15 Most Memorable Demon Anime [BEST RECOMMENDATION]

Who doesn’t love a little bit of mischievous demons? At some point, most of us are enticed by anime demons, because why the hell not? These kinds of anime are usually awesome!

The idea of a demon is something that is present in every culture, one way or another. Although the prospect of a demon may vary from one culture to another, they occur in folktales, old lores, and even urban legends. Since the archaic days, humanity has been intrigued by the possibility of supernatural elements. Thanks to that, different forms of art have manifested, regarding the unknown world. Even in the digital age, the concept of otherworldly is still the source of inspiration for many productions.

The world of anime is a gold mine for all you demon story lovers out there. It is an endless yard of creative plots, dark and twisted characters, humor, and cool visuals because, well, the one and only computer-generated imagery!

Animelovers has gone over and beyond to get you a list of the top demon anime for you.

Most Memorable Demon Anime

15. Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)

In 1885 England, a young boy called Ciel Phantomhive witnesses the murder of his parents. He is abducted and tortured by religious fanatics. He makes a contract with a demon named Sebastian Michaelis to find out his parents’ killers and avenge their death. To pay for this deal, Ciel sells his soul to Sebastian, who will consume it at the moment of Ciel’s death.

As per his family’s custom, Ciel continues to serve the Queen of England as a guard dog. He keeps up his image as an honorable Earl and runs the Funtom Company alongside his personal business. His butler, the demon Sebastian aids him in his mission to get revenge.

For a young teenager, Ciel is unusually driven by vengeance. The show is dark, bloody, and humorous with characters ranging from sadists and weirdos to pure fluffs. This franchise is popular in all forms of adaptations, but the plot varies from one production to another, which makes it worth the watch!

14. I Couldn’t Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job ( Yūsha Ni Narenakatta Ore Wa Shibushibu Shūshoku O Ketsui Shimashita)

The title pretty much sums up the whole foundation of the anime. This comedy show on the most part lacks dark elements that make up for the usual demon anime. However, it is an enjoyable anime that takes a completely different route in exploring the demonic theme.

aul Chaser is an aspiring hero at a Hero Academy. After the antagonist Demon Lord’s sudden and unexpected defeat, the world is at peace and therefore heroes are no longer needed. So, what’s a hero in training to do? He, of course, gets a job at a store that sells magic-based technological inventions. Here he gets the task of training a new employee named Phino Bloodstone. Phino is a sadistic, socially clueless girl who scares people away with her extremely violent words. She also happens to be the defeated Demon Lord’s daughter.

This training bit is where the anime takes a comic turn. Instead of saving the world and getting recognized as a hero, Raul is now stuck with teaching a demon child proper human etiquettes.

13. Kekkaishi

Half a millennium ago, a feudal lord possessed a power that attracts demons (called ayakashi in Japanese). To protect him, a demon hunter named Hazama Tokimori came to his aid. The power somehow still seems to live on the Karasumori land long after the lord has died.

In the present day, two young schoolers named Sumimura Yoshimori and Yukimura Tokine are the descendants of the demon hunter Tokimori. They come from two rival families and wield the same kind of ability- to form a barrier out of nothing and kill a demon inside it. Yoshimori wants nothing to do with being a chosen kekkaishi. All he wants to do is bake cakes and enjoy his own sweet time. Tokine is hard-working, intelligent, and efficient- everything that Yoshimura is not.

The Karasumori is underneath the school that Tokine and Yoshimori attend. The longer a demon stays on that land, the stronger it gets. So, they must do anything at all costs to fight off the demons that flock to the mysterious power that draws them to it.

12. Devils And Realist (Makai Ōji)

In 1889, William Twining is an orphaned son of a noble family in England. William is a realist, an intellectual who believes nothing beyond the boundaries of science, logic, and reason. As a top student at Stradford boarding school, he maintains an image of an aristocratic prodigy. Unknown to him, William is actually the descendant of the great Biblical figure King Solomon.

Solomon, in his lifetime, was a powerful ‘Elector’ who was in charge of choosing Lucifer’s temporary replacement and controlled the 72 pillars of hell. William inherits the title of being the Elector from Solomon by familial lineage. Even though he does not believe in angels, demons, or anything to with the supernatural, William slowly starts to take up his duty. One of the Grand Dukes of hell named Dantalion takes it upon himself to teach William about the demonic laws and regulations.

