9 Worst Things To Ever Happen To Female Shonen Anime Characters

Although best known for its lighthearted and thrilling adventures, shonen anime can sometimes take dark and twisted turns. The events that follow, more often than not, are used as a means to help the main characters grow by either forcing them to become stronger or becoming the motivation behind their adventures.

Other times, tragedies make audiences become endeared to a secondary or supporting cast member, as seeing someone suffer causes fans to empathize with their pain. As such, this concept is widely used to make female characters more interesting and beloved by viewers. Lamentably, this means that many women in shonen anime have gone through truly traumatic experiences, some of which can be considered unnecessarily brutal.

Nico Robin Had to Witness the Destruction of Ohara

It’s no secret that a majority of the Straw Hat Crew’s backstories are quite tragic. Among them, Nico Robin’s stands out for its brutality, as she was one of the only survivors of the destruction of Ohara. This Kingdom, famous across the world for being home to some of the biggest scholars in history, was targeted by the World Government for their studies into the Void Century.

Nico, who was only a girl at the time, was a firsthand witness of the Navy’s cruelty, forced to see as her friends and the libraries of this great nation burned to a crisp. The only reason why she was able to survive this massacre was Saul, who sacrificed himself to allow the child to escape. This event left a significant scar on Robin’s mind, festering her hatred for the World Government and pushing her to uncover the mysteries Ohara’s scholars could not.

Maki’s Entire Life Was Filled With Suffering

Jujutsu Kaisen’s Zenin Clan was not only infamous among sorcerers for their corruption and cruelty, but also because of their inhumane practices. The members of this powerful family considered women to be inherently inferior, only born to serve men. For Maki, life became much worse than for other female members of the clan, as she was also born with a Heavenly Restriction, preventing her from utilizing Cursed Energy.

From childhood, Maki was seen as a failure and a burden to her family, resulting in other members of the clan, particularly Naoya, torturing her not only mentally but physically. The girl grew up enduring torment that would have broken someone of weaker will. Instead of allowing this pain to control her destiny, Maki became the one to put an end to her family’s legacy of hatred, positioning herself as one of the strongest fighters in history.

Anko Was Nothing More Than a Disposable Test Subject For Orochimaru

After graduating from the Ninja Academy, Anko Mitarashi was assigned to a team under the supervision of Orochimaru, who at the time was a celebrated and beloved hero of Konoha. She became quite close to the man, who pretended to see a great deal of potential in her. The Sanin used the admiration Anko felt for him to manipulate her into becoming a test subject, effectively grooming her into worshiping him.

When he left the village, Orochimaru abandoned Anko to her own devices, leaving her behind even when aware of the reputation he would gain for being his student. The girl went from a promising kunoichi to the village’s shame, isolated from everyone else for reasons beyond her control. While she managed to overcome the adversity and succeed in her career, the pain and trauma of Orochimaru’s crimes never truly left her.

Eri Was Killed and Reconstructed Countless Times

The world of My Hero Academia is famous among anime fans for being a colorful and energetic place where superheroes work hard to keep everyone safe. Woefully, even in this cheerful world, suffering still exists, and no one among the cast knows this better than Eri, a girl who was tortured endlessly for years by the ominous Overhaul.

Due to her Quirk, Rewind, which allowed her to revert any organic object to a previous state in time, Chisaki saw her as the perfect tool to perfect his Erasing Bullets Quirk. He would constantly destroy the girl’s body to obtain samples of her cells, only to then reassemble her. It was not until Lemillion, Deku, and their team were able to rescue her that her suffering ended, although at that point she had been deeply traumatized by the pain.

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Nina Tucker Was Transformed Into a Chimera By Her Own Father

Hailing from one of the masterpieces that anime has to offer, Nina Tucker was a kind and playful girl who came across the Elric Brothers during their research about the Philosopher’s Stone. Her father, Shou, was a famous State Alchemist, known for his groundbreaking discovery of talking Chimeras. What the heroes and Nina could never have imagined was that the man’s research was not as innocent as it once seemed.

