Princess Mononoke/Tear Jerker


 * The ending of the movie always makes this troper start to cry uncontrollably; between Joe Hisaishi's sublime score of "Ashitaka and San", the message that  one line of dialogue is all it takes to kick it off:


 * The person right behind him. She was covered in bandages, and looks shocked at being all better. That person was one of the lepers that Lady Eboshi took care of. Leprosy was a death sentence back then, and that person was pretty much brought back from the dead.
 * An even bigger Tear Jerker is that the film can be viewed as a Creation Myth for Industrialisation: It's the moment where humanity, not understanding the damage it's caused, started taking more than nature had to give. Until then the forest had been able to hold its own but it had been weakening the whole time. And the natural world no longer has its gods to protect it. As San says, "The forest god is dead", and it won't be the same anymore. The death of the forest god can be said to be the beginning of our climb into the present day world, and it's come at a terrible cost.
 * What makes the film so profound is that hatred and love is found on either side. Even the forest creatures have (somewhat understable) but irrational hatred for the humans. Examples of hatred: the wolves initially want to kill the human protagonist, the lead boar is demonized out of his desire to battle instead of focusing on living, the villagers have hostility toward the animals, the humans go to war. Examples of kindness: the Forest spirits guide the humans to safety, the protagonist has a loyal non-human friend, etc.. And the protagonist manage to achieve a peace between all cultures and lives.
 * How about just 10 minutes into the movie, when Ashitaka is banished from his village ... and Kaya comes out against the rules to give him her crystal dagger so he won't forget her?
 * Any time that "Adagio of Life and Death" plays. It's such a heartbreakingly beautiful track, that contains both sadness and hope - the scene where Moro and Okkoto die due to the Forest Spirit and Ashitaka races to save San is particularly poignant.
 * The scene where the Kodama are all falling from the trees, fading out as they go. Peaceful creatures, having nothing to do with the wars around them, dropping like flies.


 * What about when  His blind hope and desperation struck this troper as terribly sad.