History ShootTheShaggyDog / AnimeAndManga

* A villainous example happens in the Fishman Island Arc [[spoiler: Hordy Jones is an extremely racist Fishman who uses energy steroids to gain the power to take over the island and eventually of mankind. He had also murdered the reigning queen of the time and frame it on a human in order to make sure he'd have a loyal following of like-minded thinkers. After going through massive beatings from Luffy, he is defeated and the truth of the steroids is revealed. It turns out they're a special candy of the royal kingdom that accelerates the aging process, to which he and his men had overdosed on; leading them to become extremely elderly men. Even if he did manage todefeat Luffy, which is very slim, seeing how he was effortlessly beaten, he'd be too fragile and weak to achieve his ambitions. Also having admitted to his direct hand in the murder, as well as his abuse of literally every single major life in the kingdom, has made sure he's not going to paroled or jail-breaked from his imprisonment anytime soon]].

* During the last few episodes of ''CodeGeass'' [[spoiler:Nunnally's apparent demise was one of the key reasons Lelouch started the [[ZeroApprovalGambit Zero Requiem]], [[DespairEventHorizon feeling he has nothing left to live for]]. Guess who shows up to oppose him not long after he's in too deep to turn back?]]

* A villainous example happens in the Fishman Island Arc [[spoiler: Hordy Jones is an extremely racist Fishman who uses energy steroids to gain the power to take over the island and eventually of mankind. He had also murdered the reigning queen of the time and frame it on a human in order to make sure he'd have a loyal following of like-minded thinkers. After going through massive beatings from Luffy, he is defeated and the truth of the steroids is revealed. It turns out they're a special candy of the royal kingdom that accelerates the aging process, to which he and his men had overdosed on; leading them to become extremely elderly men. Even if he did manage todefeat Luffy, which is very slim, seeing how he was effortlessly beaten, he'd be too fragile and weak to achieve his ambitions]].

*** [[spoiler: Much like FateZero, the only thing that is keeping 3.0 from being the most tragic and depressing story ever created is the knowledge that there is still one more film to go.]]

*** To elaborate: [[spoiler: Remember that time when it seemed that kind, but crippingly insecure protagonist of ours appeared to TakeALevelInBadass and saved his then de-facto girlfriend in an impressive act of willpower and heroism that seemed to involve him shrugging of mayor internal injuries and his skin burning off just to get to her? She is still dead, and he inadvertedly blew up most of the planet.He was set up to do so, by the plotting of ancients conspiracies. All the friends he made over the course of the last two movies either died at his own hands, or hate his guts, including what was once his warm, caring ParentalSubstitute. Horrified with what he's done and struggling to cope with the death of his love interest (not made easier by the presence of her clone), he still manages to find hope when he befriends an enigmatic boy who tells him of a possible ResetButton. Determined to reverse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt with all his might, even if that means fighting his former friends, he gives his all to reach the McGuffins needed for that... turns out he was tricked and what he just did was trigger yet another worldwide cataclysm. The afore mentioned new friend sacrifices himself to stop it, but it ''doesn't help'' - it is someone else who ends the apocalyse by yanking him out of his mecha. Not only was all he ever did rendered moot, all his sincere attempts to help end up making everythiong worse. ]]By the end of it, his body's still working, but he's pretty much dead on the inside, near-catatonic with guilt and grief.

** To be fair there was one character who achieved all his goals and changed the world in the way he wanted - Near.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' (particularly its supplemental film adaptation ''The End Of Evangelion'') is a borderline case: [[spoiler:after Instrumentality/Third Impact, the Earth is left in ruins and everyone besides Shinji and Asuka is reduced to "primordial soup" with the choice to recreate themselves if desired (meaning that the whole plot caused more harm than good for everyone who would rather not live as part of a puddle of Tang).]]

* The first season arcs of ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' are all like this; the audience are treated to several versions of the local TrueCompanions going AxCrazy and murdering each other in various gruesome fashions, only for the GroundhogDayLoop to kick in and the whole tragedy repeated in a slightly different manner. The last arc seemingly subverts this,as Keiichi remembers one of the other realities and talks Rena down from her attempted mass murder/suicide... Only for Rika to get murdered anyway later, and the whole town wiped out by the volcanic eruption. Again.

* The first season arcs of ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' are all like this; the audience are treated to several versions of the local {{nakama}} going AxCrazy and murdering each other in various gruesome fashions, only for the GroundhogDayLoop to kick in and the whole tragedy repeated in a slightly different manner. The last arc seemingly subverts this,as Keiichi remembers one of the other realities and talks Rena down from her attempted mass murder/suicide... Only for Rika to get murdered anyway later, and the whole town wiped out by the volcanic eruption. Again.

** To be fair there was one character who achieved all his goals and changed the world in the way he wanted - Near. YourMileageMayVary on whether it made the world better though.

