History FromBadToWorse / AnimeAndManga

* This is Episodes 8-10 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' in a nutshell. First, [[SicklyAndDelicate 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.]]

* Chapter 104 of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Up to this point, we have [[spoiler:the chaos of the rebellion in Central, the return of Furher Bradley, the deaths of Fu and Buccaneer, [[NightOfTheLivingMooks the army of Cyclops soldiers]], and Mustang being forced to commit human transmutation, becoming blind as a result]] as "bad". Then in this chapter, we have [[spoiler:Father completing his nationwide transmutation, turning almost the entire population of Amestris into a single Philosopher's Stone (including several major characters), and absorbing the power of God]]. [[OhCrap Essentially:]] [[KillEmAll "worse"]]. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt MUCH]] [[ApocalypseWow worse]]. [[spoiler: [[EarnYourHappyEnding And then it got better.]]]]

*** 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 mentally, 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: ''End of Evangelion'' [[KillEmAll happens...]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and EVERYTHING goes to hell. Almost literally.]]

* 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.]]

[[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.\\

** Sasuke remembers returning to the Uchiha compound to find everyone dead in the streets. It gets worse when he goes home to find both of his parents dead. It gets even worse when he finds out that his brother had killed them. And it manages to get ''even'' [[UpToEleven worse]] when said brother [[MindRape makes Sasuke watch the death of his beloved family over and over again for days on end]].

*** Just as the Allied Shinobi Forces [[spoiler:are about to be nuked at point blank by [[EldritchAbomination the Ten-Tails]], [[HopeSpot the first four Hokages show up with Sasuke and Jugo, all of whom are ready to fight for the Allies, the Hokages seal the Ten-Tails, and Obito shows up having been severely wounded by Kakashi]]. [[FromBadToWorse And then Obito becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuuriki and he's too strong for the Hokages]]. [[UpToEleven And the Infinite Tsukuyomi is already underway.]]]]

In the light novels, it gets a "hell" of a lot worse -- [[spoiler:cue Mithril destroyed by Amalgam, Kaname kidnapped by Tessa's psychotic brother (who just happened to invent a new type of mechanical soldier to dominate the world with), Sousuke wandering the earth looking for Kaname (where the author just decides to insert a CanonSue as a love interest *wince*), Tessa's brother ''mind raping'' Kaname in an attempt to sway her over to his side]]. Not fun.

* ''Anime/KotouraSan'': Haruka's DarkAndTroubledPast lives and breathes this trope. And, as it goes on, the DownerBeginning ProlongedPrologue becomes increasingly DeliberatelyMonochrome.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' seems to revolve entirely around this trope.
** 15 years ago a massive explosion in Antarctica caused severe changes in global climate that killed half of the world's population. Now freakishly huge and terrible creatures are repeatedly appearing out of nowhere to attack the almost entirely deserted Tokyo-3. And the only thing that can stop them are scary giant cyborg robots that can only be piloted by a bunch of emotionally scarred 14 year olds. There's no one else who can do it, and if they fail to stop the attackers, it will be the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. And that's just the first episode. Things go downhill from there very fast.
** Every single one of the main characters is either highly emotionally unstable or seriously fucked up in other ways. Fighting the Angels also takes a very high toll on their mental health and as the show progresses, it more and more shines through [[spoiler:that preventing the end of the world [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption has never been an option]]. It has always been just about the when and how, not about if it happens or not.]]
*** 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 mentally, 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: ''End of Evangelion'' [[KillEmAll happens...]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and EVERYTHING goes to hell. Almost literally.]]
** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' takes it to a whole new level by the third film. [[spoiler:Shinji has set off the apocalypse twice, seen his only true friend/romantic interest explode right next to him, been shunned by everyone, the girl he was willing to destroy everything for is gone and replaced with a clone and he has had his one hope of making everything better crushed. By the end of the film, Shinji's too traumatised to move from his entry plug, and Asuka is still berating him for everything. ]]
* The ''Mazinger'' series:
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In the beginning of the ''Mazinger-Z versus Great General of Darkness'' feature, Kouji believes his life will be peaceful from now on. Then an unknown army of {{Robeast}}s razes the main cities of the world to ashes. After that, they strike Tokyo. Kouji goes to fight them... and he gets easily defeated. The War Beasts easily burn Tokyo to ashes and leave after tearing Mazinger-Z apart. When he returns to his HomeBase, he finds the place has been turned in ruins for another squad of Beasts, his friends have been hurt and their HumongousMecha destroyed... and his little brother got crushed by a failing ceiling and is in coma. Shortly after more Beasts attack the Institute and he goes to fight them, fully believing he will die. He gets soundly beaten, and Mazinger-Z is finally destroyed. The only highlight is he manages walking out of alive.
** ''Manga/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.
* The ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime not so much, but [[Manga/SailorMoon 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 ''Sailor Moon'', so it ends well, but the last few chapters are like a unending shower of angst.
* ''Manga/{{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.

*** In chapter 406, Aizen [[spoiler: drops Isshin, Urahara and Yoruichi in one shot, and then goes to the Soul Society to try and destroy Karakura Town.]] All we know now is that Isshin is alive, and that Aizen has a mullet.

* The most glaring example, from ''Anime/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/AnimeAndManga much worse]]'', and [[MindRape then some]]. The main characters are ''10 years old'' (bumped up to 13 in the dub).

** Going by the speed at which the loop shortens, and bearing in mind that it's known to cover several years at one point, the number should be more like several ''thousand''. Oh, and although Rika is the only one to explicitly remember earlier loops (with some help from a friend), the others aren't unaffected - Satoko's trap-building skills are the result of long experience. In short, by the time it's all over, none of those close to Rika are exactly normal people.
* ''Manga/ShadowStar'' is the poster anime for this trope, as it starts out on a light and deceptively cheerful note and ends up getting systematically [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and more disturbing]] with each episode until the anime ends on a pitch black note (and the manga it was based on -- only the first half was actually animated -- is ''far'' worse).
** ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'' is pretty much the same way. Mohiro Kitoh seems to enjoy doing this to kids.
* In ''Manga/SilentMobius'', after Roy gets killed by Ganossa, Katsumi gets hold of a sword called Medium. Six months later, Katsumi returns [[spoiler: but she is possessed by an evil weapon [[FaceHeelTurn and turns on her friends]]]].
* ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' is an example of this trope to the point of causing chronic depression. One release actually had a warning at the end of almost-happy episode 10, saying that absolutely nothing happy was going to happen after that point.
** The manga has a similar note after the date in volume 2. [[FridgeHorror That's when you remember you're only halfway through volume two of seven]].
* It is pretty difficult to get worse than the beginning of ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'' but the show manages to do so in spades.
* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' is a deconstruction of the LoveTriangle, in its original visual novel (''{{Gamebooks}}''-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}} Sekai]] snaps and stabs Makoto to death, Kotonoha snaps, kills Sekai, slashes her open to see if she's really pregnant from Makoto, then flees with Makoto's rotting, severed head to die on a boat alone at sea.]]
* ''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 [[ParentalIncest less-than-fatherly eyes for her]] ever since the passing of her mother, 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 Nosferatu 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 1997 anime ends.
** 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''. Case in point: [[spoiler:Femto uses the Skull Knight's dimension-warping attack to fuse the mortal and supernatural worlds together, resulting in HellOnEarth]].
** Guts and Casca's entire [[StarCrossedLovers romantic relationship]] is this. It just never seems to get any better [[TheWoobie for these two]]. [[spoiler:Even after Casca's mind gets restored, she can't even ''look'' at Guts without triggering some horrific Eclipse PTSD.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** The Piccolo-Daimao arc of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' as well. Immediately after Goku and Tien's fight ends, Krillin is killed by one of Piccolo's minions. Goku goes after said minion and is seemingly killed as well. Oolong finds a paper with the Japanese character "Ma" (which roughly translates to "Demon" or "Devil"), which is when Master Roshi decides everyone's in mortal danger. Goku wakes up for a brief reprieve and meets Yajirobe, but then fights Piccolo himself and is [[CurbstompBattle stomped, to say the least.]] Soon after, Master Roshi attacks Piccolo and uses the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Evil Containment Wave]], which doesn't work. Then Piccolo wishes for eternal youth and kills Chiaotzu. THEN Piccolo invades the capital city of the entire world and successfully becomes king of the world, and announces that he will choose a district of the world to destroy every year via lottery, to commemorate his coronation, and starts with West City, Bulma's [[DoomedHometown home city]]. Tien shows up, armed with the Evil Containment Wave, but never gets the chance to use it and finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle. Things don't get better until Goku returns, having powered up tremendously.
** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
*** The Majin Buu saga. Buu goes on a rampage after killing Vegeta. Then he gets redeemed, only to be overwhelmed and absorbed by the evil inside him. This new creature kills off a large chunk of the long-standing cast, and every challenger, though at first looking quite promising, is eventually defeated and absorbed as well. And just when Goku and the temporarily restored Vegeta think they've got him on the ropes, Kid Majin Buu finally does what nobody else had every been able to do - he destroys Earth, and everyone on it, including the four friends Goku and Vegeta just saved. Three of whom are their sons. Even before destroying Earth, Buu had already used the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] [[BeamSpam Human Genocide Attack]], meaning there weren't many people left to kill anyway.
*** Basically, if Goku is ''begging'' for the monster to stop (and mind you, Goku isn't the type to beg. ''At all!''), you know everyone is well and truely screwed.
** Similarly, the Android Saga kicked off with a group of androids which would apparently go on to slaughter all the Z Fighters and take over the world. The next thing you know, [[SuperSoldier Cell]] makes an appearance...
*** The Garlic Jr Saga was this; first Garlic Jr escapes the Dead Zone, then he imprisons Kami and Popo in glass bottles, then he unleashes the Black Water Mist upon the Earth causing all who breathe it to become his mindless slaves that turn on their un-infected friends and family. Almost everyone on Earth is infected including several of our heroes' allies and family. Then Piccolo is bitten by evil Z Fighters and turns as well leaving only Gohan and Krillin to save everyone, but then Gohan gets his ass kicked by Piccolo, who shortly afterwards bites and infects Krillin, turning him bad too. On top of all that, there's no Goku or Vegeta to help out and Garlic Jr is immortal. Thankfully, Piccolo and Krillin were only pretending to be infected in order to save Kami and Popo, but before the reveal things looked utterly hopeless for poor Gohan.
* The last StoryArc of ''Anime/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 another HumongousMecha anime, this would trigger bucketfuls of HeroicBSOD. In ''Gurren Lagann'' however, this only succeeds in triggering ''awesome''.
* Pretty much the ending of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' in which [[spoiler:the AEUG destroys the Titans, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu at the expense of most of their pilots, Kamille's psyche, and pretty much every ship that was at Gryps 2 barring the Argama]]]]. The actual getting worse happens in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'', where [[spoiler:the squeaky-clean Axis forces form Neo Zeon and invade Earth as the decimated AEUG and Earth Federation scramble to get their acts together]].

* ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' takes a turn for the worse near the end of the story: Ryo Asuka reveals to the world that his best friend, Akira Fudo, is Devilman. People become afraid of Akira, his girlfriend Miki's parents are arrested and tortured, and Miki herself is murdered by an angry mob. Eventually, humanity goes extinct in the war with demonkind, and Akira spends the next twenty years fighting Ryo, who is actually the fallen angel Satan. [[spoiler:In the end, Akira dies fighting Satan, leaving his mortal enemy heartbroken in the moments before angels descend upon the earth to cleanse it of demons.]]
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': If things look like they're going to get ''slightly'' better for Lelouch, the universe will fix this by an [[DiabolusExMachina inconveniently timed bullet/confession/precision-guided meteor strike on whatever Lulu loves, etc]].
** The biggest example is the infamous WhamEpisode where everything explodes due to the smallest mistake. [[spoiler:"For example, if I ordered you to ''[[PowerIncontinence 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.]]"
** Respectfully disagree the biggest from bad to worse moment is when [[spoiler: when Suzaku blows up Tokyo and supposedly kills Nunnally Lelouch is subsequently betrayed by his [[TrueCompanions BlackKnights]] and the last loyal person to him dies to save him as his former companions set out to martyr him]].

* Can basically be used to sum up most of ''LightNovel/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 it gets worse: [[spoiler:he finds out that his worst enemy, Gauron, is still alive and claims to have had Kaname murdered in Sousuke's absence]].\\

In the light novels, it gets a "hell" of a lot worse -- [[spoiler:cue Mithril destroyed by Amalgam, Kaname kidnapped by Tessa's psychotic brother (who just happened to invent a new type of mechanical soldier to dominate the world with), Sousuke wandering the earth looking for Kaname (where the author just decides to insert a CanonSue as a love interest *wince*), Tessa's brother ''mind raping'' Kaname in an attempt to sway her over to his side]]. Not fun.
* Both the anime ''and'' the manga of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' use this. ''Often''. Most of the examples are far too complicated to list here, but here's a few cliff note examples, avoiding spoilers as much as possible: After the heroes are attacked on a train, they seem to defeat their enemy -- only to put themselves into an even more dangerous situation. They win the fight, but inadvertently give information to the BigBad in the process. Another scene has the heroes finally reaching one of their goals, when they're attacked by the BigBad. Chrono attempts to protect Rosette, but gets badly wounded in the process. In the manga, his fear of [[BerserkButton Rosette getting hurt]] causes him to fly into an UnstoppableRage [[spoiler: and unseal his powers, which drains Rosette's lifespan drastically as he uses them. He manages to stop himself, only to be stabbed by Aion, who then takes off with one of the members of their Nakama.]] In the anime, Chrono recovers to fight Joshua--[[spoiler:removing his horns, but also "stopping" his time in the process. Aion then kidnaps Rosette and abandons Joshua and the other apostles for dead.]] And that's not even talking about how either the anime or the manga ''ends''...

* In ''Manga/ExcelSaga'', Excel's life worsens as the series progresses. Excel goes from living alone and trying to pay the rent on a crapppy apartment, to sharing the apartment with two other people, to trying to escape a prison and an island, to losing her memory (though her life was actually pretty nice then, but Excel would not see it that way), to regaining her memory and living under a bridge.
** In [[Anime/ExcelSaga the anime]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IciH_Jgj9lw the story of Pedro]], the cursed migrant worker, is a comedic version of this. Oddly enough, it's also the only continuity the show has until almost the very end.
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' in both seasons, particularly towards the respective ends.
* ''Manga/BarefootGen'', set in Hiroshima during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, begins with Gen's family struggling with wartime food shortages while being persecuted as traitors for having spoken against the war. [[AtomicHate Then Little Boy drops]]. Afterwards, the title character must deal with famine, crime, and occupation.
* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' The starting point for getting oh so much worse is the firebombing of Kobe. [[spoiler: It gets worse so fast that the main characters don't even get to see the occupation.]]

