#homura trying to save madoka over and over again but nothing works cause she dies in every timeline

[clover-46]

NOW THAT ITS OUT FOR EVERYONE—

BLAKE BEING A SEER THEORIES WERE RIGHT OMG 😭😭. AND HE DOESNT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE CULT THE DUDE IS JUST USING THEM I WOULDNT HAVE SEEN THIS COMING FROM A MILE AWAY. I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS STUPID AND CRAZY NOT SMART AND CRAZY?? also him going bonkers over trying to save his friend but no matter what he does it’s always the same outcome makes sense on why he’s so obsessive. i mean he’s probably always been obsessive but i feel like bestie dying in every timeline made it worse? also we don’t know how long he’s been trying to save them sooooo… btw isn’t it so obvious he’s the reason they’ll die like it’s staring at him right in the face. my theory is that he makes this deal (?) with the sovereigns and the price brachium was talking about will get bestie killed.

[piduai]

homura starting off as a regular goody two shoes and then selling her soul in order to save her friend and failing, and then failing again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until she's motivated by nothing but despair, her psyche damaged beyond repair after failing to save madoka over and over again, no matter what she does.

jaime spending his entire life smeared by the act of killing his king whom he vowed to protect, who should have been regarded as a god; him as an individual being lost behind his title as a kingslayer. all because he tried to do good. he tried to save a city from the evil that was supposed to protect it, and killing said evil was the most noble thing he has done in his life. and yet it was the good act that dishonored him and branded him as a crook.

levi choosing to let erwin go. he loved erwin with his whole heart. he sacrificed that heart for him. he believed in erwin, and wanted to stand by his side until the end of time. but in the end he chose to kill him, because he knew that, if given a second chance at life, erwin would be burdened with even more responsibility than before, and that the ghosts of those who died at his command would haunt him, and his own otherworldly ambition would crush him. he didn't want to see erwin suffer in this terrible, cruel, senseless world anymore. so he gave up his life.

dae-su being driven to find the one who wronged him and enact revenge only to find out that it was him whom revenge was enacted on, being told that he talks too much and that that's what caused all the suffering for him and his family, and cutting his own tongue off. see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. woo-jin going through with his revenge as a sentimental tribute to his dead sister, only to accept that it will not bring her back, that he was the one who couldn't save her, and killing himself because he has nothing else to live for.

griffith consciously ruining his own life with his own hands after guts left him and being unable to internally take responsibility for it. he loved guts. guts took everything away. he was supposed to be bigger than life, reach incredible highs, be rewarded for his suffering and struggle, but guts came along and tore him down from his self-imposed pedestal, making him just a person, and then guts left. it doesn't matter that he eventually came back. griffith tried to warn guts - if you touch me now, i will never be able to forgive you. and so he did. and so he decided to kill the part of his soul that earns for guts by killing him.

atsuko endlessly chasing michiko, being lost in her shadow, trying to grab onto her as she slips between her fingers like dry sand, never good enough to be her equal or to receive her love. everything in the universe suggested that she should have had the upper hand, but she never did. she hates michiko, she yearns for michiko, she wants to save her and she wants to destroy her, and in the end, after finally catching her, atsuko lets michiko go, knowing that they will never meet again.

tsurumi spending half of his life dedicating himself to a cause, elevating himself above mere mortality and aligning himself with the regime, all while carrying his little grief in his heart pocket. by all means he should have put it behind him many years ago, and his refusal to do so was a self-admitted failure as an intelligence officer, but he chose to live with this tiny speck of sentimentality anyway. and then he hasn't hesitated for even a second to throw his mementos away in order to preserve his ambition.

shuurei was always hard-working and practical, and she valued chances of getting ahead in life much more than matters of love. but she loved sakujun. she knew that he's no good for her; that she's merely a toy for him he will discard as soon he gets bored or it breaks, that he doesn't see her as a person, that he doesn't care about her goals or about making her happy. this is why, when faced with a decision, she chooses ryuki, whom she didn't love but whom could give her what she wants, over sakujun. and then she kills him. and after he is gone for good, she cries for him.

[magireco]

Would love to hear more thoughts on how these girls have understandable teenage motivations (A+ tag analysis by the way)

1. Thank you!!!!!!

2. ALRIGHT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS (shuffles my papers). i’ve gone off about homura’s motivations in depth before but i think it was only in dms/groupchats? anyways i’ll go in order with All the girls bc i think about this all the time as a teenager who grew up mentally ill and had their perceptions skewed because of it, and also i don’t think it’s talked about nearly enough for the others, at least on my blog... so, buckle up!!! this is REALLY LONG!!!! 

3. i tried writing like, an individual thing for every member of the quintet all together in this one ask, but i ended up talking a little too much about homura and now i’m going to split up all the different analysis stuff for each character into the reblogs and work on it every so often! you’re free to kinda skim of course because i really did write a whole novel but here we go!! read under the cut. :3 this is literally essay length btw. i did NOT expect it to get this long but if you want to read it all i’d recommend it but i don’t expect most people to

First: Homura Akemi

okay so i’m going to kind of summarize everything but from the perspective of empathizing with her so if you don’t want to reread a whole recap you can skip to the ending few paragraphs

Summary

first of all, in episode 10, homura’s past is explained for the viewer. she was a shy, unsure girl who had been bedridden for a long time. she was clearly unsocialized, not to mention she went to a catholic school and those can be brutal, esp in japan... that’s all we know about her in that episode, but it’s revealed in one of the drama cds that she was bullied as a child(& further at mitakihara middle), her parents never were mentioned ever (i assume them to either be dead or neglectful, considering she lives alone and unchecked), and in magia record, homura says to natsuki that she’s never had friends before, she hasn’t been on vacation before until the beachside bonds event, hasn’t ever celebrated valentine’s day, has never celebrated new years, etc... 

clearly, she’s missed out on a lot not only because of her sickness and hospitalization, but because of her isolation as a child at school. judging by her demeanor and the way she reacts when madoka comes up to her without being asked to, something like that had never happened to her before. it’s clear to me that madoka was many of homura’s “first’s”, her first friend, the first person who reached out to her, the first person to compliment her name honestly(validating her, disproving her dislike of her name), the first person to regard her so kindly rather than judging her based off of her appearance and demeanor (like other students had apparently done, this is also shown when the other students at mitakihara middle make fun of her for being tired after only being able to run one lap). AND, madoka (and mami, but homura knew madoka better at that time) saved her life, even though homura was so willing to die, just in that moment... i’d assume it made homura feel like someone believed in her even when she was at her worst. it’s really clear by the glimmer in her eyes that these are nice people that made her feel happy and welcome... and then walpurgisnacht came. she didn’t know much about magical girls and just believed in madoka and mami to be able to defeat the witch because she saw them as strong and saw the witch as defeatable, despite its size. and then mami died, right in front of her and madoka... 

this kinda seems headcanon-y when i phrase it this way but it’s practically proven in her actions but i really think homura is scared to be abandoned, especially by someone who was as overtly kind and nonjudgemental to her as madoka... it’s in the way she cries her name and says “don’t go” before madoka runs away to fight walpurgisnacht. OH ALSO, i need to address this one thing really quick because people like to assume that homura didn’t care about mami from the beginning and only liked madoka. it’s not that she wasn’t sad when mami died, she was clearly terrified and didn’t want the same to happen to madoka, also mami LITERALLY WASN’T IN HER CLASS OR HER GRADE so i assume she spent most of her time with madoka considering they were in the same grade and class and probably shared most of their periods with each other... but also, once again, mami is older than both of them and homura probably saw her as more of a mentor/teacher that she needed to impress rather than madoka who was more on her level, i guess?

anyways, moving on... homura had to see madoka die (& experience the crushing guilt she felt for “letting madoka go” even though there was nothing she could’ve done) and literally says “i’d rather you had lived than saved someone like me” ... her self worth is below zero. she makes her wish to be strong enough to protect madoka(because she sees madoka, her first friend, who saved her life which she felt had no worth, as so strong and noble) which causes her to go back in time, etc. etc., you know the deal. okay before i move on to talk a little more abt the timelines and the personality change i’m going to address why it’s reasonable that she’d be attached to madoka.

i mentioned before that homura said herself that she had never had a friend before. just like, put yourself into her shoes for a second. this girl has no idea how to make friends; it was never taught to her. it’s literally rational that she’d get attached to her first ever friendship. it’s not “normal” the way she views madoka, but how could it be? this is her first time having a friend, she’s afraid of being abandoned by her, but she’s had to see her die over and over again anyway. she doesn’t want to lose madoka. even if she doesn’t go about it in the right way, there’s no way she would’ve actually known how to Do relationships. no one taught her. i think that needs to be empathized with more...

i kinda feel like i need to summarize all this just bc if i word it right it kinda reminds you & puts into perspective just how terrible and scary all of this was.

anyway Again, i would skip straight to the end of timeline 3 (where a New Flavor of trauma is given to homura) but i need to first address timeline 2 for a second. it was homura’s first time repeating the timeline, she trained with madoka and mami again, she was still hopeful despite what happened, etc. kinda just bonding further with madoka Again... and then it’s at the end of this timeline that she watches madoka turn into a witch, just in front of her very eyes... and realizes the true fate of magical girls. when she resets the timeline again, it’s up to her to start anew and break the truth to the group when she sees them again. when she tries telling the truth, sayaka immediately shoves this aside, claiming homura was just trying to split everyone up. it’s clear that that hurts homura. (also the little shinies in her eyes were wavering which is anime-code for sad) her feelings were immediately disregarded by sayaka and she couldn’t defend herself, but madoka did for her, and mami tried to diffuse the situation. 

after they all find out homura was right when sayaka turns into a witch, mami kills kyoko and ties up homura in her ribbons and aims a gun at her, and this, rightfully, ignited a fear within homura... madoka is forced to kill mami in order to save homura, leaving only the two of them to fight together. then, when walpurgisnacht comes that time, The Promise is made... madoka tells homura to go back in time and save her from becoming a witch (because she doesn’t want to curse the world that way, she still sees beauty in it) and homura agrees, saying she’ll never stop until she saves madoka, and then... homura has to mercy kill madoka before she becomes a witch. she cries loudly and shoots madoka’s soul gem... it’s literally so heartwrenching and (usually) brings the viewer to tears, or puts something into perspective for them...

then we assume the personality change happens in the timeline right after. this personality change causes a lot of discourse because sometimes it’s seen as kind of irrational, but personally, i think even moemura had at least SOME resent for the world around her considering what she’d been through. it’s madoka’s repeated deaths that finally push her over that edge. i could get further into the coolmura arc but that’d take a WHILE, so i’ll just kind of explain something briefly though -- why homura ended up becoming even MORE focused on madoka. and i’m also going to debunk the claim that homura doesn’t care about her other friends as fast as i can before moving on.

also, ONE LAST side tangent, for those that think homura really did do a 360 degree personality turn are wrong. it’s shown explicitly in homulilly’s labyrinth that there’s this... “core” homura, a shadowy purple silhouette with braids. every time the series depicts homura’s internal self, it’s always glasses+braids, symbolizing her “child” self, who she truly is. she never stopped being that person. she doesn’t want to kill. ...but i can get into that in a rebellion analysis later! this is also shown in wraith arc bc the person inside her soul gem has glasses+braids. anyway let’s get to the next part i’m going to rant about

Homura’s Love for Madoka, but Otherwise Apathy

homura has seen many different, yet all similar, versions of her friends. the first claim i’m going to talk about which i saw brought up quite a few times before is in regards to homura and mami. first of all, homura absolutely still cares for mami, and not just in the “i only care about your life if it affects madoka’s” way. one part that always gets me is when mami ties her up in the series timeline after homura frantically warns her that this witch isn’t normal, to which mami IMMEDIATELY brushes this off, without even giving homura a chance. then, when mami’s ribbons fade away, homura looks horrified and just goes “oh no...” and it’s kind of obvious to me that it was in response to mami’s death rather than madoka’s reaction. this is arguably up for debate i guess because i’ve seen different takes on that reaction and it’s ambiguous, i guess? but i’m about to get into something extremely similar and that’s the sayaka situation, where madoka throws sayaka’s soul gem onto a moving car. homura gasps and immediately pauses time and disappears, running in literal open traffic and climbing on top of a moving car to retrieve sayaka’s soul gem. one could argue that this is ALSO only just because homura wants to save madoka (and kyoko) the fear, but don’t you think her expression would be different? if homura truly didn’t care for sayaka’s wellbeing, wouldn’t she be making an expression more similar to like, “oh, this shit again...” instead of the frantic one she was making in the scene? this kind of thing Also happens when kyoko asks homura to leave while kyoko’s about to sacrifice herself in oktavia’s labyrinth, and homura looks up sadly at kyoko and then back down at madoka, and once she knew kyoko was dead, she just quietly said “kyoko...” to herself. she usually refers to them as [last name, first name], but she dropped that during that moment... it otherwise sounds like a bare minimum thing to do, but keep in mind the timeline we’re shown in the series is implied to be like, the 110th timeline, i think? like, this is the last timeline, she’s worn down, but she still does have empathy -- or at least sympathy -- for the others. she still loves them. 

homura promised to be madoka’s protector, she dedicated her life to her, and also she doesn’t have a choice not to dedicate her life to her anymore, even though that’s not fair to her... homura is in a really hopeless situation and madoka is her hope, and madoka is the one that judges her the least out of the quintet (like saying “i’m sure homura is good” to herself) upon first impression. also okay i mentioned this already in my last post (which you saw) but i’m going to bring it up one more time, homura is not mentally 26!!!!!! she is still 14 mentally!! in order to be 26, you have to have experienced 26 years of new life experience. maybe you acquire that through school, maybe you aquire that through friends, whatever it takes. but homura just repeated the same month over and over, and it’s not like her body (canonically) ages ever. she just kind of gets transported back into her body in the hospital again considering she’s back wearing her braids and pajamas... so, yeah. no mental development there. i also mentioned this here but i’m gonna say it again, that just makes it even harder for her to actually age correctly... it stunts her to 14. imagine being 14 for 10-11 years...

In Defense Of My Own Claims

btw before you think i’m just going full-on radical homura apologist, i’m not explaining all of this to be like “homura made ALL THE RIGHT DECISIONS because her trauma gave her an excuse!!” because like, Obviously, she did a lot of bad things, she killed people, did a lot of callous things, a lot of thoughtless things, a lot of things that make her seem emotionless, etc. but i just have trouble blaming her considering how things ended up, and it’s not like she enjoys killing people. she’s not sadistic... she ends up becoming short with all the others not only because of her (extremely) weakened trust in them, but also because the amount of times she repeated the timeline. i’d imagine it makes her feel like the others can’t truly die because she can just go back and see them again. (this is also why wraith arc/post-tv series must’ve been hard for her because she can no longer turn back time, things are permanent now, deaths are forever) she’s become so worn down that she’ll do anything to escape the loops... also considering she has no choice but to continue? although it shouldn’t be, it’s technically her job as a magical girl to defeat all witches and walpurgisnacht counts. it kills magical girls and tears up the whole city and she’s usually the only magical girl left... her choices, when defeated, are either to give up and die or to go back and try again, and she made a promise to her first ever friend to do just the latter... i just don’t understand how this isn’t easier for people to comprehend, that all of this trauma and stress and responsibility on top of an already traumatized 14 year old does not mix well. ever. she had to figure out all of this by herself.

TL;DR:

homura was a previously traumatized, unsocialized 14 year old with (very)low self esteem & self worth whose first friend (and first love, really, let’s be honest) died in front of her in horrific ways and she watched as she (and the other friends she came to make) drifted slowly apart from her in her endless and futile attempt in saving her from what proved to be an inescapable fate. also she’s 14 and also she’s (canonically) mentally ill and a lesbian. not a monster, not evil, not “psycho”. and that’s that!

[altairattorney]

In response to your little rant about Homura's depiction in Rebellion, here's this.

"The end of Rebellion is... controversial, but let's unpack what happened here. What occurred?

Well, firstly, Homura was traumatized and tortured; the Homura at the end of Rebellion is not the Homura of PMAS; she's gone through trauma and loss that PMAS!Homura can't even conceive of. She literally turned into a fucking witch because Kyubey gaslit her into thinking she made up Madoka Kaname, according to Wraith Arc.

Then, during this process, she learns two important facts that fucks her worldview: 1) Madoka didn't want to leave her loved ones and give up her normal life if she had any other alternative, and 2) Kyubey is trying to destroy the Law of Cycles (that is, Madoka Kaname), and has figured out a means of stopping her from interacting with Magical Girls under controlled lab conditions, meaning they could eventually succeed in their objective.

That means if Homura let herself go into the Law of Cycles, she would be unable to protect Madoka, and the Incubators would eventually destroy her. Madoka will have been erased and forgotten with nothing to show for it. Homura could only cope with everything with the promise of being reunited with her and the solace that Madoka's sacrifice was worth it, and Kyubey took that away from her.

And, more importantly: Homura's wish had yet to come true. Homura's wish wasn't to be with Madoka, or to save the world. It was to protect Madoka. To be the one to protect her.

To put it in other terms, Homura was self-loathing to the point of suicide-ideation because she was worthless, good for nothing, a burden on everyone. That she should just die. Madoka saw worth in her, and tried to change that, but Madoka died.

Only one person in her entire life ever told Homura she was happy to have met her and this wonderful, kind, happy, heroic, courageous, beautiful, miracle of a person who walked into her life to tell her those words died.

DIED. FOR. HER.

Died to protect her. Died so that a worthless piece of SHIT like herself could live. Someone who had EVERYTHING in the world died with a smile to protect someone who didn't even want to. Not without her.

