Sailor Moon/Tear Jerker

She's got a DAMN good reason to cry this time

The second-to-last and last episodes of the first season of Sailor Moon unedited.
- Every single friggin death of the Sailor Senshi (although they do get better.)
  - Especially Jupiter's and Venus'.
- The Speech near the end of 46 made me cry more than all the senshi's deaths combined.
- Usagi being comforted by her memories of the now-deceased Sailor Senshi after she hopes that it's all been just a really bad dream. They tell her that they'll always be together. "That's right... I'm not alone! Never alone!" * sniff*
Episode 24 (Nephrite's death and Naru's reaction to it).
- Surprisingly, this scene is just as good in the dubbed version. As one MiSTing put it, "not even Mary Long's terrible voicing of Molly could ruin that scene".
- The Latin-American VA's made it just as heartwretching. Cristina Camargo's " Nephrite... no... don't leave me, no! Don't die, Nephrite, please don't..." * sob* " NEPHRIIIIIIITEEEE!"
- The Italian voice for Naru is very soft, but for some reason this makes her screams even sadder.
Episode 47 ( when Usagi gets her Laser-Guided Amnesia undone by Luna and screams when she remembers that she's Sailor Moon, and sadly says "Normal schoolgirl life... bai bai" after finishing off the Monster of the Week)
Episode 69 ( Usagi gets so depressed over Mamoru dumping her that she's easy prey for the Youma that almost kills her through a Lotus Eater Machine, but Mamoru can't return with her even after saving her through a Kiss of Life )
Episode 87 ( Usagi and Naru's talk right before Usagi launches her last attack on Black Moon, to de-brainwash Chibi-Usa and defeat the enemy
Episode 110 ( Michiru and Haruka's Tailismans appear, and the famous hands scene)
Episode 194 with Usagi breaking down because Seiya threw a rose during the battle and saying that she didn't want to be alone. Made all the better by Seiya asking her quietly if he's good enough. It's hard to make words do justice-- Kotono Mitsuishi's performance is just gut-wrenching.
And many, many moments in episodes 195-200 ( Kakyuu's Heroic Sacrifice and its effects on the Starlights, Seiya's "Am I not good enough?" scene, the Senshi's own deaths, Usagi finding out that Mamoru died through Bus Crash, Uranus and Neptune's last stand and deaths, Usagi's defeat of Galaxia via The Power of Love instead of killing her).
- And let's not forget (the moment right after that, where Usagi is left hanging, all alone, until she hears first Rei, then Mamoru calling to her...)
- On the subject of the revelation of Mamoru's death via Buscrash, what's the very last thing Rei says to Usagi? "At least you still have Mamoru." She says it before the reveal.
- As well, with the last stand of Uranus and Neptune, we get a Hope Spot when their music starts playing... then cue the sudden cut of the music as it is revealed that their plan, which involved killing Saturn and Pluto, was all for nothing. And then you see the two of them, who always fight to the end, just give up...

Uranus: Are you scared, Michiru?
Neptune: Haruka...
Uranus: What?
Neptune: I want to touch you... Haruka...

Let's not forget the heartwretching scene in the R movie where Usagi is being tortured by Fiore in exchange for having him spare the Inner Senshi; as the girls remember how Usagi pulled each of them out of their lonely lives, they get up again and beg him to spare Usagi. Rei even says, "You don't get it at all! If we didn't meet Usagi... we ALL would've been alone!"
- And then just minutes later, we get the scene with the Senshi and Tuxedo Mask all surrounding the deceased Usagi...just before Mamoru brings her back to life thanks to Fiore's sacrifice, causing all of them to break out in tears. A Tear Jerker of the sad-to-happy variety.
- Just before that when When Usagi, as Serenity, knowingly uses the Silver Crystal at the risk of her life to prevent the comet from crashing into earth. Knowing what she's doing, the Senshi each call out her name in fear, only for her to boldly state she'll save everyone [IE; the earth] . The Senshi and Endimon!Mamorou lend her their powers and each of the Senshi has a flash back and begin to cry, Usagi has a hopeful monologue, all 5 senshi call out their transformation phrases to focus their powers. It works, diverting the commet, but the Silver Crystal shatters and Usagi drops over dead
- Who could forget the scene where Fiore sees, in flashback, the origin of the flower that Mamoru gave him on the roof? Mamoru, having woken up in the hospital after losing his parents and memory is comforted by a little Usagi who is there to celebrate the birth of her little brother. She gives Mamoru a flower as part of her celebration and that is what calms him down. Hell, even Fiore's moved to Manly Tears at this.