Set in a boarding school, this show portrays demons in a different light. They are not always malicious and sometimes blend really well with humans under disguises. The characters are memorable and funny. They can be categorized as typical stereotypes of an anime where demonic entities are at work if you dry humor to that.

This show is a borderline between comedy and action. It is not a dark and serious show at all. If you’re looking for an anime where demons exhibit their trickery and scheme notoriously, this is for you.

11. Blood Lad

Staz Charlie Blood is an unusual vampire lord in the Demon World East. Instead of following his ancestors’ tradition of preying on humans, he is obsessed with playing video games, watching anime, and reading manga. As an otaku vampire lord in the demon world, he daydreams of exploring the human world because he, in his own words, “respects them”, especially the Japanese culture. One day, he meets a human girl named Yanagi Fuyumi who gets lost in the demon world. Unfortunately, Fuyumi gets eaten by a carnivorous plant and dies, making her a wandering ghost in the demon world.

Immediately infatuated by Fuyumi, Staz makes it his life mission to bring her back to life no matter the cause or consequences. He travels across both the demon and human world while a shapeshifter named Mimikku Yoshida takes his place.

This anime is one of the most hilarious action dark comedy animes. If you are looking for a bloody but laugh all the way through, this show would be perfect for you.

10. Devil May Cry: The Animated Series

The show focuses on the daily life of a bounty hunter named Dante. He is a half-human and half-demon, and currently runs a business called ‘Devil May Cry’. His business is not really doing well, so he struggles financially. Dante is eager to take up any odd jobs to make his living.

The anime starts when Dante is hired to protect a young orphan named Patty Lowell from demons. On their way to claim Patty’s inheritance at the Lowell mansion, they are attacked by an insignificant demon named Sid. After defeating the ambushers, the real Patty Lowell decides to adopt the orphan girl as a way of compromising for putting her in danger.

Dante’s life as a bounty hunter continues normally until he finds out the true intentions of the demon Sid. Sid has been collecting seals from the severed bodies of powerful demons that Dante has killed over the course of the anime. These seals are keys to a powerful demon who is sealed away.

Based on the successful manga and video game series of the same name, this anime is an expansion of the franchise. This anime is structured in an episodic manner, with rarely a few plot lines entering the next episode.

9. Natsume’s Book Of Friends (Natsume Yūjin-Chō)

Natsume Takashi is an introverted and sickly human who can see demons and spirits. In the quiet countryside, Takashi lives with his distant relatives who take care of him as they would their own child. Having had a rough childhood, he does not have many friends, but he remains kind to everyone. He has inherited his ability to see the paranormal from his grandmother Natsume Reiko. She also left in her possession a notebook full of names that belong to demons and spirits.

Reiko was a powerful and lonely girl who used several tricks to coerce spirits into falling under her dominion. Instead of spending time trying to be accepted by her human peers, she used to collect the names of several youkai in her notebook known as the ‘Book Of Friends’, making her authoritative above them. Due to Takashi’s eerily similar spiritual essence to that of Reiko’s, many vengeful and desperate spirits and demons come after him. Takashi forms a close friendship with Madara, a dog demon who acts as his protector and predator.

As he continues his own life, Natsume crosses paths with demons and spirits of all sorts, putting his life in danger. Even though his body is weak, he tries his best to bring peace to the troubled supernatural creatures.

This anime is a mix between slice of life and paranormal. Everything from the plot, visuals, and sound is well done. It is a must watch!

8. Beelzebub (Beruzebabu)

Tatsumi Oga is a fifteen-year-old fresher at Ishiyama High School, a school famous for its body of delinquent students. In the first episode, Oga is described by the narrator as a “barbaric, ruthless, and defiant bastard who thought nothing of his fellow men”. His is nicknamed as the legendary Rampaging Demon Ogre. These bad qualities attract the attention of Beelzebub, a demon baby who has ascended to Earth to take over and destroy it. Oga has now become a reluctant and unhappy foster parent to the demon baby while going to school every day.

Beelzebub is an adorable and hot-tempered little baby. He is extremely attached to Oga, often crying whenever he’s not in contact with him. Beelzebub also electrocutes everyone around him whenever he cries, kind of like Pikachu. Beel’s maid from hell named Hilda comes to Earth to assist Oga in raising the baby. Oga keeps trying to hand over the baby to anyone who he deems to be stronger than him, hoping that he will be relieved from parenting a demon child. Beel and Oga fight with each other, fight others and build a beautiful bond.

