In Memoriam, Anime-Style

Though many countries have their own versions of holidays to celebrate the dearly departed, Memorial Day being on the last Monday of May is a uniquely American thing. In honor of 2023’s occurrence, I’m going to take a special look at several anime titles which are profoundly influenced (if not completely defined) by the death of a character early in their stories.

To qualify for this exercise, three conditions must be met:

1. The death must happen within the series.
2. After the death, the character in question is absent from the story as a separate entity (i.e., not lingering as an undead or reincarnate) after their death, except in flashbacks.
3. The character must have a regular (if not pervasive) impact on events and/or character behaviors and motivations.

Since ranking these would be difficult, I am presenting them in chronological order by production date.

SPOILER NOTE: It probably goes without saying that all of these entries have early-series spoilers to some degree.

Martian Successor Nadesico

This 1996-97 series is one of the weaker entries here, but it still qualifies. Though mostly a zany sci fi adventure about humans fighting attacking Jovians using the special space battleship Nadesico, it takes a whipsaw turn when ace mecha pilot Gai Daigoji (top right corner in the picture) is unceremoniously and unheroically murdered by escaping officials at the end of episode 3. His death has a dramatic influence on co-protagonist Akito, who not only takes mecha piloting much more seriously in the wake of Gai’s passing but also becomes enamored of the mecha anime that Gai so loved. Gai’s death also becomes a major plot point in certain episodes later in the series and is the foundation of one of the series’ biggest ironies, which involves the exact identity of the invading Jovians.

Le Chevalier d’Eon

In mid-18th century France, Lia de Beaumont was secretly an elite spy for Louis XV when she died during a mission. (The series opens with a coffin containing her body being fished out of the Seine River.) This devastates younger brother d’Eon, whose investigation into her death leads him into a supernaturally-charged spy underworld. Before the first episode is over, d’Eon seems to become possessed by the vengeful spirit of Lia when he’s in a pinch against the preternatural forces connected to her death. This becomes a semi-regular occurrence throughout the series, to the point that d’Eon starts to question his own identity.

Or is that really what’s going on here? This 2006 series borrows loosely from the true story of famed French spy d’Eon de Beaumont, who went undercover as a woman in Russia, later insisted they were born as a woman, and lived the last 30 or so years of their life as a woman. (There was even a long-standing betting pool about d’Eon’s real gender.) In other words, d’Eon was either one of history’s most famous transgenders or else maintained a lie for decades as part of returning to France from exile. The anime heavily leans towards this being an actual case of possession but doesn’t completely discount the possibility that being possess by Lia was all in d’Eon’s head. Either way, most of d’Eon’s actions in the series are, to some degree, influenced by d’Eon’s loss of Lia.

Gurren Lagann

In this bombastic 2007 anime-original mecha series, co-protagonist Kamina was the cool guy who served as both role model and key motivator for Simon, the other co-protagonist. He took the lead in battle and became the leader of Team Dai-Gurren, a group of humans who used a giant mecha to fight against the aliens who had relegated humanity to living underground. His untimely death at the end of a pivotal battle about a third of the way into the series became the defining moment for Simon, who was left with no choice but to become a leader in his dear friend’s stead. Kamina continues to be the inspiration behind nearly everything that Simon does through the rest of the series, even to the point of Simon partly adapting Kamina’s style of dress, and his memory serves as a rallying point for other characters as well.

The Beast Player Erin

In this 2009 fantasy series, Erin starts as a young girl living in a village with mother Soyon, who is an expert veterinarian for the special reptiles that the village is known for raising. Soyon’s death early on (an execution related to perceived misdeeds) forces Erin to travel abroad to learn about and develop both the overt and secret skills her mother possessed, hence forming one of the 50-episode series’ main plot drivers. Soyon also appears in Erin’s memories numerous times to help guide Erin’s development involving animal breeding.

Cross Game

In this 2009-2010 series (which is based on the manga by Mitsuri Adachi, who also created Touch and Mix), 5th-grader Wakaba’s affection for neighbor/classmate Ko initially puts him at odds with Wakaba’s tomboyish younger sister Aoba, but Wakaba’s stunning drowning death changes everything. Four years later, her presence still vividly influences Ko, Aoba, and Akaishi (a one-time bully who also secretly loved Wakaba), and her passionate dream – that one day Ko would pitch to catcher Akaishi as Aoba looks on at Koshien, home to Japan’s National High School Baseball Championship – inspires characters, guides much of the series’ plot, and even affects Ko and Aoba’s gradually evolving relationship.

