Ever needed to just cry one out, but you have no real reason to? You also got some time to kill too? Feel the need to watch some good shows while you’re at? I think I may have the solution to anyone of those three problems. Here are ten anime shows and films that drive the stake into your heart, figuratively, and will have tears running like a faucet. This is more of a list of shows rather than a top ten list so just pick one show and see if my prediction comes true or not, the one about the tears.

First up is a series of three episodes put into one movie called “5 centimeters per second”. This movie describes the relationship between two close elementary school students who meet and travel long distances to see each other. Although this film was released back in 2007, it is still regarded as one of the most beautifully animated and visually appealing movies ever made. One aspect of this film that causes the facial waterworks is how the relationship of the students pans out. As much as you want to root for the main characters, you start to see how they develop over the years to come. The distance between them grows and they choose to follow their own paths. If one thing remains constant, it is how they still remember one another. Hoping for that one day that their paths may cross each other again. This movie is just over an hour long and it will stun you both visually and emotionally.

Next up is also a short movie that was released back in 2013 titled “Hal”, don’t worry for those who have seen “2001: A Space Odyssey”, this Hal is quite different. This one hour feature describes the story of a near perfect couple, Kurumi and Hal, whose lives have been changed forever when, *spoiler alert*, Hal dies in a plane disaster. Kurumi is left alone and depressed until her grandfather requests a humanoid robot to take on the appearance of the late boyfriend, Hal and try to fill the void in Kurumi’s life. Although he is unaccepted at first, he finally breaks Kurumi’s reluctance, but Hal starts to discover many secrets about how the relationship between him and Kurumi really was.

Imagine this, the time of incredible technology and sophisticated intelligence is the common norm. While we’re on the subject of humanoid robots, the next show is called “Plastic Memories” is centered around androids known as ‘Giftias’ and our main character: Tsukasa Mizugaki has just landed a job with Sion Artificial Corporation who are responsible for manufacturing and managing giftias. These androids are just as every bit of human except they can only live for about nine years and four months before malfunctioning. Tsukasa is tasked to retrieve giftias before they ‘expire’. Tsukasa’s partner also happens to be a giftia named Isla. She is a beautiful veteran of the corporation, but also acknowledges the little time she has left. Tsukasa being the kind person he always is, decides to make sure every moments that Isla has left would be filled with nothing but happiness. “Plastic Memories” runs up to only 13 episodes and for free on crunchyroll.com

Our next anime is a classic that shows how a powerhouse studio like A-1 Pictures can create a beautiful show that can stand the test of time. This 11 episode anime that was released back 2011 and is called “Anohana: The Flower We Saw that Day”. Our main character, Jinta Yadomi is battling the summer heat with his longtime childhood friend, Meiko “Menma” Honma. But the thing is, Menma died several years ago. Jinta believed that he is suffering from heat-related hallucination mixed with guilt is causing the Menma, he once knew to appear. Later, he is convinced that Menma’s ghost is trying to reconnect the friends that he and Menma were once close to. As much pain as it causes, Jinta and Menma must re-live the guilt and history that once tore apart their group of friends in order to move on from their past, hoping to reestablish their connections. This anime is designed to make tears drop like it’s trying to impersonate the Niagara Falls.

Okay ladies and gentlemen, I understand that the sadness might actually affect you all depressed, so I did find other anime to guarantee tears, but on a different level. I present to you another show called “My Bride is a Mermaid”. Yep, that is the title; you are reading that correctly, no need to adjust any glasses. This 26 episode long anime, coupled with some extra episodes is a satire, comedy, and romance that features in both subbed and dubbed versions, both equally entertaining. Nagasumi was just a typical high schooler, but nearly drowns during his summer vacation. Though his parents didn’t seem particularly too concerned, he was sure that a mermaid saved him. Then out of nowhere a beautiful girl named Sun Seto approaches Nagasumi to ‘take responsibility’ by marrying her. Revealing soon after, that she is the one who saved Nagasumi. Unfortunately, by mermaid law, mermaids or mermen are not be allowed to be seen by humans and must die. Her family, a modern-styled yakuza (Organized Japanese mafia), decides that the best way to fix this is by killing Nagasumi, but really it was only thought up, planned, and carried out by Gouzaburou, Sun’s overprotective father. Although reluctant at first, Nagasumi accepts Sun’s proposal from earlier to marry her, or least be engaged for the time being. This anime shocked and surprised me with the great moments of comedy in it that it had me in tears at several instances. I highly recommend, “My Bride is a Mermaid” to all fans of Rom/Coms.

The next and last show for the comedy section is an old one, but is highly notorious for its’ ‘content’ is called “Ghost Stories”. The original airing of this show was back in 2001, but received poor performance criticism. In 2005, it was picked up by ADV films to do an English dubbing of the show featuring great voice actors such as Greg Ayres, Monica Rial, Hilary Haag, and Chris Patton. I recommend this, but ONLY the dubbed version and if you are planning to watch it, be warned because the jokes and comedy is not politically correct. Not by a long shot. While ADV films kept the same, general plot of “Ghost Stories”, Aniplex granted them full permission to alter the dialogue. What came to be is one of the best and funniest scripts in anime of all time. “Ghost Stories” is categorized under dark humor and has no boundaries, but all for good intentions to create a once dull anime into a hilarious feature. Once again, if you do not like jokes that are not politically correct or is easily offended, stay away from this anime, but if you don’t care one bit, get on “Ghost Stories” immediately and you will not be disappointed!

Alrighty then, moving on the real sob stories on this list. Next up we have another great anime show with not just only one, but two seasons! If you are an anime fan and haven’t yet heard of this next piece, then it’s time to binge and marathon this gem called: “Clannad”. “Clannad” started out as a visual novel, a game where you play as the main protagonist and choose how you want the story to unfold. It was so popular that Kyoto Animation worked on creating a full season of 23 episodes. It received so much popularity, there were spin-off episodes for different scenarios and endings, and obviously the second season known as “Clannad: After Story”. This featured anime is in both Japanese subbed and English dubbed, and as someone who has seen all the episodes in both versions, it is worth to watch in either format, so if you can’t decide which version, flip a coin, because it’s great either way. “Clannad” focuses on Tomoya Okazaki, a well-known delinquent student at his own school. Upset and distraught with his life, he barely pulls together any motivation to attend school. One day, he passes by Nagisa Furukawa, she is student who was held back a year due to health complication keeping her from attending classes. As the sakura rose petals falls as usual, Nagisa mutters ‘Anpan’, her favorite bread to herself, catching Tomoya off guard. This small encounter leads Tomoya to noticing Nagisa much more often in school and he decides to humor Nagisa to revive an old club at their school. Through his interactions with Nagisa, Tomoya’s life brightens up with the introductions to new friends and he begins to look forward to his school days that he once dreaded over.

Only a few more and we’re done. The next anime is a full-featured film that was nominated for the 2016 Academy Awards for Best Animated feature: “When Marnie was There”, a little bias, but I enjoyed this more over “Inside Out” which won, but what’s done is done. This hour and a half long film centers on Anna Sasaki who is plagued with asthma attacks. Her doctors recommend her to live in the countryside for a more relaxed lifestyle. Exploring her new surroundings, Anna comes across an abandoned mansion, but soon finds out that it is not as empty as she thought it was. Anna meets a young blond girl of the same age as her named Marnie. Marnie’s personality and charm makes Anna come back to the mansion every night, allowing the once soft-spoken Anna to come out of her shell. However, as Anna’s time at the countryside draws to a close, she discovers more about who she is and who Marnie really is too. “When Marnie was There” is a tale of self-discovery and self-acceptance that every moviegoer should watch. There is both dubbed and subbed versions of this film and to be quite honest, I’m tearing up as I’m writing this piece because I’m remembering some of the moments in this film. Go check it out!

The second to last anime is also our last film that we will be discussing is a piece that I got introduced to pretty late from its’ release back in 2015. Our last film is A-1 Pictures’ two hour long movie called: “The Anthem of the Heart”. Before describing what this movie is about, the best thing to come out of this film was the music! It was incredible how the music was such a driving point in the movie and it was also well composed. Ok I’m done talking about the music, “The Anthem of the Heart” is about Jun Naruse, a well-hearted girl who accidentally revealed her father’s affair to her mother. Traumatized by her own mistakes she wished she never had the ability to speak. But be careful what you wish for because one day, an egg fairy hears Jun’s wish and seals her ability to speak. She lives her life normally, but whenever she attempts to speak, she receives a massive stomachache to the point of hurling. She doesn’t mind the little nuisances that come with not speaking, until she is nominated to be the main lead for her class play. This movie is about the importance of communication, friendship, and love.

I know at the beginning, I mentioned that this isn’t a top ten list of anime that will make you cry, but I saved the best for last. One anime show that I recommend to all, no matter their taste, genre preference; this is the go-to show for anime newcomers or veterans. I’m talking about “Your Lie in April”. This 22 episode plus one O.V.A. show is, in my opinion, one of the most beautifully crafted and well-written stories I have had the opportunity to watch. The show focuses on Kousei Arima, the human metronome, who is a pianist prodigy since the age of twelve. He is on the fast track of being one of Japan’s greatest pianist ever until the passing of his mother causes his hearing and playing to drastically drop in performance. Two years pass and nothing has gotten any better for Kousei to improve his piano. As he is going through middle school with his two best friends, Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari, his life doesn’t seem to be on the path to improving. One day, he is asked his childhood friend, Tsubaki, to join her in watching her friend’s violin performance. Kousei having nothing else better to do decides to agree and meet her at the venue. It is then his colorless life fills with vibrant colors when he sees Kaori Miyazono. He then finds out soon after that she is Tsubaki’s violinist friend and is inspired by her passionate violin performance. Kaori, as much against Kousei’s preference, believes that he can take up piano once again and forces her way into his life to recover Kousei’s prodigious skills. “Your Lie in April” has a way of making you cry without you knowing it. It has such a special place in my list of all anime that it was the source of my first ever cosplay attempt. If you had to only pick one anime out this entire list to watch, please watch “Your Lie in April”. Thank you so much for reading this long recommendation piece, if you thought of any anime shows or films that fit in the list, but didn’t see it, put it in the comment section.

Honorable Mentions:

“Tokyo magnitude 8.0” (11 episodes)

https://myanimelist.net/anime/6211/Tokyo_Magnitude_80

“Nagi-asu: A Lull in the Sea” (26 episodes)

https://myanimelist.net/anime/16067/Nagi_no_Asukara

“Hotarubi no Mori e” (45 minute film)

https://myanimelist.net/anime/10408/Hotarubi_no_Mori_e?q=hotarub

“Angel Beats” (14 episodes)

https://myanimelist.net/anime/6547/Angel_Beats

“The Girl who leapt through Time”

https://myanimelist.net/anime/2236/Toki_wo_Kakeru_Shoujo