Sparkling Stream of Tears

"What's this? Those sparkles... they're my tears."
—Trowa Barton, after destroying Duo Maxwell's Gundam Deathscythe, episode 20, Gundam Wing

When a girl (or, occasionally, a sufficiently Bishonen boy) has been upset and runs off while crying, the same mechanism responsible for Ocular Gushers ejects her tears with sufficient force that they become a visible trail in the air behind her, each one sparkling like a gem.

A Sub-Trope of Everything's Better with Sparkles.

Compare Tender Tears.

Contrast Inelegant Blubbering, Single Tear.

Examples of Sparkling Stream of Tears include:

Anime and Manga

  • Played for laughs in Metal Fight Beyblade. Tetsuya is locked up by Daidoji because he thinks that Tetsuya crushed Ginga's bey point counter, and he cries sparkling tears which he uses to draw a crab on the wall of his cell.
  • Full Metal Panic!
    • Kaname Chidori in one of the later episodes. On seeing this, even Handsome Lech Kurz Weber is angry at the person responsible.
    • Tessa in one of the biggest Tear Jerker scenes in The Second Raid, though she's actually sitting still.

Tessa: "It would be some much easier on me if you just came right out and said it: 'I WANT TO BE WITH KANAME! SO STAY OUT OF THE WAY!'"

  • Eve in the "Give Me Secret" music video sequence during the climax of part 2 of Megazone 23.
  • Mai in the opening credits of My-HiME.
  • Hitomi from Vision of Escaflowne.
  • Alice from Please Save My Earth.
  • Another opening credits example: Mikuru in Suzumiya Haruhi. At least she has a reason, given what she's subjected to by Haruhi.
  • Meru does this in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, after she was insulted on her small bust size.
  • Pokémon's Ash does this occasionally when he releases a member of his team, and Dawn when she doesn't make it to the battle round of a Contest.
    • Seen in episode 12, Here Comes the Squirtle Squad, when Ash tries to get the Squirtle Squad to untie him so he can go to a nearby store to buy a Super Potion for his injured Pikachu.
      • Occurs rampantly in the first movie. If anything gets mention for sparkling streams of tears, the climax of that movie gets it. Not only are there a few dozen sparkling streams of tears, they are magical, moving sparkling streams of tears!
  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Toei anime, Yugi cries sparkly tears when Jonouchi reminds Yugi that he and the others are going through Kaiba's theme park of Death Traps with him because they're friends.
  • In episode 12 of Mahoromatic, Mahoro leaves a Sparkling Stream of Tears behind her as she flies Suguru home. Played straight, as Mahoro has just promised to stay with Suguru forever, but she hasn't told him that she will stop functioning in just under 300 days.
  • Haruhi in Ouran High School Host Club gets one of these in one of her dreams.
  • Rena in the opening of the second season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.
    • Also Satoko, to a point, in the first season's opening. And tons of times within the actual show
    • And Keiichi in the very first arc, combining this with Berserker Tears.
  • Ayeka in the final episode of Tenchi Universe.
    • In the OVA, Ryoko's double, Zero, sheds a few of these too right after she fails to kill Tenchi.
  • Trowa (after destroying Duo's Gundam Deathscythe) and Quatre (after destroying a colony with Wing Zero) in Gundam Wing. Somewhat more plausible here, as they take place in zero-G.
    • Relena does this in two instances: in episode 48, after crying out Heero's name after he takes off in Wing Zero to fight Zechs, and in the Japan-only OAV, Operation Meteor II: Odd Numbers, as shown here.
    • Catherine demonstrates this in in episode 13 (the aptly-titled "Catherine's Tears"), after she punches Trowa in the face, preventing his self-destruction attempt. She does this again in episode 38, "The Birth of Queen Relena", when Quatre confronts her.
    • Wufei does this after killing Treize.
  • Not really tears (or even water, for that matter), but the Exia is shown with one of these in the opening sequence of Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
  • Sailor Moon. For example at the end of season S after triggering her emergency transformation to save Sailor Saturn.
  • Bleach
    • Rukia gets one of these during a flashback in the Soul Society arc, when Renji pretends to be happy that she's being adopted by the Kuchiki clan. She thanks him for letting her go, and then...*sparkle*
    • Orihime has this as well: her tears sparkle as they fall while she's crying over the unconscious Ichigo after her inability to kiss him.
    • The Arrancar Dondochakka Bilstin does this whenever he's upset.
    • Keigo Asano has been known to do this, such as in anime episode #229 when Ikkaku and Yumichika arrive to stay with him.
  • Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi has a couple of these moments (though she has many more "realistic tears" moments).
  • A rather unusual version of this is used in Spirited Away. Upon learing Haku's real name (the Kohaku River) Chihiro/Sen and Haku go into a freefall, both crying in happiness, leading to a beautiful, glittering, stream of tears......going upwards.
  • Lynn gets one in the first opening sequence to Fist of the North Star.
  • Polly/Pururun does this in the episode "The Big Comet Caper, Part 2" in Samurai Pizza Cats, when Speedy/Yatarro takes off by himself to destroy the comet.
  • Risa of Lovely Complex does this at one point.
  • As of the fifth opening in Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood, Winry and Riza are shown doing this while set to the theme, Rain.
  • Variation: at one point in the opening of Heartcatch Pretty Cure, Yuri displays a stream of tears going forward rather than behind her.
  • Done hilariously in the Azumanga Daioh anime during one of the School Festival episodes. (The person running around in the cat suit was revealed to be Mr. Kimura. Cue Sakaki turning dramatically, sparkling tears streaming from her eyes... and then running away at a ridiculous speed.)
  • Cue N's first appearance in the BW arc of Pokémon Special. And he does it again during his battle with Black.
  • Mew Lettuce (Lettuce Midorikawa) does this in at least one episode of Tokyo Mew Mew.
  • In Urusei Yatsura, Lum does this when she catches Ataru in her arms and flies away with him.
  • The characters of The Rows of Cherry Trees have very sparkly tears, to the point where they're more sparkle than tear.
  • Ranma ½:
    • Akane gets this after she becomes disappointed and sad because of her failure at learning how to swim.
    • Happens in one of Ranma's dreams. Ranma turns into a frog and Akane runs away with a sparkling stream of tears.
  • THE iDOLM@STER - Kotori, whenever she gets out of one of her Imagine Spots.

