Anime

Madoka magica, the anime doesn't hesitate to kill off characters , and each death is important for thr show

Anime with a high death count that's actually good?

I find that such anime usually involves war and politics.

Some that I can recommend are:

• 86
• Vinland Saga
• Saga of Tanya the Evil
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
• Attack on Titan

By "anyone can die," do you mean "lots of randoms die," or "any of the main cast of characters can unexpectedly die before the show ends?"

Here are my favorites, in roughly descending order of preference:

• Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988 OVA version) - A space opera following two admirals on opposite sides of a galaxy-scale conflict. There's a remake with more modern animation, but it has inferior music and character design so I prefer the 1988 version.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans - Some street kids try to make it big as mercenaries
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - A young man gets involved with a small gang of cyberpunk mercenaries

Orb: on the movements of the earth.

If you're looking for a show that doesn't have plot armor of any kind.

To your eternity.

If you're looking for a show where the protagonist will outlive everyone they love over and over and over again.

You should watch Iron blooded orphans, it's a standalone Gundam series in its own universe so no homework needed. It has great writing and animation while telling the full story in 2 seasons. For me it's a watch once anime because I don't think I could put myself through the trauma again. Also on a similar note if you just want trama porn watch Victory Gundam.

Hellsing and Black Lagoon

Future Diary, Akame ga Kill (I wasn't a fan by the end), Made in Abyss, From the New World and let's say... Angel Beats to make you cry even though it doesn't fit as well.

Higurashi comes to mind.

shiki has a lot of death, it's my favorite horror anime.

Shows with time loop content, like Re:Zero and Steins;Gate, can rack up quite high body counts (and then nullify them an episode or two down the line—does it count if the characters don't stay dead?)

Texhnolyze might or might not qualify (high body count, IIRC yes, but maybe too odd to be considered good). Some other older violence-heavy stuff like Black Lagoon, maybe.

Gundam handles death really well in my opinion. Specifically the original series, Thunderbolt and Iron-Blooded Orphans.

I kind of felt this way about Goblin Slayer. I think that's the one, anyway.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners

The deeper question here is what interests you about about having a high body count in an anime?

If it's about pure numbers, you can't beat Apocalypse Hotel; every human dies or flees the planet by the end of the first episode. The show itself, however, doesn't really linger on that. It's just the setup for how a bunch of robots cope and find usefulness after all the humans are gone. It's life-affirming.

If you're interested in general bleakness and existential dread, where anything can happen to anyone at any time, I'd recommend Made in Abyss and Sonny Boy. These are two VERY different series. Made in Abyss falls into the newly coined "guro-moe" genre (purposely-designed chibi characters dealing with gut-wrenchingly painful situations) where the main characters are compelled to face increasingly dire and morally complex scenarios in service of a Sisyphean quest from which they may never return. Sonny Boy starts with a well-worn "floating classroom" trope, but quickly turns into a dense meditation on existential philosophy. Taken in isolation, you'll find yourself constantly playing catch-up to understand what the hell is going on. If you decide to try this one out, I strongly recommend following up each episode by reading Steve Jones' episode reviews on Anime News Network, which really help unpack the action and provides context clues to a lot of the philosophical musings the show gets into.

These may not be exactly what you had in mind. Two others that I read about that might be up your alley are Death Parade and Alice in Borderland, but I haven't watched or read either of them.

Akudama drive

Cyberpunk super cool bloody as fuck.

Devilman Crybaby

Tokyo Ghoul

Jujutsu Kaisen

Demon Slayer

Berserk

Deadman Wonderland

Junji Ito Collection

Fist of the North Star

Attack on Titan

Dororo

Dorohedoro

The ones I haven't seen mentioned yet is Mirai Nikki and Akame ga Kill

Akudama Drive

Heike Monogatari

86

Now and Then, Here and There

dead dead demons dededede destruction is one of the best anime this decade and among the bloodiest in terms of pure body count

Strongly recommend Ishura. The way the narrative progresses is unique so you'll either like it or hate it, but if you like it it has exactly what you want.