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{{trope}}
* The end of the Golden Age Arc from ''[[
* The Chapter Black saga from ''[[
* '' [[Clannad (
* Asano, the [[Unlucky Everydude]] from ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'' has several of these moments in his plot arc. Despite being an [[Ordinary High School Student]] trapped in another world, he is ultimately ineffectual in doing any good for himself or for his friends, and he eventually becomes a patsy of the [[Big Bad]]. Just when it looks as though he's about to redeem himself by performing a vital, heroic mission for the good guys, he gets intercepted by the villains, who kill him in spite of his being armed with a gun, while they only have primitive weapons. To further rub salt into the wound, Asano, before he dies, learns that his mission was completely unnecessary, since reinforcements were ''already'' coming to help the good guys.
** Considering Asano wasn't part of the original book (and neither was his female counterpart) and the only reason for him to be there is to externalize Yoko's inner [[Tomato in
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' (particularly its supplemental film adaptation ''The End Of Evangelion'') is a borderline case: {{spoiler|after Instrumentality/Third Impact, the Earth is left in ruins and everyone besides Shinji and Asuka is reduced to "primordial soup" with the choice to recreate themselves if desired (meaning that the whole plot caused more harm than good for everyone who would rather not live as part of a puddle of Tang).}}
* ''[[
* ''[[
* During the last few episodes of ''[[Code Geass]]'' {{spoiler|Nunnally's apparent demise was one of the key reasons Lelouch started the [[Zero
** {{spoiler|Even though the end result is world peace, it comes at the expense of the destruction caused during the Zero Requiem, which, again, could have been averted had it not been for the above case. Not to mention that the resulting peace will not last more likely than not, and at the same time, Lelouch will still be dead, when he would be more useful alive as a leader.}}
* The whole Fallen One arc in ''[[D
** {{spoiler|Who then destroys Allen's left arm, punches a hole in his heart and leaves him for dead, because the arc just wasn't cruel enough as it was. Really, the only good things to come out of the arc is that Tincampy manages to escape with Suman's Innocence, and the destruction of Allen's arm eventually leads to him receiving a [[Shonen Upgrade]].}}
* ''[[Gilgamesh]]'' ends with the deaths of {{spoiler|the entire main cast against the villains, followed rapidly by all life on Earth getting wiped clean by a being who intended to reform the Earth afterwards, but is killed before it can recreate it.}}
* ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' (anime only), also a definitive example of a [[Downer Ending]], ends with {{spoiler|the main cast either dead or broken. None of the heroes' goals were met, and the villain succeeded in all his plans, with his "death" only being a temporary setback. If anything, the world would have been better off if the heroes had NOT been around.}}
* The first season arcs of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
** Also from ''Higurashi'', "Plan 34". A plan to kill thousands of innocent people in order to prevent a disease from causing a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] scenario is initially presented in the anime as evil, but better than the alternative. Then, the manga arc ''Onisarashi-hen'' shows that after the plan was carried out, {{spoiler|infections started breaking out all over Japan anyways, due to people who had once lived in Hinamizawa but had moved away or were out of town at the time of the massacre}}. And ''then'', because ''Higurashi'' '''really''' loves kicking you when you're down, it shows that {{spoiler|the infection isn't as contagious as first thought and dies out on its own, demonstrating that the Plan 34 massacre was entirely unnecessary, and that the perpetrators were horribly misguided at best, or willing to intentionally kill thousands of innocents for political gain at worst}}. Isn't ''Higurashi'' wonderful?
*** It's even worse. {{spoiler|The trigger for Hinamizawa Syndrome isn't distance from Rika, which the villains originally suspected; it's actually just extreme stress. In that case, their whole plan to wipe out the village through Plan 34 actually CAUSED the outbreaks in Onisarashi-hen.}}
** ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
** And all the Rikas get to become Umineko's [[Fallen Hero]] [[Big Bad]] as well, starting the cycle of death all over again for another group of people! Because [[You Bastard|she knows you want more.]]
