Logic dictates that a dark and overbearing anime would be populated by characters who share a pessimistic perspective on their world. This is not the case with these characters, who have not only managed to find the bright side of life, but also actively enjoy their infernal environments.
Some have found a way to remain blissfully ignorant of the foreboding doom of their respective worlds, while others really want to see their worlds end just for fun. In any case, nothing, not even death itself, can quench the spirits of these people.
WARNING: There are spoilers ahead.
10 anime characters who seem cheerful but have difficult lives
10 animated series influenced by anime
10 Black Lagoon – Leigharch was too tall to care about the darkness of Roanapur
Everyone who works or lives in Roanapur They are prone to letting their bloodlust (or what Dutch calls Whitman fever) take over, but these cases are fleeting. Those moments are just the symptoms ofendemic nihilism de Black Lagoon, which forces the mercenaries to hide behind a baddie stance, which is what makes Leigharch stand out.
In short, Leigharch is too high on cocaine (manga) or marijuana (anime) to care about guilt or morality. This only improved his driving, although he attributes it to Captain Picard and the Playboy bunnies he sees in their constant hallucinations. Unfortunately, Shenhua claims that he overdosed and has not yet returned from Mars.
9 Jujutsu Kaisen – Aoi Todo is an idol fan who just wanted to find a brother
A central theme of Jujutsu Kaisen it is the will to accept death; Sorcerers and cursed alike know they can die at any moment, so they try to put on a brave face no matter what. Meanwhile, Todo doesn’t care much about the fragility of his mortal existence because his favorite idol, Takada-chan, has an upcoming show.
Unlike his fellow warlocks, Todo does not take his obligations seriously. As far as he’s concerned, it’s just a means to his end of finding a kindred soul to call “brother.” That, and he finds that hitting enemies is immensely fun. Fortunately for Todo, he found what he was looking for in Yuji Itadori, although the latter would disagree.
8 Rebuild Of Evangelion – Mari Illustrious Makinami loves to get into her robot
Neon Genesis Evangelion is known for its emotionally tortured pilots struggling to stay sane in a dying world, but the movies of Rebuild put a twist on this tradition. Appearing for the first time in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, Mari is by far the only EVA pilot who loves her job of piloting the haunting Freudian mechs to heart.
While she may have ulterior motives for fighting alongside NERV (or WILLE later on), Mari has no known baggage and legitimately enjoys piloting her EVA. His true motivations and backstory can finally be revealed in Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon A Time, although no one expects his bubbly demeanor to change.
7 Attack On Titan – Hange Zoe is the only soldier who thinks Titans are cool
The world of Attack the titans it’s one of the darkest remembered in recent anime, especially when its characters’ only long-term life options are living in a glorified prison or being eaten by a giant cannibal. But while everyone understandably fears or hates Titans, Hange Zoe is fascinated by them.
The mysterious origins of the Titans and the seemingly myriad forms of the Changelings excite Hange, to the point where his companions find Hange scarier than a Titan’s smile. That said, Hange’s eccentricity is an alternative to his original raging bloodlust, which often resurfaces in times of great stress and danger.
6 Tokyo Ghoul – Shuu Tsukiyama reveled in outrageous cannibalism
Life in Tokio Ghoul not easy for both humans and ghouls. Humans live in mortal fear of being eaten by a Ghoul, while Ghouls yearn for a place in society where they will not be persecuted. One of the few who found luxury in the darkness of this world was Shuu, better known as the Gourmet Ghoul.
Despite being known to eat people only after torturing them, Shuu considers himself high class. Its main objective is to experience the best flavors that life has to offer, whether in human flesh or in the art that it treasures. He has developed an obsession for Kaneki, and he doesn’t let anything get in the way of his one-sided affection.
5 Danganronpa The Animation – Junko Enoshima found joy in despair
Since this is the definitive death game anime, Danganronpa It is, unsurprisingly, dark and heartbreaking. In it, students are trapped at Hope Peak Academy, where they must commit the perfect murder and get away with graduating. At the forefront of it all is Monokuma, a sadistic teddy bear and director. However, Monokuma is just the cover of the brain, and it is revealed that Junko has orchestrated it all from the beginning.
Junko can only feel pleasure when inflicting pain, which she did through speeches to break Monokuma’s sanity and throwing deadly curveballs whenever she got bored. In fact, Junko so enjoyed sowing discord that he longed for his execution. But even before she confessed, Junko was the exciting fashionista that everyone wanted to befriend.
4 Beastars – Riz could barely hide his killer instincts
The anthropomorphic worldof Beastars It can be disarmingly welcoming, as their interspecies society is forged with deep prejudices and unspoken castes. Cherryton Academy is one of the few safe spaces in this unforgiving world, and is the scene of a cruel murder that shakes the student body.
Riz, the sympathetic brown bear from the drama club, is the culprit, but his overly friendly personality did a good job of covering up his murderous side. Legoshi and Pina discovered Riz’s facade, and to say that Riz lost his cool is an understatement. At the end of the second season, Riz got carried away by his bloodlust and nearly ate his teammates in a fit of rage.
3 Death Note – Ryuk enjoyed the show of his life
Unlike Light Yagami, Ryuk had no grand designs or delusions; dropped his Death Note on Earth because he was bored. Luckily for Ryuk, a certain teenage prodigy with a god complex picked her up and tried to reshape the world in his image and likeness, thus giving the Shinigami the best entertainment he’s had in eons.
From the beginning to the end de Death Note , Ryuk was with Light just to see what crazy things he would do next as Kira. As Light took his self-designation of god seriously, Ryuk watched him happily. When Ryuk wasn’t cheering for Kira, he was eating apples or fascinated by the more mundane parts of mortal life.
2 Hellsing Ultimate – Hellsing, Iscariot and Millennium have fun in London
Despite living in a world where vampires and vampire Nazis are a constant threat, almost everyone in Hellsing Ultimate seemed to be having fun. Even more reserved people, like Seras Victoria, eventually gave in to the pleasure of the carnage, joining Alucard and the Major in their love of carnage.
This bloody joy reached its peak during the Battle of London, when all sides of the conflict converged on the British capital. As Millenium waged the war they always wanted, the Hellsing Organization and Iscariot reveled in the opportunity, once in a generation, to display their respective murderous might in public.
1 Dorohedoro – Death and torture is something everyday for everyone
The worldde Dorohedoro It is divided into two distinct regions: Magic Users have fun in an upper-class dimension, while humans stay in the slums known as The Hole. Magic Users cruelly abduct random people to test their spells, while humans brutally kill any Magic Users who end up in The Hole.
Despite all this, everyone in the anime is quite cheerful. Kaiman and his best friend Nikaido gleefully kill Magic Users before lunchtime, while En and his family of Magic Users really take care of each other. Death and fates worse than it are so normalized in this world that no one bothers to fear or mourn it.