Prone to Tears

Bocchi just couldn't catch a break.

"I cry in the morning, I cry at night. I cry, cry, cry when I get a fright. I cry for my bottle, I cry for my doll. I cry-y-y, 'til they hear me call."

— Rocky, Sesame Street

Some characters look like they're always ready to cry. In fact, they probably are and burst into tears on a regular basis. Sometimes, they will try to keep their emotions inside, but ultimately fail. One small incident and they are crying. It is possible for anything to cause them to cry, but it is most often a harsh insult directed at them.

There may be a few reasons for this behavior. They might just be super sensitive and emotional by nature. There might have been something in their past such as emotional abuse from peers or some other form of Break the Cutie that caused them to be this way. Jerkass characters such as The Bully will most likely try to make them cry, in which case the character may eventually force themselves to become desensitized towards insults.

In a Four-Temperament Ensemble, this person is melancholic. Very, very melancholic.

This can go several ways; making the audience sympathetic, comedic exaggeration of realistic people, or triggering a sense of protectiveness. A Drama Queen tries to invoke sympathy but often ends up creating Wangst. Comedic examples are often the Butt-Monkey, as they are easy and amusing to abuse. Moe characters, such as the "Sad Girl In Snow", often prompt feelings of protectiveness both In-Universe and in audiences.

Most often female, though it can also be male (and is usually Played for Laughs if so). With male examples, this tends to be a sign of weakness, immaturity, or femininity, although it may also occur with an Emotional Bruiser who is prone to Manly Tears.

