Teen Commits Suicide After Seeing His Favorite Naruto Character Die

[prophetomega]

Seeing an anime character die allegedly inspired a 14 year-old Russian boy to jump one hundred feet to his death, says a report.

According to Mail Online, Leonid Hmelev committed suicide after seeing his favorite character, Naruto character Itachi Uchiha, die in anime Naruto: Shippuden. The character’s death reportedly saddened the boy.

It’s been known since 2008 that the character dies.

‘I always told him he spent too much time watching the TV—he didn’t know what was reality and what was fiction anymore,” said his father, Ivan.

Hmelev left home after watching Naruto: Shippuden, leaving a message on a social networking site that he was “planning an ending”. His body was discovered after being missing for two days.

Obviously, there seems to be more going on here, than a simple cause and effect. Still, as Mail Online points out, Russia has the third highest teen suicide rate in the world, behind Belarus and Kazakhstan. Tragic stuff.

Russian teen leaps from apartment block after seeing his favorite Japanese cartoon character die on television [Mail Online]

- Brian Ashcraft


Source: http://updates.kotaku.com/post/34822928809/report-teen-commits-suicide-after-seeing-his-favorite

 

[jswift255]

:dotdotdot:I guess somebody should have told him that...

*Spoilers for the show*





he eventually comes back :sigh:

 

[Ceewan]

Here, where the lonely hooting owl
Sends forth his midnight moans,
Fierce wolves shall o’er my carcase growl,
Or buzzards pick my bones.

No fellow-man shall learn my fate,
Or where my ashes lie;
Unless by beasts drawn round their bait,
Or by the ravens’ cry.

Yes! I’ve resolved the deed to do,
And this the place to do it:
This heart I’ll rush a dagger through,
Though I in hell should rue it!

Hell! What is hell to one like me
Who pleasures never knew;
By friends consigned to misery,
By hope deserted too?

To ease me of this power to think,
That through my bosom raves,
I’ll headlong leap from hell’s high brink,
And wallow in its waves.

Though devils yell, and burning chains
May waken long regret;
Their frightful screams, and piercing pains,
Will help me to forget.

Yes! I’m prepared, through endless night,
To take that fiery berth!
Think not with tales of hell to fright
Me, who am damn’d on earth!

Sweet steel! come forth from your sheath,
And glist’ning, speak your powers;
Rip up the organs of my breath,
And draw my blood in showers!

I strike! It quivers in that heart
Which drives me to this end;
I draw and kiss the bloody dart,
My last—my only friend!

The Suicide’s Soliloquy - unsigned published in 1838

 

[chrisfallout]

prophetomega most of us would love to see spoiler on this topic before we got chance to read it or want to look at. since it might ruin show for us since we have not seen what happen next.

 

[TravelingWind]

prophetomega most of us would love to see spoiler on this topic before we got chance to read it or want to look at. since it might ruin show for us since we have not seen what happen next.

It's been out for 3-5 years, it's your own damn fault for not looking it up for yourself

 

[jswift255]

Is the anime really that far behind? I haven't watched the show/read the manga in years but I left off around the time he died

 

[snowyjoe]

I think it depends if he was watching a Russian translated version on TV or a fansub on the internet.
Either way, like the article said, it must be more than just his favorite anime character dying that led to his death.

 

[TravelingWind]

I'm probably exaggerating but i'm sure it's about 3 years

 

[love-mibimibi]

I feel sorry for him. . :miserable:

but Itachi died about 3 year ago and again a few month ago

 

[prophetomega]

"People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts ... their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?"
-Itachi Uchiha

 

[lactophilia]

Common Otaku disease ... k:

 

[megatroll]

Best front page post ever.

But seriously, 14 years or not, I can't imagine anyone commiting suicide after an anime character dying. But then again, children have a whole different mind set. For us it may seem silly, but in their world it can be a huge thing. Poor little guy. Considering how most anime characters miraculously return from the dead after a season or so... And to the statistics... I always thought Japan had the highest suicide rate? Maybe not for teens perhaps.

 

[chrisfallout]

we are only up to Naruto Shippuden Episode 287 in English last one i saw lead up to fight with him and had not come out yet. also we get books like over year behind from when it comes out in japan. also we are only up to this story line Kage Showdown! in the novel from the November 4, 2011 that came out in japan. i also have not read any of graphics novels so i did got get to see it too. i was luck to read most walking dead when i had cash to read them books.

