Psychological/thought-provoking or symbolic anime?

[Mina-sama]

/me raises hand

Question: Why isn't AIR TV thought-provoking? So far, there's fans who can't agree which ending to go with because it leaves us with images that could be interpreted in many ways.

[Advent7]

You said you have raxephon, so i would watch that. Very good story.

This is Not a major spoiler but gives the idea of what the main character goes through.

Spoiler:

It's psychological in a sense that the main character Kamina Ayato has to realize that the world he's living in has all been a cover up/lie(truman show). He goes to the real world and is recognized as an outcast for a while. He has to fight his own race(Mulians), while finding who he real is, remebering his past, and accepting that. With all of this involved there's Mayan and Aztec related issues such as the Mechs and the history of how this all came to be.

It's a great series and if you watch it make sure you have the time to. By half way through the series I was lost so you have to watch it carefully. It get's real confusing about which character does what and how there involved with the story and the relation with the main character. I would say it's on my top 5 anime's to watch. Now it's not as psychological as NGE or paranoia agent but it has it's own flavor.

[ultrataro]

I'm finding Noein to be rather mind bending in that it's involving time/dimension kind of stuff. Windy Tales actually has some interesting stuff. Naiea Under 7 I think was title I checked out because had Haibane Renmei guy working on it, & I found it an odd little show that was hard to characterize. A comedy, but theres some stuff going on. If you liked Lain, there was a not to long ago fansub series of shorts involving keitai/cellphone technology that was good. I forget the title! It had an odd animation style in that it melded CG for characters with cell shading style.
Ebichu?! Um, although a hilarious show if raunch & echhi doesn't bother you, don't know if you could characterize it as a deeply psychological show. Not to say you shouldn't watch it, I loved it!

[Sofu]

Originally Posted by ultrataro

If you liked Lain, there was a not to long ago fansub series of shorts involving keitai/cellphone technology that was good. I forget the title! It had an odd animation style in that it melded CG for characters with cell shading style.

That would be Platonic Chain. It certainly has a different feel about it. The premise is somewhat similar to Jigoku Shoujo (which I would also recommend in this case), but not at all as dark. More of a slice of life type show with an interesting "what if" take on technology.

[go12go12go13]

Shingetsutan Tsukihime
Evangelion
Elfen Lied
maybe Juuni Kokki

all very well known, but give them a try if you hadnt the chance to watch any of these yet.

[Sugetsu]

Monster by far, it is possibly one of the best animes ever created, and I am not exagerating here, as anyone who has seem monster from start to end will most likely agree The anime is well developed in each aspect.

Try it out and see for yourself

Sounds like I am trying to brainwash you with this misserable attempt but I hope it works...

[redwoodtreesprite]

Kogepan.
Who knew bread could be so deep.

Here's a page about it, with some spoilers on it:
http://www.lazyjuice.com/!/kogepan/

A basic info page:
http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,9...x,kogepan.html

Bit Torrent:
http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/297.html

[Circular Logic]

Why on earth has nobody mentioned Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien yet?

It's not on Animesuki, but it isn't licensed either...

Also, Monster, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

These three you absolutely must watch.

NB - Under no circumstances read any kind of spoiler on KgNE. Trust me.

[Noodlehead]

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions! =)

Spiral:Quite of a misteryous (detective like) story, but going much into characters' indepths and existentialisms.
Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Life of a young female magician, with both happy and painful experiences. Very introspective as well.

Actually, I've already seen both of those. I enjoyed Spiral a lot (the suspense kept me on edge), and Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto was all right. Maybe I was expecting too much after seeing Haibane Renmei. (Although the two aren't actually comparable XD)

Oh, and I'm not sure quite how well it fits this category, but watch Princess Tutu too. You won't regret it.

I have watched Princess Tutu, actually. It's not exactly "psychological" or anything, but it really is unique. The whole fairy tale-esque setting. It was a nice break from cookie-cutter anime since at some times it was just so unexpected and strange, in a good way. (Drosselmeyer, for example.) I really loved it, though. =) Too bad so many people pass it off as girly shoujo fluff. It's really good.

I watched half of Serial Experiments Lain two years ago, but for some reason I never finished it...hrm. I should re-watch it sometime, I guess.

