The greatest thing about watching anime is that it can fill your heart with an array of emotions. Anime can make you bust a gut by inspiring the most hilarious memes on the internet. It can pump you up with the most intense fights you have ever seen. It can also bring a tear to your eye with endings that are beautiful, yet, bittersweet. However, there are anime with moments so shocking it will leave you with only one simple response: “bruh.”
Whether it’s the death of a beloved character or a disturbing action of one, these anime bruh moments are guaranteed to have your jaw drop on the floor. Devouring an adorable anime girl? Amputating an infected arm of one? “Bruh” anime moments like these are just the tip of the iceberg.
9. The Death Of Squad Levi – ‘Attack on Titan’
Similar to The Walking Dead, Attack on Titan billed itself as an anime series where anyone could pass at any minute. Despite this, fans still weren’t prepared for the swift massacre of Squad Levi by the Female Titan. Before their demise, Squad Levi – helmed by captain Levi Ackerman – was considered the best of the best. They were the elite soldiers of the Survey Corps and humanity’s best chance at eradicating the Titans once and for all. In the end, all the appraisals meant nothing. The Female Titan squashed Squad Levi like they were flies.
8. Meruem Devouring a Child – ‘Hunter x Hunter’
Nothing establishes a bad guy faster than having them eat a child. That’s exactly what Hunter x Hunter did with Meruem, the ruthless villain of the Chimera Ant arc. The scene in question begins with a little girl playing happily in a field until Meruem and his cronies arrive and slaughter her family. Naturally, the little girl cries her eyes out. Meruem responds by piercing her with his tail. Offscreen, Meruem slowly devours the child’s body. All that remains is her blood on Meruem’s fingers. Somehow, Meruem ends up befriending another girl after all this.
7. Riko Cutting Her Arm – ‘Made in Abyss’
Anyone who watched Made in Abyss for cute anime girl adventures was in for a rude awakening. The anime exploration series held nothing back in abusing its adorable main heroine: Riko. A shining example of this is Riko nearly losing her left arm after being infected with poison by an Orb Piercer. The infection is visually grisly. Riko’s screams in pain as blood rolls off her eyes. While the situation is thankfully resolved without Riko losing her arm, the botched amputation by Riko’s companion results in a permanent scar and nerve damage.
6. Juuzou’s Castration – ‘Tokyo Ghoul’
To say Juuzou Suzuya had a hard time growing up would be an understatement. Revealed in Tokyo Ghoul, Juuzou was kidnapped and tortured by an influential ghoul by the name of Big Madam. Big Madam treated Juuzou like a dog and forced him to perform circus tricks for the entertainment of other ghouls. To prevent Juuzou from becoming ugly when he matured, Big Madam castrated him against his will with a hammer; forcing him to be identified as a girl.
5. Mami’s Decapitation – ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica’
Much like the transmutation of Nina from Fullmetal Alchemist, the decapitation of Mami Tomoe in Puella Magi Madoka Magica has been meme’d to hell and back in the anime fandom. Nonetheless, the brutal decapitation of Mami remains a shocking moment in an anime that many initially thought was going to be another run-of-the-mill cute anime magic girl series.
Mami was portrayed as a veteran magic girl. And yet, Mami’s brief moment of carelessness in episode three results in her losing her head from a bite of a monstrous caterpillar. Mami’s passing was the start of a massive tonal shift towards grittiness that Puella Magi Madoka Magica was transitioning to.
4. Kick The Dog – ‘Elfen Lied’
Whenever a writer wants to show its readers that a character is good, they’ll write in a heroic scene often known as “save the cat.” For the opposite effect, they’ll write in a cruel scene known as “kick the dog.” When it came to portraying the horrible past of Lucy, the writers of Elfen Lied kicked the dog, literally.
During her time at the orphanage, Lucy befriended a small puppy who was her only friend in the world. However, the bullies at the orphanage got wind of this news and forced Lucy to watch helplessly, as they beat the puppy to its end. As if the death of an adorable pup wasn’t shocking enough, Lucy took out the children responsible for the anime abuse with her psychic powers.
3. The Eclipse – ‘Berserk’
While the 1997 anime adaptation of Berserk was unable to tell the complete story of the dark fantasy manga, it ended on one of the most disturbing moments in the series’ history. Berserk was always about the Black Swordsman and his struggle for survival, but the real meat of the story revolved around Griffith, the charismatic leader of the Band of the Hawk, who desired nothing but greatness. Alas, as the series unfolds, Griffith is subjected to a year’s worth of torture that deteriorated his warrior physique.
No longer able to fight and jealous of Guts and his lover, Casca, Griffith does the unthinkable: he sacrifices the Band of the Hawk to obtain the dark powers of the God Hand. The ritual summons Guts, Casca, and the rest of the mercenary group to a hellish dimension of death. Everything about the entire eclipse sequence is horrific. As Griffith is reborn as a member of the God Hand, his former comrades are being viciously slaughtered. Guts and Casca survive, however, Griffith celebrates his new body by horribly violating Casca right in front of Guts’ eyes.
2. The Dismemberment Of Miki Makimura – ‘Devilman Crybaby’
Staying true to the shockingly violent nature of the Devilman anime series of the late 80s, the Netflix anime series, Devilman Crybaby, featured a horrific end for an innocent character. Miki Makimura, a cute teenaged girl and romantic admirer of Akira Fudo, is attacked and dismembered by an angry mob of humans out for demon blood. After seeing Miki’s head on a pike, Akira’s faith in humanity plummets.
1. Nina’s Transmutation – ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’
If you can ignore the overflow of twisted memes it inspired, the transmutation of Nina Tucker and her beloved dog, Alexander, is still one of the most shocking tragedies in anime history. It doesn’t matter if you’re watching the original 2003 anime or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Nina’s fate remains horrific (although the 2003 series gave it more depth).
A young girl and her faithful dog are transmuted into a talking chimera by her failed alchemist father, who previously did it to his wife who died from the act. The unforgivable act horrifies the Elric brothers, who were living with Nina and her father as they trained to be state alchemists, but the mercy slaying of the chimera by the criminal Scar is what truly breaks them.