As we all know the anime world has been something that has always been misunderstood and treated just like any other children’s animated series. However, only otakus and anime enthusiasts all over the world, understand the true value of animes and how much meaning and influence they can have on a person’s life. Over a period of time, some of the genres of anime which have been doing extremely nice are the slice of life and the fantasy anime genre.
They have been flourishing and growing over the last couple of years and something that most of the critics all over the world have mentioned is that the anime industry is going to grow much more and the storyline which has been developing over the last few years are becoming more relatable and that is one of the main reason regarding why so many people all over the world are binge watching all these animes.
Now for those who are new to the world of anime, we must tell you a bit about how the world of anime works, they have basically animated series but the storyline that they follow are written with such precession and thought, that not only kids love them but the target audience is the adults and teenagers, who would understand the emotional aspects of the anime.
Every anime has got a beautiful storyline and sometimes, this story may be so heartbreaking or sad that people get affected by it and often relate to the characters who are suffering with their own lives. Anime has just gone on elevating itself over the years and recently we have received a lot of questions from people regarding animes that have a depressing storyline or are about depression, so down below we have listed 20 animes, which you may end up liking if you have been looking for some anime related to depression.
1. Your Lie In April
We are going to start off with the list, of one of the big names in the anime world. Your Lie in April is one of those animes which can’t be compared to any other on the list. The story is a bit slow paced but the content is absolutely beautiful, we see the story of Kosei Arima, a pianist prodigy, who has been great at it since his childhood.
However, has got some negative relations with his mother since childhood and after she passes, he got into such a state of trauma that music departs from his life and he is not able to play piano anymore. They come to the introduction of another character who is a violinist and the story of how she slowly induces Arima to start playing piano again and get over his fear and also introduces love back into his life is just absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and many other anime streaming platforms
2. Mushishi
This series is actually not completely about depression however it’s about understanding the mindset of Mushi’s or spirits and people who are facing problems related to spirits. The anime series is actually adapted from a great manga of the same name and has been very much praised by critics and the ratings of the show are also quite good.
The anime series came out in the year 2004 and again it was remade in the series in 2015. The story is basically about Ginko who is an expert when it comes to Mushi and he goes around the world, studying about them, and the main reason for their existence. There are many other aspects of the show however every episode, needs to be seen to understand the show more.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and many other anime streaming platforms.
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3. Welcome To N.H.K
One of the biggest names that all of us can relate to when it comes to the word depression and is related to the anime world is this one. This is one of the oldest animes on the list and concentrates on the subject of depression and many other mental illnesses and the Japanese concept of hikikomori. For those who don’t know what hikikomori is, it’s basically someone who has taken himself out of social norms and lives a life where he is detached from society and all other human beings who live in it.
The entire show has a main character who has been suffering from many things and is unemployed. It starts with a problem related to his hikikomori, then there are some love-related problems, peer problems, his own depression, and a past that has been accompanying him for years and the list never sees an end. Overall, it’s a great show and a must-watch on the list.
Where to watch: This show is currently available for streaming on the Amazon prime Videos, Crunchyroll, and Funimation platforms.
4. Rainbow
Rainbow is basically one of the most tragic anime series mentioned on the entire list, it’s basically one of the series which we won’t recommend to anyone who has a weak heart or is very sensitive against physical abuse.
It’s basically the story of 6 delinquent kids who belong to the lower class of societies in the post-war era of Japan, and now they have been taken to a reform camp, where they are treated as inmates and every day they have to go through tremendous torture in the hands on the guards and after they leave the camo, their life completely changes, they were not able to do anything normally and nothing helped them adjust back to the present environment.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Crunchyroll platform.
5. ReLife
This series is quite a beautiful one, and one of our top recommendations, it’s basically the story of how a person who has passed high school and has been kicked out of his last job, searches for a new way of life. He is quite depressed and certain everything changes when an organization comes to him and gives him the opportunity to relive his school high school days, and as he does this he realizes how to deal with different problems in a much more mature mindset after he has faced so much trauma in his life. Now this time the only aim he has got is to change the course of his life and turn out as a better human.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Crunchyroll platform.
