recommend anime

[Proskill]

im not rly an anime fan but i feel like watching something in my free time. id like it to be somehow mature

in the past year i have finished death note (which i expected i will like and i did) and full metal alchemist. the latter one turned out to be just as great in its own different way.
and as a kid ive watched two most popular animes - dragon ball (which is just legendary) and pokemon

what could u recommend to me ?

[Theoris]

I recommend Berserk.

[Lightwysh]

im not rly an anime fan but i feel like watching something in my free time. id like it to be somehow mature

in the past year i have finished death note (which i expected i will like and i did) and full metal alchemist. the latter one turned out to be just as great in its own different way.
and as a kid ive watched two most popular animes - dragon ball (which is just legendary) and pokemon

what could u recommend to me ?

If your into realistic - Initial D
If your into horror - Gantz
Poppy-ish - Peacemaker
These are just some of my favorites, I don't think they are too mainstream.

[Rukh]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is one literally everyone likes. You might like Bleach, if you're ok with quite a bit of highschool drama filler. Ergo Proxy was real good. The Berserk series is alright.

[Shinzai]

im not rly an anime fan but i feel like watching something in my free time. id like it to be somehow mature

in the past year i have finished death note (which i expected i will like and i did) and full metal alchemist. the latter one turned out to be just as great in its own different way.
and as a kid ive watched two most popular animes - dragon ball (which is just legendary) and pokemon

what could u recommend to me ?

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...igh-Thread-II/

Series:

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works (2014) & Fate/Zero:

Fuyuki City—a city surrounded by the ocean and the mountains becomes the setting for an age-old ritual. To realize the mythical Holy Grail, which is said to grant any wish from its possessor, seven masters are given seven heroic spirits chosen by the Grail. These heroic spirits or servants are: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berserker.

Each master will enter into a contract with their assigned servants and battle the other masters and servants to the death until only one pair remains...

This is the "Holy Grail War."

Fate/Zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the "Holy Grail," which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences.
Watching the version by Studio DEEN is not recommended due to it being a steaming pile of poop.

Watching order: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2015) -> Fate/zero.

UBW is one of the three routes of the original Visual Novel, and ufotable (who did the UBW anime adaptation) did both F/Z and is creating a movie adaptation of the Heaven's Feel route. Unfortunately, there is no good adaptation of the Fate route.

Fate/zero is technically the prologue to Fate/stay night, but as is the case with series such as Star Wars, the prequel is an enhancement to the original material.

Shinsekai Yori:

A millennium from now, in Japan, exists a utopia. The protagonist, Saki Watanabe, lives in an idyllic village barred from the outside world. Her world is ruled by the people who possess the "gods' power" of psychokinesis. After finally obtaining her own powers, Saki enters the Zenjin Academy to train along with five other children: Satoru Asahina, Maria Akizuki, Mamoru Itou, Shun Aonuma, and Reiko Amano.

Not all is as it seems, however. In this utopian village, strange rumors about a monstrous cat that abducts children circulate, and students are said to disappear from the academy. The world and its history are much darker than they appear and humanity is on the verge of collapsing.

Code Geass:

On August 10th of the year 2010 the Holy Empire of Britannia began a campaign of conquest, its sights set on Japan. Operations were completed in one month thanks to Britannia's deployment of new mobile humanoid armor vehicles dubbed Knightmare Frames. Japan's rights and identity were stripped away, the once proud nation now referred to as Area 11. Its citizens, Elevens, are forced to scratch out a living while the Britannian aristocracy lives comfortably within their settlements. Pockets of resistance appear throughout Area 11, working towards independence for Japan.

Lelouch, an exiled Imperial Prince of Britannia posing as a student, finds himself in the heart of the ongoing conflict for the island nation. Through a chance meeting with a mysterious girl named C.C., Lelouch gains his Geass, the power of the king. Now endowed with absolute dominance over any person, Lelouch may finally realize his goal of bringing down Britannia from within!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

In this world there exist alchemists, people who study and perform the art of alchemical transmutation—to manipulate objects and transform one object into another. They are bounded by the basic law of alchemy: in order to gain something you have to sacrifice something of the same value.

The main character is the famous alchemist Edward Elric—also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist—who almost lost his little brother, Alphonse, in an alchemical accident. Edward managed to attach his brother's soul to a large suit of armor. While he did manage to save his brother's life, he paid the terrible price of his limbs.

To get back what they've lost, the brothers embark on a journey to find the Philosopher's Stone that is said to amplify the powers of an alchemist enormously; however, on the way, they start uncovering a conspiracy that could endanger the entire nation, and they realize the misfortunes brought upon by the Philosopher's Stone.

Steins;Gate:

The eccentric mad scientist Okabe, his childhood friend Mayuri, and the otaku hacker Daru have banded together to form the "Future Gadget Research Laboratory," and spend their days in a ramshackle laboratory hanging out and occasionally attempting to invent incredible futuristic gadgets. However, their claymore is a hydrator and their hair dryer flips breakers, and the only invention that's even remotely interesting is their Phone Microwave, which transforms bananas into oozing green gel. But when an experiment goes awry, the gang discovers that the Phone Microwave can also send text messages to the past. And what's more, the words they send can affect the flow of time and have unforeseen, far-reaching consequences—consequences that Okabe may not be able to handle...

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:

In a far away future, mankind lives underground in huge caves, unknowing of a world above with a sky and stars.

In the small village of Jiha, Simon, a shy boy who works as a digger discovers a strange glowing object during excavation. The enterprising Kamina, a young man with a pair of rakish sunglasses and the passion of a firey sun, befriends Simon and forms a small band of brothers, the Gurren Brigade, to escape the village and break through the ceiling of the cave to reach the surface, which few believe exist.
Pure, 100%, unadulterated manliness.

No Game No Life:

The story of No Game, No Life centers around Sora and Shiro, a brother and sister whose reputations as brilliant NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) hikikomori (shut-in) gamers have spawned urban legends all over the Internet. These two gamers even consider the real world as just another "crappy game." One day, they are summoned by a boy named "God" to an alternate world. There, God has prohibited war and declared this to be a world where "everything is decided by games"—even national borders. Humanity has been driven back into one remaining city by the other races. Will Sora and Shiro, the good-for-nothing brother and sister, become the "Saviors of Humanity" on this alternate world? "Well, let's start playing."

Monogatari series:

The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions: gods, ghosts, myths, and spirits.
Watching order, since there are like 17 Monogatari series:
Bakemonogatari -> Nisemonogatari -> Nekomonogatari (Kuro) -> Monogatari Series Second Season -> Hanamonogatari -> Tsukimonogatari -> Owarimonogatari -> Kizumonogatari (which is 3 movies, which haven't been released yet).

More information of the Monogatari Series listings here.

Baccano!:

During the early 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its legendary journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country. At the same time in New York, the ambitious scientist Szilard and his unwilling aide Ennis, are looking for missing bottles of the immortality elixir. In addition, a war between the mafia groups is getting worse. On board the Advena Avis, in 1711, alchemists are about to learn the price of immortality.

Based on the award winning light novels of the same name, this anime adaptation follows several events that initially seem unrelated, both in time and place, but are part of a much bigger story—one of alchemy, survival and immortality. Merging these events together are the kindhearted would-be thieves, Isaac and Miria, connecting various people, all of them with their own hidden ambitions and agendas, and creating lifelong bonds and consequences for everyone involved.

Clannad:

Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who finds life dull and believes he'll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.

One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself. Without warning she exclaims "Anpan!" (a popular Japanese food) which catches Tomoya's attention. He soon discovers the girl's name is Furukawa Nagisa and that she exclaims things she likes in order to motivate herself. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.

However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he concedes and befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school's drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.

As Tomoya spends more time with the girls, he learns more about them and their problems. As he attempts to help each girl overcome her respective obstacle, he begins to realise life isn't as dull as he once thought.

Cowboy Bebop:

The year 2071 A.D. That future is now. Driven out of their terrestrial eden, humanity chose the stars as the final frontier. With the section-by-section collapse of the former nations a mixed jumble of races and peoples came. They spread to the stars, taking with them the now confused concepts of freedom, violence, illegality and love, where new rules and a new generation of outlaws came into being. People referred to them as Cowboys.

Meet Spike and Jet, a drifter and a retired cyborg cop who have started a bounty hunting operation. In the converted ship The Bebop, Spike and Jet search the galaxy for criminals with bounties on their heads. They meet a lot of unusual characters, including the unusually intelligent dog, Ein, and the voluptuous and vexing femme fatale, Faye Valentine.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?:

Aikawa Ayumu is a normal high school boy. One day he is killed by a serial killer and revived as a zombie by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. He starts to serve Eu as her guard but he happens to deprive the masou-shoujo Haruna of her magic power. Haruna orders Ayumu to fight against the anti-masou-shoujo system "Megalo" in her place.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica:

She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny—this is a beginning of the new story of the magical girls.

