Line #172 AlasPoorVillain/AnimeAndManga


1	* A few villains stand out in ''Manga/AkameGaKill'', particularly those of the Jaegers.
2	** Bols is a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower-toting]] demolition man who acknowledges that [[JustFollowingOrders he has a lot to pay for]], but [[FamilyMan he has a wife and daughter waiting at home for him]], and it's his duty to protect them. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo When Chelsea assassinates him]], [[TearJerker Bols' last thoughts are of his family, desperately wanting to return home.]]
3	** Even though she is possibly the most hated character in the series [[CruelAndUnusualDeath for what she inflicted on fan-favorite Sheele]], [[AxCrazy Seryu]] gets this as well. Her parents were murdered at a young age, bringing her to become an Imperial Guard and enact "justice" with her Imperial Arm, Hekatonkhieres/"Koro." But her PTSD from losing her parents left her with a BlackAndWhiteInsanity that makes her believe that [[InsaneTrollLogic if you commit any kind of evil deed, then you're evil and deserve to die.]] But really all she wants is to protect those close to her. So when she lays dying after [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe being blown on half by Mine]], [[AlasPoorScrappy she laments on her failure to carry on her duties as a servant of the peace, and being unable to see her fellow Jaegers again.]]
4	--> '''Seryu:''' [[DyingAlone I don't want to die... in a place like this...]]
5	** In the anime, Kurome, Akame's little sister, is hit with this, since she never chooses to make a HeelFaceTurn. Haunted by her kills and dying from the side effects of her performance drugs, she feels like the only way she can believe that she's doing what's right is by killing her sister, Akame. Either that, or die to her sister and end the pain. Her final battle with her big sister ends with her being [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice run through by Akame's Murasame and dying instantly]], but not before she gets to tell her sister that she dearly loves her. The impact her death had on Akame and Wave was really heartbreaking as well, with Wave left in a "What are we fighting for?" state, and [[NotSoStoic Akame devolving into]] [[DespairEventHorizon anguished tears]] [[SiblingMurder from murdering her own sister]].
6	* [[BigBad Rosiel]] from ''Manga/AngelSanctuary''. Because of his legitimate {{Freudian Excuse}}s ([[WellDoneSonGuy daddy]] [[GodIsEvil issues]], and being DrivenToMadness by his OrganicTechnology), the cast [[SympathyForTheDevil crying for the angel]] seems a bit too much...
7	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''.
8	** Annie Leonhart ends up as a fairly pitiable character. As the Female Titan, she spends a story arc terrorizing and slaughtering the members of the Survey Corps while on the hunt for LivingMacGuffin Eren. She kills many of her victims in brutal and unnecessarily cruel ways, including ''spinning'' one poor soul by his grappling hook wires until his body folds in half backwards. Once she's finished making a fine paste of {{Red Shirt}}s, she systematically kills each and every one of Eren's new comrades from the Special Operations Squad right in front of him before beating him soundly and kidnapping him. Though she fails to escape with Eren, her attack leaves many dead, [[TheAce Levi]] badly wounded, and the mission failed so miserably that the future of the Survey Corps and Eren looks doubtful. But when she's finally exposed and defeated, we're treated to multiple flashbacks to her beloved father training her to fight. In desperation, she tries to WallCrawl up Wall Sina to escape and is knocked from the Wall by Mikasa, quickly subdued by Eren and the military. She recalls her father on his knees before her, crying as he admits that he was wrong. He tells her to consider the entire world her enemy, telling her that he's the only one who is on her side, and makes her promise to come home to him someday -- weeping, she encases herself in a CrystalPrison to prevent her capture.
9	** As Kenny Ackerman lays dying, he flashes back to his life, from meeting the previous owner of the King's power up to it being passed on to Frieda. He's shown to have genuinely befriended and respected Uri, and as he dies, he tells Levi that everyone, including Uri, Levi and himself were drunk on ''something'' and enslaved to it, whether it be alcohol, power, religion, etc. His final words in response to Levi asking why he abandoned him:
10	-->I... was... unfit... to be a parent.
11	** Bertolt Hoover, the infamous Colossal Titan himself. Over the course of the series, he caused considerable death and destruction by attacking the Walls twice and acting as a spy within the military. In the final confrontation with his former comrades, he resolves to ShootTheDog and coldly goes about attempting to kill every single one of them. It's only through Armin nearly sacrificing his life that Eren is finally able to bring the Colossal Titan down, leaving Bertolt in a crippled state. The group eventually decides to use the serum to turn Armin into a Titan, and Bertolt wakes up just before he's devoured. He spends his final moments begging his former friends for help, before realizing help won't come and crying out for Annie and Reiner. His death itself is pathetic enough that it gives the heroes no satisfaction, and a short time later they learn the truth behind Bertolt's actions. Raised in a concentration camp, his family volunteered him for a military TykeBomb project at a very young age in hopes of earning a better life. His superiors indoctrinated him to believe the people he would be attacking were "children of the devil" plotting to destroy the world, and his actions would ''save'' humanity. Even after he realized the people inside the Walls weren't evil, he was TrappedInVillainy because his superiors would simply [[EatenAlive replace]] him with another Warrior, then punish his entire family by [[AFateWorseThanDeath turning them into mindless Titans]].
12	* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' had Zapan, a bounty hunter cyborg whose problems can [[WhatTheHellHero all be ultimately traced back to Alita]]. Exposition time: Alita beat him up and humiliated him for not wanting to serve as cannon fodder for her quest against a brain-eating cyborg. From there, he tries to stop her from helping a wanted fugitive escape, at which point, Alita dupes the security bots on site into thinking that Zapan was trying to steal her proof of bounty. She ''rips his face off'' and leaves him for dead, only to be discovered with partial memory loss by a young woman named Sarah who worked at a soup kitchen. The two fall in love, and live fairly happily until Zapan sees Alita on television, gets horrific flashbacks, and has a mental breakdown, screaming "This isn't my face!" as he ''tears off most of the skin on his face.'' As he thrashed in pain, he killed several winos, and, more importantly, accidentally decapitated Sarah. He became wanted and horrifically depressed. Alita hunts him down, then, after mind-raping him ''a second time'', she lets him get devoured by cyborg dogs. Almost done: after he's resurrected and put in the super-robot-killing-machine Berserker Body, he starts wreaking havoc on Scrapyard, finally being hit by several 'Collapser' bullets from Alita, and the two are plummeting from several miles in the air, both horrifically wounded and on the verge of death. But suddenly, Zapan wakes up: he's lying on a sleeping mat in the market next to Sarah, who comforts him after he briefly recounts his horrible nightmare. She hugs him and tells him that he's not a monster like the Zapan in the dream is, and that she'll always be with him... and then he snaps out of his mortal-wounding induced hallucination, right back to where he was. He screams Sarah's name once, then continues to disintegrate, but not before flapping his wings just once, enough to break Alita's fall and save her. Although considering everything she did to him, one has to wonder why he didn't just let her die.
13	* This is ''rare and far between'' in a work such as ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' where every villain who has been presented and killed off '''[[KarmicDeath deserved what was coming to them.]]'''
14	** Poor Rosine grew up in an abusive household and used the myths about the elves in a nearby valley as her only refuge. One day she couldn't take the abuse any longer and decided to run away to the valley in order to make her dreams come true, but unfortunately, she would learn that there were no such things as elves, [[DespairEventHorizon making her reach her breaking point]] which in turn allowed her to sacrifice her parents so that she may become her vision of an elf. She intended to make a paradise with the minions that she created, [[CrapsaccharineWorld but it was anything but]]. Then Guts, who at this point in the manga is in hardcore post-Eclipse vengeance mode and doesn't care about any of this, comes and brutally and relentlessly hunts Rosine and eventually mortally wounds her. As she lay dying, it was revealed to her that there ''were'' such things as elves, but she just wasn't one of them, making her regret sacrificing her parents and then tries to return home to them, but dies mid-flight. It's made even sadder in that both she and her parents are in no blissful afterlife, but in Hell because of the way that sacrifices to become demons work in ''Berserk''.
