If you loved Breaking Bad, chances are you’re craving something with that same slow-burn intensity, where a brilliant man’s life spirals into crime, ego, and darkness. While anime doesn’t often deal with crystal meth labs, it absolutely nails the themes of moral decay, drug empires, and dangerous power shifts. These four anime series mirror Breaking Bad in ways you might not expect — from cartel-style action to psychological breakdowns.
1. Black Lagoon – The Criminal World Sucks You In
At first glance, Black Lagoon feels like pure gun-slinging action. But dig deeper, and you’ll find a lot of Breaking Bad DNA. The protagonist, Rock, is a boring white-collar worker kidnapped by pirates. Instead of escaping, he slowly chooses to stay, drawn to the chaos, power, and freedom of the criminal world. Sound familiar?
Like Walter White, Rock becomes a man unrecognizable from who he was. He sheds his old life and identity, becoming someone sharper, colder, and more willing to compromise his morals. Plus, Black Lagoon dives deep into cartels, drug lords, and shady arms deals, echoing the violent underworld Walt and Jesse fall into. Brutal, stylish, and smart, Black Lagoon is a perfect thematic cousin.
2. Monster – When a Good Man Goes Too Far
Set in realistic 1990s Europe, Monster doesn’t rely on superpowers or flashy fights. The anime is a slow psychological descent. Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a gifted neurosurgeon who makes one moral decision that destroys his life: he saves a boy’s life instead of a powerful politician’s. That boy grows into a sociopathic killer, and Tenma becomes obsessed with hunting him down.
Tenma, like Walter, starts out principled and idealistic, and ends up hunted, disillusioned, and broken. His pursuit of justice pulls him into conspiracies, corrupt systems, and murder, just like Walt’s journey from chemistry teacher to meth kingpin. There’s no actual drug-dealing, but the emotional tension, character decay, and philosophical questions are absolutely Breaking Bad-tier.
3. Banana Fish – Gangs, Drugs, and Psychological Warfare
Banana Fish is probably the closest anime in tone when it comes to mixing drugs, urban crime, and emotional damage. It takes place in New York City and follows Ash Lynx, a gang leader trying to uncover the secret behind “Banana Fish”, a mysterious drug linked to mind control, war crimes, and political corruption.
Ash is brilliant, deadly, and emotionally scarred — a product of systemic abuse and crime, much like Jesse Pinkman. The show explores how power and pain shape people, and it doesn’t hold back on violence or emotional gut-punches. While it’s more tragic than Breaking Bad’s thriller pacing, the drug conspiracy and descent into darkness will feel right at home for fans of Heisenberg’s world.
4. Death Note – The Genius Turned God
Of course, you can’t talk about anime antiheroes without mentioning Death Note. While it’s not about drugs or cartels, it mirrors Breaking Bad’s most important arc: a smart, underestimated man becoming drunk on power.
Light Yagami, like Walter, starts with good intentions — eliminating criminals to create a “better world.” But the moment he gains power, his ego takes over. He manipulates, murders, and lies to everyone close to him, justifying every action as necessary. By the end, he’s not a hero or a villain; he’s something far scarier: a person who believes he’s a god.
If you loved the cat-and-mouse dynamics between Walt and Hank, the battle of wits between Light and L delivers that same dopamine hit.
5. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor – Desperation, Gambling, and the Cost of Survival
If Breaking Bad had a cousin in the “how far can a man fall” genre, it would be Kaiji. It’s less about drugs and more about financial ruin, life-threatening games, and manipulation, but the vibes are all there. Kaiji is a broke guy forced into underground gambling where the stakes are deadly, and every decision is a step deeper into hell.
Like Walt, Kaiji is desperate and resourceful. The difference is, Kaiji doesn’t become evil; he just barely survives, emotionally and physically shredded each time. If you’re into the psychological pressure and “cornered man” feel of early Breaking Bad, Kaiji will absolutely grab you.
6. 91 Days – Prohibition, Revenge, and the Mafia
Set during the U.S. Prohibition era, 91 Days feels like it could be a lost chapter of Breaking Bad if it were set in the 1920s. It’s a mafia revenge story centering around Avilio Bruno, a young man who infiltrates the family that murdered his parents, slowly tearing them down from within.
This is very much a Vince Gilligan-style show: dark, elegant, with a smart lead who pretends to be harmless but hides a ticking time bomb underneath. There’s a slow tension to every scene, and like Walt, Avilio’s quest for revenge blurs the line between justice and cruelty.
7. Tokyo Revengers – Youth, Gangs, and Changing the Future
Imagine Jesse Pinkman had the chance to go back in time and fix everything. That’s basically the emotional core of Tokyo Revengers. While it’s wrapped in a time travel twist, at its heart, it’s about young people pulled into gang violence, drugs, and crime, and how choices snowball into tragedy.
The lead, Takemichi, isn’t a genius like Walt, but he goes through hell trying to change a criminal future. It has that same emotional weight, brotherhood, and sense of no way out, just like Jesse’s arc in later seasons.
8. Baccano! – Crime, Drugs, and Chaos on a Train
Baccano! is chaotic and stylistic, but the themes align surprisingly well. The series blends gang wars, a mysterious elixir of immortality (standing in for a kind of drug), and multiple crime syndicates, all told nonlinearly, Pulp Fiction-style.
It’s less about a single genius protagonist, but it does explore how crime syndicates clash, how normal people become killers, and how immortality (or meth empires) can ruin people. For those who enjoyed the unpredictable nature of Breaking Bad, Baccano! offers that same energy in a wild, fast-paced package.
9. Texhnolyze – Power, Decay, and Losing Humanity
Texhnolyze is a slower, darker, cyberpunk spiral into nihilism, corruption, and self-destruction. The city is dying, the gangs are at war, and the protagonist is physically and mentally broken. Over time, he becomes a powerful, nearly silent figure caught in a philosophical war about existence and control.
There are no drugs, but the emotional erosion, slow descent into violence, and internal breakdown are deeply reminiscent of Heisenberg’s late-stage transformation. It’s also one of the most hauntingly atmospheric anime out there, much like Breaking Bad’s silent, tension-filled scenes.
10. Paranoia Agent – Pressure, Double Lives, and Mental Collapse
Created by Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue), Paranoia Agent explores how stress and fear fracture reality. While not about drugs or cartels, it’s about people under immense pressure creating lies, personas, and even urban myths to survive their situations.
It echoes Breaking Bad‘s themes of double identities and the masks we wear — Walter White vs Heisenberg. Each episode focuses on a different person breaking down under stress, much like how Breaking Bad spotlights how Walt’s actions ruin others. Surreal, gripping, and smarter than it first appears.
