< Tear Jerker

Tear Jerker/Animation

"Oh, Ferdie...(sobs)...he was the only friend I ever had, in my whole life..."

Bugs Bunny: Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?

Nostalgia Critic: [after having cried intensely] No! But I expected it from a fucking Bugs Bunny cartoon!
—The Nostalgia Critic, Top 11 Saddest Nostalgic Moments

It's okay to watch cartoons, and it's okay to cry when watching them every once in a while. Don't worry... your secret's safe with us.

Examples of Tear Jerker/Animation include:

The Batman

  • Clayface's origin. The worst part was when he had gotten his form back to Ethan, and he got that look of unadulterated joy on his face... only to realize he can't maintain it.

Clayface: Being Ethan is hard, really hard. But being Clayface? It's cake. So say your goodbyes. This is the last you'll ever see of him.

  • The ending to "Riddler's Revenge". Seriously, the only other time I've gotten that close to tears while watching any sort of Batman was with things involving TAS's Mr. Freeze.
  • The part in "A Matter of Family" where the Flying Graysons fall to their death. The audience is horrified and then we see Dick crying; the funeral scene after that really cranks up the water works.
  • One issue of The Batman Strikes has Poison Ivy escaping from prison to presumably steal a rare plant. At the end, when she's caught, she actually breaks into tears and says that she didn't want to steal it, she just wanted to see it since she's so deprived of plantlife at Arkham.

Other Warner Bros. Cartoons

  • Teen Titans. The Schoolgirl's/Terra's speech. "Things were never the way you remember..." "Things change, Beast Boy. The girl you want me to be is just a memory.... you're the Teen Titan. That's who you are. That's not me. I'm not a hero. I'm not out to save the world. I'm just a girl with a geometry test next period and I haven't studied."
    • For that matter, the whole Terra arc, seeing how the romance between her and Beast Boy had to be broken when she joined Slade, but it remained untouched inside them.
      • The end of "Aftershock, part 2". 'Nuff said.
      • During BB and Cyborg's battle with Terra. Beast Boy's expression of disbelief, and her utter lack of remorse make it heart wrenching.

Beast Boy: Terra, you wouldn't.
Terra: Watch me.

    • The end of "The End, part 1", particularly as Raven accepts her destiny as herald of the apocalypse, then stuns her friends into unconsciousness to keep them from going after her...then whispers, "goodbye... be safe." Similarly, a few minutes later when she says she never knew she would "have such wonderful friends," and proceeds to "die" as her horrified teammates watch, helplessly.
      • Robin - normally not the type to give speeches about The Power of Friendship - doing his best to talk Raven into letting the Titans help, as well as Robin protecting Raven's young form and (for a happy-tears variety) the two Titans watching the sun come up at finale's end.
      • "The End: Part 3" when Robin was carrying regressed-to-childhood Raven and telling her the story of Raven. One of the sweetest moments in the show. Or when young Raven was shaking Robin's body, going: "Get up, get up!"
    • A-few-punches-from-death Robin collapsing into Starfire's arms, whispering, "it's okay, Starfire... s'okay..."
      • In the same episode, when Starfire was forced to hit Robin (who was Not Himself at the time) with a starbolt. The resignation on her face... damn.
    • When Robin and Star finally kissed in the Titans in Tokyo movie. Aaaaawwwww.
    • The end of the episode where Raven gets her heart completely broken by Melchior, the Mailer Daemon from the Great Big Book of Everything is also quite the tearjerker. Specially when Beast Boy says he's sorry for the heartbreak Raven went through, and then she hugs him.
      • From the same episode, it's also quite heartbreaking when Beast Boy insults Raven after she refused to play Stankball with him and Cyborg. The look on Raven's face is particularly sad. Anyone who knows what it's like to get insulted by their friends for being different definitely felt for Raven there.
    • "Good was never an option for me." At the end of "Lightspeed", she looks so lost... and then she finds the rose, and there's that small smile on her face.
    • In Stranded, there's a sad moment when the Titans are trying to shake off an alien on their T-Ship, and Robin tells them to not separate, but the alien's sound waves mess up the communications, and the Titans think they're told to separate, and do so, as Robin extends his hand out and lets out an anguished Big No as Starfire's ship leaves.
    • "How Long Is Forever?". That's all.
  • The Superman: Doomsday movie: After the apparent death of big blue, Lois Lane, having already guessed Clark's secret, goes to visit the Kents' home in Smallville; she then breaks down on the doorstep of an angry and skeptical Martha "Ma" Kent, who thinks she's there to get the scoop. Bonus points for great voicework and relatively realistic crying instead of the pretty kind.
  • The Iron Giant. "Su-per-maaaaaan..."
    • "Hogarth, you stay. I go. No following."
      • The ending where the Giant pieces himself back together after his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Even Pinky and The Brain had one (combined with a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming) in the Christmas Episode. Near the end of the episode, Pinky and the Brain crash land back in the lab, and are about to broadcast a brainwashing message to the people of the world through the toys they've tricked Santa into distributing (like most stuff in this show, it makes more sense in context). Just as the Brain is starting to make some emergency repairs to his broadcasting device... thingy, Pinky realizes he didn't get to deliver his letter to Santa, which he'd been trying to do for half of the episode. Aggravated, the Brain yanks away Pinky's letter, while Pinky bursts into tears. Just as they've almost got the device running, and they're mere seconds away from brainwashing the entire world, Brain decides to take a look at the letter. After reading it, he not only cries, but orders the people of the world not to bow before him, but to "have a Merry Christmas". Why? Well, it turns out that Pinky didn't want Santa to give him anything, but instead wanted all his gifts to go to the Brain. And to top it off...

The Brain: *reading* P.S. - By any chance, do you happen to have in that big old bag of yours... the world?

    • And then there's the very end, when Pinky does give Brain the world for Christmas. (Okay, it's a keychain of a globe, but good enough). *sniffle* No wonder this special won an Emmy...
    • The Halloween episode where Pinky sells his soul to Satan so that Brain can gain world domination. Pinky was on the verge of tears when he said goodbye to Brain.

Other Nicktoons

  • The Hey Arnold! Christmas Episode. So many things to nominate, so little time... The ending may well require a box of tissues, depending on your constitution.
    • Arnold's neighbor Mr. Hyunh, trying to escape the Vietnam War with his toddler daughter Mai, ran to the American embassy only to find one more person was allowed on the last helicopter going to America. After giving up Mai to the Americans, he came to Arnold's city to find her but couldn't do it. At the end, as everyone is exchanging Christmas gifts and Arnold feels terrible for not being able to find her, the doorbell rings...to reveal Mai, who was found by one of Arnold's friends. Ten years later and the tears come out every time it comes on TV.
      • The Hey Arnold! Christmas Episode. The whole thing. The worst part is probably Arnold's neighbor's description of how he lost his daughter in the war, and how he specifically came to the city to look for her--but he'd more or less settled into life there and given up. Arnold manages to reunite them in the end.
    • When Helga finally gets the perfect present combined with the love and attention from her parents (instead of the usual jerkass filled home life), she realises that she has to give it up to re-unite Mr Hyuh with his daughter and then she realises, after spending all that time trying to find the present that would make Arnold fall in love with her, that this would be the greatest thing she could do for them all and make them happiest. So she gives it all up and takes no credit for it, giving them a proper Christmas miracle and yet again ends up with her love for Arnold unrecognised, standing alone in the snow.

Helga (smiling tearfully): Merry Christmas, Arnold.
Roll Credits

    • Any episode that delves into Helga's home life is gonna be a tear jerker. The flashback to her first day of preschool -- which launched both her fixation on Arnold and her tendency towards bullying -- in "Helga On the Couch" breaks my heart every time.
    • The episode where Olga is engaged and Helga finds out that the fiance is a Jerkass. Helga finding empathy for Olga, whom she's always envied and pushed away because of that, always gets me.
      • She even called him out, then told him to just walk away. AND THEN she forged a note from him to prevent her sister's heart from breaking more than she knew it would...*sniff* BE STRONG, BE STRONG!
    • The end of the Pigeon Man episode.
    • It's a bit dark, but Arnold attacking the guy looking for a bus stop in "Mugged". The poor guy was beaten and humiliated just for trying to ask for help and looking a little intimidating. Arnold's shame and embarrassment and the man's sadness and confusion are just so relatable.
    • The Parents Day Episode is a tear jerker in itself, especially the music in the ending credits.
      • A rearrange of this music is played in the end of "The Journal" episode. The Hope Spot at the end will surely make you get teary.The music itself doesn't help at all,it was heartrending.
  • The end of the Mothers' Day special of Rugrats when we hear the poem Malinda, Chuckie's sweet Ill Girl mother, wrote for him just before she died.
    • This moment in the same episode: "I was scared, and then my mom came - I don't think I knew she was even my mom then. But when she held my hand, I didn't feel scared anymore - and I knew as long as I was there, she'd never let go."
    • The episode when Chuckie has a pet roly-poly, Meville. And it dies.
    • The Rugrats Movie: Tommy singing to himself in the closet, clutching his father's slipper, and Tommy dangling the baby food over Dill, which would attract vicious monkeys onto him, while delivering a tear-ridden speech about how Dill, his baby brother, has wronged him.
      • Ehen Spike appears to have died fighting the wolf so instead of wishing to the "Lizard" to send them home, the babies agree to wish Spike back to life.
  • Danny Phantom
    • For some reason, in "Fanning the Flames", Ember's song is curiously wrenching. Mostly because the fandom consensus (despite the bad fic written about it) is that it's about the suicide of the ghost singing it, after either losing her virginity or finally committing herself to her boyfriend in a serious way only to be discarded. Damnit...
    • For dog lovers, there are tears over the death of "Cujo" the ghost dog where the series hint that it may have been put to sleep. A ghost PUPPY.
    • There's also Vlad himself. Since he's a villain with sympathetic goals, it isn't hard to get really, really emotional during his Villainous Breakdown in the Season Two Finale. For months, he's ached for Danny to be his son and while he tried to get it in the most diabolical manner possible, the fact that he had to see his perfect clone--nay--his perfect SON dissolve slowly right in front of his face while reaching out towards him was just heartbreaking. His huge Big No just sealed the deal. The insult to injury? His son was killed by Danny himself. Goddamn it...
      • And also, his final scene in the last episode where Jack leaves him to rot in space after realizing his best friend had "died away" twenty years ago. That's not the sad part; the sad part is when Vlad realized how much of an asshole he's been. He gives off quite possibly the most saddest face ever and flies away into emptiness that he's feared all his life. No words, no goofy comedy--just sad music as his expressions tell it all. * sniff*
    • The Ultimate Enemy. Both of Danny's friends, his parents, and his sister die in a tragic accident, which if blame is to be assigned, it would go to Danny for cheating on a test. Then, he's sent to live with his arch-enemy, where he tries to get rid of all the grief he's feling. This leads to essentilly killing himself along with practically everyone he could get to. Eventually, this evil Danny goes back in time to kill everyone he once loved only to ensure he'll still be just as evil in the future. And, the statues: Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Maddie and Jack: "Gone but not forgotten." Mr. Lancer: "Gone"
      • It's when Danny visits this future's version of Vlad Masters . It's the most sympathetic we see the guy in the series (except perhaps for the end of Phantom Planet.) Vlad has spent ten years with nothing but his own guilt to keep him company. Ten years of having to face the fact that his best friend, the woman he loved, and the boy who he wished more than anything would call him "dad" are all dead, and that it's all his fault.
      • Likewise, freakin' Dark Danny's (Dan Phantom's) fate in TUE can be considered something of a Tear Jerker. He's doomed to be trapped in the Fenton Thermos (even though he's shown trying to escape..he's never seen again in the series), alone, with nothing but his insanity and his rather tragic memories to keep him company.
    • Dani. Created by the villain in order to try to defeat the hero, combined with the fact she probably feels at least somewhat similar to Dawn in Buffy, as well as her being voiced by Anna Sophia Robb, who's played Break the Cutie before, and you've got a Tearjerker.
    • In "Masters of All Time", Jack suffers the same accident that caused Vlad's canon state. However, he is even more sympathetic, because he isn't clever enough to use his ghost powers to become rich or manipulate his enemies. And then we have this:

