Just like other forms of media, in anime, genres often collide, and one of the most unique combinations is between horror and romance. While these two genres seem like polar opposites, as one of them serves to incite fright into the audience, and the other, feelings of love, companionship, and other warm feelings; there are a host of anime that weave the two genres together seamlessly, and even go as far as incorporating other sub-genres.

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These anime tread on gray areas, blurring the lines between good and evil.

They explore some of the most gruesome topics and narratives in all of anime while tugging at the heartstrings of viewers. With that in mind, here are some anime that combine horror and romance.

10 Heavenly Delusion

Heavenly Delusion features two mind-boggling plots that seem disconnected. One features Kiruko, a girl who works as a handyman and is tasked with the protection of Maru as they traverse through a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by flesh-eating monsters called man-eaters, during their journey, a great and complicated relationship begins to blossom amongst them.

The other plotline shows the daily life and relationships between kids in a facility shut out from the outside world.

9 Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia

• Studio: Silver Link
• Genre: Dark Fantasy, Romance, Mystery
• Number Of Episodes: 12 + OVA

Set in Seikyou Private Academy, Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia shows a unique love story that blossoms between a human and a ghost. Teiichi Niya resorts to investigating the mystery behind the death of Yuuko, as she has no memories and cannot remember the regrets that tie her to the physical plane.

As he uncovers the mysteries, he discovers a very grim story with gut-wrenching details that could be classified as horror despite the sometimes comedic nature of the series.

8 Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight takes the Shojo genre to another level, introducing darker themes and as suggested in the name, vampires. Yuki, the adopted daughter of the Cross Academy headmaster, gets assigned to the school’s night classes and is introduced to a world of vampires.

She becomes a guardian of their race and gives her all to protect the identity of her childhood crush who leads the vampire group in the school. However, can the vampires truly be trusted or is there a bigger plot at hand?

7 Another

This story also revolves around the death of a girl in a school. The refusal of her peers to accept her death caused a strange presence to appear in their graduation photo and probably sparked the start of the series.

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A few years later when Koichi Sakakibara transfers to the school and meets Mei Misaki, he finds himself caught up in a great web of incidents where students of the school and their loved ones suffer mysterious and gruesome deaths. As Koichi and Misaki investigate further they realize that the incidents are related to the death of the girl who was also named Misaki.

6 High School Of The Dead

• Studio: Madhouse
• Genre: Action, Horror, Supernatural Thriller
• Number Of Episodes: 12 + OVA

When a zombie apocalypse strikes present-day Japan, high schoolers are forced to grow up and learn how to survive on their own. The decay of society as they know it and morality also contribute to the high-stakes feel of the show, but amidst the apocalypse, there are still moments where the cast acts like hormone-raged teenagers should.

There is also a lot of fan service in this show so people who are not fans of it should note that. The students must make it out of the city and down to a safe zone while navigating very dangerous situations.

5 Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead

• Studio: Bug Films
• Genre: Comedy Horror, Zombie Apocalypse
• Number Of Episodes: 9

Though Zom 100 does not necessarily feel like horror due to the comedic situations the protagonist and his friends always get into, it still features the premise of a world overrun by dangerous flesh-eating zombies.

The protagonist, unable to live a fulfilling life because of the exploitative nature of his job, decides to live his life to the fullest after the order of society comes crashing down. On his journey, he meets a girl who is the complete opposite of him, and becomes more attracted to her the closer they become.

4 ReZero

ReZero started like the average isekai anime where the protagonist meets a love interest and proceeds to claim her heart with his overpowered abilities, but it is far from that. Natsuki Subaru was shocked to discover that he did not receive any amazing powers, and is still his same old self that he would describe as pathetic.

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He gains the power to return to a checkpoint in time when he dies, and with it, he tries his hardest to protect his loved ones from the Witch and her cult.

3 Tokyo Ghoul

The idea of a love story blossoming between Kaneki and Rize Kamishiro birthed the plot of this series, with their first date kickstarting the events and turning Kaneki into a one-eyed ghoul. He became an outcast in both communities and as a result, did not make a lot of friends.

Touka Kirishima, one of the few ghouls who let him in, eventually becomes a love interest as they both navigate through Kaneki’s journey of uncovering the truth of what happened to him and ridding the world of bad ghouls.

2 Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied’s first episode kicks off with a very grand show of violence, one would have never guessed there would be hints of romance in the story.

Diclonius Lucy’s escape from her holding facility was not without its fair share of violence, and the show can be categorized as one of the most gory anime ever. Lucy leans about several emotions and what it means to be a person, and the character development she undergoes is quite impressive, as she grows from a revenge-driven monster and learns to love.

1 Berserk

Berserk follows the story of Guts on his path of revenge, after being betrayed by his most trusted comrade, Griffith. The introduction of a love interest for Guts is the only aspect of the series that seems to incorporate romance, as it showcases how Guts slowly learns to trust people and develop relationships despite the trauma and abuse he experienced as a child.

The show however is mostly dark and filled with all sorts of monsters and demons straight out of nightmares.

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