History BrokenBird / AnimeAndManga

** Lelouch himself in his backstory. From his troubling childhood that started with the murder of his mother, the crippling of his sister, and being in a country bombarded and occupied by the nation that discarded him forced him into hiding and craving revenge. In the following years, he felt like he was merely existing, but not truly living. That is, until he got his geass, [[JumpedAtTheCall which gave him the chance]] to change the society he detested and deliver the payback he so wished for. That said, his tendency to slip back when things get particularly hard on him shows he's still very much one BeneathTheMask and one TraumaCongaLine after the other results in [[spoiler:him [[DespairEventHorizon fully breaking]] to the point of crafting the [[ZeroApprovalGambit Zero]] [[ThanatosGambit Requiem]].]]

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai''
** Mari Nagare is a broken woman who's been destroyed by her son's death. Once a happily married housewife, she had a great relationship with her husband and son. Mari overcame a tragic past where she grew up orphaned and was bullied because of the kindness of a nurse who would support her in this hard time. She gave up her dream of being a nurse to be a mother with no regrets. Then, her son died, and she was forced to witness his death.
*** A police investigation told her and her husband he died of suicide because of abusive parents. Heartbroken, she read her son's personal journal and discovered the truth that he was being bullied, and the bullies at his school caused his death. Mari snapped, swore revenge for her son, threw away her life, divorced her husband, changed her name to Maria Akeboshi, had plastic surgery, and two years later became the nurse at the bullies' school to exact revenge.
*** It's becoming clear that she takes no enjoyment in killing the bullies, no matter how much they prove themselves to be irredeemable monsters, and that they deserve death. While she has some happiness in helping bully victims and showing kindness to people who need it, it's clear that she's a miserable shell of the woman she once was, even after she succeeds in getting her revenge on all her son's killers, it will likely cost Maria her sanity and life.

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Mari Nagare is a broken woman who's been destroyed by her son's death. Once a happily married housewife, she had a great relationship with her husband and son. Mari overcame a tragic past where she grew up orphaned and was bullied because of the kindness of a nurse who would support her in this hard time. She gave up her dream of being a nurse to be a mother with no regrets. Then, her son died, and she was forced to witness his death. A police investigation told her and her husband he died of suicide because of abusive parents. Heartbroken, she read her son's personal journal and discovered the truth that he was being bullied, and the bullies at his school caused his death. Mari snapped, swore revenge for her son, threw away her life, divorced her husband, changed her name to Maria Akeboshi, had plastic surgery, and two years later became the nurse at the bullies' school to exact revenge. It's becoming clear that she takes no enjoyment in killing the bullies, no matter how much they prove themselves to be irredeemable monsters, and that they deserve death. While she has some happiness in helping bully victims and showing kindness to people who need it, it's clear that she's a miserable shell of the woman she once was, even after she succeeds in getting her revenge on all her son's killers, it will likely cost Maria her sanity and life.

* Fasalina from ''Anime/GunXSword'' is an AffablyEvil, AloofDarkHairedGirl ex-prostitute/pole dancer that had no parents growing up. She so resents and wants to redeem her unclean body that she joins up with [[AffablyEvil The]] [[BigBad Claw]] and helps him bring [[AssimilationPlot his plans]] to fruition. It's pretty apparent that her past has left her a ''very'' broken individual that truly sees The Claw's plan as her best and only way to redeem herself. Even though she's a villain that can be [[EvilIsSexy VERY provocative]], it's hard not to feel sympathy towards her at times.

