While most of thebest love storiesfeature happy couples and fairy-tale-like narratives, there are also quite a few heartbreakinglydark romance anime. Some of these romances are downright scary and deal with adult themes about sexuality, mental health, and loss. Even some of the feel-good romantic anime have surprisingly dark moments as well as dangerous and scary characters.
While these shows are not as upbeat or funny asromcom anime parodies, they do provide a more meaningful experience and tell important stories about the darker sides of love and lust. Thanks to these hauntingly brilliant anime shows, anime lovers could meet some of the most terrifying characters while going on highly emotional and heart-rending adventures with them.
Only anime that emphasize romance to an extent will be included. For example,Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Asuka and Shinji have an awful relationship, but the show cannot be described as romantic.
Updated on July 22, 2025, by Mark Sammut:The Spring 2025 season is just about to start, but the lineup does not seem to include anydark romance anime. Still, that could prove to be false when episodes start to drop. In the meantime, two more shows have been added, including a shockingly disturbing romance that aired during the Winter 2025 season. Click below to jump to these new shows.
Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Iiserves as a clear example of an anime built on a relationship unquestionably meant to raise red flags. The granddaughter of a mob boss, Yoshino is forced to become the fiancé of another heir to a powerful family, Kirishima. She wants nothing to do with this violent thug, but she has to stay a year with him.
Initially, Kirishima finds Yoshino boring, but that changes after she challenges him directly; after that point, he becomes pretty much obsessed with his reluctant fiancé. Despite fairly frequent gestures from Kirishima, there is nothing especially romantic about this relationship, except for maybe the fact that they are often dragged into high-stakes situations due to their connection to the Yakuza.
Kuro is a young swordsman who’s on the run from his older brother who wants him dead. When he and his servant, Benkei, seek shelter in a forest, they meet the mysterious Kuromitsu. She offers them shelter but warns them not to go into her room. When Kuro does, he discovers that Kuromitsu is a vampire who’s been feasting on the dead soldiers. Kuro dedicates his life to her and turns himinto a vampire, but Benkei betrays and beheads him before the transformation is complete. Awakening in modern-day Japan, Kuro sets out to find Kuromitsu and get revenge.
A dark and twisted vampire love story full of betrayal and blood. There is no shortage of action and violence, as well as complex characters. It’s far from a typical vampire romance and there’s even a bit of sci-fi that makes it visually appealing.
Domestic Girlfriendis kind of a weird one to describe as adark romance anime, mainly due to the show’s soap opera-style writing and tone. This series is “trash” in the best possible way, revolving around a peculiar love triangle that does not bring out the best in any of the characters involved. Basically, Natsuo has a thing for his teacher, Hina, and he also sleeps with a girl his age named Rui. One day, he learns that his father is remarrying and that he is gaining two step-sisters, who happen to be Rui and Hina. Thus, starts a pretty awkward dynamic that involves a lot of fighting, flirting, and physicality.
While a bit too silly to be 100% dark,Domestic Girlfriendgenerally explores toxic relationships quite well, making for an awkward but enticing watch. The anime is certainly not for everyone, and the manga is somewhat better despite also being controversial; however, anyone craving a mess should check both of them out.
Compared to some of the more overtlydark romance anime,A Condition Called Loveis relatively tame and grounded. That said, the latter characteristic arguably makes this series more uncomfortable than anime with fantastical or outlandish elements. Even though it is somewhat romanticized, Saki and Hotaru’s relationship is realistic and probably quite common. Despite being popular and attractive, Saki cannot seem to keep a girlfriend, even though he tends to fall in love quickly and intensely. One day, he becomes enamored with Hotaru, and they start a relationship that seems perfect at first.
However, as they spend more time together, Saki’s possessive behavior starts to become apparent. He shows no interest in anybody besides Hotaru, and he bombs her with affection, to the point of exhaustion. He exhibits disdain at somebody else spending time with her, and he is effectively a stalker.
Now, to be fair,A Condition Called Lovedoes acknowledge that this behavior is inappropriate, so it is not depicted as a positive thing. However, the anime only adapts about 1/3rd of the manga, which is not enough time to fully dive into Saki’s behavior. Consequently, their relationship can come across as idealized.
Naho Takamiya is just starting her sophomore year in high school, but it’s off to a rough start. She receives a mysterious letter one day and finds out it’s from herself in the future. Her future self tells her of her regrets revolving around the new transfer student, Kakeru Naruse. However, Naho must decide between saving Kakeru from a devastating event or losing her future family with their friend Hiroto Suwa if she saves him.
Orangemight seem like a typical time-traveling slice-of-life romance, but there are some pretty dark undertones to it. Naho and Hiroto are forced to make decisions that not only affect their futures but also the future of their best friend. It’s a pretty heavy thing to have on their minds at such a young age, especially knowing that their future selves have a child together.
There areplenty of romance trianglesin the anime world, butSchool Dayshas one of the deadliest ones out there. Makoto did date a lot of girls under the notion that he was just “gaining experience” for his one true love, Kotonoha. However, he left a trail of broken hearts and one of them just happened to be his classmate, Sekai. She became obsessed with him and tried everything to get Makoto to be with only her, but he didn’t want to since he was dating Kotonoha.
Unfortunately for Makoto, his decision to break things off with her results in her killing him in a gruesome fashion. After learning this, Kotonoha snapped and killed Sekai to avenge Makoto.
Sato comes off as being super friendly and sweet, butshe’s hiding a very dark secretthat she’s willing to kill for. After befriending and falling in love with Shio, a missing eight-year-old girl, Sato is more than fine with killing anybody, even her friends and family, to keep the girl to herself. She killed her best friend, Shoko, when she learned that Sato had Shio with her.
Shio didn’t know about Sato’s dark side and was ignorant of her actions until later in the series. After Sato dies, Shio believes she’s Sato and claims that she’s been “reborn.”
Lucy and Kouta’s relationship was doomed from the start. Having seen the worst sides of humanity and being bullied,Lucy’s way of handling her problems became deadlyfor everyone around her. Though Kouta showed her some kindness and how there are good things in life, it wasn’t enough to calm Lucy’s violent tendencies. After seeing Kouta at a festival with his family, Lucy killed his sister and father while claiming Yuka was next.
After Kouta regained his lost memories of this, he admitted that he hated Lucy for what she did to his family, but couldn’t deny his love for her. Lucy doesn’t ask for forgiveness and the two share one kiss that’s filled with affection and regret for what could’ve been.
Being in a relationship is going to have its fair share of problems, but being ina relationship with a half-vampireis even tougher. Though Anzai has his vampiric nature under control for the most part, he still has a little trouble controlling his urges when he’s around Tsukasa. The two of them are pretty mature when handling their issues, though, and have a pretty healthy relationship that grows stronger as time goes on.
It’s everything around them that threatens to tear their relationship apart. From Anzai’s job as a police officer who handles issues with vampires to Tsukasa being in danger just because she knows about the supernatural, it’s honestly amazing that these two remain as strong as they are.
Though they tried to end their families' centuries-long feud, Gennosuke and Oboro’s efforts were for naught. They truly loved each other and wanted to marry, but their loyalty to their clans outweighed everything. With both of them leading their clans, it was only a matter of time before theymet each other on the battlefield.
Oboro was a gentle soul who hated fighting but was very talented. When she and Gennosuke met on the battlefield for the final fight, Oboro chose to take her own life rather than fight him. Gennosuke claimed the Iga clan was victorious and took his own life to join Oboro in death, the only place where they could be together.
