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Anime movies/OVAs/series without shitty anime tropes

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Munin

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Sorry if a thread like this has existed before but if there was, I haven't been able to find it and maybe my own reason for creating this is somewhat different anyway.

So...I like anime, but I am not a fan of anime. When anime is good, I love it. I am a huge fan of Cowboy Bebop, but other than that I am mostly into movies. I love Studio Ghibli and Studio 4°C and anything that Satoshi Kon has done.

Yesterday I watched Summer Wars, from the director who did The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's gotten a lot of hype at festivals in the past few months and was hyped up pretty good.

Except I couldn't stand it. It was full of these standard anime tropes, shit like sexually frustrated high school students with crushes on random girls, nosebleed moments, ugh. Then in the end, totally overdone battle theatralics about a god damn card game. Because it will save the world. And while the world of Oz was visually interesting and the more melancholic moments were more bearable, in the end I felt that the movie wasn't much more than someone cutting together Takahata's Only Yesterday with a bunch of Yu-Gi-Oh episodes.

I guess these kind of clichés more apply to series these days than movies so that may be why I keep sticking to the latter. Another series I loved recently was Windy Tales, which was almost Ghibli-esque in its narrative minimalism and lack of any silly anime antics.

I don't get why even in ostensibly serious series like Canaan, the makers have to resort to these retarded comedic moments with exaggerated animation, hysterical voice acting and so on. It just completely destroys it for me.

So my question is...can anyone recommend any movies/OVA/series that mostly play it straight? And I mean, really straight? When it comes to movies I've seen the most well known stuff but maybe I am missing something when it comes to series.

Thanks.
 
Have a look at Ergo Proxy

I thought it was pretty straight forward without the anime cliches

Pretty dark though
 
I think you need to specify what you mean by "play it straight" honestly. Would shows which are fantasy/scifi/comedy/drugtrip count as long as they don't have predictable cliches? Does it have to be serious and realistic? You liked Windy Tales, so I guess alternative art styles are acceptable?
 
duckroll said:
I think you need to specify what you mean by "play it straight" honestly. Would shows which are fantasy/scifi/comedy/drugtrip count as long as they don't have predictable cliches? Does it have to be serious and realistic? You liked Windy Tales, so I guess alternative art styles are acceptable?
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It doesn't have to be serious and realistic (maybe I tend to prefer that more though) because Ghibli often isn't and I love Ghibli. I'm open to any genre (maybe not comedy since that seems to inherently lend itself to the kind of anime clichés I hate)

Sure alternative art styles are acceptable too. My main gripe is just that even with so many of these more serious series, they'll include these typical comic relief moments and other kinds of overdone, silly antics and that ruins it for me. Maybe a good adjective for what I'm looking for is "understated"? I dunno.
 
Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise is a classic by Gainax that seems to be frequently forgotten or ignored by anime fans precisely because it is not based on any typical anime genre or tropes.
 
Stuff worth checking out:

TV-
Kemonozume
Michiko and Hatchin
Skullman
Master Keaton
Monster
Tatami Galaxy
House of 5 Leaves
Planetes
Moonlight Mile
Paranoia Agent
Aoi Hana


That should keep you busy for a while even if you have seen some of those titles.

Edit: I forgot Black Lagoon. Terrible mistake on my part.
 
Movies:

Wings of Honneamise
Jin-Roh
Sword of the Stranger
Patlabor
Patlabor 2
Memories
Perfect Blue
Millennium Actress
Tokyo Godfathers
Genius Party
Genius Party Beyond
Whisper of the Heart (I'm sure you've seen it, but watch it 10 more times)
 
I'm rewatching Gurren Lagann this week.

I saw it mid 2008. And two years later. Nothing has changed. This anime is a blast. Excellent animation, great combat, great music. And a sens of scale never seen before. The thing is the best motivitional ever.
 
UnluckyKate said:
I'm rewatching Gurren Lagann this week.

