Interest Stacks

Kara No Kyoukai, or Garden of Sinners, is a series of movies based on a classic light novel series of the same name, created by NASU, the originator of Tsukihime and Fate series. While that is enough for most anime fans to get behind a project, KnK really stands on its own in every conceivable way. It is a perfect masterpiece, which delves deeply into subjects like psychology, the occult, romance, existentialism, and it includes a very grounded, gritty magic system.

KnK absolutely shines as a standalone series, so there is no real need to be familiar with Nasu's other works, as beautiful as those are. All you really need to know is that KnK excels as a piece of adult anime that is highly cinematic, emotional, gorgeous, and contextually deep.

KnK is at the absolute peak of artistic seinen anime, often feeling more like an arthouse indie film project, who's sheer cinematic and directorial brilliance is unmatched in either modern or golden age anime productions. This is a film series that I often recommend to non-anime fans and film-buffs alike due to its ability to be universally admired for its artistry and absolutely masterful execution and story.

It is a story of forbidden and tragic love, of magic practices past down for generations by blood, of mystery, murder and the tragedy of everyday life. It's a story that lulls you into a calm hypnosis, only to pull you into utter melancholy, and then finally, drag you out into emotional peaks and valleys like no other anime could.

The film's in the KnK series are also intentionally out of order, allowing the story to have a mysterious, almost patchwork-mystery design which always keeps the viewer guessing, never quite sure how the pieces fit together- until suddenly, they do.

On first watch, it is often suggested that you watch the films in release order (non-chronological). However, I do not think that it greatly reduces the mystery or greatness of the films to watch them in chronological order, either. I often re-watch the series chronologically, and it is still incredibly brilliant.

This is the magnum opus of the Patlabor franchise. It's an anime film that FEELS like an art-house, live action movie. It's incredible animations and production not only hold up, but completely overshadow most modern productions to this day. It is a highly experimental, artistic film that really pushed the boundaries of what anime was possible of, even to this day.

Patlabor 2 is a film that fits in neatly with the other masterpieces of the '90s golden era, and I see it as a cultural, spiritual, and artistic contemporary of Ghost in The Shell and Akira. In fact, if Patlabor 2 reminds you of the original GitS, its because the productions actually shared the same director, the masterful Mamoru Oshii.

Patlabor 2 also shares Ghost In the Shell's familiar themes of war, terrorism, nationalism and technology gone too far. It's a film that centers around a political conspiracy, but it is also a sort of noir-thriller that also has romantic subplots.

While mechs are present and accounted for here, this film really does sort of transcend the genre, representing the epoch of seinen, mature and intellectual anime productions. It is a huge testament to anime as being a form of high art, and there are few other anime that can keep up with its timelessness, artistry and charm.

As an seinen anime fan, watching this film has been a rite of passage for decades. You really have not experienced adult-oriented anime until you've seen this film.

GiTS is often seen as the magnum opus, or the masterwork, of director Mamoru Oshii, who's previous film, Patlabor 2, was already seen as the peak of seinen anime just a few years before. With GiTS, Oshii took the best existential, cyberpunk manga of all time and brought it to life in the most cinematic and awe inspiring way imaginable.

Like much of this list, GiTS is anime film that has the DNA of a live action movie, with interesting and highly artistic shot sequences and expressive direction throughout it, never a boring or mundane frame on the screen. It is that artsy, live action inspiration, coupled with the infinite possibilities that anime has to offer, which culminate in GiTS feeling otherworldly and impossibly beautiful.

It is also truly impressive from a technical perspective, with the world always looking lived in and visibly filled to the brim with detailed illustrations. It is no exaggeration to say that some of the buildings in GiTS have more details than the entirety of some modern anime productions.

Emotional, raw, beautiful and timeless, GiTS continues to be a major inspiration and high point for the entire genre.

While Innocence is nowhere near as beloved as the original GitS movie is, it very much follows in the footsteps of GitS artistically and directorially, and it also greatly expands on many of the ideas surrounding consciousness, existentialism and AI that the original GitS introduced.

Aside from its similarities, Innocence does shifts away from GitS in other ways, as Innocence can really be categorized as more of a detective neo-noir film. It is very gritty, having a slower, more methodical pacing to it, and it also replaces the sexy female lead from GitS (Matoko Kusanagi) with her previous partner- the hulking, depressive, cyborg-spectacled investigator named Batou. Batuo is great lead for a detective noir film, having the brooding and depressive, yet action-ready personality required for the job.

