Yu Yu Hakusho/Tear Jerker

Well, if you heard a very broken guy tell you and your friends exactly why he's broken... you'd cry too.

Yu Yu Hakusho has a great deal of Tear Jerker moments. What do you expect from a show that deals with the afterlife, and begins with the hero being a corpse?

• Generally any time this music plays, which is during most of the events that are listed below.
• Allow us to tell you what happens at Yusuke's wake in the first episode:
  • Keiko is crying. Even though Yusuke was a Jerkass and a total pervert to her, she considered him her best friend.
  • Kuwabara comes in screaming How Dare You Die on Me! and saying he's The Only One Allowed to Defeat You. He breaks down and has to be dragged out blubbering by his toadies.
  • Then comes the school principal, who comes in and laments the waste of potential that Yusuke's life, as it has closed at that point, has come to represent.
  • It's at that point that Atsuko, Yusuke's mother, breaks her Heroic BSOD and joins in the water works.
  • Then the kid and his mother come in. Both pray before Yusuke's casket and the kid thanks him. The real jerker comes afterward. The little kid asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke tomorrow, apparently having no grasp yet that he's not coming back. (Obviously this proves untrue, but no one knows that yet.)
  • And of course, the ENTIRE first half of the episode has been spent showing us what a dick Yusuke was. He did NOTHING to make us care all that much for him up to the point when he saved that kid whatsoever, and yet it STILL manages to tear your heart right out when you realize just how much he meant to those around him. It's tearjerking, but at the same time it's a punch to the guy to anyone who's ever felt like their life had no meaning - a feeling everyone has had once or twice.
• Kuwabara's death. He gets better, but this troper still can't watch it straight through without tearing up.
  • For this troper, the truly heartwrenching part of that scene is Yusuke trying to prevent it, and getting thrown around like a rag doll, pressed into the ground, and given a "The Reason You Suck" Speech for his efforts.
  • Kuwabara's death didn't make this troper cry at first. He was upset and angry but didn't cry...Untill he turn the page to see a picture of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei all togetherand underneath a picture of Kuwabara with his back facing us waving good bye.*Sob*
  • And there's the fight against Dr. Ichigaki's team, when Kuwabara attempts to de-brainwash his rivals and only gets bitchslapped to Hell and back, but even before he collapses he pleads to them to wake up. Then Yuusuke angrily yells at them... and he sees them cry Tears of Blood, begging him to kill them and free them of their pain.
    • To elaborate a little, throughout the first half of the fight, Ichigaki's team can only say "Kill!" When Yusuke starts yelling at them, they manage to finish the sentence: "Kill... kill us!"
• Don't forget Kuwabara's anguish over Yusuke choosing to die by Sensui's hands, in the hopes that his friends would gain enough power to finish Sensui in his place. All topped off by Yusuke looking at his friends one last time, with a smile, knowing he'd never see them again. He gets better, but even knowing that doesn't stop the tears.
  • Yusuke's Second Death. Just seeing the anguish after the True Companions break out of Itsuki's prison dimension only to see Yusuke killed RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES makes it that much worse.
    • It's not just Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei's reactions. Nearly everything contributes to this entire episode being a sobfest. Genkai winds up realizing her pupil's been killed and falls to the ground screaming. And Puu? The adorable little bird-like creature that represents Yusuke's inner self? Since he's an extension of Yusuke, that means Puu winds up dying too, in Keiko's arms. That's right. We haven't just seen Yusuke die, but the adorable little animal mascot as well.
• Many of Mitarai/Seaman's scenes. The poor guy...
  • Specially when he tells the others about the utter horrors that he saw in the Black Chapter. It's even a tear jerker in story, as we see the guy horribly break down while speaking, then everyone is stunned and poor Keiko is moved to tears (pictured above!).
• Kurama's Shoot the Dog moment with Amanuma (Gamemaster). Kurama was left with only two options, either win the game which will result in the death of a little kid, or intentionally lose and allow Sensui to have his way. There was no Take a Third Option and too much was at stake, so Kurama was forced to intentionally psyche Amanuma out, letting him know that he's going to die if he loses and there's no way out of it. The viewer is then treated 10 heartwrenching minutes of seeing the kid completely breakdown, begging for his life despite knowing full and well that there's no escape. Damn.
• Genkai's death. This troper had had it spoiled, and so watched in Japanese first...and still cried both times.
• Team Ichigaki, as well as the fact that the doctor was such a Complete Monster.
  • "Kill..." "Kill..." "Kill... us..."
• The entire exchange between Genkai and Toguro in the Spirit World after the end of the Dark Tournament, as Toguro walks towards the gates of Limbo. When he removes his omnipresent shades, the sad weariness in his eyes makes it clear just how much emotional pain he's quietly endured for the last fifty years, and just how tired he was of living.

Genkai: Don't ever feel regret for the things between us.
Toguro: No, Genkai, but it would've been a beautiful life.