that Shiho killed Akira's child out of jealousy) finally pushed her over the edge}}. She calmed down a bit when {{spoiler|1=Mikoto temporarily came out of her [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] state and [[My God, What Have I Done?|tried to apologize]], but was unable to call off Kagutsuchi's attack in time and watched as it seemingly burned Mikoto to ashes. With her brother who she built an identity around working to provide for dead, her love interest stolen by his childhood friend, her best friend having just died by her own hands, and with other HiMEs after her own life... Well, she [[Break the Cutie|breaks]].}}
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'': Judai Yuuki's experiences in Season 3, including being pursued by a supernatural [[Stalker With a Crush]], seeing his best friends die one by one, and hitting the [[Moral Event Horizon]] with his 'being evil in order to fight evil',have slowly and painfully turned him from the happy-go-lucky [[The Ace|Ace]] into a depressed shell that makes [[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)/Central Cast/Characters|Shinji Ikari]] look downright chipper. The dub, meanwhile, seemed [[Macekre|on track to ignore all of that]] but didn't, for once. {{spoiler|He gets better. A lot better, ending the series by going out into the world to help other people with his powers instead of just selfishly pursuing his own desires.}}
** In the original series of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'', Mai Valentine experienced this between the end of Battle City and the Doma arc.
*** And sometimes it seems [[The Woobie|everything in the universe]] is trying to break Yugi, but he [[The Pollyanna|refuses to let it break him.]] Ryou Bakura just [[Stepford Smiler|pretends not to be broken]].
*** Seto Kaiba was {{spoiler|subjected to years of abuse by his [[Knight Templar Parent|adoptive father.]] It worked: he was successfully broken and remade into said adoptive father's image.}} Who could do that to such a cute little child genius??
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]] 5D's'' we have {{spoiler|Carly Nagisa, in a combination with [[Kill the Cutie]].}} Results in a [[Tear Jerker]] at the end of Episode 39. It even doubles as a [[Break the Haughty]] moment considering who it is that kills said cutie {{spoiler|and promptly finds himself on the receiving end of a [[Super -Powered Evil Side]]}}.
*** Also from ''5D's'': [[Dark Magical Girl]] Aki Izayoi. We're first introduced to her as the [[Emotionless Girl]] and a closet sadist, as well as someone who refuses to think for herself and is a generally unsympathetic character, to both the audience and pretty much the entire world. Come Episode 40, where Aki is {{spoiler|comatose after dueling [[Evil Counterpart]] Misty (who pretty much breaks her brain by telling Aki that she killed her brother, and, indirectly, Misty herself) and witnessing the only person she really cares about fall to his death ([[Back From the Dead|or so they think!]])}}, and we meet her father. Who reveals that, aside from having serious [[Parental Abandonment|abandonment]] issues due to the fact that she adored him and he was never home, she suffered serious mental abuse and even a bit of physical abuse when she was a child, due to the fact that he couldn't come to terms with the fact that she had powers. When she grows up, she's ostracized by nearly every single person she meets for the same reason, and she can't get rid of it without turning into what is implied to be an even bigger social pariah in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' universe, since ''everyone'' you meet plays cards. And I mean ''everyone.'' Yuusei forgives her for being a little psychopathic.
* Subaru Sumeragi in [[CLAMP (Creator)|CLAMP]]'s ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' and ''[[X 1999]]'' was very carefully broken, and then some more, by his love interest Seishirou.
Line 52:
* Rena and Satoko from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'' both qualify, though Rena tends to snap, while Satoko breaks. Rika also tends to get it pretty hard. In fact, it's hard to argue that any of the cuties of Hinamizawa ''aren't'' broken at some point.
** Shion, however, outperforms all other cuties in the fine art of breaking and snapping. Don't ask. Rather, instead of breaking/snapping, she [[Ax Crazy|explodes violently with the force of an anti-personnel mine, ripping everyone else apart with the shrapnel]].
* Seems to be the entire point of ''[[Bokurano]]'', featuring a large cast of cuties all broken, [[Cold -Blooded Torture|tortured]], and killed one by one.
** Or any story Mohiro Kitoh writes, really. Just look at Hiroko, Akira, Norio, and pretty much ''everyone'' in the side of good from ''[[Naru Taru]]''.
