10 Saddest Animated Shows, Ranked

Animation is one of the most powerful kinds of media that movies and television have to offer. As a storytelling device that’s pretty much visually limitless, it has allowed artists throughout the years to craft some of the most imaginative and expansive TV shows ever made. Likewise, its unique visual capabilities allow animation to deliver some of the most emotionally hard-hitting narratives that the small screen is able to contain.

From kid-friendly fare like Steven Universe, to animation aimed directly at grown-ups like Primal, a surprising number of the most heartbreaking TV shows in history are animated. Some of them have tearjerkers interspersed between mostly joyful scenes, while others are straight-up depressing throughout. If anything, these series prove that animation can be as emotionally complex and moving as live-action.

10 ‘Bluey’ (2018-)

Created by Joe Brumm

Bluey is truly a special kind of show, the type that comes along only once in a generation. While it’s the perfect series for its target audience—children—, it often feels that it’s aimed at the little ones’ parents just as much, which is what’s gotten it to IMDb’s Top 10 of the highest-rated shows on the site. It follows the slice-of-life adventures of an Australian blue heeler cattle dog puppy as she has fun and learns valuable lessons with her family and friends.

Colorful, vibrant, with great role models, and with a delightful sense of humor, Bluey is many children’s favorite show for a very good reason. However, adults paying close enough attention will often be treated to subtle yet powerful depictions of topics as deep as miscarriages, mental health, and grief. This results in some of the most potent bittersweet moments that anyone will ever be able to find in kids’ media.

9 ‘Futurama’ (1999-)

Created by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening

Sci-fi sitcoms aren’t all that common, but among the few that do exist, there are some that are beyond iconic. Futurama is one such series. In it, pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry is accidentally frozen in 1999 and thawed out on New Year’s Eve of 2999. With a team of friends, he travels on countless intergalactic adventures where the gang gets into shenanigans with potentially terrible consequences.

Futurama is one of the funniest sci-fi comedies that the small screen has ever been graced with. It has some of the genre’s most entertaining characters, most fun storylines, and most intellectual humor (the writers created a literal language for the show). However, it also has some of the saddest moments of any animated comedy, including what might just be the saddest sitcom episode ever in Season 5’s “Jurassic Bark.” It’s a delightful show overall, but it’s also not afraid to hit its audience right in the feels.

8 ‘Steven Universe’ (2013-2019)

Created by Rebecca Sugar

One of the most beloved shows Cartoon Network has ever put out, Steven Universe is about a team of intergalactic warriors fighting to protect the Earth. However, the combination of three highly-trained beings and one quirky young boy leaves the team struggling to overcome the dangerous scenarios they’re faced with. With phenomenal music, beautiful animation, and unprecedented representation, it’s no wonder why Steven Universe is so well-liked.

Sure, the show’s colorful aesthetic and playful tone make it a blast of fun from start to finish, but there are also surprising amounts of thematic complexity and nuance here, considering that it’s a series mainly aimed at tweens and young teens. With its highly likable characters being put through some of the most emotional episodes that have ever aired on Cartoon Network, Steven Universe gets tears out of its viewers as often as it does laughs.

7 ‘Fruits Basket’ (2019-2021)

Directed by Yoshihide Ibata

Praised by many as one of the best anime ever made—as well as one of the most depressing—, Fruits Basket is a shōjo anime (anime mainly aimed at female teens and young adults) based on the manga series of the same title. It’s about a girl who, after she’s taken in by a family, learns that some family members transform involuntarily into animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and she helps them deal with the emotional pain caused by their transformations.

Fruits Basket is probably one of the most flawless anime series of all time, making it a perfect introduction to this kind of show for newcomers. The series has a great sense of humor, but can also get surprisingly dark and emotionally brutal. Hard though some of its sadder episodes and moments may be, the journey overall is worth every second. Beautifully animated, written, and directed, it’s a worthy bearer of the title of “modern classic.”

6 ‘Moral Orel’ (2005-2009)

Created by Dino Stamatopoulos

One of the best-ever TV series for adults, Adult Swim’s Moral Orel is a satirical critique of Christian extremism that handles the topic with astonishing mastery. Directly parodying past religious-geared animated shows, it’s the story of young Orel, an optimistic God-fearing boy living in a world of cynicism. Dark yet hilarious, it’s one of Adult Swim’s most philosophically complex shows.

