15 Best Dark Fantasy Manga With No Anime Adaptations

Highlights

• Dark fantasy manga like The Sky Prison: Avalon offer unique blends of sci-fi and fantasy concepts for an engaging read.
• Goodnight Punpun, despite not being a traditional fantasy story, delves into dark themes and impactful life choices.
• The Skeleton Soldier Failed To Protect The Dungeon presents a fresh take on the isekai genre with unpredictable plot twists.

The fantasy genre is an all-encompassing one, even more so than many other ‘standard’ genres simply because there are just so many different types of stories that easily fit within the `fantasy` definition. For example, there are action, adventure, romance, mystery, isekai, horror, comedy, and even dark themes that can (and do) all work exceptionally well within a fantasy setting.

Dark fantasy stories and manga, in particular, are the focus here because a lot of them just haven’t had the opportunity to get an anime adaptation yet. So, let’s look at some of the best examples of manga in the dark fantasy subgenre that absolutely deserve their own anime.

Updated April 18th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: There are quite a lot of well-beloved, long-running, and all-around fantastic fantasy series out there. However, it might be surprising to hear that quite a lot of them still haven’t received the anime adaptation treatment. In particular, dark fantasy stories seem to get adapted a whole lot less than other genres, simply because the fanbase around these series is very particular about how they’re adapted. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best all-time dark fantasy series that still need that anime adaptation.

15 The Sky Prison: Avalon

When Sci-Fi Meets Fantasy in a Brand New Way

First up is a pretty niche pick, a series called The Sky Prison: Avalon. This is a very unique fantasy series, as it manages to mix multiple sci-fi ideas in a way that makes it feel like fantasy. To go a bit more into it, in this setting, all of humanity live their lives in cryogenic sleep. These massive fleet ships are taking humanity to their new home on a different planet, but in the time in between everyone is put into cryogenic sleep and connected to a sort of ‘false reality’ of dreams. The protagonist of this story, a man by the name of Azuma, is a lot more serious about his studies compared to everyone else. This is because Azuma wants to become an ‘administrator’ AKA a person who is put in charge of maintenance of these gigantic fleet ships and will wake up once every ten years to check on the status of said ship. This is Azuma’s only goal in life and one that he is deadset on as he is dedicated to ‘facing reality’.

However, in between one of the maintenance periods, their fleet ship crash lands on a nearby planet, and those who survive it have to crawl and scrape out a living on this harsh new world. Azuma is awoken from his pod 400 years later to discover this new situation, and now must figure out what he’s going to do with this new reality he’s been faced with. The Sky Prison: Avalon is a fantastic fantasy story in many ways, but the way it manages to meld fantasy and sci-fi concepts into one is so incredibly unique. Take the Orlan Armor Suits for example, these are actually just remodeled space suits, but they’ve remodeled these things in such as way that they look like personalized knight armor. Basically, for anyone who likes creative sci-fi, unique fantasy, or interesting and dramatic political stories, The Sky Prison: Avalon is absolutely worth a look.

14 Goodnight Punpun

Technically Shouldn’t Be On This List

Goodnight Punpun isn’t ‘technically’ a fantasy story. While that might seem ridiculous given how much ridiculous stuff happens in this series and with the main character being this odd cartoon bird, it’s the truth. Goodnight Punpun is, at its core, an incredibly visceral and real story about the integral choices in life, how those affect a person going forward, and the ramifications even a single act of kindness (or cruelty) can cause. Goodnight Punpun is shockingly dark, and this darkness feels especially deep when compared to all the hilarious comedic moments of the series.

There’s not much we can say about Goodnight Punpun without spoiling a bit too much, but this series absolutely deserves an anime adaptation, though the studio to take on this job would have to figure out how exactly to adapt a story like this, as it’s truly difficult to ever imagine Goodnight Punpun in motion.

13 The Skeleton Soldier Failed To Protect The Dungeon

What If A Basic Mob Became The Main Character?

It’s getting pretty difficult to find well-written Dark Fantasy series nowadays that haven’t already had some adaptation in some shape or form. However, The Skeleton Soldier Failed To Protect The Dungeon is one of them.

This one starts like so many other Dark Fantasy stories unfortunately do these days, with time rewind beginning. The main character is a basic skeleton mob summoned by his Succubus owner to protect the dungeon. However, the dungeon is raided, and the skeleton fails. Right before fading away, however, he unlocks some ‘ability’ to level up and ‘respawn’. He does so, only twenty years before the events that led to his death. While this may seem pretty standard for this sort of story, the events don’t play out quite as predictably as one would expect.

12 I Became An Evolving Space Monster

Not Many Chapters, But Each One Is Very Interesting

This next one doesn’t have a ton of chapters (only about 17+ manwha chapters, not web novel chapters, at the time of writing this), but man is the concept interesting. It’s another reincarnation story, but instead of coming back as some basic mob, or even a vending machine, the protagonist spawns as his favorite race of choice in the space-survival game he was obsessed with.

