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Best "complete" anime you'd recommend?
What anime out there would you recommend to those craving a "complete" experience?
With all of the shows out there that may or may not get another season to someday catch up with their source material, it's kinda risky starting something and being able to see it through to the end.
One I recently remember watching, but never watched serially is Yu Yu Hakusho.
Finding a list probably exists, but interested in others folks would recommend that end on a bang while leaving you complete!
So i'm assuming "Story is done" as complete for these, (Going roughly from good to bad imo):
FMA Brotherhood.
Gurren Lagaan
Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Fate Zero/Unlimited Blade Works
Trigun
Code Geass
Naruto
Death Note
Bleach Edit- I forgot this thing is STILL being animated maybe? I dunno. I noped out and give all my friends who stuck around hell for it and they agree I should.
Of note since you mentioned Yu Yu Hakusho:
HxH is not "complete" (nor will it probably ever be given the manga authors health), but the Anime is currently done. It's by the same person who did Yu Yu Hakusho and while it takes a bit to get going, it does take off and never look back as far as this kind of anime goes.
I have been re-watching Cowboy Bebop, probably the fifth time I have done so.
I feel the more I age, the more life experience I have, the harder the overall story hits and I notice things I never did before.
I got covid last year and took the opportunity to finally watch it. Binged the whole series in three days, and oh boy it was not what I was expecting. I’m pretty good at avoiding (or forgetting) spoilers for shows and movies that I want to watch someday, but I didn’t even have an approximately close vibe for what the show would be, and it was fantastic all the way through!
The opening credits song (Tank! - by Seatbelts) made it into my Spotify end of year summary, because once I finished the show, I didn’t particularly feel like watching it again but damn is the entire soundtrack fantastic! I’m always a fan of high energy jazz/big band/blues stuff, and Seatbelts just have such a compelling sound!
Hmm, okay, I haven’t listened to it in a few months now, so I guess it’s time to pop it back into my rotation. Thanks for the reminder!
I agree that the entire soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop is fantastic. Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts really hit it out of the park and set the entire atmosphere for the series.
I'll often throw on Autumn in Ganymede when I want a chill vibe around the house.
Some of the staff behind Bebop are doing a new Sci-Fi anime called Lazarus! It'll start airing in about a month, and I'm very excited based on what we've been shown so far.
https://youtu.be/7d2ot3PQBMs
yup. Watched a lot of anime my entire life, this one is still the best.
When I start to lose hope watching the world, when I start to think about the doom and gloom and how there's nothing we can do, this is the show I think about. This show is the exact opposite to lay down, give up: fight the power, burst through the ceiling, go beyond the impossible.
It’s also fun in that it so earnestly embraces its over-the-top nature that where other shows feel hopelessly cheesy for trying that, it just feels that much more hype-inducing and awesome. It sweeps you up and takes you on a ride.
Bravern makes an attempt at the sincerity and hot bloodedness, but it can't help being so over it goes into parody. But one of the better ones I've seen.
TTGL is 100% sincere. Man, I want to re watch now. Think Tildes want to do a group rewatch?
Seconding quite a few of those.
I'd also add Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0. Short, fully self-contained, and probably my favorite time travel story.
I've heard great things from Steins;Gate and also noticed that the VN games on steam are all rated especially well. I'll have to add them to my watch list!
I've tried watching it as I've heard many recommend it. I find the sophomoric humor (???) detracts from whatever story may be there. I did make it a few episodes in.
RE: my earlier comments, does this get better? The hinting at hentai and the main characters delusions of grandeur are distracting.
Things go from 0 to 100 in episode 12 IIRC and this continues till the end. The weirdness of MC is always there to some extent, but the story gets much more interesting in second half of the season. Up until that point I found this series to be pretty boring and I was about to drop it, but after finishing the whole thing, I rated it 9/10. I usually don't recommend to watch something if you don't enjoy first 3-5 episodes, but this series is an exception to that rule, in my opinion.
Trigun is one of the best!!! I rewatch it every now and then and it hold up.
Searching for animations by Madhouse is a good strategy to find great 1990s anime.
Bleach had a very long gap (a whole decade?) between its original ending and the currently ongoing adaptation of the final arc of the manga. Though, I agree that the story is not good and not really worth the run time of even the original run.
