Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context DespairEventHorizon / AnimeAndManga

Go To

1%%%
2%%
3%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
4%%
5%%%
6
7----
8* ''Manga/AnimalX'': Yuuji crosses the Despair Event Horizon when he finds out what happened to his first child: she was subjected to vivisection, died, and then her remains were kept on ice in a research facility. After that, Yuuji is quietly broken and makes remarks that show that he's reached a point where he doesn't much care if he lives or dies.
9* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'':
10** Mikasa suffers one when [[spoiler:she thinks Eren died]].
11** [[spoiler:Reiner]] appears to have gone over it after [[spoiler:revealing his true identity. He clings to the idea of completing his mission in order to function but is resigned to dying as a mass murderer]].
12*** It only gets worse [[spoiler: after the timeskip; he attempts to kill himself after a prolonged TraumaCongaLine that includes his broken family life, his guilt over the mission, and Bertolt's death. His desire to look after the young warrior candidates is the only thing stopping him from pulling the trigger.]]
13** Bertolt seems to have clearly crossed it by the time [[spoiler: he faces the Survey Corps during the Return to Shiganshina arc. He realizes that the world is cruel and there is no hope or happiness left for any of them in such circumstances, so he might as well end the war right there as quick and painlessly as possible.]]
14* Griffith of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', broken in body and mind after a year's worth of torture, loses all hope of becoming captain of the Band of the Hawks again when it's discovered that he will never recover from his injuries. Then, just after he resigns himself to living a peaceful life with Casca, he discovers that she's moved on and is now in a relationship with Guts. Griffith loses it completely. This drives him to activate his Crimson Behelit, summon the Godhand, and cross the MoralEventHorizon.
15** Hitting one's emotional nadir this way is all but a requirement for mortal bearers of Behelits in general. It ensures that one is in the proper frame of mind to accept the offer of the Godhand to make the Sacrifice (and thus cross the bearer's personal MoralEventHorizon) to become a demon. And provided the Behelit is somewhere close, a member of the Godhand can also use it to manifest in the physical world, such as when Slan manifests in front of Guts using [[{{Squick}} a pile of troll intestines]].
16** Guts comes perhaps the closest that any mortal can get to the Despair Event Horizon at the end of the Eclipse, what with [[spoiler:losing everyone in the Band of the Hawk except Casca to the demons unleashed by Griffith's acceptance of the call to Sacrifice, and then being horribly {{mind rape}}d by being ForcedToWatch as Casca, the only woman he's ever loved, is raped to insanity by Griffith, who has been reborn as the fifth member of the Godhand, after a [[UnstoppableRage furious]] but [[HopeSpot utterly doomed]] bid to save her that cost him a hand and an eye]]. The only thing that keeps Guts going in the face of such despair is an undying hatred for the one responsible for it all and a desire for revenge that all but consumes him for two years and nearly destroys the man that he used to be. Well, that and his completely single-minded obsession with [[spoiler:finding a cure for Casca's insanity]], even though he's warned that [[HopeIsScary it may not be for the best, and she may not even want to be cured.]]
17*** He ultimately crosses it in Chapter 370, [[spoiler: when Griffith abducts Casca despite his best attempts at stopping it, which sends Guts into a deep depression.]]
18* In ''Manga/BlackButler'', Ciel eventually reached this point after he was captured following his parents' [[spoiler: and his twin brother's]] murders.
19** In the anime, [[spoiler: Jim Macken crossed it after not only he loses his brother Luke and his whole hometown, but is made into a SexSlave by Lord Trancy. In his despair he summons Claude Faustus, kills his "owner" and renames himself Alois Trancy.]]
20* From ''Manga/BlackClover'', Zenon Zogratis once shared his best friend Allen's dream of becoming the commander of Spade's Mage Defense Force in order to bring the Spade Kingdom to a brighter future. They formed a FriendlyRivalry, training and perfecting their respective magics with Zenon even refusing to become a devil host like his siblings. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it all fell down when the two of them were sent to investigate a dungeon and found a powerful devil inside who proved too much for them. Knowing that the devil would kill them and escape to wreck havoc on the Kingdom, Zenon was forced to stab the devil through Allen, killing both of them. The event convinced a now-broken Zenon that power is the only thing that matters, leading him to become a devil host and make a deal with Beelzebub.]]
21* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
22** Subverted when [[BloodKnight Yumichika Ayasegawa]] and [[CampGay Charlotte Cuulhorne]] fight. Cuulhorne's final technique takes the form of a single white rose inside a pitch-black rosebush, the [[DeathByIrony idea]] being that someone who revels in being the most beautiful person in a crowd will be [[DeathByDespair terrified]] of dying alone, unnoticed and unmissed. It fails because it allows Yumichika to [[AlmightyJanitor reveal]] what he's [[WillfullyWeak really capable of]] when [[CoverBlowingSuperpower no-one is watching]].
23** Nnoitra Gilga hit this at some point in the past and just kept on going, motivated only by his desire to die in battle. Nnoitra's own goal can be summed up as BloodKnight meets DeathSeeker: He'll keep fighting and killing until he's either the strongest person around or he gets killed by someone stronger, and he's not really fazed by the second option. In fact, he despises those who consider him NotWorthKilling. While confiding to his Fracción Tesra, Nnoitra shares his belief that they've been beyond redemption from the very start and always will be. According to Baraggan when listing the aspects of death the Espada embody, Nnoitra is "Despair" for this reason.
24--->'''Nnoitra''': Ain't no chance of salvation for us. Never has been. [...] I'm gonna be strong. Stronger than anyone. If I'm gonna fight the ultimate enemy, then there can't be anyone else stronger than me. I'll take 'em all out. No matter what it takes. I wanna be cut so that my breath is gone before my body hits the ground. That's the kind of death I wanna have.
25** Kaname Tousen's backstory reveals his FaceHeelTurn was motivated by this trope. [[spoiler: The best friend he was in love with died at the hands of her own abusive husband (who [[KarmaHoudini wasn't punished]]) and Tousen took up her sword in the name of justice. For him, "justice" was twisted into "revenge", not just against the man who killed her, but against the whole of Soul Society for being the kind of place where killers like that aren't punished.]]
26** Ulquiorra's backstory in UNMASKED reveals that he hit this long ago [[spoiler:when his clan tried to kill him for [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer being different to them]]]]. Once he escaped, he found himself in [[CrapsackWorld Hueco Mundo]], which was just as bad as his birthplace. Isolated and unable to hear, speak, smell, feel or even eat, he crossed the despair event horizon and made nihilism his personal philosophy.
27** Jackie Tristan is all but stated to have crossed the DEH in her backstory. [[spoiler: She crossed it in the moment when she found her family slaughtered and she took her brother's lifeless body in her arms. She's the only Fullbringer who was telling the truth about hating her power, and this is the reason why.]]