Jack Plasmius (lounging at Danny): SAY GOODBYE!
Danny: (holds up newspaper reporting Vlad and Maddie's wedding)
Jack Plasmius: Goodbye...seems all I ever do is say goodbye.

    • When Valerie breaks up with Danny at the end of Flirting With Disaster because she doesn't want him to get hurt because of her ghost hunting (not knowing that he is Danny Phantom, the ghost she hates so much). Danny looks so dejected.
  • KaBlam!! of all shows, had one of these. When Henry left the show and June was really sad, was really heart-wrenching. It's hard to see the duo away from each other.
    • Not an intended tear jerker, but when H&J said the pledge of Blam-leigiance (in the pilot, "Your Real Best Friend"), it always hits me. And when they say, "...And jet-packs for all". Why? Because the show is cancelled, not on VHS or DVD (this was viewed on Nick and Nicktoons during the original run, and then on Retrojunk), and it just brings back childhood memories. There will never be any other lines like this in any TV show. * sniff*
    • "Loopy and the Snow-Lady" from the Life with Loopy shorts. Seeing loopy's departure from Snow Lady was so tear-jerking. A bit odd coming from the Loopy shorts, as usually they're silly, gross, Nightmare Fuel, or even just cute.
  • Oddly enough, an episode of Blue's Clues made me tear up. In the Musical special, Sidetable Drawer starts singing about her shyness, which is really well, sweet and sad combined.
    • Steve leaving.
  • The Fairly Oddparents episode Bad Heir day has a rather sad/touching moment towards the end-

Poof: (Hugs Mr. Crocker) Crocker...

    • Crocker, after forming a loving fatherly bond with Poof, is forced to let him go after realizing that Poof is a fairy and that, he could never raise a fairy nor could he ever bring himself to expose Denzel Jr. DJ Poof for what he really is. He's so heartbroken over losing his "son" that he starts crying. Yes, Mr. Crocker cries in this episode...

Crocker: I can't raise a fairy...and I can't mount my own son like some sort of trophy, even though my mother has done far worse. No. Denzel Jr. must be with his own kind....(Sniffles) Goodbye DJ...I'll miss you...FAIRY IN THE HOLE! (Launches Poof into Timmy's bedroom to be re-united with Cosmo and Wanda).

    • Cosmo and Wanda's "With You" number from "School's Out!" is so emotional. The song is about how despite Cosmo's naive nature, they still love each other and will stick together even in the toughest of situations. Even Jorgen himself was incredibly moved.
    • The look on Chester's and A.J.'s faces after Timmy sacrifices himself to the Darkness at the End of Wishology Part 2 to keep everyone safe. It's obvious everyone is heartbroken, but the looks on the boy's faces is especially heartbreaking. They lost their best friend and there's a good chance they may never see him again, and they look absolutely shattered.
    • If we count Live Action Adaptations under this page, Timmy saying goodbye to the Cosmas near the end of A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! definitely qualifies.
  • The (Nickelodeon) Doug Christmas special.
  • In one episode of Invader Zim, Gaz yells at Dib for going off to fight Zim because she "just wants to go out to eat with dad." Considering the situation, this certainly counts.

Other

  • There's one of the Casper the Friendly Ghost shorts, There's Good Boos Tonight, which provides the page image. A classic tear jerker, the short has Casper befriending a baby fox named Ferdie, who winds up being chased by a hunter. As you can tell from the image, the hunter succeeds in killing Ferdie, and Casper is too nice to return the favor so he lets him off with a scare, and promptly breaks down once he discovers Ferdie's corpse. But Casper gets his Happy Ending--sort of--for Ferdie returns as a ghost, allowing them to live--er, exist happily ever after.
  • From Columbia Cartoons, theres the 1937 short "The Little Match Girl". Here, we are presented the Dying Dream of a lonely orphan girl, mocked and ignored by the world around her, cold, ragged and starving, with only her matches to keep her warm--and her dreams of happiness. Not long in the short, we get a dose of Sweet Dreams Fuel, showing the girl prancing around in a Heaven-like setting, where she finally finds good clothes and happiness through a doll the cherubs gave her as a present. But like the match that was keeping her warm in real life, the dream comes crumbling down in a gut-wrenching sequence where the utopian setting is torn apart by a strong wind, quickly snapping the girl back to reality, where she desperately crawls to the burning match--only to freeze to death. But fear not, for the girl finally gets her happy ending, when an angel descends and carries her soul off to Heaven, leaving us with ringing bells and a starry night sky. This cartoon is hands down one of the most emotionally powerful cartoons ever made during The Golden Age of Animation. But you know whats even sadder? This cartoon lost the 1937 Academy Award to Disney's technically superior but nowhere near as powerful Silly Symphonies short "The Old Mill".
  • The very first Afterschool Special, 1972's Last Of The Curlews, created a generation concerned about endangered species and other green issues.
  • There's a scene in the episode "the pinballs" when the man in charge of the group home takes one of the kids to the hospital to visit his aunts and he tells the boy (while tearing up) about his mom who was strict and emotionally distant throughout his childhood and when she was on her death bed asking her son to tell her that he loves her he is unable to do it because of the way he was brought up.
  • 6Teen's two-part series finale. Nikki's dad gets a new job. This would normally be a happy moment, but the new job means Nikki has to move away.
  • The end of The Snowman.
    • The music, eg the main theme Walking in the Air, is fairly tear-jerking too.
  • The ending of Season 1 of Spawn. "The sad man." Just... Oh God...
  • Surprisingly, Woody Woodpecker, of all series, has one-Born To Peck is a surprisingly chilling short, which shows an elderly, possibly dying Woody, who is so weak and frail that his beak crumples if he even tries to make a simple peck or two on a tree and can barely move--all while this is juxtaposed with him reminiscing of his childhood when he was hyper fast and able to rip through trees like a drill. It reaches the point where Woody finally decides to throw himself off a cliff in despair. And the cartoon plays this completely serious. And the scary part is that IT WORKS. This alone makes it certainly stand out from the typical Golden Age cartoon in general, let alone a Woody Woodpecker cartoon. But he gets a happy ending-when he jumps to his death, the animator hastily draws in a Fountain of Youth at the bottom to rejuvenate Woody back to his youthful self.
    • OK, since that last bit there sounded kind of sarcastic, let's put you in the shoes of the animator in this cartoon. You know what the ending is, that this character you grew up watching and loving is going to die at the end. You are the animator. You have been given an opportunity none of the viewers have: you can change the ending. After reading some of the most horrible tearjerkers on these pages, wouldn't you want to do something to help your favorite character avoid such a terrible fate?
  • A clay-animated short accompanied by the Carly Simon song "I Get Along Without You Very Well." It dealt with a dog reminiscing about his former owner.
  • The short film Kiwi! starts off with what you think is a whimsical animated comedy, but it's guaranteed that the ending will shock you to tears.
    • The music video that sets it to Mad World is even better.
    • Why did the kiwi not strap a parachute on sometime during his lifelong ambition to simulate flying? Seriously, it makes no sense and actually promotes achieving your dreams even if they are nonsensical or suicidal. Perhaps it is only well received because True Art Is Incomprehensible and True Art Is Angsty.
      • Who's to say that his hat doesn't turn into some kind of parachute device? Or more realistically, that the sound effect isn't him hitting an oversized cushion placed partially down the mountain? He was smart enough to nail trees to a mountain, so I'm ready to believe anything.
      • What makes you think the kiwi will be able to obtain a parachute? The other things could be easily found on the ground after looking for a while. But you try finding an unused parachute on the ground that will fit easily on a kiwi!
    • Admit it, you guys just don't want to believe that he died.
  • The Gravedale High episode "Good-Bye Gravedale".
  • In Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & The Island of Misfit Toys: The Toy Taker is actually a worn-out teddy bear named Mr. Cuddles. In song, he explains why he took on the persona of the Toy Taker: his boy, Steven, got him for his first Christmas, and as Steven grew older, Mr. Cuddles felt like he was being abandoned, especially since he was thrown away, and didn't want the other toys to be discarded as well. However, in the end, Mr. Cuddles was repaired by Queen Camilla and became a gift for Steven's baby daughter.

