Anime fans, looking for suggestions

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Excellent mix of police procedural, political intrigue, ruminations on the nature of being and some pretty cool overall cyberpunk action.

Basically came into say Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex as well, one of the best TV series of all time. The TC can just watch The Laughing Man OVA for the main arc if they really don't to watch a series and make it into a movie basically.

Elfen Lied is great, despite what others may say, they're wrong and dummies. It reminded me of Akira when Testuo blows up people with his mind. This time Lucy goes around cutting people in half with her mind, quite gruesome.

Elfen Lied is so bad that it was trainwreck bad to where I had to keep watching to see where it would go and constantly surprised around every corner how low it went.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I loved Elfen Lied, but the manga is way better. The anime's ending only goes so far.

 

[Wakey87]

Perfect Blue

Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne

 

[SckizoBoy]

Shingeki no Kyojin I assumed was Attack on Titan; Google search confirmed. (Sorry, my Japanese is a little rusty, meaning I ordered at a hibachi grill once by pointing at the menu then my mouth, and that?s about the extent of it.) But you won?t catch me reading manga even if it is better; I like anime for the visuals, the spectacle, so the show suited me just fine for what it was. Actually, when the show became more character-focused and less focused on the titans, I kinda lost interest.

You'd be surprised, one of my favourite manga is centred around classical music... and it was really well written.

FYI, I would've offered more titles, but wasn't sure given you said you didn't like episodic stuff (the series I've mentioned are 12eps max IIRC). Though I missed the suggestion for Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (it's randomly violent with some pretty grotesque imagery), and FLCL might be up your alley, it is rather surreal (6 eps). Maybe Sword of the Stranger as well? It's a film and beautifully done, but has a bit of a slow start, but the ending set-piece and 'boss fight' might appeal to you (great soundtrack at that point, too).

There's also a three episode OAV that I never watched, but want to... quite an old title now, but can't remember its name. It's about a gynoid assassin in the near future and features some pretty graphic combat violence. I can just picture a (now inactive) Escapist's avatar as being the gynoid twirling her twin hand-cannons and blasting fools either side of her in a gif... -_-

But answer me this: I know there?s a level of cultural depth and meaning to Japanese animation that goes beyond, say simple ?animated entertainment? mentalities; do you feel the titans? imagery is a jab at Western culture? I noticed they all are very ?white? in feature, wide-eyed with the dumb, toothy grins, insatiable (greedy, predatory) appetites, etc.; I couldn?t really help catching some social commentary there. I could be completely off-base, just curious.

Not really... I consider them symbolic of the hubris of mankind in general, rather than the west, given that the characters, by-and-large, have central European/Germanic/Nordic names and features.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

The titans (or any chars in general) looking "white" to some in anime is in one word Ethnocentrism.


Imagine a stick figure, one with no discernible traits. What race is it? To a Japanese person, even if it's not holding a katana or wearing a t-shirt with kanji or drawn with slanted eyes, it'll be perceived as actually being Japanese, while to a westerner it'll be perceived as white, because that is the "default person" for each society.


In short, the titans look Japanese, not European, to the Japanese people who made them, and they just symbolize the uncanny valley creepyness they want them to.

 

[I can't enter my old name]

Elfen Lied is so bad that it was trainwreck bad to where I had to keep watching to see where it would go and constantly surprised around every corner how low it went.

Well... you're wrong and a big dummy.

Also how can I trust your opinion if you like GITS:SAC? Elfen Lied is better than SAC, I can't believe I'm making this comparison but it's absolutely true. SAC is cheesy, just listen to the ending song. The show is a complete miss in tone and direction from the original movie.

do you feel the titans? imagery is a jab at Western culture? I noticed they all are very ?white? in feature, wide-eyed with the dumb, toothy grins, insatiable (greedy, predatory) appetites, etc.; I couldn?t really help catching some social commentary there. I could be completely off-base, just curious.

