Anime Accessories: Five Horror Animes to Watch or Read This Halloween
Spend October marathoning these creepy, spooky, and just plain scary horror animes with a big bowl of Halloween candy.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Between the weather cooling off, the excuse to put together silly costumes and the abundant candy, there’s little not to like. And every October I make a list of scary and not-so-scary movies and shows to binge all month. if you have a slow Halloween marathon going this month, be sure to add these five anime movies or box sets to your list.
1. Another
I can confidently say that this is a binge-worthy show for the Halloween season… Because I personally did watch all of it in one night. It’s a pretty fun horror mystery and a show that will keep you guessing, creeped out, and saying “ew” once or twice.
Class 3-3 is cursed and everyone in the class will die unless they figure out who doesn’t belong. It’s a little like the premise of Among Us if the imposter didn’t know that they were the one slowly killing everyone and if it were way less cute. It’s a little bit gory, a little bit suspenseful, and at times a little sweet and funny.
2. Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories
For the ghost story or urban legend enthusiast, Yamishibai is a collection of five animated ghost stories based in Japanese culture and legends. Genuinely scary stories and short run times for each make this the perfect watch for those ‘ghost stories around the campfire’ vibes. And originality plus imagination take these shorts to the next level. The animation can be a little crude, but just like Mob Psycho 100, that sort of adds to the charm of the show.
3. Uzumaki
We’re going to switch over to manga for a bit with Junji Ito’s Uzumaki (which has nothing to do with Naruto Uzumaki). There’s a lot of Junji Ito out there, and if you’d prefer to watch than read, a lot of it is animated and available on DVD or streaming. But for a core, classic bit of must-read Junji Ito, Uzumaki can’t be beat. Are spirals creepy? Well, they are now.
4. Perfect Blue
Coming out in 1999, this is far from a new movie. But it holds up. This is less of a ‘spooky horror’ movie and more of a film you’ll walk away from saying, “Oh, that was messed up.” Y’know, one of those psychological horror-slash-thriller movies.
This movie is also bonkers in a way that I can’t really describe or explain without spoiling it. So if you’re up for a movie that will make you uncomfortable as opposed to scare you, Perfect Blue is a must-see.
5. PTSD Radio
I love a good horror anthology- the Junji Ito Collection and Mononoke were some of my favorite watches last year. But PTSD Radio is a manga that pushes it to a whole other level. Written by Masaaki Nakayama, this series is six (so far) volumes of the sort of pure nightmares that you can’t look away from.
But it’s also really good. Near-perfect reviews across the board sort of good. I know manga is harder to multitask with, have on in the background, or zone out while enjoying. But trust me, this one is worth the time if you’re looking for some solid anime horror this season.
Oh hey! BoLS might make a little dolla-dolla if you decide to buy these items. We need that money to buy a ton of salt to circle the house in. And then more spooky anime.
