History DownerEnding / AnimeandManga

* ''Anime/{{Kite}}'' manages to pull this off with the came-out-of-nowhere murder of Oburi while Sawa patiently awaits him at his apartment for their HappilyEverAfter.

** One of the classic manga downer endings was ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'', which ended with Akira losing everything and everyone he loved (including his parents and his PluckyGirl girlfriend, Miki, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath savagely dismembered]] by a [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters psychotic mob of humans]]), losing the final battle between his army of devilmen and Satan's army of demons and ending up ripped in half by Satan, who was really his best friend Ryo (who was in love with him), and quite dead. And humanity probably got all but wiped out, although it doesn't go into great detail about that.
** ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' has the same ending, except with humanity's confirmed extinction, Ryo/Satan becoming heartbroken upon realizing Akira is dead, and {{God|IsEvil}}, who [[GreaterScopeVillain set the whole thing up]], wiping out the earth entirely. There is a HopeSpot in the very last scene of the series that shows Earth remade, but things go FromBadToWorse in the sequel series.

** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]''. The Titans have been defeated, but with the exception of Kamille, Fa, and the crew of the Argama, everyone else is dead or missing. Axis Zeon emerges as the strongest power after the war, and while Kamille succeeds in killing Scirocco, he got his brain fried as a result. It takes until the end of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' for all this to be resolved.

* ''Manga/{{Metamorphosis}}'': The story ends with Saki dead from a drug overdose after being beaten up, horribly violated, and robbed by some of her former classmates, the culmination of a long process of personal degradation and descent into drug addiction and prostitution. Any hope of her surviving is revealed to be an ImagineSpot, and her unborn baby dies with her.

** The final chapter of the series ends with [[VillainProtagonist Eren]] successfully causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and using [[FinalSolution the Rumbling]] to wipe out approximately 80% of humanity, save the Eldians. However, he laments to Armin that he never wanted this and confesses his love for Mikasa, but his ThanatosGambit required him to keep her at arm's length. In the end, Eren managed to achieve his goals and secure a future for his race, [[PyrrhicVictory but at the cost of the lives of himself, most of his species, and almost everyone he cared about]].

* ''Anime/{{Memories}}''. ''Magnetic Rose'' ends with the two guys on the spaceship torn apart, Miguel hypnotised and condemned to the fate of those who have fallen into Eva's wiles before him, and Heintz stuck drifting in space in his suit that will probably run out of oxygen soon. ''Stink Bomb'' ends with Nobuo releasing the chemical to kill Japan's military leadership and most likely wiping out Tokyo at the very least.

* ''Manga/BlackButler':

* The ending of ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'' undoubtedly qualifies; the final episodes follow Misuzu's excruciating battle to remain cheerful through bouts of extreme pain, ending with [[ItWasHisSled her death in the arms of Haruko]]. For those who paid ''close'' attention to the mythology of the Anime '''and''' the Game, there is still hope: The curse of Kannabi No Mikoto, Misuzu's first previous life, can be broken if one earns true love and happiness, which she does through Yukito and Haruko. So although she may have died breaking the curse, her next life will be free of it, and free to pursue happiness - ''if'' she has a next life, that is. It's AllThereInTheManual, hence strictly speaking it's a BittersweetEnding with an uplifting and hopeful note - [[GainaxEnding if it were not for the fact that the anime's ending is still rather ambiguous, even with the manual in hand]]. And of course, for poor grieving Haruko it all doesn't make one shred of a difference.

** In the novel, ''[[Literature/MobileSuitGundamHathawaysFlash Hathaway's Flash]]'', Mafty Navilles Erin (aka Hathaway Noa) is captured in the end and was sentenced to death by Bright Noa, who had no idea it was his own son he was executing. And moments before he's executed, the ghost of Quess Paraya appears to him, tells him she never loved him, and tells him that his struggle, started by her death that made Mafty go against the Federation, was all fruitless and his reason for starting it a lie. Double ouch.
* ''VideoGame/{{Gungrave}}'''s anime is a change up from the first game's ending which had ended with Grave getting his revenge and riding off into the sunset with Mika, keeping her safe. Instead Grave makes peace with Harry... after both have been shot full of holes by Millennion foot soldiers despite being ordered to stop thanks to Mika. The show ends with Grave and Harry killing each other right before Mika arrives to find them dead and cries while finding it in her to smile at her friend's fate. Oh and the song that plays? It's called "Happy Ending."

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': The end of ''Manga/PhantomBlood'', where Jonathan dies to save his wife and unborn child, taking his adoptive-brother-turned-villain, Dio Brando, down to the bottom of the sea with him. In the context of just Part 1, this is more of a BittersweetEnding; however, of course, in ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'', Dio is revealed to have survived and stolen Jonathan's body.