* Gohan in ''[[Dragonball Z]]''. He starts out as something of a nerdy crybaby, but then he's kidnapped (twice in the same day!), abandoned in the wilderness, watches his father get beaten and killed, watches his kidnapper-turned-father-figure get beaten and killed, watches a bunch of his father's friends get beaten and killed, and watches his father's best friend get beaten and almost killed, all in the first story arc! This is repeated in the following story arc, with the deaths of Krillin and Dende, and more beatings for Goku and Piccolo. It finally culminates in the Cell arc, when Cell deliberately goes out of his way to piss Gohan the hell off and he dutifully shows us why we should [[Beware the Nice Ones]] by reaching the first level beyond Super Saiyan, by shifting from [[The Messiah]] Jr. into a brutal, sadistic, homicidal maniac that would make Frieza proud. Then his father dies. Post-[[Time Skip]], aside from the [[Superhero]] gig, Gohan's retired from fighting in order to attend high school and take a shot at just being a normal kid, but once he re-[[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass]] and finds out the [[Big Bad]] murdered just about everyone, including his [[Love Interest]] and mother? ''DBZ'' is nothing if not repetitive! Note that the [[Future Badass]] version, who suffered the permanent loss of just about everyone he knew at a young age, does not even ''approach'' this level of power or heartbreak.
Line 64:
*** Well... Yes. ''Comparatively'' little. Have you read these OTHER examples?
*** Don't forget {{spoiler|she was bullied by Otome and her friends for ''at least'' several months ''just'' for being [[The Ojou|rich and pretty]], and the bullying got ''much'' worse after she went out to Makoto. And then we have Setsuna treating her like shit so Makoto hooks up with Sekai.}} And people in [[Real Life]] have reacted worse for ''much'' lighter stuff.
* ''[[Last Exile]]'': {{spoiler|The character Dio}}. To clarify: {{spoiler|his [[The Caligula|sister Delphine]] basically kidnaps him while his [[Battle Butler|friend]] [[Extreme Doormat|Luciola]] stands by and does nothing (although, to be fair, they were outnumbered by Delphine's elite guards). Then, while he screams for Luciola to save him, he is brutally [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] on his sister's orders. Pre-[[Mind Rape]], Dio was a cheerful, if odd and extremely hyper, young man with a great fondness for [[The Glomp|glomping]] people and flying vanships. Post [[Mind Rape]], he is a mentally unhinged killer with a tendency to stare off into space giggling and engage in [[Brother -Sister Incest]] with the one who made him that way.}} The birthday party scene made this even worse.
*** Though it should be noted {{spoiler|that he got better.}}
*** {{spoiler|How exactly did he get better? He snaps out of his [[Mind Rape]] in a vanship, alone, just after having hallucinated being in a race and telling Luciora (who was already dead at that point) to jump out to reduce weight. Hard to imagine anything more [[Tear Jerker|heart-breaking]].}}
Line 80:
** The universe hasn't been kind to Guts either. A poor innocent baby who is {{spoiler|rescued from under the tree where his mother was hanged while she was pregnant}}, [[Used to Be A Sweet Kid|Guts is a pretty nice kid early on his life]]. He willingly serves the mercenary group that raises him, and even gives all of the money he earns to his surrogate father, Gambino, and devotes his life to trying to please him. After Gambino {{spoiler|sells him to a mercenary named Donovan for three silver coins, who proceeds to rape him despite Guts's best efforts to fight him off}}, he starts to lose his innocence (as if living day to day by killing people wasn't enough of a stressor), this loss of innocence finally solidifies when {{spoiler|Gambino, having lost his leg in battle and no longer able to fight or lead his men on the battlefield, gets massively drunk and attempts to murder him because he believes that Guts is cursed and blames him for the death of his lover Shisu, Guts's surrogate mother, from the plague, and Guts is forced to kill him out of self-defense}}. Guts still has nightmares about the experiences as an adult, even before the Eclipse goes down.
** Many Apostles have had their lives go completely to shit as part of the process of causality leading them to their [[Despair Event Horizon]], their sacrifice and their transformation, but none more tragically than Rosine. An imaginative and clever little girl from an abusive household, strongly hinted {{spoiler|to have been a [[Child By Rape]] (her mom was raped during the war and her dad abuses both mom and kid due to this)}}, all she wanted was to find the elves that she always believed in and get away from her horrible home situation. {{spoiler|When she runs off looking for the elves, she doesn't find them, but her parents find her. Her mom is just glad that she's okay and alive, but her abusive father is ''furious'', and starts viciously beating on her. The blood from the beating and her despair activates the Behelit, which leads to the poor frightened little girl who just wanted elves to be real finding out that she could have been one herself and not just some filthy cruel human, and proceeds to sacrifice both her parents in order to become what she thinks is an elf}}.
