Takopi’s Original Sin by Taizan 5 was adapted into an anime by Enishiya and TBS Television, delivering the series’ dark premise and tone across six episodes. With each installment, the story grew darker, presenting a gripping narrative unlike anything Crunchyroll had featured in years. What truly took viewers by surprise was that the series’ central characters were children, yet the plot revolved around deeply unsettling themes.
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However, the anime’s appeal was not solely rooted in its dark moments. It also resonated because of the profound lessons woven into each unexpected turn. Through Takopi, an alien being reflecting the emotional growth and complexity of humans, the narrative explored the depths of its themes. Ultimately, it was these dark moments that defined the series, making it one of the most memorable anime in recent years, and here are the seven darkest moments that secured its place among the best.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for the Takopi’s Original Sin Anime!
7) Marina Bullying Shizuka
The gravity of the trouble Shizuka is in is not clear, neither to the viewers nor to Takopi, who is trying to understand what led her to take her life. He gathers that Shizuka is not on good terms with Marina and concludes that all he needs to do is make them friends again. This leads Takopi to use his gadget to take Shizuka’s place and meet Marina after school, as Marina had expected. Takopi hopes to use this moment to reconcile the situation between them. While fans expected Takopi to gain an understanding of bullying during this encounter, it instead turned into a scene of brutal physical abuse from Marina.
Marina immediately slaps Takopi and repeatedly hits him, even kicking him while he is on the ground. The fact that they are both under the age of 10 underscores the disturbing extent of how harsh human behavior can be at such a young age. The scene turns even darker when Marina, driven by sheer hatred toward Shizuka, strikes Takopi with the end of a pen. With the episode later revealing the turmoil in Marina’s home life, it hints that her violent behavior stems from something even darker happening in her world.
6) Azuma Almost Confesses to a Crime He Did Not Commit
Azuma’s role in the series, especially in the third episode, feels puzzling when he immediately agrees to help Shizuka hide Marina’s body, even going as far as suggesting how they should conceal it. Initially, the series implies this is because Azuma has a small crush on Shizuka and doesn’t want her to end up in juvenile detention. However, the episode also reveals a brief backstory showing how Azuma faces his own troubles at home, constantly under pressure to meet his mother’s expectations. It is shown that he has dedicated his entire life to fulfilling those expectations.
The twist that Shizuka bears a resemblance to Azuma’s mother makes it clear that he is helping her out of fear of failing his mother yet again. His fixation on this goal intensifies after his mother tells him she no longer cares about his grades, leading Azuma to channel that need for approval into not failing Shizuka. This even brings him close to accepting her request to take the blame for Marina’s murder. Azuma’s actions once again highlight how the children’s choices in the series are often shaped by their parents’ influence and the lack of communication about what they truly want.
5) Shizuka Losing Control
Shizuka is clearly the center of the story, even more than any of the main cast. While the dark themes involve all three children, it becomes evident that Shizuka had it the worst. She is constantly shown being suppressed by various aspects of her life, in almost every small detail. While Marina endured an equally horrible life at home, Shizuka’s hardships were intensified by the cruelty she faced at school. Her only source of happiness is revealed to be her dog, Chappy, and when he is taken away from her, the series shows how Shizuka, at just 9 years old, does not hesitate to take her own life.
Given her constant struggles and her desperate need to hold onto any source of happiness, she eventually lost control. In the first timeline, this led to the unthinkable. In the latter, still determined to find her only source of joy, Shizuka crossed increasingly sinister lines, even verbally stating she would cut open her step-siblings out of fear they had eaten her dog. Her portrayal in the penultimate episode, where she even hurts Takopi, reflects how pushing a human beyond their limits can turn them into an unrecognizable, dark entity.
