Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Tear Jerker

Manga/Brotherhood
"Elysia: Mommy, how come? Why are they burying Daddy? Who are those people? Why are they burying him, why? They can't! I don't like it! Daddy said he had lots of work to do and if they bury him, he can't do it when he wakes up! Stop them, mommy! Daddy has to do his work, he told me! Why are they burying Daddy, Mommy? Why? ...Daddy, wake up!'"
 * The entire flashback about the war in Ishval is a Tear Jerker marathon that lasts a whole collected volume of the manga. Also,
 * Oh god, Ishval. What made it worse is that I love Roy and Riza, but seeing what the did in the war/massacre had me feeling like they were Nazis or something. And Scar's entire backstory is a huge sob-fest. And the shot of the crying Ishvalan child in the middle of the massacre . . . excuse me, I need a Kleenex now . ..
 * It wasn't the Hughes' funeral itself which was so profoundly impacting. What really brings everyone to tears is poor little Elysia:

"Elysia: Daddy said he has important work he needs to do! No, stop it! Stop putting dirt on him! DADDY!!!"
 * This scene is arguably even more tragic in Brotherhood, as you can hear the sheer despair much more clearly.

"Mustang: ...It's a terrible day for rain. Hawkeye: What do you mean? It's not raini-- Mustang: Yes. It is.
 * In the manga, during Elysia's outcry, even the Fuhrer is unable to keep his composure, with his hands shaking on his swords pommel. And considering who he is (on so many levels), this is especially emotional. ...
 * Armstrong trying and failing to keep from weeping at the funeral can be quite jarring, if only because it's the first time in the series where his shedding of tears isn't played for laughs.
 * And then there's this little exchange:

Hawkeye: ...Oh. So it is."

"Elysia: *opens the door* Papa! ... *runs into Winry's arms, sobbing*"
 * As pointed out on the main page, the above doubles as a brilliant metaphor; Roy is powerless in the rain, and that is how he felt at that moment.
 * Episode 16 of Brotherhood has another one from the poor kid, possibly the most upsetting in an episode filled with these.

"Ed:"
 * Also continues in the manga, where after Ed asking Gracia's (Hughes' wife) forgiveness for involving (and indirectly causing the death of) Hughes in their trouble. Gracia's response is to assure them to continue and not to let her husband death be in vain. All with a motherly smile and strong composure. Then they leave their house, and Ed just looks back for the last moment, through the window,

"Hughes: Gracia... I'm sorry. Elicia... never forget... Daddy loves you."
 * In Brotherhood, Hughes' death itself is even worse. We see Hughes struggling to reach the phone after getting shot, failing, and saying his last words:

"Winry: "Why...? Why did you kill them...? Did they do any wrong to you...?! No.... Give them back.... GIVE THEM BACK!!!!""
 * The music used at Hughes' funeral in Brotherhood...'Requiem for the Brigadier General'. Look it up, seriously. Every time this troper hears that tune it makes her cry. NOT a good thing to listen to on the bus.
 * The flashback in episode 12 to Izumi's attempt at Human Transmutation. Especially the soundtrack, and her screams when she looks up at sees what she made...
 * Lan Fan  is pretty shocking, but the first time she looks in the mirror afterwards is devastating.
 * Fu's reaction is bad too. At first he's absolutely furious that she failed to protect Ling and is on the verge of hitting her. Then Dr. Knox draws his attention to the fact that she's  and he falls completely flat, crying.
 * Are we forgetting when Ed convinced Winry not to kill by saying: "With these hands, you delivered a baby. You saved his life, and his mother's. With these hands, you gave me an arm and leg to stand with. These hands aren't meant to take lives, but save them." A Tear Jerker and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming at the same time, because Hiromu Arakawa is just that brilliant.
 * And the moment before that. Seeing a strong and cheerful girl breaking down into tears like that is especialy heartwreching.

"That's my brother's arm... Good... My brother's alive... (opens eyes) Wh...what!? WHAT IS THIS...!?"
 * Poor Armstrong, To see him, the strongest and most muscular character in the manga bawling his eyes out over the body of a dead Ishvallan child was absolutely heartbreaking to this Troper. I even had to stop typing this every few seconds just so I didn't burst out crying from the sheer memory of it!
 * The first 19 or so pages of Chapter 68 of the manga:
 * The photo... Just, the photo, ever wonder the reason that Hohenheim's face is covered in the photo?.
 * 's backstory in volume 15, full stop. This Troper was crying typing this quote out.