I saw it mid 2008. And two years later. Nothing has changed. This anime is a blast. Excellent animation, great combat, great music. And a sens of scale never seen before. The thing is the best motivitional ever.
Click to expand...

Did you not read the OP? :lol
 
duckroll said:
Stuff worth checking out:

TV-
Kemonozume
Michiko and Hatchin
Skullman
Master Keaton
Monster
Tatami Galaxy
House of 5 Leaves
Planetes
Moonlight Mile
Paranoia Agent
Aoi Hana


That should keep you busy for a while even if you have seen some of those titles.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've actually partially saw a few of those but never finished any. :lol I think I have this huge problem with keeping my attention span when it comes to series.

I loved Michiko & Hatchin and will make sure to finish that. I'll check out some of the other suggestions too.

Wings of Honneamise
Jin-Roh
Sword of the Stranger
Patlabor
Patlabor 2
Memories
Perfect Blue
Millennium Actress
Tokyo Godfathers
Genius Party
Genius Party Beyond
Whisper of the Heart (I'm sure you've seen it, but watch it 10 more times)
Click to expand...

Let's see...seen Patlabor 1 + 2 a long time ago, they were good. Seen all of Kon's stuff too, as well as the Genius Party movies.

Magnetic Rose off Memories is one of my favourite animes ever and exactly the kind of thing I am looking for - a consistently moody, somber tone without actually being incredibly dark or disrupted by random comedic shit.

Oh, and Whisper of the Heart is good of course but I like Only Yesterday much more. The ending is just staggeringly beautiful.
 
Ferga said:
Have a look at Ergo Proxy

I thought it was pretty straight forward without the anime cliches

Pretty dark though
Click to expand...
I think straight forward is a stretch. Oh and the series is awful, it's one of the few animes i wouldn't recommend to anyone.:lol even if they like the concept / premise.

Also this thread seems like a good excuse to recommend crest of the stars / banner of the stars and legend of galactic heroes. Both are well-written space opera anime, and have none of the annoying tropes you see in many anime series. (or at least the ones the OP hates).

Also you might like macross plus. (wouldn't recommend the other macross shows though), samurai x : trust and betrayal, mushi-shi, ghost in the shell stand alone complex 1st and second gig.
 
Lafiel said:
I think straight forward is a stretch. Oh and the series is awful, it's one of the few animes i wouldn't recommend to anyone.:lol even if they like the concept / premise.

Also this thread seems like a good excuse to recommend crest of the stars / banner of the stars and legend of galactic heroes. Both are well-written space opera anime, and have none of the annoying tropes you see in many anime series. (or at least the ones the OP hates).

Also you might like macross plus. (wouldn't recommend the other macross shows though), samurai x : trust and betrayal, mushi-shi, ghost in the shell stand alone complex 1st and second gig.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've seen some of the LOGH prequel movies but haven't started on the actual OVA series yet. Kind of a daunting task.

I tried Crest of the Stars a few years ago, but I just can't come to terms with the art style. :/

Will try the rest.
 
duckroll said:
Did you not read the OP? :lol
Click to expand...

Yeah. But Gurren Lagann is not about theatrical card battle. It's about rising the human spirit beyond bounds, drilling holes in the sky to transcend space and time ! It's epic defined :lol
 
Munin said:
Magnetic Rose off Memories is one of my favourite animes ever and exactly the kind of thing I am looking for - a consistently moody, somber tone without actually being incredibly dark or disrupted by random comedic shit.
Click to expand...

Well, if there was a ton of stuff like Magnetic Rose, then it wouldn't be so special now would it? :lol

In terms of keeping a somber tone and being incredibly moody I would say Jin-Roh is very much like that, while being completely different in terms of narrative tone. Wings of Honneamise is also pretty damn amazing.
 
Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

It's more Phillip K Dick/Peter F Hamilton meets a cop procedural TV show than anything else.

Great, great stuff.

Also:

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Planetes
Star Blazers (it's been over fifteen years since I've seen this but I'm pretty sure it's po-faced)
 
Munin said:
I tried Crest of the Stars a few years ago, but I just can't come to terms with the art style. :/
Click to expand...

