History TooDumbToLive / AnimeAndManga

** Light himself falls victim to this at the end of the manga. When he's exposed as Kira and shot by Matsuda--the last person he expected to turn on him--in his desperation, he makes the serious mistake of begging [[JerkassGods Ryuk]] to write down the names of everyone else in the room, forgetting that Ryuk is on no-one's side and doesn't care who wins as long as he's provided with [[ItAmusedMe entertainment]]. Ryuk, who had expected Light to think of a way out of his predicament, realises that Light can no longer give him the entertainment he craves, and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness writes down Light's name in his Death Note instead]]. {{Averted|Trope}} in the anime, where Light escapes--gravely injured--to an abandoned warehouse, and Ryuk writes his name in his Death Note as a MercyKill, because Light will either die or be sentenced to life imprisonment anyway.

** In an anime-exclusive arc, a low-level pirate by the name of Bill decides to take a contract working for Gildo Tesoro, which means working in the New World. Bill and his men are ''woefully'' unprepared to fight New World-grade opponents, as demonstrated when they pick a fight with the Barto Club, and by extension the Straw Hat Pirates. The only reason Bill and his men didn't die was because the Straw Hats are leery about killing unless they have no other option; had they picked a fight with a different crew, such as the Kid Pirates or the Firetank Pirates, it would have been the end of them.

!Note: As a DeathTrope, [[Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers all spoilers on this page are unmarked]].

* ''Manga/BlackBird'': Misao What-Are-Warning-Bells Harada seems to have a death wish. She knows full well she's being targeted by an entire realm of demons who, best case scenario, want to eat her, but simply cannot stop herself from following powerful demons into isolated locations in the hopes that they'll give her some information about [[FetishizedAbuser Kyo]].

* ''Manga/AhoGirl''
** The titular protagonist, Yoshiko Hanabatake. For all of her astronomical stupidity, which is well into RefugeInAudacity levels, it's a very good thing in her universe that she is somehow a lucky IdiotHoudini at parodically impossible levels and the story works on an exaggerated version of RuleOfFunny. If realism or anything for drama were to come into play, she would literally die a billion times over.
* ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'':
** Humanity to a certain extent in the segment, "The Second Renaissance Part 2". They basically cause their own defeat by blocking the sun, without any objections and without thinking or using common sense, to try to cut off the machine's power supply, but it also kills Humanity's vegetation and it cuts off Humanity's Vitamin D (ouch), and the humans were not able to adapt to this and are ultimately defeated by the machines.
* ''Literature/{{Another}}''
** Lampshaded by Matsunaga in his video tape recording of how he accidentally stopped the curse mid-year. He mentions a boy named Hamaguchi, whom he describes as not very bright, as being the only one who brought an umbrella while visiting a local shrine... ''during a thunderstorm.'' One has to wonder whether Hamaguchi's death from being struck by lightning was really due to the curse.

* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''
** As the story goes on, thousands of people die in Zearth's battles as a result of collateral damage, and many people who have lost loved ones seek revenge. Junji "[[InSeriesNickname Katari]]" Karita, in an attempt to delay his parents' divorce, gets the brilliant idea to falsely claim to be one of the pilots on live TV, helping a rival TV station scoop Akira Tokosumi and the others. Not long after Katari admits this, a security guard shoots him dead, having gotten a gun from a support group for Zearth's victims.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
** One murder victim had a bet with his friend as to who would die first, with each man naming the other as a beneficiary in his life insurance policy. It clearly never occurred to the victim that this would be the perfect incentive for his "friend" to murder him in order to get a lot of money.
* ''Anime/CrossAnge'':
** Julio proceeds with his extermination campaign, even when he was forewarned early by the other Mana leaders ''not'' to. He provokes the TranquilFury of [[BigBad Embryo]] and gets a twin WaveMotionGun attack to the face.
* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'':
** Goran, the Russian Contractor in the second season. He's got SuperSpeed with ''none'' of the RequiredSecondaryPowers. His reaction times aren't enhanced, he's [[FragileSpeedster not superhumanly tough]], heck, he even gets sore muscles. He is defeated by a contractor whose power is to make it rain, because his superspeed made each raindrop hit with the force of a bullet. He also doesn't carry a weapon of any sort, meaning his offensive options are... well he's got none. Any attempt to punch or grab his opponent would liquify his arm.

