I second Moribito. While it's something older kids could watch as well, it has hardly any of the overacting/silliness that is the stereotype for anime (maybe a very minor character says a couple lines or something). I tend to recommend it if I know someone enjoys fantasy but has been turned off by other anime they have watched.

12 Kingdoms is also very good. It is similar to Moribito in that the acting is not exaggerated at all. Unfortunately, not all of the side plots were wrapped up nicely (they were going to continue the show and then it got cancelled for some reason), but the main character's arc does have a nice ending. The world is quite fantastical and the characters are interesting. There are tons of themes to ruminate :-).

I'm cracking up at the Naruto/Bleach comments. I do have a soft spot in my heart for Naruto, and it does actually have some deeper themes, but it's definitely not "adult" :-). If the OP has not watched it, think of Naruto like Harry Potter + Avatar: The Last Airbender (the tv series…NOT the horrible movie) + ninjas. It has some major flaws, but as a family show, I actually love it and I can't believe I've watched almost all of the episodes. I hated Naruto at first since he was so annoying (you need to get past the first 10 episodes or so), but all the characters really grow throughout the series and there's always something new that they learn. I think that's why I like it so much. Bleach on the other hand…I loved the first few seasons and then there seemed to be seasons worth of filler, so I haven't watched it in a long time. Naruto is my guilty pleasure.

jishera Wrote:I'm cracking up at the Naruto/Bleach comments. I do have a soft spot in my heart for Naruto, and it does actually have some deeper themes, but it's definitely not "adult" :-). If the OP has not watched it, think of Naruto like Harry Potter + Avatar: The Last Airbender (the tv series…NOT the horrible movie) + ninjas. It has some major flaws, but as a family show, I actually love it and I can't believe I've watched almost all of the episodes. I hated Naruto at first since he was so annoying (you need to get past the first 10 episodes or so), but all the characters really grow throughout the series and there's always something new that they learn. I think that's why I like it so much. Bleach on the other hand…I loved the first few seasons and then there seemed to be seasons worth of filler, so I haven't watched it in a long time. Naruto is my guilty pleasure.

The avatar TV series is amazing - it actually has many "grow up" fans. Truely great cartoons can appeal to everyone.

Naruto is honestly not that bad, it's this generation's Dragon Ball ; the endless shonen with half a ton of filler episodes. You've got to hand it to Kishimoto, he's good at designing memorable characters, even if development wise it's pretty much paper-thin. The problem with Naruto is that it's so slow to get anywhere... the manga is a good read though.

There are some much better shonen out there though, Full Metal Alchemist (brotherhood) & Magi come to mind.

Back on the recommendation topic :

If you like comedies :
*Jungle Wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu is as good as comedy anime get, at least for me.
*Detroit Metal City is really good as well. Short episodes (10 minutes) and really insane.
*Cromartie High School is a kind of an acquired taste, no everyone likes it. 10 minutes episodes as well, and really funny if you like that very specific brand of humor.

Not really a comedy, but Hellsing Ultimate is a great watch. You don't know what "over the top" is until you've seen this. It's brutal (and I mean BRUTAL), extremely stylish and unapologetically corny. The show takes not taking itself seriously, extremely seriously, if that even makes sense. It simply follows the rule of cool - if it's cool, then it makes sense. Just watch it, it's as if Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up to make an anime. There's nazis, vampires, deranged priests fighting with bayonet, and comically oversized guns.

It's not a series, but Kara no Kyoukai was pretty good. It's based off of the novels by Nasu Kinoko from before TYPE-MOON was formed.

A lot of people seem to have liked Psycho Pass, but I've only watched the first episode, so I don't have much of an opinion.

Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate, and the other adaptations were really good in my opinion; if you haven't watched them yet, I suggest checking them out. I haven't played the VNs yet, though, so I can't say anything about them.

Other than that, there's not much I can think of that's particularly 'adult'; mainly because I find that most things aimed explicitly at adults while also excluding children are either pornographic or trying way too hard.

