10 Anime With the Most Insufferable MCs That Keep Making the Same Mistakes

In the world of anime, the concept of annoyingly repeating the same mistake over and over is far more common than you can imagine, especially among the main characters. No matter how noble or selfish their reasoning may be, the repetition itself has made us flinch more than once every time we sat down to see the series.

As we say that, we also understand that you’ll need more than our words to believe it; you’ll need instances from actual anime series where these happened. Therefore, we present to you our listing of every noticeable anime series with insufferable MCs that kept making the same mistakes.

1 Shinji Keeps Running Away From Himself in Neon Genesis Evangelion

Shinji spends the entire Neon Genesis Evangelion series being begged, ordered, and guilt-tripped into piloting Eva Unit-01, and every single time he either freezes up or storms off in tears. You’d think surviving an Angel attack would toughen him up a little, but nope, next episode he’s back to whining that nobody loves him while the people who actually do love him get hurt because he bailed.

It’s exhausting watching a kid repeat the same breakdown for twenty-six episodes straight. He actually tops this list, if it were a ranking, because his mistake isn’t a personality quirk; it’s the entire plot engine, repeated almost every single episode.

2 Takemichi Keeps Repeating the Same Coward’s Move in Tokyo Revengers

Takemichi time-leaps back over a decade in Tokyo Revengers to save Hinata and stop the Tokyo Manji Gang from spiraling, and every time he gets close to fixing things, he freezes up, breaks down crying, or trusts the wrong person all over again.

He gets warned about the same betrayals loop after loop and still walks straight into them because he can’t commit to a plan when it actually counts. His heart’s in the right place, but the cowardice resets right along with the timeline.

3 Light Never Stops Underestimating Detective L in Death Note

Light Yagami has a notebook in Death Note, literally the same name, that kills anyone whose name he writes while picturing their face, and yet he keeps tipping his own hand, keeps assuming he’s the smartest person in every room, and keeps getting cocky right when he should be laying low.

Every time L or Near closes in, it’s because Light couldn’t resist showing off instead of playing it safe. He’s brilliant on paper, but his ego and insufferable god-complex trip him up in almost the exact same way each arc.

4 Kaneki Suffers in Silence Instead of Just Asking in Tokyo Ghoul

Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul has friends who would drop everything to help him, and instead he isolates himself, hides how bad things are, and lets his trauma fester until he snaps or gets captured. This happens again and again across the series, with different faces and different stakes, but the same core mistake of refusing to just talk to someone.

It’s understandable given what he’s been through, but after a while, you just want to shake him. His self-isolation loop repeats through multiple arcs of the Tokyo Ghoul series, even though it costs him and his friends dearly each time.

5 Shirou Just Won’t Drop His Hero Complex in Fate/stay Night

Shirou from the Fate/stay Night series has been told, in nearly every route, that trying to save everyone is going to get him killed, and he nods along and then does it again the very next chance he gets. He picks fights he can’t win, hides his injuries from people who care about him, and calls it justice instead of a death wish.

Even the people closest to him openly point out this exact flaw, and he still doesn’t change course. Honestly, he would be more like a mid-list because the mistake is repeated and even lampshaded by other characters, yet Shirou rarely course-corrects for long.

6 Denji Keeps Falling for the Exact Same Trick in Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man‘s Denji spent his whole life starving and dreaming about the simplest pleasures, and becoming a Devil Hunter hasn’t changed that one bit, since half his decisions still come down to wanting to touch a girl’s chest or land some kind of date.

Both Power and Makima dangle exactly that in front of him more than once to get him to do something reckless, and he bites every single time despite getting burned before. He’s likable, but his brain checks out the second romance shows up. What’s more frustrating is that when we thought he was going to find love now, Reze got impaled in the alley before even reaching him.

7 Eren Keeps Charging in Alone Every Single Time in Attack on Titan

Eren spends most of the early Attack on Titan seasons hearing the exact same warning from Mikasa and Armin, which is basically don’t run off alone, and every time a Titan shows up, he does exactly that anyway. The trauma and hatred were too much for him to suppress, it seemed.

He loses a leg charging in during the Battle of Trost, gets swallowed whole trying to save a comrade, and later ditches the group’s plan to fight the Female Titan solo. His hatred for Titans makes sense, but his solution is always the same reckless charge, and it rarely goes clean.

8 Izuku Keeps Breaking His Own Body Yet Again in My Hero Academia

Izuku gets told by doctors, teachers, and even All Might himself that overusing One For All without control is going to wreck his arms and legs, and he keeps doing it anyway whenever someone he cares about is in danger. It’s a noble instinct, sure, but the show keeps returning to this same injury as a plot beat, which makes it feel less like growth and more like a habit he refuses to break.

This was basically one of the biggest complaints we had about Izuku Midoriya and his actions in the My Hero Academia series – despite it being all the more reason to love him. Nevertheless, none of us wanted to see him pushing so far, especially given how human he felt in the series.

9 Goku Keeps Sparing Villains Who Come Back Even Worse in Dragon Ball

Goku has a soft spot for a good fight, and more than once that’s led him to let a beaten villain walk away, or even help them get stronger, because he wants a better rematch later. He lets Vegeta live after the Saiyan Saga, spares Frieza on Namek only for Frieza to come back years later, and famously tosses Cell a senzu bean mid-fight so he can fight Gohan at his 100% capacity.

It works out in the end, but plenty of people suffer in between because Goku wanted round two. His addiction to a worthy and big fight in the Dragon Ball series is one of the reasons why the legendary series sold so much, despite it getting somewhat annoying after a point.

10 Naruto Uzumaki Repeats the Same Promise to Every Lost Soul in Naruto

Early in Naruto and even in the Naruto: Shippuden series, our protagonist swears he’ll save every troubled character he meets through sheer stubborn friendship, whether that’s Gaara, Sasuke, or Nagato, and he leans on the same speech and the exact same reckless plan almost every single time.

It works often enough that the show leans into it as his defining trait, but if you watch it back-to-back, the repetition can feel less like heart and more like Naruto not having a second approach in his toolkit. If you don’t know about this power-up yet, it’s called the “talk no jutsu”.

MAIN CHARACTER	ANIME SERIES	IMDb RATINGS (as of July 9, 2026)
Shinji Ikari	Neon Genesis Evangelion	8.5/10
Takemichi Hanagaki	Tokyo Revengers	7.7/10
Light Yagami	Death Note	8.9/10
Kaneki Ken	Tokyo Ghoul	7.7/10
Shirou Emiya	Fate/stay Night	7.2/10
Denji	Chainsaw Man	8.3/10
Eren Yeager	Attack on Titan	9.1/10
Izuku Midoriya	My Hero Academia	8.2/10
Son Goku	Dragon Ball	8.5/10
Naruto Uzumaki	Naruto	8.4/10

What are your thoughts on our list of anime MCs with the most insufferable habit of repeating the same mistakes? We’d love to hear your top picks in the comments below.