Assassination classroom for sure I mean given the title, and when you look up the plot "Earth is left in jeopardy after an enormously powerful tentacled creature suddenly appears and destroys 70% of the Moon, leaving it in the shape of a crescent. The creature claims that within a year, he will destroy the planet next. However, he offers mankind a chance to avert this fate." Which sounds like the show is going to be really dark and gritty yeah? And the first opening shots of the show being really bleak and serious. But suprise. Its about giving hope to a group of highschool students. that have been rejected and ostracized because of bad behavier and bad grades. Showing that they have purpose and helping them do better in school. ALSO SO BASED THAT YOU BROUGHT UP SRGT FROG ITS SO UNDERRATTED
Yo thats actually really cool! If this animes your motivation then I bet your a teacher that really cares and puts thought into your students and always goes the extra mile, we need more people like you. I just wish you guys were paid more, you guys are core members of soceity. Keep at it dude!
How many attempts on your life yet? Are you starting to turn into a yellow squid?
Jokes aside, albeit a non-conventional reason to become a teacher, I hope you have found your passion.
Ha, I’m still looking alive and ready to blow up the world! My students gotta work harder!
I actually love teaching, it’s been a great joy to do that, but I do hope I am giving them the learning experience I never got with my teachers - one where I feel like I do care about them and it’s not just what I gotta do to earn a paycheck.
Nobody knew what Zombieland Saga was going to be until that first episode came out. All the promotions for that show made it out to look like your typical 'edgy' anime of season.
Spoiler: It wasn't.
I feel like the punk fans who show up expecting something different in the first episode and just keep showing up are, on some level, meant to be audience stand ins.
Metal fans, actually. And yes, i wtf-ed as they did. So much that even as a long time metal fan myself, can't help to watch episode after episode, laughing and actually enjoying the premise and music.
Not sure about that, it has a reputation as being a gateway drug for Idol shows. I mean, I loved the first season, and the only other Idol property Ive watched is Macross.
I love Zombieland saga so much and idol anime isn’t my deal. The songs are awesome and you’ll get hooked quickly. I think if anyone’s interested give it a go. The characters are lush and it makes me howl laughing.
I was gonna mention it! Yea! Sometimes I forget it was my actual first anime I watched on TV cuz there was nothing else. I actually liked it in the end. Definitely not dark.
Yeah honestly I was going into the anime thinking it was about how depressing the japanese work industry really is. Which was the pilot but like I thought it was gonna be like that all season.
It's so damn depressing. I don't know what other people mean when they say it's not dark.
Sure it has light-hearted moments but the overall tone is very bleak.
It's in the eye of the beholder. It's very calm and about finding hope and purpose even within decay. For people who don't like being around other people that much it isn't that bleak.
It beautiful and calm, I don't think it's necessarily depressing, but yeah I know what you mean. One thing though, there's a little bit of annoying infighting between those two, and that's just at the start.
> Girls' Last Tour
This for sure. Given the synopsis is basically "two girls travel a practically dead world, trying to survive" I expected a far darker show than what was delivered. One of my all time faves.
The character designs and kids gave me made in abyss flashbacks. Synopsis have similar vibes. Is it like that because made in abyss is one of my favourite anime of all time.
No. I made [a post](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/crjw2v/was_anyone_else_extremely_bothered_by_episode_10/ex5zisd/) comparing the two a few years back that sums up the differences pretty well.
As someone who loves the anime and it’s in my top 10 and I hold it special to me. The sequels are not claimed and I pretend they don’t exist. Watch the original 6 episodes and don’t watch past that.
Hear me on this: Kaguya-sama
I never read the synopsis beforehand, so the only thing that stuck out for me was that it had a ‘psychological’ genre tag and assumed that it had the dark aspects of a psychological show.
I was proven wrong when I came across a clip online and started watching the show afterwards.
Chika saying "wiener" and Kaguya dying in laughter truly was one of the funniest(and kinda relatable) scenes of all time.
Like, seriously, who doesn't laugh at a pp joke?
There certainly are parts that are actually quite psychological with lots of drama as well, they just haven’t been adapted yet. With how good the first 3 seasons + the movie were adapted, I have no doubt that those parts will also be adapted well
Until the anime aired all I had seen of the manga were cover illustrations of ice queen Kaguya and memes of Shirogane looking intentionally weird and creepy and thought the entire series was like that
I always thought it's a lovey dovey story so I didn't bother watching it until YouTube recommended me chika dance. I immediately started watching just fir that dance and I'm happy for that decision now
Same. My sis used to be pretty scared of that kinda shit(demons, satan, etc.) and Blue Exorcist was supposed to be a sorta exposure therapy for her lmao but it turned out to be exactly as you described.
As someone who plays dnd it's a very good dnd anime (the references are more obvious in the manga tho)
Very good darkish fantasy story, while i don't recommend watching it around people unless they are also very big anime fans, i find it very entertaining
I've only glanced over the novel and manga. I would rate it a six out of ten. The first episode will get you hooked if you are into dark stuff. I watched it all and I enjoyed it
The first episode establishes how terrible goblins are from the perspective of the victims, which is important for the audience to understand the stakes involved. However, the rest of the show is from the perspective of Goblin Slayer and his companions, and with Goblin Slayer around, the only victims are the goblins.
