One of my personal favorite genres, horror is everything that we as humans fear, are anxious of, or grossed out by. There are many sub-genres of horror, such as suspense, which is simply the fear of the unknown or out of sight; we tell ourselves something is there, but we can’t be sure, nor do we know when it’ll pop out at us. Bizarre looking monsters that are the things of nightmares, blood and gore, or death in general are common tropes used in horror anime and manga.
Unfortunately, while there are some fantastic works of horror fiction, most that come to surface aren’t very well written/illustrated, and overall I feel that the genre is underappreciated.
For you technical people out there who crave something more; I couldn’t find a direct wiki page on the genre, but if you take a look at Eastern Horror, the wiki describes it like this: Japanese horror tends to focus on psychological horror, tension building (suspense), and supernatural horror, particularly involving ghosts (yūrei) and poltergeists. Other Japanese horror fiction contains themes of folk religion such as possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and yōkai.
Horror/Suspense Anime Reviewed
List of Horror Anime and Recommendations
- Dororo and Regaining that which has been Lost (not considered a horror, however I found that it has several elements within it)
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu) Season 1 Discussion
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu) ‘Subaru and the Horror of Season 1’
- The Beautiful Nightmare that is Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
My Recommendations
- Danganronpa (never seen the animation but the visual novel was great) the Animation
- Higarashi When They Cry
- Parasyte: The Maxim
- Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World
- Tokyo Ghoul (manga)
- Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun