History DarkAndTroubledPast / AnimeAndManga

** Big Sis, meanwhile, is revealed to be a social pariah in her elementary years, who was often shunned and ostracised for her differing hobbies and talents. This left most of her time having a FriendlessBackground, as with her befriending Yomikawa, her only BestFriend, came much later in her life during her high school years.

* '''Manga/ShimejiSimulation''': The Tsukishima sisters Big Sis and Shijima went through this in separate ways.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Link reveals to Rusl that he was the only survivor of his hometown, a desert border town that protected Hyrule by watching over the Arbiter's Grounds. When he pulled Gaurof's Sword from its stone pedestal on a dare from his fellow trainees, the entire town was dragged into the Twlight Realm (which Link didn't know at the time), leaving only him behind in the Light Realm because the Hero's Shade grabbed him.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** [[DysfunctionJunction Practically everybody]]. Ed and Al lost their mother when they were young, tried to resurrect her, and failed; and, as a result, Ed lost two of his limbs and Al his entire body. Roy and Hawkeye, among others, participated in the Ishvalan genocide and feel extremely guilty about it. Scar lost his brother in said genocide, Winry's parents were killed on the battlefield, Hohenheim [[spoiler:unknowingly helped kill off the population of an entire country]], and Bradley [[spoiler:grew up as a test subject, was injected with the Philosopher's Stone, and does not know whether his present personality is the one he had prior to the injection]].
** Roy especially qualifies in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], because he [[spoiler:was the one who shot and killed Winry's parents under military orders]]. He was almost DrivenToSuicide because of it.

* In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', there's Czeslaw Meyer, a young boy who, when his grandfather and caretaker died, was taken in by his grandfather's alchemy student, Fermet. A few years later, they become passengers on the ship the Advene Avis. [[spoiler:Cue both of them becoming immortal]]. Fermet's true nature begins to shine through, and he starts experimenting on Czes, claiming it's for science. [[spoiler:This torture continued for the next two hundred years.]] The torture and abuse is only ended when Czes finally manages to [[spoiler: kill Fermet, in a way that causes Czes to gain all of Fermet's memories. This means that Czes now has both his own memories of being tortured and memories of sadistically enjoying torturing himself.]] Because of all this, the kid now has intense trust issues.

* Accelerator in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Due to his [[SuperpowerLottery seemingly invincible powers]], he's been attacked ever since he was a child by people who either wanted to "prove their strength" or by people who thought [[PersonOfMassDestruction he was too dangerous to let live]]. He survived all of this without a scratch, but having that much violence directed at him all his life has left him rather messed up. And if people aren't trying to kill him, they're trying to [[TheyWouldCutYouUp use him in inhumane experiments]]. When he's introduced, he's willing to do just about anything to make sure people ''never attack him ever again''.

* Tenjou from ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia''. [[spoiler:As a child, 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 obviously still doesn't sit well with her for long years after. Justifies her acting like a {{jerk|assWoobie}} toward Yukari.

** Kakashi [[spoiler: saw father commit suicide when he was 7, then his friend Obito sacrificed himself to save him, then he is forced to kill his remaining teammate Rin in order to prevent the tailed beast inside her from falling into the hands of the enemy; and finally his teacher, the 4th Hokage, dies when he sacrifices himself to protect the village from the Kyuubi.]]

** To some degree, [[spoiler: all the witches.]]

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': Shino Asada was a happy child, until a trip to the post office with her mother took a turn for the murderous when a robber held up the office. When the robber turned his gun to Shino's mother, the eleven-year-old girl wrested the gun away and killed him in self-defense. Sadly, this led to Shino being ostracized by her classmates ''and her own mother'', plus PTSD so severe that she can't hold a toy gun or even have someone point at her without suffering a severe panic attack. She tries using the VRMMO shooter ''Gun Gale Online'' as a form of self-help, but with minimal success.

* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'': Shino Asada was a happy child, until a trip to the post office with her mother took a turn for the murderous when a robber held up the office. When the robber turned his gun to Shino's mother, the eleven-year-old girl wrested the gun away and killed him in self defense. Sadly, this lead to Shino being ostracized by her classmates ''and her own mother'', plus PTSD so severe that she can't hold a toy gun or even have someone point at her without suffering a severe panic attack. She tries using the VRMMO shooter ''Gun Gale Online'' as a form of self-help, but with minimal success.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', there's Czeslaw Meyer, a young boy who, when his grandfather and caretaker died, was taken in by his grandfather's alchemy student, Fermet. A few years later, they become passengers on the ship the Advene Avis. [[spoiler:Cue both of them becoming immortal]]. Fermet's true nature begins to shine through, and he starts experimenting on Czes, claiming it's for science. [[spoiler:This torture continued for the next two hundred years.]] The torture and abuse is only ended when Czes finally manages to [[spoiler: kill Fermet, in a way that causes Czes to gain all of Fermet's memories. This means that Czes now has both his own memories of being tortured and memories of sadistically enjoying torturing himself.]] Because of all this, the kid now has intense trust issues.

* Accelerator in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Due to his [[SuperpowerLottery seemingly invincible powers]], he's been attacked ever since he was a child by people who either wanted to "prove their strength" or by people who thought [[PersonOfMassDestruction he was too dangerous to let live]]. He survived all of this without a scratch, but having that much violence directed at him all his life has left him rather messed up. And if people aren't trying to kill him, they're trying to [[TheyWouldCutYouUp use him in inhumane experiments]]. When he's introduced, he's willing to do just about anything to make sure people ''never attack him ever again''.

* Everyone in ''Anime/AngelBeats!'' applies. In fact this seems to be the condition to be a character, as [[spoiler: the whole place is made for people with unhappy lives, or died full of regrets.]]

* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'':

* While a majority of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' is silly and cute, the characters are still [[MoeAnthropomorphism countries]], thus, all of them have some negative points in their history. Nevertheless, [[PsychopathicManchild Russia]] takes the cake for troubled pasts; the best example would be the "Bloody Sunday" strip, in which he finally snaps and starts ''gunning down'' his own people as they're rioting in the streets ("If they hate me, they're not Russian.") before turning to [[TheWoobie Lithuania]] and stating "We don't want children who can't play nice, do we?".

