The Goriest Anime TV Shows Of All Time

If you like zombies and apocalyptic settings, you’ll love Highschool of the Dead anime, in which a bunch of high school student bands together to try and survive the zombie apocalypse prompted by a virus transmitted through bodily fluids—so what those biting zombies.

As with most zombie-centered anime series, Highschool of the Dead isn’t short on blood, guts, and zombie brains. It also isn’t short on fan service. For the uninitiated, we’re referring to skimpy outfits and camera angles to innuendos and explicit scenes.

But there’s more to Highschool of the Dead than just zombies and fan service; the narrative cleverly explores just how far humans would go to survive, as well as the predatory nature of our species even in the face of adversity, among other things.

Highschool of the Dead is truly an amazing anime for those in want of some zombie-apocalypse gore.

Attack on Titan isn’t really as gory as some other titles on this list, but there’s plenty of blood, entrails, and walking giant humanoids (some of which lack skin) with tiny humans inside their napes that are attached to the Titan’s nervous system.

What’s even more bizarre is the fact that Titans feast on humans who hide behind massive walls in an attempt to prolong their inevitable fate—to eventually be consumed.

Attack on Titan is actually a fantastic anime piece. The whole show basically deals with the history of the Titans and how they came to be, with the protagonist’s ability to become one at will (and retain his reason in the process) and the final revelation that Titans actually aren’t the enemy in the anime’s final season.

This is a must-watch for those who love end-of-the-world scenarios and human-eating giants.

Helsing Ultimate is set in the aftermath of World War II, with the anti-vampire organization known as Hellsing trying to deal with the vampire Nazis whose antagonism knows no bounds.

Not only do they bite their victims, they also resort to various execution methods that Nazis were known for. Of course, the violent response by Team Hellsing is equally as bloody as the nasty deeds committed by these vampires, with bodies dismembered, impaled, and blasted in full gory glory for fans to enjoy.

Chainsaw Man is a relatively new anime, having been released in 2022, but it’s already being praised for its sheer bloodshed and all the creative execution methods.

The audiences can expect to see rivers of blood dripping down from the lead character, who’s actually a devil-human hybrid with chainsaws attached to his extremities and his head.

Perhaps the goriest aspect of this anime is the fact that the protagonist’s metamorphosis involves chainsaws emerging from his own body.

Furthermore, even death scenes are intentionally prolonged, with the protagonist taking his sweet time to perform a kill, especially since chainsaws aren’t actually effective at removing human bits. That’s at least when compared to a table or band saw—which would be quite unwieldy for the main character of an anime TV show.

In folklore, ghouls are typically represented as intelligent and cunning creatures that often rob graves and consume the flesh of the dead and sometimes the living.

Well, in Tokyo Ghoul, the protagonist gets attacked by one such creature and becomes a superpowered ghoul-human hybrid on the run from the law—which would most likely confine him to a lab. The anime is very brutal in its depictions of torture and purposeful violence; however, it also uses visual elements to hide its true intent.

The torture scenes make Tokyo Ghoul implicitly gory, showing only bloodied tools used to perform the deeds rather than showing all the gore. Still, it’s on an anime must-watch list for the un-squeamish.

Here’s a real treat for gorefest lovers; it’s safe to say that Shigurui: Death Frenzy is among the goriest anime of all time and probably in the top five. The series is well known for its graphic depictions of violence, bodily harm, and very visceral imagery.

But the brutality isn’t only for shock value, as is the case with other gory anime. In Shigurui, the brutality is actually deeply integrated into the narrative, reflecting the dark and unforgiving world of the samurai.

While most anime on this list are recognized for their gore, Shigurui: Death Frenzy is this list’s crown jewel, as its realistic portrayal of violence contrasts the supernatural or fantasy elements of other anime. This realistic and unfiltered graphical content makes Shigurui particularly intense and unforgettable.