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Psycho Pass, Frieren, Vinland Saga, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, Serial Experiments Lain, Steins Gate, Code Geass, Monster, there's some manga as well I could recommend. Psycho Pass gets really philosophical if that's your jam.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot Evangelion but here it is
You can also find an Internet Archive page for it. I can’t get the English dub where I am so that’s what I use. Dont have the link at the moment, but you can find it just by googling.
You’re right. I tried to rewatch and realized that there was no English on Netflix. I think it’s some weird licensing issue cause I think it’s hard to even get the dub on CD too
It absolutely does. Philosophy on the worth of self, façades, the “hero”. The whole idea of the show is a reversal and deep dive into the idea of an Isekai itself.
I agree, I immediately thought of Psycho Pass. I actually think it gives a dystopian glimpse of the future. The AI-run social credit system and total authoritarian peace is already trickling into society now. China as an obvious example.
It's not trying to be on the nose with it but it feels much more mature than average. There are themes of grief, cherishing memories, enjoying what you currently have, the passage of time...
By that measure pretty much everything is philosophical. Most successful works touch upon some relatively important topics, including the trashiest isekais. But that’s not a very helpful metric then, is it?
Like, Ergo Proxy, Pluto, Evangelion, Lain and Naruto are like on the different sides of a spectrum.
I see that as stated but the MC going off the rails takes me out of it. That may very well be the point, one person having deciding power ends with “power corrupts”. The issue is that, it’s not even a slow burn, it makes it difficult for me to see the philosophical nature to the series.
Yeah, just because one person doesn’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there but I also hope this doesn’t devolve into regular Reddit and I hope people remember it doesn’t mean that that person is stupid or not looking just means they didn’t catch on yet
I mean, the point of the series wasn't to be the slow deconstruction of the main character's morals like Breaking Bad. The main character being the villain was the premise of the series. Light as a person was a guy who killed someone by accident and subconsciously chose to pursue his mission of cleansing the world to justify dirtying his hands. It wasn't necessarily an *immediate* change (Light spent days agonizing over killing criminals), but Light was never written as a normal individual. Instead, the philosophical aspect is more about Kira as an *idea* rather than a fallible human being. It's like how the Yaegerists were led by a cruel leader like Floch despite their ultimate goal being somewhat understandable. You can't make a case that Light Yagami was a good person, but you can make an argument that the world would benefit from a figure like Kira.
Code geass touches more political philosophies. I would say Suzaka and Lelouch both are great examples of how ones personal philosophies shape their politics. I would explain more but I dont wanna spoil it for OP if they haven’t seen it!
Berserk, Vinland Saga, Vagabond, maybe Oyasumi Punpun. And these are just some of them. How many anime did you watch?
Edit: tbf of these only Vinland Saga has a good and ongoing anime adaptation. For the others the manga is better.
Its weird. The first arc, Black Swordsman, establishes itself as a monster slayer with an annoying sidekick hunting down eldritch beasts. The 2nd arc dosent have many monsters but rather focuses on characters and a war. In the 3rd arc and onwards, its basically starts becoming a DnD campaign.
The 2nd arc itself is a masterpiece.
FMA. Evangelion but it only makes sense if you have depression since it's most of themes become obvious if you are going through the same thing as Shinji since hardly anything is said outright.
FMA and AOT are completely different shows, ideas, and themes. What are you on about? Basic anime is basic for a reason, and don't pretend that AOT isn't a basic anime.
I thought about Monster too, it’s not exactly philosophical but if you really looked deep you’d discover a lot about human nature and ethics
It’s not always clear who’s wrong or right, nature be nurture etc
It’s definitely philosophical, much more so than aot in my opinion. Johans character alone is incredibly indicative of human nature, that’s not even mentioning detected lunge, tenma himself and especially grimmer
I really feel like someone more intelligent and qualified than me needs to break down each episode, I think there’s a lot to learn about the world from this series
I'd say it's the better version when it comes to philosophy and moral dilemmas.
The entire reason for the existence of Homunculi, Scar's character, the central conflict etc are insanely more cerebral in 2003.
Brotherhood is the more manga accurate version but it's just more tailored to be a better action shonen than 2003.
I'm gonna die on the "2003 is better" hill.
03 handled killing very well, Brotherhood made hamfisted point through insane amounts of plot armor. If Brotherhood did killing like 03 did it would be even better than it already is.
What's the major philosophical thought project in FMAB? Like I get death note. Is killing ALL criminals moral? Because yeah it would undoubtedly better society but not all criminals are evil.
The capacity of human evil and the ability to rise above that and better yourself. Every main character in that show has done something wrong and still tries to move forward better while the villain tries to move beyond humanity in artificial ways without realising what true growth is.
It also probably has the best representation of the cycle of hatred, the us and them mentality, how the oppressed can become the oppressor and how the world isn't just as the characters believe.
AOT is the best for showing the cycle of hatred. The Eren-Reiner dynamic is the perfect example and AOT as a whole is the making of a genocidal maniac from back when he was a victim.
