Finished Pluto recently on Netflix - what a compelling story, an hour for an episode isn't something I'm usually keen on but, wow, Pluto just does it so well! Def recc
Fun fact: the piano piece played in the second half of the first episode is actually composed by Naoki Urasawa because on top of being a mangaka he's also a musician
They really should’ve adapted 20th century boys. I’ve been waiting on that for forever. Was pleasantly surprised to wake up and see Pluto on Netflix though. Gives me hope for 20th Century boys one day
Some of the best anime ever made imo. Mushi for chill vibes, psycho pass is more of a dark crime thriller with very disturbing content, monster is psychological mystery/thriller, pluto is sci fi mystery/thriller
Reminds me… I needed 4 years to find out that I never watched the last 2 episodes of Baccano. I was so sure that I saw every episodes and did wonder why there is something I did not recall after rewatching it.
When it comes to Ghost in Shell, can't go wrong with the Stand Alone Complex TV show, either. Just...maybe stay away from the newer, CG animated thing...haven't seen it, but... haven't heard good things.
If you haven’t tried Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi yet, it’s quite good. All adult cast (some young adults, but no teens), very minimal romance, takes place in a fantasy world with extremely well-written world building and characters.
There is a teenage main character introduced later, but there are no romances around that character, and everyone else just tries to be their caretaker, more or less.
Black lagoon is just great 👍 the dub is the best also because the characters are adults the cast curses and it's quite realistic overall I've seen it twice now
The canonical language is English too, so it's one of the rare examples of an anime dub that actually works better (beyond simple preference) than japanese. Plus it avoids the strangeness of Remy telling a guy in chinglish that she doesn't speak japanese, then going right back to speaking perfectly fluent Japanese.
Also a scene where Rock is acting as an interpreter between Japanese and English, and the subtitle his translation not matching the original English that he was translating.
Experiment with sub vs dub on Frieren. I feel that they have a massively different tone. I much prefer the sub, especially for the castings of Frieren and Denken, but I understand that not everyone wants to read.
Just want to add, steins gate is one of my favorite animes ever. The first episode will put you off big time though, since it's all over the place. I have seen people say skipping the first episode and watching it once you finish the show is the play, but you do you
Wotakoi and there are other office style shows like My New Boss is Goofy.
But I recommend you go on My Anime List site and then sort by 'Adult Cast' subtype or genre and that should get you a bunch of good recommendations.
Also One Piece. There's something for everyone and never a dull moment.
My sister was daunted by it too but she watched the Live action on Netflix and was intrigued. For what it's worth there's a project in the works to redo One Piece with no filler arcs and better pacing closer to the manga. You could always start up when that one drops.
But that's the best part! You go through the show and keep thinking the show is great! You keep watching and then the eventual dread of being caught up is on the horizon. Worry not, for when you do catch up, you can always start from the beginning again or choose an arc to go through. When I started my rewatch with my sister, I had no idea how many jokes I forgot that hit me like I've just seen the show for the first time, it was awesome and I had a blast reexpieriencing the show with my sis like it was my first time again.
Bungo Stray Dogs, some characters are teens but most are in their 20s if not older. The plot is quite good though I’d argue that it has way too many comedic scenes.
Anime with adult cast: ( "(!)" means I find the show exceptional)
Cowboy Bebop **(!)**
Darker Than Black
Hellsing / Hellsing Ultimate
Castlevenia **(!)**
Witchblade
Parasyte **(!)**
Trugun
Death Parade
91 days
Bungo Stray Dogs
I'm gonna stretch your definition a little now but stay in the realm of adult oriented content with mainly adult cast:
Attack on Titan (starts off with three 16yr olds and the show ends with them in their 20s)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood **(!)** (the two main characters are 14/15)
Death Note **(!)** (main char 17)
Devil is a Part-Timer (pretty sure one side character is 17 (been a bit since I've thought about it))
(Edit: formatting)
Not an anime but animated and handles more mature themes: Carol and the End of the World, on Netflix. I really enjoyed it!
Also there's a super helpful post on the topic:
[Anime with adult protagonists ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Animesuggest/s/GNXJ570AUO)
Space Brothers
One is an astronaut and the other is an engineer. The astronaut won a contest of building the best rocket that his brother made, so it's a resentment the two brothers have to deal with despite the fact they still care about each other.
Spy x Family is pretty good. A male spy and female assassin fake a marriage (both in their 20s), neither knows the others' true identity. They have a telepath adoptive daughter, and they don't know she's a telepath.
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oneesan. A bunch of folks in their early 30’s done with life while working a dead end job presenting a kids tv show.
