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Tear Jerker / Anime & Manga
aka: Anime

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Some scenes in anime & manga just know the right way to tug at your heartstrings. Yes, Sacchin... we know. It is sad, isn't it?


The following series/franchises have their own pages:

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Other Examples

Note: If a series has a Main page, create a new subpage for Tear Jerkers rather than listing it here.

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     A-H 
  • The otherwise Squickful yaoi manga Boys Next Door pulls out all the stops angsty past-wise, hearing one of the main characters talk about being abandoned by his mother at a carnival. ("The jester's giving away balloons!"... "Mom, is there no balloon for me because I'm a child nobody wants?") It's supposed to be his Start of Darkness more or less but comes across as perfectly horrible.
  • The final episode of Dog Days: Shinku has to return to his world, much to the sadness of some of the people of Biscotti, especially Princess Millhi, who shares a tearful goodbye with him. But, there's a condition where Shinku can return anytime everyone wishes.
  • The ending of the various incarnations of A Dog of Flanders is usually considered one of anime's top Tear-Jerkingest moments. Other World Masterpiece Theater series tend to be loaded with these as well.
  • Tatsunoko's Hakushon Daimaō, despite being a slapstick gag-comedy series, has a tear jerker in the final episode, where Daimao and Akubi-chan are forced to leave Earth for 100 years.
  • The ending of the Girls' Love manga Honey Crush by Asu Tsubaki. Mitsu and Kyouko finally admit their feelings for each other and immediately afterwards, Mitsu finally goes to heaven, leaving Kyouko alone.
  • Even the short-lived Ane Doki managed to deliver some of these when in it's final lap. After knowing that he and his father are going to move to Hokkaido, which would mean his separation from the Hajiwara siblings, Kouta ends his dinner the most normal way possible, then go upstairs alone, shuts himself in his room, and completely breaks down.Even though Natsuki would annoy him quite often for being spoiled, aloof and nonsensical, he finally is accepting that he really loves her. Sound extreme Narm at first, but in fact is really relatable. Kouta is just thirteen years-old, and Natsuki is his first love, and this is going to be his first heartbreak. Everybody went through this one day.
  • Overall, the last chapter of Absolute Boyfriend. On the page where Riiko is about to leave the home to go shopping and Night is telling her that he loves her, just for her to return later and find out he died.

     I-L 
  • Remi (Ie Naki Ko), which became popularized in Latin American countries in the 80s, was an unending sobfest, but standing out was the scene in which the performing monkey dies on the snowy streets. See it here. (Audio in Spanish)
  • Love Me For Who I Am:
    • Chapter 9 after Mogumo and Tetsu confess their love for each other and Kotone is seen with a sad and angry look on her face because she loves Mogumo.
    • Kotone's backstory in Chapter 10. especially her admitting that she wasn't ready to go out with Mogumo and that although she loved them, she didn't want to hurt Mogumo.
    • Chapter 23, which finally reveals Mogumo's backstory. They grew up knowing that they weren't male or female, but everyone around them, including their parents, kept insisting that they were a boy, refusing to let them have cute things. Years of built-up frustration and crippling dysphoria led to Mogumo threatening to cut out their Adam's Apple in a fit of despair, which led to how the family is now. It's then that Sakura realizes that Mogumo didn't do what they did out of spite or just to throw a tantrum. The chapter ends with Mogumo deciding to talk to their parents and finally face them.

     M-P 
  • Osamu Tezuka's short films, despite usually not having any dialogue, frequently become this. M Mermaid is about a boy who falls in love with a mermaid that everyone says doesn't exist.
  • Korean Web Toon My Young Cat And My Old Dog is made of tearjerker moments, especially considering it's at least partially true: the author does indeed have a young cat that she spared from euthanasia at the shelter she works at by pretending it was put down, then paying for its vet bills and a very, very old dog she's had since childhood ("if you were a human, you'd be my younger teenage sister, not an old grandma").
  • The Mystical Laws:
    • Shou's televised execution by firing squad. What's sad is not the man's death itself, but the Earth's people mourning his death. They put all their hopes in that he, as the Savior, will defeat the Godom Empire, only have said hope crushed upon seeing him humiliated and then executed. It's even more poignant if you watch it from the perspective that these people have been tricked.
    • The ending song, "It's A Miracle World!" by CHORUSPICE is a solemn yet triumphant song about the Savior's reconnecting Earth with the Spirit world after a billion years of solitude. Moreover, the composer is none other than Ryuho Okawa himself, who claimed was inspired by Rient Arle Croud, this song can make you shed tears even if you're not a member of Happy Science, especially during the Creative Closing Credits.

  • In the final episode of Nadine, the Star of Seine, Marie Antoinette is led to the guillotine in a dignified way. After she place her head in the lunette, one of the executioners pulled off her bonnet letting her hair down, an act which nearly made her lose her composure as she's brought to tears. And then, the blade falls and the crowd roars in rejoice. The last image is her severed head being held up to the crowd.

