Recommend an anime: more difficult

maninahat

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Well, I've got plenty of suggestions I've made note of. Thanks for the input everyone!




Watch this space, I might be on here two weeks later, telling you how shit the anime was you recommended me.
 

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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maninahat said:
Alright, you've all seen a topic posted like this every other day. This one is slighlty different however.

Basically, I'm tired of how immature anime is, and I want to watch a show that'll convince me that anime can be for a smart, adult audience. DO NOT RECOMMEND ME ELFEN LIED. That show is exactly the kind of childish, immaturity I am talking about: a show that pretends to be sober and intelligent, but resorts to cheesecake cat girls, inappropriate panty shots at dramatic moments, and sensationalist gore. Adult content does not equal maturity.

I have already seen The Grave of The Fire Flies and Monster, those two being examples of good, mature anime. If you can find me something along those lines, I'd be grateful.
Monster simply aped psychological thrillers from the west. It's take on mental illness in particular was very childish. That being said, if you're a fan of Monster you may like Urasawa's other anime, 'Master Keaton' as well as his (arguably best) manga, '20th century boys' and his absolutely brilliant remake of Astroboy 'Pluto' (don't be put off by the whole Astroboy part, it's great.)

'Himitsu:Top secret' Is a fairly mature series about a device that allows the police to view dead people's memories. I haven't seen it personally but my girlfriend highly recomends it.

'Welcome to the NHK' is a brilliant take on the Hikimori phenomenon and has some extremely dark humour. It's my personal favourite.

'Bakamonogatari' is an odd horror anime about a vampire and a girl who weighs nothing. It has some extremely striking visuals and some very witty back and forth between the characters. I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far.
 

knight steel

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maninahat said:
Alright, you've all seen a topic posted like this every other day. This one is slighlty different however.

Basically, I'm tired of how immature anime is, and I want to watch a show that'll convince me that anime can be for a smart, adult audience. DO NOT RECOMMEND ME ELFEN LIED. That show is exactly the kind of childish, immaturity I am talking about: a show that pretends to be sober and intelligent, but resorts to cheesecake cat girls, inappropriate panty shots at dramatic moments, and sensationalist gore. Adult content does not equal maturity.

I have already seen The Grave of The Fire Flies and Monster, those two being examples of good, mature anime. If you can find me something along those lines, I'd be grateful.
How about naruto......wait that the opposite of what you want.....umm.....what about evangelion the main characters are Emo but they use giant robots -_-.I guess You could all ways try powerpuff girls z!
 

knight steel

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Grey Carter said:
maninahat said:
Alright, you've all seen a topic posted like this every other day. This one is slighlty different however.

Basically, I'm tired of how immature anime is, and I want to watch a show that'll convince me that anime can be for a smart, adult audience. DO NOT RECOMMEND ME ELFEN LIED. That show is exactly the kind of childish, immaturity I am talking about: a show that pretends to be sober and intelligent, but resorts to cheesecake cat girls, inappropriate panty shots at dramatic moments, and sensationalist gore. Adult content does not equal maturity.

I have already seen The Grave of The Fire Flies and Monster, those two being examples of good, mature anime. If you can find me something along those lines, I'd be grateful.
Monster simply aped psychological thrillers from the west. It's take on mental illness in particular was very childish. That being said, if you're a fan of Monster you may like Urasawa's other anime, 'Master Keaton' as well as his (arguably best) manga, '20th century boys' and his absolutely brilliant remake of Astroboy 'Pluto' (don't be put off by the whole Astroboy part, it's great.)

'Himitsu:Top secret' Is a fairly mature series about a device that allows the police to view dead people's memories. I haven't seen it personally but my girlfriend highly recomends it.

'Welcome to the NHK' is a brilliant take on the Hikimori phenomenon and has some extremely dark humour. It's my personal favourite.

