Eh, well, grim and gritty isn't my style usually, but Narutaru isn't playing it for gore, or really even for horror in the modern horror genre sense, more in the way the original Godzilla is a horror movie. Unfortunately, the series doesn't have an ending, just a stopping point, and leaves the co-star's plot and the overplot both unresolved. Reading online, it was apparently made before the manga was completed, so that's understandable, but takes it right back off the reccomend list except for the explict purpose of setting fanfic there. Save only that Shiina the lead character gives every sign of being the exception to the ruled that having one of these critters sends you off the deep end it wouldn't have been there in the first place, but she could really use a friend who isn't a headline waiting to happen.
As for other anime... Let's see if I can dig up the list I made...
Arrrr.
Anime... on CRACK!
Da good stuff:
Excel Saga
Puni Puni Poemi
FLCL
Amazing Nurse Nanako
Moldiver
Shinesman
Real Bout High School (Heheheh... Demon Lord of Panda... Magical Princess Oyster Lulu... snrrk!)
Agent Aika (and I wish there were less pantyshots to distract from the plot)
Read Or Die OVA
Maps
(new addition: Narutaru, which despite being gritty and not ending, just stopping, is really REALLY wierd in a hidden-in-everyday-life sort of way. It does get darker than any of the rest here, though.)
Sakigake Cromartie High (SERIOUS crack)
Second, I am a raving mecha fanatic. I draw, scratchbuild, and write about mecha. I hope to be reincarnated as a Cybertronian, and have performed voodoo rituals to that end. I dream of variable fighters flying in formation with me. Mecha shows are the backbone of my list:
Transformers G1
King of Braves Gao Gai Gar
Macross/Plus/7/Zero (NOT Southern Cross or espescially MOSPEADA, or that thing Macek made out of their violated corpses)
Megazone 23 I/II/III
Bubblegum Crisis (the real one)
Terrestrial Defence Force Dai-Guard (Like Evangelion without Anno-baka! Kickass! It stops more than ends, too, but at least does so in a way that makes sense.)
Nadesico TV
Tekkaman
VanDread
Finally, I like 'splosions... big, big 'splosions!
DBZ *movies* only (regular series drags too much)
Tenchi OVA
Project A-Ko series
Legend of Condor Hero (okay, so it doesn't have so many actual explosions, but it's like I thgouht Ranma would be without the stupidity and abusive relationships)
Iria: Zeiram the animation
Dirty Pair (not Flash, it's not super-bad but just does't feel the same somehow.)
Bastard!! (enough explosions and heavy metal references can indeed make up for being a high fantasy setting, Virginia) (I particularly fear the day some fanfic writer combines this with the previous one...)
E's Otherwise
Soultaker
Hellsing
Scryed
Trigun
(new additions follow)
Naruto
Read or Die TV
Airmaster (okay, no 'splosions HERE either, but lots of fighting, and one of the characters just used a ki attack - and for once, the first ki attack is both a fight-finisher and performed by the comic relief!)
Shadow Skill TV
Not Quite Favorites:
Macross DYRL/II (don't rag on Macross II, it had pretty girls, pretty machines, and pretty explosions, and for that I can accept a stock 'War is Hell' plot if it's not too gritty about it)
ADPolice Files (the real one)
Platinumhugen Ordian (despite the mecha, I should dislike it for being too gritty and peacenik preachy... but I don't, it's just not a favorite)
Slayers and sequels (if only it was a science fiction setting instead of high fantasy... even a magic-based 'futuristic' setting)
Violinist of Hameln TV (ditto - though I want a Pheonix sky-battleship, and Slur battle mecha are cool too, so it's part way there)
The Brown Acid: shows I thought I would like but did not (and why):
Evengelion (Anno-baka)
Ebichu (Anno-baka)
Popotan (too normal)
Bubblegum Crash (discontinuitous feel from first series, too preachy ending)
Tokyo 2040, again espescially the ending (above and beyond hating it for pretending to be BGC) (same as Crash)
Dragon Ball/Z (if it was edited to about 1/5 the length, it would be really, really good)
Crest of the Stars (drags worse than Drag-On Ball)
Texholnolyse (ditto plus Anno-baka-worthy mindfuck when it does do anything)
Any and all Gundam (too dark, when it's not dragging) G was a special dissapointment since I was told it was goofy instead of dark
Escaflowne movie (not enough time for mecha when they had to put the plot in)
Five Star Stories movie (ditto)
Ghost In The SHell (too compressed)
Gowcaiser OVA (It's a fighting game anime. 'Nuff said)
Cowboy Bebop TV/movie (couldn't tell ya, it just rubbed me the wrong way)
Ranma 1/2 (too stupid, and I don't find abusive relationships funny. Some of the fanfic is good, but only when it breaks sharply away from the actual anime and manga)
Great Teacher Onizuka (has its moments, but it honestly feels like the subplot in an action show, not something to carry a show on its own. Most 'schoolkids' anime is even worse about that)
Spiral (I don't much dig Mystery as a genre, the ongoing plot about the whizkids wasn't enough to carry it for me)
Castle In The Sky Laputa ('powers Man was not meant to wield' endings always piss me off, even if the rest is as good as this. There is a rant about this which I'm not going into here.)
