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There are many shonen anime series where death is often necessary to advance the plot or develop the characters.
It's usually best to consider characters as tools for the story or plot. This means that when some characters die, it's usually necessary for another character's development or for the story to progress. Of course, brutally killing shonen anime characters comes with its own set of problems.
This article will list shonen anime characters whose deaths served a major purpose in their respective series.
Note: This article contains spoilers for all the shonen anime listed and solely reflects the author's opinion. Content warning for discussions of death and related subject matter. Only one example per series has been considered.
10 shonen anime characters whose deaths severely affected the plot
1) Android 16 (Dragon Ball Z)
Krillin's death at the hands of Frieza, which led to Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation in the shonen anime Dragon Ball Z, has been talked about extensively. However, Android 16's is arguably much more notable.
When Android 17 and 18 awoke 16, the latter was dubbed more powerful than the former two combined. 16 managed to prove this by going up against and nearly overpowering Imperfect Cell. He also tried to save 17 and 18, as he had become attached to them as a family.
When the Cell Games were in full swing, 16 tried to kill Cell but was unsuccessful. Cell ended up killing him instead.
Android 16 was a good person who loved birds and nature and whose only goal in life was to kill Goku, at least initially. 16 later came to care about the world and its inhabitants.
When 16 died, he told Gohan to protect the peaceful life he loved. Gohan ascended to Super Saiyan 2 afterward and ended up killing Cell shortly thereafter.
2) Carla Yeager (Attack on Titan)
Many deaths from the shonen anime Attack on Titan could've gone on this list, from Erwin Smith to Mikasa Ackerman's parents. There's a lot of death in this series.
However, the death that started the events of the anime from the perspective of the main characters was that of Eren Yeager's mother, Carla. She died at the hands of the Smiling Titan.
Carla was a good mother to Eren and Mikasa, content to live as simply as she liked. She took Mikasa in when her parents were murdered by human traffickers. She was good to Grisha and helped keep him fed and well when he wandered in from beyond the walls.
Carla wanted nothing but a peaceful life for her family. Sadly, this wasn't to be. Her death kickstarted many things in Attack on Titan, from Eren's death wish and Mikasa's instinct to never leave his side to even Grisha Yeager's insanity.
This one death changed many fates and altered countless lives as a result.
3) Rin Nohara (Naruto)
The ninja shonen anime Naruto has plenty of deaths that furthered the story, including that of the Third and Fourth Hokages, the Uchiha Clan Massacre and Rin Nohara. Rin's death, in particular, had a larger impact than was initially predicted.
Rin was a part of Team Minato prior to the series, alongside Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha. In life, she was a very good friend to Kakashi and Obito and ultimately had dreams of working alongside the two.
Unfortunately, Obito was presumed dead in a cave-in, and some time afterward, Rin's death followed. Rin was used as a pawn by the Hidden Mist village who, with Madara Uchiha's secret aid, sealed the Three Tailed Beast into her.
Rin was supposed to be their secret weapon, as the beast would unleash when inside the Hidden Leaf village. When Kakashi came to rescue her, she killed herself using Kakashi's Lightning Blade.
Her death traumatized Kakashi, leaving him with lifelong nightmares and horrendous survivor guilt that continued way into adulthood. This caused him to intervene in many cases like saving Captain Yamato.
Obito had his idealism shattered and surrendered to Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi plan after slaughtering the Hidden Mist ninja.
Rin's death caused so many ripple effects. It caused Obito to lead Kurama to attack Konoha. The attack, in turn, led to the death of the Fourth Hokage and Naruto's mother. The Uchiha Clan massacre was also a result of the said attack.
Additionally, the Fourth Shinobi World War can all date back to Obito becoming Tobi as a result of Rin's death.
4) Trisha Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
The death that started the Elric brothers on their path in Fullmetal Alchemist was that of their mother, Trisha Elric.
Without Trisha's death via illness, it's unlikely the Elric brothers would've started their journey. Trisha had represented light and hope in Van Honheim's life, and she loved her sons with all her heart and even convinced them to get into alchemy.
In both versions of the story, Trisha died of an incurable illness, trying to hold out so her husband could come home. When she died, the Elric brothers decided to try reviving her using alchemy.
This backfired severely and cost Ed an arm and a leg and Alphonse his whole body. Beyond her death being the catalyst for the brother's journey, Trisha had a slightly expanded role in the 2003 anime where she was brought back, with the homunculus Sloth impersonating her.
In the manga, Honheim found her spirit, and the two went off together in the afterlife.
5) Sorbet and Gelato (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable)
As a rule, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a lot of deaths that usually mean something to the story or the protagonists.
In Golden Wind, it was the gangster tertiary characters Sorbet and Gelato that ended up radically shifting the plot with their deaths.
Before their deaths, the duo's plan initially involved getting a large treasure buried on the island of Capri and moving up the ranks of Passione.
