There are endless reasons that draw an audience into an anime series, whether they’re meant to function as a source of comfort, excitement, or more visceral material that isn’t afraid to ask dark questions. There’s a certain limitlessness to anime where it feels like anything is possible and that sweet characters and stories can suddenly be subjected to morose malevolence.
Some anime deliver happy endings after extended periods of pain, but there are other series that are content to live in despair and emphasize just how lonely, sad, and disappointing the world can be. These anime aren’t for the faint of heart and should be watched in moderation, but they’re strong examples of undiluted anime darkness.
Updated on April 10, 2023 by Daniel Kurland: Anime is developed for audiences of all ages, however, an abundance of mature series exist that boldly push the envelope through controversial ideas. Anime can embrace darkness through intense violence, macabre characters, or a hopeless universe where it’s impossible to win. Some of the sweetest anime of all time still have occasionally morbid moments, but there are extremely dark series that aren’t to be watched by those with sensitive souls.
Sensitive topics such as suicide are mentioned in this article.
15 Higurashi: When They Cry
26 Episodes
Higurashi: When They Cry follows a group of seemingly innocent characters in the quiet village of Hinamizawa. There’s a friendly, soft art style to Higurashi that pushes the audience to let down their guard, only for rampant murder and brain-breaking viruses to terrorize the community. Ancient evils are at play in Higurashi, which culminates into a cynical time loop where characters are forced to meet their ends countless times over.
The original Higurashi anime is 26 episodes, but its universe continues to expand through spin-offs, side stories, and sequels. Higurashi’s scope grows surprisingly grandiose, but each development continues to reflect a haunted world that’s at the mercy of wicked deities.
14 Texhnolyze
22 Episodes
A dark, depressing world can help motivate anime characters in integral ways. Audiences are quite familiar with futuristic dystopias and Texhnolyze is an especially dour exercise where happiness feels like a forbidden emotion. Most of society is banished to an underground city that’s rife with problems and survival becomes increasingly difficult.
Ichise is a fighter who experiences an awful attack that leaves him dependent upon Texhnolyze prosthetic technology. Ichise’s life begins in a grim place, only for the universe to progressively punch him while he’s down in every single episode.
13 Monster
74 Episodes
In Monster, a renowned surgeon is forced to reckon with what he’s given life. Dr. Kenzo Tenma saves a controversial patient, Johan Liebert, who arises years later as a ruthless serial killer. Tenma feels hopelessly responsible for Liebert’s crimes and the wicked cat-and-mouse game between these two brilliant minds visits progressively dark places.
Monster lets nihilism rule and Tenma is a sad shell of himself by the time this intense anime concludes. At 74 episodes, Monster is a bit of a commitment, but it absolutely makes the most of its time. This is a story that benefits from its lengthy nature and how its contrasting characters get lost in the weeds.
12 Puella Magi Madoka Magica
12 Episodes, 2 Movies
Anime’s magical girl genre continues to represent some of the medium’s more popular shojo series. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is part of a recent trend where magical girl tropes are subverted in dark ways. Madoka Magica bleakly turns the privilege of becoming a magical girl into an eternal death sentence.
This magical gesture is actually a grand sacrifice that’s used to help keep a chaotic universe in balance. The entire series revolves around its central character not becoming a magical girl, lest she be forever doomed. Puella Magi Madoka Magica plays a rigged game and even when success is reached it’s transformed into an arbitrary failure.
11 Serial Experiments Lain
13 Episodes
Serial Experiments Lain is a bleak 13-episode anime from 1998 that presents ideas and themes that are only more relevant 25 years later. Lain Iwakura is a 14-year-old girl who loses herself in the limitless nature of the Wired, a digital world that’s an analogue for the internet. Lain becomes a digital martyr as her online avatar becomes a part of something greater that helps others process trauma and redirect their pain.
Serial Experiments Lain involves a young cast of characters, but mature themes like suicide and abuse are front and center. Serial Experiments Lain is an enlightening look into technology and communication, but at the cost of innocence.
10 Elfen Lied
14 Episodes
Elfen Lied is 14 episodes of emotional torture that begin in a bleak place that only goes on to increasingly kick humanity while it’s down. Two warm, optimistic university students encounter a confused girl, Lucy, who’s actually an amnesiac mutant with murderous psychic powers. Lucy is hunted by a shady government agency and a growing body count begins to accompany her wherever she goes.
Anime series of this nature would typically end with Lucy’s salvation or at the least a lesson that emphasizes the importance of accepting others’ differences. Elfen Lied instead condemns mankind and doubles down on society’s worst impulses with a message that implies that peace is impossible.
9 Happy Sugar Life
12 Episodes
First impressions and assumptions are inevitable with certain anime due to their heightened characters and visuals. Happy Sugar Life intentionally leans into this idea, only to lull its audience into a false sense of security before murder, kidnapping, and brainwashing commence in this pitch black series.
