Moral Event Horizon/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

* As a [[Dark Fantasy]] series, ''[[Berserk]]'' has many villains that perform really sickening acts. Most of them are monsters in general, but in terms of crossing the Horizon, several characters stand out.

** The choice to Sacrifice in general is a crossing of one's personal [[Moral Event Horizon]]. It entails taking the person or people you most love and [[Kill the Ones You Love|killing them]] in the most nightmarish fashion imaginable, consigning them to a [[Cruel and Unusual Death]] at the hands of some of the most horrifying monsters ever to grace the pages of manga. This acts to cut you off from humanity and open yourself up to evil, facilitating your transformation into a demonic monster yourself. And as if this wasn't bad enough, it's also mentioned that those who get sacrificed in the creation of a demon not only die horribly, ''but their souls are condemned to an eternity in Hell.'' ([[Fridge Horror|Then again, considering the lack of mention of a heaven, it would appear that hell is the regular destination of pretty much]] ''[[Crapsack World|everyone]]''.)

*** Particularly because {{spoiler|the vessel that Griffith used for his reincarnation on Earth was Guts and Casca's ''child'', which was conceived just before the Eclipse, but which was corrupted by what Griffith did to Casca as Femto. A kid that, had all of this not happened, would possibly have been Griffith's godson}}. Yeah.

** Gambino, Guts's gruff mentor/father figure, loses all our sympathy after he sells Guts, who was just [[Harmful to Minors|eight years old at the time]], to a paedophile soldier named Donovan for three silver coins. Particularly when we learn Gambino's reason for it immediately before Guts kills him in self-defense—he called Guts "disgusting" and felt that he "can't be raised to be loyal like a dog," since Gambino blamed the kid for the death of his lover Shisu from the plague.

** And when I say he laughed, I mean that it was a [[Evil Laugh|MANIACAL CACKLE!]]

*** And just to drive home the point that he's too far gone to be saved, he later [[Your Head Asplode|BRUTALLY]] murders his former friend Yamagata.

* ''[[Gantz]]'' has its share of these folks:

** {{spoiler|Nishi}}, already established as a major-league [[Jerkass]], {{spoiler|eventually murders his entire class except for one girl, who had given him a love note.}}

** {{spoiler|Izumi [[Unfortunate Implications|disguises himself as a black man]] and goes on a shooting spree in a crowded train station, killing ''hundreds'' simply to provide players for Gantz and to set himself up to get back into the game.}}

*** He outdoes himself in Chapter 184 {{spoiler|by killing Tae Kojima in front of Kei Kurono. Even though it was Gantz who ordered Tae's death, many members of the team outright refused to follow this mission. And what did Izumi say afterwards?! "Game over, huh?" '''WITH A SMIRK ON HIS [[Precision F-Strike|FUCKING]] FACE.''' If that doesn't cement Izumi as a [[Complete Monster]], nothing does.}}

*** {{spoiler|Debatable, since her making a clone of Kurono doesn't explicitly hurt anyone (except maybe the clone), and Old Man died happy.}}

**** {{spoiler|Old Man died an horrible death, and despite being old and despite hallucinating about his lost wife before losing consciousness (not that he would have remembered that, if he was revived, anyway), he never ever said he was content to give up living. Unlike Sakata (who clearly asked NOT to be revived, should he die in a mission), Old Man never even thought about wanting to end it: he was a man full of energy and happy to be alive. On a side note, the Kurono "clone" is so traumatized that, when Reika confesses, that he's very close to killing her in retaliation (he doesn't, but he's still very shocked).}}

* Perhaps [[Big Bad|Nakago]] of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' had crossed lots of these before and throughout the series, but the most jarring one is when {{spoiler|Suboshi kills Tamahome's entire family, most of whom were children barely the age of ten, in what he believes is an act of revenge for his [[Not Quite Dead|very much alive twin brother Amiboshi]]}}. It hurts even more when you realize that {{spoiler|Tamahome had arrived just in time for his favorite, youngest sibling Yuiren to die in his arms, and that the second child Chuuei had tried to protect his siblings}}.