A) saving this list thx
B) so... basically toonami? lol most of these may have already been finished when Cartoon Network aired them in the 2000s
There’s lots more but I stuck with more mass appeal stuff. Some good recommendations through this topic though
In general original anime will usually give you what you're looking for and I have a few listed below. I'm more of a romantic drama fan and those tend to not have an "end on a bang" kind of climax assuming you're generally seeking more action-focused series, but a few things in different genres that come to mind:
Odd Taxi — A taxi driver gets involved in a series of interweaving events.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans — Child soldiers and slaves try to find freedom and forge their own path from a colonized Mars.
The Tatami Galaxy — A stylish pursuit of the perfect college experience.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica — Make a wish and fight to protect the world, what would you wish for? (Note: there is more content beyond this with another movie coming in the future but it was a complete standalone work when it first came out.)
Run with the Wind — Bonding through striving for the top university relay marathon in Japan.
Shirobako — Five friends dream of making an anime together with a view of how the modern anime industry works.
Ping Pong the Animation — The struggles to reach the peaks of a sport, with a unique visual presentation.
A Place Further Than the Universe — The trip of a lifetime from Japan to Antarctica.
Thanks for this suggestion! I hadn't known that "original anime" was a tag to search for, but makes sense considering how it's sourced! All of these you provided are ones I hadn't picked up, I can't say I've seen a Mobile Suit show in some time and was curious which between Iron-Blooded and Witch from Mercury would be a good one to pick up.
For the Gundam franchise a lot of it comes down to personal preference and I don't think there's any series that's universally loved among the main shows; both Iron-Blooded Orphans and Witch from Mercury have their strengths and weaknesses and take inspiration from different areas. One of the major influences for the latter is Revolutionary Girl Utena which is another complete series worth watching in its own right and could be the subject of an entire academic course dissecting it much like Neon Genesis Evangelion.
I strongly recommend Witch from Mercury! The English dub is good, and all the characters are lovable. It's not a perfect show, but it's a solid 7/10 that I think of fondly.
A short but touching coming of age story that is being understated here. Its popularity skyrocketed rather quickly over its sweet characters, concise story, and its ability to tug on the heartstrings.
It does receive some critique because it does the heartstring tugging a little predictably, but at the time I saw this myself I cared little for that particular critique.
It's anime only and specifically written for the medium which makes it skip the trap of meandering story telling and slow, static storyboarding that many adaptations of manga get.
One of the better stories in the genre.
The question lacks specificity but this is a very strong list in absolute terms.
Ah thanks for pointing out, I was trying to leave it open-ended for more discussion but I've only ever lurked and this is my first post since I created an account 😅
"Best" is definitely not specific enough, so if it makes sense for Tildes format I can consider being more narrow in the question.
I came to suggest Ping pong!!! Crazy how nobody seems to talk about that anime, it's one of my favorites. The story, the animation, the melancholy, everything is on point.
Slapstick:
Dark Comedies:
Noir
Mystery
Romance
* I should also mention this fanfic by Eliezer Yudkowsky. There are probably spoilers with the original story... so watch it before you read this or listen to the audiobook:
Outlaw Star still holds a special place for me. It has an excellent magic system (without being overly complex) and otherwise a very cool world for the eclectic characters to inhabit. But if there's one thing I can do to recommend people watch this cult-favorite sci-fi, it's that it's not just a futuristic Japanese/western setting. There's eastern magic and culture. Even in the far reaches of space there's a sense of cultural otherness that goes beyond cat-girls and princesses in eye-catching getups.
The Japanese dub is great. The English dub is quite good for its time and I think probably holds up reasonably. Better than GTO, imo, but the audio quality isn't perfect. So there's really no reason not to watch.
Outlaw Star, along with Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, constitute a sort of "space western trinity". All three are excellent, although to my tastes Cowboy Bebop blows the others out of the park.
That said, they are all excellent in different ways, and I'd have recommended them myself had others not already done so.
"It's high noon in deep space."
Speaking of the dub, those who saw it on cable back in the late '90s may remember this excellent promo:
Welcome to the Future
八卦散發！
Funny you say Noir, because there's an old-ish series literally called Noir which fits the bill too, by the end of the first episode you should know if you want more or not
Noir is an underrated gem!!
Very 90s
+1 to Azumanga Daioh. I'd absorbed some of the memes from ancient internet pop culture. What I didn't expect is that it's also a touching story about a group of kids going through high school.
