Top 25 Best Horror Animes With Great Storylines

best horror animes
Updated:
10 Jul 2020

November is always a let down for me after Halloween and the 31 days of October which I pack full of Horror movie marathons. But never fear, with these 25 gruesome offerings you will be sure to have a happily horrific holiday season.

What’s that you say? “This is suppose to be the time of giving and family, won’t gratuitous mindless violence make me seem like some sort of psycho”?

Hmm you may have a point... But these have great storylines 

25. Gantz:O

The CGI film that answers the age old question, “Is there life after death?”. Yup! And evidently your great grandad Cornelius hasn’t so much rested in peace, as he has been decked out in black spandex battling an army of demon monsters in the penultimate survivor game. Though this 2016 Digital Frontier release could technically be classified as a sci fi anime, its gruesome monsters (including a 50 ft tall nude babe version of Voltron) would be straight out of anyone’s most horrific nightmares. Based on the manga series, “Gantz:O” follows recently deceased Masaru Kato as he tries to kill as many monsters as possible in order to earn a score of 100 points and return to his little orphaned bro.

gantz o

Don’t judge a boss by it’s cover.

gantz o

I could think of worse ways to go.

24. Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend

The first horror anime I had ever seen when I was a kid and it truly warped my teenage mind. I only hope it can do the same for you. This movie does for tentacles what “Evil Dead II” did for tree branches. Tatsuo is a human with a Demon inside waiting to be born. Will Tatsuo unite or destroy the three worlds of Humans, Demons, and Man/Beasts? Will Tatsuo, Yuichi, or the lesbian teacher win the beautiful Akemi? Will Yuichi chop of his penis and replace it with a demon phallus? Uhm, yes. Yes he most certainly will.

legend of the overfiend

Is that an Infinity Stone in your pocket or is Tinkerbelle just giving you a lapdance?

legend of the overfiend

I sure do miss hulahoop class in highschool.

23. Perfect Blue

Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut leaves you with an undeniable fact of life. Guys who dig pop divas should be avoided at all cost. This psychological thriller will take you through twist after turn as Mima Kirigoe tries to make the transition from pop idol to serious actress. As the bodies hit the floor the lines of reality blur, and Mima believes she may in fact be the murderer. After watching this I don’t think I will ever have another pizza delivered.

perfect blue

Candy cane body paint fail.

perfect blue

Every hackers aspiration

22. Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek)

A group of elementary school thrill seekers go on a high stakes game of hide and seek. These are undoubtedly the bravest kids ever. I was scared to look outside my bedroom window at that age. Well at least someone found a constructive use for all that youthful energy… hint hint.

Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek)

Kids out-“foxed” by demons.

kakurenbo

Come out come out wherever you arrrreeee!

21. Vampire Princess Miyu

Think “Saved by the Bell” meets “Pokeman”, only when the Princess sends her Shinma (god-demon) to do battle he would surely decapitate and disembowel Pikachu. The Vampire Princess, who appears to be a 15 year old, braves the rigors of adolescent high school life all while facing down evil vampires and their own beast-like Shinma.

vampire princess miyu

When you said, “burn one”, I thought you meant...

That is NOT how I dance!

20. Blue Gender

Rip Van Winkle - wrapped inside a mech - armed with Raid. When Yuji awakes from cryo-sleep, not only is his disease uncured but gigantic acid spraying insects are munching on the remaining few humans left on Earth.

blue gender

Eeewwww a spider on the glass! Oh thank goodness footsteps, someone is coming to my aid.

blue gender

Insecti-died

19. Monster

Dr. Kenzo Tenma risks his career to save an orphaned young boy, but did he do the wrong thing for the right reasons? If you’re anything like me and have developed a severe addiction to binge watching, then this should keep you busy for a while. Though it is a bit slow to start, with 74 episodes this series pulls you in with suspense and gradually ratchets up the body count.

monster

A Wounded Inspector Lunge.

monster

But please Dr. Tenma…

I SAID TAKE TWO OF THESE AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING!!!

18. Mononoke

Untraditional and highly stylized animation make this one stand apart from the pack, not to mention scary ghost babies in the very first episode. In Japan’s Edo period the protagonist known only as the medicine seller, i.e. corner boy or drug rep depending on social status, travels in search of Mononoke spirits that feed on negative emotion. So stay positive, he is heading your way.

mononoke

Undead unborns

mononoke

Cubism anime

17. Umineko

Evidently there’s no place like home for the holidays. But if your family is anything like this, you may want to consider spending this season home alone. When the Ushiromiya family meets to discuss the death of the family head and more importantly their inheritance, people began to drop like flies. Enter Beatrice the “witchay woman” who just might be the true founder of the feast.

umineko

My Butler is the Greatest Of All Times!

umineko

Less misogyny than most anime.

