LogFAQs > #979382663

The thing with shows like Elfen Lied is that it's hyper violent almost all the time and doesn't have much else going for it. At that point, I'd say the average modern Family Guy episode is more fucked up than that. Not trying to discount Elfen Lied or its impact, just that it's very easy to grow desensitized to it and some of the scenes like the dog one ate borderline comical because of how over the top edgy they are.

Comparatively Made in Abyss only has like. 5 scenes in the whole thing that are really fucked up. But those scenes are sudden, place the characters in immediate mortal peril, and it's happening to children who had little to no clue about how truly fucked their situation was and in some cases are caused directly by their caretakers whom they trusted. The overall impact left behind is way greater to me. Same with Higurashi. Using the fucked up scenes sparingly gives them greater impact.

I thought of another good candidate for a fucked up anime though. Magical Girl Raising Project. It's a magical girl Battle Royale. The monokumo-esque mascot decides that actually. I've hired too many magical girls for this town. From now on whoever gets the fewest magical candies (their reward for helping people) each week will be forced to stop being a magical girl. Surprise. When I said "stop being a magical girl" I actually meant "you die". Thus kicks off a brutal Battle Royale as the characters quickly give up on earning candies and move to killing each other to steal the other's stock.

The main character, Snow White gets a huge target painted on her back because her power of hearing people's wishes makes her highly suited to gathering candy but not at all suited for combat. It's a little over the top at times with being edgy but the original novel came out at almost the same time as Madoka Magica so that kind of shows what kind of vibe people were looking towards at the time.