The excellent options for the best noir anime will be discussed here. Noir anime is one of the most intriguing and captivating anime subgenres.
Few anime can successfully capture the enigmatic and harsh tone of noir.
However, the protagonist is likely to be a disheveled detective or a rebel without a cause who must deal with life’s ups and downs.
A noir anime can be a ground-breaking series that has a profound effect on anime fans all around the world.
This anime can use the hypocritical tones of noir and the despair of the main protagonist or their surroundings without making the series overly depressing.
This original concept can be written that allows viewers to put themselves in the shoes of the main protagonist and feel the weight on their shoulders.
You eagerly anticipate seeing some of the best noir anime on the list below.
1. Trigun (1998)
Trigun takes place on a barren planet in the far future. Gunfighter Vash the Stampede has a reputation for being so brutal that there is a $60 billion bounty on his head.
When the news of his presence spreads, entire villages evacuate. Vash the Stampede is not the persona that rumors have given him.
Trigun’s mysterious and conflicted main character, while occasionally being an absolute moron, is more heroic.
Trigun is one of the best noir anime. Trigun is one of the best noir anime.
2. Berserk (1997-1998)
Is a person’s volition truly their own, or does God alone control it? The only thing that counts on the battlefield, in the eyes of a soldier, is survival. Berserk is one of the best noir anime.
A lone fighter named “Guts” joins the Band of the Hawk, a band of mercenaries, carrying his sword.
Will this soldier finally understand his mission and find comfort in this new band of loyal soldiers?
3. Perfect Blue (1997)
The lead vocalist of the popular J-Pop group “CHAM!” and teen idol Mima Kirigoe decided to leave her bubblegum trio.
K-pop left to embark on a career as an actor in the television drama opera “Double Bind,” encouraged by her manager Rumi.
The young band’s male fans are not pleased with her brave decision, particularly the unidentified ardent supporter.
This supporter begins posting sinister threats and unsettlingly personal details about Mima’s life on her blog—entries Mima swears are not hers.
All the people who persuaded Mima to adopt her “bad girl” reputation are brutally killed, and a scary doppelgänger stalks Mima.
Is Mima being stalked by a vicious killer, or is this weird and frightening situation only a visual illusion?
4. The Big O (1999-2003)
Due to a catastrophe 40 years ago, it is still populated by forgotten pasts and the remnants of their labors.
It is up to individuals like Roger Smith to cut through the haze and shed light on the mystery shrouded in it.
Roger is a self-tailed ladies’ man who doubles as a skilled negotiator and sophisticated agent. His only love is funeral black. The Big O is one of the best noir anime.
However, when he develops a close relationship with his clients, he doesn’t have straightforward negotiation, but Roger defends Paradigm from danger and criminality.
Roger stumbles further into the unknown reaches of the city as a result. Generally speaking, nothing is ever exactly as it seems. Roger has allies and is the grey knight in a world of greys.
Norman, a dependable and accomplished butler, and Dorothy, an android with a deadpan sense of humor, stand at his side.
They assist Roger as he learns the truth about 40 years ago and serves iron justice to Paradigm’s hiding baddies with the artifact Big O, a jet-black mecha of enormous size and weight.
5. Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
Even after colonizing the stars, humanity is still the same power-hungry, desperate species in 2071.
They adopted the super-dog Ein, persuaded the alluring femme fatale, Faye Valentine, and convinced the adolescent hacker Edward.
However, things are about to get a lot more difficult for a worn pair of spacefaring hitmen named Spike Spiegel and Jet Black.
These five characters are about to encounter something much wilder than the Bebop team itself.
6. Ergo Proxy (2006)
Humans coexist peacefully with androids in a dome-shaped city in a post-apocalyptic future.
Inspector Re-l Mayer is now bored, and a strange string of murders has entered his life. Ergo Proxy is one of the best noir anime.
7. Psycho-Pass (2021-present)
Welcome to a society where being guilty of a crime simply by thinking about it makes you one.
Evil intent can no longer be concealed, and the authorities know which Tainted Minds will turn against the law.
The Dominator, a cutting-edge weapon that can read minds and determine the likelihood that a citizen will turn criminal, is the great equalizer in the struggle against gangsters. Enforcers and Inspectors make up the squads of police officers.
The all-powerful Sibyl System maintains a close eye on us all as Enforcers eliminate the terrible guys and Inspectors prevent their comrades from turning renegade.
8. Black Lagoon (2006)
Rock, who was sick of living the same old life, was hired by pirates and is now traveling across the ocean with Revy as their captain. Together with Dutch, Benny, and her team.
They discover that something else awaits them beyond the horizon now that Rock has joined them. The black lagoon is one of the best noir anime.
9. Gungrave (2003-2004)
The setting for Gungrave is an unnamed village with a European-like atmosphere and appearance.
The story centers on a group of pals who want to get wealthy and possibly rise to high social positions by committing small-time crimes.
However, the criminal underworld is highly ruthless and will patiently wait for a favorable chance to destroy you.
The two characters will eventually pay the price for entering this harsh realm. However, it will be very high, but they will ultimately discover a way out.
The trio of brothers and pals realizes their dream and joins a powerful mafia organization.
This group has the authority to rule over everything. The story of Gungrave shows how influence and power can alter a person.
10. Blue Exorcist (2011)
Rin Okumura was raised by renowned exorcist Father Fujimoto and never knew his biological father.
One day, after a crucial disagreement with Father Fujimoto, Rin is forced to confront the horrible reality that the demon lord Satan’s blood flows through his veins.
