Tear Jerker / Daikaiju Yuki

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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Daikaiju Yuki is a series set after an apocalypse, so naturally, you're going to feel sorry for the characters one way or another.

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Daikaiju Yuki

• In general, the running theme of how the civil war has affected the main cast. In particular, Yuki and Ivan. The former is plagued by PTSD flashbacks of her fellow soldiers getting massacred by Alkonoth, as well as the inability to properly adapt to anything resembling a normal life. The latter was essentially Forced into Evil for the sake of his husband and son.
  • Actually, let's talk about Ivan for a second. At first, he's built up to be a despicable war criminal who brainwashed Alkonoth into betraying the Pantheon and killing hundreds for the Scythian Empire. As it turns out, he doesn't even believe in the cause at all, as it is on its last legs, and joining the horrible fight was the only means he had of protecting his family. Naturally, he's quite guilty about it.
• Yuki reacting in internal revulsion at Midori's speech about individuality and rejecting perfection. What makes it harsh is that she knows the priestess is right, but life has repeatedly beaten the opposite into her head, particularly the need to live up to the legacy of her dead father.
  • This is brought up again somewhat in Avarta. After having a one-night stand with a woman there, she realizes that she can't get Midori out of her head, and she openly states to the other woman how surprised she is at how they can lead normal lives.
• Upon awakening in Narajin's body, Yuki ends up stumbling around the nearby town. The response from the people is almost completely hostile, with them throwing things at them and shouting at how Narajin wasn't there for them back during the war. Turns out Narajin isn't very popular due to not being there for the invasion of Scythia.
  • The kicker for Yuki during that scene is that the one yelling at them is ex-military.
• While recounting the rise of the kaiju, Narajin sadly tells Yuki how they all killed humans indiscriminately due to their roles as Gaia's Vengeance. She's understandably horrified at the fact that her supposed guardian monster has an undoubtedly high body count. Narajin clearly doesn't enjoy this fact at all, as the narration constantly points out the shame in his voice and looks. He solelmly acknowledges that he and his brothers were in the wrong, and how he'll never let such a thing happen again.
• Upon finding Scythian soldiers, Yuki immediately goes on the offensive, and smashes them with Narajin's fist, despite his objections. At that point, she realizes that she just took the lives of people who, for all intents and purposes, were Just Following Orders. Narajin goes even further, asking Yuki if they would have fought back if they knew a kaiju was coming.
  • It's this incident that helps her forgive Ivan to an extent, as they have both mindlessly claimed the lives of the enemy for their own reasons.
• Manny revealing that his parents are often too busy at work to see him, his brother is a part of the guard, and he lives with his grandma. More hard-hitting is how he and his brother used to go to Ganejin's temple to pray for a closer family.
• Alkonoth's immediate reaction to being freed from Ivan's control is, according to Narajin, all of the horror and betrayal of being forced into committing atrocities against the beings she had sworn to protect. No wonder she went berserk on him initially.
• Chapter 13: The Burial Mound. Perhaps the biggest emotional nadir of the first book.
  • Upon getting to Laurentia, the Pantheon come across a stronghold preventing them from continuing. Unfortunately, there's no other alternative except breaking through their defenses, meaning that the soldiers fighting them will surely die. Steeling themeselves for the fight, they break through...and end up destroying an entire town of innocent civilians. The absolute shock and guilt from everyone as a result is palpable. Manny's reaction in particular is harrowing, with him screaming in horror at what he just contributed to. Yuki manages to put two and two together, and realizes that this was a ploy on Laurentia's part to make the kaiju look bad. The fact that so many were senselessly sacrificed to both demonize and demoralize our heroes sends Ivan into a Tranquil Fury like never before. It's clear that he's holding back a metric ton of rage at all the betrayal he's going through.
  • Soon afterward, after Manny puts everyone back on track, all they can do is make the titular burial mound and just keep going, with Narajin giving a touching eulogy.
  Narajin: The humans are now returned to the Earth. Their life essense will become one with the planet's, and the ripples of their lives will continue until the end of the universe. We vowed before, and we will again now - that no more innocent lives shall be extinguished by our hands.
  • Soon afterward, even after reaching the LCC, everyone's still in Heroic BSoD mode, with them having not spoken a word to each other during the journey.
• The horrible state of the slums below the LCC's main building. Everyone is living in absolute squalor with the nuclear fallout, and all they get for it is being called scummers by the higher ups. In particular, an old lady approaches Yuki looking malnourished and on the verge of collapse. Yuki simply cannot see any hope in the sight.
• The hosts being thrown in a prison cell after Houston takes their amulets away. During the time there, Yuki realizes that she forgot her own birthday, right before the end of the world. No one else is in much better shape, with Ivan staring holes into the wall and Manny having very clearly cried himself to sleep (though he ends up finding a solution).
• Right before the Gargoyle is created by the bomb, Narajin makes it clear to Yuki that he doesn't see them surviving the encounter, and that this will be their Last Stand, despite her objections. They are thankfully proven wrong, but still.
• Mokwa's backstory. Long ago during the ice age, she lost her two cubs when they fell through a frozen lake. After almost going in to join them, she refused to believe they were dead, and spent thousands of years just sitting there, waiting for them to return, and letting nature overtake her. They never did. And today, their corpses became a pair of islands in the center of the lake.
  • The prelude to learning about this is quite sad too. After the Gargoyle fight, Mokwa looks like she's about to finish what she started...but then it dawns on her where she's at, and it causes her to freeze up, and dash towards where the lake is. There, she can only stare at the sight (one Yuki saw earlier when tapping into her mind no less), and when Yuki attempts to peer into her mind again, she's overcome with the kaiju's sorrow and grief. Afterwards, Mokwa rejoins the Pantheon.

Y2K: Yuki Conquers the World

• The story begins with Yuki attempting to impress Midori with Narajin, and it's an absolute DISASTER. Not only does the deep sea leviathan give Narajin a harder time than previously thought, but it ends with Yuki and the kaiju accidentally blasting Midori with black ink after the kraken is violently disposed of. The priestess then runs away before Yuki can say anything. All the warrior can do is scream in anguish and frustration. Cue title.
  • Even during the date, there's an offhand comment Midori makes that implies that she's only around Yuki because of her connection to Narajin. This thankfully turns out not to be the case, but still.
• During Yuki's time in Narai, she ends up feeling rather isolated with all of the people ignoring her and/or still treating her as an outcast. Combined with their dislike of Narajin, it's a bit hard to swallow that she's still not seen as a hero here, especially with the indication that Midori is still cross with her.
  Narrator: In one of the most densely populated places on Earth, she was alone.
• It's later revealed that Midori was in fact not horrified by Narajin's fight. In fact, she loves that part of Yuki's life. It's just that she's grown tired of being just a spectator to the Pantheon's adventures. Yet despite this, she can only sadly accept that no matter what she does, she can never truly be a part of Yuki's life. Our hero's reaction is appropriately somber, and she can only leave with the flimsy hope that they'll find a way.
• Aten's backstory. As she reveals through Yata, she's the Last of Her Kind, the rest having been wiped out by the evil Dreadnoughts. It doesn't take long for everyone to realize that the alien they had done nothing but unnerve them before is in fact a greater victim than any of them combined.
  • Not only that, but the state Yata is left in after Aten probes his mind and delivers the information. Seeing who had been one of the chillest and carefree of the Pantheon turn into a weak and shell-shocked wreck is tough, especially when he starts despairing over the bleakness of the oncomming Dreadnought threat.
• The moment the Dreadnought kaiju arrive at Mombasa, everything goes to Hell. The kaiju futilely try to fend them off, while Yuki becomes desperate to save Midori from getting killed. Narajin tries to dissuade her, trying to focus on the majority of people, but Yuki won't have any of it. It escalates into Yuki literally tuning out Narajin's consciousness and taking full control. The good news is that she manages to rescue Midori from Charybdis' black hole. The bad news is that the Pantheon has disappeared, Mombasa is little more than a smoking water-filled crater, scores of people have died, and when Yuki leaves Narajin's body, she finds the kaiju to be not moving at all. In that moment, she realizes that she may very well have killed him as a result of taking over. By that point, it's hard to not feel as hopeless and guilty as she does in that moment.
  • Ivan is only convinced to let Yuki go through with it when she asks him what he would do if his husband and/or son was in the crossfire.
• While wandering the island she and Midori are on, Yuki thinks of how horrified her friends would be if they found out that she killed Narajin in what amounted to a fit of blind impulsiveness. She almost entertains jumping into lava before Midori gets her attention.
• While it brings Narajin back, the song that Midori and Yuki sing is surprisingly somber, sounding like a plea for the lion kaiju to cease his rampage and save them from desolation. It just reminds Yuki that back then, he was very much a destroyer.
  Earth has burned
  Through the endless night
  The sky a shroud
  Our home is gone

