Sad, depressing, or painful anime
 

I'm looking for anime that can make you cry or make you feel sad or depress. Animes like:
Air
Kanon
Chrono Crusade
Grave of the Fireflies
Saikano

Clannad is made by the same group that has done Air/Kanon. Thus it is likely to have pretty depressing moments in it...

ELFEN LIED!!!! After watching this... Grave of the Fireflies will seem like a walk in the park.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien

The obvious suggestion. :)

I also recommend Clannad, at times has more comedy but if they do most of the routes it will have a great end.

Anime that made me cry like a baby, such that I DO NOT suggest you watch any two of them in a row (ranked in order of quality):

Koi Kaze
Gakuen Alice
Chrono Crusade
Full Moon wo Sagashite
D4 Princess
Kanon (I have not seen Kanon 2006, but assume it is much better)
Da Capo (pretty crappy for the first 10 episodes)
Key the Metal Idol

Note that Gakuen Alice is not really sad, but it made cry so much I practically dehydrated anyway. The other ones are, indeed, painfully sad.

Anime that have very sad parts which made me cry, but are not really depressing all the time... or are normally upbeat, with sad endings (in order of quality):
Asatte no Houkou
Cowboy Bebop
Stellvia
Super Gals
Mahoromatic
Kasimasi
Onegai Twins


Otherwise... I have only seen Kanon (pre-2006), but from what I understand, all Key anime - and also, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien - are supposed to be tear-jerkers.

Mushishi: makes you feel sad and melancholic, but like Kanon, there's a hopeful feel to it.

Zegapain: don't be fooled by its mecha-action scenes, the story develops slowly and when you realise what the real deal is about, you'll come to feel Zegapain (translated as: great pain). I don't think I cried while watching this anime, but there was certainly this heavy feeling of hopelessness throughout the series. Felt like the weight of the entire world was on your shoulders.

I second Elfen Lied. Also, I'll say to hold off on Clannad, because even though it has those tear-defined moments, the degree isn't really the same as Kanon - just a little different. If Kyoto Animation plays their cards right, depression could be to an even higher degree.

5cm per Second (Byousoki 5cm) Not only the best animation I've ever seen but also one of the most depressing animes I've ever watched

elfen lied...for sure is one good depressing pain full anime
clannad is like kanon...but seeing that they are still coming out with new fansubbs i suggest you wait till they are all out...because having to stop every week will make it lose its sad potential..

mushishi wasn't really all that depressing

also KGNE

For anime, I have a few picks. Topping my list is this one-shot anime short story; Hotori - Tada Saiwai wo Koinegau

Other picks are:
Elfen Lied, of course.
Soukyuu No Fafner is filled with sadness from one end to the other, but with a good and hope-filled story.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime explored sadness fairly often
Chrno Crusade, while mostly comedy, has an ending that left me sniffling for all I was worth.
A new series that seems to have some dark human emotions in it, is Shigofumi
If you don't mind adult anime, there's Kite, which is sad, depressing, and unfulfilling in the end.

Watch Now and Then, Here and There and also Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru. NTHT wasn't so bad in retrospect, but Figure17 had me traumatized for several days. ;____;

*calling bullshit on that remark* Elfen Lied was sad in a way, but just too showy to be really moving like Grave of the Fireflies.

I'd suggest Gunslinger Girl. It's pretty cruel and sorrowful in many ways. Skip out on season 2 though.

here:

grave of the fireflies
5cm per second
ef~a tale of memories~ ( just dont watch the last 12 minutes of the last episode if you want it SAD!)

the first 2 are freakin depressing that i suggest you dont watch them on the same day.

why doesn't anyone mentions Romeo x Juliet:frustrated:. The ending wasted a few box of tissues:heh:.

I found that 5 Centimetres per Second really wasn't as sad as I had expected.

Ef - A Tale of Memories is seconded. It's not really as sad as some others, but it's very good and melodramatic (probably the best melodrama I've ever seen.)
Because we all know how it ends! And because the anime really wasn't that great.

Once again, I will suggest Sola and Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora.



And one last obligation:
Naruto is actually very sad. Though it seems like everyone just thinks Naruto is an immature anime with a weak plot, the romance and loss in the anime is tragic.

It's not as good with Bleach, since there's not even characters dying to pretend to be sad about.

IN A WAY!? :eek: SHOWY!? :eek: GAWWD I hate it when people just don't understand Elfen Lied... >_<

Just because someone wasn't as affected by a series as you did doesn't mean they "didn"t understand" it.

Voices of a Distant Star - makoto shinkai's first professional piece. its short but beautiful.

oh once you've watched saikano nothing much can really compare.

My goodness, I don't find any of the above anime mentioned sad, depressing or painful.
Is there something wrong with me? :(

Elfen Lied had the most effect. Kannazuki no Miko comes in later in the series though.

Fate/Stay Night is one of the anime I barely laughed at all. I label it "depressing." :D