History FromBadToWorse / AnimeAndManga

* The manga ''[[{{MPDPsycho}} MPD Psycho]]'' by Eiji Otsuka uses this as a primary plot device, with its body-hopping serial killers and web of conspiracies. The live-action TV adaptation actually ''tones this down'' a bit; which is rather unexpected, since it was adapted by TakashiMiike, who is notorious for his {{Gorn}}-laden horror movies.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'''s Golden Age arc starts spiraling into a series of things getting worse after Guts leaves the Hawks. To wit: Griffith, after having been defeated by Guts, heads to Windham Castle and has sex with Princess Charlotte. When her dad, the King of Midland, who has had some less-than-fatherly eyes for her ever since the passing of her mother (an event Griffith was responsible for, as she was part of the conspiracy among the nobility to kill him), finds out about this, he's pissed. So pissed, in fact, that he has Griffith imprisoned in the Tower of Rebirth to be put to the torture and the Hawks he led declared {{outlaw}}, leading to Casca and crew having to spend a year on the run as they are hunted and killed by the forces of the country they once threw in with. When Guts returns and the Hawks learn where Griffith is being held, they mount a rescue mission. They manage to reach him, only to find him a broken, emaciated shell of his former self as a result of his torture. They make their escape, and have to deal with not only pursuit by the Bakiraka, but a goddamn demon and his mercenary army as the King is hellbent on revenge against Griffith. By the time it's over, the Hawks are demoralized and looking to go their separate ways, and Casca feels the weight of TheChainsOfCommanding on her as she attempts to rally what's left of Griffith's people. While things are bad now, it only gets worse when Griffith hits the DespairEventHorizon and finds his Crimson Behelit again, triggering the events of the Eclipse. The Hawks are transported into hell, where they are met with a multitude of demons and the four most powerful demons in existence, the Godhand. After the Godhand explain the nature of demons, Griffith accepts their DealWithTheDevil despite Guts's best attempts to reach him. [[spoiler:Because the Eclipse is the ceremony for the birth of a new Godhand, which only happens once every 216 years, every demon in the Berserk universe (with the exception of Zodd, who in the manga is busy fighting the Skull Knight) comes out of the woodwork to eat the Band of the Hawk alive. Many characters that we had come to like die horribly until only Guts and Casca are left, Guts because he makes a very badass showing against demon after demon after getting his bearings, and Casca because Pippin and Judeau, the two best warriors of the Hawks other than Guts and Griffith, sacrifice themselves to keep her alive and because the monsters have even ''worse'' in mind for her than being eaten. As Guts tries to save her, a demon snaps its jaws around his arm as he tries to reach her. Then Griffith gets reborn as Femto, the fifth member of the Godhand, and gets his hands on the now-naked Casca, who he proceeds to start [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty having his way with]]. Guts does everything he can to make a dent in the demon's hide, and when the sword he appropriated from Gaston breaks, Guts uses what's left of the sword to ''[[LifeOrLimbDecision chisel off his own arm]]'' in a serious badass moment to free himself so he can save Casca and kill Femto, a HopeSpot that is very cruelly quashed when Guts finally gets free and rushes Femto, only to be basically dogpiled by a whole mess of monsters, pinned down, [[EyeScream his right eye clawed out]], and ForcedToWatch as Femto rapes Casca to insanity right in front of him]]. And that's the point where the anime ends.

** The biggest example is the infamous WhamEpisode where everything explodes due to the smallest mistake. [[spoiler:"For example, if I ordered you to ''kill all the Japanese...''"]] Shit hit the fan in a way that no one could predict. "[[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1 It is of course well known that careless talk costs lives, but the full scale of the problem is not always appreciated.]]"

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

* ''Manga/PandoraHearts" in its entirety is this trope. It was pretty messed up to begin with, but then [[spoiler: a major character, Elliot, dies.]] This is a huge turning point for the manga, and although things weren't going very well to begin with, things get ''much'' worse from here on. [[spoiler: Eventually, everybody's either insane or dead.]]