Angel Beats:

Otonashi awakens only to learn he is dead. A rifle-toting girl named Yuri explains that they are in the afterlife, and Otonashi realizes the only thing he can remember about himself is his name. Yuri tells him that she leads the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and wages war against a girl named Tenshi. Unable to believe Yuri's claims that Tenshi is evil, Otonashi attempts to speak with her, but the encounter doesn't go as he intended.

Otonashi decides to join the SSS and battle Tenshi, but he finds himself oddly drawn to her. While trying to regain his memories and understand Tenshi, he gradually unravels the mysteries of the afterlife.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures:

Beginning its tale in 19th century England, young aristocrat Jonathan Joestar finds himself locked in bitter rivalry with Dio Brando, a low-born boy who Jonathan's father took under his wing after the death of Dio's father. Discontent with his station in life, Dio's fathomless lust to reign over all eventually leads him to seek the supernatural powers of an ancient Aztec stone mask in the Joestar's possession—an artifact that will forever change the destiny of Dio and Jonathan for generations to come. Fifty years later, in 1938 New York City, Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar must take up his grandfather's mission and master the abilities necessary to destroy the stone mask and its immensely powerful creators who threaten humanity's very existence, the Pillar Men.
The order for this is the 2012 series, and then Stardust Crusaders.

Movies:

Akira:

It's the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the start of World War III. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the mind breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. This incident triggers psychic powers within one of the gang members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army to be experimented on. His mind has been altered and is now on the path of war, seeking revenge on the society that once called him weak.

Kara no Kyoukai:

September, 1998: In the city where Shiki lives, something triggers a spate of mysterious schoolgirl suicides. The connection between the girls who've leapt to their deaths is unclear, although all of them have jumped from the Fujou Building, a skyscraper scheduled to be demolished.

Mononoke-hime:

A calm village residing in the mountains comes under attack from a demon-possessed boar one day.

Ashitaka, a young man and prince of the tribe, engages the creature in an attempt to save his village. During the battle, the boar bites him on the arm, leaving it blackened and cursed. Following his village's traditions, Ashitaka is exiled and becomes a wanderer, looking for a solution to the curse before it engulfs him.

Iron Town is a fortress under the leadership of Lady Eboshi. Through the clearing of the surrounding forests, Iron Town produces large amounts of Ironsand, used for gunpowder and other machinery. However, because of the forests destruction, nearby animal clans seek revenge led by a human girl of the Wolf clan called San.

When Ashitaka comes to Iron Town, he discovers the area consumed in battle. Horrified, he attempts to create peace and befriend the Wolf Clan. However, after the forest's eradication and the ongoing war between Human and Beast, will the Spirit of the Forest be forgiving and accept Ashitaka's request to expel his curse?

Mardock Scramble:

Rune Balot is a down-and-out teen prostitute in Mardock City. One day, she's picked up by an ambitious casino manager named Shell who gives her everything she could want. Renewed by a false innocence, a false past, and now the false life Shell has given her, Balot feels grateful. However, she can't help but be curious about why he's done so much for her, so she does some research about his past on a computer. This turns out to be a mistake which will change her life greatly. When Shell finds out what she's done, he attempts to burn her to death by blowing up her car.

Due to the high crime rate in Mardock, a new law called "Scramble 09" has given police carte blanche to take extreme and otherwise illegal measures to revive crime witnesses. With this in mind, they allow a professor to bring Balot back from the brink of death by reassembling her entire body with reinforced synthetic fiber. When she finally wakes up, her confused mental state eventually turns toward revenge as Shell is revealed as her killer.

Paprika:

In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the "DC Mini" it is able to act as a "dream detective" to enter into people's dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer's personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter-ego, code name "PAPRIKA," in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention.

Redline:

Redline is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car—all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee—but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?

[MrLordDariusCrowley]

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is probably the easiest generic anime to watch; nice story, great characters, some of the best opening songs. It's vanilla but then again there is nothing wrong with vanilla. If you watched the older version, you should really just watch Brotherhood instead.
<in love with Roy Mustang

- - - Updated - - -



The old one or the newer miniseries?

