While out on a scouting expedition, Hange finds a titan that she wants to capture for further study. Levi is forced to kill it when it comes dangerously close to eating one of his men, but not all hope is lost for insight into titan behavior. They discover a makeshift grave—the headless body of a former Scouting Regiment soldier enshrined within the hollow of a tree—and beneath it is a bloodstained notebook that details the last moments of the poor girl’s life.

The soldier, named Ilse Langnar, lost her entire squad and was left to wander the forest without a horse or ODM gear. She encountered a bizarre talking titan that seemed to worship her as “Ymir-sama”, but when she interrogated the titan about why its kind eats humans, it became distressed and killed her. We learn much later in the series that this titan used to be one of the Eldians who worshipped Historia’s friend Ymir as a goddess, and Ilse resembled Ymir enough that the titan recognized her as the same person. Ilse’s life may have been short, but her journal became an invaluable resource for humanity.

Yamauchi-kun lives at his family’s temple and dutifully watches over the grounds. He used to spend a lot of time watching his grandfather carve wooden animals out of bamboo, but the man suddenly died before he could finish a horse toy that he had promised to make with his grandson. Yamauchi desperately wants to apologize to his grandfather’s ghost for being angry that the promise went unfulfilled, only to find that the ghost is appearing in front of everyone else except him.

With a bit of help from our cute little witches, Yamauchi and his grandfather reunite and complete the horse together. The ghost had been trying to seek help from others before approaching Yamauchi, but eventually realized that he should reconcile with his grandson in person. With the promise finally realized, Yamauchi visits his grandfather’s grave the next day and happily chats with him.

What good is a graveyard if its spooky atmosphere can’t be exploited for a test of courage? During a laid-back interlude between the ultra-serious Varia and Future arcs, Tsuna and the gang explore a nearby cemetery on a dare. Pranks and jump-scares abound, but the real terror begins when the ghost of Romeo (Bianchi’s boyfriend who died from her poison cooking) tries to drag Tsuna and Lambo into the afterlife with him!

Lambo transforms into his adult self, who looks just like Romeo, to force him back into his portal with an electric attack that turns out to be ineffective against ghosts. It’s only when Bianchi comes barreling in and attacks both Lambo and Romeo with poisoned food that the vengeful spirit finally disappears. That was a close one!

Tooru’s mother, Kyoko Honda, was a kind and energetic woman who served as a role model to her daughter and friends. On the one-year anniversary of her death, Tooru goes to visit her grave with Uo, Hana, Yuki, and Kyo in tow. This scene serves a pivotal role in the story, since it introduces important elements like Kyo’s mysterious regret over Kyoko’s death, Tooru’s bottled-up grief that mirrors how many of the Zodiac characters view their parents, and Uo’s devotion to Kyoko as thanks for pulling her out of a dark place in life. They end the visit by holding an unauthorized picnic in front of the tombstone, which is just the kind of rabble-rousing that Kyoko would’ve wholeheartedly endorsed.

Shinji doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with his dad, as shown in this scene from episode 15 where the two of them have a stiff and awkward visit to his mother’s grave. Gendo thinks the trip is largely pointless since the headstone is just a placeholder for a woman whose body was never found. On top of that, Shinji is useless to him except as an EVA pilot and he has already begun to replace his wife Yui with the nearly identical Rei. He leaves on a helicopter after only a few minutes, abandoning his son in an empty graveyard to mourn the mother he never got a chance to know. It seems like Shinji isn’t the only one who runs away from his problems...

Joseph’s wife Suzie Q is a bit of an airhead, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than when she forgets to inform Joseph’s family and friends that he didn’t actually die when he defeated Kars and crashed into the ocean from low Earth orbit.

After she nurses him back to health and he marries her, the two return to New York to see that the others are attending a funeral... for Joseph! Lisa Lisa, Smokey, Erina, and Speedwagon are completely dumbfounded to see him alive, but eventually calm down enough to be relieved that Joseph isn’t dead. We think the English dub sums it up best with this line from the supposedly dead Joestar: “You had one job, woman. One job!”

Nanachi is a helpful Hollow who performs amateur surgery on Riko after she’s attacked by the Orb Piercer. However, Reg notices that her hideout is filled with delving equipment and cave raider whistles, and he even discovers an overgrown cemetery out back. Nanachi is still a good person, but she has an ulterior motive: she uses dying cave raiders with no chance of recovery as test subjects to find a way to kill her suffering, immortal friend Mitty. Out of respect for the lives she had to take, she buries their bodies in a serene field of flowers and displays their belongings in her house. Does Reg hold the key to the one method that will free Mitty from her pitiful fate?

During the climax of the Tower of Heaven arc, Erza faces an impossible decision: should she sacrifice herself to protect Natsu from an attack that will surely kill him, or should she allow the Tower of Heaven to claim the life of another dear comrade, just as it did in the past? She imagines a hypothetical funeral where her friends tearfully mourn her death. Natsu is inconsolable, angrily insisting that Erza is still alive and can’t possibly be dead. Lucy pleads for him to face reality and breaks down crying... wow, who knew Fairy Tail could be so realistically heart wrenching?