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': To say the Author Creator/EiichiroOda is “fond of” tragic backstory and “quite good” at writing them would be an understatement. The man is an absolute master, every canonical story arcs has several DarkAndTroubledPast to tell. Not only are they informative and emotional but also filled to the brim with ChekhovsGun. He also has a knack for taking otherwise “mundane” backstory mold and drawing them into originality.
** Romance Dawn arc:
*** Luffy's backstory Part 1, the climax of which provided the current TearJerker’s picture of the manga.
*** Coby's. Though short and mostly played for laughs, it provided the starting point for his CharacterDevelopment much later.
*** Zoro's past, following the otherwise generic "my best friend/rival died" past but adding in the mix that his friend didn't die honorably; she died falling down the stairs. No epic sword fight, no sacrifice, she was just tired and slipped down some stairs. First "recruitment backstory".
** Orange Town arc:
*** Buggy’s "tragic" past was mostly played for laughs. But the crew that he and Shanks started their careers with would be important hundreds of chapters later.
*** Chouchou's past played homage to UsefulNotes/{{Hachiko}}. It’s a simple but both tearjerking and heartwarming story about the UndyingLoyalty of a CanineCompanion.
** Syrup Village arc:
*** Usopp's past.
*** Also Captain Morgan (a minor antagonist of previous arc)'s backstory was revealed, retroactively adding depth to his character.
** Baratie arc:
*** Sanji's backstory took the standard "stranded on an island with an enemy" story and turn them into something unique. Everyone knows being stranded on an island sucks, but this is hardly an island: it's a mushroom rock that's too far above sea water to fish and incapable of sustaining any life...because it's a ROCK. Not to mention, he realizes that the only other person on this island has a big ol' bag of, what he thinks is, food, much bigger than the one he gave to Sanji. However, it turns out that other guy just had a bunch of money and absolutely NO food, and that instead of keeping any for himself, gave ''all'' the food he recovered to Sanji and ''broke off and ate his own leg'' to survive. And on top of all ''that'', the food that Sanji got was barely enought to last 20 days (though it lasted 25 days). It took ''eight-five days'' for a ship to find them. One can only imagine how hellish the last 60 days (''two months'') must have been. No wonder Sanji considers wasting food to be a horrible offense.
** Arlong Park arc:
*** Nami and Nojiko [[spoiler: are war orphans adopted by a Marine, Bellmere. They had a poor but happy life, until Arlong took over the village and forced everyone to pay high taxes to live. Bellemere used all her money for Nami and Nojiko and didn't have any for herself so Arlong killed her right in front of her two daughters. Nami was then beaten up and forced into working with Arlong pirates as their navigator. She secretly made a deal to buy back the village from Arlong at the price of 100 million Beri, and spent the next 8 years stealing from pirates, trying to save up that money.]] Her backstory arguably set the formula for "recruitment backstory" which almost all of the Straw Hat’s later followed: Tragic backstory was caused by the current arc villain, after which Luffy was so pumped up and delivered a well-deserved beatdown to the ArcVillain.
** Loguetown arc:
*** Roger’s execution, which is the backstory of the whole series was revealed in depth here. Notable in that though this is an execution, it’s hardly portrayed as "tragic". In fact the one detail we’re meant to take away as Roger’s smile before his death and how Luffy mirrors him in that regard.
** Reverse Mountain arc:
*** Laboon the Whale's story was told. It will be important much later.
** Little Garden arc:
*** Dorry and Brogy’s past was told. Though not particularly tragic, it did break his crew and led to two of his men tricked into servitude later.
** Drum Kingdom arc:
*** Chopper's [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer tragic backstory]] was told.
** Alabasta arc:
*** There's one for Vivi, Kohza and the entire Alabasta Kingdom. In short: Crocodile needed a beatdown.
*** Also Robin provided a very brief, very neutral version of her backstory to the Straw Hat when they snuck abroad their ship. Some tantalizing hints to her full backstory were dropped during the conversation with Cobra as well.
** Jaya arc:
*** Montblanc Cricket's backstory revealed that he was the descendant of "Noland the Liar" and he was locked into a battle with his own ancestor’s legacy ever since. A "fictional" version of Noland's Tragic Past was also told.
** Skypiea arc:
*** Noland’s "real" tragic past was told. Also the backstory of the Shandoran and Skypean’s ForeverWar, and Sky Knight Gan Fall’s personal history were told.
** Long Ring Long Island arc:
*** Aokiji dropped some vague hints about Robin's past. Namely, every organization associated with her was eventually destroyed.
** Water 7 arc:
*** Franky, Iceburg, Kokoro and Tom's mutual history was told. It is simultaneously awesome, tearjerking and heartwarming.
** Enies Lobby arc:
*** Robin's long MysteriousPast was revealed in detail. It's arguably the most tragic backstory revealed thus far and is the most important to the entire series MythArc bar none. To put it shortly, [[spoiler: Robin didn't have a father and her mother left when she was 2, leaving her in her aunt's care, who constantly neglects and makes her do housework. She had no friends and was bullied by other kids due to her strange Devil Fruit. She finds solace in the island's library where everyone treat her nicely, and studies hard to become one of them, even learned the Poneglyph -- a forbidden language that could decipher messages hidden from the world. She makes her first friend with Saul, a giant who drifted to the island, However just a few days after, Saul reveals to her that the island is going to be destroyed by the Marines in order to eliminate the scholars who could uncover the hidden history of the world. Amidst the burning town, Robin sees her mother again in the first time after years, only to see her dying in front of her. Saul dies trying to protect her, the evacuation ships that contain ''every civilian'' explodes, Robin ends up escaping alone on a small boat, leaving behind the corpses of everyone she loved. For over 20 years, Robin has been chased down to every corner of the world, demonized and betrayed by everyone she trusts, until she meets the Straw Hats.]]
** Thriller Bark arc:
*** Moria [[spoiler: saw his entire crew being decimated by Kaido and lost all hope in the living, thus turned into manipulating corpses and ghosts to do his bidding.]] However this doesn't excuse his actions and he still remains a lazy and despicable man.
*** Brook [[spoiler: saw his entire crew dying one by one, then died, then woke up as a skeleton and spent over 50 years alone on a corpse-filled ship. ''He had no food, no drink, not even the warmth of sunlight''. It's implied that Brook had turned insane from the trauma and loneliness, almost [[DrivenToSuicide gave up]] countless times, but held back because he promised Laboon he would return.]] His story was so good that it brought Franky and Brook himself to tears. It also fired off the ChekhovsGun set hundreds of chapter earlier.
** Sabaody Archipelago Arc:
*** The Roger Pirates' story was told by none other than the Pirate King's first mate himself. Like a good story teller, he encouraged the Straw Hats to seek out their own answers and adventures.
*** In what could only be described as the dark and troubled Past of an entire species, the history of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was revealed. It retroactively provided a backstory for Arlong, Hachi and every villainous Fishmen the Straw Hats encountered.
** Amazon Lily Arc:
*** The story of [[DefrostingIceQueen Hancock]] and her sisters was not a pretty one. They were [[spoiler: kidnapped and sold into slavery by Celestial Dragons.]]
** Marineford arc:
*** Ace's past isn't very heartwarming, putting aside all the time he spent with Luffy and Sabo. [[spoiler:Ace's father was none other than Gold Roger, the Pirate King. Now normally, being related to such a powerful and important figure would be a cause for joy, right? Not. In the eyes of many who actually met Roger (and didn't antagonize him), he was a great man. But the truth of the matter is that hiding his identity as Ace's father was imperative, seeing as his enemies basically amounted to the entire world. For ''years'', Ace was tortured with the fact that in the eyes of the world, he wasn't supposed to exist, that the world would be better off without him, making him far more jaded than a child should and causing him to despise his father for the rest of his life. Most of all, the only reason he bothered to continue living was to find out whether or not he ''deserved'' to be born, just because the blood of a Pirate King ran through his veins.]] Living only stopped being so painful when Luffy and Sabo, and eventually the Whitebeard Pirates, came into his life.
