Ultra-violent Anime.

[skibadaa]

Gantz.

Either this or Berserk for mainstream stuff.

Gantz: From what I've heard of it. Might even rival Elfen Lied.

If you're looking for truly messed up Anime though, I'm not sure the mainstream retail (i.e. known outside very specific subgroups) scene is where to look. You'll probably have to go much deeper underground than The Escapist to find the most ultraviolent stuff Anime has to offer. Not sure I'd recommend that though, as the Anime mentioned here are plenty brutal for most tastes, and some already border on disturbing.

Gantz is far worse than Elfen Lied. It's far more brutal and sadistic.

As for the most fucked up thing you'll find in mainstream.. Legend of the Overfiend. Fairly obscure by modern anime, so it might be just outside the realm of mainstream nowadays. It's the film that pretty much created tentacle rape. I think it's Japanese name is Urotsukidoji, and it's actually really good, just fucked up beyond any form of something you'll normally see without getting into really messed up hentai-esque stuff.

Dude, Urotsukudoji IS messed up hentai, or at least the un-censored japanese import version of it is, but of course you wont find the uncensored original on anything other than pirate VHS or more aptly: you wont find it outside japan.

but censored or not its still pretty savage. btw, Legend of the Overfiend is just the first of five films:

Urotsukudoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb
Urotsukudoji III: Return of the Overfiend
Urotsukudoji IV: Inferno Road
Urotsukudoji V: The Final Chapter

Although i think III and IV are banned in the UK and V was never completed.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

I'll also repeat everyone with Elfen Lied. We are all saying it because it is a MUST see. You are really missing out if you haven't.

I am looking for a new anime to watch, and I will be honest. I am a fan of action, intense battles, dramatic stories, and complex plot/character development.

Does Elfen Lied have this? I know nothing about it at all, I saw some pictures and I wasn't the biggest fan of the art, but if someone can tell me if it has all these things I will definitely check it out.

OT: High School of the Dead anime is pretty brutal.

 

[Gigano]

I am looking for a new anime to watch, and I will be honest. I am a fan of action, intense battles, dramatic stories, and complex plot/character development.

Does Elfen Lied have this? I know nothing about it at all, I saw some pictures and I wasn't the biggest fan of the art, but if someone can tell me if it has all these things I will definitely check it out.

...

I recon it has all that except much character development. Though some light is shed upon how the characters came to be in the pretty messed up mental states they're in at the beginning. The story has positively extreme amounts of drama and emotion-tugging (especially back stories and towards the end), and the action/battles (often using a unique gripping/slashing variety of telekinesis on at least one side) are made quite intense by knowing that suffering horrendous mutilation or dying a very brutal death is far from impossible in this series.

 

[Thaius]

Elfen Lied counts, for sure. Really good, but really hard to watch, for reason of both it's gore and its thematic elements. It's... yeah.

 

[linoleum007]

I totally loved Gantz, the action and the gore! I thought Elfin Lied had a lot of slow parts between action scenes... though when the action came it was fast and furious. My favorite has to be Ninja Scroll!!! Nonstop action, great story, and fantastic/dreative characters.

 

[Reed Spacer]

Fist of the North Star. It's so violent it's practically comedic.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

High Schol of the Dead (two words: zombie children)
Elfen Lied
Higurashi
(insert hentai title here)

 

[TeeBs]

Depends, Elfen Lied is violent, but really bad. If you want an anime that is violent and can stand on its own without the violence, I recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Kite, Followed by Mezzo Forte. Just be sure to find the completely uncensored versions. The "director's cut" is actually more censored than the original.

 

[Kirkby]

High School of the Dead or Elfen Lied

Great call on High School of the Dead! One of my fav animes hands down, really good story really interesting characters and gory!

 

[Leemaster777]

it was only like 5 episodes but afro samurai has some serious violence in it.

This, seriously. That series is more violent than the Saw movies.

Plus, it has Samuel Jackson, and who could say no to Samuel Jackson?

 

[Jazoni89]

It looks like the escapist's off topic discussion can't go for five minutes without a new anime topic popping up.

*sigh*

well...Higurashi no naku koro ni and elfen lied.

Higurashi starts off very tame and a few episode in, and bam!

This scene later on in the series is defiantly one of the goriest, and most disturbing things, I have ever seen in my life.

Warning contains spoilers! and is not a recommended watch for anyone with a nervous disposition to violence.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

I'm seeing a lot of the same names being repeated here, so I'm gonna go with one that is a bit more recent and less popular.

Dead Space: Downfall. Not spectacular by any means, but if you are a fan of the games it fills in a lot of the backstory. Plus, true to its namesake, its gory as hell.

 

[Sandytimeman]

Elfin Lied
Claymore
Berserk (The manga is...like 10000000000 times more gory then the anime and continues the story for longer)(good story though, highly recommended.)

 

[shadyh8er]

I need recommendations for the most extreme, brutal, messed up and twisted animes everyone can think of. Thank you.

Baccano: Those poor characters' fingers...


Kite: Just look at the "Violence and Gore" section in its IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246734/parentalguide

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Violence Jack (the uncut version, which is hard to find, even online) was here. Everything else is small time. I'm not even sure I'm allowed to mention some of the things that happen in those three episodes, which may also be the worst in the history of Japanese animation. If you watch it, I suggest you get some steel wool ready to scrub yourself with afterwards. And when I say worst, I also mean that it fails so completely as a work of film that Manos: Hands of Fate looks competent in comparison.

It is worth remembering that, whatever anyone tells you, the most violent anime was all made during the late eighties and early nineties when the OAV market was in full swing. The gore and insanity in titles like Angel Cop and Apocalypse Zero put modern attempts to shame in terms of detail and animation quality.

As far as manga goes, I think that Violence Hero Riki Oh has a title that speaks for itself. Don't watch the anime, though. It takes out all the good parts.

 

[Darwins_Folly]

Wow, thread resurrected after six months. Thats gotta be some sort of record.

 

[OliverTwist72]

I remember Ninja Scroll having lots of blood, but it has been a few years since I've seen it so I'm not sure how violent it was (other than large spurts of blood). But I'm guessing it was.

Edit: And I'm talking about the series, I have not seen the movie.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Read the Berserk manga.

Seriously, Elfenlied and Higurashi ain't got nothing on the amount of fucked up violence that occurs in Berserk.

 

[MadBlueWinnie]

I know its been said 20 times before, but Higurashi is your one stop anime for what you're looking for.
Also contains a brilliant story, hilarious cute moments which strangely contrast the violent stuff, and Rika.