** Let's not forget that Nakago is STILL to blame for that one. {{spoiler|While Suboshi was the one who killed Tamahome's siblings and dad, ''Nakago'' was the one who coldly suggested such actions as a "valid" revenge, clearly knowing that Suboshi had crossed the [[Despair Event Horizon]] after [[Angsty Surviving Twin|believing that he had lost the twin brother he adored and idolized]], and that he was one step away from doing horrible things to get what he thought of as Revenge. Guess what, he did.}}

** The third one was seen riding a man and kicking him the head for not going fast enough. When a doctor and a nurse were trying to get to the hospital to bring in an injured man when they should be bowing to him, the World Noble simply [[Kick the Dog|kicked the injured man]] to the ground. When he saw that [[Hospital Hottie|the nurse was a beauty]], he promptly named her his newest wife, and when her fiancee stood up to him, he shot him and dragged the crying nurse away.

*** Later, he wanted to buy [[Our Mermaids Are Different|Camie]], just to see if a mermaid could out-swim his tank full of piranhas. And when [[Fish People|Hachi]] arrive to try to save Camie and is exposed as not human, he shot Hachi, just because, and gleefully declared how he had shot a fishman ''in front of Camie and a whole audience'' and how he got this fishman for free.

*** Speaking of which, [[Stalker with a Crush|Van Der Decken]] is no better than Hody. For one thing, he willingly partnered with Hody to overthrow Fishman Island's monarchy, with the side benefit of getting Shirahoshi for himself...and when Hachi (a former ally of Arlong, who Hodi held in high regard) tried to persuade them to call off their plans, what was Decken's response? {{spoiler|He used his Devil Fruit ability to impale Hachi with arrows to the point of near-death}}. Oh, and let's not forget {{spoiler|his willingness to ''flatten Fishman Island with a big frickin' boat'' just because he's a [[Stalker with a Crush]]}}.

** For the longest time, even after it was revealed they ordered Ohara burned to the ground, some fans were willing to give [[Bigger Bad|the Five Elders]] a pass. After all, they were trying to protect the world from ancient weapons of mass destruction. Then came the ending of the Marineford Arc, in which they order the escape of many vicious criminals from Impel Down covered up, and it became apparent that they're more concerned with their own power and image than protecting the world. This one was so bad, [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Sengoku and Garp]] [[Defector From Decadence|resigned on the spot rather than work for a government that would condone such things]].

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke Uchiha has clearly crossed the horizon, but being one of the primary protagonists makes it far less likely to stick. He's done morally questionable things like: attacking Killerbee (a man that has never wronged him), killing all the Samurai guarding the Kage Summit and abandoning Juugo and Suigetsu, but finally cemented it when {{spoiler|he stabbed his very quirky but otherwise genuinely loyal teammate Karin (who is no saint herself, yet she's still a little sympathetic ''and'', as mentioned, is truly loyal to, and in love with him) when Danzo took her hostage, just because the fact that she ''could'' be taken hostage made her a burden to him. Even though she survives the attack, Sasuke is all too willing to finish her off. Then he's willing to stab his former friend Sakura in the back when she shows up at the scene. Plus there's the whole "wipe out all of Konoha" thing, because he thinks the villagers' smiles are at the expense of his clan that was exterminated to stop ''them'' from [[Moral Myopia|performing a coup d'etat]].}}

** Then there's [[Big Bad|Tobi]], whose most despicable acts include: '''his''' actions in the Uchiha Clan Massacre, where there was a very good chance that he was using its then-leader Fugaku (Itachi and Sasuke's father) and starting the Coup all in an attempt to get his former Clan killed off-and it works, since Konoha's elders were forced to kill them off using Itachi Uchiha against them. It is later revealed he killed the ANBU guards protecting the place where Kushina Uzumaki was giving birth, then killed Taji and Hiruzen's wife Biwako and took Naruto, who was only minutes old at the time hostage, threatening to kill the newborn unless Minato handed over the Kyuubi so he could attack the Hidden Leaf. He then tops himself [[Serial Escalation|again]] in the next chapter when {{spoiler|he throws Naruto into the air before trying to stab him. Minato manages to grab Naruto before he can before noticing that Tobi had secretly stuck ''explosive tags'' to the blanket wrapped around Naruto. Minato gets rid of the blanket and manages to escape with Naruto, taking him to a safe place. Following that, there's a scene where Tobi extracts the Kyuubi from Kushina (who, keep in mind, just gave birth to Naruto) leaving her weak and almost powerless. He compliments her for staying alive even after the Kyuubi was taken out of her before saying "And who better to kill you than the Kyuubi" and attempting to have the demonic fox crush her. Fortunately, Minato saves her and teleports them to where Naruto is. Tobi leaves with the Kyuubi to attack the Leaf Village and Minato, who is more than a little angry at this point, goes after Tobi.}}

