Top 22 Best Mystery Anime To Watch (Shows & Movies)

The key to a decent mystery is ready up, suspense, and so the reveal.

Much like legerdemain, the full show can disintegrate when executed poorly.

Well, anime is not any different, and we’ve got some brilliant anime with constantly engaging plots, killer setups, and a few magnificent resolutions. It’s well-nigh guaranteed that a minimum of one anime on this list will become a replacement favorite.

22. Higurashi: When They Cry

The remote village of Hinamizawa may be a place detached from normal society.

In summer 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves there and joins the local school. thanks to the low population rate, there’s only 1 and it hosts children of all ages.

There he meets a cute cast of ladies, all harboring dark twisted secrets. Hinamizawa is host to a bizarre number of rumors starting from mania to suicide, to a brutal homicide.

Slowly, paranoia settles in – and what follows could be a disorienting and horrific downward spiral into insanity.

Some aspects of the Studio Deen adaptation haven’t delayed, but generally, this psychotic tackle the beloved visual novel stays consistently entertaining, puzzling, and mysterious.

21. Another

Set within the late nineties in Yomiyama Missile School.

Nearly thirty years after a horrific incident left the population in shock, Another opens with Kouichi Sakakibara transferring into the exact same class that it occurred (no spoilers).

An unusual hush hangs over the affair. That, in addition to an unusual student he meets who’s about invisible to everyone else, pushes Kouichi into a conspiracy decades within the making.

Gruesome murders and a disturbing mystery soon await him. Hooked yet?

Another was released nearly a decade ago, and it’s Final Destination-esque campy approach towards pulp horror has found many horror fans rewatching it.

20. Bakemonogatari

Koyomi Araragi is half-vampire and has dedicated himself to using his enhanced powers to assist his friends with the supernatural entities overhanging their village.

When Hitagi Senjougahara hurtles down a flight of stairs in an exceedingly graceful descent, Araragi doesn’t think to catch her. And when he does, he discovers two things: she is weightless, as light as a feather; and he or she could be a tsundere, with a tough shell built around her to hide any emotion. But the bond, and shortly Araragi begins his first relationship.

Nisioisin’s Monogatari series tells a posh character study during a non-linear way, with unique and stellar Studio Shaft production.

19. Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain tells a prophetic story of the web, social disconnection, dissociation, and collective consciousness.

All tired the way that’s more prophetic now than when it started airing in 1998.

 

Lain Iwakura is an introverted lonely teenager who has no experience with technology.

One day her class receives an unusual email from a classmate who had recently taken their life. this can be her portal to the Wire (the Internet) and a subsequent lapse of sanity.

Gradually Lain becomes increasingly paranoid, and therefore the lines between real and not begin to blur.

Short, concise, and with a number of the simplest cinematography and direction seen in an anime, Serial Experiments Lain could be a unique gem that uses the medium to its maximum potential.

18. Paprika

The device ‘DC Mini’ allows a user to dive into the dreams of people.

Atsuko Chiba and Kosaku Tokita are using this technology to alleviate the mental atypicality of patients through dream manipulation and exploration.

It’s a fabulous piece of technology, when within the right hands.

Unfortunately, it gets stolen. And it’s up to Atsuko, Toshimi, and an unusual girl called Paprika, to return things to normal.

Satoshi Kon’s masterpiece may be a technical marvel, manned by Studio Madhouse in 2006. The similarities between Inception and Paprika are startling.

But Paprika did it first and did it better.

17. Madoka Magica

One day, the happy-go-lucky Madoka Kaname and her troubled succor Sayaka Miki are offered the chance to become magical girls.

This is after an unusual and cold girl, Homura Akemi, transferred to their school. Obviously, despite Homura’s complaints, they accept the offer and are given one wish to satisfy whatever dreams they need.

The only catch is… they have to kill ‘witches.’

Gen Urobuchi’s delightfully dark and tragic deconstruction of the magical girl genre is near legendary.

This is mostly due to the narrative, but the ridiculously good production values elevate this already good anime to great levels.

16. Ergo Proxy

Set thousands of years into the longer term, after an ecological meltdown destroyed most of the world, Ergo Proxy follows Re-I Mayer within the last civilization on Earth – Romdo.

Autores are robots created to help humankind with recovering from the calamity. One day, a pandemic begins to infect units, giving them cognition and consciousness.

Re-I investigates these unusual occurrences alongside her robot companion, Iggy.

However, her life is quickly thrown into conspiracy and self-reflection. Meanwhile, Vincent Law is an Autorev mechanic who begins to suffer from weird delusions…

This story follows their journey of uncovering of Romdo’s secrets.

