Top 30 Best Spiritual Anime
Anime gives us a great escape, sometimes it can provide light entertainment, but other times it can provide us with much more profound meaning. Spiritual anime lets us dive deeper into more philosophical and thought provoking story lines.
Here are the top 30 best spiritual anime shows for you to try out:
1. Blue Exorcist
Assiah and Gehenna are two spiritual worlds. Gehenna is ruled by Satan, who wishes to travel the realms. However the only way to travel between the realms is by possession of a worthy host. Rin is an ordinary, run of the mill teenager, but one day he is ambushed by demons and finds out he is the son of Satan. Instead of joining his father in the fight to destroy Gehenna, he decides to train as an exorcist, in order to fight for Assiah, with his brother Yukio. It is a story of good vs evil, and how sometime the line isn’t as clear as we think.
2. Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin
Created by the Great Seven, a group headed by Nanana Ryuugajou, Nanae Island was man-made to train and educate children. It was a place for them to chase their dreams. Juugo Yama is exiled and disowned by his family, and finds himself happy to start over on the island. When he moves into his new room, he encounters the ghost of Nanana Ryuugajou. She explains to him that her death was a murder that has gone unsolved for 10 years, and she has left items with mysterious powers all over the island. With the help of his friend Tensai Ikkyuu and Daruku Hoshino, Juugo sets out to solve her murder.
3. xxxHOLiC
Kimihiro Watanuki both dislikes and is bothered by his abilities to see spirits and supernatural beings. One day he is on his way home, being bombarded by the usual spirits, but he is overcome by an urge to enter a strange house. In this house he comes across Yuuko, a woman who claims she can rid him of his ability to see ghosts. In return for working at her store, she will grant him his wish to be rid of his spiritual connection. This sets up for weird and mysterious events.
4. Ghost Slayers Ayashi
The anime is set in the year Tenpo 14, a year in which monsters come from another world to attack Edo. The Bansha Aratemesho fight against these monsters, but to members of the public they are only known to be studious people. However they dedicate their lives to running out the Yoi. The Ayakashi warriors look for odd events around the country and find signs of Yoi presence, and then destroy them before too much harm is done. While they are heroic, they are also a very strange group of people, but they possess incredible powers to battle against the Yoi.
5. InuYasha
Kagome Higurashi is an average fifteen year, that is until she is pulled into a cursed well on her family’s Shinto shrine by demons. Falling down the well, she finds herself 500 years in the past, in the middle of the Segoku period in Japan. She possesses a wish-granting jewel, the Shikon jewel that the demons want. The jewel ends up shattering, and with the help of a young half demon half human named Inuyasha, she seeks to recover the missing pieces of the jewel and keep it away from the demons. She teams up with Shippo the fox demon, Miroku the monk and Sango the demon slayer along the way.
6. Natsume Yuujichou
Takashi Natsume who is a boy who can see youkai, and has been able to since he was young. He has a bodyguard name Youkai Madara, who seeks to help him on his mission. Natsume sets out to return the names written in his Book of Friends to youkai in his village, He inherited the book from his grandmother. The adventures he finds along the way are enlightening, and he learns that some youkai are friendly, and others would steal the book, and other seek to kill him.
7. The Young Spirit Master
Masahiro is the grandchild of Abe no Seimei, the great onmyouji. Masahiro loses the most important feature for an onmyouji – his sixth sense, the ability to see supernatural beings. This forces him to seek out a different life and find a different career path, but one day a mononoke appears, Mokkun, who helps him find his true power when fighting. This spurs Masahiro, along with the help from Mokkun, to take on the task to one day become the world’s greatest onmyouji.
8. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
Also known as Spirited Away, this anime is one of the most popular ever made. It centres around Chihiro Ogino who is a spoiled and stubborn ten year old girl. On their way to their new house, she and her parents find an abandoned amusement park. Upon eating the food, her parents turn into pigs and she crosses over into the spirit world. She then needs to find the will and strength to work and survive among the spirits, and she makes a friend in Haku along the way. The story follows the young girl as she battles to survive, and save her parents and herself.
