Tears of Joy

Sebastian finally gets to see Eric 'Kiss The Girl'.

"Smile when you're happy, cry when you're sad... and do both when you're happier than you've ever been."

— Asuka, The Second Try

To many, tears are an expression of sadness or weakness. Sometimes it can even indicate ultimate Badassery, since only the hardest badasses can get away with shedding them. In any case, tears are always connected to emotions too strong to contain and are to be used sparingly and wisely, else the character passes off as wangsty or just plain weak, even if they're female.

Still, there is one instance when tears are never looked down upon and accepted from anyone: joy.

Crying for joy is the uppermost expression of happiness and ecstasy, indicating things like that the villain has at last received comeuppance, The Quest is finally over, the Starcrossed Lovers are reunited for good...

Often witnessed in Real Life during similar moments, making this a Truth in Television.

Not to be confused with the Tearful Smile which meaning is more ambiguous. Sometimes overlaps with Tender Tears.

Compare Manly Tears, Tears of Awe, and Tears of Remorse.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Attack on Titan: Mikasa listens to Eren's chest and, upon hearing his heart beating, hugs him and cries loudly out of joy and relief that he's not dead as she had previously heard.
• Baccano!:
  • When Jacuzzi shows Nice his new face tattoo, he thinks she's crying out of sadness and he starts crying too because he hates making her upset, but she's actually happy.
  • Isaac and Miria are also prone to them, and Czes sheds them once or twice upon being thrown a bone.
• Bakuman。 lampshades this in Chapter 99, "Tears of Joy and Tears of Disappointment". The former is from the main characters, after they manage to fulfill the terms they made when they got PCP serialized, and thus avoid cancellation. Miyoshi does this at times, such as when the main characters are first serialized.
• Berserk:
  • Casca upon seeing Guts alive after the 100 men slaughter.
  • Also happens later when she sees that Guts is alive after his near-fatal battle with the apostle Wyald.
  • In the movie reboot, Casca and Guts are dancing at the Hawks' victory ball, and she's having such a fun time with Guts that she's actually crying.
  • However the winner has to go to Chapter 355 as Casca is cured of her mental state and as soon as Farnese asks if she remembers Guts... tears of joy start welling up◊ in Casca’s eyes.
• Season 2 Episode 11 of Black Butler. Alois (in Ciel's Body) asking Hannah to tell him that she loves him and give him a hug. Which he's always needed. She does both, which prompts him to cry tears of joy and say "Love is...warm, isn't it?"
• BREAK THE BORDER: In the first chapter, Sei is inspired to tears while seeing Asuka play basketball.
• A Bride's Story: Pariya gets these a couple of times in response to other people's kindness, specifically that of her fiancé, who she thanks God for, and her embroidery circle friends.
• Caster starts weeping in Episode 7 of Carnival Phantasm when Soichirou proposes to her.
• Nagisa in CLANNAD starts crying at the end of the first season, when Tomoya asks her to date him and confesses his love to her at the same time.
  • In Another World: Tomoyo Chapter, Tomoyo sheds tears after Tomoya declares that he would follow her in response to the same word she spoke earlier (as the two become lovers again). Tomoya likewise embraces her and silently cries as well.
• In Code Geass Suzaku cries with joy when he is reunited with his friends after the hostage-taking incident in Episode 8.
  • In R2, when it is fully brought home to Lelouch how deeply his friends care for him, he has a good monologue to himself on the nature of happiness and the few good memories he has, and is moved to tears (though this could be a combination of happy and sad, since he is also thinking of all the loved ones who are not there with them).
• Cross Ange: In Episode 22, while she starts off crying her eyes out over the supposed death of her maid and Love Interest, Ange has these in her eyes when Tusk arrives at her side, alive and well. She refuses to believe it's him at first and slaps him under the belief that he's an illusion, but she so desperately wants to believe he's there in front of her that she tugs him to the ground, kisses him while tears continue to pour from her eyes, and proceeds to initiate Their First Time.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Chi-Chi when Goku recovered from the heart virus and spun her around.
  • Most of the main cast cried for joy when Goku returned for a day during the Buu Saga. When he was officially brought back to life, his wife cried into his chest.
  • Krillin does this when he reunited with Goku at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, because this was the first he'd seen Goku since he'd been brought back to life after Tamborine had murdered him, and he had never gotten the chance prior to thank Goku for restoring him and the others to life.
  • Videl cried when she was reunited with Gohan after coming back to life.
  • If the characters know Goku is coming or he's arriving onto a battlefield, expect many tears to be shed.
  • One of the precious few times Goku cried in the series was when he was reunited with his grandpa after he came back to life for a day.
• Et Cetera:
  • Mingchao does this a few times, when she finds Baskerville again after losing him in a cave-in; when they are reunited after he gets his memory back; and at the end when he decides to travel with her back to Hollywood she has dewy tears in the corners of her eyes.
  • Fino gets the dewy tears too after she is reunited with her little brother Yaghi in Book 4.
• Fist of the Blue Sky: Many times and by men. Sometimes witnessed in Fist of the North Star as well.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed promises Winry she'll be doing this the next time she cries. She does when Ed and Al return home in the final chapter and Al has his body back.
  • Also Lan Fan, when she receives a message from Ling saying that he's found a secret to immortality, which will ensure their clan's survival. But when her initial joy passes, she suspects that there's more, and Al is forced to admit that Ling is the new Greed.
• In Hetalia: Axis Powers, a sketch by Himaruya shows that whenever Ancient Rome leaves Heaven to check on his grandsons, the eldest grandkid Romano cries these tears. This being Romano, he then hides so his grandpa won't see him cry.
• Kaoru from I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying started crying in Episode 13 when her pregnancy test turned positive.
  • Both she and Hajime are crying in the final chapter of the manga when their daughter is born.
• Several times in The Idolmaster, most notably in Episode 20 when Chihaya just lets the waterworks gush after recovering from all the turmoil inflicted on her.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Erina cries with joy◊ on her honeymoon with Johnathan.
  • Joseph when he learns Speedwagon is alive. In the same part, Lisa Lisa in a break from her usual stoicism cries with happiness when she discovers her son Joseph is still alive, showing how much she loves him.
  • True Companions Joseph and Polnareff have Tearful Smile(s) at their farewell from each other, the anime shows The Stoic Jotaro was tearful◊ as well.
• Happens several times by Nia in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, always when Simon does something special for her. The two most notable occasions are when she was kidnapped, first by Guame and second by the Anti-Spiral. Both times she has a stern, serious look, despite her facing death, confident Simon will rescue her. It's only when Simon finally does rescue her that she finally loses her composure.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: When Kenichi faces a master weapon-user alone for the first time to buy time for his friends' escape, the Ryouzanpaku masters scold him for nearly throwing his life away and send him to his room. But they're really secretly proud of his growth as a martial artist and as a man. Kenichi cries with happiness.
  Kenichi: Honestly... those masters of mine...
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • In the final Sound Stage of the first season, Fate started choking up while trying to give everyone a thank you speech during the anniversary celebration for her familiar contract with Arf.
  • Arf does this twice in the first season. First when she sees that Fate has recovered from her Heroic BSoD, and again when she sees how happy Fate is upon becoming friends with Nanoha.
  • Nanoha in the penultimate episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, when after certain events that had a few instances of You're Not My Mother being invoked, she is finally reunited with her adopted daughter. Although the tears didn't start flowing until she saw her daughter standing back up on her own two feet just like Nanoha tried to teach her before, saying that she had promised her Nanoha-mama that she'd be strong.
  • Subaru also starts crying at the end of the first episode of StrikerS when she finds out that Nanoha (who she's spent the last four years idolizing for saving her life) not only recognizes her, but complements her on how much she's grown.
  • When Yuri shows off her Green Thumb powers for the first time during a flashback in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation, Iris (whose entire purpose in life was finding a way to restore Eltria's failing ecosystem) bursts into tears.
• In the first episode of Monster Rancher's Post-Script Season, Holly has this reaction when she sees that Genki has returned to her world.
• In My-Otome, Akane's two room attendants, Erstin and Irina, have this after she decides to elope with Kazuya instead of becoming Florence's Otome.
• Naruto:
  • From Chapter 440: Naruto does this when he meets his father Minato's spirit.
  • From Chapter 441: Naruto does this again when he learns that he didn't kill Hinata or the rest of the other villagers when he was in his six-tailed and eight-tailed Kyuubi states.
  • From Chapter 443: Hinata does this when she learns that Naruto is alive and he's managed to defeat Pain.
