Narutaru: Mukuro Naru Hoshi Tama Taru Ko

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

A list of anime that deals with mental illness or other neurodivergence. It may be a main part of the show or just something a main character deals with that contributes to the plot in some way. This is going to be an incomplete stack as I have only seen around 400 shows and there are probably so many that I have missed. If you comment on my profile one that belongs and why, I would love to add it.

As someone who has dealt with mental illness and neurodivergence my whole life, seeing shows where characters deal with similar issues gives me a feeling of being seen. I know many others on this site probably feel the same way.

I hope this list can help someone find a good show!

This is a part of a series of stacks that are about artistic tendencies in anime (and that border the fine line between sophisticated and pretentious).

This stack is a work in progress.

Bibliography:
Bednorz, Maksymilian. “What is Sekai-kei? It’s Horseshit.” Bednorz: The Weeablogue. 26 July 2018.
Howard, Christopher. “The Ethics of Sekai-kei Reading Hiroki Azuma with Slavoj Žižek.” Science Fiction Film and Television 7:3 (2014): 366-368.
Tanaka, Motoko. “Trends of Fiction in 2000s Japanese Pop Culture.” Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. 14:2 (2014).
Thomas, Stefanie. “‘You Cannot See Yourself Unless There Are Others’: Sekaikei as Exhortation of Societal Participation.” The Phoenix Papers. 2:2 (2016): 31-38.

While the exact definition is vague, "Sekai-Kei" media shares similar themes in reshaping/remaking/changing the world, typically as a result of things on a personal scale such as a relationship or impactful event. This could be literally, but also can be one's perception of the world. There are usually elements that make it not grounded in reality with vaguely explained mystic/religious/magic/fantasy/spiritual elements as opposed to science. Apocalyptic fiction is a common stage setting for sekai-kei, but it is not a condition.

The genre as a whole has existed in some way since the late 70s/early 80s (maybe even before that), but with the release of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" in 1995, the Japanese anime industry saw a boom of Sekai-Kei media with varying degrees of quality. While it was not the first, Evangelion is awarded as being the most influential and brought attention to a super niche genre that did not even have a proper name beforehand.

More non-animanga examples:
https://vndb.org/v7738
https://vndb.org/v97
https://vndb.org/v66
https://vndb.org/v648
https://vndb.org/v913
https://vndb.org/v1660
https://vndb.org/v51
https://letterboxd.com/film/pulse-2001/
https://backloggd.com/games/shin-megami-tensei-nocturne
https://backloggd.com/games/dark-souls

More info:
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1397573383&disposition=i
https://www.para-site.art/programme/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society-the-sekaikei-imagination-and-narrative/

4chan post where I stole all this from: https://files.catbox.moe/hhaaaj.jpg

Anime with dark/serious plots but with a bright colorful palette for most of the anime. Clear blue sunny skies and saturated colors are to be expected.

NOTE THAT THIS IS BASED ON AESTHETICS ONLY. That means, this has nothing to do with "Not what it seems" as some of these are dark from the beginning despite keeping a constantly colorful palette like Phantom Requiem for the Phantom or Summertime Render.

Note on Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02
The plot gets considerably darker in season 2 yet it retains the appearance of season one, which isn't dark enough to make to this list.

about Avant Garde genre,

Experimental fiction which shunned conventional storytelling at the time it was created. These stories often invoke unsettled feelings because they reject traditional ways in which we prefer to view (or escape from) the world. Narrative is avant garde works is often of higher importance than the content.

Deconstructions often fall into this genre. Note that simply being darker, edgier, or cynical doesn't mean the work is avant garde.

about the weirdest anime, well, actually I just said it, it's just some bizzare animes, I don't think I'm capable of understanding them all, but why not try? Weird things sometimes have interesting things hidden.

It's no secret that anime can get pretty weird sometimes. Many series take their audiences on a mind-boggling ride, leaving them to question everything they thought they knew about reality. While just about every anime title is weird in its own way, some are just beyond strange. They play with the audiences' minds, relying on psychological storylines and eccentric characters to keep everyone guessing.

Sometimes they don't even feel real at all and seem more like a strange dream. A lot of times, these kinds of series are too much for general audiences, becoming far too confusing to keep up with. But for those who enjoy the challenge, these anime are the perfect watch.

There are totally weird-anime titles that I have put on my other stacks before so I will not want to list them here because this is not a list to evaluate the quality of anime of different themes.

This is just what I found quickly, this list may change in the future

These openings are the most unusual openings among all openings. They might either tell you nothing about what the anime is about or tell you in the most criptic way possible. They might use unusual music or animation.

