Top 10 Anime Characters with the Worst Childhood

Gaara had a painful childhood. The loss of his mother at birth, the hatred from his own father and village, no friends, just the pain of loneliness. He spent his life trying to make friends when they only rejected him and he became a killer who was feared by his own village - until he met Naruto. Naruto taught him the meaning of friendship and love (also it was because of his mother's lve that his sand forever protected him even when he wasn't a jinchuriki.

Mother who is dead because of him. Father who sees him as nothing but a weapon and tries to assasinate him more times than gaara can count. Kills his own uncle who was his only friend but tried to kill gaara on orders from his own father and made him tell gaara that he hated him and that his mother never loved him. Along with his entire village seeing him as a monster. enough said

Attempted suicide many times, grew up having himself and others, had no friends, his dad hated him and tried to kill him, and his mom died with her last words being "I never loved you". The only one who cared for him was his uncle, who was faking him. Jesus, Gaara. Don't worry. We love you

Gaara has the worst childhood ever. I mean everyone look at him like he was a monster. While Naruto grew up with friends on the way. Gaara stay lonely and felt that nobody love him. And he had to love himself! That's sad. Also he was crying when he found out that his mom loved him.. Wow just wow :(

From the bleak worldview Berserk gives us, Guts shouldn't even have been born. That goes against anything the Godhand, who supposedly governs the laws of causality would want, since he opposes their will. He was born from his mother's hanging corpse, raised by a mercenary band and only knew the way of the sword what with all the deaths surrounding him. In fact, death and destruction is basically all this poor guy knows.

He lost his foster mother (the only character of his childhood to lovingly care for him) to an illness. For a couple of coins he was unknowingly sold by his foster father, Gambino - the leader of the mercenaries, to a man named Donovan, to have his way with him when Guts was still just a kid.

Gambino only admitted this grim truth when he was going to kill Guts because he had hated him ever since they found him. Seeing him as a bad omen and the cause for all the strokes of bad luck the band had experienced as of recent. Guts was forced to kill Gambino in ...more

Nobody else here was born from a corpse.
Raped.
Forced to kill his father.
Eat a rat alive.
Nobody.

Dude continues to keep on trucking and delays his fate.

He should be on top! If you read the manga... His life was a DISASTER

Dude, he grew up being hated for something he couldn't help. Growing up, he had no parents, no friends, no love, nothing. He grew being the dead last, and everyone hating him. Yet, despite being hated, he loved that damn village to the point that he wanted to work his way to the top to protect it. I mean, sure, he grew up with friends as he got older, but for the most part he had nothing. Skipping class with Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba doesn't mean he had friends, especially when their own parents made them stop playing with Naruto. I get that Gaara has had a childhood exactly like this, but he always knew he was a jinchuuriki. Even though he was betrayed by his uncle, that doesn't mean he had to make that choice. But he had the choice to open up. He was the kazekage's son! Practically royalty. He also had family! In MY opinion, Naruto had it much worse.

Naruto grew up in a village who shunned him into darkness. Everybody hated him and some people even harmed him who believed Naruto was the Nine Tails. He had no love, no friends, not even a bit of happiness. He still loved the village at the bottom of his heart. He never got to play with anyone much because their parents refused them to do so. Naruto was even called demon or monster when it slipped out of the villagers's mouths. He grew up as dead last and was made fun of. Naruto was called failure...failure...Do you know how hard it is to be called a failure, monster, demon, Kyuubi brat, and to see other children happy with their parents when your an orphan? :( I think we can all say "We love you Naru-chan" He worked hard everyday. He was rejected by the girl he loved so many times. And in the end he became an awesome Hokage that we think changed things greatly. Listen here to let me say a quote I created: To be loved is the best thing...Ramen is the next...

Growing up with nobody at all. All alone,no love,no friends,no home,no family,nothing. He was beat and sunned. Hated and scorned. All for something that wasn't even his fault. He was just born. That's the sad thing. The way he truly had to suffer through nobody would understand at all. Well except for all the jinchurikis. Worked too hard for his worth. Always optimistic and cheerful. The orange ninja that we all love. That's why Naruto and Gaara are such ideal friendS. They truly understand each other. Nobody could understand and befriend a jinchuriki unless it's another jinchuriki. Naruto had truly nothing in the world. He worked so hard for friends. He asked to play a game once with his classmates and they told him to go somewhere. It almost got Naruto killed. But now...NOW...Naruto does have a family. It is us. US. We truly favor,admire, and give love to jinchurkis like Naruto and Gaara as which they never really had.

