Housing Complex C is a Great Horror Anime

I've watched it 3 times now, October of 2022, October of 2023 and October of 2024 which was Yesterday.

It's most notable strength is how I feel it has uniquely found out how to make Lovecraftian Horror work in a Visual Medium.  While also going in the opposite direction of what's politically problematic about Lovecraft with it's clear Pro-Immigration theme.

But Lovecraft stories aren't the only Horror stories it can be compared to.

In the context of Anime it definitely has some overlapping vibes with Higurashi When They Cry, if you want something like that but much shorter this is it.

I've seen people more into Junji Ito's work then me say there are some Junji Ito references, but I can't confirm or deny that myself.

The Housing Complex set up kinda reminds me of Lady in The Water one of those later M Night Shyamalan movies many hate on but that I enjoyed.

It's on both Max and Adult Swim, I highly recommend it.

Halloween Anime recs for 2024

I feel conflicted about doing one of these this year, I don’t want to do a big Halloween Anime Recommendation post every single year.  But last year I chose a framing device doomed to not age well.  

A bunch of stuff left Hulu at the end of August 2024 one of them was Blood-C leaving that entire franchise now with no legal streaming options.

Fortunately I didn’t list anything only on Funimation, but the way Crunchyroll and HIDIVE have been I have no idea what is and isn’t still on them.  And even RetroCrush and Tubi keep changing what they have.

I should follow up on the one show that was still in progress last year, Zom100. Its first season ended strong, I still highly recommend it and hope we get more.

There is a new Horror Anime this season, by the time I publish this at least one episode of Uzumaki should have aired.  I personally won’t be watching it though, I watched Thought Slime’s video on the Manga once (I’m pretty sure it was on the ScardyCats channel) and it’s neat and all but not the kind of Horror I’m into.  But I do hope this Anime will be one the Manga fans can enjoy.  It sounds like it will be airing on Adult Swim meaning for streaming it should also be on its streaming App and maybe also Max.

I’ll probably rewatch Housing Complex C again this October, I considered it an instant Halloween classic in 2022 and it held up on rewatch in October of 2023.  But I've heard it said the third time you watch something is when you really know what you think of it.  I’m assuming it will still be on both Max and Adult Swim.

My number one is still the 2006 Studio Deen Higurashi Anime, but it’s not streaming anywhere, only the very frustrating Gou.

That’s all I really have to say for this post, check out my past Halloween tagged posts for more on the Halloween seasonal Anime I recommend, just be prepared that where it’s watchable may have changed.

Update October 9th: I wound up having a lot to deal with this month, so I may not even find the time to watch any of what I was intending to watch this month.

Update October 20th: Well I did find time, Housing Complex C still holds up and I also rewatched Occultic:Nine which is also still cool.  

Update October 23rd: I've also now seen Elfen Lied for the 3rd time and it too still holds up.

Frankenstein needs more Anime

My Halloween Anime recommendations post at the start of the month wound up being dominated by Vampires to a large extent, partly that may be the lingering influence of my personal involvement in the 20tween Vampire craze, but I think it's largely that Vampires and Pointy Hat Witches are the most popular iconic Halloween monsters in Japan.  

And a good number of Vampire Anime includes Dracula himself in some form.

It doesn't surprise me that Mummies are not as popular in Anime because Japan simply wasn't subject to the recurring bouts of Egyptomania that the West has had.  Japan knows enough about the popularity of Egypt to often use it as the basis for a generic desert setting which may include Mummy style enemies in video games.  But taking those Egyptian things outside of the desert isn't something Japan is as keen to do.

However the lack of Anime representation for Dracula's greatest rival does surprise me.  Frankenstein in Anime has had that Toei TV movie in the early 80s, a very unconventional insertion into Fate/ lore and similarly with some other more niche shows that also amalgamize a bunch of Victorian classic literature together.  Dracula in Anime has Frankenstein dwarfed and even Carmilla makes more appearances.

I am one of those who likes to observe that in the original Novel of Frankenstein in the grand scheme of things Victor's real Sin isn't artificially creating life but abandoning it right after he creates it for not being exactly what he expected or wanted. It's about the moral responsibility that comes with bringing life into the world.

And that is why the lack of direct Frankenstein adaptions in Anime surprises me, because that moral theme is in Anime frequently, in fact it's embedded into Anime as we know it from it's foundation.  Yes I am arguing that Umatarou Tenma is an echo of Victor Frankenstein in more then just the vague way every Mad Scientist gets compared to Frankenstein, as is Precia Testarossa.  And then of course there is how Mewtwo can be compared to The Creature.

So I would like to see Anime take it's distinct approach to these issues and apply it back to the original.

Occultic;Nine subverts the Flat Earth Atheist trope

First of all this post is going to spoil some of the central twists of the Anime Occultic-Nine, if you haven't seen it already I suggest you do so quickly, it's very underrated and is only 12 episodes and it's both subbed and dubbed on Crunchyroll, and it's a fitting show for Halloween month in my opinion.

Flat Earth Atheist is the TVtrope term for when a character is written like a strict hyper rationalist materialist even when in a setting where denying the Supernatural is a lot less rational then it is in our world.  Occultic;Nine is a show that at first one might think is going to feature that trope but actually doesn't.

In the opening episodes both Gamon and Sarai are skeptical of the supernatural, the rest of the main cast are all pretty ready to believe in the paranormal so those two are the Skeptics' representation.  While both are skeptics it's only Sarai who gives off that smug Reddit Atheist energy, he's the character who a genre savy viewer will expect to act like Fred in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. Gamon's skepticism is a lot less central to his identity.

So that's why it's interesting how in episode 7 following the reveal that they've all been Ghosts for 3 episodes it's Sarai who's mostly accepted that the evidence is pointing to that being the case even before it's made truly indisputable.  While it's Gamon who's in denial, but his denial is framed as Emotional coping not a product of whatever his ideology was.

So it's an Anime where the true Rationalist accepts the facts even when they go agaisnt his prior world view and the "Flat Earth Atheist" was never actually that much of an Atheist.

Halloween Anime recommendations by Streaming App

It’s time for me to do another Halloween Anime Recommendations post. This time the structure shall be by what legal streaming sites (if any) you can watch them on, cause I think in my prior versions of this the need to say it for each entry separately and then add edits when changes happen later made them difficult to read.  But it does mean some shows may get mentioned more than once if they’re on more than one website/app.

I’m starting to write this many months in advance with the plan to post it on October 1st 2023, I intend to double check and make sure everything I say here is on a given website/app still is, but if anything slips through the cracks I apologize.  Also knowing my luck something could be taken down the day after I post this.

I’ll start with the Freest Anime Streaming Site, RetroCrush, because getting people to access what's most accessible is one of my main goals.

The Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs from the 80s are still there, and last I checked, still only Dubbed which is sad because it’s one of the few things where I don’t particularly recommend the Dub, the Dub is adequate, it certainly could have been worse, but sounds stiff at times.  But besides occasionally awkward Dub voice acting they hold up really well, with a nice mood and atmosphere amplified by really distinct sound effects.

