Interest Stacks

An uncomfortable journey of the unknown. Monsters, battles with "gods" and a female protagonist that feels human. A gritty complex world worth discovering and you are rewarded with compelling character development.

Mechas, cool sci-fi powers and world ready to be destroyed. War ravaged lands with a great journey from beginning to end as we see the growth and tyranny of Lelouch.

From the New World is a coming age experience with twists and turns that keeps the narrative engaging. Saki discovers her powers as a late bloomer in this universe, constantly told she is part of a utopia yet grows ever curious of the outside world, what will her and her friends discover?

If you enjoy symbolic avant-garde movies then this one right here. Angels Egg is a dark voyage into a bleak world. Without any spoilers Mamoru Oshii (Director) has made a wonderful piece of art. Watch when you have time to sit down and contemplate.

Akira has aged like fine wine with a message the still stands the test of time. If you haven't yet watched this I urge for you to do so!

Kaiba is a whimsical adventure with important themes. Directed and Created by Masaaki Yuasa, (who also directed Devilman Crybaby and Ping Pong the Animation among other great shows), his unique take on animation and art style blend into this dystopic story of Kaiba trying to regain his memories in a world where Memory Trading is the norm. Follow his journey across space meeting whacky characters and tackling the worlds societal issues.

A short film about an old man reflecting upon his life. A calming and soothing watch.

Jin-Rou is a harsh tale of the reality of being a soldier. Following Constable Fuse we discover the morality of what is right and what is wrong, police brutality, espionage and the hunger for power, can Fuse face the ugly consequences of his own mind and stepping into the world by himself. Jin-Rou sort of transcends anime in a sense and steps on the toes of cinematic greats and having a Romeo and Juliet-esque romance.

While this show isn't quite set in a dystopian world; I don't know how to put my finger to it, but it still has that feel to it. While collecting Giftia that have passed their shelf-lives we discover the android Isla has a secret. What will our protagonist do?

Texhnolyze is a piece of media I took far too long to get to. It's disturbing and suffocating, the world is melancholy yet there's a weird duality making it all the more intriguing. It's a slow burner which might turn some away but they're missing out on a brilliant showcase of spirituality, evolution and what it is to be the perfect Human-Being. (TW; SA, Suicide, Drugs)

Memories is a composition comprising of three 40 minute movies. All the movies are different to one another and there isn't any connection between the three allowing for watching at different stages of time. It's hard to really summarise because of this but two out of the three movies are brilliant. The second short-film 'Stink Bomb' is the one I'd say is the weaker story and can ultimately be skipped. 'Magnetic Rose' and 'Cannon Fodder' are brilliant watches.

If you haven't seen this yet; what are you doing?

Journey into Night City, a gruesome yet lively cyberpunk city. Amazing animations that display the dystopia that is the cyberpunk 2077 world.

A detectives footsteps into an unwinding tale. Can he stop the destruction of the planet? Unnerving and clever mystery.

While The Promised Neverland has it's flaws in the latter stages, the first season was an unbelievable experience. An edge of the seat, nail biting plot as the Kids at the Orphanage stumble upon something they weren't meant to see.

Solo Levelling's first episode is enough to show how gruesome and greedy people can be. As portals appear through-out the city, the worlds weakest hunter Sung Jinwoo is more of a nuisance to the rest of the hunters. How can he become stronger?

Evangelion is simply put a messy show, a good kind of messy. Shinji is a confused child, confined to himself and rarely opens up but what happens when he's forced to, will he find the strength and courage to follow through on his actions or will he fall flat?

Heavenly Delusion portrays what a dystopia would genuinely feel like, the brutality, the cunning ways and the greed of man. The first season is sort of split between two stories (which can sometimes making watching feel strange) but makes up for the set up for season 2. Watch as Nakano and Maru traverse the desolate world full of man eating creatures to twisted killers; all in the search of Heaven.

Vivy is a Time-Bending, philosophical tragedy that has a main focus on AI vs Human and delves deep into what it is to be "Human". Stunning animations and a fluid art style to match, personally think it was very overlooked when it first released and deserved a much grander audience.

Casshern Sins is an unorthodox view on the human condition, death and the cycle of life. Bleak and dusky colours used throughout the show symbolise this anime perfectly, symphonic blues and string instruments accompanying the animation leading to a philosophical story that is not dissimilar to the ideas of Yin and Yang.

Cross Ange is a bit of a weird entry for this list. On the surface it's Tits and Gore but it has the whiplash experience of actually being a serious show. Princess Angelise in the first episode is betrayed and her innocence wiped away, she finally learns the harsh realities of the world. Is this show particularly good, not really, perhaps more of a guilty pleasure watch but it has some really enjoyable moments. (TW: SA, Rape, Nudity)

Iron Blooded Orphans is a great way to start getting into the Gundam universe. It has dialled down some of aspects in favour of a more action based plot but still has what makes Gundam great.

Fire Force is a shounen through and through. While that might turn some people away who want a more thought out a thorough plot, this show still offers brilliant character development and it has a much more dark underlying tone compared to a lot of other battle shounen. Fluid animations and a brilliant soundtrack, you have yourself an enticing watch.

A collapsed Tokyo now turned into a parkour paradise. Hibiki makes a mistake leading to his near demise yet someone saves him? A wonderful romance accompanied with an amazing soundtrack.

Cocolors playfully and with a child-like personality use a Borderlands-esque CGI art style to create a dark and emotional story. While the short film has some flaws such as the character developments and motivations; it uses it's short runtime to flesh out a coherent plot that tackles mature themes of hopelessness and growth. That being said, perhaps if this movie was half an hour longer we could've got more in-depth with other parts of the script.

I want to preface this with the fact this is neither an anime (or donghua) but a stop-motion visual. If you don't mind this fact then you are in for a treat. There is no other way to view this than a piece of art, deconstructing capitalist ideas with themes of power and revenge.

The Sky Crawlers is directed by Mamoru Oshii 13 years later after Ghost in the Shell. While very contrasting compared, he still manages to have a knack to capture and make mundane moments feel amazing. Kannami is a fighter pilot that works for an organisation where war between countries is a thing of the past: now war is settled between private companies. While some of the mystery element is predictable, the pacing and storytelling is still top-notch.

Rin, Daughters of Mnemosyne is a hidden gem. We follow Rin Asogi, a detective, as she fends of death but constantly placed into troublesome scenarios. The show is definitely not for the faint hearted and doesn't stray away from body horror and torture scenes. Rin is badass! (TW; Nudity, Torture, Gore, Cannibalism, Rape)

A steampunk world built upon tons and tons of clockworks. Can Naoto and his newly-found companion stop the world from crumbling beneath him? Follow this engineer and his gearbox army. (warning of very mild ecchi in first couple of episodes)

Guilty Crown doesn't reinvent the wheel but it certainly polishes it. Well designed characters that have their moments of being extremely real with intent to make the viewer quite uncomfortable, it's probably a tough watch to binge. (I personally took a break half-way through because of this.) But the outcome you receive is a wonderfully written tragedy.

Darling in the FranXX is a strange anime. It's not particularly complex but constantly chucks up a facade of it being. That aside, it's still worth watching as Zero Two and Hiro develop their relationship and attempt to escape the Birdcage.

While the writing in this show isn't particularly fantastic, I couldn't help but get behind the characters. Fairly action packed yet there is a story that perhaps a season 2 will build upon.

The animation quality for this movie is no where near good enough for 2023 which I why I suspect that it didn't gain a lot of traction, that aside people who can get over that are in for a dynamic and nerve racking rotoscope experience, with the rotoscoping really help excel with what the animation fails to achieve. Feast of Amrita is a Dystopian Cosmic Horror that really captures the essence of being lost and confused. For it being a 45 minute short movie I would definitely recommend giving it a watch despite its flaws.