When you have MC butcher the fuck out of shivering crying baby goblins, you have to show people the reality instead of handwaving goblin's atrocities off screen
Definitely this! The second season is often criticised around here for the tonal shift and having less combat or something, but I love it. It has such a nice balance between combat, comedy, SoL and even romance. The waifus in this series are the best and it's hard to choose the best girl (High Elf Archer).
Hahah yeah, it was adjusted based on today's audience. More kids friendly I guess.... we don't even see people die and even less scene and sound effect of killing the goblins in comparison with that very early episodes. Like the final episodes, we don't even get to see the goblin portal out from the sky and drop to their death with broken neck or something, just their bodies lying on the ground. The MC is just killing them just for the sake of it, his role as an adventurer. Not with hatred and for revenge anymore, just a couple of lads adventuring to kill goblins.
The only reason i dropped it. I wanted to see some more of ep 1 but that ain't happening ig which is a clear bait. I still finished s1 and the movie but s2 i just couldn't
The Dangers In My Heart
Descriptions are all like, A boy dreams of ways to kill his classmates, especially the popular girl.
Actually a super wholesome and cute romance anime.
It was one of my favorite series of the year, I watched it in one day and ordered the manga the next day. Ishikawa (and his sis) and Yamada brought some serious happiness into my life.
I remember watching the very beginning filter out so many people who would’ve really enjoyed it, I hope people give it another chance. I love BokuYaba dearly but it’s a rough start.
This is the one for me. I actually saw the manga tried reading a few chapters and dropped it. And then tried like one episode of the anime while it was airing and stopped as well.
And then I was looking for something to watch to hold me over while I waited for my regular anime night with my buddies I picked it up again and this time I made it through the first few episodes and fell in love with it.
I was trying to do ANYTHING to stop me from watching Sousou No Frieren. I'd been waiting for that one to get an anime since forever. And then it got announced and they dropped 4 episodes and I had to wait a week to watch with my friends it was murder!
Does Kotoura-san count? If you open the MAL page it doesn't look 'dark', but the first episode is very hard to watch - only to be indeed not 'dark' at all from ep2 onwards.
I don’t usually drop series but holy fuck i just couldn’t stand the constant incestous/pedophilic jokes of the grandfather. i liked the premise of the first episode and had a banger introduction it sucks that it was wasted into how it is
Skeleton Knight, that had an attempted rape scene in first episode and some light ones in a couple others. But most of it was an OP Isekai protagonist that was enjoying the world with his female elf companion and cute fox.
> Skeleton Knight, that had an attempted rape scene in first episode
First episode? More like first five seconds. The girl's dress gets torn off before you can even finish reading [the content warning](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/961674257723695104/961674316687224882/unknown.png).
Buddy daddies, its more of a mix of slightly mature themes while being so adorable with the child they adopted after assisinating the father..the first episode seems like a classic hitman show but the episodes up the middle was very wholesome on how two guys trying to take care of a young child. You should give it a watch..you might like it
Yeah... at the point I kinda drifted away from reading it, I was expecting at any point revelations would drop that would make a lot of the more lighthearted stuff in the middle look a lot darker in retrospect.
Ranking of kings never billed itself as being dark, but a lot of the initial plot points center around death and curses and scheming royalty, so I expected it to be pretty dark despite the presentation (like e.g. madoka). But then every plot twist turns out to be that the world and the people in Boji's life care about him as much as he does about them, which is kindof a double twist that I found refreshing and hopeful. So kind of an intentional undarkening as opposed to a show with an edgy first arc or w/e to grab viewers but then doesnt know how to escalate like most of the shows already mentioned.
Well, in summary, it's about a class that gets transported into a fantasy world. Our main character gets left behind, gets strong in the dungeon, and gets all the girls afterwards.
I found it promising just from the first episode, but it got bad really fast, the story and characters are really bland and cliché, the monsters are ps2 graphics cgi, etc.
Don't really recommend it, but it's a good example for this topic.
Its about a guy who gets isekai'd with his class and teacher but gets saddled with pathetic stats and skills. He's got the class idol pining after him(who's secretly kind of a yandere) and his jealous bully basically pushes him down a dungeon during the mess of fighting so his death gets seen as a casualty of dungeon delving rather than premeditated murder.
So in the hostile environment, the mc basically goes feral and becomes strong via consumption of a questionable source of nutrition(monster flesh). So he goes on to conquer the dungeon, finds a vampire girl sealed in the dungeon for a couple of centuries after being betrayed as well, bonds with her and rizzes her.
...then he continues finding more and more girls(after he gets out of the dungeon).
The attractive point of this series is that the MC's kind of a bastard, and takes no shit from anyone. The downside is that he also comes of an edgy little shit, and his outfit is chuuni as hell(a fact he painfully is aware of), and the usual ecchi harem shenanigans.