14. Terra Formars

The second of the Humans Vs. Insect storylines in the countdown, only this time it’s on Mars. Years after sending algae laden cockroaches to Mars in order to begin terraforming, (Get it? Terra ForMars), humans arrive, only to find that the bugs have mutated into very large humanoid killing machines. All seems pretty hopeless, till the humans start to bug out.

terraformars

You might want to get that looked at.

terraformars

Ahmm… why did the animators give them afros and pose them like basketball players?

13. School-Live

I don’t know what scared me most about this one, the Zombie Apocalypse or being trapped inside of high school, AAAHHHH!!! But neither situation seems to bother teenage Yuki, who has mastered the art of denial.  I love the way this begins so innocently. It is kind of like an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” that suddenly went XXX (sorry for that image).

school live

Even the wreckage looks cutesy.

school live

Future Farmers of Japan

12. From the New World - Shin Sekai Yori

A group of  school age children learn that the psychic powers that they are being taught to hone once led to the downfall of society. And that their idyllic society is more flawed than they ever could have fathomed. What I took away from this, is that 1000 years from now In School Suspension will be replaced with child eating cats.

from the new world

What do you mean, the espresso maker is down?!

from the new world

Chief Wiggum?

11. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku

When Keiichi moves to Hinamizawa he has great hopes for a new beginning. New girls, new friends, new games, what could go wrong? Deities, demons, death, and disease… Oh my!

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku

There is just something wrong about this picture.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku

Screaming bloody murder.

10. Blood-C

As if there were a shortage of katana wielding anime teens in schoolgirl uniforms, well there is damn it! Saya Kisaragi schoolgirl by day, demon fighter by night starts to question her own identity. Saya soon learns that she is much more than she believed.

blood c

Making rabbit chops.

blood c

Miss-ka-bob

9. Ghost Hunt

Who ya gonna call? Shibuya Psychic Research… not to catchy but quite creepy. Mai Taniyama is a freshman that is enlisted to go ghostbustin after she breaks a pricey piece of paranormal video equipment. The further she gets involved the more she begins to realize her own psychic potential.

ghost hunt

We ain’t fraid of no ghost.

8. Shiki

Natsuno has to move to the country against his wishes. But hicks are the least of his worries as the undead called Shiki start taken a liking to the boy. Before he knows it, he has become one of them.

shiki

You know, I can shop out that red eye for you?

shiki

For the last time, I AM NOT SANTY CLAUS!

7.  Another

 When he starts his new school after suffering a collapsed lung Koichi befriends a strange girl named Mei who wears an eye patch. Only, no one else seems to see her, sounds like my high school girlfriend.

Together they must break a curse set almost 30 years earlier.

another

Eye see.

another

Attention… Salisbury Jake being served all next week in the cafeteria.

6. Ajin

Super powerful Demi humans are gradually beginning to surface across the globe, and after Kei is hit by a bus, he discovers along with the whole town that he is one. Sounds cool right? Well not so much when the whole planet is out to get you. The lesson here, if you want to keep your super powers secret, look both ways before crossing the street.

ajin

SuperKei

ajin

Guns are pretty swoll, I just did about a 1000 reps.

5. Paranoia Agent

Another Satoshi Kon mind bender, this one featuring a deranged child on roller blades, that’s redundant. Tsukiko’s life is stressful enough before she falls victim to the baseball bat wielding Lil’ Slugger. But as more victims are claimed, the identity of the attacker unravels a mystery that reaches back to Tsukiko’s childhood.

paranoia agent

Get a tickle me Maromi this X-mas.

paranoia agent

Lil’ Slugger

4. Boogiepop Phantom

The ghost of Dirk Diggler haunts the streets of Japan...no wait I was thinking Boogie Pop Nights, but I do wish someone would make that anime. Boogiepop is the grim reapers twitter name I guess? And he is being blamed when teens start dropping dead, as they are want to do in any given anime.

boogie pop phantom

Isn’t that Slash’s hat?

boogie pop phantom

Snap Boogie Pop

3. Danganropa

Take all those scholarly Quiz bowl teenagers with so much promise and let them bash it out of one another. That’s the premise of this anime series based on the Spike Chunsoft games. I tend to favor the evil little Teddy Ruxpin gone Chucky that serves as a host of sorts.

danganropa

This IS Jeopardy.

dangaronpa

Danganronpa brand steroids for the woman on the go.

2. Kurozuka

Kuro is unlucky in love, among other things. After being rescued from near death by his love Kuromitsu’s vampire blood, a traitorous servent “heads off” his transformation. Kuro awakes after eons, without his memories of Kuromitsu, in a world controlled by those who betrayed him.

kurozuka

Put down your weapons or Voorhees gets it!

kurozuka

Kuro and Kuromitsu

1. Happy Sugar Life

 True love means never having to say, “I’m sorry for kidnapping and imprisoning you in my flat”.

And for high school girl Sato it means going much much farther.

All to hold on to the little girl she loves. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

happy sugar life

You said a mouthful.

happy sugar life

ME!?!

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