Hi, all! I'm planning a Gothic Horror in Anime/Manga panel for a con next year, and I'd like to get a head start by collecting recs! For those of you unfamiliar with its origins and MO, Gothic horror is a subgenre of the Romantic movement of the 18th century and is basically the foundation of modern supernatural and horror fiction. Characterized by a general dark ambiance, oftentimes with romantic (the "love" kind this time xD) undertones, Gothic fiction is also well-known for the following tropes and themes: distressed damsels and crazy women, impetuous and gallant heroes, tyrannical figures, wild and abandoned landscapes and ruins, incest and other "taboo" forms of love, torture and confinement, hauntings and other supernatural occurrences, paranormal creatures and monsters, tragic circumstances and dark pasts, and a general tone of dreariness and/or foreboding. Mind, it doesn't have to include all of these tropes, or even a good many of them, just so long as the ones it does employ are in particular focus. Much of the Gothic is in the atmosphere, after all! Gothic horror also tends toward the "terror" side on the "Terror Vs. Horror" scale (terror being more creepy, unsettling, uncanny, incomprehensible, surreal, etc. as opposed to horror, which is more disgust and comprehensible fear -- a ghost as opposed to a murder, for example).

Famous Gothic works include: Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Dracula, Northanger Abbey, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde, House of the Seven Gables, The Picture of Dorian Gray... and many more.

Manga that would count as Gothic: Dokuhime, Monster, Pandora Hearts, Sugar Dark - Umerareta Yami to Shoujo, Blood Parade, Pet Shop of Horrors, Dolls Code, Kuroshitsuji, She Loved Him, and He Loved Himself, and pretty much anything written by Yuki Kaori and Mihara Mitsukazu.

Gothic fiction traditionally has a Romantic or Victorian setting (paying homage to the movement's origins), but contemporary Gothic works can have more modern settings as well. The Gaslamp Fantasy subgenre is a more modern take on the Gothic, for example.

So pretty much, I'm looking for anything with strong Gothic themes and elements. If you're not sure if a manga is Gothic or not, go ahead and suggest it anyway! Just remember that I'm looking more for "creepy" and less for "gruesome" -- again, think "eerie haunted mansion" over "pile of dismembered corpses." (I don't think my stomach could handle the latter. )

________________


"Now, everything is... just..."

writer | librarian | critic

I had no idea you could count Monster among those titles! But that's probably 'cos whenever I think "goth horror" I always think josei and shoujo, and not so much seinen.

Now on to the recs:

Yumekui Kenbun - Has an ambience very similar to PSoH.
Horror Collector
Sekaioni
Chang An Huan Ye
Plant Doll -- Some people claim that PSoH is a rip-off of this, but imo PSoH is a lot better, with the creepy mood much more nicely done, probably because Plant Doll's too romantic to be truly creepy. But that's just me, and since I actually find many of Kago Shintaro's works palatable, you shouldn't take my word on it ^_^
Yuureitou
School Ningyo
Kenja no Ishi
Zangekikan -- Might be more horror than terror; individual stories fluctuate between the two.
Ghost Hunt
Motto, Ikitai...
Vandemieru no Tsubasa
xxxHoLic
Boogiepop wa Warawanai
Kaidan to Odorou
Yoru no Kakaku
Crimson Cross
Bokurano -- Maybe. But it's more sci-fi than supernatural, so a bit iffy in that sense. Ditto for Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (Novel), Getenrou, and Shin Sekai yori (Novel)
Diabolo
Adekan
Houkago Hokenshitsu sounds very fitting, but I haven't actually read it, so...
Soil
Sugiru Juunana no Haru
Akumu no Elevator
K no Souretsu
Toukei Ibun
Homunculus -- Maybe. But this is a very difficult manga to classify. More psychological than true horror, imo.
Doll Star
Panorama Toukitan
Kasane (Matsuura Daruma)
Conductor
Marie no Kanaderu Ongaku
The Tarot Cafe
Nijigahara Holograph
Himizu
Inugami
Discommunication: Seireihen
Utsubora
Vampire Juujikai
Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse (Novel)
Zoo (Novel)
Hyakki Yakoushou -- Might be a bit too tame to fit, now that I think about it.
Swweeet
Goth
Yami no Kodou, Tantei Aoneko, Kaibutsu Ouji and Baroque Chrysalis -- Based on your forum comments (lol, not a stalker or anything; your username's just very memorable) you're okay with BL, but if not, feel free to ignore these.

Author recs: Takahashi Yousuke , Nishioka Kyoudai

If you're also looking for anime:

- Mouryou no Hako
- Mononoke
- Jigoku Shoujo
- Boogiepop wa Warawanai (anime)
- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika
- Red Garden
- Perfect Blue
- Paprika

Will edit if I find more.

Last edited by calstine at 5:42 am, Mar 21 2015

Ohh wow, that's a whole lot of recs!! Thank you so much!! And yup, Monster definitely counts as a more modern variant -- it is based on Frankenstein, after all! And you're right -- shoujo and josei are definitely going to have a lot of it because of the romantic undertones. ^^ Thanks so much again! =)

(And yup, totally fine with BL and GL, just so long as they're not too explicit for this panel. xD)

________________


"Now, everything is... just..."

writer | librarian | critic

Some more finds:

Chronicles of the Grim Peddler
Misu Misou
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (Novel) (there are also manga and anime adaptations of the same name; you might prefer one of those) and its prequel, Ukikumo Shinrei Kitan (Novel)
Nekurogu
Innocent W
The Pale Horse
Paperweight Eye
Song of the Doll -- Maybe. Haven't read it yet to confirm.
Zone-00
DOLL: IC in a Doll
Le Chevalier d'Éon
Void's Enigmatic Mansion -- Maybe
Teizokurei Daydream
The Voynich Hotel -- More black humour than anything truly serious, though.

Anime: Gankutsuou


Last edited by calstine at 12:26 am, Mar 28 2015