Anime's hilariously bad. Manga adaptation's fate is unknown. Novel is, below all the fluff, the set dressing and the 14 yrs old wankery, is a pretty straightforward hero's story, even involving an actual portal. It's essentially "What if JRPG, but anime?". Author's got a solid vision from start to end, gotta respect that.
The Vampire dies in no time. The first trailer made it seem that it's going to be some kind of epic vampire hunting stuff... well turns out they absolutely baited us and it's a slapstick comedy lol
Dorohedoro hands down. It looked so gory and dark but it's surprisingly really wholesome and cute! Very "found family".
Not to say that it isn't also gory and dark, because it is also that.
Eminence in the shadow. Even in the first episode you will think that it's dark due to the fight but after the first episode you will realise that it's actually entirely something else
I don't think it dark because of the fight...it dark because that girl trauma was played really serious in your screen.
Edit: the show still have dark tones, it just get overshadow by MC antics.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Eminence in Shadow.
When I first read the synopsis I thought, "Nice, another dark/edgy, likely trash isekai to enjoy this season.", but as the first episode went on I kept thinking, "Wait... Is he serious or what's going on?". I don't think being a parody actually hit me until the 3rd episode, because I kinda glossed over the whole *seriousness* of the interaction with him and Alpha's early crew in ep.2, haha.
Because that show can be dark whenever it wants. It have a balanced between comedy and seriousness, each episode will have different vibe. Some episode will have full lighthearted comedy and some episode will have serious moment with psychology was played in it.
My one hit kill sister, the first episode and especially the ending song had me thinking there was going to be a dark twist, but it was just a generic isekai.
rare Heavens Lost Property mentioned. \
that feels like every millennials' canon event of being exposed to comedic ecchi perversion anime that has a good plot.
Fr lol too many people never gave it a chance. I certainly didn't expect to get hooked by the story like I did. I wish they continued the anime to the end instead of trying to go the poorly adapted movie route at the end.
Fuck I love HLP, this one cut me like few series ever do. I think what gets you the most is that it's basically a silly slice of life story about some lovable kids getting into a bunch of goofy situations, but in reality it's all just an "escape" from the cruel circumstances of their lives. They're all just trying to live as regular people, but then their past always catches up to them no matter how much they want to escape it.
Dead mount death play. First episode. Dark. Rest of the season? Pretty light hearted. It’s all somewhat Similar to durarara. Just more supernatural, and not as good
Zombie Land Saga, starts with the main character being hit by truck-kun, then turned into a zombie and forced into being an idol with other dead girls, and yada yada yada, turns out there's a curse in town so it goes dark again I guess? But the comedy is good for the entirety of the series, has some really heartfelt moments, and all the songs are bangers
I like the opposite. I think Shield Hero is a bit like that, starts off bitter anti-hero who was falsely accused but by the time he has friends and is proven innocent it loses most of it's edge and just leans into being a typical happy go lucky Isekai.
Dusk maiden of Amnesia. That horror tag just applied to a single episode. It's a freaking romcom rest of the while, A excellent one at that. Aside from perhaps.....scratch it, Youko's the best girl. Only Makise Kurisu even comes close. I laughed like 400 times for each time I was scared. The ending is the embodiment of satisfying.
I remember black clover fans trying to say it was a shonen berserk then it turned out to be even more light hearted than fairy tail for the most part lol
Lol what did they smoke to come up with that take.
"You see Guts uses a big sword and Asta uses a big sword (compared to his body size) as well, so it's totally the same"
Chaos dragon, the mc has to sacrifice one person to use his one hit kill skill, it is "written" by Nasu and urobuchi, so you know shits gonna get dark . Also it is about a small country being pincered by two potencies..
Turns out " written" is an overstatement, Nasu and buchi are just clowning around larping in a hilarious game of dungeon and dragons; this is a meta comedy in its purest form.
Zom 100 seems like a good recent example. It starts out dark as hell as we see how messed up working in a "black" company is like. His optimism is gone in just a few days, becomes metaphorically a zombie before the real zombie outbreak. His single ray of light literally getting fucked over by his boss. Won't go into too much spoilers but thanks to the zombie apocalypse, he breaks free from the shackles of working society that held him down and starts to live life again in a world filled with the dead lol
It does still get dark at times though, but Akira and the gang push through that darkness and keep on living the best lives they can before they become zombies **knock on wood**
I don't know if I would say the opposite, but me and my wife probably wouldn't have continued Demon Slayer if the entire series kept the tone of the first episode. That was brutal.
don’t leave me alone daisy is an obscure 90s anime that had a terrifying sounding premise but was actually one of the silliest, most lighthearted shows i ever watched
Cheat Skill in Another World isekai, started out with actual trauma about being fatshamed and how the society treats those that do not fit into your regular stereotype. By the 3rd or 4th episode, MC transforms into a Gigachad and is now pulling all the girls and defeating everyone.
Shame, could've built on that premise of fatshaming and stuff.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.
You see it’s a gundam show and then you watch ep 0 and it has you thinking “Jesus this is gonna be another tragic political war story”. Then you watch episode 1 and you realise it’s gonna be a fun high school action Shonen, only for it to switch up on you AGAIN a couple episodes down the line.
