20 Darkest Anime Series of All Time, Ranked

Some of the most popular anime in the West are battle shōnen like My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, which, while they can get dark at times, typically, they balance the tones of seriousness with lightheartedness depending on the story arc they're currently in. But there are a good deal of anime out there for those who like to deal with darker subject matter.

There is an anime for pretty much any taste, and for those who enjoy getting dark, gory, and/or depressing, there is a plethora of media out there for those people to absolutely eat up and enjoy. Whether they like watching something that gets them thinking introspectively about their own mental state or something that may force them to watch something that could haunt them at night, there are plenty of anime out there from studios that love the idea of creating something truly dark and disturbing.

20 'Boogpiepop Phantom' (2000)

Avant-garde anime series aren’t as popular as they used to be, but they still offer a mix of unique, bizarre, and dark elements. Boogiepop Phantom follows the titular urban legend, which returns after years of absence, stirring chaos among the local residents.

Boogiepop Phantom’s story is hard to understand due to its unconventional storytelling and themes. But what isn’t hard to understand is how dark it is. From the mature themes, including suicide, drugs, and bullying, Boogiepop Phantom is an eerie anime that knows how to handle its darkness profoundly.

19 'Ergo Proxy' (2006)

The sci-fi genre in anime is unique, with few shows reaching its narrative heights. Ergo Proxy takes place on an uninhabitable Earth, where robots care for humans within the dome. However, when a virus gives these robots sentience, the duo must learn the cause and stop the spread.

Ergo Proxy is first and foremost a gripping story with compelling characters and engaging themes, but its underlying darkness is apparent. The tone of the anime's well-written story and style of the art are bleak and depressing, not to mention its nihilistic messages dampen any shred of happiness fans might have, resulting in an all-time anime that is too dark for many.

18 'Higurashi: When They Cry' (2006–2021)

Horror anime aren’t always well-received, but one of the greatest series in this genre is Higurashi: When They Cry. Keiichi recently moved into a quaint little town and quickly made some friends. However, as the festival approaches, he learns of a string of murders tied to the town's dark history.

Higurashi: When They Cry is a staple anime series of the 2000s, highlighting everything great about the decade, including its distinctly horrific style. This gruesome show doesn’t shy away from blood, gore, and disturbing imagery. It may be a bit over the top with its violence, but that only means it is an extremely dark anime.

17 'Haibane Renmei' (2002)

Not all the anime series on this list are well-known, which means fans can find many new series they haven’t seen before, such as Haibane Renmei. A mysterious town harbors a group of angels with no memories, and as they await their “Day of Flight,” they begin to question their safety.

Haibane Renmei is an obscure anime you probably haven't heard of, but it's absolutely worth checking out. It isn’t dark in the typical blood-and-gore way, but rather paints a bleak, depressing story. Fans won’t be the same after watching Haibane Renmei, but the dark nature is worth it for a masterpiece such as this.

16 'Shiki' (2010)

A lot of horror anime take place in small towns, and Shiki, one of the best horror anime series, is no different. When a mysterious disease begins picking off the residents of a small town, a group of teenagers begins looking into these deaths and the disease causing them.

Starting as a vampire mystery, Shiki quickly shifts into a genocidal horror that adopts darker themes that hit harder than a typical vampire show. Despite its fantastical elements, Shiki uses psychological realism to really hit home, portraying a morally ambiguous series with a flawless sense of dread.

15 'Talentless Nana' (2020)

In a world where children with superpowers, also known as "Talents," are sent to an island school for their education, the young Nana Hiiragi has one mission: kill them. Working for the government, Nana has the task of killing Talented students for mysterious reasons, all without powers of her own.

Her conscience begins to weigh on her as she grows closer to the students, as she must pretend to be their new friend and classmate in order to get close enough to kill them. What makes Nana's killings so jarring isn't just how sad they are (watching children die isn't exactly a positive experience), but the fact that Nana's outward appearance as a Talentless young girl with bright pink hair makes her a stereotypically unlikely suspect for the killings of these students.

14 'Speed Grapher' (2005)

The class divide in Japan has significantly grown since the infamous Bubble War. The series follows the likes of Saiga, a former war photographer, who gains the ability to explode anything he takes a photo of after a chance encounter with a woman named Kagura. From there, he works to uncover a mysterious plot surrounding the shady Roppongi Club.

The show is quite dark and has gone on record, making viewers uncomfortable at times. Unlike a lot of other dark anime series that are considered the "darkest", Speed Grapher is not very action-packed and a lot more character-focused. This also causes the series to be a bit slower, building a lot of tension.

13 'From the New World' (2008)

1,000 years in the distant future, five teenagers deal with the troubled society they live in. These five characters struggle through a plethora of disturbing events and realities of life that make the series an enthralling and incredibly difficult watch. The events depicted within the series' 25 episodes are deeply troubling and have stuck with viewers still to this day.

Some have gone on record to say that the things shown within the series are so troublesome that it makes the show difficult to return to and rewatch, as they would have to re-live it once more. For those who have yet to see From the New World, it's 100% worth watching, but many would warn them to go in prepared to deal with heavy topics and scenes

12 'Chainsaw Man' (2022)

Chainsaw Man took the world by storm in 2022, being another addition to studio MAPPA's large catalog of incredibly well-made anime series. The series also happened to be pretty dark. Not only due to how many terrible circumstances it puts its main character, Denji, through, but also due to the series' inherent goriness and explicit nature.

Pretty much all of what makes the series so dark is surrounding Denji. His cursed power of the chainsaw is gory, splitting his arms in half and protruding chainsaws from them. This power also opens the doors for each action sequence to be incredibly brutal in nature. Denji, as a young man, is also very inexperienced, giving him a lot of explicit desires that drive his character for a good portion of the series.

11 'Terror in Resonance' (2014)

There isn't much darker than the incredibly sensitive topic of terrorism. Very real and horrifying real-world tragedies have impacted and continue to impact people all across the planet. So, with Terror in Resonance's premise surrounding the mystery behind a terrorist attack that destroys Tokyo, things get very dark.

While barely spoken about, Terror in Resonance is one of the highest-quality anime of the last two decades. Not only due to it being produced by the astounding studio MAPPA, but also because of how delicately it covers and touches on a topic like terrorism and, most importantly, the aftereffects of said terror act. The ability for the writers to make such a great-quality series about something so sensitive is something to be truly applauded.