Watching an anime can fill you with a lot of emotions. It can give you an adrenaline rush or motivation. It can also make you happy, angry, sad, thrilled, or depressed. So here is the list of the most depressed anime which can literally make you cry.
While watching these anime, I would suggest you keep a lot of tissue boxes with you. Because one will not be enough.
11. 5 Centimeters per Second 7.7
(Romance, Drama)
This masterpiece is directed by Makoto Shinkai. Also, the director of “Your Name” &” Weathering with you.” Apart from heartwarming and melancholy stories, all of these movies have great animation that you can get lost in.
Each frame can make you feel like, “I want this picture as my wallpaper.” 5 Centimeters per Second is an anime about two best friends who slowly get torn apart by life. They promise to stay in touch.
However, as time goes by, the distance between them grows larger and larger. It is one of those anime you should not miss watching.
10. Higurashi When They Cry 7.9
(Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense)
Higurashi When They Cry is not a sad anime, but you will be left with that depressed feeling at the end of every season.
The main character, Maebara Keiichi, travels to a fictional village and meets four girls who have a somewhat mysterious past. Keiichi comes to know about a mysterious phenomenon happening in the town.
At the end of the watanagashi festival, people get killed or disappear. It is one of the thriller/horror anime which can actually make you depressed.
9. Clannad 8
(Romance, Sad, Drama)
Clannad is one of the popular sad anime. If you are looking for low and depressed anime, you will find this one almost everywhere. It consists of two seasons.
Don’t forget to keep a box of tissues with you while watching this anime. Clannad follows the life of Tomoya & Nagisa as they face difficulties in life and overcome the challenges they face with their love life.
They face hardships that test their love for one another to the very limit.
8. Angel Beats 8
(Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, Comedy, Adventure)
In the beginning, you may think of it as a comedy anime, but it doesn’t take any longer to turn into a dark and depressed anime. Otonashi, our protagonist, wakes up in his afterlife. Where he meets a girl named Yuri.
She explains to him that they are against a war with a girl named Angel. She is the student council president. The more Otonashi fights against Angel, the more he questions himself.
Who is the actual villain here? Not all comedy anime has happy endings, and this anime is the perfect example of that.
7. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (8)
(Disaster, Thriller)
If you know about Japan, earthquakes happen there very frequently. But you wouldn’t know the fear of it until you experience one.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is an anime about two siblings who get separated from their parents during an earthquake.
This anime shows how mother nature can destroy humankind instinctively, but it also shows the resilience of humans through the eyes of two siblings.
6. Re: Zero 8.3
(Isekai, Adventure, Action, Fiction)
Just like all the Isekai anime Subaru, the main character gets transported to a fantasy world. But his time in the fantasy world is not filled with adventures and cute girls.
Subaru soon realizes that he doesn’t die when he gets killed. Instead, he goes back to a specific time in the past. He gets reincarnated at a particular time as soon as he dies.
This anime will catch your interest from the first episode itself. This great mix of romance, drama, tragedy, and mystery will entertain you for sure.
5. Anohana: The flower we saw that day 8.4
(Slice of life, Drama, Tragedy, Ghosts)
Anohana is famous for making its viewers cry at the end of every episode. It is a story about a group of friends who lost one of their friends at a young age, named Menma.
As they grew up, all of them started to drift apart. But none of them could get over the death of their dear friend. Now back as a ghost, Manama finds that she cannot rest in peace because of that.
She helps her friends to get to terms with her death and bring her friends back as a group. Manama’s ghost disappears after accomplishing her goal, but that makes it really sad to see her go.
4. Grave of the fireflies 8.5
(War, Drama)
This anime is what you can call the King of the sad and depressed anime. The story of the anime takes place in a time when WWII has just ended.
Two siblings who became orphans because of the war are trying to survive, living in the countryside of Japan. Seeing them being so optimistic, you will feel like they might survive. But if they did, though, It would not be on my list right now.
It is a wonderful yet depressing movie about the consequences of war and the relationship between the siblings. This movie is a must-watch for everyone who’s looking for a sad or depressed anime.
3. Your Lie in April 8.7
(Music Fiction, Drama, Romance)
Remember the box of tissues I told you about? Yes, please keep it with you. Kousei Arima is a genius pianist. But after the death of his mother, who taught him how to play piano, he could not hear any notes he played on the piano.
The only thing he was good at haunts him. But after meeting Kaori, he slowly starts getting back to his passion for piano. Kaori helps Kousei to fall in love with music again.
This anime may begin as a regular romance anime, but soon after, you will start realizing that it will not end happily. I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but it can make you cry buckets full of tears.
2. A Silent Voice 9
(Romance, Drama, School)
I’m sure that you have already watched or heard about this anime; if not, then let me tell you about it.
A Silent Voice is a movie about a deaf girl and a depressed boy who has turned a blind eye to everyone around him. Shouko is a deaf girl who is a new transfer student in Shoya’s school.
Shoya does some horrible things to her. As a result, everyone around him starts avoiding him. A Silent Voice may make you depressed, but it is a heart-warming anime with a happy ending.
1. Steins Gate 9.1
(Sci-Fi, Psychological Drama, Thriller, )
You may think it is a Sci-Fi anime, but there is a rather depressing story about death and loss behind this genius time-traveling story.
Steins Gate is the story of Okabe, who finds a way to change the past by sending something known as D-Mails. He can send mail to the past. But there are some severe consequences of that.
Okabe does this all to save his childhood friend from dying. But sooner he finds himself in a situation where he must choose between his friend and the love of her life. Seeing Okabe doing all the struggle to save her friend while he is running out of time can really break your heart.