Mr. Cuddles: This is the happiest day of my life.

Tom: Bang...

    • Back when Tom was a guy in a space-suit, watching Reboot and Ronin Warriors-- Goddamn it, CN, even weird alien-robot Tom was still Tom! * sob* It's probably not healthy to be so attached to a virtual widget who only appears for a few moments before and after cartoons, right?
    • It's probably not just because of Tom but of what he had represented. For some he was part of their childhood, others he WAS their childhood. When Toonami left it wasn't just a series of programs that left, it was our childhood that left.
    • TOM 2's death by drowning/digestion by alien parasite. Made even worse because immediately after, while you might still hope he's fine, there was the commercial for the next segment, beginning with the announcer booming "TOM IS DEAD!" * sob*
  • The final episode of The World of David the Gnome had two tear jerking moments. The first was when David finally had to separate with his fox friend Swift and tell him not to follow him up the mountain. Swift disobeys this and follows anyway to witness the second tear jerker, where he watches helplessly as David and his dying wife Lisa morph into a pair of trees, forever at each other's sides. As if it can get any worse, you can then see their "spirits" dancing happily and you know from that moment that's the last time you'll ever see them again. Most depressing kid's show ending ever... At least we get a Bittersweet Ending when Swift makes friends with a younger gnome.
  • The episode of Samurai Jack when Jack finally lifts the curse from the Norse Warrior.....only for the warrior's aging to catch up with him. In a beautiful scene, Valkyries take the warrior up in a shaft of light, followed by Jack carving "FREE" into the stone tablet of his story. This editor burst into tears.
    • There's an episode where a Ridiculously Human Robot hitman had retired from his job as a hitman with his pet dog Lulu. Aku steals the dog and won't give it back unless he kills Jack. The robot tries to get Jack, but Jack quickly cuts him down like any other enemy. Before he dies, he says "Please... take care of Lulu." And this is from the robot's point of view.
    • An episode that was actually three-in-one. It was a confused mishmash of feelings in the first place, invoking severe Mood Whiplash. The first part had Jack getting tricked by a two-headed snake, and invoked funny. The second had a family of metal eaters trying to eat Jack's sword, only to end when it was revealed that they were actually robots, and they proceeded to eat each other, and that invoked Nightmare Fuel. The third scene involved Jack getting trapped with a fairy who could grant one wish in her lifetime. After a series of misunderstandings resulted in Jack killing the fairy's captor, the fairy sadly revealed that the captor was the only one who knew the magic word to free them, and that they would never be free. Cue Jack's furrowed brow, and the whispered words "I wish we were free", and then a cut to black with the sound of the prison shattering and the end of the episode. Holy emotional, Batman!
    • The episode where Jack randomly comes across the ruins of his homeland. The way he has all those happy memories of his youth, and then ends it with a bittersweet contemplation of all he's lost and isn't sure he'll ever get back...
      • Followed by a robot's pleas for help as his village is under attack. Jack has to put his own sorrow aside and assist. The episode's final imagery is of his parents, looking at Jack with pride. Tears ensue.
    • Nearly every episode where Jack has to fight something - like a team of robots, hunters, zombies or Set's minions - alone by himself, having gained nothing but his own survival, and walks away on his own into the distance...
    • "Not yet, Samurai Jack. Not yet."
    • Near the end of "The Aku Infection", Aku has taken nearly full control of Jack; and forces him to attack a group of lizard people that was helping them AND forces him to destroy the time portal they were nice enough to let him use. When the elder of the group finally manages to bring him down; as he's falling, all he can say is "Forgive me,"
  • A British example, the film Granpa (directed by Dianne Jackson, who also directed the animated adaption of The Snowman). It chronicles the relationship between a young girl called Emily and her grandfather, who tells her stories and looks after her. Throughout the 35 minute film his health declines, and you can guess what happens near the end.
    • And then there's the following line, where deep down in your heart you just know are his final words...

I'm just not quite quick enough... anymore...

