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Scariest episodes of the anime

What are the scariest episodes of the anime?

  • EP020: The Ghost of Maiden's Peak

  • EP023: The Tower of Terror

  • EP095: A Shipful of Shivers

  • EP232: Just Waiting On a Friend

  • AG081: Take This House and Shuppet

  • AG146: Fear Factor Phony

  • DP043: Malice in Wonderland!

  • DP090: Ghoul Daze!

  • BW014: A Night in the Nacrene City Museum!

  • BW026: Scare at the Litwick Mansion!

  • XY014: Seeking Shelter from the Storm!

  • XY072: Scary Hospitality!

  • PG10: The Old Chateau

  • Another episode (post which one you think is the actual scariest)


Results are only viewable after voting.
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The scariest time of the year is upon us! It’s Halloween and as such we’re taking a look at the scariest episodes the anime has had to offer through its 20-year run. Which is your favourite and why?
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EP020
Original title: The Ghost Pokémon and the Summer Festival
Dub title: The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak

Brock and James are both bewitched by a picture scroll shown in a shrine open only on the day of a summer festival. The picture depicts a beautiful young maiden in a scene from the legend of Maiden Rock—a point on a cape near the town. According to a priest's explanation, the girl in the picture lived 2,000 years ago, and awaited the return of a lover captured in battle, until she finally turned into stone. Every year at this season, the ghost of this girl steals the spirit of a young man and this year it is James' and Brock's turn. What could the ghost possibly be after? And what is its true identity?

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EP023
Original title: Capture at the Pokémon Tower!
Dub title: The Tower of Terror

In search of a ghost Pokémon, Ash heads for a tower in Lavender Town where they are said to dwell. Jessie, James and Meowth from Team Rocket are already at the tower, but as they lay in wait for our heroes, they are attacked by Gastly, Haunter and Gangar. In the process of trying to defeat the ghost Pokémon, Ash learns a lesson or two about the mystical spirit world. Can Ash capture a ghost Pokémon and if so, will it be enough to defeat the psychic Gym Leader of Saffron City?

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EP095
Original title: Ghost Ship and Ghost Pokémon!
Dub title: A Shipful of Shivers

Professor Oak tells our heroes that divers have recovered an Orange League Championship trophy off the coast of Moro Island that dates back over three hundred years! The trophy is on display at the Moro Island Museum of Art for all to see. By the time they get to the museum, Team Rocket has already paid a visit and now it's up to our heroes to track them down! But the chase leads them to an abandoned ship at sea… What could be waiting for them inside?

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EP232
Original title: The Kyukon in the Fog!
Dub title: Just Waiting On a Friend

Our heroes are traveling over a mountain pass when inclement weather occasions a stay in a lodge located conveniently nearby. Brock is very taken with the hospitable caretaker of the lodge and her Ninetales, but his friends grow increasingly suspicious of her as they notice, and unsuccessfully try to point out to Brock, vague warning signs—her being distant and distracted, her preoccupation with the past, her not reflecting in mirrors—that she is not in fact his dream girl. Brock will have none of it, though, and eagerly accepts her proposal of marriage, even as the lodge itself grows increasingly sinister.

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AG081
Original title: The Mansion of Kagebouzu!
Dub title: Take This House and Shuppet

Ash and friends are lost when it starts to rain. They eventually make their way to a mansion but get locked inside. Soon, the gang gets split up and find out the mansion may be haunted…

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AG146
Original title: Esper VS Ghost! Midnight Duel!?
Dub title: Fear Factor Phony

On a dark and stormy night, Ash and his friends find a deserted town near an old mine. Inside the mine is a Haunter, who scares our heroes away! Team Rocket sees the commotion and investigates, only to receive a scare that sends Wobbuffet running in fear. Team Rocket then discovers that the Haunter was an illusion created by a team of Ghost Pokémon—but why?

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DP043
Original title: Mumargi! Escape From a Nightmare!!
Dub title: Malice In Wonderland!

