Realism Induced Horror / Western Animation

• Surprisingly, even a show like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog has a genuine terror under its belt. For all of Robotnik's evil schemes, they're usually presented as cartoonish and outlandish. But in the episode "Mass Transit Trouble", he commits outright terrorism. His plan is to have his dumb-bots plant three time bombs at three major transit centers around Mobius. This is not helped by his henchbots being smarter than usual... Sonic is driven to the very brink of collapse in gathering the bombs and almost doesn’t make it in time. What’s worse is Robotnik (who never directly interacts with Sonic in the episode) doesn’t really get punished for this besides a personal injury upon learning his plan failed. This episode has the distinction of being banned TWICE. Once in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombings, and again in the wake of the September 11th attacks, even being Bowdlerized on Toon Disney.
• American Dad!:
  • "The American Dad After School Special" displays a realistic portrayal of anorexia. When Stan becomes insecure about his weight, he skips meals for weeks until he is nothing but skin and bones, and even then, he still views himself as obese. Stan even goes so far as to invent an imaginary trainer in Zack, fueled purely by his insecurities and ego; many people have done similar things to tell themselves they're justified in the way they act.
  • "A.T. the Abusive Terrestrial" has Roger move in with a nine-year-old boy named Henry, who repeatedly beats and insults him, constantly makes fake apologies, uses Crocodile Tears, and even resorts to threatening the lives of him and his loved ones if he tries to escape or they try to help him. The subject of Domestic Abuse is played completely straight here even if it's only a child because people like Henry do exist in real life and use the same tactics on their victims.
• The world of Amphibia is a terrifying place wrought with things such as Big Creepy-Crawlies, cannibal toads and an evil monarch bent on inter-dimensional domination. But one of the most truly unnerving things comes in how the Calamity Trio ( Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu) had their relationship fall apart as the three adjust to their new home and, at first, seem to become worse overtime. Especially true for Sasha Waybright who became The Bully to Anne and Marcy before landing in Amphibia, only to have these traits initially inflated when given actual military power.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force:
  • The episode "Party All the Time" is about Frylock dealing with the possibility of having cancer via melanoma. Just the mere possibility is enough to scare him into taking every precaution until his results come in. By the end of it all (not counting the bizarre dream sequence) Frylock is a disheveled mess, face sunken in, his fries all but completely gone and the sore on his face has grown. Shake, Meatwad and Carl are absolutely distraught at the very real possibility that he could die any day and have no idea how to handle things. For anyone who has had to deal with a family member or friend going through a terminal illness this episode can really hurt. And while Frylock does get a clean bill of health? There are people who have ruined themselves through similar close calls.
  • While the episode "Knapsack!" is largely an adult parody of Dora the Explorer, it also delves into themes of exploitation, manipulation and sexual abuse. Cherry Jubilee is apart of an online porno ring being run by Knapsacky. He manipulates her into believing he actually cares about her as a person, when he really just wants the money she makes off the videos. Among other things she is degraded, forced to eat dog food and is heavily implied to be underage. None of her treatment is Played for Laughs and it really does feel like something that could actually happen in real life.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Ozai is a tyrannical Fire Lord who heads a war against the entire planet and tries to become the ruler of all the kingdoms. His most reprehensible behavior is his Domestic Abuse of his wife, children, and to a lesser extent his older brother. The comics made it worse by revealing he and Ursa were never in love. His father, Fire Lord Azulon, forced an Arranged Marriage between the two to breed powerful children for the family, and the children were conceived under dubious consent.
  • "City of Walls and Secrets" is one of the most terrifying episodes of the series — not because of creepy spirits like Koh or Sorcerous Overlords like Ozai, but its depiction of a Police State. While the Dai Li are benders too, this is not what makes them scary.
• Batman: The Animated Series:
  • The episode "Joker's Favor" features The Everyman Charlie Collins accidentally snapping at The Joker during one bad day. And from then on he is relentlessly stalked, harassed and threatened by the Clown Prince of Crime for 2 years. Even discounting The Joker's criminal insanity, what makes this extra terrifying is that Charlie is just a normal guy who had a rotten day. Because he snapped at the wrong guy? He lived every waking moment in fear for the lives of himself and his family. In the age of the modern day internet troll this behavior has sadly become far more commonplace. It is played as a situation anyone could find themselves in.
  • "Lock-Up" has the warden Lyle Bolton essentially turn Arkham Asylum into a concentration camp. As time goes by and the failure of mass incarcerations become more apparent, Lock-Up's "tough on crime" mentality becomes more terrifying and relevant being a living embodiment of police brutality and how the prison systems abuse inmates; oftentimes making them worse than they were before their incarceration. What makes Bolton especially terrifying even compared to Batman's other rogues is that people like him have similarly abused their authority and power in real life.
  • "Showdown" reveals that Arkady Duvall has been forced to serve what can be described as worse than a life sentence after he was apprehended by Jonah Hex. Ignoring the fact that his lifespan was enhanced by the Lazarus Pit, Duvall was forced to serve a 50 year sentence of hard labor; which had utterly destroyed him in mind, body and soul. As Ra's Al Ghul said "Nobody expected he would complete those years." Tons of people have lived to ripe old age and essentially become prisoners in their own body, never mind the fact that sentences like Duvall's are still carried out in this day and age.
• Beavis And Butthead doesn't typically delve into this sort of material between the stoner comedy and music video commentaries. But one of those commentaries delves into this. In-between the episode "Drones", as our duo is commentating on a deadmau5 video, Beavis describes in incredibly graphic detail how the school grief counselor drugged, raped, and threw him under a bridge. The counselor even told Beavis nobody would believe him if he told them. For context? Even Butt-Head is visibly disturbed by this! For anyone who has been raped or molested at a young age, this can actually hit home very hard.
