Welcome back to Hotsui Matsuri! I’m super excited to be back on the blog writing for this holiday. While we’ve been busy with our other projects, our love of anime has never truly faltered. Today on Hotsui Matsuri, I’m going to be diving into one of my favorite things to bring to everyone; anime watch lists. In honor of this holiday where we talk about spiritual otherworldly things, I thought I’d come at you with five supernatural anime that you should definitely have on your watch list (if they aren’t already). Without further ado, let’s get to counting!
A classic anime for me that centers itself in spiritual, supernatural, and otherworldly things. Yokai is the hottest topic in this anime as it explores all different kinds of these traditional creatures and the stories behind them as the main character, Natsume, returns their names to them. While this show is certainly on the slower side of anime, with no intense battles, it certainly always hits on an emotional level. It showcases the unique relationship between yokai and humans–whether those relationships be extremely positive or negative. And it humanizes even resentful yokai when it showcases how they got that way. Overall, Natsume Yuujinchou lays claim to six seasons of yokai-filled stories so it’s a fan favorite for sure! (P.S. as I went to look for the trailer, I saw there’s a seventh season releasing soon)
Mushi-Shi is an anime in the same vein as Natsume Yuujinchou, but while the latter focuses on helping yokai, Mushi-Shi focuses on helping people suffering from creatures called Mushi. Mushi are magical creatures that the main character, Ginko, insists are not truly evil — some do harmful things to humans and some help humans. Mushi-Shi is also similar to Natsume in the way that it doesn’t have a real overarching plot that it’s working towards but instead it just kind of feels more like an anthology of all these cases involving mushi and their effects.
A very old-school anime–okay maybe not THAT old school but it certainly came out in mid-2000s. This show features features a main character who can see yokai and mythical creatures — and most importantly he self-identifies as a folklorist (and part-time exorcist) named Kantarou. This anime features all kinds of yokai and mythical creatures including a kitsune, tengu, kappa, and more! Back in the day, this was one of my favorite manga as the plot explored folklore in more depth than the anime, but the anime was still a wonderful watch! It was my sick-day anime but I certainly recommend it just for some folklore/supernatural vibes.
Perhaps needing no introduction, I won’t spend that long describing xxxHolic. While certainly straying away from traditional folklore, xxxHolic is a classic supernatural that focuses on a witch who owns a wish-granting shop, Yuko; and Watanuki, a student who can see supernatural beings. Perhaps one of its creator’s (CLAMP) greatest works, it ties in deeply with their fellow series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles which it ran sidelong to. However, you don’t need to watch them both to appreciate them or have them make sense. So if by some chance you haven’t seen xxxHolic and are looking for a fun and unique supernatural show? Definitely add this to the watchlist.
I’m going to admit straight up. I have not watched this show. The most I know about this show is that my friend (who shall not be named) has a visceral reaction every time the theme song comes up in anime music quiz. What I do know about Gegege no Kitaro is that it does centralize around yokai, so it’s certainly something that should be put on your watchlist for folklore/supernatural anime. I know I’ll eventually get around to watching it as well.
There you have it! Those are my five recommendations for folklore/supernatural anime. I know I kind of broke tradition by having not watched ALL of them myself, but I have watched four out of five? Plus I swear Gegege is on my watchlist. Still, these are the things I’d recommend you watch! Have you watched any of them? Let us know in the comments! Especially if you’ve seen Gegege no Kitaro! Let us know how it is and how badly we need to see it NOW on a scale of 1-10 (10 being we had to see it yesterday). And thanks for checking into the blog for day 2 of Hotsui Matsuri! Star will be bringing some more great Hotsui Matsuri content tomorrow for day 3!
Stay weebtastic,
AishteLOVEru,
Luna
We be bloggin' 
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