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October 17, 2025
Anime | Top 15 Saddest Anime of All Time | The Most Heartbreaking Anime You’ll Ever See
Anime
October 17, 2025
The 15 saddest anime of all time, from Fruits Basket to Your Lie in April, will break your heart, make you cry, and leave you feeling truly alive.
>The 15 saddest anime of all time, from Fruits Basket to Your Lie in April, will break your heart, make you cry, and leave you feeling truly alive.
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From Fruits Basket to Your Lie in April, some anime series have been evoking tears and deep feelings from anime fans for years, and honestly, no one’s complaining. There’s something oddly beautiful about an anime that rips your heart out, stitches it back together, then shatters it all over again. These are the shows and movies that remind us what it means to feel alive, with stories of love, loss, friendship, and the fleeting nature of life itself. Whether it’s a tragic romance, a bittersweet goodbye, or a soul-crushing act of sacrifice, these titles prove that sometimes the best anime are the ones that leave you sobbing, sniffling, and staring blankly at the screen long after it ends.
|
Ranking |
Title |
Synopsis |
|
15 |
Fruits Basket |
A touching story of love, trauma, and finding family through compassion. |
|
14 |
Violet Evergarden |
A breathtaking journey of love, loss, and learning to feel again. |
|
13 |
3-gatsu no Lion |
Depression, healing, and found family, wrapped in soft art and emotional truth. |
|
12 |
Ishuukan Friends |
The sadness of forgetting friendships, again and again, every week. |
|
11 |
Angel Beats! |
A wild, funny, and emotional afterlife adventure that ends in tearful goodbyes. |
|
10 |
Plastic Memories |
When androids have expiration dates, saying goodbye becomes inevitable and devastating. |
|
9 |
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas |
A bittersweet and oddly beautiful story about a dying girl and the boy who learns to live through her. |
|
8 |
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 |
A raw and realistic portrayal of survival, loss, and family after a catastrophic earthquake. |
|
7 |
Your Name |
Love that transcends time, memory, and disaster; stunning, romantic, and soul-stirring. |
|
6 |
A Silent Voice |
Guilt, forgiveness, and redemption collide in this moving story about bullying and self-worth. |
|
5 |
Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song |
A singing android’s century-long fight to save humanity becomes a heartbreaking tale of purpose and emotion. |
|
4 |
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day |
Childhood friends torn apart by grief and a ghost who just wants them to smile again. |
|
3 |
Your Lie in April |
Music, love, and the cruelty of fate blend into an emotional masterpiece. |
|
2 |
Grave of The Fireflies |
A gut-wrenching war tragedy about two siblings trying to survive when the world has turned to ashes. |
|
1 |
Clannad |
The gold standard of heartbreak: love, loss, and rebirth told through pure emotional devastation. |
15. Fruits Basket
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2019 |
8.21 |
63 |
Comedy | Contemporary Fantasy | Drama | Romance |
Shoujo |
The 2001 anime adaptation doesn’t capture the true essence of the Fruits Basket manga, so throw it out the window. The remake series by TMS Entertainment, however, presents a heart-wrenching masterpiece wrapped in warmth, mysterious, and quiet heartbreak. The story follows Tohru Honda, a kind-hearted girl who, after losing her mother, begins living with the Sohma family. But alas, this is a family of supernatural creatures of the Chinese Zodiac who transform whenever the opposite gender hugs them.
What starts as a charming, comedic setup blossom into a deeply emotional journey about love, acceptance, and healing. It is one of the most beautiful anime ever made because it doesn’t just make you cry; it makes you feel. Fruits Basket captures loneliness, grief, and the fragile beauty of being misunderstood.
14. Violet Evergarden
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genre |
Demographic |
|
Winter 2018 |
8.69 |
14 |
Drama |
Shoujo |
Violet Evergarden is a tearjerker that tells the story of a young girl (Violet) raised amidst the chaos of war, and being regarded and used more as a weapon than as a person or soldier. With the war now behind them, Violet faces the challenge of dealing in a world without her dearest companion, Major Gilbert. Along comes Claudia, a longtime friend of Gilbert’s, who vows to help Violet in this new chapter of her life.
Inspired by the Auto Memories Doll and its ability to convey emotions, she intends to break barriers and come to understand Gilbert’s last words: “I love you.” The story evokes a range of emotions, bringing smiles and tears while instilling hope at the same time. As Violet encounters various individuals, the resulting interactions help foster her personal growth and transform her.
13. 3-gatsu no Lion – March Comes In Like a Lion
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Fall 2016 |
8.50 |
44 |
Drama | Slice of Life | Psychological |
Seinen |
Plucked from Umino Chica’s shelf, 3-gatsu no Lion is an iconic and extraordinary work of art that’s earned itself many nominations and awards. The second season especially, with its 22 episodes, went above and beyond to push Rei Kiriyama’s life as a reclusive 17-year-old shogi player.
It is an ironically beautiful story of multiple broken souls, Rei, and the three Kawamoto sisters, trying to craft out some beauty in their respective lives. While the sisters cope with past tragedies, they try to help Rei overcome the horrors of shogi and craft a better life for himself, against seemingly impossible odds. This may make the story seem more like an adventure, but you’re in for a shocker should you decide to give it a try.
12. One Week Friends – Isshuukan Friends
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2014 |
7.52 |
12 |
Drama | Romance | Coming of Age |
Shounen |
Friendships and relationships are an integral part of every human’s life, but they don’t always come easily for everyone. Especially not someone like Kaori Fujimiya, a girl beset by a type of amnesia that makes her forget all about anyone she meets or relates with in less than a week. Of course, this gives classmates the wrong impression about her, forcing her into a seemingly cold and distant life.
This isn’t your typical story about someone who’s usually nervous to make friends; it’s about one who just can’t. It’s a story with no villain, no dramatic twist, just the bittersweet pain of love and friendship constantly slipping away. What makes it truly sad is that the heartbreak doesn’t come from death or tragedy; it comes from something painfully gentle and human: forgetting.
11. Angel Beats!
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2010 |
8.05 |
13 + 2 OVA |
Action | Drama | Comedy | Supernatural |
Seinen |
Since the beginning of time, humanity has been in the dark about several mysteries, one of which is death, especially what happens after. However, the answer to this is soon revealed to the introverted Yuzuru Otonashi upon his revival in a dimension between life and death known as the Afterlife.
Angel Beats! hits hard because it’s one of those rare anime that makes you laugh out loud one moment and cry your heart out the next. It’s set in a high school purgatory where students who died with regrets get a second chance to find peace, and that premise alone carries a quiet kind of heartbreak.
Each character carries a painful past, kids who were hurt, forgotten, or never got to live fully. Beneath the humor, chaos, and over-the-top action lies a quiet sorrow about letting go. As they find closure and vanish one by one, the final goodbye hits like a punch to the heart. This is a show about how precious life remains, even after it ends.
10. Plastic Memories
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2015 |
7.91 |
13 |
Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi |
Seinen |
After bombing his college entrance exams, 18-year-old Tsukasa Mizugaki lands a job at the prestigious SAI Corporation, thanks to a little help from his dad’s connections. The company specializes in creating Giftia, androids so lifelike they even have emotions. Tsukasa gets assigned to the Terminal Service Department, basically the division that retrieves Giftia nearing the end of their lifespan, a job that’s as depressing as it sounds. To make things even more awkward, he’s partnered with Isla, a gentle, tea-serving Giftia who’s been kept away from serious field work.
Still can’t see the point as to why it’s on this list? Give it a try, and then you just might understand.
9. I Want To Eat Your Pancreas – Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Fall 2018 |
8.55 |
1 (Movie) |
Drama | Romance |
Seinen |
Call it predictable or just another “tearjerker” if you want, but this movie earns every bit of its emotional punch. It’s the kind of story that grabs your heart, shakes it up, and reminds you what it feels like to really feel something. It’s beautifully written, deeply touching, and full of emotion that lingers long after the credits roll. Without spoiling anything or even saying much, the ending hits harder than expected, yet feels perfectly right. What truly makes it special is the raw, heartfelt bond between its two main characters. It’s an honest, powerful, and unforgettable movie that deserves every bit of love it gets; just look beyond the title!
8. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Summer 2009 |
8.00 |
11 |
Drama | Survival |
Seinen |
Tokyo is in ruins; foundations are disrupted, buildings are flattened, and bridges are contorted until the stresses break, as a magnitude 8.0 earthquake rages. Fires erupt like vivid crimson rashes, consuming homes throughout the Kanto region. Amidst the aftermath of turmoil, folks navigate their way through, gradually making their way to any safe place.
Among these distressed folks are the pessimistic Mirai and her brother and antithesis, Yuuki. Left to their devices and the luck of meeting Mari, an older lady, the trio attempts to return home. In doing so, they find their path through the destroyed cityscape and face great peril while observing the magnitude of the horrors that are left in the wake of a natural disaster.
7. Your Name – Kimi no Na wa
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Summer 2016 |
8.83 |
1 (Movie) |
Drama | Romance | Supernatural |
Shounen |
Your Name is undeniably Makoto Shinkai’s best work for over 10 years, and for good reason. At its core, it is a story about fate, connection, and love across time and distance. Taki and Mitsuha’s strange body-swapping adventure starts light and funny, but as the mystery deepens, it turns heartbreakingly beautiful. When they realize that they’re separated by years, and that a disaster has erased her town, the story then hits with a wave of desperation that’s hard to shake off.