    • Oh god. The ending made me cry as a little girl, and it makes me cry in my early twenties. What gets me more than anything is when Emily runs through the house calling out for her granpa, and comes across his empty chair, the one he's always sat in...
  • Muppet Babies: Gonzo's song "I'll Be Blue For You" for Camilla in the episode "Faster Than A Speeding Weirdo." I'd explain why, but it's too indescribable.
    • It was a surprise to have such a sad song in such an upbeat show.
    • If you've ever had severely sick or injured loved ones, and hoped against hope for them to get well again, this song will break your heart with the force of an angry soccer riot.
  • The Puff the Magic Dragon specials have a powerful moment each:
    • Puff The Magic Dragon: When the final lines of the song are sung with Puff in despair at the devastated Honna-Lee after he told Jackie Paper to leave, only to have Jackie immediately return right after the song finishes with help to restore the island.
    • Puff The Magic Dragon and the Land of the Living Lies: The climax when the girl who seems to be a pathological liar confesses that the real reason for her lying is as a shelter from the "truth": she believes that she is responsible for her parents' divorce. Thus the girl is revealed not to be a brat, but a deeply troubled child who is all too hard on herself for something out of her control and needs Puff's wisdom to realize the real truth.
    • Puff the Magic Dragon and the Incredible Mr. Nobody: While Puff and a boy named Terry look for an imaginary friend, the boy encounters copies of the kids who verbally abused him for his talents. When the boy pleads with Puff to send them away, Puff instead shows the truth behind the abuse, a petty envy that marks Terry as superior to them.
  • The 1980 animated movie The King and the Mockingbird manages to be both Nightmare Fuel and a Tear Jerker. The end, when the giant robot frees the bird, then crushes its cage.
  • Overtime, a graduate thesis film by French director Damien Ferrie. The film depicts an army of cute, froglike hand puppets finding their human creator slumped over at his workbench, dead. Being puppets, and not fully grasping what's happened, they attempt to bring him back to life the same way he brought them to life -- by attaching rods and wires to his body and manipulating him as if he were alive. They prop him up in a chair so he can watch them play, watch home movies of him performing with them, and prepare and serve a huge banquet. This is all pretty melancholy in itself, but the dam breaks when one of the puppets catapults a grape at the puppeteer, expecting him to catch it. It hits the corpse in the head, and he falls face-first onto the table. The puppets hang their heads in unison as they realize their best friend is never coming back. Not surprisingly, this film is a tribute to Jim Henson.
  • The cliffhanger at the season finale of Clone High. It's not that sad on its own, but when you realize that you'll never know what would've happened, it gets you down.
  • The final moments of Corpse Bride, as Emily, finally free from her grief and having just pulled her I Want My Beloved to Be Happy so Victor and Victoria can be together, walks out of the church and dissolves into a flock of butterflies. The surprise and beauty of it.
    • Strangely, one fairly minor bit from that movie. As the dead are storming the real world, one skeletal man approaches a little boy. The crowd is horrified, but the boy looks up curiously and asks "Grampa?" The revenant beams and picks him up, and the two embrace.
    • It can either be placed here or Crowning Moment of Funny, but the moment when Emily realizes that Victor does not love her and "would never marry her" was definitely a tearjerker moment. For a character that had been the most optimistic in contrast to everyone else in the film, her inevitable Break the Cutie moment is still heart wrenching.
      • Especially in the scene immediately after, when she goes to her room and tears flowers from her dried bouquet... "Roses for true love. Lilies for sweetness... Babies' Breath..." It just hits you, she wanted all these things, and never got the chance to have them...she thought she'd had it, and it's been snatched away not once, but twice now.
  • The episode "Cold War" of Code Lyoko, which involves XANA getting control of the weather, burying France in snow and sending temperatures plunging deep into the negatives. Aside from Aelita running a solo mission on Lyoko, Yumi ends up trapped under a frozen tree in nothing more than her typical winter clothes and the temperatures were still dropping. Ulrich's rescue attempts fail, but he vows not to leave her side. And just before Yumi's about to die from hypothermia, Ulrich tells her, "I need you..." just as a tear rolls down his face and promptly freezes.
    • And what about the soccer match episode that showcased Ulrich seeking his dad's approval through his sports skill since he's so Book Dumb? When Ulrich's dad is about to be pulled into space since XANA has eliminated the gravity surrounding the whole area, he smiles at a teary-eyed Ulrich and tells him he and his mom love him...
    • The season 1 episode "Frontier" where Jérémie gets trapped in the limbo between Lyoko and the real world. The very end, where he and Aelita meet for one brief second across the void, and their fingers touch... It's both beautiful and tragic, because after that moment, Jérémie has to go back to the real world. It's also hopeful, because you know Aelita will be real soon, and she's going to stay that way.
      • It gets even better when he wakes up and we find out that to him the whole experience - including nearly dying - was well worth that one touch.
    • Aelita's father returning her memories and her humanity to her in the Season 2 finale, at the cost of his ability to be de-virtualized.
  • WITCH
    • "H is for Hunted". Will creates an Astral Drop of herself to do her laundry while she helps her friends prepare for a party. Astrol Drops are normally unable to feel emotions, but when Nerissa changes Will's Astral Drop into an Altamere, it gains all of Will's emotions and memories, including her attachments to friends and loved ones. Excited about her new life, Altamere Will has fun at the laundromat before eating all the food in the Vandoms' fridge. Her new zest for life immediately extends to Will's mother, who the Altamere sees as her own mother. She happily hugs Ms. Vandom before inviting her to the party at the school. When Will realizes how much trouble the Altamere is causing, she and the other guardians, thinking it's still a normal Astral Drop, begin chasing in down in an attempt to absorb it back into the Heart of Kandrakar. The Altamere, who loves her new life as much as anyone would, reacts violently, and a vicious fight ensues between Will and her. After the Altamere desperately explains to Will that she has feelings and emotions, Will then breaks down in tears, embracing her tightly and promising never to absorb her. However, Nerissa uses the distraction of the emotional display to fire a burst of lightning at Will, and the Altamere sacrifices her life to save her creator. A tearful Will offers to absorb the Altamere into her being, which would allow its experiences and memories to remain intact. The Altamere accepts and fades into Will's body, becoming one with Will's consciousness.
    • "M for Mercy", where Nerissa invokes the soul of the ex-leaderess of CHYKN, Cassidy the Guardian of Water, to try convince her come back to life through Nerissa's magic. Cassidy has even forgiven Nerissa's murder of her, so she's got no regrets and refuses Nerissa's multiple offers... until Nerissa visits Cassidy's still living mother, Emily. Cassidy going all "... Mom..." when she hears Emily say she still misses Cassidy, only to become Nerissa's brainwashed puppet as soon as she cries and wishes to come back and be with her mom.
    • The early episodes that dealt with Elyon abandoning her friends, parents and whole world as a result of brainwashing, especially since it took most of one whole season to resolve, instead of just being a fluke. It's like all those scenes from An American Tail, where Fieval almost finds his parents, all over again. Worst of all are the moments that dealt with Cornelia's relation to Elyon; when they threw out a Rosebud to a character who had up to that point been portrayed as consistently superficial, rude, and obnoxious, and she actually showed deep concerns about wanting to help her friend out of trouble, her teammates rejected her pleas.
  • The Camp Lazlo episode 'Tomato Paste,' when Edward was leaving for Tomato Camp and Slinkman took his Bean Scout badge away. And when Lazlo said goodbye to him.
  • In the Garfield TV special Garfield His 9 Lives, the 6th life, "Diana's Piano" (where he was a pianist's female pet cat, accompanying her from childhood to marriage and dying of old age while sleeping on her owner's piano) is quite a tear-jerker, especially when compared to the tone of the rest of the special. (the Nightmare Fuel that is the 7th life "Lab Cat" notwithstanding)
    • The TV special Here Comes Garfield is about Garfield and Odie getting captured and brought to the pound. The tears start when they take Odie away to be (presumably) put to sleep and Garfield realizing how much Odie means to him. Cut to flashbacks of them playing as puppy and kitten and growing up together while Garfield vainly reaches through the bars for Odie. They escape in time, but it's still traumatizing to see as a child.
    • There is one song from "Garfield On the Town" that could jerk the tears of the most butch, anytime. It is called "Home again", and is about Garfield reuniting with his mother.
  • The Large Family episode "Baby Chilly". Like The Snowman ending, only with elephants - and the snow elephant doesn't actually come back to life, but baby Lucy loved him.
  • Oban Star Racers has several of these:
    • When the heroine, who balances between Plucky Girl and Wangsty teenaged brat, dreams about her dead mother encouraging her and telling her everything will be all right. It'd be okay if when she woke up she didn't have a deja-vu moment and a full five seconds of disbelieving hope that turns out to be nothing but perfectly mundane.
    • When the Big Brother Mentor, who was the only one ready to believe in the heroine, had his career ruined due to an accident that resulted in the heroine replacing him, discovered her true identity and kept the secret, gets his memories partially erased by the Big Bad, is Put on a Bus and leaves the series. Cue disbelieving tears.
    • When the father of the heroine, who was presented for most of the series as an undeserving, misogynistic Jerk, gets his own Character Development. If you do not tear up at his backstory, you have no soul.
    • The Bittersweet Ending. Sure, the Big Bad was vanquished and Eva is reconciled with her father, but the Comic Relief Dogged Nice Guy who was hopelessly in love with her is stranded in a place where he'll never see her again, and the last time we see him he's crying as the spatial ship taking her away leaves.
    • Molly's race with Aikka. The end of it... she had no control over the situation, but he thought she did, and the feeling of utter betrayal was evident. Painfully evident.
  • The Animals of Farthing Wood had a lot of tearjerker moments
    • The second part, where Bold died and his mother Vixen was crying over his corpse.
    • One in the first season where the hedgehogs speculate about what White Deer Park will be like and hope they can get there... just before getting run over crossing a road. Oh my God...
      • The scene where the male pheasant discovers the roasted body of his recently shot wife - whom he never showed the slightest respect for, and was shot because she took up the sentry duty he lazily neglected. His grieving is cut short when the farmer hears and shoots him as well. This relationship couldn't have ended more tragically .
  • Jean Sibelius' "Valse Triste" is bad enough on its own, but the treatment it gets in Allegro non Troppo (briefly: Cynical Italian Fantasia) makes it that much worse. * Wolverine and the X-Men: Rover. EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. The different way Rover says "Destroy" the only word he knows, while Marrow hangs around him, to show whether he's happy or sad or scared. His obvious fear when the Sentinels are approaching. Marrow hugging him, not wanting him to be part of the attack on the detention centre. His last word being "Run" the only time he's shown to be able to say anything but "Destroy" thanks to his ruined vocal circuitry.
  • The last couple minutes of the Christmas Episode of X-Men: Evolution definitely qualifies. It goes from a little girl who was saved by the vigilante Angel finally coming out of a coma and saying to her parents "My angel - he came to see me", complete with Rogue shedding a few tears, to a montage of various characters celebrating the holidays in their own way. Nightcrawler is seen embracing his parents (whom he hasn't seen for the entire first season and a good part of the second) in the airport, and near the end Wolverine is completely alone in a bar, playing pool. And there is piano music playing over all of this.
    • The beginning, with the teenage girl being restrained by the firefighters because she wanted to save her crippled mother who was inside their burning apartment. "My mom is still inside! She can't walk! She's in a wheelchair! Please let me go inside and save her, MOMMY!" It was a HUGE relief to see Angel save the woman in the end...
    • Professor X's speech at the end of the Grand Finale, especially the part with Jean turning into the Phoenix.
    • Another one would be the episode that recreated the backstory of Rogue and Mystique. Specially the beginning (with a young Mystique running away from Magneto and accidentally dropping little Kurt, to the ending where the older Mystique (as Miss Darkholme) sadly looks at a teen girl saying goodbye to her mother.
      • And speaking of that happy little family, the episode where Mystique has been turned to stone and Rogue, in a fit of rage, pushes the statue off a cliff onto rocks below. Kurt screams "NOOOO!" and bamfs down to get her, but it's too late...
      • It would've been sadder had Nightcrawlers "NOOOO!" not sounded so hilarious.
    • The Couldren. Scott's flash back to his parent's death and being seperated from his brother, to a later scene where Jean tells him she doesn't want to know him anymore since he used Magneto's power machine and is now, against his will, bound to being loyal to him, to the point of attacking his friends.
      • Adding to that, has anyone ever seen that X-Men art meme? Near the bottom two questions are directed at Cyclops, one is 'why do you think he's so uptight' and 'why don't we prank him'. Normally this is served for some lighthearted (Or ocasionally mean spirited) jokes directed at him. However one time one person answered them respectfully with 'My parents died' and 'Dude! His parents DIED!' It's quite sad yet reassuring that some people do pity him.
  • No, it wasn't less of a tear jerker to see how that particular plotline was handled in the original X-Men cartoon. If something, it was even sadder to see Rogue and Nightcrawler believe Mystique had died for them through Heroic Sacrifice, and later we see Mystique's still alive and runs away crying from her birth son and adoptive daughter.
    • About said daughter, having Jean go inside Rogue's mind and heart after she gets her memories of Mystique and Ms. Marvel, having her lock Marvel's psyche away so Rogue doesn't go mad, seeing Rogue cry and beg forgiveness to Marvel as Jean does so and later the visit to the hospital... "Her name's Carol Danvers... we once were friends. *snif*" SNIFFFFF.
    • Xavier and Juggernaut's common backstory was also very sad and well-done. Especially when Xavier finds out the truth about his long-dead stepfather Kurt Marko by scanning Juggernaut's mind and then commenting that to Beast ("She did love him... He only wanted her money..."), to which Beast sadly says "A father's sins...".
      • Perhaps what's worst of all is after the memories all play out, Xavier is still quite affected by them. "I thought I was over this, but I was so young and it hurt so much."
    • "Nightcrawler" was just beautifully done.
      • The scene where Rogue tears up after seeing Wolverine praying out loud in the chapel made me weep.
    • The "Proteus" 2-part episode. Once you realize that this rendition of Kevin/Proteus is less of a Complete Monster and more of a deeply unhinged and love-starved Psychopathic Manchild who only wants his Disappeared Dad to love him, you view everything that happened in a very sad light.
    • The episode with Magneto, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch discovering their fucked up familial bond, Pietro and Wanda Calling the Old Man Out before abandoning him, and Magneto's despair and sadness that neither Xavier nor Beast can help him with.
    • Are you kidding? The season finale where Professer X almost dies. He has a heart wrenching final speech on his death bed and all the X men are there.

Xavier: Hello, Magnus. Surely you have more impressing business than nursing an old friend.
Magneto: Nothing more important.
Xavier: Thank you. It seems I have quite an audience. Thank you all. I'm grateful to have the chance, to say goodbye.. [and your tears start there]

    • In the episode "The Final Decision" Gambit angrily protests the apparent suicide mission to rescue Senator Kelly from the sentinels base. An injured Magneto emerges from the infirmiry to remark on how foolish the professor and the team is for continuing to pursue the dream. The professor simply asks his team "is he right?" One by one the X-Men decide to depart. Jubilee, most enthusiastic remarks leading to this exchange with Wolverine

Jubilee: What's anybody waiting for? He needs us!
Wolverine: Sit down kid, you're not goin'.
Jubilee: (in tears) I'm not a kid anymore! I'm one of you, one of the X-Men. And it means more to me than anything in the world!
Wolverine: Yeah, that's what it means to me too.

      • Jubilee is then allowed to join the mission in a foolish yet poignant decision. By now the music has gotten terribly tragic. Rogue walks to the rest of the team while staring daggers at Gambit who angrily gives in and joins them too. As their jet takes off, Magneto watches from the ground with one last remark. "You're all fools! Heroic fools. The brave are always, the first to die." The X-Men musical score was underrated because it was perfect for moments like this. Every single time. The whole scene can be viewed here.
    • Cyclops calling out Corsair. That's all.
      • The exchange is pretty gut wrenching for a kid's show:

Corsair: Son, how can you believe--?
Cyclops: Don't ever call me that. For twenty years, I dreamed about my father - a man to look up to, a hero that sacrificed everything for the good of his family. It was your family you sacrificed! You threw us away so you could go knock around the galaxy!
Corsair: That's not what happened!
Cyclops: Oh?! Did I imagine the orphanage or the foster homes where nobody wanted me?! Tell me, 'Dad,' am I making this up?!

