Watching a great anime will normally illicit laughter, smiles, or otherwise be deeply interesting and engaging. Though, there are those times when an anime will take off the gloves, and really hit us with some nightmare fuel. Plus, you better believe that when an anime wants to be disturbing, it really is disturbing in a way that isn’t seen in other shows.
We’re comfortable in saying that these are the moments that had us lying awake in bed, afraid to close our eyes, just in case the nightmares were waiting around the corner.
Attack On Titan
What an excellent show Attack on Titan is. It has everything you could possibly want; interesting characters, giant monsters, and extremely cool fantasy technology. Oh, and don’t forget the dark backstories that are enough to keep you up at night.
- Eren’s Mother Is Eaten
There are two moments in Attack on Titan that really took audiences off guard. The first is the moment that gives central character Eren his motivation. Yes, we’re talking about the moment that his mother gets eaten.
There are the tearful goodbyes, the constant horrified shrieks of Eren, and the slow, drawn out way in which the grinning creature picks her up, and casually munches on her like she was a snack. If nightmares had a face, it would be the grinning face of that mother eating horror show. Maybe play a little phone bingo in New Zealand before you sleep, just to chase away the nightmare fuel.
- Young Misaka Gets Revenge
The second moment is, of course, the backstory of Mikasa. You probably know this one, so we won’t go into too much detail. But in short; her parents are murdered before her child eyes, and her and your hero Eren take revenge in the most brutal, bloody way possible. Yikes, is all we can say.
Death Note
While Attack on Titan loves bloody climaxes for its most disturbing scenes, Death Note takes a different approach. One of the most well-known, horrible moments involves lead character Light realising that Naomi Misora is on to him, and sending her off to commit suicide. We don’t know how she did it, but we do know that she did it, and perhaps that is the worst part of all. The cruel, calculated Light didn’t care how she did it either, only that she was no longer a threat.
The No Face
Spirited Away is known for being charming, extremely well animated, and telling a delightful tale of a little girl in a strange, unknown fantasy land. Oh, and there’s also that black blob monster with a masked face that, suddenly and unexpectedly, just starts eating everyone.
It is so unexpected, and such a drastic turn for the otherwise completely charming film, that many almost jumped out of their seats. It is, of course, anime tradition to hit audiences with the unexpected, but in this case the tonal shift was so extreme that it could have broken the sound barrier.
Even still, Spirited Away is a well-loved classic, and for very good reason; it’s brilliant.