Forum - View topicWhat is the most intelligent anime ever made?
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dennou_san
 Posts: 14 Location: Manila |
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Please cite one as much as possible. I personally think Boogiepop Phantom more than fits the bill because of its persistently fragmented storytelling and utter penchant for disjunct logic (in other words, "scattershot"). In addition to that, even if one is faced with immediate difficulty when watching Boogiepop Phantom, hereafter the viewer would gradually feel successful in connecting pieces of the puzzle and will be rewarded greatly for comprehending what was the "bigger picture".
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IchigoK90
 Posts: 1634 Location: Scarborough, Ontario |
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I think naming something "the most intelligent" is too broad and leaves it open for no universal answer to this question. Also one's perspective on intelligence is never the same as another. I mean there are plenty of "intelligent" anime that I can think of but they're all "intelligent" in their own ways. I've seen anime that have made me take a whole new perspective on my own life. I've seen anime that allowed me to carefully analyze and understand what the imagery means. I've seen anime that have had so much intricate detail placed into its creation. There's no single anime I'd say is the most intelligent and that's all I can say in response to this topic.
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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Pokemon!
Come on, isn't memorizing the names of all those made-up animals great for your cognitive skills? |
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Eruanna
 Posts: 451 Location: Canada |
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Mine musnt be that good then. I gave up after the first 151. 
Seriously though, IchigoK90 is absolutly right. There is no one anime that could ever take that title. Just out of the ones that Iv seen there are plenty that fit the bill of being intellegent, and I certainly haven't seen all the anime there is to see. Boogiepop Phantom is however an excellent choice, I will agree that it was quite thoughfull and well put together. Most intellegent ever though? Hmmn. Kinos Journy was quite philosophical, although I must admit it put me right to sleep. Fooo... Lets see, Ergo Proxy is made up pretty much exclusivly of nigh on incoherent philosophy babble. But see there is something to ask yourself about a show that you think is "intellegent" or "deep". Is putting together a bunch of nonsence that sounds good really intellegence? Ah, hmn. Not to say that that is the case for Ergo Proxy, but determining between depth and nonsence can be difficult at times. There seems to be a school of thought that says that "The more incomprehensible and confusing it is, the more deep it is", but thats not really true. All that said, I recently had the pleasure of watching Haibane Renmai, and it was quite a thought provoking little story. Life after death, issues with guilt and the concept of sins... I thought it was well done. And of course someone is going to mention Serial Experiments Lain, but Im still trying to figure out if that one falls into the "Im weird so I must be deep" catagory or not. |
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zanarkand princess
 Posts: 1484 |
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Wow I really get to be the first person to say it?
Well Evangelion silly. Everyone knows that. But seriously Boogiepop Phantom is great and so is Lain. Ergo Proxy was so pretentious that I started laughing every time someone pretended to have a complex relationship with another person or the show thought it had a deep message. Lets face it if the moe fans didn't stay for pino no one would have watched. Also even though I joked about it a few sentences ago eva is really good. But I think we are exclusively looking at recent anime here. I'm sure if you looked back you could find more. |
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MironBiron
 Posts: 39 |
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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 1st/2nd season
Neon Genesis Evangelion {MODERATION EDIT: What we have here is a prime example of a so-called "list post" -- a posting without any content beyond a simple list of names of anime. We don't allow that, because it requires absolutely no intelligence, at all, and doesn't benefit the discussion in any way. So let's not have any more of it, okay? -- abunai} |
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zhir
 Posts: 353 Location: Nampa, ID, USA |
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Most intelligent is extremely awkward phrasing. "Intelligence" in this case refers to a show's ability to present complex concepts without insulting it's audience's intelligence. If you take that to it's logical conclusion, then the "most intelligent" show would be a show that is so dedicated to not insulting it's audience, that it is almost completely incomprehensible to everyone (For example: Primer, for people who aren't studying Physics).
I would maintain that while it is fairly easy to say something is "more intelligent" than something else, determining the most intelligent show would require you to distinguish between things that are incomprehensible because you don't have the intelligence/background to understand them and things that are simply incomprehensible. |
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dennou_san
Posts: 14 Location: Manila |
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I agree with your sentiment, IchigoK90, that each person has a different take on what anime is or can be considered "intelligent", and I concur with zhir as well that the words "most intelligent" would connote indecipherability. I realized that there is more to this question than merely answering it but really, my only intention was to see other people's opinions. I would like to thank IchigoK90 and zhir for bringing up such insight, and I appreciate sharing your thoughts
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siken
Posts: 56 Location: Henrico |
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ef ~ A tale of memories. Damn show made me cry even >_>; lol
{MODERATION EDIT: Did my previous moderation edit fail to reach you all? Let's try again: Posts must carry a minimum of sense, or the poster will find himself unable to post. Is that entirely clear? -- abunai} Yeah it did. I didn't see it or remember it. -shrugs- Last edited by siken on Fri Dec 12, 2008 9:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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motaku96
 Posts: 237 Location: New York |
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Hmmmm....I'm still not entirely sure what your looking for exactly but if you mean an anime that that leaves you a little confused because the plot is too complex i'd have to say Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Personally i think death note is intelligent(don't know why no one else mentioned it yet), though it might just be the characters that are intelligent. i'm constantly amazed at how thoroughly light thinks his plans through. |
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Sophisticat
 Posts: 165 |
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Plenty of shows are cleverly put together. I don't think any single title can hold the crown since there are many good contenders and opinions are going to vary widely in this context. Besides, the criteria are too broad to narrow down which titles are deserving. For example, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is very smart in its own right and tightly narrated, but doesn't delve deeply into anything, as opposed to Serial Experiments Lain, which focuses heavily on artistic exposure and abstract notions. Of the two, which is smarter? I couldn't tell you, honestly.