Equal parts Asimov and Ghost within the Shell, Ergo Proxy plays out a robotic, philosophical mystery that may constantly push your buttons. Well worth a watch.

15. Erased

This stylistic cinematic thriller will keep you guessing with strong plot points and a stunning aesthetic.

Wrongly accused of murder, Fujinuma Satoru flees the scene and runs for safety when he’s suddenly sent back in time to high school, still in possession of the memories and cognitive abilities of his future self.

With the flexibility to alter the end result of his – and other’s – lives in his hands, Satoru goes about proving his innocence whilst saving an old classmate from her cruel fate.

As Hinakuzi Kayo was abducted and killed around the same time. quite a thriller once you dive into it.

14. Shiki

Inspired by Stephen King’s masterful vampire novel ‘Salem’s Lot,’ Shiki may be a heavy-hearted story of humanity and violent decadence.

In the small village of Sotoba, a young doctor stumbles upon a mystery after a fille dies suddenly.

Soon he involves realize his village is infested with vampires, and is presented with a matter of morality and humanity.

Should he remain human and stand back? Or do something about his discovery, and ultimately begin a summer of bloodshed and murder?

Naturally, the latter.

Telling a genuinely moving anti-war narrative with wonderful music and powerful characters, Shiki will test your resolve as an empath and push your tear ducts to their limit.

13. Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan took the world by storm with its kaiju x zombie x mecha hybrid formula proving a winning one with fans worldwide.

Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert are three young kids living in a very large confine surrounded by overwhelmingly tall walls.

They’re around to stay the titans out – towering creatures that sustain themselves on human feasts.

That is until someday when a titan of gargantuan, colossal proportions, kicks a hole through the wall.

Wit Studio built their fame with this cinematic tour-de-force, with a number of the most effective music (courtesy of the legendary Hiroyuki Sawano), direction, and animation we’ve ever seen.

The final season is coming at the top of 2020, and though Studio Mappa is taking the reins, we’re optimistic it’ll conclude the epic satisfactorily.

12. The Promised Neverland

The Grace Field home is a quaint little house hidden far from society and surrounded by gates and pitfalls.

Residing within are orphans and their protectors. Or a minimum of, that’s what the children think.

Until in some unspecified time in the future, a lady is adopted. By happenstance, our protagonists find her before she leaves.

Or, they find her body, at least… and a Lovecraftian monster carting her off.

The rest of the primary season may be a suspenseful prison escape story with over simply freedom on the road.

The first season left many questions unanswered, but we’re expecting season two early in 2021. I can’t wait.

11. Future Diary

Yukiteru Amano could be a disillusioned teen stuck in his own head.

Every day he’s documenting his life with a diary on his phone.

One day, the being in his head reveals himself as a deity hosting a battle royale and declares Yukiteru a participant.

He and 12 other users are given diaries with special properties capable of perceiving the longer term. Yuki is thrown headfirst into a bloody tragedy alongside his stalker, the enigmatically frightening Yuno Gasai – another diary owner who vows to safeguard Yuki at any cost.

Constantly twisting and turning, Future Diary is random rollercoaster with an attractive premise.

10. Death Parade

After death, but before nothingness or reincarnation, you're sent to a quaint little bar in limbo to be judged.

There, the arbiters of your fate will decide what happens supported a game.

You and another decedent will randomly select one game (snooker, darts, racing) then compete.

Ultimately, the alternatives made in life will affect the result. However, overhanging the entire situation may be a bureaucracy holding a mystery for our protagonists to decode.

Studio Madhouse delivered a superb and original series from a brief film, Death Billiards. we'd like more anime like this.

9. The Garden of Sinners

 

The Garden of Sinners comprises seven achronological short films, all distinct from each other, that build to make an impactful finale.

Shiki Ryougi is torn between a murderous urge and humanist restraint.

We follow her and her relationship with Mikiya Kokutou from their teenage years to their early adulthood and see her turn from a lady on the brink of becoming a liquidator to a capable heartfelt woman striving to try and do good with the cards she’s been dealt.

The narrative structure will keep you on the sting of your seat, wondering how each bit will fit until the top.

Beautifully produced by Ufotable, The Garden of Sinners is one in all the prettiest anime out there.

My personal favorite is the fifth film, which blew my mind.

8. Mawaru Penguindrum

When the young sister of the Takakura family, Himari, is given temporary leave by the hospital, her brothers – Shouma and Kanba – commit to taking her to an aquarium.

However, she collapses, only to be revived by a hat she had previously brought from the souvenir shop. Huh? Exactly.

