If you're an avid anime fan, then you know that there are a lot of sad anime girls out there.
It seems like every series has at least one character who's pining after someone they can't have or dealing with a tragic childhood.
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While these sad characters can be heartbreaking to watch, they're also strangely fascinating.
In this post, I'm going to take a look at some of the most heartbreaking and angst-filled anime girls out there.
If you're not in the mood for a depressing article, then I suggest you stop reading now!
But if you're curious to see just how sad some of these ladies can be with their own life, keep on reading. You might be surprised by what I have in store for you.
1. Shirahoshi “Mermaid Princess”
Shirahoshi from One Piece is the daughter of a monarch in the Ryugu Kingdom, Fishman Island.
She is a pink mermaid with big eyes that look like she's constantly crying. This pretty gal has an extremely, emotionally fragile personality.
In the series, this mermaid princess is as big as the blue whale or maybe even larger.
Despite her large size, she is gentle and kind. Shirahoshi still manages to show compassion to the person who killed her mother.
In spite of her kindred spirit, this beautiful mermaid has a brave side. One time, she defends her people even it means her life.
Throughout her life, her father sheltered her. When he was on his deathbed, the king told the princess to fear enemies and that she should be wary of their intentions.
Still, the princess doesn’t have a bad bone in her.
Her compassion is so great that she shows kindness even to the most villainous person.
2. Rei Ayanami
Rei Ayanami is a character from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. She's an albino girl with red eyes and blue hair, who acts emotionless most of the time.
Even though she looks like a normal school girl, she's actually a pilot of giant mecha. This bitterly unhappy young girl has the ability to get into the mind of people who are suffering and can make them feel better.
This melancholic pilot has low self-esteem because of her negative perception of her self-worth. She feels that she’s expendable.
Thus, Rei rarely communicates with other people, except for Gendo, although it’s a generally distant relationship and with whom she initially displays loyalty.
As the series goes on, this young pilot begins to warm up to Shinji. It was implied that Shinji’s presence in her life has changed her, positively.
But, their romance between the two did not fully develop. Instead, the Evangelion anime focuses on the political theme of the story.
3. Hotaru Tomoe
Hotaru Tomoe is the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn: a sailor soldier that can destroy and reconstruct everything.
This pretty sailor only uses her powers when there's no other choice.
She doesn't use these powers because she's scared to lose everyone around her. Most people don't understand what sacrifices she's making.
This maiden starts getting depressed after giving up on Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal (she wanted to save her friends with it but couldn't). This makes her feel like she has no reason for being alive anymore.
Later in the show, she becomes Sailor Saturn again, which makes her body go into a coma. She can't heal from those wounds until she kills her past reincarnation, Hotaru Tomoe.
When she does so, Sailor Saturn dies and comes back as a baby with no memories of the past life.
This girl doesn't have any place on Earth or on Saturn, so she chooses to stay with Chibiusa (the little daughter of Usagi and Mamoru).
4. Erza Scarlet
Erza is strict, sometimes criticizing bad behaviors and habits of other guild members, forcing many to apologize fearfully for invoking her anger.
In addition, she dislikes people that will not answer quickly enough and have to wait a long time.
Her tragic past is one reason she avoids being a friend to anyone in the guild. This young lady fears she might get someone in trouble for being her friend. But she loves being a part of Fairy Tail.
Erza treats her subordinates kindly, giving them the advice to cheer them up if they are crying.
She is not fond of the idea of any of her guildmates being hurt, even willing to fight the one who injured them in battle.
Unfortunately, Erza is not without her flaws, like other sad anime girls. She was also very stubborn and refused to sway from her duties as an S-Class Mage.
This beautiful girl is also too sensitive about her hair color. Most often, she has reacted violently on several occasions when someone insults it or declines that it's natural.
5. Mamimi Samejima
Mamimi is a character from the anime series FLCL who loves fire and tends to start a fire. This pretty lady with brown hair is a loner and loves to adopt various pets.
