Manly Tears / Anime & Manga

Manly Tears in anime and manga.

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• Coach Kataoka in Ace of the Diamond sheds tears at the end of the second season, as he thanks the retired third years of the Seidou baseball team for their continued support to their juniors, since he feels their victory in the Fall Tournament wouldn't have been possible without their help.
• In Ah! My Goddess, Tamiya and Ohtaki both shed Manly Tears whenever they're around when Keiichi does much of anything significant. Or when they're praised by the former club president.
• Tokaku Azuma breaks down in the final episode of Akuma no Riddle when she seemingly kills Haru.
• Akira at the end of Episode 23 of Aquarion Logos, when he finally remembers Maia is the reason why he wants to become a savior.
• In Arata: The Legend, it's hard to find a male character who doesn't cry. Kannagi cries after his best friend, Akachi, dies in his arms, Yorunami cries when he realizes his mother was harsh with him because she wanted him to become strong, Kugura cries when he recovers from amnesia and remembers his only living family member, his older brother Eto, as he is being devoured by Kadowaki's hayagami, Yataka cries as he begs Hinohara to save Princess Kikuri, and Hinohara, being the character most sympathetic to other people's pain as well as having a past of bullying, cries several times during the series.
• The Area 88 manga uses this trope several times.
  • Shin sheds tears when Mickey's F-14 is shot down by Farina's land carrier, thinking his best friend has died.
  • Greg sheds tears when Campbell and Jensen die in combat.
  • In a later issue of the manga that did not make it stateside, a dying Nguyen tells Mickey about his violent birth and traumatic life in Vietnam. When Nguyen dies, Mickey is moved to tears.
  • In another manga issue that didn't make it stateside, McCoy is on the verge of tears upon watching Shin sign a second mercenary contract after returning to Area 88.
• Otonashi and Naoi in Angel Beats!, especially in Episode 13. The normally arrogant Naoi starts crying as he thanks Otonashi for helping him find peace. Later, Otonashi ends up sobbing while holding Kanade in his arms and telling her he loves her. It's even worse once she finally disappears.
• Nagisa, Karma, and the rest of Class 3-E after Koro-sensei's assassination in Chapter 177 of Assassination Classroom.
• Rivers are shed in Attack on Titan. It doesn't make any of the crying characters seem weak in the least, it only gets across how desperate and emotionally overwhelming their situation is.
• Kimura-sensei from Azumanga Daioh cried as he bid farewell to his graduates.
  BUT KAORIN AND I WILL BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!!
• In Battle Royale, Hiroki Sugimura weeps over his friend Takako Chigusa as she slowly dies from a gunshot wound, maintaining his stoic expression despite the tears flowing down his face.
  • Subverted near the end of the series when Hiroki has every reason to cry after fighting viciously to protect his love interest, only to be mortally wounded and forced to see her shot in front of him. Yet his remaining eye is devoid of tears.
• Berserk:
  • Guts suffers◊ a breakdown in the midst of consummating his relationship with Casca when he relives his childhood rape and murder of his adoptive father Gambino and express it all to Casca who is dumbfounded being the first person to ever to see this side of Guts and only one to hear his dark past. Guts expects her to be disgusted but Casca just hugs him and thanks him for telling her saying now they've both shown their weaknesses to each other.
  • He also cries when he sees how horribly mutilated Griffith was after his year-long torture.
  • Of course then there's Guts Berserker Tears during the Eclipse which is to be expected in that nearly all of his allies have been devoured by horrific demons, his former best friend, now demonic Dark Messiah, is brutally raping his love interest in front of him, he just finished hacking one of his arms off with a broken sword, and his life just sucks in general.
  • Also occurs after the Eclipse, when Guts is reeling from the absolute horror of all that has happened. He runs away from Rickert and Erica, sprinting through fields and woods, as each friend that he lost fills his mind. Before long, Bloody Tears for the dead and for Casca are streaming down his face.
  • Guts's first tears shown in the manga was during the Black Swordsmen arc when Theresia blames for her monster father's death, at first Guts just praises her anger but as he limps away, Puck sees tears welling up in his eyes though Guts ashamed wipes them away despite Puck trying to console him. This was one of the first times we see that Guts is not just a brutal and pitiless Anti-Hero but a deeply troubled and tragic individual.
    • Later during the Lost Children arc, there is a slight tear in his eye and smile when Puck returns to him, he reconciles that he can't remain tense with Puck around.
  • There's also the time when Guts breaks free of the Berserker's Armor's control when Schierke reminds him of Casca, causing Guts to break free and immediately run to Casca. When he stops and she and Farnese his scarred and burned face, if you look◊ closely there's a tear welling up in his eye.
    • Remember: true testosterone-poisoned badasses aren't afraid to cry.
• Rentaro breaks down at the end of Black Bullet when Enju thinks about the death of their comrades, with Rentaro worrying that he might lose Enju.
• Skewered brutally (as Lighter and Softer tropes tend to be) in Black Lagoon, where the neo-Nazis break down and start blubbering like infants at their leader's cheesy speech.
  • Then played straight later. Nobody is laughing at Rock for crying over how messed up Gretel is. To elaborate for those of you who don't care about spoilers: the way she chooses to go about thanking a man who shows her kindness is to proposition herself to him. It's implied (s)he's undergone some kind of horrible genital mutilation. Oh, yeah, and even if that's not the case— Gretel is around ten, and the fact is the only way the girl can think of thanking him is SEX. Not a nice kiss on the cheek, not a flower s/he picked, not a cherished toy. Sex. No, Rock isn't crying manly tears... those are humanly tears.
