You want comedy that bites back: with questionable gags, satire that stabs, and absurdism that makes you laugh while your stomach does the weird twisty thing. Dark-humor anime sits on a spectrum — from gallows-shtick and black satire to gore-plus-gag setups — and the shows below represent the tastiest (and nastiest) parts of that range. The list below contains 10 anime that deals with Dark Humor, the kinda humor that will either make some people spill out their drinks in laughter or make some people uncomfortable.

1. Gintama — absurdist, anarchic, and frequently mean in the best way
   Why: masterful at flipping genres — slapstick one minute, savage parody or unexpectedly dark emotional blows the next. If you want dark humor that can include violent punchlines and meta-roasts, Gintama’s variety and timing are unmatched.
2. Dorohedoro — grimy fantasy where brutality meets bizarre, black comedy
   Why: its grotesque world-building and casually horrific violence are tempered by deadpan characters and surreal comedic setups — laughs that come out of grotesque normality. (Expect body-horror + silly buddy-comedy vibes.)
3. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness (Hōzuki no Reitetsu) — bureaucratic hell = comedy gold
   Why: satire of the afterlife: dry, caustic, and endlessly inventive with office-manager humor applied to demons and sinners. It’s polite cruelty dressed as administrative competence.
4. Hinamatsuri — tender, weird, and unexpectedly savage in its punchlines
   Why: starts as a fish-out-of-water comedy (yakuza dad + psychic kid) and repeatedly subverts wholesome beats with absurd, darkly funny consequences; it balances warmth and wicked comic timing.
5. Welcome to the N.H.K. — bleak satire that makes neurosis deeply funny (and painful)
   Why: its comedy comes from social collapse, paranoia and self-sabotage — dark humor that’s human-sized and uncomfortably relatable.
6. Golden Kamuy — gleefully violent, chaotic, and darkly hilarious
   Why: its mix of brutal frontier survival, unhinged personalities, and sudden slapstick gives it a unique flavor of dark comedy. One moment it’s a gritty historical drama, the next it’s a deranged food gag or absurd psychological showdown. The tonal whiplash is intentional — and incredibly fun.
7. Higurashi: When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) — horror that often slips into grimly comic absurdity
   Why: built on repeating timelines and escalating breakdowns; some arcs use savage irony and darkly comic character reactions amidst the gore. Not a “laugh-out-loud” show so much as one where the horror often produces a sharp, bitter grin.
8. Prison School — raunchy, hyperbolic, and intentionally grotesque comedy
   Why: extreme, obscene humor played for shocking laughs — if your dark-comedy tolerance includes sexual absurdity and cartoonish humiliation, this one’s an offensively fun ride.
9. Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan — painfully sardonic workplace comedy
   Why: the setup (a children’s show host who’s emotionally wrecked) turns wholesome TV into a vehicle for weary, black-humored takes about adulthood and burnout. The laughs are at the expense of the character’s soul — in a good way.
10. The Tatami Galaxy — surreal, existential, and bittersweetly dark-comic
    Why: rapid-fire dialogue and fate-loop premises let it dye silly situations in melancholy; the humor is cerebral, bitter, and laced with regret — dark in tone rather than gore. (Great if you want smart, inward-facing black comedy.)

Final verdict

Dark-humor anime isn’t one flavor — it’s a buffet of gallows-laughs, bitter satire, and sometimes genuinely disturbing comedy. If you want something that hits hard and makes you choke-laugh, start with Gintama (for range) and Dorohedoro (for texture). For smaller, sharper bites, try Hozuki or Uramichi. If you want something that’s as likely to make you think as to make you wince in laughter, NHK and T

Image credit Sunrise