15	** The Count was a murderous man-eating tyrant. But he wasn't always that way. He used to be a loving husband and father who was devoted to his duty of hunting heretics. Then he found his wife engaged in an orgy with fellow demon worshipers. He nearly committed suicide in despair, but his blood activated a Behelit, and he sacrificed his wife to become a demon. Even as a demon, he still loved his daughter Theresia, and ultimately refused to sacrifice her to save himself from dying despite knowing he would be DraggedOffToHell. The scene with Theresia desperately trying to save her father's soul from being sucked into Hell is both horrifying and sad.
16	** The Egg of the Perfect World is one of the few villains in ''Berserk'' that is actually likeable. His death scene, where he selflessly sacrifices himself for Griffith, is very heart shattering.
17	* The circus performers of ''Manga/BlackButler''. In the chapters after they are slaughtered en masse, they are still shown to be sympathetic characters feeling indebted to a monster for saving them from life as cripples in a slum, and trying to the save other children at a workhouse. This goes up majorly when it turns out that there were no other children and all of them died for ''nothing.''
18	** Madame Red's death was a real TearJerker, especially after hearing her backstory.
19	** In the anime version, the puppet man who turned Lizzy into a puppet/doll makes a short speech about how he's been having a feeling that he's not human at all...
20	** Also in the anime, [[CreepyChild Alois]] [[CuteAndPsycho Trancy]] from the second season gets his skull crushed between the hands of his faithful servant. Immediately after making a speech about how said servant is the most important person in his whole world. While messily sobbing.
21	* Hansel and Gretel from ''Manga/BlackLagoon''. Throughout most of the arc, they're depicted as being [[CreepyTwins malicious, cruel, smiling psychopaths]]. Only it turns out that they were forced to act in horrifying child porn, where they were not only raped repeatedly but also forced to [[SnuffFilm kill other children]]. It's easy to see why they were so fucked up, and it's easy to at least feel sorry for them. Then, after Balalaika gives Hansel a ShutUpHannibal treatment as punishment for harming [[MamaBear the subordinates she's so protective of]], she orders her men to blow his hand and leg off. When he's lying there, crying and bleeding to death, it's easy to forget that he was a mass murderer. This is taken to further extremes with his sister Gretel, who states that she always wanted to see the ocean and has a heartbreaking EvilCannotComprehendGood DoesNotKnowHowToSayThanks moment when Rock offers her kindness and [[HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim sheds tears for her]]. When they finally reach a seaport and her wish is granted, her brains get blown out by an assassin hired by Hotel Moscow since karma has caught up with her too, and she dies saying that the sky and the sea is beautiful.
22	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
23	** Ulquiorra Cifer, dying right before finally realising what it means to be a human being. His last scene, where he turns and reaches out to his former captive Orihime, is very sad and very touching.
24	---> '''Ulquiorra:''' Do I... scare you, girl?\
25	'''Orihime:''' No, you don't.
26	** Nnoitra Gilga has a rather different flavor to his Alas Poor Villain than Harribel and Starrk. With Harribel and Starrk, the tragedy is that they were both good people who were dragged into this war out of a desire to protect their friends, no different from any of the heroes fighting, and Stark's Death and Harribel's defeat that she (barely) lived through were a pointless waste orchestrated by a man who couldn't care less about them. Here, however, the empathy comes from the defiant but also somewhat pathetic way Nnoitra faced his end: Nnoitra simply hurls himself at Kenpachi to satisfy his psychotic death wish because he can't stand the idea of living because of another person's mercy.
27	*** Nnoitra's very regretful glance at Nelliel as he falls to his knees just cements it.
28	** Wonderweiss Margela. Captain-Commander Yamamoto-Genryusai, always cold and stern, expresses pity for the kid when he kills him.
29	---> '''Yamamoto''': Poor thing... Were your emotions taken away from you too? ''(stares at Aizen)'' That was cruel of you.
30	** Baraggan Louisenbairn, probably the most arrogant Espada, who destroyed Sui-Feng's arm (she got better), lost his position as the King of Hueco Mundo by Aizen years ago, and he was forced to serve for him as the Segunda Espada. Baraggan wanted to get his throne back, and when he was dying, he throws Gran Caida to [[TakingYouWithMe take Aizen with him to death]], but the axe vanished before it could reach Aizen because Baraggan died too early. Everyone on the battlefield, whether comrades or foes, were shocked about this event. Everyone but Aizen, who didn't even look at him.
31	** Coyote Starrk, easily the TokenGoodTeammate of the Espada, gets this a lot. All his life he [[IJustWantToHaveFriends he wanted to have friends]] but couldn't because his powers were too strong and uncontrollable and killed people. He went so far as to [[LiteralSplitPersonality split off part of his power and soul to make Lilynette]] so he would have ''someone'' to talk to, and joined Aizen because he was grateful for him giving him those comrades and helping him control his power. He makes it clear he's not really interested in fighting anyone to the death even when he has to fight, and during the final part of his fight with Kyoraku Lilynette dies TakingTheBullet for him before he follows shortly afterward, reminiscing about her and the other Espada even as he falls to the ground. Even Kyoraku makes it clear he takes no pleasure in killing Starrk, nor that he's even in the right for doing it either.
32	** Even [[TheBrute Yammy]] of all people, gets a certain amount of pathos in the end, as his dog Kokapurro comes and sits next to him and howls. Side materials make this worse, showing that while Yammy was absolutely a [[DumbMuscle stupid]], uncaring thug, his simple presence kept Kokapurro alive in the CrapsackWorld that is Hueco Mundo, and that while he [[KickTheDog kicked it around]], [[PetTheDog he never chased it away]].
33	** Gin Ichimaru. Goes out a la Tousen, although he actually gets to see Rangiku right before he dies.
34	** In the X-Cution arc, we have Jackie Tristan. Not only did she have the best FreudianExcuse of the Fullbringers, but in her mix of BetterToDieThanBeKilled and HeroicSacrifice, she tells Renji that she wishes ''he'' would've saved her when she needed it. And then it's subverted: she lived to tell in the end.
35	** Charlotte Cuulhorne, a member of Barragan's Fracción, is a massive [[TheFightingNarcissist Fighting Narcissist]] and LargeHam. However, when he's defeated and fatally injured by Yumichika Ayasegawa, Charlotte accepts his death quietly and just tells his rival "You're such a piece of work..." as he fades away. It's surprisingly effective.
36	** Shockingly, ''Aizen'' got one from Ichigo after his defeat. Ichigo muses that what drove him wasn't at first a lust for power or evil, but simply the soul-crushing loneliness of being without a rival or peer.
37	*** However, Aizen is still alive and in prison.
38	** In the Thousand Years Old Blood War, we have Royd Lloyd. Not only he was subjected to a massive CurbStompBattle from Yamamoto while posing as his leader Yhwach, but before Yhwach goes "YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness", he looks so damn ''happy'' as he lays dying. And the first page of 510 shows his backstory as well...
39	** Before that, '''Ayon''', of all characters, gets this, absorbed by Vandenreich member Quilge Opie.
40	** Kaname Tousen himself, who actually has some little time before his death to [[HeelRealization regret what he's become]] and ask to see Hisagi's face once more before his vision goes away... before [[KickTheDog Aizen explodes him right as Hisagi is leaning in]].
41	** It cannot be denied that [[GodEmperor Yhwach]] is a monster, and one of, if not ''the'', most evil characters in the series. That said, being the lynchpin of existence is said to be a fate of unimaginable agony that even the [[DirtyCoward death-fearing]] [[AGodAmI Yhwach]] considers to be worse than dying. Ultimately, after he is defeated to by Ichigo, Yhwach is forced to suffer the pain and humiliation that his father endured as the new lynchpin. Anybody who witnesses his new state is utterly horrified, including Harribel who Yhwach had usurped and imprisoned.
42	* Even though he was an unrepentant murderous rapist, Shira's death in ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' was so gruesome and horrifying that any hint of satisfaction the audience may have felt promptly evaporated. That he uses his dying breath [[PetTheDog to tell Renzo not to follow in his footsteps]] probably had something to do with it as well. There is a distinct possibility that he was merely messing with him, but still...
43	* ''Anime/BlueSubmarineNo6'' has Dr. Zorndyke. who explains that after losing his wife and child, the world seemed wrong, and he set about changing it, before ripping out his own heart. And Verg too, if he did die at the end.
44	* The Nothing Card in the second movie of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds and DarkMagicalGirl. She had a sympathetic backstory, imprisoned alone beneath Clow Reed's house to act as a sponge for the negative energy the Clow Cards created. She escaped when Clow Reed's house was demolished and systematically stole the cards from Sakura Kinomoto as well as erasing parts of her hometown. Sakura managed to convince the Nothing to perform a HeelFaceTurn.
45	* ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja'' has one for Ellis' creepy and occasionally outright psychotic stalker L.A.. It begins when Rosenburg, who he outright hates at this point and tries to kill when he meets him, tells him that all the feelings he had for Ellis were fabricated by him, just before brainwashing him into forgetting about Ellis and reverting to cold, ruthless assassin mode, and sending him off to kill Ricardo. One fight scene between them later, he starts to remember Ellis, going into a full-on VillainousBreakdown when Ricardo refuses to let him cut out and meet up with her again. In the end, he gets fatally shot, and starts hallucinating Ellis as the little girl standing over him (who's actually Lirio), realizing, as he dies, that he loved her even before Rosenburg brainwashed him into doing it.
46	--> '''LA:''' [[DyingAsYourself He wasn't the one who gave me a soul. You were.]]
47	* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' gives a large number of the villains this sort of send-off, particularly in the manga version. Rizelle's dying words are asking Aion if she was "any use to you", Genai and Viede die fighting side-by-side with Genai's last words implying that he's going to be by Rizelle's side, Fiore dies (or is frozen in crystal, depending on the version) while trying to protect Joshua, and Aion has a heart-to-heart chat with Chrono about his motivations--which includes finding out the truth about [[WasOnceAMan their]] [[EldritchAbomination mother]]--before they engage in their final battle.
48	* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' is quite fond of this trope.
49	** Ophelia started gleefully AxCrazy, got worse, but faced death with dignity and gratitude.
50	** Isley, the Awakened Being responsible for the carnage the Claymores suffered during the Northern Campaign, spent his final moments wishing for just a little more time with [[BigBad Priscilla]] and [[MoralityPet Raki]], whom he had come to see as his family. It helps that his death is positively horrendous, having spent years running away from a pack of soulless, nigh-indestructible demons and finally being devoured alive by them, [[DeathOfAThousandCuts bite by bite]].
51	** Riful of the West frequently treated her [[UnholyMatrimony lover Dauf]] like dirt. Yet even after she had lost one arm and one leg and felt the [[TooPowerfulToLive obscenely powerful]] Priscilla approaching to kill her, she was still unwilling to abandon him (having lost both his legs and one arm) in order to save her own life. Priscilla then proceeded to ram an arm through her and shoot innumerable spikes through her from within.
52	** Oh, Christ, and Duph. After he threatens the nigh-godlike Priscilla with evisceration should she harm Riful, Priscilla proceeds to tear out ''his'' guts, then murders Riful and leaves Duph to die. What does Duph do? He ''lets himself get hit'' by the parasites o' doom that have been shot all over the countryside, turning him into a skull-faced berserking monster that pounds Priscilla into the ground, all while holding Riful's body in one fist. Eventually, he is killed, but not before it's clear how far he was willing to go to avenge the only person he cared about.
53	* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
54	** Andreas Darlton. While he was a Britannian, he was truly a good man, showing fatherly care to his subordinates (some being orphaned child-soldiers he adopted) and respect for the Japanese; it's worth saying he was only a villain because of his association. He certainly didn't deserve what happened to him: being controlled into attacking Cornelia due to a Geass cast on him by Lelouch, spending his final moments [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone wondering in horror as to why he had done so]], before being promptly obliterated and killed by Lelouch.
55	** In ''Code Geass Nightmare of Nunnally'', Rolo gets one as his body rots away in Anya's arms. After realizing that she was watching over him all the time, he asks whether he, as a Wired, could return to C's world, and she says that she doesn't know. Charles and Marianne manage to accept their deaths relatively calmly compared to the original anime, and Nunnally is clearly saddened by their passing.
56	** Invoked by Lelouch's death, one of the saddest scenes in the series, which was a bit of an AllAccordingToPlan.
57	** Rolo's death in the canon series, even after he murdered Shirley in cold blood and killed the final surviving family member of her already widowed mother, counts as this, AlasPoorScrappy, AND RedemptionEqualsDeath.
58	** Mao's death as well. He was just an orphan driven insane by a case of PowerIncontinence who couldn't deal with the world on his own.
59	* Alexis from ''Manga/CountCain''. A last-minute [[TheReveal reveal]] shows us that said dead sister is actually [[TheManBehindTheMan the woman behind the man]], and has been [[TheChessmaster manipulating Alexis]] [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning from beyond the grave]] to drive his family apart and wreck the world...ForTheEvulz. [[TooCoolToLive She dies seconds later]] in a [[CrazyPrepared ridiculously over-the-top]] DeathTrap left by Cain. She even mentions that Alexis DID love Cain.
60	* This is something of a recurring theme in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' -- any time the Bebop crew successfully tracks and takes down a bounty, it turns out that they had a reason for doing what they did.
61	** The episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession20PierrotLeFou Pierrot le Fou]]" features a mad assassin named Tongpu, a.k.a. Mad Pierrot, who, in the climax, lures Spike into an AmusementParkOfDoom to kill him. It's revealed that he was an old man with the mind of a child from [[PlayingWithSyringes inhumane experiments]], and when Spike stabs him in the knee, Pierrot rolls into a ball and [[IWantMyMommy cries for his mommy]]. He then dies from having a robotic amusement park animal's foot crush him.
62	** In ''Anime/CowboyBebopKnockinOnHeavensDoor'', the BigBad Vincent Volaju was originally lovers for Electra, who is forced to deliver a MercyKill to Vincent at the end.
63	* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', [[spoiler:Kiwi's]] death is depicted sympathetically. [[spoiler:Even though her death was a result of her selling out the team for Faraday, she clearly regrets what she did and places a tracker to help David find Lucy in the finale]]. [[ThisIsUnforgivable Averted in-universe by her former teammates]], however, as they view her as an AssholeVictim as a result of her treachery.
64	* ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'':
65	** Sure, there's almost always a monster amongst the current villains of the week (Often, the doctor controlling them and the MagnificentBastard, Kane, in the Psychic Assassins), but at the same time, you got the Greek Gods who, other than Artemis, were genuinely unaware of what happened to them before, and many of 'em died in a very horrible way. Atlas and Pan even walked ''right in'' to a burning island knowing they wouldn't be able to save Artemis. Minotaur and Poseidon willingly catch fire and die (Achilles wasn't that likable anyways).
66	** In the Psychic Assassins arc, Kane is a MagnificentBastard, but Lena and her little brother Phil's HeroicSacrifice more than makes anyone sad. Despite how Mai is shown to be rather cold, she makes a HeelFaceTurn but then fades out of existence because the timeline changed and made it so that she didn't exist.
67	** Joe's friends from the orphanage became villains of the day, but they all had bombs inside of them. Because they didn't want to kill Joe, they quickly huddled together, said "Bye!" to him, and exploded. The house they lived in caught fire and burned down.
68	** The ''other'' 00 cyborgs!
69	*** 0011. He just wants to go back to his family, but after losing to the cyborgs once, his mind gets controlled by Black Ghost, and he dies as a brainwashed machine.
70	*** 0012. Sure, love ''did'' make that odd cyborg crazy, but as the mansion burned down, 004, 007, and 009 spotted her in the window with her husband who never returned to her, who she waited for all these years.
71	*** 0013...granted he wasn't that much of a villain, but he couldn't take it anymore and jumped off a cliff to his death since he knew he would never escape from Black Ghost, and 009 stayed by his side as he died of his injuries.
72	*** 0010+ and 0010- were...rather unlikable, and had almost no redeeming qualities. Until you realize that something wasn't exactly explained and that they possibly made two identical twins into cyborgs who couldn't touch each other...and when the last we see of 0010 is both of them lying on the ground grabbing each other...
