History DarkerAndEdgier / AnimeAndManga

*** The other ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' sequel, ''Anime/DigimonLastEvolutionKizuna'' features one of the most dangerous human villains in the series which would put even Oikawa (which is an already frightening villain on his own) to shame. ''At least 300'' [=DigiDestined=] had their soul stolen by an insane woman and trapped living happily forever with their partners... so in her deluded beliefs, [[spoiler:they won't end up like her, who lost her Morphomon partner because she was considered to be grown up when she bragged to said Morphomon that she got an academic breakthrough.]] Said villain is also very creepy when she shows her true colors.

** ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' does this to the original ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' universe as, in the first five minutes, [[spoiler:the kids from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' are brutally beaten down and disappear.]] And then, there's the fact that Digimon cause damage in the real world and ''people notice'', and even some existentialism. This is justified by it being aimed at adults, in favor of the previous ones, which were aimed at kids.

** In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the darker elements are more at the forefront here as the series makes frequent use of HorrorTropes to fit with the occult theme. The very first episode has two teens being [[VampiricDraining rapidly aged to near death]], and throughout the series, the threat of civilians being endangered by the MonsterOfTheWeek's antics is much more apparent - multiple episodes show people being hospitalized or outright ''killed'' as a result of what a Digimon has done to them. After episode 13 the show undergoes CerebusSyndrome after the introduction of KnightOfCerebus Sealsdramon, a Digimon SerialKiller, and things only get worse from there as the body count for both Digimon ''and humans'' ramps up with the series quickly proving itself to be the darkest Digimon anime since ''Tamers''. Ironically, despite this being the most violent series the heroes themselves attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath [[SuicidalPacifism by any means necessary]] which usually works -- Gammamon usually ensures things [[SuperpoweredEvilSide aren't pretty when it doesn't]].
** The Digimon franchise has never been scared to show the darker side of things. E.g. Ken and Cody from [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]], Jeri from [[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]], and many others have had the death of relatives as a part of their character arc or backstory. In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02TheBeginning'', [[spoiler:Lui, by contrast, takes the darkness a step further. He lives in a run down building, with an abusive mother and bedridden father. His Digimon partner, while genuinely trying to help, does so by brainwashing those around him into being better people, and unlike other backstories in the past, blood is actually shown amongst the tragedies when the young Lui's eye is damaged while he's breaking his Digivice]].

* ''Anime/BangDream'': ''It's MyGO!!!!!'' and ''Ave Mujica'' add a lot more drama compared to the original anime and even compared to ''[[Music/{{Argonavis}} from ARGONAVIS]]'', as they deal with heavy subject matter such as depression, past trauma, divorce, and even betrayal.

** ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and how! The ''first episode'' has a Digimon killing ''and eating'' another one, several more deaths of them, including one being stabbed to death while his tamer can do ''nothing but watch'', one character emotionally traumatized by such, some of the most brutal battles in the series, an attempted suicide, two HeroicSacrifices, a good chunk of the Digital World and its residents being deleted, a heart-breaking ending, and a sweet little 10-year-old girl getting ''MindRaped for at least a week''! Some consider it to be the ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' of mons series, which should really tell you something!

* ''Manga/TheSummerYouWereThere'' is this in comparison to Yuama's previous work, ''Manga/TheGirlIWantIsSoHandsome'', as Yuama points out in the afterword of the former. The latter series begins with the protagonist, Hina, having a CrashIntoHello with Shiki, her crush on the basketball team, getting teased by her friends and, after accidentally getting hit by a ball during practice(which is portrayed as slapstick comedy), joining the team as a manager. The former, however, begins with Shizuku, the protagonist, rejecting an offer from her classmate Kaori to eat lunch with her, then going home, finishing a story she was working on, deleting said story from where it was posted online, then ''resolving to kill herself'' once she is done throwing the manuscript away. While ''The Girl I Want Is So Handsome'' has an unambiguously happy ending, ''The Summer You Were There'' [[spoiler:has Kaori die of her illness at the end of the penultimate chapter]].

* ''Manga/TheSummerYouWereThere'' is this in comparison to Yuama's previous work, ''Manga/TheGirlIWantIsSoHandsome'', as Yuama points out in the afterword of the former. The latter series begins with the protagonist, Hina, having a CrashIntoHello with Shiki, her crush on the basketball team, getting teased by her friends and, after accidentally getting hit by a ball during practice(which is portrayed as slapstick comedy), joining the team as a manager. The former, however, begins with Shizuku, the protagonist, rejecting an offer from her classmate Kaori to eat lunch with her, then going home, finishing a story she was working on, deleting said story from where it was posted online, then ''resolving to kill herself'' once she is done throwing the manuscript away.

* ''Manga/TheSummerYouWereThere'' is this in comparison to Yuama's previous work, ''The Girl I Want Is So Handsome'', as Yuama points out in the afterword of the former. The latter series begins with the protagonist, Hina, having a CrashIntoHello with Shiki, her crush on the basketball team, getting teased by her friends and, after accidentally getting hit by a ball during practice(which is portrayed as slapstick comedy), joining the team as a manager. The former, however, begins with Shizuku, the protagonist, rejecting an offer from her classmate Kaori to eat lunch with her, then going home, finishing a story she was working on, deleting said story from where it was posted online, then ''resolving to kill herself'' once she is done throwing the manuscript away.

