Imagine yourself watching an anime and then, just out of the blue, something really bad happens to one of your favorite characters. Sometimes even one death in the whole series can cause an avalanche of sadness in the viewers. But this article needs you to get ready for watching one of the saddest anime series and movies ever created.
OK, maybe you are in a happy place right now and you feel you really shouldn’t watch sad anime to make you feel worse. You might be relaxed and want to watch something happy and cheerful, such as One Piece. But the real truth is that you really should. Because, as all relevant studies have shown, honest crying can sometimes be cathartic, and even healthy. So, get your tissues ready and choose your favorite one from our list.
3. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
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What can be more distressing than the two young siblings finding their way around a natural disaster, which totally changes the landscape of Tokyo, in a matter of seconds? Young girl Mirai and her brother Yutaka go to a museum to celebrate the beginning of the summer vacation with a robot exhibition viewing. And then, the earthquake hits. The strongest one in known history. Tokyo is changed forever. Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge are gone.
Luckily, this girl and boy find someone to turn into. A motorcycle delivery woman, a single-mom Mari is eager to help them reach their home. But her only goal is to reach her mother and daughter, located in a different part of the city under rumbles. This sad story about fear, helplessness, and a ray of hope during very distressing moments has a happy ending, as both families reunite.
This beautifully crafted 11 episode anime series was broadcast in Japan, The United States, and Italy. It shows a pretty realistic scenery of what would happen if an earthquake strong like that one hits the Tokyo vicinity. It also showcases the real heroes of Japanese security services: Tokyo Fire Department, Tokyo Disaster Medical Assistance, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and Japan Coast Guard. As a narrator of the series, the authors decided to use the voice of one of the most famous news anchors, Christel Takigawa.
2. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
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This anime is very upsetting from the beginning to the very end, so get ready to cry out loud for the entire 11 episodes. It all starts with a group of friends, named Super Peace Busters and their leader, a boy named Jinta.
As childhood friends drift apart, one of the girls from the group, named Menma, dies in a terrible accident with his mother. Many years later, Jinta is a socially withdrawn high school student and his old friend appears from the dead to tell him that she needs one of his wishes granted in order to pass into the afterlife. The main problem is that Menma doesn’t remember what her wish is about. The only way out for Jinta is to reunite his old friends and convince them to help Menma, even though they cannot see her.
Once being inseparable, the group is pretty reserved towards each other in the beginning. They need proof that Menma really showed up. But once she finds the way to tell each and every friend what she needs, they become inseparable again, help each other cure the old wounds of the past, and live better lives in the future.
Clannad
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To sum up this list, there is another story that starts in a high-school with a troubled and bullied boy and follows his life to adulthood. This anime series makes the viewer feel uncomfortable from the beginning to the very end. “Clannad” and its follow-up series “Clannad: After Story” have 49 episodes in total. But don’t worry if you don’t have enough time to watch all of that: Clannad is also a movie, a novel, and a series of video games, so everybody can find the time and the way to get to know the characters.
Tomoya Okazaki is an average student and a withdrawn boy who has no interest in school activities. He lives with his estranged dad who finds relief in working night shifts since his wife died. Tomoya’s life changes when he meets five girls with their own serious issues.
This anime series is the only one that allows you to follow the story for years and is a very valuable resource in showcasing the real values of friendship and family. It includes the tragic elements of death, hard medical decisions, betrayal, motherless children, and mental health issues. That is why the end of this list is reserved for this unique and depressing masterpiece of anime culture, that leaves no one tearless and comfortable.
So, how do you like our list? Is there a series or anime film you would like to add? Please write to us in the comments below.
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