'Bakamonogatari' is an odd horror anime about a vampire and a girl who weighs nothing. It has some extremely striking visuals and some very witty back and forth between the characters. I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far.
Oh my god pluto was great but i never new there was an anime version [i read the manga] i might try and watch some seeing how the story was one of the few that made me cry.
Gesicht died
 

Kurt Cristal

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loc978 said:
Just how cerebral do you require your anime to be?
...not that I disagree with you about Gantz and Elfen Lied...
Still, it's hard to recommend something without a list of popular anime series' you've seen.

At the risk of recommending things you've already seen, I'll just throw some favorites out there:

I'll recommend Black Lagoon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lagoon], like I do to everyone. It's sort of a rhapsody of childish entertainment (with adult content) and crime drama with a heavy dose of over-the-top pulp action. Unlike many anime, it really doesn't pander to a specific audience or pull punches in terms of how fucked up the world it depicts is though.

For a more serious recommendation: Planetes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes] (プラネテス, Ancient Greek: ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ "wanderers"). I consider it to be the most realistic depiction of near-future space-based sci-fi I've ever seen... aside from that, it's mostly a slice-of-life/romantic comedy show.

Another serious recommendation: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell:_Stand_Alone_Complex]. Difficult to describe if you're completely unfamiliar with Ghost in the Shell... but suffice to say it's very complex sci-fi. There's very little character development to be had in the series, but if you enjoy well-written plots and engaging world-building, this is a very good series. The movies weren't bad, but this is better.

For a movie recommendation... Perfect Blue [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Blue]. Not your average anime, it's a psychological thriller revolving around a young female Japanese pop music idol. Quite gritty and a pretty massive mindfuck.
I'm seconding Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Black Lagoon. One for the poli-sci, sci-fi, philosophy, and tech... the other for campy 90's action movie fun. Also good to see someone else who enjoys the show over the movies.
 

PixelatedNinja

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Depends on what you're looking for, I personally hate anime like Death Note and Naruto, too much emo bulls*it, I can't really enjoy a show when the characters have the personality of a dirtrag.

So on that note, I'd recommend Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, they're both one season long, and the storytelling is just phenomenal.

P.S. I know I'm gonna get a s*it ton of flaming for the Naruto thing so please keep it minimal, this thread is flame war bait as it is.
 

CrystalShadow

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Apr 11, 2009
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I really don't know what you're looking for, and what you do or don't like.

My personal favorites (That aren't silly and full of 'fan service') are:

Gunslinger girl - Which has a premise that you'd think would be open to all kinds of immature jokes, yet actually takes it's premise quite seriously, and shows it to be just as disturbing as you might expect. (The premise being taking young terminally ill girls and turning them into brainwashed cyborg assassins.)
It's quite violent, but that aside, no immature jokes, the girls act somewhere between what you would expect from someone that age, and the kind of uncaring, mechanical attitude of someone who isn't really human anymore.
That's not to say that some things aren't a little contrived; Especially the reasons for why all of the cyborgs are little girls. (But to be fair, the story wouldn't really have the same kind of meaning if they weren't)

Haibane Renmei - OK, so I don't know if you could call this a 'mature' series or not, since once again most of the cast are essentially children, but it doesn't do stupid jokes, it's non-violent, and the plot can essentially be seen as an allegory for the meaning of life itself, religion, and the unknown.

Saikano / She, the ultimate weapon - of the things I'm mentioning this probably has the most immature aspects to it, and to some extent, it's a teenage love story (with a lot of the confusion that entails). The premise of a teenage girl being Japan's ultimate weapon is a rather typical plotline, but the story is essentially about her relationship with her boyfriend as world war 3 destroys the entire planet.
You might find the way it handles things stupid at times, but I'd struggle to call it immature most of the time.


I honestly don't know if you'd like any of these, but I figure I might as well mention them, since they definitely defy some of the stupider things Anime is known for. (Even while fitting in a lot of other stereotypical elements).
They also just generally take their premise seriously (even if the concept itself could be seen to be a little stupid in some ways.)
 