I just cry when I always think of parents sacrificing for their children, like what Naruto's parents did. But, those idiotic villagers were treating Naruto like he wasn't allowed in the village. Just brings me tears, man :(

Believe my story...
2years ago I knew nothing about emotion. ,tragedy,
But when I saw the 2nd episode tears rolled down my eyes. I felt so sad about them.
Lost their mother, lost their bodies... The most painful childhood had these brothers.

This probably makes me sound like a horrible person (lol), but one of the reason their tragic backstory is so GOOD (in a bad way? I don't know) is because it wasn't 'fated to be' or anything. THEY put it upon themselves, and I love Hiromu Arakawa for that. Something original amongst all the 'sorry you're parents got killed because you're special' stuff out there.

I don't know how they remain so optimistic even after their childhood. They lost their childhood untimely..

The whole thing with reviving their mother and ruining themselves makes for a pretty bad childhood.

The saddest part is that Ciel is destined to continue his tragic path. Nothing can be gained by taking revenge: his beloved ones won't come alive, his memories wont be vashined and nothing can be erased. His sacrifice and all Ciel has to go through, is meaningless.
But it is the humans nature to want power in their most powerless situations, even if the power means lost. We see Ciels remaing childlike soul crushed bit by bit every time he kills someone. In order to survive that time, he bargained with the Devil and lost everything he has: his innocent soul ans his hope.

The fact that his parents died, his mansion burned down, and he ended up a slave were bad enough, but the fact that his aunt died, and all the messed-up happenings with Ash/Angela were simply crazy. Not to mention he is running a company and working for the Queen at age 13 after all this!

Why isn't he #1? I mean sure Gara had a rough childhood he was bullied by everyone and treated like a monster... but Ciel witnessed his parents death, was sold as a slave and tortued for a long time. He still carryes the scar from that time. Plus he unlike with the Elric brothers he had no ine to rely on and thus he had to literally sell his soul to the devil.

THIS should be the top 1. He watched his parents die on fire, he has to through all of this pain before he got Sebastian.. and he had to continue his family business..

Erza Scarlet had a really sad childhood in my opinion. She went through slavery, when she was what age? 7? 6? 8? They built the Tower of Heaven all because they wanted to resurrect Zeref. It was so sad. And one of her closest friends got possessed and became evil. What sadness, to me it was tragic. I've never seen childhood depressing!

Would you like to never see society or never have a family? That is Ezra's childhood, she had to work for most of her childhood and was whipped, stabbed in the eye, slapped, and treated like dirt!

Erza felt the tragic pain of losing a friend just because the people wanted to resurrect Zeref. She was taken from her home (Rosemary Village) to become enslaved just for a tower. She also lost Grandpa Rob whn he protected her. Her tears of despair and fury is what awkened her magic.

Definitely erza over any anime character I've seen. and why is vegeta on this list, he is my favorite dbz character but how did he have a bad childhood? He was the prince of a planet?

Child soldier force to work for FRIEZA. Let that sink and then tell me that isn't a horrible childhood.

While he was force to be a child soldier, Goku was being a dumb ass in the forest.

When he was just a little boy, Frieza didn't invite him to his birthday party.
The cake was delicious.

His entire home planet..most of his race..just destroyed by Freeza. Forced to work for that same guy for most of his life. That does sound sad. Amazes me how Vegeta just doesn't give a damn. He's that badass to just shrug it off. :D

Robin had quite a disastrous childhood. Even before she became one of the world's most hated fugitive, her life was already quite tragic. Her mother chose her profession over caring for her, leaving Robin in the care of an abusive aunt who treated her like nothing short of a slave.

The other people in her village treated her like a monster for her devil fruit powers. They called her names and threw rocks at her just because she was different. She was practically the dictionary definition of an outcast as even with the archaeologists who liked her, she was to remain outside.

After six years, her mother finally returned. Even when her mother abandoned Robin, she loved her and wanted nothing more than to just hold her hand and stay together, but even that was impossible because again her mother would rather die with her job than stay with Robin. They held hands once, hugged once before they were separated from each other permanently. And even at that point, her witch of a ...more

At age 8, she was suffering a life of being called a monster and mistreated by her own aunt. Doing household chores like a maid and being fed like a dog, she just had to put up with it, and studied to become a scholar in hopes of reuniting with her mother. She does, but only to be ripped away from her, losing everything she knew.

