supernatural / dark / thriller

Noragami

Adachitoka · 2014

Hiyori Iki is a normal middle school student until she was involved in a bus accident while trying to protect a stranger. This incident causes her soul to frequently slip out of her body, and she becomes aware of the existence of two parallel worlds. Through her soul, she meets the strange, nameless god without a shrine, Yato. Yato is determined to make a name for himself out there by accepting any wishes for 5 yen, including Hiyori's to fix her body.

Shiki

Tetsuro Amino · 2010

Sotobamura is a small village with around 1300 residents; so small the village isn't even connected to a single highway. An isolated village in which old customs, such as the burial of the dead, are still practiced. One day, the bodies of three people are found dead. Although Ozaki Toshio, the village's lone doctor, feels uncertain, he treats the deaths as a normal occurrence. However, in the days following, the villagers start to die one after the other.

Blue Exorcist

· 2011

Humans live in the world of Assiah, demons in Gehenna. The two dimensions are not meant to interfere with each other, but demons still possess creatures in Assiah in spite of this. The humans who can fight these demons are known as exorcists. Rin Okumura is a boy who bears the curse of being Satan's illegitimate son. His foster father sacrificed himself to save him from demons. To avenge his foster father's death as well as to prove himself, Rin decides to follow the path of an exorcist and defeat his own father, Satan. To hone his raw skills, Rin enters True Cross Academy to train with other exorcist candidates.

Serial Experiments Lain

· 1998

Lain—driven by the abrupt suicide of a classmate—logs on to the Wired and promptly loses herself in a twisted mass of hallucinations, memories, and interconnected-psyches.

Blue Exorcist: The Movie

Atsushi Takahashi · 2012

The atmosphere in True Cross Academy is lively and boisterous in the days leading up to the grand festival held once every 11 years. During this time, Okumura Rin is entrusted with the responsibility of suppressing the berserk Phantom Train. In the midst of his mission, he meets a devil whose appearance is that of a young boy.

Tokyo Ghoul

· 2014

Ken Kaneki, a bookworm college student, meets Rize, a girl his own age with whom he shares many interests.

Boogiepop and Others

2019

There is an urban legend that tells of a shinigami that can release people from the pain they are suffering. This "Angel of Death" has a name—Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real. When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. Yet some students know better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. Is it Boogiepop or something even more sinister...?

Boogiepop Phantom

2000

Five years ago, a string of grisly murders shook the city to its core and now the rumors have begun once more. Boogiepop... Everyone knows about Boogiepop: meet her one dark night and you are taken. People tell each other the stories and laugh: no one believes that she can possibly exist in this day and age. Still, strange things appear to be going on and the darkness is taking on many forms. Something is out there.

Ghost Hunt

2006

Telling ghost stories is a favorite past time of Mai Taniyama and her friends—that is, until she meets 17-year-old Kazuya Shibuya, the man sent by Shibuya Psychic Research Center to investigate paranormal activity at a supposedly haunted school. When Mai gets caught in a dangerous situation, she is rescued by Kazuya's assistant. Saving her lands the assistant incapacitated, and Kazuya demands that Mai become his assistant, instead...

Migi&Dali

2023

The boy's name was Hitori. A stork brought the angel into the lives of a middle-aged couple who were not blessed with children. His parents were kind, his house spacious, and his meals hot. But to protect the happiness he had received, Hitori continued to hide an important secret from his parents.

Death Parade

2015

There is a place after death that’s neither heaven nor hell. A bar that serves you one chance to win. You cannot leave until the game is over, and when it is, your life may be too.

ERASED

2016

Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

Gankutsuou

2004

In an elegant future Paris, a Count returns to wreak havoc on those that betrayed him.

Tonari no Yokai-san

2024

Welcome to Engamori, the cozy town where supernatural beings are your friendly neighbors. For generations and to this day, the otherworldly Yokai and humans have continued to protect their easygoing way of life. Enjoy the mountain breeze and uncover the mysterious bonds that lie within.