An old gate leads Ash and the gang to a Pokémon Center where all their dreams come true! Brock is surrounded by adoring Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, Ash is invited to a tournament of the world's greatest Trainers, and Dawn is asked to compete in a Contest of the world's best Coordinators! Even Team Rocket, lost outside in the fog, manages to find a free all-you-can-eat restaurant! Everything's perfect until Croagunk uses Poison Jab on Brock, and Brock wakes up to discover it was all a dream…

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DP090
Original title: It’s Ghost Time After School
Dub title: Ghoul Daze!

On the fifth day of the Pokémon Summer Academy, Professor Rowan has a special assignment for his campers: they'll each team up with a partner and go to the Summit Ruins at night. They're sure to meet Ghost-type Pokémon along the way, but the first team to retrieve the Summit Ruins medal will win! Ash and Angie team up, while Brock's partner is a nervous kid and a macho boy named Kendall wants to be Dawn's partner. Conway's partner is a strange little girl. That night, the teams enter a forest on their way to the ruins, but Conway's partner doesn't seem to be anyone from the Summer Academy...

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BW014
Original title: Shippou City! The Big Adventure at the Museum!!
Dub title: A Night in the Nacrene City Museum!

After arriving in Nacrene City and discovering that the Nacrene Gym is inside the city museum, our heroes meet a very scared man. His name is Hawes, and it turns out that he’s soon to become co-curator of the museum. He claims to have seen ghostlike apparitions recently, just as the museum is about to launch what is called the Secret Artifact Exhibition. The gang listens to the details of what has been happening, and Iris decides that an “angry spirit” is putting a curse on the museum…

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BW026
Original title: The Scary Story of the Hitomoshi Mansion!
Dub title: Scare at the Litwick Mansion!

On their way to Nimbasa City and Ash’s next Gym Battle challenge, our heroes get caught in a torrential downpour. They duck into a nearby mansion to get out of the bad weather, finding no one inside. Upon further investigation, it turns out the mansion is inhabited by a group of Litwick. At first the Litwick try to prevent our heroes from learning about them by draining power from Ash’s Pokédex. But eventually, Ash learns that Litwick are known for pretending to guide people through dark places…while actually leading them into the Ghost World…

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XY014
Original title: The Mysterious Rain Shelter! Nyasper is Watching!!
Dub title: Seeking Shelter from the Storm!

Our heroes and Team Rocket both seek shelter from a downpour in an old, abandoned mansion. When lights come on and doors close behind them, they’re convinced the mansion is haunted—and because neither of the two groups knows the other is there, they keep scaring each other with their startled screams! When our heroes explore the house and encounter a mysterious being with glowing eyes, Ash, Serena, and Clemont are terrified—but Bonnie runs after it to find out what’s going on…

267px-XY072.png

XY072
Original title: The Scary House's Hospitality!
Dub title: Scary Hospitality!

As our heroes travel through a deep forest, Serena recalls a story about a particularly scary house. And just as they make their way out of a forest, they come across the mansion from her tale! On the doorstep of the scary house, a gentleman named Lon invites them in out of the rain. Shortly after, our heroes witness a series of frightening and inexplicable events…

267px-PG10.png

PG10
Original title: The Forest Manor
Dub title: The Old Chateau

Late at night, a young traveler and her Chansey lose their way in Eterna Forest. They soon stumble upon a house—but what waits inside?
 
Main series: It's a toss up between Ghoul Daze! and Scare at the Litwick Mansion!

That ghost girl in the former, nope. Just go away. And the Litwick and Lampent draining the life forces of the people in the mansion was pretty creepy and then add the fact that they were sent to the spirit world and Jessie and Cilan almost died. A Night In the Nacrene City Museum should also get a honorable mention.

As a non main series episode, The Old Chateau was also kind of creepy.
 
