With the UK facing tier restrictions this Halloween, many traditional pastimes are off the menu. If you’ve already streamed your way through Hill House and Bly Manor, fear not because there is plenty of free horror to enjoy on Crunchyroll, the world’s largest streaming platform for anime. We’ve picked out 10 of the most terrifying anime shows that are perfect for Halloween viewing.
It’s 2008 and teenager Sakura Minamoto is about to apply to a talent show when she’s mown down by a truck. You can’t keep a good pop star down because 10-years-later, Sakura teams up with six other dead girls who are turned into zombies by a man called Kotaro Tatsumi. And so, the zombie group Franchouchou is formed. On the surface, the girls look like anybody else, but each has injuries wrapped in bandages that were caused when they died. If they get too excitable, they start to fall apart and sometimes, their heads come off… Wonder what Simon Cowell would make of that?
They arrived in silence and darkness, descending from the skies with a hunger for human flesh. Parasites – alien creatures who must invade and take control of a human host to survive – have come to Earth. Eeek! No one knows their secret apart from teen Shinichi Izumi, whose right hand has been invaded by an alien parasite.
The story of Kitarō, the last survivor of a Ghost Tribe, who fights to protect the human race from evil creatures called Yōkai. The series follows him on his adventures with other ghouls and supernatural creatures from Japan’s mythology. Kitarō’s adventures take him all over the world – he meets a Chinese vampire, a giant shadow with a single eyeball and cute bear-like creatures that eat people. The original manga was created in 1960 and has since become a huge franchise.
Meet Fukuzou Moguro, the salesman who trades in human souls! This dark fantasy horror follows the sinister smiling salesman as he seeks out the lonely, sad, and sorrowful and promises to help improve their lives. All they have to do is follow his advice, but you’ve guessed it, this never ends well!
Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories
A chilling selection of ghost stories based on Japanese folklore and urban legends. The short episodes are animated to mimic the art of Japanese street theatre and each features a man in a yellow mask who shows up in a children’s playground to tell them ghost stories, which is freaky enough even before the real horror begins.
An original series that’s part of the Ultra Super Anime Time, Kagewani is directed by Tomoya Takashima and written by Hiromu Kumamoto, both of whom have had plenty of experience with creepy suspense anime shorts, having both worked on the Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories series. Kagewani tells the tale of mysterious monsters called “UMA” that appear from nowhere and start attacking humans.
30 young men and women embark on a one-way bus tour to Nanakimura, a legendary village hidden deep in the forest which promises a utopian existence. However, the village is a ruin and the woods are filled with monsters – the dream escape has turned into a nightmare.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a dark fantasy, horror series that follows the life of teenager Yuji Itadori who finds himself entangled in an epic battle between sorcerers and powerful curses. He lives in a world where negative emotions like hardship, regret, and shame are Curses that run rampant and lead people to terrible misfortune and even death. They can only be exorcised by another Curse.
Our heroine Rachel, wakes up in a basement with amnesia and runs into a scythe carrying serial killer wrapped in bandages. She begs him to kill her and he will, but only if she helps him escape the building they are trapped in. Where are they? Why are they there and will they ever break free?
Iwanaga Kotoko is a kind of agony aunt for supernatural beings who falls for a boy who is feared by the very creatures she helps. How can the otherworldly be terrified of one person, what secrets does he hold, and will Iwanaga’s crush hinder her role as mediator to the spirit world? Think of it as a rom-com with chills.
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