History StoicWoobie / AnimeAndManga

* Sousuke Sagura from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Especially after his childhood and backstory is shown in ''Kyokuhoku Kara no Koe''. The poor kid suffered together with his beautiful single mother in the middle of ice cold mountains in a crashed airplane (where all other passengers died), saw his mother ''freaking die for him'' before his own eyes, temporarily went mute from shock while he was taken in by the Russian army, got sent away to the KGB to be raised as a child soldier and assassin, got taken in as a child soldier for the resistance in the middle of Afghanistan, the resistance ended up losing the war anyways, and he loses a bunch of his comrades and his kindly father figure... and that's just up until he was eleven years old. He's ''never'' shown to have ever complained or {{wangst}}ed about ''any'' of it, and seems to take all of it in stride. There ''are'' very, very brief moments where his eyes are described to show loneliness, as well as moments where he's shown to have [[PastExperienceNightmare dreams]] about his mother dying.

* Yuki Nagato from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. [[spoiler: Also [[WoobieDestroyerofWorlds woobie re-maker of world]] in Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya, although the remade world was considerably nicer, and she even left a reset button for the main character.]] For those unfamiliar, [[spoiler:Yuki is the only member of the cast who remembers every iteration of the GroundhogDayLoop where Haruhi put them through the last two weeks of summer vacation over and over again. We "[[ArcFatigue only]]" had to watch it eight times; she experienced it for subjective ''centuries'' (15,549 loops, or 549 years).]] Since she's an EmotionlessGirl, though, there's absolutely no angst shown.

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'': Erina Pendleton has lost her first kiss, her newlywed husband, her son (indirectly), and her daughter-in-law (though she did find her again eventually) to Dio by the time in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'' where she's in her 70s, yet keeps a stoic, but exceptionally kind personality that normally wouldn't be seen from women born in her time.

* Yuki Nagato from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' (who, notably, is partly an {{homage}} to the above mentioned Rei). [[spoiler: Also [[WoobieDestroyerofWorlds woobie re-maker of world]], although the remade world was considerably nicer, and she even left a reset button for the main character.]] For those unfamiliar, [[spoiler:Yuki is the only member of the cast who remembers every iteration of the GroundhogDayLoop where Haruhi put them through the last two weeks of summer vacation over and over again. We "[[ArcFatigue only]]" had to watch it eight times; she experienced it for subjective ''centuries''.]] Since she's an EmotionlessGirl, though, there's absolutely no angst shown.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Risotto Nero, leader of La Squadra di Esecuzione, fell into a life of crime due to tragic circumstances, yet he and his team never got any respect from the Boss, and just keeps losing his teammates one by one. [[spoiler:He then dies an ultimately futile and unfortunate death just as he was [[ShootTheShaggyDog about to kill the Boss]].]] Despite all that, he keeps his emotions under a stone cold facade to the very end.

* Hagi (or [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Haji]]) from ''Anime/BloodPlus'' is this. He's been physically abused by pretty much every opponent he's ever faced. He's been through it all: Impaled, crushed beneath rubble, almost died of blood loss [[spoiler:[[WasOnceAMan when he was still human]]]], took a blast of condensed energy, lost at least two appendages. [[spoiler:Even all that abuse [[UpToEleven is nothing compared]] [[ShellShockedVeteran to the immense psychological trauma]] he's carried over for [[{{Immortality}} an entire century.]] Said trauma scarred him so much that [[TheStoic he barely speaks.]]]]

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'': Erina Pendleton has lost her first kiss, her newlywed husband, her son (indirectly), and her daughter-in-law (though she did find her again eventually) to Dio by the time in ''Battle Tendency'' where she's in her 70s, yet keeps a stoic, but exceptionally kind personality that normally wouldn't be seen from women born in her time.

