This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
Just because
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! is a lighthearted
Affectionate Parody of
Magical Girl anime doesn't mean it can't have its sad moments like them, and when
some of them have moments like that, yeah, prepare for some of these moments here too.
- The first ending theme, I Miss You no 3 Meters, is quite melancholic, as the lyrics are about how much Kinshiro misses Atsushi, but the animation in the ending takes the cake, as the Conquest Club were walking home from school and parting ways, leaving him alone, and he is noticeably quite lonely, but what takes the cake was when the Defense Club entered the movie theater, and he looked back with his usual serious face, only to have a sad realization that Atsushi has new friends now, really increasing how lonely he feels without Atsushi.
- The Surprisingly Creepy Moment in the last episode of season 2 is equal parts Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker, as it decipts Yumoto, of all people, lose his mind and fall into despair over the Beppu brothers trying to take Gora, his older brother who is implied to be his Living Emotional Crutch, away to Andromeda, as he nearly destroyed the theater, and ATTEMPTED TO KILL THE BEPPU BROTHERS, good thing the other Battle Lovers were here at the time and snapped him out...
- The OVA, once you get past the recap, where do we begin...?
- For starters, four of the ten main characters are graduating, En, Atsushi, Kinshiro, and Arima, which already adds a sense of bittersweetness to the OVA.
- Yumoto is noticeably absent for most of the first half of the OVA, with the recap basically taking his place, then the boys (the rest of the Defense Club, the Conquest Club, and the Beppu brothers) find a sign something isn't right, Yumoto hasn't cuddled Wombat even once today.
- After they found out Yumoto didn't cuddle Wombat today, they rushed to the Defense Club clubroom to be greeted by a depressed Yumoto squishing a sponge, with the overall sight being rather sad to see, plus the fact that Yumoto mentions that he is nothing, and he is not a protagonist, much to the shock of the rest of the Defense Club and the Beppu brothers, which combined with a more depressed behavior and a lower than usual voice tone, it turns heartbreaking as Yumoto is normally a Keet, setting the tone for the OVA being a bittersweet sendoff outside of the recap.
- There's also a rather small moment that when Yumoto left school solemnly, he found the upcoming Monster of the Week, Yuzuru Botan, complaining about graduation, and what does Yumoto do? Sadly agree with him, much to Yuzuru's shock, and him just looking at a depressed Yumoto leave with a noticeably concerned look is the cherry on top, especially when usually the Monster of the Week is the character suffering the most in this show.
- The battle also counts, as it started off as a typical battle in the show, complete with snarking and Lampshade Hanging, with the biggest difference being the former villains assisting the Battle Lovers as well...until the Monster of the Week pointed out that Yumoto doesn't want the graduation to happen either, shocking Yumoto to the point not only he got himself attacked, he also wasn't able to attack either and wound up detransforming.
- Yumoto's speech after detransforming counts too, as he not only berates himself, to the point considering himself a failure as a Battle Lover, he also sounds like he was about to cry. Kazutomi Yamamoto does make this scene all the more emotional here.
- In a Heartwarming kind of Tear Jerker, the boys detransforming after hearing Yumoto out, and not just that, the remaining Battle Lovers trying to protect Yumoto from the Monster of the Week trying to shoot him DESPITE also being detransformed. They may be snarky at times to Yumoto, but it's clear they truly care for him.
- The ending, which has Wombat leaving the Battle Lovers behind, a surprisingly bittersweet moment in an already bittersweet finale to LOVE!, with Yumoto thanking Wombat for the cuddles while crying at the same time as he leaves.
- The ending theme, Kokoro to Kokoro de, deserves special mention too, as the song itself is rather bittersweet as it ties to the story of graduation and how Yumoto feels, but when combined with the fact it consists of the official art LOVE! had over the course of two years, and the fact the Battle Lovers sang it this time (which adds a sense of Fridge Sadness as it usually is reserved for the villains) really turns it into a bittersweet parting song for LOVE!.
- In the second novel's prologue, it starts off as normal, with them hanging out in their clubroom like they normally would, until the usually quiet En suddenly shouted out of nowhere, much to the shock of the rest of the Defense Club, as En now has a child (who's name is Ash) into his arms, but what makes it a Tear Jerker is the reveal that Ash is ACTUALLY SUICIDAL, and therefore a Troubled Child by default, which ESPECIALLY becomes telling when the Defense Club, who usually would lampshade the absurdity of various things, were shocked into silence...
- To twist the knife further, up until Ash revealed he was suicidal, the situation with him and En, who caught him in his arms, was Played for Laughs, as he thought he was a child who fell from the sky, despite how obviously impossible it is (to the point even Yumoto didn't think it's the case)...and then it went out of the window after Ash told them the truth...