While a bit... immature, Seitokai Yakuindomo had a pretty good anime adaptation. Considering that, in my circle, it's picked up the affectionate nicknames 'Dirty Jokes, the Anime' and 'Dirty Jokes, the Manga', you may not feel it's worth your time, but I usually get a good laugh out of it (some jokes fall flat, but what can you expect, with the amount of content there is).

If you haven't gotten sick of Naruto yet and are interested in it, watch it; it's good at what it does, but it's been fifteen years now and it's ready to end (please let it end!). I finally got sick of it a couple of years ago, but it was pretty entertaining up until then (well, the manga was, anyway); I've even considered going back to the manga once it finally ends.

Anyway, my general opinion is that the manga (or novel) is better than the anime (except for the cases where the anime was the original as well as being good). So, for anime-like stories, you'll have better luck with manga. For that, my first suggestion would be 僕だけがいない街. But this isn't a manga recommendation thread, so that's it.

　

Which of the ones from your list, lauri, would be the easiest to understand do you think?

sholum Wrote:It's not a series, but Kara no Kyoukai was pretty good. It's based off of the novels by Nasu Kinoko from before TYPE-MOON was formed.

Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate, and the other adaptations were really good in my opinion; if you haven't watched them yet, I suggest checking them out. I haven't played the VNs yet, though, so I can't say anything about them.

Kara no Kyoukai is quite good but its worth mentioning to people that are interested that there are 2 ways to watch the series. You can watch the series in the order the movies (eps?) were released or you can watch them in chronological order. The former leaves you trying to piece together what is going on and makes for a bit of mystery, the later just tells it like a story.

I almost included Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate in my lists. They are psychological series, but if you are someone that gets annoyed with "otaku culture" then you might want to avoid them because both contain certain degrees of it. Hell, the guys in Steins;Gate live in Akihabara for christ sakes. Mind you, when I say "otaku culture" I don't mean its full of little girls and panty shots, just simply that there are things in the show that reflect what otaku in Japan might be interested in real life. Ex: figurines, going to maid cafes, computer geeks, etc. None of it takes away from the story or gets in the way in my opinion. They were simply included as a nod to the community and to try and cement it closer to reality. I recommend them to anyone that can look past these faults. Watch Chaos first then Steins. They are separate stories but take place in the same "universe."

I never managed to get into Steins:Gate for some reasons... I could never get past the first 5 or 6 episodes before literally falling asleep in front of my screen (I only watch anime in the evening. It's my very own bedtime storytime).

Berserk (preferably the 3 movies, the tv series hasn't aged so well) is also worth mentioning, if only because if you get into it, you'll HAVE to read the manga - neither the movies nor the series cover the whole manga, far from it - which is a fantastic read if you like dark, dirty, creative, and very smart fantasy with great characters and deep themes. The manga is not even that hard to read. I've always found seinen easier to read that shonen... less slang.

Can't believe I forgot about Sci-Fi Harry. I don't know if anyone has even heard of this show though.

If you've seen the American show 24, Sci-Fi Harry is a bit like that. No there is no Jack Bauer character but every episode is fast-paced and the cliffhangers are crazy, it deals with terrorists, government conspiracies, Russian assassins etc. Also there are a million plot twists with secret agents and undercover moles etc...

I think episode 12 or so has one of the best cliffhangers I've seen in an anime.

A lot of the episodes are very psychologically driven too, mixed with high tension.

Here are some reviews of this anime

http://psgels.net/2007/03/15/sci-fi-harry-review-80100/
http://crowinacloudysky.blogspot.com/201...harry.html

Liar Game

If I'd have to recommend only one of each (TV/Anime) then I would definitely go with Monster and Kekkon Dekinai Otoko.

