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  • 7 Seeds has this occur during the final test for the Team Summer A candidates. Gengoro has to kill several of the animals he has been taken care of, including the tiger that he raised from kittenhood on, because of various reasons: the animals were purposefully infected with rabies; they were injured beyond help and most of them were unaccustomed to life in the wild, since they were kept in cages and raised by humans. Gengoro is aware that most of them are mercy killings, but still has difficulty accepting his actions.
  • In Attack on Titan, Armin actually discusses this trope. While he hopes that talking to Eren Yeager will be enough to change their desire to kill every life in the world outside of their island, he also brings up what will happen if it doesn't work. That they — the 104th and Levi squad — will have to kill Eren Yeager to stop the killings. When reasoning with Eren ultimately fails, the group indeed have to kill him to save humanity, with Mikasa having to deliver the final blow.
  • In Baccano! Drugs and Dominoes, Luck Gandor kills Gustavo himself after preventing Eve from shooting him, which given the circumstances is probably this trope in action, although Luck has an attack of Post-Victory Collapse before he can explain his reasons.
  • In Bleach, at one point the quincies kill a large number (tens of thousands) of hollows, a kind of monster that Was Once a Man. Because this eliminates the soul of the hollow in question entirely, the Soul Reapers are forced to respond by killing a corresponding number of their own citizens to maintain the balance and prevent the universe from breaking.
  • What the Anti-Hero Ogami does in Code:Breaker right in the first chapter, though replace "Shoot" with "Break the Neck of." The aforementioned dog got mortally wounded trying to protect Sakura from a bunch of gang members, and Ogami, before burning and killing all of the bad guys, goes up to the dog and commends it for its efforts to save Sakura. And then promptly snaps its neck to "help the pain."
  • Almost anything that happens in Code Geass is this, at least from the point of view of whoever is pulling the trigger. What do you expect with a world where nearly everyone is a Magnificent Bastard (or a loyal minion of one) and Well-Intentioned Extremist?
    • Lelouch accidentally commands Euphemia to murder a stadium of families who were going to start a new life under peace. The only way to stop this is to kill Euphemia.
    • Also, this is the "kindest" explanation suggested for Lelouch ordering the massacre of children in the Geass Cult. Said children were already trained as Tyke Bombs, so it's possible they wouldn't have been ever able to adapt themselves to society - like it happened to Mao and Rolo.
      • Considering how powerful Geass Users can be, even children, it would be nearly impossible to achieve victory without killing them. Lelouch's other plan, using his own Geass, suffers from one problem: Geass that do not require eye-contact. Though Lelouch does acquire Jeremiah, who can make that possible, the same event leaves him without the desire to do so.
      • Additionally, there is the incident where Rolo ganks a fellow intelligence operative for accidentally walking in on a conversation about Geass. Rolo specifically invokes this trope when Viletta criticizes him for doing so.
  • At the end of Codename: Sailor V, Sailor Venus discovers that her love interest Ace is actually Danburite, a subordinate of the Dark Kingdom. She begs him to stand down and tell her why, but once he moves to attack she kills him. By the time of her debut in the Sailor Moon manga, her smile hides a really damaged psyche, and when a Brainwashed and Crazy Makoto attacks Usagi she nearly kills her.
  • In Episode 5 of the 1968 Cyborg 009 series, Joe does this.
  • In D.Gray-Man, when the third exorcists are going mad because of Alma cells and start attacking their allies, Krory is lucky enough for his nominal hero general carries out the execution for him. Lenalee doesn't have this chance as she is forced to kill the opponent herself.
  • Near the end of Digimon Tamers. Janya Wong figures out a way to defeat the D-Reaper. However, this method has the nasty side effect of forcing all Digimon (specifically, the ones that just helped save the world) back into the Digital World, with no guarantee that they could ever return. At a loss for any other options, Janya goes through with it, even going so far as to trick his Digimon-loving son into helping. (Henry's reaction to this varies by translation: he forgives his father in the original Japanese, but the English dub strongly implies the opposite.)
