Fans of TV series often see Game of Thrones‘ “The Rains of Castamere” as the peak of dark, brutal deaths, with the Red Wedding delivering a shocking moment of bloody betrayal. The episode was so intense it launched the viral reaction video trend on social media. While it’s hard to top such a nightmarish scene, many anime series have matched or even surpassed it with their own brutal deaths.
Anime rarely relies on shock value alone, much like the well-written Game of Thrones, but that doesn’t make its deaths any less gruesome. Heroes and villains alike meet their end in battle, assassination, or sudden murder—often with heavy emotional impact, raising the stakes for those left behind.
10
Roy and Riza Witnessed the Horrors of the Ishval Civil War Firsthand
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Plenty of tragic deaths and accidents happened to good people during Edward’s journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone, but none can top the sheer humanitarian disaster of the Ishvalan Civil War. In flashback sequences in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, anime viewers saw the ethnic tensions explode into a genocidal war, with Amestris soldiers and alchemists villified as the slaughterers of all Ishvalans.
A few main characters appeared as well, including Roy Mustang, Maes Hughes, Rizaw Hawkeye, and Alex Louis Armstrong, who tried to preserve their own humanity as the horrors unfolded around them. That spoke volumes about both their sense of duty and their perception of right and wrong as they struggled to rationalize what they were doing. Those characters were effectively contrasted by the sadistic Solf J. Kimblee, who reveled in the bloodshed.
9
Light Killed off L, Watari, and Rem in One Clever Stroke
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Death Note is another dark shonen anime featuring plenty of individual deaths, but if anime fans want to make a comparison with the Red Wedding, a certain trio of deaths should come to mind. Late in the first major story arc, Light Yagami the antihero had L cornered in his trap, and most interestingly, he pressured Rem the Shinigami to deal the finishing blow to him. It was all done, so Rem could protect Misa from L’s renewed investigation of her.
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Light’s true twisted genius shone when he had L, Wateri, and Rem all die within minutes of each other, with Rem dying because she had extended Misa’s lifespan, which was forbidden for Shinigami. That three-person massacre was Light’s own Red Wedding and crowning achievement, neatly killing his worst enemies while also ridding himself of a potentially vengeful Rem. Later, albeit with less emotional impact, Light had another Red Wedding moment as he killed off Aiber, Wedy, and the six surviving Kira affiliates at Yotsuba in a single montage.
Death Note
- Release Date
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October 4, 2006
Cast
8
Dozens of Soldiers Died in Vain Fighting the Titans For Shiganshina’s Safety
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Attack on Titan is yet another brutal shonen anime with countless individual deaths, along with a few scenes of wholesale slaughter to rival anything the Red Wedding ever did. The first example was also the story’s inciting event, with the Colossal and Armored Titans breaking down Shiganshina’s wall to lay waste of everyone and everything inside. That was the rude wake-up call about the true terror of the Titans, forever shattering the illusion of peace.
That nightmarish massacre had a more emotional impact on viewers when the young hero, Eren Yeager, saw a blonde female Titan seize his mother Carla and devour her. Eren angrily vowed revenge on all Titans, but in hindsight, that scene was ironic. Carla’s killer was the pure Titan of Dina Fritz, the mother of Eren’s half-brother Zeke, and Eren would later value Titans as his fellow Eldians in the future war against the Marley Empire.
7
Jinwoo Stood Paralyzed as the God Statues Slaughtered His Entire Team
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Anime like Attack on Titan and Solo Leveling started with a gory bang, opening with their Red Wedding-style events rather than patiently building up to them. Underdog protagonist Jinwoo Sung was already vulnerable in dungeons, and that danger spiked when he ended up trapped in a double dungeon with Joohee and his other allies. No one knew what to do when the smiling statues started stomping everyone flat.
That scene was an effective and shocking way to establish the unpredictable danger of the dungeons, all while setting up Jinwoo to cheat death in a unique fashion. Normal monsters wouldn’t have pushed Jinwoo to get a second lease on life with the mysterious level-up system, so without the statue slaughter, Jinwoo would have remained a meek E-rank hunter forever. It didn’t feel that way. The statue incident was the best thing that could have happened to Jinwoo, paid for with the blood of his allies.
Solo Leveling
- Release Date
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January 7, 2024
- Directors
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Shunsuke Nakashige
6
Akame Ga Kill!’s Ending Was Soaked in Blood and Tragedy
Streaming on Hulu
Right away, the violent anime Akame Ga Kill! made it clear no one had any serious plot armor. This dark anime killed off its heroes as often as its villains, and its explosive ending pushed all that to the next level. Even if viewers were prepared for yet another bloodbath, nothing could have gotten viewers ready for Tatsumi’s final sacrifice and the steep cost of Night Raid’s victory.
