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Do you have an anime itch that isn't being scratched enough lately?

For a while now I have really been itching for some good Science Fiction anime. To clarify, Sci-Fi without mechs. There's still plenty of Gundam titles pumped out all the time, and other shows with Sci-Fi elements. Most though have some sort of mech component to it. If you take those away there's only a handful that are more Sci-Fi heavy that have been released in recent years. I'm also excluding isekai titles. While that element could be considered Sci-Fi they are pretty much all fantasy based at the core.

In terms of tv series I think the 2 best for me in recent years that qualify for what I'm looking for would be Steins Gate and Erased. Steins Gate to me was a mix of Sci-Fi (time travel elements) and Suspense. The Science Fiction elements though were part of the core of the story. Not just a simple filler component. Erased might be a bit more of a stretch, but to me it scratched that same itch that Steins Gate did. Almost a Steins Gate light in some aspects.

Now my biggest thing I miss are the post-apocaliptic, serious shows for slightly older audience. Ihave been out of touch with anime for a few years now really and not around forums, if I watch one or two titles per year I'm lucky- just no time with two kids now lol.
But, I do try to read through premises of shows every season and while there seem to be some excellent shows, nonw in the vein of what I am looking for.
I know Texhnolyze didn't have many fans, but I really loved it and the dark, gloomy mood around it. Shows in the caliber of Wolf's Rain do not seem to be happening either. Ergo Proxy, Noein, Now and Then, Here and There, I find myself rewatching old stuff really.

I suppose I also miss big fun and sad at the same time adventures like FMA (with Brotherhood), Eureka 7 and Last Exile- the two latter did have horribly bad continuations, and still that was years ago. And stuff only the Late Satoshi Kon would pull of, like Paranoia Agent, crazy, mental stuff. Or weird fantastic stuff like Kaiba.

For a while now I have really been itching for some good Science Fiction anime. To clarify, Sci-Fi without mechs. There's still plenty of Gundam titles pumped out all the time, and other shows with Sci-Fi elements. Most though have some sort of mech component to it. If you take those away there's only a handful that are more Sci-Fi heavy that have been released in recent years. I'm also excluding isekai titles. While that element could be considered Sci-Fi they are pretty much all fantasy based at the core.

In terms of tv series I think the 2 best for me in recent years that qualify for what I'm looking for would be Steins Gate and Erased. Steins Gate to me was a mix of Sci-Fi (time travel elements) and Suspense. The Science Fiction elements though were part of the core of the story. Not just a simple filler component. Erased might be a bit more of a stretch, but to me it scratched that same itch that Steins Gate did. Almost a Steins Gate light in some aspects.

I wonder too if, in the case of space stories, the heightened production values of sci-fi films sets a high bar for animators. Take The Expanse as an example. Most of the story is shot on sound stages with interior scenes inside the space ships, on Earth, or on the various asteroid colonies. There are sequences with space ships zooming around and fighting battles, but they're not that common. I suspect the same would be true for anime set in space given their limited budgets.

@Unicorn_Blade

Have you tried Black Lagoon? Adult characters, serious themes set in the underworld of SE Asia.

Also Baccano a mixture of bat shit crazy adults and immortals set in prohibition era US.

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens hit men vs hitmen in Tokyo.

How much is the absence of sci-fi shows a consequence of the choices being made by manga-ka and novelists? Given that production committees frown on anime-original stories, they are dependent on the tastes of the authors who produce popular media and the audiences they serve.

Psycho 101 wrote:

For a while now I have really been itching for some good Science Fiction anime. To clarify, Sci-Fi without mechs.

You are absolutely speaking my language. I started seriously watching anime around 2005, and a lot of my all-time favorite series still come from the late 90s to early 2000s, when it seemed like the go-to genre for any original anime work was sci-fi. Especially space-based sci-fi...dear lord it is a crime how starved for that we've been over the past several years.