Saddest Moments for you in the 90s Anime

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Slowpokeking

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 1, 2020
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#1
To me it's

The end of DK arc, no doubt
Seeing the happy-go-lucky Berthier pretend to smile but break in tears
Eudial's last 2 episode, I really wanted to beat the crap out of her for hurting my favorite Michiru like that. Still didn't want to look back at it.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#2
The girls dying at the end of season one. More so Mako and Rei as I feel Ami and Minako’s deaths were glossed over

Koan’s mental breakdown in episode 70

Haruka and Michiru’s “deaths” in episode 110z
 
Feb 4, 2020
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Crystal Tokyo
#5
Chibiusa’s death in Nehellenia arc of Stars, Haruka and Michiru’s in ep 198 (?), Minako’s backstory ep in classic, Nephrite’s death (mostly because of Naru’s reaction), Hotaru’s backstory
The inners’ deaths in classic and stars always felt too plot convenient to make me cry as much as the others.
 

Slowpokeking

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 1, 2020
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#6
Chibiusa’s death in Nehellenia arc of Stars, Haruka and Michiru’s in ep 198 (?), Minako’s backstory ep in classic, Nephrite’s death (mostly because of Naru’s reaction), Hotaru’s backstory
The inners’ deaths in classic and stars always felt too plot convenient to make me cry as much as the others.
DK arc and Stars has a huge difference, in DK arc their death were much more meaningful because they killed the DD girls and put Usagi with determination, and showed up in the last to help her win. Stars felt very pointless which is why the ending is nowhere close to DK arc.
 
Feb 4, 2020
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Crystal Tokyo
#7
DK arc and Stars has a huge difference, in DK arc their death were much more meaningful because they killed the DD girls and put Usagi with determination, and showed up in the last to help her win. Stars felt very pointless which is why the ending is nowhere close to DK arc.
My problem with both these endings is that the whole team dies one by one to leave the final battle to Usagi. For example in S season, Pluto dies to save Uranus and Neptune. To that point the 3 of them more or less acted as a team, but after Pluto is not there anymore, the rest needs to continue their mission. Also in PGSM, after Minako’s death, the rest of the team needs to continue fighting without her.
In every other version, the Inners are treated as one guardian in 4 bodies. If one gets a power up, we can expect 3 more power up episodes/chapters. If one gets kidnapped, the rest will soon too. If one dies…

That’s why, although I admit I cried the first time I saw DK and stars anime endings, I can’t really count these are the saddest moments of the 90s anime.
 

Slowpokeking

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 1, 2020
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#8
My problem with both these endings is that the whole team dies one by one to leave the final battle to Usagi. For example in S season, Pluto dies to save Uranus and Neptune. To that point the 3 of them more or less acted as a team, but after Pluto is not there anymore, the rest needs to continue their mission. Also in PGSM, after Minako’s death, the rest of the team needs to continue fighting without her.
In every other version, the Inners are treated as one guardian in 4 bodies. If one gets a power up, we can expect 3 more power up episodes/chapters. If one gets kidnapped, the rest will soon too. If one dies…

That’s why, although I admit I cried the first time I saw DK and stars anime endings, I can’t really count these are the saddest moments of the 90s anime.
Yes they died, but their effort has lasted, you can see how their death impact Usagi by driving her with determination, even let her be able to fight the brainwashed Mamoru to not let her friends die in vain. Then in the end all of their spirits showed up to help Usagi win against Super Beryl. They did move as a team even in death.
 

Nadia

Aurorae Lunares
Jun 30, 2010
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#13
Without a shadow of a doubt, the saddest moment in the 90's Sailor Moon anime is Nephrite's death.

What makes it so sad is how beautifully it subverts audience expectations, at least at the time. We have seen Jadeite be an unrepentant jerk every single episode he was in. While Nephrite's approach was different, aside from his rivalry with Zoisite, there was little evidence he would be anything but the same as his predecessor in terms of alignment. While the relationship dynamics with our heroes were changing (Rei starts dating Mamoru), the bad guys were being bad as a standard. And then Naru got hit by the love bug.

Despite her love, Nephrite was evil, manipulative and only out to save his own skin. He didn't change his ways for her. He did not have doubts about his mission. It was only the interference of his rival, Zoisite, which forced him to team up with his enemy temporarily.

Yet the seeds of change were planted.

He still was an enemy to Sailor Moon and even was able to score a victory of learning her secret identity, but despite himself, he was starting to be softened by Naru, a girl he used and abused. He rescued her even when he didn't have to. In time, maybe he could leave the Dark Kingdom, even if it didn't mean he would join the good guys...but you could see that he might do that too, in time.

And his time runs out with a bunch of sticks impaling his chest.

