What's better than a horror movie with a captivating story line? These anime will thrill any horror movie buff.
25) Gantz
After dying trying to save a homeless man who fell on the subway tracks, Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato wake up in an apartment with other confused people and they can’t leave. The two highschool boys and the others in the room are given missions that take them to kill aliens who are posing as humans and are always returned back to the apartment.. They receive points for every alien they kill and once they reach 100 points they have three options, one of them being to return back to life with no memory of the Gantz missions.
Kill the Aliens: Kurono and Kato kill aliens as instructed by Gantz.
24) Ghost Hunt
Mai Taniyama leads us through her ghost hunting adventures with Kazuya Shibuya (Naru). Mai is a first year highschool student and works at Shibuya Psychic Research. Throughout her journey Mai focuses on her own psychic abilities.
Evil Spirits: Mai comes face to face with some truly horrific evil spirits she must defeat.
23) Ghost Stories
Satsuki Miyanoshita moves to the town of her now deceased mother. Her brother Keiichirou and a few other friends decide to visit the abandoned school.l. Once inside Satsuki learns her mother sealed away several ghosts who used to haunt that building. Now Satsuki has to learn how to put them back with the help of a demon named Amanojaku.
Satsuki Miyanoshita moves to the town of her now deceased mother. Her brother Keiichirou and a few other friends decide to visit the abandoned school.l. Once inside Satsuki learns her mother sealed away several ghosts who used to haunt that building. Now Satsuki has to learn how to put them back with the help of a demon named Amanojaku.
Demons: Satsuki learns from her mother’s books how to put the released demons back where they came from.
22) Mononoke
The Medicine Seller must find, fight, and kill the mononoke. He has to fend them off until he can learn their shape, truth, and reasoning. This is the only way he can properly exorcise the mononoke.
Disciplined: The Medicine Seller wishes to save lives but his duty requires him to eliminate the mononoke.
21) Monster
Dr Kenzo Tenma saved Johan Liebert from a gunshot wound to the head. Now nine years later Dr. Tenma may have made a mistake saving the boy's life. He learns about East Germany’s attempt to use an orphanage to create the perfect soldier. Dr. Tenma has seen what Johan is capable of and vows to fix his mistake.
Put him down: Dr Tenma saved his life and now he has vowed to end it.
20) Parasyte
Shinichi lived with his parents in Tokyo until one night a worm-like creature with drills for heads appeared on earth. The worms enter a human host through the nose or ears and take over their brain. One such creature tried to do the same to Shinichi but he woke up and the worm drilled into his hand leaving his brain intact. The parasite and Shinichi take advantage of their unique situation and fight off other parasites for survival.
Eaten: The parasites feast on the brains of those who have not been taken as hosts.
19) Pet Shop of Horrors
Count D owns a peculiar store in Chinatown. He sells normal animals, mythical creatures, and special pets. The special pets have the power to grant their owners any wish and appear to the owner as a normal human while others see it in pet form. The owners of the shapeshifting pets sign a contract to take good care of their pets but unfortunately most of them don’t and their endings are rarely happy.
Animals: The shapeshifting animals may sound like a great pet at first but often lead their owners to a less than happy ending.
18) Highschool of the Dead
Japan is struck by a pandemic that turns humans into zombies known as Them. A group of highschool students and the school nurse do their best to survive the outbreak and the breakdown of society. They travel through a series of trying situations to stay alive and try to reunite with their families.
Whatever it takes: Takashi and Rei will kill whatever gets in their way of survival.
17) Death Note
High School student Light Yagami discovers a notebook called Death Note which can kill anyone who’s name is written in the notebook as long as the user knows the name and face of the target. After a few days with the notebook Light is approached by Ryuk a Shinigami who was the previous owner of the notebook and can only be seen by Light. Light goes about writing names in the book killing criminals and graduates to killing higher class targets while being hunted by interpol.
Writing Death: Light Yagami believes himself to be making the world a better place by killing with the Death Note.
16) Attack on Titan
Eren Yeager lives with his best friends Mikasa and Armin in Shiganshina near wall Maria, the farthest wall from the center. The walls were built to protect the people from man eating titans. When his parents are killed tragically by the titans the three friends become cadets and are armed to take them down and protect the walls.
Titans: There are several different classifications among the titans, some of them are smarter than others. Armed with ODM gear the cadets gain a slight advantage in combat.
15) Tokyo Ghoul
College student Ken Kaneki is attacked by his date who unveils herself as a ghoul, and seriously injures him. After waking up in the hospital he finds out he underwent surgery and some of his attackers organs were put in him to save him. Now living his life as a half ghoul he can only eat human flesh. He learns how to live as a ghoul with the help of other local ghouls while keeping his identity hidden from his human friends.
Eating: Ken must come to terms with his hunger for human flesh.
14) Deadman Wonderland
Ganta Igarashi is sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. He is sent to a private prison and is surprised to find out he isn’t like the other prisoners. He is a Deadman, someone with a branch of sin. Ganta meets warden Tamaki and Ganta discovers that he was one of the men who plotted to have Ganta framed.
Deadman: Ganta and Shiro can control their blood freely and use it as a weapon.