28** The final arc all but confirms Ryuuken Ishida's hatred of Quincies is because he's a StepfordSnarker who crossed into this trope years ago. [[spoiler: Twenty years ago, Ryuuken's ability to protect the future of the quincies is destroyed, resulting in an HeroicBSOD that barely avoids this trope thanks to a YouAreNotAlone speech by his future wife, [[NinjaMaid Kanae Katagiri]]. Years later, [[TheEmperor Quincy King]] performs a special mass murder of Quincies by creating magical silver bloodclots in their hearts. Kanae dies but Uryuu mysteriously survives; Ryuuken is forced to autopsy Kanae to collect the silver and forge a special arrow that becomes the only weapon in existence that can de-power Yhwach long enough to kill him. While Ryuuken's act ensures Yhwach's defeat, he never recovers from it and is left forever despising his Quincy heritage.]]
29** The [[{{Filler}} backstory]] of Maki Ichinose, who had a FaceHeelTurn out of despair when his beloved Captain was killed by Kenpachi in his KlingonPromotion stage.
30* ''Anime/BloodPlus'': Saya hits it when [[EvilTwin Diva]] [[spoiler: rapes and kills Riku]], developing a more bitter personality and an IWorkAlone mentality; several characters in-universe remark that she's lost hope.
31* Many of the past victims and {{Sympathetic Murderer}}s in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' are people who, for one or another reason, have crossed the DEH and either died or became killers as an effect. The case involving [[spoiler: the StarCrossedLovers Hideomi and Miyuki]] is a very blatant example: the first [[spoiler: had lived in the fence after a DeadlyPrank caused him to be scarred and killed Miyuki's parents, but crossed it when Miyuki fell in love with him ''despite his crime'', which caused him to commit suicide]]; the second went past the DEH fence [[spoiler: when she found Hideomi's corpse, pushing ''her'' to murder the other person involved in the DeadlyPrank by using said person's own plans against him, and then to try commiting suicide so she and Hideomi could be TogetherInDeath. (She's [[InterruptedSuicide stopped]] by Conan, and is soon screaming and crying about how badly she wants to die, until Hideomi's father gently talks her out of it.)]]
32* ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' has two of them:
33** First off, Saten has one as she finds out the side effect of using Level Upper: [[spoiler:falling into a coma that no one has come out of]].
34** Second is Mikoto's, which is much, much deeper. [[spoiler:She's trying to stop the Level 6 Shift experiments, and after pushing herself to her limits and still failing, she comes to the conclusion that the only way to stop the experiments is ''her'' suicide.]]
35* In ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'', We see that Freya has crossed the horizon when she begins to physically malfunction from the incredible emotional strain of being in (and being unable to tell anyone about) an unrequited love situation. In the anime, we are even shown the exact moment this happens. Depending on whether one is reading the manga or watching the anime, she is either DrivenToSuicide or [[DeathByDespair dies from despair]], respectively.
36* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
37** [[Characters/CodeGeassSuzakuKururugi Suzaku Kururugi]] crosses this twice. First, when [[spoiler: his girlfriend Euphemia died in the worst way possible]]. Later, when he [[spoiler:nukes Tokyo under the influence of Geass]]. For all his loathing of the wrong means, he realizes that it's impossible for him to live according to his ideals.
38** [[Characters/CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge Lelouch Lamperouge]] was already sitting on the fence after [[spoiler: [[AllLovingHeroine Shirley]] died in his arms and [[SugarAndIcePersonality C.C.]] lost her memories]], but he only crosses it once and for all after [[spoiler: his attempt at rescuing [[DelicateAndSickly Nunnally]] [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat seemingly gets her killed]], the Black Knights betray him, and he just barely survives thanks to Rolo's HeroicSacrifice.]] This leads a DoNotGoGentle moment : "If anyone wishes to stop me, let them try. If there is anyone who can go beyond my despair...!".
39*** Not to say he got better afterwards. Not in the least. When his initial attempt to die by [[spoiler:sealing himself with his father didn't go as planned, he cooked up an even grander covert suicide scheme [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds that involved him being a tyrant and having many killed in order to do so]] [[GenghisGambit for the sake of also uniting the world]] so that there would be peace after his death]].
40** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Arguably]], most of the show's villains and AntiHero type characters are such because [[TraumaCongaLine they were pushed to such depths of despair that]] [[JerkassWoobie they simply can't be decent]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds or sane people]] anymore.
41* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': Episode 22 is this for Ange. [[spoiler:After her head maid Momoka and her LoveInterest Tusk both perform a HeroicSacrifice protecting her from Embryo, Ange slinks into a tearful state when she ends up at Tusk's home (she had been handcuffed to Tusk's vehicle, which was on auto-pilot as Tusk stayed behind to take Embryo [or at least, that particular body of Embryo] with him). Looking through his possessions, she gets even more depressed with the entries of his diary stating how alone he used to be before Ange came into his life, and she is almost DrivenToSuicide. But she doesn't even have the drive to end her own life as she keeps remembering Tusk, and she just breaks down crying again. She is hardly the snippy, prickly tomboy that she once was, and is once again acting like she had when she was first dropped at Arzenal. Helpless, alone, without hope.]]
42** [[spoiler:Thankfully, it's revealed near the end of the episode that [[DisneyDeath Tusk and Momoka both survived]], and Tusk's presence alone saves Ange from that dark place.]]
43* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', Maine crosses this once he realized [[spoiler:he inadvertently killed Dorio]] while suffering from cyberpsychosis. [[spoiler:At that point, he mercilessly kills NCPD and Trauma Team members before deciding to arrange a suicidal funeral pyre for Dorio that would kill himself and any MaxTac agents close by.]]
44* All over the place in ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'':
45** In ''Side:Despair'', Hajime crosses it after his attempt to investigate his friend's murder gets him thrashed by the school's security guard, then given a BreakingSpeech about just how worthless and [[WeHaveReserves replaceable]] a Reserve Course student like him is. Given that he's been struggling with these exact same feelings for the past few episodes, this utterly ''shatters'' him and is the deciding factor for his decision to go [[spoiler:be transformed into Izuru]].
46** Later in ''Side:Despair'', Class-77 B crosses it in unison when [[spoiler:they're ForcedToWatch [[TheHero Chiaki]] being tortured to death]].
47** Chiaki herself seems to cross it [[spoiler:in her final scene]]; after the TraumaCongaLine of [[spoiler:losing her boyfriend, being betrayed by her teacher, realizing she inadvertently lead her classmates to their doom, being horrifically tortured, and being left to bleed to death]], she just breaks down in tears sobbing about [[spoiler:how she doesn't want to die]].
48** Subverted with Izuru. [[BigBad Junko]] thought she'd pushed him over it when she told him exactly how, while he might save the world, there'd be no one to save ''him'' from his burdens, and that the world would remain meaningless and boring to him unless he joined her in bringing despair. In reality, [[spoiler:Chiaki's final words to him gave him the realization that maybe despair ''wasn't'' the only path left for him, and he left Junko's service shortly after]].
49** At the end of ''Side:Future'', Ryota hurtles past this upon realizing that [[spoiler:the Future Foundation's head, his mentor Tengan, was corrupt all along and instigated the Killing Game]]. Combined with his past trauma from [[spoiler:inadvertently helping Junko destroy the world]], he completely gives up on hope for humanity and decides the best way to save the world is [[spoiler:with mass brainwashing, which was all part of Tengan's plan from the start]].