The whole finale of the Nehelenia arc, but especially Hotaru's battle. "Those eyes again... DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH SUCH EYES!" And Chibiusa trying to revive her father in the background was painful. As well as her disappearing out of existence in the arms of an injured, exhausted, almost defeated Usagi (pictured above is the moment when Chibi-Usa fully vanishes, leaving poor Usagi with her arms empty).
- Lest we forget Usagi telling Nehelenia that she can't imagine living as lonely and sad as she did (after Nehelenia explains her Freudian Excuse and Start of Darkness), then sweetly begging her to let go of the others and focus only on her, if she truly wants revenge. And then we see the Magic Mirrors the Senshi are trapped in and every single one (even the Outers) are weeping as they foresee Usagi's upcoming Heroic Sacrifice. Heck, even the brainwashed Mamoru cries, which saves him from his brainwashing
One from the R manga: Sailor Pluto's Heroic Sacrifice, when she stops time knowing it'll kill her so she can stop Dirmando from destroying the universe. Especially when it undoes Chibi-Usa/Black Lady's brainwashing, lets her morph into Sailor Chibimoon, and then the poor little girl sees Pluto's dead body and bawls. This Troper can't remember the exact quote, but it was like this: "Pluto! Look at me, please! Open your eyes! I wanted you to see me as a Sailor Senshi! I want you to see I've grown! PLUTO, PLEASE, WAKE UP! NOOOOOOOOOOO!".}
- The secene is pretty much repeated the same way in the Sera Myu (Specificly the Black Lady Musicals.) The other Outer Senshi (Who are from Crystal Tokyo like Pluto in this version) try to soften the blow by telling her she's just resting. The fact Chibi-Usa and Black Lady have a duet shortly after Pluto dies that is just as sad makes the scene worse.
Also, from the first season: you had Zoicite die in Kunzite's arms, making a last request to die beautifully and then reaffirming his love for Kunzite as he lays dying in his lover's arms. The moment it's clear that Zoicite is going to die, you can almost see tears start to form in Kunzite's eyes. And it's repeated when Kunzite dies fighting the Sailor Senshi, his last words crying out to Zoicite.
- The dub actually makes it more heartbreaking, as "Malichite" actually pleads for "Zoycite" to be spared, and his voice is filled with emotion as "she" bids him goodbye.
Third season, Episode 99. Yuushirou gets ready to leave the Hikawa shrine after (mistakenly) thinking Rei is being seduced by a two-timing Haruka, and Rei being in the verge of an Heroic BSOD at Yuushirou's lack of trust in her. Rei asking Usagi in tears "Why? Why... why didn't trust me until the end...?" is heartbreaking even for those who don't ship Yuu/Rei. And then there's that goddamned song played in the background... * weeps*
Cooan's Villainous Breakdown in R. Seeing her completely break after Rubeus orders her to kill herself and the Seishi and the girls foil these plans, only for the poor girl to start attacking them in tears since she has lost everything, until Mars takes pity on her and manages to talk her down, then pleads with Moon to use the Gizinshou to purify her - all of this, until the last actions by Mars is horrible to watch.
- To twist the knife even more, Beruche's own VB is a bit more restrained, but it's still very depressing to have her abandoned by Cadaveras and Petz after her loss to Mercury, then see her smile softly and tell everyone that she should have seen this coming as tears roll down her face and then try to freeze herself to death since she's been abandoned and has no reason to live Fortunately, Cooan talks her out of it and she's purified too. Aw, so good.
Third season finale: Hotaru's just overcome Mistress' Nine and tranforms into Sailor Saturn. She explains to Sailor Moon that she is, indeed, the "Soldier of Destruction" that Uranus and Neptune feared, and calmy states that when she use her power, she will be destroyed. She then goes off to battle Pharaoh 90. Sailor Moon is aghast, tries to power up into Super Sailor Moon--and her transformation fails because the Grail was Destoryed. She keeps trying, and each time she shouts "CRISIS MAKE-UP!" she sounds more and more desprate. Just thinking about Sailor Moon on all fours, sobbing "Why?"... At the brink of hysterics she tries one last time and the powers of the Other Senshi combine and her pure heart crystal forces hitself out of her body to allow her to transform. When finished her eyes are blank with tears streaming down her face and goes to join Sailor Saturn in battle.
