Iron Woobie / Anime & Manga

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• Attack on Titan: Armin may be the most emotionally sensitive of the 104th cadets and exposed to challenges and grief nearly on par with Eren and Mikasa, but he never appears fazed too long at a time and continues to impress people with his intelligence and maturity.
• Baccano!: Jacuzzi Splot. Shy. Introverted. Meek. Wimpy. Crybaby. Wiped out seventeen Mafia fronts with a machine gun in retaliation for the deaths of his friends. Almost goes up empty-handed against a guy with a flamethrower, and offers himself as a hostage to a psychopath who catches bullets with a crescent wrench, in order to save friends.
• Bakuman。: Nobuhiro Mashiro. He set out to become a mangaka to impress Miyuki Haruno, whom he liked and corresponded by letters. By the time he felt secure enough in his career to tell her how he felt, she had already married someone else and stopped writing to him, but he kept at it, believing that he was able to get this far because she was watching him, and (as it turns out, correctly) that she still is. When his contract got canceled after his Superhero Legend series and two other series that got canceled within a year, he told the editor responsible for informing him that this was a chance to start over as a newbie. In the end, he died from overworking himself, and while his nephew Moritaka initially thought his death was proof that few can make it in the manga world, he came to realize that he had tried as hard as he could and that he should do the same.
• Berserk: One would not expect Guts, the monster-slaying badass he is, to be so emotional, and yet he manages to be this. His life ruined by his former best friend, he is a cursed and damned figure walking the world, unable to find peace. Worse still, all of his old allies are deceased with the exception of Casca, his past love, who becomes an insane broken shell who can't even look at Guts without fleeing in terror. However, instead of surrendering and accepting failure, he defies the demonic fiends that ruined his life, and proceeds to go on a two-year-long spree of demon killing.
• Asta from Black Clover. He grew up an orphan in the boonies and as the only person in the kingdom without magic, leading him to be mocked by many. In spite of this, he continues to be enthusiastic and determined. When nobles mock him for being a peasant without magic, he takes it in stride, saying that he's used to others insulting him.
• Rock fits the bill in Black Lagoon. He has been taken hostage, abandoned by his company, captured, shot at by friend and foe alike, berated, beaten, punched and just generally abused. Despite all this, he's managed to destroy a chopper by ramming it in midair with a torpedo, call out Revy when he gets tired of her abuse, and earn the respect of Balalaika. And that's just the first couple of episodes/chapters.
• Ceres, Celestial Legend: Aya Mikage. At the age of sixteen, she gets the shock of her life by learning that she is the reincarnation of a powerful but despised ancestor of their bloodline (the eponymous Ceres), and Ceres' powers kill nearly every relative in sight on her sixteenth birthday. And it only gets worse from there. Nearly her entire family wants her dead. Her scheming older cousin wants to use her for his own goals. Her father takes a bullet for her. Her mother, driven insane by grief, is manipulated into thinking that Aya had killed her own father and tries to kill Aya. Her twin brother is separated from her, only to later be revealed as the reincarnation of Ceres' psychotic mortal enemy. Everywhere she goes, she witnesses someone die, including a cousin whose mother Ceres had killed, driving said cousin to commit suicide. She is separated many times from the man she loves, who is eventually killed (but gets better anyway) just when she learns she is pregnant with his child. She loses many friends. Finally, she is forced to watch as Ceres — using her body — kills her brother to finally end the curse on the family. But damn it if Aya ever let any of this bring her down for good.
• A Certain Magical Index: Touma is initially introduced as a very typical Shounen main character, with a good heart and impossibly bad luck (except when it comes to women). But then you learn that before his bad luck would also spread over to the people around him, and that he was often harassed as a child because of it. He was even attacked by a man who blamed his business's failure on Touma. A TV Station then did a "supernatural" special on Touma's arm, the source of his nullification powers and bad luck. They released his name and face without his family's permission. Now despite all of this torment, Touma still came out as a kind, selfless individual who would gladly risk his life for anyone, even people who'd once been trying to murder him in cold blood, so long as it's the right thing to do. Even after he loses his memories at the end of book one, this part of himself still stays in tact. He keeps his amnesia a secret for the sake of keeping his friend Index happy. He is usually distracted by someone else's pain or the need to protect. For example, he would have been within his rights to have wigged out in anger or guilt or something in the second part of the Inepril arc when Miss Elizabeth brought up July, but he just smiles a very sad smile and gives her a hug. Because that's what you do when people try to commit domestic terrorism on a horrific scale in order to murder you. You hug them.
