Anime Like Devilman: Crybaby

For generations, beings known as Shokujinki have coexisted with humans, appearing identical to them except for their ability to transform into monstrous creatures with enormous claws and their compulsion to feed on people. The Kifuuken dojo, a secret organization dedicated to eradicating Shokujinki by severing their arms, stands as the sole barrier preventing these beings from taking over. Toshihiko Momota, whose father leads the Kifuuken, finds himself deeply drawn to Yuka Kamitsuki, a woman shrouded in mystery. Unbeknownst to both, Yuka is a Shokujinki, while Toshihiko is bound by duty to end her life. Simultaneously, the Kifuuken faces internal strife as Toshihiko's brother, Kazuma, challenges the dojo's traditions and seeks to modernize its methods. As tensions escalate and hidden truths from both past and present emerge, the question remains: who will survive and who will fall prey to the Shokujinki's hunger?

When darkness and evil stalk the night, feeding on anyone in their path, Hellsing serves as humanity's last line of defense against these monstrous foes. Under the command of Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, the organization wields a powerful military force to shield the populace from the undead. However, Integra's most potent asset is Alucard, a vampire who preys on his own kin. Working alongside his newly turned subordinate, Seras Victoria, Alucard confronts supernatural adversaries and any who dare challenge Hellsing's authority, irrespective of their moral standing. As the survival of mankind hangs in the balance, Hellsing Ultimate demonstrates that true strength can arise from the most unforeseen origins, proving that even the most fearsome creatures may become humanity's greatest guardians.

When a vampire menace transforms the inhabitants of Cheddar into ghouls, the Hellsing organization, sworn to combat supernatural threats, is summoned to intervene. Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, the organization's leader, deploys her most formidable asset: the powerful vampire Alucard. Wielding only a pistol, Alucard decimates the creatures terrorizing Cheddar. In the midst of the chaos, a young policewoman named Seras Victoria gets caught up in the fighting and suffers fatal wounds. Compassionate toward her situation, Alucard offers Seras a choice: die as a human or live on as a vampire. Seras chooses the latter, initiating her journey as a member of Hellsing. Although she transformed willingly, Seras struggles to accept her new existence as a vampire. Nevertheless, she must quickly adapt to her altered state to survive the escalating war between humanity and the supernatural realm.

Seventeen years prior to the narrative, enigmatic immortal entities called Ajin emerged in Africa. Due to the threat their invincibility poses to humanity and the potential for exploitation, they are seized immediately upon discovery. Kei Nagai, a hardworking high school student with dreams of becoming a doctor, largely ignores classroom instruction regarding these creatures, encountering them only sporadically in news reports. Although taught that Ajin are not human, this lesson becomes meaningless when Kei miraculously survives a fatal accident, transforming him into an Ajin and subjecting him to intense anguish. Fleeing into isolation from a world determined to hunt him, Kei uncovers the possibility that other Ajin are living concealed among ordinary people.

By day, Saya Kisaragi lives a quiet life as an ordinary high school student. By night, she becomes a relentless hunter of monstrous creatures, wielding a sacred sword passed down by her father for ceremonial purposes. Saya eliminates any threat that disturbs the peace of her tranquil town. Her understanding of reality shatters when she overhears the beasts speaking of a broken agreement—a hidden truth deliberately kept from her. A strange dog then appears, challenging Saya's dedication to protecting the village and questioning what would happen if she were to break her oath. As Saya struggles with haunting visions and her world begins to fall apart, she sets out on a search for answers in a town where nothing is as it seems.

Saya Otonashi leads an ordinary life with her foster family in Okinawa City, blending in as a typical high school student, though she frequently suffers from anemia and has no memories of anything before the previous year. Her past comes back when a bloodthirsty creature attacks her at school. A mysterious man named Haji appears and rescues her, forcing her to drink his blood. This sends Saya into a trance, where she uses her own blood as a deadly weapon against the monster. As Saya discovers Red Shield, an organization created to fight these monsters, she joins forces with Haji to confront these terrifying beings and unravel the mysteries hidden in her past.

In Ajin: Demi-Human 2nd Season, Kei Nagai and his new ally Kou Nakano plan retribution against Satou, a fellow Ajin intent on global conquest. Meanwhile, Satou persists with public executions, driving humanity to find methods to halt these immortal beings. Kei gets unexpected aid from former enemies, including Yuu Tosaki, a high-ranking government official with deep understanding of Ajin, and Tosaki's Ajin underling Izumi Shimomura. With his expanding group, Kei must act quickly to stop Satou's devastating scheme from destroying civilization.

At Shinyo Academy, rumors quietly circulate among the female students about a mysterious supernatural entity called Boogiepop—a shinigami believed to eliminate people at the peak of their beauty before their appeal fades. In truth, few know that Boogiepop is actually the alternate persona of high school student Touka Miyashita, awakening after long periods of dormancy to defend the world from its enemies. A recent wave of inexplicable disappearances, dismissed by the school as mere runaways, has caused Boogiepop to reemerge. Yet a sinister force lurks somewhere on campus, waiting for the right moment to unleash its power. Through Boogiepop wa Warawanai, the deep connections between individuals and their perception of time are delicately examined, alongside the intricate bonds, emotions, memories, and pasts of its characters.

