Know of any mature/serious anime?
- Thread starter James Joseph Emerald
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Yeah, avoid NG:E unless you want to have an aneurysm. I am also one of those rare people who didn't care much for Ghost in the Shell. While interesting, I always deemed it too slow for an action anime, and not paced properly for a detective thriller. It'll go from stop to 100 MPH over the span of one scene, and the effect can be jarring (snooze...oh HELLO...snoooze...)
Some of these have been mentioned, but...
Dead Man Wonderland
Mirai Nikki
Edgier subject matter, & serious repercussions to the characters. Sci-fi/supernatural, but "grounded" believably.
Attack on Titan
Berserk
Claymore
Gantz
Elfen Lied
These are all graphically violent and somewhat disturbing at times (Gantz and Berserk moreso than others).
FMA: Brotherhood, esp If you enjoyed Full Metal Alchemist
Jormungand, basically trying to copy the formula from Black Lagoon, to varying degrees of success/failure, but it's fun.
Roberta's Blood Trail, a sequel to Black Lagoon.
Zetsuen no Tempest (Civiliation Blaster)
Code Breaker
Night Head Genesis
More supernatural stuff in a somewhat modern world. Not a lot of silliness here, so it's easy to take seriously.
Chaos Head
Stein's Gate
Robotic Notes
All of the same type, and for the mindset of those who liked the slower bits of Ghost in the Shell
Psycho Pass
Parasite Dolls
Armitage III Poly Matrix (sequel is called "Dual Matrix")
Faster paced cyberpunk, more along the lines of the action-packed parts of G.I.T.S.
Some of these have been mentioned, but...
Dead Man Wonderland
Mirai Nikki
Edgier subject matter, & serious repercussions to the characters. Sci-fi/supernatural, but "grounded" believably.
Attack on Titan
Berserk
Claymore
Gantz
Elfen Lied
These are all graphically violent and somewhat disturbing at times (Gantz and Berserk moreso than others).
FMA: Brotherhood, esp If you enjoyed Full Metal Alchemist
Jormungand, basically trying to copy the formula from Black Lagoon, to varying degrees of success/failure, but it's fun.
Roberta's Blood Trail, a sequel to Black Lagoon.
Zetsuen no Tempest (Civiliation Blaster)
Code Breaker
Night Head Genesis
More supernatural stuff in a somewhat modern world. Not a lot of silliness here, so it's easy to take seriously.
Chaos Head
Stein's Gate
Robotic Notes
All of the same type, and for the mindset of those who liked the slower bits of Ghost in the Shell
Psycho Pass
Parasite Dolls
Armitage III Poly Matrix (sequel is called "Dual Matrix")
Faster paced cyberpunk, more along the lines of the action-packed parts of G.I.T.S.
Noir. Story of two cute-girl assassins wrapped up in some nonsense mystery cult thing. Best watched to see the creative ways the Japanese schoolgirl assassin kills people with unconventional weapons. Very serious tone.
Break Blade. This is a military action drama about two armies battling it out with telekinetically powered low-tech mechs. I think it's scheduled to be released pretty soon. It ran as a series of hour-long movies.
Katanagatari. Surrealistic drama/comedy about a highly skilled warrior being recruited by a genius strategist to retrieve twelve super-powered swords from their wielders.
Planetes. This is probably the most realistic depiction I've seen of what working in outer space in the near future would actually be like. A serious slice-of-life drama with light comedy and romance.
Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. This is a serious action-fantasy set in a beautifully imagined fantasy world. Any of the weird stuff appears normal in context. A female bodyguard is hired to protect the second son of the local emperor against the emperor's own attempts to kill him because of a misunderstood prophecy. Fairly serious tone with some light comedy and romance.
Sword Art Online. Not sure what you'll think of this, but it is just starting to air on the Cartoon Network. This is the story of a serious gamer who, along with 10,000 other people, become trapped in a fully immersive MMORPG and told they can only leave if they beat the game. It takes them a few years. Mostly sci-fi/fantasy action, but the romance gets a little too harem-like for my tastes.
Ga-Rei Zero. Supernatural horrors battled by serious high-school girls. Just watch the first two episodes and see what you think. The tone seems about right for what you're looking for.
Occult Academy. If the X-files were remade as a high school girl anime, this would be it.