It starts with their first year of high school then ends with their graduation. The ending wasn't quite a tear jerker, but it hit me way harder than I expected!
I love the atmosphere too. The show integrates Chiyo's age into the whole thing well - it's supposed to be the premise, but everyone's really caring for her and she gets along despite the age gap. There's a kinda natural tug of friction from her fitting herself in that could have been more pronounced for drama, but they leave it where it is so it never gets in the way and there's never so much that you doubt they're all friends.
My friend has been sending me a steady stream of Osaka brainrot memes and either zoomers are picking up Azumanga Daioh again or it's just been eternal the whole time.
I think the show's humour is evergreen. When I was chatting with my little brother's girlfriend, I said "America Ya!" and got an immediate response of "hello hello hello" like I'd triggered a sleeper agent! She's not a weeb and didn't know what Azumanga Daioh is, but she knew the characters and memes.
DMC for real is top tier comedy, love the record store scene where he finds his college friend.
🎵 Murder, murder everyone! Paint all memory red with blood! 🎶
A lot of the classics where spoken for in the first reply, I'd add on FLCL, though the word "complete" may vary for you, as it's only six episodes long. So if you were looking to binge watch something, you'll be done in one sitting.
For a more contemporary series, I'd recommend Pluto. It's also a short number of episodes, but the run time for them is longer.
Seconding Pluto. Do yourself a favor and go in cold. It's based on a comic (no surprise there ha) and if you read anything ahead you'll ruin the magic.
As my time gets more stretched thin, I've found that I appreciate some shorter series in between larger ones now and again. (Like struggling to finish up Stormlight Archives book 3, needed some breaks in between.)
You may also enjoy Cells at Work! The original series is only 14 episodes. Cells at Work! Code Black is shorter but much more serious in tone.
Well then you might appreciate Afro Samurai: a hip hop infused, violent story of revenge featuring the voice talents of Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, Lucy Liu, and more. Just five episodes of beautiful sword fights and atmospheric brooding. There's a movie sequel that I don't feel adds anything of substance (but it has tons of style so it's more of a bonus if you like the miniseries)
A good hard sci-fi series I haven't seen mentioned yet:
Also, for folks who like fantasy comedy, it's hard to go wrong with a pair of classics:
Not to say the first 18 episodes won't satisfy, but the last six or so episodes of Planetes could have been a standalone movie from start to end and it would've gripped me. Such a wonderful series.
My all time favorite is Berserk - the original run from the 90s, rather than the later OVAs and modern series.
You could also give Hellsing a shot, as well as X/1999.
Escaflowne is an all time classic.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig are both excellent.
I really love the world and atmosphere in Escaflowne. It’s a particular type of magic-fantasy-steampunk that is somewhat rare in anime. Its Yoko Kanno score of course helps with that.
I’d recommend tracking down the bluray remaster if possible. It’s a major visual upgrade over the old SD releases.
Then you might consider watching Zenshuu! It's heavily inspired by older isekai titles, and it's an anime original airing this season. It has some very very pretty animation which pays homage to the classics (from Ghibli to Gundam). It feels completely different from most modern isekai.
Could you elaborate on what makes you consider Berserk a complete experience? To me, it seems like almost the polar opposite of what the OP is asking for. The 1997 anime covers 13 of the 42 currently available volumes of manga and skips significant content from those volumes. The author also died before finishing the series, which is now being finished by his longtime friend.
To me, it tells a complete, mostly self-contained story, constrained as it is to The Golden Age arc.
It's never going to tell the whole manga's story, but it doesn't need to, per se. I'd love to see a good, high-quality adaptation of everything after the golden age... But we're not likely to get that.
It's also a really, really good story, with great characters and extensive influence on lots of media.
One of my favorites. How do you think the show holds up versus the film? It's been a long time since I've watched the show, the film is just a more convenient use of time.
Bonus, after watching this classic people can give the fan parody Nescaflowné a try. xD
I've watched both the show and the movie, and I prefer the show - in large part because you have more time with the characters, so people can actually develop.
That said, it's been close to 20 years since I last watched X/1999 (either the movie or the series) so it's been quite a while; my tastes may have changed.
Other than what others already mentioned, I can recommend:
Some movies:
I'm sorry for not providing descriptions but the list turned out longer than I anticipated. You can read synopsis in the links. A word about Attack on Titan - it's complete but it has somewhat controversial ending. Some people like it, some people don't, but I think it fits the story overall. On the surface AoT is your typical action anime but the deeper you go the plot gets more and more interesting. It's one of my Top 2.
