Sometimes you just want to sit down and get the pants scared off you with a good horror anime. And while it may be a more niche section of the medium, anime has plenty of great horror shows and films that’ll surely satisfy your need to be terrified.
Below, we’ve come up with a handful of the ones that we think anyone looking for a solid scare should see. These are three terrifying horror anime you just can’t look away from.
Spoiler Warning: the following spoils key scenes from Another, Perfect Blue, and The Promised Neverland. If you haven’t seen parts of these anime, we recommend you hold off reading until you have.
If you have seen these anime, or simply don’t care about spoilers, then continue onward.
Another
Best Horror Anime
When Kōichi Sakakibara transferred to Yomiyama Middle School, the last person he expected was to meet Misaki, a mysterious young girl sporting an eye patch. The eye gear isn’t even the weirdest part, though, as no one else even acknowledges her existence, classmates and teachers alike.
It isn’t long after their meeting that a gruesome phenomenon begins in Sakakibara’s homeroom class. In a string of unexplainable Final Destination-like deaths, teachers and students from Class 3-3 begin to drop like flies.
Some deaths in this horror anime seem tragic and accidental, like getting run over by a speedboat. Meanwhile, others are abrupt and out of character, like a classroom suicide.
As this carnage starts to add up, the class has no choice but to try and solve the mystery of what is happening so that they can save as many people as possible. Anyone who enjoys a good combination of horror and mystery is sure to enjoy Another, as it features an interesting plot and many intricate death scenes.
The art is also pretty impressive, especially in terms of animation. I still have nightmares about the dream sequence where all of the characters’ faces begin to melt off, thanks to how realistic it all looked.
If nothing else, you’ll certainly never look at an umbrella the same way again after watching this one.
Perfect Blue
Best Horror Anime
On the surface, being a professional actor might seem glamorous, as they’re portrayed as living a life full of notoriety, lavish gifts, and parties. But for Perfect Blue’s Mima Kirigoe, her decision to retire from J-pop to pursue an acting career is what turned her life completely upside-down.
Following an uncomfortable acting scene, the former J-pop star gets a fax from an enraged former fan. Going by the alias of “Me-Mania,” a terrifying-looking male stalker faxes her, accusing her of being a traitor for choosing to act instead of sing.
Not too long after the creepy fax, a nail-biting game of cat and mouse between the two commences, rife with suspense, fear, and death.
Yet, the most horrific thing about Perfect Blue isn’t even the four deaths that occur, which range from bludgeoning to eyes getting ripped out. Instead, the true fear comes from how realistic the situation feels.
Despite the amount of exaggerated blood, it isn’t hard to understand Mima’s fear, as stalking, obsession, and psychosis are all things that occur in our society. That fear that her situation could actually happen to any of us just makes this anime horror film that much more scary.
The Promised Neverland
Best Horror Anime
A show about a family of orphans and their adoptive mother could never work as a horror anime, right? That is exactly what The Promised Neverland wants you to think.
Set in the year 2045, The Promised Neverland follows Emma, a peppy 11-year-old orphan that lives a wonderful life at Grace Field House with her 36 brothers and sisters. Their lives are filled with delicious food, comfortable beds, and even a loving mother, Isabella.
Amidst all of that fun and love, though, something sinister lurks, as a mystery surrounding disappearing children leads Emma to discover that Grace Field House is actually a slaughterhouse. Every single child in the house is being raised so that they can be sold as meat to the demons that populate the outside world.
In order to survive, she bands together with her siblings to plot an escape. Unfortunately, escaping is going to be anything but easy.
While The Promised Neverland may have more of a hopeful tone than the rest of the content on this list, there is still no denying the constant feeling of dread you get when watching the show.
At any moment, one of the characters you love could be ripped away from you by a demon, and there is nothing you can do about it. While losing any character you come to enjoy in an anime is tough, it’s especially hard to lose the ones in The Promised Neverland, as they’re just a bunch of innocent kids.
(Featured image source: Madhouse)
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