Posthumous Character / Anime & Manga

• In 7 Seeds majority of characters that show up if they are not the Teams since the story takes place post-apocalypse after humanity has died out. Special mentions goes to the Ryugu Shelter arc, which is a Flashback Arc, depicting the beginning and eventual fall of the specific shelter, making every character in it this.
• Aruosumente:
  • Oracle Kian. His personality and story are developed through extensive Flash Backs and rumours and are central to the present events off the story.
  • The former Emperor also plays a significant part in the backstory that is presented through Flash Backs, being the instigator for some events.
• Marco dies very early on in Attack on Titan, but it's this character's death which jumpstarts Jean's Character Development which leads him to inspire others to join the Survey Corps, and also helps Armin deduce the Female Titan's identity.
  • Marcel was a friend of Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt's. He died very early on into their mission to destroy the walls after he was eaten by Ymir. His death is one of the causes of Reiner's eternal angst and his desire to be seen as a capable older brother figure. It's still haunting him 10 years later.
  • Actual examples of characters who've only been shown in flashbacks: Frieda Reiss, Krista/Historia's sister and host of the Founding Titan — at least until Grisha Yeager stole it from her (and most of her siblings) along with her uncle Uri (the previous host of the Founding Titan and the reason why Kenny wanted to attack the Survey Corps), Faye Yeager, Grisha's younger sister, Eren Kruger, a Marleyan military official who is responsible for Grisha gaining the powers of the Attack Titan, which he later gives to his son Eren, Kuchel Ackerman (Levi's mother) and perhaps most importantly, Ymir Fritz, the ancestor of all Eldians and supposed creator of the Titans.
  • We also learn most of Grisha Yeager's story through flashbacks. These flashbacks reveal the truth of the world — that humanity isn't almost extinct, along with a lot of other information, such as the Marley vs. Eldia conflict, the powers of the Nine Titans and the fact that Titan shifters only live for 13 years... Oh, and that the Beast Titan is Eren's half-brother. All this new info turns the story on its head for both the characters and the audience, setting up an entirely new goal.
• Bakuman。 has Mashiro's uncle Nobuhiro, who died of overworking himself before the story began and who appears in flashbacks.
• Saya of Black Cat, at least in the manga; the anime moves the flashback arc to the beginning to put everything in order, making her just a regularly developed character who happens to die mid-way through the series. Lloyd as well, although he's mostly a plot device for Sven's power.
• In Blast of Tempest, Aika Fuwa starts off the series dead. Despite this, there are many flashbacks to when she was alive, and most of the events in the series are either directly or indirectly influenced by her death.
• Bleach:
  • Ichigo's resolve comes from his mother Masaki's death which is introduced via flashback. A final arc flashback that includes Uryuu's mother reveals the truth. Masaki and Kanae's deaths are connected, also linking both sons resolve, the two families, Urahara, Aizen and Ryuuken's mysterious attitude to each other and the Myth Arc.
  • Uryuu's grandfather Souken was also his Quincy mentor prior to his death. His teachings and his desire to see Quincies and Shinigami working together drives Uryuu and provide most of our information about the Quincy clan. It becomes very important to remember this in the final arc.
  • Kaien is a vital source of both angst and strength for Rukia. Flashbacks reveal much of her weakness, and later her strength, come from what he taught her and how he died. He appeared to be Not Quite Dead later in the Hueco Mundo arc, but it was only a Shapeshifter Guilt Trip. His death is connected to Aizen's activities and also the Myth Arc as his family act as a gateway to the Royal Realm and are related to Ichigo by way of Isshin Shiba (their uncle).
  • Hisana died 50 years before the main storyline began but flashbacks reveal that she obtained a deathbed promise from her husband Byakuya to protect her abandoned sister Rukia at any cost. The Soul Society arc would never have unfolded the way it did without Byakuya's attempt to juggle two conflicting vows, one to his dead wife and the other to his dead parents.
  • One character obtains Character Development only after his death five hundred chapters after he first appears. Choujiro Sasakibe had almost no presence in the story and only appeared in relation to his captain Yamamoto. His death reveals the truth about his relationship with Yamamoto and his death finally giving him a personality and background.
