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It is only customary for all nerds to weave Halloween into all aspects of their lives this month. That includes anime. Now, while that entertainment medium isn’t a prime spot for primal scares due to its cheeky disrespect for realism, some good examples have been leading the anime horror genre even at more affordable sites like Crunchyroll. So set those live-action heart-attack baits aside for now and first ease your anime friends into the following horror anime titles.
Note that these are primarily available on Crunchyroll if you’re in the US. Unfortunately, some notable and obvious titles are not present in certain regions for Crunchyroll. You might want to double-check if you’re outside the US.
10. Hellsing (2003)
If you want a newer coat of paint, then there’s Hellsing Ultimate, available on the US version of Crunchyroll. However, older drawing and animation styles tend to fit better in horror. Hellsing is an action-horror anime where the protagonist is a neophyte girl who reluctantly has to team up with Alucard (yeah, you know who that is) to battle all manners of supernatural threats.
It’s raw, and bloody, and might even surprise you with how gratuitous it can be with certain action sequences.
9. Junji Ito Collection (2018)
If you don’t mind watching a semi-PowerPoint presentation, then the Junji Ito Collection might just make your horror anime date marathon more varied. It’s an anthology of short horror stories from the famous horror manga artist himself, Junji Ito.
His work mostly dabbles in body horror and doesn’t typically feature jumpscares. Junji Ito, however, is lauded for incorporating some morals and psychological lessons into his work.
8. Mononoke (2007)
Speaking of horror anime that do not rely on jumpscares or scary surprises, Mononoke is also up there though you will find it more stylish and more elegant than Junji Ito adaptations. The premise is pretty simple, evil spirits known as Mononoke plague the Japanese folk, and only one person can deal with them.
Thus, it’s a ghost-hunting period-piece with an art style that oozes with color and funk. You might even feel tempted to cosplay some of the character designs.
7. Another (2012)
As usual, horror is more relatable when it takes place in schools, and Another is intent on making minors the victims of the supernatural. Its horror premise begins when one of the students in a school commits suicide. To cope, the student’s classmates and school faculty pretended that the deceased student was still alive.
This has unfortunately awakened something more sinister than the spirit of their dead classmate. Soon after, gruesome deaths and strange suicides started happening. How’s that for a haunted school setting?
6. Higurashi: When They Cry (2006)
This time around, we’re moving to a provincial small-town horror setting. Higurashi: When They Cry is about a boy named Keiichi who suddenly gets caught up in the midst of a weird village ritual involving deaths and disappearances.
Turns out his newfound village friends might know more about it and are withholding information from him. This suspense anime will leave you guessing about the true nature of the strange village, which is exciting if you’re a fan of the trope.
5. Hell Girl (2005)
Hell Girl takes on a mostly episodic format where a bunch of random evil people get cursed and picked off by the titular antagonist-protagonist or anti-hero named Ai Enma. All aggrieved victims have to do is pray to her at midnight while holding a massive grudge against their bullies.
If the grudge is big and serious enough, Ai Enma will do the rest. If only things were that simple for bullies and their comeuppance. Even if it doesn’t scare you, Hell Girl can be a satisfying watch and lesson for all people.
4. Angels of Death (2018)
If you’re into slasher horror, then Angels of Death might just tickle your fancy. It follows the story of a helpless and suicidal girl named Rachel who suddenly wakes up in an unfamiliar building, being chased by a serial killer.
Things take a weird twist after the serial killer makes a deal with Rachel; she’ll kill Rachel but only if the girl helps her get out of the building. Sounds like an absolutely fair deal, so now they have to contend with other killers in the building. You’ll find no shortage of blood, torture, and profanity in this anime.
3. Ghost Hunt (2006)
High school students and their ghost-hunting shenanigans never get old, hence Ghost Hunt has decided to make a flashy story about them (and they all look like models, as an added bonus).
A curious girl named Mai decides to visit an abandoned school building so she can be queen of the ghost stories among her besties. But Mai got more than what she bargained for after she stumbles upon an actual serious ghost hunter– and some ghosts along the way.
2. Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai (2013)
Yamishibai was airing horror folklore anthologies long before Junji Ito’s adaptations did it. It’s a collection of myths and creepy campfire tales in Japan, following an episodic format. However, if you expect something high-budget, you might be disappointed as Yamishibai mostly relies on static 2D drawings to get its point across.
It has 13 stories in total and each episode is only around 4-5 minutes long so you might as well watch them all if you’re on a horror anime marathon on Crunchyroll.
1. Paranoia Agent (2004)
Here we have a masterpiece from Satoshi Kon, the famous auteur best-known for Paprika (which would later on inspire Hollywood movies like Inception). Paranoia Agent is an anime series about a serial killer who beats people to death with a baseball bat.
It doesn’t help that he roams around residential neighborhoods targeting hapless children and adults. It’s up to a couple of detectives and one survivor of the attack to track the serial killer down before people start suspecting and whacking one another.