** Post-War Arc:
*** Luffy's story is expanded: Turns out he ''did'' feel sad about not having parents, as he was so lonely that he would do anything to be Ace and Sabo's friends, even withstanding a week-long torture instead of telling on them. This touched Ace and Sabo and he was allowed to join their group. The three had a happy childhood despite living in a heap of trash, until the Gray Terminal incident happened. Shortly after, he and Ace witnessed Sabo being allegedly killed by a Celestial Dragon.
*** Sabo, Luffy’s other elder brother, not only was the WhiteSheep of the nobility of the Goa Kingdom, but his parents viewed him as nothing more than a tool to rank up their status and didn’t even try to hide their disdain and arrogance towards the poor people of the Grey Terminal. He grew so disgusted by the corruption in the nobility that he even admitted he was ashamed of being a BlueBlood. So much so, that he ran away from his home and lived in the Grey Terminal, until he met Ace and later Luffy. Their happiness is cut short by his parents attempting to have him back. After he discovered the nobility’s plan to blaze to the ground the Grey Terminal before the arrival of a Celestial Dragon, he tried to alert Luffy and Ace of the danger, but he failed due to circumstances (luckily both of them survived the ordeal). He finally had enough and decided to set off to the sea with to finally be free, only for his boat being blown up by the Celestial Dragon out of spite. He was rescued by Dragon (Luffy’s father and leader of the Revolutionary Army), but the incident gave him a big amnesia, with no memory of his past beyond his desire to never return to his home. He got his memories back several years later, after he learned the news of Ace’s death and Luffy’s uncertain fate, and the shock was traumatic enough for him to send him into a 3 days coma. For this reason, he became very protective towards his survived brother, Luffy.
** Fish-Man Island arc:
*** The History of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was told again, this time from a more personal perspective of Jinbei, a Fishman who at one time and another support both Otohime and Fisher Tiger, the two major equal right leaders.
*** An SBS revealed more of Arlong's personal background: He was abandoned by his father in the lawless Fish-Man District. Years later said father showed up only to ditch Shyarly, another child of his, and left Arlong to raise up his half-sister alone. At present time, it is implied those two have cut off contact due to Arlong's obsessive hatred for humans.
*** Koala [[spoiler: was sold into slavery, where she saw other kids her age being killed for crying. This traumatized her so much that after escaping, she absolutely refuses to cry and upholds a stiff smile at all costs, even as she passed out from pain.]]
** Dressrosa arc:
*** The Riku Royal Family’s story was told fairly early in the arc.
*** Law. His past is up there with Robin's for how bad it is. [[spoiler:Law was born in the country of Flevance, a beautiful and prosperous country known for its Amber Lead. It was discovered early that the metal is actually a slow yet fatal poison but the government stayed silent for profit, so by the time everyone found out about its side effects, the entire country had succumbed into lead poisoning. As an attempt to cover up corruption, the government spread a rumor about "White Lead disease" being contagious and quarantined the country. Citizens wanted to live and tried to break out, which caused a war and ended up resulting in a genocide. Law's parents were shot dead, his friends at school and church were rounded up and killed, his little sister was burned alive, and Law himself escaped by [[BuriedinaPileofCorpses hiding among the corpses]] being carted out of the quarantine zone. Law then joined Doflamingo's crew because he wanted to kill as much as possible before dying, but he was scooped out by Corazon, who wanted to save him from a life of darkness. Despite their initially rocky relationship, Corazon's kindness ended up moving Law. But just as Law seemingly found a new family, Corazon was discovered to be a spy and then killed by Doflamingo in an attempt to protect Law, leaving the boy once again alone in the world.]]
*** The Donquixote's backstory was very dark and tragic but with a unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo was a Celestial Dragon whose father wanted to come down to the common world and live as humble humans. Given the world's burning hatred for Celestial Dragons, this did not turn out well. Their whole family was hunted down, starved, tortured and burned alive. Doflamingo ended up killing his father and became a pirate under the guidance of Trebol, while his brother Rocinante ran away and was found by the Marines.]] It is noteworthy that while [[spoiler: both brothers experienced the same trauma, only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[note]]This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Diamante, Pica, and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.[[/note]]
** Whole Cake Island arc:
*** The abovementioned "stranded on an island" example turns out to actually mark the rough ''end'' to Sanji's horrible past. [[spoiler:He was born part of the Vinsmoke family, a family of assassins whose head, Sanji's father Vinsmoke Judge, leads a massive army with ambitions of reconquering North Blue. To that end, Judge had his children genetically modified and subjected to TrainingFromHell, to draw out their hidden potential and turn them into {{Super Soldier}}s. However, unlike his siblings, Sanji failed to make any progress, instead remaining a regular human being, causing his father and brothers to brutally abuse him mentally and physically while his sister just laughed (Though to be fair, she had no choice but to do so to avoid being bullied herself). Eventually, Judge got too fed up with Sanji's lack of progress to bother continuing to raise him, and instead faked his son's death before locking him in a dark room and forcing him to wear an iron mask. Keep in mind that this happened ''before'' that aforementioned traumatic example with Zeff! No wonder Sanji hates his family's guts.]]
*** The reason why Katakuri wears that scarf is to hide his hideous mouth, [[spoiler: which was what made him and by extension his sister Brulee targets of bullying since childhood. Katakuri had no problem fending off the bullies by himself but Brulee couldn't and ended up getting a permanent scar on her face.]]
*** Lola's, but more importantly her twin sister Chiffon's DarkAndTroubledPast was revealed during the Straw Hats meeting with [[spoiler: Bege]]. Basically, Lola ran away from the wedding with the Giant Prince, Chiffon was forced to take her place but couldn’t fool them. This lead to Elbaf and the Giant army virtually out of Big Mom's reach and Chiffon was severely mistreated by her as a result. Lola seemed fairly oblivious to her mother nature and the trouble she caused her sister; to the point she asked Nami to tell Big Mom that she’s still OK.
*** Linlin herself had a disturbing history. [[spoiler: Having been abandoned by her parents at a young age, she was adopted by mother Carmel, who was actually a child trafficker wanting to take advantage of her power. Since birth Linlin had no control over her power and often fell into a berserk state regarding food, whether if she's left hungry for too long or if she was too excited. At her 12th birthday party, Linlin was presented with a table full of her favorite sweets, causing her to fall delirious from excitement and ended up ''eating her adoptive mother as well as all her friends.'']]
** Wano arc:
*** Everyone in the 9 Scabbards fits this trope by default due to the tragedy that befalls Oden and their country. However even before it happens, some of them already come from dark backgrounds. Kiku[[spoiler: and her brother Izo had a debauched father, whose arrest tore their family apart, and left the siblings on the streets]], Kawamatsu [[spoiler: who was discriminated and almost killed for being a Fishman]], and Kanjuro [[spoiler: saw his parents being killed on stage due to the Kurozumi persecution which prompted him to work for Orochi as a spy to exert revenge on the country.]]
*** Hiyori, [[spoiler: Momonosuke's sister, basically lived in poverty for most of her childhood, then saw her mom being burned to death, while her brother and everyone she knew disappeared into thin air. The trauma caused her to go mute for an extended period.]]
*** Yamato, [[spoiler:Kaido's child, was physically abused, made to wear explosive handcuffs so that they can't leave the island, and was locked up and starved several times by their own father.]]
*** Orochi [[spoiler: was persecuted and hunted down by ruthless vigilantes for his grandfather's crimes. The fear and anxiety from those early years eventually grew and turned into hatred, which extended to all Wano citizens even if they had nothing to do with him.]]

