[Seinen Winter 2018] Like Chaos;Head? Watch This!

5:00 PM March 22, 2018

Anime Recommendations [Article Category]
Seinen Anime [Genres]
Chaos;Head, Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, Junji Itou CollectionChaos;Head, [Anime Title]

Pickup,

Aaron

Junji-Itou-Collection-225x350 [Seinen Winter 2018] Like Chaos;Head? Watch This!

What do you get when you tear down the fabrics of reality by infusing paranoid thoughts and mind-altering concepts? You get Chaos;Head, a 12-episode series of never ending mystery, horror and of course seinen related themes. Chaos;Head—which takes place in an alternate timeline than Steins;Gate—keeps the viewer guessing at what can be considered real and what is just a delusion of the main protagonist Takumi Nishijou. We loved Chaos;Head when it aired in 2008 and still to this day, look for similar shows to remind us of the elements we embraced so much in this 12-episode series. Luckily, as of 2018 there are two shows we found here at Honey’s Anime that should be enjoyed by those who liked Chaos;Head. Welcome everyone to our Like Chaos;Head? Watch This! article.

About Chaos;Head (Anime Topic)

Episodes: 12
Aired: Oct, 2008- Dec, 2008

High school student Takumi Nishijou hears about a slew of murders near his school and in his city but he could care less. For Takumi, the only drive he has is playing online games and trying to isolate himself from the world as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately, luck seems to have run out for Takumi as he receives a strange link showing grisly murders related to the killings. The only clue seen within the pictures happens to be a young pink haired girl. Takumi ends up running into this pink haired girl and there meeting will begin a torrent of horrible events to befall our odd protagonist. What is real and whose eyes are those? These are the questions that will bombard you in Chaos;Head.

Liked Chaos;Head ? Watch Junji Ito: Collection!

Episodes: 12
Aired: Jan, 2018-Present

Straight from the mind of famous horror mangaka Junji Ito comes this collection of short stories. Junji Ito: Collection will dive into some of the lesser known works from Junji Ito but nonetheless, will use both his art style and his use of various horror tones. Some stories will be macabre based and others will utilize traditional horror tropes in rather peculiar ways. Regardless, the Junji Ito: Collection will be sure to mesmerize fans of Ito and even newcomers alike. If you are ready to dive into stories of utter fear and terror then enter the world of the Junji Ito: Collection…

Three Major Similarities Between Chaos;Head and Junji Ito: Collection

1. Dark Mind-Altering Narratives

Mangaka Junji Ito is known for creating stories that really get into your mind and never leave. You constantly have to wonder how could something like this be real and equally how can it get any worse for the protagonists within? This is the same feeling shared with Chaos;Head. Often, we see these various characters like Takumi, Rimi and even Ayase—just to name a few—dealing with horrors that seem almost fake but are in fact really occurring. Chaos;Head and the Junji Ito: Collection are both seinen works that push the bill on showing dark tales of both outlandish horror and semi-relatable narratives. When you watch either the Junji Ito: Collection or Chaos;Head make a game out of trying to see whose character backstory will trump another, you will be surprised at the results.

2. Mysteries and Delusions

While Chaos;Head isn’t a bunch of short stories like the Junji Ito: Collection it does share two themes with it nonetheless. The first is that many of the stories within Junji Ito: Collection have a mystery theme to them and then there are times where some works are filled with delusional narratives. For example, one of the more recent episodes had a young girl being lost within a strange city filled with people who not only wore masks but also would randomly stare at others through peep holes. Why were these characters doing this and was this in the girl’s mind as the speech in the beginning of the episode alludes to? In many ways we almost think of the Junji Ito: Collection being like Takumi’s mind where you have to wonder what is reality that can be solved versus what is just another delusion?