In regards to Brotherhood > 2003 version I think anyone that wants to watch FMA should start with the 2003 version, at the very least until SPOILERHughes death as Brotherhood was made with the assumption that the viewer has either seen the 2003 version or read the manga (or both) as the first ~13 episodes are rushed in comparison to FMA 2003. The first ~13 episodes of Brotherhood cover the same material as the first ~25 episodes of FMA 2003.

Probably the old one even if Spoilerit ends on a cliffhanger

[Medusa Cascade]

Black Lagoon is good. <3 Revy

[Deleted]

Black Lagoon is good. <3 Revy

Also has trap vampire twin action~

[Val the Moofia Boss]

im not rly an anime fan but i feel like watching something in my free time. id like it to be somehow mature

in the past year i have finished death note (which i expected i will like and i did) and full metal alchemist. the latter one turned out to be just as great in its own different way.
and as a kid ive watched two most popular animes - dragon ball (which is just legendary) and pokemon

what could u recommend to me ?

I'm assuming by "full metal alchemist", you mean the original series? In that case, I'd strongly encourage you to watch the reboot (and true-to-the-manga adaptation) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's widely regarded as one of the best shonen anime ever, ever.

If you liked Death Note, you may enjoy Stein's: Gate and Code: Geass, as they are both thrillers in the same vein (though two different flavors; Steins: Gate explores the premise of the series while Code: Geass is a straight up conspiracies-within-conspiracies story as Death Note.

By extension, if you like Code: Geass, then I would recommend you watch the Gundam shows. There's also the new Aldnoah.Zero, which if you can stand SAO levels of writing, you will enjoy (especially the first season).

There's also another genre of anime thriller, of which I have two suggestions: Attack on Titan, and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Both are coincidentally directed by the same director of Death Note. AoT is a show where everybody except the three mains is a red shirt in a medieval world where man-eating giants (called titans) are driving humanity to extinction, with the same government conspiracy premise as Fullmetal Alchemist. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is pretty much AoT but better, as the director analyzed the flaws of AoT (and fixed/discarded them), and expanded it's strengths. The characters are arguably more interesting, and the setting is more interesting (not generic like AoT), and the pacing is consistent.

If you want more like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I would recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender (and it's sequel, The Legend of Korra), and Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. The Avatar series is a step back in darkness but is all about the same camaraderie and grand road trip story (Legend of Korra is slightly darker but still nowhere near FMA:B levels). Magi is closer to the tone of FMA:B, and is set in the unexplored Arabian Nights setting. It's not as mature as FMA:B, with boob rubbing and bikini armor but still in the ballpark.

POKEMON:

Unless it was the original series, the Pokemon show has been historically crap anime (with great moments like the Sinnoh league and the Hunter J arc mind you), but the latest season of Pokemon has brought it up several levels: Pokemon XY (and XY&Z), the new season of Pokemon is being produced by OLM inc now (as opposed to Viz), and the quality has dramatically improved. No more crappy high-school levels of animation where a GIF is moved across a panning shot with narmy lines and a reset button at the end of the episode; the new series now has Sakuga levels of fight sequences, and for the first time since the original season... actual character development! Furthermore, the villainous team is now a compelling story, and you get to see much of the plot from their perspective. A new main character (who's not one of Ash's companions), Alain, has been introduced with his own mini series (called the Mega Evolution Specials) and has driven the story into darker and edgier territory (still nowhere near FMA:B levels but shocking for Pokemon) and is making what was once an only filler show now a captivating storyline I want to watch every week.




Finally, I would recommend you watch every anime film made by Studio Ghibli, in the order the were released.


For more recommendations, please check out the My Anime List link in my signature.

[Wolfbear]

Ghost in the Shell. Psycho-Pass. Akira. Attack on Titan.

[General Junos]

I recommend Berserk.

+1 - the anime, the movies and the manga are my absolute favorites. It also, FINALLY, has a new season coming out this June. Such excite.

However, rather than "somewhat" mature, it's very mature. A lot of violence, a lot of dark themes. It's not for those with a weak stomach or those who are easily squeamish. Do not watch with children, do not watch with parents.

Otherwise... hrm. Attack on Titan was pretty damned popular, and I enjoyed it. One of my top favorites.

Magi is hilarious, and another of my favorites.