Batou was a mysterious character in the first film, and Innocence really lets us see the world through his eyes and understand his internal thoughts and motivations for the first time. He is certainly a tragic character, but his resiliance and love for Matoko, and humanity in general, constantly shines through his rough exterior. His action scenes are also absolutely brilliant, sometimes even taking on the arthouse feel of Wong Kar Wai films, occassionally even looking like something out of Chungking Express, and the level of artistic creativity in every fight scene is simply gorgeous.

The film has brilliant artistic direction, being even more artsy than the first film, with many sequences feeling like hypnotic dreamscapes, and others feeling like the types of gritty black-and-white scenes you would see in 1970s crime thrillers. As mentioned, some shots end up feeling like Chungking Express, where the director implements a dizzying, timelapse-style speed to the background animations, while the foreground characters retains their grounded, slowed down camera speed. It's an artstyle that perfectly reflects both the story, and the more psychedelic aspects of the plot.

By far the best modern GitS series, Arise tells the story of Matoko's rise to the leader of the SACS squad we would come to love in the original GitS film.

It is by all accounts a perfect prequel to the films, and a perfect place to start if you are new to the series. I would personally recommend at least watching the first two films, as much of Arise will hit a lot harder if you are familiar with the SACS team, but it is entirely possible to watch this as a standalone OVA as well.

This show uses modern anime art, including the use of CGI, but does so in a tasteful manner that also incorporates more traditional anime artstyles. Thankfully, this series looks great, and nothing like the CGI slop that netflix released under the GitS name.

Everything you love about GitS is here- mystery, romance, existentialism, AI and human consciousness, and of course, the brutal and highly kinetic action sequences that GitS is known for.

Mnemosyne is a relatively obscure OVA series that requires some thinking and all of your attention. It definitely falls into the mystery side of seinen anime, and often includes violence and sexual content that is more graphic than most other anime which released after the '90s. It is also closer to the "adults-only" section of seinen than perhaps any other anime in the genre, but it also has some of the best and most emotional storytelling in the seinen genre, especially for a standalone OVA series.

There are time jumps and intertwining stories from episode to episode that end up telling a sophisticated and intricate story, with the entire OVA telling one long, multi-generational tale of what it means to be a human- even if you cannot die.

There are some graphic scenes here, and there are plenty of sexual scenes as well, but they are done in such a way that only adds to the mood and the atmosphere of the overarching story, so I don't think they are exploitative or too over the top.

BE WARNED, however, that it would be advisable to only watch this alone, as it sometimes can border on Hentai, and the scenes that do involve BDSM, torture and sex can get quite intense and uncomfortable for some people. Still, those elements are contextually important to the series, and do not feel like irrelevant fan-service or unnecessary- they are part of the reason why this anime is so dark, and so unlike so much of the modern anime landscape. Sometimes it also just feels good to have a series like this, which really gatekeeps the genre from people who cannot handle art.

If you like darker, more psychological anime that is geared towards adults- especially stuff like Psycho Pass, Ghost in The Shell, Elfen Lied, Darker than Black, and Berserk (mostly for its darker form of Violence) then you will definitely appreciate RIN. The only series that I can truly say matches the grandeur of RIN is probably Kara No Kyoukai (Garden Of Sinners), which I also included in this list.

The most emotionally raw anime in modern seinen, with warm and beautiful artwork, a rich and masterfully concise story, and a soundtrack that will make you cry, even on its own.

Erased is based on a long running manga series that tells the story of a hopeless neet at the end of his rope. Feeling like a loser, working part time jobs, and living at home far after he should have been, the main character begins to see cracks in his reality. These cracks eventually lead to a story about time travel, regret, a child kidnapping and a murder, and the will to turn back time and change the past to protect the future.

Erased is a massively powerful, generational anime, and an impressive series that basically stole everyone's hearts when it aired. It is essentially blasphemy to not include Erased on a list of the best seinen anime ever released.

Eden of The East has a unique charm that has not since been replicated by any other series, and I think that it has been brutally underappreciated. It's effortless ability to be cool, artistic, romantic, funny, emotional, and even fantastically poignant, is really its greatest strength.

This is one of the few more lighthearted series on this list, yet it also retains the same types of emotional highs and artistry that I expect from the seinen genre. It is a jack of all trades, and a master of all of them, blending the mystery genre with romance in a story about terrorism, Japanese nationalism and NEET culture, and what it truly takes to change society for the better.

Eden of the East feels like what would happen if you took a spy thriller, like say, 007, and merged it with the witty charm of a show like Hinamatsuri, then baked it all in the grittier of Miyazaki's movies. If that sounds like an impossible mix of influences, that's because it probably should be- and that's what makes Eden of the East so damn special.

A short series and a pair of films, EotE is a quick watch, but it will stick with you for a very long time.