- As Mistress 9/Hotaru becomes more schizophrenic, Dr. Tomoe thinking back to Hotaru as a child with him. He cries at the memory and apologizes profusely.
  - Don't forget the scene in which we learn why is this happening. The then-normal Tomoe and Hotaru were caught in an experiment Gone Horribly Wrong and Tomoe's original lab explodes, killing Tomoe's assistants (and apparently, Hotaru's mother Keiko). A badly-injured Tomoe finds a dying Hotaru and crosses the Despair Event Horizon, screaming that he'd do anything to save his daughter's life. Then, Pharaoh 90 appears and offers him a Deal with the Devil to save her...
Episode 42: Minako's backstory... Nuff Said.
Episode 49 had Makoto's backstory of her sempai that she had remained brokenhearted over for the longest time. The hurt look on her face and that song can be seen in this scene. The English dub did a surprisingly good job with an English song. In fact, the whole episode became somewhat of a tearjerker in that Makoto had given blood to her best friend Shinozaki (who was never mentioned again, though) and became and her fight scene became close to a Crowning Moment of Awesome to her, seen here. A time that someone besides Usagi could actually defeat the monster.
- Although Uranus and Neptune also could pull that off in episode 90. Which is tied with another Tear Jerker: right before that, Rei had her Heart Crystal stolen and not only the other girls (and Mamoru) were powerless since they got caught before transforming, but Usagi had been Brought Down to Normal after her brooch was damaged by the Monster of the Week. As Usagi watched Rei being stripped of her Crystal, she had flashbacks to a conversation that she and Rei had earlier, and since she couldn't do anything to save her, she was crying and begging for help for Rei... Then came the Big Damn Heroes, the destruction of the monster and the girls being rescued, but the Tear Jerker remained here and there.
Super S might have unpopular, but episode 152 had a surprisingly powerful one. A girl named Nanako is pretty much infatuated with Rei and follows her around, wanting to become a Miko like her. Rei at first thinks it's funny, but later she snaps and says she wants Nanako to go get a life... Poor Nanako hears this and is heartbroken, running away in tears. She's then captured by the Amazon Quartet, who release a Monkey-themed Monster of the Week which, in the middle of the fight, eats Nanako's Dream Mirror to power itself up... then changes her features to make self look like Nanako and starts to openly mock her, revealing that she imitated Rei because she was a Fragile Flower without any self-esteem. What seals the deal is that we then see a half-unconscious Nanako crying and begging the monster to stop belittling her. Rei is so pissed off at the enemy when she finds out that she suits up into Mars and pulls her Mid-Season Upgrade, the Mars Flame Sniper, alongside a Crowning Moment of Awesome that lets her beat the monster enough to have Moon and Chibi-Moon kill it. And much to our relief, despite all the Break the Cutie, Nanako gets better and is able to search for her own goals.
Nehellenia throws Chibi-Usa off the cliff and Usagi dives after her, first desperate but calm, until she's in her arms and falling past skyscrapers and Usagi begs, "Please, Chibi-Usa! I want us to become adults together..." The scene was animated just beautifully and really expressed the mother/daughter love between the two.
Saphir's death! The guy, who's been nothing but dutiful towards his brother, Demando, finds out about Wiseman's true intentions, and tries to warn him. But because He Knows Too Much, Wiseman attempts to kill him. Saphir escapes, ends up back in the hands of the sisters, but still tries to warn Demando of the danger they're in. In the end, Wiseman kills Saphir off (in front of Demando no less) before he can spill the beans. And then the bandages on Saphir's head fall off, revealing he's truly turned good/been purified on his own free will. And to drive it further, there's a flashback of Demando and Saphir as kids looking at flowers, and Demando promising his little brother that one day they'll see flowers on Earth and live there. Saphir's death was every bit as painful for Demando as it was for the audience, since this means he'll never get to fulfill his promises to Saphir. Also at the moment of his death, the jacket he left with Petz from where it's hanging on the wall and she realizes he's died. Damn, it's just heartbreaking.
There's a scene in what I believe is the SuperS movie (it's the one where the Big Bad sending her henchmen to hypnotize children into following them to these giant gondolas and then taking them away to be put into eternal sleep or something) where Chibiusa has been captured by the villain and placed on a slowly ascending gondola. The senshi can't save her and can only watch as Chibiusa is carried away. The tearjerker comes when you see Sailor Moon's face. She is clearly horrified and trying her hardest (and failing) not to cry.
