There’s some anime that just makes you feel good, no matter what. I made a list of great anime that can cheer people up. But the tragedy junkies out there want to watch anime too. After all, sometimes a story about a deep sadness can be profound and even offer comfort. Sometimes it can feel like an acknowledgement of your own pain.
Not every one of these anime are completely about tragedy- some of them offer hope or a bittersweet/happy ending. But if you like some good tragedy, you’ll find it in the anime below. So without further ado, let’s talk about anime that will probably make you cry- and yes, I’ll note for you if I did, in fact, cry during this anime so you can all see what a wimp I am.
Do you have any tragic anime to add to this list? Say so in the comments!
Wolf's Rain (is a rain of tears)
Wolf’s Rain tells the story of a world where wolves have been hunted nearly to extinction, but a few survive by shapeshifting to appear human. The legend has it that when the end of the world comes, only wolves will know how to find the place called Paradise. The anime follows a group of wolves on the search for the Lunar Flower, which is supposed to lead them to paradise.
Wolf’s Rain tells the story of a world wracked with poverty and strategy and about a group of broken people…um, well, wolves….trying to survive in it. Admist all the wacky sci-fi elements is a conflict between humans and wolves that gets pretty intense. It gets pretty violent and brutal and contains quite a few moving death scenes that yes, personally made me cry way back when I watched it. But like the promise of Paradise, there’s usually a ray of hope to keep you going.
Wolf Children (can make you cry like a child)
Wolf Children is a movie rather than anime series. It’s the deeply bittersweet story of a family’s struggle. It tells of a young woman named Hana who fell in love with a werewolf and had children who were part-wolf as a result. She has to struggle to raise them on her own. The children have to keep their wolfish natures secret and as they grow up, they realize they will be forced to choose whether they want to be a part of human world or the wolf world. Their conflicting views on the subject make the siblings start to grow apart and Hana becomes afraid of losing her children.
Wolf Children is a story about loss, the hardships of growing up and the struggle of being an outsider. It is heartwrenching and somber, but also sentimental and beautiful.
Angel Beats! (can beat your heart to a pulp)
The premise of Angel Beats! is that a boy named Otonashi wakes up and is informed that he has died. He’s in a sort of high-school-like puragatory for teenagers who died young and unhappily. Once they put aside their regrets and accept their death, they disappear from the purgatory. Yeah, already not a very happy premise.
A girl named Yuri is leading the other teenagers in a resistance- she resents God for giving them such short, crappy lives and rather than quietly pass on, wants to take whoever is in charge down. Otonashi joins the resistance, although he can’t really remember how he died or what his life was like.
Angel Beats shifts regularly between wacky slapstick shenanigans and heavy tragedy, which might be jarring for some. A lot of the kids backstories are really rough and whenever a kid moves to the next world, they have to confront their regrets in life and its usually a pretty emotional experience. The anime touches on abuse, illness, poverty, crippling guilt and having your loved ones murdered in front of you.
The ending also has a real sucker punch that had many admitting to crying over it. It’s a bit rushed over all (the anime was supposed to be twice the length it was, but was cut down, and it shows, as a lot of characters don’t really get explored) and it might get a little melodramatic and overly sentimental for some. But it’s got an interesting premise and knows how to tug on the heartstrings, while also containing fun and comedy.
Your Lie in April (The lie is that this looks like a happy anime)
After the death of his mother, a young piano prodigy finds he can no longer play and gives up on it. Then he meets a free-spirted girl names Kaori who audaciously encourages him to start playing again. But Kaori may have a tragic secret of her own…
This anime is undeniably moving and the artistic direction and general visuals of it are just jaw-dropping. The way it depicts anxiety and panic is particularly elegant.
However, since it hit a bit of a personal button for me, I feel obligated to warn that this anime has depictions of very severe physical and emotional child abuse and then pretty much excuses the abusive parent with “oh but she was just scared and she thought it would help her kid” and that's less “sad” and more “infuriating and uncomfortable”. The way the other people in the kid’s life didn’t really do much for him even when it becomes obvious what’s going on is also really hard to watch. (And I’m generally okay with anime slapstick violence, but when the most common victim of it has a very in depth backstory of being severely beaten as a child, it gets pretty jarring).
