Art has always been the most sensible form of expression, especially through storytelling; just like there are diverse ways in which one can experience emotions, there are even more ways in which one can express them. Anime is a great popular genre in which stories present themselves in a variety of ways to make their topics relatable to their audience; loss being one of the most unique ones in this art form. Here’s a list of some amazing anime series that stretch out their empathy towards loss.
- Angel Beats!
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Released in 2010, Angel Beats! is a 13-episode fantasy anime produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex. Created by Jun Maeda, the plot revolves around Otonashi, a young man that finds himself in a high school type afterlife with no memory of how he died. In this new world he finds others like him and joins them to fight for a way to escape from their supposed utopia by defeating the student council president, an Angel named Kanade, who possesses supernatural powers.
- AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day
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Released in 2011, AnoHana is an 11-episode coming-of-age anime created by an artist collective known as the “Super Peace Busters”: Tatsuyuki Nagai, Mari Okada, and Masayoshi Tanaka. It follows the story of a group of six friends who drifted apart after the death of one of their own, Meiko (Menma), in a tragic accident during their childhood. When one of them, Jinta Yadomi, starts seeing the adolescent version of their deceased friend, the group is reunited once more.
- Death Parade
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Released in 2015, Death Parade is a 12-episode psychological anime created, written, and directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa and produced by Madhouse. Based on the short film Death Billiards, this story’s protagonist is Decim, an afterlife bartender whose job is to be an arbiter in Death Games, in which bartenders must judge and decide whether a soul will be reincarnated or banished into a void; he does this with the help of his assistant, a woman named Chiyuki, who Decim does not know how to judge.
- Violet Evergarden
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This anime was released in 2018, and based on the light novel series of the same name, written by Kana Akatsuki and illustrated by Akiko Takase. Violet Evergarden is a 13-episode coming-of-age anime, directed by Taichi Ishidate which revolves the story around Auto Memory Dolls (AMD): people employed to write letters for others who cannot write or can’t properly explain their feelings. One of these people is Violet Evergarden, a teenager who participated in various battles during the war that is now over, and becomes an AMD as a way to understand the final words of her mentor and guardian, Major Gilbert: “I love you.”
- Your Lie in April
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Released in 2014, and based on the manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa, Your Lie in April is a 22-episode musical, romantic drama anime series directed by Kyōhei Ishiguro and written by Takao Yoshioka. The plot follows Kōsei Arima, a piano prodigy who suffered from a mental breakdown while performing at a piano recital, shortly after his mother’s passing. Two years after this misfortune, during which he has not touched a piano, he views the world as a dull place until he meets Kaori Miyazono, a free-spirited violinist whom he falls for.
It should go without saying, but I recommend each one of these animes. I can guarantee that they are amazing, and genuine. From their main plot, to their realistic portrayals of various emotions and their ability to communicate with their audience, these are great stories that deserve to be told. Watching them makes you reflect on the complexity of life, and if you have actually gone through the process of losing someone, it could help you cope with all the difficult emotions that come with it. Remember, you’re never alone; there will always be someone willing to hear you, help you, and understand you.