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Fans of Japanese anime often turn to streaming platforms like Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime to watch exciting and fun series like One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia, but anime isn’t all action and humor. In between the romantic comedies and martial arts stories are some true tearjerkers, great anime series with heartbreaking drama, relatable themes of grief and loss, and much more. It proves that anime has serious emotional depth.
Amazon Prime, for example, supports a remarkable variety of the best sad anime series. Those series dabble in other genres as well, such as fantasy action, high school drama, and even science fiction, but they all tug on the viewers’ heartstrings and draw viewers in with how emotionally vulnerable their heroes really are.
Crunchyroll Also Has Some Great Sad Anime To Watch
10 After the Rain Has Subtle Elements of Depression & Feeling Unfulfilled
After the Rain
A young student and track and field star Akira begins to fall for her middle-aged boss Masami while working part time at a restaurant. They have both reached a significant turning point in their lives.
- Release Date
- January 12, 2018
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- Wit Studios
- Number of Episodes
- 12
1 Season, 12 Episodes
On the face of it, After the Rain is a conventional slice-of-life anime with a healthy amount of humor and plenty of likable characters, but there’s serious drama under the surface. Protagonist Akira Tachibana isn’t a carefree anime heroine — she is struggling with her ankle injury not just on a physical, but also a mental level.
Akira loved running track, but now she cannot, and it’s eating away at her. She once felt free and happy running as the wind rushed past her ears, and now she’s just drifting through life, unsure where to go next. She and her kind boss, Mr. Kondo, must use their new friendship to heal one another and find the courage to reignit their lost passions, or the quiet darkness will never end.
9 Girls’ Last Tour Has Dark Undertones Of Doom
Girls’ Last Tour
Yuuri and Chito explore the aftermath of the apocalypse in a ruined world, seeking food and supplies.
- Release Date
- October 6, 2017
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Drama, Adventure
- Rating
- TV-14
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- White Fox
1 Season, 12 Episodes
Like After the Rain, the short anime series Girls’ Last Tour is a cheerful and carefree anime on the surface, but it has dramatic undertones that keep it grounded. The two main girls, Chito and Yuri, are among the last survivors of a war-torn, high-tech city where life is hard and the weather is freezing cold.
Chito and Yuri spend Girls’ Last Tour in denial of their inevitable fate, and anime viewers can sympathize with them. The girls wander freely and enjoy seeing new things, but they can’t outrun the fact that there’s nothing left for them here, and they’ll run out of food and fuel eventually. The girls just want to live a little before facing the end with a defiant smile.
8 Oshi No Ko Introduces a Lying Pop Idol & Her Family
Oshi No Ko
A doctor and his recently-deceased patient are reborn as twins to a famous Japanese musical idol and navigate the highs and lows of the Japanese entertainment industry as they grow up together through their lives.
- Release Date
- April 12, 2023
- Cast
- Rie Takahashi, Yumi Uchiyama
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Anime, Drama, Music
- Seasons
- 1
1 Season, 11 Episodes
Oshi no Ko took the anime world by storm when it launched in the Spring 2023 anime season. This is a darkly subversive anime series that criticizes the entire pop idol industry and its exploitative ways, especially where the famed idol Ai Hoshino is concerned. She has never known love, and must force herself to lie to her fans about loving them all.
The complex plot of Oshi no Ko is full of twists and turns to throw new fans for a loop. During Ai’s adventures in the idol industry, she will become a mother, and the bizarre Hoshino family will face traumatic moments of grief, betrayal, and the pain of lying to others to protect them.
7 5 Centimeters Per Second Is About the Pain of Separation
5 Centimeters per Second
Told in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.
- Release Date
- March 3, 2007
- Director
- Makoto Shinkai
- Rating
- TV-PG
- Runtime
- 63 minutes
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Genres
- Drama, Family
- Studio
- CoMix Wave Inc.
1 Movie
Director Makoto Shinkai has a variety of emotionally heavy anime movies to his name, including the sci-fi feature 5 Centimeters Per Second. The movie follows the male lead Takaki Tono and his female friend Akari, who meet in elementary school before they’re forced apart during a move.
Takaki and Akari try to remain close, but fate keeps intervening as the years pass, which is sure to make sympathetic anime fans root for them against the odds. Takaki will also get himself involved with other girls, but he can’t ever forget Akari, and he might try to meet with her one last time — if he can.
6 The Day I Became A God Explores One Young Girl’s Tragedy
The Day I Became a God
Yota Narukami decides to spend his possible last days with Hina, a young girl who declares that the world will end in only 30 days!
1 Season, 12 Episodes
There’s More Reverse Isekai to Watch, Too
The Day I Became a God is another high school anime series that packs far more drama and heartbreak than fans would expect, based on the first episode’s contents. The anime presents itself as a goofy reverse-isekai at first, with the pink-haired Odin Sato claiming she’s visiting Earth from another world, but that may not be the truth.