The setting takes place in some German inspired location. The titans look white because everyone is white. The author said one of his inspirations was a VN called Muv Luv, which despite it's name is actually about humanity on the brink of extinction from zerglike aliens, where conventional warfare and weaponry is ineffective, allowing these aliens to overrun entire continents and consume most of humanity. That's pretty much the inspiration for the titans.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I miss Bobular, he would know. I wonder why he stopped posting :/

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Elfen Lied is so bad that it was trainwreck bad to where I had to keep watching to see where it would go and constantly surprised around every corner how low it went.

Well... you're wrong and a big dummy.

Also how can I trust your opinion if you like GITS:SAC? Elfen Lied is better than SAC, I can't believe I'm making this comparison but it's absolutely true. SAC is cheesy, just listen to the ending song. The show is a complete miss in tone and direction from the original movie.

Elfen Lied is just a really really bad harem anime with incest along with the biggest plot contrivances I think I've ever seen.

 

[Bobular]

I miss Bobular, he would know. I wonder why he stopped posting :/

He's been ill and working a lot. Luckily for him, he's got his first week of paid time off in 7 years starting this week.

OT:
I mostly like series rather than movies so unfortunately my suggestions are going to be coming from there. I'll try not to pick any long series.

Claymore
Claymore is about a band of warrior women who basically get demon bits put inside them as young children and fight said demons as half demons that are mostly hated and distrusted by the rest of the world. I'd defiantly give Claymore a recommendation.

I will say however that the manga is better[footnote]When is it not?[footnote]Stiens;Gate & One Punch Man are the first two to come to mind.[/footnote].[/footnote], the anime rushes to have a final confrontation with the big bad that wouldn't happen for years later in the story in the manga.

Blue Submarine No 6
This one is kind of nostalgic for me and to me I place it in the same kind of spot as Akira or Ghost In The Shell, I feel it has Similar art style, though the CGI is kinda dated these days. Its a 4 ep OVA which I remember watching as a movie when it aired on TV[footnote]About 2hrs.[/footnote].

Basically its a post apocalyptic water world deal where fish people are trying to kill all humans.

Darker Than Black
Another series, but one of my favourite. What if Batman was Chinese, had electricity powers and didn't have any issues with killing people[footnote]And also doesn't have a fetish for bats?[/footnote]?

After a weird event happens[footnote]About as much information as you're going to get regarding that[/footnote] some people become 'contractors', people with all kinds of strange abilities, like gravity nullification, blood based teleportation, controlling bugs, cryokinesis and generating an anti-tank rifle at will. These abilities come with a complete change in the way they think, caring only about themselves and having no sense of morality, and also with a payment that must be completed after using their powers, such as folding the paper in a book, braking your own fingers, writing poetry or drinking a beer.

The second series isn't bad, its just not as good as the first series. If you're after something short then you can just watch the first series and be satisfied with how it ends. If you find you enjoy it then you can go on and watch the second season and the OVA, either way I highly recommend Darker Than Black

Spoiler: Proof Bobular loves Darker Than Black

That mask is too awesome for me not to cosplay Hei.

Also just noticed Claymore poster in the background... If only I was holding my copy of Blue Submarine No 6 in that photo too.

Under The Dog
A weird little one off episode funded via Kickstarter that was supposed to be the start of an actual series but I haven't heard anything about it recently.

The single episode is interesting though and worth a watch.

Thats it for now, if those are on the right track I'll see if I can post more later.

 

[Roguebubble]

Drifters - various history figures are transported into a fantasy world at war. Very OTT violent and dark and only 12 episodes long.

Fate/Zero - 7 modern mages have a battle royale by summoning historical and mythological figures as servants. Based on what you want it definitely fits the bill. It does spoil some twists of other Fate series (being a prequel for them) but you can enjoy this completely standalone from the rest of the Fate franchise (most of which isn't that good but the Heaven's Feel movies may also be for you)

Psycho-Pass - Cyberpunk dystopia where a vast surveillance state is used to predict crimes before they happen Minority Report style. You can ignore the second season and movie since neither are as good as the original 22 episode first season.

From I've heard of them you may enjoy Hellsing Ultimate, Elfen Lied, Mirai Nikki, Killing Bites, Another and the Garden of Sinner movies.