** The main character, Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, First Princess of the Misurugi Empire is, at the first episode, one of the most idealized people in her nation: dignified, loved, beautiful, and a star athlete, and is just one day away from her baptism ritual that will initiate her into the world of active royalty. She holds [[WideEyedIdealist a very bright and optimistic view of her world and its future]]. The following day [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday brings about a very rude awakening]]: [[CainAndAbel her older brother Julio]] [[TheStoolPigeon outs her as a Norma]], [[LockedOutOfTheLoop something she wasn't even aware of]], who are [[AntiMagic incapable of using or interacting with Mana]] and [[FantasticRacism shunned upon society for it]]. Her father is arrested for keeping it a secret (and later executed offscreen), her mother dies in her attempt to spirit her away from the guards, and she is [[FallenPrincess stripped of her title]], rendered PersonaNonGrata to the World of Mana, shunned by the society who loved her and she loved back, and sent to Arzenal, a PenalColony, where she along with other Norma are consigned to their fates as CannonFodder against interdimensional dragons. After the hazing, [[UnfriendlyFire getting shot at by teammates who wish to kill her as payback for getting three other pilots killed in a disastrous first sortie]], realizing how much of her life has been a lie, being used as a pawn and lied to by her commander, and later, being betrayed once more, by her only sister who she was close to, only to find she now hated as well, and baited into an execution held by [[TheUsurper her brother]] where she sees how horrible her former society is, she only becomes more and more cynical until she wishes she could destroy the entire world. Though she doesn't hold fast to that wish, she maintains a high level of anger and distrust and becomes extremely cagey and retaliatory if anyone harms or threatens her or the few friends and allies she actually has at this point. No more is this evident than when she slaughters Julio's fleet and almost kills him when he attempts a massacre at Arzenal. The only thing that stops her from killing Julio herself is [[AGodAmI Embryo]], the BigBad, who decides to kill him ''for'' her.

* In the [[{{Hentai}} h-anime]] ''Hands-On Draining with Three Succubus Sisters'', revolves around the three Amaki sisters, who are said to be the most beautiful girls in school, but have gained a reputation of [[IceQueen having cold personalities]], because every time anyone comes close to them, they will bluntly tell the other person to stay away and [[HatesBeingTouched not touch them]]. The reason is because the Amaki sisters are succubi that are trying to survive in the human world undiscovered, and the reason they act so coldly towards other people is because touching humans will result in the other person convulsing with an orgasm until the effects subside, and if they touch another person for a prolonged period of time, the person will die. Once the effects subside, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia they will erase the person's memory and move on]], but if they can't erase a persons memory, [[LeaveNoWitnesses then they will kill that person]]. While the eldest sister, Lemy, has resigned herself to a life of not being able to touch people and tells her younger sisters to accept their fate as well, resulting in Lamy, the second eldest, having [[HeroicBSOD a brief nervous breakdown]] when she realizes she'll never be able to live a normal life and interact with anyone else, and the youngest sister, Lily, has grown to fear Lemy and obey her without question so that Lemy won't scold her for getting too close to someone. However, when Lemy accidentally discover that [[TheEveryman Yuuki]] [[{{Muggle}} Suruga]] can touch them without going into convulsions, she immediately uses him to let out her frustrations, and when Lily discovers them, she disoveys Lemy, and convinces Lamy to let her borrow him.

* Creator/RiyokoIkeda's ''Manga/{{Claudine}}'': Rosemarie, Claudine's [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Unlucky Childhood Friend]]. Especially obvious after [[spoiler: she [[TwoFaced gets heavily scarred]] and thus is seen as unfit for marriage, which was a big deal in the France of the early XX century]] and after [[spoiler: Claudine kills himself]].

* [[PerkyFemaleMinion Misa]] [[PerkyGoth Amane]] from ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an interesting example of this trope. Rather than be aloof and cynical as most examples on here, she [[StepfordSmiler acts like a bubbly and childish]] GenkiGirl. Very rarely do we see glimpses of her true insane nature, a product of narrowly escaping death at the hands of a crazy stalker, having her parents murdered right in front of her by a burglar and facing the possibility of their killer walking out on the charges, falling in love with Light who killed the guilty party and gave her closure, becoming a serial killer herself and teaming up with Light no matter how poorly he treats her, and at one point getting tied up and tortured for several weeks by the detective that's looking for him. [[spoiler:At the end, it's implied that she [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]] after Light dies.]]

