History FreudianExcuse / AnimeAndManga

*** Seto Kaiba's was abused by his adoptive father Gozaburo in order to mold him into becoming a ruthless CEO. The manga also further explains why Kaiba considers games to be SeriousBusiness: when Kaiba [[GoneHorriblyRight ousted Gozaburo from the company]], Gozaburo told Kaiba that he was going to show him what happened to losers and [[DrivenToSuicide jumped out a window]]. Kaiba took this to heart and adopted the idea that losing is equal to dying.

*** Yami Bakura/Thief King Bakura takes the prize: He wants revenge for the pharaoh (not Yami Yugi, his dad) having his whole village slaughtered in order to make the millennium items. He even watched them, while they were still (mostly) alive, be dropped into a pot of boiling gold. Gold boils at a temperature of 2807.0°C ( 5084.6 F), so no wonder they only showed silhouettes. There is a chance too, that he would have had more difficulties due to his purple eyes and white hair. Pale hair, skin and/or eyes in Egypt were often thought to be signs of demons, which is why Kisara is treated the way she is.

** Lelouch's mother is mysteriously killed and his sister Nunally is crippled, and he and Nunally become political hostages in Japan. They are assumed dead once Britannia invades anyway, which instills in him a hatred against Britannia and a murderous intent against his own half-siblings and father. However, it's subverted as Lelouch has sound political reasons for wanting to overthrow the empire, even if his desire to do so ''started'' from his mother's assassination... though a lot of his motivation comes from the opposite of what his father does -- his father thinks that those who are weak are useless, and thus Lelouch (likely due to disgust with his father) incorporates the antithesis of his father's views into the Black Knights' slogan.
** Suzaku has one, too, though not quite as bad. As a child, his father, Genbu, would have let the war go on until Japan was destroyed, so Suzaku killed him, resulting in almost immediate peace. His guilt over the incident and complete lack of punishment for it is why he argues that anyone who uses the wrong means to achieve freedom (in short, anyone who doesn't bow down to their conquerors and earn it through their system) is wrong. It gets a little hypocritical when he starts doing the things he speaks out against, while still calling others out for the same. Midway through the first season though, it is revealed that this is more of an excuse for him to [[DeathSeeker put himself at risk in his pursuit of a so-called honorable death on the battlefield]], in order to absolve himself of his guilt over [[KarmaHoudini going unpunished for killing his father]].

** Lucy is harassed by her peers at what appears to be an orphanage because of her horns. They even {{ki|dsAreCruel}}ll [[AndYourLittleDogToo her dog]]. She eventually got her revenge [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge in an extremely violent fashion]].
** [[AxCrazy Mariko]], on the other hand, is nearly killed by her father at birth. [[DeathByChildbirth His wife convinces him not to before she dies]]. Even then, Mariko is forced to live in a solitary confinement chamber where she can't even move. And she ends up killing the one person that ever talked to her.

* ''Manga/EternalSabbath'': Izaku is a psychotic, serial-killing EnfantTerrible, but everyone who knows his past understands ''why''. He was [[CloningBlues cloned from Shuro]] with the specific purpose of being murdered and dissected to study the ES gene. And he ''knew this from the moment he could understand language''. It would be a shock if his mind ''hadn't'' shattered like spun sugar the moment he found this out.

*** BigBad [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] has a better excuse -- [[CloningBlues a dying clone]], raised by a man who denied him anything approaching an identity, he seeks to [[KillAllHumans annihilate all of humanity]] because he believes that, on a fundamental level, [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves we're incapable of anything greater]] [[HumansAreBastards than endless war and misery]].

