25 Darkest Anime That Only Get Darker
Descriptions
Anime can be highly inspirational or deeply pessimistic, and some of the most fascinating programs are the ones that don't shy away from dark impulses. Sometimes an anime needs to ease into its wicked nature, while other series start in bleak places and only drag audiences further down into darkness.
Anime's mainstream boundaries keep getting pushed in ways where there's a higher tolerance for violence and darkness in the medium. A gutting betrayal or an admission of hatred can cut much deeper than any flesh wound.
Updated September 7, 2023 by Daniel Kurland: Some anime take some time to build up to intense climaxes, which can catch the audience by surprise. However, other anime begin with a grim introduction that drags the characters down to even greater levels of darkness. These anime aren't for the weak of heart and they can turn into seriously troubling experiences. That being said, part of what makes anime such a versatile medium is that it allows itself to explore these tonal extremes and not just always put on a happy face. This list has been updated to include even more tragic anime series, as well as updated links that reflect the latest slate of content.
This article discusses sensitive topics like extreme violence, abuse, and suicide.
25 Chainsaw Man
12 Episodes (Ongoing)
Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man is one of the shonen genre's "Dark Trio," so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it begins in cruel territory that only continues to kick its characters while they're down. Denji, Chainsaw Man's reluctant hero, begins the series with nothing other than a monumental debt to his name.
Denji becomes the revered Chainsaw Devil and gains a new lease on life through the violent execution of other Devils. However, Denji’s team of government Devil Hunters exposes him to constant pain and heartache. He's forced to watch his best friends perish, and those he trusts most of all, like Makima, are actually manipulating him for ulterior means.
24 Deadman Wonderland
12 Episodes
Death game series have never been more popular, and Deadman Wonderland morbidly mixes a prison with an amusement park where massacres are the main attraction. Ganta Igarashi is a humble high schooler who gets framed for murdering his entire class, which sends him to this dark detention center that's privy to even greater horrors.
Beyond the endless bloodshed and psychological manipulation, Ganta doesn't even get closure on why he's been set up and that some of the people he's trusted most in life are actually his greatest enemies.Deadman Wonderland lacks a proper ending, which complements the anime's nihilism and the idea that victory is futile.
23 Berserk
25 Episodes (‘97 Anime); 24 Episodes (‘17 Anime)
Berserk is held in high-esteem as the premier "dark fantasy" series and it definitely lives up to this reputation. Guts is a stoic, suffering warrior who wields a gargantuan blade that nearly verges on the point of parody. Guts' roots depict an honorable soldier, but a lifetime of betrayal and bloodshed hardens him and puts him on a relentless quest for revenge.
The pivotal feud between Guts and former friend, Griffith, is devastating on its own. However, Guts takes on humanity's most vile individuals and malevolent demonic spirits who relish pain and perversion. Many sequences in Berserk, particularly the '17 anime, are genuinely hard to watch.
22 The Promised Neverland
23 Episodes
The Promised Neverland is a masterpiece of bold twists that recontextualizes a peaceful orphanage into a holding cell where children become food for terrifying monsters. A risky escape ensues that only further highlights how little Emma and her friends know about the world's dark realities.
They're thrust into a deadly existence that would be a lot for anyone to endure, let alone a group of pre-teens. A fumbled second season confirms that The Promised Neverland's manga is the superior way to experience this story. However, both evocative, thought-provoking seasons raise unruly questions about the state of mankind and if it's destined to expire.
21 Tokyo Ghoul
48 Episodes
Tokyo Ghoul is set in a dangerous world that's divided between humans and flesh-eating ghouls, which have become an increasing scourge on society. Kaneki Ken is an ordinary teenager who gets viciously wounded in the anime's first episode and would be dead if not for a serendipitous organ transplant from a ghoul.
Kaneki survives, but must now spend his days as the first human-ghoul hybrid, which eats away at his psyche, destroys his identity, and pulls him between two very different worlds. His internal struggle never gets easier and concludes with him being transformed into an apocalyptic creature who stands no chance at returning to a normal existence.
