"No matter what I try to call them about, they're never coming home."
Gakuen Babysitters follows the story of an orphaned teenage boy and his toddler brother being taken in by an elderly woman whose son and wife died in the same plane crash as the parents. Crying while reading/watching this series is very natural.General
- Any time the Kashima siblings' deceased parents are mentioned is sure to bring waterworks.
- As grumpy and relatively stoic as she is, it's made clear the Chairwoman is still grieving the death of her son and is still struggling to accept it. To make matters even worse, her son had a wife.....who died alongside him in the same plane crash.
- Inomata's Friendless Background and her anxiety about it is enough to earn her In-Universe woobieness. It makes her progress in making friends with both Ushimaru (and other classmates) and the children all the more nice.
Series
Chapter 1- When Kotarou is sick, Ryuuichi tries to call their father. That's when he remembers his parents aren't alive anymore. All this time Ryuuichi has been sort of working on autopilot since his parents death. He didn't cry when he heard of them and some part of him believed that his parents were still alive and were going to come home. His realization that no matter how many times he would try call them, they would never come home. At this moment, the weight and realization causes Ryuuichi to breakdown, being the first time he's cried since his parents died.
- Kotarou cries right afterwards when he thinks that Ryuuichi's disappeared too. The way he desperately reaches out to him from the nurse's arms is especially hard to watch.
- Ryuuichi wonders if Kotarou understood that their parents were never going to come back since he was so young.
Chapter 3
- The hard reality of being a mother of a young child as well as a dedicate teacher who has to often run overnight activities. Kirin starts missing her mum badly during the drama club's training, and Ryuuichi wants to bring them together; however he realizes that Yayoi too misses her daughter but still has work obligations to do and that Kirin doesn't want to get in her way, and respects their decisions.
Chapter 6
- In Chapter 6, the trip to the Zoo is a fun-filled romp until Taka runs off to go after who he thinks is his brother, only to discover that he's a total stranger. Taka hears the loudspeaker say the zoo is closing, and he's all alone with no idea where his friends or his brother are nor any idea what to do when. To an adult, this sort of thing is little more than a momentary inconvenience. But to a toddler, getting lost is one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable. Fortunately for him, it quickly shifts to a heartwarming tone afterwards since his brother was watching him from a distance the whole time.
Chapter 7
- Ryuuichi becomes sick and he has a nightmare about the last time he saw his parents, only they also decide to take Kotarou along on their ill-fated trip so Ryuuichi won't have to babysit again. Ryuuichi tries to stop them, but an invisible wall separates them and he's powerless to stop them. He's screaming at them, telling them not to go as they will never come back which regresses into him begging them not to take Kotaro away from him. It really enhances Ryuuichi's intense fear of losing Kotarou, the only family he has left.
- In a heartwarming tearjerking mix, Ryuuchi wakes up to Kotarou wiping the tears in this eyes (and inadvertently getting lemon juice in them).
Chapter 13
- According to Ryuuichi, one of the naughty things Kotarou has done is dropping his old phone in the toilet. It's only mentioned in passing, but Ryuuichi explains that the phone had the last messages his parents ever sent to him. It's really a gutpunch as it's one of the last things Ryuuichi and Kotarou has from their parents.
Chapter 15
- Kirin trying to fly is pretty heartbreaking when she realises that she can't do it - luckily the Chairwoman shows up to alleviate things a bit.
Chapter 16
- The chairwoman and Saikawa are still grieving when the son's library in their home is revealed.
- Saikawa recalls the son and his wife inviting him in their library and vowing to make Saikawa laugh. Saikawa regrets not being able to do that for them before their passing.
- The chairwoman asks that nobody else goes in the library but secretly keeps cleaning it, as if expecting her son to come home to use it again. When she discovers that Kotarou's found the library and sees Saikawa reading books to him in there, she briefly mistakes them for her son and daughter-in-law. Once she corrects herself, she just shrugs and leaves them be.
Chapter 20
- Kazuma has to stay home with a cold, and it's sad to see him whenever he's in bed, especially since he's constantly sobbing for Takuma despite his mother's efforts to comfort him.
- The end of the story has Umi bring Kazuma with her to pick up Takuma, who left the daycare to wait at the school gates for Kazuma to show up right after it finally sinks in for him that Kazuma isn't there. AS soon as Takuma sees Kazuma, he slumps to the ground and starts sobbing, which of course makes Kazuma start sobbing. Becomes heartwarming when we see both boys crying and smiling at once after being reunited.
Chapter 25
- Chapter 25 shows The Stoic Kamitani looking the most hurt readers have seen him at this point when his father Hebihara brushes him off, scolding him for calling him "Dad" at school. This is enough to make the usually polite Ryuuichi angry and tell Hebihara off.
Chapter 39
- This chapter starts off relatively tame and cute but goes very downhill once it's made clear why Kotarou keeps giving away his things: after hearing a fairy tale about a princess who went back to the moon when she didn't get the gift she wanted, Kotarou starts sharing with everyone — his books, his lunch, everything — because he thinks that if he keeps giving people things, they won't go away. Kotarou dreams about Ryuuichi leaving him like their parents despite offering an acorn as a present and wakes up crying, making it apparent that he's afraid of losing his older brother as well.Kotarou: Don't go to the sky, Nii-chan...
Chapter 61
- In Chapter 61, Inomata explains that when she was a kid nobody would call her to play with them, so she had to build a snowman by herself. This story brings the children to tears.
Chapter 64
- Chapter 64 is this mixed with Nightmare Fuel when Taka runs away from home over not getting a toy he wanted. Ryuu immediately panics when he finds out and frantically searches the daycare on the hopes that Taka made his way there. Shizuka is stuck at home while Hayato and Ryuu look for him, stewing in her own fears that Taka either followed a random stranger or got run over because he's too small for a driver to see. Seeing Shizuka this upset when she's normally so unflappable is especially distressing. It's just a good thing Hebihara found him first.
Chapter 84
- This chapter is quite tearjerking. Usaida has a dream where the brothers are age-swapped and are introduced to the daycare. Usaida figures that he can make anything up and changes the Kashima brothers' circumstances in this universe: that their parents are still alive and kicking, but on vacation out of the country (and, similarly, the chairwoman's son is also alive and has Usaida as his "child"). He's lucid enough to give the brothers at least that much, if only in a dream.
