The anime world features plenty of inspiring protagonists and heroes who fight not just for mere survival, but to defend their friends, their family, and even their homeland or home planet from certain doom. These heroes have a lot to lose, and sometimes, the villains might turn that fact against them, such as by taking hostages or threatening to blow up a city.
Other anime heroes, though, have little to lose except for their life or perhaps the thirst for revenge and adventure. Some anime heroes spend the entire story having little to lose, while others spend only a certain phase of the story having nothing and no one else to lose during their adventures.
10 For A Time, Guts Only Had Revenge (Berserk)
During certain story arcs, the mighty seinen swordsman Guts did have something to lose, such as his fellow Band of the Hawk members or friends like Serpico and Schierke later on. But during other phases of his journey, Guts fought only for sheer survival because he had little else.
Guts was like that during the Black Swordsman arc, for example, where he didn’t even want Puck the fairy in his party. He was also like that during his pre-Hawk days as a mercenary, feeling no personal loyalty for his fellow soldiers. All he wanted was victory and money.
9 Saitama Has Almost Nothing To Prove (One-Punch Man)
The caped baldy superhero, Saitama, has little to lose except his reputation as a hero who’s rising in the ranks. But even if Saitama washed out as a C-ranked hero, that wouldn’t really harm his amateur superhero career that much. He can still don his costume and fight crime on his own if need be.
Early on, Saitama befriended the blonde cyborg Genos, but they both understand that this is a risky lifestyle where either of them might die, especially Genos. Saitama would feel let down if Genos got himself killed, but otherwise, it wouldn’t impact him that much.
8 At First, Kenshiro Merely Wandered Alone (Fist Of The North Star)
Kenshiro the shonen hero may have inspired the design of both Guts and Jonathan Joestar, with Kenshiro being a tough but good-hearted warrior who was alone until he made some real friends, such as Bat. When he first appeared, Kenshiro was a loner who had very little to lose.
In this grim post-apocalyptic world of ruined skyscrapers and vicious biker gangs, Kenshiro had only his Fist of the North Star fighting style and his conviction to sustain him. But later on, he had some true friends, and he also embarked on a quest to take down his villainous brothers.
7 Two-Hands Revy Wanders Aimlessly (Black Lagoon)
It’s true that the female gunslinger Revy has a small crew to call her own, but she wouldn’t exactly break down in tears if any or all of them got killed during a misadventure in the South China sea. Revy can be a team player, but she’s not the “power of friendship” type by any means.
On a personal level, Revy has very little to lose. Her family members are either dead or horrible, and she grew up in poverty in NYC’s Chinatown, meaning she has no worthwhile home to defend. So, she wanders the criminal underworld of Asia, fighting and drinking with no thought of the future.
6 Thorfinn Karlsefni Only Sought Vengeance (Vinland Saga)
It’s true that even when Thorfinn Karselfni the Viking lost his beloved father Thors, he still had a caring mother and older sister back home in Iceland. However, there was no threat to Helga and Ylva, and Thorfinn didn’t even care about them at the time. He only wanted to kill Askeladd in a formal duel of warriors.
Thorfinn, for years on end, was convinced that slaying Askeladd was his only reason to keep on living, and he gave little thought to anything else. So long as Askeladd perished, Thorfinn didn’t care what happened to him or anyone else around him.
5 Odin/Hina Sato Had Nothing At First (The Day I Became A God)
After a point in the story, the pink-haired Hina Sato, calling herself Odin, had something to lose: her friendship with the kind boy Yota Narukami. Until then, though, Hina Sato really had nothing to lose, being born with a degenerative condition called Logos Syndrome.
Hina had a computer chip placed in her brain to hold off that condition, but that was really just borrowed time. This poor girl was ultimately doomed no mater what happened, and she eventually had the chip removed and returned to obscurity. Her life story was never going to turn out well.
4 Naofumi Iwatani Lost Everything At First (The Rising Of The Shield Hero)
Like Kenshiro, Guts, and Thorfinn, the isekai protagonist Naofumi Iwatani later formed a team of friends, giving him something to lose after all. But early in his adventure, Naofumi was betrayed and cast out as the “Shield devil,” and he had almost nothing, least of all friends or support from the other three Cardinal Heroes.
For a brief time, Naofumi wandered alone, desperately trying to grind XP while being a defense-only hero practically incapable of killing monsters. He had hit a low point, but soon recruited the tanuki girl Raphtalia and other allies to fight with him as friends.
3 Ragdoll Lost Her Quirk & Her Career (My Hero Academia)
The former pro hero known as Ragdoll formed the Wild, Wild Pussycats, a four-hero squad dedicated to mountain search and rescue operations. She once had the Quirk called Search, which allowed her to locate other people with ease. Then the supervillain All For One swiped her Quirk.
Ragdoll lost her useful Quirk, her pro hero status, and even her hero costume, meaning she has little left to fight for. She does have the other Pussycats as friends, but on an individual level, poor Ragdoll has nothing left. Now it’s up to Tiger, Pixie-Bob, and Mandalay to continue the fight without her.
2 Ryota Suzui Lets Yumeko Do The Gambling (Kakegurui)
The wild gambling heroine Yumeko Jabami steals the spotlight time and again in Kakegurui, and her humble friend Ryota Suzui is perfectly content to be, at most, Yumeko’s sidekick and emotional support. Ryota knows how to gamble, but his track record isn’t the best, such as when he lost to Mary early on.
Ryota has little to lose in terms of money, pride, or status at Hyakkou. True, he runs the risk of becoming a housepet if he incurs serious debt. But otherwise, he has little on the line, and that is fine with him. He ranks among the anime’s least ambitious characters.
1 Misa Amane Could Never Get Light’s Love (Death Note)
Misa Amane the antihero thought that she had Light Yagami’s love at stake, and she was convinced that Light was the single biggest thing she stood to lose. But she was wrong, because she never “had” Light to begin with. In Light’s eyes, Misa was a tool and a lieutenant, not a girlfriend.
Misa’s life was shattered when a criminal murdered both of her parents, and Misa felt that she only had Kira, the killer of her parents’ murderer, left. So she obsessively sought Light/Kira out, but it was all in vain. Light gladly abandoned her for Kiyomi Takada later, leaving a miserable Misa with nothing once again.