    • The last five minutes of Child Of Light. It's just so touching...
    • Corsair explaining to Cyclops what happened to his mother in "The Starjammers." Thing is, at this time, neither knows the truth, so Corsair isn't being delicate. Later on, he mentions his children, "I remember my oldest boy. He had his mother's eyes."
    • In "Nightcrawler," both Wolverine and Nightcrawler exchange their views on God. Viewers find that Wolverine used to believe, but lost his faith. ("What kind of God would let men do this to me?" extends claws) Nightcrawler tries to reassure him, but later by himself, he falls over and laments the hatred directed at him because of how he looks.
    • "The Fate of Phoenix." Once it becomes clear that she can't contain the Dark Phoenix forever, Jean begs Cyclops to finish her:

Cyclops: Fight it, Jean! Use the powers of your mind!
Jean: I can't fight it, Scott - never every second of every day, not slipping not even for an instant! Scott, please, do it!
Cyclops: I... can't!

    • "Beauty & The Beast." Poor Beast. He falls in love with a normal human, Carly, and vice-versa. But her father is bigoted against mutants. This episode hammers home how hard Beast has it, as he laments his mutancy endangering his family and now Carly. He is unfortunately proven correct when the Friends Of Humanity abduct her. Though Carly is saved and her father's views changed, Beast still sacrifices his happiness.
    • Gambit in "X-Ternally Yours" after having to deal with his past back home. "I am not assassin or thief. I am an X-Man, and I'm never comin' back."
  • The animated film When the Wind Blows, a film based on the equally depressing book by Raymond Briggs (author of another tearjerker, The Snowman) about a naive elderly couple dealing with the after effects of a nuclear bomb.
  • The Jane and the Dragon episode Dragon Egg. Dragon, having spent the last 300 years believing himself to be the last of his kind and searching for some shred of hope, is overjoyed when he attains a dragon's egg from the merchant, taking great effort to take care of the egg and provide it a nice home when it hatches. His obvious pain and heartbreak when he finds out that the "egg" is just a rock from the quarry that the merchant claimed was a genuine egg as a scam will get you.
  • The Redwall, when Rose died at the end of Martin the Warrior.
  • "How Very Special Are We", a.k.a. "Mother Earth and Father Time", from Charlotte's Web, is the saddest song ever. The reprise near the end is even more heartwrenching.
    • "Charlotte?...Charlotte?...CHARLOTTE?!" *sob*
  • Though much more lighthearted than the 2003 vesion listed next, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still has its moments of this. One of the most memorable is the episode "Turtles, Turtles Everywhere." Shredder and Krang reprogram a network of robotic garbage trucks and order them to capture "the turtles." With no knowledge of the TMNT, the trucks start rounding up every turtle in the city, and eventually what is said to be the last surviving member of an endangered sea turtle species, just as she was about to lay her eggs. One of the reasons it's such a great episode is that, unique among shows in The Eighties, it's actually a Green Aesop done right. Unlike Captain Planet villains and much more similar to real-world polluters, Shredder and Krang aren't actually intending to damage the environment as its own end; they're just greedy and don't care if it's a side-effect. At the end of the episode, they put a stop to the plan and return the sea turtle to the beach to finish laying her eggs and the resident joker Michelangelo starts sobbing as she swims off. Also, while they attempt to end the episode on a humorous note after that bit, it actually becomes sadder when rewatching it as an adult, when you can think abouit it enough to worry that even though the sea turtle got to lay her eggs afterall, based on April's claim that she was the last surviving member of her species, the eggs might not have been fertilized. So she could still be the last of her kind, ever.
  • The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Insane in the Membrane". Sure, it's equal parts Nightmare Fuel and Moral Event Horizon, but you KNOW you got teary eyed when you saw childhood flashbacks of Stockman's mama telling him "The sky's the limit, baby". It wouldn't be NEARLY as effective if not for the reality of how far Stockman had fallen.
    • Best moment is after he has kidnapped April, and begins to act as if it's the first day at work - and then gets a flashback of his mother lying in bed. He holds a large cable in his hands, kneeled next to it thinking it's his mother's hands and just cries for her not to leave him. It's heartbreaking.
    • ANY of the episodes involving Nano. When Nano "Died" while he was saying "Daa-ddy...", his second appearance was just as sad, because he just wanted a family, even getting them money, his third one wasn't as sad.
    • "Same As It Never Was."
    • Hun after he's erased after giving the Turtles what they needed to find Turtle Prime in Turtles Forever. The movie is a Tear Jerker not because the movie is sad, but probably because it's the very last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adventure we'll see before the Nickelodeon era, it's not the fact because of Nickelodeon, it's because this is probably the last time we'll ever see the 1987, 2003, and original comic books have an adventure.
    • Following their battle with the Shredder in "Exodus," Leonardo increasingly becomes a Jerkass obsessed with being a perfect warrior to defend everyone. In "The Ancient One," viewers learn exactly why: he blames himself for not being able to defeat Shredder outright and instead having to choose an action that nearly killed them all.

"I'm sorry. I did the best I could. I did the best I could! There wasn't any more I could've done!"

    • The end of "Tempus Fugit." The Turtles get what they wanted most, but at a severe cost.

Donatello: We're home, but Master Splinter - father, and it's all my fault!

    • "Dragon's Brew," where it's revealed the monstrous T9851 Was Once a Man and (likely against his will) suffered extreme Body Horror because of Bishop. To top it off, he wasn't going on a mindless rampage, but was simply trying to go home to his wife and son (who think that he had died years earlier). The episode ends with T9851 alone in a harbor, remembering his wedding day.
  • Snoopy Come Home. Holy childhood trauma!
    • Peppermint Patty's ice skating competition qualifies as both this and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. She's almost in tears in the skating rink because the cassette was broken and she's unable to properly start, but then Woodstock starts whistling on the microphone to provide the background melody she needs, right before she's disqualified. And then she gives the performance of her life. You Go, Girl!, indeed!
    • And then there was that one special where the kids are in a graveyard near a World War I battle site, and Linus recites the poem "In Flanders' Fields" as they look around at the field of poppies and crosses, and Linus asks, "What have we learned, Charlie Brown?"
    • The special "Why Charlie Brown, Why?" in which one of their classmates gets leukemia is one big tearjerker as she just gets sicker and sicker. Also when she got better at the end!
    • A Charlie Brown Christmas. "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
      • There's a Saturday Night Live animated short where Jesus (having intentionally spoiled a variety of cheesy/warped Christmas TV shows) returns to a modern day city. He walks around, seeing various grim things -- a hooker, a greedy televangelist, etc. -- and looks more and more despondent. Then, he comes up to a store window with TV's... and one is playing the scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas where Linus explains what Christmas is all about. A single tear rolls down Jesus' eye, and then He does the Peanuts "Happy Dance".
    • The scene in Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown where Snoopy gets lost and wanders around howling ocassionally is unexpectedly sad. Because lost pets are sad, even when they're anthropomorphized cartoon dogs.
  • Ziggy's Gift, where Ziggy, the ultimate Butt Monkey, refuses to be bitter and is steadfastly determined to do some good in a grimy, cynical city with some unexpected magic to do what seems impossible, but you want to believe in it so badly.
  • Annabelles Wish, especially the ending where Annabelle is on her last Christmas and she leaves the barn to see Santa for the last time. Santa then grants her wish which she gave up when she was little, to become one of his reindeer with implied immortality. It sounds ridiculously cheesy, but it's not. Wahhh.
    • Annabelle's dream where she flies, and her giving up her ability to speak forever, so that Billy will be able to talk for the rest of his life.
  • In The Boondocks episode "Riley Wuz Here", the reveal of Riley's final graffitti mural (which he painted to prove that he was the graffitti artist in Woodcrest): A picture of Robert and his wife on their wedding day, which brought the normally hardassed Robert himself to tears. "It's so beautiful, boy..." Among other things, it established that Riley really did care about his family, which, come on.
    • Oh, and the entire second half of the first season finale.
      • Huey's monologue in that episode gets me. It really brings home the fact that, as sophisticated as he is, Huey's still just a ten year old kid. To hear him wrestling with the kind of injustice the world is capable of is heartbreaking.

Huey: "Maybe I'm too young to understand the way the world is supposed to be...but it's not supposed to be this. It can't be this!"

    • The episode "The Color Ruckus". Uncle Ruckus was always a completely despicable character, but seeing flashbacks to his childhood where he's being severely beaten and abused is downright heartbreaking and pretty hard to watch. It led to a lot of fans having some more sympathy for the character.
    • In the episode "Wingmen" Robert's euology for his old war buddy Moe:

Robert: We both grew old, but we let our friendship die way too young.

  • Coraline: The part where Coraline realizes her parents are gone and crawls into their bed, arranges the pillows to resemble them, and cries herself to sleep curled up between the pillow-parents. Also, when the Other Father gives her one of the baubles containing the missing eyes of the ghost children, despite the Other Mother's creations dragging him down with them into oblivion.
    • What about Coraline walking up the stairs to Other Bobinsky's place, and discovering that Other Wybie has been killed for helpng her return home the previous time, and now Other Mother has strung up his clothes like a flag? The look on her face...
      • The Other Wybie's very existence is Tear Jerker in itself. Created to put on a smile, and when he shows his emotions, his mouth is stitched up. Then when you realize that he sees his end coming... he removed his hand.
    • When Coraline realises that she's lost the game with the Other Mother, after the rat ran away with the ghost kid's eye.
  • Mary and Max: A film which beat Coraline for the Audience Award of the Bradford Festival, is possibly the most heartbreaking story ever done in claymation.
    • The second time Mary writes to Max, and tells him how she is picked on and her mother is too drunk to repair her clothes. She gradually breaks down crying, apologizes for getting tears on her letter.

