Have you ever seen an anime character who had sacrificed so much, and in the end, he didn’t even gain much? The kind of characters we can relate to, and sympathize them, to their very souls. Below are my top five most pitiable anime characters. Major spoilers up ahead.
5. Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass)
Lelouch may seem like an evil manipulator at first sight, but he actually has people he care about, most notably, his sister, Nunnally. He seems evil because he only wanted to create a peaceful world for his sister, using not-so-noble means, and with such a convenient power coming along at the perfect timing, he immediately initiate his massive scheme. Enforcing such a large scale goal, there is no doubt that he had to make sacrifices along the way. He bore all the sin and hatred of everyone whenever he made sacrifices and when he finally died during the end of second season, all the people’s hatred disperse within him. Although what he had done for his so-called noble goal is inexcusable, his death seems almost pitiful, bearing the whole country’s hatred together with him to his deathbed.
4. Uchiha Itachi (Naruto)
Itachi is surprisingly a pacifist, but perhaps this is ironically the reason he is being treated like a pawn. The man may seem calm and wise but his naivety makes him a subject of manipulation. Because of his love for peace, he was forced to eliminate the whole Uchiha clan who were at the time planning a coup d’état, and the orders are from the Konoha elders themselves at that too. He murdered the whole clan overnight, however, he just can’t stand to kill his brother, Sasuke, and spared him due to his attachment for his brother. He also purposely make himself as if he is the real culprit behind this, forcibly bearing all the hatred of his brother, hoping that one day, Sasuke would be strong enough to kill him. He even begged the Konoha elders to spare his brother alone, and he became an exiled ninja in exchange for Sasuke’s safety. The man sacrificed a lot, and even in his sacrifice, he is always thinking of honor and glory for his clan. The man is indeed pitiful, but the sacrifices he had made for Konoha and his brother is respectable, and honorable.
3. Matou Kariya (Fate/Zero)
Kariya is a mage of the Matou family but as he was disgusted with his family, he cut all his ties with them, only to be back few years after that after finding out that Sakura had been abducted into the family, with her body filled with Crest Worms. Matou Zonken is very cunning too, and using Sakura as an emotional springboard, he could manipulate Kariya easily. He was forced to rejoin the hated family, was forced to be filled with Crest Worms similarly and was forced to join the Holy Grail War, in hope that Zonken will fulfill his part of the bargain and let Sakura go and be free. Zonken obviously, would never keep his promise but seeing as how Kariya ultimately got defeated in the Grail War anyway, he has a good reason not to. Throwing his battered, exhausted body into a sea of maggots, he died with a satisfied look on his face, all the while having a delusion of starting a family with his love interest Aoi, together with Rin and Sakura. While in reality, Aoi was almost killed (now comatose) by the man himself due to a misunderstanding, Sakura remained emotionless throughout the end (probably due to the worms), apathetically looking at Kariya as he got devoured by the worms and Rin became pretty much alone in the Tohsaka family.
2. Ikari Shinji (Evangelion)
Ikari Shinji is one of the most relatable character in anime, in fact, he is so “human” we can relate to his fears and struggles. We can pity, we can sympathize him, because of his blandness. After all, Shinji is just a 14 years old kid, being forced upon with a task that would change the world. His choice of actions would effect humanity as a whole. Being forced with such a major role, deep down, he just wants acknowledgment from his father. Doing so much just to gain acknowledgment, it is indeed pitiable to say the least.
1. Emiya Kiritsugu (Fate/Zero)
Kiritsugu has a similar mindset with Lelouch, for a better good, he makes a sacrifice. However, because his mentality is so much weaker, it hurts just to look at him. For every people he killed, he weep and cried. He tried his best to steel his emotions but nevertheless, he occasionally still went into an emotional breakdown. At the start, he believed in his ideal steadily but throughout the middle, he continued his twisted mindset despite knowing that it’s not the correct path. By stopping, it’s as if he’s mocking the massive amount of sacrifices he made throughout the years, and by stopping, he himself might even went crazy. Ultimately, the grail, which he had sought for salvation, only extended “his method” of salvation, showing him just how wrong his method is. The thing which he had fight for all these years, the “salvation” he sought from the omnipotent wish granting device, and his ideals which he had upheld for all these years, he was forced to ditch all single one of them.