Not instead of her.

She was good for nothing before and now her mere existence caused the best person she'd ever known to die. She ruined Madoka's entire life by having been a part of it.

She has to fix it. She has the chance to.

She wishes, wishes, WISHES to go back, to unfuck this, to undo this, to be cool like Madoka said she could have been. To protect her. To be her shield. To be WORTH something because she protected something valuble. To pay her back for all her kindness like she'd never been able to do and finally, finally in her life, have done something that justifies everything else.

She didn't wish for Madoka to live. She didn't wish for her to be saved. She wished to be the one to save her so she could support her and reinvent herself as someone who isn't a garbage shit person.

And every single time, she fails.

No matter what she does. No matter how she compromises herself. No matter what disgusting sins she does (and she never crosses so many lines that she says she WOULD cross). Madoka keeps dying.

And most of those times. She dies for Homura. She dies, again, for Homura. She dies again and again and again and again in order to help Homura.

Until the very last time, she wishes to save Homura (and everyone else), so much that she never existed at all.

Dammit. Dammit. DAMMIT. DAMMIT. This is worse this is WORSE THIS IS WORRRRSE!

But she still tries to cope. Madoka's in heaven. She's saving everyone. Madoka had a smile. The world is BETTER, and she'll see her again.

Until the above happened. And Kyubey is going to destroy Madoka Kaname. She won't have ever been born and she won't even be saving Magical Girls. She'll truly be nothing.

Because she came to save Homura, fucking AGAIN.

And all this time she still never saved her. Never ONCE saved her. Not a single time has she ever, ever, EVER fucking saved her. Not ever, has she ever saved her, not even when Madoka made her final fucking wish.

Homura made a wish that never came true. So she never stopped being Good for Nothing. She has never made up for Madoka's kindness. She has never, emotionally, left that moment where she sobbed over Madoka's dead corpse in the water and the rain. And she's done that so many fucking times.

So that's her mindset. So when she saw the chance. She took it. If you can interact with Madoka, you can effect Madoka. So.

God dammit. Fucking for once. Fucking finally. This time, her last chance she'll EVER HAVE... she will save her.

Save Madoka Kaname. Not a vague concept. Not a hero. Not a law or a god. Not a cosmic idea. Madoka. KANAME. The person who smiled at her and said she was cool. The person who helped her buy a cellphone. The kind, wonderful person who loved and named a stray cat and pressed her face to hers and laughed and congratulated her for her accomplishments. The person who said that meeting Homura was her happiest memory.

Why can't this person, of all people, be happy? All Madoka Kaname wanted was to live her fucking life. With her family. With her friends and classmates. Living her day to day life which wasn't anything special but it was so special to her.

She WILL save her. Goddammit, she failed so many times because she always kept holding herself back but if this is her last chance then GODDAMMIT fuck it all, damn herself too.

She never cared, really, about being with Madoka. She was willing to die for her. She explicitly had plans to leave the town to Kyouko after Walpurgisnacht and LEAVE (probably to kill herself so her Witch didn't come for Madoka). She was going to die for her in Rebellion so that she'd be safe from the Incubators.

If she could save her, if she can finally succeed and protect that human smile living her human life, it's fine if Homura Akemi isn't a part of it. If Madoka can smile, she doesn't have to smile at her anymore. That's PERFECTLY FINE.

So she did it. She stole a piece of the Law of Cycles. Not a big piece. Not the Law, or the Power, or the Salvation. The Law of Cycles still functions in some sense, because there's still no Witches, there's still Wraiths, there's still Angels.

She stole "Madoka Kaname", the human being that the Goddess used to be. She stole her, yes. She took over the universe, yes. But what did she do?

She made it so Madoka Kaname existed, again. Reunited with everyone she cared about. She gave Kyouko, Mami, Sayaka, and everyone else the happiest lives she could give them without undoing their pasts (disrespecting their agency and core selves), even if it was only to keep Madoka happy in her silver garden.

She tortures Kyubey but no one's crying tears over that fucker. She seems to be letting the world run its course as naturally as possible, save for suppressing people's memories of what's really going on.

Sayaka, alive. Nagisa, alive. Living with Kyouko and Mami respectively. Madoka, alive.

Hell, the only change she made that we know of to Madoka's memories is three years in America.

Because, canonically, English is Madoka's worst subject.

And now, she's great at it.

No matter what it takes. Madoka Kaname will be happy. She deserves it. And Homura will make that happen, even if she, herself, never is.