She likes to name things and stray pets with Ta-kun after Tasuku (Naota's brother) left her.
This lonely girl is a chain smoker but a good photographer. Throughout the series, you can see her under a bridge smoking alone, most of the time with one barefoot. It seems that her classmates bully her at school.
Also, this young lady possesses a few things: her cellphone, her amazing cameras, and a video game console. Her cellphone only contains the number of her ex-boyfriend.
Mamimi owns two cameras with the brand Olympus. At the end of Episode 6, she left a photo of Naota's, revealing her affection for the boy but she never really got over Tasuku (until she lets a robot destroy her cellphone).
6. Yuki Nagato
Yuki Nagato seems to be an ordinary North high student and is a sad anime girl with an introverted personality.
Despite her beauty and intelligence, she has difficulty communicating with others. She is often misunderstood as emotionless because of this.
Well, this is because she's a humanoid with limited social skills. This purple-haired lady serves an organization that deputized to keep an eye on Haruhi Suzumiya.
Over the course of her tenure at North High, she gains insights into being a person as well as starts to understand human feelings (according to Kyon). Her family name is usually used alone without any honorific (which is not uncommon).
Nagato claims that she was built three years prior to meeting Kyon and Haruhi. Her goal is to study humanity's capacity for learning and growth in brainpower, especially as it pertained to Haruhi Suzumiya's data flare at the time.
In the series, Nagato is a closet otaku who shamelessly plays eroge games, cosplays, gets "excited" about anime and manga.
7. Izumi Takanashi
Izumi Takanashi refuses to use technology and writes with only fountain pens. She suffers from writer's block and impending deadlines.
As a result, she's goth with frequently stained with ink. Her room is generally quite chaotic and stuffed with books. She does not go out of the house very often. Instead, this sad girl locks herself in.
Because this goth lady has a weak constitution, she depends on others to look after her. The funny and weird thing is she gets muscle pains after three days if she carries anything heavier than a pen.
Unfortunately, she isn't much of a waifu material (in most society standards). Why? Because she does not do any housework. According to her, housework makes her aches and the pain is much worse when trying to clean her room.
Souta Takanashi cares for her daily and understands this as her way of showing her love for him.
It was Souta Takanashi who accompanied Izumi Takanashi to the infirmary when she fell sick. He cared for her by cooking meals, reading books to her, and helping her with her work even if it's tiring his life away.
8. Victorique de Blois
Victorique is the epitome of the tsundere character archetype. She is a gynophobic detective from an anime called Gosick.
Her tragic past isn't very well explained, but she's hinted to have been through a lot of bad stuff that has made her into who she is now.
This sad anime girl is tiny, almost doll-like with long blond hair and emerald eyes. She acts like an immature girl. Often, this petite girl doesn't show any emotions, especially in front of Grevil de Blois.
At the conclusion of the anime, her hair turns silver. Victorique survives because she is a mixed-blood supernatural being. Her hair, nevertheless, loses its golden color due to Marie Antoinette Syndrome.
Most of the time, this super-intelligent girl is depicted to be bored with normal life. Despite this, she seems to have social anxiety.
Probably, this anxiety could be the result of a tragic past she'd been through as a kid.
Her most amazing skill is her attention to detail, even to the minute ones.
9. Misuzu Kamio
This sad anime girl grew up with an adoptive, drunkard mother who is the sister of her biological mother. She is a blond girl with a lively personality but is a crybaby in some circumstances.
Misuzu is the reincarnation of Kannabi-no-Mikoto, yet she is regarded as immature for her age. She is extremely lonely whenever she becomes close to someone.
This young girl seems to get sick every time she gets close to a person.
So, this lonely girl spends most of her life avoiding people. She keeps herself distant even from her adoptive mother because of the curse of eternal pain.
Misuzu is the first young woman Yukito encounters while going to the beach. This is the start of a romance between the two.
However, her mysterious disease prevents her from pursuing her love interest.
