Interest
Adult Japanese Fans Pick Top Anime That Made Them Cry
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
My Navi Student held a poll for grown-up fans to pick which tragic anime series had them reaching for the tissues. While most fans immediately recall Grave of the Fireflies or One Piece's Going Merry special, neither show up on the list. Here what the participants chose.
#1: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 This 11-episode series about two children attempting to survive a national disaster pulls at viewers heartstrings. The tragedy of the older sister attempting to find shelter for her younger brother comes to a head with a twist ending sure to make even the most hard-hearted shed a few.
#2: Plastic Memories SA Corp. is in the business of reclaiming very human-like androids when their service life is up. The show looks at these "artificial" companions and the bonds they create with their human owners.
#3: Old Man Karl's Flying House (Up): Pixar's Up stars a crotchety old man who takes an adventure after his wife passes by tying numerous balloons to his house. The movie's opening sequence introduces Karl and his wife as children and montages through their life: buying their first home, expecting their first child, miscarriage, and then his wife's death. Pixar shows a whole lot of love and loss in the film's opener.
#4: Air: Key's anime adaptations are known for their sad story lines. Kanon was affectionately dubbed "sad girls in the snow" for a reason. Air might be "SAD GiRL at the beach" then, as one puppeteer attempts to find the truth behind a legend but instead gets wrapped with Misuzu Kamio, a quirky, sick girl. The legend and Misuzu end up related, but most of tearjerker moments come from MIsuzu deteriorating and her aunt's attempt to reconnect with her properly.
#5: Wolf Children: A woman falls in love with a werewolf and they have two children. Suddenly, she finds herself raising her were-children solo when the love of her life is unceremoniously killed in wolf form. The movie shows the hardships of the ever patient Hana while her kids struggle to make sense of their dual natures.
- #6: Stand By Me Doraemon
- #7: Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
- #8: Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Gachinko! Gyakushū no Robo Tō-chan
- #9: Tekkonkinkreet
- #10: Your Lie in April
Some of the choices have crossed over from an earlier poll about manga that made readers cry. A 41-year-old woman said she remembered reading Doraemon as a child and crying when the robot cat returned to the future.
Are there any anime that made you cry? If so, what scenes from the series were the saddest?
