Anime That Makes You THINK?

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Wow, has no one mentioned "Wolf's Rain" yet? It's not at all my favorite series, but holy cow is it packed with symbolism and religious/philosophical references. At the very least it will make you wonder why things are happening the way they are happening, and think about what it might mean.

Mnemosyne has been suggested, and it is a weird case; it's very heavy with references and a mythology all its own, but I wouldn't really say it's that thought provoking. Worth watching for sure, but when it's over you are left wondering less about what it all means than what the fuck were the creators thinking when they made it?

Fullmetal Alchemist is fantastic though. Great story, engaging characters, and some truly deep and touching moments of introspection on what makes a life real and worth living. One of my favorite anime/manga ever. And it doesn't matter which version of the anime you watch either, both are brilliant.

And NGE is another odd situation, in that some people think it's fucking deep as shit and defines their whole lives, and others think its just pseudo-philosophical bullshit with a meaningless layer of symbols over it that signify nothing. And you never know which you're going to be until you watch it. So I guess I am recommending it. (For the record, I'm a lot closer to the second position here, but I still think it's a relatively enjoyable story.)

Glad you're enjoying GitS, though, that is easily my favorite anime. In a way in even helped define the direction I've decided to take with my life.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Eureka seveN.

Love that Anime and it's complex as hell. I love it a lot more than the manga counterpart because it offers more mystery and complex arcs, as well as a fitting ending compared to the manga.

I would also say Death Note and Steins;Gate, but personally, I find the manga to be better.

 

[Racecarlock]

Currently re-watching 'Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex' and I realized how few 'cerebral' anime I seem to have found...

So...ya'll have any you can think of?

Mobile Suit Gundam 00

It basically takes this organization with super advanced giant robots, pits them against the 3 earth factions with far less advanced giant robots, and then proceeds to follow around the organization, the world leaders, and at least 2 citizens in order to detail the effects of this organization on a large and small scale. It's really good.

 

[spartan231490]

Currently re-watching 'Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex' and I realized how few 'cerebral' anime I seem to have found...

So...ya'll have any you can think of?

Code Geass
Death Note
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Kiba
Busou Renkin(kinda)

Those all made me think, especially the first 3, but even the last two, to some extent.

 

[spartan231490]

Currently re-watching 'Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex' and I realized how few 'cerebral' anime I seem to have found...

So...ya'll have any you can think of?

Mobile Suit Gundam 00

It basically takes this organization with super advanced giant robots, pits them against the 3 earth factions with far less advanced giant robots, and then proceeds to follow around the organization, the world leaders, and at least 2 citizens in order to detail the effects of this organization on a large and small scale. It's really good.

Props, very good anime. Don't know why I didn't think of that one.

Full Metal Alchemist

Same, why didn't I think of that one.

Oh, one last one: Darker than Black.

 

[shadyh8er]

Ever think about becoming an assassin? Watch Noir and see if you still feel the same way.

 

[Ashley Blalock]

Not going to mention which Gundam series or the character because I figure spoilers still exist out in the wide wide world of anime. I'm enjoying watching the good guys take out the bad guys and then my favorite character in the series gets killed. After the shock and crushing sadness it really made me think about the price of violence and if it's really worth it.

Recently watched To on Netflix. The first episode has an interesting twist even if I did figure it out before the twist was revealed. Kind of cool that the episode can make you think outside of the box enough to figure it out.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Death Note, Evangelion and Akira are all incredibly thinky animes. They're all absolutely brilliant too.

 

[Grospoliner]

These have not been mentioned.

Noien
Ergo Proxy
Blame

 

[F'Angus]

The Second series of Darker than Black.

It's so full of Japanese mythology it's quite hard to follow at first, but when you get it it's fantastic.

Oh and Rurouni Kenshin, especially Trust and Betrayal, they're a lot more personal about Kenshin's personality and character.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Spice and Wolf comes to mind for me, got me thinking about church and politics and medieval economy, not exactly grand thoughts on life and the universe but made me think a lot. Very low on action, high on exposition that gets the cogs in my brain turning.

Fascinating but at the same time makes me feel incredibly stupid too, had to ask a friend to explain how the silver coin plot worked.

I second this. Not all thinking has to be so dark, sometimes it can be complex economics and political situations. Also a wonderful display of character development and them eventually realizing what they mean to each other. Finally, some pretty damn funny snark and banter.

 

[Apollo45]

Spice and Wolf comes to mind for me, got me thinking about church and politics and medieval economy, not exactly grand thoughts on life and the universe but made me think a lot. Very low on action, high on exposition that gets the cogs in my brain turning.

Fascinating but at the same time makes me feel incredibly stupid too, had to ask a friend to explain how the silver coin plot worked.

I second this. Not all thinking has to be so dark, sometimes it can be complex economics and political situations. Also a wonderful display of character development and them eventually realizing what they mean to each other. Finally, some pretty damn funny snark and banter.

Thirded.

Another one that no one else has mentioned is Eden of the East. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it's definitely something of a thinking man's anime. In essence, the plot centers around the question "if you were given a huge but set amount of money and a goal to change the world, how would you do it?" It's not long, but it's interesting and worth watching.

 

[SckizoBoy]

xxxHolic. Interesting morality plays wrapped in an ultra stylized package. I love that anime.

Oh, if you love the anime, you'll worship the manga. The continuity in the manga is a lot better and character development is a lot more consistent with the relationships between the common pairings among characters gone into more depth. Also, the crossover with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is in the manga, and some of the stories make more sense knowing this.

OT: Oh bugger, how could I forget: Hourou Musuko (or Wondering Son), tackles the rather sensitive topic of homosexuality, transvestites, transgenderism and transexualism in youth. Thoroughly recommend it, considers the subject material very maturely, though perhaps a little too maturely, as the characters end up being more sagely than would necessarily be real.

 

[Gabanuka]

One day I'm gonna find another anime to watch.

I loved Cowboy Bebop but I can't find the effort to find another one to watch. All my friend recommends is Naruto and One Piece

 

[Black Reaper]

These have not been mentioned.

Noien
Ergo Proxy
Blame

I have seen/read the last 2,and upon finishing them,i wondered what the fuck just happened,does that count?

Darker than black makes you think about how people who think humans are logical beasts are idiots

Steins;Gate makes you think about how significant episode 1 is upon rewatching the series,also time paradoxes

Mirai Nikki makes you think about how the protagonist will be able to top his previous stupid act,and how much better the series would be with a different protagonist
PD:i haven't finished watching Mirai Nikki

 

[Casual Shinji]

The symbolism for example: Yes, the "angel" Sachiel shoots blasts that explode in crosses. It's so symbolic! Except it doesn't mean a damn thing. It's just Hideaki Anno trying to make you think he's terribly clever and not just a moody bastard dwelling on miserable imagery because it helped him with his depression. But that's how almost all of the symbolism in Eva works- it doesn't actually mean anything, it's just a reference to something else. Evangelion is to Christian/Kabbalah imagery what Kill Bill is to classic movie fight scenes- just because they're references doesn't mean they have anything to say.

The religious symbolism was never supposed to mean anything. It's just a framing device for the lore and a way to create punchy visuals, that's all it was ever intended to be.

This is not a fault of the show, but a misunderstanding of the people from both sides of the fence who put too much weight on the issue.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Grave of the fire flies. A must see. Roger Ebert even added it to his list all time greatest movies.

Having watched both Sage and JO's reviews of the film, I'm not sure what I want to think about it. The director really laid it on thick not to showcase how war sucks, but to shame the 1980s japanese Youth into respecting their parents. To the point where he was willing to alter the actual story the film was based on to better allow him to attack kids by guilt tripping them.

I think I'm with Sage on this, intentionally changing the tragedy of a real life survivor's tale so you can manipulate your target audience into compliance is rather terrible. And how he was adamant that the film was not meant to be anti-war really doesn't put Takahata in my good books. Force these cyphers to suffer horrifically without learning or character development so that you can better project the youth rebellion's parents onto Saeda and Setsuko is really stooping low in my opinion.