I fondly remember that one. The protagonist was all but in name an avatar of Tzeentch. The show's opening theme is pretty catchy.
This. I highly recommend giving FMA another chance, especially the 2003 anime as it is considerably darker than Brotherhood. There are still funny moments, of course, but it’s nowhere near as comedy-riddled as Brotherhood (in which I personally found the vast majority of the humor off-putting and forced). The villains are also handled a hell of a lot better in the 2003 anime and aren’t one-dimensional “evil for the sake of being evil” drones. There are some particularly powerful scenes - mostly character deaths.
You might like Big-O, it's creators were subcontractors for Batman the animated series. The whole series has a very heavy neo-noir aesthetic and it doesn't have any of the visual gags you listed above.
Having watched both versions, I will say that the two are different enough entities that you don't feel much overlap. Both stories place emphasis on different aspects of the story (2003 is more character driven while brotherhood is more plot focused). They also vary on what characters have more prominent roles in the story (ie. Bradley is a much bigger character in Brotherhood while Lust is the first casualty of the homuculi).
Seconding Phantom : Requiem for the Phantom. The literal first minute is batshit, but it's pretty great afterwards. Think of it as 1 part Jason Bourne, 1 part The Professional, and 1 part James Bond wrapped up in an Evangelion and Lupin the Third wrapping paper. I reccomend dubbed over subbed, the voice actors did a really good job and it makes more sense generally speaking.
Urasawa is one of the people whose works I feel deserve to be considered almost a different genre so they can't be compared to normal anime, kinda like Miyazaki. Like no one who watches Princess Mononoke thinks to themselves "boy I sure am a fucking weeb". Monster and 20th Century Boys are almost required reading and Master Keaton and Billy Bat are both really good too. And even if you've never watched a second of Astro Boy (I sure as shit haven't) you should still read Pluto. I can't speak to the anime versions a couple of them have but I can tell you you're really, really missing out if you're only sticking to anime.
5 Centimeters was probably the most depressed I've ever been reading a manga.Whenever I'm in need of recommendations, I always refer back to Grumpy Jii-san's chart (rip):
Highlights are definitely Seirei no Moribito, Escaflowne, and Sword of the Stranger. They sure don't make chinese cartoons like how they used to.
I consider it like watching a telenovela or other melodramatic soap operas about assassins. It's a great watch
Laughing Salesman New is one of my all time favorite animes. It's terribly underrated and overlooked. It exemplifies why anime is special, it's so out there that only Japan's culture and animation industry could have produced it.
I thought so too, but there is heaviness to it that cuts through the melodrama. Specifically:
Whenever I'm in need of recommendations, I always refer back to Grumpy Jii-san's chart (rip):
Highlights are definitely Seirei no Moribito, Escaflowne, and Sword of the Stranger. They sure don't make chinese cartoons like how they used to.
I think it did, yeah. But I don’t think success is the benchmark of quality.
Their mother is apparently a lolcow hypochondriac who blows money on new age hippy bullshit. No comment on validity.
I watched the reboot when it aired and enjoyed it, but I also understand why it bombed as far as sales go. No intricate lore or worldbuilding, no waifus or prettyboys, no shounen action or fanservice. It's missing a lot that most of the anime watching crowd these days goes for. You're basically just watching for the novelty of people ruining their own lives.
