Tear Jerker / Jumanji: The Animated Series

• In the show, unlike the film, Alan never saw the clue he needed to free himself from Jumanji. The first episode has him be confronted with the fact that he missed a clue that could have freed him if he'd caught sight of it. He is nearly broken by the realization.
  • The final episode has him find out what happened to his clue: he rolled the dice, and then his mother called him so that he turned his head at the sound and missed the clue. He spent twenty years stuck in Jumanji, losing his world and his family, because of an unintended distraction.
  • The quest Jumanji assigned Alan when he made that first fateful roll? It turns out to have been to pluck a thorn from a lion's paw. Because Alan never saw that clue, that pain-maddened lion has been chasing after Alan for all these years, waiting desperately for Alan to help him but never receiving any help because Alan just thought of the lion as another Jumanji threat. When Alan finally finds out what his clue was, he's stricken with guilt for how much the lion has been suffering because of his failure.
• Oh! Grow Up! is where Peter died or so everyone thought. Judy hid Peter inside her pocket to trick the Manjis to letting them go. Alan goes berserk and almost ready to kill Tribal Bob for murdering Peter all the while Bob and the Manji realize the full scope of their actions.
• "Nothing to Fear". Judy and Peter's fears are relatively silly when compared with Alan's fear: growing old and dying in Jumanji without ever returning home.
• Mixed with Heartwarming, but Alan cares for Judy and Peter more than his own happiness or his own life.
  • In one episode, under the influence of the Triangle of Terror, Alan has a sobering hallucination: it's a time skip where Judy has a daughter, but she can't so much as attend her birthday because she has to go help "Uncle Alan". Poor Alan is afraid his being stuck in Jumanji will lead to interfering with Judy and Peter leading normal lives.
  • In another episode, the game is breaking down and Alan tells Judy and Peter to free themselves and leave him behind.
• "Bargaining For Time" has Peter and Judy utilize the Slick-o-Matic Chrono-Repeater to rewind the turn in an effort to save Alan's life after he initially dies by being struck by lightning. This turns into a "Groundhog Day" Loop as they try more and more in vain to save his life; with Alan's deaths becoming more gruesome each time.