It’s a simple fact of life that being an anime character can be pretty tough sometimes. Whether you’re fending off legions of monsters or just trying to get through the rigors of high school, there are occasions when it all gets to be a bit too much. As such, it’s perfectly understandable how sometimes, anime characters just go off the deep end in spectacular fashion. In the modern lexicon, it’s known as crashing out, that distinctive moment in which you just say “nope” to your senses and release the anger, rage or whatever else you're feeling. For your enjoyment (and perhaps as a bit of a warning), I have assembled a list of 15 infamous instances where anime characters snapped. For clarity’s sake, there has to be a distinct indication that they lost control of themselves in order for them to qualify. If we were just thinking of times that characters got miffed, we could just end up with 100 entries for Bakugo from My Hero Academia . And not gonna lie, I would totally read that, too. Please note that a spoiler warning is in effect . I wouldn’t want to make you crash out with unforeseen plot twists, after all. Rin Itoshi – BLUE LOCK By its very nature, the premise of BLUE LOCK is effectively angry young men giving into their inner demons in order to unleash true greatness. Look no further than the protagonist, Isagi Yoichi, whose tendency to go wild has kept him alive for this long. Dude, he was so aggressive to his teammates, Barou almost became his lackey. My king, Barou, subjugated?! Nah dude, that’s wack. RELATED: 11 Players, 1 Goal — How BLUELOCK's Cast of Antiheroes is its Greatest Strength For all-time crash outs, however, the award has to be given to BLUE LOCK’s #1 contender, Rin Itoshi. When we first meet this surly lad, he is devoid of emotion: just a highly efficient soccer machine who knows that he is better than everyone else. He never seems bothered or flustered, up until his older brother Sae comes into the picture. When pitted against Japan’s U-20 team — helmed by Sae himself — Rin has to tap into something else, something brutal, and something that is downright awe-inspiring to witness. In the dwindling seconds of the match, Rin runs on pure instinct, dribbling and ducking his way past the entire opposition en route to the winning goal. Unfortunately, that winning goal is actually nabbed by Isagi when he capitalizes on Rin’s beast mode, which will surely have even more devastating effects on the poor guy’s mental health. Kobeni Higashiyama – Chainsaw Man The world of Chainsaw Man is incredibly bleak. With the number of ghouls roaming around playing into our greatest fears, a simple trip out to the shops can end up with you being torn apart by a ravenous Nostril Devil. Because surely, someone out there has a fear of nostrils. For those in the Public Safety sector, their whole job revolves around seeking out the worst of these creatures and taking them out. It’s a grim career path, especially if you’re like Kobeni Higashiyama: a normal girl who’s only in it for the money. RELATED: Which Chainsaw Man Character Are You? When her squad is imprisoned by the Eternity Devil, they each grapple with the dilemma in their own unique way. Clearly, some handle the situation better than others, and before long, Kobeni begins to turn on her colleagues, brandishing a knife in the hopes that she can free herself from this torturous trap. To Kobeni’s credit, this was just a particularly low point for her, and as we would later see, she is more than capable of holding her own against much less existential threats. Light Yagami – Death Note Image via Netflix Death Note depicts a thrilling game of cat and mouse where a mass murderer with genius-level intellect works alongside the very investigators trying to put a stop to his indirect killing spree. Said murderer is Light Yagami, and he is having jolly good fun jotting down names in his Death Note and watching as they drop dead, one by one. Throughout the series, he capably matches wits with such luminaries as L (a detective of equal brilliance) and the chief of police — his own father, who is little more than an obstacle. In Light’s deluded perspective of reality, any who dare try to put a stop to his ambition are those who would challenge God himself. Yikes, bro. When, at last, everything comes unraveling at the seams and Light is revealed as the true culprit, he loses his cool and is reduced to a cackling madman at the end of his rope. It’s quite satisfying to see this cocky villain getting his comeuppance at last, before he meets a rather inglorious end. Griffith – Berserk | Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition You surely knew