Reminds me, that i held off watching it for months because i didn't like the art of the cover. Give it a another chance! :lol

Yeah. But Gurren Lagann is not about theatrical card battle. It's about rising the human spirit beyond bounds, drilling holes in the sky to transcend space and time ! It's epic defined
Click to expand...
Yeah, but if he dislikes anime humor as stated in the OP, no way he can stand gurren lagann. Although you never know, because i knew a friend who absolutely loved the humor in gurren lagann, and usually hates most of the stuff the OP mentioned in the thread.


Bootaaay said:
Watch Mononoke - no, not the Ghibli film, the 2007 series about a Medicine seller who travels feudal Japan performing exorcisms by finding the Truth, Form & Regret of malevolent spirits. With a highly unique art-style and disjointed, ambiguous dialogue and plot, Mononoke is a constantly intriguing series that, suffice to say, doesn't play up to any of the negative stereotypes associated with modern anime.
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One series i forgot about.
 
Watch Mononoke - no, not the Ghibli film, the 2007 series about a Medicine seller who travels feudal Japan performing exorcisms by finding the Truth, Form & Regret of malevolent spirits. With a highly unique art-style and disjointed, ambiguous dialogue and plot, Mononoke is a constantly intriguing series that, suffice to say, doesn't play up to any of the negative stereotypes associated with modern anime.
 
Lafiel said:
I think straight forward is a stretch. Oh and the series is awful, it's one of the few animes i wouldn't recommend to anyone.:lol even if they like the concept / premise.

Also this thread seems like a good excuse to recommend crest of the stars / banner of the stars and legend of galactic heroes. Both are well-written space opera anime, and have none of the annoying tropes you see in many anime series. (or at least the ones the OP hates).

Also you might like macross plus. (wouldn't recommend the other macross shows though), samurai x : trust and betrayal, mushi-shi, ghost in the shell stand alone complex 1st and second gig.
Click to expand...

I agree, I found Ergo Proxy to be, at first, interesting. However by the middle of the series it just seemed like it dragged out sooo much.
 
duckroll said:
Stuff worth checking out:

TV-
Kemonozume
Michiko and Hatchin
Skullman
Master Keaton
Monster
Tatami Galaxy
House of 5 Leaves
Planetes
Moonlight Mile
Paranoia Agent
Aoi Hana


That should keep you busy for a while even if you have seen some of those titles.

Edit: I forgot Black Lagoon. Terrible mistake on my part.
Click to expand...
duckroll said:
Movies:

Wings of Honneamise
Jin-Roh
Sword of the Stranger
Patlabor
Patlabor 2
Memories
Perfect Blue
Millennium Actress
Tokyo Godfathers
Genius Party
Genius Party Beyond
Whisper of the Heart (I'm sure you've seen it, but watch it 10 more times)
Click to expand...

Well damn.

Also, tropes aren't necessarily bad (obviously). A good show with tropes is a good show.

A bad show that doesn't feature tropes still sucks.

Although, from these lists, it isn't often that shows "play it straight", presumably because that's also considered "boring".

Let me add Hitakari man to the 'shows' list.
Munin said:
I tried Crest of the Stars a few years ago, but I just can't come to terms with the art style. :/
Click to expand...
You must overcome!
 
Jexhius said:
Well damn.

Also, tropes aren't necessarily bad (obviously).

A good show with tropes is a good show.

A bad show that doesn't feature tropes still sucks.

You must overcome!
Click to expand...

While I still loved Bebop despite the few tropey moments, overall in many cases the tropes do indeed ruin complete shows (that are otherwise critically acclaimed) for me. So yeah...
 
Honestly, I think all shows have cliches, the good ones are those that can deliver a great experience despite of them.
 
Oh I forgot another show which you should definitely check out: FLAG. Totally underrated (or rather, just ignored), but a real gem.
 
