Thread 283231737

I've been a fan of horror genre for a long time, but anime never really hits the same way as movies or series stuff. Even when it's good, it's more creepy or goofy than genuinely scary. I've seen all the usual ones people bring up like Higurashi, Another, Shiki, Mononoke, Perfect Blue, Ghost Hunt, Dark Gathering (read the manga too), etc. Out of those, only Shiki really managed to be unsettling. The rest are fine but don't give that chill down your spine feeling.

I'm starting to think the problem is just that 2D characters can't replicate the kind of fear that comes from seeing actual people in scary situations. Maybe it's the lack of realism, I don't know. Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone here's found an anime that actually scared them. Like, legit horror, not just tense atmosphere stuff.

Watch Mononoke alone in your house at 3:00 am

>>283231737 (OP)
horror comes from being horrified at imagining it happening to you
if you can imagine it happening to you when it's live action but can't when it's animated, that's a skill issue of imagination

>>283231737 (OP)
I say is just bad scripts, Mayoiga started off with a great setting and premise but it quickly turned out to be silly, same can be told about Another, the japanese are simply not that good at making horror stories, even if you use Junji Ito as an example, his stories are either silly or gross, "scary" is not something you would use to describe them, simply put, the japanese are just not that good at making spooks.

people who didn't have chronic nightmares growing up just can't seem to appreciate what junji ito does so well, which is capturing the feeling of being trapped in a terrible situation and unable to escape no matter how surreal or nonsensical it is

Mononoke was just misery porn.

Never saw Elfen Lied as horror. Just gorey.

>>283231737 (OP)
>I've been a fan of horror genre for a long time, but anime never really hits the same way as movies or series stuff.
What movies and series did you find scary?

>>283231737 (OP)
Horror is about the vibes, not the scares.

being horrified and being scared are two different things

>>283231774
That Junji Ito story with the dreams getting longer each night scared me for real. I had a dream which lasted years and felt very weird waking up. I forgot about it completely until I saw that episode.

Horror isn't really about being scared

>>283231737 (OP)
Read manga

>>283231737 (OP)
It's the cute girls. They get people interested in the series but, the tradeoff is that they have this Midas touch effect where they become an all consuming motif. Nobody remembers the rocks from the geology anime, they remember the sexy prospector girl from the geology anime. It's anime's greatest strength and greatest weakness.

When it comes to horror. You can't feel terrified if you're aroused. Those are mutually exclusive states of mind.

>>283233210
>Nobody remembers the rocks from the geology anime
not true I learned a lot from ruri's anime

>>283233210
>You can't feel terrified if you're aroused. Those are mutually exclusive states of mind.
Explain slasher movies and Clive Barker then.

>>283231737 (OP)
Because most horrors are fundamentally not scary.
It's either some mortal being that could be killed with minimal effort or some force of nature shit you can't do anything about.

>>283231737 (OP)
Junji Ito stories are comedies

>>283231737 (OP)
Media is only scary when you're a child. Once you grow up, the appeal of horror films is creepiness and/or jump scares.
Media is incapable of being truly horrifying to adults because the magic is gone and you understand in the back of your head it's just pictures on a screen.
True horror as an adult is waking up in bed at 35, fat, balding, and alone at your parents' house with nothing to show for yourself.

>>283231737 (OP)
Horror as genre died in all forms of media (books, movies,manga,anime,etc...).

>>283234256
Is there anyone who's scared of slasher movies?

>>283233210
> You can't feel terrified if you're aroused.
thats not true

>>283235472
when?

>>283231737 (OP)
Two things work against anime being scary.

First is the art style, which creates a disconnect and sense of distance. This is specifically an ANIME problem, not a manga one, as you can have things that look properly gross or creepy in manga but once it gets an anime adaptation the magic is lost. See Meiruko Chan manga vs anime, there is something lost in the designs between the two. A sense of malice in the manga that isn't there in the anime even for those same spirits. I believe that it is a combination of the anime designs being lower detail to be more easily animated, and the fact that in manga your brain has to fill in more details to imagine how the scene plays out, so the horror vibes prime your brain to imagine whats happening on page as scarier than it really is. Whereas, in anime, you brain doesn't have to fill anything in.
Essentially, your mental image of a vampire is always going to be scarier than an actual image of a vampire.

The second is the episodic nature of anime. Those horror vibes? They don't turn on and off like a switch. To properly engage with horror, you need to be lulled into that headspace. Short, 22 minute episodes have trouble doing this because by the time your brain as immersed itself into the story you are basically already having to wrap up the episode. Horror movies work because they have the runtime to ease you into it before things get spooky, but an anime episode doesn't have that luxury. The start/stop nature of it being broken up by OP and EDs, even when binge watching, breaks the flow. Whereas, again, a manga once you have the ability to sit down and read it is able to flow from one chapter to another nearly seamlessly and you don't lose momentum.

