10 Best Action Anime With Horror Elements

Key Takeaways

• Anime blends horror with action, featuring unsettling moments in popular shows like
  Claymore
  and
  Tokyo Ghoul.
• Some anime, like
  Elfen Lied
  and
  Made in Abyss
  , explore dark themes and incorporate horrifying scenes involving children.
• Series like
  Devilman Crybaby
  and
  Attack on Titan
  effectively intertwine horror elements with tragedy, creating a chilling viewing experience.

Horror is everywhere. It is there when the individual wakes up, looks around the world, or is going to get their morning coffee. Horror is perhaps most scary when it is in places where it isn’t necessarily expected. Anime and horror can sometimes be an awkward pairing due to the fact that they are animated, which immediately makes horror less realistic. However, some of the best moments of absolute dread have been found in anime that are not in the horror genre.

Action anime is a great repository for horror, with some genuine, unsettling, and horrifying moments found in some of the most loved action shows. Here are a selection of some of those action anime that dabble in the horror genre.

10 Claymore

The Unending Battle With The Yoma

Claymore is an action and fantasy series that was airing in the late 2000s. Set in a bleak world where demons known as “Yoma” roam the world, devouring any humans they come across.

To fight against these beings there are the Claymores, a set of half-human and half-demon beings. Claymore features quite a bit of body horror and the bleak atmosphere lends itself to some terrifying moments, including some pretty graphic deaths.

9 Elfen Lied

An Unforgettable Opening Sequence

Elfen Lied follows a girl named Lucy, who has horns and invisible telekinetic hands. She meets Kouta and, through his act of kindness, tries to live a normal life.

Elfen Lied is remembered for a remarkable sequence in which Lucy, while escaping from the hospital, took out every single individual that got in her way. Some of the ways in which she killed were horrifying. Elfen Lied was also not afraid to explore some really dark themes, including a very sobering scene involving a dog.

8 Made In Abyss

This Might Just Be A Horror Show After All

There are few things scarier than horror involving children. This could either be having children as the perpetrators, or the victims. It was what made The Promised Neverland so unsettling, and it is what makes Made In Abyss such a difficult show to watch.

Often considered an adventure and fantasy show, some of the things that the protagonists Riko and Reg have to go through are truly horrifying. The fate of Mitty and Nanachi, and the absolute evil that was Bondrewd, all coalesce into a very scary anime, despite all outward appearances.

7 Deadman Wonderland

Games Of Death Are Scary

Igarashi Ganta was a normal student in school one day when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, all his classmates were dead and he was the main suspect. Unable to plead his case, he winds up in a peculiar prison where inmates fight to the death for the amusement of others.

Deadman Wonderland features some pretty cool fight scenes, but these are coupled with nightmarish visuals and an apparent contempt for human life. The horror elements are frequently visible in the violence and gore involved.

6 Dorohedoro

A Fever Dream Of Nightmarish Proportions

The horror in Dorohedoro is more in its setting than in the events that take place. Sure, there are some pretty messed up scenes, but the weird setting of the hole, where a lot of things don’t make sense, brings with it a sense of terror.

As fans follow Caiman, the protagonist, they see this unforgiving, decrepit world, with little redeeming value, and wonder what it must be like to live somewhere like that. Violence is a fact of life, and there is a common acceptance of living in this situation that signifies an absence of hope that can make for a depressing watch.

5 Devilman Crybaby

Horror And Tragedy Intertwine

Devilman Crybaby is an adaptation of the 1972 manga, Devilman. There were some differences in this 2018 show which make it a bit more relatable, but just as with the original (which is also somehow connected to the Violent Jack series), it has a lot of violence.

Devilman Crybaby melds its horror well with its action, and at its heart, it is a tragedy about a world falling apart and the helplessness of good people to do anything about it. The avant-garde art style also lends itself well to the horror, and it is definitely a great watch as long as the viewer goes in knowing what to expect.

4 Parasyte: The Maxim

Alien Horror

Interestingly, aliens are not a topic covered too comprehensively in anime. However, in Parasyte, the aliens are present in full force, and their ability to take over their human host made them both deadly and scary.

The protagonist, Shinichi, spends the show fighting to ensure that the parasite doesn’t take him over. No other human could be trusted, as the aliens could take over anyone. There was also some impressive body horror, especially the opening scene, which featured a shocking death.

3 Tokyo Ghoul

Humans Are Eaten By Ghouls

There’s something terrifying about anything that has to do with the consumption of human flesh. It reminds people of the fragility of life, but it also scares people, as they realize the brutal nature of cannibalism.

Tokyo Ghoul has a lot of action, but the horror is not far behind, as humanity takes on the threat of the ghouls. The people who fight the ghouls need to reach new levels of sadism themselves to deal with the threat, and watching this process is often scarier than the ghouls themselves.

2 Hellsing Ultimate

The Perfect Blend Of Action And Horror

Hellsing features the incredibly cool vampire hunter Alucard (it’s just Dracula spelled backwards) who helps dispatch vampires for the Hellsing orgaization. He, a vampire himself with immense power, helps to protect the world from his own kind.

It’s fascinating that the scariest part of Hellsing is Alucard himself. Fans watch him knowing he’s the protagonist, but also unable to get away from the fact that Alucard is a monster— a literal one. He could just as easily turn against humanity. Who will save them then?

1 Attack On Titan

The Titans Are Terrifying

Attack On Titan might be the most popular anime in the world right now, apart from One Piece. This masterpiece, crafted by Hajime Isayama, has captivated both new and old anime fans. While AoT features some high octane action, it also incorporates lots of horror elements.

For one, there are the titans themselves, and this came to the fore even more in the second season. It was a slow burner, but slowly set viewers more and more on edge as they waited to see when the titans would appear and wreak havoc. As the seasons went on, viewers started to realize that the humans were just as terrifying as the titans.