Oh my god I do not know how I did not recommend these myself. Especially Violet Evergarden. That’s one of the most beautiful animations to ever be made, both in terms of artwork, animation, and story. If there is a single anime I would want someone to watch to understand why I like animation so much, that’s probably the best one.
I also love Vivy because its not only a beautiful animation with excellent music, I love the message about what it means to create art.
This is a weird one, but every season of JJBA is self contained - new characters, and the plot they're involved in, are introduced and neatly wrapped up in each part. It's a silly show, but strangely enjoyable - plus you get to understand the Jojo references.
Stardust Crusaders is a great watch, if only because it feels like the series fully embraced its inherent weirdness there. Every iteration is great, but Stardust is, to my mind, spectacular.
Stardust Crusaders is fun but it does feel a little too long, there's times when it feels like the gang is just fighting some new villain of the week that doesn't really add much to the plot, even if that is how it was in the original manga. But some of the best scenes and characters in the series are in part 3, like Avdol and the gambling fight vs D'Arby.
I'd personally recommend part 4, Diamond is Unbreakable, which has a more casual vibe overall but there's still plenty of wackiness going on and the main antagonist is more compelling.
Diamond is Unbreakable is outstanding as well, and the "powers" are ramped to absurd (in a good way) degrees of specificity. The arc of Stardust ended up being more memorable to me, but you can't go wrong with either of them.
Heck, just watch them both!
Diamond is Unbreakable is a close second for me as well for the reasons you mentioned. At first I thought the pinpoint specific powers were a bit ridiculous but they have grown on me as the series has progressed. I think the turning point for me was the motorcycle scene where I really started to grok Josuke's stand.
I have so much I could recommend you. I can't stand it when Anime doesn't end.
I really like Kunihiko Ikuhara, but his stuff isn't the most accessable to westerners. Pretty much all of them are required watching for queer people. Yes, especially Revolutionary Girl Utena. But I particularly like Sarazanmai.
Pretty much everyone has talked about some good ones already, but I'll second a few of them: The Big O, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, Space Dandy, Tatami Galaxy, Pluto, and The Tatami Galaxy.
Now's a good time to get into Macross, since Disney finally brought out the post-80s stuff to the American market. It's been stuck behind legal disputes for decades. If you want a simple and short one, try the Macross Plus OVA; it's only four episodes long and it's self-contained (though you might enjoy it a bit more if you know about the universe - the only thing that might confuse you is that one of the characters is a zentradi, but it's literally just one line talking about it). Plus it has really great animation and music from Yoko Kanno.
In the same train of thought, every Gundam series is also a complete storyline, more or less. There are some shorter stuff that won't be self-contained since they're sequels or side stories to other series, but for the most part you'll get the whole shebang. I particularly like Turn A Gundam. Unicorn is also pretty great (it's also an OVA, so big budgets and short run), and I also liked The Witch from Mercury even though it's kind of all over the place in terms of story.
Are you open to movies as well? There are a few that I could recommend. I'd probably recommend looking at a listing of Madhouse's 2000s movie offerings because they have some that are worth watching just for the insanely beautiful animation. They have Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Metropolis, all of Satoshi Kon's works (including the series Paranoia agent... which really aught to be on this list), and perhaps most notably, Redline.
Definitely interested in movies as well, the short runtime means it's gotta do a lot in a little! Some movies mixed in can really help with watch fatigue, can't binge em like I used to!
Some of these I remember hearing when I was growing up, thanks for re-reminding they exist!
I still think Puella Magi Madoka Magica has the best-paced complete arc and single season of any television show I've ever watched. There's other stuff, but you can just ignore it.
There's a lot of this kinda stuff, I think; you may want to consider finding the "good parts" of shows and just leaving them there. It's not limited to anime, but I personally hate the entire shounen genre (demographic target if you don't want to call it a genre) because it feels like it needs to string along exactly as long as it's profitable. There's little concern for pacing or developing proper payoff or themes when the whole production is stretchy, and I feel strung along by it the second it shows.