 

[chrisfallout]

we get the same thing out here in usa. but its not over show or cartoon person. its more about the person there in love with or family member that died. it happens more then you think. it just come down if some left note or they can figure it out base on what happen at place of crime. with way media is now a days we get more info out faster. we also have means to find more info faster now too. that could lead to what cause this mess in first time or later in time.

 

[EzikialRage]

We got people in shit hole war torn 3rd world countries who suffered through all kinds of atrocities, people with stage 4 cancer and other terminal diseases, people with life sentences in prison, starving people in dirt poor 3rd world countries and all sorts of other people with actual legitimate reasons to commit suicide and yet they hang onto their lives and try living. But some loser in Russia decided to throw his life away because a fictional character dies in a cartoon/comic book.

 

[megatroll]

We got people in shit hole war torn 3rd world countries who suffered through all kinds of atrocities, people with stage 4 cancer and other terminal diseases, people with life sentences in prison, starving people in dirt poor 3rd world countries and all sorts of other people with actual legitimate reasons to commit suicide and yet they hang onto their lives and try living. But some loser in Russia decided to throw his life away because a fictional character dies in a cartoon/comic book.

I wouldn't have chosen the exact same words (3rd world shit hole etc.) but I get your point. The thing is: Humans have different perceptions of life, relationships and "reality" itself. No matter how much we try to distinguish ourselves from other lifeforms on this planet, we are not the souvereign beings we wish to be. We're part of the whole and thus depending on countless factors that form our surrounding and ourselves. Children are especially "prone" to this sceme, as their mind hasn't even developed and is in the "what is this?/who am I?"-phase more than adults. As I mentioned before, to us it may seem silly, but we don't know the story behind it.

Let me give a short example...
Where I live, down the street, there lived an old man. He's not married, has no kids, he literally had nobody but his dog, a husky. Ever since I moved here, I saw him EVERY SINGLE DAY with his dog dragging the man on his bicycle. No matter if rain or snow, the man ran with his dog for hours till sunset. He loved this dog so much, he had all kinds of husky statues, husky plushies and other memorabilia he decorated his house and garden with. He greeted me everytime, smiling and nodding at me. His dog was visibly happy and well taken care of. Well, a few weeks passed and I didn't see the man cycling with his friend anymore. It was clear the dog had passed. And when I saw the old man again for the first time after his friend died, you couldn't recognize him. His face was pale, the perma-smile was gone, replaced by a look that could only tell half of the pain he must have felt inside. I have never seen him again and was informed by one of the neighbours about a year later he was found dead in his house. Ironically you have a woman living across the street whose life-long husband died 4 years ago and she's still living happily.

What I want to say is that it doesn't really matter to what we attach our hearts to. It's all in our minds anyway. We simply cannot judge someone's decision to leave this plain. Even if it's based on something fictional.

 

[kraidazen]

personally, i condone people who committed suicide. suicide is permanent solution to a temporary problem. if said person was contemplating on suicide, why couldn't he/she reach to someone ? or better yet, why could someone close to him reach to him/her before committing such stupidity. (i call it stupidity because life is too precious just to waste it needlessly). also, they are causing more pain to everyone else around them by choosing to suicide. you really don't want see your loved ones cry over your coffin

that said, the boy has problems and should have been noticed by his parents (if he had a loving one to begin with)

 

[prophetomega]

By nature majority of us are afraid of things we don't know or understand.
If we know what really gonna happened after we die then perhaps we will have a different view towards suicide.

 

[Ceewan]

By nature majority of us are afraid of things we don't know or understand.
If we know what really gonna happened after we die then perhaps we will have a different view towards suicide.

I don't think I can agree.

Fact is everyday you wake up is a good one, plain and simple. Good things in life do not have to happen to make life itself worth living. Death is regretable in all circumstances, acts of stupidity included. Better to be a weed struggling for life in a crack of asphalt than to be nothing at all.

Life is a gift. Knowing what lays ahead afterwards diminishes just how special a gift it is while a bit of uncertainty adds spice to the soup.

 

[Miku-Numnum]

Thankfully this happened before he had a chance to reproduce, need to start weeding out all these overly emotional over stupid shit genes, I mean women already have enough we don't need them on the Y chromosome as well andalaugh: