So I was introduced to anime via Adult swim in the early 2000s with Cowboy bebop which I completely fell in love with, I thought man if this is anime I’m going to fucking love anime…Boy was I wrong
I’ve tried to watch so many other series but have seriously disliked most of them.
However the series’ or movies I’ve found and liked I’ve absolutely loved. So far what I’ve watched and loved is:
Cowboy bebop
Samurai Champloo
Akira
Death note
Made in abyss
Aaand that’s it. But what’s crazy to me is that those are all really fucking good and I absolutely love them yet
theres so much out there that can’t be the only stuff I’d like. So I’m curious if any if you watch anime and if so if you have any suggestions.
(I really don’t like Dragon ball Z or stuff like it at least not thus far)
I tend to lean towards gritty/violent stuff, generally (outside of anime) I love horror and b movies but I also love deep and emotional stories and sci-fi stuff so I could go in a lot do directions in stuff I may like.
I just subscribed to Crunchyroll and I also have Netflix/Amazon prime/HBOmax so anything suggestions that’s on those platforms I’ll check out
And for recent stuff, Spy Family was surprisingly wholesome and cute.
Back to gritty though, Hell’s Paradise is pretty metal.
Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill are incredible at over the top action. Actually most Studio Trigger anime is.
Also would like to propose Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure.
I’ve never seen a show with so much one-up manship before. It’s definitely a love it or hate it type though. I never thought I would be into it based on aesthetics alone, but after giving it a shot I was hooked.
all the ones you listed are at the top of my list too. here’s some you might like -
neon genesis evangelion (god tier)
tokyo ghoul (music is so good in this, brings tears to my eyes thinking about it)
bleach (gets real bad in the later seasons, but the earlier stuff is mint)
yasuke (modern samurai champloo with music by flying lotus)
yu yu hakusho (more easy watching, kinda for kids but i love it)
definitely catch all the studio ghibli movies (naussica, princess mononoke, castle in the sky, etc)
Interesting, so you say you like gritty and violent stuff, but outside of anime and you want deep, emotional and scifi anime, not just violent. Ok…
Emotional:
A Place Further Than The Universe - covers the full range for joy to excitement to tragedy, etc.
Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - Every Gundam show has the same themes - war is hell, people suffer, etc. and they all feature mecha against a backdrop of political intrigue and exploitation of working class folks by ruthless corporate types. Each Gundam show executes the same themes differently is all. IBO is one of the best Gundam shows imo.
Violet Evergarden - Former child (super) soldier/war veteran (alternate Earth WWI) becomes a professional letter writer. Some pretty hard hitting emotional episodes. There’s a YT video from a real life war veteran going into detail how he related to this show.
Liz and the Blue Bird - Was on tubi.tv for a while and now its on Pluto TV or something. I loved it. But I can understand why others might not.
Deep:
Great Passage - A drama about people who work on a dictionary can’t be shallow, right? Well, I enjoyed it.
Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū - I admit it took me a while to get into this. The topic of rakugo (a uniquely Japanese storytelling art form, performed by one person taking on all the characters’ parts) isn’t exactly the most exciting. It’s deep though. Really good characters and story, although the ending is controversial.
Remake Our Life - At first I thought it was just about some dude getting his fantasy wish fulfilled - to go back 10 years because he got admitted to an arts college but chose a conventional one instead and life turned out shitty for him. He gets his wish, gets to experience an awesome alternate college life, but the things he ends up doing while reliving his past ends up with unintended consequences.
Run With The Wind - deeper than most other sports anime. It’s the characters and the conversations they have about life and stuff.
Kyoussougiga - so deep I had trouble understanding what was going on.
SciFi:
Appare Ranman - More alternative history than pure sci-fi but pretty good imo. Eccentric young man and his samurai buddy decide to enter a cross country automobile race… in the 19th century. Conflict/interest is provided in the form of Gil The Butcher and his gang who repeatedly try to sabotage the race.
