History Main / CatharticCrying

* In Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''Manga/{{Unico}}'', the titular unicorn befriends a [[CuteKitten cute black and white cat]] named Chao/[[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico Katy]] (renamed "Chloe" in ''Manga/UnicoAwakening'') after accidentally falling into her basket floating down a river. While [[StepfordSmiler Katy remains optimistic]], Unico [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks her if she has ever been abandoned before.]] Katy responds by telling him "No" before suddenly getting choked up to the concern of Unico. She then runs up to hug him as she's telling him that she did get abandoned while crying loudly [[CryIntoChest as Unico comforts her.]]

-->'''Margaret's narration''': I laid face-first on my bed and just cried. Everything I'd been holding back for years had just come spilling out all over the table, garnished with venom.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12864278/1/Cleansing Cleansing]]'', Luan's been feeling very gloomy for several reasons; she's done badly at a kid's birthday party, she's been told her braces have to stay on even longer, and winter break has just ended. When she writes a story about her in-universe AuthorAvatar named Cathy who is bullied for not being funny enough, she breaks down in [[InelegantBlubbering ugly tears]] for a good long while to the point where her pillow is completely drenched, but she feels better now that she's gotten it all out. Luan decides to make this a ritual; whenever she's especially stressed, she'll just cry it all out for a half-hour.

** [[https://www.fimfiction.net/user/154688/jkbrony jkbrony's]] fanfic [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/280587/1/let-me-cry/please-dont-cry "Let Me Cry"]] focuses on the aftermath of the Season 5 episode "Amending Fences". Twilight Sparkle, still reeling from the guilt of her treatment of her Canterlot friends, chastises herself for her past actions and believes that she doesn't deserve being the Princess of Friendship. Spike tries to calm her down and keep her from crying, but she tells Spike that she needs to let it all out. Spike finally relents and holds her as she cries without restraint for a few hours.
** [[https://www.fimfiction.net/user/220720/KidatHeart5 KidatHeart5's]] fanfic [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/247102/my-little-maleficent "My Little Maleficent"]] sees Discord in the role of the eponymous dark fairy. When his lover Fluttershy is taken away by Shining Armor, Discord finds that he has also been robbed of his powers of flight and teleportation. The double-loss causes him to weep before he gathers himself and eventually curses Shining Armor's baby Twilight Sparkle to fall victim to a "sleeplike sleep". Years after the christening, Discord becomes fond of the princess as they spend time together in the forest. However, the curse still takes ahold of Twilight. Discord tries to use a stallion she had recently met to break the curse, but to no avail. Discord then confesses to the sleeping Twilight that he feels guilty not just over the curse, but also that he couldn't save Fluttershy years back. Having his heart broken twice now, Discord sobs into the princess's pillow before kissing her on the forehead and unexpectedly waking her.

--> '''Archie''': Y' had no right to leave me that way, Edith, without givin' me just one more chance to say I love you.

-->'''Niles:''' Frasier...You're not famous anymore.
-->'''Frasier:''' *bawls*

-->'''Jean-Luc''': You don't know, Robert, you don't know. [[MindRape They took everything I was.]] They used me to ''kill'' and to ''destroy'', and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to ''stop'' them! I tried. I tried ''so hard''. But I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't ''good'' enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should, I ''should''... (''[[InelegantBlubbering trails off sobbing]]'')
-->'''Robert:''' So, my brother is a human being after all.

--> '''The dragon''': I miss my grandma! ''(sobbing)''

* During the mission "Cabin Fever" in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld,'' you meet Rada Nastase, a [[PathOfInspiration Morninglight]] VIP trapped in a skiing lodge by the vampire army amassing in the Carpathians. Despite the dire circumstances, Rada is ordered to [[StepfordSmiler play the part of a bubbly socialite]] when you stop by, to the point that her "[[CloudcuckoolandersMinder handler]]" goes so far as to threaten her with a knife just to drive the point home. For a time, she does her best to keep up the façade by dancing with you, pretending to be fully devoted to [[ApocalypseCult the Morninglight cause]] and the imminent awakening of [[EldritchAbomination the Dreamers]]. However, as this scene continues, Rada's exterior begins to crack under the strain: she admits "these people aren't my friends" and that her parents forced her to join the cult, eventually confessing just how frightened she really is; by the end, she's audibly crying.
* Heather in ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' has little time to mourn the death of [[spoiler: her father, Harry]] due to [[BigBad Claudia]] trying to bring her cult's god to the world. Once Heather kills the god, she collapses to the floor and cries, finally being able to let out her emotions and grieve over [[spoiler: Harry]].

* In ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'', when [[spoiler: the Beast/Argus finally becomes human again and is freed from his magical enslavement by the castle]], he breaks down sobbing with TearsOfJoy into [[CryIntoChest Beauty's chest]], [[spoiler: apparently his first tears in centuries.]]

-->'''King Andrias:''' All this time, I thought you had forgotten me...like I tried to forget you. ''(tearing up)'' My dear friend. ''(falls to his knees sobbing)'' But you're too late. The things I've done, the pain I've caused! THERE'S NO GOING BACK!

-->'''Clancy''': There's no way to stop the heartbreak. How do you... what do you do about that?
-->'''Clancy's mother''': You ''cry''. You cry.
-->''[Cut to an exterior shot of the room as Clancy breaks down in tears]''

** In the Season 1 finale "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E12ProphecyGirl Prophecy Girl]]", Buffy is briefly killed by the Master before being revived by Xander. After stopping the Master and his horde of vampires, she spends the summer in Los Angeles and comes back behaving callously and standoffish. Throughout the episode, the viewer learns that Buffy is going through PTSD from her near-death experience, which isn't helped by recurring dreams about the Master's hench-vamps trying to revive him. When the Scoobies learn that the Master's bones have been dug up for resurrection, Buffy smashes the bones to dust before collapsing in tears, finally coming to terms with the events of the previous season.

** In the Season 1 finale "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E13ProphecyGirl Prophecy Girl]]", Buffy is briefly killed by the Master before being revived by Xander. After stopping the Master and his horde of vampires, she spends the summer in Los Angeles and comes back behaving callously and standoffish. Throughout the episode, the viewer learns that Buffy is going through PTSD from her near-death experience, which isn't helped by recurring dreams about the Master's hench-vamps trying to revive him. When the Scoobies learn that the Master's bones have been dug up for resurrection, Buffy smashes the bones to dust before collapsing in tears, finally coming to terms with the events of the previous season.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Towards the end of Season 5, Buffy and Dawn's mother Joyce suddenly dies of an aneurysm. The following episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E17Forever Forever]]" sees Buffy try to keep it together for her sister's sake and also to retain some sort of normality. Meanwhile, Dawn enlists Spike's help to raise her mother from the dead. Once Buffy learns that Dawn has cast a dark spell, she confronts her. Likewise, Dawn calls her out on being absent and distant most of the time. Buffy tearfully confesses that she's doing it to be strong and that she's actually helpless without their mom. When the person they assume is a resurrected Joyce knocks on their door, Buffy rushes to answer it while Dawn - having been told that there's a chance Joyce could come back wrong - breaks the spell and sends Joyce back to the grave. Once Buffy opens the door to see no one, she collapses into her sister's arms as she sobs without restraint.

* ''Film/BlueBeetle2023'': When Alberto dies, the Reyes family is breaking down, but Nana rallies them by saying that they don't have time to cry now when Jaime needs rescuing. After the climax and when they're safe and reunited in the Bug, she says that "now is the time to cry", and the whole family hugs and finally cries over Alberto's death.

** [[https://www.fimfiction.net/user/154688/jkbrony jkbrony's]] fanfic [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/280587/1/let-me-cry/please-dont-cry "Let Me Cry"]] focuses on the aftermath of the Season 5 episode "Amending Fences". Twilight, still reeling from the guilt of her treatment of her Canterlot friends, chastises herself for her past actions and believes that she doesn't deserve being the Princess of Friendship. Spike tries to calm her down and keep her from crying, but she tells Spike that she needs to let it all out. Spike finally relents and holds her as she cries without restraint for a few hours.

-->''Discord buried his face in Twilight’s pillow and let out the sobs he had kept in not only now, but also when Fluttershy was gone.''

* [[https://www.fimfiction.net/user/220720/KidatHeart5 KidatHeart5's]] ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic "My Little Maleficent" sees Discord in the role of the eponymous dark fairy. When his lover Fluttershy is taken away by Shining Armor, Discord finds that he has also been robbed of his powers of flight and teleportation. The double-loss causes him to weep before he gathers himself and eventually curses Shining Armor's baby Twilight Sparkle to fall victim to a "sleeplike sleep". Years after the christening, Discord becomes fond of the princess as they spend time together in the forest. However, the curse still takes ahold of Twilight. Discord tries to use a stallion she had recently met to break the curse, but to no avail. Discord then confesses to the sleeping Twilight that he feels guilty not just over the curse, but also that he couldn't save Fluttershy years back. Having his heart broken twice now, Discord sobs into the princess's pillow before kissing her on the forehead and unexpectedly waking her.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'': {{Parodied|Trope}} with Eisidisi, who [[InelegantBlubbering bawls his eyes out]] after Joseph severs his arm with Hamon[[note]]Losing an arm isn't usually a big deal to a [[HealingFactor Pillar Man]][[/note]], both as stress relief and to [[{{Troll}} mess with Joseph]]. Joseph actually finds this creepier than blind rage.

* ''Franchise/OnePiece'':

* ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/PokemonS1E39PikachusGoodbye Pikachu's Goodbye]]", Ash thinks [[ShooTheDog that it might be better for Pikachu if he sets him free to live in the wild]], though he's obviously reluctant about it. When he tells Pikachu to leave, he [[TryingNotToCry tries to hold back his tears]][[note]]In the Japanese version, his voice is even shaking.[[/note]] and then runs off, having flashbacks of all the good times they had together. He finally gets to let it all out [[TearsOfJoy in sheer joy]] when Pikachu makes it clear that he would rather be with Ash.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'': In [[Recap/PokemonS11E1TearsForFears "Tears for Fears!"]], Chimchar weeps TearsOfJoy [[CryIntoChest into Ash's chest]] after Ash and the others congratulate him for trying his best. Ash is initially confused, but Brock points out that he probably wasn't allowed to show much emotion around his former trainer, Paul.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12864278/1/Cleansing Cleansing]]'', Luan's been feeling very gloomy for several reasons; she's done badly at a kid's birthday party, she's been told her braces have to stay on even longer, and winter break has just ended. When she writes a story about her in-universe AuthorAvatar named Cathy who is bullied for not being funny enough, she breaks down in [[InelegantBlubbering ugly tears]] for a good long while to the point where her pillow is completely drenched, but she feels better now that she's gotten it all out. Luan decides to make this a ritual; whenever she's especially stressed, she'll just cry it all out for a half-hour.

* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': Luigi has spent the entire game terrified out of his mind facing a very different kind of threat neither of them had dealt with before, all to save his [[TheAce normally unstoppable]] brother. Luigi's been holding back tears for the entire night both from being so afraid ''[[CowardlyLion and]]'' so determined to get Mario back, and when he finally saves Mario, he slowly bursts into a most heavily relieved laugh, with tears rolling down his face all the while.
-->'''Luigi:''' ''...hohohohoho... Hohohoho... Oohoho, Ahahahahaha... OOHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAH! Ohohohohoho, [[TearsOfJoy oh, Mario...]]''

* ''VideoGame/WorldsEndClub'': Jennu blames Niyan for her sister's death because he invited her to Kyoto, where the earthquake that killed her occurred. Despite this, she doesn't hesitate to save his life, and Pochi uses this event to point out that deep down Jennu is just running from her grief, and encourages her to cry her heart out, which she does.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'': When meeting Mallow, he starts crying over being mugged, which causes a downpour over the Mushroom Kingdom. He gets up after he's done (which stops the rain altogether), feeling relieved after letting out his emotions.

* ''VideoGame/TrailsOfColdSteel'': [[CryIntoChest Rean does this]] while Towa tells him that it's okay to let it out and not to get so worked up about not keeping his promise (while trying to suppress tears herself), lamenting over the fact that he wasn't able to bring [[spoiler: Crow]] back to make him graduate with his class.
* ''VideoGame/Klonoa2LunateasVeil'': Before Klonoa leaves Lunatea, Lolo starts shedding tears while asking Klonoa if it's okay to cry. Once she runs up to hug him, she starts audibly crying in sadness knowing she won't see Klonoa again.
* Heather in ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' has little time to mourn the death of [[spoiler: her father, Harry]] due to [[BigBad Claudia]] trying to bring her cult's god to the world. Once Heather kills the god, she collapses to the floor and cries, finally being able to let out her emotions and grieve over [[spoiler: Harry]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'': In the episode "The Future", Steven tries to evoke an emotional response from the Gems when he's about the leave Beach City. Though he succeeds with the B Team at Little Homeworld, the main Crystal Gems seem perfectly fine. Finally, just as he's about to leave at dawn, Steven cracks and drives back to ask the Gems why they aren't sad that he's leaving. The Gems abruptly burst into tears, claiming that they were afraid their sadness would hold him back.