Shadow-Phoenix

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maninahat said:
Dindril said:
I would say Cowboy Bebop and Baccano... That's about all I can think of.
Again, I wouldn't exactly call them mature. I've already seen them both and loved them, but I see them as silly fun and not the sort of thing I am after at the moment.
A couple characters getting shot in bebop i wouldn't exactly call that immature considering it was one of the best Animes of the 90's.

Why not try Ergo proxy or serial experiments lain or even Akira, all of those are mature enough and have enough story and bloodshed to be serious enough.
 

CrystalShadow

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bahumat42 said:
K1NG_IC3 said:
Surprised nobody suggested Death Note, but maybe it is already well-known across the board. Far from an expert in anime that is outright smart but know some that have very nice psychological tones to it.

Ghost in the Shell and .hack// are some more popular ones that take itself more seriously than most. Neon Genesis Evangelion is popular two, very twisted even though its all teenagers (in fact, the point that all the focused protagonist are teenagers enhances the experience, making all their mental horror more believably).

"Welcome to NHK!" can work for some - http://myanimelist.net/anime/1210/Welcome_to_the_NHK!

All-in-all though, best to look back at classic animes that aren't too crazy. Older animes sometimes take themselves seriously through the whole thing without ridiculous plotholes and quirks. Characters still tend to be out there and outright cartoonish. Hope you get recommended some good ones!
im suprised it took this long to come up as well.
Mind you it did drop off in the second half.

Film wise
Princess mononoke
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

and at a push akira, but only if your appreciative of good artwork, because the storyline is a clusterfuck (trying to condense what would be several seasons of an anime into one film was never gonna work well)
Actually, you, (and the OP) have reminded me of Studio Ghibli films in general.

Even though something like, say, Totoro is aimed at 8 year olds, in some ways it handles things a lot more maturely than a typical anime series.

I own 16 studio Ghibli films, and most aren't 'mature' in that their target age group is typically somewhere between 5-15 (Grave of the fireflies being a notable exception), they still have a far more mature and well thought out sensibility to them than a lot of anime I've seen.

Everything from Howl's moving Castle, to Porco Rosso, and Ocean Waves...

Sometimes they're not quite to my liking, but they do avoid the stupid stuff like blatant pointless fanservice, ridiculous character designs, and so on.

For reference, they are: (Chances are you'll like at least some of them, though there might be a few you wouldn't. Some are quite odd, and some are very obviously aimed at young children)

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind
Laputa Castle in the sky
My neighbour Totoro
Grave of the fireflies
Kiki's delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
Ocean Waves
Pom Poko
Whisper of the heart
Princess Monoke
My neighbours the yamadas
Spirited Away
The cat Returns
Howl's moving Castle
Tales from earthsea
Ponyo

While I'm mentioning films,
The girl who leapt through time
Tokyo Godfathers

and

Paprika

also come to mind.

Not that I'm saying you'll like all of them (or even most of them), but they certainly don't fall into the usual traps that anime tends to get accused of.
 

WrcklessIntent

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Jonluw said:
Clannad is great, but there's quite a lot of generic slice of life silliness.

FLCL is quite a mature growing-up story, I would say; but still very silly.

Welcome to the NHK. A very interesting story, but once again a lot of silliness.

Rin daughters of Mnemosyne has an intersting story, but I don't know if you'd think it handles its adult content maturely or not.
You bastard you ninja'd me on every damn one!
Well except Rin I mean i watched it and all but it was... lets go with different, thats a nice ambiguous word.
umm... I'll add tengen toppa Gurren Laggan.
I mean its got action and it takes itself seriously at the right moments.
 

legopelle

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maninahat said:
Alright, you've all seen a topic posted like this every other day. This one is slighlty different however.