that Berserk was going to make an appearance sooner or later. Initially, I had envisaged Guts himself for this list. Owing to his lifetime of hardship and brutality, he has basically morphed into the manifestation of a perpetual frowny face. But the more I thought about it, the more it dawned on me that Griffith fits the bill even better. As the charismatic commander of the Band of the Hawk, Griffith’s greatest ambition was to someday rule a kingdom of his own. What he didn’t account for, however, was how much he would rely on Guts for his mental well-being. Once his former ally sets off on his own, Griffith makes a series of decisions that have absolutely catastrophic effects. First, he goes canoodling with the princess, resulting in a year-long imprisonment and torture. Once rescued, he realizes his dream at long last, albeit with a sickening twist: his domain is not that of mankind, but as a cruel autocrat of hell. He sacrifices his comrades in order to be reborn, no longer possessing a semblance of the inspirational leader he had once been. Perhaps it was always destined to end this way. Maybe Griffith’s benevolence was little more than a front. It’s still devastating to witness, with so many good people dying in terror and agony. They don't call it one of the biggest anime betrayals of all time for nothing. Tenko Shimura – My Hero Academia You may not recognize the name Tenko Shimura at first, but once you’ve got a glimpse of the scene we’re referring to here, your mind will surely go, “Oh yeah!” before slipping into, “ Oh no… ” Tenko Shimura was the former identity of Tomura Shigaraki, a man whose evil ambition is rivalled only by the dryness of his skin. Long before he became the figurehead of the League of Villains, however, Tenko was just your average kid who idolized heroes while he awaited the activation of his own Quirk. RELATED: How My Hero Academia Highlights the Humanity of its Villains Tragically for Tenko, his father had a particular animosity toward heroes, crushing his dreams and laying a guilt trip on the innocent fantasies of a child. Extrapolating Tenko’s familial issues, his health wasn’t so great either, as he developed an itch that worsened as his stress levels grew. Then one day, he hugged his dog and turned it to dust. Then, he turned his sister to dust. One by one, the Shimura family would fall as Tenko succumbed to the hatred that permeated throughout his soul. A villain was created that day, one who could have perhaps been a hero if he had only received the love and validation he so craved. Hatoko Kushikawa – When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace In the anime When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace , a group of high school students unexpectedly receive incredible superpowers. Despite this, the majority of their time is spent trying to navigate the perils of high school life, creating more of a slice-of-life atmosphere to the narrative. This particular outburst of emotion comes not as a result of villainy, but rather, years of discouragement. Hatoko Kushikawa is a gentle, mild-mannered soul whose warm demeanor belies her own self-doubt. Since childhood, she has been close friends with Jurai Ando, a well-intending if not eccentric practitioner of chuunibyou. In his obsession for grandiose communication, he overcomplicates language in such a way that many wouldn’t understand, Hatoko included. Eventually, she’s had enough, and she lets him have it. Hatoko unleashes two and a half minutes of pure anguish, addressing exactly how much she hates feeling excluded simply because of Jurai’s rants. It’s a truly emotional moment, amplified by Saori Hayami’s brilliance as a performer. Hatoko may not understand, but after this tirade, we all certainly did. Shigeo Kageyama – Mob Psycho 100 Poor lil Mob. The eponymous hero of Mob Psycho 100 is a kid doing his level best to live a normal middle school existence, working a job with the local charlatan (hi, Reigen) while having to keep his burgeoning psychic powers under control. In the climax of the third and final season, Mob musters up the courage to confess his love to the girl he likes. Already in a heightened emotional state, a vehicular accident causes him to reawaken in the ???