Japan has a rich tradition of horror that goes back many centuries, so it's little surprise that the nation has produced some great horror anime over the years. With writers and animators able to put anything--no matter how weird or disturbing--on screen, and very little in the way of restriction on content, horror anime has truly pushed the boundaries of the genre, and consequently found many appreciative fans in the West.
Of course, as with live-action horror, there are many different types of scary anime. Some take influence from Japan's traditional legends of ghosts and curses, while others deliver disturbing body horror and over-the-top gore. There's horror anthologies, multi-part ensemble shows with complicated plots, and series and movies that mix horror with other genres, such as sci-fi and high school drama. Some are scary, some funny, and some just plain weird.
We've rounded up some of the best, scariest, and most memorable horror anime released over the past couple of decades. Most of these are available on streaming services such as Funimation, Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu, and while not every show will work for every horror fan, this list should provide a comprehensive overview of all the outstanding horror anime available right now.
1. Higurashi: When They Cry (2007)
When They Cry was based on the early '00s interactive "visual novel", and focuses on the scary goings on in the cursed town of Hinamizawa in 1983. It's a slow-burning episodic series, in which every episode builds from an initially warm and welcoming atmosphere to something far more disturbing. The multi-stranded plots, timeloops, and frequent moments of shocking violence make this a unique and compelling series.
2. Hell Girl (2005-2006)
Anthologies have long been a popular format for the horror genre, and Hell Girl is a great example of a scary anime anthology. The show centers around a website named Hell Correspondence, via which its users can request the death of another. Making such a request conjures the scary Hell Girl, who sets about tormenting the victim until they are taken to hell. The stories range from a woman who gets revenge on a vet who caused her dog to die to a father who wants to punish a girl who injured his daughter, and it's both unpredictable and ghoulishly satisfying.
3. Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
Possibly one of the most challenging and often impenetrable anime series ever made, Serial Experiments Lain is a stunningly designed cyberpunk nightmare about a young girl and her experiences within a social media network known as the Wired. Lain isn't scary in a traditional sense, but instead provokes its audience with its uncompromising tone, brain-scrambling philosophical concepts, and disorientating visuals.
4. The Junji Ito Collection (2018)
Artist Junji Ito is considered one of the key figures in horror manga, having created such books as Tomie, Uzumaki, and Gyo. The Junji Ito Collection was released in 2018, which adapts 24 of his most disturbing stories, across 12 episodes. Highlights include Souichi's Convenient Curse, about a vengeful boy and his voodoo doll, The Ongoing Tale of Oshikiri, about a portal to parallel dimensions, and the truly disgusting Slug Girl, in which a girl's tongue begins to transform into a giant slug.
5. Hellsing (2006-2012)
Hellsing is a retelling of the Dracula myth, in which the iconic vampire is reimagined as a special agent who works for the Hellsing Organization and helps protect England from a variety of supernatural threats. It's based on Kouta Hirano's long-running manga series and combines action and horror in a hugely entertaining way. There's now a US live-action remake in the works too, from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad.
6. Death Note (2003-2006)
This 37-episode series was based on Tsugumi Ohba's hugely popular manga. A high school student named Light Yagami finds a notebook previously owned by the demon Ryuk, which will result in the death of anyone whose name is written in it. The series mixes philosophical questions of right and wrong with disturbing horror as the increasingly powerful Light descends into madness.
7. Devilman Crybaby (2018)
Devilman Crybaby is Netflix's adaptation of Go Nagai's classic '70s manga and subsequent anime series Devilman, about a teenager who becomes possessed and transformed into an avenging demon with a pure human heart. It's inventively directed by modern anime master Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Japan Sinks: 2020), and is a sometimes funny but often disturbing collision of sex, gore, and demonic madness.
8. Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories (2013-2021)
Yamishibai is another superb anthology series, and as the title suggests, it revolves around classic tales and urban legends. It uses the kamishibai method of story-telling, a type of Japanese street theater where a man entertains passing crowds with stories, and to date there have been over 90 episodes. Each episode is only a few minutes in length, making it essential viewing for busy horror fans and those looking for expertly crafted shocks.
9. Perfect Blue (1997)
Acclaimed director Satoshi Kon only made four movies and one series before his tragic death in 2010, but he left us with some all-time anime masterpieces. His debut film Perfect Blue is a haunting story of obsession and altered realities, in which a pop star finds herself connected to a series of gruesome murders. Like Kon's final film, the equally brilliant Paprika, Perfect Blue blurs the lines between fantasy and reality to disorientating effect.
10. Parasyte: The Maxim (2014-2015)
Fans of weird body horror will definitely want to check out Parasyte: The Maxim. It's based on a long-running manga series and delivers a series of freaky scenes as a race of alien parasites infect their human hosts, causing their bodies to morph in surreal and disturbing ways. The main character is a kid named Shinichi whose parasite ends up in his hand instead of his brain, leading to an uneasy coexistence.
11. Shiki (2010)
While much of the anime on this list puts the emphasis on outrageous visuals and over-the-top gore, Shiki, by contrast, is a slow and atmospheric vampire story that successfully subverts the clichés of the genre. It's a tale of a mysterious epidemic that sweeps across a village, and the doctor who attempts to find out what's causing it.
12. Gyo: Fish Attack (2012)
Gyo is a demented, surreal, and frequently offensive B-movie homage, based on Junji Ito's manga, about walking, metal-legged sea creatures who emerge from the sea to attack humans. There are some serious themes about the dangers of pollution and chemical weapons in there, but for the most part they take second place to the sight of giant cybernetic sharks and octopus causing all sorts of gruesome mayhem on the streets of Tokyo.
13. Boogiepop Phantom (2000)
This ambitious and haunting 12-episode series is based on Kouhei Kadono's novel series and focuses on a group of high school kids who find themselves drawn into a mystery after witnessing strange lights in the sky. Other students are disappearing, and the blame is put on the urban legend of Boogiepop, an evil entity who was also believed to be responsible for killings many years earlier. A follow up series, Boogiepop wa Warawanai, was released in 2019.
14. Gantz (2004)
A weird, exciting, and extremely bloody mix of horror and sci-fi action, Gantz follows two high school students who are killed by a subway train. In the afterlife they are thrown into a bizarre and violent game, controlled by a black sphere known as Gantz, in which they must hunt and kill aliens hidden throughout Japan. It's not for the faint-of-heart, but it's an undeniably compelling show.
15. Tokyo Ghoul (2014)
Tokyo Ghoul is set in a world where humans and flesh-eating ghouls exist together--the ghouls are harmless by day and move unseen amongst the people. But at night, you better watch out. The main character Ken becomes a "half-ghoul" after a near death experience. It's a stylishly animated show with tons of graphic gore, but also delivers a compelling story, as Ken struggles with his two sides.
16. Another (2012)
This spooky ghost story follows a group of high schoolers who attempt to work out why their classmates are dying in strange and seemingly random ways. The show is reminiscent of the Final Destination movies in the way it builds up each death, but the unpredictable plot, moments of comedy, and often very violent imagery give it its own unique atmosphere.
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