Horror anime. Your favorites!

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Death Note has some elements of horror (the premise is ethically horrific) but in general, yes, it's more suspense/thriller than horror.

I can't think of any good horror animes I've enjoyed (besides Le Portrait de Petit Cossette and Vampire D). I prefer the more psychological stuff than all blood and gore (can stomach some but I enjoy something a bit more intelligent than bloody).
Any suggestions? Something a bit different? It can be a hybrid of other genres as well, as long as it's good.
I've heard Gantz is great but I might read the manga instead (to avoid the heavy sex and nudity).
I'm not sure if you'd call Monster horror but I loved the manga. Absolutely brilliant!

Thanks

[hey]

To me the difference between horror and suspense is knowledge. Let's take a common scenario in these sorts of stories, climbing the stairs. In suspense, you don't know what's at the top of the stairs, and that scares you. You don't want them to climb the stairs, because you don't want to know. In horror, you know exactly what's at the top of the stairs, and that scares you. You still don't want them to climb the stairs, but because you know exactly what's up there.

So Death Note, really, qualifies much more as suspense than it does horror.

This may sound counter intuitive at first to some, but I see there being two genres one horror the other suspense. I also see there being sub-genres of horror (as well as suspense, but I'm not focusing on that). Suspense can be a sub-genre of horror. Of course that's a different kind of movie then just plain suspense or just plain horror.

Think Friday the 13th, the TV series, but instead of cursed relics we're dealing with unfathomable mythical monsters sold as "pets".

Like Gremlins?

Death Note has some elements of horror (the premise is ethically horrific) but in general, yes, it's more suspense/thriller than horror.

Ohhh I like how you put that. As opinions go I think I'm backing yours.

I prefer the more psychological stuff than all blood and gore (can stomach some but I enjoy something a bit more intelligent than bloody).

My tastes would tend to back yours as well. Not that I can't watch or enjoy other kinds, but I was trying to avoid saying what my tastes were early on because I wanted this thread to be more than just what I'm interested in. Still I prefer thinkers or tension based stuff over mindless killing. Also tone and atmosphere are really important. If the tone and atmosphere are halloweeny then that works for me too.



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[Maokun]

Like Gremlins?

Not at all. I really meant the "mythical" part. Think Medusas and Mermaids. Also, I was wrong, it is 4 episodes only.

[MasterDias]

I've heard Gantz is great but I might read the manga instead (to avoid the heavy sex and nudity).

I haven't read Gantz, but I'm quite sure the manga would have the same, if not worse, level of content as the anime.

Anyway, as far as my definitions go; horror usually involves the supernatural (or, if not, something that's otherwise morbid or gruesome) in some way. That's why the genre had tended to be lumped under the broad category of Speculative Fiction along with fantasy and science-fiction.
Suspense generally has a human threat, and is designed to keep a high-level of tension. Horror, on the other hand, goes beyond tension and is generally designed to freak out the audience, whether through gore or something psychological.
Death Note, for example, never scares the audience but keeps up the tension.

There are exceptions, of course, and hybrids of both. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, for example.

[hey]

I thought I'd share a wrap up of how my personal hunt for Halloween style animes went. I'd like to say this forum was very helpful in my search. I was able to try a fair number of shows, but not all of the ones that were suggested.

The two my wife and I liked the most were Pet Shop of Horrors and Hellsing. We felt both had a good Halloween feel without being mindless slashers.

One show we thought we'd like based on descriptions, but we were surprised to find didn't appeal to us was xxxHolic. I think it was really the voice acting that did it in for us. I know we're probably being picky, but in the end it made it harder to watch.

As for one suggestion I don't recall seeing that I got from a source off of the board was Witch Hunter Robin (I think that's what it is called.) I was told it has a very good Halloweeny feel. Should I look into that one for next year?

[TriezGamer]

Honestly, I'd still look into Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Of all the shows I've seen, it takes the cake. And I wouldn't recommend eating that cake when it's done -- you never can be too safe with these things ...

[hey]

Honestly, I'd still look into Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Of all the shows I've seen, it takes the cake. And I wouldn't recommend eating that cake when it's done -- you never can be too safe with these things ...

Oh yeah I did watch the first episode of that one. It didn't seem very Halloweeny. Was I mistaken?