 

[Asita]

Parasyte: the Maxim, if you've seen John Carpenter's The Thing, it's like that.

Higurashi: When they Cry is a quite famous mystery anime, with girls headbanging knives and whatnot.

Elfen Lied is great, despite what others may say, they're wrong and dummies. It reminded me of Akira when Testuo blows up people with his mind. This time Lucy goes around cutting people in half with her mind, quite gruesome.

Shin Sekai Yori is a modern masterpiece for tv broadcast anime. Also similar to Akira. The beginning is boring and confusing, but then somewhere along the way it becomes one of the most engaging and interesting anime you will ever find. It doesn't look very exciting, but it's amazing, beautiful, and tragic when you finish it. The only problem beside the beginning is that the animation is sometimes wonky. There's one episode everyone looks 10 years older, because they outsourced the animation to a different studio.

Thanks for the suggestions, but those don?t appear to be up my alley. Just judging by the Google images; I could be entirely wrong, so I?m not entirely discounting them. They?re all just a little too? bright and colorful? They?re also episodic; I prefer standalone films. The only light-hearted anime I ever got into was Project: A-ko; I guess I thought it was funny? School girl dealing with day-to-day stuff who incidentally has superhuman powers? B-ko showing up every day with bigger and bigger mechs trying to kill her, but only succeeding in making her late for school has a level of Wyle E. Coyote and the Roadrunner level of absurdity that appealed to me. But certainly everything else I watched was dark.

I can't speak to any of the suggestions personally, but as you well note, Google Images might not be the best metric. Speaking personally, Higurashi has long been on my "nope" list because...well, I don't have the stomach for a series where some of the characters claw out their own throats. Put a different way, I just ran a quick search on "Higurashi brutal"(sans quotation marks), and found this lovely synopsis:

Spoiler

Well..The first scene in the first episode is basically one of the main characters bashing the bodies of two female main characters despite them being dead , breaking bones and apparantly crushing the skulls so you can hear the sickening sounds of bones breaking and soft wet tissue being hit over and over again. There's also several torture scenes in it involving main characters that look like 10 year old girls, which are very explicit unless you see the cencored version ( though even that doesn't censor much either). It's a very grotesque, creepy and confusing Anime in the first season. It operates in eight chapters, 4 chapters that show a different course of event involving the same characters ( they all come back alive in the next chapters) and then you have four other chapters that explains the first 4 chapters. A simpler explination is that there are four chapters that shows different events and then you have four other chapters that each explain the four chapters that shows the different events. Season 2 is much much friendlier and explains everything.

Don't know if that's up your alley or not, but as I said, I don't have the stomach for that, so I can't attest to it by more than its reputation as a brutal series. Similarly, if you're looking for dark, twisted, and disturbing, you might also look into the works of Junji Ito, whose most well known works are probably Gyo, Uzumaki, Tomie, and the Enigma of Amigara Fault.

 

[BrawlMan]

Elfen Lied is so bad that it was trainwreck bad to where I had to keep watching to see where it would go and constantly surprised around every corner how low it went.

Well... you're wrong and a big dummy.

Also how can I trust your opinion if you like GITS:SAC? Elfen Lied is better than SAC, I can't believe I'm making this comparison but it's absolutely true. SAC is cheesy, just listen to the ending song. The show is a complete miss in tone and direction from the original movie.

Elfen Lied is just a really really bad harem anime with incest along with the biggest plot contrivances I think I've ever seen.

That and a message so far up its own ass, it couldn't smell the shit was shoveling. And the lore doesn't make sense when you think even 60 seconds of the dicloni backstory. The way they are meant reproduce makes it look like they were always meant to die out and were nowhere near as close as humanity apex predator. The manga untientionally proved my point in the ending.

My recommendations:


Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Redline - Fast and Furious combined with Gurren Laggan and Wacky Races.

Monster - The best animated psychological thriller ever made.

Michiko and Hatchin - Unique in that it's an anime that takes place in Brazil and has a predominantly brown, black, and latino cast.