May overlap with Shrinking Violet, a character who is shy and insecure, or Annoyingly Repetitive Child if they're a kid and they annoy others by crying multiple times in a row. Compare Cute Clumsy Girl, a similar character whose "flaw" is played for cuteness. Contrast Hair-Trigger Temper which is about characters being prone to anger. Compare Can't Take Criticism if the character is sensitive to criticism. See also The Eeyore, Broken Bird, and Nervous Wreck.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Mihashi from Big Windup! acts like this due to the bullying he received while in middle school.
  Abe: And stop sniveling, it looks like I'm bullying you.
• Enju Aihara from Black Bullet is a sweet, kind-hearted 10-year-old girl and a cursed child who, despite being treated like trash for being born with the Gastrea virus in her body like most cursed children, always maintains a sunny disposition. Despite this, one flaw of her character is she's a very sensitive person who is prone to breaking down in tears easily. It's highly implied that if Enju were to find out that she'll eventually die or turn into a Gastrea monster, this would be enough to completely break her forever. This mainly applies to her character in the anime and manga adaptations; the original light novels portray Enju more as an emotionally independent young girl who's Wise Beyond Their Years.
• Shiemi from Blue Exorcist. Reconstructed as it's more to do with how empathic she is and she quickly toughens up and gets badass, to the point her connection with plants is of a Green Thumb nature that lets her curb-stomp her enemies.
• Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura is quite sensitive and often tends to get upset rather easily. Given that she's The Cutie, this normally isn't Played for Laughs.
• Kaoruko in Comic Girls is very sensitive and prone to negative thoughts (suicidal ones included). It has been pointed out being "too emotionally fragile" is the main barrier preventing her from becoming a successful Sequential Artist. She frequently cries in this series, on the magnitude of Once a Chapter.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
  • There's Zenitsu, and oh boy does he ever. It is mostly used in a comedic way to either show Zenitsu reacting to being rejected by a girl, or his crushing fear of fighting demons despite being a professional demon slayer himself. However, there are a few memorable times where his tears were used for dramatic effect.
  • There's also the main protagnist, Tanjiro, who is a rare noncomical male example. He is quite emotionally open and cries quite frequently. In nearly all cases, Tanjiro's tears are used to convey his genuinely kind-hearted and emotionally intelligent nature.
• Devilman and DEVILMAN crybaby has one of the most famous male examples: before becoming Devilman, Akira Fudo was prone to bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. It is stated, however, that he only cries for others because he is so empathetic, and it is this compassion that allows him to resist the demon Amon's influence and retain his humanity after being merged with him. Near the end of the story, after Miki's murder, Akira states that he has no more tears to shed. Not long after, Ryo Asuka/Satan kills him in battle, the main source of his power lost with Miki's death.
• A male example: Tommy from Digimon Frontier starts off as a shy, easily frightened crybaby who really wants to go home after being taken to the Digital World. He thankfully grows out of this later on.
• Dragon Ball Z: Gohan was very much a crybaby during the early Saiyan Saga, though this is justified since he's only four years old at that point. He ends up crying so much that the still-evil Piccolo eventually gets sick of it and threatens to snap his neck if he doesn't stop. It isn't until Piccolo's Heroic Sacrifice the following year that Gohan would stop being crybaby and matures very quickly after that.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Emotional Bruiser Alex Armstrong is frequently moved to Manly Tears of joy and other emotions.
• In the manga series Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll from Sanrio Cinnamoroll's friend Mocha has a habit of bursting into tears and bawling when something goes really wrong for her, she's even described as a crybaby in the book. It doesn't help that she's pretty unlucky either.
• Kazuma Mamizuka from Gakuen Babysitters is constantly teary-eyed and can be prone to crying at the drop of a hat, though this can be justified since he's only a toddler. This is in stark contrast to his twin brother Takuma, who's an outgoing Perpetual Smiler.
• Aya Hoshino in Gals! cries almost every time she talks to Otohata, to the point where Ran assumes (in Volume 6) that "Her entire head must be full of tears...!"
• Mikuru in Haruhi Suzumiya takes this to satirical lengths, easily bursting into tears whenever Haruhi harasses her or forces her into cosplay outfits, which is often. Probably part of the reason Haruhi picked her for the club, as she was intentionally trying to invoke Moe.
• Rare male example from Heat Guy J in the form of Clair Leonelli, when he was young. (Probably because as Overlord Jr., he didn't have any friends to play with, and his dad was abusing him.) This endears him to then-12-year-old Giovanni, who promises to protect him forever.
• Bocchi Hitori from Hitoribocchi no OO Seikatsu tends to cry a lot, whether when she feels like she did something wrong or feels stressed out due to anxiety—and due to her severe social anxiety, she's rather inexperienced in socializing.
• Miki Koishikawa from Marmalade Boy. Despite doing her best to be a normal girl, she has very low self-esteem issues and rarely goes three episodes straight without shedding tears. She has legitimate reasons, like opposing her parent's plan to divorce and re-marry, and being too stressed to choose which boy she likes, but then some moments can get ridiculous, such as realizing that she doesn't know anything about the boy she likes despite living with him, and then being too paranoid and jealous when she doesn't see him on Valentine's Day until later that night.
• Kira Yamato, protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Not only does he cry frequently, several characters refer to him as a crybaby. It gets to the point where: a) Kira himself swears not to cry again, b) he's told it's fine and good to cry by All-Loving Hero Lacus Clyne, and c) the spirit of his dead girlfriend Flay gently tells him at the end he doesn't have to cry anymore, because she'll truly protect him. He takes it to the other extreme in the sequel by not crying once.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Izuku Midoriya can and will start crying, oftentimes violently, due to any and every emotion. He gets it from his mother.
  • "Ordinary Woman", the giant mutant civilian, appears to be this as she cries in both chapters where she plays a major role — the first time from being on the violent end of Fantastic Racism, and the other being Tears of Joy when reuiniting with Izuku outside U.A. She's even depicted as tearing up in her vol. 32 colored illustration.
• Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion could be considered a rare serious male example. While he may not fit into the American standards of male attractiveness, he is stated to be attractive in-universe, and, thanks to deeply-rooted self-esteem issues and having the pleasure of witnessing his mother turn to goo at an early age, he's rather insecure, delicate, and all too easy to upset with just a few words, particularly in the prologue arc, where he rarely made it through an episode without a Sparkling Stream of Tears.
• Princess Shirahoshi from One Piece doesn't just look like she would burst into tears from something trivial like being awakened from a nap — she actually does. She would also cry if someone yells at her, as Luffy was the first person to do so, because no one ever yelled at her before. She has an excuse though, having watched her mother die and then forced to spend 10 years locked up in a tower due to death threats in the form of giant flying axes that can home in on her. She gets a little better after making some friends, though.
• Pretty Cure:
  • Futari wa Pretty Cure gives us a rare villainous example in Regine, who seems to be in a perpetual state of about-to-cry when in her civilian form. She's very soft-spoken, and when repeatedly asked to repeat what she said because they couldn't hear her, she'll suddenly yell and cause everyone in the room to jump. All of these traits melt away whenever she assumes her true form, however.
  • Yayoi in Smile Pretty Cure! is described in the first episode as a crybaby whose tears start flowing with even the smallest nudge. She's also seen crying when she uses her Cure powers during the opening.
• Usagi from Sailor Moon. Whether it's dramatic or Played for Laughs, she's very sensitive and it doesn't take much to make her cry, especially in the first season. Her daughter from the future, Chibi-Usa had her teary moments too, particularly in the Black Moon arc.
• Anya Forger from Spy X Family is a six-year-old girl, and as a result she frequently bursts into tears when she's overwhelmed by something.
• Steins;Gate: Ruka Urushibara is a fairly standard — albeit male — example who appears ready to cry all the time, and it becomes even more prevalent after he becomes a she via D-Mail, and Okabe insists that she's a boy, driving Ruka to tears every time it comes up. Of course, if your crush started (unintentionally) calling you the opposite gender, insisting you're an Incompatible Orientation all the time, it would be somewhat upsetting.
• Fumi from Sweet Blue Flowers, a trait that stuck with her since childhood.
  Akira: You're always so quick to cry, Fumi.
• In Tamagotchi, Memetchi is this to the extreme, as she is very prone to tearing up, especially in The Power Of Gossip. Chamametchi as well to lesser degree cries quite a bit too.
• Chihiro in Tamayura. What makes it particularly cute is that she's actually crying out of compassion for her friend Fuu (the protagonist) whose father died some time ago. Chihiro starts crying whenever she thinks she might have said something that reminded Fuu of her late father, even after Fuu actually starts to get over her father's death.
• Takemichi from Tokyo Revengers is a very emotional guy and whether he's sad or overflowing with passion, he's liable to bursting into tears. It reaches the point that Akkun even refers to him as "Crybaby Hero."
• Reiko Osumi from The Unforgiving Flowers Blossom in the Dead of Night cries Tender Tears even while smiling, befitting her Pollyanna nature, and is as gentle as can be, which unfortunately makes the poor girl an easy target for all the bullies around her. The usual gentle personality associated with this trope, however, is subverted as it's a cover; she is, in actuality, The Corrupter, Alpha Bitch, and Big Bad of the series — her tears are The Corruption turning kids into bullies.
• Violet Evergarden has the titular Violet. While she's initially very stoic due being unable to express her emotions properly, as she goes through Character Development she becomes very prone to tearing up, particularly in the anime adaptation where she cries a lot. Especially in the last half of the first season, to the point that it's practically a Once an Episode occurence.
• Shuuichi Nitori from Wandering Son. In early volumes, she tends to cry a lot, but with age and Character Development she has gotten past that stage. She still lets things go to her head but doesn't cry as easily as she did in early chapters.
• Young Kayoko Nakane in Who's Left Behind? Kayoko's Diary is both this and a Cheerful Child in equal measure. Her family are aware of this and actively encourage her to be stronger when her new baby brother is on the way.
• Sumire in You're My Pet is outwardly a Sugar and Ice Girl, but she is often seen hiding in the bathroom, crying.
• Yugi Mutou of Yu-Gi-Oh! is prone to crying if his loved ones (e.g.: his grandfather and closest friends) are in peril.

