Dark theme, Male lead, any GENRE...

[mishka]

Anime that really blew me away:

Death Note - the suspence was great!

Ergo Proxy & Blame! - liked them both for the dark theme.

Samurai Champloo - serious shounen genre....

So now I need something along one of those lines...that is serious, with a male lead, and pretty dark theme......NOT TOO LONG ( no more than 50eps).

I've already watched / I am watching:

-Darker Than Black
-Witch hunter Robin
-Noein
-Death Note
-Ergo Proxy
-Innocent Venus
-FMA
-Samurai Champloo
-Samurai 7
-Cowboy bebop
-Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
-Girl who leapt through time
-All of Hayao Miyazaki films
-Karas
-speed grapher
-Blood+
-Basilisk
-Toward the terra

These are the ones I like......anything missing from that list that I should be watching?

THANK YOU

[fto]

Monster (Perfect for your need, except it is long.. 70 or so episodes)
Gilgamesh
Heat Guy J (Sort of like cartoons, but i liked it.. not extremely dark though)
Black Lagoon

[retardation]

you need to watch gungrave. gungrave is what you want to see. don't doubt me.

then peep that wolf's rain, kicko. those wolves are some rough wolves.

vampire hunter d bloodlust and ninja scroll are in your alleyway too.

[shiro83]

Most probably Hellsing and Hellsing OVA fit the dark theme and male lead description.

Both are licensed though.

[mishka]

Monster, huh? I've been told to watch that numerous times now....but it looks old! Is it really THAT GOOD?

and Hellsing, I've already seen, and yes it is very good.

Gungrave, Ninja Scroll, Heat Guy J, and Gilgamesh all look very good...I'll make sure to look them up. Thank You

[G. Zeus]

Maybe on earth. Maybe in the future.

Gotta love that one.


Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal (drama, action)
- one classic that you shouldn't miss.

To a certain extent these two might also satisfy your needs:
Shingetsutan Tsukihime (fantasy, action, romance)
Mushishi (supernatural, episodic)


For manga:
DOGS (action, drama, suspense, sci-fi)
MPD Psycho (mind rape/psychological, action, suspense)
Leviathan (mind rape, religious dogma distortion, suspense)

[Matrim]

Monster, huh? I've been told to watch that numerous times now....but it looks old! Is it really THAT GOOD?

No...it's even better. The art is quite different than what one usually sees in anime but the series is not that old (started in 2004) and it doesn't look bad at all. If you want suspense it's hard to find something better and Monster offers a lot more than just suspense.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has horror elements, many, many plot twists and it's very dark and bloody. It has a male lead, though most of the rest of the characters are girls.

[UPR]

Ghost Hunt

[andromeda0201]

Gankutsuou - basically an adaptation of Count of Monte Cristo, art takes time getting used to but its really good

Also try...
xxxholiC
Gantz
Le Chevalier D Eon
Wolf's Rain
Shura no Toki - serious shonen action

[Zifx]

You'll probably like Gantz a lot. Neon Genesis Evangelion and Rahxephon also turn to some pretty dark themes along the way and they are both really good.

[mishka]

THANK YOU GUYS....now I have plenty of options....I didn't know there were so many good ones still out there!

[meh]

Originally Posted by mishka

Monster, huh? I've been told to watch that numerous times now....but it looks old! Is it really THAT GOOD?

Funny, I had similar thoughts when I first came across it. For some reason, the premise just didn't seem all that catchy. I think later I only tried it out because I was bored, the show was mature with 70+ episodes, so I figured it can't be that bad.

Although I must say, there's pretty much no break in the story. And it is 70 episodes. Time can fly by really fast if you happen to get into it.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by mishka

Monster, huh? I've been told to watch that numerous times now....but it looks old! Is it really THAT GOOD?

Originally Posted by matrim

No...it's even better.

