According to THE MOST RELIABLE SOURCE EVER, wikipedia:
“Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its
readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror.”
So it should go without saying that if an anime wants to be horror, it has to have the
capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle.
Despite having a closer resemblance to Mickey Mouse horror
then anything you’d find in the section on Netflix.
Anime has an uphill battle that it needs to face in order to be considered for the horror genre.
It has to unnerve you while being a medium that’s clearly not real.
Live Action films have the benefit of realistic visuals, anime has to make you frightened
of a cartoon.
So the silly Canadian man want to sit here and talk about Horror?
wait what?
Maybe horror anime wouldn't be so hard to come by if you weren't so squeamish.
After all, you can’t even sit through something like parasite.
Well yeah, because it’s Body Horror, which is a specific type of horror that I'm uncomfortable with.
But that’s kinda the point isn’t it?
Similar to how dramas are usually ranked on their ability to make audiences cry, horror
is revered for it’s ability to make the viewer be offput by what’s being displayed
in a way that stays with them.
Body horror is just one of many ways that we can become unsettled and after looking
at the success of mainstream horror over here in the west with shows like the Walking Dead,
it’s not that surprising as to why.
Through the power of good live action acting and impressive
practical effects, we get drawn into this sort of uncanny valley.
It’s this dread of being confronted with something that looks so close to being human
yet clearly isn’t that’s enough to make the images stay with you, cause deep down,
no one one really wants what was done to these characters to be done to us.
Like you said, animation has to work a lot harder in order to accomplish the same effect
because it’s easier to be afraid of something that’s emulating real life as suppose to
2d cells of animation.
Even manga has the advantage over it because you can craft so much more detail and realism
into static panels compared to more smooth and basic character models that don’t always
look like real people.
The more detail you’re allowed to experiment with, the more you can unsettle your audience
and animation usually needs to compromise that detail for the sake of movement.
But what anime lacks in displayed realism, they make for that with
FANSERVICE?
[Because we had too...]
No with creativity.
Parasyte capitalizes on gore and body horror but it kept one upping itself with how creative
and brutal the characters can maim each other.
I think that's why shows like Attack on Titan are often seen as creative updates to the
mainstream zombie formula, particularly at the beginning.
Because they take those familiar formulas and give them an impression that they’re
not holding back with regards to what CAN be shown to the viewer.
And sometimes, just the thought of that can be scary on its own.
We obviously know what’s on screen isn’t real in the practical sense, but because animation
is capable of displaying things in such a fast and visceral way, it’s easier for us
to be surprised.
Don’t believe me? Just compare these animes to their live action counterparts.
Some things you can just get away with in one medium compared to the other and that
goes both ways.
So why are none of these examples remembered as Horror anime?
I think it’s because the shows themselves don’t want to be.
Part of the reason why so many people in the community still crave a good horror anime
is because we know it CAN generate the same appeal we’ve come to expect from a lot of
mainstream horror shows.
The problem is that they rarely ever maintain that appeal from beginning to end.
Titan has horror as part of its appeal certainly, but on the whole it’s an action show first.
While Parasyte becomes bogged down by its environmental messages and
weird lackluster presentation to the point where it became less about the gore factors.
Even if it makes more sense narratively for them to forgo that initial direction, these are
examples of shows that COULD have been remembered as good horror anime but are instead remembered
for other reasons.
It’s hard to come across something with enough confidence to take that direction all
the way to the end.
But can the same thing be said about psychological horror?
like Higurashi?
What do you mean?
[Still a freaking amazing opening]
Higurashi is a series that hits all the right notes of a horror while not worrying too much
about it’s visual appearance.
Heck a good third of the series watched on its own would look like a Moe blob slice of
life show, but that’s only if you cut out said Moe blobs
going around and murdering one another.
Higurashi also tries to do more in the way of unsettling the audience.
Only instead of using jump scares, dismembered bodies or copious amounts of blood, it psychologically
messes with your head.
Not only by showing you this constant contrast with its characters and setting, but also
because for a large amount of the series it leaves you in the dark as to what exactly
is going on.
But wait, doesn’t Akeme ga Kill also hit the same check marks as Higurahi?
You’re not suggesting that it’s a psychological horror are you?
Firstly...
How dare you.
Similar to what you said before, just because something possesses elements that are specific
of a certain genre does not mean that they have the same intent that’s expected of
that genre.
AGK is more of a battle-action narrative.
Higurashi on the other hand makes it clear who is going to survive at the end of each
arc by starting with a preview of the arc’s climax.
