Looking for anime where Life hates the MC and it never gets better

i cant think of many other then texhnolyze, grave of the fireflies, re:zero. ill throw some titles.

phantom requiem for the phantom
girl last tour (cute girls but so lonely.)
Deadman Wonderland
Blood + / Blood c
Rainbow

no idea if they are dubbed. but most likely.
 
anathematized1 said:
I want something where the MC is kind of pitiful through no fault of his/her own, just the absolute worst luck ever, maybe even cursed but not necessarily, constantly dumped on, Life's "whipping boy". And preferably no happy ending for them either. And also preferably, the MC isn't a total crybaby and actually does try to make the situation better, but nothing works. Nobody who's problems are their own fault (I mean because of stupid crap they could have prevented if they weren't a mindless idiot, not because of like, say they just made a wrong career choice but it's an understandable and educated choice that just didn't work out). Maybe or maybe not kind of self-loathing.

They have to be pitiful not because they suck as a person, like they're some kind of loser... pitiful because their situation is pitiable and crappy. I want to feel bad for them, not look down on them. I want my heart to weep for them and for it to not get better, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and all their fighting against it is in vain. If the MC gets driven to suicide at the end, that would be the ultimate cherry on top.

I also want them to despair at some point. There are some moments of utter train wreck despair in some I have seen that come kind of close to what I mean. A prime example of this would be in episode 84 of Black Clover, where...
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The main character of KonoSuba fits the bill perfectly except it is played as a comedy. He hits all your points except suicide but does manage to die a few times forcibly brought back to life to suffer again. It was just Dubbed this year so you might not have watched it. It Has a masochist, an egotist and smart-ass all supporting character's that irritate the Main Character. Again it is a comedy though slightly dark.
 
Polyperchon said:
Grave of the fireflies I guess. There aren't too many anime that are as relentlessly bleak as you seem to want.
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Which is weird, because I thought there was a "subverting an expected trope" trope for every trope (I.E. good guy dumped on hard wins in the end).

Pretty much nobody's done it. Then again, I didn't expect there to be any, since 99% of anime is Shoenen and 0.9% is "other" with only 0.1% Seinen.

Haven't there been enough "Bleaches" and "DBZ's" and not nearly enough "Mnemosyne's" or "Parasites"?
 
I see someone already recommended Grave of the Fireflies. Have you seen "Hell Girl" or the 1998 "Vampire Princess Miyu" reboot? Don't expect happy endings, happy beginnings or a happy middle, either. Not only does the title character take their turn at suffering, but these depressing episodic series gives you a new character or group of characters to watch suffer in almost every episode, while the title character can do fuck-all about it. And the little glimpses of hope they throw at you to make you think things are getting better or that the MC is seeing a chance at freedom from their bleak existence are like cruel jokes, cause their lives, whether they like it on not, are doomed to suck hard. The last few episodes of Miyu blew me away because as bleak as the show is I did NOT that shit coming.
:crying:
 
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I have a couple of very different suggestions, though I’m not sure if a dub exists? If you can source one please consider:

https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/blast-of-tempest takes its characters through a lot. I’m recommending this to you because of their emotions and experiences rather than due to the overall tone of the anime.

https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/shouwa-genroku-rakugo-shinjuu
This anime is an exploration of family, friendship, and how they can f**k you up sometimes. Amazing characters.
 
anathematized1 said:
While I liked Terror in Resonance, it's still not quite what I am looking for.

For one, it was really just the one tragedy they were fighting against and they met their goal so they arguably won despite what happened to them in the end, and the MC's didn't really despair about any of it along the way.



No, definitely not.

Again...

Oh, just forget it.

I don't know how I can possibly make it more clear as to what I am looking for.

Not a bleak WORLD, but MC's in a bleak and inescapable situation that they must fight against, only to be thrown into another tragedy. Different tragedies after tragedies (not one single tragedy) where nothing goes right, or if anything does go right, something else happens to undermine it.

And the MC must despair, and in the end, not win.

Basically, exactly like what's going on in Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- except can't win in the end, can't make friends, etc. And when I say exactly, I don't mean necessarily restarting to get things right or necessarily being in a strange land. I mean, exactly well, look how much stuff happens to him, how many tragedies and every time he makes even a little progress, ends up failing, over and over, every new task. Sure, there's one big thing overhead, but many small things and he literally screws up just about everything. But, at the same time, he is coming out on top, slowly, and ending up with friends or whatever (because of course they turn it all around).