Now embedded with an entity demanding a ‘Penguin Drum’ for possession of her soul, Himari throws her brothers into a destiny-bound look for the mysterious and unknown.

Directed by the enigmatic Kunihiko Ikuhara, Mawaru Penguindrum is rich with metaphors, narrative, and style.

7. Land of the Lustrous

Studio Orange is the present reigning King of blending CGI and drawn animation.

The unusual, strange, wonderfully illustrated Land of the Lustrous proves this.

In an elusive future, a battle is waged between Gems(crystal-based humanoid beings) and Lunarians(a spiritual alien species hellbent on destroying them for his or her bodies).

Our main character Phos is one among the youngest and weakest gems, keen to create use of herself in an exceeding world that prioritizes confusing violence and tragedy.

This anime will leave you constantly guessing. and a few of the scenes blow you away.

It’s short and sweet and leaves you wanting more. Season two, please? Thanks.

6. The Count of Monte Cristo

Based on the writer’s novel of the identical name, though with large liberties were taken here and there, Gankutsuou may be a tale of aristocratic revenge, capitalist disillusionment, and blood money.

Albert may be a youth keen to experience life at its fullest.

But when he meets the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo at an opera performance and quickly becomes an apprentice of sorts, he soon finds himself during a decade-spanning revenge plot soaked in decadence and misfortune.

Studio Gonzo outdid themselves nearly twenty years ago with this eccentrically unique Klimpt-inspired sci-fi mystery, comprising of the many constant twists and turns.

5. Psycho-Pass

Set in 22th-century Japan, the criminal justice system has changed.

Enforcement of the Sibyl System – a qualitative metric predictor of latent criminality, remarked as Psycho-Pass – is mandatory.

We follow a gaggle of justice upholders, primarily the rookie Akane Tsunemori, as she falls deeper into the faulty system that she’s sworn to safeguard.

Like a Philip K. Dick book adapted into anime form, Psycho-Pass could be a stellar criminological mystery with constantly building momentum and a memorable climax.

4. Monster

Dr. Kenzou Tenma could be a respected neurosurgeon with an incredible future previous.

He’s during a good relationship with the hospital director, even engaged to the man’s daughter, and has many colleagues who search for him.

As Tenma begins to perform surgery on a young boy, the mayor is brought in with a lesser emergency. Tenma is pressured to modify patients, but refuses, choosing instead to save lots of the kid and suffer the social circumstance.

Nine years have passed, and Tenma has lost everything. He’s left depressed and angry.

This is all worsened when he discovers the boy he saved is now a serial killing young man.

Naoki Urasawa’s masterpiece mystery thriller is faithfully adapted into animation by Studio Madhouse in one in every of the best, most suspenseful anime ever made.

3. Death Note

One of the all-time great thriller mystery anime of all time, hands down. Light Yagami enters a contract with a God of death to amass the flexibility to murder anyone he knows my face and name, along with his soul on the road.

Already a highschool genius, Light is dissatisfied with the planet and uses his newfound power(and intellect) to realize his lofty ambitions of making a brand new world that he can rule from the shadows.

This would be a simple goal, were it not for the eye the Death Note brings to him.

Specifically, the most effective detective within the world; the elusive L, who won’t stop pursuing Light until the very end.

Constantly engaging, quick-witted, bizarre, and epic in scale. Death Note could be a brilliant supernatural cat-and-mouse tale on a world scale.

2. From The New World

This series is predicated on the 2008 novel by Yusuke Kishi.

A1-Pictures offers an amazingly directed, well-paced dystopic mystery that will keep you on the sting of your seat questioning until the very end.

The New World is about within the future and follows a gaggle of scholars in an exceedingly mysterious school for psychics.

Saki Watanabe could be a file at the start, and that we watch her uncover the mysteries of her hometown Kamisu 66 throughout her life until she’s middle-aged.

Morality and humanity are key questions overhanging the plot, so keep that in mind.

Watch this if you’re up for a slow-burning, gorgeously produced journey spanning generations.

1. Steins; Gate

Okabe Rintarou could be a college boy chuunibyou, occasionally lapsing into a mad scientist persona.

He lives atop an old TV store along with his friends performing experiments. He’s an unusual character who’s masked himself in mystique and whimsy to flee who he truly is.

One day they discover the flexibility to send text messages back in time. What follows may be a host of conspiracies, evil plots, and mysterious figures lurking within the shadows.

Whenever anyone asks me for a time travel story, I point them to Steins; Gate.

The writing is tight and it possesses near-endless rewatch value.

This series combines multiverse theory, otaku culture, strong character writing, and an unbelievable plot to supply one in every of the best – it not the best – mind-bending stories of affection and resolve spanning time and space.