50* ''Manga/DGrayMan''´s [[ActionGirl Lenalee]] is pushed into it when [[spoiler:Allen is wounded to about as close to death as you can get (hole in his heart, amputated left arm/innocence, HeroicBSOD from not being able to save Suman and various other injuries), she only gets to see the effects through Timcanpy and then isn't even allowed to see the presumed corpse.]] She understandably nearly becomes a vegetable for a while.
51** Allen himself crosses the horizon after these events, and he is told that [[spoiler: he will never be able to be an Exorcist again. However, it turns out that wasn't true -- Bak just wanted to make sure that Allen was determined enough to go through the dangerous process of regaining his Innocence.]]
52* ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': Jeri goes over this after [[spoiler:her partner Leomon is killed ''and eaten'' right in front of her]]. Her despair was so much that the [[BigBad D-Reaper]] decided it liked the taste of her sorrow and [[MoralEventHorizon possessed her so it could]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon continue]]'' [[MoralEventHorizon driving her over this]] by [[MindRape emotionally and mentally torturing her]]. It succeeds so well that she [[spoiler:[[InterruptedSuicide tries to commit]] ''[[InterruptedSuicide suicide]]'' to escape]].
53** Impmon went over this after his attempt to invoke TookALevelInBadass went [[HumiliationConga horribly]], [[CurbStompBattle horribly]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown wrong]]. [[spoiler:What brought him back was Catsuramon offering him a DealWithTheDevil, which [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor made him]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity strong, alright]].]]
54* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
55** King Piccolo plunges the world into utter despair not once, but ''twice'' after he took over the world. It was the DarkestHour of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' series.
56** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
57*** After Frieza mortally wounds Piccolo, murders Krillin, and threatens to kill Gohan, Goku crosses over the despair line. That despair, however, quickly turns into [[UnstoppableRage uncontrollable rage]].
58*** When Cell returns after Goku made his HeroicSacrifice to stop him from blowing up the Earth, he kills Trunks and badly wounds both Vegeta and Gohan. After declaring that he will destroy the Earth and the entire solar system, all the Earth's warriors completely give up. It takes Goku talking from the grave to get Gohan to make one last stand against Cell.
59*** Both Vegeta and Goku fall into this after the Earth is destroyed by Majin Buu.
60* The plot of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is set off by [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Lucy]] crossing the line when she finds out that the cousin Kouta is going to a festival with instead of her is a girl. Not a good reason, but at that point she snaps and starts killing on purpose.
61** This is actually the conclusion of a 8 to 10 years old process that began [[spoiler: when her father abandoned her as a baby in the forest due to [[FantasticRacism her cat ear-shaped horns]] and her mother tirelessly searched for her until she was kidnapped and raped by the BigBad until she committed suicide.]] She was found and sent to an OrphanageOfFear, where she spent day and night [[KidsAreCruel tormented non-stop by the other children]] and [[AdultsAreUseless emotionally neglected by the staff of the facility]], again, [[FantasticRacism due to her horns]]. Then, when she finally thinks she made a friend, said friend proceeds to betray the girl's trust by telling the bullies of a puppy she was caring for; after which the bullies proceed to beat the poor thing to death right in front of her. This was the breaking point for Lucy, who snapped, awakening [[PsychicPowers her]] [[CombatTentacles vectors]] in the process, and slaughtered everyone in the room. ''Then'' she met Kouta, and the whole cousin issue was interpreted by the girl as another callous betrayal, driving her to a psychotically murderous rage that would become her standard mood from then on.
62** After all that she tries one last time to place hope in humanity with a friendship before her eventual capture. She lets herself get captured to try to spare her only friend [[SenselessSacrifice only to find out that it was all for nothing as she dies from her wounds]]. If she didn't cross the line before it was at this point where she crosses it. Her hatred towards Kurama and how she's hellbent on maiming and killing those he comes to care for while leaving him alive stems from this trope, wanting to inflict the same despair on him.
63* Zeref in ''Manga/FairyTail'' was always teetering on it [[spoiler: after his entire family was killed by a dragon and the [[JerkassGod God of Death]] cursed him with WalkingWasteland powers as punishment for trying to bring his brother back to life]]. However, it seems that he can finally find happiness when he meets [[spoiler: Mavis, who is also suffering from the curse. However, just when it looks like they will be together, the same god takes Mavis' life.]] This marks the beginning of Zeref's true StartOfDarkness.
64** [[spoiler: Natsu and Gray both suffer from this relatively at nearly the same time. For Gray, it was Juvia sacrificing herself in order to save his life. For Natsu, it was finding Lucy seemingly dead, with [[EyeScream blood covering her eyes]]. Fortunately, both girls turn out to be mostly okay, but Natsu and Gray don't realize that until after they've started fighting.]]
65* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', Kenshiro was left with little purpose in life after the supposed death of his fiancée Yuria and things don't always go smoothly despite his overwhelming power, but he fights on out of a desire to help the good people. The first series ended with Kenshiro learning Yuria was actually alive, but also sick from radiation. As shown in the ''Last Piece'' interquel, her definitive death brought Ken into a deep depression and he couldn't muster the will to save his village from yet another army of bandits. The young son of Juza then decides Kenshiro has already given too much and takes up the torch along with CoolHorse Kokuoh to fight off the marauders, but fails and is killed. Seeing a now [[EyeScream one-eyed]] Kokuoh bringing his corpse back while still requesting help finally snaps Kenshiro out of his funk. He thrashes the bandits and resolves to never fall that low again.
66* ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'': Love crosses this when Setsuna reveals that she was Eas the whole time, despite how much Love began to consider her a friend. She's so upset about it that she isolates herself in her room and cries though her pillow. It's even worst when Miki, rather then giving her space, barges in her room and tells her that they are Pretty Cure and especially that [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne Setsuna never existed]].
67* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
68** Edward and Alphonse Elric crossed this after their attempt to resurrect their mother [[CameBackWrong went horribly wrong]], traumatizing them both. It was only through the intervention of Roy Mustang, who told the boys that getting back their bodies was possible with the privileges of state alchemists, that they regained their will to live. Everyone else who has tried to bring those they love back from the dead with alchemy has reached this point.
69** Gluttony after [[spoiler:Lust dies]].
70** Scar crossed the Horizon in his backstory, after [[spoiler: his friends and family were blown up by Kimblee, his brother sacrificed himself to make sure Scar lived, having a FreakOut and murdering the Rockbells in a blind rage, and then seeing his home having been reduced to rubble. The only thing keeping him going is his hatred for Amestrians, but he grows out of it eventually.]]
71* [[spoiler: Tsubaki Kasugano aka the 6th]] in ''Manga/FutureDiary'' crosses this in her backstory, after [[spoiler: she loses the TragicKeepsake that kept her somewhat sane after being used as a SexSlave by a ReligionOfEvil.]] By the time we meet her, she's a full-blown WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
72** Two of these are brought on by one plot point at completely different times. First [[spoiler: Yuno crosses after winning the first survival game and becoming a god and realizing too late that even her new powers can't bring the dead back to life, thus Yukiteru is lost unless she creates an entire new universe and starts the survival game over. This is assuming she didn't cross it upon killing her parents. Later, Yukiteru crosses it upon the same realization, that all of the people he'd killed or helped kill under the assumption he'd be able to bring them back once he won were gone for good.]]