What makes it so worth adapting is it’s truly a story where humanity is the enemy. The ‘protagonist’ is the villain of the story, starting off in a really disadvantageous position but scaling more and more as he succeeds in finding ‘food’ and getting new genetic abilities.

11 Swordmaster’s Youngest Son

The One Kid In A Sword-Fanatic Family That Can Do Magic

The next story is a lot less ‘dark’ in terms of tone than a lot of other entries on here, but the setting is easily unique enough to pull people into it. The Runcandels in this setting are a world-renowned family of famous swordmasters, and Jin Runcandel is the youngest of them. Not only does every member of this family strive to master their swordsmanship past the realm of human possibility, but they all specialize in different things.

Jin, sadly enough, had a very unlucky life. He was exiled from the family for having no talent in the sword, only to find that a curse was what held his talent back, and when he finally was rid of the curse he died shortly after. Thankfully, like a lot of these stories, he wakes up years in the past and is now able to get a second chance at the life he so truly deserves.

10 Reincarnation of the Suicidal Battle God

Let The Hero Do It All Over Again, But Even Better This Time

So as not to leave out a whole medium with Manwha and Webcomics, let’s talk about a series called Reincarnation of the Suicidal Battle God. This is a series with a concept a lot of experienced manga readers are familiar with; the protagonist dies trying to save the world or something similar, reincarnates or reverts to their younger self, and can now prepare even more thoroughly for the looming threat. However, RotSBG has this standard setup and that’s the only real commonality. Everything else about this story is exceptionally unique. For one, its art is both fantastic and memorable. Two, it has a main character who isn’t meek, naive, or airheaded like most adventure protagonists tend to be. And three, the world-building is well integrated with the narrative itself and plays a part in all of the important battles. All-in-all it may be a bit less ‘grimdark’ than many other series on here, but is no less deserving of an inclusion.

9 What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War

An Actually Accurate Depiction Of Joining The Military In A Low-Fantasy World

There are so many series out there these days about some modern-age teen pulled (or reincarnated) into a grimdark world of fantasy and magic. However, the majority of these series almost immediately make the protagonist too strong or too comfortable, ruining the atmosphere and tone they initially set up. Thankfully, this series (absurdly long name incoming) What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes: Record of Highserk War, is different.

The main character in this series is so incredibly tired of the world he was reincarnated into, as it’s a medieval-esque world thats constantly at war. To survive, there’s no real way other than to become a soldier, but to be a soldier means both committing and witnessing a lot of atrocities. Fans of this subgenre will quickly recognize how similar its world feels to the Golden Age Arc of Berserk but with plenty of its own unique twists.

8 20th Century Boys

Just An Absolute Roller Coaster Ride All The Way Through

It’s so absurd to think that one of the most beloved manga of all time, 20th Century Boys, still doesn’t have an anime adaptation (though it has multiple live-action films). This series dates all the way back to 1999 and is both written and illustrated by the renowned Naoki Urasawa (best known for series like Pluto and Monster).

No other manga handles the concept of a psychological mystery like this one does, and at no point in this manga are readers going to be able to accurately guess what’s going to happen next. It’s a lot less ‘fantastical’ and more based in reality, but that absolutely doesn’t mean there aren’t fantasy elements involved throughout. The initial concept of the series, with kids who come up with their own ‘end of the world’ scenario thats actually coming to life, is already interesting. But the way it builds on this foundation and constantly subverts the readers expectations is a major reason why 20th Century Boys is so beloved to this day.

7 It’s Sudden, But I Came To Another World! But I Hope To Live Safely

My Superpower Is Being A Realist And Cowardly Adapting To My Situation

Not many manga fans expected to see an isekai recommendation here, but this story (let’s just call it Isekai Demo Bunan to circumvent its ridiculously long name) is a perfect blend of fantasy, dark themes, and interesting character dynamics. Unlike the standard isekai protagonists, this one (who doesn’t really have a ‘name’ so people call him multiple different ones like ‘Shisho’ and ‘Candidate’) is incredibly weak. He has no special abilities given to him by this new world, only the same innate comprehension talents he had in his original world. And on top of this, he basically has zero magical power, which is something that almost everyone else in the world has in spades. So really all that Shisho has going for him is that he’s one of those standard ‘smarter than you’d think’ protagonists.

While this story isn’t obscenely dark, Shisho would have absolutely gone down a much darker route if he hadn’t run into the very definition of a model knight, Illias. Shisho is a self-described weak human, and because he’s weak and understands this weakness, he has no qualms about doing whatever he needs to do in order to survive. Thankfully, Illias usually keeps him on the straight and narrow, but not all the time, and the moments where it dips into a much darker tone are some of the highlights of the series overall.

6 Dai Dark

From The Makers Of Dorohedoro

From the same mind that brought the wild ride that is Dorohedoro, here comes Dai Dark. Q Hayashida is the author of both these series, (though Mappa Studios made the anime adaptation). Though, let’s be honest, any fan of Dorohedoro could immediately guess Dai Dark was also from Hayashida based on the art, general tone, and absurd setting. Dai Dark is a story set in space all about a boy named Zaha Sanko. Zaha Sanko is a native of the ‘Dark’ a dimension that only exists inside black holes (heavily implied to be ‘Dark Matter’), who ends up being chased around the universe based on some ‘grand rumor’ that using his bones with grant a person any wish they desire.