• Onomil in Blue Drop though she shows up as a ghost later on.
• The main plot of Bokura no Kiseki involves the fact that all of the main cast of characters are Reincarnations of another set of characters living in the distant past. By virtue of having already died and reincarnated, all the characters in the second set count as this.
• Bungo Stray Dogs:
  • Oda Sakunosuke decreases four years before the series begins, and this holds great influence to the plot. In an Alternate Universe where he never dies, the timeline has been proved to go very differently.
  • Jules Verne is consumed by his own ability before the fourth novel's time, which is largely responsible for the events happen later.
  • The fifth novel takes place one year after the former Mafia boss's death, and he becomes The Dragon of that story.
• Clow Reed from Cardcaptor Sakura (and Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, and the manga version of ×××HOLiC) has been dead for decades before either of those series begins, and is only developed through flashbacks and what other characters say about him. He still manages to be the root of the whole plot in Card Captor Sakura and he's the ultimate source of most of the action of the other two.
• Case Closed has two more important ones:
  • Akemi Miyano was originally a Red Shirt killed by The Syndicate very early on in the story, but she was later retconed into an important backstory-driving character.
  • Jinpei Matsuda, One-Scene Wonder Story Arc-wise, Ensemble Dark Horse series-wise.
• Mary Magdalene is an important enough character in Chrono Crusade to be mentioned in the logo of the series, but she's long been dead by the time the main part of the story starts. She's spoken of several times before the flashbacks explaining who she was are finally introduced (although her ghost shows up briefly in the end).
• Marianne vi Britannia in Code Geass — at least for R1, before it is revealed late in R2 that she survived her assassination in Anya Alstreim's body, and steps onto the stage for two episodes before being Killed Off for Real.
• Cross Game essentially runs on this trope, as one of the three central characters is dead for 49 of its 50 episodes. Despite this, Wakaba gets just as much development as anyone else, thanks to the author's excellent talent for blending flashbacks into the narrative.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, by the time the story starts Tanjuro had already been dead for a year, felled by an unspecified illness. He however, is the protagonist's father and seemed to have imparted some important life lessons and some techniques that prove to be pivotal in many events later in the story. With that, his son Tanjiro recalls key moments in the past where his father Tanjuro taught him something, using that knowledge to slay the demons Tanjiro encounters throughout the series.
• Allen's adoptive father Mana Walker in D.Gray-Man has been dead for several years from the start of the series and yet in the manga while he's a major influence on Allen's choices, he turns out to be an even more major plot point when he turns out to be the biological older brother of the 14th Noah.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Son Gohan in Dragon Ball. That's the elderly human master of martial arts who adopted Goku, not Goku's son from Dragon Ball Z, mind you. He was squished by Goku's Oozaru form, which Goku himself didn't realize for years until he witnesses Vegeta turning into an Oozaru.
  • Master Roshi and Crane's master, Mutaito, is long dead by the start of the series and isn't even mentioned until the King Piccolo Saga.
  • The entire Saiyan race has been long dead by the time Dragon Ball starts, thanks to Frieza destroying the whole planet. As Frieza remembers Goku's father, Bardock, very clearly when seeing Goku's uncanny resemblance, showing that he at least had more of an impact than his entire race including his king put together.
  • The Saiyans' neighboring race, the Tuffles, are stated to be extinct in every media they appear. Its last surviving member, Doctor Lychee, also passed away and was reborn as a Ghost Warrior by Hatchiyack.
  • The father of the nameless Namekian (Kami and King Piccolo's combined form) died centuries before the beginning of the story. He sent his son away to Earth when planet Namek's climate drastically shifted and died shortly afterwards.
  • Dragon Ball Super reveals that the Supreme Kai of Future Trunks' timeline was killed by Dabura with a ki blast by the time the Future Trunks saga takes place.
  • The evil wizard Bibidi, the father of Babidi, is mentioned a lot but has less than five minutes of screentime in the anime, and none in the manga. We only see a brief flashback to him late in the anime when Shin is explaining Buu's original form. ^note Strangely, he isn't shown in the manga's version of this scene while South Supreme Kai and Grand Supreme Kai are.