** During the events of "For the Future", Willow tries to be strong for her friends, but her [[PetalPower plant magic]] soon spirals out of control due to her [[RepressionNeverEndsWell repression]]. Just as she is encased in vines as a result of her caving in to her doubt, Hunter rescues her and he and Gus convince her to let out her emotions. Willow then breaks down and sobs that she [[IWantMyMommy misses her dads]].

* ''Series/DocMartin'': Dr. Martin Ellingham is a socially-inept and emotionally-repressed GP who can be quite unfriendly most of the time. His behavior causes tension in his relationship with his wife Louisa, which comes to a head in the Series 6 finale. After a falling-out with Martin, Louisa takes their baby son and leaves for the airport to go to Spain. Martin, though initially understanding of her choice, soon sees a deadly aneurysm in his wife's brain scan (which she got after her accident with a vehicle). He schedules an operation with the Wadebridge hospital and chases Louisa down to tell her before the airplane takes off. When they arrive at the hospital, Martin performs the surgery, thankfully saving her life. Afterwards, he goes into a bathroom stall to be alone for a minute or two. Though he retains a mostly-stoic face, he sheds tears of (possibly) relief. This is a poignant moment because before this moment, Martin had never wept (as far as the audience knows), not even when his Auntie Joan died. It's also worth noting that he had been in despair over Louisa's departure and had to push his feelings aside to a. do his job, and b. to save Louisa from dying on the plane.

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'': The climax of the film sees Sadness finally handling Riley's emotions so that Riley can finally let herself cry to her parents about how upset she is about moving away. This conveys the film's {{aesop}} about how letting yourself be sad is more helpful than bottling up your feelings because it allows others to recognize when you need help.

** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E5TanksForTheMemories Tanks for the Memories]]", Rainbow Dash grieves for her pet tortoise Tank when he has to hibernate. When she's in the depression stage, she's just lethargic and disinterested...until Fluttershy [[BrutalHonesty hits her with the hard truth]]: her "winter is going to be...''petless''". Cue OcularGushers from Rainbow Dash. True, the cyan Pegasus had shed a few tears on occasion, but "Tanks for the Memories" really tears down her tear dams!

* ''WesternAnimation/GunnerkriggCourt'': The earliest chapters see Antimony display little to no emotion, especially after the death of her mother. In Chapter 6, however, Annie and Kat explore a mysterious room with a tree growing red berries. They eat the berries and become very intoxicated by the time the gardener arrives. The girls crack jokes about getting caught before Antimony [[CryLaughing breaks down while laughing]]. After the weirded-out gardener leaves, Annie confesses that she misses her mother and that she could do nothing for her. One of the author’s comments for this chapter supports this trope, saying, “It’s about time, Annie.”

* In ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'', when [[spoiler: the Beast/Argus finally becomes human again and is freed from his magical enslavement by the castle]], he breaks down sobbing with TearsOfJoy into [[CryIntoChest Beauty's chest]], [[spoiler: apparently his first tears in centuries.]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Towards the end of Season 5, Buffy and Dawn's mother Joyce suddenly dies of an aneurysm. The following episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E17Forever Forever]]" see Buffy try to keep it together for her sister's sake and also to retain some sort of normality. Meanwhile, Dawn enlists Spike's help to raise her mother from the dead. Once Buffy learns that Dawn has cast a dark spell, she confronts her. Likewise, Dawn calls her out on being absent and distant most of the time. Buffy tearfully confesses that she's doing it to be strong and that she's actually helpless without their mom. When the person they assume is a resurrected Joyce knocks on their door, Buffy rushes to answer it while Dawn - having been told that there's a chance Joyce could come back wrong - breaks the spell and sends Joyce back to the grave. Once Buffy opens the door to see no one, Dawn embraces her older sister as the latter sobs without restraint.