Basically, I'm tired of how immature anime is, and I want to watch a show that'll convince me that anime can be for a smart, adult audience. DO NOT RECOMMEND ME ELFEN LIED. That show is exactly the kind of childish, immaturity I am talking about: a show that pretends to be sober and intelligent, but resorts to cheesecake cat girls, inappropriate panty shots at dramatic moments, and sensationalist gore. Adult content does not equal maturity.

I have already seen The Grave of The Fire Flies and Monster, those two being examples of good, mature anime. If you can find me something along those lines, I'd be grateful.
If you directly dismiss Elfen Lied I don't know if you are "mature". It has serious points on approval and the psychological impact of being left out. Sure, it has some scenes I couldn't care less if they removed. But they are few, and I could put forth an identical argument over any "mature" film.

My recommendations include:

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Extremely good. The more you watch it, the more its layers of symbolism, psychology and characters become visible. The original series should be watched first. Rebuild is optional, but lean away from the "mature" side.

Code Geass
Again, don't be fooled by the exterior. It's ultimately a clash between ideology and cynicism, change from inside or revolution from scratch. Character development is also central.

Berserk
The manga is of course lightyears away, but the anime makes a really good try. Explores the depths of the human being and leans quite handsomely on the cynical side of the spectrum. Brilliant characters.

Ghost in The Shell
The two series are really well put together with a sturdy world, interesting characters and absolutely laser-sharp social commentary. Like evangelion, it's a series which can be explored in multiple layers.

5 centimeters per second
A beautiful love story without action or much dialogue between character. It's almost completely narrated and deals with non-mutual love and love on distance. And it's graphically gorgeous.

if you decide to unmount your high horse, you might enjoy Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann - a show that is just for fun, doesn't take itself too seriously and has a rooster of awesome characters.
 

cabalistics

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Black Lagoon is my recomendation. It's sort of like someone mashed together the best 80's and 90's American, Hong Kong action and Japanese Yakuza films into one series



The story follows a team of pirates/mercenaries known as Lagoon Company, that smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in the early 1990s.[4] Their base of operations is located in the fictional harbor city of Roanapur in the south-east Thailand (somewhere in the Amphoe Mueang Trat district, likely on the mainland north/north-east of the Ko Chang island or on the island itself).[5] They transport goods in the 80-foot (24 m) Elco-type PT boat Black Lagoon. When on land, they move around and conduct business using Benny's 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. Lagoon Company does business with various clients, but has a particularly friendly relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety of missions?which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles?in various Southeast Asian locations and when not doing much, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur which is often destroyed in firefights

It also has some of the toughest sexiest women without ever resorting to fanservice also it's a very gun heavy series, check out this little sample.
 

DSK-

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Ergo Proxy
Great Teacher Onizuka
Cowboy Bebop
Black Lagoon
Ghost in the Shell: SAC and SAC 2nd GIG
Gintama

Whilst some of these examples have comedy in them, they are mostly 'serious' in terms of what you are asking for. A good example would be Gintama, with it's hilarious comedy and parodying also has some extremely serious story arcs that are just amazing. It's easily my favourite anime of all time.

Having said that, they may not be your taste.
 

Jonluw

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WrcklessIntent said:
Jonluw said:
Clannad is great, but there's quite a lot of generic slice of life silliness.

FLCL is quite a mature growing-up story, I would say; but still very silly.

Welcome to the NHK. A very interesting story, but once again a lot of silliness.

Rin daughters of Mnemosyne has an intersting story, but I don't know if you'd think it handles its adult content maturely or not.
You bastard you ninja'd me on every damn one!
Well except Rin I mean i watched it and all but it was... lets go with different, thats a nice ambiguous word.
umm... I'll add tengen toppa Gurren Laggan.
I mean its got action and it takes itself seriously at the right moments.
I did consider adding TTGL as well...
I don't know if OP would like it though. He seems to be in the mood for serious business [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrueArtIsAngsty], you know.

I liked Rin. I liked how the story stretched over time as it did, and how it all became, well... sort of clear in the end.
 

