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Tear Jerker: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Joe's dying speech to the team in the first series finale of Gatchaman.
And Kentarou Washio aka Red Impulse's death. Made even worse some episodes later when Ken is tricked into believing he may be alive, but it was just a trap from the enemy. Seeing Ken watch the sunset in tears and being unable to finish his usual afterthought speech is just cruel.
How about the end of episode 3? Ken befriends a boy in a similar situation to his, but unlike Ken this boy's father is dead and Berg Katse has taken the man's identity. Ken fights him, drives him off and lets the boy hate him for making his "papa" go away again because he knows the boy's pain all too well. He just doesn't have the heart to crush his dreams even when they've already been crushed, and the sad music accompanying a more melancholy "hang in there, Gatchaman" doesn't help.
Ryu quitting the Science Ninja Team after his mistake of oversleeping gets the team in trouble. Once again we hear the sad music as he sits alone on the train, mentally apologizing to the team. "I'm sorry, guys, but I just can't let this go". This troper gets teary-eyed just remembering that train scene.