Episode 164 - Pegasus returns to his body as Helios. Chibi-Moon and Helios are about to be pulled apart from each other, but grab each others' hands, and Helios yells "Chibi-Usa-chan!" and Chibi-Moon says "That's the first time you've said my name .." And her desperate screams when the Golden Crystal is taken from Helios and he disappears.
Usagi's dream in episode 62: The friendship of the Sailor Warriors, goodbye Ami!
- Most of the episode as well. Especially Ami's image song.
Episode 69, where Usagi/Serena thinks Mamoru/Darien dumped her for another girl (this was around the time that Mamoru/Darien had recurring nightmares of marrying Serena and a voice telling Mamuro/Darien to stay away from her or the universe would be destroyed), there's a part where Usagi/Serena is in front of the refrigerator, stuffing her face out of depression, though that's nothing compared to the scene in episode 61 where after Usagi/Serena fails at getting back together with Mamoru/Darien, she then walks down the street, stops at a phone booth, locks herself in it, and breaks down crying.
- Also in Episode 69, the Monster of the Week puts Sailor Moon in a sort of trance that starts to drain her life away. The scouts can't get her to wake up. Luna leaves the scene as she has flashbacks of Usagi/Serena stuffing her face from earlier that night. Luna gets to Mamoru/Darien's place and pleads with him to come save her. At first he's reluctant (because he still believes he's trying to protect her) but eventually goes and saves her. This is a Hope Spot for Sailor Moon, but he just turns a cold shoulder to her again after she wakes up.
Episode 106, where Haruka and Michiru's backstory is told. There was something incredibly depressing about Michiru sacrifising her career as a violinist just to save Haruka from becoming a senshi. Not to mention that it becomes even more depressing when Michiru confesses that she was the girl who wanted nothing more than being with Haruka. (She'd mentioned "that girl" when she first met Haruka.)
Episode 109. There's something utterly depressing about Minako thinking she's not "pure" enough. And then that scene, where Eugeal shoots her... and instead of losing consciousness, she runs off with the crystal.
Episode 110. The Death of Neptune. Crowning Music of Awesome.
Episode 132. I always tear up when Usagi covers Mamoru which results in her almost suffocating.
- That was such a Tear Jerker that the Monster of the Week tears up.
The death of the Amazon Trio.
- Oh, it's more than that. Much more. Fish starts to wonder who they really are, even attacking Tiger and seeing that they have no Dream Mirrors; later, Fish has a Villainous BSOD and just sits under the rain until Usagi comes to his rescue, and then we hsve the worst/best part: Usagi being captured, Mind Raped by the Monster of the Week (which was NOT sent by the Trio) and having her Mirror shattered, letting out a yell of pain and almost becoming an Empty Shell. Fish's scream of utter horror and despair is heartbreaking. This is followed by Hawk Taking the Bullet for Fish, Fish and Tiger pulling an Heroic Sacrifice to save Usagi and retrieve Chibi-Usa so they can defeat the monster, and then Helios rescuing their souls after they die. Really, that two-parter was MADE of this trope, and it was one of the best parts of the Super S season.
The end of SuperS Anime. Chibiusa and Helios promising to meet each other again, all very cute. From Helios' point of view, though, Chibiusa travelled from the 30th Century to the 20th Century .. and you realize he has to wait a century or longer to see her again. That last hug and the strings version of "Watashi-tachi Ni Naritakute" was just very emotional.
Kaorinite's Death in the Sailor Moon S series is always saddening. She did everything for that Tomoe, or at least she thought she did. Getting thrown back into an electric barrier would also probably hurt very much. It doesn't make it any better when you realize that Kaorinite even sacrificed herself attempting to defeat the senshi, only to be ressurected, only to be disposed of by Mistress Nine simply because "her job was now over."
The deaths of a few of the Witches Five also qualify as well. Eudial, simply because she was Mimette's butt monkey and was the victim of many a prank. Viluy, because she devoted her life to her machines, even as she vanishes, Mercury says "Poor girl..." and lastly, Mimette, who even had a brief Heel Face Turn when thinking of not being a bad person anymore. Although she technically didn't die, she's simply stuck inside a giant tv when Tellu pulls the plug with her inside... which is a Fate Worse Than Death.
The deaths of both Aluminum Seiren and Lead Crow in Stars.