** Kakashi Hatake. At about age 6, father commits suicide. [[spoiler: He only recovers normal human emotions through second traumatic loss for which he blames himself. He also happens to be the sole survivor of his original team. One of the Genin he trained defected from the village and joined a terrorist organisation. To twist the knife further, said student was very similar to Kakashi and declared that he intended to kill everyone in their village, including his remaining students and Kakashi himself. Kakashi is continually late because of visiting the grave/memorial stone of his dead teammate, for whom he feels responsible.]] His only moments of on-screen angsting are at [[spoiler:the Third Hokage's]] funeral and a scene in which he visits the memorial after [[spoiler:the failure to retrieve Sasuke and asks the dead Obito how much he has changed.]] His face when he gets to the site of Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End, too late again, is a study in pain and self-hatred. [[spoiler:He later finds out that his "dead" teammate (the same one whose grave he's constantly visiting) not only survived his "fatal" accident, but is actually the BigBad of the story. And what happened to seal Obito's turn from WideEyedIdealist to DiabolicalMastermind? Witnessing from the shadows as Kakashi was '''forced''' to kill Rin, their other teammate and the girl that Obito was in love with and ''asked him to protect''.]] Considering all that he has gone through, he may very well be the most emotionally broken man in the story.

** [[ChaoticGood Shinji]] [[LovableSexManiac Hirako]] has been through two [[HeroicBSOD break]][[TheScream downs]], one in the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback past]] and one in the present, has seen his friends [[BodyHorror turned into monsters]] and has at one point or another been forced to [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind fight them]], had a [[TheHeartless soul-eating]] [[SuperPoweredEvilSide abomination]] implated into him by the BigBad, and has seen the person he's closest to on the brink of death twice, with the second time leaving [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe her chopped in half at the waist]] - yet every time we see him after those breakdowns, he's either [[StepfordSmiler smiling]] or [[TheStoic emotionless]].

%%Good Evening Editors, If you wish to add more woobies, please consult the cleanup thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900&page=1

* ''Manga/InuYasha'' provides an unexpected example with Sesshoumaru. He starts as a stoic egotistical cold killer, and his whole character arc is basically a huge BreakTheHaughty, mostly done to him by his [[PosthumousCharacter father]]. He feels like the [[TheUnfavorite outcast son]] since he inherits a [[HealingShiv sword]] that cannot kill, instead of getting his father's powerful sword [[{{BFS}} Tessaiga]] that was given to his lowly [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] brother. Through his seeking of Tessaiga or just trying to get more powerful, he gets his [[HandicappedBadass arm chopped off]], [[spoiler: his [[ImpliedLoveInterest potential love interest]] gets [[GoOutWithASmile killed]] off]], and the technique he obtains because of [[PowerAtAPrice this]] can only be [[WhatYouAreInTheDark mastered]] through the death of [[spoiler:his MoralityPet]]. The final straw is when he [[YankTheDogsChain learns]] his sword is just [[spoiler:a cast-off piece of Tessaiga and that this [[StealthMentor technique]] was meant for Inuyasha all along instead of him, a revelation so shocking that even Inuyasha's friends can't believe how [[CruelToBeKind cruel]] Sesshoumaru's father has been. Then [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen powerless]], he's [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll attacked]] by the Shikon no Tama itself and is almost killed]]. During all this he barely shows any emotions and even less says what he's feeling out loud, to the point of [[HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim Jaken emoting for him]].

* Sousuke Sagura from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Especially after his childhood and backstory is shown in ''Kyokuhoku Kara no Koe''. The poor kid suffered together with his beautiful single mother in the middle of ice cold mountains in a crashed airplane (where all other passengers died), saw his mother ''freaking die for him'' before his own eyes, temporarily went mute from shock while he was taken in by the Russian army, got sent away to the KGB to be raised as a child soldier and assassin, got taken in as a child soldier for the resistance in the middle of Afghanistan, the resistance ended up losing the war anyways, and he loses a bunch of his comrades and his kindly father figure... and that's just up until he was eleven years old. He's ''never'' shown to have ever complained or {{wangst}}ed about ''any'' of it, and seems to take all of it in stride. There ''are'' very, very brief moments where his eyes are described to show loneliness, as well as moments where he's shown to have BadDreams about his mother dying.

%%Good Evening Editors, If you wish to add more woobies, please consult the cleanup thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900&page=1
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%%If you see a character listed as a Complete Monster, they don't belong here.
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* TheHero of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', Setsuna F. Seiei, had been tricked by the bloody monster Ali Al-Saachez into murdering his own parents in the name of [[GodIsEvil God]]. Throughout the entire series he openly shows the sadness and anger deep in him; [[TheStoic he never laughs and almost never smiles]] - and the only thing that could probably heal him is Marina Ismail's song, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Tomorrow]].

