History DownerEnding / AnimeandManga

* The final episode of the first season of ''Anime/AldnoahZero'' ends with [[BigBad Saazbaum]] surviving and having killed Asseylum. Slaine shoots [[TheHeroDies Nao]] in the head at the very last minute.

* The ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' anime ends with Griffith, who is completely fucked up from a year of being put to the torture before being rescued by Guts and the Band of the Hawk, and who has pretty much lost everything worth living for, using his Crimson Behelit to call forth the Godhand on the day of the Eclipse, resulting in Guts and all of his friends being transported to Hell. There, the Godhand, the {{Big Bad}}s of the setting, reveal the true nature of demons and persuade Griffith to sacrifice the Hawks in exchange for becoming their fifth member. Griffith accepts their DealWithTheDevil, everyone gets marked with the Brand of Sacrifice, and from there, it all goes to hell as everyone is picked off one by one by a whole mess of things out of pure nightmare until only Guts and his love interest Casca are left. Then Guts' left arm gets caught in a demon's jaws as he tries to save Casca from the demons, and as he tries to free himself, Griffith is reborn as a demonic god known as Femto, who proceeds to fly down and start having his way with Casca. Guts is forced to chisel off his arm with what's left of his sword in order to save her, only to be dogpiled by more monsters and is forced to watch as Femto rapes Casca right in front of him as his right eye is clawed out. The manga continues the story after this, but the anime ends there. Never watch the last episode of ''Berserk'' if you're feeling depressed.
** [[FromBadToWorse And that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the manga.]] It makes one wonder what kind of real ending the series will have.
* The ''Manga/BlackButler'' anime has quite the downer ending where we see Sebastian rowing a boat with Ciel laying inside of it in a bed of white roses, just like in the second ending animation. However, we see Ciel isn't dead yet, and around him in the water are the Cinematic Records of his memories up to that point. When they reach their destination, Ciel sits on a bench (the same one as in the final shot of the opening theme) and looks at Sebastian, ready for what's to come. Sebastian tells him he'll make his death as quick and painless as he can, but Ciel retorts, saying he wants him to make it as painful as possible. Sebastian agrees and we see him gently caress Ciel's face, removing his eyepatch in the process. The last few shots we get are of Ciel's 'normal' eye wide in what looks likes an almost sorrowful expression as he stares at the demon. Sebastian leans down, and our final shot is of his lips curling into a smile before it cuts off to the credits.
** Not to mention what happened an episode or two before that where Maylene, Bard, and Finny have to kill Pluto. We also don't know what happened to the three afterwards, although we're left with the knowledge of "when I left they were still breathing".
*** And there's the ending of "Black Butler II", which is arguably either a sequel to the first series or an AlternateContinuity all of its own, where the wish of a dying enemy turns Ciel into a demon in his own right, which means that Sebastian can never claim his soul. So Sebastian doesn't get what he wants, is now forced to serve Ciel (if you believe he doesn't enjoy serving Ciel), and Ciel, who is arguably a DeathSeeker, will have to live with his pain and the emptiness of his revenge forever.

*** The circus arc in particular was a major downer ending, as nearly everyone involved except Baron Kelvin and the doctor were sympathetic characters, and turned out to have done Kelvin's bidding [[ShoottheShaggyDog and died for ''nothing''.]]

* The first season finale of ''Anime/CodeGeass'': the protagonist, Lelouch, has just been forced to kill his beloved half-sister because his own MagicalEye went haywire and drove her AxCrazy, going on a rampage killing all the Japanese people she can see just when the series was about to make a brighter turn (the Japanese were about to have equal rights with their conquerors, and Lelouch was about to ally himself with the cause). As he leads his forces into battle with TheEmpire, he finds out that an agent of the Emperor has kidnapped his younger sister, the person for whom he's doing all this. In the process of going to rescue her, he loses his army and C.C., his closest ally, his trusted bodyguard Kallen has her faith in him badly shaken, and to cap it all off he ends up in an almost surely fatal Mexican standoff with his former best friend Suzaku, who now despises and wants to kill Lelouch because said half-sister was his girlfriend. It all ends with the two friends leveling their guns at one another.

* ''Manga/DeepLove: Ayu no Monogatari'' ends with a broke and anorexic Ayu dying from AIDS in the city streets.

