Hazuki Ryousuke has a crush. The beautiful owner of a local flower shop has captured his attention and in order to make love blossom between himself and the subject of his affections—Shimao Rokka—he decides to get a part-time job at her shop. However, his plan to get closer to Rokka is impeded by a ghost living in her apartment who claims to be her dead husband, Shimao Atsushi. Atsushi has been watching his wife for three years since his passing and of all the people to have entered his home, Ryousuke is the only person who has noticed him. The jealous husband commits himself to thwarting Ryousuke’s advances towards Rokka, while Ryousuke tries to find a way to get the angry ghost spouse to move on as ghosts should.

This interesting mix of drama and romance with a ghost at the centre of it all is the kind of show with incredible heaps of potential for each of its characters. However, the uniqueness that comes with this title is also unmistakable, creating a relationship among three characters who are all bringing their own personal landscapes to a paranormal situation.

Yasaka is a 13-year-old boy who is currently living with his grandfather during summer vacation. Upon entering a store one day, Yasaka meets Arashi, a beautiful 16-year-old girl who works at there. Yasaka becomes entangled in Arashi’s life when he protects her from a man claiming to have been sent by her family to take her back home by force. The two of them flee to Yasaka’s grandfather’s house where Arashi now stays full-time. Soon after she moves in, Yasaka begins to realise that Arashi isn’t a regular girl as a 60-year-old photograph of Arashi and a girl named Kaja emerges. Soon thereafter, Kaji herself makes an appearance and much like Arashi, Kaja hasn’t aged a day herself.

Natsu no Arashi is a comedic romance which places its ghost character squarely into a strange mystery, but not only does it create enigma, it brings a secondary ghost character! With two ghosts now in Yasaka’s life, the show dips its toes into a harem element with its romantic aspects concerning Yasaka and the two ghost girls. This anime also has the added boost of beautiful art and decent animation.

Natsume Tomoharu is a regular high school student living a regular high school life… apart from the fact that his best friend, Misao, is dead and her ghost follows him everywhere he goes. After he moves into his brother’s old house, Tomoharu receives a strange briefcase with no instructions. He decides to put it into storage but soon after receiving the briefcase, multiple groups make their way into Tomoharu’s house, prompting him and Misao to flee with it. Tomoharu now spends his time trying to uncover the secrets of the strange package that has made its way into his life, while looking into how it links to Misao and its incredible potential.

While the ghost is not presented to be the main element of interest in Asura Cryin’, it is a large plot point which ties the events of the anime together. The mysteries surrounding the briefcase make for a thrilling journey into Tomoharu’s life and the potential of the contents of the case to change the world as he knows it! However, in addition to this, the character Tomoharu finds himself in a situation which would normally be mentally and emotionally distressing with his dead best friend consistently by his side.

Kitarou is a friendly ghost who spends his afterlife trying to help people in any way that he can. In a world where youkai, monsters and other supernatural phenomena are commonplace, Kitarou helps humanity by combating the ones who cause harm in order to achieve his dream of having peace between human beings and spirits. 20 years into the 21st century, people have forgotten all about the youkai, but after strange events leave all the adults in her life dumbfounded, 13-year-old Mana writes to the Youkai Post, hoping to receive some kind of assistance. Kitarou arrives, ready to help!

The incredibly popular Gegege no Kitarou franchise has been rebooted yet again in order to celebrate the franchise’s 50th anniversary. 2018’s iteration boasts many of the same elements as its earlier counterparts, but also, pristine art and animation. The series follows Kitarou on his many adventures and the formatting of each episodes is... well, episodic. There is no overarching plot line in many respects but various events which all together are Kitarou’s afterlife.

Muhyo and Rouji are experts in magic law who are offering their coveted services in order to assist people experiencing any kind of uncomfortable situation concerning spirits, ghosts and any other supernatural entity. With Muhyo being the youngest to graduate from Magical Law School, he paired up with Rouji in order to form a business simply focused on the exorcism of supernatural entities. Need a ghostbuster? Call Muhyo and Rouji now!

This anime is fairly episodic in terms of how the events of each episode are carried out as individual cases that Muhyo and Rouji have to deal with as a result of their business. Exorcists aren’t an unknown concept in anime and less so, anime featuring organisations created with the intention of helping people with their problems. Characters are interesting from a design perspective and very quickly display their archetypes, so the anime feels familiar, yet one feels enchanted by the crisp art that brings everything together. It’s really pretty, and there are ghosts a-plenty – call Muhyo and Rouji now!