• Bleach:
  • After Ichigo defeats Renji in the Soul Society arc, Renji grabs Ichigo and begs him to save Rukia. The manga however is ambiguous and does not actually show tears.
  • When a betrayed Ichigo thought he was stabbed in the back by Isshin, but it was actually Rukia giving him back his Shinigami powers.
  • Byakuya, after the Gotei 13 gets the crap kicked out of them, launches into one of the most impassioned speeches of any character in the entire manga which stands out as much for the character it's coming from as the fact he's quite literally been ripped to shreds and his only concern is that someone who has the power to protect the last of the shinigami still left alive takes on the burden of doing so. The scene alone is shocking enough, but the tears that accompany the speech really ram home the situation.
  • Kenpachi Zaraki sheds a Single Tear when he thinks he is about to die without ever achieving his goal of defeating the first opponent he ever admired: Retsu/Yachiru Unohana.
• Captain Tsubasa: In the Road to 2002 arc, Kojiro Hyuga's debut match in the Juventus ends with him being subbed without even finishing the first half, after he gets neutralized by Parma's defense in every play, due to his unbalanced body. Despite winning his opponent's respect, he leaves the field without a word in tears, realizing how far below the European players he is.
• Jeremiah cries blood when he pulls his Heel–Face Turn in Code Geass. And before that, he cries when he talks to Viletta in the Picture Dramas.
  • Lelouch Lamperouge himself does this more than once especially when a woman important to him, be it Euphie or Shirley, dies. He definitely puts the "hero" part back into Anti-Hero...
    • Subverted when he believes Suzaku to have betrayed him to Schneizel. He tears up and starts screaming in anguish in an undignified, hysterical way.
    • Also when he believes Nunally to be dead he is in such a state of shock that he doesn't seem to register it when Rolo repeatedly tells him.
  • Suzaku Kururugi cries silently as he, dressed as Zero, kills Lelouch. Subverted when Euphie died, when Suzaku was more Inelegant Blubbering material before he calmed down and got dangerous.
    • He cried in relief after his classmates were saved from the JLF.
  • Due to Memetic Mutation it has been said that Kallen also cries Manly Tears, don't believe it? Look at the scene where Lelouch is killed by Suzaku dressed as Zero. Everything about her posture, her eyes, and the restraint in her voice screams Manly Tears.
• Crying Freeman is about a controlled/brainwashed (it becomes unclear which) assassin whose true nature only appears whenever he kills someone, whereupon he sheds tears.
• Makoto Naegi in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School breaks down crying after he wakes up to find his cinoabuib and Love Interest, Kyoko, dead (or so it seems), having been (near) killed via a Heroic Sacrifice while he slept. Next episode, he tries to get up and move on, only to have to stop and start crying again because he's still in shock and pain.
  • In the same episode, Kyosuke Munakata breaks down crying after learning that his girlfriend Yukizome was already tainted with despair and later in the following episode upon discovering his best friend Sakakura's corpse after Sakakura shut down the switch that spread the poison at the cost of his life.
  • In the same anime, Izuru Kamukura, of all people, quietly sheds some after his former girlfriend Chiaki bleeds out in front of him. Worse, the only reason she's his "former" girlfriend is that he lost his memories of her, and it's implied watching her die caused them to return.
• In the final episode of Death Note, Matsuda goes absolutely berserk and shoots Light four times after it's revealed he is Kira, all with tears running down his face.
• Digimon Fusion, influenced by the super robot genre as it is, naturally has a very powerful moment of this. In the fight against NeoVamdemon, Shoutmon DX displays this trope. What happened was that the numerous Lopmon the villain had fused to himself in a grab for immortality had willingly sacrificed their existence in order to give Shoutmon and Greymon the power to Xros together and escape, and DX explains that he's going to keep his promise to stop NeoVamdemon from hurting anyone ever again, then beats the hell out of the bastard.
  • A few episodes earlier, Taiki was on the verge of this trope when the purified Grademon sacrificed himself to help the heroes in a defiant act against his former master.
• Dr. STONE: Senku briefly sheds tears at his father's grave before recomposing himself and returning to the village.
• Dragon Ball:
  • In one of the more emotional scenes in the series, Vegeta of explains his life and motivations as Goku readies to fight Frieza, telling Goku that Frieza destroyed their entire race. Then, he breaks down in tears when he reveals that Frieza promised to spare his father if he (Vegeta) joined him, and then, when Vegeta complied, he killed him anyway.
  • Of course, Vegeta's story about the promise to spare his father and subsequent rationalizing of how he became such an evil person doesn't exist in the manga or Japanese version of the anime. Instead, he tells Goku that even though the Saiyans served Freeza loyally, he killed them because he feared that they would become too strong to control.
    • Both versions are still one of the best scenes in the series.
  • Gohan at the start usually cries whenever things go bad, only to trigger an Unstoppable Rage. But his first instance of Manly Tears is when Cell took him to the breaking point, which unlocked Super Saiyan 2. In this case (pictured above), the fact that he is crying only makes it that much more badass.
  • Piccolo also had his moment, the first time he sacrificed himself for Gohan.
  • Goku interestingly is one character who is almost never shown crying, whether it's keeping up his perpetual optimism or unlike other characters he doesn't believe in letting his emotions out in this fashion it's never elaborated on. Goku has only been shown crying four times in the series.
    • First time is when Goku sees his dead Grandpa Gohan again during the Fortuneteller Baba saga, he burst into tears and clings to his grandpa crying that he looked everywhere on Mount Paozu and couldn't find him. Bulma is moved to tears herself expressing that she's never seen Goku like this.
    • The second time is when Krillin is killed by Tambourine, Goku clutching his friend’s body is overcome with grief as tears start in his eyes. Goku then becomes enraged still crying he says Krillin didn't deserve this before going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Tambourine.