  • Jiren's master, Gicchin, and many of his companions were killed when Jiren was younger, by the hands of "the killer". The survivors left him behind out of desperation.
• Lisanna in Fairy Tail, although initially she's just a character that's present in old photos and flashbacks to the guild's childhood being told to Lucy yet is mysteriously not around present day. Lucy even picks up on this but is interrupted by something before she can inquire further. In the next arc the story of what happened to her (she died during a mission because Elfman lost control) is finally explained. And then she turns up alive after all.
  • Karen Lilica. By abusing her Celestial Spirit Aries, she forced Loke to swap places with Aries in order to protect the latter, thereby indirectly causing Karen's death and resulting in Loke being banished.
  • Rob, an old man Erza met while a slave in the Tower of Heaven.
  • Ur, who's Gray and Lyon's master and Ultear's mother. Her death sealing the demon Deliora has a profound impact on all three of them.
  • Lucy's mother Layla Heartfilia. She died some time before the start of the series, but is a strong influence on her daughter Lucy, who follows in her footsteps as a Celestial Spirit Wizard.
  • Subverted with Zeref. He's initially thought to be a long-dead dark wizard who is extraordinarily powerful and evil, but then he turns out to be alive and ends up becoming one of the main antagonists.
• Ryuken, the previous Hokuto Shinken master in Fist of the North Star, is dead before the story begins and his appearances in the series are primarily flashbacks of Kenshiro's training days with his "brothers".
  • Shin and Raoh are lesser examples. Shin is killed off in the tenth chapter and receives some character development via flashback later on. Raoh is one in the second half of the series, where numerous major characters are connected to him.
• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: Himmel the Hero dies of old age in the very first chapter, his death being the catalyst for Frieren's second journey. However, the audience is treated to very frequent flashbacks to the Hero Party's legendary journey, and he consistently ranks very highly in popularity polls.
• Various parents in Fruits Basket, namely Tohru's parents and Akito's father. Tohru's mother Kyoko Honda made the most appearances and was mentioned most regularly.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Brigadier General Basque Grand qualifies for this. In the manga, he's first mentioned as a recent victim of Scar, an Ishbalan Serial Killer who targets State Alchemists, and is later shown during the Ishbal flashback arc.
  • Also, Trisha Elric, whom we got to know rather well for someone who's been dead for years. Her death before the start of the series and her sons' attempt to transmute her back to life help kick off the plot.
  • Also, Scar's brother, who even plays a vital part in foiling the Big Bad.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Scar's brothers' lover is one of these. We learn quite a bit about her due to Lust being her homunculus.
• Cain from GaoGaiGar fame. He is long gone by the time the series starts, yet he is a driving force to the whole plot. Still around in some way, and manifests himself near the series' finale from the broken programming of Galeon with the help of The Power. He forces so much respect in the main character Guy that he even has an Heroic BSoD when he thinks Cain did a Face–Heel Turn to the Sol Masters (when he's really a flawed program based on the original Cain.)
• Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi's sensei in Gintama. His face is never shown until a flashback in the Courtesan of a Nation Arc, but is implied to be a major influence for all three of his students.
• Ryou's grandmother in Gourmet Girl Graffiti passed away shortly before the beginning of the series. The resulting Minor Living Alone kicks off this Slice of Life series.
• Admiral Takaya of Gunbuster died several years before the first events of the OVA and yet set off the entire plot.
• Elsa from Gunslinger Girl (manga only, the anime introduces her earlier on).
• Old Rome and Germania from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
• Jiu Jiu: Takamichi Hachioji's twin brother, Takayuki. He appears alive for all of one page in the first volume, before Takamichi's narration declares "that was the day my brother died." His sudden death pushes Takamichi into the position of Hachioji Clan Heir, after their family had previously dismissed her as an useless spare. Takayuki was the only person in their family who truly cared for Takamichi, and she often reminisces about him.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • George Joestar II, Joseph's father and Jonathan's son, was killed by one of Dio's surviving zombies prior to the events of Battle Tendency, with his death having a major influence on Joseph and Lisa Lisa's story.
