Sometimes you like to watch cozy dramas, romances, or slice-of-life anime series, but that time is not now. Here, we talk about anime that dwells on darkness, brutality, and chaos. You might like the plot and twists. Traumatic animes breed horror, pain, story, and emotions. You end up watching them and getting amazed and shocked by the story. Here are some Trauma inducing Animes worth your time.
1. Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan does not need any introduction. This anime gives a taste of everything. AOT is a lengthy Anime with the most anticipated scenes. In the first season's episode, Eren's mother gets eaten alive by a titan. He swears to end the titans until he becomes one. Many traumatic episodes and new things get revealed with every season. Every Anime fan would agree that Attack on Titan is built differently and is a must-watch for the plot.
2. Higurashi- When They Cry
A transfer student, Keiichi Maebara, moved from Tokyo to the small town of Hinamizawa in 1983. Since it's a small town with only one classroom, students of all ages get lumped there. He became friends with four girls. During the town's festival, he learns about disappearances and mysterious murders surrounding the festival. His friends are mysteriously tight-lipped when asked about the past. Higurashi is a bit complicated in the way it tells the story. It is essentially retelling events before resetting and telling the story differently. It creates a blend of happy friendship with moments of vicious violence.
3. Tokyo Ghoul
The citizens of Tokyo live in fear of vicious humans who feast on their flesh, called Ghouls. One day, a shy college student, Kaneki Ken, meets a girl, Rize, who is also an avid reader. On their first date, he finds out that Rize is a Ghoul. Just when she is about to eat Kaneki, he gets saved by luck. After he survives a near-death experience, he finds that he has become a ghoul. Tokyo Ghoul became popular because of its shounen-style action with shounen darkness and trauma-surviving characters.
4. Another
Class-3-3 at Yomiyama North Middle School has had a strange jinxed tradition where everyone pretends one of their students does not exist. A transfer student, Kouichi Sakakubara, gets drawn toward a girl no one notices. He would die if he did not listen to his classmates' warnings. 'Another' builds mystery from its very first episode. You would watch a lot of characters die in their creative ways.
5. Akame ga Kill
Tatsumi, a boy from a rural village, comes to the city to join the military and help finance his hometown. However, he gets rejected and joins Night Raid, a group of assassins leading a revolution to overthrow the government. He must fight a brutal and bloody shadow war. When 'Akame ga Kill' was fresh and new, people called it a series where no one was safe or 'any character might die.'
6. Corpse Party
On the night of the school festival, eight students and a teacher gather to say the last goodbye to a student who is moving to another school. They decide to make a ritual for staying forever while telling stories. However, they did not realize that their school got built atop an elementary school where a series of murders took place. After the spell, the group gets transported to another dimension, where they get trapped inside an old school building with only corpses and ghosts.
7. Devilman Crybaby
Akira, who always appears weak and blends into the background, helps his friend uncover devils. They head to Sabbath, where many people gather for debauchery and get possessed by devils. One devil begins to wreak havoc with its new host, so Akira agrees to merge bodies with a devil to save his friend. Even though he turns into a devil, Akira still has a heart of a crybaby. Devilman Crybaby has always looked like a 'superhero' type anime series, but the iteration says otherwise.
8. Re: Zero
Re: Zero- Starting Life in Another World- is probably the most traumatic Anime series. Natsuki Subaru gets transported to another world and forced to live with new rules and society. This world is different and disturbing things happen. After meeting a girl he falls for, Emilia, he gets killed. But later comes back to life and realizes he can 'return from death' to a certain point. Every death is more painful than the last, and he cannot even try suicide since he would come back anyway. He can't escape this world and pain, which leads him to his character development. Subaru feels like a real character, and this anime portrays it well.
9. School-Live
School-Live is a well-written story about a series that seems like a cute girls' school life anime, but the main character's life is delusional while they are in the zombie apocalypse. Yuki Takeya loves her school life so much that she joins the 'School Living Club' with three girls, a teacher, and a club dog Taroumaru. This club tries to make the most of their school life. In reality, Yuki's delusion of blissful school life is all a lie since these girls are stuck at school surviving a zombie apocalypse.
10. Elfen Lied
Elfen Lied is a classic and famous horror anime- released in the 2000s. Lucy becomes a Diclonius, a creation similar to humans but with vectors. She escapes from prison and murders everyone who comes her way. She is getting hunted by the government and the people who created her. This series gets filled with violence, hypocrisy, and upsetting scenes.