Blood Blockade Battlefront

2015

One day, New York City as we know it vanished overnight into a mysterious fog. Now known as Hellsalem's Lot, it has become a place where another world beyond imagining is connected to our reality. The balance within this new world is protected by a secret society known as Libra. Leo, a journalist and photographer who arrives in the city, is unexpectedly recruited to join their ranks.

Ushio and Tora

2015

When he stumbles upon Tora, a demon who's been impaled by a spear, young Ushio frees the beast and demands his help in fighting other agents of evil.

Bungo Stray Dogs

2016

Stalked by a beastly white tiger, Atsushi Nakajima has no idea that the menace lives inside him—a power that catches the attention of the Armed Detective Agency. Using inhuman abilities to combat crime, this team takes Atsushi under the wing of their most eccentric member, Dazai. Together, they tear through mafia-muddled mysteries while enemies keep an eye on the tiger’s lofty bounty.

Hell's Paradise

Yuji Kaku · 2023

For a chance at a pardon, a ninja assassin joins other condemned criminals on a journey to a mysterious island to retrieve an elixir of immortality.

In/Spectre

2020

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

2019

After a demon attack leaves his family slain and his sister cursed, Tanjiro embarks upon a perilous journey to find a cure and avenge those he's lost.

Dead End: Paranormal Park

Hamish Steele · 2022

Two teens and a talking pug team up to battle demons at a haunted theme park — and maybe even save the world from a supernatural apocalypse.

Kamisama Kiss

2012

Nanami was just a normal high school girl down on her luck until a stranger’s lips marked her as the new Land God and turned her world upside down. Now, she’s figuring out the duties of a deity with the help of Tomoe, a reformed fox demon who reluctantly becomes her familiar in a contract sealed with a kiss. The new responsibilities—and boys—are a lot to handle, like the crow demon masquerading as a gorgeous pop idol and the adorable snake spirit who’s chosen the newly minted god to be his bride. As the headstrong Tomoe tries to whip her into shape, Nanami finds that love just might have cute, pointed fox ears. With romance in the air, will the human deity be able to prove herself worthy of her new title?

Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-

2018

After losing her grandfather, Aoi—a girl who can see spirits known as ayakashi—is suddenly approached by an ogre. Demanding she pay her grandfather’s debt, he makes a huge request: her hand in marriage! Refusing this absurd offer, Aoi decides to work at the Tenjin-ya bed and breakfast for the ayakashi to pay back what her family owes.

Undead Murder Farce

2023

In this world, creatures like vampires and werewolves still walk about, but Aya Rindo can’t say the same for herself. This beautiful disembodied head, carried by her maid Shizuku Hasei, is a detective in search of her stolen body. One evening, they meet half-human Oni Slayer Tsugaru Shunichi, who offers a lending hand. Now, the trio is traveling through Europe, solving mysteries along the way.

Monster

2004

Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, finds his life in utter turmoil after getting involved with a psychopath that was once a former patient.

Another

2012

When Kouichi arrives at his new school, he immediately senses something frightening in the atmosphere of his new class, something that no student wants to talk about and that seems to be related to a mysterious and silent girl.

Paranoia Agent

Satoshi Kon · 2004

Musashino, Tokyo. An elementary schooler repeatedly attacks people in the streets. Known only to the public as "Lil Slugger", none of the victims can recall the young boy's face and only three distinct details are left in their memories: golden inline skates, a baseball cap, and the weapon: a bent golden baseball bat. Detectives Ikari and Maniwa set out to track down the perpetrator and put an end to his crimes.

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window

2021

Shy bookstore clerk Kosuke Mikado has the ability to see ghosts and spirits, an ability he wishes he didn't have, since what he sees usually terrifies him. Rihito Hiyakawa, an exorcist whose supernatural powers are as strong as his social graces are weak, doesn't seem to fear anything, mortal or otherwise. When this odd couple gets together to solve the bizarre cases that come their way, their work methods may not be entirely safe for work!