What I want is something like that, but where things don't tturn around, where in the end, they don't meet their goal.
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There were more specifics on why I chose those anime, but I was really tired when I posted so that's my fault at my end.

In https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/blue-gender
the protagonist is not only terminally ill, but he also has to fight monsters that want to kill him on sight. On top of losing teammates, I just don't see a happy ending for the protagonist.

But I think https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/casshern-sins
might be even more depressing. The protagonist, Casshern, basically can't die no matter what, but the other characters that he meets and becomes attached to can. It starts off slow, but the story does pick up. When a character who can't die but has to see others who can, eternal life is essentially hell for the protagonist. The theme of existentialism as well as the profound sense of tragedy with the characters made this a good watch for me.
 
anathematized1 said:
OK so, let me be more specific, because I tried using character tags but I noticed a lot of characters don't have many tags, and any tags I can find in the list don't come together in any combination of what I am looking for. Examples to follow.

So, I want an anime, that isn't romance or comedy or anything like that. Preferably not mech either. My anime list should give you an idea of the types/genre I usually go for, though some broad examples to note are Cowboy Bebop, Monster, Mnemosyne, Elfen Leid, Berserk, etc.

Please only anime that have dubs (and please don't get into with me about how I should "give subs a try").

I want something where the MC is kind of pitiful through no fault of his/her own, just the absolute worst luck ever, maybe even cursed but not necessarily, constantly dumped on, Life's "whipping boy". And preferably no happy ending for them either. And also preferably, the MC isn't a total crybaby and actually does try to make the situation better, but nothing works. Nobody who's problems are their own fault (I mean because of stupid crap they could have prevented if they weren't a mindless idiot, not because of like, say they just made a wrong career choice but it's an understandable and educated choice that just didn't work out). Maybe or maybe not kind of self-loathing.

They have to be pitiful not because they suck as a person, like they're some kind of loser... pitiful because their situation is pitiable and crappy. I want to feel bad for them, not look down on them. I want my heart to weep for them and for it to not get better, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and all their fighting against it is in vain. If the MC gets driven to suicide at the end, that would be the ultimate cherry on top.

I also want them to despair at some point. There are some moments of utter train wreck despair in some I have seen that come kind of close to what I mean. A prime example of this would be in episode 84 of Black Clover, where...
So OK, everyone has some magic, some are more than others, but Asta has none, right? Well, he's absolutely busted his ass to get ahead despite that "curse" of not having magic and what happens? He watches his best friend/rival just absolutely blow past him in skill and lays there, angry. And understandably, as he has come quite a way from nothing, only for his friend to just have made the gulf that already existed between them that much larger.

I mean, Yuno kind of looked effortlessly powerful af, while Asta needs a lot of time to pull out his trump card and he's only got the one thing.

Or the scene in Re:ZERO where...
After everything Natsuki Subaru goes through, in one of the last episodes, he dumps on himself with the following monologue:
"I'll tell you what kind of man I really am. I have no strength, but I want it all; I have no knowledge, but all I do is dream. There's nothing I can do, but I struggle in vain like an idiot. I hate myself. All I do is talk a big game and make myself sound like a big shot when I can't do anything. I never do anything, yet I complain with the best of them like it'sy my job or something. Who the hell do I think I am?! I'm a fraud! It's amazing I can feel like this and not feel ashamed. You know I'm right, I'm an empty shell, there's nothing inside me at all. I know there isn't because that's obvious, anybody could see that. Before I came to this place, do you have any idea what I did with my life? I did nothing, that's what. I've never done a single thing worth mentioning. I had all that time and freedom, but I just squandered it away on nothing. I could have done anything with my life, but I never did a damn thing, and what you're looking at now is the result. This cowardly, weak worthless crybaby. All of my powerlessness, all of my incompetence, is the product of my rotten and pathetic character.
No one expects anything of me. Nobody believes in me. I'm no good. I hate myself."
Click to expand...
anathematized1 said:
OK so, let me be more specific, because I tried using character tags but I noticed a lot of characters don't have many tags, and any tags I can find in the list don't come together in any combination of what I am looking for. Examples to follow.

So, I want an anime, that isn't romance or comedy or anything like that. Preferably not mech either. My anime list should give you an idea of the types/genre I usually go for, though some broad examples to note are Cowboy Bebop, Monster, Mnemosyne, Elfen Leid, Berserk, etc.