• Bob's Burgers:
  • An In-Universe version happens in "Sliding Bobs". When learning that Bob's mustache played a part in Bob and Linda getting together, the kids tell three very different version of what would've happen if he hadn't had it when they met. While Gene and Louise tell ridiculous stories involving overly-advanced technology and magic respectively and are meant to make fun of Bob, Tina's story where Linda marries Hugo (Hugo using meat from real dogs to make hot dogs aside) is much more realistic and possible. Linda is stuck in a marriage to a husband she doesn't love, Bob's never opens a restaurant like he dreamed and has the real Hugo's health inspector job (which he likes just as little as the real Hugo likes his), and Linda's and Hugo's children are so far removed from how Gene and Louise act that it frightens them.
  • Part of what makes Gloria such a detestable character in later seasons is that she's not very over-the-top in her actions—she's a rather accurate portrayal of an Abusive Parent who gaslights her own family and takes advantage of her daughter's seemingly limitless generosity.
• Bojack Horseman enters this territory quite frequently, most frequently with its fairly realistic depictions of abuse, addiction, and mental illness, which helps further the show's central themes of how celebrity can be damaging (particularly for someone who entered stardom very young) and how trauma can often be passed from one generation to the next.
• CatDog: Even in a show that's central theme is the world barreling down on its main characters, "The Geekers" stands out as a realistically unnerving episode. Tired of dealing with the Greasers abuse, CatDog and some of their friends form a club for those that have been at their mercy. Overtime though, the Geekers become meaner and meaner until they're no better -if not worse- than the Greasers themselves. A lot of real life street gangs do start out as a means to escape violence or oppression before they become just as violent as their former oppressors.
  • "The Cat Club" also qualifies. Cat joins what he believes is a cat-only club meant to show pride in how great cats are. With Dog disguised as "Doug" they join and learn the club is actually a cat-supremacist group that sees dogs as "despicable and inferior creatures not fit to walk the earth". Going so far as to build a device meant to eradicate dogs any anyone who would associate with them. Barring the exaggerated machine, this is not far off from how certain social clubs have built and disguised themselves to hide their being cults or racist-supremacy gatherings.
• Code Lyoko: While XANA is often mocked for its overcomplicated and silly attacks, it can also do more simple attacks which hit really close to home.
  • In "Revelation", it simply sends a text message to Odd, pretending to be a secret admirer to lure him into the woods, and traps him into a well with a hose spraying water down to drown him. This is a simple yet effective strategy adopted by kidnappers and predators who want to lure naive children and teens in an isolated place to further their goals.
  • An example of Technology Marches On: some attacks which were based on hacking a vehicle seemed silly in the 2000s, but not so much today because of the amount of electronics in vehicles and the advent of automatic versions.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Compared to most of the exaggerated villains and schemes the KND face on a daily basis? Chester's very first appearance in "Operation: C.A.M.P." is exactly what it entails. A child labor camp where the children are brainwashed into making cheap affordable lanyards and wallets. Considering the existence of Troubled Teen Camps (essentially concentration camps for children), it makes Chester the most realistically monstrous villain in the series.
  • While Father is easily the scariest villain in the series due to his pyrokinetic and shapeshifting abilities, what makes him truly terrifying is that he is basically an abusive parent. The way he constantly berates and threatens The Delightful Children From Down the Lane, his own HENCHMEN, to the point where they cower in fear any time he raises his voice. To make matters worse they aren't even his children! Father kidnapped and brainwashed the Sector Z operatives into becoming his slaves. Even after this reveal, nobody knows how they can permanently reverse what he did, as they will go back to The Delightful Children at any moment.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog:
  • The show filled with all kinds of fantastical and sci-fi threats, but Mad Dog is considered one of the scariest villains to appear — even though (or perhaps because) there's nothing supernatural about him aside from being an anthropomorphic dog. A big part of this is due to him being a disturbingly authentic portrayal of a domestic abuser who controls his girlfriend Bunny with threats and acts of violence, all while isolating her from people who could help her and using emotional manipulation to his advantage.
  • Although Freaky Fred is a Sweeney Todd expy who speaks in rhyme in his inner monologues and only wants to shave people, he remains one of the most infamous characters from the entire show because his obsession with cutting hair is disturbingly reminiscent of a fetish, and is so out of control that it ruined his love life and career. There are many people in the real world, from serial killers to sex offenders to regular people who let their obsessions overtake their lives until they can't function normally anymore.
  • Magical quilt and two heads aside, the Stitch Sisters and their Quilt Club are a disturbingly accurate depiction of a cult; they prey upon Muriel's desire for friends and acceptance, they made their club seem so irresistible that she runs herself ragged to please them, isolating herself from her family in the process. Her mental and physical health sharply declines, and she's so obsessed with joining the club that she forgets who her husband is. Now that they know they have her hooked, the Stitch Sisters let Muriel into the Quilt Club, where they intend to keep her trapped, completely cut off from the outside world, and forced against her will to serve their illicit purposes, powerless to stop it due to her physical exhaustion and because she's convinced herself that it's for the best.
  • The Cruel Veterinarian from "Remembrance of Courage Past" turns out to be the man primarily responsible for Courage's fear and anxiety. When Courage was just a baby, the Veterinarian kidnapped Courage's parents and put them on a rocket to the moon as part of an experiment, separating the young pup from his parents for the rest of their lives. While people (probably) aren't still shooting dogs into space anymore, animal experimentation is still a very real thing.
• The Cuphead Show!: Compared to the game where Ms.Chalice is implied to have died many years ago in battle as an adult? In the show she is only a little girl upon her death. She does not die in some epic harrowing battle, but by the much more mundane fate of being hit by a car. A terrifying way to die, especially for a child not paying attention to where they are.
• Danny Phantom: Across the many villainous ghosts Danny has had to deal with over the show's run, Penelope Spectra's MO of posing as a school counselor and gaslighting the students over their various insecurities remains one of the most distressingly realistic. Many teenagers have had bad counselor experiences where they are blamed for their own problems or otherwise given irrelevant advice that overlooks their actual issues, and there's no way of knowing if you're paired with a bad one until you're in there.
  • "Doctor's Disorders" also dabbled into a fear most people, especially kids might have: medical malpractice. While Spectra's scheme of using ghost insects to essentially burn out the students of Casper High isn't realistic, the idea of being taken a ride for by your doctor is a reasonable enough fear. There have been many cases of people being falsely hospitalized and used as Guinea pigs, given unnecessary tests, and yes even purposefully killed like what Spectra intended. All under the guise of being told "it is for your own good" or to trust those in charge.
• Education for Death is considered by most to be the scariest Disney short for this very reason. Compared to the more fantastical terrors such as The Mad Doctor or Chernabog, this has actual basis in reality being a tale of the Nazi regime and how a child is molded and turned into a soldier in Hitler's army. Which was very much true by the end of the war where Hitler DID in fact use Child Soldiers
• Family Guy: Despite being a Sadist Show full of Black Comedy, some episodes can be rather darkly authentic:
  • "I Take Thee, Quagmire" shows the dangers of rushing into marriage and not truly getting to know your partner. Quagmire marries Joan, the maid Peter won the services of from Wheel of Fortune and at first? It seems as if their relationship has made him a better person. But when he begins to have second thoughts and wishes to divorce Joan, her first response is to hold a knife to her wrists and threaten to kill him. None of this is played for comedy and Glenn is legitimately terrified that he unknowingly married such an unstable person on a whim. There really are people who will forcibly stay in relationships by threatening violence against themselves or their spouses, regardless of their compatibility or any justifiable reason to seperate.
  • "Peter-Assment" shows a fairly descriptive portrayal of sexual harassment, albeit the female-on-male variety. Angela, Peter's boss at Pawtucket Brewery, makes Peter do some sexual advances towards her, such as forcing him to wear suggestive clothing and even going as far as to try to rape him. Even worse, she threatens to fire him if he doesn't give into her advances, paralleling how people in real-life use blackmail to exploit their victims.
  • "Quagmire's Quagmire" averts the Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male and displays Sonja as a shockingly realistic take on an abusive partner. Sonja presents herself as nice in front of Quagmire and the others when the former starts dating her, until she starts controlling him and beating him up when no one else is around. She then kidnaps him and forces him to give into her more disturbing advances while isolating him from those who could help him.
  • The B-plot of "Vat Man and Rob 'Em" has Chase, a psychopath who makes viral videos of his dogs being brutally murdered in stunts for internet clout. He intends to kill Brian this way after he fakes being one of his "lost dogs" to collect the reward money. There really are people like Chase out there who have gained infamy on the internet for abusing or even murdering animals for shock value videos.
• The Ghost and Molly McGee is a show built on the regular appearances of ghosts and supernatural scares. One of the scariest things to come of the show however is the Wraith. Described as what happens when a person loses their passion for life and quite literally "gives up the ghost" becoming an Empty Shell devoid of any emotion or feelings. While this is mostly Played for Laughs and many examples we see are voluntary, the Series Finale "The End" gives us a truly unsettling example. Scratch, one of the main characters turns out to be the Wraith of Todd Mortenson, the Recurring Extra that looks and sounds like him. Todd was the best friend of Adia, who would go on to be a globe-trotting adventurer. But every time Todd was invited to join her he would pass on it out of fear of Dying Alone. This lead to Todd becoming afraid of taking any risks at all, finding joy in hedonism and shutting himself off from the world in safety. Eventually, he lost his passion and drive for living, resulting in his loss of soul i.e. the creation of Scratch. Take away the supernatural aspect of it and you have the story of a man who became so afraid of living life and the risk of dying he never truly lived. Something plenty of people can relate to on similar levels.
• Gravity Falls:
  • Gideon Gleeful has a creepy vibe in his introductory episode "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel", even before he goes full-blown Enfante Terrible. The way he creeps on Mabel through sniffing her hair and "love-bombing" her with Grand Romantic Gestures is almost as unnerving as his telekinetic temper-tantrums.
  • .GIFfanny from "Soos and the Real Girl" is scary enough as a yandere sentient dating sim character, but the way she tries to manipulate Soos at the climax of the episode is downright emotionally abusive. It comes to a head when she tries to convince him that he's too socially inept to get any other girl, and that he should be grateful to have her, preying on his insecurities to try and prevent him from leaving (an all-too-common abuse tactic in real life).
  • This trope is one of the main reasons Preston and Priscilla Northwest are considered two of the most despicable characters on the show despite them being normal (albiet very wealthy) humans in a setting full of weird things. What makes them stand out from the likes of even Bill Cipher is their horrific treatment of their daughter Pacifica, doing their best to mold her into a bitchy, elitist Competition Freak because that's what they want her to be, regardless of Pacifica's own desires and goals. On top of that, she's been conditioned to shut up and obey at the sound of a bell, all but stating they've abused her into being afraid of defying them or standing up for herself.
• Hazbin Hotel is no stranger to scary things, being set in Hell and all. Beyond the demons, murder and genocide, some of these terrors are a lot more down to earth than others.
  • The episode "Masquerade" goes into further detail about Angel Dust and his career as a porn star. Revealing that not only does his boss Valentino abuse him, he's been sexually assaulted many times and drinks to stave off the pain as shown in the song "Poison". The episode's title alludes to how he uses the mask of a sex-crazed maniac to hide his real pain.
  • In “Welcome To Heaven”, Heaven refusing Charlie's proposal of redeeming demons and choosing to focus on their own protection from sinners potentially uprising bares in mind to how societies in a higher standing refuse to assist downtrodden communities ridden out of fear, disgust, or general prejudice of its people. While genocide is a notorious crime which would never be allowed by any government, there are those with in a higher authority who dismiss those they see as beneath them, the citizens of the unfortunate society become even worse because there was no one to help them in their struggles, or steer them away from making bad decisions, resulting in the marginalized populace to commit immoral acts like crime to survive or indulge in self-destructive habits like drug addiction to subside their pain and misery, all while the higher ups sit on their asses, ignoring the problem and letting the dejected public continuously deteriorate until it becomes a problem too big to deal with. Additionally the fact the no one in heaven knows what allows a soul to ascend and refuse to look into it to maintain their higher status, and out of fear of becoming a Fallen Angel like Lucifer, parallels those in groups of politics or industry afraid to offer alternative ideas or speak out against ethically questionable political or corporate choices, so they wouldn't lose their position and risked the status that they've worked for, prioritizing themselves even if it means the suffering of others.
