Anime / Animation Question
Hello. Are there any examples of animation that includes "mature" themes and storylines? I.e., no robots, superheroes, panties, fan service, speed lines, gigantic / absurd guns, etc. Imagine a primetime crime thriller on ITV or BBC or something, or maybe something a bit more hip like that ace Hustle series that was on a while back - something like that, but in animation. Has such a thing ever existed? The nearest example I know of is Cowboy Bebop, but that's not exactly what I'm after. Please name them, and tell me where they can be bought or acquired. Thanks!
Comments
Yugo The Negotiator - a story about a Japanese Hostage Negotiator
Monster - murder thriller series
Paranoia Agent - another mystery drama by Satoshi Kon
Koi Kaze - love drama between a bro and sis.
Anyone else want to add in?
Silly me
and let me add Tokyo Godfathers too (now thats available on DVD in US though)
* Noir - <a href='http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1249165' target='_blank'>Good overview here.</a> and <a href='http://www.flyingteacup.com/noir/' target='_blank'>The Webby.</a>
* Grave of the fireflies <a href='http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/grave/' target='_blank'>Webby.</a> and other Miyazaki films (the is the guy who did totoro and spirited away, but grave of the fireflies is very different.)
* Escaflowne of course, may not be serious enough. Just a thought, if you haven't seen it, it's a MUST.
* Wolf's Rain? Not seen much of it. <a href='http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,1138,qjwjff,wolf_s_rain.html' target='_blank'>Webby.</a>
* Of course Ghost in the Shell (the series as well as the movie)
* 12 Countries (Juuni Kokuki) <a href='http://www.discountanimedvd.com/dvd_detail.asp?dvdno=8549' target='_blank'>Description on this page.</a>
* Haibane Renmei
<a href='http://www.haibanerenmei.com/' target='_blank'>Webby. </a>
* Lain - Serial Experiments. I have been told it's very intellectual if you are CRAZY, had high reviews of this though. <a href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005NX1N/002-2439101-7796066?v=glance' target='_blank'>Amazon</a>
and this,
<a href='http://lain.angelic-trust.net/' target='_blank'>not sure if this is official.</a>
Have fun! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
But if you're looking for something more TV-ish, DEFINATLEY check out Perfect Blue...it's disturbing and just incredible.
Hellsing is a 13 Episode, liscensed series, so buy or rent it. Its about a newbie, almost pacifist vamp, and the milennia old Uber-Vamp that sired her. Alucard is the most bad **** character Ive ever seen in any medium. Much shooting.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime is unliscensed as of now, so feel free to download it. Chances are high that it wont be licensed in the future, so chances are, if you are ever to see it at all, you will have to download it. This series is more of a Drama, about a young man with a clouded past, how his life is flipped on end when he meets a Vampire, and how he ends up becoming a Vampire Slayer. Also 13 Episodes. It has been subtitled by AnimeOne, Saikou-Fansubs, and Anime-Empire. Im not sure if I am allowed to link to these groups, question to the mods: Can I post a link to an Anime Bittorrent site that only covers unliscensed anime?
I don't see why the RIAA would be going after anime videos, seeing as they handle music licensing.
Thats odd, after I saw your post, I went and checked Anime-Empire's site, and they are still listing it as unliscenced. Also, I just checked the Saikou Fansubs page, and they also list it as still being unlisenced. I would check the Anime-Keep site, but it seems to be down right now. And on AnimeSuki's Liscence list, It is not present... So I checked the "Grand High License List" on www.AnimeOnDVD.com, and It clearly was not present. I think you are mistaken, Tsukihime still isnt licensed.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Free...Anime? Even if it's unlicensed, wouldn't the Gestapo, I mean, RIAA kick your door down and shoot you on sight for downloading Stuff(not necesarrily music, or even american stuff) off the internet? And if not them, then the US Gov.(Anti piracy act)? Is it really legal?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
RIAA = Recording Industry Association of <u>America.</u>
What it means to be unliscensed, is that no <u>American</u> company has bought the rights to exclusively distribute that series in the United States. This means that Fansubbed anime does not violate any American laws. It may be illegal to download it in Japan, where money is made off advertising, and in Fansubs strip out the commercials, but no money is taken out of Anime Companies pockets, when someone in <Insert Non-Japanese speaking country here> watches their program, when they never had plans to air said program in <Country> to begin with. What may happen, is that a company buys the righs to sell said program, in said country. In that case, legitimate fansubbing ceases, and you go buy the DVDs, or watch the program on TV. These Licensing companies tolerate Fansubbing groups, for the sake of publicity. One tactic of theirs I find extremely aggrevating, is waiting until the climax of a series to liscense it. This way, all the people watching the fansubs are suddenly without programming, and left desperate for the DVDs to see what happens next. License as Marketing tool. And then we have the series that are never, nor will ever, be licensed. I believe Tsukihime may be one of those series. No company has liscensed it, I dont see any hope of any company licensing it, so there is no one to sue me if I download it.