• Chivalry of a Failed Knight:
  • Ikki comes from the prestigious clan of White Mage Knights known as the Kurogane clan. He is called the "Worst One" due to his F-Rank. In his childhood, he was horribly abused by other people, especially the power-hungry Mamoru Akaza. Ignored by his father, Ikki runs away from home but even then, he was encountered by his great-grandfather which resulted in Ikki regain confidence. He also studies on an academy known as Hagun Academy as a repeater due to his low rank due to his weak Blazer skills despite their great power. But even then, Ikki was actually mocked by some of the people in school due to his inferior rank. But that's just a tip of the iceberg. When he fought against one of the top students in Hagun Academy, Kirihara Shizuya, Ikki was constantly tortured several times thanks to Shizuya shooting arrows to give him a painful death. later Akaza tried many ways to torment or even murder Ikki such as sending a mercenary to murder him or scandalize his relationship between him and Stella. The latter succeeding in Ikki getting falsely imprisoned and was tortured for days by forcing him to fight the selection matches which resulted in Ikki having sleep deprivation. Not helping matter is that his stepfather, Itsuki Kurogane, didn't acknowledge him and said to Ikki that it's better on to do nothing because of Ikki's lack of talent which resulted in him losing any hope. But even then, he suddenly regains the hope thanks to Stella and his friends at the end of the day and then manages to win the festival.
  • Y(u)uri Oreki was born with a weak constitution and vomited a liter of blood each day since childhood, requiring her to keep spare liters of blood for transfusion. She cares a lot about her students and wants them to try their hardest in the matches to qualify for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival; even at the cost of her overworking herself to the point of spitting up blood or experiencing seizures. During his admission into Hagun Academy, Yuuri was able to fight against Ikki wielding her cutlass and using her innate power, which lets her share her own pain with others. Her illness, combined with her lack of administrative clout, kept her from doing anything about the teachers that mistreated him.
  • Ayase Ayatsuji is the daughter of her family dojo's owner. He trained her from childhood until he became ill. One day, a blazer nicknamed the Sword Eater defeated her father, hospitalizing him and taking over the dojo. Wanting to reclaim it, she sparred against Ikki in swordsmanship. Ikki fixed her stance as she was mimicking her father, making her slashes faster than before. Ayase also has the power to worsen the wounds that she opens, and a technique that leaves scars in the atmosphere, letting her create a vacuum blade as soon as the person comes close. Upon learning that Ikki's her next opponent, she faked attempting suicide to get Ikki to save her by using Ittou Shura, which he can only use once daily, while also setting traps before the match, all out of desperation to fight the Sword Eater. But, in the end, she lost to Ikki who forgave her and won back her families' dojo for them.
• Code Geass: It's a pretty crapsack world, so most characters with backstory are either this or normal woobies. Main character Lelouch is on the extreme end of this: Murdered mother, crippled sister, father who invaded a country that was using him as insurance, fleeing in a war zone where the natives hate his race, and the invaders are killing everyone, all long before he hits puberty. It gets worse. Still, he's very rarely shown to feel bad for himself and goes around standing up for the little guy while trying to get revenge on the people who made his life hard.
• Delicious in Dungeon has Laios: he loses his sister to the dungeon twice, his best friend tells him that he actually always hated him, his team may be arrested and imprisoned forever if and when they return to the surface and he seems to have a bad relationship with his parents to the extent they haven't spoken in ten years. Does he let it get him down or stop him moving forward? Nope.
• D.Gray-Man: Allen Walker. Why yes, that wide-eyed smiling boy was abandoned by his parents, raised in an abusive circus, watched his foster father die, was cursed by said father after some asshole in a top hat tricked him into bringing him back and then was forced to kill him personally, was then taken in by Cross, who despite his attitude, somewhat short temper and an obvious lack of experience did have his well-being in mind and admitted to loving him if he were his own child and has been referred as one of the most important people to Allen, by Allen himself as of recent chapters but still put him through very harsh combat training and stuck him with a lot of his debts, has at least once watched close friends die because of aforementioned asshole in a top hat, is constantly stuck with the missions that carry heavy emotional baggage, was betrayed by the organization he works for, and then found out his foster father was crazy and may have never actually loved him but the soul of the evil 14th Noah that was sealed inside him AND all that right before Cross got shot in the head and presumably died AND Allen was accused of being the one who killed him making the poor kid to not only lose someone who was important to him, in a traumatizing way, but also lose the one person that had any idea of what's actually going on all while being accused of said murder. Isn't it obvious?