Rin Asogi is an immortal private detective who has a fondness for vodka and a knack for attracting supernatural horrors. Across a series of nightmarish episodes spanning sixty-five years, Rin's voluptuous body is brutally pierced, exploded, and shredded into a bloody mess. The entity responsible for her endless suffering is Apos, an eternal being fixated on sacrificing Rin to Yggdrasil, the tree that sustains all life. As Rin struggles to uncover the truth behind her perpetual torment, Apos lurks in the shadows, eager to tear into her ripe form and devour the memories of her countless lifetimes. Rin is no stranger to the world of the dead, but her next journey there might be eternal.

Shiki Tohno suffered a severe injury during his childhood, and as a result, he was sent away from the Tohno family home to live with a relative. Years later, while Shiki is attending high school, his father—the head of the Tohno household—passes away, and Shiki is ordered to return by his sister Akiha, who has taken over as the new head of the family. But Shiki carries a heavy secret. Since that injury, he has been able to perceive lines on everything around him, and only a special pair of glasses allows him to suppress this ability. He also has very little memory of the time before the accident. On the day he moves back to the Tohno estate, he encounters a woman named Arcueid Brunstud and, in a momentary loss of control, stabs her through the neck with his knife, seemingly killing her. However, when she later appears beside him unharmed and asks him to become her bodyguard, Shiki's quest to uncover the truth about his past begins.

Boogiepop is a legendary shinigami said to exist unseen. Five years ago, a series of brutal murders caused widespread fear, with some students blaming those deaths on this supposed god of death. Now, as strange events again disturb the students at Hijiridani High School and Shinyo Academy, rumors of the mysterious Boogiepop come back. These stories being spread may hold fragments of truth or point to a reality far darker than people understand.

Do you know when you are going to die? Michiru Kita does—she can see a ring of death around people's necks. The darker the ring, the closer that person is to death. She notices that two boys in her class, Chika Akatsuki and Shito Tachibana, have completely black rings. Trying to warn them about their impending demise, she accidentally uncovers their secret: they are already dead, but kept alive through a contract with Zombie-Loan. Of course, nothing comes without a price. The boys must hunt down and destroy zombies, and they want to use Michiru's "Shinigami Eyes" to help them in their mission.

Ouri Kagami lives at a shrine among other orphans and is used to handling corpses. Yet he is utterly stunned when he sees the shrine's patron, Keisei Tagami, seemingly bring back to life the mutilated body of schoolgirl Makina Hoshimura. Fascinated by the strange circumstances surrounding Makina, Ouri discovers she is a Shikabane Hime—an undead being tasked with destroying others of her kind that threaten society. As Ouri goes about his daily routine, his interactions with Makina grow increasingly unusual. Each encounter intensifies, pulling them closer together and possibly revealing the secrets of the Shikabane world.

In "Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai," a cryptic figure called the Storyteller appears at dusk, donning a noticeable yellow mask. He draws a crowd of children around him, who pay close attention as he delivers frightening tales derived from Japanese folklore. With a traditional kamishibai—a paper-scroll device—he brings these already creepy stories to life with vivid illustrations. This collection of short horror episodes starts with a lone man moving into a new apartment, where he soon feels a heavy, malevolent presence watching him. Unbeknownst to him, a talisman dangling from his ceiling serves as a vital shield, preventing his fall into an endless chasm of suffering. As the Storyteller proceeds, every new tale grows more terrifying and disturbing, pulling his audience further into the nightmarish worlds conjured by his narration.

Despite the Youth Ordinance Bill imposing curfews on minors and restricting internet usage, young people still pursue their freedom through covert means. One such group is SIRRUT, which has resolved to challenge Fumito Nanahara—a man wielding immense political influence who effectively rules Tokyo with an oppressive grip. Using the internet as a tool to uncover more about Fumito, they discover "Tower," the clandestine organization behind him that conducts experiments on humans. As SIRRUT members attempt to set a trap in the subway to expose the truth about "Tower," mysterious creatures suddenly emerge and attack the passengers. In the midst of this crisis, Saya appears—a young girl wielding a Japanese blade to slay the Old Ones. This is the same Saya who lost everything dear to her in the horrifying incident at Ukishima Province. What kind of "experiment" are Fumito and "Tower" trying to carry out using the Old Ones? And can Saya finally exact vengeance upon Fumito? Now, the final battle begins...