Unfortunately (spoiler alert), the young girl dies of a mysterious illness. Although Haruko, her adoptive mother, wants to care for her, Misuzu doesn't recover. It's predictable but the ending is still bittersweet and heartwrenching.
10. Magical Girl Yayoi Kise
Yayoi Kise is another main character in the anime series who controls thunder and lightning. This golden girl is a crybaby in the first few episodes. She's a shy and timid girl who has few friends.
But, meeting the pretty cure girls has changed her. Yayoi Kise is one of the gloomy girls who find true friendship and becomes happier and stronger.
In the second season of the show, she becomes sad again when Hibiki starts to change. But eventually, she gets over it after fighting together with her friends against their new enemy.
This golden beauty is a character who has been through a lot in her life. She can be shy and sensitive, but she'll always do the right thing when her friends need her help.
In an interview with one fan, Yayoi said that she likes art and drawing pictures of other things that make her happy.
The anime character has a talent in singing. Yayoi Kise has a lot of friends that she'll help when they are in trouble.
She's kind to everyone, even if they don't treat her the same way.
11. Tsubaki Kasugano
This girl is one utterly depressed character. At first, she seems normal with a bit of angst in life, like ordinary girls do.
Tsubaki, however, used to lie about her clairvoyant capabilities. But when she possesses the Clairvoyance diary, she starts to desire the powers of a mountain God.
Later in the anime, it was revealed that she despises the world, her religion (where she's a priestess), and everyone.
This maniacal (depressed) girl wants to win the race, so she could erase everyone and reset the world in a way she sees fit.
Her greed for power leads her to her ultimate demise. During her last breath, she sheds angry (or maybe sad) tears for her failures. However, Tsubaki's actions didn't change what she feels about the world.
Even in the end, she still hates it.
12. Homura Akemi
Homura Akemi is the main protagonist in Madoka Magica. She's one of the last 'normal' human beings in her world because all other girls that become magical girls turn into witches sooner or later.
Her emotionless appearance is the result of witnessing seemingly endless suffering. Slowly, Homura begins to suffer a tremendous desire to protect anyone who wants to become a magical girl.
However, this cold and heartless facade is just a front. Actually, this sad anime girl had suffered a lot.
She has heart disease that made her bedridden for a long time. In here, Homura meets Madoka and becomes friends with her.
In the end, this young girl fails to protect her friend and witnesses Madoka's death. While crying (burdened by the lives she's failed to protect), she wished for the impossible.
Homura turned back time and restarted all over again.
13. Violet Evergarden
This beautiful girl doesn't understand human feelings very well. She is a trained military weapon and only follows the orders of her "master".
But, a tragic end has claimed her master's life (as the series implies).
After the war, Violet seems to be at a loss of what to do when she discovered that she doesn't have anywhere to go.
Even though this pretty woman wants to go back to what she knows best (fighting in a war), she couldn't do it. She has to look for ways to continue living.
So, Violet becomes an Auto Memory Doll (similar to a writer of the present era). At first, she works for a physician who has a blind wife. Later on, this young lady becomes popular with other employers.
Through this job, she learns what it is to be happy, sad, and angry. Violet discovers the colorful side of emotions. She starts to get attached to the people around her.
There was one particular lady who made an impact on Violet's life. She was a girl with silver hair.
This beautiful sister became her most important person in the world—a person that she wanted to protect through thick and thin.
14. Hanabi Yasuraoka
Scum's Wish is about how cruel love can be, especially for unrequited love. It is a story of two people who are in love with other people and one of these characters is Hanabi Yasuraoka.
Hanabi is an outgoing girl who is in love with her childhood friend, Narumi (who is in love with Hanabi's music teacher, Akane whom Mugi has a crush on).
Wait? What?!! Yes, that's how dark and gloomy this anime is.
In the end, Hanabi and Mugi hook up together to replace whatever feelings they have for their first love. This relationship of convenience has gone into circles of betrayal, sadness, and wrong decisions.
Although Hanabi's and Mugi's feelings don't have a happy ending, the two learn that their relationship won't prosper. Love should be the foundation of a relationship.
Hanabi's decision to let go of Mugi and mend her broken heart in a different way by finding real love shows that this pretty girl has matured a lot.
15. Annie Leonhart
Annie is the Female Titan in the anime series. Her harsh upbringing leads to her cold demeanor and quick-witted resolves.
This blond girl is clever, able to consider things deeply, and has shown good problem-solving and thinking abilities.
In conjunction with her calm attitude and analytical talents, these personality qualities make her an excellent strategist.
Leonhart is not her biological name but an adoptive one. Her adoptive father trained her into a merciless warrior.
This personality is what Eren and others have witnessed throughout the years she's spent on the island
Despite being a sad anime girl, she looks at herself as a monster. Her Titan powers are nothing but a means to go back to her father.
16. Lala-Ru
Lala-Ru is a young-looking, sweet girl with blue hair and eyes. Despite her young looks, she's tens of thousands years old, maybe more.
This sad-looking anime girl holds a pendant that is tied to her health.
She doesn't talk much and likes to stare at the sunsets. Lala-Ru is sitting in a chimney when Shu found her. She's one of the saddest girls on this list whose emotions are all over her facial expressions.
This pretty, mysterious girl may not be talkative but her expressive eyes show what she really feels in her heart. She doesn't want anyone to use her pendant. Not even her is allowed to use it for personal gains.
Greed and disrespectfulness have resulted in a scary being: the terror Lala-Ru.
17. Iwakura Lain
The main protagonist in the series rarely interacts with other people. She has multiple personalities that were shown in the series Serial Experiments. Her sad anime girl's personas have different attitudes and skills.
Although the anime series is quite intriguing, it's dark and disturbing. It shows how manipulative others can be for personal gains.
I pity Lain for being trapped in a world where no one cares if you are feeling okay or not. To think, these people exploited her timid personality, so this anime girl could fulfill some sort of a prophecy.
18. Tomoko Kuroki
Her looks alone depict that Tomoko is anti-social. This young girl is an otaku, which is no surprise at all.
She's scared to make friends with other people because she thinks they will only bother her and treat her like a loser since that's what usually happens in real life.
At the beginning of the series, this serious teenager often thinks negatively. Often, she would imagine herself doing something and end up in an accident.
But, this petite high school is determined to succeed. Slowly but surely, she manages to gain the respect of her classmates. Fortunately, Tomoko has made a few friends before she graduated.
19. Nico Robin
Robin is the archaeologist of the Straw Hat Crews. At a young age, she ate a devil fruit. As a result, she could resurface her body on any surface she had seen.
This sexy lady is the only person who could read Poneglyph, a rare skill but a threat to the World Government. Her signature look is the purple outfit with a matching hat.
Before joining Luffy's pirate group, Nico is a villain. She grew up trained as a weapon by the person who adopted her.
20. Kikyo
Kikyo is a priestess with the power to purify evil souls. Before she became a bit of a soul collector to survive after her resurrection, she possesses compassion.
Even her enemies respected her for her integrity. Her emphatic behavior is seen when Kikyo tended to Onigumo's well-being, even though she knows what the thief is capable of doing.
Naraku brings out her depressing persona, an angered and bitter young woman who felt betrayed by the only person (or enemy) she trusted with her heart. Kikyo is both a villain and a heroine in the story.
She is also one of the saddest characters to appear in anime.
Kikyo's death was beyond unfair. It was also one of the most tragic anime deaths I've seen so far. Kikyo not only died due to Naraku's deception, but she can't even be with Inuyasha because of what happened.
This priestess died knowing that someone who has special feelings for her betrayed her and that she loved that someone unconditionally.
Conclusion
Sad anime girls are often depicted with a tragic childhood or strict upbringing. They are incapable or lack social skills.
Other characters with fun social pastimes have rowdy behavior, most of the time.
Whether it's serial experiments lain or other anime, sadness is something you see everyday, except it is in seen in different facets.
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