When an octopus-like alien creature known as a Happian from Happy Planet lands on Earth, there is only one thing it wishes to do: spread happiness. It’s an innocent enough premise for those unaware of what happens next in Takopi’s Original Sin. Upon meeting the despondent Shizuka Kuze, the newly named Takopi makes it his mission to make Shizuka happy. Although innocent, naïve Takopi has known nothing but happiness, for Shizuka, the opposite is true. With classmates who incessantly bully her, an absent father, and a mother who may as well be just as absent, Shizuka’s life seems to be filled with nothing but misery. That is, except for Shizuka’s sole source of solace: her dog, Chappy. Seeing the bond that Shizuka and Chappy share only drives Takopi to be evermore determined to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, though Takopi tries his best to make Shizuka smile, his efforts often lead to unintended consequences.
“仕方がない” (“shikata ga nai”) or “しょうがない” (“shou ga nai”) is the Japanese colloquial phrase for “it cannot be helped”, used to convey acceptance of an unjust or tragic situation that cannot be changed or avoided, especially when there are circumstances that are beyond one’s control. It’s a phrase that is essentially the uniquely, deceptively dark central theme of Takopi’s Original Sin that addresses certain grim philosophical topics and subject matter. Though many anime tend to center on more uplifting, hopeful themes such as using the power of friendship to tackle challenges, gaining superpowers to fight villains, or being isekai’d into another world with more fantastical obstacles, like Takopi’s Original Sin, the anime on this list tackle bleaker topics, even ones that are brutally despondent that some may find all too real or even, unfortunately, relatable.
1) Erased
29-year-old detached manga artist Satoru Fujinuma experiences the odd phenomenon he calls “Revival” of being sent back several minutes before an accident occurs, and he takes advantage of the ability to save the lives of those around him. When he’s wrongfully accused of the murder of someone close, this time, he’s sent back 18 years in the past to his childhood in 1988. Suspecting the present-day murder may be connected to a childhood incident, the abduction and murder of his quiet classmate Kayo Hinazuki, Satoru speculates it’s a chance to make things right, uncover the truth, and prevent present-day tragedies.
Like Shizuka, Satoru desperately tries to make things go right in the face of so many obstacles preventing him from doing so, like unobservant adults neglecting the minimized issues of children until it’s too late.
Erased can be streamed on Hulu or Crunchyroll where available.
The Elric brothers, in their endeavor to bring their mother back from the dead, ignored the ban on human transmutation and ended up paying a hefty price. While trespassing the taboo cost Edward an arm and a leg, Alphonse lost his entire body. With their bio-mechanical engineer neighbor and friend Winry able to fit Edward with advanced automail prosthetic limbs, Alphonse had his soul bound to an entire suit of armor in Edward’s attempt to save him. Determined to restore their bodies, they set out to find the Philosopher’s Stone, an item said to allow an alchemist to defy the traditional laws of Equivalent Exchange, and become caught in the middle of a conspiracy along the way.
Fullmetal Alchemist tackles the dark philosophical question of the value of the human soul. As the Elric brothers come face to face with death, conspiracies, and alchemical and moral quandaries and mysteries, they also face the consequences of trying to bend the rules of Equivalent Exchange and the ineffable, infallible properties of the human soul itself.
While Fullmetal Alchemist isn’t widely available on streaming services, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood can be streamed on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
3) Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Recluse Jinta Yadomi spends his time avoiding school and playing video games. But when one hot summer day, his old friend Meiko “Menma” Honma appears, he at first just chalks it up to being a hallucination due to the heat. But as much as he tries to shrug her off, she affirms she’s there to stay, despite having died years ago. Insisting on reminding him of his promise to grant a forgotten wish, Jinta is eventually convinced that she’s really there as a ghost. Although their group of friends had grown apart after Menma’s death, they reunite to try to grant Menma’s wish so she can move on. But granting a wish isn’t as easy as they think; Reliving their pain and guilt, the friends find that they not only struggle to help Menma move on, but themselves.
If you’re looking for a supernatural drama, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, or simply Anohana, is a great bittersweet pick. While Takopi’s Original Sin tackles some of the dark realities of life, Anohana confronts the dark realities of untimely death and the emotional consequences and guilt the living may face with it.
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
4) Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Kokoro Anzai was a student at Yukishina Junior High School until she began avoiding going. Now attending a child development support class, she otherwise self-isolates at home. But when the mirror in her bedroom opens a doorway, she’s transported to a fantastical castle where she meets the self-proclaimed Wolf Queen, a little masked girl, and six other kids. Dubbing them Little Red Riding Hoods, the Wolf Queen gives them the task of finding a key hidden within the castle that will grant one of them a single wish, along with a few stipulations. At first, the seven simply use the castle as a sanctuary and develop friendships amongst each other, but they begin putting the pieces together as to each of their deeply personal reasons for skipping the same school.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror centers on the characters having an escape from each of their own harsh realities they must eventually learn to overcome. With new friends who accept each other for who they are, despite each of their own tragic lives outside the castle, they begin to find the courage to stand up and speak out about their issues.
