Beauty Water (2020) is a Korean animated shocker about a plus-size makeup artist who discovers a mysterious cosmetic that lets her remold flesh like clay—at the cost of her sanity and safety. Beneath the body-horror veneer lie evergreen anime touchstones: a “power system” (the water’s grotesque rules), an underdog arc (a ridiculed woman grabbing for control), and relentless subversion of viewer expectations (every wish curdles into dread).
The 15 titles below echo those ideas—twisting power mechanics, spotlighting downtrodden protagonists, or yanking the narrative rug away—yet remain criminally under-seen. Each deserves fresh eyes for bold art styles, risky storytelling, or quietly brilliant character work.
1. Kokkoku (2018)
- Streaming: HIDIVE / Prime Video
- Episodes: 12 | MAL 6.7
- Studio: Geno Studio (director Tomoyuki Kurokawa)
- Plot A fractured family enters Stasis, a world where time stands still, to rescue a kidnapped child—only to face cultists who weaponize the same frozen realm.
- Similarities A rigid supernatural rule set dictates who lives or shatters inside Stasis, mirroring Beauty Water’s lethal “cosmetic physics,” while underdog heroine Juri fights classist predators with wits, not brawn.
2. Gleipnir (2020)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / Hulu
- Episodes: 13 | MAL 7.0
- Studio: Pine Jam
- Plot Shuichi can turn into a monstrous mascot suit; classmate Clair literally climbs inside to hunt others chasing alien coins that grant warped bodies and powers.
- Similarities Body-mod horror, transactional power systems, and protagonists who trade humanity for survival evoke Beauty Water’s spiraling makeover nightmare.
3. Mahou Shoujo Site (2018)
- Streaming: Prime Video / HIDIVE
- Episodes: 12 | MAL 6.5
- Studio: Production doA
- Plot Bullied Aya receives a “wand” that fires high-velocity bullets—one of many gifts from a sinister website preparing an apocalyptic event.
- Similarities Like Beauty Water’s lotion, the Site offers easy fixes that exact brutal tolls, flipping the “magical girl” trope into nihilistic terror and underdog catharsis.
4. Shiki (2010)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / Funimation
- Episodes: 22 | MAL 7.7
- Studio: Daume (director Tetsurō Amino)
- Plot A sleepy village succumbs to a rash of sudden deaths, traced to stylish newcomers who feed on blood rather than gossip.
- Similarities Obsessions with beauty, societal status, and literal consumption of bodies echo Beauty Water’s critique of cosmetic culture, all while steadily subverting who the real monsters are.
5. Dorohedoro (2020)
- Streaming: Netflix
- Episodes: 12 + OVA | MAL 8.0
- Studio: MAPPA; flamboyant CG/2-D hybrid
- Plot Amnesiac reptile-man Caiman hunts sorcerers who transformed his head, navigating gore, slapstick, and found family in an industrial hellscape.
- Similarities Grotesque transformations, quirky yet codified magic, and characters clawing upward from literal trash heaps make this the grungy comic cousin to Beauty Water.
6. Ajin: Demi-Human (2016)
- Streaming: Netflix
- Episodes: 26 (two seasons) | MAL 7.5
- Studio: Polygon Pictures
- Plot High-schooler Kei dies in traffic, revives instantly, and learns he’s an immortal Ajin hunted by governments and terrorists alike.
- Similarities The “immortality” system’s rigid rules mirror Beauty Water’s usage limits; Kei’s shift from meek honor student to fugitive powerhouse is a dark underdog reversal.
7. Texhnolyze (2003)
- Streaming: HIDIVE
- Episodes: 22 | MAL 7.7
- Studio: Madhouse × Triangle Staff (Yoshitoshi ABe & Chiaki J. Konaka)
- Plot In Lux, a crumbling subterranean city, limb-replacement tech (“Texhnolyze”) fuels gang wars and metaphysical doom.
- Similarities Surgical body enhancement as social currency, nihilistic twists, and avant-garde direction expand Beauty Water’s cautionary plastic-surgery fable into cyberpunk despair.
