Dark Anime

I just finished watching Elfen Lied. Could anyone recommend me something even darker of around the same length? 

EDIT: What is the darkest anime you've ever seen?

It's much longer at 25 episodes, but it's hard to get much darker than Berserk.

 

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Mirai Nikki, Gantz, Attack on Titan, Ergo Proxy, and many after the fact. Most importantly check out Hellsing.

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Thanks guys, will start watching these soon. :)

i really liked hellsing. gantz is great. loved the manga's of both. there are alot of older dark animes like 3x3 eyes, golgo 13, claymore, highschool of the dead, wicked city (classic)

+ on Berserk although the manga is much darker and longer.  Hellsing ultimate is awesome too its only 10 hour long episodes.

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Deadman Wonderland

Death Note 

don't know what else after all that was listed..

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Monster (aound 60 episodes!)

Serial Experiments Lain

+1 for Ergo Proxy

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I'd recommend Texhnolyze, Kara no Kyoukai all 7 moves, +1 on Lain, Hellsing (Ultimate since it fallows manga and we want the one that fallows the manga) and  Berserk. 

 

School days!1!!!  lol no don't watch it  since it's the atychrist of anime

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Elfen Lied is quite different to most things, definitely look at Serial Experiments Lain 

I want to say Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (now hear me out), although it is more of a "magical girl" genre, it is actually quite a dark story and surprised me to say the least.

Neon Genesis Evangelion might be worth looking at as well.

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The only good things about School Days are A: The ending (which wasn't really worth watching the series for) and B: Getting up at the end and being happy that I never have to watch it again!

As for evangelion Go straight to reboot series it'll save you time.

Indeed. But as far as the TV series goes, it's VERY tame when compared to the manga. I still highly recommend it, despite its age (aired in the 90s). However, you could instead watch the three new movies, which more or less cover the same story arc as the original TV series, if you want all the violence and mature content, as well as a more modern adaptation of the manga. The eclipse scene in the third movie will literally leave you speechless. It will make Elfen Lied look like a Saturday morning children's cartoon. Truly unsettling.

Still, nothing compares to the manga as far as the story itself goes. The pace of the movies leaves a bit to be desired, but they're still decent films regardless. The TV series was an effort to promote the manga, so it ends rather abruptly. They're planning on adapting the rest of the manga in to films to follow up the first three. Of course...Kentaro Miura still needs to finish the damn manga.

Bible Black.

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Phantom made me lulz

Ok forum search for these threads Looking for good animes! and Dark and twisted animes? also Recommend me anime similiar to these!!! I have posted a bunch in these threads..I am just to tired right now to make another list..

Here is my anime list..

Blood Blood + and blood C maybe? not all that dark but still good anime, also maybe Skull man ? Iv watched too many to actually remember all the dark animes.. it all blends into my memories as one universe..( Damn i wish i lived in an anime universe!! )

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Sorry to commit necromancy but after finally getting round to watching the final few episodes of Berserk, it wasn't as dark as I'd hoped.

Helling Ultimate <3

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***Spoilers Below***

I'm going to go fanboy mode here for a bit. I do agree with you in a way since you've only watched the TV show, but you may have misunderstood the whole point of the Eclipse scene.

 

You don't think that Guts having to watch helplessly as his lover is raped by his supposed friend right in front of his eyes (well, eye, since one of them gets gouged out by an Apostle) - surrounded by (and covered in) a lake of all his comrades' blood and innards - is extremely dark? Oh, and that brutal scene where Guts takes the broken end of a sword and slowly and maniacally chops his own arm off to try and save Caska? Yeah, wait until you see that shit in the movie. You will cringe. I guarantee it. This is coming from a dude who played Mortal Kombat when he was only 4 and has (unfortunately) seen some seriously effed up images on the internet over the years. In other words...I've become very numb to violent and mature content.

To continue. Prior to that whole ordeal, Guts had to watch while holding his closest comrade and friend, Gaston, as his head literally exploded, and a demonic serpent creature crept out and slithered away. And prior to that, Guts mistook Pippin for living, because an apostle was holding his corpse up like a puppet. Both of these scenes were MUCH more violent in the manga and movie (Pippin's corpse is literally hollowed out, and the apostle holding it tears him in half right in front of Guts).

Lastly, and most importantly, is the infamous rape scene. It's extremely blunt and unforgiving in the movie and manga. Anyone uninformed that happened to come across this scene would immediately label it something along the lines of "gore rape porn," even though it's nothing of the sort. It's simply a genuinely horrifying scene, because its designed to make you feel what Guts is feeling at that moment: indescribable rage, pure malice, and absolute desperation; plus many other horrible things. Things that he has to battle with internally for the rest of his journey and possibly his life. But yes, as far as raw, graphic content goes, the TV series is extremely tame. So if you're experienced with violent content, it can very easily be taken for granted. I was only 13 when I first watched the TV show. I chalked it up to a shitty ending to a great show. I didn't even know what manga was at the time, believe it or not, so I thought Berserk was just an anime and that it was the end of the story.

However, if you read the manga or watch the modern movie adaptations, I think you'll quickly change your mind on just how dark the series is. The violence and sheer brutality in that whole scene plays a very significant role in Guts' character development. It was meant to convey a truly unforgivable act which drives Guts for basically the rest of the story. In fact, this is where the TV series really falls short and fails to do the manga any justice. The movie is arguably the most graphic depiction, since it's pretty much equally as violent as the manga, but fully animated with extensive audio to go with it.

Anyway, I've personally never understood shows like Elfen Lied and Blood C, which are so pointlessly and stupidly violent that it almost becomes funny. Blood C pretty much takes the damn cake in that regard. It's like the violence was purely meant to shock the audience. Bare in mind that the violence and brutality in Berserk is not meant to simply shock you (but it can). Violence and brutality is intricately woven in to the story and world of Berserk, and always plays a significant role in some way. A story being dark doesn't necessarily mean it's simply full of violence and brutality. While those tend to be staples of dark fantasy, they're not integral. There are many other factors that determine how dark a story is, and Berserk has lots of factors.

 

I'll stop there though. This post is long enough, and sorry for ranting. I really don't mean to argue with you or anything. But if you have not read the manga or watched the movies yet, I highly suggest you do so. Berserk is seriously good and one of a kind.