  • From Chapter 450: Iruka sheds a Single Tear after seeing Naruto being welcomed back to the village after defeating Pain, after having a flashback in which he remembers how much of an outcast Naruto was before. Considering that Iruka is essentially Naruto's father figure, this is appropriate. Also from that same chapter, Hinata again, after Naruto comes back safe and sound.
  • From Chapter 488: Shizune does this when Tsunade wakes up from her coma, and then hugging her.
  • From Chapter 498: Naruto does this again when he meets Kushina's spirit.
  • From Chapter 500: Minato and Kushina do this the moment their son, Naruto, is born.
  • From Chapter 504: Kushina does this again when Naruto tells her he's proud to be her son, knowing now that she and Minato loved him so much that they died so he could live.
  • From Chapter 699: Sakura does this after Sasuke apologizes to her for everything that he's put her through.
  • From the Canon movie The Last: Naruto the Movie: Hinata does this again, twice — first when Naruto wholeheartedly accepts her red scarf, despite it being ruined by Toneri out of jealous spite; second at the very end when Naruto tells her that he wants to spend the rest of his life with only her.
  • From Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding: Iruka does this again when Naruto asks him to come to his and Hinata's wedding as his father.
• Parodied in one scene from Nichijou, where a class treats the end of a test as if a war had ended. The students cry tears of joy, two girls are hugging in relief, one student says his parents will give everyone a free bag of rice, and a boy and girl suddenly announce that they're getting married.
• One Piece: They're pretty frequent:
  • As the fight with Arlong reaches its climax, Luffy begins destroying the room where he keeps all the maps Nami has drawn for him. To the onlookers watching from outside it seems that the duel is simply escalating in ferocity, but as Luffy continues trasing the room and the maps Nami is the only one to realize why Luffy is doing such a seemingly random act: he's just learned that she spent a lot of time inside that room against her will and that she suffered a lot because of Arlong's abuse, which means she must hate that room because of all the pain it represents to her and that she never wants to go back there, so Luffy's resolved to destroy it. Nami is brought to tears by the realization, and quietly thanks Luffy for the gesture.
  • Chopper does this near the end of his debut arc. It's enough to make ANYONE cry, so don't feel bad for bawling like Chopper after seeing this.
  • Vivi when she sees her True Companions the Straw Hats wordlessly show the sign of their friendship with her.
  • When Usopp rejoined the crew, Luffy and Usopp were bawling like idiots, Nami was crying a little more realistically, and Franky wasn't crying damnit!
  • Nico Robin on several occasions in Enies Lobby after realizing that, after 20 years, she'd finally found True Companions.
  • Nami’s eyes well up with tears of joy when hears and sees her Captain Luffy coming to save her from Enel.
  • Also Brook cried after Luffy told him that his friend Laboon was still alive and still waiting for him.
  • Ace can't help but break down with happiness◊ when he sees that a "cursed child" has a whole army trying to save him.
  • Jimbei shed Manly Tears when Nami told him that she forgave him.
  • Koala broke down into these when Fisher Tiger changed her slave mark into a sun mark, told her it is OK to cry (Breaking her Stepford Smiler façade in the process), and vowed to return her home.
  • Luffy can only burst into blubbering tears when in chapter 731, Sabo reveals that he is alive.
  • In a flashback in the Dressrosa arc, even a badass gladiator like Kyros can't hold in tears of joy when his daughter is born.
  • Nami, Chopper, Brook and Momonosuke burst into tears of gratitude◊ when Sanji arrives in Just in Time to save them from Doflamingo.
  • In Chapter 791, with Doflamingo down for the count, the Birdcage disappears and his reign of terror is brought to an end. The relieved citizens roar with joy and shed tears of happiness; even Kyros bursts into tears now that his, his family's and Dressrosa's fight and suffering is over. This combines with Book Ends when you remember that people were crying happily when they bought into Doflamingo's Engineered Heroics that gave him control of Dressrosa.
  • In Chapter 797, after Rebecca tells Kyros that she doesn't give a crap about his criminal past, and throws away her status as princess so they can live together, both father and daughter cry tears of joy.
  • Inuarashi and Nekomamushi weep with joy when Kin'emon, Momonosuke and Kanjuro arrive at Zou, before letting the samurai know that, unlike what they told Jack and the Beast Pirates for five days (which caused the Mink Tribe no small amount of trouble), Raizo is in Zou and has successfuly been kept safe.
  • Luffy sheds a tear of joy when he learns Sanji gave up marrying a beautiful women to stay with his crew.
  • Reiju and her mother Sora respectively cry with happiness over how Sanji turned out to be a decent human being and not a inhumane killing machine like his brothers.
  • Sanji when he sees Luffy is still alive.
  • Charlotte Lilin aka Big Mom as a “little” girl cries fit to burst when Mother Caramel and the other Orphans make her a treat for her birthday. Oda to subvert it gruesomely as Lilin is so happy she can’t see what she’s doing and accidentally cannibalises her adoptive family.
  • Chiffron sheds a tear of joy when Bege saves her from her asshole brother Oven.
  • Nami once again cries tears of joy, this time when Sanji comes back to crew she even hugs him... though Sanji being Sanji ruins the moment and sloppily tries to make out with her.
    • Nami does it again when Sanji brings Luffy back as well.
  • In Chapter 903, Coby sheds tears of joy and excitement when he read about Luffy's latest achievements. Humorously, Rebecca immediately noticed them and figured out he's a friend of Luffy's too despite being a Marine.
  • Pound pours out streams upon being reunited with both his daughters Lola and Chiffon after years.
  • For a brief moment in Chapter 906, Rebecca and Leo humorously and adorably tear up when recounting to Vivi how Luffy saved Dresrosa.
  • In Wano, the people of Leftover Town burst into tears of joy when Luffy saves them from starvation.
  • Shirahoshi is so amazed when she first sees the sun on the surface that she cries tears of joy.
  • Inuarashi sheds some heart warming tears upon remembering how Kozuki Oden stood up for him and Nekomamushi when they were young.
  • In Chapter 1066, Robin sheds tears of happiness when she learns Saul survived and is in hiding.
  • Chapter 1100 has a heart-rending example: despite being aware he'll suffer a Death of Personality, Kuma cries from happiness at the fact that his forced deal with Saint Saturn will ensure Bonney lives past her tenth birthday.
• Panzer World Galient: In Chapter 5, when Chururu meets Jordy again, she cries in happiness.
• Chimchar in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl. After everything the little guy's been through with its former trainer, you can't blame it for reacting this way.
  • Ash sheds them at the end of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, when his friends surprise him by giving one last goodbye while he's en flight to Pallet Town.
• In Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, one time when Ponyo is not dead, Sosuke cries.
• Rozen Maiden: Traumend — Shinku revisited by Suigintou, and it's not an empty dream this time.
• In Sailor Moon R, Beruche (Birdie in the DiC dub) is confused when she sees Kōan (Catzi in the dub) crying after she starts her Heel–Face Turn. Beruche, in the dub, asks her why she's crying as they embrace. Kōan tells her, word for word, that they're tears of joy.
• Saiyuki: Goku does this once upon seeing Sanzo back to his old ways in the first arc of the series.
• In Sasami: Magical Girls Club, after a confession gone wrong, Monta assures Misao (awkwardly) that her magical powers aren't creepy and don't make him hate her, and she starts to tear up. That's when Sasami shows up, and seeing the tears, asks if Monta made her cry. Misao quickly tells her friend that these are tears of joy.
• All the three members of Sket Dance broke down into happy tears when Switch finally puts away his laptop and, for the first time in years, spoke in his normal voice.
• Spy X Family: One of Bond's visions showed Yor crying, making him and Anya wonder what makes her so sad. It turns out to be she's crying out of joy over finally being able to have cooked a tasty meal for her family, which also happens to be a dish her own mother used to make for her and Yuri.
• Tiger & Bunny: Kotetsu cries these when he realizes that Barnaby remembers him again. Karina cries them two episodes later when it turns out that Kotetsu didn't really die.
• Tomorrow's Joe: The titular character is seen crying quietly after the "welcome back" party thrown for him when he returns from juvenile jail.
• Trigun:
  • Vash does this occasionally, though never in serious scenes; he doesn't get that happy. Relief that everybody survived a particular snafu gives him the fountain-eyes, though.
  • Meanwhile, in a far more horrible example, poor Legato Bluesummers in his flashback story to his childhood — his telepathic powers allowed him to instinctively survive when Knives sliced apart the building in which he was being raped to death and all other occupants. He then kneels in front of Knives, who is his new instant god, and says he'll release his power and let Knives kill him in a moment with the angel-arm blade at his throat, but...he would like to stay by his side.
    Knives: [Beat] What is your name?
    Pre-Legato: [Looks up with incredulous, happy tears] I...have none!
    And then Knives walks away, naked boy in shackles trailing behind him, destined to grow up to be his terrifying, twisted, devoted right hand. And better treated by the Omnicidal Maniac who doesn't give a damn about him than by anyone else, ever.
• Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon: After 14 years without them in her life, Moroha eventually reunites with her parents Inuyasha and Kagome. There are almost no dry eyes in the area, and even Inuyasha struggles to hold his tears back as his daughter cries in his arms.

