Et Tu Brute / Anime & Manga

• Used in Episode 15 of Aldnoah.Zero, during the battle between Inaho and Slaine. Saazbaum jumps in, eager to give some payback to Inaho. Despite this, Inaho still manages to exploit his weaknesses, though he ends up getting killed by a trap Slaine had set out earlier in the episode. Though Slaine meant for it to be used on Inaho, he takes this opportunity to stab Saazbaum in the back for shooting Asseylum, then uses Saazbaum's death to further his own goals within the Vers ranks. To his credit, Saazbaum's reaction to all this is a smirking "Not bad at all.".
• Attack on Titan: Eren Yeager goes through this when he learns that his own mentor and comrade Annie was the Female Titan responsible for the slaughter of the 57th expedition, and (in the manga) can't bring himself to express hatred towards her (while hesitating to harm her personally in the anime as well). By the time he learns about Reiner and Bertolt however, his Black-and-White Morality returns in full effect and he wants nothing more but to kill them "as excruciatingly as possible". This quote pretty much sums it up:
  Eren: Bertolt... Reiner... [bites down his hand furiously to transform] DAMN YOU, YOU TRAITORS!!
• In Berserk, Griffith faces all sorts of challenges to his dream without flinching, but when his best friend, the protagonist Guts, leaves him, he throws his dreams away with a stupid mistake. A year later, after being broken in both body and spirit, he clings to his humanity and even his hope... until he finds out that Guts and his other friend, Casca, are in a relationship and are discussing the necessity of him leaving the Hawks again. Then he snaps, resulting in an epic Face–Heel Turn as he makes a Deal with the Devil to become the fifth member of the Godhand and sacrifices the Band of the Hawks, saving Guts and Casca for last.
• Black Clover: Narrowly averted by Licht, who realized at the last second that Lemiel never betrayed him. By this point, however, he was too consumed with despair at the massacre of his fellow elves at the hands of the human nobles Zagred manipulated to prevent the devil from possessing him and stealing his grimoire... without turning himself into a demon and hoping that Lemiel could kill him, that is.
• Bleach:
  • Momo Hinamori sees her captain, Sosuke Aizen, as more of a father figure, and loves him as such. After Captain Aizen reveals that he not only faked his own death, but was also Evil All Along, Momo is soon run through by the Zanpakutō of Aizen himself. Momo ends up so broken from this betrayal, that, even after nearly dying, she's outright in denial about Aizen's Face–Heel Turn, believing that he's being manipulated by his Dragon, Gin somehow.
  • The same could be said for Hisagi and Kira, lieutenants of Tousen and Gin, respectively; captains who defected with Aizen, and whom the two lieutenants greatly respected and admired. In the Fake Karakura Town Arc, Hisagi personally aids Captain Komamura in his fight against Tousen, and Kira becomes angered at the mere mention of his ex-captain's name.
  • The Sternritter who survive being targeted by Yhwach's Auswählen in order to bolster the Schutzstaffel become infuriated at being so callously discarded by their King, and form a truce with the Shinigami in order to get their revenge.
• In Brave10, Isanami doesn't take well to Ana being a False Friend all along, and exiting having dealt serious damage to Rokuro and Sasuke. Neither does Sasuke, for that matter.
• Code Geass:
  • About 2/3 of the way through the first season, Lelouch Lamperouge learns that his best friend Suzaku is the person who's been constantly wrecking his plans. Rather than feeling betrayed, he simply redoubles his attempts to recruit Suzaku for La Résistance. At almost the exact same point in the second season, after lots of misunderstanding and misdirected rage, the two are close to patching up their friendship...when soldiers rush in and arrest Lelouch for being a terrorist. Lelouch thinks Suzaku betrayed him (he didn't, he was followed), but it pretty well marks the absolute death of their friendship and the moment Lelouch stops showing Suzaku any form of respect or mercy.
    • Then after being exposed to Lelouch's Broken Pedestal, Suzaku quickly becomes a Knight of Zero, to be specific, the Knight above Knight of Rounds and The Dragon to the Emperor Lelouch. It's all part of their plan to have him kill Lelouch after they take over the world so he can bring peace through his own death, and Suzaku still cried over killing him.
    • And that apparent betrayal is followed by one on the part of the Black Knights, who were falsely convinced by Schneizel. Murphy's Law really has it in for Lelouch here.
  • Also, Suzaku Kururugi has it on his side when he finds out Lelouch has been opposing him as Zero, effectively ruining his plans to defeat Britannia by working with it so that he can change it from the inside.
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: Though he hides it well, Falco is clearly more furious than anyone else on the team when Kiwi betrays them, owing to the fact that of anyone else on the team, they were each other's closest friends.
• The Kira Task Force in Death Note reacted to this when they finally find out Light Yagami is Kira in the end, especially Matsuda.
  • Light Yagami himself seems to react this way a little bit when Matsuda attacks him at the warehouse. "Matsuda, you idiot! Do you know who you're shooting at?" A unique example since Matsuda is reacting to Light's own betrayal when this happens.
  • This could also apply to L. In one episode of the anime, L tells Light that it'd be unfortunate if Light was Kira because he considers Light to be the only friend he's ever had. Of course, though, L realizes Light betrayed him as Light smiles at his death. However, some argue that L was simply lying to trip up Light.
• Dragon Ball Z: Nappa was willing to fight the much stronger Goku, until, of course, Vegeta betrayed him, and he was unable to do anything to defend himself.
  • This happens to Trunks and Goten; they were more than willing to fight Buu alongside Vegeta until he (apparently) offed Trunks (who was briefly shocked by his dad doing this to him), after which Goten entered a very brief Heroic BSoD after this before Vegeta took him out as well. Obviously, this was due to Vegeta needing to be alone to sacrifice himself against the monster he brought into this world.
• In The End of Evangelion, this is done twice (at least). In the past, when the first Dr. Naoko Akagi becomes the lover of Gendo Ikari, he instead callously betrays her by making a clone of his dead wife and makes it clear that she is not needed anymore. Heartbroken and enraged, she strangles the clone and then commits suicide by throwing herself from the control balcony. Years later, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi becomes another lover of Gendo, but she has rigged the MAGI computers to blow in hopes of killing Gendo in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for both Akagis, only for her mother (in the programming of the MAGI system) to disable the bomb. Ritsuko is understandably devastated by this betrayal. Then, she is shot by Gendo. Yeesh, as if this show wasn't dark enough...
• Yomi from Ga-Rei -Zero-. Short story: she killed a fellow exorcist who is also a fellow clan member, in defense and in a partially justified rage. She expected her fiancee and her little sister to come to her defense since she lost her capability of speaking after that battle. However, her fiancee never comes for her due to family honor. The final straw was her coming to a conclusion that even her little sister believes that she's guilty, and she went the Griffith's way. It should be noted that said fiancee was working himself ragged(to the exclusion of his other, extremely important work) trying to prove her innocence so she wouldn't be cast out, and making preparations to take care of her in her disabled state, regardless of the outcome of his investigation. So even though she thinks he abandoned her... he's the one who was there for her the most. Which only makes it more tragic.
• If Kazuki has any plot relevance in a particular arc of Get Backers, this will happen.
• Happens to Issei Hyoudou in High School D×D when his first girlfriend Yuma Amano turns out to be the Fallen Angel Raynare and he gets Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders: Enya has been nothing but loyal to DIO, so she feels betrayed when he decides she's outlived her usefulness.
  • Golden Wind: Narancia Ghirga and his former childhood "friend and mentor". He was Narancia's friend and Narancia trusted and admired him. He tricked Narancia into dying his hair blonde so he could frame him for beating and robbing an old woman, which got Narancia a year in jail. Then when Narancia got out with an infected eye, he spread the rumor that Narancia's eye infection had come from his mother and made everyone avoid him. Even worse is that previously Narancia trusted him enough to tell him about his mother's death, only for the older boy to use it against him. This whole story also made Narancia rebel against Diavolo who attempted to murder Trish, his own daughter and the person who trusted him.
  • JoJolion: Aisho is a victim of this when his girlfriend takes advantage of his month-long sleep to sell his land.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Betrayal is the one thing that Kaguya absolutely cannot stand. She values secret keepers above all, as she was already betrayed by classmates in elementary school who revealed that she is the child of a mistress. During the class trip in Kyoto, Kaguya's brother, Unyo, intends to break Kaguya by revealing that Hayasaka is The Mole for her eldest brother, Oko. However, while Kaguya is definitely upset, she is willing to hear Hayasaka out, shows empathy for how much Hayasaka had to go through and quickly forgives her.
• Kaleido Star's Sora puts up with a hell of a lot of grief in the second season — not that the first season was a picnic, but still. At various points in the storyline, she is demoted, fired, paired up with a partner who verges on sociopathic, and spends the whole series struggling to earn the title of Kaleido Star — a title which she had won fair and square by the end of the first season, only to be usurped by a newcomer who wields far more power than any newcomer to the troupe has a right to. Through most of it, she remains perky and cheerful, convinced that everything will work out all right in the end... but when Layla, Sora's idol, suddenly turns on her and sides with Sora's rival, the poor girl finally cracks.
• Lady!!:
  • Mary Waverly and Sonoko Ichijuuin were friends until Mary secretly cut the reins of her horse, Victoria, causing her to take a nasty fall and end up severely injured. Mary intended to pin he blame on Lynn, but she failed to hide the dagger she used, leading to Sonoko confronting her and officially ending their friendship, and Edward giving her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  • In the anime, this was changed. When Vivian fell off her horse and broke her arm, she blamed Lynn for it. However, when it was found out that it was Mary who cut the reins of her horse to stop her from winning the Lady's Crest, she was furious and gave Mary a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and declared her friendship with Lynn.
• Dio from Last Exile despises and fears his sister, but he can handle facing her as long as he has Luciola on his side. When he believes (possibly correctly) that Luciola has betrayed him to her, he snaps and hits him across the face.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • In StrikerS Sound Stage X, Teana is rather badly shaken by the discovery that Runessa Magnus, whom she had come to trust enough to offer her a permanent partnership, is the mastermind behind their current case.
  • This comes up twice with the same person (from both sides of the equation) in Reflection and Detonation. Iris ends up completely broken when her best friend Yuri murdered her father and everyone else she cared about, and plots for revenge with the express purpose of making her suffer for her betrayal before killing her. To that end, she uses Kyrie as her pawn by posing as her best friend for ten years, only to turn on her as soon as she reaches where Yuri was sealed. Then it turns out that her father was the actual culprit of the massacre and Yuri had only killed him in self-defense, meaning that she had turned against two friends for what was essentially a lie. Given that Lyrical Nanoha is an incredibly idealistic series, both Kyrie and Yuri were willing to forgive her.
• Magical Project S: Sammy the magical girl had no problem beating the monster of the week until she discovered her worst enemy was her best friend Pixy Misa; she couldn't believe it. The same happened to Misao (aka Pixy Misa); she ran away from her home and her school when she believed that she had betrayed her best friend.
• Sasuke Uchiha of Naruto has reduced many a protagonist to tears with his willingness to kill his True Companions in cold blood, including the eponymous one, who starts bawling like a little kid when he realized that his former best friend-slash-substitute-brother is serious about killing him. A special mention goes to him telling a very useful, deeply loyal teammate (who was also in love with him) who had just been taken hostage not to move — naturally, her expression relaxes into a blissful smile... and then he stabs her along with her captor.
  • Sasuke himself has it when he learned that the Hidden Leaf Village is truly responsible for the Uchiha Clan Massacre, giving him a reason of wanting to destroy it.
• Played with in One Piece: Nami steals all the treasure and runs off with the crew's ship. In another arc, Nico Robin openly denounces her affiliation. Various reactions ensue, reasons get explored, bad guys get beaten and Straw-Hats go on to next adventure together.
