We’re not talking about some quirky shonen gems that focus more on gore or action and are about as categorically “horror” as the Scary Movie franchise. No, the best horror anime give goosebumps, a feeling of dread, and unsettling scenery that utilizes the medium in ways that live-action films cannot. If that’s what viewers are looking for, then these titles are among the freakiest, scariest, and most horrific.
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Updated on January 4, 2023 by Mark Sammut: Only a couple of horror anime have been announced for 2023, and they are spread thin across the year. Still, fans of the genre do have a few shows to look forward to, provided they match the quality of their inspirations. In fact, if executed well, these could prove to be among the scariest anime of all time. A section dedicated to upcoming 2023 horror anime has been added at the end of this article.
15 Ghost Stories (English Dub)
This entry should be taken with a grain of salt as Ghost Stories is only technically a horror series. The Japanese version is a bog-standard monster-of-the-week type anime about children exploring spooky situations and getting terrified in the process. It’s passable entertainment but nothing more.
The English Dub turns this generic horror anime into a parody, essentially paving the way for popular abridged series like those created by TeamFourStar. While the humor is juvenile and “for adults,” the Dub gets more than its share of genuine laughs while also making the characters far more memorable than their original iterations.
14 Mieruko-chan
Horror anime are so rare that whenever one shows up that is actually decent, it tends to attract quite a bit of attention. Mieruko-chan’s eponymous schoolgirl has the unfortunate ability to see ghosts, and these spirits are ripped right out of nightmares. As she is generally the only person who can witness these terrifying entities, Mieruko has to pretend they do not exist, something that often proves rather difficult.
Mieruko-chan is almost like a slice of life horror anime, in the sense that most of the episodes simply follow the protagonist during her everyday life. This repetition does hurt the show’s fear factor to an extent, but the designs of the ghosts are genuinely scary.
13 Happy Sugar Life
Happy Sugar Life is a trip that starts messed up and just keeps on finding new ways to get messier. While there are some folks with decent intentions, there are no traditionally “good” characters, and that extends to the main girl, Satou. The anime is filled with violent deaths, depressing themes, tragic moments, and uncomfortable scenes. While not often terrifying, Happy Sugar Life is nearly always suspenseful.
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This horror anime needs to be experienced blind and preferably binge-watched over a weekend.
12 Ajin: Demi-Human
Look past Ajin’s uneven CG animation and you’ll find a fast-paced action horror series with a strong premise soaked in moral ambiguity. In this world, “Ajin” is a species that cannot be killed, and if a human turns into one, they are immediately arrested for a future filled with pain. Kei Nagai learns this the hard way and quickly finds himself on the run.
Available on Netflix, Ajin succeeds because it doesn’t present either side – the Ajin or humans – are pure evil or good. It adds an element of intrigue to each situation, some of which are graphic and intense.
11 Hell Girl
Most horror films and shows tend to come with their own lesson or representation of social issues. Hell Girl has those in spades as it’s quite literally about a demon dishing out punishments to social deviants such as bullies, thieves, and cheaters.
In the anime, anyone with a tormentor can seek help from the enigmatic “Hell Girl” by seeking out a mysterious website and posting their grudges there. The girl from hell will then dish out her own brand of cruel justice against the wrongdoers. It’s psychologically disturbing and represents the darkest whims of our society, particularly one that deals with vengeance and retaliation.
10 Another
It’s horror and anime so if those two were to be made into a Venn diagram, then “school” would probably come out as the most common ground. Sure enough, Yomiyama North Middle School is one of the most haunted institutions in anime ever.
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The haunting all began when one student committed suicide in the past and her classmates pretended that she was still alive in order to cope. This inadvertently summoned a malevolent ghost who then started causing even more suicides and deaths not just among the student population but also in the students’ respective families over the course of decades.
9 Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
If Another’s haunted school was a slaughterhouse, then Corpse Party’s is a meatgrinder. This anime takes place in Kisaragi Academy which was built on top of a demolished school called Heavenly Host Academy. Only, Heavenly Host Academy was a formerly derelict structure home to serial killers, rapists, and other anomalies whose souls remained trapped in the place.
Moreover, Heavenly Host Academy went on to exist in another dimension despite being demolished. So the students of Kisaragi Academy get to have their own little deadly extradimensional field trips to Heavenly Host Academy.
8 Devilman Crybaby
More disturbing than unsettling, Devilman Crybaby (2018) is quite a handful. Initially, it seems to follow a typical plot where the social outcast protagonist merges with a being in order to become more relevant. However, in the anime’s case, this being is a demon and not those friendly shonen types that are pushovers. No, Devilman Crybaby has hyperviolent and over-sexualized demons, those that the bible warned everyone about.
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As such, Devilman Crybaby isn’t something viewers can watch with their families. As the main protagonist tries to wrestle with his demon host, people around also fall prey to the same affliction until everything in their world goes wrong and becomes a satellite for hell. It’s a complete horror package this one, filled with body horror, satanic imagery, and overt adult content.
7 When They Cry
Otherwise known as Higurashi, When They Cry wears a deceptively welcoming facade. Most viewers will probably think that it’s a moe and cutesy anime about provincial school life and teen hormones when it’s actually about a murder fest.
That’s no joke, in the protagonist’s hometown, there’s an annual provincial festival with a local urban legend surrounding the festivity. To make matters more suspicious, the days leading up to the festival were filled with reports of local murders and disappearances.