** The Digimon franchise has never been scared to show the darker side of things. E.g. Ken, T.K., Cody from [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]], Jeri from [[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]], and many others have had the death as a part of Character arc or backstory. In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02TheBeginning'', [[spoiler:Lui, by contrast, takes the darkness a step further. He lives in a run down building, with an abusive mother and bedridden father. His Digimon partner, while genuinely trying to help, does so by brainwashing those around him into being better people]].

** The Digimon franchise has never been scared to show the darker side of things. E.g. Ken, TK, T.K., Cody from [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]], Jeri from [[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]], and many others have had the death as a part of Character arc or backstory. In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02TheBeginning'', [[spoiler:Lui, by contrast, takes the darkness a step further. He lives in a run down building, with an abusive mother and bedridden father. His Digimon partner, while genuinely trying to help, does so by brainwashing those around him into being better people]].

* ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' is the darkest show ''Creator/StudioTrigger'' and ''Creator/HiroyukiImaishi'' ever made in their catalogue so far. While their works are known to be comical or lighthearted, Edgerunner ramp up the drama after Episode 4 by [[AnyoneCanDie killing off its main cast one by one]] and discussing the ramifications of [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul cyberpsychosis]]. Finally, while most of Imaishi's works ends on a hopeful or on the sweeter side of BittersweetEnding, Edgerunners' ending is borderline DownerEnding with [[spoiler: all but two of its named cast alive by the end of it, [[TheBadGuyWins Arasaka winning at the end with Adam Smasher killing the hero and his close partner]] and the OfficialCouple not ending together. The only thing that prevent it to be a full-fledged downer ending was that David did succeed at saving Lucy.]]

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' achieved this via CerebusSyndrome. It started pretty silly, with dueling monkeys and whatnot, with elements of a darker plot going in the background. After that, it went from the brainwashing cult of Season 2 to the way darker tone of Season 3. It started out with new main characters as usual and a seemingly tame (at least compared to Season 2) [[{{Disc One Final Boss}} villain]] until he gets defeated relatively quickly and then the series gets much darker including the characters [[spoiler:dying when they lose a duel, at least that's what they are told]], the main character getting tricked into releasing his SuperpoweredEvilSide and [[spoiler:killing some of his remaining friends]], and the TheManBehindtheMan / StalkerWithACrush / HiddenAgendaVillain possessing people and making everyone suffer even more because they're a {{Yandere}} of epic proportions. The fourth season, which many think was [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs made on drugs]], features an AssimilationPlot orchestrated by the embodiment of darkness and despair.

* While ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' had it's fair share of dark moments even at the beginning of its series, it still had plenty of sweet and heartwarming moments to balance it out. [[spoiler: Then the [[WarArc Paranormal Liberation War Arc]] took place and things only went [[FromBadToWorse down hill from there]].]]
** [[spoiler: The arc featured plenty of dark and scary moments from Shigaraki's rise to power, Gigantomachia's rampage leading to the destruction of multiple of cities which led to the death of multiple heroes and civilians, and Dabi revealing himself as the once thought dead son of Endeavor and with the help of Skeptic had all of his father's dirty laundry posted online for everyone to see. All of which lead to the almost utter destruction of hero society with almost everyone no longer trusting heroes and taking matters into their own hands.]]

* ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'': The ''Tetsujin'' remakes also have a touch of this. While the 1980s version wasn't particularly dark, the look of the series was redesigned to make it less cartoony and whimsical and more like the modern, high-tech SuperRobot shows of the day. This ultimately resulted in a little memorable show and when a sequel series, ''Tetsujin 28-FX'' came out in the 90s, despite the new robots being even more complex, overbuilt and gimmicky, with transformation and combination gimmicks and such, the original Tetsujin was drawn in the classic style, googly eyes and all. The second remake in the 00s, from the people who brought you ''Manga/GiantRobo'', took it in a whole new direction, keeping the cartoonish 1950s visual style and wrapping it around a grim story about war and political intrigue... and a boy detective with a giant cartoony robot.

* Zigzagged in the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise. Some installments are rather serious, but most are light. The "dark" ones usually have one or more of the eponymous magical girl having to deal with personal failure that would cost them dearly. One of the most notably serious and mature of those is ''Anime/HeartCatchPrettyCure'', with Cure Moonlight having to deal with [[spoiler:her FairyCompanion dying in front of her, her father being TheDragon, her father killed by the actual BigBad in front of her, her EvilCounterpart is actually kinda-sorta her little sister, said little sister dies in front of her by ''her own hands'', and then figuring out that even saving the world won't bring them back]]. HurtingHero, she is.

