Looking for Mature Anime/Manga series recommendations

Legend of Galactic Heroes for the ultimate space opera anime (100+ episodes, OVAs, movies) or if that seems too much then Tytania (by the same author) for a lighter version.

A little selection

Movies:

Ninja Scroll: a masterpiece. Great classic plot and a brilliant and surprisingly rare mix of medieval japan with a zest of dark fantasy.

Perfect Blue: Hitchcockian thriller in the not so rosey land of idols.

Mind Game: a wacky mix of styles and an unpredictable story that branches out, loops and stutter for the most bizarre relationship and self-discovering dramedy.

5 cm per second: Youth, teenage years and adulthood of a man separated from the one he loves. Three brilliant short films rolled into one poignant feature.

Patlabor 2: Patlabor is a very original manga because it's about the everyday life of a police force in a japan where mechs are normal. It spawned a good TV serie and a very good first film, but Oshii pushes the originality a step further with Patlabor 2 as it suddenly becomes a reflection on war in the midst of a politico-industrial conspiracy plot.

The Castle of Cagliostro: Action, comedy, romance: the whole entertainment package is in the adventures of master thief Lupin the 3rd, delivered with infectious enthusiasm and energy by a young Miyazaki.

Macross Plus: The Movie: I guess you can watch that or the mini-serie. A tale about love, friendship turned sour, the weight of the past and daring to live the dream of our youth... all that masacrading as a brilliant fighter jet / mecha anime.

Also: Princess Mononoke, Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind, Venus Wars, Sword of the Stranger, From Up on Poppy Hill, Memories, Summer Wars, Grave of the Fireflies, The Sky Crawlers, My Neighbors the Yamada, Tokyo Godfathers...


TV Series:

Eden of the East: brilliant show that mixes thriller, comedy, slight anticipation and the most ambitious sociological themes in a very well produced package. It takes balls of steel to dare tell a story so over the top, ridiculous and barely intelligible, yet root it deeply in the realities of our time and go at it without an ounce of irony. 11 episodes and two movies.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: with the most ludicrous pitch (a schoolgirl overflowing with enthusiasm has, without her knowledge, the ability to shape the very fabric of the universe with her imagination), this anime offers the most experimental storytelling to ever hit mainstream TV along one of the weirdest brand of humor. Brilliant in so many ways. (Two seasons for a total of 28 episodes, but the episodes of the 2nd season are supposed to go between some of the episodes of the first and each episode has both a broadcast number and a chronological number... so yeah... I am not sure to know what is the best viewing experience).

Honey & Clover: a romantic dramedy with some coming of age elements as the characters are slightly older than in most shows (students at an art school, not high-schoolers). Many great characters and some absolutely brilliant sub plots that I often think about. 36 episodes.

Azumanga Daiyoh: the absurd, hilarious and bitter-sweet life of a handful of high-school students. The quality of the character portraits is that much more astonishing when you realize the source material is a collection of comic strips!

Serial Experiment Lain: it may have aged poorly, but this show was really groundbreaking at the time with its inclusion of internet technology, its plot based around the circulation of information and rumors and its oppressing atmosphere that makes the whole thing feels like a fever dream.

Also: Space Cobra, Patlabor, Hikaru no Go, Great Teacher Onizuka, Monster, Planetes, Moonlight Mille (these last five I have not seen, but I have read the original manga so I'll assume the TV shows can only be good with such brilliant source material), Toradora (superbly crafted 'opposites attract' dramedy in high school), Parano?a Agent, Maison Hikoku (the reference for all young adult romantic comedies), Kaiba (very original design for this very imaginative sf show)...


Manga

Do you also want japanese comic book recommendations? Because I have some too if need be!

Szlia_sl said:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: with the most ludicrous pitch (a schoolgirl overflowing with enthusiasm has, without her knowledge, the ability to shape the very fabric of the universe with her imagination), this anime offers the most experimental storytelling to ever hit mainstream TV along one of the weirdest brand of humor. Brilliant in so many ways. (Two seasons for a total of 28 episodes, but the episodes of the 2nd season are supposed to go between some of the episodes of the first and each episode has both a broadcast number and a chronological number... so yeah... I am not sure to know what is the best viewing experience).

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Watch the first series and the movie, pretend the second series never happened. The first series jumped all over the place in chronology and leapt straight into the middle of situations, leading to a kind of breakneck confused craziness. The second series redid the first series, put everything in the correct chronological order, inserted a lot of pointless exposition to explain things that happen between episodes and engages in the ultimate troll, known as 'endless eight'. It's basically the Highlander 2 of anime.

I liked the series a lot, doesn't come close to meeting the criteria for 'mature' anime though, it's mostly light-hearted silly comedy.