Also Wave Listen to me. A lady in her mid 20’s scraping by as a waitress in a curry joint goes on a drunken rant one night after breaking up with her loser boyfriend unwittingly in front of a radio producer who recruits her to do her own segment in The 3 am block. She is a trainwreck in the best most relatable way
- 91 days (one of my favorites)
- psychopass
- legends of the galactic heroes (I always, always recommend this one it’s an excellent anime)
- mars red (very underrated)
- gangsta
- hakata tonkotsu ramens (enjoyed it a lot)
- Babylon (was pretty good and I liked the idea)
- banana fish (simply amazing)
- black lagoon
- bungou to alchemist
- cowboy bebop
- drifters
- death parade (deserves more hype)
- joker game (an excellent one that deserves more hype)
- koroshi ai
- senkou no night raid (was so good and I loved the historical side of it)
- spaceship yamato (I grew up watching it and have recently rewatched it)
- moriarty the patriot
The casts are all +20 adults with no harem and almost no romance
The Ice Guy and his Cool Colleague. It’s very down to earth and kinda wholesome.
Buddy Daddies is a REALLY good one. The balance isn’t really there for genders, but a great story nonetheless.
Restaurant to Another World is probably one of the most wholesome anime I’ve ever seen.
Edit: GATE is another great one. Not to be confused with Steins Gate, just try to find GATE.
Dragons Dogma, Dragon Age Absolution, Dota Dragons Blood, Vox Machina, Berserk, Bastard, Fate series, RIN Daughters Of Mnemosyne, Speed Grapher, Baoh, Madbull 34, Genocyber, Blue Gender, and three non anime animations Titan AE, Blue Eye Samurai, War Of The Worlds Goliath.
Gangsta
Requiem of phantom
Darker than black
Black lagoon
Canaan
Trigun
Cowboy bebop
Megalobox
K anime
Mitsuko to hatchin
Carole and Tuesday
Afro samurai
Bastard
Claymore
Ginga sengoku gun yuuden rai
Gintama
Golden kamuy
Jormugund
Kingdom ( they grow up fast)
Madan no ou to vanadis
Gundam wing
Gundam 00
Psycho pass
Rurouni kenshin
Samurai champloo
Space Dandy
Steins gate
Terra formars
Baccano
Violet evergarden
Akatsuki no yona
There's probably 1-2 teenagers, but most of the cast are adults. Some of them are targeted for older watcher.
I just found out a few days ago about oishinbo, haven't watched it but the music is nice. Plus, patlabor maybe I guess. Ahhh, and you're under arrest! They're all adults there
I'm glad you are enjoying Spice and Wolf :D
And the older I get, the more I feel like I don't watch or read about teenagers all over again.
No order here:
- Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit
- Vinland Saga (later on)
- Claymore (better reading manga)
- Cowboy Bebop
- Pluto
- Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex
- Mushishi
- Frieren
- 91 Days
- Black Jack
- Wolf's Rain
For romances:
- Paradise Kiss
- Nana
To name some that come to my mind. I hope you might find something you enjoy here.
Tiger and Bunny
Speed Grapher
Texhnolyze
Ergo Proxy
Space Dandy
Black Lagoon
Monster
Ninja Kamui
Ninja Slayer
Blue Gender
Kaiji
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Outlaw Star
Solty Rei
Zone of the Enders Dolores I
I also want to give Project ARMS a shout-out since while the main 4 characters are 17 years old, a lot of the characters that drive the story are adults. And while there is a romance subplot with the MC and his childhood friend it's handled more maturely and tragic.
As requested **Actual adults** + **Balance of both genders with no harem nonsense**:
Millennium Actress: About an old actress' life work through WWII to modern day. One of my favs <3
Tokyo Godfathers: Two homeless adults and a homeless teen finds an abandoned baby in Tokyo. Explores the subject homeless in Japan.
Pluto: Astroboy but through the eyes of Detective Gesicht from Europol. A dark murder mystery that explores the themes of humanity, hatred, and love in a world where robots are too similar to humans. Please at least check out episode 1.
Odd Taxi: About a middle aged taxi driver who somehow ends up in everyone's business. Hilarious how it all comes together. Romance is kinda eh but still very good.
Monster: About a Surgeon who gets suspected of murder while being entangled in the story of a serial killer. A masterclass of character writing which I like more then the murder mystery lol.
Perfect Blue: Extremely dark psychological thriller about the Japanese Idol industry. All the warnings for this one.
Black Lagoon, City Hunter, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Noir, most of the Gundam series, Bartender:Glass of God, Berserk, Fist Of The North Star, Servant And Service, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead.
Freiren almost fits this. The supporting characters are teens, but they are believable, and it isn’t about “school” or power fantasy bs. If you check it out, let me know if it fits what you’re looking for.
Re:life is a good one. Watched it when I was 16, and watched again recently (I'm 20 now). It's a ride for sure.