• Dragon Ball Super has Future Trunks. After saving the world once from the androids who killed off half the planet, his father, his father's friends, and his mentor, you'd think life would give the guy a break. Instead Goku Black shows up and murders his mother in front of him, spends a year routinely beating the shit out of him, massacres almost everyone left on Earth and all of the gods and all life on several other planets, making Earth literally the last line of defense for mortals. The guy never stops fighting, and the only times he allows himself to cry are when it's appropriate and there's nothing productive he could be doing to help. Once he's safe in the past and waiting for repairs on his time machine, he quietly begins using a self-therapy technique to treat his own PTSD.
• Fist of the North Star:
  • Most of the cast (the good guys) would qualify, but the best example for the series is Rei. Got a woman he's in love with? She has hots with your new best friend so you have to settle with Courtly Love. Oh, and he's born under Star of Justice, meaning he dies for others, which came true when after he awakens his true self, he became a Sacrificial Lion, doomed to die an agonizing death by Raoh after failing to take him to the underworld with him. Then he spends his last days saving the woman he's in love with from her bad fate, then dies without ever kissing her and it was after he was really dying that the woman starts returning his feeling. Rei, you poor poor guy. Even worse, the Hokuto Musou Dream Mode reveals that if Rei did several things, he would've avoided said death by Raoh and after much hijinx which had him Forced into Evil into the Nanto Army's Token Good Teammate, he would reunite with his lover, stay true to his self and live Happily Ever After. Rei's reaction after he wakes up from the dream? Go die his fated death by Raoh. Because he doesn't want to burden and trouble his friends by not helping for that time. *sniff* There goes your chance to be happy, Rei...
  • Also, said potential lover of Rei, Mamiya, whose parents were killed when she was 20 years old, and then she was kidnapped and taken to a harem. Then her only family left, her brother, dies as well. After this, she falls for a man who is already fated to die for her.
  • Kenshiro. Sweet mother and second cousin of Woobification, Kenshiro. Why do tears pour with such ease from this man? In spite (or because) of his kind and soft heart, he resolved to bear the sadness of the entire world, torn by nuclear fire, on his broad shoulders alone so nobody else has to cry ever again. The big guy himself puts it best:
    "I refuse to build my own future on the blood and tears of others!!"
• Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail. Her childhood was a terrible one. When she was a kid, she was a slave for a cult trying to make the Tower of Heaven. She led a revolt but lost some of her friends and was betrayed by the very person she was trying to save. But she remains a strong, brave girl who fights for those she cares for.
• Saki Watanabe from the anime From the New World. Cutie breakage always abounded Saki during the story's run, but instead of moping and feeling sorry for herself constantly, she instead uses these experiences to grow into a strong young woman capable of handling problems when others could not. This attribute of hers is precisely the reason why Tomiko chose Saki as her successor in leading the Ethics Committee.
• Granblue Fantasy:
  • The second season of the anime introduces us to Ferry, an Erune girl who one day woke up without any memories (she even forgot her name), on a small island that is shrouded in mist all year long and where death no longer exists. As if complete amnesia and being stuck in a dark and dreary place wasn't bad enough, Ferry also quickly discovered that she was invisible to everyone else on the island. Her existence, wandering through the fog, completely alone, lasted for at least a century. When she is finally revealed by Lyria, she does get emotional for a moment, but doesn't shed a single tear — and then calmly goes on explaining what bits and pieces of information she's found over a century that could help Gran, Lyria and co. leave the island (as the same unseen force that prevents death is keeping airships from leaving). As they get closer to finding a solution, in the midst of tragedy and despite setbacks, it becomes more and more obvious from Ferry's expressions: Despite everything that she's had to endure, this girl's will IS iron. An Internal Monologue of hers puts it best:
    "We will rescue these girls from Celeste. And then, this long existence of wandering in the fog, this hollow pain of not remembering, will come to an end. I WILL be me again!"
• Gundam:
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam:
    • Domon Kasshu eveolves from Jerkass Woobie to this. Has his master betray him, his own government screws him over, he's forced to fight his brother and was convinced for a long time his own father was a viciously evil bastard, even has his eventual girlfriend eaten by a monster. Somehow, he manages to deal with all of it by beating the crap out of the causes of all the above and a lot of Hot-Blooded screaming.
    • Rain, as well. She's always calm and kind, offering support to everyone as the good Team Mom that she is and serving as Domon's support. She only fully breaks down when she think she's failed in her mission and to Domon and when she finds out the role that her dad had in a certain conspiration... But once this is over, she helps Domon to use the Power of Love and destroy the Devil Gundam for good.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED:
    • Athrun Zala lost his mother in a nuclear strike, has to fight his long lost best friend, watches two of his closest friends and allies die due to his hesitation to fight Kira, has a horrible father, and is too socially awkward to emote or channel any of this grief until it boils over the top and he breaks down. Yet, he still manages to be possibly the best pilot in the series. To add to it, in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny he finds himself useless, finds his father's sadistic ways are still cursing the universe, loses his fiance twice, first due to an arranged marriage and second through differing ideals, sees a girl almost damn herself to help him, and can only watch as another dies to protect Lacus.
    • Kira Yamato from the same two series might be sensitive but he gets over it in two minutes. Go ahead. Torture him. Insult his will to fight? Check. Kill people he is trying to protect? Check. Kill a friend? Check. Nearly kill him? Check. Reveal to him he is an experiment to manipulate mankind? Check. Kill first love? Check. Attempt against him? Check. Call him out several times? Check.
• Happy Sugar Life:
  • Asahi Kobe is the older brother of Shio. Born when his mother was raped by his father, Asahi sacrifices himself to allow his mother and sister time to escape the abuse. After enduring five years of brutal torture by his father — up to and including having his fingernails ripped off — Asahi adjusts his goal of getting his family back together to finding his sister. Throughout the series, Asahi faces several trials such as: getting beaten to the brink of unconsciousness; narrowly avoiding being bludgeoned to death by an envious Satou; and becoming attached to — and losing — Shouko Hida to murder. Even when he finally reunites with Shio, he is taken aback by Shio's declaration of staying at Satou's side. Despite her death, Satou posthumously wins over Asahi with Shio disowning him in favor of keeping her happy sugar life in her heart. While weak and powerless, Asahi proves continuously how far he would go to find his sister no matter the cost.
  • Shio Kobe is the younger sister of the aforementioned Asahi, as well as the self-professed "lover" of Satou Matsuzaka. After Shio and her mother escaped their abusive household, Shio was abandoned by her mother before meeting Satou. Resentful of her mother leaving her, Shio latches herself to Satou whilst suffering from an unknown condition reminiscent of PTSD. When she learns of Satou's true nature, Shio willingly chooses to be her "partner in crime" and takes her former life with stride as she protects Satou from her brother. Even in the events of Satou's demise, Shio firmly vows to keep Satou's memory alive, and even inherits some of her characteristics.
• Hayate the Combat Butler: Hayate. Despite surviving terrible neglect and danger and loneliness as a child, he retains a noble and compassionate demeanor as well as an unbreakable determination. Small wonder everyone loves and admires him.
• Inazuma Eleven: Matsukaze Tenma, the protagonist of the second series. His dream school is under heavy jurisdiction of managed soccer right in the first day, he has to fight on to bring free soccer back, and at one point is blamed by Kurama for being the reason why things are falling apart. In Chrono Stone, he's suddenly the only member of the soccer team who still remembers the game and has to fight time travelers throughout the season to fix what they change. Yet even with these huge roller coaster of events, Tenma stays positive.
• Infinite Stratos: You gotta hand it to Ichika. He's thrown into a situation he is woefully unprepared for, his Battle Harem won't take "no" for an answer, a terrorist organization that wants to kill him and take his IS core and the guy still manages to remain cheerful and optimistic.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Phantom Blood: Jonathan Joestar has his entire life turned upside down after Dio Brando comes into his life. From having his first kiss from his love stolen from him, Dio killing his beloved pet dog, and eventually his father and then the Joestar family manor burning down, life is anything but fair to him. Solidified in the finale where he dies on the boat intended for his and Erina's honeymoon and in spite of all that has happened, still forgives Dio and admits to having lived a complete life.
  • Stardust Crusaders: Noriaki Kakyoin, having a Friendless Background as he spent his whole childhood distancing himself from other people as he knows they won't be able to connect with him properly, since they cannot see his Stand. It was only when he met Jotaro Kujo and the others did he finally felt like he has people that he can truly bond with. Yet, he shows no hints of this until the chapter/episode where he dies. His Image Song, "Goodbye Nostalgia", sums his dilemma up greatly.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: Okuyasu Nijimura is very popular among the American fandom for this. His mother died when he was young and he was frequently abused by his father, and it only got worse when after DIO's death, his father turned into an immortal blob monster incapable of speech. Following that, his brother took charge of his entire life, only for his brother to be killed when the two decided they'd help their father. Okuyasu has clearly been through a lot, but he confronts it by befriending Josuke and Koichi and trying to move past his abusive relationship with his father.
  • Golden Wind: Giorno Giovanna was fathered by a man who never cared for him, neglected by his mother as a baby and a toddler, used as a punching bag by his stepfather and bullied by other children, with his only salvation coming in the form of a gangster whose life he saved. During his journey, he suffers numerous horrific injuries that would kill a normal person a hundred times over and sees three of his new friends savagely murdered by the boss. Still he keeps soldiering on and never loses an ounce of determination, endeavoring to achieve his dream and make life better for Italy's people.
  • Stone Ocean: Foo Fighters, a colony of plankton, initially only swore loyalty to Whitesnake, real name Enrico Pucci, because of the fact that he inadvertently gave them sentience, but after being spared by Jolyne Cujoh, they pledge loyalty to her instead and take on the identity of former prisoner Atroe, going by F.F. Because Atroe was already a Bully Magnet, F.F. is constantly ostracized by the other prisoners, and yet they always find ways to make their experience as a human more bearable. In their dedication to protect Jolyne, they constantly undergo Body Horror through leg amputation, getting put into the electric chair, and having their face melted off by acid. Eventually, they're confronted by Pucci, the man who gave them life, and he actively dehumanizes them before attempting to murder them. Pucci eventually succeeds, and Foo Fighters admits in their final moments that all they ever wanted was to be accepted as a normal person after inhabiting a human body, thanking Jolyne for letting them live their best life.
  • Steel Ball Run:
    • Johnny Joestar has suffered through the death of his older brother, is largely ignored by his father, and lost the use of his legs. He does get better however as he adventures with Gyro and his father eventually comes to root for him in the final leg of the Steel Ball Run. But then again, Gyro ends up dying. and he doesn't win the Steel Ball Run. JoJolion later reveals that he didn't live much longer after the events, as he dies trying to save his family from a disease.
    • Diego "Dio" Brando has a horrible case of Abusive Parents as his father tried to drown him when he was a baby in order to have one less mouth to feed. His mother saves him but later lived at a stable where she has to put her health on jeopardy in order feed him regularly.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: To say that Yuji Itadori doesn't have it easy would be a massive understatement. In the very first chapter he loses his grandfather, his last living relative, and becomes the vessel of the most evil sorcerer in existence not long after, which gets him sentenced to death and thrown into a world he can't begin to understand. Throughout the rest of the series he loses a lot of friends and suffers a lot of trauma, until he finally breaks at the climax of the Shibuya Incident. It takes Todo giving him a pep talk and encouraging him to keep fighting for the sake of those who died protecting him before Yuji gets back on his feet and soldiers on, determined to keep killing curses even if it's ultimately pointless.
• Kiznaiver: Nico, the Genki Girl and The Heart of the group, ends up suffering a lot trying to keep the group together, not to mention her extreme fear of being outcast for being from a rich family. Throughout the series, her constant attempts at making friends with Maki end up with her getting shoved off or even insulted, her first love is in love with another girl, and much more interested in helping her Unrequited Love than even grant Nico her desire of being properly dumped. Nonetheless, she never gives up and is the one to give What the Hell, Hero? all around when the group forgets about the bonds they made. She never stopped trying to make the group become True Companions, even though it mostly ends up in her suffering, by the end, she succeeded.
• KonoSuba: Kazuma Sato is resurrected into a world he barely understands, he has to defeat a villain that has terrorized the world for centuries and no other adventurer has any intention of doing the job. Kazuma isn't an idiot, he knows he is only a hero because he is the only one that actually cares about trying to make things better. He also has to put up with a party of eccentric individuals who seem to be more trouble than they're worth, and his attempts to do the right thing either backfire or go unnoticed. Still, that never stops Kazuma from treasuring the simple joys in life with his new friends and every once in a while, something will go right for him, no strings attached.
