One of the things that I like about anime that is largely absent in western cartoons (or it was when I was a kid), is that it’s not afraid to kill off a character in order to drive the story. Sometimes these deaths make viewers cry, other times they create mobs of angry fans. Either way, they completely draw in the attention and bring out the emotions of any viewer, ensuring the series will always have people to remember it. Here are just 10 deaths which I thought were excellently done and helped make the series. The videos are the closest I could find of the actual scenes.

Note: I think this is obvious, but spoilers are below. If you haven’t seen but intend to see Mai-Hime, Death Note, Evangelion, Madoka, Nadesico, Gurren Lagann, Clannad After Story, Katanagatari, Code Geass, or Kodomo no Jikan and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t scroll down. Also, before anyone asks “where’s Spike?” I have yet to finish Cowboy Bebop.

Death #1: Takumi Tokiha (Mai-Hime)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNjxdeS2qKg

Takumi is the younger brother of the main character, Mai Tokiha. He was a weakling with no real fighting abilities and his death was anything but spectacular. What made it so instrumental though, was what happened immediately afterwards. Mai had been the messenger of peace for the entire series up until that point. Once Takumi passed away, she went totally berserk and in a fit of rage, called up Kagutsuchi and set ablaze everything around her before supposedly burning Mikoto to a crisp. Mai was the greatest proponent of pacifism, and when she defeated another Hime, it was as if the world turned upside down and the whole series spiralled into a dog-eat-dog world with no mercy.

Death #2: L (Death Note)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L-aByNGwAE

When L finally kicked the bucket, I think everyone just went silent for a few minutes until rage finally set in. I mean, c’mon, how could you kill one of the players in a 2-person game of cat and mouse? While I’m sure everyone was upset about L, it paved the way for both him and Light to meet their demise without either one being better than the other (since Light never actually discovered L’s name). If either character had “won”, half of the Death Note fan base would have been up in arms.

Death #3: Asuka Langley Soryu (End of Evangelion)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJl0V7GWRqc

Asuka’s method of death by itself was already more gruesome than most people can imagine. What had a greater impact was that Shinji just stood by and did nothing (that bastard) while Asuka was being torn to pieces. At this point, everyone just hates Shinji with all of their heart, which is why the ending felt like such a relief when he finally made 1 good decision.

Death #4: Mami Tomoe (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKx3d_RlGnI

As of this writing, everyone, even those who haven’t seen Madoka, knows of Mami’s death. If this article survives the test of time though, here’s a short explanation. Up until this point, Madoka was a cool mahou shoujo series with bubbly characters and some drama between them. Mami was everyone’s favourite because she was a busty, gun-toting, badass that obliterated witches with a smile on her face. Imagine the shock in episode 3 when out on a typical witch hunt, she gets her head ripped off and you hear munching sounds in the background as a witch devours her body. That’s when everyone realized that no, this wasn’t a happy “let’s hunt some witches for fun” series, it was Kyubeyland.

Death #5: Gai Daigoji (Martian Successor Nadesico)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=didibp-tz2A

Personally, I think the creators of Madoka stole this element from Nadesico. Before Gai’s death, Nadesico was about a wacky, happy-go-lucky crew of a civilian battleship with a mission to go to Mars and rescue any people trapped there after the invasion of the Jovian Lizards. Gai was everyone’s favourite because he was an ace pilot that loved to collect gunpla and made everyone laugh. Imagine the shock in episode 3 when out on a walk through the hangar deck, he gets shot dead by some escaping military prisoners. That’s when everyone realized that no, this wasn’t a happy “let’s go save the world” series, it was a deep drama focused on the human condition, where the greater enemies come from within than from without.

Death #6: Kamina (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGwA3aCMT-c

Kamina, the hero of all heroes, leader of all leaders, and player of all players was taken down in episode 8. For someone so seemingly invincible to be taken out so early was a huge psychological blow to the rebellion in TTGL. It also opened up the anime for the other characters to shine in the spotlight, overcoming whatever is thrown their way and “piercing the heavens.” If Kamina had not died, TTGL would not have seemed as much of an anime about perseverance and GAR because Kamina would’ve just made everything too easy.

Death #7: Ushio Okazaki (Clannad After Story)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IwN67M4UGQ

I had a suspicion that Key wouldn’t actually let Ushio die, but my gosh, when they showed that scene I nearly cried. Imagine having your lover die on you after only a few short years and leaving behind your only child. Not having enough time or money, she gets neglected and falls ill. Then, no matter how hard you try to fulfill her last wishes, she passes away in your arms. This doesn’t have an effect on the characters since it’s only a magical dream world, but it really brought out the emotions. I’m sure Tomoya would make an excellent father with Nagisa there to support him.

Death #8: Togame (Katanagatari)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ljdfHzZso

There were quite a few scenes in Katanagatari that alluded to Togame’s death, but I was still shocked when it actually happened. I know it had to have happened or else Togame would have killed Shichika later, but I would like to think she would choose love over personal gain. At least it made Shichika go berserk and made some awesome ending fights.

