Shojo anime aren't typically known for their darker themes, but there are several series anime that aren't afraid to stray from the light. The somber — or even horrifying — content in these anime work to heighten lighter story beats or simply create the saddest tale possible. While some fans are split on these shows, there's no doubting their effect in giving audiences chills.
When it comes to shojo, there are many ways an anime can approach darker themes. Some anime are dark due to the amount of tragedy in the story, while others have much more sinister undertones.
This article mentions suicide, abuse, and human trafficking. Reader discretion is advised.
Updated on November 21, 2022, by Alexandra Locke: Shojo anime is a more comprehensive genre than viewers might imagine. Many shojo anime handle dark themes and tackle difficult subjects. With so many great dark shojo anime that exist, this list has been updated to include a few more.
15 Sailor Moon Isn't Afraid To Deal With Death
5 Seasons, 200 episodes
Sailor Moon is a classic anime about a group of young women who protect the galaxy from evildoers. Despite the magical girl transformations and the wholesome, heroic presence, the show is surprisingly dark.
There are many occasions where major characters die or sacrifice themselves for others. Some villains' motivations are rather despicable for an anime aimed at young girls. Many may feel like Sailor Moon is a childish series, but the numerous tragedies and sinister plots at play make audiences know otherwise.
14 Karin Produces Too Much Blood
1 Season, 24 Episodes
Karin Maaka is the middle child in a family of vampires. Yet unlike her parents and siblings, Karin produces blood instead of drinking it from humans. One boy in particular – Kenta Usui – seems to make her condition worse.
Karin is dark not only for its mature content, but for the copious amounts of blood shown throughout the series. Maaka's blood production makes for many gruesome scenes, even though no one is physically harmed. Karin is one of the bloodiest shojo anime out there.
13 Convenience Store Boy Friends' Ambiguous Ending Changes Everything
1 Season, 12 Episodes
Convenience Store Boyfriends follows several teen couples as they navigate relationships in high school. Haruki Mishima is reunited with a girl he met as a child, Miharu Mashiki, and the two begin to develop a relationship. Unfortunately, Mashiki is suffering from a debilitating illness that seems to be getting worse.
Although Convenience Store Boyfriends is mainly a light-hearted and romantic anime, Mashiki's illness hangs over the series as she and Mishima are the main focus of the show. Plus, Convenience Store Boy Friends' ending is ambiguous, leaving fans to wonder whether Mashiki's surgery is a success or a failure.
12 Revolutionary Girl Utena Is Much Darker Than It Lets On
1 Season, 39 Episodes
Utena Tenjou longed to become a prince after one gifted her a ring when she was a child. Utena eventually achieves her dream and wins a competition for Anthy Himemiya's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, the ordeal culminates when Anthy betrays Utena by stabbing her and aligning herself with her brother, Akio Ohtori.
Although Utena survives the attack, she still holds out hope for Anthy, and saves her from a fatal end, only to be stabbed again. Utena then disappears. Although the show is more like a shonen anime with its many battles, Revolutionary Girl Utena takes a dark turn by betraying its protagonist and leaving her ultimate fate ambiguous. The anime also deals with themes of sexuality, identity, and gender.
11 Your Name Has A Surprising Death
Film
Mistuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana learn a lot about each other from switching bodies in the anime movie Your Name. Though they have never met, the two feel like they know each other well enough that they start to fall in love. Unfortunately, their plans and dreams are shattered when Taki discovers that Mitsuha died three years previously in an asteroid collision.
The confusion and pain Taki feels after this realization makes even the most hardened anime fan tear up. Taki's desperation to talk to Mistuha one more time to try to save her and her whole village is palpable. Though the ending turns out well, the tragedy and anxiety audiences face is fairly dark for a romance movie about body swapping.
10 Your Lie In April Has A Heart-Wrenching Tragedy
1 Season, 22 Episodes
Your Lie In April focuses on Kosei Arima, a past piano prodigy who can no longer hear the music coming from his piano after his mother's death. After he meets the bubbly violinist, Kaori Miyazono, Kosei once again starts to fall in love with music (and Kaori).
Despite everything coming together for Kosei, Kaori is anemic. She tries not to let it stop her from her goal of performing with Kosei on stage, but when her condition worsens, Kaori elects to undergo experimental surgery to a disastrous end. Your Lie In April's darkness stems from its devastating tragedy and the fact that Kaori never got to realize her dream.
9 Orange Forces Its Characters To Choose Their Futures
1 Season, 13 Episodes
Naho Takamiya and her friends are all faced with a life-altering task: Save Kakeru Naruse or live in a future without him. The teens work to save Kakeru as he struggles with his inner demons.
Orange is a show that asks its characters to choose their futures. The letters they receive from their future selves telling them to save Kakeru provide some information about one possible future, thereby influencing everyone's motivations. Orange is a poignant and heart-wrenching anime about the power of friendship as students sacrifice assured futures to save their friend.
