Top 10 Zombie Anime Series

Top 10 Zombie Anime Series

Don’t think quarantine is an option for these guys. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are counting down our picks for the Top 10 Zombie Anime Series.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the most iconic series that revolve around the dead clawing their way back to life and causing all manner of trouble. Horror, action, comedy, as long as it’s got corpses crying out for brains, it counts!

#10: “Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack” (2012)

Yes, technically this particular horde happens to consist of fish and other undersea life, but given how they’re still corpses propped up by metallic legs, they still count! If anything, having to deal with a giant undead shark that can climb up stairs is far more terrifying than your run of the mill reanimated human. After an old military experiment ends up turning everything under the sea into a hungry death machine now capable of traversing on land…yeah, you can see how the citizens of Tokyo might have had a rough time of it.

#9: “The Empire of Corpses” (2015)

What is it about Victorian England and zombies that seems to go hand in hand? While the narrative is the furthest thing from slick and meticulous, it does serve as one hell of an escape fantasy if you just want to let your mind undo itself for a moment and enjoy the sight of John Watson tackling his way through a fresh batch of zombies while trying to track down Victor Frankenstein. Yes, that does sound like bad fanfiction, but at least it's merry old entertaining at the same time!

#8: “Corpse Princess” (2008-09)

She was murdered, resurrected, and now she’s one pissed off zombie armed with a pair of machine guns. There’s your plot. While it doesn’t exactly go full on balls to the wall as much as it could, seeing Hime make headway in shooting down the hundred and eight other living corpses in order to gain entry to heaven is certainly thrilling at times. Throw in a decent back and forth with her companions and you’ve got a fun little romp here packed to the brim with bodies and bullets.

#7: “Is This a Zombie?” (2011)

What happens when you combine a recently resurrected zombie boy with the powers of a magical girl? A crossdressing adventure that throws just as many spooks as it does laughs every chance it gets. Sounds like a crazy mish mash? Well, you’d be right. One moment you’ve got Eucliwood Hellscythe causing widespread death just by speaking, and then you’ve got Ayumu transforming into his skirt and dress combo in front of the whole school in order to fight a giant squid with a chainsaw. How’s that for a wonderful mess?

#6: “Sankarea: Undying Love” (2012)

A hot-blooded human falling in love with an undead girl? More common than you might think, and nowhere is it better realised than when a zombie-loving fanboy finds himself unintentionally bringing a suicidal girl back to life. And now he’s got a girlfriend he has to help sew up her cut flesh and preserve her body before it rots. Might sound gruesome, but this black comedy has plenty of charm to it, especially regarding our pair of bleak lovebirds. There’s certainly a lot more biting involved…

#5: “School-Live!” (2015)

Now this is an excellent example of how to merge and overlap genres while bringing out the potential in both. While Yuki’s school life appears to be bright, cheerful and the typical wonderland one would associate with a typical shoujo slice of life, the horrendous truth is that the world is currently in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, with the gnawing dead seeking to eat the living at every turn. And Yuki doesn’t have a clue, because her friends are doing everything they can to prevent their frail-minded classmate from realizing the truth for fear of what it would do to her!

#4: “Hellsing Ultimate” (2006-12)

While the bloodsuckers are very much the focus of this savage action fest, that’s not to say the walking dead aren’t heavily prominent. In this instance, zombies go by ghouls, and are created from human remains after a vampire has had its fill, unless you happen to be a virgin like Seras of course, in which case, welcome to the next life as Alucard’s fledgling. With a love of the classic gothic lore, a gun wielding Dracula who doesn’t know the meaning of subtlety, as well as plenty of undead to rip apart in some wonderfully gory fight scenes, this is a must watch for those who like their anime on the naughty side.

#3: “Zombie Land Saga” (2018)

It’s just another idol series, said everyone before they watched the lead character get hit by a vehicle, get reanimated into an admittedly adorable undead zombie, and then forced by an eccentric make up artist to join an idol group to help save the economy of a crappy prefecture. Oh, and her fellow performers also happen to be made up of other undead. It’s bizarre, it’s oddly touching, it's downright hilarious, and the ladies never fail to entertain us with both their shenanigans and concerts. An unexpected gem if there ever was one.

#2: “Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress” (2016)

When your average zombies just aren’t metal enough, just make them capable of running at blistering speed and lashing onto whole structures like a swarm. With mankind’s safety dependant on reinforced trains capable of transporting them across various safe points, it falls to the likes of Ikoma, now transformed into a Kabane hybrid, in order to protect the innocents aboard the locomotives with his ingenuity and the assistance of the beautiful yet deadly Mumei. It may borrow themes and story beats from a certain other Titans of the anime industry, but…its still metal as heck!

#1: “Highschool of the Dead” (2010)

Yes, we are totally being shameless here, but in terms of putting zombies at the forefront along with all manner of smutty material you’d find in beloved B-movies, this series delivers. You’ve got an army of the dead devouring everything in sight, survivors going crazy due to all the chaos, teens jotting a course for freedom through an infested city, and of course, physic-defying boobs with an extra helping of fanservice. The shlock on display is so mind-blowing you can’t help but love it.