Um… crap, I just covered this in Day 12!! Oh well, guess my primary pick is out of the running, so it’s time for the secondary pick. Back in 2003, when I was still really getting into anime, there was one show I was watching that had a character death that just tore me apart, emotionally. That show is, of course, Fullmetal Alchemist, with the death of Mayes Hughes.

Mayes is a great character. Smart, funny, and most importantly, always a beacon of light and hope, as well as a pillar of support for all of the main characters in the show, including the Elrics, Winry, Mustang, and others. A true family man with a wife and a young daughter, Hughes is totally devoted to his work for the military. But, when he uncovers some secrets that have been buried by the military itself, they decide to silence him, coldly and brutally.

This death is distressing in a number of ways, first and foremost of those being that we’ve really started to get attached to Hughes at this point. He serves as a point of comedy in a pretty dark series, and is such a great guy. He had just managed to uncover the nation’s darkest secret, but he dies without being able to tell anyone, literally rendering his efforts pointless at the end. Not only that, but the killer disguises himself as Hughes’ wife, Gracia, adding yet another shock factor to the brutal scene. This death really got to me as a kid, and still affects me even today, when I rewatch the show.

Honorable mentions go to Manato from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, and Nagisa from Clannad. This challenge is already starting to ramp up in difficulty as I try to avoid repeat mentions, but i guess that also gives me a change to explore and discuss more things than I normally would. Anyways, what is you guys’ picks for the saddest anime deaths?