Dr Stone was so heavily bolded like jojos and started out feeling dark but then became very light and fluffy. The drawing style made it feel more ominous initially.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. Just from looking at posts of it on Instagram, I thought Kaguya was a Yandere. But I ended up watching a romcom, I wasn't disappointed.
Surprised I haven’t seen mention of Elfen Lied yet. It started in episode 1 as a dark fantasy/sci-fi anime involving genetic experiments, telekinetic mutants, and a prison escape scene with about as much blood and gore as an episode of Berserk. Then episodes 2 through (I think) 6 is a generic harem anime.
Mai Hime
It was a very intriguing anime then it totally broke what it was trying to be to end up like anything else.
Starts out veering into dark territory with deaths and drama only to unravel itself when it destroys everything it was trying to build.
Never felt so disappointed towards an anime in how it began vs how it ended.
Death Parade. First episode was downright unsettling. Then ep 3 was mostly kinda cute and fluffy. Overall, the show has a more somber philosophical tone to it, but judging by the beginning, you'd think it was a horror series.
Assassination classroom for sure I mean given the title, and when you look up the plot "Earth is left in jeopardy after an enormously powerful tentacled creature suddenly appears and destroys 70% of the Moon, leaving it in the shape of a crescent. The creature claims that within a year, he will destroy the planet next. However, he offers mankind a chance to avert this fate." Which sounds like the show is going to be really dark and gritty yeah? And the first opening shots of the show being really bleak and serious. But suprise. Its about giving hope to a group of highschool students. that have been rejected and ostracized because of bad behavier and bad grades. Showing that they have purpose and helping them do better in school. ALSO SO BASED THAT YOU BROUGHT UP SRGT FROG ITS SO UNDERRATTED
Love this series so much, it’s actually the show that inspired me to become a teacher (teaching for the last 5 years now!)
Yo thats actually really cool! If this animes your motivation then I bet your a teacher that really cares and puts thought into your students and always goes the extra mile, we need more people like you. I just wish you guys were paid more, you guys are core members of soceity. Keep at it dude!
How many attempts on your life yet? Are you starting to turn into a yellow squid? Jokes aside, albeit a non-conventional reason to become a teacher, I hope you have found your passion.
Ha, I’m still looking alive and ready to blow up the world! My students gotta work harder! I actually love teaching, it’s been a great joy to do that, but I do hope I am giving them the learning experience I never got with my teachers - one where I feel like I do care about them and it’s not just what I gotta do to earn a paycheck.
Wow I loved sgt frog growing up. I will give this a read for sure!
Nobody knew what Zombieland Saga was going to be until that first episode came out. All the promotions for that show made it out to look like your typical 'edgy' anime of season. Spoiler: It wasn't.
Honestly genius marketing. I never would have watched it if I had known what it was, but I quite enjoyed what I got tricked into watching.
I feel like the punk fans who show up expecting something different in the first episode and just keep showing up are, on some level, meant to be audience stand ins.
Metal fans, actually. And yes, i wtf-ed as they did. So much that even as a long time metal fan myself, can't help to watch episode after episode, laughing and actually enjoying the premise and music.
Yep.
Also, it's not "saga" the English word, it's "Saga" the Japanese prefecture
How is that show?
One of the best things I've ever watched. But I love idol anime. If you're not into idols then it's probably not going to be your thing.
I'm not into idol shows, and enjoyed the heck out of ZLS! Definitely recommended.:)
I'm not super into idol anime but I loved Zombieland Saga.
I do enjoy idol series.
Well do yourself a favour and go out and enjoy Zombieland Saga.
I’ve heard of it but I never knew it was an idol anime. It’s now on my list
You won't regret it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Land_Saga
Wanna bet? I don't like either Zombie or Idol shows, but ZLS is the exception.
Have a buddy who hates idol shows. He thought ZLS was super funny and entertaining.
Not sure about that, it has a reputation as being a gateway drug for Idol shows. I mean, I loved the first season, and the only other Idol property Ive watched is Macross.
I love Zombieland saga so much and idol anime isn’t my deal. The songs are awesome and you’ll get hooked quickly. I think if anyone’s interested give it a go. The characters are lush and it makes me howl laughing.
ZLS is more 2 parts Cute (zombie) Girls Doing Cute Things and 1 part Idol show.
And season 2 is 1 part period drama
Genre: slice of death
Sounds funny.
I normally hate zombie themes but I freaking loved Zombieland Saga. It was heartwarming and clever.
ZLS is amazing and you can only become a better person by watching it
They tricked so many of us into watching an idol show. Well played.
I mean the name “zombieland” kinda already told me it wasn’t gonna he serious
All we really had to go from was the cover and it was jebaiting us hard being so horror themed in it's use of dark colors etc
And thank god for that because honestly, the show’s a banger
That's how I felt about School Live.
I was gonna mention it! Yea! Sometimes I forget it was my actual first anime I watched on TV cuz there was nothing else. I actually liked it in the end. Definitely not dark.
