Forced To Watch / Anime & Manga

• Berserk:
  • This happens to Guts in supremely heinous fashion during the end of the Eclipse when he is forced to watch his lover Casca be brutally raped to the point of insanity by his best friend turned Big Bad Griffith, who has become a demon god named Femto. He tries to reach her by chiseling off his own arm which was trapped in the jaws of a demon, only to have Femto hurl him in the air with a telekinetic counter. When Guts tries to get back up from that, he is then dogpiled by more demons before he can and is forced to watch the rape as one of the demons holding him down stabs its claw into his right eye. It's made even more heinous in that Casca was forced to look at Guts in the middle of her rape by Femto when he began to rape her from behind. Not only is Casca being degraded more and worse by the minute, but she has to look at Guts while it happens, and it's heartbreaking to see Casca beg Guts not to look at her during her last sane moments, even though he's just as forced to look on while he's still trying to get to her.
  • Earlier (but later chronologically), in volume two of the manga, Vargas, the kind but deformed and revenge-driven fugitive, recounts how he was forced to watch as the Count ate his wife and children. This alluded to Guts's own experience with Griffith.
  • And Guts forced Theresia, the Count's twelve-year-old daughter, to watch as he stabbed the mutilated but still living Count dozens of times. He actually dragged the Count over to her so she'd have a front-row seat. True to form, this was one of Guts's darker moments.
  • In the Elfhelm arc, Guts gets hit with this again when Griffith shows up, No Sells every swing he tries to land with the Dragonslayer, and then proceeds to make off with Casca without Guts being able to do anything but watch, sending Guts into the Despair Event Horizon.
• In Black Bird (2006): Kyo's brother Sojo threatens Kyo with this (more exactly, with ravishing his girlfriend, Misao).
• In Blazblue Alter Memory, after delivering a brutal thrashing to Noel and Makoto, Hazama tortures Makoto to enrage Noel and disable her Bolverk's limiter.
• In Bleach:
  • Nnoitra orders Tesla to beat Ichigo to death while forcing Orihime to watch. The hold he uses to restrain her includes forcing his fingers down her throat, a known Japanese porn kink that in this scene alludes to Nnoitra's desire to rape her, something Ulquiorra has previously admonished him over. The anime revisualised this manga scene to a more innocent portrayal of Nnoitra simply clamping his hand over her mouth.
  • When Ulquiorra finally defeats Ichigo, Uryuu and Orihime arrive just in time to see Ulquiorra grab Ichigo by the neck. Ulquiorra insists Orihime watch as he blasts a huge hole in Ichigo's chest. As Orihime desperately tries to heal him, she has no choice but to watch her defensive shield be torn away from its attempt to protect Uryuu, who then has his hand severed (manga) or badly broken (anime) by Ulquiorra. Being unable to save either of them and having this as a corollary of the immense Break the Cutie process she's been subjected to through the whole arc sends the girl into a massive Heroic BSoD. It doesn't last long, however, as Ichigo is revitalized into a stronger, Hollowfied form, much to Ulquiorra's complete bafflement.
• Happens more than once in Case Closed, being a mystery series and all. For example, Conan and his friends are given a tablet supposedly coming from Officer Takagi — and when Takagi's girlfriend Sato turns it on, they see it's connected to a camera that shows them a kidnapped Takagi who's Bound and Gagged inside a Death Trap. So either they find and free him soon, or they'll only be able to watch as he dies — either by hanging in a makeshift gallow, by being blown up by a time bomb, or simply by freezing to death. (He's rescued in the nick of time, though.)
• Crimson Spell:
  • Inverted when Gile forces a Brainwashed and Crazy Havi to attend him while he tortures and sexually taunts Vald, Havi's lover and Protectorate. Havi barely has the faculties to stand, much less to absorb what's happening, but Vald responds immediately to the humiliation.
  • Later in the manga, Astador, takes advantage of this to intimidate his look-alike, Rimris. Astador threatens to rape Vald in front of Rimris just to make him watch Vald suffering at the hands of someone with his own face.
• In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, near the end of Side: Despair, a prequel to the events of the first game. Junko traps Chiaki in an unescapable Death Course and the rest of her classmates in a room surrounded by monitors showing Chiaki's situation. As Chiaki continues getting wounded through the maze, the others are incapable of rushing to save her as Junko modified the monitors to force the victims to stare at the screen and can't look away no matter what. After Chiaki is executed, her friends are driven into becoming Ultimate Despair as Junko leads them to devastate the whole world.
