There are two types of anime; the kind where the world is stable and based on relatively fixed laws of physics, and the kind where it just seems stable… to those lucky enough to ignore that extra face in the mirror and that will-o'-the-wisp floating just over the pool.
Those who dare to heed the signs quickly become the protagonists of really fascinating titles, that veer from whimsical to scary. As anime was born of the fusion of Japanese culture and Western animation, supernatural is the perfect genre to fuse all kinds of urban legends and folklore to produce unique shows. However, it would be impossible to start a list about 10 Supernatural Anime without mentioning the funniest direct import so far….
10 Supernatural, the Anime Series
In case you have been living under a rock for the past 12 years, Supernatural is the spiritual child of X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it follows the road trips of brothers Sam and Dean as they confront demons, angels, ghosts and other supernatural creatures in exchange for very little money. On the way, they also try to unravel the mysteries of their past, present and many potential futures, each of them more terrifying than the other. For some reason, Japan decided that Supernatural needed an anime reboot, and they did this. The anime covers the first season of Supernatural with a few extras thrown in to reward faithful fans of the original show, but it didn’t get a second season yet – maybe they are waiting for the original show to end in 2019?
Miya and Ishizuka kept this anime very close to Western animation using similar proportions and color palettes than Death Note, although the colors are more saturated and the tone more contrasted; despite the dark undertones of the show, Supernatural is not a grey morality universe and that shows in the design choices.
9 Midnight Occult Civil Servants
Midnight Occult Civil Servants is the Japanese response to Supernatural, X-Files, the book series Rivers of London and the videogame The Secret World: every fairytale, urban legend and myth are real, and there is a whole Government department that deals with them. Miyako Arata, the POV character for the first half of the season or so, is a young civil servant freshly assigned to Nocturnal Community Relations Division of the Shinjuku Ward Office.
The artwork is gorgeous, the plot is dark and full of twisty spoilers, with nice office work humor to keep some light on. Fans of Psycho-Pass will enjoy the pace and character design.
8 Ghost Hunt
Also known as Ghost Hunter, this, along with Haruhi Suzumiya, tells the story of a group high-school students that work as Ghost Hunters in the Shibuya Psychic Research Center. It has two protagonists; the senpai manager Kazuya Shibuya and Mai Taniyama, a rookie student hastily recruited by Kazuya after his usual assistant, Lin, gets hurt.
Its exploration of the different exorcism and purification powers of different religions is very interesting, and it is a nice companion series to Haruhi Suzumiya (below), because although both focus on teenagers fighting the supernatural, Ghost Hunt follows a more traditional formula that sets a nice baseline for the genre.
7 Haruhi Suzumiya
The Haruhi Suzumiya series is told from the point of view of Kyon, yet another bored high school student, whose classmate Haruhi takes a liking to him. Mostly because she’s also really, really bored. However, she quickly gest unstuck from her rut and drags Kyon to create a club where they investigate these phenomena. Other students either wander into the club, are coerced into it or were doing their own thing in the classroom that Haruhi co-opted, and the result is that most of them seem to think that Haruhi’s “cases” are the biggest LOL in the world… until paranormal phenomena start bursting around them.
This is a very vague description, but this series is so spoilery that the episodes were released out of order. Let’s call this an optimistic version of Steins:Gate with starter wheels, less cosmic dread and more humor. (The music is great too.)
6 Mushishi
Mushi are the basic element that creates life and that is part of every living organism. They are not evil, but whenever humans encounter the meeting has bad consequences for the poor humans. Ginko, the protagonist, is a Mushishi, a sort of Mushi detective, and he spends the two seasons, the OVA and the film walking through nature, encountering different natural and ultra-natural phenomena.
It is beautiful, very episodic, very atmospheric, very well-paced, incredibly original… but not very exciting. It is a must watch for admirers of Shinto, folkore enthusiast and art and nature lovers, but those craving action scenes, slapstick comedy and dazzling supernatural powers should skip it.
5 Noragami
Based on the Adachitoka manga of the same name, Noragami is the story of Yato, a self-declared god of (but actually a god of calamity) with no temple and no followers, and it starts the day that Hiyori, a bored high school student (there seems to be a protagonist pattern here…) saves him from getting hit by a bus and gains the ability to detach her soul from her body, which is very dangerous. To help her, Yato has to find a new Regalia, which is like a human soul transformed into a weapon, and he does find one in the shape of Yukino, a recently deceased boy that hasn’t completely accepted the fact that he is dead and a tool to a destitute god of calamity.
Just like in Terry Pratchett’s Minor Gods, in this universe gods only exist if humans believe in him, and not only he wants to be remembered, but he wants to be remembered by a vast number of followers as he was in his past, before his rebranding. The soundtrack was composed by Taku Iwasaki, who also wrote the music fordid Black Butler and Soul Eater, so you are in for a treat!
4 Black Butler
Black Butler takes place in a dystopian, steampunk 19th century and it tells the morbid story of Ciel Phantomhive, Queen Victoria’s youngest Lord Enforcer, and Sebastian, his demon butler, who will eat Ciel’s soul as soon as he gets revenge on the people who murdered his family.
Beautifully stylized with all the hypocritical trappings of Victorian life, Black Butler’s outlook is ultimately optimistic. Ciel is basically young Bruce Wayne with a Satanic Alfred and the Queen’s approval to destroy anyone that pisses him off. The Funimation English dub also features the impeccable Brina Palencia as Ciel and J. Michael Tatum as Sebastian, fresh from directing Romeo x Juliet and starring in Ouran High School Host Club respectively, and their take on these characters is pitch perfect.
3 XXX-Holic
Watanuki’s problem is that he can see supernatural entities, but the only thing he can do about it is to be terrified. The day the anime starts is his lucky day, because he walks straight into Yuko’s store, a powerful and languid witch that grants him the wish to stop seeing these spirits in exchange working in her store.
Yuko’s trade is in wishes; she will help anyone that asks for her help in exchange for something precious (to them). XXX-Holic crosses over with other Clamp works, like Tsubasa Chronicles. Don’t let the ultra-stylized art style put you off; this series, like Yuko the smoking witch, pulls you in deeper and deeper into its quicksand.
2 Death Note
Death Note is a multifaceted beast, and it pops up in almost every anime list ever written. Best thriller, best noir, best horror, best mystery, best anime, best villain, best diabetic hero and, simultaneously, best fruit-eating campaign. Death Note has something for everyone, except romance.
Anyway, Death Note tells the story of Light Yagami, a brilliant and bored-to-tears student, who finds a black notebook with the power to kill anyone whose name is written inside. However, it comes with strings attached – notably Ryuuk, the apple-obsessed shinigami that “accidentally” dropped it to Earth, also because he was bored out of his mind. Despite Ryuuk’s warnings, Light starts using the power of the notebook to kill the worst criminals. Panic, a cult following, and a manhunt soon ensue. Watch this if you enjoyed Code Geass, and you are into protagonists that are too smart for their own good.
1 Spirited Away
Spirited Away is the story of Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl whose parents get transformed into pigs and trapped into a kami onsen, (a traditional bathhouse for Japanese spirits and gods.) She gets a job there in order to find a way to free her parents and escape from this world, and in true fairytale fashion, she manages to find allies in the most unexpected places.
Spirited Away is also a perfect starting point for viewers that want to dip their toes in the world of supernatural anime, because as a movie, the storyline is relatively short and there's a finite amount of characters to keep track of, but it still contains a lot of Japanese folkore that will pop up in other anime.