Dark fantasy is a sub-genre that takes traditional fantasy and ups the stakes. It can have a quiet contemplative or morose tone, or it can be full-on ultra violence and filled with cruel tyrants. Dark fantasy tends to revolve around creatures like vampires, demons, and fallen angels. The magic is often eldritch and horrific with creatures that could be described as "nightmare fuel."
There are rarely happy endings in dark fantasy anime, but that's part of the appeal. It dives into the lows of the human spirit and leans into edgier folkloric tropes. Dark fantasy often asks the audience difficult, philosophical questions about humanity and good versus evil.
10 Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D takes the concept of vampires and Dracula, and turns up the volume. It combines fantasy horror with post-apocalyptic sci-fi. Though the landscapes are austere and dangerous, they're still designed with beauty and elegance – like behemoth sand mantas that stir the desert like an arid, storm-tossed sea.
No dark fantasy vampire anime would be complete without gothic castles with spindly turrets that pierce the blood-soaked moon. D is a very likable do-gooder who tries to make the world a better place, but he's plagued by a lonely existence and has a beautiful yet morose countenance. The vampires in this world are often more cruel than romantic.
9 Drifters
Drifters takes the idea of the chosen one and twists the character type into something conflicted and bleak. All the main cast is inspired by figures from folklore and history, like the Duchess Anastasia of Russia. Even figures inspired by categorically noble historical figures like Joan of Arc are twisted and violent, plagued with evil urges.
There are many traditionally common high fantasy creatures in Drifters, like giants and dragons. They are not kindly, cute, or mystical, though. They are horrific beings who cause a lot of strife. Though a group of people who wat to see a better world assemble, the outlook looks bleak.
8 Claymore
Claymore takes the knight in shining armor trope and complicates it with demon-blessed powers. They are tasked with battling haunting, carnivorous yoma. The Claymore knights actually share a lot with the creatures they fight in terms of where their powers come from. These are not knights ruled by chivalry and paladin-like virtues – they battle with inner turmoil.
Dark fantasies tend to end without a happily ever after. Their finales sometimes ring hollow, but it's on purpose. Claymore is often criticized for its ambiguous ending, but it fits the dark fantasy genre very well.
7 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer starts out extremely wholesome in the opening scenes. Tanjiro is a wonderful son and brother who takes care of his family with a cheerful, generous presence. His family is large, and they must work hard, but their little house and village is an idyllic setting.
Then everything turns to ashes when a demon attacks his home and take nearly everything that he loves. The only person spared is his sister who is infected by the vampiric demon. Demon Slayer has incredibly wholesome and lovable characters who retain their goodness despite all odds, but they are up against some truly grisly creatures and the death toll is high.
6 Blood+
Blood+ is a romantic dark fantasy series, but it doesn't shy away from the brutal nature of vampires and the exhaustion of immortality. Chiropterans are true nightmare fuel creatures. The anime series is inspired by the 2000 horror OVA Blood: The Last Vampire.
Though Blood+ takes place in a kind of (relatively) modern day, the saga spans centuries. As is the case with many dark fantasy series, it takes its time setting the stage, but when calamity strikes, it's with a ruthless force. The original OVA which sets the tone for the series is made by the team behind Ghost in the Shell, a quintessential dark sci-fi classic.
5 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure starts out as a pastoral historical with some tragic elements. Jonathan Joestar is the heir to the well-to-do Joestar family, and he has the personality of a wholesome everyman; he's easily loved by the audience. Everything shatters into a million little pieces for Jonathan when his rival Dio Brando finds a way to make himself all-powerful.
Dio's descent into darkness unlocks a plethora of horrific creatures and warfare. The once-pastoral world couched in relative realism descends rapidly into the supernatural. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has everything in it from bloodthirsty godlike vampires to resurrected zombie knights to dungeon-crawling demons.
4 Attack On Titan
There are no happy endings in Attack On Titan, but there is a lot of admirable heroism despite all odds. Watching the warrior characters struggle against an all-consuming evil that's larger than life is bleak. It's the extensive world and complex characters that hook the audience in.
The series is like Fransisco Goya's Black Paintings come to wretched life. Attack On Titan is one of the highest-rated anime because of its sweeping aesthetics, strange magic, and compelling characters. And like any great gothic, Attack On Titan has many extensive mysteries to unravel.
3 Castlevania
When Dracula loses the love of his life to senseless violence and persecution in Castlevania, he becomes the enemy of humanity. Not only is the violence and warfare horrific, the central antagonist is a truly tragic figure. Castlevania uses demonology to juxtapose the image of virtue the Church can use to cloak evil deeds.
From Night Creatures to elemental magic to morose vampire heroes, Castlevania has something for every dark fantasy fan. The characters have encapsulated arcs, but the story has the feeling of an epic. And though the world is rife with violence and tragedy, there is still room for humor and small pockets of idyllic romance.
2 The Girl From The Other Side
The Girl from the Other Side is a surrealist dark fairy tale with grisly horror elements. Teacher is a demonic humanoid creature with an avian-like head and the nature of a fatherly gentleman. The austere yet beautiful landscape and Teacher's hope to save an innocent has the same pathos that the expressionist painter Vincent van Gogh often conveyed.
The little girl Shiva acts as a stand-in for the audience and their inner child. Teacher tries so hard to protect her from the demons that could easily kill or infect her. And though the series is incredibly sad, with the tragedy comes a kind of peace and catharsis.
1 Berserk
Berserk is a study in pain, but it's a classic for a reason. Guts starts out as a young man with nothing to lose. All his young life, he's only known pain and abuse, but he's found a place for himself, in his eyes, as a warrior.
When Guts joins Griffith and the Band of the Hawk, he finds he does, in fact, have more to lose. Berserk is such a tragic show, but it's also filled with beautiful imagery, thoughtful storytelling, and a gorgeous ethereal soundtrack. It takes many popular fantasy tropes and inverts them into something malefic.