Fushigi Yūgi/Tear Jerker

• A lot of lovable characters may have died in Fushigi Yuugi but none of them hold a candle to the death and eventual spiritual reunion of Star-Crossed Lovers Tatara and Suzuno. Can we say "greatest love story ever"?
  • A classic tearjerker moment from that series would be Nuriko's death. The camera then moved to Boisterous Bruiser Tasuki leaning silently against a rock, eyes wide in a state of shock, then lost it completely.
  • Especially sad in that it was the first indication that Anyone Can Die in this series. Up to that point, the idea of one of the seven Suzaku warriors actually dying was just absurd.
  • Only topped by Chiriko's Murder Suicide of himself and Miboshi, which is either this or Egregious Narm from A Death in the Limelight.
  • I don't cry easily. I was upset, but I didn't cry when Nuriko, Chrirko, Mitsukake, and Hotohori died, but I did cry when they came Back for the Finale.
• For a non-death example, there is Hotohori's doomed confession of love to Miaka matched to a flashback showing his lifelong fascination with the Priestess of Suzaku.
• When Tamahome realizes his eleven-year-old brother had attempted to protect the family from Suboshi's attack with a kitchen knife, which of course was absolutely no match for Suboshi's Killer Yoyo. As if that part of the story wasn't sad enough.
  • Not to mention that when Miaka talks to him while he's burying his family, he turns around and is shown with about six lines of tears pouring out of his eyes.
  • And what about when Tamahome is cradling his youngest and dearest sister in her final moments?
  • Basically, the entire event of Tamahome's family being slaughtered by Suboshi is sure to turn the waterworks on.
  • What makes it even worse is that there was absolutely no warning whatsoever that this was going to happen. Tamahome just spends a bit of time shopping for them, opens the door with a happy, expectant look on his face...only to find that they're all dead. No foreshadowing, no way for us to have seen that this was what Suboshi had in mind. Also made worse by the fact that none of the neighbours did anything to help (out of fear for their own lives, mind you), and the Fridge Horror that if Tamahome hadn't gotten there when he did, then the bodies might not have been discovered until much later...
• Amazingly, even though he's way over the Moral Event Horizon by this point in the story, Suboshi also commits one of the most poignant sacrifices in the series: giving his brother a memory-erasing drug to spare him the bloody life of a Seiryuu warrior. Given that Amiboshi is Suboshi's entire family, that Suboshi had previously been nearly insane with grief when he thought Amiboshi to be dead and then used this as his Freudian Excuse for the Moral Event Horizon crossing... when he watches Amiboshi resume his peaceful life as "Kaika" and says goodbye forever, it's hard not to reach for the hankies.
• How can we forget the heartwarming moment between Hotohori and his son Boushin in the OVA? One moment, father and son were smiling at each other; when the prince tries to run into Hotohori's arms, he trips and goes right through him, forgetting that he's dead. The baby begins to cry hysterically, resulting in a Mood Whiplash. This troper began to cry worse than Boushin as she clutched a pillow, but it doesn't end there. The heartbreak elevates to a whole new level when Taka/Tamahome allows Hotohori's spirit to posess his body so he can hug his kid, and the until-then Cute Mute Boushin calls Hotohori "papa", which is his first word.
• The Suzaku and Seiryu warriors' trip to the hot spring omake ends with a glimpse of the Animated Actors going out for a drink. Miaka takes one last look at the recording as if saying goodbye to the viewers who were watching the show.
• Tasuki's Near-Rape Experience with Miaka was one for this troper, just because I couldn't bear to see him act that way. It Got Worse when he snapped out of it and was Driven to Suicide, especially since this is the kind of series where Anyone Can Die and there was every chance that he COULD have died from it.
• Suzaku Hi Den not only gives the spotlight to Hotohori, but to his wife Houki and his half-brother Shu Tendou. It's absolutely heartbreaking, specially when Houki tries to stop Shu from killing Hotohori and then when he dies in both Houki's and Hoto's arms.
• Though YMMV, a lot of the scenes involving what happened to Yui can be this. By the time the series ends, every single aspect of her life has been crushed, including her humanity. She gets better, but, even so...