10 best complex anime that you should watch

Anime is famous for its wide range; some series offer quick laughs, while others lead minds through deep philosophical puzzles. When a story combines detailed storytelling, multiple themes, and symbolism that keeps unfolding, it creates a special appeal where rewatching becomes tempting. This list highlights ten complex anime titles that avoid simple explanations.

Each one mixes detailed plots, characters with mixed morals, and visual elements that benefit from repeat viewings. Whether someone wants a thoughtful thriller, a strange drama, or a sci-fi mystery, these complex anime provide plenty of mental stimulation without losing their intrigue.

Disclaimer: This article is based on the author's opinions.

10 must-watch complex anime that you should try

1) Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Image via Gainax)

Shinji Ikari is pulled into piloting the biomech EVA-01 after Earth faces giant beings called Angels. Under the large robot battles lies a deep exploration of depression, identity, and humanity's end. The story moves into abstract images and discussions of existence that have kept discussions going since 1995.

Neon Genesis Evangelion anime uses the mecha genre for psychological depth. Hidden religious symbols, changing screen formats, and chosen classical music make viewers face inner fears with the characters. By the end, audiences often discuss deeper meanings rather than robot details.

2) Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain (Image via Triangle Staff)

Junior high schooler Lain Iwakura receives an email from a classmate who recently died by suicide.

The message pulls Lain into “The Wired,” a network like the internet where lines between reality and data fade quickly. The series removes familiar comforts as online identities mix with the real world. The show’s quiet sound design, flickering screens, and faded colors build a digital unease that feels relevant today.

Each episode of this complex anime adds layers of plots about powerful AIs, shared awareness, and the empty sense of self in online spaces. Finishing the Serial Experiments Lain series feels like emerging from a vivid dream.

3) Monster

Brilliant surgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma saves the life of a boy named Johan Liebert, unaware he’s helping a growing sociopath. Years later, murders connected to Johan push Tenma to pursue him across Europe, questioning who the true monster is.

Political plots, damaged childhoods, and ethical decline create a slow-building thriller set in Europe. The series avoids showy effects; tension grows through steady pacing, quiet talks, and long shots of empty bridges. Side characters come and go, each showing parts of Tenma’s guilt.

With a memorable soundtrack and a chilling villain whose charm is intense, Monster makes every talk feel like a careful balance.

4) Steins;Gate

Self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintaro Okabe accidentally modifies a microwave, enabling a connected cell phone to send text messages to the past. One test later, timelines divide, friendships break, and serious harm enters the lab. From light otaku humor to strong tragedy, the story shifts tone suddenly.

The small Future Gadget Lab feels realistic with its messy wires and posters, grounding the sci-fi elements in everyday life. Once time travel's effects begin, the writing connects causes and results with strong logic. Steins;Gate viewers recall every detail by the final episode and note how it is hinted at earlier.

5) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Image via Production I.G)

In near-future Japan, where cyberbrains are common like smartphones, Major Motoko Kusanagi tracks the elite hacker “The Laughing Man.” Each story arc mixes case-by-case investigations with deeper plots about government issues, AI rights, and the essence within technology.

The term “stand alone complex” becomes a repeated mystery. Action scenes combine fast gunfights with talks on identity after humanity. Traditional jazz, choral music, and electronic sounds score a world where people can change bodies easily.

Even twenty years after its release in 2002, the themes raised here, such as the uniqueness of the mind and the control of history when memories can be altered, continue to appear in current tech discussions.

6) Texhnolyze

In the underground city of Lux, gang wars and a struggling population rely on mechanical limbs added through a process called Texhnolyzation. Ichise, an underground boxer turned cyborg fighter, encounters predictions of disaster from an oracle who speaks softly.

Violence, despair, and quiet moments shape the story's atmosphere. Texhnolyze series starts with over ten minutes without dialogue, showing an environment that offers no easy guidance. Slow camera work focuses on leaking pipes and broken concrete, creating a sense of confinement.

Limited music and dull colors make watching feel like enduring hardship, with rare hope appearing briefly.

7) Paranoia Agent

A mysterious elementary school-boy attacker called Lil’ Slugger skates around Tokyo, hitting victims with a bent golden bat. Every victim faces a personal crisis, and each episode explores a different mental state filled with anxiety. Facts and stories blend until the city seems to be made of bad dreams.

Character designs change size to reflect mental conditions, while light comedy turns to dark horror quickly. Director Satoshi Kon uses editing to make cuts feel like sudden fear, and the “agent” changes from city legend to something more basic. By the end, this complex anime implies that fear is the true spreading threat.

8) Ergo Proxy

After an ecological disaster, the domed city Romdo uses android AutoReivs to serve humans. Investigator Re-l Mayer finds murders linked to strange beings called Proxies and a quiet immigrant named Vincent Law. Ideas about free will, creator responsibility, and inherited memories build up along with the clues.

The dystopian visuals draw from dark gothic styles in blacks and whites, suggesting old secrets under neat halls. The direction includes unique “mind-trip” episodes, from experimental game shows to broken stories. The result is a world that mixes industrial and ruined elements, always close to idea-based breakdown.

9) The Tatami Galaxy

A nameless college student relives his campus life in various timelines, joining different clubs to find an ideal youth. Each cycle packs a full college year into fast dialogue and colorful art. Parallel lives connect until it's hard to tell which version is real.

Bold visuals inspired by traditional art move with changing layouts and quick text that challenge viewers. Under the funny chaos is a sharp critique of the paralysis of choice, romanticized memories, and the stuck feeling from too many options.

When the last episode links all timelines, this complex anime delivers a gentle reminder to value the actual life lived.

10) Made in Abyss

A bottomless chasm called the Abyss attracts explorers with relics and creatures that break natural laws.

Young orphan Riko and her robot friend Reg go down layer by layer, each level bringing harsher effects and darker facts about the world’s start. The gentle visuals conceal intense elements of body horror in this anime.

The vertical setting acts like a game level, but the risks feel very physical. Effects cause severe harm, while side characters, some cute, some disturbing, mix roles of a friend and test subject. By the end, viewers question why the drive to explore can override survival instincts.

Conclusion

These ten complex anime shows that animation can engage the mind and feelings together. Each one changes story patterns, through time travel regrets, digital ethics, or the fears of maturing, and leaves fresh questions after viewing. From mecha sadness to unusual college cycles, there’s a mystery for various interests.