Apocalypse means destruction on a massive scale, usually referring to the end of the world. The end of the world doesn't necessarily have to mean the destruction of the planet itself, but it could also indicate that civilized society has ceased to function as it used to. It's a theme very commonly found in all sorts of fictional media and literature, such as I am Legend. Moreover, it's also a motif commonly seen in anime every now and then.
These animes usually have very dark premises, from humans being driven to extinction to the world straight up being blown to bits. This list looks at some animes where the world, in one way or another, ended.
10 Fist Of The North Star
With an estimated revenue of over $22 Billion, not only was Fist of the North Star one of the most popular anime of its time but to this day remains one of the highest-grossing media franchises in the world. Set in a dystopian world that has been destroyed due to nuclear warfare and the remaining human civilization struggles to survive with depleted resources, lead character Kenshiro is an expert martial artist who uses his abilities to protect the weak.
The post-apocalyptic anime has many great fight scenes as Kenshiro takes down various gangs and warlords using his specialized martial art technique "Hokuto Shinken."
9 Blue Gender
Set around 2030, the story of Blue Gender takes place in a dystopian future where Earth has been overrun by a species of virus-carrying alien insectoid creatures called the "Blue." With their created virus, the alien creatures kill and harvest humans for food, and thus all surviving members of humanity have been forced to live on a space station in Earth's orbit called the Second Earth.
The premise mostly revolves around the main protagonist Yuji Kaido as he battles against the Blue trying to make it to Second Earth.
8 Now And Then, Here And There
Now and Then, Here and There starts with a normal high school student Shuzo Matsutani walking home school, whereupon he comes across a girl being attacked by people in dragon-like mecha suits. As he steps in to protect that girl, both of them are transported to another world, where it's a wasteland as far as the eye can see, and is supposedly what the Earth will look like in the future.
The residents of the wasteland engage in warfare on a daily basis, and the worst of it all is that water has turned into a rarity in this barren world.
7 Wolf's Rain
In the world of Wolf's Rain, the livelihood of the general people has worsened to a great extent, and while the world hasn't ended yet, it is on the verge of doing so. According to ancient legend, when the end of the world is near a place known as Paradise will appear, however, only wolves will wield the ability to lead the way to this place.
Although they are thought to be extinct, a group of wolves has managed to survive by taking human appearances. Now, as the world is crumbling, they must find the way to paradise to ensure their survival and that of mankind.
6 Heroic Age
Based on several aspects from Greek mythology, Heroic Age takes place years into the future where five extremely powerful races, called "tribes" occupy and control the Universe. Mankind consisted of the "Iron Tribe" but was assaulted by two of the other tribes who viewed mankind as a threat.
As a result, Earth was conquered, humanity was nearly fully decimated, and only managed to pull through by escaping to different parts of the Galaxy. The anime tells the story of a boy named "Age," who is prophesied to bring peace to the universe and is the destined savior of mankind.
5 Attack On Titan
Attack on Titan took the world by storm when it was released in 2013, and since then has grown up to one of the most internationally recognized animes in the world. In the world of Attack on Titan, humans have been forced to live inside the boundary of huge walls for over a century to protect themselves from man-eating gigantic humanoid creatures called "titans." With top-notch fight scenes and one of the most mysterious and well-written plots in anime history, Attack on Titan is a must-watch for even non-traditional anime fans.
With the upcoming final season, many questions remain unanswered about the past and future of mankind.
4 Expelled From Paradise
The sole anime film in this list, it takes place in a distant feature where planet Earth has been rendered unfit to live in due to a disaster and barely 2% of the human population still lives there. People have abandoned their physical bodies and translocated their consciousness into a digitalized world called DEVA on a spaceship.
Angela Balzac, an agent at the DEVA space station is equipped with a body and sent to the ruined surface of Earth in order to investigate an insurgent hacker by the name of "Frontier Setter."
3 Seraph Of The End
Humanity comes to an unprecedented end as an artificially made virus decimates the global population and every human being except children under the age of thirteen are exterminated. While the world is in this devastated state, vampires suddenly emerge and take over what little is left of the world population, which now consists of only children. Yūichirō Hyakuya, who grew up with his fellow orphans at an orphanage, loses the only family he ever knew to the hands of the vampires.
Years later, he joins the Japanese Imperial Demon Army to hunt down the creatures who murdered his family.
2 Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress
While the world was going through the industrial revolution, a mysterious virus appears that infects humans and turns them into monstrous creatures called "kabane" and spreads throughout the world. These newly emerged creatures are very difficult to kill, and as society crumbles the surviving members of the population have managed to hold out in fortress-like strongholds called "stations" which they built.
The sole viable method of transportation left is by using huge steam-driven locomotive trains, and only the ones effectively capable of fighting these monsters are skilled warriors called "kabaneri" who are human-kabane hybrids.
1 Dr. Stone
The anime starts out seeming pretty ordinary, showing some high school students going about their usual day in school. But in a sudden flash of light, all the people and animals of the world are turned to stone.
3700 years later, teenage genius Senkū Ishigami breaks out of his fossilized state to discover himself in a stone world were all remnants of human civilization have ceased to exist. After breaking out some of his friends from their petrified state, Senku decides to put his intelligence to use and restart humanity once again with the power of science.