Summary
Some non-horror anime can be as scary as horror anime due to their disturbing storylines and creepy visual designs. Anime like Oshi no Ko and Cells at Work deal with dark themes and depict disturbing events, adding a layer of horror to their respective genres. Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Godzilla Singular Point deliver terrifying moments through their bleak and morally corrupt worlds and their characters’ monstrous designs.
The series listed in this article contain sensitive content, which some viewers may find offensive.
There are many excellent, thrilling horror anime for fans. However, anime of other genres are also responsible for delivering effective thrills and scares. Even though their focus is not on horror, these anime still have depth and are truly scary. Anime fans looking for a scare may also be interested scariest non-horror anime.
A lot of non-horror anime have memorable scary moments. Thanks to effective art direction or plots based on disturbing content, some non-horror anime can be just as scary as those that are actually considered horror, despite ostensibly being based on horror stories. another type.
11 Oshi no Ko
Even before the surprise twist at the end of the first episode, perhaps the most disturbing scene in the series, there were plenty of signs that Oshi no Ko was a scathing indictment of the Japanese entertainment industry. Overall, Oshi no Ko does not hesitate to portray the darkest aspects of life as an idol singer or TV star. While the storylines involving stalkers and obsessed fans are generally disturbing, they’re made even worse by the fact that many of Oshi no Ko’s most disturbing events are based on real tragedy.
10 cells at work
Despite being a cute and bizarre series on the outside, Cells at Work doesn’t shy away from depicting all the terrible things that can happen to the human body. Despite abstracting and humanizing cells in human characteristics, Cells at Work has been praised by doctors for its medical precision.
Cells at Work describes different types of diseases that can affect the human body as monsters and villains. It’s not surprising that Cancer is portrayed as both the greatest threat and the scariest individual character. Appearing as a normal cell, Cancer is eventually revealed to be a monstrous shape-shifter with a truly disgusting appearance and a desire to recreate itself without limits, as shown in the series itself. as a super villain who wants to take over or destroy the entire world. It’s an effective and interesting way to portray Cancer within the premise of Cells at Work.
9 Cyberpunk Pioneers
Adam Smasher in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Cyberpunk stories typically don’t have uplifting stories or happy endings. Edgerunners perfectly captures the tone of the genre. The world seems bright and shiny but is actually bleak and morally bankrupt. The characters’ cybernetic enhancements, especially their realistic installation on the characters’ bodies, are depicted in horrifying detail. Adam Smasher, a longtime icon in the original Cyberpunk tabletop game and the main antagonist in the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, is single-handedly responsible for the majority of Edgerunners’ scariest moments, described as Cho is both a cybernetic monstrosity and an unstoppable juggernaut in battle. While not quite as one-sided as Adam Smasher destroying heroes, other battles in Edgerunners are still brutal and violent.
8 Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan establishes its tone assertively almost immediately. The first two episodes detail the events of a human settlement overrun by Titans. Immediately, the Titans appear throughout the anime, in all their different terrifying forms, earning their place as some of the scariest monsters in anime.
Kaiju-sized monsters are generally terrifying due to their overwhelming proportions compared to the human protagonists, but the Titans are even worse than most other kaiju. Thanks to their human-like appearance, they evoke deep reactions in the Uncanny Valley, human enough to be recognizable but inhuman enough to be deeply unsettling. The Laughing Titan is especially terrifying because it seems to actively enjoy the destruction and terror it causes.
Godzilla’s only 7 points
Although Godzilla Singular Point’s explanations of quantum mechanics are essentially correct, they can be difficult to understand. Because of this, the series demonstrates that humans are completely unable to understand Godzilla’s interdimensional role. This version of Godzilla is not a walking nuclear bomb, but an unknowable Cthulhu-like entity that threatens to unravel reality simply by existing. It makes Godzilla scary in a whole new way, complemented by an incredibly creepy design. The other kajiu receive similar redesigns, and the fact that they’re all scaled down to a more human-sized size actually makes them scarier, allowing them to interact and pose a threat. danger to the human characters in a more direct and immediate way.
