5 best body horror anime you should watch

Body horror can leave you in a state of disgust and spook – here, we have listed the five best body horror anime that every daring horror fan must watch.

The horror genre in anime doesn’t always have to feature ghosts or spirits – sometimes, it’s the human body that can give you a blood-curdling ordeal. Watching the gross transformations of bodies in the form of an anime can make you appreciate different types of art forms.

With the rise in the popularity of the anime industry, several new horror anime are released each year. Over the last decade, we’ve had countless horror series that are worth our time, and since there are so many options, it’s hard to separate the good body horror anime shows from the generic horror anime series.

Well, if you’re in the same boat and want to watch some good body horror anime series, you’re in luck. In the article, we’ve curated some of the best anime series flailing under this category.

1. Parasyte: The Maxim

Crunchyroll

Produced by Madhouse, Parasyte: The Maxim is undoubtedly one of the best cult classics that every anime enthusiast should watch. The body contortions featured in the 24-episode anime series can give you chills throughout. From human heads opening up to pointy teeth and eyeballs coming out, this series is a horror to its core. Besides the body horror, Parasyte: The Maxim is also packed with action sequences and an impactful story that keeps the audience on their toes.

Parasyte: The Maxim showcases a world that is taken over by aliens known as the Parasites. These creatures enter the human brain and take full charge of the body. However, when a parasite named Migi tries to take Shinichi as its host, it accidentally enters the boy’s right hand. And now, they don’t have any other option except to fight every other parasite to survive and protect the human world.

2. Jujutsu Kaisen

Crunchyroll

Jujutsu Kaisen is a modern-age anime that involves gruesome fight sequences and eerie body transformations. What can be deadlier than a world that sees curses roaming here and there? A powerful curse named Sukuna takes the main protagonist, Yuji Itadori, as his vessel. Well, Jujutsu Kaisen can’t be considered a series centered entirely on the body horror aspect, but it does fit the sub-genre’s eligibility criteria.

A patch-faced curse named Mahito uses his Idle Transfiguration technique to mutilate humans while the king of curses is seen playing with the bodies of his vessels. What else can a body horror fan ask for? Furthermore, Jujutsu Kaisen also features the most amazing battle sequences, making it a complete package for horror fanatics.

3. Junji Ito Maniac

Netflix

Junji Ito Maniac is an anthology anime featuring short standalone episodes that constantly mess with your brains. It’s such a series that can give you goosebumps even in your sleep with the creepiness it comes with. You might have seen people undergoing drastic transformations in several anime, but how Junji Ito Maniac portrays things is the next level of horror.

Junji Ito is one of the best horror mangakas who focuses mainly on body horror or Eldritch horror that can not be handled by everyone. For instance, the anime depicts several students getting transformed into snails and a girl’s head getting punctured like a balloon after getting shot. That’s not it, as with every episode, the anime gets more disturbing. So, if you dare to tolerate the goriest things, Junji Ito Maniac is worth a watch.

4. Tokyo Ghoul

Crunchyroll

Tokyo Ghoul is set in a world where flesh-eating creatures called Ghouls co-exist. These beings appear as humans but depend solely on human flesh to survive. Like Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Ghoul isn’t body horror in its entirety, but several scenes involved in the series give it the right to sit on this list. You will witness the limbs like tentacles sprouting from the back of the ghouls that they use to attack humans. Besides that, the body mutation a human goes through after falling prey to a ghoul gives us a bone-chilling experience.

The series revolves around a young man named Kaneki, who gets attacked by a girl on their first date. After that, the poor guy becomes half-ghoul with one of his eyes undergoing a strange transformation and his other senses weirdly enhancing.

5. Made in Abyss

HIDIVE

The elements featured in Made in Abyss make it a perfect binge-watching anime for the ones who love everything horror. The series doesn’t look horrifying from the very start, but as the cheerful characters of the anime enter the deep abyss, nothing remains the same for them.

A curse takes a toll on every human who decides to unveil the abyss’ mysteries. You’ll also meet the bloodthirsty creature that awaits the arrival of a new prey in the abyss. Moreover, the rules and regulations of the abyss, if ignored, can lead to torturous consequences. For instance, we see several characters bleeding through their eyes or amputations of their body parts.