Psychological Anime That You Need To Watch

By Ayomide.

The most amazing thing about anime is that there are so many genres to choose from. My favorite genre of anime is psychological - where the plot usually consists of a form of life or death dilemmas filled with mystery/puzzles that need to be sorted in order to move forward.

I've been watching anime for 6 years now, and there have been so many mind-boggling psychological anime that I've come across but I'm going to put you on my personal 3 favorite psychological anime that you need to put on your 'to watch' list.

Psycho-Pass

I watched Psycho-Pass back in 2015 and 5 years later it's still one of my top 3 favorites.

This series was inspired by live-action films with a dystopian storyline. Psycho-Pass is set in futuristic Japan where a Sibyl System is enforced. This is an objective system where a powerful bio-mechanical computer network assesses Japanese citizens mental state for their 'criminal intents'. The assessment is therefore a 'Psycho-Pass' including a numeric Crime Coefficient. The law enforcement are alerted to the data as well as any improvements (which are called clearing) or declines (clouding). If a targeted individuals Crime Coefficient exceeds the accepted threshold (which is 100), they are pursued, arrested or decomposed by the Inspectors who are assisted by their Enforces; latent criminals that are charged with protecting the inspectors as well as doing their dirty work.

Psycho-Pass is seen from the POV of Akane Tsunemori, a young woman who has an honest desire for justice. She is accompanied by Enforcer Shinya Kougami. Throughout the series she learns that the Sibyl System may not be as honest as it portrays itself to be.

This anime will forever be memorable to me. The storyline, the characters and the opening is just *chefs kiss*. With each episode having me on the edge of my seat I found it hard to stop watching. Season one contains only 22 episodes, so it's an easy bingebale watch. Now, personally I'm only recommending season one as I haven't (and probably won't) watched the latest seasons (due to personal reasons). But I'll leave you to decide after watching season one if you wish to continue watching the other seasons.

Erased

Now this anime is a rather peculiar one, but in a good way.

The story follows a 29-year-old man Satoru Fujinuma who possess an ability called 'Revival', which sends him back several minutes before a life-threatening incident occurs, allowing him to prevent it from happening again. However, when he is accused of killing someone very close to him, Satoru's ability sends him 18 years back to 1988.

He later comes to the realization that the recent murder may be connected to the abductions and killing of his classmates including the mysterious Kayo Hinazuki, that took place when he was a child. Satoru is now given a second chance to not only save a future killing of a close relative, but to prevent the kidnapping incident that took the lives of three of his childhood friends.

The plot develops beautifully throughout the series, with each mystery being slowly revealed. This anime is only 12 episodes long, and without revealing too much, the ending is definitely worth it. The literal definition of a plot twist.

Kakegurui

Kakegurui is based upon the Hyakkaou Private Academy school. This school may seem ordinary at a first glance, with the usual classes going on during the day. But with the majority of the students being children of the richest people in the world, at night this private academy turns into a gambling den, where money is gambled and people are manipulated. Those who come out on top of the gambling games stand at the top of the school.

This anime follows the beautiful transfer student Yumeko Jabami. She appears to be naive at first, but deep down she is a compulsive gambler. She stands apart from the rest as she doesn't gamble to win, she gambles for the thrill of it.

Yumeko has an exceptional ability to see through the other students gambling scams, and as she is unrestricted by the rules she quickly disrupts the hierarchy of the school, consequently drawing the attention of the student council who aim to take her down.

This anime slightly differs from my other recommendations (with Psycho-Pass and Erased having more emphasis on the life or death storylines), Kakegurui is a psychological thriller that focuses on the crazy character's personalities. Kakegurui grabbed my attention from the first episode, having me binge the first season in a day. This anime only has 12 episodes in the first season, and 12 episodes in the second season - Kakegurui xx. So there's no reason as to why you shouldn't add this to your 'to watch' list.

This concludes the end of my post. Of course there are plenty of other psychological anime that are worth watching, but these three are my personal favorites. All views are my own, please remember to subscribe to our blog as well as following us on Instagram and Twitter.