** Frankly speaking, just about all of Franken Fran's stories end with particularly mean-spirited and horrific fates for her [[strike:patients]] victims, to the point it is sometimes ''really'' hard to sympathize with Fran at all.
*** Not all of the stories have downer endings. And Fran only tries to help because she is literally incapable of giving a mercy kill (she was ''made'' this way), so she'll always try to save someone's life, no matter what.

** And it happened again in ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars DX 3'', what with all the Cures losing their powers and their WeaselMascot companions. When [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure there was a series]] that was just starting at the moment. Probably no surprise why they threw in the extra few minutes after the credits.

* ''Manga/{{Gilgamesh}}'', [[TrueArtIsAngsty itself an extremely dark and depressing show with overtones of hopelessness]], has one of the most spiteful ShootTheShaggyDog Downer Endings ever. Kiyoko, having already lost everyone and everything she cared about, having been forced into debt, despair, and work as a call-girl by the very Countess supposedly trying to "save the world" whilst ruining the lives around her, and who in lonely desperation turned to a member of the opposing Gilgamesh who then impregnated her, dies after mutating into a birthing cocoon for the hybrid lifeform. In the climactic final battles against the twisted Enkidu, his cohorts, and the Gilgamesh forces, it's revealed that they're essentially unstoppable and un-killable. This leads to the deaths of pretty much everyone in the cast not already dead at this point. In the end, it's revealed that the [=TeaR=] organism responsible for the first near-apocalypse and which has instigated the horrible events of the story is actually a living manifestation of the Countess's own petty, dark, hateful, jealous, twisted heart, and that she's directly responsible for everything without realising it, despite ostensibly and ironically trying to fix it. Upon this revelation, she accepts the death of Humanity and allows [=TeaR=] to wipe out all life on Earth. To add insult to injury, in the odd, meta-void left behind, [=TeaR=] is then killed by the Gilgamesh spawn from the husk of what was left of Kiyoko, meaning that [=TeaR=] won't go on to recreate the planet in its image and it's all gone for good.

* Given that it's about war orphans starving to death in 1945 Japan, ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' has not just a downer ''ending'', but a DownerBeginning and a downer middle. There's ironically a ray of sunshine in the ending in that the two ghosts are reunited in the afterlife (albeit refusing to move on to the next life), but overall, the whole thing is the downer of downers.
** To make matters worse, the story is semi-autobiographical. The story was based on the feelings of guilt the writer had that he survived while his sister died. He remarks that there were many times he found food and ate it without bringing any back for her and wishes that he had died. No wonder he killed off his AuthorAvatar.

** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]''. At the end, Al's friend Bernie attempted to fight and destroy the Federation's latest mobile suit, the Gundam NT-1, or risk having the peaceful space colony nuked. Except that he was himself using a damaged grunt unit. And the pilot of NT-1 was Chris, Al's neighbor who's attracted to Bernie (the feeling is mutual). The two dueled until Bernie was killed and Chris gravely injured. In front of Al. ''After Al found out the nuke carrier had been stopped and rushed to tell Bernie.'' And then Chris asked Al about his "brother" Bernie...
*** What drives it further down is the series' last scene: Al is attending a school assembly after the war ends, where his friends, who have no idea what he has [[BreakTheCutie seen and been through]], continue gushing about war and mobile suits. When Al finally breaks down and starts crying, one of his friends tries to cheer him up, stating: "Don't worry, there will be another war!" thinking Al is saddened over the cool battles being over. Al is alone in understanding that mobile suits are war machines piloted by other people, who if not for the war might as well be friends. What makes this line even worse is that his friend is right; there will be more wars in the future and they will be just as terrible--if not ''worse''.

** 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. Ouch.
*** That, 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.

** This is somewhat salvaged by the title of the episode being "Departure for a New Life", which implies Isabelle will start a new life elsewhere and carry on the Laustin's legacy]].

* ''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.

** Apparently that was the original ending. The continuation was made entirely because of fans [[RageAgainstTheHeavens raging against CLAMP]].

* ''Anime/MasterOfMartialHearts'': The Platonic heart doesn't exist, the losers of the tournament go insane and sold off as {{Sex Slave}}s. Turns out, Aya's entire life has been an utter lie. Her childhood friend Natsume, love interest Haruki, and newest friend Miko all want her dead. The entire tournament was set up by them for revenge on what her parents did to their families. Aya's mother saves her, kills Natsume, Haruki, and Miko. She stays behind in the burning building to to atone for Aya's sins, which kills Aya's Mother and the insane losers of the tournament. Aya then kills Natsume's mother, who was responsible for Natume and Miko's decision to hold the tournament. On the upside, this did finally end the CycleOfHatred that was running rampant in their families. Though Aya now has no friends or family. So, yeah, her life is pretty much down the crapshoot.

