What was your first mature Anime?

[antidonkey]

Fist of the North Star.

After that was The Professional: Golgo 13.

Following that was Legend of the Overfiend. I haven't been the same since.

 

[Jebusetti]

Akira, I think I was in 3rd-4th grade or something when I saw it.

Yay! Akira-brothers!

Yeah I'm getting in on that too... Saw Akira when my dad brought it home in, i dunno, 1990 maybe? I was 8 or 9, and it blew my fragile little mind. When he tried to talk me out of buying a GSX-R I had to explain that it was his fault for showing me that movie in the first place!

 

[SeanthePsycho]

If Gatchaman doesn't count, then the first would be the early anime [adultswim] started to air back in 2000-2001 such as Cowboy Bebop, Pilot Candidate and YuYu Hakusho. They had some good stuff and had some good stuff up until about 4 years ago or so. After I got into college, the good anime was on a decline since in my opinion, Code Geass was too much like V for Vendetta.

 

[BonsaiK]

I saw Akira when it initially came out in the cinema (showing my age here). I believe it was the first "adult oriented" anime ever given a cinema release in my country.

I thought it was incredibly dissapointing - a good concept and initial premise but with badly-written female characters (something which I was to later learn was the standard for anime in general), a stupid ending and about half an hour too long. In fact if the last 30 minutes of the film was simply removed altogether with no other changes I believe Akira would be a far superior film.

I didn't actually "enjoy" an anime until I saw Spirited Away many years later. I was hesitant about seeing it at all, having endured travesties of extreme wasted potential and pretentiousness such as Ghost In The Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Battle Angel Atilla etc etc at the insistence of friends, but they practically begged me on hands and knees to check out Spirited Away so I agreed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Miyazaki broke nearly all the standard anime conventions thus improving on the formula dramatically, and most unexpectedly of all, actually took the time to animate the characters smoothly. So in terms of the criteria the OP laid down (i.e that it actually is of good quality), I guess that Spirited Away would be my first mature anime although in actual fact it was about my 40th.

 

[Xelt]

For me it was probably Hellsing, or Death Note.
Not really watched much apart for those either, nothing else has grabbed my attention like those two did.

 

[Niska]

AKIRA!

 

[Rochnan]

Ghost In The Shell. Aces, and about as mindbogglingly mature as you can get in my humble opinion.

Very true, but don't forget that it is as mature as it is well executed. Also my first mature anime.

 

[Royta]

Teknoman also known as Tekkaman Blade. Quite bloody, but probably even to this day the best anime i've ever seen in my life.

 

[Urgh76]

hmm i guess I'd have to say Inuyasha

 

[The DSM]

Elfen Lied/ Death Note might count on terms of being mature for adressing moral issues.

Both where awesome though.

Lucy still scares me......

Edit: Watching Tenchi Muyo, but it was so long ago i cant remember it completely.

 

[SageRuffin]

Gundam Wing, fun stuff from the olden days

Ah... the old days of Adult Swim. One of the few anime with decent voice actors. Also the only mech series I personally happened to like.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Full Metal Alchemist was pretty mature for me when I first saw it.

EDIT: My first real mature anime was Higurashi.

 

[sx890410]

berserk. i'm pretty sure no one would argue with that

 

[ChaosGenesis]

I think Ghost in the Shell was my first. Though Death Note is my favorite.

 

[BaMzOoKi]

Death Note for me i believe.

 

[Hollock]

Does Full metal alchemist count? If it does than that. I mean people getting their heads blown up, arms ripped off, yeah full metal alchemist.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I was going to say Cowboy Bebop, but then I saw the qualifier.

I mean an anime that has a great plot, characters, and makes you feel like your watching something that makes you think.

...that describes most of the early ones, then. Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, Rurouni Kenshin, Outlaw Star, Yu Yu Hakusho...

 

[CK76]

Akira, I think I was 9, and it blew my mind.

 

[d2max]

Egh, that's a tough one to call, as the first THREE I saw were around the same time:
Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, and Cowboy Bebop. And for the sake that Bebop was truly more mature than the other two, I'm going with that as my answer.

 

[iPhenoix]

First one I saw with blood and swearing and a decent plot (at least when compared to Pokemon or Yugioh) was Outlaw Star. Which I still loovvveee to watch from time to time. If not that then I think it would be Cowboy Bebop?