The Shrine

Any suggestions?

I like serious, more adult, ones like Afro Samurai, Elfen Lied, Gentz, and Beserk, but also need a definitive ending, so nothing that is 1000 episodes and counting. I can even handle the extreme weird like Paranoia Agent.

if you thought paranoia agent was weird try out Serial Experiments Lain.....I watched it once and my brain is still recovering years later

I just finished darker than black and it was pretty awesome. Also Mushishi and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann were both super awesome.

Chris wrote:if you thought paranoia agent was weird try out Serial Experiments Lain.....I watched it once and my brain is still recovering years later

Yeah, i tortured myself through that one, too. I still am not sure if know what happened... but i loved the guy in the beginning. "Present day...heh... present TIME!!! HAHAHAHAAAA!"

Ones you need to see if you haven't:

Hikaru No Go (made by the Death Note guy)
Yakitate Japan (light-hearted, I found it hilarious)
Infinite Ryvius (imagine Lord of the Flies in space, but anime-like)

I assume you've tackled most of the others like Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Serial Experiment Lane, etc. You could also try Sousei No Aquarion, which is done by the Evangelion guy.

Flip wrote:

Chris wrote:if you thought paranoia agent was weird try out Serial Experiments Lain.....I watched it once and my brain is still recovering years later

Yeah, i tortured myself through that one, too. I still am not sure if know what happened... but i loved the guy in the beginning. "Present day...heh... present TIME!!! HAHAHAHAAAA!"

yeah but she dressed in teddy bear jammies.....not as in jammies with teddies on em......no,......a teddy bear suit....

bovine wrote:I just finished darker than black and it was pretty awesome. Also Mushishi and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann were both super awesome.

I saw the first few of Mushishi and while i thought it was beautifully drawn... but i couldnt get into it. The 'each ep is a standalone story' thing doesnt make me want to watch the next one so quickly. Full Metal Alchemist did this, but they also had a main story goal... same with Samurai Champloo and (to an extent) Cowboy Bebop. I'm not sure if i will pick up Mushishi again. Plus, im not a huge fan of the main american voice actor who was also Roy Mustang in FMA.

Zeus wrote:Ones you need to see if you haven't:

Hikaru No Go (made by the Death Note guy)
Yakitate Japan (light-hearted, I found it hilarious)
Infinite Ryvius (imagine Lord of the Flies in space, but anime-like)

I assume you've tackled most of the others like Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Serial Experiment Lane, etc. You could also try Sousei No Aquarion, which is done by the Evangelion guy.

I DLed and watched yakitate japan based on your recco on this site a few years ago and i also found it pretty dang good. Yes, have seen FMA and DN. I'll look into the others, thanks.

Zeus wrote:Ones you need to see if you haven't:

Hikaru No Go (made by the Death Note guy)
Yakitate Japan (light-hearted, I found it hilarious)

These two aren't dark or adult in any way, but they're very good. Echoing Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Darker than Black, as well.

If you like dark anime and don't mind the Gundam series then getting your hands on Gundam Zeta is great... it's the sequel to the original Gundam and is like the Empire Strikes Back of anime... except, like, 52 episodes, but still 52 episodes of the Empire Strikes Back

Black Lagoon is also very adult and violent and has an actual ending (2 season run, 26 episodes total).

Sayonara Zetsubouu Seinsei has some of the darkest humor I've ever seen and I highly recommend it but I do not think it has been released in the USA yet (I think the releases start in July?).

If I had to recommend one thing, though, it would be Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann..

Shrinweck wrote:Black Lagoon is also very adult and violent and has an actual ending (2 season run, 26 episodes total).

yeah, I saw this too and really liked it. Has some excellent adult content (not so much boobs as just things that may disturb....... that episode with the two children..... yikes!)

Gundam 00

I've been trying to watch some of these but freakin Netflix keeps having "Very Long Wait" on the middle discs of the series. What, do they have 1 frelling disk in the entire warehouse or something?? Darker Than Black, Black Lagoon Season 2, Gurren Laggan, Dai Guard... all anime I'm stuck in the middle of thanks to Netflix

Hell Girl is a pretty adult one too if you haven't seen it. People who have been wronged by another may call upon Hell Girl to ferry that person straight to hell... but in doing so they seal their own fate that they too will go to hell one day. Some episodes are really good and others are really depressing.