Please only anime that have dubs (and please don't get into with me about how I should "give subs a try").

I want something where the MC is kind of pitiful through no fault of his/her own, just the absolute worst luck ever, maybe even cursed but not necessarily, constantly dumped on, Life's "whipping boy". And preferably no happy ending for them either. And also preferably, the MC isn't a total crybaby and actually does try to make the situation better, but nothing works. Nobody who's problems are their own fault (I mean because of stupid crap they could have prevented if they weren't a mindless idiot, not because of like, say they just made a wrong career choice but it's an understandable and educated choice that just didn't work out). Maybe or maybe not kind of self-loathing.

They have to be pitiful not because they suck as a person, like they're some kind of loser... pitiful because their situation is pitiable and crappy. I want to feel bad for them, not look down on them. I want my heart to weep for them and for it to not get better, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and all their fighting against it is in vain. If the MC gets driven to suicide at the end, that would be the ultimate cherry on top.

I also want them to despair at some point. There are some moments of utter train wreck despair in some I have seen that come kind of close to what I mean. A prime example of this would be in episode 84 of Black Clover, where...
So OK, everyone has some magic, some are more than others, but Asta has none, right? Well, he's absolutely busted his ass to get ahead despite that "curse" of not having magic and what happens? He watches his best friend/rival just absolutely blow past him in skill and lays there, angry. And understandably, as he has come quite a way from nothing, only for his friend to just have made the gulf that already existed between them that much larger.

I mean, Yuno kind of looked effortlessly powerful af, while Asta needs a lot of time to pull out his trump card and he's only got the one thing.

Or the scene in Re:ZERO where...
After everything Natsuki Subaru goes through, in one of the last episodes, he dumps on himself with the following monologue:
"I'll tell you what kind of man I really am. I have no strength, but I want it all; I have no knowledge, but all I do is dream. There's nothing I can do, but I struggle in vain like an idiot. I hate myself. All I do is talk a big game and make myself sound like a big shot when I can't do anything. I never do anything, yet I complain with the best of them like it'sy my job or something. Who the hell do I think I am?! I'm a fraud! It's amazing I can feel like this and not feel ashamed. You know I'm right, I'm an empty shell, there's nothing inside me at all. I know there isn't because that's obvious, anybody could see that. Before I came to this place, do you have any idea what I did with my life? I did nothing, that's what. I've never done a single thing worth mentioning. I had all that time and freedom, but I just squandered it away on nothing. I could have done anything with my life, but I never did a damn thing, and what you're looking at now is the result. This cowardly, weak worthless crybaby. All of my powerlessness, all of my incompetence, is the product of my rotten and pathetic character.
No one expects anything of me. Nobody believes in me. I'm no good. I hate myself."
Click to expand...
anathematized1 said:
OK so, let me be more specific, because I tried using character tags but I noticed a lot of characters don't have many tags, and any tags I can find in the list don't come together in any combination of what I am looking for. Examples to follow.

So, I want an anime, that isn't romance or comedy or anything like that. Preferably not mech either. My anime list should give you an idea of the types/genre I usually go for, though some broad examples to note are Cowboy Bebop, Monster, Mnemosyne, Elfen Leid, Berserk, etc.

Please only anime that have dubs (and please don't get into with me about how I should "give subs a try").

I want something where the MC is kind of pitiful through no fault of his/her own, just the absolute worst luck ever, maybe even cursed but not necessarily, constantly dumped on, Life's "whipping boy". And preferably no happy ending for them either. And also preferably, the MC isn't a total crybaby and actually does try to make the situation better, but nothing works. Nobody who's problems are their own fault (I mean because of stupid crap they could have prevented if they weren't a mindless idiot, not because of like, say they just made a wrong career choice but it's an understandable and educated choice that just didn't work out). Maybe or maybe not kind of self-loathing.

They have to be pitiful not because they suck as a person, like they're some kind of loser... pitiful because their situation is pitiable and crappy. I want to feel bad for them, not look down on them. I want my heart to weep for them and for it to not get better, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and all their fighting against it is in vain. If the MC gets driven to suicide at the end, that would be the ultimate cherry on top.

I also want them to despair at some point. There are some moments of utter train wreck despair in some I have seen that come kind of close to what I mean. A prime example of this would be in episode 84 of Black Clover, where...
So OK, everyone has some magic, some are more than others, but Asta has none, right? Well, he's absolutely busted his ass to get ahead despite that "curse" of not having magic and what happens? He watches his best friend/rival just absolutely blow past him in skill and lays there, angry. And understandably, as he has come quite a way from nothing, only for his friend to just have made the gulf that already existed between them that much larger.

