Though most people’s minds probably go to live action gore fests when the spooky season comes around, Since the ‘60s, Japanese animators have been enchanting viewers with haunting myths. Often creating original stories or adapting terrifying manga tales, horror anime has become a powerhouse space for some of the most deranged, thoughtful, and unique genre storytelling.
Tokyo Ghoul
Kaneki is just a normal student living in a high-tech alt-reality where humans are increasingly threatened by flesh-eating “ghouls”. As society desperately comes to terms with their new apex predator, Kaneki’s life changes forever after a chance encounter. Beautifully animated, darkly depressing, and filled with violent action, this is an angst-soaked joyride through cannibal creatures and supernatural threats.
Death Note
Classic for a reason. This wish-fulfillment horror introduces viewers to the world of Light Yagami, a hyper-smart teenager who makes a strange and life-changing discovery. Finding a supernatural notebook that allows Light to kill anyone whose name he writes on its pages, Light goes on a fascistic quest to rid the world of crime. As judge, jury, and executioner, Light becomes one of the most terrifying anime antagonists of all time.
Another
An excellent gateway into Japanese horror. Feeling more like a movie than an episodic adventure, it follows a series of bizarre, gruesome deaths surrounding a mysterious set of students. One inquisitive transfer student is tasked with figuring out why his peers are dying over and over again.
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
A look into the lives of the students of Heavenly Host Elementary, where the gruesome murders of both children and its staff took place. Students there are spending their final moments with a friend who’s about to transfer to another school, and they decide to perform a strange ritual to ensure they’ll always be together. But the students all end up blacking out and waking up at a very strange place: the very same academy all the children and teachers were murdered at years ago.
Demon Slayer
Tanjiro Kamado’s entire family, save for his sister Nezuko who turns half-demon, being brutally mauled in the pilot. Though the series makes room for quieter, melancholy episodes in its arcs to highlight Tanjiro’s deep compassion, it’s really all about the horrifying and beautifully animated demon battles as Tanjiro slashes through whomever he must to find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human.