Line #46 Main/Utsuge


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8	%% Read the description carefully before adding an example. Is the game a visual novel? Is it designed to evoke sadness, or is it merely sad? Any examples that do not fit both criteria should be brought up on the Discussion page before being added.
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13	[[quoteright:270:[[VisualNovel/KanaLittleSister https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kana_cry2.jpg]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:270:You will be doing this by the end.]]
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16	Utsuge is the Japanese portmanteau for "depressing/melancholy game". As the name implies, these games' goal is to make the player cry. Most of them are of the VisualNovel variety, in which the player is guided through an increasingly (melo)dramatic story.
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18	Games of this type contain lots of typical [[TearJerker tear-jerking]] material, with death, mental problems, loneliness and rejection as central themes. A lot of them contain at least one [[DelicateAndSickly girl with a serious disease]], [[LittlestCancerPatient who has to be helped by the player]]. {{Downer Ending}}s are very common when the player fails to achieve this goal, and even {{Golden Ending}}s tend to be {{bittersweet\|Ending}}.
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20	Utsuge are often populated by {{Bishoujo}}-style characters and aimed squarely at a {{Seinen}} (young male) audience. By far the most of them take the form of {{Dating Sim}}s, where the dramatic material is used to give the on-screen girls more depth and character. In some of those games, the drama actually becomes much more prevalent, overtaking the premise of simply trying to date girls. However, there are more than a few that combine this with the {{Horror}} genre, making the scares more effective by inflicting them on characters the audience cares deeply about.
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22	Most Utsuge, being {{Dating Sim}}s, also contain [[HGame some of the erotic content]] that comes with the territory. It is rare to find examples without any erotic content whatsoever, although some H-Games have been re-released [[SelfCensoredRelease without adult material]] to appeal to a wider audience, usually without suffering any negative consequences for the story or playability. Still, gaming companies generally don't explicitly market their games as Utsuge, instead emphasizing their DatingSim-nature to appeal to the typically male audience.
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24	Another common feature, or lack thereof, is the [[NoAntagonist absence of any real villain]]. The sorrow instead comes from intangible forces like disease- which, in a way, makes the game ''sadder'' because there is no BigBad, no easy target to blame for the tragedy, no reviled antagonist whose wrongs can be righted, as if to say that sometimes, bad things just ''happen'', and they can’t be instantly fixed by punching out some mustache-twirling baddie.
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26	A similar term with different connotations is "''nakige''" ("crying game/sob story game"), which usually refers to games with [[EarnYourHappyEnding depressing stories that get resolved in the end]].
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28	Contrast {{Iyashikei}}, which is more or less this genre's diametric opposite in Japanese media.
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30	!!Examples:
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35	%% Read the description carefully before adding an example. Is the game a visual novel? Is it designed to evoke sadness, or is it merely sad? Any examples that do not fit both criteria should be brought up on the Discussion page before being added.
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41	[[foldercontrol]]
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43	[[folder:Visual Novel examples]]
44	* ''VisualNovel/AirPressure'', a depressing exploration into addiction, self-abuse, need, and boredom in a relationship.
45	%%* ''DaCapo''
46	* ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'', which has been adapted into ''ef: A Tale of Memories'' and ''ef: A Tale of Melodies''. All main characters have so many issues behind them, [[spoiler:with the most egregious one being Yuuko]].
47	* ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', especially [[spoiler:Tsugumi's and Sora's paths]], or worse yet, [[spoiler:the Tsugumi/Sora bad ending]].
48	* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' and its SpiritualSuccessor ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' form an interesting variation. Their main objective is not to make the players cry, but to ''scare'' them. Despite this, the games still manage to move the player emotionally. They succeeded in doing both in both series. The question arcs are supposed to confuse and scare us, but the answer arcs are straight Utsuge. [[spoiler:Well, except for [[EarnYourHappyEnding Matsuribayashi-hen]].]] Tatarigoroshi-hen is also fueled by tears. Both games also have plenty of villainous characters including a BigBad.
49	* ''VisualNovel/KanaLittleSister'', an image source for the trope, it's premise is based on the illness of the main character's little sister and it's exploited to the fullest extent possible in the HGame.
50	%%* ''KimiGaNozomuEien''. The anime version doesn't let up on the tears, either.
51	%%* ''VisualNovel/SymphonicRain'' seems like a slice of life visual novel at first, but reveals its more depressing elements later on.
52	* ''VisualNovel/PrivateNurse'': Come for the marketing as an HGame, stay for the many, many moments of crying your damn eyes out. There is basically one path that leads to a triumphant ending, the rest count as BittersweetEnding if not outright DownerEnding.
53	* ''VisualNovel/TheSongOfSaya'' is a [[CosmicHorrorStory Cosmic Horror love story]]. Besides the {{gorn}}, the [[EldritchAbomination nature of the bishoujo]], the inclusion of a BigBad ([[spoiler:[[VillainProtagonist Saya]]]]), and the other delightful elements, it fits this trope perfectly.