% state, a manifestation of his bottled-up guilt that comes as a consequence of his psychic abilities. RELATED: Mob Psycho 100 Love Confession Advice, Ranked With this dangerous form now having taken over Mob’s body, he proceeds to lay destruction to any who stand in his path. As intimidating as it is to see, it’s surpassed by the overwhelming sadness you feel when you realize that this is what Mob has been suppressing this whole time. He just needs a hug, man. Thank goodness Reigen’s one tangible skill is his good vibes. Toji Fushiguro – JUJUTSU KAISEN Not every crashout has to be a traumatic experience, mind you. Some of the characters might find it enjoyable, even downright cathartic. For Toji Fushiguro in JUJUTSU KAISEN , it looked like he was having a really excellent time going off the deep end. RELATED: JUJUTSU KAISEN Shibuya Incident Arc, Episode 15 Recap His circumstances were much different from the other entrants on our list, as he was reincarnated via a seance. When the curse user Ogami places the soul of Toji into her grandson, they expect the boost in power to turn the battle in their favor. They’re not entirely wrong, as Toji’s overwhelming strength is indeed something to behold. Things go a little bit pear-shaped for them when Toji just straight-up overrides her grandson’s body, effectively yeeting his soul and going on a killing spree. How much of his mental facilities Toji still has at this point is hard to say, but watching him jump from place to place, causing all kinds of mayhem, suggests that he perhaps isn’t quite firing on all cylinders. Friend and foe alike have reason to fear his rampage, as the hapless curse Dagon would painfully discover. Kongou – Arpeggio of Blue Steel Arpeggio of Blue Steel is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a fleet of sentient battleships brings mankind to the brink of destruction. Each of these ships is capable of creating a lifelike facsimile of a human known as a Mental Model, a risky proposition that has begun to blur the lines between machine and person. RELATED: Why Did It Take Me So Long to Watch Arpeggio of Blue Steel? Though the unwavering flagship Kongou resists the temptations of defection, even she is not entirely immune to discovering complex emotions, such as her attachment to her subordinate, Maya. As such, it’s especially cruel when Kongou is forced into lockdown for perceived misbehavior and learns that Maya has been a mindless automated program this entire time. She’s been demoted, and the one she's closest to is basically just a chatty AI bot? Oh, you’d best believe Kongou is not going to respond well to that. In her despair, she frees herself from her bonds and forcefully assimilates herself with Maya, creating a world-destroying vessel of pure hatred. For someone who despises humans so much, Kongou sure can’t help but share in our emotional instability, can she? Vegeta – Dragon Ball Z Meltdowns can take on many forms, and in the case of Dragon Ball Z ’s Saiyan Prince Vegeta, it manifested through a complete betrayal of everything he had come to love. By the time the Cell Games had rolled around, Vegeta had taken a backseat to his rival, Goku, in every sense of the word. The gap in their ability had widened, and his domestication made him more resemble a variety of flower than a warrior. RELATED: How Well Do You Know Vegeta from Dragon Ball? But once upon a time, this was a man who destroyed planets for a laugh. Remember when Vegeta just dusted that lovely little planet of happy bug people? In the Buu Saga, Vegeta sure as heck did because he willingly allowed Babidi to inflict him with the Majin Curse. Obviously, he was pretty stoked at the time, as embracing the evil within him had provided him with the power boost he so yearned for. Before long, however, he returned to his senses and saw just how selfish he had been. Mikasa Ackerman – Attack on Titan Alright, this one is cheating a little bit. Of all the traumatic existences we’ve covered so far, the lives of the protagonists in Attack on Titan surely rank near the top of this list. Eren Jaeger alone has more crash outs than pretty much every other character combined, whether it was when he first took on his Titan form, when he was unable to prevent Hannes’ death, or you know… when he wiped out nearly the entire human race . Even with all this in mind, he has to defer to the queen of crash outs, Mikasa Ackerman. She’s able to tap into this madness a lot more effectively than most others, turning into an unstoppable killing machine. RELATED: Which Attack on Titan Character Are You? This was on full display when Reiner and Bertholdt made the critical error of attempting to kidnap Eren. In case you weren’t aware, Mikasa is awfully fond of Eren, so she was not about to let that happen. The glare that she shoots at Bertholdt once she has caught up is downright chilling, and if I were him, I’d probably have just surrendered right then and there. War’s over, everyone, Mikasa wins. You might argue that she wasn’t crashing out, but honestly, is this the expression of a levelheaded