• In Origin: Spirits of the Past, Jessica serves as Shunack's right-hand woman in the Ragna Army. At the end of the film, when she realizes that Shunack is going to betray the Ragna Army, she is understandably outraged.
• In PandoraHearts, Jack is forced to kill his best friend Glen at the Tragedy of Sablier because Glen allegedly snapped and ordered the massacre of every man, woman, and child at the Baskervilles' mansion. In the biggest Wham Episode of a series already known for its "Holy Shit!" Quotient, however, it's later revealed that Jack himself was the one who betrayed (Oswald) Glen's trust by opening the doors to the Abyss and attempting to bring the entire world down into it so that he could meet Lacie again. Ironically enough, just the night before Jack's betrayal, Glen asked his servant Gilbert whether or not he trusted Jack, and when the latter replied that he did, Glen decided to do the same.
  • Oz is betrayed by Jack when it's revealed that Jack was using him all along and actually considers him to be subhuman. Arthur Barma also applies and is of the friendless variety, as he was betrayed by Jack as well. Jack only befriended him so that he could later force him to write an account of the events of the Tragedy of Sablier that made Glen appear to be the villain and Jack the hero.
• Pet Shop of Horrors demonstrates the second type of Et Tu Brute. Leon is convinced that Count D is a serial killer by proxy. Yet the two form a fairly intense friendship regardless, with Leon spending most, if not all, of his spare time with D. Despite the constant banter and Leon's empty threats of arrest, the detective is clearly fond of D, and while he can't disregard the Pet Shop's body count, he doesn't let it disrupt their personal relationship. What does cause the breakdown in their association seems relatively minor by comparison to murder, but the intensely personal nature of the betrayal makes the difference: D sends Leon's little brother Chris, who D and Leon have been looking after for the past year, back to his adoptive parents (actually his aunt and uncle) without telling Leon what's happening. Moreover, Leon is distressed by D's apparent lack of regret or sorrow over losing Chris.
  • Arguably, it's D's reaction (or lack thereof), to the above event that constitutes a "betrayal" to Leon: for one, D doesn't send Chris back, Chris decides to go by his own free will, and two, since Chris is talking again, he couldn't stay in the pet shop even if he wanted to. This is emphasized at the end of that chapter, and even earlier in the story. What really gets to Leon is D being (acting?) completely indifferent over witnessing Monica's death and distancing himself from Leon, treating him and, as Leon feels, Chris too, coldly and indifferently, as he did when they first met.
• In Reincarnation No Kaben, Ironically has this trope, group of 'Greats' get betrayed by Ceasar which was a spy for Sinners all along from the beginning..
• Utena is stabbed by Anthy in the second to last episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena.
• A Silent Voice: Ishida's friends betray him and make him into a scapegoat rather than face punishment for their part in Nishimiya's bullying. Afterward, to add insult to injury, they also start bullying him.
• Snow White with the Red Hair:
  • Zen had difficulty making friends as a child due to everyone seeing his position rather than him as a person, when he does finally make a friend said friend turns out to have been a false friend all the while working with a group helping a disgraced noble get revenge against the royal family by plotting to assassinate Zen. Zen stands frozen rather than fight while his brother and Mitsuhide rescue him, saves a token from his would-be friend in remembrance, and has a difficult time trusting anyone for years afterwards.
  • Played for Laughs during a snowball fight when Obi kicks a snowball to deflect it from hitting Ryuu, and it splatters across Shirayuki's face. Ryuu and Kirito give Obi a long stare and question his loyalty as Obi begs forgiveness from Shirayuki while she stands there looking worn out by everyone's antics since he's her bodyguard.
• Hot Shot manages to hold off the bulk of Megatron's Decepticons in Transformers: Armada (albeit while wielding the Star Saber). However, when Sideways betrays him and defects to the Decepticons, he falls to his knees and passively lets the Decepticons beat him into a metallic pulp.
• In Vampire Knight, Zero has this feeling when he found out Yuki is a Pureblood vampire all along.

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