Top 10 Darkest Shonen Anime

WatchMojo

These shonen don't hold back. Join Ashley as we look over the most savage action anime out there

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be counting down our picks for the shounen-heavy

00:09 hitters that weren't afraid to go to the dark side.

00:20 Set in a gothic, alternate version of the 1800s, D. Grayman depicts the struggles of

00:26 Alan Walker, a young exorcist who battles the Noah family, whose army of demons is poised

00:33 to destroy humanity.

00:40 Tragic circumstances are common throughout the story, from character deaths to ostracization,

00:46 the demons are particularly unsettling.

00:57 Gray is also in more than just the show's name, as the heroes go to dark lengths to

01:03 achieve their goals, and the villains have hidden depths.

01:06 While the anime has had a troubled history, looking at you, Halo, it's still well worth

01:11 your time.

01:21 Despite its bright character designs and goofy moments, Akame ga Kill is anything but sunny.

01:35 The series follows a group of assassins who try to overthrow the tyrannical government

01:39 of the magical country they live in.

01:46 Gross and graphic abuse of power by those in charge is squarely at the forefront, providing

01:52 a lot of motivation for the protagonists.

01:55 The deaths are also quite disturbing, and not even the heroes are safe from grisly ends.

02:01 Not even the waifu wars have a patch on this show's darkest moments.

02:16 When an entity is dropped into the world, it imitates various objects, and eventually

02:20 creatures and people as it grows and comes to understand humanity.

02:30 The being, which takes the name "Fushi", encounters the best and worst that humans

02:35 have to offer.

02:42 This includes killing, assault, betrayal, and the impermanence of life, but also kindness

02:47 and love.

02:49 And it's that constant sense of loss that keeps the cycle of heartbreak going.

03:00 To Your Eternity is a mirror held up to show everything we're capable of, and it isn't

03:05 always pretty.

03:06 But it's still a moving and touching story that's a true experience.

03:20 Number 7 – JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

03:23 JoJo may be hilarious and the origin of what feels like half of anime's memes, but it

03:29 also goes to some truly dark places.

03:37 The generational saga of the Joestar bloodline contains plenty of blood and guts.

03:49 Vampiric villains terrorise the family and everyone who gets in their way.

03:53 A serial killer with a severed hand fetish explodes his victims.

03:58 One of them is even set in Florida.

04:08 The violence is as creative as it is strange, though always manages to land an emotional

04:14 blow when needed, even amidst the madness of any given stand battle.

04:19 Number 6 – Jujutsu Kaisen

04:22 After consuming the finger of an all-powerful curse, Yuji Itadori becomes involved in the

04:28 world of sorcerers, who battle curses and conjurations to protect the world.

04:38 Although it has many shounen tropes, Jujutsu Kaisen stands out because it has strong elements

04:43 of horror, particularly body horror.

04:51 The curses in general are pretty terrifying, featuring abstract bodies and killing in gruesome

04:57 ways, but the big bad's a straight-up nightmare fuel.

05:01 Mahito, enough said.

05:15 But if you can stomach a few bad dreams, Jujutsu Kaisen is an action-packed and remarkably

05:21 funny shounen series with some spectacular animation.

05:31 Number 5 – The Promised Neverland

05:34 This happy-go-lucky slice of life follows a group of children in an orphanage with a

05:39 mother that loves them.

05:41 And that's it.

05:52 No grim, traumatic story here.

06:01 The premise alone is as bleak as can be, but the series in general has an air of grim fairy

06:07 tales about it, with monsters lurking in the wider world and a different kind of monster

06:12 found at home.

06:24 And like all the best fairy tales, The Promised Neverland – well, just the first season

06:29 – will scare as well as inspire.

06:41 Number 4 – Demon Slayer, Kimetsu no Yaiba

06:44 After his entire family is killed by a demon and his sister converted into one, Tanjiro

06:51 sets out to find a cure for his sibling and to get revenge on the monster responsible.

07:05 Although it has obvious influences from many big shounen series, Demon Slayer has a distinctive,

07:11 gorgeous art style and stunning action sequences that have made it a hit both on the big and

07:17 small screens.

07:25 It also doesn't shy away from its dark subject matter.

07:29 With its brutal and occasionally tragic storylines, hitting home is especially hard, whether it

07:35 be the scars of the swordsman or the unfortunate origins of the various demons they hunt.

07:52 Number 3 – Death Note

07:54 What if a god of death gave a teenager the ability to kill anyone just by writing their

07:59 name down in a notebook?

08:06 That's the premise, and the result is utterly compelling and tremendously dark.

08:12 Light Yagami may start out trying to kill criminals and the worst of society, but he

08:17 quickly develops a god complex and becomes willing to end anyone who stands in the way

08:22 of his goals.

08:32 Such person standing in his way is L, a brilliant and effectively nameless detective.

08:39 Their veritable game of cat and mouse is thrilling and racks up quite the body count.

08:44 Is Light the biggest monster here, or are we almost rooting for him?

09:03 Number 2 – Attack on Titan

09:06 Set in a world where monstrous giants threaten the remnants of humanity inside a city of

09:11 concentric walls, Attack on Titan follows a group of young soldiers as they battle the

09:16 encroaching titans, as well as threats from within their own borders.

09:23 There's a good reason that Attack on Titan has been called the "Game of Thrones"

09:32 of anime, and it's not just because of its meteoric popularity – no one is safe.

09:44 Shocking character deaths are the order of the day, and they're usually horrific when

09:48 they happen.

09:59 Stunning action scenes, sprawling ensemble cast, twists and turns galore – once you

10:04 take a dive in, this series won't let you go.

10:34 Hunter x Hunter.

10:36 While creator Yoshihiro Togashi also went pretty wild with his famous series Yu Yu Hakusho,

10:42 he went even further with his other masterpiece.

10:54 This series feels like a typical shounen action series about a boy trying to find his father,

11:00 as well as many other adventures he has along the way – until it suddenly doesn't.

11:06 Hunter x Hunter subverts many of the typical shounen tropes in several ways, and that includes

11:11 some truly brutal subject matter.

11:14 Mafia gangs are massacred, monster ants devour kids, one of the child protagonists even rips

11:20 out a guy's heart and shows it to him.

11:28 While other shows may be consistently darker, Hunter x Hunter's brand of violence and

11:33 storytelling stands out in contrast to the rest of it, and it's amazing.

11:48 If there's a shounen series that's more bloody than hot-blooded that we missed, please

11:52 tell us in those comments below.

12:15 [Outro]

12:24 (upbeat music)

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