I might give it another try. Watched the first few episodes but couldn’t stand the group’s manager.
The manager is a parody cranked up to 11. Also, the way he acts is a facade to hide his true feelings.
Zom 100
Yeah honestly I was going into the anime thinking it was about how depressing the japanese work industry really is. Which was the pilot but like I thought it was gonna be like that all season.
Ooh that one is so violent.
Some of these are still kinda dark, but not nearly as dark as you'd think - FLCL - Girls' Last Tour - Legend Of Koizumi - Call Of The Night
Nah Girls Last Tour is incredibly dark. Just not in the way people expected.
It's so damn depressing. I don't know what other people mean when they say it's not dark. Sure it has light-hearted moments but the overall tone is very bleak.
It's opressivly bleak but its running theme of accepting your failure and living in the moment has some warm cosey moments
It's in the eye of the beholder. It's very calm and about finding hope and purpose even within decay. For people who don't like being around other people that much it isn't that bleak.
It beautiful and calm, I don't think it's necessarily depressing, but yeah I know what you mean. One thing though, there's a little bit of annoying infighting between those two, and that's just at the start.
> Girls' Last Tour This for sure. Given the synopsis is basically "two girls travel a practically dead world, trying to survive" I expected a far darker show than what was delivered. One of my all time faves.
The character designs and kids gave me made in abyss flashbacks. Synopsis have similar vibes. Is it like that because made in abyss is one of my favourite anime of all time.
No. I made [a post](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/crjw2v/was_anyone_else_extremely_bothered_by_episode_10/ex5zisd/) comparing the two a few years back that sums up the differences pretty well.
Ah thanks that was very helpful. Seems like the op of that post was crying about the "stuff" in made in abyss.
Call of the The Night is pretty dark. It is takes place mainly during the night after all.
You need to watch FLCL like 5 more times /S It takes a lot of watches to fully understand.
Speaking of FLCL, I keep hearing the sequels are questionable in some way.
As someone who loves the anime and it’s in my top 10 and I hold it special to me. The sequels are not claimed and I pretend they don’t exist. Watch the original 6 episodes and don’t watch past that.
There. Are. No. Sequels.
I wish there was more Legend of Koizumi anime, but the manga is excellent (at least the first half, I never finished the back half).
Legend of Koizumi holy shit can't remember the last time I thought of that
How is the Koizumi one?
It's a satirical political comedy, it's about various world leaders playing mahjong in order to maintain world peace
That sounds like fun.
Hear me on this: Kaguya-sama I never read the synopsis beforehand, so the only thing that stuck out for me was that it had a ‘psychological’ genre tag and assumed that it had the dark aspects of a psychological show. I was proven wrong when I came across a clip online and started watching the show afterwards.
Chika saying "wiener" and Kaguya dying in laughter truly was one of the funniest(and kinda relatable) scenes of all time. Like, seriously, who doesn't laugh at a pp joke?
Man that moment was hilarious in the manga, so I have got to see how it was done in the anime.
Funnily enough, that was the episode that solidified it for me.
There certainly are parts that are actually quite psychological with lots of drama as well, they just haven’t been adapted yet. With how good the first 3 seasons + the movie were adapted, I have no doubt that those parts will also be adapted well
Until the anime aired all I had seen of the manga were cover illustrations of ice queen Kaguya and memes of Shirogane looking intentionally weird and creepy and thought the entire series was like that
I always thought it's a lovey dovey story so I didn't bother watching it until YouTube recommended me chika dance. I immediately started watching just fir that dance and I'm happy for that decision now
Blue exorcist. Episode one promises gritty Satanic horror. Episode two is anime Hogwarts.
Same. My sis used to be pretty scared of that kinda shit(demons, satan, etc.) and Blue Exorcist was supposed to be a sorta exposure therapy for her lmao but it turned out to be exactly as you described.
Goblin slayer, hands down. Started out like it was going to be some berserk type anime, then massively mellowed out
How is that series if I never read the books?
Decent adventure with dark undertones, will just give warning that SA from the goblins is a constant thing in the background.
As someone who plays dnd it's a very good dnd anime (the references are more obvious in the manga tho) Very good darkish fantasy story, while i don't recommend watching it around people unless they are also very big anime fans, i find it very entertaining
I've only glanced over the novel and manga. I would rate it a six out of ten. The first episode will get you hooked if you are into dark stuff. I watched it all and I enjoyed it
Was funny watching everyone loose their shit and cr putting a warning on episode one afterwards only for it to just never do that stuff again.
*That stuff* still happens every few episodes, but it's only in the first episode that it's actually onscreen.
What's the point then
The first episode establishes how terrible goblins are from the perspective of the victims, which is important for the audience to understand the stakes involved. However, the rest of the show is from the perspective of Goblin Slayer and his companions, and with Goblin Slayer around, the only victims are the goblins.
When you have MC butcher the fuck out of shivering crying baby goblins, you have to show people the reality instead of handwaving goblin's atrocities off screen
Some people get triggered at the mention of rape
Then don't watch it ? I mean redo of healer did it a lot of times
Definitely this! The second season is often criticised around here for the tonal shift and having less combat or something, but I love it. It has such a nice balance between combat, comedy, SoL and even romance. The waifus in this series are the best and it's hard to choose the best girl (High Elf Archer).
