In the mood for a good tearjerker? Need to let all those emotions out? Then look no further than these ten anime to get those tears flowing. Everyone in the world needs a good cry, especially this year.
Most people typically turn to a sad song or a movie, but there is no better answer than anime. So many anime deal with the elements of grief, sorrow, and suffering. But which of these anime will give fans the catharsis that they genuinely need?
10 Wolf Children Follows Hana As She Struggles To Be A Single Mom & Raise Half-Wolf Children
Wolf Children tells the story of a 19-year-old college student, Hana, who falls in love with a mysterious man who reveals to her that he is a werewolf and can change at will. The man and Hana begin a loving relationship, and soon Hana falls pregnant, giving birth to the man's two half-werewolf children, Yuki, the eldest daughter, and Ame, their son.
Unfortunately, when going out hunting, the man is killed while trying to provide for his two children, and Hana is the one who finds him just as a trash collector throws his body away. The story follows Hana as she struggles to be a single mom and raise half-wolf children.
9 Into The Forest Of Fireflies' Light Tells Of First Love & Loss
Into The Forest Of Fireflies' Light is Hotaru's unbelievable story about a young girl who gets lost in the woods and is rescued by a mask-wearing, human-like spirit named Gin. However, when the young Hotaru tries to run into his arms, he informs her that he will disappear forever should he ever touch a human. Nevertheless, Hotaru and Gin develop a friendship over the next few days despite their limited interaction.
When summer ends, Hotaru must leave to return to her studies. As the years go by, Gin remains ageless while Hotaru matures into a young adult, and they struggle with their budding feelings for one another along with an uncertain future.
8 Full Moon Wo Sagashite Shows what One Girl Will Do for Love & A Dream
Full moon Wo Sagashite (or Searching for the Full Moon) begins with Mitsuki Koyama, a twelve-year-old with big dreams of becoming an idol so she can reunite with the first person ever to steal her heart, Eichi Sakurai. Sadly, Mitsuki is diagnosed with sarcoma, a cancerous tumor in her throat that affects her ability to breathe and sing.
The only cure for such a tumor is surgery that puts her vocal cords at risk and possibly ends her dream. One day Mitsuki is visited by two shinigami, or grim reapers, named Takuto and Meroko, who tell her she only has one year left to live. The story then follows Mitsuki as she realizes she must chase her dream to die in peace with no regrets.
7 Bokurano Follows Fifteen Kids & Their Ultimate Sacrifice
When a strange man offers fifteen kids a chance to test a game he is working on, the kids find little to no reason not to accept, but when they do, they realize that the game is not a game and the stakes are too real. Piloting a mecha named Zearth, the kids must fight their enemies to save the earth. The catch: should they win, they die.
The mecha suit feeds off its pilots' life force, meaning the kids can pilot the suit only once before succumbing to death. How do the kids handle that? Do they let the world end to save their own lives? Bokurano tackles traumatic situations and what one truly values the most.
6 Hal (HARU) Is One Woman's Eye-Opening Journey Of Healing
When Karumi's boyfriend Hal is killed in a plane crash. She becomes a shell of herself, unable to move on while she wastes away from no longer eating as she cries herself to sleep. Not being able to see his beloved granddaughter in so much pain, Karumi's grandfather requests a therapy robot known as Q01 to help her overcome her depression.
Q01 takes the same appearance as Hal and does all he can to cheer Karumi up, and after a difficult start, the two begin to bond and experience life in a new way.
5 When Marnie Was There Tells Of A Young Girl's Coming-Of-Age Story
When Marnie Was There tells the story of Anna, a shy young girl living with her foster parents in Sapporo. When Ana has an asthma attack at school, her foster parents discuss her withdrawn nature, and the doctor suggests sending her away to distant relatives for the summer.
Arriving in Kissakibetsu, Anna finds a decaying house where Marnie, a beautiful blonde girl, appears. As the girls grow closer, Marnie helps Anna realize herself and come out of her shell, but Marine holds a secret, making this anime powerful and universal.
4 Garden Of The Words Is A Unique Take On Friendship Between A Boy & A Woman
Garden Of the Words opens to a regular rainy season in Tokyo with Takao Akizuki, a fifteen-year-old student who has big dreams of becoming a shoemaker. Skipping the first class of the day, Takao makes his way to a garden to begin sketching up shoe designs.
While drawing, Takao meets Yukari Yukino, a twenty-seven-year-old woman who is skipping work for that day, and when she leaves, she bids farewell with a poem, leaving the boy confused. From then on, the two form an unlikely friendship. The story is about love in an unlikely place and reaching for one's dreams.
3 Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Tells The Story Of Rivalries In Post World War II Japan
At the end of World War II, an Anti-terror policeman, Fuse, is suspended from his job when a young girl commits suicide via self-detonation during an operation as he had failed to shoot her in time. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Fuse begins to dig up information about the girl to learn of her past.
When he meets her sister and subsequently befriends her, the anime takes a turn to show both get dragged into the rivalries between police and the anti-terrorism unit Jin Roh (Human Wolves).
2 In This Corner Of The World Is One Mother's Fight To Keep Her Family Alive
In This Corner Of The World, a cheery young woman named Suzu lives in Eba near Hiroshima. When Suzu is eighteen, she marries Shusaku, with whom she has a child before joining his family in Kure City, a naval port fifteen miles from Hiroshima.
As Suzu adjusts to life as a navy civilian, the threat of the pacific war grows and begins to close in on the townspeople. As the battle rages on and food becomes scarce, Suzu must fight to keep her family alive.
1 Colorful Is A Poignant Tale Of Suicide & Redemption
Colorful is a poignant story of a dejected soul waiting at Death's train station. Upon arrival, the soul is informed that he is "lucky" and will be getting a second chance at life despite wishing to die. Upon reincarnation, he finds himself in the body of fourteen-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who had just passed by overdosing.
Watched over by a neutral spirit named Purapura, the soul must figure out the biggest sin of his former life before his six-month time limit in Makoto's body runs out.