Suspense is undoubtedly one of the most popular genres among anime fans. Finally, you can come across stories filled with mystery, complexity, and even unexpected twists!
So, if you enjoy this type of genre, this article is for you! Check out the ten best suspense animes. These animes will make your mind work on nonsensical theories, but that’s the fun!
Table of Contents
10 – Another
An incident 26 years ago would have changed a school. The death of a model student, communicative, attractive, and wise, alters the school cycle. Since then, Class 3 of the 9th grade at Yomiyama North Middle School has never been the same.
Sakakibara Kouichi, a 15-year-old student, moves from Tokyo to Yomiyama, his mother’s hometown, in the spring of 1998 due to his father’s job in India. He is hospitalized with a pneumothorax just before classes start.
It is in the hospital, after the visit of some of his future classmates, that he begins to notice the different atmosphere that permeates the city and, in particular, his new school.
He also meets a girl with an eye patch in the hospital. Kouichi realizes that only his room is different, and that something strange is happening around him, although he does not know why.
At some moments, he will discover what happened in Class 3 of the 9th grade, the event that occurred 26 years ago while his mother was a student in the same class. And in a few years, he will be wreaking havoc in the world.
9. Gosick
The story of Gosick takes place in the year 1924 in a small fictional European country called Saubure. The anime centers on Kazuya Kujo, the eldest son of a Japanese imperial soldier, who studies at St. Marguerite Academy on a scholarship, where urban legends and horror stories are common.
He meets Victorique, a beautiful and mysterious girl who never shows up for class and spends all her time in the library devouring books or solving mysteries that detectives cannot solve.
In summary, the series follows Kazuya and Victorique as they get involved in many mystery cases and struggle to solve them while forming vital bonds with a variety of people.
8. Serial Experiments Lain
Lain Iwakura, a shy and introverted teenager, is one of several students in her class to receive a disturbing email from a classmate who committed suicide.
Lain has neither the desire nor the experience to deal with basic technology. However, when she opens her email, it takes her straight to the Wired, a virtual world of communication networks similar to the internet.
As she uncovers one terrifying mystery after another, her life takes a turn for the worse. Strangers known as Men in Black begin to appear wherever she goes, asking questions and somehow knowing more about her than she does.
With the boundaries between reality and cyberspace rapidly fading, only Lain will understand the meaning of her presence as one world closes and another opens.
7. Darker than Black
Hell’s Gate is an unusual and strange territory that emerged in Tokyo and changed the course of history. Simultaneously, individuals with specialized abilities appeared.
The celestial bodies disappeared and were replaced by false stars belonging to those with special abilities. However, gaining these unique abilities comes at a cost: the loss of human emotions and empathy.
Thus, those capable of freezing blood, known as Contractors, are kept secret from the public. Various nations employ Contractors as spies and agents, which often results in violent battles for information.
6. Durarara!!
Mikado Rygamine is a young man who dreams of living in a bustling city. Mikado is transferred to a school in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, after being invited by his friend Masaomi Kida.
Masaomi warns him about dangerous people he should avoid: a violent guy dressed as a bartender, an information broker, and a mysterious coin known as “Dollars.” To top it off, Mikado encounters an urban legend on his first day in the city: the “Black Rider,” a fictional black motorcycle rider.
The story balances all the characters, showing how their lives intersect and creating a great involvement based on what each character knows about an occurrence in Ikebukuro.
5. Psycho-Pass
The law and its application have changed. In the 22nd century, Japan imposes the Sibyl System, a method to determine a citizen’s threat level by examining their mental state for signs of criminal intent, also known as Psycho-Pass.
Inspectors uphold the law by subjugating anyone with the slightest desire; on the other hand, Executors are incarcerated inspectors who have been granted some freedom in exchange for doing the inspectors’ work.
Akane Tsunemori, a young woman with a sincere desire to uphold justice, enters this world. However, while working alongside senior executor Shinya Kougami, she quickly discovers that the Sibyl System’s judgments are not as perfect as her fellow inspectors believe.
With everything done through justice and using one’s head to the fullest, Akuma is a question that can be kept alive by a system already corrupted.
4. Death Parade
When two people on Earth die at the same time, they are sent to one of the many mysterious bars run by bartenders who act as judges.
People must participate in death games there, with the results revealing secrets that led to their current situation and determining whether they will be sent back to Earth or banished to the beyond.
The series follows Decim, a solo bartender at Quindecim, whose role in judging these individuals changes when he meets a beautiful and mysterious woman with black hair.
3. Tokyo Ghoul
The story of Tokyo Ghoul revolves around Ken Kaneki, a student who survives a fatal encounter with Rize Kamishiro, a woman who turns out to be a ghoul.
Ghouls are human-like creatures that hunt and devour human flesh. With this revelation, Rize attacks Kaneki, who is severely injured, desperately trying to escape. Rize corners him until several metal pipes fall on Rize, ostensibly killing her; shortly after, Kaneki faints due to his injuries and is sent to the hospital in critical condition.
After his recovery, he discovers that he underwent surgery that transformed him into a half-ghoul and that, like them, he must consume human flesh to survive.
With no one to help him, he is taken in by Kuzen, the owner of a café called “Anteiku,” who teaches him how to live as a half-human and half-ghoul, as well as interact with ghoul society and its many forms, while he struggles to live among humans.
2. Monster
Dr. Kenzou Tenma, an excellent neurosurgeon who recently delivered the director of the hospital’s daughter, continues to rise in the hierarchy of the hospital where he works.
But this changes when Dr. Tenma chooses to operate on a young Johan Liebert instead of the city mayor, putting his life at risk.
He loses his social standing, the respect of the hospital director, and his wife. However, after the mysterious deaths of the director and two other doctors, Dr. Tenma’s position is restored. Eleven years later, he is still face to face with the monster he created.
He now needs to embark on a quest to find a way to repair the damage caused by the child he saved.
1. Death Note
Death Note is a supernatural notebook with the power to kill anyone whose name is written in it.
Normally, Shinigami use Death Notes to kill humans without leaving their world, accumulating the remaining years of each human’s life for themselves.
Certain Shinigami abandon their notebooks from the Shinigami world in the human world to allow humans to use their repositories. Historically, humans have killed as many other humans as they have destroyed the notebook.
Only 6 notebooks can exist in the human world. However, it is unknown how many killer notebooks exist in the Shinigami world, as well as how they are created.
Leave a Reply