-Anime/manga I've watched/read myself
-Includes brief synopsis as well as a personal review and rating
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doubt (manga)
In a premise similar to the mafia game, the series focuses on the "Rabbit Doubt" cell phone game, in which the players must find the wolf, or killer, amongst their group of rabbits as they are picked off one-by-one. Six players of this game find themselves trapped in a building with one of the group already dead; to avoid the same fate, the remaining five must play a real-life game of "Rabbit Doubt" and find the wolf hiding among them.
An amazing suspense/mystery/horror. As soon as you think you've gotten something figured out, it's thrown back in your face. The ending leaves nothing to be desired.
8/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elfen Lied (manga/anime)
Elfen Lied revolves around the interactions, views, emotions, and discrimination between humans and the Diclonius, a mutant species similar to humans in build but distinguishable by two horns on their head and "vectors", transparent telekinetically controlled arms that have the power to manipulate and cut objects within their reach. The series is centered around the teenage Diclonius girl "Lucy" who was rejected by humans and subsequently wreaks a murderous vengeance upon them.
I read the manga, tried to watch part of the anime, but I couldn't get into it. The first episode had me excited, but it only went downhill from there. A LOT of people consider this among their favorite horror series though.
As a personal opinion, I failed to see much original about it, and the characters either annoyed me, couldn't relate to them, or just seemed too unrealistic. No amount of almost-decent anime gore could make up for that.
4/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Falling (manga)
A rash of suicides has plagued a town, including an attempt by one man's wife Erika. Though he ran across her in time to save her, she awakens in the hospital recite 'something strange is going to happen in this town' - a phrase written in each suicide note left behind. Soon after, hundreds of people mysteriously vanished. What is happening to the townsfolk?
A one-shot by Junji Ito. Not quite as strong as his longer works, but it presents a strange and disturbing plot.
6/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franken Fran (manga)
Fran is a girl created by the world's top biologist. She takes care of her creator's mansion while he is away on research. Her life is pretty uneventful, until many different medical cases begin falling in her lap. This manga is very graphic and frequently features scenes of extreme gore, as Fran begins to do more and more intense surgical procedures.
Bask in the glory of its gore and dark humor. By far one of my favorite series. Fran makes for an intriguing main character, wanting to provide a grand future for humanity by making all the necessary sacrifices, usually other people's. But is it her or corrupt humanity to blame?
10/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gantz
A pair of high school students, Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, are seemingly run over by a subway train, after saving the life of a homeless drunk who had fallen onto the tracks. Following their untimely deaths, Kurono and Kato find themselves transported—alive and well—along with a number of people who have also just died, to the interior of an unfurnished Tokyo condominium from which the Tokyo Tower may be seen—and none of them are able to leave. At one end of the room is a featureless black sphere known as "Gantz". By way of green text that appears on the surface of the sphere, Gantz informs those present that their lives have ended. The following words appear on the black sphere's surface: "Your lives have ended. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. That's the theory, anyway."
I just started reading this recently and am not very far into it, but I can say this much : gore gore gore. And it's kept my attention this far with a throughly bizarre and original plot.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gyo (manga)
The plot of Gyo centers around the "death stench", a revolting smell first encountered in connection with creatures appearing to be bizarre fish with scuttling, sharp metal legs. At first they appear merely as smaller fish, but later also as larger sea creatures such as sharks and even a whale.
Entirely original and terrifying with a fair amount of gore. Ito never fails to deliver.
10/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suicide Circle (manga/movie)
A tragic and shocking incident of mass suicide, made even more shocking by the fact that one girl, Saya, survives completely unharmed. A strange girl with a long history of selling her body and self mutilation, Saya goes from being an outcast to a figure of near-worship. As she gathers more and more followers, her concerned best friend Kyoko begins to uncover the deep and disturbing secrets of this strange cult-like group. She learns, among other things, that it's not the first time something like this has taken shape around the lone survivor of a mass suicide… and that it won't be the last.
Though it shares some of the same qualities of the movie, it's an entirely different story. More forward in its plot and more supernatural influences.
8/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomie (manga/movie)
These rather disturbing tales tell the story of a high-school girl named Tomie, who can be seen as a living embodiment of lust and all the negative emotions that go along with it, such as jealousy. Tomie is the ultimate self-destructive entity, yet ironically she survives anything. She is identified by a mole under her left eye. She possesses an undisclosed power to make anyone fall in love with her. Through sleight of hand, or emotional manipulation, she drives these men into jealous rages that inevitably lead to brutal acts of violence. Men kill each other over her; and girls are sometimes driven to jealous rages as well. Tomie is inevitably killed time and again, only to regenerate. Tomie is cursed to go on forever in this way.
Far too many horrifying scenes to even begin listing. Suddenly becoming immortal loses its appeal.
10/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uzumaki (manga/movie)
The story concerns the people of a small Japanese town by the name of Kurôzu-cho, and how they become obsessed by the occurrences of natural and artificial spirals around them. The result of this obsession is a slow transformation into something other than human, leading to a gruesome, realistically-depicted death.
While the movie did a decent job of following certain points of the manga, overall it just can't compare. Many of the more gruesome and fun scenes were omitted, as well as the entire (and absolutely fantastic) ending!
10/10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wicked City (anime movie)
The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black Guard protecting the boundary.
Almost a mix of Yu Yu Hakusho, a cop show, and a porno. I didn't go into it expecting much, but as strange as it was I came out pleasantly surprised. Sometimes predictable, but overall a fairly strong movie.
6/10