    • The third time and probably most epic time is during the non serial Dragon Ball: The Path to Power movie when Android #8 is killed, Goku crying deeply lets out Skyward Scream with pillar of Ki coming out of him. Goku also realizes the same must happen to his grandfather that he "had to go away too". The movie antagonist Officer Black mocks Goku's crying saying Android #8 was pathetic... big mistake.
    • The fourth time and only time we see Goku cry as an adult is during the Tournament of Power in Super when Master Roshi's heart stops beating and Goku desperately tries to restart before just clutching Roshi in despair, fortunately the turtle hermit opens his eyes and reveals that he is okay. Goku despite not shown explicitly shown shedding tears, rubs his eyes and hugs his old master expressing his happiness that Roshi is well; Krillin who was overlooking the scene is openly crying.
  • Future Trunks in Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, when he finds Gohan's dead body after his last battle against the androids, all the while as he screams and pounds the ground in sorrow. Made even more symbolic as it happens during a rainy scene.
• When Makoto first links to Ifurita in the El-Hazard: The Magnificent World manga, he sees her memories of bring about The End of the World as We Know It. Every life she snuffed out, every country crushed, and the mind-destroying horror that made her shut down her emotions. He cries in sympathy for her, who had burned out her tears. The manga was made after the anime, and this scene is a definite improvement, where he had originally just shrugged it off as "weird."
• Manly tears are shed often in Eyeshield 21, mostly by Sakuraba Haruto. Used much more often, however, are pathetic tears shed by guys like benchwarmer Yukimitsu (who can't start no matter how much he tries), ace quarterback Harao (who knows he's just an average player who depends entirely on the defensive line), and the hard-boiled Habashira (who put forth a Herculean effort in the Fall tournament, only to find his teammates couldn't muster his level of enthusiasm.) And don't forget Poseidon's towering tough guy lineman Ohira, who is usually seen with streams of tears down his cheeks with no explanation.
• Happens a lot Fairy Tail. Makarov and Laxus when the former excommuncates the latter from the guild
  • Natsu and Erza both cry after the latter attempts to sacrifice herself, and again when she survives.
  • Considering he always talks about being manly, no surprise Elfman has done this. The first when he saves Mirajane, and the second when he and Mira are reunited with Lisanna.
  • In this anime/manga no arc comes to a pass without having at least one man cry, regardless of whether it's Berserker Tears, Tears of Joy, or what.
• Fist of the North Star is famous for this (especially in the case of Kenshiro, pictured on the main page), and the series is arguably the Trope Codifier. Before FotNS, crying in anime was absolutely not manly. After FotNS, a badass who cries is someone confident enough in himself that he does not mind showing his emotions, and indeed his emotions give him strength. Manly tears in this series are usually a prelude to incoming badassitude. Do note, however, that the main type of tears shed in Fist of the North Star is actually Tender Tears from soft-hearted, sensitive, and kind men rather than this macho variety. It's also used in cases of Hidden Depths, such as when the formerly cold-hearted tyrant Souther regains his suppressed emotions in his dying moments following his climactic battle against Kenshiro.
  • His previous incarnation, Kenshiro Kasumi of Fist of the Blue Sky, is also given to shedding these tears.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Roy sheds a single manly tear at the funeral of his best friend Maes Hughes, insisting that "it's raining" although the sky is clear.
  • Subverted by Wrath at the same funeral. At first glance, he is hiding his face with his hat and appears to be trembling due to crying, but he's actually just incredibly aggravated by a child's crying.
  • Armstrong is the definition of this trope, both as a parody and a straight example. He simply cannot hold back his tears at Hughes' funeral.
    • Armstrong also gets these in a scene after using his alchemy to aid in the Ishval Extermination.
    • Proving to us over and over that underneath several tons worth of muscle, towering height, and tremendous alchemical skill (passed down through many generations!!!) that Armstrong is the biggest marshmallow amongst the entire Amestrian army. And we love him for it.
  • Hohenheim suddenly opens the valves on his one and only family picture. Boy, does he look desperate.
  • After hearing Hohenheim offer himself to bring Al back and apologizing for not being there when his sons needed him, Ed told him to never say something like that again while fully acknowledging him as his dad and crying for the first time since the accident.
  • An interesting example by Falman, who managed to combine this with Tears of Fear. Yes, he was scared shitless, shaking, and might have wetted himself... But standing up to someone who just demolished a whole squad and a TANK single-handedly takes brass tacks, no matter how pathetic you look. Lampshaded by Buccaneer, who told him not to cry like a little girl when he's acting like a man.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Scar cries when he admits he always wanted to tell his brother that he loved him, and soon after when he is about to sacrifice himself to create the Philosopher's Stone.
• After the death of fellow warrior Nuriko in Fushigi Yuugi, Tasuki is seen slumped by himself with tears pouring silently down his face. Tamahome himself breaks down in tears (and into a Heroic BSoD for that matter) when Suboshi avenged his brother's apparent death by killing Tamahome's entire family.
• The Count in Gankutsuou cries quite a few times but still manages to look badass most of the time when he does so.
• In Gantz, during the climatic battle against the shapeshifting boss Nurarihyon, both Katou and the cowardly nerd shed tears when Yamazaki was killed trying to defend Katou from the laser shot by Nurarihyon, with the cowardly nerd guy crying the most even after killing Nurarihyon because he was touched by Yamazaki's sacrifice and Katou's bravery.
  • Kurono also cried when he discovered he was the sole survivor of the Buddha mission, mourning for the loss of his friend Katou and love interest Kei Kishimoto.
  • And the most heart-wrenching moment, when Kei Kurono breaks down completely and sobs after his girlfriend's murder.
