Since it first debuted back in 1997, the Pokemon anime has always packed an emotional punch. While the majority of episodes are a bit of light-hearted fun offset with exciting battle sequences, the Pokemon anime, at its core, has always been about friendship and overcoming adversity—themes that pluck at the heartstrings when used correctly. So it's no surprise that the Pokemon anime boasts some of the most tear-jerking scenes in anime history.
Pokemon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back is probably the best-remembered example of an emotional gut-punch delivered in Pokemon, with Pikachu fighting his own clone and Ash being turned to stone. However, despite the Pokemon writer almost killing off Ash in that scene, the television series actually has a few scenes that match or surpass the scenes in Pokemon: The First Movie.
Ash and Pikachu Defend Each Other in the First Episode of Pokemon
Even as the Pokemon anime celebrates its 25th anniversary, it's hard to imagine a moment in the entire series more impactful than the beginning. In the first episode, Ash spends the day trying to goad a very stubborn Pikachu into entering a Pokeball. After they're attacked by a group of Spearows and Pikachu is injured, Ash asks him to go inside the Pokeball for safety. When he refuses, Ash opts to stand in front of the Spearows' ambush. Pikachu, with the last of his energy, unleashes an attack that saves Ash but they both pass out. The following morning, they wake up with a newfound trust in one another.
It's the moment that defined the original Pokemon anime and also cemented Pikachu and Ash as the perfect pairing. While countless emotional moments were to come in the episodes that followed, Pikachu and Ash saving one another in the first episode set the tone for the entire series.
Ash Leaves Charizard in Charicific Valley
Charizard is perhaps best known now for being the most expensive card in the original Pokemon set, but fans of the Pokemon anime probably recall the episode where Ash leaves Charizard behind at Charicific Valley so that the latter can grow stronger in an episode that broke the collective hearts of Pokemon fans. In the final scene, Ash tries to act tough and opts to insult Charizard rather than go through an emotional farewell, but as he goes to truly leave, he takes off running in an effort to hide his tears.
What makes this episode hit even harder is that the Pokemon television series introduces Ash's Charizard in the 11th episode when Ash finds an abandoned Charmander on the side of the road. For the next 100 or more episodes, fans watch Charmander evolve into Charizard and act as an integral part of Ash's team until they part in this heartbreaking episode.
Stoutland Dies in Pokemon Sun & Moon
There are few episodes as unforgiving as the 21st episode of Pokemon Sun and Moon. Near the beginning of the Sun and Moon series, Ash comes across a wild Litten Pokemon, which he opts not to catch after discovering that the Litten is caring for an older Stoutland. Fast forward 14 episodes and the Pokemon Sun and Moon series delivers one of the most devastating episodes of all time when the aged Stoutland inevitably passes away. While fans are more or less prepared for this episode upon the introduction of Litten and Stoutland, nothing can possibly prepare viewers for the scene of a confused and distraught Litten running around the town looking for its old friend, Stoutland.
Pikachu Chooses Ash
While this episode ultimately has a happy resolution, the moment before Pikachu decides to return to Ash is arguably one of the saddest anime scenes of all time. After discovering that Pikachu is happy being with other Pokemon of its kind, Ash resolves to release Pikachu into the wild in a selfless move that echoes his later episode with Charizard. This is already an incredibly sad concept for a scene, but the heartwrenching montage of Ash and Pikachu moments from the show that plays is borderline cruel.
The best part of this scene is that it's a perfect inversion of the first scene in the Pokemon series when Ash chooses Pikachu at Professor Oak's lab. It shows that not only would Ash choose Pikachu; Pikachu would choose Ash.