Warning: While not always a Death Trope, can often involve that, so be wary of spoilers.
Heel-Face Door-Slams in Anime and Manga.
- Afro Samurai offers a non-death variant. At the very start of his journey, Afro's obsession with revenge resulted in the death of all of his friends and his teacher. This is one of two times in the series he actually shows regret for his actions, but he quickly accepts afterwards that there was no turning back at that point.
- Buddy Daddies: Miri's Jerkass mother Misaki has a Heel Realization after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer in Episode 10, and decides to clean up her act and make up for lost time with her daughter before she dies. Unfortunately, she's gunned down by a hitman in Episode 11 (a few days later in-universe), but her dying words make it clear her change was genuine.
- Deliberately invoked by Klaus Von Bogoot on Mary, Ibaraki and Oyamada in Cyborg 009. He had forcibly made them into Cyborgs, counting on them to kill their former friend 009... but the moment the kids couldn't bring themselves to kill him, he activated the bombs they had implanted in their bodies. The three look at each other in horror, then Ibaraki tackles Joe so he won't get close, and they hug each other as they say their goodbyes and die.
- Dragon Ball Z:
- Invoked in the Buu Saga. Vegeta, who has spent most of the series in the Heel–Face Revolving Door, knows he's about to make a Heroic Sacrifice, and asks Piccolo if he'll meet Goku in the afterlife. Piccolo responds that he'll most likely be sent to Hell for his past crimes. Fortunately, the Celestial Bureaucracy decides that Vegeta is too strong as a fighter to be left dead when the universe is at stake, and he's given a chance to return to Earth (while still being dead, like Goku was at the start of the arc) to face Buu. Vegeta does eventually make a genuine Heel–Face Turn, which is confirmed when he is resurrected by the wish that resurrects everyone who was killed by Buu except the evil people.
- Subverted in the same saga with Fat Majin Buu. After meeting and befriending Mister Satan, Fat Buu learned how wrong killing people was and decided to end his murderous ways, only to experience a Literal Split Personality when a dog he adopted got hurt, with his evil side then absorbing him. Fortunately, Fat Buu eventually returned in the Final Battle with Kid Buu, with him helping the Z Fighters to defeat his evil counterpart, after which he went on to live on Earth peacefully.
- In Fate/Zero, Saber launched Excalibur's Sword Beam at Caster. The light of the attack reminds him of the woman he loved, Jeanne d'Arc, and he suddenly realizes how far he's fallen from the hero Jeanne had been proud of. Before he can do anything, he's hit by the attack and vaporized.
- Fresh Pretty Cure! pretty much subverts this. When Eas finally discovers the meaning of true happiness, Clyne instantly kills her, crossing the Moral Event Horizon in the process, and Wester and Souler come in saying that Eas finished her life span. When all seems lost, the Akarun zooms in and she is brought back to life as Cure Passion.
- Futari wa Pretty Cure does this with Kiriya in the first half. He takes on a human form to infiltrate the Boys' School adjacent to Verone Girls' Academy and spy on the protagonists until he begins to learn the value of humanity and friendship from Honoka. However, since he was born from the darkness, completing his Heel–Face Turn *caused* his "death" in the form of having to "disappear into the darkness." He gets better, but only late in the second arc due to the barriers of realities beginning to break down. There is a possibility that he survived the Dark King's final demise. Maybe.
- Future Diary: Yuki's father was an all-around horrible parent who not only tried to break Yuki's phone so his debt would get paid off, but also left his son to die, and killed his own ex-wife so she couldn't turn him in to the police. Still, he does realize that what he did was wrong and was going to make everything up to him by turning himself in and finally going to look at the stars with his son...that is, until he gets stabbed in the gut immediately after he declares this.
- Inaba, in Gantz. He's a coward and spends most of the time hiding when there's danger and badmouthing his braver team members when there is no danger around. It takes the sacrifice of a good man to make him start acting bravely. He finds the courage inside him, he starts fighting back the swarm of enemies he is facing, and he actually manages to kill several. Only to be squashed by a giant foot, seconds later.
- Yamada gets this in Highschool of the Dead when he starts to show even the least bit of concern for his family. The entire Orgybus votes to murder him on the spot (read: leave him to the zombies). In the anime adaptation, Misuzu may have regretted killing Toshimi just as the zombie mob behind her crushed her own head.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Boingo in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is one of the weakest Stand Users in Dio's group, a very shy boy whose comic tells the future. After both his brother Oingo and Hol Horse get screwed over by one Prophecy Twist after another without even phasing Jotaro, Boingo figures he'll have better luck using his power to help people and resolves to be more outgoing. Then he accidentally hits Iggy, who mauls him and makes him even more insecure than before. Going by an illustration later on in Part 6 however, he does eventually turn over a new leaf and uses his abilities for more benign purposes, just much longer after the fact.
- Jolyne's cellmate Gwess in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean was a Psychopathic Manchild whose Stand power was a manifestation of her desire to make friends but have power over them. After her defeat, she tries to turn over a new leaf and offers Jolyne her servitude but she's simply too bizarre for even a JoJo to deal with and is kept at arm's length, resulting in her being Demoted to Extra.
- The Black Beauty Sisters in the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch anime, and most to all of the first arc's villains in both versions.
- Monster Rancher: Undine does this to herself. Upon realizing that Golem is willing to keep The Promise he made to protect her even after she betrayed and tried murdering the Searchers, to the point of standing against his friends and preparing to leave the team, she flings herself out of his arms and into the flames, burning alive while apologizing for her deceit.
- In Muhyo and Roji, Kid Cortlaw turns against Buhpu and leads to his defeat after learning that he killed Ivy and lied that the MLS did it. He realizes that his allying with Ark to bring back his parents was wrong, but is unable to do anything more before he dies.
- Naruto: A variant of this happens early on with minor villain Dosu, who realizes Orochimaru was using him and his team as pawns and decides to rebel. Then he promptly gets killed in an Out-of-Character Moment.
- After Obito/Tobi has the tailed beasts extracted from him, he, Kakashi, and Minato discuss what should happen to him next. Obito chooses to copy Pain and sacrifice himself reviving his victims. Zetsu interrupts, hijacks his body, and forces him to use the resurrection technique on Madara. Not that it stops Obito, though.
- In Pokémon: The Series, on the rare occasions Team Rocket attempt to go straight, Team Twerp blasts them into the sky anyway, sometimes completely by accident.
- Jegan from Rave Master. After his defeat he realizes that nothing he can do will put him on the winning end of the love triangle and starts looking for a way to end his life when he's talked down by a girl who starts inspiring him to turn over a new leaf. Then we find out that Demon Card's new policy is to eliminate everything within a 5-mile radius of a member who failed his or her mission.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, after Senkaku escapes from prison, he reflects on the battle he had with Kenshin. Grateful that Kenshin spared his life, he decides to turn over a new leaf... only for Seta Sojiro to unceremoniously assassinate him for challenging his worldview.
- Happened to Sailor Mnemosyne and Sailor Lethe in the Sailor Moon manga. They were this close to a Heel–Face Turn when Mnemosyne restored Usagi's memories, which were deleted by Sailor Lethe, who was also willing to make a Heel–Face Turn along with Mnemosyne after the restoration, but then they got killed off by their evil superior officers Chi and Pi.
- It's worse for Kunzite in the manga who recovers his old memories of being Venus' lover in their past life but realizes he cannot betray Beryl because she controls Endymion. He's forced to fight against the woman he loves until she kills him. Made more evident in the musicals where he confesses to her just before she kills them BOTH with Crescent Beam.
- Nephrite in the first season of the anime dies immediately after leaving Beryl's organization. Whether this is this trope or Heel–Face Turn + Redemption Equals Death is a real judgment call since Nephrite dies before having a real chance to turn against Beryl or do any substantive damage to her, but does at least manage to save Naru's life, and did so rather than kill Sailor Moon even though he had her right where he wanted her.
- One daimon in S called Utomodachi didn't even get the chance to remove a Pure Heart from her victim. Rather than do that or fight the Senshi, she ran off crying. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of randomly going after Hotaru, an innocent party. Hotaru proceeded to attack with her powers.
