Obligatory spooky (sexy) music: Kuchizuke (くちづけ) /Kiss by buck-tick. I hope it doesn't get taken down ;_;
This is an extremely late post for
the season, I know, but I have always wanted to do this since… two years ago?
Might as well get on with it before October ends. So why seven titles? Well,
the number obviously didn’t reach 10 rofl. Honestly, I originally planned it to
be five, then found two more titles on my list. I wanted it to reach 10 to get
this even number, but sadly it didn’t.
Before I start, I’d like to
explain that I am a fan of the horror genre, however, I am kind of squeamish. I
do not like to watch stuff that overly show blood, guts, and gore, but appreciate
more of the psychological/mindf*ck, creepy, crawls-in-your-skin type. To give concrete examples, stuff
I like: Shutter (Thai movie), Junji Ito materials, The Wailing (S. Korean movie),
A Quiet Place, Get Out, It… you get the idea; stuff I don’t like: Saw, Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel, etc. Eww, please get those away from me.
I’d also like to point out that I
don’t appreciate a lot of Western horror flicks as they rely immensely on jump scares.
Not saying that all of them do, just a lot of them. I, however, do not like to
play horror games because I go into panic attacks when I’m in control of the
character rofl. I prefer to watch no-commentary gameplays on YouTube.
1. Monster (2005)
74 episodes
This is more on medical-ish, mystery,
thriller/suspense, but the psychological attack it does is too good. Johan
Liebert is just brilliantly creepy for a character that I got chills a lot of the
times when he does something unexpected on-screen – makes you go WTF. I always
seem to recommend this anime next to Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood whenever
someone asks for a recommendation.
2. Shiki (2010)
22 episodes
Fun fact: the video at the top is this anime's opening song.
This has some blood and gore, but
only to a minimum to which I think the majority of it was at the ending of the
series. What’s shockingly interesting about this is that the viewer already
knows who the perpetrators of the small town are, but the town community does
not. You get to watch them solve mysteries which you already know who the guilty
party is, but you have no idea how they’re going to solve the problems they
encounter. It is bloody brilliant, pun intended. I’ve already mentioned this
title before, and it still is one of my favorite horror anime to watch, however,
I’m still not satisfied with how the ending went.
3. Berserk (1997)
25 episodes
I’m late to the party for this
one. My S.O. kept bugging me about this and I finally caved two years ago. I
have to say that the entirety of this anime is highly deceptive, but not in a
bad way. If you’re into medieval conquests and/or the like (like my S.O. is), then
you probably watched it at first because of that. But, oh boy, things get a creepy,
weird turn at some point. The manga (which I opted to follow because the story
is really good) is still ongoing and I can understand why fans are frustrated
with its constant hiatuses. And no, I did not bother to watch its latest installments
even though they continue from where the anime left off. The animation looks…
hmm.. Σ(￣ロ￣lll)
4. Perfect Blue (1998)
This is another classic psychological
horror that I really like. I only watched this once many, many years ago, but it
kind of has a lasting effect because I (also) still recommend this title to
people whenever I can – Paprika doesn’t even compare. It’s only a movie so it’s
easy to watch if you don’t have enough time to binge-watch one whole season.
All I can say is that someone please bring Satoshi Kon† back alive.
5. Ghost Hunt (2006)
25 episodes
Okay, at first this episode starts
off slow and normal which makes you go “Ok, this is a supernatural/spooky
series. Fun. Cool.” Until the Bloody Labyrinth arc comes, that is. WTF. Frankly,
this series isn’t that too scary to watch, keeping in mind that it’s still a
shoujo title – but it will still scare you one way or another.
6. Mononoke (2007)
12 episodes
This is kind of hard to explain:
Mononoke is simply unique from its art to it story-telling. Honestly, the art
was much to be desired when I first saw this years ago. Gradually, you become
used to it until you appreciate it for what it is and how they seem to go well
with the series. The whole series is cut into arcs where the main character
tries to solve mysterious cases involving evil spirits (mononoke). The series
itself is not spine-chillingly horror, but it’s nicely done which is more
focused on the psychological aspect. I re-watched this last year just for kicks
and I found myself still intrigued with the series. Originally, this is a
spin-off sequel from Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror. If you take time to
watch the prequel, the Bakaneko arc is where the Medicine Seller is first
introduced.
7. Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori
(2006)
26 episodes
Hell Girl is one of my many
guilty pleasures. I admit that this franchise as a whole isn’t really that
compelling, but I still quite enjoy watching this. Although, this particular
title is the sequel of the first Jigoku Shoujo franchise, Futakomori is the
strongest installment out of all the four seasons. Only disappointing thing
about this is that the sequels, Mitsuganae and Yoi no Togi, weren’t able to
replicate the success Futakomori was able to achieve.
You might have noticed that some “great
titles” aren’t included in this list. Again, these titles are selected because
of reasons stated above. I have watched other horror anime, like Another and
Tokyo Ghoul, but I don’t really like them as much (no offense to fans). Also, I
haven’t watched other titles, like Tasogare Otome X Amnesia and Sankarea, but I
will soon.
Stay spooky ^,…,^
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