6. Dead Space: Downfall (2008)

Unlike others on the list, Dead Space: Downfall isn’t an animated series, but a movie. Viewers get to see an hour and 15 minutes of creepy futuristic space exploration featuring an otherworldly extraterrestrial artifact called the Maker, which releases fatal horrors on the colony’s miners.

In 2506, the Church of Unitology — a cult that pretends to be a legitimate religion — funded a mining operation to the planet Aegis VII. In 2508, geologist Jennifer Barrows (Lia Sargent) discovers an alien artifact (the Maker) and brings it back to the colony. However, this artifact is actually a human copy of an alien object that has a deadly influence on members of Aegis VII’s colony and eventually reanimates mutated corpses, known as “Necromorphs.” When the spacecraft Ishimura arrives, the colony is in severe distress due to members having episodes of psychosis and psychotic breaks, resulting in the deaths of many. The Ishimura crew collects the artifact, but it soon starts affecting them, creating Necromorphs that slowly begin to take over the ship. 

5. Tokyo Ghoul (2014)

In an alternate reality, creatures known as ghouls blend in with the human population due to their appearance. The ghouls receive their sustenance from eating human flesh, so they have to hide their nature when in the presence of normal people or risk being targeted by authorities. Ghouls have superhuman abilities like enhanced speed, strength, regeneration, and endurance, as well as a solid predatory organ on their skin that can be used in combat. They are easily recognizable when hungry or excited, as their irises turn a blood red and their sclera becomes pitch black. Ghouls can be born naturally as half-ghouls, or artificially ghoul organs are transplanted into a human. After going on a date with a ghoul that almost killed him, university student Ken Kaneki (Natsuki Hanae) discovers the life-saving surgery transformed him into a half-ghoul. Kaneki is taken in by other ghouls who fly under the radar by running a coffee shop, and they teach him how to fit in with other ghouls and hide his identity from humans.

4. Hellsing: Ultimate (2006)

In a world of creatures of the night — primarily vampires and ghouls — a secret branch of the British government works in the shadows to protect civilians from these monsters. The branch is known as the Hellsing Organization, created by the predecessors of the current leader, Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (Yoshiko Sakakibara). Sir Integra has her own personal army that protects her and fights off the undead, but her trump card is the vampire she controls, Alucard (George Nakata). Despite being a vampire himself, Alucard feels disdain towards others and aids the Hellsing Organization in exterminating them. Joining Integra and Alucard is Seras Victoria (Fumiko Orikasa), a former police officer who Alucard turned after she was attacked by another vampire. As the three protagonists work to keep the streets of England — and other areas they travel to — safe from the undead, a not-so-new threat emerges when the Nazis return: only this time, they have an army of ghouls in tow.

3. Attack on Titan (2013)

In a post-apocalyptic world, humanity lives behind large walls that separate and protect them from large, humanoid creatures known as titans. One hundred years prior, the titans came out of seemingly nowhere and slaughtered nearly all of humanity. The survivors built walls to keep themselves safe and created a military with three separate branches: The Scout Regiment, the Garrison Regiment, and the Military Police. The Scouts — often called the Survey Corp — go beyond the walls looking for more habitable land for expansion; the Garrison Regiment — referred to as the Stationary Guard — oversees patrolling and maintaining the walls, keeping an eye on both people and titans; and the Military Police — dubbed MPs — protect the royal family and maintain order on the innermost wall.

Eren Yeager (Yuki Kaji) and his friends Mikasa Ackerman (Trina Nishimura) and Armin Arlert (Marina Inoue) join the Survey Corp after witnessing the death of Eren’s mother and a majority of the citizens in their home, Shiganshina. After two abnormal titans called the Colossus Titan and the Armored Titan broke through the wall, everyone in the villages of the outer walls moved to the middle walls, leaving thousands hungry and homeless. Wanting to do everything they can to help humanity and get revenge on the titans, the trio joins their compatriots as they investigate what lies outside the walls.

2. Deadman Wonderland (2011)

Deadman Wonderland is a 12-episode action-thriller, dystopian, post-apocalyptic anime based on the manga written by Kadokawa Shoten. The plot follows protagonist Ganta Igarashi (Romi Park) and several other characters from a prison called Deadman Wonderland as they try to survive its brutal treatment and lethal games.

Ninth grader Ganta Igarashi is sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland prison after being framed for the murders of his classmates, which was perpetrated by a figure who was covered in crimson armor and embedded a red shard in the sole survivor’s chest. At the prison — which doubles as a theme park — a special collar with poison is locked around Ganta’s neck. Candy-like medicine can neutralize the poison, but prisoners must earn them through various activities, like participating in deadly games. While in prison, Ganta and some of the other inmates develop abilities where they can manipulate their blood to create weapons and are subsequently forced to participate in death matches for wealthy spectators. While fighting for his survival, Ganta tries to figure out how he got his powers, who attacked his class, and why he was framed.

1. Another (2012)

The plot of Another follows an urban legend about a classroom curse where students of Yomiyama North Middle School’s ninth grade class 3-3 must survive a supernatural phenomenon known as “The Calamity” to avoid dying in horrific accidents. In 1972, a popular student named Misaki died in a house fire, devastating his classmates and community. Unable to accept the loss of a beloved friend, the students in class 3-3 acted as though Misaki were still alive, going so far as to keep his desk in the classroom and bring it to their graduation ceremony. Despite having died, Misaki is seen in the class photo, and a curse befell everyone in ninth grade class 3-3 following 1972. Every year, a former student or teacher of class 3-3 who had died would come back, but no one — including the deceased — remembered their death, and horrible accidents would take the lives of many. In 1998, new student Kouichi Sakakibara (Atsushi Abe) and the mysterious Mei Misaki (Natsume Takamori) must determine who amongst them is dead in order to stop the curse — at least for that year.