** "Doctor Goldtooth" from the manga spends most of his screentime crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]]. He's responsible for experimenting on people to make human-based homunculi; except for the one who became {{spoiler|Wrath/King Bradley}}, all of the subjects died or were rendered mindless and used as Elite Mooks, and he later {{spoiler|slits Riza's throat in an attempt to force Roy Mustang to open the gate.}} He does so without any remorse or regard for human life, and it's thus very satisfying to see him {{spoiler|being impaled from behind by Pride while he boasts about Wrath's skill as one of his creations.}}

** Father from the manga and second anime {{spoiler|wiped out the nation of Xerxes just so he could absorb half the souls and gain a body.}}

** Pride from the first anime plows right through the [[Moral Event Horizon]] at the end of the series when he remorselessly {{spoiler|strangles his son Selim to death}} for bringing [[Achilles' Heel|his remains]] (having no idea what they really were) to him during his battle with Roy.

* {{spoiler|Sosuke Aizen}} from ''[[Bleach]]'' has had ''many'' of these. The most recent, and arguably the worst of them all? {{spoiler|Using [[Master of Illusion|his powers]] to fool Hitsugaya into thinking he's stabbing him...when in reality, the one he's stabbing is Momo Hinamori, Aizen's own ex-lieutenant, as well as the person Hitsugaya has sworn to protect. Hitsugaya's horrified screams as the illusion breaks and [[My God, What Have I Done?|sees what he has done]] [[Kill the Cutie|to Momo]] are '''[[The Scream|EPIC]]'''.}} [[Magnificent Bastard|So brilliant.]] [[Complete Monster|So cruel.]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|Guess he'll still have his leather pants on, though.]]

** Many readers consider [[Mad Scientist|Mayuri Kurotsuchi]] to have crossed the horizon when he tortured Ishida's grandfather to death along with over 2000 other Quincy, and then ''showed Ishida a photo of his grandfather's corpse''. Keep in mind that he had no idea of Ishida's relationship with his grandfather at that point, he just showed the photograph to him to taunt him.

*** And [[Eviler Than Thou|he's still outdone]] by his ''even more'' [[Evil Counterpart]], Szayel Aporro Ganz. Not only he takes delight on torturing Renji and the aforementioned Ishida slowly and painfully, but when Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant Nemu arrive to face him, just as Kurotsuchi is about to defeat him he {{spoiler|grabs a captured Nemu, ''rapes'' her with tentacles to forcibly impregnate her, and kills the poor girl (one of the biggest [[The Woobie|Woobies]] on the whole [[Bleach]], natch) after emerging from her body, leaving an empty husk.}} This is so [[squick]]y and cruel that a good part of the fandom saw {{spoiler|the [[Fate Worse Than Death]] that Kurotsuchi dealt to him}} ''[[Kick the Son of a Bitch|as something to cheer for]]''.

*** Nnoitra does this when he hints he intends to rape Orihime at some point (he stuck his fingers deep in her mouth in the manga for crying out loud), and in the backstory, his hatred towards Nel led him to collaborate with Szayel so he could take away her powers because he was jealous of her for being stronger than him and then he kicks her out of Hueco Mundo. Not to mention, he immobilized Orihime and forced her to watch as he has his subordinate Tesla beat Ichigo to death. Thanks to a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment by Kenpachi, however, Ichigo is safe and Orihime heals him.

*** We also have {{spoiler|[[Big Bad Duumvirate]] Tsukishima and Ginjo}} conspiring to cross the MEH with each other's help. The first {{spoiler|brainwashes almost everyone Ichigo cares for to turn them against him and break him in body, mind and soul}}, and the other {{spoiler|sets up a [[Memory Gambit]] that involves erasing his own memories of being an enemy, to get close to Ichigo and train him up until it's the moment to break him.}} [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Horrible and brilliant at the same time]].

