For some anime fans, the best zombie anime refers to the walking dead chasing human beings so they can eat flesh.
Some zombies would even have supernatural powers. This genre ranges from horror to romantic.
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Although different works have similar characteristics, zombies generally remain the same as humans.
They turn into the undead, whether through a virus mutation or shady scientific research. So, let's get moving and see this zombie anime list.
1. Zombieland Saga
Zombie Land Saga seeks to inspire perseverance among its fans. It uses zombies as an allegory for the death of traditional idols and the rebirth of ideal idols.
The show provides a realistic approach to the idol business. Fans often invest a lot of money into idols but receive little to no reward in return.
This anime focuses on Sakura Minamoto and her zombie idol group. The cast puts their idol careers at the forefront of their lives.
However, they need to deal with business such as staffing and crowdfunding before an actual performance can take place.
2. Soul Eater
The zombie genre follows the lives of various students who become demon hunters. These students attend the Meister Academy, where Lord Death is the headmaster.
What's surprising? The students have their weapons. These are not your ordinary weapon because they are humans who can transform into powerful scythes.
The anime style is lustrous and colorful with its upbeat and melodic instrumentals. Its downright, gut-wrenching comedy feels out of place, sometimes supporting a gritty narrative regarding zombie survival.
Soul Eater teaches you to believe in the inevitability and accept death for what it is.
3. The Outcast
This series is one of the zombies shows that is based on a Chinese web manga. It tells the story of Zhang Chulan, whose life went topsy turvy after a mysterious girl saved him.
The weird but funny moments? The girl is wielding large kitchen knives to protect the boy against the zombies.
After the fateful encounter in the grave and the undead attacking the main character in a graveyard, the two meet again in the university as students.
The story unfolds from there. With a mysterious girl that has a connection with the dead and a dark past, what kind of journey will Zhang Chulan take?
4. Corpse Princess: Aka
Brutal death is Makina Hoshimura's destiny, but her life turns around after becoming a reanimated corpse.
After the unfortunate events, this brave young woman tries to save lives. At the same time, she tracks down the person responsible for the death of her family and her own.
With great action scenes and high-end enemies, Corpse Princess is a wild ride from start to finish. Her death has given Makina the strength to battle every hardship that came her way.
5. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Set during the Industrial Revolution, a mysterious plague is turning people into zombies. It has driven humankind to the brink of extinction.
The narrative follows Ikoma, a young man who is turned into a kabaneri. He fights to save the remnants of humanity.
The series is a real-world amalgamation of both futuristic and historical.
Some fans dubbed this story as a steampunk Attack-on-Titan like anime series. The difference is the use of Kabane as monsters instead of giants that eat brains and human flesh.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is filled with thrill, horror, and lots of action.
6. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?
While most zombie anime is dark, this series is a comedy with some ecchi elements on it.
It follows the life of Ayumu Aikawa, who was resurrected after trying to investigate a mysterious house. Eucliwood Hellscythe is the girl responsible for the young man's revival.
Now, this zombie boy needs to hunt down the serial killer who murdered him. Along the way, he meets more cute girls.
This show deals with death in a way I haven't seen replicated in other zombie animes.
7. Tokyo Ghoul
Tokyo Ghoul follows the story of Ken Kaneki, an 18-year-old college student who becomes a half-ghoul. After his transformation, he needs to eat humans to survive.
Contrary to your usual flesh-eating zombies, these ghouls try to lead typical human lives in society. Ken must discover ways to protect his humanity while ignoring that he's now one of the undead.
In this series, ghouls are not your brainless creatures with a hunger to eat flesh. They can be intelligent, even supernatural creatures like vampires.
8. Sankarea: Undying love
Undead plus romance? This combination seems absurd, but Sankarea manages to combine the two genres.
This romantic comedy series is somehow serious as it tackles matters like young romance and dating.
It mixes humor, horror, and romance while subverting the audience's expectations throughout the process.
Sankarea follows Chihiro, a high school student, and Rea, who meet and fall in love. The young teenage boy has an obsession with the undead, while the young woman is frustrated with her life.
In an unfortunate accident where Rea drinks a resurrection potion accidentally, their lives become intertwined as the girl turns into a zombie.
9. Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic
The anime isn't focused on zombie killings. But, its movie, Book of the Atlantic, is filled with it.
It focuses on one theme: the investigation of the mysterious resurrection in London. The queen called Earl Ciel Phantomhive to do this task.
While other fans look at it like a filler episode to the anime, I think you should give it a try. Even if you haven't seen the whole anime, this movie stands alone as another story.
If you want to know more about the characters and their backstory, you can binge-watch the series after watching this film.
10. Sunday Without God
The anime takes place in a world where humans lose the ability to reproduce and can't die regardless of injuries.