13) Paranoia Agent
Lil Slugger, a juvenile serial assailant is terrorizing Tokyo. The only thing the victims remember are his gold inline skates, baseball cap, and bent golden baseball bat. Detectives Ikari and Maniwa are trying to catch Lil Slugger.
Maromi: Detective Maromi eventually became one of Lil Slugger's victims after being fired from the police force.
12) The Garden of Sinners
Shiki Ryogi works at a detective agency specializing in paranormal occurrences. A series of unusual suicides catches Shiki’s attention. Her friend and coworker falls into a coma that Shiki believes to be related to the suicides. Shiki must figure out why these people are killing themselves in order to help her friend.
No note: The suicide victims left no note or reason as to why they killed themselves and they are all jumping off the same building.
11) Boogiepop phantom
A pillar of light appears in the night sky followed five years later by a serial killer. Local highschool students start disappearing and a group of highschool students witness the incident of one death. They blame the troubling abductions on Boogiepop Phantom, a personification of death.
Bringer of Death: Boogiepop Phantom is blamed for the abductions and deaths of the highschool students.
10) Future Diary
Yukiteru spends most of his time writing a diary on his phone and talking to his imaginary friend Deus Ex Machina, who turns out to not be imaginary. Deus takes Yukiteru and 11 others and starts a survival game based around their diaries. The contestants must use the knowledge of their diaries to eliminate each other. The winner will succeed Deus as the next God of all time.
Team up: Yuno and Yukiteru work together to eliminate the other contestants.
9) Hellsing
A group of knights known as Hellsing search out and destroy any supernatural force of evil that may threaten the country or the Queen. Hellsing is currently led by Integra Hellsing and is helped by her butler Walter Dornez and a vampire who has pledged his loyalty to Hellsing named Alucard. Supernatural incidents have increased and Integra finds remnants of a Nazi group creating a vampire following.
Turned: Seras was turned into a vampire by Alucard and joined Hellsing to protect the country.
8) Elfen Lied
Diclonius is a mutated species that looks similar to humans but have telekinetic powers and two horns on their head. Lucy is a Doclonius and she escaped from a facility where she was being experimented on. She meets Kouta and Yuka who try to keep her safe from the brutal attempts to recapture Lucy.
Special Assault Team: Sent to recapture the Diclonius the Special Agents meet gruesome deaths at the murderous hands of Lucy.
7) Corpse Party
At Kisaragi Academy a group of school kids perform a ritual they found online called Sachiko Ever After to bind their friendship. After the charm is performed the students are transported to Heavenly Host Elementary school, a place terrorized by the people killed there. The students are separated and must reunite and put the souls to rest in order to escape the gruesome place.
Ghost children: Everything at Heavenly Hosts is out to kill them. Naomi barely escapes with her life.
6) Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek
Near the ruins of an abandoned city children gather in fox masks to play hide and seek. Some children go missing and are believed to have been taken away by spirits. Hikora joins the game of hide and seek to look for his sister Sorincha who has gone missing.
Abandoned City: The location of the game is haunted by several demons who chase and abduct the kids.
5) Higurashi: When They Cry
The Oyashiro Festival approaches and Keiichi Maebara, new to the town, learns about the curse surrounding the festival. Every year someone goes missing or is murdered. Keiichi investigates the curse and finds that every victim had a connection with his group of friends. As he gets closer to the truth, Keiichi's life is in danger.
Disturbance: Keiichi knowing Oyashiro is behind him, rips his own throat out.
4) Umineko When They Cry
October 4, 1986 the Ushiromiya family gathered to discuss the division of the family assets upon the death of Kinzo, the head of the family. There is a rumour about a “Gold Witch” named Beatrice who is said to have given Kinzo gold to restore his finances in the past. Kinzo’s grandson Battler and servant Sayo individually set out to find the witch and claim the gold. Along the way they discover dark family secrets and several deaths.
Repeated Murder: Refusing to believe in magic Beatrice sends Battler to Purgatory where the murders of his family repeat themselves over and over again.
3) Shiki
The Kirishiki family moves into a castle on the outskirts of the small town of Sotoba. At the same time they arrive, a series of mysterious deaths trouble Toshio Ozaki, the dean of the local hospital. He begins to investigate the deaths and finds them to be the work of vampires.
Shiki: The mysterious deaths coincide with the arrival of the Kirishiki family. Shiki directly translates to corpse demon.
2) Perfect Blue
Mima Kirigoe leaves her teen band to become an actress and lands a job shooting a drama called Double Bind. Mima’s fans are upset with her career change and she starts being stalked by a man who called himself Me-Mania. With the stress of shooting the drama, the stalker, and a website called Mima’s room, Mima starts to have a hard time distinguishing between the show and reality.
Tadokoro: Mima’s manager Tadokoro did his best to get her to her fame, but he meets a brutal end.
1) Another
In 1972 a student, Misaki, in class 3 died. Now in 1998, Kouichi Sakakibara transfers to the current class 3. He notices a girl with an eye patch everyone ignores, and asks why no one talks to her. He is told to ignore the girl but doesn’t listen to this advice. Her name is Misaki. Shortly after his arrival his classmates start dying gruesome deaths.
First Death: Student Yukari mysteriously trips down the stairs and impales herself on her umbrella.
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