Finding an anime like Tokyo Ghoul, which is gritty and at the same time brilliant, is not easy.
Even after 8 years, the popularity of Tokyo Ghoul (2014) has remained relatively constant. According to MAL, the series is currently ranked #7 in terms of popularity. About 2,5 million users confirmed that they have already watched it!
RELATED: How to Watch Tokyo Ghoul in Order
The story of Tokyo Ghoul is set in an alternate reality where humans coexist with flesh-eating ghouls who appear to be human. Ken Kaneki is a typical college student whose life is turned completely upside down after he receives an organ transplant from a ghoul.
With that in mind, I’m going to present the top 15 anime like Tokyo Ghoul.
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15. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
Demon Slayer is another extremely well-liked anime like Tokyo Ghoul. They share the same idea of man-eating monsters.
Nezuko from Demon Slayer was once human but turned into a demon and Kaneki, who was once human but turned half-ghoul. They serve as the “mediators” between the two species.
All of Tanjirou’s family members—aside from his younger sister, Nezuko—were slaughtered by a demon, and now she has turned into one.
He vows to exact revenge and starts looking for a way to turn Nezuko back into a human.
14. Another
Buy/Watch on: Crunchyroll
Koichi Sakakibara, a teenage boy, transfers to a new school and becomes entangled in a mystery involving an enigmatic girl and a string of horrific murders.
Tokyo Ghoul and Another fit into the mystery, horror, and gore genres. Though Another it is a little more graphic, the overall vibe is almost the same. Additionally, each show has its own eyepatch character!
13. Jujutsu Kaisen
Buy/Watch on: Crunchyroll
Jujutsu Kaisen was the most hyped-up show of 2021. For newbies, Jujutsu Kaisen is the best dark fantasy anime series to start with.
Like Tokyo Ghoul and Demon Slayer, this anime has the ability to captivate viewers who don’t generally like anime. Fans of Tokyo Ghoul will love Jujutsu Kaisen’s phenomenal action, dark aesthetics, and stunning sound and visuals.
The series tells the tale of a high school student who, after swallowing a cursed artifact and absorbing its power, is pulled into the fascinating world of shamans and cursed spirits.
12. Mirai Nikki
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
Despite the fact that the stories of Mirai Nikki and Tokyo Ghoul are completely different, they are rather similar in other ways. In the end, it all comes down to the fact that certain anime shows are not appropriate for children. And these two series certainly fit into this category.
Amano Yukiteru, a lone high school student, spends his days observing people and documenting his observations in a cell phone diary. He appears to have no genuine friends, but he frequently engages in discussion with Deus, the god of space and time, and his servant, who are his imaginary friends.
What a surprise it will be for Yuki to discover that Deus is a real God, not just fiction. He gives him a Random Diary that contains predictions about what will happen around him. At first glance, that could appear to be a blessing, but only until he learns that Deus also sent extra diaries to 11 other individuals with the intention of having the last one standing become the new God.
Similar to Tokyo Ghoul, Mirai Nikki is a dark and eerie anime with a compelling story and characters.
11. Psycho-Pass
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
Psycho-Pass and Tokyo Ghoul are both graphic, action-packed, and have comparable psychological undertones.
The anime is set in the 22nd century, and life, as we know it, has changed. Japan has introduced the Sibyl System which can assess each citizen’s threat level by looking for indicators of criminal intent in their mental state, or their Psycho-Pass.
Akane Tsunemori, a young woman with a good heart, joins the police force as a rookie officer. She learns that the Sibyl System is truly problematic not long after entering the realm of Inspectors and Enforcers.
But under the all-seeing Sibyl system, can Akane actually do anything at all with such information?
10. Pupa
Buy/Watch on: N/A
Although Pupa is less coherent than Tokyo Ghoul, it has similar bloody and gory scenes.
Like Kaneki, the female protagonist of Pupa turns into a human-eating monster. In contrast to Tokyo Ghoul, she transforms due to a virus outbreak. Fortunately, her brother is there for her.
9. Death Note
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
For fans of Tokyo Ghoul‘s dark and eerie themes, Death Note is an easy recommendation.
Teenager Light Yagami discovers Death Note, a mysterious book whose owner has the power to kill anybody whose name is inscribed in it.
Like Kaneki, Death Note’s MC Light acquires a supernatural ability and must evade the cops.
8. Akame Ga Kill!
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
What better anime to watch after Tokyo Ghoul than one that has a thematically-similar motif, and Akame ga Kill! fits that demographic perfectly. The common ground is that both shows deal with a brutal world filled with carnage, brutality, and corruption. The main characters of Tokyo Ghoul and Akame ga Kill! must set aside their moral principles if they want to protect what they value.
Tatsumi, a young country boy, and his companions set off to the Capital to look for ways to raise money for their impoverished village.
Shortly after arriving in the Capital, he becomes separated from them and doesn’t succeed in enlisting in the Capital army. Even worse, he falls victim to a swindle and loses all of his money. Tatsumi is then saved by a noble family and joins them in their castle. Later that evening, the family is attacked by what appears to be a terrifying squad of assassins known as Night Raid. At that point, Tatsumi discovers the gloomy truth about the noble family and their heinous acts.
After learning the dark truth, he makes the decision to become a new member of Night Raid in order to fight injustice in the Capital.
7. Owari No Seraph
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Hulu | Crunchyroll
The anime is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the last humans have been enslaved by vampires. They are forced to live as livestock in order to survive.
Yuichiro Hyakuya and his fellow orphans from the Hyakuya orphanage are desperate for freedom after four years of being mistreated. He and his best friend Mikaela plot to flee to the outside world with the orphans, only to be caught and sentenced to death. Yuichiro escapes as the lone survivor of his family. He seeks vengeance by joining the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, the world’s sole army dedicated to the fight against vampires.
Both series deal with the concept of humans vs. particular types of monsters (vampires/ghouls). They include fighting scenes as well as emotional elements and character development.
They also include a character who, against their will, transforms into a monster while attempting to preserve their humanity. The characters who are turned are attempting to protect their human companions.
6. Devils Line
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | HIDIVE | Hulu
A college girl named Tsukasa Taira is one day attacked by a vampire; luckily for her, Yuuki Anzai, a half-human, half-vampire, saves her right away. Soon after, Tsukasa and Yuuki’s tumultuous relationship starts. But Yuuki needs to answer a crucial query: can he resist the impulse to devour Tsukasa while trying to get closer to her?
In Devils Line, the protagonist is a hybrid (half-human, half-vampire). He despises what he has become and doesn’t want to hurt people. However, the show as a whole concentrates more on romance (which may be a good thing for some romantic souls!).
5. Shiki (Corpse Demon)
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
A fifteen-year-old girl dies abruptly in a small tranquil Japanese village called Sotoba during a particularly scorching summer in the 1990s. At the same time as a strange family comes into the long-abandoned Kanemasa mansion, a series of inexplicable deaths starts to spread around the village.
Toshio Ozaki, the director of Sotoba’s only hospital, begins to mistrust the disease’s nature, and in order to uncover the truth, he must forsake his humanity.
Natsuno Yuuki, an antisocial young lad from the city, on the other hand, is plagued by Megumi’s abrupt death and must learn the pain of friendship in the face of his own tragedy.
Toshio and Natsuno eventually begin to cooperate with the objective of saving the town.
Both shows revolve around a conflict between humankind and “monsters” who want to eat them. The creatures in Shiki are vampires, while in Tokyo Ghoul they are ghouls. Some of the characters in Shiki eventually turn into monsters. The “monsters” in both series have also similarly colored eyes (black/red).
4. Ajin: Demi-Human
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Netflix | Crunchyroll
Kei Nagai, a young student, discovers that he is an Ajin after surviving a fatal injury from a terrible car accident.
Around 17 years ago, the enigmatic, immortal people known as Ajins first appeared in Africa. The general populace views them as dangerous and inhuman. Many Ajins end up being exploited as test subjects in research because of their immortality and quick regeneration. This is due to their ability to develop new limbs, organs, etc. It is widely believed that Ajins are evil due to their extraordinary capacity to produce black ghosts, beings capable of attacking while remaining unseen to the naked eye.
When his freedom is threatened, Kei must decide which side to support: would he fight for or against his own species?
Both MCs are forced to adapt in order to survive after being changed into “hybrids” without their consent. They are viewed as evil and misunderstood by the general populace. Both shows also have a formidable police force.
3. Deadman Wonderland
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll
Middle schooler Ganta Igarashi had been living a life that appeared to be normal until one day during class when a guy in red suddenly appeared and slaughtered all of his classmates except for him, piercing his chest with a red crystal shard.
Ganta’s ordeal starts when he is wrongfully found guilty of the murders and condemned to death in Deadman Wonderland, a jail that is designed to look like an amusement park for tourists but is actually a torment for the prisoners. Ganta is fitted with a lethal collar that can only be slowed down by participating in and winning cruel games that all of the prisoners play. In addition to needing to clear his name and identify the Red Man, Ganta’s life is in danger.
Both MCs used to enjoy calm lives until a disaster occurred. It caused them to transform into some sort of ‘monster.’ Both anime series are highly gruesome and feature several brutal scenes.
2. Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Crunchyroll | Hulu
Giant humanoid beasts known as Titans nearly wiped out humanity centuries ago, driving people to hide in fear behind enormous concentric walls. The most terrifying aspect is that Titans are not driven by hunger to consume humans.
Before the enormous titan tore through the outer wall, wreaking havoc on the entire community and mercilessly killing helpless villagers, life inside the walls had been peaceful.
One of the kids behind the walls called Eren Yeager also lost a loved one and personally witnessed the Titans’ power. This traumatic experience led him to dedicate his life to their annihilation by enlisting in the Survey Corps, an elite military unit that battles the Titans outside the security of the remaining walls.
Titans/vampires are monsters that devour humans in both anime. Both MCs are forced to become hybrids against their will and must fight their enemies in order to survive. As you can see, it’s an anime very much like Tokyo Ghoul in various aspects.
1. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
Buy/Watch on: Amazon | Netflix | Hulu | Crunchyroll
Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu might be the closest anime to Tokyo Ghoul from this list.
Do you fear all insects, especially worms? Take into account what would occur if a single alien-like worm managed to penetrate your skin and seek to take control of your brain. Isn’t that disgusting?
Schinichi, a 17-year-old high school student, was lucky in that the organism that tried to take over his brain was unsuccessful and only managed to eat his right hand. What result will their coexistence have?
Both of the series’ main characters must deal with a life-altering event: becoming a “monster.” They become stronger as a result of supernatural power, but they also start having mental and bodily changes. They both have to deal with the emotional aspect of their journeys since it affects their relationships and forces them to combat their enemies.
