Body Horror Anime
Feast your eyes as this week's spotlight brings together the human and the grotesque through the boundless medium of animation. These anime films and series nauseate and fascinate while exploring themes of corruption, agency, and power through body horror.
Seoul Station
(서울역)
Are the walking dead the only monsters?
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2016
- Director Yeon Sang-ho
- Cast Ryu Seung-ryong, Shim Eun-kyung, Lee Joon, Kim Jae-rok, Jang Hyuk-jin, Yeon Sang-ho
- Genre Animation, Drama, Horror
- Available on Freevee, Redbox, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Vudu, Night Flight Plus, FILMRISE, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Tubi TV, YouTube, AMC+, Apple TV
Parasyte: The Maxim
(寄生獣 セイの格率)
A normal high schooler finds himself caught between two sides of a struggle over planet Earth.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2014
- Creator Ken'ichi Shimizu, Yuki Inaba, Kenichi Kawamura
- Cast Nobunaga Shimazaki, Aya Hirano, Kana Hanazawa, Miyuki Sawashiro, Atsuko Tanaka
- Genre Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video, Hulu, Crunchyroll, HiDive, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel
Tokyo Ghoul
(東京喰種トーキョーグール)
A young man is turned into a half-monster and must figure out how to navigate his new life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2014
- Creator Shuhei Morita, Chuuji Mikasano
- Cast Natsuki Hanae, Sora Amamiya, Shintaro Asanuma, Takahiro Sakurai, Sumire Morohoshi, Yuuya Uchida
- Genre Action & Adventure, Animation, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Hulu, Funimation Now
Attack on Titan
(進撃の巨人)
When the human race is hunted nearly to extinction by giant monsters, a small group of humans fight back.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2013
- Creator
- Cast Yūki Kaji, Marina Inoue, Yui Ishikawa, Hiroshi Kamiya, Saki Fujita, Yoshimasa Hosoya
- Genre Action & Adventure, Animation, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, War & Politics
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Hulu, Microsoft Store, Funimation Now, Crunchyroll, Adult Swim, Spectrum On Demand, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel
King of Thorn
(いばらの王 -King of Thorn-)
What would happen if you could turn imagination into reality?
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2009
- Director Kazuyoshi Katayama
- Cast Kana Hanazawa, Kohsei Hirota, Misaki Kuno, Tsutomu Isobe, Sayaka Ohara, Ayako Kawasumi
- Genre Animation, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Funimation Now, Crunchyroll
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
(吸血鬼ハンターD ブラッドラスト)
A half-human, half-vampire bounty hunter must battle malicious forces to rescue a young woman.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United States • 2000
- Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- Cast Hideyuki Tanaka, Ichirō Nagai, Kouichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Yūsaku Yara, Megumi Hayashibara
- Genre Action, Animation, Fantasy, Horror
- Available on Amazon Video
Perfect Blue
(パーフェクトブルー)
A retired pop singer starts to lose her hold on reality when she is stalked by an obsessive fan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ōkura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya
- Genre Animation, Thriller
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, DIRECTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Princess Mononoke
(もののけ姫)
The fate of the world rests on the courage of one warrior.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1997
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijô
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Redbox
Ghost in the Shell
(GHOST IN THE SHELL/攻殻機動隊
)
A group of cybernetically enhanced cops are called into a stop a biohacking threat.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United Kingdom • 1995
- Director Mamoru Oshii
- Cast Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, Iemasa Kayumi, Kouichi Yamadera, Yutaka Nakano, Tesshou Genda
- Genre Action, Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, DIRECTV, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV, Freevee
Akira
(AKIRA
)
Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Takashi Nakamura
- Cast Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshou Genda, Hiroshi Ohtake, Kōichi Kitamura
- Genre Science Fiction, Animation
- Available on Hulu, Funimation Now, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Vudu
Lily C.A.T.
(LILY-C.A.T.)
The expendable crew of a space vessel must stop a murderous organism that somehow got on board.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1987
- Director Hisayuki Toriumi
- Cast Chikao Ohtsuka, Eiko Yamada, Osamu Saka
- Genre Animation, Horror, Science Fiction
- Available on The Roku Channel
Wicked City
(幼獣都市)
For centuries a treaty has existed between the human world and the realm of the demons.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1987
- Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- Cast Yusaku Yara, Toshiko Fujita, Ichirō Nagai, Takeshi Aono, Koji Totani, Tamio Ohki
- Genre Action, Animation, Fantasy, Horror
- Available on Screambox Amazon Channel, Viewster Amazon Channel, HiDive, Retrocrush, Midnight Pulp, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Plex, Plex Player