What are some good NON-mainstream animes?

[JuicedUp]

I'm searching for some really good animes that are NOT mainstream, meaning that not EVERYBODY knows about them. Bleach, Naruto, Inuyasha, and Full Metal Alchemist, for instance, do not count.

So far I have checked out the following.

Black Lagoon - I like the action. My complaints are that it is totally unrealistic and serves only to entertain with gun action.

.hack signs - I like the concept, but I think they talk too much. My personal tastes are more action, and just enough talking to motivate the action, but not so much that it gets boring. Yeah, not everyone knows about .hack signs.

Serial Lain - Very original in creepiness. I liked it but I didn't get very far in it.

Airmaster - The fights are awesome. I'm looking at it right now.

[unspun]

You know, honestly I'm not sure what mainstream anime is, since I don't get anime commercials but I'll give it my best shot ok?

Full Metal Panic
Gantz
Elfen Lied


try those?

[Famahama]

you like action eh?
ehh....
Heres the few that i liked. (with some short and simple description)

Shakugan no Shana .
not too bloody, or no blood at all. One of my favorites. Second season available till episode 5 i think. a bit of a love triangle.

Rozen Maiden, RM traumend, RM Overture.
a very unique story. recommended for the people who liked Shakugan no Shana. long story, short. dolls have feelings.

Jigoku Shoujo and Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori

Elfen Lied
gore and flying limbs. Artworks is insanely awesome! also one of my favorites.

Fate/Stay Night

Higurashi no naku koro ni.
Each ARC (story lines changes) is about 4 episodes each i think. Creepy story to each. Didnt finished it though >.> mostly to horror.

forgive my lack of describing things.
i tend to forget the parts i hate of each story >.>

[AceNoctali]

You can try out the four following animes :


- Planètes : That near-future space anime is absolutely wonderful, and a must-see.

- Uchû no Stellvia : another space anime, but more sci-fi based. A very nice series, although its middle part is a bit weak.

- Mujin Wakusei Survive : yes, again a sci-fi space anime, but IMO one of the best, and one of my personal favourites. Nice story, with nice characters.

- Nanaka 6/17 : A slice-of-life anime, about a cold-hearted 17-years old girl who, following an accident, reverts to her cheerful 6-years old personality. Nice story, a recommended show.

[sa5m]

Mainstream in Japan or mainstream in America?

In America, the anime Darker Than Black is not as widely known (probably because it hasn't come to American yet-- I think it's licensed though). It's very popular in Japan. I highly recommend it. =D Check it out on Wiki. for an episode summary.

[rubberbabybuggybumper]

...hmmm...non-mainstream anime...

I can think of a few:

Alien Nine - alien invade and school girls battle (and I mean girls, they're like 9 or 10). It goes without saying its sci-fi, but also a little comedy and horror with some psychological aspects to it. Only 4 episodes.

Dead Leaves - A weird mix of comedy, action, sci-fi, and oddness. A good OAV (one 1-ish hour episode) that I think is worth seeing. If you're looking for entertainment, I don't think this disappoints.

Mirage of Blaze - Incredibly good. Better than most that I've seen. I'm surprised it hasn't been seen more. It's a historical drama set in the present, with supernatural and romantic aspects. centering on the complex and painful 300+ year (or however long it was) relationship between the two main male characters. There isn't anything graphic though, just an attempted forced kiss. ...A kiss never hurt anyone. Story is intricate (really) and intense. 13 episodes and has a three episode "sequel" (Mirage of Blaze: Rebels of the River Edge).

Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars (Gakuen Senki Muryo) - Sci-fi, comedy and a little bit of action/adventure. Good show about aliens invading and high school kids fighting them. 26 episodes so it's not that long.

My recommendations to you, enjoy!

[Shipuu]

I like the .hack universe (SIGN [GIFT]/ ROOTS) BECAUSE they talk so much and focus more on the characters than other elements. Another reason i like it is because i'm a mmorpg-player myself.

Darker than black - yeah, pretty cool even though i felt something was missing in the end.
Bartender - The slice of life genre. It is something new yeah, but it's great and the music is brillant. But since you're an action-guy probably not the best choice for you.

[Baka]

Try "Claymore".

[TKTwilight]

MAR. It's pretty cool. I like the jewlery that turns into weapons and stuff.

[Shimotsuki_No_MiNa]

Key the Metal Idol

Vision of Escaflowne

El Hazard first OAV

[ParaParaJMo]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Aura Battler Dunbine
Street Fighter II V
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi

[rubberbabybuggybumper]

I just thought of some more:

-Vampire Princess Miyu (TV not OAV. I don't even know if you can find the OAV.)
-Kai Doh Maru (OAV)
-Geobreeders (OAV)
-Memories (movie)
-Maze: The Mega-Burst Space (TV)
-Ghost Stories (aka. Ghost Stories in School or Gakkou no Kaidan) (TV)

These titles are all good and each have their own uniqueness that makes them special.

[octorain]

I say either hellsing, if you constier it non mainstream, or "The thrid: The girl with the blue eye" it's hard to find though. MAR is good also, and less heard of, on of my favorites

[小美ドクロchan]

Flame of Recca. =D

[Unknownymous]

Stuff like Shakugan no Shana is pretty mainstream in Japan. It's one of the biggest and most popular anime today actually. That also includes the other mentioned anime like Claymore, Darker than Black, Rozen Maiden and Fate/Stay Night. They're pretty much the definition of mainstream today. Black Lagoon also counts as mainstream in Japan, I guess, since it was such a big hit.

