Humans can be so twisted and dark, even if someone was an angel. They all have a switch that will alter them 360 degrees. The most psychological provocative situations, minds games, and absolute insane twists that hit every aspect of the human psyche can be quite interesting if it hit how human nature can be when caught by such psychological situations. This mind-altering genre has always been big in the anime industry, due to its effect on the viewers. Its intense truths bestowed upon us can totally be relate-able and eye-opening. Without further a due, I proudly present you with the top ten best psychological anime so far. This does not mean that there aren’t others just as good, there are plenty out there. These are the ones I found most fascinating.
10. Tokyo Ghoul
Episodes: 12 | Aired: Jul 4, 2014 to Sep 19, 2014 | Duration: 24 min. per ep
Rate: 8/10
Tokyo has changed. It’s no longer the city everyone longs to be in. It’s become merciless and cruel. Tokyo has its own Frankenstein now, but they’re far from horrendous and ugly in the face as one might believe. These horrendous, horrifying creatures are called Ghouls, who live alongside humans. They wear the flesh of humans, look exactly like them, a devil wears prada, one might say. But they feed on human flesh or, as some who long for strength, are cannibals and eat each other. Very Hannibal-like, isn’t it?
Based on the best-selling supernatural horror manga Tokyo Ghoul by Ishida Sui comes the adaptation. The story follows the shy, bookworm, mild-mannered Kaneki Ken, who soon becomes the real definition of a tragedy. One date and his life is ruined, not that it had much action in it from the start, but Rize Kamishiro rocked his world. Rize, a devil wearing prada, tricked him to walking her home and then revealed her true motives and attacked Kaneki.
One thing led to another and Kaneki’s life changed from bad to worse once he became a Ghoul himself. How will Kaneki, a hybrid, who has nowhere to call home deal with both worlds at the same time? A tornado of chaos and anguish awaits him.
9. Mirai Nikki
Episodes: 26 | Aired: Oct 9, 2011 to Apr 15, 2012 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.1/10
Yukiteru Amano, our protagonist, is rather lonely and spends most of his time writing his diary on his phone, and often converses his seemingly imaginary friends Deus Ex Machina, the god of space and time, and his servant Murmur. However, they are not so imaginary anymore as Deus Ex grans Yukiteru a Random Diary, which describes his future daily life in details, helping him day by day get through his life, avoiding any unnecessary contact with death. But, as quickly as it came—safety—it all disappeared when he came to know there are 11 other diary holders, each their own abilities, and the crossfire he got caught up into.
A race, a competition all of them want to win to become the next god of space and time, and kill all the other diary holders. Yukiteru, reluctantly, teams up with Yuno Gasai, a yandare, obsessive girl, and a stalker. She takes it upon herself to ensure his safety, and be together with the lover of her life. Yet, there’s more than meets the eye to Yuno Gasai. Apparently, she has other plans as well.
8. Zetsuen no Tempest (Blast of Tempest)
Episodes: 24 | Aired: Oct 5, 2012 to Mar 29, 2013 | Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.1/10
Death changes everyone.
An ordinary teenager with an ordinary life, Yoshino Takigawa, is secretly dating his best friend’s sister younger sister. However, Aika, his girlfriend, mysteriously dies, leaving no clues to who or why behind, Mahiro, Takigawa’s best friend, takes it upon himself to avenge his sister’s death and find out who did it all by himself, so he just disappeared, no traces left. Takigawa continues his ordinary life without hearing from Mahiro for an entire month. One day, he is met by a strange girl who holds a gun against, Mahiro, at the right place, at the right time, comes to save him from the danger.
Mahiro has changed, and now with the help of a witch called Hakaze Kusaribe he is closer to finding out the cause of his sister’s death and the Tree of Exodus, which the witch’s brother is obsessed with obtaining. Hakaze, then, is banished to a deserted land, and it’s up to the two best friends to save the world as they know it; unravel the secret of Aika’s death.
7. Death Parade
Episodes: 12 | Aired: Jan 10, 2015 to Mar 28, 2015 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.3/10
Heaven or Hell, good or bad, which will you choose? Human nature can play a big role in which place we’d end up in—a hellhole or pure paradise. That, or all you have to do is reach the bar that stands between your next life—reincarnation, or into the nothingness—oblivion. There is just a tiny, little test the attendants have to go through. It’s basically just a bunch of games, whether it’s hockey, darts, bowling, or anything that pleads them. Sounds easy, right? With these simple games, a person’s true nature is revealed in the parade of death and memories that unravel themselves slowly in each turn, and of course, there is a judge—Decim, so welcome to Quindecim.
Decim is an emotionless, robotic person, the one who decides fates for others, but once he meets a strange, dark-haired woman, he starts to question his judgment.
6. Mahou Shoujo Madoka?Magica (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Episodes: 12 | Aired: Jan 7, 2011 to Apr 22, 2011 | Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.5/10
The road to making your dreams come true is never easy, and once a wish is granted to you by anything magical seems like an easy way out, tempting even, but it’s never without a price. Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are about to witness their life change from good to better, get rid of that dull daily life of being a middle school student. All that happens once their lives cross with a cat-like magical familiar with the name Kyuubey, and a new transfer student, Homura Akemi.