• Hey Arnold!: Though this cartoon is not shy of the concept of Free-Range Children, it makes no secret at times that the big city can be a very dangerous place. In particular how easy it is to get mugged…
  • In the episode aptly-named "Mugged", Arnold is caught off guard in an instant as he gets off the bus, being dragged into an alleyway by a mugger who beats him and takes his bus pass. The whole situation is played very realistically as a situation that could happen to anyone.
  • Sid getting mugged at the climax of "Monkeyman!" is arguably worse. Sid is assaulted by the same people who tried to attack Arnold before the titular superhero scares them off. The kid is outnumbered three to one by people at least two heads taller than him, and he's dragged into the bushes where he’s beaten and stripped of his Beatle Boots. To make matters worse, despite Sid's screaming and the assault happening in plain view of the opera house, nobody tries to stop this, not even Monkeyman himself, as he'd become too accustomed to the high life to care even though there were witnesses. The scary thing is that crimes even in plain sight do often go unpunished like this… even given what happens at the end of the episode. Overall, this episode serves a scary reminder of how uncaring some people can be.
  • Sid's sudden Germaphobia in the aptly-titled "Sid and Germs" isn't all that exaggerated beyond him donning an old-timey diving suit to protect himself while at school. There really are people in the world who have allowed this type of phobia to utterly consume and completely destroy their lives; many of whom have done FAR WORSE than Sid in efforts to "protect themselves" from germs or sickness. And in a world where things such as the COVID-19 Pandemic have taken place, this sort of behavior has only become more common.
  • "Olga Gets Married" has two very frightening scenarios that are sadly common. Olga meets a seemingly nice man named Doug. Due to feeling a sense of escape from the intense pressure she is under, she is easily swept away by Doug's superficial charm and is nearly talked into dropping out of school to marry him. It turns out that Doug is a conman who wants to use her to get the family fortune and leave her high and dry. The only reason Helga is able to save Olga is because she realizes he has another girlfriend who is apparently not in on his scheme. While she manages to save Olga, it's revealed earlier that Miriam gave up a promising future as an Olympic swimmer to marry Bob, who, while rich, drove her to alcoholism.
• Infinity Train: The show has a fair amount of this, but peaks in Book 3, which is part of what makes it as dark and frightening as it was. The concept of the series revolves a little girl traveling with an individual that might attempt to kill her if he finds out that she's a member of a minority group that she despises. The Apex's cult tactics are disturbingly similar to real-life cults, relying on emotional manipulation, validation and isolating individuals from their friends and families. Simon's motivation for hating denizens is also realistically petty, motivated by his extrapolation of the actions of a singular immoral person onto the entirety of the group.
  • This also is the reason Simon is such a horrifying character, that constantly dances between sympathy and detestability. He is incredibly similar to many real-life racists, domestic abusers and individuals with unhealthy coping mechanisms and self-destructive habits. He is so obscenely broken and pitiful that many characters try to and want to help him, but are unable to as he continually pushes away every single attempt at assistance and spirals deeper down into a near-addictive spiral of madness. He also has a realistically obsessive and vindicative relationship with Grace that stems from his fear of abandonment, viewing that she doesn't act like she's "supposed" to and attempts to discover information about her that he can use without her knowledge or consent.
• King of the Hill examples:
  • One of the many reasons "Pigmalion" is among the darkest episodes of the series is how realistically it portrays emotional manipulation. Pork magnate or not, people like Trip Larsen do exist in real life and treat people like Luanne in very similar ways.
  • "Fun With Jane and Jane" depicting a sorority that turns out to be a front for a cult also show a scenario portrayed as eerily similar to movements such as Heaven's Gate. If Hank and his friends hadn't intervened, Peggy and Luanne might have been among their victims.
• The Legend of Korra:
  • The Red Lotus is a terrorist group that seeks to topple the world governments to fulfill their anarchists' utopia. While fewer in numbers and collectively less powerful than previous villains (though individually they are amongst the most skilful benders in the series), they make up for it by knowing where to strike and let anarchy take care of the rest. Most prominently, they murder the Earth Queen and announce her death across Ba Sing Se. Within minutes, the city and eventually the entire kingdom falls into complete chaos, endangering the lives of innocents including Mako and Bolin's extended family. It got so bad that a Napoleon-esque figure named Kuvira spent years trying to quell the violence and by the time she's done, she had gained the taste for dictatorship and refused to give up her power to the Earth Kingdom's next king.
  • Avatar Korra's fights against bender and non-bender villains are awesome, but it's her depiction as a victim of poisoning (implicitly by mercury) that's the most deeply touching. Becoming paralyzed, at such a young age and with an all too decent chance of never getting back in shape (and with the added notion of feeling useless to boot), is infinitely more relatable that the series' usual villain.
• Usually Looney Tunes is as the name implies, even in the darkest cartoons. That being said:
  • While "The Blow Out" is certainly a funny cartoon in and of itself, the villain in question is a Mad Bomber. The cartoon actually opens with a building being completely destroyed (presumably killing many people) with a Time Bomb and he plots to do the same to the entire city next. Porky's blissful ignorance to the whole situation as he tries to give the "alarm clock" back to the bomber is just as unnerving as it is hysterical the whole time. And while the Bomber's explosive is highly exaggerated? The underlying threat of destruction isn't. Even back in the 1930s terrorists of this sort existed, and they've sadly only become more common as time goes on. What makes things even worse is that handheld miniature explosives like what the bomber made actually do exist — something as inconspicuous as an alarm clock (albeit not stuffed to the gills with explosives) could actually be a deadly weapon.