  Demon you've come
  Your brethren slain
  The fire has stopped
  The ash has fallen

  Oh, great demon
  But few remain
  We have but one request
  Will you stop at us

  Crusher of crushers
  Lion of vengeance
  You've stricken down those
  Who would kill us all

  Our tears fill the ocean
  Into which you wade
  You know only blood
  You know only war

  Our one request
  Will you stop at us

  Together
  We are all that is left

• The deaths of Alkonoth and Ivan. First, the bird kaiju is decapitated by the Big Buggo, causing Ivan to crash into the ground. Although he seems not too hurt at first, after the battle is over, everyone finds that Alkonoth's demise has taken such as physical toll on the man that he cannot survive for much longer. All Yuki can do is hold her enemy-turned-friend as he peacefully passes away, simply requesting that his body be brought back to Scythia and that she keeps on fighting and remembers him as not just some hero, but a friend.
  • Upon reaching Scythia, Ivan's husband and son look like they saw his demise coming, and are appropriately in tears about it, especially the poor kid. The subsequent Viking Funeral and the narration's own little eulogy for him is equal parts beautiful and tearjerking.
  Narrator: To all the people who would tell tales of him forever, he would be an insurmountable myth. To those with him on this day, he was a father, a husband, a friend.

Scythian Frost and Other stories

Scythian Frost:

• The fates of Kirill and Sasha, respectively.
  • Kirill ends up with his foot on a land mine that'll go off no matter what anyone does. Sasha pleads with him to stay there while they think of something, but the young man accepts his fate. Cue him graphically blowing up to Sasha's horror.
    • Made even worse by the fact that, as the narration helpfully points out, he was the one looking forward to seeing Alkonoth the most. He never even got the chance.
  • Sasha ends up without his coat in the frozen wasteland and with a major bullet wound in his shoulder. He can only crawl into Alkonoth's temple as he approaches death's door. The visage of the ibis Goddess sleeping above him is all the comfort he gets (and at that point, wants) before passing away.
• The fact that Kirill and Sasha's efforts to stop Alkonoth from being used were ultimately All for Nothing. The kaiju would still be mind-controlled into doing the empire's bidding, and even if she got freed later, she would still be killed later on, her host with him. Foregone conclusions suck.

Outrigger:

• Taika getting killed by the sea urchin leviathan. Kai is left equal parts horrified and guilty over it all, as it was his idea to go over the trench it lived in so that they'd have a quicker route.
  • Not only that, but Taika clearly had something going on with Kai's boss before they left. What's Kai going to say to her now that his blunder got him killed?

Lair of the Devourer:

• Akuma remembering how she met Enofe Chuk. She went to the place she had been studying giant gorillas...and found them all horribly slaughtered by him. When she tried to bring Chuk to justice, he successfully lied his way out of punishment. Just the idea of otherwise peaceful creatures, ones closely related to humans no less, being killed so brazenly can make an an animal lover sick.

Pharaoh of Eels

• The death of Laki sends poor Maia hurdling into Heroic BSoD mode, as she can only stare blankly ahead after losing one of her family.
• In general, the feeling of helplessness and terror the protagonists go through while at the pirate's mercy. Unlike most of the other leads beforehand, they truly feel that there's nothing they can do to stop Faro from doing what he wants with them except play along.
• The true nature of the eels that Faro controls. Already, the characters recognize how pitiful they really are being manipulated into doing the pirate's bidding by the amulet. But it gets worse. They are in fact parts of Pirangon, a destroyer kaiju that Jhalaragon split into separate eels long ago. Then Faro enslaved them for years. So not only did Pirangon lose all sense of self (albeit after attacking humanity), but his free will as well. Ouch.
• After destroying the pirate base and killing Faro, Pirangon lays there at death's door, having used up all of his power. He telepathically tells Manu that he's thankful to have restored his honor, but it's still unendingly tragic that this great beast, presumably the only one of his kind and one that had just redeemed himself, now slowly ebbs away. The protagonists can only watch as the life fades from the kaiju's eyes.

Yuki vs. Fleshworld

• After learning how to float in the air, Yuki tells Ivan that he's no longer the only one who flies...only to remember that the man died not too long ago. It's made clear in that moment that everyone still misses him. Throughout the entire story, Yuki thinks of him frequently.
• Upon finding out that there is a pantheon on Aten's dead planet, itself a sobering sight for our heroes, they excitedly track them down...only to find that they're Dead All Along, giant monuments being all that's left of them. Aten is horrified by the revelation, and according to Midori, she's crying at the sight. Even worse, they died trying to summon an even worse monster to stop the Dreadnoughts, and it was All for Nothing.
• Midori is noticeably distraught at Yuki negotiating with Yamanra by herself, and doubly so when Yuki tells her that the admiral tried to seduce her. Thankfully, she sees reason when her girlfriend makes it clear that she rejected Yamanra instantly. The ensuing fight with the rogue Dreadnoughts helps things as well.
• While she, Midori, and Jorguis are in the Warrior Beast tomb, Yuki ponders over the dead kaiju and host in the room they're in. She wonders if she too will be immortalized somehow, even if she meets a fate far away from Earth. Even when they leave, she can see the host's skeleton staring at her. It's all a bit sobering.
• Right after using the henshin device on Fleshworld, Yuki finds herself in a dark abyss. In that moment, the full trauma of the absolutely brutal way she just disposed of Jorguis falls onto her like a pile of bricks. She starts to wonder if she really is just as violent and barbaric as Yamanra says she is, and very nearly breaks down before Fleshworld's voice snaps her out of it.
  Yuki (whimpering): Why am I like this. Why am I fucking like this?
  • Immediately afterward, she talks with Fleshworld, and as it turns out, the planetary menace is nothing like she imagined. He's a Gentle Giant who never meant to hurt anyone, and is so cripplingly lonely that he instantly calls Yuki a friend. During their talk, he even states that he's probably better off dead after what he's done. Yuki connects the dots and realizes that they're not so different. It's only through talking it out with him that she's able to find peace not only for the monster planet, but herself.
• Yamanra's self-inflicted death. Having lost everything, from her mission to her army, she admits to Yuki that she's far stronger than she'll ever be, and that she can no longer bear the weight of her previous actions. She allows her kaiju to fall onto and crush her, but not before some mororse last words.
  Yamanra: I don't think you came here to forgive me. I think you came here to forgive yourself. Goodbye, Yuki. Thank you.
  • Yuki admits that unlike previous victories, this one doesn't feel nearly as great. Because deep down, she related to Yamanra. But ultimately, unlike her, the admiral could never find a reason to just keep going.

