"With a nod to the OFM... Most Depressing Anime Series?" Topic

Easy enough for me…the Anti-War…"Here and There, Now and Then".

An absolutely brilliant short series (13 eps) but it was so depressing that even though I put it aside to watch on my "big(ger) screen" after watching it at night on my bedroom TV…I just couldn't watch it…far too brutal and depressing…even though Miyazaki was involved in the effort!

Cowboy Bebop for me.

One piece with some of the most bizarre characters I have seen in Anime series.It was way too long but had it's moments with humour and a few original ideas.

Robotech

For a serie aimed at children that was awfully brutal and sad.

I agree with "Here and There, Now and Then", though. Absolutely brilliant but so depressing. One of my favourite anime of all-time.

Good choice, Andrew.

My favorite bleak series is Wolf's Rain.

Gunsmith Cats, but then again I don't watch a lot of anime.

Wolf's Rain was pretty depressing at the end. Like crawling over broken glass depressing

Round Vernian Vifam, a.k.a. "Throw Yourself Under a Passing Train Vifam". I'm 2/3's of the way through and we've lost the entire colony (first episode) and all the adults that made it on to the evacuation ship. Only a couple dozen kids left. It's a Sunrise series, so I'm guessing it could go all the way like Panzer World Galient.

Not a series, but Grave of the Fireflies :{

I've never seen any anime at all that's depressing.

I love Cowboy Bebop, my all time favorite series hands down. At times it has some very sad and depressing elements- the end isn't happy that's for sure. But it seems right. That series portrays LIFE.

As for depressing, the Gundam "War in the Pocket" six episode series explores the futility and senselessness of war. Its not very action oriented compared to the rest of the franchise. You don't need to know anything about the Gundam series to enjoy it. Depressing but in a good way.

I'm going to have to look into these titles you guys mentioned, I haven't seen most of them.

Elfen Lied. Its filled with cruelty, violence against women and they even have a scene where a puppy is beaten to death.
Doesnt get any better than that!

I didn't find Wolf Rain to have a depressing end; to be sure it wasn't neccessarily a happy end, but the implication is that the earth is reborn thanks to their efforts, and they achieve a sort of "immortality" by making sure it happens.

I definitely agree about Grave of Fireflys..

Damon.

Elfen Lied had this stuff for shock value, it was so over the top. I never watched that and had an emotional response resembling sadness. It was like Gantz to me. They could have been great if they had spent the time to develop the story and characters, instead of getting caught up in focusing on hyperviolence and shock. Now and Then, Here and There manages to be more shocking without showing graphic details and draws you in emotionally.
Robotech was brutal and sad. The dialogue for the show is geared towards younger teens, but the subject matter is pretty mature.

Hey, Garand. That's one interpretation I hadn't considered. I viewed it as a rebirth for another try. Almost as though Paradise is unattainable, and it was one chapter of the perpetual cycle of destruction and rebirth of the Earth.

I gave up on Gantz after about 5 episodes. It was just too negative for me.

I'm surprised no one mentions Evangelion. I guess it's not too common to have seen the movie done later to actually explain the end of the series.

That was a depressing (and stupid) end to a good series.

I remember as a kid getting to the end of Robotech (the first series) and having a feeling of … just wow. I think it was the first time I felt moved by a TV show. I must have been about 10 or 11.

I'll agree with others on Elfen Lied. I almost didn't make it through that one. It rides the cusp of being not over the top enough for black humor, but horrifyingly shocking enough to make you squirm.

Graves of the Fireflies for a single show. My wife has actually done several academic pieces on this one, so I know a lot about the original book and the real story that led the author to write the book. If you want to be really depressed, see the anime and then think about the fact that it was autobiographical with the author being the older brother, but in reality he lived and the little girl died due to his selfishness. The book was sort of an apology for his actions . . . very depressing all the way around.

I would also suggest the Gundam series "War in the Pocket 0080". The ending is priceless.

Jeff

Good lord, Jeff, you are right. I didn't think Grave of the Fireflies could seem any more depressing. Learning about it's autobiographical nature and the author's role in his sister's death…yikes.

For a series, I would have to go with Evagelion as well.

Grave of the Fireflies for me

Luckily for me, I don't read anime…

Luckily for us you don't watch Mozart either!

All…I'm a relative newbie to Anime and there is a lot I DON'T like…the first show I ever watched and (pretty much) liked was Space Battleship Yamato (starblazers), but it all truth the series that really got me into realizing how good it could be was "Last Exile"…even though I'm a "Ghoster" these days…I still love "LE".

Thanks for recommending some other shows I've never heard or read about before!

I was reading about a manga/anime where this man lulls children into "playing a game" where they have to save their dimension in a giant mecha. No matter what happened, every batch of children always seemed to be doomed.

I can't remember the name, but it sounds far more depressing than Evangelion.

Grave of the Fireflies and Evangelion already mentioned,
Ill nominate Serial Experiments Lain.
Seriously alienating, very depressing.
Worth the time, however.

Ah, I was glad somebody mentioned Lain! It is pretty depressing and surreal but it really drew me in.

As far as movies, Sky Crawlers was a downer and I was disappointed in it over all.

I was reading about a manga/anime where this man lulls children into "playing a game" where they have to save their dimension in a giant mecha. No matter what happened, every batch of children always seemed to be doomed.

I can't remember the name, but it sounds far more depressing than Evangelion.

I remember reading a short story (I think by Harlan Ellison) similar to this. Children with psi-powers were recruited by the military to fight an alien menace located through a dimensional rift, but in reality…

As for Sky Crawlers, it made me too sleepy to be depressed.

I was reading about a manga/anime where this man lulls children into "playing a game" where they have to save their dimension in a giant mecha. No matter what happened, every batch of children always seemed to be doomed.

I can't remember the name, but it sounds far more depressing than Evangelion.

Sound like Bokurano en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokurano, a very good and thoroughly depressing series.

I certainly agree with you on Now and then, Here and there, but I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Saikano yet, a story about a high school kid in japan during world war 3 who watches his friends and family get killed in air raids, go off to war and his girlfriend becoming less and less human and more and more weapon. that series is very high on my list of slity wrists anime.

Blue Gender! It was about giant insects or monsters taking over the earth and people lived in orbital space stations. Now that series was very hopeless and filled with depressing stuff.