Know of any mature/serious anime?

[Foolery]

All I can really recommend is Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Baccaano. I don't watch much anime, but those are my favourites. I wouldn't say they're grounded in reality but they are somewhat more mature.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I would suggest to you an anime called Ghost Hound. It's written by Masamune Shirow (who wrote the original manga for Ghost in the Shell). It's set in a rural Japanese town, combines elements of psychology, theoretical physics, and a certain amount of supernatural lore (things like Out of Body experiences being of particular note, it's very reminiscent of Robert Monroe's books) into one hell of a story. The characters explore past psychological traumas in the course of unraveling a mystery which plagues their town, but they never seem too bogged down in it. If you want a serious anime, you couldn't hope to find a show which does a better job of balancing that seriousness without becoming overwhelmed by it.

Or, if you're willing to give something a little less action packed a try, Mushishi is really good too. It follows Ginko, who is essentially a doctor who cures people of ailments caused by supernatural beings called Mushi as he wanders about a romanticized Japanese landscape from village to village. Instead of an over-arcing plot, all the episodes are self contained stories (Ginko coming across a new mushi, diagnosing what it is, and helping cure people of the often crippling and bizarre diseases which the mushi have caused). It's a little somber, incredibly beautiful, and I've never showed it to anyone who didn't end up liking it.

Finally, since this is a gaming site after all, you could try Sword Art Online. While the premise seems a little hokey (a virtual reality MMO traps all its players so that they can't leave the game without beating it or else they'll die) its philosophies ended up reminding me a lot of Jane McGonigal's work, in that a big part of the story (albeit a part which doesn't throw itself in the viewer's face) is the main character coming to treat his life in the game as if it were no different from normal life. Specifically then it's in that idea of finding meaning in the moment (and in games) instead of looking endlessly for it elsewhere. IF you do decide to watch it though, I will suggest that you just watch the first season and pretend that that's the end. The first season is really good, and you'll probably want a lot more, but I'll just go ahead and tell you know that the tone of the second season is a lot more... is rapey an adjective? Regardless, it's such a drastic shift in terms of tone, plot, and character motivation that combined with the much more... rapey villain it just can't live up. It's best to just enjoy the first story arc and let what comes after remain a mystery.

 

[saintdane05]

Black Lagoon: It may not seem serious at all. Then you hit Hansel and Gretel.
NOTE: Videos contains spoilers.
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[Kpt._Rob]

Black Lagoon: It may not seem serious at all. Then you hit Hansel and Gretel.
NOTE: Videos contains spoilers.
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<youtube=bPuDpyHt2b8>

Ah yes, that is a pretty good call. By the time you get to the end, and the characters start quoting Sartre you suddenly realize that what you thought was just a lot of fun was also a work of fairly serious existentialist storytelling.

Incidentally, these two clips are NOT representative of the show's generally bombastic tone. They're from one of the darker two episode story arcs.

 

[ksn0va]

Monster, just Monster.

 

[vun]

Pretty much the only anime I've watched so far is Kino's Journey, which would probably fit your bill of srs bsns pretty well. There's pretty much a total lack of "wacky hijinks" in it. I've learned that if you see "wacky" or "hijinks ensue" in the description of manga or anime, you're going to have a bad time.

 

[Giest4life]

[em]Higurasho no naku koro ni[/em]

Spoiler: This should convince your very nicely

<youtube=RRm6RWVWoGU>

 

[Yuuki]

Code Geass - Currently watching this. It's very enjoyable, especially the second season. Reminds me a lot of Death Note. But goddamn, they never seem to miss an opportunity to have the principle female characters get naked, or frame an upskirt camera angle, even when they're in the middle of a battle you're supposed to be taking seriously. It undermines both the characters, and the themes, tone and tension of the whole show when important characters are gratuitously sexualised to such a ridiculous extent. Imagine if Walter White from Breaking Bad was constantly surrounded by schoolgirls in miniskirts flashing their panties at the camera... it would not be the same show. It just ruins it a bit for me.