• Happens in Deadman Wonderland to Ganta when he is strapped down and made to watch Senji lose an eye during a penalty game. There was no point to this; Tamaki was just being a dick.
• In Detective School Q, while she and Ryu investigate a girl's vanishment in a Boarding School, Megumi is caught and kidnapped by a mysterious masked man. She finds herself Bound and Gagged and is forced to watch as said masked man kills the also kidnapped Student Council President by smashing a bottle in his head. Few later, Ryu and other kids find a video featuring this as well as how the masked man threateningly approaches poor Megu and the scene goes to black, implying he's killed her too. He has not, and Megu is released unharmed but very shaken by what she had to see.
• In Digimon Tamers, the D-Reaper forces Sakuyamon and Gallantmon to watch Beelzemon fall to his death by sending a Zerg Rush of its Agents at the former and physically restraining the latter. Gallantmon can't break free, and by the time Sakuyamon is done with the Agents Beelzemon's too far away for her to help. Fortunately, he's not too far away for Grani to help.
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • During the Saiyan Saga, Vegeta calls for a three-hour break in the fight to give Goku more time to get there — because, as a "traitor to the Saiyan race", he wants Goku to watch his friends die first. This doesn't work out for him.
  • After nearly being killed by the Spirit Bomb, Frieza goes out of his way to torture Goku. First by shooting Piccolo (in the anime Frieza tries to shoot Goku, but Piccolo pushed him out of the way) and murders Krillin by blowing him up from the inside out. He then threatened to do the same with Gohan. Needless to say, this was a very bad idea.
  • When Goku is having the life sucked out of him by Android 19, Android 20/Dr. Gero stands in the way of the other Z-Fighters and tells them they're going to stand there and watch Goku die unless they can get past him, emphasizing this by shooting Piccolo in the chest with his Eye Beams. Of course, he doesn't account for Vegeta showing up to save Goku.
  • In order to hit Gohan's Berserk Button and see his true power firsthand, Cell spawns seven Cell Jr.'s and then sics them on the other Z Fighters while Gohan watches helplessly, and finally pushes Gohan over the edge when he crushes Android 16's still-living head underfoot right in front of him. At this, Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2 and promptly annihilates the Cell Jr.'s before wiping the floor with Cell.
• Elfen Lied:
  • During Lucy's childhood, some cruel kids forced her to watch as they beat a puppy to death that she had started caring for. They did not survive the consequences.
  • Later in the manga, Lucy herself does this to Kurama, as she forces him to watch how she kills his secretaries and brutally dismembers his two daughters (killing the youngest) in revenge for having killed her second best friend and imprisoning her in a laboratory with others of her kind to be experimented on like an animal.
• In Haou Airen, this happens thrice. In two of these times, the person forced to watch is the same:
  • First, Kaafai is forced to witness how Hakuron rapes his girlfriend Kurumi, whom Kaafai himself has just befriended. This turns out to be VERY plot-important: it inspires the mentally broken Kaafai to join the police, learn how to handle guns... and to shoot Hakuron dead the next time their paths cross.
  • Also used when a rival Triad gang kidnaps Kurumi, and their leader has Hakuron watch via video as he strips and molests her.
• In The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (the movie followup of Haruhi Suzumiya), Alt!Yuki is forced to watch when Ryoko Asakura stabs Kyon. Ryoko even spins around, waves the knife, and splatters blood on Yuki's face!
• Played with in Hell Girl. A little girl named Tsugumi Shibata is somehow able to see through Ai Enma's eyes as the Hell Girl meets with her clients, and she uses this ability to help her Intrepid Reporter father Hajime track the clients down and attempt to tell them not to take Ai's deals. As an adult, she still has this skill.
• Seras Victoria from Hellsing has a rather dark and disturbing backstory, which seems to have happened when she was very young. It consists of her father being murdered by burglars, her mother hiding her in a cupboard to protect her, and her mother's subsequent murder by the same burglars. Seras tries to exact revenge by stabbing one of the guys in the eye with a fork; she gets shot for her trouble and one of the perpetrators proceeds to rape her mother's corpse, due to it being "still warm". In full view of little Seras, who lies on the ground bleeding profusely.
• In Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • The maddened Shion decides to lock her twin Mion up and torture all of her friends where she can hear (but not see) it before finally killing her. Shion rubs salt in the wound by pretending to be Mion the entire time, so the real Mion is forced to hear her friends crying out begging Mion to stop torturing them.