* ''LightNovel/OurLastCrusadeOrTheRiseOfANewWorld'': [[spoiler:Elletear Lou Nebulis IX was born as the first princess of the Nebulis Sovereignty with a very unimpressive ability, especially compared to her [[AnIcePerson younger]] [[MasterOfIllusion sisters]], ''not to mention every other Nebulis citizen''. Regardless, she worked hard in becoming her mother's successor and a candidate for Queen studying [[PoliticallyActivePrincess sciences, politics,]] [[LadyOfWar warfare,]] and even [[LessonsInSophistication lady etiquette]] so that she could give equality to all the Astral Mages with weak Astral Spirits like herself. However, because she was born with a laughably weak astral spirit, no one gave her a chance to become Queen, not even her own family. So she decided "To hell with it!" and plotted to burn the Sovereignty to the ground.]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'':

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* In ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'', Tear is extremely clingy to Yuu when she sees him at the school in episode 4. She later mentions not wanting to be separated from him because he might disappear again.

** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist In the first anime]], [[spoiler:Envy]] claims one of these due to having been abandoned by his father [[spoiler:Hohenheim]]. The excuse is really not intended as a redeeming factor but more of a retrospective explanation for [[spoiler:why he's so obsessed with Hohenheim and the Elric brothers]], and its revelation is immediately followed by [[spoiler:Envy stabbing and killing Ed.]]

** Saki initially hated Mahjong because her family would always argue during games and (although the game itself wasn't the cause) eventually broke apart]]]].

** Kurosaki from ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' is violent, paranoid, and ruthless due to his past as a genocide survivor. This is also invoked by [[AcademyOfEvil Academia]], where students are forbidden from developing friendships and getting thrown into prison is one method of punishment in order to train them to be ruthless and bloodthirsty. Shinji's extremism is due to being looked down upon and tormented by Tops as a child.

** Principal Asano, surprsingly enough, gets one: [[spoiler: He was originally a teacher like Koro-Sensei himself, but when one of his former students was DrivenToSuicide by ruthless bullying, Asano blamed himself for not making his students "strong enough" to survive in the world. Thus, he created his modern, SocialDarwinist style of teaching to instill "strength" in his students, at the expense of a few]].

** Mitsuko's background of [[spoiler: her father, who loved her, having to abandon the family, then being raised by her mother who hated her husband and remarried, said stepfather beginning to sexually abuse her at a very, very young age and Mitsuko learning that Hurting Is Love and overall being very sexually experienced, and using it to her advantage to manipulate people]] is an explanation about why she is so okay with killing her classmates.

* Every major antagonist in ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' has one (well, every major antagonist that ''has a name'' anyway). Special mention, however, goes to the final main antagonist Melon, because originally the whole point of his character was supposed to be that he doesn't have one. He was supposed to teach Legosi that not everyone has a valid justification for doing bad things and transition the story into darker, more action-heavy story lines. Then the author was forced to rush the end of the manga by her editors and Melon got upgraded from mid-boss to final boss so he got one of these. He was given a backstory where he had to provide for a mentally ill mother from a very young age, and also said mother ate his father. [[spoiler: Or so she thinks anyway. He's actually fine and bailed on her and her unborn child. Don't question how she came to believe she ate him alive. The story doesn't bother explaining. No one ever accused the last 20 chapters of Beastars of being particularly well-written.]]

* ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'': Mami Manami was born into a wealthy family, but [[AbusiveParents her father]] was a ControlFreak who did everything he could to shape her into whatever he wanted her to be, sparing no thought about what she wanted in life. When Mami was dating someone she loved, who somewhat resembles Kazuya, and learned she was pregnant at 15, [[IJustWantToBeFree hoping the baby would be her one true chance at freedom]], she learned her father put her in an ArrangedMarriage, her boyfriend was forced to break up with her (implied to be through blackmail), and her hopes and dreams died along with her baby from a miscarriage. She convinced herself that she wasn't actually in love, but simply just yearned to be free from her parents' grip. Because of this, she believes that people who talk about love are nothing but liars and it just makes her want to tear it all down whenever she sees it.

** Scar's turn to evil started after the Amestrian military launched a war of extermination against his people, the Ishvalans. The soldiers who caused the most casualties in the war were the State Alchemists. Scar himself was mortally wounded by the State Alchemist [[SociopathicSoldier Kimblee]], and his brother was only able to save Scar's life by sacrificing his own. Following this, Scar became a SerialKiller of State Alchemists, particularly targetting those who participated in the Ishvalan War of Extermination, in an attempt to avenge his brother and his people.

* During ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' Altena, the series BigBad, is portrayed as an EvilMentor who doesn't care about anyone or anything except her goal of bringing the blood soaked days of [[TheSyndicate Sodat's]] past back again. This goes in direct conflict with the modern Sodat society whom are more like politicans. [[spoiler: During the final episode when the usually calm Altena is going through her VillainousBreakdown, a flashback is shown of Altena as a little girl in a war torn town. Her parents are dead and an enemy soldier finds her. It's implied that the soldier kidnapped her and used her as a [[RapeAsBackstory sex slave]]]].

** Emperor Charles and his brother V.V [[spoiler:were witnesses to all the backstabbing, hatred and death surrounding [[RoyallyScrewedUp the Britannian Imperial Family]] ever since they were young children. It culminated when they saw their mother [[Main/DroppedABridgeOnHim get a carriage dropped on her]], which spurred them to try create a world where people cannot lie to each other by way of AssimilationPlot]].

* Oskar von Reuentahl from ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is not a villain but one of the "good guys" ([[spoiler:although he does a sort of FaceHeelTurn eventually, but even then he remains unfailingly loyal to Reinhard whom he admires and respects]]). However, behind his calm and composed facade he's a bitter misogynist, an increasingly broken and self-destructive man. He was born with heterochromia, and his mother took his brown eye as an omen about her illicit relationship with her brown-eyed lover so she tried to gouge it out when he was still a baby. After this, she went insane and eventually committed suicide. This drove Reuentahl's father to alcoholism and emotional abuse, often telling his son that it would have been better if he had never been born.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Kyouko acts like a self-centered {{Jerkass}} because she believes if she only lives for herself, then she would be the only one responsible for her own actions and thus no one but her would get caught in the consequences of her actions. This is due to Kyoko's wish [[spoiler: to get her excommunicated preacher father more followers. However it backfired when he realized no one actually believed what he said, and they were all brainwashed by the nature of her wish. He became depressed, disowned her, eventually fell into insnaity and killed their entire family, leaving Kyoko the sole survivor]]. Her unhealthy obsession with food also stemmed from [[spoiler: her experience of poverty and starvation]]. Kyouko, unlike many characters on this page, does actually undergo some fairly significant CharacterDevelopment. [[spoiler: To the point where she goes out with a HeroicSacrifice-cum-MercyKill]].

** Subverted with Sakyo. Sakyo says that his childhood was exactly like that of his four brothers, who went on to become civil servants, but he became twisted for an inexplicable reason and sought out brutal pleasures until he eventually joined the Black Book Club; as he says, "The depravity up here began through no one's fault but my own". ** Played straight with Mukuro. [[spoiler:She was adopted and sexually abused by her stepfather, and sought to take out her anger on the world by killing people, which is what led her to become one of the three strongest figures in the Demon World. However, in the manga, Hiei notes that she had a hypnosis-instilled manufactured memory of her adoptive father showing her kindness, which was made to come to her mind every time she wanted to kill him, and she has "grown strong because [she's] confused, not because [she] suffered"]].

* Jegal in ''Anime/TheGodOfHighSchool'' was sold by his mother as a child to a CorruptCorporateExecutive seeking a successor, who then raised him on a MightMakesRight philosophy. In his young adult years, Jegal's become a ruthless psychopath willing to do whatever it takes for power and seemingly [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain hates women]] as he goes out of his way to beat female opponents while they're down. When he [[CareerEndingInjury cripples]] one of Ilpyo's female cousins during a martial arts tournament in the past, Ilpyo fiercely attempts to beat an apology out of him and he takes the defeat personally, seeking revenge ever since out of frustration at his own perceived weakness.

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* In ''Manga/{{Life}}'' [[spoiler:Katsumi]] is a manipulative JerkAss BitchInSheepsClothing who CrossesTheLineTwice.. But he has abusive parents who forced him to date a girl due to her father being a CEO. [[spoiler:Manami]] was bullied when she was younger, so now she bullies anyone she feel deserves to be bullied.