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The final victory over the villainous Empire was one of the most tragic, and narrowest in all anime, and the survivors didn’t feel too good about it. Akame and Najenda were left trying to pick up the pieces and come to grips with what had just happened, all while mourning the loss of all their other allies. In some ways, that made Akame Ga Kill! beat Jujutsu Kaisen at its own game, even if the writing isn’t as good as Jujutsu Kaisen‘s own.
5
Two Consecutive Murders Robbed Thorfinn of His Life’s Purpose
Streaming on Netflix
Aside from its large-scale battle scenes, the medieval anime Vinland Saga treated fans to a highly consequential Red Wedding-style event nera the end of the first arc. Thorfinn could only watch in shock, and then absolute despair, as Prince Canute killed Askeladd as vengeance for Askeladd killing King Sweyn. Thorfinn didn’t care about the king’s or Askeladd’s lives, though — as a selfish antihero, he only cared about having time to kill Askeladd himself.
That made Askeladd’s demise one of the weirdest yet most intriguing protagonist deaths in anime. Askeladd had been both Thorfinn’s mentor and worst enemy, and his death was tragic for the darkest, most twisted reasons, as Thorfinn lost his chance for bloody revenge. The deaths of Sweyn and Askeladd also shook up the story’s status quo, with the timid Canute becoming king of Denmark and Thorfinn being dragged off into slavery.
4
Griffith Sacrificed the Entire Band of the Hawk to Reach Greatness
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The single biggest, most memorable plot twist in all Berserk arrived when the laws of causality led Griffith to make his ultimate choice — embrace simple happiness or strive to become something more. Griffith chose the latter, becoming an official villain in the process and showing his true colors to all of his friends. By that point, everyone in the Band of the Hawk was just disposable tools to Griffith, and he acted accordingly.
Guts was lucky to survive a true adventure from hell as the God Hand watched the Apostles massacre the Band of the Hawk, with named characters like Judeau, Pippin, and Corkus all meeting their bloody fates. Guts was helpless to prevent the carnage, and when he and Casca escaped, they both had scars to show for it, tangible reasons for Guts to vow vengeance on his former best friend. Like the Red Wedding itself, the Eclipse was a shocking moment of brutal betrayal for selfish reasons, and no one could stop the butchery once it started.
3
Rimuru Was Overwhelmed When His Enemies Massacred His Monster Townsfolk
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Rimuru Tempest could get anything he wanted as an overpowered isekai anime protagonist, but Season 2 of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime humbled him. Rimuru finally found the limits of his overwhelming strength and power of friendship. He was lured away from his monster city, only for the Kingdom of Falmuth and its allies to invade and slaughter Rimuru’s city.
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Countless monsters died, most notably Shion, and it broke Rimuru’s heart in a true Red Wedding-style phase of the story. In fact, that staggering loss drove Rimuru over the edge, and he toyed with darkness as he killed thousands of Falmuth troops to awaken as a Demon Lord in retaliation. For a moment, it seemed Rimuru would become a twisted antihero, but he reverted to his more positive self after everyone was revived. That said something wonderful about who he was, Demon Lord or not.
2
The Buddha Temple Alien Mission Was Kei’s Most Heartbreaking Fight For His Life
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Teenage hero Kei Kuruno soon got used to the Gantz missions to hunt down aliens, but just when Kei thought he was on top of his game, the Buddha temple mission unfolded, which nearly broke him. This happened fairly early in Gantz‘s anime, a nightmarish plot twist humbling all the heroes and proving just how deadly the Gantz missions really were.
That’s saying a lot, given how every Gantz mission involved violence and extreme danger as Kei, Kato, and the others fought aliens to score points on various missions. For the first time, nearly everyone died on a mission rather than just a few casualties, and Kei protested the system more strongly than ever after that. At least the Buddha temple slaughter brought out the best in Kei, with him crying not for his own grim fate but for the sake of others. Until then, Kei had been a rather sleazy and selfish antihero, but the Buddha temple mission changed all that for good.
1
Space Runaway Ideon’s Ending Punishes Warmongers With Extinction
Not Available to Stream
For a time, the sci-fi mecha anime Space Runaway Ideon felt like a conventional 20th century adventure, only to unleash a shocking ending unlike anything else seen in the genre. Anime like Gurren Lagann suggest that if the heroes fight hard enough for a good cause, then the villains will be defeated, and the universe saved, but Space Runaway Ideon subverted that idea. Humanity and the Buff Clan weren’t just each other’s enemies — they were their own worst enemies, abusing technology to make war.
Space Runaway Ideon‘s brutal ending saw the destruction of both humanity and the Buff Clan, forcing them to be reborn without the intent to abuse technology, and that genocidal ending is surprisingly resonant. Not because genocide is good — it isn’t — but because humanity has an unfortunate habit of twisting technology into a way to destroy things and harm each other. Humanity must learn to trust itself with technology, or end up meeting a terrible fate of total slaughter.
Space Runaway Ideon
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