Edit: ^ +1 to Psycho-Pass. Mature themes, some violent content, crime-fiction, cyberpunk. Season two was.. meh. Movie was good.

[kaamila]

you seem like my friend who likes anime, but more likely to watch it if its on netflix. people are recommending some good anime but most youll either stream with advertisements or have to torrent. if you have netflix, theres Magi, attack on titan, fate/stay, fate/stay night unlimited bladeworks among alot of others but i feel itll probably take a decent times to finish those so no need to get ahead of ourselves.

[Theoris]

The old one or the newer miniseries?

The 1997 anime.

[Gallahadd]

Last Exile: if you like shows such as Farscape or Firefly, if you're a fan of steam punk, watch this series. Doesn't get anywhere near the credit it deserves: Stunning animation, great characters and a captivating story... Shit, even the music is A*

Steins;Gate: SUCH a mindfuck... Love it so much. Sod it, I'm off to start watching again...

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: You'll watch the first episode and hate me for recommending it. You'll watch the second episode and hate yourself for carrying on. You'll watch the third episode and be filled with a burning need to watch it all. Then you'll watch the last episode and hate that it's all over.

Gurren Lagann: MINE IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS.

Do NOT watch:

Attack on Titan: They're running in the forest. People die. They're running in the forest. More people die. It's over. WTF?

Sword Art Online: You'll start watching it and fall in love, if you're anything like me you'll be ready to pack your bags and go live in Aincrad.

Then half way through the season for NO EARTHLY REASON, they pull a switch and the show turns pants on head retarded and you hate everyone who ever worked on it.

[Habanero-tan]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Boku Dake ga Inai Machi / Erased, seeing as how it was one of the most popular Spring 2016 series. Here's the Synopsis: When tragedy is about to strike, Satoru Fujinuma finds himself sent back several minutes before the accident occurs. The detached, 29-year-old manga artist has taken advantage of this powerful yet mysterious phenomenon, which he calls "Revival," to save many lives.
However, when he is wrongfully accused of murdering someone close to him, Satoru is sent back to the past once again, but this time to 1988, 18 years in the past. Soon, he realizes that the murder may be connected to the abduction and killing of one of his classmates, the solitary and mysterious Kayo Hinazuki, that took place when he was a child. This is his chance to make things right. Boku dake ga Inai Machi follows Satoru in his mission to uncover what truly transpired 18 years ago and prevent the death of his classmate while protecting those he cares about in the present.

Since you're looking for anime with mature themes, I'll list a few I think were pretty god and would have to recommend:
NHK ni Youkoso! / Welcome to the NHK
Twenty-two-year-old college dropout Tatsuhiro Satou has been a hikikomori for almost four years now. In his isolation, he has come to believe in many obscure conspiracy theories, but there is one in particular which he holds unshakable faith in: the theory that the evil conspirator behind his shut-in NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) status is the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (NHK)—an evil and secret organization dedicated to fostering the spread of hikikomori culture.

NHK ni Youkoso! is a psychological dramedy that follows Tatsuhiro as he strives to escape from the NHK's wicked machinations and the disease of self-wrought isolation, while struggling to even just leave his apartment and find a job. His unexpected encounter with the mysterious Misaki Nakahara might signal a reversal of fortune for Tatsuhiro, but with this meeting comes the inevitable cost of having to face his greatest fear—society.

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Mafia is rife in America where assassinations are a regular occurrence on the streets. Inferno, a mysterious company, is behind most of these dealings through the use of their near-invincible human weapon, "Phantom."

One day, a Japanese tourist accidentally witnesses Phantom's latest murder. Desperate to escape, the tourist hides in a secluded building. However, Phantom, revealed to be a young woman named Ein, and the leader of Inferno "Scythe Master" captures the tourist and brainwashes him.

Given the name "Zwei," this once peaceful tourist is now a puppet of Inferno with no memories. Drawn into a world of lies, deceit, and violence, Zwei must fight to survive, hopefully to one day regain his memories and escape from this world where he is constantly on the brink of death.

