Types of Anime

Anime has a young audience, probably because of the form of animation appeals better to younger people, but it also can appeal to adults as well.  The films of Hayao Miyazakihave made families in the west more aware of Japanese Anime but it is not films I wish to concern myself.  As an adult who watches anime I can suggest some very good anime that is not overly kiddish and off the top of my mind there are five worth checking out:

Kino’s Journey

Kino and her motorcad with sidecar (which is also her sidekick) travel, as the title suggests, across a fantastical land.  They only spend three days at each town and each one of them offers up a different philosophical thought experiment and reflections.  Such towns are those that have discovered the secret of mind reading, those that banned the reading of prohibited books and those that force people to fight to the death in a tournament to improve their circumstances.  Each episode (of which there are thirteen) is stand-alone but does eventually come to a conclusion.  Kino is packed with deceptive simplicity where much more deeper and bigger issues are at play so that repeated viewing is rewarded.   

Serial Experiments Lain

The female protagonist of this series (also thirteen episodes) deals in complexity but is rather more swallowed up by it that successfully navigates it.  Lain is a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl who, after the suicide of one her friends, gets involved with the world of the web and discovers sides to herself that she never knew existed.  Lain is also worth repeated views but this may not clear anything about it’s plot development as it is a deeply puzzling piece of work that will often leave you thinking that you missed something.  This is anime as French New Wave film and if you like that style than you might like the disaffected tone of Lain.   

Eden Of the East

A bit more accessible than Lain, this anime packs in a lot in it’s much too short thirteen episodes.  The quick version of the story is about this boy who has lost his memory and finds himself in possession of a God-like phone that can do almost anything for him.  It’s a brilliant idea and it’s excellently executed, up until the last episode that is but focusing on the good things.  Very clever and satisfyingly original but won’t take you too long to get through. 

Texhnolyse

This anime is a moody piece set in the technological future where a boxer crosses the line and gets his arm cut off by a gangster group only to replace it with a robotic one, he then goes for vengeance.  Interwoven in this is a girl with a creepy mask and a man with a backpack and we follow them as they go deeper and deeper into the city.  Is quite violent at times and is certainly not for children (not so much because of the violence but because of it’s pacing, they would be bored silly).    

Paranoia Agent

It’s difficult to say out of these which is my favourite but on most days it is this one as it is all the things I love, a clever idea well done, disturbing story and most of all memorable scenes.  It’s about several different people who are all attack by a kid with a golden baseball bat and roller blades and about how they recover as well as uncovering who the kid really is.  This will knock you off balance as it comes to it’s unexpected conclusion and though it is only thirteen episodes long it really is a perfect number as each episode does more than it’s fair share in engaging the viewer with avid interest.

So there we are, anime doesn’t have to be just for the realm of children’s entertainment but it can also but used to create adult (or at least adolescent) art.  Some may be disappointed that I have not mentioned Death Note or Cowboy Bebop but I thought that five was a good enough number to start with, though they are short, and maybe if I watch more I will have more to write.