RJ Writing Ink’s Picks for Terrifying Monsters in Anime
Halloween is the time of year where people embrace the macabre and monstrous, and anime is filled with some of the biggest monsters in all of fiction. From demons pulled straight from myths and legends worldwide to conventional monsters like vampires and zombies, anime has them all. In the spirit of Halloween, it seems appropriate to talk about the monsters of anime that will give everyday people nightmares.
I’m RJ Writing Ink with D&A Anime, and here are my picks for some of the most terrifying monsters to be found in anime.
Titans, Attack on Titan Franchise
Woe to those who see one of the Titans approaching them, for they are almost always harbingers of death. Created when a certain group of people are injected with their spinal fluids, Titans are hulking, near-mindless monsters. Their only goal in existence is to find one of the nine people with the power to shift in and out of Titan form and devour them so they can regain human form. Thus, they chase down any human they see in the hopes of eating them. In the Attack on Titan universe, the number of deaths they’ve caused is enough to kill the world’s population three times over.
What makes the Titans so horrifying is that, unlike many fictional monsters, they usually appear distinctly human. Seeing a group of giant, naked, grotesque caricatures of human beings running towards is the stuff of nightmares. Is it any wonder people in Attack on Titan are so afraid of them?
Demons, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
While Demons are not a new thing in works of anime, the Demons in Demon Slayer are unlike anything fans have seen before. Craving human blood, vulnerable to the sun, and capable of turning more humans into them, they have more in common with vampires than that of classical Demons. However, that doesn’t really matter, though, considering that they’re still horrifying.
What makes the Demons in Demon Slayer even more dangerous is the many and varied powers they can possess, ranging from super-strength to being able to rewrite the world around them on a whim. Worst of all, their progenitor, Muzan, is so monstrous that he’s compared to a force of nature. Is it any wonder why the Demon Slayer Corps is constantly struggling to wipe them out?
The one positive trait about them is that they’re not entirely devoid of humanity, as proven by Nezuko.
Devils, Chainsaw Man
Imagine a world where the thing that you’re afraid of, the very concept of it, could take physical form and threaten you. That’s the kind of world that serves as the setting for Chainsaw Man. In this alternate version of Earth, Devils are real, and they are the phsyical manifestations of the things that mankind fears. And the more humans fear them, the stronger they become. No matter how silly or absurd it may be, if someone is afraid of it, there’s likely a Devil for it.
What makes the Devils of Chainsaw Man truly horrifying is that there are things that almost every living thing is genetically programmed to be afraid of. Falling from great heights, darkness, and even death itself are things that all life instinctively fears. Imagine how powerful their Devils are. No wonder why the only people who choose to become Devil Hunters have a few screws loose.
Shinigami, Death Note
Death is already a scary concept by itself, but what if there were extra-dimensional beings capable of killing you with a pen and a notebook. If that sounds terrifying, then the Shinigami of Death Note are the stuff of nightmares. Grotesque in appearance and residing in an alternate plane of reality, the Shinigami have only one purpose in life: to end the lives of others. To that end, they use the power of their Death Notes to end the lives of humans living on Earth and use them to extend their own lifespans.
The scariest part about the Shinigami, besides their appearance, is their almost universal apathy regarding humanity. At worst, they view humans as sources of food for themselves; at best, they’re sources of entertainment. Even Ryuk, the one who gave Light Yagami the Death Note that let him become Kira, abandons Light when he finally gets cornered. They don’t care about mankind, and they never will.
Cursed Spirits, Jujutsu Kaisen
In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, feeling too many negative emotions isn’t just bad for your mental health; it can lead to the creation of supernatural monsters. Cursed Spirits are beings that manifest from the collective cursed energy that leaks out of humans whenever they’re feeling negative emotions. Much like the Devils in Chainsaw Man, they’re the embodiments of mankind’s fears and anxities, and thus can take many forms that range from the simple to the truly demonic.
While they can be scary-looking, most Cursed Spirits are capable of being dealt with by the Jujutsu Sorceror’s that protect society from the shadows. That is, however, except for Sukuna, the King of Curses. The amount of black air force energy he has in him is so powerful that he managed to persist a thousand years after he died. The only hope the Jujutsu Sorceror’s had of finally being rid of him was by gathering all his cursed energy into his host, Yuji Itadori, and then finally killing him. As of now, that still has yet to work out.
So, does everyone agree with my picks. I am well aware that there are plenty of monsters in anime that are just as terrifying as the examples I came up with. However, if I tried to mention them all, we’d be here all night. Feel free to let us know any other scary monsters in anime that you think should be on this list.