* The anime adaptation of ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'' ends like this, with Iroha losing Ui for good when she has to destroy her witch body in order to stop Alina, with Lil'Kyubey (the container of her soul) joining Touka and Nemu in their kamikaze attack, the Doppel System being destroyed with the deaths of Ui, Touka and Nemu, forcing the girls to go back to hunting for Grief Seeds, Kuroe rejecting Iroha’s help and choosing to witch out and Madoka (and presumably Mami, Kyoko and Sayaka) dying offscreen, forcing Homura to travel back in time. The only real upside is that Kaede and the other girls are cured from Doppel Syndrome, but even then, that's only because Momoko and Mifuyu performed a HeroicSacrifice to save them.

* The ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'' OVA: ''The Day of Sigma''. Dr. Cain dies, Abel City is destroyed, X and Zero are in bad conditions and the Mavericks and Sigma are [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]].

* ''VisualNovel/PhantomOfInferno'': (Anime) In literally the last minute of the show, Reiji is apparently shot by a disguised assassin in a passing hay wagon, and Ein is last seen laying face-up on the ground next to a poisonous plant that's missing a leaf. Their fate is left ambiguous.

* Despite the fact that the mood in the ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' anime starts very happy and then gradually goes downhill, the ending is still a big shocker when the allegedly pregnant Sekai knifes the male protagonist Makoto to death, then gets slaughtered brutally by her rival Kotonoha, who slices her open with a hacksaw to see if she's really pregnant. Kotonoha then carries Makoto's ''severed head'' around on her sailing trip. Brrrr! "Nice boat," indeed. Likely the only positive thing about this ending is that Makoto, who in the anime is a dimwitted and lecherous scumbag who uses the girls around him for his own pleasure, gets what he deserves ([[DisproportionateRetribution and then some]]).

* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' has these in about half of its routes, especially in the True Ends.

* The ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' anime has a VillainEpisode that features [[EvilIsSexy Lust]], who is contemplating her existence. A man from her past shows up and it's revealed that she does have a heart of gold - she taught the man to save an entire village from an awful sickness. The man and her reconnect, and she gradually draws too close to him. Eventually, the man asks Lust to run away with him, explaining he fell in love with her years before and his fiance doesn't matter to him. Lust's response is to kill the man, who is revealed to have the disease. This is immediately followed up by everyone else in the village screaming in agony as the disease kills them. To top things off, his fiance shows up and sees his corpse, and dies from the disease as well. Lust's response makes it even more chilling, showing that even the villain has given up on her objectives and will to live.

* A rule of {{Hentai}} is that if it's not a romance or comedy, it will nine times out of ten be depressing to the viewers. The following is spoilered due to squick. [[SchmuckBait You have been warned.]]

** ''Inyouchuu The Animation'' has the heroine and her friends captured by the Lord of Nightmares. Her friend and love interest try to save everyone but is captured and beaten to a pulp. The heroine offers her body to the Lord of Nightmares, to save her friend and give him an opening to kill the villain. At the end of the episode, the love interest finally recovers and charges the Lord of Nightmares using ThePowerOfLove to fuel him, only to be killed and reduced to green ash/gunk. The heroine says that she had given herself up shortly after offering her body to him, because her friend would not get up to save her. The anime ends with her saying she barely remembers his face, as the flames finally die down. Whether or not this is worse then the manga is up for debate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gungrave}}'''s anime is a change up from the first game's ending which had ended with Grave getting his revenge and riding off into the sunset with Mika, keeping her safe. Instead Grave makes peace with Harry...after both have been shot full of holes by Millennion foot soldiers despite being ordered to stop thanks to Mika. The show ends with Grave and Harry killing each other right before Mika arrives to find them dead and cries while finding it in her to smile at her friend's fate. Oh and the song that plays? It's called "Happy Ending."

* The ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' anime has a VillainEpisode that features [[EvilIsSexy Lust]], who is contemplating her existance. A man from her past shows up and it's revealed that she does have a heart of gold - she taught the man to save an entire village from an awful sickness. The man and her reconnect, and she gradually draws too close to him. Eventually, the man asks Lust to run away with him, explaining he fell in love with her years before and his fiance doesn't matter to him. Lust's response is to kill the man, who is revealed to have the disease. This is immediately followed up by everyone else in the village screaming in agony as the disease kills them. To top things off, his fiance shows up and sees his corpse, and dies from the disease as well. Lust's response makes it even more chilling, showing that even the villain has given up on her objectives and will to live.

* ''Manga/FrankenFran'' stars apprentice MadScientist Fran (who looks like a cross between [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Sally Ragdoll]] and WesternAnimation/{{Te|enTitans2003}}rra) who can perform miracle surgeries, but seems to be unheeding of the consequences. Of course, this being a ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''-style manga, a downer ending is all but guaranteed. For instance, Fran's emergency surgery on a girl who just rejected a homely boy saves her life, teaches her humility and the power of love, restores her body, brings the two of them closer, and suddenly transforms her into a giant praying mantis who eats her boyfriend the first moment they're alone. To the girl's credit, she ''did'' seem to like him for who he is and not how he'd taste. It's also an CruelTwistEnding, as well.