Every 2023 Horror Anime

Animating truly terrifying horror scenes is a big challenge, especially when adapting iconic Manga. For that reason, horror anime is seldom seen. While horror themes are present in a lot of anime (Attack On Titan, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer), pure horror anime is a rarer beast and can be truly iconic when pulled off correctly. Some of the greatest anime of all time fall into the horror genre — think Mononoke, Perfect Blue, and Shiki. Has 2023 brought something worthy of that list?

While 2023 has been light on horror, a couple of shows have made the cut. With adaptations from horror masters Junji Ito and Shigeru Mizaki, this year has aimed for quality over quantity. Here is every horror anime series announced for 2023.

Updated October 7, 2023 by Mark Sammut: 2023 has just entered its final season, so most of the year's horror anime are announced. There is only one series that still has to confirm its debut date, although it remains to be seen whether it actually becomes a 2023 horror anime.

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales Of The Macabre

Arguably the most anticipated horror release of 2023, Junji Ito Maniac is the most recently released anime adaptation of horror author Junji Ito's classic short stories. Produced by Netflix, the horror anthology features some of Ito's most iconic short stories, as well as some lesser-known terrifying tales.

Related

8 Scariest Moments In Horror Anime

These horror anime have the scariest moments of all.

Posts

By  Saad Tahir

These animated short stories include:

• The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Seance
• The Story of the Mysterious Tunnel
• Ice Cream Truck
• The Hanging Balloons
• The Room with Four Walls
• Where the Sandman Lives
• Intruder
• The Long Hair in the Attic
• Mold
• Library Vision
• Tomb Town
• Layers of Fear
• The Thing that Drifted Ashore
• Tomie: Photo
• Unendurable Labyrinth
• Bullied
• The Back Alley
• Headless Statue
• Whispering Woman
• Soichi's Beloved Pet

Returning from Crunchyroll's Junji Ito Collection is Yūji Mitsuya as the voice of Soichi, a haunted, nail-biting (metal nails, not fingernails) child with a sinister habit of playing supernatural tricks. While Junji Ito is a beloved horror author and his stories are renowned, the Junji Ito Collection was widely rebuked by fans for being poorly animated, voiced, and lacking good pacing.

Unfortunately, the same fate befell Junji Ito Maniac. The series garnered a mixed reception at best, with most of the chosen stories failing to translate into animated form. While it is marginally better than the Junji Ito Collection, neither adaptation does justice to the source material.

Make My Day

Netflix's horror anime track record for 2023 is not good. Although not as disappointing as Junji Ito Maniac, Make My Day is comfortably worse, and it is difficult to recommend to anyone. On a prison planet, a guard and a few prisoners must work together to stop an alien threat that could bring the whole world down. As far as concepts are concerned, this one could not be more typical, although "generic" does not equal "bad."

Unfortunately, the show's execution leaves a lot to be desired. CG animation has been used to good effect by a few studios, but Make My Day's visuals are not up to scratch. The characters are also largely forgettable, and the story struggles to amount to anything noteworthy.

Dark Gathering

Based on an original Manga by Kenichi Kondo, Dark Gathering is probably the best full-blown horror anime of 2023 so far. From Studio OLM (Pokemon, Beserk, Komi Can't Communicate), Dark Gathering follows protagonist Keitarou Gentouga, a college freshman who hates ghosts. Unfortunately, he has something of a knack for attracting them, leading to a catastrophic event that gave him a permanent spiritual injury and caught his friend in the crossfire.

Related

The Best Horror Manga With No Anime Adaptation

Having an anime adaptation is a huge milestone for any manga, but these great horror titles have yet to get one.

Posts

By  Naledi Ramphele

This event caused Kondo to become something of a shut-in. The series follows his attempts at rehabilitation and re-mingling with society. As part of his rehabilitation, in his part-time job as a private tutor, he comes across Yayoi Houzuki, a child prodigy with a similar spiritual attraction as Gentouga. Through this, the unfortunate protagonist is dragged to haunted spot after haunted spot against his will.

Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead

While Dark Gathering is 2023's best classic horror anime, Zom 100 is the year's strongest release if the only criterion is the incorporation of a horror theme. The show is, frankly, not scary, but that does not take anything away from its brilliance. Even if they often prioritize social commentary, action, or comedy above genuine scares, zombie stories still fall within the horror umbrella, and Zom 100 is among the anime industry's best interpretations of the concept.

After spending a few years grinding away at an exploitative job, Akira suddenly finds himself in a zombie apocalypse. Surprisingly, he takes the world's sudden end as positively as possible; in fact, he is absolutely thrilled since it means he no longer needs to go to work. Zom 100 is simply entertaining. Featuring great animation, a likable trio of heroes, and some intelligent commentary on work culture, Bug Films' created one of Summer 2023's best anime.

Theatre Of Darkness: Yamishibai 11

Yamishibai is undoubtedly one of the best horror anime of all time, but the 2023 sequel has nothing to do with that reputation. Consisting of short episodes that tell Japanese folk tales, the series peaked with its first three seasons and has been on a steady decline ever since. Due to the content's brisk nature, the later seasons are still generally watchable, especially if someone is just looking for some creepy imagery.

Still, Yamishibai 11 is probably the weakest entry in the series. Most of the episodes are either forgettable or feel too reminiscent of older chapters.

Akuma-Kun

Akuma-Kun is a revival of the 1983 anime of the same name, based on the classic Manga series by Shigeru Mizuki. The charming series follows the same basic premise in each iteration (of which there are several). The protagonist is a child prodigy who only appears once every 10,000 years, and he is always nicknamed "Akuma-Kun." Akuma-Kun wants to create a peaceful world for all humans to live happily and believes the only way for him to do that is to harness the power of demons.

The stories draw on Mizuki's expert knowledge of folklore and demons. In this, Mizuki coined the term 'Mahojin,' or summoning circle, a staple of anime that can be seen in Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Butler, and many more. The exact release date of Akuma-Kun has been set for November 2023, with the show airing on Netflix.

Uzumaki

Uzumaki is a name every horror animanga fan has at least heard of. As Junji Ito's possibly most iconic series, Uzumaki follows Kirie Goshima, her boyfriend Shuichi Saito and, most importantly, the descent into madness of the entire town of Kurouzu-cho. Cursed by supernatural events related to spirals, Kurouzu-cho faces impossible and terrifying challenges. These include the twisted flesh of ill-fated citizens, grotesque transformations into snails, hypnotizing hair, devastating typhoons, and much more.

Related

32 Scariest Junji Ito Manga Stories

Junji Ito has crafted some of the most terrifying horror manga ever, and these are his scariest stories.

Posts

By  Christine Mendoza

The animation style of Uzumaki is incredibly unique and addresses one of the challenges of horror anime: remaining faithful to source material. The production is entirely black and white, and retains many impressive details of the original Manga. The full-length series covers every story in the Uzumaki collection. Due to several complications owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the production and release of Uzumaki has been delayed multiple times. 2023 might be its year, though!

MORE: Best Horror Anime Of All Time