There seem to be a lot of ways to watch anime but sometimes there are certain outliers that don't make their way to any legal streaming service OUTSIDE OF JAPAN (these criteria are mainly made using LiveChart.me as they list official streaming services to view anime and The Streamable), this stack aims to shine a light on these series, however, some rules are to be followed:

•No 'Kids' demographic, there's a reason MAL makes the distinction for those series, sure they're anime but I don't expect streaming services to lump them with other 'anime' and drown their servers with thousands of episodes (Ojarumaru, Anpanman, Nintama Rantaro). As well as other long-running series that don't fit the demographic rule fully (Sazae-san, Doraemon, Chibi Maruko-chan).
•Avoid recommending retro anime to be added to the stack, we're not counting physical releases or that they used to air in some regions, just that they're currently available in a streaming service (Kinnikuman, Kochikame). Feel free to do an interest stack about them, I'm thinking this one can only go as early as the 2000s for the anime on the stack.
•No lost media, there are better interest stacks for that.
•No series uploaded to Youtube by unofficial channels (Official channels count as legal streaming services, again, outside of Japan that don't require a VPN to view).
•No unofficial doujin anime/fan-made anime.
•No commercials and ads.
•No OVAs or specials, not every OVA such as Hellsing: Ultimate or TV Specials make its way to streaming services as sometimes they're bundled to specific manga volumes, other media, or sold separately from a series.
•No short anime, 5 minutes or less (Gag Manga Biyori, Popee the Performer, Gregory Horror Show).
•No ONA or web anime (Gift ±).
•No donghua (Chinese animation), aeni (South Korean animation), and animation that isn't from Japan, yes we all know many works are outsourced to different studios and animation outside of Japan but this is to make the stack not as loaded and confusing more than it is.
•Sequels not on any streaming services allowed.
•Movies are welcomed albeit sometimes have a similar problem to OVAs, I don't expect things like Gothicmade to ever be on a streaming service let alone outside of Japan. And well... not planning on oversaturating the stack with them.
•Series available as purchase only are not counted on the stack such as Supernatural The Animation: https://thestreamable.com/shows/supernatural-the-anime-series-2011
•If a series seems to be available but it redirects you to a 404 page or simply doesn't appear to be on the streaming service it's eligible for the stack.

Why do I use The Streamable for the "Marked as Unavailable" tag? Well, it actually sometimes shows the episode's name and thumbnail so it helps to know if at some point they're available or if there's a record of them being in an streaming service. And it helps a lot in knowing where some shows are available (like Kobato. is in Peacock of all places).

I do not know every anime not on a streaming service and may commit mistakes so please help this stack grow if you know of any series and feel free to call out any and all mistakes I make, I may make changes to the stack in the future as well. This already seems so messy so please bear with any slow progress to the stack and sorry for the inconvenience.

The process to add an anime: Look at LiveChart.me and The Streamable for available streams and purchase-only options (This isn't a promotion of either site in any way they just serve as tools for the process of finding anime not on streaming services), look at ANN for any physical release outside of Japan (if I miss this one let me know), and look up the Japanese title to see if it's available on the region's streaming services (this one is an extra, usually LiveChart tells you if it's on Japanese Amazon, Hulu or Netflix). If a series gets added to an streaming service it's off the stack. The stack aims to be a mix of different genres and stories so I won't overstuff them with a particular franchise, but rather highlight some series and spread a big franchise not on streaming over other parts of the stack.


Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/29610
Part 3: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/35755
Part 4: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/49195 (made in collaboration with eblf2013)
Part 5: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/52751 (made in collaboration with eblf2013)

I love them.
Some of these technically aren't kids.

Anime that seems cute and innocent but takes a dark turn.

well guys, I filled up stack #1, located here: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/6201

So i gotta start this one now

Banger Opening or Endings that had the bad luck of being used on a rather bad or mediocre show. One that didn't live up to it.



The idea is for series that are mediocre/bad whose only redeeming feature was the OP and/or ED.


Suggestions are welcome.
(Ideally shows with a mean score under 6, but no more than 6.50)


This stack is a collaboration of the Anime Watching Challenges Club.

Other collaborators: eblf2013

Anime whose adaptations are incomplete and have less than 150K members.

WIP, if you know of another one, feel free to tell me in DMs or comments in my profile!

Delicate explorations of heavy topics, alongside depressing or suicidal undertones; often dealing with dark, dramatic and psychological elements not limited to the matters of mental illness or death. Mature themes generally presented in subtle or vague forms, and likewise difficult to pinpoint or comprehend at times.