** The main character, Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, First Princess of the Misurugi Empire is, at the first episode, one of the most idealized people in her nation: dignified, loved, beautiful, and a star athlete, and is just one day away from her baptism ritual that will initiate her into the world of active royalty. She holds [[WideEyedIdealist a very bright and optimistic view of her world and its future]]. The following day [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday brings about a very rude awakening]]: [[CainAndAbel her older brother Julio]] [[TheStoolPigeon outs her as a Norma]], [[LockedOutOfTheLoop something she wasn't even aware of]], who are [[AntiMagic incapable of using or interacting with Mana]] and [[FantasticRacism shunned upon society for it]]. Her father is arrested for keeping it a secret (and later executed offscreen), her mother dies in her attempt to spirit her away from the guards, and she is [[FallenPrincess stripped of her title]], rendered PersonaNonGrata to the World of Mana, shunned by the society who loved her and she loved back, and sent to Arzenal, a PenalColony, where she along with other Norma are consigned to their fates as CannonFodder against interdimensional dragons. After the hazing, [[UnfriendlyFire getting shot at by teammates who wish to kill her as payback for getting three other pilots killed in a disastrous first sortie]], realizing how much of her life has been a lie, being used as a pawn and lied to by her commander, and later, being betrayed once more, by her only sister who she was close to, only to find she now hated as well, and baited into an execution held by [[TheUsurper her brother]] where she sees how horrible her former society is, she only becomes more and more cynical until she wishes she could destroy the entire world. Though she doesn't hold fast to that wish, she maintains a high level of anger and distrust and becomes extremely cagey and retaliatory if anyone harms or threatens her or the few friends and allies she actually has at this point. No more is this evident than when she slaughters Julio's fleet and almost kills him when he attempts a massacre at Arzenal. The only thing that stops her from killing Julio herself is [[AGodAmI Embryo]], the BigBad, [[KickTheSonOfABitch who decides to kill him]] ''for'' her.

* Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle's [[StepfordSmiler Fai]]. [[spoiler:Watching his twin die at the hands of [[BigBad Fei Wang Reed]] and thinking it was his fault after being trapped in a corpse filled valley for years is already bad enough]]. After that [[spoiler:Ashura brings him to Celes where he learns that [[StepfordSmiler his smiles make people happy]]. Ashura then starts losing his mind and killing people because he wants to make sure Fai's curse activates on him (but Fai doesn't know that). He puts Ashura into a deep sleep and runs away, joining the Travelers as TheMole.]] And that was before the story even started. ButWaitTheresMore [[spoiler: In [[CrapSackWorld Tokyo]] he loses an {{eye|Scream}} to the kid he thought of as a son and is then turned into a vampire by his {{Love Interest|s}}. [[BeneathTheMask He turns cynical and cold]] until his curse activates and he stabs the girl he considers his daughter. Then Ashura wakes up, Chii is destroyed and they have to go to Celes. There his life is put on display, Ashura is killed, {{Love Interest|s}} Kurogane is ''almost'' killed, [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds his other curse shuts down the whole dimension]] with him trapped in side, Kurogane hacks off his own arm to save him and almost dies again.]] Surprisingly enough the last is what gets him to feel better, finally.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has a male example in Accelerator, who at the beginning of the series is a violent sadist who has no faith in goodness or other people. As the series goes on he very slowly has his faith in humanity restored bit by bit, primarily by his relationship with [[CheerfulChild Last Order]], the first person in years who has treated him with unconditional love and kindness.

* Anri Sonohara of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. [[spoiler:Her father's abuse and the witnessing of her mother murdering her father and killing herself]] left her without the ability to love.

* Princess Charlotte, aka Tabitha, from ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero''. Root cause: emotional trauma of being a family member on the losing end of a royal power struggle which resulted in her father getting killed and her mother being driven insane, complete with near impossible "tasks", attempted murders and poisonings.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** Haruhi. Think of the 'breaking' event as the baseball game, and the aftermath when she realized [[IJustWantToBeSpecial she was really nothing special]] turned her into a total {{jerkass}} {{cloudcuckoolander}} for three years[[note]]possibly re-creating the universe while doing so[[/note]]. The SOS Brigade is formed and she has a small, reflective moment where she describes the above ("being angry and cynical wouldn't stand out!") but gets no real emotional resolution because Kyon doesn't know what to say. Kyon also notes that she's [[CharacterDevelopment coming out of her shell]] and he thinks she's not ''becoming'' a better person, but ''returning'' to being a good person.
** Yuki Nagato lives out two weeks repeatedly for more than 15,000 times in Endless Eight. That's nearly 600 years, according to Kyon's calculations in the anime and in the novels. In both versions, Kyon sees her sadness easily, and worries, because she is usually TheStoic. That experience gave her emotions, and made her [[spoiler:steal Haruhi's powers and create an alternate universe where everyone is normal and Haruhi is PutOnABus]]. It also nearly led to her deletion by her boss. If you thought 8 episodes of Endless Eight was bad, just imagine going through the whole thing more than 15,000 times, with no breaks, and each episode lasting 20,160 minutes instead of 23 minutes.

