The Problem With Horror Anime

I kind of love how Jojo's bizarre adventure keeps showing up as a reference for horror.

I would say horror anime is terrible to me because it tries to be clever when it's not for psychopaths don't ever have plans they just want the world to burn and don't mind being in it

School life traumatized me. Now I’m obsessed with stuff what looks like something sweet and cliche, but are dark and HELLA COOL. Talentless Nana, Shadows house (it stays sweet for whole plot, but it shows flaws of society what good and realistic it becomes scary) Made in abyss, Genshin impact. Btw there was a dog called Taromaru in genshin, and it’s Easter egg for school life! I mean, Taromaru from genshin don’t have story (hes just extremely strong doggy what sits in tea-house) but still!

Hearing you speak so hopefully about TPN now....oh how high our hopes were. Oh how far we've fallen.

I feel like using more mixed media would help with this sometimes. Western horror cartoons will use it sometimes and it works really well.

Now that Uzumaki is getting an anime that looks extremely promising, I’d be curious to know your thoughts on this development.

"Another" will always get a chuckle out of me. Watched through it with my wife and we loved it. She set her phone alarm to one of the shows tense themes, i think it was track 2 of the ost. She caught a bad cold while we were on vacation. One night, she awoke in a coughing fit and coincidentally she'd set off her phone alarm at the same time triggering that theme. When she stopped crying and freaking out, she told me that she in her half-asleep state, she thought the curse had come to her, that it was her time, thst song was playing in her head and this was how she would die.

Fun times.

I'm half way through the video so I don't know if he mentioned this but talentless Nana is another anime I think that actually does "horror" in a good way by making tense situations where a secret/mystery might be uncovered in the same light as like promised Neverland where you don't know who knows what and who has what motivations, but even talentless Nana dragged on for too long and had to dumb down the characters to make it go on as long as it did sometimes

Silent hill anime anyone?

Rezero is scarier

Horror anime really isn’t scary

I dont think that FMA was ever truly body horror, except for the reveal of what the Elric brothers created when they tried to bring back their mom. I think Yuna from Future Diary or even Kaede from Shuffle! were better examples of hair-raising horror. I still remember getting chills down my spine when Kaede truly snapped near the end of Shuffle! after Rin and Asa's date. It was a truly creepy mental break from an otherwise seemingly normal and lovable character. Especially after finding out her backstory, and how she initially treated Rin.

The real problem of the horror anime and other anime nightmare fuels of each genre animations is because it is too bright and too glittery and it lacks color blending aesthetics like dark shades.

(TPN spoilers)

One aspect of TPN that I rarely see people talk about, but which is truly terrifying to me, was when Isabella tried to convince Emma to become a mama after Norman left. She told her it was best to give up and dedicate her life to raising other children for slaughter so she could live a natural human life. 

It's terrifying because it's so similar to what happens with real kids and sex trafficking. Isabella was grooming Emma for years to get to the point of convincing her to be a mama, if you look in the earlier episodes, it's the two or three oldest girls who are usually holding a baby or helping put the babies to sleep, and it's implied they've already been doing that for a while. So every few years Isabella plucks an innocent 8ish year old girl and starts training her up, under the guise of being a 'good big sister', to where she'll be forcibly impregnated at about 18 and have a biological child (as Isabella did with Ray). But then you remember Isabella was groomed in the exact same way, and some of the anger you had for her dissipates.

It's not scary in a cliche jump scare way but scary because there is no other option, there was no hope, just like how there aren't for (too many) real life trafficked children who are faced with a risky escape (which will inevitably lead to poverty and even more hardship) or to move on up and help recruit new kids. It truly made my skin crawl thinking about it. That's what was missing from season 2 of TPN. There was nothing that made you physically recoil. There was no dread slowly building up as you learned more about how messed up the world is.

Horror works best when you don't see the monster. Once the monster is shown, it automatically becomes less scary, and a visual story will consequently need to do extra work to make up for lost spooks. Most "horror" anime hasn't done that.

This is really a matter of opinion. I don’t watch a lot of horror films so most jump scares and creepy visuals would scare me. I don’t think the same could be said for someone who watches horror a lot cause if you watch the same cliches of course it would get dull.

well at least the Uzumaki anime looks good

another is definitely the bets horror anime ive seen. its not always scary but the story is really intriguing. higurashi is also pretty good but the second season is boring

I did enjoy Happy Sugar Life a lot, though there were a number of animation errors as the series progressed. Corpse Party was fun, but it didn't have enough time to let the plot breath and had to rush through everything, so there was no real tension in the show.