6 Elfen Lied
Elfen Lied is a twisted and more modern take on a monster girl trope in horror. Instead of being a vampire or werewolf, however, the main monster human in Elfen Lied is a Diclonius– a powerful being that has become the subject of experiments in the anime until she decided that she cannot take it anymore and breaks free in the bloodiest way possible.
As the said monster girl escapes captivity and tried to live normally among human beings, certain circumstances will force her to unleash her true potential and nature. Make no mistake, the amount of blood and violence in this show is enough to make anyone abstain from cranberry juice or any red beverage for a week or so.
5 Ghost Hunt
For a horror anime, ghost hunting is as straightforward as it gets and Ghost Hunt revolves around that rather foolish notion. It follows the exploits of a group that calls itself the Shibuya Psychic Research who are mostly just high adventurous high school students.
It’s not as horrific as some other anime but Ghost Hunt tackles several issues such as religion, different cultures, and of course, paranormal events that mostly have tragic origins. For patient viewers, Ghost Hunt can reward its fans with some spine-chilling pay-offs though nothing too hardcore or nightmare-inducing.
4 Theatre Of Darkness: Yamishibai
Depending on how viewers watch their horror, Yami Shibai or Japanese Ghost Stories is like watching a sleep paralysis episode unfold. This anime consists of several short stories or episodes each of which is about particular Japanese urban legends.
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The animation is a little too crude but it’s usually the storytelling that sells the show instead of the visuals. Each story has its own lesson and narrative rooted in Japanese culture and tradition as well as some hyper-imaginative tales. Make sure to watch this one with the lights off and alone for a better atmosphere.
3 Mononoke
Speaking of atmospheric horror, Mononoke sets the mood commendably without even trying too hard. What it lacks in coherent storytelling, it more than makes up for with its odd art style and visuals. Mononoke draws its style inspiration from old and surreal Japanese erotic paintings — an interesting choice to say the least.
Story-wise, Mononoke is about the adventures of an exorcist who merely calls himself “Medicine Seller.” His exorcism isn’t as straightforward as most media have led us to believe though as he must learn the ins and outs of the spirits he’s exorcising, opening up new creepy windows that let the viewers peer into the odd and alienating world of the otherworldly creatures.
2 Shiki
In a nutshell, Shiki is a Japanese take on vampires but words simply can’t describe the way the anime makes its viewers unnerved and horrified. The story begins when a string of bizarre murders starts popping up in a small provincial town.
These murders also coincide with the arrival of an old clan who just moved into a castle near the outskirts of the town. It might sound straightforward but the twists and turns, as well as the pessimistic representation of human behavior in the anime, make it worth watching for any true horror fan.
1 Perfect Blue
An argument can be made that Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue is a psychological thriller similar to The Garden of Sinners rather than a horror film, but the anime has one element that amplifies its fear factor: a truly vulnerable protagonist. After leaving the idol business for acting, Mima Kirigoe is stalked, harassed, and begins to lose her sense of self. Perfect Blue fragments Mima’s psyche, blurring the line separating reality from fantasy.
If the psychological component fails to trigger a shiver or two, Perfect Blue’s Me-Mania should be able to pick up the slack.
Upcoming 2023 Horror Anime
Unlike romance, comedy, or sci-fi, horror is not a fixture of every anime season. For instance, Winter 2023 does not contain a weekly show that fits the genre. Overall, only a small handful of 2023 horror anime have been announced, but a couple of them are very exciting.
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales Of The Macabre
Junji Ito is undoubtedly the most famous horror mangaka of all time, and most people would also say he is unequivocally the greatest. This reputation is built upon decades of one-shot masterpieces that foster a sense of dread that crawls under the reader’s skin, daring them to turn the page to see what nightmare awaits. Junji Ito’s stories have been subjected to a couple of anime adaptations, all of which have failed to come close to capturing the source material’s brilliance.
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Hopefully, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre breaks this pattern of disappointment. Netflix’s show will adapt 20 of Ito’s short stories, including the legendary The Hanging Balloons and Tomie’s introductory chapter. If done right, Junji Ito Maniac could prove to be the greatest horror anime of all time. Frankly, that level needs to be achieved if the show wishes to live up to the source material.
Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror
Studio Deen is not the only company set to take a stab at a Junji Ito story in 2023. Rather than the mangaka’s shorts, Production I.G will be adapting Uzumaki, a long-form manga that is often regarded as the creator’s most ambitious project (alongside Tomie). Set in a small town, people start to notice spiral patterns everywhere, a realization that takes over the discoverer’s mind. This premise ignites a bizarre tale that goes to some wildly unpredictable places, all of which are capable of inspiring fear.
Uzumaki certainly has the potential to be adapted into a successful anime. As is always the case with Ito’s stories, the manga is packed to the brim with striking imagery, although how well these panels translate into animation remains to be seen.
Dark Gathering
Based on Kenichi Kondou’s shonen manga, Dark Gathering follows Keitarou Gentouga, a guy who cannot help but attract spirits. The thing is, Keitarou is generally an average guy, and he often finds himself in life-threatening situations that also come with a healthy helping of terror.
Dark Gathering is a decent read that works as both a battle shonen and horror series. The manga combines the two in a way that allows each to shine, and the story is strengthened through likable characters. This adaptation could be one of 2023’s welcome surprises.
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