5) A Silent Voice
Shouya Ishida was a bit of a wild child in elementary school, but unfortunately, he found entertainment in cruel ways. When Shouko Nishimiya transfers to Shouya’s class, Shouya takes to relentlessly bullying the deaf girl along with the rest of the class. But when her mother notifies the school that she suspects her daughter has been bullied, Shouya is singled out, and Shouko transfers, leaving Shouya to become ostracized and the target of his class’s bullying. All the way up to high school, Shouya’s cruel past has haunted him. Filled with guilt and regret, Shouya tries turning a new leaf in honest attempts to redeem himself. Although he’s determined to meet Shouko and make amends, the road to redemption is much more difficult than he could’ve imagined, for both himself and Shouko.
Like in Takopi’s Original Sin, A Silent Voice depicts the tragic consequences that bullying can lead to. Just as the relentless bullying drives Shizuka to the darkest reaches of despair, so too do Shouya and Shouko feel such pain that comes with bullying and guilt and how rough the road to redemption out of such deep despair can be.
6) Wonder Egg Priority
Bullied due to her heterochromia, Ai Ooto, depressed and traumatized after the suicide of her best and only friend Koito Nagas, finds herself living her day-to-day shut-in life in meaninglessness. But when she finds that she’s able to venture into a sort of garden hub world via her dreams, she meets the mysterious mannequin entities known as Acca and Ura Acca, who instruct her about Wonder Eggs, whereupon cracking them, they hatch the monstrosities that are others’ traumas. And Ai, Neiru Aonuma, Rika Kawai, and Momoe Sawaki take it upon themselves to help others confront and overcome that trauma. In taking on these tasks, the four girls become close friends, each having their own personal traumas to work through and reasons to help others.
Wonder Egg Priority covered heavy topics with bright, colorful, beautiful animation. While the ending to the series was, unfortunately, frankly a dumpster fire with a lackluster conclusion, the majority of the series still centered on a hauntingly beautiful story with thought-provoking themes.
Wonder Egg Priority can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
7) Colorful
As a soul arrives at a station in the afterlife, they’re greeted by a character who calls himself Purapura, who informs the soul that, since they’d been a “sinful dead soul of someone who’d made a terrible mistake”, they’ve won a second chance at life, a reformation. Reincarnated into the body of a 14-year-old boy, Makoto Kobayashi, after he’d committed suicide, the soul is tasked to identify the boy’s greatest sin in life within six months. Although the soul isn’t too disposed to living as Makoto, he begins finding that there’s more to life as he acknowledges how complex the lives and emotions of the people around him really are.
Colorful is a film that delves into the deconstruction of fractured families and suicide, showcasing the complexities and intricacies of human connection, emotions, and draining daily struggles. Even so, Makoto must come to terms with his connections with others and learn how to move forward with his own life.
8) Violet Evergarden
As the Great War finally came to an end after four years of conflict, Violet Evergarden, who’d been raised solely as a weapon for the army, was left maimed and with no understanding of the last words from the person she held dearest. Hospitalized, arms replaced with metallic prosthetics, and without further purpose in life, upon failing to get on with her new intended guardian family, Violet begins working at CH Postal Services in order to try to find a new objective. After witnessing an Auto Memory Doll at work, amanuenses that transcribe people’s sentiments and emotions into letters, Violet becomes impassioned to work as an Auto Memory Doll herself, desiring to not only understand her clients’ complex emotions, but her own and the words of her late loved one.
Whether fatiguing daily struggles or a critical life-altering tragedy, both Shizuka and Violet eventually must come to terms with their own feelings and learn how to express them through words. Like Takopi said, “Happiness is born through talking-pi.”
Violet Evergarden can be streamed on Netflix.
9) Link Click
Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang run the Time Photo Studio under their landlady and close friend Qiao Ling. Under the guise of a photo studio, their trade instead involves the client providing the photo. With it, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang are able to travel back in time. While Lu Guang provides guidance with his ability to see 12 hours into the photo’s future, Cheng Xiaoshi leaps back to the moment the photo was taken, assuming the identity of the photographer along with all of their memories and emotions. The two must then work together in order to solve the client’s request and relieve them of their past regret. But witnessing increasingly tragic events progressively takes a toll on Cheng Xiaoshi and eventually garners unwanted attention.
The use of photographs in Link Click isn’t just a visual symbol, but an allegory that pervades the entirety of the narrative, giving truly vibrant snapshots of the human experience and exposure to the characters’ deep emotions and poignant memories.
Link Click can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
10) Steins;Gate
Alongside his supportive childhood friend Mayuri Shiina and otaku hacker roommate Itaru Hashida, mad scientist Rintarou Okabe of the Future Gadget Laboratory endeavors to create scientific and technological innovations. Despite his overwhelming enthusiasm, Okabe and his team have only managed to create a microwave that seemingly only has the odd ability to transform bananas into green goo. At first, when he discovers that the microwave can be used for time travel itself, it seems like a groundbreaking scientific innovation. Unfortunately, as things spiral out of control and the discovery garners unwanted attention, Okabe soon learns that time travel isn’t just a toy, but leads to dire, traumatizing consequences for both his loved ones and his own sanity. Realizing all too late the damage that’s been done, Okabe is determined to move time itself to set things right.
Time travel may seem like an exciting prospect to have, but, as both Takopi and Okabe realize, it soon becomes clear through cycles of psychological and emotional torment that not everything can be solved with such technology.
Steins;Gate can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
What’s your favorite heart-wrenching, dark anime that reminds you of Takopi’s Original Sin? Let us know in the comments what series you’d recommend!
