Stories that will resonate with each and every viewer.
Like people in the real world, anime characters change a lot when they experience loss. Some refuse to believe what has happened, some try to rethink the past, and some even become obsessed. We've chosen stories in which characters face loss and search for ways to survive it.
1. Erased, 2016
Twenty-nine-year-old failed manga artist Satoru is dissatisfied with his monotonous and gray life. But he is no ordinary person, because he has an incredible gift: when he witnesses a tragedy, Satoru can go back in time and prevent it.
Usually, this ability only works for a short period of time, but one day it took the man back to his childhood – to the very time when his town was facing the disappearance of several children.
Satoru has been given a second chance. He will find out what decisions in his distant past led him to such a life.
2. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, 2018
The lorphs are mythical creatures who live far from human cruelty and war. However, in their quest for longevity, humans catch up with their tribe, destroy them and steal their women.
By chance, a girl named Maquia manages to escape. She wanders aimlessly alone through the forest until she hears a child's cry and stumbles upon a looted nomad camp.
Among the survivors, Maquia finds only a human baby, whom she decides to adopt. However, the humans live much less than the lorphs. Maquia wants her son to stay small, but this is not to be.
3. Violet Evergarden, 2018
A young woman wakes up in a hospital and discovers that her hands, used to hold a machine gun, have been replaced by mechanical prostheses. The last thing she remembers is another military battle and the badly wounded Major Gilbert – the only person she has followed all her life.
She receives only evasive answers to her questions about him. The Major is missing and Violet, not knowing how to live without him, decides to wait faithfully.
The girl is not used to experiencing her own feelings or understanding the feelings of others. She has a long way to go before she understands what love is and what she really feels for the Major. And this will happen thanks to her work as a letter-writing assistant.
4. Vinland Saga, 2019-2023
Having heard stories and legends, the village boys dreamed of travel and battle. So when Vikings docked at their settlement and called the boys to join the war, little Thorfinn could not resist and climbed aboard the departing ship.
His father, once an invincible warrior, taught his son to avoid violence and to make no enemies. Thorfinn will have to endure much, including watching his father die, to finally understand what he meant.
5. Ride Your Wave, 2019
In the past, she saved him from drowning, and in the present, he saved her from a fire. Their love story began as only fairy tales can. But a tragic accident separated them forever, taking his life and leaving Hinako all alone.
The girl is unable to cope with the loss. In her despair, she begins to see her beloved where they first met: in the water. Now Hinako will not part with him and carries his spirit with her wherever she goes. But to move on, she must stop and let go of her past.