• Maria no Danzai: Kiritaka puts up with the constant torture he suffers at the hands of Okaya and his friends because one, he doesn't want to worry his mother; and two, because he's patiently waiting to collect dirt on Okaya before he can unveil his bullies for the monsters that they are. Unfortunately he doesn't live long enough to do so — but considering the downright inhuman amounts of physical and psychological abuse he was subjected to, it's hard to think that anyone in his position would've held out as long as he did.
• Monster: Half the appeal of Dr. Kenzo Tenma isn't that his universe seems completely dedicated to eviscerating his spirit — it's that his universe seems completely dedicated to eviscerating his spirit, and yet he still won't break.
• My Hero Academia: Izuku Midoriya, the main character, at the very start of the series. From the age of 4, he had to deal with the fact that he was Quirkless and could never become a hero. His mother did not believe he could make it as a hero, his classmates bullied him for his Quirklessness and laughed at his dreams, his childhood friend grew to hate him after mistaking Izuku’s heroic nature as pity and derision for him, his teachers laughed at the thought of him becoming a hero, and his idol told him to try a career as a policeman instead. None of these things actually stop him from trying, and he ends up succeeding in the end. It's that very determination to help people in spite of being powerless that inspires his idol to make Izuku his successor.
• Nagasarete Airantou: Ikuto. Before coming to the island he was drifting on a life preserver for seven days without food or water. He spends the first episode/book futilely throwing himself against the same few whirlpools until it's absurd but only until he points out that he did that to learn their flow and sneak between them (there's an even larger one beyond it, sadly). His grandfather puts him through Training from Hell and its given him a fear of heights. In a free-for-all game of tag for marriage the day after he arrives, he gets dropped from a tremendous height and thrown an incredible distance and loses only by an involuntary gesture of bravery on his part. And the hits keep coming. On the other hand, with renewed training, he becomes a Badass Normal who manages to outwit or fairly beat four of the island's most powerful champions in a span of two days.
• Naruto:
  • The title character himself was the pariah of a village that hates and ignores him for something he had no control over, the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed in him after it attacked his home. The only reason he didn't turn out like his first foil Gaara is because of the Third Hokage and Iruka Umino being there for him when he was alone.
  • Kakashi is also a prime example. His father committed suicide when he was pretty young. His teammate and friend, Obito, died saving him which led him to live a guilt-ridden life with chronic guilt-ridden grave visits. Then we find out that Obito is actually Tobi He promised his dying friend to protect Rin, their other teammate. Only to have this happen [1]◊
  • Itachi was also a victim of poor circumstances. Like Kakashi, Itachi never wanted those close to him suffer. But unfortunately for them, they both became collateral damage to Danzo. Itachi had to endure years of hate and ridicule, for the Uchiha Massacre, a crime of which he had no other choice to commit. Knowing Sasuke, Itachi knew his little brother wouldn't understand, but ensured his safety. Despite the latter initially despising everything about him.
• Pokémon: The Series: Ash Ketchum regularly fails to win regional tournaments, is constantly chased by Team Rocket for his Pokémon, has to see friends go their separate ways to achieve their own dreams and has even died temporarily. But that never stops him from taking joy in his adventures and forming meaningful relationships with the people he knows, not to mention he saves the world on a yearly basis through The Power of Friendship and Heroic Resolve. It takes a lot to make Ash depressed, but when that happens, he always finds the strength to soldier on. Respect.
• Subaru from Re:Zero. Throughout the story he dies in a myriad of ways, everything from getting disemboweled by a bloodthirsty assassin to getting cursed to being torn apart by a supposed friend, but despite being mentally and emotionally broken time and time again because of this, he always gets back up in order to save those he cares about.
• The Rising of the Shield Hero:
  • Iwatani Naofumi is a college student who, after reading a mysterious book, gets unwillingly transported to a fantasy world as one of four heroes tasked with saving the world. As the Shield Hero, Naofumi dreamed of adventuring and having a harem. However, he soon often looked down upon for the shield's lack of offensive power and is outright demonized by the people of the country, leading him to be shunned wherever he goes. With no one to help him, Naofumi must find a way to complete his mission and finally return home. Unable to use anything else in battle, he finds himself having to fist fight against monsters. His low attack stats make even weak monsters take minutes to kill, while someone with a sword can cut them within two slashes. Naofumi had no party members until a girl offers to go with him, and he feels his luck turn around until she steals his clothes and all his money, then lies that he raped her. From then on, no one wanted anything to do with him, and his hero status is the only thing keeping him from being executed. This hit him so hard he can't even taste food anymore, and he cannot leave this world until all four heroes stop the calamity that hits it at regular intervals. All he could do is buy slaves who can fight for him on the battlefield, but to them, he's like an older brother/father figure. Out of his shields, he has one that reflects attacks. But it erodes his soul with each use.
