http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Kiss
Another anime, and it fits all your criteria. It is completely realistic, everything in it can and does happen in real life. It is not a comedy or science fiction, but rather a serious drama show about finding your own path in life. It deals with some serious issues relating to interpersonal relationships between people and how we react to them. It is most definitely not a kid's movie. And it could just as easily been a live action film. In fact they are/have made a live action version of it. But it started as a manga, so it's common place to turn those into anime first.
I was also going to bring up Grave of the Fireflies but I saw that mentioned.
The reason that you will see mostly anime on these lists is in the USA and other western countries, they see 'cartoons are just for kids'. That is the line that has been held to since the start of animation in the US. It is only in the last few decades that adult oriented animation has become more common, but people change their ways slowly and with great resistance.
In Japan however, they make no such differentiation between media and audience. Comics, books, animation, live action all are treated much the same as vehicles to tell a story. The needs of the story and the preference of the creator are the determining points to what media is used, not the aimed for age category.
Another anime, and it fits all your criteria. It is completely realistic, everything in it can and does happen in real life. It is not a comedy or science fiction, but rather a serious drama show about finding your own path in life. It deals with some serious issues relating to interpersonal relationships between people and how we react to them. It is most definitely not a kid's movie. And it could just as easily been a live action film. In fact they are/have made a live action version of it. But it started as a manga, so it's common place to turn those into anime first.
I was also going to bring up Grave of the Fireflies but I saw that mentioned.
The reason that you will see mostly anime on these lists is in the USA and other western countries, they see 'cartoons are just for kids'. That is the line that has been held to since the start of animation in the US. It is only in the last few decades that adult oriented animation has become more common, but people change their ways slowly and with great resistance.
In Japan however, they make no such differentiation between media and audience. Comics, books, animation, live action all are treated much the same as vehicles to tell a story. The needs of the story and the preference of the creator are the determining points to what media is used, not the aimed for age category.