6 Best Urban Gothic Anime, Ranked

Highlights

• Urban gothic anime combines eerie gothic elements with a dystopian urban cityscape for a unique and melancholic experience.
• Death Note and Black Butler are examples of urban gothic anime that feature dark cityscapes, supernatural elements, and morally gray characters.
• These anime explore themes of moral dilemmas, secret organizations, and the battle between good and evil, all set against the backdrop of hollow architecture and a melancholic mood.

From grim atmospheres to morally gray vigilantes, gothic anime are defined by many eerie aspects that offer an oddly melancholic charm. While the genre of gothic series encompasses a range of themes embedded with gloom and ghast, the distinct subgenre of ‘urban gothic’ has slowly gained its own identity, becoming a separate niche altogether.

Urban gothic anime embodies the uncanny essence of the gothic vibe, but with the addition of an urban cityscape that gives a touch of dystopian horror to the usual gothic framework. Be it vigilantes running amok or ghastly monsters roaming the streets, these urban gothic anime perfectly weave a mix of hollow architecture and melancholic mood.

6 Death Note

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3/5

Death Note might not encompass all the traditional elements of the gothic genre, yet its dark cityscape, supernatural horror, and morally gray nuances check all the boxes for a truly urban gothic experience. After discovering an eerie book that kills anyone whose name is written inside, Light Yagami goes on a killing spree to rid the world of evil.

As Light continues murdering convicts and criminals, his actions open up a moral dilemma, even engulfing viewers in the conversation of whether felons deserve a second chance. The extremities of Light’s actions put ‘L,’ a famed detective, on his trail, and the resulting battle of wits set up in the dark cityscape of Tokyo is enough to satiate any urban gothic fan.

5 Tokyo Revengers

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2/5

After living an ill-fated life, Takemichi Hanagaki finds himself at death’s doorstep, though at the very last second, he finds himself 12 years in the past, the same day his life started going downhill. When he returns to the future, Takemichi realizes that his timeline has been altered, and he now has the power to change the flow of time.

With this newfound power, Takemichi vows to prevent the events that haunted his previous life. His aim is to take over Tokyo’s most brutal gang and rise to the top, all in a bid to bar the same events from taking place again. Tokyo Revengers’ supernatural powers coupled with Tokyo’s cityscape present an oddly satisfying urban gothic theme.

4 Black Butler

Anime-Planet Rating: 4/5

Set in post-industrial England, Black Butler follows Ciel Phantomhive, the current head of the Phantomhive manor, who deals with unsettling matters that have rattled the Victorian country. However, the real peculiarity lies with Ciel’s butler, Sebastian Michaelis, a loyal servant to the Phantomhive name.

On the surface, Sebastian may seem like a mere servant, yet he’s actually a demon tied to Ciel’s soul. The two navigate through London’s underground channels to find answers to Ciel’s tragic past. Grim attire, the dark laneways of London, and supernatural powers populate Black Butler’s narrative, the perfect backdrop for an urban gothic tale.

3 Darker Than Black

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1/5

Darker Than Black is laden with a dark mystique that immediately hooks viewers, and the grim urban landscape coupled with the ghastly skyscape perfectly embodies the appeal of urban gothic anime. A supernatural phenomenon known as the ‘Hell’s Gate’ ravages Tokyo’s skies, yet this incomprehensible peril is accompanied by the advent of ‘Contractors’ — human beings endowed with supernatural powers.

As underground syndicates recruit these evolved humans and accumulate power, a Chinese Contractor, Hei, fights back in secret to repel the imminent doom of his kind. Darker Than Black’s urban landscape gives off a certain gloom and despair-ridden atmosphere, one that accentuates the theme of secret organizations fighting in the shadows.

2 Tokyo Ghoul

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1/5

Tokyo tends to be the epicenter of most urban epidemics, as the metropolis’ dense structures serve as the perfect backdrop for harrowing events to cultivate. Tokyo Ghoul takes on this very premise but with a dark twist of flesh-eating ghouls that live in the shadows. These ghouls are hunted by secret government agents, and a war is underway between these two groups in the laneways of Tokyo.

College student Ken Kaneki finds himself embroiled in the chaos after turning into a human-ghoul hybrid. While it may seem like a simple monsters-vs-humans situation at first, Tokyo Ghoul adds a layer of nuance by showcasing the human side of these ghouls, forcing viewers to question these moral ambiguities.

1 Hellsing Ultimate

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2/5

The world of Hellsing Ultimate is infested with otherworldly creatures and horrors unimaginable, all hell-bent on eradicating humanity. To fight this threat, the Hellsing organization operates in the shadows, keeping all of London and Great Britain safe from humanity’s greatest threats.

At the helm of this organization sits Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, a level-headed leader who commands a powerful army to fight the undead. However, her greatest weapon is the vampire Alucard, a supernatural creature who could be considered humanity’s greatest nightmare, yet he fights his own for the Hellsings’ cause. The harrowing thematics coupled with London’s calm urban backdrop is a flawless blueprint for an urban gothic anime.

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