While most people watch anime to escape the stressful realities of their life or to have a sense of adventure or action in their busy lives, many times than not, some anime characters are so depressed or gloomy that instead of making us feel exhilarated, they make us feel rather unhappy.
We at MyAnimeGuru bring you the list of the Top 13 Most Depressed Anime Characters (Ranked) for you since we know many people are having tough times in their life and can relate to such characters and can feel happy by watching these characters overcome their pain and achieve happiness.
List of Most Depressed Anime Characters
This list of most depressed anime characters will be based on how compelling the characters’ backstories are, how they develop emotionally throughout the anime, and how important their development and importance are to the story.
13. Nanachi
Anime: Made in Abyss
Nanachi is one of the most depressed anime characters. From being turned into a freak and constantly experimented on by Bondrewd to seeing the only friend she ever had Mitty, being changed into a mindless creature really broke her, and was left grief-stricken and not caring about herself anymore.
She didn’t stop caring for Mitty till the end and despite doing all she could, she continued to have guilt as the only one who survived and felt like she had no other meaning in life other than dedicate her time to taking care of the vegetative Mitty. After meeting Rengu, she somewhat recovered.
12. Crona
Anime: Soul Eater
First seen as a villain, we come to know how Crono was one of the most tragic villains. We learned how she was constantly mentally and psychologically abused by her parent figure in Medusa and how she was forced to kill animals to make her emotionally desensitized.
She is very naive by nature and gets taken advantage of easily while her constant inner struggles due to her black blood make her extremely apathetic and always keep her gloomy and make her write sad poetry which makes everyone sad as well. She is one of the most depressed anime characters.
11. Ai Enma
Anime: Hell Girl
She was treated like an object by the village she belonged to who forsake her and thought of her only as a sacrifice and when her parents tried to save her, the villagers killed them and buried her alive. Even when she was alive she was bullied by the other kids, and betrayed by her cousin.
After her death, she became an agent of hell in exchange for her parents being able to go to heaven and since then her only purpose was to take revenge on the villagers, whom she shortly killed. Quite a bleak existence, no? Well, that makes her one of the most depressed anime characters.
10. Tomoya Okazaki
Anime: Clannad
Nothing seems to be going for Tomoya in his life and even when things seem like they are getting better, the hopes of a good life are soon shattered. His volatile relationship with his father affected him and took from him, his chance to play basketball. While his mother’s death made him without a maternal figure.
When he finally met Nagisa, he thought he would have some semblance of normalcy but Nagisa couldn’t win from her disease eventually passing away after giving birth to their daughter Ushio. However, Ushio suffered also died from the same disease. He is simply one of the most depressed anime characters.
9. Homura Akemi
Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Downright suicidal and simply wanting to end her suffering, there are many sufferings in Homura’s life which is made all so much more apparent when we learn that her wish was to save Madoka due to which she travels back to the past again and again to save her giving her more trauma.
She suffers from chronic depression and thinks that she cannot do anything about her life and she is doomed forever which eventually gets her trapped in the labyrinth since he has accepted her fate. Her pitiful experiences truly make her one of the most depressed anime characters.
8. Soul King Brook
Anime: One Piece
While on the surface he appears to be happy and pervy doing crazy things and always laughing & playing music, he has quite a sad backstory since when he was alive he saw the gradually Rumbar pirates crew die from disease and being poisoned. Yet his pain was not for the end.
By the time he was revived by his devil fruit, his body decayed away and he was trapped in the fog of the Florian Triangle for 50 years, he had nothing left but to play music, no one was there to listen to. This all changed once he met Luffy but Brook is still one of the most depressed anime characters.
7. Lain Iwakura
Anime: Serial Experiments Lain
A shy and introverted girl who finds it hard to interact with people and is always engrossed in technology feels her life unraveling after the death of a classmate. She gradually decides to find the secret behind her friend’s death which cuts her off even more. She is one of the most depressed anime characters.
Yet the biggest shocker comes when as she becomes closer and closer to the wired world and tech, she starts losing her human self and becomes confused about what is real and what is virtual. In the end, she finds she is simply a sentient computer program. Quite sad and pathetic, no?
6. Nozomu Itoshiki
Anime: Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei
An anime that has despair in its name can’t be too good, can it? Well, the titular main character suffers from immeasurable depression and views every aspect from a pessimistic and nihilistic view and even the smallest problems make him question why he is even alive.
Borderline suicidal and a coward, he simply isn’t able to be happy and even goes as far as demotivating his students and if he gets any backlash he plays the victim card and curls up into a fetal position. Quite a bleak way of living and a pathetic existence makes him one of the most depressed anime characters.
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5. Hyakkimaru
Anime: Dororo(2019)
A classic shounen tale sees the warrior Hyakkimaru as the victim of his father’s greed who to become a great feudal lord puts his newborn son’s life at stake and sacrifices him to demons.
He got the success while he gets his body mangled as each demon takes one body part or organ from him. But his biggest struggle was that he survived. Survived as a freak without eyes, nose, legs, or arms.
Treated like a monster by all the villagers, he endured unimaginable pain and shame throughout his life till the kind doctor takes him in. He is no doubt one of the most depressed anime characters, abandoned by his father.
4. Kakeru Naruse
Anime: Orange
Naruse is a sweet guy but he also suffers from chronic depression all stemming from the death of his mother. He decided to spend time with his newfound friends and crush Naho and decided to not pick up the call from his mother who in turn committed suicide.
After returning, Kakeru visibly blamed himself for the death of his mother and continued to become estranged from his friends due to not being able to be there for his mother, even more so when he learned she was abused by his dad. He is one of the most depressed anime characters.
In the original timeline, this even made him go into despair and blindly ride his cycle into a truck and kill himself. It was the love of Naho and their friends who saved him in the revised timeline.
3. Kousei Arima
Anime: Your Lie in April
From loving the piano, he ended up hating it due to his mother’s obsession with him becoming a good player which made her abuse him physically and mentally. This made him hate his mother but when she died, he couldn’t get over her death and blamed himself.
He couldn’t get any closure with his mom but in high school, he finally got some solace in meeting Kaori but even that didn’t last for long as Kaori suffered from a terminal disease and after a long struggle passed away, leaving Arima even more broken. He is one of the most depressed anime characters.
2. Shouko Nishimiya
Anime: A Silent Voice
We simply can’t help from feeling sorry about Shouko. She is deaf and so had to rely on hearing aids but her classmates in elementary school bullied her and resented her for unknown reasons and even the protag Ishida continues to be mean to her.
After they both grow up they meet again and by this time Shouko starts blaming herself for the anguish of her mother as well as the depression of Ishida. She is still bullied by Naoko and even tries to kill herself but is saved by Ishida. Truly Shouko is one of the most depressed anime characters of all time.
1. Shinji Ikari
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Probably the guy who invented depression and made the concept popular in Shounen anime, Shinji has been the poster child of mental illness and troubles since Evangelion came 25 years ago. He suffers from abandonment issues due to the loss of his mother.
While his estranged relationship with his father, who is cold towards him, makes him completely unhinged. He also has a not-so-simple relationship with either Asuka or Rei and has sudden bursts of anger. He is the top of the most depressed anime characters.
Conclusion
This list of Most Depressed Anime characters was pretty hard to make since different people have different definitions of sadness and one cannot be compared with another’s pain. After a careful study of the tragic lives of each of the mentioned character’s lives, we curated this list.
We hope you liked this list of the Most depressed anime characters and how they overcame their sadness helped you too. Until next time.
Source – Anilist
FAQ Section
Who is the most depressed anime characters?
Shinji Ikari is generally seen as the most depressed and mentally unstable anime character.
Which anime deals with depression?
Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei is a dark comedy that deals with the subject of depression and how it affects people.
Who is the saddest anime character?
There is a long list since many characters have suffered a lot over the years but a popular choice would be Guts from Berserk(1997).