Despite her death near the end of the first episode, Wakaba was so transcendent a presence, and thus so impactful in the series, that barely any of the series’ 50 episodes go by without either a flashback of her or some reference to her, in addition to the life directions of both Ko and Akaishi being radically changed by her. A lookalike character even plays a big part in the series’ second half, too. Dealing with the lingering emotions of her passing is also such a big factor that I often describe this series as being about “love, loss, and baseball.” Even 14 years later, the series still has one of the strongest and most emotionally affecting first episodes of any anime series I’ve ever seen, has one of the all-time-great final episodes, and overall made my list of the top 10 titles of the 2000s.

to the abandoned Sacred Beasts

In this 2019 fantasy series, a civil war between North and South is ultimately decided by the North’s use of super-soldiers called Incarnates, who can transform into Sacred Beasts (monsters based on mythology). The end of the war leaves the Incarnates at loose ends, including several who cannot resume human form, and some go dangerously amuck. Co-protagonist Nancy Schaal Bancroft’s father is one such Incarnate, and she is enraged when Hank, the captain of the Incarnates, mercy-kills her father in the second episode. That sends her on a quest to pursue Hank and learn much more about the reality of the Incarnates.

In addition to the death of Schaal’s father being her prime motivator and a plot driver, this series also deserves its place here for its running commentary on the difficulties that soldiers have in readjusting to normal life after war, and in particular how some cannot do it.

Demon Slayer

This 2019-originating series does qualify based on a single character, but rather on an entire family. Tanjiro, the eldest son of a Taisho-era rural family who makes their livelihood with charcoal, loses his mother and four of his five siblings to a demon’s attack while in town one day selling charcoal. Their deaths and one surviving sister’s transformation into a demon push him to join the Demon Slayer Corps, which is the basis of the franchise’s whole plot. Either individually or as a group, his mother and deceased siblings pop up numerous times in his dreams and hallucinations through both completed anime series and the move Mugen Train, often at key points where Tanjiro needs an inspirational boost or refocus. They also, to a much more minor extent, impact surviving sister Nezuko, especially at one critical point where she must prove that she’s not a threat that the Demon Slayer Corps must exterminate.

86

This 2021 series is another case where the series qualifies more on collective deaths than the death of a single individual, though one individual does stand out a bit. The series is set in a future where autonomous war machine called Legion threaten to overrun humanity, having overwhelmed the Empire which originally created them and driven the Republic of San Magnolia into a defensive posture. The Republic claims to have developed its own autonomous war machines to fight casualty-free battles against the Legion, but in reality they are piloted by heavily-persecuted minorities (collectively called 86s, after the district they have been isolated in). The series splits its focus between sympathetic Alba (the oppressor race) Lena and the Spearhead Squadron of 86s led by Shin, whom Lena directs remotely as their Handler.

Over the course of the first half of the series, most of the 86s die in battle, with the most impactful individual one being the episode 3 death of Kaie (the short girl roughly in the center, above). Since 86s are not allowed to bury their dead, Shin has taken on the call name of Undertaker and carries scraps of each of their downed Juggernauts with the pilot’s name inscribed on them as mementos, with the intent of taking them with him to their final resting place. These dead (and one later non-86 death early in the second half) occasionally figure into plot elements and frequently appear in the thoughts and hallucinations of Lena and especially Shin, but this title deserves its place here equally for remembering and memorializing the dead being among the series’ most potent thematic elements. It is perhaps the most-suited title on this list to being brought up on Memorial Day.

Oshi no Ko

Though only seven episodes of this 2023 series have aired as of this writing, it is already among the strongest qualifiers on this list. In the series, a rural doctors winds up secretly helping his favorite idol, the immensely-talented 16-year-old Ai Hoshino, through a clandestine pregnancy, only to find himself murdered by one of Ai’s obsessive fans just as she’s going into labor. He then discovers that he has been reincarnated, with memories intact, as the boy of Ai’s twins. He watches adoringly as she moves forward with her career and ascends to the top, only to see her murdered right before him by the same obsessive fan who killed him nearly four years earlier.

The death of Ai at the end of the movie-length episode 1 sets the course of the rest of the series to date, as young Aqua embarks on a path to attempt to discover who their unknown father (whom he believes arranged Ai’ death) is, while sister Ruby dedicates herself to directly following in her mother’s footsteps by becoming an idol, even to the point of resurrecting the name of Ai’s long-defunct idol group. Essentially, nearly everything that both Aqua and Ruby do is in some way connected to their memories of Ai (who deeply impacted both of them in their previous lives). Other characters get drawn into her influence, too, when an actress decides to model her character on a dating show after Ai in order to become Aqua’s ideal girl.

Others

A number of other titles were considered for this exercise, but I ultimately decided these were either weaker candidates or else I just wasn’t familiar enough with them to write about them. The former cases include Claymore, Fullmetal Alchemist, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, K, Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, and. . . while the latter include Major, Monster, and Touch. Titles that I felt were close but failed on technicalities include The Detective is Already Dead, Summer Time Rendering, and the movie King of Thorn.

Are there other worthy titles which should have been here? Mention them in Comments!