What makes it sad isn’t just the tragedy, but the yearning, that aching sense of two souls searching for each other in a vast world. Yet, beneath the tears and tension, it’s also hopeful. This series would remind you that even when love seems lost, some bonds are powerful enough to defy time itself.
6. A Silent Voice – Koe no Katachi
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genre |
Demographic |
|
2016 |
8.93 |
1 (Movie) |
Drama |
Shounen |
Bullying is one of the few real-world issues that affects millions, is rarely spoken against, and contributes to eating disorders, depression, suicide, and other negative outcomes. But, as much as A Silent Voice doesn’t particularly speak against it either, it tells a story of a horrendous Shouya Ishida seeking peace with the deaf and timid Shoko Nishimiya, years after she’d been a victim of his constant bullying.
Between its premier moments in 2016 and 2017, the anime movie won several awards, including Anime of the Year at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, the Japanese Academy’s Excellent Animation of the Year Award, and Best Animation Feature Film.
5. Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2021 |
8.38 |
13 + ONA + Special |
Action | Drama | Suspense | Sci-Fi |
Seinen |
Vivy, as it is popularly known, is sad not in a tearjerker, love-story kind of way, but in a deep, existential sense that sneaks up on you. The sadness it wreaks comes from the blend of beauty, sacrifice, and the tragedy of purpose. But how is an anime that’s “just about a singing AI” sad?
The loneliness of Vivy’s mission, an AI robot created to help uplift humanity with her singing, lives in the horror of the undying: watching others around them grow and die, while she remains. But as usual, she’s a creation of humanity who isn’t supposed to feel, yet there lies her greatest irony, for she feels, maybe even more than her creators do.
4. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 2011 |
8.29 |
11 |
Drama | Supernatural | Romance |
Shounen |
Everyone reacts to tragedy and grief in different ways, and while adults could choose to bury themselves in work, or alcohol, or a journey of self-discovery, what do children do? While it may seem out of place for an anime to talk about grief, death, and moving on, that’s essentially what Anohana is all about.
It might seem like a simple story about teens confronting old wounds and moving on, but don’t be fooled. Its unpredictable twists, use of flashbacks, dialogue, and slow piano/guitar-based background music make it an overall bittersweet experience.
3. Your Lie in April – Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Fall 2014 |
8.64 |
22 + OVA |
Drama | Music | Romance | Melancholy | Psychological |
Shounen |
Your Lie in April isn’t just an anime; it’s a full-blown emotional symphony about love, loss, and rediscovering life through music. It’s the story of Kousei Arima, a piano genius whose world goes silent after his mother’s death, until a free-spirited violinist named Kaori Miyazono bursts into his life like spring after a long winter. With her wild energy and stubborn optimism, she drags him back to the stage, teaches him to feel music and life again. It’s a rollercoaster of laughter, tears, and melodies that hit you right in the feels. Between the amazing performances and the gut punch of Kaori’s illness, Your Lie in April will remind you why anime can still make your heart sing and break all at once.
2. Grave Of The Fireflies – Hotaru no Haka
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Spring 1988 |
8.53 |
1 (Movie) |
Drama | Historical |
Seinen |
Set in the final days of World War II, Grave of the Fireflies tells the heartbreaking story of Seita and his little sister Setsuko, two orphans just trying to survive after losing everything. When their mother dies in a bombing raid and their aunt turns cruel, they run away to live in an abandoned shelter. What follows is a painfully beautiful struggle against hunger, loss, and the harshness of war. Watching Seita struggle to protect and fend for Setsuko, even as the harsh world around them falls apart, is both devastating and deeply human; a raw reminder of how fragile and precious life truly is.
But more importantly, it is actually a semi-autobiographical story based on the real-life experiences of its author, Akiyuki Nosaka, who lost a younger sister to malnutrition and felt intense guilt over his own actions during the firebombing of Kobe during World War II. While the story contains fictional elements, it is rooted in Nosaka's personal trauma and serves as a way for him to process the guilt and honor his lost sister.
1. Clannad
|
Premiered |
MAL Score |
Episodes |
Genres |
Demographic |
|
Fall 2007 |
7.99 |
23 + OVA |
Romantic Comedy | Drama | Harem | Slice of Life |
Shoujo/Shounen |
From poetic and cryptic episode titles to a story whose beginning mirrors the movie The Fault in Our Stars. The story takes us through how love blossoms between Tomoya Okazaki, a cynical high school delinquent, and the frail Nagisa Furukawa. After a few years of being friends, lovers, and then a couple, Nagisa dies, spiraling Tomoya into devastation and depression.
Shortly after, he seeks solace and redemption in raising his daughter, Ushio, but she also dies, leading him to a “true ending.” But as the saying goes, “a drowning man would clutch at a straw.” And this became a reality when Tomoya’s sincere wishes were answered, and he was able to turn back the hands of time, in an “Illusory World”, and ensure he and his family got a happily ever after, after all.
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