I can more easily site adaptations which butchered the original, such as the Appleseed anime. The manga could be called a masterwork in its own right, but the movies turned it into a CG action fest. In any event, you'll be well served with the Ghost in the Shell franchise and Monster. These two should keep you busy for a while. Also, skip Ergo Proxy. Don't touch that pseudo-intellectual travesty if you want something intelligent, but do go for Dennou Coil if looking for something similar, though much better (and admittedly deeper for all its "kiddy" overtones) in presentation. |
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Elfen12
 Posts: 479 Location: Bay Area |
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Yeah what .. exaclty do you mean by that anyway. By "most intelligent anime" doyou mean that the anime is somehow intelligent. Do you mean that all the characters are very inteligent. Do you mean watching it makes the viewer inteligent. I just think that that phrase "most inteligent anime" doesn't make a lot of sense. I think you should perhaps elaborate a bit on that so we know what the criteria are for "most inteligent anime" One that i think fits all the criteria is Spiral. But yeah still, what do you mean by "most inteligent anime'
-Elfen12- |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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baaad, classicalzawa, back to studying!
I think one of the more well put together movies is Millennium Actress. Ok, so its not a movie about brainiacs fighting with super technology against other brainiacs, but its one of those shows that sorta gives me a similar buzz to what I get when I get back a high test score for some reason. Its about an interviewer interviewing an old lady who was once a popular actress 30 some years ago. In particular, its about her life as shown through actual events and events of the characters from the movies that she starred in. I tend to define an intelligent anime, in part, as not insulting the intelligence of the viewer itself, and Satoshi Kon tends to do a great job with this. He doesn't leave huge blanks, but he doesn't really hold your hand either. Its an elegant if not somewhat simplistic story that is put together extremely well and holds the viewer enthralled. There are points where you can't tell what parts are her actual life and which are her performances in her movies (sure, some are obviously movie scenes), but I really don't think it entirely matters, it was all equally real for her. There's different ways to interpret certain things in the movie, and the movie itself, which is something that high art often holds. Since it leaves an artistic impression on the viewer and allows for open thought of the events, I tend to think of these types of movie as being intelligent viewings. Paprika is similar, but far more surreal. If you want a show about a smart person, Master Keaton is no doubt a good choice. He's a bit of a renaissance man, which makes it interesting to see how he'll handle a dozen situations with normal household objects (he's not a hacker, he has no magical powers, and the show takes place in approx. 1990's Europe). His objective isn't necessarily to wear a giant IQ hat and strut around, but to just live life normally as perform his job as an insurance investigator (among a few other jobs). It doesn't necessarily keep the viewer guessing or putting pieces together, and its mostly episodic so events don't generally carry over to other episodes (main characters do though), but sometimes its just vastly entertaining to watch someone else be smart without coming up with half illogical solutions to the problem at hand. I also tend to think of intelligent as something that can be something that challenges your personal beliefs. In this respect, a lot of the work of Osamu Tezuka can challenge religious, political, ethical, among other views. Phoenix is a good example of this, some of the chapters that take place in the past deal with religion and politics (Sun and Karma do this well) and many of the future titles can deal with ethics (Resurrection does this well, more so in the manga). But these tend to be icing on the cake because I've also never failed to be entertained by his works either, I can't honestly call something that is overly preachy to point of failing the entertainment aspect intelligent to its viewers, but Tezuka always seemed to hit a good balance between the two. Perhaps it could be why I'm drawn to Tezuka, I find his stories entertaining to view without thinking, but I usually end up thinking about the values they bring into question in the end anyway. His works aren't just for children, like Astro Boy (which still treats its audience with respect a lot more than other kid's show I've seen do, like Pokemon, in part because minor characters can die), MW and Ode to Kirihito are both for mature audiences, just as entertaining, and still bring up interesting questions through example and not the main characters complaining about things in place of the author. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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This is an impossible question to answer- intelligence isn't something that can be so easily quantified, so much of it is in perception. the aforementioned Lain is a great example- deep parable about our connections to each other and technology, or mish-mash of meaningless imagery? Unless the creators spell it out, we won't really know- but if we have to be lead to the conclusion, is that really intelligent?
People will find depth were they want to- my boyfriend had a great example of that recently- some blog where someone was going on about the incredible depth of Bleach and its parallels to Confucianism. I think we'd be hard-pressed to find many people who really believe that... but for all we know, they're right and we just aren't 'intelligent' enough. But there's really no one qualified to make that call, is there? |
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dennou_san
Posts: 14 Location: Manila |
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Oh, yeah, Monster and Dennou Coil...two of my favorite anime...It's a shame that I forgot about them....>
 <
What do I mean by "most intelligent" anime? Hmm...I may have put up the question, but it is still relatively hard for me to say it in a nutshell, moreso to pin it down...but I'll stick with what first came to mind:" How effective does an anime stimulate its viewer intellectually? How deliberate is its concept and progression?"....hence, my choice Boogiepop Phantom. [Well, yeah, it's hard to quantify what makes an anime intelligent or to delineate "intelligence" in general. ~Just keep the opinions going~] Why it never occurred to me to mention Monster and Coil is probably because I've been befuddled by the Light,too. |
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