I mean, Yuno kind of looked effortlessly powerful af, while Asta needs a lot of time to pull out his trump card and he's only got the one thing.

Or the scene in Re:ZERO where...
After everything Natsuki Subaru goes through, in one of the last episodes, he dumps on himself with the following monologue:
"I'll tell you what kind of man I really am. I have no strength, but I want it all; I have no knowledge, but all I do is dream. There's nothing I can do, but I struggle in vain like an idiot. I hate myself. All I do is talk a big game and make myself sound like a big shot when I can't do anything. I never do anything, yet I complain with the best of them like it'sy my job or something. Who the hell do I think I am?! I'm a fraud! It's amazing I can feel like this and not feel ashamed. You know I'm right, I'm an empty shell, there's nothing inside me at all. I know there isn't because that's obvious, anybody could see that. Before I came to this place, do you have any idea what I did with my life? I did nothing, that's what. I've never done a single thing worth mentioning. I had all that time and freedom, but I just squandered it away on nothing. I could have done anything with my life, but I never did a damn thing, and what you're looking at now is the result. This cowardly, weak worthless crybaby. All of my powerlessness, all of my incompetence, is the product of my rotten and pathetic character.
No one expects anything of me. Nobody believes in me. I'm no good. I hate myself."
Click to expand...
This is my first recommendation, so i hope its helpfull, i think I understand what you are looking for, unfortunately it is difficult to find these types of anime because the media dis encourages it

but i would recommend- Another
Not exactly sure if you would like it, but the mc does not know wtf is going on most of the time and neither does the watcher, while you watch most of the side characters experience a unavoidable gruesome death

I usually watch in sub, i dont know if it has dub, and i dont read manga

I hope you enjoy, if not then i guess dislike the hell out of my comment so it can at least get some attention
 
ImaSnekBoi said:
This is my first recommendation, so i hope its helpfull, i think I understand what you are looking for, unfortunately it is difficult to find these types of anime because the media dis encourages it

but i would recommend- Another
Not exactly sure if you would like it, but the mc does not know wtf is going on most of the time and neither does the watcher, while you watch most of the side characters experience a unavoidable gruesome death

I usually watch in sub, i dont know if it has dub, and i dont read manga

I hope you enjoy, if not then i guess dislike the hell out of my comment so it can at least get some attention
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F did you see how much times i quoted you on accident, lol, you can probably see how new i am
 
Not really sure why a thread from a year ago was raised from the dead like a phoenix or if the original poster still cares, but since it's active again I will offer Rising of the Shield Hero as a suggestion.
 
Castlevania (Dracula's sons arc). ITs dub, its on Netflix, its grim dark, and both Dracula and his son has tragic arcs. I wont give them away but if you view the series from their point of view, instead of the rest you'll see how awful it is.

The movie Samauri X. Absolutely tragic prequel film about Rerouni Kenshin's life, very similar issues you have had, so might be applicable.

I'm not sure if Claymore has a happy ending i'm currently in middle of it, but its definitely grim dark, and right up your ally of Beserk etc.

I understand you're not looking for a romance, however I have an anti-romance series called Scums wish, its a slice of life where the protags are in love with people who will never love them and they do not get with the people hey love nor do they fall in love with each other. They use each other for sex basically. Honestly, super depressing show, and I think might be the kind of thing you're talking about.
 
I got no idea which anime got dub and which aren't. That's an oddly specific request. Hitsuji no Uta and Oniisama E are among the most depressive anime I remember. Doesn't really get better as well.
Also, wonder how you managed to miss Grave of the fireflies
 
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time for necromancy

if you want suffering porn, look no further than Magical Girl Site
not a very good show, but it does have the main character getting tossed between frying pans and fires near constantly, and the supporting cast isn't much better off
most everyone i've shown it to refuse to watch it at all and honestly they're not missing out on much
it's pretty contrived throughout and it gets ramped up even further the deeper in you get, but it does have a minor comfort factor if nothing else
might be up your alley
 
Axopti said:
I'm back with a recommendation that suits this really well. Akame ga Kill! i'm not gonna say much as i dont wanna spoil too much of it. This anime made me really depressed for a long time. The show gets really dark, and pretty fast.
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I agree on that, n for this recommendation Akame ga Kill suits it best
 
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