Mary: "I'd better go now. My teers are smudgling my words. Your friend in Australia, Mary Daisy Dinkle. P.S. Have you ever been teased? Can you help me?"

    • Max being hurt and furious with Mary for betraying him, but due to his Asperger Syndrome he is unable to articulate his feelings so he breaks off the letter M typeface on his typewriter, which he'd been using to write his letters to Mary all these years, and sends it to her instead.
    • Mary becoming severely depressed over hurting Max and shredding copies of the book she was going to publish. On top of that, her husband leaving her for another man in New Zealand.
      • Mary finally snapping. She gets ready to down a bottle of Valium and hang herself, all the while pictures of her family and Max float around her while a mournful Que Sera Serea plays.
    • Mary finally coming to New York to meet Max, only to discover he died peacefully that morning. She looks around his apartment and sees he has kept all the little gifts she has given him over the years. At last she looks up and discovers Max has laminated and put each of her letters on his ceiling. Realizing he died happy, Mary holds Max’s hand for the first time, and silently smiles as tears roll down her face.
  • The Christmas episode of Pound Puppies. Dogs barking "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".
  • Of all the places, you would never expect Aqua Teen Hunger Force to drive anyone to tears. But lo and behold, the episode where Frylock is revealed to have Melanoma. As Frylock rests in his room, Meatwad asks what they're going to do if Frylock dies. Shake tells him to be quiet, that they need to be strong for Frylock, so he doesn't have to worry about them. Carl, Meatwad, and Shake all hug each other.
  • Vuk AKA The Little Fox. His FAMILY gets killed by hunters and later, his adoptive father Karak gets killed by hunters as well which is much, much worse than what Bambi had to endure.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man probably has a few of these, particularly the ones involving Eddie Brock, including a quote from the season 1 finale, Nature vs. Nurture.

Venom: WE'RE NOT BROTHERS! OUR PARENTS MAY HAVE DIED TOGETHER, BUT THEN YOU HAD YOUR PRECIOUS AUNT AND UNCLE!
(Venom's face folds out to reveal Eddie Brock's face)
Eddie: We've had NO ONE, we've ALWAYS been alone.
(Folds back in to become Venom)
Venom: Until now...

    • The sad part is, this is completely correct, when both of their parents died, Peter got Aunt May and Uncle Ben to look out for him, but Eddie didn't have anybody, nobody but himself to look out for, this would eventually drive him insane (with help from the symbiote), but that only makes you feel sorry for Eddie even more.
    • In the season two finale, when Peter breaks up with Liz and she makes a scene to try and preserve her reputation before running off and collapsing to cry alone, you just can't help but feel awful for her, especially given how much caddish behaviour from him she put up with over the preceding season.
      • The fate of John Jameson/Colonel Jupiter in The Spectacular Spider Man. Knowing that the same person we saw as a normal man who saved a building from the Green Goblin makes it even worse to see him as a crazed psycho.

"I miss the power......I need the power.....GIVE ME BACK THE POWER!! GIVE IT BACK!!"

    • Made even sadder when you realize who's in the cell next to him, and how their situations are VERY similar.
    • The fate of Mark Allen, aka Molten Man is very similar.
  • A good deal of the episode Flashback, from Static Shock was so heartbreaking.
  • Home Movies --the one where Brendon accidentally lets the neighbour's cat outside, only for it to get rabies. There's just something about the poor doomed cat, the owners' reaction, and Brendon's guilt.
  • Daria: The end of season 4 and the series finale at the end of season 5 .
    • "Is It College Yet?" definitely had some tearjerkiness. But "Boxing Daria"? The whole episode beats out any other Daria to come before or after. * Tear*
    • In the final movie, was Kevin and Brittany's implied break up, due to Kevin being held back. It's so depressing to see the most consistently happy relationship in the entire run of the show come to an end.
  • The ending of that one Care Bears movie is pretty sad when Christy gets hit in the crossfire of Dark-Heart's tantrum, then with the last of her strength, frees the care bears and then is seen lying motionless...and she doesn't Disney Death without some help.
    • The ending credits themselves were a pretty big tearjerker. The nostalgic images of the Care Bears remembering their childhood itself is could be a Tear Jerker on its own, but coupled with the suprisingly ambiguous lyrics of Forever Young makes it one of the most inexplicably sad things ever.
  • The episode "Fistful of Ed" of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy when Eddy, having nearly lost the trust of his friends, utterly stood up and scared off the Kankers from taking Double D and Ed.
    • And then the Christmas special. Eddy had been searching for a family to share Christmas with, but was left with nothing. He finds that a light on a tree had died out and, realizing he had a spare light in his pocket, he squeaks it in which causes the entire tree to light up even more.
    • The movie, with the fight between Edd/Double D and Eddy after the quicksand joke. No words can really do it justice... Even Eddy breaks down in tears.
      • --Edd: I'd rather face my consequences Ed, than wander aimlessly with a SO-CALLED FRIEND!!!
    • There is also the scene where Eddy gets cruelly beat up by his older brother in-front of everyone. And his tearful confession/breakdown after his brother is beaten.
  • 9 has several...probably the two biggest ones are the ending, and 2's funeral...the music makes it worse.
    • you'll cry at at least one death. 5's, because just when he finally gets some self-confidence and takes a level in badass...He gets killed desperately warning his friends and pleading for his life. And then there's 6's death....seeing him just fall limply into the mist....* sniffle*
    • The funeral scene - when the Seamstress has been scared off and 1 isn't that enthusiastic about letting 9 save the dolls she's kidnapped after what happened last time, motioning over to 2's body... which 5 is sitting with, straightening it out and touching it...
    • The ending, where 9 says goodbye to the souls 1,2,5,6, and 8 had me welling up big-time especially when it shows 5 looking at the survivors at first not wanting to go but 9 reassures him.
  • The whole Last Illusion episode in the Dungeons and Dragons TV series. Poor, poor Presto and Varla. Thank God they get their happy ending.
    • Diana and Kosar. Just as sad as Presto and Varla... and worse, because they don't get their happy ending. Even the Dungeon Master is sad at that.
      • And speaking of Dungeon Master, the moment where we find out that he is Venger's dad and is still depressed over losing him is surprisingly effective.
    • Also the episode in which the kids are trapped in their own minds and facing their fears. Sheila's biggest fear is being completely alone. Seeing her curl up in a Troubled Fetal Position and about to cross the Despair Event Horizon is heartbreaking.
  • The song Please Wake Up from the animated movie Once Upon a Forest, sung by Michael Crawford. This is just heartbreaking - he's essentially singing to a dying child.
  • Huntik: Secrets and Seekers: Episodes 25-26. Dante's Heroic BSOD, Zhalia holding him in her arms and crying when they're surrounded and she thinks that it's the end, and Sabriel's Killed Off For Real death. The Professor vaporizes her, with no ceremony or final goodbye for Sophie...sniffle.
  • The Adventures of Mark Twain: In the end of the "The Diary of Adam and Eve" segment, Adam and Eve, now both old and frail, write in their respective diaries how they both wish they'll be the first one to die, since neither of them wants to be alone in the world. Eve dies first, leaving Adam mourning.

Adam: Wherever she was, there was Eden.

  • The Christmas episode of 'The Magic School Bus' after everyone had worked together to make Wanda her new Nutcracker, and then Arnold is on a train...
  • The song "My Mother" from The Chipmunk Adventure, sung by the Chipettes after they rescue a baby penguin and decide to return it to its mother, but the obvious paralells to the girls' own situation as orphans and being far away from their adoptive mother.
    • The Chipettes were Tear Jerker material in the original series too. Their past in an Australian Orphanage of Fear made them Woobies of the highest caliber, and the episode where they become Miss Beatrice Miller's wards brought more tears.
    • The Chipmunks's encounter with their Missing Mom, Winnie. Winnie explaining that she really wanted to keep them but truly had no choice, Alvin trying to call them out he felt her absence the most and then running away with his brothers on tow, the Chipmunks being attacked by a wild moose and, after Winnie saves them, thinking she's dead
    • The episode "Cookie Chomper III" where the Chipmunks adopt a kitten and he gets hit by a truck. SOB.
      • Regarding that tragic episode, it was also very depressing seeing how realistically the Chipmunks reacted to this situation. Naturally, Theodore is all upset and at first in denial. Simon refuses to do the fun stuff he usually likes to do. And Alvin... Dear God, ALVIN IS ACTUALLY CRYING. He even insists all live plants be removed from the house to prevent it from happening again. It can easily cause your eyes to water up, seeing the one Chipmunk that is usually a troublemaker and thinks he is the greatest actually being upset over losing the poor kitten. Then at the end, after accepting it and for the most part getting over the grief, Simon at first thinks it's cruel when they go and adopt a new puppy, but once the puppy plays with Simon's glasses and she licks his face, Simon grows to love her.
  • Thomas the Tank Engine.
  • Metalocalypse:
    • The last few minutes of the season 2 finale, "Black Fire Upon Us", where Ofdensen is presumed dead. This is followed up by Toki and Pickles having a fairly poignant talk about how much they miss him in "Renovationklok". It's sort of wrecked when Pickles says that admitting sadness makes you gay.
    • The horrible death of Toki's father at the end of "Dethdad". Toki had just forgiven his father for everything he had done to him and was about to lay him to rest before the house he was born in, which had been his last request. Helplessly watching from the other side of the ice as his father drowned in agony...
    • Toki's past.
    • Pickles and Toki going through 'father abandonment' in "Fatherklok" after Murderface decides to be Skwisgaar's father. Poor Pickles practically begs Murderface for attention, and it's extremely hard to watch. Needless to say, it is VERY satisfying to see him and Toki beat up Murderface at the end of the episode.

Murderface: Get out, you belong in a garbage can.
(Flashback of a teenage Pickles about to leave home standing near his dad, who has been drinking)
Calvard: Get out of here, you belong in a garbage can.
Pickles: I belong in a garbage can?!? You belong in a garbage can!!!

