Tear Jerker / Umineko: When They Cry

Riposa, riposa in pace: Nel racconto, che ho scritto, puoi volare in libertà. ^note Rest, rest in peace: In this tale I wrote, you can fly in freedom.

Be warned. Umineko is eight games of murder, mystery and hardship. The faint of heart should have a tissue (and a bucket) ready at all times.

• Maria's final death in the third arc was absolutely heartbreaking, especially watching her essentially get her dreams that had kept her so... cheerful in the first two arcs get completely smashed.
• And in the fourth arc, when Rosa smashes up one of Maria's ceramic rabbits and then tears up Sakutaro, who was virtually Maria's only friend. That scene by itself was heartbreaking in the original Visual Novel, but it's worse in the anime for two reasons: First, because Maria tries to calm her mother down by explaining her "uu" sound is a spell for happiness, trying to remind her of the good times they shared together, and her mother doesn't remember. Second, we get a flashback of Maria and Rosa walking together happily right after Maria asks Beatrice to teach her dark magic to kill her mother. Knowing she does kill her mother in the Visual Novel (and she does so in the next episode) does not soften the blow.
  • Maria herself underlines this in the scene where she kills Rosa. "But Sakutaro won't be fixed, right? Because Mama, who created Sakutaro, won't accept him. Mama also created me and won't recognise me. So the broken Maria won't be fixed either."
  • If Maria is able to see Sakutaro as a little boy, then imagine what she must have seen when Rosa tore him apart in front of her. The sounds he makes while Rosa's doing it, while not exaggerated, are still very heartbreaking.
  • While we are at it, the true origin of Sakutarou, which was easy to miss: We see Ange shocked and crying in fourth arc, after she noticed something in Kawabata's house. She points at it grief-stricken and Amakusa and Kawabata have no idea, what she is pointing at and what's wrong with her. Guess, what she saw: Manufactured lion dolls. Basically mass-produced Saktutarous. Yes, another lie of Rosa exposed; Sakutarou is not hand-made. This sudden realization triggers something in Ange and she becomes able to resurrect Sakutarou, because, well, she has got its vessel.
• From the beginning of the second arc: Natsuhi complimenting Jessica on her performance at the school festival and Jessica getting bashful, thinking that Natsuhi watched her secret musical performance and approved of it. But then Jessica realizes that Natsuhi was only complimenting her formal speech as the student council president and becomes depressed instead.
• Second arc: George and Shannon/Sayo's death. "I will always-”" "YOU THINK I'D LET HIM SAY THAT? DUMBASS!" God damn you, Beatrice. GOD. DAMN. YOU.
  • And it get's even worse if you take Shannon=Beatrice=Yasu into account. What we see then is Yasu struggling with him/herself about his/her relationship with George and the fact that no matter what s/he will kill her/himself (to be freed from being a furniture or in order to become a witch). In fact what used to be scary suddenly becomes extremely sad and painful to read, especially since George never gets the chance to say those words indicates that Yasu killed him before he could because he/she couldn't handle hearing them.
    • Take it a level further: when Battler and the others find the bodies. Yasu completely wrecked the room, smashed the mirrors, couldn't even draw a magic circle and instead just banged, clawed, and scratched the door with her red-painted hands. Try to imagine her mental state at the time.
  • Then we have their death together in the third arc, where George and Beato struggle together to revive Shannon, and accomplish it in what has to be one of the biggest double Crowning Heartwarming Moments / Hope Spots ever, only to have the Siesta sisters' arrows promptly skewer both George and the newly-revived Shannon. And George's last words are spent thanking Beatrice for allowing them to see each other again ...ugu...
• The ending of the fourth arc can be seen as a huge Moment of Awesome for Battler...but after playing through Chiru, think about what the context behind it really means...then it suddenly becomes a LOT more sad.
  • The worst part is Battler is clearly conflicted about fighting Beatrice due to his currently unrealized feelings for her, and so Beatrice keeps trying to make it easier for him by putting on the crazed, cackling villain act. And it always works, which only hurts Beatrice further - if it's that easy to make Battler enraged at her and hate her completely, then there's little hope that he will ever recognize the truth about Beatrice, why she's put him through everything that she has, and what her real feelings toward him are.
• In Chiru, Beatrice's death. With the Character Development in that arc, it really is hard when she dies.
  "Thank you...liar...goodbye, and...sorry."
  • And then there is the song that accompanies it. BAAAAWWW.
  • Or the music box version which manages to turn the song into even more of a Tear Jerker by including Beato's last words during the interval, adding to the impact behind the lyrics.
    • The PS3 remake also uses this version of the song to intensify the drama even further.
  • Battler's reaction to all of this isn't very much fun to watch, either. He's usually pretty liberal with the Tender Tears, but watching him go to pieces swinging between How Dare You Die on Me! and It's All My Fault is brutal.
    • Now try watching the scene in episode 6 right after Battler "imagines" the plate of cookies and Beato and everyone else joking around, then afterward when the "illusions" disappear and only Battler and Beato are left standing there having a heartfelt talk about chick Beatrice. Beato says to think of her as her daughter, cue "Thank You for Being Born" RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT. Instant buckets of tears
    • "Thank You For Being Born." Play it during any sad scene anywhere and you'll become a sobbing mess. Even the last preview for the anime manages to do so with this.
    • Even its title alone is a tear-jerker, as it reflects Sayo's deepest insecurity, how as the product of a father raping his own daughter she feels as though she has no right to have ever been born. But Battler, Jessica, George and Maria all beg to differ.
• From Episode 5: the end of the trial. Natsuhi has been horribly framed for both murder and adultery, both Beatrice and the Kinzo who supported her being revealed as a delusion she created out of sheer despair and loneliness, she gets beaten up by Eva, both her husband and daughter are dead, and nobody (except Battler, who knows that she's innocent for sure, but was recently impaled) is trying to protect or support her anymore; everyone's buying Erika's lie. She finally breaks down sobbing completely, and starts talking to the man from 19 years ago and crying and asking him if he's finally satisfied with taking revenge on her, and if not, what else could he want from her. The music playing during that scene, while breathtakingly beautiful, raises the Tear Jerker level up to eleven.
• Also from Episode 5, the moment before the trial. Virgilia is having a more or less one sided conversation with Beatrice, who is still jaded, dead eyed and listless. Virgilia outright tells Beatrice that Battler has gotten everything he needed to find the truth by the end of Episode 4, but that because he still has some weakness, he'll still never solve the game, and as such Beatrice will also remain tormented. Virgilia, who is basically Beato's mother figure is sorrowfully begging her to simply give up her hope that he'll solve it and let herself die. The way Virgilia's voice sounds like it's cracking also seals it as well.
• Ange's Image Song captures her heartache and sorrow a little too well. Because I can't accept that I've lost everything, please...come back somehow...
  • That translation is actually wrong. The real translation is instead of "because I can't accept that I've lost everything," it's "I don't care if I lose everything, so, please..." The line before that references a "burning pain." Sob.
• A lot of moments in Episode 4 qualify. First, Ange's past and story is particularly painful to read through- especially when right after a scene in which we see Ange happily playing with the stakes and Maria, we are treated to a scene when she gets bullied by her classmates in such a painful way that is already heart-rending, but then she reaches her breaking point, and demands from the stakes to kill them- when they can't and try to explain, she denies them all and kills them, Sakutaro and the witch Maria as well - meaning, her only friends. Then, after they all disappear, when she finally stands up and reads up the humiliating letter the bullies were coercing her into reading, she breaks down in the middle, and asks for someone to let her die - seeing this happen to Iron Woobie Ange, of all people, is really painful and sad. Second, the entire scene where Maria kills Rosa really shows just how broken and tragic they both are in their own ways, in particular if we buy the interpretation that it's Maria's dream; meaning, this is how Maria truly sees her mother- nothing but an ugly, abusive monster. Or even worse, it's a shared dream between Maria and Rosa, which would also mean it's how Rosa sees herself deep down - that her own self-loathing is so bad that she truly believes she should suffer in such a gruesome way for eternity.
  • The manga makes the former scene even worse. "Come on, kill me! Deny me! Your first and last frieeeeeeeend!"
  • Ange being turned into a delicious hamburger. You know what I mean.
• The First Twilight in EP 1. Jessica finding her father and Battler finding both of his parents dead were bad enough, but. . . SHANNON!
  • In that same scene in EP 1, George was asked by his father what was the last thing he saw on Shannon. His response, "her beautiful smile." With his father soon replied, "Shannon wanted to leave that smile for you." But the real Tear Jerker came when George asks him about the diamond ring that was given in their last meeting and its current location. The answer, it was located on Shannon's left ring finger like she was engaged.
  • Also the way Hideyoshi obfuscates the relationship in front of Eva and comforts George by saying "Whoever gave that to her must have made her real happy..."
  • Knowing later on that Shannon's corpse was a decoy and that Shannon/Kanon (really Sayo Yasuda) was actually the one committing the murders only makes it WORSE.
• EP 6, right after Jessica kills Kyrie. She just starts sobbing about how she couldn't give Kanon up, even if that meant killing Kyrie and it was just sad to see ol' tough Jessica completely break down and wonder if she did the right thing...
• EP 7, Ange being turned into hamburger, yet again - except this time, she isn't smiling and urging her brother to go on. She's screaming in agony because of the "truth" she's just learned, which involved finding out her mother hated her, and that Eva actually was the one who cared for her. Fuck you, Bernkastel.
  • From the same episode, you'll certainly view Eva and her relationship with Ange in a different light. In the universe of that Fragment, Eva's tragic Accidental Murder of Natsuhi kickstarted a series of events where Kyrie saw the chance to get all for herself and Rudolf through mass murder. Eva survived and managed to kill Rudolf and Kyrie in defense, but not before the rest of the family (except Battler, whose fate there is not revealed) had been murdered by them. You can imagine her burden afterwards: feeling responsible for having caused all, the thought she could have done the same if presented the chance, suspected to be the culprit because she was the sole survivor, and keeping it secret to spare Ange the truth of how much her mother was twisted and didn't care at all for her daughter. This on top of managing the Ushiromiya Group and keeping it successful. No wonder she fell ill and became so bitter in her last years.
  • It's eventually revealed that in Rokkenjima Prime what had actually happened was the events depicted in the Episode 7 Tea Party. Yasu instead of being able to play out her game, had her epitaph solved almost immediately by the Ushiromiya siblings. Meaning her game ended before it even began. It is later revealed that Yasu by her own roulette was forced to give up the gold and weapons, then the siblings instead turned on each other and started massacring one another. So in reality, Yasu was denied both her game and the vengeance she sought, and got to see the Ushiromiya siblings at their absolute worst to boot. This is the reality of the situation and unfortunately no amount of magic can change that fact. Makes you wonder how much of the Beatrice act in the meta was her way of being merciful to Ange and Battler; to take all that blame instead of them finding out their parents were cruel murderers. What's worse you can see Yasu's expression as Beatrice, and see that she was utterly and completely defeated when her grand game didn't even get a chance to start.
• The third arc, Beatrice's Heel–Face Turn turns out to be the cruelest of traps. Not that we didn't see it coming, of course. Then Virgilia turns out to be The Mole.
  • It's just as bad from Beatrice's perspective. She finally gets Battler to see her as she wants him to see her and her happy ending is within reach...then throws it all away in order to make him reach the truth. Playing through the second time around, her pained facial expressions during her Face–Heel Turn really sells the scene.
• EP 6 also has Kanon reflecting on his life and the bonds he's made with the family — especially the unpersonable ones like Kinzo, Natsuhi, and Krauss; and the ones he doesn't get along with, like Gohda — while running to rescue Battler from the closed room.
• EP 7, most of Yasu's story. Waiting for a Childhood Marriage Promise that will never be fulfilled, being constantly abused by the other Servants, etc. Also, the true reason behind the epitaph and what happens once it's solved.
