Recommend me an anime(that isn't about kids in high school.)

[CelestDaer]

Any Miyazaki movie. I would say Soul Eater, but it's based in Death's academy... for all of three episodes, while the major plot that eventually comes out really only barely touches on the school... Air Gear's good, it's about genetically engineered humans who ride inline skates to get closer to god, no, seriously. It's basically Jet Set Radio with the insanity cranked up. While there are a few episodes based in the local school, they're only temporary, much of the story takes place in the alleys and underground. Hmm... what about FLCL? It's short, it's well animated, it's made by Gainax. Again, like, an episode or two in a school, but the plot is about extradimensional robots coming out of a kid's head...

 

[Stryc9]

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex...all of it. All 52 episodes and the Solid State Society movie. It's some of the best written stuff you'll ever watch.

Also, if you don't mind watching subtitled stuff find Ghost in the Shell Arise, it's a totally different continuity but it's also excellently done.

 

[Pharsalus]

Somebody said it already, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes; best anime ever! A completely mature, realistic and moving space opera.

Robotech was a pretty mature show as well, check it out!

 

[Yopaz]

NHK ni Youkoso! (comedy, drama)

I can never recommend this one before someone else do. However, this anime is amazing. I am currently rewatching it and I still find it amazing.The comedy is pretty dark and at times you're not sure if you should laugh or cry. It's 25 episodes so it's not very long.

Sadly, I only watched this so I had background noise while playing some PC game and it was on netflix at the time. But even still, I really enjoyed it. I need to sit down and watch it again and take it all in. They really aced the romance too by taking their time with it and not shoving it in our faces.

It's still available on Netflix if you're interested.

It actually makes a bigger impact on me now than the first time I watched it. The thing about the series is that it's written by someone who struggles with extreme social anxiety. Welcome To the NHK describes the things he is dealing with. After finishing the book he actually withdrew from the world because he felt incapacitated by his anxiety. I enjoy the series, but it hits a little too close sometimes which is why it has taken me several months to watch through the series.

That's why this anime doesn't shove a love interest down our throats.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Planetes
This is the hardest sci-fi I've seen in any medium, it makes 2001: A Space Odyssey look like Star Wars.
It's about a group of astronauts charge with cleaning up space debris.
So yes, its space garbage men... its alot better then the premise suggest.
Also despite the hard sci-fi, its pretty easy watching.
Really goes in depth into the human side of casual orbital space flight, also brings up alot of things that astronauts really experience but you don't really hear much about.

Heres a dub version if you want to check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J19VZ9DwUos
Though I can't vouch for the quality of the dub.

 

[Roofstone]

Fairy Tail, it is the best anime about magic guilds in a 1600s(ish)europe with magic punk elements on occasion.

Fairhy tail is pretty awesome.

Fairy Tail is mediocre at best. Name any other shounen and there´s 90% chance it's better than FT.

Well thank god I finally met someone who's opinion objectively outvalidates mine. Is it okay if I now deter to you for all my life decisions?

OT: Deadman wonderland is pretty great OP, it is about a magical prison which there lives people that use their blood as weaponry. It is pretty awesome, although the first five minutes of it takes place in a high school. I am sorry.

 

[Liam Guzzo]

What are you doing not watching Gurren Lagann right now. Watch it, Watch it right now. Already watched it ? Watch it again, then watch Kill la Kill !

 

[Maldark]

Katanagatari, beautiful, clever anime.

 

[Roofstone]

Fairy Tail, it is the best anime about magic guilds in a 1600s(ish)europe with magic punk elements on occasion.

Fairhy tail is pretty awesome.

Fairy Tail is mediocre at best. Name any other shounen and there´s 90% chance it's better than FT.

Well thank god I finally met someone who's opinion objectively outvalidates mine. Is it okay if I now deter to you for all my life decisions?

OT: Deadman wonderland is pretty great OP, it is about a magical prison which there lives people that use their blood as weaponry. It is pretty awesome, although the first five minutes of it takes place in a high school. I am sorry.