Comic Books

• Birds of Prey: When Black Canary took Sin away from her Training from Hell to be her generation's Lady Shiva, one of the first things they did when they got to the States was to go out for breakfast with the other Birds. Sin is driven to tears after trying a pancake. This just makes Dinah even more determined to adopt her.
• Deff Skwadron: Uzgob cries a Single Tear of happiness on seeing his new ride.◊
  "Flamin' Mork, boss, it's... it's... Zog me, it's bootiful.
• Disney Ducks Comic Universe: In the epilogue of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, "Dream of a Lifetime", Scrooge manages to reunite with Goldie in the Blackjack Ballroom in because the block of ice that knocked him out in real life hit a Beagle Boy instead. Back in the "outside" Gyro takes note of Scrooge's big smile and wonders if he's dreaming of finding a big treasure. The last panel shows Scrooge weeping tears of joy in his sleep.
• In the Doom comic, this is Doomguy's reaction to acquiring the "BFG 9000."
• Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero: Tamsin, dying of cancer, breaks into tears once she sees the little girl she helped save on her last outing as a pilot in front of her.
• Superman:
  • In two origin stories — The Supergirl From Krypton (1959) and The Supergirl from Krypton (2004) — Supergirl cries in happiness when she meets her cousin after landing on Earth.
  • In Supergirl (2005) issue #34, Kara Zor-El sheds happy tears while Lana Lang gives her an encouraging speech.
  • In The Hunt for Reactron, Supergirl cries in happiness when she is reconciled with her friend Thara after several months arguing and fighting.
  • In The Unknown Supergirl, Kara cries when the children at the Midvale Orphanage, where she used to live before being adopted, thank her for saving their lives.
  • The second Superboy. After Kal-El bestows him with the name Kon-El tears up out of joy at being given his own name outside of a designation (13), superhero name (Superboy), or nickname (The Kid, S.B.).
  • In Infinite Crisis, Kon cries ater realizing his Heroic Sacrifice of destroying the Anti-Monitor tower brings back the world and multiverse to normality.
    Cassie: You did it, Conner. You saved Earth. You saved everyone.
    Conner: I know, Cass. (a tear falls for his cheek and smiles) Isn't it cool?
  • The Killers of Krypton: After reading her cousin's letter where Kal tells she can take Krypto with her to protect her during her quest and wishes her luck, Kara cries in happiness. Seeing her tears, Krypto thinks she is upset, but Kara reassures him that she is in fact happy.
    Supergirl: (smiling between tears) "I'm okay, buddy. It's a good cry."
  • Day of the Dollmaker: After helping rescue three kids from a kidnapper, Catherine Grant sobs while telling one of them that she is now taking him back to his mom.
  • Let My People Grow!: Superman weeps joyously when the enlarging ray's experiment is a success.
    Narrator: Tears of victory welling at the corners of his eyes, the Man of Steel happily embraces his cousin Kara— and his jubilation is shared by all who dwell within the Bottle-City...
• In Violine, Violine has these after finding her father.
• Who Is Donna Troy?: Learning that not only did her adoptive parents not die in the fire which Donna was rescued from as a toddler and that the bodies found there belonged to criminals instead, but that her original adoptive mother Fay is still alive ensures that both Donna and Fay cry tears of joy when they are reunited as they'd thought each other dead for nearly twenty years.
• Cornelia and Irma from W.I.T.C.H. give us one on the cover of Season 1, Issue 12◊
• Wonder Woman: Black and Gold: Decades after Badra's home planet was destroyed Diana managed to find Badra's mother's crown. When Badra opened the surprise gift from her former foe containing the crown a bittersweet smile and tears graced her countenance.
• X-Men: It happens at Scott Summers and Jean Grey's wedding. At the reception, she saves the last dance for Xavier, which would seem awkward since he's in a wheelchair, but she uses her telekinesis to lift him up and they proceed to share a proper dance. A few of the X-Men shed joyful tears watching them.

Comic Strips

• In Prickly City, when Kevin the Lost Bunny of the Apocalypse predicts a chorus of weeping, Carmen "explains" as tears of joy for a renewable energy source.
  • Later Kevin learns that Carmen and Winslow had just left him in prison. He weeps with pride at how well they had learned from him.

Fairy Tales

• "The Nightingale": The first time the Emperor hears the nightingale's Beautiful Singing Voice, he's left with tears rolling down his cheeks.
• Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's "Follow Me, Jodel!": Tears roll down Michael's cheeks when Jodel tells him that he can keep their father's farm since he now has plenty of money and will not leave his brother destitute.

Fan Works

• Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Germany and Japan shed plenty of these after Italy had proposed to the both of them.
• A Crown of Stars: Asuka sheds them in chapter 25 while she tells her mother that Shinji has said he loves her.
  She paid no further attention to the tears dripping off her smile as she told her mother everything; he felt warm, he looked at her, he kept her nightmares at bay, he swore to her, he loved her, he loved her, he loved her...
• Advice and Trust:
  • In chapter 4 Shinji cried with happines several times because he and Asuka were together and they had made love.
  • Rei also cries after getting a hug from Shinji and Asuka in chapter 8. She even describes it as "the closest thing she had ever experienced to a moment of perfect happiness."
• The Child of Love: Misato sheds them when she hears Teri crying, confirming Asuka has given birth and both mother and daughter are alive.
  Misato, hearing Teri, goes limp and slowly drops to the floor. Tears of joy start running down her face.
• Children of an Elder God: When Ritsuko woke up from her long coma, Maya cried in happiness:
  Maya looked to be in her forties now, and she had a long white streak in her hair which rather reminded Ritsuko of a skunk. Her smile was still so bright; she was starting to cry, though she smiled.
• In chapter 35 of Do You Believe in Fairies?, Candace starts crying up after Luke compliments her, which makes him initially worry that he upset her.
• Evangelion 303: Asuka was crying in happiness after managing to tell Shinji that she loved him.
• The page quote comes from The Second Try, during a scene where Asuka and Shinji have been reunited with their daughter, whom they thought they had lost forever.
• Kanae in the Haruhi Suzumiya fanfic Kyon: Big Damn Hero when she truly realizes, after begin lost traveling though worlds escaping from an Alien Invasion for years, she doesn't have to keep running anymore because she has the SOS Brigade to help her.
• Several times in Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns. Faren, the dwarven commoner, experiences this after he is smacked out of his Fade Demon-induced nightmare. More shocking is when Trian Aeducan, of all people breaks down though.
• In Lost Latte Asumi cries tears of joy when she sees Latte, but doesn't understand why she is crying if she's not sad.
• In Game Theory, Precia sheds these when Alicia finally wakes up.
• Lucy's Secret: When Luan pretends she pranked Lucy with water to explain why she wet the bed, and then later when Lynn and Lincoln hug her when they find out she wets the bed, Lucy gets so happy she actually sobs.
• In Stallions of Harmony Verse, Blueblood sheds them when he sees the rest of the Stallion Six still alive, and later when he's reunited with Princess Celestia.
• In the Mork & Mindy fanfic Mork and Mindy's Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, Mindy begins crying when Mork tells her how Orson has fixed his Merlin Sickness, meaning that their relationship will not have to change.
• This Bites!: As a One Piece fanfic, this trope comes into play quite often.
  • Cross sheds a few after the Straw Hats learn everything he's been hiding from them but they still accept him anyway.
  • Shanks is sobbing after a full night of listening to the SBS, hearing the Straw Hats face down Lily Carnation, and finally hearing Luffy triumph.
  • The SBS's talk about tolerance and the stupidity of hatred for hatred's sake elicits these tears from both Koala and Jimbei, especially when the latter hears some fishchildren say how stupid racism is.
  • Abound from everyone when Merry lives.
• Quizzical: Thweet Geniuth: "And The Winner Is..." Reprise:
  "Princess, why are you sad?" asked Ray. "Please don't cry."
  "These are tears of Joy, little Ray," answered the Princess. "I am reminded of how very happy I am to be here."
• To Hell and Back (Arrowverse): The first four chapters after the prologue is just a long series of these from numerous characters when they learn Oliver and Barry are alive, after being presumed dead for ten years.
• The Champion And The Singer: It occurs when Weiss is moved by how much she trusts her girlfriend Pyrrha, and vice versa:
  Weiss bit her lip, doing her best to swallow back the little sobs threatening to become audible. Pyrrha pulled her in closer.
  "Weiss? Are you crying?"
  The heiress sighed. Caught red-handed.
  She nodded, sniffling softly in her arms.
  "But it's... it's not bad, Pyrrha. In fact I think it's... it's the first time it's ever been good..."
  Hearing those words made Pyrrha just as joyful, also to the point of tears. She smiled again, pressing herself as close to Weiss as physics would allow.
• In Demon of Wind, Rai first gets a taste of being human again when he steps into the sunlight and feels its warmth. When Kimiko arrives he pulls her into a hug with tears streaming down his face.
• In Hellsister Trilogy, once Supergirl has been healed and her life isn't in danger anymore, her boyfriend Dev-Em cries with happiness.
  She was still asleep, but she was resting soundly. Dev went on one knee, cradling her in his arms. He was crying.
• Ponies of Olympus: When the changelings reveal themselves during the final match of the tournament, Aurelia goes on into detail how they've been manipulating everyone in order to feed off of their skills and power, and will use it to conquer Equestria. Chrysalis sheds tears of pride on her artful delivery.
• Two separate Law & Order: UK stories have Alesha Phillips shedding these after she and Matt Devlin consummate their relationship. It actually scares him in the second instance, as he's initially afraid that he's done something to hurt her or cause her to have flashbacks of her rape before she assures him otherwise.
• In Danny Phantom fanfic Resurrected Memories: Both Ember and her sister Amy, who happens to be her teacher Mrs.Murray, shed these when they finally realize the others true identity.
• Warmth: Minamo starts crying when Yukari gives her a sports watch as a friendship anniversary present.
• Glinda from The Eternity Effect starts crying after having not seen her reflection in a year.
• Empath in the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf story "Empath's Wedding" cries these when he meets Smurfette at the altar and Smurfette wonders what's wrong, saying he looks like he hasn't seen her in years. As a joke throughout the series, Weepy says that he always cries at weddings.
• In The Seven Misfortunes of Lady Fortune, Marinette was considered dead for the past seven years. Naturally, once it's discovered she is actually alive, more than one person bursts into tears.
• In Kindness's Reward, Trixie starts crying without realizing it when Fluttershy gives her a bowl of soup. She hasn't eaten a decent meal since she'd gotten lost in the Evergreen Forest a few weeks prior.
• Son of the Sannin: After having her home village invaded, her surrogate older brother potentially being dead from covering her escape, and being exhausted from having fought off her attackers for a day and a half, Fu nearly burst into tears when a rescue party from Konoha shows up (the fact that her two closest friends and her boyfriend were among the group probably helped).
• Love Is A Funny Thing: When Rio breaks up with her, Jerrica starts crying, but out of relief rather than grief. It feels good to reveal her secret after keeping it for years.
• In chapter 29 of Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron, after a solid week in an Altean healing pod, Nunnally was finally able to open her eyes once again. Everyone immediately started complaining about the space dust.
• Anger Management:
  • Luan cries happily when Lynn wants her to teach her how to prank.
  • Luan cries laughing when she and Lynn are pranking Lincoln.
  • Lincoln cries laughing when it's revealed that Ronnie Anne wets the bed.
  • Ronnie Anne and Frida cry for joy when Carlitos says his first (non-imitation) words.
• God of War - Not All Gods: Kratos and his daughter Calliope shed these when they reunite in Skyworld, as both thought they would never encounter each other again after he left Elysium.
• The Kedabory Verse:
  • Anything for Family: Rosemary cries waterfall tears when he reunites with his baby daughter Chiho, relieved that she is safe and unharmed.
  • Ma Fille:
    • Played for Laughs in "Bloom of the Red Peony"; Katrina, who is having her first period, bawls over a puppy on TV because he's so cute, and asks if that's what hormones are.
    • Played straight in "Wedding Bells", where Joe sheds a few happy tears on his wedding day.
• In Mistake (Sherlock Holmes), Watson ends up comatose and then has to undergo a long recovery after a mission goes wrong. Holmes gets teary-eyed upon seeing his friend regain his ability to walk around Christmas. The fact that he's crying despite being incredibly happy utterly confuses the detective.
• Naru-Hina Chronicles:
  • Hinata has this kind of tears after Naruto asks her if she wants to go on a date with him for the first time.
  • Sakura does this in the third chapter upon seeing Sasuke in Tsunade's office and realizing he has finally returned to the village for the first time since his Face–Heel Turn.
  • Hinata does this after Naruto finally tells her that he loves her (which took him over an entire year of dating her to do so).
  • Hinata does this again after Naruto almost died (due to Rokuro being inside his head for over a year) and woke up at the hospital.
  • After Naruto defeats Hiashi, Hinata runs over to the latter, worried about his injuries. Her father then tells her she should be with Naruto instead given how much effort the latter put in so he could be with her. The next panel shows Hinata smiling, with a tear coming out of her right eye.
  • In Chapter 46, while having a make-out session with Naruto, Hinata makes this kind of tears while telling him that he makes her so happy.
  • Naruto has this kind of tears when he's looking at pictures of his parents for the first time.
• In Medicated, Oum and Bee have these when they're reunited with their long-lost daughter after 13 years at the police station and can finally bring her home.