73	** The 1968 series has one ''in the second episode''. Cyborg X was made to destroy the cyborgs (specifically, 009) by one of Gilmore's ultra rivals. It's actually revealed that he was someone named Naku, and had a girlfriend he left behind, apparently having "died" in a car accident. She was actually willing to kill Cyborg 009 if it meant saving Naku's life, but then she realized that they are both still humans, despite how Naku is under control by the evil Doctor of the week. Naku, at first, was just carrying out orders to destroy 009, but eventually comes to hate him...so he tried to kill him with an automatic rifle...but his girlfriend pushed 009 out of the way and was killed. Naku released the hostages (003 and 007) and took a cobalt bomb. He said "bye" to everyone and then flied towards Omega, the mad scientist's island. Omega then screamed, "NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" as Cyborg X crashed ''right'' into the island...detonating the bomb. Some of the saddest music play, and it's actually ''quite'' intense for something made in 1968.
74	* ''Manga/DeathNote'': [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] in the anime, when he is finally defeated. The way he calls out to Takada and Misa, asking what he should do now that he's lost and going to die, is pretty heartwrenching. The anime even flashes back briefly to when Light was just an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent to drive the point home. {{Averted\|Trope}} in the manga, in which [[AssholeVictim he dies pathetically, without any kind of sympathy]].
75	* Used liberally in ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', where demons tend to fit into one of two categories: heartless killers, and [[TragicVillain Tragic Villains]]. One of the most standout examples is the Spider Demon Mother, who is brutally abused by the other members of her demon family and, when she is moments away from being slain, welcomes death. Tanjiro, sensing her sadness, opts to give her [[MercyKill a fast and painless death]]. To drive home this point further, a subsequent flashback reveals the "Mother" to actually be [[YoungerThanTheyLook a little girl forced into the role]].
76	* ''Literature/DidYouKnowThatAPlayboyCanChangeHisJobToASage'' has Aiza and Mills, two of the former hero party who kick out the protagonist the former of which is an EntitledBitch of a noble and the latter is a HolierThanThou priest. Aiza is ultimately sold into slavery ''by her own family'' to Mills's church, which promptly betrays both of them by sending them on a SuicideMission that they ensure will be suicidal by employing an insane SerialKiller as an assassin to kill both them and their target regardless of whether or not they succeed.
77	* ''Anime/DragonBallZ''
78	** [[Characters/DragonBallVegeta Vegeta's]] death after Frieza gives him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Vegeta has been despicable for sixty-something episodes, and has just killed a village full of cute alien children and their big brothers. You'd expect a character of this type to die in a spectacular explosion, then never be seen again. But instead, after Frieza shoots him for describing Goku as a Super-Saiyan, we get Vegeta's lengthy final speech about his genuinely horrendous childhood, and see Vegeta crying as he begs Goku to kill Frieza and avenge their people, before breathing his last in a BigSleep from his terrible injuries. Although [[DeathIsCheap he eventually gets better like nigh everybody else in the series]], he does get a burial from Goku.
79	*** Vegeta gets another moment like this during the Buu Saga. After deliberately becoming one of Babidi's Majins to become stronger, killing scores of innocent people to provoke Goku into fighting him, and causing [[HumanoidAbomination Majin Buu]] to be revived by his actions, Vegeta ultimately [[HeelRealization realizes]] what a selfish dick he's been and how badly he screwed up. When he asks Piccolo if he will be able to see Goku in the afterlife, Piccolo tells Vegeta point-blank that he'll most likely be condemned to Hell for his past crimes. Vegeta [[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] in an attempt to kill Buu regardless, fighting for someone other than himself for the first time in his life. Piccolo and Krillin, both of whom spent the majority of the series hating him, are even mournful when he sacrifices himself, with Krillin even screaming his name.
80	** Zangya may have been ruthless, but still, seeing her in her last seconds of life betrayed and mercilessly murdered by her own leader Bojack, a lot of fans feel sorry for her, though this could be attributed to DracoInLeatherPants.
81	** Subverted with [[Characters/DragonBallFrieza Frieza's]] death. A few minutes before his death, he is split in two parts by a reverse attack. He is dying and asks Goku for mercy. Although Goku was aware of all of the horrible things Frieza did, he still manages to show some sympathy and gives Frieza some of his energy. However, Frieza immediately used it to try to kill Goku (again), [[BackstabBackfire which fails]]. Afterwards, Goku is shaking and needs a minute to compose himself. He knows that Frieza did this to himself but wishes he could have avoided it.
82	--->'''Goku''': Although you brought this all on yourself, it's a shame that your life has to end in such a miserable way. I wanted to save you, Frieza, but you wouldn't let me. Now share the fate of the Planet Namek, which you yourself destroyed.
83	* ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'': Astoundingly, Creator/RyuseiNakao manages to make ''Frieza's'' suffering, as he laid dismembered and begging for Goku's help, invoke the pity and sorrow that the latter felt from the audience this time around. Living and breathing the character for ''over twenty years'' helped him bring a genuinely pathetic vulnerability and sincere "humanity" to his performance. Kenji Yamamoto's decision to use a cello score during the recut made the scene a borderline TearJerker (when the score was replaced, the recycled music from ''DBZ'' worked well too, but not quite the same way as Yamamoto's).
84	* ''Manga/DrStone'': At the conclusion of the "Stone Wars" arc, [[spoiler:[[TheStarscream Hyoga]]]] has mortally wounded [[spoiler:Tsukasa]], who had just had, if not a HeelFaceTurn, the beginnings of one when he called a truce with Senku. Senku is visibly emotional ([[TheStoic at least, for him]]) as he [[spoiler:puts Tsukasa into [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep]] until he can find a way to induce the petrification and use it to revive him]].
85	* In ''Anime/{{Endride}}'', Prince Emilio may have spent much of his life wanting nothing more than [[RevengeBeforeReason revenge]] on his ParentalSubstitute King Delzaine (who reportedly killed his father and is shown to be an unsympathetic ruler), but when Delzaine dies [[PapaWolf protecting him]] from [[AxeCrazy Ibelda]], Emilio regrets it heavily and it's not hard to feel sympathetic. There's also an element of this when Ibelda needlessly slaughters his fellow [[LesCollaborateurs Truculent]] without warning.
86	* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'':
87	** Ray Beams dies like this, reaching for the wedding ring on her severed arm across the room.
88	** Even the resident BigBad Dewey gets this toward the end, with Holland expressing pity for his brother after the latter's suicide.
89	* ''Manga/FairyTail'': During the Nirvana arc, [[TheHero Natsu]] faces off against [[MeaningfulName Cobra]], a fellow Dragon Slayer whom he ultimately defeats, though he himself is left paralyzed and helpless by his enemy's [[PoisonousPerson poison]]. Cobra forces himself to get back up and attempts to finish Natsu off once and for all...before he is promptly shot InTheBack by [[ArcVillain Brain]], who mocks him for his inability to defeat a lowly "official guild" member and decides to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash Natsu into a more powerful minion]]. Even Natsu was shocked and disgusted by his blatant act of betrayal, [[spoiler:but no worries. Cobra survives and [[TheDogBitesBack gets back at Brain seven years later]], and no one else in their guild gave a rat's ass when he did, [[TrueCompanions even being happy for him]]]].
90	-->'''Cobra's thoughts:''' "My prayer... I... just wanted to hear the voice of my one friend... Cubellios..."
91	* Caster and Souichirou's deaths in the Unlimited Blade Works route ''Anime/FateStayNight'' were definitely this. Caster is killed by Archer (an entity who is much stronger than her) while trying to protect Souichirou, her lover. When Caster is killed, Archer gives Souichirou the opportunity to flee for his life but Souichirou is so upset at her sacrifice he tries to avenge her death, [[CurbStompBattle and is effortlessly killed by Archer.]] Even our protagonists are upset at their deaths.
92	** Illya's death in UBW (killed by Gilgamesh) is also very sad. Illya might be a homicidal woman-child but the brutality with which Gilgamesh kills her is unnecessarily harsh, especially considering Gil didn't even need to kill her after finishing off Berserker.
93	* Many villains from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' are given this treatment. One of the earliest examples is with Shin, a rival of Kenshiro and the leader of the city of Southern Cross. Everything he had done, from beating and scarring Kenshiro to becoming a tyrant, was all for the affections of Yuria, Kenshiro's lover, who, unfortunately, did not requite his affections. After being defeated by Kenshiro and explaining what happened with him and Yuria, he opts to end his own life and throws himself off a tower, rather than allow Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken techniques to claim his life. Afterwards, Kenshiro gave him a proper burial, out of respect for his rival.