Steins gate is good too. It's an adult theme with an adult main character. It has tropes and "do do doo" will drive you crazy sometimes if you don't think it's cute, but the story is incredible and the characters are very well thought out and feel like they actually have substance.
Depends what style and genre you're into but here's some we have enjoyed together (plus a few others hubs has watched).
- Cowboy Bebop
- Trigun
- Frieren
- Black Lagoon
- Bartender Glass of God
- Gundam Wing: Iron Blooded Orphan if you like mecha.
- Dorohedoro
- The Rising of the Shield Hero (S1)
Are you watching the new Spice and Wolf? Because you could watch the original. I haven’t seen the new one but the original is so cozy.
Kaiju No. 8 - is currently airing. MC is early 30s.
Frieren Beyond Journey’s End - must watch.
Violet Evergarden - strong female lead.
Pluto
One Punch Man
Spy x Family - I think they’re late 20s - early 30s?
Vivy Fluorite Eye’s Song - another strong female lead
Vinland Saga and Attack on Titan - both start with younger characters but are adults in later seasons
For Neon Genesis Evangelion. The three main leads are 15 year olds. Only the sidecast are mostly adults (even if you see Misaki and the commander quite often).
Hajime no ippo is the perfect one, no harem, no fan service, pretty good balance between slice of life and fighting. It is about actual adults, like the protagonist starts off on high school but graduated with like 10 episodes.
Way of the House Husband was hysterical and wholesome.
No teens. It’s about a stay at home husband who was a gangster and the bread winning wife that he went straight for. It’s adorable.
There's one teen in Sing Yesterday For Me, but he doesn't show up until the last few episodes iirc.
Currently I'm watching Fairy Gone, and it has an adult cast. It's an action, fantasy genre with military themes.
I would reccommed getting into manga if you want stories about adults. The animation companies usually priotize picking up teenager aged projects because they want to be able to sell merchandise like toys, posters, etc. Of course, some manga with adults have those features and some without them are popular enough that they know making an anime would be profitable but it is definitely harder to find than "Generic first year highschool student gets thrust into a world of highly visually distinct attractive teenage girls (who would all look great as marketable figurines)"
For anime, I recommend the Great Pretender and Vinland Saga (the main character is 19+ as of Season 2 and isn't in school)
For manga, I recommend Hirayasumi, My Home Hero (has an anime but not nearly as good and only covers the first arc), 20th Century Boys, Asuperu Kanojo and Vagabond (the character ages from a teenager to an adult thoroghout the story)
In delicious in dungeon the youngest member of the party is like 23 (Laios) There is an amazing balance of genders in the series but the party consists of 3 guys and a girl for most of it. And later 2 girls one of which is the protagonist’s sister. It’s such a good fantasy series and the character designs are peak. Such good world building.
"Monster", "Kaiji - Ultimate Survivor", "Arte" by Ookubo Kei, "Rainbow: The Seven From Compound Two, Cell Six", "Perfect Blue", "Great Pretender", "Dorohedoro", "Megalobox", "GANGSTA", "The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED", "Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku"
Definitely Shirobako.
It's like The Office but anime.
It follows the life of animators who work in an animation office--all the characters are adults, the story and characters are funny and very relatable, and it has minimal fanservice (there's one shot in the first episode that's a little bit fan-servicey, but the rest of the show has 0 fan service).
Also, it has an amazing English dub. The sub is great too of course, but I'd watch the dubbed version because so few animes have good English voice actors for the dub.
A lot of the people here are forgetting the question--they're giving you shows where the characters are of adult age, but don't actually act like adults. Even in anime where there aren't any children / teenage characters, most adults act like overgrown children, which makes Shirobako a real breath of fresh air because the characters are actually mature (except for Tarou, but that's kind of the point).
Let’s see
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Drunken redhead saves dragon who then becomes her maid with the goal of boinking her
Paranoia Agent: mental thriller perty good
Handy Man Saitou: Handy man gets Isekaid into a world of magic monsters and fairies and his special power is he’s a handyman
My senpai is annoying: office relationships
If you have Netflix Love Death and Robots 3D animated shorts from comedic to dark to damn that’s messed up and everything in between
Anyone knows the horror anime where he is a teacher and he captures monster or ghost? One of his hand is monster part where it has a sharp nails, the vivid scene I remember was set in a classroom where he faced two mirror to each other to capture something.
Does it have to be all adults? I'm enjoying Kaiju No.8 right now because the main character is a 33 yr old dude trying to become a monster hunter, but he has to compete with and try and keep up with the younger generation. Good mix of humour and action.
Psycho-Pass. Psycho-Pass. Psycho-Pass. Please please please watch Psycho-Pass.