Death #9: Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass R2)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlbKDBz6k6c

Lelouch was my hero in the first season of Code Geass, he was cunning, ambitious, and took advantage of every opportunity that arose regardless of the ethical or moral issues. That’s why when he finally dominated the world, I was utterly speechless to see him plan and carry out his own death, it was absurd. Lelouch was no hero, I think he should have fallen due to his own folly (divine justice), not something that he planned. For me, this is one of the most shocking deaths in anime because of how he died.

Death #10: Aki Kokonoe (Kodomo no Jikan)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpPXVRE8maE

When I saw I liked Kodomo no Jikan, I’m not saying I liked Kodomo no Jikan. I’m saying that I liked episode 6 of the first season, where the teacher doesn’t even make an appearance and Rin is just a minor character. This episode was by far one of the most memorable episodes of all the anime I’ve ever watched and could actually be viewed without watching any of the others. The whole episode focused around Aki ane Reiji, cousins who fell in love with each other. The problem was that Aki was an ill single mother who could barely take care of herself much less her daughter. It was heartbreaking to see Reiji and Aki falling in love with each other even though they knew Aki was running out of time. The scene of Rin folding paper cranes beside her mother’s withered corpse made my heart wrench.

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I’m sure there are some more deaths that deserve mention, but these were the first 10 that came to mind. If you can think of some other good ones, feel free to share.

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Well, I just finished watching ep 15 of Penguin Musume. This episode involved Etorofu hijacking the Nankyoku time machine and going back in time to get rid of an embarrasing event. Of course, with any show that involves time travel there are unwanted consequences. At the end of the episode it appears that Pen-chan (Sakura) is no longer the main character and the anime is now called Shirokuma-ojousama Heart. I guess this is how Shirokuma gets her fortune/company back after going into bankruptcy.

So, after watching this ep, I started to wonder what I would do if I could go back in time to change something. If someone gave me a time machine right now, I would travel back a few years and tell the producers of Code Geass R2 to change the ending ^.^

(spoilers below for anyone that hasn’t seen the ending to Code Geass)

When I was watching the last ep of Geass I was so happy when Suzaku died. That bastard killed my favourite disposable character, Monica Kruszewski (the Knight of Twelve). I don’t think she got more than a few minutes of screen time, but she was still cool.

It was also partially Suzaku’s fault that Shirley got killed since he was supposed to be watching her, and I can’t even remember how many times he’s switched sides now.

What also sucked about this episode is obviously Lelouch’s death. The fact that it was Suzaku that killed him too doesn’t makes me hate him even more. I’m sure that most people predicted that the ending would see either Lelouch gain control of the world or see him die in a blaze of glory, taking everyone with him (or at least that’s what I predicted). But no, he just gets stabbed in the chest and slides down his big moving throne thing and dies with Nunally holding his hand (they could’ve at least made him die in Nunally’s arms or something). Speaking of Nunally, I really thought she looked like she was plucked straight out of Star Wars.

So after Lelouch dies, the world is at peace and magically, everyone turns out happy. Kallen goes back to school, Nunally is still in a wheelchair but at least she’s enslaved Suzaku and has him pushing her around, and Ohgi and Villeta get married.

Is that the girl that stole Lelouch’s hat behind Rivalz?

Anyways, I think the most “wtf” ending was Orange-kun picking oranges with his new loli girlfriend…

Seriously, who in their right mind would want to pick oranges for a living? And why is Anya even with Orange-kun?

A nice shot of CC before the episode ends. CC was one of my favourite characters, but when you think about it, the plot wouldn’t have changed much if she didn’t exist. Other than giving Lelouch his geass she didn’t have any other important purpose other than looking sexy and advertising for pizza hut.

So if I could change the past, what would my ending be like? I would’ve just ended it once Lelouch became emporer rather than try to drag it out and make a happy ending for everyone (minus the main character). Either that or I would go back in time and tell myself how the cliffhanger from the first season ended and not to watch the second season.

Well, that’s it for my combined post, I was too lazy to write 2 separate ones. On a side note, chibi Pen-chan is so cute ^.^

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At first I didn’t think much of it, he was just targetting some major world cities, one of which appears at first to be Toronto. But when I was looking at the map above, I noticed that the target near the Great Lakes is not where Toronto is. Toronto is located along Lake Ontario (the eastern-most lake for those who don’t know), but the target on that map is north of Lake Ontario and east of Lake Huron. I didn’t know of any cities in that area so I opened up google maps and this is what I found:

According to Wikipedia, Huntsville is just a small town with a population of under 20000. So far, all of the cities in Code Geass have been located where they should be (except Pendragon, which is a fictional city) so I highly doubt that the production staff at Sunrise were planning to target Huntsville when they drew up that map, and were actually trying to target Toronto. I guess with the way that Code Geass is turning out, we can’t even expect the makers of Code Geass to look up some geography.

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