Protagonist Yota Narukami will eventually learn the truth of the mysterious Odin/Hina Sato and her problem, and he will do anything to help her. Even if the two of them are driven apart and Hina can’t escape her fate, Yota will do his best to save her, because he believes in her and their friendship.
5 Your Name Turns Body Swap Into True Drama
Your Name
Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
1 Movie
Makoto Shinkai has several great anime movies under his belt, but most fans agree that Your Name is definitely the best of them, making it his most famous work. The 2016 movie Your Name tricks anime fans at first with its amusing body-swap antics between Taki and Mitsuha, but then it stops, and Taki can’t find Mitsuha anywhere.
Taki will embark on a great journey from his Tokyo home to the rural town where Mitsuha lives and discover the truth, which may have something to do with the comet Tiamat. Taki and his friends will learn the truth and take action to prevent a horrible fate, all so he and Mitsuha can finally remember each other’s names.
4 Fruits Basket Explores the Pain of the Sohma Family
Fruits Basket
After Tohru is taken in by the Soma family, she learns that twelve family members transform involuntarily into animals of the Chinese zodiac and helps them deal with the emotional pain caused by the transformations.
3 Sasons, 63 Episodes
The 2001 Fruits Basket anime was an incomplete adaptation of the original Fruits Basket shojo manga series, and it focused mostly on comedy. The 2019 remake, meanwhile, tells the entire story and has much more drama for its characters. There are many heavy and sad scenes in Fruits Basket, but the anime also has a theme of stubborn hope.
Fruits Basket follows protagonist Tohru Honda, a cheerful and empathetic girl who has processed her own grief and baggage so she can help other people deal with their own problems. The miserable members of the reclusive Sohma family will definitely need Tohru’s help to carve a better future for themselves, but the family head isn’t so keen on the idea.
3 Spirited Away Is the Saddest Isekai Movie
Spirited Away
During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, a world where humans are changed into beasts.
- Release Date
- July 20, 2001
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast
- Rumi Hîragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi
- Rating
- PG
- Runtime
- 125 minutes
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Adventure, Family
- Studio
- Studio Ghibli
1 Movie
One of Studio Ghibli’s most famous and beloved works, Spirited Away, is many things at once. It is partly a saddening drama about separation and feeling lost, but it’s also a hopeful tale with strong fantasy elements. It even has themes of consumerism, environmentalism, and even critiques and comments on Japan’s own culture and history.
Spirited Away is a sort of isekai movie starring the young heroine Chihiro Ogino, who gets separated from her parents during a move, and then the fantasy sets in. Chihiro’s parents are morphed into pigs, and the lost Chihiro must find a way to restore them and escape an oppressive bath house and discover her true self along the way.
2 A Silent Voice Shows the Consequences of Bullying
A Silent Voice
A young man is ostracized by his classmates after he bullies a deaf girl to the point where she moves away. Years later, he sets off on a path for redemption.
- Release Date
- October 20, 2017
- Cast
- Saori Hayami, Miyu Irino, Yui Ishikawa, Megumi Han
- Rating
- Not Rated
- Runtime
- 130 minutes
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Drama
- Studio
- Kyoto Animation
1 Movie
The seven-volume A Silent Voice manga series was adapted into a beloved anime movie, a feature with more themes than new viewers might expect at first. The story begins when Shoya Ishida bullies his deaf classmate Shoko Nishimiya to the point of Shoko moving to a new school to escape the torment, and then Shoya pays a steep price for his misdeeds.
Shoya regrets his actions and becomes a pariah, and he internalizes it all. However, in 12th grade, he and Shoko will cross paths once again, and it will be Shoya’s first and last chance to make amends — if he can. A Silent Voice is about not just the price of bullying, but also two teens who are desperate to communicate with one another and finally let their voices be heard.
1 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer
When Tanjiro Kamado returns home to find his family was attacked and killed by demons, he discovers his younger sister Nezuko was the only survivor. As Nezuko slowly becomes a demon, Tanjiro sets out to find a cure for her and become a demon slayer so he can avenge his family.
- Release Date
- January 21, 2021
- Cast
- Natsuki Hanae, Zach Aguilar, Abby Trott, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Genres
- Anime, Action, Adventure
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Seasons
- 3
3 Seasons, 55 Episodes
For the most part, Demon Slayer is the action fantasy anime it seems to be, but it also has strong emotional themes as well, making it a more resonant anime than competitors like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. Protagonist Tanjiro Kamado fights not to save the world, but to save his beloved little sister Nezuko, who’s all that remains of their broken family.
Tragedy struck when Muzan Kibutsuji slew the Kamados off-screen, and Nezuko is now a demon. So, Tanjiro must find a way to restore her humanity using demon blood, and along the way, he will meet new friends and slay many enemies, but her won’t enjoy the fighting. Tanjiro actually empathizes with his enemies, many of whom are victims deep down, and Tanjiro can see it all.
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