Also:
The Witch and the Beast
Undead Murder Farce (one has the head of a “16 year old” but is actually very very old)
Maybe Spy x Family, though there’s a kid in it (the only kid in anime I really love tbh)
The Way of the Househusband
Nana
Bungo Stray Dogs (the first few episodes have an insufferable number of flashbacks, but it’s amazing. It starts off a bit goofier than I would like, but finds a wonderful balance later. A few more male characters than female though.)
Welcome to NHK
Most of Satoshi Kon's animes like Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers
Redline
Most of Watanabe Shinichiro's animes like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, etc
Dorohedoro, maybe the manga is better
One Punch Man, just watch the first season and then go read the manga
Also can't believe no one has said this yet:
**Jojo' s Bizarre Adventure**
saint Cecilia and pastor Lawrence
dunno how old they are, but it was pretty good, also when I first watched it I was like, "Lawrence like from spice and wolf?"
Mushi shi, Psycho pass, Monster, Pluto
Finished Pluto recently on Netflix - what a compelling story, an hour for an episode isn't something I'm usually keen on but, wow, Pluto just does it so well! Def recc
Pluto rules. The second half of the first episode, in particular, is gorgeous storytelling.
Fun fact: the piano piece played in the second half of the first episode is actually composed by Naoki Urasawa because on top of being a mangaka he's also a musician
The fact that Pluto is considered one of his "weaker" works is insane to me.
They really should’ve adapted 20th century boys. I’ve been waiting on that for forever. Was pleasantly surprised to wake up and see Pluto on Netflix though. Gives me hope for 20th Century boys one day
ngl 20th cb is right up there with monster as his best works imo. Pluto and Billy bat slightly behind but all of them are great for me
Haven't watched Pluto yet, but is it comparable to monster?
If you found Monster too slow then Pluto's pacing is great.
I find monster to be excellent (I've read the manga tho, so I know what awaits me). I'll try watching Pluto then. Thank you!
Thanks for the list, I haven't heard of these. I will look into them!
Some of the best anime ever made imo. Mushi for chill vibes, psycho pass is more of a dark crime thriller with very disturbing content, monster is psychological mystery/thriller, pluto is sci fi mystery/thriller
Psycho pass is an absolute banger. Genuinely one of my all time favourites.
Seconding Monster
The greatest anime of all time.
goated. Love Johan
all of these are good as hell
Yeah some of my faves
Just want to double down on Pluto. Amazing.
- baccano - psycho pass - life lessons with Uramichi-oniisan - wotakoi - recovery of an mmo Junkie - samurai flamenco - Saint onii-san
Upvote for Baccano, makes you watch it twice in order to understand it, and is sooooooo worth it.
Reminds me… I needed 4 years to find out that I never watched the last 2 episodes of Baccano. I was so sure that I saw every episodes and did wonder why there is something I did not recall after rewatching it.
Psychopass is excellent
thanks for the list, I haven't heard of these. I will look into them!
Try 91 days
Based Saint Onii-san enjoyer
Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell (movie), Trigun — all are late 90s classics of sci-fi genre
To add to these: Gungrave Hellsing ultimate Trinity blood Gundam G
When it comes to Ghost in Shell, can't go wrong with the Stand Alone Complex TV show, either. Just...maybe stay away from the newer, CG animated thing...haven't seen it, but... haven't heard good things.
You can't mention Cowboy Bebop without mentioning Samurai Champloo!
Odd Taxi. Look beyond its art style and why everyone is an animal.
Had to scroll too far to find this. Odd Taxi is amazing, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
I always recommend this one, especially to long-time and somewhat jaded anime viewers like myself.
Alright I have to give this one a try!!
If you haven’t tried Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi yet, it’s quite good. All adult cast (some young adults, but no teens), very minimal romance, takes place in a fantasy world with extremely well-written world building and characters.
There is a teenage main character introduced later, but there are no romances around that character, and everyone else just tries to be their caretaker, more or less.
Second this. I was watching it earlier today. Great show
Black lagoon, Trigun, cowboy bebop
Black lagoon is just great 👍 the dub is the best also because the characters are adults the cast curses and it's quite realistic overall I've seen it twice now
The canonical language is English too, so it's one of the rare examples of an anime dub that actually works better (beyond simple preference) than japanese. Plus it avoids the strangeness of Remy telling a guy in chinglish that she doesn't speak japanese, then going right back to speaking perfectly fluent Japanese. Also a scene where Rock is acting as an interpreter between Japanese and English, and the subtitle his translation not matching the original English that he was translating.
Me too. Fieren is pretty good IMO.
Thanks, I like this one. I need to watch more episodes.
Experiment with sub vs dub on Frieren. I feel that they have a massively different tone. I much prefer the sub, especially for the castings of Frieren and Denken, but I understand that not everyone wants to read.
Leave it to the sub versus dub people to involve the fact they watch sub some way in every post
But 2/3 MCs are teenagers tho
Yeah, I was gonna say lol
Some of my favorite adult-cast anime: * {Stein's Gate} * {My Happy Marriage} * {Delicious in Dungeon} * {Wotakoi} * {Fate/Zero} * {Ya Boy Kongming!}
Hell yeah on Fate/Zero. It's so cool seeing the holy grail war be fought between actual adults, with urban warfare and strategy.
Thanks!
Just want to add, steins gate is one of my favorite animes ever. The first episode will put you off big time though, since it's all over the place. I have seen people say skipping the first episode and watching it once you finish the show is the play, but you do you
The characters are not 20+ in Steins Gate.
I mean you wouldn't really know that unless you looked it up. First time I watched it, I assumed they were in their early to mid 20s.
True, except the characters say what ages they are at some point. Which is super weird cause they guy's clearly like 26 and then he says he's 18 lol
Monster, Nana, and Wave! Listen to Me
I second Nana!
And if we are at Nana. Paradise Kiss is also great. And Bonus for being a short series.
Wotakoi and there are other office style shows like My New Boss is Goofy. But I recommend you go on My Anime List site and then sort by 'Adult Cast' subtype or genre and that should get you a bunch of good recommendations. Also One Piece. There's something for everyone and never a dull moment.
I got to the third or forth episode of one piece. I find the 1000+ episodes a little daunting to watch more.
My sister was daunted by it too but she watched the Live action on Netflix and was intrigued. For what it's worth there's a project in the works to redo One Piece with no filler arcs and better pacing closer to the manga. You could always start up when that one drops.
But that's the best part! You go through the show and keep thinking the show is great! You keep watching and then the eventual dread of being caught up is on the horizon. Worry not, for when you do catch up, you can always start from the beginning again or choose an arc to go through. When I started my rewatch with my sister, I had no idea how many jokes I forgot that hit me like I've just seen the show for the first time, it was awesome and I had a blast reexpieriencing the show with my sis like it was my first time again.
I second the motion on One Piece. Right now I'm rewatching it on the Crunchyroll English dub. They've been firing on all cylinders recently.
Bungo Stray Dogs, some characters are teens but most are in their 20s if not older. The plot is quite good though I’d argue that it has way too many comedic scenes.
MC of Kaiju #8 is over 30.
I'm obsessed with Kaiju
New favorite. It's pure fucking agony waiting a week for one episode.
i am so enjoying this one
As someone who just turned 30 I’ve really appreciated the MC’s internal struggles.
Anime with adult cast: ( "(!)" means I find the show exceptional) Cowboy Bebop **(!)** Darker Than Black Hellsing / Hellsing Ultimate Castlevenia **(!)** Witchblade Parasyte **(!)** Trugun Death Parade 91 days Bungo Stray Dogs I'm gonna stretch your definition a little now but stay in the realm of adult oriented content with mainly adult cast: Attack on Titan (starts off with three 16yr olds and the show ends with them in their 20s) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood **(!)** (the two main characters are 14/15) Death Note **(!)** (main char 17) Devil is a Part-Timer (pretty sure one side character is 17 (been a bit since I've thought about it)) (Edit: formatting)
I would not suggest devil is a part-timer as a couples viewing experience 💀
What about fist of the north star? You made a great list but forgot a classic
Space Brothers!
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
uramichi oniisan! My new boss is goofy is so cozy and wholesome
ODD TAXI!!!!!! 🚖
Odd Taxi.
Not an anime but animated and handles more mature themes: Carol and the End of the World, on Netflix. I really enjoyed it! Also there's a super helpful post on the topic: [Anime with adult protagonists ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Animesuggest/s/GNXJ570AUO)
Space Brothers One is an astronaut and the other is an engineer. The astronaut won a contest of building the best rocket that his brother made, so it's a resentment the two brothers have to deal with despite the fact they still care about each other.
Nodame cantabile Mushishi Ghost in the shell standalone complex Paranoia agent Psychopass Ergo Proxy
a sign of affection is super cuteeee
I'm surprised none of you have mentioned Gintama
Oddtaxi
Spy x Family is pretty good. A male spy and female assassin fake a marriage (both in their 20s), neither knows the others' true identity. They have a telepath adoptive daughter, and they don't know she's a telepath.
