Animemovies are amazing, and not enough of them are revered as they should be. There are fabulous anime movies with stellar soundtracks, beautiful visuals, and in-depth characters. There is an endless supply of movies out there for you to enjoy, but anime movies really take things to the next level.
There are a lot of serious themes in these films, which ends up making them rather sad. However, sometimes one craves deeper films, even sad films. A good cry can be cathartic, and seeing your own problems on the screen can make them feel more manageable. These are the anime movie you should cry to next.
8Your Name
CoMix Wave Films
Your Name is quite the roller-coaster ride. While the ending is bittersweet, the two main characters have to go on quite an adventure to get there. The movie is about a girl in Japan and a boy from Tokyo. They end up switching bodies often and communicating with each other through notes in order to respect each individual’s life.
One day, they stop switching bodies out of nowhere. The boy from Tokyo discovers that the girl is switching with him three years in the future, and there’s a comet heading her way that’s going to kill her. He has to find a way to save her before the comet hits.
7Hal
Wit Studio
Hal is a beautiful movie about grief and living through loss. It takes place in a society that has more technological advancements, including robots who are programmed to act like humans with emotions and empathy.
A robot is sent to help a woman who’s just lost her partner. The movie follows her life and reviews her relationship as she learns to grieve while relying on the robot. It’s a sweet film, but there are many very sad moments throughout.
6Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms
P.A. Works
This animeis a fantasy storyabout a race of people very similar to humans who stop aging at fourteen. They live for hundreds of years despite this. The main character is a young orphaned girl named Maquia. When her best friend is kidnapped, she goes on an epic journey to get her back.
The journey takes place over more than forty years. Maquia ends up adopting a human boy, working to save her best friend, and trying to live a happy life. Unfortunately, she suffers a lot of heartbreak on her journey, and even though her people will find a way to move on, her story is a tragic one.
5I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
Studio VOLN
In this ever-so-depressing anime movie, a high school student comes across the diary ofa popular girlin his class. He discovers that she has an illness in her pancreas that’s fatal, but she hasn’t told anyone because she just wants to live a normal life.
The two become fast friends and even attempt to go through her bucket list. But if you’re not ready for a tragic story about loss and grief, you should avoid this movie. It will make you cry, but love lost is worth a few tears.
4Hotarubi No Mori E
Brain’s Base
This great film is about a six-year-old girl who finds herself lost in a forest inhabited by a mountain spirit. She is found by a mask-wearing person named Gin, who leads her out of the forest. She befriends him, coming back to visit. She discovers that if Gin touches another person, he’ll disappear forever.
Every summer, the young girl comes, and they get closer over the years, forming a real bond. Unsurprisingly, though they have so much love for each other, the story ends in tragedy when Gin is accidentally touched.
3Colorful
Ascension
Colorful is such a gorgeous film, both aesthetically and through its writing. The movie starts with a young boy who has just killed himself. He’s given a second chance at life, but he only has six months to figure out his mistakes in his former life.
He struggles to connect with anyone in his new life until he meets someone who befriends him. The twist at the end of the movie is beautiful, and the friendship between the boys makes this movie so lovely.
2The Tale Of Princess Kaguya
Studio Ghibli
This story is about a young girl who is discovered inside a bamboo shoot. She’s adopted by the bamboo cutter who found her and is taken in by him and his wife. She grows quickly and becomes friends with a lot of the village children.
This is one of the more depressing films on the list. The girl is named Princess Kaguya and has a very difficult life. She’s pulled away from her friends, used as a noble pawn, and pursued by all the wrong people. All she ever wanted was a happy life with friends, but the mortals took advantage of her instead.
1Grave Of The Fireflies
Studio Ghibli created Grave of the Fireflies, a movie set in the 1940s during the Pacific War. This movie is about the effects of war on children and what happens in the aftermath. The story follows one family, specifically two children,after their father is sent to war as a Captain and their mother dies.
They move in with their aunt, who eventually becomes resentful of having to take care of the kids. The movie has a lot of deaths as the two siblings try to stay alive. It’s one of the most tragic anime films ever made, but a really important watch.
