On a Reddit forum, members started an intense debate about Which anime managed to destroy them emotionally in the deepest way?. The question, simple but loaded with meaning, provoked an avalanche of responses and personal reflections. The thread caught the attention of hundreds of users, each sharing their deepest experiences and feelings about the series that had a significant impact on them.

The ability of a story to emotionally destroy a person lies in several factors.. First, building deep and complex characters can create an intense emotional connection with the viewer. When these characters face hardship, suffering, or loss, viewers feel that pain almost as if it were their own. Empathy and identification with characters are crucial elements for a story to have a deep emotional impact.

Another key factor is the development of the narrative and plot.. Stories that address universal themes like love, loss, friendship, and self-improvement can resonate deeply with viewers. Well-crafted plots that lead characters through intense emotional arcs, with unexpected twists and touching moments, are capable of leaving a lasting impression on the audience.

Music and animation also play an important role in the emotional impact of an anime.. Moving soundtracks can amplify the emotions of a scene, while quality animation can make dramatic moments more vivid and realistic. The combination of music, visuals, and narrative can create an immersive experience that leaves a deep emotional mark.

Additionally, the viewer's personal context can influence how they perceive and react to a story.. Individual life experiences, relationships, and emotional states can cause certain stories to resonate differently with each person. An anime that addresses a topic that the viewer has personally experienced can have a much greater impact because of that personal connection.

• «Two years ago, after seeing a post on r/anime, I watched the movie 'My Sister Momoko'. It's about a boy and his sister with physical and mental disabilities, and was apparently made to raise awareness about people and children with disabilities. The plot mainly revolves around the protagonist who becomes jealous of all the attention his parents give his sister and slowly discovers and understands why she needs that extra attention.».
• «A silent voice».
• «Clannad After Story».
• «Grave of the Fireflies».
• «Violet Evergarden comes to mind immediately.».
• «My roommate is a cat 🐈‍⬛: I cried in every episode. It was ridiculous».
• «Angel Beats. It was labeled as a comedy».
• «Your lie in April».
• «Shin Sekai Yori».
• «I have a list of 12 completely different shows (although 14 entries in total since Gintama appeared three times) that made me cry so hard I literally threw up, so yeah, those. With Gintama getting the most credit for appearing three times».
• «Cyberpunk Edgerunners struck me as an allegory about drug addiction and I agree that it also destroyed me.».
• «Dude. They did a great job hitting emotional points with perfectly placed flashbacks and cutaways. The themes resonated with me a lot and I found myself crying at the end of most episodes and then, as if to mock me, the ending starts with 'And I'm fine'. No, I'm not fine. I'm ugly crying right now, thanks.».
• «Hibike! euphonium».
• «Plastic Memories, Hanamatsuri, Akudama Drive, Your Name».
• «Banana Fish 100%. I knew this would make me cry, but I didn't know how much emotional damage it would cause me.».
• «A silent voice. Its message always sends me into a spiral. I couldn't watch it twice. Fruits Basket always moves me too, but not for the reasons you might think. It's the relationship between Kyo and Tohru that gets to me. They give me hope that one day I'll find a love like that. I get excited when I watch them too.».
• «The last part of Assassination Classroom. The last viewing made me cry for an hour».
• «I don't have a weak stomach for it, one day my sister wanted to watch a show called 'Kotaro Lives Alone'. It had a strange style so I thought it was a comedy, in the end it hit me hard».
• «Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, this movie made me cry».
• «Watching Your Lie in April every week was a tear-fest».
• «For your eternity. The last episode of the first season destroyed me».
• «Made in Abyss is at the top of the list. After finishing the second season, I honestly felt exhausted from crying so much.».
• «Plastic Memories and Sukasuka».
• «Angel Beats and Clannad come to mind».
• «Clannad, Violet Evergarden, Angel Beats, Anohana».
• «Angel Beats promised comedy, and it definitely delivered. But there was a lot that wasn't announced.».
• «Anohana. When I think of her, a deep sadness takes over me for a few seconds.».
• «Anohana always beats me up because I lost my best friend in high school, and I always think about how we would interact now if we had gotten to that age together. It destroys me.».
• «Your Name, the last episode of Assassination Classroom, a few episodes of The Rising of the Shield Hero, how they treat him is something I can relate to on a personal level, I'm not saying I was sexually accused or anything like that, but I was accused of things that never happened and I basically lost all my friends and some family.».
• «Assassination Classroom and, to a lesser extent, Akame-Ga-Kill».
• «A Place Further Than The Universe, Episode 12 Broke Me».
• «Sword Art Online, Guilty Crown and Darling in the Franxx».
• «I cried like a baby at the end of Space Patrol Luluco because all I could think about was how beautiful, pure, and innocent love is.».
• «Out of nowhere, but Horimiya season 1. I watched it one night when I was in a bad emotional state and it depressed me so much that I called work to say I wasn't going to be there. Which is stupid because it's not a sad anime. He was so jealous of their relationship that it turned into depression.».
• «Besides classics like Your Name and A Silent Voice, a very recent one was the Father's Day episode of Mushoku Tensei. It really hit me like nothing had happened in a long time. I just sat there thinking and it stayed with me for a day or two.».
• «I don't know what this emotion is, but I'm not the same after finishing Hibike Euphonium Season 3. It's been weeks and I feel different. It's like no emptiness I've ever had before.».
• «Saikano broke my heart and all I could think was that the author was a heartless bastard who deserved the worst. It was very painful to see the tragedy of the protagonists. Especially with the end of the series.».
• «The Day I Became a God. I had so many tears in my eyes during the climax that I couldn't read the subtitles, so I had to pause and cry in awkward silence until I could compose myself.».
• «I haven't seen this one mentioned, there are several others that have also had a profound impact on me, but none more so than 86. In my opinion, it is the best visual representation of war trauma I have seen in any medium, bar none».
• «When I was a newbie watching anime, Kokoro Connect traumatized me lmao. I can't stand anything that reminds me of NTR lmao. good times».

Source: reddit