*** Subverted in the case of {{spoiler|Yukio}}. He gleefully claimed to have crossed this via {{spoiler|driving his parents to suicide}}, but {{spoiler|Hitsugaya}} quickly deduces (and shows!) that he wasn't as heartfelt and happy about it as he believed, {{spoiler|driving Yukio to ''defend'' his parents and to a [[Villainous Breakdown]].}}

*** The [[Big Bad]] of the final arc, Yhwach, crossed it in his backstory. In order to augment his own power, Yhwach power-drained and thus killed off the "Gemischt" and "Echt" Quincies regarded as "impure".

** In ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]'', Dune {{spoiler|turns the entire world into a desert}}.

** In ''[[Suite Pretty Cure]]'', Mephisto {{spoiler|subverts this when he}} brainwashes Siren {{spoiler|just as she's about to see the light. Turns out, he had literally lost control of himself because of Noise brainwashing him, as revealed in episode 36, and Noise was the one that crossed the MEH with Mephisto's act}}.

** Horrifyingly, ''no, they weren't.'' Some rabid fans even LIKED to see him {{spoiler|kill Takada}}. Others simply agreed with his morality and methods.

** An argument can be made that he crossed it even earlier, when he started killing people already facing legal justice for their crimes. At the beginning he was intervening in crimes in progress (specifically, hostage-taking and sexual assault), and cleaning up after the justice system's failures a'la [[Dexter]] is somewhat forgivable, but negating its successes and attempting to make the entire criminal justice system completely worthless is doing more harm than good.

** Natsumi Koizumi, Kumi Mouri, and Minami Obuchi: Taking advantage of a school tradition to {{spoiler|tape couples have sex... and then show the footage to the whole school}}, just for the lulz. The victims include: Sekai's friend Nanami, {{spoiler|who gets taped and exposed by them while having sex with her sempai and boyfriend and has her reputation completely ruined among the other students.}}, and their supposed friend Otome who is seen {{spoiler|having sex with Makoto in that same place (which lets Sekai know that Makoto's cheating on her ''now'')}}, AND whose feelings they then ignore ''again'' by {{spoiler|having sex with Makoto just for the hell of it, ''right after the whole festival mess''.}}.

* In ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]'' Haguro Dou manipulates the younger Kuroda into [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|going Columbine]] on half the student body out of vengeance against Inugami for his brother's death. Using weapons from his family gun cellar. The kicker? His brother died because '''HAGURO''' pulled his life-support.

** He and his goons gangraped Aoshika (a teacher who ends up falling in love with Inugami, and became his [[Morality Chain]]) while recording it so that Inugami can see, practically talking to the camera (and, therefore, to Inugami) through the entire thing in the hopes that Inugami (who left due to Haguro's actions) will come back to him.

*** No, he didn't ''only'' rape her. Haguro also gave Aoshika a [[Psycho Serum]] that warped her mind so throughly that ''she enjoyed her own rape''. All to break her further and have "revenge" on her for daring to attract Inugami's attention. No wonder she thinks she's been [[Defiled Forever]] and it takes Inugami a LOT to give her back a little bit of hope.

** Kouki from the same series had no qualms about holding an entire city hostage, not caring about the thousands of lives lost. His comrade Nanami kills Digimon out of a desire to fill a lonely void in her heart, and his other comrade Ivan is doing it to get money for his family. Kouki? Does it [[For the Evulz]].

** MetalPhantomon also crossed it by using the DATS agents' worst fears and memories against them in order to suck out their life energy. Thomas got it particularly bad.

** Yamaki spent a lot of time walking along the line, too. He had an innocent Digimon tortured to death for information, coldly says that Digimon are "just a bunch of numbers" and thus morals don't apply to them, and tries to destroy every Digimon in the world ''including the heroes'' '''twice'''. Like Beelzemon, he has a [[My God, What Have I Done?]], backs away from the line, and undergoes a [[Heel Face Turn]].

*** What, no [[Eldritch Abomination|D-Reaper]]? While it was just doing it's duty in the digital world, it crossed the line when it followed the heroes back to the real world, ''[[Demonic Possession|possessed]] and [[Mind Rape|mind-fucked a depressed little girl]]'' , emotionally tortured said girl to make her even more miserable, and '''fed off her misery'''. Unlike the above two examples, there is no redemption for this thing.