The Perfect Insider is an odd, yet fascinating seinen series about a genius professor and his loyal admirer, who fatefully find themselves involved in a strange, cleverly concocted locked-room murder mystery. It is a very Japanese mystery series, clearly inspired by Japanese murder mystery books like "The Decagon House Murders", as well as the obvious influence of Sherlock Holmes.

What the perfect insider does differently, however, is that it also cleverly mixes in topics of existentialism, philosophy, psychology, and AI into its story, which lead to interesting conversations that aren't often included in modern anime. It's often smart, sometimes pretentious, but always suspenseful and interesting, and it definitely belongs on everyones seinen watch list.

By now, you probably have guessed that The Perfect Insider is an adaptation of a book series, and like most book series, it is not translated into English. With that being said, you do not need to read any of the books in the series, as each one focuses on different mystery-based scenarios that the pair find themselves, with this anime focusing on a single one.

If you like mystery stories, and stories that focus on philosophy and psychology, this is a great series. And, if you love locked-room murders, this is one of the best series in the genre, taking much inspiration from the brilliant "Decagon House Murders".

Perfect Blue is a masterpiece that was released at the very end of the golden age of '90s anime, retaining all of the hand drawn style and the mature, adult-oriented anime charm of the era. Satoshi Kon appears quite often on this list, but this was always my favorite of his works.

It is also a series that has inspired countless films, and one that especially inspired the American arthouse film "Black Swan", with some scenes being so close to Perfect Blue that "inspiration" does not even begin to describe them.

Perfect Blue is a mystery and a suspense film, focusing on an idol who's fame has driven her into deep depression and anxiety- although she herself may not realize it. It is a film about the perils of becoming someone else for others' entertainment, about losing yourself in a role, and about what it means to know and except yourself as you are. Like Lain, it is a film that poignantly predicted the types of relationships we would have with media and celebrity, and it does a fantastic job of crafting its narrative and delivering it with a blistering artistic vision and a ferocious passion for the artform of anime.

Jin-Rou is a fantastic film about a dystopian society, its authoritarian regime, and the victims of that regime- including the men who must act as its elite soldiers, regardless of their own morality.

Jin-Rou is a heavy, heavy film, which takes its time in painting a picture of a society in decay, where political dissidents are killed in the street, and where woman and children alike are treated just as brutally as men whenever they disobey the law.

It takes a pensive, slow-paced approach, and its art and directorial style feel dreamlike, hazy, and highly artistic, while also being grounded in a cinematic, perfectly lived-in and highly detailed world. Artistically, Jin-Rou belongs in the same class as the golden-age anime of the '90s, and it was really one of the last movies of its kind by its release date, signaling an end to the beautiful, handdrawn era of anime Films and OVAs.

By now, Serial Experiments Lain is widely respected and beloved by the anime community, but, it is also known by many as "the anime for pretentious people"- mostly do to the fact that it touches on philosophy and existentialism in meaningful ways, but more so because many people have never actually seen the entire series. Instead, Lain is often judged by people through clips and memes they've seen littered throughout the internet. This, of course, is ironic, given that the series warned of this sort of internet-created reality, where our relationship to truth is not based on our own personal experience of it, but rather, a picture-of-a-picture of the truth.

Lain, by all accounts, is a prophetic series, and one that remains prescient and prophetic to this day when it comes to issues of identity, reality, and how the internet can shape and even damage our natural ways of connecting with others and the world. Technology has truly become our God. There are few other pieces of art that were able to so accurately predict the age of social media, and for that reason alone, Lain stands out.

Aside from all of that, Lain is simply a masterful work of anime, who's vision and artistic presentation were so clear and so aesthetically consistent that it is instantly recognizable, even if one where to only see a single shot from the show. Its music too, is so aesthetically and emotionally attached to this show that it almost cannot exist without Lain at all.

Lain is a special kind of anime, a once in a generation prophetic artistic vision, bursting at the seems with nuance and creativity. It is an obvious choice for a seinen watchlist, and likely will always be.

Romantic, emotional and cinematic, Voices of a Distant Star is one of Makoto Niitsu's (Your Name, Weathering with You) earliest works, while also remaining one of his most beautiful, even to this day.

Voices of a Distant Star is gorgeously animated romantic short-film with a unique premise, and it has stuck with me for many, many years after watching it.

You can clearly see the DNA of "Your Name" within Voices, as the main plot revolves around two people who are obviously soul mates, but who are tragically separated by life's circumstances, and must communicate by text. Sounds pretty relatable right? Well, in Voices, one of the characters trains for, and is accepted, into the space fighting forces of the country, having to travel far into space in a mech. This means that the two lovers' texts take very, very long to return to one another, which adds a seriously emotional and tragic component to the story.