person? Respectfully, I disagree. And I flee. Susumu Shinshi – 365 Days to the Wedding Of course, crash outs aren’t exclusive to action-packed shonen titles, and as we discovered in 365 Days to the Wedding , receiving devastating news can be enough to bring someone’s entire world tumbling down. Susumu Shinshi looks like a man who truly has it all. He’s good at his job, he’s intelligent and well-dressed, and most importantly, he’s a devout family man with a loving wife. That’s why it came as such a shock to him when that loving wife told him that it was over and that she was filing for a divorce. With that, poor old Shinshi-san suffered a meltdown of epic proportions. He went missing, and when his coworkers tracked him down, he had decided that he was just gonna be a gorilla from now on. I mean, fair enough, maybe a little bit of monkey business could help alleviate the pressure. As amusing as the moment was, it was also one of the most devastating on this list because it’s relatable. We’re all just doing our best out here, and sometimes, that isn’t enough for us to live a happy life. And so, we reject humanity, return to monkey. Life good. Gon Freecss – Hunter x Hunter As far as iconic crash outs go, this is certainly up there. It was so impactful, the following season of Hunter x Hunter was dedicated to dealing with its consequences. The emotional descent of the plucky Gon Freecss is certainly a tentpole moment in anime’s echelons. No sooner has he found a father figure in Kite (an acquaintance of his own dad) when an encounter with the deadly Neferpitou sends everything spiraling. RELATED: The Madness of Hunter x Hunter's Hero Convinced that Pitou can return Kite to his previous state, Gon demands that the Chimera Ant repair the damage that has been done. Upon hearing that Kite is beyond rescue, Gon activates the Limitation Transformation, exchanging his very life force so that he may achieve unprecedented power. What follows is hard to watch, as a demigod-like Gon proceeds to end Pitou’s whole career, pummelling his foe until there’s nothing left. Even when he loses an arm in battle, he doesn’t even flinch. It’s night and day from Gon’s usual demeanor, and were it not for the courage of his best friend Killua, it could have cost him everything. Tetsuo Shima – Akira With that being said though, there is something to be said for a character whose crash out is the stuff of cinematic legend. Akira tells the story of Tetsuo Shima, a low-level gang member who discovers that he has latent psychic powers. That sounds great on the surface, but unfortunately for Tetsuo, the way these powers manifest is through brutal headaches, terrifying hallucinations, and ultimately, losing grip of humanity itself. The transformation of Tetsuo is truly a sad one, as it’s something he never could have anticipated, let alone sought out for himself. He was just a guy trying to live his life and ride his sweet bike around the dystopian landscape of Neo-Tokyo, only to become a science project gone awry. He was neither mentally nor physically equipped for the horrors that awaited him, and as such, it was inevitable that things would take a turn for the worst in short order. At the very least, his conclusion yields an optimistic ending, as he has transcended reality to manifest a universe of his own creation. I earnestly hope that for his sake, it’s a super chill one where he doesn’t have to stress out so much. Sekai Saionji and Kotonoha Katsura – School Days When I mentioned a spoiler warning at the top of this article, I very much had School Days at the forefront of my mind. Because, hoo boy, the stuff most certainly hits the fan when it’s all said and done, resulting in a twofer of major crash outs. The drama starts when the local heartthrob Makoto Itou confesses his love for the girl in the next class, Kotonoha Katsura. With the guidance of his friend Sekai Saionji, Makoto learns about the intricacies of dating before eventually deciding he would actually rather be with Sekai instead. This revelation causes Kotonoha to lose all faith, entering a zombie-like trance that yields some dire consequences, and Sekai soon finds herself pregnant. As if that wasn’t enough, Makoto elects to cheat on Sekai as well, with pretty much any girl in his year level. You can understand the poor girl’s frustration. That said, no one expected her to embrace the phrase "that escalated quickly" in such a way when she murders Makoto in cold blood. Put quite simply, he paid the ultimate price for his tomfoolery, but that's not the end of it, as Kotonoha also snaps and kills Sekai… after cutting off Makoto's head. All that's left to say is "yikes."
