Fear has always been a driving factor in our evolution, and as we grow into a more intelligent civilization and understand more about our existence and cosmos, we are developing new fears that were not before possible, such as the never-ending darkness of space and the unknown entities that lurk beyond.
And in the world of entertainment, this kind of terror is known as Cosmic Horror, which was founded by H.P Lovecraft, who wrote numerous books about the fear of the unknown and the mysteries that lie behind that darkness.
We have numerous books and a few movies based on the Cosmic Horror topic, but what about animes? It’s difficult to discover an anime based on Cosmic Horror, but after some digging around, I have found 7 Cosmic Horror Anime that can satisfy your craving for Cosmic Horror.
Not all of these anime have a Cosmic Horror theme; in fact, several merely have a few elements of a Cosmic Horror topic.
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Best Cosmic Horror Anime
7. Sonny Boy
Ever had a summer vacation go totally sideways? That’s Sonny Boy for you. Normal school trip, next thing you know Nagara and his classmates are stuck in some freaky, alien dimension. No way back, creepy vibes all around – not exactly a relaxing getaway.
To top it off, everyone starts getting these bizarre powers. Like, seriously messed-up powers. Talk about a confusing time to be a teenager! With no way home and everyone freaking out, the group starts to splinter. Friendships turn sour, rivalries ignite – it’s basically high school drama on another planet.
Sonny Boy is all about the unsettling weirdness. The story throws some seriously messed-up stuff at you, leaving you on the edge of your seat. It’s like a mind trip where the characters are slowly losing it, and you can’t help but get sucked in. Think cosmic horror meets teenage angst – perfect for anyone who likes their anime with a healthy dose of “what the heck is going on?”
6. Shinreigari: Ghost Hound
Suiten? More like Spooktown. This nothing-special town gets turned upside down for three messed-up dudes: Taro, Makoto, and Masayuki. They find a hidden world called the “Unseen World” – creepy ghosts and vibes that’ll mess with you, y’know? Lately, things are even weirder. Dead folks are popping into the real world, wreaking havoc.
That’s where Ghost Hound comes in. It’s all about cosmic horror, where the scary stuff is so messed up you can’t even wrap your head around it. These boys bounce between worlds, facing encounters that’ll leave you saying “what the heck?” Every clue just leads them deeper into a mystery full of unexplained junk.
Get ready for a spooky story! The line between life and death gets blurry, and the shadows hold secrets you can’t imagine. Taro, Makoto, and Masayuki gotta face their fears, deal with the mind-blowing stuff, and crack the code of the Unseen World. It’s gonna be wild!
5. Memories
After tracing a distress signal to a massive abandoned space station, a couple of engineers, Heintz Beckner and Miguel Costrela, discover an abandoned mansion and decide to investigate on foot.
Their investigation unveils a terrible truth surrounding Eva Friedel’s fate, a famous opera singer with a tragic past. They are quickly afflicted by hallucinations, and they must battle to save their sanity in order to escape the station alive.
4. Nyaruko: Crawling With Love!
First, I have to say that this is not a horror or cosmic horror, but rather it’s a comedy and much more light-hearted than any cosmic horror.
The story of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san focuses around Nyaruko, a formless Lovecraftian chaos deity (Nyarlathotep) who may take on the shape of an apparently cute silver-haired girl.
Mahiro Yasaka is a typical high school student who is chased by a terrifying black extraterrestrial one night until Nyaruko saves him. She says that the creatures from H. P. Lovecraft’s books are actually extraterrestrial species and that she was sent to Earth by the Space Defense Agency to protect him from an alien trafficker.
3. Ayakashi
Yuu Kusaka, the guy who swore to be a hero under a shooting star as a kid? Yeah, forget that. Now he just uses his weird powers to line his pockets after a friend’s death messed him up good. Living the selfish life, you know?
That is, until another power-user student tries to dust him. Enter Eimu Yoake, a mysterious girl with her own set of strange abilities. Turns out, Yuu’s power comes from a parasite called an Ayakashi, which gives cool skills but slowly sucks the life out of you. Nice, right?
Eimu helps him awaken his full power, basically shoving him back onto the hero path he swore off. Now Yuu’s gotta fight bad guys using his freaky parasite buddy, all while solving the murder of his friend and unraveling the whole Ayakashi mess. Talk about a life change.
2. The Big O
The Big O takes place in the fictional city-state of Paradigm City. The city sits on the seashore and is surrounded by a wide desert area. The monopolistic Paradigm Corporation controls the partially domed city entirely, resulting in a corporate police state.
Because forty years prior to the story, “The Event” destroyed the world outside the city, leaving the survivors with no prior memories, Paradigm is known as “The City of Amnesia.”
The city is defined by great class imbalance; the higher-income people live within the more comfortable domes, while the rest lives in tenements outside. Residents of the city think that they are the world’s last survivors and that no other nations exist outside of the city. Androids and huge robots are known as “Megadeus” cohabit among Paradigm City residents, who do not find them weird.
1. Bokura no
15 kids, 8 boys and 7 girls, are having fun at summer camp when they come to a cave by the sea. When they enter the strange location, they discover a room full of computers and a man named Kokopelli, who introduces himself as the owner.
He claims to be working on a game about a massive robot built to protect Earth from 15 different extraterrestrial invasions. Kokopelli hasn’t had a chance to test the game yet, so he convinces all but one of the children to sign a contract for what he promises will be a delightful adventure.
However, once the contracts are signed, things take a considerably darker turn. In Bokurano, the youngsters must now control the huge robot Zearth one at a time in the hopes of defeating all of the incoming enemies. However, Kokopelli has overlooked one crucial detail: the energy source of the enormous robot Zearth.