** Theresia, a twelve-year-old girl and the daughter of The Count, one of the early Apostles that Guts kills in the series, is a classic case of an innocent daughter sheltered from the world and wanting more than anything to be free of her "cage," as she explains to Puck, who the Count has captured and brought to her as a "pet." She tells Puck that her mother was killed by pagans, and her father became different ever since, almost like he wasn't even human anymore. When Guts's battle with the Count makes a wreck of the castle, the door to Theresia's room becomes undone, and Theresia can finally escape. {{spoiler|But when she arrives at her father's chamber, she is horrified upon seeing the monstrous Apostle form of her father, is taken hostage by Guts in a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] moment, and then is forced to watch as Guts puts him through the same torture that he puts other Apostles through. And then the Count's Behelit activates and the Godhand arrive. After a brief battle with Guts, Femto, the newest member of the Godhand, establishes his [[Complete Monster]] credentials in a big way by demanding that Theresia be sacrificed so that the Count can continue to live. And then, as Theresia watches in terror and horror, the other Godhands reveal to her the truth about her mother's fate -- that she had joined the pagans and was conducting an orgy in the Count's own castle when he arrived, that he found himself unable to kill her despite her utter betrayal, which drove him over the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and allowed the Godhand to show up, and that the Count himself sacrificed her in order to become a demon. This ordeal, along with having to watch her father get [[Dragged Off to Hell]] after refusing to sacrifice her, is enough to drive Theresia to attempt suicide, but she finds the will to live again when the ground below her gives way and she grabs Guts's outstretched [[BFS|Dragon Slayer]]. Poor little Theresia is left with an utter hatred for Guts, manifested in one of the scariest [[Death Glare|Death Glares]] ever as she vows to kill him one day}}.
* Louise Halevy from ''[[Gundam]] 00'' falls into this trope {{spoiler|1=after Nena Trinity [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um8JE7ZHHCo obliterates her family at a wedding], leaving the girl without her left hand and completely distraught.}} Starting with the second season, {{spoiler|1=she joins the A-Laws, the secret police of the Federation, as she tries to get revenge on Celestial Being for the murders of her family. She finally finds the said murderer and gets her revenge, but it only serves to BREAK her further ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh5suv5oZlo here] at 20:27). She didn't find any satisfaction, she didn't find any praises from her dead parents from avenging them, and [[And Then John Was a Zombie|she has become a murderer, just like the murdered]]. She got better, eventually.}}
** {{spoiler|Arguably Nena Trinity fulfills this category herself [[Dark and Troubled Past|once we learn her and her brothers's backstories.]] The Trinity siblings are [[Artificial Human|Artificial Humans]] only born and raised to be Gundam Meisters, and the DNA used to "create" them is... Ribbons Almark's own. And their "daddy" ultimately sets them up to kill them. While it's not an excuse, it ''does'' explain a lot, specially considering that [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|the only persons they cared for were each other, and their mutual love was very genuine]].}}
Line 111:
* Juri Katou of ''[[Digimon Tamers (Anime)|Digimon Tamers]]'' started out as a [[Genki Girl]] with a hand puppet to emphasize her childlike nature. She is the penultimate innocent of the cast, as well as the shy, sweet girl that main character Takato has a crush on. Then, once on the adventure, after a promising start as a potentially excellent Tamer, {{spoiler|she loses her Digimon partner and gets kidnapped and possessed by the [[Big Bad]]. The [[Big Bad]] then proceeds to conjure up monsters ''based on her worst memories'' (revealing in the process that she was a [[Stepford Smiler]] all along, completely broken after her beloved mother dies of illness and her father tries to raise her alone [[Parents As People|but can't do a lot for her]]) in order to feed on her sadness.}} This is one instance of [[Mind Rape]] that would give even [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|NGE]] a run for its money...
** It's not quite the same as Jeri,but Keenan in ''[[Digimon Savers (Anime)|Digimon Savers]]'' pretty much fits the bill. As a baby he falls into a gate to the Digiworld crying helplessly for hours. So he gets adopted by a Frigimon,that gets killed right in front of him via [[Complete Monster|Kurata]] and he's ''only'' 5. So he comes to think [[Humans Are Bastards]] already. But even his own compatriots don't trust him and turn on him at proper excuse. Finally his father figure Merukimon also gets killed in front of him.