Given your interests:

Darker than Black (Crappy first two episodes, give it three before you give up on it)
Tengan Toppen Gurran Lagen (Crappy first couple of episodes, give it 6 before you give up on it)
Baccano (Crappy first couple of episodes, give it 5 before you give up on it)
Great Teacher Onizuka (How have you not seen this yet?)
Berserk (Watch the first episode last, so start with #2)


Also, not anime, but check out Waltz with Bashir.

Himeo_sl said:

Given your interests:

Darker than Black (Crappy first two episodes, give it three before you give up on it)
Tengan Toppen Gurran Lagen (Crappy first couple of episodes, give it 6 before you give up on it)

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Darker than Black starts and stays strong. I didn't have to fight my way through the openers for that series like I did with so many other (albeit good) series

TTGL is NOT a mature anime, it is not at all what he is looking for. Granted... it's awesome and he should watch it regardless but it has everything he was trying to avoid. And 6 episodes? I was hooked from episode 1. In fact, I only just saw it for the first time yesterday based on all the praise it was getting in this thread. I watched all 27 episodes in one day. I can't believe it took me so long to watch it. Great characters, Awesome story and they really know how to fuck with your emotions.

Weaponsfree_sl said:

Sword of the Stranger. Greatest anime movie I have ever seen. Almost perfect.

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Thanks for this, great anime movie. Has the best sword fight I've ever seen in an anime movie.

velk_sl said:

I liked the series a lot, doesn't come close to meeting the criteria for 'mature' anime though, it's mostly light-hearted silly comedy.

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For me 'mature' is not only a question of content, it's also a question of delivery. There is a lot of light-hearted silly comedy in there, but it goes beyond that through the meta-humor, the narrative experimentation, the take on the high school anime tropes, etc. Also, I am slowly going on 40, so my litmus test for 'mature' is: Do I feel like I did not waste my time? (a test stretched thin by Endless Eight I admit - I found it great until four or five).

For movies, I highly recommend Redline. It is an amazing ride and probably my favorite stand alone anime movie.

Itzena_sl said:

This might be helpful:http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-new...rs-of-tv-anime

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It's a travesty that Legend of the Galactic Heroes isn't on that list. It's easily one of the greatest anime of all time. It's the quintessential space opera that no other series has come close to topping. Despite its dated animation and long length, it's still easy to recommend the series.

halfway through shigurui, and holy fuck that's grim. thanks to the people who suggested it.

JoJo's Bizzare adventures is something you want to check out that was remade into something fucking A+ (not that the original wasnt the shit).

The suggestions in this thread are great for an anime starter like me, so thanks to everyone who contributed up till now.

I started watching FMA:Brotherhood last monday and I'm almost done with it now. I enjoyed it a lot as a whole, including the silliness and sometimes slightly grating whining and self-pity some of the characters go through. It did really remind me of why I like anime though, those Japanese fuckers sure know how to make stuff feel epic.

Mainly, I rediscovered that I am a total sucker for the 'coming of age' kind of story (the process of the (main)character growing in personality, understanding and power is a main plot point during the course of the series) in combination with a more grand, broad-spanning plot and a lot of show of force. The touchy feely stuff is fine when it plays a supporting role, but not when that itself is the main plot point, like I've often seen in the anime's my old housemate watched.

So, FMA:Brotherhood hit a pretty good note with me in that regard, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend any anime series that specifically match those criteria, like FMA did? Good chance some were already mentioned, but even in a thread like this it's all a bit much to take in and after this week I don't have the time to spend on much trial and error anymore

Dynalisia_sl said:

So, FMA:Brotherhood hit a pretty good note with me in that regard, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend any anime series that specifically match those criteria, like FMA did? Good chance some were already mentioned, but even in a thread like this it's all a bit much to take in and after this week I don't have the time to spend on much trial and error anymore

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If you liked that aspect of FMA:B in particular, you might give Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann a bash.

velk_sl said:

Watch the first series and the movie, pretend the second series never happened. The first series jumped all over the place in chronology and leapt straight into the middle of situations, leading to a kind of breakneck confused craziness. The second series redid the first series, put everything in the correct chronological order, inserted a lot of pointless exposition to explain things that happen between episodes and engages in the ultimate troll, known as 'endless eight'. It's basically the Highlander 2 of anime.

I liked the series a lot, doesn't come close to meeting the criteria for 'mature' anime though, it's mostly light-hearted silly comedy.

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oh yeah, I remember I think the fifth week of the endless eight I just dropped the show. This after loving the first season and being really hyped for s2. I remember watching it and practically yelling to my screen "KYON YOU FUCKWAD JUST DO SOMETHING"

Where is a good place to find some of this stuff online?

Tons of it on Netflix on demand.

+1 for "Serial Experiments Lain" and loving "Darker Than Black" so far.

I wasn't a huge fan of Trigun unfortunately.