History TearJerker / JunjiIto

* “Street of Gravestones”. After the truth that Tsuyoshi and Kaoru ran down Izumi’s sister in a car accident finally gets out, he has to endure the horrors of dying and mutating into one of the restless bodies, while she can only watch in despair. Meanwhile, at Izumi’s home, three new gravestones stand, [[DrivenToSuicide side by side, accompanied by empty medicine bottles and last wills.]]

** And the most upsetting part? There's nothing supernatural in this story. It's an all too real example of pointless human cruelty.

* ''Long Dream'' has the dreaming patient's state after spending so long trapped in his dreams. He becomes convinced another patient is his wife from the dream world. When she's horrified by his now monstrous appearance, he sinks into quiet despair, wondering aloud what will happen to him as his dreams continue. Eventually, his body loses all resemblance to humanity and crumbles to dust, with the doctor wondering if he found peace in his dreams.

* "Gentle Goodbye". A woman has been constantly plagued by dreams of her beloved father dying. She marries into a wealthy family who are all hostile to her, except her kind sister-in-law. She discovers that, when one of the family dies, the others will perform a ritual to create an "after-image" of the dead person which lingers for around twenty years to give them time to say goodbye and accept the death. Not only does her sister-in-law turn out to be such an after-image (with a heartbreaking scene where the girl, unaware of what she is, promises to stay at home with her mother forever as the mother sobs over her), but [[spoiler: so does the heroine herself - who was killed by a car on her wedding day. She only finds out about this ten years after the wedding when her husband turns out to be having an affair and wants to marry his girlfriend. The protagonist blames herself for this, and decides she was a bad wife for being more devoted to her father than her husband. She goes home to spend whatever time she has left with her elderly father, and wonders which of them will disappear first.]]

* The ending of "Roar" is a serious case of loyalty to one's wife. TogetherInDeath can't be more literal than [[spoiler:jumping after your wife's drowning ghost to save her, all after you had done everything to do so for thirty years in vain.]]
** Making it worse? [[spoiler: He unknowingly did this in front of his long lost son.]]

* "Death Row Doorbell" starts out creepy, with the criminal who killed the protagonist's family appearing as a ghost and apologizing to them over and over, but it ends on an extremely bittersweet note. [[spoiler:Her brother's anger overtakes him and he keeps beating up the ghost, for several days until he has a breakdown and [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]. The protagonist keeps repeating that she forgives the criminal, but eventually, she gives in to her hatred and keeps beating the ghost over and over like her brother. When her mother (who was paralyzed by the criminal) passes away and the criminal is executed, she wonders if the ghost will still show up or if he will continue to haunt her for the rest of her life. [[BittersweetEnding He doesn't.]]]]
* "The Bully" is every bit as depressing as it is [[NightmareFuel horrifying]]. A young woman admits to her fiancé that, when she was a child, she became friends with a boy who just moved into town. His mom trusted her to play with him, but she gradually got sick of him and so [[KidsAreCruel began bullying him]]- pulling his ears, shoving his head into sewer water, and forcing him to jump off a slide and hurt himself. He only stuck around because he didn't have anybody else and hoped she'd start eventually being nice to him again, but his family moved away when the girl's bullying lead to him getting ''mauled by a dog.'' However, by the end, she reveals that the boy returned not long ago and admitted that not only does he forgive her for everything, but he loves her. She breaks up with her fiancé and the two get married and even have a child together. [[spoiler: And then he leaves for work one day and never comes back. The woman can't cope with being a single mother and, noticing her son is the spitting image of the boy, begins bullying him. She even theorizes that the boy did all this as his revenge. Now an innocent child who never even knew his father is stuck in the middle of it all, but with no way out.]]

* "Death Row Doorbell" starts out creepy with the criminal who destroy the protagonist's family appears as a ghost and keep apologizing to them over and over but ended up on an extremely bitter note. [[spoiler:The protagonist's brother's angered and hatred get the better of him and kept beating up the ghost, days after days until he had a breakdown and [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]]. The protagonist keep repeating that she forgive the criminal, but then gave up to her hatred and keep beating the ghost over and over like her brother. When her mother paralyzed by the criminal passed away and the criminal was executed, she wondered if the ghost will still show up or will he haunts her for the rest of her life. [[BittersweetEnding He didn't.]]]]

* "The Bully" is every bit as depressing as it is [[NightmareFuel horrifying]]. A young woman reveals to her fiancé that, when she was a child, she became friends with a boy who just moved into town. His mom trusted her to play with him, but she gradually got sick of him and so [[KidsAreCruel began bullying him]]- pulling his ears, shoving his head into sewer water, and forcing him to jump off a slide and hurt himself. He only stuck around because he didn't have anybody else and hoped she'd start eventually being nice to him again, but his family moved away when the girl's bullying lead to him getting ''mauled by a dog.'' However, by the end, she reveals that the boy returned not long ago and admitted that not only does he forgive her for everything, but he loves her. She breaks up with her fiancé and the two get married and even have a child together. [[spoiler: And then he leaves for work one day and never comes back. The woman can't cope with being a single mother and, noticing her son is the spitting image of the boy, falls back into her old habits and begins abusing him. She even theorizes that the boy did all this as his revenge for her ruining his childhood. Neither of them grew up, and now an innocent child is stuck in the middle of it all, but with no way out.]]

* "Death Row Doorbell" starts out creepy with the criminal who destroy the protagonist's family appears as a ghost and keep apologizing to them over and over but ended up on an extremely bitter note. [[spoiler:The protagonist's brother's angered and hatred get the better of him and kept beating up the ghost, days after days until he had a breakdown and [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]]. The protagonist keep repeating that she forgive the criminal, but then gave up to her hatred and keep beating the ghost over and over like her brother. When her mother paralyzed by the criminal passed away and the criminal was executed, she wondered if the ghost will still show up or will he haunts her for the rest of her life. [[BittersweetEnding He didn't.]]]]

* "Deadman Calling" starts out creepy with the criminal who destroy the protagonist's family appears as a ghost and keep apologizing to them over and over but ended up on an extremely bitter note. [[spoiler:The protagonist's brother's angered and hatred get the better of him and kept beating up the ghost, days after days until he had a breakdown and killed himself. The protagonist keep repeating that she forgive the criminal, but then gave up to her hatred and keep beating the ghost over and over like her brother. When her mother paralyzed by the criminal passed away and the criminal was executed, she wondered if the ghost will still show up or will he haunts her for the rest of her life. [[BittersweetEnding He didn't.]]]]

* In "The City Without Streets", the protagonist fends up from being stalked by her family and decides to run away to her aunt's house. Her aunt's neighborhood turns out to be in a chronic state of her own predicament, so much that the aunt goes insane from the lack of privacy and no longer cares of being a nudist when people are freely walking in her house and drilling peepholes on her walls. Running away from her aunt, she comes face to face with a {{Yandere}} serial killer that killed her classmate, but he was killed by her aunt. Realizing that it's not too late for her aunt, the protagonist begs her aunt to leave the neighborhood with her to save her from the insanity, but the aunt calmly guides her out of the city and walks back into the darkness, thinking that she's too far gone for any semblance of normal life. The chapter ends with the protagonist solemnly walking into the light, out of this madness.

* "Lingering Farewell". A woman has been constantly plagued by dreams of her beloved father dying. She marries into a wealthy family who are all hostile to her, except her kind sister-in-law. She discovers that, when one of the family dies, the others will perform a ritual to create an "after-image" of the dead person which lingers for around twenty years to give them time to say goodbye and accept the death. Not only does her sister-in-law turn out to be such an after-image (with a heartbreaking scene where the girl, unaware of what she is, promises to stay at home with her mother forever as the mother sobs over her), but [[spoiler: so does the heroine herself - who was killed by a car on her wedding day. She only finds out about this ten years after the wedding when her husband turns out to be having an affair and wants to marry his girlfriend. The protagonist blames herself for this, and decides she was a bad wife for being more devoted to her father than her husband. She goes home to spend whatever time she has left with her elderly father, and wonders which of them will disappear first.]]

* The ending of "Roar of Ages" is a serious case of loyalty to one's wife. TogetherInDeath can't be more literal than [[spoiler:jumping after your wife's drowning ghost to save her, all after you had done everything to do so for thirty years in vain.]]