"Mustang: What will you do after I'm dead? Hawkeye: I have no desire to live a happy carefree life all alone. After this battle is over, my body will leave this world together with the corpse of the Flame Alchemist."
 * And then him, after, he stumbles back and overlooks his hometown. Or rather, what's LEFT of it.
 * Pretty much ALL of volume 15 is this.
 * A Tear Jerker of happiness this time:
 * Chapter 94, Hawkeye to Mustang :

"Mustang: Unacceptable. I won't lose you too."
 * Roy's statement afterwards adds to it:

"Al: I don't want to be alone at night anymore!"
 * Speaking of Mustang and Hawkeye, what about Research Laboratory 3, when she thought It's simply heartbreaking to see such a normally stoic character completely break down, with tears streaming down her face, and it's strongly implied that if Al hadn't been there, Riza would have let herself be killed as well.
 * Al's reason for wanting to get his body back.

": Why...?.... I've finally gained immortality, and I CAN'T SAVE EVEN ONE OF MY SUBJECTS!? DAMN IT!!!!"
 * The lead-up to it is pretty heartwrenching as well,.
 * Al referencing his inability to cry when talking to Winry. He discusses how Edward doesn't take the chance to cry, when he's lucky that he has tear ducts.
 * Remember that scene early on in the series, with Ed and Al sitting in the rain, and Al talking about how he can't even feel it? He wasn't even complaining or anything, just stating the truth.
 * Havoc's breakdown after losing the use of his legs. Sure, he became a full-fledged Handicapped Badass later, but that scene where he's begging Roy to just give up on him and cut him loose from the plans is crushing.
 * Even the previous hospital scene, when Havoc reveals that he can't use his legs anymore, is a tearjerker as well. The way he so calmly states that he can't help Roy anymore, when it's obvious how utterly crushed he is makes this troper really, really sad...
 * 's death. Please, shed some tears for them.
 * breakdown after that was already heartbreaking in the manga, but Brotherhood just made it even worse, if that's possible. Maybe it's being able to actually hear screams and watch tears visibly stream down his face, but the whole scene in episode 58 with  is heartwrenching.

"Alphonse: "They're all good people." Edward: "Yeah. But... nobody was saved.""
 * Ed pleading with the Truth after realizing Al was taken away. "TAKE MY OTHER LEG! OR MY ARM! OR BOTH OF THEM! You can even have my heart... JUST GIVE HIM BACK! HE'S THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE!"
 * Lets have a moment of silence for
 * Olivier's reaction, or better yet, lack of reaction to  The other character's faces show it itbest.
 * The ending of the episode of the Brotherhood OVA "The Blind Alchemist".

"Edward: "Yeah. But... it won't save them.""
 * It may be an omake, but it nevertheless turns to Fridge Horror after reading chapter 43.
 * That particular omake was originally a side comic featured in one of the extra books for the series. The original version of Ed's line is much more ominous.

": Don't you want your real body back? Al: Of course I do! Always! Always for years and years! I've dreamed about getting my real body back!"
 * Ch 102: Good lord, Al's now officially poster boy for Iron Woobie. Not just that thing inside your body that salutes you, we all salute you. With a bit of sand in our eyes.
 * Al breaking down killed this troper.


 * Many people cried when . The poor guy just doesn't get a break.

""In the years since I got this body I've seen a lot of death. I tried to think about it as part of the great cycle, and that made it easier somehow… and every time I see something wondrous I believe it was worth it, that I stayed alive all these years. And then I met you, and together we created two sons. I don't age, and yet I see my sons grow up before my eyes. And suddenly I'm terrified…""
 * Hohenheim's flashback to when he leaves his family, describing his life to Trisha.


 * Chapter 104. Seeing the

""I didn't believe in God, or something like that, but this must be what they meant when they said, 'God has forsaken me', isn't it?" "Remember who I am. I chose her ." "Thanks to you humans,... my life... had been a good life.... A life worth living for. And… maybe even… a life… worth… dying… for…""
 * Seeing made this troper tear up.
 * Look, this chapter was bad enough without that panel. So of course, she had to put it in. WHY?!
 * Simple, so the subsequent counter-attack will. Be more. AWESOME.
 * Also in episode 41 of the anime, the part where  While this doesn't sound too impressive (and the manga counterpart didn't seem so either) the soundtrack used and   nearly reduced this troper to tears. Mind you, that's usually fairly difficult to do.
 * Bradley's last words. Makes you almost forget that he's a hateful, genocidal bastard.

""You know what he was so afraid to talk to you about? HE WANTS TO KNOW IF YOU BLAME HIM FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BODY, AL!!""
 * For some reason, this troper can't help but tear up when
 * As seen in episode 61, !
 * Al, still suffering from a Heroic BSOD from his fight against Barry, confronts Ed and demands to know if he's real or artificial, stating how easy it would be to fake a construct's memories, and pointing out how Ed was reluctant to ask him something. Cue Winry smacking Al with a wrench, and telling him, tears welling in her eyes:


 * The scene where Ling . If doesn't get you,  will.
 * How bout death scene?.
 * Chapter 107:
 * Chapter 107:
 * Chapter 107:

"Ed: "YOU STUPID IDIOT!!""
 * Ed's reaction to the above: three words.