  • At a young age, Raphtalia's village was attacked by monsters that came from the very first Wave, and her parents and many villagers perished. She was captured afterward by slavers and spent a period of time living under one owner to the next. All treated her horribly. After a while, she was bought by a slaver and kept with the rest of his slaves until she was finally purchased by Naofumi. From then on, she served as his right hand, fighting against the waves, using illusion magic as well as swordsmanship, in order to prevent a repeat of her past from happening to anyone else. She does her best to help and serve Naofumi, as well as be a benevolent sister figure among their younger allies.
  • Glass comes from a parallel world like Naofumi's group. Initially seen as antagonistic when she crosses swords with him and his party, it turns out that by 'invading' their world, she is really trying to save her own. Her people are besieged by calamities just like Melromarc and all the other countries. In her world, she's a Hero just like Naofumi, and her sworn duty is to that protect that world over anything else. She respects and sympathizes with Naofumi, but she knows that could obstruct her objective, and with millions of lives at risk, which she cannot afford. Her solution to stopping the calamity is killing off two-thirds of Naofumi's world as a last-ditch effort and her home is already on the verge of collapse, with most of its people already giving in. She also struggles with inner turmoil, and she tries to keep it under wraps, but everyone can tell how much she's breaking on the inside. Despite all that, Glass is designed to do her worst in order to preserve whatever's left of her homeworld.
• Minako Aino/Sailor V/ Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon manga goes from a carefree 13-year-old girl who dreamed big and unabashedly enjoyed her life, to a young girl that had been nearly killed in action and had been forced to kill her true love for her mission's sake. She'd regained the memories of the Moon Kingdom's fall, and the death of all the Senshi long before the other Senshi regained their memories of the past life. She had to bear the burden all alone for a year, learning that she'd have to sacrifice her happiness, morals, and life whenever Princess Serenity, a girl she hadn't met in that lifetime, needed her to. She also learned that she was to lead a group of strangers into taking down a force that was plaguing the world. And yet, not only does she go on to be the best fighter of the Inner Senshi with absolute authority over them, she does it all with a smile, burying down a year of immense burden and hardship under a cheery facade. The only time her pain and fear is shown in the Sailor Moon manga is when she is unable to transform, causing her to fall into an identity crisis since she felt that being Sailor Venus is the only thing she gets to do with her life.
• Hishigi in Samurai Deeper Kyo. He has watched countless friends die over the years while he was helpless to save them. He has contracted the same disease and was forced to implant Devil Eyes in the left side of his body. The eyes stop the spread of the disease, but they are eating him alive, leaving him in constant and excruciating pain. But he is never shown to feel sorry for himself, and he keeps fighting until the end trying to save his best friend.
• Seraph of the End:
  • Yuichiro "Yuu" Hyakuya, The Protagonist, was abused by his biological family due to his supernatural nature. Sent to the Hyakuya Orphanage, Yuu was tested and experimented for them yet he found happiness on his fellow orphans. Surviving the apocalypse and being captured for Vampires, Yuu is forced to a serf life and tries to escape, leading to the murder of his family at hands of Ferid Bathory. Escaping thanks to the sacrifice of Mikaela, Yuu joins the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and trains to be able to avenge his loved ones. During the series, Yuu's true nature, use of his Cursed Gear and traumatic experiences start to erode his humanity, turning him into a danger to others and himself. While managing to achieve small victories such as reunite with Mika, befriend the members of the Shinoa Squad and kill important vampires, Yuu's obsession with family and his loss of humanity remains a question to be answered, yet he continues moving fowards, moved for his own desire to have a family.
  • Mikaela "Mika" Hyakuya, the Deuteragonist, is Yuu's last surviving family. Abandoned by his family and used for the Hyakuya Sect, Mika also loses his fellow orphans in an attempt to escape from the vampires before sacrificing himself to ensure Yuu's escape. Turned into a vampire and forced to work with a species that he hated, Mika started to hate both humans and vampires while also avoiding to drink human blood, surviving with the blood of Krul Tepes and being forced to work alongside his family's murderer. Wishing to reunite with Yuu, Mika manages to escape from the vampires and reunite with him before running away from the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, eventually completing his Vampire transformation after drinking Yuu's blood with his permission. Initially unwilling to work with anyone but Yuu, Mika is forced to accept the help of the Shinoa Squad to protect Yuu and eventually even with his hated Ferid Bathory. Hating his own nature and wishing to become human again, Mika just wants to protect his last surviving family.