  • The series was fond of its Henpecked Husband gags, some of them taking the Domestic Abuse to very intense levels of Black Comedy:
    • "Life with Feathers" has a love bird kicked around so relentlessly by his mate that he attempts suicide by a cat devouring him. His spirit is seemingly raised when she finally leaves the house, only to change her mind and crush him again in a matter of seconds. While his wife's violence is Played for Laughs, the love bird feeling there is no way out besides "ending it all" is done with the legit pathos and sincerity of someone trapped in an abusive and loveless relationship.
    • The recurrent plot of "His Bitter Half" and "Honey's Money" has a particularly dark premise of the protagonist marrying a rich woman for money...only for the wife to prove an abusive ball buster the moment their wedding vows are done, making them tend to the house as well as their insufferable son (that they managed to keep secret until now). For extra Fridge Horror, both make apparent that the wife was a widow, with the son making gestures that imply he has seen her pull this many times before.
• Miraculous Ladybug:
  • "Troublemaker" shows that even in a fantasy setting where various transformation trinkets give people superpowers, the threat of someone invading your privacy and broadcasting your private affairs to the world remains very real — and that despite her powers, there's nothing Marinette can do to stop it.
  • "Wishmaker" sheds some light into Adrien's crappy childhood. Gabriel's (and, to an unknown extent, Emilie's) Control Freak parenting means that Adrien has never had any agency over his life. Adrien laments that everything has been chosen for him, and that if he doesn't make a stand now then he's going to spend the rest of his life like this. It's eventually revealed that he's been groomed into the perfect obedient son since he was an infant. Having a Miraculous gave him a way out of this life, and Plagg is the only one who unconditionally supports him and his choices, whatever they may be.
  • The nameless ticket inspector in "Qilin" is quietly terrifying because there are always going to be assholes who gleefully abuse any authority they are given to make people's lives miserable.
• Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: "Coney Island, Baby!" is notable for barely having any fantastical elements to it (excluding The Beyonder's involvement which is largely tertiary to the events) and is about Lunella dealing with major social anxiety caused by a serious trauma she had as a little kid. When she was five Lunella was separated from her grandmother at Coney Island, she wandered into a haunted house where a Monster Clown prop fell on her and pinned her to the floor. The Beyonder forces Lunella to confront this fear by kidnapping Mimi and threatening to banish her to another dimension if Lunella cannot find her. Take away Beyonder's powers and you essentially have Lunella trying to save her grandmother from a killer or kidnapper.
• Moral Orel faces this in its third season (and second season finale), where it delves into the psychological effects of child abuse, rape, and so on.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • As the series began production right when the severity and long-term effects of bullying were becoming a hot-button issue, characters who tend to act cruelly to others tend to be painted less sympathetically compared to more "fantastic" villains like Nightmare Moon and Discord. This is perhaps best exemplified in "Flight to the Finish", in which Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon mock Scootaloo for her inability to fly; this, along with her subsequent downward spiral, is presented as being akin to someone being bullied for being disabled. As a result, Diamond Tiara's redemption was a lot more contentious than that of other characters, as her behavior hit closer to home.
  • Similarly, the episode "Hurricane Fluttershy" reveals that Fluttershy was bullied as a filly for being a weak flyer, the memories of which give her PTSD-like panic attacks even as a full-grown mare.
  • A large part of what makes "One Bad Apple" so unsettling is how it plays into the idea that anyone can become a bully, even family members dealing with bullying. Babs turns on the CMC out of her own insecurities and torments them far worse than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ever did even without their influence. Among other things she forces Apple Bloom to sleep on the floor and apparently stalked them everywhere they went if the song "Bad Seed" is to be believed. This is why Babs' getting little to no consequences for what she did despite her Freudian Excuse is so contentious due to how it hits home for a lot of people.
  • After dealing with a millenia-old centaur with the ability to absorb magic in the Season 4 finale, the Season 5 opener involves dealing with what essentially amounts to a cult leader in a faraway town. Despite the seemingly much lower stakes, it's played no less dangerously than the previous, fantastic villain.
• OPAL is arguably the most terrifying thing Jack Stauber has ever created. But what makes it all the worse isn't the terrifying visuals: it's the story of a little girl whose familial abuse and neglect is so traumatizing that her only hope of escaping it is to pretend she has a different family. The story ends with this tragedy no closer to being resolved.
• The Owl House:
  • While Emperor Belos was already feared as an authoritarian dictator, what truly makes him horrifying is that he was Taught to Hate witches by a real-life Puritan society in the 17th century, turning him into a genocidal witch-hunting madman beyond reasoning, and his abuse of Hunter is very similar to the abuse real people face under religious households.
    • Hunter's entire situation was already incredibly terrifying, but what makes it infinitely worse is how realistic it is. Belos uses very real techniques used by abusers in real life to keep Hunter in his power. Among them are telling Hunter he needs to earn his love, and isolating him from others. Even after Hunter gets away from Belos he shows clear realistic signs of trauma from his time there, including panic attacks at even mentioning Belos and even saying a part of him wants to believe Belos still loves him.
  • Amity's parents Odalia and Alador Blight are among the highest ranked in the Abomination Coven, hold enough power to even expel students at their leisure and barely care for their own daughter as a person (at least in Odalia's case, Alador is making an effort to be better). What makes it worse? Their abuse doesn't simply stop once Amity is out of their sight. Amity's necklace is actually a charm that allows Odalia to speak to her through it, emotionally and verbally abusing her any time she pleases. This is none too dissimilar to parents who stalk their children through technology to control them.
  • The episode "Thanks to Them" already has a spooky atmosphere being set around Halloween and the gang's entire situation. It has some very realistic terrors amidst the fantastical:
    • Even in the first few minutes of the episode, we see how the trauma of being displace from the only home these kids have known feels. The Hexsquad is absolutely crushed, but what really sells it is Gus DROPPING TO THE GROUND AND CRYING.
    • Camila's Flashback Nightmare can hurt for those who have experienced any kind of bully or judge mental treatment whether you're the parent or the child. Not helping how they imply The loss of Manny, Luz's father and Camila's husband, is the root cause of Luz's quirky behavior and reawakening Camila's own trauma of being bullied as a child. Thus leading into The first episode and Camila's fears that Luz go through what she did. Many people, both parents and children alike can relate to this turmoil. With Manny's death showing the long lasting effects of grief on different people.