20 Blue Literature
12 Episodes
Blue Literature, otherwise known as Aoi Bungaku, adapts six classic Japanese stories across a dozen episodes. Blue Literature receives some understandable criticism for the varying qualities between stories due to the different production teams that work on them, but they're unilaterally praised for telling mature stories in an anthology context.
Blue Literature digs deep into human psychology and posits that people are inherently flawed. The stories unpack love affairs, betrayal, and free-floating suffering, with no one leaving any Blue Literature episodes better off than when they started.
19 Inuyashiki
11 Episodes
Inuyashiki is a must-watch anime that accomplishes an incredible amount in only 11 episodes. Inuyashiki Ichiro, a neglected 58-year-old, and Hiro Shishigami, a volatile teenager, both get turned into unbelievable cyborgs after they witness the same mysterious extraterrestrial event.
It's terrifying to see Hiro use his power to trap the nation in fear and accrue a hefty body count. Meanwhile, Inuyashiki struggles to accept himself as a worthy hero to take out this threat. There's an optimistic finish to Inuyashiki where both central characters find acceptance from their loved ones, but they're still forced to self-destruct themselves to take out a meteor and protect the greater good. It's a bittersweet finish in every regard.
18 Rainbow
23 Episodes
Rainbow's title is meant to be ironic and highlight how the world is a grim place that's bereft of rainbows and pretty ideas. Rainbow kicks off with a warning about explicit content, and it stays true to this promise through its depiction of the incarceration and abuse of six junior delinquents in an unconventional reformatory school.
These victims at least have each other to lean on, but their lives are otherwise void of joy. Set in the '50s, Rainbow takes advantage of the decade's unfair practices when it comes to detainment and rehabilitation, but it still makes for a very tough watch.
17 Terror In Resonance
11 Episodes
Shinichiro Watanabe is best known for more playful anime like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy. However, Terror in Resonance is one of the director's strongest series because of its fearless look into terrorism and the ability to erase children's innocence through their transformation into compliant soldiers.
Terror in Resonance has a polarizing ending due to the death of Twelve, which many consider unnecessary. Terror in Resonance finds it necessary to push its story to the darkest point possible and have casualties that sadden the audience because it's more real to the nature of these destructive stories.
16 Serial Experiments Lain
13 Episodes
Serial Experiments Lain is an anime from the '90s that's incredibly prescient with its deconstruction of society's reliance on technology — specifically the Internet — when it comes to identity and community. Serial Experiments Lain begins in an emotionally sterile place as a young girl ends her own life and leaves plenty of her former friends, including Lain Iwakura, feeling numb.
Lain begins to receive posthumous e-mails from her fallen friend that lead her into the expansive virtual world of The Wired. Lain's own case of digital martyrdom is heartbreaking, but the anime ends on a bleak note that reiterates how addicted the world is to digital connection.
15 Made In Abyss
25 Episodes, 1 Movie
Made in Abyss is an extremely dark anime that's likely disturbed more audiences than intended since its animation and art style make it look like a cheerful, kid-friendly adventure series. Admittedly, this child-like optimism is present in the show's protagonist, Riko, who stays hopeful in the face of tremendous loss.
Riko teams up with Reg, a robot boy, and a series of other unlikely creatures as they all descend further down the titular Abyss. A curse accompanies those who embark on this endeavor, and each new level of the Abyss represents progressively mature horrors.
14 Paranoia Agent
13 Episodes
Satoshi Kon was one of anime's greatest psychological storytellers. His feature films, Perfect Blue and Paprika, are challenging, dark anime that are still seen as pivotal genre pieces. Paranoia Agent is Kon's singular television series, and it taps into deeper themes than what's possible in a single movie over the course of 13 episodes.
A mysterious assailant known only as Lil' Slugger terrorizes a community, but each episode of Paranoia Agent is filtered through a different victim's perspective, which portrays this threat in a contrasting light. Paranoia Agent is an enlightening look into the power of social phenomena and rumors as they take on their own lives.
