10 best anime to watch if you like Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is widely considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time. The crime drama tells the story of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth to secure his family's financial future after being diagnosed with lung disease.

This show is acclaimed for its complex characters, suspenseful storytelling, and examination of morality. Fans of Breaking Bad will likely also enjoy these stellar anime series, which, like the show, feature intricate plots, moral ambiguity, high stakes, and complex characters.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Breaking Bad

1) Death Note

Death Note is a psychological thriller anime set in modern-day Japan. It follows Light Yagami, a brilliant high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook called the "Death Note." This notebook grants its user the ability to kill anyone simply by knowing their name and face.

Initially, Light uses the notebook to get rid of the criminals. However, his sense of justice soon becomes dangerously twisted, and he essentially goes mad with power. Death Note shares Breaking Bad's cat-and-mouse tension and examines how power can corrupt even those with good intentions.

2) Monster

Monster is a darker-than-dark psychological thriller and crime drama anime. The anime centers on Kenzo Tenma, a German doctor of Japanese descent working as an esteemed brain surgeon in Germany. His life enters turmoil after choosing to save the life of a young boy over the city's mayor.

Years later, a string of murders makes Doctor Tenma suspect the child he saved has grown up to become a ruthless serial killer. Like Walter White, Tenma is an upstanding citizen who makes a fateful decision that derails his life.

Monster shares Breaking Bad's deep character development and seedy criminal underworld. Its ominous atmosphere and cruel, sociopathic villain are sure to captivate fans. With 74 episodes, Monster is one long and engaging morality tale.

3) Paranoia Agent

Anyone who loved Breaking Bad's grittier moments should check out the psychological thriller Paranoia Agent. This 13-episode anime, crafted by legendary director Satoshi Kon, centers around a mysterious assailant who attacks Tokyo citizens with a bent golden baseball bat.

Two detectives investigate the bizarre attacks, uncovering the complex psychological states and societal pressures affecting those encountered by the attacker beneath the surface. Paranoia Agent provides biting social commentary through its exploration of crime, scandal, and the human condition.

Its ominous atmosphere, psychological trauma, and criminal deviance match the tone of Breaking Bad.

4) Black Lagoon

The gritty anime delves into the deadly criminal world of mercenaries and pirates operating in a fictional city implied to be in Thailand. Protagonist Rokuro "Rock" Okajima was an ordinary Japanese businessman until his ship was hijacked by the Lagoon Company during a business trip.

They're a crew of ruthless, lawless mercenaries who smuggle illegal goods and commit daring crimes for profit around the South China Sea region. Initially terrified, Rock gradually comes to embrace his captors' lifestyle.

Ultimately, he joins their illicit exploits as he comes to know the dark underbelly and freedom of the criminal world. Much like Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad, Rock is drawn into a criminal world, abandoning his former life for one filled with violence, smuggling, and moral decay.

5) Ergo Proxy

For fans who favored the philosophical themes within Breaking Bad, the sci-fi thriller anime Ergo Proxy makes for an engaging, complex watch.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the story follows the citizens of a domed city governed by artificial intelligence. A mysterious phenomenon known as the Cogito Virus threatens to upend their structured society by infecting AutoReivs (android beings), causing them to develop consciousness and often violent emotions.

As the Cogito Virus spreads, existential themes arise surrounding concepts of self-identity, purpose, social order, and morality. Ergo Proxy shares Breaking Bad's well-developed characters, impactful storytelling, and thoughtful examination of what defines humanity.

6) 91 Days

Set during Prohibition, 91 Days tells a dramatic story of revenge amid mafia families in lawless 1930s America. When his family is murdered in a planned hit ordered by the Vanetti family don, young Angelo Lagusa dedicates his life to seeking revenge against the Vanetti crime family responsible.

He adopts the identity of Avilio Bruno and infiltrates the Vanettis' ranks to systematically eliminate every last one involved in his family's murder. Fans of Breaking Bad will recognize 91 Days' gritty crime plot of murder, bootlegging, betrayal, and moral decline in the face of vengeance.

Avilio's ruthless cunning rivals that of Walter White as he navigates the treacherous criminal underworld.

7) Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor (Image via Madhouse)

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor is a thriller anime centered around high-stakes gambling and deceit. Kaiji Itou is an unemployed slacker, crushed by debt and bored by the monotonous grind of everyday life.

His fortunes take a thrilling turn when he is tricked into boarding a mysterious gambling cruise ship with dangerous life-or-death consequences. Kaiji is soon drawn into even deadlier games and forced labor, requiring psychology, cunning, and skill.

Opponents engage in ruthless mind games and cheating, each trying to eliminate the other to survive and win money. Like Walter White, Kaiji demonstrates an unexpected talent for high-stakes criminal strategy. Fans of Breaking Bad will be enthralled by this intense series filled with gambling, greed, and moral decline.

8) Baccano!

Baccano! intricately weaves together the stories of various figures ensnared within the criminal underworld of 1930s America.

An ensemble cast of warring mafia family members, thieves, gangsters, and thugs violently clash and collide in the grimy city streets of New York and Chicago. Everyone is in chaotic pursuit of a coveted immortality elixir and the mysterious being who created it.

The anime uses non-linear storytelling, flashing backward and forward through different character viewpoints, similar to Breaking Bad. Its graphic violence, murky morality, and unrestrained criminal self-interest throughout Prohibition-era America will strongly appeal to fans.

9) Texhnolyze

The gritty sci-fi anime Texhnolyze presents a bleak cyberpunk future where the surface world is implied to be uninhabitable, driving factions underground into warring gangs over dwindling resources.

As brutal power struggles unfold, new biological technologies begin to fuse with human physiology, blurring man and machine. Themes of survival, scientific ethics, and humanity's moral decline in Texhnolyze anime mirror those explored in Breaking Bad.

As characters become increasingly corrupted in their fight for power, viewers will recognize Breaking Bad's descent into villainy. Visceral action scenes and a grim dystopian setting make Texhnolyze a must-watch for fans.

10) Psycho-Pass

Psycho-Pass presents another sci-fi future in which a person's likelihood of criminal intent, known as their Psycho-Pass, determines their fate.

When rookie investigator Akane Tsunemori joins the police force's Crime Investigation Division, she witnesses the dark perils within a seemingly utopian society governed by the ruthless Sibyl System.

As Akane comes to grasp the ethical dilemmas of society's dependence on Sibyl, viewers will note similarities to Breaking Bad's examination of power's corrupting nature. Additional shared themes involve vigilantism versus lawful justice, as well as psychological examination of criminal pathology.

Conclusion

For viewers who enjoyed Breaking Bad's dramatic dive into villainy and moral ambiguity, the anime titles above deliver more of the same high-stakes storytelling, blending dark, complex themes.

From psychological thrillers to gritty organized crime sagas, fans will feel right at home with these gripping and graphic anime series. Their dangerous worlds, filled with killers, crime families, crooked law enforcers, and high-risk gambits, pair nicely with Breaking Bad to create an engaging binge-watch experience.