Why Aren’t There More Horror Anime For Halloween?

Among the most popular anime series that exist in the world today, you’d be hard pressed to find many that truly dive into the idea of horror and with Halloween right around the corner, we thought we’d take the opportunity to dive into why this is the case! While there are certain anime franchises such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho and others that are able to blend hard hitting action with spooky creatures, it’s tough to bring to mind series that actually were able to give us nightmares when all is said and done!

What is your favorite anime horror property? Would you like to see more spooky series made in the future of the medium? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Halloween scares!

Shonen Rules The World

At the end of the day, the most popular anime that are out there are normally falling into the Shonen category, aka mostly action oriented anime that originated from the publication of Weekly Shonen Jump. As mentioned earlier, there are definitely anime franchises that have horror elements to them, such as the recent Jujutsu Kaisen, but it definitely seems as if Shonen is here to stay. One Piece was recently dethroned by another Shonen series of Demon Slayer, which also has terrifying demons that need eradicating by the hero Tanjiro, but it would hardly be considered horror. 

Horror Manga Don’t Corner The Market

A good percentage of anime usually uses manga for its source material, and there simply isn’t a lot of horror manga to pull from. Though Junji Ito is getting some much deserved attention with the upcoming Uzumaki anime being produced by Adult Swim and Production IG, this isn’t to say that there simply aren’t other horror series that are waiting for their own adaptations, but hardly as many as the aforementioned Shonen catalogue. Manga like Hideout, I Am Hero, and Blame certainly could use anime adaptations but considering the stories and graphic nature of some of them, we would imagine they would be a much more difficult “sell”. 

Horror Is Difficult

This simply isn’t just in regards to anime, but horror across the board when it comes to entertainment. When you break down the sheer amount of horror movies that are currently in circulation, how many would you say are classics? Ultimately, creating a worth horror story and having it resonate with audiences can be a difficult hill to climb and it’s easy to see how this could possible translate over to anime as a whole. 

The Definition of Horror

When you think about it, anime series like Berserk, Attack On Titan, Tokyo Ghoul, and others might be considered “horror” but considering the amount of action that they have, they can often be seen as something else entirely, whether it be dark fantasy or action adventure. Some of these series are able to have disturbing moments and bloody battles, but are they considered to be horror at the end of the day? We certainly wouldn’t mind seeing a barometer of anime franchises that would fall under the horror category. 

Someone Has To Lead The Way

At the end of the day, there need to be an “anime horror success story” that is able to resonate with audiences to the point that fans are clamoring for the “next big thing”. If we had to bet on a series that would be able to do this, it would be the upcoming adaptation of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki that is being produced for Adult Swim by Production IG. While this isn’t the first Ito adaptation we’ve seen in the world of anime, it certainly seems to have the most ground swell and we’d bet that this could lead the way for not only more adaptations of the mangaka’s works, but other horror adaptation beings brought into the world of anime!