Evangelion
Pretty obvious Everyone even pen pen has issues. You have Christian references that may or may not mean anything. You have not 1 but 2 ambiguous endings and Shinji Ikari the boy who ruined anime forever by creating the Emo Protagonist. Yeah it's Deep it makes you think and it works on many levels. Is it overrated YES did I just rebuy the Series limited edition Tin just so I could have the best version? Yes. Is it in my DVD player now? Yes. I go back to this show every time there's a Major change in my life to see how it relates to me in there here and now. Also........we all know that Rei is basically Gendo's sex toy right?
And Asuka is awesome BEST ANIME RED HEAD EVAR!!!
Serial Experiments Lain
Lain is like the last 2 episodes of Evangelion made into 13 episodes. I've read theories that Lain the main character is a Christ figure. It mixes the psychological and philosophical subtexts from Eva with the Spiritual and technological aspects from Ghost in the Shell and You got Lain
one of the best and most underrated animes of all time.
Ghost in the Shell
What Makes us Human? Why do we exist? On this Vast information super highway.....are we still human or just text that is coming from something. Are we extensions of the Computer or is it an extension of us? These are the questions Ghost in the Shell asks through out it's 2 movies 2 TV series and 1 OVA. Not just a great example of Anime but of Cyber Punk in
General.
Cowboy Bebop
Quite possibly the Greatest anime of All time. It's argued that it is the packaging of the Remix collection boasts this I own the series twice over. But is it really that thought provoking? Yes. The show is about life and death and the ending is way more ambiguous than you might think it is. The Show also works on more levels than you might think as well.
Vampire Hunter D
Nah doesn't really provoke any thoughts. I just think it's awesome.
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Serial Experiments: LAIN, on the other hand, is a phenomenal series and the one that got me back into anime. They made a "game" for the PSOne based on LAIN that only released in Japan. I put "game" in quotes because it isn't so much a game as it is an interactive story. While I'm sure I'd appreciate it more if I could understand Japanese, the cutscenes in that are fucking crazy cool.
we still lack community blogs at Japanator. We all care about anime here at Dtoid too, right (Except Workmeng).
Secondly the christian motifs were purely that, just an aesthetic that Anno liked due to it westernism and rich texts and drawings.
Have to agree with your Cowboy Bebop choice loved the fact that every fight scene was in time with the background music.
That said, Bebop + Evangelion for the win. Once I get some pocket change I'll pick up Lain.
the more I see Eva the more I see things I miss and I've seen it 12 times already. Thanks for your insight
and Wdot. I've Yet to see Monster but my best friend has and loved it.
I almost put FLCL on the list but to me it doesn't make a Damn bit of sense.
Cowboy Bebop is probably my favorite anime, nay, show of all time. Phenomenal soundtrack, great story, and the characters.. omg.
I've heard good things about Vampire Hunter D and Lain, oh yeah, Ghost in the Shell is up there too.
EVANGELION IS GOOD, BUT STILL OVERRATED!
*runs out*
Yep, that's about it.
Short story, its about a boy growing up.
If Anime does not leave you questioning something or absolutely mind-fucked, it has NOT done its job.
True, D is just badass, but Bloodlust is an homage to an anime classic. It does not need to be thought provoking, but it does give us violence-induced arousals.
Lain made me fear my computer for a while, and introduced me to the concept of a liquid coolant system for PCs...wow.
Ghost in the Shell is where we're heading if we all don't blow ourselves to hell before hand.
Now the big 2 in my mind, Bebop and Evangelion are the required viewing in all of anime. If you can withstand the prison sex done to your mind when watching Evangelion w/ its movies, you're seasoned for anything anime can throw at you. Bebop toys with your emotions more than anything by the time 'Blue' ends during the final credits. OH, and Bebop is best anime EVAR!!!
This blog = win just for making me reflect.
Anyone else get a bit confused when they saw the Cowboy Bebop movie? No? Just Me...ok...*runs away*
There was anime called Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise which was amazing, or at least the first half then my tape stopped and Ive never seen the end :(! Its not even out on DVD in the UK. Has anyone seen that?
Blackjack and Metropolis are must see films as well.
Unfortunately, most anime studios missed this point completely and write emo characters because they don't take much work to write.
In lieu of the obligatory e-slap, I'll just civilly correct you.