Asian Animation

• In Happy Heroes, a lot of the Supermen, both within and outside of the main team, represent a personality trait. Sad S., as indicated by her name, represents sadness and has a tendency to cry a lot, even weaponizing her Ocular Gushers in battle.
• In Tooba Tooba Noonbory, PinkAru is liable to burst into Ocular Gushers over anything, even something as small as a flower wilting (because she picked it).

Comic Books

• Tailgate of Transformers: More than Meets the Eye is panicky and tearful, often shown bursting into tears despite not having eyes and most other characters not shedding tears at all. In-Universe, it's meant to be his optics sparking with light, explaining how he can leave a trail of tears the length of an entire hallway behind him.

Fan Works

• Cheating Death: Those That Lived: Crimson Flanders spends most of her time crying after winning the 29th Hunger Games. Very few people know the story behind this, namely that she is the first victim of the victor Sex Slave system.
• The Loud House fanfiction Lincoln's Memories: Lola cried more than Lana as a baby.
• Past Sins: Chapter 2 has Rarity's evaulation of Nyx as a sensitive pony, which is probably due to having basically no memories, so she hasn't developed emotional endurance:
  “Secondly,” Rarity continued, not even registering Twilight’s interruption, “Be very, and I do mean very, careful what you say around her. I’ve found out the hard way that Nyx is a very sensitive pony. I accidentally said something in passing that made her think you hated her, and she was absolutely heartbroken. In fact, I dare say she is actually worse than our dear Fluttershy.”

Films — Animation

• Cars and Cars 2: Mater gets very upset over every little thing. He's a very sensitive person and there were signs that he got upset in the first film but he showed more emotions in the second film. He literally got very depressed after McQueen fired him from being a pit crew chief and felt guilty about and decided to go home. When others make Mater cry or upset, it's considered an extreme act of cruelty because he is super sweet and he has special needs. He's like a child. He's a very caring helpful person whose purpose in life is to serve others out of kindness and love and to see him upset about any little thing is just extremely devastating. Even though we are supposed to laugh with Mater, he is definitely a person who is emotional enough to not be Played for Laughs.
• Elemental (2023): Wade and his family, being water-based people, are extremely prone to crying, even playing a game to see who can hear a sad story and go the longest without crying. Near the end, when it seems like Wade had evaporated, Ember discovers that he'd condensated onto the ceiling, so she and her family play the game to get him to cry himself down into a bucket and reform.
• Luisa Madrigal from Encanto cries often, especially when she loses her powers.
• Inside Out: Sadness, due to being an Anthropomorphic Personification of depressive feeling. For her, it seems like the best thing to do is just lie on the floor and have a good cry:
  Sadness: Crying helps me slow down and obsess over the weight of life's problems.
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986): The Grundles burst into tears whenever Grundleland is so much as named, as any reminder of how much they miss their lost homeland will open the floodgates. Their king has become extremely careful not actually bring Grundleland in conversation as a result.
• Sissy Villain Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood (1973). He's a whiny and over-emotional Manchild who constantly sucks his thumb and cries very easily.
• In Turning Red, Mei cries half a dozen times just in the first half hour of the film.