9. Hell Girl
Hell Correspondence is a website that can only be accessed at midnight. If someone’s name is entered into the website, that person will be sent straight to hell. Ai Enma is known as Hell Girl. She exacts revenge upon these names written to be sent to hell, and does not care if they deserve the punishment or not. Using three straw dolls, she swiftly deals with the job at hand. There is a catch – as payment for her services, the user condemns their own lives to an afterlife in hell.
10. Hotarubi no Mori e
Hotaru Takegawa is a six year old girl who is intrigued by the story of a mountain god. When visiting her uncle, she becomes lost in the ancient forest. After a while she becomes exhausted and desperate for any help, she comes across a masked forest spirit, Gin. Soon she learns that she should not touch the boy, and if she does, he will disappear. Gin helps Hotaru find her way out of the forest and makes her promise to never return, even after she promises to return with a gift. She does however end up visiting him every summer and the two become best friends. Their feelings become deeper as they grow and the one rule of never being able to touch becomes more than they can handle.
11. Ghost Stories
A long time ago, all the ghosts in a school house were banished by a student. They have now returned, and they are seeking revenge. Keiichirou and Satsuki are two siblings who are reeling from the loss of their mother. When they move to her hometown, they learn that their new school is in an old building, and myth tells that it is haunted. They are confronted with the reality that ghosts are real, and they happen to be after them. With the help of their cat and new friends, they need to try and survive these ghostly attacks at their new school.
12. Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation
Muhyo and Roji are partners, experts in the laws of magic. They seek to help those who are the victims of spiritual possession, and set out to serve justice to the more evil of spirits. They are open to the public, and are a phone call away should anyone need their help of ridding an unwanted spirit or demon.
13. Mononoke
Set in feudal Japan, the Medicine Seller is a mysterious and dangerous master of the occult. He travels in search of evil spirits, or mononoke, to kill. However he cannot simply slay the spirit when he finds it, he must first find out its true form, its truth and its reason. Only with this information can he wield the Exorcism Sword. On his journey, he comes across a pregnant woman, Shino, who is in an inn room full of lethal mononoke. He needs to help her, and finding out the spirits forms, truth and reasons is the only way he can help Shin and fulfil his duties.
14. Another
Following the death of a popular student, Misaki, in the Yomiyama North Middle School, the town of Yomiyama has been surrounded by an atmosphere of fear and mystery, all due to the dark secrets left hidden. Twenty-six years in the future, new student Kouichi Sakakibara finds that all the students are gloomy and odd. He finds himself pulled towards the mysterious Mei Misaki, a student that is shunned by the rest of the school. Getting close to her means he also gets closer to the meaning and truth behind the death of Misaki.
15. Mushishi
Mushi are not defined by good or evil, they are the simplest forms of life and just exist. They appear in many different forms and can mimic anything in the natural world, such as rainbows or even diseases. Mushishi follows the existence of the Mushi, and how their existence and beings cannot be simplified or defined, as the majority of the world does not know they exist. Mushishi are the people who look to study and research Mushi, to have a deeper understanding of the hierarchy of life. Ginko rushes out to any rumor of Mushi, all in the sake of finding out what they are.
16. GeGeGe no Kitarou
The existence of youkai has long been forgotten by people. One day, adults become plagued with an unexplainable phenomenon, they become confused and fall into chaos. Thirteen-year old Mana knows something is wrong, and writes to the Youkai post to find answers. Instead of answers, she is greeted by Gegege no Kitarou.
17. Ling Qi
After an accident, poverty-stricken Yang Jinghua wakes up and is ten years younger. He first thinks he has been reborn, with the chance to do things over again. Instead of seeking this new life out, he is greeted by a rich, white-haired handsome man named Duanmu Xi. This mysterious man informs him that he is in fact dead, and goes on to ask him if he would like to enter into a contract to stay with him for the rest of his life.
18. Mokke
Shizuru is a high school student that can see ghosts, and her younger sister Mizuki, is constantly haunted by them. The two are entrusted to the care of their grandparents, who live far out in the countryside. The sisters learn that there is a place for everything in the world, and they learn the importance of co-existing within nature and how their abilities can be used for good.