Steins;Gate. Science fiction show about a crazy self-proclaimed mad scientist who accidentally builds a time machine. Gets off to a great start, then gets a little thick with the harem stuff, but the tone seems about right.
Tatami Galaxy. This is a surrealistic slice-of-life comedy with a rapid-fire pace about a college student joining different clubs during his first year of college. Funimation owns the rights to this, and you used to be able to watch it for free on their youtube channel.
Bakemonogatari and the Monogatari series: Nekomonogatari, Nisemonogatari, etc. These are surrealistic, exquisitely animated supernatural high-school romances. I like to describe this show as raising the harem genre and the act of teasing to an art form. Highly recommended.
Genshiken I throw in because I love Genshiken. It's a sitcom about a college-age club for otakus.
Also, keep an eye out for Psycho Pass, Shinsekai Yori, Zetsuen no Tempest, Another the Animation, and Btooom in case they ever get released.
Break Blade. This is a military action drama about two armies battling it out with telekinetically powered low-tech mechs. I think it's scheduled to be released pretty soon. It ran as a series of hour-long movies.
Katanagatari. Surrealistic drama/comedy about a highly skilled warrior being recruited by a genius strategist to retrieve twelve super-powered swords from their wielders.
Planetes. This is probably the most realistic depiction I've seen of what working in outer space in the near future would actually be like. A serious slice-of-life drama with light comedy and romance.
Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. This is a serious action-fantasy set in a beautifully imagined fantasy world. Any of the weird stuff appears normal in context. A female bodyguard is hired to protect the second son of the local emperor against the emperor's own attempts to kill him because of a misunderstood prophecy. Fairly serious tone with some light comedy and romance.
Sword Art Online. Not sure what you'll think of this, but it is just starting to air on the Cartoon Network. This is the story of a serious gamer who, along with 10,000 other people, become trapped in a fully immersive MMORPG and told they can only leave if they beat the game. It takes them a few years. Mostly sci-fi/fantasy action, but the romance gets a little too harem-like for my tastes.
Ga-Rei Zero. Supernatural horrors battled by serious high-school girls. Just watch the first two episodes and see what you think. The tone seems about right for what you're looking for.
Occult Academy. If the X-files were remade as a high school girl anime, this would be it.
Steins;Gate. Science fiction show about a crazy self-proclaimed mad scientist who accidentally builds a time machine. Gets off to a great start, then gets a little thick with the harem stuff, but the tone seems about right.
Tatami Galaxy. This is a surrealistic slice-of-life comedy with a rapid-fire pace about a college student joining different clubs during his first year of college. Funimation owns the rights to this, and you used to be able to watch it for free on their youtube channel.
Bakemonogatari and the Monogatari series: Nekomonogatari, Nisemonogatari, etc. These are surrealistic, exquisitely animated supernatural high-school romances. I like to describe this show as raising the harem genre and the act of teasing to an art form. Highly recommended.
Genshiken I throw in because I love Genshiken. It's a sitcom about a college-age club for otakus.
Also, keep an eye out for Psycho Pass, Shinsekai Yori, Zetsuen no Tempest, Another the Animation, and Btooom in case they ever get released.
This. Freaking this.gritch said:
Monster is great cause the artsyle feels so realistic/down to earth and you easily feel with the characters. Plus it's a badass pyschological thriller. What more could you want?
As another person suggested, From the new world is also pretty "serious". It can be quite weird at times, but in a good "I-don't-get-it-but-it's-so-awesome" way. Don't let the art style fool you. From the new world is psychological in it's own disturbing way.
I haven't watched anime for quite a time, but here's some:
Wings of Honneamise: It's the first work of Gainax, it's a mature story and I think it's a beautiful movie. It's about a steam punk world where a country is about to launch their first manned ship to space. The main character is a slacker dude who works in the space force, a project which no one cares about and he's just there, dragging his life without a purpose... it's not an action anime, thou, and have a slow pace, but there's no anime ultrapower mega impossible heroes or fan service at all.
Rurouni Kenshin - Trust and Betrayal: It's a OVA with 4 chapters that's a prequel to the TV Series, but it has a completely different tone from the series, way much more darker. You can watch even if you never seen anything about Rurouni Kenshin, it works well as a stand alone piece. It's a animation classic, very good. Be warned that's a bit violent in some scenes, but it's completely free from anime weirdness and it's a good story with very good direction.
