Anime is one of the most powerful mediums to explore highly emotional angles in storytelling. From shonen to shojo and beyond, anime series and movies are an opportunity to explore painfully true-to-life moments and experiences that resonate emotionally with viewers of all ages.
The 21st Century seems to have drawn even more emotionally devastating anime series and movies to fans. While providing thought-provoking moments and heart-rending scenarios that speak to viewers on a personal level, even the strongest anime fans struggle to hold back the tears when it comes to emotionally resonant anime.
1 Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms Is a Heartfelt Tale of Motherhood
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a touching story of found family and motherhood that's sure to bring a tear to one's eye. It stars the titular heroine, a beautiful girl from a race of immortal beings who stay eternally young. After losing the only home she's ever known, Maquia sets out into the mortal world to start over.
On her journey, she discovers an orphaned baby boy and decides to adopt him. Though her new son is a human and will age and die, Maquia can't help but love him dearly. The film follows Maquia on her journey through motherhood as she grapples with the knowledge that she will long outlive her son.
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Despite the inevitable loss she will soon face, she puts on a smile for the boy and raises him to become a fine man who can stand on his own. When the time finally comes for Maquia to say goodbye to her beloved child, it's one of the saddest moments in all anime. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a beautiful story of how motherly love can endure even the greatest of hardships.
2 The Rose of Versailles Centers On a Tragic Historical Event
The Rose of Versailles is a historical romance that's remembered as one of the most dramatic shojo titles to date. The series is set in pre-revolutionary France and stars a young woman named Oscar François de Jarjayes, who was raised by her father as a man and taught how to wield a sword. As her military career takes off, Oscar is appointed to be the personal bodyguard of France's new Dauphine, the young Marie Antoinette.
The series chronicles the harrowing events that spark the French Revolution and centers around themes of poverty, class inequality, and corruption of power. Oscar watches helplessly as these events unfold around her, finding herself swept up in the power struggle within the French court. The Rose of Versailles features a shocking and often heartbreaking story as Oscar and those around her all suffer as a result of the tumultuous times they find themselves in.
3 Dororo Reboots an Iconic Classic
The 2019 Dororo series is a brand-new adaptation of the legendary Osamu Tezuka's classic work. Set in the Warring States Period of Japan, the story begins when a feudal lord makes a deal with demons in order to bring prosperity and wealth to his land. In exchange, he sacrifices his first born son, resulting in the newborn child losing his body parts and skin. Abandoned and left to die, the baby is then rescued by a man who names him Hyakkimaru and builds prosthetic body parts for him to use.
Once he comes of age, Hyakkimaru sets out to reclaim his lost body. Joined by a young orphan named Dororo, the two face many hardships and witness the sufferings of the people during this harsh and tragic time in Japan's history. Dororo is a grim series that depicts the harsh realities of war, poverty, and famine, leading to some heartbreaking moments that are sometimes hard to watch. But dark as the series is, it's a brilliant reboot that tells a compelling story fans won't soon forget.
4 Ride Your Wave Beautifully Explores Grief and Loss
Ride Your Wave is a 2019 film that touches on themes of grief after sudden tragedy. It centers around the romance between a cheerful surfer named Hinako Mukaimizu and Minato Hinageshi, and handsome young firefighter who rescues her after her apartment building catches fire. After this chance encounter, Hinako and Minato become inseparable, and love quickly blooms between them. However, their happily ever after is cut short when Minato suddenly dies in a tragic accident.
Ride Your Wave follows Hinako as she struggles through her grief. Unable to accept his death, she tells herself that he's still alive in the water and goes through each day as though he's still there. The story takes viewers through each stage of grief with Hinako as she grapples with his loss and slowly begins to find the strength to move on. A heartbreaking story of self-discovery and overcoming grief, Ride Your Wave is bittersweet yet completely relatable.
5 A Place Further Than the Universe Is a Tragic Slice-of-Life
A Place Further Than the Universe follows a group of high school girls as they travel to Antarctica. Each girl has a different reason for embarking on the journey, ranging from just wanting to experience life before college to overcoming the grief of losing a loved one. The series is a slice-of-life anime with roots deep enough in reality for easily relatable characters.
The leading characters of A Place Further Than the Universe each have unique traumas and depressing backstories fueling their desire to travel to Antarctica. Shirase refuses to accept the loss of her mother, who went missing in Antarctica three years prior. Kimari is tired of living an unremarkable, life and worries her youth is wasting away. Hinata switched to homeschooling after being treated poorly by the track team at school and just wants real friendship.
Yuzuki is a child actress whose mother wants her to travel to Antarctica to record videos, a prospect she is initially against before being convinced by the other three girls. The girls endure unexpected struggles and come to devastating conclusions while on their journey together.
6 One Week Friends Sees Life Continuously Reset
One Week Friends is not a total emotional gut-punch, but it will still find its way into any anime fan's heart with its gentle, subtle drama and relatable themes. The series stars Yuki Hase, a high school student with a crush on the quiet girl in his class. Determined to get closer to Kaori Fujimiya, Yuki asks her if she would like to be friends. However, he's met with a surprisingly cold response.
This is because Kaori has given up on forming friendships, due to an accident that left her with severe memory problems. Now, whenever the week is through, Kaori's memory resets, causing her to forget everything and everyone she grows close to in that span of time. Her amnesia has caused her to withdraw from those around and push anyone wanting to get closer away. Though the story is simple and not nearly as heartbreaking as other titles, One Week Friends is a tearjerker.
7 Orange Addresses Mental Health Issues Across Time
In the anime Orange, 16-year-old Takamiya Naho receives a letter from her future self urging her to help prevent the death of her new classmate Kakeru. Naho and her friends, who received similar letters, must work together to realize their mistakes and improve their interactions with Kakeru. The anime doesn’t shy away from heavy topics and shows the realities of dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, and grief.
Regret and survivor’s guilt are at the center of the main story arcs in Orange. Kakeru feels responsible for his mother’s death, something that, if events go unchanged, ends up leading to his death. Naho and the rest of Kakeru’s friends feel guilty for Kakeru’s suicide, and the anime even shows how small moments between the friends impacted Kakeru as he struggled with mental illness. Orange uses impactful, immersive, and emotional storytelling to teach viewers that the only one who can save you is yourself.
8 Erased Hinges on a Criminal Investigation Through Time
Erased is a time-travel and psychological thriller anime that follows an underemployed twenty-nine-year-old named Satoru Fujinuma. With a second chance presented to him, he works to change the past so he can save the future. From there, Satoru flits through time at random to fix problems and save people from terrible fates, including murder.
Erased is so heartbreaking because of Satoru's final leap. He must save three of his classmates who were murdered and figure out who the killer was. This is a harrowing task, but Satoru's relationship with his friend Kayo Hinazuki represents the deepest sorrow of the show. Kayo is the catalyst for much of the anime's heart and tragedy, since the entire ordeal seems to focus on her, her family, and her need to
9 Into the Forest of Fireflies Light Is a Forbidden Romance
To the Forest of Fireflies Light (originally titled Hotarubi no Mori e) is an ethereal shojo anime about forbidden love. When a 6-year-old girl named Hotaru Takegawa gets lost in the woods, Gin, a friendly spirit, helps her return to her family. She returns to visit him year after year, and their relationship grows as she does. The two begin to develop a romantic relationship, even though they can never touch.
To the Forest of Fireflies Light is a sweet but heartbreaking view of love and the impermanence of life. Just as the budding romance between Hotaru and Gin is taking off, Gin accidentally touches a young boy, cutting his time short, and Hotaru must grapple with the sudden loss of her life-long love. The time the couple shares is precious to them, even if they can’t be together any longer.
10 Wolf Children Centers Around The Emotional Struggles of a Single Mother
Wolf Children has a wholesome premise, but it is quite the tear-jerker. It tells the struggle of 19-year-old college student Hana, a single mother trying to raise her two children. That is already challenging enough, but the children are also half-wolf. The kids' father went out hunting and was killed, leaving Hana alone to raise them.
Even sadder, Hana discovers the werewolf's corpse as the trash collector is discarding it. This anime will make the audience experience the same feelings as Hana as she struggles to raise her two supernatural children. It may be a sad anime on many levels, but it is also inspiring and encouraging, with Hana being a strong and caring single mother despite these hardships.
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