History TearJerker / YuYuHakusho

** And of course, the ENTIRE first half of the episode has been spent showing us [[{{Jerkass}} what a dick Yusuke was]]. He did NOTHING whatsoever to make us care all that much for him, until the point when he saved that kid. Yet it STILL manages to tear your heart right out when you realize just how much he meant to those around him. It's tearjerking, but at the same time it's a punch to the gut to anyone who's ever felt like their life had no meaning--a feeling everyone has had at some point.

* Near the end of episode 38, after the now exhausted Kurama has defeated Touya and spared his life. [[DarkAndTroubledPast Kurama explains that he wants Touya to live a more noble life than his own]].

** Toguro's final fate. [[spoiler:He knows Hell well enough to demand a specific destination - and the one he chooses is 10,000 years of absolute suffering, followed by oblivion. That's the ''only'' punishment he sees as even being ''close'' to sufficient for how he's chosen to live.]]

** The Spirit Defense Force attacking poor Mitarai in episode 91, "Waking the Lost".

* From episode 98, Kuwabara's anger when he learns Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei are going back to the demon world. Feeling as if the others were abandoning the friendship they'd all forged while fighting side-by-side together.

* Don't forget Kuwabara's anguish over [[spoiler: Yusuke choosing to die by Sensui's hands, in the hopes that his friends would gain enough power to finish Sensui in his place. All topped off by Yusuke looking at his friends one last time, with a smile, knowing he'd never see them again]]. [[spoiler: He gets better, but even knowing that doesn't stop the tears]].

* Kuwabara's[[spoiler:death]]. [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead He gets better]],]] but still.

* Kuwabara[[spoiler:'s death]]. [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead He gets better]],]] but still.

[[caption-width-right:284:If you heard a very broken guy tell you and your friends ''exactly'' why he's broken... you'd cry too.]]

[[caption-width-right:284:Well, if you heard a very broken guy tell you and your friends ''exactly'' why he's broken... you'd cry too.]]

** In the dub, Toguro apologizes for "being nothing but trouble".

** Kuwabara comes in and essentially goes through most of the stages of grief simultaneously, furiously screaming about how HesJustHiding and faking his death because he's too scared to face Kuwabara like a man, all the while tears are streaming down his face from the awful truth that Yusuke's really dead. He breaks down and has to be dragged out blubbering by his toadies.

** Keiko is crying. Even though Yusuke was a {{Jerkass}} and total pervert towards her, she considered him her best friend.

* Early on in the series after Yusuke comes back to life we see a brief scene of Yusuke's mom trying to wake Yusuke up. Just the thought of realizing that your son has come back alive and then waking up in fear that it was a dream is heartwrenching. And Yusuke saws she's been doing that every morning since he came back. It's like seeing a wish come true to bring someone back and waking up every day praying that it wasn't a dream.

** Kuwabara comes in screaming HowDareYouDieOnMe and saying he's TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou. He breaks down and has to be dragged out blubbering by his toadies.

** And of course, the ENTIRE first half of the episode has been spent showing us what a dick Yusuke was. He did NOTHING to make us care all that much for him up to the point when he saved that kid whatsoever, and yet it STILL manages to tear your heart right out when you realize just how much he meant to those around him. It's tearjerking, but at the same time it's a punch to the gut to anyone who's ever felt like their life had no meaning--a feeling everyone has had once or twice.

--->'''Mitarai''': Every ''night'' I see them, the victims on that tape! I've always seen myself like them. But in my nightmares, ''I'm'' the one holding the weapons, you know? Like all along it was me doing those terrible things, and I feel dirtier and dirtier, like I need to make up for something, but I don't even know what. ''[[sobbing]'' I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

* [[TheAtoner Koenma's]] plan to finally defeat Sensui. It's heartbreaking when Koenma reveals that he wishes to [[spoiler: imprison not only Sensui in a prison he can never escape, but also himself]].

* The anime rendition of [[spoiler: a newborn Hiei being thrown out of the Ice Maidens' floating lands.]] Specially when one sees [[spoiler: Hiei and Yukina's mother, Hina, begging for mercy for Hiei and crying BrokenTears as her pleas are unheard and other Maidens grab her]], and then [[spoiler: a very unhappy Rui (Hina's best friend), right before she has to toss baby!Hiei away, gives him a tear gem that came from Hina, and tells him that she wantes him to grow up strong and one day take revenge upon the elders for what they did to him.]]

