One kill is a murder, but more than one is a pattern. While a number of anime series have serial killers play very small roles, typically a quick and easy villain of some kind, there are only a small handful that put them in a larger spotlight. Whether it is about catching them or exploring them as a character while they hone their craft, these anime recommendations feature the criminal enigma that is the serial killer in a prominent way.
Best Anime About Serial Killers
Id – Invaded
This detective series puts an interesting psychological spin of catching killers. In Id – Invaded, there exists a special system that allows murders to be investigated by diving into the unconscious of the still unknown killer where the detective examines their psyche and attempts to piece together potential clues as to their identity. However, to access these id wells, the detective themselves must be a killer, and they must have killed with purpose and pleasure.
This makes Id a surprisingly complex detective mystery rife with symbolism and positively dripping with serial killers. It is actually pretty shocking it didn’t reach the same sort of acclaim as the next series on our list.
Psycho-Pass
This detective mystery blends sci-fi in to its investigations to really highlight the dystopian world that it takes place in. In Psycho-Pass, the detectives don’t investigate crimes so much as they try to prevent them. The Sibyl System examines the latent criminal intent of individuals so they can be disposed of before they actually become criminals.
While at a glance that seems pretty messed up, much of the series is about the investigator fully coming to terms with how messed up that actually is, and often it takes actual serial killers to show her that.
B: The Beginning
In what is kind of a strange mix, B: The Beginning is kind of two stories. It is the story of Koku, a sort of demi-human who can shape-shift parts of his body into wings or blades that is trying to save his childhood friend. It is also the story of Keith, an investigator that is trying to track down Killer B, a serial killer thrusting the city further into chaos. You would be right to assume that these two seemingly unrelated stories weave into one bigger mystery.
Beautiful Bones
This is one of the very rare detective anime series that acknowledges the field of forensic science, and goes one step further to focus on it. This series follows a young female detective who specializes in investigating crimes by looking at the bones of victims. Over the course of the series investigating these killings, it turns out that they are almost all related to one serial killer.
While some other detective series are made interesting by their sci-fi elements, Beautiful Bones is one of those series steeped in reality with real forensic science backing its plot.
Erased
Erased introduces time travel into the mix of it standard murder mystery plot. In this series, the main character, after witnessing the murder of someone close to him, is sent back to his childhood where the serial murder of three young children in his town is about to occur by the same killer that just killed in his present day.
While many murder mystery series tend to be detective style, meaning the murders are simply one case of many, Erased focuses the whole series on this one serial killer. What is more, it does very well to keep the identity of the killer unclear right up until the end.
Monster
Let’s be honest with each other, anime doesn’t always do the “thriller” genre so well. This is probably why Monster has remained the king of anime thrillers for so long. This series tells the ultimate game of cat and mouse between a manipulative and psychopathic serial killer and the doctor who ruined his career to save him as a child that is now trying to catch him.
This isn’t necessarily one for those that crave graphic slaughter, but watching a serial killer occasionally convince others to simply kill themselves is a treat in and of itself.
Angels of Death
This series is a bit different from the rest in that every character in the series is a killer. Actually, all of them are serial killers in that they’ve all killed more than once. The series itself is about trying to escape a sealed building where each floor is the domain of a new killer that is usually trying to kill the main characters. While it starts off about escape and focuses on giving the back story behind each new killer, more and more is unraveled the higher they climb in what turns out to be a basic, but really quite interesting story.
Death Note
I feel like most serial killers don’t actually start off with good intentions like Light does in Death Note. He finds a supernatural notebook that lets him kill anyone whose name he writes in it without dirtying his hands. As the son of a detective, he starts going after criminals. Then over the course of the series, you watch his criteria get a little looser until the power he holds in his hands ultimately corrupts him and he is probably worse than the criminals he started off killing.
Elfen Lied
Elfen Lied starts off with a bang where you see the protagonist Lucy slaughtering her way out of a government facility with her telekinetic mind powers in the nude. It then takes a brief break to be a pretty wholesome slice of life romp after she gets shot in the head an loses her memories. Don’t you worry though, serial killer Lucy comes back around after awhile. She is a girl that has been killing all her life and in the series, you watch her kill for the smallest of reasons.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
While it is true you would have to watch three of the preceding arcs of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to get to Diamond is Unbreakable, I figured it couldn’t hurt to include it since each arc of the series is often a new adventure. Unlike the preceding parts of Jojo that had more of a focus on adventure and a long list of punchable opponents, Diamond is Unbreakable is a story that takes place in one small Japanese neighborhood. While there are still some punchable faces around, the major antagonist of this part of the series is a serial killer that is rather brutally dispatching innocent people with his Stand powers.
It is up to the main characters to discover his identity and, well, kill him back in order to put to rest the spirit of one his victims and protect their town.
Talentless Nana
It doesn’t take long before Talentless Nana throws away its thin cover of being about a school on a secluded island that trains people with powers to fight a threat to humanity. What you quickly discover is that those people with powers are the real threat to humanity and the powerless, but clever and manipulative Nana is there to secretly kill them off. It is a fun twist on super heroes, and can be surprisingly brutal.
Tokyo Ghoul
Now, let’s not say a series about a type of demi-human that eats the flesh of normal humans is all about serial killers. It is surprisingly not, but also… There are a lot of serial killers in Tokyo Ghoul. As not every ghoul actively hunts humans and eats flesh, there are some more peaceful characters. Yet, there is also quite a few quirky man eaters with the stylish flair that some crave in their serial slaughterers.
Do you have more anime series about serial killers? Let fans know in the comments section below.