Higurashi: allow me to Introduce myself

You do not want to see the underground horror anime. That is not a rabbit hole you want to go in.

watching this after that season 2 never happened for the promised neverland sure hits different (?

As a person who watched all of happy sugar life it definitely effect horror for me. It’s not perfect but it is uncomfortable, unnerving, and leaves the most effective things to the imagination

I think I disagree. Anime CAN be visually horrifying, but a lot of the pitfalls of anime production prevent it from being so. I still think FMA 2003's portrayal of Ed and Al's failed homunculus is horrifying and has always stuck with me.

I'm still pissed at how bad the promised neverland screwed up

the promised neverland is one of the greatest tragedies in the medium.

This is also why it's so hard to film Lovecraft or Barker. They rely so much on atmosphere and tension. Creating a sense of horror at a dangerous and uncaring universe is easier when you build it inside the audience's own heads.

My brother was into horror effects as a teenager (now a practical effects artist on shows like Star Trek: Disco). He ruined all horror films for me by pulling back the curtain on how they're made. When you see a werewolf sculpture in the closet which was later used to make the latex mask, the one on-screen loses its impact. Or moments like "oh gross..." "dude, it's melted chewing gum" ruins the illusion.

I'm genuinely excited to see your reaction to the new Uzumaki anime being released. From recent trailer, it looks pretty promising, with an art style that seems to translates Junji Ito's work identically. There are still a few things that are funny/silly, but that looks to be on purpose - to highlight the absurdity of the situation in a depressing, kafkaesque sort of way.

As somebody who isn't into "horror", by which I mean I don't care for gore or people running away from monsters and axe murderers, but is VERY much into "terror", by which I mean the nerve wracking anticipation of something horrible happening , I am very excited to see how the Uzumaki anime plays out because it might be right up my alley.

my fav horror anime is boogiepop phantom. it's weird, convoluted, strange, literally my fav horror vibe. feels like watching a lynch movie or something like that. but to be brutally honest anime horror just kinda generally sucks.
it's like they dont really do anything interesting or different, like you can be gory and stuff, if ur gore sucks ur just gonna get another booooring show. unironically i love genocyber and other 90s ovas for this, even if it's a mess in every other sense.
ooor you can try going the weird route, but you need good writing for that, and that's very lacking in anime sadly. same goes for an overall good atmosphere, it just wont work if the director doesnt know what he's doing lol

For me the scariest anime I've watched is Made In Abyss

Usually body horror isnt scary in anime, but made in abyss pushes it to the edge to make things as twisted as possible.
Also the cute visuals contrast very well with the horror aspect
And to top it off, they nailed the tension of a kid descending the abyss

10/10

Attack on Titan really spooked me as a kid just because the designs of the titans and their horrific toothy smiles was genuinely disturbing. At least in the first 2 seasons

Some interesting topics. Though we still think about Higurashi when it comes to horror anime that freak me the fuck out.

I think Junji Itto's work would shine if it was done as a 3D animation (maybe cell-shaded, maybe not). Of course, you'd have to get the best of the best, b/c that's what it deserves. I'm not into horror, but I read a lot of his manga when I was younger anyway because I found the artwork so captivating and the stories so fascinating.

I often think of Mononoke from 2007 whenever someone mentions horror anime. It might not inherently be super scary per se but I definitely think it is unsettling, the unique artstyle combined with the sound- and music design creates a very sort of uncomfortable and mysterious atmosphere that leads to the viewer feeling quite unnerved. I first watched it 2 years ago and since then it has grown to be my all-time favorite.

Promised Neverland being a horror story, yup that's some clairvoyance right there,

Perfect Blue

3d Pixar like animation could solve the detail problem

I get freaked out when anime portrays common bad behaviour that is horrifying but that society tolerates

lol don’t show ghost stories with the amazing dub lol

I mean psychological horror is good in anime like another

Does Corpse Party count?

Attack on Titan no? That shit scary af

If you want to watch a really good psychological horror anime I highly suggest wonder egg priority it’s one of the only horror anime that has scared me/ made me feel sick

Made in Abyss:

I remember being very scared by Elfenlied wgen I watched it. Though I was like 12 at the time and people losing limbs unexpectedly was jarring

Full metal alchemist sad dog will be with you forever