Last Exile? I'm assuming you've seen Samurai Champloo already. Sci-Fi had Macross Plus (series not the movie) on this month, but it was dub and the series wasn't very well done, they made some parts too long and other parts too short and the music wasn't all there. Makes me want to buy it on DVD but I'm waiting to see if they are going to release it on Blu-Ray.

Gundam 00 is fucking awesome. Also 08th MS Team if you haven't seen that either.

Hajime no Ippo is excelent if you havent seen it yet. 76 episodes, one movie and one OVA. And at the start of the year they just started a new season after a 5 year hiatus

Flip wrote:

bovine wrote:I just finished darker than black and it was pretty awesome. Also Mushishi and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann were both super awesome.

I saw the first few of Mushishi and while i thought it was beautifully drawn... but i couldnt get into it. The 'each ep is a standalone story' thing doesnt make me want to watch the next one so quickly. Full Metal Alchemist did this, but they also had a main story goal... same with Samurai Champloo and (to an extent) Cowboy Bebop. I'm not sure if i will pick up Mushishi again. Plus, im not a huge fan of the main american voice actor who was also Roy Mustang in FMA.

Yeah, I was going to ask: Does Mushishi actually get into a good storyline at some point? I watched halfway through it, and like the episodes, but I was craving an actual story.

Flip, you sound like you have the same taste in anime as me. I can sometimes get into the typical anime kiddie bullshit, but really it just gets in the way of the story. I prefer good sci-fi anime, or at least one that is completely serious about its story.

I just watched Noein, and it was pretty good. The dub was actually pretty well done. Time travelling, 5th dimension shit, and though it's a bit of a mindfuck near the end and you have to deal with some kids, it's pretty good.

Ergo Proxy is still one of my favorites, though. Almost completely serious and really good sci-fi. Good character development, and I think it was even a good dub. (Forgot if I did sub or dub on that one.) The ending was kinda rushed (bad ratings in Japan?), but there's a good writeup by the screenwriter himself that fills in the gaps.

Also, I have to plug Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Still the best future-imperfect series to date, and the series is miles beyond the old movie (which likely took some liberties from the manga).

Others:
* SE Lain
* Hellsing (must be dubbed)
* The Maxx (old one, but not sure if you ever saw it)
* Trigun (a bit cutesy but mixed with some weird sci-fi, and good)
* Gungrave
* Record of Lodoss War (fantasy, LOTRO-ish)
* Full Metal Panic (typical cutesy anime, but really funny)
* Rurouni Kenshin (long series, but you can safely watch the first 60-70 episodes for that major story arc, awesome stuff; watch the movie first)
* Princess Mononoke (movie, but really good)
* Ninja Scroll ("What's your report?!")

Just throwing out some older stuff in there because I'm not sure what you've seen yet.

I also really liked Ergo Proxy. Believe it or not, the Mushishi and Roy Mustang guy is also the voice of the Re-l's robot, Iggy. I thought he did well with that role.

On your list, i also saw and liked Gungrave, Ninja Scroll, SE Lain, and ive caught a bunch of Kenshin on cartoon network.

This thread is a goldmine. Like Tess, i use netflix, so some of the older ones are the way to go so you dont have to wait forever until the next DVD. Thanks.

Stand Alone Complex. Seriously! Also, they have a lot of high profile voice actors on there, too. (Crispin Freeman, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Richard Epcar really get around. I think all three of them were in Xenosaga, too, and a few of them were in Noein.)

Lain was one of those things that wasn't supposed to make sense and the joke's on you if you're trying to make sense of it. If you just substituted 'Black Magic' for 'IPV6' everything makes a lot more sense, though.

Oh, I forgot to mention Gankutsuou. It's The Count of Monte Cristo set in... the future? Kind of? Heh. It's done very well and actually got me to read the 1200-1300 page behemoth. Some of the best art work I have ever seen and the guy who voices the Count in Japanese is the best voice actor ever for evil calculating voices. He also did Alucard in Hellsing. Good stuff.