Monster

Dr. Kenzou Tenma is a renowned brain surgeon of Japanese descent working in Europe. Highly lauded by his peers as one of the great young minds that will revolutionize the field, he is blessed with a beautiful fiancée and is on the cusp of a big promotion in the hospital he works at. But all of that is about to change with a grave dilemma that Kenzou faces one night—whether to save the life of a small boy or that of the town's mayor. Despite being pressured by his superiors to perform surgery on the mayor, his morals force him to perform the surgery on the other critical patient, saving his life and forfeiting the mayor's. A doctor is taught to believe that all life is equal; however, when a series of murders occur in the surgeon's vicinity, all of the evidence pointing to the boy he saved, Kenzou's beliefs are shaken. Along his journey to unravel the true identity of his little patient, Kenzou discovers that the fate of the world may be intertwined with the mysterious child.

Of course, I have to recommend my all time favorite anime, Mawaru Penguindrum

Once you make a decision, does the universe conspire to make it happen? Is destiny a matter of chance, a matter of choice or the complex outcome of thousands of warring strands of fate? All twins Kanba and Shoma know is that when their terminally ill sister Himari collapses at the aquarium, her death is somehow temporarily reversed by the penguin hat that she had asked for. It's a provisional resurrection, however, and it comes at a price: to keep Himari alive they need to find the mysterious Penguin Drum. In order to do that, they must first find the links to a complex interlocking chain of riddles that has wrapped around their entire existence, and unravel the knots that tie them to mystifying diary and a baffling string of strangers and semi-acquaintances who all have their own secrets, agendas and "survival strategies." And in order for Himari to live, someone else's chosen destiny will have to change. It's a story of love, fate, life, death... and Penguins!

I left out some that others have mentioned, so give these a read and if you're interested just a little, give them a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

[ringpriest]

Last Exile: if you like shows such as Farscape or Firefly, if you're a fan of steam punk, watch this series. Doesn't get anywhere near the credit it deserves: Stunning animation, great characters and a captivating story... Shit, even the music is A*

Steins;Gate: SUCH a mindfuck... Love it so much. Sod it, I'm off to start watching again...

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: You'll watch the first episode and hate me for recommending it. You'll watch the second episode and hate yourself for carrying on. You'll watch the third episode and be filled with a burning need to watch it all. Then you'll watch the last episode and hate that it's all over.

Gurren Lagann: MINE IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS.

Do NOT watch:

Attack on Titan: They're running in the forest. People die. They're running in the forest. More people die. It's over. WTF?

Sword Art Online: You'll start watching it and fall in love, if you're anything like me you'll be ready to pack your bags and go live in Aincrad.

Then half way through the season for NO EARTHLY REASON, they pull a switch and the show turns pants on head retarded and you hate everyone who ever worked on it.

I second your comments on Last Exile (end was a tad rushed but show is till brilliant), Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Attack on Titan (I so do not understand what all the fuss and buzz is about). (And on the strength of your comments, I'm now going to check out Steins;Gate - do you recommend Chaos;Head as well?.)

[Gallahadd]

Yeah the ending was odd... But the journey as a whole was great, so I'll let it slide.

Glad you've been inspired to check out Stiens;Gate... Chaos;Head is decidedly average in comparison. I wasn't really a fan.

[Halicia]

I second your comments on Last Exile (end was a tad rushed but show is till brilliant), Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Attack on Titan (I so do not understand what all the fuss and buzz is about). (And on the strength of your comments, I'm now going to check out Steins;Gate - do you recommend Chaos;Head as well?.)

I have to add that Last Exile was a pleasure to watch and listen to. The Art and Music was just beautiful.

The storyline was also reasonably mature without being very pandering or fanservicey towards your 16-21 audiences.

I enjoyed the sequel as well, but it didn't quite have the impact of the original, and I spent a good deal of time trying to understand what the new situation was.

[Faroth]

Sword Art Online: You'll start watching it and fall in love, if you're anything like me you'll be ready to pack your bags and go live in Aincrad.

Then half way through the season for NO EARTHLY REASON, they pull a switch and the show turns pants on head retarded and you hate everyone who ever worked on it.

Have to agree. To counter this, I recommend:

Log Horizon - It's like Sword Art Online, but with a larger cast of characters (all of who are competent and contribute, as well as have character development allotted to them) and a LOT of world building. Only 2 seasons with the 3rd likely going to be a while, though.

Shame on everyone for not naming Record of Lodoss War. Until Peter Jackson made Lord of the Rings, this was the pinnacle of fantasy in a non-written media.

And Slayers, for high fantasy comedy.


I also recommend Summer Wars for a movie. If you want something mature and more close to home, Wolf Children is touching. Moreso for parents, I think.

[Chromeshellking]

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