• Strider Hiryu: If there were any characters who suffered from Vice-Director Matic's selfish desires, the following would be them:
  • The eponymous Strider Hiryu was an orphan who passed the Striders' dangerous training program as its youngest Super-A Rank. However he abandoned the organization after being forced to kill his crazed sister and went to Mongolia to live in peace, befriending a small girl named Rin he met at a nearby nomad settlement and lived a simple life until his former superior, Vice-Director Matic, came demanding Hiryu to take on a mission to assassinate his(Hiryu's) friend Cain/Kain after he was captured, threatening the villagers if he didn't cooperate. Hiryu traveled to Kazakh and with his friend Sheena's help, the two rescued a comatose Cain. During the whole time, Hiryu was conflicted over taking his friend's life. Once he woke up, however, Cain attacked them violently. Hiryu and Cain battled it until the former won, but Sheena was mortally wounded by the latter. Hiryu held Sheena as she died in his arms. Later interrogating the captive secret police chief, Hiryu learns about Enterprise's ZAIN Brainwashing Project, and Cain was used as a guinea pig in the experiments. Hiryu relays to an awakened Cain the events surrounding his sister's death, and how he now realized she was another guinea pig in the same brainwashing experiments. Both swear to take down the ZAIN Project and anyone involved with it. Learning that Matic is involved, making the Striders also enemies Hiryu will have to deal with eventually. After the elimination of all foes including Enterprise; the ZAIN Project; and Matic, Hiryu disappears while leaving his Cypher behind.
  • Cain/Kain is a Super A-Ranked Strider and Hiryu's best friend, both having gone through the dangerous training program. Cain is sent on a mission in Kazakh, alongside their friend Sheena, to assist the rebellion. However, his superior, Matic, not only tipped off the Secret Police on the rebel meeting itself but warned them about the Striders present, leading them to raid the place with powerful weaponry, which Cain finds strange when faced with the weaker and unprepared rebels. Cain is eventually captured by the Police after using a little girl, who was apparently caught in the crossfire, to tranquilize him. Cain is then carried out and brainwashed by the ZAIN Project. When he wakes up, he attacks Sheena and Hiryu as the result of the brainwashing. Hiryu subdues him, but not before Cain kills Sheena. When he comes back to his senses, the captive Police Chief nonchalantly claims he was responsible for Sheena's death. Guilt ridden, Cain starts banging his head, but Hiryu calms him down with the events regarding his(Hiryu's) sister, Mariya, who was also revealed to have been brainwashed by ZAIN. Determined to avenge both Sheena and Mariya, Cain and Hiryu fight against Enterprise, intending to kill those involved.
• Trigun: Vash. Yeah, he does break down eventually — but he gets up again, and when you consider how many years he's been doing this already, and just how bad it's gotten, it's frankly terrifying that he hasn't given in yet. He complains all the time about little things, which seems to be either a coping behavior or Obfuscating Stupidity, but when real suffering hits him he just takes it, and takes it, and takes it...and eventually folds, but he does get up again, so it doesn't count. Also, the situation that causes him to fold is a Sadistic Choice where he's not allowed to take his standard third option, which is to throw himself in harm's way.
• Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle: Lux Arcadia faces ostracism from his family for his grandfather's principled stance, is shunned by many for being from said evil family, loses his mother and grandfather at a young age, is betrayed by his "brother" Fugil, has his ideals mercilessly thrown in his face, and is forced to work off his family's debt despite helping depose them. Despite all this, he strives to uphold his altruism in a world where cruelty and callousness are easier choices.
• Ryuunosuke in Urusei Yatsura. She has a very terrible life. Forced to live as a male, in poor condition with an Abusive Parent. But she is also determinated and strong.
• Variable Geo: As a child, Reimi was beaten by her mother, who relentlessly pushed her towards perfectionism both in martial prowess and analytical ability. Then subjected her to nightmarish experiments to further augment Reimi, while also having a seed surgically implanted in her body. Fast forward to the present day, where Reimi is now the CEO of The Jahana Corporation and two-time defending champion of the VG Tournament, who's favored to win it for a third year in a row. But she hasn't forgotten the hell her mother put her through. Problem is, Miranda wasn't done yet.

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