In 1972, Yomiyama North Middle School’s Class 3-3 lost a student named Misaki Mei, who passed away during the school year. Ever since her death, the entire town has been enveloped in a dark atmosphere. In 1998, 15-year-old Sakakibara Kouichi transfers into the school’s Class 3-3, noting the low energy exuded by all the students. An eyepatch-wearing student catches Kouichi’s eye, but for some reason, everyone else seems to be acting as if she doesn’t exist. Ignoring all the warnings he is given, including those coming from the eyepatch-wearing Misaki Mei herself, Kouichi begins to get closer to her and to the dark secrets about Class 3-3 of Yomiyama North Middle School.

Another is a fairly heavy horror anime with lots and lots and lots of blood. With everything being so closely tied to Misaki, the real ghost in question here, the anime is paced very much in a way which emphasises the horror aspects prevalent throughout the show. Another’s creation of a long-standing ghost story that visibly terrifies the students at Yomiyama North Middle School is standard for horror ghost stories, but sometimes… sometimes Another will shock you.

Yang Jinghua is a man living in abject poverty who one day suffers a horrible accident. He wakes up after the incident, seeming to have aged backwards 10 years overnight; however, the reality of Jinghua’s situation is that he has already died. As soon as he made up his mind to leave, a white-haired man named Duanmu Xi appeared in front of him with a strange proposition – he’s asking Jinghua to sign away his life to him!

The interaction that happened between Jinghua and Duanmu is known as a Spiritpact and in this universe, such configurations allow souls of the deceased to remain in the same plane of existence as the living. As Duanmu’s spirit, Jinghua can continue to “live”, while assisting Duanmu with his exorcist work. One thing to note about the anime is that the characters’ names have changed in order to accommodate a Japanese audience.

Iridatsu Yuuta lives in a residence called the Korai House with his friends Daihatsu Meika, the genius inventor; Narugino Mikatan, an idol; Hikiotani Ito, a hiki-NEET and Chichibu Rabura, a spiritual medium. After escaping a bus hijacking with the help of the superhero Strange Juice, Yuuta’s body is separated from his body and placed into the care of a sketchy cat spirit named Chiranosuke. Forced to wander the Korai House in his spirit form in order to return to his body, Yuuta is made aware of a dangerous threat; Chiranosuke gains incredible power upon sighting panties – seeing another pair while in spirit form could cause a catastrophic asteroid disaster to befall the earth, killing everybody! Yuuta must now investigate the dark secrets of Korai House, combat a villainous organisation hell-bent on world domination and prevent underwear-induced planetary destruction!

Punch Line, as the name would suggest, is a comedy with healthy action elements sprinkled in from the word go. It isn’t a title to be taken too seriously; however, it seems to be focused mainly on bringing out hilarity through the eccentricity of the characters and of the show’s lore itself. That being said, Punch Line is a whole lot of fun and it is really nice to look at – not to mention the swiftness with which it captures the viewer’s attention!

Kogarashi Fuyuzora has always had the ability to see ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. Unfortunately for him; however, his experiences extend to multiple cases of being possessed by ghosts and evil spirits, leaving him with no personal life and in poverty. However, his luck seems to be turning as he finds a cheap inn called Yuragi Manor, which is cheap because of the ghost of a high school student which haunts its halls. Unfazed by the paranormal activity and the host of beautiful women with whom he now lives, Fuyuzora finds himself having to help the ghost of 16-year-old Yuna who can’t move on from Yuragi Manor because of unfinished business. In helping her, Yuna can move onto the next phase before becoming an evil spirit and facing eternal damnation; however, this agreement opens up the opportunity for other supernatural aspects to Yuragi to emerge!

Light-hearted and funny, Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san almost feels like watching a version of anime like Love Hina for example, with a ghost main character. With romance and comedic tropes, the anime is the kind of title one picks up to even out the edge of more serious story-driven titles. Again, art and animation have to be mentioned because the show looks really, really good and characters while fairly archetypical and hence predictable, but worth the watch nonetheless.