""You really think he'll come back for you?" "He will. I know it!""
 * Another scene from 107


 * Brotherhood's fifth opening, appropriately titled "Rain" -- seeing King Bradley possibly crying and the overall tone of the song can certainly inspire such moments.
 * How about the ending "Let It All Out" by Miho Fukuhara? The song has a very sentimental tone...
 * Ed  If you do not tear up even a little after reading those pages, you are a soulless pod-person.
 * Greed Noble Demon, thy name is GREED!
 * Also, "That was my first and last lie."
 * Hohenheim
 * Hohenheim
 * Brotherhood makes it even better by
 * Also a Crowning Moment of Awesome in episode 26 when Ed
 * Also a Crowning Moment of Awesome in episode 26 when Ed


 * The new OVA "Yet Another Man's Battlefield". It features eighteen-year-old Roy at the military academy, meeting Hughes (whose appearance in itself might reduce someone to tears given what happens to him...), and befriending a fellow Ishvalan trainee named Heathcliff, after standing up to some bullies. See where this is going? Years later, the Ishval War of Extermination happens. The scene then skips to the manga omake where  And of course,  Seriously heartbreaking...
 * The words on the next-to-last pages:

"Ling: Greed, this is what you desperately wanted, isn't it? Greed: Yeah, you're right.....This is what I wanted. I wanted the chance to."
 * Sniff.
 * Reaching the last page of the final chapter and realizing one of the greatest manga in existence is finally over.
 * The true tearjerker is a good one-where the readers are thanked for their support and love.
 * In Brotherhood, when discussing the sheer brutality of the Ishval massacre, we are often shown a giant wall being alchemically formed before a group of Ishvalans running desparately for their lives, and then they get gunned down by the soldiers chasing them. In the full on flashback given by Hawkeye, we see that the one who made the wall was ! The look on his face as he hears the gunshots is just...devastating.
 * Even WORSE in the manga. goes to the other side of the wall to see what happened and is walking in a complete daze among the dead bodies. He comes across an Ishvalan woman and her mother, who survived the massacre by hiding in a crevice the whole time. To alleviate his conscience, he busts a hole in the wall he created and tells them to flee. He watches them run off
 * The discovery that the Elrics really got to me.
 * Not only that, but
 * The look on Greed's face when he admits, in his entire life, . Especially poignant in the anime where we see this revelation.


 * When Izumi finds out about Al and Ed's attempting Human Transmutation in episode 12 of Brotherhood, after explaining what happened to her and sympathises with them, she tells them it's ok to let themselves hurt. Cue her hugging them both as Ed and Al break down apologising and begging her to forgive them.
 * At the end of the chapter "A 520-cenz promise", where doctor Knox is visited by his family was also a very tearful moment for this troper.

First anime
"Ed: When I was certain he was going to kill me, my mind went blank, and I didn't have any hope anymore. And the only thing I could do was scream my lungs out. I felt so helpless, I couldn't even bring myself to believe someone might save me. Then you showed up, Al. And I realized that if we don't take care of each other, then no one else will. So I'll do anything in my power to get our bodies back, even if it means being the military's lapdog. And we'll just have to hope our powers are good enough to help us rise above our own limits. [cries into his hands] 'Cause we're not gods. We're humans. Tiny, insignificant humans......"
 * Ed's utter howl of misery at the end, both for the original Japanese and the English dub... just KILLS me.
 * In the first anime when Tucker . Seeing him having completely snapped got to this troper.
 * A bit of Fridge Horror made this even worse. Because her father promised Nina to play with her the next day, it all might have made perfect sense to her.
 * The Mercy Kill. Y'see, in Brotherhood, we meet Chimeras who, while rather unhappy with their lot, are relatively well-adjusted and even looking into ways to restore themselves. If there was anything, anything at all, that could've been done to help Nina in the slightest, well... That door was slammed shut.
 * Oh God, Roy's flashback in episode 13. If the lighting, the hesitation of both characters, and "Regret" playing in the background wasn't enough, then Roy's shadow on the wall flaring up as Roy incinerates the poor boy absolutely killed me.
 * Episode 27, near the end. Izumi has just beaten the living crap out of Ed and Al after they finally confessed to attempting to bring their mother back. She stands before them, angry and disappointed. Then she walks over and holds them close to her. Cue a piano rendition of "Brothers." Both Ed and Al begin to cry. Gaaaah. Such a simply crafted scene, but easily one of the most powerful and beautiful in the entire series.
 * More or less anything to do with the first anime. Wrath, who is not so much evil as deeply, deeply unhinged for understandable reasons. The demise of his surrogate-mother  itself fairly teary, is a particularly good example of this, with Wrath inadvertently   and breaking down into full, honest-to-god tears afterwards. Imagine a horribly twisted 12-year old bawling his eyes out as his.
 * Don't forget "Reunion of the Fallen". Half Tear Jerker, half Nightmare Fuel.
 * One that really got to me was Greed's death, especially because of how much it comes across as essentially suicide, particularly with his inspirational speech of the dire need to stop his fellow Homunculi. It's also amazing to see Ed try and succeed in killing him one second and then start crying and screaming for him to wake up when he realizes the full import of what's happened.
 * Lets not forget, the human transmutation scene
 * You think that dub scene was bad... episode 8 anyone? This plays out in a shorter form after in the manga and Brotherhood, but the first anime is a whole lot more powerful as this was after a near death experience.
 * You think that dub scene was bad... episode 8 anyone? This plays out in a shorter form after in the manga and Brotherhood, but the first anime is a whole lot more powerful as this was after a near death experience.


