Updated May 12, 2024 by testing

We have all seen anime where the MC has a dark past. And for that, we also know that it could possibly change someone’s life for the worst. Oh? You don’t know what I just meant there? Well! Lemme explain it in a bit more detail.

So, if an MC has a good past, it will change one’s life for the better, but if the MC has a DARK PAST, it can traumatize the MC for life. After all, what many people first look at is the MC’s personality, the MC’s past, etc.

Well! Lucky for you, I have 32+ anime where the MC has a dark past. There is A LOTTTT to cover today, so I think we should probably start!

 

ANIME WHERE THE MC HAS A TRAGIC BACKSTORY (RECOMMENDATIONS)

 

33. Trickster

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
9/20	6/10	5/10	6/10	26/50

There are 2 words that describe the word Trickster in an easy way, the first word is Swindler and the other word is Twist. Well, now that we have described the word Trickster in a simple manner, let’s move on to the anime’s story.

Trickster follows the story of a Detective Club. No matter the case, they will take it on. Regardless if the case is hard and too big or if it’s small and easy, they won’t care, they will still do it. Anyway, one day they made a huge discovery.

They found a boy by the name of Yoshio. Well, you may ask, “What’s so special about this boy??” Well! Turns out that this boy can’t die. It’s not that he doesn’t wanna die, he just won’t die for some reason.

The guy who found Yoshio was a junior member of the club, Kensuke. So, Kensuke digs more into this situation and finds out that Yoshio actually wants to die. He makes a deal with him. If Yoshio helps Kensuke with his cases, then Kensuke will try his hardest to find some kind of way that can potentially kill him. But, it won’t be that easy to find one. Obviously, Yoshio has some kind of dark past that made him immortal! Wanna know about it?

You gotta watch the anime itself to find my friend!

 

32. She, The Ultimate Weapon

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
10/20	5/10	6/10	6/10	27/50

Saishuu Heiki Kanoja follows the story of Chise and Shuuji. They are both in love with each other and live in some kind of military town. One day, Shuuji and his friends went out to buy some gifts for their girlfriends.

They thought that they would just buy gifts and go back, but obviously, this is ANIME and nothing goes according to the plan. A massive raid occurs which results in hundreds of people dying. And due to the raid, one of Shuuji’s friends died.

And as they were running, they saw… Chise. What is she doing there? Well! She has mysteriously transformed into a Cyborg with a huge gun and wings.

 

31. Coppelion

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
11/20	6/10	6/10	5/10	28/50

Coppelion follows the story of Tokyo.

One day, a meltdown involving some sort of Nuclear Power created chaos in Tokyo. And from that day onwards, no one has ever stepped in the city. Wanna know the reason why nobody even dares to visit this place? Because of radiation. They will simply die.

20 years have passed and for some reason, they send 3 girls to Tokyo. And wanna know something else? They were wearing NO armor that will protect themselves from the deadly radiation.

 

30. Unlimited Psychic Squad

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
11/20	6/10	5/10	7/10	29/50

I wanna ask your opinion on… Espers! What do you think of them? If you ask me, I honestly say that they are extremely cool. After all! Espers are supposed to help others using their powers, right?

Well, sometimes that is not the case. Sometimes, Espers get a little, you know, a bit outta hand and start to misuse their power instead of helping others. There is a similar case in this anime, Unlimited Psychic Squad.

Our MC, Kyousuke, was an Esper and was having a normal, peaceful life with nothing in particular going on. But one day, he was betrayed. Betrayal hurts, don’t you think? But, he didn’t let that stop him.

He trained and became one of the STRONGEST Espers out there. He made a group called P.A.N.D.R.A. There main objective is to save those humans that are getting mistreated by evil Espers. All this time, Kyousuke had one question. Why was he even betrayed in the first place? What was the reason?

