Psychological/mystery anime?

[RichardMoore]

I just finished watching Monster, which was a very enjoyable anime. One of the things I liked about it were the moral quandaries presented, the thick tension, the unbelievably evil villain (we're talking Joker without the make-up), and the lack of supernatural elements.

I also like Detective Conan, which doesn't get as dark as Monster, but still presents a compelling mystery without supernatural elements (albeit the shrinking drug).

Is there any anime similar that has deep psychological undertones, compelling characters, lack of mecha, spirits, or magic, and is good?

[Tron Bonne]

How do you feel about sci-fi bent series?

Serial Experiment Lain, Texhnolyze and Ergo Proxy seem to be something up this alley, but all of them kind of have some heavy sci-fi elements.

[Secret Fawful]

Paranoia Agent

[childeroland]

Not a whole lot of those (Paranoia Agent is great but essentially supernatural).

You might try Detective Academy Q. It's okay. There's also Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, but that's so fantastic it might as well BE a straight-up supernatural series. The lighthearted Futakoi Alternative is quite good.

[Secret Fawful]

Psychological mysteries can include supernatural elements. OP; don't read this next part as it involves spoilers.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Paranoia Agent isn't supernatural at all, childeroland. The cause is entirely psychological and the series uses a lot of allegorical and metaphorical characters and scenes. If anything it's a psychological study on mass paranoia set within a psychological mystery.

[childeroland]

Lil Slugger

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

starts off in Tsukiko's mind which those psychological aspects bring to life. 'Paranormal' might be a better specific designation. It walks the line, being Satoshi Kon and all, but it's certainly not non-fantastic.

[Secret Fawful]

Psychological mystery can be fantastic. In this case, such qualities add to the mystery.

[childeroland]

Yep. In fact, Paranoia Agent reminds me a lot of a Thomas Ligotti story, where the two are intertwined to the point where the reader/viewer can go with whatever interpretation he wishes.

[Mario_Galaxy]

Is Paranoia Agent on DVD yet?

[Tron Bonne]

It was released awhile back, but is unfortunately out of print right now. If you want it bad enough, you can get the bootlegs pretty cheap on eBay, otherwise it's just a wait to see if someone picks the NA licenses back up.

[RichardMoore]

Originally Posted by Tron Bonne

How do you feel about sci-fi bent series?

Serial Experiment Lain, Texhnolyze and Ergo Proxy seem to be something up this alley, but all of them kind of have some heavy sci-fi elements.

I'd prefer if it lacked a sci-fi bent.

Like I said, I like Detective Conan (which is completely real-world outside of its shrinking drug) and Monster. Something similar to that.

[KalMart]

Death Note

Steins Gate

[Tron Bonne]

Damn, an almost year late reply lol

Originally Posted by KalMart

Death Note

Steins Gate

Both of those have sci-fi and supernatural bends, though, which he isn't looking for.

I'm coming up with a bit of blank to those without those kind of bends though. I'm sure they're out there, but I haven't seen many. One series you might want to look into is The Getbackers. I haven't seen the anime or manga myself, but the whole premise is basically two brothers who try to find lost artifacts for people. I'm not sure if it the science fiction and supernatural seep into or not, but from what I know it's more grounded than that.

[KalMart]

Originally Posted by Tron Bonne

Damn, an almost year late reply lol



Both of those have sci-fi and supernatural bends, though, which he isn't looking for.

Ah....tough one, then. Not that familiar with straight detective stories. I still think those two kinda' go 'beyond' their respective 'genre' elements and rely more on the strength of their writing and story setups, though.

[KnightInBlack]

Going back to '98 I highly recommend 'Perfect Blue'. More of a psychological thriller and done by Satoshi Kon before he did 'Paranoia Agent'. It's a movie, not series if that's what anyone's looking for. And has very mature themes and imagery at times. It has some similarities to 'Black Swan' & apparently Aronofsky acknowledges this too. Great little mind bender of a film.

[Tron Bonne]

Perfect Blue is a perfect recommendation. Can't believe I didn't think of it. You might also want to try out Black Jack, too. Again, not actually seen/read that myself, but I think it's a mystery heavy type of deal without a lot of sci-fi and fantasy

[RichardMoore]

Cool. Any other recommendations?

I liked reading Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, but I am particularly looking for an anime that's not heavy sci-fi or supernatural...more of a mystery/psychological theme.

Two other animes I really like are Full Metal Alchemist and Death Note, but I want something that lacks the supernatural sci/fi aspects those shows possess.

[Lucien]

The Castle of Cagliostro for mystery

Paprika for psychological theme (it's somewhat like Inception)

[Lord]

Hunter X Hunter starts as a normal battle shonen, then by York New becomes more psychological and with mystery and twists, after that it becomes more about psychological themes

[Eklypze]

Paprika is an amazing film. If you consider dream worlds supernatural then nevermind though. Death Note while it does have some supernatural elements I think those take a back seat to the more important themes of the series.