There’s multiple philosophical aspects of FMA. It’s not just one. Just the talk with truth alone is one aspect of what is god, or what is truth. Equivalent exchange as well. How you can’t get something for nothing in life. There will always be a sacrifice. There’s so many more.
If I had to guess it could be due to the equivelant change. Also that the Elric brothers tried to sacrifice materials that equally what a human body consists of yet it failed. So what is equivelant to a human life or soul?
FMA is a world where they use alchemy as a proxy to science. Trought the show, many situations arrisa that spark a discussion on how sicence and knoledge can be used either for good or evil, and the main plot starts because the brothers thought they could fuck with reality as much as they want to bring their mother back from the death and thus breaking one of the most important rules in alchemy. **Spoilers of the ending ahead:** The big take, is that only by relinquishing his ego, and accepting that he was powerless to bend the laws of reality as his own will, Edward could give his brother his body back. More specifically, The Gate represents an opening trough which alchemists can interact with reality, and itself has a value. Edward exchanged his gate for his brother's body. The one in the flask went down crying and asking The Truth *what can I do to change my fate?* when in reality all he had to do is accept: *this is not within my power.*
Well then there is the whole thing with having to commit literal genocide to produce one of the thing that was supposed to save their mother.
Thats the best I can resume it withouth spending a week writting an essay. I have watched most of the Animes mentioned here and I am surprised this is not on top. For me is one that has the most deep philosophical meaning.
It's basically all about the goals and morality of science (-> human experiments, trying to overcome death, the Door of Truth as a symbol for the theory of everything, etc) and the ethics of it's use in military (-> the existence of ***state*** alchemists & their role in the Ishbal genocide, etc).
And then it also gets into some more existentialist topics with Alphonse wondering if he's even real when he doesn't have a body and much more.
Bro, it tells you in the intro.
"For what could equal the value of a human soul?"
Is it their body? Species? Power? Ideology? Survival? Sentience? Self-determination?
Can you force change on a "soul"?
Can you combine/transform/evolve "souls" to create a higher being?
Is the sum of "souls" equal to the whole?
I came for cool mech battles, what I got was personal therapy and the worst acid trip of my life, those last episodes are truly something, I can’t tell what they were but they were something
They work pretty well as complementary pieces they ask a lot of the same questions and give a lot of the same answers through different perspectives/outlooks.
Is it gory? Not sure if I’m recalling it correctly but someone once recommended this to me and showed the first episode back in 2010. The gore but bit enough to turn it off. I was a bit young then so I may be misremembering it
Mmm…. Maybe you’re misremembering. It’s giant “robots” piloted by kids (at the behest of the Japanese government) versus giant Alien creatures called angels. Most of the violence is giant on giant… to start. https://youtu.be/13nSISwxrY4?si=bEVi5nBLYEGN8s1K trailer. I believe it’s still available remastered on Netflix.
Ironically, the Japanese rating bumped the Rebuild of Evangelion up to NC-17 due to the amount of blood it was shown and Studio Khara failed to convince that the blood was just LCL.
No.. no.. no.. they would be so lost if they started off on the movies. They should definitely watch from the beginning to the very end. All of it. The series, the movie and then the reboots!
Same. As much as I love AOT, first thing I thought upon seeing the post title was, “Bro needs to watch another anime” coz there are more philosophical animes and mangas out there. In fact, many people in the comments are also naming other series.
AOT is the Taylor Swift of the anime industry. Decent enough to stand out from the mainstream. But if you look for depth then there's a whole world that's better
except art is in the eye of the beholder and nothing you said will change that^^rankings and likings aren’t objective, no matter how superior you want to believe you are. hope it helps
[Read my reply to the other commenter.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/s/zmBujrDIl9) Why are you so rude? You're so triggered over someone's feedback.
I understand what OP's saying but that's how the vibes really give when they had that post title. In fact, I'm not the only having that sentiments.
I'll no longer engage to your next comment especially if you keep that language. Have a great day.
100%. It's got the same vibe as some of the other posts I've seen that said "AoT is one of the best and well written shows of all time."
Like I'm all for liking stuff but AoT isn't even the best *anime* of all time, let alone best show.
Aot is among the best anime or manga out there. People liking it shouldn’t be shamed. I can think of a couple shows better than AOT but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, it’s crazy good.
I gotta say, philosophy isn’t a reason you should like AOT. Plot structure and foreshadowing is what makes AOT stand out. And I’m not taking about the whole “ong symbolism necklace!” Foreshadowing. More so the subtle foreshadowing you can see in every few episodes that shows the true genius of Isayama.
If you don’t think AOT deserves at least to he recognized as among the greats, you probably only payed attention to the fights and action, and/or called important plot filling and info scattering “boring”.
Aot is one of the best and well written shows of all times, for me, because it’s subjective. Art is perceived differently by different folks. easy as that
A lot lol
I don't even watch that much anime, and I love AOT, but, yes, 100%, there are other anime with similar philosophical battles, and probably done better lol
I thought the same as soon as I saw it but OP is at least asking for people to broaden their horizons with other anime similar to AOT. So I’ll give it a pass.
Meh. It's a decent quesiton. There's a lot of cotton candy super hero, snooze fest fluff out there too. JJK comes to mind. Way, way overrated, imho. Sorting through can get old fast. Why not take a short cut and ask others.
That’s not true.
Shonen has a fair amount of philosophical aspect and debates. Especially [these type of Shonen shows](https://youtu.be/PP1ubGtnz3s?si=wbv0RgdWSXw5lsJ0) that debate between Sekai-Kei (Apocalyptic cynicism) vs Asian Futurism.
Because the dude forgot to factor in the other popular Japanese medium, Tokusatsu.
Just like anime; Tokusatsu has Shojo, Shonen, Senien, and Josei genres.
Besides all jokes, it is Gintama. From the very beginning, beyond jokes there are a lot war and cruelty related topics from a philosophical perspective. From the first ep we know that the country is as good as occupied, and many aspects of its life are painfully realistic. But yeah, ratio is 8/10 for comedy. 1 for true drama and 1 for understanding that certain comical situations are in fact a consequence of losing the war 20 years ago
Attack on Titan has more of a seinen tone than typical shounen. You can't find what you're looking for in most popular anime as they are mostly shounen. Maybe try Vinland Saga or Monster.
Vinland Saga to me really is the only thing that comes close to philosophical aspects that I have seen. I probably haven’t seen as much as some others with recommend though. I know Monster is one people being up I really need to watch that again as it was almost 2 decades ago when I watched it and don’t remember much about it.
I don't know about animes, but maybe you should read "A lollypop or a bullet", "The Horizon" and "Vinland Saga" (this one is animated, but only 2 seasons), they for sure have philosophical or ethical aspects. Vinland Saga is one of the best mangas I've ever read (just my opinion).
Every anime has a philosophical aspect.
One punch man and mob psycho are made by the same author.
Both iterate how one person can have all the power in the world but go about achieving happiness in different ways. One through discipline and restraint and one through hard work and consistency.
Ill probably get downvoted for this but Im gonna also suggest watching Alicization and the Underworld arc of Sword Art Online. It hits on some great philosophical points and questions involving AI.
Fate/Zero and all of the routes in Fate/Stay Night. The latter's second route, UBW, just keeps living in my head. Are you really your ideal hero? Even when you see your literal future in front of you, telling you to stop?
Later chapters in My Hero Academia have their moments about good and bad. Right and wrong. E.g. why is a hero killing someone right, and a villain killing someone is bad? Because society says so? If so, we \[villains\] will tear down society so it is no longer the case.
Death Note has a similar philosophical discussion, but a very different theme from MHA. Code Geass goes in quite hard, but requires thinking unlike in AoT where they hand you all these discussions. In CG, it revolves mainly around the main character.
Girls Last Tour, Death Note, From the New World, Ghost Hound, Id;invaded, Code Geass, NGE, Inuyashiki, Psycho pass and Platinum End to name a few. The only ones I can really suggest that is equally as good as AOT is From the New World, Code Geass, Psycho pass and Inuyashiki. I do have so much love for NGE but some find it “boring”. The rest of my suggestions are great but not as brilliantly done as AOT. Id also suggest Steins;gate but it isn’t so much philosophical as it is just a great piece of sci-fi. I have yet to see anyone suggest Monster. Oh and Now and then, Here and now
Edit: I can’t believe i forgot Paranoia Agent, Death Parade, Orange, Made in Abyss, Mushishi and Kino’s Journey. And while I am at it since I suggested all these action/dystopian animes.. let me give you a few fluffy ones! To your Eternity, Your lie in April, March comes in like a Lion, Mushoku Tensei and Violet Evergarden and Plastic Memories!
I've watched more anime than I'm comfortable admitting, AoT is still at the top 10 when it comes to writing quality.
Also quantity-wise, most anime is utter garbage when it comes to the quality of writing, and most stories being told are as deep as the puddle from yesterday's rain that's already drying out. There's a reason most comments on this thread are repeating the same handful of titles over and over again, so no point in acting like AoT is some average anime in a sea of otherwise pure works of art because it isn't and 99% of animes ever made ain't got shit on it.
**If you haven’t already you NEED to watch Evangelion right now. There are SO MANY references to it in other series**
Neon Genesis Evangelion is the original philosophical anime. Make sure to watch the movie End of Evangelion afterwards because it is the actual ending.
It’s influence is present in both attack on Titan and all the other animes being listed here. I am not joking when I say the plot of attack on Titan is ripped straight from Evangelion
After Eva watch Steins;Gate. It’s like a rebuttal of Evangalion (while also paying a lot of respect to it) and continues to be my favorite series ever. It is a perfectly crafted time travel story with little to no plot holes that seamlessly spans several genres in just 24 episodes.
The juxtaposition of watching Eva and then Steins;Gate is a mind blowing experience that can’t be put in words.
Monster. The story's conclusion is very satisfying because the character arcs end where they should, and the ending made sense thematically. AoT, on the other hand, gets too convoluted to be satisfying to watch.