* Charon from ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'' accomplishes this before he even shows up, by ordering some of his [[Mooks]] to suicide bomb the Pokémon League tournament.

* The story of the film takes absolutely no effort to hide that [[Big Bad|Kodai]] from ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions]]'' is a [[Complete Monster]], but the point he really crosses this may vary from person to person. However, the most likely is when he '''''freaking electrocutes a baby''''' right in front of its mother. Unlike the other horrific things he did, this is really the first time he's shown doing something terrible that didn't have anything to do with his plan, as Zoroark stopped attacking the moment she saw he had Zorua. He even comes right out and says he enjoyed it directly after that. {{spoiler|He probably didn't know at the time that absorbing the Time Ripple would wither the plant life of Crown City completely, but he sure doesn't give one fuck if it happens ''again''.}} Furthermore, he {{spoiler|MURDERS ZOROARK '''IN FRONT OF HER SON''' (she got better)}} and ''choked out Celebi!'' That said, his [[Humiliation Conga]] was '' extremely'' cathartic.

** [[Jerkass|Paul]] from the anime itself also crossed the line. For those who don't understand, he's gone through at least three regions discarding Pokemon that fail to live up to his standards, however flimsy the excuse would be (even in comparison to [[Disproportionate Retribution|how he started]], which was his brother shifting gears into becoming a full-time Breeder after [[Curb Stomp Battle|choking to Pyramid King Brandon]]). He also has little sympathy or tolerance for failure in combat, displayed in ''his first onscreen battle '''with a Starly he released after said fight anyway'''''! It particularly crystallized during the infamous Tag Tournament, where Paul had all his other Pokemon assault [[The Woobie|Chimchar]] the night before the final round, had Chimchar use attacks with no regard to friendly fire during the actual battle, refused to have it healed prior to the battle, [[Rage Quit|ragequit]] when [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|Zangoose]] came out to play, and released Chimchar afterwards, who predictably ran crying to Ash.

** Lord Ghetsis of Team Plasma in the ''Episode N'' arc of ''Best Wishes'' crosses the line when he orders a mind-controlled Reshiram to incinerate everyone currently at the White Ruins...which included several members ''of his own team!'' [[Team Rocket]] even calls this out as being self-centered and deplorable.

* Dr. Katsuragi of ''[[Sakura Gari]]'' is pretty fond of doing this. Not only is he a disgusting pedophile, he drugs, rapes and tortures Masataka (this includes whipping him and sticking a household object up his anus right after raping him) and holds his hand in boiling hot tea because of his jealousy over Masataka being the one Souma loves (when he loves Souma to an insane degree himself) and he beats his [[Woobie]] wife Asayo. Oh, and in the backstory {{spoiler|he also persuaded Souma (who was angry with his abusive stepmother, Sakurako) into wanting to kill her: he drugged Sakurako when she was taking a bath, took Souma there and told him to kill her as revenge for his abuse, and when Souma couldn't go through with it he grabbed Souma's hand, put the knife forcefully in it and forcibly made him cut Sakurako's wrists, effectively killing her. Then, he rapes Souma almost in the spot.}} When Souma confronts Katsuragi on his rape and torture of Masataka, Katsuragi denies the accusation and tries to seduce Souma. He acts uninterested and mentions Masataka's name, so Katsuragi actually grabs Souma by the throat and tries to strangle him. {{spoiler|And then [[Karmic Death|karma meets up with him]] [[Humiliation Conga|Spectacularly]].}}

* ''[[Hellsing]]'': Zorin Blitz crosses it when she lays siege to the Hellsing Mansion with her forces, mind rapes Seras by delving deep into Seras' memories, forcing her to relive her painful childhood, where she had to watch her parents be murdered by gangsters and her mother's corpse being raped. While Seras is trapped in the illusion, Zorin hacks off her arm, stabs her through the back, and cuts her eyes. Bernadotte and his two remaining squad members arrive and manage to temporarily disable Zorin by shooting her multiple times and Bernadotte tries to escape with the badly wounded Seras, but Zorin kills him by stabbing him through the back with her scythe. To top it all off as Seras cradles Pip's dead body and cries for him Zorin mocks Pip calling him an "insect" and prepares to kill Seras and her fellow team members. This was enough to provoke Seras into absolutely curb stomping Zorin and her forces to death.