Axelhander

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maninahat said:
Alright, you've all seen a topic posted like this every other day. This one is slighlty different however.

Basically, I'm tired of how immature anime is, and I want to watch a show that'll convince me that anime can be for a smart, adult audience. DO NOT RECOMMEND ME ELFEN LIED. That show is exactly the kind of childish, immaturity I am talking about: a show that pretends to be sober and intelligent, but resorts to cheesecake cat girls, inappropriate panty shots at dramatic moments, and sensationalist gore. Adult content does not equal maturity.

I have already seen The Grave of The Fire Flies and Monster, those two being examples of good, mature anime. If you can find me something along those lines, I'd be grateful.
I'm a former huge anime fan who has fallen out of love with anime and thinks 98% of it is garbage, so I consider myself quite capable of meeting your request.

My recommendations:

Castle in the Sky: A Hayao Miyazaki flick back before Pixar completely dwarfed him in the "tell a heartfelt, all ages story that doesn't pander to literal/figurative children" department. This one is more of an adventure flick than, say, Kiki's Delivery Service or the wildly overrated Spirited Away. The English dub (by Disney) is amazing.

Paranoia Agent: Anime series by the late Satoshi Kon, who is to Japanese storytelling what Christopher Nolan is to American storytelling. Kon knows how to properly use ambiguity, unlike every other piece of Japanese storywork on the planet (only a slight exaggeration). Show is an ensemble series, exploring the lives of some real messed up people being visited by a mysterious entity called "Little Slugger." Way better than I just made it sound. Also has a pretty good English dub. In case you didn't catch on, I'm a dub guy.

Anything by Satoshi Kon: Figured since I was praising him so much I'd just go ahead and say it.

Chromartie High: I'm pretty sure I spelled that title wrong. Who cares: Chromartie is Japanese humor at its most humorous; thoughtful and cutting without any of that Bobobo "OMG YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING INSANE HOW VERY INSANE OF YOU" ridiculousness. English dub yadda yadda.

If you want more suggestions, holler or PM or something.

EDIT - Also, since you didn't ask and I love seeing my own typing on-screen, here are shows I strongly recommend you avoid like the plague:

Elfen Lied: You already explained why. Good on you.

Ergo Proxy: Remember how I said Satoshi Kon knows how to use ambiguity properly? The person what made Ergo Proxy does not. Ambiguity still needs a basis for thoughtful audience interpretation, and Ergo Proxy is just random tangents with little form. Speaking of which...

Neon Genesis Evangelion: I recommend watching this just to see how NOT to properly incorporate symbolism into a story. And how to write characters out-of-character just to fit whatever plot point you feel you need to make.

Bleach: The first few episodes of this are actually pretty good. Then the show becomes a really bad Dragon Ball knockoff.

Just about anything by Gainax: Including, but not limited to, Panty and Stocking and Eva. Possibly EXcluding FLCL, which is equal parts pretentiousness and brilliance.
 

maninahat

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Grey Carter said:
Monster simply aped psychological thrillers from the west. It's take on mental illness in particular was very childish. That being said, if you're a fan of Monster you may like Urasawa's other anime, 'Master Keaton' as well as his (arguably best) manga, '20th century boys' and his absolutely brilliant remake of Astroboy 'Pluto' (don't be put off by the whole Astroboy part, it's great.)

'Himitsu:Top secret' Is a fairly mature series about a device that allows the police to view dead people's memories. I haven't seen it personally but my girlfriend highly recomends it.

'Welcome to the NHK' is a brilliant take on the Hikimori phenomenon and has some extremely dark humour. It's my personal favourite.

'Bakamonogatari' is an odd horror anime about a vampire and a girl who weighs nothing. It has some extremely striking visuals and some very witty back and forth between the characters. I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far.
Fair point about Monster, its plot devices were pretty derivative and simplistic. Though I don't remember mental illness being a central theme (wasn't it more to do with brain washing?). By anime standards though, it is streets ahead in terms of mature viewing.