Erza can’t bring herself to put her teammates through such soul-crushing sorrow, so she rejects the idea of sacrifice and wakes up to find that Natsu and the other members of Fairy Tail have saved her from the Etherion blast. From this point on, she promises to live for her friends instead of devaluing her own life for their sake.

Mitsuki’s greatest ambition in life is to become an idol singer so that she can reconnect with her childhood friend Eichi. Even though he’s far away in America, she knows that her voice can reach him if she becomes famous enough. She works tirelessly to pursue her dream throughout the series, even making a deal with shinigami to temporarily remove her fatal throat tumor and artificially age her up several years so she can nail the important auditions. But when she finally claws her way to the top and travels to America to see her beloved Eichi, all she finds is his tombstone.

Utterly devastated by the news that Eichi died in a car accident shortly after moving to the States, Mitsuki lies down in front of his grave and waits to die in the cold winter weather. It’s only when her friends rescue her that she realizes her life can have meaning even without Eichi to cheer her on.

Hohenheim has lived for hundreds of years, fueled by the philosopher’s stone that Father forced upon him so long ago. All he wanted was to grow old and die with his beloved wife Trisha, but had to leave his family to prevent Father from repeating the tragedy of Xerxes on an even larger scale. In one of the final scenes of the anime, he returns to Trisha’s grave in Resembool once Father has been defeated. With his sons saved and his work finally complete, he expends the very last of his life energy and dies with a smile on his face. After uncountable years and unimaginable hardship, he was able to make this simple wish come true and be with his wife in death.

91 Days focuses on a young man named Avilio who has decided to come back to his hometown, Lawless, to right the wrong of the murder of his family in a mafia dispute. As he infiltrates the family responsible for the death of his own, Avilio begins to set his revenge plan into motion. With murder leading to more murder, the tension rises as to who is going to be able to kill who first once and for all.

Although this is a short series, we get to see the graveyard in several different contexts, such as a funeral. Cerotto’s discovery of two bodies after trailing Avilio, however, is an incident at the graveyard that stands out from the typical occurrence that also serves to move the plot forward. While there isn’t anything with deep symbolism or a deep reflection by a certain character, this example from 91 Days shows that not all scenes in the graveyard have to be incredibly impactful every time. That being said, this incident is pretty normal compared to the rest of this list.

Fairy Tale follows Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, and many others as they travel the world going up against rigorous challenges as they attempt to fulfill quests in exchange for rewards. One of the many places their adventures takes them to is a unique take on the typical graveyard: the Dragon Graveyard. This graveyard serves multiple purposes. Not only does it help advance the plot to some degree, it also helps develop the characters involved as they use their magic to fight the dragon’s spirits they summon. It’s also unique that the backdrop of dragon bones in a “graveyard” like setting serves as a unique twist to the traditional graveyards seen in anime, hence why it’s made this list.

The infamous vampire hunter and dunpeal (half vampire) “D” is hired to find and rescue Charlotte Elbourne, the lovely daughter of an affluent family, by her father. However, the bounty to find her dead or alive attracts the attention of the Markus brothers and their special gang of bounty hunters. Not to mention an unseen evil force manipulating the course of events. Who will live and who will die will all depend on who can survive the sudden twist of events to come…

At one point in the story, D speaks with Leila about their reasons for hunting vampires. Leila ends up making a pact with D that whoever survives this incident must bring flowers to the other’s grave. D accepts, thinking that he will die in his attempt. The final scene of the movie, however, shows D attending Leila’s grave and talking briefly with her granddaughter many years after the story’s events, fulfilling his promise. The graveyard just happens to serve as the perfect setting for moments like these, and this action helps speak to D’s character, especially in a story filled with vampires, werewolves, and other horrors.

The original Yu-Gi-Oh focused on Yugi Mutou and his friends going up against multiple foes in a card game known as Duel Monsters. With magical items coming into play with special connections to ancient Egypt, Yugi and Yami must work together to defeat the forces of evil and fulfill their destiny as the King of Games.

As cheesy as the story can get sometimes, the unique settings throughout Yu-Gi-Oh are actually pretty impressive at expressing certain feelings both within and outside their many duels. In the case of the literal “Graveyard” created in Bakura’s Shadow Game with Yugi, the setting was downright spooky and in complete contrast to Joey’s appearance when he was sent there. Granted, the cheesiness came back once the “Reaper of the Cards” showed up to claim Joey’s soul, but if you take a minute and think about the context of what was actually going on, there can be a few moments of fear that you’ll feel, and the look of the graveyard plays a strong role in invoking those emotions.

Soul Eater focuses on a group of students attending the Shibusen academy in order to learn how to become “Death Scythes” that can be wielded by Lord Death himself against the evil in the world. As each of the students struggle through their own hardships, they learn to work together against certain foes and at the same time collect the necessary amount of souls in the process.