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6. Colorful
This movie came out in the year 210 and has been treated as one of the most beautiful anime films of that year. This movie is actually quite harsh on some people if suicide is something that you are really sensitive about. It’s basically a small boy’s story who is troubled by every aspect of his life, be it family, love studies, or himself. There is no escape for him and after facing all these harsh realities he understood that there is no point in living this meaningless life.
Now after this entire thing happened another soul was given the lucky chance, to relive this boy’s life for the last six months and he was also given the task to find out what are the circumstances that was affecting him so much over the years. This is an excellent and beautiful watch and is suggested to everyone out there.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and the Vudu platform.
7. Narutaru
This anime series is quite similar to the anime series mentioned above. It’s basically based on the concept of how even a kid can get into depression and the level it can affect her and the only cause of that is bullying at school.
As we all know the concept of bullying in school has been very serious in the last few years. However, this series came out in the year 2003 and was quite a hit and gave out a strong social message. The story was basically of a sweet young girl, who was loved by everyone and was always seen to be cheerful and happy, in the first few scenes however bullying changed everything, and one fine day, she ended up taking her own life which changed the entire storyline of the series. The anime, as well as the manga of the series, are quite famous and overall it’s a great watch.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Crunchyroll platform and many other anime streaming sites.
8. The Tatami Galaxy
The tatami galaxy however is a break from the long-going name of the series where everything that we see is based on depression. Though is also something not very delightful and shows the life of a student who had thought or expected his life to be something else, if he had made some other choices in his life.
However, that doesn’t happen as easily as he has thought. Because when he actually makes this choice, he realizes they were not worth it and it’s leading to his doom. The novel from which this series has been adapted was quite a hit along with the anime too and overall it’s a great watch to understand life and human psychology.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Disney+ platform.
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9. Violet Ever Garden
You may not find this series to be about depression but surely it tells us about how people who have gone through a lot or didn’t have a normal life, struggle to get back to normal life and understand normal human emotions.
This series basically depicts the life of a woman who was actually used as a war weapon, however when the war got over, she was taken in by the adoptive family, and now returning back to normal life is quite difficult for her and at the same time, understanding the mindset of the [people who have been behaving nicely and treating her well is also very new to her. It’s a great watch and helps us understand the human mindset at a very high level.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Netflix platform.
10. Aoi Bangaku Series
It’s quite a unique series and one of those series we recommend almost everyone to watch to understand how harsh life can be and that the decisions we take don’t leave us with many options from which we can cope in the future.
The series is basically a 12 episodes series where we see the life of a single student who has ended up finding some distant feelings towards his peer groups and people around him and so to cope with that he starts using drugs and many other things, becomes depressed and uses different things to cope with his life. His life just worsens, and that’s what we see in every episode of the series.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Billibili platform.
11. March Comes In Like A Lion
Now if you are looking at this series, you may find one of the characters to be very much a lookalike of Arima from your lie in April, however, the storyline is absolutely not the same. This anime series came out in the year 2016 and was quite famous for the great story it gifted us. The manga series was also very famous and it was based on the story of a prodigy kid only.
He is a shogi player and at the age of 17 only, he has moved away from his adopted family and carries on his life as a world-class shogi player. However, living alone has been a boon and a misfortune to him, as he doesn’t know how to communicate with people. This is the story of how his no concern about anything else about shogi changes as he starts communicating slowly.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and the Funimation platform.
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12. Neon Genesis Evangelion
This anime series is quite a unique one on this list again and this is the only shonen anime on the list so all the people who have been waiting for a long time to see something from the shonen genre, it is actually, meant for you.
