Violence, if done right, can push a story to be more compelling and intriguing. Often times, it does get pushed too far, but that’s why we love it. Below are films or series of anime that are all extremely brilliantly bloody and I have tried to narrow it down to specific scenes. This list was particularly hard to do given the content but below I feel we have the best of the best. Let us kick off the list with number 10:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry) is a unique murder-mystery anime series based on a popular Japanese video game. It is a great anime but a very violent and dark one at that. Each arc will always start off slow but will build up to a bloody conclusion or shocking ending. I was amazed at just how deep they went with the violence of these children for such a setting. The number 10 scene involves character Shion getting her fingernails ripped off. Although not necessarily the most violent scene ever created, I have a weak stomach for fingernail ripping. It’s gross, and even though this is nothing but lines and color and animation, I still flinch. Ugh!

There are several film genres contained within Kill Bill here and the best is the back story on Lucy Liu’s character when the film switches to Japanese anime to set up the audience for the second half of the film which takes place in Japan. Lucy Liu is the somber, yet deadly, O-Ren Ishii. The character is fleshed out in a gloriously violent anime segment and isn’t tossed off as “just another bad guy.” Murder, and revenge, and sword slicing bodies commences.

I’m not quite sure what scene to single out in this film. Body organs get squashed, girls get tossed around and the violence is someties unbearable. Once you understand the ins and outs of the genre, it is all a measure of just how offensive the creators can get before enraged puritans storm the corporate office. There is a pretty sick scene of character Amano Jaku finally getting tired of the demon taking cheap shots at him. He transforms and makes an end run on the monster’s brain housing group.

Classic anime with great violence scenes of gore. Hokuto no ken has plenty of scenes to choose from but I am singling out the fight between Kenshiro and Shuu. Sure he dies and it is emotional which ranks it high but if you comb over the rest of the series you’ll find limbs being ripped off and peoples rib caged being punched out.

Like a splash of water waking one from a nightmare, this is an abrupt, compact, and dark anime. A heroine with prosthetic body parts, having been eaten/deformed by her fiance turned demon, seeks out the assistance of a cool, effete, but dangerous guardian to put her beloved down. This anime has some nudity but quickly turns you off with a demon ripping a her arm off at the elbow. A crucial scene in anime as they pack a whole series worth of potential in a 51 minute movie, giving history on how the dark master and Tsunami were created and how they came to live like they were.

Blood Reign Curse of the Undead Yoma is meant to be moody and semi-cryptic and when I watched it it genuinely weirded me out. It certainly is not for kids, unless you want your kids watching ground-dwelling beasts emerge up through the bloody corpses of freshly killed drunken thieves. Most crazy scene? There are many but when Yoma don’t spare the newborn children…..it’s so sad.

Ninja Scroll is a classic and there are plenty of memorable scenes but what always stuck out for me when I watched this as a kid was the fight between Tessai and Jubei. He tries to get revenge on ninja Jubei for taking his eye in a previous scene but he ends up in a violent bloody pile of his own brains and cut off fingers.

Not much to say here. Best anime opener off all time as people get their eyes poked out, arms ripped off and head decapitated. Check out the video below. Number 3 spot goes to the opener of Elfen Leid episode 1.

The series is basically the first set part of the story on how Guts eventually came to hate the Godshand and their hords of Demons. This guy has one of the most screwed up life ever. You’ll feel for this guy. He was given birth by his deceased mother and to make things worse, the man who took care of him tries to murder him. It’s only fitting his revenge makes for the best violent scene. In addition, the woman he loves and has a child with ends up getting raped and tortured by a demonic creature who was once human and his friend. It gets worse as he slices off his own arm so he can prevent the rape of the woman he loves with no success of course and ends up losing his right eye to a demon. Poor guy.

Angel Cop tops the list solely because the whole film is pretty messed up. Everyone get demoralized, shot at, and beaten. Angel Cop delievered all the graphic violence you could want from a 90′s anime. The above screencap steals the number 1 spot for worst violent scene but the attached youtube clip shows why this anime wins. Back in the 90′s companies felt Americans haven’t expanded their sense of entertainment yet so when they translated animes, they felt American audiences would only watch if it had loads of profanity. In the original language of some of these animes there is little to no cursing at all. This makes for a shocking, yet equally hilarious viewing experience.

Well there you have it.  Although anime like Violence Jack, Kite: Uncensored, Guyver, and X: The Movie, narrowly avioded the list, I feel this embodies a complete shocking experience for those looking to track down violent anime. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, or even chime in with your own Top 10!