I’m basically looking for anime where any character can die. Usually, most anime with this trope are horrible. I feel like the only good one is Chainsaw Man. Are there any others?
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Madoka magica, the anime doesn’t hesitate to kill off characters , and each death is important for thr show
Wow, a fellow MadoMagi enjoyer!
I don’t know many others.
Yo what’s up
How are you! Did you like the third movie?
Really? It was a very popular show.
It was, but even the few anime fans around me haven’t seen it.
Stein’s; Gate similarly
By “anyone can die,” do you mean “lots of randoms die,” or “any of the main cast of characters can unexpectedly die before the show ends?”
Anime with a high death count that’s actually good?
I find that such anime usually involves war and politics.
Some that I can recommend are:
Seconding 86. It was pretty average for me, but the last couple episodes of the second season were phenomenal.
Claymore perhaps?
Support for Attack on Titan! (I don’t know the others)
Go watch them. You’re missing out
Here are my favorites, in roughly descending order of preference:
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988 OVA version) - A space opera following two admirals on opposite sides of a galaxy-scale conflict. There’s a remake with more modern animation, but it has inferior music and character design so I prefer the 1988 version.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans - Some street kids try to make it big as mercenaries
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - A young man gets involved with a small gang of cyberpunk mercenaries
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988) for sure! One of my personal top anime of all time.
And it’s not just space battles. It has tons of (fictional) history, strategy, and political philosophy.
Orb: on the movements of the earth.
If you’re looking for a show that doesn’t have plot armor of any kind.
To your eternity.
If you’re looking for a show where the protagonist will outlive everyone they love over and over and over again.
A friend for Frieren you say?
Some of the deaths in Orb just leave you with…well now what? Everyone is dead, how can the plot possibly continue? And then it does… So I think this is exactly what OP is looking for.
You should watch Iron blooded orphans, it’s a standalone Gundam series in its own universe so no homework needed. It has great writing and animation while telling the full story in 2 seasons. For me it’s a watch once anime because I don’t think I could put myself through the trauma again. Also on a similar note if you just want trama porn watch Victory Gundam.
Hellsing and Black Lagoon
Higurashi comes to mind.
Just drop it after season one I’d say
Future Diary, Akame ga Kill (I wasn’t a fan by the end), Made in Abyss, From the New World and let’s say… Angel Beats to make you cry even though it doesn’t fit as well.
Made in Abyss is one of a kind, honestly had to take a break half way through the manga. Great, but… difficult (very connected to the high body count)
Yes. The immortal and disfigured body count. What a movie.
I also recommend From The New World (Shin Sekai Yori).
shiki has a lot of death, it’s my favorite horror anime.
Shows with time loop content, like Re:Zero and Steins;Gate, can rack up quite high body counts (and then nullify them an episode or two down the line—does it count if the characters don’t stay dead?)
Texhnolyze might or might not qualify (high body count, IIRC yes, but maybe too odd to be considered good). Some other older violence-heavy stuff like Black Lagoon, maybe.
Texhnolyze might or might not qualify (high body count, IIRC yes, but maybe too odd to be considered good)
I don’t know why I enjoyed Texhnolyze so much, but its oddity was a part of it. I barely remember it but the moustache guy I remember being a great character.
Gundam handles death really well in my opinion. Specifically the original series, Thunderbolt and Iron-Blooded Orphans.
I kind of felt this way about Goblin Slayer. I think that’s the one, anyway.
Cyberpunk Edgerunners
The deeper question here is what interests you about about having a high body count in an anime?
If it’s about pure numbers, you can’t beat Apocalypse Hotel; every human dies or flees the planet by the end of the first episode. The show itself, however, doesn’t really linger on that. It’s just the setup for how a bunch of robots cope and find usefulness after all the humans are gone. It’s life-affirming.
If you’re interested in general bleakness and existential dread, where anything can happen to anyone at any time, I’d recommend Made in Abyss and Sonny Boy. These are two VERY different series. Made in Abyss falls into the newly coined “guro-moe” genre (purposely-designed chibi characters dealing with gut-wrenchingly painful situations) where the main characters are compelled to face increasingly dire and morally complex scenarios in service of a Sisyphean quest from which they may never return. Sonny Boy starts with a well-worn “floating classroom” trope, but quickly turns into a dense meditation on existential philosophy. Taken in isolation, you’ll find yourself constantly playing catch-up to understand what the hell is going on. If you decide to try this one out, I strongly recommend following up each episode by reading Steve Jones’ episode reviews on Anime News Network, which really help unpack the action and provides context clues to a lot of the philosophical musings the show gets into.
These may not be exactly what you had in mind. Two others that I read about that might be up your alley are Death Parade and Alice in Borderland, but I haven’t watched or read either of them.
