Japanese animation is far more compelling when the protagonist has a strongly defined and realistic emotional side, all to make them more sympathetic and justify their words and actions. This is especially true in drama and comedy anime, where a realistic character's anger, joy, sadness, or fears make them a star.
Plenty of anime heroes are distinctly sad in their character arcs, though they won't always show it. Even if certain anime protagonists put on a brave face and find way to cope with their dark feelings, their implied or explicit sadness cannot be denied, and those sad feelings will play a major role in that character's personal journey.
10 Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
Protagonist Naruto Uzumaki does his best to hide his intense sadness and insecurities in Naruto, partly because he doesn't expect anyone to answer an emotional cry for help from him. Instead, Naruto hides his dark feelings with pranks and troublemaker antics, not to mention constant boasting.
Naruto has admitted his dark emotional state to other people, such as his Sand Village counterpart Gaara, explaining how tough it was to be all alone and hated. Fortunately, Naruto became genuinely happy after joining Team 7 and later, as the Hokage he always wanted to be.
9 Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden)
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Violet Evergarden is a chariming kuudere anime heroine from the Violet Evergarden anime. Her origins are somewhat obscure, but she did have a somewhat unusual and difficult upbringing, and then she lost both of her arms in a horrible war.
Now Violet is an Auto Memory Doll with mechanical arms, typing out letters for clients. This job exposes Violet to some pretty emotional material, and the sensitive Violet is liable to cry on behalf of her clients. Violet hopes to help others and make them happy with this job, but it comes at a personal cost.
8 Kosei Arima (Your Lie In April)
Your Lie in April is notorious as a compelling but total tear-jerker of an anime. The story stars Kosei Arima, a boy whose abusive mother pressured him to play the piano perfectly, to the point he lost his ability to hear music because of the emotional distress.
Kosei felt terrible about that, but slowly cheered up when the energetic Kaori Miyazono started playing music with him as a violinist. Tragically, Kaori will soon perish of an illness, and that will leave Kosei alone with nothing but his music and grief.
7 Aquamarine Hoshino (Oshi No Ko)
Oshi no Ko focuses on the tragic Hoshino family and its members' strained relationship with the idol industry. Ai Hoshino feared that she didn't genuinely love her kids, but she did feel joy in being a young mother until she was stabbed to death at age 20 or so.
Ai's son Aquamarine, or Aqua for short, was enraged at his mother's death and felt all the happiness fade from his life when she died. Aqua hasn't told anyone that he's sad or even thought about it, but his emotional state and actions make his unresolved grief and confused sadness quite clear.
6 Akira Tachibana (After The Rain)
The seinen drama anime After the Rain has a gentle tone that gradually becomes more optimistic over time, and the kuudere heroine Akira Tachibana will find happiness in the end. Until then, though, Akira was distinctly unhappy as a runner with an ankle injury that's keeping her off the track.
Akira identifies strongly with the joy and freedom of running track, and without it, she feels empty and lost. Akira does her best to enjoy daily life at school and her part-time job, but her frustration with her injury weighs heavily on her mind, which sometimes results in tension or emotional outbursts.
5 Denji (Chainsaw Man)
The goofy antihero Denji is thankful for his new job as a devil hunter and enjoys being Chainsaw Man's famous hero, but he also has many inner demons to face. Denji lost his father as a boy and grew up in abject poverty and isolation, to the point he's not even fully literate.
Denji endured years of desperate poverty and a crushing sense of hopelessness, and he fears that even his modest dream of getting a girlfriend is beyond him. He won't give up hope, but deep down, Denji fears he'll never find meaning in his life, and that makes him terribly sad under his playful exterior.
4 Yu Ishigami (Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War)
While Chika Fujiwara is a carefree genki girl who lives life and Kaguya and Miyuki make each other happy, Yu Ishigami is always down in the dumps, and he won't hide it, either. For both comedy's and drama's sake, Yu spends much of Kaguya-Sama in a despondent mood.
Yu had a rough time in junior high, and he believes that only Miyuki Shirogane is his friend while everyone else rejects him. Yu feels terrible about his chances of finding true love and is cynical about the topic, but even so, a part of him is ready to try again.
3 Shuta Aoi (Tokyo 24th Ward)
Ordinarily, Shuta Aoi is an energetic and upbeat fellow who wishes to be a great hero, which his childhood friend Asumi Suido found inspiring. Tragically, Asumi died in a fire, and for much of Tokyo 24th Ward, Shuta struggled to process his grief, as did Asumi's brother Koki.
Shuta tried to keep his spirits up, but the loss weighed heavily on him, and he nearly gave up trying to be a hero in Tokyo's cyberpunk 24th ward. His grief and sadness were renewed when Asumi somehow called out to him from beyond the grave, filling Shuta with confused and agonized feelings about her fate.
2 Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket)
Kyo Sohma is a supporting hero in Fruits Basket who hides his sadness with tsundere-style anger and denial. He acts tough and tends to push people away, but deep down, Kyo is a lonely and frightened boy who needs someone to truly understand and support him.
Kyo got that someone in Tohru Honda, but it took him some time to appreciate that fact. Until then, he struggled with many personal demons, even by Fruits Basket standards, such as his fate as the zodiac's cat or his father's and Akito's verbal abuse towards him.
1 Jonathan Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Even if the vampire villain Dio Brando never fully broke Jonathan's spirits and Jonathan died happy, Dio definitely made Jonathan Joestar quite unhappy in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Dio killed Jonathan's beloved dog Danny, then killed George Joestar and destroyed the Joestar family mansion.
Jonathan endured these soul-crushing losses with remarkable emotional strength, and he put on a brave face for Erina and Baron Zeppeli. Still, even if he's tough on the outside, Jonathan's heart ached greatly, and he vented some serious emotional baggage when he fought Dio again in Phantom Blood.
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