Zalasta said:
Honestly, I think all shows have cliches, the good ones are those that can deliver a great experience despite of them.
Click to expand...

In general a well executed cliche will be regarded as a narrative hook, while a poorly executed one will be regarded as a trope. :)

I agree, it's all perspective, and just because something is a common element does not instantly make it bad, but often when people talk about tropes or cliches in a negative form, it's very clear where they're coming from - poor execution and generic/excessive use. The actual complain would probably be closer to bland storytelling, since it indicates the narrative has failed to engage because the elements used to tell it distracted or annoyed the audience instead of engaging them.
 
Munin said:
While I still loved Bebop despite the few tropey moments, overall in many cases the tropes do indeed ruin complete shows (that are otherwise critically acclaimed) for me. So yeah...
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I can see where you're coming from, for sure.

But I think the problems of something like Summer Wars are far more traditional, they relate to poor characterisation, pacing issues, lack of narrative focus and so forth.

Considering that animation is such a lively medium most directors will obviously push far away from 'understated' and realistic. Unless you're Satoshi Kon :(. Or possibly Oshii.
duckroll said:
Oh I forgot another show which you should definitely check out: FLAG. Totally underrated (or rather, just ignored), but a real gem.
Click to expand...
Ah you've reminded me that I really need to finish the rest of that. It seemed promising.
 
Of the top of my head:
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Monster
Twelve Kingdoms
Ghost in the Shell SAC
Gankutsuou
Planetes
Mushishi
Black Lagoon
Berserk
Last Exile
 
Jexhius said:
Considering that animation is such a lively medium most directors will obviously push far away from 'understated' and realistic. Unless you're Satoshi Kon :(
Click to expand...

I dunno though. Even Kon found himself drawn to the fantastical in his recent works. Paprika is pretty much a standard action adventure with tons of heavy an excessive fantastical sequences. Sure, it's smarter than many action anime, but it's still much more silly and shallow compared to his other works. His final movie looks to be headed even further in that direction: a scifi adventure featuring cute robots targeting a younger audience. In Kon's case, I think it's good that he was interested in exploring genres outside of his own comfort zone, it would have been interesting to see what he learned from these experiences when he decided to return to making another serious film. Unfortunately for us, we'll never get to find out. :(
 
Jexhius said:
Considering that animation is such a lively medium most directors will obviously push far away from 'understated' and realistic. Unless you're Satoshi Kon :(. Or possibly Oshii.
Click to expand...

Not really. It's just that the best artists do shorts, not feature films or television series. The same holds whether the country in question's the U.S., Russia, or Japan.
 
GhaleonQ said:
Not really. It's just that the best artists do shorts, not feature films or television series. The same holds whether the country in question's the U.S., Russia, or Japan.
Click to expand...

That's a really silly viewpoint. Short films are very different from feature films or television series. Some people are good at doing multiple forms of narrative, some only choose to work on one type. It doesn't mean they're better or worse. Unless of course you're some elitist prick.
 
Watch Digimon Xros Wars. It's essentially having a main character who isn't a dumbass shonen + a hotblooded Digimon partner who whacks people with his mace-microphone.
 
duckroll said:
I dunno though. Even Kon found himself drawn to the fantastical in his recent works. Paprika is pretty much a standard action adventure with tons of heavy an excessive fantastical sequences. Sure, it's smarter than many action anime, but it's still much more silly and shallow compared to his other works. His final movie looks to be headed even further in that direction: a scifi adventure featuring cute robots targeting a younger audience. In Kon's case, I think it's good that he was interested in exploring genres outside of his own comfort zone, it would have been interesting to see what he learned from these experiences when he decided to return to making another serious film. Unfortunately for us, we'll never get to find out. :(
Click to expand...
What you say is certainly true, although his other works before Paprika seemed 'grounded' even when they explored fantastical places, such as the fairly grimy world of Perfect Blue. Although even Paranoia Agent moves between the two.

Although clearly he enjoyed investigating all these different realms and concepts rather then being tied into one particular style. I was perhaps thinking back to his comments about Tokyo Godfathers.
 