Film — Animated

• The Brave Little Toaster: The Air Conditioner after he is repaired and brought back to life by Rob.
• Coco: Near the end, Mama Elena sheds tears when Miguel's singing of "Remember Me" brings her mother back to lucidity and she recognizes her daughter for the first time in years.
• Curious George: Mr. Bloomsberry when he thinks Ted found the real idol and the idol is bigger than it was told to be when in fact the idol is tiny. (or rather, a map to the ACTUAL idol.) Ted mistakes it for the opposite.
• Frozen:
  • Elsa's Tears of Remorse in Frozen becomes a joyful one upon seeing her sister thaw out as a result of her Act of True Love to the point of hugging her in happiness for the first time in forever.
  • Frozen II:
    • Just when Anna believes she has lost Elsa forever, she suddenly sees Elsa approaching the shore on the Nokk. Anna gets so excited and begins crying when reuniting with Elsa. Anna continues shedding joyful tears when she and Elsa revive Olaf, and then when Kristoff proposes to her.
    • Kristoff’s reindeer, Sven also weeps with joy when Anna accepts Kristoff’s proposal.
• At the end of Hercules, Phil sheds a Single Tear of joy when Herc's heroics inspire Zeus to create a constellation of him in the sky, showing that one of his students finally proved himself.
  "That's Phil's boy!"
• The Little Mermaid (1989): In the final scene (pictured above), Sebastian is shown tearing up at Ariel and Eric's wedding.
• In Luck (2022), Sam starts crying after Bob's You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech. Bob tells her that he didn't mean to make her cry, but Sam reassures him that it's a happy cry.
  Bob: Humans... are so weird.
  • Sam sheds a happy tear later when she sees on the Mission Control monitor that a couple have come to pick up Hazel. The same couple are later shown to have adopted Hazel.
• Robin Hood (1973): Lady Kluck when Robin and Maid Marian get married.
• In Turning Red, while attending 4*Town's concert, Mei, Miriam, Tyler, Abby, and even the usually cool-headed Priya burst into joyful tears upon seeing 4*Town in person for the first time.
  • Mei also has some later on when she sees (and hears) her fiends, 4*Town and the Audience singing to help perform the ritual.