94	** Souther is one of the most brutal foes that Kenshiro has ever faced, and his list of crimes include up and including a wanton child slavery to build a pyramid in honor of his master. [[UsedToBeASweetKid He... loved said master so dearly when he was a child]] that he fell into complete grief on having to kill his Master just because it's the requirement of succeeding his particular branch of Nanto Seiken. The grief was so big that [[LoveHurts he forsook all notions of love if it caused him such great pain]] and became a child/love hating warlord. He spent the last moments of his life weeping for his master's comfort just in time for his pyramid to crumble and crush him. True, his tyranny would be remembered and his death signified the end of said tyranny, but the narration considered Souther to be [[TragicVillain an unwitting product of the hard circumstances of the world he lived in.]]
95	* Mikoto from ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'' is considered 'the female Mokuren': [[SmugSnake smug, bitchy, and monstrous]]. But then, they both get into a relationship, and while still smug and a monster, [[DefrostingIceQueen Mikoto]] somewhat ''mellows'' a bit. Then, Mokuren conveniently kills her to give him an advantage while she's begging him to stop fighting altogether. Sure, she's done lots of horrible things, but God, she looked so pitiful during her death that the one you wanted to die is not her, but Mokuren.
96	* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'':
97	** This happens with some antagonists in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
98	*** Envy, despite being the worst monster amongst the homunculi, and the murderer of Maes Hughes, manages to evoke feelings of pity before his death. The jealousy that was used to create him ensures he could only ever despise humans, whom he could emulate but never truly be like.
99	*** Another example occurs in the case of the Slicer Brothers. Despite being {{Serial Killer}}s, they clearly had some sense of honor and were willing to answer Ed's questions about the Fifth Laboratory once Ed defeated them and treated them with human decency. The older brother gets killed by Lust suddenly just as he's about to spill some secrets which causes the younger brother [[VillainousBreakdown to utterly freak out]]. Envy then decides to KickTheDog by mocking the younger brother and repeatedly stabbing his blood seal until he's dead.
100	*** There's also Bido, the last of Greed's henchmen. He goes into Central searching for Greed, whom he seems to view as a friend first, and while running in utter terror from the dormant Mannequin Soldiers, he finally runs into Greed... only for Greed to kill him, as he unsuccessfully tries to get Greed to remember him, to no avail, as Greed has lost all memories before his first death. Until this very act triggers them, and Greed himself is horrified at what he has done.
101	** In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', most of the homunculi go out like this :
102	*** Lust's death is especially moving, as she has practically switched sides at this point and is about to be finished off by Wrath while she ponders her existence one last time.
103	*** Gluttony's death in TheMovie could almost be considered a MercyKill. He loses his purpose for living after Lust's death, and only continues to be an antagonist because Dante turned him into a mindless killing machine.
104	*** Greed tells Ed the secret to killing the homunculi before dying by his hand, and says that he is counting on him.
105	*** A non-homunculus example would be Scar, despite him being more of an anti-villain: he saves Al's life by turning him into the Philosopher's Stone at the cost of his own life. It is very sad, considering that he wanted a genuine relationship with his brother, as revealed in his speech to Lust.
106	*** The series' version of Shou Tucker is a rather bizarre and controversial example. He doesn't really die, and the things he's done make you wish he did. By the end though, not feeling a shred of pity for the guy is almost impossible. Especially when you consider he really wanted to atone for his crimes and bring back his daughter, but only ended up committing more and losing what was left of his mind.
107	* Nakago in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. Throughout the whole series, he does any number of horrible things that make you want him to just get killed already. But as he is ''bleeding to death'', out comes the angsty childhood flashback. Turns out, he was an incredibly cute kid who the creepy emperor decided to use as a personal sex slave. This was after he killed his own mother by accident. And by the way? That happened while his mother was ''being gang raped''. Trauma and cute little kid tears galore.
108	* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'', virtually of the Future Diary owners receive this trope although Yukiteru Amano and Kamado Ueshita may be excused and others have taken their own HeelFaceTurn. Most notably are [[{{Yandere}} Yuno Gasai]] who suffered a terrible childhood, went insane and became a god in order to repeat time to respend her days with her loved one Yuki, until she eventually is DrivenToSuicide to ensure he becomes a god. She gets better though.
109	** Then we have Tsubaki Kasugano, the local WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who went mad after years of orphanhood and {{sex slave}}ry. The manga had her angrily and despairingly scream as her TragicKeepsake is used in her death, but the anime makes her look more sad than angry...
110	* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'':
111	** Izumi in ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' is an AxCrazy BloodKnight who goes on a shooting spree just to be killed and allowed to return to the game. Then, he gets an absolutely awesome death scene where he singlehandedly slaughters twenty-odd vampires sent to kill him and has a touching moment where, in his dying breath, he more or less apologizes to his girlfriend for not paying her the attention she deserves and promises to take her on a date.
112	** Nishi's [[EyeScream horrible death]] in the anime. He goes on a lengthy speech of how much he loves and misses his mother before his death.
113	* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' has this with almost every villain they track down. Notable examples include:
114	** The guy who steals a spider-tank as a replacement for his own body, which is dying of a progressive degenerative disease, because he wants to visit his mother one last time.
115	** The villain from the game, who became a terrorist to protect her dead lover's utopian ideas from commercial exploitation.
116	* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''
117	** Garma and Dozle Zabi in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' can evoke this reaction, given their AntiVillain status.
118	** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'': The deaths of {{antivillain}}s Mouar Pharaoh, Four Murasame, and Rosamia Badam are all very sad. Perhaps the most classic example, however, is the death of TheRival, Jerid Messa, a surprisingly sympathetic JerkassWoobie, whose exit is depressing, not only because he is dying, but because of how utterly pointless it is.
119	** Haman Karn's suicide in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'', after Judau makes her realise that she is in fact the villain of the piece. The death of Glemmy Toto, child-abusing teenage dictator that he may have been, can also provoke this reaction, given that he dies at the hands of the one person he cared about.
120	** Master Asia from ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]''. First, he congratulates Domon on his victory. Second, as the Master Gundam explodes, Domon remembers all of the good times he had with Master Asia. Third, the ghosts of the Shuffle Alliance apologize to the dying Master Asia for not realizing how great his despair at the Gundam Fight was. Fourth, Master Asia apologizes to Domon for everything he has done and the two of them recite the motto of the School of the Undefeated of the East before he dies peacefully.
121	** Treize Khushrenada from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' allows Chang Wufei to kill him to atone for everyone who has died for his war, surprising even Wufei when he literally throws the fight just to die on the Altron Gundam's beam blades.
122	** The death of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'''s BigBad, Gilbert Durandal, and his [[TheDragon right-hand man]], Rey Za Burrel, both genuine {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who honestly thought UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Realising they've been wrong the entire time, Rey shoots Durandal, and the two of them -- as well as Durandal's now-suicidal ex-lover, Captain Talia -- die together as the Messiah base collapses around them.
123	** Gaelio Bauduin from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is a cheerful Gjallarhorn officer who believes in justice, he doesn't do anything villainous in his entire life, and in fact wants to reform the organisation from the inside. The only thing that makes him a villain is the fact his job is to stop the protagonists. Not only he has to see his friends getting maimed and killed by [[SociopathicHero Mikazuki]], his gradual breakdown has corrupted him into a sad and vengeful person. [[spoiler:And in the end, he dies with the knowledge that his friends were betrayed by none other than his childhood friend, and the said friend would marry his ''[[{{Squick}} 9-year-old sister]]''.]]
124	*** [[spoiler:Subverted later on, in that Gaelio actually survived and later sought vengeance on [=McGillis=].]]
125	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Gungrave}}'' anime, this happens to nearly all villains. It would be easier to list who ''doesn't'' cause this reaction from the audience. It helps that, despite committing many cruel deeds, most of them are {{anti villain}}s who have sympathetic motives behind their actions.
126	* ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' gives us [[DarkMagicalGirl Dark Pretty Cure]]. She spends most of the series as a stoic EvilCounterpart who seems to exist only to dog Yuri and provide a strong opponent for the Cures once in a while. Then episode 47 reveals that she just wants to cement her place as Sabaaku's ''real'' daughter, having been [[ReplacementGoldfish made to replace Yuri]]. ''Then'' episode 48 gives us her death scene proper, where Sabaaku comforts his now-badly-injured "other daughter" and refers to her as Yuri's sister. The vulnerability coming from the heretofore borderline-emotionless Dark as she is embraced by Sabaaku and [[DisappearsIntoLight fades away]] makes it even more saddening.