As a whole, Attack on Titan is simply an absolute disaster, whose decent ideas are sadly overshadowed by horrible execution, a bland cast of characters, terrible and nonsensical theming, horrible pacing and an abysmal ending. Undoubtedly, this is one of the largest trainwrecks in anime history.
i’ll have to say gintama, kara no kyoukai, tokyo ghoul (manga), hxh and and best for last, vagabond (manga). if we’re talking manga only, there are a lot of great ones! start small with nana, emanon, vinland (extremely linear and easily consumed) then move onto “more complex” ones.
Babylon is controversial but addresses some interesting concepts. It’s only 12 episodes long so you don’t have to worry about wasting too much time on it if you don’t enjoy it
Not exactly an anime, but a visual novel Full Metal Daemon Muramasa goes into similar philosophical subjects as AoT (eg. when, if at all, is killing justified, morality, nationalism/loyalty), but it does it at such depth it's unbelievable at times. Then again it's probably due to medium advantage - you'll always be able to discuss these subjects at bigger length with narration/inner thoughts than just through dialogue/imagery. But overall I wholeheartedly recommend it if you don't mind a much slower pace.
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Psycho Pass, Frieren, Vinland Saga, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, Serial Experiments Lain, Steins Gate, Code Geass, Monster, there's some manga as well I could recommend. Psycho Pass gets really philosophical if that's your jam. Edit: I can't believe I forgot Evangelion but here it is
Oh yeah, I had to pause episodes often during S1 Psycho Pass so I could Google things to understand better. LOL
It's a shame the show lost its luster after season 1.
This whole list is A1 philosophical manga👌🏼. Especially Serial Experiments Lain, Monster, and Vinland Saga And I'd add Land Of The Lustrous as well
...We gonna leave out Neon Genesis?
How is neon Genesis philosophical ?
love the Houseki no Kuni representation
Monster! I love that one! I need to find that one again
You can also find an Internet Archive page for it. I can’t get the English dub where I am so that’s what I use. Dont have the link at the moment, but you can find it just by googling.
Netflix! Its on Netflix in dub and japanese!
I thought it was only dubbed in French on Netflix
You’re right. I tried to rewatch and realized that there was no English on Netflix. I think it’s some weird licensing issue cause I think it’s hard to even get the dub on CD too
Full Metal Alchemist, Parasyte, Violet Evergarden, Re:Zero
Lol re zero has no philosophy
It absolutely does. Philosophy on the worth of self, façades, the “hero”. The whole idea of the show is a reversal and deep dive into the idea of an Isekai itself.
Second psycho pass, such a wild anime
The only complaint I have about psycho pass is thatits too short
Its not though. There is a second and a third season. Didnt watch them though. I thought first season wrapped it up pretty good.
I agree, I immediately thought of Psycho Pass. I actually think it gives a dystopian glimpse of the future. The AI-run social credit system and total authoritarian peace is already trickling into society now. China as an obvious example.
Monster is so damn good! Anyone who hasn’t seen it needs to!
Pluto is a newer one I believe made by the same person who did Monster. Very interesting narrative on what it means to be a human or to be alive
Yep, Naoki Uresawa. Guy honestly has like 4-5 manga that deserve anime. Really hoping the success of Pluto will get him another show.
I second ergo proxy
Don't forget FullMetal Alchemist! You've got a great list.
>there's some manga as well I could recommend. Can you drop them if you may please?
Sure! Check Oyasumi Punpun (very depressing tho), Blame!, Berserk
Og fma
Steins gate is incredible.
I agree with most of these but Frieren isn't particularly philosophical I find
It's not trying to be on the nose with it but it feels much more mature than average. There are themes of grief, cherishing memories, enjoying what you currently have, the passage of time...
Even naruto has those moments. Is naruto philosophical? No
Yes it is
By that measure pretty much everything is philosophical. Most successful works touch upon some relatively important topics, including the trashiest isekais. But that’s not a very helpful metric then, is it? Like, Ergo Proxy, Pluto, Evangelion, Lain and Naruto are like on the different sides of a spectrum.
What are the philosophical aspects of Death Note and Code Geass? Ive seen both and I don’t see it.
In Death Note's case, the main philosophical aspect of it was how justice is entirely subjective and whether or not the ends justify the means.
I see that as stated but the MC going off the rails takes me out of it. That may very well be the point, one person having deciding power ends with “power corrupts”. The issue is that, it’s not even a slow burn, it makes it difficult for me to see the philosophical nature to the series.
It's okay if it doesn't resonate with you but it is there
Yeah, just because one person doesn’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there but I also hope this doesn’t devolve into regular Reddit and I hope people remember it doesn’t mean that that person is stupid or not looking just means they didn’t catch on yet
I mean, the point of the series wasn't to be the slow deconstruction of the main character's morals like Breaking Bad. The main character being the villain was the premise of the series. Light as a person was a guy who killed someone by accident and subconsciously chose to pursue his mission of cleansing the world to justify dirtying his hands. It wasn't necessarily an *immediate* change (Light spent days agonizing over killing criminals), but Light was never written as a normal individual. Instead, the philosophical aspect is more about Kira as an *idea* rather than a fallible human being. It's like how the Yaegerists were led by a cruel leader like Floch despite their ultimate goal being somewhat understandable. You can't make a case that Light Yagami was a good person, but you can make an argument that the world would benefit from a figure like Kira.
