History FromBadToWorse / AnimeAndManga

** ''ShinMazingerZero'': In this [[http://i14.mangareader.net/shin-mazinger-zero/2/shin-mazinger-zero-931276.jpg picture]], Kouji is dashing headfirst in the DespairEventHorizon after his father has been murdered, his girlfriend has been raped and murdered, and he has been forced to kill his MadScientist CompleteMonster of a grandfather, losing an arm in the process. It gets worse? Oh, yeah. Straight after an EldritchAbomination dwelling in the body of a HumongousMecha will possess his body and will use him to fight an army of {{Robeast}}s. During three months he will fight relentlessly Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts army, gradually losing his sanity as the whole world becomes ruins. Finally his mind will snap, and the EldritchAbomination -fed and fueled by his negative emotions of rage, despair, madness, grief and pain- will get loose [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and burnt the world to ashes]]. The funny part? That is the ''first'' story arc.

** And, to make a very, very, ''very'' bad story short: the Organization is in turmoil, the Claymores are revolting, and to combat them, the Organization has [[spoiler: resurrected three very powerful former #1 warriors, one of them being the series' first serious '''CompleteMonster'''... and ''all'' of whom awaken within the hour due to the resurrection process. That's right, three new Lords of the Abyss, one of whom was irredeemably evil to start with]]. Where ''Berserk'' is "From Bad to Worse: The Series", ''Claymore'' is "We Got Bad News: The Series."

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' seems to revolve entirely around this trope.

* The S-class arc in ''FairyTail'' is this. First they're invaded by a dark guild that effortlessly takes out their BigGood and several of them get beaten half to death, ''then'' it turns out that the mysterious boy wandering around the island is actually [[spoiler:the infamous Black Mage Zeref]], and when they nearly get themselves killed managing to chase off all the invaders a [[spoiler:dragon]], which is powerful enough that problem number 2 declares them all screwed, shows up to kill them. They are presumed dead for seven years.

* Can basically be used to sum up most of ''FullMetalPanic! The Second Raid.'' A shadowy organization is working against Mithril, providing their enemies with technology to match theirs. Sousuke is not only pulled off of his assignment to guard Kaname and leave the job in the hands of someone he doesn't trust to protect her adequately, he is further commanded to never have any contact with her again. Instead, he is ordered to devote his energy to working with a HumongousMecha that he hates because its technology is unreliable. Eventually he slips into a HeroicBSOD and simply walks away from a mission, wandering through Hong Kong, acquiring a bottle of scotch, and letting himself get picked up by a prostitute. And then ItGetsWorse: [[spoiler:he finds out that his worst enemy, Gauron, is still alive and claims to have had Kaname murdered in Sousuke's absence]].\\

* ''ElfenLied'' is pretty much an ongoing downward slide of ItGetsWorse.

* The last StoryArc of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' has plenty of this. The previously immobile enemies wipe out the RedshirtArmy in seconds. {{Mauve Shirt}}s die left and right. A [[SpaceIsAnOcean Space Ocean]] swallows the CoolShip, rendering Spiral Power useless. The Dai-Gurren Brigade is caught in an inescapable LotusEaterMachine. It's revealed [[spoiler:the entire universe is threatened by the protagonists' ''very existence'']]. If this were [[NeonGenesisEvangelion another]] HumongousMecha anime, this would trigger bucketfuls of HeroicBSOD. In ''Gurren Lagann'' however, this only succeeds in triggering ''awesome''.

* As a {{Deconstruction}} of the MagicalGirl [[GenreDeconstruction genre]], ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has this in spades. You say that [[spoiler:your best friend just got eaten alive by an EldritchAbomination]] and that [[spoiler:entering into a contract with Kyubey means you have to fight them in order to obtain their Grief Seeds]] wasn't bad enough? It gets worse. [[spoiler:It turns out the Soul Gems that magical girls use to tap into their powers are just that -- [[SoulJar soul gems]] -- and that upon entering into the contract, you basically become a [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]]]]. And it doesn't even stop there -- [[spoiler:You know those Grief Seeds the magical girls are collecting? They're what happens when a magical girl's Soul Gem, which darkens every time she uses magic or otherwise gives in to TheCorruption, goes completely black. This means that every Witch (those {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that magical girls fight in the series) was once a magical girl herself (with the exception of those Witches that were once the familiars of other Witches), and that every magical girl will eventually become a Witch. ''And this is exactly how [[BigBad Kyubey]] wants it'' -- his job is to create magical girls and act as an "incubator" that aids their maturation into full Witches.]] In short, this anime is known as the ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' of the MagicalGirl genre for a reason. You can pretty much name any episode from episode 3 onwards and expect this trope. [[spoiler: With the possible exception of episode 10, which is more like Things ''[[AlternateTimeline Got]]'' Worse. '''''[[GroundhogDayLoop Repeatedly.]]''''']]

* The ''SailorMoon'' anime not so much, but the manga goes overboard with this. In the last "season" of the manga, every single person Usagi loves outside of her immediate family dies one by one, most are made a reanimated corpse slave of the BigBad Sailor Galaxia. She has killed countless millions of people and intends to do so on Earth, and she's only doing it for the power. Granted, it is SailorMoon, so it ends well, but the last few chapters are like a unending shower of angst.

* Happens in ''BlackLagoon'' with Hansel and Gretel. The Italian mafia brought them in to help take control of Roanpur, but they soon go far beyond their original mission of taking out Balalaika to outright sadism. It was already bad they [[spoiler: were hammering nails into the head of one of Balalaika's men.]]. It gets even worse when the Italian mafia decides to eliminate them. [[spoiler: Needless to say, not only does it not work, but Roanpur ends up being the site of a massive cat and mouse game between the two twins and...everyone else]].

* Happens in Black Lagoon with Hansel and Gretel. The Italian mafia brought them in to help take control of Roanpur, but they soon go far beyond their original mission of taking out Balalaika to outright sadism. It was already bad they [[spoiler: were hammering nails into the head of one of Balalaika's men.]]. It gets even worse when the Italian mafia decides to eliminate them. [[spoiler: Needless to say, not only does it not work, but Roanpur ends up being dragged into a massive shootout between the two twins and...everyone else]].

* Events going south very quickly when they had already been pretty bad is why ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'' ends as a {{Tragedy}} with at best a BittersweetEnding.

* The most glaring example, from ''DigimonTamers'' (which was inspired by NGE), is after episode 33. So, the little kid converted the bunny Deva into her partner. Yeah! There's no need to kill (there is no DisneyDeath in this series) the last (or so we think) enemy that we hadn't met so far! The title of episode 34? "[[spoiler:The Kindhearted Hero, Leomon]] Dies!". Oh, [[OmnicidalManiac it got worse]], ''[[NightmareFuel/{{Anime}} much worse]]'', and [[MindRape then some]]. The main characters are ''10 years old'' (bumped up to 13 in the dub).

*** The last few episodes are this as well for Shinji (everyone else is pretty much already going through this), a brief HopeSpot when Kaworu appears and shows Shinji some love, but then [[spoiler: Kaworu reveals himself as the final angel, invades NERV and almost causes the third impact before deciding to ScrewDestiny and make Shinji kill him,]] having to do this leave Shinji completely broken mentaly, add to that [[spoiler:Asuka in a coma]], [[spoiler:Toji and Kensuke]] having left Tokyo-3, [[spoiler:Kaji]] dead, [[spoiler:Rei being [[WeHaveReserves the third one so far]]]], [[spoiler:Misato]] falling into despair and it looks like Shinji's in for a rough ride, then all of a sudden: ''EndOfEvangelion'' [[KillEmAllhappens...]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and EVERYTHING goes to hell.]]