Monster is quite simply, imho of course, the best anime I've ever seen and I don't see any other series coming even close to the quality of Monster. It's interesting, mature and even scary some times. All the characters are interesting and free of any of the regular cliches that one finds in most anime. There are no annoying teenagers experiencing growth of character through hardship and no predictable romances or anything of that sort. Nothing is black and white (except Johan) and you'll be surprised by every other episode.

There really are no fillers in the regular sense. There are episodes that don't have as much weight on the main plot but are nonetheless really intriguing and well worth watching. You'll really feel for every character (except Johan) no matter how short their part was and all the side plots are very humane and, for the most part, tragic.

Watching Monster was like watching Breaking Bad, Oz or any of the other western series that I consider to be all-time bests. It's just so well made in every aspect and there really is nothing to complain about. The manga is probably the very first thing I buy when my Japanese is good enough.

http://myanimelist.net/anime/19/Monster

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko on the other hand is on of the funniest tv series I've seen and easily the funniest among the Japanese series I've seen. I really like Abe Hiroshi's way of acting and he fits in the role perfectly. Most the cast are pretty good but the chemistry between Hiroshi and Natsukawa Yui is unbeatable and the funniest moments are usually between them. There are plenty of clips and even full episodes on youtube so you'll see quickly if it's your thing or not. To me it's one of the rare cases where I find myself constantly coming back to the same show even if I'll just watch couple of clips. It always seems fresh and funny.

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kekkon_Dekinai_Otoko

Funnily enough Hiroshi and Natsukawa were both in Still Walking and their characters were married in that movie. Not that this has anything to do with the topic but it's a pretty good movie and if you watch it right after KDO, you'll be laughing at stuff that has nothing to do with the movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1087578/

I'll have to follow up on all this suggestions here!

I'd recommend Dragon Ball Z which I'm currently watching, yeah its a bit childish but still entertaining if you're into fighting that is!

Some anime tips, with brief characterization:

#Cuticle Detective Inaba#: a rather over-the-top spoof of the "tough cop seconded by not-so-tough private eye" genre. With some truly absurd notions like a talking billy-goat being an Italian mafia-Don transplanted to Japan because he likes to eat money and he never could get into eating Euro's after the Italian lire disappeared.

#Detective Conan#: one of the longest running anime out there (700+ episodes with some 20-odd movies) centered around the concept of a young adult detective accidentally transformed into an early-teen detective. Don't let that fantasy element dissuade anyone from watching this, though: this anime makes optimum use of visuals to tell detective stories that novel-based detective shows never could. Each episode's title is given in both Kanji and accompanying furigana, so that every episode can give pay-offs in terms of reading as well. Plus, you'll hear "murder case", "criminal" and "part one"/"part two" so often that they'll be impossible to forget.

#Kill Me, Baby#: a female high school assassin (Sonja) is being hounded by possibly the most clueless person ever to have walked this planet, with a delightfully jaded ninja throwing in some extra comedy. Based on a four-pane gag manga (I believe), it still is surprisingly memorable (not to mention fun).

#Haiyore, Nyaruko-san# (Season 1 and 2): basically the "Scary Movie" of anime, constantly poking fun at other anime, while featuring a delightfully bizarre silverhaired alien "bishoujo" that is romantically pursuing a rather reluctant Japanese highschool boy, while herself being romantically pursued by a red-headed female alien who is in turn being romantically pursued by...

#Blue Exorcist#, episode 10: while the series as a whole is rather obviously catering to Harry Potter fans, the tenth episode provided a (to my mind, at least) surprisingly touching story about loss and grief. Not knowing the main characters isn't that important, because they get a brief introduction at the beginning that really tells the viewer al they need to know about them.

#Girls und Panzer#: a surprisingly well-done anime about mock battles with tanks (who are, indeed, driven by teenage girls, which is kind of cute).

#Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai"#: even though technically a harem with minimal fan service, this manages to be a touching story about insecure people that manage to get along surprisingly well. Basically every character is striking and memorable, from bad boy lookalike Kodaka, to ice queen Yozora, perfect-in-almost every way Sena, brilliant inventor Rika, child-nun Maria to the effeminate (and perhaps more than that...) wanna-be samurai Yukimura and vampire wanna-be Kobato.