• Guy Shishioh in GaoGaiGar FINAL has this when confronting a replica Mamoru, when his enemy destroyed his allies Goldymarg and Choryujin (though it's later revealed to be one Disney Death). It's immediately followed by uttering the legendary line "Have you forgotten, Mamoru? Victory goes to... ... THOSE WITH COURAAAAGGEEEE!!!!!!" and complete ass-kicking to the replica.
  • Note why Guy is crying in this manly way: he doesn't know Mamoru is a Replijin. As far as he knows, his friend and sidekick has injured humans and killed two of his allies, and he is apologizing to Mamoru for having to open up his trademark can of courage and rage.
  • You forgot Episode 5 of FINAL. Guy has been brainwashed by Palparepa's Chemical Bolts, and has been sicced on GGG using a Replijin of GaoFighGar. Upon unleashing the Replion Hammer against his comrades, cue a close-up of his face in the cockpit (along with some trademark hot-blooded shouting. He's crying his golden eyes out.)
• In Girls Bravo's penultimate episode Miharu was kidnapped, and after other characters unsuccessfully tried to use Get A Hold Of Yourself Man to spear Yukinari into action he ran out of his house crying. He bumped into a Voiceless Recurring Extra simply called The Boss who would randomly appear with his loudmouthed associate. After a bit of mocking by the associate, the boss was Suddenly Speaking and gave The Hero a speech about when it is alright for a man to cry saying he had to earn his tears. This is what Yukinari needed to take action and rescue his girlfriend.
• In Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin and its sequel Ginga Densetsu Weed, It's not unusual to see badass dogs belonging to super tough breeds crying. One example is John, a powerful German shepherd who cries tears of relief when Weed and his pack find him.
  • Another is "Great", the Great Dame. He cries blood at one point.
• The men of the Kuroda family in Gokusen are all very sentimental when it comes to family matters. Of course, this is meant to be humorous, as it doesn't jive with their intense tough-guy image at all.
• Yuki in Gravitation does this at one point. Played rather amusingly when he has to lie down afterward because he hasn't cried in so long that it doing so gives him a headache.
• GTO: The Early Years:
  • The last scene of Chapter 68 is Ryuji grabbing hold of Eikichi and letting out an anguished scream at Ayumi leaving.
  • Eikichi gets them in Chapter 154 when Natsu dies.
  • Saejima cries in the next chapter when Kamata announces he's leaving for the States, though he tries to play it off as Sand In My Eyes.
• Gundam
  • In Episode 20 of Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE has Hiroto, of all people, shed these after telling his team about his Dark and Troubled Past which culminated in the death of Eve and his last-minute refusal to shoot down Riku and stop him from reaching Sarah. It takes a kiss on the cheek and a Cooldown Hug from May for him to finally feel comfortable sharing his pain with the team.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam has a particular example with both the hero and the villain. The woman that both Char and Amuro loved was killed when she took the bullet for Char. While mileage may vary on whether you consider the hero bawling like a baby for this trope, few can deny that seeing a couple of tears run under Char's mask was heartrending.
  • When Lockon dies in Gundam 00, not only does the audience cry, but so do the Gundam Meisters (especially Tieria).
    • In the second season, Setsuna is forced to kill Anew... the same Anew Lockon confessed to an episode earlier. Absolutely nothing in the series trumps Lockon's reaction after the credits in terms of sheer emotional impact.
  • In Gundam SEED, both Athrun and Cagalli cry after the reality of Kira's apparent death hits them. Athrun is crying because he just killed his best friend and Cagalli is crying because her brother is now dead at Athrun's hand and she cares for Athrun too much to kill him in revenge.
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam has plenty of manly tears. The most powerful undoubtedly had to be the ones Master Asia shed as he was dying and underwent Heel Realization, as well as the tears Domon shed to mourn his master's death.
    • A mere episode before that Domon was forced to put both his brother and his other mentor down to stop the Devil Gundam's rampage.
    • KYOOOJIIIII!
  • Gundam Wing has Trowa quietly asking himself what the strange liquid droplets that are floating in his cockpit are after he destroys Deathscythe.
• In Hellsing, badass vampire Alucard breaks down and cries tears of blood◊ after his final battle with Anderson, who used one of the nails of the True Cross to become a "Monster of God". Alucard preludes his tears by screaming how both of them were the same; how Alucard's folly in regards to religion led to becoming an immortal monster and how Anderson made the same foolish decision (albeit in the opposite direction). This more than anything shows Alucard isn't pure evil, and deep down is really a Tragic Monster. Anderson himself notes it saying “monsters don’t cry”.
• Hikaru no Go has Fujiwara no Sai, who dates back to the Heian era. He comes across as a silly prat and Agent Peacock prone to Ocular Gushers at the slightest pretext, but by the standards of his original time, he would have been seen as the definition of manliness because of it.
• Deconstructed in Ichi the Killer, as protagonist Ichi is usually meek and neurotic... Until he starts crying. When that happens, RUN.
• Inuyasha of Inuyasha sheds manly tears when his estranged former love permanently dies in his arms. Also when his poisoned and dying True Companions are cured at the last minute after he had lost all hope for them. Then again, this episode is called "Inuyasha Shows His Tears For The First Time".
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure since it's inspired by Fist of the North Star has a multitude of Manly Tears.
  • Jonathan Joestar sheds quite a few, like when his Mentor Zeppeli dies and even◊ when his Arch-Enemy Dio seemingly dies. Much like Kenshiro, Jonathan cries for even his most hated enemy because of the connection they shared.
