non-cutsy anime

[Nightfall]

Eric,

Right but....*sigh* never mind.

*will say Oshii is a good director but not his top choice in terms of creator some times*

 

[JEL]

I also have loved Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. It won all sorts of Best Picture awards for animation in Japan when it came out. Its a story of an alternate, yet strangely familiar, Earth on the verge of launching its first man into space. I'm still impressed by the animation of the launch sequence.

I can't second this recommendation enough. It's an amazingly powerful film with a story that works on several different levels and some beautiful animation (Horace is dead wrong on this one).

Surprised no one has mentioned Vision of Escaflowne. Excellent series that has a very tight story and is just all around good.

If you don't mind something a bit older, check out Crusher Joe. It's a great SF adventure film.

 

[horacethegrey]

I can't second this recommendation enough. It's an amazingly powerful film with a story that works on several different levels and some beautiful animation (Horace is dead wrong on this one).

Well I'm sorry if I don't share your feelings, but I still feel Honneamise is a very overrated film. The only reason I think why it gets so much praise from anime fans is because of it's ambitious scope rather than it's overall quality. And let me repeat, I never said it was a bad film, just not the best film in the genre. Any of Hayao Miyazaki's or Satoshi Kon's films is better than Honneamise.

On that note, I would reccomend the aforementioned Kon's work, such as Perfect Blue (disturbing but brilliant), and Tokyo Godfathers (hilarious ). Didn't really care for Millenium Actress though.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Surprised no one has mentioned Vision of Escaflowne. Excellent series that has a very tight story and is just all around good.

I actually have to differ with you there. I prefer the Escaflowne movie to the series. The series had some of the most painfully stilted dialog and descended into the worst of anime "fated romance" cliches in nearly every episode. That's too many hours for me. Some are okay with that, but it felt beaten down with it after too long. Plus the cat girl in the Escaflowne series brings a bit of anime cutsiness that, IMO, the OP wished to avoid.

But Escaflowne's qualities are probably a matter of different tastes. Likewise, I admit Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise is slow through a significant portion of it. I'm okay with slow building anime dramas.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Not for me, sorry to say. Felt like an overblown TV pilot rather than the film it should have been. :\

Have you seen the TV series, Blood+? I thought it was enjoyable, though not everyone's thing. I know its been licensed for R1 distribution, so I don't know if I can recommend it to the OP, though.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Samurai X OAV: Trust and Betrayal. That's one of my favorites.

Lots of good stuff has been mentioned in this thread, and some that I disagree with based on the criteria provided. Be sure to check reviews a bit before watching. I like ANN's.

 

[horacethegrey]

Have you seen the TV series, Blood+? I thought it was enjoyable, though not everyone's thing. I know its been licensed for R1 distribution, so I don't know if I can recommend it to the OP, though.

No I haven't unfortunately. And I probably won't in the near future, as the show holds no interest for me. I'm kinda picky of what anime I watch nowadays, as I don't wanna invest my time on watching crap I could have avoided.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Samurai X OAV: Trust and Betrayal. That's one of my favorites.

I'm gonna have to kick myself for not recalling this. These OAV's were some of the best anime I'd seen in a long time. But please oh please, stop calling it Samurai X! It's Rurouni Kenshin, not that lame title that Sony concocted. :\

Lots of good stuff has been mentioned in this thread, and some that I disagree with based on the criteria provided. Be sure to check reviews a bit before watching. I like ANN's.

I'd also recommend people check out the Meta Anime Review Project. It functions much like Rotten Tomatoes in that it provides links to reviews on various anime series for your conveniience. Pretty handy if you want to check out what series to watch.

 

[Joker]

Um...no. Teknoman is just a poorly dubbed, heavily edited version of Space Knight Tekkaman Blade, which is a fine show. If possible, try and look for the original uncut and subtitled episodes of this series.

Really, I could have sworn I liked it.

I think Jin-Roh the Wolf Brigade meets your criteria. It's not cutesy at all, and has some of the best animation I've ever seen.

Seconded

 

[ThirdWizard]

I'm gonna have to kick myself for not recalling this. These OAV's were some of the best anime I'd seen in a long time. But please oh please, stop calling it Samurai X! It's Rurouni Kenshin, not that lame title that Sony concocted. :\

If you tell someone to go look for Ruroni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal, they probably won't be able to find it.

 

[Nightfall]

Come on Samurai Champloo!

 

[cattoy]

Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo are both very high on my list of A+ anime series.

Planetes has comedic elements, but at its core is rock hard SF with a very serious storyline.

If you like Akira, there's another show with Otomo character designs that's just coming out. It's called Freedom, and it's done in 3d with cel shaded models. It's about a colony on the moon that's been cut off from the Earth for a very long time. (Kids don't recognize a model of the Saturn V rocket for what it is) People are told that the Earth is no longer capable of supporting life.

One of them gets busted for drag racing and is sentenced to community service. He ends up getting stuck in a space suit walking along a pipeline checking for leaks and something plows into the moon nearby. He checks it out and finds a little crater with a tiny rocket at the bottom. In it, he finds a photograph from the earth with a photograph of some people and a little note: We're fine, how are you?

This could be interesting.