But yeah go off about how Homura is a yandere stalker who likes to kill people."

Hey there! I thank you for your post and your insight, and I wanted to clarify that I don't disagree at all with this view of Rebellion and how it ended. I think it is all correct, actually. The problem I have with it is 1. Rebellion existing at all, and 2. the way they portrayed her choice as an act of evil conceived by a demon.

To begin with, there are a few details that I don't think really make sense considering how pmmm worked. Homura shouldn't even be a witch, first of all. Secondly, even though she cannot know for sure, I don't think Homura would have willingly told Kyubey about the world of before if there were any danger. Heck, I don't even understand how Kyubey could possibly have stolen Madoka, now that she is not an entity but a literal concept, a rule of the universe. Imo that is beyond absurd. Third, I am doubtful Homura would have gone against Madoka's wish, even though I totally understand why she did in the context of Rebellion.

The problem I have with Homura is that people thought about her as a yandere emotionless stalker who has an unhealthy obsession with Madoka even before Rebellion existed. That was a popular sentiment, and the big, big problem I have with this film is that while what she did isn't inherently bad or wrong - as you explained - the movie paints her as a LITERAL DEMON in the moment she makes that choice, and ALSO at the exact same time she declares her love canonically. That is so fucked up in so so so many ways. As not literal it may be, they gave her that creepy smile, and show that Madoka is confused in her new bubble and feels like she is someone else but can't remember why. And Homura brushes it off. As wonderful as it is that she is there, Madoka is uncomfortable, Sayaka is obviously enraged and Homura plays the part of the Evil Character.

This is just all so unfair and so wrong. It doesn't only negate the way this anime ended - and of course Homura deserved to go with peace and quiet like everyone else. No magical girl has to ever suffer like that again, including Madoka, right? (There were so many ways to reunite her with Madoka, but no.) It also visibly paints Homura as being on the dark side, and validates the horrific lens people saw her character through even before the film. It canonizes her as a lesbian in the same moment she is doing something clearly framed as wrong, and, on a surface level, reinforces her obsession. This is just a textbook predatory lesbian trope. I am sorry if you don't see it the same way, but it is just horrific to me.

I will never agree with Rebellion existing. I cannot stand the ending of this anime being undone and Homura being punched in the face and further tortured both in universe and as a character, after all the crap she went through. It is just disrespectful.

And as I said, she deserved better.

[recentanimenews]

The 10 Most Unlucky Characters in All of Anime

Fortune favors the bold, so the saying goes. But sometimes, luck just isn’t on your side. Whether it’s an unlucky time at the gambling tables, the constant taste of defeat as victory slips out of your fingers every single time, the inability to find that special someone, or just seeming like a rain cloud is constantly parked over your life, being unlucky is never great. For some people, though, it just seems like their luck is never going to turn around! In anime, sometimes this manifests itself as a cosmic reason for unlucky turns, a personality flaw, or even a literal stat line in your character profile! But for some of these characters, their lack of luck is their own reward, making them memorable or even funny; for others, their misfortune is part of their tragic fate, making their coming up short even more heart wrenching as we realize they’re probably never going to make it.

While these characters may not have anything lucky to look forward to, they’ve at least lucked their way into our list of unluckiest characters! So, without further ado, let’s take a look at our lucky (or unlucky…) winners! And as a final reminder, there will be some spoilers spread out, so read at your own risk, and don’t curse you luck if you get spoiled!

10. Yamcha (Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball Super)

Yamcha is certainly one of the saddest cases not just because he's really unlucky, but because his misfortune continues to magnify over the course of the story. Starting off in Dragon Ball as a dashing rogue bandit, Yamcha’s transformation through the years has seen him on a steady decline, always on the back foot while the rest of the Z warriors step forward. Yamcha’s first blow comes with his break up with Bulma, followed by his tragic (and now iconically funny) death at the hands of the Saibamen. While Yamcha would recover from death like most Dragon Ball characters, his pride and place in the cast never seemed to follow, as he would spend successive sagas always in the background, and finally in Dragon Ball Super as the butt of jokes for his cowardice and weakness… but at least he never died again!