Ghoul Daze felt pretty dark compared to the others. I guess it's because the one causing the trouble wasn't a ghost Pokémon playing some pranks nor there was some sort of misunderstandment, the ghost girl straight up wanted to lure everyone into hell. And the way she kinda... disintegrates into several dark fragments at the end... ugh

The Litwick Mansion had a similar concept, but for some reason it didn't come off as creepy to me. Maybe the little emo candles being too cute or Team Rocket acting pretty dorky for BW standards overshadowed the whole Spirit World plot point. Or perhaps its the voice acting from the dub I watched. I remember Team Rocket sounding almost dead-like in the Japanese version.

The Old Chateau plays a lot of horror tropes pretty straight, but since its Pokémon doing it, they manage to become creepy again. Except the scene when Cheryl follows the man through the hallways, it was stretched for so long I actually found it really funny. Despite that, I guess this one would win as the scariest, but I believe it's unfair to compare it along the main anime episodes.
 
One of the scariest episodes is the episode prior to the "Tower of Terror," but the episode where Sabrina first debuts. Her character with that little girl is frightening.

Everything about that episode screamed Twilight Zone.

The Old Chateau had very classic horror visuals that I love. I'm pretty sure that place in the game creeps me out too.

I also voted for Ghost at Maiden's Peak, not because its scary, but its brilliantly memorable. More than many other episodes, I always think of this episode. The background story, the Gastly trying to help the real ghost out, and Kojiro and Takeshi being led out to end this woman's loneliness were all things that I remember. Another thing, which is kinda silly, I loved their drawing of the ghost. She was so pretty, and it showed how well they could a bishoujo character when they want to. It also includes a huge pokeshipping scene so yeah, I love that episode.

I voted for an episode in XY also that I thought was quite well made. I'm sure that if I was young again, the episode where the guy reveals himself to be the dead child would've creeped me out.
 
I loved the Ghost of Maidens Peak. It has a nice spooky atmospheric feeling to it, plus it had lots of funny moments and Venastoise lol.

The Tower of Terror was a great episode filled with spooky and funny moments too. I loved the Ghost trio in this episode.

Ghoul Daze is probably my favorite out of all of them. I just watched this episode yesterday. It felt darker than usual and the episode felt almost surreal imo.
 
I think it's a tie between Ghost of the Maiden's Peak and Ghoul Daze. While the former does include a Ghost Pokemon, there was still an actual ghost near the end and Gastly was so different that it might as well have been just another ghost instead of a Pokemon. It had an creepy atmosphere and interesting twist that worked in its favor too.

Ghoul Daze was also different in that the main conflict didn't come from a Ghost Pokemon or that a Ghost or Psychic Pokemon was just playing around with the main cast. A ghost taking the form of a little girl was clearly trying to kill the characters, while a Dusknoir was trying to save them. That definitely made it more creepy than other Ghost Pokemon episodes. Just the image of Conway nearly falling to his death is darker than what the show normally does, let alone in Ghost Pokemon episodes.

I'll give an honorable mention for Scary Hospitality too, but it's mainly for the ending twist of the man being an actual ghost more than anything else. If I saw the episode when I was a bit younger or it had a darker tone, it probably would be more creepy, but I think it works better in terms of a creepy/scary episodes than the Esperr episode.

The Old Chateau definitely had a creepy atmosphere to it. I remember thinking that it would work really nicely as a Halloween special when it first released. Granted, I find that Generations in generally doesn't have much substance to really make me want to recommend the shorts, aside from a couple of them, but if you just want a quick Pokemon themed Halloween fix, then this would probably do the job.
 
The flat-out scariest by far is It’s Ghost Time After School/Ghoul Daze! When the episode originally aired I was still very much in the throes of my teenaged horror film phobia (yeah ok, I still have this...) and I remember being utterly paralysed during and after.

I also remember being creeped out by Just Waiting On a Friend but this I saw when I was really much younger.


(Special mention of course to The Ghost Pokémon and the Summer Festival/The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak because it's simply the best. The tiniest bit creepy but 99% pure, hilarious Kanto fun.)
 
It's a toss up between Ghoul Daze and The Old Chateau for me. The Ghost of Maiden's Peak was just too... weird for me to get realistically scared by it, so it didn't score highly in the scary list.
 
Please note: The thread is from 7 years ago.
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