But though it handles some themes pretty badly (and also plays the manic pixie dream girl trope pretty darn straight), it still made me a mess of tears. The exploration of music is also pretty wonderful, if you like that stuff.
Dennou Coil (can inspire cyber-crying)
Dennou Coil tells the story of a future where people (mainly children) wear glasses that allow them to view a “digital” world overlaid with the real world, complete with virtual pets and roving computer viruses and all that. Like Pokemon Go, but more intense, I guess. (This anime was made several years before the phenomenon).There’s rumors of some of these viruses taking children away to the “other side”, leaving them comatose in the real world.
While the show starts out pretty funny and cute, the whole “children’s souls trapped in some sort of virtual limbo” and “kids going comatose” eventually becomes a really big, dark theme. The story also heavily deals with grief and guiit and trauma- many of the child characters are unable to move on from loss and one is even horribly manipulated because of it. It deals heavily with death and growing up, but those so in a profound and touching way that encourages healing. It’s a great narrative with an ultimately positive message, but it is incredibly sad along the way.
Grave of the Fireflies (the grave is for your murdered happiness)
Grave of the Fireflies might be the most famous brutally tragic piece of anime out there, so I’d be remiss not to include it. Based on the real experiences of the original author, the story takes place in Japan during 1945. It tells the tale of a young brother and sister- after their town is bombed by America, their mother dies and leaves them orphaned. And (this is not at all a spoiler since you see it in the first few minutes of the movie), they eventually die too after being rendered homeless.
This is the brutal and heartwrenching story of how this happens. It’s even sadder when you learn that the main characters are based on the author and his late sister- meaning he believes he should have died alongside her back then. The story was written as an “apology” to her.
Stein's Gate (time travel tragedy awaits)
When I was thinking of anime that had made me cry, I remembered Stein’s Gate. Which is kind of odd, honestly- a lot of the show is typical anime fare at the beginning with (somewhat gross) jokes and assorted silliness. But the main character has started using time travel and this leads to some rough consequences.
Throughout the timelines, he sees multiple deaths and tragedies and must struggle to prevent them. It gets pretty intense and there’s also a pretty tragic depiction of a young person trying to win the love of their abusive parent. So yeah, I got a bit teary.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (will wish all joy away)
You may have heard “being meguca is suffering” as a joke about this show and that’s because it really is. What seems to be a show about cute magical girls saving the world quickly becomes a cycle of tragedy, brutality, death and destruction. There’s a bittersweet edge to it as the main character valiantly tries to keep up hope, but…as the show says, “For all happiness there must be an equal amount of despair”. And this show is here to bring the despair.
Clannad and Clannad After Story (a double dose of sad)
Clannad is notorious for being one of the saddest animes out there and is pretty acclaimed to boot. It follows a boy with an alcoholic father and no mother, whose life changes after he meets a girl. Then the follow-up, After Story, deals with the struggles of a young married couple. There is a LOT of death in this show and it deals with the hardships of growing up.
Orange (more time travel tragedy)
The premise of Orange is that a girl named Naho receives a letter from herself in the future. It instructs her to do various things to prevent the untimely death of the a friend she just met.
Minor spoilers here, but this story is about suicide and really knows how to punch you in the heart. It deals heavily with depression, grief and guilt. It’s also beautifully animated, all the characters are fleshed out well and support, love and friendship are big themes. But if you’ve ever struggled with depression yourself, this might reduce you to a wreck of tears- that’s what happened to me.
Ano Hana: The Flower We Saw That Day (sadness will blossom)
Voted as one of the saddest anime ever by Japanese fans, Ano Hana follows a group of teenagers as they try to move on with their lives and drift away from each other after one of them dies in a car accident. This is another one that's heavily focused on guilt, grief and growing up.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (will really shake you up)
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 explores the horror of natural disasters. It tells the tale of a Tokyo that has been ravaged by a massive 8.0 earthquake. Two lost children are taken in by a delivery woman, who takes them on a journey to find their family.
Plastic Memories (you'll long to remember happiness)
A sci-fi drama and tragic romance at the same time, Plastic Memories tells the story of a young man who falls in love with an android girl. The problem is, androids expire within a few years, losing their memories and becoming hostile. As you can imagine, this anime deals heavily with the themes of loss and mortality.