Nanae Island is a man-made island located in the Pacific which was created by the Great Seven, a group of adventurers led by Ryuugajou Nanana. The island contains everything necessary for the proper education and training of its residents and it is a place where the youth can chase their dreams. After being exiled from his family, Yama Juugo arrives on Nanae Island and moves into a room, which he discovers to be haunted by the ghost of Ryuugajou Nanana herself! She is bound to the room after her unsolved murder 10 years prior and she informs Juugo of a set of unique items that she hid across the island before her death—items with mysterious powers. These items were dubbed the Nanana Collection, and finding them will definitely steer Juugo in the direction of the one responsible for Nanana’s death.

This series is incredibly interesting as far as lore is concerned and it grasps attention from episode one due to the adventurous nature of the characters’ escapades. Nanana’s character as a ghost is also a shining variable, as she exhibits a happy-go-lucky attitude yet bears heavy emotional ties to Nanae Island as a result of her murder. The characters in this series are quirky and decently fleshed out for a short series such as this, not to mention the beautiful art and animation that ties it all together.

The Shaman fight, a massive tournament between spirit wielders that occurs every five hundred years, is about to begin in Tokyo. Tons of shaman will be entering the tournament and duking it out in order to become the Shaman King and gain control over the Great Spirit.

Following You Asakura and his friends, Shaman King takes us on one fantastic adventure. Essentially everyone you meet is in command of some ghost with its own incredible skillset. In many ways, it’s a kid’s version of a series you’ll see a little later on, as it takes people with a certain magical aura and has them summon spirits to fight one another. Why are they fighting? To achieve a power that can change the world. What does it having going for itself? It has a roster of truly interesting characters and a plot that dives deep into family tradition while demanding personal independence.

Rumiko Takahashi cannot be stopped. She’s been creating manga that are adapted to anime for well over two decades. Her newest creation is Rin-ne, which follows Mamiya Sakura, a girl who can see ghosts, and then Rinne, a human shinigami as he does his best to make a living and ferry people to the after life.

If you want to talk about number of ghosts in a show, then few anime can beat Rin-ne. Every episode we come face-to-face with a new fellow of the departed clan; and though it becomes a slight bit routine, these ghostly introductions are some of the best moments as they help cement the light-hearted tone of the anime. More importantly, Rinne acts as a series that’s easy to get into and one that’s easy to finish. It never goes off the rails and provides a decent amount of action and humor to most people interested.

Like a lot of sports anime, our protagonist learns through great persistence how to become a great player in his respective field. Unlike most sports/competition-based anime though, Hikaru no Go allows its hero, Hikaru to have the guidance of a spirit, who happened to be one of the best players of all time in competitive Go.

A more playful entry of this list, Hikaru no Go focuses on two primary things: the competitive world of Go and the master-pupil relationship that forms between Sai and Hikaru. It’s this relationship in particular that allows Hikaru no Go to be on this list, as Sai, the ghost of the series, holds an enormous amount of influence over the direction and tone of the entire show. He not only provides comedic relief and wisdom, but a strong sense of mysticism that is entrenched with history.

Anohana starts off with Jinta Yadomi, who has been living as a shut-in and avoiding responsibility at all costs. Then one day, his childhood friend, Meiko Honma, stops by and keeps asking him to grant a certain wish from long ago. Jinta at first tries to ignore because Meiko is dead, and then he can’t ignore her because Meiko is dead but actually there. Just to clarify, Meiko’s a ghost telling Jinta to stop being lazy.

Don't lie. If you watched this, you probably had to break out the tissues. Anohana details the lives of a group of friends that fell apart once a friend died. This story powerfully depicts the process of grief and one’s ability to come to terms with a traumatic event. Taking advantage of multiple strained relationships that are juxtaposed against innocent childhood, Anohana weaves in issues of social anxiety, peer pressure, and so much more. Despite its rather sad premise and somber events, the anime is able to string together a lot of light moments to keep you intact.

What happens when a teenager, haunted by spirits on a daily basis, finds a witch who can dispel the spirits from him forever? Well, he ends up working for her shop and learning a lot more about the other side than he could have ever expected.

CLAMP is one of the most beloved companies for a reason and xxxHOLIC helps continue this trend. The story is subtle and beautiful and funny at every stage. There’s not a single episode wasted in its 24-run. Similar to other CLAMP shows, this anime provides a gorgeous setting, but really finds its strength with its characters. Yuuko’s aloofness plays so well with her vast knowledge and sharp wit. Watanuki is constantly entertaining as he toils under Yuuko and grows a deeper bond with the realms of other life. Then there’s Himawari and Shizuka who each provide interesting backstories and give new dimensions to Watanuki’s character.