    • Luz's rant in class is a case Psychological Projection showing how her self-loathing has reached a point where she states things would've been better if she never existed. It is DISTURBINGLY accurate to having thoughts of suicide. Later on when she films her video diary and says she "knows what she has to do" before it cuts to Camila's reaction is very similar to a loved one finding a suicide note.
• Ozzy & Drix being a series that deals with threats to the human body and health is rife with scares like these, especially if you have any biology know-how. Granted many of the threats are sped up or exaggerated for the sake of time and Hector's decisions, the impact stays the same. Among the least exaggerated had to be the episodes "Lights Out" and "A Cold Day in Hector" where Hector suffers from a concussion and hypothermia respectively, almost dying in the process.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998) is well known for its amazing Rogues Gallery of villains like Mojo Jojo and Him who can all be scary in their own right despite their comedic moments. But there are a few villains who are more down-to-earth.
  • The Gangreen Gang, for the most part, are a non-super powered street gang that, in The Movie, were seen as a legitimately terrifying menace. Even in the series their damage can be a bit much to watch like how in "Buttercrush" they manipulate Buttercup, a five year old, into abandoning her family to lure the others into a death trap.
  • Lenny Baxter in "Collect Her" has some disturbing implications. When he finds no satisfaction in that he's collected every single piece of Powerpuff Girls merchandise (his room coming off as a serious Stalker Shrine) there is, he decides to break into their home and steal their personal belongings, among them a framed photo of the Girls and Prof. Utonium. When that doesn't satisfy him? He lures these five year olds into his apartment and kidnaps them, giving off seriously pedophilic vibes. Lenny is a normal human citizen of Townsville, without any superpowers, who stalks children, steals their personal belongings for his own sick desires and ultimately kidnaps them. Aside from trapping the Girls in unbreakable plastic? Lenny is not far off from a lot of so-called "fans" that view their idols not as people but akin to their own merchandise.
  • "Getting Twiggy With It" has Mitch Michelson, The Bully at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten get to take care of the class hamster Twiggy for the weekend. He uses this opportunity to abuse the poor creature in a number of plausible ways from Force Feeding her, to attempting to ELECTROCUTE Twiggy with jumper cables! That a child so gleefully wishes to senselessly torture a small animal gives him a scarier aura than many of the actual supervillains since none of his behavior is played for a joke. What's worse? Mitch's behavior is typically one of the first big red flags of someone developing a psychological disorder; like psychopathy or sociopathy. Or even worse becoming a Serial Killer, similar to real life murderers like Jeffrey Dahmer who have done similar things as kids.
  • For a non-villain example we have the episode "Town and Out". While it acts mostly as a Deconstruction of cartoony superheroes like the Girls in a more realistic town, the climax has the trio forced to walk home, without using their superpowers courtesy of the mayor banning the use of their powers. Three five year olds are forced to walk home in a dark, disgusting and strange new town they've barely had time to get used to. What's worse is they come upon these scummy looking men who make VERY pedophilic sounding comments towards them, legitimately disturbing them.
  • The pilot episode has Sedusa, who acts like a frighteningly realistic example of an abusive mother: blaming the girls for things that they didn't do, alienating them from their father, and engaging in malicious Kick the Dog actions like taking Octi away from Bubbles then insulting her for having him.
• The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder normally has mostly fantastical moments, but the episode "Juneteenth" has Penny, her friends AND her family assaulted and arrested by a SWAT team called in by Wizard Kelly when they attempted to protest the statue of the town founder. Protest arrests like this have happened in the past and still happen today. The fear on all sides really captures the absolute panic and turmoil of such an event.
• Regular Show is generally the total opposite of what the title implies, but RGB2's story in the episode "That's My Television" is an unnerving tale of an actor being roped by contract into an abusive environment under corrupt executives who view him more as a Cash Cow than an actual person. It's so terrible he begs Mordecai and Rigby to help him flee the studio. From the perspective of TV fans, it's just as disturbing to discover the cruelty going on behind the scenes, especially since the entertainment industry is no stranger to stars experiencing abusive treatment. The reveal that "RGB2" is actually a human sealed in his suit, while outlandish, just makes his treatment even more horrific.
• Rick and Morty:
  • "Meeseeks and Destroy" has a shockingly realistic portrayal of an Attempted Rape. On one of their adventures, Morty is legitimately sexually assaulted while in a public restroom with Mr. Jellybean. Despite being attacked by a sentient jellybean, it is played completely seriously. Morty comes out of the restroom completely traumatized and broken, with Rick — of all people — trying to comfort him.
  • The climax of "Total Rickall" shows the realistic trauma of being shot by a family member or close family friend. When Beth shoots Mr. Poopybutthole in the heart on the idea that he could be one of the alien parasites — due to not having any negative memories of him — Mr. Poopybutthole almost bleeds to death and needs physical therapy to recover. He also refuses to see Beth or the family while in therapy due to the trauma of the incident even though he understands it was all a misunderstanding because he was shot by someone he thought he could trust.
  • "Analyze Piss" deals with the extremely realistic Suicide of Pissmaster. Normally for a show like this such a goofy, one-off, gimmicky villain would be treated like a joke after being beaten down by someone like Jerry. But because the fight was caught on social media and trended, Pissmaster was bullied without remorse and Driven to Suicide, having slit his wrists in the bathtub. When Rick goes to visit the villain, Pissmaster is found dead; Rick is not able to revive him. Pissmaster's suicide note is also very relatable, he claims that all he ever wanted was for people to stop shitting on him. Underneath his sour attitude and vulgar gimmick, he's a sad, lonely man who was humiliated in front of billions of people around the universe. This suicide was disturbing enough that the beginning has a Content Warning to prepare the viewers, with the ending giving the number to a suicide prevention hotline.
