Serious Anime: An anime where it takes itself very serious, and has a deep, or serious story. Normaly these would be limited to seinen, as it targets an adult audience while shoujo, and shounen targets children and teens.
Kurozuka is a fairly unknown anime, though I have no idea why, its one of the best anime out there, it has ancient japan, future japan, vampires, scientific experimentation of vampires, a kick ass main character, and, the cherries on the top, a love story and mystery. The dark world looks fantastic, the action is well done and fun to watch. The only thing this story might need is to have started sooner in one of the main characters previous "lifes" so that we could see more.
I should warn, not all ghost in the shell are equal, mostly im referring to the "Arise" movies and their series "alternative architecture". These are newer and they have a different feel to them. This series is more about thinking, philosophically, strategically, and probably morally. Don't let that trick you though, this is a top scifi creation, plenty of action and cool gadgets/tech to look forward to. The world looks amazing and shows so many different nooks and crannies of it. This anime is also considered a classic, on par with Akira (which is another serious anime you MUST watch).
This anime is different in how it arranges itself, the episodes are doubles, so episode one and two are one story, three and four another, and so on. This makes it less of a series and more of multiple movies all thrown in one collection, which isnt a bad thing. The story is nice, and really unique, one not really seen anywhere else. The main character is a hired gun for an organization (he does all kinds of jobs), hes great at his job and has a personality that says he gives no fucks. Many people in this anime have special abilities, with side effects, which really make it interesting to see what they must do after using the ability. The world is dark, not always art wise but just in general. The show can feel slow, as its not all action packed, its a more mild speed anime, but the action is great.
Another lesser known anime, and as iv said about all these, its a dark, very serious, and has a nice twist of super powers. This anime invovles a stripper/prostitute along side our main character, if that helps tell you something. The girl's dna awakens abilities in certain people, our main character was lucky enough to be one of these and his power allows him to blow shit up when looking through the focus of his camera. Shit gets real as special powered people keep showing up for this girl. The story does have its fun moments, but its definitely worthy of a slot here.
I wasn't sure whether to put this up or not, it is fairly serious (manga way better btw) but the anime cuts certain things out to allow for a younger age. Its still good, but not nearly as dark as it should have been given the manga. Our main character is not human, he was in fact created to kill non-humans. He was stolen and raised in secret in a homeless group. Needless to say people die left and right around this guy. I put this up here still mainly because it has so many sad moments that make it feel dark.
Theres no super powers in this one. WHAT!!! Yea, its a great anime though, here we have two main characters who set out bombing tokyo as a form of revenge. They have an awesome background that is slowly revealed in the series and adds to the seriousness of their imposing bombings. They post youtube videos prior to each bombing with a riddle (they are geniuses) that the police scramble to solve. Buts lets not forget the organization that shows up after these two. The point is the story is a fun ride with great jumps.
Oh, my, fucking, god, why... its not that I wish I didn't watch this, its that it made me feel so sad and fucked up inside that I fear watching it again. This story is one of the saddest love stories I have ever seen, its a scifi with aliens (or so we assume) attacking the planet and one girl left to defend them. She goes to school, that's where she meets our main character is a boy who ends up saving the girls life by giving her some medicine during an attack (one giant needle in her heart). This is a physiological roller coaster that will stab your heart with a giant fucking needle over and over and over till theres nothing left of that pin cushion.
I havent actually watched this anime in a while, its a bit older (as our the rest on the list). The story and super powers are the best in this anime, I absolutely love this story. Its how human kind (or japan) reacts to the surprising awakening of "witches" in the world, these are ordinary people who suddenly gain a super power, usually they go insane. We follow our main character Robin who joins a group who is in charge of capturing witches. Human rights questions will pop up in your mind, how far will people go to "feel" safe, and whats really moral.
This story is an iffy one to put up here, as it does have a bit of lightheartedness to it, but the core story is definitely dark. The story is a post apocalyptic one with dome cities where people live. Our main characters are wolves, in this world wolves and other animals have the ability to appear human to humans (though not physically change). Theres even some questioning on the origin of man and how they might have evolved from wolves. Our wolves are searching for a way to paradise, a place where only wolves can enter.
I mentioned this one earlier, this is a movie, no series, and theres even been rumors of a someone making a live action adaption. Physic powers and scifi society are the best parts of this story, but the only ones with physic abilities are few and under watch by the military. This is one of the iconic movies of anime, and I promise its a great serious story worth every minute.
Yes, I did go a bit over board, once I started adding a few I just couldn't bring myself to stop, this is a often requested type, and a type hard for most people to understand what is being asked.
Posts
