History TearJerker / FistOFTheNorthStar

[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cit_FotNS_-_manly_tears.png]]

** Shin's fate. After his fight with Kenshiro, he tearfully reveals that Yuria threw herself out of his tower out of horror of what he committed in her name. It's later retconned that Yuria survived, and that Shin knew this but acted otherwise to keep her safe from Raoh. Horrible as he was, and as much as he misunderstood her, Shin genuinely loved Yuria and wanted to make her happy, but he had no chance to ever redeem himself in her eyes. Star of Martrydom indeed.

** Shin's fate. After his fight with Kenshiro, he tearfully reveals that Yuria [[spoiler:threw herself out of his tower out of horror of what he committed in her name. It's later retconned that Yuria survived, and that Shin knew this but acted otherwise to keep her safe from Raoh. Horrible as he was, and as much as he misunderstood her, Shin genuinely loved Yuria and wanted to make her happy, but he had no chance to ever redeem himself in her eyes. Star of Martrydom indeed.]]
* The death of [[spoiler: Mamiya's brother, Kou]] during her introductory arc. And oddly, during the same arc, the way in which the Wolf Fang Clan mourns for the loss of its members is actually quite touching.
** What makes [[spoiler: Kou's death sadder is why he died. He went outside the protection of the village to gather wild strawberries, Mamiya's favorite food, to put on her birthday cake. Even worse is when Lin finds the strawberries that Kou picked and puts them on the cake in his stead, singing a saddening "Happy Birthday to you" as tears well up in her eyes.]]

* If you thought a rock guitar theme cannot make you cry, you have not heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaVnu3qgdPU Asunaki Tabi]] yet. The most heartbreaking uses of this song were when Shuh wept in the graveyard of the children murdered by Souther and when he himself was [[spoiler: tortured and murdered by said monster of a tyrant.]]

* Actually, ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' is able to combine a few of these with the raw badass of the characters to be a [[ManlyTears Manly Tear Jerker]] series. There are a few, generally involving the deaths of major villains. Shin, declaring his love for Yuria even as he dies from Kenshiro's techniques and throwing himself from his throne room is an early example. One of the most effective involves the death of one of the protagonists, however. The battle between [[spoiler:Raoh and Toki ends as Toki, who has been dying of radiation sickness makes a last, desperate series of attacks in order to try to kill Raoh, his older brother. As the fight goes on, Raoh realizes that Toki's dying body means that Toki has no chance to win, but continues to fight regardless, and Raoh himself begins to cry ''even as he continues to fight'', out of love for his younger brother, and because the destiny of their style makes a tragic fate such as Toki's unavoidable.]] The title of the episode that ends the fight says it all: "Farewell, [[spoiler:Toki!]] The Tears Fall Only Once!"
** There's more to it: Turns out that part of the reason this is happening is that [[spoiler:while growing up, Raoh had made Toki promise to stop him were he to go down the wrong road, and had previously scolded Toki for crying]]. Raoh couldn't bring himself to kill Toki, and instead delivered a knockout blow.

* The death of [[spoiler:Shuu's son, Shiba]]. Kenshiro can't even find the words to describe it.
* The undisputed champion of tear-jerking deaths in this series is [[spoiler:Rei]]. His death is SO important, it's even used to signify the end of the second 'act' of the first anime series.
* [[spoiler:Shuu's]] death was made into an even greater TearJerker in the first ''Raoh Den'' movie, as it's accompanied by SoundtrackDissonance with the song "Where The Lights Are".

* ''Kenshiro Den'' has one of the most devastating ones in the entire franchise: [[spoiler:Yuria, dying of radiation sickness, reveals to Kenshiro that she is pregnant with Kenshiro's child.]] The big man himself [[TenderTears lets the waterworks flow at the revelation]].
* Jagi Gaiden can best be summed up as one long TearJerker after another from start to finish. From seeing Jagi as he was, his relationship with Ryuken, [[spoiler: Anna's death and Jagi's reaction to it, Ryuken's sorrow at what Jagi had become, Jagi's final moments looking back on his miserable life, Kenshiro's anguish over having killed Jagi despite everything he did, and [[TogetherinDeath Jagi possibly reuniting with Anna in death]]]] Honestly, it's hard not to weep at how thoroughly Jagi's life has been screwed by both his own actions and bitter fate.

