Not to flex or anything, but I’m old enough to remember when admitting to enjoying anime would get you banned on any continent.
I’m also old enough to realize now, in retrospect, that the level of otaku-dom we went through from the very late ‘80s all the way up until the mid ‘00s probably should have gotten us tarred and feathered.
That being said, those of us who are still capable of enjoying anime without any qualifiers or regressing back to our most feral figurine hunting states are occasionally in need of a refresher; things aren’t as good as they were back in your day, you say? Maybe not. For the last push of the spooky season, I’d like to check in on my 2nd favorite subgenre of anime: horror! Duh. The first, of course, being “dystopian post apocalyptic Japanese cyberpunk with Bladerunner influence.”
Back in my day, the anime VHS rental section was rife with all manner of scary anime. Creepy kawaii, guro, surreal, sci-fi, comedy, slice-of-life. Being the young anime hungry nerd that I was, I would pile tapes in my arms regardless of any parental warnings or ratings (sike, there weren’t any – anime was just cartoons! All for kids!) and devour them once I got home. I had no rating system in place, so everything was excellent! As it turns out, only Wicked City and Serial Experiments Lain stood the test of the time. Nostalgia is wild like that.
But, you gotta remove the rose-colored shades sometimes. When I think of how good anime used to be—and believe me, we all have that moment in our darkest points—I ask myself, “have you bothered with anything past 1998?” Is anime worth bothering with past 1998? Of course it is! It just takes a little coaxing to get out of the house.
So let’s check the condition of my old standby with a few spooky newcomers. Or should I say new-ish. Never claimed I was completely cured.
1) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no yaiba (2019)
The newest kid on the block. It’s not pure horror but there are demons and scary fights. If you’ve been away from shounen for a while like I have, this will pull you back – it’s pure fun, psychological horror, and high stakes for the young hero with a great supporting cast and all the excessive, plot-dependent power-ups you could ever need. The animation is fantastic and the soundtrack is no slouch, either. Brace for impact when the series concludes! … Or, just read the manga.
2) Happy Sugar Life (2018)
Happy Sugar Life proves that the line between “thriller” and “horror” is mighty thin. There are no jumps scares or things that go bump in the night but make no mistake that the anime and manga are… horrific. Come for the scathing critique of the otaku society we try so hard to preserve, stay for the pain.
What beings as an innocuous if a little unnerving age-gap yuri quickly spirals into murder, kidnapping, fatal family secrets, and psychological trauma. What it lacks in jump scares it will certainly make up for in messing with you mentally. Do you like your monsters in the form of little girls? This is for you… unfortunately.
3) Higurashi no naku koro ni & Umineko no naku koro ni (2006 & 2009)
Let’s go back a few years to when your anime fandom died down. Do you ever wonder what you missed in the downtime? I caught up with myself from the past a while ago after I heard about a weird new manga adaptation of a visual novel, Higurashi no naku koro ni (better known in English as Higurashi: When They Cry). The manga takes a little patience to get through as it is separated into question & answer arcs. The anime, by nature, is a bit more streamlined and somehow much more graphic and incredibly, extremely messed up. If you’re a fan of demonic possession and teenagers slaughtering for us, then strap in! If not, Umineko may be a better property for you. While set in the same universe, Umineko flips the base story of Higurashi and the mystery involves witches and aristocracy. Ahh, just like Dario Argento used to make!
If you want an extra dose of nostalgia, get ready to search low and high on the sketchiest of websites to find all seasons of Higurashi. I would know.
4) Devilman Crybaby (2018)
https://youtu.be/lwpFpF9-MVk
After that brief jaunt back in time, we’re back in the present (well, last year) and you’ve just found out that there’s an incredibly divisive new Devilman adaptation! Wait, a complete adaptation of the Devilman manga? That, friends, is witchcraft in and of itself! But Maasaki Yuasa did it and brought it to the people on Netflix.
I won’t argue that Devilman Crybaby is a perfect adaptation – I feel it gets the essence across, streamlines a few characters, but also misses a few pivotal plot details and the absence of major players like Masa & his whole crew, Mikiko, and AMON HIMSELF are pretty glaring. But if you like your horror nice and traumatizing with a healthy dose of anti-fascism and LGBTQ+ themes, then this is for you. Isn’t it nice to have a civil conversation about anime again? Don’t answer that.
5) Junji Ito Collection (2018)
Junji Ito shares the same curse as Stephen King when it comes to adaptations – when they’re good, they’re usually missing a good chunk of the spirit of the novel (ahem, The Shining). When they’re bad… they’re just bad. Sometimes you can do everything right and still fail. Happens. When you’re prolific, a 50% average is still a decent net.
Adaptations of Ito’s work has gotten better in recent years, starting with a few anthologies. Junji Ito Collection is the latest series and features adaptations of a few of his lesser known stories like “Slug Girl” and “Scarecrow”; then there’s the infamous “Greased” (dear god don’t look that up right now) and no Junji Ito adaptation is complete without his most famous creation: Tomie! Tomie shows up in anime form in two OVAs, because she would never share the spotlight with anyone else.
Not every episode is a win, but worth checking out for fans of Ito and classic horror in general. Now, when are we getting some Senno Knife?