  • Cherie Polnareff was killed by J. Geil prior to the events of Stardust Crusaders, with Polnareff's entire motivation based around trying to get Revenge for her death.
  • Even after his death in Part 3, Dio Brando's influence continues to have an effect on the later Parts.
  • While Kosaku Kawajiri from Diamond is Unbreakable is alive for the Part's first half, he isn't introduced into the story until after Kira has killed him and stolen his identity.
  • Sorbet and Gelato were killed prior to the events of Golden Wind, with their deaths being what causes La Squadra to turn against Passione.
  • Stone Ocean:
    • Gloria Costello, Ermes' sister, was killed by Sports Maxx prior to the events of the Part, causing Ermes to get herself arrested to find Sports Maxx and get Revenge.
    • An even bigger example from this Part is Perla Pucci, whose death would end up being the trigger for Pucci's Start of Darkness.
  • JoJolion:
    • Both Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo are dead by the time the Part begins. Well, sorta.
    • Rina Higashikata, who died years prior to the events of the Part, but is also the one who would end up causing the Stone Disease to infect the Higashikata family.
    • Tomoko Higashikata, who sacrificed herself to save Norisuke IV from the Stone Disease.
• Kill la Kill has the fathers of The Hero and The Rival, Isshin Matoi and Soichiro Kiryuin, respectively, both of whose deaths play a major motivating role in their daughter's actions. They were actually the same man; Soichiro secretly survived his wife's attempted murder, along with their second daughter, and he took a new identity.
• Caeser, the eponymous character's father from Kimba the White Lion, often appears in flashbacks.
• Kanata Izumi in Lucky Star, who is deceased before the beginning of both the manga and the anime. She occasionally comes back as a ghost, checking up on how her family is doing.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Quint Nakajima's entire character is fleshed out by stories and flashbacks from her husband, her daughters, and her captain.
  • Alicia Testarossa; the only times we see her alive are in a flashback and a dream sequence; most of what we know about her comes from Precia, although, since she's quite unhinged at this point, it's hard to tell how much is true.
  • Linith, too. And Tiida Lanster. And Olivie Sägebrecht.
  • Roy Berlinetta gets a special mention for being the first one in the series to die of natural causes.
  • Precia (presumably) died at the end of the first season, but her influence can still be felt in both the second and third seasons due to the effect that her abuse had on Fate.
• Dr. Juuzo Kabuto from Mazinger Z died in the first episode/chapter. Though he is ever-present. His actions not only affected the course of the whole series but also of the sequel Great Mazinger, and his name often comes up in conversations. His personality and background are developed through flashbacks and conversations with other characters, mainly his grandsons (Kouji and Shiro), his best disciple (The Professor Yumi), and even Big Bad Dr. Hell.
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: George Glenn, Dr. Ulen Hibiki, and Al Da Flaga are the three men most responsible for the Natural vs Coordinator tensions and the creation of the man behind the Bloody Valentine War. All three are dead as of the start of the series (although the spinoff series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray reveals Glenn is actually still alive, albeit as a Brain in a Jar).
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny the previous Big Bad takes over this role.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, the mastermind of anti-war paramility group Celestial Being is a man named Aeolia Schenberg, who somehow foresaw his energy-crisis ending designs giving rise to the mobile suit approximately 200 years before the events of the series, and directed all of his remaining resources to ending military conflicts worldwide — conflicts he knew he wouldn't live to see.
• The original Mobile Suit Gundam has Zeon Zum Deikun, founder of the Principality of Zeon and father of Char and Sayla. Most people believe he was poisoned by the Zabi family, but there are also hints here and there that he really did die of a heart attack and Char's quest for revenge was all for nothing.
• Lena Sayers from the My-Otome anime. The series itself takes place fourteen years after her death, with her daughter as the main character.
• My Roommate is a Cat: Subaru's parents are dead when the story begins, resulting in them getting their entire development via people remembering them.
