Keeping up the Halloween-ie vibe, I thought we could toss around who the most terrifying character in anime is… to you. Mwahahhaha!!!
Fear is absolutely subjective, so everybody’s idea of a frightening character will be different. To me, a terrifying character is one who looks just like you and me. Someone who can live next door and who you’d say “G’morning,” to on your way to work. Someone who will feed your cat and pick up your mail while you’re away. Then said character goes inside his quaint bungalow and tortures…something…for hours on end.
Thankfully, I haven’t seen many characters in anime who fit that description. Anime is so incredibly imaginative and diverse, that most of the time you can visually appraise who’s “bad” or “evil” by how they look.
I’m telling ya’ it’s the quite, unassuming characters who blend in and aren’t the least bit suspect who are the most frightening to me. Those are the ones who take a gal home and throw her down into an empty well with a bottle of lotion…“It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again!”
Oh yeah, those folks and clowns. Clowns are hands down the scariest thing on the planet that wears human form…
What kind of characters in anime give you the willies? Is there a certain stereotype that makes your skin crawl? Has an anime character or character type been so repulsive to you, it actually sends shivers down your spine? Who’s the scariest character/s in anime…to you?
Hmm…I guess my take would be…the MPEs that appeared in End of Evangelion…or more recently that freaky looking Japanese doll in Kon Satoshi’s Paprika.
Johann Liebert from Monster.
If I were to ever meet him I would just go ahead and kill myself to avoid the inevitable world of suffering that would follow from coming into contact with him.
Hmm, I am hot for Johann Liebert *because* he is scary.
Aside from that, I find Ooba from Kemonozume really scary, he’s probably one of the most evil characters anime has ever produced.
I gotta tell you…mine is Pierrot le Fou, AKA “The Mad Pierrot” from episode 20 of Cowboy Bebop. That whole episode TOTALLY creeped me out. I had nightmares about him forever! T_T
Urado from case 7 of Ghost Hunt…. hands down.
I think I’m going to try Chris N from now on.
Anyways, scariest character. Hmm… How about that little blue haired sadist from Gantz? I guess he might be more disturbing than scary though.
Maybe the shrieking girls from the American dub of Totoro?
I’d have to agree with David regarding Perrot le Fou. No nightmares, but I found myself rewatching that episode over and over again to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
I think lil slugger in Paranoia Agent is pretty freakin scary.
To me the scariest/evil character in anime was the mad king Hamdo from the Now and Then, Here and There. He is totally insane and paranoid, and he uses torture, rape, and murder to keep his child soldiers in line and under control. I was never so happy when meet his end in episode thirteen.
@blauereiter, the MPEs were creepy but they wouldn’t keep me up at night the way the doll you mention would. Possessed childhood toys are much more disturbing than mechs gone wrong, IMO- I had a demonic Speak-’n- Spell when I was a child, which would randomly make disconnected drawling spellings at night. My parents refused to get rid of the thing and I was stuck with it until it accidentally “broke”. Ever since then, the thought of a possessed toy makes me shudder.
@Shirukii and Sasa, haven’t seen Monster but I’ve flipped through the manga. Looks interesting.
@David, no argument here that he’s a creepy dude!
@Voodoomage, why is Urado so scary to you?
@Chris N, yeah the kid from Gantz is more creepy than scary. I still wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley, though.
@griever, I re-watched that episode multiple times too! I think it’s because I was so fascinated by the concept.
@Andrew, still haven’t seen Paranoia Agent T_T.
@Chris K. dear lord you’re so right! I hated, hated, hated that guy. But he would be more pathetic than scary if he wasn’t a power figure.