Serious Animes

[tthor]

Are there any serious animes out there that are similar to Cowboy Bebop?

I almost forgot, my favorite anime of all time, Darker than Black.
<quote=Wikipedia>

Ten years ago, an inscrutable and abnormal territory known as Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo, altering the sky and wreaking havoc on the landscape. The real stars disappeared, replaced by false stars. During this time, people possessing various special abilities emerged, each capable of different supernatural feats - these are known as Contractors. Each fake star has a corresponding Contractor, which reacts to their activities. As such, Contractors are usually identified by their star's Messier catalogue number. Kept secret from the masses, these individuals are known to murder in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationale. Their incredible abilities, however, are gained at the cost of their humanity - Contractors are thus named because of an involuntary compulsion to "pay the price" each time their power is used, which can range from eating particular foods and completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and having their bodies change in peculiar ways. Various nations and organizations around the world train and utilize Contractors as spies and assassins, resulting in violent battles for valuable objects and information. Following the disastrous Heaven's War, the United States lost its dominant position as a superpower to a mysterious organization named the Syndicate. The story revolves around a Chinese contractor codenamed Hei as he undertakes various espionage and assassination missions in Tokyo under the direction of the aforementioned Syndicate.

Its a pretty dark anime, with a lot of death, and few happy endings. Best way to describe the main character, : Chinese-electric-batman. awesome.

Its also has a very good english dub, and is available on youtube by funimation (in english and japanese)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJxd57cOmY

theres the link, watch the first episode, NOW!

<youtube=MXJxd57cOmY>

Darker than black is done by the same studio as bebop, I think, and is a good serious anime. Just don't expect it to answer all your questions. Also avoid the 2nd season for tis a different style, though i didn't mind it.

what he said

 

[bakan]

I'd recommend Higurashi no naku koro ni (in Japanese, not English!) but you'd have to get used to its Moe presentation and sometimes arbritary plot-line.

While I think the show has depth, many watch a few episodes and label it "Attack of the killer lolis".

I'm suprised that no one mentioned it up to page 3 because it is pretty disturbing and serious if you start to get the plot after some time.

Other animes I would add are 'Parasite Dollls' and 'Vampire Hunter D'.
And maybe: 'Witchblade' (though I didn't like it that much),
'Witch Hunter Robin',
'The Sky Crawlers',
'Shadowstar Narutaru',
'They were 11'
'Bokurano' (don't know if anyone mentioned it)

Well, other animes are already mentioned.

Btw keep in mind that I only watched the japanese synchro (when it was available).

 

[CerealKiller214]

Kaiji is definitly a very serious and good anime.
The plot in a nutshell: Kaiji likes to gamble, has debts with the wrong people, needs to gamble in some kind of tournament to get the money he owns.
It's extremely good apart from the massive amounts of cliffhangers and the characters look a bit weird but you get used to it. If you enjoyed it, there is also a 2nd season and an anime by the same guys called Akagi.
Another good and serious one is Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai or short Ano Hana.
Plot in a nutshell: group of friends gets torn apart after one of them dies, one of them distances from school and spends all day home, after about 5 years he starts to see the 'ghost' of his friend who died.
It's basically about the main character trying to get along with the fact that a very good friend of him died. Everything looks pretty good and it has a serious theme.

 

[andriod]

dont know if people have said it but xxxHolic is one of my favorites, the main char. starts off innocent then you slowly see him change

 

[Nexus4]

Naoki Urasawa's 'Monster', kinda like a murder-mystery anime with one of the greatest antagonists ever (Think Light from Deathnote without supernatural notebooks).
Serial Experiments Lain, that is if you don't mind your mind being turned to mush briefly.
Noir, assassin/amnesia flick; quite enjoyable if you want a Tarrentino/Woo (I am probably spelling his name wrong ) style action romp.
Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade was pretty good if you enjoy the kind of dystopia-alternate history where the axis powers won WW2 sorta story.
And thats kinda all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Tizzmarelda]

Outlaw star and samurai champloo are both fantastic.

 

[Pariah164]

Serial Experiments Lain. Best anime ever. Also, Kite.

 

[Piecewise]

Kite(yes its a little girl with a gun, but it's serious i swear)

You forgot the gratuitous sex scenes involving the main character as a 13 year old.

hmm, dont remember-been a few years. I clearly remember the bathroom assassination scene.

You may have seen the "clean" version. Like his earlier work "mezzo forte", Yasuomi Umetsu released kite across multiple versions, most of which were censored to some degree.

 

[DarthSka]

Before I reply, I must say, please give Trigun another chance. It starts off immature for a reason. As for serious ones, I'd say Ghost in the Shell, East of Eden, and FMA: Brotherhood.

 

[YesIPlayTheBagpipes]

I'd recommend Baccano! it's very good.

 

[ZiggyE]

Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

It's a time sink but it's one hell of a classy adventure.

 

[Tselis]

I posted before, but I forget, did I mention D-Grey Man. This is also an excellently done anime. Heat Guy J (just ignore the funny name) is pretty good too.

 

[Sunrider]

I recommend Baccano!. There are some characters who are there mainly for humour and nothing else, but other than that, it has a serious setting and a great atmosphere.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Death Note.
its about a guy who can kill anyone with their face and name.
so he kills criminals.

THEN GOES BUGFUCK CRAZY.

I'd agree. Until that happens.

You know what I'm talking about. The series took a nosedive for the worst about halfway through.

Agreed, I actually couldn't finish the series because of that. I got maybe three episodes after that event and decided it sucked now.

Mhm, do not say the name "Near" around me. =3

So im not the only one to literally throw the books away after THAT happens. Because THAT ruins it for me. So much. And i hate near and mello. With the burning passion of a thousand suns.

 

[Kieran Shuttleworth]

Perhaps Berserk and Ghost in the Shell, especially the first Ghost in the Shell movie.

And Akira.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Samurai champloo's opening was all I needed to see before nexting it. I'm just too old for the whole hip-hop garbage.

You really shouldn't dismiss a anime show base on the openning alone. That just like juding a book by its cover. Serious give it a go watching it after all it was made by the same people who did Cowboy Bebop.

Ok wow guys you're really pouring your hearts out trying to help me! I love it, thanks.

So i've been doing my homework and have been watching a ton of first episodes, and so far I have yet to be hooked in by any of them. Ghost in the Shell I might watch a few more of however.

Still on the list to check out:

last exile
ghost hound
serial experiments lane
paprika
texhnolyze
Xam'd The Lost Memories
Outlaw star
Grave of the fireflies

I'm really hoping to run into a show that has a main character I need to see more of, or a storyline that gets me emotional/has deep meaning. So far the closet I have come was watching wolf and spice, but that just got a little too creepy and wasn't really my cup of tea.

Yeah Ghost In The Shell is all serious and from the list I had only seen Paprika, Outlaw Star and Grave of the fireflies. You can't go wrong with Paprika (it such an awesome film) and Grave of the Fireflies is all about seriousness.

Also man some people are forgetting you were asking for a serious anime. Sure that can mean many things but some of the animes mention here aren't exactly serious.

 

[Ghengis John]

So I just finished watching Cowboy Bebop my first trek into the anime genre and I loved it. I then went looking for anime shows supposedly similar to Bebop.

I watched the first episode of Trigun and was disgusted, it was basically everything I don't want it an anime. Bad/childish voice acting, weird anime faces, and a bunch of little kids/girls running around with guns.

Are there any serious animes out there that are similar to Cowboy Bebop?

Berserk stands out in my mind as a serious anime that is also excellent.

See if this appeals to you.

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

ahem.......

Elfen Lied

I don't think anymore needs to be said.

 

[Abedeus]

Death Note.
its about a guy who can kill anyone with their face and name.
so he kills criminals.

THEN GOES BUGFUCK CRAZY.

I'd agree. Until that happens.

You know what I'm talking about. The series took a nosedive for the worst about halfway through.

I think I stopped reading like.. 10 or 15 chapters after THAT moment. It's sort of like Matrix 3 - I pretend it never existed.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Berserk. You'll have to read the manga after you finish watching the anime since it never went past the first arc.

Or he could just start reading the manga from the start and avoid the bad animation, art direction, and voice acting all together.