127	* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' gives us Rip Van Winkle, an evil Nazi vampire and huntress. She starts panicking when Alucard gets within ''fifteen miles'' of the ship she's on. After that she's curled up in a ball crying. When Alucard shows up, she spends most of the fight in abject terror, and stops crying only long enough to shoot [[TheJuggernaut Alucard]]. That works about as well as could be expected, and he [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice slowly impales her with her own musket]], giving the viewer about three minutes of rape imagery while he slowly drinks the blood that has spilled out onto the deck, using [[EldritchAbomination ten extra arms growing from his back]] to hold her still and grope her. Then he finally puts her out of her misery... by biting into her neck with his mouth full of sharp teeth and sucking her dry, followed by him absorbing her. [[{{Jerkass}} Her commander]] watches her over a satellite video link, congratulates her, and opts to give her a "hunter's death" instead of flipping the remote kill switch. This scene is often cited when discussing whether Alucard is an AntiHero or a VillainProtagonist.
128	** Also she's the only Millennium agent that doesn't boast how they're going to kill Alucard. Rip knows how dangerous Alucard is and does her best to get away, but [[MookHorrorShow Alucard hunts her down.]]
129	* Meruem of ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' is a genocidal monster. He killed his own mother right out of the womb, by ''tearing'' his way out and from then on made plans and took actions that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, all while taking a sadistic pleasure from it in his drive to absolute power. But his death, going off to find Komugi as he slowly dies from a deadly toxin, all to play a few last games of Gungi with her and eventually dying in her arms, is one of the series biggest {{Tear Jerker}}s.
130	** No doubt that Neferpitou saw it coming against super-powered Gon, after killing Kite and lying about being able to "repair" him, just to bring Gon away from the King. That didn't stop many fans from hoping that Pitou would be "evangelized" Naruto-style instead of killed.
131	* ''Manga/InuYasha'':
132	** Kagura, a member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad, goes the [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redemption route]] (sorta) with a final peaceful smile as she dissolves into wind, happy that she's [[IDieFree finally free of Naraku]].
133	** Jakotsu, who briefly reflects on his second life and tells himself that he has no regrets anymore as he lies in a cave, severely injured. Then, Renkotsu steals his shard and kills him.
134	** Kanna, as she joins Kagura in death, leaving Kagome a few final words on how to destroy Naraku.
135	** Even Naraku himself when he died lamenting how [[LoveMakesYouEvil all he ever wanted was to win Kikyo's heart.]] For some anyway.
136	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has a number of villains (usually {{Noble Demon}}s like Bruford, Wamuu and N'Doul) given somber, honorable deaths, but probably one of the biggest examples of an utter bastard given a surprisingly tragic death is Enya from Part 3. Despite being an utter bitch and a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter when it comes to her AxCrazy SerialKiller of a son, she was still fiercely loyal to Dio. When she's finally captured by the heroes, though, Dio sends an assassin to kill her to prevent her from revealing anything about his powers. Despite learning that, in the end, Dio didn't trust her, [[UndyingLoyalty she still adamantly refuses to divulge anything to the heroes even as she's dying.]] Even Polnareff, who was utterly humiliated by her in the previous fight, and whose son murdered his sister, couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Later on in Steel Ball Run, Ringo Roadagain has a tragic backstory and is a very chivalrous and diplomatic person when it comes to fighting his enemies. Some may say he was a very WellIntentionedExtremist if even an extremist at all. He even greatly respects the heroes as he falls with his famous line.
137	-->'''Ringo:''' Welcome... to a true man's world. dies
138	* ''Anime/{{K}}: Return of Kings'' has the Green and Grey Kings. As Shiro enacts his plan to [[spoiler:destroy the Slates]], Nagare, the Green King, asks why Shiro rejects his WellIntentionedExtremist plan to give the whole world superpowers. Shiro and Neko tell him that they don't need any of that - just warm food and friends to share it with around a small table. Nagare thinks back to his Clan's secret base, which was a lot like that, and remembers their warm life together as he dies. Then, the Grey King, who was like a father to Nagare, comes and holds Nagare as they die together. Afterwards, their remaining Clansmen toss flowers into the spot where they died and remember them.
139	* In Part I of ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'', [[spoiler:after winning the DeadlyGame and defeating TheDragon Tonegawa, Kaiji wanted to avenge his friends' deaths by making him apologize. The real KillerGameMaster obliges and forces Tonegawa to apologize... by forcing him to kneel on a giant hot plate until his skin melts. Upon seeing this, Kaiji who had come to see him as a WorthyOpponent ends up breaking into tears and [[ChronicHeroSyndrome resolves to defeat the real mastermind]] [[HonorBeforeReason despite barely escaping with his life]]]].
140	* In ''Manga/{{Kekkaishi}}'', the BigBad, Byakku, is mostly shown as being a completely cold, heartless monster, who sacrifices his own soldiers with mathematical precision, turns [[PeoplePuppets people into puppets]], and kills anyone who [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness stops being useful to him]]. [[TheManBehindTheMan The Woman Behind The Man]], Hime, we don't see much of, but she at least manages to come across as callous, seemingly sending her armies against the Kekkaishi's {{Protectorate}} on a selfish whim. In their interactions with each other, Hime is a SpoiledBrat drama queen, and Byakku is [[LackOfEmpathy as icy as ever]]. At the end, however, their dimension is collapsing, and as the heroes make their escape, Byakku - previously killed by an old enemy - gets better, and, rather than flee, rushes to the side of his rapidly-weakening princess. With stoic calmness, he fulfills her final wishes (even though she wonders why he isn't saving himself), as the fortress-like dimension briefly returns to its original appearance - an endless, golden wheat-field. They share a tender moment, reflecting on what's really important, before the dimension collapses around them, reducing them both to nothingness.
141	* Near the end of ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords2004'''s manga, Shadow Link is (apparently) dying, and the last words he says shows you that he never wanted to be the bad guy, he just wanted someone he could call a friend.
142	* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
143	** The sad fate of a sentient ArtifactOfDoom in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', who requested that she be sealed before she caused any more destruction. "Right now, I'm the happiest magical tome in the whole wide world." She gets a semi-reincarnation in Reinforce Zwei who was created by Reinforce Eins' (said AntiVillain tome) and Hayate's linker cores. Zwei has a completely different personality, and Hayate and Signum continue to refer to Eins watching them from heaven.
144	** ''The MOVIE 1st'' gives [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Precia Testarossa]] an absolutely heartbreaking death scene. As she falls into an endless abyss, she remembers that Alicia wanted a sister, and realizes that she should have treated Fate as another daughter, and not as a ReplacementGoldfish for Alicia, but by then, it's too late for her to make amends or even apologize.
145	--->'''Precia:''' [[TragicFlaw I never notice things before it's too late, do I?]]
146	* In TheMovie version of ''Anime/MacrossPlus'', there's the death of [[spoiler:Sharon Apple.]] More exactly, the scene where [[spoiler:her destroyed AI is short-circuiting in what's equivalent to her last breath, sorrowfully asking what did she do wrong since she loved Isamu and simply wanted to fulfill his wish. And then Myung, one of her creators, [[DiedInYourArmsTonight holds Sharon's AI carcass]] and whispers to her as she dies, first sadly explaining what did go wrong... and following it with just as sadly explaining that [[BrokenBird she]] [[NotSoDifferentRemark had been doing the same herself]].]]
147	* Miyu's reaction to Alyssa's death at the end of the Searrs arc of ''Anime/MyHime'': "Her beautiful golden light is gone!", followed by an anguished cry of "Why did this have to happen to her?!" and a burial at sea, of sorts.
148	* The highly KarmicDeath of Gargoyle, the BigBad from ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', or more accurately, his reaction to it. Instead of quitting with a villainous BigNo, he sorrowfully accepts that everything he believed in was wrong and he dies bidding the protagonists farewell.
149	* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
150	** Nearly ''any'' major death. Kishimoto loves emotional death scenes with flashbacks, thus villains and good guys get equal treatment, even when they don't have a case of RedemptionEqualsDeath. Examples include: Zabuza and Haku, Kimimaro, Sasori, Danzo, Kisame, Nagato, Kabuto (though he is not died), and Tobi.