About Evangelion, it's worth watching by yourself. I like a lot, the ending never frustrated me... but if you are the kind of viewer that like mysteries stories where every detail is tied in with full rational explanations in the end, you'll get disappointed. The story is much more concerned in giving characters emotional resolution than explaining every detail of it's world and it's symbols. The religious stuff is really just a mishmash of symbols to create a context, kind of a MacGuffin... don't overanalyze it and you'll be good.
Wings of Honneamise: It's the first work of Gainax, it's a mature story and I think it's a beautiful movie. It's about a steam punk world where a country is about to launch their first manned ship to space. The main character is a slacker dude who works in the space force, a project which no one cares about and he's just there, dragging his life without a purpose... it's not an action anime, thou, and have a slow pace, but there's no anime ultrapower mega impossible heroes or fan service at all.
Rurouni Kenshin - Trust and Betrayal: It's a OVA with 4 chapters that's a prequel to the TV Series, but it has a completely different tone from the series, way much more darker. You can watch even if you never seen anything about Rurouni Kenshin, it works well as a stand alone piece. It's a animation classic, very good. Be warned that's a bit violent in some scenes, but it's completely free from anime weirdness and it's a good story with very good direction.
About Evangelion, it's worth watching by yourself. I like a lot, the ending never frustrated me... but if you are the kind of viewer that like mysteries stories where every detail is tied in with full rational explanations in the end, you'll get disappointed. The story is much more concerned in giving characters emotional resolution than explaining every detail of it's world and it's symbols. The religious stuff is really just a mishmash of symbols to create a context, kind of a MacGuffin... don't overanalyze it and you'll be good.
a great classic would be Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Wolf's Rain is fantastic, Another is interesting. Black Lagoon is extremely fun. Full Metal Panic! is fantastic. if you are looking for something a bit more out there and very adventurous Boku No Pico, though I wouldn't recommend THAT to the faint of heart #it'satrap. also I recommend anything by Satoshi Kon, Millennium Actress is my favorite Satoshi Kon film.
From what you specified in your OP (there seem to be a lot of people here ignoring the aversion to 'weird'...)
My standard warning: Most of my recommendations are 'old school'.
Also I only watch subs, so I have no idea the quality of dubs on any of these.
Monster. Absolutely everyone who mentioned this is completely correct.
Wings of Honneamise.
The Place Promised in our Early Days
Voices of a Distant Star. (Warning, this is incredibly depressing. Like Grave of the Fireflies depressing)
Ruroni Kenshin. OVA & Tv
Tsukikage Ran: Carried by the Wind
Princess Nine: (Has one 'weird' bit that can be taken/left by the viewer)
They Were 11
Most of the different Gundam series.
Most Lupin movies.
My standard warning: Most of my recommendations are 'old school'.
Also I only watch subs, so I have no idea the quality of dubs on any of these.
Monster. Absolutely everyone who mentioned this is completely correct.
Wings of Honneamise.
The Place Promised in our Early Days
Voices of a Distant Star. (Warning, this is incredibly depressing. Like Grave of the Fireflies depressing)
Ruroni Kenshin. OVA & Tv
Tsukikage Ran: Carried by the Wind
Princess Nine: (Has one 'weird' bit that can be taken/left by the viewer)
They Were 11
Most of the different Gundam series.
Most Lupin movies.
Definitely Steins;Gate. It can get a little silly, but it never goes over-the-top. It's brilliantly animated, with good characters and an excellent story. This is one anime where I would encourage watching the dub over watching it with subtitles; for most anime, I don't really care, but the writing and voice acting in the dub are absolutely superb.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is another of my favourites. It's an interesting take on the whole "magical girl" thing. It might not look like your kind of anime, but give it a shot; it's a lot darker than it might appear at first. The production staff is an all-star lineup, featuring Akiyuki Shinbo as the director, Yuki Kajiura as the music composer, Gen Urobuchi as the writer and Studio Shaft doing the animation. They're all absolutely amazing.
