History TearJerker / DokiDokiLiteratureClub

*** ..... [[spoiler: [[FridgeBrilliance "Now everyone can be happy.]]]]

* At one point after the School Festival announcement [[spoiler: in Act 2]], Monika takes you aside to have a heart-to-heart [[spoiler: only to be cut short by the screen starting to fade to black as she pleads with the player to stay, and then abruptly cutting to the next poetry composition minigame. And then in this particular minigame, picking certain words, instead of causing Natsuki or Yuri to jump in approval, instead causes a chibi Monika to just barely jump into view before falling back below the screen. Both scenes back-to-back really encapsulate Monika's loneliness and desperation to try and bypass the game's railroading and get the player to notice them.]]

** The Protagonist's reaction to [[spoiler:Sayori's suicide]] definitely cuts deep, particularly given that regardless of the actions the player takes, the Protagonist will [[spoiler:blame himself for causing it, either by reciprocating her affections, and not realizing that "Sayori only wanted things to go back to when they were kids", or "exacerbating her depression" by turning her down.]] It's another unexpectedly realistic feeling that many people get [[spoiler:after someone close to them has committed suicide, Survivor's guilt.]] His reaction of a near literal [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD coupled with the progressively glitched and then immediately depressive song that plays]] definitely doesn't do anything to lighten the mood, either. Has anybody mentioned that this also happens to fall on [[spoiler:the day of the festival, a day which the Protagonist and the Player thought would be an entertaining outing of character growth in this lighthearted harem visual novel? Surprise Tearjerkers are typically the ones which typically get to be the hardest to accept as you go on.]]

** The Protagonist's reaction to [[spoiler:Sayori's suicide]] definitely cuts deep, particularly given that regardless of the actions the player takes, the Protagonist will [[spoiler:blame themselves for causing it, either by reciprocating her affections, and not realizing that "Sayori only wanted things to go back to when they were kids", or "exacerbating her depression" by turning her down.]] It's another unexpectedly realistic feeling that many people get [[spoiler:after someone close to them has committed suicide, Survivor's guilt.]] His reaction of a near literal [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD coupled with the progressively glitched and then immediately depressive song that plays]] definitely doesn't do anything to lighten the mood, either. Has anybody mentioned that this also happens to fall on [[spoiler:the day of the festival, a day which the Protagonist and the Player thought would be an entertaining outing of character growth in this lighthearted harem visual novel? Surprise Tearjerkers are typically the ones which typically get to be the hardest to accept as you go on.]]

** If you write her poems twice, you'll wind up helping her get manga down from a tall shelf. Since she doesn't want your help, she insists on standing on a wheeled office-chair, which predictably ends with her tumbling off the chair and onto the main character, dropping a box of her favourite manga in the process. When she discovers she creased one of them, the stress proves too much and she suddenly breaks down and starts crying. She explains through the sobs that every day just feels so difficult, with that day being a particularly awful one, and hints that the manga club is the only place in her life she can find some measure of comfort.

** On the third poetry-sharing session, if Natsuki has liked all your poems to date, before she even gives you her poem to read she asks you if she thinks her poems are the best, which swiftly shifts to her begging the main character to say they are, even if he hates them, because - in her own words - she desperately needs to hear that from ''somebody''. She then refuses to hand her poem over and confesses that the reason she finds it so difficult to share her poems is because no one ever takes her and her cutesy style seriously. When the main character assures her that he does, she slowly hands the poem over, before asking him to turn around because "I don't want you to... look at my face right now."

* If you favour Natsuki in the first two days of Act 2, after she reviews your poem [[spoiler: she will give you her own (which is unreadable gibberish) and start asking why you didn't come read with her and how it was the only thing she had to look forward to all day long. This slowly drifts into a confession that her home life is a mess and that the club is the only place she feels safe and welcome, before begging the player not to take that away from her.]]

* In the second act, Natsuki and Yuri's fights become far more intense, [[spoiler: seemingly in equal parts because of Monica accentuating the more combative parts of their personalities and because Sayori isn't there to help them cool off. During their fight on the first day, it gets so heated that Monica suggests the two of you step outside. A few seconds later Natsuki runs out of the classroom with tears streaming down her face. On subsequent days, their fights don't always take the same form, but in one of them as Natsuki tries to talk to the main character, Yuri interjects with, "No one cares, Natsuki. Why don't you go look for coins under the vending machines?", causing Natsuki to once again start crying and run off.]]

* In the second act, Natsuki and Yuri's fights become far more intense, [[spoiler: seemingly in equal parts because of Monica accentuating the more combative parts of their personalities and because Sayori isn't there to help them cool off. During their fight on the first day, it gets so heated that Monica suggests the two of you step outside. A few seconds later Natsuki runs out of the classroom with tears streaming down her face. On subsequent days, their fights don't always take the same form, but in one of them as Natsuki tries to talk to the main character, Yuri interjects with, "No one cares, Natsuki. Why don't you go look for coins under the vending machines?", causing Natsuki to once again start crying and run off.]]

** Don't be sad! [[spoiler: Monika is still able to act and communicate even if you delete her character file, she just doesn't have a physical appearance within the game world. With the game deleted and the character files still there, it's not a FateWorseThanDeath, it's just an afterlife! They might not be able to remain in the world they lived in, but they're still their complete selves, kept safely in a folder on your computer. For them, it's Heaven: all four of them can be with you now, even Monika.]]

** It gets sadder when you [[spoiler:declare your love for Sayori. Despite this being pretty much what she wanted, she's still depressed, even crying as she hugs the player. It's absolutely heart-wrenching hearing her say "why won't the rainclouds go away?", especially when, the next day, she kills herself]].