- Likewise, another daimon U-Ndokai refused to hurt Hotaru and noticed she had collapsed after grabbing a Pure Heart from athlete Shun. U-Ndokai advises her to go to a doctor. Bad luck for U-Ndokai that Hotaru is secretly both Mistress 9 and Sailor Saturn; she sends a wave of energy at the daimon, which allows Sailor Moon to hit her with Rainbow Moon Heartache.
- Likewise, in the Sailor Stars season of the anime, Princess Kakyuu revealed that Sailor Tin Nyanko was once a heroic Sailor Guardian who had been brainwashed and corrupted by Galaxia. After Nyanko was partially purified by Sailor Moon, some of her original personality began to reassert itself, and she expressed sorrow and remorse for her actions. The Sailor Senshi resolved to help fully free her from Galaxia's mental control, but Galaxia herself soon arrived and murdered Nyanko in front of them.
- All four Kings of Heaven are hit with this in episode 12 of Sailor Moon Crystal, when the Senshi finally get through to their memories and make them remember, for good, their roles as the knights who protected Endymion. Just as the four come to, Queen Metalia blows them to smithereens. However, they return in spirit form and save Tuxedo Mask at a critical moment, and later discuss the Black Moon's plans with him in Season 2, having returned to their role as his knights despite their deaths and subsequently being unable to fight for him.
- At the end of the School Days anime adaptation, Makoto realized playing with girls' hearts for sex caused a lot of social and emotional damage for many girls involved, especially Kotonoha whom he really loved from the beginning. He decides to become the honest and sincere boyfriend she deserves...and proceeds to catastrophically screw up things with Sekai Saionji, who loved Makoto just as strongly and claims she's pregnant with his child. Handling his breakup with her in one of the worst ways imaginable, he then pressures her to get an abortion. Needless to say, Makoto's tactless, insensitive behavior costs him dearly when Sekai snaps and kills him.
- In the manga adaptation, Makoto breaks off his affair with Sekai by explicitly telling her that what he's doing is wrong and he needs to put a stop to things before it's too late...and Sekai agrees with him and gives her blessing to let Makoto commit to Kotonoha. Unfortunately, Kotonoha has already found out about the affair, and approaches the two on the rooftop in an attempt to murder Sekai, which is only stopped my Makoto getting stabbed in her place. This causes Sekai to completely snap, and she murders Kotonoha in retaliation while Makoto is hospitalized.
- Shinsen Tennozu of Speed Grapher is the head of both a legitimate multi-billion dollar organization and the shadier criminal group that helped make it so powerful. Also, she's a terrible mother. She gets a very Karmic Death at the hands of her Magnificent Bastard right-hand man, and as she's dying on the floor her daughter Kagura comes running up to her and tearfully reveals that Shinsen's lover (Kagura's father) hadn't abandoned her: he had been unavoidably delayed for their rendezvous and had subsequently been murdered by the secret organization he was working with. The look on Shinsen's face suggests that she truly regretted allowing herself to become the bitter and hateful person that she had, but it was too late to even try to make up for it and she died moments later.
- Ikuya Asano from The Twelve Kingdoms, who had given into despair upon being Trapped in Another World and became a pawn in the Big Bad's hands because of that, is given a chance for a last mission which will help him redeem himself. He's killed in it, and his Last Words lampshading the trope: "Why did I come into this world? Will I just die for nothing?!"
- In Tokyo Ghoul:Re, this is used for maximum drama and heartbreak. Takizawa betrays Aogiri, killing Tatara in order to protect his former comrades. He tries to reassure them of his good intentions, but his former mentor orders his squad to attack. After killing most of the squad, Takizawa strangles Akira while demanding to know why they tried to kill him — he'd saved them, and become a hero, after all. She tells him that he's a murderer, and the only kindness they can offer is a Mercy Kill. He's simply too far gone to understand that he's already crossed the Moral Event Horizon, and can never return to his old life. Later on, however, it's defied when Amon intervenes and causes Akira to have a change of heart. Their mutual desire to save him from himself leads Takizawa to undergo a genuine Heel–Face Turn and begin the process of regaining his sanity. He considers himself beyond hope of redemption, but others disagree.