Spice and Wolf is pretty serious and down-to-earth. There's a tiny bit of fanservice, but from what I remember, it's less than Code Geass. It mostly focuses on economics, as the main character is a merchant, and the relationship between the main character and his travelling companion, a wolf goddess who longs to return to her home. I couldn't really wrap my head around the economic stuff, but it's a very down-to-earth sort of series.
If you liked Fullmetal Alchemist, then you'll probably like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I preferred Brotherhood over the original FMA, actually; it's a lot more tightly written, the ending's more satisfying and fewer things feel like an ass-pull.
If you liked Baccano, you might like Durarara. The guy who wrote Baccano also wrote Durarara, so there are some similarities between them. There's also a cameo from Isaac and Miria, if I remember correctly. I think it's a bit sillier than Baccano, though.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is another of my favourites. It's an interesting take on the whole "magical girl" thing. It might not look like your kind of anime, but give it a shot; it's a lot darker than it might appear at first. The production staff is an all-star lineup, featuring Akiyuki Shinbo as the director, Yuki Kajiura as the music composer, Gen Urobuchi as the writer and Studio Shaft doing the animation. They're all absolutely amazing.
Spice and Wolf is pretty serious and down-to-earth. There's a tiny bit of fanservice, but from what I remember, it's less than Code Geass. It mostly focuses on economics, as the main character is a merchant, and the relationship between the main character and his travelling companion, a wolf goddess who longs to return to her home. I couldn't really wrap my head around the economic stuff, but it's a very down-to-earth sort of series.
If you liked Fullmetal Alchemist, then you'll probably like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I preferred Brotherhood over the original FMA, actually; it's a lot more tightly written, the ending's more satisfying and fewer things feel like an ass-pull.
If you liked Baccano, you might like Durarara. The guy who wrote Baccano also wrote Durarara, so there are some similarities between them. There's also a cameo from Isaac and Miria, if I remember correctly. I think it's a bit sillier than Baccano, though.
I'll throw in another recommendation for Darker than Black, because I enjoyed the balance between the serious and lighthearted moments.
As for Elfen Lied, it was enjoyable for the most part, though I wouldn't watch it if you aren't a fan of shock value.
As for Elfen Lied, it was enjoyable for the most part, though I wouldn't watch it if you aren't a fan of shock value.
But fuck me, that maid is scary!Mr.Savage said:
pretty much all of this. I've heard great stuff about RSF: Wings of Honneamise and can vouch for Kenshin: trust and betrayal as a great serious piece. It lacks the light-heartedness of the main series and can be enjoyed by non-fans.BitterLemon said:
Berserk
Watch it through to the end and you'll see why. The anime only covers one arc of the manga.
Samurai Champloo
By the same people as Cowboy Bebop. While Bebop is Sci-Fi with Jazz/blues, Champloo is Feudal Japan with Hip-Hop (not a fan, but it works well enough). It's also pretty damn good.
Hellsing Ultimate
Never watched the original Hellsing. Ultimate is gory as hell and pretty stylish to boot, though Seras' comedy scenes are a bit jarring.
Samurai7
An anime take on Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'. Same overall premise, but the bandits are mechs and the setting gives off a steampunk vibe. Pretty solid stuff.
Watch it through to the end and you'll see why. The anime only covers one arc of the manga.
Samurai Champloo
By the same people as Cowboy Bebop. While Bebop is Sci-Fi with Jazz/blues, Champloo is Feudal Japan with Hip-Hop (not a fan, but it works well enough). It's also pretty damn good.
Hellsing Ultimate
Never watched the original Hellsing. Ultimate is gory as hell and pretty stylish to boot, though Seras' comedy scenes are a bit jarring.
Samurai7
An anime take on Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'. Same overall premise, but the bandits are mechs and the setting gives off a steampunk vibe. Pretty solid stuff.
I was basically just looking for the first post to suggest this and agree with it. Welcome To The NHK is a great anime.Hagi said:
You'll actually laugh as you're getting depressed over how fucked up it is and how realistic and plausible the plot actually is. The author of the book wrote it based on his own personal experiences being in a similar situation. It's hilarious without being over the top. Seriously, this is a series you should watch if you want a mature anime.
One of my favorite action series. Except for the Vampire Twins arc. I do not watch those eps :\saintdane05 said:
Allow me to put in a couple of suggestions.