* In "Town with No Roads", the protagonist fends up from being stalked by her family and decides to run away to her aunt's house. Her aunt's neighborhood turns out to be in a chronic state of her own predicament, so much that the aunt goes insane from the lack of privacy and no longer cares of being a nudist when people are freely walking in her house and drilling peepholes on her walls. Running away from her aunt, she comes face to face with a {{Yandere}} serial killer that killed her classmate, but he was killed by her aunt. Realizing that it's not too late for her aunt, the protagonist begs her aunt to leave the neighborhood with her to save her from the insanity, but the aunt calmly guides her out of the city and walks back into the darkness, thinking that she's too far gone for any semblance of normal life. The chapter ends with the protagonist solemnly walking into the light, out of this madness.

* ''Lingering Farewell''. A woman has been constantly plagued by dreams of her beloved father dying. She marries into a wealthy family who are all hostile to her, except her kind sister-in-law. She discovers that, when one of the family dies, the others will perform a ritual to create an "after-image" of the dead person which lingers for around twenty years to give them time to say goodbye and accept the death. Not only does her sister-in-law turn out to be such an after-image (with a heartbreaking scene where the girl, unaware of what she is, promises to stay at home with her mother forever as the mother sobs over her), but [[spoiler: so does the heroine herself - who was killed by a car on her wedding day. She only finds out about this ten years after the wedding when her husband turns out to be having an affair and wants to marry his girlfriend. The protagonist blames herself for this, and decides she was a bad wife for being more devoted to her father than her husband. She goes home to spend whatever time she has left with her elderly father, and wonders which of them will disappear first.]]
* The Ash Lady in "Mimi's Ghost Stories". She is the ghost of a mother who burned herself to death, and she now haunts her child out of motherly attachment. Unfortunately, she appears as a frightening charred corpse and leaves ash wherever she goes, terrifying her daughter, who doesn't even know her mother has died. The Ash Lady is eventually subjected to a painful exorcism, and the problem goes away, but she was only trying to comfort her daughter the whole time.

* The ending of ''Roar of Age'' is a serious case of loyalty to one's wife. TogetherInDeath can't be more literal than [[spoiler:jumping after your wife's drowning ghost to save her, all after you had done everything to do so for thirty years in vain.]]

* In ''Town with No Roads'', the protagonist fends up from being stalked by her family and decides to run away to her aunt's house. Her aunt's neighborhood turns out to be in a chronic state of her own predicament, so much that the aunt goes insane from the lack of privacy and no longer cares of being a nudist when people are freely walking in her house and drilling peepholes on her walls. Running away from her aunt, she comes face to face with a {{Yandere}} serial killer that killed her classmate, but he was killed by her aunt. Realizing that it's not too late for her aunt, the protagonist begs her aunt to leave the neighborhood with her to save her from the insanity, but the aunt calmly guides her out of the city and walks back into the darkness, thinking that she's too far gone for any semblance of normal life. The chapter ends with the protagonist solemnly walking into the light, out of this madness.

** Making it worse? [[spoiler: He unknowingly did this in front of his long lost son.]]

* Very rarely will you feel sympathetic towards ANY of the antagonists, but you have to feel sorry for the dad in "Heart of a Father" at the end.

* The ending of ''Roar of Age'' is a serious case of loyalty to one's wife. TogetherInDeath can't be more literal than [[spoiler:jumping after your wife's drowning ghost to save her, all after you had done everything to do so for thirty years in vain.]]

* The Ash Lady in "Mimi's Ghost Stories". She is the ghost of a mother who burned herself to death, and she now haunts her child out of motherly attachment. Unfortunately, she appears as a frightening charred corpse and leaves ash wherever she goes, terrifying her daughter, who doesn't even know her mother has died. The Ash Lady is eventually subjected to a painful exorcism, and the problem goes away, but she was only trying to comfort her daughter the whole time.

* ''Lingering Farewell''. A woman has been constantly plagued by dreams of her beloved father dying. She marries into a wealthy family who are all hostile to her, except her kind sister-in-law. She discovers that, when one of the family dies, the others will perform a ritual to create an "after-image" of the dead person which lingers for around twenty years to give them time to say goodbye and accept the death. Not only does her sister-in-law turn out to be such an after-image (with a heartbreaking scene where the girl, unaware of what she is, promises to stay at home with her mother forever as the mother sobs over her), but [[spoiler: so does the heroine herself - who was killed by a car on her wedding day. She only finds out about this ten years after the wedding when her husband turns out to be having an affair and wants to marry his girlfriend. The protagonist blames herself for this, and decides she was a bad wife for being more devoted to her father than her husband. She goes home to spend whatever time she has left with her elderly father, and wonders which of them will disappear first.]]