Saddest Deaths and Almost Deaths In Anime

Note 1: This list is based on opinion and only includes characters from animes I have seen recently enough to remember.
Note 2: The first list is in order from saddest to least sad. The second list is in no particular order.
Note 3: I will add more as I watch more.


 SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saddest Deaths

 Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin)- It was a fitting death in my opinion and it happened when he was old, though not terribly old. It would have been shameful if he had lost his life in battle after all that he had been through and he was too good to be taken by surprise. He never seemed to get sick so a simple cold killing him would have been wrong. I still don't know exactly what killed him. He had red blotches all over his body and had bandages over them. I suppose it could have been what Megumi had been talking about. Seeing him so frail though was heart breaking. He didn't really know who Sano was or where he was. He just sort of stared. He was never very strong looking but he looked even more frail than before and so sickly. He could hardly walk. The man who had been so strong, who had jumped in the air and moved to fast to see, was weak and feeble. Somehow he ended up being in China in a shack. His memory wasn't too good nor was his awareness. He couldn't even catch the fish that Sano threw to him. Sano helped him get back to Japan where he walked or attempted to walk until he met Koaru. Koaru was dying to but was in better condition than Kenshin. He just lay down his head in her lap and she talked of parties they should have with friends and things as if they would be alive for the rest of the week or even for a few years. He just died. He passed away in her lap as she talked of a future that I assume she knew wasn't going to happen. They were under the blossoms where he had said good bye to her so many years ago. He was happy. If it had gone on any longer, tears would have fell from my eyes. Watching him like that was just painful, even if his death was peaceful.
Rolo Lamperouge (Code Geass)-

Even after Lelouch had told him he was using him and basically told Rolo he meant nothing, Rolo still went to save his "brother" Lelouch. He used his geass powers to help them escape and in doing so, put too much strain on his heart and ended up killing himself. He considered Lelouch to be his big brother and credited Lelouch with giving him some of the best days of his life and making him feel human. Even though Lelouch had planned to use him then kill him, Rolo saved Lelouch. At the end Rolo told Lelouch that it had been a lie when Lelouch had said he planned to kill Rolo because his big brother was a liar. Whether he actually believed that his "big brother" lied to him or not is unknown. However Lelouch told Rolo that it was a lie, despite the fact that wasn't true. In the end, Lelouch cared for Rolo. I swear I nearly cried.

Kohaku and the demon slayers (Inuyasha)- Kohaku was on his first mission with the other demon slayers when a demon took control of him and forced him to kill his father, their family friends, and attempt to kill his sister as well. The demon stopped controlling him right before he was shot down with arrows. He had time to realize what he had done. When he was brought back by the jewel, he had Naraku take away his memories because he was so traumatized by what he had done and couldn't live with it. He had been such a sweet boy and only 11 years old. The demon slayers were family and friends who he had known all his life. He had brought them down.
Euphemia Li Britannia (Code Geass)-

It's not that the scene of her actual death was really sad so much as why it happened and how. She was kind and only wanted peace. She was trying to achieve it the only way she knew how but Zero (Lelouch) didn't agree and was afraid it would ruin his plans. He met with her and they actually sorted things out, but then Zero lost control of his Geass and accidently used it to make Euphi kill the Japanese and order her soldiers to do the same. It led to the slaughter of a stadium full of people. The only option left was to kill Euphi and Zero know it. Euphi and Lelouch had been brother and sister though. Lelouch knew that Euphi was going against her very nature because of the Geass controling her. If she ever found out what she had done, she would have been devastated. It would have destroyed her. Even if she didn't find out, she would go on ordering the death of the Japanese until everyone was dead. Even if they tried to lock her up, the Geass had already proven to be very powerful and cause those effected to do whatever they must to obey the Geass. The only thing he could do for her sake and the sake of all the Japanese was to kill her. Suzaku who had basically just figured out he and Euphi might have a future together, watched as Euphi died. 
 Ayumu Yamazaki (PMK)-

Ayumu was loved by everyone in the Shinsengumi. After her brother had trouble with some of his spy work, she went out to take his place. Despite being a decent spy and a good fighter, she got caught. She was tied up and beaten then her body was left in the rain. Her brother found her. The two had never been super close, or at least he wasn't close to her, he didn't even act like he cared about her, but it was because of him that she died and he regretted how he had been to her. Of course, everyone was devastated. She had been like a mother to them all in a way.



Toboe (Wolfs Rain)-

Toboe died next to a man who claimed to hate wolves. It was sad because of the realization the man had at the end and how the two laid there in the snow as their life slipped away. Toboe was my favorite wolf so of course I was sad to see him die.

Tsume (Wolfs Rain)- Since Tsume was my second favorite character, I didn't like seeing him die anymore than seeing Toboe die. Especially since it seemed as if Tsume had finally found real friends and cared for someone. He was so close to paradise.






 NOTE: The list below is in no particular order.

Almost Deaths 

Lelouch Lemperouge (Code Geass)- Apparently, he isn't dead, so I can't put this is the sad death list because the means they actually died. However, he appeared to die. He had a sword put through him. I can only assume that he became immortal like C.C.. If he had died, it would have probably been first on the list above. At a glance, the death doesn't seem very sad. In fact it appears to be the death of a terrible dictator who was consumed with greed and power. It wasn't though. Lelouch wasn't the bad guy, even though he often seemed to be. He had to pretend to be terrible. He had to give up his friends and family and everything he held dear to make his sisters dream come true. He even had to make her hate him. He untied the world by taking it over so it was no longer split into three powers. He took all the hate and all the blame. He didn't try to tell people the truth if the truth would make them hate him less. He gathered all their hate and anger, all the blood and pain, into himself so that when he was killed, so would the pain and hate. He untied people by being their common enemy. He "died" as the "bad guy" in the eyes of the people. I highly doubt most if anyone realized that he was the one who brought about the peace. He would be remembered as the traitor and the evil dictator, not as the person who created a peaceful world. To me, that is terrible. I hate that he had to be a sacrafice. I hate that to create this peace, he had to lose his friends and sister and go against who he was. He had always stood up for those who were being beaten down by the powerful and now he had to do the beating. There was no one who could bear his pain and no one for him to turn to. He really did carry the world on his shoulders. I really don't know how to put words to it. It was just depressing. However, I know that he was happy. He was happy that he could create a peaceful world for Nunnally. He accomplished his goal, so I don't think he really regretted how he had to die.
Charles Zi Britannia (Code Geass)- Dude needs to die and stay dead. Well eventually he did die, but not the first time. While his intentions may have been good, he was ignorant. I don't know where Lelouch got his brains, but it wasn't from his parents.
Nunnally Lamperouge(Code Geass)- His reason for living, his reason for fighting for peace, Lelouches little sister died. Except she didn't, but no one bothered to tell him that. Two of the people at fault were the two people who cared for her most. Suzaku and Lelouch both played a hand in it. Lelouch used his geass to make Suzaku live and because of that Suzaku used the deadly weapon. Lelouch just cracked after that.
Nina Tucker (FMA)- She did die, but not at first. Technically, it's really a matter of opinion when Nina died. Some might say she died when her father turned her into that experiment because she wasn't the human Nina anymore. Some may say that she died when the experiment died. I say she died when the experiment died and consider her almost death to be when her father turned her into an experiment. It was so hard to watch. How could he do that to his own daughter! The sadness in that things eyes was awful. I wanted to punch him for doing that to such a sweet child. It wasn't fair!
Kagome Higurashi (Inuyasha)- I have to admit I rather enjoyed her almost death. I didn't want Kagome to die, but it was a fresh change. Normally she did very little of the fighting and despite how often she should have at least broken bones, she never really got injured. Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha all faced bad injuries and near death, except her. I found it rather annoying. It didn't feel realistic. I didn't like her being so safe. It was boring. Of course when I thought she actually died, I wanted to scream...it was refreshing. What was annoying though was HOW she didn't die. I'm glad she didn't, but how she was saved was stupid. Of course I'm not sure anyone in anime actually knows how to tell if someone has a pulse or is breathing but that is besides the point. Shippo said they stopped breathing. Well, if someone stops breathing, especially for a long period of time, that's usually the end. When a persons brain and organs stop receiving oxygen, they can't do their job and shut down. The longer they go without oxygen the less likely they can be used again. So if they stopped breathing that long, they should have been dead. They were already poisoned, then they were breathing in smoke from a fire, then they stopped breathing, they died. And you are telling me a flea came along and sucked out all the poison and they were fine, so fine in fact that it wasn't long before they were able to walk long distances? First off, if it's that deadly a poison, why is the flea alive? Secondly, how does sucking out the poison bring them back to life and make their organs function able again? Thirdly, shouldn't they need rest after just dying and coming back to life? What is this, the hunger games two? You don't die then get up and walk a minute later! It was a refreshing moment to have her actually be in danger, but the way it was fixed just sort of ruined it and made it stupid.
Kohaku (Inuyasha)- I put Kohaku in the saddest deaths list, but it's a bit of a matter of opinion whether he belongs there or here. He did die, but he was brought back and able to live with the jewel in him so he was technically living again. It depends on how you define death I suppose. If you define it as no longer existing as a zombi, human, or anything, than he didn't die, but if you define it as a physical death where the body dies even if it comes back after, then he died.
Ayaka Shinozaki (Heaven's Memo Pad)- She didn't die, at least the anime never said she died. According to the internet, she supposedly woke up eventually but with amnesia. So she isn't dead. However she is darn close. She jumped off the roof of the school because she found out her brother was using drugs and had used her to grow the drugs for him. She was devastated. Though it is later implied or said that it wasn't exactly a suicide. Her brother had played a part and she had been on the drug at the time I think is what they said.
Yoshiki (Heaven's Memo Pad)- Yoshiki was originally a woman who lived with Yodaime and Renji. When an ex wife of a man she was involved with came and stuck a knife in her stomach because she was pregnant, Yodaime had let Renji believe she was dead. He didn't want Renji to know about what she was involved in or about the fact that she was alive but had lost her uterus and ovaries and was basically living like a man. It caused the two men to fight and hate each other until Renji finally found out that Yoshiki was the girl and that Yodaime hadn't broken the promise after all. Yoshiki lived happily with a shop for fabric and embroidery and such.