Films — Live-Action

• Sarah Packard from The Hustler (1961), who has been rejected and scorned so many times that she needs to drown her sorrows to get through the day. Needless to say, she's prone to this trope whether drunk or sober.
• Marquis from The Legend of Frenchie King cries easily. This is played for irony as he's subservient to very masculine women.
• During the second half of Revenge of the Sith, the usually optimistic and resilient Padmé Amidala becomes a lot more emotionally fragile and prone to breaking down in tears. This is justified, both because her pregnancy is making her more sensitive and because she's stuck in a really dire situation, such as an ominous premonition that she'll die in childbirth hanging over her, her husband sneaking around doing shady things for the Chancellor, the Chancellor being revealed as a Sith Lord who is actively taking over the galaxy, the Jedi being framed and exterminated, and finding out her husband has turned to the Dark Side, among other things.
• Officer Arnaud is this way throughout Thunder Road. It's justified, though, given that his mother just passed and he's fighting to share custody of his daughter.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Roger Rabbit is quite an emotional fellow, which is best demonstrated when his wife Jessica supposedly cheats on him with Marvin Acme and when Eddie tells him about his tragic backstory in which his brother got killed by a toon. Despite his generally cartoonish behavior, he is nonetheless another male example that isn't Played for Laughs.
• The Wizard of Oz: The Tin Man is ironically portrayed as this, despite lacking a heart. He's constantly in danger of rusting due to how much he cries.
• X-Men: Days of Future Past: Past Charles Xavier's psychological health is so poor that the slightest thing can upset him, and he's regularly seen with wet, reddened eyes or tears streaming down his face.

Literature

• Mary Anne Spier, secretary of The Baby-Sitters Club, is described as being so sensitive she'll cry at long-distance telephone commercials.
• Baccano!'s Jacuzzi Splot (the series' primary source of man-moe) is a Shrinking Violet who's prone to crying at the slightest misstep outside of his comfort zone. This, surprisingly enough, doesn't stop him from being a crazily heroic badass when the cards are down.
• Daniel from Both Can Be True cries over everything from awkward situations at school to dog food commercials. His mom tells him he needs to grow out of it, which only makes him feel more like crying.
• Petra bint Minden in Caliphate is a shy and emotionally vulnerable girl that is easily spooked and cries a lot. Considering she was raised as a second-class citizen in a Taliban-like state due to being a female Christian and what happens to her over the course of the story, she has plenty of valid reasons to.
• In Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Changeling 1970, it is abundantly clear early on that fearful, shy, clumsy Martha Abbott cannot fit in with the rest of her Perfect Suburban Family and has no way to make them take her seriously. She's treated almost like a pet (she's even called "Mouse"), and her only defense, indeed her only means of self-expression, is to cry. The author herself admitted later she didn't realize a lot of the subtleties she was creating with this book.
• Elsie Dinsmore: The titular Elsie cries at least once per chapter, whether it's because she didn't follow Biblical scripture or her family is yelling at her over every tiny mistake she makes. Many readers really don't like her because of this.
• Fire & Blood: Daella Targaryen, third daughter of Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne, was prone to crying uncontrollably at the slightest provocation (or even no provocation at all) even into her teenage years. Part of the difficulty in finding someone to marry her off to was picking a man who wouldn't get her going again.
• Beth Ellen Hanson of Harriet the Spy is described as "Always look[ing] like she might cry". In a subversion, Harriet writes that this just makes her want to kick her and get it over with. In Beth Ellen's own book, The Long Secret, we learn that Beth Ellen cries in private because her grandmother has taught her that's what a Proper Lady does. But she has a crying fit during a sleepover after her Rich Bitch mother returns — and Harriet gently takes her hand and holds it until she's through.
• In The Indian in the Cupboard and its sequels, the cowboy Boone is so prone to tears that the other cowboys in his own time period call him "Boo-hoo." Yet ironically, in the second book, he manages to be calm and stoic while mercy killing his mortally wounded horse.
• Enid Blyton's Malory Towers school stories feature Mary-Lou, who is this trope to a T. She gets a lot better.
• Little Miss Shy of Mr. Men fame is such a Shrinking Violet that if anyone upsets her, she'll burst into tears. Notable examples are in the TV episode "Mr. Impossible's Lesson" ^note  In which she broke down in tears after Mr. Uppity yelled at her. and in Little Miss Magic's story ^note  Where she wept about being tickled by Mr. Tickle.
  • Little Miss Tiny is the runner up behind Little Miss Shy as the biggest crybaby in Misterland. She cries over being lonely, being trapped in Mr. Mean's house, about rain dropping on her (In the book of the 90s cartoon episode "An Unforgettable Sunday for Little Miss Tiny"), when Mr. Rude insults her, when an ogre steals her lollipop, when she falls and hurts herself (In the Sanrio version of Little Miss Hug's story), when her thimble goes missing and when Christmas is nearly ruined by Mr. Grumpy resulting in everybody else being upset.
• Kiara from Rogue gets upset very easily. At school she used to cry almost every day from being teased and ostracized, earning her the nickname Crybaby Kiara.
• Roys Bedoys: Not usually, but in “Stop Crying, Roys Bedoys!”, Roys temporarily becomes prone to tears when he cries at every minor insult.
• Daylen Namaran in Shadow of the Conqueror is a male example played seriously, largely because of his endless guilt, though there's also an element of immaturity to it, as he's a self-admitted Psychopathic Manchild. If he cried any more often, everyone would be sailing across an endless ocean instead of an endless sky, and the chance of showers increases exponentially when Lyrah is nearby or on his mind, sometimes to the point of putting him into an Angst Coma. In keeping with the intense nature of the story, all of this is Played for Drama.
• Kellen is a male example from the Spellslinger Series who cries when he's afraid (which is often), cries when he's happy, and cries after every battle or near death experience because of the adrenaline rush. A couple characters give him guff over this, but otherwise it is presented in a sympathetic light.
• Every single darn character in The Tale of Genji, male or female. The Shining Prince himself is incredibly lachrymose. Of course this was considered an attractive characteristic in Heian Japan.
• In Those That Wake's sequel, Rose is this, mainly stemming from childhood trauma.