Satou is a teenager who becomes so obsessed with an innocent young girl that she’s willing to go to murderous lengths to “protect.”Happy Sugar Life is filtered through Satou’s misguided and deluded perspective, which makes the whole series an upsetting exercise in an unreliable narrator and a protagonist who is far from heroic.
8 Made In Abyss
25 Episodes, 1 Movie (Ongoing)
At a quick glance, it’s easy to assume that Made in Abyss is some playful adventure series where young and courageous prodigies accomplish incredible things. Made in Abyss technically fits this criteria as Riko, Reg, and Nanachi descend deeper into the titular Abyss. However, Made in Abyss is a captivating anime where the Abyss’ curse worsens with each descending level and the series ramps up its maturity level accordingly.
What begins as a fun expedition turns into harrowing encounters where Riko and company progressively lose pieces of themselves and it truly feels like they’re doomed. There’s a horrible sense of dread that hangs over these characters’ heads at every moment.
7 Paranoia Agent
13 Episodes
Satoshi Kon is a groundbreaking storyteller who made waves in movie theaters with his surreal psychological thrillers, Paprika and Perfect Blue. Paranoia Agent is Kon’s 13-episode television series that brilliantly uses the episodic structure of television to deconstruct mob mentality, the festering way in which rumors spread, and how an urban legend can be stronger than any actual villain because of its immortal status.
In Paranoia Agent, a community lives in fear over the possibility of an attack from Lil’ Slugger, a rollerblading juvenile assailant who wields a bat. Paranoia Agent depicts these characters at their most vulnerable and evil is allowed to thrive.
6 Terror In Resonance
11 Episodes
Shinichiro Watanabe is a masterful storyteller who loves to combine and remix genres with Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy being some of his most memorable contributions to the medium. Terror in Resonance is Watanabe’s most subdued and overlooked series.
Two teenage terrorists, Nine and Twelve, launch terrifying attacks around the city, all of which are set to culminate in the release of a nuclear weapon. The cat-and-mouse game that plays out between these amateur terrorists and the police is incredibly suspenseful, but there are so many attacks that highlight the random nature of death and how living itself can sometimes be the hardest thing in the world.
5 Goblin Slayer
12 Episodes (Ongoing)
A crucial detail in any dark anime is that its nihilistic attitude is justified or if it’s just a hollow excuse to be edgy. Goblin Slayer sadly fits the latter and its first episode has a notorious reputation as one of anime’s most controversial installments due to how it needlessly victimizes its Priestess.
The Priestess’ abuse sets an early precedent in Goblin Slayer for violence as a source of character development. The story in Goblin Slayer is nothing special, but it does deserve credit for just how many lines it’s willing to cross and that anything and everything happens to these characters. No dramatic plot twist is too shameless.
4 Another
13 Episodes
Another is a tight horror anime at 12 episodes and one OVA installment that explores an unconventional ghost story that keeps the audience guessing over who’s really alive. Kouichi Sasakibara transfers to a foreboding new school and his one friend, Mei Misaki, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strange activity.
Kouichi longs for stability, but instead just encounters death and despair. A chilling murder mystery begins to play out where innocent students lose their lives and Kouichi is left with even greater questions that surround his new alma mater.
3 Inuyashiki
11 Episodes
Inuyashiki is a compelling examination of power, responsibility, and how the same opportunities can trigger corruption and evil in some and altruism in others. A freak meteoric event inexplicably transforms Inuyashiki, an elderly man, and Hiro – a blunt teenager, into world-ending cyborgs.
Inuyashiki pledges to use his newfound strength to help others, but soon his priority becomes protecting society from Hiro, who goes on a reckless killing spree. Inuyashiki‘s actions inspire hope in the audience, but Hiro attacks with a cold bluntness. A huge body count accrues by the end of the series and it stings even more since Hiro’s carnage is completely pointless.
2 Attack On Titan
88 Episodes (Ongoing)
Attack on Titan begins as a depressing series where mankind tirelessly fights against a gargantuan carnivorous threat, but there’s still heavy optimism behind Eren’s pledge to wipe out all Titans. It’s heartbreaking to watch Eren and the rest of the characters get hardened by war and lose sight of what’s important.
Betrayal becomes commonplace and the corruption of these warriors becomes harder to bear. Eren goes through a terrifying transformation that casts the entire series in a haunting new light. Attack on Titan has set the stage for a bloody final act where it’s not even clear if the grander generational problems will get solved.
1 Neon Genesis Evangelion
26 Episodes, 1 Movie, 4 Rebuild Remake Movies
It’s easy to dismiss Neon Genesis Evangelion as a chaotic mecha series where atypical Angels threaten an apocalypse week after week. That being said, Evangelion is a deep dissection of humanity, religion, and the very nature of existence. Evangelion depicts depression with a fearless, raw authenticity that turns its final episodes into a terrifying, nihilistic experience.
Every character is pushed past their breaking points in Evangelionand the level of carnage is devastating on both a physical and psychological level. A lot of mecha series highlight how human pilots are just another form of expendable artillery, but it’s especially bleak in Evangelion.