[blkmage]

With Higurashi, you really need to watch at least one complete arc (four episodes for the first one) before you can really judge it. The first episode (of each arc, probably) is really different from the rest and is there to provide contrast and buildup to what happens in the rest of the arc.

[Fish and Chips]

Higurashi's whole deal is pretty much that everything's nice and calm in the sleepy town of Hinamizawa for about an episode or two.

Then people talk about the murders. Paranoia sets in, slowly, deeply.

By the fifth episode everyone may or may not be dead. Then the sixth comes...





Oh man, squirt guns fights! I loved those as a kid!

[EricTheFred]

I think when talking about horror anime, we have to go with the the broader definition of horror used in Japan rather than the thriller/suspense/scare-flick definition that we tend to use thanks to highly repetitive Hollywood formulas.

For my part, I've enjoyed most of the horror titles mentioned above. I want to give particular nods to Demon City Shinjuku, Ghost Hunt, Blood:The Last Vampire, xxxHolic, Boogiepop Phantom, and the greatness of Serial Experiments Lain (whether you agree it's horror or not, it is a seriously great series.) I was profoundly disappointed in Kakurenbo.

Also, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Tsukihime.

I've heard Gantz is great but I might read the manga instead (to avoid the heavy sex and nudity).
I'm not sure if you'd call Monster horror but I loved the manga. Absolutely brilliant!

You would get a heavier helping of sex and nudity with the manga than with the anime.

Monster is old-school horror, where the worst monsters of all are the humans. If it wasn't horror, than Psycho wasn't horror.

[Fish and Chips]

Also, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Tsukihime.

In before "There is no Tsukihime Anime."

Tsukihime is a romance. Yes, there are vampires (among other things), but the Anime handled them so sparsely except where necessary that I wouldn't think it qualifies as horror.

Now if they'd covered more of the material from the visual novel, horror (and okay, also romance) abounds.

[blkmage]

Yeah, I was under the impression that the Tsukihime anime wasn't very good. Of course, that's hearsay, but I do intend to make some more progress into the visual novel. However, Kara no Kyoukai exists now, which is a much, much, much better and more solid animated work (read: one of the best works of the last few years) and is an adaptation of a novel that's pretty much proto-Tsukihime. So yeah, definitely watch Kara no Kyoukai.

[TriezGamer]

Yeah, I was under the impression that the Tsukihime anime wasn't very good.

The Tsukihime anime is actually pretty decent as a standalone work, it's just a horrible adaptation of the VN.

Kara no Kyoukai exists now, which is a much, much, much better and more solid animated work (read: one of the best works of the last few years) and is an adaptation of a novel that's pretty much proto-Tsukihime. So yeah, definitely watch Kara no Kyoukai.

That is true.

[Nikolai Melodie]

I... can't really think of many options that don't border on being totally inappropriate (I'm such a Horror guru, to get me scared, you need to just... cut loose and absolutely mangle someone) but, I have a few ideas. Shikabane Hime is a relatively new show. Come to think of it, I don't know if it's being dubbed yet. I don't know if it's horror, but, the anime Black Jack from way back in the day is supposedly pants-peeingly scary.

Aside from that, you'll have to message me outside of CAA. I know of a lot more horror but, as I'm sure you're aware, this genre likes to veer away from what we see appropriate here xD

[Agape]

Death Note has some elements of horror (the premise is ethically horrific) but in general, yes, it's more suspense/thriller than horror.

I can't think of any good horror animes I've enjoyed (besides Le Portrait de Petit Cossette and Vampire D). I prefer the more psychological stuff than all blood and gore (can stomach some but I enjoy something a bit more intelligent than bloody).
Any suggestions? Something a bit different? It can be a hybrid

I must confess I still do enjoy a little bit of the dark psychological, suspense thrillers like Death Note more so than just the bloody gore horror shows. In fact I tend to stay way from those all together. I love how the Death Note story was written and the cat and mouse games between Light and L but I think one screening may have been enough for me. Light's mindset just began to bother me more and more as I watched the show, but I had to remember that the anime and manga themselves were not endorsing his personal beliefs about the world. But still, artistically speaking, it is a true work of art. I definately enjoyed it.