The number one thing that anime will always do better than movies is transport you to some creepy world where while you may not always expect the things that happen, to happen. The thing is that while some the viewer can see coming, others just pop up on you due to the fact that anime is oddly disarming. If one thing is for certain, they may be Japanese horror, but they always have some quirky aspect to them. Let’s take a look at a perfect example below!

Itou Junji: Collection is a collection of stories from the horror master himself, Itou Junji. There are popular characters such as Souichi Tsuji and his comical yet creepy encounters with his classmates that he hates, or Fuchi, a top model who has shark teeth and looks like a monster. You also have staples from the series like Yotsutsuji no Bishounen, Tooru Oshikiri, and Tomie.

Itou Junji is a renowned author when it comes to horror stories. Some released decades ago, the stories have stood the test of time for the series to be picked up in Winter of 2018 to become an anime. Overall, the series really shows what Japanese horror is—Odd and quirky at times while grotesque and affronting at others. Suicide and death are a constant theme as is the unexpected. Take the story of the girl who becomes a snail or the story of a boy whom if you meet in intersections, he will tell your fortune but also curse you. Many aspects of stories are lifted right out of older Japanese urban myths and other spooky stories, but regardless of what you may think of the show, the series is a great look at what horror can be in anime across a broad spectrum of themes and ideas.

A young boy named Kouichi Sakakibara has just transferred into class 3-3 at Yomiyama North Middle School. He tried to become friends with those around him, but there is a strange aura that lingers and there is this weird girl who has an eyepatch on and sits in the back of the classroom. Her name is Mei. She seems invisible to her peers; they don’t even talk to her. It seems like she doesn’t even exist to them. As she gets closer to Kouichi, stranger and stranger revelations occur and it’s clear that something is afoot.

If Another can teach you anything, it is that talking to anyone can become a horrifying experience which oddly leads to strange things. The closer they get to the truth, the more horrifying the reality around it. People start dying and there is nothing that makes sense about it at all. The deaths become increasingly gruesome. The story will have you clamoring to find out what happens next and while you get the satisfaction from watching, not knowing what is next is quite painful.

Cute girls doing things was what made up about half of all anime for a very long time. It’s no surprise that Japan loves cute things and anything moe, no matter how horrifying or disgusting, will usually get a pass if it involves cute girls. Horror is no exception to this rule. Want to make a brutal murder passable? Add in children. Want to make someone cry blood instead of tears? There is a cute girl who can do that. This is across all anime all the time and it’s only getting more prevalent. Something about the cute or small factor helps people accept what would normally be something absolutely disgusting.

If you hate someone, did you know there is a way to rid yourself of them permanently? Just access a website known as Hell Correspondence at midnight while thinking about them. If you hate them enough, a box will appear allowing you to enter in their name. When you press “submit” on the page, it disappears. Then you will be visited by a small little girl named Enma Ai. Ai will give you a straw doll with a red string around its neck. Should you pull it, the person you hate will be ferried to Hell immediately and disappear from this world. However, pulling the string means that you too will go to Hell when you die. There is no salvation. Did you want to still pull the string?

Jigoku Shoujo was a breath of fresh air into the horror genre when it arrived. Ai is cute, but what she offers is a nasty deal that will never work out in your favor. Sure the pain is alleviated temporarily, but you still end up in Hell. Cuteness is about all she has going for her in the series because everyone’s story is heartbreakingly sad, everyone is angry, and the revenge, while sweet in the moment, always transforms into regret or shame at the end. The darkness that can reside in a human heart only gets darker and darker as the story progresses. The horrific things that people are put through as they are bullied in real life as well as when they are being judged is horrific and we can’t think of anything else that really drives home just how bad it can be.

Higurashi is all about Keiichi Maebara who has just moved to his new home in the sleepy, countryside village of Hinamizawa. He quickly makes friends at his local school and is able to settle into live quickly. He hears rumors about how people are going missing only to turn up dead later during a local festival celebrating the god Oyashiro-sama. Naturally worried about his new friends, Keiichi starts to look into it and ask questions, but gets nowhere. One day while looking for answers, his new friend Rena advises him to stop looking with a massive weapon in hand. Weirded out, Keiichi goes home. Thing only get worse as now Rena is pounding on his door to be let in. Panicked, he reaches for something and ends up killing her! He opens his eyes the next morning and the story has reset from a new perspective. What is the dark secret held in this town?

Half the horror of Higurashi besides the brutal murders, is the fact that the story resets frequently throughout the series leaving the viewer flipping out at the fact that whomever they thought was the source of the killings and disappearances wasn’t, and now we have to start from scratch. The story gets darker and darker with every single stone being overturned, but not in a good way. Nothing is ever safe or sacred and you wonder how you are not running through the woods yourself, terrified at what is around the corner.