Live-Action TV

• The Brady Bunch: Marcia is by far the biggest crybaby of the Brady siblings. She cries when she doesn't get to go on a family ski trip, gets kicked out of a play, is rejected by a potential date to a school dance (and then several years later, after another date rejects her), is treated rudely by her siblings while reading her campaign speech for student body president, when she wilts under pressure during her driving test, when she has to wear braces... she just has frail nerves. As an adult, Marcia wells up when she is unable to find work as an adult and after realizing she's humiliated her family at a ribbon-cutting for one of Mike's office complex projects.
  From the episode Brace Yourself:
  Marcia: I'm so happy, I could cry!
  Mike: What, again?
• Cheers: Rebecca, post-Flanderization, becomes liable to start crying any time she brings up a story from her youth. At one point, she starts tearing up even as she vows not to. All this gets is a deadpan remark from Norm that she almost broke her record for not crying.
• The Closer: Despite being a tough Action Girl, our heroine is always one blink away from tearing up.
• Drake & Josh: Josh tends to get super emotional pretty easily. Whether it's having his Kindergarten diploma smashed, missing out on his chemistry exam, accidentally running over Oprah, or losing a baby he's supposed to be babysitting. It's often Played for Laughs, though.
  Josh: Wait! I hear crying! Oh, it's just me!
• Little House on the Prairie: Virtually every one of the Ingalls, especially Charles(!) and Laura, who often cried at the drop of a hat. Except for possibly Nels Olesen and his son, Willie, most of the other people of Walnut Grove were more than willing to share their feelings, from big, hulking men like Jonathan Garvey and the uncouth Mr. Edwards to the spoiled tantrums of Harriet Olesen and her daughters, Nellie (in her spoiled, wild years) and especially Nancy. This ironically is vastly different from the books, where despite numerous hardships the Ingalls were incredibly stoic and discouraged showing emotions or complaining when they were struggling.
• Guinevere in Merlin, mainly because the writers do a lot of horrible things to her, lampshaded by the actress herself: "they like making me cry." Of course, she's also a perfect example of Silk Hiding Steel: expect her to cry whilst simultaneously demonstrating great strength of character.
• In one episode of The Monkees Mike describes Peter as "Kinda sensitive. Cries at card tricks." As the group's pacifist, this is his way of losing his temper.
• Oz provides a non-comedic (REALLY non-comedic) male example in one-shot character Guillaume Tarrant. He's an art vandal who has the incredible misfortune of being locked up in a maximum-security prison with the show's standard roster of killers and rapists. He's in tears at the harassment he suffers from other inmates on his first day, and repeatedly thereafter. Things... do not improve for him.
• Seinfeld
  • In the episode "The Understudy," Jerry's girlfriend cries at almost anything from dropping a hot dog to her untied shoelace. However, she doesn't cry when her grandmother dies.
  • Both George and Elaine regularly bust into tears whenever something upsets them. One example with the former, George drives himself to tears when he tries to take the nickname "T-Bone" back from a coworker who was given the same nickname, while with the latter, Elaine is banned from a nail salon and actually wanders the streets at night in the rain bawling her eyes out about it.
• On Succession, the morose, depressive Kendall Roy has crying fits in the premiere and finale of Season 1, and spends the next season either weeping or looking like he's a blink away from tearing up.
• Tess in The BBC's 2008 adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, as played by Gemma Arterton.
• A Take Our Word for It male example in Wings, when Helen dates a man who cries when she mentions her dead dog; she becomes disillusioned when she realizes he cries at everything. "We went to a Marx Brothers film and he was crying because Harpo couldn't talk."

Music

• "Cry Baby" by Melanie Martinez:
  You seem to replace your brain with your heart
  You take things so hard and then you fall apart
  You try to explain but before you can start,
  Those cry baby tears come out of the dark
• Tears for Fears: In "I Believe", the narrator's emotional vulnerability is expressed by how easily he cries.
  And I believe that if I'm crying while I write these words
  Is it absurd, or am I being real?
  I believe that if you knew just what these tears were for
  They would just pour like every drop of rain