** In the same episode, after Yuria tells Raoh of her fate ([[spoiler:by radiation sickness like Toki's]]), he [[TenderTears sheds tears of his own]] (again), mourning of her eventual fate and deciding not to sacrifice her to obtain Muso Tensei, but achieving it by the sadness that fills him with this revelation.

* Ryuken's death at Raoh's hands becomes this with the revelation in the 20th episode of ''Souten no Ken Re:Genesis'' that [[spoiler:he witnessed the death of his father, Tesshin, at the hands of Kenshin, his and Kasumi Kenshiro's adopted older brother. Not only that, but Tesshin died while performing the exact same secret technique as Ryuken did against Raoh, namely the ''Shichisei Tenshin''. Ergo, Ryuken perished the same way his father did all those years ago: at the hands of his own adopted son while attempting to seal his fist]].

* Souther may be an irredeemable monster, but there is one way to some to ignite sympathy even for him: He UsedToBeASweetKid genuinely that loved his master, Ougai, like no other. Unfortunately, Ougai purposely missed out telling him about how he'll have to kill him in order to succeed the Nanto Houou Ken. When Souther found out the hard way that he had to kill his master, he tearfully declared that if love hurts so much, he had no need for love, leading him to become the brutal tyrant he is. Could be just a FreudianExcuse, but it's a pretty powerful one to see how the CrapsackWorld turned one of the most loving kids in the verse into a brutal tyrant. Then when Kenshiro beat him, all of the sudden, he felt like a child again, after [[GracefulLoser commending Kenshiro over his victory]], he slowly pulled himself up the side of the pyramid and crawled into the statue of his master, wept for his master and begging him to comfort him again, well just in time for the whole pyramid to crumble, taking him with it too. His acts may be unforgivable, but how he ended up that way... damn.

* Souther may be an irredeemable monster, but there is one way to some to ignite sympathy even for him: He UsedToBeASweetKid genuinely that loved his master, Ougai, like no other. Unfortunately, Ougai purposely missed out about how he'll have to kill him in order to succeed the Nanto Houou Ken. When Souther found out the hard way that he had to kill his master, he tearfully declared that if love hurts so much, he has no need for love, leading him to be the brutal tyrant he is. Could be just a FreudianExcuse, but it's a pretty powerful one to see how the CrapsackWorld turned one of the most loving kids in the verse into a brutal tyrant. Then when Kenshiro beat him, all of the sudden, he felt like a child again, after [[GracefulLoser commending Kenshiro over his victory]], he slowly pulled himself up the side of the pyramid and crawled into the statue of his master, wept for his master and begging him to comfort him again, well just in time for the whole pyramid to crumble, taking him with it too. His acts may be unforgivable, but how he ended up that way... damn.
* The ending credits. For 22 minutes we are shown a desolate, nuclear blasted wasteland. The credits cue up and show scenes of natural beauty...waterfalls, ice melt, forests...just to remind viewers of how beautiful the world once was. Made even worse in the first season ending that makes it seem like Kenshiro's dream. We see a farmland ripe with wheat and an image of Yuria carrying a basket as if she is welcoming Kenshiro home.

** He gets two [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] in before he dies, and they are ''very'' awesome.

* Fudoh's battle against Raoh had "crying time" written all over it from the start. Raoh, having felt fear when Kenshiro manifested Musou Tensei before him, concludes he needs to purge himself of all fear, and to do it he must first face the one man to make him feel fear for the first time (and also the only man to have ever made him feel fear before Kenshiro): Fudoh. Raoh kidnaps Fudoh's adopted children and threatens to kill them if Fudoh does not face Raoh, and Fudoh must break his vow of peace to face him. Raoh demolishes Fudoh, but Fudoh refuses to give up and actually instills fear in Raoh by showing him how hopeless it is for him to fight without love and sadness. And then Fudoh ends up shot fatally with an arrow fired by Raoh's henchmen, defying Raoh's orders. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Fudoh then declares that Raoh lost to him, and that as long as he continues to be oblivious to sorrow, he will continue to live in fear and never, ever defeat Kenshiro.]] Then he dies surrounded by his children, all crying for their loss, as a ReallyDeadMontage of Fudoh's life begins to play with the first ending theme in the background. ''SNIFF''.