Boogiepop Phantom is there which I wasn’t expecting.

They also have Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady which I recently watched and is pretty good.

The movie Hells is pretty fun as well.

Honestly there’s probably a lot more on Retrocrush I’m just not familiar with yet, my tastes in Anime are pretty modern, fortunately they have a Halloween Collection of their own featuring the shows I just listed.  And maybe if I’m lucky before October is over they’ll add some of the stuff I plan to talk about at the bottom of this post.

A number of Anime on Retrocrush are sometimes also on similar Free apps like Tubi, MidnightPulp and Filmrise, but I don’t feel like keeping track of which.  Since almost all Anime on any of those is also on Retrocrush with the most notable exception being Case Closed/Detective Conan which isn’t a Horror show but has the occasional Hallween episode.

Of the 50 episodes on Tubi none work as a Halloween episode. Of the original 123 on Filmrise Episode 20 A Haunted Mansion Murder Case would probably be the first.  Season 2 Episodes 6-7 Mountain Villa Bandaged Man Murder Case also works, episode 24 qualifies but it’s not one of my favorites.  Season 3 Episodes 7-8 have Ghost in the name.  Season 4 Episodes 2-3 is another Mountain Villa set up, however I feel episodes 6-7 is the most traditional Halloween episode among them since it’s Dracula themed.  Season 5 episode 6 is also worth mentioning.

I recently learned that Cowboy Bebop The Movie is essentially the Die Hard of Halloween movies and it’s only on Tubi.TV.

Pokemon has its own Free Streaming App PokemonTV, not all of the Anime is on there and much of what is often changes, but the earliest Seasons usually are as well as most spin off series not part of the main Anime.  The Early seasons have a few Spooky focused on the Ghost Pokemon, and the Generations Miniseries has one for one its Gen4 entries.

On Adult Swim’s App and Adult Swim On Demand should still be Housing Complex C which last year very quickly earned its status as an essential Halloween recommendation, it finally cracked the code of how to make Lovecraftian Horror work in a visual medium. 

HIDIVE still has some of the best Halloween Anime, but it now lacks a couple key Anime that it used to have.

On the subject of Zombie Anime, as I’ve said before, if you want something that feels like a Moe Anime take on George a Romero watch School Live!.  But if you want one that feels more like a Zack Snyder Zombie Movie go for High School of The Dead.

One of last year’s recent additions to the Halloween Anime Canon is Call of The Night which isn’t actually scary at all but is still pretty watchable and has the right vibes.

Monster Princess is a fun and trashy Halloween Anime.

Lunar Legend Tsukihime’s 2003 Anime is not liked by most fans of its franchise, but I found it enjoyable and certainly fits the season.  

Rozen Maiden also has nice Halloween vibes.

Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess will start airing on October 7th six days after I plan to post this.  So I don’t know if it’ll actually be good or not but I’ll check it out.  [Update: this show isn't what I expected, it may still be good but I don't think it fits as a Halloween show.]

[Update: The Eminence in Shadow season 2 happens to begin with a Ghoul arc.]

Honestly I wouldn't recommend subscribing to Amazon Prime just for the Streaming Anime that comes with it, but between all the good non-Anime stuff on Prime (like Britannia which can be a fun show to watch for Samhain) and saving you shipping and handling on Amazon orders there isn’t much of a reason not to get it.  In which case there are a couple Anime you can watch there specifically.

Elfen Lied I dedicated a full post to back in August..  In short it gets dismissed a lot today as the ultimate substance-less edgelord Anime, but there is a real Heart to it that those critics are ignoring, I’m even willing to call it downright Wholesome at times.  But however you interpret it there are certainly many who’d find something like it fun to watch for Halloween.

Vatican Miracle Examiner is a 2017 show I didn’t finish, but I’m willing to recommend it to people who have Prime on its first 4 episode Arc alone.  It’s like the ultimate absurd B-Movie horror premise, I don’t want to spoil where it goes, just trust me.  If only it had a Dub.

Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarock seems interesting.

In addition to the Anime that comes with Prime you could also Digitally purchase some stuff if you can afford it, like Lupin III Secret of Mamo (I don’t know which Dub the Amazon purchase comes with) which has potential Halloween appeal.  The original Vampire Hunter D is also Purchasable that way.

Hulu has some options but I wouldn’t recommend subbing to Hulu for Anime alone.  Some of what is and isn't on Hulu seems to rotate a bit, it has a lot of the same stuff HIDIVE does but I’ve never noticed any of the Halloween stuff I mentioned above on it before.  It also has some CR overlap.

The original Hellsing (not Ultimate) is another Anime I consider fun for Halloween.

Seraph of The End: Vampire Reign is a show I had fun with once a few years ago but haven’t rewatched it since.

Blood-C is amazing, I was enjoying it from early on but then was totally blown away by where it went.

Wandering Witch is about a Witch but usually isn’t actually scary.

Netflix is one of the more expensive but it does have some solid options.

Vampire in The Garden is a show I enjoyed in the Summer of 2022 but forgot to talk about when October came along.  It’s the kind of show I would have had a lot more to say about if I could have seen it during the height of my Vampire fixation in 2009-2014.

Monster is a classic 00s Anime that is on there now after lacking a legal streaming option for years.

Fate/Apocrypha is a show I cautiously recommend with its unique takes on Frankenstein and Dracula and Jack The Ripper.

Zom 100 is a new show from this year that I haven't watched any of yet myself so I don’t know if i can recommend it, I may try it during this month.

And Netflix also has some Resident Evil content.

Castlevania is a show I have mixed feelings on, including being mixed about if to even count it in an Anime discussion.  And its spin off Nocturne went up just a couple days before October started.

[Update: Good Night World released on Netflix on October 12th wound up having some Halloween appeal.]

Crunchyroll, some may argue I should’ve started there since it’s used by pretty much every Anime fan willing to pay for a legal streaming App at all.  It has a greater volume of stuff then HIDIVE, I’m not sure I want to write mini reviews of everything on there potentially relevant.

The one I most actively recommend is Garden of Sinners aka Kara No Kyoukai which sadly still isn’t dubbed but is fantastic regardless.

Gankutsuou is a classic no one should miss out on.

Sankarea is very good, I could have sworn it was on Hulu when I first watched it but now it’s only on CR.

In/Spectre is another one I'll go out of my way to recommend since some prominent Canadians have been stupidly hating on it, don’t listen to them it’s awesome. 

 Ms. Vampire who lives in my Neighborhood is a fun show from recent years.  Zombieland Saga is a show I still haven’t watched myself but I’ve heard consistently good things about it from those who have.  Holy Knight is a Vampire OVA I have mixed feelings on.

Dance in The Vampire Bund is interesting.  Its pilot works as a neat short story all on its own, I think many will enjoy it who won’t like the rest of the show.  It’s also a shaft show so can visually remind one of other Shaft shows like…. Omg it just occurred to me Monogatori could be Halloween relevant but I can’t watch it, it has no dub and is already Text heavy even before Localization.