*** The last few episodes are this as well for Shinji (everyone else is pretty much already going through this), a brief HopeSpot when Kaworu appears and shows Shinji some love, but then [[spoiler: Kaworu reveals himself as the final angel, invades NERV and almost causes the third impact before deciding to ScrewDestiny and make Shinji kill him,]] having to do this leave Shinji completely broken mentaly, add to that [[spoiler:Asuka in a coma]], [[spoiler:Toji and Kensuke]] having left Tokyo-3, [[spoiler:Kaji]] dead, [[spoiler:Rei being [[WeHaveReserves the third one so far]]]], [[spoiler:Misato]] falling into despair and it looks like Shinji's in for a rough ride, then all of a sudden: ''EndOfEvangelion'' happens.

** To sum up the whole thing, the [[{{Gundam}} Universal Century]] is a steady ItGotWorse Gundam universe, beginning with the [[GundamUnicorn Laplace Incident]] in UC 0001 that set the course for the numerous tragedies to come, followed by the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam One-Year War]], the [[{{Gundam0083}} formation of the Titans]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Gryps Conflict]], followed by [[CharsCounterattack the Axis drop]]. Some time later, the much weakened humanity has to confront the evil [[{{Gundam F91}} Crossbone Vanguards]] and, the worst of the worst, [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Zanscare Empire]], ultimately leading to the Earth Federation's collapse and an interstellar Dark Age. The Universal Century is [[CrapsackWorld not a happy place]].
** The original ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' was a slow moving ItGotWorse until the emotional battle between [[spoiler: Athrun and Kira, where Nicol and Tolle were killed, Dearka was captured by the Archangel, and Athrun and Kira both went MIA]]. At that point the series fell off the ItGotWorse cliff and the whole HumansAreTheRealMonsters thing reached the breaking point. With superweapons galore and gorn at unbelievable levels, human life was reduce to little more than numbers on paper and the only reason that there was even any life left on Earth at the end was because of the existence of the [[spoiler: [[OnlySaneMan Three Ships Alliance]] and [[TheMessiah Kira]] himself]].
** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' is an ItGotWorse universe as well, up until the destruction of an orbital elevator, which ironically was full of [[HumansAreFlawed apathetic wealthy humans]]. From here on things start to take a turn for the better.

* About 2/3rds of the way through ''{{MaiHime}}'', the heroine of the series even remarks "I've finally hit rock bottom" after one of her friends tries to backstab her, which causes her to lose her temper so that her veritable little sister abandons her, her younger brother remarks that he doesn't want her help anymore since he doesn't want to be a burden on her, and the [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne HiME war]] seems to be getting out of control. But, that statement being as it is a beacon for ItGotWorse: [[spoiler:The next episodes see her little brother, and the guy she finally realized she had a thing for, dying in front of her, both killed by the now possessed DarkMagicalGirl, what-used-to-be her adopted little sister; her other good friend going off to die in a HeroicSacrifice to take out ''her'' best friend who has gone mad; and her entire life and everyone she actually cared for pretty much being in entire ruin by the final episode. But at least they got better.]]

* During the ''Manga/OnePiece'' Sabaody Archipelago arc, the Marine Admiral and his subordinates are picking the Straw Hats apart one by one. And then [[spoiler: Bartholomew Kuma shows up to utterly annihilate them.]] Think rock bottom has been reached? Oh ho, think again. The whole Whitebeard War arc is pretty much one big ItGotWorse, and we have still yet to reach the GodzillaThreshold.

* The first half of ''TsubasaChronicle'' starts off like your average action/adventure story where a group of characters fated to meet go on a journey together to find the pieces of Sakura's lost memories that have taken the shape of unique feathers. Their journey sends them to all sorts of interesting and diverse dimensions. Sounds like a light-hearted series, especially considering it includes Syaoran and Sakura from another [[Manga/CardCaptorSakura very well known]] Creator/{{CLAMP}} work, right? Wrong. After the Rekord Country arc ItGotWorse, just watch the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations {{OVA}}s -- that's where the series took a very dark turn. The manga continues with the darkness through several arcs, including [[StepfordSmiler Fay]]'s past which is anything but pleasant. Along with things getting darker, toward the end it turns into a massive MindScrew.