Never before have we seen the violence of the Dark Kingdom be so real or visceral. Up until this point other than a scrape or two every instance of true harm (not close calls) has been couched in the realm of magical trances or transformations. This is different. This isn't a flesh wound. This isn't merely magic. To make matters worse, Zoisite takes Nephrite's special trinket on top of that.

And Naru, try as she might, pulls on those sticks in an attempt to save Nephrite. One of them budges. Her mortal efforts might just work. The heroes arrive and beat the cannon fodder.

But it's all for naught. Nephrite dies in front of a bawling Naru who doesn't even have the consolation of a body. Instead, he disappears, both physically and mentally leaving Naru forever. The beauty of his disappearance, mixed with the gore of his injury only makes it sadder. To the audience, Nephrite should have been saved but wasn't. His death is sad not just because of the circumstances but because of the juxtaposition of the heroes winning the battle but losing a potential ally so swiftly and brutally. The Dark Kingdom turned the tide in the war.

There are other moments in Sailor Moon that were sad, like dub Zoycite's death*, the entire flashback to the fall of the Silver Millennium, the scene where Usagi received her first power-up, Wiseman convincing Black Lady that her memories restored by the Crystal were fake, Saphir's death, the bittersweet goodbye with Chibi-Usa and Usagi at the end of R.

None of these moments have the same impact as Nephrite's demise, because Nephrite was set up so well as a character before that moment. Unlike the heroes, he did not get to live another day.

As for the deaths of the Inners, that never got to me in large part because I was exposed to Sailor Moon via the dub. I don't just mean because the dub cut the deaths out and pretended the girls were kidnapped, or even because it smashed the demises and the resurrection into a single episode. No, I wasn't sad but because the very next episode, Sailor Moon was back in action and the rest of the girls were the same way. The nature of the presentation muted the impact.

Plus...if your name is part of a title and it's kids media, you're probably going to be back.

If I have been exposed to the original version, and if there had been a break between episodes, then I might have been hurt. However, for me the deaths of the girls was like the death and resurrection of certain pop-culture figures. By the time I watched the media, I knew that person did not stay dead.

*You can hate the censorship, but Kirsten Bishop's delivery of her final lines is far more heartbreaking than that of the original version. Original Zoisite's desire to die pretty may be memorable, but dub Zoycite wanting Malachite to promise to never forget her (and again, how it's delivered) really pulls the emotional trigger on his self-destructive spiral.
 
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Slowpokeking

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 1, 2020
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#14
Without a shadow of a doubt, the saddest moment in the 90's Sailor Moon anime is Nephrite's death.

What makes it so sad is how beautifully it subverts audience expectations, at least at the time. We have seen Jadeite be an unrepentant jerk every single episode he was in. While Nephrite's approach was different, aside from his rivalry with Zoisite, there was little evidence he would be anything but the same as his predecessor in terms of alignment. While the relationship dynamics with our heroes were changing (Rei starts dating Mamoru), the bad guys were being bad as a standard. And then Naru got hit by the love bug.

Despite her love, Nephrite was evil, manipulative and only out to save his own skin. He didn't change his ways for her. He did not have doubts about his mission. It was only the interference of his rival, Zoisite, which forced him to team up with his enemy temporarily.

Yet the seeds of change were planted.

He still was an enemy to Sailor Moon and even was able to score a victory of learning her secret identity, but despite himself, he was starting to be softened by Naru, a girl he used and abused. He rescued her even when he didn't have to. In time, maybe he could leave the Dark Kingdom, even if it didn't mean he would join the good guys...but you could see that he might do that too, in time.

And his time runs out with a bunch of sticks impaling his chest.

Never before have we seen the violence of the Dark Kingdom be so real or visceral. Up until this point other than a scrape or two every instance of true harm (not close calls) has been couched in the realm of magical trances or transformations. This is different. This isn't a flesh wound. This isn't merely magic. To make matters worse, Zoisite takes Nephrite's special trinket on top of that.

And Naru, try as she might, pulls on those sticks in an attempt to save Nephrite. One of them budges. Her mortal efforts might just work. The heroes arrive and beat the cannon fodder.

But it's all for naught. Nephrite dies in front of a bawling Naru who doesn't even have the consolation of a body. Instead, he disappears, both physically and mentally leaving Naru forever. The beauty of his disappearance, mixed with the gore of his injury only makes it sadder. To the audience, Nephrite should have been saved but wasn't. His death is sad not just because of the circumstances but because of the juxtaposition of the heroes winning the battle but losing a potential ally so swiftly and brutally. The Dark Kingdom turned the tide in the war.

There are other moments in Sailor Moon that were sad, like dub Zoycite's death*, the enitre flashback to the fall of the Silver Millennium, the scene where Usagi received her first power-up, Wiseman convincing Black Lady that her memories restored by the Crystal were fake, Saffir's death, the bittersweet goodbye with Chibi-Usa and Usagi at the end of R.

None of these moments have the same impact as Nephrite's demise, because Nephrite was set up so well as a character before that moment. Unlike the heroes, he did not get to live another day.