* ''Literature/DenpaTekiNaKanojo'':
** IdiotHero Juu, after seemingly defeating the SerialKiller, takes time to answer his cellphone looking the other way. Guess what happens. Later he will stage a StupidSacrifice for Ame. Then he will go through a room in fire to SaveTheVillain and talk with a person with a severe case of SanitySlippage in an ideal place to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident. In all those cases, he is saved by Ame or LaserGuidedKarma.

* ''Anime/DigimonTamers'':
** [[DirtyCoward Makuramon]] decided it would be a [[BullyingADragon great idea to show up and taunt]] [[PsychoForHire Beelzemon]] over the latter having trouble fighting [[WalkingWasteland Megidramon]], ''while he was still fighting Megidramon''. Pushing the BerserkButton on a guy with a HairTriggerTemper who's already a ''lot'' stronger than you and has been having a bad day? Clearly too dumb to live.
*** Never mind the fact that said guy, like most other Digimon in that world, [[YourSoulIsMine kills Digimon to absorb their data/strength]] -- which Makuramon ''knew'' -- and currently needed a boost to beat Megidramon. Guess who he picks.

* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'':
** All the gangs in the city of Ikebukuro have Rule #1: Don't screw with Izaya Orihara. However, the ''entire city'' has Rule #0: '''''DON'T SCREW WITH SHIZUO HEIWAJIMA'''''. The gangs in the city don't bother telling members the latter rule, since if you're dumb enough to break it, you're probably doing the gang a favor by getting yourself killed. This rule is prevalent that ''anyone'' who doesn't follow it is regarded as less intelligent than a public school dropout. Just about the only exception to it is the aforementioned Izaya Orihara, one of the few men capable of fighting Shizuo without facing major injury -- [[ArchEnemy the two outright]] ''[[ArchEnemy despise]]'' [[ArchEnemy each other]], and Izaya makes it a habit to piss off Shizuo whenever he can, mainly because he can get away with it (though ''not'' for lack of trying on Shizuo's part).

* ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'':
** Miaka. Though Miaka doesn't actually die in this series, that is not due to lack of effort on her part. Time and time again, she runs headfirst into danger alone, despite not having any magic or compbat skills, and despite having 7 guardians whose sole purpose for existing is to protect her. She survives only because of the Suzaku 7 wage a vigorous battle with darwinism to keep her alive and the fact that most the enemies just want to kidnap her instead of kill her.

* ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'':
** Team Try Fighters are going up against Team Angelfish, a group of Gunpla Fighters who do an aquatic theme as they're also part of the swim club. As the battle starts, Team Angelfish make note that all they had to do in their terrain, Tundra, is break through the ice, dive in, and give Team Try Fighters trouble. However, as the ice is frozen solid, they panic and decide to self-destruct instead of allowing a CurbStompBattle. What makes it this trope is the fact that they ''gave up so easily''. Their suits were a Z'Gok, Gogg and Zock, which were designed for aquatic ''landing'', meaning they were good for both water and land. All three of them also had dangerous weaponry, especially the Zock, who had beam-type weaponry in front, behind and on top. They essentially took CripplingOverspecialization to a new art form.

