Tear Jerker / Fruits Basket

• The fact that the majority of characters, especially the Sohma family, have so many issues to deal with and will likely need (for some, YEARS of) therapy to truly recover and be healthy, can be one in of itself.
• Even though Tohru lost her mother and her dad at a young age and was left alone she decided to live on her own in a tent so as to not burden others and manages to have hope. THAT alone is a tearjerker. Also the fact that none of her family wanted to take her in, except her grandfather, and even then she's bullied out by cousins that treat her like trash.
• Hatori's backstory. He was forced to part ways with Kana, a woman he loved, because Akito couldn't stand her. When the two got into an argument over it, Akito blinded Hatori in one eye, causing Kana to blame herself for the incident and leading him to wipe her memory.
  • The tears cried over Hatori's flashback in episode 8 of the anime completely sold Fruits Basket as a quality series. And what makes it even more heartrending is the instrumental version of the opening theme song playing in the background.
  • Then there's the Fridge Horror of the effects of Akito mind raping Kana. Allegedly, after the ordeal, she spent all of her time sobbing and blaming herself for Hatori's eye injury, no matter what Hatori or Mayu said to her. Don't get it yet? Kana was driven to clinical depression.
  • The 2019 anime made Hatori's backstory even more of a tearjerker with the Adaptation Expansion of the scene in general.
• Momiji talking about his mother, which they later topped with his sister Momo — whose plea to get to know Momiji even made Tohru bawl.
  • What Momiji overhears his mother saying just before her memory is wiped. "The only regret I have in my life is that that creature came out of my body!" Dear. God.
  • In the reboot's dub, one subtle detail makes Momiji's Wham Line hit harder — when his mom and Momo run into him and Tohru, Momiji drops his German accent. This is both to not tip his mom off that he's her son and a hint that he chooses to play up his accent to feel closer to his mutti, as he barely has a choice in anything else in his life.
• Kyo's master taking off Kyo's bracelet to reveal the cat's true form as a monstrous foul-smelling creature. Tohru is in shock, and almost completely inconsolable. Also doubles as Nightmare Fuel.
  • The Sohma family look on in sadness, and (in the anime), her friends try to help her help Kyo.
  • It does not get any better when Akito beats down Tohru in the forest with his words, saying that she could never help Kyo, and that she was stupid to even try, all with a horrible smirk on his face.
  • Kyo himself is completely distraught at the fact that Tohru saw his true form, thinking that she will never love someone like him, and goes deep into the forest. Tohru finds Kyo, and begs him to come home, so they can do everything together like before, and to confide in her, while she is crying. When Kyo hugs Tohru, feeling better, and turning back into a human and then a regular cat, before Tohru carries him out of the forest and back home.
• Kazuma's flashback of the time how coldly he treated the previous Cat, his grandfather, which he clearly regrets afterwards. His grandfather never blamed Kazuma and all he said was "It's okay".
  • Kazuma later shares another heartbreaking detail of his grandfather. When he learns how close Kyo is getting to Tohru, he's moved at first, but later becomes worried. Why? As Kazuma explains, his grandfather had a female partner who stayed with him for many years and even bore his child. Sounds heartwarming at first, but then when his partner was asked why she was so close with the Cat possessed person, her reply was "He's so pitiful, don't you think?" That's right, she lived with and had children with the Cat person because she felt sorry for him. Kazuma thus can't help but worry if Tohru cares for Kyo for the same reason; feeling sorry for him rather than actually loving him.
  • There's also the person he tells this story to: Kagura, who's infatuation for Kyo was based along similar (if more childish) lines. The realization that she was that callous towards Kyo brings out an utterly heartbreaking expression. But it then inspires her to push Tohru to confess her feelings for Kyo.
• Uotani's backstory. Her mother left her family, her father became an alcoholic, and feeling completely abandoned, she joined a gang. Only when she met Tohru and Kyoko she managed to get better.
  • Also, the gang fight scene is very sad in hindsight. The look on her face when she is getting beaten up by her gang members in a rather brutal way looks like she is a literal kicked puppy being abused. Had Kyoko (or one of the members) not save her, she would have ended up in a hospital like Kyoko was.
• Ritsu's introduction starts out funny... Then he reveals (while smiling) just why he apologizes so much; because he feels like there's no good he can do in the world. Yeah even the comic relief character is a giant woobie.
• Hiro taking a jab at Tohru over the fact that she always brings up her mother and even claims that she has over-attachment issues. For once, Tohru's Stepford Smiler facade cracks just long enough that Kisa realizes it and gets upset by Hiro's comments. Tohru tries to brush past it until she's alone that night, when it's very evident that she's hurting.
• Akito beating up Momiji during the first beach chapters. He does his best to protect Tohru, but Akito gets angry and starts punching him. Once Akito leaves with Kureno, Momiji starts crying. Tohru immediately runs up to him and hugs him, trying to comfort the poor boy.
• When Momiji's father tells him he has to stop violin lessons because Momo wants to learn and they can't risk the two meeting. It's possible that that's the moment when Momiji finally gives up. You said you would still love me as much as ever, but you know what? You've chosen her over me every single time you had to make that choice. And I'm done with this. This also hints that, despite the love he has for his mother, the longing he has to be near her and the brave front he puts on for Tohru, at some level Momiji also deeply resents her for always coming first in everyone's concerns and dictating how he can live his life.
• Isuzu Rin had a happy childhood, but noticed that her mother and father never seemed upset about anything. She innocently asked why that was, since she knew that most people had something that made them sad or angry. Even though she was just asking as a curious child, her parents break down and scream at her to "give [them] a break", at which point she learns that they never loved her and only pretended to. This marks the start of Rin seriously repressing her emotions, which lasts for most of her life, as she believes that if she's good and quiet, her parents will go back to being the way they used to be. Of course, all this does lead to her being an emotional trainwreck as a teenager, with the added "bonus" of everyone thinking that she's simply cold and unfeeling. This is not the case, of course. She actually feels sorry for innocent people, and very much wants to see them go on living innocently. But it's impossible for her to express this sentiment, because of how messed up she is. She also becomes ill and eventually needs to be hospitalized, at which point her parents visit Rin just so they will let her know that they’re kicking her out of their lives and informs her that she must live elsewhere, because Rin's own parents have no idea how to love her anymore.
  • Then she starts dating Haru, who is basically the only person to ever make her feel wanted or needed, only to find out that they were caught by Akito. She lies that she started it all, and is shoved out a window for that (but not before Akito takes time to tell her how useless and unneeded she is). This leads to her distancing herself from Haru, even trying to convince him she no longer loves him, and trying find a way to break the curse. She gets so desperate to do this that she offers herself to Shigure for whatever he wants (implicitly sex) if he tells her and eventually runs herself so ragged that she has an emotional breakdown, gets sick, and starts going to such lengths that Hiro actually believes she'll die if she keeps it up. To top the whole thing off, she finally finds Akito's mother, who promises to tell her how to break the curse if Rin steals a box from Akito's room. When Rin tries to do this, Akito locks her up with the threat of gouging out Haru's eyes if she escapes, at which point Rin basically gives up and stops eating. Oh, and Ren had no clue how to break the curse, and laughed about how useless Rin has always been. The girl deserves many, many hugs!
• Machi's backstory. She was pushed to perfection to the point that she barely managed to develop a life or any interests of her own. The real kicker is when her mother (who pushed her to be perfect) basically tossed her aside as soon as her son was born, then had the nerve to get offended when Machi called her out on calling her dull when she never gave her the chance to spread her wings as an individual. Then Machi's parents kick her out on the insane assumption that Machi was trying to smother her brother, when all she was trying to do was give him a blanket to stay warm.
• Yuki's flashback to his childhood, late in the series.
  • It's terrible to see Yuki's childish confusion turn to dismay, then despair, as he realizes just how alone he is. Everyone he reaches out to rejects him, with apathy or anger or cruelty. No wonder he was so reserved at the start of the series.
  • In the 2019 anime remake, the ending song shows a scene of a younger Kyo, Haru, Kagura and Momiji playfully walking with each other past Yuki's room as he longingly watches them through the window. Then the Mabudachi Trio as teens appears with Ayame hesitating for just a moment as he stops in his tracks to look at Yuki staring out at him, before Hatori taps his shoulder and he turns away to catch up with the others. No one else paid attention to or even noticed Yuki, but it's so much sadder that it's his older brother who was the only one to pause, but still give him the cold shoulder and leave his little brother behind.
• Katsuya's death. Got even worse when all his relatives started badmouthing Kyoko over her Dark and Troubled Past and firmly believe she was “fooling around” and that Tohru is not likely Katsuya’s. And the relatives tells this to Tohru’s face, because they assumed she’s too little to understand what they’re saying!
  • Then we have Kyoko plowing through the Despair Event Horizon after Katsuya's death, seriously thinking of killing herself... and when she's about to throw herself into the sea, she sees a mom and her kid, and remembers that Tohru is still at home. When Kyoko comes home after contemplating suicide, she finds Tohru waiting for her, just like Katsuya. What really makes it tragic, though, is that Tohru was imitating Katsuya on purpose, because she wanted to help her mom out of her debilitating depression and didn't know what else to do. She wasn't nearly as oblivious as Kyoko thought.
  • It gets sadder when you remember that the last conversation Katsuya and Kyoko had was discussing giving Tohru a brother or sister.
• Kyo's whole relationship with Kyoko. She was like a mother figure to him and that whole relationship went sour just when he was a child. Then it went even worse when he was there at her death and believed it was his fault. Those two were great friends and could have had a wonderful relationship. It had to be very meaningful for Kyoko, as well, who was struggling alone without family support or a husband, raising a daughter, to find a kindred spirit in this sweet young boy. The whole thing is Tragedy.
• The relationship between Tohru and her father. Katsuya adored his daughter. He doted on her as much as Kyoko did and he wanted to give her a sibling before his unfortunate death. Tohru was too young to remember this; the only thing she remembers about him is how he spoke and the fact that his death deeply hurt her mother, which causes her to resent him for dying. And this relationship can never truly be mended. What really makes this hit home is that Tohru recognizes that it isn't fair to resent him for dying, but simply can't help feeling that way.
• Kureno rejecting Uotani, because he made a promise to Akito, who was distraught when his curse broke, that he would never leave the "sad little girl" alone.
• Even before Katsuya’s death, Kyoko had it hard to say the least. She grew up in an extremely neglected family, without a single memory of her parents hugging her, let alone eating all together. Kyoko vents her frustrations by jointing a gang and lashing out at practically everyone. Kyoko’s parents only expressed disappointment towards her as they only cared about their reputations, while her father gets physically abusive and his first scene is hitting her and kicking her out while calling Kyoko worthless. All Kyoko’s mother could do is worry over their neighbors judging them over Kyoko’s behavior while whining over her husband taking out his frustration onto her, and she has the gall to outright ask Kyoko why she turned out as a “disappointment”. Kyoko could only roar out that her mother shouldn’t have given birth to her.
  • Once she meets Katsuya, he proves to Kyoko there is the good in humanity, and this inspires her to turn her life around. But once Kyoko decides to leave her gang, the members beat her into hospitalization, which made her miss her final exams into getting into high school, and her parents dump a bag of her belongs and demand that she never come back into their lives.
  • Just when Kyoko’s father couldn’t be any more of a bigger Jerkass, he calls Kyoko several years later to tell her that she and Tohru are not welcome to live back with him or her mother, and this was mere days after Katsuya’s funeral!
• Kakeru admitting to Yuki that he used to hate Tohru in the aftermath of the car accident that claimed the lives of Kyoko and the father of Kakeru's girlfriend (who was the driver), because he felt that she wasn't the only one deserving sympathy, even implying that he held Kyoko partly responsible for the accident. Fortunately, he eventually realized that the tragedy was nobody's fault, and he was an awful person for even holding such a thought.
• When Momiji's curse breaks, more specifically, when Kyou confronts him about it and Momiji turns back to look at him, all hunched over, with that tortured smile on his face...
• The entirety of Chapter 121. Kyo tells Tohru about how he feels responsible for her mother's death, about his Mother's suicide, about the hat incident and how he felt when he first met Tohru. Then Tohru runs off, feeling rejected. As if all of that weren't bad enough, Tohru runs into Akito, Tohru finally understands why Akito is the way she is, tries to befriend her, and then is pushed away by Akito. As if that weren't horrid enough, when it seems that Akito may be this close to think of her offer again and accept her offer... Tohru then falls off the cliff where the series started and nearly dies.