If you're interested in something, but it seems super long or there's a mix of disparate strings of media to navigate, I'd honestly ask around and see if any of it is "essential" or not. I love the original season of Kino's Journey and recommend it in this vein; I thought the recent series kinda sucked. Just don't watch it! Neon Genesis Evangelion and End of Evangelion are necessary viewing. The sequel Rebuild movies have some wonderful ideas, but they aren't as elegant as EoE. If you're happy with how EoE leaves it, just skip em! Bocchi the Rock may end up sucking next season... But the first was a Slice of Life masterpiece that didn't really need more closure, and it could've been all we got if it wasn't a cult hit, right? So maybe just watch it, and if reception is good on S2, go for it. I dunno, I'm flexible with this stuff but I think it's a good idea to be when there's a lot of this resurrection of old material and sudden gold rush to hastily monetize things that do well.
I'll also throw out some stuff from the 2000s. Mononoke is a very satisfying set of short arcs about a supernatural detective in feudal Japan who has to determine the nature and cause of a spirit to slay it. It's has a beautiful watercolor style, and - holy shit, we're getting more?
Well, there's also Gungrave, which is a weird pulpy mix of mafia and goofy sci-fi horror. It puts way too much effort into making a cool backstory and character study for a throwaway action game on the PS2 that put no such apparent effort in, and it climaxes beautifully. That IP is dead as can be, so you don't need to worry about - they did what?
Fuckin' a! How about Gankutsuou? It's the Count of Monte goddamn Cristo with gorgeous visuals. It's a classic. Alexandre Dumas is dead. How can there be a sequel to - FUCK
Gankutsuou is such a wild show and the art style is REALLY COOL, even if some styles clash with others and I sorta wish they'd stuck to just doing one thing well. I highly recommend anyone with an interest in art check it out. I can't really find a clip that does the art style justice the ending theme showcases all the styles as well as the CG (... and the mobile suits and disco balls...). But damn, that whole thing where people's outfits exist on their own "layer" and they're simply moving across a pattern? So cool.
That ED is so good. I ran an anime club and we'd half-rave to it at the end of the night.
Akiyuki Shinbo's peppers that static texture style through his Shaft work - Zetsubou Sensei, Madoka, Hidamari Sketch, ef, Monogatari... I like to call it The Shaft Texture from that, but since Gankutsuou did it before then I'm curious where it appeared first.
It’s been around forever. I remember seeing stuff animated in the 70s done that way.
I can understand why people like it so much but it’s one of those anime where watching it makes me feel sick. Gonzo’s animation isn’t that great in most of their works, and combined with that style it just makes me feel like I’m getting dizzy and I’m about to throw up.
Mononoke does that to me too. Something about the colors they use make it even worse sometimes.
I've got very different tastes than most anime fans but for series it doesn't get much better than
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
Both first and secondv gigs.
Having watched anime since the 90s, it's probably criminal that I haven't watched Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion.
And yet I've seen Golden Boy, Blue Gender, Bubblegrum Crisis, and some of the Macross. You were definitely at the mercy of what the movie stories had on the shelves at the time, lol
Yeah, you gotta wach Eva. It would probably be best to watch the show, watch the movie, read about what the fuck you just watched, then watch at least the movie one more time. It's so dense and often abstract that it's hard to put the pieces together the first time you watch it all. But if you watch it with an open mind, you can still tell you're watching something that was profoundly personal to the creator and that ut has some great commentary on life.
Here's one most people won't mention: Monster.
Another: Legend of the Galactic Heroes (the original not the new one)
Complicated story with complicated characters. Decidedly adult anime.
LOGH is daunting, being 110 episodes long, and some old animation in the first season can be rough (so much they remade the first two episodes in a movie).
But frankly, the themes are better than ever, and the struggle for democracy is presented like nowhere else. It has some dramatic moments but never gets too much into the characters. It's all about history and events, and that gives it a grounded feeling that I have yet to see in anything else, not just anime. There's quite a few shows about politics, but they all tend to merge everything in a small cast, all very human and scheming. Which makes for a good drama, but this goes way beyond that.
I wouldn't say it's my favorite, as Cowboy Bebop has been growing with me over the years, but at the end of the day, CB is about very human characters struggling with the past, which has been done, while LOGH is about humanity and politics.
If only
Click to expand spoiler.
Kircheis
Ow
Almost anything where Masaaki Yuasa is involved is guaranteed to be good. Including the Tatami Galaxy, Kemonozume, Kaiba and Ping Pong the Animation.
Two of my favorite less popular anime fit into this category.
