Emo and scene never really left—they just went underground, waiting for Gen Z to bring them back with eyeliner, chain belts, and angsty playlists. But these days, it’s not just the music hitting hard—it’s anime. With raw emotion, bold fashion, and identity crises wrapped in beautiful chaos, certain shows just get it. If you’ve ever worn a studded belt or cried to a piano solo at 2 a.m., here are 10 iconic emo and scene anime you probably already love—or will soon.
10. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Visualize a moody assassin thriller with a big helping of existential horror. Phantom leaves you at a head in the middle of violence, amnesia, and emotional numbness. It’s the sort of show that makes you think of a lonely night drive with a broken GPS—melancholic, beautiful, and strangely comforting. Noir in atmosphere and painfully human characters, it’s the finest emo-core storytelling. Bonus points if you’ve ever dreamt your life into a slow-motion music video.
9. Kaiba
At first glance, Kaiba’s a trippy cartoon made while hallucinating under a fever dream. Don’t be fooled by the surreal imagery—this anime bites hard. It explores memory, class, and identity with a ferocity way more severe than expected. Body-swapping, chasing love in broken worlds, questioning who you even are—Kaiba’s an emo thesis paper disguised as a psychedelic tour for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong anywhere.
8. Casshern Sins
This one is sort of like being able to see a visual poem of rot and rebirth. Casshern Sins is a slow, muted show in a world that is withering away and where hope seems lost. It’s the solitary warrior seeking meaning. The show won’t tell you anything, but it’ll make you sit in your head—and your feelings. It’s the sort of anime you watch with a blanket over you while the rain pounds on your window.
7. Parasyte: The Maxim
Imagine waking up one day and an alien has possessed your hand. Now, imagine that alien is cleverer than you. Parasyte marries gore and philosophy with one of the most genuine coming-of-age plots out there in anime. Shinichi’s breakdowns, humanity conundrums, and face-palm-worthy moments of self-realization make this show feel intimate in a non-intuitive way. It’s horror, but it’s got a heart—and said heart’s probably sporting an earring and a mixtape.
6. Nana
This one cuts deep. Two girls are named Nana. One’s punk-rock and fearless, the other’s romantic and lost. They together attempt to make sense of love, dreams, and all that in between. Nana doesn’t hold back—relationships break up, people mess up, and dreams are shattered. But it’s true. The fashion’s iconic, the music’s pure gold, and the emotional rollercoaster? Unmatched. It’s like your go-to album after a breakup—sad, raw, and oddly healing.
5. Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
This show is like if your internal thought pattern existed as its anime. It’s weird, fast, and darkly humorous. The main character is fixated on despair, and miraculously, it’s ridiculously fun to watch. Satiric and nonsensical, Zetsubou-sensei gripes about everything from social norms to school itself, with the kind of acidic humor only scene kids understand. If you’ve ever written awful poetry about how much you hate mornings, this one’s for you.
4. Death Note
The original gritty anime icon. Death Note successfully wrote the emo/scene obsession playbook. Gothic aesthetic? You got it. Intricate moral dilemmas? Absolutely. Heroes that look like they’ve been shopping the Hot Topic in the afterlife? You bet your sweet bippy. To watch Light go from driven prodigy to megalomaniacal god-complex villain is a master class in breaking characters. And L’s quirky brilliance only adds to the twisted charm. This is the show that made eyeliner cool for a whole generation.
3. Your Lie in April
It’s too sweet on the surface to belong on this list. But let a few episodes in, and you’ll find this series is here to emotionally destroy you. Underneath the pastel colors and soothing piano is a gut-check of grief, trauma, and the long road to healing. It’s about music, yes—but more than that, it’s about confronting your pain and finding the courage to move forward. If you’ve ever cried during a song, this anime understands you.
2. Demon Slayer
It might be flashy and modern, but Demon Slayer speaks emo fluently. Tanjiro’s journey is soaked in tragedy—from losing his family to protecting his demon sister with everything he’s got. It’s all about devotion, grief, and never surrendering, no matter how hard the world burns. And let’s not forget t, he visuals: gratuitous sword fights, creepy soundtracks, and as much angst to fuel an entire discography for an emo band. It’s the emo atmosphere of original Naruto on steroids with 10 times the graphic effect.
1. Tokyo Ghoul
This one needs no introduction. Tokyo Ghoul is the ultimate emo/scene anime. Everything about it screams “midnight playlist and broken mirror selfies.” From the iconic intro track to Kaneki’s descent into tortured anti-hero territory, this show captures the chaos of losing yourself and trying to claw your way back. Identity, trauma, self-hatred—it’s all here. And if the anime wasn’t enough, the manga dials the emotion up even further. It’s more than a series—it’s a lifestyle.
Whether you’re reliving your MySpace glory days or discovering your scene side through TikTok edits, these anime are the perfect blend of heartbreak, introspection, and aesthetic chaos. They remind us that being different isn’t just okay—it’s powerful. So pull on your black hoodie, blast that playlist, and let these shows drag your soul through the beautiful, messy, emotional journey that only emo and scene can truly deliver.