Top 10 Anime That Will Break You After One Episode
One episode was all it took! Join Ashley as we look over the anime that made us weep with their pilot episode
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00:00 (speaking in foreign language)
00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down
00:08 our picks for the most notable anime
00:10 that only need a single episode to make you cry.
00:14 (speaking in foreign language)
00:18 Number 10, Plastic Memories.
00:22 (bell dinging)
00:23 (speaking in foreign language)
00:27 On their first day on the job for robot retrieval,
00:30 Tsukasa and his android partner, Isla,
00:33 are given a real doozy.
00:35 Finding the childlike automaton, Nina, is the easy part.
00:39 Getting her owner, Jizou, to part ways with her
00:42 is a very different story.
00:44 Turns out the two had become something
00:46 of a family over the years.
00:48 (speaking in foreign language)
00:56 Whether you're a parent or not,
00:58 it's easy to understand why Jizou struggles
01:00 with saying goodbye.
01:02 But through some hard conversations
01:04 and more than a few tears,
01:06 she finally realizes it's time for Nina to move on.
01:09 For a show about androids,
01:11 Plastic Memories sure has a lot of heart.
01:14 That's all we're saying.
01:16 (speaking in foreign language)
01:25 Number nine, Chainsaw Man.
01:28 (speaking in foreign language)
01:32 At the start of Chainsaw Man,
01:41 Denji's pretty down on his luck.
01:43 His dead father left him indebted to the Yakuza,
01:46 he's working himself to the bone,
01:49 and he has to spend part of his meager earnings
01:51 to feed his pet, Pochita.
01:53 And that's just the first few minutes.
01:56 (speaking in foreign language)
02:00 Denji's situation goes from bad to worse
02:05 when the mob decides to turn his fee into a blood debt.
02:09 But in a moment guaranteed to make your heart skip a beat,
02:12 Pochita sacrifices his life
02:14 to give Denji another shot at his.
02:17 And wouldn't you know it, he was the chainsaw devil.
02:20 Cue the revenge killing.
02:22 Watching monsters get torn to shreds
02:24 has never been so satisfying.
02:27 (speaking in foreign language)
02:31 Number eight, Your Lie in April.
02:34 (speaking in foreign language)
02:38 If you play a musical instrument,
02:40 go ahead and pack your box of tissues now.
02:43 Your Lie in April is all about
02:45 a musical prodigy named Kosei.
02:47 He only took up piano to appease his dying mother,
02:51 and she showed her appreciation
02:53 with violence instead of love.
02:55 But when she's gone, Kosei still can't find it in him
02:58 to quit.
02:59 Even if he doesn't enjoy music anymore,
03:01 at that point, it's all he has left.
03:04 (speaking in foreign language)
03:08 It's a heart-wrenching position to put anyone in,
03:16 let alone someone in junior high.
03:18 Kosei's friends support him the best they can,
03:21 but in the show's first 20 minutes,
03:24 there's nothing they can do to numb the tragedy.
03:26 (speaking in foreign language)
03:30 Number seven, Bunny Drop.
03:37 (speaking in foreign language)
03:41 Rin's only crime is being born at the wrong time.
03:47 She's the very young daughter
03:48 of the Kowachi family grandfather,
03:50 and when he finally passes,
03:52 Rin's left ostracized from the rest of the family.
03:55 Well, almost all of them.
03:57 After realising no one else stepped up
03:59 to take care of the six-year-old,
04:01 Daikichi gives up everything to become her father.
04:04 (speaking in foreign language)
04:09 Full disclosure, he's a listless bachelor
04:13 who doesn't know a thing about raising a young girl.
04:16 But the fact that he tries
04:17 is enough to make Rin burst into tears,
04:20 and she's not alone.
04:21 From the tragedy to found family,
04:24 the first episode of Bunny Drop really has it all.
04:27 (sad music)
04:29 (speaking in foreign language)
04:34 Number six, Cross Game.
04:38 (speaking in foreign language)
04:44 Come on, how sad could an anime about baseball really be?
04:49 Against our better judgement,
04:50 the answer is really, really sad.
04:53 Before the first pitch is ever thrown,
04:55 Cross Game introduces you to Kou and Wakaba,
04:59 lifelong neighbours who have more chemistry
05:01 than a science class.
05:03 But sadly, Wakaba doesn't live to see the second episode.
05:07 (speaking in foreign language)
05:12 (singing in foreign language)
05:15 Instead of shying away from the heavy subject matter,
05:21 the show fearlessly explores Kou's journey
05:23 through his grief.
05:25 It all comes to a head in the episode's final minutes,
05:28 when the boy finally lets it all out in one good cry.