* This is episodes 8-10 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' in a nutshell. First, [[IllGirl Hayate's]] condition starts to worsen, forcing her to be hospitalized and gives her a month to live at best. Then [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Suzuka's attempts at a surprise party]] cause Nanoha and Fate to discover that the Hayate is the the mast of the Book of Darkness and the Wolkenritter try to kill them in a desperate bid to protect their master. [[spoiler: Then Hayate [[ForcedToWatch watches her family get slaughtered by the masked men]] who are disguised as Nanoha and Fate, [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening causing her to activate The Book of Darkness]] and start TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Then Fate is absorbed by the book, leaving Nanoha to have to fight a PhysicalGod alone.]]

** ''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 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.

* ''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, slashes her open to see if she's really pregnant from the hero, then flees with the hero's rotten, decapitated head to die on a boat alone at sea.]]
* Berserk's Golden Age arc starts spiraling into a series of things getting worse after Guts leaves the Hawks. To wit: Griffith, after having been defeated by Guts, heads to Windham Castle and has sex with Princess Charlotte. When her dad, the King of Midland, who has had some less-than-fatherly eyes for her ever since the passing of her mother (an event Griffith was responsible for, as she was part of the conspiracy among the nobility to kill him), finds out about this, he's pissed. So pissed, in fact, that he has Griffith imprisoned in the Tower of Rebirth to be put to the torture and the Hawks he led declared {{outlaw}}, leading to Casca and crew having to spend a year on the run as they are hunted and killed by the forces of the country they once threw in with. When Guts returns and the Hawks learn where Griffith is being held, they mount a rescue mission. They manage to reach him, only to find him a broken, emaciated shell of his former self as a result of his torture. They make their escape, and have to deal with not only pursuit by the Bakiraka, but a goddamn demon and his mercenary army as the King is hellbent on revenge against Griffith. By the time it's over, the Hawks are demoralized and looking to go their separate ways, and Casca feels the weight of the ChainsOfCommanding on her as she attempts to rally what's left of Griffith's people. While things are bad now, it only gets worse when Griffith hits the DespairEventHorizon and finds his Crimson Behelit again, triggering the events of the Eclipse. The Hawks are transported into hell, where they are met with a multitude of demons and the four most powerful demons in existence, the Godhand. After the Godhand explain the nature of demons, Griffith accepts their DealWithTheDevil despite Guts's best attempts to reach him. [[spoiler:Because the Eclipse is the ceremony for the birth of a new Godhand, which only happens once every 216 years, every demon in the Berserk universe (with the exception of Zodd, who in the manga is busy fighting the Skull Knight) comes out of the woodwork to eat the Band of the Hawk alive. Many characters that we had come to like die horribly until only Guts and Casca are left, Guts because he makes a very badass showing against demon after demon after getting his bearings, and Casca because Pippin and Judeau, the two best warriors of the Hawks other than Guts and Griffith, sacrifice themselves to keep her alive and because the monsters have even ''worse'' in mind for her than being eaten. As Guts tries to save her, a demon snaps its jaws around his arm as he tries to reach her. Then Griffith gets reborn as Femto, the fifth member of the Godhand, and gets his hands on the now-naked Casca, who he proceeds to start [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty having his way with]]. Guts does everything he can to make a dent in the demon's hide, and when the sword he appropriated from Gaston breaks, Guts uses what's left of the sword to ''[[LifeOrLimbDecision chisel off his own arm]]'' in a serious badass moment to free himself so he can save Casca and kill Femto, a HopeSpot that is very cruelly quashed when Guts finally gets free and rushes Femto, only to be basically dogpiled by a whole mess of monsters, pinned down, [[EyeScream his right eye clawed out]], and ForcedToWatch as Femto rapes Casca to insanity right in front of him]]. And that's the point where the anime ends.