  • Joseph Joestar despite his reckless crazy attitude has a soft heart like his grandfather, as seen when he cries after discovering his uncle Speedwagon was still alive and his reaction to his friend Caesar Zeppeli being killed, though these tears◊ become Berserker Tears.
  • Esidisi, who often cries to let out all his emotions, as well as to regain focus and control, before fighting Joseph.
  • Jean-Pierre Polnareff, being an Emotional Bruiser, is the master of Manly Tears. He usually likes to throw a thumbs-up along with it as well. Usually anyone who provokes him into doing it is going to get a massive ass-kicking afterwards.
  • Though usually expressing himself through anger and annoyance when not otherwise stoic, not even Jotaro Kujo is immune, sporting a Tearful Smile in the part three finale.
  • While his eyes only well up subtly in the manga, in the anime adaptation of part 5 Giorno openly weeps as he relays the news that it was too late for him to save Narancia. Mista also cries and lets out a Skyward Scream.
  • The series has several other memorable and impacting cases of this trope, including, but not limited to Josuke's Tears of Joy upon finding out that Okuyasu wasn't killed by Killer Queen's attack in part 4, and Johnny witnessing the death of Gyro Zeppeli in part 7.
• Kaiji: "He stayed quiet all the way down!"
• Kaiji 2: Rousing speeches and dramatically built-up victories and defeats make manly tears a Kaiji 2 staple. As the series goes on and the stakes and emotions boil over, there are episodes where Kaiji is literally crying the whole time because he's so fried out of his mind by what's happening. Considering the circumstances, it's justified: if Kaiji wins his last gamble, he'll be rich and can save several friends that sacrificed their freedom just so he could have the chance to gamble. If he loses, he'll be imprisoned as a virtual slave in an underground work camp, sentenced to work 16 hours a day in brutal conditions for something like ten dollars a day to pay off his debt. Kaiji's debt (through very little fault of his own) is such that he will be stuck there for life until his body gives out.
• Happens a few times in Kamen Rider Spirits. The most powerful is the one with Shiro Kazami. Trapped in an illusion showing his departed family inviting him to go with them, he declined at the last moment, letting go of his dead little sister's hand and doing his henshin pose. In the middle of it, the reader is shown an image of him shedding a single tear, which carries on to the mask of V3. It was awesome.
  • Muraeda Kenichi is fond of this, Hot-Blooded, and a lot of manly tropes in general.
• Kill la Kill:
  • Mako Mankanshoku just might be the first feminine character on this page. Yes people, feminine. In Episode 7, she goes from Rags to Riches by being president of her school’s Fight Club (no relation), but loses the warm family life that she originally had in the process. When her status gets threatened and she has to defeat her best friend in order to not only keep her position but to advance all the up to the cream of the crop, she performs an Evil Costume Switch, effectively becoming a tomboyish, JoJo-esque, Japanese Delinquent Empowered Badass Normal. The entire fight, which lasted for hours, Mako was having a classic Conflicting Loyalties battle inside herself convincing herself to be as Willfully Weak as possible. This is the face that she makes◊ when she finally stops in her tracks and breaks down into Inelegant Blubbering.
  • A more straight example comes from Ira Gamagoori, the Largest Ham in a World of Ham. When he loses to Ryuko, he cries so hard that he tries to commit Seppuku. Satsuki stops him, saying that he ‘must wipe away his own tears.’
• Kinnikuman: After coming in fourth in the first Choujin Olympics, Ramenman tearfully begs Kinnikuman to win the tournament and make the battle they had fought something he could be proud of. In the manga, he cried Tears of Blood.
• In Episode 9 of Kiznaiver, Katsuhira cries when hugging Noriko after regaining his memories. And he cries again at the end of Episode 10, complete with Skyward Scream.
• Lupin III:
  • Goemon cries these in Lupin III: Dragon of Doom while watching a kabuki play.
  • Lupin III: Crisis in Tokyo: A samurai is not complete without his soul. Goemon, when he finally gets his Zantetsuken back, even cuddles his sword. Awww...
• The Mazinger trilogy is another Trope Codifier. Males in this series were prone to burst into tears and it did not diminish their badassery at all:
  • Kouji Kabuto has several VERY memorable tears moments. One is at the beginning when his grandfather dies in his arms. Another happened in the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie, when he was crying in his bedroom at night, thinking he was going to die at the next battle. Other three are in the Mazinkaiser vs the Great General of Darkness movie, with Loru Lori and Dr. Morimori's Heroic Sacrifices, and when he finally defeats ALL the Mikene Empire and tearfully screams "My dead friends... I AVENGED YOU ALL!"
  • Tetsuya Tsurugi also got his moments. One of them was when his adoptive father died.
  • Duke Fleed also shed them often, usually as he remembered his murdered friends. A very memorable moment he shared with Kouji was after Emperor Vega's death. Kouji and Duke (and Hikaru and Maria) shed tears in relief, thinking the nightmare was at last over.
• Tenma in Monster, mostly as a result of seeing his friends murdered and such.
  • The moments where Johan cries are some of the most epic moments in the series, such as the time he hears Karl's story and when Nina states that he cried offscreen in Bonaparta's cabin (dramatized in this fan comic). However, the fact is that, more often, he induces others to cry, if they aren't under such duress from his Mind Rape that all they can do is stare bleakly into the abyss of their meaningless existence.
  • Wolfgang Grimmer, who is seeking to regain his lost emotions, manages to cry twice in the series, and both times are tearjerkers. The first time, he cries for the sake of an orphan who thought he was unwanted and was on the brink of suicide to show how much he truly cares for him, and the second time, he manages to cry for his long-dead son, something he was previously unable to do.