--> '''Raoh''': [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Feel free to cry, Toki. I won't scold you again... Take care of your body, my little brother.]]

* Ryuken's death at Raoh's hands becomes this with the revelation in the 20th episode of Souten no Ken Re:Genesis that [[spoiler:he witnessed the death of his father, Tesshin, at the hands of Kenshin, his and Kasumi Kenshiro's adopted older brother. Not only that, but Tesshin died while performing the exact same secret technique as Ryuken did against Raoh, namely the ''Shichisei Tenshin''. Ergo, Ryuken perished the same way his father did all those years ago: at the hands of his own adopted son while attempting to seal his fist]].

** The fact that this manga could make you sympathize with '''Jagi''' of all characters is saying something.

** Kenshiro's long, echoing SayMyName cries really drove it home. And then Shuu lasts just long enough to see Kenshiro as an adult. Cue Kenshiro being the most pissed off he's ever been.

* Fudoh's battle against Raoh had "crying time" written all over it from the start. Raoh, having felt fear when Kenshiro manifested Musou Tensei before him, concludes he needs to purge himself of all fear, and to do it he must first face the one man to make him feel fear for the first time: Fudoh. Raoh kidnaps Fudoh's adopted children and threatens to kill them if Fudoh does not face Raoh, and Fudoh must break his vow of peace to face him. Raoh demolishes Fudoh, but Fudoh refuses to give up and actually instills fear in Raoh by showing him how hopeless it is for him to fight without love and sadness. And then Fudoh ends up shot fatally with an arrow fired by Raoh's henchmen, defying Raoh's orders. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Fudoh then declares that Raoh lost to him, and that as long as he continues to be oblivious to sorrow, he will continue to live in fear and never, ever defeat Kenshiro.]] Then he dies surrounded by his children, all crying for their loss, as a ReallyDeadMontage of Fudoh's life begins to play with the first ending theme in the background. ''SNIFF''.

* Jagi Gaiden can best be summed up as one long TearJerker after another from start to finish. From seeing Jagi as he was, his relationship with Ryuken, [[spoiler: Anna's death and Jagi's reaction to it, Ryuken's sorrow of what Jagi had become, Jagi's final moments looking back on his miserable life, Kenshiro's anguish over having killed Jagi despite everything he did, and [[TogetherinDeath Jagi possibly reuniting with Anna in death]]]] Honestly, it's hard not to weep at how thoroughly Jagi's life has been screwed by both his own actions and bitter fate.

-->Rei: A toll for an unrequited love...

* In a rather tasteful use of [[PlayedForDrama drama]] by Creator/ToeiAnimation, Kenshiro, after crossing Raoh's battle aura, tells him how much he and Toki admires him and how the feeling will never goes away from his heart, he full-blown sheds his ManlyTears in this fight. Who else wouldn't?

--> Raoh: [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Feel free to cry, Toki. I won't scold you again... Take care of your body, my little brother.]]

Violence and brutality be damned, ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' is arguably the most warm-hearted and sensitive anime series of the 1980's. There IS a reason that it's the TropeCodifier for ManlyTears.

