History Main / NostalgicMusicBox

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'': King Triton gives his wife a music box as a gift. She is then killed while trying to save it from being crushed. Later, Ariel finds the music box, and its haunting melody helps persuade her father to lift the ban on music by reminding him of his late queen.

* ''Film/ToKillAMockingbird'' has a music-box-like theme at the beginning. The composer said he wanted the music to sound very pure and innocent.

* ''Anime/LostUniverse'' tends to feature a music box whenever the main character talks or thinks about his past.

* ''Manga/MidoriDays'': Midori has a music box on her bedside table where her real body is laying. Its melody is heard once or twice coming from the box itself when her mother opens it, but the rest of the time the melody is used in Midori's flashbacks.

* The Music/{{Rammstein}} song "Spieluhr" involves one.

* Nadja Applefield from ''Anime/AshitaNoNadja'' has one of these among her {{Memento Mac Guffin}}s. [[spoiler:It was made as a gift for her MissingMom, then pawned away in Paris, and almost casually reached her.]] It later becomes ''very'' important, [[spoiler:when we find a certain music sheet inside of it...]]
* ''Manga/CandyCandy'': Candy White Andree gets one from her friend Alistair, nicknamed "the Box of Happiness". [[spoiler:It becomes a TragicKeepsake when Alistair dies in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.]]
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECVb4SA4hhs "If I Were a Bird"]], which plays whenever Rolo's locket opens, as a symbol of his happy times with Lelouch. It also plays in full force [[spoiler: during his HeroicSacrifice.]]

* This is featured in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Russia's character song starts out with a slightly eerie music box melody.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'', with the show's opening song. Among other things, Nyu can become Lucy when hearing it.

* The movie adaptation of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' features a TitleThemeDrop of "Innocent Starter" when Nanoha resolves to become friends with Fate. It's rather appropriate if one is familiar with the song's lyrics.

* There's one of these in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' that crops up so often that it's pretty much the musical equivalent of ArcWords.

* A music box version of the smooth jazz song featured in one scene appears in ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShell1995 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence]]''.

* A music box version of the main theme shows up in ''Anime/TheSkyCrawlers''.

* ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'' - film version, has a music box that plays Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9, #2 in E flat major. Emmeline says "That's Chopin! I can play it on the piano." It's used by the kids growing up as a connection with/nostalgic reminder of their life before the island. Sometimes they dance to it. None of this is in the book.
* The end credits theme from ''Film/ChildsPlay1988'' combines this with an EtherealChoir in order to evoke the loss of childhood innocence.

* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' used two pocket watches, one belonging to Mortimer and the other carried by Indio, that played the same haunting melody, which was incorporated masterfully into the [[Music/EnnioMorricone Morricone]] score. As it turns out, Indio's watch once belonged to Mortimer's sister, whom Mortimer seeks to avenge.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' has Davy Jones and Tia Dalma's music box lockets, which is the only thing shown to be able to drive the [[LoveMakesYouEvil love-hardened]] [[PsychoForHire vindictive sadist]] to tears.

* Josette's music box in ''Series/DarkShadows''.

* A music box version of the smooth jazz song featured in one scene appears in ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShell1995 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence]]''.

* The end credits theme from ''Film/ChildsPlay1988'' combines this with an EtherealChoir in order to evoke the loss of childhood innocence.

* The song "The Music Box Blues" by Music/TransSiberianOrchestra.
* Music/AyumiHamasaki's song "HANABI" opens with a music box, which continues to play as the song goes on. The song lyrics speak about a loved one who has died.

* Music/BritneySpears has two songs using this sound affect: "Everytime" and "Baby Boy"
* Music/AbneyPark's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQd_LMTn2cs The Secret Life of Dr. Calgori]]" starts off this way, shortly to be joined by steam valves and clockwork-like rhythmic percussion. Appropriate for the story of a [[SteamPunk 1800's era]] MadScientist slowly losing his memory.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnY9gy1OdFY Herr Drosselmeyer's Doll]]" is much the same, but with less nostalgia and more... allure.

* Surprised the opening of Voltaire's "The Man Upstairs isn't here, always get it, and the above mentioned "Gothic Lolita confused slightly.
* The Music/{{Rammstein}} song "Spieluhr" involves one.
* Japanese singer/cellist Kanon Wakeshima has one in the instrumentals "Sweet Dreams" and "Shakespeare No Wasuremono ~Epilogue~", as well as in the beginning of the single [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fa5cpodqRY "Lolitawork Libretto ~Storytelling by Solita~"]].
* A vocaloid song, "Music Box of Reminiscence" by MOTHY is this.

* {{Theatre/Anastasia}}, like the movie it's adapted from, features the OrphansPlotTrinket music box given to the title character as a child; [[AdaptationExpansion the entire score was expanded or re-written to make the score more fitting for a fully-fledged stage musical]] but not only did the music box's theme stay the same, it became a {{Leitmotif}} that reoccurred several times and in several songs throughout the show.