Wow, I really should take care of your life decisions, Deadman Wonderland is one of the 10% which is even worse than Fairy Tail, and the protagonist is just as bad as Natsu!

Feel free to PM me if you need any help picking better stuff

Okay mr smarty pants, I shall PM you the next time a life or death situation is at hand. Please be ready with your infinite knowledge. (Though I grant you that Ganta (Protagonist) is a huge tosser.)

OT: If you don't mind gory, depressing and violent stuff with a weird plot. Try Elfen Lied, it is kinda depressing, but neat. (And I am soon running out of animes to post here as an excuse to be smarmy at Bolshevik. D; )

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Most of the stuff I'd recommend has been mentioned, but I don't think anyone has said Now And Then Here And There yet.

It's good shit. Starts off feeling like a typical "kid gets transported to another world" type shounen but then things go south pretty fast. Very interesting villain; he's not physically imposing and he's kind of pitiable, but he's just so unpleasant that he makes you feel uncomfortable every time he's on screen. He's a very believable monster.

Just as a warning, it is a very dark series.

I'd recommend trying not to read about it too much before watching, though, or you'll suffer some hefty hype backlash. It's a good series, but it's flawed. Nearly everything I read about it before hand had me thinking it would be the second coming of Christ or some shit.

 

[KOMega]

Well off the top of my head I can recommend some pretty good ones.
I'll provide a super brief description about them because I'm sure you can look up the official descriptions on wikipedia or something:

Witch Hunter Robin - It's about hunting witches!

Psycho Pass - It's about philosophy and crime in the future!

Baccano! - It's about old times new york gangsters who are immortal!

Helling Ultimate - It's Vampires vs. Nazis!

Spice and Wolf - It's about economics and romance!

Bokurano - It's about Giant Robots and depressing things!
It has kids in it, but highschool stuff is not seen or mentioned at all really.

Kino's Journey - It's about traveling to strange places!

 

[jhoroz]

Highschool of the Dead.
Yes the first and second episode are in a highschool but they get outta there pretty quick and the story continues.
Have at it.

Warning: if you don't like fanservice, don't even bother. The moment the main character used a 16 year olds enormous tits as a bipod for his rifle, only to shoot between another girls pair of tits (which somehow dodged the bullet by jiggling at supersonic speeds), I had to stop watching.

Also, I can't believe I forgot to recommend this: FATE/ZERO. Aside from the very lackluster first episode, it's fantastic. It was made on a budget large enough to fight a medium sized war, so it looks absolutely gorgeous. It is really grimdark and depressing though.

Why do people keep saying Fate/Zero's first episode was lack luster? What exactly is lack luster about introducing multiple characters with drastically different personalities and ideologies, and then meticulously establishing multiple story lines and building a sense of intrigue and mystery behind this war that's about to take place? I had never heard or seen either F/SN or Fate/Zero when I started watching Zero, and I was hooked from the beginning.

But yeah, Zero should definitely be on the top of your priorities. In terms of modern anime (i.e. anime that has come out in the past three years) Zero easily takes the number one spot for me.

 

[Marik2]

Go watch Shigofumi cuz it is about a messenger from the after life that gives letters from people who have unresolved issues to their close ones.

Each episode has different people in it and you learn little by little on the delivery girl herself.

And Witchblade cuz it is the only anime I can think of that has a mom protagonist and she loves tearing things up, don't let the fanservice turn you down, it is pretty good and has a decent dub.

 

[Ice Car]

I recommend High School DxD. It's an anime about chess and boobs, definitely no High Schoolers here. There's also Cromartie High School. Meanwhile there's also Highschool of the Dead and Joshikousei.

I'd also like to recommend Golden Time. It's a romance that takes place in college and it's airing right now.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Eureka 7
Psycho Pass
Fate Zero
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

 

[Julius Terrell]

Movies:

The Black Lion
demon city Shinjuku
Jin Roh
Millennium Actress
Metropolis
All 3 patlabor Movies
Tekken
Fatal Fury Movies
Darkside Blues
An angel's egg
Vampire Hunter D and the sequel
Grave of the Fire flies (Does this even need mentioning?)
Akira
Appleseed (the 90s movie)
Ghost in the Shell (obviously mentioned)

TV series:
Rorouni Kenshin TV
Kikaider
Fist of the North Star
Cassern Sins
Blue Gender
Monster
Serial Experiments Lain
Boogipop Phantom (one of my all time favorite series)
Paranoia Agent
Heroic Age
Legend of Galactic Heroes (already mentioned)
The Devil Lady (So love this series)
Kaiba
Planetz (already mentioned)
Cyborg 009
Blue sub 6
His and Her Circumstances(Kare Kano) (I only put this because it's really well done show about high schoolers.)
Cobra the Animation
Avenger
Berserk (You probably knew that already)
Bubblegum Crisis 2040 (My fav)
Claymore
Grappler Baki (Shounen, but it's still quite a show)
Armored Force Dairugger
Voltron
Legend of Condor Hero
Bokurano (already mentioned)
Patlabor TV
Fantastic Children

OVAs:
Doomed Megaopolis
Secret of the Necranomicon
Samurai X OVAs
Violence Jack
Macross Plus

Ok.....I can understand that you're probably pretty young and new to Japanese anime. There are PLENTY of shows for us adults. I'll probably say they are still in the minority compared to all the shows about kids and teens. It is certainly something I dislike about anime in general. You have to dig really deep to find them, and then there are some shows that mature into adult shows(Naruto). I also avoided mentioning all the cliché titles that everybody have been mentioning, because I'm sick of hearing everyone mention the same old shows. I'm sick of hearing about elfin Lied and I'm especially tired of hearing about Cowboy Beebop. Glad I could help.

Edit: I'm sick of hearing about Hellsing, because Vampire Hunter D is so obviously a better show if you want vampires.

 

[Amakusa]

Hmm lets see,
Some of it might of been mentioned already.

Bubblegum Crisis and Crash (not the 2040 series, i hated that)
Fist of the North Star
Gintama
Peacemaker Kurogane
Rurouni Kenshin
Claymore
Excel Saga
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Louis the Rune Soldier
Patlabor
Gunsmith Cats
Vandread
Slayers

(will edit and add more when i think of them)

 

[spartan231490]

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

Maoyu Yuusha(I think that's how it's spelled)

Claymore

I tend to watch a lot of shounen so most of what I've seen is in a school setting. You could try Air Gear, they're in middle school, but very little of the show actually occurs there. Same with High School DxD believe it or not(to a lesser extent).

Similarly, Prince of tennis occurs almost entirely on the court, so you might like that.

That's about all I can think of that I would actually suggest.

 

[Silenttalker22]

Aside from most of the gems mentioned already Like Evangelion, Deathnote, etc:

Chaos: Head is a good recent one. I think he does go to school at like two points, but it's all about the very dark, mess-with-your-mind, plot as bad things unravel around him and he tries to figure out what's going on.

Kiddy Grade; if you're into distant future sci-fi setting with some lighter tone that gets pretty serious later.

Slayers is a sword&sorcery series mostly from the late 90's, and a recently-released 4th season. Very light of tone and a fun watch.

Someone said Berserk. Seriously can't recommend that one enough.

Hellsing Ultimate: Considerably better than the original Hellsing series. As someone mentioned; likewise Vampire Hunter D for Vampire action with great characters. Both are great; unlike the above poster suggests. No reason to go one or the other. We don't have to go Team Alucard or Team D here.

I've seen Cowboy Bebop mentioned a lot. Dunno about that one. Sorry for the derail but I've never understood the ravenous appeal of CB. Aside from a few great eps, almost all the series makes me go "Meh, I've got less random, more fun, ones to watch".

 

[SimplicityComplex]

Rin - Daughters of mnemosyne - short series about 6 hours long that deals with an immortal female detective. It's on netflix and I watched all of it in one day, great characters great action great story. Is VERY NSFW so if you aren't 18 don't tell your parents.