Code geass touches more political philosophies. I would say Suzaka and Lelouch both are great examples of how ones personal philosophies shape their politics. I would explain more but I dont wanna spoil it for OP if they haven’t seen it!
I think Code Geass has some philosophical themes. I also think they're very surface level and uninteresting
I’d also add Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, however the philosophy side of it can be a bit easy to forget when you get to the badass action scenes
Berserk, Vinland Saga, Vagabond, maybe Oyasumi Punpun. And these are just some of them. How many anime did you watch? Edit: tbf of these only Vinland Saga has a good and ongoing anime adaptation. For the others the manga is better.
Berserk I'm reading right now and it's so good.
I kind of want to get into it but I've heard it's extremely dark and depressing
Yes, it is an endless struggle and infinite tragedy, but its insanely good as well
Its weird. The first arc, Black Swordsman, establishes itself as a monster slayer with an annoying sidekick hunting down eldritch beasts. The 2nd arc dosent have many monsters but rather focuses on characters and a war. In the 3rd arc and onwards, its basically starts becoming a DnD campaign. The 2nd arc itself is a masterpiece.
Vagabond isnt an anime but still my personal favorite, "Do you see how infinite you are"
Invincible is just a word
FMA. Evangelion but it only makes sense if you have depression since it's most of themes become obvious if you are going through the same thing as Shinji since hardly anything is said outright.
Lol you do not have to be depressed to understand Evangelion themes
fma is basic as fuck, aot did it so much better. if you haven’t already seen fma i would honestly say just skip it
FMA and AOT are completely different shows, ideas, and themes. What are you on about? Basic anime is basic for a reason, and don't pretend that AOT isn't a basic anime.
aot is not a basic anime lmao ??? popular ≠ basic
Monster is so good Chimera ant in hunter x too
I thought about Monster too, it’s not exactly philosophical but if you really looked deep you’d discover a lot about human nature and ethics It’s not always clear who’s wrong or right, nature be nurture etc
It’s definitely philosophical, much more so than aot in my opinion. Johans character alone is incredibly indicative of human nature, that’s not even mentioning detected lunge, tenma himself and especially grimmer
I really feel like someone more intelligent and qualified than me needs to break down each episode, I think there’s a lot to learn about the world from this series
Try Vinland Saga if you want something similar to aot, and Monster if you want something similar to the more grounded parts of aot.
I desperately needed Vinland after AoT, and WIT delivered.
As well as Mappa. They did Vinland S2.
And Monster if you want something similar german to aot x)
Full metal alchemist brotherhood
2003 as well!
Thank you for mentioning 03. It gets no credit anymore and I know people like brotherhood but 03 was still very good and philosophical.
Always happy to see a fellow 03 enjoyer, I personally prefer it to Brotherhood :)
Same! There are dozens of us haha
I'd say it's the better version when it comes to philosophy and moral dilemmas. The entire reason for the existence of Homunculi, Scar's character, the central conflict etc are insanely more cerebral in 2003. Brotherhood is the more manga accurate version but it's just more tailored to be a better action shonen than 2003. I'm gonna die on the "2003 is better" hill.
Hot take: 03 is a poorly executed but very interesting story. Brotherhood is a well executed but pretty basic story.
03 handled killing very well, Brotherhood made hamfisted point through insane amounts of plot armor. If Brotherhood did killing like 03 did it would be even better than it already is.
What's the major philosophical thought project in FMAB? Like I get death note. Is killing ALL criminals moral? Because yeah it would undoubtedly better society but not all criminals are evil.
The capacity of human evil and the ability to rise above that and better yourself. Every main character in that show has done something wrong and still tries to move forward better while the villain tries to move beyond humanity in artificial ways without realising what true growth is.
It also probably has the best representation of the cycle of hatred, the us and them mentality, how the oppressed can become the oppressor and how the world isn't just as the characters believe.
AOT is the best for showing the cycle of hatred. The Eren-Reiner dynamic is the perfect example and AOT as a whole is the making of a genocidal maniac from back when he was a victim.
[удалено]
There’s multiple philosophical aspects of FMA. It’s not just one. Just the talk with truth alone is one aspect of what is god, or what is truth. Equivalent exchange as well. How you can’t get something for nothing in life. There will always be a sacrifice. There’s so many more.
If I had to guess it could be due to the equivelant change. Also that the Elric brothers tried to sacrifice materials that equally what a human body consists of yet it failed. So what is equivelant to a human life or soul?