Mob Psycho 100 is a great coming of age story about a middle school boy with limitless psychic powers that just wants to fit in and be normal. 3 seasons of 12 episodes and they're all excellent. Also the original artist, ONE, is also the creator of One Punch Man, but honestly I think this is his best work so far.
Space Brothers is a really endearing tale of two brothers who had dreams of becoming astronauts when they were young, and come across various hurdles, reality checks, and colorful characters while pursuing their dream. Technically the story's not complete and the manga still updates infrequently, but the anime finished in 2014 after a whopping 99 episodes and it ends at a good point so I wouldn't worry about waiting for another season.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans is a Gundam spinoff series that doesn't require any prior knowledge of Gundam and is centered on a group of child soldiers that take over their PMC and aid the princess of Mars on a diplomatic mission. There's some dark themes in this one but the characters, story, and action are great. Two seasons of 25 episodes.
Girls' Last Tour follows two girls journeying across a war-torn and abandoned city. This one's more slow-paced and introspective but beautiful. 12 episodes.
Seconding Ping Pong the Animation and Baccano! since they were already mentioned, Ping Pong might be my favorite coming of age story and Baccano! is just incredibly fun.
Girls' Last Tour is unlikely to get second season but the anime is not complete. AFAIK it portrayed about 2/3 of the manga.
Girl's Last Tour Manga Ending Spoilers
It's probably for the best because that manga ending is one of only pieces of media that have ever given me a sense of existential dread and complete emptiness. When the girls finally reach the top only to realize there really isn't anything there, but they'd made it...
It's a beautiful series that really leaves an impact, and I don't think the manga ending is necessary to enjoy it.
Second for Space Brothers. I loved that show.
Noob question: how does one go about watching anime these days? I've heard of Crunchyroll; is that like... another subscription? I'm watching JoJo on Netflix (yes I'm an anime dinosaur), so I know at least some stuff is on there.
I used to watch more. I'd say my top three are Samurai, Cowboy, Trigun.
It's not perfect but /r/anime has a list of streaming sites. You can also find where specific shows are streaming on livechart.me or JustWatch though at least the former's manually maintained so if something is removed from a service it might not be immediately updated.
In general it depends on where you live, but in the US at least Crunchyroll's the big player for anime-specific platforms. HIDIVE is a smaller operation but they have a few exclusive things. Retrocrush has a decent number of older anime, Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu/Disney+ have a good number of things but not necessarily a ton of exclusives. A few things might be officially on Youtube as well, e.g. Nozomi Entertainment's channel before they were bought by Crunchyroll.
Unfortunately most of the larger libraries do require another subscription these days; Crunchyroll and Funimation in particular used to have fairly large free libraries when they were competing with each other but that ended after their merger a few years ago (and they've stopped renewing licenses for many older shows so the overall legal availability of anime has gone down since then).
Much obliged; thank you kindly!
If I'm being totally honest? I don't know if there's any rules against linking to pirate sites directly, but theindex has provided me a path to most of my shows. Streaming services have largely forgotten that they rely on providing a more convenient service than the ones we get for free.
Thanks!
The thread has lots of great recommendations already. I'll add a few I really love that I didn't see mentioned previously. Not going to provide my own commentary, but I've ordered them by popularity on MAL and included their genres. All of them are either anime original or completely adapt their source material.
Mushishi - Adventure, Mystery, Slice of Life, Supernatural
Flip Flappers - Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
ARIA - Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life
Space Patrol Luluco - Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Symphogear - Action, Sci-Fi
Revue Starlight - Drama
Kaleido Star - Comedy, Drama, Supernatural
Death Parade
I didn't see this one mentioned. I just watched this and it's really good. It's only a 12 episode series, but it starts strong and keeps going.
Completed Adaptations -
-Mob Psycho 100
-Assassination Classroom
-Welcome to the NHK
-Relife
-Erased
Not complete, but a satisfying ending like stopping point -
-March comes in like a lion
-Hunter x Hunter
-Psycho Pass S1
-Uramichi oniisan
This is why I mostly watch 10+ year old shows. I've always had trouble keeping up with weekly releases, and even when I manage to watch a full season, the wait between seasons always kills the momentum.