* ''DGrayMan'''s protagonist, Allen Walker's entire life is this trope. He's abandoned by his parents at birth because of his apparently deformed arm. As a very young child he works at a circus where he's beaten by the clowns. He's finally adopted by Mana at the age of seven, only to lose him three years later. Then Allen makes a contract with the Millennium Earl to [[CameBackWrong bring his foster father back]], only to have Mana [[CursedWithAwesome curse him]] before Allen unwillingly kills his now-Akuma father with his own Anti-Akuma weapon arm. The trauma turns his hair white. Then he goes through hellish training with General Cross for four years, which leads to him becoming an exorcist. After that it's just one horrible situation after another, including: [[spoiler: losing his arm, and Innocence, and getting a hole torn out of his heart thanks to Tyki]] and [[spoiler: seeing the only place that he could ever call home, the Order, almost be destroyed by a Level Four Akuma attack]]. [[TheWoobie Think he deserves a break?]] Too bad: ItGotWorse. The night before [[spoiler: his mentor dies]] he is told that [[spoiler: he is [[TomatoInTheMirror the host of the batshit evil Fourteenth Noah]] who wants to [[EnemyWithin take over his body and personality]] in order to become the Millennium Earl... and he'll have to kill someone who he loves dearly]]. It hasn't gotten any better since then.
* In the Natsume Ono manga ''Manga/NotSimple'', the protagonist [[TheWoobie Ian]] is almost ItGotWorse personified. The events of his life are as follows: His sister (who is the only person in his family he's close to) is put in jail when he is a child. During this time, his emotionally distant father abandons him to his [[AbusiveParents physically abusive]] alcoholic mother, who later decides to start [[RapeAsBackstory selling his body]] to fund her booze habit. After his sister is released, she moves to the United States and he completely loses contact with her, leading him to walk back and forth across the U.S. several times to try and find her (which he never does.) During this time, he learns that [[spoiler: his sister is also ''[[ParentalIncest his mother]]'', which was the reason the woman he ''thought'' was his mother hated him so much. Finally learning that his sister/mother moved to England, he goes there only to find out that she has been sent to prison again... only to die from AIDS. Which she caught from her boyfriend, who just so happened to be ''the same man that Ian's body was repeatedly sold to as a child''. Oh, and since the man was infected at the time, that means Ian has the virus as well.]] The light at the end of the tunnel for all this has been a woman he met and fell in love with three years ago, who he is supposed to reunite with upon returning to the States. When he gets there, however, he finds out that she has died in the interim, which leads him to [[DownerEnding finally commit suicide]] in a New York subway bathroom.
* Every installment of the ''WeissKreuz'' series between the BittersweetEnding of the original anime and the beginning of the ''Weiss Side B'' manga is a long, inexorable progression of ItGotWorse and ItGotWorse ''Some More'', as the DirtyBusiness the protagonists are forced to deal in takes its toll on each one's sanity.

*** The last few episodes are this as well for Shinji (everyone else is pretty much already going through this), a brief HopeSpot when Kaworu appears and shows Shinji some love, but then [[spoiler: Kaworu reveals himself as the final angel, invades NERV and almost causes the third impact before deciding to ScrewDestiny and make Shinji kill him,]] having to do this leave Shinji completely broken mentaly, add to that [[spoiler:Asuka in a coma]], [[spoiler:Toji and Kensuke]] having left Tokyo-3, [[spoiler:Kaji]] dead, [[spoiler:Rei being [[WeHaveReserves the third one so far]]]], [[spoiler:Misato]] falling into despair and it looks like Shinji's in for a rough ride, [[ItGotWorse then all of a sudden]]: EndOfEvangelion happens.

* ''{{Bleach}}'' probably sets the new record for most iterations of "got worse" in a single 20 page issue, with the release of chapter 364. [[spoiler:Two of the best captains get downed in 3 pages, without any buildup or warning. Then two of the best Espada are revealed to still be alive in another 4 pages.]] Then [[spoiler:Aizen, Tosen, and Gin are freed from the Blazing Fortress that Yamamoto had trapped them in at the start of the fight by the weirdass thing that Wonderweiss came in with, free to do as they please, and right in front of Kira and several of his injured buddies]]. While the last page hints at a BigDamnHeroes moment by a certain third party, it's going to be have to be pretty damn big to make a difference at this point.