* Tenjou in ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia''. As a child, [[spoiler:Tenjou fell off a jungle-gym, getting her body fatally wounded. And that's when the traumatizing part begins. Completely conscious, she then watches her best friend replacing her "damaged body parts" with jungle gym parts.]] This [[DarkAndTroubledPast trauma]] is the main reason she ended up as this.

** Nico Robin. The reason why she's so distant and why she was introduced as an antagonist working for the BigBad from two seasons is [[spoiler: because of [[TheGovernment The World Goverment]] that took everything from her, including her mother, her only friend, and, eventually, her home island (yes, you read that right, ''her home island was annihilated by the World Government''), because the archaeologists there stumbled on an AncientConspiracy, from reading tablets which were illegal]]. Since then, she experienced 20 years of people taking her in, claiming to help her if she helps them, and then selling her out when the [[{{Mooks}} agents]] come knocking, since she has a tremendously high bounty and the World Government lied about who she is and what she's capable of. Since her whole life then had been about betrayal, when [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Admiral Aokiji]], [[spoiler:who was one of the Marines who took part in her home's annihilation (then as a Vice-Admiral) met her again, and a secret government organization made themselves covertly known, she decided to turn herself in, if they agreed to let her friends go. [[RoaringRampageOfRescue Luffy decided nuts to that by raiding Enies Lobby with a vengeance]]. This caused Robin's heart to mend and she tearfully reunited with her crew when she learned they would not abandon her for anything.]]

** Balalaika. Oh ''God'', Balalaika. Thanks to the Afghan War and the subsequent collapse of her country, the cute teenager who wanted to become an Olympic marksman and make her family proud ended up as a cynical, scarred, and stylishly brutal [[TheBaroness Mafia queen]].

** Kagerou is a beautiful woman whose powers [[DeathBySex kill through sex]], she's forbidden from marrying the only man she's ever loved, despite possessing all other requisites (beauty, noble blood, ActionGirl skills, etc.), thus, she becomes ''very'' embittered and sad as time passes and loses all hope of being happy with Gennosuke...

* Fasalina from ''Manga/GunXSword'' is an AffablyEvil, AloofDarkHairedGirl ex-prostitute/pole dancer that had no parents growing up. She so resents and wants to redeem her unclean body that she joins up with [[AffablyEvil The]] [[BigBad Claw]] and helps him bring [[AssimilationPlot his plans]] to fruition. It's pretty apparent that her past has left her a ''very'' broken individual that truly sees The Claw's plan as her best and only way to redeem herself. Even though she's a villain that can be [[EvilIsSexy VERY provocative]], it's hard not to feel sympathy towards her at times.

* [[TroubledButCute Riki]] from ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'' is another GenderInvertedTrope example as man who was MadeASlave but tries to hide this fact when he returns home to his friends. They notice something is wrong almost immediately because he went from being a HotBlooded BadassBiker to a [[TheStoic passive]], [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] [[ThisLoserIsYou loser]].

* ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)]]'':

** The main character, Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, First Princess of the Misurugi Empire is, at the first episode, one of the most idealized people in her nation: dignified, loved, beautiful, and a star athlete, and is just one day away from her baptism ritual that will initiate her into the world of active royalty. She holds [[WideEyedIdealist a very bright and optimistic view of her world and its future]]. The following day [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday brings about a very rude awakening]]: [[CainAndAbel her older brother Julio]] [[TheStoolPigeon outs her as a Norma]], [[LockedOutOfTheLoop something she wasn't even aware of]], who are [[AntiMagic incapable of using or interacting with Norma]] and [[FantasticRacism shunned upon society for it]]. Her father is arrested for keeping it a secret (and later executed offscreen), her mother dies in her attempt to spirit her away from the guards, and she is [[FallenPrincess stripped of her title]], rendered PersonaNonGrata to the World of Mana, shunned by the society who loved her and she loved back, and sent to Arzenal, a PenalColony, where she along with other Norma are consigned to their fates as CannonFodder against interdimensional dragons. After the hazing, [[UnfriendlyFire getting shot at by teammates who wish to kill her as payback for getting another killed in a disastrous first sortie]], realizing how much of her life has been a lie, being used as a pawn and lied to by her commander, and later, being betrayed once more, only by her sister who she was close to, only to find she now hated as well, and baited into an execution held by [[TheUsurper her brother]] where she sees how horrible her former society is, she only becomes more and more cynical until she wishes she could destroy the entire world. Though she doesn't hold fast to that wish, she maintains a high level of anger and distrust and becomes extremely cagey and retaliatory if anyone harms or threatens her or the few friends and allies she actually has at this point. No more is this evident than when she slaughters Julio's fleet and almost kills him when he attempts a massacre at Arzenal.

** Jill may be the worst of it. In her backstory, she was known as the former princess of Galia, Alektra Maria von Loewenherz, immediately disowned from her family for being outed as a Norma at age 9. She became the best hope for the Norma and the Ancient Humans in the first Libertus as the one who could pilot the Vilkiss. She failed in spectacular fashion when Embryo, the show's BigBad, raped her in both body and in mind, causing the death of most of her comrades, not to mention the loss of her arm and Royal Signet Ring needed to pilot the Vilkiss. Her extreme guilt over their deaths, and her anger at Embryo and the World of Mana have left her with a lust for revenge, to the point where she will use and lie to her subordinates. She ends up driving away almost everyone, including her aspiring protege Salia (who joins Embryo instead), and becomes an ineffectual, brooding mess after being forced out of her post as commander. She does get back into the game after Ange [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps her and tells her to take responsibility]].

* From ''Manga/FairyTail'', guildmates and {{Action Girl}}s Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss were badly broken in their childhood, leading them to become respectively [[TheStoic alo]][[IronLady of]] and [[HotBlooded bad-]][[EnfantTerrible tempered]] youths. Erza's [[spoiler:parents were killed by the same people that [[MadeASlave enslaved her]]. After befriending [[StarCrossedLovers Jellal]], she attempts to have him escape from the Tower of Heaven. Her plan fell through and she was tortured, leading to her losing her {{eye|Scream}}. Jellal was also tortured and turned evil, and he'd banished her from the Tower of Heaven, telling her that her friends left behind would suffer in her place. She also witnesses the death of her grandfather figure Rob]]. Mirajane [[OrphansOrdeal lost her parents]], and [[spoiler: after using her [[PowersViaPossession Take-Over powers]] to defeat a demon rampaging her home village, she and her siblings Elfman and Lisanna were [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer scorned]] and ultimately [[TheExile banished]] from the village]]. Both of them TookALevelInKindness over the course of the story.

** Sasuke Uchiha is a perfect gender flipped example, even down to being very attractive, taking on a big brother type of role in team 7 (for a time), and becoming physically aggressive when he gets re-traumatized by Itachi bringing up a lot of his suppressed emotions. Although Naruto at first sees Sasuke as just a jerk, Sasuke's statement at the start that he 'doesn't really like anything' hints at how numb and disconnected he is. His actions to protect the other members of team 7 at the cost of his own life also hint at his trauma. His story becomes all the more tragic when Sasuke's story is finally revealed and we see how happy and kind Sasuke was prior to the massacre. Sasuke becomes increasingly disconnected from others and desperate following his interactions with Itachi and Orochomaru's minions. Naruto, who at first doesn't take it seriously, is shocked when he sees Sasuke's sadness starts to realize how broken Sasuke actually is.