• Naruto:
  • The Fourth Hokage, who dies sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox into Naruto at the start of the story. Over the course of the plot, his personality, deeds in life, family, and even real name are revealed. This also applies to his wife Kushina, Sasuke Uchiha's parents, Kakashi's childhood friends Rin and Obito Uchiha, and Yahiko and Hanzo from the Hidden Rain Village.
  • Kabuto's technique gives us formerly Posthumous Characters by truckloads.
  • Madara Uchiha may be something of a Triple Subversion. First, we think he's dead. Then Tobi claims to be him. Then we learn Tobi is not Madara, the real Madara was very much dead. thanks to the above-mentioned technique. But then Tobi's real backstory shows the real Madara died a lot more recently than we previously thought. Not only that, but the newly-resurrected Madara rises to prominence and joins the Big Bad party, being the one responsible for Tobi's Evil Plan in the first place.
  • Subverted by Obito; he's Tobi.
• Natsume's grandmother Reiko in Natsume's Book of Friends. The Book of Friends (aka Yuujinchou) is among the few things Natsume inherits from his late grandmother. Once Natsume has returned the name of a youkai, a flashback is usually shown about the circumstances surrounding when Reiko first took the name.
• Takamichi's master Gateau Kagura von Vandenburg and Nagi's master Filius Zect of Negima Magister Negimagi. The only members of Ala Rubra confirmed to be dead. They now only live in the flashbacks of their comrades, pupils, and a certain princess that travelled with them.
  • Now we have Primum, Secundum, Nii, and Septendecim. And Lifemaker, but (s)he may return.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Yui Ikari and Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, technically speaking, as they did die but are still around in a sense. Being Kaiju Youkai Humongous Mecha counts as being "still around", yes?
  • Naoko Akagi, Ritsuko's mother. She created the Magi system and killed Rei I but has been dead for years by the time the show begins.
• Mireille's parents have been dead for roughly a decade at the start of Noir, but a flashback to Odette's last words in the penultimate episode greatly influences the end of the story.
• One Piece:
  • The series really loves Death by Origin Story; whenever someone has a flashback to their youth or childhood, you're almost guaranteed to be introduced to a new character, and then watch them die tragically.
  • Gold Roger, a legendary pirate who conquered the Grand Line and was executed by the World Government. He kickstarts the grand age of piracy where the story takes place.
  • Subverted by Sabo, who turns out to be alive and a member of the Revolutionaries a few arcs after the flashback he was in supposedly killed him off.
• In PandoraHearts, Jack Vessalius and Glen Baskerville have been dead for 100 years, and we have just begun to understand their stories, always through flashbacks. And then Glen comes Back from the Dead via reincarnation and Jack turns out to not be as dead as everyone thought...
  • And there’s Lacie, the root of the story itself. But she’s never played any part of the story in the present, unlike Jack and Glen.
• Several characters in Penguindrum, being a series told in Anachronic Order full of Whole Episode Flashbacks. But specially, Momoka.
• Pretty Cure:
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5: Urara's mother passed away when she was little.
  • Fresh Pretty Cure!: Love's grandfather, who gave her the name "Love", passed away when she was about four. Episode 28 has a now-teenage Love travel back in time to see him again.
  • Smile PreCure!: Yayoi's father died when she was five. Episode 19 is about her memories of him.
  • HeartCatch Pretty Cure!: Each of the Cures has their own mascot except for Cure Moonlight. This is because her mascot, Cologne, died protecting her, which is why she is in retirement as a Cure when the series starts.
  • Doki Doki! PreCure: Only Mana's grandfather is shown in person, never her grandmother. Doki Doki! PreCure: Mana is Getting Married!!? Dress of Hope for the Future reveals that she passed away some years before the season began, but not before she could give Mana her name.
  • HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Episode 29 mentions that Sousuke, Tanpopo's husband and Hana's grandfather, passed away some time ago.
  • Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: Yui's grandmother Yone passed away a few years before the series began. Yone was the one who inspired such a big love of food in Yui.
