Deep, ponderific anime

[Loqui-Mar]

Hola all. I'm a newbie here, and to most of the larger anime culture, but i know what i like.

I'm just coming down from Full Metal Alchemist, so i was wondering if any of the wise ones out there could steer me towards something of a similar depth. You know, the heavy themes, meaning and such behind it. Of course, those pieces of mastery that incorperate relevant humour as well are very welcome to a list ^^.

Anyways, help me along the path of of the dAmNIME, please

[neuralplex]

If you're going for deep anime, you really can't go past the works of Satoshi Kon, Dai Sato or Yoshitoshi ABe.
Here's a list you might like to check out off the top of my head; Ergo Proxy, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Paranoia Agent, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, and Boogie Pop Phantom.
Shows a little more like Fullmetal Alchemist would probably be D.Gray-Man, and Eureka Seven.
If you want to know a bit more about those shows, have a look at http://www.anidb.net/ it should have a reasonable description of all of these titles.

[Bouba]

NOW AND THEN, hERE AND THERE (NTHT) is also quite deep.

[vin.dictive]

MONSTER remains my personal anime favourite for a good while now. You can try that if you like the serial killer genre.

More to the direction of fantasy, Claymore is an amazingly good emerging show/manga. Its grey compared to the violence in Berserk but it develops a solid humane element.

[sithboy]

If you're going for deep anime, you really can't go past the works of Satoshi Kon, Dai Sato or Yoshitoshi ABe.
Here's a list you might like to check out off the top of my head; Ergo Proxy, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Paranoia Agent, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, and Boogie Pop Phantom.
Shows a little more like Fullmetal Alchemist would probably be D.Gray-Man, and Eureka Seven.
If you want to know a bit more about those shows, have a look at http://www.anidb.net/ it should have a reasonable description of all of these titles.

I can vouch for Paranoia Agent, very mind-farkingly good.

[frostpitt]

I found Claymour to be just a mix of Fate/Stay Night and Berserk and some other similar animes. I wouldnt call it original or deep/ponderific.

Anime which touch on deep philosophical issues and also touch us emmotionally hmmmm....Fullmetal Alchemist is what comes to mind. Though if u can BARE old animation and art then go with Robotech, or you can try the 4 part Macross Plus (much better animation quality).

Im hearing alot about Monster....just might give it a shot.

[NeoDeGenero]

if you really like deep stuff, you can't go pass Neon Genesis Evangelion. There are so many references in there that you have to search up to realised.

Ghost in a Shell I and II are also good.

[someoneusedmyid]

monster
claymore
Saishuuheiki Kanojo  (so dramatic  )
full metal panic ,TSR
evangelion
elfen lied (DEFINITELY)
higurashi 1st and 2nd season as well
umm can't think of any more 

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[Guardian]

I found Claymour to be just a mix of Fate/Stay Night and Berserk and some other similar animes. I wouldnt call it original or deep/ponderific.

haha, I wouldn't agree with you on that at all
fate/stay night and berserk share very little that is common with claymore, imo
in fact, i'd say Claymore is one of the more original shonen out there. Berserk isn't even listed as shonen, its a seinen series. and fate/stay night was a lot different was like nearly totally magic based, whereas claymore doesnt even have magic to speak of.

but yeah, i wouldn't call it deep.

if you want deep, try Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. heaps deep. but hrrrmmm, there are different meanings of "deep"... you could prolly call Code Geass, death note, gundam seed sorta deep, in the sense of ideological and mental battles. full metal alchemist isn't really deep, i thought

[rufio]

yer i would put fullmetal in the same class as cowboy bebop. unlike some other anime that you need to pause and think "huh, what... ahh i see'" :p
but then there is some that tries too hard, (IMO) ghost in the shell movie 2

[nobody[v]]

yer i would put fullmetal in the same class as cowboy bebop.

I can only interpret this as "Full metal Panic in the same class as Cowboy Bebop", at which point I would have to disagree, as Full Metal Panic is so much better =P

FMA was....defined by its crappy ending lol =P

And with that out of the way, of the titles I have seen that have been listed here, the most "deep, ponderific" anime would have to be Evangelion, both the series and the movie. I haven't seen much of Ergo Proxy, but from what I've seen, it also seems very interesting with its interesting references to philosophy.

Kino no Tabi, also seems interesting with its view on cultural differences and the traveller, along with the whole

Spoiler (hover to show)

wtf! Kino is a girl?!

moment lol.

[neuralplex]

What did you type? Maybe you typo'd the tag?

IMO, Claymore is an enjoyable action/shounen series but I don't think there's much of a deeper meaning to it.

Skull Man is a pretty recent series with a decent amount of thinking required to get what's going on. I recommend everyone watches it, not only for the philosophical elements but also because Skull man is manly.

[neuralplex]

I've split this topic because fixing nobody[v]'s problem with the spoilers tag isn't really on topic.
That part of this thread has been moved to the help board here: http://www.animesydney.org/forum/index.php?topic=5159.0

[Tariray]

im not sure if this one was mentioned- and if it hasnt well im surprised because there aint no deeper than Lain. Ok maybe there is deeper stuff out there... like GITS2

or maybe its not so much deep as it is ultra mind-warping.

but i think everyone has kinda mentioned most of the ones i know....

[neuralplex]

Yup, I already said Lain.
More mind warping than deep though I suppose, or is that a side effect of it's depth?