When most people think of horror and Japan, they think of movies like The Ring or The Grudge--primarily something with a vengeful spirit haunting someone. However, for years, anime has also dipped its toes into the genre as well. While horror isn't as popular as the other sub-genres of the anime, it's a large, growing market that keeps getting better and better. And even more recently, there's a larger appreciation for it in the West.
But just like its live-action counterpart, there are many different types of scary anime. Some shows and movies are steeped in Japan's traditional legends of ghosts and curses, while others dip their toes into over-the-top gore and body horror. There are even horror anthologies as well. And of course, you can also find some good ol’ horror-comedies in the mix as well.
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)
Streaming on: Hulu, Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Hell Girl is not streaming anywhere at this time. However, Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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)
Streaming on: Funimation
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)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Hulu, Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Peacock, Roku, Tubi, Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Netflix
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)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: AMC+
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)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Shiki is not currently streaming anywhere
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)
Streaming on: Gyo: Fish Attack is not currently streaming anywhere
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)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Funimation
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)
Streaming on: Hulu, Crunchyroll
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)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
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.
17. Chainsaw Man (2022)
Streaming on: Hulu, Crunchyroll
An out-there story that borders on parody of itself, Chainsaw Man follows a devil hunter, Denji, and his cute pet devil, Pochita. After being betrayed by someone close to him, Denji becomes Chainsaw Man, a devil in his own right with a chainsaw coming out of his head and two out of his arms. The creature designs are incredibly disturbing, and while the action tends to water-down the horror elements a little bit, these devils are still exceptionally frightening.
Read our review of Chainsaw Man here.
18. Jujutsu Kaisen (2020)
Streaming on: HBO Max, Crunchyroll
Within anime, there are plenty of stories about high school kids and the relationships they have with each other. Jujutsu Kaisen takes that idea and flips it on its head, adding curses and demons to the mix. Yuji Itadori attempts to save a friend being attacked by curses, and in order to do so, he eats the finger of the cursed Ryomen Sukuna--which gives Yuji some powers. But where this show really shines are the curses these people battle, many of which you'll wish you could unsee because they are that gross.
19. Mieruko-chan (2021)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
If you enjoyed The Sixth Sense, then you'll really enjoy the twist to this story here. Miko Yotsuya is a high school student who can see ghosts. However, instead of trying to help them, she does her best to ignore them--even though most of them are really creepy. To make things worse, her best friend loves to eat, which increases your life aura, and in turn, that attracts more ghosts. While there the manga has had seven volumes released, there hasn't been a second season of the anime announced yet. Hopefully, that will change.
20. Castlevania (2017)
Streaming on: Netflix
The wildly popular video game franchise found a home at Netflix a few years back. Running over the course of four seasons--along with a follow-up in the works--Castlevania follows Trevor Belmont as he and Alucard and Sypha defend their world from Dracula. The first couple of seasons primarily pull from the story of the NES game Castlevania III.
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