History Main / ImCryingButIDontKnowWhy

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[[quoteright:250:[[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EGS_dr_physics_prof_6889.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:250:"...I think it might have something to do with the phrase [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-10-04 'solid fire that doesn't burn'"]]]]-]

* In the 2001 version of ''Manga/Cyborg009'' Joe/009 befriends a little girl named Alice, who [[spoiler: can travel through time.]] She fufills a promise she made to him in the past by [[spoiler: allowing him to travel to the past to meet his mother. (And ''might'' be said mother or not, but it's not clear.)]] Joe's tears are initially out of joy. However, his memory of the experience is erased. When he comes to he is sitting on a train, confused as to why he is crying.
* In ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3 Danganronpa 3: Side Despair]]'' Izuru Kamakura does this [[spoiler: after Chiaki dies in front of him. The tears show that at least some small part of Hajime's personality survived the transformation into Izuru, as while Izuru had no real attachment to Chiaki, Hajime had a significant crush on her.]]
* ''Manga/TheDangersInMyHeart'': Yamada gets struck in the face by a basketball during gym class, starts bleeding from the nose and has to be taken to the infirmary. Ichikawa impulsively follows her out of concern and hides under one of the med beds. When he overhears Yamada tearfully [[GuiltComplex apologizing to her mother over the phone]] (since she had a modeling shoot after school), Ichikawa sheds a tear. He questions ''why'' for a moment before coming to [[LoveEpiphany the conclusion.]]

* ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' has Ryo Asuka suddenly shedding tears over [[spoiler: Akira's death -- [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone which he was responsible for, mind you]]]] -- and all the while he's questioning what exactly he's feeling that it's even making him cry.

--->'''Doctor:''' Did you have a scary dream?
--->'''Henrietta:''' I'm not really sure. But my tears just won't stop falling...

* ''Manga/InsideMari'' is a manga about a man who [[GrandTheftMe bodyswaps]] with a teenage girl, [[spoiler:or at least [[UnreliableNarrator so it seems]].]] While looking at family photos, Isao discovers a photo that was ripped in half but taped together again. Touching it triggers a memory of Mari on a ferris wheel as a child and ends up making Isao cry. [[spoiler:It turns out to be due to memories of Mari's deceased grandmother]].

* In episode ten of ''Anime/{{Tokyo Magnitude 8}}'' Mirai begins crying when she visits her brothers classroom. She doesn't understand why she is crying at the time. [[spoiler:Yuuki had died a day or two earlier but as a coping mechanism her mind blocked it out and she could still see him as if he was alive. The scene is the start of her remembering he has died]].
* ''Anime/YourName'' shows this happening several times with Taki and Mitsuha, seemingly because their [[FreakyFridayFlip body-swapping]] is treated as a dream-like state, particularly the fact that the memories of the swaps fade over time. Notably, Taki starts crying while getting ready for his date with Miki (which Mitsuha set up while she was in his body), and Mitsuha does the same when she realizes they're probably out on their date already; [[spoiler:this is the first indication that the two of them have started falling in love with each other.]] The most poignant instance of this comes [[spoiler:right at the end of the movie, when the two finally meet face-to-face several years later, even after completely forgetting each other.]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* If nothing else, than the title alone for ''Fanfic/WhyAmICrying''.

* In the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/SomethingAlwaysRemains'', Vanna does this when [[spoiler: she starts to remember the day her sister disappeared at Fredbear's]].

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake '' Cloud Strife has multiple experiences of headaches and intense visions of both past and future events, along with hallucinations. The visions are often accompanied by strong emotions, such as confusion, fear, or anger. One such episode is triggered as he watches Aerith walk away from him. He clutches his head, his breath shudders and he suddenly sheds a [[SingleTear tear]]. Cloud is caught off guard and left momentarily bewildered, clearly not understanding why he just cried for seemingly no reason. [[spoiler: The implication is that he may be subconsciously aware of Aerith's eventual fate.]]

** After meeting the Twilight Town gang at the start of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', Sora starts crying just before he leaves to meet Yen Sid. [[spoiler: The kids were Roxas's friends in the LotusEaterMachine he was trapped in before merging with Sora.]]
** After the [[spoiler: DoomedByCanon protagonists]] of ''Birth by Sleep'' have met their fates, the four-year-old Sora starts crying without realizing it, to Riku's confusion.
** Also in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]'', when [[spoiler:[[MessianicArchetype Sora]] meets [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]] for the first time.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', if you fulfill certain requirements you'll get a secret gaiden chapter in Hector's route. After Nergal's defeat, if you unlocked that chapter [[spoiler:Nils will start crying for reasons he doesn't know, but the player has figured out: Nergal was his and Ninian's ''ArchnemesisDad'']].

* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', Princess Sapphire established herself as someone who is incapable of crying. When [[spoiler: Almaz dies]], she doesn't shed a tear, only going on about how [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry sad she is.]] When [[spoiler: Almaz comes back to life]], she's overjoyed, then confused at the [[TearsOfJoy tears streaming down her face.]]

* During Issue #10 of ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', players find themselves reliving the memories of the last major visitor to the Dream Palace's A/V room, a rather confused young man named John Copley. During his visit, John found himself sitting on the floor, staring at the wallpaper - only to experience a vision of the [[EldritchAbomination Dreamers]] devouring the world; according to his narration, he found himself crying but not fully understanding why. Given [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the magnitude of what he just witnessed]], part of it's down to BrokenTears. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the other half of it's due to TearsOfJoy: John has finally [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife found his purpose]] in serving the Dreamers as a Morninglight cultist.]]
* For most of the [=BlazBlue=] series, Carl Clover's biggest BerserkButton is when people call the giant robotic doll that fights along him "Nirvana" because she's really his sister, Ada. Come ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction'', while in the Embryo, Carl believes he's been looking for a way to heal his sick sister while Nirvana is just a weapon... that is after he fights with Celica because she called her "Ada". Carl angrily starts shouting that Nirvana is just a weapon and not his sister... and then starts crying, much to his own confusion.

'''[[TheProfessorIsCryingAgain Professor]]''': I... I'm not ''sure''...

* The WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck cartoon ''Ain't That Ducky'' has Daffy and a hunter (a [[InkSuitActor caricature and voice of actor Victor Moore]]) confronting a little yellow duck who does nothing but look into a satchel and cry pathetically (except when someone asks him about it, and then he gets [[BigShutUp belligerent]]). Nobody knows why until the end when Daffy and the hunter get hold of the satchel. A piece of paper that says "The End" is in it.

** The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeDistantLands'' special "Together Again" has Finn crying, to his own confusion, in response to Jake telling him "you did it! Everyone's alive!". This is because [[spoiler:Finn is actually trapped in a LotusEaterMachine and subconsciously knows that Jake and everyone else in the dream has long since died in the real world.]]

* In the movie of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', this is implied to be the reason Sophie cries as she [[spoiler:escapes from Howl's childhood.]]
-->'''Sophie:''' I'm sorry, Heen. I know I need to keep running. I just can't seem to stop crying, that's all.
* In the 2001 version of ''Manga/Cyborg009'' Joe/009 befriends a little girl named Alice, who [[spoiler: can travel through time.]] She fufills a promise she made to him in the past by [[spoiler: allowing him to travel to the past to meet his mother. (And ''might'' be said mother or not, but it's not clear.)]] Joe's tears are initially out of joy. However, his memory of the experience is erased. When he comes to he is sitting on a train, confused as to why he is crying.
* In ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3 Danganronpa 3: Side Despair]]'' Izuru Kamakura does this [[spoiler: after Chiaki dies in front of him. The tears show that at least some small part of Hajime's personality survived the transformation into Izuru, as while Izuru had no real attachment to Chiaki, Hajime had a significant crush on her.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': In "Let's Fight 'Til the End", when [[EmoTeen T.K.O.]] begins depowering the world he starts to cry as K.O. plays his mother's song through his subconscious.

** Claes has this reaction to seeing a movie that subconsciously reminds her of her previous handler, Captain Raballo, who has been wiped from her memory by the Agency. When a soldier asks her if she ever knew Raballo, she breaks down in tears because she recognizes the name but can't remember who it is no matter how hard she thinks.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': This is implied to be the reason why [[SatanicArchetype Mephisto]] wanted Peter and Mary Jane's "marriage" instead of their souls in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''. He claims that if he took their souls, the eternal torment he would put them through would be tempered by the irrefutable fact that they gave up their souls out of pure altruism. By using a CosmicRetcon so that Peter and Mary Jane never would have married, a small part of them will be forever screaming out that they have lost something precious without even knowing it. [[FanonDiscontinuity You can see why its so popular]].

** Claes has this reaction to seeing a movie that subconsciously reminds her of her previous handler, Raballo, who has been wiped from her memory by the Agency.

** Rico is ThePolyanna, happily accepting of everything the Agency asks of her because it beats her [[SicklyChildGrewUpStrong previous bedridden existence]]. Yet her DayInTheLimelight episode shows that she always wakes up with tears in her eyes.