On another note, I recently finished Junni Kokuki two weeks ago, and I have to say it's probably the best anime I've ever seen. There were some psychological themes near the beginning, but from then on it was more of friendship/character development. I have to say, the character development is phenomenal, and although the concept of the anime isn't original, (girl gets pulled away into fantasy world and is appointed as queen) the execution of the story and the way they built up the plot was excellent. Even though the anime was cut to 45 episodes, (wasn't it originally supposed to be 60 or 70 something?) the ending didn't feel unsatisfactory. I was left with a huge smile on my face. =D Rakushun is my favorite anime character now.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Narutaru, though. Man, that was freaky. Left an odd feeling in my stomach for a while. I'm watching Loveless currently -- I'm pretty sure it can be classified as psychological too, since Ritsuka seems to go through a lot. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this genre, as long as they can handle some shounen-ai.

/me raises hand

Question: Why isn't AIR TV thought-provoking? So far, there's fans who can't agree which ending to go with because it leaves us with images that could be interpreted in many ways.

I wouldn't say it's not thought provoking. The last arc of the show, after the summer arc, could be confusing or thought-provoking for some people. I found it to be a really good series, though -- but I wouldn't say it's a psychological anime. It's more drama/fantasy/romance. Sort of romance. The movie has more of that though.

That would be Platonic Chain. It certainly has a different feel about it. The premise is somewhat similar to Jigoku Shoujo (which I would also recommend in this case), but not at all as dark. More of a slice of life type show with an interesting "what if" take on technology.

Whoa! I just looked up that series on AniDB. I've never heard of it before. Looks strangely intruiging...haha, the CG sort of reminds me of what they used in a few scenes of School Rumble.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I could watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. I've heard lots of good things about it (same goes for Elfen Lied), but being 14, and not so much a fan of ecchi or fanservice, then I guess I'll put them on the "Might Watch" list for now. Maybe in a few years.

Thanks to all your suggestions, here's what's on my "To Watch" List:
RahXephon
Mushishi
Noein
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Monster
Windy Tales
Planetes

And maybe Kogepan, Paranoia Agent, and Shoujo Kakumei Utena. I never knew that they had anime with talking bread in it.

Holy crap! That's a lot, on top of the other stuff I'm watching and downloading. -__- Eh heh. Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions, I really appreciate it. =P I'll check out all the other series that were mentioned.

~ Noodlehead

[stretch87]

Ghost in the Shell (both movies and both seasons of the series)

Serial Experiments Lain

both of these were mentioned but i felt that there greatness needed to be emphasized. GITS will almost make your head explode will trying to figure everything out if you don't pay the utmost attention. Serial Experiments lain needs to be approached almost like a novel if you plan to completely understand it. many people need to take notes and watch it over a short period of time to understand it well. It took me a really long time to figure out what the significance is of the odd shadows throughout the entire series.

both are on my top ten list for sure

[kiranotatthedisco]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Death Note

[Skyfall]

^ Um...this thread is ancient ... is it really worth to bump a year old suggestion thread ?

[anselfir]

Elfen Lied (Difficult to get it if you are not willing to let go certain prejudices etc)

Haibane Renmei (Difficult to get it)

No, "which girl sends the best signals" does not a deep show make.

About eva, it is certainly a few levels deeper than most shows, but do be careful to separate junk production techniques from real message. The amount of disorientation from eva is mostly due to bullshit.

[Navel]

What does it matter that it's a one year old thread ! ^^

Well, I have to point this one too:

Infinite Ryvius - deep one about human relations.

[SeijiSensei]

Welcome to the NHK

[TsubasaSeraphina]

Well, it's likely you've already seen them, but I'd highly recommend you to watch the .Hack series, however, while they do have psychological elements, that's not why I recommend them to you; it's more the thought-provoking theme. If you don't know much about what .Hack is, it's a bit hard to understand, but it is a franchise with a storyline spanning several animes, video games, mangas, and light novels*- that is to say, while some are retelling from different points of veiw, most everything is a seperate story, which connects to the others. Most of the stories are rather open-ended, to allow for building on, the light novels know as ".Hack://AI Buster" pop in and out in various points along the .Hack:// timeline and develop on characters we don't know much about, helping to sort of fill in the holes. All of .Hack is a story that reeks of mystery and conspiracy, and it generally leaves you thinking, trying to connect the dots.

Otherwise, I'd suggest Elfen Lied (most of the nudity (and a good chunck of the gore, for that matter) is just in the first seven minutes, and if you can handle it, you can probably take anything else in it), Death Note, or Le Portrait de Petite Cossete; all of which are rather dark and have definate fantasy, sci-fi, or supernatural elements, but also have deep psychological undercurrents which usually pattern some sort of moral lesson or idea (such as you might say that Elfen Lied illustrates the idea that "if you treat something like a monster, it will become one" (among other things, that is). You generally have to pay close attention to understand these though.

I also noticed you mantioned Loveless, and since you posted this topic it's relatively evident that you have somewhat similar taste in anime as do I, so I'd love to hear what you think of it, if you have finished it or whan you finish it. It definately deals with psychological issues, but it was suprisingly hard for me to grasp. Or perhaps it was more like I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It definately makes you think. When i think back now, I think I probably should have re-watched at least the last few episodes, just to see if it cleared anything up for me, before I deleted it.

Perhaps a bit more light-hearted than my previous sugggestions, is "xxxHolic". XxxHolic is not porn, I promise you, in fact, it's meant to be read as simply "Holic", "xxx" denotes a variable (like in algebra~). Anyways, it's a rather unusual story revolving around a highschool student who seems to be a spirit magnet (Kimihiro Watanuki), and a rather unusual shopkeeper, known as Ichihara Yuuko, who claims she can get rid of these spirits who plague him. For a price, of course. In fact, Yuuko claims she can grant any wish, for the appropriate price. In Watanuki's case, the price is evidently rather high, and she says that he may work for her until she feels he has earned his wish. The story takes place during the time he works for her, during which time Watanuki ends up wrapped up in some rather creepy situations involving Yuuko's strange "costumers" who all seem to come to her in order to have their problems fixed. "Coincidentally" it seems all of these costumers seem to have some sort of bad habit or obsession, like chronic lying (hench "Holic"), at the root of their problem. All of the costumers' problems seem to bring about some sort of supernatural consequence as well. During thr course of the story Watanuki meets an interesting array of spirits, whom I found rather entertaining. Mysterious circumstances surrounding Yuuko's shop itself also prove to add further value to the story; such as, Yuuko's shop apperantly can only be seen (I'm not quite sure if theeis is completely acurate in the anime (it's definately true in the manga), or if they just can't enter it in the anime) by those who have a need for Yuuko's assistance. In any case, it is apperant in the anime that Yuuko repeated tries to steer one of Watanuki's friends, Doumeki-kun, away from her shop-- I'm not quite sure if he can see it in the anime though. In the manga, he sees an empty lot where Yuuko's shop should be, becuase he has no need to enter it.

I remember you said you were't sure if you'd be able to watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, so it's apperant you know something about it at least- I wouldn't suggest watching it if you're already depressed in any way, shape, or form. Honestly. Otherwise, I'll freely tell you that it is one of the greatest masterpieces in anime. It displays amazing ability to stir emotions in people~ Very sad ending, or at least, I saw it that way. I think that it is possible to not see it that way, such as, if you are a fan of Mitsuki, the ending would be a happy one (but Mitsuki's circumstances for the better part of 13 episodes might prove rather emotionally draining). While it is sort of psycological, I didn't think that it was a focal point of the series. The psychology in Kiminozo more serves to draw you into the characters lives, makes it even more believable. I think the most horrifying aspect of Kiminozo is simply that it could happen to anyone. While you can take Kiminozo at face value (which is pretty good anyway), I think that it's very good food for thought, if you take into consideration all the characters and all their issues. It's based on a game, as you may know, which many different possible endings, so all these possibilites only give one even more to wonder about. And if the ending makes you want to kill yourself, rest assured that ad alternate ending OVA is coming out sometime this year (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Haruka Route).

^-^

[kreelix]

Originally Posted by kiranotatthedisco

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Death Note

i think i shat myself about 230841-258034t234508252L20348524 times when i watched that by far it didnt let me sleep comfortabbly for a while

[ShoutitLoud]

I have to put down Kitoh's

Narutaru

and

Bokurano

true treasures and they're generally overlooked. Although I suggest one should go for the manga instead of the anime. The anime of both don't do either series justice.

[Mike1J]

Hello. Hm.. I'm suprised Death Note has only been mentioned a few times. I took some time to watch alot of anime that had been thrown around and by far, in my opinion, none had been more exciting, thrilling and mind twisting to me than Death Note. The creator had probably lost his mind being so damn sophisticated and unpredictable. The mere fact that watchin Death Note was as exciting as watching Naruto for instance, or Bleach, with nearly no physical combat battles and stuff like that makes it my number 1 series. I hope I was clear enough..
Peace.

[moogleloveschocobos]

Fullmetal alchemist