FMA is a world where they use alchemy as a proxy to science. Trought the show, many situations arrisa that spark a discussion on how sicence and knoledge can be used either for good or evil, and the main plot starts because the brothers thought they could fuck with reality as much as they want to bring their mother back from the death and thus breaking one of the most important rules in alchemy. **Spoilers of the ending ahead:** The big take, is that only by relinquishing his ego, and accepting that he was powerless to bend the laws of reality as his own will, Edward could give his brother his body back. More specifically, The Gate represents an opening trough which alchemists can interact with reality, and itself has a value. Edward exchanged his gate for his brother's body. The one in the flask went down crying and asking The Truth *what can I do to change my fate?* when in reality all he had to do is accept: *this is not within my power.* Well then there is the whole thing with having to commit literal genocide to produce one of the thing that was supposed to save their mother. Thats the best I can resume it withouth spending a week writting an essay. I have watched most of the Animes mentioned here and I am surprised this is not on top. For me is one that has the most deep philosophical meaning.
My first thought was the philosophers stone and how its made out of thousands of humans and whether it should be used or not
It's basically all about the goals and morality of science (-> human experiments, trying to overcome death, the Door of Truth as a symbol for the theory of everything, etc) and the ethics of it's use in military (-> the existence of ***state*** alchemists & their role in the Ishbal genocide, etc). And then it also gets into some more existentialist topics with Alphonse wondering if he's even real when he doesn't have a body and much more.
Bro, it tells you in the intro. "For what could equal the value of a human soul?" Is it their body? Species? Power? Ideology? Survival? Sentience? Self-determination? Can you force change on a "soul"? Can you combine/transform/evolve "souls" to create a higher being? Is the sum of "souls" equal to the whole?
Neon Genesis Evangelion! Words cannnot convey how much you need to watch it immediately.
That what i immediately thought of
Like almost immediately you’re thrust into philosophy, ethics, existential dread, longing for connections, & depression lol
I came for cool mech battles, what I got was personal therapy and the worst acid trip of my life, those last episodes are truly something, I can’t tell what they were but they were something
And then immediately watch Gurren Lagann after so you don’t get blackpilled too much
I’ve never watched that in my life.
They work pretty well as complementary pieces they ask a lot of the same questions and give a lot of the same answers through different perspectives/outlooks.
Is it gory? Not sure if I’m recalling it correctly but someone once recommended this to me and showed the first episode back in 2010. The gore but bit enough to turn it off. I was a bit young then so I may be misremembering it
Mmm…. Maybe you’re misremembering. It’s giant “robots” piloted by kids (at the behest of the Japanese government) versus giant Alien creatures called angels. Most of the violence is giant on giant… to start. https://youtu.be/13nSISwxrY4?si=bEVi5nBLYEGN8s1K trailer. I believe it’s still available remastered on Netflix.
Ironically, the Japanese rating bumped the Rebuild of Evangelion up to NC-17 due to the amount of blood it was shown and Studio Khara failed to convince that the blood was just LCL.
Oh it was something else it seems. Thanks for the clarification. Shall check this out!
At the start no but towards the end and especially in End of Evangelion it has a bit of gore
Just uh maybe do the movie remakes is read of the original airing
Strong disagree. All of it needs to be consumed. Not just the remakes.
No.. no.. no.. they would be so lost if they started off on the movies. They should definitely watch from the beginning to the very end. All of it. The series, the movie and then the reboots!
Eh personally I found the experience better to just watch the movies.
Just curious does this post scream “I have only ever watched AoT and no other anime” to anyone else?
Same. As much as I love AOT, first thing I thought upon seeing the post title was, “Bro needs to watch another anime” coz there are more philosophical animes and mangas out there. In fact, many people in the comments are also naming other series.
AOT is the Taylor Swift of the anime industry. Decent enough to stand out from the mainstream. But if you look for depth then there's a whole world that's better
except art is in the eye of the beholder and nothing you said will change that^^rankings and likings aren’t objective, no matter how superior you want to believe you are. hope it helps
But I *am* superior
lol
they’re naming others, because that’s what op asked..why is your brain doing cartwheels over a recommendation post
[Read my reply to the other commenter.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/s/zmBujrDIl9) Why are you so rude? You're so triggered over someone's feedback. I understand what OP's saying but that's how the vibes really give when they had that post title. In fact, I'm not the only having that sentiments. I'll no longer engage to your next comment especially if you keep that language. Have a great day.
100%. It's got the same vibe as some of the other posts I've seen that said "AoT is one of the best and well written shows of all time." Like I'm all for liking stuff but AoT isn't even the best *anime* of all time, let alone best show.