73* Yomi from ''Anime/GaReiZero''. [[spoiler: Yomi's adoptive father his killed by her Seishouseki-mind-controlled adoptive [[TheRival cousin]], the cousin takes what was supposed to be her place as the family head and her inheritance, then lures her to a fight. When the cousin admits killing Yomi's father, she goes [[BerserkButton berserk]] and kills her. Then [[ManipulativeBastard Mitogawa]] attacks Yomi, rendering her quadriplegic and mute, and she is accused of murdering her cousin. Her fiancee Noriyuki is too busy trying to prove her innocence to visit her in the hospital, his father breaks off their PerfectlyArrangedMarriage because of her physical condition, and her best friend Kagura abandons her after she admits to killing her cousin. Then Mitogawa gives her the same Seishouseki, which heals her but its mind-control powers provide the extra push to send her JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and killing her former friends.]] Her Despair Event Horizon is such a {{Tearjerker}} that even after crossing the MoralEventHorizon she is still a sympathetic WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
74* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
75** It's implied that finding out how [[spoiler:Kamille, who Char had considered a hope for the next generation, had been {{Mind Rape}}d]] at the end of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' is what led to Char becoming embittered, pulling a FaceHeelTurn, and abandoning hope for a peaceful way of implementing Zeon Deikun's ideals, leading to the events of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack''.
76** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'':
77*** Flit Asuno wants to finish the fight against the UE so he could return to the Minsry Colony to live a peaceful life with [[LoveInterest Yurin]] [[ShrinkingViolet L'Ciel.]] Then, at the Battle of Ambat, [[spoiler:[[EnfanteTerrible Desil Galette]] forces her to fight for his side '''and''' brutally kills her, and Flit loses it completely. This drives him to become a savior not for mankind, [[DarkMessiah but for the corrupt Earth Federal Forces.]]]]
78*** Later, Kio finds out about life in Vagan in Episode 37. [[spoiler: In Vagan, crossing the DEH is not an event in one's life, it's the '''nature''' of one's life. A space colony without any natural life, those living in Vagan have to get by on the scarcity of resources and money, all the while being always on the lookout for thieves. Because of the rampant poverty, most are unable to get their hands on medicine for the disease caused by Mars Rays, but even if they ''could'' it would only be a temporary measure. The disease can hit ''anyone from any social class and age'' from the impoverished such as Lu to the ruling class such as [[BigBad Lord Ezelcant.]] Conditions are so dehumanizing and hopeless, these citizens tend to lose their sense of human emotions, because loving unreservedly will only bring '''more''' pain when those people are likely to die of disease and/or poverty. Is it any wonder why so many Vagans resent the Earth Federation?]]
79** In ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise'', Hiroto Kuga crossed the DEH two years prior to the series' start. He got dragged into the DEH [[spoiler:when he was forced to delete Eve, an EL Diver he befriended, after the bugs she absorbed from Sarah began to overwhelm her. Then, while he was still grieving Eve's death, his despair goes from bad to worse when he [[Anime/GundamBuildDivers allows Riku to escape and save Sarah while putting GBN's future at risk.]]]] This one-two punch of traumatic events leave him emotionally scarred and broken, and he becomes TheStoic [[IWorkAlone who prefers to work alone]], a far cry from his formerly cheerful personality. [[spoiler:It took coming clean to his teammates about his DarkAndTroubledPast and May comforting and convincing him that his actions allowed EL Divers like herself to live that he finally heals and makes peace with his past.]]
80* Jose in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' crosses it when he loses an eye in a botched attempt to kill the terrorist who killed Enrica, and cyborg girl Henrietta is reset to factory settings, destroying her personality so she'll never be able to take Enrica's place. By the nuclear power plant strike, Jose was so far beyond the Despair Event Horizon that [[spoiler:after getting fragged, he has Henrietta finish the job and, as she does so, [[TakingYouWithMe shoots her in the eye, killing her]].]]
81* In ''Anime/HellGirl'', most people who call upon Ai to send their tormentors to Hell have crossed this, most often at the moment they decide to pull the red string.
82* This happens a ''lot'' in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', to a number of different characters. In fact, it's the reason for most of the murderous rampages on the show, if not all.
83* In Chapter 305 of ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', [[spoiler:Gon]] loses himself in rage and despair after being told that [[spoiler:Kite]] has been KilledOffForReal and ''can't'' be revived. When he realizes that the person who strung him along with the promise of a resurrection lied to him, he decides to [[spoiler:sacrifice his future potential to give himself enough power in the present to crush his enemy.]] This is especially of note, because up until this point he had always been a typical happy-go-lucky kid.
84-->'''[[spoiler:Gon]]:''' This is it. I don't care if it's over. So I'll use everything. I'll kill you!
85* ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'' -- Chihaya got ''very'' close to crossing the line during her HeroicBSOD.
86* The second season of ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has...
87** [[spoiler: Kazemaru]] after [[spoiler: The Genesis]] decimated Raimon and injured [[spoiler: Fubuki]], to the point that he actually left Raimon.
88** Unexpectedly [[spoiler: Endou]]. After [[spoiler: Kazemaru]] left Raimon, [[spoiler: Endou]] lost all of his enthusiasm for soccer. So did [[spoiler:Kurimatsu]],to the point that he also leaves the team.
89** [[spoiler: Fubuki]] crossed it when [[spoiler: Desarm]] effortlessly stopped [[spoiler: Eternal Blizzard]], after that incident he couldn't dare himself to touch another soccer ball.
90* ''Manga/InuYasha'':[[spoiler: Saint Hakushin]] was driven towards the DEH as he [[spoiler: was waiting for his death. He volunteered to be buried alive so he would become a living Buddha and help his people, but as he waited to die he realized that he really didn't want to die, and horrifyingly despaired. Naraku used this to recruit him as his BarrierWarrior.]]
91* ''Manga/JyuOhSei'' brings us Third/[[spoiler:Heiser]], who, after learning that [[spoiler: Earth, which he had dreamed of visiting for his entire life, was destroyed]]. He collapses in despair, spends a good few minutes staring blankly at nothing, and eventually [[spoiler: shoots himself in the head. Admittedly, his suicide was more to save Thor than a result of his Despair Event Horizon, but it still counts]].
92* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': It turns out that the BigBad's plan hinges on making [[spoiler:Mary]] hit this, ''hard'', in order to [[spoiler:activate the Queen Snake and force her to reset time. He achieves this by [[DemonicPossession taking control of]] [[GentleGiant the kind-hearted Konoha]], then slaughtering all of her friends in front of her]].
93* [[spoiler: Yoji Kudou]] of ''Anime/KnightHunters'' starts sliding towards the despair event horizon in the "Dramatic Precious" Drama [=CDs=], and finally crosses it during ''Gluhen'' when [[spoiler:the toll of being a ChivalrousPervert whose job involves being a HoneyTrap, romancing women for information and then more often than not either being unable to save their lives or being forced to kill them himself, finally becomes too much. At the end of the series he's come down with a case of EasyAmnesia that completely wipes out all his memories of who he is and what he's done, and he's generally considered better off left that way. ''That is how broken he was''.]].
94** Also, [[spoiler: Omi/Mamoru's mother Kikuno]] reached it in the backstory. [[spoiler: Her husband Reiji, aware that little Mamoru was an HeroicBastard fathered by his younger brother Shuichi, refuses to pay the ransom for a kidnapped Mamoru and the little kid was soon believed to be dead. Kikuno, already unstable for being trapped in a loveless ArrangedMarriage that [[StarCrossedLovers separated her from her beloved Shuichi]], commited suicide soon afterwards.]]
95** For [[IronicHell major irony]], according to the CD dramas [[spoiler: ''Reiji'' himself]] hit the DEH as well, [[spoiler: after his illegitimate daughter Ouka, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the only one of his kids that he gave a fuck about]], was shot to death and perished in Omi's arms.]] Come on, if he was sane after ''that'', he would've not [[spoiler: had her lifeless body ''[[WaxMuseumMorgue transformed into a mannequin]]''.]]
96* Haruka [[BreakTheCutie suffered a lot]] in ''Manga/KotouraSan'''s DownerBeginning, but it was stray cat incident (when a lonely Haruka desperately latches onto a stray cat she finds in a park, caring for it because she can't hear its thoughts and believes it is her only friend, only for it to be taken to a shelter -- effectively a death sentence in Japan -- by an insensitive old woman) that made her to decide she is indeed a ''monster'' ([[InternalizedCategorism as people already said about her]]) that would bring doom to ''every living being'' that she cares about. From that point on she became a complete BrokenBird and wore a facade so that nobody would care her and vice versa, until Manabe broke her shell.
97* In ''Manga/LifeIsMoney'', this is used as a weapon because any character whose anxiety gets high enough dies.
98* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
99** Fate Testarossa had a rather nasty case of this upon learning that [[spoiler:she was a clone, with all the memories of the original, and her mother hated her guts. Being cast aside, told she was never really loved, that her life was a lie, that she was truly despised, and told never to show her face again by the (admittedly abusive) mother she was completely devoted to]] will do that to you. Thanks to Arf's and Nanoha's companionship and combat therapy, respectively, she eventually snapped out of it in order to help and have one last word with her mother. Still counts, though.
100** Yagami Hayate in ''A's'', when [[spoiler:she was transported to the hospital roof to see Zafira and Vita beaten and subdued, and Signum and Shamal already gone. Then she see's what looks like her two new friends erase the first two knights and taunted about it. All after being told that she would most certainly die in a short while due to the incurable condition of her body.]] The people doing all this were purposely trying to set this off, in complete BreakTheCutie fashion. [[spoiler: Although she regains her composure after the initial shock wears off, then sets about restoring her family and fixing the problem at hand.]]
101* In ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', [[spoiler: Princess Emeraude]] plowed through this when [[spoiler: her beloved Zagato was killed by the Knights, believing him to be the BigBad.]] She already was unstable after [[spoiler: keeping her love for Zagato bottled up, seeing that since she couldn't devote herself 100% to Cephiro, her [[FisherKing Pillar work]] wasn't effective as it should be, ''and'' being kidnapped by a desperate Zagato who doesn't want the Knights to release her from Pillar-dom through death, and in the anime giving her brother amnesia at his own request]]... and once [[spoiler: Zagato kicked it in battle]], the [[BreakTheCutie poor broken person]] reacted by [[spoiler: unleashing her powers on the Knights and trying to kill them, calling them out on his death. The girls have to give her an ICannotSelfTerminate, and the DownerEnding of the first season kicks in.]]
102* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': TheHero Kouji almost, ''almost'' crossed it during the Mazinger-Z vs Great General of Darkness movie. After several Mykene Warrior Monsters have easily destroyed four major cities (Paris, London, New York and Moscow) they strike Tokyo. He launches Mazinger-Z to fight them... and he barely walks out of it alive. The Warrior Monsters easily rip his mecha apart and turn Tokyo into burning ruins as he is unable make anything to stop them. Back in the HomeBase, he learns MORE Warrior Monsters have visited while he was away. His HomeBase is in ruins, LoveInterest Sayaka and [[VitriolicBestBuds victriolic best friend]] Boss' {{Humongous Mecha}}s have been destroyed, and worst of all, his little brother Shirou got hurt cause a collapsing ceiling and is in coma. Later, Kouji was sitting on ''the remains of'' his room, and he cried as he said he knew he could not win and he was going to die in the next battle; poor Sayaka, who was eavesdropping, also cried as hearing him.
103** It was way, WAY worse in one of the first chapters of ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'', where he '''did''' fully cross it. Straight after [[spoiler:seeing his grandfather murdering his father and murdering Sayaka after raping her, and losing one of his arms]] he was thrust in Mazinger-Z and his body absorbed by the machine. Turned into a raging TheBerserker, he began fighting Mechanical Beasts in spite of he not even knew what they were or whence they came, and his negative emotions -- pain, rage, despair, sadness, loneliness -- fed Mazinger-Z until [[spoiler:its sleeping consciousness woke up, transformed into an EldritchAbomination by poor Kouji's despair, and it burnt the world to ashes.]]
104* In Chapter 115 of ''Manga/MedakaBox'', [[spoiler:Zenkichi]] collapses on his hands and knees in despair after he realizes [[spoiler:he isn't special to Medaka anymore.]] Chapter 116 reveals that [[spoiler:Ajimu]] masterminded this Despair Event Horizon [[spoiler:to make Zenkichi receptive to joining her Flask Plan as its first test subject.]]
105* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', Johan Liebert, the title character, gains power over people by pushing them over this line, putting them completely under his control.
106* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
107** Sasuke Uchiha spent a big part of his life on the verge one, but completely crossed it after Itachi died and [[HopeCrusher Tobi]] reveals to him that Itachi had actually killed their clan because said clan was planning a coup, which would've led to a civil war and likely a world war, and since Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill his little brother he became a StealthMentor in the hopes that Sasuke would kill him, which would avenge their clan and make Sasuke a hero to the village. Sasuke reacts... [[AxCrazy poorly to this]].
108** This happened to Naruto ''three times''. The first was when Pain seemingly kills [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. Naruto is so consumed by rage and grief that he willingly submits his body and soul to the Nine-Tails, only to be stopped by the spirit of his long lost father. The second was when Neji is killed by Obito and the subsequent BreakingSpeech nearly causes Naruto to give up once more, only to be [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan roused into action]] once more by [[HopeBringer Hinata]]. The third was in the {{canon}} movie ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'', after Hinata [[spoiler:"rejects" him and "accepts" Toneri's marriage proposal]]. [[WordOfGod Screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka]] confirmed in [[AllThereInTheManual the movie's program guide]] that Naruto actually crossed the [=DEH=] this time, by stating that Naruto is "at rock-bottom" and is in "such a pitiable state" for the first time ever, and he even outright calls it Naruto's "lowest point."
109** Nagato crossed it when [[HeroicSacrifice his best friend Yahiko killed himself in order to save Konan]]. This can be considered the moment when Pain was born.
110** Obito Uchiha crossed it when his female teammate and crush Rin committed suicide freehand of his best friend and other teammate Kakashi, who promised to protect her at any cost. Unlike Naruto, however, no one helped Obito, [[LoveMakesYouEvil he didn't come back]], and [[BigBad he took it out on the whole world]]. He would likely have also committed suicide instead if Madara hadn't arranged the situation and put in a safeguard to prevent it.
111** By his own admission, Madara crossed it when he found out the AwfulTruth about the history of the ninja world and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation came to realize how hopeless the idea of achieving true peace really was]]. He subsequently decided to follow an AssimilationPlot as he feels that it's the only hope for humanity. Then comes TheReveal that the "Awful Truth" was a huge lie to trick the Uchiha into carrying out said plot.
112** Kakashi has been on the verge of crossing it for most of his life. When he was just a child, he found his father's body when he was DrivenToSuicide after failing a mission and being scorned by the village at large for it. Then, a few years later, he lost his two teammates and his teacher within the span of a single year. That nearly broke him, and the only thing keeping him together was his promise to be his best friend Obito's eyes and the few positive relationships he had left (primarily his close friendship and rivalry with Might Guy). It wasn't until Team 7 did he really move beyond being a barely functioning individual. Even after his student Sassuke betrayed the village, Kakashi was able to hold himself steadfast this time around. When he learned Tobi was Obito, however, he regressed immediately, barely defending himself from his opponent's attacks. Had Naruto not been there, he would've crossed it for sure and probably would've allowed Obito to beat him to death.
113* In the ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' (first) anime, Negi himself crosses the horizon after [[spoiler: Asuna's death on her [=14th=] birthday, when the DealWithTheDevil she made as a kid takes effect.]] He splinters so badly that watching it almost becomes the DEH for a few of his students.
114** In the manga, [[spoiler: Negi's mother Arika]] found herself on the edge of it when [[spoiler: she was about to be executed under false charges of murder and treason, as well for taking the blame for Asuna's AntiMagic powers going haywire and plummeting a FloatingContinent to the ground]].
115* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
116** Shinji crosses this line when he is [[spoiler:[[ShootTheDog forced to kill Kaworu]]]], although that ''isn't'' actually his lowest point. That comes after [[spoiler:he masturbates at [[DudeShesLikeInAComa the comatose Asuka's bedside]]]], at which point he realizes that he has truly hit rock bottom. When he finds out that Asuka [[spoiler:has been chopped into pieces and eaten alive]] in this rock bottom state is when he loses it completely.
117*** In 3.0 of the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', [[spoiler:Shinji comes to find out that not only 14 years have passed, but finds out he was [[NiceJobBreakingItHero responsible for instigating the Third Impact]], that he really didn’t save Rei, and almost everyone, except Kaworu and a few others, hates him. Desperate, he tries to make things right, only to trigger the ''Fourth Impact''. When Kaworu, his only friend at this point, sacrifices himself in front of his very eyes, Shinji completely loses the will to live and is left catatonic.]]
118** Asuka is declining steadily throughout the series, specially after being on the receiving end of MindRape, but she gets better.
119** Ritsuko also hit this after [[spoiler: realizing that she'll never be truly loved by Gendo, destroying the Rei clones, and realizing how much she mirrors her mother.]]
120* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Many characters have suffered traumas that tip them very close to losing all hope. Quite a few of them have their hope reinvigorated by a chance meeting with [[HopeBringer Luffy]].
121** When she is double crossed by Arlong and realizes he never intended to keep his promise to let her and her village be free, Nami crumples in despair and begins stabbing her shoulder (where she has the Arlong Pirates' Jolly Roger tattooed) in impotent rage. When Luffy stops her, she can only weakly beg for his help before he and the other Straw Hats march off to kick Arlong's ass.
122** [[spoiler: Robin had crossed the Horizon a long time ago when she saw her hometown get figuratively and literally blown off the map by the World Government, her mother and best friend seemingly killed in the process, and getting branded an outlaw and hunted nonstop for twenty years ([[HarmfulToMinors she was eight at the time]]). By the time she joins the Straw Hats, she's a DeathSeeker who thinks nothing of her own survival, but seeing Luffy's determination to save her from the clutches of the World Government convinces her that she truly does want to live and be free again]].
123** [[spoiler: Luffy himself]] came dangerously close to crossing it after [[spoiler: Ace's death]]. Fortunately, [[spoiler: Jimbei]] managed to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap him out of it]].
124** [[spoiler: Yamato almost gave up on ever escaping Onigashima upon seeing [[OnlyFriend Ace's]] Vivre card burn to ashes on the day of the Marineford War. Remembering that Luffy may still be out there is all that Yamato has left to regain focus and continue opposing Kaido]].
125* ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': This is the entire point of the series. Li'l Slugger comes to those who have reached this point, and gives them something entirely different to worry about in the form of a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. [[spoiler:He turns out to be the personification of this exact thing: The desire to avoid confronting the problems that drive one to despair by way of having to face a more immediate, more serious, and in this case more violent problem]].
126* Sasame reaches this point in ''Manga/{{Pretear}}'' when he realizes that [[spoiler:no matter how much he tries to reason with Takako, she can't come back from the dark side. [[FaceHeelTurn So he joins her instead]].]] It doesn't help that she nearly killed him during a battle.
127** [[spoiler: Himeno's stepsister Mawata]] also reached the point after [[spoiler: the {{face heel turn}}ed Sasame rejected her feelings in front of her family]], which tops on her loneliness and hidden emotional turmoil coming from [[spoiler: her father's death.]] After that, she fell into such a despair that [[spoiler: Takako easily turned Mawata into the BarrierMaiden for the Fenrir tree, and Himeno [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight had to work VERY hard]] to bring her back.]]
128* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is about [[spoiler: young girls that approach this as they become Magical Girls, fight Witches and see how their lives are torn as a consequence, thus being very likely to become Witches themselves.]] The most straight up example is [[spoiler: Sayaka Miki, who as of Episode 8 crossed this due to her romantic woes, her ideals conflicting with reality, and the side-effects of Witch fighting, and becomes a witch.]]
129** Another good example is [[spoiler: Mami Tomoe in the third timeline. Learning the AwfulTruth did ''not'' mix up well with her issues on loneliness and abandonment and, after seeing Sayaka turn into a witch and having to be killed by the group, she freaked out majorly: she then killed Kyouko by destroying her Soul Gem and was about to do the same to Homura (And presumably to Madoka, before eventually killing herself), so Madoka had to mercy kill her and put her out of her misery -- almost crossing it herself in the process, but she manages to come back. And then she dies.]]
130** [[spoiler:Kyoko's {{Jerkass}}ery in her first few episodes is revealed in Episode 7 to be a case of despair event horizon crossed. The PaterFamilicide she alone survived pushed her over in nothing flat... or did it? All hope she had before that incident gets promptly restored after Kyubey lets slip the AwfulTruth, thus inverting Mami's situation in the third timeline on its head.]]