54	%%* Sakura's route in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' (Heaven's Feel) is quite warped, with her "Normal End" the most depressing of all the endings; this leads some people to regard it as a bad end. [[spoiler:So reload that save and stay alive, will you?]]
55	%%* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', the Far Side routes (Akiha/Hisui/Kokahu) in particular. Akiha's Normal End, as well as Hisui's True End, will PlayerPunch you in the face.
56	* ''Yume Miru Kusuri'' has three paths - one for the socially isolated school idol, one for the druggie kid, and the last one for the poor girl who is bullied [[KidsAreCruel with tasers in a classroom]] while [[AdultsAreUseless the teacher assumes she is constantly falling out of her chair and screaming for no particular reason]].
57	** To explain just how far down the rabbit hole this game goes, the ending of the above third girl's arc culminates in [[spoiler:the player character and the girl strangling their [[AlphaBitch primary bully]] [[SoundtrackDissonance while sweet and soft music plays in the background]]. The scene progresses to the point where the bully begins convulsing and pissing herself, followed by the two characters letting go of her throat and laughing about how close they just came to actually killing her]].
58	%%* ''VisualNovel/CrossChannel''
59	%%* ''99 no Namida'' (99 Tears) is solely made to make you cry.
60	* ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' falls under this heading as the routes can be heartbreaking. Every route has at least one DownerEnding and even some of the good endings are {{Bittersweet Ending}}s. [[spoiler:Rin Tezuka]]'s route fits this trope the most. [[spoiler:Hanako's]] route isn't too far behind, either.
61	* ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend''. Most of the endings to the otome routes range from [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] to out and out [[TearJerker tearjerkers]] -- and that's just the main game. When you've finished all of those, there's still ''Bad Boys Love'', the second half of the story, which, well. Let's just say it's nicknamed ''Hurtful Boyfriend'' for a reason.
62	* The Creator/NitroPlus boys' love game ''VisualNovel/{{DRAMAtical Murder}}'' is a ''nakige''. The character routes of Clear, Koujaku, and especially Ren have the most positive endings. Ren's [[spoiler:is specifically considered the True Ending since ''60%'' of the story is revealed in it]].
63	* ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'' has this as the general setting as each major character including the protagonist have complex issues that essentially requires them to be enrolled in an institution for troubled students. Whether their issues will ever be resolved in a satisfactory manner will be up to the player, and even then the path is thorny for the characters involved.
64	* ''VisualNovel/EdenTheyWereOnlyTwoOnThePlanet''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin That is all.]]
65	* ''VisualNovel/SweetPool'' is another Nitro+Chiral game that is famous, or infamous rather, for having no happy ending. All six possible endings are bad endings, and they are filled with either TearJerker, NightmareFuel, or both.
66	* All of the games made by the extremely popular company ''Creator/KeyVisualArts'', with ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'' often being considered the pre-eminent example of {{Nakige}} in the West. There's a reason why the {{Laconic}} page for each game ends with [[RunningGag 'bring tissues']].
67	* [=ClockUp=]'s ''Euphoria'', ''Fraternite'', and ''Maggot Baits'' (their more plot-orientated, serious {{H Game}}s) combines this with TorturePorn.
68	* ''[[VisualNovel/FamilyProject Family Project ~Kazoku Keikaku~]]'' is full of [[TheWoobie unfortunate characters]] and tragic situations. For example, one of the first characters you meet is a homeless Chinese girl. It's another game made by D.O., who brought you ''Crescendo'', ''Kana: Little Sister'', and others, and it's one of the highest rated visual novels on [=ErogameScape=], a Japanese database.
69	* ''VisualNovel/{{Narcissu}}'' is about terminal illness. One of the most popular nakige out there.
70	* ''VisualNovel/TearsNineTen'' features an [[TheIllegal illegal immigrant girl]] and all the sob stories that come with it, including discrimination.
71	* ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' (1996) is arguably the TropeMaker. Its True Route has tragic plot elements similar to those later used by Nakige titles.
72	* ''Kurutta Kajistu'' (''Crazed Fruit''), a 1992 softcore visual novel, begins like many others do; romantic interest subplot, funny dialogue, and some basic H-scenes... until [[spoiler:every woman that the lead character is with starts mysteriously dying in gruesome ways]]. And it doesn't get any better for him from there ''at all''. Let's just say this is one of the oldest works to regularly get the "Utsuge" tag on database sites for a good reason.
73	* ''VisualNovel/TheSaddestSmileInTheWorld''. One of the visual novel's main focuses is how GamblingRuinsLives. [[spoiler:And if that's not enough, Miu's backstory is a guaranteed tearjerker.]]
74	[[/folder]]
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76	[[folder:Non-Visual Novel examples]]
77	* ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}'' seems innocent enough at first, but the main story is a horrible tragedy where two girls fight to the death with several incredibly depressing reveals at the end and side story characters regularly drive themselves insane [[GoMadFromTheRevelation from the revelation]] or have tear-fueled backstories. Oh and it's a ''ball-bustingly'' hard rhythm game.