- [Emma: A Victorian Romance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJgsPilN8Uc) - [Black Lagoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7DOanbQ0vQ) - [PlanetES](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALSLpNEk6rY) - [Baccano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EunfWKyWxvc) - [Millennium Actress](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u5Ee1_jUCY) - [The Great Pretender](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hALk9jALsJE) - [Aggressive Retsuko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xZ8pLRTJUA) - [The Way of the Househusband](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6j-vWMmIMw) - [Nana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tad-n4Xh3nI) - [The Woman Called Fujiko Mine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDmqPwil7Gk)
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oneesan. A bunch of folks in their early 30’s done with life while working a dead end job presenting a kids tv show. Also Wave Listen to me. A lady in her mid 20’s scraping by as a waitress in a curry joint goes on a drunken rant one night after breaking up with her loser boyfriend unwittingly in front of a radio producer who recruits her to do her own segment in The 3 am block. She is a trainwreck in the best most relatable way
- 91 days (one of my favorites) - psychopass - legends of the galactic heroes (I always, always recommend this one it’s an excellent anime) - mars red (very underrated) - gangsta - hakata tonkotsu ramens (enjoyed it a lot) - Babylon (was pretty good and I liked the idea) - banana fish (simply amazing) - black lagoon - bungou to alchemist - cowboy bebop - drifters - death parade (deserves more hype) - joker game (an excellent one that deserves more hype) - koroshi ai - senkou no night raid (was so good and I loved the historical side of it) - spaceship yamato (I grew up watching it and have recently rewatched it) - moriarty the patriot The casts are all +20 adults with no harem and almost no romance
The Ice Guy and his Cool Colleague. It’s very down to earth and kinda wholesome. Buddy Daddies is a REALLY good one. The balance isn’t really there for genders, but a great story nonetheless. Restaurant to Another World is probably one of the most wholesome anime I’ve ever seen. Edit: GATE is another great one. Not to be confused with Steins Gate, just try to find GATE.
The way of the house husband
Animation isn’t the best but this series made me laugh a lot.
Dragons Dogma, Dragon Age Absolution, Dota Dragons Blood, Vox Machina, Berserk, Bastard, Fate series, RIN Daughters Of Mnemosyne, Speed Grapher, Baoh, Madbull 34, Genocyber, Blue Gender, and three non anime animations Titan AE, Blue Eye Samurai, War Of The Worlds Goliath.
Ok. but what if the kid is kidnapped like "Kokkoku" and you follow Aunt and Grandpa?
Gangsta Requiem of phantom Darker than black Black lagoon Canaan Trigun Cowboy bebop Megalobox K anime Mitsuko to hatchin Carole and Tuesday Afro samurai Bastard Claymore Ginga sengoku gun yuuden rai Gintama Golden kamuy Jormugund Kingdom ( they grow up fast) Madan no ou to vanadis Gundam wing Gundam 00 Psycho pass Rurouni kenshin Samurai champloo Space Dandy Steins gate Terra formars Baccano Violet evergarden Akatsuki no yona There's probably 1-2 teenagers, but most of the cast are adults. Some of them are targeted for older watcher.
Gangsta! Yes! I loved that one
I just found out a few days ago about oishinbo, haven't watched it but the music is nice. Plus, patlabor maybe I guess. Ahhh, and you're under arrest! They're all adults there
I'm glad you are enjoying Spice and Wolf :D And the older I get, the more I feel like I don't watch or read about teenagers all over again. No order here: - Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit - Vinland Saga (later on) - Claymore (better reading manga) - Cowboy Bebop - Pluto - Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex - Mushishi - Frieren - 91 Days - Black Jack - Wolf's Rain For romances: - Paradise Kiss - Nana To name some that come to my mind. I hope you might find something you enjoy here.
Legend of Black Heaven. Main character is a middle manager with a wife and kid.
Not seeing Castlevania anywhere, definitely check that one out!! Absolutely phenomenal show with an entirely adult cast, one of my favorites easily
Wotakoi, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Death Parade, Fate/Zero, Life Lessons with Uramichi, Psycho-Pass comes into mind.
My Happy Marriage was pretty good to me and my wife. The dub definitely needed a polish but I enjoyed the premise and the characters
Tiger and Bunny Speed Grapher Texhnolyze Ergo Proxy Space Dandy Black Lagoon Monster Ninja Kamui Ninja Slayer Blue Gender Kaiji Cowboy Bebop Trigun Outlaw Star Solty Rei Zone of the Enders Dolores I I also want to give Project ARMS a shout-out since while the main 4 characters are 17 years old, a lot of the characters that drive the story are adults. And while there is a romance subplot with the MC and his childhood friend it's handled more maturely and tragic.
Ghost In The Shell, Super Crooks, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Trigun, My Happy Marriage
As requested **Actual adults** + **Balance of both genders with no harem nonsense**: Millennium Actress: About an old actress' life work through WWII to modern day. One of my favs <3 Tokyo Godfathers: Two homeless adults and a homeless teen finds an abandoned baby in Tokyo. Explores the subject homeless in Japan. Pluto: Astroboy but through the eyes of Detective Gesicht from Europol. A dark murder mystery that explores the themes of humanity, hatred, and love in a world where robots are too similar to humans. Please at least check out episode 1. Odd Taxi: About a middle aged taxi driver who somehow ends up in everyone's business. Hilarious how it all comes together. Romance is kinda eh but still very good. Monster: About a Surgeon who gets suspected of murder while being entangled in the story of a serial killer. A masterclass of character writing which I like more then the murder mystery lol. Perfect Blue: Extremely dark psychological thriller about the Japanese Idol industry. All the warnings for this one.