131** [[spoiler:Homura approaches this during her fight with Walpurgis Night, realizing she's about to lose again and has to wrestle with the choice of rewinding time again, and risk corrupting Madoka's future more, or give in. Her Soul Gem starts becoming increasingly corrupted during this time.]] And then, in the Rebellion movie, [[spoiler:she crosses it for real after learning that Madoka is (supposedly) not happy with having written herself out of reality and left her friends & family behind, and realizing that in the end, she failed in her mission to keep Madoka safe and happy. This results in Homura finally breaking under all the accumulated heartbreak she's built up over so much time, and she drowns in despair and becomes a Witch]].
132** The only main character who never reaches this point, at least [[spoiler:in the main timeline, is Madoka]], which is probably why she was able to [[spoiler:[[AbstractApotheosis undo the Event Horizon crossings of every other magical girl in existence]] without becoming a universe-obliterating witch. Even Sayaka recovers, although she dies at around the same point in the new universe from using up her magic, rather than [[DeathEqualsRedemption becoming a witch]]]]. [[spoiler:In other timelines where Madoka ''does'' cross the horizon, she either becomes an apocalyptically powerful witch or has Homura kill her to prevent that]].
133* The [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Madoka]] sort-of AlternateUniverse ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' plays this straight ''and'' subverts it:
134** Played straight: [[spoiler: Oriko Mikuni made the contract with Kyuubey '''after''' she had crossed the DEH, when her corrupt politician father killed himself [[FallenPrincess and she was hated and shunned by everyone after having been the most popular girl in her high-class school]]. When Kyuubey finds her, Oriko is [[TroubledFetalPosition curled up in a corner of her empty home]], wrapped in a blanket and completely broken, simply waiting to fall into a DeathByDespair.]]
135** Subverted: [[spoiler: When Kyoko, Yuma and Mami witness Kirika's transformation into a witch and learn about the AwfulTruth, they're very broken and almost give up. ''Almost'', because Yuma goes PluckyGirl and gives the others a RousingSpeech. Mami and Kyoko regain their spirits, and they decide to fight on. [[ForegoneConclusion And then Madoka dies at the hands of Oriko, so Homura resets time to start all over again]].]]
136* ''Manga/TheRecordOfAFallenVampire'' -- Strauss crossed this when Stella was murdered. [[spoiler: Then he goes on to redefine the meaning of "no hope" as he has make himself the target of hatred and is forced to fight Stella and his daughter's effective reincarnation, the Black Swan, over and over again, without being allowed to die because if he dies then the Dhampirs and the humans will probably destroy each other, and if that doesn't happen, the Dhampirs will lose their hope of being able to turn into humans.]]
137* Souji Mikage from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' uses tactics that arguably predate those of Celestial Being, approaching young people who are in their lowest with promise of a chance to change their worlds and end what's making them suffer by defeating Utena. Specially obvious in the cases of people like [[spoiler: Wakaba, Keiko Sonoda, or Mitsuru Tsuwabuki;]] in fact, he rejected [[spoiler: Tatsuya the Onion Prince]] because he wasn't despairing enough. [[spoiler: Mikage himself also went past the DEH in his backstory, ''and'' is pushed even further in the last episode of the Black Rose arc.]]
138** [[spoiler: Prince Dios and his younger sister]] also crossed this in their backstories, which is what shaped them into [[spoiler: Akio Ohtori the MagnificentBastard and Anthy Himemiya the Rose Bride.]]
139* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'''s Nozomu Itoshiki lives four leagues on the far side of the horizon. ''Constantly''. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Played for laughs]].
140* ''Manga/SchoolLive'':
141** Miki undergoes one in Chapter 7 due to being the SoleSurvivor of her group. She is completely isolated from anyone and is stuck in a storage room. She refuses to just sit around and die but the loneliness and boredom is getting to her. The other girls rescue her within a few chapters.
142** [[spoiler:Yuuri]] hit this line in Chapter 27 after [[spoiler:a rescue helicopter crashes and then bursts into flames in front of the school.]] She's usually [[spoiler:a calm CoolBigSis]] but she completely ''snaps'' afterwards. Her [[StepfordSmiler emotional barrier]] goes down once [[GenkiGirl Yuki]] is out of earshot. Even after she calms down she is snappy at Yuki which is [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness unusual]] for her. [[spoiler:Yuuri]] isn't the same after the events, even after she seems to recover, as she begins undergoing a SanitySlippage [[spoiler:which leads to her hallucinating a stuffed animal is her little sister.]]
143* From ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', this is what drove Helbram into becoming an AxCrazy human massacring FauxAffablyEvil villain. [[spoiler: After he and a few of his fairy friends were captured by greedy humans wanting to use their wings for medicine, and after witnessing firsthand his friends get their wings ripped off, he loses all the respect and fascination he once had for humanity. So much so that he can longer stop himself from killing humans regardless of his own desires.]]
144* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': Once upon a time, there was a German boy named Faust (who was a descendant of ''[[Myth/{{Faust}} that]]'' Myth/{{Faust}}, by the way). He had a VictoriousChildhoodFriend named Elisa, sweet and cute but DelicateAndSickly. Faust became a doctor and worked hard to develop a cure; after many years of research, he finally created the perfect medicine for her, and when she recovered they got HappilyMarried... [[DeusAngstMachina and then she was shot to death by a thug.]] The despaired Faust began researching about necromancy to find a way to properly revive Eliza, but only managed to become a Shaman and have her as his spirit partner. Needless to say, [[FromBadToWorse things went bad]]...and specially for Faust's rivals.
145* In ''VisualNovel/{{Shuffle}}'' Kaede lost the will to live following her mother's death but Rin managed to snap her out of it... by making her believe he was the reason she died. She snapped out of it, but her attitude is now towards taking out all of her hatred out on him. She then suffers another one when she remembers [[spoiler: it was because of her that her mother came home earlier and took the flight, now blaming herself for both of her mother's death and all the pain she caused Rin]].
146* ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' actually invokes this trope. BigBad Pierrot is able to get ahold of the storybook telling of the team's history and splotches down some of his Bad End Ink on some of the unwritten pages, plunging the girls into despair. Candy's able to snap them out of it, though.
147* [[spoiler: Sheryl Formossa]] crosses this horizon in ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', after the deaths of [[spoiler: her sister Lin and her boyfriend Gije.]]
148* In ''Manga/{{Spiral}}'', Kanone Hilbert crosses this upon realizing that the Blade Children can never be saved. His reaction is trying to kill as many of them as he can -- including all of his friends ([[spoiler: and half-siblings]]) and himself. After he is stopped, he doesn't cross back to the other side of the line: in the anime, he just leaves the country, still sulking; in the manga, the way he finally finds to "save" himself is [[spoiler: to have a meaningful death, which will give hope to the other BlaChil and Ayumu]].
149* Nana Hiiragi of ''Manga/TalentlessNana'' goes through not one, but ''two'' of them.
150** The first is the [[spoiler:death of her OnlyFriend, Michiru Inukai. She tried to make a HeroicSacrifice to save Michiru from a serial killer and Michiru proceeded to use a SacrificialRevivalSpell to save Nana at the cost of her own life.]] This causes Nana to start questioning her motives and everything about her life, especially her FantasticRacism against the superpowered "Talented".