* The ending of the FRLG arc in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' involves preventing a giant airship from crashing into Vermillion City, Silver coming in terms with his father, everybody happily talking about meeting up with their other friends and [[TakenForGranite getting turned into stone statues]]. Thankfully, the next arc seeks to correct this.

* ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' has one of the most depressing finales ever: despite Chise's efforts, the world ends and the only survivor is apparently Shuuji. Chise herself becomes a tiny ball of light and the viewer is left with the impression that hope is utterly lost for good.
** Whereas in the manga Chise turns into a spaceship and she and Shuuji leave the lifeless earth and head into space (assuming Shuuji isn't hallucinating or hasn't gone mad because everyone he knows is dead).
* Surprisingly, or not, as the case may be, the manga version of the final battle against Chaos in ''Manga/SailorMoon'', in which the main character has the choice of either destroying Chaos utterly and the Cauldron with it, thus dooming the universe to a slow extinction, if a new Cauldron doesn't pop up somewhere else, meaning a new powerful enemy appearing causing hundreds of billions of beings to be killed in the ensuing fight, or just 'momentarily' delaying the ultimate evil's return resulting in a massive battle...in which hundreds of billions of people will die anyway, but might end up being reborn because the Cauldron is still there. Guess which option she chooses?
** Also, the implication in the manga that Usagi will become Sailor Cosmos at some point in the future, and that ''only'' she is truly immortal...everyone else she knows will eventually be gone, with only herself to keep Chaos at bay for what looks like the rest of time.

* 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]]).

* ''Literature/{{Shiki}}'': The villagers hunt down all the Shiki in the village, despite a few who weren't truly bad in the first place and were only being strong-armed into attacking their loved ones and friends. And while the villagers were acting out of self defense, its obvious nothing will be the same when everything's over. Yuuki dies fighting Tatsumi, blowing them both up. And just when it seems the villagers have won, their village mysteriously catches on fire and burns to the ground. Even the BigBad Sunako doesn't get away scot-free with her convictions shattered and on the [[DespairEventHorizon verge of despair]].
** The OAV clarifies the mysterious fire as an intentional act of arson by a badly disturbed local woman.
** Then there's the Shiki who are still in the cities. Whose jobs were to gather people to feed the ones in the village. It's never mentioned if they were ever in the village when both sides were fighting.

** Of course, that's nothing compared to the fact that everyone in the entire universe died. Or did they? The ending was very surreal and sort of left up to the interpretation of the viewer whether anyone had truly "died" in the end.

** This also occurs in Ito's other work ''Manga/{{Gyo}}''. The protagonists survives and likely joins [[LaResistance the group working on a vaccine for the germs]] later on, but his girlfriend and uncle were both infected by the germs and the girlfriend was killed by a mob of the infected, while the uncle carried off his attractive assistant to parts unknown. Not to mention Japan has been devastated and the infected are still on the march as well as having spread outside of Japan. Arguably not as bleak as ''Uzumaki'', as there was at least a faint light of hope in the vaccine the students were working on.

** It really is more of a BittersweetEnding. Ken had nothing to really live for and voluntarily went to prison so he could think, finding out that soccer was the only thing he still enjoyed, being in prison didn't matter to him. Considering the traumas and heartbreak yoji went through in his life, ending up with amnesia and getting married afterwards was a great thing for him. Aya really had nothing left to live for, he left behind his sister, his friends, his home. Omi sacrificed his innocence to protect the Takatori family and perhaps reshape it.
* And then there's the legendary battle of ''Anime/{{Windaria}}'' which opens brightly in a city saving upbeat vignette with a young handsome farmer as Hero. An epically crafted collision of Romeo and Juliet with Hamlet, by the time it is done the technological mountain kingdom has brutally massacred their brave but less developed lowland neighbors; the once-saved city (and its helpless populace) is undone and under a thousand feet of water; in a desperate doomed attempt to end the carnage the beautiful Princess reminds us she is Chekov's Pickpocket and kills her beloved Prince with his own gun before turning it on herself in one of the most powerful, heart rending and tear-jerking moments ever put to film; our Hero - after betraying EVERYBODY - comes home to find out that his innocent loving wife is now a ghost who only stayed to see him one last time ... and to cap it off, in the story's closing heartbeats, when he - having become such a weak, selfish lowlife that he's one of the few folks who actually deserves to die - can sacrifice his life to join his wife in the afterlife, he doesn't even have the guts to do so.
** The {{Macekre}} English dub completely changes the nature of the ending. It also adds a FramingDevice that wasn't present in the original. The voiceover narration is of the Hero retelling his memoirs as an old man. The opening suggests that he has recently passed away and his children are now reading his story. His last words in the story indicate that he was eventually forgiven in the end and allowed to join with the Tree of Life. Meaning that he made peace with himself at the end of his life.