Most of what I watch is anime original, but some of them are (from my understanding) complete adaptations. There's already been some really good recommendations in this thread, so I'll be the fourth to recommend Stand Alone Complex (it legitimately changed how I rate shows, because I cannot give something a 10 if it doesn't stand up to SAC), and the first to recommend
Haibane Renmei
https://myanimelist.net/anime/387/Haibane_Renmei
A girl wakes up in a strange world with no memories of her past life. It is by far my favorite show. If you only watch one show on this list, make it Haibane Renmei. Just keep in mind that although it seems like a mystery series, none of your questions will be answered, because it's not about the mysteries, it's about how the characters act towards, interact with, and react to each other and the world. By all means, spend time wondering about the significance of the cocoon dreams, the nature of the walls, and the origins of the strange rules and customs. Just don't be upset when the show doesn't tell you the answers.
Shinsekai Yori
https://myanimelist.net/anime/13125/Shinsekai_yori
It's at the same time a show about people with psychic powers, a show about finding your place in a world you can't change, and an interrogation of what it means to be a human. One of the most fascinating shows I've seen.
Megalo Box
The first season is about a man with quite literally nothing to his name (not even a name), who finds a purpose in his life in professional megalo boxing.
The second season is about a man who's lost everything but his name, listlessly drifting through life, before rediscovering what he lost, and finding redemption for the sins he's committed. The first season is really good, but the second season brings it to a 10/10
Deca-Dence
https://myanimelist.net/anime/40056/Deca-Dence
A show about a mechanical walled city, and the people who live in, maintain, and defend it. To even describe the show past the second episode would be to spoil it, so I'm just gonna suggest watching until you get to the twist before you decide whether to drop it. You'll know what the twist is.
ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Department
https://myanimelist.net/anime/33337/ACCA__13-ku_Kansatsu-ka
A show about a federal government auditor in the fictional nation of Dowa, investigating rumours of a potential coup. My favorite aspect of this show is that it actively declines to have any action. I like a show about professional adults acting like professional adults.
Akudama Drive
https://myanimelist.net/anime/41433/Akudama_Drive
Cyberpunk crime action drama. A group of basically supervillains (and one Ordinary Person) are hired to pull off the heist of a lifetime. Stylish as all hell.
Super Crooks
https://myanimelist.net/anime/48453/Super_Crooks
A show about literal supervillains pulling off one last heist before retiring. Although it's an anime spinoff of a live-action adaptation of a comic book, the story is nicely wrapped up, and you don't need any background knowledge about Jupiter's Legacy to enjoy it.
Ergo Proxy
Another one where even talking about the show past couple episodes would spoil it. This is another show that interrogates the concept of what it means to be human. It's also the only show I've seen with a decidedly anti-theist tone. I will say this: it's weird and hard to understand. But if you like weird esoteric stuff, it's great
Read or Die
The OVA follows Yomiko Readman, a sorta James Bond style secret agent, working for the British Library to fight a group of supervillains who are cloning historical figures to take over the world or something. The important thing is that they stole Yomiko's book, and she'd really like it back.
The TV show takes place a few years after the OVA, and follows Nenene Sumiregawa, an author and a close friend of Yomiko Readman's. It also follows the Paper Sisters, a trio of paper masters, working for a shady government organization to procure books for them. Despite
my wifeYomiko not showing up for the first like 15 episodes, I really liked it. One of a few shows where I really missed the characters after I finished it.Reminding me about Megalo Box, it was one my favorite anime I had seen in a while with its bopping soundtrack, animation, and just boxing hype. It's probably the one "sports" anime I've watched that I really would recommend...that said, I don't watch many sports anime and should probably consider some of the ones recommended (Ping Pong, kuroku, etc.)
Did you watch season 2? While most people reasonably thought a season 2 was unnecessary, it got a lot of praise for covering issues that aren't usually dealt with in anime like drug addiction.
I did! It was of course extra and the original season could have been standalone, but I really was digging where it went.
Hajime no ippo is supposedly really good on the hype factor, but I loved Megalo Box for both it's hype and vibe.
Few of my favorites (mostly slow paced), across different genres:
Not quite complete considering their source material but can be considered
somewhat self-contained:
I didn't mention them given how I interpreted the question but Cross Game and Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu are two of my favorites and I'd recommend them both as well.
I just finished H2's anime recently, another adaptation of a Mitsuru Adachi manga, and it's made me want to rewatch Cross Game at some point relatively soon.
I think Uchouten Kazoku will be my choice.
I think I remember seeing this in a list somewhere, I'll add it to check out! Thanks!
Kyousougiga is a very strange one but definitely a complete story that is worth experiencing. One season.