While we all loved Pokemon growing up it’s hard to deny there were times the series really made its fans emotional, so here are our picks for the most emotional moments in the Pokemon anime that made us cry.
Despite being one of Nintendo’s most family-friendly series, Pokemon isn’t all fun and games. From the spooky lore of certain Pokemon to the surprisingly dark spin-off titles, things can get serious for the cute creatures.
We’re focusing on how the Pokemon anime pulls on our heartstrings more often than we care to admit, from touching movie moments to unforgettable episodes. As long as it made us cry like a Bonsly, it makes this list. Grab a tissue, trainer.
10: Saying goodbye to Brock
Though Brock has come and gone a handful of times in the Pokemon series, we’ve fallen for the antics of the Nurse Joy-adoring Pokemon breeder. Brock acts as the caretaker, cook, and overall “grown-up” the crew can rely on. Every time we say goodbye to the gang at the end of a season, it hurts, but Brock’s leaving hits harder.
At the end of the Sinnoh region, Brock discovers he wants to become a Pokemon Doctor and needs to leave his friends to achieve this goal. This means saying goodbye to not just Ash and Pikachu, but also us for good.
Brock is like that big brother who’s left home but always visits home at the holidays, or in this case, ends up back with Ash. So, Brock shaking Ash’s hand and waving goodbye at a literal crossroads, gives us, as well as Ash, a final farewell from a long-time friend.
9: The tragedy of Paul’s Chimchar
Staying in Sinnoh, Ash’s rival for the region is Paul, a brutal trainer who doesn’t care for his Pokemon’s wellbeing, instead focusing on their strength. One Pokemon who bears the brunt of his training style is Chimchar, who’s put through the wringer as his master tries to unlock the fire type’s potential.
Thankfully, Chimchar finds a home with Ash and friends. Going from a trainer who doesn’t care about Chimchar to a loving family with Ash clearly takes the poor fire monkey some getting used to. We even see the Pokemon wince when it loses a battle, proving just how much of an impact the trauma had on the ‘mon.
8: The clone battle in the first Pokemon Movie
The first Pokemon Movie is memorable because of the threat Mewtwo presents. Normally, our villains are a trio of misfits who are easily dealt with, so things are definitely making a tonal shift when it’s a telepathic mutated clone Pokemon.
Mewtwo’s motivation is to prove he’s better than the original Mew, spreading his influence to the cloned Pokemon, though seemingly not of their own will. Making Mewtwo as bad as humans by forcing ‘mons to fight just like trainers do.
The most upsetting part is Pikachu actively refusing to fight his counterpart. Instead, simply taking their attacks as the clone becomes sadder. It brings a new perspective to Pokemon battles; when they’re not fighting together with their trainer for a common goal, it’s just senseless violence.
7: Pikachu’s beatdown and contemplating evolving
While exploring Sinnoh, the gang comes across a trainer with a powerful Raichu who nearly puts Pikachu down. The fight is disturbingly intimate, with powerful attacks being fired at point blank. Pikachu has lost battles before, but this was something else.
The fan-favorite Pokemon ends up in intensive care, needing a defibrillator to stabilize them. What follows is an interesting conundrum that puts Pikachu at the epicenter. Will he choose to evolve to get stronger or stay the same cute electric fluffball he is?
Normally, it’s Ash taking the spotlight when dangerous stakes are involved. It would take a lot to change the mascot of the entire franchise, even for some character development. Either way, it’s nothing if not an emotional trip.
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6: Saying goodbye to Butterfree
Butterfree needing to leave because it’s migrating south with its new mate is utterly heartbreaking, and touching at the same time. While it does add some much-needed context to Pokemon as animals, fans couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ash as he said goodbye to the first ‘mon he ever caught – and the sad Pokemon theme tune playing doesn’t help either.
That’s the last we see of Butterfree for a very long time until Ash reunites with his beloved bug Pokemon in the final episode. The anime pulled out the big guns, and we’re not too proud to admit that we shed a tear over it.
5: Team Rocket saves their Pokemon from a poacher
Jessie, James, and Meowth make a name for themselves as troublemakers for Ash and the gang, but we all know they have a heart of gold when trouble comes knocking. Team Rocket has its fair share of emotional moments, especially when it comes to saying goodbye to their original Pokemon, Arbok, and Weezing.
When Jessie’s Arbok and James’ Weezing meet a group of their previous evolution they become the target of a cruel poacher. Team Rocket jumps into action allowing the pair to escape, taking the brute force of a Tyranitar head-on without any Pokemon to support them. This scene gives Team Rocket a genuine moment of heroism, all while saying goodbye to their old teammates.
4: Celebi actually dies, like damn they didn’t even hold back
The Pokemon films like to mix up the story tone from the series to keep fans glued to the screen. But the fourth Pokemon Movie, titled “4Ever,” took things too far after the titular Pokemon of the film, Celebi, dies.
The small Pokemon physically looks decrepit. We rarely see Pokemon injured with bruises and scratch marks unless the moment really calls for it. So, seeing Ash trying to heal Celebi to no avail just broke our hearts.
3: Ash finally wins
Sometimes a Pokemon event doesn’t have to be sad to make us cry, sometimes it’s all about pride. Ash has a bad habit of coming up short in his quest to become a Pokemon Master, though it would admittedly be a short series if he won the first championship he participated in.
Ash finally becomes a champion after 25 long years, first in Alola and then again in Galar as the best trainer, with all of his past Pokemon and friends watching, but us too; we’ve finally seen Ash win, and that’s special. We’ve been the invisible members of Ash’s gang, watching everything they’ve been up to, so seeing our friend finally win and finally reach that goal they’ve been working towards will always bring a tear of happiness to our eyes.
2: Everytime Ash “dies”
Though significantly more common in the Pokemon Movies, Ash ends up making the ultimate sacrifice to save the day. Whether that means trying to stop a pointless fight and turning into a statue or straight-up drowning, Ash is always the one to make the hero play.
We all know Ash and, by extension, anyone in the Pokemon series cannot actually die onscreen. So the moments where we see the protagonist we love nearly bite the dust in a dramatic fashion, and his Pokemon mourning doesn’t help with keeping the tears in.
1: Charmander waits for his trainer
Not all trainers are good, let alone worthy of their Pokemon’s trust, and we all learn that the hard way very early in the Pokemon anime with a lonely Charmander awaiting his cruel trainer who abandons him in the rain.
If the fire on Charmander’s tail goes out, that’s it. So, learning that the trainer who abandoned him left it to die as it waits in the rain, barely holding on, is a brutal setup.
Pokemon potentially dying isn’t an uncommon plot used in Pokemon anime or films. As time went on, how close a Pokemon came to death became much less shocking, but poor Charmander barely made it with an ember on its tail, which made it the most tear-jerking moment to ever feature in the Pokemon anime.