4) Marina Killing Her Mom and Then Taking Her Own Life
Episode 5 of Takopi’s Original Sin, just ahead of the series’s conclusion, had fans expecting some intriguing element before the end. However, no one could have anticipated what is likely the darkest twist of the series, revealing that Takopi had originally arrived on Earth in 2022 with the goal of helping Marina, the girl who became the cause of Shizuka’s death in an alternate timeline. In this timeline, after Shizuka’s failed attempt to take her own life, Marina likely left Shizuka alone and continued living with her depressed and broken mother, which led to a deeply troubling upbringing.
When Marina finally found a small ray of hope in her life and her relationship with her mother, thanks to Azuma’s involvement, it was crushed when Azuma chose Shizuka over her. With her mother blaming both herself and Marina for how events unfolded, Marina ultimately protected herself from her mother’s physical abuse by killing her. She then ended her own life with a dying wish that she had killed Shizuka back then. This dark moment reflects that Marina was not inherently wrong, but rather a product of the circumstances that shaped her actions and growth, a recurring moral of the anime.
3) Takopi Killing Marina
Just as fans couldn’t have foreseen Shizuka taking her own life with Takopi’s gadget in the first episode, no one could have expected Takopi to once again become the cause of another death. What makes this moment even darker is that Takopi kills Marina unintentionally, acting purely out of a desire to protect. But that’s not all, while fans might have expected the act to be undone using Takopi’s happy camera gadget, which can reverse time, it’s immediately revealed that he struck Marina with that very gadget, destroying the means to reverse the event.
With this, it becomes clear that the anime’s “original sin” likely refers to this violent, irreversible act. This moment sets the tone for the rest of the narrative and, alongside Shizuka’s suicide, stands as one of the series’ most pivotal dark points. Until now, the existence of Takopi’s time-reversing gadget suggested the possibility of a happy ending, with the two girls reconciling. But with this grim twist, fans were left stunned, anticipating what might come next, only for events to spiral even further into darkness.
2) Naoki and Shizuka Hiding the Crime
Though Takopi killing Marina sets the stage for the series’ truly dark narrative by the end of the second episode, an even darker turn unfolds at the start of the third, when Naoki, Shizuka, and Takopi collectively decide to hide Marina’s body. While such scenes are common in crime thrillers, what makes this moment especially disturbing is that the ones making this decision are all under the age of ten. Azuma’s immediate suggestion to hide the body is a shocking glimpse into just how sinister Takopi’s Original Sin can become.
The episode continues to push the darkness further, particularly through Shizuka’s reaction; she is glad Marina is dead, showing no concern for the consequences of this act, caring only about seeing her dog. The story also hints at why Azuma was so quick to help Shizuka, adding another layer to his willingness to take part in such a grim deed. This moment serves as a stark reflection of how one person’s actions can deeply affect others, especially how parents’ choices shape their children’s lives. Azuma’s determination to help Shizuka, driven by his own desire not to fail her, just as he doesn’t want to fail his mother, is a deeply impactful element of the narrative.
1) Shizuka Taking Her Own Life
The first episode immediately suggests that, despite its dark tone, Takopi’s role was meant to bring happiness to Shizuka’s life, a girl who had been relentlessly bullied at school. With Takopi determined to achieve his goal of making Shizuka happy, and even equipped with magical gadgets, it seemed impossible for fans to anticipate what would come next. Yet, by the end of the episode, Shizuka takes her own life, stunning the fans with its dark premise.
What makes this moment even worse is that she used the rope gadget Takopi had given her to help. A later flashback reveals that Shizuka succeeded in ending her life solely because of Takopi’s gadget; in the original timeline, the rope had broken. This added an even deeper layer of tragedy, as Takopi’s well-meaning involvement directly enabled the event. The sheer complexity of this twist left fans stunned, especially since no one could have imagined witnessing a child take their own life in an anime such as Takopi’s Original Sin without prior knowledge of the manga.
Takopi’s Original Sin is a heavy experience for readers and viewers alike. What moments stood out in the anime for you? Let us know in the comments below!
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