The Xenomorph. The Thing. Donald Trump in Home Alone 2. What do all these movie monsters have in common? None of them are as scary as creepy critters on this list (well, maybe that last one). Anime has come up with some seriously terrifying beasts over the years, containing as many horrific multitudes as an evil twin of Walt Whitman. When it comes to the freakiest of the freaks, this crop of monsters rises to the top. Here are the 10 scariest monsters in all of anime – the sensitive reader may want to avert their innocent eyes.
Pride – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
A secret antagonist from Fullmetal Alchemist, Pride is the true form of spoiler alert – Selim Bradley, son of King Bradley: the Führer of Amestris himself. A synthetic shapeshifter made of shadows, Pride was the first homunculus created by overarching antagonist Father. Named after the deadliest sin in Christian theology, Pride lives up to its reputation by being the single most dangerous creature in the series. It’s a being that exists in total darkness, an obscure mass of eyes and limbs and teeth that can tear anything to shreds when the lights go out. Stealthier than the Xenomorph and twice as tough, Pride haunts the tunnels beneath Amestris, killing anything that gets too close to the lair of its creator. Thankfully, the beast has one weakness: light. A flickering match will stave off Pride’s advance – but not for long.
The Angels – Neon Genesis Evangelion
The eldritch horror alien invaders of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Angels possess the exact opposite temperaments of their benevolent namesake. Unknowable extraterrestrial terrors, these beings assault planet Earth for purpose that scientists don’t fully comprehend. Their bodily forms are as inscrutable as their motives – no two angels are exactly alike. Some are walking Godzilla beasts blasting cityscapes with biological lasers, others are higher dimensional horrors that break the laws of physics. Worst of all, each Angel generates a psychic barrier appropriately called an “Absolute Terror Field” that’s capable of deflecting all forms of conventional ballistic weaponry. The only way to stop an Angel is by beating it at its own game – meaning you have to stick a middle schooler in a giant biomechanical suit made of repurposed Angel flesh and sic them on the alien enemy. The tactic works, but is it worth the cost? Shinji Ikari’s mental breakdown doesn’t exactly make a compelling case.
Titans – Attack On Titan
Attack On Titan engineered pure nightmare fuel by wandering through tried and true horror territory: the uncanny valley. Naked flesh-eating giants with sporting a parodies of human faces, Titans are lumbering horrors that belong on the other side of a big old wall. Thankfully, that’s the tactic humanity uses to contain them, but when intelligent Titans emerged and kicked that wall down, humanity was forced to change their strategy. While the idea of intelligent humans piloting Titans is terrifying enough, the WORST type of Titans are the abnormals – killers that behave with an inexplicable level of cunning. Their intelligent behavior isn’t the result of an internal human pilot – so why are they smart? They’re simply aberrants, random mutations of whatever cursed genome makes a regular Titan. Unpredictable. Unexplainable. Uncanny.
Awakened Beings – Claymore
Underrated monsters from the underrated dark fantasy series Claymore, Awakened Beings rival Berserk‘s demons in terms of pure, unnatural terror. In this dar fantasy world, humankind is plagued with the scourge of the Yoma, shapeshifting flesh eaters that gorge on human flesh. Claymores are all-female warriors made to combat Yoma, augmented with Yoma flesh by the shadowy Organization that engineers them. If a Claymore leans to much on their Yoma powers, they run the risk of become an Awakened Being – an evolved form of Yoma with near divine abilities and infernal appetites. They’re also called “Voracious Eaters,” providing a clue into how they spend 99% of their time. Intelligent, cunning, ruthless, Awakened Beings are a mix of angel, demon and animal – eerily beautiful, totally evil, always hungry.
