After his cat gets run over, Chihiro is convinced that he can make a potion to resurrect him. On his task to do so, he meets a wealthy girl from his school who comes to an abandon spot to yell in a well about her troubles every day. The two bond and she encourages him to continue his resurrection potion creation. Eventually, he succeeds after adding poisonous hydrangea leaves. Sanka, however, doesn’t know it has worked, and decided to kill herself with what should be a poisonous potion. Suddenly, Chihiro has a beautiful zombie on his hands.
Is it a series that tries to do something new with romance or tries to do something new with the zombie genre? Regardless, it turned out better than anyone expected, and if you want more anime recommendations like it, we got you.
Anime Like Sankarea
For Fans of Zombies
Zombieland Saga
For Sakura Minamoto, she started her day off normally, right up until she skipped outside and got hit by a speeding truck. She died, of course, but 10 years later, she wakes up as… a zombie. However, her story is just beginning as a man wants her and several other undead girls from throughout Japan’s history to become a regional idol group to save Saga from becoming an obscure prefecture.
Both Sankarea and Zombieland Saga focus on zombies, but none of them are hungry for brains and none of them are the gross sort of undead we might expect. Instead, Zombieland Saga places a focus on humor rather than horror. Sankarea embraces more traditional horror aspects more, but it still doesn’t quite descend into the realms of gross either.
School Live
Yuki Takeya is in love with school life. She loves it so much that she joined the School Living Club with three other girls, their supervising teacher, and the club dog Taroumaru. This club makes the most of living at school. However, Yuki’s blissful school life is all a delusion. The real purpose of the School Living Club is to prevent Yuki’s fragile reality from shattering. In reality, these girls are surviving the zombie apocalypse by barricading themselves within the school.
Both shows are zombie-focused, but they also tried to be different. School Live put a distinctly moe twist to the zombie apocalypse with horror and slice of life that switches so fast it can give you whiplash. Sankarea, however, tries to do something different with zombies by making one the focus of romance.
High School of the Dead
It happened suddenly. The dead rose and threw Japan into chaos. In the high school of Takashi Kimuro, the situation forced him to kill his bitten best friend and protect the man’s girlfriend, Rei. As they narrowly escape the school with a few others, they find the real survival just beginning.
You can tell in Sankarea that they wanted to go a little ecchi, but didn’t fully embrace it. Alternatively, High School of the Dead embraced it and then some. Both are shows about zombies, but High School of the Dead is more traditional zombie apocalypse with ten tons of tits.
For Fans of Odd Romance
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
For 60 years, the Seikyou Private Academy has been haunted by a ghost known as Yuuko, a young woman that died in the basement. With no memory of her life, the ghost founds the Paranormal Investigation Club to find answers.
Did you like the dark atmosphere that hung over the romance in Sankarea even at the nicest moments? Then Dusk Maiden Amnesia is a must for you. This series maintains that distinct gothic vibe throughout and lends a distinctly creepy vibe to every scene while also telling a romance story.
Is This a Zombie?
One night, Ayumu is killed by a serial killer. Just as suddenly, he is brought back to life by a necromancer. To further complicate things, he also accidentally puts on a magical girl uniform and gains her powers. While she searches for a way to get her powers back, he is forced to fight evil in her stead.
Most obviously, both shows are about zombies, but even better, both shows are romantic comedies about zombies. However, Sankarea definitely takes a more dark approach compared to this show’s focus on comedy.
Future Dairy
Yukiteru Amano likes to imagine himself as an observer. He spends his days keeping a diary on his cell phone, but not about himself, about everything that goes on around him. At home, he spends his time conversing with his two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, the God of space and time, and Murmur, his assistant. However, one day he discovers his friends are not so imaginary when they imbue him with the power of a diary that tells the future and forces him into a bloody survival game with godhood on the line.
While Future Diary obviously differs in its plot about a killing game, both it and Sankarea have a focus on obsessive love that works really well in a horror setting. There are sweet moments, but there is always that air of discomfort about them because of how intense the love becomes and the non-typical behavior of the female love interest.
For Fans of Gothic Settings
Shiki
The fifteen-year-old Megumi Shimizu dreamed of leaving her small country town behind for the big city, but those dreams died when she did. It was her murder that kicked off a summer of blood and terror in this small town where a city boy and a country doctor try to stop the epidemic of death happening around them.
Sankarea is zombies, Shiki is vampires. However, they both have a way of not focusing on the monsters, but instead building a tone to their show. Shiki does really well building the tension and mystery in the show up until it just explodes. Sankarea, however, runs a nice balance between romance and just downright creepiness that is rather nice as a contrast.
Another
Ever since 1972, class 3-3 in Yomiyama North Middle School has had a strange tradition of pretending that one of their students did not exist. When Kouichi Sakakubara transfers into the class, he finds himself drawn to a girl that no one seems to notice. Not paying heed to the warnings of his classmates, all hell is about to break loose.
While Sankarea doesn’t play coy with what is going on with the female protagonist in the show, Another plays things a little closer to the vest at first. It adds a cryptic air of mystery to the show, and the both sit on a similar level of supernatural occurrences.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Sankarea? Let fans know in the comments section below.