* JigokuShoujo Negoro Tetsurou's story is a mild version of this, played mostly for laughs.
* OsamuTezuka's ''[=~Apollo's Song~=]'' manga fulfills the "Don't just have the protagonist die an agonizing death, trap him in a grim cycle of reincarnation and make him [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption a failure in every incarnation]]" point of this trope to a T.

* In ''{{Bakuman}}'', "Classroom of Truth," a work submitted for the main characters to judge, ends this way. The characters are put into a survival tournament to escape their classroom, and [[KillEmAll all of them die]]. [[TheHeroDies Even the main character]] gets chased down and eaten by a doppelganger. Mashiro and Takagi note that it is the opposite of the typical Jump manga that value hard work and friendship, but having the main character die in spite of his efforts doesn't work.

* The end of the Golden Age Arc from ''Manga/Berserk''. [[spoiler: After Griffith's capture the Band of the Hawk is driven out of Midland and hunted as fugitives. Gut's returns a year later and it seems that with his help they may be able to rescue Griffith and restore the Hawk's glory. They succeed, but Griffith is warped from torture and uses his behelit to initiate The Eclipse, which promptly kills the remaining members of the Band of the Hawk. With the exception of Guts, Griffith and Casca, the characters they've spent the entire manga so far building up are offed without much ceremony]]

* ''SchoolDays''. After spending ten episodes acting like a complete jerk and taking advantage of [[IdiotPlot the complete idiocy]] that seems to affect the entirety of the school, Makoto is [[spoiler:stabbed to death by his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sekai, and then his corpse is decapitated by his girlfriend Kotonoha, who proceeds to murder (and cut up) Sekai and runs away, taking Makoto's head with her.]] Life at the school goes on, unaffected by the lunacy that just transpired.

** ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' does it in a similar manner. One example is a pair of climatic fights in the 4th arc, where the protagonists were about to win.

* The Chapter Black saga from ''YuYuHakusho'' could be considered an example of this. The characters pull out all the stops, [[PyrrhicVictory sacrificing a great deal in the process]], in order to try and stop Sensui from opening a tunnel to Demon World, only to eventually learn that [[spoiler: A) Sensui's true motive for opening the tunnel was just so he could go to the demon world and find an opponent who could kill him, B) he would have been dead within a month anyway, from a fatal disease, and C) the spirit world's elite soldiers could seal the demon tunnel with [[HardWorkHardlyWorks relatively little effort]].]]

* The Impel Down/Marineford arc of OnePiece. [[spoiler: Luffy breaks into the most secure prison in the world, makes grudging allegiances with SEVERAL old enemies in the process, undergoes incredible punishment and nearly dies from poisoning...all to save his brother Ace from being executed. It's said that he's sacrificing his lifespan again and again with near-constant uses of Gear Second, plus the treatment Ivankov gives him for the poisons. He then breaks OUT, makes it to the execution, reaches the platform against ALL odds with help from newfound friends, and ACTUALLY SUCCEEDS IN FREEING HIS BROTHER. After all that...it's some choice petty insults from Admiral Akainu that goad Ace into a fight when he and Luffy are about to escape, leading to Ace getting killed by taking a magma fist intended for Luffy. It's the first real time in One Piece where the protagonist DOESN'T accomplish his goal.]]

* ''DeathNote'' in every adaptation sees the deaths of all major characters and many supporting ones, and leaves no implication that the world is a better place for any losses or sacrifices. If Ryuk's statement about CessationOfExistence is an AuthorTract, this can't be anything but a ShootTheShaggyDog story; negative gain for everyone would be the only possible outcome.

** [[spoiler:Considering at this point Asuka is actually already dead the Asuka we see at the end is simply a recreation from Shinji's mind of who he thinks Asuka is. The only actual survivor is Shinji himself making this an even more crapsack world ending with every dog shot but Shinji.]]

* The whole Fallen One arc in ''[=~D.Gray-Man~=]'' is one of these. Allen encounters another Exorcist, Suman Dark, who has betrayed his [[EmpathicWeapon Innocence]] by betraying the Black Order to a villain, and has been turned into a [[OneWingedAngel giant angelic torso-looking thing]]. Allen struggles to save Suman while he attacks mindlessly, killing a lot of innocent people. Allen finally manages to hold Suman back by over-activating his own Innocence, and he manages to pull Suman out of the monster... [[spoiler:only for him to find that Suman has lost his soul anyway. Turns out Allen hadn't succeeded; Suman's Innocence basically timed out. Then, just to make things worse, Suman explodes in a fountain of blood, thanks to the sudden appearance of the villain from whom he begged for mercy in the first place.]]

* ''{{Clannad}}'' After Story, before the {{Reset Button}} is hit, shamelessly goes for a shaggy dog shoot, taking the story from sad to abjectly miserable and pointless. Despite this, there are some who think this ending is superior to the True End.