      • Another one from "Fatherklok" is Skwisgaar running off into the woods after he and his stepfather walk in on his mother having a threesome (with the same men from his past, no less). He contemplates his life through a surprisingly touching song, and runs back to the rest of Dethklok right before they are about to leave.
    • Pickles revealing what caused him to start drinking in "Rehabklok" - when he and his brother were kids, Seth burned down the garage and blamed it on him. He went through his life trying to get rid of such misery. The sad-sounding riff that plays at the end during a montage of Pickles with alcohol doesn't help.
    • The looks of sheer disappointment and sadness on the band members' faces in "Doublebookedklok" after Ofdensen tells them that he can't hang out with them because he's too busy. Their reactions to him angrily scolding them later on are like that of a puppy's.
    • Pickles becoming depressed after being told that he's dying in "Dethhealth".
  • Okay, considering both Corpse Bride and Coraline are on this page, how the FUCK did The Nightmare Before Christmas miss out? Let's see, there's Jack's Lament, which the lead character laments that he is tired of being the Pumpkin King and wishes that he could give it all up. I.E. Jack's depressed. Then there's Sally's Song, singing about her unrequited love for Jack and wondering "what his actions lead us then". THEN there's when Jack is shot down and we see everyone in Halloweentown grieving for Jack. Then we see all the kids in the Real World crying as the police tells them that there is no sign of Santa. And then there's the first half of "Poor Jack" with Jack regreting the harm that he's done. DAMN. Luckily, the ending with Jack and Sally brings more positive tears.
    • Or how about when Sally got captured by Oogie Boogie after attempting to free Santa in order to save Jack? It's amazing the lengths she'll go through for a person who hardly notices her at all.
      • Agreed on the tearjerkerness, but where did you get the idea that Jack hardly notices her? The dialouge clearly establishes them as good friends, and Jack singles Sally out to make his Sandy Claws outfit. Hardly the action of someone who "hardly notices" the other person.
      • That lovely, lovely ending: "My dearest friend... If you don't mind- I'd like to join you by your side..." *Sigh*
  • The song "I'm All Alone in the World" from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Eep.
  • Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol is a mostly straight retelling of the story (which can come as a shock to someone seeing it for the first time, expecting typical Magoo slapstick...uh UH) and, in many respects, one of the best. It's full of heartbreaking scenes, and music is one of the most powerful emotional triggers.
  • Nabu's death in season 4 of Winx Club, especially the part where Layla tries to save him using the gift of life, and Ogron takes it away from her and wastes it on a dead flower.
    • And the memory montage in the beginning of the next episode, especially when we see Riven crying.
    • And Musa's backstory. Poor, POOR Musa.
  • In King of the Hill, when Peggy is about to break to Dale about how Nancy has been cheating on him all these years with John Redcorn, when Joseph (John Redcorn's biological son) comes out of the house and asks Dale for some money to see a movie. Dale gives him extra for snacks, and you realize how much Dale loves Joseph (even though Joseph is biologically not his). Peggy can see this too and decides not to tell the truth.
    • "On The Wings Of A Dope" after Luanne's voice actress Brittany Murphy died, the scenes of her and Buckley's angel jumping on his old trampoline. she was such a fantastic voice actress, bringing a sweetness and depth to what could have easily been a one-note character (which is sadly what happened to Luanne in the later seasons, especially when she married Lucky {the redneck voiced by Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers}. Fittingly enough, the song (Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town") was written as a tribute to a troubled British songwriter who committed suicide in the '80s.
      • The very last scene. After Luanne sees Buckley's angel fly away for good (or believes to), she goes back into the house and misses Buckley's final return to Earth - after which he is shown from behind walking toward the horizon, and pulling a halo out of his pocket and putting it on just before the credits roll.
    • The ending of "Won't You Pimai Neighbor" where Bobby chooses what's in the mirror- Connie's reflection- meaning he doesn't want the celibate life of a monk if it means he can't be with her. And it turns out the mirror was the object belonging to the Lama, but the monks decided that the choice was still legitimate.
      • Connie's reaction, shedding a single tear of happiness, was what got to me. While an admitted Your Mileage May Vary for the King of the Hill fanbase in general, Bobby and Connie's breakup in a later episode.
    • Quite a few Ladybird-centric episodes have their moments, but "To Kill a Ladybird" takes the cake. Ladybird is feared to have rabies and Hank, while grappling with the fact that he may have to put her down shuts the garage down and turns on some loud power tools which fail to mask Hank audibly sobbing.
        • Look at what you do! You made me think about that, we all know how Hank is...and him crying about Ladybird is the only time anything on TV has ever made me cry.
    • "Manger Baby Einstein" had the Gurgle-Gurgle subplot.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has a lot of these. In "The Sweet Stench of Sucess", there's a scene where Mac and Bloo are sad about being away from each other, and a montage plays over their sadness.
    • "Good Wilt Hunting".
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures: The final fate of the Living Laser. After realizing that Iron Man honestly has been trying to help him, he finally finds a purpose by sacrificing his life to save Iron Man, just...fading out in a flicker of sparks.
  • In the Tom and Jerry cartoon Heavenly Puss where Tom loses his last life and is sent to Cat Heaven, most of the cats ahead of him in line show how they died in a comedic way, e.g. the flat cat that was squashed hit by a steamroller, but the last has an oddly dark twist. A wet sack rolls up to the gate and opens, and out come three kittens, gaily meowing as they bound into Heaven. That's right; they were drowned by their owner. And the cat gatekeeper shakes his head and says softly, "What some people won't do."
    • The ending to "That's My Mommy".
  • "Sebastian's Voodoo" and "Reach"...
  • Bionicle may not be exceptionally well-known, and most of its Tear Jerkers are of the Space Whale variety in some ways, but the first two movies both had very dramatic deaths near the climax. In the first movie, Mask of Light, we have Jaller, rushing to save Takua and sacrificing himself as the Turahk unleashes pure fear energy in insane concentrations directly into his body. This is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Jaller, because he just a being that has power over fear and absorbed all the fear it could pump into him without flinching. The Tear Jerker comes moments later, as he falls back limply into Takua's arms.

Takua: No! I'm supposed to make the sacrifice!
Jaller: No. The duty was mine. *hands Takua the Mask of Light* You know who you are. You were always different. *dies* (He gets better.)

    • In the second movie, we have mentor figure and honored hero Turaga Lhikan taking a blast meant for the main character Toa Vakama. The blast manages to knock the MacGuffin off the edge of the cliff, and the Big Bad pursues it without a second thought. Vakama, on the other hand, sticks around for one last conversation with his hero, in a conversation eerily reminscent of the death exchange from the first movie.

Vakama: That was meant for me.
Lhikan: No. This is my lifetime's journey. Yours lies beyond. Trust your visions. I am proud to have called you brother... Toa... Vakama... *dies* (In a shocking twist, he DOESN'T get better.)

  • Chaotic, the death of Tangath Toborn. Or rather, deaths. The first one was shocking enough, albeit an amazing Heroic Sacrifice and Crowning Moment of Awesome rolled into one, but at that point you could assume he would eventually be freed from the ice, or that even if he had died he wouldn't be gone long. Cue the most recent episode, where not only is his sword broken to enable him to defeat the Big Bad (thus guaranteeing he can never come back to Perim lest he fade away into nothing), we are then treated to several heart-wrenching minutes in which he gets to say goodbye to his closest and oldest friend among the Overworlders, shares a long meaningful look with the human he was closest to, and then gets to dissolve into light, heading off to the Spiritland where "an old warrior like him can live to fight another day". Add in the final very moving memorial service and the monument raised in his honor, and... * sob* So the whole thing was a stupid Retcon the writers threw in without any previous foreshadowing. It still qualifies as an incredible Tear Jerker just because it puts the nails in the coffin, saying "He's dead and won't ever be coming back". (Not unless somehow the kids find a way and a reason to go to the Spiritland themselves.)

Maxxor: He saved Perim not once, but twice...always giving of himself far, far more than we ever could have asked. And so we gather, friend and foe alike, to remember and honor Tangath Toborn, whose struggle and triumph allow us to be here today. Though he has returned to his home in the Spiritlands, we can be certain that his spirit will eternally remain with us here in Perim. And so, on behalf of our generation, and all generations to come, I dedicate this monument: may it stand forever to remind us of a true warrior, a true hero...and a true friend. Farewell, friend.

  • Ruby-Spears' Mega Man cartoon has a couple.
    • Near the end of "Bro Bots", Megaman saves Protoman's life during their fight, despite the latter betraying him and his family after pretending to be good. After a corny line, Protoman grows serious and asks if he's getting sentimental. Mega responds that he owed Proto for telling him about the scrambler chip he'd placed on him, and now they were even. Then sad music starts playing as Protoman leaves to rejoin Wily...
      • Not only that, but Protoman punched through a glass window as he made his escape. The shards became embedded in the now-cooling lava, and you saw Megaman in their reflection. Not moving to stop Protoman. Just sitting there, staring at where his brother left...

Protoman: Until next time, bro.
Megaman: *bitterly* Yeah... until next time, bro.

    • Another was in the episode "Mega-Pinocchio". After believing he was turned into a human, Megaman failed to stop Gutsman and Cutman, taking the blame for letting them get away. It was really Wily toying with his mind that made him hesitate, but Mega was unaware of this. He ended up talking to Dr. Light about it, which resulted in the following lines.

Light: Don't be upset, Mega. Failure is a human quality. But we humans learn from our mistakes.
Megaman: ...Am I one of your mistakes?

  • Mega Man NT Warrior got much darker during the Axess season, and the episode "Mariko to Yuriko/Ms. Yuri's Mission". Though the Heroic Sacrifice at the ending is fairly predictable, what makes it all the sadder is that throughout the episodes, Yuriko is receiving messages from Nebula that she will never be accepted by society again--and they're probably right. She spent almost the entirety of the series seemingly as a Complete Monster, trying to murder civilians in many terrifying ways.
  • The Cybersix episode, "Terra". When the Blob Monster Monster of the Week gains emotions and a conscience, you know things could only end in tears.

Cybersix: Please come back... my friend.