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
As for other anime... Let's see if I can dig up the list I made...
Arrrr.
Anime... on CRACK!
Da good stuff:
Excel Saga
Puni Puni Poemi
FLCL
Amazing Nurse Nanako
Moldiver
Shinesman
Real Bout High School (Heheheh... Demon Lord of Panda... Magical Princess Oyster Lulu... snrrk!)
Agent Aika (and I wish there were less pantyshots to distract from the plot)
Read Or Die OVA
Maps
(new addition: Narutaru, which despite being gritty and not ending, just stopping, is really REALLY wierd in a hidden-in-everyday-life sort of way. It does get darker than any of the rest here, though.)
Sakigake Cromartie High (SERIOUS crack)
Second, I am a raving mecha fanatic. I draw, scratchbuild, and write about mecha. I hope to be reincarnated as a Cybertronian, and have performed voodoo rituals to that end. I dream of variable fighters flying in formation with me. Mecha shows are the backbone of my list:
Transformers G1
King of Braves Gao Gai Gar
Macross/Plus/7/Zero (NOT Southern Cross or espescially MOSPEADA, or that thing Macek made out of their violated corpses)
Megazone 23 I/II/III
Bubblegum Crisis (the real one)
Terrestrial Defence Force Dai-Guard (Like Evangelion without Anno-baka! Kickass! It stops more than ends, too, but at least does so in a way that makes sense.)
Nadesico TV
Tekkaman
VanDread
Finally, I like 'splosions... big, big 'splosions!
DBZ *movies* only (regular series drags too much)
Tenchi OVA
Project A-Ko series
Legend of Condor Hero (okay, so it doesn't have so many actual explosions, but it's like I thgouht Ranma would be without the stupidity and abusive relationships)
Iria: Zeiram the animation
Dirty Pair (not Flash, it's not super-bad but just does't feel the same somehow.)
Bastard!! (enough explosions and heavy metal references can indeed make up for being a high fantasy setting, Virginia) (I particularly fear the day some fanfic writer combines this with the previous one...)
E's Otherwise
Soultaker
Hellsing
Scryed
Trigun
(new additions follow)
Naruto
Read or Die TV
Airmaster (okay, no 'splosions HERE either, but lots of fighting, and one of the characters just used a ki attack - and for once, the first ki attack is both a fight-finisher and performed by the comic relief!)
Shadow Skill TV
Not Quite Favorites:
Macross DYRL/II (don't rag on Macross II, it had pretty girls, pretty machines, and pretty explosions, and for that I can accept a stock 'War is Hell' plot if it's not too gritty about it)
ADPolice Files (the real one)
Platinumhugen Ordian (despite the mecha, I should dislike it for being too gritty and peacenik preachy... but I don't, it's just not a favorite)
Slayers and sequels (if only it was a science fiction setting instead of high fantasy... even a magic-based 'futuristic' setting)
Violinist of Hameln TV (ditto - though I want a Pheonix sky-battleship, and Slur battle mecha are cool too, so it's part way there)
The Brown Acid: shows I thought I would like but did not (and why):
Evengelion (Anno-baka)
Ebichu (Anno-baka)
Popotan (too normal)
Bubblegum Crash (discontinuitous feel from first series, too preachy ending)
Tokyo 2040, again espescially the ending (above and beyond hating it for pretending to be BGC) (same as Crash)
Dragon Ball/Z (if it was edited to about 1/5 the length, it would be really, really good)
Crest of the Stars (drags worse than Drag-On Ball)
Texholnolyse (ditto plus Anno-baka-worthy mindfuck when it does do anything)
Any and all Gundam (too dark, when it's not dragging) G was a special dissapointment since I was told it was goofy instead of dark
Escaflowne movie (not enough time for mecha when they had to put the plot in)
Five Star Stories movie (ditto)
Ghost In The SHell (too compressed)
Gowcaiser OVA (It's a fighting game anime. 'Nuff said)
Cowboy Bebop TV/movie (couldn't tell ya, it just rubbed me the wrong way)
Ranma 1/2 (too stupid, and I don't find abusive relationships funny. Some of the fanfic is good, but only when it breaks sharply away from the actual anime and manga)
Great Teacher Onizuka (has its moments, but it honestly feels like the subplot in an action show, not something to carry a show on its own. Most 'schoolkids' anime is even worse about that)
Spiral (I don't much dig Mystery as a genre, the ongoing plot about the whizkids wasn't enough to carry it for me)
Castle In The Sky Laputa ('powers Man was not meant to wield' endings always piss me off, even if the rest is as good as this. There is a rant about this which I'm not going into here.)
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows