I’m not really sure why it is – I feel like tears are going to fall. But if I cry or make a sad face, I’m sure the tropers would be troubled.
Unmarked spoilers are ahead, per Spoilers Off rule.
The first manga and anime:
- "Sakura and the Calendar of Memory", wherein Nadeshiko's grandfather Masaki reconciles with Fujitaka, after Sakura learns of their relationship and gets him a birthday present.
- "Sakura and Her Memories of Her Mother". Especially when Sakura cries happy tears after seeing that the cause of the troubles was not her mother's spirit.
- Episode 22 "Sakura and Her Kind Father", where Sakura breaks down crying at having accidentally destroyed her father's work.
- The end of episode 25, with The Mirror card. That particular card starts as a trickster with shades of Jerkass, but when Touya shows her genuine affection and she's so guilty after her Heel–Face Turn that she drops Sakura hints about her identity so she can seal her as atonement, she becomes The Woobie. Poor, poor Mirror card.
- Episode 37 "Sakura and Tomoyo's Vanished Voice" is arguably the first overwhelmingly sad episode. From the moment the Voice card steals Tomoyo's voice to when it's returned everything feels bleak. Sakura is competently despondent without her best friend by her side, and even though she tries to keep her friends' spirits up when Tomoyo's alone it's clear as day how depressed she is.
- And the Final Judgement, before Kaho's Bell of the Moon eliminates Sakura's loss to Yue, and she and everyone she knows forgets whomever they loved the most.
- Adding to that, Sakura is in the spot where Yukito's house is and crying, and she starts to hear the voices of her friends call out her name for a few seconds. Then the Song Card fades in and starts singing Tomoyo's song. Soon, silhouettes of Tomoyo, Li, her classmates, Kero, Touya, and Yukito appear behind her, and sing along. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- In episode 66, Sakura cries in Syaoran's arms after she pulls her own I Want My Beloved to Be Happy on Yukito and encourages him to hook up with his beloved Touya. She's almost completely happy and cheery when speaking to Yukito himself, but once she's with Syaoran in the park, she explains what she just did, and then she starts crying and saying that even if she did the right thing, and she doesn't regret it, it still hurts...
- The build up is masterful. Throughout the scene the shots are not often focused on Sakura, but we hear her explaining things in a rather wistful matter-of-fact way. Then we get the Wham Shot of Sakura (see above) with tears streaming down her face, her expression slowly contorts and voice starts cracking until eventually she just breaks down sobbing heartbroken.
- Keep in mind Sakura's crush on Yukito was a large part of her character established from the start of the very first episode. So many stories were devoted to her trying to get his attention and yearning to be with him forever. Sure, we know she has Syaoran by this point, but it's still rather crushing to see her get told by the love of her life that it was never meant to be.
- And Syaoran in the same scene in the manga. The look on his face when Sakura says that she told Yukito she loved him. He knew she liked Yukito, but that really has to hurt! And then in the next chapter, he decides that he won't tell Sakura how he feels, because he doesn't want to upset her. Dang!
- There’s also the simple that fact Syaoran isn’t happy that the girl he loves was rejected by her crush. When Sakura breaks down sobbing, Syaoran looks ready to burst into tears himself. He doesn’t see this as his “big opportunity”, but he’s in pain because she’s in pain.
- Another mix of Tear Jerker and I Want My Beloved to Be Happy in the series is Meiling's return to Japan, where she breaks off her engagement to Syaoran and tells him to go for Sakura, but then she bawls her heart out on Tomoyo's lap because she loves both Sakura and Syaoran too much to hate them for her heartbreak.
- Given Meiling's Scrappy status at the start (although she later graduated to Jerk with a Heart of Gold), it is quite a shock when hearing her heartbroken sobs.
- And props to the voice acting, because many times when this is done, the crying comes off as hysterical and gut-wrenching, sure, but with Meiling it is the kind of ugly sobbing that sounds like it's torn out of her very being.
- Adding do this, Meiling's face when she first realises Syaoran and Sakura are on a First-Name Basis as he calls her by name. It's even more heartbreaking because you can tell how focused she is on Syaoran, as she never noticed Sakura twice calling him by name; it wasn't until he said her name that she noticed it.
- The buildup to this makes the entire episode painful to sit through. Syaoran is blatantly guilt ridden at having to break the news to Meiling and is only more pressured when she arrives to Tomoeda to hasten it. Even Tomoyo, who was gleeful at the thought of shipping him with Sakura, notices the moment Meiling has put it all together and feels bad. Knowing she will get her heart broken, she cryptically offers herself as a shoulder to cry on when the news is broken.
Wei: Meiling-sama truly is a kind person...Syaoran: *sadly* Yeah...- Fridge Tearjerker: Tomoyo doesn't say a single word while listening to Meiling's cries, but considering that she has her own case unrequited love and stepped away for Sakura's sake, there's no doubt that she knows what Meiling is feeling right now.
