10 Dark Fantasy Anime You Need to Watch… If You Dare

Welcome to the dark side—we’ve been expecting you! Unsettle in, and let’s count down the 10 darkest fantasy anime out there, where the nightmares come to play and the light at the end of the tunnel is probably the glint of another demonic eye. Let’s go!

Contents show

1. Berserk

Berserk dark fantasy anime — 1997 | Discotek Media

1 season | 25 episodes
Watch on: Netflix

Guts is a walking slab of muscle swinging a sword that could double as a bridge, dealing with demonic hellspawn and human scumbags in a medieval hellhole. If relentless misery and ultraviolence sound like your kind of entertainment, this 90s grimdark is the one to watch.

2. Castlevania

4 seasons | 32 episodes
Watch on: Netflix

Trevor Belmont, the snark-spewing monster hunter, teams up with a sorceress and Dracula’s son to put Daddy Dearest back in his grave. Dracula is more pissed off than usual, the church is corrupted, and blood and guts are everywhere—a no-brainer for gothic horror fans.

3. Drifters

1 season | 12 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll

Drifters rips historical warlords and strategists from their timelines and throws them into a savage world where it’s kill or be killed. Tune in if an all-out warfare that doesn’t hold back on the dark humor and arterial spray sounds like your kind of dark fantasy binge.

4. Hellsing Ultimate

1 season | 10 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

Alucard is a borderline psychotic vamp who revels in killing his own kind. Gore turned up to eleven and morals down to zero—this is a spectacle of guns blazing, limbs flying, and zero f*cks given. If you’ve ever wondered what a Tarantino anime would look like, here you go.

5. Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World

2 seasons | 50 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll

Subaru gets murdered in every other episode—only to wake up and relive the horror. Re:Zero turns “learn from your mistakes” into a horrific loop of psychological torture and despair. Dark, disturbing, and downright diabolical isekai anime—masochists, line up.

6. Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss dark fantasy anime — 2017 | Sentai Filmworks

1 season | 13 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll

The cutesy animation? Lies. Deception. Riko and Reg’s grand adventure into the Abyss turns into horror, where the stakes are life, death, and worse. Really uncomfortable watch. Those poor stupid kids. But you can’t stop watching because, damn, that abyss really stares back.

7. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

1 season | 12 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

These magical girls aren’t here to throw sparkles around. Madoka and the gang are here to suffer through Faustian deals, witches that look like they tripped acid, and soul-crushing despair. If you want a side of mental torture with your dark fantasy anime, press play.

8. Akame ga Kill!

1 season | 24 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

Here’s a fun game: attach to a character and guess how long they’ll last. Characters you love, characters you hate, characters you just met—they’re all on the chopping block in this ruthless tale of assassins and corruption. George R.R. Martin would love it.

9. Ajin: Demi-Human

2 seasons | 26 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll, Netflix

In Ajin, life sucks, and then you don’t die. Kei and other immortals are hunted like animals, and their world is a bleak, unforgiving place that treats them like freaks. A grim look at how much humanity can fear and loathe what it doesn’t understand. Fun times.

10. Basilisk

2 seasons | 48 episodes
Watch on: Crunchyroll

Finally, Basilisk—a dark fantasy romance with added ninja slaughter. It’s lovers from feuding clans, and let’s just say it’s not going to end in hugs. If you think Romeo and Juliet needed more severed heads, this one’s right up your alley.

There you have it—10 dark anime fantasies that are as unforgiving as they are unforgettable. So go ahead, comment, share, and check out more of our anime recommendations. They’re the best. Really. No, seriously, we’re like the sommeliers of anime over here.