A survey has revealed what Japanese preteens and teens consider to be the saddest anime they have ever watched. Conducted between May 28 to June 9, a local company gathered 999 total responses from Japanese kids aged 10 to 19 to determine the top 10 anime shows that are so heartbreaking that they can’t help but be moved to tears.
Here are the results!
10. Your Lie in April
“Your Lie in April” is a romance drama that follows a young pianist named Kо̄sei Arima who loses the ability to hear the piano after his mother’s death. But it all changes when he meets 14-year-old violinist, Kaori Miyazono, who inspires him to return to music despite being fatally ill herself.
9. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
This series is set after a massive earthquake in Tokyo at a magnitude of 8.0 where two young siblings, Mirai and YÅ«ki, who were visiting a robot exhibition in Odaiba at the beginning of their summer vacation, struggle to reach their parents in their house in Setagaya. They then meet a female motorcycle courier named Mari, who is also trying to reach her own daughter and mother in Sangenjaya. Together, the three set out to brave the partly ruined city and try their best to make it home safely.
8. Violet Evergarden
“Violet Evergarden” follows Violet, an Auto Memory Doll (a ghostwriter for people who cannot write or are looking for help expressing their emotions in letters), who tries to find her purpose and make sense of the last words her mentor and guardian ever told her: “I love you.”
7. Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World
This anime follows the story of Subaru Natsuki, an unemployed hermit who suddenly finds himself transported to another world on his way home from the convenience store and eventually realizes that he was the power to turn back time after his death. But as he helps everyone around him with his immortality, he also endures the suffering of retaining all his memories of everything that happens prior to dying while everyone around him forgets.
6. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
“Anohana” is pretty notorious for touching the lives of everyone who watches it and we’re not surprised that it has a place among the top 10. It follows the story of childhood friends who drift apart following a tragic accident that causes one of their friends to die. Years later, they reunite in order to help the ghost of their friend pass on into the afterlife while helping each other finally move on from her death in the process.
5. Crayon Shin-chan
This one is quite an intriguing addition. “Crayon Shin-chan” isn’t exactly an emotionally moving show as it is about a five-year-old’s daily misadventures with his family and friends, but perhaps it had enough touching scenes that caused it to rank high on the list.
4. Boku no Hero
“My Hero Academia” is no doubt one of the most popular animes to date and contains a lot of touching, uplifting, and emotional moments as it follows protagonist Deku and his perseverance in becoming the best hero he could possibly be.
3. Kimi no Na Wa
Makoto Shinkai’s globally-acclaimed movie “Your Name” stole the hearts of many around the world, even those who aren’t into Japanese anime. The movie follows two characters, Mitsuha and Taki, who begin to swap bodies. As they eventually realize their feelings for one another, they discover that physically meeting up isn’t as easy as they thought it would be. The visuals, the story, and the amazing twist at the end will definitely tug at your heartstrings.
2. A Silent Voice
Yet another amazing and hauntingly beautiful anime film is “Koe no Katachi” or “A Silent Voice” which is about a young boy who begins to bully their deaf new classmate. When word of the bullying reaches the principal and the deaf classmate leaves the school, the boy becomes the new target of bullying and soon becomes ostracized by his friends. Years later, he struggles to find a reason to keep living as a depressed loner until he reunites with the girl he once bullied.
1. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
The anime that has become a cultural phenomenon not only in Japan but around the world. “Demon Slayer” was the one that overthrew the long reign of Hayao Miyazaki’s award-winning movie “Spirited Away” as the highest-grossing anime film of all time. Though it only has one season and one movie so far with a second season coming soon, its story is so gripping that fans are just so in love with it and it’s guaranteed that it will continue gaining a wider audience in the years to come.
(ALSO READ: Japan Survey Reveals the Top 100 Anime of All Time — Check Out the Top 10!)
What do you think about this list? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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