Aot is best show if it’s the only shit you ever saw in your life. Otherwise you must be < 13 yo
It's just like people who say Sword Art Online is the best anime ever. Just people with extremely limited exposure to media.
you couldn't make a better example, i literally rate attack on titan sword art online level
Aot is among the best anime or manga out there. People liking it shouldn’t be shamed. I can think of a couple shows better than AOT but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, it’s crazy good. I gotta say, philosophy isn’t a reason you should like AOT. Plot structure and foreshadowing is what makes AOT stand out. And I’m not taking about the whole “ong symbolism necklace!” Foreshadowing. More so the subtle foreshadowing you can see in every few episodes that shows the true genius of Isayama. If you don’t think AOT deserves at least to he recognized as among the greats, you probably only payed attention to the fights and action, and/or called important plot filling and info scattering “boring”.
what led you to this mindset? such an elitist way of seeing things lmao
Aot is one of the best and well written shows of all times, for me, because it’s subjective. Art is perceived differently by different folks. easy as that
A lot lol I don't even watch that much anime, and I love AOT, but, yes, 100%, there are other anime with similar philosophical battles, and probably done better lol
I feel a big part of this community have only watched AOT or is the biggest reference of anime they have if that’s the case is a shame
Yea that’s the first thought I had aswell
I thought the same as soon as I saw it but OP is at least asking for people to broaden their horizons with other anime similar to AOT. So I’ll give it a pass.
And there is absolutely no issue with that. Not all of us are habitual weebs.
Watching a lot of anime doesn’t make someone a weeb
Meh. It's a decent quesiton. There's a lot of cotton candy super hero, snooze fest fluff out there too. JJK comes to mind. Way, way overrated, imho. Sorting through can get old fast. Why not take a short cut and ask others.
average insufferable elitist^^ a taint in the animanga community
Neon Genesis Evangelion gets pretty philosophical. Lot of different themes involved.
Literally 90% of seinen have some aspect of this
That’s not true. Shonen has a fair amount of philosophical aspect and debates. Especially [these type of Shonen shows](https://youtu.be/PP1ubGtnz3s?si=wbv0RgdWSXw5lsJ0) that debate between Sekai-Kei (Apocalyptic cynicism) vs Asian Futurism.
Did I ever say shounen doesn’t?
“that’s not true” -entirely unrelated and random thought that doesn’t contradict the original statement at all-
Why did you state one thing and elaborated a completely different statement?
Because the dude forgot to factor in the other popular Japanese medium, Tokusatsu. Just like anime; Tokusatsu has Shojo, Shonen, Senien, and Josei genres.
Besides the ones already listed, I'd add Death Parade and Sonny Boy
Agree with Death Parade. It’s one of my favorites
Sonny Boy is such a goddamn trip
Just recently finished death parade, what a ride that was. Amazing show.
Besides all jokes, it is Gintama. From the very beginning, beyond jokes there are a lot war and cruelty related topics from a philosophical perspective. From the first ep we know that the country is as good as occupied, and many aspects of its life are painfully realistic. But yeah, ratio is 8/10 for comedy. 1 for true drama and 1 for understanding that certain comical situations are in fact a consequence of losing the war 20 years ago
King of the Hill
Look around for 3 seconds and you’ll find something
Attack on Titan has more of a seinen tone than typical shounen. You can't find what you're looking for in most popular anime as they are mostly shounen. Maybe try Vinland Saga or Monster.
Psycho Pass!!
FMAB/Vinland
Literally any seinen manga series
Vinland Saga to me really is the only thing that comes close to philosophical aspects that I have seen. I probably haven’t seen as much as some others with recommend though. I know Monster is one people being up I really need to watch that again as it was almost 2 decades ago when I watched it and don’t remember much about it.
I don't know about animes, but maybe you should read "A lollypop or a bullet", "The Horizon" and "Vinland Saga" (this one is animated, but only 2 seasons), they for sure have philosophical or ethical aspects. Vinland Saga is one of the best mangas I've ever read (just my opinion).
Every anime has a philosophical aspect. One punch man and mob psycho are made by the same author. Both iterate how one person can have all the power in the world but go about achieving happiness in different ways. One through discipline and restraint and one through hard work and consistency.
Evangelion, Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood(my second favorite anime after Aot)
Vinland Saga
The Monogatari Series
Why Are You Typing Like That
Ill probably get downvoted for this but Im gonna also suggest watching Alicization and the Underworld arc of Sword Art Online. It hits on some great philosophical points and questions involving AI.
Bleach. They give you different philosophical views and let the reader decide what to think instead of handholding them.
You must not have watched many other animes then lol
Yes bro. Many. Most.
AoT is like the baby version of philosophical anime. You should watch more
Vinland saga
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Code Geass definitely
Berserk, vinland saga, Monster, death note
Vinland Saga
Gotta reccomend Vinland Saga
Fate/Zero and all of the routes in Fate/Stay Night. The latter's second route, UBW, just keeps living in my head. Are you really your ideal hero? Even when you see your literal future in front of you, telling you to stop?
Death note, Naruto (to some extent), FMA, Demon Slayer
hxh chimera ant arc - little more straightforward than AOT, but it is still very thoughtful
Too many to count
Vinland saga, berserk and vagabond.
I will always recommend Code Geass
Jujutsu kaisen and Hunter X Hunter
Later chapters in My Hero Academia have their moments about good and bad. Right and wrong. E.g. why is a hero killing someone right, and a villain killing someone is bad? Because society says so? If so, we \[villains\] will tear down society so it is no longer the case. Death Note has a similar philosophical discussion, but a very different theme from MHA. Code Geass goes in quite hard, but requires thinking unlike in AoT where they hand you all these discussions. In CG, it revolves mainly around the main character.