#Koihime Musou#: in spite of the rather suspect title (and the fact that this was based on a series of eroge games), there is surprisingly little fan service during the first two seasons (a little more during the third), but a lot of fun as a group of female warriors in a medieval oriental world where women are the dominant sex go on various missions to fight evil. Especially loud-mouthed Lin-Lin is very funny.

#Kimi Ni Todoke#: a very touching high school romance about a girl who looks like the monster from the "Ring" movies. The manga it is based on recently made the #1 spot on the charts, even though the anime finished a while ago.

#Mahoromatic#: a slightly older, very hard to pin down combination of drama, comedy, romance and mecha fights. With the occasional fan service, to boot. And an absolutely gorgeous soundtrack that I simply had to buy.

#Kotoura-San#: a sour-sweet story of a girl that can read minds, whether she wants to or not...

#Ore no Nounai#: the guilty pleasure of the fall 2013 season, with some fan service, centering around the concept of high school boy who is faced with "absolute choice" at the most inconvenient moments during the day, or face excruciating pain if he does not choose. Every choice is basically between bad and worse, and generally have him humiliating himself and getting into trouble. Very funny in the way it pokes fun at the various tropes found in high school anime.

#The World God Only Knows#: a galge-obsessed high school shut-in who has vowed to only live in a gaming world is forced to help real-life female students with various problems so that they can be rid of "loose souls" possessing them. No real fan service and not really a harem either, since the male protagonist wants nothing more than to retreat to his video games after each mission is completed. Very funny interaction with his ditzy demonic companion. Virtually every female seiyou of note voices one of the girls on this show.

#Yuyushiki#: unexpectedly bizarre anime about three high school girls: one serious and strict, one smart and hazy, and one sleepy and rich. No fan service to speak of. Very funny in a rather unique way.

Noone mentioned Clannad and Clannad: Afterstory yet. I don't think I've ever cried this much.

I'll recommend two really good character driven stories (they both share some similar themes).

Twelve Kingdoms, a fantasy epic http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=26

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a sci fi epic http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=584

Eminem2 Wrote:#Haiyore, Nyaruko-san#
#Girls und Panzer#
#Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai"#
#Mahoromatic#
#Kotoura-San#
#The World God Only Knows#

Sorry, going to be critical about some of these choices since the OP was originally looking for more adult shows that were outside the "otaku"-dom line of things.

Haiyore: The fact that its a harem series on its own should make the entire thing suspect. It features a teenage dude being hounded by another girl that wants him to marry her and knock her up, the later part being a CONSTANT comedy gag in the series. A mother who is all for it, and a loli/child lesbian that wants to knock up the girl mentioned above. There is no story line in this series, its just constant battles and jokes and it even has the classical "day at the beach scene with all the girls in bikinis." This show was built for otaku.

Girls und Panzer: Haven't watched it but this follows a recent trend in anime to characterize moe girls with military craft (Kantai Collection being the recent one to do this). This theme started with Strike Witches I think. Not having watched it yet I can't comment on the story or if one exists, but the way the otaku-dom jumped all over this makes it suspect.

Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai: Another harem series. I've watched it, I actually like it and find it funny, but I wouldn't put it in any list where you are trying to suggest animes with substantial stories and characters. The characters are cut from otaku-friendly archetypes and I would argue that the fanservice is more than "minimal." With there being scenes where the main high school girl is caught running around naked lusting after the main dude's younger (loli) sister, who also happens to be nude. Not that you see much, but still. Same high school girl plays hentai/ero-ge in the club room at school, theres a yaoi obsessed science girl. This show is packed with fanservice and there is hardly any storyline. Most episodes and minor arcs are filled with the groups trying to figure out how to "make friends" and do stuff that friends do.