** Seems tame in comparison to poor Juri but Ken Ichijoji also fits the bill, too. He goes from the [[Big Bad]] and Evil Genius in the first season of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02 (Anime)|Digimon Adventure 02]]'' to being [[The Woobie]] and [[The Atoner]] with a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] all in one go. He deals with everything from [[My God, What Have I Done?|crushing guilt]] to being completely isolated from everyone, to his [[I Wished You Were Dead|brother's death]], to being infected with the Dark Spore, to kidnapping, to being occasionally dragged into a [[HPH.P. Lovecraft (Creator)|Lovecraftian]]-inspired other world... Somebody on the writing team really wanted to make sure this guy [[Earn Your Happy Ending|earned his redemption.]]
*** And then there's Takeru/TK in the [[Digimon Adventure (Anime)|original series]]... poor damn TK, it just wasn't fair. To elaborate, at age 8 he is dealing with his parents being divorced, his [[Aloof Older Brother]] being moody and unpleasant because of this, and then he witnesses his close friend and Digimon Patamon die ''right in front of him'' without the knowledge that he'd [[Disney Death|come back okay]]. He does manage to deal with this and becomes a level-headed [[Lancer]] in the second season... [[Berserk Button|unless he encounters anyone making use of the Powers of Darkness.]]
**** Speaking of the original series, Tailmon/Gatomon may be a [[Badass]], but that's partly because she went through this a long time ago. She was accidentally dropped in the forest as an egg when the Chosen Digimon were being transported to where they'd meet their partners, hatched and spent her entire early childhood isolated and lonely but still with a desire to be with her partner that she couldn't place, when she reached her Child/Rookie stage set off looking for her only to be captured by Vamdemon/Myotismon as a recruit for his army. She resisted for a while and ended up regularly beaten for it to the point that she gave in just to stay alive and eventually forgot the whole thing and got to be noted as one of his more valuable servants. When she ''does'' finally find Hikari and remember her past, nothing gets easier, seeing as she gets kidnapped and used to lure out her own partner and Wizarmon, her only real friend during her time under Vamdemon's service, is [[Kick the Dog|killed right in front of her]](twice), and even after Vamdemon seems to be defeated, her experiences don't entirely leave her.
Line 143:
** {{spoiler|Whoa, Yukiteru's father was only told that he had to destroy his sons phone, how would he know that it would kill Yukiteru}}
*** {{spoiler|True, but that still doesn't excuse the betrayal, especially after his father had built up his hopes that he and Yukiteru's mother would get back together. Then when he fails, he jumps out of a collapsing building by ''stealing his sons parachute'' leaving him to die.}}
** [[Break the Cutie]] is also the reason why {{spoiler|Tsubaki Kasugano aka the 6th}} is the [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] that we meet. That's what {{spoiler|being imprisoned and repeatedly raped by the members of a [[Religion of Evil]] after the murder of your parents}} will do to you.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' also tends to do this, sometimes slow, other times taking place in one episode, other times being a full-blown [[Mind Rape]]. An example would be episodes 45 and 46 of the first season, where {{spoiler|the inner scouts die, leaving Usagi without her friends before confronting Queen Beryl. Then she is forced to fight her love interest who's been possessed by Metalia's energy, who then dies protecting her so she can fight the [[Big Bad]]. Although she wins the last fight and dies, the experience makes her wish things back to the way they were before she was awakened as Sailor Moon. It [[Executive Meddling|didn't last.]]}}
** Don't forget about Chibiusa in the Black Moon arc, or Hotaru, since she was born. No wonder these two are BFFs.
Line 160:
* As mentioned in passing above, Kimihiro Watanuki from ''[[Xxx Holic (Manga)|Xxx Holic]]'' starts the story as a cheerful guy prone to humorously spazzing out but very well-adjusted for someone whose parents [[Heartwarming Orphan|died when he was a little kid]] and who ''sees and [[Weirdness Magnet|attracts monsters]] that try to eat him''. This is mostly played for laughs in the beginning, but gets progressively more serious, until the [[The Reveal|traumatic revelations]] [[Deus Angst Machina|start to pile up]] and he ends up realizing {{spoiler|he may not even be real}}. Apart from several near-death experiences {{spoiler|one of them [[It Makes Sense in Context|unconsciously]] self-induced}}, having {{spoiler|an eye eaten by a monster and losing the mobility of one finger}}, and seeing {{spoiler|his mentor and mother figure}} die before his eyes after his surrogate family of sorts {{spoiler|disappears without a trace}}. [[CLAMP (Creator)|CLAMP]] mass-produce [[The Woobie|woobies]].
* Ditto for ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]''. All 4 main characters have tragic angsty backstory.
