5 anime so painfully raw and stunning, fans are still haunted: The Wind Rises to Fullmetal Alchemist

Anime can just twist the knife. Sometimes with just a word, if not a scene. or just, silence. From heart-wrenching tales of loss to breathtaking journeys of self-discovery, some shows and films linger long after the credits roll. The Wind Rises, Grave of the Fireflies, and Fullmetal Alchemist are perfect examples—stories that are as beautiful as they are brutal. And, these five anime prove that raw emotion and unforgettable storytelling go hand in hand.

Fans still shed tears over this one. So what's it about? Well, a lot. And it's not an easy watch.

After four years of devastating war in Telesis, Violet Evergarden—a girl trained as a ruthless killer—is left maimed, carrying only the words “I love you” from someone she cherished, yet unable to understand them. Recovering from her injuries and estranged from her would-be guardian family, Violet starts anew at CH Postal Company. There, she discovers the world of Auto Memory Dolls—specialists who turn people’s emotions into written words.

Another beautiful, but deeply devastating one, as you can tell by the name itself.

You follow the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children struggling to survive in wartime Japan during World War II. After losing their mother in an air raid and being abandoned by their father, the siblings face starvation, illness, and societal indifference. They find temporary refuge in an abandoned shelter, trying to cling to normalcy and each other’s company amidst the devastation. As their situation worsens, Setsuko’s health declines, and Seita struggles helplessly to save her. Quiet, searing and a portrait of lost innocence, suffering and yet the vestiges of hope, Grave of the Fireflies is worth your time.

The wind is rising. We must try to live. That's the quiet messaging around this Ghibli film, where the wind is sentient. It's calm, or it can bring the storm. In this story, we witness Japan on the cusp of transformation, through the eyes of Jiro Horikoshi, a brilliant aeronautical engineer in pre-World War II Japan, who dreams of designing beautiful airplanes. Despite health struggles and the looming shadow of war, Jiro pursues his passion for aviation, inspired by his love for flight and the visionary Italian designer Giovanni Caproni, who is his muse. Along the way, he falls in love with Nahoko, a kind-hearted woman battling tuberculosis. There's bittersweet pain, loss and anguish, and the idea, when do dreams consume you?

A Silent Voice follows Shoya Ishida, a former bully haunted by his past, and Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf girl he tormented in elementary school. Now in high school, Shoya seeks redemption, desperate to make amends for the pain he caused. As he reconnects with Shoko, they traverse misunderstandings, guilt, and the challenges of communication, slowly building trust and understanding. Here, we feel the scars of bullying, mental health struggles, and the reluctance of forgiveness.

It's raw and scarring, years on. At its heart the story follows brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric on a desperate quest for the Philosopher’s Stone, hoping to restore the bodies they lost after a failed attempt to resurrect their mother. And then, midway through the anime, creator Hiromu Arakawa requested an original ending, as the manga was still ongoing, sending the story down a path that was different from the manga.

And what a path that was.