• Izuku Midoriya’s tears in My Hero Academia usually don’t count, but in the dark Deku arc, it definitely counts when Class 1-A finally manage to reach through the emotional walls he’s built and convince him that he needs to let them help in his fight.
  • Aizawa’s count when he finds out one of his best friends is now a Nomu and breaks down with the strain of urging the guy to break through and assert his consciousness and failing. He blames it on his dry eye issue.
• Naruto:
  • Might Guy and, of course, his student and protege Rock Lee manage to be comical parodies and moving straight examples of this, depending on the circumstances.
  • It turns out Guy's father was also like this as a flashback from Guy's childhood showed.
  • After Haku dies, Naruto angrily and tearfully lets loose on Zabuza for his lack of compassion for someone who cared so much bout him... only for Zabuza to turn around, revealing that he's openly weeping◊.
  • Naruto himself exemplifies the trope. He cries when he thinks that Gaara dies. He cries after Jiraiya dies. He cries in relief after learning that he did not harm Hinata or the rest of the villagers while under the control of the nine-tailed fox. He cries when he meets his long-dead father, and later mother, in his mind.
  • Shikamaru also lets some out when Asuma dies.
    • Even before that, he also cries when he discovers that the other members of the Sasuke Retrieval Team will make a full recovery, after failing their mission in bringing Sasuke back to Konoha.
  • Chouji also cried when Shikamaru did above. Chouji's one of the weepier ninja: it also happens in Part I after the Jirobo fight, and in Shippuuden, when Chouji breaks down in tears after discovering Chouza (his father) took a hit for him, and again when Tsunade reveals that Chouza is actually alive.
  • The ridiculously huge Raikage lets out quite a lot when he thinks his brother has been kidnapped, and everyone in the room joins in upon seeing it.
  • Gaara sheds a single tear after failing to convince Sasuke to abandon his revenge and actually breaks down when his father tells him that his mother actually did love him dearly, instead of dying cursing his name, as Gaara had previously been told.
  • Even Sasuke tears up when Madara tells him about how Itachi was actually a good guy, right after Sasuke killed him.
  • Itachi was downright sobbing to the point of hesitating when he tries to kill his own parents (due to having been forced into a Sadistic Choice) to the point that the latter have to urge him to go ahead and finish the job.
  • Minato weeps, first in happiness when his wife Kushina successfully gives birth to Naruto, and later in a more heartbreaking example, when he and Kushina are impaled by the Kyuubi's claw while saying their last goodbyes to their literally just-born son. Their last first and last moments together are not only insanely tearjerking, but also heartwarming.
• Chapter 279 of Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Negi does this when Rakan dies. Chisame even more so, showing more emotion than she ever did before.
• One Piece deserves mention here, as each and every one of the male protagonists, up to and including the skeleton who specifically said he was physically incapable of crying, has at least one instance of Manly Tears to their name.
  • Some especially good examples are when Iceberg finds out that Franky survived being run over by the Sea Train when Sanji leaves the Baratie and Luffy and Usopp after their duel.
    • Though averted just as often as not. It got the Trope Codifier for Inelegant Blubbering.
  • The Going Merry's funeral.
  • Zoro being near perpetual stoic doesn't seem to believe in crying as he is against letting his emotions out, his defeat at the hands of Mihawk and subsequent vow to Luffy is the only time since his friend Kuina passed that Zoro has been seen crying in the series.
    • Zoro along with Sanji were the only crewmates who didn't cry at Going Merry's viking funeral while the rest of the males did, with that said the anime did give Zoro some goofy tears at seeing what a good brother Ace is to Luffy and even Inelegant Blubbering when he sees Kokoro is a mermaid though both are non-canon.
  • Of course, Franky deserves special mention, being brought to tears rather easily (and always being in denial of it).
  • Upon successfully escaping Impel Down, the entire getaway crew shed Manly Tears for Bentham, after he stayed behind in secret to trick the guards into opening the Gates of Justice.
  • Ace's death in Luffy's arms, Ace himself cries and thanks Luffy for going so far to save him and dies smiling while all the Whitebeard's pirates including Whitebeard and Garp openly weep and then cry again Whitebeard himself dies. Luffy doesn't cry, no he goes completely catatonic and cries and falls into despair later when he wakes up.
  • Jimbei cries when Ace dies, when his captain Fisher Tiger dies and again when Nami forgives him.
  • Even Arlong cried when Fisher Tiger died, as with the rest of Fisher's crew.
  • King Neptune breaks down at the death of his wife Queen Otohime, even going to a Troubled Fetal Position. The three princes upon witnessing their mother being shot and dying.
  • In a flashback in the Dressrosa arc, not even badass men like Kyros and King Riku can hold in tears of joy when their daughter/granddaughter is born.
  • Still in the Dressrosa arc, after Doflamingo is defeated, Kyros bursts into Tears of Joy. He's also one of the rare cases where it overlaps with Inelegant Blubbering, as considering all the crap he's fought through, and how he spent ten years being Unable to Cry due to being a toy, he lets out all the manly tears he couldn't shed at once.
  • Usopp and Franky let out some tears when they learn the whole Mink tribe let themselves get gassed, tortured, and maimed to protect one Ninja.
  • Sanji cries four times in the Whole Cake Island arc, completely understandably as he is forced to separate from Luffy and Nami, is betrayed and mocked by Pudding, reunites with Luffy and then finally cries to his captain that he wants to come back to the crew when Luffy demands that he tell him what he really feels.
    • In the same arc Luffy was moved to tears when he learned that Sanji the unrivaled womanizer had refused to marry an attractive girl and instead had chosen to return to his crew.
  • Even Charlotte Katakuri, an unadulterated hardcore badass, cries when he discovers his sister Brulee was attacked and permanently scarred because of him.