 

29. Elfen Lied

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
12/20	5/10	6/10	6/10	29/50

Our MC, Lucy, was getting experimented on by the government and due to that, she grew some horns and got telekinetic abilities—which leads us to a conclusion that she also had a dark past. 

Obviously, she can’t handle the experiments forever. So, she decides to escape and while she was escaping, she ran into 2 high school students, who appeared to be cousins. When they saw Lucy, they just couldn’t leave her alone. So, they decided to help her.

But, what they don’t know is that their whole life will change.

 

28. The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
10/20	7/10	6/10	7/10	30/50

Ryner has the ability to analyze any kind of magic with the help of his eyes, the eyes are called Alpha Stigma. One day, a war occured that caused massive destruction and a lot of his fellow classmates died.

He was determined to bring peace to his home. One day, his friend became the king of Roland and asked Ryner if he could find the ancient legendary weapons that could possibly save the whole nation and bring peace.

Obviously, Ryner agreed. After all, he had the same goal too so it was the perfect chance for him.

 

27. Chrono Crusade

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
11/20	6/10	7/10	7/10	31/50

We are currently in the 1900s, and America is getting attacked by these ruthless and strong beings. People call them demons. Yes! Demons are attacking America.

Obviously, they won’t just let the people die. They have to fight back, no matter how strong the demons are, they just can’t give up. So, they made an organization, it was called the Order Of Magdalene.

This group must protect others from these demons. Even if it cost them their very own lives. Well, you may ask “Where is the DARK PAST in this anime?”. 

Well! Chrono and Rosette are normal humans but they have some really dark past that still traumatized them to this very day. It also includes a demon by the name of Aion.

 

26. Akashic Record Of Magic Instructor

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
11/20	8/10	7/10	7/10	31/50

There is a magic school in the nation that goes by the name of Alzano. This school isn’t like other magic schools, this school is different. And there are many, by many I mean MANY kids who wanna attend it.

Rumia and Fibel, two friends got a chance to attend this magic school on behalf of their teacher who soon retired, but was later replaced by someone else that goes by the name of Glenn Radars. 

But, a lot of weird stuff started to happen in the nation when Glenn arrived. Could he be the cause of these events?

 

25. The Fruit Of Grisaia

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	7/10	5/10	7/10	32/50

Yuuzi just wanted to start fresh in Mihama Academy. He wanted to live a peaceful life with no stress and danger. But, it doesn’t last that long since he soon learns the tragic history of the students studying there.

There were only 5 students, who seemed pretty normal but each of them had a VERY tragic past that they just can’t escape from. At first, Yuuzi didn’t notice anything as each of them were laughing and looked normal.

But, he slowly starts to find out that something is DEFINITELY wrong with them.

 

24. Utawarerumono

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
12/20	7/10	6/10	7/10	32/50

Our MC, Eruruu, was having a normal day until she found a strange, mysterious man on the ground who appeared to be injured. Obviously, she can’t just ignore an injured man like that so she carried him home.

When they got home, Eruruu asked her grandmother to give him a name. She decided on the name, Hakuoro. Eruruu thought that this man wouldn’t really bring any trouble to the house so she decided to let him stay.

But soon, the people started a rebellion against some kind of oppressive emperor. After Hakuoro finds out about it, he decides to become a part of the rebellion. And at the same time, he wanted to know about his dark and mysterious past too. He wanted to know the answer to what happened in his past.

 

23. Trigun

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	6/10	7/10	7/10	33/50

Our MC, Vash the Stampede is known to be a merciless villain in his world. Everyone thinks of him as a monster and they are scared of him. Well, obviously a villain such as Vash will have a dark past that turned him that way!

In reality, Vash the Stampede is actually not a monster nor a merciless villain, he is just a regular guy who is on his daily adventures. Soooo, there must be some kind of thing that happened to him in the past that made people believe he is a monster.

 

22. Rainbow

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	7/10	6/10	7/10	33/50

We have all seen those colorful lines that come after the rain, right? We call it a Rainbow. Don’t get confused, this is an ANIME not the actual rainbow!