* ''[[
* [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s ''[[
* ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'', particularly when the continuation provided by ''[[X 1999]]'' is added in. After spending the series waiting to see if Subaru can inspire any actual feelings of love in him, and just when Subaru has realized his feelings for Seishiro, Seishiro decides that... no, he doesn't care about Subaru. So he tortures him, tries to kill him, and does kill his sister, leaving Subaru permanently broken with the heart's desire that one day Seishiro will kill him too. Except that when he tries to let that happen, he ends up killing Seishiro instead. And then he becomes the Sakurazukamori in Seishiro's place.
* The anime adaptation of ''Requiem'' (marketed as ''Anal Sanctuary'' in the United States) has Yukina being presented with Cecilia, an angelic violin capable of opposing Cannone, the demonic violin that has driven Akio to...ahem...enslaving the female student body of St. Cecilia academy. Immediately after we see Cecilia, cut to a scene of Yukina and the priestess who presented the violin in captivity, about to be raped by Akio's possessed students, and Akio in possession of Cecilia. Everyone gets ruined, mission failed, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 pints of [[Nausea Fuel|shit]].
* ''The Fox of Chironuppu.''
* ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]''.
* The ending of ''[[Texhnolyze]]'' results in [[Kill
* ''[[Kurokami]]'' ends with most of the cast dead and when everybody expects a happy life for the main protagonists, it's revealed that the curse is not lifted, and requires a sacrifice to save humanity which will nullify all the reasons why they were fighting. And even after that sacrifice, one genius concludes that it does not matter much since many other curses still exist so getting rid of one was not a big deal.
* ''[[Lost Universe]]'' pretty much ends this way depending on how you interpret the [[Cut Short]] ending was supposed to turn out. Protagonists die while fighting with the [[Big Bad]]. But too bad, there are a few baddies left and now there are no people who have the abilities to defeat them if they show up.
* YMMV since the ending was pretty ambiguous, but ''[[
* Oh! Great wrote a self-contained arc in his H-Series ''Silky Whip Extreme'' called ''Junk Story'', that is a pretty damn grim version of this trope. To Wit: The plot is that, 100 years before the story began, A super-powerful military robot called Gatt fell in love with a woman named Mariko. By being denied Mariko, Gatt took revenge on all of humanity, destroying most of civilization and forcing humans to live in fear. The first 3 issues are Mariko, revived as an immortal cyborg, teaming up with a gun-runner to try and destroy Gatt. Only, it's revealed in the last two issues that all of this was pointless; {{spoiler|The world government has ''deliberately'' allowed Gatt to keep rampaging for a century, as even though they have cyborgs vastly more powerful than him, leaving humanity in fear of an external monster foe makes them easier to control. The end of the series involves Mariko being captured by Caligula, a powerful [[Ax Crazy]] cyborg employed by the government, the Gunrunner-Turned-Love-Interest getting killed off, and Mariko being forced to become Caligula's personal sex slave}}. Not only does the ending completely invalidate every plot development brought up until that point, but it brings up even MORE questions that will never be answered.
* While the overall series is not so grim, but the 18th episode of ''[[Scrapped Princess]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Furet}} getting killed in order to prevent Pacifica and the others from getting captured, only to have them get captured five minutes later anyway.
* ''[[Katanagatari]]'' combines a horrendous character mortality rate with an epilogue that states the [[Thanatos Gambit]] that caused everything seems to have had no effect whatsoever.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** To be fair there was one character who achieved all his goals and changed the world in the way he wanted - Near.
* The Impel Down/Marineford arc of [[
** But he does {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|cause enough chaos in Impel Down which makes it easier for Blackbeard to fulfill his objective of recruiting level six criminals.]] As seen when he initially met Magellan, Blackbeard [[Curb Stomp Battle|was no match for him]] and he only survived because Shiryuu saved him. Why was Shiryuu was out of his cell in the first place? Magellan was busy dealing with Luffy and hoped Shiryuu would help against Blackbeard.}}
* ''[[Fate
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