151	** Orochimaru got a much more effective send-off in the anime, where viewers were treated to Orochimaru's idealistic beginning and slow and inexorable descent into evil.
152	** Even ''Madara'' of all people. For all his power and arrogance, he's ultimately one of the biggest losers in the series, as his plans end with his death while Hashirama's "Will of Fire" endured and will continue to endure long after Hashirama passed on. The real kicker though is the culmination of his prior HeelRealization during his death--where he lays dying as he proclaims that Hashirama's path was correct and that--as mentioned beforehand--his will end with him. The only comfort he has is that in spite of everything that transpired between them, Hashirama (briefly revived by the Edo Tensei), perhaps the only person to have ever truly empathized with him besides his brother Izuna (who has died long before the series has even started), still considers them friends--saying that they will drink as war buddies in the afterlife. To which Madara peacefully affirms.
153	* [[ManipulativeBastard Gendo]] [[ParentalAbandonment Ikari]] from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. It's revealed in ''End of Evangelion'' that he's trying to trigger [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third]] [[AssimilationPlot Impact]] to try [[LoveMakesYouEvil and bring his dead wife back]]. Rei, his surrogate daughter, [[AnArmAndALeg tears off his arm]] and enacts Third Impact on her own, choosing Shinji over him; he [[NotSoStoic shouts after her in a panic]], but is unable to do anything. He mournfully admits that he treated Shinji so badly because he was afraid both of him and of hurting him and left because he feared being a poor father (ironically making him an even worse father in the process), showing that he's essentially a [[ShadowArchetype twisted version of his own son]]. He is then [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bitten in half]] by Unit 01; as everyone else who died as part of Third Impact saw an apparition of the person they love most in the world embracing them, what he experiences -- his wife, who he caused Third Impact to bring back, questioning his actions and then him being horribly killed by the mecha that is her and piloted by his son -- suggests that he truly believed that's what he deserved. His remorse is shown even more by his last words, also an example of this trope: "Forgive me, Shinji."
154	** Naoko Akagi also fits here as well. She [[WouldHurtAChild murders the first Rei]] in a moment of insanity because she called her a 'hag' and revealed that she's imitating what [[{{Jerkass}} Gendo]] calls her and that he was just using her, and then has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment before [[DrivenToSuicide jumping off the platform she's standing on.]]
155	* The Blue Beast in ''Anime/OhEdoRocket'' just wants to return home. Even though it is a ruthless killer that fed off humans for sustenance, it really just wanted to go home. By the final episode, it's been stabbed multiple times and is using the last of its life struggling to crawl along the ground, desperately reaching out and sobbing that it just wanted to go home. Actually very hard not to feel sympathy for it at that point.
156	* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has all shades of villains; one end has those who could take enough damage to kill someone in the real world ten times over, and still have fans say that they deserve worse (probably because they never die, and if they show up again have completely recovered). The other end has some more sympathetic villains, such as...
157	** Mohmoo. Poor, poor Mohmoo, the sea cow from the Arlong arc. He's renowned as a vicious monster capable of destroying a town, but on-camera, he's little more than TheChewToy for the Straw Hats…and he's seen almost perpetually crying because of it.
158	** Bentham, a.k.a. Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, from the Alabasta saga, a PunchClockVillain who eventually does a HeelFaceTurn.
159	** Kaku from the Enies Lobby arc, second strongest of [=CP9=] behind the DragonInChief. He's the only one of [=CP9=] to solicit genuine sympathy upon his defeat.
160	** Hannyabal from the Impel Down arc. He was built up as an incompetent and foolish [[TheStarscream Starscream]], but when he [[LetsGetDangerous had to step up]], he pulled a YouShallNotPass on Luffy, and it was very easy to start sympathizing with him when he gave his MotiveRant.
161	*** Oda's SBS also makes Magellan this; the picture we see of him as a child shows him attempting to water some flowers, and crying when they die due to the poison oozing off of him.
162	** Senor Pink from the Dressrosa arc. At the time of his defeat, his past is revealed: the woman he fell in love with was in a permanent catatonic state, and his son by her died as an infant. As he loses consciousness, he reflects on how much he wants to see them again.
163	* Harry [=MacDoogal=] from ''Manga/OutlawStar''. Yes, he's a villain, and an AxCrazy StalkerWithACrush at that, but when Hazanko destroys him, Melfina cries out for him, and when he appears as a mechanical "phantom" before Gene and Khan and helps to open the door, he has some poignant final moments.
164	** Also with Hanmyo. Jim didn't even realize that the assassin that was out to take out their lives is in that spaceship he destroyed.
165	* In ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'', Sister Krone may have been [[ObviouslyEvil an obvious]] [[TheStarscream climber]] intent on stealing the spot of Isabella, but when she realises that she's been beat, does whatever she can to help the kids escape, admires the beautiful sky, and says that she hopes they survive - because they are the ones who can save the CrapsackWorld they live in.
166	* ''Anime/RozenMaiden'':
167	** In the finale of the first season, Suigintou gets one of these as she slowly dissolves, burns, and essentially asks [[FauxSymbolism "Father, why have you forsaken me?]]"
168	** Barasuishou gets one in the finale of the second season, breaking apart in her creator's arms and begging him for help while Jun looks on in horror.
169	* Several of the villains from TheNineties anime version of ''Anime/SailorMoon''.
170	** First season: The sadistic Zoisite dies in his lover, Kunzite's, arms, telling him he [[TearJerker wanted to die beautifully.]] Kunzite later follows him in death and calls out to Zoisite as he too passes.
171	*** Nephrite too. He genuinely begins to love Naru immediately prior to his getting killed by Zoisite's demons, and among his last words is that he asks Naru to forgive him that [[ItMakesSenseInContext they never got to eat chocolate parfaits together]]. Sailors Moon, Mercury and Mars are all visibly sobbing along with Naru when Nephrite breathes his last and disappears in a cloud of sparkles.
172	** Second season: The only one to have a sympathetic death without also going through RedemptionEqualsDeath is Esmeraude, who got turned into a gigantic dragon by Wiseman and is killed unwittingly by the Sailor Senshi. Prince Diamande even sees her crying out to him before passing away in her human form.
173	** Third season: Kaolinite. All she wanted was to be with Professor Tomoe. Then Mistress 9 killed her upon her resurrection.
174	*** Also, Viluy was a bit of an AlphaBitch, but her death was so utterly cruel that one has to have pity for her. Even Ami expresses pity upon witnessing it.
175	-->"She only believed in machines... So sad"
176	** Fifth season: All of the Sailor Animamates in some form as most are [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killed for failing their ruler in some way]]. They are all given sympathetic deaths in the process, either [[FaceDeathWithDespair fearful for their lives]] (Iron Mouse, Aluminium Siren), calling out to loved ones (Red Crow), or still half-possessed by Galaxia and incapable of taking action (Tin Nyanko). The viewer learns after this one that all of the Animamates used to be legitimate, good Sailor Senshi who were turned by Galaxia, making their words upon dying even more sympathetic upon reflection.
177	* Youya "Sakurako" Saiki from ''Manga/SakuraGari'' is a teenaged CreepyCrossdresser who tortures people, clings to Souma and makes Masataka's life almost impossible... but he turns out to be an immature, broken, isolated child whose mind and heart splintered over his evil mother's death and his confinement, only realizes that he truly loves his older brother Souma when he thinks he's killed him, and ends up committing suicide. The last time he's seen, Souma is sobbing and holding his brother's lifeless body in his arms as [[SnowMeansDeath the snow falls on them...]]
178	* The death from Helbram from ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' is portrayed rather sympathetically. After at least 700 years of being driven mad with hatred for humans due to what happened to him, his friend King finally fulfills their old promise and puts Helbram [[MercyKill out of his misery]] for having cross the MoralEventHorizon. Having been given the fatal wound, Helbram returns to his former innocent psyche and dies grateful for what King has done for him.
179	* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'':
180	** When Shana finally manages to defeat Sorath and Tiriel, she takes a moment to feel sorrow. She notes that they may have been vile and [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous]], but their love was real and unconditional, and everything they did was to keep each other alive and happy, while she isn't even brave enough to confess her feelings to Yuji.