  • In EDENS ZERO, toward the end of the Lendard arc, it's revealed that the Demon King Ziggy, who seemed to be the Big Bad of the series at that point, was Good All Along and had been controlled by a far more malevolent entity. During a brief period where he regains control of himself thanks to an EMP, Ziggy asks his adopted grandson and alternate self (it's complicated) Shiki to kill him before he's taken over again. Shiki hesitates at first, but after Ziggy acts like he's lost control again and pretends to kill one of Shiki's friends, he finds the resolve to do it despite seeing through the ruse.
  • In Elfen Lied, during the finale Kouta is forced to fulfill a childhood promise to Lucy and kill her when she poses a danger to the world. She is also falling apart so it could be a doubled-up example. Though both of her good personas urge him to this while they have control he at first lacks the will to do it. The third persona, said to be the voice of her murderously-programmed DNA, then asserts control, but is ultimately in so much pain, she too urges him to do it, and this time he does.
  • Fairy Tail: In Chapter 333 Ultear seems prepared to kill present day Rogue to undo his evil future self's actions, though she ultimately can't bring herself to go through with it (and has a existential crisis at the realization she legitimately did consider it considering she's been trying to be The Atoner).
  • Final Fantasy: Unlimited: Upon learning that Clear is a part of the Eldritch Abomination Omega, Kaze immediately tries to kill him despite Ai's protests.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist has Scar with an almost literal shoot-the-dog moment when he Mercy Kills the chimera that was created when Shou Tucker fused his daughter, Nina, with her dog, Alexander. Ironically, this doubles as a dark Pet the Dog moment, as Scar expresses sympathy for her where up until this point he had been a cold-faced killer.
    • Major General Olivier Mila Armstrong. In the Grand Finale, unlike Roy's team, they do NOT "shoot to wound".
      Olivier: However... you'll find I'm not as merciful as the "Hero of Ishval"!
    • When Kimbly takes Winry hostage and threatens to kill her unless Ed agrees to work for the army, Ed (reluctantly) takes a third option: He lures Kimbly into an open space while the snipers who are on Ed's side hide in the buildings around it. Unfortunately Kimbly sees through this plan before any of them can shoot.
  • Gundam:
  • Gunslinger Girl has Jose and Henrietta do this simultaneously in chapter 83 as part of their earlier Suicide Pact.
  • In Haou Airen, Hakuron seems to view his murder of Reilan this way.
  • Kino's Journey. A young woman whose love was killed by a gunfighter travels the world with a male admirer, preaching nonviolence. Kino mentions that it's strange they've never run into trouble. It turns out the man is a highly-skilled gunfighter who is secretly killing anyone who would threaten her.
  • In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, we learn that Meta Knight killed Knuckle Joe's father - but only because he had to do it to ensure the safety of the galaxy and because Joe's father was mind-controlled by Nightmare and turned into a Demon Beast/monster. Luckily, his love for his son prevents him from fully surrendering to Nightmare, and before death, he gives MK his locket with Joe's baby picture in it as both a reminder of him and a sign of his love.
  • The main protagonists of Knight Hunters are formed into a team of assassins for the express purpose of shooting the dog whenever necessary, a point which his teammates make explicitly when Omi has a crisis of conscience.
  • In the Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden Disgrace, sweet innocent old lady Johanna tells Kircheis he'll have to shoot her to stop her destroying critical evidence against her husband (guilty of causing the deaths of any number of people). Kircheis just can't bring himself to do it; luckily (and tragically) Keyserling, who was in love with Johanna and previously orchestrated the coverup to protect her husband, arrives to do it for him. Kircheis later thinks that Reinhard would have fired had he been in the same situation, and that's why it's important for them to stick together. Perhaps a reversed example as it's the sidekick, Kircheis, who needs the main character, Reinhard, to shoot his dogs for him.
