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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]