Best Suspense Anime of 2011

Inventive scientist Rintarou Okabe possesses an unquenchable drive for scientific discovery. Alongside his scatterbrained yet good-hearted friend Mayuri Shiina and his roommate Itaru Hashida, Okabe establishes the Future Gadget Laboratory, aiming to create technological breakthroughs that defy human understanding. Despite lofty ambitions, the team's only noteworthy invention so far is a microwave with the peculiar ability to turn bananas into a green sludge. When Okabe attends a time travel conference, he encounters a chain of odd occurrences that suggest the "Phone Microwave" gadget hides far more potential than initially assumed. Capable of sending text messages to the past via the microwave, Okabe delves deeper into this makeshift time machine, drawing the hostile attention of the shadowy organization SERN. This groundbreaking discovery plunges Okabe and his friends into constant peril. As he struggles to repair the damage his invention has inflicted on the timeline, Okabe fights not only to protect those he cares about but also to hold onto his own unraveling sanity.

Yukiteru Amano is a timid middle school student who habitually records everything he does in his daily life on his phone—a digital diary. At school, he has no friends, but he is often seen talking to his supposed imaginary companions: Deus Ex Machina, the god of time and space, and Deus' servant, Mur Mur. One morning, Yukiteru wakes up to find that certain events of his day are already appearing on his cellphone ahead of time. At first he dismisses it as coincidence, but he slowly realizes that the incidents written on his phone actually occur in the near future. After benefiting from this new ability throughout the day, he discovers that his classmate Yuno Gasai owns a similar diary. When the two team up to fend off a strange pursuer and return home, Deus Ex Machina reveals that they—along with ten other participants—have been forced into a survival game where the winner becomes the deity's successor. Left with no other choice, Yukiteru and Yuno must rely on their phones, now called "Future Diaries," to survive this merciless battle royale.

Ordinary middle school students Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki have their lives turned upside down after meeting Kyuubey, a cat-like magical being, and Homura Akemi, a transfer student new to their school. Kyuubey proposes a deal: in exchange for granting any one wish they desire, the girls will become magical girls, gaining the power to realize their dreams. However, Homura Akemi, who is herself a magical girl, warns them not to accept, insisting that things are not as they appear. Exploring themes of hope, despair, and friendship, Puella Magi Madoka Magica delves into the harsh realities of being a magical girl and the sacrifices required to make a wish come true.

Ganta Igarashi's day starts out ordinarily enough as he and his classmates prepare for a field trip to Deadman Wonderland, a prison-themed amusement park where inmates perform dangerous stunts for the crowd's entertainment. But everything changes when a mysterious man dressed in red slaughters the entire class. Framed for the crime and handed a death sentence, Ganta is sent to the very prison he was supposed to visit. His ordeal has only just begun. Thrust into a brutal world of sadistic prisoners and strange supernatural abilities, Ganta lives under the constant threat of a lethal collar around his neck—a device that can only be slowed by winning the prison's deadly games. He must risk his life to survive in a ruthless environment where friends and enemies are hard to distinguish, all while searching for the enigmatic "Red Man" to prove his innocence.

For second-year economics university student Kimimaro Yoga, money is power—and without it, life holds no value. Living in a country plagued by economic collapse, he struggles to get by while watching his peers enjoy relatively comfortable lives. Everything changes when a man in a top hat named Masakaki appears at his door late one night. Masakaki invites Yoga to the Eastern Financial District, a place overflowing with money for those willing to put up their "future" as collateral. Though hesitant, his greed overcomes his caution, and he accepts, becoming an Entre. Unbeknownst to him, this world of wealth is actually an alternate realm modeled after his own, where Entres are forced into weekly battles called Deals, wagering their collateral. Facing off against his fellow countrymen and fate itself, Yoga must quickly learn to survive in this new reality—fighting to protect both his fortune and his future, and discovering what money is truly worth.

The Takakura family lives under a destiny that turns like an unending wheel, swinging between joy and sorrow before moving on to the next person who makes a wish. Without their parents, twin brothers Kanba and Shouma care for their beloved younger sister Himari, whose fragile health cannot afford any more decline. When Himari is finally allowed a temporary leave from the hospital, her brothers take her to the aquarium to celebrate. There, the family's supposed fate arrives with her sudden collapse. But when Himari is mysteriously revived by a penguin-shaped hat from the aquarium gift shop, the hand of fate keeps ticking faithfully onward. Her miracle recovery comes with a price: a new presence now resides inside her body, and its condition for holding off her doom sends the brothers on a frantic search for the enigmatic "Penguin Drum." As they hunt, they must follow the threads of fate emerging from their own shocking past and into the lives of other wishmakers who also seek the Penguin Drum, each hoping to land upon their chosen destiny.

Burdened by an ever-growing debt, Kaiji Itou slides back into his former way of life. While wandering the streets, he encounters Yuuji Endou, who is searching for Kaiji because of the money he owes to the Teiai Group. Unaware of this, Kaiji eagerly follows Endou, hoping for another chance to gamble, but soon discovers the loan shark's true intentions when he is abducted. Since Kaiju cannot repay his massive debt, the Teiai Group instead sends him to toil in an underground labor camp. He is informed that he must endure this hellish existence for 15 years, alongside other debtors, before he can earn his release. His sole hope of cutting this nightmare short is to save enough money to buy a single day back on the surface. Once there, he plans to acquire the remaining funds needed to settle his account by placing a high-stakes bet. Yet, with numerous temptations threatening his meager earnings, Kaiju may be forced into gambling sooner than he anticipated.

Kaito Daimon is a typical high school student, except for one remarkable trait: he is a "demon" when it comes to solving puzzles. His brilliance is such that when he is asked to take some "special" tests of his unique ability, he immediately suspects that the test itself is a riddle. Kaito suddenly finds himself swept into a deadly Philosopher's Puzzle created by the sinister group POG—a lethal maze of trap after trap, where failing to solve the secret correctly means death. Fortunately, Kaito's skills prove up to the first challenge, both for himself and for his childhood friend Nanoha, who is also caught in the deadly scheme. But now that he has been designated as a Solver, he is pulled into a new existence where he must travel the world alongside other Solvers, attempting to solve the latest deadly enigmas left by POG. There is a new conundrum around every corner, and each deception could lead to death, but once a riddle is presented, Kaito can be counted on to unfold, unravel, and unlock it.