Sorcerer in training
Joe Asakura being subject to the Cartwright Curse is debatable, since of the three women he knew that died in the series, he only knew one really well (Lindsey, the racing girl) and it was never said or implied they were more than friends (though the bad guys were trying to force them closer). The second girl, Maia/Maya, he was interested in, but they never had anything resembling any sort of relationship. (No time for it at ALL.) The third, he was going to meet her to race at the track, but she never showed.
Now, there IS some kind of curse involved, since ALL THREE were working for the bad guys, and ALL THREE died in the episode they appeared in, two at the bad guys' hands, the third directly because of him. (She was wearing a mask and Devil Star uniform, and attacked him first.)
Also, the being turned into a cyborg thing (Gatch II)? That was the revenge-driven Dr. Rafael's idea, and he never bothered to ask Joe if that was what he wanted. Or if he wanted that nice little bomb planted next to his heart, that would go off once Joe got close enough to Sosai X.
And in Gatch F, we have Joe unable to use the (nearly) every-episode game-winning superweapon because of his cybernetics, so Ken, his leader and foster brother, does -and the effects are slowly killing him.
(You can find detailed episode reviews for the first series at Gatchamania.They show exactly how uninvolved with the girls Joe was.)
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
The situation in Magic's Price is too complex to brush off with "no close heirs". King Randale (supposedly) has a daughter, Jisa (she's actually Vanyel's because Randale is sterile and her mother, who has refused to marry Randale because she does not want to be Queen, desperately wanted a child). Jisa can not legally be the heir because she has not been Chosen by a Companion (any ruler or heir of Valdemar must be a Herald, and the only way to become one is to be Chosen). Fortunately the king has a cousin who meets all the requirements...but he's also very young and hasn't finished his training, so he has to be rushed through it. To make sure that Jisa isn't a loose end, the author has her fall in love with this cousin and elope with him, causing much consternation all around.
The kicker is that the reason Jisa has not been Chosen is that she will succeed her mother as Monarch's Own Herald, but only once her mother dies.
Wimpy McSquishy
I think Lisbeth Salander from Stiegg Larsson's Millenium series of books and movies (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) should be added to the list of examples. She had an abusive father who got her thrown in a mental institution at the age of 7, by age 20 she's only just getting out on probation, she can't control her own employment or finances, her probation officer molests and then rapes her, she briefly gets thrown back into the mental institution (twice, I believe), and both her father and brother try to kill her.
'Cross my heart, strike me dead, stick a lobster on my head.' Hide / Show Replies
Oh, and her mother also winds up in an institution.
'Cross my heart, strike me dead, stick a lobster on my head.'
The whole point of the musical stage play "Les Miserables" and the subsequent movie about it is an example. Everyone in the cast suffers, and almost the whole cast dies. This is specially true with the title character, Jean Valjean: He lives 10 years in jail because he stole a loaf of bread, come on!! Then scapes jail and ends up becoming the mayor of a small city, always aware of Javert, the police officer whose life lookes like is dedicated to persuit him (because he stole a loaf of bread). But then, one of his employees is fired, raped, teeth-pulled, hair sold, and so on so she can send money to her daughter. Of course she dies, and Valjean becomes the guardian of the girl. THEN they go to Paris (ten years later, perhaps?) where not only is Javert still playin cat and mouse with him, but the whole city is planning a revolution and the small girl is now in love with one of the revolutionaries... This can only go wrong from here...