** Then comes the school principal, who comes in and laments the waste of potential that Yusuke's life, as it has closed at that point, has come to represent.
** It's at that point that Atsuko, Yusuke's mother, breaks her HeroicBSOD and joins in the water works. It's done incredibly well, too: up until the Principal talks to her, she's been a borderline EmptyShell... and when that happens, she murmurs Yusuke's name [[InelegantBlubbering and begins to cry uncontrollably.]]
** Then the kid and his mother come in. Both pray before Yusuke's casket and the kid thanks him. The real jerker comes afterward. The little kid asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke tomorrow, apparently having no grasp yet that he's not coming back (obviously this proves untrue, but no one knows that yet).

*** However, before he jumped in front of the car to save the kid, Yusuke took the time to make him laugh after almost making him cry, indicating that no, he was not a complete jerk and had his soft side.

* Near the end of episode 38, after the now exhausted Kurama has defeated Toya and spared his life. [[DarkAndTroubledPast Kurama explains that he wants Toya to live a more noble life than his own]].

* And there's the fight against Dr. Ichigaki's team, [[spoiler: when Kuwabara attempts to de-brainwash his rivals and only gets bitchslapped to hell and back, but even before he collapses he pleads to them to wake up. Then Yuusuke angrily yells at them... and he sees them cry TearsOfBlood, begging him to kill ''them'' and free them of their pain]].
** To elaborate a little, throughout the first half of the fight, Ichigaki's team can only say "Kill!" [[spoiler:When Yusuke starts yelling at them, they manage to finish the sentence: "Kill... ''kill '''us!'''''"]]

** Especially when he tells the others about the utter ''horrors'' that he saw in [[spoiler:Chapter Black]]. It's even a tear jerker ''in-story'', as we see the guy [[VillainousBSOD horribly break down while speaking]], then everyone is stunned and poor Keiko is moved to tears (pictured above!).

* Kurama's ShootTheDog moment with Amanuma ([[spoiler:Gamemaster]]). Kurama was left with only two options, either win the game which will result in the death of a little kid, or intentionally lose and allow [[BigBad Sensui]] to have his way. There was no TakeAThirdOption and too much was at stake, so Kurama's hand is forced. And while he is deeply disturbed by what he's having to do, he even manages to do it strategically. He chooses to ''intentionally'' psyche Amanuma out, letting him know that he's going to die if he loses and there's no way out of it, which freaks him out and results in him not being able to play effectively, allowing Kurama to win and advance that much sooner. The viewer is then treated to 10 heartwrenching minutes of seeing the kid completely breakdown, begging for his life despite knowing full and well that there's no escape, while a genuinely unhappy Kurama clenches his fists so hard that he bleeds. Damn.

** After easily dodging his attempt's to hit him for ages, Hiei is surprisingly complacent when Kuwabara manages to grab him and gets ready to hit him in a rage. Almost as if he actually wanted to grant Kuwabara the chance to strike him at least once.

** Toguro's final fate. [[spoiler:He knows Hell well enough to demand a specific destination - and the one he chooses is ten thousand years of absolute suffering, followed by oblivion. That's the ''only'' punishment he sees as even being ''close'' to sufficient for how he's chosen to live.]]

* The revelation that [[spoiler: Elder Toguro (as Gourmet) devoured Murota whole]] after the battle with Dr. Kamiya. After seeing him develop as a pretty nice MauveShirt (even helping Yusuke to take the Doctor down), it just comes off as cruel. Worse off, while a majority of Sensui's Seven end up getting revived, [[spoiler: Murota remains deceased]].

** Kurama comes face to face with one of Yakumo's servants, his old friend Kuronue. Kurama had believed Kuronue deceased after a botched robbery when Kuronue had fallen into a trap filled with bamboo shoots trying to retrieve a pendant he'd dropped. Poor Kurama is devastated when Kuronue accuses him of tricking him into falling into the trap and leaving him behind to die. [[spoiler: Sadly it's not even the real Kuronue, just one of the Meikai Gods impersonating him.]]

** Keiko is crying. Even though Yusuke was a JerkAss and a total pervert towards her, she considered him her best friend.

** Kurama comes face to face with one of Yakumo's servants, his old friend Kuronue. Kurama had believed Kuronue deceased after a botched robbery when Kuronue fallen into a trap filled with bamboo shoots trying to retrieve a pendant he'd dropped. Poor Kurama is devastated when Kuronue accuses him of tricking him into falling into the trap and leaving him behind to die. [[spoiler: Sadly it's not even the real Kuronue, just one of the Meikai Gods impersonating him.]]

* The anime rendition of [[spoiler: a newborn Hiei being thrown out of the Ice Maidens' floating lands.]] Specially when one sees [[spoiler: Hiei and Yukina's mother, Hina, begging for mercy for Hiei and crying BrokenTears as her pleas are unheard and other Maidens grab her]], and then [[spoiler: a very unhappy Rui (Hina's best friend), right before she has to toss baby!Hiei away, gives him a tear gem that came from Hina, and tells him that she wantes him to grow up strong and one day take revenge upon the elders for what they did to him.]]