* ''Manga/NingenFushinNoBoukenshatachiGaSekaiOSukuuYoudesu'': Each of the members of the party, there's a reason why they eventually pick "Survivors" as their group's name.
** Nick was an orphan who was mentored by his father-figure, Argus, only to be kicked out when another member of the party they were in accused Nick of stealing funds to cover up his own crime. The worst is that Argus seems to think he's doing Nick a favor, feeling him to be too smart to be an adventurer.
** Tiana is a trained mage whose fiancee was stolen by a girl from another noble family. Said family used their influence to get Tianna kicked out of the MagicSchool they were attending and disowned by her family. She's now stuck working as an adventurer while struggling with a gambling addiction.
** Sem was a former priest who was falsely accused of sexual assault by a girl under his care, a StalkerWithACrush whose love turned to hatred. After three months in prison, he's since developed a thing for hostess bars and indulging his "carnal desires", leading to his being defrocked.
** Karan is a member of the [[DraconicHumanoid "Dragon Race"]] who ventured into the outside world and joined an adventurer party who didn't [[FantasticRacism mistreat her]] for being a non-human. Then they betrayed her and left her at the bottom of a particularly dangerous labyrinth.

** Haruka's life story, to put it bluntly, is the destruction of the lives of a born {{telepath|y}}ic girl.

** Most characters in ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'' intentionally subvert this. In contrast to their parents, the newest generation live in times of peace. Their problems are more down-to-earth, such as Boruto and Sarada's father's being distant due to [[WhenYouComingHomeDad job reasons]].

** [[spoiler:Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie are TykeBomb [[TheMole spies]] sent to carry out genocide against mankind, and committed an act of mass murder at the age of 12 and 11 respectively on the orders of their superiors. All three are deeply traumatized as a result of their actions, with special mention to Reiner who was extremely [[BreakTheCutie broken]]] even ''before'' their mission started, due to ParentalAbandonment by his father (his parents had a forbidden relationship between an Eldian and a Marleyan. Reiner's father wants nothing to do with Reiner or Reiner's mother, as he'd be punished severely for it]].

*** Robin's long MysteriousPast was revealed in detail. It's arguably the most tragic backstory revealed thus far and is the most important to the entire series MythArc bar none. To put it shortly, [[spoiler: Robin didn't have a father and her mother left when she was 2, leaving her in her aunt's care, who constantly neglects and makes her do housework. She had no friends and was bullied by other kids due to her strange Devil Fruit. She finds solace in the island's library where everyone treat her nicely, and studies hard to become one of them, even learned the Poneglyph -- a forbidden language that could decipher messages hidden from the world. She makes her first friend with Saul, a giant who drifted to the island, However just a few days after, Saul reveals to her that the island is going to be destroyed by the Marines in order to eliminate the scholars who could uncover the hidden history of the world. Amidst the burning town, Robin sees her mother again in the first time after years, only to see her dying in front of her. Saul dies trying to protect her, the evacuation ships that contain ''every civilian'' explodes, Robin ends up escaping alone on a small boat, leaving behind the corpses of everyone she loved. For over 20 years, Robin has been chased down to every corner of the world, demonized and betrayed by everyone she trusts, until she meets the Strawhats.]]

*** The story of [[DefrostingIceQueen Hancock]] and her sisters was not a pretty one. They were [[spoiler: kidnapped, sold into slavery and implied to be raped by Celestial Dragons.]]

----

* Bleed Kaga from ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula''. He has a best friend named Eiji Aizawa, who was also TheRival. But in one of the races, Kaga made contact with the [[SuperMode Zero Zone]] and crashed with Eiji horribly. Kaga then tried to rescue him while gas was pouring from his wrecked car when suddenly, [[spoiler:the car explodes and the debris from the pipe cuts his forehead and he and Eiji's wife watched helplessly as he burned to his death inside the flaming car.]] This is the reason why he warned Hayato of the Zero Zone in ''ZERO''.

** Denji's mother died due to a heart disease and his father committed suicide, leaving him behind with a huge debt. By the start of the series, Denji had sold an eye, a kidney and a ball to pay, while also barely surviving each day with stale bread.

** Gintoki was an orphan living among the corpses on the battlefield when he was found and taken in by Shoyou who raised him with the samurai values he still holds today. A few years later [[spoiler: Shoyou was arrested and his school was burned down.]] When Gintoki and his friends fought in the Joui war, they lost, and lost badly. They were arrested, and Gintoki was then [[spoiler: forced to choose between killing his teacher and his friends. He chose to kill Shoyou.]] After the war, Gintoki ended up in jail and was nearly executed. Upon his release, he wandered around and nearly starved before Otose found him at her husband's grave.

** Kagura comes from a lethally DysfunctionalFamily. Her mother died when Kagura was young, and her father left her and her brother, because he was afraid he might kill one or both of them someday. Her brother, unable to beat their father in a fight, left to join a criminal organization and turned into the cheerful sociopathic BloodKnight he is today. Kagura ended up living alone in her wrecked hometown before moving to Earth.

*** Koala [[spoiler: was sold into slavery, where she saw other kids her age being killed for crying. This traumatized her so much that after escaping, she absolutely refuses to cry and upholds a stiff smile at all costs, even as she passed out from pain]]

*** Everyone in the 9 Scabbards fits this trope by default due to the tragedy that befalls Oden and their country. However even before it happens, some of them already come from dark backgrounds. Kiku[[spoiler: and her brother Izo had a debauched father, whose arrest tore their family apart, and left the siblings on the streets]], Kawamatsu [[spoiler: who was discriminated and almost killed for being a Fishman]], and Kanjuro [[spoiler: saw his parents being killed on stage due to the Kurozumi persecution which prompted him to work for Orochi as a spy to exert revenge on the country]].

** Jiren's backstory in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' also counts. When he was young, his family was slaughtered by an incredibly powerful demon. He was taken in by Gicchin, who trained him and tried to teach him ThePowerOfFriendship. Unfortunately, Gicchin was killed battling the demon, alongside several of his students. Consequently, Jiren spurned the idea of friendship and decided that [[MightMakesRight strength is the only thing that mattered]].

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', with Vegeta having his home planet destroyed at around age 5, and being forced to serve as an underling of the creature who massacred his people for most of his life.

* ''Manga/NingenFushinNoBoukenshatachiGaSekaiOSukuuYoudesu'': Each of them memebrs of the party, there's a reason why they eventually pick "Survivors" as their group's name.
** Nick was an orphan who was mentored by his father-figure Argus only to be kicked out when another member of the party they were in accused Nick of stealing funds to cover up his own crime. The worst is that Argus seems to think he's doing Nick a favor feeling him to be too smart to be an adventurer.
** Tiana is a trained mage whose fiancee was stolen by a girl from another noble family. Said family used their influence to get her kicked out of the MagicSchool they were attending, and disowned by her [Tianna's] family. She's now stuck working as an adventurer while struggling with a gambling addiction.
** Sem was a former priest who was falsely accused of sexual assault by a girl under his care, a StalkerWithACrush whose love turned to hatred. After three months in prison, he's since developed a thing for hostess bars and indulging his "carnal desires" leading to his being defrocked.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', with Vegeta having his home planet destroyed at around age 5, and being forced to serve as an underling of the creature who massacred his people for most of his life.

* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', hinted at about [[spoiler: Kabru in Chapters 32 and 38. Later confirmed in Chapter 45: he was a survivor of a village that was destroyed by a dungeon. Which explains why he has such severe opinions of anyone who wants to use the dungeon to make a living rather than destroy it outright.]]
%%* Hakuron and Huo Long from ''Manga/HaouAiren''.
* In ''Manga/HelloMelancholic'', Minato used to be an enthusiastic trombone player until she was chosen to play in a competitive team over an upperclassman. Because of that, she was relentlessly bullied by her bandmates until she decided to give up on music.
* In ''Manga/{{Jagaaaaaan}}'', Maroha was [[ParentalIncest molested by her father]] at a young age. She finally got her revenge when she became Fractured and [[{{Squick}} cut off his penis]].
* Kenshin Himura from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_X:_Trust_%26_Betrayal Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal]].'' After the death of his parents, Kenshin (a child at the time) is taken by slavers, who are later violently killed in front of him by bandits. After burying the mutilated victims alone, Kenshin is resolute to “create a peaceful world where people could live without fear”. To accomplish his ideal, Kenshin trains with the master of the “Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū” (a fighting style so deadly that, to truly master, it means death to the teacher) and, at 14, became the legendary assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai”. [[spoiler: Kenshin goes into hiding years later and marries a mysterious woman named Tomoe for appearance only, but they later fall in love. After a series of events, Kenshin kills Tomoe unintentionally in battle. As Tomoe died, she gave Kenshin half of the X shaped scar on his cheek. Kenshin later finds out, after reading Tomoe’s diaries that he had killed Tomoe’s fiancé (a man who years earlier, gave Kenshin the other half of the X shaped scar) before he met her and she only married Kenshin out of revenge, but, after living together, fell in love with him.]] Broken and filled with remorse for killing countless people, Kenshin wanders off wielding a sakabatō or reverse blade sword. He is determined to never kill again and to aid those in need, as atonement for the murders he committed.
* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' has a few examples:
** Denji's mother died due to a heart disease and his father commited suicide, leaving him behind with a huge debt. By the start of the series, Denji had sold an eye, a kidney and a ball to pay, while also barely surviving each day with stale bread.
** Aki lost his entire family to the Gun devil, which prompted him to become a Devil hunter.
** Reze is [[spoiler: a living experiment and child soldier of the Soviet union.]]
* Hiei from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. [[spoiler:Being tossed away by your clan, brought up by bloodthirsty thieves who later abanndon you, and going through torture just to find your homeland only to learn that your mother committed suicide and your twin sister has been kidnapped by a sadistic psycho will make you be just a little bit dark.]]
* ''Alice In Sexland'':
** Protagonist Alice was poor, but worked alongside her mother as housekeepers. As soon as she was considered even remotely sexually mature, she was forced into the life of a SexSlave.
** The Queen of Hearts is revealed to have had one, too. She was poor and homeless, then decided to sell her body as a prostitute as soon as she 'became a woman'. However, she seemed rather happy with that life, seeing it as a good way to give herself a decent life, compared to the nothing she used to have.
* Vash the Stampede from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}.'' He was born as an ArtificialHuman on a space cruiser transporting most of humanity to a distant world, where the crew was paranoid of him. Thanks to his brother, he got to watch the cruiser destroyed, killing millions, including his mother figure. Years later, after the discovery of his destructive powers, he unwittingly caused the annihilation of an entire city.
** Wolfwood in the manga as well. Raised in an orphanage, "adopted" by a church to go around doing general labor, [[spoiler: physically modified, artificially aged, and trained to become a killer.]] He spends a lot of time conflicted about life.

