Disgaea/Tear Jerker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Hour of Darkness

  • Episode 8, the Red Moon episode, was one of the most heart-wrenching sequences in all of video games. It revolves around the night of the Red Moon, when the Prinnies who have redeemed themselves are allowed to reincarnate at last. Not only do the Prinnies sing a haunting song called, simply, "Red Moon", but it is revealed that the red "Big Sis Prinny" is Laharl's mother in Prinny form, and now she too is allowed to reincarnate, which leads to some truly touching emotional moments involving Laharl ("But, if we are destined to part again, wouldn't it be better to watch from afar and leave without a single word?"). This chapter pretty much marks Laharl's transition from Jerkass to Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • "DID...THURSDAY...SERVE...HIS...PURPOSE...?"
  • Kurtis' Heroic Sacrifice.
  • As soon as the scene where Flonne basically dies finished, I shut off the system, went up to my room, and cried for about an hour. I haven't played it since, and it's been almost two weeks. Whenever I go and start up the game, I start crying.
    • The normal ending. After Laharl realizes that by killing Lamington, he ended up killing Flonne as well, he takes his own life in the same way his mother did.

Laharl: "You mean... you mean it's my fault she died? That she died... because... of me?".
Laharl: "IF THERE IS A GOD, MAY HE HEAR MY PLEA! I, LAHARL, HAVE BUT ONE REQUEST: TAKE MY LIFE, IN EXCHANGE FOR FLONNE'S!"

  • The ending to Etna mode from the PSP/DS port is another contender. This troper has to choke back tears every single time he watches it. When Etna's memories finally return, she realizes that her big promise to Krichevskoy was to watch over Laharl and she breaks down realizing that she failed to keep her promise. Sure, we find out that was Laharl was alive all along, but it's still a heart-wrenching scene.

Cursed Memories

  • How about the worst ending for Disgaea 2? Not only does Adell kill Rozalin, he is then possessed and in the after-credits sequence... he eats his siblings as they beg him to stop.
  • A sort of Fridge Horror Tear Jerker, but when Adell kills his parents. They were under partial mind control at the time, so they couldn't tell him, and nobody knew Zenon had brainwashed them, so he'll never find out. He was literally one step away from finding out the truth about his parents, his heritage, and getting his real family back, all he had to do was keep them paralyzed until Zenon's curse was broken... but he didn't know, and so he killed them. The fact that they were literally asking for it since they didn't have enough freedom to ask for him to break the curse makes it even worse.
  • In the manga, Adell's explanation to Rozalin of why he wants to defeat Zenon is accompanied by a Flash Back to his childhood. Adorable little Adell walks in on his parents right as they're being overwhelmed by demonic urges brought on by the curse. An shot of his teddy bear torn apart and lying in a pool of blood follows. Then it shows his parents with their faces streaked with blood and tears, embracing their injured child...

Absence of Justice

  • Almaz' death in general is a giant Tear Jerker with him trying his best to stop Mao. However, if you go for the Human World ending, Raspberyl, who also tries to stop Mao, ends up dying at the hands of Aurum and apologizes to Mao for not believing in him. Mao doesn't take it very well...
    • "And then, there was no one. No human world, no Netherworld, no Celestia. Everything disappeared and was gone..."
    • Sapphire's reaction to Almaz' death. Sapphire is frustrated that she can't shed a tear for him even though she lost someone who truly cared about her. When she finally does shed tears, however, it's when he comes back to life and they're Tears of Joy.
  • Mao's Japanese voice actor, Hiromi Hirata, can make him go from crazy Mad Scientist to walking Tear Jerker at a drop of a hat, especially in Episode 4 when you face the Maos who says Dad. It's hard not to tear up when you can hear the pain in Mao's voice. And then you actually have to fight them with all their voices desperately calling out to Mao's dad.

A Promise Unforgotten

  • Nemo's tearful, desperate Motive Rant right before the final battle, especially in the Japanese version. You can literally feel the sheer pain and sorrow in his voice.
  • In the Fuka and Desco DLC Desco starts flipping out when she finds out that Fuka will lose everything, including her memories, once she reincarnates. She goes on to do everything in her power to convince Fuka to not reincarnate.