  • Inuarashi sheds a tear remembering Oden in Wano.
  • Inuarashi again, along with Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Kawamatsu burst into tears at Yasuie’s execution at Orochi’s hands. Even a hardass like Ashura Doji is on the verge of breaking down at the loss of his friend and actually does so in the anime.
  • Shanks in a Flash Back cries to his captain Gol D. Roger after the latter revealed something to him.
  • Kozuki Oden, easily one of the most hardcore badasses in the series, has a crying fit upon hearing about his friend Roger’s execution, but his tears become joyful thinking about his friend's legacy. Oden later cries in frustration when Kaido and Orochi ravage his country for five years, his efforts to protect Wano’s citizens become futile and he swears to make them pay.
• In Pokémon Adventures:
  • It looks like normally stoic Silver is about to burst into tears when saying how Gold performed a Heroic Sacrifice to take down the Big Bad and save them all... but it's subverted as Blue chooses that moment to declare that Silver's under arrest for a crime that happened at the beginning of the arc. Thank god Gold lived and provided a Facial Composite Failure wanted poster, pointing out that Silver doesn't look anything like the image there. Gold then further kills the mood by rubbing Green's ass, enraging Silver enough to slug him.
  • Subverted (Averted?) with N's first appearance, as he looks more like he came out of a shoujo series. Many fans couldn't help giggling.
• Fuji Shuusuke cries in The Prince of Tennis anime when he loses in an official match against Kuranosuke Shiraishi. . Also at the U-17 Selection Camp as he is effortlessly defeated by Tezuka in an unofficial match just before Tezuka leaves for Germany.
  • Kikumaru Eiji also cries when he loses his beloved partner Shuuichirou Oishi after the injured Oishi gives up his spot in the regulars to not be a burden on the team.
  • And in the previews for the next OAVs, Oishi is seen screaming and crying his heart out, VERY possibly for Tezuka after the animated version of the Tezuka v/s Sanada match.
• RAINBOW is known to turn on the manly tears fairly frequently. Some examples include Anchan after he heard Mario's hand has been smashed, Mario after his friends went to great personal lengths to keep him from being sent to prison, and Joe when he hit rock bottom in his music career.
• Parodied extensively in Ranma ½, usually when a character pulls off some sort of (unwilling!) sacrifice and the others gather over his unconscious body to thank him for it, to his immense annoyance.
  • Played for drama when Akane is thought to be dead. You see a single tear slide off Ranma's cheek and onto hers, before he starts crying harder and screams her name out of anguish.
• Lots of this in the manga of Riki-Oh. One big moment of manly tears when Nachi puts a gladiator out of his misery and Riki-Oh calls him out on it.
  • The whole manga's about the debate of euthanasia.
• In The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World, Tougo is moved to tears when Idola promises to help him return to his world as part of achieving her dream of making the world a better place through magic. He even declares it must have been destiny that brought them together, embarrassing her with what sounds like a Love Confession.
• Ronin Warriors is extremely prone to this. Sometimes overlaps Tears of Remorse, particularly in Kento/Shu and Shuten Doji/Anubis' cases. Also present during the final attack against the Big Bad, during which four of the Five-Man Band thought they were also killing their leader.
• At several points in Saikano, multiple male characters, especially Shuji, are reduced to tears for various reasons.
• Saint Seiya uses this trope SEVERAL times. Specially in death or big revelation scenes. Like when Ikki comes back to the group after his first death, when Shiryu loses his sight (twice, if we count Seiya collapsing in tears when told by the doctors there's nothing to do for Shiryu), when Cassius pulls an Heroic Sacrifice to de-brainwash Aiolia and save Seiya, when Ikki defeats Shaka through Taking You with Me when everyone thinks Shiryu is gone for good...
  • Shed in Saint Seiya Omega by Kouga during his futile attempt to rescue Saori from Mars, right before he gains the power of the Pegasus Cloth.
• Played for comedy, but shed fairly often by Harima Kenji on School Rumble.
  • In last chapter of Sakigake!! Otokojuku. No wonder considering the whole series is full of badass and manliness
• Averted in Slam Dunk when Mitsui breaks down after the gym fight, and when Sakuragi cries after the loss against Kainan. Played straight when Shoyo loses and Fujima calmly but tearfully accepts his loss, and when Sakuragi remembers his Disappeared Dad.
• In the fifth season of the Slayers anime, the normally snarky and distant chimera Zelgadis breaks down after learning that he may never be able to revert back to his human state, ever. The fact that his own great-grandfather is telling him this makes it even worse. While only a few tears are shown, it's painfully obvious that he's wailing and distressed, and given his nature, it's painful to see.
• In A Silent Voice Shoya Ishida cries multiple times, first time being when he realises that Shouko Nishimiya the deaf girl he brutally bullied had been wiping the graffiti off his desk every day without him knowing, this is also the first time Shoya regrets his treatment of her. The second time is when Miyoko Sahara one of the few people who were nice to Shouko, thanks him deeply viva a text message for reuniting her with Shouko and the day they all spend together, upon reading it Ishida cries himself to sleep. The third time is when he reunites with Shouko herself in their special spot at the bridge after waking up from his coma that he got while falling off a building stopping Shouko’s suicide attempt. The fourth and most heartwarming example is at the end when Shoya having gotten over his depression is finally able to look at other people's faces again. Looking around at people, his family, and all the new friends he has made, Shoya is overwhelmed with happiness and cries.
• Captain Juzo Okita from Space Battleship Yamato, when he sees his son's picture.
• Okabe Rintarou, a.k.a. Hououin Kyouma, of Steins;Gate gets this a few times, particularly on the numerous occasions where Mayuri dies and when he and Kurisu resolve themselves to having to erase the D-mail that prevented her from getting stabbed in order to save Mayuri... right after they've confessed their love to one another.
• In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Guile doesn't cry when his ass is kicked by Bison, or when Chun-Li is hurt, but he sheds some manly tears of manliness when he thinks Chun-Li is dead.
• Kirito from Sword Art Online has some moments. The best examples:
  • When Kirito listens to the recorded message that Sacchi left for him before she died. When she hums the Christmas song "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", he totally breaks.
  • At the end of the Aincrad arc Kirito apologizes to Asuna for not keeping his promise to take her back to the real world while sobbing.
  • Finally, the most happy instance at the very last episode of the anime, when Kirito and Asuna get reunited. Both shed tears of joy.
• Pegas in the Tekkaman Blade finale. This is made even more badass by the fact that he is a ROBOT.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is arguably the Trope Namer, as it was the Gurren Lagann fanbase that coined the phrase "manly tears".
  • Simon, in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, has the full works: A Rousing Speech is given, Manly Tears are dramatically shaken away, and all set to a Theme Music Powerup.
  • Kamina plays this straight when he finds his father's skeleton in the desert and for comedic purposes a couple more times.
  • In the beginning of episode 26 when he crushes one of the faces on the Anti-Spiral ships after Kittan's manly death he's shown◊ shedding tears of blood.
  • When Simon gets teary, PEOPLE DIE.
  • Take a look at the final scene of the episode where Kamina dies. The way the rain is flowing down Lagann's face, it looks as if the mecha is mourning too.
    • Mirrored again when Kittan dies too. The Chouginga Gurren Lagann has spiral energy flowing down its cheeks as if it's crying.
• TerraforMARS has almost every one of the male characters crying at some point. Notable examples of Manly Tears include Shokichi Komachi and Akari Hizamaru. Shokichi cries for his childhood friend after she is killed by a terraformar. He also cries while hugging his dying teammate Thien, who had overdosed on a drug that left him a human-sized locust. Akari cries rivers when he first learns his friend Yuriko, whom he loved, died before he could help her get an organ transplant. He cries again when admitting he loved her, though this time is also an example of Inelegant Blubbering, as it is less than pretty. This time Akari's grief moves Shokichi to cry as well, as he is reminded of his own similar loss.
• Vash the Stampede from Trigun. He frequently gets like this when donuts are involved. Though some (including characters from the show — even including little kids) would debate whether Vash's tears are manly or not. Wolfwood (during his death scene in both the anime and the manga) and Knives (yes, he cries at one point in the manga, if you look closely: when he embraces then crushes a dead plant, vowing to kill Vash and saying "Farewell, dear brother") would be better examples.
  • Vash's seiyuu, Onosaka Masaya, also voices the Cloudcuckoolander thief Isaac of Baccano!!, also prone to tears most manly.
• Syaoran in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- cries (and then passes out) when he is treated to an extremely vivid replay of Kurogane's tragic past. It's doubly shocking since he's rather stoic for a Kid Hero.
  • Considerably more stoic in the anime version than in the manga, in fact; in the anime he really only seems to have one expression.
• Souichi from The Tyrant Falls in Love breaks down into tears after a long, impassioned rant to Morinaga on how he does have feelings and was hurt by Morinaga's attempt to disappear from his life, and also after saving Morinaga who managed to get himself trapped underneath an altar in a burning house, while berating him on not thinking about how he'd feel again (though he makes the excuse of splashing himself with water as a safety precaution).
• Umineko: When They Cry: Battler does this a lot from the first arc on. It's pretty hard to blame him, and part of the draw of the series is watching him be tortured way past the point he should have gone nuts and yet always in the end manage to pull himself together and keep going.
• Tough guy Tsume mourning woobie Toboe in Wolf's Rain. (Actually the tears are only part of his human illusion because he's a wolf, but they're necessary to show his emotions.)
• In another CLAMP example, despite not being particularly manly, Watanuki from ×××HOLiC doesn't cry often, even when his life starts veering into Deus Angst Machina territory. When he does, it's usually a Tear Jerker for the readers. It helps that whenever something awful happens to him, he always puts up with it without complaining and only cries when the bad stuff happens to others.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Jonouchi/Joey from the original had these as well, after Yugi Muto promised to give the prize money from his Duelist Kingdom victory to Joey to pay for his sister's eye surgery. He cries again when Yugi attempts a Heroic Sacrifice for him after Yugi wins against Jounouchi, who was Brainwashed and Crazy and with their friend Anzu taken as a hostage.
    • Yami Yugi has a mental breakdown after he loses the duel to Rafael and Yugi's soul is taken by the Orichalcos. Later, when he fights and beats a (seemingly) evil ghost-like Yugi in order to overcome his own darkness, he cries again, holding onto little Yugi and vowing to save him.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, everyone present starts openly crying when Ryo/Zane sacrifices himself against Yubel to snap Judai/Jaden out of his Heroic BSoD.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Crow does this when he sees that his siblings have drawn him a picture of Crow which he hugs them.
    • Episode 57 has The Stoic Yusei shedding a tear as he confessed his guilt over his father's research ruining his friends' lives.
    • We see him shed tears again in Episode 145 when Bruno dies, complete with him shouting Bruno's name.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Yusuke cries manly tears when Genkai dies and when Kuwabara fakes his own death.
  • Kuwabara does it too, when Yusuke dies.
  • Tears flow down one side of Hokushin's otherwise stoic face as Yusuke fights Yomi in the Demon World Tournament, thinking of how proud Raizen would be to see Yusuke now.
• Essentially every kickass male in Zatch Bell! cries manly tears sooner or later. It's usually really awesome.

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