Looking for serious anime

B

Blayze

Hikikomori
Hi everyone! First post.. dont wanna be a troll and post garbage.

Looking for some good serious anime, i get pissed off and press stop as soon as i see child like characters. I like mature themes and clever plot, as well as some good action scenes. Not really into things like perfect blue and grave of the fireflies, found them kind of boring.

My favourites so far are,

Berserk
Death Note
Ninja Scroll
Fatal Fury
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Final Fantasy
Cowboy Bebop
Dragon Ball Z (the exception) :p
Zone of the Enders

In that order.

Not big fan of futuristic stuff, but ill give it a go..
Dont particularly like guns, swords ftw imo..
Especially dont like child protagonists. I mean stories about 8yr old girls in magic fairy lands and stories about 12 yr old boys who are magically the best ninjas ever but are extremely imature.

Any recommendations?

Cheers
 
First of all, there isn't a 'Z' in Berserk. Secondly, you're almost certain to like Gungrave if you liked Berserk - it starts out in a similar way and there are some story similarities between the two.

I'm going to ignore your comment about child leads and recommend 'Now and Then, Here and There'. You won't find a more depressing series out there, it being a serious version of all the anime series out there where a normal, real world person gets transported to another world. Lets just say the world he gets transported to is into child slavery, child rape for breeding purposes, torture, kidnapping and lots of war.

In terms of movies, Grave of the Fireflies is the most serious and depressing you're going to encounter. It's also one of the best. The story is set during WWII, with the lead characters being siblings who have to try to survive without food or money.
 
Samurai X and Le Chevalier D'Eon are both set in the past (Japan a good century ago and pre-revolution France respectively). Both also have some great swordplay scenes which I am a fan of. Samurai X is actually the follow up to a very good (but less mature) TV show - unfortunately that's not out over here yet. It can be enjoyed alone though. Le Chevalier D'Eon is standalone and contains some fantasy elements but also a lot of politics and adventure.

I really hated Gungrave (despite liking Berserk) however it seems to be very popular indeed so probably a good one to try. Like Berserk it isn't all set in the same time frame so remember to give it a few episodes before deciding :)

You will probably like Basilisk if you liked Ninja Scroll, I know I did. Same mythos so you'll recognise some character names and ideas but this time it's a long TV series full of ninja with wild super powers and liberal backstabbing.

R
 
Basilisk seconded. This is the show that Ninja Scroll TV should have been.

Le Chevalier d'Eon also seconded, with reservations. I found the story fascinating, full of intrigue and twists - but it's rather slow-moving, particularly in the middle, which might be a problem if you're an action junkie. But there are plenty of spectacularly choreographed sword fights, and some of the backgrounds -- depicting 18th century France, Russia, and England -- are beautifully rendered. The music is excellent as well.
 
Basilisk thirded. Hypno-toad ftw ;)

Samurai 7 maybe? Does have a lil kid in it, but all the mains are OK. Good story too.

Samurai Champloo too maybe, but not seen it so can't comment :)

Sayuki and Trigun possibles? (probably too much comedy)

Get over the guns and go watch Black Lagoon.

oh, and finally, maybe too sci-fi but I found Starship Operators to have a good story.
 
Samurai Champloo is a good call, although it's not always serious; a number of episodes are, in fact, downright goofy. It's still one of my personal favourites of the last decade, though, and well worth a shot if you like sword fights, because that show has some of the best.
 
It would help if the TC was more clear about what he wanted: does he want serious in a real world sense or simply a fantasy/sci-fi series that isn't childish in its execution?

I wouldn't recommend Le Chavvy Don myself as it bored me to death. I tried hard, watching Vol. 1 twice and even pushing onto watch Vol. 2, but I could never get into it or care about the cast at all. For people in the know about French history I'm sure it's an interesting series to watch, but I wouldn't suggest anyone not up on their world history watch it.