But you probably meant in America or outside of Japan. It's hard to say, because America usually only picks up stuff that became popular in Japan, meaning they usually only have mainstream stuff. I'll try to list up action stuff then that I don't think is popular in America then.

Try 風まかせ月影蘭 (Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran). The title literally means "Tsukikage Ran, who leaves things up to the wind." I'd translate it as "Carefree Tsukikage Ran". I believe Animax gave it an English title called "Ran the Samurai Girl".

Anyway it's the story of a female samurai in ancient Japan (not sure about the year, if it was even mentioned), who runs into a martial artist named Myao. They get into trouble together and solve problems and help people, one episode at a time. It's more on the story really, but the action scenes, though short, are pretty good. No time wasted on explaining special techniques or anything. I liked the series a lot and it was fun watching.

I'll try to think up more later. Fact is, if it's an action title that didn't become popular in Japan or America, it's usually not worth recommending. Either it's ugly artwork or terrible fight scenes, or just a horrible story, or even all three. So it's kinda hard to think of anime like that.

[sa5m]

Here's some more I thought of last night xD:

-Ghost Hunt
-Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora- only 13 episodes, but one of my favorite anime, made me cry
-Claymore
-Escaflowne- almost made me cry at the end

[syNvii]

X TV - the series that came after the movie.. i personally dont find the movie as good because the characters remain very shallow and undescribed unlike the serie (i watched the serie first later on the movie this could be the reason) its a bit of an older anime (2001) but that doesnt make it less good.. basically: the dragons of heaven (good) have to fight against the dragons of earth (evil) sounds pretty basic i know but that doesnt describe half of how good it is

s-CRY-Ed.. i found this an amazing serie.. didnt expect it either, the drawingstyle didnt appeal to me that much, however the action and main characters did.. its basically rarely standing still.. also watched it in english.. now normally id prefer japanese voices, however these voices were done so well that i have to disagree.. with the exception of cherise (or however you write that name) her voice sort of annoyed me

Ergo Proxy (im not sure if this anime is mainstream or not however its worth putting it with the rest) it has a unique drawingstyle with a decent story.. definitely a great anime.. the drawingstyle attracted me in the first place.. it was unique and the colors were very psychadelic creating a unique feel to it and then the theme song Monoral - Kiri just perfectly matched it

[sa5m]

Oh and another one-- La Corda D'Oro. It's an anime with music in it-- violin, cello, piano, etc. It's great! =)

[Shimotsuki_No_MiNa]

Oh yeah, and Sazan Eyes (or 3x3 Eyes) too. Quite violent though...

[bya~chan]

Chrono Crusade...it's really good...
try it sometime^^

[Konata-chan09]

Some animes that are based off hentai games are pretty good. I've seen 2 that are really good stories, kinda sad though. don't worry, the anime isn't hentai.

Kanon: A guy Yuuichi moves in with a childhood friend after not visiting the town for a few years. lots of good characters and funny moments. like 3 or 4 story arcs, winter story.(based off h-game)

Air: A guy Yukito goes to an ocean-town in search of a girl from legend. He meets Misuzu, an avarage schoolgirl with a few quirks or her own. Once again, some good moments, not as sad as Kanon. summer story.(based off h-game)

Lucky Star: not based off of a hentai game, but pretty fun to watch. no real storyline, just day-to-day stuff. very cute and catchy theme lol!

[gyakusetsu]

Kazemakaze: Tsukikage Ran
Otogizoushi
Texhnolyze
Iria Zeiram

[[BlackDeath]]

Quite painful to read that no one is really paying attention to this post;

Stuff like Shakugan no Shana is pretty mainstream in Japan. It's one of the biggest and most popular anime today actually. That also includes the other mentioned anime like Claymore, Darker than Black, Rozen Maiden and Fate/Stay Night. They're pretty much the definition of mainstream today. Black Lagoon also counts as mainstream in Japan, I guess, since it was such a big hit.

But you probably meant in America or outside of Japan. It's hard to say, because America usually only picks up stuff that became popular in Japan, meaning they usually only have mainstream stuff. I'll try to list up action stuff then that I don't think is popular in America then.

But this is true, so I only count animes not dubbed.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica
Code Geass [JP mainstream]
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [jp mainstream]

[Evilspike2]

Heroic Age...

[PigFarts]

Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) though I don't really know if it's mainstream or not because they made and Live Action series/movie out of it, but it's interesting. It begins with that One-plot-per-episode kind of thing, but then it picks up a main plot...odd that I know this even though I've only seen two episodes. It's horror genre, but I love how it's done...very cool.

You could also try Code Geass: Lelouche of the Rebellion (or something like that)...but it's been lisenced (not in the US yet) and grew very popular in Japan. It's kinda like a futuristic robo-mecha/supernatural kinda thing with character designs by CLAMP...I've only seen the first episode, but I don't think it's that mainstream.

...I also wouldn't go by my word that much. I've kinda been out the anime scene for a while (only since the end of the summer), so I don't really know whats going on.