10 Heartbreaking Deaths In Anime

This was less about the death of a character and more about the weight behind it. For nearly the entire series, viewers have seen first-hand that Vash the Stampede dose not live up to his reputation as a ruthless killer. Plagued with the worst case of wrong-place-wrong-time, the tragedies that befall Vash are seemingly always the result of tenacious bounty hunters after the fortune placed on his head.

In reality, Vash is a pacifist. Though he is incredibly skilled with a gun, he had always found a way to end conflicts without killing and, amazingly, had never taken a life. That was until Legato showed up.

Tasked with making Vash’s life a living hell by his brother, Legato was armed with all the tools and the mentality to push Vash to the extreme. With his manipulation abilities, Legato forced the residents of an unsuspecting town onto Vash and company. With a mind-controlled mob threatening the lives of his companions, Vash had no choice but to put an end to the conflict by putting a bullet in Legato’s head.

While Legato’s death was not meant to extrapolate any real emotion from viewers, it was the act itself that hit home. Watching Vash struggle with the choice of having to end Legato to save his friends was painful and polarizing of Vash’s ability to always find an alternative to killing.

Watching the struggle is agony, and knowing that Legato succeeded in his mission to torment Vash by forcing him to take a life was further insult to injury. The death does serve in setting the tone for the finale, as Vash’s first kill happens mere episodes from the end of the series. It pushes everything into high gear for the final showdown between Vash and his brother, Knives.