When he first obtained his job as a government-sanctioned Alchemist, he utilized his wife and the former family dog to create an unnatural abomination. The Elric Brothers met him during a desperate time, as the man was trying to keep his research going. He decided to repeat his experiments, this time using Nina as one of the materials, turning his own daughter into a being whose entire life was pain.

Asuna Had Her Free Will Stripped Away for Almost 3 Years

Sword Art Online is by far one of the most divisive anime in history, with fans either loving its unique approach to the death game concept or hating it for being drastically cliché and uninteresting. What most fans on either side can agree on is that the series tends to utilize its female characters as little more than plot devices, and Asuna is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

Introduced as a fearless warrior capable of leading entire armies, Asuna was turned into a helpless maiden the moment the Alfheim Online arc began. She was not only trapped against her will inside this game, but she was the target of constant sexual harassment at the hands of Sugu, the man behind her imprisonment. Worst of all, she had to endure an assault attempt, all while knowing she had no means of defending herself in both the virtual and real worlds.

Nezuko’s World Was Ripped Apart in a Single Night

The Kamado family lived happily in their remote home until the fateful night on which Muzan Kibutsuji decided to attack. The demon spared no one, using them as test subjects to see if one of them could be transformed into a demon capable of withstanding the sun. Believing everyone present in the home had failed and died due to his toxic blood, the man decided to leave, not knowing Nezuko was in the middle of her transformation.

The girl was forced to not only witness the slaughter of her family, unable to do anything, but she was also unwillingly transformed into a monster who hungers for human flesh. Although she was able to overcome her instincts and prevent eating another person, she spent years suffering the effects of her curse, as well as being hunted and attacked simply for existing.

Erza Barely Survived Her Years as a Slave

Known throughout the land as one of Fairy Tail’s most powerful mages, Erza Scarlet is a fierce and noble warrior who is always willing to put her life on the line to protect the innocent. Her deep sense of justice comes from her time as a child slave, forced to build the infamous Tower of Heaven, a sanctuary designed to resurrect the dark wizard known as Zeref.

Erza was forced to work tirelessly, being punished severely when she would collapse due to exhaustion. She was also accused of being the mastermind behind a revolt, causing her to be tortured by the cultists who kidnapped her. Even when she was given a chance to escape her tragic fate, her best friend and companion Jellal was brainwashed into believing himself to be the vessel for Zeref, causing him to turn on Erza and vanish her from the island.

Faye Yeager Met an Unnecessary and Cruel End Because of Bigotry

Attack on Titan is widely regarded as one of the darkest and most complex shonen series ever created. One scene in particular stands out for being overwhelmingly brutal: the murder of Faye Yeager. Born several decades before the beginning of the series, this innocent girl lived with her brother, Grisha, inside the Liberio Internment Zone, a concentration camp built to keep Eldian children.

One day, as she traveled with her sibling near the border, she decided to quickly cross to see an aircraft flying, earning her the ire of Sergeant Major Gross. The man pretended to want to speak to her in private, when in reality he wished to punish her by having his dogs eat her alive. When her corpse was found the next day, he lied, planting the desire for revenge inside Grisha’s heart.

Release Date

2016 – 2026-00-00

Network

TBS, MBS, Nippon TV

Directors

Shouji Ikeno, Tsuyoshi Tobita, Ikuro Sato, Takudai Kakuchi, Masashi Abe, Tetsuya Miyanishi, Kazuma Komatsu, Yoshifumi Sasahara, Masayuki Otsuki, Daisuke Tsukushi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Yohei Fukui, Takuro Tsukada, Masatoyo Takada, Naomi Nakayama, Sayaka Morikawa, Takanori Yano

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  Daiki Yamashita

  Izuku Midoriya (voice)

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  Kaito Ishikawa

  Manga Fukidashi (voice)

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