• EP 7, After Beatrice as Beato the Elder solved the epitaph, found the gold and had Genji brought her to Kinzo, he's brought to tears after he's reunited with her as his long-lost granddaughter but also his daughter via his Parental Incest with his daughter, the late Beatrice II which he confessed about it to her as atonement for his sins then passing over the family inheritance to her as the next head of the Ushiromiya family, asking her to call him 'father' which she does before he declares he now no longer has any lingering regrets and laughs all the way to his limit before he slowly collapsed and died.
  • In EP 8, the Kinzo of the Golden Land who exists in Battler's game has realized how selfish he'd been in wanting forgiveness from his dead wife and daughter to the point where he'd used said daughter's child that he'd had with her and left his other offsprings to turn into the broken family they became. So ultimately, even his "atonement" had been just another sin from him, enough of one to make him ask himself My God, What Have I Done?
• The grand ending of the series in EP 8, in which Battler dies and gets to be Together in Death with Beatrice and his family, complete with reunion scene and Call-Back to EP 3. Your heart will break in the best possible way.
  • In the manga version, adult Battler is Spared by the Adaptation as the part of his soul/brain that is the younger Battler Ushiromiya and has all of his memories just leaves his old, wheelchair-bound body and assimilates with Golden Sorcerer BATTLER, who is added to the scene. Still doesn't make the moment any less moving.
• EP 7, Will and Lion being killed by Bern.
• EP 8: Most of the scenes unlocked by solving the quizzes.
• Also in EP 8, both the Trick and the Magicending, the magic ending in particular. Of course warning for major spoilers.
  • And while we're at it, EP 8's credits song, Ricordando il passato.
• On the topic of what makes this series so heart-wrenching, let's discuss what most of Chiru up to its ending implies. Even though Battler was able to deduce Yasu's mystery by the end of End, he was still unsuccessful in solving her mystery by the time she disappears. However, solving Beato's mystery is more than just "who is Beatrice;" it's also discovering the secrets as to why Beatrice is the way she is. All of Chiru implies that because Battler didn't solve Beato's mystery, and why Yasu put up that front to begin with, Yasu ended up killing herself or dead somehow in Rokkenjima Prime.
  • Mega spoilers. Alternatively, remember that Twilight reveals that Umineko is fan-fiction by Yasu for EP 1-2 and Battler deducing what happened on the island for EP 3-5. Chiru could also imply Battler, after his deductions, figured out about the shitty situation Yasu was in with: her illness; her being bullied by the other servants and the orphans from Fukuin; her body image issues; her best friend and crush leaving the island with little hope of returning after he promised (kinda) they'd spend the rest of their lives together; her being the new headship of the Ushiromiya family (which she inherited from her (Grand)father); her finding out that her Father is also her Grandpappy and employer (including the fact that the incest only made her feel worse); and her being forced to spend the rest of her life on that same spit of land where her life had been a living hell apart from the aforementioned MIA crush -- the crush whose MIA status coupled with her body issues and her not receiving of a letter from Battler caused her to start to go slowly insane. As Chiru implies that Sayo ended up dead from drowning (while Battler survived but lost his memories), it can be inferred that Battler feels guilty he couldn't reconcile with Sayo for all the crap he felt he put her through before she died.
• The manga adaptation of EP5's trial shows Battler's desperate attempts to do anything blocked again and again by the Red until he can barely stand and is just wildly thowing out anything he can think of to stop Erika. And then the one bit of hope he had gets mercilessly impaled.
• The manga's depiction of Erika's backstory as a human, especially her face as her Domestic Abuser screams at her that he never loved her and that she should just go and die.
• Rosa's ending with Battler in Ougon Musou Kyouku after she kills him over the letter she suspects him of planting. Laughing Mad, she screams at Beatrice, and to Maria to run and escape, with the implication left hanging that neither of them did.
  • The aftermath of Battler and Kanon's fight with Jessica and Ronove has Jessica breaking down in tears at the thought of Battler being the culprit. And this is after Battler has already taunted her about killing her mother.
• EP 8, Ange's suicide. "It couldn't have looked like anything. Just like how the death of a single lonely girl who rejected the world... didn't matter to anyone in the world."
• "Uu-uu. That was the incantation... for the magic that would let her always be friends with her beloved mother."