But even if you know how each arc is going to end, it still crafts those uneasy environments
by making it a story of “HOW” we get to that point.
Ok so it plays with your expectations and let’s your imagination run wild.
But isn’t that more akin to a standard mystery then a psychological horror?
Yes but mysteries are about showing that line between reality and imagination; debunking
what’s impossible and highlighting the possibilities of what can or did happen.
Horror on the other hand blurs that line.
"Terror has its degrees of freshness...
The more intense the fear, the more emotions die.
Terror, in it's truest sense, is not a static state but rather a dynamic one.
It is the sublime moment when shining hope turns to utter despair.
Horror is similar to mystery because the author needs to be conscious about how much the audience
is trying to fill in the blanks.
The difference though is that the appeal of a mystery stems from the mystery being solved.
It’s about being presented with a question and looking forward to having that question answered.
That's why bad mysteries are criticized because how we get to that answer or the answer itself
can leave a lot to be desired.
Sometimes the author will feel tempted to take advantage of the fact that they can seemingly
come up with anything for the sake of moving us to the next plot point.
But if we get from point A to point B in such a hackneyed way, our immersion begins to break
because a good mystery still needs to have some kind of logic in its events.
Arguably a good horror does too, but the difference is in where the focus lies and what the author
takes advantage of.
While a mystery gets us into a mindset where we want to appreciate the little details,
a good psychological horror will be more selective on what details it’ll allow us to see.
For example, what is considered one of the most iconic shots from the first season of
Higurashi?
Oh you mean when Rena is walking back to the junkyard with the machete?
Exactly!
Aside from the way that it’s shot, can you think of any other reasons why this scene
felt so unsettling to you in the moment?
What happened immediately before it?
The main character was told about where a string of murders took place in town.
That the bodies were discovered chopped up in various pieces.
Up until this point, we’d have no reason to expect anything of Rena when she says
she’s going to get some kind of sharp tool so they can get the Kernel Sanders statue.
But now that we know these murders took place in such a specific way, we’re given just
enough information to think “Oh Shit!
Did she have something to do with it?”
It’s that perfect moment where you and the main character are on the exact same wavelength,
feeling the exact same feeling of dread and uneasiness at the exact same time that really
does embody a good psychological horror.
The best part is that, even though we later know that Rena wasn’t responsible for that
murder, it still serves at the catalysis for us being locked into this suspicious mindset
moving forward.
It’s a feeling of uneasiness that sticks with you well after the show is finished which
is much more potent and impressive than modern standards of horror that rely on jump scares.
But each arc of the series starts with a preview of the arcs climax.
And by the second arc we know that everything is just going to reset.
So how can you feel uneasy about something that you already know is going to happen?
But do you know exactly what’s going to happen?
You might think to yourself “What could possibly lead us to that scene?
I'd like to argue that sometimes knowing exactly what’s coming is more frightening than being surprised.
The suspense is in the feeling of powerlessness that comes with questioning the when and how.
This is what made FNAF and other first person horror games so popular.
It creates an uneasy atmosphere that makes you feel powerless and by cutting you off
from the rest of the world.
We’re limited in our ability to take action but we’re also limited in how much we actually
know is going to happen.
Granted keeping an audience in suspense should be the goal of any writer, but I see what
you’re saying.
There’s a difference between wanting to know what’s going to happen in the story
out of curiosity and being cautious of what get revealed to you next.
Plus that’s assuming that everything we’re seeing is even real.
It isn’t until we get to season 2 that the answers become clear.
But before that?
You don’t know what to believe.
Everything is happening but there are still things missing and the show strikes deep
into the paranoid part of your brain to the point where you can’t even remove it.
You look around, question the motives of others when you’re in an environment that was previously
unknown to you and start skirting that line between what may or may not be real.
After all, horror doesn’t always need to have a point, sometimes all it needs is to
make you wonder what’s the point of everything else around you and whether or not you should
be scared of them.
That’s true.
Speaking of... what the hell are you?
Thank you very much for taking the time to watch this video, we hope you enjoyed it!
I’d like to give a shoutout and thanks to my good friend Mr.AJCosplay for helping me
write as well as participating in this video.
You can check out him out on his Youtube channel Cartoon Cypher as well as various social media,
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Specifically though I’d like to thank Yunru Dovaqueen, Robert Chumsae, Calhounboy, Siri Yamiko,
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And until next time, ladies gentlemen and others stay frosty!