The animations here are during the era of transition for anime, where CG implementation was becoming mainstream, but Makoto Niitsu is a product of this era, and has really mastered the art of supplementing beautiful traditional anime illustrations with CG components, so even though Voices is now over 20 years old, it really has a timeless feel that is so obviously a proto-version of the art style we all came to be enamoured by with "Your Name" years later.

One of my favorite manga of all time, DDDDD is a fantastic adaptation of the manga, doing about as great of a job as possible in adapting what is a very difficult and experimental manga to adapt.

DDDDD is, in typical Asano fashion, a highly ironic, often satirical take on action and slice of life manga. Yet, even though it is dripping with humor and satire, it also focuses on many serious topics, and often cloaks real-world political and social issues in a veil of science-fiction. Asano is able to do this brilliantly because, despite his often nihilistic worldview, his work always has a tinge of humanistic appreciation for humankind, and I think DDDDD as a work itself, truly exemplifies Asano's duality as an artist.

The art for DDDDD tries its hardest to be like the manga, and it often succeeds, replicating Inio Asano's meticulous background art, which is created by taking physical pictures of Tokyo and the japanese countryside, and actually tracing it, then adding line upon line upon line to make a sort of highly detailed blueprint, which is then manipulated by adding a sort of "fisheye" filter to it. This makes the world feel unimaginably large and insanely detailed, which makes Asano's choice of hyper-cartoonish character design even funnier in comparison.

I personally think that the 2-Film version of DDDDD is the better way to watch it, given that the film format is uninterupted by intro/outro sequences, and that it gets to exist in an uncut format. The TV series is, of course, going to simply be a worse version of the long-form Film version, but if that is your only choice, then it is still a great series.

A seminal and timeless work of anime, based on the greatest manga of all time, Akira is film that basically everyone has heard of, and if you grew up in the ‘90s or early ‘00s, you definitely either saw it, or worshipped it. Akira has inspired basically every anime that followed it.

With insanely detailed backgrounds and amazing direction, the film is one of the most epic, awe inspiring anime productions ever made. It is the defining work of seinen anime, and although it took liberties with the manga due to issues involving length of the story and budget, it stands as a wonderful adaptation of the manga.

The music is also insanely unique, perfectly matching the dystopian and cultish narrative about gods, weapons, and humanity. The only other series with such perfect soundtracking is perhaps Lain.

Psycho pass takes inspiration from all of the most important works of dystopian/authoritarian sci-fi and fiction (think 1984, Brave New Word, Minority Report, Blade Runner), and molds them into a series about a network of state-run "crimethink police"- ex-criminals who are forced into spending their days hunting down other criminals and political and social dissidents for not abiding by the societal norms of the totalitarian regime. In this world, there is no nuance, there is only crime and punishment.

Psycho Pass is a brilliant modern anime series who's format was clearly inspired by shows like Cowboy Bebop, with a format consisting of a consistent storyline throughout the entire series, which also mixes in "episodic" episodes that stray from the main storyline, but provide important insights and character development for the cast. I tend to like this format, as it gives the viewer a break from the main series plotline, and allows for more zoomed in character episodes as well.

Psycho-Pass is a seinen series, in many ways, because it never shy's from its literary influences, often even having characters cite passages from books, or have full on debates surrounding certain philosophical or psychological concepts. It's a great idea, and frankly, I wish there were more anime who thought this highly of the audience.

The character and background design is also very memorable, with every shot being pretty instantly recognizable, as the city has a very unique gritty cyberpunk edge, teetering back and forth from wealthy utopian condos, to lowly slums. The characters themselves are also very well defined, with the first season definitely having the favorite ensemble cast of the series- some of whom may or may not return in the movies and series that follow.

The best series in all of Macross, it absolutely dazzles with its hand-drawn, golden age animations. To this day, Macross Plus is seen as one of the pinnacles of Anime, with a cinematic and beautiful setting and story that is underlined by the best music in mecha.

Macross Plus can be summarized as "Top Gun with mecha", and its a pretty apt description. Love triangles, beautiful mech dogfights, character drama, and fantastic music make this 4-part OVA truly shine.

A must watch for any fan of the genre, and it stands alone well enough to be enjoyed by any audience.

Look Back is a highly personal work, obviously inspired by Fujimoto’s real life ascent from teenager to mangaka superstar, and it’s obvious how truly special this film is once you see it.

Look Back is a rare look into the life and thought processes of mangaka, and it shows just how much one has to sacrifice to pursue their dream. In that way, it’s one of the most relatable and realistic anime ever made, as anyone in the audience who has ever pursued a seemingly impossible dream will connect on a visceral level to every scene in the film.

While Fujimoto’s other works are typically dark, cynical, and laced with obvious fetishes (see: Fire Punch and Chainsawman), Look Back is so humanistic and bright that it seems almost impossible it was made by the same man. In that way, Look Back reminds me of the works of Inio Asano, and especially his one-shot manga like “Downfall”, as he has a similarly dark and cynical style, but every so often, he surprises with a completely contrary work, still steeped in the same art style, but so shockingly unique in comparison to his other works.

Only those completely living under a rock haven’t At least heard of the film “Your Name”. It’s rare outside of Miyazaki films for an anime production to gain such wide and universal acclaim and notoriety, yet Your Name not only matched (and sometimes surpassed) that notoriety, it was also almost universally named as a possible modern day successor to Miyazakis works.

Such acclaim does not come easily, and Your Name certainly deserves it. The creator had been working on short films, such as the amazing “Voices of a Distant Star”, for years prior to achieving world wide fame through his major hit and long-form film “The Place Promised In Our Early Days”, but it wasn’t until “ Your Name” that even those outside the anime fandom took notice.

This is a wonderful romance, filled with Japanese spirituality and otherworldly context, and it is one of the most beautiful modern anime films in terms of art direction and cinematography. Its mass appeal is definitely due to its cinematic quality, but its story is so unique and emotional that it is absolutely one of the best romance stories of all time as well.

What can be said about Berserk that has not already been said?

Poetic, bursting with emotion and meaning, it is a testament to the unbreakable human spirit, as well as the endless folly of high ambition.

This adaptation is immensely beautiful, and while only covering a sliver of the overall Berserk narrative, it perfectly represents the series’ artistic vision, with a timeless animation style and amazing music carrying the arc to completion.

It’s worth noting that after watching this series, your only real choice is to read the manga, as most of you will not want to deal with the CGI ridden adaptations of arcs from the 2010’s.

Monster is at the peak of what defines seinen anime- mature, grounded in realism, and heavily inspired by cinema.

It is a Seminole adaptation of a great (and lengthy) manga, by the same mangaka who made my favorite manga, “20th Century Boys”, which tragically seems as if it’s doomed to be unadapted.

Mystery, murder, assasinations, high drama and emotions await you.

A strange, dystopian cyber-punk nightmare, made by the same creators as the timeless classic “Serial Experiments Lain”- this is for the most artsy, experimental tastes out there.

Not a perfect series by far, but a great entry into the cyberpunk subgenre. It is dark, slowly paced, and extremely pensive- much like all the works by its creators- and environmental storytelling is always a major component of his works.

My favorite Clamp production, X reminds me of a prototype version of the “Fate” franchise.

Emotional, with beautiful, dreamy, and classically ‘90s animations, X is now a time capsule of the greatest eras of anime.

If you love Code Geass or Fate/UBW, you will really appreciate this classic adaptation of Clamps early (and sadly unfinished) manga classics.

Despite coming out in the mid ‘00s, Paprika is now a classic cinematic masterpiece that harkens back to the ‘90: anime golden age. paprikas creator, Satoshi Kon, is also known for his other supremely influential works, two of whom are also on this list- Perfect Blue, and Paranoia Agent.

Paprika, even more than Satoshi’s other works, is centered around a psychedelic kaleidoscope of psychological and cerebral storytelling elements, sometimes bordering on horror, and always teetering on the absurd and spectacular.

Satoshi’s art style and attention to detail is second to none, and I love how horrifying and beautiful this film can be at the same time. He was the last of his kind, and his presence is certainly missed in the seinen community.

“The Radio Wave-Like Girlfriend” is a two-part OVA that reminds me a lot of my favorite anime series ever- the early Nasu work “Kara No Kyoukai” (Garden Of Sinners).

Denpa-Teki is a detective/mystery OVA that skews more into the seinen direction of violence and sex, but also retains some of the more psychological and cerebral elements of anime like KnK. It’s far trashier, and definitely imperfect when compared to KnK, but I find it extremely entertaining, with a pretty great mystery narrative running through it, falling somewhere between “Kite” and “KnK”.

This is a more deep cut, and it’s fairly niche, probably because it’s based on novels that were never translated in English. I personally hope more people watch this hidden gem, since it has a wild, more taboo feel to it that is rarely seen in post-1999 anime releases.

Mardock Scramble is a surprisingly underground anime series, consisting of 3-feature length films.

Mardock falls squarely into the same genre as Psycho-Pass, featuring sci-fi elements, cyberpunk, as well as a not-so-distant future where technology and dystopian politics meet.