• Rugrats is a show that primarily relies on cartoonish exaggeration and viewing the world through a toddlers perspective. Many of the perils Tommy and his friends go through, while unnerving, are usually mitigated by the babies' own dumb luck keeping them safe. Not to mention the cases of Parental Neglect are usually Played for Laughs. But "Case of the Missing Rugrat" really gives us a healthy dosage of fear when Grandpa Lou accidentally leaves Tommy in the back of a stranger's car, as a result he gets kidnapped and nearly adopted by complete strangers. Lou is scared out his mind trying to find where Tommy could’ve been taken to, all because of his carelessness.
  • In "Chuckie's Wonderful Life", an angel shows a depressed Chuckie what the world would be like if he was never born. While horrifying, most of the alternate world has clearly been exaggerated to the extreme, like babies destroying the city and Angelica enslaves Stu and Didi, leaving Tommy to eat garbage. Unfortunately, Chas' fate is disturbingly and heartbreakingly possible. Basically, without a child of his own (and with, as later episodes reveal, the death of his wife) Chas became a complete shut-in, complete with mounds of empty pizza boxes littering his house. Worse yet, living alone among the garbage has taken its toll on Chas' sanity, as he only talks to a sock puppet who is his only friend. Not only does this stick out in the otherwise over blown dark world, but this much like real life cases of people with crippling depression.
• Scooby-Doo generally deals with a bevy of schemers and outlandishly petty crooks dressed as monsters out for some sort of ulterior goal like Greed. And while the franchise occasionally delves into more realistically menacing foes, one of the most notable cases wasn’t even human. In the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "Foul Play in Funland" our villain is Charlie, a malfunctioning robot running amuck through an amusement park. While he's far more advanced that what was for the time? The fear of malfunctioning machinery or artificial intelligence was all too real even back in the 1960s. Before the reveal it's assumed he is even a sentient machine, which in the 21st century is becoming a more distinct possibility.
  • The Horrible Herd: While the overall episode is scary, albeit scientifically implausible, the most chilling part is the ending: in a seemingly ingenious effort to drown the herd by tricking them into the water, they forget that the horrible herd can swim due to being part piranha. With the seemingly unstoppable and feral herd left to roam free in the water and do whatever damage meets their instincts, the gang has no choice but to walk away. Invasive species can cause massive ecological destruction, and much like the herd, they have no natural predators in the area.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Shadow Weaver's treatment of her adoptive children, manipulating them, favoring Adora over Catra, and generally being despicable and cruel to them, have become memorable as among the creepiest and darkest themes the series is willing to take on. The consequences it has on both of them, especially Catra, who received the brunt of the abuse, are depicted in a way which can easily disturb viewers.
  • Catra's treatment of Adora is this. Catra is Adora's former best friend. Adora constantly begs Catra to join the Rebellion, and in spite of the fact Catra would be far happier and healthier there, she refuses, lashes out, and torments Adora; Shadow Weaver's conditioning is too hard to shake, and she and Adora were too codependent for her not to see Adora's leaving as a betrayal. It's a harrowing, heartbreaking experience for both parties.
  • Hordak turns out to have a medical condition, which caused him to be shunned and cast out of his home by his paternal figure, Horde Prime. It codes very heavily to a disabled or trans person being rejected by their society and feeling internalized guilt due to their upbringing.
  • Horde Prime and the Galactic Horde perhaps epitomize this. They are a dangerous force with heavy religious connotations. Their leader is a charismatic figure with No Sense of Personal Space, who uses Cold-Blooded Torture (Which simultaneously resembles a baptism, and religiously-motivated conversion therapy designed to "cure" LGBT+ people) and abusive brainwashing to keep their people in line to fuel their narcissism. It was outright stated that Horde Prime was based on "suicide cult" leaders such as Jim Jones.
• The Simpsons:
  • The infamous "The Boys of Bummer" deals with Bart getting horrendously bullied by the townsfolk when he loses a baseball game. Their bullying gets to the point where Bart gets Driven to Suicide, and their bullying continues even after Bart survives the suicide attempt. Plenty of people in real-life have been tormented to the same degree as Bart in this scenario and even died because of it.
  • "Marge Gets a Job" involves Marge being sexually harassed by Mr. Burns and it plays it mostly straight with few hints of comedy. When she threatens to "sue the pants off him", Burns takes that as an erotic quip and growls at her. In the same episode we have a power plant worker who is constantly shown polishing his loaded shotgun and referring to himself as "The Angel of Death". Sadly people turning to mass shootings in the workplace and schools has become more common.
  • "Homer's Triple Bypass" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. And while it has a good deal of jokes, Homer's whole situation is mostly played without humor. After so many years of eating unhealthy and not getting enough exercise, Homer has a heart attack and is at risk of losing his job due to his incompetence, he has no insurance and can't get any; Homer cannot even afford the operation, and he needs it ASAP (Dr. Hibbert basically says Homer will most certainly die if he doesn't get the operation soon). Even when Homer DOES get the operation, the one performing it, Dr. Nick, admits he has NO IDEA what he's doing. To anyone who has been in bad health and is unable to afford the medical necessities they need? This episode can really hit home.
• Smiling Friends generally has a good mix of insane comedy and Nightmare Fuel as one would expect from Zach Hadel. But the climax of "Enchanted Forest" was scarily similar to a real life terrorist attack. They reveal that Mip, the expy of Bilbo Baggins has been consistently stalking The Princess of the Enchanted Forest through two separate movings. Her revealing this to Charlie and Pim is treated dead serious, and it gets worse when it's revealed what exactly is in the package Mip intended to deliver to the princess; an IED which neither of the Smiling Friends picked up on. The reveal is disturbingly similar to the real life case of Ricardo Lopez’ attempt on Björk's life!
• South Park is normally a satirical Black Comedy, but some episodes are more terrifyingly true to life:
  • "Cripple Fight" has Mr. Grazier, a shockingly serious portrayal of a pedophile under the guise of a scout master. Not only does he force the boys to be models for naked pictures, as Butters demonstrates to Big Gay Al, he also beats them. That there really are such sick people who use their jobs to physically and sexually abuse children makes Mr. Grazier all the more terrifying.
  • While "Cartman Sucks" actually had to downplay the torture of gay conversion therapy camps, everything that happens in there (from the hosts' pressure and religious punishments to the boys' killing themselves) are far from simple Black Comedy jokes.
  • "Butterballs" represents an accurate portrayal of bullying. While Grandma Stotch's treatment of Butters is unnerving enough (i.e. physically abusing him and threatening him if he doesn't keep quiet about it), the media that wants to exploit Butters' situation (including Stan, of all people) is not too uncommon either. This can bring Paranoia Fuel to those who experience bullying themselves.
  • "The Poor Kid" shows a rather realistic portrayal of abusive foster homes (albeit coupled with a parody of religious fundamentalism by having the parents be obsessive agnostics). The Weatherheads constantly malnourish the children, force them to clean up the house, and physically torture them in the basement just for believing in "angels". Disturbingly, there have been plenty of occurrences like this in real-life. Just look at the Louise and David Turpin case for one infamous example.
  • Even people who can usually tolerate Eric Cartman's bigotry and selfishness for being so over the top are quite disturbed by his behavior in Season 21, where his relationship with Heidi becomes emotionally abusive in a very realistic manner. Their relationship starts out strong and slowly begins to devolve as his true colors show, he threatens suicide if she tries to break up with him, deflects all the blame onto either others or her, negs her and invalidates her feelings, demands she agree with everything he says, and victim blames and gaslights her into thinking she is to blame for all their relationship problems. It's not Played for Laughs, or shockingly over-the-top, it's just a very real depiction of domestic abuse and the suffering it causes. It's easily the most terrifying thing he's ever done, shows just how truly vile of a human being he actually is, and he never once does anything unrealistic or even gets physically abusive.
• The reason the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Are You Happy Now?" creeps out a lot of viewers is because Squidward's inability to be happy and lethargic behavior seemed too much like actual depression, which especially made the Bait-and-Switch gags where it seems like he's going to kill himself seem way too heavy because it was actually believable that he'd want to.
  • The episode "I Was a Teenage Gary" handles SpongeBob's distress over Gary's mysterious illness in a very realistic manner. Because Squidward neglected to feed Gary for the 3 days SpongeBob and Patrick were away? Gary appears to be very sick and starving. The terror SpongeBob feels in this moment is something anyone who has ever owned a pet can relate to if they ever had to leave them for extended periods of time. While Gary only needed some water, Squidward's guilt over his own neglect still hits home.
  • The episode "The Bully" deals with the very realistic scenario of a bully wanting to pick on Spongebob for no reason at all and Mrs Puff being completely ineffective at dealing with it.
  • A large reason "One Coarse Meal" is so infamous is how it portrays being stalked and driven to the brink of suicide. Mr. Krabs, disguised as his daughter Pearl, uses Plankton's fear of whales against him. At first this is to scare him away from the Krusty Krab, but then he starts doing it at the Chum Bucket, Plankton's own home. This makes Plankton absolutely paranoid as he stays locked in the Chum Bucket for 16 days straight; left a disheveled mess, deciding to end the pain by getting run over. When Eugene hears about this? He just laughs about it. Ignoring the absurdities, similar things have happened to real people being stalked and Driven to Suicide.
  • Compared to most of Plankton's evil schemes? His plan in "Fear of a Krabby Patty" lacks any real Mad Scientist or fantastical bent to it. He gaslights Spongebob, driving him insane so he'll hand over the formula. Spongebob is so exhausted he begins to hallucinate monsters, with Plankton convincing him he's sick so he can rob his livelihood. This is none too dissimilar to real psychiatric scams where patients are convinced they’re sick when they aren't so the bad doctors can squeeze more money out of them.
• Though Static Shock has dealt with serious subject matter (homelessness, racism, gang violence, etc.), the episode titled "Jimmy" features a horrifyingly realistic portrayal of both school bullying and gun violence. After being brutalized by Nick and his gang one time too many, Jimmy makes a manifesto about his plans for vengeance and then posts it online. The next day, he brings a gun to school with the intent of killing his tormentors. He misfires, accidentally shooting Richie^note He survives, as the bullet hit him in the leg and didn't touch any major blood vessels, but he's still hurt pretty bad; the witnesses are even required counseling for it. With the ever ongoing events of school shootings, this hits even closer-to-home.
• While Total Drama is a kids' show, the episode "Grand Chef Auto", has Scott bullying Mike for his dissociative identity disorder by calling him names like crazy and a loser for having a disorder and uses said disorder for his own selfish advantages. Getting your hair burnt off with a toxic marshmallow and turning into a mutant is unlikely to happen but it is common for disabled people like Mike to be a target of bullying and manipulation because of their disabilities.
  • Part two of the fifth season introduces us to Dave, who really wants to be Sky's boyfriend but becomes so entitled towards her, that his crush on her turns into an obsession and by the finale, he's lost all his sanity. There are people in the real world who let their obsessions with certain things get the best of them to the point that it not only ruins their sanity but their lives as well.
  • Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral: Axel's claim that she'll "maybe" see Ripper again after her elimination brings a certain level of realistic horror no other couple in the show did. Since most couples met on the show for the first time, they'd have to count on their luck to live near each other or otherwise they'd be forced to have a long-distance relationship (as most contestants are 16 years old upon debut), which is certainly not for everyone. And while they might move in together once they reach adulthood, there's still a question of whether they'd be able to instantly afford living together on their own (especially since Ripper now owes the show a million dollars due to quitting), which would realistically make maintaining a relationship formed on a reality show that much harder.
• X-Men: Evolution: In the episode Uprising, during a crisis, Mutants are being subjected to bigotry and people attempt to kill them just for being mutants, even trying to murder a mutant child. Mutant powers aside, being the victim of bigotry and hate crimes are something to be legitimately concerned about. The episode shows that people will take extreme measures to deal with what they believe is a problem and how even a child can be a victim of it. Just ask former victims and their family members.

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