It’s refreshing to see an adult show that doesn’t capture its target audience by being gory or pointlessly edgy, but by offering properly smart writing and thought-provoking themes. As the show progresses, it starts offering a little bit less cynical comedy and a little bit more profound psychological drama. The result is a series with a masterful sense of progression that gets more and more depressing as it goes on.

5 ‘The Midnight Gospel’ (2020)

Created by Duncan Trussell

Netflix’s tragically canceled The Midnight Gospel has one of the most unique framing devices television has seen recently. It’s built on the foundation of real podcast interviews between creator Duncan Trussell and several guests, with psychedelic and surreal animation (that often have next to nothing to do with what’s being said) giving the show its visual dimension.

Though it’s one of the weirdest TV shows of the 2020s so far (in a very, very good way), The Midnight Gospel also deals with numerous timely topics in layered ways — which typically means that it can get pretty downbeat. Drugs, transcendence, pain, forgiveness, and the duality of life and death are all themes that the series dove deep into throughout its short-lived run. The experience can give viewers a bit of an existential crisis, but it’s also a hell of a good time.

4 ‘Lost Ollie’ (2022)

Created by Shannon Tindle

Lost Ollie is the kind of kids’ show that could make a grown adult cry. One of the best toy-centric stories on Netflix, it has a beautiful mixture of live-action and animation to bolster its deeply affecting narrative. It follows a patchwork rabbit named Ollie, who embarks on an epic quest to find his best friend — the young boy he desperately loves, who he’s been tragically separated from.

This gorgeous miniseries should be more than enough to make an emotional wreck out of any viewer, no matter their age. While very much a great time for the younger viewers it’s aimed at, it also holds back no punches when it’s time to get dark and bittersweet. The story is a touching celebration of memory and all the beauty, joy, pain, and tears that come with it.

3 ‘Primal’ (2019-)

Created by Genndy Tartakovsky

One of the biggest legends of televisual animation, Genndy Tartakovsky is the mind behind some of the medium’s best outings. One such exceptional show is Primal. With barely any dialogue, it tells the story of a caveman and a dinosaur, who bond over a shared tragedy and work together to survive in a dangerous prehistoric world that wants to eat them alive.

Primal has some stunning visuals (as one can expect from any Tartakovsky show), plenty of show-stopping action sequences, and some genuinely terrifying moments. However, what gives it most of its power is its emotional narrative, a powerful examination of grief and trauma-bonding. With some of the most emotional episodes of any animated show and a lingering sense of poignancy hanging over every episode, it might surprise viewers with how often it’s able to get a tear or two out of them.

2 ‘Clannad’ (2007-2009)

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

To many, Clannad is nothing short of the most depressing anime series of all time, with some of the medium’s most heartbreaking episodes. Based on the Japanese visual novel of the same name, it’s about a high school student who cares little about school or his future. He decides to help a lonely girl repeating her final year in re-establishing the school’s drama club, which may just shift his perspective on life and the road ahead.

It may not be the best fit for people who don’t like romantic anime, but for those who do, it’s a must-see. Deeply emotional and absolutely captivating, it has some of the deepest character development and most beautiful storytelling that anime fans could possibly ask for. There are plenty of feel-good moments in it, but for the most part, it best fits the tastes of those who enjoy crying at a show every once in a while.

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1 ‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014-2020)

Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

When mentioning the topic of sad animated shows, there’s one whose title is guaranteed to always come up in conversation, no matter what: BoJack Horseman, easily among the most depressing TV shows of all time, let alone of the medium of animation. It’s about the titular character, a horse who used to be the star of a hit sitcom in the ’80s and ’90s. Now, though, he’s a washed-up old-timer living atop a hill in Hollywood, complaining about everything and struggling with his mental health.

There are no easy answers or straightforward stories in BoJack Horseman, no watered-down themes or uncomplicated characters. It’s one of the darkest sitcoms of all time, with a painfully accurate depiction of depression, addiction, trauma, and show business. It’s not afraid to delve into complicated topics, have unlikable characters, or do episodes that leave humor as an aid to profound drama instead of the other way around — and it’s certainly not afraid to be one of the most gut-wrenching shows on streaming.

NEXT:The Best Animated Shows, Ranked