Neon Genesis Evangelion.
At first it seems about the robots, and the kids piloting...but then it begins revealing itself to be about the characters. Totally about the characters. And...it just blows your mind. I swear. Its hard to think about after you've seen it. Because once you have- all you can think is "What did I just see?"- then you figure it out...and can't think about anything else.
But honestly, if you're trying to AVOID the typical steryotypes of anime, I'd stay FAR away from Evangelion, or anything made my Gainax at all. They're all pretty steryotypical. They're mostly good, but still very much in the comedic/action/OMG GIANT ROBOTS vein. And if you're getting Evangelion just to mess with your head, you might as well just go for Lain, which is deeper, more confusing, and has less BS symbolism, all in half as many episodes for improved efficiency!
<img src='http://pieceofsite.seniorbrown.com/files/forums/AEprojects.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
What we see here, is that Tsukihime is Complete, but not Dropped, or Licensed.
I dont know where you heard from Anime Empire that this was liscensed...
But honestly, if you're trying to AVOID the typical steryotypes of anime, I'd stay FAR away from Evangelion, or anything made my Gainax at all. They're all pretty steryotypical. They're mostly good, but still very much in the comedic/action/OMG GIANT ROBOTS vein. And if you're getting Evangelion just to mess with your head, you might as well just go for Lain, which is deeper, more confusing, and has less BS symbolism, all in half as many episodes for improved efficiency! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Very much agreed. I didn't care for the series myself, but I can say in an unbiased way that if that is the kinda stuff you want to avoid then this is the kinda anime you want to avoid.
But i'd like to suggest Jin-Roh. It's serious and it's damn good. I'll also second Grave Of The Fireflies. Some serious series to avoid, however, would be LAIN and Now And Then, Here And There. They're just... boring, in my opinion.
Most Anime (not all but most) is going to containy elements of the unreal (giant robots, aliens, magic, monsters etc)
This does NOT make it nonserious.
its just that for the most part an animated show is not taking full advantage of it being animated if it dosn't use these things.
If you want a serious down to earth show use real people (as animation will always seperate the person from reality).
so yah, there are some that have none of these elements, but don't just blow off the ones that do.
I'd linky and stuff here but you know how sensitive the rules are.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Thursday, April 22nd 2004
Tsukihime closer to be licensed? (07:34 AM EST): This one goes firmly in the rumor and unconfirmed bin, but there's a "very good possibility" for it. According to some resourceful readers, they've found that Geneon Entertainment USA has registered the www.tsukihimedvd.com site (as well as the known license, stellviadvd.com). As mentioned in the past, this does not in any way guarantee Geneon's acquisition of Tsukihime, but with them already having announced a CD release and now with this, the odds of an already fairly certain title is even more so.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There hasnt been any news on Tsukihime since. Its not licensed, but might be, in the future. The latest post in this thread was this morning, and there havent been any Tsukihime related news articles since. Its not licensed yet, it seems that Anime-Empire removed their torrent just in case it is licensed in the near future. Personally, I think that the removal of the torrent was a bit hasty, as these preliminary actions dont necessitate commitment to license. There have been serious licensing bungles in the past, like the <a href='http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=4404' target='_blank'>One Piece Fiasco.</a> Anyway, glad to clear that up.