September 1944 finds Europe engulfed in World War II. Seeking a tactical edge, the Nazis are experimenting with artificial vampire technologies. While still far from their ultimate objective, even the intermediate stages of these experiments pose a grave danger to the Allied forces. To halt the Nazi project and safeguard England and the Allies, the current head of the Hellsing Organization, Sir Arthur Hellsing, dispatches his finest agents—Walter C. Dornes and Alucard—to German-occupied Poland, where monstrous experiments are underway. The Hellsing: The Dawn specials are included on bonus discs bundled with Hellsing Ultimate Limited Edition volumes starting from volume 8.

A dark force begins stirring in the hidden corners of Tokyo. Tatsuma Hiyuu, a quiet high school senior, enrolls at Magami Academy in Shinjuku. His enigmatic personality and impressive martial arts abilities quickly attract the friendship of the rebellious Kyouichi Houraiji. Through fate and coincidence, Tatsuma meets wrestling club athlete Yuuya Daigo, the girls' archery team captain Komaki Sakurai, and Student Council President Aoi Misato. These bonds form just as a violent disruption occurs in the Ryumyaku, the mystical energy current. This upheaval awakens hidden supernatural powers within the five teenagers. Hisui Kisaragi, the young head of the Kisaragi Clan and owner of an antique shop, tells them about their new abilities and the sacred duty to defend Tokyo from the Oni. The group decides to use these powers to protect the city from the approaching darkness. Partnering with Hisui, the unlikely allies realize the danger runs deeper than mere evil creatures. A practitioner of Dark Arts has deliberately disturbed the Ryumyaku to revive an ancient evil. To overcome this threat, the teenagers must face their own weaknesses and fears. As they uncover their Stars of Fate, they are forced to confront their destinies. The story is based on a manga and originated from a 1998 Nintendo role-playing video game.

Hiro Hiyorimi gives his life to rescue Hime, the daughter of the Monster King, from certain death, and becomes a dead hero in the process. His reward for saving her is being brought back as a semi-living soldier in her personal guard. His new duty is to protect Hime from the endless stream of supernatural creatures sent by her siblings, who want to claim their place in the succession by killing her. Dealing with threats like vampires and zombies is hard enough, but the real challenge comes from truly bizarre enemies like were-sharks, panda monsters, and murderous dumplings. This is far from the afterlife Hiro imagined, and the bitter irony is that Hime is the good one in this chaos—at least as good as someone can be while standing on the wrong side of hell's gates.

A direct continuation of Shikabane Hime Aka, set six months after Tagami Keisei's death at the hands of the Shichisei (Seven Stars), an elite group of Shikabane who act on more than just regrets. Following Keisei's dying wish, Kagami Ouri formed a temporary contract with Makina to prevent her from degenerating into a Shikabane. Since then, Ouri has been training to become a proper monk so he can remain contracted to Makina and assist her in fighting the Shichisei—the ones who originally killed Makina, the entire Hoshimura family, and now Keisei. However, the traitorous monk Shishidou Akasha has aligned with the Shichisei in an attempt to destroy all Shikabane Hime and the entire monk organization that uses them—the Kougon Sect.

Renzaburou Taki seems like an ordinary office worker, but he is actually a member of the Black Guards, a covert group dedicated to preserving peace between humans and demons. With the peace treaty renewal deadline nearing, Taki is assigned to protect Giuseppe Mayart, a key human mystic, alongside Makie, a female demon. The task proves far more challenging than anticipated; as a faction of radical demons uses terrorist methods to break the agreement between the two realms, Giuseppe focuses on avoiding his duties to pursue romantic adventures with women.

In the second season of Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai 2, the masked storyteller once again shares spine-chilling narratives with children, including tales of a ventriloquist's dummy, a locker with the power to grant wishes, a capsule toy machine that recovers lost objects, and a mysterious food called Ominie-san. Expanding on the groundwork laid in the initial season, Yami Shibai 2 delivers a series of frightening Japanese urban legends and occult enigmas, all presented in an art style that mirrors the traditional kamishibai storytelling method.

Shindou Ranmaru has just completed his training at the police academy and is assigned to the Tokko Special Mobile Investigation Force. On the day of his graduation, he encounters a half-naked girl he had been seeing in his dreams. She is Rokujo Sakura, a member of a secret unit within Tokki known as the Tokko Special Public Safety Task Force. Shindou eventually joins Tokko to seek revenge for his parents' death and to solve the mysterious mass murder of residents in his hometown of Machida. At the same time, bottomless pits are appearing across Japan, and strange creatures emerge from them. These events may be connected to the Machida Massacre.

Kei, a high school student, is among at least forty-seven others who realize that immortality has a terrifying catch. Instead of becoming a superhero, Kei becomes a target of governments and society, seen as a valuable specimen to be captured and subjected to endless scientific experiments. As a demi-human, Kei faces the grim destiny of experiencing countless deaths for the sake of human progress.

Hellsing: Digest for Freaks provides a compact overview of the opening three episodes of the Hellsing anime. It keeps the high-quality animation approach found in Hellsing Ultimate and remains faithful to the narrative established in the original manga.