* [[Break the Cutie|This]] [[Kill 'Em All|happens]] to main character Sara Werec of ''[[Soukou no Strain]]''. In the ''first episode'' no less!
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', {{spoiler|the death of Jiraiya, near-death of Hinata, destruction of Konoha, and having the truth of the ninja system quite brutally explained to him}} almost breaks Naruto. However, thanks to a few well-placed flashbacks, {{spoiler|Jiraiya's book}}, and a pep talk from Iruka, Shikamaru and {{spoiler|the Fourth Hokage}} Naruto recovers just in time.
*** Actually, if you think about everything that has happened in the series, Naruto kinda qualified as a 'break the cutie' from the outset. First, his {{spoiler|father}} sealed a demon inside him as the nly way t save their village, his parents are dead, and he grows up ostracised by the entire village. Then, finally, when things start looking up, his best friend decides to turn on him, cue battling with the power inside him for control, his best friend tries to kill his love interest, tries to destroy his village, and everyone is trying to get him to kill said best friend. And {{spoiler|his parents gave their lives}} to save him when he was a baby, and he was made to house the Kyuubi inside of him, {{spoiler|the very same Kyuubi that his mother housed for a time, killed his parents, and tried to kill him}}. Really not fun.
Line 189:
** {{spoiler|Garcia}} in the ''El Baile De La Muerte'' arc. It started the minute he stepped foot in Roanapur and just kept getting worse.
* ''[[Shokojo Sera]]'', the [[Adaptation Expansion]] of ''[[A Little Princess]]'', takes this trope from the original novel and multiplies it by a factor of 100.
* One has to suspect that the writers of ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' had some sort of "Torturing your main character, in body and soul" checklist, given the sheer amount of abuse Van goes through in the series. [[Parental Abandonment|Kill off his family in his bactstory]]? Check. [[Doomed Hometown|Have his country burned to the ground]] and [[Noble Fugitive|force him to go on the run?]] Of course! {{spoiler|Reveal to him that his brother is alive, but [[Cain and Abel|on the bad guy's side]]}}? Would never think of leaving it out. [[Synchronization|Synch him up with his mech]] just before the one battle where he totally ''trashes'' it, leaving him an oozing, bloody mess? Oh, most definitely. {{spoiler|Having said older brother actually ''pull'' a [[Heel Face Turn]] and return to his side (which in turn reveals that [[Knight Templar Big Brother|he did it to ensure Van wouldn't have to be broken as he grew up]]), only for him to perish through [[Karmic Death]] right before the final battle}}? [[Check, Please!]], Make the only means of saving him (repairing the Escaflowne) the most unimaginably painful method you can think of? Not actually on the list, but sure!... Really, the list goes on.
** Don't even get us started on Hitomi, and for that matter, most of the ''whole damn cast''.
* Tomoya Okazaki from ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'' becomes [[The Woobie]] because of this. I mean, first {{spoiler|his wife dies, then his daughter dies, and they were the only reasons he wanted to continue living. Then he dies alongside his own daughter. Of course, they all got better}}.
Line 202:
** Also [[The Woobie|Ako]]. She starts as a [[Extreme Doormat|doormat]] with major self-esteem issues, then accidentally gets trapped in the magic world, where she gets a disease, forcing her and two of her friends to sell themselves into slavery to pay for the cure. To top it off, she then falls in love with someone who [[Loving a Shadow|turns out to not even really exist]].
** And Asuna as well {{spoiler|who gets so broken, her memory is wiped so she can have a chance at a normal life.}}
** [[Our Vampires Are Different|And Evangeline]], who was turned into a vampire and unwittingly killed her vampire immediately afterwards. She then spent [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|centuries]] with everyone hating her, before her crush cursed her to stay in a school... [[Sealed Evil in A Can|that she has spent fifteen years in]]. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And she still looks ten.]]
* In ''[[Pluto]]'', the titular villain may be a seething mass of hatred, but after what he goes through {{spoiler|Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy's}} hatred is greater by far.