Are you...are you serious

I think you're the first person who has claimed that the absolutely miniscule level of fanservice in Code Geass (I can't even remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while) is ruining it for you.

Code Geass is something that consistently features in pretty much everyone's top anime lists. A lot. There's a reason for that. It's not perfect, but out of whatever gripes one could possibly have with the show (I have a few myself)...fanservice?

In that case DEFINITELY stay away from Gantz and Elfen Lied. If you think Code Geass was sexualised, then watching those two may turn you away from anime forever.

There's also the possibility of me having watched enough anime to get completely desensitized to fanservice, to the point of my brain not even registering/remembering it. Not unless it is brutally shoved into my face...oh on that note, do NOT watch Highschool Of The Dead.

 

[gritch]

My recommendation have been stated before but I'll throw in my suggestions as well:

Monster The first anime that comes to mind when I think of mature anime. It's slow paced but very well grounded. It's all about a young surgeon who saves the life a young boy that grows into (well he sort of already was) a murderous sociopath. His whole life gets thrown upside down and he's got to stop the Monster he created.

Welcome to the NHK! Main character is my avatar here actually. Follows the of a emotional dysfunctional shut-in and his equally emotional dysfunctional friends try to "cure" him. You'll life, you'll cry - it's like watching a train wreck and you just can't look away.

 

[Tono Makt]

I've never been big on anime, but I recently decided to give it another shot.
The thing is I have quite a low tolerance for "weird shit" (for lack of a better term), which makes it hard to find anime that doesn't get on my nerves after a while.
I was just wondering if you guys had any recommendations for "serious" anime (also for lack of a better term) that manages to avoid common anime tropes like gratuitous fan service and seemingly schizophrenic characters.


Other anime that looks interesting are: Gantz, Berserk and Elfen Lied.
Possibly Neon Genesis Evangelion too, though several people have tried to talk me out of bothering with that series.

So, know of any other "serious" anime?

Elfen Lied and Evangelion both fail, either in in both parts or in one.

Elfen Lied is... well, I liked it, but I have serious issues with quite a bit of the choices it made. To my mind, it was needlessly graphic, both in the nudity and violence. The story did call for some, but not to the degree that the show provided. I'm not entirely certain I would call the nudity in EL "Fan Service", but there were times where I was wondering if the production team expected that young men watching certain scenes would be jerking off while watching.

Evangelion is definitely a good one for "Serious" anime, but be prepared to have an extreme reaction. I wouldn't call any of the characters Schizo - though if someone argued for it, I would only disagree on technicalities - and the fan service was fairly non-existent. I wouldn't try to talk you out of watching it but I'd warn you that it's one that you really need to watch at least the first 26 episodes to get the full experience. You might even want to watch the reboots, revamps, redo's and reimaginings that have come out in the past decade. (I haven't, personally; I watched the original series, hated it with a passion that made me watch the entire series just to scream at the friend who told me it was the best Anime ever and be able to pull up facts, scenes, characters, etc. to justify my hatred.)

 

[SadisticFire]

Steins;Gate was a pretty serious one that I liked. There's a movie coming out of it sometime in december on DVD.
Jormungand is pretty good. It's about international gun dealers. I don't know what really constitutes as serious. Because it was pretty serious to me, but I mean, it did have plenty of action. But nothing really over the top. I would say the same to Higurashi no naku koro ni It's confusing at first if you don't quite understand what it's trying to pull off. It's just about a bunch of overarching plots that shift perspective slightly. It's been awhile since I really watched any anime. I watched the first two Subb'd. and the last one Dub'd. The last one wasn't awful, but it left a lot to be desired.

 

[sextus the crazy]

If you want something grounded in reality, watch Monster. It's a good series in its own right (though it is slow paced and emotionally draining at times) and basically my de-facto "anime recommendation for people who hate anime" due to its lack of fantastical elements.

Whoops. Totally forgot about that one. The original Manga version is pretty good if you can't find the anime (it's not exactly easy to find).

