Hello, everyone, It’s Halloween and everyone knows that that means its time to get spooky. And what better way to do that by sitting down and watching a spooky anime. If you stuck for something to watch then I got you covered.
For something on the gory side why not check out one of these:
Parasyte -the maxim-
When They Cry
Another
Hellsing
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
Or perhaps you in the mood for something a little more subtle:
Monster
The Future Diary
Hell Girl
School-Live!
With all that in mind, I wish you all a spooky Halloween. Don’t let the monster bite.
Welcome to our monthly Top 10 anime list.
This month I am going to be discussing some great psychological animes that I really enjoy. This list isn’t in any particular order I’ve just numbered it for simplicity.
10. Monster
Dr. Kenzou Tenma, the brilliant brain surgeon with a budding future and renown skills. All of that changes when he is forced to make a choice, either save the life of the town’s mayor or save a young boy, either way, he forfeits the life of the other. However, a series of murders begin occoring and all signs point towards the boy as the killer.
(Monster)
9. When They Cry
The story of a young boy who, when moving to a new town begins attending a school and making friends. However, during the village’s yearly festival for the local god, a mysterious series of murders gets these local villages kids caught up in the disastrous cycle of death. A show wedged deep in the roots of insanity.
(When They Cry)
8. The Future Diary
Yukiteru Amano, a solitary high school student who spends all his time writing everything around him down in his diary in extensive detail. That is until his supposedly imaginary friends offer him the chance to participate in a mysterious game to decide the new king of time and space. Yukiteru will be forced to team up with his Yandere stalker if he is to survive the game.
(The Future Diary)
7. Elfen Lied
The story of a girl named Lucy, a rare breed of humans called Diclonius. Characterised by horns and invisible telekinetic hands the Diclonius are imprisoned and experimented on by cruel scientist. Lucy manages to escape the scientific facility, in the process getting shot in the head and gaining amnesia. After washing up on the shore of a small town, Lucy is taken in by two strangers. Little do they know that the Scientist will do whatever it takes to retrieve Lucy.
(Elfen Lied)
6. Parasyte -the maxim-
When a species of parasitic aliens arrive on earth, the set about world domination by burrowing into the brains of their human victims, claiming them as hosts. It is not long until the aliens have full control of the human race. Unfortunately for them, one parasite failed to infect the brain of Shinichi Izumi, instead inhabiting his hand. He will be the only one able to stand against the invasion.
(Parasyte -the maxim-)
5. Death Parade
Set in a neon-fueled bar caught between life and death, Death Parade shows what lurks behind the mask of the average human. After death, two people must play a “friendly” bar game to see who will be re-born and who will be lost to purgatory, forever.
(Death Parade)
4. Death Note
After the Shinigami – Ryuk – drops a mysterious notebook into the human world, Shining prodigy Light Yagami discovers that it has the power to kill whoever name is written in it. Light then sets out to rid the world of everyone he deems “unworthy” however, it won’t be long until he begins to get a little to power crazy. And thus begins the path of his undoing.
(Death Note)
3. Danganronpa
Hope’s Peak Academy, a school for only the very best individuals who show shining promise in a particular characteristic. Unfortunately for these fifteen students, the only way to graduate is to murder the other students and successfully get away with it.
(Danganronpa)
2. Ergo Proxy
Humanity has fallen and one of the last remnants of civilisation resides in the hopeless city of Romdo. The humans have developed AutoReivs, robotic assistants that aid them in their daily lives. However, it seems that somehow the “Cogito Virus” is giving these AutoReivs self-awarenes.
(Ergo Proxy)
1. Hell Girl
There is a rumour, that if you visit a website called Hell Correspondence at the stroke of midnight, you can enter the name of your tormentor and have their soul ferried to hell by Ai Enma. In exchange, you must sell your own soul and become assigned to an eternity of torment in hell.
(Hell Girl)
Thank you for reading my list, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have an idea of something you feel should have been on the list then leave a comment and let me know.
Welcome to our monthly Top 10 anime list.
This month I am sharing some of my favourite anime openings. I will be taking into account the song and animation for each intro, as both are equally important for a catchy opening. This list isn’t in any particular order I’ve just numbered it for simplicity.