Following Gelato and Sorbet's gruesome deaths due to their investigation into their boss' identity, the assassin squad La Squadra Esecuzioni went rogue. The group decided to kidnap their boss’ daughter Trish Una to leverage his identity as a power grab to take over.
Bucciarati's crew were therefore assigned to protect the Trish, something they'd only find out after arriving in Capri and with Bucciarati being made a capo.
It would've taken Bucciarati's ragtag group longer to get closer to Diavolo had the latter and Cioccolata not killed Sorbet and Gelato and put a target on Trish's back.
6) Whitebeard (One Piece)
For the longest time in the shonen pirate anime One Piece, there was a status quo of sorts involving the World Nobles and Four Pirate Emperors.
Territories were respected, and no war came between them under the threat of mutually assured destruction. This broke when his son Portgas D. Ace was held captive in Marineford, pending execution, thanks to Blackbeard.
Ace died after a fatal wound from Admiral Akainu, and Whitebeard went ballistic afterward and nearly brought down Marineford with him. When the Pirate Emperor finally fell after hundreds of sword slashes, gunshots and cannonball shots, Blackbeard took over his position.
Whitebeard's death ushered in a new era of piracy, with many heading to the New World to seek the One Piece and avoid the World Government.
His islands were ransacked, and pirate crews everywhere began to seek the One Piece more than ever since Whitebeard's last words confirmed its existence.
Not to mention, the World Government abolished the Seven Warlords of the Sea. It began to aggressively push on any and all pirates, and divisions began among the Four Emperors, especially with Kaidou and Big Mom teaming up.
Likewise, the Straw Hat Crew gained a revolutionary army to overthrow the Four Emperors.
7) Tanjiro's family (Demon Slayer)
The protagonist of the shonen anime Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, had quite the inciting incident for his and Nezuko's journey.
To sum up, Tanjiro lived with his mother and five other siblings in a quiet mountain village. After a long day delivering coal, one of the villagers named Saburo asked Tanjiro to stay at his place for the night as demons were known to wander in the dark.
Had Tanjiro not accepted the offer, he would've suffered the same fate as his family: dying thanks to an attack by the Demon Lord Muzan Kibutsuji.
Nezuko, however, was turned into a demon. After having to calm her down and an altercation with a Slayer, Tanjiro set out to find a cure for Nezuko's condition.
It is a long and hard road for both of these shonen anime protagonists, with Nezuko needing to be kept under control while Tanjiro trains to get better at demon-slaying.
Their dedication to each other as the surviving members of their family never wavers or fades. Tanjiro constantly has nightmares about his family's last moments. He never forgave or forgot about Muzan for that, especially during the final battle.
8) Teresa (Claymore)
One of the more amazing of the Claymores in the dark shonen anime of the same name, Teresa was considered the best of her generation. But when you're at the top, so many want to bring you down. This is exactly what happened to her.
At first, it was a fellow Claymore named Rosemary who Teresa killed after she awakened. Sometime later, Teresa saved a girl named Clare from bandits and killed them when they later raided the village that the latter settled in. Since this was a violation of the Claymore organization, a group of Claymores were sent to kill her.
The main antagonist of the shonen anime, Priscilla, ends up killing Teresa in battle, and this sets Clare up for her revenge quest as she gains Teresa's flesh and blood. Clare considered Teresa a mother figure and a good person in her life, so she'd want to take revenge by joining the Claymores.
If this hadn't happened, however, Clare would never have become a Claymore, and Priscilla would've been stomped before she'd be able to do anything of importance. Basically, Teresa's death kickstarted this shonen anime's plot.
9) Naomi Misora (Death Note)
While Naomi Misora's death didn't kickstart the plot of the shonen anime Death Note, the writers admitted the reason why Naomi was killed was to further the plot. Naomi Misora was an FBI agent working under L, trying to discover Kira's true identity.
Long story short, the writers admitted they made Naomi far too competent. Had she lived, she would've found out that Light and Kira were the same person way earlier. So, unfortunately, she died in a way where nobody would be able to find the body.
Naomi's death showed that even the most competent people can die, including L and Light later on. It also served to get rid of big threats early and build Kira up.
Fans found her death to be too quick and cheap, considering Naomi wasn't in the series for long. The movies and light novel prequel to the shonen anime do her more justice.
10) Hinata Tachibana (Tokyo Revengers)
Time travel and paradoxes are not what an audience expects in a shonen anime, yet Tokyo Revengers has it in spades! This is yet another case where a death in a shonen anime writes and kickstarts the plot.
Without Hinata Tachibana's death in the present, main protagonist Takemichi Hanagaki wouldn't have discovered the ability to leap through time.
Takemichi's life was bad and only got worse when the Tokyo Manji Gang killed Hinata in the modern day of the shonen anime. Discovering the ability to leap through time, he saves his girlfriend. However, he has to save more people as he constantly goes back and forth through time.
As time changes to save Tachibana, it changes for everyone else and results in several bad futures.
The shonen anime does present this as somewhat of a good thing, though the final arc is incredibly controversial.
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