8. Boogiepop Phantom (2000)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll
- Episodes: 12 | MAL 7.1
- Studio: Madhouse
- Plot After a pillar of light splits the night sky, teens vanish or mutate while an urban-legend shinigami stalks Tokyo’s alleys.
- Similarities Non-linear storytelling, eerie sound design, and adolescence-fueled transformations mirror Beauty Water’s creeping dread and narrative rug-pulls.
9. Wonder Egg Priority (2021)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / Hulu
- Episodes: 12 + special | MAL 8.0
- Studio: CloverWorks
- Plot Grieving girls crack dream-eggs that hatch victims of bullying; saving them means fighting surreal monsters born of trauma.
- Similarities Both titles weaponize beauty standards and teen insecurities, delivering dazzling yet disturbing metamorphoses and shifting “rules” the heroines must master.
10. Paranoia Agent (2004)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / Funimation
- Episodes: 13 | MAL 8.0
- Studio: Madhouse (creator Satoshi Kon)
- Plot A golden-bat-wielding child assaults stressed Tokyo residents, spawning mass hysteria that distorts reality itself.
- Similarities Kon’s series dismantles media obsession and societal pressure, much as Beauty Water eviscerates cosmetic culture, with layer-upon-layer subversion.
11. Magical Girl Raising Project (2016)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / HIDIVE
- Episodes: 12 | MAL 7.0
- Studio: Lerche
- Plot A mobile-game lottery grants real powers to 16 girls—then demands they “thin the roster” or die.
- Similarities A deadly gamified power system, drastic shifts from cute to cruel, and underdogs forced into kill-or-be-killed spirals recall Beauty Water’s tonal whiplash.
12. Corpse Princess (Shikabane Hime) (2008)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll
- Episodes: 25 | MAL 7.1
- Studio: Gainax × feel.
- Plot Maka Shikabane Hime is an undead teenage assassin who must slay 108 revenants to reach paradise.
- Similarities Her cosmetic “perfection” hides necrotic truth, paralleling Beauty Water’s façade-versus-flesh terror; the action hinges on strict spiritual mechanics.
13. Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana) (2013)
- Streaming: HIDIVE / Crunchyroll
- Episodes: 13 | MAL 7.0
- Studio: Zexcs; rotoscoped visuals
- Plot Bookish Kasuga is blackmailed by a classmate after stealing a gym uniform; their pact spirals into obsession and self-harm.
- Similarities Ordinary teens mutate—psychologically rather than physically—under societal shame, echoing Beauty Water’s grotesque makeover of identity.
14. Babylon (2019)
- Streaming: Prime Video
- Episodes: 12 | MAL 7.2
- Studio: Revoroot
- Plot Prosecutor Zen investigates a pharmaceutical conspiracy tied to legalized suicide and a woman who can hypnotize with words.
- Similarities A rule-driven moral power (language as weapon), constant narrative swerves, and institutional rot feel akin to Beauty Water’s Faustian critique of vanity industries.
15. Hell Girl (Jigoku Shoujo) (2005)
- Streaming: Crunchyroll / HIDIVE
- Episodes: 78 (first three seasons) | MAL 7.6
- Studio: Studio DEEN
- Plot At midnight, those consumed by hatred can summon Ai Enma to ferry enemies to hell—at the price of their own souls.
- Similarities The show literalizes impulsive “quick fixes” for social misery, mirroring Beauty Water’s trade-offs while giving every episode a fresh, expectation-defying twist.
Why These Anime Work for Mentioned Anime Fans
Each series above weaponizes a system—whether time freezes, suicide websites, or flesh-reshaping cosmetics—to probe vanity, status, and desperation. They champion outsiders who seize forbidden tools only to confront horrific costs, mirroring Beauty Water’s descent from wish-fulfillment to body-horror cautionary tale. If the film’s mix of power fantasy, underdog yearning, and gut-punch reversals hooked you, these underrated gems will scratch the same unsettling itch—often in ways you’ll never see coming.