Kyuubey leaves them offer on the table, one they surely wouldn’t refuse. He will grant them one of their wishes, but in exchange, they have to become magical girls with powers that don’t dare dream of to fulfill those dreams of theirs. Homura, however, being a magical girl herself, tries to convince them not to fall for it and take those tempting powers, because nothing ever comes this easy. So, the road to despair with a tiny shard of hope opens up to these magical girls as they learn the price that comes with such powers.
5. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte -the maxim-)
Episodes: 24 | Aired: Oct 9, 2014 to Mar 26, 2015 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.6/10
Earth has been invaded by parasitic aliens that took over the whole planet and the brains of its weak-willed, vulnerable targets. These scary beings took full control of the body, as a host, and morph into a variety of forms to eat and feed on clueless preys.
Shinichi Izumi is a sample of these parasites taking over him, but apparently, it couldn’t take control of his brain, so instead, it opted to stay in his right hand. The parasite, who is now named Migi, has no choice but to stay in Izumi’s right hand in order to maintain survival. The combination of Izumi and Migi concerns the other parasite species, so they take action and go completely hostile against Migi and Izumi in order to eliminate the threat of a new found species.
4. Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei (The Tatami Galaxy)
Episodes: 11 | Aired: Apr 23, 2010 to Jul 2, 2010 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.6/10
Second chances rarely pass you by with welcoming hands, but getting to go back in time to redo and correct every mistake there is in your life hardly ever come by. Watashi, the protagonist who always worries about the choice he makes and letting his life go in vain, is hurtled back in time once he reflects on the poor choices he made in his early college years and the shenanigans he made with his only friend Ozu, who has a face of a ghoul. Ozu’s goal is to make Watashi’s life as miserable as it can be.
Watashi, on a day of autumn, in a mysterious ramen store, he crosses roads with a man that had a head of an eggplant, who presents himself as a god of matrimony, which causes the young 3rd year college student to go down the memory lane to his least favorite memories. Watashi decides to make the best of what’s left in his life by asking an unsociable, shy girls named Akashi, but his guilt eats him up and he fails to do so, which results a to him hitting a trigger and getting hurtled back in time to change everything he’s ever done and regretted.
3. Death Note
Episodes: 37 | Aired: Oct 4, 2006 to Jun 27, 2007 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.7/10
Shinigami, or god of death, has the ability to take anyone’s life. All he needs is a face and a name matching written in a notebook called Death Note. However, the Shinigami Ryuk, has been experiencing some dull, uneventful lifestyle as it all became a routine that killed all the fun in taking someone’s life when they least expected it. So, Ryuk, dropped the Death Note in the human realm, wanting to see how a human would deal with such a powerful notebook.
The Death Note falls into the hands of a high school student and a prodigy.
Intrigued by such a mystery, Light Yagami writes a name of a criminal in it, immediately, the criminal is presumed dead. Astounded and shocked, Light takes it upon himself to free the world of criminals with the devastating strength of the Death Note. Obsession with the idea of being a god that saved humanity from criminals causes the police to figure out that there is a serial killer icing criminals and investigate the matter with the help of a very intelligent young man with an abnormal behavior that goes with the name L. Light and the investigator L’s lives clash together.
2. Monster
Episodes: 74 | Aired: Apr 7, 2004 to Sep 28, 2005 | Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.7/10
Everyone makes mistakes, but they’re taken into account once you learn from them. Meet Dr. Kenzou Tenma, a renowned brain surgeon of Japanese descent working in Europe. He is most respected by his peers and considered as one of the great minds the hospital has. Tenma is blessed with a beautiful fiancé that loves him dearly. He is on the verge of getting promoted when he is met by a huge dilemma.
One night, he has to make the most important decision whether to save a little boy’s life or the mayor’s. His superiors give priority to the mayor for his role and leave the little boy, but Tenma, conflicted by his morals, chooses the little boy’s life instead. But has he made the right choice? A series of murders occur in the hospital he works in, and every bit of trace leads to the little boy he saved a while ago. This shakes up Tenma tremendously and makes him go in turmoil with his inner self. Wanting to make the right choice one last time, the doctor tries to un-wrap the mysterious identity of the little boy, thinking it there might be a thin line between them and saving the world.
1. Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased)
Episodes: 12 | Aired: Jan 8, 2016 to Mar 25, 2016 | Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rate: 8.7/10
A slight altered moment in the past can change the whole future, can it not? Satoru Fujinuma, a detached 29-year-old manga author with a dull life is met with a deadline. But it is no ordinary deadline, it is a countdown that means his life is about to change with a single flick of a wrist, or a knife driven into his mother after unraveling the secret murders 18 years before.
Shocked, shaken, Satoru is the presumed killer by the police, but thank to his supernatural powers called ‘Revival’ he goes back in time, 18 years ago to save many, many lives. Soon, the adult in a child’s suit, his previous self 18 years ago, realizes all murders are connected to Kayo Hinazuki. It is Satoru’s last chance of making things right, especially finding out the identity of the serial killer who kidnaps children. Will he succeed or will he make the same mistakes all over again?
This list finally comes to an end. Again, this does not mean other anime are not worth watching. There are multiple ones that can totally grasp your attention from the first episode.