Film — Live-Action

• The Abyss. After the Miraculous Bitchslap of Life revives Lindsey Brigman, everybody breaks down. Especially "One Night", who was the only one besides Bud to openly break down after the rest originally gave up on Lindsey. Early in the film, she had said some bad things about her.
• In The Adventures of Pinocchio, after Pinocchio and Geppetto wash up on shore near the end, Geppetto seems to have drowned, but then revives, and he apologizes for giving Pinocchio up earlier and declares that despite being made of wood, Pinocchio is "real" to him because he loves him. As they embrace, Pinocchio sheds a happy tear, which lands on his engraved heart and magically transforms him into a real boy.
• In The Best Years of Our Lives, Al comes home early from fighting in World War II, and Millie calls someone to cancel her evening plans:
  Millie: I'm terribly sorry. [starts weeping] I mean, I'm terribly happy! You see, Al...my husband! He's home...Yes.
• In Dog Days (2018), Grace cries when Walter agrees to let her family keep his runaway pug Mabel.
• Vontae Mack in Draft Day when he's drafted as the first overall pick.
• Fearless (1993): In the last scene, after Max nearly dies but is revived by his wife, he cries joyfully as he repeatedly shouts "I'm alive!"
• Williamson from The Hanoi Hilton is kept in isolation for a year. He cries when he's allowed to be with other POWs.
• Emma (2020) at first has Emma disparage this trope - when Mr. Knightley asks who cried most at the Westons' wedding, Emma replied that no one cried, and they "all behaved very well". Of course, at Emma and Mr. Knightley's own wedding at the end of the film, both Emma and Mr. Knightley shed tears. Amusingly, Mr. Knightley's brother John, who up until this point has been either annoyed or sarcastic, is more overcome than either of them, and is openly weeping.
• Sadie from If You Could Say It in Words remembers that during her days as an actress, she once cried from excitement when she saw that an associate producer had written "Will be a star," underlined twice, next to her name on the playbill.
• Pepper Potts cried these in Iron Man when she sees Tony for the first time after he escapes from being imprisoned by terrorists for three months.
  • Then she does it again when Tony returns from space in Avengers: Endgame.
  • In the same movie, Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie both cry when Scott is brought back from the Quantum Realm and they see each other again. Scott because, after coming back, he learned about Thanos' killing half the population during his time being trapped, and he wasn't sure she'd survived until then, and Cassie because, as far as she could tell, he had been one of the victims.
  • While he manages to hold them in, Tony himself wells up when all of Thanos' victims are resurrected and he reunites with his protege and surrogate son, Peter Parker.
  • Speaking of Endgame Agent Carter aka Peggy has some visible tears of joy in her slow dance with Steve Rogers when they reunite.
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron has Laura Barton start crying when she sees her husband Clint return after the Battle of Sokovia. And she doesn't yet know how close he came to being killed.
• In I Think I Do (1997), Carol starts crying so hard during her wedding vows that she can't even finish them, saying "Till death do us... whatever" and then lunging to kiss Matt.
• Jenny's Wedding: Jenny gets visibly tearful at hearing her mom has accepted her being a lesbian and wants to be a part of her wedding with her girlfriend, hugging her fiercely while she's beaming with happiness. She reacts the same way when her dad also comes around later.
• In Journey of the Heart, the Johnstons plan to move to Boston so piano savant Tony can attend the Perkins School for the Blind, but Ray suffers from Moving Angst and blames Tony for ruining his life. Shortly before the move, Tony stops playing piano for a while because Ray is mad at him. When he starts playing again, his mother Janice cries.
• At the end of Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Bride is seen on a motel room's bathroom floor crying while clutching a stuffed animal. A close-up of her face reveals that these are indeed Tears of Joy at her Happy Ending, with Bill dead and having been reunited with her daughter.
• And speaking of Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Rick Dalton's Manly Tears of joy were viral memes and gifs practically before the movie was even in wide release.
• The Parent Trap (1998): Naturally when each twin reveals their true identity to various family members who haven't seen them in almost 12 years.
  Martin: "I've never been so happy in my entire life!"
• In Son of the Stars, Zhengzheng cries when she finds her son Xinxin among the missing children at the police station.
• In Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love, Suzie cries after she gives birth to Raun.
• In Star Trek: Generations, after the Enterprise crashes, Data when he finds his pet cat Spot among the wreckage, alive and fairly unscathed, thanks to his emotions chip.
  Troi: Data? Are you alright?
  Data: ...I am uncertain, Counselor... I am happy to see Spot... and I am crying... perhaps the chip is malfunctioning...?
  Troi: I think it's working perfectly.
• Kevin Costner in Tin Cup and The Bodyguard (shared with Whitney Houston).
• The Truman Show: When the title character is on a boat trying to sail to freedom, he takes a picture out of his jacket, and it's the makeshift one he's made of Lauren. Lauren, who's watching this on TV at home, starts crying and laughing at the same time.
• When John tells his wife that he's coming home at the end of Twice Round the Daffodils, she bursts into happy tears:
  John: Oh, now, love, what are you cryin' for?
  Mrs. Rhodes: I'm so happy.
• War for the Planet of the Apes: Having finally led his apes to a new home and brighter future, Caesar sheds these as he watches them celebrate, right before peacefully succumbing to his wounds.
• In the one of Wee Sing live action videos "The Big Rock Candy Mountains", the following dialogue happens when the normally stoic Pfroster starts crying during a wedding:
  Snoodle: Why are you crying?
  Profster: I always cry when I'm happy.
  Doodle: Well, what do you do when you're sad?
  Pfrofster: Cry.
• X-Men: Apocalypse: Moira experiences this when Charles Xavier restores her memories of their romantic relationship in 1962.

Literature

• In Afrotistic, tears fill Noa's eyes when she learns that the Roaring Pebbles have won a teens creativity award for designing a robot toy called aiSenses and writing a picture book about consent.
• In the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne explains why she's not a big fan of diamonds and would rather have pearls for her engagement ring. Gilbert points out that pearls symbolize tears, and Anne in turn mentions the several times she cried tears of joy.
• In Berättelse om herr Roos, the almost 60-years-old titular character Valdemar Roos wins 2 million Swedish crowns and starts a second life obliviously to his family: He quits his job and looks after a small cabin in the woods to spend his days there, and after he finds "Lograna" through his estate agent Espen, he immediately falls in love with the cabin and starts to cry for a few minutes, knowing that he finally found his place on earth.
• In the Bounders novel The Heroes Return, Jasper's mother cries when she sees him in person after he'd been presumed dead for over a year.
• Can You See Me?: Nell cries when Mum calls her to tell her that Dad will be okay - his collapse was due to appendicitis, which has been successfully treated.
• In the Dragonriders of Pern novel Dragonsong, Menolly breaks down in these when she truly realizes that she has escaped the dour misery of her sea-hold birthplace.
• Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic ends with Molly tearing up after Giovanni and Crusher, who have just "abducted" her from her abusive household, give her the first real good breakfast she's had in years, including the cinnamon apple raisin waffles her late mom used to make.
• In Every Shiny Thing, Lauren and her mom both cry when Lauren's brother Ryan visits from his Boarding School for Christmas.
• In John C. Wright's The Golden Transcedence, when Helion has paid off Phaethon's debts by way of an apology, and they meet again, Helion offers Phaethon a legal document. Phaethon knocks it aside to embrace his father, and Helion uses the paper to dry his "joy-wet" eyes before remembering to give it to Phaethon, who deeply appreciates it even in its less than pristine state.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
  But Harry had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster's chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song.
• In Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, the Prebles, adrift in a small boat after fleeing the island they first went to after being shipwrecked, cry from relief when they're picked up by a ship heading to India.
• In The Hour of the Dragon, when Conan the Barbarian appears alive:
  "Oh, but Trocero will weep tears of joy to see you, sire!" cried one.
  "Aye, and Prospero!" shouted another.
• Sharon from I Think I Love You cries at the David Cassidy concert.
• P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster: In Thank You, Jeeves, after Jeeves has bailed the hysterical Bertie out of trouble yet again. Granted, Bertie expresses gratitude towards Jeeves Once an Episode, but this moment is especially significant given that Jeeves quit working for Bertie at the beginning of the book, and Bertie tried to replace him with another valet who just didn't compare:
  "Jeeves," I said, and if there were tears in the eyes, what of it? We Woosters are not afraid to confess honest emotion, "there is none like you, none."
• In The Key to Charlotte, Charlotte's parents cry when they see the video Zakaria took of her singing.
• In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings this happens quite a bit, especially in The Return of the King:
  "the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears."
  "And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness."
• Lumbanico, the Cubic Planet: Aralia's parents cry in happiness when they are reunited with their daughter, who was missing for seven years.
• In The Magic Tree House book "Night of the New Magicians," Jack and Annie visit Paris during the World's Fair of 1889. In one of its exhibits, an aging gentleman is listening to music on a phonograph, causing him to shed tears and tell someone next to him that "now we can hear the dead sing."
• The Marvellous Land of Snergs: Miss Watkins and Joe and Sylvia's guardians burst into tears when their kids are finally returned to home.
• In The Mermaid, Amelia cries when she realizes that she's pregnant with Levi's child, after decades of wanting a child but being unable to have one with her first husband Jack.
• The Mermaid Chronicles: At the end of Secrets of the Deep, Cordelia's father cries when he's reunited with his son Dylan, who was thought to be dead for five years.
• In Mermaid's Song, Elan searches for the Seadragon, listening for his song, even though he's fallen silent. When she finally hears him again, she cries.
• The Merman's Children: Many of the merfolk cry when they are baptized, and receive a new mortal soul from God.
• My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!:
  • After being recovered from being injured by an earth golem and fully knowing Keith's circumstances, Catarina literally barges in to Keith's room in order to apologize to him for breaking his promise to the Duke not to use his magic when she was the one who insisted to do so that lead to the accident. Furthermore, her declaration that he is not a monster and that she will stay with him really puts the young boy into this trope and finally smiles again. Considering that Keith spent his formative years being abused by his paternal family after being abandoned by his prostitute mother and fully expects that his second family will treat him like crap (just like what happened in the original game where he was horribly abused by Catarina and Duchess Claes), his reaction is understandable.
  • Following Catarina's declaration that she finds her white hair and red eyes pretty, along with wanting to be her friend, Sophia, who had only heard others saying bad things about how she looks, gives a tearful smile due to how incredibly happy Catarina's words made her.
  • He didn't shed tears outright in the anime, but Nicol is on the verge of this when Catarina genuinely says he's blessed with such a loving sister, especially since all he ever heard from others is how much of a burden Sophia was to him and false accusations at him for having an unfortunate family, even if they're nothing but Good Parents to him.
  • Maria is confronted by a group of bullies and threatened with fire magic, but is saved when Catarina intervenes, sticks up for Maria, and scares the bullies off. Afterwards, Catarina sees Maria crying and thinks that Maria was scared due to being threatened with fire magic. What really happened though was that in sticking up for Maria, Catarina pointed out how hard a worker and how wonderful a person Maria is. Maria had up to this point been ostracized by everyone due to being a commoner with light magic and had lost hope that anyone would see her as anything other than "the girl with light magic". Catarina's words and actions instead restored that hope suddenly, and Maria began crying out of pure joy that anyone, much less a high-ranking noble like Catarina, would see her for who she is and be her friend.
• In Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest, Jennifer cries for joy on being reunited with Rupert.
• Miracle Creek: Rosa Santiago, a teenager with severe brain damage, undergoes a week of hyperbaric oxygen treatment, after which her mother Teresa thinks she's making more attempts at saying words. When she says "Ma," tears pour down Teresa's face.
• In Teresa Frohock's Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Lucian feels he could shed these after Lindsey rejects Catarina for him — until Catarina resorts to force instead.
• In The Missing Piece of Charlie O'Reilly, Charlie cries when he's finally reunited with his brother Liam, who's been missing for the last year.
• In The Mouse Watch, this is how Bernie reacts when Gadget inducts her into the titular Heroes "R" Us organization.
• Mr. Revere and I: After the long and miserable voyage to Boston, Sherry sheds a few tears when she's finally let out of the hold.
• L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Regained:
  • When Mab does something that requires a soul, Miranda weeps for joy.
  • Miranda starts to cry when her siblings take over her duties at Prospero Inc., so she can go off with Astreus and spread the news of their freedom among the elves.
• The Purple Cloud: After several years on the Arctic Ocean, Adam lands on a tiny, deserted northern island. He sits down in the snow and cries from relief at finally being on land. (This is before he learns about the Depopulation Bomb that killed most of the human and animal life on Earth.)
• In Ragged Dick, a six-year-old boy falls from a ferry, and Dick leaps overboard to rescue him. When the boy is reunited with his family, his father cries.
• Roys Bedoys: Mrs. Bedoys wells up a bit when her husband and sons surprise her with dinner, balloons, flowers, and a drawing on Mother’s Day in “It’s Mother’s Day, Roys Bedoys!”.
• Rubbernecker: Coma patient Sam gradually regains consciousness and the control of his facial muscles, and eventually recovers enough for nurses to spoon small amounts of orange juice into his mouth. It tastes so good that he cries. His joy is short-lived — Tracy carelessly feeds him too quickly and the juice goes down his airway, resulting in pneumonia.
• Saving Max: Max cries with relief when he's found innocent.
• In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, after an entire book of keeping her emotions in and not reacting to anything, when Elinor learns Edward's able to marry her after all, she runs out of the room crying "tears of joy, which she at first thought would never cease."
• Skin of the Sea: In Soul of the Deep, Simi is reunited with Ara, her best friend from before she became a Mami Wata, and they both cry.
• In The Someday Birds, everyone except Charlie starts crying when their dad talks to them for the first time since he was injured months ago.
• In Michael Flynn's Spiral Arm novel On The Razor's Edge, Podiin, when Gidula agrees not to free him.
• In the final chapter of Supergifted, Noah Youlikis lets loose tears of joy as he reads the letter from the school for his parents stating that Noah would be taking remedial classes. By then, he was already expelled from Hardcastle Middle School for making GradeWorm, which also got him put back in the Academy for Scholastic Distinction because of how sophisticated the code was. Still, he's happy he was able to fail that much.
• In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts novel His Last Command, the sight of Gaunt makes Zweil's eyes well up before he declares that it has given him the most joy of anything in his long life.
• Kya from Where the Crawdads Sing cries as she feeds the gulls for the first time in two months after being released from the county jail.
• The Wild Way Home
  • Charlie cries after his longed-for baby brother Dara is born, before he learns that Dara has a severe heart defect.
  • Charlie and his dad both cry when they learn that Dara's surgery went well.
• In The Witchlands, all of the Nubrevnans in Safi's company cry with joy when they see Noden's Gift, an oasis of clean water and fertile earth in the middle of a Polluted Wasteland their country has become. Some even fall to their knees and kiss the ground.
• You Have a Match: When Abby was younger, she desperately wanted siblings. She tells Savvy how she cried from happiness when her parents told her they were going to have a baby boy.
• In Zenobia July, trans girl Zen cries when her aunts tell her they've gotten her an appointment at a gender clinic. Later, she cries even harder when Uncle Sprink does her makeup in a way that hides all the boyish features she dislikes and makes her look beautiful and feminine.