It is said that God abandoned all creations and gave them a final gift: the 'Gravekeepers.'
Gravekeepers have special beings who can put an undead to eternal sleep. One of these beings is Ai.
In this series, the zombie's versions differ a bit from the traditional ones. Still, they are rotting corpses and are incapable of thinking as normal people do.
Together with a mysterious man, this young girl journeys the world to discover what happened.
11. School-Live
Yuki Takeya is a cheerful but a bit delusional person. She is a member of the School Living Club.
This young teen loves school so much she likes to spend more in this place than go home.
One day, a zombie apocalypse wipes out the city except for several survivors, but Yuki remains oblivious of this fact for quite some time.
School-Live series covers denial and delusion. It is one of the unique zombie animes out there.
You can see the twist in the first episode. The series delivers twists that keep the audience reeling.
12.Zombie-Loan
This is a story about two boys Chika and Shito, together with a girl named Michiru. The girl has a Shinigami eye, allowing her to know if someone is going to die. Blacker rings mean death is imminent.
The young girl notices that her two classmates have two black rings and tries to warn them. But, she was surprised to learn these two boys were already dead because of a Zombie loan.
Chika and Shito need to kill zombies to pay off their debt. When they learn the ability of Michiru, they drag her to the mayhem of hunting down the undead to collect money.
13. Gungrave
This series follows the life of Brandon and his best friend. They are carefree and don't care about life while trying to live the life of a mafia.
These two are almost like brothers until the betrayal.
Gungrave is a serious anime about revenge. The main character, Brandon Heat, was a human before his friend betrayed him.
Brandon becomes a zombie and uses this opportunity to kill those who betray him.
Based on a popular video game, Gungrave is a tale of friendship and betrayal. Its slick animation and dynamic battle scenes make this series one of the best zombie anime ever made.
14. Highschool of the Dead
One of the trademarks of this series is its fan service. Still, you can say that the anime is one of the best.
Highschool of the Dead is the harrowing story of high school students who struggles to survive in a society of zombies.
They are having a simple life when all of a sudden, zombies appear and try to devour them.
Now, Takashi and Rei, along with other survivors, bravely exit the school to find their families. At the same time, they want to know what happened.
15. The Empire of Corpses
Reanimated corpses don't have souls. But, Vincent Frankenstein manages to create one. This news spread like wildfire in society.
So, John Watson, a medical student, embarks on a journey to find out the truth behind it.
The unique plot point and the characters based on historic and popular literary figures made the film interesting and enjoyable to watch. This anime is a must-watch for its story and amazing art.
I'm sure we saw enough to say that the anime incorporated workers' issues without feeling overly sore.
16. GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack
This is not your usual zombie anime. Why? Because the undead isn't people. Instead, you get to watch actual sea creatures attack people in Tokyo.
Gyo is a film adaptation based on a horror manga with the same name. There are a plethora of absurd things in this anime.
One of them is the robotic mechanical legs of the zombie fishes, allowing them to move and cause utter chaos.
What's more shocking? An undead fish spreads a deadly disease amongst the inhabitants. What do you want, and how does this anime break the rules?
It needs an open shot to try out zombie anime from a mainstream genre.
17. D. Gray-Man
In this series, the undead theme is mixed with demonic matters. A wealthy earl exploits the weaknesses of the people who recently lost their loved ones.
The desire to bring back a dead loved one prompted Millineum Earl to trap the soul in an Akuma.
The Black Order is an organization that protects humanity from the evil earl. Here comes Allen Walker, who can free the trapped souls with his anti-Akuma weapon called Innocence.
Fortunately, he's not the only one who possesses such power.
18. Kyoufu! Zombie Neko
Zombie and cute don't mix well because these undead creatures are gruesome. But not this anime!
Yep, Zombie Neko combines "Kawai" and the undead theme. What do you get? Cuteness and warmth overload.
It follows the life of a cute cat that is suddenly resurrected from the dead. Although it may seem absurd, it's real, at least in the anime world.
The cat wanders around doing what the undead cat should be supposed to do.
The result? The townsfolks seem to fall in love with the zombie cat. How did this wandering cat manage to do that?
I think you should watch this series. Each episode is only 5 minutes, and the series spans up to 52 episodes.
19. Tokkou
For years, Shindou Ranmaru has been dreaming of a beautiful half-naked woman.
On his graduation day before becoming a police officer, zombies attack the police academy where he studies, killing his parents as a result.
In the end, this new graduate decides to join the woman who is a member of a secret organization. Now, they have to fight off the swarm of zombies and close the portal where zombies originate.
This is not so popular among anime watchers because of the animation style.