** The burglars from Seras's past definitely crossed the MEH. Seras, who seems a cheerful and upbeat girl for most of the manga, has a rather dark and disturbing backstory, which seems to have happened when she was very young. It consists of her father being murdered by burglars, her mother hiding her in a cupboard to protect her, and her mother's subsequent murder by the same burglars. Seras tries to exact revenge by stabbing one of the guys in the eye with a fork. She gets shot for doing so and one of the perpetrators proceed to rape her mother's corpse, due to it being "still warm". In full view of Seras who lies on the ground bleeding profusely watching it happen and unable to do anything to stop it.

** Let's not forget Andrea Calvacanti {{spoiler|trying to rape his own half-sister Eugenie, then seducing and bedding his own mother and finally poisoning his father. And then getting away with everything like a [[Karma Houdini]] should.}}

** And {{spoiler|Heloïse Villefort.}} She seems perfectly normal in her first few appearances, with a warm motherly appearance and pleasant smile. She is the stepmother of Valentine and is the second wife of the crown prosecutor Villefort. She is the biological mother of her young son Edward, from her first marriage; however, Valentine is to inherit all of the fortune, leaving her stepmother jealous because Edward doesn’t get a single penny. {{spoiler|So when the Count seduces her and innocently introduces her to toxicology and gives her a deadly ring which releases a deadly poison Heloïse becomes murderous and tries to poison Valentine and her husband, as well as inadvertently almost poisoning Albert and poisoning one of the servants of the Villefort household.}} And she does all this while maintaining her angelic motherly facade {{spoiler|up till near the end of the series when her husband finds out what she's been doing and points out that she's nothing more than a murderous insane woman. She tries to deny his accusations before she breaks down and collapses to the ground, finally giving in to her insanity. Her husband then puts her in an insane asylum for the rest of her life.}} Not to mention the scene where {{spoiler|she ''masturbated'' while thinking of the Count and the poison ring he gave her; in essence, she was also getting off to the thought of killing her stepdaughter and husband.}}

* Swordfish does this a few times in ''Under Grant Hotel'' but the most notable example would have to be him basically raping his lover Sen to almost death when Sen said something that annoyed him.

** A better example would be the nutjob who went crazy (and even explicitly admitted to being a psycho) [[Freudian Excuse|after being forced to kill his entire family]] when they got bitten. That doesn't excuse the fact that afterward, he tried to kill both Takashi and Rei (and rape the latter) at a gas station. Satisfying doesn't even begin to describe how Takashi deals with the bastard.

** Even [[Black and Grey Morality|the protagonists themselves]] have stated that they're willing to cross it if that's what it takes to survive as long as they can. Takashi and Saeko themselves have already crossed the MEH in their own respective personal opinions: Takashi, when he killed Hisashi [[Murder the Hypotenuse|partly out of jealousy over Rei]]; Saeko, by using herself to bait a would-be rapist into getting brutally and viciously attacked by her. Rei herself comes close when she's given the opportunity to summarily execute Shido at the Takagi mansion, but she ultimately averts this when she decides he's [[Not Worth Killing]].

** Pegasus himself, though just as tragic as his anime counterpart, lost the sympathy of several readers of the manga when he telekinetically forced Bandit Keith to commit suicide, and would have fully crossed the line if Bandit Keith wasn't an [[Asshole Victim]] who was threatening Pegasus' life moments before. The anime changed this to simply having Keith dumped into the sea in a classic [[No One Could Survive That]], and wouldn't you know it, he does.

*** His treatment of the Kaiba brothers might have already put him over the line. Even Yugi determined that [[This Is Unforgivable!]]

** And then, in episode 12, {{spoiler|Madoka pushes him through a Moral White Hole and rewrites him to be a more moral and less creepy creature, thus subverting this in the most jawdroppingly awesome way ever, while still giving the sucker a good kick in the balls by denying him his prize of yummy despair to eat, and binding him to her very will so he won't hurt anyone anymore.}}

** And in the tie-in manga [[Puella Magi Kazumi Magica]], it turns out that {{spoiler|Incubators like Kyubey can purify Soul Gems, preventing them from becoming witches. Kyubey kept this from the protagonists for '''''the entire anime!'''''}}

*** Though to be fair... {{spoiler|they were trying to save the world. As the above MEH's point out, if Madoka becomes a magical girl, Everything Dies.}}

**** However, {{spoiler|killing Madoka}} was absolutely unnecessary at that point, given that {{spoiler|all the other Magi had found out the truth and come to accept it, and would have told Madoka everything, which would have removed any motivation she might have had for making a contract.}} She did it likely out of spite at {{spoiler|Mami, Kyouko, Yuma and '''especially''' Homura}} for ruining her plans.

** Char Aznable reaches his in ''[[Chars Counterattack]]'' by dropping Fifth Luna on Tibet.

*** He didn't reach it until CCA? A vocal number of fans think he reached it within the first ten episodes of "[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]" when he stabbed Garma in the back after years of leading him on to believe they were best friends. What he did to Kycillia later in the series wasn't exactly classy either.

*** Gyunei himself isn't a saint, either, and he ends up crossing the MEH as well. At some point he defeats and captures Amuro's wingman and the local [[Action Girl]] Kayra Su, forcibly pulling her outta her cockpit and keeping her hostage in his Jagd Doga's hand. He then stages a [[Hostage Situation]] to try getting Amuro and the Nu Gundam to surrender; when the funnels of the Nu accidentally react to Amuro's anger over it, Gyunei ''uses the Doga's hand to crush Kayra to death'', then tosses her lifeless body aside like it's nothing. Amuro, understandably, [[Unstoppable Rage|is fucking PISSED at that.]]

** {{spoiler|Ulube Ishikawa and Dr. Mikamura}} have theirs in ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' when they attempt to capture the Devil Gundam for their own uses. When the end result of all of this leads to {{spoiler|Dr. Mikamura's innocent daughter Rain [[Barrier Maiden|becoming the Devil Gundam's core]] }}, the second in the list ends up having a [[Heel Realization]] and, {{spoiler|having been shot by the gleeful Ulube, with his dying breath he begs Domon to save his daughter and releases Domon's father's capsule, which allows Domon's friends to rescue him.}}

* Chapter 239 of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': it was rather obvious from the very beginning that [[Manipulative Bastard|Ultear]] was evil, but she really clinched it in this chapter by {{spoiler|attempting to murder an unconscious and helpless Juvia. To be fair, it's not the action in itself that's bad, but rather the '''reasoning''' behind it. Up until now, no matter how cold-hearted, Ultear's actions were all for the sake of reaching her goals; this time, she was doing it merely out of spite towards Gray. However, it should be noted that she thought that Gray became the [[Replacement Goldfish]] for her mother.}}

** Raven Tail cheap shots {{spoiler|Wendy and Charle}}, then one member threatens to harm a six year old.

* Inverted by [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] in the second light novel, when she and Tsuruya spike Mikuru's drink merely for the sake of realism during the shoot for her Z-grade movie, despite all the risks it could bring to Mikuru's health. Of course, when Kyon realizes Haruhi's reason for doing it, it's a [[Berserk Button]] and nearly earns her a punch in the face... which subsequently leads to her ''[[Heel Realization]]'' when she realizes that she's doing it wrong (especially in the anime, where we have her staring away from Kyon in remorse [[Cry Cute|and with tears in her eyes]]) and then to [[Character Development]] on her part [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|for]] [[Took a Level In Kindness|the]] [[Heel Face Turn|better]]. As for Tsuruya herself, she only subverts this by virtue of [[Idiot Ball|being clueless about Haruhi's intentions]], as she agreed to help Haruhi put tequila in Mikuru's drink under the assumption that Haruhi wants to improve Mikuru's acting.

** Kuyo may subvert this with her [[Blue and Orange Morality]]. She (and the entity behind her) is simply so alien in personality that she makes Nagato look like a normal human being. If anyone in the SOS Brigade has crossed it for sure, it's Fujiwara.

