Updated August 19, 2022 by Ernie

Avant-Garde Anime are definitely not your average horror, psychological or dark anime. They’re very bold in depicting their stories and tend to make the viewers think outside of the box. They’re the kind of anime that are definitely not for the average and feeble minded. So, if you think you have a creative and refined mind, let us recommend you a few Avant-Garde anime that are going to leave a great impact on your mind!

BEST AVANT-GARDE ANIME

15. Theatre of Darkness: Yami Shibai

Yami Shibai introduces us to a mysterious storyteller whose origin is unknown. He’s wearing a yellow creepy mask. He always comes when the night falls and tells children horror stories about popular Japanese Urban Legends. The children listen to his stories keenly. He even uses a “Kamishibai”, which is a traditional Japanese paper device in order to visualize his stories. Yami Shibai is a series of short horror stories that the storyteller tells to his young audience every night. The stories are eerily disturbing and the audience seems to be very fascinated by them. 

14. Mind Game

This anime tells us the story of Nishi who comes across his high school crush, Myon, who is now engaged to someone else. Nishis still has feelings for her. He wants to meet Myon’s fiance to which she agrees and takes him to her Yakitori restaurant. As they arrive at the restaurant, a bunch of yakuzas storm in and try to assault Myon. Nishi tries to save her but ends up getting killed in the process. When Nishi opens his eyes, he meets a god who makes fun of him as he dies. The god tells Nishi to walk through a portal and that’s how he will be able to stop existing. But Nishi doesn’t listen to him and gets reincarnated. Nishi is now a changed person who will live his life differently. 

13. Boogiepop Phantom

Boogiepop and Others tells us about urban legends that the children talk about with each other. His name is Boogiepop and he takes people’s sufferings away and lets them die peacefully, he’s the “Angel of Death”. A bunch of female students from the Shinyo Academy disappear out of nowhere. The police officers are not taking the disappearances seriously as they believed that the girls wanted to run away from their homes. However, Nagi Kirima knows something sinister is lurking. Could it be Boogiepop or something else? 

12. PenguinDrum

PenguinDrum introduces us to Kamba Takakura and Shouma Takakura who have been looking after his sick sister, Himari,  ever since their parents disappeared. However, their sister dies despite them taking care of her really well. However, as the two boys are grieving, Himari wakes up but with a penguin hat on her head. Suddenly, the three of them get transported to a strange world where the penguin hat using Himari’s body gives a task to the brothers. They’re supposed to look for the Penguin Drum and in return, their sister’s life will be saved. The two of them start looking for the Penguin Drum immediately but they’re not the only ones who are looking for it. Evil forces are going all out and are everywhere. Will the brothers be able to save the life of their beloved sister? 

11. Cat Soup

Cat Soup is a 30-minute OVA which tells us the story of two kittens who embark on a journey to find one of their lost souls. Nyatto is the cat who tried to save her sister from dying but her soul was ripped into two pieces. Both Nyatto and his sister, who is half-dead now, meet new people along the way and get into very disturbing situations. This is one of the most disturbing and bizarre horror anime to date. 

10. Higurashi When They Cry

Higurashi When They Cry is a story about a high school boy named Maebara Keiichi who moved to a small village named Hinamizawa. He also transferred to one of the schools there. Maebara ends up befriending a group of girls from whom he spent most of his free time. The village was very peaceful but suddenly, the peace of the village was disrupted when disturbing events started taking place every now and then. The girls knew about the village’s sinister secret and had been hiding it from Maebara. That’s how Maebara gets himself involved in a  vicious cycle of fear and insanity. 

9. Angel’s Egg

Angel’s Egg takes us to an abandoned city where a little girl is wandering around, searching for something. The girl herself is very mysterious because she’s carrying a giant egg inside her dress.As she spends her days roaming around, she comes across a warrior who has lost all the memories of his past and travels lonely, without any aim. The two of them don’t really trust each other as they don’t have any identity. However, both of them travel together now. 

8. Paprika

Paprika introduces to us a strange device that makes a person travel inside a patient’s dreams in order to heal him. Paprika is the one who travels inside the dreams and is very skilled at her profession. However, there’s a threat in the form of the “Dream Terrorists” who adds nightares inside the minds of those who use the device for healing purposes. Now, the nightmares they have are very disturbing. They leave their victims in a very bad state and they’re not able to come out of it very easily. Paprika takes it upon herself to save the people from these disturbing nightmares and face the dream terrorist once and for all. 

7. Devilman: Crybaby

Devilman:Crybaby tells us the story of a man named Akira Fudo who gets to know about the existence of Demons who want to take control of the world. Akira gets to know about this from his friend named Ryo. Ryo also tells Akira that he must unite with a demon in order to be able to defeat them. Akira agrees and becomes a Devilman after uniting with a demon. Now, he is a demon himself but possesses the soul of a human. That’s where his war against the demons begins. 

6. Paranoia Agent

Paranoia agent takes us to the city of Musashino where a boy named “Shounen Bat” smashes his baseball bat in people’s heads. A lot of people fell victim to his bat. It seems like he can never be caught. The two detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsushiro Maniwa start looking into the identity of this boy. However, he never lets anybody follow him nor falls victim to their traps. Will the two detectives be able to unveil his identity or will they also fall victim to his deadly golden baseball bat?

5. Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue tells us the story of a pop idol named Mima who decided to leave her group. However, a certain someone is obsessed with her and they don’t like the fact that Mima is leaving her group. She gets frequent death threats and there’s even a website that monitors every move of hers. There are also a lot of murders going on in town and this makes her paranoid. Her life has become a nightmare and she’s waiting for her demise. Will she be able to get out of this vicious cycle of fear?

4. FLCL

FLCL introduces us to an average guy named Naota Nanbada who is bored of his life. However, one day, a strange girl comes close to her on her scooter and smacks his face with her guitar. After this instance, when Naoto goes home, he finds that girl inside his house. She claims to be an alien who is looking for the “Pirate King”. That’s when Naoto’s boring life became exciting to the point he thought it was better to have a boring life instead. 

3. Serial Experimentation Lain

This anime tells us the story of a girl named Lain Iwakura who recieves an email from her friend Chisa who had committed suicide a few days ago. As she opens the email, she gets deeply involved in the world of the Wired. She gets deeper and deeper into the world of the internet to the point she couldn’t differentiate between what is real and what is not. She comes across a lot of mysteries one by one and that’s when her life turns upside down.  

2. Mononoke

Mononoke takes us to the time of feudal Japan where evil spirits had wreaked havoc everywhere. The evil spirits were known as Mononoke. There’s only one person who could face the Mononoke. He is an ordinary medicine seller who possesses a very strong exorcism sword. The Medicine Seller has now the key to humanity’s future. 

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion takes us to the future where humanity has faced the biggest loss due to an event named the Second Impact. As the former Tokyo had been destroyed, a new Tokyo by the name of Tokyo 3 has risen up. Mysterious creatures named the “Angels” are now attacking the city and the only things that could face them are giant robots named the Evangelions.Now, it’s up to Shinji, Rei and Asuka to pilot these robots and take down these Angels that are being a constant threat to the humanity. 

Conclusion

The Avant-Garde anime always give an air of mystery and are very exciting to watch. Paired up with horror, fantasy, mecha or dark genres, these anime are unbeatable. I hope you liked this list. Comment down below your favorite Avant-Garde anime. We’ll come back with more recommendations. See you in the next blog!