Houseki no Kuni

Most LGBT anime people can name off the top of their head is romance—BL or GL. It tends to be very sweet and cutesy. And while sweet and cutesy romance is something absolutely necessary to have and I’m glad we can have it, here are some stories that feature queerness in a much more serious manner with more mature storylines and themes that speak to one’s humanity. It may be traumatic and messy, but it is human.

Stack is mostly relegated to canon representation but exceptions are made. Stack is also open to suggestions.

This is a community project — fifty members of the anime discussion forum bundled together and added one entry each. If you find yourself wondering what you should watch next and have nothing specific in mind, why not give this list a try?

Thread link: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2155137

Feel free to share your thoughts about the items on this list there.

Preferably short and standalone, but I picked some long ones too (2000-2024). It's harder to talk about underrated in recent year;;

While most of the sterotypically elitist anime released between 1989 and 2006, there are still modern anime that are considered as "elitist".

I wanted to make a list of shows that I think have really cool art, artistic symbolism, or art styles.

Anime with "out-there" concepts.

Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/47151

List of anime that include at least a few of (but not all of) the following:

- Adult characters
- Real world issues
- Serious, dark, or disturbing topics
- Introspection, philosophy, or psychological elements
- A slower pace
- Blood and violence
- Emotional Intelligence
- Little to no fanservice
- Something to say/a message to send
- Realistic portrayals of any of the above

Keep in mind, not all dark anime is mature, and not all mature anime is dark. A bloody gorefest can be juvenile and a simple romance can be mature. More of the shows in this stack stray dark, however, because that’s what I’m more familiar with and only 50 entries are allowed. There are many more mature anime out there; this is just the first fifty that came to mind.