* Atem/Yami Yugi from ''Manga/YuGiOh''. In his past life he was a Pharaoh who lost his father at the age of fifteen, then had to give up his life and his memories to seal himself and a great evil in the Millennium Puzzle. This plan was presumably for good until Yugi unexpectedly solved the Puzzle and freed him 3,000 years later. He never complains about his loneliness or captivity in the Puzzle, never complains about only being able to exist through Yugi, never complains about having to stop various bad guys using the other Millennium Items for bad ends and never so much as expresses his own desires about things. He comes close to despair a few times but never balks at all the responsibility he has to shoulder.

* Sousuke Sagura from ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Especially after his childhood and backstory is shown in ''Kyokuhoku Kara no Koe''. The poor kid suffered together with his beautiful single mother in the middle of ice cold mountains in a crashed airplane (where all other passengers died), saw his mother ''freaking die for him'' before his own eyes, temporarily went mute from shock while he was taken in by the Russian army, got sent away to the KGB to be raised as a child soldier and assassin, got taken in as a child soldier for the resistance in the middle of Afghanistan, the resistance ended up losing the war anyways, and he loses a bunch of his comrades and his kindly father figure... and that's just up until he was eleven years old. He's ''never'' shown to have ever complained or {{wangst}}ed about ''any'' of it, and seems to take all of it in stride. There ''are'' very, very brief moments where his eyes are described to show loneliness, as well as moments where he's shown to have BadDreams about his mother dying.
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** Fate Testarossa is a DarkMagicalGirl who has been put through hell by the person she loved and then left out in the dry, completely shattered. Nevertheless, she manages to get up on her feet and lead a relatively normal life. In the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs second season]], she is trapped in a LotusEaterMachine where said person loves her back and her CoolBigSis is alive--and one of the reasons she can wake up from it is her realization that this reality is treating her too good. In other words, ''she uses the level of her own suffering to determine if the current reality is fake''.
** Also, the LadyOfWar Signum and other Wolkenritter from season two. [[spoiler:Fate has been through roughly a year of abuse by her maddened mother. The Wolkenritter are implied to have been through ''centuries'' of abuse by various masters who treated them like crap and whose orders they could not disobey. Then, after they finally find a master who loves them in Hayate who treats them like humans, it turns out that [[TomeOfEldritchLore The Book of Darkness]], the source of their magic, is slowly killing Hayate. Thus they begin stealing Linker Cores in a desperate attempt to keep Hayate alive]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''
** [[ChaoticGood Shinji]] [[LovableSexManiac Hirako]] has been through two [[HeroicBSOD break]][[TheScream downs]], one in the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback past]] and one in the present, has seen his friends [[BodyHorror turned into monsters]] and has at one point or another been forced to [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind fight them]], had a [[TheHeartless soul-eating]] [[SuperPoweredEvilSide abomination]] implated into him by the BigBad, and has seen the person he's closest to on the brink of death twice, with the second time leaving [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe her chopped in half at the waist]] - yet every time we see him after those breakdowns, he's either [[StepfordSmiler smiling]] or [[TheStoic emotionless]].
** Ryuuken Ishida initially appears to be cold, aloof, bitter, sarcastic and hypercritical. Then it's hinted that BeneathTheMask he might be gentle and protective. Then a WholeEpisodeFlashback arc reveals he used to be a warm and kind personality with high hopes for the future of the quincies until Aizen's Hollowfication experiments incidentally destroyed his ArrangedMarriage and he was forced to sacrifice that hope. Then it's revealed he could not fix the problem and had to stand aside while a shinigami fixed it instead. Then his [[MarryForLove wife]] was killed [[spoiler:and an attempt was made on his young son's life]] when a folkloric quincy prophecy came true. In the current storyline, he and his son Uryuu are badly estranged because Uryuu is furious that Ryuuken refuses both to use his quincy powers AND to explain his refusal. Ryuuken has downright encouraged his son to come to the worst possible conclusions about his motivations and we still don't know exactly why. Yet not once during all this has Ryuuken complained about how his life has turned out.
* Unsui Kongo from ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}''. Where to begin...from the day he was born he's been compared to and completely overshadowed by his brother, who's better than him in every possible way without even ''trying''. He puts himself through TrainingFromHell, but no matter how hard he works he'll only be a "good" player who'll never be half as brilliant as his lazy brother. Said brother, Agon, is a total jerk to him (and to everyone else) but gets away with it because he's just THAT special. Yet despite having every reason to angst and despise Agon, he instead focuses all his energy into helping his brother live up to his full potential. On top of that, whenever someone starts to feel sorry for him, he tells them not to bother themselves with someone like him.

* Kaname Kuran from ''Manga/VampireKnight''. He's had just as much shit happen to him, if not more, than fellow Woobie Zero, it's just that he doesn't Wangst about it.
* Kurama from ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is a particularly excruciating case of this with moments of ''very'' justified {{Mangst}}.
* Wolfwood from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. The SuperSoldier formula treatments he was subjected to give him a HealingFactor and also make him age at a similarly accelerated rate. He probably knows ''he'd'' never make it to forty even if his body was capable of it, so what does it matter? And he never complains about it. Ever. He has a really grim worldview and gets mad at Vash for [[WideEyedIdealist optimism]], but he doesn't seem to feel that he, personally, has a raw deal.

* Yoite and Miharu from ''Manga/NabariNoOu'' fit this trope. Both are stoic and aloof, yet do their best to hide their pain from everyone around them.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'' provides an unexpected example with Sesshoumaru. He starts as a stoic egotistical cold killer, and his whole character arc is basically a huge BreakTheHaughty, mostly done to him by his [[PosthumousCharacter father]]. He feels like the [[TheUnfavorite outcast son]] since he inherits a [[HealingShiv sword]] that cannot kill, instead of getting his father's powerful sword [[{{BFS}} Tessaiga]] that was given to his lowly [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] brother. Through his seeking of Tessaiga or just trying to get more powerful, he gets his [[HandicappedBadass arm chopped off]], [[spoiler: his [[ImpliedLoveInterest potential love interest]] gets [[GoOutWithASmile killed]] off]], and the technique he obtains because of [[PowerAtAPrice this]] can only be [[WhatYouAreInTheDark mastered]] through the death of [[spoiler:his MoralityPet]]. The final straw is when he [[YankTheDogsChain learns]] his sword is just [[spoiler:a cast-off piece of Tessaiga and that this [[StealthMentor technique]] was meant for Inuyasha all along instead of him, a revelation so shocking that even Inuyasha's friends can't believe how [[CruelToBeKind cruel]] Sesshoumaru's father has been. Then [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen powerless]], he's [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll attacked]] by the Shikon no Tama itself and is almost killed]]. During all this he barely shows any emotions and even less says what he's feeling out loud, to the point of [[HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim Jaken emoting for him]].
* The eponymous character in ''Franchise/BlackRockShooter''. She seems to be crushed with the weight of the world, and [[AlternateContinuity depending on the incarnation]], might not even be able to speak. When [[spoiler:VideoGame/BlackRockShooter Stella]] BRS breaks her stoicism and say what is in her heart, it's tears-inducing.
* Jeremy from ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' is a mixture of this and the TinMan. After he finds out [[spoiler: his mother knew his stepfather was sexually abusing him all along]], Ian [[spoiler: doesn't believe him when he admits to the abuse]], he runs away back to Boston and [[spoiler: works as a teenaged prostitute and becomes a FunctionalAddict to drown out his post traumatic stress disorder]], [[spoiler: [[BungledSuicide attempts to kill himself three times]]]], and is then brought back to England by Ian to recover, Jeremy denies feeling anything toward sex, pain, love, and emotional attachment in general. He also suffers from a case of the ThousandYardStare quite often. But whenever anyone brings any of this up, he denies that anything is wrong and usually yells at them that [[DontYouDarePityMe he doesn't need or deserve their sympathy or help]].
* Ryu of ''Manga/KimiNiTodoke'' has it pretty difficult; arguably, he's had it a lot worse than any of the other main characters, being in unrequited (at least for now) [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest love with his childhood friend]] and having lost his mother to a car accident when he was little: to add salt to the wound, she died ''whilst driving to pick him up from school''. This doesn't stop him being the least outwardly emotional character in the whole series.
* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer''
** Mako Reizei typically appears somewhat aloof and slightly bored, but she has a fairly difficult life. Her parents died in an accident when she was in elementary school, and [[PartingWordsRegret the last time she spoke with her mother, they had an argument]], leaving her [[NeverGotToSayGoodbye unable to apologize]]. Her only remaining family is her elderly grandmother, who has collapsed several times, worrying Mako to the point at which she can't sleep well.
** Maho Nishizumi. The entire reason why she serves as the Nishizumi heiress, which forces her to live up to her mother's expectations and often act coldly toward her younger sister Miho is so that Miho will be free to choose her own path in life. Unfortunately, her mother makes it clear that she doesn't approve of several of Miho's choices, causing her to leave tankery for a while, which was not what Maho hoped would happen. Maho seems quite distressed when her mother considers disowning Miho, especially since it would seem to void all her sacrifices.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'''s Aoshi started as a [[{{ChildSoldiers}} child soldier]], became AFatherToHisMen but had to watch his side lose without proving themselves, passed up all his personal opportunities to stay with those who couldn't make their own lives in the new era, [[spoiler: had to [[{{MyGreatestFailure}} watch them die to protect him]]]], [[spoiler: and finally turned DeathSeeker to [[{{ShrineToTheFallen}} honor them]]]]. Through it all he barely expresses ''anger'', let alone anything else. Though he might move into IronWoobie territory since [[spoiler: even after his HeelFaceTurn and lots of meditating he goes back on a path of violence when he doesn't have to, albeit that one at least with noble goals [[labelnote:*]](as a ninja-hunting vigilante, to stop secret arts being used to hurt people)[[/labelnote]]]].
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Levi has experienced [[spoiler:nearly all his closest friends and comrades killed in various cruel ways from before the beginning of the series up until now, but has kept a mostly expressionless face throughout.]] Mikasa would also count to a lesser degree.