* The first segment of ''Anime/{{Memories}}'' "Magnetic Rose" had Heinz, a space salvage specialist who had some ''really'' weird reactions to such harmless things as a falling china doll. The [[HauntedCastle haunted space ship]], of course, uses his trauma over [[spoiler: his daughter having died after falling off the roof while wearing a toy spacesuit ''he'' gave her]] to try and convince him to stay...''forever.''
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', there's Czeslaw Meyer, a young boy who, when his grandfather and caretaker died, was taken in by his grandfather's alchemy student, Fermet. A few years later, they become passengers on the ship the Advene Avis. [[spoiler:Cue both of them becoming immortal]]. Fermet's true nature begins to shine through, and he starts experimenting on Czes, claiming it's for science. [[spoiler:This torture continued for the next two hundred years.]] The torture and abuse is only ended when Czes finally manages to [[spoiler: kill Fermet, in a way that causes Czes to gain all of Fermet's memories. This means that Czes now has both his own memories of being tortured and memories of sadistically enjoying torturing himself.]] Because of all this, the kid now has intense trust issues.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Notable since this trope applies to virtually every character with any significance in the story, not simply the protagonist.
* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'':
** Guts' childhood is singularly horrific. His mother was hanged from a tree outside a town while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born prematurely and likely only surviving due to the soft mud from the rain. He was found by Gambino's wife Sys when his mercenary company was passing by the town and she took him in only to die of plague a year or two afterward. Gambino continued to keep him around but brutally trained him as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] to earn his keep. Gambino's believed that Guts was a bad omen due to the way he was born and that he was the reason Sys died, which led to young Guts being raped when Gambino sold him for a night to a pederast soldier in his band (whom Guts later killed in the chaos of a battlefield at age 9) in addition to the horrific violence of war and constant risks to his life. It all came to a head when Gambino, his leg having been blown off by a cannonball and thus making him unfit for combat, got drunk one night and tried to kill Guts despite Guts trying his best to use his mercenary earnings to take care of Gambino. Guts was forced to kill his adoptive father in confused self-defense, but only after Gambino told him how he sold Guts to the soldier that raped him and had always resented him. Guts was almost immediately spotted by the rest of the company who proceeded to attack Guts and he only barely escaped alive. Guts fought for years as a mercenary until he joined Band of the Hawk, where he formed emotional bonds again for the first time and found the love of his life... until the Eclipse, in which his Griffith sacrificed everyone in the band. In a day, Guts was branded as a sacrifice (meaning demons will always come after him and his soul will be sent to eternal hell once he dies), witnessed all his friends getting brutally murdered, and witnessed his girlfriend getting raped by his best friend, and finally lost an eye and an arm in a futile effort of trying to save her.
** Casca's past isn't much better -- she lost her village at an early age and was sold to a noble who wanted a new serving girl, only for it to transpire that he wanted her for sex. Just as he's about to rape her, though, Griffith shows up. Instead of killing her would-be rapist, however, he makes her do it instead ("If you have something you wish to protect, take up that sword."). She has a relatively easy life afterward, until the Eclipse goes down and she suffers a ''horrific'' ordeal -- [[RapeAsDrama the worst of it]] at the hands of her original savior, no less -- that ends with her being driven insane.
** Griffith's past wasn't much of a walk in the park either, as revealed in the second to last episode of the anime, just before he crosses the MoralEventHorizon. It involved selling his body to a creepy nobleman in exchange for the funds he needed for his army among other things.
** Farnese and Serpico. The former was emotionally neglected since childhood and had to force herself to find joy in her surrounding environment... which is a burning ground for heretics, which set the grounds for her pyromania years to come. The latter grew up in a slum with his mentally unstable mother and was relentlessly bullied by other kids, until Farnese took him in as her personal servant. He stayed with Farnese as she joined the Holy Iron Knights, whose duty is to find and capture heretics. Years later, his mother appeared on the list, and Serpico was the one appointed to set her on fire.
** Honestly everyone could apply to some extent due to how [[CrapsackWorld bad]] the Berserk world is. Vargas was tortured and saw his wife and son being brutally murdered and cannibalised. Jill has an abusive father whose friends attempt to rape her more than once. Rosine's parents are always fighting about if she's actually their son or a product of rape. Luca and her sisters are impoverished prostitutes who live in fear of getting arrested and tortured/executed.
* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'': Shino Asada was a happy child, until a trip to the post office with her mother took a turn for the murderous when a robber held up the office. When the robber turned his gun to Shino's mother, the eleven-year-old girl wrested the gun away and killed him in self defense. Sadly, this lead to Shino being ostracized by her classmates ''and her own mother'', plus PTSD so severe that she can't hold a toy gun or even have someone point at her without suffering a severe panic attack. She tries using the VRMMO shooter ''Gun Gale Online'' as a form of self-help, but with minimal success.
* Many of the main characters in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' have some pretty dark childhoods: Seras Victoria witnessed her parents being murdered by burglars while hiding in a closet,[[spoiler:Her mother's corpse was then violated as she watched.]] and Integra's uncle tried to kill her to take control of the Hellsing family. [[spoiler:Even Alucard counts: back when he was just an Ottoman kid named Vlad III Dracula, he had been sold over to the Turks, whose ruler raped him.]]

* While a majority of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' is silly and cute, the characters are still [[MoeAnthropomorphism countries]], thus, all of them have some negative points in their history. Nevertheless, [[PsychopathicManchild Russia]] takes the cake for troubled pasts; the best example would be the "Bloody Sunday" strip, in which he finally snaps and starts ''gunning down'' his own people as they're rioting in the streets ("If they hate me, they're not Russian.") before turning to [[TheWoobie Lithuania]] and stating "We don't want children who can't play nice, do we?".
** This trope is probably why certain countries, such as Israel, will never show up in this series, as it would quickly destroy the very comedic nature of the series itself.
* None of the other characters in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' had a fun childhood, but Fai's was, by far, the worst. Though unlike most characters here, his childhood trauma didn't turn him into a crabby, jaded JerkWithAHeartOfGold (that's [[PerpetualFrowner Kurogane]]), he kept all of his bitterness and heart break under a [[StepfordSmiler facade of perpetual happiness]]. Or, [[CerebusSyndrome he did at first...]]

* ''Manga/TalentlessNana'': the titular protagonist saw her parents getting killed in a horrific way, and was led to beieve she was the cause of it for years.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. Several. Upon learning Negi's, several of the girls were actually driven to tears.
** Evangeline's is worth special mention simply because of it's ''[[WhoWantsToLiveForever sheer length]]''. [[spoiler:It is also hinted that she [[SelfMadeOrphan killed her own parents]] before regaining consciousness upon [[WhatHaveIBecome first becoming a vampire]].]]
** Then there's Asuna. We don't really know the details, but [[spoiler: she underwent LaserGuidedAmnesia so that she could forget all that she had been through. What we ''do'' know is that it includes being imprisoned in a tower and used as a human weapon, and the destruction of a FloatingContinent.]]
** Setsuna. During her fight with Evangeline, is revealed that [[spoiler:she has no parents, and because of her white white wings, she was chased out of the Crow village and picked up by Eishun.]]
* Kaoru in ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'' (physical abuse, betrayal, abandonment), to the point of not even remembering his childhood friend when he meets her again.
* Most people in ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland''. Nagi, Minatsuki, Yoh, Shiro, Hibana, Genkaku...
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': Ken Ichijoji. Just...Ken Ichijoji. What started out as TheUnfavourite Syndrome developed into a death in the family. Then he ended up being infected with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Dark Spore]], which started playing on his huge inferiority complex and [[IWishedYouWereDead guilt over his brother's death]], which was one reason he became the Digimon Kaiser, at which point he was convinced that the Digital World was makebelieve and he was just expressing his anger in a fictional world. He was [[HeelRealization bluntly shown otherwise]] by watching his Digimon [[DeadSidekick die right in front of him]], and never mind the better part of the hell the rest of the season puts him through while he's trying to make up for his misdeeds.

*** Luffy's backstory part 1, the climax of which provided the current TearJerker’s picture of the manga.

*** Robin's long MysteriousPast was revealed in detail. It's arguably the most tragic backstory revealed thus far and is the most important to the entire series MythArc bar none. To put it shortly, [[spoiler: Robin didn't have a father and her mother left when she was 2, leaving her in her aunt's care, who constantly neglects and makes her do housework. She had no friends and was bullied by other kids due to her strange Devil Fruit. She finds solace in the island's library where everyone treat her nicely, and studies hard to become one of them, even learned the Poneglyph - a forbidden language that could decipher messages hidden from the world. She makes her first friend with Saul, a giant who drifted to the island, However just a few days after, Saul reveals to her that the island is going to be destroyed by the Marines in order to eliminate the scholars who could uncover the hidden history of the world. Amidst the burning town, Robin sees her mother again in the first time after years, only to see her dying in front of her. Saul dies trying to protect her, the evacuation ships that contain ''every civilian'' explodes, Robin ends up escaping alone on a small boat, leaving behind the corpses of everyone she loved. For over 20 years, Robin has been chased down to every corner of the world, demonized and betrayed by everyone she trusts, until she meets the Strawhats.]]