** It can be considered a BittersweetEnding, because Masane's commits an HeroicSacrifice and for her it's still victory: Rihoko is more or less safe and Takayama is turned from scapegoat to hero. Also, the shell scene itself looks [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence rather ambiguous]].
* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}''. Almost the entire named cast is pretty much dead or assumed so, either in mutual takedowns or as suicidal charges against the BigBad, and Tokyo is largely destroyed AND flooded. The sole survivor is the protagonist, but even he loses his two best friends, one of whom arbitrarily does a FaceHeelTurn the literal instant the protagonist chooses to join the heroes to protect the two of them. The villains don't get to celebrate this new ally for long, because the {{Face Heel Turn}}-ed friend eventually chooses to screw the rules and decides to kill them all.
** This is, notably, only true of TheMovie. While the casualties are large in all incarnations of the story, the ending of the TV series is more of a BittersweetEnding and the manga is currently stuck in an indefinite hiatus.

* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', a manga by Creator/MohiroKitohis by no means any happier. Starting as a game, the children soon realize that everything is more serious than it seems when the adult who introduced them to said game disappears and the first child who had piloted ''dies''. The anime, however, manages to pull a BittersweetEnding of sorts off.

* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', another manga by [[Creator/MohiroKitoh the same author]] is by no means any happier. Starting as a game, the children soon realize that everything is more serious than it seems when the adult who introduced them to said game disappears and the first child who had piloted ''dies''. The anime, however, manages to pull a BittersweetEnding of sorts off.

* [[http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/Little-Red-Riding-Hood-and-the-Kind-Wolf/locate+Bittertrap/1 This adaption]] of ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'' manages to make you uncomfortable while not containing a single word. The cute drawing-style only helps its cause to leave you with a bitter aftertaste.

* ''[[Manga/LRLicensedByRoyalty L/R Licensed by Royalty]]'' ended with at least one, if not both, of the main characters pointlessly dying within the literal last minute of the show.

* The anime adaptation of ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagi MadokaMagicaSideStory'' 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 HeroicSacrfice to save them.

* The anime adaptation of ''VideoGames/MagiaRecord'' 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 HeroicSacrfice to save them.

* ''Manga/{{Shiki}}'': The villagers hunt down all the Shiki in the village, despite a few who weren't truly bad in the first place and were only being strong-armed into attacking their loved ones and friends. And while the villagers were acting out of self defense, its obvious nothing will be the same when everything's over. Yuuki dies fighting Tatsumi, blowing them both up. And just when it seems the villagers have won, their village mysteriously catches on fire and burns to the ground. Even the BigBad Sunako doesn't get away scot-free with her convictions shattered and on the [[DespairEventHorizon verge of despair]].

* The anime adaptation of ''Anime/MagiaRecord'' 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 HeroicSacrfice to save them.

* ''Anime/IsabelleOfParis'': Paris is burned to rubble, Victor is shot, Jean is shot, Irma commits suicide, Andréa dies attempting (and failing) to kill Thiers, Jules is executed, Geneviève is shot and her baby dies with her, Jeanne and the other Parisian commoners die avenging Geneviève, Gaston is crushed to death while mourning over Geneviève's death, but refuses to leave the building and Thiers faces no repurcussions for his action. The anime's final scene is of Isabelle staring at the ruins that used to be her home, having an ImagineSpot of the green and vibrant place it used to be, and she says this, before it FadesToBlack.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'' - Gato and Delaz are killed, but Operation Stardust ultimately succeeds. Kou loses his girlfriend (who sided with Gato), and is court-martialed for stealing the GP-03 after the GP-01's destruction, though released later. Captain Synapse commits suicide in order to take responsibility for the above. The Titans, who most of the Albion crew join, are formed, and {{Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam we all know how well that turned out}}. The good guys have effectively lost, and moreover their PyrrhicVictory sets the stage for an even bloodier conflict and all their attempts to help just sets the stage for a worse organization.