Quoted for truth. What puts people off from the animation style of Monster is that the characters are often quite ugly, and the animation style seems closer to 1990's works. The three principal characters are all anime-beautiful, but much of the surrounding cast is not. To me that makes it a better representation of "real life" than most anime shows.

I actually think Monster is one of Madhouse's best-animated shows. I like the unattractive characters. I like the overall style of the animation as well. The backgrounds and similar drawings seem plausibly realistic -- the public buildings like the police stations and hospitals in particular. Also there are some subtle things I've noticed on re-watching. For instance, one place animators skimp is on scenes shot from inside a moving vehicle like a car or train. Just like in movies motion is simulated by moving the background horizontally while holding the foreground vehicle and its contents in place. Often it looks as hokey in animation as it did in B-movies. That's not the case in Monster, for which Madhouse deserves kudos.

I was amazed how both Monster and Hikaru no Go could hold my attention over 70+ episodes. I watched both these shows in only a few sittings. Both series put cliff-hangers to good use; you just must see what happens next. Next thing you know it's 5 am.

[S_K]

You should probably check out Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou

[fto]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Quoted for truth. What puts people off from the animation style of Monster is that the characters are often quite ugly, and the animation style seems closer to 1990's works. The the three principal characters are all anime-beautiful, but much of the surrounding cast is not. To me that makes it a better representation of "real life" than most anime shows.

I actually think Monster is one of Madhouse's best-animated shows. I like the unattractive characters. I like the overall style of the animation as well. The backgrounds and similar drawings seem plausibly realistic -- the public buildings like the police stations and hospitals in particular. Also there are some subtle things I've noticed on re-watching. For instance, one place animators skimp is on scenes shot from inside a moving vehicle like a car or train. Just like in movies motion is simulated by moving the background horizontally while holding the foreground vehicle and its contents in place. Often it looks as hokey in animation as it did in B-movies. That's not the case in Monster, for which Madhouse deserves kudos.

I was amazed how both Monster and Hikaru no Go could hold my attention over 70+ episodes. I watched both these shows in only a few sittings. Both series put cliff-hangers to good use; you just must see what happens next. Next thing you know it's 5 am.

I have to agree here also.

I first didnt think monster as a great anime, as some others have said, it looked old. Ive seen a lot of anime, so i thought "why not try". I saw plenty of plain action anime, so i was trying into some thing more thrilling. Monster caught my attention within just a couple episodes.

It really is a anime completely possible and very realistic in the real world. The story is never completely boring, and i couldnt stop watching it at some times. I already seen it about 3 times and still cant get enough of it.

As a suspense/horror anime, i would easily say that this is the best among them.


(sorry for the bad grammer as it is not my first language)

[mishka]

Wow! Monster seems to have some hardcore fans! I'll definitly take a look at it now.....SeijiSensei talks about it so passionatlely that I can't say no! ;p
Although, you are right! The "ugly" character design is what threw me off when I watched a trailer for it. But I'll definitely give it a second chance now.

And I've already watched Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou. It was a good video game based anime.

[Blue Devil 5]

you would definitely like Gantz and Elfen lied, Gasaraki and Gilgamesh too maybe

[Twisted Reality]

Originally Posted by mishka

Wow! Monster seems to have some hardcore fans! I'll definitly take a look at it now.....SeijiSensei talks about it so passionatlely that I can't say no! ;p
Although, you are right! The "ugly" character design is what threw me off when I watched a trailer for it. But I'll definitely give it a second chance now.

And I've already watched Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou. It was a good video game based anime.

Thirded, fourthded or fifthded or whatever for Monster. But it seems I'm late to the party so. . .

[Mnemosyne]

has anyone suggested Code Geass yet? it reminds me of Death Note only... not... like Death Note at all...

[fto]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

has anyone suggested Code Geass yet? it reminds me of Death Note only... not... like Death Note at all...

Well, its not very dark themed, but sort of in a way. Its still a good anime, but its also Mecha. Only a couple more days till episode 24-25!!