Video Games

• EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: Rurine is very quick to cry, an aspect of her own immaturity and the pressure of being the new Blue Hikari Warrior Ruritia — she blames herself for Shimoun going missing and Kallion being left in a coma after their last battle with the Yami Clan. In true Magical Girl fashion, she eventually matures into her role and as a person by the end of the game with the support of her comrades-in-arms and friends.
• Neimi of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is pegged as a crybaby right from the start. Being childhood friends with Colm doesn't help much. Amusingly subverted in their final support conversation, where he hears her howling and asks why, rattling off a long list of reasons. Neimi tells him she's in a good mood and just had something in her eye this time, much to his consternation.
• Just Shapes & Beats: The cube friend appears to always have a Single Tear running down their face, even when they're smiling. In "Close To Me", they cry tears made out of pink stuff as their first and last attack.
• Evanine in the Neverwinter Nights mod Tales of Arterra.
• Tiger I from Panzermadels, especially when it comes to the time when she ran over Erwin. We find out earlier that it's because she "breaks down a lot" which is a design flaw.
• Dan Hibiki of Street Fighter is a comical example. He's real dramatic in general (to go with his hot-blooded loser persona), but he'll get emotional over something as minor as a sparring match with his dojo students.
• Super Mario Bros.: Luigi is a sensitive guy and is especially exemplified as such in the Mario & Luigi games where he'll often burst into Ocular Gushers whenever he's scared or upset.
• Ganryu from the Tekken series is a rare male example, but it's usually Played for Laughs. Examples include when he cries after defeating Jinpachi in Tekken 5, and also is the only male to cry in his lose pose when paired up with Jaycee.
  • Josie Rizal is probably an even better example. She cries in her intro/outro poses, and being a crybaby is pretty much a large part of her character. She does show moments of confidence and being upbeat, though.
• Gokotai from Touken Ranbu, who almost constantly sounds like he's about to cry. Ironically, this doesn't change after his Kiwame training, despite Taking A Level In Badass — the first thing he says when he returns is a tearful apology for "only" defeating Uesugi Kenshin three times instead of five.
• According to one of his less-effectual titles in Yggdra Unison, Nessiah, despite his status as the local Magnificent Bastard, cries very easily when hurt or frustrated. If the player's performance is substandard, this happens often enough that his enemies start to mock him for being childish, and his subordinates have to devote a lot of time to taking care of him. As Nessiah's social skills are strange at best, he never really becomes cognizant of the burden he's putting on them.

Visual Novels

• Yoriko in Da Capo at first has great trouble interacting with people and, of course, always seems close to tears. Oddly enough, having rocks thrown at her apparently didn't bother her in the slightest.
• CLANNAD:
  • Nagisa is a delicate Shrinking Violet who can get disappointed or distressed at the drop of a hat. Usually it's when she feels guilty or something goes wrong. She has such a fragile body that it makes her all the more sympathetic.
  • Sanae, the mother of Nagisa, is another example. She always bursts into tears when anyone (namely her husband) talks smack over the subpar bread she makes. This is usually Played for Laughs, but becomes serious in ~After Story~ after Nagisa's death.
  • Kotomi is more or less exempt from Tomoya's normal teasing due to her reaction of starting to tear up and ask if someone is a bully when feeling at all threatened. Naturally, learning to deal with Kyou takes her a little while.
• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has Mikan Tsumiki, who is so timid and insecure she can barely hold a conversation without bursting into tears or having a meltdown. This is Played for Drama, as Mikan has been so heavily bullied throughout her life that she instantly suspects anyone she talks to wants to abuse her and will willingly degrade herself so someone will pay her attention, even if it's negative. This makes it all the more shocking when she's the killer of Chapter Three, and a double-murderer who's in love with Monokuma/Junko at that.
• her tears were my light: When Space is alone in the darkness, she cries, and her tears become stars that light up the darkness and make her feel less lonely. She cries Tears of Joy when Time shows up, and is even able to cry on command to demonstrate her star-making ability to Time.
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice: The fourth alter of Uendo Toneido (who has Dissociative Identity Disorder) is Own, a five-year-old boy who seemingly can't go a full minute without crying. This is a surprise (and a spoiler) because he's initially believed to be the killer in the case. In fact, he's the only actual witness to the murder.

Web Animation

• Basically Onion's whole gimmick in the Challenge to Win series. Being an onion, this is a given.
• While Toothy from Happy Tree Friends is mostly The Everyman with few distinct traits aside from his unluckiness, he's also best known for his tendency to cry.
• MoniRobo: Ryohei is a weak-spirited guy who always looked like he was holding back tears, which his wife Ichiko found cute until she discovered he had an affair and divorced him.
• Tari from Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers is a shy girl who tends to cry more than the other characters.
  • Melony is another example, especially in the video "War Of The Fat Italians 2021" where she loses it and is feeling guilty in tears to kill Axol in order to stop Zero.
• YouTube animator Wolfychu (who also voices Melony) is quite an emotional lady herself and tends to shed a few tears whenever she's sad, scared, or happy. But more often than not, she's prone to crying when happy, as shown in the descriptions of some of her videos and a few of her comments on other videos.
• Animator Adenike Folorunso (also known as CuteNikeChan on social media), is prone to crying a lot, mostly when she's happy, and this is often shown in the descriptions of her profiles and other posts, which feature emoticons indicating tears of joy.

