Sora no Woto. The K-On! archetypes are traumatised child soldiers in an uneasy-interwar-period in bizzaro alternate Switzerland, and they have a pet owl. Scenery is amazing.
Besides Death Note, I have never found Anime to be deep or intellectually stimulating. Am I missing something, or is Anime a lot closer to being like comic books than novels?
Maybe. Code Geass has the same battle of wits dynamic going on, but it’s a siller world and lacks the moral ambiguity of the early parts of Death Note.
The form doesn’t allow as much depth, in the sense that even a 52-episode series can only cover a short novel. But I’ve found some very thought-provoking works (as, to be fair, I have in comics); particularly:
Kaiba is my go-to example of something that would be impossible in any other medium; it’s a story about personal identity in a world where memories can be transferred between bodies, and uses this blobby, amorphous style to fit with that—everything’s strange but semi-familiar, the same way it is to the characters in the story.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya—a story about the teenager’s gradual realization that you’re not the center of the universe, but rather one ordinary person among many, refracted through the prism of a clever premise. Has this hyper-contextual style where everything is a cultural reference, but without ever seeming pretentious (perhaps because of the exceedingly wide range). Of course you can simply read the novels, undermining the argument somewhat, but the adaptation has some clever visual tricks and the immediacy is valuable. Its stock has fallen in recent years due to a very viewer-hostile approach to the second season; I’d advise only watching the first season, and definitely watch in broadcast order rather than DVD/chronological order (the baseball episode is the third “proper” episode).
Haibane Renmei—About personal identity and finding your place in the world, or perhaps living a life decided for you. Very much in the language of mystical symbolism, and rather a love it/hate it case, but I found it interesting, and it would usually push me into a reflective, detached state.
Kino’s Travels—a series of short stories. Like the best episodes of Star Trek, really shows you a society that’s mostly like our own, but with some crucial difference. I can’t compare it to the novels as I haven’t read them, but I find with this kind of worldbuilding the immersion of a visual medium can be valuable.
I could name plenty more shows that were thought-provoking stories (Psycho-Pass and Eden of the East come immediately to mind), but these are the ones where the animated form seemed to really matter. (Though to be honest I’m surprised you list Death Note—I wouldn’t call it especially thought-provoking, and it was a manga before it was an anime).
I certainly wouldn’t view anime as a replacement for novels, but it can be a great supplement to western live-action TV. It’s pretty rare for visual media to be as deep or intellectually stimulating as novels. I don’t think that is a fair reference point.
I would say the best of anime is comparable to the best US/western live action TV. Even the most sophisticated live-action dramas I’ve seen (like Breaking Bad and True Detective are probably only as intellectually deep as middlebrow novels.
I highly, highly recommend Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. While I’m not sure it quite reaches the level of a novel, its characters are well developed, multi-dimensional and engaging. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen it.
Unfortunately, the only official localization of the series by Viz seems to have been canceled, but I believe HBO is planning to adapt it into a live action series.
TV and Movies (Animation) Thread
Sora no Woto. The K-On! archetypes are traumatised child soldiers in an uneasy-interwar-period in bizzaro alternate Switzerland, and they have a pet owl. Scenery is amazing.
Anime:
Steamboy (decent Victorian steampunk with a wholesome Ghibli sort of vibe)
Arakawa under the Bridge x Bridge (review)
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space (o.0)
Besides Death Note, I have never found Anime to be deep or intellectually stimulating. Am I missing something, or is Anime a lot closer to being like comic books than novels?
If you liked Death Note, you’d probably like Code Geass.
Maybe. Code Geass has the same battle of wits dynamic going on, but it’s a siller world and lacks the moral ambiguity of the early parts of Death Note.
There’s a number of anime series I’ve found deep and/or intellectually stimulating and/or novel-like in feel, for example:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Serial Experiments Lain
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
I would add Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
The form doesn’t allow as much depth, in the sense that even a 52-episode series can only cover a short novel. But I’ve found some very thought-provoking works (as, to be fair, I have in comics); particularly:
Kaiba is my go-to example of something that would be impossible in any other medium; it’s a story about personal identity in a world where memories can be transferred between bodies, and uses this blobby, amorphous style to fit with that—everything’s strange but semi-familiar, the same way it is to the characters in the story.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya—a story about the teenager’s gradual realization that you’re not the center of the universe, but rather one ordinary person among many, refracted through the prism of a clever premise. Has this hyper-contextual style where everything is a cultural reference, but without ever seeming pretentious (perhaps because of the exceedingly wide range). Of course you can simply read the novels, undermining the argument somewhat, but the adaptation has some clever visual tricks and the immediacy is valuable. Its stock has fallen in recent years due to a very viewer-hostile approach to the second season; I’d advise only watching the first season, and definitely watch in broadcast order rather than DVD/chronological order (the baseball episode is the third “proper” episode).
Haibane Renmei—About personal identity and finding your place in the world, or perhaps living a life decided for you. Very much in the language of mystical symbolism, and rather a love it/hate it case, but I found it interesting, and it would usually push me into a reflective, detached state.
Kino’s Travels—a series of short stories. Like the best episodes of Star Trek, really shows you a society that’s mostly like our own, but with some crucial difference. I can’t compare it to the novels as I haven’t read them, but I find with this kind of worldbuilding the immersion of a visual medium can be valuable.
I could name plenty more shows that were thought-provoking stories (Psycho-Pass and Eden of the East come immediately to mind), but these are the ones where the animated form seemed to really matter. (Though to be honest I’m surprised you list Death Note—I wouldn’t call it especially thought-provoking, and it was a manga before it was an anime).
Wow, you’re still sore over Endless Eight? I thought it one of the finer pieces of trolling ever indulged in by a commercial product. :)
Oh, I appreciated it, I just feel a certain amount of warning is in order.
(What a shame the gg-commie joint fell apart before then. What a troll confluence that could’ve been)
I certainly wouldn’t view anime as a replacement for novels, but it can be a great supplement to western live-action TV. It’s pretty rare for visual media to be as deep or intellectually stimulating as novels. I don’t think that is a fair reference point.
I would say the best of anime is comparable to the best US/western live action TV. Even the most sophisticated live-action dramas I’ve seen (like Breaking Bad and True Detective are probably only as intellectually deep as middlebrow novels.
I highly, highly recommend Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. While I’m not sure it quite reaches the level of a novel, its characters are well developed, multi-dimensional and engaging. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen it.
Unfortunately, the only official localization of the series by Viz seems to have been canceled, but I believe HBO is planning to adapt it into a live action series.