In this series, we see that the director or writer himself is struggling with depression and he has introduced the series with such concepts that we get to understand the mental health condition, in which children are meant to go through a lot of struggles to save the world. Many things about this anime may not seem right but at the end of the day, it’s one of the best ones you have got on the list and surely worth a watch for all.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Amazon prime videos platform.
13. Sayonara Zetsuboi Sensei
This series is quite based on a real-life situation that exists in Japan. One of the things that we do need to consider about Japan is the suicide rates and the number of people who aren’t able to handle the pressure of society and the life they lead and how they end up killing themselves by the end of the day.
This series is basically based on how a homeroom teacher ends up trying to take his life, however, one of his students saves him, and then in every episode, we get to see different phases of the Japanese culture, how life is, and some of the iconic phrases from the culture. Overall, it’s a great series and helps us understand the pressure of a human’s life.
Where to watch: this anime is currently available for streaming on the Crunchyroll platform along with many other anime streaming platforms.
14. Serial Experiments Lain
Serial experiments lain is one of those series that may sound a bit creepy but can happen to anyone around us. We often find people around us taking their lives because of social media or internet-related problems. With the development stage, the world has reached its very common nowadays.
However, how will it turn out, if someone who has taken his life sends you an email just before committing suicide and that email connects you to a series of these events, which end up messing up your entire life and just turns things into a much worse scenario than we can probably imagine ourselves?
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Funimation platform.
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15. Golden Time
Now this series may not be about depression, however, it is about amnesia which is again a mental health issue and there are quite some consequences that follow a person who has suffered from this series. It’s basically the story of a boy who met a tragic incident and couldn’t get out of his trauma while suffering from amnesia at the same time.
Now he is given a new chance to start his life again and everything changes for him as he slowly recovers and everything around him becomes much livelier and we get to see the journey of a person who is slowly recovering from his traumas. This series came out a few years back and was very much praised for its great animation and the kind of story it depicted to us. Overall, a great watch for all the audiences out there.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and the Roku platform.
16. Fruit Basket
Now many people will absolutely be against mentioning this anime series on this list, however, based on how the critics have labeled and given reviews about this series, and how certain aspects of it, target the mental and psychological changes a person can go through because of the issues and the circumstances around him, is quite greatly depicted.
Overall, many otakus out here, have already heard of this series and overall, it’s a great series that is almost recommended to everyone out there. The manga of this series is also quite famous and even if you are not looking for something depressing or sad, you can go for this series
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Hulu platform.
17. Given
Music has always been something that heals a human being from whatever he is going through and that’s what we get to see in this series. In this series, we see the dark side of love, and how it feels when you end up losing a person you love, and the more traumatic part of this series is the scene when the main character finds out the dead body of his loved one and soon his recovery from the incident through the learning of guitar and his aim is to learn it so he could feel closer to his dead girlfriend. Overall, a great series and a must-watch for all
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and the Mondo platform.
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18. Blue Period
This anime is quite similar to what we have seen above in many other animes on the list, when a person loses interest and finds emptiness inside himself, he has nothing to do and ends the motive of his life and that’s the exact thing that we end up seeing in this anime, however for this anime we also see a person acting as a lifesaver and saving the person from further miseries and gives a new meaning to his life. Overall again a great watch and a very famous manga series too.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on the Netflix platform.
19. Orange
Orange is an anime series, which is a friend group-based anime series however there too we find traces of depression mental health problems and many other things in the hearts of friends. And everything changes when one of the members ends up getting a letter from her future self which tells us to stay away from some people. There are some aspects of romance, some suicidal tendency, and many other things which makes this anime very sad and worth a watch.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll as well as the Amazon prime videos platform.
20. Another
The last name on this list has surely got to be this one, another is an anime series that came out in the year 2012 and was quite famous when it came out. This series is based on the life of a boy who after changing his school and dealing with the losses of some of his most closed ones, gets related to a girl who ends up changing his life completely and the way he starts showing his feelings to people around him is surely something very notable and unusual.
Where to watch: This anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll and many other online anime streaming platforms.
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