* The final two episodes of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' are the moment when the series starts spiraling into horror, concluding the Band of the Hawks arc on a very horrific and depressing note. It all starts when Griffith, having crossed the DespairEventHorizon and finding his Crimson Behelit again, uses it to transport everyone to hell. After the Godhand explain the nature of demons, Griffith accepts their DealWithTheDevil despite Guts's best attempts to reach him. [[spoiler:Because the Eclipse is the ceremony for the birth of a new Godhand, which only happens once every 216 years, every demon in the Berserk universe (with the exception of Zodd, who in the manga is busy fighting the Skull Knight) comes out of the woodwork to eat the Band of the Hawk alive. Many characters that we had come to like die horribly until only Guts and Casca are left, Guts because he makes a very badass showing against demon after demon after getting his bearings, and Casca because Pippin and Judeau, the two best warriors of the Hawks other than Guts and Griffith, sacrifice themselves to keep her alive and because the monsters have even ''worse'' in mind for her than being eaten. As Guts tries to save her, a demon snaps its jaws around his arm as he tries to reach her. Then Griffith gets reborn as Femto, the fifth member of the Godhand, and gets his hands on the now-naked Casca, who he proceeds to start [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty having his way with]]. Guts does everything he can to make a dent in the demon's hide, and when the sword he appropriated from Gaston breaks, Guts uses what's left of the sword to ''[[LifeOrLimbDecision chisel off his own arm]]'' in a serious badass moment to free himself so he can save Casca and kill Femto, a HopeSpot that is very cruelly quashed when Guts finally gets free and rushes Femto, only to be basically dogpiled by a whole mess of monsters, pinned down, [[EyeScream his right eye clawed out]], and ForcedToWatch as Femto rapes Casca to insanity right in front of him]]. And that's the point where the anime ends.

** [[spoiler: Madara teaming up with Obito to take on our main hero squad was bad enough, but then the '''Juubi''' is revived! So far so good as the entire alliance makes its appearance to aid Naruto and co in fighting it, only for the Juubi to transform from its bloated, mostly stationary form, into a]] [[EldritchAbomination horribly emaciated monster]] [[spoiler:that begins to nuke the hell out of the surroundings, INCLUDING the Alliance's HQ! This results in the death of Shikaku, Inoichi, and countless others from the now destroyed Hidden Cloud Village. Which also means Shikamaru and Ino now have to deal with the deaths of their fathers, one day after having to fight their dead sensei. And ''then'' Neji [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices his life to protect Naruto and Hinata]], which devastates Naruto so badly that he nearly gives in to Obito's BreakingSpeech]].

** [[spoiler: The resurrected Madara Uchiha is the king of this trope. His appearance alone freaks out the entire Unified Shinobi Army. He uses the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, with [[CombatClairvoyance all]] [[GuardianEntity that entails.]] Pulls out Mokuton on the army, revealing that he's even more powerful than he was alive. The shinobis have a HopeSpot, and think they've got him... [[OhCrap and cue the Rinnegan]] and ColonyDrop using '''METEORS.''' All five Kages join forces to fight him... where he reveals that his full power is a massive Susanoo that ''can cut down mountain ranges.'' And to top it off, he hijacks the summoning that revived him, meaning that he's now an endlessly regenerating immortal zombie with no PowerAtaPrice drawbacks. HolyShitQuotient has been breached.]]

[[BerserkButton Out of unimaginable anger and despair]], Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out in his ''[[UpToEleven 8-tailed form]]''; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] when Naruto ''willingly'' [[DespairEventHorizon starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal]], which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down and stabs [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]] after [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove she told Naruto she loved him]], which was the first time he ''ever'' heard ''anyone'' say that to him genuinely. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down and stabs [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

** This occurs during Pain's invasion of Konoha. [[spoiler: Having already killed Jiraiya and coerced Sasuke into joining him, he then runs amok, tearing souls out of people, launching [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill massive amounts of ordinance at homes and orphanages]], summoning monstrosities, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking disturbing the peace]]. He confronts Tsunade and proceeds to rip the soul out of Shizune, gaining the hidden location of Naruto. The village is in ruins, shinobi are dead, including Naruto's other mentor, Kakashi, and the secret they tried to protect is lost to the BigBad. And then Pain nukes Konoha]].\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down and stabs [[spoiler:[[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]]]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

[[BerserkButton Out of unimaginable anger and despair]], [[spoiler:Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out in his ''[[UpToEleven 8-tailed form]]''; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] when [[spoiler:Naruto ''willingly'' [[DespairEventHorizon starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal]], which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.]]\\

** [[spoiler: Madara teaming up with Obito to take on our main hero squad was bad enough, but then the '''Juubi''' is revived! So far so good as the entire alliance makes its appearance to aid Naruto and co in fighting it, only for the Juubi to transform from its bloated, mostly stationary form, into a]] [[EldritchAbomination horribly emaciated monster]] [[spoiler:that begins to nuke the hell out of the surroundings, INCLUDING the Alliance's HQ! This results in the death of Shikaku, Inoichi, and countless others from the now destroyed Hidden Cloud Village. Which also means Shikamaru and Ino now have to deal with the deaths of their fathers, one day after having to fight their dead sensei]].

[[BerserkButton Out of unimaginable anger and despair]], [[spoiler:Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out ''[[UpToEleven in his 8-tailed form]]''; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] when [[spoiler:Naruto ''willingly'' [[DespairEventHorizon starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal]], which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.]]\\

[[BerserkButton Out of unimaginable anger and despair]], [[spoiler:Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out ''in his 8-tailed form''; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] when [[spoiler:Naruto ''willingly'' [[DespairEventHorizon starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal]], which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.]]\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down and then stabs [[spoiler:[[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]]]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

[[BerserkButton Out of unimaginable anger and despair]], [[spoiler:Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out, in the 8-tailed state; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] [[spoiler:when Naruto ''willingly'' starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal, which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.]]\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down, stabs [[spoiler:[[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]]]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

** This occurs during Pain's invasion of Konoha. [[spoiler: Having already killed Jiraiya and coerced Sasuke into joining him, he then runs amok, tearing souls out of people, launching [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill massive amounts of ordinance at homes and orphanages]], summoning monstrosities, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking disturbing the peace]]. He confronts Tsunade and proceeds to rip the soul out of Shizune, gaining the hidden location of Naruto. The village is in ruins, shinobi are dead, including [[spoiler:Naruto's other mentor, Kakashi]], and the secret they tried to protect is lost to the BigBad. And then Pain nukes Konoha]].\\

** This occurs during Pain's invasion of Konoha. [[spoiler: Having already killed Jiraiya and coerced Sasuke into joining him, he then runs amok, tearing souls out of people, launching [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill massive amounts of ordinance at homes and orphanages]], summoning monstrosities, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking disturbing the peace]]. He confronts Tsunade and proceeds to rip the soul out of Shizune, gaining the hidden location of Naruto. The village is in ruins, shinobi are dead, and the secret they tried to protect is lost to the BigBad. And then Pain nukes Konoha]].\\

Naruto returns, far more powerful than ever, having removed the flaw from his [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Rasen-Shuriken]] and gained other [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] to boot. But it's not enough. He destroys some of Pain's lesser bodies, but in the end Pain beats him down, stabs one of his potential {{Love Interest}}s through the stomach right in front of him. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\

Out of unimaginable anger and despair, [[spoiler:Naruto's never-before-seen [[NumberOfTheBeast 6-tailed]] [[BerserkMode fox form]] appears. Pain gets a massive beating ([[NoOneShouldSurviveThat even more]] [[MegatonPunch massive]] in the anime!), but he manages to trap him in a planetary object. Oh, wait, things get horrible from here; Naruto bursts out, in the 8-tailed state; however, Pain claims he can trap him in an even bigger ball of dirt.]] It goes from scary to [[DarkestHour tragic]] [[spoiler:when Naruto ''willingly'' starts to tear off the 9-tailed Demon Fox's seal, which would kill Naruto and unleash a far greater threat than Pain.]]\\