19. Hanada Shounen-shi
Ichiro Hanada is a young brat who teases his sister, fights with anybody and always insults his mother. One day, he is hit by a truck and has a near-death experience. When he eventually wakes up, he discovers he can talk to and see spirits. He is contacted by spirits who have just passed; but cannot pass on to the next stage. He needs to help them finished any unresolved issues they may have, which is what keeps them from finding peace.
20. Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san
The ability to see ghosts and be possessed by spirits has been with Fuyuzora Kogarashi since he was a young child. The ability has caused nothing but difficulties in his life, and he has had to learn to fight against the evil spirits. He is poor and living on the streets, and seeks to find a better life. He comes across a cheap boarding house, Yuragi Manor, it is cheap because it is haunted by the spirit of a high school student, whose corpse was found on the premises. He takes up the mission to help the Manor’s ghost, sixteen-year old Yuna, find out the circumstances of her murder in order to move on.
21. Punch Line
Yuuta Iridatsu’s soul is separated from his body after being saved from a bus hijacking. His soul wanders around his home in the Korai house and looks to find his body again. The anime follows Yuuta as he reveals secrets of the Korai house, and needs to save the world from the villainous organization who seek to end the world.
22. Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Ryousuke Hazuki is in love with the owner of a floral shop, Rokka Shimao. He applies to work there but finds out her flat is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband. The two men – the ghost and the new lover, find themselves at odds. The spirit looks to stop the advances of Ryousuke and he tries to get him to move on from his love.
23. Asura Cryin’
Natsume Tomoharu is a high school student who is followed by the ghost of Misao, his best friend. One day after moving into his brother’s house, he finds a locked briefcase. His house is then invaded by people looking for the briefcase, and Tomoharu and Misao attempt to escape the house with it. They need to learn the secrets of the case, and why it is so powerful.
24. Anohana – The Flower We Saw That Day
Jinta Yadomi is living away from society as a recluse, peacefully spending his days playing video games. However, he and his friends are still recovering from the death of a friend Menma. One day Jinta is approached by Menma’s spirit, who has a request for him. He first considers it a hallucination, but soon him and his friends believe they need to put Menma’s spirit to rest.
25. Kekkaishi
Kekkaishi have the ability to destroy evil beings, thanks to their supernatural powers. Ayakashi are demons who sometimes enter the realm of humans, and they try feast on the power from the land of Karasumori. Yoshimura needs to protect his hometown with the help of neighbour and friend Tokine Yukimura. However Yoshimura would rather be baking cakes than battling demons.
26. Natsu no Arashi
Yasaka comes across a girl name Arashi in a store. He protects her from a mysterious man who claims to be hired by her family to return her with force. Arashi ends up staying at Yasaka’s grandfather’s house with him, and he learns that Arashi has powers that he cannot comprehend. He finds a sixty-year old photo of her with her friend, Kaja, who also appears, and neither of them has aged a day in sixty years.
27. Kaidan Restaurant
Each episode of Kaidan Restaurant features three different stories presented as dishes – an appetizer, a main and a dessert. The appetizer and mains deal with sixth-grade school girl Ako and her friends and the third dish is a unique ghost story told by Ako and her friends.
28. Ghost Hunt
Tanuyama Mai and her friends tell ghost stories to each other at school. Most of their stories are about an abandoned building on the property, and one day they are approached by a young male who is part of the Shibuya Psychic Research Company, sent to find out about the abandoned school buildings apparent hauntings. Mai breaks a camera used in the investigation, and is hired to help pay it off. She learns about the world of the paranormal and how to be a ghost hunter.
29. Bakemonogatari
Koyomi Araragi is saved from a vampire attack by Meme Oshino. Even though she remains human, she has some vampiric qualities, including superhuman healing and vision. Once her secret is out, she sets out to help those who suffer from supernatural maladies themselves.
30. Ghost Hound
The town of Suiten is experiencing strange happenings. The priest’s daughter begins having strange visions and there are spirits roaming the mountains. Tarou Komori has repressed his memories from being kidnapped eleven years earlier, but he needs to step into his past to shed light on what really happened.
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Take a step into the unknown with these mysterious and thought-provoking spiritual anime.