Parasites – Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasites from Parasyte: The Maxim are just plain awful – monsters from the ninth circle of sci-fi Hell. They’re an alien species that begins its life cycle as a nasty little worms, landing en masse on a planet and burrowing into the brains of intelligent life. After they consume the host’s mind, they then devour the host’s entire head – shapeshifting to disguise themselves with their host’s face. Using this human camouflage, they cozy up to their host’s intimate partners and friends – devouring them with fleshy maws of blades and teeth once they get close enough. It’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers but so much worse. The weirdest part? Some parasites are known to develop human emotions, expressing gratitude and even affection to human beings. These are the exception to the brain-eating rule, however. Most parasites don’t feel the need to get to know their food.
Goblins – Goblin Slayer
Who would have guessed that such a traditionally “starter level” enemy would become one of the most reviled creatures in all of anime? The goblins of Goblin Slayer are a different breed, violent killers with surprising levels of cunning and strength. Capable of growing to ogre sizes and intelligent enough to command armies, goblins are so traumatizingly good at murder that the series’ protagonist engineered his whole identity around eradicating them. The worst part of goblins aren’t their homicidal tendencies, but reproductive ones. They create more of themselves by capturing women of all different species and forcing themselves on them – breeding goblin offspring. There is nothing good about goblins, they’re cruel and brutal creatures working towards the total eradication of mankind. No thanks.
The Walking Fish – Gyo
The antagonistic force of Junji Ito’s Gyo, the walking fish are a nameless assortment of sea creatures that have inexplicably grown gross robot spider legs. These critters are able to saunter out of the ocean en masse and lay waste to the human world, spreading their noxious presence far and wide. The horror of these beings is the fact that they aren’t fish at all – they’re machines piloting the corpses of Dead Sea creatures, and the use the gasses generated biological decay to power themselves. Eventually, these evil walking machines are able to attach themselves to human corpses, powering themselves through the rot of our species. What do they want? It’s never made clear – they’re like a virus, they seem to only want to make more of themselves. Considering that the lifeforms in the ocean outnumber us a bajillion to one, it’s only a matter of time before the human race is entirely overwhelmed by the sea.
The God Hand – Berserk
The crapsack world of Berserk is the definition of “godless” – plagued by wanton violence and murder as rival kingdoms attempt to assert their dominance through never-ending war. And yet, gods do exist in this bloody and bitter land – and that’s the most horrible part. The psychic manifestation of collective human suffering, The God Hand is a nigh-omnipotent group of five demon princes that orchestrate the fate of the world. Ordained by the mysterious Law of Causality, these infernal sovereigns command the forces of demonkind, and are responsible for handing out “behelits” – abyssal artifacts capable of transforming humans into demons. They’re not evil for evil’s sake, they’re simply operating according to the greater divine will of the universe – a will that leads everything to death and ruin. Not good.
Koh The Face Stealer – Avatar: The Last Airbender
Koh The Face Stealer is the most criminally underrated monster in all of anime – a primordial terror whose capacity for evil is only limited by the fact that he exists within a cartoon marketed to kids. An unfathomably ancient spirit, this centipede monster has spent eons pilfering the faces of living things – adding them to his never-ending collection. If you seek an audience with Koh, you can’t show the slightest expression – otherwise he’ll yank your mug off your dome! The most terrifying aspect of Koh is that he doesn’t seem to have a reason for face-theft, it’s simply his nature. He’s the ultimate example of Neutral Evil – he doesn’t actively seek out people to hurt, but he’ll hurt you for certain if you visit.
Johan Liebert
The titular monster of Monster, Johan Liebert doesn’t need fangs, claws, or a carnivorous appetite to earn a slot on this list – his actions guarantee it. An angel-faced agent of destruction, Liebert uses his supernatural levels of charisma and cunning to orchestrate “the perfect suicide” – killing himself after killing everyone who knows about his existence. The ultimate nihilist, Liebert views human life as an unimportant speck of consciousness floating in an uncaring cosmos. The ultimate cynic, Liebert thinks that any human being can be manipulated into performing evil acts faced with the right amount of despair. The ultimate monster, Liebert manipulates and kills simply because it is his nature to do so. He’s the pinnacle of anime evil, and the scariest thing on this list.
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