*** And then things proceed to get even worse. [[spoiler:Bee is dead, Naruto and Sasuke are dead or dying, Zetsu has intercepted the half of Kurama that Minato was trying to use to save Naruto, Sakura was exhausted before she started performing CPR on Naruto, Madara's stronger than ever and has Minato, Kakashi, Sakura, Gaara and Naruto within range, Gai is barely able to stand, let alone fight, and the only one who seems to be in a position to do anything useful to help them is Tenten.]]

* The final two episodes of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' are the moment when the series starts spiraling into horror, concluding the Band of the Hawks arc on a very horrific and depressing note. It all starts when Griffith, having crossed the DespairEventHorizon and finding his Crimson Behelit again, uses it to transport everyone to hell. After the Godhand explain the nature of demons, Griffith accepts their DealWithTheDevil despite Guts's best attempts to reach him. [[spoiler:Because the Eclipse is the ceremony for the birth of a new Godhand, which only happens once every 216 years, every demon in the Berserk universe (with the exception of Zodd, who in the manga is busy fighting the Skull Knight) comes out of the woodwork to eat the Band of the Hawk alive. Many characters that we had come to like die horribly until only Guts and Casca are left, Guts because he makes a very badass showing against demon after demon after getting his bearings, and Casca because Pippin and Judeau, the two best warriors of the Hawks other than Guts and Griffith, sacrifice themselves to keep her alive and because the monsters have even ''worse'' in mind for her than being eaten. As Guts tries to save her, a demon snaps its jaws around his arm as he tries to reach her. Then Griffith gets reborn as Femto, the fifth member of the Godhand, and gets his hands on the now-naked Casca, who he proceeds to start [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty having his way with]]. Guts does everything he can to make a dent in the demon's hide, and when the sword he appropriated from Gaston breaks, Guts uses what's left of the sword to ''[[LifeOrLimbDecision chisel off his own arm]]'' in a serious {{Badass}} moment to free himself so he can save Casca and kill Femto, a HopeSpot that is very cruelly quashed when Guts finally gets free and rushes Femto, only to be basically dogpiled by a whole mess of monsters, pinned down, [[EyeScream his right eye clawed out]], and ForcedToWatch as Femto rapes Casca to insanity right in front of him]]. And that's the point where the anime ends.

* ''Anime/KotouraSan'': Haruka's DarkAndTroubledPast lives and breathes this trope. And, as it goes on, the prologue becomes increasingly DeliberatelyMonochrome.

* This is episodes 8-10 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' in a nutshell. First, [[IllGirl Hayate's]] condition starts to worsen, forcing her to be hospitalized and gives her months to live at best. Then [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Suzuka's attempts at a surprise party]] cause Nanoha and Fate to discover that the Hayate is the the mast of the Book of Darkness and the Wolkenritter try to kill them in a desperate bid to protect their master. [[spoiler: Then Hayate [[ForcedToWatch watches her family get slaughtered by the masked men]] who are disguised as Nanoha and Fate, [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening causing her to activate The Book of Darkness]] and start TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Then Fate is absorbed by the book, leaving Nanoha to have to fight a PhysicalGod alone.]]

* ''Anime/KotouraSan'': Haruka's DarkAndTroubledPast lives and breathes this trope.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': This series was taking notes from EVA. The story starts with humanity on the brink of extinction and still gets worse. Every victory is countered by about ten more losses. Every time we think we understand the Titans a little bit, they prove the information wrong. Loads and loads of characters die, some you might actually like. But the saddest thing is, the series makes every human death depressing.

* ''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: it goes FromBadToWorse. 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.