Episode 80, Ami was being accused of cheating on an exam and the way she's just looked down by the other students is heartbreaking. Later in the episode,the Monster Of the Day shoots a beam at her to make her have illusions that her friends are against her. While "they" are all saying that, there are clips of the other Senshi happy, making the scene all the more sad. The scene is just as sad in the English dub.
- In episode 97, Ami has severe self-doubts. After a pep-talk from Mamoru and regaining her self-esteem after a swimming race with Michiru, she is attacked by a daimon. Sailor Moon tries to save her, but is incapacitated, and has to watch helplessly while the daimon takes out Ami's heart. She begs it to leave Ami alone, because she has beautiful dreams and because she's her dear friend. Ami hears it and starts crying.
How can this not be mentioned here? The sad theme of Sailor Saturn playing while appearing to Sailor Moon and just as she plans to sacrifice herself? Just listening to the music in this is extremely saddening, especially the violin.
Toward the end of the manga, when Usagi introduces Artemis and Diana to her mother, and tells her to take care of them before she goes off to fight Galaxia. Ikuko stares in fear as she tells her husband she gets the feeling she's never going to see Usagi again, while Luna, Artemis, and Diana who are unable to talk due to damage to their crescent moons mew pitifully as they know Usagi's walking to her doom.
Galaxia's Redemption Equals Death in the manga. Despite how horribly evil she'd been, it's a surprisingly sad scene.

Sailor Galaxia: Sailor Moon... the star that I finally found. So big and beautiful, but never mine to have. But your star will always shine in this galaxy.

In the English soundtrack, just the song, "My Only Love" brings this troper to tears, especially when it played in the English version.
- In fact, most people who favor the uncut Japanese version of Sailor Moon over the edited, American version from DiC (and later Cloverway) do admit that "My Only Love" (from the episode where Darien is revealed to be Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon is revealed to be the Moon Princess) is a better song to play over the last part of the episode than what the Japanese version had (though the Japanese version is heartbreaking in its own right).
- In the Latin-American dub, we had a Spanish-translated version of the Japanese song. It was very sad too.
Though Your Mileage May Vary depending on your Shipping preferences, anything related to Seiya's Hopeless Suitor status. That includes the "Am I not good enough?" scene above, as well as "If only I'd have met you sooner." Note how in Episode 188, where everyone is forced to reveal their identities to each other, a bittersweet Starlights song with exactly that content starts playing in the background as if to emphasize that it just can't work anymore. And arguably, it may be even more sad that Seiya seems to take it all in good spirit rather than getting depressed.
- Shipping preferences nothing! I prefer Mamoru/Usagi and Seiya/Princess Kakyuu over Seiya/Usagi and I still felt like shit for poor Seiya. The poor kid truly needed a hug.
When being brainwashed into Black Lady in season two, Chibi-usa has a dream about being abandoned on her birthday. The background music playing while she cries just makes it a thousand times worse.
- The other dream/flashback could count too. Chibiusa runs after a frog and slips in the rain when she ignores her mother's warning not to run. Her parents, because she didn't listen, refuse to help. The way Chibiusa views this is indeed heartbreaking, as she sees it as her parents wanting her to be hurt rather than wanting her to learn to be self-sufficient (as we learn a few episodes down the road).
The S movie was so-so, but the scene where Luna explains to Usagi how she feels about Kakeru and ends up crying in an also sobbing Usagi's arms? Holy shit, that was so sad.

"If I could be at his side as a human... I would at least be able to tell him how I feel!"

The episode where Ami feels like she is only valued for her intelligence. That on its own is depressing, but the big tear jerker comes when when Ami, as Sailor Mercury, gets her pure heart crystal shot out. Sailor Moon tearfully pleads with the Monster of the Week to return it, explaining how important Ami is to her and everyone else. Becomes a bit heartwarming because Ami hears every word she says.
The episode where Sailor Moon purifies Koan/Catsy. Koan is madly in love with Rubeus, but he doesn't give two squats about her. So when she fails him again while fighting Sailor Mars, he gives her a ball of destruction that will kill everything in the area, including her. Koan starts crying and is seriously considering using it. The other scouts arrive and thwart her plan but Koan starts attacking the other scouts out of anger and sadness, saying she's useless. Just as Sailor Jupiter is about to lay one on her, Mars takes the hit for her and says Koan doesn't have to be evil anymore and they can purify her.
- Due to Rubeus generally being a Jerkass to the Weird Sisters, they all have a turning point that involves them reaching a Despair Event Horizon. Berthier/Birdie's moment had Koan coming after her as she tried to freeze herself to death.