Early on in the series, we see Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki fighting together in Hook Cemetery against Sid the Zombie in order to stop him from attacking other students, as Sid’s gravestone is located there. In this case, we get somewhat of a whimsical vibe in terms of the appearance of the graveyard. We also get our first fight on the list that takes place in a cemetery, although this fight early on serves the plot and helps establish the main cast more than anything else. Still, the unique take on appearance combined with the fight that takes place are what qualify this graveyard to be on the list.

When one misses someone that has recently passed away so much that they wish they could resurrect them, the being known as the Millennium Earl can make that come true….at a cost. While their souls are brought back, they are trapped in vessels known as “Akuma” controlled by the Millennium Earl. Only Allen Walker and his fellow Exorcists can stop these Akuma with their special abilities, and ultimately are the only ones that can save the world from the Millennium Earl’s ultimate plan.

In a series that revolves around the concept of death, Allen’s first encounter with the Millennium Earl as a child is that much more meaningful. Sitting at the grave of Mana, a retired circus clown that took Allen in after his parents abandoned him, the Millennium Earl tricks Allen into wishing Mana to be brought back, only to be trapped inside an Akuma. This incident caused Allen’s unique arm to kill Mana outside of Allen’s control, causing Allen’s hair to turn white and his left eye to develop abilities upon recovery. While the scene seems to be more focused around Mana’s original grave as opposed to multiple graves, the scene is very pivotal to both Allen and the Millennium Earl as characters, and gives an insight into the tone of the story.

Okabe’s days pretending to be a mad scientist going up against CERN come to an end when he meets Kurisu and accidentally unlocks upon a unique way to time travel for real. Things seem to be positive at first as Okabe and his friends explore the potential of what can happen after creating new world lines, but as things suddenly take a turn for the worse, it’s up to Okabe to figure out how to set things back to normal before it’s too late.

While the series is mainly focused on things such as time travel and uncovering the plot’s mystery, it also does a great job in developing the small cast of characters. In this case, a graveyard serves as the setting for the special bond that forms between Okabe and Mayuri. We slowly learn throughout the series that Mayuri loses her grandmother at a young age, and as a result would frequently spend her time visiting her grave. When Mayuri one days holds her hand to the sky as if to go to heaven, Okabe quickly rushes forward and hugs her to prevent her from leaving, and plays off his feelings by pretending to be a mad scientist. This act is kept up by Okabe so much in an effort to make Mayuri happy that it has become a part of who he is, suggesting that that moment in the cemetery is one of the most critical moments in not only Okabe’s life, but Mayuri’s as well.

Edward and Alphonse Elric were just 2 normal brothers living a quiet life with their mother and father. That is, until their father mysteriously left and never came back and their mother passed away soon after. Refusing to believe that she was gone forever, the brothers turned to alchemy in order to bring her back, only to not only fail in their attempt, but almost lose their lives as well. With Edward losing an arm and a leg and Alphonse’s soul tied to a suit of armor, they realize that in order to restore things back to normal, they must find the Philosopher’s Stone…

Graveyards appear more than once in the series in regards to where Edward and Alphonse travel to on their quest, but the biggest graveyard scene (and arguably one of the biggest in anime) is when Colonel Mustang visits Hughes’ grave. As badass as Mustang is, this is one of the only times in the show we see an emotional component to him, and even as we watch it unfold, he still plays it off as if he’s not even doing it. Again, the scene focuses more on the incident at Hughes’ grave as opposed to the cemetery as a whole, but the impact of this scene cannot be understated.

Gintama is a series where you soon learn to just expect the unexpected. Sometimes you find yourself laughing at the absurdity that unfolds while other times you’re drawn in by the seriousness that unfolds in contrast to the humor. In a society that doesn’t require the use of samurai anymore, Gintama is forced to turn to any odd job he can find in order to pay his rent. Along the way, Gintama encounters both people that will join up with him as well as many people that will oppose him. Despite Gintama’s personality and sense of humor, he is an accomplished swordsman, and one of the best battles in the series that showcases his skills is his graveyard battle with Jirochou. Gintama sparingly goes White Yaksha, so the fact that he did in this fight serves as to how intense it really was despite it being a short length. The graveyard also plays a role in the plot, as Jirochou had just stricken down Otose, who Gin sees lying motionless on Tatsugorou’s grave and who Gin had promised to protect. With the graveyard serving as both critical to the plot as well as an epic fight, it’s no wonder that it’s on this list.

Shaman King is exactly what it sounds like. Every 500 years, shamans from across the globe compete in what’s known as the Shaman Fight. Whoever wins not only becomes the Shaman King, but also gets to become one with the Great Spirit and have their deepest desires granted.

Shaman King is a series where many impactful scenes take place in a graveyard, especially at the beginning of the series. Running as fast as he can so that he doesn’t miss the last train, Manta decides on a whim to cut through the locked up cemetery to get to the station. Manta soon learns that he has the ability to see ghosts, a revelation he takes time to comprehend. More importantly, Manta meets Yoh, and they soon become best friends. Many other plot-driven and character building moments take place in graveyards in this series, such as Ryu destroying Amidamaru’s grave, Yoh qualifying to be in the Shaman Fight, and Yoh’s first ever defeat at the hand of Faust. But the moment that started it all was when Manta met Yoh, setting the event into motion.