  • Bunny. A strange tale, but the ending...
  • HBO's Happily Ever After Fairy Tales for Every Child - A child-friendly series trying to promote diversity by retelling famous classic fairy tales in different ethnic backgrounds. Most episodes are just like their anvilicious, Disneyfied fairy tale counterparts (but with more jazz....and black people!), but the episode "The Happy Prince" based on a story by Oscar Wilde was a stand out.
    • There is one of those HBO things about a generous stature in a city park and a pidgeon he befriends.
      • That's "The Happy Prince," mentioned above.
  • Don Hertzfeldt's The Meaning of Life (be sure to watch both parts) is definitely an example of this overlapping with CMOH. Near the end two alien creatures (presumably) from Earth's far future are standing on a beach and the smaller (presumably) asks the bigger what the meaning of life is. The bigger scoffs and (again, presumably) explains why it's a stupid question, crushing the smaller one's curiosity. Then the bigger one leaves, the sun sets and the smaller one looks up at the night sky and cracks a Mona Lisa Smile (presumably) in understanding.
    • His Bill movies, especially I am so proud of you. The film is an emotional rollercoaster, but the ending where Bill's death is contrasted with his birth and early childhood is just too much.
  • Any one of the three Raggedy Ann shorts from the 1940s, especially Raggedy Ann's song from "Suddenly It's Spring" and the absolutely heart-wrenching scene that lead up to it.
    • That's to say nothing of the short "Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy". The whole second half is one tear jerker right after the other, though it does end in tears of joy. It's a shame there's no record of the voice actors from any of these cartoons. They deserve props for their roles in these cartoons.
    • A Halloween cartoon back in The Seventies: a sad pumpkin left all alone in the pumpkin patch on Halloween night, crying because he wasn't "perfect" enough to be a Jack 'o Lantern, and so no one had picked him. "Maybe I could be a pie, or something."
    • "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumkin Who Couldn't Smile". Let it be known that happy tears soon arrive, as the leads come across him in time to hear his lamenting, and cry out joyfully "We want you! We want you!"
    • "The Enchanted Square", in which Raggedy Ann befriends a little blind girl and teaches her to see through her imagination. The song "You Can See With Your Heart" and the ending are especially moving.
  • Not sure whether this goes in Film or Comics, but the French animated film Persepolis deals with a girl living during Revolutionary Iran and the war afterwards, and is ridden with several, but especially the moment where her parents send her off to live in Austria, and when she looks back to say her final goodbyes, she sees that her mother passed out and her father carrying her home.
  • Galaxy Rangers had many a Bittersweet Ending, but one of the most heart-breaking was at the end of Tom DeHaven's "Galaxy Stranger." The scene could have been pure Narm had the voice actors been at anything less than their best, or the setup been any less tragic.
    • The final line in "Psychocrypt": "We'll free her one day, I know it." It's a sucker punch when you realize they never will.
  • Wakfu. Almost the entirety of episodes 25 and 26, but two moments in particular: Sadlygrove's death (in Eva's arms, no less), and Nox's Villainous Breakdown. What Do You Mean It's for Kids??

" I'm not dying, Evangelyne. I'm entering the legend." Cue Manly Tears all over the world.

"No one likes me. I'm always doing bad things. I try, but I can't help it, so it's better if I leave. Goodbye forever. Slimer."

  • The song Oh My Izzy in the Jamaica episode of Total Drama World Tour will make even the biggest Owen hating fans feel their heartstrings pull. It's a WHOLE lot worse if you're a huge Izzy fan.
    • When Sierra remembered Cody's birthday, especially after you find out his parents forgot his birthday last year.
  • The movie Once Upon a Forest has about as many tear jerker moments as your typical Don Bluth movie. From Cornelius singing "Please Wake Up" to the comatose Michelle (the song just on its own is a tear jerker), to Michelle having to be told that her parents are dead when she wakes up.
  • From Shadow Raiders, The Vizier's Heroic Sacrifice, anyone?
  • Despicable Me:
    • When the girls are taken away again by Miss Hattie, who was called by Dr. Nefario saying that Gru wanted to give them back. Especially Agnes's heartbroken reaction and begging for them to stay, and Gru's Villainous BSOD afterwards.
    • Happy tears towards the end when Margo hugs Gru and says she loves him and Gru does the same.
      • "One big unicorn, strong and free, thought he was happy as he could be. Then three little kittens came around and turned his whole life upside down. They made him laugh, they made him cry. He never should have said goodbye. And now he knows he can never part from those three little kittens that changed his heart."
  • "The Little Match Girl" is a sweet tale about a homeless little girl selling matches. As she lights the matches to try and stay warm, she has visions of happier times. When she lights all the matches she has left, she has flashbacks to times with her grandmother and quietly dies in the snow.
  • The 1978 film of Watership Down has plenty of Tear Jerker moments, but the sadddest is when Hazel has been shot, and Fiver, when told, just shakes his head and says "No...", and- just watch it.
    • What? The animated Watership Down was not listed above? Does not compute. "...Bri-ight eyes... burning like fire..."

Voice: "You know me, don't you?"
Hazel: "I-I don't...
Hazel:...yes, My Lord. I know you."
The Black Rabbit: "You've been feeling tired, haven't you?"

    • "...following the river of death downstream... or is it a dream?"
    • "Violet's GONE..." Oh, Fiver...
  • The Plague Dogs! The ending.
  • The reprise to "We'll Be Together" in Timeless Tales From Hallmark.
  • Newton and Kimmy's breakup from Sym-Bionic Titan. Made horribly horribly worse when you realize he was so distraught by making her cry that he was almost killed by the Monster of the Week and he did everything he could to get to the prom with her.
    • And one episode later, Octus' death. It was foreshadowed all throughout the episode, so everyone saw it coming...but then when it actually happened, it was still a punch to the gut that reduced everyone to tears.
  • The brief flashback during Archer where he talks about how his Boarding School / Lacrosse buddies were like the family he never had before cutting back to his child self sitting alone on the bench with his net. It kind of catches you off guard in a show known for its Dead Baby Comedy.
  • Surprisingly, even Superfriends had one of these. Unsurprisingly, it happened in the somewhat Darker and Edgier last season (Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians)... as the first animated rendition of Bruce Wayne's loss of his parents, in the episode "The Fear". As a little girl, this tropette teared up... and almost two decades later, she still can't help feeling bad at the sight of young Bruce crying as he sees Thomas and Martha die, then visiting their graves for the first time with Alfred, and becoming Batman.
  • The Jimmy Two-Shoes episode "Heloise, Schmeloise", where Heloise is ripping up her Stalker Shrine to Jimmy in a Break-Up Bonfire after he falls in love with her Robot Me. Seeing such a usually strong character so broken can really get to you.
  • I Am Weasel. My Friend The Smart Banana. Oh my god. It starts off funny with IM Weasel befriending a talking banana but turns completely sad once the banana starts getting sick. IM Weasel has tears dripping down his muzzle like a leaky faucet as he holds the dying banana's hand in the hospital and he's probably crying because he knows how completely helpless he is and despite being a genius, there's nothing he can do to stop his banana friend from dying. *sniff*
  • The Secret of Kells
    • Old Abbot Cellach in the Distant Finale. His spirit was broken after the Vikings broke through the defenses that he'd been working on for so long and hundreds, if not thousands people died because the wall was the only thing he concentrated on, rather then supports for the stairs to the safest building (which broke under the weight of so many people, dropping them to their deaths). Plus, he had locked Brendan, his own nephew and last surviving family member, in the scriptorium as punishment for working on something other than the wall. Said scriptorium was destroyed by the Vikings and Cellach was lead to believe for years that he had caused Brendan's death.
    • Aisling's Song. It is possibly the most beautiful song in an animated film, or in any film, period. The beauty is juxtaposed later on when the audience finds out Aisling does not get along well with Crom Cruach.
  • The pilot for The Dreamstone. While Rufus would spend the majority of the series playing a Hero Antagonist, he Earned His Happy Ending is this case no argument. Most notable are his reactions to Pildit's Disney Death and managing to find Amberley's stone body. Not quite putting two and two together, he notes how lifelike the "statue" is and sheds a single tear on it as he expresses how much he wishes she was back with him safe and sound. Within seconds, his wish comes true.
  • Song Of The Birds
    • In Max Fleischer's original version a boy goes too trigger-happy to the point that he actually shoots a baby robin learning how to fly. His mother and father try to revive him via giving him water from the fountain. The birds stage a funeral for the poor birdie, and the boy tearfully watches the action, pleading for mercy and forgiveness. But when it rains, the baby bird woke up alive and well.
    • If you are to watch the remake with Little Audrey, better grab a lot of Kleenex. Seriously. The makers of the 'toon are not responsible for any eye redness due to crying or high therapy bills caused by it.
      • The part when all the forest animals hold a funeral for the baby bluebird is more elaborate. Director Bill Tytla goes to extremes by adding scenes of birds hanging a black ribbon on the nest, hummingbirds flying in "missing man" formation, and a flock of birds making a wreath of flowers in the air. NOW THAT'S TOO MUCH! Even the flowers are crying for him.
      • One YouTube commentator was so touched by the part when the rabbit hugs her child during the funeral procession that she hugs and kisses her dog whenever she sees an animal abuse commercial.
      • The poor moon and sky - they are crying so much that the clouds rain tears over the corpse of the poor birdie. They cry so much, only to have the bird awakened by them.

Little Audrey: I... I didn't mean to do it... I didn't mean to do it... the little birdie's... so sad...

  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series: The death of the Mary-Jane clone. And then there's Spider-Carnage's suicide. Yes he was a monster, but there's something about seeing someone who looks so much like the hero we've grown to love finding himself in a situation so horrible (and largely of his own making) that killing himself is not only the best option, but the only one he has left.
  • Time Squad In the episode "Hate and Let Hate". Otto's means of survival by eating sand and drinking salt water, and trying to recreate his "family" by using coconuts and pretending like everything is okay and they never left him, and then when he's helplessly cornered by some baboons, getting ready to rip him to shreds. This is heart wrenching to a lot of fans, to the point that this episode is even a Dethroning Moment, it's just that painful to watch.
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