151** The second is [[spoiler:after her superior and pseudo-father figure, Tsuruoka, reveals himself to be the ManipulativeBastard that arranged for her parents' deaths and manipulated her into becoming a sociopathitc, mass-murdering ChildSoldier against the Talented.]] For extra irony, [[spoiler:her parents were trying to ''protect'' the Talented.]]
152* Moriritchi of ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' crosses the despair event horizon in the final episode of the original installment when [[spoiler:she learns the last of the Tama Heart murals needed to stop the egg curse is missing and she realizes she and the rest of Mametchi's gang might die. This proves too much for her, on top of her having witnessed her sister turn into an egg earlier and thinking about how she now has no personality or sense of fashion, and Moriritchi becomes an egg herself]].
153* This happens to [[spoiler:Lord Genome]] from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' in his backstory, when [[GoMadFromTheRevelation he realizes the truth of the Spiral Nemesis]].
154* Most of the main plot of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' that made it into the anime (the manga had all this backstory stuff and Knives going OneWingedAngel and staying that way for over a year while he slowly killed off the human race) was a BreakTheCutie-slash-Break the Stoic plot aimed at pushing Vash over this, probably in hopes of inducing FaceHeelTurn, but possibly just to punish him for being a disloyal brother. It works insofar as he is pushed past his (admittedly impressive) limits on a couple of occasions, which variously result in a [[TenMinuteRetirement two year retirement]] and [[HeroicBSOD brief catatonia]].
155** Meanwhile, the greatest one in a series full of them is when Vash and Knives were one year old, and [[TheReveal found]] [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable out]] [[TheyWouldCutYouUp about]] [[HumansAreBastards Tesla]]. Two boys -- physiologically around eight--read the documentation and looked at the corpse, and then ''shut themselves up in the lab where it had happened and didn't move for over a week''. Rem didn't manage to break in to save them until after they'd passed out half-dead from thirst.
156*** And ''then'', '''Vash''' tried to kill himself with a fruit knife at the first opportunity, and laughed somewhere between hysteria and mania upon thinking he'd accidentally killed Rem when she interfered. Knives, on the other hand, pretended to have EasyAmnesia and then proceeded to methodically enact a plan to KillAllHumans. The kicker is that Knives was always the nicer, more trusting one, before.
157** Legato Bluesummers appears to have spent enough of [[MadeASlave his childhood]] in this that when he started developing his mind-control powers he prioritized 'killing everybody connected to my life' over ''getting away'', and was consequently in the process of being [[RapeAsBackstory raped to death]] when Knives happened to come along and slice up the building and... save the day. And not kill Legato, and ask him his name. [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Nicest thing that ever happened to the kid.]]
158** Several of the Gung Ho Guns have this in their backstories. One in the manga notably is in this [[OmnicidalManiac omnicide]] gig because he was a deformed beggar in July when Vash inadvertently blew it up, and the one good thing in his life (a lovely waitress who was kind to him) was killed, and his whole life since has been TrainingFromHell to get revenge on Vash.
159** Since the point of ''Trigun'' is a BrokenBird WideEyedIdealist ActualPacifist [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Gunslinger]] confronting a CrapsackWorld full of murder, this trope is bread and butter to Yasuhiro Nightow.
160* Fai in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' seems to have made it his hobby to find new DEH's and falling off them. Most notably in Celes when [[spoiler:Ashura drives an icicle through Kurogane's chest and he finally snaps and tries to kill both himself and Ashura in one fell blow. Thankfully, Kurogane gets better.]]
161* In ''{{Manga/Uzumaki}}'', Kirie can't exactly be said to lack resolve and an incredibly strong [[ActionSurvivor will to survive]]. After losing literally everything, though (including her home, her family, and finally her boyfriend) she reaches the point where she is unable to take the emotional torment anymore and just lies down next to Shuichi, joining him in the Spiral.
162* ''Anime/WolfsRain'':
163** Darcia hits this he discovers that his lover Harmona, who has been on life support for [[ReallySevenhundredYearsOld two centuries]] while he was out attempting to find a cure, has been murdered while he was away from home. (And just before he could bring [[HealingHands Cheza]] to help Harmona). [[spoiler:Although we don't see the full effect of it until later, this transforms Darcia into a NietzscheWannabe, the EvilCounterpart, and the BigBad.]]
164** Kiba suffers [[TearJerker a heartbreaking one]] as well. [[spoiler: After fighting an epic battle with the BigBad for her safety, Cheza, [[InterspeciesRomance his humanoid flower/girlfriend]] and reason for living, ''disintegrates into millions of seeds in his own hands.'' He for the first time ever completely gives up and dies shortly after. [[LastOfHisKind He's also the last thing on earth to die.]]]]
165* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'':
166** Judai crossed this at the end of Season 3, and Season 4 saw the former IdiotHero [[{{Pun}} "jaded"]] into a [[TheStoic stoic]] IneffectualLoner.
167** Ryo hits it hard in Season 2 after his loss to Edo, demotion to the minor leagues, and loss of his sponsor. This leads directly to his FreakOut and FaceHeelTurn, resulting in Hell Kaiser.
168* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'':
169** Kiryu was arrested and thrown into a HellholePrison, falsely believing his best friend Yusei had betrayed him. He suffered abuse from the corrupt guards, but was able to comfort himself by admiring his deck. Then the guards confiscated his deck and he gave up hope, leaving him open to be contacted by the [[EldritchAbomination Earthbound Gods]] and make a deal with them to seek revenge on Yusei.
170** Aporia says this happened to him three times. First when the Machine Emperors killed his parents. Second when the Machine Emperors killed his lover. And third when he became an elderly man wandering the wastelands as one of the last humans on Earth after the Machine Emperors wiped out the rest.
171* ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'': It happens to Yuma during his duel with III, but is subverted due to the fact that III uses a curse to steal Yuma's self-confidence, literally. [[spoiler: Yuma is able to recover after his father appears to him in a vision, reminding him how he got the self-confidence to begin with.]]
172* ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'': Towards the end of Aoi's and Spectre's duel in Episode 34, [[HopeSpot Spectre made Aoi believe that she was about to win and was about to save him]]. However, it was only a façade as Spectre's ''Sunbloom Doom'' made him nowhere near losing. [[BreakThemByTalking He even mocked her, calling her a pathetic girl who couldn't become a Blue Angel and claiming he was the Blue Angel who defeated the villain—her]]. He then [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown tore up the copy of the ''Blue Angel'' book he materialized and burned the shreds]]. The story meant the world to Aoi and gave her comfort after her parents died about ten years before the start of the series. To see it be so carelessly destroyed, in addition to [[BreakTheCutie her being so cruelly manipulated and mocked just moments ago]], [[DespairEventHorizon destroyed her]]. [[spoiler:Seeing as the Tower of Hanoi would absorb those who lose duels in ''Link VRAINS'' and leave their real bodies in a comatose state with little hope of waking up, [[{{Sadist}} Spectre]] [[MindRape essentially tortured her mentally]] before [[MoralEventHorizon murdering]] her in cold blood.]]
173

Top