Other anime like Ghost Hunt

[DazzleKitty]

I started to watch Ghost Hunt today and I must say I'm really impressed. After I finish it, I think I'll be wanting to check out more horror/paranormal anime. Does anyone have any recommendations of good series along the same lines?

Thanks in advance!

[dragonrider_cody]

There are actually quite a few you can try. Unfortunately, very few of them truly compare to Ghost Hunt. I don't think I've seen a series yet that is as creepy, or even scary, at times like Ghost Hunt is. But you can try:

Higurashi: When They Cry
Descendants of Darkness
Requiem from the Darkness
Ghost Slayers Ayashi (Probably the weakest in this group)
Devil Hunter Yohko


I would probably say that Higurashi is the best of the group, so I would try it first. Unfortunately, it does tend to be "love it" or "hate it". It is at times quite creepy at times, but not in the same way GH is. It is also much more violent.

[DazzleKitty]

Thanks for the recs, cody!
I actually have seen Descendants of Darkness and it's one of my all-time favorites. I've heard lots of good stuff about Higurashi so I may try that one next.
Isn't Red Garden a horror series too? Anyone know any info on that one?

[Kellory]

As said, Higurashi is probably the closest in terms of paranormal and horror. Dont let the cute covers fool you, it's got as much shock value as any mainstream horror film. It uses cute and horror to very good effect. I especially liked the duality of the reversible covers. Which really does represent the show quite well.

Past that though, not much comes to my mind. Not anywhere near as good as Ghost Hunt. I dont know how well it did in Japan, but that's one series I would wish more of. It was less a Japanese horror show, and much more like a US horror/paranormal show. It felt to me very much like some of the early non-sucky X-File episodes.

Not mentioned is also Tokyo Maijin. I did think it was somewhat in the same vein in the paranormal sense. Although I did not like the characters as much as I liked the ones in Ghost Hunt. But there is a fair bit of action and the characters do have some rather strange powers and events revolve around a couple of different arcs.

For all that there is a lot of Live Action Japanese horror out there, there does not seem to be a lot of Anime devoted to that. Mushishi is a nice standby but that's more paranormal than horror. I can also think of Hell Girl which is sort of horror/paranormal. Unlike Ghost Hunt though, there is pretty much a singular plot in Hell Girl and the episodes pretty much revolve around that.

Older stuff if you can find it may include Vampire Princess Miyu as well. This is one of my more favored older series in terms of the genre. It's hard to find though, especially the TV series. I suppose the Animegio OVA's are not that hard to find though. And the OVA's are self contained although they lack a lot of character introduction and background. The TV series is more of an alternate timeline if I recall right.

Shamanic Princess might fit the bill too. It's been ages since I last rewatched it though, so my recollections are rather vague on that show.

Other possibilities may include Tsukihime, possibly Full Metal Alchemist, and Blood+. Speaking of Blood+ where the hell is my season 2 of that?

And, just cause, I think I'll toss out Shana and Shingu as well. Shana is probably closer to Ghost Hunt than Shingu. But I think Shingu has enough of the paranormal in it and the character interactions reminded me a lot of those from Ghost Hunt. Although there really is no horror in Shingu. Well, unless you count really bad Aloha Shirts as being fashionably horrible.

[pathos]

Unreleased in region 1, nor have I noticed any mention of a license, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

Ghost Hound. It was not as good as Ghost Hunt, but it is vaguely the same type of show. And it was decent/watchable. Instead of short 2-3 episode case files, it was 1 long story.

[DJ_72]

Tactics is very similar to Ghost Hunt. In fact, the "nine cuts" that Ayako and Monk used is one of the main character's attacks. It's also a very good dub with Chris Patton, Luci Christian and Vic Mignonia.

Boogiepop Phantom: This one will make more sense if you read a couple of the light novels ("Boogiepop at Dawn" and "Boogiepop and Others"), but it's even scarier if you don't know exactly what's happening

[ColoradoJim]

Two older paranormal shows but they focus more on the comedy bit would be Phantom Quest Corp and Haunted Junction. I think both are worthwhile watches as I have rewatched both several times. Interestingly Phantom Quest Corp has an omake episode hidden as an easter egg on the DVD.

[2old2care]

Another lost horror gem (imo) is Demon Prince Enma, which was one of Bandai Visual's earliest releases at $200/episode, or somewhere in that vicinity, if I recall. For that reason, it was ignored by just about every sane fan - except it was really good show about a demon prince (Enma) hunting escaped demonic beings, with assistance from a talking hat, among others. Only from the mind of Go Nagai.

[djanss]

Originally Posted by Kellory

Past that though, not much comes to my mind. Not anywhere near as good as Ghost Hunt. I dont know how well it did in Japan, but that's one series I would wish more of. It was less a Japanese horror show, and much more like a US horror/paranormal show. It felt to me very much like some of the early non-sucky X-File episodes.

Ayakashi Samurai Tales, although a short summer replacement, does have the right 'Japanese" feel for serialized creepiness, though not as good as Hunt's--
It's an eclectic mix of styles, though, but worth renting for Vol. 3, which spun off the Mononoke series.

[JackProton]

How about XXXHolic?