  • In Nabari no Ou, Aizawa kills a mission target when Kumohira's moral code makes him hesitate.
  • In Naruto, Naruto's classmates plan to kill Sasuke to prevent another war starting from Sasuke going too far and to end Naruto's suffering over his promise. They're very much NOT happy about it, though.
  • In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Mana tends to do this sort of thing, such as being willing to K.O. people who are in danger of triggering the Power Incontinence of The World Tree. Most recently, she was going to shoot Fake!Asuna with non-lethal ammo to determine whether she was real or not. Negi stopped her, though.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion:
    • Shinji is forced to kill Kaworu, the only person who truly understood him. Otherwise, humanity will be destroyed. What makes this even more painful is that Shinji spends a minute deciding whether or not to do it, while we see a long shot of EVA-01 holding Kaworu, accompanied only by Beethoven music - ironically, Kaworu's favorite. Needless to say, Shinji suffers yet another Heroic BSoD after that.
    • Gendo himself does this when faced with the 13th Angel, Bardiel, who had just taken control of the Eva Unit 03 moments before the first test was supposed to start. When Shinji refused to destroy the Angel (and the Eva with it) due to the risk of injuring the Eva's pilot, Gendo takes control of the situation and takes Eva Unit 01 from Shinji's control, using a backup system to do the deed. Shinji isn't happy, and attempts a Roaring Rampage of Revenge... before being stopped by Gendo himself.
    • Arguably, most of Gendou's actions could also fall under this trope, though whether or not he's being morally ambiguous for the greater good, or just a manipulative bastard is debatable for most of the series.
  • Noir: It turns out that this is the entire purpose of the assassin duo named Noir, by becoming a scapegoat of sorts for humanity, killing people so that others don't have to.
  • In PandoraHearts, Retrace LXXVIII, Well-Intentioned Extremist Hero Antagonist Oswald/Glen Baskerville attempts to execute Oz, who he deems is too dangerous to let live, and then use the Will of the Abyss to travel back in time and kill his sister Lacie before she can give birth to the Alice twins and give life to B-rabbit Oz, all to the end of avoiding the Tragedy of Sablier.
    • Oswald having to kill Lacie in the first place because she was born a Child of Misfortune, which by nature cause interferences with the Abyss.
  • In the Body Horror themed Parasyte, an ally of the hero kills the creature that has killed and taken the form of the hero's mother.
  • In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Homura shoots Madoka's soul gem in the third timeline, rather than allow her to turn into a witch.
    • From Kyubey’s perspective, their plan to sacrifice the human race, and presumably other, alien races, to get the energy needed to save the universe from heat death is this; Akuma Homura from The Movie feels the same way about overthrowing Madoka and subjecting her and her friends to Laser-Guided Amnesia to “protect” them.
  • When the characters of School-Live! discover the zombified body of their teacher, Megu-nee, Miki takes it upon herself to deal with the situation. She does this because, as a latecomer, she has the least emotional attachment to what they found and it has to be dealt with to reach needed supplies. Despite this, she becomes quite tearful during the confrontation.
  • In Shadow Star, Shiina confronts her close friend Hiroko at her home following a number of gruesome murders committed by Oni, Hiroko's Mon. After failing to talk her out of her insanity, as well as the realisation that her own father is in danger of being killed by Oni too, Shiina tries strangling Hiroko to death in a rage, but finds that she can't bring herself to do it... so her own Mon Hoshimaru has to finish the job for her. She suffers an Heroic BSoD afterwards. In the anime, the dog ends up being shaggy because the epilogue follows almost immediately afterwards.
  • In the finale of Episode 77 of Sonic X, Tails is forced to fire upon Cosmo, who has transformed into her adult form, and has bonded with the Metarex to form a weakpoint for Tails. Tails, having fallen in love with Cosmo, does with great sadness pull the trigger. The 4kids version of this is far less dramatic/sad, and actually makes Tails look like a bit of a heartless prick.
