Top 5 Darkest Anime Endings

No Happily Ever Afters Here

Turns out that in the world of animation, nobody is safe. Even if the animation is delightful, even if the cast deserve to get their happy endings, these five examples prove it can all be taken away in the next scene. Sometimes to unbelievably upsetting degrees.

#5: “Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School” (2016)

Considering the Despair Arc is practically its own anime, it’s ending is more than legible for consideration…especially since it results in the entire cast being so overwhelmed with grief over the death of their friend that they get turned into Junko’s despairing servants. Once again caught in the Ultimate Despairs antics, we’re greeted to the sight of Chisa and company succumb to their own anguish and Junko’s brainwashing after they witness Chiaki meet her end in a saw-esque dungeon. Yep, that’ll put a damper on your day all right. 

#4: “Berserk” (1997-98)

Damn it Griffith. Look, we feel bad that you spent the last year getting tortured until you got reduced to a mute cripple, but did you really need to trigger the Eclipse? After reclaiming his Behelit, the White Hawk finds himself given the choice by the God Hand to join them as an omnipotent demon…just as long as he’s willing to sacrifice his comrades in exchange. The deal proves too tempting to pass up, leading to such wonderous sights as the Band of the Hawk being slaughtered, Guts losing an arm and eye, and Casca being violated by a reborn Griffith. 

#3: “Devilman Crybaby” (2018)

Considering the latter half of the series chronicled humanity’s downfall into a self-destruction mob willing to butcher each other over the slightest issue, there was never any real chance the show was going to end on a happy note. Pretty sure all the happiness died out when Miki was decapitated and flung around like a flag. Of course, Go Nagai being Go Nagai, he managed to push things just a step further by having the world literally end while Satan cradles the legless body of Akira after he crushed him in their final battle. Can see why God wanted to nuke the planet. 

#2: “The End of Evangelion” (1997)

Out of all the numerous times the world went to crap, nothing tops the one where our boy Shinji was left stranded in an orange hellscape, inexplicably strangling the girl he liked, while half of Rei’s giant decapitated head smiled at them in the distance. This was not what we thought the Third Impact would look like. Not that it’s weirder than Shinji being trapped in his own mind being told congratulations over and over and over again, we just didn’t expect the end of all humanity to be such a mindfuck.

#1: “The Ideon: Be Invoked” (1982)

Apparently, someone thought that the original ending to Space Runaway Ideon wasn’t dark enough, so they introduced this feature flick to try and cram in as much distress and death as possible. Don’t think you’re in for a mecha-filled fun time, since everyone aboard the Solo Ship ends up getting axed off in a final firefight. If they don’t lose their heads from the laser blasts, they’re catapulted off into the vacuum of space when the ship ends up getting torn apart. And if that wasn’t enough they decide to go one step further, and destroy the entire universe, wiping out everyone and everything in the process. Lovely.

Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 10 Black Comedy Anime.