Sad anime series tell some of the stories that stick with fans the longest, as few emotions are felt as intensely as sadness. It is easy to laugh at a brief joke or feel joy over a character’s achievements and victories, but such feelings are often short-lived. On the other hand, bringing viewers to tears requires a genuine connection to be formed, as the characters need to feel real and relatable.
There are plenty of series that make their viewers cry on occasion. Especially when it comes to longer-running ones, certain moments are bound to be especially sad, such as One Piece‘s Going Merry’s tragic ending. However, few shows go out of their way to attempt to build up a real connection with viewers, focusing on their emotions above all and leading to some of the greatest sad anime series.
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Bokurano
Animated by Gonzo, Based on the Manga by Mohiro Kitoh
Bokurano is an unassuming anime that is also surprisingly a mecha entry in disguise. 15 children at summer camp discover a series of caverns where a mysterious man named Kokopelli asks them if they’d like to play a game. Naive at the time, most of them agree and begin a series of battles where they operate a mech suit.
What starts out as harmless fun grows increasingly more dangerous as the stakes for losing far surpass anything the children could have expected. This coming-of-age story disguises itself as a sort of Ender’s Game narrative; however, the grapple with death brings out questions of existentialism within these young minds.
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The Promised Neverland
Animated By Cloverworks, Based on the Manga by Kaiu Shirai & Posuka Demizu
Given a premise focusing on raising children to feed them to demons to uphold “The Promise,” The Promised Neverland is one of the more upsetting anime concepts in recent years if not at least one of the most sad. Beyond the inherently distressing plot, the anime’s first season is also one of the most beloved in recent years, masterfully adapted by CloverWorks. However, the second season is not viewed favorably, massively rushing the major developments from the manga.
Despite the major misfire of season 2 though, the series remains a worthwhile and uplifting story about growing up and seizing agency. Despite the darkness inherent to the series’ premise, the series is ultimately about overcoming impossible circumstances. Still though, when The Promised Neverland gets dark, it’s one of the darkest and saddest anime ever adapted from a Shonen Jump manga.
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A Place Further Than the Universe
Original Anime Series Animated by Madhouse
A Place Further Than the Universe‘s story follows the life of Mari Tamaki, a girl inspired by Shirase Kobuchizawa who has been saving for a long time to afford to travel to Antarctica and search for her missing mother. Together with two other girls, they embark on an adventure that will mark them forever.
A Place Further Than the Universe is a hopeful anime, as the girls, despite their naive and dreamy point of view, do not give up until they achieve their goal, conveying a life lesson to viewers, motivating them to break stagnation and continue moving forward. Also, the anime is a story of self-discovery and maturity that improves with each episode, having one of the most emotional scenes in modern anime that will touch the sensitive nerves of the viewers.
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Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light
Animated by Brain’s Base, Based on the Manga by Yuki Midorikawa
Also known as Hotarubi no Mori E, it is a film about Hotaru, a little lost girl who meets Gin, a ghost who lives in the forest, bloosoming a heartwarming friendship between them. As time goes on with every passing summer, Gin, who is immortal, sees how Hotaru grows while the relationship between them develops to something more. This way, Into the Forest of Fireflies Light is a perfect representation of innocent love with a bittersweet ending that will leave viewers in tears.
With beautiful animation and character design, the film is imbued with a magic reality thanks to the spirits of the forest, and it’s an ode to the passage of time, conveying many feelings to viewers despite its short length and showing that love can break barriers or distances.
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A Silent Voice
Animated by Kyoto Animation, Based on the Manga by Yoshitoki Oima
A Silent Voice is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking anime films, with a realistic depiction of many difficult topics such as bullying and self-love, but also about forgiveness and redemption. A Silent Voice takes the point of view of the bully instead of the victim as Shota looks to amend his past wrongdoings with the deaf girl he tormented as a child. This way, A Silent Voice, is a work that feels close and hits hard by showing the realities of both protagonists.
The film serves as a social critic of discrimination, how difficult communication between human beings is and the power that words can have on others. With many heartbreaking moments, A Silent Voice is a film about empathy and healing wounds that will make viewers shed some tears but also reflect on its themes.
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To Your Eternity
Animated by Brain’s Base (S1) & Drive (S2), Based on the Manga by Yoshitoki Oima
From the same author of A Silent Voice, To Your Eternity follows the self-discovery journey of an immortal being named Fushi, and despite having its fair share of action and adventure, its best-selling point is its complex portrait of human feelings and connections, having a great dose of dramatic moments that won’t leave viewers indifferent.
To Your Eternity covers many meaningful relationships that Fushi makes throughout the story, focusing especially on the feeling of loss, giving the series a huge amount of grief and loneliness. This way, despite being a series that seeks to convey an optimistic message about the human species and what it means to be alive, it consistently leaves a sense of dread and void, destroying the viewer’s emotions episode by episode in the best possible way.
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Steins;Gate
Animated by White Fox, Based on the Visual Novel by 5pb and Nitroplus
Although Steins;Gate is a science-fiction anime, the way it layers its stories between paradoxes and consequences branches out the potential for its genre to serve multiple purposes. Not only is it a psychological thriller, but its sudden twist in the middle of the story has dealt a heavy blow to more than one fan.
Rintaro Okabe considers himself a mad scientist, and after discovering a fellow researcher dead at a conference, texts his friend in a panic, only to realize later that the researcher was alive and well. This discovery leads him to investigate time travel and the ability to change the future by sending text messages, or D-Mails, to change the outcome.
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Violet Evergarden
Animated By Kyoto Animation, Based on the Light Novel By Kana Akatsuki & Akiko Takase
Violet Evergarden follows the eponymous protagonist who, after being raised as a weapon meant only to excel on the battlefield, has to start a whole new life as an “Auto Memory Doll” after the war ends. As she herself is largely unaware of the extent of human emotions and experiences, transcribing others’ thoughts and getting to know their feelings is a perfect way to learn and grow.
While Violet’s backstory is quite sad in and of itself, the saddest moments of this series occur when she interacts with her clients, such as a mother writing letters for her daughter’s future birthdays, knowing she won’t be around herself.
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Angel Beats!
Original Anime Series By P.A. Works
The premise of Angel Beats! already sets it up as one of the most emotional series that anime fans could experience. Set in the afterlife, the story revolves around a group of teenagers, all of whom died with profound regrets and unfulfilled wishes. From the protagonists to the supporting characters, everyone who ended up here has a tragic and realistic backstory, at least one of which viewers are bound to connect with.
Although moments of humor and action are present as well, particularly relating to the conflict between the Afterlife Battlefront and Tachibana, this is ultimately but a facade behind which some of the medium’s saddest scenes await unsuspecting viewers.
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Fruits Basket
Animated By TMS Entertainment, Based on the Original Manga by Natsuki Takaya
For such a beloved classic shojo anime, Fruits Basket is a surprisingly strong contender as a tearjerker series while boasting otherwise whimsical premises. It doesn’t take long for the series to move along its romantic comedy roots to explore healing emotional trauma of the Somas, while working through her own troubled past.
The 2001 anime and, later, the 2019 reboot of Fruits Basket are consistently praised as one of the best shojo anime of all time for how it handles themes of isolation, bullying, and abuse, while remaining steadfast as a heartwarming and wholesome series.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