* The first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' 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.

** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]''. At the end, Al's friend Bernie attempted to fight and destroy the Federation's latest mobile suit, the Gundam NT-1, or risk having the peaceful space colony nuked. Except that he was himself using a damaged grunt unit. And the pilot of NT-1 was Chris, Al's neighbor who's attracted to Bernie (the feeling is mutual). The two dueled until Bernie was killed and Chris gravely injured. In front of Al. ''After Al found out the nuke carrier had been stopped and rushed to tell Bernie.'' And then Chris asked Al about his "cousin" Bernie...

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'' - Gato and Delaz are killed, but the Zeon ultimately wins. Kou lost his beloved scientist, and is courtmartialed for stealing the GP-03 after the GP-01's destruction, though released later. Captain Synapse commits suicide in order to take responsibility for the above. The Titans, who most of the Albion crew join, are formed, and we all know how well that turned out. The good guys have effectively lost, and moreover their PyrrhicVictory sets the stage for an even bloodier war and all their attempts to help just sets the stage for a worse organization.
** ''[[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. Then again, if you know that Kamille gets better in ''ZZ Gundam'', then the ending isn't as bad.
** The final episode of the First Generation in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAge Gundam AGE]].'' Despite spearheading a successful operation against the Ambat fortress, Grodek gets sentenced to life for committing treason and the Earth Federation covers up the evidence of his findings about Vagan. Also, the Earth Federation reveals genocidal motivations by renaming the first battles against Vagan as the War of Bat Extermination. Back in the Diva, Millais, Woolf, and Adams all get a HeroicBSOD from finding out that the UE were people all along and Emily overhears Flit grieving over his inability to save Yurin. Most importantly, Lord Ezelcant's forces are shown preparing for the next step of the war against Earth Federation.

* The first part of ''Webcomic/{{Magician}}'' is probably this what with Edermask being beaten by Janus and disappearing, Dirt dead and Janus's complete takeover of the continent.

* By the end of ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', over half of the cast has been killed with many of the surviving protagonists expressing a rather bleak pessimism about their fates. Eventually, the series ends when the anime's title robot is destroyed along with the surviving cast members. One of Kill 'Em All [[Creator/YoshiyukiTomino Tomino]]'s most notorious endings.

* 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 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.

* Both exemplified and ultimately subverted by ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. Most of the individual arcs end with one of the main characters either brutally murdering or being murdered by one (or more) of their best friends, but the cycle of murders ultimately leads to a Good End for the main characters.
** The same applies to its companion, ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. One of the worst endings has the protagonist stripped naked, forced to be a pet/servant to the antagonist, and is eaten alive by people in goat-masks. Oh, and this is ''after'' a lot of the other island's inhabitants are murdered.
** The ending of the series also applies where it at best is {{bittersweet|Ending}}. Battler finally once again can meet his family and Beatrice in the golden land or a {{downer|Ending}} where everything from ep 3 and forward was just a way for an amnesiac Battler to sort out his memories about Rokkenjima.

*** Not all of the stories have downer endings. And Fran do what she does because she is literally incapable of giving a mercy kill (she was ''made'' this way), so she'll always try to save someone's life, no matter what.

* At the end of ''Anime/AngelCop'', nearly all the main and secondary characters are dead, Japan's government doesn't change at all despite our heroes' efforts, and the country's headed toward a complete economic collapse. Raiden had to activate [[TakingYouWithMe a bomb within his cyborg body to take out]] [[BigBad Lucifer]]--said bomb being activated by having Angel [[I CannotSelfTerminate shoot him in the head]]. While Angel survives, her [[DefrostingIceQueen character development]] is implied to be undone after being forced to kill Raiden, the [[MoralityPet only person she genuinely cared about]]. In the end, the only victory is Taki escaping his custody and killing [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Maisaka and Nogawa]] with a helicopter bomb.