     Q-T 
  • ●Rec, a doujin written by Mizu Asato (more well know for the series Denki Gai No Honyasan and Aharen-san wa Hakarenai). Based on the cover alone one would likely assume it is a depraved hentai manga. The first 10 or so pages play into that notion. However, the story actually revolves around a father and daughter spending time together the day before the daughter goes in for a very risky operation. The story starts really tugging at your heart strings when the father starts listing major events in his daughter's life that he wants to film; events that very well may not happen if she doesn't make it through the operation. Things really take a turn for the worst when he asks his daughter for one last picture for the camera; a smile and piece sign. He proceeds to start crying, making his daughter cry. This last frame shows the cover of the manga: the little girl crying giving a piece sign. Suddenly the perverted look of the cover takes on a whole new (depressing) meaning.. The final pages shows that the entire manga has been the father rewatching the video they recorded that day, something he said he'd only view "when he is sad". The final panel shows the daughter's face with the speech bubble "dad, I'm home".
  • Rotting Soulmate, a short series of illustrations by the artist Ray-K, details in gruesome and tragic detail the progress of a girl suffering from a terminal disease that causes the flesh to rot. The story puts the reader in the point-of-view of the girl's boyfriend, who steadfastly remains by the poor girl's side as her body slowly breaks down over the course of more than three weeks; it does not shy away from the gross details, such as the girl's extremities rotting to the point of just falling off her body, and she doggedly tries to keep a brave face for her boyfriend, even as she tries to make light of her condition and jokingly threatens to haunt him if he abandons her, you can see the horror and depression set in as she first loses a finger, then one limb after another, to the point where even her sight, sense of touch, and hearing start to degrade, and at one point she even wants him to stop visiting her because she was ashamed of the condition of her body. She ultimately dies content that her love stayed by her side to the very end, and he joins her shortly afterwards by overdosing on the painkillers she refused to take, leading to her playfully chiding him for keeping the promise to join her that she asked him not to take after all while reuniting in the afterlife. It's just the way she even refuses her painkillers despite her agony, just so she can feel his hand, that will stab you deep in the heart.
  • Sally the Witch: After spending the entire series making friends in her school, Sally is forced in the end to reveal her powers to put out a fire. Day saved... except, because people now know she's a witch, she has to wipe everyone's memory and never return.
  • Suki na mono wa Suki dakara shoganai, or Sukisho, has quite a few. Episode ten reveals that both Sunao and Sora were kept in a laboratory as children and physically/mentally abused. To top it all off, he was left behind after Sora was mind controlled into letting go of him and it has been suggested specifically in the manga that the abuse worsened to rape. The scene when Shinichirou allows Sora to stab him shows Nanami's reaction was as devastating as Sora's was.
    • Another tear jerking moment was when Sora faces up to his fear of Aizawa and goes to save Sunao as well as when Sunao trips over, he promises to never let him go again.
  • Tamagotchi anime show/films:
    • Almost everywhere in Tamagotchi: The Movie.
      • First we have Mametchi breaking down to tears when he hears that the sun left Tamagotchi Planet because of him. Not much longer later, he falls into a black hole trying to save the planet, and he's TERRIFIED of the dark, followed by shots of the entire cast (including his little sister and family) watching on in horror. And we all knew that Tanpopo would go home at the end of the film, but we didn't expect Chamametchi bursting into tears, and the rest of the cast slowly following suit.
      • Mametchi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Chamametchi after she annoys him one time too many also counts to a lesser extent. Poor Chamametchi is left bawling her eyes out after he's done.
    • The TV show:
      • Episode 143, where Kizunatchi nearly dies while taking care of the spreading egg curse and slowly plummets to the ground as Mametchi and his friends all run towards her and shout that they'd rather be cursed than to see her die. Even if it's a Disney Death and Kizunatchi evolves from the power of the Tama Hearts and manages to vanquish the epidemic once and for all, it's still a bit of a pain to watch.
      • Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream episode 20 is full of this. Mametchi's still miserable after losing the competition in the last episode, and an argument with Ikaritchi prompts him to run away and find a new place to stay. Even worse, he later visits Himespetchi and asks her to bring him back to Tamagotchi Town. After a fierce argument, Himespetchi throws Mametchi out of her ship before curling up on the floor and crying.
  • Ten, the series to which Akagi is a prequel, proves that author Fukumoto Nobuyuki loves bringing his characters down (see also: Kaiji). In the end volumes, Akagi (who, by this point in his life, is quite the mentor to the main characters), a terrifyingly skilled mahjong player armed with his considerable wits, unstoppable will to win, and preposterous luck develops Alzheimer's. In his early fifties. Akagi decides that this is a Fate Worse than Death and that it's Better to Die than Be Killed by a disease that will eventually make him into an empty shell of the man he is. So Akagi calls upon his closest friends to talk with them about his death, his life philosophies, and so on...hooked up to assisted suicide machine. The very last page of Ten is a shot of Akagi's headstone, which is covered with tributes to the legend himself and considerably damaged due to aspiring gamblers wanting a little bit of his talents.]]

Alternative Title(s): Anime

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