Top 10 Unlucky Anime Characters

“A Certain Magical Index” (2008-11)

How could we not include the guy who drew a level 0 power? In a world where various individuals are openly gifted with supernatural abilities, you have Touma Kamijou, the guy who can negate said abilities with just his right hand. As the owner of the Imagine Breaker, he can cancel any and all magical abilities or illusions sent his way. Sounds handy, right? Well, that unfortunately means that as a side effect his luck is negated, and as such always ends up in comical or painful situations. Well Touma, you gotta work with what you’re given.

“School Rumble” (2004-05)

A lot of romantic comedies would see the shy and unremarkable girl falling for the tough but misunderstood bad boy, while the equally shy nice guy would be left in the dust. Not in this case. In this acclaimed and much loved series, the bad boy is Kenji Harima, who just wants the normal but sweet Tenma to notice him. Whenever he gathers the courage to confess his true feelings, plot convenience serves to separate them. It would be heart-breaking if it wasn’t so funny! Our poor, shades-wearing delinquent may not get the girl of his dreams in the end, but he did manage to earn our admiration for hanging in there for so long. You da man Harima!

“Gintama” (2006-16)

Some guys just cannot catch a break. While he formally held his place as a government official, Hasegawa Taizou has fallen into the seemingly, never-ending, jobless lifestyle of MADAO…basically a hopeless loser well past his prime. Despite his frequent falls from grave, Hasegawa never quits, constantly seeking new employment no matter how degrading it may be. This guy could practically write a book on bad luck, as he always finds himself getting fired from his equally depressing jobs or constantly drinking and gambling away what little he has. Still, you have to admire his commitment and maybe wonder why his wife still loves him…

“Mr Osomatsu” (2015-16)

While the sextuplet protagonists may have their own problems, the unluckiest among the cast is the infamous con man with pearly whites. Life just never seems to work out in Iyami’s favour, mainly because his cons are easily discovered, and he’s actually prone to working himself into a corner. His misadventures throughout the series are comedy gold, and as bad as it might be to say, we never get tired of seeing him suffer. When you’d go as far as to using an experimental drug to turn yourself into a woman, just to seduce six brothers into giving you some spare cash…yeah, you get what’s coming to you.

“Elfen Lied” (2004)

Now we’re getting into the hard-hitting stuff. While we sympathise with the murderous character of Lucy and the pain she’s dealt with her whole life, we can’t deny that the collateral damage she leaves is huge, none more so than on her childhood friend Kouta. After Lucy ends up killing his father and sister, he went through so much emotional trauma that he ended up erasing her from his memory, only to encounter her years later. With so much bloodshed, psychological scars and blossoming romance between the pair, you would have thought that Kouta had already suffered enough. Life, as the series shows in detail, is hardly ever that kind.

“Berserk” (1997-98)

How unlucky is this man? Here’s a brief summary. He was thrown into warzones from the time he could walk. Was violated as a child by a fellow soldier and had to kill his adopted father in self-defence. Luck came when he found himself recruited into a mercenary group, where he formed friendships, including a brotherly bond with its leader Griffith and a romance with a soldier named Casca. That is until Griffith traded the lives of all his comrades for power and became a member of the god hand…things were back on the downward spiral at that point.

“Cowboy Bebop” (1998-99)

Even the most suave and badass bounty hunter in the galaxy can’t escape bad luck forever. While the crew of the Space Dandy never have things go their way, there’s just no beating the interstellar gunslinger. Aside from all the injuries and mishaps involving his typical bounty-hunting outings, Spike has a lot emotional weight hidden inside that slick suit of his. Betrayed and constantly thrown into combat with his nemesis Vicious, losing the love of his life, and finding himself in an all-out war with a crime syndicate. Even someone as cool as Spike can’t play the odds forever.

“Tokyo Ghoul” (2014-)

Even before his life went to hell, Ken Kaneki did not have it easy. His mother was so overworked that it led her to suicide. When he moved in with relatives, he was subjected to all kinds of abuse. Only as a college student did things start to look up, he even got a date with a cute girl…who turned out to be a hungry ghoul that almost devoured him. Following the attack, Ken found out that he had undergone an organ transplant. Said organs turned out to be from his attacker, and slowly but surely he became a hybrid of both ghoul and human. Needless to say, Ken’s experienced the worst of both worlds.

“Nichijou” (2011)

Just because everyday life is as mundane as it gets, doesn’t mean bad luck can’t follow you - even for someone as lovable as Yuuko. While some of it can be blamed on the fact that this high schooler is one of the laziest people on the planet, there is a limit. Daily miscommunications, mosquito attacks, schoolyard gauntlets, and even random deer attacks. There’s only so much you can blame on our dumb but adorable student, who’s just trying to make her way through life one bizarre day at a time.

Before we reveal our number one pick here are a few unlucky honourable mentions.

Ataru
“Urusei Yatsura” (1981-86)

Hachiman Hikigaya
“My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU” (2015)

Kaiji Itou
“Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor” (2007-11)

The Farmer
“Dragon Ball Z” (1989-96)

“One Piece” (1999-)

Whether he has us crying tears of laughter or sadness, the Straw Hats’s marksman has always found himself in the worst situations. After his father left and his mother past away from illness, Usopp became infamous for spreading tall tales on his home island. After encountering Luffy, he became a valued member of the crew…where he proceeded to get thrown into certain death situations against enemies that regularly kicked his ass. His brief departure and return to the Straw Hats was heart-shattering in all the right ways, and has even shown him to be something of a badass from time-to-time. Of course, he’s not managed to get rid of his bad luck completely, if anything it’s gotten a lot worse.


Do you agree with our list? What’s your favourite unlucky anime character? With more top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.