Summary
In any form of visual storytelling, there are few things as anticlimactic as anoff-screen death.This holds true in the case of anime, where the act of killing off characters is often used to infuse tension into a story. Death always creates a sense of urgency in a work of fiction, but ending a character’s life without any sort of build up or narrative crescendo can make their demise feel cheap.
Conversely, some off-screen deaths are the exact opposite when handled in a way that leaves little to the imagination, infusing the same sense of sorrow or terror into the minds of viewers. As such, it is the execution and context behind an off-screen death that determines its eventual impact, and here are some of the most significant suchoccurrences in contemporary anime.
On the day when shewas set to leave Grace Field Houseafter being adopted,Conny’slifeless body was found by Emma and Norman in the back of a truck with a mysterious flower sticking out of her chest. In a shocking twist that set the tone for the remainder of Season 1, Conny’s death was a jolt that brought the world ofThe Promised Neverlandcrashing down in the very first episode.
This event provided the first real indicationof the true nature of Grace Field House, which also sparked Norman and Emma’s plan to escape the orphanage and the cruel fate that awaited them. In short, Conny’s death was the trigger for the series' introductory plot thread, which brought the main duo’s world crashing down in a matter of minutes.
Once a leading figurein Gecko Moria’s Thriller Bark Pirates,Absalomwielded the Suke Suke no Mi, which was a highly sought-after Devil Fruit that allowed him to turn invisible whenever he desired. He also possessed superhuman strength and durability due to all the body augmentation experiments that Dr. Hogback had conducted on him.
Absalom also commanded many of the zombies in Gecko Moria’s army, although they were all defeated alongside the Straw Hat Pirates at the end of the Thriller Bark Arc. FollowingOne Piece’stime skip, he became a reporter operating under the pseudonym Absa, until he went to Hachinosu. Here, he met his end off-screen atthe hands of the Blackbeard Pirates, which allowed Shiryu to take his Devil Fruit.
Having stolen the Jaw Titan fromMarcel Galliard as a Pure Titanwhile the Marleyan Warriors were attempting to infiltrate the Walls,Ymirconcealed her past and true nature as a Titan Shifter for a long time. However, when she was forced to reveal her abilities, Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover moved to capture her and take her back to the Marleyan mainland.
After willingly surrendering to the Warriors, Ymir proceeded to write a letter to Historia, the person she was closest to during her time in Paradis. Sometime during the four years between the Operation to Retake Wall Maria and the Raid on Liberio inAttack on Titan, Ymir was fed to Porco Galliard’s Pure Titan, whichallowed him to inherit the Jaw Titan, along with all her memories.
Despite starting out as a Jujutsu Sorcerer with lofty ideals about using his strength to protect the weak,Suguru Geto’smany negative experienceson the job culminated in him becoming a Curse User who sought to exterminate all non-sorcerers. This pitted him against his closest friend Satoru Gojo, who was regarded as the strongest living Jujutsu Sorcerer in the world ofJujutsu Kaisen.
In 2017, Geto launched an act of Jujutsu terrorism known as the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, in a bid to fight and acquire the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Rika, who was attached to Yuta Okkotsu. Unfortunately, Geto was defeated by Yuta and Rika during the battle, forcing him to flee. Rendered incapacitated andhelpless after his battle, Getoencountered Gojo, who had a brief conversation with his old friend, before dealing the finishing blow off-screen.
Never fazed and always composed even in crisis situations,Ryoji Kajiwas a triple agent who worked for SEELE, NERV, and Gendo Ikari, to varying degrees, with his true allegiances never fully revealed inNeon Genesis Evangelion.Kaji acted as a sort of father figure to both Shinji andAsuka, and although he presented himselfas a carefree ladies-man, he was one of the few positive role models that they had in their lives.
Kaji was also previously romantically involved with Misato Katsuragi when they were both in college. His death came when hedisobeyed orders from SEELEto abduct NERV’s Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki, instead choosing to rescue and return him to NERV. He was reportedly shot by an unknown individual, whose identity has been the subject of much debate within the series' fan base.
Formerly an FBI Agent like her fiancée Raye Penber,Naominoticed the mysterious circumstances behind Raye’s death, coupled with his involvement in the Kira investigation, and chose to look into the matter herself. In the process,she encountered Light Yagami,who picked up on her troubled emotional state and tried to learn her true name — after she initially gave him a fake one — using promises of helping her join the Task Force against Kira.
Even after revealing himself as the son of Chief Soichiro Yagami, Light had some difficulty finding out Naomi’s real name, until he stated that he was working directly with L and the Task Force. After asking Naomi for some form of identification to recommend her to the Task Force,Light used a piece of his Death Noteto write Naomi’s name and force her to end her own life in a manner that made it impossible for her body to be found. Just before bidding her goodbye, he declared that he was actually Kira, to Naomi’s horror, bringing one of the most chilling scenes inDeath Noteto a tragic end.