6 Records of Ragnarok
Conceptually, Record of Ragnarok is very similar to Mortal Kombat. It’s top notch in graphics and violence, with warriors being seriously injured and killed in on-screen detail. Additionally, among both gods and humans, many of the tournament’s warriors had very cruel and brutal personalities. It’s also quite disturbing thematically. The gods have decided to wipe out humanity, and despite being forced to give humanity a fighting chance in a tournament of champions, the gods can wipe out the entire human race at will. still haunts the series.
5 Princess Mononoke
Studio Ghibli has historically been quite heavily influenced by the North American idea that all animation should be for children. The infamous heavily edited first English release of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind allowed Hayao Miyazaki to institute a no-cut policy for later English releases of his films. .
Clearly, Princess Mononoke adhered to this policy. Although Neil Gaiman’s English script made some changes to some of the dialogue to make it easier for English-speaking audiences to understand, nothing was deleted or significantly altered. The English version of Princess Mononoke is still graphically violent and full of nightmarish imagery, mainly notable for the corruption tormenting the animal gods, represented as a mass of animal-like tentacles. The worm is writhing. On top of that, Princess Mononoke also has themes that are quite skeptical about humanity and modernity.
4 Madoka Magical Girl
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a brutal deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, and launched an entire dark and iconic sub-genre in the process. While even iconic Magical Girl series like Sailor Moon have their darker moments, Madoka commits fully to a noir tone, and the series quickly proves that the typical Magical approach to fighting evil head-on is exactly the wrong choice in this world. That evil takes the form of monsters known as Witches, who are conceptually terrifying, presented as a legitimate and lethal threat, and drawn and animated with dime The macabre and cool direction of mixing different art styles intentionally clashes with the main style of the series to effectively represent them. otherworldliness.
3 black dresses
Black Lagoon can be difficult to get into because none of the characters are particularly likable. The series is like a darker, more violent, and more grounded take on Cowboy Bebop. The characters are mostly outlaws navigating a brutal and ruthless criminal underworld and the series’ frequent graphic violence reflects that. Even the main character is really only sympathetic when compared to their enemies. Black Lagoon may be stylized, but there are no supernatural elements in the story. The scariest thing about Black Lagoon is that most of what is depicted on screen seems frighteningly plausible in the real world.
2 Evangelical Neon Genesis
The visual designs of the Angels and EVA Units are both extremely creepy. EVA is a perfect combination of mechanical and organic components, while Angels are completely bewildering, with most of them taking the form of abstract geometric objects rather than anything even resembling a living creatures from afar. This perfectly captures their otherworldly, unknowable nature. On top of that, Evangelion delves deep into the human psyche, with most of the main characters struggling to process some kind of trauma in their backstory, coupled with the series’ unflinching, describes the psychological and emotional impact of convincing teenagers to fly a giant pilot. war machines in the fight against fearsome alien opponents.
1 madness
Berserk has become one of the most iconic dark fantasy anime series of all time, and it has truly proven itself worthy of that honor. While Berserk is an engaging series, the overwhelming darkness of the plot can make it a tiring experience. Most supernatural beings in the world of the series are either malevolent or have no regard for humanity. The world is filled with monsters with disturbing visual designs. There are many disturbing storylines. Berserk’s iconic battle scenes are extraordinarily artistic but unrelentingly brutal and violent. Even many simple human characters are capable of committing acts of unspeakable brutality and cruelty.
Just because an anime isn’t officially in the horror genre doesn’t mean it’s not actually scary. Thanks to some disturbing plots and extremely creepy visual designs, some non-horror anime have created scares that rival anything in a pure horror anime. Even traditional horror fans will likely be convinced by some scariest non-horror anime.