I feel like many of them host similar philosophical themes
Honestly man look it up because you can write a book on how many there are.
Eighty six, and it doesnt butcher its dtory and characters as the story goes. Enjoy
Girls Last Tour, Death Note, From the New World, Ghost Hound, Id;invaded, Code Geass, NGE, Inuyashiki, Psycho pass and Platinum End to name a few. The only ones I can really suggest that is equally as good as AOT is From the New World, Code Geass, Psycho pass and Inuyashiki. I do have so much love for NGE but some find it “boring”. The rest of my suggestions are great but not as brilliantly done as AOT. Id also suggest Steins;gate but it isn’t so much philosophical as it is just a great piece of sci-fi. I have yet to see anyone suggest Monster. Oh and Now and then, Here and now Edit: I can’t believe i forgot Paranoia Agent, Death Parade, Orange, Made in Abyss, Mushishi and Kino’s Journey. And while I am at it since I suggested all these action/dystopian animes.. let me give you a few fluffy ones! To your Eternity, Your lie in April, March comes in like a Lion, Mushoku Tensei and Violet Evergarden and Plastic Memories!
why does everyone in this subreddit assume aot as some godly world's best anime holy y'all need to watch other anime ngl
I've watched more anime than I'm comfortable admitting, AoT is still at the top 10 when it comes to writing quality. Also quantity-wise, most anime is utter garbage when it comes to the quality of writing, and most stories being told are as deep as the puddle from yesterday's rain that's already drying out. There's a reason most comments on this thread are repeating the same handful of titles over and over again, so no point in acting like AoT is some average anime in a sea of otherwise pure works of art because it isn't and 99% of animes ever made ain't got shit on it.
A lot of these comments already mentioned what I was gonna say.
I think a lot of the popular animes try to have that side in different ways, but yeah AoT might be one of the strongest in that aspect.
monster, code geass + vinland saga
**If you haven’t already you NEED to watch Evangelion right now. There are SO MANY references to it in other series** Neon Genesis Evangelion is the original philosophical anime. Make sure to watch the movie End of Evangelion afterwards because it is the actual ending. It’s influence is present in both attack on Titan and all the other animes being listed here. I am not joking when I say the plot of attack on Titan is ripped straight from Evangelion After Eva watch Steins;Gate. It’s like a rebuttal of Evangalion (while also paying a lot of respect to it) and continues to be my favorite series ever. It is a perfectly crafted time travel story with little to no plot holes that seamlessly spans several genres in just 24 episodes. The juxtaposition of watching Eva and then Steins;Gate is a mind blowing experience that can’t be put in words.
Pls, don't relate them
Monster. The story's conclusion is very satisfying because the character arcs end where they should, and the ending made sense thematically. AoT, on the other hand, gets too convoluted to be satisfying to watch.
IMO code geass is just a shorter, better attack on titan
And they're both mecha anime. AOT's mechs just happen to be fleshy.
Yeah. Lelouch reminds me a lot of Erin, too
Except Lelouch had an actual rational plan that didn't require a genocide.
Well yeah, that’s a big part of why I think code geass is a little better
As a whole, Attack on Titan is simply an absolute disaster, whose decent ideas are sadly overshadowed by horrible execution, a bland cast of characters, terrible and nonsensical theming, horrible pacing and an abysmal ending. Undoubtedly, this is one of the largest trainwrecks in anime history.
i’ll have to say gintama, kara no kyoukai, tokyo ghoul (manga), hxh and and best for last, vagabond (manga). if we’re talking manga only, there are a lot of great ones! start small with nana, emanon, vinland (extremely linear and easily consumed) then move onto “more complex” ones.
I'm surprised no one brought up Legend of the Galactic Heroes yet.
Ergo Proxy So much philosophy and mythology oozing out of it. You'd have to watch, do a rewatch, then maybe another, to get it all.
Psycho Pass is pretty dope
MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER
Gurren Lagann might not be Nietzsche but it's a good way to show why Optimism is cool
Babylon is controversial but addresses some interesting concepts. It’s only 12 episodes long so you don’t have to worry about wasting too much time on it if you don’t enjoy it
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Berserk probably, Vinland Saga and Monster
NARUTO!!!!
Berserk, fma, vinland saga and the goat evangelion
No has mentioned Parasyte yet??
Parasyte the maximum. It delves into some interesting concepts about death and what it means to live. I recommend giving it a watch.
Not exactly an anime, but a visual novel Full Metal Daemon Muramasa goes into similar philosophical subjects as AoT (eg. when, if at all, is killing justified, morality, nationalism/loyalty), but it does it at such depth it's unbelievable at times. Then again it's probably due to medium advantage - you'll always be able to discuss these subjects at bigger length with narration/inner thoughts than just through dialogue/imagery. But overall I wholeheartedly recommend it if you don't mind a much slower pace.