* ''Manga/HimitsuNoAkkoChan'':
** Akko-chan in the aptly named '_____' episode asks her [[LiteralGenie magic mirror]] to make her deaf and mute, thus, more empathic to the [[LongLostUncleAesop new deaf kid in her class]]. After realizing that [[FridgeBrilliance she just wished herself mute, and her magic mirror could only obey to spoken commands]], she spends the whole episode as a non-verbal deaf girl, moving from curiosity to [[{{Wangst}} deep-rooted depression]]. Keeping her rationality until the realization of her newfound handicaps kicks in, she then starts acting in a completely unreasonable way, ranging from acting as she were completely uncapable of any kind of communication to running blindly in a dangerous, isolated place, knowing that, being unable to cry for help, she'd risk falling in a ravine and being left there to starve. Exactly what happens to her. On the top of it, the deaf boy "inspiring" her wish sees into her self-destructive ideas and manages to save her from certain death.
* ''Manga/InitialD'':
** In ''Fourth Stage'', Saitama's last racing team calls a ''bosozoku'' gang to beat up Project D after their loss. Unfortunately, they neglect the fact that the gang they hire is from the same region as Project D (thus likely to be fans) and that their leader was a former subordinate of Keisuke, the owner of the car they forced into a wreck during the practice runs (using a cheap trick of spilled oil). Needless to say, the current gang leader was NOT amused at being made to look bad.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'':
** Unlike the other members of the Zabi family, Kycilia Zabi knows Char Aznable's true identity as the son of Zeon Deikun, a man believed by many to have been assassinated by her father Degwin. She also knows that Char was with her brother Garma when he died, yet never connects the dots that Char was ''responsible'' for Garma's death and reinstates his commission after her brother Dozle suspends him for incompetence in 'failing' to protect Garma. Predictably, inviting the viper that is Char to her breast ends with Kycilia getting her head blown off by a bazooka courtesy of everyone's favorite mask-wearing traitor.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans''
** Carta Issue had already met Tekkaden in battle, where they proved that they don't believe TalkingIsAFreeAction and attacked her while she was in the midst of a speech and disrupted her men's AttackPatternAlpha mainly by ignoring it. She's sent to fight them again -- and instead of simply destroying the train they're on, she stops them and tries to issue a formal challenge to a three-on-three duel of honor. To no one's surprise but her own, Mika attacks her before she's finished talking. When one of her men hangs around ''outside'' his cockpit yelling about the lack of honor, he's turned into a red smear in the snow as Mika proceeds to kill all three of them.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** [[TheChessMaster Kabuto]] brags to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath Itachi]] that [[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning killing him won't end to Edo Tensei]], laughing like a Bond Villain. He ends up in the [[AssPull Izanami]] [[FateWorseThanDeath loop]] since he can't keep his mouth shut or prepare in advance for someone attacking him directly to end Edo Tensei.

* ''{{Manga/Parasyte}}'':
** Kana Kimishima, a girl with the ability to sense the protagonist, Shinichi Izumi, via the Parasite that shares his body, which quickly leads to her becoming infatuated with him. However she cannot distinguish between him and other Parasites, which prey on humans. Shinichi repeatedly warns Kana that he is dangerous and that she shouldn't get mixed up with him. She not only ignores his warnings but also lies to him, claiming that she can tell him apart from other Parasites. Kana's obsession leads to her death when she senses the aura of a Parasite. Convincing herself that it must be Shinichi, she follows the signal to an abandoned building, only to find another Parasite gorging on a fresh corpse. Shinichi does arrive but not in time to save her.

*** Giovanni in the same movie, actually. He told Mewtwo that he was "created by humans to obey humans" and, when Mewtwo began blowing up his entire laboratory, what does he do? Shout, "Stop this now!" Yeah, that's always worked in the past. Lucky for him he had PlotArmor...

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Many, if not all, of the characters get at least one occasion where they act like this. However, this trope gets played to its actual conclusion in one late-manga story, which really makes it into MoodWhiplash. One character's father receives a scroll detailing a martial arts style which makes use of a lot of brute-force tricks, and a bearhug attack explicitly stated to be capable of snapping a man in half. Kumon Senior intends to use these moves to revitalize his dojo, which is dilapidated to the point it's being held aloft only by a single, rotting pillar, but he decides to master this spine-shattering bearhug by '''practicing on the pillar'''. Naturally, when he succeeds in learning it, the whole house collapses on top of him, killing him.
* ''Anime/RaveMaster'':
** Main character Haru Glory's mother Sakura. When someone is telling your husband about how they're going to make him suffer by being alone, you don't run up to them and let them impale you.

* ''Anime/RozenMaiden'':
** [[MusicalAssassin Kanaria]] has some shades of this during the series, but it becomes blatant obvious during the final battle of the second season: not only she is the cause of turning Suiseiseki's HeroicSacrifice in a SenselessSacrifice by going back to the battle field, she also is killed by Barasuishou after the strings of her violin snaps and she forgets that, since she has Suiseiseki's [[AnatomyOfTheSoul Roza Mystica]], she could use her GreenThumb powers.

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** Because Usagi/Serena is such a klutz (as well as a crybaby), the other Sailor Senshi/Soldiers/Scouts, and the two cats started pegging her as this (or at least that's what Creator/DiC's English version would like us to think...). However, this applies more to the first [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] than to the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] (especially the crybaby part).
* ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'':
** Koukaji in the anime version of the first series. He had previously been beaten with an inch of his life by Son Goku with his power limiter removed, and in the finale, he decides to try and fight him on his own again, and nearly gets killed, again. This wasn't in the manga.

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'':
** Princess Amelia, and to a lesser extent, Naga the Serpent. The latter is boastful and arrogant to the point that she ignores the reality of the situation around her (leaving Lina to do away with whatever situation they're in), while the former's view of morality is so {{black and white|Morality}} that she winds up in dangerous situations; anything that turns {{gray|AndGreyMorality}} leaves her dumbfounded. While Naga's intelligence varies, Amelia's is more a case of {{flanderization}} that spread to other adaptations -- she certainly ''wasn't'' this trope in the light novels that the series originated from, and in the anime, at least, she grows out of this trope over time.
** It also doesn't help for Amelia that she's a bit weaker than her companions; while Gourry TheDitz swordsman can fall under this, he generally doesn't because he [[ObfuscatingStupidity knows more than he lets on]] and is more skillful than any other swordsmen in the series.

* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'':
** Poor Retasu Midorikawa. In her first appearance, she was a cool DarkMagicalGirl... for less than an episode, until she became [[GoodIsDumb too weak to fight the]] MonsterOfTheWeek. But as stressful as that would probably be, you still can't excuse her for ''[[HowDoIShotWeb forgetting her own powers]]'' when she falls into the ocean and panics. (Those powers? Water -- including ''breathing it''.)

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
** [[TheLancer Jounouchi/Joey]]'s first Duel with [[TheRival Kaiba]] is like this. Sure, when you're up against a powerful monster and don't have something to beat it, the smart thing to do is keep throwing monsters out as meat shields until you get something that works. The problem is that Jounouchi plays all of them in Attack Position, meaning that every one Kaiba destroys chips away at his Life Points, so that when he finally plays one the few cards in his Deck that can stand up to Kaiba's Rabid Horseman, he's in prime position to lose as soon as Kaiba plays his signature Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Nothing was at stake with that Duel, thankfully.

*** Also, Saiou made a bit of a dumb move with that himself. The deathtrap was a scale, and to save Edo, Judai had to throw the key on the other side of the balance. It sounded like a good idea, but when Saiou actually went to ''get'' the key, Neos was able to block his path, which gave Kenzan time to pull Edo out of the way, which ''forced'' Saiou to Duel Judai. So, maybe Judai was dumb, but Saiou wasn't all-too smart either.

*** Never mind the fact that said guy, like most other Digimon in that world, [[YourSoulIsMine kills Digimon to absorb their data/strength]] -- which Makuramon ''knew'' -- and currently needed a boost to beat Megidramon. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Guess who he picks]].

* ''Manhwa/IWish'':
** Byeon-Hui Park is an extremely NiceGuy and hates doing anything that might hurt another person's feelings. When Lyu-Jin gave him chocolates for Valentine's Day, he ate them, despite being allergic to chocolate. He survived by being taken to the hospital in time.

** While you might be able to get away with underestimating people you don't know if you live in one of the Blue Seas and are reasonably badass, the Grand Line is where the toughest of the tough converge. You might still be able to get away with it if you're someone visibly high on the totem pole, like a Warlord or an Emperor. But if you're just a low-level pirate captain, you should really shut up and show some respect to others, because you never know if they're stronger than you realize. Bellamy and his first mate Sarquiss got beaten up by Luffy and Zoro when they made that mistake, but that isn't the suicidally stupid part. Bellamy had the good sense to learn his lesson after that. Sarquiss, however, never stopped casually disrespecting strangers and never feared there might be consequences...until he belittles and threatens [[PersonOfMassDestruction Blackbeard]].

** Jamitov Hymen, the leader of the Titans, is for much of this series one of the most powerful men in the Earth Sphere. And yet, for all that political weight and savvy, he seems pathologically incapable of selecting even '''one''' loyal officer to surround himself with. He selects Bask Ohm, a psychotic GeneralRipper, to be his {{Dragon}}, chooses habitual screw-up Jerid Messa to be his disciple, and recruits self-styled DarkMessiah Paptimus Scirocco from the Jupiter Energy Fleet to bolster the fighting power of the Titans. Not only do none of these three men have any loyalty to Jamitov (with the very thin exception of Jerid who defends him from assassination but still plans to succeed him one day), all of them are in fact conspiring ''against'' Jamitov, and the ''Zeta'' movies reveal that even if Scirocco hadn't killed Jamitov that Bask would have done the dirty deed.

** [[BrainlessBeauty Keimi the Mermaid]] has a bad habit of being completely unaware of her surroundings at the worst possible time. As a result, she had accidentally been swallowed by around twenty Sea Kings, captured by slavers twice, and run into who knows how much other trouble. The only reason she’s still alive is because she was BornLucky and as a result, every time, she either gets rescued or the Sea King spits her back out.

