The dark anime angel has the same wide eyes and tiny nose as its innocent counterpart, but wears black clothing--dresses, boots, coats and stockings. Petticoats and medieval-style corsets are also common outfits for an anime dark angel. Her large eyes reflect anger, mischief or downright revenge instead of the usual anime ingenuousness. Most often depicted as female, there's an occasional male dark angel, like the hero of the Japanese manga "Dark Angel."
Some dark anime artists portray characters in realistic, urban settings. They may be vigilantes, street thugs or prostitutes. While still drawn with the common facial features such as big, expressive eyes and tousled hair, their costumes and accessories may be radically different from run of the mill anime characters. In the anime series "Paranoia Agent," for example, the character Lil Slugger threatens victims with a baseball bat while detectives Karino and Maniwa try to stop him. The characters take on a sharper form -- thinner, with triangular face shapes and shaded facial features.
Some dark anime styles involve mutated characters who retain certain human features. The elfin character Lucy in the animated series "Elfin Lied" has two horns on the top of her head. The horns are part of her telekinetic power. Although Lucy looks like a typical anime waif at first sight, her "Elfin Lied" plot-line contains stories of revenge, alienation, bloodshed and prejudice
Anime has its share of vampires to rival the "True Blood" and "Twilight" live action versions. Taller, thinner and paler in hair, eye color and complexion than other anime characters, Japanese cartoon vampires have triangular chins and reddish eyes. In "Vampire Knight," both male and female characters wear classically tailored school uniforms instead of dark clothing to hide their true identities.