This includes all the inhabitants of Ohara, her home island, being blown to smithereens by a navy battleship (screw you, Akainu). Afterwards, she witnesses the death of her friend, Jaguar D. Saul, and, for the next twenty years, runs away with everyone chasing her tail.

And then she finally finds some good quality friends, but then the World Government had to go and give that bastard Spandam a golden transponder snail and she almost has to relieve the same horrors all over a g a I n. See how screwed up life was for her?

She lived as an outlaw since she was like, 10 years old. She's been running away from the world for years. On top of that the aunt that raised her hated her and was abusive. Not to mention her homeland being destroyed in front of her when she was 10, leaving the island only hours after reuniting with her mother who left when she was two.

Robin was completely alone, with no one to care of her. Her mother has left when she was little, she couldn't even memorize her face. She was bullied and treated like an outcast because of her devil fruit. The only ones who cared about her was killed by the government. She really had to go through a lot for 20 years. Luckily she met Luffy

He had a drunk and abusive father then when he finally find happiness with Nagisa she is ripped away from him.Then when his daughter becomes a ray of sunshine to him she is also ripped away from him. How sad is that?

Her parents died in a plane crash. That's all I have to say.

In all honesty, I believe Lucy from Elfen Lied had the worst childhood imaginable. Abandoned by her parents, treated horribly by everyone at the orphanage (not to mention that Tomoo), her only friend at the orphanage was murdered by the children (who she later killed), and couldn't find acceptance from anybody except Kouta.

Basically a story about racism - her past was ruined because she had horns; like what horns would be so cool. She was bullied, had her puppy murdered in front of her and was then locked away for testing for her power.

P.S. The bullies deserved it 100%

Lucy became a killer because of how badly she was treated, isn't that right?

Her childhood past is similar to Inuyasha's past.

Imagine being killed by your own father and being fused with your pet dog to become a chimera for his own selfish gain...Yep.

Her dad is the worst anime character ever. How could you do that to a little girl - or anyone - let alone your own daughter?

He should be lower on the list, I'm a fan of Gray, but it wasn't that bad especially conpared to the charectors lower on the list.

She was fused with her dog by her dad, so her dad would keep their job

Bullied, beaten and mocked by his brothers, rejected and insulted by his father, only his mother cared for him but she died when he was a child. Then he got put in a cell with an iron mask because his father wanted to forget he existed. Finally escaped (after his dad said he wanted him to die and that he was ashamed of him) and then the ship sank and he was left to starve on a rock for WEEKS. Damn that sucks. Luckily he met Zeff who turned out to be a great father figure for him...

I thought starving on a rock for weeks was bad. But what happened before with his so-called family is ten times more horrible. What kind of father locks their child with an iron mask to forget his existence and he is ashamed of him for being an ordinary human being? What kind of brothers bully and beat their brother for cooking and laugh about different ways he could have died? That's just aweful!

Having your blood replaced with black blood... And he was always in pain, the poor child didn't even deserve this, and when he didn't do what she wanted, she looked him up. It was cruel, terrible, horrible! No wonder he doesn't know how to do many things without out! Who wouldn't fear things with the sort of childhood he had!?

All those things Medusa did to him completely traumatized him. He devolved this fear inside his mind that turned him to insanity. When Maka saw his soul it was all messed up inside...

Crona was abused all their life and was constantly in pain. Not to mention always being bullied by Ragnarok... Medusa didn't deserve to call herself a mother.

His mother forced him to kill dragons and gave him black blood as a child. He grew up never knowing how to deal with anything.

Kakashi had one of the worst childhoods ever. He grew up without his mother, his dad committed sucide because he couldn't deal with the hate he was getting, and that only for a tiny mistake, witch honestly is not even a mistake. Then after losing his dad, like it wasn't enough, he lost his friend, his friend Obito basically died for him and then gave him his eye ( not actually died but Kakashi only found out he is still alive like 15 years after ). And well, that's not all, Rin, a good friend of Kakashi, the girl that loved him, had to jump in front of one of Kakashi 's attack (Chidori) and be killed by Kakashi himself, in order to protect the village. Kakashi blamed himself for Rin's death so much and he just couldn't move on, because he promised Obito he will protect her, and failed. Then, still there were people he loved left to die... so his sensei died too. He sacrificed himself for the village. And Kakashi just couldn't make any bonds anymore, because he couldn't handle the pain ...more

Kakashi is the only character whose childhood made me cry. I did tear up at Naruto's and the other characters', but honestly? His dad committed suicide, he was a chuunin at 6 and his teammate died (or he thought he had died) because of his insistence on following the rules (which was because of his father). I cried when Obito gave him his eye as a "promotion present", and the fact that he went to the memoriam every day after that speaks for itself.

Both her parents were murdered by human traffickers right in front of her when she was a little kid, then they kidnapped her. Sure, Eren Yeager came and rescued her, and his family took her in. But still, having both your parents killed in front of you, then being kidnapped? If that isn't a terrible childhood, I don't know what is.

Watched both parents die bloody deaths, as she was almost sold to human traffickers. On top of all that, her adoptive mother was eaten by a Titan. Eren is the only family she has left. Her childhood was DARK

She watched her biological parents get killed, plus her adoptive mom get eaten. That has to be a terrible childhood.

Why is Eren above her!? She saw her two families die! Her biological family and adopted family!

Gray had a mother and a father, and the three of them lived in a village together. Everything was good. That is... Until the demon Deliora from the Book of Zeref came and destroyed the village, taking Gray's mother and father. Gray had just been knocked unconscious. Then, a female ice-make wizard named your and her male student named Lyon found Gray and pulled him from the rubble. your took him in as her second student and also taught Gray ice-make magic. One day, Gray goes to challenge Deliora to avenge his parents. your and Lyon object, but Gray says he has to do it. your says that if he leaves, he is no longer her student. He goes on. Gray was too weak for Deliora, and had been knocked out again. Once again... your and Lyon went to save him. Gray wakes up and finds out that your had lost a leg to Deliora and says she can not beat him. Lyon is in shock, because he thought that your was the strongest wizard. He tries to vanquish the demon using Iced Shell, but your stops him by ...more

It absolutely deserves a higher place at this list! His past is mostly told at Galuna arc but if you watch Tartaros arc too, you'll feel more upset about his past. Try to imagine that you're staring at your parents' corpses while you were 7 or 8.

Gray has had a stressful childhood. So has Natsu. I'm surprised he isn't on the list.

I agree... Gray's was really bad.

Trunks was raised in destruction. He's never know a moment of peace until he had to travel back in time to destroy the Androids in the past to save his future. That's one of the saddest thing I've seen in anime.

Not gonna lie. I teared up when he thought of what his future would be like if Black never showed up, like him, Bulma, and Mai together.

Sasuke was already suffering BEFORE the massacre. He felt neglected by his father who always praised Itachi, always telling him to be like him. To be told by your own father to not be yourself is harsh. Everyone praised Itachi and sometimes gets compared with him, he was always in his shadow. Even if he tried his best and was on top of his class. NOT ONLY THAT but he truly loved Itachi and never got to play with him once he became anbu, always receiving a poke on the head, hearing the same things every time. Own brother lying to him. That's not really pleasant, well at least he had some comfort from his mom. Then right after he figured out that his father did love him and talked about him, he just had to get murdered right after. His clan was murdered, right in front of his eyes- by his own brother, who was the closest person to him (I think). His idol, own brother, tortured him with his eyes. He had to switch to loving him, to hating him, leading to revenge. Well even after the ...more

Can't believe Naruto, Kakashi, Obito, Madara, Nagato are not in top ten like seriously what. Naruto not in top ten and what about Itachi. Let me quote Nagato/Pain, and I quote "Someone who doesn't understand pain will never understand peace". Its true this world doesn't know pain, the guys who have an awesome life don't have any right to talk crap about the less priviliged. What would they know about being lied to your whole life and watching your parents get murdered in front of you by your own brother and finding out the truth after killing your brother.

One thing is to forever wonder "what would it be, or is that how it feels" and another thing is to have it, all of it, the happiness, the family and lose it, taken away from you in the most savage way possible. Sasuke had it if not worse in any case as bad as Naruto did. He should be hogjer in this list. First the pain of rejection by his father, than the lonelyness and pain of loss and at last, when he realises that he killed the one person, who loved him the most. Itachi Uchiha-the best brother to ever have...

I don't understand because yes he did face a horrible childhood but Naruto was never accepted. Sasuke didn't appreciate his fans, the villagers, and one who praised him as a prodigy and Uchiha. Naruto should be right after Gaara because in his childhood he was never accepted, made fun of, called devilish names like demon or monster, bullied, and recieving all those menacing glares... And Naruto fans... YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. Naruto didn't hate but solved it. To people who think he is annoying, he only started playing pranks, yelling things out, and wearing bright orange is because he wanted to be acknowledged and noticed by everyone most especially Sasuke

She was enslaved as a child in order to save her village and has been treated like crap by her en-slavers. She should definitely be higher on this list.