Best Suspense Anime of 2016

Leaving the convenience store, Subaru Natsuki never expects to be torn from his ordinary life and thrown into a fantasy world. Things look grim for the confused teenager; soon after arriving, he is set upon by thugs. Armed with only a grocery bag and a useless phone, he is quickly beaten senseless. Fortunately, a mysterious beauty named Satella, chasing the thief who stole her insignia, stumbles upon Subaru and rescues him. To repay the kind and honest girl, Subaru offers to help her search, and later that night he even discovers the location of what she seeks. But an ominous darker force lurks in the shadows, and mere minutes after finding the insignia, Subaru and Satella are brutally killed. Yet Subaru instantly awakens to a familiar scene—facing the same thugs, meeting Satella once more—the mystery deepens as history inexplicably repeats itself.

Satoru Fujinuma, a detached twenty-nine-year-old manga artist, possesses a mysterious ability known as Revival that sends him back in time by mere minutes whenever tragedy is imminent. He has used this power to save numerous lives. However, after being falsely accused of killing someone dear to him, Satoru is transported back eighteen years to 1988. He soon discovers a potential link between his current predicament and the childhood abduction and murder of his classmate, the enigmatic and solitary Kayo Hinazuki. Seizing this opportunity to set things right, Boku dake ga Inai Machi chronicles Satoru’s quest to solve the mystery of the past while preventing Kayo’s death and safeguarding his loved ones in the present.

In the age of the industrial revolution, a strange virus gives rise to monstrous beings known as Kabane, which attack humans to feed. The only way to defeat them is to shatter their iron-coated hearts. Anyone bitten by a Kabane is cursed to become one of the undead themselves. Only the most heavily guarded settlements have managed to survive, such as the island of Hinomoto, where huge walls protect humanity from the endless swarms. Entry to these enormous fortresses is limited to armored trains, which are built and run by young men like Ikoma. Ikoma has created a powerful weapon designed to pierce the hearts of Kabane, and he is eager to test it in battle. Yet his opportunity to fight arrives much sooner than he ever expected.

As a child in the town of Lawless, Angelo Lagusa witnessed a horrific event: his parents and younger brother were ruthlessly killed by the Vanetti mafia family. Having lost everything dear to him, he abandoned both his name and his hometown, taking on the new identity of Avilio Bruno. Seven years later, Avilio gets his chance for revenge when a mysterious letter prompts him to return to Lawless. Heeding the call, he soon meets Nero, the son of the Vanetti don, and works to befriend him using the skills he has quietly developed over the years. Set during the Prohibition era, 91 Days follows Avilio's dark, blood-soaked path to vengeance as he systematically eliminates each man involved in his family's murder.

After escaping from Hope's Peak Academy, Makoto Naegi and his fellow survivors join the Future Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting despair. But the situation takes a turn when Naegi is arrested for treason after defending the Remnants of Despair. Alongside Kyouko Kirigiri and Aoi Asahina, he appears before the Foundation's executives, facing an uncertain fate. Things worsen when Monokuma infiltrates the organization's supposedly impenetrable security, immediately announcing the start of a new killing game. As the first victim appears as an omen of renewed despair, Naegi, the Super High School-Level Lucky Student, must once again solve the mystery while his comrades fall one by one. However, without class trials, the rules have changed: among the sixteen desperate participants, there is only one killer, and their death will finally bring this hellish game to an end.

The unusual Class 77-B at Hope's Peak Academy gets a new homeroom teacher, Chisa Yukizome, a former student known as the Super High School-Level Housekeeper. Full of energy and skill, she works to heal the broken relationships among her varied students, who include a princess, a nurse, a yakuza member, and an incredibly lucky person. Trusting in the strength of hope, she tries to steer them through their disputes. At the same time, Hajime Hinata, a Reserve Course student who feels he lacks any special ability, meets Chiaki Nanami, the Super High School-Level Gamer. Through their time together, she gives him a new way of looking at life. But without Hajime's knowledge, the school's administration is engineering a dark scheme involving him that could bring down Hope's Peak and devastate the world. Zetsubou-hen follows the daily life at the famous academy while dark forces work in the background. As despair slowly takes over hope, those responsible for the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History start their plan, marking the start of the end.

A bus carrying a group of eccentric individuals is traveling toward the urban legend known as Nanaki Village—a place where one can supposedly start over and live a perfect life. Many of them have different theories about why the village appears on no map and why even the police cannot locate it, but they all look forward to their new lives and what awaits them at their destination. After a few mishaps, they successfully arrive at Nanaki Village only to find it completely abandoned. Based on the state of disrepair, it has been vacant for at least a year. However, secrets soon emerge as some of the group begin to go missing while exploring the village, and amid the confusion, they discover bloody claw marks in a forest. As mistrust and in-fighting erupt, will they ever uncover the truth behind this lost village?

As World War II approaches, intelligence on foreign nations' social and economic conditions becomes increasingly valuable. To acquire this asset, Japan creates a covert spy network called the "D Agency." Led by Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki, eight operatives are tasked with infiltrating and monitoring several powerful countries, reporting any war-related developments. To carry out these perilous missions, these men have conditioned their bodies to endure extreme environments and mastered subjects like communications and languages. Yet their true edge lies in their skill at manipulating others to extract the intelligence needed to give Japan the advantage.

In N-City, the social role-playing game Magical Girl Raising Project is popular among many girls, offering them the closest experience to becoming actual magical girls. For a select few players, however, this dream becomes a reality. One such girl is Koyuki Himekawa, who gets a notification one night that she has been chosen to become a magical girl, with her in-game avatar manifesting as Snow White. As Koyuki and other selected players in the city start helping those in need, they all receive another notification: the administrators have decided to reduce the number of magical girls. Each week, the player who collects the fewest Magical Candies—earned through their magical girl activities—will lose their powers. But when the first eliminated player experiences a real-world tragedy, the consequences of losing their abilities become clear. As more participants inevitably fail the competition and additional twisted rules are introduced, the girls come to understand that their "contest" is actually a desperate struggle for survival.

In Terra Formars: Revenge, the crew of Annex I persist in their war against the Terraformars, massive humanoid cockroaches that evolved from specimens sent to Mars long ago. Instead of finding a remedy for the devastating Alien Engine Virus ravaging Earth, the Annex I team discovers that various squadrons harbor their own nationalistic agendas. Consequently, the fighters must contend not only with the Terraformars to stay alive but also with one another in a ceaseless struggle for global supremacy.

After relocating due to family matters, Suzuko Homura returns to her hometown, fondly recalling the joyful childhood she spent with Chinatsu Morikawa. Although their bond was sealed with a promise of friendship, Suzuko has lost touch with Chinatsu during their separation. Determined to start fresh, Suzuko tries to leave the past behind and make new friends at school, but finds it difficult. Meanwhile, Chinatsu works multiple jobs to support her family while studying, and the pressure to meet high expectations becomes suffocating. In their separate circumstances, both girls begin playing the popular card game WIXOSS and discover they have been chosen as Selectors. These players have their memories represented by gold coins and must battle other Selectors to collect five. Guided by their LRIG avatar cards, which are formed from the user's memories, they learn that failing to duel consistently or losing all coins leads to dire consequences. Committed to protecting what matters most, Suzuko and Chinatsu prepare for the upcoming battles, fighting to reclaim their true selves.