* Played in reverse in [[Cyber Team in Akihabara]], Tsubame Utorii is introduced as a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] who viciously attacks and defeats the main cast every chance she gets. {{spoiler|It's eventually shown just how badly broken she is. In a late episode, Hibari Hanakogane goes to great lengths to try and befriend Tsubame. After an [[Villainous BSOD|emotional breakdown]] in which she [[Tear Jerker|compares her life to Hibari's]], Tsubame [[Heel Face Turn|joins the Cyberteam]], and spends the remainder of the series trying to repair her broken childhood with good memories as an adopted child in the Hanakogane household.}}
* For a [[Hentai]] series, ''Bondage Fairies'' can sure put its two main characters through the wringer. The original manga sees {{spoiler|Pfil being physically and psychologically tortured by the sisters Oliga and Marcia (Ilina sat it out since she kinda liked Pfil), briefly becoming convinced that she's a helpless failure. [[Plucky Girl|She overcomes it]]. The fourth manga, ''Extreme'', sees normally-unflappable Pamila get it even worse. Seeing the strength of the brainwashing [[Yandere|Urushira]] has over Pfil, while being [[Rape As Drama|assaulted]] and used as a "toy" by [[Psycho Lesbian|Urushira]], ''and'' experiencing flashbacks (for us to see) to her own [[Abusive Parents|traumatic]] [[Rape As Backstory|past]], means that she ends up quite broken. When Pfil finally breaks free of the brain-washing, [[The Power of Love|she helps Pamila]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|un-break]].}}
* ''Moonlight Lady'', an [[Hentai|ero-OVA series]], demonstrates this trope with the character Sayaka Kurihara. Originally a [[Shrinking Violet|shy]] actress by the name of Ruri Yamato, she was preparing for a movie when she wandered into the Kuraki estate, and was summarily kidnapped and [[Rape As Backstory|raped]]. The strain was so much that she hid herself within her own mind and allowed a [[Split Personality|second personality]] take over: that of her upcoming character, the [[Genki Girl|bubbly]] and [[The Gadfly|vivacious]] "Sayaka Kurihara".
Line 217:
** Integra didn’t have it easy, either. She used to be a shy girl; then, her father died when she was twelve, leaving her the leader of Hellsing and a member of the Royal Order of Protestant Knights. Almost immediately after his death, her remaining blood relative, [[Evil Uncle|Richard]], tried to murder her. Escaping through the air vent and fleeing for her life, she stumbled upon Alucard out of pure luck. If Richard hadn't shot her in the shoulder first, Alucard would not have awakened in time to slaughter the two henchmen and block the bullet for Integra. She then shot and killed Richard, effectively losing the last of her family on the same day.
*** Further attempts of breakdowns consist of the attack to her mansion by the Valentine brothers that forced her to shoot down all her troops that had been turned into ghouls, what happened later on in London (she witnessed how it was destroyed to the ground and was the only real survivor of the attack), the deaths of Penwood and Walter (coupled with his betrayal), and Alucard’s disappearance.
*** Of course, neither had it as bad as Alucard himself… {{spoiler|with his captivity and rape as a child}}. Quite honestly, he was a goddamn saint for Christendom throughout his entire life and was ''very'' repeteadly screwed over. [[Impaled With Extreme Prejudice|He might have very questionable hobbies]], [[Knight Templar|but was very much]] [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|a warrior of Christ]]. And the manga makes his position very, very clear in the scene of his human form's death, with him kneeling to lap at the blood of his homeland. The man, the most devout of the knights of God, stripped of literally ''everything'' that ever meant anything to him and left to see as the enemies of his faith are left to ravage his beloved homeland. And today, readers would bet ''every single one of you, reading this article, has only known Vlad III of Wallachia as '''Dracula'''.'' A ''monster''. [[Humans Are Bastards]].
* The entire ''[[Texhnolyze]]'' anime seems to be designed to do just this to main character Ichise up until he {{spoiler|dies in the last episode}}.
* Edmond and Albert in ''[[Gankutsuou]]''. Big time.
Line 230:
* ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'': Suzu goes insane after he thinks that Tetsunosuke (his only friend) killed his master Yoshida (whom he admired and was the only person who cared for him). Not to mention that he was taken in by a [[Depraved Homosexual]] old man from off the streets when he was alone and starving and subsequently raped.
* ''[[Count Cain]]'': Jizabel's backstory.
* ''[[Black Butler (Manga)|Black Butler]]'''s Ciel Phantomhive is already broken and toughened up by the time we see him. In flashbacks he appears to be a very happy, cheerful, and loving little boy who has a close relationship with his family. Then things go horribly wrong. {{spoiler|After his parents, house staff, and [[And Your Little Dog, Too|dog]] are killed, his home is set on fire to destroy any evidence and Ciel is kidnapped. Flashbacks show him in a cage with other children his age and cultists around them who apparently used the children kidnapped as sacrifices. Ciel witnessed these sacrifices and when it was his turn he accidentally summoned a demon in his desperation.}} Three years later he is the successful owner of a toy and confectionaries company, but also very bitter, jaded, and cold.