Jojo's Bizzare Adventure - It has disturbing moments no matter which parts you watch.

Deadman Wonderland

Spriggan

Panty & Stocking

Kill La Kill

Akame Ga Kill - I hate both versions, but this seems up your alley. Do yourself a favor and read the manga; skip the anime.

Afro Samurai and Afro Samurai: Resurrection - Samuel L. Jackson plays two main characters. What more can you ask for?

One Punch Man

Trigun

Gunsmith Cats (OVA)

Samurai Champloo

Marvel Anime (2011): Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, and X-Men.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Elfen Lied is just a really really bad harem anime with incest along with the biggest plot contrivances I think I've ever seen.

That and a message so far up its own ass, it couldn't smell the shit was shoveling. And the lore doesn't make sense when you think even 60 seconds of the dicloni backstory. The way they are meant reproduce makes it look like they were always meant to die out and were nowhere near as close as humanity apex predator. The manga untientionally proved my point in the ending.

The one thing that boggles my mind with anime ratings is how certain things get basically a near consensus of being a "masterpiece" when they are literally trainwreck bad. It's the main thing that actually keeps me away from anime because I've been burnt so bad watching highly rated stuff that was just complete trash. Sure I might not think some Oscar nominated/winning movie is the masterpiece it is claimed to be, but it's never The Room bad.

Gunsmith Cats (OVA)

False advertising lol

 

[I can't enter my old name]

The one thing that boggles my mind with anime ratings is how certain things get basically a near consensus of being a "masterpiece" when they are literally trainwreck bad.

Elfen Lied is a flawed masterpiece. Besides, it's commonly hated for being shit by anime pop-critics.

The unbelievable parts don't bother me, because I enjoy being sickened by the edginess. I almost dropped it after the first 10 minutes because of the intensity and duration of the massacre scene, but then I was pleasantly surprised by the rest.

Most anime is adapted from young adult fiction by some random guy or girl, and it becomes a nationwide success. The anime is made to advertise the original work and its merchandise. It's not supposed to be some thought provoking amazing work of art, and if it is it will be a side project and not have a lot of sales, only possible because the studio is always pumping out some shounen cash-cow to make such experimentation possible.

 

[BrawlMan]

It's not supposed to be some thought provoking amazing work of art, and if it is it will be a side project and not have a lot of sales, only possible because the studio is always pumping out some shounen cash-cow to make such experimentation possible.

Doesn't excuse it for being shitty. I hate the whole "it's not supposed to win awards" defense/excuse. A lack of effort does not make your show, anime/manga/ova, movie or game any better. I'll take failing while trying over no effort any day. And you sir or madame are flinging away legit criticism. If you like show, more power to you, but don't make excuses for poor storytelling, writing, mostly useless or hateful characters, and hypocritical themes.

There are plenty of anime and things in other media that does things better than Elfen Lied in terms of themes and storytelling. I.E, the nature vs nurture, racism, and cycle of hate and revenge. Princess Mononoke, X-Men, Monster, Parasyte, Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions), Shaman King (anime only), "Now And Then, Here And There", Digimon, Trigun, and Yu Yu Hakusho.

 

[I can't enter my old name]

I hate the whole "it's not supposed to win awards" defense/excuse. A lack of effort does not make your show, anime/manga/ova, movie or game any better. I'll take failing while trying over no effort any day.

I was just trying to give Phoenixmgs a possible explanation to why things get rated as masterpieces when they aren't that great. Another reason is just that the people rating these shows watch things based on their preferences, specific things that give them enjoyment, hence why K-On is rated rather highly, but to everyone else it's this creepy moeshit (not that I think it is, but a lot of people do).

And you sir or madame are flinging away legit criticism.

I am really, because it doesn't bother me at all. I already knew that Elfen Lied had a bad rap, I watched it just because it had that prestige and interesting synopsis. I was blown away by how good it was.

The show was so enjoyable, to me it was one of those can't stop watching shows. This show was amazing to me. No other show had given me those feelings of disgust until then, and I watched things like GiTS, Akira, and Ninja Scroll as a little kid without being to understand them. Elfen Lied is hilariously bad if you stop and think about it, but to me it was this roller coaster ride of crazy emotions. I enjoyed it a bit too much, but a lot of anime fans do too, so it's rather divisive show.