10. Darker than Black: The Black Contractor (Opening 1)
Song: “Howling”, By Abingdon Boys School
What better song for an action anime than the high-energy beat of this song. That being said, the visuals are considerably slower than the beat so it kind of doesn’t fit together well. Regardless this is still a really great opening.
9. Deadman Wonderland
Song: “One Reason”, By DWB (feat. Fade)
There are very few anime where I don’t just end up skipping the opening because I’m sick of hearing it over and over again. But while there wasn’t a single episode of Deadman Wonderland where I skipped this opening.
8. Absolute Duo
Song: “Absolute Soul”, By Konomi Suzuki
The song here is pretty fun, but what really makes it stand out to me is the way it matched the jumpy visuals so well. It’s pretty exciting and definitely gets you really to see some action.
7. Death Parade
Song: “Flyers”, by BRADIO
This intro is just so much fun. Every time I hear it, I just want to dance along. Which creates this weird contrast with how dark the show itself is. If you’ve seen the show then you’ll know what I mean, first time I saw this I wasnt sure I was wachting the same show it was that out of place.
6. When They Cry
Song: “Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni”, by Eiko Shimamiya
This intro is great, and it matches perfectly with the show its self. The dark, cryptic chanting matches the psychedelic flowers imagery to a tee. It sentiently makes a shiver run down my spine.
5. Date A Live (Opening 1)
Song: “Date A Live“, by sweet ARMS
This one is just a really fun song to open a really fun anime. To be honest the vocals aren’t really all that interesting but to me, the backing track really stands out. The whole opening really gets me pumped up for an episode.
4. Brynhildr in the Darkness (Opening 2)
Song: “Virtue and Vice” by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas
Probably not the style of music most people listen to but I just find this opening song to have so much energy, just makes me want to sing along. Although I do think that some of the visuals seem a little out of place.
3. Fairytail (Opening 21)
Song: “Believe in Myself“, by Edge of Life
I really like this opening, out of all of the openings Fairytail has had I think this one really stands out the most. Particularly with the arc, it’s paired with really combining with the visuals to add a sense of urgency and action.
2. Tokyo Ghoul (Opening 1)
Song: “Unravel”, by TK
I tried my best to avoid obvious picks for the list but this is the exception. The art style of this opening is absolutely beautiful and wonderfully vivid and colourful. The song also really sets the tone for the more emotional themes of Tokyo Ghoul.
1. Hellsing
Song: “Logos Naki World”, by Yasushi Ishii
We don’t see many opening like this one nowadays, the song has a really fun high-energy but steady and dark sound, fitting the visuals really well. I really love how despite everything going on in the visuals, we still get the feeling of just casually walking through it all, much like Alucard.
Thank you for reading my list, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have an idea of something you feel should have been on the list then leave a comment and let me know.
When They Cry was first adapted to anime in 2006. The story is centred the fictional town Hinamizawa and follows Keiichi, A high school transfer student who quickly becomes acquainted with four girls, Rena, Mion, Rika, and Satoko. Life is completely normal for the group, that is until the Cotton drifting festival comes around. Every year for the past four years, on the night of the festival, someone dies and someone else is spirited away by the local god Oyashiro. Keiichi is all to soon pulled into the mystery surrounding the event. Each arc depicts one of the friends becoming affected by the curse of Oyashiro, each person suffers their own mental and emotional trouble. It just goes to show that everyone has a dark secret and that truth may hurt more than fiction.
My Review: I’m not sure how I feel about this show. On the one hand, it is very chilling and very always has some interesting things happening. On the other hand, however, the format of replaying the same event over and over again made it feel like there was no progress. That does not mean I didn’t like the format, in fact, I thought it was quite a stroke of brilliance that allows for multiple views on the same situation, uncovering more of the mystery. But as I said the show does suffer from a somewhat slow pace. On thing that really stands out is the art style, the show employs a simple and cute art style but depicts several very bloody and visually confronting moments. I did find that sometimes the show was a little bit too serious and dark but it works well for what the show is trying to do, so it’s not a bad thing.