Anime That Makes You THINK?

[bastardofmelbourne]

You support millions being free to be raped and murdered worldwide, I do not.

Annnnd we're done.

You've done a great job of making the Death Note fanbase look like a pack of vigilante psychopaths, Milk.

 

[RJ 17]

Too tired to read through four pages of comments, but regardless I'm pretty sure this one has already been mentioned at least once. If not, well then yay for me!

Paranoia Agent

It teaches us the lesson that bad shit happens if you refuse to take responsibility for your own fuck-ups.

 

[AngryNorwegianGuy]

No love for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann here? That series basically built my entire self-confidence. Awesome music, too.

 

[zehydra]

Probably Yu-Gi-Oh and Naruto. I never felt so alive.

 

[jamesbrown]

Most anime makes me think "Why would you react like that in that given situation? Are you bipolar or incapable of rational thought?" or "What is stopping you from shooting them? They're RIGHT THERE. Stop staring with your mouth open. You can end this right now."

I am the same way, I just can't stand characters like that! They sit around for like five minutes with the bad guy in front of them while they are fully capable of ending the entire charade. Maybe that's a Japanese thing, feeling like you can do something when you wont, I don't know I am not an expert on cultures I am not part of(meaning outside the USA) at all.

OT:

I would whole-heartily recommend:

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood - This series deals with power and when is it enough, or is it ever enough?

Mushishi - Deals with pretty heavy stuff, and each episode is different: like one is how people deal with death while another is about obsessions and addictions, and another (more open-ended) dealt with mortality; but it is presented so well you don't even know they are doing it, really great series

Cowboy Bebop - This series deals with morality and what people are willing to do for themselves and each other, and where to strike that balance

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - The entire series is one giant metaphor for advancement, (spoilers) They start off under the ground believing the surface world doesn't exist; to COLONIZING SPACE! seriously their magic energy is called within the show "evolutionary energy"; and every villain in the show is evil because of their fear of advancement, seriously best commentary on society and civilization ever.

Most of these are short, but they pack a punch that is both memorable and leaves you thinking

 

[Alaster Angelo]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It's truly made me think, "How does one walk such a fine line of overwhelming manliness and sheer fabulousness?"

 

[jamesbrown]

Naruto......no I am NOT joking I am being completely serious T_T
Naruto has allowed me to think about:
1-How far I would go for my friends
2-The meaning of family
3-And how one overcomes hatred.
It's a show that deserves much more credit than what it get's ^_^

The promblem is that after the sasuke and naruto battle of the original the series is bogus; and with shippuden is that it can be very slow at times; but if you can get through all that it does get into the things you stated.

 

[knight steel]

Naruto......no I am NOT joking I am being completely serious T_T
Naruto has allowed me to think about:
1-How far I would go for my friends
2-The meaning of family
3-And how one overcomes hatred.
It's a show that deserves much more credit than what it get's ^_^

The promblem is that after the sasuke and naruto battle of the original the series is bogus; and with shippuden is that it can be very slow at times; but if you can get through all that it does get into the things you stated.

While I will admit shippuden is not as good as part one I still feel that it is good mainly for the reasons stated below:

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Only some. Most of the plebs still prefer to have millions of innocent people raped and murdered.

Fucking deontologists.

I'd respond properly, but you're making a better argument in favour of my point than anything I could come up with.

 

[Crowman]

I noticed that Bakemonogatari has been mentioned but I wanted to put again since I think it's a great anime. Also noticed that Mnemosyne was mentioned, and wanted to give you fair warning before you watched it. Mnemosyne is a grusome anime, bad enough that I don't want to get into details of why I think so but I thought it only fair that you know before watching.

 

[FireAza]

You're in luck OP, "cerebral" anime happens to be one of my favourites! Let's go! Buuuuut it's getting late, so just one recommendation for now!

Kino's Journey - Starting with my top recommendation here. Kino's Journey is the story of a young traveller named Kino. Kino travels by motorbike in a fantasy European-esque setting, going from country to country, staying at each country for no more than three days (Kino explains that three days is enough time to learn what a country is like). Each country that Kino visits usually has some kind of cultural or social theme, which will usually be what the topic of the episode will be. The series covers many different themes, including cannibalism, democracy vs dictatorships, prophecies, the relationship between man and machine, science, religion, traditions, work and war. I find this series to be endlessly fascinating and keeps me thinking about it years after I watched it. Watch this!