  • Later on Takano kills all of the True Companions in front of each other.
  • On a much larger scale, Hanyuu has to watch each timeloop, forced to see her best friend and everyone else die, without being able to physically interact or help until the final world.
• InuYasha: In Episode 51, Gatenmaru, after trapping Inuyasha and Miroku in an acidic cocoon, decides to show them just how helpless they are before they die by making them watch as he kills and eats innocent village women For the Evulz. He gets his just desserts when Inuyasha succumbs to his Superpowered Evil Side and rips him apart.
• Played for Laughs in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, where the rival gang member Zucchero, having been defeated and reduced to a living disembodied head, is interrogated by Narancia, Mista, and Fugo on the whereabouts of his partner. When he refuses to speak, they hang him by an eyelid from a fish hook, burn his eyes with eyeglass lenses in the harsh sunlight, and to add insult to injury, they suddenly and inexplicably start dancing in sync while Zucchero dangles helplessly, unable to do anything but watch his tormentors break out some moves in a brief Disney Acid Sequence.
  • Played less for laughs is Diavolo's murder of Sorbet and Gelato: he had Sorbet sawed apart into over twenty pieces while he was still alive, while Gelato, supposedly his lover, was tied and gagged to a chair and forced to witness the violent death of his partner. Unable to bear the sight, Gelato proceeds to commit suicide by choking himself with his gag.
    • Made even worse in the anime with the addition that Sorbet's killer was Cioccolata, who was implied to be planning to make an example of Gelato to La Squadra as well.
• Kagerou Project: Outer Science, which describes the story's possible bad end, is three and a half minutes of Mary being forced to watch all of her friends die horrible deaths at the hands of the Wide-Open Eyes Snake — possessing her newest friend, Konoha — as driving her to despair is the only way he can convince her to reset the timeloop.
  • On a similar note, this happens to Shintaro in every route where his Eye Power is activated. He gets to see every single loop where they failed to stop the Big Bad killing everyone. There are a lot of them. In many routes, it's either far too late to do anything about it, or seeing it drives him to suicide.
• Played for Laughs in Kamen no Maid Guy, when Kogarashi punishes a Psycho Lesbian who has installed a hidden camera in his (female) master's bathroom. Kogarashi paralyses her with a Brown Note and forces her to watch an overweight 40-year old man take a bath in the nude, with closeups as he starts washing his 'private parts'.
• In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, Hayate had to watch two people disguised as her friends slaughter her family and taunt her about it (on Christmas Eve no less). This caused her to snap and start The End of the World as We Know It, which was exactly what Liesearia and Lieselotte, along with their master, Admiral Graham wanted, since they intended to seal her and the Book of Darkness away to contain the threat of the Lost Logia forever.
• Moo is fond of this in Monster Rancher:
  • When the rest of the Searchers come to rescue the kidnapped Holly, Moo taunts her about her inability to do anything to help her friends while he's throwing them around, goading them to hate him even more.
  • Near the climax of the second season, he captures and tortures Pixie, ripping off her wings in front of everyone else present, mocking the idea of them trying to resist him.
• The Mystical Laws: After Shou willingly got himself captured by the Godoms after his mission to deactivate the Ultimate Destruction Weapon failed, Tathagata Killer televised the man's crucifixion and subsequent execution by firing squad for the world to see, forcing all citizens of the Empire to watch Shou die or otherwise be arrested for treason.
• Naruto:
  • Itachi has twice used his Mind Rape abilities to make Sasuke watch as Itachi murders their entire family over and over and over again.
  • Also, in the Chuunin Exams arc, a trio of genin under the orders of Orochimaru captured Sakura when she was looking after the comatose Naruto and Sasuke. The girl of the team grabs Sakura by her hair and says her companions should kill the incapacitated boys in front of her before killing her — Sakura reacts via cutting her own hair to free herself and doing what she can to fend them off despite knowing she barely can handle this. This causes Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji to step in, and later they're followed by the recovered sorta Sasuke.
• Silvana "Intoccabile" Greone is introduced in Noir when she forces a traitor in The Mafia ranks to listen to his wife and baby being executed in the next room.
• One Piece:
  • Nami and Nojiko's adoptive mother, Bellemere, allows herself to be executed by Arlong for being unable to pay the exorbitant taxes the Fishman Pirates forced upon the people of Cocoyasi Village (briefly renamed Arlong Park), under the circumstances that the two young girls be spared. Genzo, the town's sheriff, tries to stop Arlong and save her, but is quickly incapacitated by Kuroobi. Genzo, Nojiko and Nami can only watch helplessly as Arlong murders Bellemere right in front of them.