Video Games

  • Sakura and Rin in the second opening of Fate/stay night.
  • Final Fantasy VI example. If you fail to nurse Cid back to health and he dies, Celes cries a Sparkling Stream of Tears both when she realizes he's dead, and shortly after when she attempts to commit suicide by jumping from a high cliff into the ocean.
  • This happens to Haruko in one of the last episodes of AIR, during the dramatic scene at the beach when she runs towards Misuzu.
  • For certain reason, in Super Robot Wars Z, Sparkling Stream of Tears is involved when Setsuko Ohara finally receive her upgrade, as if those tears evolved her Humongous Mecha.
  • At the end of case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney this happens when Maya Fey leaves.
  • A non-human one now: In Final Fantasy XII after you defeat The Fury in the Necrohol of Nabudis, his death animation includes one of these.
  • In the opening to Namco x Capcom, Valkyrie is standing on a windswept cliff with tears welling in her eyes. When the wind picks up and she suddenly turns her head, the tears fly into the air, producing the glittering trail.
  • Zelda in Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks does this after Byrne sacrifices himself to save her life.
  • In Yarudora series vol.2: Kisetsu o Dakishimete, main heroine Mayu does this while running towards, and tackling a drunken geezer, as, as the (unbeknownst to her at that point of the storyline due to Identity Amnesia) Spirit of the Cherry Trees, she feels the pain of the cherry tree when the geezer starts breaking and shaking cherry tree branches in a drunken fit of rage.

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

Lisa: Are you crying glitter?
Lady Gaga: Tiny diamonds. Hurts like hell.

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