If you thought anime was all about magical girls and Super Saiyans, then you need to get familiar with the industry’s massive scale. There are anime titles out there for every viewer whether they are looking for feel-good romances or something more sinister. Should gore be your goal, then there are more than a few anime titles out there fans can sink their teeth into – literally.
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Here at ComicBook, we are giving you a rundown of some of the fandom’s most gory titles. Bloods, guts, and entrails are all par for the course when it comes to these horror series, so you have been warned. Don’t come into these shows with a queasy stomach or else.
Genocyber
If you thought Alien was bad, wait until you get an eyeful of Genocyber. The anime is set in a dystopian world were dozens of corporations begin to fight for control over a world. When one of the businesses created the Genocyber weapon to give them a one-up, its ploy only works for so long before the psychic weapon turns on them. And, when the Genocyber goes rogue, dozens of heads are sent rolling. By the anime’s end, the majority of characters fans meet have met a gory end. Decapitations are frequent, and the show makes the term ‘mind-blown’ a very literal one. There’s even a live-action sequence of a brain getting crushed inside its own skull, so prepare to gag over that.
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Corpse Party
The title of this anime alone should signal it is all about gore. While fans have accused the show of looking too cute to scare horror fans, Corpse Party goes for a soft look because it is dealing with high school students. The anime follows a gang of students when they are transported to an alternate dimension and get stuck at their high school. In this new world, the school houses a sadistic ghost who loves bloodshed, and the students must try to make it out alive. Clearly, it doesn’t work out. After you see your first pair of eyes gouged out, you know just what kind of story you are dealing with.
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When They Cry
If you ever thought When They Cry was just another slice-of-life anime, then think again. The series may seem unassuming, but the show is anything but. The anime follows a boy named Keiichi when he moves to a little village and befriends several local girls. However, the quaint town takes on a sinister tone when a slew of brutal murders begin to take place. While visceral gore is found in abundance, When They Cry does its best to pair its bloodshed with psychological warfare. At one point, fans are forced to watch a character slowly kill themselves as they stab themselves again and again in the neck.
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Hellsing Ultimate
What do you get when you pair Nazi vampires against one of the greatest hunters ever? You get a lot of blood. In Hellsing Ultimate, fans watch as the vampire Alucard goes up against a legion of undead Nazis who hope to take over Britain. The terrifying regime has no love for life, and fans will watch as humans get torn to literal shreds by the Nazi vampires. However, that gore is nothing compared to what Alucard dishes out. The protagonist is the living embodiment of Hell, and Alucard has no mercy for those who trespass against him.
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Elfen Lied
Elfen Lied does what so few gory series can by striking the perfect balance between horror and suspense. The classic series is set in a world where some humans have supernatural gifts. These powers allow them to control invisible, telekinetic hands – and Lucy is one such human who can use them. The girl is then taken by the government and forced to undergo traumatic experiments. However, when she escapes, Lucy does free herself at the expense of developing a split personality. While Lucy can appear to be totally normal, there is an unhinged murderer lying in wait. Audiences are shown how easily she can rip a man’s head off, and Elfen Lied doesn’t hesitate to let Lucy use her powers as she sees fit.
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