8 Fruits Basket Deals With Abuse
3 Seasons, 63 Episodes
The Sohma family in Fruits Basket is especially dysfunctional. Although the cursed Zodiac members of the family are revered, they are also severely abused by the family head, Akito. Almost every character outside the Sohma family has a rough childhood. Even the happy and pure Tohru Honda has experienced her share of grief.
Fruits Basket is a wonderful romance-steeped show that fans should check out, but they should be wary of the content to come. Every character has major trauma that they must work through in the series, but their tragic arcs are fortunately resolved in the end.
7 Clannad Does Not Have A Happy Ending
1 Season, 22 Episodes
Tomoya Okazaki sees no point in school until he meets the quirky Nagisa Furukawa in Clannad. Suddenly, Tomoya finds himself seeing Nagisa everywhere and can't help but become her friend. The two strike up an unlikely yet touching romance that culminates in Nagisa becoming pregnant.
Unfortunately, Nagisa does not survive the birth, and Tomoya is sent into a severe depression. Although the series ends on a happy note with Tomoya and his daughter reuniting, the immense tragedy makes it almost unbearable for audiences to watch. Clannad will build audiences up only to rip their hearts out.
6 A Silent Voice Features The Effects Of Bullying
Film
A Silent Voice is the story of Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya. While many shojo couples begin their relationships positively, Shoya and Shoko met in school where he teased her for her deafness. As teens, Shoya finds Shoko and tries to apologize. Their relationship grows from there.
A Silent Voice is not only dark for the bullying, even though it is brutal. The show also depicts Shoya and Shoko's separate struggles with suicide. Although Shoya eventually decided against it, Shoko is only saved thanks to Shoya's impeccable timing and bravery. A Silent Voice is not for everyone, but it's a stark reminder of the toll that people's words and actions can have on others.
5 Violet Evergarden Shows The Aftereffects Of War
1 Season, 13 Episodes
Violet Evergarden follows a girl by the same name who is learning to live in a post-war world. Though she lost both of her arms in a battle, she acquires prosthetics and becomes an Auto Memories Doll to write letters for those who cannot. Through this, Violet hopes to learn what it means to love while she searches for her beloved Major Bougainvillea.
Violet Evergarden's depictions of war, and focus on grief get particularly dark at times. The anime does a great job of showing loss through different perspectives — especially where Violet is concerned. She may still have a lot to learn, but Violet is slowly realizing what it means to be truly human and truly free.
4 Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Shows The Effects Of Grief
1 Season, 11 Episodes
After the death of their friend, Meiko "Menma" Honma, the Super Peace Busters go their separate ways, only to reunite again as teenagers when her ghost begins visiting one of them. However, each character has processed their grief differently, leading to bickering and resentment.
Luckily, the group manages to come together to help Menma achieve her final wish. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day shows the effects immense pain and regret after a loss. Although the Super Peace Busters come to understand each other by the end, much contention and blame occurs before everyone can forgive one another.
3 I Want To Eat Your Pancreas Focuses On Death
Film
Haruki Shiga meets Sakura Yamauchi in the hospital by chance one day, and the two become friends. Soon, Haruki discovers that Sakura has a chronic pancreatic disease that is fatal. Even so, Sakura remains happy in her life and hopes to live as normally as possible until it's her time in I Want To Eat Your Pancreas.
Sakura dies much sooner than expected as she is murdered while waking alone one day. The shock of her passing is keenly felt in Haruki's reaction. Though I Want To Eat Your Pancreas has a positive outlook on death, the sudden and violent way that Sakura dies makes for a very dark and jarring end.
2 Puella Magi Madoka Magica Features Young Girls Getting Tricked By A Sinister Being
1 Season, 12 Episodes
Madoka Kaname is an average middle school girl until she meets a mysterious creature named Kyubey. Kyubey offers Madoka — and other girls — any wish they desire. In return, he asks that they become magical girls and fight witches. Most girls find the offer too good to pass up, and gladly obtain their powers in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Unfortunately, Kyubey is not as he initially seems, and the girls soon realize the true cost of their newfound abilities. Puella Magi Madoka Magica features surprisingly disturbing violence. Fans hoping for a fun magical girl anime will be shocked by this deadly series.
1 Banana Fish Is Dark From Start To Finish
1 Season, 24 Episodes
Banana Fish is a harrowing anime about a New York gang member named Ash Lynx. Ash's life has been troubled ever since he was trafficked as a child. Now, Ash performs tasks for his gang leader, Golzine, making money to help pay for his wounded brother's care while trying to discover the meaning of the mysterious words, "Banana fish."
Banana Fish's violence and mature themes mak it one of the darkest shojo anim arounde. The gang violence that Ash faces is enough to turn many anime fans away from this disturbing series. That said, a story of redemption, romance, and intrigue awaits fans brave enough to watch the whole series.