Mardock is imperfect, quirky, violent, and always intriguing- and I definitely think it deserves more eyes on it. It obviously had a lot of passion behind it, with a unique art style, and a good mix of hand-drawn and CG animations, especially for 2010.

Probably the most pretentiously artsy entry in this entire list, Kizumonogatari takes more inspiration from French new wave films than it does from any genre of anime.

Title cards constantly take over the screen, much like the films of French New Wave Pioneer Jean-Luc Godard, and constantly shifting framing angles and unique cinematography make this a dizzying and beautiful experience.

Aside from that, this is a love story about vampires, becoming heroic and selfless, and about sacrificing oneself for the good of others. The story is pretty simple, but its presentation is anything but simple. The art and the direction here take center stage, and this entire series is more about the eye candy and the experience, compared to other works that are more loved for their narrative.

Kizumonogatari actually works very well as a standalone movie series, and is technically a prequel to basically all of the series that come after it, but I personally only really loved this series and never moved much further than Bakemonogatari.

It’s worth seeing these films just for the insane art, clever direction, and amazing cinematography, but the story itself is so thin that it does tend to drag on.

Girls Last Tour is incredibly cute, and also mysterious and dark at the same time. It’s Sunday-comic chibi style characters are an ironic fit for the subject matter, which is actually much more mature than it leads you to believe. This duality is what makes GLT so unique.

Despite being incredibly cute artistically, it’s a story about two girls, dressed in soldier fatigues and driving a tank around the ruins of a post apocalyptic world, struggling to survive and find meaning in what’s left of the old world.

The show has a slow, pensive pace that matches the grim reality which surrounds the protagonists, and environmental storytelling does a lot of the heavy lifting, but the character writing is also very good as well. If you can let yourself be taken away into its world, you will absolutely fall in love with the characters.

Hathaway's Flash- an adaptation of a UC Gundam story that every Gundam fan has been waiting years and years for.

This is the best looking series in all of Gundam, a culmination of the artistry and technical prowess of every Gundam artist who came before it.

Hathaway is also the most cinematic, stylish, and is truly worthy of the "film" title. It is in large part a mysterious thriller which utilizes a slow-burning pacing that really absorbs and intrigues.

It is a beautiful series that reunites us with Noah Hathaway, a character we had not seen since the unfortunate tragedies that befell him in Zeta Gundam. Now, he is the leader of a resistance movement, teamed up with the hunted remnants of zeon... I cannot wait for the eventual release of the 2nd and 3rd films in this trilogy.

My favorite of Miyazaki’s works, Princess Mononoke is absolutely spellbinding and beautiful.

It’s a pensive, slow-paced film with gorgeous environments and extremely memorable characters, and it’s absolutely bursting at the seams with emotion.

It’s also one of the most action heavy, violent, and adult oriented of Miyazaki’s works, with scenes ranging from full on decapitations, to prostitution bustling prostitution brothels.

A must see for any fan of more mature anime films.

A modern masterpiece in the genre, and an absolute masterclass on how to properly do a prequel to a beloved series.

Origin defies all expectation, and masterfully fills in the most sought after and underutilized time period of the UC franchise- the years before 0079.

A smart, serious, and perfectly paced cinematic marvel, Origin is a true modern Mecha epic. Not only does it cater to longtime UC Gundam fans, but it also is a perfect gateway into the UC franchise- introducing and building up characters who would later become absolute icons in the mecha genre.

If you ever wanted to know how the One Year War started, how Zeon became a force to be reckoned with, or how Char came to be "Char", this is the show for you.

If you ever wanted to get into Gundam, but it felt daunting to do so, this is the show for you.

Vinland Saga is about as close to a modern Berserk spiritual successor as we will get, and it’s also quite similar to Attack on Titan in many ways, but it’s also wholly unique and worthy of its own admiration.

Vinland Saga is, at its core, a highly narrative-based series with an incredibly rich story that spans a very long timeline, where we get to witness a protagonist grow from child to adult, and all of the growth that comes with experience and tragedy. In anime, this type of decades long odyssey is very rare, especially one that is as epic and well told as this one.

It’s a story of betrayal, and a subsequent obsession for vengeance, an emotion which can utterly devour one’s soul. It’s also a story of redemption and spiritual growth, and one, much like in Berserk, where the most unlikely people can become allies, and even become family.

Heartwarming at times, utterly devestating at others, Vinland is a beautiful and near-Odyssean epic of a story, and I could not recommend it more.

ACCA begins as a breezy, easy to watch series that seems to border on slice-of-life, who’s story steadily becomes more and more conspiratorial and mysterious as it goes on. For being such a short series, it builds its story masterfully, completely dodging any possible expectations you may have had.