** While you might be able to get away with underestimating people you don't know if you live in one of the Blue Seas and are reasonably badass, the Grand Line is where the toughest of the tough converge. You might still be able to get away with it if you're someone visibly high on the totem pole, like a Warlord or an Emperor. But if you're just a low-level pirate captain, you should really shut up and show some respect to others, because you never know if they're stronger than you realize. Bellamy and his first mate Sarquiss got beaten up by Luffy and Zoro when they made that mistake, but that isn't the suicidally stupid part. Bellamy had the good sense to learn his lesson after that. Sarquiss, however, never stopped casually disrespecting strangers and never feared there might be consequences...until he belittles and threatens [[PersonOfMassDestruction Blackbeard]].

** Ash Ketchum ''very'' frequently acts TooDumbToLive. If it doesn't relate to Pokémon training, he hasn't a clue how to do anything. A very notable example is during the Pokélantis debacle. He starts off by touching things on suspicious-looking pedestals and sets off a [[IndyEscape rolling boulder]] that would've killed the whole cast if Brandon didn't show up. Brandon chews him out for being an idiot. What's Ash do next to prove him wrong? Runs off on his own, touches more things that look very much like they shouldn't be touched, and subsequently gets [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by a dead king.
** Cameron (Kotetsu), who appears in the second season of ''Best Wishes!'', somehow manages to be dumber than Ash. At least Ash is smart enough not to '''bring five Pokémon to a full six-on-six battle'''. Amazingly enough, Cameron ends up eliminating Ash from the Unova League -- but only because he gets really, really lucky.
** The scientists in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''. [[GenreBlindness They created the most powerful Pokémon the world had ever seen...and then proceeded to tell him that they were planning to use him as an experiment, then started talking amongst themselves about putting him in a cage.]]

** In Luffy's backstory, a mountain bandit, riding off the high of his own ego upon being issued a bounty of five million Berry, decides to mock and belittle the pirate crew in the local bar. Apparently he wasn't in the habit of reading the news, because he failed to recognize Red-Haired Shanks, who, even if he wasn't recognized as one of the Four Pirate Emperors yet (i.e., the four people in the running for the title of WorldsStrongestMan), definitely already had a bounty measured in the ''billions''. Shanks actually took it with grace, deeming the insult not worth getting upset over. But then the mountain bandit had the bright idea to threaten to kill Luffy. Shanks ''did'' deem that worth getting upset over.

** [[AristocratsAreEvil The World Nobles/Celestial Dragons]]. Extra credit goes to Saint Mjosgard and Donquixote Homing, who learned the hard way that the only reason people don't attack them is the threat of retribution from an [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Admiral]]. Mjosgard antagonized the Fishmen after finding himself trapped in their city, and would have been killed if not for Otohime's intervention; to his credit, he did end up becoming a better person later on. Homing's case is even worse: [[WhiteSheep for all of his good intentions]], his stupid decision to give up his status as a World Noble and live among those who despised said nobles, especially given that he picked a nation to move to that ''wasn't'' under the authority of the World Government, caused the ruin of his family ''and'' the death of his wife, got himself and his two young sons (one of them being a massive CreepyChild) subjected to ColdBloodedTorture... and at the end [[SelfMadeOrphan his creepy son ended up killing him]].

** [[AristocratsAreEvil The World Nobles/Celestial Dragons]]. Extra credit goes to Saint Mjosgard and Donquixote Homing, who learned the hard way that the only reason people don't attack them is the threat of retribution from an [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Admiral]]. Mjosgard antagonized the Fishmen after finding himself trapped in their city, and would have been killed if not for Otohime's intervention; to his credit, he did end up becoming a better person later on. Homing's case is even worse: [[WhiteSheep for all of his good intentions]], his stupid decision to give up his status as a World Noble and live among those who despised said nobles caused the ruin of his family ''and'' the death of his wife, got himself and his two young sons (one of them being a massive CreepyChild) subjected to ColdBloodedTorture... and at the end [[SelfMadeOrphan his creepy son ended up killing him]].

** The titular protagonist, Yoshiko Hanabatake. For all of her astronomical stupidity, which is well into RefugeInAudacity levels, it's a very good thing in her universe that she is somehow BornLucky to impossible levels and due to RuleOfFunny. If realism or anything for drama were to come into play, she would literally die a billion times over.