Cerebral Anime

[Seldon2639]

There must be anime all of you watched through once, realized you didn't really understand all of it, so you went back to watch it again. For me, the first one was Evangelion (of course), then Revolutionary Girl Utena later (especially with the movie). So, what have you gone back to watch again, and understand better, and are there any big reveals (like what in the world is going on at the end of Utena) that you discovered on replay that you'd like to share?

 

[Fire Daemon]

There must be anime all of you watched through once, realized you didn't really understand all of it

Nope never. To be thruthful though I don't watch much anime. I suppose the most trippy (or the only one) anime I have ever watched would be death note.

 

[Mstrswrd]

Well, it would make sense that Evangelion would be hard to understand, seeing as it is based around Freudian (SP?) theories. Seriously. Anyway, as for me... well, the same as you. Evangelion. I actually had to have my friend explain it. He did so while making me read Angelic Days, the spin off Manga. It helped. Giglamesh was a little confusing at times, and just freaking weird always. I understood the Trigun Anine, but the Manga is completely different (later on), and confuses the hell out of me, though I've been able to decode it recently. Tsukihime was far too short to explain everything, so, of course, I went to the far superior Manga version... that's really it.

Most Anime doesn't really confuse me anymore. Expecially with my Otaku friend (who learned Japanese fluently in a year just so he could watch the Japanese dub of Anime and ANime that hasn't been dubbed sans subtitles) exlaining everything I could ever need to know about any Anime I might get confused watching.

 

[stompy]

I 'spose I need to go back through Ergo Proxy. I really don't understand it. Though, usually, the anime I watch is the type without the philosophical bits, so yeh...

Though, I've been meaning to watch a bit more. So far, I'm watching Trigun, and loving every minute of it.

 

[GrowlersAtSea]

Ghost in the Shell series (Stand Alone Complex and Second Gig) would top my list. Just great series, with a great deal of complexity and maturity behind them. I found Stand Alone Complex much more subtle, and some of the things I only really realized on my second and third watches of the series. Second Gig had a few things that I needed to watch it again for, but nothing really great that I had realized I missed or anything, like Stand Alone Complex had.

FLCL also comes to mind for this. Since at first I didn't even really feel there was method to the madness, but after I watched it all, watching it again it made sense, in it's own weird little way. I don't think it was so much cerebral though as bizarre, since really I doubt anyone could really get it the first time around.

Paranoia Agent was another one that I had to watch again to fully digest. That one not so much for the weird things (which it certainly had) but to watch for details to better understand specific episodes.

 

[Cousin_IT]

YuGiOh. I still dont understand why they go through the rigermarole of having a protracted magic card battle when a punch to the face would suffice. (yes, its a silly example, but if I cant understand the basic premise of a series then it counts )

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Akira. I've seen it goodness knows how many times, and I still don't have a clue as to what the fuck is going on.

the newer translation is a bit better

but i agree that Ghost in the Shell, any of the 2 seasons of the series or the original movie. really any of the masamune shirow stuff is pretty cerebral tho

 

[The Franco]

Akira. I've seen it goodness knows how many times, and I still don't have a clue as to what the fuck is going on.

It has something to do with psychic powers, and an allegory for American imperialism, mainly that little radioactive fiasco midway through the 20th century. Anyway, that's how I interpreted it, but the creators could have had any number of other intentions.

Pretty much whenever I watch anime it's on [adult swim], and very rarely I can watch the whole series without missing an episode. It just so happens that if you miss a single episode of a typical anime series you're pretty much lost from then on, unless you go to a wiki page for it. But the fixed that by putting Death Note episodes of the week on their site. It could be why that's my favorite series so far.

 

[JakubK666]

Well, don't know if that counts but I've watched 5 episodes of Bleach, forgot about it(slow download speeds) and came back 3 years later(4MB Broadband FTW!).And it's pretty awesome even though some characters seriously need to stfu.

 

[Jhereg42]

I'm going to stay away from most the two most commonly mentioned suspects. NGE and FLCL are going to get enough mentions on this thread.

Paranoia Agent was a real trip for me. I was a psych major in college who specialized in abnormal and criminal psychology, so this was just made for me.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society was far more of a trip for me than either of the two SAC seasons. That is not to detract from their cyberpunk awsomeness, SSS was just trippy.

Madlax - From the makers of Noir, this one starts off as a Girls with Guns anime that seems to be heading in the same direction, but turns out to be a bit of a head trip. The last few episodes of this anime were kind of shocking.

Black Lagoon - I know, I know. . . this one is all about action. Where does he get off listing this one. Simply, the moral ambiguity and the questions constantly thrown at Rock are ingeniously hidden behind the flying bullets and brutal carnage. Deserving of particular mention are the first and last arcs of the second season, both of which deal explicitly with the loss of one's childhood, to sadism and duty respectively.

 

[Lpswegg7]

Number one anime i have watched time and time again because of pure enjoyment and lack of understanding is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Number two falling under the same category is Ghost in the Shell. The biggest thing is i didn't understand the anime fully of either of them so i bought all the manga. In the back of the manga i find definitions of terms and roots of other things, but in the end all of those led to more questions. Which i think is a mark of a great anime. I enjoy it but i keeps me wanting more.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Akira. I've seen it goodness knows how many times, and I still don't have a clue as to what the fuck is going on.

Kaneda.

Tetsuo.

Kaneda!

Tetsuo!

KANEDA!

TESUO!

...

TETSUO!!!!!!


Seems pretty simple to me... It's DBZ in downtown Tokyo... His power level's over 9000?!

Theres no way that can be right?!

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society was far more of a trip for me than either of the two SAC seasons. That is not to detract from their cyberpunk awsomeness, SSS was just trippy.

original movie is better than both series tho and they took a lot of liberties, albeit approved by masmune shirow and probly necessary, such as the cammo armour thing, cause i doubt we'd really want to see a naked bateau and all the rest

saiyuki is also pretty good for getting you to think and laugh a bit. it's a different telling of son goku the monkey king, same goku from db, dbz db gt. it's a bit crass but has a pretty good story that makes you think a bit

 

[General Ma Chao]

Akira. I've seen it goodness knows how many times, and I still don't have a clue as to what the fuck is going on.

Kaneda.

Tetsuo.

Kaneda!

Tetsuo!

KANEDA!

TESUO!

...

TETSUO!!!!!!


Seems pretty simple to me... It's DBZ in downtown Tokyo... His power level's over 9000?!

Theres no way that can be right?!

"One year ago he couldn't beat Raditz! Now here he is making sport of Nappa!"