* There is a two-part special episode of the ''Anime/TamaAndFriends'' anime ''Do You Know my Tama?'' in which a rumor is spreading across the third district regarding a little girl and her dog Shiro, who tragically ended up being two of the 129,000-226,000 casualties of the [[{{UsefulNotes/Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki}} Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings]] that took place during the climactic final months of {{UsefulNotes/World War II}} and caused horrific devastation. Tama's owner Takeshi has nightmares about her in the [[AChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]]-type first part. The girl's ghost even holds Tama hostage and threatens to kill him. In the episode's second part, Pochi is possessed by a haunted collar, which belonged to Shiro before he and his owner were killed by an atomic bomb. Shiro is revealed to be a really terrifying-looking Inugami or Dog Demon (taking the form of a decaying zombie) once the collar is taken off of Pochi by Takeshi - essentially exhausting the former and causing him not to be able to see it. Thankfully, his ghost owner changes him back to the kind of loving dog he was when he was alive and apologizes for all the trouble they caused.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is a DarkerAndEdgier prequel to ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' -- intentionally so, since the novel's intent is to show just how dark, depressing, and violent the Holy Grail War can be. This was to be expected, because the parts of the backstory already revealed in ''Fate Stay Night'' make all but a tiny handful of the ''Fate Zero'' characters DoomedByCanon.

* In an interesting case, we have Creator/AkaAkasaka's main manga franchises, ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', and ''Manga/OshiNoKo''. Both series focus on the personal lives of the featured characters and have them endure hardships, corruption is present in both, and they even share a few characters in between. However, ''that'' is where the similarities stop, as we have a ''very'' different turn of events throughout the story. ''Kaguya-sama'' takes place in a high-school setting and aside from a few dramatic moments is light-hearted, with positive character development, humor all around, and a happy ending for everyone involved. ''Oshi No Ko'', however, takes place in a more "adult" working environment, and is decidedly '''''NOT''''' the same as its predecessor. ''This'' series features tales of betrayal, seriously-taken suicides, active dangers, and conflicting morals. In fact, compared to ''Kaguya-sama'', ''Oshi No Ko's'' humor output is ''restrictively minimal'', and after a few small bursts the series outright ''stops'' the humor altogether towards the end of its double-digit chapter run. The main characters of ''Oshi No Ko'' are also '''''very much''''' on a downward spiral, with both of the primary protagonists ending up engrossed in ''murderous revenge''. If that doesn't convince you, the minimal amount of deaths in ''Kaguya-sama'' are all due to natural causes and disease, whereas ''Oshi No Ko'' has flat-out '''''murders''''' on a regular basis. Because of this, the similarities between the two series are very much superficial ''at '''best'''''.

* In an interesting case, we have [[Creator/Aka Akasaka]]'s main manga franchises, ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', and ''Manga/OshiNoKo''. Both series focus on the personal lives of the featured characters and have them endure hardships, corruption is present in both, and they even share a few characters in between. However, ''that'' is where the similarities stop, as we have a ''very'' different turn of events throughout the story. ''Kaguya-sama'' takes place in a high-school setting and aside from a few dramatic moments is light-hearted, with positive character development, humor all around, and a happy ending for everyone involved. ''Oshi No Ko'', however, takes place in a more "adult" working environment, and is decidedly '''''NOT''''' the same as its predecessor. ''This'' series features tales of betrayal, seriously-taken suicides, active dangers, and conflicting morals. In fact, compared to ''Kaguya-sama'', ''Oshi No Ko's'' humor output is ''restrictively minimal'', and after a few small bursts the series outright ''stops'' the humor altogether towards the end of its double-digit chapter run. The main characters of ''Oshi No Ko'' are also '''''very much''''' on a downward spiral, with both of the primary protagonists ending up engrossed in ''murderous revenge''. If that doesn't convince you, the minimal amount of deaths in ''Kaguya-sama'' are all due to natural causes and disease, whereas ''Oshi No Ko'' has flat-out '''''murders''''' on a regular basis. Because of this, the similarities between the two series are very much superficial ''at '''best'''''.

* In an interesting case, we have Creator/Aka Akasaka's main manga franchises, ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', and ''Manga/OshiNoKo''. Both series focus on the personal lives of the featured characters and have them endure hardships, and even share a few characters in between. However, ''that'' is where the similarities stop, as we have a ''very'' different turn of events throughout the story. ''Kaguya-sama'' takes place in a high-school setting and aside from a few dramatic moments is light-hearted, with positive character development, humor all around, and a happy ending for everyone involved. ''Oshi No Ko'', however, takes place in a more "adult" working environment, and is decidedly '''''NOT''''' the same as its predecessor. ''This'' series features tales of betrayal, seriously-taken suicides, active dangers, and conflicting morals. In fact, compared to ''Kaguya-sama'', ''Oshi No Ko's'' humor output is ''restrictively minimal'', and after a few small bursts outright ''stops'' the humor altogether towards the end of its double-digit chapter run. The main characters of ''Oshi No Ko'' are also '''''very much''''' on a downward spiral, with the main two focus characters ending up engrossed in ''revenge''. If that doesn't convince you, the minimal amount of deaths in ''Kaguya-sama'' are all due to natural causes and disease, whereas ''Oshi No Ko'' has flat-out '''''murders''''' on a regular basis. Because of this, the similarities between the two series are very much superficial ''at '''best'''''.