Also, in the same vein, Urasawa's other great work, 20th century boys (and the necessary for concluding, 21st century boys) is a great manga series to watch if monster interested you.

Ah yes, that is a pretty good call. By the time you get to the end, and the characters start quoting Sartre you suddenly realize that what you thought was just a lot of fun was also a work of fairly serious existentialist storytelling.

Incidentally, these two clips are NOT representative of the show's generally bombastic tone. They're from one of the darker two episode story arcs.

I thought that the story was already pretty dark by the time you reached that. Remember the Nazi arc when Revy becomes a psycho *****? It reached more squick levels of uncomfortableness with hansel and gretel. Still, the last ep of the H & G arch is one of my favs.

I never got or liked that either. Although that's only really in the first season of Stand Alone Complex. In season 2, the film Solid State Society and the new film Arise, she dresses more sensibly. I recommend giving them a shot.

Seconded. It's pretty distracting, but she dresses much more sensibly in the second series.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Other people have already mentioned it, but it bears repeating. Just make sure to watch until at least the end of episode three before writing it off. If you don't then you will walk away with the completely wrong impression of what it is like.

QFT so hard. Watch at least 3 eps before deciding to give up. Only one person out of the many I've shown this series to has fallen in love with it by the first ep, so give it a shot.

Attack on Titan - I haven't caught up with it yet (the first series is still running), but I think it will suit what you are looking for. One hundred years ago humanity was brought to the point of extinction by giant humanoids known as titans. In order to survive they built a giant city consisting of three walls and for a hundred years they have known peace while inside. The series begins when that peace is shattered.

Again, for the most part it is straight faced and serious, but it does have the occasional humorous sections.

Attack on Titan is pretty good too.
I know the fanbase is pretty annoying, but like Death Note, it's warranted.

I keep hearing how overrated it is, so I guess it's one of those popular shows with a really vocal in-your-face fanbase?

I like anime but I don't really "follow" it, so I have no idea what the fans are like in general.

I think a fair number of people are complaining that the show is showing its shonen roots now, even though it was always supposed to be simply a darker shonen series.

That said, there have been some plot twists that are meh-ish.

 

[gagagaga]

A pretty obscure anime that I can't recommend enough is From The New World. It's about a civilization of psychics 1000 years after our civ ended. There's exploration of the culture as well as really interesting uses of their telekinesis. It's also on Crunchyroll, so you can find it easily and watch FO FREE.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Code Geass - Currently watching this. It's very enjoyable, especially the second season. Reminds me a lot of Death Note. But goddamn, they never seem to miss an opportunity to have the principle female characters get naked, or frame an upskirt camera angle, even when they're in the middle of a battle you're supposed to be taking seriously. It undermines both the characters, and the themes, tone and tension of the whole show when important characters are gratuitously sexualised to such a ridiculous extent. Imagine if Walter White from Breaking Bad was constantly surrounded by schoolgirls in miniskirts flashing their panties at the camera... it would not be the same show. It just ruins it a bit for me.

Are you...are you serious

I think you're the first person who has claimed that the absolutely miniscule level of fanservice in Code Geass (I can't even remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while) is ruining it for you.

Code Geass is something that consistently features in pretty much everyone's top anime lists. A lot. There's a reason for that. It's not perfect, but out of whatever gripes one could possibly have with the show (I have a few myself)...fanservice?

There's also the possibility of me having watched enough anime to get completely desensitized to fanservice, to the point of my brain not even registering/remembering it. Not unless it is brutally shoved into my face...oh on that note, do NOT watch Highschool Of The Dead.

That's what I was about to say:

Spoiler: tip of the iceberg from what I've seen in Code Geass

(Is this shot really necessary? None of the male characters are filmed like this...)

(Why?!)

(No comment)

I realise Code Geass is far from the worst offender, but I find any of that stuff annoying. I notice every time a female character inexplicably wears a stripperific outfit, or their breasts jiggle when they move slightly. The fact that it's (comparatively) more subtle in Code Geass almost makes it worse. It's obvious they don't need to do it, so I don't know why they choose to.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

However, if you want a "serious" anime, I suggest Monster.

