Top 10 best sad anime movies and where to watch them when you're in the mood for a good cry
Grave of the Fireflies is widely regarded as the saddest anime movie ever made, a 1988 Studio Ghibli war film with a Metascore of 94 that has left generations of viewers genuinely speechless. Whether you're in the mood for quiet heartbreak, impossible love, or stories of survival, this list covers the ten sad anime movies most likely to wreck you completely.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Key takeaways
- The best sad anime movies
- 10. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)
- 9. Violet Evergarden: The Movie (2020)
- 8. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018)
- 7. Wolf Children (2012)
- 6. 5 Centimetres Per Second (2007)
- 5. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
- 4. Your Name (2016)
- 3. Anohana: The Movie (2013)
- 2. A Silent Voice (2016)
- 1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- FAQs
Key takeaways
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988) tops the list with a 94 Metascore and an 8.5 IMDb rating, the highest critical scores of any film here.
- A Silent Voice (2016) is the runner-up, earning a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.2 IMDb rating.
- Your Name (2016) is the biggest box-office hit, grossing over $350 million worldwide.
- Films on this list span 1988 to 2020, across war drama, romance, fantasy, and coming-of-age genres.
- Wolf Children and Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms are the hidden-gem picks — widely loved but lesser known outside dedicated anime audiences.
The best sad anime movies
Rankings are based on aggregated critic and audience scores from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic, cross-referenced with long-running fan consensus on sites such as Ranker and MyAnimeList.
Films must be feature-length anime movies (not series or OVAs) and are selected specifically for emotional impact. Where scores were close, broader cultural influence and the frequency with which a title appears across "saddest anime" discussions broke the tie.
# | Film | Year | Director | IMDb | Where to watch |
10 | Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms | 2018 | Mari Okada | 7.4 | Prime Video, Crunchyroll |
9 | Violet Evergarden: The Movie | 2020 | Taichi Ishidate | 8.3 | Netflix |
8 | I Want to Eat Your Pancreas | 2018 | Shinichiro Ushijima | 8.1 | Crunchyroll, Prime Video |
7 | Wolf Children | 2012 | Mamoru Hosoda | 8.1 | HBO Max, Prime Video |
6 | 5 Centimetres Per Second | 2007 | Makoto Shinkai | 7.4 | Crunchyroll, Prime Video |
5 | The Tale of the Princess Kaguya | 2013 | Isao Takahata | 8.0 | Netflix |
4 | Your Name | 2016 | Makoto Shinkai | 8.4 | HBO Max, Prime Video |
3 | Anohana: The Movie | 2013 | Tatsuyuki Nagai | 7.3 | Crunchyroll |
2 | A Silent Voice | 2016 | Naoko Yamada | 8.2 | Crunchyroll, Netflix |
1 | Grave of the Fireflies | 1988 | Isao Takahata | 8.5 | Netflix, Prime Video |
10. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)
- Full title: Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana o Kazarō
- Director: Mari Okada
- Release date: February 24, 2018
- Runtime: 115 minutes
- IMDb rating: 7.4
- Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms was Mari Okada's directorial debut, a high fantasy drama about an immortal girl who raises a mortal child as her own son. The film reverses the usual parental fear by asking what happens when immortality guarantees you'll watch your child grow old first, using Maquia's ageless appearance as painful symbolism for emotional isolation.
Fleeing war, the immortal Maquia finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise him, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age. Its treatment of unconditional love and inevitable loss makes it one of the most emotionally ambitious anime films ever made.
9. Violet Evergarden: The Movie (2020)
- Director: Taichi Ishidate
- Release date: September 18, 2020 (Japan)
- Runtime: 140 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.3
- Where to watch: Netflix
Violet Evergarden: The Movie is currently streaming on Netflix. Daisy, Anne Magnolia's granddaughter, discovers letters from the legendary Violet Evergarden; the narrative then shifts back more than fifty years, when Violet receives a request from a terminally ill boy named Yuris to write letters for his family.
The film was released worldwide on Netflix on October 13, 2021. It serves as the definitive finale to the Kyoto Animation series, and viewers who have followed Violet's journey from the start will find it almost impossible to watch dry-eyed.
8. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018)
- Full Japanese title: Kimi no Suizō o Tabetai
- Director: Shinichiro Ushijima
- Release date: September 1, 2018 (Japan)
- Runtime: 108 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.1 | Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
- Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Prime Video
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas is a 2018 Japanese animated coming-of-age drama based on the light novel of the same name by Yoru Sumino. An aloof boy comes across a book in a hospital waiting room and discovers it is a diary kept by his popular classmate, who reveals she is secretly suffering from a fatal pancreatic illness.
It is widely described by critics and viewers as a devastating, beautifully made romantic drama. The film's shocking midpoint twist is what earns it a permanent place on every "cry-worthy anime" shortlist.
7. Wolf Children (2012)
- Full Japanese title: Ōkami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
- Director: Mamoru Hosoda
- Release date: July 21, 2012 (Japan)
- Runtime: 117 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.1 | Metascore: 76
- Where to watch: HBO Max, Prime Video
Wolf Children is a 2012 Japanese animated drama film directed and co-written by Mamoru Hosoda. The story's central theme is "parent and child", depicting 13 years in the life of a young woman, Hana, who falls in love with a werewolf while in college and, following his death, must raise the resulting half-werewolf, half-human children, Ame and Yuki.
It is widely regarded as Hosoda's most emotionally profound work, and its portrayal of single motherhood has been praised as one of the most humane in all of animation. The film won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Animation of the Year.