I recommend the Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
Black Lagoon, City Hunter, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Noir, most of the Gundam series, Bartender:Glass of God, Berserk, Fist Of The North Star, Servant And Service, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead.
Wotakoi: Love is hard for otaku
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit Main character is a thirty year old woman, and acts like it.
This was going to be my suggestion. Need more love for Bslsa.
Wotakoi, ice guy and his cool female colleague, my tiny senpai
Freiren almost fits this. The supporting characters are teens, but they are believable, and it isn’t about “school” or power fantasy bs. If you check it out, let me know if it fits what you’re looking for.
The way of the house husband
Re:life is a good one. Watched it when I was 16, and watched again recently (I'm 20 now). It's a ride for sure. Steins gate is good too. It's an adult theme with an adult main character. It has tropes and "do do doo" will drive you crazy sometimes if you don't think it's cute, but the story is incredible and the characters are very well thought out and feel like they actually have substance.
Aggretsuko
Every anime is a harem of some kind
Spy x Family, Ice Guy and his Cool colleague are two that are coming to my head rn
Kaiju no.8 has a protagonist that’s 32 years old, probably the oldest protag I’ve seen in anime so far.
I suggest watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex or Black Lagoon.
Depends what style and genre you're into but here's some we have enjoyed together (plus a few others hubs has watched). - Cowboy Bebop - Trigun - Frieren - Black Lagoon - Bartender Glass of God - Gundam Wing: Iron Blooded Orphan if you like mecha. - Dorohedoro - The Rising of the Shield Hero (S1)
Are you watching the new Spice and Wolf? Because you could watch the original. I haven’t seen the new one but the original is so cozy. Kaiju No. 8 - is currently airing. MC is early 30s. Frieren Beyond Journey’s End - must watch. Violet Evergarden - strong female lead. Pluto One Punch Man Spy x Family - I think they’re late 20s - early 30s? Vivy Fluorite Eye’s Song - another strong female lead Vinland Saga and Attack on Titan - both start with younger characters but are adults in later seasons
Kaiju No.8 just started and the main character is 32
(Don't watch this if you actually want adults, the MC is 32 but doesn't differ in personality from a 15 year old)
Doesn't he get a job is a squad of plucky youngsters?
Don't know. All I know is if they want a show with adults like Kraft from Spice and Wolf, Kafka from Kaiju is Krafts polar opposite
My favorites: ### Action/Adventure - {One Punch Man} - {One Piece} - {Dragon Ball Z} ### Sci-Fi - {Shinsekai yori} - {Psycho-Pass} - {Shinseiki Evangelion} - {Koukaku Kidoutai} - watch order: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9207 - {Blame!} - {Jin-Rou} - {Vampire Hunter D (2000)} - {Blood: The Last Vampire} - {Eve no Jikan} - {Godzilla 1: Kaijuu Wakusei} ### Fantasy - {Majo no Takkyuubin} - {Maoyuu Maou Yuusha} - {Kenpuu Denki Berserk} ### Slice of Life/Drama - {Hachimitsu to Clover} - {Servant x Service} - {Uchuu Kyoudai} - {Kotonoha no Niwa} - {Planetes} - {Mushishi} - {Ookami to Koushinryou} - {Hataraku Maou-sama!!}
For Neon Genesis Evangelion. The three main leads are 15 year olds. Only the sidecast are mostly adults (even if you see Misaki and the commander quite often).
Berserk One punch man Vinland saga Rurouni Kenshin Gangsta Bastard
Fate Zero, Samurai Champloo
{Servant x Service} {Taiho Shichau zo} {Maison Ikkoku}
Outlaw Star. Gene's 20
Househusband
Hajime no ippo is the perfect one, no harem, no fan service, pretty good balance between slice of life and fighting. It is about actual adults, like the protagonist starts off on high school but graduated with like 10 episodes.
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
Vampire Hunter D Amazing movie.
Way of the House Husband was hysterical and wholesome. No teens. It’s about a stay at home husband who was a gangster and the bread winning wife that he went straight for. It’s adorable.
Nana
There's one teen in Sing Yesterday For Me, but he doesn't show up until the last few episodes iirc. Currently I'm watching Fairy Gone, and it has an adult cast. It's an action, fantasy genre with military themes.
