Well, that took a turn! Join Ashley as we look over the seemingly innocent anime that suddenly became sinister
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the anime that start innocent
00:13enough only to get grim fast.
00:25Pop culture has taught us that anyone asking this question is up to no good.
00:30Unfortunately, when a group of kids are asked this by a strange old guy in a cave, they
00:36don't run away immediately.
00:39Instead, they're tasked with piloting a giant mech to save the world.
00:50And sure, that's par for the course with mecha anime.
00:54But then, after the first kid pilots it, he dies after falling off the mech.
00:59Coincidence?
01:00Except, when the next kid pilots it, he dies too.
01:12Turns out the mecha runs on life force, and to save the world, these kids must literally
01:18sacrifice their lives.
01:20Where's a before-you-buy review when you need one?
01:30ReZero – Starting Life in Another World
01:33Isekai anime can frequently have dark twists, but few of them get quite so dark this quickly.
01:48Subaru is enjoying his first day in a new world, meeting the local people, making friends
01:53with a cute girl.
01:54But then, he and the girl are murdered.
01:57Afterwards, Subaru returns to Illya in the day.
02:06His ability to return by death is quite useful, but psychologically traumatic, as he remembers
02:12everything.
02:13But those he cares about remember nothing of the horrors he alone endures.
02:27Watching Subaru's sanity erode makes for tough viewing, but ReZero is still highly
02:32regarded for its unique approach to storytelling.
02:37In this anime's world, aliens regularly attack elementary schools, with it being so
02:51commonplace that a student committee is tasked with cleaning up.
03:04And rather than get adults to take care of the disgusting and terrifying creatures from
03:09outer space, they instead opted for traumatising young kids.
03:13But hey, this happens all the time in anime.
03:24Armed with rollerblades and symbiotic aliens of their own, the girls of the 9th elementary
03:30school have to contend with all the anxieties of puberty, plus some body horror.
03:35Though the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
03:42Tokiuki is the heir of the Hojo clan, who effectively rule the shogunate.
03:54Cheerful and carefree, Tokiuki is known for evading his lessons with near-superhuman ability.
04:01His happy life abruptly comes to an end when some of the clan's strongest retainers betray
04:06them, slaughtering nearly everyone.
04:10However, it turns out that Tokiuki's evasiveness is not only what helps him survive the massacre,
04:25it may be the key to achieving his revenge.
04:28The young lord's superhuman ability to dodge and run away comes in handy in battle, and
04:33for recruiting allies whose skills will help him take back Japan.
04:46It may begin in tragedy, but Elusive Samurai has a unique approach to conflict, and some
04:52gorgeous animation to boot.
04:56You can't throw a rock in the anime community without hitting a, cute girls doing cute things
05:01at school anime, and School Live seems like the rest of them, at first.
05:12The school living club is led by the cheerful Yuki, in doing activities around school.
05:18Except, the end of the first episode reveals that none of it is real.
05:22It's all in Yuki's head.
05:33During a zombie apocalypse, Yuki suffered a mental breakdown, and her delusions of regular
05:38school life are her way of coping.
05:41The contrast between Yuki's perceptions and the grim reality makes for some occasional
05:46tonal whiplash, but also some heartbreaking moments.
06:00When it comes to the top 10 weakest monsters, goblins tend to rank pretty high on that list.
06:06So, when some rookie adventurers are slaughtered, captured, and worse, by some goblins in a
06:12group, it's pretty shocking, both for them, and the audience.
06:23Enter Goblin Slayer, the unnamed adventurer who specialises in killing the nasty little
06:29green menaces.
06:37While the initial incident proved controversial online with how graphic it is, Goblin Slayer
06:42isn't always doom and gloom, with the solitary adventurer gradually opening up as he encounters
06:49new friends and allies in his quest to eradicate goblins for good.
07:07Once the poster child for this type of anime, Madoka Magica hoodwinked initial viewers with
07:12its cute art style and character designs.
07:15It's just another magical girl anime, we all said.
07:30Same old, same old.
07:32Then Mami, one of the magical girls, gets straight up killed early on, and we quickly
07:37learned that this isn't your average magical girl anime.
07:48All the usual tropey things about Madoka Magica, from wishes to soul gems, have a dark drawback
07:54to them.
07:55Instead of hand-waving away the objectively horrific implications of forcing girls with
08:00magical powers to fight evil, this show instead faced them head-on in a way that had rarely
08:06been seen before.
08:19A group of orphaned children are raised in seclusion in a walled orphanage.
08:23They're all happy and enjoy life, hoping for adoption.
08:27This can only end well, right?
08:29Well, as it happens, no.
08:42A few of the orphans discover the truth by following after one of the recent adoptees.
08:47They're actually being raised like cattle for demons to eat.
08:51The smartest among them set about discovering a way to escape before they meet the same
08:56fate.
09:04And while demons may be a lurking threat, the kids' caretakers are surprisingly terrifying.
09:10The promised Neverland is The Great Escape meets anime.
09:14And we'll do you a favour, once you finish season one, just go read the manga instead.
09:32This anime really wastes no time in showing that grim things are afoot.
09:37The opening shot between a protagonist using a bat to kill his peers does that really effectively.
09:54Despite the adorable characters and small-town school-life premise, paranoia and murder lurks
10:00around every corner in this anime franchise.
10:13Over the course of several time loops, the mystery of why these murders occur is gradually
10:18revealed, and the existential horror of being trapped in this kind of nightmare is explored
10:23across the various series.
10:25What is it about anime and time loops that leads to such morbid stuff?
10:55Oh, the animation is so beautiful.
10:59Sure, this girl and her robot friend going into the abyss is dangerous, but it's not
11:04like anything bad will happen to them and their friends, right?
11:14Wrong.
11:17It's absolute nightmare fuel.
11:26It may be pretty to look at, but this anime is as dark as they come.
11:31Riko and Reg's journey in the dark depths sees them encounter horror after horror, and
11:36the story doesn't shy away from hurting them, or other children, in incredibly messed-up
11:42ways.
11:49Much like the proverbial abyss, if you stare into Maiden Abyss, it will stare back into
11:55you.
12:06Is there an anime that went from zero to traumatic in no time flat?
12:10Don't leave us in the dark, and share your picks in the comments below.