* Averted by Pino in ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]''. Right when he's about to kill Aurora for walking in on his plans one too many times, {{spoiler|Flanca warns him to refrain from doing so.}} Played straight, however, by Ski Mask Guy in chapter 83 just for being the only one present besides Jose when Henrietta's bad memories of her family's death return because of him and Jose's the only one left alive present. {{spoiler|This leads to both Henrietta and Jose dying within minutes of the resulting [[Freak-Out]], if not seconds.}} Dante himself is well beyond the MEH by the time he offed {{spoiler|Enrica, her parents, and Jean's girlfriend}} with a single car bomb, and it's also implied due to Ski Mask Guy's presence at the Battle of Turin that Dante was also behind {{spoiler|the murder of Henrietta's family}}. He's blackened his heart so much, he doesn't even ''qualify'' for [[Complete Monster]] status. His last evil act? {{spoiler|Only Rico [[Shoot the Hostage|offing her]] [[Human Shield|own handler]] could finally put an end to Dante once and for all.}}

* ''[[Peach Girl]]'': Kairi has a trio of obsessive clingy jealous girls who once attacked Momo and threatened to ''set her on fire'' if she continued taking up Kairi's attention.

* In ''[[Honoo no Alpen Rose]]'', Count Germont is a complete [[Jerkass]] and [[Stalker with a Crush]] to Jeudi. He truly clinches it when {{spoiler|he murders her and Lundi's friend Hans via shooting him [[In the Back]] in the Swiss/Austrian border.}}

* For some, {{spoiler|Fukiko Ichinomiya}} from ''[[Oniisama e...]]'' crosses this in the manga, when she {{spoiler|deals an horrifyingly cruel [[Hannibal Lecture]] to her half-sister and [[Love Martyr]] Rei Asaka, basically smashing her already non-existant self-worth and stability into tiny little pieces.}} It's so bad that {{spoiler|Rei commits suicide almost immediately afterwards}}, and it had to be removed from the anime version.

* In ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'', {{spoiler|Sanetoshi}} had done plenty of shit [http://himado.in/76798 before episode 23], but he ''seriously'' crossed the MEH not just by {{spoiler|being the one who "killed" Momoka via transforming her in the two Penguin Hats when she tried to stop him (thus ''causing a good part of the events of the series to take place)}}, but by first {{spoiler|strengthening Kanba's [[Face Heel Turn]] via forcing him to see Masako die and then reviving her while promising to do the same to Himari if he destroys the world for him}} and then by {{spoiler|setting up Ringo to be seriously injured '''and mocking her as she was burning to almost death''', in his quest to destroy the Destiny Diary.}}

** Kinzo also crossed it when it was revealed that Yasu, aka the real persona of Beatrice, Shannon and Kanon is actually his child fathered on his own daughter Beatrice, who he kept isolated and eventually raped because she resembled her mother, Kinzo's deceased mistress. Can you say "Just like Noah Cross"? Good.

* Let's not forget the main villain of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Naraku. It could easily be said that Naraku never crossed the MEH, because [[Complete Monster|he never was out of it to begin with]]. In fact, his very first act was to {{spoiler|Use his shape shifting abilities to attack and nearly kill Kikiyo while posing as Inuyasha, then pose as Kikyo and make Inuyasha think Kikiyo was trying to kill ''him'', all leading to Inuyasha getting pinned to a tree and Kikyo dying hating Inuyasha.}} It's not shown what he does between this and 50 years until the series starts, but it can't have been pretty.

** He ain't the only one, either. Shiori's grandfather crosses it to a horrifying degree twice: first, when {{spoiler|he killed his own son aka Shiori's [[Hot Dad]] for daring to bear a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] child ''and'' try defending humans}}, and second when {{spoiler|he tricks Shiori into protecting him with her [[Barrier Warrior]] skills, knowing that she's hesitant about his plan of killing everyone in her village despite their shabby treatment of her and her mother -- and once she doubts him, ''he mocks her heavily''.}}

* Mykage, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Aquarion Evol]]'', crossed the line big time when he {{spoiler|murdered the very sympathetic [[Anti-Villain]] Jin for having had an [[Heel Face Turn]] in Episode 13}}. Or, alternatively, he crossed it for {{spoiler|emotionally manipulating Zessica and pulling a [[Grand Theft Me]] on her}}.

** In the third season, Telulu crosses it with how she deals with Mimet. To put it in perspective, Sailor Moon herself is horrified to see one of her nemesis being dealt with in such a callous fashion. Damn... when a hero is mortified by the death of a villain (who could've killed the good guys, including him/her, with a single blow, mind you) at the hands of another villain, you know the killer in question has crossed a line.