Webcomics

• Alienby Comics: A justified example in "Progress Report" - as a result of HRT increasing their hormone level, Riri reports that they've been crying a lot more but now it's easier to process their emotions.
• In Homestuck, Jadesprite bursts into tears at the drop of the hat, and is constantly lamenting the bad things that happened to her. This greatly annoys Jade, who's embarrassed that an alternate version of her could be like that.
• While Misfile's Ash isn't a particularly impressive example of the trope, one of the things he most resents about the Gender Swap is the increased hormones making him more prone to emotional outbursts, usually taking the form of tears of frustration/anger. Never Played for Laughs.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: While it has yet to be actually shown on-panel, there is plenty of evidence towards Onni being this. He's implied to have spent the better part of a trip crying, and a scene has a character guessing he's about to burst into tears. Onni also has a Brutal Honesty prone cousin who, when someone else randomly wonders what Onni could be currently doing, answers "crying".
• Played for Laughs in Whomp!, as Ronnie will burst into tears at the smallest conflict, including three times in a single conversation.
• In Yokoka's Quest, Kalliv cries a lot, sometimes Ocular Gushers.
• Zebra Girl: Poor Mad Mabel. She manages to survive in the Subfusc despite being a normal surrounded by mysterious and magical creatures, but she is the subject of mockery and even cruelty from others (including Sandra, though she stops halfway), and got pressured by Incubus to do his bidding (and when that fails, he kidnaps her). She seems lost and slightly depressed, despite trying to keep a smile on her face, and nearly cried when Sandra took her thimble away from her.

Web Originals

• Believe it or not, there are lots of female users (and some male users) on DeviantArt, Discord, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter / X, YouTube, and other social media sites who are prone to crying a lot, no matter what they are feeling or something terrible that happens on them, and this is often evidenced by them leaving some kind of crying emoticon or emoji (especially the frequently-used Loudly Crying emoji) in their posts or comments.