Deca Dence - I’d say this qualifies as both scifi and deep. Starts off looking Attack on Titan-ish as you see humans in a post apocalyptic looking setting taking on giant monsters who seem hell bent on killing them, but by Episode 3 you’re hit with a twist that shows that what you thought the show was about was kinda wrong.
Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato - the remake of the 70s scifi classic with updated visual effects, designs, etc.
Galaxy Express 999 - another classic. not a remake. Was on Crunchyroll, got kicked off and now it’s back. And it’s deep as the ocean.
Aria - SciFi but it’s anti-gritty/violence. It depicts a future world that features high tech stuff in the background yet looks comforting in an old-world way at the same time. Not a whole lot of drama either except the 3rd season which gets very emotional. Hard to explain in words why i love it - you’re either hooked in episode 1 or you’re not.
Gritty/Violent (since you sometimes still like it in anime?):
Akiba Maid War - Like The Godfather except instead of regular yakuza gangs it’s gangs of gun-toting/knife-wielding maid cafe maids.
Akudama Drive - Hard boiled/crime/noir but set in the future instead of 1940s.
Not an anime expert here, but I really enjoyed theses :
Paranoïa agent , which goes experimental very fast and the animation quality is perfect.
Blame! , I’ve been a long time fan of the manga , an this 3d animated film is very faithful to the original, while being a thing on it’s own too. It’s on Netflix
If it comes out in English, watch Blue Giant. I saw it in the theater in Japanese this year and it was great. Story of a young guy that moves to Tokyo to become a jazz musician.
So, I’m going to take your 5, and make a few recommendations and if you like any of them I can point you in the direction of others I’m sure. These are not my “favorites” they’re just things I could see you being into based on your disclosure of interest, they may not all hit.
2 of your titles are directed by the same guy (cowboy bebop and samurai champloo) and since you say you enjoy deep emotional stories and you’re on a music life path I think you might enjoy another one directed by the same guy which is “kids on the slope” or sakamichi no apollon. It is not in your niche of gritty dark adult stuff but I’m getting it out of the way first specifically because it’s not.
second would be B the Beginning - if you enjoy this, forget that there’s a second season - THERE IS ONLY ONE SEASON OF THIS ANIME. The one season is pretty exceptionally good.
Third would be psycho pass - it’s all pretty decent, the first season is a good place to start - the name is a misnomer or it doesn’t really fit the theme of the show, the Japanese just have weird naming sense when they appropriate English into titles. It’s a futuristic police drama in a dark side of utopian society with serial killers and some silence of the lambs mixed with minority report. I don’t know exactly how to explain it but you will probably enjoy it. If you like it, there’s a fair amount of material to watch.
I’m going to stay away from the evangelion route but might instead point you towards something like steins gate - it starts off feeling a little goofy but takes some dark and interesting turns and has some hard sci-fi thematics mixed in. It could probably grow on you fast and there’s some subsequent material that’s not too bad.
Something in line with death note - I’m not a big fan but I could see you liking tokyo ghoul, it’s wildly popular and has some of the same dark thematics. If it were me, I’d lean more towards dorohedoro which is weird and funny but gritty and adult, just a different take on things.
Made in abyss is tough. It has a lot of fantasy worldbuilding and some horror but also like an adventure story. I wouldn’t want to steer you wrong so I’ll have to think about that.
I might instead point you at a wildcard like durarara or something by the same guy which is Baccano. A lot of crosshatching of plots, some humor, some violence, some scifi, fairly full plates.
If any of this seems interesting there’s another thread with a lot of recommendations and I always have more.
as I myself liked black lagoon, two things that come to mind almost as extended family of black lagoon both stylistically and in regard to storytelling are jormungand and gangsta
I don’t think you would love my recommendations, as they are not in the same style as your list of liked shows, but someone may be interested: I only love anime when it’s comedy, and often at the expense of anime tropes. Some of these are hilarious and I love them. My list is:
That show is silly but I finally get it too. Great fun cast.
It’s stupid long though! I skipped around a lot as my partner marathoned it over the past year and I saw bits that way.
