By adult I mean over 18-20 years of age and with adult appearances. Nothing against anime with younger characters, but interested in finding some with older characters.
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A lot of people already mentioned the ones I know of and mostly I only know of older shows that were geared to an older audience :/
Outlaw Star? Anything made by Satoshi Kon texhnolyze Megalo Box Baccano? Legend of The Galactic Heroes
Odd Taxi (crime drama)
Psychopass (crime drama)
Cells at Work: Code Black (… Medical drama?)
Death Parade (Death game-ish)
Devilman Crybaby (main character is a high schooler, but it’s irrelevant imo. I didn’t remember until I looked it up again. This is a grim series )
Inuyashiki (Action. Old man is a complete Chad)
Panty & Stocking (Comedy)
Jellyfish Princess (Drama)
Saga of Tanya the Terrible (it’s not really a kid, action)
Saint Young Men (Comedy)
Samurai Champloo (Action)
Shiki (Horror/Drama)
Monster (Mystery)
Rose of Versailles (Very old, but romance/drama)
Almost all of Satoshi Kon’s work (including Paranoia Agent)
Ruroni Kenshin (Shounen)
Yurii on Ice (Romance/drama)
What you want is “seinen” anime, which is intended for an older audience. Most anime is “shonen”, which is intended for kids. (Not that there’s anything wrong with an adult enjoying shonen.) There are more genres and specifications, but I am not that into anime.
Dragonball is shonen. Cowboy Bebop is seinen. There are loads of great seinen shows out there.
Trigun
New:
- Delicious in Dungeon
- Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
- Odd Taxi
- Psycho-Pass
Old:
- Cowboy Bebop
- Black Lagoon
- Hellsing
- Vampire Hunter D
- Ghost in the Shell
Other:
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - characters look way more adult than they are
Seriously dragon maid? That show is very divisive for its depiction of characters, lol. (e g. Kanna)
Why not? It’s still mostly adult.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - characters look way more adult than they are
One of my favorite moments was in part 5 when
JJBA Part 5
a character asks Giornio if he has a driver’s license and he goes, “Nope! I’m 15!”
You’ve nailed some good ones here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but I believe Speed Grapher also fits the bill.
Dungeon meshi is a recent one that comes to mind
Obligatory [email protected]
Ghost in the shell stand alone complex (and 2nd gig) was my first and still favourite anime.
Genshiken Bartender Spice and Wolf The Fable Dungeon Meshi Goblin Slayer Saihate no Paladin Shirobako Psycho Pass Wotakoi Zom100 Golden Kamuy My Home Hero Kyokou Suiri Vinland Saga - He’s like 16 in the first half but grows up by the 2nd half. Isekai Ojisan Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Blue Period Megalo Box Samurai Champloo BNA Aria Ishuzoku Reviewers NHK no Youkoso Drifters Trigun Osomatsu-san
That takes the record for the longest LN title /s
I swear I formatted it properly on mobile.
Heh, does western anime count?
Legend of Korra, Vox Machina, DOTA: Dragons Blood
And Pantheon.
For heaven’s sake, if you have not watched Pantheon, correct that immediately.
DOTA: Dragons Blood
Is the series ending anytime?
It’s so underrated! And it’s gorgeous, being Studio Mir.
It’s kinda over the top, but I guess that’s relative.
Is the series ending anytime?
Maybe I missed the joke, but it’s ended :(
Maybe I missed the joke, but it’s ended
Oh cool, thanks. Time to pick it up again.
I placed it on hold because season 1 didn’t have a conclusive ending. I’d rather binge everything at once.
The later seasons are a ride!
I’ve completed quite a few:
- Violet Evergarden
- Vinland Saga
- Odd Taxi
- Cherry Magic!
- One Punch Man
- Spy x Family
- Saga of Tanya the Evil
- Delicious in Dungeon
Honorable mentions - depends on how strictly you’d define “mostly”:
Honorable mentions - unique circumstances:
- Cells at Work! - Your typical red blood cell lives for about 120 days :( The cells that look like adults do behave like adults though
- PLUTO - Robots’ mental age can be different from their physical appearances
The only one I’d take issue with here is Spy X Family. I think it’s more of an “all ages” show that focuses heavily on Anya and her classmates antics. All the rest make sense!
Oh yeah, her classmates. They are so unmemorable that I forgot about them😅
Moving it down to honorable mention
Saga of Tanya the Evil
Uhh, the main character is technically a child, even though they >!have the mind and soul of a middle-aged man!<. I’m not sure I’d include this, but the other characters still work.
The rest of the cast appear to be adults though.
One child among numerous adults satisfy the definition of “mostly adult cast of characters” that OP asked for IMO.
Not when the main character is the loli. If you believe Saga of Tanya the Evil meets the standard set by the question you don’t understand the question.
A few off the top of my head: Shirobako. Space Dandy. Samurai Champloo. Ghost in the Shell: SAC.
Lots of good stuff in this thread already, will suggest Black Magic M-66 and Megalobox.
Off the top of my head, Darker than Black. Same director, different take on bleakness: Wolf’s Rain. The main characters don’t really have ‘ages’ given, but they’re pretty clearly adults.
Record of the Lodoss War (a D&D campaign turned into anime, if I recall rightly)
That time I reincarnated as a slime (technically the main character is ~34, and very few children are shown, but the cast has a lot of ‘childishness’ in them… the style is the equivalent of a popcorn superhero movie I’d say)
Legend of the galactic heroes
Witch Hunter Robin
Van Helsing (if you just want to laugh at idiocy, simply watch the abridged series, but the actual show is good)
Dragon Ball Z, except for a few episodes every now and then. The show itself is obviously aimed at the younger shonen crowd though, if you haven’t seen it.
.hack//sign (dot hack sign) is a pretty interesting one. It has several other series in its ‘canon’ if you like it. I’d say it was the adult oriented, well-presented premise of sword art online before sword art online was wet-dreamed up. A friend described it as ‘waving its dick around because they had an actual orchestra for the soundtrack’ in several scenes.
Record of the Lodoss War (a D&D campaign turned into anime, if I recall rightly)
Mixed-age cast—the main characters are adults in the context of their society, but not all are necessarily 20+ years of age. Also be aware that there are two different versions of this, an OAV and a later TV series. There are significant differences in story between the two (the TV series adapts more of the original material, the OAV ends differently). I prefer the OAV, but it’s mostly a matter of taste.
.hack//sign (dot hack sign) is a pretty interesting one. It has several other series in its ‘canon’ if you like it. I’d say it was the adult oriented, well-presented premise of sword art online before sword art online was wet-dreamed up. A friend described it as ‘waving its dick around because they had an actual orchestra for the soundtrack’ in several scenes.
The last time I watched it (admittedly about ten years ago now), I found that it hadn’t aged all that well. The loose ends left because it was a prequel to some of the games in the .hack franchise were very noticeable. (It’s still a better version of the “trapped in a game” trope than SAO, though, because it doesn’t repeatedly reduce the female lead to a damsel in distress). And not all the main characters were adult, although some clearly were. The soundtrack is still excellent if you like Yuki Kajiura’s style, though.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid was pretty cozy, and features primarily adult characters.
The recent film Blue Giant is great. About a young man who moves to Tokyo from rural Japan to pursue his love of jazz. Great visuals and music.