There are plenty of anime and things in other media that does things better than Elfen Lied in terms of themes and storytelling. I.E, the nature vs nurture, racism, and cycle of hate and revenge. Princess Mononoke, X-Men, Monster, Parasyte, Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions), Shaman King (anime only), "Now And Then, Here And There", Digimon, Trigun, and Yu Yu Hakusho.

I've watched about half of those. Some of were disturbing to me back then, not so much now. They are better than Elfen Lied sure, but Elfen Lied has the most throwup inducing scene, not just "oh look at all this gore", but like morally throw up inducing that bothers me to this day.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The one thing that boggles my mind with anime ratings is how certain things get basically a near consensus of being a "masterpiece" when they are literally trainwreck bad.

Elfen Lied is a flawed masterpiece. Besides, it's commonly hated for being shit by anime pop-critics.

The unbelievable parts don't bother me, because I enjoy being sickened by the edginess. I almost dropped it after the first 10 minutes because of the intensity and duration of the massacre scene, but then I was pleasantly surprised by the rest.

Most anime is adapted from young adult fiction by some random guy or girl, and it becomes a nationwide success. The anime is made to advertise the original work and its merchandise. It's not supposed to be some thought provoking amazing work of art, and if it is it will be a side project and not have a lot of sales, only possible because the studio is always pumping out some shounen cash-cow to make such experimentation possible.

I don't know who or what are anime "pop-critics" but I saw the show based on the fact that it's rated as like that best thing ever. Here's IMDB's 1st page of reviews for Elfen Lied [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480489/reviews?ref_=tt_urv], it's like nothing but 10/10s. And, the overall rating is HIGHER than some of the Top 250 best rated movies of all-time. I saw it, and it's literally one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life, and it had nothing to do with subject matter (it was just horribly written with such contrivances that I was rolling my eyes). That never happens in like anything else other than anime stuff. Donnie Darko (on that IMDB Top 250) is probably the movie I feel is the most overrated I've ever seen and even then, it had many quality parts (I think it failed as a whole) but it's far from a shitty Syfy movie. This is not just one time this has happened, so much anime is rated as masterpieces on basically a consensus level and it's rarely even what I'd call good and quite often really really just shit. I checked out The Girl Who Leapt Through Time maybe like a year or so back, again due to reviews of being AMAZING (plus it's just a movie so less time commitment), and the plot fell off the rails harder than probably anything I've ever seen dealing with time. I tried Danganronpa not long ago as well, it was complete garbage. And, it's not just that anime isn't for me as it is when it's actually good like Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell or the much more anime-ish (compared to those other 2) Excel Saga that is hilarious, I even enjoyed a season or two of K-on!

 

[SckizoBoy]

snip

Out of curiosity, have you seen (or read) Hourou Musuko or Haibane Renmei at all?

 

[I can't enter my old name]

I don't know who or what are anime "pop-critics" but I saw the show based on the fact that it's rated as like that best thing ever.

Anime youtubers, bloggers, reviewers, that kind of thing. I don't like them, other than anime review websites just to make sure a show isn't complete trash. If a show gets 1 or 2 stars and it isn't a kneejerk reaction to something, the show probably doesn't have much to offer for the average person.

Here's IMDB's 1st page of reviews for Elfen Lied [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480489/reviews?ref_=tt_urv], it's like nothing but 10/10s. And, the overall rating is HIGHER than some of the Top 250 best rated movies of all-time. I saw it, and it's literally one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life, and it had nothing to do with subject matter (it was just horribly written with such contrivances that I was rolling my eyes).

I already knew the twist to Elfen Lied beforehand, watched it too and laughed. Once I watched it in context however, I was really saddened by it. I can't explain why Elfen Lied is so highly rated, other than it may have been great at its time, or perhaps it takes a special kind of person to overlook the flaws.