- Sakura witnessing Clow's death is a double Tear Jerker: not only do you get Clow saying goodbye to his creations, you get to see Sakura's face when she hears Kero and Yue claim no one will ever be as good as him. Ouch.
- The manga steps up on Yue's part, where he cries out that he'd rather sleep in the book forever, and he doesn't want to wake up anymore.
- The anime does well with what it has to work with. Megumi Ogata sells Yue's anguish here. It's one of the few times he raises his voice. (She raises his voice? He raises her voice?)
- Later in her conversation with Clow, Sakura breaks down, stating she is unworthy of being master and could never match him. Clow just smiles and assures her she'll do fine as Sakura, and is glad she took the role. How many in real life have desired such reassurance and closure from those long gone?
- The following episode, where Yukito (now aware of Yue's existence and his status) angsts because his whole life as a human is a lie, but Touya reassures him that their common memories are true, and this happens right before Sakura's aforementioned I Want My Beloved to Be Happy moment towards Yukito and Touya, followed by her breakdown in Syaoran's arms brought even more tears.
- For a one-episode character, Youko is a massive woobie. Almost any girl who likes her classmate in secret and is too shy to tell him/her can identify with her struggles, specially when Touya politely turns her down... and like Sakura would do later, she takes it as well as possible, but still can't help crying.
- From the first movie, Madoushi's finally accepting the fact that Clow Reed is dead...and realizing that no, she will never get to confess her love to him. Her dialogue makes it worse.Madoushi: :Is Clow Reed really dead?
Sakura: [wordlessly nods]
Madoushi: ...But...I waited...[sadly begins to dissolve into water] - The scene where Touya willingly sacrifices his powers and transfers them to Yue, both to have Yue protecting Sakura and to keep his beloved Yukito by his side. Made even "better" when Yue warns him that he won't see Nadeshiko's spirit again, and Touya says it's okay because being able to see her but not tell anyone else that she's there caused him pain. The kicker? When the power transfer is done and Touya passes out in the fully recovered Yue's arms, he hears some noise and uses a gust of wind to open the door. It's Sakura, who has heard everything, and is sobbing her heart out because she blames herself for not being powerful enough to sustain Yue. And then she tearfully vows to protect Touya forever, like he has done to her.
- Sakura is heartwrenching here. She isn't just crying because she was on the verge of losing Yukito and Yue because of her lack of power, but also because of how badly she misjudged Touya. Whenever Kero brought up the possibility that Touya was on to them, Sakura dismissed it out of hand, saying that if her brother knew what she was doing, he'd tease her mercilessly. Come to find out that he did know all along, kept her secret, and gave her space to let her take care of matters herself.
- In episode 69, Kero and Yue are ready to pull a Heroic Sacrifice, placing themselves in Sakura's wand, which could risk trapping them inside forever. Sakura, upon realising this, pleads desperately against it, bursting into tears and hugging Kero as hard as possible. Kero can only nussle her gently while Yue gently convinces her to agree to it.
- In the anime, she hugs Kero, and Yue comes over and lays a hand on her shoulder. In the manga, Yue knelt to speak with her, so she was able to hug them both at once, making it clear that Sakura doesn't just care about Kero and Yukito, but she loves Yue, too.
- Syaoran also lends his energy to her, and like with Kero and Yue, she doesn't want to lose him either but he insists on helping her. In the manga, he collapses while contributing his own magic with a look of shock knowing that if she is unsuccessful, she will lose Syaoran too.
- The second movie has the Nothing Card systematically erasing everyone Sakura cares about from existence.
- The Nothing as a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Imprisoned beneath Clow Reed's house in darkness, unable to escape, and separated from her friends and created with solely negative magic to act as a balance to the positive magic of the other Clow Cards. We learn just how much of a Broken Bird she is when she steals all of the cards, only for them to turn against her, causing her to break down in tears until Sakura offers a spot amongst her friends as a Sakura Card.
- Sakura's Disney Death in the elevator in episode 57. Just the close up shot of Syaoran's very still face as he repeats the image of her falling to her supposed death over and over in his head. His face contorts in heartbreak, like he's about to break down completely. Instead we get this for the very first time:Syaoran: SAKURAAAAAAAAA!!!
- Any scene where Sakura cries is just heartbreaking to the point where you just want to hug her every time something heartbreaking happens. (And thus was a concept born, really.)
- In an effort to remove most of the romance from the series, Nelvana ended up adding an unintentional tearjerker near the end, with Sakura and Syaoran never reuniting at the end, unlike in the original.
- In fairness, everything that leads up to that moment in the original is enough to make you feel for Sakura. She doesn't know what to do with herself now that Syaoran finally confessed his feelings for her, and finally breaks when Tomoyo gives her the news of his departure over the phone. That's when she realizes what Yukito was telling her about: he's the one for whom she feels true love, and not just a crush. It's this realization that leads to the heartwarming in the final minutes of the original series.