>>283231737 (OP)
I only watched Higurashi, Another, Shiki, and Perfect Blue, and I wouldn't classify those as horror. They have their moments, but I feel like they try to build a different aura than an actual western horror movie. Junji Ito is more of a show of the macabre. Higurashi, Shiki, and Another feel more like a survival game, similar to how I wouldn't label Hunger Games and the Saw movies as horror.

>>283235509
You'd be surprised of the amount of people that were scared shitless by the first Halloween and Elm Street movies.
Even putting sequel stagnation aside, slashers draw upon the primal fear of being hunted by an invulnerable, psychotic killer.

>>283236390
It's not a coincidence that the most successful horror anime have been OVAs or movies.
The point on runtime is false though. Tales From The Crypt was a very popular anthology show that ran for 7 seasons, and that was 30 minutes per episode. For an actual /a/ example, there's the Devilman Lady anime that went all in on the horror aspect of the Devilman mythos in TV format.

>>283235509
The majority of women. . . and my father.

>>283231737 (OP)
The simple answer is that horror is simply not scary unless it can manifest itself into reality.
You've merely gaslit yourself into thinking that any horror is scary.

>>283231737 (OP)
Too silly.

>>283231737 (OP)
Horror is for manchildren who are scared of dark rooms.

>>283235112
it's scary how many people keep calling him a horror author

>>283231762
have you watched it, anon? how was your experience?

>>283231737 (OP)
horror films aren't scary either

>>283231737 (OP)
Mieruko-chan never meant to be "horror" thoughtbeit

>>283232531
what's the name of that one?

>>283238618
Then what's the point of the genre

Since we are on the subject...
Will there ever be an anime like Elfen Lied again? I'm still in my edgy emo phase that I never grew out of.

I was like 11 when I discovered it, and told all my little friends about it at school. We would all watch it together it was crazy. It's a wonder we all grew up relatively normal

>>283231737 (OP)
Most horror anime just feel horror themed, like a Halloween event of a regular thing, instead of being built up from the ground for it

>>283231737 (OP)
I can't remember the last anime i watched that was 'scary', I prefer going for manga if I want something with horror vibes

>>283240972
maybe? it is pretty gory.

Subtlety isn't strong suit of anime/manga, which is why you rarely see build up of atmosphere, creepiness and tension. At least that's what I think I often miss from reading horror manga

>>283231737 (OP)
They are

>>283231737 (OP)
What does /a/ think of Hideshi Hino?

>>283235112
>>283239420
Let's post some of Junji Ito's finest moments as a comedy mangaka

>>283231737 (OP)
Japanese horror anime is like trying to create a horror movie poster using comic sans as the title's font

>>283231737 (OP)
Everything is already unreal looking.

>>283240972
Magical Girl Site?

>>283245759
Too old for modern /a/

Atmospheric horror like SH2 is great even if it's not very scary. No anime really match that vibe. I like Mushishi. Dreamy. A little unnerving. Not scary at all.

>>283247901
kek

>>283231737 (OP)
I don't really find horror movies or games scary either for the most part. The only anime that ever hit on a horror element for me was one of the last few episodes of Shinsekai Yori and that was because the previous 20 episodes were building up to it and it's not an actual horror show

>>283239240
Horror is for women

>>283235516
You can't feel terrified (of the monster) if you're aroused (by the monster.) That's why shows like Elfen Lied are not real horror. Being scared of Lucy is kinda like being scared of Edward Cullen.

>>283231737 (OP)
Horror movies aren't scary either. Their merit is in atmosphere, which a lot of anime don't use to its full potential. Horror anime done right should be better than any horror movie.
>>283233210
>When it comes to horror. You can't feel terrified if you're aroused.
Horror and sexuality are pretty intrinsically linked, and almost all horror utilizes sexuality to some degree. It's the whole premise of giallo, for one, and it's why a lot of edgy anime uses shit like rape or magical girls getting gored as a central motif. Sure, it's to minimal effect since a fair share of its audience are baseline ryonafags, but the intent is to meld the two.

I think most "horror" anime don't even attempt to be scary, they are spooky or gory at best. Actual horror movies manage to be scary through immersion. Like others said, they look more realistic than anime, they also have things like jumpscares, first-person POV and other horror cliches, nonstop paranoia and chase scenes. Horror games with anime style can be scary because they are more immersive, and they often utilize the above tropes.

>>283252115
This, but unironically.

>>283252642
>It's the whole premise of giallo, for one, and it's why a lot of edgy anime uses shit like rape or magical girls getting gored as a central motif.

IMO, Perfect Blue is genuinely just a Japanese giallo. It ticks all the boxes of one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kon was inspired by Argento and co when making it.