31+ Anime Like Tokyo Ghoul (RECOMMENDATIONS)

Updated on: July 25, 2022
by Ernie

Hello and welcome back. I’ve missed sharing with you some gold mines! Today, we want to let you in on a secret. A secret where I tell you 32 anime similar to Tokyo Ghoul. Yup! that’s right. It’s one of my favorite lists to date. The most common genre of these shows are horror and gore, so please don’t watch them at night if you can’t handle a bit of terror.

Each of these anime has been rated highly amongst the general public so I’m sure most of you will love this selection! Let’s get started.

32. Inuyashiki

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
11/20	6/10	6/10	23/40

We all know Tokyo Ghoul represents the word “body horror” and in fact, it’s a genre! Since we’re talking about anime like Tokyo Ghoul, Inuyashiki should be included in the list. The story of Inuyashiki revolves around an old man who has no friends. One evening, this old man got struck by an out-of-earth explosion causing his body to be replaced with an incredibly strong mechanical body.

Much like Tokyo Ghoul struggling with Police Officers, Inuyashiki is a tale about the two different generations struggling with power and technology. We all know that technology is going to win at the end of the day, right? So, our MC has a very cybernetic body, almost like a robot. His robotic body doesn’t have any organs. However, he can eat and drink like a normal human being.

He’s able to use his robotic mechanisms like “alien simulators” and “alien battle hacking systems”. If you’re into the mecha genre, or even in body horror, you’re definitely going to love this anime!

31. Another

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
13/20	6/10	6/10	25/40

Here’s ANOTHER anime similar to Tokyo Ghoul. While Tokyo Ghoul had some intense action with really horror aspects, Another is not less than Tokyo Ghoul. It also has so many horror scenes that will give you goosebumps. Now, let me tell you a bit about this anime.

The plot of Another revolves around a young man who goes by the name, Koichi Sakakibara. He transfers into a brand new school where he finds himself involved with a very mysterious girl. This anime will show you a series of gruesome events. So, if you’re a fan of the horror genre, give this anime a chance and it won’t disappoint you!

30. Psycho Pass

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
13/20	7/10	6/10	26/40

Moving on, we have Psycho-Pass. This anime is set in the technical world of Sibyl System’s Governance of Japan. It follows the story of a young woman named Akane Tsunemori who is introduced as a novice inspector. She’s assigned to Division One of the Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Division.

Following the events of such criminal cases with the spice of thrill in them, I’m sure you’re going to love watching Psycho-Pass. This anime will also show you different, weird-looking creatures that will leave your mouth opened! So, give it a try.

29. Attack On Titan

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
13/20	7/10	7/10	27/40

This wholesome anime which is very hard to hate is quite similar to Tokyo Ghoul in a way that it also has many gore scenes and large ghoul-like creatures. These creatures are known as TITANS. YES, those giant people.

I doubt people haven’t watched this anime. If you haven’t watched Attack On Titan, let me enlighten you with its plot. The story revolves around our main character named Eren Jaeger who has to avenge his mother’s death. And that can only be obtained by fighting the titans. However, the plot is not as simple as it seems.

When you’ll start watching Attack On Titan, you’re going to see so many plot twists, gore scenes, and character development! AOT is undoubtedly one of the best anime ever made!

28. No.6

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
13/20	7/10	7/10	27/40

Shion is an honor student who one day saves a boy named Rat after witnessing him intrude in his house. Not only does Rat make himself at home in Shion’s house by walking around his wet shoes and bleeding arm, but he also shows Shion the hospitality of trying to choke him to death. What a lovely guest.

Rat is being chased by the government for an unknown reason. Rat’s very existence is a threat to this well-ordered world. What was peculiar about Rat and Shion’s encounter was that Shion was willing to help Rat. Rat did not need to assert violence because Shion wanted to protect him from the very start.

27. Death Parade

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
14/20	6/10	7/10	27/40

Death Parade has a rather interesting plot as compared to the other anime like Tokyo Ghoul. This series focuses on mysterious bars and people dying mysterious deaths. The story revolves around Decim who is a lone bartender. Whenever someone dies, they’re sent to this bar and he has to serve as a judge. Like, how weirdly cool is that?

26. From The New World

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
14/20	7/10	7/10	28/40

If you’re into the stories where they take the characters into a whole new world, you’re definitely going to love watching this anime! It tells the story of friends who are taken to a whole new world. Now, in that new world, they are tackled with many life-threatening situations and have to protect their friends side-by-side, along with exploring that world.

Will they be able to protect each other? To know more, watch this anime!

25. Future Diary (Mirai Nikki)

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
14/20	7/10	7/10	28/40

Future Diary also known as Mirai Nikki is a horror, thriller, and a dark-fantasy anime. If you’ve been a huge fan of Tokyo Ghoul, you’re definitely going to love watching Future Diary. It tells us the story of an average high-schooler who is given a very special diary where he can read the future. The God of Time & Space called Deus Ex Machina, becomes his heir. The appearance of this god will definitely give you the chills!

24. Beyond The Boundary

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	7/10	7/10	29/40

Beyond The Boundary is a supernatural anime that revolves around a high-schooler named Akihito Kanbara who instantly goes to save his school-fellow. Mirai. Actually, he thinks that Mirai is comitting suicide which leaves him dumbfounded. Will he be able to save Mirai or let him die? To find out, watch Beyond The Boundary! Just Like Tokyo Ghoul, it will show you guys the personal responsibilities of characters but of course, in a very cute way.

23. Gantz

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	7/10	7/10	29/40

Much like a typical isekai anime where the MC gets transferred into a gaming world, Kei Kurono and Masaru die in a train accident which makes them transfer into a gaming world which is completely different from the world they’re living in. Now, in this world, they have to tackle many obstacles and have to work hard to survive. Will they be able to survive in a completely new world of gaming?

22. March Comes in Like A Lion

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	7/10	7/10	29/40

March Comes in Like A Lion has a rather sad story. It tells us the struggles of a 17-years-old guy named Rei Kiriyama. He’s a teenager yet the problems he’s facing are very adult-like. Therefore, he has to work hard to survive in this harsh world.

March Comes in Like A Lion has almost the same main characters. Kaneki and Rei Kiriyama are quite similar in that they have to work hard to survive. They’re faced with adult problems like financial difficulties, depression, anxiety, and whatnot. So, if you liked watching Tokyo Ghoul, March Comes in Like A Lion is the next step for you. I hope you guys will watch it. Do let me know in the comments what you think about this anime!

21. The Promised Neverland

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	7/10	8/10	30/40

Promised Neverland is focused on three best friends named Emma, Ray, and Norman. They all live together in a center with other children and only one adult named Mama. It seems like the perfect place for kids to have fun and play without a care in the world.

Although their intelligence is constantly tested upon, no one has any complaints. Nobody questions why Mama is the only adult they have ever seen or why the children that leave never come back. So what will happen when Emma becomes curious?

20. Devil’s Line

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	7/10	9/10	31/40

Anzai is a vampire, and in this world, vampires don’t need blood. Hmm, that’s quite unusual. But here is the catch, extreme emotions can stimulate bloodlust. Unlike most vampires, Anzai is a hybrid between humans and his fellow blood-drinking species.

Tsukasa Taira is a university student who later finds out that one of her longtime friends is a vampire during an encounter with Anzai. As the plot progresses, Tsukasa can’t help herself but be drawn to Anzai. How will Anzai react when he has the overwhelming urge to devour Tsukasa?

19. Nura: Rise Of The Yokai Clan

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	8/10	9/10	32/40

The main character of Nurarihyon’s Grandchild is Rikuo Nura who is a 25% yokai and 75% human. Like any family, he lives with his relatives and grandfather, who are all yokai!

Rikuo doesn’t want to succumb to his yokai blood, so he tries to do good deeds. His grandfather is clearly against this as he wants his grandson to take his place as the Third Head of the Nura Clan. However, Rikou cares for humans. He is not like the other yokai.

Like Kaneki, Rikuo is battling with his blood for his humanity. Although both MCs are not fully human, that’s not stopping them from fighting so desperately for it.

18. guilty crown

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
15/20	8/10	9/10	32/40

Guilty Crown is set around 2029 (eight years from now!) where the Apocalypse Virus spreads all over Japan. This evokes Japan to fall into a state known as Lost Christmas chaos. GHQ, an international organization saves Japan, however, the cost is the country’s independence.

Ten years later, Shu Ouma meets Inori Yuzuriha who is the lead singer of the group Egoist. Like any high school boy, Shu is thrilled to befriend Inori. But I wonder how he will react when he discovers Inori is also part of a resistance group named Funeral Parlor aimed at restoring Japan’s liberation from GHQ?

17. B: The Beginning

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	8/10	9/10	33/40

B: The Beginning is set on the island of Cremona where there is a killer known as Killer B who takes justice into his own hands. Both Tokyo Ghoul and B: The Beginning show mutants causing chaos and the police force scurrying around trying to solve all the murder cases that are piling on top of them.

The RIS or the Royal Investigation Service reaches out to Keith Flick who is a peculiar but effective detective! Oh, that rhymed. I digress. Keith along with Lily his sidekick and surprisingly Killer B embark on a series of mysteries that unravel the cover of human experiments, domestic terrorism, and secret organizations.

B: The Beginning questions trust between team members, government corruption and dominance as well as the principle of justice.

16. Pupa

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	8/10	9/10	33/40

Like Tokyo Ghoul, Pupa is focused on the disturbing yearn for humans. Also, both main characters undergo physical and mental torture throughout their respective series. I didn’t think I could have such affinity with these characters as I do now.

The siblings Utsutsu and Yume Hasegawa were abandoned by their abusive parents. The siblings are left by themselves only to encounter red butterflies. As they see these red butterflies, they become infected by the Pupa virus.

15. Blue Exorcist

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	9/10	9/10	34/40

Blue Exorcist is a nostalgic anime that I hold close to my soul. Its plot is comedic, but it also doesn’t fail on bringing a serious tone when the moment demands it.

Rin and his twin brother are raised by a priest in a church. Everything is nice and dandy, only to have them find out that they are not humans. They are demons! Boy, that priest really had me fooled in the beginning. I saw a poster of a demonic Rin before I watched the anime. I thought that was just an edit!

Rin and his brother are the sons of Satan, so not just any old demon. They are the inheritors of Satan’s powers!

14. Demon Slayer

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	9/10	9/10	34/40

Nezukoooooooo! Oh, I love her so much! She’s one of my favorite female protagonists in anime, in general.

Demon Slayer is about a boy named Tanjiro Kamado who lives a peaceful life with his family. But it no longer is peaceful when one day he comes back from selling charcoal and finding out his entire family was slaughtered by a demon.

Nezoku, his sister, is the only survivor. But, to his dismay, he notices that Nezuko is no longer a human. She is instead a demon. Along with Nezuko, Tanjiro sets off on a journey to figure out how to bring his beloved human sister back.

13. Jujutsu Kaisen

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	9/10	9/10	34/40

Oh my God. This was so hyped when it was released, and for the first time ever, I agree that the hype was much deserved. Jujutsu Kaisen is comedic anime that is centered around curses, supernatural abilities, and demons.

Itadori is the main character of JuJutsu Kaisen is a high school student (at this point, assume every anime I talk about is focused on a high school mc because this getting repetitive).

He either must join a secret organization named Jujutsu Sorcerers or get killed. All this because he ate a finger of a powerful curse named Ryomen Sukuna. Yeah, he ate a finger. Here I thought eating your nails is gross. I can only assume that that was not tasty. Who knows when Sukuna last cleaned those clippers of his!

12. Devilman Crybaby

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	10/10	9/10	35/40

Akira Fudo is a high school student who has a big crush on his childhood friend Miki, and he is a crybaby. Sounds simple, right? Well, it’s not. Akira is also Ryo Asuka who loves to go on a bunch of expeditions. Ryo lets it slip that he discovered demons, and now Akira gets curious. Akira has lived a very plain life, so obviously he wants to go with Ryo to see these demons.

But what happens when Akira gets too involved in their excursion and he ends up becoming a demon himself?

This anime heavily deals with gore, blood, and dysmorphia. It’s not recommended for the ones with a weak soul. Stay away, weak HOOMANS.

11. D.Gray-Man

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	10/10	9/10	35/40

It tells us the story of Allen Walker who joins the organizations of exorcists. They use an ancient substance known as INNOCENCE to fight Millenium Earl. And that substance can end up killing humanity. What will happen now? Will the humanity get destroyed?

10. Seraph of the end

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	10/10	9/10	35/40

Owari no Seraph is about a world where a deadly virus suddenly shows up and wipes out most of humanity. Bear with me, although it does sound generic, Owari no Seraph has such a riveting plot.

Since most of humanity is gone, it made it a whole lot easier for vampires to come and enslave them. The main character of Owari no Seraph is Yuichiro Hyaku who is an orphan. He lives at the orphanage with other children and his best friend Mikaela. Yuichiro, Mikaela, and the rest decide to escape the orphanage that the vampire control and venture to the outside world. However, their escape was in vain.

Both Owari no Seraph and Tokyo Ghoul deal with supernatural powers where there is a conflict between humans and mutants. The animation and fight scenes are top-notch. There are only 24 episodes which is not enough!

9. Elfen Lied

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
16/20	10/10	9/10	35/40

Elfen Lied is a complex anime that deals with revenge, jealousy, greed, identity crisis, and social seclusion. This anime touched my heart, and then it proceeded to stomp all over it. Elfen Lied displays mature content, so I recommend you watch this if you are eighteen or older.

Elfen Lied is about the interactions between humans and Diclonius which are mutant humans that have horns. Lucy is the first-ever Diclonius, thus you would assume she is being protected and cared for. WRONG! Lucy is instead rejected by humans. Her story is just too much for me to even imagine.

Tokyo Ghoul and Elfen Lied deal with the moral question of “Is it acceptable for me to kill this person” and you also see this battle between superpowers in both anime.

8. Claymore

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
17/20	10/10	9/10	36/40

Claymore is anime that follows the journey of Clare. Clare is a Claymore or otherwise know as a half-human. Like Kaneki, she isn’t 100% human. Clare and her friends are fighting to survive in the series. They battle with Yoma or shapeshifting demons.

Claymore is definitely worth a watch, so I highly suggest you free a night!

7. Death Note

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
17/20	10/10	9/10	36/40

Both Kaneki and Light, who is the main character of Death Note, have stumbled across supernatural abilities. Kaneki’s powers live off of human flesh, whereas Light has the ability to determine a person’s fate by writing their name down in the notebook.

Light is definitely a lot darker than Kaneki in terms of ethics. Did you get my subtle joke in there? Light? Dark? Oh well, that is not the main topic of this discussion. Light is obsessed with justice and judgment, that he believes he is capable of determining one’s fate for the sake of the world.

6. Hellsing

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
18/20	10/10	9/10	37/40

The purpose of Hellsing was to locate and destroy the supernatural forces of evil and all forms of the undead that threatened the queen. Hellsing is a secret organization belonging to the British government. Hellsing is led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Hellsing who inherited the title after her father’s death.

My friend, when I watched Hellsing, it had the same if not more epic aura of gore and horror as Tokyo Ghoul. It is such a great Dark Fantasy anime with the best vampires I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s definitely a step up from the Twilight franchise that’s for sure.

5. Akame Ga Kill

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
18/20	10/10	9/10	37/40

Both Akame ga Kill and Tokyo Ghoul’s main characters are put in a tricky situation where it leads them to join an organization against their will.

Tatsumi, the mc, is looking to earn some coins for his family. He fails to enlist in the army, and he loses whatever money he has left! Poor dude. Tatsumi is then ‘saved’ by a group of nobles who seem to be in his best interests, but of course, they just want to torture him.

The man just can’t catch a break. In the end, he is rescued by a group of Assassins known as the Night Raid. Just like Kaneki, Tatsumi joins the organization as a way to protect himself despite not wanting to.

4. Shiki

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
18/20	10/10	9/10	37/40

Both Tokyo Ghoul and Shiki deal with the battle between humans and other abnormal beings.

Shiki takes place in a small, secluded town in Japan called Sotoba. In Sotoba, there is a series of unknown and unimaginable death that occurs. Toshio Ozaki is the head of the only hospital in Sotoba. Determined to figure the cause of these deaths, he begins to investigate.

What he didn’t expect to find are Shikis or ‘corpse demons’. The guy is bewildered, and quite frankly, I don’t blame him. The man studied Medicine for years, and I’m sure not once did he come across demons in his Physiology textbook!

3. Deadman Wonderland

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
18/20	10/10	9/10	37/40

Deadman Wonderland is a classic anime to watch. It’s exciting, and borderline terrifying too. Ganta Igarashi and his classmates planned to go on a field trip to Deadman Wonderland which is a prison amusement park. Convicts there perform dangerous acts. I don’t know why they thought it was a good idea to frolic around criminals, but hey, it made a great anime.

Unsurprisingly, things south when Ganta and his class visit Deadman Wonderland. His entire class is slaughtered by a mysterious fellow cloaked in red. Ganta is framed for the crime and thus sentenced to death in Deadman Wonderland.

Like Kaneki, Ganta is now living what he despises most- a life only towards death.

2. Parasyte

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
18/20	10/10	10/10	38/40

Parasyte is about parasitic aliens that have invaded Earth with the objective of infiltrating human brains. Once these aliens burrow into the brains of their targets, they have complete control over their hosts. Not only that, but these parasites can also morph their host’s body in order to feed on other victims!

Shinichi Izumi is a sixteen-year-old high school student who unfortunately falls prey to one of the aliens. But guess what? He doesn’t lose control over his mind! The Parasite actually homes in his right hand instead of his brain. Sounds kind of like Kaneki and his battle with the Ghoul Rize, right?

1. Ajin

Similarity	Action	Gore	Total
20/20	10/10	10/10	40/40

Both the main characters of Tokyo Ghoul and Ajin become types of human mutants. Ajins are mysterious immortals whereas Ghouls have this defense mechanism.

Kei Nagai is a high schooler that wants to become a doctor. He doesn’t listen in class whenever Ajins are brought up, so how will he react when he somehow is rebirthed to one? Kids, stay in school and pay attention! Who knows, you may become a Ghoul or an Ajin!

Comment Down Below

I hope you liked this list of anime similar to Tokyo Ghoul. Personally, you don’t need to know like Tokyo Ghoul to get into one of these shows. Although the themes and genre are about the same, each has its own unique and entertaining plot. I strongly recommend watching some if not all of these shows!