From unexpected obstacles to sudden enemy attacks, anime is filled with events that totally blindside the characters. Sometimes they react with total panic and have no idea what to do next, like how nearly everyone in Sword Art Online responded when they couldn’t figure out how to exit the game. Sometimes they rise to the occasion, like when Class 1-A and the U.A. High teachers were able to fend off the League of Villains in My Hero Academia. Sometimes, sadly, they don’t survive.
Which unexpected turn of events shocked you the most?
8. Sakura Yamauchi Doesn’t Go Down The Way She Expected To – ‘I Want To Eat Your Pancreas’
Because she has a terminal pancreatic disease, Sakura Yamauchi has been trying to emotionally prepare herself for an early demise. She does this by recruiting a boy to help her check off the items on her personal bucket list and spend time with her before the end. He’s reluctant at first, but the two end up forming an intense relationship.
Sakura doesn’t lose her life to her disease, but she doesn’t get better either. Instead, she’s stabbed in a random attack. Nobody saw it coming, and it threw everyone’s attempts to prepare for her passing into a tailspin.
7. Pain Invades Konoha – ‘Naruto: Shippuden’
If Jiraiya had survived his investigation, he might have been able to warn his home village of Pain’s impending invasion. Sadly, he dies before he passes on that vital information. That means that nobody has any warning before Konan, Pain, and his Six Paths arrive and start destroying everything in sight.
It takes the coordinated efforts of everybody in the village to get things under control, and many people lose their lives in the process. If it weren’t for Naruto persuading Pain to show some empathy at the end, important characters like Kakashi would have been gone for good.
6. Ken Kaneki’s Date Goes Horribly Wrong – ‘Tokyo Ghoul’
Ken Kaneki starts the series as a mild-mannered literature student who is excited about going on a date with a pretty girl named Rize Kamishiro. He’s vaguely aware of the existence of ghouls, but doesn’t think that has anything to do with him.
Things change for him when his date turns into a terrifying disaster. Rize turns out to be a ghoul who pretended to like him so that she could devour him. Midway through her attack, the two of them end up getting crushed by construction equipment. The hospital that they’re both sent to transplants Rize’s organs into Kaneki’s body. Though his life is saved, he now has to cope with life as a half-ghoul.
5. The Devil Hunters Are Ambushed – ‘Chainsaw Man’
Episode 8 of Chainsaw Man started off with a new friendship between Denji and Himeno, which is cheerful start for a series like this one. However, things quickly take a dark turn. While traveling to Kyoto on a train, Makima is suddenly shot in the head by two random passengers. Although she made it out alive due to her mysterious powers, it was a shocking scene for viewers. She wasn’t the only Devil Hunter ambushed that day. In fact, the other Special Divisions from the Public Safety Bureau were simultaneously attacked by “civilians” with guns.
In the middle of a meal, Denji and company are addressed by a stranger, criticizing both them and their taste in food. Although it seems harmless at first, seconds later he declares that the Gun Devil wants Denji’s heart, and quickly shoots Denji and Himeno. This altercation leads to an unexpected battle involving the Katana Man, Curse Devil, Snake Devil, and Ghost Devil. The fight results in Himeno’s death, with her sacrificing her own life to save Aki’s.
4. Griffith Orchestrates The Eclipse – ‘Berserk’
Guts has had a lot of horrible things happen to him in the past, but even he didn’t see the Eclipse coming. He trusted Griffith as a friend and as a member of his band of mercenaries. He never expected him to betray them in such a bombastic way.
Griffith sacrificed nearly the entire Band of the Hawk and sexually assaulted Casca, all to gain the power of Femto and join the God Hand. It was one of the most painful moments in anime history, and no one saw it coming.
3. Aizen Tricks Soul Society – ‘Bleach’
This is a classic example of something major coming out of absolutely nowhere. At first, Aizen seemed like a calm, polite, and loyal member of Soul Society. When he reveals his intentions to destroy the organization he once served and betrays his loyal lieutenant, everyone is gobsmacked.
But Soul Society can’t focus on their shock for too long, because they have to start thinking about how to take him down.
2. Eren Manipulated His Father – ‘Attack on Titan’
Attack on Titan is full of unexpected twists that left viewers feeling like they’d just been smacked in the face by a rampaging Titan. It’s hard to choose which one is the most shocking, but this one is definitely among them.
During a conversation with his younger brother that was supposed to be about how their father had wronged them both, Zeke finds out something totally unexpected about Eren. It turns out that Eren used the Attack Titan’s ability to see the memories of its past and future users to manipulate Grisha into ending the Reiss family, stealing the Founding Titan, and giving both the Founding Titan and the Attack Titan to Eren.
Grisha would most likely not have supported Eren’s ultimate ambitions. He didn’t use Eren the way he used Zeke.
1. Akaza Ambushes Tanjiro & Co. – ‘Demon Slayer: Mugen Train’
After finally defeating Enmu and escaping the train, all Tanjiro and his allies want is to go home and get their wounds treated. But this won’t be possible, because Enmu isn’t the only member of the Twelve Kizuki they’ll have to face. Out of nowhere, Akaza – one of the Upper Moons – appears and engages them in battle. Though they’re already seriously injured, they have no choice but to take him on.
This results in Rengoku’s demise – a tragedy that might have been avoided if he hadn’t already been battered by the previous fight.