Occultic;Nine and Chaos;Child are good recommendations if like me you’re feeling oddly Nostalgic for 2016 and 2017 this year.

Some stuff on CR may still be on Funimation if you're still subscribed to it (or if it even still exists in October), some may even still be only Dubbed there like Boogiepop Phantom.  Phantom beats the proper Boogiepop and Others Anime on pure Aesthetic, but both are worth a watch.

Witch Hunter Robin is an old personal favorite of mine that doesn’t get talked about as much as it deserves.

Of CR’s planned Fall 2023 shows starting in October, only The Family Circumstances of The Irregular Witch seems even close to relevant, but I have my doubts. [Update: turns out this is the kind of show who's one joke wears thin pretty quickly.]

[Update: Dead Mount Deathplay is a fun show with good Halloween vibes, and it's second part starts today October 10th.  Don't know if it's Dub will resume before October ends though.]

.......

Sadly there are still some Anime that can’t be legally streamed anywhere including some Halloween relevant options.  Occasionally a sufficiently old and niche one can simply be found on YouTube like Monster of Frankenstein or the Live Action Boogiepop and Others movie both of which I recommend.

I don’t want to publicly promote where I go to watch what I can’t officially watch for a number of reasons.  Otherwise I’d definitely direct people to someplace where they can watch Karin, a great early 00s hidden gem Vampire Anime.

The 90s TV Anime version of Vampire Princess Miyu is a mixed bag (especially its Dub which is indeed worse then what the OVAs got), but I do see value in some episodes so I am sad it’s not streaming anywhere.

Most of the Blood The Last Vampire franchise can’t currently be officially streamed, the original movie from 2000, Blood+, the Live Action movie and The Last Dark movie which continues the story of Blood-C, are all worth checking out. 

Detective Conan’s 25th Movie The Bride of Halloween is sadly still not officially localized for The West in any capacity.

But perhaps most tragic is the inability to legally watch Umineko When They Cry anywhere.  Like Tsukihime I'm nearly alone in considering it’s Anime good, but I consider it very good, I rank it much higher than Tsukihime. Its penultimate episode made me Cry.

And it turns out even Higurashi isn’t on HIDIVE anymore, along with Vampire Hunter D.  Two of the absolute must sees.  Night Walker is also gone.

I may add updates to this post if anything changes before October is over.

Halloween season Anime Updates Gaiden

Well first of all is there any reason to update my general Halloween Anime Reccomendation from last year?  Not much, I've watched more of Karin but that's something I was already aware existed and just didn't think of then, and it's not on any legal streaming sites.

As for new or current Halloween relevant stuff, I've watched 6 episodes of Call of The Night, the ones that can be watched Dubbed on HIDIVE, a couple more will go up before Ocotber's over as new episodes drop on Thursdays.  It is enjoyable so far.

And that's it for Halloween stuff.

I've finished Lupin III Part VI and Classroom of The Elite Season 2 both of which were good but not likely to be shows I'd ever label as favorites.

I've also watched even more Detective Conan, now seen all the Movies but 25, and think as far as what's animated goes I'm pretty effectively up to speed on the main storyline.

I finished Magia Record as the Dub for the rest of it finally dropped and it's was as good as I figured it would be.

But let's return to the other currently airing Simuldubs I'm following.  There are five and they all happen to be dropping on Saturday on Crunchyroll.

Lycoris Recoil and Engage Kiss I'd already mentioned on this blog, they're up to episode 9 now and I like em both.  Engage Kiss deserves more attention.

Spy x Family's second cour has started and it's still fun.

Beast Tamers looks like a fun little show that is not an Isekai but may as well be.

I'm The Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss is officially the second of the reincarnated as an Otome villainess genre to get an Anime, so the one we had before can no longer simply be called "The Villainess show" people other then me will have to start using the official shorthand Hamefura.

This show is very distinct from Hamefura.  

For starters part of the joke with Bakarina is how she's not like the person who's body she's taken over at all, the actual titular "Villainess" kind of no longer exists when the Japanese memories awaken.  This new show's protagonist is a reincarnation of a modern Japanese gamer (I'm not actually sure what their original gender was) but still also is Aileen, she's still molded by the experiences of living that life.  I'm a Pretty Little Liars veteran who enjoys watching a Mean Girls be bad@$$ in their own special way, and so find this protagonist more appealing actually.

From the pilot it doesn't seem we can expect the Yuri that Hamefura has, but that's fine, I'm totally down to watch this girl Tame Anime Daemon Targyreon.

Update October 17th: I just watched the first 3 episodes of Housing Complex C on HBOmax, and they're interesting, got Higurashi vibes and Lovecrafting themes.

These Gaijin have Eastern European Accents in the Dub, but also seem to be implied to be Muslim, there are some Muslim counties in the Balkans but not everyone remembers that, so it's an interesting direction to take.

There is a character named Kahn.  I predict eventually some situation will cause a character to scream or shout their name loudly, and then there will be Memes.

Werewolf by Night was okay

I just watched it and enjoyed some of it.  But it really didn't feel like the kind of story you should be wasting the visually homaging Universal Monster Movies gimmick on.

As someone who's brain has been thoroughly poisoned by Anime, at the beginning I quickly found myself thinking "oh it's the Battle Royal/Death Game/Holy Grail War" set up.  But then also about how the thing that makes Anime with a premise like this work is that at least some of the characters are ordinary people who were drawn into it.  Everyone involved being a hardened monster hunter completely changes the vibe.

This of course reminds me of Patrick Willems criticisms of the post Whedon MCU in general, the lack of the perspective of ordinary people that for example the Raimi Spider-Man movies used so well.

And doing a supposedly Classic Monster Movie throwback really draws further attention to it.  When everyone in the story is used to dealing with monsters then there is no one to be quite as horrified by them as the average viewer would be.  Moon Knight exists somewhat in this same corner of the Marvel Universe but it works so much better because Grant was living a pretty normal life when it started.

I also think about the rather lazy handling of Ted.  Again what an Anime Protagonist might have done is taken a shot on actually being kind to the monster without already being told in advance it's actually a chill dude.  That much better serves the "don't judge people by how they look" moral that is supposed to be the point of having a monster that's not actually evil.

Teenage Vampires can never be guilty of Statutory Rape

 I’ve noticed there being an issue in Vampire fiction discourse lately, tied to the summer Anime Call of The Night but also older stuff like Twilight, of these Teenage vampires being called “Pedophiles” for being in relationships with people the same age as them simply because they’ve technically been around for decades or centuries longer.

Most Proshippers defend this with the usual “it’s not real” argument which I do support.  But this problem runs deeper because it’s really not even accurate to what the scientific reality of such creatures hypothetically actually existing would be.