* Actually, ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' is able to combine a few of these with the raw badass of the characters to be a [[ManlyTears Manly Tear Jerker]] series. There are a few, generally involving the deaths of major villains. Shin, declaring his love for Yuria even as he dies from Kenshiro's techniques and throwing himself from his throne room is an early example. One of the most effective involves the death of one of the protagonists, however. The battle between [[spoiler:Raoh and Toki ends as Toki, who has been dying of radiation sickness makes a last, desperate series of attacks in order to try to kill Raoh, his older brother. As the fight goes on, Raoh realizes that Toki's dying body means that Toki has no chance to win, but continues to fight regardless, and Raoh himself begins to cry ''even as he continues to fight'', out of love for his younger brother, and because the destiny of their style makes a tragic fate such as Toki's unavoidable.]] The title of the episode that ends the fight says it all: "Farewell, [[spoiler:Toki!]] The Tears Fall Only Once!"

* Actually, ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' is able to combine a few of these with the raw badass of the characters to be a [[ManlyTears Manly Tear Jerker]] series. There are a few, generally involving the deaths of major villains. Shin, declaring his love for Yuria even as he dies from Kenshiro's techniques and throwing himself from his throne room is an early example. One of the most effective involves the death of one of the protagonists, however. The battle between [[spoiler:Raoh and Toki ends as Toki, who has been dying of an illness makes a last, desperate series of attacks in order to try to kill Raoh, his older brother. As the fight goes on, Raoh realizes that Toki's dying body means that Toki has no chance to win, but continues to fight regardless, and Raoh himself begins to cry ''even as he continues to fight'', out of love for his younger brother, and because the destiny of their style makes a tragic fate such as Toki's unavoidable.]] The title of the episode that ends the fight says it all: "Farewell, [[spoiler:Toki!]] The Tears Fall Only Once!"
** There's more to it: Turns out that part of the reason this is happening is that [[spoiler:while growing up, Raoh had made Toki promise to stop him were he to go down the wrong road, and had previously scolded Toki for crying]].

* Somewhere around half the cast is composed of tragic heroes.

* The undisputed champion of tear-jerking deaths in this series is [[spoiler:Rei]]. His death is SO important, it's even used to signify the end of the second part of the first anime series.

* Souther may be an irredeemable monster, but there is one way to some to ignite sympathy even for him: He UsedToBeASweetKid genuinely that loved his master, Ougai, like no other. Unfortunately, Ougai purposely missed out about how he'll have to kill him in order to succeed the Nanto Houou Ken. When Souther found out the hard way that he had to kill his master, he tearfully declared that if love hurts so much, he has no need for love, leading him to be the brutal tyrant he is. Could be just a FreudianExcuse, but it's a pretty powerful one to see how the CrapsackWorld turned one of the most loving kids in the verse into a brutal tyrant. Then when Kenshiro beat him, all of the sudden, he felt like a child again, after [[GracefulLoser commending Kenshiro over his victory]], he crawled into the statue of his master, wept for his master and begging him to comfort him again, well just in time for the whole pyramid to crumble, taking him with it too. His acts may be unforgivable, but how he ended up that way... damn.

* It's a minor example when compared to the rest of the franchise, but after Mamiya is rescued by Kenshiro and Rei while she was investigating the whereabouts of Toki, Kenshiro [[TakeMyHand picks Mamiya up off the floor]]. And just when she thinks she and Ken are having a moment with each other, complete with GaussianBlur and both looking into each other's eyes, Kenshiro [[MomentKiller kills this would be moment]] by sternly ordering her to go home, as the matters concerning the rest of the Hokuto brothers are a personal affair. The shut down is so abrupt even Rei flinches on Mamiya's behalf. As their rendevous point was a chapel, Rei sees fit to sound the bell.
-->-'''Rei:''' ''A toll for unrequited love.''

* The ending credits of the movie, in which Kenshiro imagines himself walking through a beautiful forest and seeing Yuria happy, only to have everything fade back to the desolate nuclear wasteland it all really is.

* When Kenshiro finally confronts Shin at the end of the first arc, he mocks Kenshiro, telling him that Yuria has forgotten him. After all the hell he's been through just to reach them, Kenshiro finally breaks down, tearfully whispering that [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy he doesn't care if Yuria has forgotten him, just as long as she's safe]].

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cit_FotNS_-_manly_tears.png

* The death of [[spoiler:Shuu's son, Shiba]]. Kenshiro can't even find the words.