Samurai Champloo is often far from serious. I'm sure the TC would like it, him having mentioned Cowboy Bebop, but its really a just silly, episodic Samurai series that has an excellent final 2 or 3 episodes. It's a series for action fans; not serious business people.

Trigun is pretty much the same. It has a few moving moments, lots of episodic silliness and a poor ending. Worth watching but in no way serious.

I do, however, recommend the Kenshin OVAs (Samurai X). Unlike the Kenshin TV series, which is standard shounen fare, the OVAs are totally different - sort of like how Batman Begins differs from the older Batman movies in maturity. The art is realistic, the deaths are gory, the story has no jokes and it's up there with the best of the depressing/serious anime in existence. I'm not sure if it still is, but the the Trust and Betrayal OVAs were #1 on the animnfo at one point.

One last thing: Death Note fans tend to like Code Geass. They're different, with Code Geass being set in an alternative universe where the Britannia Empire rules most of the world with an iron fast and mecha combat is the norm, but the main characters of the two series are very similar and both come up with an endless amount of plans to rule the world. It has its fair share of seriousness, including lots of slaughtering of the innocent.
 
Aion said:
I'm going to ignore your comment about child leads and recommend 'Now and Then, Here and There'.

In terms of movies, Grave of the Fireflies is the most serious and depressing you're going to encounter. It's also one of the best.
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um ill give now and then, here and there another go, but i watched grave of the fireflies the other day and i didnt like it :S

Aion said:
It would help if the TC was more clear about what he wanted: does he want serious in a real world sense or simply a fantasy/sci-fi series that isn't childish in its execution?
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nah not serious in a real world sense, im all for fantasy/sci-fi and bizarre plots as long as its not really childish in execution, hate the whole pokemon sort of daftness..

im watching kenshin atm, theyre good, gungrave, i wasnt impressed with the first episode but i may give it another go..

Code geass sounds quality ill defo try that out.

Witch Hunter Robin
Ergo Proxy
Paranoia Agent

ill give em a go ty

ive heard alot about basilisk, but only watched the first episode, looked pretty good, ill try the rest of em..
 
Try catching Time of Eve online, that's a really good Asimovian look at people living and working with androids. Third episode is up now too.

When you say you don't like child protagonists, I'm assuming you mean characters that behave like children, with excessively cute and chibi mannerisms, as opposed to actual children in an adult storyline.

Because you don't want to miss out on the Barefoot Gen movies, a survivors tale of the Hiroshima bombings, which I find stronger than Grave Of The Fireflies.

You might want to check out Wings of Honneamise, an alternate reality tale of a space race between fictional superpowers.

While it has young protagonists, I found Last Exile to be a strong series, an alternate reality story of flight and national brinkmanship

Otogi Zoshi is an excellent series set across two time periods.

Rumbling Hearts if you're into soppy tragic romance.

The recently released Starship Operators is obviously sci-fi, but the stronger elements in it are strategies and politics.

Yugo The Negotiator is an acquired taste, but it's as far from kiddified as you can possibly get.

R.O.D the TV has one kid in it. See that's the thing about anime, it's made with young audiences in mind, so you'll always have young protagonists. But if you liked the old sixties spy serials, your Persuaders, Man From Uncle, Prisoner, The Saint, that sort of thing. If it had an ITC logo, then you will love this series.

If you like Ghost In The Shell, you may want to try the Appleseed movies, and maybe Vexille too. Other movies you might try are the Satoshi Kon pictures, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Paprika

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an amazing film, best film of any sort that I have seen this year.

Mushi-shi is an awesome creepy anthology series.


I would recommend Noein, but it's got lots of kids in. Even if the storyline isn't at all childish. You'd also be missing out on the awesome Gunslinger Girl. If you liked the Nikita movie, you may want to give it a try anyway. Serial Experiments Lain also has kids in, but it's a excellent mindf*** series.
 