Live-Action TV

In General:

• In many game shows, it is not unheard of for a contestant that wins a grand prize (money, a trip, a car, etc.) to break down crying in absolute joy since they won something they could never get on their own.
  • In a 1973 telecast of The $10,000 Pyramid' celebrity player Bernadette Peters helped a contestant win $10,000. The camera got a close-up of Bernadette's face. She was crying tears of joy for the contestant.
• Actress Jenny Richardson from The Worst Witch cried tears of joy immediately after the show's penultimate scene for the fourth and final season, where Mildred was promoted to Head Girl, was the last scene filmed. It's no question that Lydia Page and the rest of the cast followed suit. The reaction was a combination of bittersweet, sad, and happy since the show has reached the end.

By Series:

• In Babylon 5, Jane, the ISN anchor imprisoned by President Clark's regime, takes a minute to compose herself when she returns to report on the overthrow of President Clark.
• Bones: In the sixth season episode "The Finder", Booth and Brennan recruit Walter, who was in the military with Booth, to find a treasure map to help track a killer. Booth claims Walter can find anything, which Brennan is skeptical of at first, and Walter ends up taking that as a challenge, offering to find something of Brenna's as well. She brings up a medal she won at a science fair in grade school that she lost, and Walter ends up finding not only that, but also an old newspaper article from the time that has a picture of her mother. Since Brennan loved her mother, this leads her to tear up and smile at the same time.
• In Breaking Bad's final episode "Felina", after spending months as a slave to the neo-Nazis and Todd, Jesse drives a car at full-speed through the gate of their compound to freedom, crying and laughing the entire time.
• At the end of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Grave", amidst the Cooldown Hugs and Tear Jerker, Buffy cries these tears to the shock of Dawn whom thought she'd wanted the world to end as she'd spent the season in a walking depression as she coped with being alive again.
  • In the comics we get a new Slayer, Satsu, who was reduced to this due to the events at the end of Season 7.
• Doctor Who:
  • "Vincent and the Doctor": Vincent van Gogh is completely overwhelmed and breaks down sobbing with joy when the Doctor and Amy show him a future exhibition of his paintings where an art expert praises him as "the greatest artist of all time".
  • "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang": Amy Pond finds herself crying when she starts to remember someone who's been erased from her memory.
  • "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" has the Doctor repeatedly notice this in other people and remark on how it's a strange human thing: "Happy tears. Humany-wumany". The ending reveals he's full of it when he starts doing it himself.
  • "The Time of the Doctor": Clara, when the Time Lords give the Doctor — who's about to die of old age — a new regeneration cycle for a final battle against his enemies.
  • "Demons of the Punjab": When Yaz starts crying at Umbreen and Prem's wedding, she tells Umbreen's mother she always cries at weddings. She's actually crying because she knows Prem is destined to die later that day.
• At the end of the Firefly pilot, River is crying in relief and happiness when she hugs Simon after he rescued her.
• House of Anubis, a few times.
  • Fabian does this when he finds Nina, after an entire episode spent getting desperate and crazy searching for after he had sent her down the hole during Senet.
  • Mara, when she finds out that Jerome is putting someone — his father in this case — before himself for once.
  • Jerome, when he gets the gem back, and sees his father freed from prison.
  • Pretty much everyone when Joy is saved from dying in the Season 2 finale.
    • Likewise, everyone when Eddie turns out to be alive at the end of "Touchstone of Ra".
  • Patricia seemed close to this when she finally got to talk to Joy again.
• Janda Kembang: Salmah cries when Dino decides to withdraw the land dispute case against her, which confuses Laila. Kemal has to explain to her that her mother is crying because she is happy.
• In the series Legend of the Seeker, when Cara discovers the kind little creature u pon which the universe's destiny rests, and which she is trying to save and help giving birth after this creature witnessed an horrible event, is dying, she is understandably sad. After laying her on a flower on a place in which the Nightshade (the creature) had to give her babies birth, she turns back and hears a strange sound, while the light lowers around her, and when she turns back again, she sees that her babies have just been born, and fly around, understands that she did not fail, that they are going to live and that she has just saved everyone with them, the usually collected Cara cries tears of joy. Later, she meets the injured Kahlan, help her to climb and begins answering Kahlan's inquiries about the creature' s situation by uttering, with a beam (possibly bordering tears of bliss again), she wishes she (Kahlan) would have been there, because it is the most beautiful thing [she] (Cara) [has] ever seen.
• Colin Morgan as the titular character of Merlin is the master of this. Just try not to get choked up yourself when he cries with joy at being reunited with his first love, or when he watches his best friend get crowned Queen of Camelot.
• Discussed in The Puzzle Place episode "Big Boys Don't Cry" where the lesson was it's okay for boys to cry. Skye mentions his grandfather crying when he first held Skye's newborn sister not because he was sad but because he was so happy.
• In one of the climaxes of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Takeru just barely got out alive after a death duel with Juzou, thanks to his friends. When he tried to leave again, since he was actually the clan lord's Body Double and he felt extremely guilty for tricking his friends, all his friends made him listen that they'll always stay by him, even if he's fake, because their experience together aren't fake and he is the 'lord' in their eyes and the lord that they pledged their loyalty to. As an ultimate expression of how glad he is that he still got friends, Takeru had quite the heartful cry.
• On Schitt's Creek, resident cynic Stevie Budd cries tears of joy when the Jazzagals sing during the Christmas Episode. She tells David she's just upset that they are out of wine, but he smiles knowingly.
• At the end of Selfie episode "Here's This Guy", Henry comes to support Eliza as she introduces a keynote speaker at Pharmacuticon, even though they've had a falling out. She's glad to see him, and the two reconcile, with Henry gently reminding Eliza that she still needs his help and he's happy to do so. She's so happy she starts to tear up a little, and he kindly offers her his handkerchief.
• Sesame Street:
  • In a Season 16 episode, Big Bird sings about having these when he begins shedding some himself after reading a story that ends with a Happily Ever After.
  • In a Season 21 episode, Gina cries happily after seeing Miles off to his first day of kindergarten.
• Sherlock: The guests and John do this in "The Sign of Three" when that bloody-awful best man's speech turns out to be very sweet.
• Mike and Eleven are both in tears when they're finally reunited after a year apart on Stranger Things.
• Star Trek: Picard: In "The Impossible Box", a newly freed ex-Borg drone breaks down in joyous tears at seeing his face mostly restored to normal.
• Supernatural: Dean, Sam, and Jack finally catch a break after a Michael-powered Dean killed Lucifer. Until Michael takes full control of Dean.
• The Untamed: Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui shed these after they properly recognize each other from their past.

Music

• "Celebrate The Magic" After having a fun day with friends/family at Disney World, learning more and more about Disney's history as a whole, and having memories that'll last a life time, tell me you don't tear up even a tiny bit when you hear the last 45 seconds (Especially with a brief clip with Walt Disney near the end). Happiest place on earth indeed.
  Walt Disney: "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing... that it was all started by a mouse"
  • Can double as a tearjerker for those who are only there on vacation and won't be able to go back for a while, missing the "Happiest Place on Earth".
• Asia's "Never In A Million Years" has this line:
  Live angel, you come to me and cry
  Like tears of joy come raining from the sky
  • John Wetton and Geoff Downes have the song titled "Tears Of Joy" from one of their Icon albums.
• Flaming Lips, "Do You Realize??" from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
  Do you realize
  That happiness makes you cry?
• "True Tears of Joy" by Australian band Hunters and Collectors.
  Come on confess your confusion
  Spread it around
  They trickle down your cheeks tears fall
  Like seed on barren ground
  Your thoughts are scattered
  Like paper everywhere
  Tiny pieces of laughter and despair
  But you cry true tears of joy
• The Supremes: "Touch"
  (Oh, baby!)
  Don't worry, don't worry if I cry
  These are tears of love in my eyes
  I feel this love flowin' through
  Like a river, boy, straight through me to you

Professional Wrestling

• Happens a few times whenever a superstar accomplishes something big, such as winning their first World Title.
• The audience's reaction to CM Punk's debut match on WWE against Justin Credible was so great that it reportedly moved Punk to tears backstage.
• The reunion of Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth had both of them succumb to this, along with many people in the crowd.

Theatre

• Steel Magnolias: Invoked by Truvy.
  Truvy: Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion!

Video Games

• Animal Crossing sometimes does this. In New Leaf, giving some villagers perfect fruit when they request fruit will cause them to cry out of happiness. Uchi villagers will also do this if you give them an item they are willing to pay for.
• Bravely Second: Edea and Agnès are overcome with joy after the party breaks Tiz free from his medically-induced coma after the events of the previous game.
• Breed: Although it's not seen on-screen, your commander references the trope in the opening FMV where he "sheds tears, but they're in joy" when it's time to deploy you and your fellow platoon of Super Soldiers on your first mission.
• Dragon Quest V: Mr. and Mrs. Porgie shed happy tears when their son George returns home after remaining kidnapped by the Order of Zugzwang for seven years. After seeing their reactions, the Hero's daughter comments sometimes people cry when they are incredibly joyous.
• Fate/stay night: In Realta Nua's unlockable epilogue to the Fate route, Saber lets her tears fall after finally reuniting with Shirou.
• Final Fantasy IX: Garnet in the ending, upon being reunited with Zidane, who she believed to be dead for a year. Combined with Anger Born of Worry and The Glomp, too.
• Final Fantasy X-2: Yuna cries these at the end if you get the good ending and she is reunited with Tidus.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
  • In Azure Moon, Dimitri finds himself shedding tears of joy when he returns to Fhirdiad and slays Cornelia, and the people come out to celebrate his return. He may not think he deserves it, but his people love him.
  • In Crimson Flower, Edelgard starts to shed tears as Byleth collapses after slaying the Final Boss and she frantically searches for any sign of life. They quickly turn into these when she hears their heart begin to beat.
  • In her S-rank conversation Annette will start crying after Byleth proposes to her.
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach: Gregory sheds a tear in one of the two-star endings when he manages to revive Glamrock Freddy using a car battery.
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Aqua sheds these tears after learning that Sora, who was just an ordinary young boy when she met him, has grown into the one who will restore balance to the multiverse.
  • Kingdom Hearts III: When Sora and Riku successfully save Aqua from the Realm of Darkness and she wakes up on the sunny beaches of the Destiny Islands. The poor girl can barely believe she's been rescued.
• Later Alligator: Pat cries from happiness when he arrives at the hotel ballroom for the event his family planned, and realizes it's a surprise birthday party for him, and that they weren't planning to "rub him out" as he thought.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Orca cries, apparently for the first time in a long while, after Link masters the sword technique he never could.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword:
    • Zelda cries tears of joy after Demise is defeated.
    • Groose sheds these twice: the first time when Link informs him that Zelda is on the Surface, but she's okay. The second time when Zelda wakes up from her thousand-year sleep, but this time he full-on blubbers like a baby.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: Hilda cries out of strong gratitude for Link and Zelda's Selfless Wish to restore Lorule's Triforce.
• Luigi's Mansion: The ending of the game has Luigi react this way after he finally saves Mario after a horrifying night in the titular mansion. Luigi just stands in silence for a moment with his mouth open in a wide smile, like he can't believe it, and then tears start rolling down his face as he slowly bursts into a most heavily relieved laughter, with tears still rolling down his face all the while.
• In No Umbrellas Allowed, Eunjong Lee's "Happy Tears" painting series features green animals crying while smiling.
• Persona 3: If certain steps are taken, Junpei gets these when he learns that Chidori is alive.
• Persona 4: Follow the good ending and girls do this when Nanako is revealed to have been successfully resuscitated.
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Hassel has a tendency of sobbing when he's happy for or proud of someone, such as when Brassius relates how he got out of his artistic slump or when the player character becomes a champion.

• Tokimeki Memorial: Numerous girls shed those when their confession of love get reciprocated by the protagonist in their Happy Ending. To cite a few of them: Shiori, Hikari, Nozomi, Saki (in the Drama Series), Yuu, Maki, and Itsuki.
• Truelove Junai Monogatari has Yumi-sensei shedding those in her ending, when the Player Character proposes to her with a handmade ring.

Webcomics

• In Ava's Demon, the demon indignantly says that Ava should be weeping tears of joy over the planet's destruction, because it was a terrible planet.

• In Endstone, Vandric recognizes Kyri in the arena and cries when embracing her.
• Girl Genius: The Giesterdamen in Sturmhalten have tears of joy streaming down their faces when they realize they have successfully transferred the Other's personality into Agatha.
• Antimony of Gunnerkrigg Court cries happy tears when she is reunited with Katerina after a summer break spent waiting for her father at the Court in futility.
• The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: Jean weeps with joy when she realizes ''We're in spaaaaaaayce..."
• Ménage à 3: Gary does this when Yuki says DiDi needs to be naked around Gary all the time so that his art may improve.
• NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Shine bursts into tears because of the relief she feels when Hakase tells her that her struggle with being able to sing was caused by a manufacturing error and isn't her own fault.
  Shine: So that's how it was! A manufacturing error... Hahaha, what the heck?
• The Order of the Stick: Roy cries with joy when he meets his little brother Eric, who died very young in an accident, in the afterlife.
  Eric: Hi, Roy! Wanna play blocks with me?
  Roy: More than anything.
  • An earlier strip had Durkon shed tears of joy after being informed by the Oracle that he would return to the Dwarven Lands (from which he had been banished for reasons that were not explained to him) posthumously. Roy was concerned at Durkon's elation at this news, though Durkon himself explained that he assumed that he'd never get to return at all, and that to be buried in his family's crypt alongside his forefathers was all he wanted. Sadly, this does not preclude dying at the hands of a vampire, and his undead body getting usurped by an agent of the evil Dwarf goddess Hel to fulfil a separate prophecy of Durkon's return bringing death and destruction to the Dwarven Lands; the very prophecy that the then-High Priest of Thor had sent Durkon away for in the first place. Poor guy.
• In Rain, the title character tends to cry once a chapter but at the end of chapter 14 she cries for a happy reason.
• Schlock Mercenary:
  • Schlock gets teary-eyed on learning he gets his own fragsuit.
  • Kevyn has a similar reaction when he explains that he'll have to make up new scientific jargon to explain the situation... and Tagon agrees to listen.
  • Sorlie sees a living dinosaur.
  • Schlock again:
    Chelle: Sergeant, are you ready to steal a space station?
    Schlock: I've been ready for that my whole life.

