Recommend an anime: more difficult

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Queen of the Edit
Feb 4, 2009
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Spice and Wolf (Strongly recommended) is a brilliant story that deals with Medieval/Early Modern economics and politics, with a nice dose of romance.

Chrno Crusade may seem quite 'silly' at the start but it becomes downright morbid and so sad towards the end ;.;
 

KafkaOffTheBeach

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Nov 17, 2010
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I'm no anime buff, but I can see that there are a tonne of people within this thread who have ridiculous ideas about what is "mature" and what isn't. Particularly OP....what with the whole classification of Baccano and Bebop as 'silly fun' 'n all.
Although I was at first skeptical about the dude who recommended the first part of Bleach alongside a bunch of other, darker properties, I've got to say that I totally agree. Yeah, you could argue that it is about a young man's psychological development given flesh, so to speak, but that would be wankery of the highest degree. However....that whole first section is really, really restrained and well done, less about the fighting and more about the consequences of the conflict, and, more interestingly, about the consequences of avoiding conflict, coupled with some quiet character development and social commentary.

Personally, I'd recommend FLCL - but only if you are willing to watch it twice. Once you get past the initial hurdle of absolute confusion and pretensions to childishness it becomes really fucking clever.

Or House of Five Leaves - best subtle character development I've seen recently. In anything.
 

maninahat

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FortyPercent said:
maninahat said:
So a lot of writers have a low opinion of their audience if they think they have to keep them hooked to a story with sexy money shots. Having a sexy character in itself isn't a problem. Ghost in the Shell gets extra points because the sexiness of the character makes sense in the context, and goes a long way to illustrating the loss of humanity (note how her sexiness was manufactured on an assembly line, and her sexiness is only rarely reflected upon, suggesting a society that is losing the drives and instincts that seperate man from machine). But that doesn't make the fan service shots [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbyRSq2_SSI] of her any less childish, innapropriate, or exploitive. I argue it is the worse for it. One of my favourite shows, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou comes across as a totally gentle and restrained story, but they saw fit to stick scenes with lesbian robots making out in there. I found that very annoying.
See, here's the thing - you seem to think that a work showing it's fans something they may find sexually enticing is apparently an inherently bad thing. Why is that? If you consider it an insult to your intelligence, since it's apparently there to keep people hooked, then you're taking it way too personally.

Just to clarify, you're free to dislike fanservice, but it's an inherent part of many, many works, anime or otherwise, and by disliking it and assuming it makes works inherently worse, you are only lowering your own enjoyment of a work.
There is a difference between making a character sexy, and sticking in cheesecake fan service shots (like that Motoko one I showed earlier) in totally inappropriate moments. It undermines the seriousness of the scene. In that GITS scene in question, Motoko was trying to prevent a boy from murdering his parents. The sobriety of the situation is not improved in any way by having Motoko bending over and squashing her ass into the camera. The equivalent would be to focus a camera on Magna Goebbel's cleavage whilst she poisons her own kids in Downfall.
 

maninahat

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Grospoliner said:
I can't help but feel some of the OPs comments are quite ironic. I hope he keeps this in mind that character traits (such as lesbian robots) among other complaints, do not render a series any more or less mature given the setting, tone, and atmosphere of the show/story. That lies more in the presentation and representation. If you can't see the value of the narrative regardless of its perceived short comings then you have problems with your objectivity.
You don't think it much of a lurid contrivance when a series features sexy robots that can only pass imformation from one to the other by french kissing? This is a series about cool contemplation, pastoral harmony and the demise of the human species. Such a silly feature to the robots undermines the sensible, restrained nature of the show.
 

Gigano

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Oct 15, 2009
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I'll recommend/second Spice & Wolf, Paranoia Agent, Rainbow and arguably Gankutsuou (if surreal visuals and questionable source material fidelity isn't a problem). Read good things on Kara no Kyoukai as well.

...And of course mention Higurashi no Naku Koro ni by default, though it would probably have to be the Visual Novel to be able to fit as true seinen material (the anime is awesome, but deeming it thought-provoking might be a stretch).
 

shedra

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Sep 15, 2009
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My recommendation:

Give up.

I've gone on this very same search you are on. And I found Monster, came to then end and found that the most well plotted series (if not best scripted) with the most likable and 3D characters ends without amounting to a god damned thing. I quit anime. I decided to find addiction to something with consistent quality. Heroin.
 

Evidencebased

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spooks491 said:
I'm not entirely sure what you're looking for, but the best "mature" anime I've seen (that haven't been mentioned yet) are:

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Set in a fantasy version of ancient Korea, the plot revolves around a famous female bodyguard who gets roped into protecting a cursed eight year-old prince. It is a bit slow but it takes itself very seriously. It also has truly epic fight scenes, great characters, some of the most beautiful art I've seen outside a Ghibli film, and absolutely no fanservice.

Towards the Terra
A remake of an old movie from the 80s, this series takes place in the future and follows the conflict between the psychic "Mu" and a dystopian human society run by artificial intelligences. The main characters start out as teenagers, and Joley in particular is a bit annoying, but there are several time skips showing how they grow into interesting adults. A very serious anime dealing with genocide and the dark side of human nature.