  • In Sword Art Online II, Kirito is approached in Gun Gale Online by a player who has a Laughing Coffin tattoo, which triggers memories he'd repressed of participating in a mission to kill a group of Black Coffin members back in SAO.
  • Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is a movie that details events that happened prior to the game. One of those events showed a sad moment where Yuri was forced to kill Lambert and two other guard dogs to free them from a trance put on them by a tentacle monster (which had been scooping up people, eating them, and spilling their blood) and not only protect Hisca, but also ensure the safety of the people of Shizontania.
  • Rossiu's job in the second half of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is to do the "most logical" thing, while the Hero does the Rule of Cool thing. In a short time he orders the execution of Simon to put down the riots (which doesn't work) and gives in to the Anti-Spiral's ultimatum, thereby trying to leave hundreds of thousands to die so he can save a tiny minority... except not, since the Anti-Spirals plan to kill everyone anyway. He nearly committed suicide out of guilt afterwards.
  • In Tokyo Ghoul, such an act is a major event in Yoshimura's back story. His superiors forced him to kill his human lover after she was exposed as a reporter investigating their organization. Doing so was the only way he could make a clean break from them, and have the chance to hide his Half-Human Hybrid child before they learned about it. Nearly 25 years later, they haven't stopped trying to find it and consider its very existence a threat.
  • Trigun: When Zazie the Beast, a particularly cruel member of the Gung-Ho-Guns who happens to look like a pre-teen, was gunned down by Wolfwood before he could kill another person. This enraged Vash, who has an extremely strict code against not killing anyone no matter what. Vash is later forced to confront his pacifism when Legato forces him into a situation where he can only choose between killing him or letting his friends die. Vash ends up pulling the trigger on Legato, and after an extended period of recovery over failing his ideals, he seems to come to the conclusion that, while killing should absolutely be the last resort, sometimes it is the only solution left, and he just has to accept the burden it brings him.
    • Wolfwood's anime backstory reveals that most of his life consisted of shooting various dogs, but in the end regretted he could never walk a path as straight as Vash's.
  • Reiha from the Vampire Princess Miyu TV series views her killings of humans when she teams up with Miyu like this. Specifically seen with Kayo's Knight Templar Big Brother, who goes all Psycho Knife Nut on Miyu when under a Shinma's More than Mind Control; Reiha freezes him to death and reprehends Miyu when she questions her. Miyu has no option but biting the grieving Kayo, turning her into an Empty Shell.
  • In Umi Monogatari, the Elder Turtle lives by this, even telling the girls to take him down without hesitation should he be corrupted. More disturbingly, he also tells them to not hesitate in killing Sedna, which would also kill her host, Urin.
  • In YuYu Hakusho, the Urameshi Team is stuck playing a video game come to life with a little boy named Amanuma. This means that everything in the game plays out exactly the same in real life. If Yusuke and the heroes lose, they can just start over until they win; if they win, the villain, Amanuma, dies. Kurama, realizing that this is a trap and that Sensui intends for them to be stuck because they can't kill a kid, beats him anyway. What's more, he tells Amanuma exactly how things will play out to mess with his head, so that he can win faster. Amanuma, being a child, freaks out and loses in an Alas, Poor Villain way. Fortunately, Death is Cheap and Koenma has a Reset Button handy... which drains his power and prevents from stopping Sensui on his own, which was Sensui's REAL goal in setting the heroes against Amanuma.
    • Incidentally, this little stunt pisses off Kurama to the point enough so that when they confront the next of Sensui's super-powered henchmen, he simply takes a step forward and decapitates the guy in a blink. And that's just the start...
  • In Zatch Bell! Kiyo burns Kolulu's book so she wouldn't be forced to fight against her will. Doubly sad in that he tricked Zatch to do so by telling him there was "something weird about her book". When Zatch looks closer, Kiyo activates Zatch's attack spell to destroy the book.


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