While there are many anime characters who are assassins, even in anime shows that aren’t about assassins, there are fewer of the latter.
But there are more than a handful for you to sink your teeth into regardless.
Anime assassin shows featuring the following genres:
- Shounen.
- Isekai.
- Fantasy.
- Action.
- School.
- Seinen.
- Psychological.
Some of the shows will be closely tied to assassins, while others will be exactly about the topic.
Let’s make a list.
The best anime shows about assassins:
1. Assassination Classroom
Assassination Classroom is one of the strangest anime about assassins because of how it’s written, the why behind it, and how it all turns out.
Class F has been assigned to assassinate a man called Koro Sensei, who is more of an alien by appearance. Since class F are a bunch of “failures”, this is the option they’ve been given.
Apparently, Koro Sensei will blow up the moon in a matter of days if they don’t manage to assassinate him in time, hence the training program that follows.
Except Koro Sensei himself and others are training the children.
The anime makes use of comedy, action, and emotional moments to tell its stories, and it has many plot twists most won’t be ready for given the anime’s writing style.
Also, Koro Sensei himself is a supernatural being by design, given how he moves at Mach speeds and is superhuman for reasons that are explained down the line.
2. Akame Ga Kill
Akame Ga Kill is the anime everyone will think of when considering anime shows about assassins. That’s because the anime embodies this concept more than any other series.
Plus, it’s one of the most famous shounen anime, especially anime involving assassins.
Tatsumi, a poor village kid, trains up and then makes his way to the capital so he can earn a lot of money for his village. He’s strong but naive.
He soon realizes how corrupt the capital is, and after witnessing the savagery first-hand, he decides to join an assassin group called nightraid who only target their victims at night.
It’s all for a purpose. They want to create a revolution and they do so by targeting the corrupt government, its many officials, politicians, and associates.
The visuals even in 2024 are stunning, beautiful, and fluid when it comes to its many action scenes and of course, the depressing scenes and traumatic episodes.
3. The Executioner And Her Way Of Life
Menou, as she’s called, has the duty of protecting her world. But as we learn in the first episode, that “protection” isn’t as nice as it sounds.
Protecting their world in this Isekai series means murdering and assassinating other worlders who come to Menou’s world, disrupting the balance just by being transported there.
Her partner Momo is strong, just like Menou, but is a bit of a loose cannon and is less compassionate than Menou herself despite her role as an assassin (or executioner).
Expect Yuri moments from this anime, or implied, and while the action scenes could be better, it’s one of the most prominent anime about assassins and the world they live in.
4. Princess Principal
Princess Principal is an anime series based in London, UK, but is one about assassins at its core.
The ladies are spies, and this is where the act of assassination comes into play for political reasons.
In this fictional world, all of this was started by a revolution in London which split two groups apart, eventually creating the rank of spies and assassins in the anime’s main plot.
Like The Exuectoner And Her Way Of Life, this anime is female-led with few to no male characters.
5. Canaan
Canaan is an anime series about a virus, but it’s also about assassins in between.
The main character, Canaan, plays an important role in the outcome of the plot, the mysterious elements of the anime, and in dealing with one of the anime’s main and big villains.
While the lead is female, there are also male characters who have a somewhat relevant role as well, alongside others.
Comedy is a big part of this anime but mostly in the early stages of the series, with many gun fights, jumping, leaping across buildings, and more.
Relevant: 30+ Anime Characters Who are Gun Wielders You Should Get To Know!
6. The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated
Imagine being an assassin your whole life, and then one day when you retire and catch a plane home, that plane is destroyed midway deliberately.
This is what happens to the assassin of the show because the company he worked for wasn’t comfortable with him having so many secrets.
He’s reincarnated as an assassin again, except younger, and this time decides to do things his way rather than taking orders blindly and only doing it because he was told to.
He also starts to attract women in ways he never did in his previous life, but his personality is likeable making the anime avoid the cliches of other Isekai that came before it.
Related: The REAL Definition Of Isekai
7. Assassins Pride
Assassins Pride is about a male character, the MC, who has a mission to assassinate a certain character. But ultimately he doesn’t go through with it.
This relates to the title of the series.
There is also a female character who is relevant, making this anime a duo style anime series.
Both characters essentially end up hiding secrets which leads to potential problems down the line.
Assassins Pride might be the worst anime on this list as far as quality, but it’s still relevant.
8. Noir
Noir is an anime about freelance assassins. Marielle is the blonde woman who is more experienced and a little older, while Kirika Yuumura is much younger.
the fact she is younger is what makes her more disturbed and dangerous, and it also speaks to Kirika’s dark past and the things she has seen from an early age.
Marielle doesn’t care about all of that and is all about business, so the two work together, seeking people out to assassinate on the orders of their various contract employers.
The one odd thing about this anime is the lack of blood, but this is an artistic decision that may or may not affect your enjoyment.
9. Mission: Yozakura Family
Taiyou and Mutsumi are the main characters of this 2024 series that is still caring during Summer 2024.
To save his own life, similar to the premise of the anime My Bride Is A Mermaid, Taiyoudecides to get engaged to Mutsumi and becomes part of the Yozakura family.
Her brother hates this fact and makes Taioh’s life hell (attempts to).
The family are spies, and they go out on various missions, which could include assassination or the prevention of assassinations.
Comedy is a major part of the anime’s writing, and it’s usually centred around Taiyou himself.
10. Gunslinger Girls
Gunslinger Girl is a sad anime series with depressing elements, as well as action scenes, gun fights, some nice scenes, and everything in between.
The main characters are girls all younger than 16 mostly.
All of these girls have one thing in common: they were on the verge of death and were saved by the government.
In exchange, they have to work for the government as their “dogs” who hunt down and kill everyone the government sees as a s threat or a problem.
These girls are conditioned with drugs which allows them to put up with all the death, violence, murder, and savagery carried out as they assassinate various targets on their missions.
While this anime is about assassins, it’s also a picture of what the underworld looks like as far as the use of kids to carry out “adult” problems to put it nicely.
11. Spy x Family
Spy x Family isn’t an anime about assassins in a literal sense, but it does involve one spy, who is willing to kill, and his wife who is an assassin in secret.
In fact, his wife assassinates people often and for a living without anyone else knowing about it (he works a normal job as a sort of cover up).
Only the daughter, Anya, is aware since she is able to read people’s minds and isn’t an ordinary kid to begin with (Anya is adopted by both Yor and Loid, the husband and wife).
Slice of life episodes, family moments, action scenes, missions, school life – Spy x Family mixes it all up and manages to do a good job of it.
