One reason anime is interesting as a genre is because of the strong emotions it lets fans access. Whether it’s glorious stories of love found or of bittersweet break-up, of sadness due to loss or defeat in a heroic battle, it’s common for the stories in anime (and visual novels) to deeply affect fans in ways that mainstream Hollywood could never do. Yesterday I found myself re-watching the ending to Oreimo, especially a certain highly emotional scene with Kuroneko. I made a post to J-List’s Facebook page asking people to list their favorite emotional “crying porn” scenes (e.g. moving scenes that make us cry), and everyone had some great ones. Taiga realizing she really loved Ryuji in Toradora and running out into the street calling his name, the scene during the tennis game in Clannad when Kyou and her sister realize that Tomoya has chosen someone other than them then break down in tears, and the episode in which Madoka tearfully asks Homura to use her time-traveling powers to change her fate. Thinking back, it was the strong story and emotions seen in Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers) that first called me to anime back in the late 70s…I was amazed that characters could fall in love or die dramatically, which wasn’t supposed to be allowed in animation.
Anime is best when it’s filled with strong emotions.