Anyways, let’s start with this anime’s storyline. Rainbow follows the story of Mario and 5 other teenagers who were captured, put in prison for their crimes, and they were all in the same cell.

They meet a former boxer that goes by the name of Sakuragi. They make a promise that once their sentences are over, they should meet again! But, this sentence wont be so easy as there is a brutal guard who doesn’t care about others, nor does he value human life.

 

21. Black Bullet

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	7/10	7/10	6/10	33/50

Black Bullet’s story is actually set in 2021. And coincidentally, in Black Bullet, there is actually a virus by the name of Gastrea that is affecting people left and right and turning them into scary, and powerful monsters. I don’t know if it is just me, but this does kinda sound familiar? Don’t you think?

Anyways! Moving on, humanity has to fight back. So humanity decided to make Initiators. These so-called Initiators are actually young girls that have supernatural abilities. Without them, the world would be at a worse place than it currently is!

I know you have a question, “where is the dark past in this anime?” 

Well, when Rintaro was young, his mother passed away. I had to say that is a pretty tragic past.

 

20. Stigma Of The Wind

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
14/20	7/10	6/10	7/10	34/50

Our MC, Kazuma, is a user of the wind element, also known as Fuujutsu. He had a dark and sad past. 

First of all, his cousin by the name of Ayano died, and second of all… he was kicked out of the family for some reason. One day, he decides to go back to his family and possibly try to restore his status only to find some of his family members killed.

By who? You may ask? Well! I won’t reveal who really killed them but it was a Fuujutsu user. And no, it was not Kazuma. But, even though he didn’t kill them, people were starting to get a bit suspicious of Kazuma since he is a Fuujutsu user himself. 

 

19. World End: What Do You Do At The End Of The World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	7/10	7/10	7/10	34/50

Who will agree with me? The longer the title, the better the anime! No! I am not saying that this goes for all the anime with long names out there, but this does go for a lot of them! Let’s just take That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, it has a long name but it is one of the best ever Isekai anime out there that you can watch/read.

Anyways, moving back to this anime. We will call it World End for short cuz of the title being too long.

Our MC, Williem, goes on a journey to beat this monster but he had to leave his loved ones behind. He did defeat the monster, but he was frozen in ice for not just 10 years, not 100 years but 500 whole years! Yes! That’s a REALLY long time.

He woke up only to find out that his race had been completely wiped by these Beasts. So, he goes on some kind of Floating Island and starts to team up with other Races. He finds some Leprechauns. These Leprechauns can be used as Deadly Weapons. Is he gunning for revenge? Or does he have other plans?

 

18. Violet Evergarden

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
14/20	7/10	7/10	6/10	34/50

The war that went on for 4 years has finally ended. Due to this war, a young girl that goes by the name Violet Evergarden was caught up in it. A girl raised for one purpose only, it was to wipe out the enemies.

And due to that, she lost a person that she held dear. Slowly, she is recovering from this tragic past of her where she saw nothing but bloodshed everywhere. She is now ready to start a new life in this world!

 

17. Black Butler

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
12/20	8/10	8/10	7/10	35/50

Queens Guard Dog, a nickname that was given to our MC, Ciel, as he takes care of any kind of business, no matter what it is. But, he is not alone. He has someone that goes by the name of Sebastian that helps him.

To others, it would seem like they are just friends but in reality, Sebastian is a demon. Ciel made a contract with Sebastian a long time ago, and making a contract with a demon doesn’t go really well in the end.

Now, he has no choice but to wait for the day his soul will be consumed by Sebastian in return for the revenge he asked for.

 

16. Rurouni Kenshin

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	8/10	7/10	7/10	35/50

Hitokiri is a brutal and merciless assassin who is feared by everyone. He is currently living in the Bakumatsu Era which is about to end soon. As it was about to end, he, for some reason, disappeared. Not for a few months, nor for 1 or 5 years… but for 10 years.

Now, I know you might be asking, “Where did he go?”

Well, he was using another identity. He was tired of killing and wanted to be a nice soul who helps others, rather than killing them. But even after 10 years, he is still feared among people. 

One day, when he was walking by a dojo, he saw someone with the same name as him who is trying to kill the owner. He goes in and saves the owner and the owner then invites him to the dojo. His new life and a new adventure have just begun!

 

15. Deadman Wonderland

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	7/10	8/10	8/10	36/50

We have all gone to amusement parks once in our life, but have you ever visited an amusement park that is inside of a whole PRISON? 

Well, I don’t think a place like that exists in real life, but anything is possible in anime. Deadman Wonderland is an amusement park that was built inside of a prison. The prisoners there must do various stuff to entertain the customers.

Our MC, Ganta, with his friends, decided to visit this prison, they were all really excited. But, this excitement didn’t last very long as Ganta’s friends were killed by someone in red, and worse of all, he was blamed for killing them.

Now, he is sent to prison, not just any prison but Deadman Wonderland. Yes, the same place where Ganta and his friends were excited to visit. Living in this place is almost like living in hell. He must quickly find the guy in red and prove that he is innocent and had nothing to do with this murder.

 

14. Classroom Of The Elite

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
14/20	8/10	7/10	7/10	36/50

This anime is quite well-known.

Our MC, Kiyotaka, joined Koudo Ikusei Senior High School. This school has a system that is based on the merit of the student and then they divide them up into hierarchical classes. Kiyotaka was placed in the lowest class.

He had a hard time trusting others and wasn’t really that communicative towards his classmates. Anyways, he does have a really dark past that I won’t be spoiling since I kinda want you guys to watch the anime to find out for yourself, after all it’s not fun to ruin the whole story lmao!

 

13. Noragami

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
13/20	8/10	8/10	8/10	37/50

This one is my favorite!

Noragami follows the story of Yato, a god who wanted people to worship him. All of Yato’s friends were well-known gods but he wasn’t. It’s kinda sad to see that he is not even recognized by a single human.

Don’t think of Yato as a weak god… once he was one of the most POWERFUL gods to ever exist. He killed and killed and at one point, he was tired of killing and just gave up. Coming to the present, gods need souls to have their weapons.

Yato’s weapon left him and after that, he almost got hit by a car but a girl saved him. However, due to that, the soul of the girl detached from her body. Yato has to find a new weapon in order to bring back the girl’s soul to its original body even though it won’t be so easy.

 

12. Seraph Of The End

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
14/20	8/10	7/10	8/10	37/50

Most of you have probably heard of this anime before, it is one of the most popular vampire anime out there and it is REALLY good! And coincidentally, there is another virus in this anime! At this point, I am starting to get a bit suspicious about the writers.

But for those who don’t know about this anime or never even heard of it, let me explain! 

Around 13 years ago, everything was going great. Humanity was living a peaceful life with no war going on. But, this didn’t last very long as a virus suddenly appeared that killed a lot of humans. It mostly killed humans above 13, and the death toll reached BILLIONS.

Some humans survived because of the vaccine, but then creatures called the Horsemen of the Apocalypse started to kill the rest of the humans that were alive. When VAMPIRES found out about it, they came in and started to rescue a lot of humans.

Not so they can save them, but to drink their blood. 2 friends, Mikaela and Yuuichirou were captured. One day, Mikaela made a plan to escape. So, they got their friends and tried to run away, which resulted in everyone, except Yuuichirou, dying.

Only Yuuichirou was able to escape and Mikaela, who hated vampires, became a vampire himself. Yuuichirou’s father almost killed him and his mother thought of him as a Devil Child. Thus, she took her own life.

 

11. Golden Time

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
14/20	8/10	8/10	7/10	37/50

Golden Time follows the story of a guy named Tada Banri. The story continues as Tada gets admitted into a law school. On the very first day, he meets a guy named Yanagisawa Mitsuo. 