** The Water Seven arc starts out on a pleasant note, but becomes the Straw Hats' darkest story arc thus far within about 24 hours. Shortly after their arrival, Robin encounters someone from CP9 and disappears. The Straw Hats sell their gold for money to use to repair their ship, but learn that the Going Merry is beyond repair. Shortly thereafter, Usopp gets attacked and two thirds of the money is stolen. Usopp takes the decision to replace the Merry very badly, leaves the crew and fights a duel with Luffy, losing and worsening his injuries. The Straw Hats wake up the next morning feeling depressed about everything that happened the previous day... then learn that they've been framed for an assassination attempt on Iceberg's life, that Robin supposedly betrayed them by helping the assassin, and that a massive storm known as the Aqua Laguna is heading toward the island.

%%* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is pretty much an ongoing downward slide of going FromBadToWorse.
* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' tends to feel like It Gets Worse, and Worse, and Worse, and Worse, and ...
* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' pretty much lives this trope. The first issue sees the protagonists die. Things get no better for them as they are forced into a bizarre war-game by a sentient 1337-5p33king black sphere. Even in an early mission, the enemies rapidly scale from 20-foot tall statues to a hundred-foot Buddha trying to kill the team. And that's not even the worst they face in that incident. Which compared to the [[spoiler: Osaka and Italy]] missions was pretty much a walk in the park. Also, the complications created by Gantz' ability to [[spoiler: bring the dead back to life and alter memories]] which is exploited by at least one team member with predictably screwed-up consequences.
* You think ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' is pretty grim and bleak? Try chapter 95. [[spoiler:Bad news: a new type of Awakened Beings appear that have no weak points. Good news: they die on their own if you fight them long enough. Bad news: they reproduce exponentially by infecting people with their parasites. More bad news: Riful is still alive. Kinda good news: she is attacked by the Organization's hunter-killers. Good news: said hunter-killers are killed by Alice. Back to bad news: that's because Alice Awakened. Very bad news: Alice Awakened because Beth, Number ''#2'', was killed by one of those parasites that turn people into mindless monsters. And the very, ''very'' bad news: the cause of all this is still at large... and it is immensely more powerful than any of its spawns.]] Holy shit.
** Good News [[spoiler: Priscilla is back to her normal mindset and using consciously her apparently endless powers to kill Alice and Beth, who had almost killed pretty much all the already established as insanely powerful characters or whoever overpowered those characters, all in a "*scoff* whatever" mildly interested attitude]]. Wait... that isn't good news... that isn't good news at all... [[spoiler: Priscilla has killed Riful with a single, effortless touch and has approached Clare's group, resulting in Clare activating her trump card of Awakening...only to discover that she is ''physically incapable of Awakening''.]]
** It says something about a series when [[spoiler:a character ''not'' being able to irreversibly transform into a horrible man-eating monster]] is a ''bad'' thing.
** [[ButWaitTheresMore And now]] - MORE BAD NEWS! [[spoiler: Now that Clare finds out that she can't fully Awaken - and can't use her speed to its full potential in order to defeat Priscilla - she is quickly defeated, but Deneve and Helen escape with her while they have the chance. Meanwhile, the Destroyer (which is Luciella and Rafaela's combined awakened form) is infecting and sucking the life out everything in its vicinity, and in the turmoil, Clare gets assimilated, which allows Priscilla to catch up with the group. However, Clare is able to take control of the Destroyer's youki for a brief moment [[TakingYouWithMe and catches Priscilla,]] allowing both Deneve and Helen to escape as both Clare and Priscilla are absorbed into the Destroyer.]]... and we haven't seen them since.
** 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 '''monster'''... 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."
* ''Manga/{{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''.
** ''Manga/{{Uzumaki}}'' by the same author also does a good job, especially the final few chapters.
** Junji Ito in general. ''Hell'O Dollies'' is a good example: it's already bad enough that children are turning into creepy wooden dolls, but somehow he takes it even beyond.