This show is one of the funniest demon animes out there. The parenting bit of the plot is something that has not been done before, well, not entirely.  The seriousness of the plot’s foundation is overshadowed by how light the story development becomes. It is wonderful, comic, and enjoyable. It is an absolute must watch!

7. D.Gray-Man

In the 19th Century Europe, a demonic creature named the Millenium Earl strategically plans to create an army from the dead. He coerces grieving people who have recently lost a loved one into making a deal with him to bring them back from the dead. What he does not tell them is that once they are revived, the skeletal form of the dead would consume the flesh of the one who makes the deal. These undead creatures are called ‘Akuma’, and the Earl is hell-bent on creating an army of Akuma alongside the Noah Family clan to end all of humanity.

One of the people who has made a deal with the Earl is a young boy named Allen Walker. He agrees to resurrect his dead loved one named Mana. As a result, Allen is cursed with a disfigured left eye that allows him to see demons and ghosts. Several years later, Allen vows to kill the Millenium Earl, so he joins an organization of exorcists called the Black Order. The members of this order possess a mysterious power called ‘Innocence’ which is vital for exorcizing the Akuman.

Even more than the protagonists, the main antagonist the Millenium Earl is an interesting and thoroughly well-written character. He smoothly contributes to the plot and pace of the anime.

6. Demon King And Hero (Maoyū Maō Yūsha)

Humans and Demons have been at war with each other for many years. To end the war once and for all, the humans gathered a group of the strongest heroes. These heroes are supposed to seek the Mao or Demon King at the center of the demon realm and defeat him. Yusha or Hero is the strongest out all of them, and he sets out from (and much ahead) of his companions.

Once he gets into the chamber of the Demon King, Hero is completely taken aback by the fact that there is no king. In fact, there is a queen who has been eagerly waiting for his arrival, instead of a ferocious king. Although the demon realm’s ruler is a female, she carries on the titular Mao or Demon King because of a necessary tradition. So the Demon King reasons with the Hero to end the war without violence, but with a tactical peaceful settlement.

The intelligent queen acknowledges that for both the Human and the Demon realms to stop fighting each other without causing an economic breakdown, they need to deviate their attention. So, she fakes the fight between her and the Hero, allowing her some more time to develop and further her plans.

This anime is different because none of the characters have names. They are either addressed by their profession or skill set. This show has intricate details when it comes to animation, making it worth the watch.

5. Berserk: The Golden Age Arc (Beruseruku Ōgon Jidai-Hen)

Guts is a sword-wielding mercenary who makes his journey across the land. He is brutal, strong, and efficient at his job. His skill set attracts the attention of a leader of the mercenary group called ‘Band of the Hawk’. Griffith, the leader, subdues Guts into joining his mercenary group after defeating him twice.

As Guts travels with the Hawks, he quickly rises to the top with his charismatic dexterity. Soon enough he becomes Griffith’s close friend and right-hand man. He is forced to commits heinous crimes to save himself and his loyalty to the leader. However, after secretly overhearing Griffith’s point of view on the Band of the Hawks, Guts is unsettled and decides to leave the group, but is unable to do so.

Guts and Casca, the only female member of the Hawks, start a relationship. They fight and win the extremely bloody battle against the Tudor Empire’s army of 30,000 soldiers together. Things take a turn for the worst when Guts and Griffith fall out, and betrayal ensues. Demons and betrayal ensue, bringing to screen the goriest and most disturbing scenes in the anime.

Adapted from the manga of the same name, this anime is full of bloodshed, conquest, and massacre. This version of adaptation is divided into three parts. It also explores sensitive themes such as ethnic cleansing, rape, body mutilation, and fleshization. It is definitely for mature viewers who can handle grotesque imageries.

4. Blue Exorcist (Ao No Exorcist)

Okumura Rin and Okumura Yukio are fifteen-year-old twin brothers. They are the sons of Satan, the demon lord but they are adopted by an exorcist priest named Fujimoto Shiro. Unlike Yukio who was born fully human, Rin acquired Satan’s demonic powers at his birth, which is safely sealed away in a sword called the Kurikara. He is not aware of any of these facts.

In an encounter with a demon, he realizes the truth. Satan wants to possess Rin’s body so that he can roam the Earth freely. The encounter enables Rin to channel his demonic powers, and in the same incident, Shiro dies while trying to protect Rin. In a confrontation with Mephisto Pheles, the Chairman of True Cross Academy, Rin declares what he wants to do and who he wants to be. To avenge his adoptive father’s death, Rin vows to kill Satan by becoming an exorcist. He enrolls in the True Cross Academy, a training school for aspiring exorcists.

He is a kind person who just wants to make his brother and father proud, and not be a burden to them. However, he can not help but be overcome by his impulsive emotions and short-temper sometimes. Blue Exorcist has amazing action scenes, a good plot with a buildable plot, and memorable characters.

3. Devilman Crybaby

 

Akira Fudo is a crybaby, pushover, sensitive and empathetic young man. He dislikes seeing other people in pain so much so that he actually has a tendency to cry over almost anything. He lives with the Makimura family. When his best friend Ryo returns from his research trip in South America, Akira learns the news that devils are real. Ryo tells him that demons are starting to possess humans so that they can take over the world.

To prove his point, Ryo takes Akira to a sex party and kills many people to summon the devils. Ryo’s attempt succeeds, and one of the demons Amon possesses Akira. The demon Amon can not gain total control over Akira. Although he has gained Amon’s courage, confidence, mischief, power, and strength, Akira is still empathetic towards others.

Ryo is thrilled that Akira has the body of a devil with the heart of a man. He believes that the only way to fight the demons off is to use their own powers against them.

This show is one of the darkest and best demon animes. The plot and animation are something new, unexpected, and mind-blowing. It also deals with major political and social issues by taking a jab at mankind’s tendency to ostracize, bind, and stereotype, too. It has many violent and disturbing scenes that may not be suitable for young viewers.

2. Rage Of Bahamut (Shingeki No Bahamut)

Fallen angels and gods have banded together to seal an all-powerful creature called Bahamut. The Bahamut is a dragon with the power to kill all life forms and end the world as it is. Keeping their differences aside, the gods and the demons work together. To avoid the seal from breaking, they break the key into two pieces, each one of which is guarded by the gosa and the demons.

Fast forward two thousand years later, Favaro Leone is a trouble-making bounty hunter. He makes a living by hunting wanted monsters and human criminals. He travels across the land, living paycheck to paycheck. During one of his visits in a small tavern, Favaro lies about knowing how to get to a place called Helheim. A woman named Amira, who overhears Favaro’s lie, pursues him and asks him to get her there.

Favaro unknowingly signs a magical contract with Amira when she kisses him and he sprouts a pointy tail. Amira happens to exhibit demonic powers but she is unsure of her true origins, having lost her memories. She needs to get to Helheim to look for her mother. Kaisar Lidfard, a fallen knight and arch nemesis of Favaro joins the traveling misfits on their journey to Helheim because he was curious and mesmerized about Amira.

Based on a mobile game, this anime is eccentric, to say the least. It has the most adorable, charming, and weird characters. The layered plot and over-the-top visuals definitely elevate it to an epic anime.

1. Inuyasha

At the top of our list is the classic, timeless Inuyasha! We decided to sneak this one in no matter what because not many youngsters are familiar with it anymore.

In the Sengoku period in Japan, a half-demon named Inuyasha and his love interest, a warrior priestess named Kikyo, are tricked by Naraku. Kikyo guards the Shikon Jewel, a stone that is believed to be able to grant any wish. Naraku is not fully demon either- during his near-death experience, he invited thousands of demons to his body so that he can pursue Kikyo. Disillusioned by Naraku’s schemes, Kikyo seals Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree with her arrow before she dies.

In modern-day Tokyo, fifteen-year-old Higurashi Kagome is a reincarnation of Kikyo who lives in a Shinto shrine. She does not know that the Shikon jewel resides inside her body because it was burned with Kikyo’s body during the funeral. A demon pulls her into the feudal era through the Bone Eater’s Well that sits behind her house. She finds herself fifty years from the time Kikyo sealed Inuyasha. Kagome sets the half-demon free to help her defeat the demon that has taken her to this era.

The jewel inside Kagome is extracted and is broken with its pieces scattered across the land. Inuyasha and Kagome band together along with a monk named Miroku, a demon slayer named Sango, her pet Kirara, and a fox-demon named Shippo to find the Shikon jewel shards.

This show is a classic and one of the best demon animes. The characters are well-written with interesting backgrounds, and the storyline is not overdone. This show does not divide the antagonists as either solely black or white. It also deals with the nature of greed, self-acceptance, and reconstructing the rigid conventional norms and views.