If you are a fan of exploring the darkness of humanity, then you probably gravitate towards series like Darling in the Franxx. This particular anime explores the cruel length humans are willing to go to in order to preserve themselves and gain control over others, but it's far from the only series to have such a nihilistic core.

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Some of the darkest twists and revelations in anime come from the fact that humans are actually the cause of the tragedy that has thrown their respective worlds into complete and total chaos. If you are looking for some great anime where the worst of human ambition is put on display, then look no further than the ten titles below.

10 Darling in The Franxx (2018)

Anime darling in the franxx hiro and zero two

Created by Trigger, Darling in The Franxx focuses on a unit of teenagers piloting robots in pairs. Things get thrown into chaos after a half-human girl named Zero Two appears and takes a failed pilot named Hiro into her franxx. The two turn out to be a great team and fight off the strange monster that have driven humanity into a corner.

All is not right, though, as the children are referred to by number instead of name and never get to meet the adults. Soon enough, it's revealed that war with the ancient aliens was started by humanity, and the children who fight are nothing but the result of the adults' massed produced experiments.

9 Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (2013)

This is another anime where humanity has ruined its own future. When mecha pilot Ledo ends up in a wormhole while fighting aliens, he awakens on a flooded earth and is saved by humans. The human knows nothing of the war he speaks of, and he soon finds that the strange aliens he has been fighting peacefully live in the oceans on earth without attacking anyone.

Once Ledo goes diving, he finds out that the aliens are actually just another species of humans, and the whole war is a lie built on a biased agenda.

8 Sunday Without God (2013)

Sunday Without God is an anime where one-day, people stopped dying and having babies. Once someone dies, they become zombies and must work to upkeep their body; the only way for their soul to be released is to be buried by a gravekeeper. The world believes that it has been abandoned by its creator, but the plot reveals that humanity's wish to live forever was actually granted.

By asking for eternal life, humanity created a world filled with undead and stopped the need for reproduction. Now, life itself has lost all meaning.

7 Seraph of The End (2015)

When it comes to grim openings, Seraph of The End knows how to set the mood. The anime stars by showing a virus wiping out humanity and vampires marching the streets. As it turns out, the virus doesn't affect children, and the vampire captures them and keeps them alive to have a consistent blood supply. 

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After Yu escapes, he joins the vampire extermination unit and slowly learns that humanity created the virus. To top it all off, some of the top members of humanity actually are working closely with the vampires.

6 Promare (2019)

Made once again by Trigger, Promare is an anime movie that introduces firefighters that take on the Burnish. Burnish were once humans that now have the desire to engulf everything in flames. Things change when a firefighter named Galo and a Burnish named Lio begin working together to prove that Kray -- the owner of the police force Freeze Force -- is only trying to use the Burnish to fuel a spacecraft to save his own life.

In the end, it's also revealed that the Burnish actually just want to save the earth, but Kray would rather sacrifice them.

5 Brynhildr in The Darkness (2014)

Brynhildr in The Darkness is a series about a missing girl named Kuroneko who returns as a teenager after supposedly dying while looking for aliens. She and her friend Kana have escaped from a mysterious lab where they had devices put into the back of their necks containing aliens that give them power.

By the end of the series, you quickly learn that the aliens aren't just real but that they've been captured by humans. As it turns out, people have been mercilessly experimenting on them in an attempt to harness their powers. 

4 Attack on Titan (2013- )

The landmark Attack on Titan starts off as a grand battle between humans and deformed monsters named titans that are trying to eat them. Soon enough, you learn that the main character Eren is able to turn into a titan thanks to a strange injection that his father gave him.

RELATED: Attack On Titan: 5 Perfect Fan Theories About The Finale (& 5 Hilariously Bad Ones)

But as the series progresses, it's further revealed that humans are behind the creation of the titan threat. The power of the titans is actually passed down Eldian bloodlines, which they used to conquer the world in the past. Now, the former colony of Marley has weaponized the titan's power as a means to subjugate and get back at the once oppressive Eldians. It's an endless cycle of death and suffering - one Eren seeks to end even if it means effectively ending the world.  

3 Elfen Lied (2004)

Elfen Lied Lucy And Kouta

This anime follows an escaped girl named Lucy, who seems to be highly dangerous. Instead of being killed, she switches personalities and starts to live a peaceful life with a boy named Kouta, who takes her in.

At the end of Elfen Lied, it is revealed that Lucy is part of a new species of humans and was being harshly experimented on. Though she just wants to live normally, those who created her brutally hunt her down and use any and all means in their attempts to recover their asset. 

2 Land of the Lustrous (2017)

A broken Gem from Lunarian attacks in Land of the Lustrous

Land of The Lustrous is based in a world where there are jewels that take the shape of humans. This new species is under attack by a mysterious force from the moon that wants to harvest the jewel people in order to make a profit.

As you have probably already guessed just from the profit and capitalist aspect, the real enemy is, of course, greedy humans who are willing to make an entire race suffer for a quick buck.

1 Princess Mononoke (1997)

The critically acclaimed Princess Mononoke is a Ghibli movie that focuses on a traveler named Ashitaka, who is cursed after killing a monster. After venturing to Iron Town, he meets a girl fighting alongside the wolves named San and begins to realize that the town is killing the forest for profit.

Humans who are destroying the land have angered the Forest God and the spirits living within it, which led to the present conflict that's just a heartbeat from exploding into an all-out war between mankind and nature. 

NEXT: Darling In The Franxx: 5 Reasons Hiro Should Have Ended Up With Ichigo (& 5 Reasons Why Zero Two Was The Right Choice)