* While it's normally more optimistic, the point of the recent flashbacks in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' seem to be to show exactly how everything went to hell for Negi's parents immediately after the war ended. (And judging by [[DarkAndTroubledPast Negi's past]], things didn't really get better for the Springfield family for a while.)
* The manga ''Manga/MPDPsycho'' 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 Creator/TakashiMiike, who is notorious for his {{Gorn}}-laden horror movies.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the Chuunin Exam is a stack of FromBadToWorse moments. A powerful grass ninja puts Demon!Naruto out of commission, who, up until this moment had been a Jonin-level threat. Then, there's a HopeSpot as it seems like Sasuke got his act together and has an entire action-filled episode of him going toe-to-toe with the enemy. It seems he's out-maneuvered the enemy and won the battle...[[BigBad only to find out that the person he's fighting is much,]] ''[[BigBad much]]'' [[BigBad worse.]] This is the point in the series where Sasuke's StartOfDarkness begins.
** This occurs during Pain's invasion of Konoha. 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 [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] through the stomach [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]] after [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove she told him she loved him]], which was the first time he ''ever'' heard ''anybody'' say that to him genuinely. This ain't over yet; it gets worse.\\
\\
[[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.\\
\\
Believe it or not, [[spoiler:things get better.]]
** Sasuke remembers returning to the Uchiha compound to find everyone dead in the streets. It gets worse when he goes home to find both of his parents dead. It gets even worse when he finds out that his brother had killed them. And it manages to get ''even'' [[UpToEleven worse]] when said brother [[MindRape makes Sasuke watch the death of his beloved family over and over again for days on end]].
*** It gets ''even'' worse when he finds out that his brother [[spoiler:was ordered by the village's elders to kill the Uchiha clan, then prompting Sasuke not to want revenge against his brother but the entirety of Konoha]].
** [[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. JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient has been breached.]]
** [[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]] 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]].
*** Just as the Allied Shinobi Forces [[spoiler:are about to be nuked at point blank by [[EldritchAbomination the Ten-Tails]], [[HopeSpot the first four Hokages show up with Sasuke and Jugo, all of whom are ready to fight for the Allies, the Hokages seal the Ten-Tails, and Obito shows up having been severely wounded by Kakashi]]. [[FromBadToWorse And then Obito becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuuriki and he's too strong for the Hokages]]. [[UpToEleven And the Infinite Tsukuyomi is already underway.]]]]
*** 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 already 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.]]
** Downplayed when [[spoiler:Kaguya replaces Madara. While she is far stronger than Madara, she is [[UnskilledButStrong less tactical]] and initially tries to absorb the heroes' chakra rather than kill them before they can analyze her jutsu.]]
* The first half of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' 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 FromBadToWorse, 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.
** '''Manga/XxxHolic''', ''Tsubasa'''s sister series, also takes a dark turn. We're introduced to some interesting, yet funny characters such as the very quirky and {{Tsundere}}-esque Watanuki Kimihiro who can see the supernatural -- [[SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious this only causes him problems, though]]. We follow Watanuki through his daily life as he helps around Yuuko's shop and tries to win the heart of Himawari, while arguing with his (thought to be -- in his mind, anyway) rival, Doumeki, for her affection. As ''Tsubasa'' took a darker turn, Holic slowly followed suit. As the story progresses [[spoiler: Watanuki unconsciously tries to kill himself by falling out of a second story school window, which happens during a pivotal moment in the Acid Tokyo arc in ''Tsubasa''. We also learn that Himawari doesn't get close to people because she was cursed with horrible luck -- so bad that she's unintentionally KILLED people merely by being in the vicinity. Things continue to go downhill from there.]]
* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' - Except for [[spoiler: the ending.]] Maybe.
* ''Manga/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.
* In the Natsume Ono manga ''Manga/NotSimple'', the protagonist [[TheWoobie Ian]] is almost FromBadToWorse 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.

* Each episode of ''Anime/{{Shiki}}'' is pretty much an exponential slide of "It Just Got Worse".
* When ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'''s Ala Alba pull off a dangerous rescue/theft right from the clutches of Fate, they lose some [[MauveShirt promoted-to-main characters]] but at least they succeeded, right? [[spoiler:What do you mean there's more forc- FOUR MORE AVERRUNCUSES? Oh SHIT.]]
** Oh wait, [[spoiler:when Negi recovered and with two of those Averruncuses defeated, things should be moving up about no- wait WHAT?! COSMO ENTELCHIA HAS SET THEIR PLAN IN MOTION?! THE MAGICAL WORLD IS APPEARING IN MAHORA?!]] Ouch!
** [[spoiler:FINALLY, the battles with Negi and Fate, Setsuna and Tsukuyomi, and Mana and Poyo are over with Ala Alba victorious. Both group are starting to work together and WHAT! THE COSMO ENTELCHIA MEMBERS ARE ASSEMBLED AND THE LIFEMAKER HAS REVIVED!?]] Is the series starting to have a [[Anime/DragonBallZ DBZ syndrome]]?
* The ''Manga/TwinSignal'' 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.]]
* 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, 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.]]''''']]
** And then [[spoiler: everything is all right at the end. [[EarnYourHappyEnding They more than earned it]]]].
*** And then ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion]]'' happens. [[spoiler:Due to Kyubey's machinations, the characters are pulled into a witch-barrier replica of their hometown, with the witch being none other than ''Homura herself''. And once the other Mahou Shoujo finally take her down and free her from the nightmare? Homura, whose devotion to Madoka has taken on {{Yandere}} levels, pulls a FaceHeelTurn and usurps the power of Goddess Madoka herself to become ''Akuma Homura'', trapping Madoka and everyone else in a world where they don't have to become magical girls and where Kyubey and the other Incubators are under her direct control]]. Only time will tell what the next movie will bring, if there is one.
* ''Anime/MDGeist'' has a wonderful example at the end. The planet Jerra has been mauled by years of brutal civil war, killing off a majority of the population. [[spoiler:Then Geist unleashes the [[RobotWar Death Force]] because [[BloodKnight he ran out of things to fight...]]]]
* In the second half of ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', Kotetsu discovers that [[spoiler:his NEXT powers are fading and he'll have to quit being a superhero]]. Before he can figure out how to even approach the subject, however, his partner Barnaby starts having a breakdown over [[spoiler:the inconsistencies in his memory regarding his parents' still-unsolved murder]], leading to an argument between them when Barnaby overhears [[spoiler:Kotetsu's plans to quit]]. Barnaby disappears [[spoiler:after his father figure Albert Maverick (who also happens to be his parents' murderer) tampers with his memory again.]] And Kotetsu shows up at work one morning to find that [[spoiler:his ID has been revoked, nobody knows who he is, and he's being accused murdering Barnaby's old housekeeper]].
** But things did get much better towards the end.
* ''Manga/{{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.]]
* The S-class arc in ''Manga/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.
** The Tartaros arc is the definition of this trope. In just the mere beginning of this arc the magic council is killed by Jackal, Laxus is poisoned by Tempester, ''then'' Erza and Mira get captured [[spoiler: by the traitor chairman of the council]], Natsu's attack first think about it later mindset comes back to bite him and this is not even the whole of it. Elfman is put into a deal with the devil situation, Jellal faces off against the freed Oracion Seis, Tartarus' objective is to active Face a weapon designed to take away all magic on the continent, some of the defeated demons are revived, and the penny drops when the whole reason for all of these actions is to [[spoiler: revive E.N.D the thing Igneel could not stop a ''DRAGON''!!! ]] Of course this is just the start of Fairy Tail's personal hell it gets much worse later onwards.
* 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.
* 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.
* Happens in ''Manga/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 twins and...everyone else]].
* Happens to Hisoka Kurosaki in ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'' In the first volume of the manga we find out that [[spoiler:he is an ''empath'' who's parents couldn't stand their son being different and he ends up being locked in the basement as punishment.]] but there's more [[spoiler:Hisoka finally escapes from the basement to get some fresh air when he comes across a man murdering a woman. The man spots him and then proceeds to rape him and curse him causing him to suffer a slow painful death which took three years to finally destroy his body and soul]] so in hindsight you can't blame him in the slightest for being so cold and introverted.
* Happens a few times in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''. It starts with an alien fleet in the hundreds showing up to target the titular ship. Then said titular ship ends at the far end of the Solar System, and the fold drive to return home immediately has disappeared, and with it the ability to fire the main gun. At high cost to the refugees on board they find a way to fire the [[WaveMotionGun main gun]], and they improvise both a shield and a powerful manouver to kill enemy ships even when you can't use the main gun... So the Zentradi call reinforcements led by a BloodKnight. They manage to finally return home... Only the brass has declared the refugees dead, so they can't leave and there's a riot, the Zentradi got other reinforcements including elite forces, and the Zentradi BloodKnight manage to get you to destroy a city and you have to leave Earth. Yet the ''Macross'' has been repaired and resupplied, and the mecha complement is finally at nominal numbers... At which point the Zentradi get another thousand warships. Circumstances have opened a way to sign peace? Cue ''five million Zentradi ships'' showing up to destroy everything, including the Zentradi you fought until now.
* ''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. Eventually it turns out [[spoiler: there's many more people out there...]] and then we go back to more of humanity on the brink of extinction.
* 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.]]
* ''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.]]
* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', this happens during Ash’s match with Tobias. After losing three of his six Pokémon to his Darkrai (yes, you actually read that correctly, he’s using a Legendary), he finally defeats it using Septile, and it looks as if he actually might have a chance at winning... but then Tobias’ second Pokémon turns out to be a Latios which defeats the rest of his team, though it does tie with Pikachu.

* 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 FromBadToWorse, and we have still yet to reach the GodzillaThreshold.

* While it's normally more optimistic, the point of the recent flashbacks in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' seem to be to show exactly how everything went to hell for Negi's parents immediately after the war ended. (And judging by [[DarkAndTroubledPast Negi's past]], things didn't really get better for the Springfield family for a while.)

* ''{{Anime/Monster}}'' - Except for [[spoiler: the ending.]] Maybe.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', this happens during Ash’s match with Tobias. After losing three of his six Pokémon to his Darkrai (yes, you actually read that correctly, he’s using a Legendary), he finally defeats it using Septile, and it looks as if he actually might have a chance at winning... but then Tobias’ second Pokémon turns out to be a Latios which defeats the rest of his team, though it does tie with Pikachu.

* ''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.

* About 2/3rds of the way through ''Anime/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 FromBadToWorse: [[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.]]

* Just about the summary of most of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', [[spoiler:thanks to a GroundhogDayLoop plot that's been repeating itself for about forty thousand days (over a hundred years), and only ''one'' of the protagonists can remember the previous cycles.]] Typically follows this pattern: [[spoiler: two people die on the night of a festival, one person gets suspicious of his or her friends, the suspicious person kills someone, Rika turns up ritualistically murdered, and thousands of people die overnight.]] And then Minagoroshi-hen happens. And after that, in Matsuribayashi-hen, [[spoiler:though it gets better]].

* In ''Manga/SilentMoebius'', after Roy gets killed by Ganossa, Katsumi gets hold of a sword called Medium. Six months later, Katsumi returns [[spoiler: but she is possessed by an evil weapon [[FaceHeelTurn and turns on her friends]]]].

* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is pretty much an ongoing downward slide of going FromBadToWorse.

* When ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'''s Ala Alba pull off a dangerous rescue/theft right from the clutches of Fate, they lose some [[MauveShirt promoted-to-main characters]] but at least they succeeded, right? [[spoiler:What do you mean there's more forc- FOUR MORE AVERRUNCUSES? Oh SHIT.]]

** 15 years ago a massive explosion in Antarctica caused severe changes in global climate that killed half of the worlds population. Now freakishly huge and terrible creatures are repeatedly appearing out of nowhere to attack the almost entirely deserted Tokyo-3. And the only thing that can stop them are scary giant cyborg robots that can only be piloted by a bunch of emotionally scarred 14 year olds. There's no one else who can do it, and if they fail to stop the attackers, it will be the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. And that's just the first episode. Things go downhill from there very fast.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', this happens during Ash’s match with Tobias. After losing three of his six Pokémon to his Darkrai (yes, you actually read that correctly, he’s using a Legendary), he finally defeats it using Septile, and it looks as if he actually might have a chance at winning... but then Tobias’ second Pokémon turns out to be a Latios which defeats the rest of his team, though it does tie with Pikachu.

* ''Manga/{{Narutaru}}'' is the poster anime for this trope, as it starts out on a light and deceptively cheerful note and ends up getting systematically [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and more disturbing]] with each episode until the anime ends on a pitch black note (and the manga it was based on -- only the first half was actually animated -- is ''far'' worse).

** Guts and Casca's entire [[StarCrossedLovers romantic relationship]] is this. It just never seems to get any better [[TheWoobie for these two]].

* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' The starting point for getting oh so much worse is the firebombing of Kobe. [[spoiler: It gets worse so fast that the main characters [[TearJerker don't even get to see the occupation.]]]]

** Oh wait, [[spoiler:when Negi recovered and with two of those Averruncuses defeated, things should be moving up about no- wait WHAT?! COSMO ENTELCHIA HAS SET THEIR PLAN IN MOTION?! [[{{HSQ}} THE MAGICAL WORLD IS APPEARING IN MAHORA?!]]]] Ouch!

** [[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.]]

* In ''Anime/Pokemon'', this happens during Ash’s match with Tobias. After losing three of his six Pokémon to his Darkrai (yes, you actually read that correctly, he’s using a Legendary), he finally defeats it using Septile, and it looks as if he actually might have a chance at winning... but then Tobias’ second Pokémon turns out to be a Latios which defeats the rest of his team, though it does tie with Pikachu.

* ''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.]]

** The original ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' 's final arc starts off on a ''relentless'' note. First, Piedmon appears, then his henchmen '''repeatedly''' attack the Digi-Destined, then [[spoiler:Chuumon sacrifices himself to save Mimi from Piedmon]], then [[spoiler: Pixiemon dies trying to protect our heroes]], then Whamon [[spoiler:defeats [=MetalSeadramon=] at the cost of his life]], then Matt gets upset at the events that have occurred and [[spoiler:takes it out on Tai (and he leaves the group, as do the pacifism-seeking Mimi and Joe)]], and all of this reaches its peak when [[spoiler:Kari falls ill at the worst possible time!]] Needless to say, we were all relieved that [[spoiler:Kari gets better the following episode, topping off her getting the power of her crest, which makes fellow Digimon stronger.]]

* ''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}} Sekai]] snaps and stabs Makoto to death, Kotonoha snaps, kills Sekai, slashes her open to see if she's really pregnant from Makoto, then flees with Makoto's rotting, severed head to die on a boat alone at sea.]]

* The Majin Buu saga in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Buu goes on a rampage after killing Vegeta. Then he gets redeemed, only to be overwhelmed and absorbed by the evil inside him. This new creature kills off a large chunk of the long-standing cast, and every challenger, though at first looking quite promising, is eventually defeated and absorbed as well. And just when Goku and the temporarily restored Vegeta think they've got him on the ropes, Kid Majin Buu finally does what nobody else had every been able to do - he destroys Earth, and everyone on it, including the four friends Goku and Vegeta just saved. Three of whom are their sons. Even before destroying Earth, Buu had already used the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] [[BeamSpam Human Genocide Attack]], meaning there weren't many people left to kill anyway.
** Basically, if Goku is ''begging'' for the monster to stop (and mind you, Goku isn't the type to beg. ''At all!''), you know everyone is well and truely screwed.

** The Garlic Jr Saga was this; first Garlic Jr escapes the Dead Zone, then he imprisons Kami and Popo in glass bottles, then he unleashes the Black Water Mist upon the Earth causing all who breathe it to become his mindless slaves that turn on their un-infected friends and family. Almost everyone on Earth is infected including several of our heroes' allies and family. Then Piccolo is bitten by evil Z Fighters and turns as well leaving only Gohan and Krillin to save everyone, but then Gohan gets his ass kicked by Piccolo, who shortly afterwards bites and infects Krillin, turning him bad too. On top of all that, there's no Goku or Vegeta to help out and Garlic Jr is immortal. Thankfully, Piccolo and Krillin were only pretending to be infected in order to save Kami and Popo, but before the reveal things looked utterly hopeless for poor Gohan.
* The Piccolo-Daimao arc of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' as well. Immediately after Goku and Tien's fight ends, Krillin is killed by one of Piccolo's minions. Goku goes after said minion and is seemingly killed as well. Oolong finds a paper with the Japanese character "Ma" (which roughly translates to "Demon" or "Devil"), which is when Master Roshi decides everyone's in mortal danger. Goku wakes up for a brief reprieve and meets Yajirobe, but then fights Piccolo himself and is [[CurbstompBattle stomped, to say the least.]] Soon after, Master Roshi attacks Piccolo and uses the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Evil Containment Wave]], which doesn't work. Then Piccolo wishes for eternal youth and kills Chiaotzu. THEN Piccolo invades the capital city of the entire world and successfully becomes king of the world, and announces that he will choose a district of the world to destroy every year via lottery, to commemorate his coronation, and starts with West City, Bulma's [[DoomedHometown home city]]. Tien shows up, armed with the Evil Containment Wave, but never gets the chance to use it and finds himself on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle. Things don't get better until Goku returns, having powered up tremendously.

** [[spoiler:FINALLY, the battles with Negi and Fate, Setsuna and Tsukuyomi, and Mana and Poyo are over with Ala Alba victorious. Both group are starting to work together and WHAT! THE COSMO ENTELCHIA MEMBERS ARE ASSEMBLED AND THE LIFEMAKER HAS REVIVED!?]] Is the series starting to have a [[Manga/DragonBall DBZ syndrome]]?

** The Dressrosa Arc is almost as bad. [[spoiler:First, it turns out that Donquixote Doflamingo ''never'' quit the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and is now technically allied with Admiral Fujitora. Then Law gets shot at least three times, and then captured by Doflamingo. To top it off, '''''one of Big Mom's ships arrives to get Caesar''''', who apparently swindled some money out of them a while ago, and is now converging on the Straw Hats at sea. To say nothing of the Tournament for Ace's devil fruit, where the entire coliseum is surrounded by marines, and where Luffy is and participating in. Also participating in said tournament include several of the most powerful fighters in the New World, including '''''Jesus Burgess''''', captain of the first fleet of the Blackbeard Pirates.]] Yeah, Oda [[SerialEscalation upped]] the HolyShitQuotient again.

*** A comedic example would be [[spoiler:Trafalgar Law regarding the Straw Hats. Every moment he spends with them makes it seem as if he's on the verge of a mental breakdown due to their eccentric natures as all his plans go up in smoke thanks to Luffy's "I do whatever the hell I want" attitude.]]

* ''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 [[ParentalIncest less-than-fatherly eyes for her]] ever since the passing of her mother, 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.

* ''Manga/Devilman'' takes a turn for the worse near the end of the story: Ryo Asuka reveals to the world that his best friend, Akira Fudo, is Devilman. People become afraid of Akira, his girlfriend Miki's parents are arrested and tortured, and Miki herself is murdered by an angry mob. Eventually, humanity goes extinct in the war with demonkind, and Akira spends the next twenty years fighting Ryo, who is actually the fallen angel Satan. [[spoiler:In the end, Akira dies fighting Satan, leaving his mortal enemy heartbroken in the moments before angels descend upon the earth to cleanse it of demons.]]

** '''Manga/XxxHOLiC''', ''Tsubasa'''s sister series, also takes a dark turn. We're introduced to some interesting, yet funny characters such as the very quirky and {{Tsundere}}-esque Watanuki Kimihiro who can see the supernatural -- [[SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious this only causes him problems, though]]. We follow Watanuki through his daily life as he helps around Yuuko's shop and tries to win the heart of Himawari, while arguing with his (thought to be -- in his mind, anyway) rival, Doumeki, for her affection. As ''Tsubasa'' took a darker turn, Holic slowly followed suit. As the story progresses [[spoiler: Watanuki unconsciously tries to kill himself by falling out of a second story school window, which happens during a pivotal moment in the Acid Tokyo arc in ''Tsubasa''. We also learn that Himawari doesn't get close to people because she was cursed with horrible luck -- so bad that she's unintentionally KILLED people merely by being in the vicinity. Things continue to go downhill from there.]]

* The manga ''Manga/MPDPsycho'' 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.