Top 10 Pointless Sacrifices in Anime (ft. Todd Haberkorn)

“Yu Yu Hakusho” (1992-94)

This one is a little tricky, since if not for this bad boy throwing himself in front of a car to save a little boy’s life, we never would have gotten one of the pioneers of the shounen genre. In all fairness to Yusuke, how was he supposed to know that the car would have veered out the way in time? His gallant moment of heroism only managed to accomplish two things – injuring the child he was trying to save and guaranteeing him a future career as a Spirit Detective.

“Death Note” (2006-07)

In a normal society, someone who took the police on a wild goose chase would probably find themselves situated in a cell for a few nights, instead of – you know – getting the crap shot out of him by a group of indoctrinated followers. In order to aid his friend Mello in bringing down Light, Matt was willing to literally bite the bullet, giving his ally an opportunity to finally expose Kira to the world. Of course, the whole plan turned to crumble when Mello ends up getting done in by the God of the New World as well. Making Matt’s little escapade totally – you guessed it – pointless.

“Fate/Zero” (2011-12)

Out of all the unfortunate bastards to get roped into the Fourth Holy Grail War, none had a worst of it than this guy. In order to protect Sakura from being violated by more mana worms (you may commence vomiting) Kariya agreed to take her place by becoming a Master, at great, agonising cost we might add. While his intentions to save the family that was never his were pure, Kariya gets dealt one cruel twist of fate after enother, eventually resulting in him being tricked into crippling the woman he loves, and being devoured by (you guessed it) worms. Its pretty painful to see the nice guy lose in such a glorified fashion.

“Naruto: Shippuden” (2007-17)

Well…at least he died doing what he loved; causing giant explosions and calling it art. After failing to blow up Sasuke, the Akatsuki’s resident mad bomber decides that the only logical thing to do would be to – what else? – pull off an even bigger bang in the hope of wiping out the last Uchiha from the face of the earth. While we can’t deny that his suicide bomb jutsu does provide quite the light show, it proves to be a fruitless venture since Sasuke managed to avoid the damage by using a giant snake as a shield. Slippery.

“Fushigi Yuugi” (1995-96)

It’s always a shame when what’s supposed to be a tear-jerking moment is ruined by common sense. Instead of trying to hang on for dear life, Nuriko uses the last of his strength to move a massive bolder blocking the cave entrance. What a hero! What an inspiring way to depart the mortal coil! Too bad it was totally unnecessary, since the bolder wasn’t actually blocking the entrance…he could have just easily scooted around the edge. So not so much a potent display of selflessness as it was a lapse in intellect.

“Sword Art Online: Alicization” (2018-19)

She was willing to lay down her life for Kirito and company, willing to let the heartless Administrator brutally murder her just for the chance for her allies to get away. One can’t help but admire such bravery…too bad the rest of them wasted it. Instead of running for the hills so her death meant something, Kirito and the rest decide to immediately throw themselves against the Administrator in order to avenge their fallen comrade. But…why didn’t they do that before? Why wait until AFTER the horrific murder-fest to act all heroic?!

“KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World!” (2016-17)

Let this be a lesson to all you NEETs out there; when trying to save a beautiful maiden from an oncoming vehicle, make sure she’s actually in danger, otherwise you might end up killing yourself from the shock of it all. Kazuma learned this hard way when he mistook a slow-moving tractor for a rampaging death machine. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if he was reincarnated into a world where all his wildest dreams came true, but instead he’s stuck as a wannabe adventurer with a useless party. Honestly, the only thing that he hasn’t lost during this hellish transition is his virginity.

“Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket” (1989)

Yeesh, this one still hurts, and a perfect example of the horrors that spawned from the One Year War. Under threat of the Colony getting nuked, Cool Hand Bernie over here decides the only way to save everyone is to take out the prototype Gundam himself. Thus we have our Mobile Suit brawl. Zaku against Gundam. Zeon against Earth Federation. Of course, this wouldn’t be one of the franchise’s most tragic outings if it were just that simple, since Bernard had no idea he was battling against the lady he’d been crushing on, only for him to lose his life to her in the process and the nuke to get called off. What a Monday.

“The Seven Deadly Sins” (2014-18)

And the moral of this story is that when it comes to assholery, angels are just as bad as demons. In order to contend against the might of the Ten Commandments, the king’s brother decides to give his body as a vessel in order to summon a high-ranking member of the Goddess race. The ritual goes off without a hitch, save for one minor issue – the fickle featherhead wants nothing to do with the battle and tries to bolt, only to get herself slaughtered in the process. Well, that went swimmingly!

“Digimon Adventure 02” (2000-01)

As far as anti-heroes go, this shadowy icon was by far one of the most badass the franchise had ever produced, one definitely deserving of a noble sacrifice. Sealing away the entrance to the Digital World to stop Myotismon possessed Oikawa from entering the world of the living is all well and good… until he enters anyway just a few episodes later. To add insult to injury, the seal also temporarily stopped the DigiDestined from entering themselves! This wasn’t just a pointless sacrifice, it was a poorly planned one!