Mitsuo had a childhood friend named Kaga Kouko. Kouko fell in love with Tada and so both started dating. However, Tada had a pretty tragic past. He had lost his memories due to an accident. He even forgot about his first love. I think you know what’s going to happen next, right?

 

10. Darker Than Black

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
15/20	7/10	8/10	8/10	38/50

Here is a dark anime that I am sure you would like to watch!

10 years have passed since the gates between heaven and hell came upon earth. These gates are not normal, any kind of law or physics is denied in this gate. Basically, these gates are spaces beyond human knowledge.

And due to these gates, beings known as Contractors came upon the earth. And no, they are not aliens or monsters, they were just regular humans who decided to abandon their humanity for Supernatural abilities.

 

9. Bungo Stray Dogs

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
15/20	8/10	7/10	8/10	38/50

I just love this anime, and so does my big brother. I never get bored of watching the fight scenes and the episodes on repeat. Enough of that little chit-chat, lemme explain the story of Bungo Stray Dogs.

Bungo Stray Dogs follows the story of Atsushi, who was in an orphanage. He was mentally abused and bullied by the heads and was the most hated kid. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he was kicked out of the orphanage and had to live on the streets.

One day, he saw a man that was flowing down the river. He decides to save him and finds out that this man that he just saved goes by the name Dazai, who is part of the Armed Detective Agency.

Atsushi tells Dazai that he has been seeing a white tiger at night, and the Armed Detective Agency was also after this tiger. So, Dazai took him to a warehouse and waited, only to find out that Atsushi is the tiger. Well, he didn’t transform on purpose, he had no control over it. You see, Atsushi is born in a world where people like him have different abilities. Atsushi has Beast Beneath The Moonlight. The Armed Detective Agency is full of these gifted members.

Dazai then saves Atsushi but now that he knows he is the tiger, he just can’t leave him alone. So, he invites him to the Armed Detective Agency, thus, he becomes a part of it and soon gains control over his powers.

 

8. Gintama

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
15/20	8/10	8/10	8/10	39/50

We might describe this anime as a comedy show. It is really funny, but what many fans don’t notice is how deep and dark the storyline slowly becomes. If you have watched Gintama before and haven’t noticed it, I recommend you rewatch it!

Anyways, Gintama follows the story of Gintoki, who lives in a world where aliens came and caused chaos. And from that day onwards, all kinds of swords were banned from use, thus came the end of the Samurai.

But, that didn’t stop Gintoki from being a Samurai. Even though using a sword was banned, that didn’t bother him. He kept being a Samurai and seemed to be living a happy life with his friends.

“seemed”

 

7. Code Geass

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
15/20	9/10	8/10	8/10	40/50

Code Geass follows the story of a teenager named Lelouch. Sooo, we are talking about characters having a dark past, right?

Lelouch was once a prince of  the Britannian Empire. He was really happy and stuff, until one day… he was kicked out of the throne. What happened next? Well! I don’t want to spoil you. I will just tell you that he and his sister were sent to Japan. And once they got there, they were forced to change their identity and live under a new name.

 

6. Berserk

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
16/20	8/10	9/10	8/10	41/50

This one is a masterpiece!

Our MC, Guts, who was living a terrible life because of his past. What happened in his past? You may ask. Well, something happened in his past that resulted in demons that haunting him till the day he dies.

He couldn’t accept this fate and wanted to leave this stupid fate behind. So, he goes on a journey. He takes up a giant blade and sets out on a journey. In his journey, he meets many new people, like an elf, Puck and a thief that goes by the name Isidro.

 

5. 91 Days

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
16/20	9/10	8/10	8/10	41/50

Losing one of your loved ones is really painful. After all, you might have made so many plans with them only to find that they were killed.

It is the same in 91 Days. This anime follows the story of Angelo Lagusa, a normal boy living in the town of Lawless with his mother and his brother. One day, he finds his mother and his brother killed. “By who?” You may ask. They were killed by the Vanetti family.

From that day onwards, he swore to take revenge. Many years have passed, and during that time, he left his hometown and picked up a new identity that goes by the name of Avilio Bruno. One day, he gets the chance to visit his hometown again.

He goes there and finds Nero, who was the son of the Vanetti Don. 

 

4. Naruto

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
17/20	8/10	9/10	7/10	41/50

My man, if you haven’t heard of Naruto before then I am sorry, but we can’t be friends anymore.Naruto is one of the OG and longest anime out there. Every anime fan knows about it. Not just anime fans but even those who haven’t watched anime yet know about Naruto.

Enough talking about that, let’s just talk about the storyline of Naruto for those who have been living under a rock. Naruto follows the story of Naruto who had a tragic past. His father was the Hokage of the village.

Everything was going great, till the 9-tailed beast showed up at the village. In order to protect the village, Naruto’s father, Minato, sacrificed himself and his wife, and sealed the beast inside Naruto.

He wanted people to respect Naruto, but in reality, he was hated. He was an outcast in the village and everyone thought of him as a monster. Naruto didn’t mind their insults and he decided to become the Hokage of the village!

 

3. Assassination Classroom

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
17/20	9/10	8/10	8/10	42/50

I have a question, what if you were given a choice to kill your teacher one day? Would you do it? Many would reply with, “No wayyyy, I won’t ever kill my teacher. How could you say something like that? How horrible.”

I gave you a choice there, but what if you were ORDERED to do it? Just like Nagisa, who studies in Class 3-E in Kunugigaoka Middle School. One day, an octopus-like creature was introduced to be their teacher. 

They were also ordered to kill him. “Why?” You may ask. Welp, he literally destroyed the whole moon into a crescent and now he threatens to destroy the Earth. Then why would he wanna teach these children? Why doesn’t he just destroy the Earth?

Well, I won’t spoil the reason muahahaha!

 

2. Attack On Titan

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
17/20	9/10	9/10	8/10	43/50

Attack on Titan is where all the hype is these days, every other person is talking about its final season. 

Attack on Titan, short for AOT, follows the story of Eren Yeager, who lives in a world that is filled with man-eating giants known as Titans. They come in many sizes and types. Humanity on Paradis Island was on the brink of death—that until they made a plan.

They made giant walls around, and it became what was left of humanity. Obviously, we need gates to get out and we can’t just make a concrete gate. One day, a Colossal Titan appeared outside the walls and destroyed the main gate letting in the man-eating beasts.

And due to that, Eren lost his mother. What a tragic past.

 

1. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Dark Past	Character Writing	Plot	Animation	Total
18/20	8/10	9/10	9/10	44/50

Fullmetal Alchemist follows the story of Edward and Alphonse. These two were brothers, and they had quite a tragic past. When they were little, their father left them and barely came by. Soon, their mother started to get really sick.

Day by day, their mother’s condition started to get worse and worse, and one day… she passed away leaving these two children alone. That wasn’t all to this tragic past. Alphonse and Edward decided to do a ritual to revive their mother from the dead.

They were little kids too. So, they performed the ritual; and every ritual has a cost—which Edward didn’t know of. The cost was his brother’s whole body and Edward lost two of his limbs. But, Alphonse’s soul was still there, so Edward quickly went over to the armor and trapped Alphonse’s soul.

After all that, they should at least get their mother back, right? Wrong. It was just a big black creature that was summoned, it wasn’t their mom.

 

Conclusion

Hey there! This is the end of the blog! Thank you so much for reading through it, I really appreciate it! I know some of you are probably triggered at me and saying, “Is he telling me that this anime is better than this one?”

If you are saying that, you are completely wrong! It is just my own opinion and every anime mentioned in this list is AMAZING in their own way! Let us know in the comments below which character do you think has the darkest past!