'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAUACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABiAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQcQAAICAgIBBQAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQAEQUGBxITISJBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBEAAgICAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDEQBRBAUx/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwCV5NgvdZrcZFM9K97UsNZvVWaJWSR2bYCyHTfbMAHd+cQBVjoqq/AUV9AAfgG8Yxxi0QtGZbAuia3lHYxRFYrRSdkAnwZ//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Most anime go for the good vs. evil route, showcasing the lines that good or evil cross to make a point or trying to tell an ultimately simple story. Then there are the morally gray anime, the ones where the lines aren't necessarily clear. While fandom may have trouble defining the term and toss it out like it's going out of style, it does have some standing amongst the anime community.
The problem with the term "morally gray" is that everyone has their own bias and perspective on what counts as good and evil. This muddies the waters and makes people more likely to see gray where there is evil, and is very morally relativistic. This article will attempt to dive into that aspect of murky relativism, whether it's heroes making awful choices or villains making good points, or just a huge mess of both.
Trending
Disclaimer: As this article deals with the morally gray area of anime, there are going to be more than a few discussions of serious violence and assault. Spoiler warnings are likewise included. The opinions therein only belong to the author.
10 anime that blur the lines between good and evil
1) Gunslinger Girl
Cute girls doing cute things would describe the "moe" category of anime. At first glance, Gunslinger Girl has cute girls shooting guns. Look closer, however, and the truth becomes clear. The plot follows the exploits of a seemingly charitable institution in Italy known as the Social Welfare Agency, seemingly aiding the physically injured on the surface while in actuality using people as weapons.
The plot of the anime is best described as something akin to such thrillers as the Jason Bourne franchise or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, stories of brainwashed soldiers brought up to be killing machines and little else. While the official aim of the Agency is counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism, they certainly don't leave any moral scruples with their soldiers.
Their soldiers being the very patients they're supposedly curing. Some like Herietta were left for dead after the brutal murder of her family and were brainwashed to forget such horrors. Others suffered birth defects, hit and runs, and were converted into cyborgs. Though the anime may be more character-focused, the idea of transforming often unwilling patients into cyborgs and turn them into weapons of war qualifies for at least morally gray status.
2) Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
As funny as it is, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt can absolutely count on the morally gray category. It's about Panty and Stocking, two angels that got cast out of heaven for various sinful activities and gotta buy their way back into heaven by killing demons. It sounds pretty formulaic until viewers see just how typically unheroic Panty and Stocking are.
The two angels are incredibly petty, foul-mouthed, and very obsessed with their particular vices. Panty is incredibly promiscuous, Stocking cannot go without sweets, Garterbelt is a rather dirty-minded reverend and guardian for the two, and Brief is a ghost hunter who tries to be reasonable but really is just the butt of many jokes.
If ghosts and demons weren't out to conquer the world, they'd hardly be heroes at all. It's darkly comedic, with more swears in a single season of 13 episodes than most South Park seasons are able to achieve. The fact that a second season was announced speaks volumes as to this raunchy anime's popularity and its moral grayness.
3) Monster
A serial killer at large. The detective trying to stop him by being his doctor. The killer targeting his sister and others for no real reason than nhilism. No, it's not the plot of a mystery novel. It's the plot of the anime and manga Monster. While the things Johan Liebert does would most certainly qualify him as a monster, the rest of the anime, however, doesn't quite have a moral center at heart.
While the plot ultimately goes into graphic and grisly detail of the killings that Johan committed, Dr. Kenzo Temna, who saved Johan's life, is likewise a target of the investigation since he's framed for Johan's crimes. The anime and manga is a twisted trio tale of the killer, the doctor who healed him going mad trying to understand him, and the inspector trying to capture them both.
It is not for the faint at heart, being the equivalent of an R-Rated serial killer story akin to Silence of the Lambs. The three each do something to keep the audience on edge, as the hunt for Johan spans months and into multiple countries. One thing is for sure, the anime makes it clear everyone can be manipulated including the killer.
4) Fate/Zero
Fate as a franchise always had the idea of moral grayness to it, but never quite embraced that as such with Stay/Night. Fate/Zero, however, seemed to have that in spades. Whether it was the literal serial killer getting a Servant, the creepy cult trying to sacrifice people and control Lancelot, or other truly gruesome things.
Unlike the kinder and less harsh protagonists of Stay/Night, Fate/Zero has plenty of summoners that aren't as kind in its anime. The main protagonist Kiritsugu Emiya, the foster father of Fate/stay night's protagonist Shirou Emiya, is a ruthless assassin who joins the tournament on behalf of the Einzberns family. His opponent is a monstrous priest, trying to gain immortality.
It's a prequel written by Gen Urobuchi, who some readers may know as the head writer and original creator of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Aldnoah.Zero wrote the first season of Psycho Pass except episode 12. This should give readers an idea of what to expect.
5) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
The main conflict of Code Geass is the battle between the social Darwinist Britannian empire and anti-hero Lelouch vi Britannia who fights by any means necessary. It's important to note Lelouch is an improvement on the existing Japanese rebels who killed Britannian and Japanese civilians in their quest to liberate Japan.