Mahoromatic: Anime News Network Under themes: "ecchi" Hell this is the series that spawned the whole meme with the girl shaking her finger and saying "Ecchi wa dame desu!" or something like that. However, because its an older series, the style of fanservice is much different from today.

Kotoura-San: This is actually a nice light hearted series if you can handle shoujo style stuff. Its cute, but the main dude character is often pretty perverted and its a comedy gag in the series, I guess it could be considered fanservice in some aspects. Unfortunately the slice of life nature of the series means that the storyline is mostly on daily struggles, but considering the series is a romance, thats what you should expect going in.

The World God Only Knows: Let me just say I love this series, its funny and I love stuff that makes nods to the otaku world. That said, I'm not sure I would put it on a list for adults. I mean, seriously, would you introduce your mom/dad/or someone that has never seen anime before, with this series? Also, "not a harem"? Just because the dude doesn't want anything to do with the girls doesn't mean its "not a harem." A harem is simply a series where there is one guy and the rest of the cast is pretty much nothing BUT girls and this fits perfectly. And unsurprisingly, the girls are all cut from archetypal character profiles with there being a girl who plays the little sister that loves her older brother, the book worm, the tsundere, etc etc. Surprisingly, there IS a storyline but you won't really realize what its about until like Season 3. Most of the series up to that point is just the amusing fact that a dude uses his experience from dating sim games to make girls fall in love with him.

Again, I really like some of these series but they just don't fit for suggestions for someone looking for series that are more serious that adults would handle.

Helltrixz Wrote:Noone mentioned Clannad and Clannad: Afterstory yet. I don't think I've ever cried this much.

I considered it on my list. The series doesn't have fan service really (that I can recall) which is good, although it is a harem series. The first series doesn't have a lot but its pretty required in my opinion to make the sequel (After story) as impactful as it is. The thing I REALLY liked about Clannad though was that it starts in high school with a romance story but it transitions out, yep, thats right, the characters actually freaking GRADUATE in the series and it keeps going. Blew my f-ing mind, in an industry that is consumed with making the world pretty much only revolve around high schoolers.

I second both of Termy's recs. Both are very epic, with large-scale worlds to explore, and large casts, but not in a way which overwhelmed me.

Anime:
1) Kokoro Connect - both hilarious and dramatic with in depth character development. Addictive but short (and sweet)*
2) Gintama- fall off your chair funny
3) Death Note*
4) Detective Conan - very smart episodic detective anime with an interseting over-arching plot. I prefer the manga because I like to think it through a little more slowly, but I was certainly addicted to the anime at some point.*
5) Naruto - pre-Shippuden, before the seasons of filler, it was literally the best thing. This series made me cry so hard and also, Orochimaru and his epic theme tune made me so scared.
6) Hunter x Hunter - It's good. and exciting
7) Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - definitely a treat, very interesting twisting plot, does dip in the middle a little.*
8) Kuroko's Basketball - love it, it inspires me to try hard.
9) The World God Only Knows - Great fun, and starts to get pretty spectacular and gripping towards the end of Season 1.

Dramas:
1) Hana Yori Dango - super funny, very dramatic, full of brilliant music and just so entertainingly OTT while still maintaining very relatable characters.
2) Soratobu Kouhoushitsu - Very touching drama that gets you attached to it's characters, has a unique theme that focuses on the jobs of news reporters, Self Defence Office workers and the military and the misconceptions they have about each other. Absolute opposite to HYD's OTT approach, but still sometimes funny.*
3) Kazoku Game - Very good, very good. Very dramatic, messes with your head, makes you feel for the Shingeki kid. Nice ending theme.*
4) Yakou Kanransha - Still watching this one, but it is a mystery drama mixed with a family drama. Generally quite good and dwells well on the reaction of people to the murder. However, I think the actions of the out of hand daughter become too repetitive to maintain their shock value, and she is a character who is dwelled on greatly. *

I have put asterisks beside the ones I consider more mature, since I beleive that's what you want most.