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Halloween, night of trick or treats, ghosts and all things dark and scary, is upon us. In anticipation for the night where things go bump in the night, I have compiled a list of my top five dark, horror filled, post apocalyptic animes. Now there are some you would think should be on the list like Death Note, Attack on Titan, Seraph of the End, and Tokyo Ghoul, but these are on my top ten favorite anime list seen in these two articles:  top ten shonen 6-10,  top ten shonen #1-5.

The parameters for getting on this list are simple: is it dark? Did it intrigue me or have a good story line? Was it creepy or downright scary? Did I say to myself “that’s really messed up”? If any or all of these questions fit an anime, it made it on this list. I do love dark story lines, so it was hard to keep it to just five, but here are my top five dark/horror/post-apocalyptic animes with a few honorable mentions thrown in at the end:

5.) Death Parade

Video by: sliceoflife on youtube.

To start the list off I’m starting with Death Parade. Death Parade starts off with a young couple exiting elevators and entering a fancy bar with no knowledge of how or why they got there. The bar tender tells them that they can’t leave unless they play a game with their lives at stake. Not taking the bartender seriously, the couple attempt to leave only to find that they can’t and when they threaten the bartender in deciding not to play, he shows them a grisly scene in a secret room behind his bar of what looks like dead bodies being hung upside down. The couple agrees to play the game, which is randomly selected for them. It turns out to be the well known game of darts. Not scary, right? Well, it changes when the targets on the board represents an organ or body part on your opponent’s body, and when a dart hits a target, your opponent feels a sharp pain in that area. The game also changes when your opponent is your spouse. But you come to figure out quickly that this is no ordinary bar, with no ordinary bartender or game, and even the guests are not ordinary. The couple, as it turns out, is dead, the game is a test, and the bartender is an arbiter who decides whether the souls involved are going to heaven (reincarnation) or hell (a black void).

What I liked about this anime is that this had a unique premise. Each episode focuses on a different group of people pitted against each other in twisted games. Interwoven with these characters stories there is another subplot concerning the arbiters themselves (and I say arbiters as in there are more than one bar and one bartender) that we catch glimpses of. I was drawn into the mystery of where the characters were and why they were there, and then as each episode progressed, I got to see what happened in these people’s lives and why they are pitted in a game against each other. Some are lovers and very clearly know each other, and others seemingly don’t know each other at all, except later on you see that there is some sort of connection.

I thought this anime was slightly creepy, dark, but also very well done. It had some poignant moments and even heartwarming ones. If you want something that will tug on your emotions, keep you on the edge of your seat, and tantalize you with mysteries, then this is the anime for you.

4.) Another

Video by: Hilary Cullen on youtube.

Now this particular anime really creeped me out in a good way. Another is the story of a teen boy, named Koichi, who has just moved back to his mother’s hometown to live with his grandparents and aunt while his father is away on business. He goes to school and joins class 3-3. He starts to notice that there is something very off about this class as one of the students is literally being completely ignored by everyone including the teacher. Koichi, not one to follow pack mentality, attempts to befriend the ostracized student, despite repeated warnings to follow the rules and do what everyone else is doing. In doing so, he accidently enacts a curse. As it turns out, in 1972 a popular student died, but instead of letting him go, the class pretended that he was still in the class, and even allowed his desk to be at the graduation. In the graduation photo, there is a ghostly figure of a boy in it. From that day forward, the class is always one desk short, though no one knows who the extra student is, and if one student from the class is not ostracized, each month one member of the class or a close family member of a student or homeroom teacher of the class will die in a gruesome way.

Now this is another one that I thought had a really interesting and original storyline than the average animes. I liked the characters. I liked the progression of the story and how plot twists were revealed. The deaths were incredibly gruesome and scary. The art style is atmospheric and dark, and it really adds to the creepy horror that this anime embodies. I was pulled into the story immediately because I wanted to know what was going on, and who the extra student was. This is a nice take on the typical ghost story. I also liked the fact that it is nicely wrapped up in twelve episodes, but I almost wished there were more. Another is a good one to chill your blood if you want to have a little horror in your life, but don’t want to watch a long series.

3.) Godeater

Video uploaded by: Innercore Amv on Youtube

This anime has a little less horror in it, and is more of epic post-apocalyptic anime. This anime based off of a popular PSP game. The basic story is that the human race is in a fight for survival against mutant creatures known as Aragami, which roam around killing and eating people. The mutant creatures are all grossly evolved creatures from the “oracle cell”, a new microorganism that scientists found, and were trying to experiment with it. Well, we all know what happens when science gets a little ahead of itself; savage mutants are created that are driving the human race into extinction. Normal weapons don’t work on these mutants, and the only people who can fight them are called God Eaters with their specialized weapons called God Arcs. These weapons are living weapons that have oracle cells inside them, and are essentially Aragami in weaponized form.

I put off watching this one for a little bit because it reminded me too much like Attack on Titan and Knights of Siddonia, but I started watching it, and I found that I really liked the characters and the story line. Sure there were some similarities with the two other animes, but many post-apocalyptic stories have such similarities. I think what I liked about this one is that it surprised me with the characters and some of the plot twists, and I like it when a story that seems like a typical story I’ve seen before surprises me. I think I got really hooked after episode five when you think this team of badass God Eaters are going to kill some Aragami and save the civilians to only see them get decimated and the civilians killed in front of their eyes.