20. Shi Xiong
This zombie apocalypse anime is slowly turning people into the undead through a contaminated spring. Xiaofe has to do his best to defend the world he knows against these zombies.
Ironically, this show is packed with comedy with satirical criticism originating from Chinese society.
The animation is not the highest quality, but the stories are certainly pleasant.
With 8 minutes per episode, you get to watch how the protagonist deals with zombies
21. Mo Dao Zu Shi
This series is a Chinese anime with an amazing story and world-building. It doesn't focus on a zombie apocalypse.
But there's plenty of zombie killing and resurrecting, which is an essential part of the story.
Mo Dao Zu Shi follows the life of a person who rises to power with black magic. He was reincarnated in the body and person of his former student.
From here, the story unfolds as the main character tries to atone for his sins. At the same time, the young man faces the wrath of society that condemns him for his evil ways.
22. Zo Zo Zombie
A total of more than 100 episodes, this series is a comedy. The animation is drawn in such a way that lessens or dampens the gore details of a zombie genre.
Since it's a comedy, the series focuses on the absurd things a zombie can do to their body. Zombies are dead, so the main character doesn't feel anything.
Still, the anime turns out to be more cartoony than your usual Japanese anime shows.
23. Biohazard: Degeneration
Are you familiar with Resident Evil? Of course, you do. It's the most popular zombie anime that have ever graced the big screen.
This franchise is based on a game. Now, it has a movie. The setting is Autumn 2005, a year after the release of the game.
Again, the mysterious zombie plague is wreaking havoc in the US. Unlike your typical Japanese anime, this movie is purely made in CGI.
If you are a fan of the franchise, I think you'll surely love this one.
24. Seoul Station
Are you familiar with the film Train to Busan? If you are, here's a prequel for you in the anime adaptation.
Seoul Station is about a young woman who struggles to leave a society filled with other zombies. It is not your typical zombie anime.
Although it's not as popular as other anime in this list, the ending makes it worth your attention. The first few minutes of the film will immediately capture your attention with how gripping it is.
On top of that, there were several subplots to keep viewers entertained between scenes.
25. Tokyo Majin
Tatsuma Hiyuu, a mild-mannered guy from Okayama Prefecture, transfers to Magami Academy in Tokyo for his final year of high school.
He became friends with Kyouichi Houraiji, the class delinquent.
This quiet teenager meets the Student Council President, Aoi Misato, Komaki Sakurai of the archery club, and Yuuya Daigo of the wrestling club.
The five unlikely buddies must team up with Hisui Kisaragi to defeat the demons and zombies.
They discover that they may have to confront a greater hazard to Tokyo than simply eradicating a few nasty, chaotic monsters.
26. Ajin: Demi-human
Kei Nagai is a high school student who, unlike most others around him, knows very little about Ajin.
Although he has only seen them in the news on occasion, students are brainwashed to believe that these beings are not considered human.
As a consequence, his dangerously little knowledge on the subject becomes an inconvenience. This young man narrowly survives an accident that was supposed to kill him.
This accident signals his rebirth as an Ajin and begins his days of torment. Kei, though, realizes that more of his species may be much closer than he thinks.
27. Calamity of the Zombie Girl
Mummy and zombies? Yes, these are the central themes of the series. It's a one-episode ONA that tells the story of two young girls.
They are mummies. Then, a curious student who visited the museum steals the stone of life that these two mummy girls are holding or protecting.
This causes the two girls to wake up and become a zombie.
By all means, these zombie girls want to get back what was taken from them. So, the battle between humans and the undead begins.
28. Hellsing Ultimate
This series is only ten episodes, but it's packed with actions and mystery. Aside from being a vampire anime, it is also a zombie anime.
The characters often fight against demons, monsters, vampires, and of course, the undead. In reference to the iconic Van Helsing, this anime focuses on an organization called Hellsing.
Hellsing has members who are often supernatural creatures. Although they are an abomination to society, they try to protect humans from the onslaught of monstrosity.
If you want to watch more anime, you can try the anime series with more episodes.
29. Ghost In The Shell
Not many fans categorize this series as a zombie anime. Maybe because of its take on the reanimation of the dead.
Of all the series in this list, the main characters are mechanically enhanced and look normal.
If you get the resurrected corpses, Major is a zombie whose soul is transferred to a mechanical doll. Still, it's not your popular or typical zombie genre.
Trivia on the Best Zombie Shows
What is the best zombie show?
In this list, it would be Zombie Loan and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.
Is there any anime with zombies?
This list contains zombie themes from the most gruesome to the mildest depiction, from action to romance. You even find comedy.
Conclusion
From pop culture to zombie fish, you have it all. If you're looking for the best zombie anime (or zombie girlfriend), just choose one from this list and watch anime this season.