9. Meow (Space Dandy)

Frankly, none of the Blockhead, Bonehead, and Pinhead trio of Dandy, Meow, and QT are particularly “lucky,” save perhaps Dandy, whose odd qualities revealed in the finale to have a very special ability through successive shifts in alternate universes. But of the three of them, Meow is probably the unluckiest, which he contributes to quite a bit through his laziness and carefree personality. Always the butt of jokes and Dandy’s pranks, everything bad that happens to the cast tends to happen to Meow first. When a zombie outbreak hits the galaxy, Meow is the first crew member of the Aloha Oe to succumb, and that’s one of the least bad things to happen to him! Meow generally finds his advice ignored, and his cowardice tends to get him into more trouble than it gets him out of. Perhaps Meow’s purpose is to be the counterbalance to Dandy’s quirky luck, but no matter what, Meow always seems to get the short end of the stick, even missing out on getting to taste the greatest ramen in the universe! If that isn’t unlucky, I don’t know what is.

  8. Koichi Zenigata (Lupin the 3rd)

Sometimes luck isn’t focused on how successful you are with money or chance, but instead about how successful you are at your job. To that end, there’s probably no one unluckier than Inspector Zenigata, the hard-boiled but soft-hearted man tasked with bringing Lupin to justice for his crimes. Zenigata is routinely the foil for Lupin’s schemes, always arriving a second too late, finding more questions than answers, and left with fixing the messes that Lupin leaves for him. Even when Zenigata manages to capture Lupin, such as in classic episodes “One Chance to Break Out” or “The End of Lupin”, things just don’t go the inspector’s way! Lupin and Zenigata might have a warped sense of friendship and respect, but that doesn’t change the fact that the poor inspector will likely spend the rest of his life always coming up tragically short. And that isn’t even taking into account his abysmal luck when it comes to love, where all of his romances end tragically one way or the other for the detective. Keep that chin up, Zenigata!

7. Touma Kamijo (A Certain Magical Index)

It’s an odd fate when your luck is the cost of your special power, and it’s even more of an odd fate when you don’t even know that’s what you’re giving up! But such is the case of Touma, whose magical ability “Imagine Breaker” allows him to negate any and all magical, divine, and esper abilities… including his own luck! Touma’s childhood was nothing but miserable due to his then misunderstood ability, as people cursed him for their bad luck and constant misfortunes. Touma’s father eventually sends him to Academy City to enable him to get a fresh start and take him away from the superstitious and cruel people that haunted his childhood. While Touma’s power is indeed amazing, allowing him to stand up for people and be a hero, it’s one that’s come at a great cost to his personal life. Perhaps the saving grace here is that Touma’s always taken his fate with stride and done his best to live as a good person, even as he finds himself in constant troubling situations and problems.

6. Iyami (Osomatsu-san)

It’s possible to consider that one’s luck is a reflection of their personality, as if luck is a karmic cycle: you get what you give. In that case, pretty much everyone in Osomatsu-san gets exactly what they deserve from Lady Luck, but there is perhaps no one quite so deserving of their bad luck than Iyami. It’s tough to stick out of the crowd of miscreants and misanthropes the way Iyami does, to the point that it’s hard to even feel bad for him when things go wrong! Iyami’s always looking for a quick and easy fix to his problems, made worse by his lack of scruples and his frankly off-putting personality. Even when things start going his way, his greedy sense of self-worth always ends up sabotaging his plans, leading him right back to where he started… and let’s just say that in a world where your words can manifest as a boomerang and come back to hurt you, Iyami’s are so powerful they wipe out a whole city just to scrub him off the earth!

5. Ichiko Sakura (Good Luck Girl)

Is it possible to be *too* lucky? An overabundance of luck might seem like a good thing at first, but not when it comes at the suffering of those around you. That seems to be the case for Ichiko, whose Fortune Power is so high that it causes bad things to happen to people around her instead, absorbing their luck and turning it into her own! To make matters worse, Ichiko is at first not even aware that her power exists, and has no idea why bad things seem to happen to the people she spends time with and cares about. Ichiko keeps herself distant from other people, trying to avoid a repeat of her childhood trauma, but it isn’t until the God of Misfortune Momiji appears that things start to change… and not in the way you’d think! With Momiji’s (reluctant) help and the assistance of a weird monk, Ichiko finds a way to start giving her luck to other people, saving them from their troubles and dangers!

4. Anne Hanakoizumi (Anne-Happy)

Taking enjoyment in the misfortune of others might seem cruel in general practice, but in the case of the cast of Anne-Happy, that’s where all of the fun is! Class 7 is a class if misfits who all suffer from some odd misfortune, and that’s nowhere better encapsulated than in Anne, who viewers meet hanging off of a bridge after trying to rescue a dog! Anne’s constant misfortune doesn’t seem to sway her always cheerful disposition, and she constantly tries to do her best despite falling into manholes and other ridiculous unlucky events! But Anne’s misfortune seems to have a way of working out for the best, and the members of Class 7 find friendship and happiness together despite their constant mishaps. They say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, but Anne might trump that with “When life opens a giant pit underneath you, turn it into a hot springs trip for you and your friends”!

3. Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

If you had the ability to try and stop the greatest misfortune in your life, what would you do? Most people would likely leap at the chance, but as most situations prove, it isn’t always that simple. For Homura, she wants nothing more than to save her beloved Madoka from suffering her tragic fate and becoming one of the worst monsters in creation. To prevent this, Homura uses her ability to slip through time in order to try and prevent the cycle from completing, but always finds herself coming up short, having re-lived the same tragic events nearly 100 times! Homura’s misfortune may not seem the luck based kind, but it is perhaps one of the worst fates someone could have, always seeing the same things happen time and again and never knowing what could have gone wrong, living alone and trapped in a cycle that never ends. Even by the end of the series, its questionable whether Homura really achieved what she wanted, indicating that maybe this cycle is still not over, and Homura’s wish may never come true.

2. Taizou Hasegawa (Gintama)

Sometimes, life deals you a bad hand. In the case of Hasegawa, life didn’t stop there, making sure that probably everything that could ever go wrong went so wrong it became abstractly hilarious. Hasegawa starts Gintama as a government employee tied to the alien prince Hata, and after losing his job, becomes known as “MADAO”: Totally Hopeless Old Guy (and, as the series progressed, a lot of other insulting alternative titles!). Hasegawa’s problems are mostly due to miserable luck and cruel twists of fate, as he’s a good and kind person at heart who tries to do the right thing whenever he can. Unfortunately, those things require him to be humiliated, usually by the same people he considers friends and allies, such as winning a rigged gameshow to help a sick girl, that success comes at public and extreme humiliation. Being a MADAO is a lonely existence, and for Hasegawa, his only solace is his sunglasses. But at least by the end of the series, Hasegawa gets some redemption as being hailed a hero, so at least he ends up better than he started off! Whether or not it was worth all of the humiliation and defeat, well...

1. Lancer [Diarmuid] (Fate/Zero) / Lancer [Cu Chulainn] (Fate/Stay Night)

Now, this is technically two people, but perhaps no two characters share such unlucky fates as the Lancers of the Fate universe! Such seems to be the fate of Servants with such abysmal luck attributes, both at E rank! The two spearmen have a lot in common, from dashing good looks and affable personalities, to their deadly abilities with their weapons. Unfortunately, the Holy Grail War isn’t won by simple ability, and for these two servants, the failures of their human masters, and their seemingly unfortunate fates, seem to be working against them!

Diarmuid, betrayed in life by his master, finds himself in death summoned by Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, and the pair seem quite possibly able to win the Holy Grail easily. Unfortunately, Kayneth’s pride and arrogance get him into trouble, and Diarmuid’s cursed beauty mark bewitches Kayneth’s fiance, Sola-Ui, who in her obsession to have Diarmuid all to herself tortures Kayneth and throws their plans to the winds. With no real leadership at the helm, Diarmuid tries his best, wanting to engage Saber in fair combat… until Saber’s Master, Kiritsugu, takes Kayneth and Sola-Ui hostage, forcing the crippled Master to use his last command seal to force Diarmuid to mortally wound himself! Betrayed again and denied a warrior’s death, Diarmuid dies cursing the Holy Grail and everyone involved… fittingly, his curse seems to have some merit, as almost all of the people involved go on to suffer tragic fates.

Fate/Stay Night’s Lancer fairs relatively just as poorly. Cu Chulainn was one of history’s greatest warriors, but finds himself stuck serving the odious Kotomine Kirei after Kirei steals the right to wield a servant from Lancer’s true master, Bazett, behind the scenes. Cu is an affable opponent and spends much of the series trying to do the right thing despite the control of his twisted master, and in the alternative routes of Heaven’s Feel and Unlimited Blade Works, Cu manages to redeem himself somewhat, although his fate is never truly reversed to a happier ending. Although the Blue Panther never manages to win the Holy Grail, he does get to take his revenge on Kirei, giving him the comeuppance he’s deserved since Fate/Zero! Bittersweet victories taste the best when your luck is so abysmal! At the very least, in the timeline of Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, Cu’s finally gotten something close to happy ending…

Have any other unfortunate characters you think deserve to be on the list? Let us know in the comments!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known to profess her love of otome games over at her blog, Figuratively Speaking. When she has the time, she also��streams some games. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries 

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