Continuation from the discussion of “what are your comfort anime?”
By that, I specifically mean, “what anime makes you anything but comfortable, but rewatch anyway?” It could be for various reasons, I imagine.
In my case, two of my three regularly-rewatched anime, I do so because of the catharsis (Violet Evergarden and Your Lie in April). The third is equal parts comfort and anti-comfort, so they cancel out (A Place Further Than The Universe). All are intense enough for me to only rewatch once a year.
Land of the Lustrous. Hear me out. I absolutely loved the anime. So much so that I was like “I need MOAR!” and then binged the manga. Without giving anything away, the complete story ruined me for several days afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, it was BRILLIANT but it was also like “fuck…” Like, have you ever seen Requiem for a Dream? Where you go “wow, that was fantastic… and I never want to watch it again.” Except I love Phos and would absolutely spend time with her again and then question my sanity afterwards.
In a similar vein, Planetarian. It gets you right in the feels but is also fantastic. It plays fair and you’re left going “yeah, there isn’t any other way they could have ended, is there?” while you’re bawling your eyes out.