For six years Seikyou Private Academy has been haunted by the ghost of a young woman. The woman, by the name of Yuuko, died in the school’s basement, but does not remember anything about her life or death and goes unseen by basically everyone. That is until Teiichi Niiya comes along and is able to actually interact with her. Together these two (along with two others) try to figure out how Yuuko died as well as several other mysteries about the school.

Overall, the show is an interesting mix of horror and laughs with solid animation. However, the real reason a lot of people will give it a go and stick with it is because of the ghost Yuuko. She is definitely the core of the series (the title is named after her after all) and her personality is one to remember. It’s through her that we get a good chunk of laughs as she tries to seduce Teiichi and it’s through her that we delve into the more serious aspects of the show. Her character is both the light and darkness of the show as she is forced to deal with her past, despite her desire for freedom.

If you haven’t seen Noragami yet, then you’re missing out on one of the best anime of the 2010’s. Now the first season follows Hiyori as she gets to know more about the world of gods and spirits through her interactions with Yato and Yukine. However, the second season focuses much more on an anti-hero of the first season: the goddess Bishamon. Now, Yato, Yukine, and Hiyori aren’t forgotten, but we do get a much more indepth look at Bishamon and her godly domain.

When you have a show about gods that induct the spirits of the dead into weapons, then you have yourself a pretty epic anime about the spirit world. What’s nice about this show is that the spirits are actually more than plot points. They are main characters and their insecurities and powers play a huge role in both seasons. In the first season, we get an in-depth look at Yukine, a recently deceased young boy, who is learning to deal with being invisible and under the command of a rather ‘sketch’ god. In the second season, we get a thorough look at all the departed that Bishamon have brought under her care and the issues with her trying to save every lost soul.

This is the show that Shaman King would be considered a kid’s version of. Fate/Zero throws viewers into the fourth Holy Grail War, which is canonically known as the most deadly war in the Fate universe. As in any Holy Grail War, seven magicians summon heroic spirits and then engage in a no-hold’s-bar death match.

Fate/Zero does three things incredibly well. One, its animation is absolutely gorgeous and gives incredible life to the powers of the magicians and their heroes. Second, it has an incredible cast of characters, with both magicians the heroic guardians having unique philosophies. This season in particular demonstrates a strong focus on the motives of the spirits, as three “kings” discuss what it means to rule. These three ‘kings’ actually contribute the most to the development of the plot and success of this prequel. Finally, the plot is perfect, with twists set up perfectly to make you wonder what is right and what is wrong.

Takashi Natsume has a particularly difficult relationship with spirits/ghosts. He’s been able to see youkai from a particularly young age and, well, they’ve been chasing/pestering the poor boy. This is because these youkai had been under the control of his grandmother and now they are his responsibility, as he has inherited the Yuujinchou, the “Book of Friends.”

Brain’s Base hit anime is one of those shows that you can watch over and over again, because it blends the perfect amount of sentimentality and drama with humor and light-heartedness. Consistently, Natsume Yuujinchou tackles problems of anxiety and loss and portrays the importance of being able to connect with another (doesn’t have to be human!). Episode after episode, we find ourselves encountering spirits that are vastly different from one another who are dealing with a crisis that will hit close to home for at least one viewer. Just putting the cherry on top is that Brain’s Base didn’t waste any effort in making sure that this anime is absolutely gorgeous.

Ghost Hound places us in the small town of Suiten, where three boys learn to cross into the Unseen World. Now, the Unseen World is basically a parallel world to our own, and acts as the world for souls of the dead. However, ghosts are now passing over into the real world and things are starting to get dicey. Thus, Makoto, Masayuki, and Taro decide to figure out what’s causing this unprecedented phenomenon.

Filled with ghosts and psychology, Ghost Hound is a solid watch for the Halloween season. However, it’s not an easy ride for the viewer. At first, the show will feel like college-level course on psychology, with large terms being thrown about and a bunch of occurrences that have no relative meaning behind them. However, as the show progresses, everything gets its fair explanation. In other words, if you can survive the initial confusion, you will find yourself enjoying an incredibly philosophical anime that tackles questions of death and trauma. How much of us can die in a past experience and how much does our past actually shape our future are just two of the questions that Ghost Hound cleverly handles.