For many years, especially in the ’80s and ’90s, anime in the United States had a reputation for the horrors it was willing to put onscreen. The dynamic and adult-oriented work of directors like Katsuhiro Otomo and Yoshiaki Kawajiri, usually available on the back shelves of local video stores, starkly contrasted with the bubbly, kid-friendly cartoons (and relatively static cartooning) that defined U.S. animation. Guts spilled, nudity was commonplace, and many of the one-off “original video animations” (a.k.a. direct-to-video OVAs) relished stories of the kind of supernatural savagery we just can’t get enough of in the Halloween season. Today, anime is more globally available than ever before, which is why we’ve assembled this list of the best anime horror movies and TV shows you can stream or buy right now.