Mokwa: Lifesblood of the Earth

• While it's sweet to see the bond Allie has with her father and grandmother, it makes one wonder where exactly her mom is. For all we know, she's dead.
  • Ursa Major actually shows us that her mom is perfectly fine, so it's all good.
• According to one chapter, Allie instinctively reacts poorly to soldiers holding guns due to her living in the slums under Frank Houston's empire for her entire life. Ouch.
• After one soldier is killed by a bloody infection via plant, Allie sees his friend just sitting and staring at his hands, clearly mentally ravaged by what transpired. Even the bad guys suffer under the decisions of their higher-ups.
• After Ryan confiscates her amulet, Allie thinks that she's already failed her mission for a brief moment, and that the world is doomed. Thankfully, Lieberman gives it back to her...before she's shot in the head for daring to do the right thing.
• Rodrigo/Yottatherium getting brutally killed by Supayra's mind-controlled deep-sea leviathan is bad enough, but then there's their hometown of Pategonia's reaction. Upon seeing Mokwa, they proceed to fire upon her, blaming her and Allie for letting their hero die. It's by and large one of the most emotionally draining moments for Allie in the story, and for good reason.
• Allie suffering from PTSD while in Alkebulan.
• After severely beating the controlled deep-sea leviathan up, Allie and Mokwa acknowledge that Supayra's forcing it to take the brunt of their attacks, and feel appropriately sorry of it as it briefly slinks back into the ocean.
• The creation of Dr. Heimann is a horrible Chimera of the forgotten lands' own kaiju, and it's in a constant state of unrelenting pain. Upon being freed, it doesn't even fight Mokwa. It smashes the castle, and then tries to rip its own head off. Mokwa puts it out of its misery upon seeing that, but the whole thing proves to be a harrowing sight for all involved. Mokwa states that the only reason Supayra freed it was to demoralize everyone else.
• After Supayra's defeat, Allie and Obasi come to the realization that with there being no more destroyers, Dreadnoughts, or other villains on Earth, they might be seeing the end of Earth's need for the pantheon. It's not so bad, but it does carry some subtle And Then What? vibes.

Mokwa: Ursa Major

• This whole story can just be considered one long Trauma Conga Line for Allie and Mokwa, especially the former. You'd swear the author was having a Creator Breakdown with what happens here.
• First of all is how Allie is doing currently. For most, being a hero and having a cosy life with a loving boyfriend would be the pinnacle of fulfillment. But for Allie it just...isn't. She's haunted by the trauma of both old wounds and new, the voice of Supayra comes back every so often to taunt her, and she can't shake off the idea that the Pantheon out in space needs her. Altogether, she's just too maladjusted to even enjoy life.
• After her nightmare, Allie decides to leave Gael, Earth, and Owen. The latter may respect her wishes, but it's clear that the two are going to miss one another. Still, it's heartbreaking how Allie had basically the perfect partner, and she couldn't even enjoy that without feeling like it was all wrong.
• At first, it seems that Allie and Obasi are going to reunite with the Pantheon on the planet that they occupy. They come within inches of the place...and then they miss. They end up sailing past the planet and into a far, far, far away part of the universe. It's here where the horrible things in the story begin happening in earnest.
• When the Fog Knights are fighting Mokwa and Mungonde, the Plague Knight stabs Mungonde, and takes both him and Obasi away to parts unknown. Allie and Mokwa are left all alone on a planet they have no idea what to do on.
• Appropriately, Mokwa is left wracked by guilt over their inadvertent misfire that got them on the fog-haunted planet, stating that she failed everyone, especially Allie, who for a time blames all of it on her.
• During the night in the Ganawendan castle, Allie has a huge panic attack from the stress of the Fog Knights and Obasi's kidnapping, launching into a Cluster F-Bomb and her screaming into a pillow. And that's before her vision of Supayra shows up.
• It's made very clear that Colonel B is haunted by how the Fog Knights took away his family and by extension his hopes of having a normal life. He's driven almost entirely by revenge at this point, not caring what happens if he succeeds or fails. Allie finds it hard not to relate.
• In spite of the camaraderie (and romantic fling in Tim's case), Allie knows that the soldiers she's allied with will inevitably die fighting the Fog Knights. And they do. The pilots of Mons Magna are blown up in their own robot, Tim gets sliced in half after Broadsword is used as a weapon by Mokwa, and Colonel B orders her to blow him and Fortress up when the Fog Demons prove too much. For the last two, Allie feels almost responsible for their deaths, and especially bad about how the Colonel won't live to see his vengeance realized.
• Allie and Mokwa finally find Obasi and Mungonde...except the latter is possessed by the fog while the former is barely clinging to life. After being forced to fight twice, Obasi says to Allie that the only way to save him is to kill Mungonde. With great reluctance, Mokwa does just that, slowly and violently smashing in the poor monkey's head. In the end, the Final Boss of the book is not the fog itself, but the bear kaiju' former friend turned puppet. It's by and large the most sorrowful moment of all in not just this story, but the series as a whole, leaving everyone involved all but broken by it.
• The implication at the very end that Supayra was indeed real throughout the book (something confirmed in the next one), and is now possessing Allie, which she just allows. Quite the harrowing cliffhanger to end on, eh?

Mokwa: Exorcism

• The prologue involves a bride hearing that her fiance got killed by Supayra, who then shows up and kills everyone there. The poor bride ends up so consumed by despair that she willfully walks into the frog's mouth.
• After such a long time of being on Ganawenda, Allie has taken many levels in cynic. She has nothing but contempt for the world she saved not too long ago, sees the inhabitants as ungrateful, treats her occasional talks with Mowka with contempt, and alienates Obasi with her sour attitude and suggestions of violence. Altogether, there's the strong sense that this once heroic woman has well and truly FALLEN...at least, before it becomes clearer that she's being slowly possessed by Supayra.
  • Speaking of which, the fact that Supayra has successfully gaslit Allie into basically doing his bidding. She's so broken by her experiences that she's willing to trust a psychotic murderous frog that makes her kill people while tricking her into thinking it's All Just a Dream. That's just...awful.
  • One of the people killed, the most recent one before the ruse is up, is the new colonel, who just stares at Allie's possessed face with a look of pure betrayal before succumbing to her wounds.
• After everyone notices the dead colonel, Supayra betrays Allie, possessing Mokwa for a brief time and causing her to annihilate hundreds of civilians and even the queen. Mokwa manages to get Allie out of there (unaware that Supayra tagged along), and all the human woman can do is look upon the carnage that she got roped into allowing to happen. All because she chose to trust someone who never had her best interests in mind. The fact that she basically betrayed all of her values for him of all beings crashes down upon her.
  What had she done?
  What had become of Mokwa?
  What had become of her own self?
  • Later, Supayra possesses her into stabbing Obasi to the point of nearly killing him. All Allie can do is scream for him to stop making her do it before Mokwa manages to intervene.
• After Supayra has been reborn along with his surviving children, Obasi is allowed to leave Mokwa after recovering. The look he gives Allie isn't even anger, it's described as dejection. He's quick to forgive her as always, but it's clear that her almost killing him under Supayra's possession has left its emotional mark.
• He may have been a mindless brute, but Setanayra's death is rather somber. He gets jumped by Shujayra, and has no idea why his brother would just turn on him like that. Then Mecha Mungonde and the Mecha Knight attack, with the latter stabbing him before his brother performs a Neck Snap on him.
• Shujayra, barely holding on to life after being poisoned by his father/brother, gives what little power he has left to Allie and Mokwa so that they may kill King Supayra. He then collapses, seemingly dead in Mokwa's arms. All Allie can do is cry over the loss of her one good son, wishing it had been her instead.
• After all is said and done, Allie decides that if anyone's getting off the planet, it's not her. She offers Obasi her amulet, and very nearly brings a knife (the same one she almost killed Obasi with) [[drivenToSuicide to her throat]]. The man instantly stops her, and they both end up sobbing into each other. It's only when Shujayra reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead that Allie finds the strength to carry on.