Shigofumi

Sometimes, you just want to see cute characters suffer.
I think I got a good amount of anime here. So, I'm closing suggestions for the stack unless the anime is from the Summer 2023 season or newer. If you have an anime that fits that, send me a message and I'll check it out.

Every animated media that has been made, in some way has the idea to tell a story, and to express a feeling onto the watcher. But then, there are some series which has a particular way to evocate it's emotions, and they use different tools to do that. Thought provoking writing, displaying the characters' internal monologues, their struggles and fears, using very particular cinematographic angles, and using contrasting styles of animation, colouring and highly symbolical and metaphorical imagery - these are some of the few hallmarks that the said animation is having psychological themes, and that it is avant-garde in it's approach. This is not limited to any genre, as well.

I do realize that animation like this may not be for everyone, but I do firmly believe in it's artistic merits and integrity. Media like this allows us to peek into the human psyche and probably our own too, and it does provides us with often interesting viewpoints of our world, even if fractured through the prism of the animated fiction. Shows like that also likes to ask us questions without answers, to give us moral dilemmas without solid conclusion, or to put it short, to make us think.

The shows that were picked follows a pattern, the ones which are more straightforward, less abstract and easier to get into will be first, while the list goes down, the more complex and obscure the works will get.

These are some pretty good psychological anime series and movies.. Some are new and some are a little older. Enjoy!

Is it true that there's no better salvation than not being born in this world? Is the world that ugly that it's not worth living in? Should I even give it a chance?

Here we are on this earth, with only a few decades to live and we lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, great thoughts, real affections, and enduring undertakings. For life is too short to be little

warning: Death is the recurring theme.
Updated up to: Spring 2022


Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/20845

More you might like: https://myanimelist.net/profile/RokkanShojo/stacks

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:
Bitmap. “Denpa bigaku riron: the Rise of the ‘Radio’ Aesthetic in Japanese Subculture in the 21st Century.” Altair and Vega. 21 March 2012.
Kenji the Engi. “On Denpa: A Guest Article by Kenji the Engi.” Ed. Toadette. On the Ones. 29 June 2019.
illconstruct. “What are Denpa (Dempa/電波) Visual Novels? An Introduction to the Weird World of Denpa Games.” 5 March 2021. Warudo Chaos. 5 Februari 2022.

animes where the protagonist lives for centuries or even millennia, or who are immortal.

Just a list of anime with examples of close-to-abysmal parents/parenting. Some are not blood-related but are still considered parents or parents through adoption. All of them have in some way, shape, or form messed up the central character/major characters in these anime.

Tread with caution if absent/abusive parenting is triggering. This list also acts as a warning before you start watching if this just isn't your thing.

* I haven't seen all of them since some were recommended, but iykyk

These are series that may appeal to an otaku with an ENFJ or INFJ-type personality.

Not including films. The seasons added are subjectively the best to me. These are not in order.

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 (Sout 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 with things like the Happy Science anime movies.
•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

As of now Ao No Orchestra (Blue Orchestra) isn't on any streaming service in the West but is available in the French streaming service 'Anime Digital Network' (ADN) therefore isn't considered 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

Even if it's not a horror some anime can get terrifying. Despite most horror anime not being scary. Gore and other stuff that is portrayed in a way that makes you feel physically sick in a horror context works as well.


Another isn't here cause half the deaths are funny (Even for as much as I like that anime).

Essential anime for lonely people out there (like me) if you want to feel something in this big big world. To see every color, every character in desperate search for some human warmth, to understand and befriend them as we ourselves are looking for genuine connection.

A parallel to this list in letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/kun/list/befriending-the-lyrical-loneliness