13 Monster
74 Episodes
Monster is a dark anime that isn't afraid to ask complex questions without a clear right or wrong answer. Dr. Kenzo Tenma's decision to operate on a disadvantaged patient and save their life ends up securing the livelihood of a prolific serial killer.
Monster is patient and methodical in its pacing, but it still kicks off with dark deeds and losses. At 74 episodes, Monster has the time to let its dark ideas properly develop, and the true impact of guilt can be charted across Tenma as progressive tragedies occur.
12 Wonder Egg Priority
13 Episodes
A lot of modern anime have used entrenched genre tropes to deconstruct darker themes. Wonder Egg Priority is one of the more successful versions of this idea, where the trauma that consumes Ai Ohto and the rest of her friends literally manifests into the gruesome monsters that they must eviscerate.
This juxtaposition between magical girl fantasy and bleak melodrama is incredibly effective, and the battles they engage in are visually gorgeous sights to behold. Wonder Egg Priority works through metaphors, but right from the first episode, Ai is burdened with heavy thoughts for a young girl.
11 Talentless Nana
13 Episodes
Nana Hiiragi is the new kid at school. However, her biggest concerns involve assassination and the government's satisfaction rather than homework and her popularity with her classmates.
Talentless Nana is a 13-episode dark anime where Nana, a government assassin, must take out the select "Talented" students who possess special powers. Talentless Nana is full of blood, guts, and guilt, all of which grow darker as Nana gets further along in her mission and racks up a higher body count.
10 Puella Magi Madoka Magica
12 Episodes, 2 Movies
The magical girl genre is a cheerful and optimistic style of anime storytelling. However, Puella Magi Madoka Magica uses these well-established tropes to tell a psychological horror story where magical girls are manipulated into eternal contracts that end in widespread destruction.
Madoka wrestles over whether she should accept this magical responsibility. As she weighs her options, she witnesses the deaths of her closest friends. The most crushing element of Puella Magi Madoka Magica is that it cleverly earns a happy ending, only to callously dismiss it at the last minute in favor of forever trapping its magical girls in endless conflict and misery.
9 Elfen Lied
14 Episodes
The basic premise behind Elfen Lied conditions the audience to expect a happy ending. Kouta encounters a human-looking alien who's lost her memories but possesses extremely deadly psychic powers that threaten humanity's existence. Elfen Lied constantly tortures its Diclonius test subjects, who are repeatedly told that they don't belong.
Kouta's efforts to provide these creatures with some sense of normalcy are way beyond his means. The Diclonius try their best, but Elfen Lied chronicles years of abuse and presents a grim finale that reinforces the dangers of the unknown rather than the importance of acceptance and understanding.
8 Happy Sugar Life
12 Episodes
One area in which anime remains unparalleled is its ability to hide behind genre conventions and embrace a reassuring art style, only to pull the rug out from under the audience and create an experience that's deeply disturbing. At first glance, Happy Sugar Life looks like a cheerful slice-of-life series about two friends.
In reality, Satou Matsuzaka is a highly unstable individual who kidnaps a young girl, Shio, after she becomes obsessed over the innocent child's purity. Happy Sugar Life is only 12 episodes, but death, abuse, and mental manipulation are par for the course in each installment.
7 Texhnolyze
22 Episodes
Texhnolyze is an exercise in endurance that begins with Ichise, an entertainment fighter, falling onto harsh times that progressively kick him more once he's down. Ichise is forced to go on the run, losing vital pieces of himself in the process.
Texhnolyze is only 22 episodes, but there's enough dread and gloom to last double that length. Ichise is repeatedly confronted with proof that the world is a jaded, broken prison.
6 Future Diary
26 Episodes
Radical death games have become increasingly popular in anime, and series like Future Diary deconstruct the corruptive nature of power. A group of teenagers is suddenly in the running to become an omnipotent being, which triggers a violent and bleak game of cat-and-mouse between the potential candidates.
Future Diary's premise is inherently depressing, but most of its cast is on the brink of losing themselves. It's genuinely tense as Yuki and Yuno progress further in this sordid game. The anime's grand finale can technically be seen as optimistic under certain conditions, but Yuki is resigned to an empty, lonely existence.
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