* ''Anime/TweenyWitches'': [[spoiler:Jidan is the father of Lennon and Arusu. During his research as an AdventurerArchaeologist, he accidentally fell into the Magical Realm, where he was found and wrongfully imprisoned by Grande. He secretly married his rescuer, Atelia, for love against the law of the witches, resulting in the birth of Lennon. With the help of Wil, he went on board a ship for the Human Realm with his son and the True Book of Spells in hopes of preventing further conflicts over the book, as well as the persecution his mixed-race family would face in the traditionalist society of the Witch Realm. He made it to his home dimension, but not before an accident tore him apart from his son on the Interdimensional Sea. He left his new family for the Magical Realm in search of his son, only to endure the last 6 years of imprisonment alone until he becomes cellmates with Sigma. Later, the warlocks capture his son away in his daughter's place, implicitly threatening to kill both the father and son unless they reveal the whereabouts of the True Book of Spells. He manages to break out of prison together with his cellmate, whereupon he offers himself to Luca's men in his first wife's place and secretly returns home to the Human Realm. Despite all of his predicament, he only loses his stoicism a few times.]]

* Kishou Arima from ''Manga/TokyoGhoul''. Hinted at in the {{Prequel}} ''Jack'', and expanded upon in the {{Sequel}} '':Re''. Known for his stoic demeanor, his personal thoughts remain guarded and no one really understands him until his DayInTheLimelight chapter. [[spoiler: Bred as a TykeBomb, he was a failed HalfHumanHybrid born with enhanced physical abilities, but a significantly shortened lifespan. Though a gentle person at heart, he was forced to serve a GovernmentConspiracy, killing for his masters without any hope of obtaining the freedom or [[IJustWantToBeNormal normal life]] he secretly craved. Over the 18 years he worked as an Investigator, the guilt over killing caused him to become a DeathSeeker, seeing no other way to escape. He was also SecretlyDying, slowly going blind as his body broke down from accelerated aging, and forced to supervise the experiment to create his own replacement. Finally defeated by his protege, he commits suicide and confesses his secrets to Kaneki before dying in his surrogate son's arms -- finally feeling he had something good to leave behind]]. In spite of all this, he never complains, at most offering a wistful comment about enjoying an undercover assignment as an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent. His poker face is so good, other characters and the audience alike failed to realize the full scale of just how miserable he really was the entire time.