** The anime's second season did something of the sort to Alois Trancy. In episodes 7 and 8, {{spoiler|Alois, who before seemed like a complete jackass, is stabbed and ignored by Claude for a bit who's busy practically orgasming over the taste of Ciel's blood. Alois's tearful response "Oh, you look like you've seen a bunch of maggots squirming in a dung pile," to Claude's indifference towards him is heartbreaking; then we learn his backstory, where his little brother died and left him alone and he was made to become a sex slave to a perverted old man, and he later practically confesses his love for Claude, telling him he's the only one he has left in the world, before Claude tenderly holds his face and then crushes his head in.}}
** There's a few other characters too, such as Freckles/Doll from the circus arc.
Line 243:
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' smacks [[Idol Singer|Sheryl]] [[Ms. Fanservice|Nome]] with this one. ''Hard''. ''Along with'' [[Break the Haughty]]. {{spoiler|She ends up getting most of the example bad things: Her manager/best friend/practical foster mother turns out to be the [[Big Bad]] and takes an openly sadistic pleasure in verbally beating Sheryl down and telling her that [[Your Days Are Numbered|she is going to die]], because Grace infected her with a V-type infection ten years ago in an extremely painful medical procedure that was supposed to help her, which turns out to now be in the very late stages, making it incurably terminal with Sheryl's remaining lifespan measured in weeks. Faced with all this, she is finally confronted with the notion that she may not even be remembered, as her former interstellar stardom is suddenly forgotten in favor of Ranka's, and she roams the streets without disguise completely ignored. And it's raining at the time. Of course. She finally breaks down into a sobbing wreck when she finds one of her concert posters discarded on the sidewalk and left in the rain like common trash. When she recovers, she becomes a better person overall}}.
* Mima Kirigoe from [[Perfect Blue]] starts off as a typical [[Idol Singer]], with the usual cherry personality and cheesy themes, but in real life she comes across as a genuinely sweet, sympathetic, attractive woman. Then [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]]. {{spoiler|By the end of the movie she's deranged, a murderer (depending on your interpretation), and suffering from severe identity crisis.}}
* [[Keet|Masomi Kida]] from [[Durarara (Literature)|Durarara]] goes through hell and back through the third arc of the series. Seemingly happy and go lucky, {{spoiler|he was broken before the series started. Let's start that he had [[Abusive Parents|uncaring parents]] (or at least hinted), so he started a gang known as Yellow Scarves because of his insecurities of wanting to be [[I Just Want to Be Special|someone in life]] Then his life went to hell when he met both his girlfriend [[Honey Trap|Saki Mikajima]] and the informant [[Manipulative Bastard|Izaya Orihara]]. While he got to know them both, fights were breaking out more with the rival gang Blue Squares. It got to the point where Masomi needed to ask Izaya for help in order to defeat the rival gang. And then hell strikes and Saki is kidnapped by their leader and have her legs broken. The person that he started to trust ends up not responding to the phone calls and in a panic, Masomi tries to save Saki...only to freeze up. While Saki is saved by Kadota and his gang after they quit Blue Squares, Izaya then accuses Masomi for letting Saki get hurt. He then tells him that he'll have to live with the guilt forever.}} Cue the series starts and he invites his friend [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Mikado]] over to Ikebukuro {{spoiler|so he could save him}} but by the time that his other friend [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Anri]] is injured by the Slashers who is hinted to be part of the Dollars, he's forced to {{spoiler|rejoin his gang and then is thrown back into the hell by relying on Izaya again and having him reveal that the leader of Dollars is his best friend and then later getting bitchslapped by Anri after he accuses her of "sucking up" to Mikado. [[Death Seeker|What finally sends him over the edge]] is [[Jerkass]] Horoda telling him he's out of the group because he was hiding information from them about Dollars and declared that they would kill his best friend. Finally, he tries to kill Horoda to make up for what happened to Saki but almost dies in the process. Luckily, [[Big Damn Heroes|Mikado and Anri appear to save his ass.]]}} By the end of the anime series, he seems recovered... {{spoiler|but in recent novel chapters, he's going back to hell after finding out that ''Mikado'' is [[Break the Cutie|going through]] [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|the same thing]] [[Yandere|but is taking it a different way.]]}} This kid needs a hug and therapy.
** What no mention of Anri? {{spoiler|The fact that she was abused by her own father, and seeing her own mother Sayaka kill him and committing suicide at the same time using Saika, resulting in her without a heart and being Saika's new owner, must've been hard for her.}} It's hard not to feel sympathy for her.