As for the deaths of the Inners, that never got to me in large part because I was exposed to Sailor Moon via the dub. I don't just mean because the dub cut the deaths out and pretended the girls were kidnapped, or even because it smashed the demises and the resurrection into a single episode. No, I wasn't sad but because the very next episode, Sailor Moon was back in action and the rest of the girls were the same way. The nature of the presentation muted the impact.

Plus...if your name is part of a title and it's kids media, you're probably going to be back.

If I have been exposed to the original version, and if there had been a break between episodes, then I might have been hurt. However, for me the deaths of the girls was like the death and resurrection of certain pop-culture figures. By the time I watched the media, I knew that person did not stay dead.

*You can hate the censorship, but Kirsten Bishop's delivery of her final lines is far more heartbreaking than that of the original version. Original Zoisite's desire to die pretty may be memorable, but dub Zoycite wanting Malachite to promise to never forget her (and again, how it's delivered) really pulls the emotional trigger on his self-destructive spiral.
True, Nephrite to me, was the best characterized male of the 90s anime.

He was a very powerful and menacing villain, at the same time with personality especially pride even before Beryl. Before that one he even used Naru for his goal many times. That romance would never work on the long term.

But it was just handled so well in the right time, to make it so powerful and shockingly beautiful. Amazing job to end this villain's story.

However, the Inner Four's death in DK arc and Michiru's death in S beat it to me. I couldn't even look back at the scene which Michiru got shot by trap. That's too cruel, it also got to do with her being my favorite.

Glad China never cut out the Inner Four's death, just changed some dialog. And they didn't just stop there, their death encouraged Usagi to grow strong against brainwashed Mamoru, and showed up in the last to help Usagi win. The memory loss also left me in deep sadness.
 
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Lum-chan 80

Luna Crescens
Sep 5, 2019
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#15
Gotta go with one of the last episodes in the S season with Usagi struggling to transform and shouting Crisis Make Up over and over again. I don't know how good either of the dubs did it but Usagi's Japanese VA really sold the desperation in her voice
 
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GalX3

Luna Crescens
Nov 13, 2018
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#16
Usagi telling Rei that she didn't have any reply from Mamoru in Stars.
Agreed. Just finished watching part 2 of Stars and this is by far the saddest, most heart-wrenching moment. And a lot of distressing things happen in Stars.

Off topic but the season is supposed to be about the importance of working together instead of trying to do everything yourself (like Galaxia previously shouldering the burden of absorbing all of Chaos, or Usagi withholding the burden of others worrying about her/Mamo, or the outers/Starlights trying to defeat Galaxia independently), and ends with Usagi standing around crying until almost all her friends are dead or near death before saving the day... by herself.
Director: "I'm not sure the audience hates Galaxia enough yet"
...all inner Senshi die instantly without the ability to even try and defend themselves. At least they could have died trying to perform a Sailor Planet attack?
...Princess Kakyuu appears right at the end of one episode and is killed at the end of the very next episode.
 
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Jul 11, 2013
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#17
Agreed. Just finished watching part 2 of Stars and this is by far the saddest, most heart-wrenching moment. And a lot of distressing things happen in Stars.

Off topic but the season is supposed to be about the importance of working together instead of trying to do everything yourself (like Galaxia previously shouldering the burden of absorbing all of Chaos, or Usagi withholding the burden of others worrying about her/Mamo, or the outers/Starlights trying to defeat Galaxia independently), and ends with Usagi standing around crying until almost all her friends are dead or near death before saving the day... by herself.
Director: "I'm not sure the audience hates Galaxia enough yet"
...all inner Senshi die instantly without the ability to even try and defend themselves. At least they could have died trying to perform a Sailor Planet attack?
...Princess Kakyuu appears right at the end of one episode and is killed at the end of the very next episode.
I heard that they had to cut the screentime of Princess Kakyuu, because her dress was a challenge to animators.
 
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Onuzim Ima

Aurorae Lunares
Aug 11, 2010
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#19
The very last plan of the 200, where it says: It's the end!
What are they saying anyway: Something along the lines of 'Farewell and thanks for all the fish watching all these years'? To add 'Insult to Injury', they even put a ♥ at the bottom of the screen... *sigh*

Basically every time when an instrumental version of 'Heart Moving' can be heard playing in the background it's a bittersweet moment for me. Such OST's are rarely even produced these days.
 

Slowpokeking

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 1, 2020
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#20
What are they saying anyway: Something along the lines of 'Farewell and thanks for all the fish watching all these years'? To add 'Insult to Injury', they even put a ♥ at the bottom of the screen... *sigh*

Basically every time when an instrumental version of 'Heart Moving' can be heard playing in the background it's a bittersweet moment for me. Such OST's are rarely even produced these days.
If only the ending was as epic as the first arc rather than a meh.