Most Confusing Anime Series?

[Peppermint Hearts]

What anime series left you dazed, confused or baffled, where you didn't quite know what was going on until the end of the series, if at all?

For me, it was We Without Wings, very confusing until the last 2 episodes, then I finally got the series and what it was about.
PS: We Without Wings had a lead character who seemed to enter a fantasy world at times, and other characters in a lot of side stories, but they were not as they seemed. It's hard to describe without giving away too much of the story and surprise ending, etc.

[PictureGuy]

Boogiepop Phantom is a series where not only the episodes are not in chronological order, but the scenes withing each episode are not in chronological order either. But that is part of the series' charm. You need to watch each episode 2-3 times, and then re-watch the entire series. I recommend watching each episode in the English dub, then the Japanese with sub-titles. Both give aspects to the complex story which the other does not. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but it is well worth it. Just do not watch the director's commentary until you have seen the entire series through at least once; it contains spoilers.

FLCL's story-line was confusing and required multiple watchings. But this is a dumb, but fun anime, and the story-line is the least important aspect of the show. FLCL is a classic.

Tell us more about Win Without Wings.

[Clayton_n]

The first 2 episodes of FLCL


Also Big O.

[Jean Markale]

786 Yea, my own vote goes to Boogiepop Phantom, with Serial Experiments Lain (which shares a key animator with Boogiepop) a close runner-up.

[DeathBlade/13.666]

Yeah, Boogiepop Phantom was pretty confusing, and Serial Experiments Lain was too.

[Qoco]

Baccano! frustrated me because I didn't understand what was happening until a few episodes later. I even wanted to drop the show. I wasn't having it. Serial Experiments Lain is one that I finished and I still don't get.

[Yu Puffin]

Baccano! frustrated me because I didn't understand what was happening until a few episodes later. I even wanted to drop the show. I wasn't having it. Serial Experiments Lain is one that I finished and I still don't get.

Oh, yes, I was just going to drop in to leave Baccano! If I hadn't watched it with my school's anime club, I probably would have just dropped it after the first episode. Non-chronological progression is very confusing indeed, especially with multiple storylines occuring at multiple times. At least once you get to the end, you can kind of understand what was going on earlier...

For me the coolest part about watching Baccano! was being thoroughly confused the whole time, having people make me just watch it to the end, and then go back to the beginning and realizing that the first episode finally makes sense only after I've finished the rest of the series.

I also get easily confused when anything happens to make a character themselves and not themselves at the same time (such as in the later parts of the D.Gray-man manga, as well as the Deadman Wonderland manga).

[blueangel06661]

Funny; my anime club tried watching Baccano! and I dropped it. I just couldn't.

[PictureGuy]

786 Yea, my own vote goes to Boogiepop Phantom, with Serial Experiments Lain (which shares a key animator with Boogiepop) a close runner-up.

Yeah, Boogiepop Phantom was pretty confusing, and Serial Experiments Lain was too.

Lain was not as confusing as Boogiepop, but being unsure of who/what Lain was is puzzling. The second time through, though, you can catch little clues.

Both are classics!

Baccano! frustrated me because I didn't understand what was happening until a few episodes later. I even wanted to drop the show. I wasn't having it. Serial Experiments Lain is one that I finished and I still don't get.

But how did you feel about Baccano! at the end? Great series, wasn't it?

For me the coolest part about watching Baccano! was being thoroughly confused the whole time, having people make me just watch it to the end, and then go back to the beginning and realizing that the first episode finally makes sense only after I've finished the rest of the series.

That was also the coolest part about Boogiepop Phantom. Though I was not that confused by Baccano! Maybe because I was totally open to the show's insanity.

[Jean Markale]

786 I'm fairly surprised nopony has brought up Higurashi no Naku Koro ni! I'm a huge fan of the series--it's one of my "desert island" animes--but until the clarification provided by the second season it's confusing as hell. My first time through Season One I gave up trying to put everything into a coherent picture and just sat back for the ride, an approach which has much to recommend it. It wasn't until like my tenth time watching it that I finally put all of the elements of the first season into their proper places. For all that, I still rate it behind Boogiepop and Lain in confusion; but not by much.

[PictureGuy]

786 I'm fairly surprised nopony has brought up Higurashi no Naku Koro ni! I'm a huge fan of the series--it's one of my "desert island" animes--but until the clarification provided by the second season it's confusing as hell. My first time through Season One I gave up trying to put everything into a coherent picture and just sat back for the ride, an approach which has much to recommend it. It wasn't until like my tenth time watching it that I finally put all of the elements of the first season into their proper places. For all that, I still rate it behind Boogiepop and Lain in confusion; but not by much.

I haven't seen that one yet, but my understanding is it is closer to Elfin Lied than to Lain or Boogeypop.