 * Heck, the last minute or so of the second-to-last episode of the first anime was a combination of sadness and "What just happened" due to the rapid series of events. One heart-wrenching word:
 * When that episode first aired in English, this troper along with her sister and younger cousin watched the episode. The moment sent the troper into tears even though she knew he was . And then her cousin brought up that he wasn't real and not worth crying over...
 * No mention of the episode we see Ed and Al's past? The song Bratja at the end really hits it home, even if you don't know Russian.
 * While in Lab 5, the Slicer Brothers beg Ed to kill them, but he refuses, since denying they were human would mean Al was no longer human either. As this exchange is going on, Barry is convincing Al he's not human, only a product of false memories. If Ed's heartfelt speech isn't enough, the background song, Bratya really pushes it over the edge.
 * And don't forget Everyone's sad enough, including the viewers, even if we hadn't seen
 * Fridge Horror when you realize that they accidentally broke the same way
 * The biggest tear-jerker being  Even after a dozen times it still manages to tug on this Troper's heartstrings.
 * . She starts out as a monster. But seeing her go completely soul-crushingly depressed after Scar's death (which I'd love to nominate too) was just too much. After his death she never even smiles after that. She solemnly agrees with everyone after that. Even the Elrics that say they can kill her. And then when she teams up to kill Sloth she looks so sympathetic, and to top it off, as Wrath kills her she agrees with him on some level. It was so disturbing and seeing her downward spiral from a composed villian to a level of depression that deep was awful to This Troper.
 * The opening theme of Conqueror of Shambala, it may be one of the few good things about the movie, but the opening theme play a somewhat melancholy, yet upbeat song and show clips on what happen through out some of the 51 episodes. It also includes some of the most very sad moments like or  or  shedding a tear. Just check it out
 * Anything about Izumi in the movie. ..Sob.
 * The airplane scene broke my heart with Edward slowly making his resolve, turning away, then his heartwrenching calm voice as he explains himself to his brother, the way his face quivers for a moment... and THEN Al starts screaming and crying. And I cried with him and was inconsolable for several days (thanks to my notebook breaking down exactly at that point, rendering me unable to continue watching. ... yep, that's right. Even my notebook was moved.).
 * And then the cut to Winry who calmly states that Edward now never again will let her wait - and then her face quivers. This broke my heart the second time.
 * Alfons. Anything about Alfons. Starting with his life, continuing with his relationship to Edward  ending with his  . That man deserves a seat of honor here.
 * Rick and Rio's scenario. One of them hates their mother for "forsaking" them, when it turns out and went out to see them but ended up dying looking for them.].
 * death. In this version, he's not  And killed by
 * Rose. . She didn't have it good in her first appearance either.
 * Although it's something that everyone saw coming
 * There's something bittersweet about episode 4. Majhal was so in love with a woman who died that he . At the end of the episode it turns out Majhal refused to believe that impaled by his own sword. Even while dying Majhal refused to acknowledge
 * There's something bittersweet about episode 4. Majhal was so in love with a woman who died that he . At the end of the episode it turns out Majhal refused to believe that impaled by his own sword. Even while dying Majhal refused to acknowledge

Unsorted
"Al:"
 * Many, though everyone remembers
 * A recap of "Mother", itself a serious Tear Jerker, set to Bratja with full subtitles? Let it begin.
 * The Russian version is actually a bad schmaltzy piece of junk with stylistically questionable Russian.
 * If you think that's moving, just listen to the English version sung by Ed's voice actor Vic Mignogna.
 * There's also the last episode where