Even though its about ninjas, t ain't that serious.
Go for Grave of Fireflies, real nice to watch, and there's no angry people or people inside people *coughcoughharunosakuracoughcough*
Jyanaro!
EDIT : And when you're not in the mood for serious anime, try Full Metal Alchemist. Granted that it has some comedy in it, it sure does get freaky at some points of the storyline. Like Ep 29.
But that's not what I'm after. Granted, it still may be complex and for the adults and all that, but I wanted to know if story in animation exists that, well, could be just as easily acted out by man than drawn. Do you see?
Could someone filter all the names given (thanks xx) into one example that fits my criteria, or as near as possible?
As far as I know, Chrono Crusade has been licensed. Fullmetal Alchemist can be found from various fansubbers.
Other series you might want to investigate are Gunslinger Girl, Crest of the Stars (or the sequel, Banner of the Stars), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Vampire Hunter D (a movie), Witch Hunter Robin, and (maybe) Inu-Yasha.
[edit]On reading your post again, I'll whittle down my recommendations and provide some more detail.
<b>Full Metal Alchemist</b>
Central to this anime is the concept of Alchemy - the transmuting of materials into something else by use of a transmutation circle. It's the story of two young alchemists - Edward and Alphonse Elric. After a failed attempt at ressurecting their dead mother costs Ed his right arm and left leg and his younger brother his entire body, the two set off into the world to find out how they can restore their bodies.
It's not kids' anime. It's not stoically serious the whole time, and it's often quite humorous. Might be what you're looking for. I'm enjoying it immensely, having wathced some 16 or so episodes.
As far as I know, it's not licensed in English and currently being fansubbed by a variety of groups.
<b>Witch Hunter Robin</b>
This series is about an organisation called STN-J which controls the threat of witches. Modern-day setting. A witch is born with some kind of power, and often their gift can make them mentally unstable or otherwise violent. And dangerous. The task of STN-J's witch hunters - individuals posessing limited special abilities and trained to combat witchcraft - are to investigate murders and other noteworthy incidents which it looks like witchcraft has some involvement in. It's their task to find the witch and capture them. Fairly episodic.
Well, that's how it starts out.
About one-third into the series, the real story starts. The plot gets more complex as the lines between witch and witch hunter blur. I've heard this series described as "the X-Files of anime". I can't comment on that as I've never watched an episode of the X-Files, but maybe that description helps.
I believe this series is licenced in English. Have a look at their <a href='http://www.witchhunteronline.com/' target='_blank'>website</a>.
<b>Ghost in the Shell</b>
There's roughly a metric [excrement]load of information online on Ghost in the Shell. It's a classic. I'm not going to write a synopsis here, as there are plenty of reviews of it around.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a series and not a movie. It's an alternate story with the same setting and characters as the movie, but without the events of the movie having taken place. Basically, more of the same as the movie (which is a very good thing).
...
I'll leave the recomendations at that, but something important needs to be said. Series like Fullmetal Alchemist and Chrono Crusade are <i>not</i> like the kind of shows you have in mind, exactly. I say that because serious, mature-themed shows on TV are always serious, and usually have strictly real settings. Chrono Crusade and Fullmetal Alchemist change mood to include humour, and they're not strictly realistic (well, that's not true. They deal with fantasy concepts in a realistic manner, which is the mark of good fantasy in general. But I digress.)
Finally, I think Witch Hunter Robin is probably closest to what you're looking for. See the first few eps of Fullmetal Alchemist if you can, however - if you're after something with a little more depth than usual, you'll probably like it nonetheless.
Now that is one serious anime. No dumb humor, more serious talk.
But I like it anyway because it's Ghost In A Shell.
Skorpy : If you've watched through just 16 or so episodes, you'd better rush in front. They've <b>finally</b> explained how....more like where Ed's arm and leg is. Very damn freaky too.
As for Full Metal Alchemist not being a kiddy anime, I totally agree. Although there's the occasional 'Bean scene' there tends to be a lot of blood and gore in it at some episodes. If you have any issues with lots of lood and gore everywhere, you'd better stay away from FMA.
TV, OVA's or Movies.
That is all.