* Yasunori Mitsuda loves this trope, as the nostalgic themes in his best-known games all have music-box versions of the main theme. In fact the music box themes almost all have the same track name: ''Kokkoro'' (Heart or Soul).
** ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'''s nostalgic theme is eventually expanded upon in at least one of the endings, in a song called "To Good Friends" - it starts off identically but eventually segues into a fully-orchestrated arrangement of the same theme, and it is beautiful.
** ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''
** ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' even had [[SourceMusic a room-sized in-game music box]] for this style of music to come out of. [[spoiler: It's implied that Kim Kasim had it built back in the Zeboim Era to celebrate [[RobotGirl Emeralda's]] [[ArtificialHuman creation/birth]].]]
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'''s main theme is music box playing.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' - The Laguna flashbacks involving Raine and her daughter, Ellone.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' does a similar thing with Bartz's music box in his old home in Lix. Never mind that he's listening to it and recalling [[spoiler:the night his mother died]] while a squatter bard sits there impassively . . . it's still a pleasant tune.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has a phonograph music box at the Inn in the Black Mage Village. If you have certain special items purchased at the auction house in Treno, it will play pieces from earlier Final Fantasy titles corresponding to the special items.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky'' has a nostalgic theme played on a music box that plays in scenes where you and your partner are feeling especially tender, as well as when you're about to go to bed for the night.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'': The final rendition of the Eight Melodies, just before [[spoiler:entering Magicant]].
* ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'': You learn the first part of the game's version of the Eight Melodies from a music box that was in the possessed doll you just fought. Also, the ending tune starts and ends with a music box rendition of the Eight Melodies.
* ''VideoGame/FableII'' starts with you in your childhood, trying to buy a magical music box. The music box's theme sometimes appears in the game's score, particularly during flashbacks and dreams of your childhood. [[spoiler:It's also the weapon you use to defeat Lucian.]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' has an opening theme that sounds as though it is being played on a music box (it even slows down at one point, and has to be rewound). This theme reappears in ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS''.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' features this in both ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' and ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' with specifically designated "Memory" themes that used a music-box-like effect when a particularly sad event was happening.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGyZwr8pIas Lumas' theme]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Bonus points for being played ''[[spoiler:[[SoundtrackDissonance as the universe is crushed into a supermassive black hole]]]]''.

%%* Same with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''.
%%* All four ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games as well, although this was left out from the American releases of the first two.
* ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'' has a music box-like piece playing when you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stX5r7XRCrI look at the photographs you collected.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' plays a music box version of "[[https://youtu.be/dYpYQHb-ZKg?t=4560 The Fire is Gone]]" whenever [[PlayerCharacter V1]] reads a Testament at the end of a SecretLevel. It serves to outline the tragedy of [[spoiler:God himself ruining creation by creating Hell in an impulsive, hasty decision after failures to create a man without free will and being unable to fix it]].
* There's a music box in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' belonging to the old man, Nikolai, who is searching for his wife. If you turn on the music box while in Nikolai's house, the old man will wake up and ask for Anna, thinking that she has come home.
* The title screen of ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Episode III'' plays a nostalgic music box version of its AwardBaitSong, "Maybe Tomorrow."
* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre: Let Us Cling Together'', Lars carries his late wife's music box as a memento. The track played is titled ''Box of Sentiment''. The melody is later orchestrated in ''Emotion and Absence of Mind''.

* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'':
** In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'', one of these plays during TheReveal. In this case, the music isn't the symbolic part, it's [[spoiler:the Elysian Box itself, which finally fulfills its original purpose of carrying a message from Anton to Sophia and back. Of course, it's less on the nostalgia and more on the what could've been.]] The music box track, Iris, is used a few minutes later in orchestrated form for the end credits.
** In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'', a music box tune plays when [[spoiler:Henry remembers the time when he and Randall first became friends]].
* Game Over screen in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has a short sad music box music. Later (especially in Continuum Shift) promoted to flashback music. Also turns out to be theme song of an important unplayable [[spoiler: Saya]] character with even more symbolism. Also has a vocal version in one of the albums but not in the games.
* A music box version of the Shadowlord's theme plays in ''VideoGame/NieR'' when the Shadowlord is on his final bit of health. It's meant to represent how at this point [[DespairEventHorizon he just wants to die]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlk_ACj0ihk All is Shut Down #1]](bad ending) from ''VideoGame/RayCrisis''.
* One or two of the minigames present outside the main adventure of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64 DS'' (such as the LovesMeNot game) have a music box arrangment of the water level theme from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original game]] play in the background.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** A music box version of N's {{Leitmotif}} plays in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' when you discover his bedroom/playroom in Plasma Castle. It doubles as an OminousMusicBoxTune. N's theme itself was allegedly based on the idea of a music box, reflecting his nature as an ManChild. It doubles as an OminousMusicBoxTune.
** The ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZliwDCDtX4U version of Cinnabar Island's theme is one of these]], in stark contrast to the upbeat original. Considering the town has been almost completely destroyed in a volcanic eruption, it's nothing if not fitting.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has two music box-style themes on its soundtrack:
** The minor-key "Waterfall" theme plays through many of the areas of Waterfall, particularly those with the inscriptions and Echo Flowers recording the monsters' memories and unfulfilled wishes.
** Another such motif, "Memory," can be heard coming from a certain statue in Waterfall. You have to play the tune on a piano in order to access a secret item. The {{leitmotif}} it plays, which receives a more upbeat remix in the final area as "His Theme," belongs to [[spoiler: Asriel Dreemur, Toriel and Asgore's son, the former identity of Flowey, and the TrueFinalBoss of the Pacifist route.]]