Everyone gets that if you are turned into a Vampire at a very young age you stop aging, physically, and will thus never truly grow up, physically.  The problem is these people are assuming these Vampires would still age and mature mentally, emotionally and psychologically.  But that isn’t how it works, if physical aging freezes that also freezes the brain which in some key ways isn’t actually fully developed till about 25.

There is more to adulthood and maturity than how long you’ve existed.  The hypothetical scenario of someone who’s been 16 for 600 years would only be different mentally from other 16 year olds in having a larger pool of memories to remember.  Experience in and of itself does not equal maturity, maturing lies in how your brain processes that experience and a brain frozen at a teenage state of development cannot process that experience properly.

One YT video I watched on Twilight said that what makes someone an adult is their “position of power” or something and so the reason Edward hasn’t become an adult is because he’s still living as a dependent basically.  That’s a bad argument, there are normal people still living with their parents in their 40s and they shouldn't be dating teenagers.  In my argument it wouldn't matter if a Teenage vampire was living on their own, a Hundred years on the streets for them would create less maturity then one year on the streets for a normal teenager because their Brain at least developed some during that year, the vampire’s did not.  And plenty of people have held power as teenagers, Alexander The Great conquered a city and rebuilt it in his name serving as Regent at 16, are we going to treat such a person as less of a minor then a regular 16 year old?  I don't think we should.

But it's not just the Brain, part of the reason Teenagers can't be trusted to make rational decisions related to Sex is that their Hormones are in a more chaotic state then they will be when they're an adult.

Now Vampires are Supernatural creatures so if a writer wants to ignore that Science and write their physically Teenage Vampire as mentally an adult that’s fine.  This is directed at Smug Tumblr and Twitter Antis who think they’re on some moral high ground by insisting on treating fictional Teenage Vampires as Adults even when the writers are clearly not writing them that way.  Because most Teenage Vampires in fiction are clearly written to be Teen characters in Teen dramas.

It’s Vampires who were turned even younger who are sometimes written as “body of a child and the mind of an adult” (Speaking of that tagline the Detective Conan franchise often stresses the use of the word “shunkun” over “deaged” when defining Conan and  Haibara’s condition).  Like for example that one antagonist on the Blade TV series (only version of Blade I’ve actually seen believe it or not).

This difference in approach is only a problem when both clearly seem to exist in the same universe, which off the top of my head I can’t confirm ever has been the case.  If it were though an in-universe explanation could still be contrived.

Thing is, it is especially the Antis in the Anime Community who I know are being hypocrites about this. Any excuse to accuse an Anime or its fans of encouraging problematic behavior they’ll latch onto even when one runs contrary to the logic they used against a different show or character previously.

As in they'll call a Vampire who's been 16 for a 100 years a statutory rapist for being in a relationship with a 17 year old human, but put the same vampire in a relationship with a 35 year old human and then they'll repeat all the facts I talked about to explain why the adult looking character is in fact more mature.

Update: I wrote this in part framed as discourse around Call of The Night even though I hadn't seen any of it yet.  Turns out the main Vampire of that show was turned in her 20s, but maybe still under 25, so that framing wound up being awkward.  But it's still not just about that, it's also about things like Twilight discourse.

Halloween Anime Recommendations Redux

I figured I’m long overdue for an updating of my Anime Halloween Recommendations.  This one will mostly not be about ranking them besides that I will start with is my Number 1.  Instead I will divide it into sections.

I’ll try to always identify places where you can legally stream them, but some can’t be legally streamed anywhere and I feel it's risky to publicly name any unofficial sites on my public blog.  Note anything I say is on Crunchyroll should also be on VRV, but at this point VRV is no longer worth the extra money it costs. I think more of these are on HIDIVE than any other single site, fortunately HIDIVE has a fairly cheap monthly subscription, and they offer a 14 day Free trial.

My Absolute Number 1.

Is still Higurashi When They Cry.  But it has become necessary recently for me to qualify myself.  Start with the first season of the original 2006 Studio Deen Anime which you can watch on HIDIVE, sadly only that of the older Higurashi Anime was ever Dubbed.  Then watch Season 2 also on HIDIVE which is also called Kai.  

Then take a break, sit on that material knowing that for a long time that was the entire story besides some ambiguously canonical side stories.  

Then watch the Rei OVAs also on HIDIVE, then the Kira OVAs which aren’t.  

Then watch Umineko When They Cry which also isn’t legally streaming anywhere, most hardcore fans hate that Anime especially but I prefer it to the VN’s story.

Then take a longer break, and consider watching Gou and SOTSU which are Higurahsi When They Cry New on Hulu.  I find these to have worthwhile content but not nearly the masterpieces the original story was.  So please treat their canonicity as optional.  [August 2022 Update: Gao and Stosu are also on Crunchyroll now including an English Dub.  I hate that this has a Dub but not Kai or Rei.]

Part 2: Some Retro Recommendations.

I mean truly retro, like even most Millennials can't remember when they were brand new.

The Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs from the 80s which are on three Free streaming sites, TubiTV, RetroCrush and Midnightpulp.  It’s a four episode OVA originally but sometimes it’s streamed as two Volumes in which what is usually referred to as the second episode is part of Volume 1.  Also in this case only the Dub is streaming for some reason. [Update March 2023: it's gone from Tubi now but still on the other two.]

Vampire Hunter D, the original 1986 film which holds up better than it’s overhyped sequel.  HIDIVE streams this one both Subbed and the Sentai Dub, which is a good Dub.  But it seems that you will have to turn to Piracy or finding old VHS tapes if you want to experience the original Streamline Dub.

Kyoufu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein called in English The Monster Of Frankenstein or Frankensteins Monster, Horror Legend - Bizarre! Frankenstein.  This movie also isn’t legally streaming anywhere. I watched it on YouTube, however it might not be there anymore since it’s Toei and they've gotten more aggressive recently as PreCure and Sailor Moon focused YouTubers have learned.  It has a Dub that was actually recorded in the 80s, like one of the very oldest Dubs in existence.  I reviewed the movie on MAL a few years ago.

Part 3: Some Millennial era Stuff.

Nightwalker which is an Anime I talked about earlier in the Month. [Update: it's now on RetroCrush]

Hellsing, I only recommend the original, never Ultimate.  This one’s on Funimation.  [Update August 2022: Hellsing is on Cruncyhroll now.]

Witch Hunter Robin, which I’m personally very nostalgic for, but I don’t know how many others remember it.  It’s also on Funimation.  [Update March 2023: and now it's on Crunchyroll.]

Princess Resurrection is more Campy Halloween fun than ever actually scary, but I enjoyed it.  It’s another one on HIDIVE.

Part 4: If you’re into Fate/ try some other Nasuverse Type Moon stuff.

Kara No Kyoukai, called Garden of Sinners in English, can now be streamed on Crunchyroll but it doesn’t have a Dub.  It’s from UFOtable who did the Fate/Zero Anime, the TV Anime of Unlimited Blade Works and the Heaven’s Feel movies so it looks as great as they do.  And Yuki Kajiura does the music which is always a treat.