• Princess Tutu opens with "Once upon a time, there was a man who died". That man was Greater-Scope Villain Drosselmeyer, who controls his unfinished final story long after his death.
• Kyouko's father in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Then Puella Magi Oriko Magica gives us Yuma's parents and Oriko's dad.
• In Ranking of Kings, the protagonist's father dies very early into the series; and the story only dives deep into Bosse's character through the eyes of his closest peers and family thereafter who remember him, as well as flashbacks to the times before becoming a king.
• In Rurouni Kenshin, we have Tomoe Yukishiro, Kenshin's first wife whose death was the decisive factor in Kenshin adpoting the mentality of a pacifist.
• Koumyou Sanzo from Saiyuki. He later got his own prequel series after Gaiden wrapped up.
• A few in Saki:
  • Kuro and Yuu's mother, who passed away while the sisters were young and taught Kuro to hold onto dora tiles, resulting in her ability to attract them.
  • An unnamed girl who appears in flashbacks in Chapters 102 and 104 and whom Saki and Teru appear to have known once, before their family broke apart, is implied to be dead, but it has not been officially confirmed.
• Megu-nee died several weeks prior to the School-Live! manga beginning however that isn't revealed until several chapters in as Unreliable Narrator Yuki hallucinates she's still alive. Slowly her presence begins to fade until she's written out of the series, though we get several flashbacks both involving her and from her POV.
• Shelter: Rin's father, Shigeru, died several years before the short film takes place, but if not for his actions, Rin wouldn't be alive or have the ability to craft and explore her own worlds.
• Amuria in Simoun, mourned over by Neviril, which forms a major plot point.
• Slam Dunk has Ryuji Yazawa, a young college-aged player who Professor Anzai mentored back during his "Devil Coach" days, who died in a car crash after he traveled to America trying to improve his basketball skills. Yazawa's death was the catalyst that caused Anzai to soften up and become "The White-Haired Buddha" he's known as in the series.
• The death of Kaori in Strawberry Panic! is the main reason for Shizuma's bitterness and thus a very important plot point.
• Satoru Renjo from Tantei Gakuen Q is Morihiko Dan's very first partner when he opened his own detective agency. Being a person who died at least more than three years before the story began, he has a great influence to the main character to become a detective since he is the one who introduces how detective works to Kyu, presented through flashback. It's helped by the fact that Satoru is Kyu's biological father.
• In Tarot Cafe, Pamela's mother was burned at the stake before the series begins, but she still shows up in Pamela's memories, a hallucination/dream, and to give Pamela a hint when Pamela is exploring Hell. Arguably she sets off the events of the series, between taking Pamela to visit the "holy man" who was really Belus and making her Deal with the Devil in an effort to protect her daughter.
• In Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, Tenchi's mother (Kiyone in the OVAs, Achika in Universe and in Tokyo) becomes this, having flashbacks to her from time to time. The first Tenchi movie focuses on her (though only in Universe) while the final episode of the OVAs shows that she's not this patron saint of motherhood...
• Tentomushi no Uta stars seven siblings who have to do their part in looking after one another because of their parents dying prior to the events of the series (from a plane crash in the manga, from overwork in the anime). The youngest of the seven children, a five-year-old girl named Hiyoko Isshuu, was the most upset by her parents' demise.
• Siesta from The Detective Is Already Dead would seem to be an example of this.
• Rem Saverem from Trigun.
• Queen of Albion in anime version of Trinity Blood is first mentioned to viewers at the beginning of her funeral, but she did give a cryptic Foreshadowing advice to her heir before passing.
• Hokuto Sumeragi and Setsuka Sakurazuka in X/1999.
• Your Name: Mitsuha's mother Futaba died 6 years prior to the start of the film of illness, but her death continues to haunt her family even up to today.
• Gozaburo Kaiba, Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, is this in the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, having been Driven to Suicide after Seto ousted him from Kaibacorp. (Subverted, however, not the case in the anime, where he's Only Mostly Dead and appears as the Big Bad of the Virtual Nightmare arc.)
• Yusei Fudo's parents in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. (His father appears as a benign spirit in one episode.)

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