To defeat Satan, Rin must enroll in the enigmatic True Cross Academy and train as an exorcist. Blue exorcist is one of the best noir anime.
11. 91 Days (2016)
The plot takes place in a fictionalized version of America in 1932, during the final years of Prohibition, where fermented liquor rules the illicit market owing to the Italian Mafia.
Young guy Angelo Lagusa, whose family was killed during a Mafia conflict, seeks retribution against the Vanetti Family.
He seeks revenge on Don, Vincent Vanetti, who is the Mafiosi in charge of the Lawless district and a high-ranking Cosa Nostra member. He spends seven years in hiding in the Midwest after the assassination.
After seven years, Angelo is inspired to return to Lawless to exact his vengeance after receiving an anonymous note from a father’s friend.
He slowly befriends Don’s son, Nero, while going under the alias Avilio Bruno and starts to blend in with the Vanetti family.
But in this gripping 91-day tale, vengeance feeds vengeance, and murdering might have grave repercussions.
In this awful harvest field that they’ve only started to sow, how will Angelo Lagusa and Nero Vanetti fare? 91 days is one of the best noir anime.
12. Darker Than Black (2007-2010)
the second book in the series Darker than Black. Suo is followed in this when her home catches fire, and she runs into the previous protagonist Hei.
He feels sorry for Suo and lets her come along as they hunt for a lost friend.
Together, they shed light on Suo’s past and her connections to her family. They learn that Hei’s search for something has some connection to Suo as they delve deeper.
They quickly discover a sinister secret that alters everything. This anime is one of the best noir anime.
13. Durarara!! (2010)
Mikado Ryugamine, fed up with his monotonous life, accepts a friend’s invitation to relocate to the Tokyo neighborhood of Ikebukuro.
Ikebukuro is full of interconnected mysteries where people’s pasts and present are intertwined, ranging from rumored beings to invisible gangs.
14. Baccano (2007-2008)
A gang of alchemists is given access to an elixir of immortality in 1711, with the condition that they kill one another until only one is left.
The people who have become immortals agree that it is not worth it and resolve to destroy the elixir.
However, Slizard Quates begins to kill his fellow immortals. The party splits up and disperses to lessen the chance Quates will find them all.
They don’t run into one other again until 1930 in Manhattan when Quates succeeds in developing a fresh elixir of immortality. But he loses it, and it ends up wandering the town.
However, many people mistakenly drink it for a bottle of alcohol and don’t even realize it.
The Gandor brothers, a Mafia family, the Martillos, and Isaac and Miria, an unusual pair of criminals, are among the drinkers of this new elixir.
In addition to creating a new race of immortals, the long-simmering criminal underworld is ready to blow up. Baccano is one of the best noir anime.
15. Hellsing Ultimate (2007-2012)
The Queen of England requests a conversation between Hellsing and Iscariot.
A telegram from the Major, who announces his determination to go to war with England, interrupts their discussion of how to deal with the Millennium menace.
Alucard is also dispatched to destroy Rip Van Winkle and her Millennium squadron after they take the British aircraft carrier The Eagle.
16. Elfen Lied (2001-2002)
The Queen of England requests a conversation between Hellsing and Iscariot.
A telegram from the Major announces his determination to go to war with England.
The telegram interrupts their discussion of how to deal with the Millennium menace.
Alucard is also dispatched to destroy Rip Van Winkle and her Millennium squadron after they take the British aircraft carrier The Eagle. Elfen lied is one of the best noir anime.
17. Monster (2004-2005)
One of the top medical professionals in Germany is the Japanese neurosurgeon Dr. Kenzou Tenma. He has a bright future, is engaged, and is well-liked by his classmates.
Tenma rejects hospital politics and maintains his belief that all human lives are valuable and equally vital.
He chooses to treat a small kid in critical condition who arrived first over the life of a politician.
Afterward, one day, he decided to work according to his life philosophy rather than adhere to hospital politics.
Dr. Tenma’s colleagues no longer regard him in the same respect, and his engagement with his fiancée is broken.
But later, three of Tenma’s colleagues are discovered dead, his fiancee wants to reconcile, and he is named the surgical department’s leader.
Nine years later, the BKA is looking into a string of homicides, and one agent from the BKA believes Tenma is connected to the killings.
Following the murder of one of his patients, Tenma launches an investigation and learns that the killer is someone from his past.
18. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002-2005)
Major Motoko Kusanagi is a crucial agent of Section 9 of internal security for Chief Aramaki in a futuristic Japan.
They face myriad threats threatening Japan with the help of her support team and a group of enthusiastically operating quadruped enforcement droids.
However, it will require all of Section 9’s skills to defeat them because most of their rivals can leverage the sophisticated technology in their immediate environment to their advantage.
19. Deadman Wonderland (2011)
Ganta, the lone survivor of his entire class’ terrible murder, is wrongly accused of the crime and subsequently found guilty.
The actual murderer inserts a red crystal into him during the massacre.
Ganta is transferred to a privately run prison with a peculiar and perverse approach to incarceration.
That, however, involves playing risky activities for the public in exchange for privileges.
Every prisoner he meets has their objectives, with survival being the primary one. It is now up to him to get through this and perhaps even demonstrate his innocence.
20. Soul Eater (2008-2009)
The Shinigami Technical School for Weapon Masters serves as the setting for the three duos that make up the series.
A weapon meister and a human weapon work together in these pairs.
They must gather the souls of 99 wicked people and one witch to reach the ranking of “Death Scythe” (and be suitable for usage by the Shinigami).
However, external pressures make it more challenging to do, generating conflict worldwide. The soul eater is one of the best noir anime.