The Case Study of Vanitas

2021

In 19th-century Paris, young vampire Noé finds the Book of Vanitas in human hands. Calling himself Vanitas, this doctor wields its power and tempts Noé with a plan to “cure” all vampires. Allying with him may be dangerous, but does he have a choice?

Junji Ito Collection

2018

A collection of animated horror stories based on the works of Japanese artist Junji Ito.

Le Chevalier D'Eon

2006

Paris, 1742. While investigating the murder of his beautiful sister—Lia—D’Eon uncovers an evil which casts shadows in both the palaces of kings and the dark alleys of Europe. It is a dark and strange power—one which allows Lia’s soul to return from beyond and possess her brother in order to avenge her own death.

Dead Mount Death Play

2023

As a legendary hero nears victory against a necromancer known as The Corpse God, things take an unexpected turn with the dark sorcerer’s final gambit—reincarnation magic. This last-ditch effort catches the brave fighter off guard, and now he’s a boy named Polka Shinoyama in a whole new world! The showdown between good and evil just got epic.

Dorohedoro

2020

Amnesiac Caiman seeks to undo his lizard head curse by killing the sorcerer responsible, with his friend Nikaido's help. In the Hole, that's a threat.

Aoi Bungaku Series

2009

An animated adaptation of six classical Japanese literature pieces, including No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) and Run, Melos (Hashire, Melos) by Osamu Dazai, Kokoro by Natsume Souseki, Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) and The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Ango Sakaguchi.

Dororo

Osamu Tezuka · 2019

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics—lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan.

Hell Girl

2005

A supernatural system allows people to take revenge by having other people sent to Hell via the services of a mysterious entity and her assistants who implement this system. Revenge, injustice, hatred, and the nature of human emotions are common themes throughout the series.

Shadows House

2021

A faceless clan lives in a large mansion, masquerading as nobles. Their caretakers are living dolls who spend their days cleaning up the dirt the tenants leave behind. But there’s a deeper mystery at play… and the secret of the house will be unveiled.

The Promised Neverland

2019

Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,” all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean clothes and the perfect environment to learn—what more could an orphan ask for? One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing.

JUJUTSU KAISEN

2020

Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back.

Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic

Noriyuki Abe · 2017

Ciel learns of a "Aurora Society", that is rumored to be researching how to bring the dead back to life. Their next meeting is scheduled to be conducted on the ship Campania, voyaging across the Atlantic Ocean. Much to Ciel's dismay, Elizabeth "Lizzy" Midford, is taking the same ship, thus leaving him with no choice but to get aboard as well.

Black Butler: Book of Murder

Noriyuki Abe · 2014

At the Queen’s request, Ciel and the demon butler Sebastian host an extravagant dinner party for the who’s who of the London underground. But an evening that begins with the promise of unmatched elegance quickly spirals into mayhem when their most distinguished guest is found murdered in his room. Now, trapped in the Phantomhive Manor by a dark and stormy night, Ciel and Sebastian must work together with their high-class guests, including the legendary author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to find the murderer in their midst before the blame falls on the host and his somewhat suspicious staff.

Black Butler

2008

In Victorian London, 12-year-old business magnate Ciel Phantomhive thwarts dangers to the queen as he's watched over by his demon butler, Sebastian.

Mushi-Shi

2005

Ginko, a Mushi master, travels from place to place researching the Mushi and helping people who are suffering because of it.

Natsume's Book of Friends

2008

Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him.

Mononoke

2007

The Medicine Seller is a deadly and mysterious master of the occult who travels across feudal Japan in search of malevolent spirits called mononoke to slay. When he locates one of these spirits, he cannot simply kill it; he must first learn its Form, its Truth, and its Reason in order to wield the mighty Exorcism Sword and fight against it. He must begin his strange exorcisms with intense psychological analysis and careful investigative work—an extremely dangerous step, as he must first confront and learn about the mononoke before he even has the means to defeat it.