Moribito, Guardian of the Spirit - A decent medieval Japan fantasy story, slow paced with times of intense and fantastically executed action, overall really well drawn.
Samurai X videos. Adult OVAs of the Rurouni Kenshin kiddie anime series. You will very likely enjoy them, though you may end up with a bro lump-in-your-throat.
Claymore. ....god I wish they'd done better with this. The manga is at 140 eps, but they rewrote the anime to end about volume 60? or so? The opening is cheesy, the ending has a good theme, the story is multilayered with horror, brutality and doomed heroism on top and creepy undercurrents beneath (4.5 stars), the characters are very well done and drawn, the Japanese voices are superb and OH MY GOD RAKI WILL YOU STOP CRYING ALREADY - sorry, a main char in the manga was rewritten into a whiner in the anime. Give it a watch, despite its flaws you ought to enjoy it.
Now for adult stories in a younger presentation, 'cause Japan rolls like that:
Hajime no Ippo. Nothing deep here (mama's boy discovers boxing), but a really engaging slice-of-life story that you can just watch anytime. One of the last of the old-style anime and presented for young teens. The fight scenes are done pretty well and it will get its hooks into you if you're not careful
Black Blood Brothers. 12 eps, sraightforward story with no time wasted on fluff. Presented for a fairly young audience, there's nothing childish about this vampire storyline. Best female villain ever, every character is well developed, and the story has a couple of very good twists. Great effort, though they ran out of money and had to cheese on a couple of the key action scenes at the end of the series. Bonus points for actually turning a funereal march into an action theme, complete with electric guitars lol.
Edit: adding +1s for Last Exile and Planetes.
I come into this thread, and you take all of the suggestions I had. Even Mardock Scramble. So I just have to second all of them, and add some Akira to that list. You can't have enough Akira. Beserk is also great, as well as Monster and 20th Century Boys (but that's a manga). You may want to get some subs for all of them, as well, it's just better subbed. The only dub I recommend is Darker than Black's though, those voices just grew on me more.Legion said:
I'm surprised Shiki hasn't been mentioned, it's a great anime that explores the morality of being a vampire. It starts a bit slow, but it's not bad at all and it's one of my favorites.
Sword Art Online is something I definitely wouldn't recommend as it never holds onto a plot. One episode the main character teams up with a blacksmith (whom you'll see maybe one or two more times in the rest of the series) to make a sword he doesn't even want to use for a good portion of the damn show, and in another episode is dedicated to him fishing. For how great it could have been, it settled for being a mediocre anime with mediocre character development and hopes you'll like it because it's "interesting".
Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) is an anime about cellphones (and other means of communication, I suppose) that can predict the future. The twelve of them that possess such cellphones are then placed into a battle royale by the god governing the world they live in. The winner takes his place as god and the rest are, well, dead.
Attack on Titan is a show with a shoddy protagonist, but does have a great concept and great supporting characters. Any time Eren gets screen time I get a little bit sadder, but with time he gets to be a little less reckless and an irrational pain in the ass as the story focuses on other characters.
Sword Art Online is something I definitely wouldn't recommend as it never holds onto a plot. One episode the main character teams up with a blacksmith (whom you'll see maybe one or two more times in the rest of the series) to make a sword he doesn't even want to use for a good portion of the damn show, and in another episode is dedicated to him fishing. For how great it could have been, it settled for being a mediocre anime with mediocre character development and hopes you'll like it because it's "interesting".
Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) is an anime about cellphones (and other means of communication, I suppose) that can predict the future. The twelve of them that possess such cellphones are then placed into a battle royale by the god governing the world they live in. The winner takes his place as god and the rest are, well, dead.
Attack on Titan is a show with a shoddy protagonist, but does have a great concept and great supporting characters. Any time Eren gets screen time I get a little bit sadder, but with time he gets to be a little less reckless and an irrational pain in the ass as the story focuses on other characters.
I marathoned this yesterday, and can back up its 'like Eva but for magical girls minus the flaws' like the really bad characters in Eva. Also, ^^ be prepared to hate one of the characters if you watch this, a lot.sextus the crazy said:
but if you MUST watch Eva (I don't recommend it, its awful), and want an ending that makes some fucking sense, skip the last two eps in the series and just go with the 'End of' movie, that'll at least save you the migraine of trying to figure out what the fuck is going on