Tsukihime has an older Anime from 2003 which does have a Dub but isn’t legally streaming anywhere.  Many hate that Anime, but I’m baffled by people who continue to dismiss it but defend Deen/Stay Night. I feel it holds up far better.  Because Tsukihime is more Horror Genre then Fate/ I feel it’s “cheaper” looking presentation suits it better then Deen/Stay Night, similar to Deen’s Higurashi stuff [Update too late: turns out Tsukihime is on HIDIVE as well and I didn't notice.]

Part 5: Zombie Anime

If you want an Anime Version of a George A Romero Zombie movie, I recommend School Live! on HIDIVE.

If you want something more like Zach Snyder’s Zombie movies I recommend HighSchool of The Dead also on HIDIVE. [Update: I also spotted this on Hulu today.]

If you want something outside the standard Zombie format altogether but that still feels appropriate for Halloween, Sankarea was a good show.  I could have sworn I stumbled upon it earlier this year on either Hulu or Netflix, but now it’s showing up only on Funimation.  [Update August 2022: This is on Crunchyroll now.]

Part 6: Something very Modern.

In/Spectre from last year was a very fun and thought provoking show.  It’s on HBOMax and I’m sure other sites too, but I want people to choose sites like HBOmax, Disney+, Netflix or Hulu over Anime specific sites when they can to encourage those sites to consider Anime worth investing in so more Anime can become more easily accessible.  [Update August 2022: and thanks to recent devleoptments I no longer want to encourage people to Sub to HBOmax, fortunately In/Spectre including the Dub is on Crunchyroll now.]

Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood is a slice of life Anime with Yuri undertones about Vampires.  It’s on Crunchyroll and apparently it has a Dub now, I’m pretty sure it didn’t have a Simuldub and thus I had watched it Subbed.

Anime Gaiden, upping The Halloween

I finished Princess Resurrection and it was fun.  Another Anime I recommend for Halloween season is last year's In/Spectre which you can watch Dubbed on HBOmax.

I decided to watch the Live Action Japanese movie Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl.  It was weird but entertaining. I should warn you however that there are Ganguro girls, and in live action they are not pleasant to look at.  It’s amusing to me how by 2009 the sympathetic Vampire trend had reached the point where they made a Dracula vs Frankenstein movie where the Frankenstein Monster was the villain.  

SSSS.Dynazenon episode 10 used a very common trope, but did something I wasn’t expecting with it.

I’m Standing on a Million Lives episode 19 (or 7 of season 2) was interesting.  The new girl I’m pretty sure is voiced by Wendee Lee.  I thought she was semi-retired and so was quite surprised to hear her in a seasonal Isekai that gets no actual respect.  Her character’s also a Lesbian, no subtext she just outright said it.  That’s exactly what people like Erica Freidman have been wanting more of.  So that’s pretty exciting.

We also learned that for once more than just people from Japan are getting Isekied to this world. Apparently the MC has been speaking too “formally” however this refers to nuances of Japanese that aren’t really translatable.

So episode 2 of YuYuYu season 3 was mostly about animating the Mebuki stuff which LN readers knew about way back during season 2.  But they still won’t animate NoWaYu.

Pokémon: Secrets of The Jungle was great. It’s one of a number of Pokémon movies that are trying to be quite a bit about Environmentalism, but it’s the best of that bunch in my view, regardless of my Nostalgia for some of the earlier ones.  These Pokémon movies are often compared to Miyazaki films like Princess Mononoke, but Pokémon's philosophy on this subject is very different from Miyazaki’s.  Miyazaki, even at his most empathetic to Humanity is still ultimately misanthropic.  Pokémon's message that Humanity and Nature can find a way to live in balance, and that even technology can ultimately help us do that, is much more appealing to me as a Communist.

I watched the Leiji Matsumoto Bohemian Rhapsody video which I learned existed because of Trixie’s recent videos on Star Wars Visions, it was good.

I decided to watch Vampire Hunter D again. I watched it on HIDIVE which obviously has the more recently made Sentai dub. I'm pretty sure I first watched it when the Streamline Dub was still all that existed, but it’s been so long I can’t remember what those voices sounded like.  At any rate I think I liked it more this time than I did the first time.  John Gremillion as D sounds like Liam Neeson, I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but he really does sound like him.

Realist Hero episode 6 provided some interesting world building.

I finished Castlevania on Netflix and it was fine, it’s still not Anime but it’s fine.

The Detective is Already Dead episode 2 was pretty cool, I now get the point of telling a story with this title.  The bad reviews of this show are critiquing it as a Mystery show when that’s really not what it’s trying to be at all.  And even if it was, well I already made a post on that subject.

Episode 7 of Battle Game in 5 Seconds referenced the Hello Fellow Kids Meme, in the Dub at least, and I rather liked it.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent episode 10 proved pretty good even though I felt a little bored at the start.

Well in SlimeIncarnation episode 43 the Battle is finally starting.

Anime 2020 and Witches

 I gave the pilot of Majo no Tabitabi a watch since that also fits October, it was pretty good.  Reminded me that I really should get to finishing Little Witch Academia. It’s good but Anime Harry Potter has limited appeal to me since I never liked Harry Potter.

In Praise of Shadows did a series on Witches in fiction and their relationship to the real legacy of the Witch Trials.  The only Anime covered were Belladonna of Sadness and Kiki’s Delivery service.  It really does feel to me like a study of that genre is incomplete without including Revolutionary Girl Utena or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  

Of course he also in general wasn’t covering TV shows or else he’d no doubt included Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Charmed, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (at least the Gingerbread episode), Wizards of Waverly Place and maybe even The Secret Circle which I consider an enjoyable mess.  Of course The Secret Circle was loosely based on a series of books from the 90s which he didn’t cover in the novels episode, I haven’t read them but I have The Vampire Diaries from the same author and they are very good.

Burn the Witch is another 2020 Anime project using traditional Witch imagery I should maybe look at.  The only Pretty Cure series that is explicitly Witch centric enough to be worth mentioning here is the 2016 series Mahoutsukai aka Maho Girls Precure!

Episode 21 of Railgun T was pretty good, the actual storyline of the Dreamranker arc is kicking into gear.

Assault Lily moves too fast for me to watch Subbed.

Burn The Witch wound up not being what I was expecting.

So episode 2 of the new Higurashi confirms we’re getting a new arc.  That’s good I don’t think I could watch this new artstyle for its own sake.  But it does have me suspecting that I might need to finally binge those OVAs to fully get what’s going on.

Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..

https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir

https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir 

Also here is the introductory post for this series.

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html

WCW's Halloween Havoc 95 is probably the best Halloween Havoc.

It may not contain the highest quality Wrastling of any Halloween Havoc.  But the point of Halloween Havoc was to be a the Pro-Wrestling version of a fun Halloween Special or Halloween appropriate film.  And I doubt any others (I have indeed not properly seen all of them) can compete with this one in that regard.

I've talked before about how I've never really been scared by any Horror movie so being genuinely scary isn't what I look for in a Horror film.  And much of what I enjoy watching when I get in a Halloween mood is a lot of Campy ridiculous Trashy "so bad it's good" type of horror content.

Halloween Havoc 95 being the peak of the Dungeon of Doom story-line is as good as any Halloween Havoc ever managed to be at that.  "THE YETI" is the perfect Halloween moment in my mind.  I didn't get to see this event live when it first happened since I became a Wrestling fan mostly in 97, but I'd rented it on VHS back in the day and it was a riot, I loved it and I'll always have fond Nostalgic memories of it.

I'd also rented the previous Halloween Havoc once, it's Main Event being Hogan vs Flair in a Steel Cage retirement match felt more like a Starcade Main Event to me.  They should have maybe done the first Hogan vs Vader here instead of putting it off (he was in Kayfabe already the Number One Contender) and had SuperBrawl be the rematch.

I was not watching Wrestling yet in 93, but from what I know about the Black Scorpion story-line I feel like it was probably originally conceived of with the idea of the blow off being at Halloween Havoc, the angle seems to have started back in August and it could have been a very fitting angle for the Halloween themed PPV.  I don't know if the delay till Starcade was because of Executives wanting to milk it more or because of everything that went wrong behind the scenes with who it was gonna be, but my theory is it was originally for Halloween Havoc, and would have felt more fitting for it then just Sting vs Sid.

During the NWO era this mostly just became one of the few events Hogan would actually work at.  The Warrior was doing some cool stuff in 98, I loved the build up to that match I don't care what anyone says, but the match itself was a dud.

My Birthday happens to be Halloween, because of that and when my brother was born, Halloween Havoc and Wrestlmania happened to be the only PPVs we had a chance of getting our parents to actually order.  I wish I'd pulled the trigger on that sooner for 97 which is probably a more highly regarded event the two I did get to see.

I do overall still love Halloween Havoc 98 however. Bret vs Sting and Hall vs Nash did not disappoint, the Steiner stuff was a fun train-wreck and Goldberg vs DDP was probably the best actual match WCW put on in 98 as a Main Event (we were not one of the houses for whom it was cut off, we got the whole match).

But then I had the unfortunate luck to waste my last birthday of the 20th Century on the WCW debut of Vince Russo.  I understand a lot of the arguments Russo apologists make, WCW was already on a downward spiral before this, but I was excited for Heel Sting vs Hulkamania, it was the main thing I wanted to get that PPV for, and Ruso ruined it.

My unique Nostalgia for Halloween Havoc makes me annoyed it's not one of the WCW PPVs Vince has ever brought back. Clearly what to do for the October PPV is something they struggle with, making it the stupid annual Hell in a Cell PPV.

It's kind of too late now since The Undertaker has it seems truly retired for good, and he should.  What would have made a WWE Halloween Havoc in the Ruthless Aggression era great is seeing it headlined by the Wrestling Icon who most compliments it's premise.  It could have been home to a Taker vs Kane match, or some new rival for The Taker.

Who knows maybe in the future some new Halloween fitting gimmick will get over.

I decided not to wait for October to post this since I don't know if I'll still be in the Wrestling mood I am now.  If I am I'll remind people of it.

Update on the availability of my Halloween Anime Recs

Last October I gave a top 5 list.
http://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2017/10/mithrandirs-halloween-anime.html
And then talked about some others.
http://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2017/10/halloween-anime-viewing-update.html

Back then Witch Hunter Robin was not a show legally viewable online, but right now it's on FUNimation and VRV.  Vampire Princess Miyu still can't be legally streamed anywhere however.

When They Cry season 1 is still on HIDIVE but now also on Hulu and Yahoo.  Kai and Rei are still only on HIDIVE however.  Fortunately Hellsing and School Live are both still on Crunchroll so can be viewed for free.

https://because.moe is a good site for checking what shows can be legally streamed online.  Though it doesn't seem to include official YouTube Uploads, like the official Pokemon Channel has for Pokemon Origins and Generations (episode 10 of Generations is a good Halloween episode).

The 80s Frankenstein movie still can't be streamed anywhere, but searching for it brought a couple shows with Frankenstein in the name I didn't know about to my attention.

Also on Crunyroll you can watch the currently airing Ms Vampire who Lives in my Neighborhood, though it's only Subbed.  I haven't checked out Zombieland Saga yet, I've heard good things but my interest in Zombies is limited.

Anime Weekly Update, Summer Ends and Halloween Season Begins

Besides the currently airing shows I’ve been mainly watching old Pokemon Stuff still.  Sometimes joining one of the TwitchPresents streams which were covering Master Quest this last week and are now starting the Advance Generation, sometimes watching old Pokemon Chronicles and Diamond and Pearl episodes on my favorite non legit site.  And also revisiting various movies.

Happy Sugar Life had a fairly unsatisfying ending, they didn’t quite go all the way either way with the different routes they could have gone.  I gave the show an 8 on MAL for now, I may change my mind later.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight has also ended.  This show started out great but got pretty dull, really losing me with the pointless time loop twist, and in time I mostly felt like I was forcing myself to finish it, and maybe I wouldn't have if the Summer had more shows I really got into.  It gave us a happier ending then Ikuhara usually does so that’s a plus, but not enough to make up for how dull it got.

And of course in the last episode they decided to get really on the nose with the meta commentary they were never actually making.

Attack On Titan season 3 episode 6 was pretty good, lots of interesting reveals of the show’s lore that I’d been waiting for.  I know a lot of people are gonna see revealing the Royal/Noble bloodlines to have some secret magical powers as endorsing a Feudal worldview regardless of if it’s depicting them as depraved and corrupt.  But maybe it makes more sense to look at it as the families with special powers are the ones who naturally would have taken power in the distant past in a fantasy setting, like the Targaryen’s ability to control Dragons on Game of Thrones.

Episode 34 of Hugtto!PreCure was pretty amusing.  I was late in seeing episode 33 or I probably would have commented on it in last week’s update, with that episode I think the show might have gotten its groove back.

Episode 10 of Food/Stay Night was fun as usual.

Episode 21 of Steins;Gate 0 was awesome, this is what we’ve been waiting for.

Looks like my Anime of the year is still likely to be Katana Maidens.

For the coming Fall Season, the FUNimation Simuldubs I’m likely to try are That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, Goblin Slayer, Ulysses: Jeanne D’Arc and The Alchemist Knight, and maybe a few others when I learn more about them.  Sentai/HiDive is doing Release The Spyce, I’ll wait till the Dub starts this time and then if I don’t like the voices I can just catch up on the Sub.  SAO season 3 I may try to follow Subbed since I know it’s Dub will take awhile, there are other shows I may try like that Vampire Yuri one.

And of course I’ll be continuing AoT 3 and what’s left of Steins;Gate 0.