This VisualNovel is [[SurpriseCreepy not what it seems]]. Although most of the reveals are NightmareFuel, they also have some upsetting implications, if not outright facts.

* The reveal that Sayori [[spoiler:has been living with depression for years]]. The subject of [[spoiler:depression]] is one you'd hardly expect to come up in a perfectly normal romance game at all, much less in a realistic and frank discussion. [[spoiler:The real reason why Sayori has trouble getting up in the morning is because her depression makes it more difficult for her to wake up and get ready. She puts up a GenkiGirl appearance to hide it, believing that if she made others happy she has no reason to be unhappy. However, the protagonist joining the Literature Club only made it worse, because she got to see him making friends with other girls.]] It puts many of her personality traits into a darker perspective, and only gets worse [[spoiler:after the player character finds that she'd hanged herself in her room.]] Let's put it this way, [[spoiler:meta-aware {{Yandere}} characters who tamper with the game they're in]] are one thing, but this sort of thing [[AdultFear can happen to anyone]].
** It gets sadder when you [[spoiler:declare your love for Sayori. Despite this being pretty much what she wanted, she's still depressed, even crying as she hugs the player. It's absolutely heartwrenching hearing her say "why won't the rainclouds go away?", especially when, the next day, she kills herself]].

** Don't be sad! Monika is still able to act and communicate even if you delete her character file, she just doesn't have a physical appearance within the game world. With the game deleted and the character files still there, it's not a FateWorseThanDeath, it's just an afterlife! They might not be able to remain in the world they lived in, but they're still their complete selves, kept safely in a folder on your computer. For them, it's Heaven: all four of them can be with you now, even Monika.

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* The saddest TearJerker of all? [[spoiler: There is ''no way'' to escape a DownerEnding in this game; the best you can go for is [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]]. This is sad for the player, but must be ''really'' sad for the characters - because of circumstances entirely outside their control, no one will ever be happy - Sayori and the Protagonist can never be happy together; at best Sayori becomes self-aware but comes to terms with it because of how happy you made everyone (temporarily). It's more of a bonus, secret ending than a GoldenEnding anyway, and all it does is prevent absolutely ''horrible'' things from happening rather than make anything better. Sayori is still depressed, Yuri is still struggling with loneliness, Natsuki is still likely being abused, and Monika must cease to exist. The best that can be said is that at least you prevented Sayori from committing suicide; but even then she's now aware that the world she lives in is entirely fictional; and this may be a FateWorseThanDeath depending on what she does with the knowledge.]] The only way to escape sadness in this game is to not play it at all.

* The saddest TearJerker of all? [[spoiler: There is ''no way'' to escape a DownerEnding in this game; the best you can go for is [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]]. This is sad for the player, but must be ''really'' sad for the characters - because of circumstances entirely outside their control, no one will ever be happy - Sayori and the Protagonist can never be happy together; at best Sayori becomes self-aware but comes to terms with it because of how happy you made everyone (temporarily). It's more of a bonus SecretEnding than a GoldenEnding anyway, and all it does is prevent absolutely ''horrible'' things from happening rather than make anything better. Sayori is still depressed, Yuri is still struggling with loneliness, Natsuki is still likely being abused, and Monika must cease to exist. The best that can be said is that at least you prevented Sayori from committing suicide; but even then she's now aware that the world she lives in is entirely fictional; and this may be a FateWorseThanDeath depending on what she does with the knowledge.]] The only way to escape sadness in this game is to not play it at all.

* At one point after the School Festival announcement [[spoiler: in Act 2]], Monika takes you aside to have a heart-to-heart [[spoiler: only to be cut short by the screen starting to fade to black as she pleads with the player to stay, and then abruptly cutting to the next poetry composition minigame. And then in this particular minigame, picking certain words, instead of causing Natsuki or Yuri to jump in approval, instead causes a chibi Monika to just barely jump into view before falling back below the screen. Both scenes back-to-back really encapsulate Monika's loneliness and desperation to try and bypass the game's railroading and get the player to notice them.]]

* The reveal that Sayori [[spoiler:has been living with depression for years]]. The subject of [[spoiler:depression]] is one you'd hardly expect to come up in a perfectly normal romance game at all, much less in a realistic and frank discussion. [[spoiler:The real reason why Sayori has trouble getting up in the morning is because her depression makes it more difficult for her to wake up and get ready. She puts up a GenkiGirl appearance to hide it, believing that if she made others happy she has no reason to be unhappy. However, the protagonist joining the Literature Club only made it worse, because she got to see him making friends with other girls.]] It puts many of her personality traits into a darker perspective, and only gets worse [[spoiler:after the player character finds that she'd hung herself in her room.]] Let's put it this way, [[spoiler:meta-aware {{Yandere}} characters who tamper with the game they're in]] are one thing, but this sort of thing [[AdultFear can happen to anyone]].

* One example mixed with NightmareFuel is [[spoiler: if you delete Monika's character data before starting a new game, the MediumAwareness baton passes to a still-depressed Sayori, who can't handle the revelation that she's a fictional character in a VN and promptly has a breakdown before immediately destroying the entire game, leaving just a black-and-white still of her suicide and (after about 10 minutes of waiting) the line "Now everyone can be happy."]]

* Even [[spoiler:Monika]], despite all her faults, is [[CryForTheDevil still worthy of sympathy]]. [[spoiler:Despite being a {{Yandere}}, everything about her suggests that she's not a sociopathic monster who feels entitled to the player, but a lonely girl who resents being stuck as a side character in a DatingSim who, despite being a SchoolIdol who the player character clearly admires, still doesn't get a route. She repeatedly asks if the player can hear her, and even asks through a pop-up for the player to help her. She even acts horrified when she realizes the player hates her enough to delete her, and restores the other girls so that the player can play the game without her.]]