05:32 If this grand slam of emotions doesn't give you chills,
05:35 we aren't sure what will.
05:37 (speaking in foreign language)
05:41 Number five, Kotora-san.
05:45 (crying)
05:48 (speaking in foreign language)
05:51 Right off the bat, this show proves
05:56 that superpowers are not always popular.
05:59 Haruka's ESP may seem cool,
06:02 but to everyone around her, she's a freak.
06:04 As a result, the anime's opening minutes
06:07 are a depressing montage of Haruka being shunned
06:10 by every person she meets, including her own parents.
06:14 Thankfully, this starting chapter has a happy ending.
06:18 When Haruka saves the well-meaning Yoshihisa
06:21 from a speeding car, he doesn't just thank her,
06:24 he calls her his friend.
06:26 (speaking in foreign language)
06:32 (speaking in foreign language)
06:36 After a whole episode of Haruka being belittled
06:40 and made fun of, seeing her make a true, honest friend
06:44 is like a breath of fresh air.
06:46 It's no wonder it left her all misty-eyed.
06:49 (speaking in foreign language)
06:54 Number four, Violet Evergarden.
06:59 (speaking in foreign language)
07:03 This anime literally opens with all-out war,
07:07 and that's not even the most affecting part of the episode.
07:10 Soon enough, we meet Violet, a woman devoted
07:14 to the bloody struggle until she loses her arms.
07:17 After receiving two prosthetic limbs,
07:19 Violet begins work as a ghostwriting postal worker,
07:22 and more importantly, she starts to follow her own ideals.
07:27 (speaking in foreign language)
07:31 It's a fairly straightforward premise,
07:41 but it's executed with so much emotional maturity,
07:44 you can't help but be mesmerized.
07:46 After all, there's just something incredibly moving
07:49 about a person who yearns to understand love.
07:52 Even though Violet Evergarden starts with war,
07:55 the theme of its first episode is that of hope.
07:59 (speaking in foreign language)
08:02 Number three, Oshinoko.
08:05 When it comes to emotionally charged beginnings,
08:08 Oshinoko takes the motherlode.
08:11 (speaking in foreign language)
08:15 Despite the exhausting tribulations of idol life,
08:19 Ai devotes everything she has to raising her twins,
08:22 Aqua and Ruby, but then, out of nowhere, she dies.
08:27 Her bloodthirsty stalker finds her,
08:29 and Ai barely has time to say goodbye
08:31 to her kids before she's gone.
08:34 (speaking in foreign language)
08:38 The word devastating doesn't do this moment justice.
08:46 In fact, it defies description altogether.
08:49 If anything, Ai's death is so unfairly tragic,
08:52 it almost makes you angry.
08:54 She was a remarkable person, and it's just plain cruel
08:57 that her kids only got her for one measly episode.
09:01 (speaking in foreign language)
09:05 Number two, To Your Eternity.
09:14 (speaking in foreign language)
09:19 The soon-to-be-named Fushi begins life as an orb
09:24 before evolving into a rock and later, a wolf.
09:28 Soon enough, he bonds with a young boy
09:30 in search of his people,
09:32 learning about humanity as he goes.
09:34 Sadly, Fushi's next lesson is that, for there to be life,
09:39 there must also be death.
09:41 Instead of his village, the boy finds only gravestones
09:44 and later passes on himself.
09:46 (speaking in foreign language)
09:50 It's a lot for a single episode to cover,
10:04 but somehow, To Your Eternity pulls it off
10:07 with remarkable tact,
10:09 particularly in its cathartic ending,
10:11 when Fushi takes on the form of the boy he once knew.
10:15 It's clear that To Your Eternity is something special.
10:19 (speaking in foreign language)
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10:40 Number one, Free Ren, Beyond Journey's End.
10:44 (speaking in foreign language)
10:48 They're starting with a bang
10:53 and then they're starting with a whimper.
10:55 Free Ren chooses the latter to great effect.
10:59 Early on, our hero learns that while decade-long quests
11:02 are nothing to an elf's lifespan,
11:04 they're everything to a human's.
11:06 Free Ren takes her mortal friend on one last adventure,
11:09 watches him pass on,
11:11 and then grapples with how much she took life for granted.
11:15 (speaking in foreign language)
11:19 From there, Beyond Journey's End continues
11:28 to explore the realities of death
11:30 with a wisdom that most shows take seasons to develop.
11:34 That is to say, Free Ren's debut
11:36 is a brilliant think piece that will have you weeping,
11:40 cheering, and then weeping all over again
11:42 before the first credits even roll.
11:45 (speaking in foreign language)
11:49 What first episode of an anime made you cry?
11:56 Let us know in those comments below.
11:59 (speaking in foreign language)
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