78	* ''VideoGame/FragileDreamsFarewellRuinsOfTheMoon'': the central themes of isolation and loneliness are abundant, given TheHero (and audience) wonders if he is truly the SoleSurvivor of a planet set AfterTheEnd. Meanwhile, the silver-haired heroine is DelicateAndSickly, one whom the BigBad Shin wants to use as an ApocalypseMaiden. Supporting characters come and go, and more often than not, their respective ends are heart-wrenching, but beneath such melancholy and drama are ThePowerOfFriendship and ThePowerOfLove - that despite this post-apocalypic setting, the protagonist simply wants to find a companion to spend what life there is left in the world, regardless of the happy and sad moments that may occur. Even Shin turns out to be a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
79	* ''VideoGame/Mother3'' is perhaps the best known example in video game form. The game definitely has its own upbeat moments, quite a few of them, but there are several scenes intended to hit the player hard, and hit hard they do.
80	* ''VideoGame/SeraphicBlue'': The world of Gaia is a CrapsackWorld with countless problems like world destroying Gaia Cancers, Sera-human children mutating into monsters due to the fact that their existence defies natural laws, high suicide rates, corrupt authority figures, etc. On a personal level, the main characters are victims of all these problems along with more personal issues, to the point where almost all of them qualify as TheWoobie. Of note is TheChosenOne, Vene, who was abused and indoctrinated into becoming just as nihilistic and [[DeathSeeker death-seeking]] as the {{Tragic Villain}}s who want to destroy the world, and only thinks of life and saving the world as a painful chore at best. [[spoiler:Most of the characters find some closure in the ending, but Vene continues to struggle with her deeply ingrained nihilism and suicidal tendencies.]]
81	* ''VideoGame/TheCrookedMan'' is pretty sad. At the beginning of the story, the main character David has a really bad life; his sick mother can't remember who he is, his fiancée has just left him, and he's moved to a squalid little apartment. David is constantly haunted by the fact that he can never achieve his dreams of being a pilot due to his colour-blindness. Over the course of the game, [[spoiler:the ghost of the previous tenant, who was severely depressed, tries to drag David down with him. A lot of the endings feature David killing himself. At the end, just after confronting the Crooked Man, David's mother finally remembers who he is, before dying. It gets better for David, fortunately.]]
82	* ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'': You play a pair of scientists who go into a dying man's memories and try to implant a memory that he has been to the moon... except he has memory problems and doesn't know why he wants to go, so you have to find out why. Throughout the game, you discover many tragic events in his life, the most well-known of which is [[spoiler:the story of his wife's death, and their promise to meet again on the moon.]]
83	* ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'' is a video game example. Set in a CrapsackWorld, nearly nothing positive happens the entire game and it's filled with heart-wrenching moments, the frequency of which increases even more as the game progresses.
84	** ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' also qualifies. The player (and 9S) go through a TraumaCongaLine for the latter half of the game, and like its predecessor the game as a whole is incredibly depressing with nearly no hope shown [[spoiler: until you get its GoldenEnding, which the game didn't require supplementary materials or a remake to access, is somewhat of a respite]].
85	* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'', which hits you with boatloads of tragedy before you even begin the game proper, with Ori being taken in by Naru, only for both of them to die slow painful deaths after the death of the Spirit Tree. Meanwhile, [[MinimalistCast what few other cast members there is]], even the villain, turn out to have tragic backstories, to the point that nearly every new plot revelation is a sad one, and though it does eventually pull out a [[EarnYourHappyEnding happy ending]], it's still very bittersweet due to [[spoiler: Kuro's [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redemptive sacrifice,]] and the death of Gumo's entire species meaning that he's TheLastOfHisKind.]] LetsPlay/{{raocow}} sums up the game perfectly.
86	--> '''raocow''': The game that rewards you with sadness.
87	* ''VideoGame/OpusEchoOfStarsong'': A game focusing on a cast of flawed characters, all outcasts and struggling with emotional trauma, with plenty of tears and heartbreak along the way [[spoiler:and with a tragic ending though with a sweet aftertaste]].
88	* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' takes place in the aftermath of a traumatic incident in the protagonist's childhood life. The nature of this incident is barely hinted at in the early game, which mainly focuses on adventures in a symbolic DreamLand, but even this setting is not free from themes of social isolation, mental dissociation and personal loss. The primary villains, while tangible threats, are also representations of the inner turmoil the protagonist faces and [[spoiler:cannot be defeated in traditional combat, but through Sunny accepting those parts of himself]]. "A tissue box for wiping your sorrows away" is one of the few objects to be found in the starting area; these have no in-game function, but the player may need some.
89	[[/folder]]
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91	''And now you know all there is to know about Film/TheCryingGame.''

Context Main / Utsuge