It’s a story that centers around military workers and their daily lives, but quickly becomes one of political intrigue, spys and assassins, and political corruption. It brilliantly used its clamp-like, almost casual artwork to illicit a feeling of simplicity, only to turn expectations on their heads.

Clever, cynical, and humanistic; simple, conspiratorial, and complex- ACCA is a special show that does pretty much everything right.

A fantastic manga that (thankfully) got a fantastic anime adaptation.

Heavenly Delusion is a very recent anime which reminded me a lot of Akira, and even 20th Century Boys. This thought was only proved right when the creator said that those are some of his biggest influences, and you can definitely see the Akira DNA all over Heavenly Delusion.

HD has two stories happening in parallel, which I won’t spoil here, but they are so masterfully intertwined and used as part of an impressive overarching mystery that I was left very, very impressed with the story writing.

The anime itself features simple, yet refined and beautiful character design and has tons of environmental storytelling. Like the manga, it leaves a lot of the mystery up to the viewer to solve. The main characters are also so great together that all of the emotional scenes hit really hard, and it’s easy to become invested into their adventures through the ruins of a once bustling society.

Tanya is technically an Isekai, but it is so fundamentally unique and different from the rest of the genre that it’s hard to even want to categorize it as such.

The Isekai element is practically ironic in its absurdity, and was likely a jab at the genre as a whole: A shrewd and selfish company man, who spent his entire career trying to climb the latter, is suddenly killed. Unwilling to accept defeat, they challenge and mock god and are forced into being reborn a as a female child during an era which is an analogue to pre- world war 1 Europe. From there, this psychopathic, misanthropic child climbs the ranks of the army, and uses their clever and twisted wit to outmatch and overtake anyone in their way- even God.

Tanya is an anime about the rejection of god, human hubris and ego, and striking back at the world through pure ingenuity and tactical prowess. It’s also a war story, whose tactical and warfare elements are actually really inspired and one of the best parts of the show. It also never fails to illustrate the hellish realities of war, and the callousness of leadership when it comes to the lives of soldiers.

Tanya is ridiculous, but it’s also very intelligent and clever in its presentation and narrative, and it’s one of the most entertaining modern anime.

The ultimate cat-and-mouse game, and one of the best mystery and suspense anime ever.

Death Note is obviously massively popular, and does not need much introduction, so if you like mystery and suspense and haven’t seen it yet, just go do it.

It can be ridiculous and overly edgy at times, but I honestly cannot find one negative thing to say about it. Even on rewatch, I am always completely glued to the screen, waiting for every slick move and every betrayal as if it was my first time watching.

Super underrated mystery series with a pensive, slower pace that continuously builds its suspense with a web of conspiracy.

Darker than Black has one longer season, followed by two shorter OVA series, which I recommend watching chronologically.

DtB features Highly memorable characters, and has a great story involving supernatural powers, a mysterious “gate”, and a wide ranging conspiracy involving agencies and governments. It’s a wild ride, and it definitely took some inspiration from the grittiness and mystery of Gotham City.

The series starts off slow, but it steadily ups the action and the suspense elements with each episode, and you will definitely want to watch the subsequent OVAs as well.

Elfen Lied isn’t the greatest looking anime, looking rather washed out and a bit dated for 2004, but I love it for its mystery, cast of characters (both cute and terrifying), and of course, for its gory and taboo elements that make it stand out from the more commercial anime of the early ‘00s.

While the manga has more context and feels significantly longer, the anime does a decent job at covering most of the story in only 13 episodes.

I genuinely loved the characters, setting, and plot, and if you have ever seen “Stranger Things”, you will be shocked at just how much that show stole from Elfen Lied.

Too legendary to do a full write up.

Bebop is an ode to western films and 80s anime- from wacky anime space operas, to gritty mob movies, to the quite, fearless cowboys of American Westerns, Cowboy Bebop is an immensely unique series that melts countless genres and ideas together into a highly cinematic, movie-like experience. Switching from a main-story to episodic episodes, bebop excels at both, telling a compelling story of friendship, vengeance, tragedy, romance, and the average day in the life of a space cowboy.

One of my favorite horror-mystery anime, Another is one of only a few series that focuses on the genre completely, weaving together a compelling and tragic mystery story in with shockingly brutal deaths, Another definitely does its job of standing out and telling a uniquely Japanese horror story. What haunts the school? Why are people dying (again)?

Pluto is an excellent modern adaptation of a now classic manga, which was itself a sort of modernization and mature re-contextualization of an even older beloved manga, Astroboy.

Pluto, then, is a collaboration between two of the greatest mangaka of all time, Naoki Urasawa (Monster, 20th Century Boys) and Tezuka (Astroboy, Metropolis). The director (Toshio Kawaguchi) was also a key animator for Akira, so the talent pool behind this project’s history is about as massive as possible.

Pluto certainly lives up to its name, and is a thoroughly seinen series, heavily sci-fi, dramatic, and very emotional. If you like Urasawa’s other works, you will definitely find much to love about Pluto.

Psychedelic and artsy interpretation of the classic manga, Crybaby harkens back to the sex and violence filled days of ‘90s anime, and certainly doesn’t shy from using up all the budget on its unique animations, fantastic music, and style, style, style.

My personal favorite comedy anime, Hinamatsuri is a joy and a comfort to watch.

The plot is totally absurd: a girl with odd powers falls down to earth and is found by a younger Yakuza member- a man with no family of his own and little ambition in the way of marriage or children. What follows is the odd-couple adventures of a man who is forced to reluctantly “raise” this odd “alien” child, where every adventure is both hilarious and absurd but also almost always poignant and emotionally meaningful.

Is the adult teaching the child, or is the child teaching the adult?

Hinamtsuri reminds me in some ways of Crayon Shin Chan, where a child is put into adult situations, and where their misunderstanding of the adult world always leads to hilarity and interesting situations. But, Hinamtsuri also takes itself much more seriously than Crayon, and its real goal is to help its characters ( and the audience), find meaning in everyday life and its struggles.

A purely joyous and uniquely funny show.

Tears. Absolutely gorgeous character drama. Pretty much universally beloved.

A fantastic anime epic by an all-star team which features Director Rintaro (Galaxy Express, X), based on the works and character designs of Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy), and produced by Madhouse.

At the time, this was one of the biggest budget anime films ever at 1.5 billion yen, and it certainly shows. Absolutely epic proportions fill the screen in nearly every seen, bringing to life a future industrial city filled with worker robots, treated as slaves even though they’ve gained sentience and human emotions.

It’s a heart wrenching and epic tale of what it means to be human, workers rights, and the types of dystopias and tragedies that can befall societies where hated, oppression and violence become the norm.

Despite the quirky signature character design of Tezuka, this is a dark and brooding work, sometimes reminding me more of western animations like The Hobbit and Lord Of the Rings in its overall feel.

While the pacing is far from perfect, this is an absolutely seminal work in the anime film cannon.

Ufotable is a studio that understands aesthetics, beauty and certainly understands how to make their works feel “cinematic”, and Heavens Feel feels like the absolute pinnacle of their signature style of productions. From a modern anime perspective, there are few anime films that can come close to this collection of films from a purely aesthetic level, especially in the more niche Seinen genre.

Heavens Feel is one route in the original Fate series, with the other two (in anime form) being fate/stay night), and fate/ unlimited blade works. Each route essentially changes the story to follow one female protagonist, and in this case, we follow the story of Sakura, the most tragic of all the characters in the series.

You can absolutely watch Heavens Feel independently of the other series, because the films do a fantastic job of telling a complete, relatively standalone story, but I would definitely recommend that you at least watch Fate/Zero and Fate/UBW to get a better understanding of the lore, as the emotional aspects of the story become so much more salient when you know the chronology of the series.

With that out of the way:
This is one of the most beautiful, emotional experiences you will get from modern day anime. It’s a love story that transcends all barriers, and one that will stick with you for a long time after the credits roll. This is by far my favorite series in the Fate Franchise, and from an artistic, directorial, pacing and plot perspective absolutely outshines all of the rest of the series. It’s pure anime kino.

Char's Counterattack is the movie that took UC Gundam to an entirely new level. This was the Gundam release that really cemented Mecha anime as a truly serious form of art.

The artstyle, the cinematic directorial vision, the pacing- everything was next level. It took the best parts of 0079 and Zeta and perfected them. The two heroes (or anti-heroes) of the mainline Gundam series are brought back for one final adventure, and it's an emotional time.

Many of the other series on this list took significant inspiration from the seriousness and cinematic qualities of this film, and you can see that influence in releases such as Macross Plus, as well as in Patlabor 2.

A beautiful, highly stylized modern anime that revels in its unique, hand drawn and minimalist presentation, Sonny Boy delivers its story and themes of growing up and drifting apart from friends and school mates through abstract metaphorical storytelling and deep characterization and character development.

It’s a slow, pensive and psychological journey that received mixed ratings on arrival for its obtuse and unique metaphorical storytelling, but it’s now starting to become more of a modern cult classic.

If you liked Boogie Pop fantom or Lain, you will probably enjoy the slower, more thoughtful presentation and themes present in Sonny Boy.