10 Anime Series for People Who Don’t Like Anime

Me? I’m a hardcore anime fan. You’ve probably never even heard of the anime I like. You? I guess you’re not really into this anime stuff. It’s all spiky hair, big swords, and too much fan service. Right?

Well, what if I told you that there’s plenty out there to watch for people who don’t like those stereotypical anime tropes? If you’ve written off the medium as a whole, you’re missing out on some amazing stories, and here are ten I think will appeal to people who have decided anime just isn’t for them.

10

Monster

If you’re the type that likes HBO-esque prestige thrillers, then Naoki Urasawa’s Monster fits the bill to a tee. This is a slow-burning psychological thriller that’s more infamous than famous among anime fans.

It follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon working in Germany who makes a life-altering decision when he decides to save the life of a little boy instead of the mayor. Snubbing the political elite ruins his career, and it seems that the boy he saved turns out to be a sociopath. It’s a little like a fusion between Mindhunter and The Fugitive, but that doesn’t really do it justice. Monster is very much its own thing.

9

Cowboy Bebop

Even if you’re not into anime, there’s very little chance that you haven’t heard of Cowboy Bebop before. This classic 90s anime is one of the early titles to break into the US mainstream, and it’s still worth a watch today. Just ignore the disastrous Netflix live-action adaptation if you don’t want to spoil your dinner.

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Netflix, Please Stop With the Live Action Anime Adaptations

Who is this even for?

The show consists of a TV series and a movie to cap it all off. It follows the exploits of a crew of misfit bounty hunters living on a ship called the Bebop. Each character has their own background, motivations, and issues. A good deal of the show is simply short arcs of episodes focusing on a particular bounty, but there is an overarching story that builds over the course of the series.

Bebop is renowned for many reasons, its world-building being one. If you liked Firefly and Serenity, well let’s just say every masterpiece has its copy. Luckily there’s room in my heart for both.

8

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

The 1995 Mamoru Oshii Ghost in the Shell film is one of the big three that popularized anime in North America. The others being Ninja Scroll and Akira. It’s an important film for sure, but personally, as someone who fell in love with the art of Masamune Shirow, the creator of the original manga, I never really liked Oshii’s take on it.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex doesn’t really embrace Shirow’s style like the Appleseed movie or Black Magic M66 OVAs (direct-to-video premium anime), but it strikes a balance I do enjoy. Which is good, because the show tells some of the best cyberpunk genre crime stories in the medium, with plenty of philosophical headscratchers and absolutely amazing cyborg action. If you like GITS:SAC (as it’s fondly known) there are quite a few equally worthy entries in the franchise that followed. Yes, I even think that the Netflix CG series isn’t too bad.

7

Vinland Saga

Do you like the Vikings show on the History Channel or The Last Kingdom? Do you fancy a little historical drama set in medieval Europe? Well, I am here to tell you that Vinland Saga is better than any of your live-action favorites in the genre.

It’s also likely to subvert your expectations, especially in the second season, but there isn’t a single minute of Vinland Saga—the story of a boy who becomes a deadly, vengeful warrior and then something more—that won’t have you absolutely nailed to your seat. The art style is more grounded and realistic than typical anime, and despite some amazing action sequences, this is very much a character-driven show with political intrigue and grand battles that would make Game of Thrones envious.

6

Attack on Titan

Incidentally, the first seasons of Vinland Saga and the first three of Attack on Titan were animated by WIT Studio, so that’s why you might pick up on some visual similarities between the two shows at the early stages.

That said, AOE is the wildly-popular post-apocalypse show where humans (living at a more-or-less steam-era level of technology) cower in walled cities in fear of the Titans. These mysterious humanoid creatures are almost impossible to kill, and will scoop up and eat anyone they find roaming around in the open. Only specialized soldiers using “3D maneuvering gear” can take down a Titan, and even then most of the squad are going to end up as Titan lunch.

The show is grounded both visually and in terms of the story, barring, of course, the Titans and some other elements that require suspension of disbelief a little at least. What makes AOT compelling are the central mysteries of the world and where the Titans come from. Something that’s revealed slowly over the course of the show. Be warned, the plot armor is thin in this one, so don’t get too attached to any of the characters!

5

Terror in Resonance

Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), this short but powerful series follows two teenage boys who carry out a series of terrorist attacks in Tokyo—but not for the reasons you might expect. Mature enough for you?

Also, Yoko Kanno from the Bebop soundtrack also takes care of audio duties on this Watanabe excursion. It is smart and thrilling, with a dark and twisted sci-fi core. I can’t say much more than that and the basic back-of-the-box blurb, because it will spoil the plot, but if you liked Bebop and want something even heavier from the same director, then give this a look.

4

Haibane Renmei

Years ago, I watched Haibane Renmei (Gray Feather Federation) without any idea what it was about. I do like watching shows with little to no information about the plot beforehand, but rarely do I go in as cold as I did here. Haibane Renmei is very hard to pin down and explain, but the surface-level description is that there’s a walled town where people with wings and halos are born from cocoons. They have no memories, though they seem to have had past lives.

The artwork is beautiful, the atmosphere whimsical and haunting at times, and the exploration of guilt, life’s purpose, whether you can be redeemed for your sins will resonate with any audience capable of human emotion.

3

Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon, based on the excellent manga, is a gritty action drama set in a pretty unique place with an interesting cast of characters. The viewpoint character is a low-level Japanese businessman who ends up as the hostage of a mercenary group during a deal gone wrong. Abandoned to his fate by the company that put him in the firing line, he ends up joining the mercenary groups instead, and like Cowboy Bebop we end up following this ragtag group on their adventures from episode to episode.

Black Lagoon is definitely for adults only though, and revels in the world’s criminal underbelly with the worst of the worst. The “good” guys in this story are actually just the least bad guys, but if that’s your sort of thing, and you enjoy movies like Heat or The Raid, then this is the anime for you.

2

Ranking of Kings

When it comes to anime (or anything really), I always try not to judge a book by its cover, and that’s an important lesson when it comes to Ranking of Kings. The show has a gorgeous storybook art style that’s vaguely reminiscent of Studio Ghibli, but distinct enough that you’d never confuse them. However, if you aren’t shedding a few tears after the first few episodes, you might want to call an ambulance—because you have no pulse.

It follows Bojji, a young deaf prince mocked for his disability, who sets out to prove himself in a brutal world. The characters, especially the “villians” are deeply nuanced, and the people you think are virtuous usually have a few skeletons in the closet. As for Bojii, life has handed him every roadblock imaginable, but his spirit is the one thing that can’t be crushed—bring the tissues.

1

Ergo Proxy

With Ghost in the Shell already on this list, you might argue that’s enough cyberpunk but I can’t in good conscience leave Ergo Proxy out, and it deserves to stand on its own as a completely different beast. Unlike GITS, this show is set in a dystopian post-apocalypse, with privileged people living in isolated cities, served by robots. We start off looking over the shoulder of an investigator trying to solve the mystery of rogue robots. So far, so predictable for the cybperunk genre.

However, I promise you that you have no idea how off the rails things will go, and the layers of conspiracy that are packed into this show, wrapped up in a moody, dark art style and memorable soundscape. This isn’t a show you can watch casually while doomscrolling your phone, and if you don’t pay attention, it’s easy to get lost, but if you’re willing to engage with the material, Ergo Proxy is a bit of a hidden gem that should have been much more popular than it was.

That’s a great list of shows that should find an audience just about anywhere. Even if you only ever watch live action television and think all animation, I’m confident trying just one of these anime will change your opinion, if only by a little.