It's probably teenagers and young adults rating it so highly. It's not that popular anyways, and a person watching it has to want something gruesome and sad. It's not a horror movie though, it's more of a tragedy. I think you really need to identify with and really pity Lucy in order for it to click, and that may require some certain life circumstances.

For example, I watched Life, a JDrama, because of a funny meme. What I got was the most awful, tear inducing, heart-wrenching experience. This was painful to watch. Like 8 of the 11 episodes was the main protagonist being bullied relentlessly. I don't really know how most people would react when they watch the show, probably a lot, but it really hits me hard at turbo speed. There are times where it gets drama-y and unrealistic. The show is frustrating where some times you think, "I don't get it. All you have to do is say something."

It's obvious why. It has nothing to do with Japan's culture. When you are subject to this, you think you can take it, it's the only life you know so you identify with the misery. You don't want life to get better, because there is no better. You want the world to pay for your suffering. When you're going to neck yourself, it's not to only escape, but to be a martyr. You want the bullies to feel like murderers, and you want your parents to cry for being oblivious. Only then, will you and your experience be truly understood. It's a postmortem cry for help, if that makes sense. Of course bullies won't give a shit if you kill yourself, and they'll blame you for it and carry on with their lives.

Despite it being so torturous, I think it's a beautiful show. I would assume, I'm not sure though, that it takes a kind of experience to be moved by not just disgust and pity. I personally never experienced the torment to the extent the main protagonist did, but I understand, or I think I do anyways.

When you've experience something like it or you are an angsty teenager, shows like Elfen Lied are really appealing. There are some aspects you come to appreciate more. That's my guess anyways.

Also don't trust user review averages. Oni Chichi, a hentai anime, for some time had a higher score than the End of Evangelion on MyAnimeList.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Out of curiosity, have you seen (or read) Hourou Musuko or Haibane Renmei at all?

Nope.

I already knew the twist to Elfen Lied beforehand, watched it too and laughed. Once I watched it in context however, I was really saddened by it. I can't explain why Elfen Lied is so highly rated, other than it may have been great at its time, or perhaps it takes a special kind of person to overlook the flaws.

It's probably teenagers and young adults rating it so highly. It's not that popular anyways, and a person watching it has to want something gruesome and sad. It's not a horror movie though, it's more of a tragedy. I think you really need to identify with and really pity Lucy in order for it to click, and that may require some certain life circumstances.

For example, I watched Life, a JDrama, because of a funny meme. What I got was the most awful, tear inducing, heart-wrenching experience. This was painful to watch. Like 8 of the 11 episodes was the main protagonist being bullied relentlessly. I don't really know how most people would react when they watch the show, probably a lot, but it really hits me hard at turbo speed. There are times where it gets drama-y and unrealistic. The show is frustrating where some times you think, "I don't get it. All you have to do is say something."

It's obvious why. It has nothing to do with Japan's culture. When you are subject to this, you think you can take it, it's the only life you know so you identify with the misery. You don't want life to get better, because there is no better. You want the world to pay for your suffering. When you're going to neck yourself, it's not to only escape, but to be a martyr. You want the bullies to feel like murderers, and you want your parents to cry for being oblivious. Only then, will you and your experience be truly understood. It's a postmortem cry for help, if that makes sense. Of course bullies won't give a shit if you kill yourself, and they'll blame you for it and carry on with their lives.

Despite it being so torturous, I think it's a beautiful show. I would assume, I'm not sure though, that it takes a kind of experience to be moved by not just disgust and pity. I personally never experienced the torment to the extent the main protagonist did, but I understand, or I think I do anyways.

When you've experience something like it or you are an angsty teenager, shows like Elfen Lied are really appealing. There are some aspects you come to appreciate more. That's my guess anyways.

Also don't trust user review averages. Oni Chichi, a hentai anime, for some time had a higher score than the End of Evangelion on MyAnimeList.

Elfen Lied is more focused on setting up a male fantasy for Kouta at pretty much every possible turn than actually being a deep study on Lucy's character. I'm also not much a fan of Evangelion either, decent episode-to-episode show until it goes completely off-the-rails at the end.