* The Spirit Defense Force attacking poor Mitarai in episode 91, "Waking the Lost".

* Near the end of episode 38, after the now exhausted Kurama has defeated Toya and spared his life. Kurama explains that he wants Toya to live a more noble life than his own.

* Keiko watching Yusuke get brutally beat by Toguro at 100% of his power. Watching her best friend/love interest being beaten to death causes her eyes to go blank and think that the whole dark tournament is a bad dream and that everything will go back to normal. She proceeds to cry while yelling at Yusuke to wake up.
* Kuwabara[[spoiler:'s death]]. [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead He gets better]],]] but still.
** The truly heartwrenching part of that scene is Yusuke trying to prevent it, and getting thrown around like a rag doll, pressed into the ground, and given a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech for his efforts.
** Kurama rushing up to Kuwabara after [[spoiler: he is impaled]]. In the Japanese version, it is very clear that he is crying.
---> '''Kurama:''' "Kuwabara-kun? Kuwabara-kun? Stay with us! Kuwabara...?" ''(his voice breaks, then he shakes with tears)''

* [[spoiler: Genkai's death]].
** The preview for said episode brings it home, as it drops the normally upbeat and exciting music in favor of a somber tune, with Yusuke breaking down at the thought of [[spoiler:his teacher dying]]. Yusuke's last words as the title of the following episode, [[spoiler: "The Death of Genkai"]], really sells it.
---> '''Yusuke:''' [[spoiler:"My teacher's walking into a fight she can't win]]... and nothing is ever going to be the same."
* The entire exchange between Genkai and Toguro [[spoiler: in the Spirit World after the end of the Dark Tournament, as Toguro walks towards the Gates of Limbo. When he removes his omnipresent shades, the sad weariness in his eyes makes it clear just how much emotional pain he's quietly endured for the last fifty years, and just how tired he was of living]].
--> '''Genkai:''' [[spoiler: "Don't ever feel regret for the things between us."]]
--> '''Toguro:''' [[spoiler: "No, Genkai, but it would've been a beautiful life."]]
** In the dub, Toguro apologizes for "being nothing but trouble".
** Toguro's final fate. [[spoiler:He knows Hell well enough to demand a specific destination - and the one he chooses is ten thousand years of absolute suffering, followed by oblivion. That's the ''only'' punishment he sees as even being ''close'' to sufficient for how he's chosen to live.]]
* Puu trying and failing to bring Yusuke some water during his Spirit Wave trial. What makes it so heartwrenching is that Puu is a reflection of Yusuke's spirit, so whatever he was feeling, Puu was too. But he fought through the pain and kept trying to help Yusuke.
* Early on in the series after Yusuke comes back to life we see a brief scene of Yusuke's mom trying to wake Yusuke up. Just the thought of realizing that your son has come back alive and then waking up in fear that it was a dream is heartwrenching. And Yusuke saws she's been doing that every morning since he came back. It's like seeing a wish come true to bring someone back and waking up every day praying that it wasn't a dream.

*** This is in the Japanese Dubbing. Yusuke's SternTeacher lectured him for skipping class and began dragging him by the ear to the guidance counselor. But he was also offering to make him tea, showing a softer side.

* Kurama's ShootTheDog moment with Amanuma ([[spoiler:Gamemaster]]). Kurama was left with only two options, either win the game which will result in the death of a little kid, or intentionally lose and allow [[BigBad Sensui]] to have his way. There was no TakeAThirdOption and too much was at stake, so Kurama's hand is forced. And while he is deeply disturbed by what he's having to do, he even manages to do it strategically. He chooses to ''intentionally'' psyche Amanuma out, letting him know that he's going to die if he loses and there's no way out of it, which freaks him out and results in him not being able to play effectively, allowing Kurama to win and advance that much sooner. The viewer is then treated to 10 heartwrenching minutes of seeing the kid completely breakdown, begging for his life despite knowing full and well that there's no escape, while Kurama clenches his fists so hard that he bleeds. Damn.

* Early on in the series after Yusuke comes back to life we see a brief scene of Yusuke's mom trying to wake Yusuke up. Just the thought of realizing that your son has come back alive and then waking up in fear that it was a dream is heartwrenching. And Yusuke saws she's been doing that every morning since he came back. It's like seeing a wish come true to bring someone back and waking up every day praying that it wasn't a dream.

* Puu trying and failing to bring Yusuke some water during his Spirit Wave trial. What makes it so heartwrenching is that Puu is a reflection of Yusuke's spirit, so whatever he was feeling, Puu was too. But he fought through the pain and kept trying to help Yusuke.