From here, Zaha just tries to eke out a living in the vast nothingness of space alongside his Package of Darkness, Avakian, and has to constantly fight off people aiming for his bones. Alongside him are Shimada Death and Hajime Damemaru, two other absurd existences with their own unique abilities over Death and Regeneration that Zaha basically stumbles into bonding with. Overall, it’s just a roller-coaster ride of a series that is the very definition of unpredictable fun.

5 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

For Those Who Love Battle Royale Stories Involving Gods & Constellations

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint has a lot in common with Solo Leveling, as both of them are South Korean webtoons or manwha that deal with a world changed by the appearance of some fantasy element. But, while Solo Leveling focuses a lot more on dungeons and ‘levels’, ORV is built around another common Korean manwha trope, the use of incarnations. Basically, these are historical or mythical existences, human or otherwise, that became so powerful or renowned during their life that they ‘ascended’ to become god-like deities usually described as ‘constellations’ or ‘incarnations’. Some common examples are characters like Sun Wukong, angels like Metatron and Micheal, the Greek Pantheon of Gods such as Zeus or Hades, and so on. Essentially, imagine the Gods of Record of Ragnarok are watching this story from above.

In this setting, Earth has suddenly become a survival game built around entertaining these incarnations, which for humanity means that suddenly their lives are constantly in danger and all sorts of magic, monsters, and mythical creations have now become real. Only one character knows exactly what’s happening or what will happen next and it’s a simple salaryman by the name of Kim Dokja. However, the only reason Mr. Dokja knows what’s going to happen next is that these events are exactly the same as the ones that happened in his favorite web novel he had been reading for the majority of his painfully average life.

4 I Am A Hero

Just The Most Twisted Yet Real Zombie Apocalypse

I Am a Hero is another story like Dai Dark with an incredibly unique writing style and tone. At first, this might seem like it’s a dramatic story about a down-and-out mangaka who has a lot of issues to work on and generally feels unfulfilled in his life. But, very quickly, this story gets a whole lot darker as a zombie-esque outbreak begins to spread and suddenly Hideo has to tough it out in a post-apocalyptic world.

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Overall, I Am a Hero is a very nihilistic story with some truly unsettling artwork and a lot of psychological horror showcasing the depths of human desire, but those moments are also usually balanced out with a lot of moments of self-growth and levity. It’s extremely depressing in some areas, but it always manages to keep the reader on the edge of their seat with how unpredictable just about every situation and character in the story manages to be.

3 Ubel Blatt

Like Guts’ Younger Brother On His Own Horrific Adventure

Moving onto another seinen series, here’s Ubel Blatt. Now, before getting into anything related to Ubel Blatt’s story, know that anyone who loves Berserk (even the new chapters)will likely find something they enjoy in this story. Both series are drenched in all kinds of death, gratuitous gore, political intrigue, a misunderstood and emotionally numb main character, as well as a whole lot of great sword fighting.

That said, the main difference between the two is that instead of having a big, strong, and stereotypically `manly` MC like Guts, Ubel Blatt has Koinzell, a half-elf who is small, childlike, and very scrawny in appearance. Either way, it’s a story that easily deserves an anime adaptation, just hopefully not one to the same `level` of quality as the 2016 Berserk anime.

2 Fire Punch

Somehow Even More Off The Rails Than Chainsaw Man

It only seems apt to talk about Fire Punch, given that the author, Tatsuki Fujimoto, just had his more recent work, Chainsaw Man, adapted into a stunningly beautiful anime and is currently in progress with the next big ‘chapter’ of the manga. And, while Chainsaw Man seems to be beloved by all, not enough people know about the series that predated it, Fire Punch.

Now, compared to Denji, the MC of this story (who goes by Agni) is much more of a `straight man` which may not seem that interesting at first. But, Agni’s circumstances and combinations of superpowers that lead to him becoming Fire Punch both more than makeup for his relatively bland personality in the earlier parts of the story. Plus, being the ‘straight man’ in a world full of the most absurd people a person could imagine is hilarious in its own way.

1 Psyren

Hunger Games But With Espers

Psyren is the last dark fantasy manga on here, and it’s one of the all-time classics for the subgenre. For anyone who has read something like Gantz, Btooom, Darwin’s Game, or has even watched Sword Art Online, Psyren has something in common with all of them. The main characters are dragged into a sudden deadly circumstance that they have to fight their way out of using supernatural abilities. In Psyren, the characters are pulled into a `mysterious` version of Earth where creatures called Taboo live. Additionally, those dragged into the Psyren `game` get exposed to particles that give them supernatural psychic abilities of all different types such as telepathy, telekinesis, or mind control.

There’s a lot to this story, and the events of the Psyren game as well as the characters around it only get more complicated over time. But, it features some of the most creative iterations of psychic powers in any form of media, has a compelling of likable characters, and it’s a dark fantasy candidate easily worth an anime adaptation.