Let’s be real: anime just wouldn’t be the same without its dark, brooding, and emotionally complex girls. If you were enveloped in black back in your 2000s emo days, still sporting goth looks today, or simply enjoy some fashionable angst in your narratives, chances are these characters helped curate your playlist, your moodboards, or both. From tragic anti-heroines to gothic icons—and yes, even a punk Sanrio bunny—these 15 girls are icons in every possible sense of the term.
15. Kurumi Tokisaki (Date A Live)
Kurumi is unadulterated chaos in gothic lolita lace. Her blood-red eyes, creepy smile, and time-manipulating abilities make her both terrifying and strangely captivating. She’s the type of character to make you question your ethics… and perhaps your waifu tastes. She’s fashionable, deadly, and complicated—just the way we like our dark girls.
14. Hannah Annafellows (Black Butler)
Quiet servant with secrets well hidden, Hannah silently suffers with unsettling serenity. Her devotion conceals a strength that far exceeds her subtle nature. With each smile and whisper, she is gothic elegance and subdued bereavement—one of Black Butler’s most stunningly underappreciated characters.
13. Inori Yuzuriha (Guilty Crown)
Exquisite and ethereal, Inori resembles she stepped off the stage of a dystopian J-pop show. But under that porcelain veneer is a deadly strength—and crushing loneliness. Whether performing with EGOIST or trapped in apocalyptic war, Inori captures that emo duality of vulnerability and inner toughness.
12. Rinko Ogasawara (Shirobako)
In a stress-ridden, deadline-prone workplace, Rinko becomes a standout with her gothic lolita style, reserved personality, and ruthless design chops. Her style might be “Victorian ghost” material, but she’s a complete bossman behind the scenes. Evidence that you can take your alt fashion to the boardroom—or the animation studio.
11. Victorique de Blois (Gosick)
Victorique is not your typical teenage girl—she’s a genius shut-in with an enigmatic background and an appetite for gothic fiction. Cracking gruesome homicides from her library fortress, she possesses the intellectual firepower of Sherlock Holmes and the wardrobe of a porcelain doll. Behind the sarcasm and loneliness? A profoundly lonely heart longing for connection.
10. Road Kamelot (D.Gray-man)
Half dream, half nightmare, Road Kamelot operates on her warped terms. She can appear to be a cheeky little scamp, but she’s had centuries of practice traumatizing people’s hearts and minds. Her goth style, sadistic glee, and tragic depth make her unforgettable—and rather more than a little unnerving.
9. Misa Amane (Death Note)
The goth idol queen herself. Misa is dramatic, dedicated, and perilously spontaneous. With her pigtails, chokers, and dark style, she legitimized the emo look in anime. Her all-consuming love for Light can be misguided, but her tragic richness and fierce energy made her a queen of emo anime.
8. Izumi Takanashi (Working!!)
Izumi is what you get when the “goth writer” cliché becomes a reality. Seldom out of her messy room, perpetually in black, and swimming in deadlines, she’s the artistic mayhem we all hope to (or do live). She’s an introvert, writer, and mess-finder’s idol.
7. Hotaru Tomoe / Sailor Saturn (Sailor Moon)
With the ability to destroy planets and a quiet sorrow in her eyes, Hotaru is the definitive tragic magical girl. Her path from fragile outcast to world-destroying goddess is one of the most powerful story arcs in Sailor Moon. If you enjoyed sad characters before it was trendy, Hotaru was likely your initial favorite.
6. Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Lust is elegance with a killer twist. Cool, self-assured, and calculating, she’s more than a simple namesake sin. Inside the femme fatale façade resides a character torn between loyalty, death, and suffering. She’s dark, complicated, and fashionably magnetic—just like any good goth must be.
5. Re-l Mayer (Ergo Proxy)
With her bold eyeliner and even bolder attitude, Re-l is the cyberpunk goth of your dreams. Investigating dystopian mysteries with a stoic face and heavy boots, she’s emotionally guarded but deeply introspective. If you’ve ever felt like the only one questioning reality, she gets you.
4. Saeko Busujima (High School of the Dead)
Unflappable in the face of danger, lethal with a blade, and always perfectly put together, Saeko is as fashionable as she is lethal. She’s not merely living through the zombie apocalypse—she’s making a killing in it. Her gothic beauty and warped sense of morality provide the sheen that makes her stand out from your typical final girl.
3. Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Homura’s arc is a single downward spiral into obsession, tragedy, and silent desperation—and it’s completely enthralling. From shy schoolgirl to time-traveling anti-hero, she’s the epitome of emotional nuance. Her devotion to Madoka and her willingness to set the world ablaze? Peak emo intensity.
2. Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
The template. Rei didn’t only impact characters—she established an entire archetype. Pale, reserved, enigmatic, and existentially spent, Rei resonates with a generation of kids who came of age questioning whether or not they existed. She’s not only iconic—she’s essential.
1. Kuromi (Sanrio / Onegai My Melody)
Who says goth can’t be adorable? Kuromi mashes up punk, naughtiness, and pastel madness into a tornado of naughty kawaii. With her jester cap, Halloween birthday, and attitude-free attitude, she’s an icon for anyone who’s ever felt like the black sheep of a sea of pink bunnies. Her message? Be yourself—ideally, adorably evil.
No matter if you are related to their suffering, envy their style, or just adore a good sad history, these women popularized angst. So put on some eyeliner, crank up your favorite depressing song, and give a nod to the anime legends that showed that darkness could be gorgeous.