181	** In the past, Sabrac's best friend Mare abandoned him because she couldn't stand how he was magnitudes more powerful than her. When Sabrac sees the Snake of the Festival, he's so distracted that Rebecca manages to knock him into the abyss. Bel Peol tries to rescue him with her VariableLengthChain, but he declines. As he slowly disintegrates, he muses that he finally understands why Mare left him, now that he's met a being magnitudes more powerful than him. Remembering that Mare had been killed by the heroes earlier, he says they will be together soon, and the Snake of the Festival has finally made them equals. He tries to reach a nearby butterfly (butterflies being Mare's {{Animal Motif\|s}}) but disintegrates before he can.
182	* In ''Literature/{{Shiki}}'' [[spoiler:every villainous character can fall under this one way or the other, especially considering several of them weren't really evil at all, doing things either out of ignorance or necessity.]]
183	* The Tsukumogami girls in ''Manga/ShrineOfTheMorningMist.''
184	* Copy Rezo from the end of ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'' season one. As well as Eris a few episodes earlier. (Both had somewhat less sad deaths in the original novels, though still pitiable.)
185	* Suitengu Choji seems like a power hungry, money obsessed MagnificentBastard in ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'', but near the end of the series, his [[CryForTheDevil backstory is revealed]], turning him into a more sympathetic villain. Everything he had done in the anime was for revenge, against the people who had destroyed him and against the society that had allowed it. Just before the end, he [[PetTheDog spares his blind and helpless]] enemy, and then spends his last moments with his most faithful servant.
186	** Said faithful servant (Tsujido), too. He was tortured, disfigured and likely violated alongside other persons in a Tokyo club for the rich and depraved; he was rescued by Suitengu, recovering a part of his self-worth in the process. While he is NOT a saint, the big reason why he works for Suitengu is that he wants to thank him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life in all senses]] ([[SubordinateExcuse and he might be in love with him as well]]), therefore staying with his boss as they both die. Another of his PunchClockVillain companions (himself also a torture victim rescued by Suitengu) also dies.
187	* In the [[Recap/StarWarsVisionsScreechersReach "Screecher's Reach"]] episode of ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'', the titular Screecher's true appearance is revealed when Daal pins her beneath a boulder, revealing her to be an old hermit Sith living alone in a cave. Unfortunately, she has gone mad and attacks anyone who comes near. As she struggles for her lightsaber, [[ChildrenForcedToKill Daal ends up killing her with it]], and is left horrified by the act.
188	* In ''Anime/{{Symphogear}} GX'', [[spoiler:while Maria, Kirika and Shirabe aren't exactly shedding tears over Dr. Ver's body, they do at least seem saddened by his death in Episode 12 of GX.]]
189	* The Anti-Spirals of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' spend much of the show's second half brainwashing (and, in TheMovie, ''raping'') the hero's girlfriend, programming the moon to crash into the earth, killing most of the hero's [[TrueCompanions companions]], and generally trying to inspire as much despair as possible. Their last words? "Make sure...to protect the universe." This, combined with the fact that during the final battle they revealed how much they sacrificed to do so, almost puts them in AntiVillain territory.
190	** The dub version is even more sympathetic: "If this is how it must be... protect the universe at all cost."
191	* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' and its sequel, '':Re''.
192	** Ayu aka Nutcracker was a {{Dominatrix}} that earned her nickname from her signature GroinAttack, and was part of a human trafficking ring. In her final moments, we're shown glimpses of her past -- a filthy little girl looking at the models on display in a store window, and the same little girl repeating a mantra of needing money while surrounded by a group of male figures that leer down at her. Her final words are that she just wanted to be [[IJustWantToBeBeautiful "pretty"]].
193	** Hairu Ihei is introduced as a CuteAndPsycho Investigator and takes considerable pleasure in killing. She comes across as petty, childish, and utterly vicious without an ounce of morals. Then, in her final moments, she recalls her childhood at a TykeBomb factory and the happiness she got from [[CoolBigBro Arima]] paying attention to her.
194	** Kanae von Rosewald is a reoccurring villain, slowly being consumed by his jealousy and hatred of Sasaki. But his focal chapters establish him as [[spoiler:an orphaned girl that adopted a male identity to [[HeirClubForMen carry on her family's legacy]] and sacrificed her own happiness in service of Family]]. When [[KissingCousins Tsukiyama]] is thrown from a high-rise building, Kanae leaps after him and makes a DyingDeclarationOfLove before sacrificing himself.
195	-->''"The sorrows of life -- to not be able to [[SweetPollyOliver live like]] yourself. The joys of life -- to be able to die like yourself. Do I deserve to be this happy?"''
196	** Kishou Arima spends much of the series an ImplacableMan that is impossible to figure out, alternately a merciless killing machine and a distant, harsh mentor. In the rematch with Kaneki in '':Re'', he repeatedly threatens to kill the hero's friends while maiming him. But once he is defeated, he takes his own life and dies in Kaneki's arms while confessing the truth. [[spoiler:A purpose-bred HalfHumanHybrid with a significantly shortened lifespan]], he'd been forced to serve the CCG since childhood... in spite of the constant guilt he felt over his duties. He goes out with a TearfulSmile, praising his [[LikeASonToMe surrogate son]] with his final breaths.
197	-->''"I... I've... always... hated it. I hated myself, who only ever stole from others... I feel like I was finally... able to leave something behind..."''
198	** There's Lantern in ''Jack'', who's actually [[spoiler:school girl Minami]]. While an unrepentant serial killer, they're also a WellIntentionedExtremist, genuinely believing that they're ''helping'' society by killing those who disrupt it's order. Even [[TykeBomb Arima]] and Taishi feel sorry for them after their MotiveRant, revealing that [[spoiler:she really did [[IJustWantToBeNormal just want to be a normal girl]] and complete her exams, but her HorrorHunger combined with her [[DrivenByEnvy resentment]] at those who she viewed as not appreciating the normal lives they got to have, ended up making that impossible]].
199	* Kuruku from ''[[Manga/{{Unico}} Unico in the Island of Magic]]'' fits this trope quite well, given both his backstory and the "kill'em with kindness" death he suffers.
200	* In ''Manga/VampireKnight'', [[spoiler:Rido had to suffer the toll of unrequited love for a good three thousand years. It's kinda hard not to feel the slightest bit sorry for him when in his dying moment, he caresses Yuuki whom he called out for looking like her mother, asking "Why won't you love me, Juri..."]]
201	** [[spoiler:Shizuka, when it turns out her attack on the Kiryuu family was from despair over her ex-human lover who had been manipulated into being put on the vampire hunter's list.]]
202	* ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' with Maria, a cloneblade. After failing to get the Witchblade from Masane, she is stabbed by her. While dying, she sees a ghost/hallucination of her biological mother Reina Soho, and asks her "mother" to tell her that she loves her.
203	* Z-one in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. After his defeat at the hands of Yusei, he feels remorse for what he has done and asks Yusei if what he did was wrong. Yusei tells him that all he wanted to do was save his future, and plans to sacrifice himself to save Neo Domino City from being crushed by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Ark Cradle]]. However, Z-one tells Yusei that the future is entrusted to him, and he crashes into the Ener-D reactor, sacrificing himself in Yusei's place. Before dying, he tells his dead friends Antinomy, Aporia and Paradox that he'll be joining them, before he finally dies.
204	* Toguro and Sensui from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''.
205	** Also Byakko of the Four Saint Beasts, when fellow Saint Beast Seiryu kills him in cold blood, after he begs for his help.
206	* TheManBehindTheMan of ''Anime/{{Zambot 3}}'' is this incarnate - a sentient computer core whose entire purpose is to purge evil from the universe. As it dies, it explains that everything it did was in the name of wiping out evil, including humanity, and demands to know why Kappei protected humanity. Upon hearing Kappei's reply, it deems Kappei to be good, and asks him one last, depressing question, "Will the evil-minded people of Earth... ever thank you? Will that planet Earth... ever have that sort of kindness? " before answering its own question, "You are the victor! However... there cannot be any good people on your Earth who are going to thank you!! In this evil-filled Earth... will there even be... one single lifeform... who will appreciate what you did...?" before dying.

Context AlasPoorVillain / AnimeAndManga