Ask John: Did Cowboy Bebop Have The First Climactic Protagonist Death?

Question:
I was reading and laughing at the “Laws of Anime Physics,” but they brought up an interesting point – that Spike Spiegel was the first main character to die in an anime, and that a bunch of shows copied that story arc for a number of years. So I wanted to know, do you know any anime before Cowboy Bebop where the main character dies in the last episode?

Answer:
The following may contain spoilers.

Now that Cowboy Bebop is a dozen years old, I think that it’s widely enough known that Spike dies that a spoiler warning is no longer necessary. Since his passing, a number of other main characters or co-main characters have similarly passed away at the end of their stories, including Light Yagami in Death Note, Rosette Christopher in Chrono Crusade, Makoto in School Days, Chise in Saishu Heiki Kanojo, and Nagisa Furukawa in the Clannad movie. While Spike Spiegel’s passing may be the best known climactic protagonist death in contemporary anime, it’s definitely not the first. The earliest anime series protagonist to die in the final episode of his series may actually be the very first anime series protagonist. Atom, the lead character of the 1963 Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) television series died heroically in episode 193, bringing the series to an end. The most famous anime character death of all is arguably the 1981 passing of Joe Yabuki in the final episode of the Ashita no Joe 2 television series. The iconic image of Joe, white and slumped over on a stool in the corner of the ring, has been a subject of homage in countless anime since. Other especially noteable protagonist deaths prior to Cowboy Bebop include Amuro Rey, the hero of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series since 1979, sacrificing his life at the end of the 1988 Char’s Counterattack movie; Seita’s death at the end of the 1988 Graveyard of Fireflies movie; and Leo the lion sacrificing his life in the climax of the 1997 Jungle Emperor movie.