Thought-provoking anime?

I thought Paprika was an upcoming film?
Oh, it was finished already


Anyway,

Originally Posted by TemariPC31

Though I've had the complete series for over a year now, I havent finished watching Serial Experiment Lain. That being said, what I have watched (about half of it) has really got my mind boggled. Thinking about computers, the internet and how they are basically taking over our lives (of course, I'm on the internet right now... dun dun dun).

To be honest, I haven't finished the last disc of Lain yet either, but I think it raises questions more about defining self and human consciousness than just internet addiction. I suppose there is the question of relevance of information and memory and how dependant people are on technology (much like the first Patlabor movie), but I always saw the series' ponderings as more spiritual than machine related.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by eriol33

eww no, that manga is beyond human's normal mentality. I honestly read it very fast so that I could skip all these brutal slaughters, man, it is one of the most graphically sadistic manga in history. This manga makes MPD psycho looked like childish. ._.

But MPD Psycho - much like Gantz, Berserk, Fist of the North Star, Elfen Lied and ilk - IS childish. Or should we say immature in this case, to differentiate between adult and mature content.

As for me, I generally like the thinking man's anime. I wouldn't consider myself high-brow, but a show that makes you think as well as entertained is all good in my books.

Mamoru Oshii's works (Patlabor, Cerberos, Ghost in the Shell movies) make you ponder and question, but they're perhaps not "thought-provoking" in the same sense as most of the titles mentioned (though the term seems to be used very generously here).

I suppose the most traditionally thought-provoking anime I've enjoyed were Haibane Renmei, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion. All raised questions about varied and difficult issues, as well as required you to think and question what was shown. Haibane on the purposes of life and companionship, issues of suicide and redemption, Ghost in the Shell on the concept of the soul, what defines us as humans, Evangelion on the.. well, it was either about religion or Hideaki Anno's frustrations at society

There's nowhere I can't reach.