For October I was earlier in the year planning to do some project related to Horror Anime, but due to certain events in my life I’m not in the mood for anything too dark right now.  So my Halloween Anime recommendations remain the same as they were last year in my Top 5 post and the follow up.  I did make a new Higurashi post on another blog.
http://mithrandironmythology.blogspot.com/2018/10/this-is-post-about-higurashiwhen-they.html

Update: Okay apparently I was mistaken about which show Sentai is simuldubbing. I guess I'll have to sub Release The Spyce.

Halloween Anime viewing Update

At the start of the month I gave a top 5 Halloween Anime recommendations based on what I’d already seen.  Here I’m gonna talk about what I’ve been watching.

I will talk more about Fate/Apocrypha at the bottom, after a spoiler warning.  The other stuff I’ll talk about here I’ll try to keep Spoiler free.

I’m not watching Code:Realize yet since I’m waiting for it’s Simuldub.  But it’s worth noting that it also has characters from both the Dracula and Frankenstein novels.

First I watched the Netflix Castlevania series as I said I would, even though it’s not technically Anime.  The four episodes up now are basically an extended prologue, but they were fun.  And Gaius Frakking Baltar is voicing Alucard, that should be a treat.

I watched Kyoufu Kaiki! Frankenstein (also known as Monster of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Legend of Terror).  An Anime movie from 1981 based on Frankenstein.  I watched the Dub that was made in 1984, so one of the older Dubs out there.  I gave it a 7, it’s the subject of my first My Anime List review.

I much later watched the 1980 Tomb of Dracula Anime (based on the 70s Marvel comic book series), which I can’t really recommend.  The Music was cool, but it felt like a decade of comics storylines crammed into 90 minutes.  And as someone notoriously easy on Dubs, it’s Dub was one of the worst.

Then I watched the first three episodes of Dusk Maiden Amnesia.  Which were kinda fun.

I watched the Fate/Grand Order: First Order OVA Dub as I said I was going to.  It was pretty fun, and for Halloween relevance, there is a sort of homage to certain classic Christopher Lee film.

I’m also revisiting some of what I already recommended. 

Back in September I watched the first 2 episodes of the Dub of Testament of Sister New Devil.  The rest of the Dub will drop on October 31st, but I probably won’t be able to get to them till after.

Fate/Apocrypha Spoiler Warning

The Temptation of Frankenstein

My desire to spend this month watching a lot more Horror Anime lead me to watching Kyoufu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein, which I wrote a review of for MyAnimeList.  That movie felt very inspired by the Universal Frankenstein films, so I felt like watching a few of those again.  And I just re-watched Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman.

A movie that arguably marks the birth of the first Shared Cinematic Universe.  And with Universal now seeking to launch a new MCU style shared universe reviving their old monsters, it definitely put thoughts in my head.

If there was any type of overarching plot thread to the old Monster Mash saga.  It was the idea of other Scientists being tempted by Frankenstein's secrets when an opportunity to follow in his footsteps is provided, like it's an irresistible forbidden fruit to them.

Even Henry's actual children in Son Of and Ghost Of resist it at first but give in, with Ygor serving as their Serpent.  But this movie marks the beginning of other unrelated, sometimes at first perfectly normal, doctors following this arc.

But of course like many of the interesting things about these early films, it's not quite explored as in depth as it could be.  So that's something I'd like to see revisited.  Don't find some excuse to make Victor just as immortal as his Creation the way a lot of recent works have done, like Penny Dreadful.  Let it be other scientists playing that role each film after somehow stumbling upon Frankenstein's records and/or the Monster.

I know some might complain about the idea of repeating the same arc over and over again.  But just like how the One Ring's temptation of different people is different depending on that individual's personality, there are a lot of different characterizations this premise could explore.

Take Dr. Manning in this movie for example.  What's interesting about him is starting out as a normal medical doctor.  His decision at the end might have seemed less inexplicable if they actually verbalized more the subtext that he was basically being pressured into violating the Hippocratic Oath.  Talbot very explicitly wants to die, so that could have been easy to accept, but The Monster is basically a child who doesn't understand what's going on.

Analyzing this movie as Hollywood's earliest example of a film that is a sequel to two originally separates films continuity wise is also interesting.

As a Sequel to The Wolfman it works great.  As a Frankenstein movie though, it has unavoidable continuity issues from being torn between two different approaches.  There clearly was a draft of the script that tried pretty hard to work as a sequel to Ghost of Frankenstein, Lugosi's monster even spoke originally.  Yet there are also moments that just want to treat it as if this old castle was where the Monster was originally created.

Of all it's connections to Ghost.  The easiest to miss yet most important is that the man who's reputation lead Maleva to bring Talbot to this town was Ludwig Frankenstein's from before Ghost's story started, as someone who'd helped people.  She did not think "the guy who made a monster from dead bodies ought to know how to deal with a Werewolf", though that's what a viewer who watches the movie out of the context of the saga is inclined to think.  So that other scenes of the film seem to forget Ludwig existed, makes that confusion even worse.

Now people complaining about the new Shared Universe trend like to emphasize how it's more important for a film to work on it's own then tie in with other movies.  That's all well and good.  But this movie's inability to decide if it wants to be a sequel to Ghost or some unflimed Frankenstein reboot, made it inconsistent with itself.  And that caused the main flaws of an otherwise pretty good movie.

MithrandirOlorin’s Halloween Anime Recommendations.

I’m by no means the first Otaku to provide some Halloween season Anime recommendations in October.  So why care about mine?

October 31st happens to be my Birthday.  So even though I’ve defined myself as not a Horror fan in the strictest sense (in that I’m not looking to be scared by any fiction I watch) I have other reasons for enjoying a lot of stuff in the Horror and Gothic genres.  And I have a lot of memories of enjoying such fiction during the Halloween season.  

I love the classic Universal Monster movies, I’ve also enjoyed many Hammer films.  And other more obscure horror movies, like those Public Domain ones you sometimes find in DVD box sets selling 50 for only $10.  Slasher films I’ve tended to not be fond of, but I do enjoy Halloween 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.  And some of my favorite episodes of Western live Action television have been Halloween specials, from NCIS episodes like Witch Hunt to Pretty Little Liars‘ epic trilogy of Halloween specials.  Plus I love the first two Ghostbusters movies, and I don’t hate the reboot.

Since I’ve become mainly an Anime watcher over the last couple of years.  It’s overdue that I make some Anime Halloween recommendations.  Though I feel kinda like I haven’t watched enough Horror centric Anime.

I listened to about like an hour of the Podcast that Mother’s Basement did with Digibro, Gigguk and BestGuyEver about their Halloween recommendations.  And really none sound like they fit what I look for this time of year, but they might for others.

One thing Gigguk said that rubbed me the wrong way, was that he doesn’t like how Anime Horror is too “aesthetically pleasing”.  I don’t like how western horror in recent years is so obsessed with being Aesthetically ugly.  I like the first two Saw movies as Mysteries, and that’s about it from the Torture Porn genre.  And I like none of those movies that revolve around women crawling out of caves all slimy and muddy and dirty.  Classic Horror, like Universal and Hammer gave us, was very Aesthetically pleasing, it was simply a Gothic Aesthetic.