Western Animation

• Alphablocks: W cries whenever he gets hurt or feels sad about other things. He has water at the top of his head, and makes a "wuh-wuh-waaa!" sound when he cries.
• The Amazing World of Gumball:
  • Darwin is such a sensitive Nice Guy that it can be rather heart-wrenching to see him get sent into tears. Fortunately, Gumball is always there for him.
  • Gumball himself, though not as much as Darwin, can also get easily upset whenever things go wrong for him, particularly in the first season.
  • Richard, the father of Gumball, Darwin, and Anais. Compared to his more headstrong wife, he is quite sentimental, timid, and childlike.
• The Brothers Flub: Fraz cries whenever he's stressed or sad.
• Caillou: The eponymous character and his baby sister are infamous for crying at the drop of a hat. The wiki even has a list of the number of times they cried.
• The CB Bears segment Posse Impossible has Blubber, a cowboy who cries in just about every situation. It doesn't stop him from saving the day, though.
• Chowder: Chowder is often to cry, even when he is upset by the reason. He cries alot by using his LOUD Vocals making it annoying but Heartbreaking. Also Truffles who does this like Chowder, she even cries as well to burst to tears which she cries "Waterfall tears" on her eyes due wearing glasses for her eyes...
• Daria: Stacy Rowe collapses in tears over the slightest thing. Luckily, she starts to grow out of it in the fifth season, and in one episode her reputation as this even works to her advantage when she's trying to trick an audience.
• DC Super Hero Girls (2019): Barbara Gordon cries easily than some of the other characters.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: Played for Laughs with Jimmy. He's quite sensitive, which clashes with his headstrong and protective friend Sarah.
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: Flapjack, the sailor and main character is also the cutest and adventurer boy, But he cries in some episodes when he is emotional, he even bursts into tears after Captain K'nuckles who tries to eat his candy.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Eduardo cries whenever he gets danger or feels bad about other things.
• Futurama: Bender, while almost totally unconcerned for the feelings of others, is highly sensitive himself and will go into Tender Tears or Inelegant Blubbering at the drop of a hat.
  Bender: I mean, being a robot's great, but we don't have emotions, and sometimes that makes me very sad. [sniffling]
  Farnsworth: Oh, lordy lou, there he goes again. Well, let's give baby what he wants.
• Weepy William of Horrid Henry is another great example, as he is always seen crying.
• Kaeloo: Eugly the rabbit. She will burst into tears (with Ocular Gushers) at the slightest insult. Sadly, the rest of the cast don't care, and they're always being mean to her.
• King of the Hill: Good luck finding an episode that gives Luanne a decent amount of screentime when she doesn't bawl her eyes out at some point. The quickest way to start the waterworks is to tell her she's being an idiot (which Hank doesn't always seem to remember).
• Littlest Pet Shop (2012): Penny Ling is shy and prone to tearing up.
• The Loud House: Several characters have a tendency to cry at the drop of a hat:
  • Lori Loud is the firstborn of the Loud children, but she has a tendency to dissolve into Inelegant Blubbering when she's lonely, or when she's simply had a bad day.
  • Lily Loud is a Cheerful Child, but there are times when she gets upset and cries. She can even make herself cry on command. Justified in her case, as she is a baby.
  • Lynn Loud Sr., the father of the Loud children, is a male example that isn't always played for laughs. As a matter of fact, it is implied that this trope runs in the family, as his father Leonard is just as prone to tears as he is, and it is implied that Lori got this trait from Lynn Sr. in turn.
  • Bobby Santiago, Lori's boyfriend, is a Kindhearted Simpleton, and thus is also a male example that isn't always played for laughs.
  • Tía Frida also cries easily, often bordering on Ocular Gushers.
• Madeline: Just about anyone is prone to crying on this show.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Fluttershy started out as one. Note that, however, she is growing out of this big aspect of her, as she has become noticeably more assertive in Season 2 and on. There was, in fact, a whole episode based on it and, while it hasn't gotten as extreme as the events in it, she has repeatedly shown herself able to break out of this attitude in emergencies.
• Nature Cat: Despite being enthusiastic and determined, Nature Cat is also very emotional, in which he cries a lot. Such examples include whenever he begins to lose hope, or lose something he loves, he will most likely cry at the drop of a hat. ^note  Or whenever he's having some happy moments, well... he's just sweet. His best friend Hal also tends to cry many times due to him being very sensitive, yet he's also very kind and innocent. In both cases, their friends stick up to them and help them resolve their problems.
• PAW Patrol: Downplayed with Rubble. While he isn't overly emotional, he's the most likely to cry of the pups, particularly over cute animals being endangered.
• Peppa Pig:
  • The titular character's little brother George is a male example of this trope, which is justified because he's a toddler, and crying is one way toddlers communicate. Whenever he cries, his tears shoot out of his eyes like a water pistol. Same thing goes for Richard, Edmund, Zuzu, Zaza, and Baby Alexander.
  • Here's a list of the instances where someone cries
• Softy from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. There's no telling what his issue is apart from each member of the Ant Hill Mob having a defined trait.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Bubbles is normally this (especially in the first season episode "Octi-Evil") but once in a while, she's not afraid to kick it up a notch.
• Regular Show has Pops, who is another rare male example that isn't always played for laughs. Pops is very sensitive and it doesn't take much to make him cry. When someone does greatly upset him, his friends immediately come to his aid and stick up for him.
• Rugrats: All of the babies are this to some extent, justified with all of them because they are babies.
  • Tommy Pickles may be a fearless, adventurous, cheerful and happy-go-lucky leader, but there are a lot of episodes where he cries, and it is heavily justified as he is a baby
  • His best friend Chuckie Finster also cries a lot due to him being very shy and sensitive, though not to Tommy's extent.
  • Angelica Pickles cries a lot, mostly when things don't go her way.
  • Susie Carmichael started this way in her first appearance though she grows out of this in later episodes to make her a good foil towards Angelica.
  • Dill Pickles, being the youngest, is not above crying, especially when he's upset.
  • Phil & Lil also often cry, usually with Tommy & Chuckie.
• South Park:
  • Butters Stotch can be rather emotional and sensitive, often getting upset whenever things go wrong for him. With how much crap he always gets put through, however, it's hard to blame him.
  • Stan Marsh is another example, as he tends to get teary or emotional at the drop of a hat. For the most part, it's played rather seriously and makes him all the more sympathetic.
  • Mr. Mackey, the counselor at South Park Elementary, can also get quite emotional when he either gets confronted or feels confused.
  • Clyde Donovan is a great example, because he probably cries more than the other three. This is often played for laughs with how frequently he cries and what he sounds like when he sobs.
• SpongeBob SquarePants is a male example of this that isn't always Played for Laughs. In fact, making SpongeBob cry is considered a gross act of cruelty, and whoever is responsible for hurting his feelings almost immediately gets scolded by whoever happens to witness it, or just feels guilty. It really doesn't take very much to make him cry, either, as it got more pronounced in the later seasons, due to Flanderization.
• Steven Universe:
  • The titular character apparently can't cry on command, but tears up easily:
    Steven: I guess I'm just too tough to cry.
    Pearl: Just this morning you were crying about snakes.
    Steven: [in tears, whimpering] They don't have any arms!
  • Pearl gives Steven a run for his money, with Peridot even calling her out on her "spontaneous singing; crying; singing while crying." (To be fair, she has some pretty good reasons.)
  • Blue Diamond is quite emotionally unstable, unintentionally harmful to those she loves (mainly Yellow Diamond), and extremely self-observed. Grieving certainly only highlighted these features in her, and at this point, the only Gem who could've opened her eyes to it (Yellow) doesn't do so because she's afraid of breaking Blue even further.
  • Steven's favorite TV show is Crying Breakfast Friends, which is all about a bunch of anthropomorphic breakfast foods who cry constantly. Other characters, particularly Steven's father, don't see the appeal of a show about characters who cry all the time.
• Thomas & Friends: Percy often tends to get upset rather easily, usually when he gets confused or is given a hard time by the other engines.
• Total Drama: Sierra also cries in Total drama world tour, and all-stars as well.
• Winx Club: Lockette is prone to crying when in trouble and freaks out a lot, especially if Darkar is involved. She manages to grow out of this eventually.
• Word Party: Lulu the Panda is usually this, especially in Season 1, though she can be hot-blooded and passionate sometimes.

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