Horror anime of this past decade have set a new name and standard for the genre. From Shiki's iconic "bed scene" to Yami Shibai's unique (and so, so creepy) animation style that resembles traditional paper dolls, the 2010s have introduced a new brand of horror and fear that has unsettled even the most courageous of viewers.
While horror anime of decades past have included classics like Perfect Blue and Higurashi: When They Cry, the 2010s brought us brand-new gems to appreciate how much they can keep us up at night. Here are 10 of the scariest anime of the last decade, according to My Anime List.
10 The Promised Neverland
What seems like an idyllic countryside orphanage is a front for a much more insidious operation as 11-year-olds Emma, Norman, and Ray soon discover. The children living there are happy under the careful supervision of "Mama," and have no idea what awaits them when they leave Grace Field House.
The Promised Neverland is full of tense, suspenseful moments that capitalizes on the audience's fear of their beloved kiddos getting caught during their escape. From long, uninterrupted point-of-view angles that give the uncomfortable feeling they are being watched, to sharp and sudden jumpscares, The Promised Neverland touches on a thrill and scare level that doesn't rely on gore.
9 Kowabon
Feel safe and secure around all of the technology in your life? You might want to think again. In our modern world where anyone can connect to anything anywhere, what if the paranormal and unknown could be connected to us?
In Kowabon, an angry and vengeful spirit could be waiting to sneak up to you from behind any screen. While seemingly not connected with a bigger, overarching plot, each 3-minute episode still tells a story about another victim's demise. The series has pretty mixed reviews, but its clever use of rotoscope animation, chilling sounds, and frightening, nightmarish imagery makes it a scary contender this decade.
8 Kagewani
There are strange and horrible monster attacks happening all over, and researcher Sousuke Banba wants to get to the bottom of them. He's only got the word "Kagewani" to go on, and oddly enough, there's a strange pharmaceutical company by the name of Sarugaku interested in his findings.
Even though each episode is fairly short, only 4-minutes long, it has been praised for how well it manages to develop its characters, only to make you feel for them when you are inevitably forced to watch them be killed by its delightfully terrifying monsters.
7 Tokyo Ghoul
In a different and far more sinister Tokyo, vicious creatures called "ghouls" both live among humans and feast on them. Ken Kaneki, a shy college student, gets thrown into this world of ghouls when an encounter with the girl Rize Kamishiro goes disastrously, almost fatally wrong.
Filled with unsettling acts of cannibalism and continually facing its audience with disturbing moral dilemmas, Tokyo Ghoul is a horror anime that capitalizes on the traditional "zombie" scare factor and turns it into a whole new, dark, and frightening experience all its own.
6 Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasitic aliens have invaded Earth, and 16-year-old Shinichi Izumi has one in his hand that tried and failed to take over his brain. Now the unlikely duo has to depend on each other to survive and defend themselves against a host of nasty, hostile parasites that view them as a threat.
Gorgeously animated and with terrifying body horror to boot, Parasyte: The Maxim fully maximizes the inhuman nature of its parasitic alien monsters to provide grotesque imagery that can act as weeks of nightmare fuel.
5 From the New World
Several eras ago, 0.1% of the population inherited the ability of psychokinesis, and since then, the world has gone through several upheavals. A fragile peace has been found once psychic humans formed their society and retreated away from the rest of the world.
Now, Saki Watanabe and her friends attend Sage Academy, a special school for psychics, unaware of the darker truths of their society and what their roles are exactly in this new world. From the New World is unsettling and dark, with violent twists and revelations that have left many a viewer disturbed.
4 Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
Based on a survival horror game by the same name, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls follows a group of students who get together to perform a special friendship ritual so that they'll be friends forever. What they manage to do instead, however, is transport themselves to an entirely different dimension where the ghosts of the former Heavenly Host Academy prey to gruesomely kill them off.
What follows is a gory and sickening 4-episode murder-spree not for the faint of heart. With all the classic scare elements of any good horror show, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is one of the most terrifying and grotesque anime this decade has dared produce.
3 Shiki
In the quiet, peaceful village of Sotoba, nothing ever happens, which is exactly why Megumi Shimizu plans on leaving as soon as she possibly can. However, when Megumi unexpectedly dies and others in the village soon follow suit, it seems Sotoba has a vicious and supernatural epidemic on its hands.
Shiki tells a spine-chilling vampire story unlike any other that explores the line between monster and man. With jump scares, unsettling imagery, gore, and troubling moral dilemmas that make you question who's the real antagonist and/or protagonist here, it's hands-down earned its spot as one of the scariest anime this decade.
2 Another
Soon after Kouichi Sakakibara transfers into Yomiyama North's class 3-3, he finds that strange things are afoot. There's a girl named Mei who wears an eyepatch that everyone else doesn't seem to see, and despite himself, he feels drawn to her. Then, a curse begins mysteriously and violently claiming lives, leaving everyone else trying to figure out a way to stop it before its too late.
Another is full of unpredictable twists and turns; the deaths are like something out of Final Destination. With a scare level that's reminiscent of such iconic horror movies, Another is a terrifying experience to behold.
1 Yami Shibai
There's a strange Storyteller with a yellow mask who appears at dusk to use his kamishibai to tell scary Japanese ghost stories to children. No one knows his name or where he comes from. All they know is that his sinister tales are irresistible.
And as the children get pulled into his stories, so too does the audience of this terrifying anime. Each 4-minute episode tells a different short story, each one more horrifying than the last. And with its special animation style that mimics the look of traditional paper puppets, it's one of the scariest, if not the scariest, anime to have come out of the 2010s.