After taking over, Lelouch turned the disparate rebel factions of Japan from a ragtag bunch to a real fighting force by convincing them to rebrand themselves as allies of justice and defenders of the innocent. This got the Black Knights off the ground. Lelouch does become more invested in the fight against Britannia but was at first motivated solely by the need to make the world better for his sister Nunnally.
Overall, the plot and story is between literal fascists on the Britannian side and Well-Intentioned Extremist rebels. Blood is spilled by both sides, but at least the rebels try to avoid any collateral damage. Add in the powers that Lelouch has to hypnotize people, the giant robots and the complex political machinations and chess game metaphors and Code Geass is a complex anime from the creators of Gundam.
6) Baccano!
Baccano is a weird anime with a wide array of ensemble casts of characters that are loosely connected to each other. The story itself is non-linear so it can be very difficult to summarize, but the basic gist is as follows. In the 1700s, a group of alchemists were granted an immortality potion by a summoned demon. The problem? The elixir required the participants to devour their collaborators.
In the 1930s, the last living alchemist recreated the elixir only to have it stolen. Then things spiral, with the police, the FBI, and the mafia all wanting their hands on it. Thus kickstarts the anime's events and why everything can be considered morally gray. Every character is a criminal of some sort, ranging from petty thieves and delinquents to Mafia assassins that don't hesitate to gun anyone down.
The protagonists are just slightly better, usually preferring not to spill blood if unnecessary. Even Isaac and Miria, the most innocent and pure-hearted of the main cast, are robbers wanted by the FBI. The nonlinear time displacement plot means that each episode of this anime, and manga chapter, jumps forwards or backwards in time to give a different character's perspective on events from the 1700s to the 1930s.
7) Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon is probably one of the first anime that fans can think of when it comes to gray mortality given just how much gunfire and illegal activity is done by the main characters. The main characters here are a group of smugglers named the Lagoon Company that smuggle goods in and out of Southeast Asia.
Think of every human vice under the sun, from smuggling alcohol to more illicit material and chances are the Lagoon Company has gotten into it and made everyone else mad in the process. The Lagoon Company have stiff competition in the form of organized crime like Russian Mafias, Yakuza, and Triads. They tend to resolve conflicts with major shootouts more often than not.
As everything else about this entry implies, there's plenty of gun violence and more than a bit of up close and personal violence involving knives or bare fists. The place the protagonists are in isn't a good one considering how much death and pain is caused there, and everyone is bad to some degree but those they end up going after are straight-up evil.
8) Elfen Lied
Elfen Lied has often been considered the original "edgy" anime. With plenty of blood and death to fill several books, this anime isn't for the faint of heart. The protagonist, Lucy, is a mutant known as a Diclonius. The first episode sees her break out of her cruel and inhuman treatment by literally slaughtering everyone in her way including a clumsy maid.
Things don't get much better beyond that, as the tragedy and horror compounds as the anime and manga continue. It was revealed that "Lucy" is just one personality inside of the protagonist, real name Kaede. Then again most of the cast, from good people to downright villains, have some kind of mental health problem and lack any form of therapy.
In essence, Elfen Lied might probably be the bloodiest anime on this list short of Berserk. But it also has several things it wishes to impart to the viewer: that kindness can go a long way, and that abusers should be punished. The former might seem like a stretch, but given that "Lucy" stops or doesn't want to kill every human on Earth, thanks to Kouta? At least it's something.
9) Berserk
Berserk is considered a classic, much like Elfen Lied. This particular anime is considered depressing, but likewise hopeful at the same time. The world of Berserk is cold, cruel, and awful, with marauding bands of demons, mercenaries, and all other hosts of depravity on display. Yet, somehow, hope remains in the form of the protagonist Guts.
A traumatized individual since he was born, Guts has led a difficult life by the time audiences are introduced to him. He's faced murder, r*pe, neglect, and all other manners of horror and even given violence and slaughter at times. Yet, he never fully gives in to the horrors and becomes corrupt.
The fact that Berserk's world seems to ground anyone good into either corruption or death really emphasizes when good things do happen. It's in Casca having the aid she needed to get better after the events of the Eclipse, or Guts trying to rescue people from monsters or selfish humans.
10) Psycho-Pass
In a world ruled by an omnipresent security system that constantly monitors every single thing people think at every minute of the day and declares them threats if they so much as have a bad day, the concept of good and evil can go right out the window. Thus is the universe in the anime Psycho Pass.
While the Enforcers of the Public Safety Bureau are technically good, as they don't commit mass murder, they are a combined team of detectives and criminals. The bounds for what constitutes a crime range from theft to r*pe, to acting out of trauma and having a seriously horrible day at work.
More to the point, the Sybil System itself actually consists of a bunch of criminal brains working together. This adds the element of gray to the proceedings, as even the "perfect" system still gets plenty of things wrong due to simple human error. This is rather ironic, considering it was created to perfect a human error with regard to crime and punishment.