• And let's not forget chapter 122 of the manga, which is this from the beginning to the end. Right after Tohru's biggest CMOA aka witnessing and withstanding Akito's Villainous Breakdown... she falls off a cliff. When she was telling Akito "You Are Not Alone" and offering her friendship. Not only that seals Akito's Heel–Face Turn (with her actually screaming for help for Tohru instead of gloating, and then collapsing in tears in Shigure's arms,) but it's followed by Kyo's own Anguished Declaration of Love as Tohru lays injured on the ground, a briefly conscious Tohru telling him not to cry and grieve... and at the end, their sort-of "first kiss." This might be one of the most powerful chapters in Shoujo manga in years, period.
• The whole culmination of Tohru and Kyo's relationship itself is tragic and a heavy case of Earn Your Happy Ending. Kyo has his Love Epiphany as Akito slanders Tohru to get a rise out of him. Instead of getting mad like always, he breaks down crying and asks why he would say such terrible things about her. Being in love with her hurts him because Kyoko's final words still haunt him and he's cursed to spend the rest of his life in the Cat Room. He decides to never confess his feelings to Tohru because he figures that he's undeserving of love. And then we have Tohru, who spends the final leg of the series in an uncharacteristic panic and desperately trying to find a way to end the curse, because she's in love with Kyo and never wants him to leave her like Kyoko did.
• Kyo's backstory. His mother really did love him, only to end up committing suicide because she couldn't handle the verbal and mental abuse her husband threw at her, for which he used Kyo as a scapegoat just because he was born the Cat.
  Kyo: (speaking about his mother's suicide) Are you saying it's my fault?
  Kyo's Father: Yes, that's right! You better admit that you killed your mother!
  • How about this?
    Kyo's Father: You've ruined my life! All because your mother brought you into this world! Because you were born!
• The Zodiac curse breaking at the very end. They're all crying, and the narration combined with those images... Complete bawlfest. Especially as Akito looks on, monologuing about how scared and lonely she feels about facing the future. She's going through the thing she's most afraid of, and she just wants someone to let her cry and hug her.
  Akito: Father...I don't want to be "special" or "a god" anymore. Is it okay...for me to be...just myself...? Even if I...start living my own life...I will be miserable, and afraid, and unneeded...but still...!
• The true story of the Zodiac curse. And especially in retrospect, when you realize just how extraordinarily unfair the Cat's lot has been since then.
• You have to feel bad that Kagura is one of the few people who ends up alone in the series... She deserved someone to love her just as much as everyone else. Thankfully, Another reveals that she at least has one son in the future, meaning she eventually got to find someone she loved and loved her back after moving on from her feelings for Kyo.
• In Fruits Basket Another, Sawa met her old elementary school friend who saw her smiling and talking to Shiki, and revealed to her that Sawa's mother had been controlling her social life right behind her back, essentially trapping her in a Friendless Background for years. Then Sawa's mother attempts to do the same when she found out Sawa has been befriending the Sohmas when she rushed back home. Only she didn't go through with it because of work and forgot about it. When Mutsuki and Hajime found her in front of their house later, she end up crying herself to sleep when they brought her to the Sohmas' home as they assure her that it wasn't Sawa's fault, with this as her inner monologue, crying to get back all that her mother had taken away from her.
  Sawa: Give it back. Give them all back to me.
  • To make it worse? Her neighbors are all unaware about this, because Sawa's mother kept the image of a caring single mother around them. The ending of Another implies that things will get better for her, now that Sawa decided that she won't put up with her mother's bullshit any longer, but it'll take time for her to leave the house and heal from it.
• The backstory of Saki Hanajima, who due to her Psychic Powers was called a witch by the other kids and bullied her relentlessly. It's heart wrenching watching the little Saki get physically abused by her classmates and see her driven to tears. Such torment causes the young Saki to haplessly wish for her bully to die and her powers cause it to almost happen. While the bully survives, Saki has a major My God, What Have I Done? moment and the bullying escalates as does her isolation. She thus reveals her dressing in black and goth demeanor can be traced due to her deserving to be punished. Of course, the Foregone Conclusion that Saki would eventually find friendship and acceptance with Tohru and Arisa, one will start crying tears of joy.

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