Blayze said:
um ill give now and then, here and there another go, but i watched grave of the fireflies the other day and i didnt like it :S
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Now and Then, Here and There is another weird one where watching at least two episodes is a must. The first makes it look like it's going to be a completely different kind of series and only at the end of that and start of the next does the scale of the plot kick in. But it's a very good show and well worth a look. Don't get tricked by the cute designs - they just make it all the more grown up in this case.

Guaranteed zero wacky hijinks.

R
 
Welcome to the forums! :)

Seeing how death note is your favorite anime, you'll definietly like Code Geass.

I am currently watching 'Fullmetal panic!', it's great. It does have some episodes which are less serious than others, but the plot is serious. The characters are really cool, too. Try it! ;)

I haven't seen Paranoia Agent & Ergo Proxy, but I'll recommend them anyway. I've read the plot and seen amv's, and it looks quite a lot like what you want!

Also, Chaos;head is quite good. If you understand the term otaku and all that terminology, then it will increase the like-a-bility. The series revolves around a huge nerd, that one day gets caught up in a vicious murder scene. It can be fustrating/confusing at times, but it is quite a nice watch. And, it's fresh and new!
 
Yagami said:
Seeing how death note is your favorite anime, you'll definietly like Code Geass.
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That's a bit of a stretch. If you appreciate the more realistic tone of Death Note as one of it's qualities then you probably won't like Code Geass.
 
^ Death Note fans tend to love Code Geass simply because there are so few characters like Lelouch and Light. They're both great shows in different ways that people appreciate for different reasons, but Death Note was great because of Light and that allows Death Note fans to love Code Geass because of Lelouch alone.

With Gungrave you need to watch more than one episode. It gets good with the second episode, stays high quality until the amazing 14th episode, drops in quality when the story returns to the present and then picks back up for the excellent finale. You also need to watch NaThaT for more than one episode since it only really gets going after the introductory opening episode.
 
Death note and code geass have hundreds of similarities..

Their main storyline is about getting students justice.
Lelouch is the equivalent to Light.
Lelouch's friend (forgot the name) is the equivalent to L.
The main characters are students.
Both characters are giving a huge power.
Before they were both given power, they didn't care for the world.
They both have fake names, even L.
Both have some weird/out-of-this-world helpers who gave them powers (C.C & Ryuk).

I could be here for quite some time.. o_o
 
Yagami said:
Death note and code geass have hundreds of similarities..

Their main storyline is about getting students justice.
Lelouch is the equivalent to Light.
Lelouch's friend (forgot the name) is the equivalent to L.
The main characters are students.
Both characters are giving a huge power.
Before they were both given power, they didn't care for the world.
They both have fake names, even L.
Both have some weird/out-of-this-world helpers who gave them powers (C.C & Ryuk).

I could be here for quite some time.. o_o
Click to expand...

I wouldn't of compared Suzuka to L...plus Code Geass has mechs :p and Pizza Hut product placements :lol:

The last one was a joke really.
 
It doesn't have the main points that attracted me and a lot of other people who enjoy Death Note (excluding those that just watch it to drool over L and Light). What got me into the series was that apart from the supernatural elements it was a series that was grounded in reality with characters that weren't always so blatant and easy to understand their motives. Mainly though it was the epic intensity of the cat and mouse duel between Light and L.
 
BlackWolf said:
Yagami said:
Death note and code geass have hundreds of similarities..

Their main storyline is about getting students justice.
Lelouch is the equivalent to Light.
Lelouch's friend (forgot the name) is the equivalent to L.
The main characters are students.
Both characters are giving a huge power.
Before they were both given power, they didn't care for the world.
They both have fake names, even L.
Both have some weird/out-of-this-world helpers who gave them powers (C.C & Ryuk).

I could be here for quite some time.. o_o
Click to expand...

I wouldn't of compared Suzuka to L...plus Code Geass has mechs :p and Pizza Hut product placements :lol:

The last one was a joke really.
Click to expand...

Well before L dies you can see that Light likes him a bit, especially when L says something like "you're my only friend" to him. I think that's the same for code geass, in terms of them being friends, but enemies at the same time.
 
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