3. Graphic in nature

Chaos;Head might seem action/harem orientated at times, but for those who have seen this twisted show, they would know the truth. Often, Chaos;Head is just like Junji Ito: Collection with both series being very graphic in nature. Case in point, Chaos;Head often has people being eviscerated and/or maimed while the Junji Ito: Collection shows people being stabbed or murdered in brutal ways. Case in point, the Junji Ito: Collection has one episode that has a family being murdered by a sentient puppet and shows a character having been stabbed multiple times. There are also episodes where some people are devoured by beasts. We won’t spoil the episodes by naming numbers but we will say if you loved the violence seen in Chaos;Head then you’ll thoroughly enjoy Junji Ito: Collection.

Liked Chaos;Head? Watch Kokkoku!

Episodes: N/A
Aired: Jan, 2018- Present

Juri Yukawa’s life lately has been rather rough. Despite going on nearly 20 job interviews, Juri has found herself still unemployed and forced to continue living at home. Then as if things couldn’t get worse for Juri, her nephew Makoto is kidnapped and held for ransom. This is where Juri learns from her grandfather of a way to save Makoto without having to pay the random. All they must do is bring the world to a standstill…

Three Major Similarities Between Chaos;Head and Kokkoku

1. Special powers galore

Easily one of the most notable similarities between Chaos;Head and Kokkoku is the fact that both shows are heavy with the special powers. In Kokkoku, Juri has the ability to expunge the jellyfish within the bodies of characters—we won’t go too far into detail to avoid spoilers—and Takumi as well as the other female leads have the ability to summon weapons from their delusions. Then you have the main theme of Kokkoku which is the world being completely stalled—time literally stops when Juri, her father and her grandfather perform a spell on a strange stone—and you instantly realize both of these anime will be chock full of supernatural fights and intense battles. Kokkoku has a ton of other powers revealed pretty early on—literally episode 2—and near the latter episodes but we don’t want to ruin the surprise. Just be prepared for Kokkoku to mimic the insanity of Chaos;Head.

2. Unique and grounded Stories

Seinen works in general can be either very cliché or very original. We say this because often seinen means mature stories and most creators will tend to either keep their mature content grounded to reality or go far out there with insane worlds and narratives. Chaos;Head and Kokkoku are two stories that are truly unique as they incorporate realism—which we will mention in a moment—as well as complete fiction. Take for example Takumi and his life of seeing 2D girls in a real form. Many anime fans who love 2D girls—there’s nothing wrong with that if you fall into this category—often see their anime/manga/video game loves as real people. In the story of Kokkoku, despite the world of stasis—this is what the world is dubbed once people are frozen and time stops—being very unreal, we have seen people wonder what would happen if people could stop time? Kokkoku and Chaos;Head are unique stories that keep things in a perspective we can understand all while being unique takes on themes we’ve seen before in other anime works. That’s why we also think our next comparison will make so much sense and even further your resolve to check out Kokkoku or Chaos;Head if you haven’t already done so.

3. Relatable characters

While Chaos;Head’s cast might seem strange and almost too unreal, they are actually quite relatable a trait that is similar to Kokkoku. Juri is the best example where she is just a young girl trying to make a way out of the binds of her dependent lifestyle and Takumi is just trying to stay within the confines of a reclusive lifestyle. These aren’t elements we don’t see in people on a daily basis. How many people do you know right this moment struggling to move out of their homes and find their way in life or those who rather play video games from the moment the sun rises to the moment it sets? These themes keep both Kokkoku and Chaos;Head realistic despite their extremely far fetched narrative plots. Yet, it makes both shows entertaining because you can almost visual yourself in the role of these various people and we love anime that does this.

Final Thoughts

Chaos;Head was one weird show when it released 10 years ago but strange seems to be the perfect way to describe anime at times. In fact, both shows we compared to Chaos;Head—meaning the Junji Ito: Collection and Kokkoku—are similar in that regard but they work so wonderfully because they mirror Chaos;Head. We highly recommend checking out all three of these shows if you haven’t already done so and let us know in the comments what you thought about them. Remember to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime for more articles just like this one.

Writer

Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!

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