The most memorable of connections between two characters are often born in non-romance stories. While there are plenty of beautiful anime in the romance genre, few have managed to create a strong bond between their protagonists like some of the more action-focused series.
Great stories often come with big sacrifices and fans are left with bittersweet endings where their beloved characters didn't quite get that happy ending in their love lives. For fans of both action and romance, the following heartbreaking moments are certainly among the best anime has to offer.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead!
10 Kagura Loved Sesshomaru (Inuyasha)
They both start as antagonists, but as the story moves on, they have a very beautiful development in character. Kagura no longer wishes to work for Naraku, but in her efforts to regain her heart, she is mocked by him as he grants her the freedom she so desires, only to gravely injure her as she leaves him.
Sesshomaru appears by her side in her last moments. She believes he is disappointed, having expected Naraku in her stead. However, he claims he knew it was her. Kagura feels a sense of contentment hearing him say this. Sesshomaru makes an attempt to use Tenseiga to heal her but realizes she is too far gone. She dies, free of her enslavement, with Sesshomaru by her side.
9 Hitomi Kanzaki And Van Fanel Belong To Different Worlds (Escaflowne)
Hitomi and Van's connection spans the distance between two planets. Hitomi is pulled from her regular high school life and meets Van, a boy her age, after being thrust into a world that's caught up in a war. Their relationship has a rocky start but develops into a bond of trust and mutual love.
Escaflowne isn't enough to win the war as every side involved is led by hatred and fear and the cycle threatens to endlessly repeat itself for Gaea as it did for Atlantis. Hitomi's presence helps Van make the right decisions to break that cycle and bring peace to his people, but the two of them part ways as she goes back to her home planet.
8 Sokka's Girlfriend Turns Into The Moon (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Sokka is smitten with Yue, princess of the Northern Water Tribe, at first sight. Their interactions are awkward at first, but their endearment is mutual and they soon start meeting more often. However, Yue is in turmoil because of her political engagement. She is conflicted and attempts to turn Sokka away while he constantly tries to reason with her.
When the Moon Spirit is killed by Zhao, rendering all water-benders powerless, Yue sacrifices her life to give back the energy she received from it as a child. Against Sokka's wishes, she feels responsible and goes through with her decision. She turns into a spirit, promising she will always be with him before kissing him goodbye.
7 Fakir Loved Ahiru Even As A Bird (Princess Tutu)
Ahiru started by loving Muto, the gentle prince with a shattered heart. Hers is a selfless love where she wishes to return a smile on his face. Ahiru is in fact, a duck. She was turned into a girl and becomes the titular Princess Tutu on Drosselmeyer's whim to make the story more entertaining.
In her struggles, she wins the prince's trust, but Fakir is suspicious of her reasons for a long time before getting to know her. As the story comes to an end, she must reveal herself to Muto for who she truly is, at the cost of her own disappearance. She is turned back into a bird and Fakir claims to always be by her side, no matter what form she takes.
6 Favaro Leone Loses Amira Wishart (Shingeki No Bahamut)
Favaro, a young bounty hunter, meets Amira, a demon girl who is on a quest to reunite with her missing mother. She casts a spell on Favaro in order for him to become her guide to Helheim. In their travels, they slowly uncover a bigger plot, that of Amira being used to revive Bahamut, a colossal beast bent on wreaking indiscriminate havoc.
She only gets the chance to embrace her mother once before she disappears for good, and Amira's fate only gets worse from there. Imprisoned in Bahamut itself as the key of transcendence, Amira only gets a chance to say goodbye to Favaro with a few parting words and a kiss. Their love still holds, ten years later but so does her imprisonment.
5 Arima Kosei and Kaori Miyazono Didn't Manage To Finish Their Love Song (Your Lie In April)
Arima Kosei is a child prodigy in piano who lost his ability to play after his mother's death. He cannot hear the sound of the keys, even though his hearing works just fine. He meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist full of spirit and joviality. Kosei is immediately taken with her force of life and is inspired to play again.
He comes to love Kaori, who doesn't have much longer to live. Their time together is cut short even as she decides to undertake surgery just to have the chance of playing with him once more. During Kosei's last performance, her spirit guides him and that is how he knows that she passed on while in surgery.
4 For Violet Evergarden and Gilbert Bougainvillea, Kindness Blooms Even In Times Of War (Violet Evergarden)
Violet is a girl raised as a soldier from a very young age, trained to kill and follow orders. She is devoid of emotion and life experience aside from war and abuse. She gets enlisted under Gilbert Bougainvillea and fights alongside him in the field. He is the first to show her kindness, wanting a better life for her than that of a "tool".
Gilbert is killed in battle despite Violet's desperate attempts to save him. Following the end of the war, he is the most important person in her life and the first who claimed to love her. She strives to understand those words in order to return his feelings even after his death. The Violet Evergarden Movie, however, might give them the second chance that many fans have been hoping for.
3 Chrono and Rosette Christopher, Together In Death (Chrono Crusade)
Rosette and Chrono are partners and contractors in their time serving under the Order Of Magdalene. They fight to protect people from demonic threats but also for personal goals. Ironically, Rosette made a contract with demon Chrono in order to find her brother Joshua. The sacrifice for the contract meant her life was that much shorter.
Rosette is a cheerful, positive girl during the whole series but she breaks down towards the end, mourning the life she will never have and the people she will never see again. She is only 16 years old. Chrono does everything he can to prolong her years but he is unable to save her. Instead, he chooses to die with her, when her time expires.
2 Hotaru Takegawa Meets With Gin, Who She Can Never Touch (Hotarubi No Mori E)
Gin is an orphaned boy raised by the spirits of a forest. The Mountain God cast a spell on him but at a dangerous cost. If Gin were to touch a human, the spell would disintegrate and he would fade away into nothing. One summer, he meets Hotaru, a little girl who later becomes his friend while visiting her uncle's house every year.
As she grows, they fall in love but they are doomed to never touch. The choice is taken out of Gin's hands when he helps a human boy who snuck into a spirit festival and as a result, he has only minutes left to live. He calls for Hotaru and they share their first and last hug. She is left crying and hugging only an empty yukata.
1 Eiji Okumura and Ash Lynx's Cruelly Realistic Ending (Banana Fish)
Eiji Okumura and Ash Lynx's relationship develops in a fragile time of gang wars, political corruption, and constant crossfire. It makes it all the more authentic and beautiful to look at, the way Eiji becomes a spark of joy in Ash's dark and constantly foreboding life.
He becomes Ash's only weakness but also his greatest strength. Ash’s endless struggles urge fans to desperately wish for a happy ending, all the while sensing it won't come. The series keeps a very realistic take on its plot and acts as a constant tear-jerker. It ends with Ash bleeding to death in a library while reading the letter Eiji left him before leaving for Japan.