One of these days, I'll come into one of these topics before nearly everything I might've suggested has already been suggested. :lol

Still, if you're looking for something that plays it completely straight, I don't think you can go wrong with Rurouni Kenshin Tsuiokuhen / Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, which is a four episode prequel (there's also a movie form that is more or less the same - a few scenes here and there that are slightly extended, changed music in a few scenes, a slightly extended ending, and obviously no chapter breaks; I prefer the episodic form, but it isn't a huge deal) for the Rurouni Kenshin series that does not require any real background in the series proper.
 
Seirei no Moribito
Last Exile
Mononoke
Baccano! -- (first ep is confusing and a bit of a bore, but after that it gets really good. There's a duo that might annoy you with their random comedic antics but in my opinion it didn't detract from the overall series.)

All about 26 ish episodes or less.
 
Ookami-kun said:
But isn't that OVA essentially just about Kenshin having a wangst-fest?
Click to expand...

No, you're thinking of Reflections / Seisouhen. Tsuiokuhen is his backstory during the civil war preceding the main series.
 
Mumei said:
No, you're thinking of Reflections / Seisouhen. Tsuiokuhen is his backstory during the civil war preceding the main series.
Click to expand...

Ah right, nevermind then. The one you're referring to was when he was known as Battousai right?
 
Pretty much everything I'd suggest has already been said. I don't think anyone's dropped these yet though:

Kino's Journey
Habane Renmei
Koi Kaze ;)


duckroll said:
Stuff worth checking out:

TV-
Kemonozume
Michiko and Hatchin
Skullman
Master Keaton
Monster
Tatami Galaxy
House of 5 Leaves
Planetes
Moonlight Mile
Paranoia Agent
Aoi Hana


That should keep you busy for a while even if you have seen some of those titles.

Edit: I forgot Black Lagoon. Terrible mistake on my part.
Click to expand...
IIRC Mitchiko and Hatchin and Black Lagoon have those standard anime cliches the OP was saying he didn't like. I think Baccono does as well.

edit:

Reading his reply about MeH I guess he doesn't care, which makes the OP and what he's looking for even more unclear.
 
duckroll said:
In general a well executed cliche will be regarded as a narrative hook, while a poorly executed one will be regarded as a trope. :)

I agree, it's all perspective, and just because something is a common element does not instantly make it bad, but often when people talk about tropes or cliches in a negative form, it's very clear where they're coming from - poor execution and generic/excessive use. The actual complain would probably be closer to bland storytelling, since it indicates the narrative has failed to engage because the elements used to tell it distracted or annoyed the audience instead of engaging them.
Click to expand...

Like you said, it's perspective. Cliches are easy to forgive and even excuse if you've found something to like about the show. However, they tend to be the most glaring problem if you don't. So I think using it as a basis for recommendation is kind of...fallible.
 
Dead Leaves doesn't feature a single traditional animu cliche. You should check that out.

;D

duckroll said:
Stuff worth checking out:

TV-
Kemonozume
Michiko and Hatchin
Skullman
Master Keaton
Monster
Tatami Galaxy
House of 5 Leaves
Planetes
Moonlight Mile
Paranoia Agent
Aoi Hana


That should keep you busy for a while even if you have seen some of those titles.
Click to expand...

I really don't get how could you list Skullman or Moonlight Mile but not Mushishi and Mononoke.
 
7Th said:
I really don't get how could you list Skullman or Moonlight Mile but not Mushishi and Mononoke.
Click to expand...

My lists are not definitive or complete, they are simply my recommendations based on stuff I've seen are are familiar with. You are free to recommend stuff based on what you have seen!
 
Of series already mentioned, I can't recommend enough Haibane Renmei and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, my two favorite anime. They're very different, but both have excellent character development and a thoughtful consideration of the human condition.

Of series not already mentioned, the following are possibilities:

Noein
Boogiepop Phantom
Witch Hunter Robin
Dennou Coil
 
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