  • After curb-stomping Ace at Marineford, Akainu tells him to watch as he kills his adoptive brother Luffy right before his eyes. Ace ends up having to take a lethal blow from the admiral to save Luffy's life, at the cost of his own.
  • In Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, the titular Baron pins Luffy's limbs with his arrows as his crew is absorbed into the Lily Carnation, with him helpless to do anything about it. Brief likewise had this happen to him as well.
• In RideBack, though it only gets to implying such before he gives in, the main character's brother is forced to give false confession by threatening to rape his sister in front of him.
• Averted in Rurouni Kenshin. Because Enishi did not force Kenshin to watch as he "killed" his love interest Kaoru even though he knew what effect it would have on Kenshin, this... set off Aoshi's suspicion that Kaoru was not dead at all. He was right.
• In the 9th episode of the 90s anime version of Sailor Moon, the Monster of the Week freezes Sailor Mercury in place, insisting on forcing her to watch helplessly as she makes Sailor Moon suffer before killing her.
• In Saint Seiya, it takes place once in a while. The biggest example is Cancer Deathmask using his Psychic Powers not only to restrain a girl named Shunrei and lift her up several meters over a waterfall located at the other side of the world... but to force her prospect boyfriend/adoptive brother Shiryu to watch as he tosses her into the waterfall and to her death. Though this massively backfires, via pressing Shiryu's biggest Berserk Button to the core and sending him into a huge and glorious Unstoppable Rage. (And it turns out Shunrei survived thanks to Old Master Dohko's efforts.)
• In Shaman King, Faust VIII has Yoh forcibly restrained by skeletons and forces him to watch as he vivisects Manta.
• Happens more than once in Tokyo Ghoul.
  • After seriously injuring Kaneki, Nishiki forces him to watch while he abuses an unconscious Hide. It does not end well for Nishiki.
  • When several days of Cold-Blooded Torture fail to sufficiently break Kaneki, Yamori decides to change tactics. He brings in a mother and child, part of a group Kaneki had given himself up to protect, and offers a Sadistic Choice: he's going to kill one of them, and Kaneki has to choose. When he refuses to play along, Yamori gets angry and simply kills both prisoners while he watches helplessly. This leads to Kaneki having a mental breakdown and finding the strength to turn the tables on his captor.
  • During the finale, the One-Eyed Owl forces a wounded Juuzou to watch while it tortures his Parental Substitute, Shinohara.
• In Wolf Guy - Wolfen Crest, Akira Inugami arrives at Haguro's house in search of hints about where he and his goons are keeping and continuously gang-raping his Morality Chain, Akiko Aoshika. He only finds a goon there and said goon forces him watch a video where she's yet again being raped... by Haguro himself. The horrifying discovery sends out the normally Tall, Dark, and Snarky werewolf into a MASSIVE sobbing breakdown.
• The Yaoi manga Yondaime Ooyaato Tatsuyuki shows in a flashback that the main character as a young boy got forced by his father to look at his dead bodyguard who died protecting him to teach him not to show weakness as a future Yakuza gang leader. He can't do it and ends up running away while crying.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • At some point Marik not only brainwashed Joey to force him into a Duel to the Death with Yugi and the Spirit of the Puzzle, but holds Tea hostage in another Death Trap that will be activated if anyone else intervenes. So several characters (Kaiba, Mokuba, Mai, Tristen and Serenity [so to say, she has bandages over her eyes]) are forced to stand there and not be able to help Yugi (who did tell the Spirit to let him save Joey on his own) in any way.
  • Later, the anime states that the real Marik Ishtar's soul is dormant within Dark Marik, and now he's forced to see how his Superpowered Evil Side wrecks havoc. He has to borrow Tea's body for a short while to talk to his sister Ishizu and tell her what's going on.
• In the climax of the 'Saint Beasts' arc in YuYu Hakusho, Suzaku has a giant screen showing the footage of Botan and Keiko being hunted down by his bug-zombies. At first, this serves mostly as a distraction, but as Yusuke increasingly gets the worse end of the fight and things get tighter and tighter for Keiko, it gets closer to torture, culminating in Yusuke on the ground, beaten past moving, while the zombies close in on Keiko. (Botan is not in real danger, as her real form is a spirit the zombies can't touch.)

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