Top 10 Darkest Moments In Kids Anime

“Digimon Adventure 02” (2000-01)
The fact this plot thread wasn’t followed up was downright criminal…but hey maybe they figured this might scare the digi-dookie out of the weans watching. I mean just look at this! You’ve got Kari being pulled into this bleak hellscape that’s lurks outside both the human and digital worlds, only for her to be hunted by creepy fish guys who want to make her their Queen and rule alongside a Cthulu-like Digimon. Not only should she be suffering from some major PTSD following this whole affair, but it likely put many younger viewers off from going to the beach for a while.

“Sonic X” (2003-04)
Look, just because WE enjoy the sight of Shadow kicking the seven emeralds out of Chris over and over again, doesn’t mean the kids did. As the human foil for the show, Chris’ involvement was key to introducing new viewers to Sonic’s canon of work, including all the events aboard the Ark. It’s just a bit surprising that the studio decided to include a scene where Chris gets the coins kicked out of him while trying to convince Shadow to protect the world, despite the fact humans killed his one friend. Careful now, don’t want the children to get cut on all that edge!

“Yo-Kai Watch” (2014-18)
Turns out having a billion goofy ghosts around doesn’t detract from the fact that this anime showed a cat getting hit by a truck! Yeah, as it happens cat deaths don’t make for a fun viewing experience, especially if those who are watching are kids who happen to have kitties of their own. While he would later go on to thrive in the after life as another phantasmic addition to Yokai Watch’s list of monsters, seeing how his time on Earth actually came to an end was quite depressing. Especially when he discovered the truth about his owner’s heartbreak.

“Beyblade: G-Revolution” (2003)
How privileged do you have to be when a single loss drives you off the deep end and causes your Bit-Beast to go on a rampage? Despite his seemingly innate ability to overpower his opponents, Brooklyn’s cavalier attitude towards the sport proves to be his undoing when Kai gets one over on him and manages to win their match. This not only sends Brooklyn into a psychotic spiral, but the show makes it look like Kai just straight up dies following his victory. We knew Beyblade was a cutthroat business but JEEZ!

“Pokemon” (1997-)
Remember when these two Water fiends devastated an entire city, likely killed multiple people and caused so much destruction they might as well have been in a Godzilla flick? Yeah, that happened. This was the early days of Pokemon, so it was well before Ash became Poke-Jesus and Legendaries reigning down hellfire was just another Monday. As such, kids learned the hard way that some pocket monsters are nothing more than tentacled horrors who will either crush you or take over your brain if you aren’t careful! If that wasn’t enough, the episode had to be pulled from broadcast reruns in the wake of 9/11.

“Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal” (2011-14)
Not every fan of this iconic children’s card game grew up with such classic, shocking moments like Kaiba’s suicide play, talking penguins and everything that Yami Marik did. Some grew up with the likes of Yuma and Kaito…and got to watch in terror as the latter died from suffocation, since he was forced to duel on the freakin’ moon! If that’s not tragic enough even Orbital ends up biting the dust alongside his master. This is a show about card games – how can things be this tragic?!

“Digimon Data Squad” (2006-07)
Leave it to the franchise’s vastly underrated stepchild to deliver on something so dark it makes Ken’s run as the slave-driving Digimon Emperor look poultry by comparison. Crazed, cowardly and in dire need of a therapist, Kurata let his own fears consume him when faced with the reality of the Digital World, leading him to send in machines and troops to kill any Digimon on site and burn their homes. Yes, including the harmless little baby ones. Whelp, it was probably time for the kids watching to ask their parents about genocide anyway.

“Medabots” (1999-2000)
Oh sure, the idea of a reality where Medabots are plunged into a civil war and have to kill each other over their contrasting ideals might sound like an epic narrative to us, but for everyone younger than ten, this was a lot darker than what they were used to. Up until this point, they were just watching Medabee blast robots with the Medaforce, only to have them be rebuilt by next episode. But this? This a battlefield ridden with the corpses of fallen metal soldiers and civilians. Including Brass and Rokusho! Bit of a difference!

“Pokemon” (1997-)
Ash gets turned into a statue? Who cares? Celebi is reduced to a dried up husk? So what? An aging dog who had been the lone caregiver to an embittered fire kitten passes away? Oh god here come the waterworks! As Litten’s lone parental figure, Stoutland was portrayed as both kind and sage figure, so to seem him die and leave his adopted child alone the world was painful enough to make anyone cry like a Togepi. We imagine there were a few cats and dogs hurriedly purchased that day by parents on account of their inconsolable children.

“Digimon Tamers” (2001-02)
And this was when the franchise went off the deep end and shifted into full-on “crap-your-pants” scary territory. Traumatised over the death of Leomon, Jeri’s fractured mind proves to be fertile ground for the D-Reaper to enter the human world. As such, she gets bombarded with no shortage of nightmares and other despairing visions, including the death of her mother as well as her hand puppet coming to life and taunting her. Tell you what, Jeri isn’t going to be the only one who’s going to be left in shambles after watching this!