** Fishman Island arc:

*** An SBS revealed more of Arlong's personal background: He was abandoned by his father in the lawless Fishman District. Years later said father showed up only to ditch Shyarly, another child of his, and left Arlong to raise up his half-sister alone. At present time it is implied those two have cut off contact due to Arlong's obsessive hatred for humans.

*** The Donquixote's backstory was very dark and tragic but with a unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo was a Celestial Dragon whose father wanted to come down to the common world and live as humble humans. Given the world's burning hatred for Celestial Dragons, this did not turn out well. Their whole family was hunted down, starved, tortured and burned alive. Doflamingo ended up killing his father and became a pirate under the guidance of Trebol, while his brother Rocinante ran away and was found by the Marines.]] It is noteworthy that while [[spoiler: both brothers experienced the same trauma, only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[note]]This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Diamante, Pica and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.[[/note]]

*** The reason why Katakuri wears that scarf is to hide his hideous mouth, [[spoiler: which was what made him and by extension his sister Brulee targets of bullying since childhood. Katakuri had no problem fending off the bullies by himself but Brulee couldn't and end up getting a permanent scar on her face.]]

*** Everyone in the 9 Scabbards fits this trope by default due to the tragedy that befalls Oden and their country. However even before it happens, some of them already come from dark backgrounds. Kiku[[spoiler: and her brother Izo had a debauched father, whose arrest torn their family apart, and left the siblings on the streets]], Kawamatsu [[spoiler: who was discriminated and almost killed for being a fishman]], and Kanjuro [[spoiler: saw his parents being killed on stage due to the Kurozumi persecution which prompted him to work for Orochi as a spy to exert revenge on the country]].
*** Hiyori, [[spoiler: Momonosuke's sister, basicallly lived in poverty for most of her childhood, then saw her mom being burned to death, while her brother and everyone she knew disappearing into thin air. The trauma caused her to go mute for an extended period.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Ichigo is the badass hero because his mother died in front of him just before his ninth birthday. He vowed to protect others from ever experiencing the pain he went through that day, and spends years blaming himself for her death.
** Rukia was an outsider who longed to fit in. The first person who treated her as an ordinary person was her mentor, Kaien. Unfortunately, he is possessed by a Hollow and Rukia is forced to kill to protect both herself and her captain. It takes her many years to forgive herself for his death; part of the reason why she gave Ichigo her powers in Chapter 1 was because she secretly was hoping to die.
** Orihime was rescued from abusive parents when her much older brother kidnapped her to save her life. She was raised by him until he was killed in a car accident when she was twelve. She was bullied in school for her unusual hair, and it's not until she meets Tatsuki that she's able to grow her hair again. Even after meeting Tatsuki, she's been raising herself alone ever since her brother died. Her brother eventually comes back as a Hollow that tries to kill her and almost succeeds until Ichigo manages to save her just in time.
** Sado lost his parents at the age of eight and was sent to live with his grandfather in Mexico where he became a big, strong bully. Only his grandfather's wisdom saved him from a violent life. After his grandfather dies, he returns to Japan, but refuses to fight to protect himself, so gets bullied for his non-Japanese appearance and height. It's only after he meets Ichigo, who tells him that they should fight to protect the other, that he begins to have friends.
** Uryuu's mother died when he was eight years old, and he has a nasty estrangement from his father because, his grandfather once implied, he completely misunderstands his father's heart (only pretending to be a jerk). He witnessed his grandfather being killed by Hollows right in front of his eyes and blames the Shinigami who didn't arrive in time to save his grandfather's life. He later learns that Mayuri delayed the Shinigami from saving his grandfather because he wanted Souken to die so that he would have a Quincy soul to experiment on. When he shows Uryuu the Souken's post-experiment remains, he gets one-shotted by an icily infuriated Uryuu. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that his mother and Ichigo's mother were killed at the same time for the same reason, and that their killer had tried - but mysteriously failed - to kill Uryuu at that moment, too. Uryuu's been a target for Yhwach's mysterious end-game ever since.]]
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** Since most of the cast aren't [[ArtificialHuman technically human]], most of them have [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman these kinds of pasts before someone finally took them in and raised them as people]]. To give some examples, [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots the Wolkenritter]] spent most of their existence being treated as little more than tools, [[CloningBlues Erio]] and [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Agito]] spent years in illegal labs, caged and experimented on like animals, and [[AntiAntiChrist Ixpellia]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld spent her long life]] being forced to fight in pointless wars that seemed to never end.
** Fate Testarossa herself, who grew up under the "care" of an {{abusive|Parents}} and thoroughly monstrous EvilMatriarch who [[spoiler:wanted her as a ReplacementGoldfish for her daughter, Alicia, but grew to hate her for having her own personality]] before Nanoha entered her life. Her reason for taking in Erio and Caro was so that they wouldn't have to grow up like her.
* The backstory of Kagura from ''Manga/GaRei'' involves her being forced to kill her own older sister. In the beginning, it doesn't bother her too much, but, later on, it comes back to hit her hard.

* ''Manga/BlackButler'':
** Ciel was a happy, loving, carefree child before his tenth birthday. Then, his parents were murdered, the mansion set on fire, and he's kidnapped. He's locked in a cage with other children his age and eventually made a child sacrifice until he accidentally called upon a demon in his desperation to live. His past is still being pieced together so more details will probably surface. No wonder he's a bitter, driven [[TroubledButCute 13-year-old.]]
** The children in [[CircusOfFear Noah's Circus]] had a pretty bad past, too. Too bad the man who helped them [[spoiler: turned into a crazy StalkerWithACrush and, with some [[MadScientist psycho doctor]], killed children so their bones could be used in the making of prosthetics.]]
* Mist and Euphemia from ''Manga/{{Knights}}''. The former is a [[HeroWithBadPublicity knight of African heritage (in Medieval Europe)]] whose mother was burned at the stake by his father, who is also trying to kill him. The latter was accused of witchery and was [[PrisonRape raped in prison]].

* The characters in ''Manga/DGrayMan''. Specifically, a whole bunch of the main Exorcists. Kanda and Lenalee, in particular, had their traumatic pasts inflicted on them by the "good guys" so they could fight the "bad guys". Allen was abandoned, beaten, and such until he met Mana, who died shortly after. Miranda was always teased for being wimpy and useless and broke down when she was fired for the 100th time. Krory was bullied by the people in the village near his castle because of his grandfather's reputation and therefore chose to never leave even when his grandfather died. Lavi used to be cold and emotionless due to all the cruelties of humanity that he had been exposed to such as numerous wars, since recording such events is part of his life as a Bookman.[[spoiler: Kanda used to be an exorcist in a previous life, before he was killed by an Akuma. His brain was extracted and transplanted into his current body, to undergo multiple, painful and fatal synch attempts with his Innocence. He also killed his best friend. '''Twice''' ]]
* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'':
** ''Pandora Hearts'' is full of characters with this trope, though it's not very obvious at first. Gilbert, Vincent, Alice, Leo, Echo, and Break are probably the best examples.
** And then it finally revealed that Oz, whose dark past was thought to only being neglected by his own father, actually have the most tragic past of all: [[spoiler: born as a plushie, forced to murder so many people and caused the legendary Tragedy of Sablier, and his owner Alice, who was the only one who cared for him and gave him his name, killed herself to save him]].
* Both the lead heroines from ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' are examples of this.
** [[TheOjou Sheryl]] grew up as a homeless orphan in the Galaxy fleet before being "discovered" by her manager, Grace. Also, even when she does get past that and works her way to the top as an IdolSinger, she finds out that everything she's ever achieved was actually part of [[spoiler: [[MagnificentBastard Grace]]'s ]] plan, leading to her [[HeroicBSOD breakdown]] later in the series.
*** It doesn't help that [[spoiler: Grace is the source of her [[BodyHorror v-type infection]] and is likely the reason why she's an orphan in the first place]].
** [[CuteLittleFangs Ranka]] is also an orphan who [[spoiler: lost her family during a Vajra attack on their research fleet]], an event so traumatic that she [[LaserGuidedAmnesia lost her memories]] and, for a time, the [[TheVoiceless ability to speak]] before her adoptive brother got to her. It's made worse for her that [[spoiler: the cause of the attack was her singing, which, thanks to the Vajra germs she got from her mother, allowed her to unknowingly communicate with the Vajra.]]
* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' has this trope in ''spades''.
** [[FailureKnight Chrono]] is the most obvious example, having once been part of the Sinners and [[spoiler:accidentally killed the woman he loved]].
** In the manga, all of the Sinners are refugees from their home and only betrayed the other demons because it was that or be killed. Aion's reasons for leaving are particularly troubled (but crazy).
** Rosette and Joshua are orphans. This would be ConvenientlyAnOrphan if it wasn't for the fact that both of them have some flaws explained by their parents' deaths (particularly in the manga).
** Satella watched as her home burned to the ground and her family was killed by a demon around the age of 9 or so. [[spoiler:Fiore is the sister she lost in the massacre, who CameBackWrong.]]
** Azmaria's parents either abandoned her or were killed (possibly during the first world war). She was then taken in by a group of traveling musicians, who were killed by a man so he could adopt her and use her powers to [[{{Necromantic}} bring back his dead wife]]. Yep, he was killed too.
* Hei, BadassLongcoat AntiHero of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', falls into this ''bad''. Start with dead little sister and betrayal by his girlfriend and work up from there: [[spoiler:his little sister became a Contractor and was recruited by TheSyndicate, and he joined as a BadassNormal to [[BigBrotherInstinct try to protect her]]. [[ChildSoldiers They were both in their early teens]]. After a few years of very mixed feelings, guilt, and trauma later, his then-girlfriend Amber (apparently) betrayed him, and his sister disappeared when Heaven's Gate exploded. He basically woke up with her powers, no sign of her, and ''no clue what the hell happened''.]] Add a few years more spent working for TheSyndicate as an assassin because a) they'd kill him otherwise and b) he's never done anything else, it's no wonder he's a {{stoic}} ShellShockedVeteran.
* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** [[DysfunctionJunction Practically everybody]]. Ed and Al lost their mother when they were young, tried to resurrect her, and failed; and, as a result, Ed lost two of his limbs and Al his entire body. Roy and Hawkeye, among others, participated in the Ishvalan genocide and feel extremely guilty about it. Scar lost his brother in said genocide, Winry's parents were killed on the battlefield, Hohenheim [[spoiler:unknowingly helped kill off the population of an entire country]], and Bradley [[spoiler:grew up as a test subject, was injected with the Philosopher's Stone, and does not know whether his present personality is the one he had prior to the injection]].
** Roy especially qualifies in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], because he [[spoiler:was the one who shot and killed Winry's parents under military orders]]. He was almost DrivenToSuicide because of it.
* ''Everyone'' in ''Manga/MyLovelyGhostKana''. It's how they [[AngstWhatAngst get past it]] that makes the story so heartwarming.
* This is how the ''Manga/PlusAnima'' children are usually depicted gaining their animas, animal spirits of sorts which grant them the animal's abilities. It comes from the need for help to escape from a dangerous situation, such as being close to death.
* Soubi from ''Manga/{{Loveless}}'' was orphaned at the age of six, raised by a teacher who wanted to control him completely and [[spoiler: sexually abused him]], and then handed off to Seimei, who [[spoiler: viewed him as a possession and physically and emotionally abused him before abandoning him without explanation.]] Ritsuka is a little young for this trope, but is well on his way to acquiring one.
* For all that it's a gag series, ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' features characters with these.
** Gintoki was an orphan living among the corpses on the battlefield when he was found and taken in by Shoyou who raised him with the samurai values he still holds today. A few years later [[spoiler: Shoyou was arrested and his school was burned down.]] When Gintoki and his friends fought in the Joui war, they lost, and lost badly. They were arrested, and Gintoki was then [[spoiler: forced to choose between killing his teacher and his friends. He chose to kill Shoyou.]] After the war, Gintoki ended up in jail and was nearly executed. Upon his release, he wandered around and nearly starved before Otose found him at her husband's grave.
** Shinpachi and Tae lost their parents early on and had to work multiple jobs to pay off their debts and restore their family dojo.
** Kagura comes from a lethally DysfunctionalFamily. Her mother died when Kagura was young, and her father left her and her brother, because he was afraid he might kill one or both of them someday. Her brother, unable to beat their father in a fight, left to join a criminal organization and turned into the cheerful sociopathic BloodKnight he is today. Kagura ended up living alone in her wrecked hometown before moving to Earth.
** Kyuubei (raised with gender confusion), Katsura (family deaths, lonely childhood), Takasugi (Shoyou's death), Hijikata (family issues, spree killer), Tsukuyo (sold into prostitution, maniac mentor), Hinowa (sold into prostitution, crippled by Housen), and others also have difficult pasts.

* Everyone in ''Manga/MagicalGirlSite'' applies.

* It's not revealed until about a third of the way into the series, but ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' protagonist Eclair ended up so [[OutDamnedSpot tortured by the things she did as an ES Agent]] that she had her memories sealed. The seal also served as a PowerLimiter. The reveals start coming when events start to unravel the mental block.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'':
** Kyouko [[spoiler:had her attempt to help her father spectacularly backfire when he finds out, causing him to go nuts and kill her entire family.]]
** Mami [[spoiler:lost her family in an accident and contracted with Kyubey to save her life.]]
** Homura [[spoiler:has been resetting time in a futile attempt to save Madoka for nearly 100 loops.]]
** To some degree, [[spoiler: all the witches.]]

* If anyone in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' appears ''not'' to have a Dark and Troubled Past, just keep reading/watching and one will be revealed. Ironically, the king of this trope in the series is none other than that irredeemable Johan Liebert. Or is he? The debate goes on and on...
* From ''Manga/{{Arago}}'', there are the four horse men. Each one of them has deeply rooted reasons why he or she despises humanity.
* Joe Asakura of ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''. His parents were murdered almost right in front of him, and then the assassin tried to kill him.
* [[DesignatedVillain Clair Leonelli]] in ''Anime/HeatGuyJ''. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father was abusive and also neglectful, hoping to train him as a suitable successor. Eventually, he [[DrivenToMadness went insane]] and [[spoiler: [[TheDogBitesBack killed his dad]]]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Shinobi in general have blood on their hands before they reach chunin rank. Also, considering they are essentially soldiers, whose relatives and friends are also soldiers, living in a warzone, nearly every character has lost someone important to them at some point.
** Itachi saw the end of the 3rd Ninja War and the Kyuubi attack before he was even a ninja and decided to do ANYTHING to pevent war.
** Kakashi [[spoiler: saw father commit suicide when he was 7, then his friend Obito sacrificed himself to save him, then he is forced to kill his remaining teammate Rin in order to prevent the tailed beast inside her from falling into the hands of the enemy; and finally his teacher, the 4th Hokage, dies when he sacrifices himself to protect the village from the Kyuubi.]]
** Sasuke, at 8, stumbled upon the aftermath of his clan's massacre by his older brother [[spoiler: under order of Danzo]] and killed said brother at 16, [[spoiler: only to learn the truth after the act]], and set himself on the [[CycleOfRevenge Asura path.]]
** Gaara, of course, was feared by his village and his family for the one-tailed demon inside of him. His attempts at connecting with others proved fruitless and at times were rebuffed harshly by other kids. Not only that but out of self-defense he was forced to kill the only person who stood by him and protected him. This tragedy and the realization that he was truly alone led him to look to his literal inner demon for solace, giving us the emotionless death machine which is initially introduced to us.
** Pain had his name for a reason.
** Kimimaro was of the now-extinct Kaguya clan had been born with his clan's special kekkei genkai and the leader, fearing its power, locked him up in a dark cage except on the occasions where he was needed for battle (which was often, since they were a war-like tribe). The Mist Village, deciding they had enough with this clan's bellicose nature, decided to commit an act of genocide and wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Kimimaro managed to escape this culling and wandered aimlessly and without purpose, until he met Orochimaru...
** Haku was born with a special kekkei genkai-Ice Release-which was all well and good except that within the Land of Water where his small village resided, the people still held extreme anger and pains from the death and destruction that a previous war had caused them due to both sides using people with kekkei genkai. He had inherited this ability from his mother, who hid it from her husband in order to maintain the illusion that they were normal and perhaps that one day they could reveal the truth to the man in hopes that love could trump the prejudice that still remained. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Haku had discovered his ability and while his mother quickly stifled it, Haku's father witnessed it and rounded a mob of villagers to attack them. Haku watched his mother be killed in front of him and was about to be murdered as well but he used his abilities to kill all of his assailants, thus rendering himself an orphan.
** Naruto lost his parents and any chance of a relatively normal life the very night he was ''born''. He was also taken hostage by TheHeavy at the age of one minute. That's gotta be some kind of record.
** Most characters in ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'' intentionally subvert this. In contrast to their parents, the newest generation live in times of peace. Their problems are more down-to-earth, such as Boruto and Sarada's father's being distant due to [[WhenYouComingHomeDad job reasons]].
* Ai Enma from ''Anime/HellGirl''. That girl was made an outcast by her village, and was selected to be sacrificed to a mountain god at the age of 7. She escaped that fate, only to be faced with a worse one 6 years later, where she was betrayed by her only friend and she and her family were buried alive. Then she tried to deliver vengeance on her village and was condemned to carry souls to Hell for eternity.
* It's mentioned in ''Manga/FairyTail'' that everyone in the guild has ''some'' sort of hidden pain in their pasts. A lot of them are explored in each arc of the manga as it goes on.
* Inspector Himuro of ''Manga/{{Remote}}'' has one that is regularly hinted at but not revealed until the last few volumes
* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise has quite a bit of this. From characters growing up as orphaned {{Child Soldier}}s in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Gundam Unicorn]]'', where one character manages to have a past that includes [[CloningBlues knowing she's a clone]] and [[RapeAsDrama being used as an underage sex slave in a brothel]]. Apparently, to put across the WarIsHell message, one must use soldiers who have messed-up pasts.
* Accelerator in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Due to his [[SuperpowerLottery seemingly invincible powers]], he's been attacked ever since he was a child by people who either wanted to "prove their strength" or by people who thought [[PersonOfMassDestruction he was too dangerous to let live]]. He survived all of this without a scratch, but having that much violence directed at him all his life has left him rather messed up. And if people aren't trying to kill him, they're trying to [[TheyWouldCutYouUp use him in inhumane experiments]]. When he's introduced, he's willing to do just about anything to make sure people ''never attack him ever again''.
* Most of the main characters in ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns''. If they don't have one, they are well on their way to getting one.
** Jeremy is [[spoiler: physically and sexually abused for months before he snaps and kills Greg, and then has to deal with living as a murderer.]]
** Ian grew up knowing his mother [[spoiler: committed suicide]] and wondering why his family was dysfunctional. Later on in the series he has to deal with his {{Broken Pedestal}} view of his father.
** Sandra has a dead first husband and two [[spoiler: {{Bungled Suicide}}]].
** It is heavily implied that Valentine [[spoiler: was sexually abused]] resulting in her {{Dumb Struck}} status.
** Liliya [[spoiler: committed suicide at Greg's urging because she was {{Mistaken for Cheating}}.]]
** Lindon become estranged from his first wife and daughter because he was so rigid and neurotically morose.
** Nadia's mother [[spoiler: blames her for her sister's preoccupation with suicide]]. Her parents also fought bitterly and cheated on each other during her childhood.
** Natasha suffered [[spoiler: Greg's beatings and eventually had to leave Lynn Forest for her own wellbeing, as well has knowing her little sister Liliya killed herself.]]
** Cass' parents are abusive alcoholics, which is why he works so many jobs (legal and illegal), in an attempt to earn money for school and to escape his house, eventually ending in his drug addiction and HookerWithAHeartOfGold.
** Even BrattyHalfPint Matt, who grew up unwanted because [[spoiler:Greg believes that he is not his actual son.]]
* ''Manga/KotouraSan'':
** Haruka's life story, to put it bluntly, is the destruction of the lives of a born {{telepath|y}}ic girl.
** Yuriko has one too. When she was a child, her mother was a famed psychic, but DrivenToSuicide after being accused as a fake. This is why she is so eager to prove psychics exist.
* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', Nakia was forced by her father to become a concubine to the Hittite king, who was basically the enemy of her country of Babylon at the time. Also, the king was old enough to be her father. When she got to his palace, she quickly became scared and lonely, since he already had a lawful wife, a huge harem full of other concubines, an elected crown prince and four more sons. It's later revealed that she also [[spoiler:went through a period of time when people gossiped openly about the legitimacy of her child, Juda, since he shared few features with the king]].
** Ursula was orphaned when her family died of the plague and grew up in poverty, becoming desperate for ''any'' chance, however brief, of knowing wealth and comfort.
** The end of the series also reveals that [[spoiler:Urhi]] was the child of a noble family in another country. When his home was invaded, the conquering army killed all of his family, took him as a SexSlave, and castrated him so that he couldn't run the risk of having children and furthering the now-extinct bloodline of his country's royal family. [[spoiler:''Then', he was shipped off to Anatolia to be a junior priest, which is where he meets Nakia.]]
* Pretty much every experiment in ''Manga/ProjectARMS''. To name a few:
** Hayato watched his home village and his father ([[spoiler:or at least, the man he ''thought'' was his father]]) get destroyed when he was a child. Immediately after, a stranger (the same one who ''killed his dad in front of him'') cuts off his arm and replaces it with the ARM replica.
** Kei was raised as a soldier instead of a child, harshly treated by the Blue Men. In the manga, she and some other children were playing in a church when a madman comes in. The children try to run, instead of listening to her and staying hidden, leading to her watching them die and her getting her [[EyeScream eyes stabbed out]]. In the anime, she tries to save some children from a burning building, only for them to die and her eyes to get burned out. In both cases, this leads to her own ARMS being implemented.
** The Bowen twins were ostracized by their peers and their parents, all of whom were unable to cope with the fact that the elementary school-aged boys were super-geniuses. [[spoiler:A flashback reveals that Jeff murdered their parents, which even freaked out [[CreepyChild Al]].]]
** Carol was sent to the Egrigori as a test subject because her parents were terrified of their creepy daughter who had the power to bend things into knots with her mind. She grew up believing that the horrified reactions her powers got from people were the same things as love and respect.
** Cliff and Yugo Gilbert spent their childhood having their mental powers tested, meaning they were both horribly abused by the scientists.
** Kyklops spent his entire life kept by the Egrigori, taught to kill with a knife as soon as he was old enough.
** ''All'' of Keith White's "children", who were just clones of himself that he made to implant ARMS into. They weren't even given names (they simply were known as "Keith [Color]") and the surviving ones (Black, Green, Blue, Red, and Violet) all had to watch as their brothers and sisters died horrifically painful deaths from the experiments.
** Quite possibly the ultimate example of them all is poor Alice. She's yet another Egrigori experiment who is confined to the labs, where she sees how lonely and sad the other children are. She wants nothing more than for them all to see the outside world, even for just one day, [[spoiler:but her attempt to make this happen end with ''all'' of the children being shot to death by Keith White. She then gets absorbed by an alien life form and splits into "White Alice" and "Black Alice", both of whom keep their desire for love, but one of whom (guess which?) expresses this in the form of wanting to destroy all life on Earth.]]
* Tenjou from ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia''. [[spoiler:As a child, 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 obviously still doesn't sit well with her for long years after. Justifies her acting like a {{jerk|assWoobie}} toward Yukari.
* The majority of the cast in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', due to the nature of the series:
** Levi is a former criminal, with his past shrouded in mystery and fodder for many rumors.
** Eren, Mikasa and Armin are all refugees from Wall Maria, having lost everything when Titans destroyed their villages.
** Mikasa's parents were murdered in front of her, by human traffickers that intended to sell her into sexual slavery at the age of ''nine''. Eren killed two of them to rescue her, but she was forced to kill the third man on her own.
** [[spoiler:Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie are TykeBomb [[TheMole spies]] sent to carry out genocide against mankind, and committed an act of mass murder at the age of 12 and 11 respectively on the orders of their superiors. All three are deeply traumatized as a result of their actions, with special mention to Reiner who was extremely [[BreakTheCutie broken]]] even ''before'' their mission started, due to ParentalAbandonment by his father (his parents had a forbidden relationship between an Eldian and a Marleyan. Reiner's father wants nothing to do with Reiner or Reiner's mother, as he'd be punished severely for it]].
** Ymir and her vague comments about having been hated, tormented, and expected to "die for the happiness of others". [[spoiler:She was an orphan with no name who was taken in by a strange man who made her take on the name Ymir and pretend to be a reincarnation of Ymir Fritz, the creator/founder of the Titans ([[UnreliableNarrator maybe]]). She gained a massive following, but when the cult was found out by officials, they betrayed her. She ended up being sent to Paradis Island and spent 60 years as a mindless Titan before unknowingly stealing the Jaw Titan's powers from Reiner, Bertolt and Annie's friend Marcel (which becomes Reiner's [[MyGreatestFailure greatest failure]], as he feels responsible for not protecting Marcel).]]
** [[spoiler:Krista is the daughter of a significant nobleman, born out of wedlock to his mistress. A conflict between her relatives concerning her potential as a successor caused her to be driven out and forced to take up a false identity. She joined the military to escape, with the hopes of getting herself killed in a suitably tragic and heroic fashion]].
** Grisha Yeager, Eren's father, may take the cake. Everything started going downhill for him when [[spoiler:he and his little sister Faye snuck out of their ghetto to watch a blimp land. They were caught by military officials, and as Eldians aren't allowed outside of the ghetto, were punished. Grisha was kicked several times and Faye was taken away by a sergeant and fed to his dogs. The sergeant claims [[BlatantLies that he found the girl's body there and has nothing to do with it]]. Several years later, Grice, who's part of [[LaResistance the Eldia Restoration Movement]], tells Grisha what really happened to Faye, and Grisha decides do join the cause. Through this, he marries Dina Fritz, who is the [[LastOfHisKind last remaining member]] of the royal family on the continent. They have a son, Zeke, who they raise with the intention of being the last hope for Eldia and its people. Unfortunately, Zeke betrays his parents and their friends, and they're sent to Paradis Island as punishment. Everyone is turned into titans (including Dina), [[SoleSurvivor except for Grisha]], who is saved by Kruger, a military offical who Grisha met the day he went out with his sister. Kruger is revealed to be [[TheMole responsible]] for the Eldia Restoration Movement getting leaked information. Grisha is then [[ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin entrusted]] with the Attack Titan's powers and the mission to retrieve the Founding Titan from within the walls...]]
** This is revealed to be the case of Ymir, the [[spoiler:Founding Titan]], whose story has largely been lost to legend. She was a slave to a small clan of raiders until one day the other slaves blamed her for a crime and she was "freed" to be hunted as sport by the warriors. While fleeing she discovered [[spoiler:an unusual symbiote which merged with her body, transforming her into the first Titan. Despite this she was still unthinkingly loyal to the clan's chieftain, Fritz, who exploited her power to rise in power and build a kingdom. Ymir bore Fritz three daughters before ultimately dying to save his life. Her body was then butchered and her daughters forced to eat it so they could inherit the Titan power. Even in death she felt compelled to obey Fritz and so continued to maintain the Titan powers and serve his descendants even to the current day]].
** Pretty much ''everyone'' established as a character has this, no matter what side they're on.

