10 Best Lovecraftian Anime With Horrors Beyond Comprehension

Horrors beyond comprehension await viewers in the best Lovecraftian anime. H.P. Lovecraft poured all of his real-life fears and prejudices into his writing, which has become famous for its depictions of unknowable, indescribable terrors. The mythos he created around ancient beings and the protagonists they drive to madness just by being discovered have influenced decades of horror media.

Anime is no exception: it may even be one of the best media for depicting out-of-this-world creatures and experiences. Many creators adopt the same themes of humanity’s relationship to the supernatural and the cosmos itself, as well as the complete breakdowns of the individual mind and society overall. Not all are strictly horror anime: like Lovecraft and his love of weird science, there is plenty of opportunity to meld genres together.

10

Neon Genesis Evangelion Turns Humans’ Minds Inside Out

Original series written by Hideaki Anno

From its very first episode, “Angel Attack,” it’s clear that Evangelion is not your average mecha anime. The Angels are otherworldly beings that come in many forms and horrific powersets, and in fighting them, the young EVA pilots not only risk life and limb, but their very minds. As far as one-on-one battles go, Asuka gets the worst of it fighting Arael, with its agonizing psychic effect on her incapacitating her for the rest of the show.

Both the original final episodes of the show and the “true” finale, the movie The End of Evangelion, crank the Lovecraftian tones up to eleven. Lilith’s awakening triggers Instrumentality, forcibly removing all individuality from every human on Earth and reducing the population to a state beyond comprehension. Shinji is forced to confront his own mental and emotional issues and choose between humanity and oblivion.

Watch On Netflix

9

Berserk Pits Humans Against Cosmic Horrors Of All Kinds

Based on the manga by Kentaro Miura

Guts has it rough, as one of the rare and unfortunate anime heroes with a terrible reputation in his own universe. To most of the people who see him, he’s a roaming monster that cuts down innocent people with no remorse. But like the apparent madman in a Lovecraftian asylum, he’s one of the only people who knows what’s really going on with the world.

Guts (mostly) kills Apostles, humans transformed into bloodthirsty monsters by a potent combination of despair and the demonic power of the God Hand. Both creatures are infinitely more nightmarish in the manga, with the help of Kentaro Miura’s stunningly detailed and visceral art. It’s questioned from the very beginning of the series whether humanity has any control over what happens to them at all, or if their tragic fates have been decided for them already by a careless higher power.

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8

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Pits Magical Girls Against Entropy Itself

Original series written by Gen Urobuchi

While other magical girls can and often do fight against abstract and terrible forces (case in point: the Sailor Senshi taking on the concept of Chaos itself in Sailor Moon), Madoka is a veritable grab bag of Lovecraftian horrors. Venturing into a witch’s lair, a twisted mess of the worst memories and emotions of the former magical girl’s life, is risking a grisly death every time.

However, even worse is the reveal of why Kyubey’s species have set up the whole system of magical girls killing and then becoming witches. They’re fighting an even more unperceivable enemy: the inevitable heat death of the universe, which for some reason can be staved off by sacrificing the highest emotions of children. The show turns a natural process into a thing of cosmic horror that can’t be seen, can barely be understood, and because of the Incubators’ machinations, is already claiming lives.

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7

Paprika’s Heroes And Villains Are Overtaken By Dreams

Based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui

One of famed director and writer Satoshi Kon’s best films is this surreal trip through the world of dreams. Lovecraft claimed that several of his stories were inspired by or direct transcriptions of his own dreams, and several more star protagonists tortured by horrific nightmares and a devastating fear of sleep. Witnessing the effects of the DC Mini in this film would give that man incurable insomnia.

As Dr. Atsuko Chiba, her alter ego Paprika, and their friends hunt down the terrorist who stole the device that breaks into others’ dreams, they’re confronted by the deepest recesses of their psyches coming to life. If a victim isn’t freed from the dream in time, they will either be mentally and physically shattered forever, attempt to take their own life, or if they’re really unlucky, both. An encounter with one’s own subconscious turns out to be just as damaging as one with an eldritch abomination.

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6

Otherside Picnic Is A Journey Into The Cosmic And Surreal

Based on the light novels by Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba

Sorawo Kamikoshi and Toriko Nishina risk their lives to explore what they call the “Otherside,” a mysterious extradimensional plane containing portals to many other worlds. In searching for what’s been lost to the Otherside and the purpose of the realm itself, Sorawo and Toriko must brave this place and all the wonders and terrors it contains. They discover a lot more than they bargained for along the way.

