Top 5 Best Horror Anime

5. When They Cry (Umineko No Naku Koro Ni)

Also referred to as When They Cry 3, this is the third television anime series adapted from the game. It features an alternate setting of the first series, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.

A kind of spiritual sequel to theHigurashiseries,Uminekois focused on Battler Ushiromiya, one of the sons of the super-rich Ushiromiya family. The entire family holds a gathering on an otherwise uninhabited island to decide who will get what after the passing of the head of the family. A string of inexplicable events occur, leading to the killing of everyone on the island. The person responsible is a witch who engages Battler in a game wherein she reverses all the events and urges him to solve the murders. The plot is similar to other typical horror anime, but the backstories and growth of the diverse and horrific cast helps add to the mystery and terror of the story.

4. Ghost stories (Gakkou no Kaidan)

Also known as Ghosts at School, this series tells the story of Satsuki Miyanoshita who moves with her family to her deceased mother’s hometown, after her death. On the first day of her school, Satsuki’s little brother, her neighbor and a couple of other friends from the school decide to hop into an abandoned school building next to their school complex, only to discover that it is haunted.

After facing multiple encounters with the ghosts of the school, Satsuki discovers that it was no one else but her mother only who had sealed all the ghosts in the school building, as they were haunting the school as well as the town. Her mom had also left her a book on exorcism and spells, full of instructions on exorcising the ghosts once and for all. Satsuki takes up the task of ridding the town of these ghosts and gets to kick some ghost ass in the process!

3. Mononoke

Mononoke follows the character of Medicine Seller who encounters several supernatural dangers. The stories occur during the Edo era of Japan when there is a four-class system with merchants (including the Medicine Seller) forming the lowest class and samurais belonging to the highest. The Medicine Seller doesn’t mind engaging the unnatural spirits (Mononoke) into tough fights, sometimes destructing them completely. Furthermore, he effectively uses his knowledge of the supernatural entities to fend off the spirits, until he learns about the truth of their reason of existence and shape. He can’t exorcise them until he’s aware of all these facts.

2. Shiki

Although Shiki may seem meandering on certain occasions, underneath the cheerful voice overs, amazing animation and colourful appearances, you’ll find something very sinister at play. The story follows 15-year-old Megumi Shimizu who dies unexpectedly in the quiet village of Sotoba, resulting in a ferocious epidemic and plenty of blood and terror. Then enters Toshio Ozaki, a young doctor who in search of truth decides to abandon his humanity. Natsuno Yuuki who is very disturbed by the untimely death of his friend Megumi, pairs up with Toshio, in an effort to save Sotoba from turning into a town of vampires.

1. Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl)

Did you know? There's a website online that you can only visit at midnight. It's called the Hotline to Hell, and all it has is a black background a sentence saying: "I will exact your vengeance." If you type a name into the box, you can choose to enter into a contract that curses your target to hell immediately－as long as you too follow when you die. Enma Ai, the Hell Girl, is the middleman who creates the contracts and sets them in action. This anime is not the most gory, but it explores the horrors of the human heart. No one is pure evil, and no one is innocent.