Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Just because it's a world full of giant monsters and related hijinx doesn't mean it's bereft of heartrending moments.
Volume 1
- When Tyrantis tries to help the Terror fight Tricerak, the cowardly Paleo Tyrant takes the opportunity to chase the latter's baby, and kill it instantly as an offering to Tyranta. Poor Tricerak is left in a state of absolute sorrow, stamping the floor in total grief. Tyrantis attempts to console him, but by that point he's just too consumed by despair and anger to allow it, and the jade giant is forced to fight him into submission.
- When Tricerak is seen later on Typhon Island, he's eating intoxicating soma berries, implying that the loss of his family was so traumatic it caused him to start getting drunk just to make the pain go away.
- Tyrantis manages to escape the cave-in in Griffith Park caused by the people blowing it up, but he ends up separated from Tyranta in the process. He's filled with immediate sorrow upon realizing that he basically abandoned his queen, and he lets out a cry of agony before collapsing. It's the first time we've seen such an otherwise cheerful kaiju so sad. Even worse, his rival the Terror manages to get his head out before nearly expiring, and the two share a furious Death Glare with each other as they think the same thing:I blame you. I hate you. You will be my enemy till the end of my days.
- That line alone coming from the mind of Tyrantis of all beings. O.O.C. Is Serious Business, indeed.
- In the part that follows, we find out that Tyrantis just sat there for three whole days staring at where the entrance to his love's home once was. That's how hard he hit the Despair Event Horizon. Literally nothing phases him in that moment except seeing the Terror being taken away by people.
- Lerna realizing that her position under Clark's employment isn't nearly as prestigious as she thought, as the boisterous Know-Nothing Know-It-All Dr. Rockwell is hired almost exactly like she was. It's not put into detail, but one can't help but feel that Lerna must have felt pretty robbed of an opportunity to prove the world wrong about women not getting into important positions. Of course, all of this is thankfully mitigated by her recruiting the people soon to be the most important to her.
- Gwen reveals to Lerna that her fake name that she uses in front of Eric and Laura, Millicent Otis, is in fact her real name from before she became a movie star. She was an orphan in foster care who dreamed of greatness, but as we find in the previous part, all it's done is make her look like a Brainless Beauty with hardly any roles with substance. Had it not been for Lerna, that's how the world would remember her.
- Really, Gwen as a character becomes pretty bittersweet when you realize that she's basically Marilyn Monroe. Both are actors known for their good looks, but both had all of their genuine accomplishments and activism buried by the public's perception of them as ditzy blondes in need of men. Unlike Gwen, Monroe didn't get an escape from this reputation.
- After Lerna goes overboard during the fight with Crustakra, Gwen is seen the next day staring holes in a mirror. In that moment, she's described as feeling less like Gwen and more like "sad, unwanted, powerless little Millicent Otis". It's clear that she views her old self with total scorn, especially after seemingly losing her first real friend.
- Henry, for his part, blames himself for not being there to save Lerna, telling Gwen that he could have stopped it all from happening.
- Tyrantis seemingly dying when he and MechaTyrantis fall into the ocean abyss.
Volume 2
- Lerna's reunion with Tyrantis is cut short when Old Meg pulls him far away from the boat. She's filled with sorrowful frustration before her friends rush to comfort her.
- Dr. Tsuberaya reveals to Lerna that she lost her father when he got caught in a fight between Nastadyne and American troops. It was at that point she decided that all the conflict between man and kaiju has done is leave behind nothing but death and destruction. It's extra painful considering Nastadyne is usually an alright sort with humans. Thus, the idea of the humans triggering that conflict is far more likely.
- The absolutely sorry state the Writhing Flesh is in. It's the result of several kaiju getting caught in an atomic bomb blast, and now it's a wheezing meaty abomination that doesn't even like to fight anymore. When Herakoschei and MechaTyrantis attack it, Tyrantis actually makes them stop upon realizing how sad and scared the beast actually is.
- After the fight against Pathogen, Dr. Murnau triggers an earthquake to bury everyone. Everyone escapes, except for Tyrantis. He comes close to being pulled to safety by the Writhing Flesh, but then MechaTyrantis sadistically blasts him so that he ends up buried beneath piles of Earth. Lerna screams at the sight, and everyone is overcome with despair at the thought of losing their big friend all over again, and after just having gotten him back.
- General Sherman reveals to everyone before the raid on Area 51 what he really thinks about war. While he has no regrets fighting against foes like the Nazis, he admits that there was no reason for things like the Korean War or even the current Cold War. To him, all war ever did was create a cycle of death that turns good men into killers. To him, War Is Hell, and all the Spooks Organization has done is profit off of it.
- Despite being one of the Spooks, Dr. Praetorius shows an immense amount of regret for being a part of things like Asset Minerva (a huge clone of Lerna made for Clark), begging our heroes (while they're still in disguise) to forgive people like him for dabbling in such things.
- J.C. Clark might have been a horrible person for everything he's done, but his last moments are completely pathetic. He's just been humiliated by one of his creations (Minerva), he's cracking under the strain of killing Dr. Praetorius, and he can't admit to Lerna what the threat coming in the future is because he's just too damn prideful. Even when given a chance to redeem himself, by Lerna no less, he rejects it just so he can escape...only to be accidentally killed in an anti-climatic manner by Promythigor's hand.
- Dr. Praetorius slowly dying from his injuries and telling the others to leave without him. He makes sure to let Henry know that the world needs good people like him. He watches the destruction of Area 51 with hardly any regret, and sure enough, he perishes with it, seeing it as a fitting end. It's a somber send-off for the Token Good Teammate of the Spooks Organization.
- While watching the battle between Atomoton and Kemlasulla, General Sherman confesses to Henry what he believes really starts wars. It's not justice or honor, it's most of the time just countries making new weapons of mass destruction, like bombs or robots, and then wanting to use those new toys right there and now. And he's resigned himself to the idea that another war will come where these toys get put to use.
- Thanks to Tsuburaya's research, Lerna finds out that because Yamaneon is such a powerful mineral capable of creating huge amounts of energy, it means the kaiju could be considered natural resources to be killed for that energy. She's left appropriately stunned, and it's obvious that she fears for her dream of kaiju coexistence being dashed for the sake of short-term gain on mankind's part.
- If you read the Kaiju Files on Cope's website, you'll find that some of the Beyonder kaiju are not happy with their jobs. Torkenrak and ESPECIALLY Dorazor in particular have been broken and beaten down by countless years of waging war on other worlds to the point where they believe that things like freedom and peace are things they'll never have. It just goes to show what kind of horrible beings the Beyonders are.
- Lerna watching in horror as Pathogen beats Tyrantis to death. She screams in despair as her big friend drops to the ground bleeding profusely from the head. When she and her friends get to where he landed, he's pretty much at death's door, with Bobo and Tyrantor futilely trying to get him back up. All Lerna and her friends can do is sob and watch their most treasured kaiju slowly die and turn into Yamaneon. Thank GOD he got a Heroic Second Wind.
- After the threat is over and the kaiju are celebrating their victory, a newly restored Terror looks to Tyrantis, and the two acknowledge that while they don't have to be rivals anymore, they can never be friends. The Terror then leaves to go underground, as if he knows he's unwelcome by most of the kaiju, in the hopes that he can belong there. It's a rather bittersweet end to one of Tyrantis' most bitter grudges.