6. 5 Centimetres Per Second (2007)
- Full Japanese title: Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru
- Director: Makoto Shinkai
- Release date: March 3, 2007 (Japan)
- Runtime: 63 minutes
- IMDb rating: 7.4
- Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Prime Video
5 Centimetres Per Second is told in three interconnected segments, following Takaki as cruel winters, cold technology, and adult obligations converge to test the delicate bonds of first love. Director Makoto Shinkai intentionally rejects grand cinematic reunion, choosing instead to focus on the slow, mundane, and painfully realistic erosion of human connection.
This romance film offers beautiful visuals and a score to match and is easily considered one of the saddest anime movies of all time due to its melancholy atmosphere and the realisation that there won't be a happy ending.
5. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
- Full Japanese title: Kaguya-hime no Monogatari
- Director: Isao Takahata
- Release date: November 23, 2013 (Japan)
- Runtime: 137 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.0
- Where to watch: Netflix
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is one of Studio Ghibli's saddest anime movies and yet its most unique film. Based on the ancient Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, it follows a mysterious girl discovered inside a glowing bamboo stalk who grows into a young woman of impossible beauty and impossible sadness.
The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2015. Takahata's painterly, sketch-like animation style gives every frame a fragile, ephemeral quality that makes the film's bittersweet ending land all the harder.
4. Your Name (2016)
- Full Japanese title: Kimi no Na wa
- Director: Makoto Shinkai
- Release date: August 26, 2016 (Japan)
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.4 | Box office: over $350 million worldwide
- Where to watch: HBO Max, Prime Video
Your Name is a 2016 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films, and distributed by Toho. Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection; upon discovering they are swapping bodies, things become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
Released in August 2016 in Japan, it grossed more than ¥25 billion in Japan alone, becoming the first non-Ghibli film to exceed 10 billion yen in revenue. The film won Best Animated Film at the 49th Sitges International Film Festival and earned Shinkai the Best Director award at the 26th Japan Movie Critics Awards.
3. Anohana: The Movie (2013)
- Full title: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. The Movie
- Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
- Release date: August 31, 2013 (Japan)
- Runtime: 100 minutes
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Anohana: The Movie is a theatrical recap and continuation of the beloved 2011 TV series, told from the perspectives of each surviving member of the friend group as they process grief from a new angle. The series' central tragedy, the death of Meiko "Menma" Honma in childhood, is revisited with devastating new emotional layers.
Anohana is one of the most popular sad anime, and it will undoubtedly make you cry. The film is best watched after the series and functions as a final, tear-soaked letter to a character that audiences never wanted to say goodbye to.
2. A Silent Voice (2016)
- Full Japanese title: Koe no Katachi
- Director: Naoko Yamada
- Release date: September 17, 2016 (Japan)
- Runtime: 129 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.2 | Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
- Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Netflix (select regions)
After transferring into a new school, a deaf girl, Shoko Nishimiya, is bullied by the popular Shoya Ishida. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers, and Shoya grows up as an outcast, alone, depressed, and deeply regretful.
A Silent Voice earns its emotional power because its greatest enemy isn't bullying; it's self-loathing. The film acknowledges that forgiveness does not come easily, especially when one needs to forgive oneself, and its open-ended finale remains one of anime's saddest.
1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- Full Japanese title: Hotaru no Haka
- Director: Isao Takahata
- Release date: April 16, 1988
- Runtime: 89 minutes
- IMDb rating: 8.5 | Metascore: 94
- Where to watch: Netflix, Prime Video
Grave of the Fireflies is a devastating meditation on the human cost of war, following Seita, a teenager charged with the care of his younger sister, Setsuko, after an American firebombing during World War II separates the two children from their parents. Their tale of survival is as heartbreaking as it is true to life; the siblings rely completely on each other and struggle against all odds to stay together and stay alive.
Takahata's style is strikingly different from Miyazaki's more hopeful approach; there is no sugar-coating here, just a brutally honest look at the cost of war on the most vulnerable. It has received outstanding reviews from critics and viewers alike, with an IMDb score of 8.5 and a Metascore of 94.
FAQs
Which is the saddest anime movie of all time?
Grave of the Fireflies is widely regarded as anime's saddest film about war and arguably the saddest anime movie period. Screen Rant has called it "the saddest movie I've ever seen, but a masterpiece everyone should watch." Its 94 Metascore and 8.5 IMDb rating from almost 400,000 votes back up that reputation.
Which anime will make me cry the hardest?
That depends on what type of sadness hits you hardest. Grave of the Fireflies delivers relentless wartime tragedy; A Silent Voice delivers the slow agony of guilt and self-hatred; Wolf Children and Maquia target parents specifically.
Is A Silent Voice based on a manga?
Yes. A Silent Voice: The Movie was directed by Naoko Yamada and is based on the manga of the same name by Yoshitoki Oima, which ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2013 to 2014. It holds a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Is Your Name considered a sad movie?
Your Name blends sadness with wonder. Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies, and things become even more complicated when they decide to meet in person. The emotional gut-punch arrives in the film's third act, when the full weight of time and distance lands, earning it a reputation as one of the most bittersweet anime films ever made.
Is Grave of the Fireflies a Studio Ghibli film?
Grave of the Fireflies is a Studio Ghibli film, directed by Isao Takahata, telling the story of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, as they struggle to survive during the final months of World War II in Japan. It is often overshadowed by Miyazaki's work at the studio but is considered by many critics to be Ghibli's most powerful film.
We also highlighted facts about the anime releases arriving in August 2026, including their premiere dates and where to watch them. The lineup features new titles, returning series and a long-awaited English dub.
Among the month’s major releases, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht: Rising continues the story of magical girls whose powers come at a steep emotional cost. The film is set to debut in cinemas and on Crunchyroll on 28 August.
Source: Legit.ng