Personally I find the Ghost in the Shell movie to be more overrated than Evangelion. I had people hyping it up to me for weeks when I first got it and then after watching it I just felt underwhelmed. It took Stand Alone Complex to really sell me the basic ideals of that series.
What are you talking about the TV show was the "bad" ending? If you are talking of level of quality in production then I would agree, but if its how happy everyone is at the end then the TV ending would be the "good" ending. I mean its pretty obvious since Shinji is actually happy at the end of the TV show and he still obviously has issues at the end of the movie.
In the movie, Instrumentality engulfs most of humanity, but Shinji prevented it from finishing. Asuka was extremely independent, that's why she survived. Shinji suddenly became independent by disobeying SEELE, so he survived. I'm willing to bet there are other survivors too. Most of the world became a pool of LCL (that's what it looks like from the outside in the tv show), but humanity can rebuild.
I thought the tv ending was interesting, but definitely not a happy ending. People's perception of the tv ending would be 100% different if the show ended showing the world as a massive ocean of LCL.
THANK YOU. It's good to know I'm not the only one that thinks Eva was terrible.
also, Paranoia Agent.
As pointless as it is to argue on the internet, I shall continue.
Its true that he accepts instrumentality in the TV series but the theme that you should get rid of your individuality is not stressed within it. Most of the advice that Shinji gets is telling him that he has the choice to be happy and that its all a matter of his perspective on life.
If we look at the movie ending, there was a larger theme of becoming one with each other and we see Shinji reject instrumentality. And also to keep on track with the whole use of Christian references, the last two people on Earth are Shinji and Asuka becoming the new Adam and Eve.
I just hope the remake movies they're making now gives Shinji some actual character development instead of being the same throughout like the previous entries.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Black Lagoon
Speed Grapher
Blue Submarine No. 6
Akagi
I could probably go on, but those are the best ones I can think of. Most of them don't particularly make you think, but they're fantastic nonetheless.
@kohelhunter
I actually don't think Gantz is thought-provoking, it always seemed to me like it was shock for shock's sake, and didn't really go beyond that at all.
Eva, though, I could never get into it. My memories of it are one blurred mindfuck.
And, in my opinion, the best romantic anime since Kare Kano: ef: Tale of Memories (which got completely overshadowed by that piece of shit Clannad) is also a great watch.
I think I found my niche.
As for the other animes you guys mentioned there are a ton I haven't seen or have and just didn't think of.
I'll be going over other animes as I watch them I have a huge backlog now since I went nuts in the dealers room at Anime Boston.
WHAT'S IN CAPS IS IMPORTANT, READ IT EVEN IF IT WILL GET YOU BLIND.
ok, it's based off Descartes philosophical statement "I think therefore I am" cogito ergo sum if you will and there's alot of mythological references, greek statues also Jean-Jacques Rousseau work as well as Alice in wonderland. YOU MUST SEE!
oh yeah and Akira pretty much rules, forever.
and orgasmic explosion , that's what it is
Unfortunately few of you would bother watching these shows.
***SPOILERS***
Even though you may disagree with me, the ending to the EVA TV series and the movie are the same. The TV series just depicts what is going through Shinji/the entire world's mind as Instrumentality is taking place. The movie depicts what is going on outside of his mind and the aftermath of it all.
They are not two different endings.
If Lain is indeed the last two episodes of Eva...and if you liked that sort of thing thats your own...but tons of death threats to gainax prove that it isnt that good a tool to use in the Eva case so I believe I'm right in saying its not that good when I saw it.
as for the other 3. They are what they are. I liked the movie and two or three eps of bebop, I liked the animation techniques in GitS, and I liked D for the most part.
They all have some thought provoking moments in each of them...not really any I would strongly recommend though.
@Scape
The Death/Rebirth and End of Evangelion are two different things. Hideaki Anno made Death and Rebirth as a direct response to his depression over the Otaku culture. End of Evangelion was a produced response to Death Threats sent to Gainax over the awfulness of Death/Rebirth. In that sense even if some of the features are the same the direction and mentality of production are completely different.
Check out the Wiki article on Evangelion for some great articles on the complexity of the show.
Evangelion is famously (notoriously?) convoluted, but that's not a good reason to avoid it. I hadn't heard of Lain, but it seems promising. I had always though Cowboy Bebop wasn't serious (judged an anime by its title), my mistake.