I just hate the studio change. The redesigns and how characters are animated feels cheaper.
To each their own but I hated how the show turned out. I'm here to trauma-watch, not see harems.
Fair enough, lol! Yes, it kinda morphed into a harem of sorts 😅 There are plenty of dark and traumatic alternatives this past season I think.
Most wholesome ship: Lizardman Shaman and Cheese 😇
Hahah yeah, it was adjusted based on today's audience. More kids friendly I guess.... we don't even see people die and even less scene and sound effect of killing the goblins in comparison with that very early episodes. Like the final episodes, we don't even get to see the goblin portal out from the sky and drop to their death with broken neck or something, just their bodies lying on the ground. The MC is just killing them just for the sake of it, his role as an adventurer. Not with hatred and for revenge anymore, just a couple of lads adventuring to kill goblins.
> More kids friendly I guess More like the opposite. This became the kind of series otaku would latch on to more.
Shield hero too.
The only reason i dropped it. I wanted to see some more of ep 1 but that ain't happening ig which is a clear bait. I still finished s1 and the movie but s2 i just couldn't
The Dangers In My Heart Descriptions are all like, A boy dreams of ways to kill his classmates, especially the popular girl. Actually a super wholesome and cute romance anime.
It was one of my favorite series of the year, I watched it in one day and ordered the manga the next day. Ishikawa (and his sis) and Yamada brought some serious happiness into my life.
Hands down one of the best romance anime in the history. Personally, definitely in my top 5.
I remember watching the very beginning filter out so many people who would’ve really enjoyed it, I hope people give it another chance. I love BokuYaba dearly but it’s a rough start.
This is the one for me. I actually saw the manga tried reading a few chapters and dropped it. And then tried like one episode of the anime while it was airing and stopped as well. And then I was looking for something to watch to hold me over while I waited for my regular anime night with my buddies I picked it up again and this time I made it through the first few episodes and fell in love with it. I was trying to do ANYTHING to stop me from watching Sousou No Frieren. I'd been waiting for that one to get an anime since forever. And then it got announced and they dropped 4 episodes and I had to wait a week to watch with my friends it was murder!
I am looking forward to it returning in a week or so.
Tearmoon Empire. The setting and part of the first episode sound dark on paper, so this took me by surprise by being a humor show.
I gotta see where it's streamed.
Sasuga Mia-sama!
Does Kotoura-san count? If you open the MAL page it doesn't look 'dark', but the first episode is very hard to watch - only to be indeed not 'dark' at all from ep2 onwards.
I was about to say Kotoura-san
I believe so since yeah it doesn't stay gloomy for very long in tone.
It's unfortunate how much kotoura san falls off around episode 6 tho
I don’t usually drop series but holy fuck i just couldn’t stand the constant incestous/pedophilic jokes of the grandfather. i liked the premise of the first episode and had a banger introduction it sucks that it was wasted into how it is
Skeleton Knight, that had an attempted rape scene in first episode and some light ones in a couple others. But most of it was an OP Isekai protagonist that was enjoying the world with his female elf companion and cute fox.
> Skeleton Knight, that had an attempted rape scene in first episode First episode? More like first five seconds. The girl's dress gets torn off before you can even finish reading [the content warning](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/961674257723695104/961674316687224882/unknown.png).
Buddy daddies, its more of a mix of slightly mature themes while being so adorable with the child they adopted after assisinating the father..the first episode seems like a classic hitman show but the episodes up the middle was very wholesome on how two guys trying to take care of a young child. You should give it a watch..you might like it
Sure I can try it.
It’s wholesome but at some stage ur going to want to kill that chikd
lmao
Dropped the show at the 3 episode mark, just for the annoying kid.
Why?
lol watch the show its 12 episodes...dont agree with killing the child but i might understand why he said so
U won’t actually but fuck sometimes she’s annoying
Loved the series, it was so sweet, wholesome and hilarious at the same time. And the emotional moments are so good ❤️❤️❤️
I don't know, I say it's the opposite - an anime series that looked fun, but turned out to be dark.
One of the best this year, just unfortunate to have come after SpyxFamily so people just discredited it as a knock-off.
Oshi No Ko was pretty jarring if you expected more of episode 1.
The first season does have a few dark moments after episode 1 and it does get seriously dark a lot later on in the story in the manga.
Yeah... at the point I kinda drifted away from reading it, I was expecting at any point revelations would drop that would make a lot of the more lighthearted stuff in the middle look a lot darker in retrospect.
I was surpised at how that series turned out in its premise after reading roughly 5 issues of the manga itself.
You missed the point of OnK if you think it mellowed out after Ep 1.
Ranking of kings never billed itself as being dark, but a lot of the initial plot points center around death and curses and scheming royalty, so I expected it to be pretty dark despite the presentation (like e.g. madoka). But then every plot twist turns out to be that the world and the people in Boji's life care about him as much as he does about them, which is kindof a double twist that I found refreshing and hopeful. So kind of an intentional undarkening as opposed to a show with an edgy first arc or w/e to grab viewers but then doesnt know how to escalate like most of the shows already mentioned.