* [[TheCasanova Rambler]] [[MeaningfulName the Rambling]] [[http://cytolo.skr.jp/graphic/tbus.jpg Rabbit]] from the ''Manga/HappyHappyClover'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Happy_Clover Anime/Manga series]] by Creator/TatsuyamaSayuri. Is an adult rabbit who usually visits Crescent Forest at random. He would usually go on dangerous adventures and travels around the world. Clover the main protagonist of the series, really admires him and wants to go traveling with him. But each time she would ask him that same question, he would refuse to answer her question. He says that she will have to wait until she gets older. In the characters mini-bio in the 3rd,4th and 5th volume for the main characters. It reveals that Rambler's homeland has been destroyed by humans. In the 4th volume of the manga, one story involved Rambler coming to stay with Clover for the night. Clover and her parents wants him to stay at her home for the night. Rambler refuses and prefers to sleep outside. However Clover, starts getting very worried about him and [[TheDeterminator continues to ask him to stay for the night.]] Later, Clover starts looking for him in the rain just to let him stay. But when she finally, finds him out in the rain. She tries to let him come to her home, and starts pulling his arm hard. Rambler responds by snatching his hand away from her, causing Clover to cry and believes she really was a busybody and starts running back home. The next morning, Clover finds Rambler crying and starts asking him whats wrong. He then explains to Clover why he didn't want to stay at her house. He tells her that, sleeping in a bed and staying at her house reminded him of his old home and forest before it got destroyed. After he finished, he tells Clover to keep it a secret between him and her.
* In ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'', everyone was afraid of Kanon as a child due to her evil aura, which made her grow up aloof and unwilling to trust herself and others.
* The ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] may not have many notable instances of these, but the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] has one for at least half of the characters, including the majority of the Senshi barring [[NaiveEverygirl Usagi]], and possibly Haruka and Michiru. And that's only if you don't count [[spoiler: their past reincarnations as Serenity's guardians]]. Examples:
** Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, of all people, may count as a dark and troubled [[spoiler: past life]], as [[spoiler: being Princess Serenity]], she'd [[spoiler: committed suicide]] upon seeing her Prince Endymion [[spoiler: killed by the Dark Kingdom]].
** Rei Hino/Sailor Mars was raised by a neglectful father and an ailing mother, and when her mother died, her father seemingly didn't care, leading Rei to grow a strong distrust of men. Also, in Casablanca Memories, she was shown to have had her heart broken by a man who seemingly fell in love with another woman, furthering her conviction against males.
** Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter lost her parents in a plane crash, compelling her to have to learn to take care of herself. All of her peers feared her and refused to have anything to do with her because of her strength and her height. She was even dumped by her boyfriend, who deemed her not feminine enough for him.
** Minako Aino/Sailor V/Sailor Venus was the first Senshi to have been awoken, and had to fight all the youma by herself for a year. Within that year, she'd not only [[spoiler: had to kill her first crush, who turned out to be a youma]], she is implied to have lost many friends because she was too busy being Sailor V to have a social life. At the end of ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'', she [[spoiler: learned that Kaitou Ace, her latest crush was Danburite, a member of the Dark Kingdom, leaving her no choice to kill him]] and her only chance at happiness. Also, she remains cognizant of the Moon Kingdom's past life, [[spoiler: Serenity's suicide, and the subsequent destruction of the Moon Kingdom]], and shoulders the blame, thinking that it was her duty to [[spoiler: protect Princess Serenity at all costs]].
** Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask, like Makoto, lost his parents in a crash, and wound up with LaserGuidedAmnesia with regards to his ''identity''. [[spoiler: This is his stated reason for looking for the Silver Crystal]], the same thing the Senshi were looking for.
* A number of characters in ''Anime/QueensBlade'' have this.
** Menace of Amara has a particularly nasty one. Yes, she was a BadBoss, being more concerned with [[TheHedonist ceaseless sexual pleasures and perversions with her vast harem of]] [[PsychoLesbian lesbian love slaves]] than actually ruling. But her favorite slave Anarista, possibly the one woman she actually loved, grew so sick of her petty hedonism that she betrayed Amara to a foreign power. Menace's people were destroyed, her kingdom toppled into ruin, and the former queen was flung to the hands of her former slaves, who beat and gangraped her until she died.
* Sasami of ''Anime/TenchiMuyo''. [[spoiler:When she was a toddler, she took a terrible fall that nearly killed her, only to be rescued and bonded with Tsunami. Her young mind couldn't process the tragic events and she reasoned herself into thinking that [[ThatManIsDead Sasami died when she fell]] and that she's nothing more than a vessel for Tsunami. She spent 700 years afraid that if she told Ayeka, she'd hate her. Thankfully, that last bit proved untrue as she revealed her 'past' and both Ayeka and Tenchi (who had been hunting her down after an incident involving everyone spotting Sasami's reflection) revealed that they'd still love her no matter what.]]
* Bleed Kaga from ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula''. He has a best friend named Eiji Aizawa, who was also TheRival. But in one of the races, Kaga made contact with the [[SuperMode Zero Zone]] and crashed with Eiji horribly. Kaga then tried to rescue him while gas was pouring from his wrecked car when suddenly, [[spoiler:the car explodes and the debris from the pipe cuts his forehead and he and Eiji's wife watched helplessly as he burned to his death inside the flaming car.]] This is the reason why he warned Hayato of the Zero Zone in ''ZERO''.
* Birdy Cephon Altera, the title character of ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'' underwent this as [[spoiler: she's a [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineered]] SuperSoldier who experienced FantasticRacism as the result of being a member of the HumanAlien species Altan and lost the closest thing she had as a mother when RobotMaid Violin was destroyed in a terrorist attack that Birdy found herself in the middle of when she was 10.]]
* In ''Animation/GuardianFairyMichel'', Kim set out for revenge against Salome after she stole her father's inventions and killed him during the escape.
* Yuto and Kurosaki from ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' are genocide survivors and ChildSoldiers in an [[spoiler: inter-dimensional]] war, during which they lost many friends and allies, including Kurosaki's younger sister. Their entire home city was utterly destroyed [[WarForFunAndProfit for no apparent reason other than the sick entertainment of their assailants]]. To make matters worse, [[spoiler: the war was waged using weaponized Duel Monsters, which in this universe are supposed to be the ultimate source of happiness and entertainment]]. As a result neither of them can see dueling as anything more than a bloody tool of war, and by extension have a hard time feeling ''any'' joy.
** And then there's [[spoiler: Reira]]...
* ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'': Ten years prior to the beginning of the series, Yusaku Fujiki was kidnapped and held hostage for an unknown period time and forced to duel AI duelists if he wanted to eat. Every time he lost, [[ElectricTorture he was electrocuted severely]] and denied food until he won again. Several times he nearly gave up only for a mysterious voice—confirmed to be an eight-year-old Revolver in episode #43—to teach him his "three things" habit as a method of survival. By time he was rescued, the kidnappers had already lost their use for him, and left him with a severe case of PTSD that exists to this day. [[BrokenBird No matter how much he wanted to interact with others, no matter how much therapy he received, Yusaku was plagued with nightmares and mental illnesses-induced stress attacks]]. Now he vows to get {{Revenge}} on those who ruined his life, and knows the path he walks is one of darkness, one he doesn't want to drag others on.
* ''Manga/{{Aruosumente}}'': Almost every member of the main cast has a dark and troubled past, and the further the story progresses, the more is revealed in bits and pieces, all weaving together to form the events of ten years ago:
** Lante and Dante were [[spoiler:refugees taking in by Oracle Kian and the former Emperor just to prevent an enemy kingdom from getting their hands on Dante's fighting abilities, then sent out to certain deaths when Kian decided Dante was uncontrallable]].
** Moeran [[spoiler:saw his beloved teacher killed in connection to Oracle Kian, then got threatened with lifelong imprisonment unless he never tells anyone a word of what happened]].
** Legna, the protagonist, [[spoiler:was supposed to be raised in seclusion but then given to his father to be raised by him, only to lose his father and have to take over his position, without ever being told what actually happened]].
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', Anastasia and her family were shipwrecked in Japan, where her family died and she was sold into sex slavery, then later trained to be a ninja. While looking for the last heirloom of her family, [[spoiler:Hanzo appeared to have it. He then coerced her to join the Iga Grotesque Five and infiltrate the Braves as TheMole. This is also why the concept of 'family' is a BerserkButton for her and what made her hate the easy bonds between the rest of the Braves.]]
* In ''Manhwa/WestwoodVibrato'', many of Cornelia's customers have these. [[spoiler:As well as Cornel herself.]]
* ''Manga/CityHunter'': Ryo, big time. Orphaned at such a young age he doesn't even know his actual birthday? Check. Becoming a Child Soldier to survive being orphaned? Check. Being the initial test subject of the experimental drug Angel Dust, and the only man who has ever recovered from its withdrawal symptoms? Ouch!
* ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'':
** Diane: [[spoiler: A group of Liones knights intended to kill her and Matrona for glory. Although she survived the incident, Diane was made into a scapegoat for the massacre that had happened.]]
** Ban: [[spoiler: Ban's childhood wasn't all that great, and his life before joining the Sins was so bad that he wanted to become immortal to see if anything good would happen in his life.]]
** King: [[spoiler: He failed to save his captured best friend, lost his memory, fell in love with Diane, killed said best friend after having remembered everything, wiped Diane's memories of their common past and came back to the Fairy King's Forest to see it was destroyed and his sister was dead.]]
** Gowther: [[spoiler: He was given a magic heart by his creator. he was found 3000 years later by Baltra's sister and fell in love. Unfortunately her heart gave out on Their First Time. Since he didn't understand human anatomy, he tried to replace her heart with his magic heart. When guards entered, they thought Gowther raped and killed the princess.]]
** Escanor: [[spoiler: He was born a prince, but forsaken and nearly murdered when his powers first manifested. He barely escaped alive and was found by Merlin, at which point Meliodas apparently invited him to join the Sins.]]
** Meliodas: His girlfriend died in front of him. [[spoiler:she was the reincarnation of his girlfriend from 3000 years ago. She was cursed to resurrect, fall in love with him and die within 3 days if she remembered her previous lives. Meliodas on the other hand has been cursed with immortality and loses a bit of himself each time he dies forcing him to relive the loss repeatedly.]]
** Outside of the Sins, Gilthunder saw the murdered body of his father and was forced into not revealing the truth[[spoiler: to keep Margaret safe]].
* Yuliy from ''Anime/TenrouSiriusTheJaeger''. His tribe is decimated by the Vampires and it is made worse when Yuliy watches his mother died in front of him. [[spoiler: When his brother, Mikhail, protects him from the vampires, Yuliy watches him getting slaughtered by the Vampires and thinks that he is dead. It's not until the present day when Yuliy meets with him that he ends up getting turned into a vampire as a result.]]
* Yami's backstory parodies this in ''Manga/BlackClover''. He sums up his backstory as roughly, "I'm from another place. I fell off a boat. I washed up in a foreign land. I beat the crap out of anyone who have me a hard time and adjusted." At least part of this was mocking the {{Big Bad}}'s backstory, which plays this straight. [[spoiler:He was an innocent elf boy who watched everyone he knows and loves get (supposedly) slaughtered by humans at a wedding designed to promote coexistence between them, sparking his centuries-long grudge against humanity.]]
* ''Manga/VampireKnight'': Zero and Kaname both. Zero witnessed his parents murdered at the hands of a pureblood as an 11-year old, next to being bit and transformed by the same pureblood and seeing his twin brother smiling at the scene. Kaname [[spoiler:is an ancestor of vampires who had been alive thousands of years ago along with an unnamed pureblood woman who ended up sacrificing herself for the creation of the vampire hunters and furnace, leaving Kaname to lead the battle between purebloods and the misery of being alone, after which he decided to enter his slumber that was later interrupted by Rido]].
* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'': Several yokai have had traumatic deaths, though most don't tend to think of them much. For example, the CuteKitten mascot Jibanyan was hit by a car [[spoiler:to [[HeroicSacrifice save his owner from being run over]]]], while [[YukiOnna Blizzaria]] was a little girl who got lost in the mountains and froze to death.
* ''Manga/DearNOMAN'': Bazu was once a crow who was taken care of by a human after getting injured. When she decided to go back to check up on her, another human grabbed her and cut off her wings and feet. She then became a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent noman]] based on her encounters with humans.
* Momo in ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'': She's born an orphan, started being a MagicalGirl--ChildSoldier in all but name--no older than five, literally has no relatives for the past ten years, and got all the [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] from her Magical Girl days.

** Kakashi saw his father take his own life at 7, [[spoiler:then his friend Obito seemingly dies before giving him his Sharingan; he is forced to kill his remaining teammate Rin in order to prevent the tailed beast inside her from falling into the hands of the enemy; and finally his teacher, the 4th Hokage, dies when he sacrifices himself to protect the village from the Kyuubi.]] And to think, when he was first introduced he seemed like such a laidback person who was simply wise and pragmatic about the nature of being a ninja...
** Sasuke, at 8, stumbled upon the aftermath of his clan's massacre by his older brother [[spoiler: under order of Danzo]] and killed said brother at 16, [[spoiler: only to learn the truth after the act]], and set himself on the [[CycleOfRevenge Asura path]]