Mononoke

Fuji TV's noitaminA (ノイタミナ) late night programming block which currently broadcasts on Fridays from 00:45 to 1:45.

Looking to expand your horizons? This list will introduce you to a few anime with unconventional art styles that will surely take you on an unexpected journey.

From using 3D techniques, hand drawing, colourful or muted palettes, these anime will transport you into a world of their own through the use of those brilliant techniques and styles.
Those different characteristics will help broaden your opinion on how art can help enhance story telling by providing context clues crucial to the story, or strengthen a character's particular personality trait.
Pushing beyond the boundaries of what traditional anime should look like and what most are used to, these works are surely going to leave you with a lasting impression and possibly drive you towards more fantastically creative anime!

Critics & Connoisseurs was a club that was founded in 2008 and ended club activities on the 31st of 2022.

The goal of the club was to come up with a list of highly recommended quality shows that are exemplary either within its genre or universally. An anime needed a 70% approval rate in our voting to get on the relation list. The following anime are all part of said list.

You can see the club page here:
https://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=2913

Anime Relation List Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/328
Manga Relation List: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/334

A small collection of visually distinct anime to feast your eyes on.

Series with ghosts, spirits and the paranormal.

Anime with a loner protagonist. Well, at least at the start since introducing new characters is unavoidable. I'm only including the ones where the solitary mindset has been somewhat emphasised.

Facing reality, rejecting the fantasy, and not running away from our issues. Embrace life!

Added Hayao Miyazaki's recent masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron. Mahito choosing to embrace reality, learning to value his current connections and partially overcome the immense grief caused by the death of his mother.

List is up to date as of 01/06/25

They may not have the same premise but their names are very similar, may cause confusion when talking about these series online. This is just a miscellaneous list, the pairs are right next to each other in the listing.
Feel free to let me know of any pairs i may have missed!

A list of anime I believe share a similar style of storytelling to the works of highly revered author, Haruki Murakami.

I drew upon the subject matter and allegories frequently covered by Murakami in his stories. Those of escapism, eroticism, surrealism, loss, depression, loneliness, identity, and redemption.

More titles will be inducted over time, suggestions are welcome.

A list of anime that have aesthetic appeal or have particularly distinctive art styles...

Anime with the most unique art style.

"Elitist" has been a very generic and broad term to generalise many types of not-so-mainstream or "deep" anime, so this list is very diverse and it's criteria are not always clear cut and objective. Nonetheless I try to provide a proper explanation for why each entry is included. Generally speaking these are shows that fit one OR more of these adjectives: Experimental, Avant-Garde, Psychological, Philosophical, Obscure, Classic, Critically Acclaimed, Artsy, Old, etc...

Some shows here are not necessarily obscure or underground at all, but they are still here because they have been stereotyped as "elitist" by the community over time, due to their experimental or artsy nature. Similarly, some shows here are not necessarily artsy or experimental in nature, but their old/underwatched/obscure nature gives them a reason to be here. Not all aspects have to be checked to be included. Only one per franchise.

I have personally watched the great majority of the anime in this list, but there are a couple which I haven't. Still added them because of how strongly they are stereotyped as "elitist" or have fitting characteristics to be classified as such. I know my list still lacks many essential classics, I will continue to add and expand into this list as I watch those personally.

For more recommendations, go to my other Interest Stacks, "Elitist Anime 2" , "Elitist Anime 3" and "Elitist Anime 4", whose links are:

- https://myanimelist.net/stacks/4256
- https://myanimelist.net/stacks/4756
- https://myanimelist.net/stacks/10188
- https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15961

Anime with unique art-style/premise and or surreal/dreamlike sequences

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