My recommendation have been stated before but I'll throw in my suggestions as well:

Monster The first anime that comes to mind when I think of mature anime. It's slow paced but very well grounded. It's all about a young surgeon who saves the life a young boy that grows into (well he sort of already was) a murderous sociopath. His whole life gets thrown upside down and he's got to stop the Monster he created.

Monster, just Monster.

Definitely sounds interesting. Is the dub any good, or should I watch it with subtitles?

 

[werewolfgold]

I highly recommend "Space Brothers". It's about astronauts and what it takes to become one. Very interesting and very funny.

And I will give a second to "From the New World" and "Jormungand". "Sunday Without God" is currently airing but it seems to be shaping up nicely. It's about how the populace can't die without a special "Gravekeeper" burying them.

 

[BazaarFawkes]

A pretty obscure anime that I can't recommend enough is From The New World. It's about a civilization of psychics 1000 years after our civ ended. There's exploration of the culture as well as really interesting uses of their telekinesis. It's also on Crunchyroll, so you can find it easily and watch FO FREE.

So glad someone mention From the New World. Absolutely brilliant and insightful show. I like the fact that it doesn't deal with issues in a black and white manner. The ambiguity is what makes it so intriguing. Although I do have to say, episode may prove to be a challenge to get by.

Code Geass - Currently watching this. It's very enjoyable, especially the second season. Reminds me a lot of Death Note. But goddamn, they never seem to miss an opportunity to have the principle female characters get naked, or frame an upskirt camera angle, even when they're in the middle of a battle you're supposed to be taking seriously. It undermines both the characters, and the themes, tone and tension of the whole show when important characters are gratuitously sexualised to such a ridiculous extent. Imagine if Walter White from Breaking Bad was constantly surrounded by schoolgirls in miniskirts flashing their panties at the camera... it would not be the same show. It just ruins it a bit for me.

Are you...are you serious

There's also the possibility of me having watched enough anime to get completely desensitized to fanservice, to the point of my brain not even registering/remembering it. Not unless it is brutally shoved into my face...oh on that note, do NOT watch Highschool Of The Dead.

That's what I was about to say:

Spoiler: tip of the iceberg from what I've seen in Code Geass

(Is this shot really necessary? None of the male characters are filmed like this...)

(Why?!)

(No comment)

I realise Code Geass is far from the worst offender, but I find any of that stuff annoying. I notice every time a female character inexplicably wears a stripperific outfit, or their breasts jiggle when they move slightly. The fact that it's (comparatively) more subtle in Code Geass almost makes it worse. It's obvious they don't need to do it, so I don't know why they choose to.

I won't really call those scenes subtle but I do agree that Code Geass is FAR from the worst offenders. Just take a look at High School DxD and you'll be utterly surprised at the sheer difference. Unfortunely (or fortunately), this is something you just gotta deal with. There really is no other way of putting it.

I often see it this way: Yes (Acknowledgement ver), there is fanservice in the shows I'm watching. While some may be off putting and some are sort of enticing (I am a guy after all), that's not what I'm here for.
This is especially true for shows that focuses on telling a story. For example, if I dropped Sakurasou after watching the first episode, I would have missed out a tear-jerking tale.
For the most part though, you rarely see fanservice in story-driven shows unless it (somehow) is part of the narrative, which in that case, I wouldn't really call it fanservice but rather just a scene to advance the narrative.
The recommendation I gave with From the New World is a an example of this. You can call it fanservice, but at the same time, it makes sense considering the cultural structure of the society within that world.

 

[Niarro]

Sword Art Online was mentioned, I really enjoyed that. I felt the characters were surprisingly -very- human compared to other animes, and pretty consistant.

A mecha anime I found very enjoyable, as well: Gasaraki. A psuedo-realistic mecha anime, about as weird as it gets is the notion of reincarnation, heh. Also, skip the last episode if you do watch it. The story actually ends on episode 24, lol.

And yeah, Evangelion starts off pretty decently, but.. falls apart at the end, really hard. As I recall the producers are on record as having admitted that they had no idea what the bonjour they were doing at the end, so you get some so called snapshots into the minds of the characters of the story.

 

[Legion]

Attack on Titan - I haven't caught up with it yet (the first series is still running), but I think it will suit what you are looking for. One hundred years ago humanity was brought to the point of extinction by giant humanoids known as titans. In order to survive they built a giant city consisting of three walls and for a hundred years they have known peace while inside. The series begins when that peace is shattered.

Again, for the most part it is straight faced and serious, but it does have the occasional humorous sections.

Attack on Titan is pretty good too.
I know the fanbase is pretty annoying, but like Death Note, it's warranted.

I keep hearing how overrated it is, so I guess it's one of those popular shows with a really vocal in-your-face fanbase?

I like anime but I don't really "follow" it, so I have no idea what the fans are like in general.

I think a fair number of people are complaining that the show is showing its shonen roots now, even though it was always supposed to be simply a darker shonen series.

That said, there have been some plot twists that are meh-ish.

To be honest that sounds like fan expectations being the problem more than anything else. As somebody who picks anime on the basis of "That looks/sounds cool" rather than going by genre or types, I didn't really have any expectation of what it "should" be like.

I am interested in how far people have gotten with the manga though, and how far the anime is through them. I keep coming across people mentioning things that haven't happened in the anime yet, so I can only assume they are readers of the manga. In the UK only the first five have been released so far, with the next six scattered over the upcoming months.

That's what I was about to say:

Spoiler: tip of the iceberg from what I've seen in Code Geass

(Is this shot really necessary? None of the male characters are filmed like this...)

(Why?!)

(No comment)

I realise Code Geass is far from the worst offender, but I find any of that stuff annoying. I notice every time a female character inexplicably wears a stripperific outfit, or their breasts jiggle when they move slightly. The fact that it's (comparatively) more subtle in Code Geass almost makes it worse. It's obvious they don't need to do it, so I don't know why they choose to.

This is not meant to single you out, but I cannot help but notice that people never seem to complain about things being unnecessary or unrealistic unless it happens to be something that they dislike. There are countless things in anime and other shows that are neither needed nor believable and people let them slide. It's only when they'd prefer it wasn't there that those arguments tend to be used.

I don't get why they did it either, to be honest I don't even recall the second and third images. but while I agree that them not being there wouldn't have been a loss, when it comes down to it, it doesn't really need a "reason" for it any more than anything else they choose to do.

 

[Yuuki]

That's what I was about to say:

(Is this shot really necessary? None of the male characters are filmed like this...)

(Why?!)

I realise Code Geass is far from the worst offender, but I find any of that stuff annoying. I notice every time a female character inexplicably wears a stripperific outfit, or their breasts jiggle when they move slightly. The fact that it's (comparatively) more subtle in Code Geass almost makes it worse. It's obvious they don't need to do it, so I don't know why they choose to.

Argh scale those down, way too big :S

The fact you said "None of the male characters are filmed like this..." makes me feel you are very new to anime. Code Geass very much falls within Shounen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dnen_manga]genre, a category where female fanservice is common and male fanservice is extremely rare for obvious reasons.

You find it annoying, and that's fine, but a lot of the fanbase doesn't. Code Geass for the most part stays well within the bounds of keeping fanservice exactly that - a little something for the fans. You either appreciate it, develop a tolerance to it, or outright despise it. People in the last group will have a difficult time enjoying quite a few anime that are generally considered to be worth watching, since every bit of fanservice will constantly put them off. I can't really help with that.

I'm someone who usually appreciates fanservice it as long as it's kept on a leash and isn't allowed to run rampant pushing-over the other elements of the anime/manga. I can happily say "wooo go Karen you sexy mecha pilot!" and at the same time respect her as a character with significant influence. As for the Ashford Academy girls, they aren't exactly particularly deep characters but holy SHIT I found myself crying so hard at some of the later...umm...don't wanna spoil it for you, finish that anime first