What I also liked about this one is that there is a wider world view. Even though most of the events focus on the Far East branch, we see that there are branches all around the world, walled off cities of survivors that are trying to fight the Aragami. Alisa is from the Russian branch, and we see that the entire world is in this crisis, which is something I think was left out of Attack on Titan. I think this opens up the scope of the story more.

This anime is dark and bloody. You come to love the characters. My favorite episode so far is episode five, which is tragic and it was not afraid to throw the story line into a complete reversal. I also was in love with the song used at the end of that episode.

Video uploaded by: Berkan Serbest on Youtube

So if you want a little post-apocalyptic action, Godeater is for you.

2.) Deadman Wonderland

Video by: Nick Ferguson on Youtube

Now this anime is one that I would label “seriously messed up”, but in a good way. Deadman Wonderland starts out with a strange anomaly wiping out most of Tokyo, leaving just a crater. On the edge of where Tokyo used to be, a special prison is built by a corporation and named Deadman Wonderland. Unlike other prisons, this prison uses the inmates to entertain people in shows and twisted games that are reminiscent of the movie “the Running Man”.

Now enters the main character Ganta Igarashi, a middle school student who witnesses the massacre of his entire middle school class by a man in red. Ganta is later framed for the massacre and sent to Deadman Wonderland, where he is fitted with a collar that injects poison into his neck, which will kill him in a few days. The only way he can get a reprieve from the poison is to eat a special antidote wrapped to look like candy and is called candy. And the only way he can get the candy is to participate in the brutal games to gain money for the candy.

We later learn that there is a secret level in Deadman Wonderland, cell block G, for special inmates who have special abilities. These people are called Deadmen (and this is the real reason for the name of the prison). These Deadmen were people who were close to the anomaly when it happened and developed special powers where they can use their blood as weapons. Some can turn their blood into giant scythes, and others can turn it into bullets. Ganta is one such individual, hence why he was framed and brought into Deadman Wonderland. The Deadmen are pitted against each other in cage death matches for the sick entertainment of the rich and powerful.

This is one anime that I thought was extraordinarily messed up, but I liked the general premise. Ganta did start out whiny and weak, but grows into a much stronger character. I liked the character named Shiro, and how innocent and whimsical Shiro can act as she tries to be friends with Ganta, and yet how much of a secret badass she is.

In general, I liked the characters, I was drawn into the premise and mysteries enfolded into the storyline. It was dark and violent, but good as well. I absolutely loved the opening song of the series. Very few opening and closing songs of animes do I like to listen to, but this one was so good and suitable for the series. The video below is the anime’s opening credits:

Video by: Guillem Renau on Youtube

The only real downside to this anime is that the ending of the anime is extremely disappointing, and there won’t be another season, but most of this one is a good thrill ride. If you want something that is a little messed up and dark, Deadman Wonderland is for you.

1.) The Future Diary

Video by: Nicole Parker on Youtube

And now for number one. I started watching this one because I was looking for my next anime fix and I came across this one on Hulu Plus. I quickly was drawn into the story and was also quickly creeped out by it. I will admit that a part of this one got under my skin mainly because the main characters are so young.

The Future Diary is a story of two fourteen-year-old kids Yuki and Yuno who acquire future diaries from the lord of time and space. The future diaries can predict the futures, but each one is tailored to the person it was given to. Yuki’s future diary tells him about everything that is happening around him, but not about him as he was a wallflower that watched everyone before he got the diary. Yuno’s diary focuses on the every day life of Yuki because she used to stalk him and was convinced she was in love with him. As it turns out, the lord of time and space did not just give the diary to Yuki and Yuno, but to ten other people. The lord of time and space is dying, and decided to institute a cruel game in order to determine who will become his heir and the next lord of time and space. All twelve future diary users must battle it out to the death in order to determine who will be the last one standing in order to be the heir. Yuno and Yuki get a big bullseye painted on their back after defeating a future diary user first. And this is when the games begin as future diary users plot to take each other out.

This has, by far, the most messed up story line, and Yuno takes the award for most messed up character. Yuno is a straight up crazy stalker, who has no problem with killing people if it means it will protect Yuki. The situations these kids find themselves in are scary, and some of them got under my skin like when diary user number 9 comes after them at their school, and she holds the entire school hostage with bombs. This is one of those stories that you know is messed up, but you keep on watching because it is so intense and intriguing. You want to know what will happen next.

And this one has one of the best endings in an anime that I have seen. It is definitely one to watch to the very end where a lot of the mysterious elements in the story, especially surrounding Yuno, are made clear. I thought it was imaginative and different from the average anime. So if you like dark, messed up, intense stories with a good storyline and twists, The Future Diary is for you.

And now for the honorable mentions, here are a few of those:

Soul Eater:

Video uploaded by: everything is fabulous on youtube.

I like this one because the art style reminds me of Tim Burton. It’s dark in theme and artwork, but it’s also really funny. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but most of the journey there was a lot of fun.

Shiki:

Video on playlist of: theBestAMVsofalltime on youtube.

This particular anime reminds me of Salem’s Lot, but I still liked the dark nature of the story. I also liked the very stylized art style used in the anime. If you like a good vampire horror story, this one is for you.

And that is my top five horror anime.  I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween.