When it comes to dramatic anime, the easiest way for a story to break the characters’ and audiences’ hearts is to kill off someone. This isn’t a bad trope, but for some audiences it can be a bit of a shortcut since, after all, death is one of the most emotionally devastating things anyone can experience.
These anime, on the other hand, show that death isn’t the only way a story can trigger strong emotions of grief and sorrow among viewers. From romantic rejections to coming to terms with a difficult past, these anime are sure to break hearts without resorting to a dramatic demise for the finale.
10 Girls Last Tour – Two Kids Trek A Dying World
Long after mankind annihilated itself, two girls travel civilization’s ruins to get to the top of a sprawling, desolate cityscape. Along the way, they unearth small joys, bump into the occasional survivor, and accept that death is unavoidable.
Girls Last Tour takes place in a post-apocalypse, but any deaths happened long before the story’s present. The heartbreak comes from the undeniable implications, where Chito and Yuuri are confirmed to be last of mankind. Though they make the best of the short time they have and the anime ends on a bittersweet note, it’s hard not to feel sad about their inevitable ends and how there’s nothing they can do to avert it.
9 Rascal Does Not Dream Of A Dreaming Girl – A Gut-Wrenching Time Paradox
Now dating his upperclassman Mai, Sakuta is living his best life until his childhood friend Shoko reappears. Things get weird when Shoko is revealed to come from a future timeline where she only lives thanks to a heart transplant from Sakuta. The time paradox quickly goes from surreal to deadly, and now Sakuta must find a way to keep himself, Mai, and Shoko alive.
A cinematic follow-up to the magically realistic comedy Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, the movie takes the fun premise – Sakuta helps people with strange problems – and takes it to an emotional extreme. Here, Sakuta manages to avert seeing either of the two most important women in his life die, but at the cost of something equally precious to him and only after a lot of pain.
8 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Averting Death At A Great Cost
Makoto is a normal high school girl who, upon almost getting run over by a train, discovers that she has the ability to rewind time. She uses this strange gift to maintain a fun and carefree life, until she realizes too late the ramifications of such a reality-bending power.
Like Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a bit of a cheat since the movie’s most emotional moments come from Makoto saving her friends from death. That said, the heartbreak doesn’t come from the averted deaths. but the steep price Makoto has to pay to get the best possible future while also accepting that, time travel or none, there are just some things that can’t be changed.
7 March Comes In Like A Lion – It's Lonely At The Top
Shogi prodigy Rei may seem to have it good, but he’d prefer to have it any other way. Among many other problems, Rei struggles to live on his own, deal with his own emotional immaturity, and trying to overcome the difficulty of connecting with his adoptive family.
To be fair, there is a major death in March Comes in Like a Lion, but it’s more of a plot device than a present struggle. Rei’s story focuses more on how he moves on from a past tragedy while trying to make something of his stagnating life than it is about grieving. Minus that, you don’t have to be familiar with shogi to see what makes March Comes in Like a Lion heartbreaking yet cathartic.
6 The Garden Of Words – Age Is Just A Number
Aspiring shoemaker and bored high school student Takao skips class one day to hang out in a secluded garden. However, he’s not alone as he meets 27-year-old teacher Yakari sitting in his sanctuary. The two form a genuine bond and rediscover what inspires them through their mutual understanding and unsaid feelings.
Wide age gap and differing life experiences aside, what makes The Garden of Words sad is that while Takako and Yukari share a genuine connection, but it’s impossible for them to go beyond being platonic soulmates – as much as they hope for otherwise. The Garden of Words is an ode to the kinds of unconventional yet sincere friendships that need more representation.
5 The Anthem Of The Heart – Silence Says A Lot
Jun was once a talkative girl until she said something that she feels she shouldn’t have. Cursed by a talking egg into silence, Jun is unable to hurt anyone verbally or express herself. That is, until she joins her high school class’ musical production, where she expresses herself through singing and begins to develop feelings for a classmate.
Told like a fairy tale, The Anthem of the Heart isn’t just a story about unrequited love and growing up, but one of Jun processing her pain and not blaming herself for a traumatic event – which is a lot harder than it sounds. Things eventually work out for Jun and friends, but not before some hearts are broken, nor before the pains of the past are finally put to rest.
4 Scum’s Wish – Closure Doesn’t Equate To Romance
Hanabi and Mugi aren’t a couple, but they sleep with each other to fill in the holes in their hearts. The more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow stronger for one another. Things hit a boiling point when they continually try to deny the obvious.
Scum’s Wish is the most textbook heartbreak here since the worst that happens is characters having their romantic confessions get turned down before getting some closure. That’s not to say that unrequited love is painless, though, as it leads to breakups and rejections that can be a bit too real for some viewers. Worse, the anime doesn’t adapt the manga’s epilogue, which ends on a happier note.
3 Liz & The Blue Bird – Romantic Attraction Can Hold You Back
Polar opposites Mizore and Nozomi find a connection that blossoms into unspoken romance through music. The two are chosen to perform the movie’s titular musical duet, but this opens an emotional can of worms that will change their relationship forever.
Liz & The Blue Bird takes a more serious look at a high school crush than most other anime would. Instead of depicting it as a destined romance, here it’s an unintentional albatross on both Mizore and Nozomi’s necks. This harsh reality leads to the movie’s climax which, while painful, was necessary for both girls’ growth and maturity.
2 5 Centimeters Per Second – Some Relationships Aren’t Meant To Be
Makoto Shinkai’s career-defining movie 5 Centimeters Per Second follows the parallel lives of Akari and Takaki. Even years after losing touch with her, Takaki still pines for Akari. The movie centers not on Takaki’s efforts to reconnect, but on his reconciling with something that was never meant to be.
In some ways, 5 Centimeters Per Second is a deconstruction of the typical romance between estranged childhood friends. Just because Takaki’s feelings for Akari are genuine doesn’t mean they’re meant to be. The movie does end with Takaki rediscovering the will to live and move on from the rose-colored past, but it doesn’t make the two’s fated separation any less heartbreaking.
1 A Silent Voice – Redemption Is No Easy Task
Former elementary grade bully Shoya is now in high school and looking to make amends after he backs out of killing himself at the last second. Redemption presents itself through the deaf girl Shoko, the target of Shoya’s bullying in the past. However, the road to forgiveness and redemption is a lot more difficult than expected.
While Shoya almost dies, A Silent Voice’s saddest moments come from seeing how hard it is for him to forgive himself. Anyone who’s struggled with bullying, betrayal, forgiving themselves, and suicidal tendencies may find this feature-length heartbreaking redemption arc tough to watch, but it’s worth it.