Web Original

• Formula 1: At the close of the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Lando Norris starts to laugh at Jarv (his engineer Andrew Jarvis) for being emotional about what a good season they've had, then admits he's crying himself.
• Jake and Amir: Subverted. Jake thinks the term "tears of soy" in Amir's manuscript is a typo of this, but it turns out to be entirely accurate.
• Madam Sharky did videos of an Undertale fangame called Determination. This gets to the point where the fangame developers put her in the game. Madam Sharky is surprised by this, and after beating herself, she starts crying and calls it the sweetest thing she's ever seen.
• This was Markiplier's reaction to the 6 Million Subscriber Video made for him by MarkiplierSINGSBadly and his community.
  • He has this reaction upon finally completing the brutal Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, a game that has given him more rage than “I Am Bread.”
• In Slice of Life, this is Pinkie Pie's reaction the first time she eats a real cupcake (that is, one not made with rocks).

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: Jake cries these after he introduces Finn to his puppies.
• Lots of times in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Arguably, the most moving example would be the reunion between Zuko and Iroh in the Grand Finale of the the original series. Try not to cry yourself, we dare you.
• Beetlejuice: In "Doomie's Romance", Lydia cries happily when Doomie's tears revive Pinky, the Mayor's former pink convertible. Beetlejuice does so as well, but he uses the old excuse that he had something in his eye.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: At the end of "Summit to Save Earth, Part 2", as the UN delegates cheer for the President's suggestions, Gaia briefly shows up as a hologram, with a big smile on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks.
• Charlie Brown's All-Stars: Charlie Brown after the gang presents him with his own sweater that reads "Our Manager".
• Code Lyoko: Crossed with Manly Tears, Jeremie starts crying tears of joy in the episode "Just in Time", seeing how Aelita came back to life with the strand of her hair being put back in the scanner. Quickly becomes a funny moment when Aelita asks him "Why [he] has water on [his] face".
• In the Grand Finale of Danny Phantom, Sam and Danny, post-Relationship Upgrade, talk about how things will change now that he's revealed his secret identity to the world. At one point, Sam wonders if his newfound fame and responsibilities will mean that they won't be able to see each other anymore. Danny, noting her fear, takes out the ring she had given back to him earlier and puts in on Sam's finger, saying that he could never have gotten to where he was without her. Sam's response is to tear up and look back at Danny, deeply touched.
• Dragons: The Nine Realms: The first time Jun goes flying on the back of a dragon, she's awed enough to start shedding tears.
• DuckTales (2017): In "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!", Della's Big Damn Reunion with Huey, Dewey, and Louie quickly drives Webby to joyful tears.
  Webby: My heart! It's too full!
• In a blink-and-you'll-miss moment of one episode of Il Était Une Fois... l'homme, Pierrette kisses the cheek of Le Teigneux, which causes him to shed a tear of joy.
• Kaeloo: When the cast go exploring outer space, Kaeloo briefly cries with joy when they find another planet that looks just like theirs.
• Mr. Grumpy in The Mr. Men Show episode “Robots" nearly sheds one after his robot replica throws Miss Chatterbox out of his house.
  Mr. Grumpy Robot: Why are you crying?
  Mr. Grumpy: They’re tears of joy!
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Princess Luna sheds one in "Elements of Harmony" upon being welcomed back by her sister.
  • Pinkie Pie sheds these in "Baby Cakes" upon hearing Pound and Pumpkin Cake's first words: "Pinkie" and "Pie" respectively.
  • In "Magical Mystery Cure" Twilight's parents and brother all express "liquid pride" at her princess coronation.
  • In "The Mane Attraction", Applejack and Coloratura/Rara both get teary-eyed while the latter is performing "The Magic Inside".
• In The Owl House episode "Thanks to Them", Luz tells Hunter that she considers him family now. Hunter, whose only biological family member abused him his whole life and tried to kill him the last time he saw him, is so overwhelmed by this that he immediately bursts into tears.
• In PAW Patrol, Mayor Goodway cries happy fangirl tears at the Luke Stars concert.
• In The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "Buttercrush", Buttercup cries tears of joy — she's buying Gangreen Gang leader Ace's sob story.
• Gus Griswald in Recess during his first episode. He begins crying tears of joy after the other main five gave him a tour of the school and making friends with him, telling them about how in all of the schools he's been at in the past six years, he's never had any friends, and is glad that they're so nice to him.
• At the end of the Rugrats episode, "Angelica Breaks a Leg", after Stu nearly goes mad from waiting on Angelica hand and foot, he breaks down sobbing when the doctor calls and says Angelica's leg isn't actually broken. Didi asks him what's wrong and he just says he's so happy.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: In episode 50, Daphne cries when Fred kisses her and tells her he loves her. Velma cries when she witnesses it.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Scorpia's emotions are pretty close to the surface, put it that way. In particular, after her Heel–Face Turn, she has a talk with Princess Frosta, who's standing guard over her. She's expecting fear and rejection due to her unusual appearance, so when Frosta instead thinks her pincers are the coolest thing ever and makes herself a set out of ice, she starts weeping with happiness.
• Marge in The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" when Homer gives her the last porkchop out of generosity. The family is visibly freaked out by her tears.
  • Subverted and played for laughs in "Pygmoelian." When Moe first sees his new, beautiful face after plastic surgery, he smiles and seemingly sheds a tear. The plastic surgeon says it's just a little leakage and grabs a drill to cauterize it.
• Kyle does this in the South Park episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association" while watching an episode of Terrence & Phillip with Stan, right before a Mood Whiplashing commercial.
  • Played for Laughs in "Cartmanland": Cartman does this when he's having the time of his life, completely alone, at his own personal amusement park. "I'm so happy!" *sniff* "I'm so-ho-ho ha-happy-yy!!"
• Steven Universe:
  • "Sworn to the Sword": Pearl tears up with joy and pride when Connie declares that she wants to learn swordplay so she can help Steven defend Earth.
  • "Lars' Head": Steven starts to cry when Lars comes Back from the Dead. Later in the same episode, he cries again after eating a PB&J sandwich after not eating for days.
    Steven: [mouth full, sobbing] Life is beautiful!
  • "Reunited":
    • Both Bismuth and Steven cry when Ruby and Sapphire get married. However, this trope is horrifyingly subverted in Steven's case, as he and Garnet realize that these are NOT Steven's tears, but rather Blue Diamond's, meaning she's on Earth.
    • At the end of the episode, Blue Diamond is crying after realizing that Steven is (sort of) Pink Diamond, who she had thought was dead. She continues in the next episode, "Legs From Here to Homeworld", when her emotional powers cause the Crystal Gems to have Ocular Gushers and even make Yellow Diamond cry.
  • In "Change Your Mind", Steven cries tears of joy when his human half is reunited with his Gem half.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Brad cries these tears after Xavier gives an amazing performance at the school talent show in "I Am Johann Sebastian Bach"." He does this again at the end of "I Am Madam President" after Yadina thanks Xavier for making her part of their new exhibit on the female heroes they visited. He does it yet again at the end of "I Am Nellie Bly" after Yadina gets bold enough to climb the monkey bars and Xavier congratulates her for it.

Real Life

• This is what Alan Ladd Jr. had when he saw the first public screening of Star Wars: A New Hope. The seemingly silly and overbudgeted project that he had to fight to keep going as a leap of faith for George Lucas, had turned out to be one of the all-time blockbuster smashes.
• Naoki Yoshida, the director of Final Fantasy XIV, was tasked to salvage the game after the previous director botched the project so bad that Square-Enix was nearly ready to shut the game down for good if it didn't pick up. After working countless hours in the span of 2 years, the game was retooled and ready to launch. Yoshida held a launch event on the game's launch date and as he gave his speech, he broke down halfway through the speech and was unable to hold back his tears of joy. For a man who helped bring a dying online game back to life and gaining tons of support from fans, the tears were well earned.
• Scientific studies have shown than humans are not the only animals that do this. Dogs increase tear production when reunited with their owner after having not seen them for a while.

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