* The most glaring example, from ''DigimonTamers'' (which was inspired by NGE), is after episode 33. So, the little kid converted the bunny Deva into her partner. Yeah! There's no need to kill (there is no DisneyDeath in this series) the last (or so we think) enemy that we hadn't met so far! The title of episode 34? "[[spoiler:The Kindhearted Hero, Leomon]] Dies!". Oh,[[OmnicidalManiac it got worse]], ''[[NightmareFuel/{{Anime}} much worse]]'', and [[MindRape then some]]. The main characters are ''10 years old'' (bumped up to 13 in the dub).

** And then in Minagoroshi-hen, ItGotWorse.

* It is pretty difficult to [[ItGotWorse get worse]] than the beginning of ''{{Texhnolyze}}'' but the show manages to do so in spades.

** The prequel to Zeta, ''{{Gundam 0083}},'' is one long It Got Worse as, while the heroes have their minor victories, the ostensible villains succeed in their goals... which turns out to be a BatmanGambit causing the creation of the ''real'' villains, the Titans of Zeta. ''0083'' is basically an "it was getting worse even before it got worse" prequel series.

* The first season of the ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'' anime ends on a down note - the shogun has fled and the forces loyal to him, including the Shinsengumi, are forced to withdraw from Kyoto after suffering a crippling loss against the new firearms wielded by the Imperial Army; Heisuke, Okita, and Hijikata have all become [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Rasetsu]]; Kondou is out of commission from being shot in an assassination attempt; Inoue and Yamazaki are dead, and the age of the sword is coming to an end. Then season two starts and it all just keeps going downhill from there.

* ''GhostInTheShell:StandAloneComplex'' in both seasons, particularly towards the respective ends.
* ''{{Barefoot Gen}}'', set in Hiroshima during {{World War II}}, begins with wartime shortages and deprivation. [[AtomicHate Then Little Boy drops]]. Afterwards, the title character must deal with famine, crime, and occupation.

* ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'', starts out as a seemly typical Anime comedy. But things quickly change for the worst, [[spoiler:the moment Shu meets Lala Ru and is transported to her bleak and hopeless world.]]

* The first season of the ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'' ends on a down note - the shogun has fled and the forces loyal to him, including the Shinsengumi, are forced to withdraw from Kyoto after suffering a crippling loss against the new firearms wielded by the Imperial Army; Heisuke, Okita, and Hijikata have all become [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Rasetsu]]; Kondou is out of commission from being shot in an assassination attempt; Inoue and Yamazaki are dead, and the age of the sword is coming to an end. Then season two starts and it all just keeps going downhill from there.

* The S-class arc in ''FairyTail'' is this. First they're invaded by a dark guild that effortlessly takes out their BigGood and several of them get beaten half to death, ''then'' it turns out that the mysterious boy wandering around the island is actually [[spoiler:the infamous Black Mage Zeref]], and when they nearly get themselves killed managing to chase off all the invaders a [[spoiler:dragon]], which is powerful enough that problem number 2 declares them all screwed, shows up to kill them. They are presumed dead for seven years.

** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' is an ItGotWorse universe as well, up until the destruction of an orbital elevator, which ironically was full of [[HumansAreBastards apathetic wealthy humans]]. From here on things start to take a turn for the better.

** The original ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' was a slow moving ItGotWorse until the emotional battle between [[spoiler: Athrun and Kira, where Nicol and Tolle were killed, Dearka was captured by the Archangel, and Athrun and Kira both went MIA]]. At that point the series fell off the ItGotWorse cliff and the whole HumansAreBastards thing reached the breaking point. With superweapons galore and gorn at unbelievable levels, human life was reduce to little more than numbers on paper and the only reason that there was even any life left on Earth at the end was because of the existence of the [[spoiler: [[OnlySaneMan Three Ships Alliance]] and [[TheMessiah Kira]] himself]].

* ''{{Diabolo}}'' is made of this as a result of the DealWithTheDevil plot. Oh, so you're doomed to lose your soul when you turn eighteen but you get [[CursedWithAwesome super awesome powers]] from it, well that's not so--wait, you start to [[SanitySlippage lose your mind]] as your [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity powers get stronger]], okay that's pretty bad, but still--you got your powers because the [[ChildhoodFriend little girl you played with all the time]] was sacrificed in a demonic ritual that you were blamed for, that's kinda screwed up--[[spoiler: your best friend goes batshit crazy and joins the dark side, [[WitchHunt the whole country is paranoid]], there's a giant Satanic [[ReligionOfEvil cult of seventeen year olds on the rise]], parents are murdering their children out of fear, and the only way to stop it is by killing not only yourself, but your best friend as well.]] Well [[PrecisionFStrike fuck.]]

* ''{{Gyo}}'' by Junji Ito is a beautiful example. What starts with one dead fish ends up wiping out humanity. Every time you think the horror has reached its limit, it increases ''exponentially''.
** ''{{Uzumaki}}'' by the same author also does a good job, especially the final few chapters.

* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' is a deconstruction of the LoveTriangle, in its original visual novel (''ChooseYourOwnAdventure''-style) video game format about a quarter of the endings fall under this. For the infamous anime, they made one that was worse than any in the game: [[spoiler: [[{{Yandere}} Girl A]] snaps, kills the hero, Girl B snaps, kills Girl A, then flees with the hero's rotten, decapitated head to die on a boat alone at sea.]]

** And, to make a very, very, ''very'' bad story short: the Organization is in turmoil, the Claymores are revolting, and to combat them, the Organization has [[spoiler: resurrected three very powerful former #1 warriors, one of them being the series' first serious '''CompleteMonster'''... and ''all'' of whom awaken within the hour due to the resurrection process. That's right, three new Lords of the Abyss, one of whom was irredeemably evil to start with]]. Where ''Berserk'' is "It Got Worse: The Series", ''Claymore'' is "We Got Bad News: The Series."

** Junji Ito in general. ''Hell'O Dollies'' is a good example: it's already bad enough that children are turning into creepy wooden dools, but somehow he takes it even beyond.

* The ''Twin Signal'' manga is a sustained examination of this trope, occasionally bordering on {{DiabolusExMachina}}. [[spoiler: None of the robots in Otoi-sensei's faction ever gain back any lost ground. Ever.]]

* {{Diabolo}} is made of this as a result of the DealWithTheDevil plot. Oh, so you're doomed to lose your soul when you turn eighteen but you get [[CursedWithAwesome super awesome powers]] from it, well that's not so--wait, you start to [[SanitySlippage lose your mind]] as your [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity powers get stronger]], okay that's pretty bad, but still--you got your powers because the [[ChildhoodFriend little girl you played with all the time]] was sacrificed in a demonic ritual that you were blamed for, that's kinda screwed up--[[spoiler: your best friend goes batshit crazy and joins the dark side, [[WitchHunt the whole country is paranoid]], there's a giant Satanic [[ReligionOfEvil cult of seventeen year olds on the rise]], parents are murdering their children out of fear, and the only way to stop it is by killing not only yourself, but your best friend as well.]] Well [[PrecisionFStrike fuck.]]

* In ''SilentMoebius'',after Roy gets killed by Ganossa,Katsumi gets ahold of a sword called Medium.Six months later,things go from bad to worse.

** In the manga, after a brief reprieve as the series moves back to its present day ("Band of the Hawks" is a flashback), ''it just keeps getting worse from there''. And in the most recent chapter? [[spoiler:Femto uses the Skull Knight's dimension-warping attack to fuse the mortal and supernatural worlds together, resulting in HellOnEarth]]. ''Berserk'' might as well be called "It Got Worse: The Series."