Have I exhausted all anime I'm going to like? (116)

17 Name: Random Anime Otaku : 2008-03-07 21:27 ID:oVYTmAA6

Look here http://www.anime-planet.com/anirec/ (if you haven't already) and you'll immeadiately find plenty of things which are in a similar vein.

Being a prick though.... I wouldn't really say that any of the Anime mentioned in the OP's list is particularly 'intelligent'. If you just want psuedo philosophical anime then theres an enourmous amount of shite out there, in fact it's almost getting difficult to find a reasonable sci-fi anime without heaps of half arsed philosophical ideas so immature and ill formed that they would shame a 17 year old. Although granted a lot of the supposedly deep subtexts are purely inventions of fanboys who can't cope with the fact they what they are wasting their life on is just a bunch of fucking cartoons, and the creators of the anime in question can hardly be blamed for that.

To be fair some of anime do have a fairly good stab at being serious about stuff, but they are few and far between, and usually end up including gore and robots to keep the flagging audience awake. I really liked most of the anime on your list, but it's honestly beyond me how NHK or NieA_7 could be classed as intelligent, they're just not as mind numbingly stupid and childish as a lot of other anime. Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing and I love nonsense like Kodocha and Ippatsu Kikimusume. But it irks me whenever I here someone getting particularly serious. Stuff like Elfen Lied, Saikano, Gantz, all of which people have recommended in this thread, are in no way intelligent. They are disturbing, provocative and action filled. While I again heartily enjoyed them the main difference they have with things like Naruto or Bleach, which are genrally frowned upon by fans of 'intelligent' anime, is gore and sex involving children. And don't all us 18+ yr olds just love that?

My point is basically, no, there isn't much anime which will sate the intellectual appitite of a relatively mature human being. If you really want mental stimulation read books, play an instrument and if you have to watch your mental stimulation you'd be better off looking at live action films. They can be made far cheaper than anime and still be watchable, giving the directors more free reign. There is a longer established tradition of making 'intelligent' (or pretentious depending on your point of view) and a near endless supply of things hailed as masterpieces.

I'm aware I really am being a bit of a wanker as the OP did specifically say that they only called it intelligent anime because they didn't know how else to catagorise it (and I can hardly expect them to requet more intelligent than most but still pretty braindead anime). But when people print lists of stuff saying "yes this is a mightly thought provoking anime" when there talking about something revolving round naked 14 yr olds with psychic powers its just a bit silly.

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