Darkside Blues

It does what it says on the tin. All movies here can be seen stand alone with no context needed.

List of anime for "elitist". These anime have been considered as "deep" animations by various critics and analysts.

In this compilation there are animes with quite complicated stories that are not recommended for all audiences. As they are: cult, artistic, experimental, avant-garde, underrated, psychological, philosophical, unique or mind-blowing anime.

This list has a part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/4197

The weirdest and cringe anime.

I remember going to the video store, browsing the shelves, and picking out a movie based on the box art alone. I'd look at the front, I'd look at the back, and more often than not I'd put it back on the shelf. Occasionally there'd be something like Ghost in the Shell or Ninja Scroll, and I knew I just had to rent it, or more accurately get my parents to rent it.

This isn't just a list of movies that were available on VHS at my local video store, this is also a list of movies that I would have rented had they been there. They have box art and synopsis appeal, regardless of the reality contained within.

This is my virtual VHS store, where we say Japanimation and we don't stock TV shows unless they're only a few episodes long. I hope you like violence and nudity. Things here also generally skew older, keeping with the VHS theme.

This is the bad stuff list. If you want the good stuff list, go here: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9517

Tags: Old, Oldtaku, Retro, Violent, 1980s, 1990s, Trash, So bad it's good

All these anime either:

A.) Have a psychological tag but their manga or novel adaptations do not have a psychological tag
B.) Do not have a psychological tag, but their manga or novel adaptations have a psychological tag


Feel free to DM or message me about any questions, suggestions, or opinions about this stack!

Anime that uses music very sparingly, or uses silence as key means to emphasize emotion or narrative.

No OST? No problem! It's just you and your thoughts now.
Yeah, we hate music here.
Get out, sound.


Feel free to DM or message me about any questions, suggestions, or opinions about this stack!

From late 90s to early 2000s. Organic animation with a hint of depression, existentialism, cynicism, semi-realistic artstyle, fear/ embrace of technology after the economic bubble burst of Japan in 80s.

Before the likes of Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon conquering the kids in the west, it was actually Akira that opened the door and made people realize that the cartoons coming from Japan weren't what you would expect from Disney or your TV channels.
A huge flood of VHS tapes came showing animations with mature themes, absurd plots, and enough graphic sex and violence to make parents freak out... what a glorious time!
They don't make cartoons like this anymore.

This is a comprehensive list with stuff from very good to very trashy, but all in the same spirit.
Some early 00's also included.

ps: I also recommend, but can't include here, Kage (OVA).

Glorious 80's and 90's (Sci-Fi, Neo-Noir and Crime Drama)
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30604

This list is made of works that deals with certain political factors of this, or that, or those world(s).

Every cinema or direct to video anime film that came out in 1994.

1993: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/34756
1995: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/34761

Disclaimer: There are a few hentai movies, that could be counted as well:
- Blue Seagull (1994)
- Princess Road: Bara to Dokuro no Monshou (1994)

We all know the classic “elitist” shows, FLCL, Eva, Serial Experiments Lain.
However, these shows are just as deep, philosophical but are less known among the community, only being discussed and praised by a select few critics across various social media sites. [As a general rule, They can be from any time period, but of course most of them will be old cult-classics.]

Admittedly, I have not watched most of these shows, but have done my dutiful research to find them.

If this gets enough stacks, I might make a tertiary watchlist package :o

pre 2000s shoujo ^_^ trying to highlight some more obscure stuff

some lesser known ova adaptations of shoujo + josei manga, I only included OVAs that are around 1-6 eps, so if they got full anime adaptations later I didn't include them.

the list mainly includes feature films over 1h20 but also some short and medium-length films/OAVs, which are also worth a watch!