You really can’t help but feel for Yukari here due to the unjustified public backlash she & her mother experienced due to her father’s actions, as well as admonishing herself over the jealousy she feels about her friend Mitsuru’s father surviving the explosion instead of her own. Furthermore, the way Yukari initially snaps at the protagonist's attempts to empathize with her before quickly apologizing & bursting into tears due to feeling completely lost feels so human & down-to-earth!

In essence, Yukari’s breakdown reflects a very human portrait of how individuals struggle with feelings of grief & self-loathing, as well as their ability to & and move forward as Yukari finds connection in the protagonist, who similarly lost his parents at a young age…

Putting her hand on the iron handle, she pulled one side of the doors open. A blast of cold air hit her in the face before she stepped outside into the courtyard. Standing in the middle next to the fire was a figure. It was a man with his back facing her. His broad shoulders were cloacked by the blue jacket he wore, and the sword on his back gave her a clue as to where he was from. His hood was up concealing the color of his hair, but she already knew. She stopped when the door slammed shut behind her. The sound, though muffled a little by the snow falling around them, drew his attention.

Her heart sped up as the man in front of her slowly turned around. His blue eyes peered out from underneath his hood, making Anna's heart almost stop once again. She knew those eyes intimately as they had stared up at her once before. He did not say anything, only lowered his hood to reveal his white hair. Anna closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears from forming in her eyes.

He was here. Right in front of her after twenty-four years of being without him. She opened her eyes again to see him in the light reflected from the snow around them.

Her son.

Alive and every bit of what she imagined him to be.

Her hands went to her mouth to stop the sobs from coming out, but it was the tears that were let loose. The tears that she kept bottled up for years after she became Matron. The tears she reserved for him alone.

The question was... did he know who she was?

I can just imagine the snow flying around Nero with the fire behind him as Anna is looking at him. Ugh... such a tear jerker moment there.

Moments include:

The lighting of the beacons of Minas Tirith.

Rohirrim’s charge in the Battle of Pelennor Fields

Hiccup’s and Toothless’s first flight

When Spirit is racing the eagle in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and when he destroys the train

When Balto howls with the White Wolf

When Mulan cuts her hair and leaves

When Wonder woman crosses no man’s land

When they’re trying to outrun Barbosa in the first PotC

Watching this scene again is like watching this scene from The Breakfast Club”

Scene Inspiration: Making a Plea

If you’re writing a fic that requires raw emotion, and/or any sort of desperate plea to help a loved one, I highly recommend watching this scene from the movie “Men Don’t Leave” with Jessica Lange for inspiration. You won’t be spoiling anything if you watch this before the whole movie.

Background: Beth (Jessica Lange’s character) falls into a deep depression following the sudden death of her husband, a move to a new city, the loss of her job, and the growing distance between her and her firstborn, Chris. She’s been sleeping for days on end and her children are scared. 

Chris has been pretty ugly to his mother’s new love interest, Charles (Arliss Howard), the man he’s appealing to in this scene. Charles has stopped coming around after some awkwardness with Beth that has absolutely nothing to do with Chris. Still, he blames himself.

I don’t know if the actor, Chris O’Donnell, was completely on script or not, but he plays this scene with such purity you can feel his character’s heart breaking and his tough facade crumbling. It’s not just the dialogue; pay attention to his body language. He displays all his frustration, anger, sadness, fear and love in less than 2 minutes.

I just wanted to share this in case any of you want to capture in your writing the basics of what’s going on here.