** Mikado as well. He starts off as this adorably idealistic boy, just moved to a new city, all excited about making new friends {{spoiler|and watching the growth of his ideal group, the Dollars.}} But then {{spoiler|his best friend leaves, the girl he likes might be a psycho but they don't talk about it, and the Dollars starts filling up with low-level gangsters who just use the name.}} Not to mention {{spoiler|the fact that he's manipulated and used by Izaya and Aoba, to the point that his dark side pops up and he stabs his kouhai with a pen.}}
*** However, this might be a subversion {{spoiler|as Aoba points out that Mikado had this dark personality from the very beginning and if that's the case, his whole idealistic nature might as well be a facade for hiding the darkness in his heart.}} Though in a sense, it could potentially be worse: how ''broken'' you have to be to do that, huh?
* Blue from ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' just ''barely'' averts this, which is a refreshing change, given that she has [[Dark and Troubled Past|every right]] to [[Wangst|wangst]]. Being kidnapped by a frickin' giant flaming bird at the age of five will ''do'' things to you. She managed to stay reasonably upbeat as she spent a lot of time carefully planning to take down the [[Big Bad]] responsible for all her misery. (Admittedly, there ''are'' a few cracks now and then, especially when confronted with the [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|crippling fear of birds]] that he had instilled in her.) After spending most of her time getting over ''everything'' (doing so in almost complete solitude), she finally found her parents and headed off for a joyous reunion... {{spoiler|[[Yank the DogsDog's Chain|only for them to vanish right before her eyes]]}}. ''Ouch.'' [[Angst Coma]] was immediate, though she did wake up quickly enough to keep fighting.
** White gets hit ''hard'' as {{spoiler|N reveals to her that her star Tepig actress may have never shared her dreams alongside of her. When White tries to jump out of the Ferris Wheel car that she is currently stuck inside, Gigi decides to stay with N. The shock makes her slip out and fall, and she ends up on the ground, barely conscious, with her eyes full of tears}}.
* The title character from ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' also had it pretty rough. Before he even was born, his father was shot by hunters, while his still pregnant mother was put on a boat to become a zoo animal. After several weeks Kimba was born, a storm was coming right towards the boat, so his mother forced him to leave her behind while she drowns in her cage. [[Downer Beginning|Not the smoothest way to start out a series]].
Line 253:
** Also said older sister Sango. The poor girl is as plucky as she can be after witnessing how poor Kohaku was [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] into killing their dad and almost killing her, but seeing Kohaku lose his memories upon all of this shit and not being able to remember her ''because it'd mean he'd also remember killing their dad and friends''... it often ends up breaking her into tears. It's not helped by how her [[Chivalrous Pervert]] love interest, Miroku, is getting closer and closer to fall victim to [[Power Incontinence]].
** Kagome doesn't have it easy either. She witnesses a good part of Sango's breaking process, is confronted by her [[Dark Magical Girl]] past self [[Always Someone Better|who is more expert and skilled that she is]], doesn't know what her real place in the world is as she goes back and forth in past and present, and Naraku often '''directly''' seeks to break her mind. [[The Scrappy|But her haters refuse to see it and cal her "whiny", "bitch", "whore", and "jerk".]]
* In ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi (Manga)|Ai Yori Aoshi]]'', we're introduced to Kaoru Hanabishi post-breaking. In the period of the first chapters / episodes, he's partly recovered, but distant and lonely. Then his [[Love Interest]] [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Aoi]] shows up, and the process of reconstruction begins. As for the breaking part, we see through flashbacks that he was basically subjected to [[Torture Technician]]-as-guardian: he lost both his parents, had most of the few keepsakes he had left destroyed, was [[Abusive Parents|beaten to the point]] of [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|horrible scarring]] by said guardian, and never again saw the [[Childhood Marriage Promise|cute girl he used to play with]]. Then he struck out on his own to work as a menial and go to school, in the hopes of making it on his own. Only the efforts of [[Genki Girl|Tina]], and later Aoi and the rest of the [[True Companions]], were able to help him be a whole person.
* In ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'', Kagura ends up [[Unstoppable Rage|snapping and showing off]] {{spoiler|merciless inner Yato}} because of how badly Shinpachi was getting beaten. Complete with a [[Slasher Smile]].
* [[Abusive Parents|Lucy]] and [[Made a Slave|Erza's]] pasts in ''[[Fairy Tail]]''.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/487390"