These recommendations are largely for people relatively new to Anime in general, if you have a respectable MAL already you’ve probably at least tasted all or most of these.  If however you consider yourself a hardcore Otaku and you’ve missed any one of these, you need to reconcile that immediately.

Why give Halloween themed recommendations to Newbies?  Maybe Horror or Gothic romance simply is your favorite genre and so Halloween fitting Anime would be the best entry point possible.  Or maybe now simply is the time you decided to finally give Japanimation a shot.  Or maybe you’re already at phase 2 or 3 of burrowing down the Otaku rabbit hole and are looking for new routes to dig into.  Perhaps specifically saving the Horror Route for October.

One more note before I start.  I haven’t watched the Castlevania series on Netflix yet.  I’ve decided to wait till during this Halloween season (and thus after I’ve already posted this) to watch it.  Then I might talk about it somewhere if I feel compelled to.  (Turns out it’s not actually Anime.)  I don’t want to include in this list something that hasn’t already stood the test of time somewhat.  And it gives me something new for the season to enjoy myself.  It annoys me that the Godzilla Anime doesn’t drop till November.

1. I’ve already declared When They Cry/Higurashi the ideal Horror Anime.  If you haven’t seen it yet, don't read that post past the Spoiler Warning.  In summary what I’ll say here is it has very much the Japanese equivalent of a Gothic Aesthetic.  And it makes an engaging mystery, with well done shocking moments.  And never abuses the Jump Scare.  
   
   
   But one thing I forgot to mention in that post was the Score, the Music in this show is perfect at setting an eerie mood.  If you can find the music on it’s own, it’d be excellent for a Haunted House.  
   
   
   Another note before moving on, for the numbered entries here I’m not recommending entire franchises but single series that might be part of larger franchises but still have a distinct entry on MAL or most Streaming sites.  For Higurashi it’s really only season 1 I’m recommending for October viewing.  Season 2 (Kai) is perhaps better for early November, when you’re kinda still in a Halloween mood, but want to phase yourself out of it before Christmas.  (Don’t expect Christmas recommendations BTW.)
   
   
2. Vampire Princess Miyu, the 4 episode 80s OVA.  This would be best if you want something shorter to get your feet wet.  It’s probably the only pre-2000 Anime I’ll recommend here.  It similarly has the Japanese equivalent to a Gothic Aesthetic.  And I really like it’s use of sound effects.  I also like the 90s TV series, but that’s better watched in the context of how to make a darker Magical Girl show.
   
   
3. School Live I now consider the best Zombie Anime.  Highschool of The Dead still has value, but if you’re gonna watch only one watch School Live.  Don’t let the cuteness fool you, it gets pretty scary.  And it isn’t filled with tasteless fanservice.
   
   
4. Witch Hunter Robin.  I can’t believe I haven’t talked about this on this blog more yet, since it’s about as ancient as the BeeTrain trilogy in my development as an Anime Fan.  It’s use of its horror elements is pretty interesting.  It's also got intrigue.  And is one of the best examples of why I love the 26 episode structure.
   
   
5. Hellsing, (the original Anime not Ultimate).  Is a satisfying Anime spin off to the legacy of Bram Stoker’s novel.  While all of the above 4 have Dubs, and the Dub is what I watched, this is the only one I feel confident in calling a top tier Dub, after all Alucard is Crispin Freeman.  Though I will say for Miyu not to write off the OVA’s dub based on how the 90s show’s gets called one of the worst of all time, it’s a very different Dub.

The only honorable mention I shall provide is the Fate/ franchise as a whole, it has Horror elements but that is not quite it’s main appeal.   But since the mythology/folklore is a large part of why I’m into Horror in the first place, it does overlap well with part of why I like Fate/ so much.  From the quasi Lovecraftian quality of Fate/Zero’s Caster, to the Fate/Stay Night:Unlimited Blade Works Caster’s berserk button being when she’s called a Witch.   Those are as I’ve explained before the best entry points to Fate/.  

Heck, Rin Tosaka pretty much always dresses like it’s Halloween.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, is the worst entry point only appealing at all if you're really into the niche it’s made for.  I am, so I enjoy even it’s much maligned Dub.  But as the ultimately least dark version of the Fate/ universe, it still has some solid Halloween season material.

The Grand Order OVA’s Dub becomes available this October, so I’ll also be watching that before the month is over, I can’t comment on it before then.  But on the subject of single episode OVAs, Fate/Prototype can be a spooky quick Halloween viewing experience.

But another reason I couldn’t leave Fate/ out of this post is that Fate/Apocrypha is a currently airing show that includes the characters of Vlad The Impaler and Frankenstein’s Monster, and also Jack The Ripper, and Semiramis is fairly Witchy.  So if any currently airing TV Anime this October needs to be mentioned it’s that one.  The tone however doesn’t fit Halloween as well as the other shows from what I’ve seen so far, unfortunately.  Maybe they’re saving the scarier bits for the Fall, either way it is again not a good entry point for Fate/.

As of episodes 8 and 9, Vlad and Frank’s characters are finally getting some good exploration.  And as of episode 11 I’m very into it.

Normally a list like this doesn’t end on the honorable mention.  But I organized this from the top down anyway.

It turns out this year’s October 31st will be the last day the legal streaming site www.Daisuki.Net operates, it’s being shut down.  So this month is your last chance to watch any Anime there.  But it has none of what I’ve recommended so that’s not actually helpful here.

Vampire Princess Miyu and Witch Hunter Robin had past legal western releases, but I can’t find them currently legally streaming anywhere.

School Live, Hellsing and Fate/ should be easy enough to find legally, between Crunchyroll, Funimation’s Website and Netflix.

Higurashi I was having trouble finding on any legal site, but then I found HIDIVE.  You can watch stuff free with ads, but need a paying subscription to view the Dubs it has.  For Higurashi the Dub isn’t that well received anyway, I was okay with it mostly but I can see why others wouldn’t be.  School Live is also on that site.  And it has some Fate/ stuff as well.
Update One Year Later: Now Witch Hunter Robin is on Funimation and VRV, but Miyu is still not legal anywhere.  Higurashi season 1 is now also on Hulu and Yahoo but season 2 is still only on HIDIVE.

Update May 2021: The English Dub of the Miyu OVAs are now on TubiTV, MidnightPulp and RetroCrush.  

Higurashi is still on HIDIVE (and VRV via HIDIVE) but that site doesn't have legal free viewing anymore.  Gou is on Hulu and FUNimation but I do NOT recommend watching it till you've seen the main series.

Witch Hunter Robin is still on FUNimation but not on VRV anymore.  Hellsing is also on FUNi and School Live! is on HIDIVE/VRV.  Most of Fate/ can be watched on either Netflix or HIDIVE.