After taking a long writing hiatus from G33kpron, I decided to come back at full force to review and recommend two horror series that I’ve recently watched, “Another” and “Deadman Wonderland”. “Another” is about a year old and “Deadman Wonderland” came out in 2011, but if you’re anything like me, you don’t never hear about anime series until it has been over for at least a year (unless it’s the new Sailor Moon anime coming out, then you watch Anime News Network like a hawk).

ANOTHER

Another starts off in a small city in rural Japan known as Yomiyama. Koichi Sakakibara, whose father is traveling for work in India, moves to live temporarily with his grandparents, his aunt Reiko and their black and yellow pet bird, “Rei-chan”. Koichi is your run-of-the-mill standard fifteen-year-old male anime protagonist, kind and adventurous, and adapts to his new surroundings easily. Periodically, he’ll have trouble with his lungs, as the first episode starts off with him hospitalized, unable to attend his first four weeks of school. He has had a pneumothorax since birth, which causes him to need medical attention as soon as possible or else… you know… he’ll probably die. Which would make for a very short series.

During the first episode, three of his classmates appear in his hospital room to welcome him to town: Izumi Akazawa, a spunky and independent teenage girl; Tomohiko Kazami, a quiet but sly boy with a boding presence; Yukari Sakuragi, a shy but friendly girl with large round glasses. They probe him with all sorts of puzzling questions, but ultimately leave peacefully and welcome him to town.

Later on at night, Koichi, while wandering around a darkened hospital like an idiot, bumps into a pale, small girl in a school uniform while in the elevator. Her name is Mei Misaki, and her left eye is covered with an eyepatch. Misaki is holding a small, winged doll and upon reaching the floor hosting the hospital’s morgue, Mei disappears into the darkened hallway.

The series starts off a little slow, but over the course of the first season, seemingly pointless oddities pile up on each other until the first death comes spiraling out of nowhere. Koichi is perpetually confused, because nobody seems to notice Mei, almost as if she were a ghost. Over time, Koichi and Mei become friends, and team up to solve the mystery of the “Curse of Class 3-3”, in which every year, one Class 3-3 student per month dies or is murdered, like clockwork.

I really loved this anime. I may be a bit biased, because I’ve been obsessed with ghost stories since I was a child and I have a weird Battle Royale-esque fascination with Japanese horror, but I really loved this episode. Not so much for some of the slower parts, but the last two episodes are really killer. The episodes are absolutely nuts and they tie the loose ends up in a way which I never expected. This anime is creepy, and gory, and you see a lot of interesting characters spiraling out of control. On top of that, I found myself easily getting sucked into the mystery, trying to deduce what was going on with the “curse” and who was responsible for all of the deaths. I have a background in script supervision, so I find it easy to pick up on subtle story cues, but even I can say I didn’t see the ending coming.

If you love horror anime, check it out. Unlike “When They Cry”, which I find really kitschy and way too goofy for a solid horror series, “Another” really chills your blood with a sense of the unknown. It’s a definite “must watch”.

DEADMAN WONDERLAND

I was torn between whether or not “Deadman Wonderland” could be classified as a horror anime, because it’s a little more sci-fi than most other horror animes, but due to the premise I would place it pretty far into the “horror” category. Deadman Wonderland centers around Ganta Igarashi, a wrongly convicted child-murderer who was sentenced to death in the post-apocalyptic Japanese prison known as “Deadman Wonderland”.

We’re thrust pretty quickly into Ganta’s life, as his origin story is a part of the mystery later on. Ganta, sitting in class, turns toward a window to see an imposing, occult-like figure floating in the window. The figure blasts him with a bright red attack and Ganta blacks out. Upon waking, find his entire class and all of his friends completely massacred. From there, Ganta’s life spirals downward into a chaotic montage of court dates, falsified evidence and, ultimately, sentenced to life in the post-apocalyptic prison known as “Deadman Wonderland”.

Let’s get this straight: Ganta was wrongly convicted. It’s not even a spoiler, it’s a fact you learn in the very first episode within moments. Why he’s wrongly convicted, though, is something you’ll learn later. Deadman Wonderland is a twisted private penitentiary where convicts are forced to compete in public competitions for “cast points”, which are the only method of purchasing food and other necessities, such as “candy”. The convicts on death row have collars around their neck that consistently pump a small amount of poison into their bloodstream and that poison can be only neutralized with one thing: the “candy”.

From early on in his imprisonment, Ganta is aided by a strange, pale girl in a confusing bodysuit and long white hair. She is known to everyone else in the prison and over time develops a strange relationship with Ganta, often protecting him and assisting him in competitive events for “cast points”, despite never participating before. She’s extremely strong, and extremely talented. Unbeatable, really.

Ganta discovers early on that he has an extremely unusual talent: he can manipulate his blood into bullets that he can use as a weapon, or for self defense. Within Deadman Wonderland, there are others who can do this to. They have what is called the “Branch of Sin” and all of their abilities are drastically different. Ganta recruits a few of them down the line to help him find “Red Man”, the mysterious figure who slaughtered all of his friends and framed him for their deaths.

“Deadman Wonderland” is a short anime, as it was canceled after its first season. The story in the anime never really resolves, but the rest of the story plays out in the Manga, which you should totally pick up!

If you’re a fan of horror anime, psychological thrillers and teenagers killing each other, check out both “Another” and “Deadman Wonderland”. You’ll probably love them as much as I do.