* ''LightNovel/DotHackAIBuster'', the novel and canonically first installment of the ''.hack//'' series, ends with Lycoris deleting herself and reincarnating as poisonous scenery. Nirvana-Flowers, to be exact. Yes, they are poisonous, but also beautiful. Also, they have a deeper meaning: Nirvana flowers are said to guide the living into the realm of death.

* ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' ends up with almost the entire named cast (save about five characters) dead, the ornate ThanatosGambit driving the plot having proved [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife completely futile,]] and the hero WalkingTheEarth having lost the only person he ever loved.

* ''LightNovel/SamuraiGirls'' while a lighthearted series throughout the first eleven episodes, the final episode has ''BOTH'' Moe!Jubei and Badass!Jubei perform a HeroicSacrifice by sending the resident {{Yandere}} Gisen up to the atmosphere to disintegrate. Unfortunately, Gisen goes on to state that within a thousand years later, she will be resurrected to do this all over again.

* The first season of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' ends with the protagonists discovering they were being manipulated for almost the entire series, essentially assisting the suicide of the very person they were meant to rescue and being sent home, traumatized.

* The first episodes of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' suggested a more-or-less lighthearted comedy/action series, if with a few shocking parts. It ended with most of the cast either dead or mentally scarred for life (including Rosette, although if Chrono died as well she gets to be TogetherInDeath with him) and the Great Depression just around the corner. [[TheChick Azmaria's]] fate ''might'' have been enough to push it towards bittersweet, but Remington is metaphorically kicked between the legs when he sees that [[KarmaHoudini Aion may have survived]], and even if he is dead for good [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil his influence lives on]], and is on his way to try and assassinate the Pope. End series.
** However, this is ''not'' the case in the manga version; while still hardly completely happy, it certainly wasn't as unbearably bleak as the anime. Most notably, Aion had the good graces to be confirmed ''dead'', and all of the main cast members survived (although Rosette still died much younger than she deserved, leaving Chrono to live on without her. [[BittersweetEnding So not completely happy]].)

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' has the ending to the episode "Hard Luck Woman". Faye Valentine, a woman who has [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesia]] about who she is or where she is from, finds out where she came from. Before she leaves, she tells Ed that there's, "There's no place better than a place you belong". She finally arrives and runs, while flash backs show an over-eager Faye during her teens/childhood running in the same street. Faye gets to the place in her flashbacks, and in real life, and sees her entire house demolished. [[TearJerker She just begins to draw a line into the sand to demonstrate where her bed was and look up at the sunset...close to tears.]]
** While it can also be seen as a BittersweetEnding, there's also the finale, where Vicious violently takes over the leadership of the Red Dragon, Spike reunites with his long lost love Julia only to lose her to the Red Dragon's men, and then decides to leave the Bebop to pursue a final one-man assault on his old syndicate, an assault that ends with Spike and Vicious both falling in the final showdown.
*** Though it's still ambiguous as to whether Spike REALLY died. He lived at least long enough to walk down the steps from where Vicious's body is to where the guards were before falling over. And let's keep in mind, he has fallen from a cathedral and lived and [[ShrugOfGod the creator isn't saying one way or another]].

* ''Manga/FrankenFran'' stars apprentice MadScientist Fran (who looks like a cross between [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Sally Ragdoll]] and WesternAnimation/{{Te|enTitans}}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.

* The first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' 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 villian has given up on her objectives and will to live.

* At the end of ''Anime/AngelCop'', all the main and secondary characters are dead, Japan's government doesn't change at all despite our heroes' efforts, and it's headed toward a complete economic collapse. Angel was badly wounded and Raiden had to activate a bomb within his cyborg body to take out Lucifer. It wasn't a complete downer, Angel was only knocked down by the resulting explosion that came after shooting Raiden in the head, Asura survived the fight with Lucifer and left with Angel away into parts unknown in the end, Taki escaped his custody at the end and killed Maisaka+ Nogawa with a bomb.

*** What drives it further down is the last scene. Al is sitting in his classroom where his friends, with whom he was so enthusiastic about mobile suits at the beginning, are still discussing war and mobile suits. Al finally snaps and starts crying. One of his friends tries to cheer him up stating: "Don't worry, there will be another war!" thinking Al is saddened over the "cool" battles being over. Al is alone in understanding that mobile suits are war machines piloted by other people, who if not for the war might as well be friends. What makes this line even worse is that his friend is right. There will be other wars and they will be just as terrible.