What are some good sad animes?

[Nouw]

Sad anime are generally not very good, because they're so set at being sad no matter what. This includes anime like Grave of the Fireflies and Now and Then, Here and There, where I'm like 'Okay, I get it... It's sad. Show me what else you got.' Just relentlessly piling on the sadness and the tragedy creates a numbing effect. As opposed to stories that dish out the sadness in smaller packages inbetween other events.

Gotta agree with you here. Someone mentioned Fate/Zero but by the end of the two seasons nothing had really touched me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great anime but it's just always so serious all the time. I like a good drama but without some kind of positivity to counteract this, the truly dark moments end up making not much of an impact at all.

Want to know the one scene I did find myself crying over? It's when one of the characters named Waver talks to the person he convinced was his grandparent. While they're watching the sunrise on a roof, his 'granddad' tells Waver that he's known for a while now and he talks about how he got to experience all the things he otherwise couldn't have without Waver. This interaction was such a refreshing break from the flavours of regret, self-loathing and melancholy the show revolves around. The tragic main character? Fuck him, he didn't get any of my sympathy. It's such a shame because if the show had been just a bit more cheerful at times the sad moments would have been seriously crushing.

Over the years I've spent here reading threads about anime that made people cry, Fullmetal Alchemist came up every time without fail and after having seen it I know why. As @CasualShinji said, the sadness should come up in small amounts in between other parts that aren't a shade of downer. FMA does this really well. I believe there was an excellent Jimquisiton episode on this, I'll try dig it up.

 

[00slash00]

Saikano.
A high school boy starts going out with a girl who is also a warmachine. She's often away because of a war that's currently going on and their relationship gets affected by it more and more.
It has plot holes but the anime is about emotions more than about logic and it is very emotionally powerful.
I highly recommend it.

I can't believe I had to scroll this far down before Saikano showed up. It took me some time to really get in to it but once I did...oh man, my heart. So many feels.

 

[00slash00]

If there's any way you haven't seen Cowboy Bebop...
1. How dare you call yourself an anime fan
2. It's got a surprisingly tragic ending you sort of see coming, but still caught me off guard.

Saikano is sad, but it's not really that good. There's really not much substance to it. Is the ending even really that sad? It's been awhile since I saw it, but I thought it had a happy ending?

Attack on Titan is new and relatively tragic for an actiony war anime.

Tokyo Godfathers is also pretty good and tragic

Sainkano took a while to pick up steam (which is an issue considering how short it is) but I really got in to it toward the end. I definitely would not consider it a happy ending. I don't really want to talk about the ending because I don't want to spoil anything, but I felt quite depressed when the series ended

 

[Casual Shinji]

snip

Anime tends to have a big tragedy boner like that. I don't know if you've ever seen Dog of Flanders, but it's the same type of deal. Given it's originally a Belguim story, but Japan is crazy about it likely because it's so ludicrously sad. There's like multiple anime versions of this story.

I'd say one of the saddest moments in anime for me was the ending to Peter Pan no Boken. Eventhough it is basically a happy ending, it's extremely bittersweet. Also the invisible girl episode of The Moomins.

 

[Nouw]

snip

Anime tends to have a big tragedy boner like that. I don't know if you've ever seen Dog of Flanders, but it's the same type of deal. Given it's originally a Belguim story, but Japan is crazy about it likely because it's so ludicrously sad. There's like multiple anime versions of this story.

I'd say one of the saddest moments in anime for me was the ending to Peter Pan no Boken. Eventhough it is basically a happy ending, it's extremely bittersweet. Also the invisible girl episode of The Moomins.

Yeah and for a while I had a phase when I desired everything tragic and sad. It was a dramatic time to say the least but I'm glad I got over it. Recently I've picked up Yotsuba which is one of the funniest things I've ever read. The innocence captured in it is just utter bliss and it's exactly what I needed.

Googled those two and I can already feel the feels coming on lol. You don't really expect sadness in a show targeted at children so it's a bit of a double-whammy.

 

[Talaris]

Going through the list, it appears that most the well known ones like the Key adaptations have already been mentioned. My choice that isn't listed yet is Steins;Gate , probably one of the all time anime greats at blending both comedy and drama, whilst doing both very effectively.

I agree with some of the posters here that many anime strive to make you cry, as if it were their primary goal. Here, the drama and sadness occurs from revelations that are paced well, and for someone who hadn't read the visual novel, these revelations were unexpected and as such felt more genuine, thus emotions felt are less forced. Certainly in the last few episodes I couldn't help but let the tears flow.

Second place goes to Usagi Drop , which is one of those shows that is both sad and happy at the same time, so you end up crying tears of sadness and joy simultaneously.

 

[Legion]

Well you have already seen most of the ones I'd mention.

Texhnolyze is quite possibly the most crushing piece of fiction I have ever experienced. It's not "sad" in the same sense that the ones you have mentioned are, it is more the fact that if the dictionary had a picture in it to describe "despair", it'd be Texhnolyze.

That said, it is not an easy one to recommend, as it is quite slow, not a lot happens most of the time and it isn't really like most anime you will have watched. I... "enjoyed" it, but I can't say it's one I am eager to watch again any time soon.

 

[Moderated]

If you like the anime, you should read the manga.

Already did :>

'Welcome to the NHK'
'Psycho Pass'

'Deathnote'

Seen and was good, added to plan to watch, I don' think death note was sad.