House of Five Leaves
A slice of life series about a samurai who falls in with a gang of kidnappers. It's only thirteen episodes and pretty much nothing happens, but the characters are so engaging you might not care. Plus it's on Hulu, so if you're in America you can watch it for free!
Whew! So glad someone finally recommended Seirei no Moribito! It is honestly the most mature/clever/decent anime I've ever seen -- adult protagonists with adult relationships and absolutely NO black-and-white morality? Yeeeesss.

Also second House of Five Leaves -- it's slow-paced and thoughtful, and much more about the characters than any kind of action-packed plot. Has a very nice art style, too; muted and stylized rather than flashy or cute.

I also wanted to re-recommend Ergo Proxy and Dennou Coil. They likewise focus more on having a smart, deep story and realistic characters rather than pandering or trying to titillate. And I'd recommend KURAU Phantom Memory, too -- it has its actiony moments but it's more of a look at this character and how she makes do in a body that isn't entirely her own, in a world that doesn't entirely accept her...
 

Evidencebased

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(I liked D. Grayman, and it gets pretty dark, but you have to wade through a looot of stupid to get to the interesting stuff. :p)
 

Axelhander

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Feb 3, 2011
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Zekksta said:
First of all, ignore everyone saying Gantz.

Gantz is NOTHING, but gratuitous fan service, bad dialogue and people standing around screaming about strength.
This man posts truth.
 

Evidencebased

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Feb 28, 2011
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And:

Last Exile (clever steampunk story, no fanservicey bits or "kawaii" bullshit, but still pretty full of adventure and action -- starts with a sick airship battle!)

Eden of the East (smart, modern concept with good writing and relate-able characters who don't do stupid things just to further the plot)

Casshern Sins (post-apocalyptic, pretty contemplative and dark <-- haven't actually finished it yet, so no guarantees about the ending!)

Now and Then, Here and There (whooooa not child-friendly. AT ALL. But very adult themes, handled maturely.)
 

cabalistics

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The one thing I'll say about Gantz is that yes it is weird and violent and perverted but it's so compelling to watch, Even though I did'nt like the characters much I just had see what happened next. It's kind of a shame that they only animated the least interesting part of the story because the characters do grow and the plot becomes so much more epic and crazy after what was covered in the anime which ends on a crappy filler episode.

Basilisk is a good one I'd describe it as Romeo and Juliet with warring ninjas.

Berserk is amazing but you'll be hunting down the manga to find out what happens next, although there is a new Berserk anime coming I dont know will it continue or retell the story

Blue Gender is another good one I happened across. It reminds me a lot of Starship Troopers, the original book not the movie
 

poppabaggins

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May 29, 2009
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Read through the first page:

My suggestions
-Paranoia Agent
-Ergo Proxy
-5 Centimeters per Second (movie)
-Eden of the East (possibly fits your criteria, college-graduates, themes about where people belong in society)
-Now and Then, Here and There (kid protagonists, but more like child-soldiers, not childish)


And for a website recommendation: anime-planet.com shows recommendations for the anime you select.
 

blind_dead_mcjones

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Oct 16, 2010
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i'm probably going to sound like a stuck record and its probably already been recommended but i recommend both Patlabor Movies,

reasons why:

- interesting plots
- are geuninely mature (i.e. characters with depth, no rediculous ammounts of gore violence or swearing, etc)
- no fanservice, sexualised characters or rediculous out of place romance subplots at all
- adult protagonists
- themes about society
- portraying why humongous mecha would actually kinda suck (the robots, known as 'labors' are little more than glorifed forklifts/cranes, with some designed for use in law enforcement)
- while the action scenes are very few and far between they are among the most well choreographed i have ever come across (especially the fight between noa's labor and the type zero at the end of the first film)
 

infohippie

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Oct 1, 2009
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I couldn't see if these two had already been recommended, but I would suggest you try Voices of a Distant Star and Wings of Honneamise.
 

[Kira Must Die]

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Sep 30, 2009
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There's one anime I've been obsessed over for a while now, and that's Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Don't let the cutesy look and OP fool you, it's an incredibly dark anime, and it's amazing. It's not super gory (Although there are a few scenes), no pointless fanservice or over sexualized characters (Not even a single panty shot.), great action and characters, and one of the best villains ever. Not to mention it's from Shaft (The studio behind Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Bakemonogatari) and is their best work yet.
It's a fairly new anime (10 episodes so far, but the last 2 are suspended) and it's by far the best anime of the season, if not the year, and encourage everyone to watch it.
 

Evidencebased

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Feb 28, 2011
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cabalistics said:
The one thing I'll say about Gantz is that yes it is weird and violent and perverted but it's so compelling to watch, Even though I did'nt like the characters much I just had see what happened next. It's kind of a shame that they only animated the least interesting part of the story because the characters do grow and the plot becomes so much more epic and crazy after what was covered in the anime which ends on a crappy filler episode.

Basilisk is a good one I'd describe it as Romeo and Juliet with warring ninjas.

Berserk is amazing but you'll be hunting down the manga to find out what happens next, although there is a new Berserk anime coming I dont know will it continue or retell the story

Blue Gender is another good one I happened across. It reminds me a lot of Starship Troopers, the original book not the movie
Berserk is great -- incredibly violent -- but oh my lord I hated Basilisk so damn much! I spent the entire first half waiting for that main female character to open her eyes for just one second and be useful in any way at all... and then I spent the second half just hoping for everyone to die, because by that point I loathed every single character in that show. :p Your mileage may vary, obviously! (The fight scenes were very cool, though. That's pretty much the only thing that kept me watching.)