The possibilities of the Otherside portals are infinite, and naturally, not all of them are good. In their quests, the girls are forced to escape all manner of creatures, from giant insectoids to monsters that can drive humans insane just from one look. Nothing in the Otherside is necessarily what it seems, with environments that can fatally glitch out and beings whose true forms aren’t perceptible to humans at first.

Watch On Crunchyroll

5

Devilman Crybaby Crushes Humanity Under Demonkind

Based on the manga by Go Nagai

In many interpretations, the forces of Hell are not all that different from the monsters of Lovecraftian mythos. Akira Fudo finds this out in probably the hardest way possible when he is attacked by demons and painfully fused with one. Wielding Amon’s power, Akira attempts to save humanity from demonkind, but quickly finds that that’s not as easy or as straightforward as he thought.

Akira champions humanity, a major undertaking in a world where, as Lovecraft believed, humans are to the supernatural beings as ants are to humans now. Hard as he may fight, he finds himself and the Earth overwhelmed by forces greater than himself. Worse, even the people he thought were his best friends prove to have devastating secrets and hidden motives of their own.

Watch On Netflix

4

Serial Experiments Lain Makes Monsters Of Technology

Original series written by Chiaki Kosaka

Getting a message from a classmate usually wouldn’t be such a shocking experience, except that Lain Iwakura is very, very sure her classmate just died. But according to Chisa Yomoda, she isn’t dead, only moved to the higher state of being known as the Wired. The youth of Lain’s town connect with the Wired via the Internet, experiencing incomprehensible things and coming to consider the space divine.

The moving of consciousness from body to body and throughout space and time is a subject Lovecraft notably touched on in his work, for example in “The Shadow Out of Time.” Serial Experiments Lain tackles similar concepts, with frightening new technology taking the place of the monsters of Lovecraft’s imagination. After innocently connecting, Lain quickly finds herself in the middle of a widespread conspiracy and on the verge of losing herself.

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3

Housing Complex C Is A Love Letter To Lovecraft

Original miniseries written by amphibian

Housing Complex C’s first episode plunges viewers directly into the world of monsters and madness with flashbacks to brutal sacrifice, a hikikomori obsessively researching the Cthulhu Mythos, and the chanting of a call to the Elder Gods. Though the tiny town of Kurosaki seems calm and peaceful, it becomes clear that something is deeply wrong. When horror shows itself, it’s up to the only children in Housing Complex C to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, Lovecraft’s intense paranoia and ethnic prejudices were what fueled much of his work. When a team of foreign interns are invited to Kurosaki for training, the insular community of Housing Complex C is quick to distrust and believe the worst of them. It’s very easy for the dark forces at work to take advantage of everyone’s suspicions to create a perfect storm of anger, violence, and finally murder.

Watch On Sling TV

2

Junji Ito Makes Everything Some Flavor Of Lovecraftian

The Undiscussed Master of Horror Manga

Junji Ito is the most famous horror mangaka out there for good reason. The depth and detail of his most disturbing drawings and the out-there premises of his stories set his work apart in a way that many animated adaptations tend to fail to capture. In addition, the unbalanced atmosphere and themes of absurdity and inability to grasp knowledge too great for humanity in his work are very evocative of Lovecraft.

His heroes are all everymen (and women) who have no way of predicting what is about to befall them or understanding of why they’re being set upon by these horrors. Even if they do get a name or a hint of background, that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to use it in time to escape with their lives, bodies, or sanity intact: it’s incredibly rare that a Junji Ito protagonist finishes with all three. Most often, the audience is never left with an explanation either, which makes for an unsettling experience.

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1

AKIRA Shows A Tokyo On The Brink Of Collapse

Based on the manga by Katsuhiro Otomo

Lovecraft feared the crumbling of society just as much as he did the destruction of the mind and body. The near future of AKIRA shows a Tokyo devastated by war and struggling to get back on its feet. Its advanced technology, armed-to-the-teeth military and police, and even its Olympic stadium do a poor job of hiding the truth: it is an intensely corrupt place whose inhabitants are unsatisfied, mistrustful, and quick to violence and anger.

Growing up in Neo-Tokyo was bad enough for Tetsuo Shima, but when he’s accidentally cursed with psychic powers, all his buried resentment, rage, and desire to be strong surge to the surface. Unfortunately for Tetsuo, he doesn’t understand the powers he’s messing with at all, and it costs him dearly. When he loses control, he not only loses his mind but his very humanity in one of the scariest body horror anime.

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