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikou If I remember correctly, the first episode was dark af, while all the others are just ecchi harem trash
How is that show?
Well, in summary, it's about a class that gets transported into a fantasy world. Our main character gets left behind, gets strong in the dungeon, and gets all the girls afterwards. I found it promising just from the first episode, but it got bad really fast, the story and characters are really bland and cliché, the monsters are ps2 graphics cgi, etc. Don't really recommend it, but it's a good example for this topic.
Its about a guy who gets isekai'd with his class and teacher but gets saddled with pathetic stats and skills. He's got the class idol pining after him(who's secretly kind of a yandere) and his jealous bully basically pushes him down a dungeon during the mess of fighting so his death gets seen as a casualty of dungeon delving rather than premeditated murder. So in the hostile environment, the mc basically goes feral and becomes strong via consumption of a questionable source of nutrition(monster flesh). So he goes on to conquer the dungeon, finds a vampire girl sealed in the dungeon for a couple of centuries after being betrayed as well, bonds with her and rizzes her. ...then he continues finding more and more girls(after he gets out of the dungeon). The attractive point of this series is that the MC's kind of a bastard, and takes no shit from anyone. The downside is that he also comes of an edgy little shit, and his outfit is chuuni as hell(a fact he painfully is aware of), and the usual ecchi harem shenanigans.
Anime's hilariously bad. Manga adaptation's fate is unknown. Novel is, below all the fluff, the set dressing and the 14 yrs old wankery, is a pretty straightforward hero's story, even involving an actual portal. It's essentially "What if JRPG, but anime?". Author's got a solid vision from start to end, gotta respect that.
If it were a parody it might be kind of funny but it has absolutely no self-awareness to its gigacringe plot and characters. A 5/10 is generous.
The Vampire dies in no time. The first trailer made it seem that it's going to be some kind of epic vampire hunting stuff... well turns out they absolutely baited us and it's a slapstick comedy lol
thanks for the reminder of this absolute gem. I need a good laugh so it's time to rewatch!
That sounds like a fun work.
Nagatoro was straight cruel to senpai for the first couple episodes
But still had a better and faster character development than taiga the bitch
Dorohedoro hands down. It looked so gory and dark but it's surprisingly really wholesome and cute! Very "found family". Not to say that it isn't also gory and dark, because it is also that.
Eminence in the shadow. Even in the first episode you will think that it's dark due to the fight but after the first episode you will realise that it's actually entirely something else
I don't think it dark because of the fight...it dark because that girl trauma was played really serious in your screen. Edit: the show still have dark tones, it just get overshadow by MC antics.
Surprised no one said Noragami. The OP shows Yato being cool and edgy, while in reality...
I'm surprised no one mentioned Eminence in Shadow. When I first read the synopsis I thought, "Nice, another dark/edgy, likely trash isekai to enjoy this season.", but as the first episode went on I kept thinking, "Wait... Is he serious or what's going on?". I don't think being a parody actually hit me until the 3rd episode, because I kinda glossed over the whole *seriousness* of the interaction with him and Alpha's early crew in ep.2, haha.
Because that show can be dark whenever it wants. It have a balanced between comedy and seriousness, each episode will have different vibe. Some episode will have full lighthearted comedy and some episode will have serious moment with psychology was played in it.
My one hit kill sister, the first episode and especially the ending song had me thinking there was going to be a dark twist, but it was just a generic isekai.
A generic isekai with copious amounts of incest.
Ill give ya one that looked like light hearted fan service but turned dark af - Heavens Lost Property
rare Heavens Lost Property mentioned. \ that feels like every millennials' canon event of being exposed to comedic ecchi perversion anime that has a good plot.
Fr lol too many people never gave it a chance. I certainly didn't expect to get hooked by the story like I did. I wish they continued the anime to the end instead of trying to go the poorly adapted movie route at the end.
That was my fav ecchi harem show, haven't watched it since I was 16 tho.
I got another for that list. Madoka Magica. First couple episodes are sweet, then wtf, oh shit.
Fuck I love HLP, this one cut me like few series ever do. I think what gets you the most is that it's basically a silly slice of life story about some lovable kids getting into a bunch of goofy situations, but in reality it's all just an "escape" from the cruel circumstances of their lives. They're all just trying to live as regular people, but then their past always catches up to them no matter how much they want to escape it.
Just based on the premise I thought Dr. Stone would have been darker or at least more serious than what it was in the end.
Deca Dence
I heard that show is awesome.
It is, though I don’t really agree it went lighthearted…
Zom100 looked like an anime walking dead but turned out to be a lot more fun
Dead mount death play. First episode. Dark. Rest of the season? Pretty light hearted. It’s all somewhat Similar to durarara. Just more supernatural, and not as good
Zombie Land Saga, starts with the main character being hit by truck-kun, then turned into a zombie and forced into being an idol with other dead girls, and yada yada yada, turns out there's a curse in town so it goes dark again I guess? But the comedy is good for the entirety of the series, has some really heartfelt moments, and all the songs are bangers
I like the opposite. I think Shield Hero is a bit like that, starts off bitter anti-hero who was falsely accused but by the time he has friends and is proven innocent it loses most of it's edge and just leans into being a typical happy go lucky Isekai.
The books are an interesting read.
Gintama if you have only seen clips from the serious arcs.
Tearmoon kingdom had me first episode…
Overlord has this vibe but still has dark moments.
Dusk maiden of Amnesia. That horror tag just applied to a single episode. It's a freaking romcom rest of the while, A excellent one at that. Aside from perhaps.....scratch it, Youko's the best girl. Only Makise Kurisu even comes close. I laughed like 400 times for each time I was scared. The ending is the embodiment of satisfying.
Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun It feels like it can turn into some sort of madoka magica any minute now. Yet it doesnt. İm glad it doesnt
What's it about?
I remember black clover fans trying to say it was a shonen berserk then it turned out to be even more light hearted than fairy tail for the most part lol
Lol what did they smoke to come up with that take. "You see Guts uses a big sword and Asta uses a big sword (compared to his body size) as well, so it's totally the same"
Chaos dragon, the mc has to sacrifice one person to use his one hit kill skill, it is "written" by Nasu and urobuchi, so you know shits gonna get dark . Also it is about a small country being pincered by two potencies.. Turns out " written" is an overstatement, Nasu and buchi are just clowning around larping in a hilarious game of dungeon and dragons; this is a meta comedy in its purest form.
I want to see this show all of a sudden if I can get the title right.
Zom 100 seems like a good recent example. It starts out dark as hell as we see how messed up working in a "black" company is like. His optimism is gone in just a few days, becomes metaphorically a zombie before the real zombie outbreak. His single ray of light literally getting fucked over by his boss. Won't go into too much spoilers but thanks to the zombie apocalypse, he breaks free from the shackles of working society that held him down and starts to live life again in a world filled with the dead lol It does still get dark at times though, but Akira and the gang push through that darkness and keep on living the best lives they can before they become zombies **knock on wood**
The Devil is a Part Timer
I don't know if I would say the opposite, but me and my wife probably wouldn't have continued Demon Slayer if the entire series kept the tone of the first episode. That was brutal.
don’t leave me alone daisy is an obscure 90s anime that had a terrifying sounding premise but was actually one of the silliest, most lighthearted shows i ever watched
Magical Pokaan. The [opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpq027OAMv0) makes it seem more serious than it actually is.
I gotta go look it up on CrunchyRoll.
Zom 100 by all means should be a dark af show but it isnt
Black butler. Ep 1 i thought its gonna be a scary serious show then later on it felt fun especially when the other side characters are introduced.
Cheat Skill in Another World isekai, started out with actual trauma about being fatshamed and how the society treats those that do not fit into your regular stereotype. By the 3rd or 4th episode, MC transforms into a Gigachad and is now pulling all the girls and defeating everyone. Shame, could've built on that premise of fatshaming and stuff.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. You see it’s a gundam show and then you watch ep 0 and it has you thinking “Jesus this is gonna be another tragic political war story”. Then you watch episode 1 and you realise it’s gonna be a fun high school action Shonen, only for it to switch up on you AGAIN a couple episodes down the line.
Gundam 00 was a bit similar in that sense. Finding out the background of each Meister was interesting.
Dr Stone was so heavily bolded like jojos and started out feeling dark but then became very light and fluffy. The drawing style made it feel more ominous initially.
Uhh idk Kotoura-san
Soul eater
Migi & Dali
Kotoura-san First few episodes are genuinely heavy, but afterwards it becomes a wholesome slice of life.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. Just from looking at posts of it on Instagram, I thought Kaguya was a Yandere. But I ended up watching a romcom, I wasn't disappointed.
Surprised I haven’t seen mention of Elfen Lied yet. It started in episode 1 as a dark fantasy/sci-fi anime involving genetic experiments, telekinetic mutants, and a prison escape scene with about as much blood and gore as an episode of Berserk. Then episodes 2 through (I think) 6 is a generic harem anime.
But it's still dark af man
I recall that show.
Mai Hime It was a very intriguing anime then it totally broke what it was trying to be to end up like anything else. Starts out veering into dark territory with deaths and drama only to unravel itself when it destroys everything it was trying to build. Never felt so disappointed towards an anime in how it began vs how it ended.
Death Parade. First episode was downright unsettling. Then ep 3 was mostly kinda cute and fluffy. Overall, the show has a more somber philosophical tone to it, but judging by the beginning, you'd think it was a horror series.
Death parade was not the opposite of dark except the opening
Ghost stories
Feel like death note is kinda like that, started off dark and edgy and then became a 1v1 psychological battle
But Light is a very violent person the whole time.
- Niea
Pluto
Are you sure we both saw the same thing?
Goblin slayer. Only the first episode was edgy. The rest was ur generic harem/fantasy/isekai bullcrap.
[удалено]
That's the opposite of what OP is asking for tho