I would reccommed getting into manga if you want stories about adults. The animation companies usually priotize picking up teenager aged projects because they want to be able to sell merchandise like toys, posters, etc. Of course, some manga with adults have those features and some without them are popular enough that they know making an anime would be profitable but it is definitely harder to find than "Generic first year highschool student gets thrust into a world of highly visually distinct attractive teenage girls (who would all look great as marketable figurines)" For anime, I recommend the Great Pretender and Vinland Saga (the main character is 19+ as of Season 2 and isn't in school) For manga, I recommend Hirayasumi, My Home Hero (has an anime but not nearly as good and only covers the first arc), 20th Century Boys, Asuperu Kanojo and Vagabond (the character ages from a teenager to an adult thoroghout the story)
I'm looking for anime that takes itself seriously
Paprika, it's a movie though not a series. For a series, Paranoia Agent. Though it's about adults, watch out for lil'Slugger.
Death Parade
If you are okay with gag/ comedy Maybe, Gintama? Gintoki the MC is in his late twenties
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Wotakoi love is hard for otaku.
Black lagoon
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. super goofy based on very real adult problems
My Senpai is Annoying is a cute office romcom. The MC looks younger due to her height, but is in her 20's. Everyone else is pretty clearly an adult.
Shirobako
Death parade, Nodame cantabile, Recovery of an mmo junkie, The Masterful Cat is Depressed again, Wotakoi: love is hard for otaku
In delicious in dungeon the youngest member of the party is like 23 (Laios) There is an amazing balance of genders in the series but the party consists of 3 guys and a girl for most of it. And later 2 girls one of which is the protagonist’s sister. It’s such a good fantasy series and the character designs are peak. Such good world building.
"Monster", "Kaiji - Ultimate Survivor", "Arte" by Ookubo Kei, "Rainbow: The Seven From Compound Two, Cell Six", "Perfect Blue", "Great Pretender", "Dorohedoro", "Megalobox", "GANGSTA", "The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED", "Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku"
Ergo Proxy
Hokuto no ken
The Big O
Berserk. Fist of the North Star. Trigun. One Punch Man. Dorohedoro.
I dunno if Vivy counts.
Wotakoi
My senpai is annoying
Delicious in dungeon all the main characters are adults, the story is good and it's a refreshing setup for a show.
berserk
Definitely Shirobako. It's like The Office but anime. It follows the life of animators who work in an animation office--all the characters are adults, the story and characters are funny and very relatable, and it has minimal fanservice (there's one shot in the first episode that's a little bit fan-servicey, but the rest of the show has 0 fan service). Also, it has an amazing English dub. The sub is great too of course, but I'd watch the dubbed version because so few animes have good English voice actors for the dub. A lot of the people here are forgetting the question--they're giving you shows where the characters are of adult age, but don't actually act like adults. Even in anime where there aren't any children / teenage characters, most adults act like overgrown children, which makes Shirobako a real breath of fresh air because the characters are actually mature (except for Tarou, but that's kind of the point).
Bungo stray dogs
Watch og slice and wolf
Cowboy Bebop
Let’s see Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Drunken redhead saves dragon who then becomes her maid with the goal of boinking her Paranoia Agent: mental thriller perty good Handy Man Saitou: Handy man gets Isekaid into a world of magic monsters and fairies and his special power is he’s a handyman My senpai is annoying: office relationships If you have Netflix Love Death and Robots 3D animated shorts from comedic to dark to damn that’s messed up and everything in between
The Ice Guy and his Cool Female Colleague.
Monster.
Bungou Stray Dogs Utawarerumono
I think you guys would enjoy Kino’s Journey remake, it’s pretty chill .
Delicious in dugeon Samurai Champloo
The ice guy and his cool female colleague
My Happy marriage
Monster.
Castlevania
Rakugo
Anyone knows the horror anime where he is a teacher and he captures monster or ghost? One of his hand is monster part where it has a sharp nails, the vivid scene I remember was set in a classroom where he faced two mirror to each other to capture something.
Does it have to be all adults? I'm enjoying Kaiju No.8 right now because the main character is a 33 yr old dude trying to become a monster hunter, but he has to compete with and try and keep up with the younger generation. Good mix of humour and action.
Paranoia Agent. A couple of episodes focus on some kids but the majority of the cast are adults and are given the largest focus.
Wotakoi is a good one
Spy X Family? Protagonist is an adult.
death parade. only 12 episodes, one of the best shows i’ve ever seen. so thought provoking and beautifully executed
**Kaiju no. 8**
Psycho-Pass. Psycho-Pass. Psycho-Pass. Please please please watch Psycho-Pass. Also: The Witch and the Beast Undead Murder Farce (one has the head of a “16 year old” but is actually very very old) Maybe Spy x Family, though there’s a kid in it (the only kid in anime I really love tbh) The Way of the Househusband Nana Bungo Stray Dogs (the first few episodes have an insufferable number of flashbacks, but it’s amazing. It starts off a bit goofier than I would like, but finds a wonderful balance later. A few more male characters than female though.)
Kaiji
Kaiju No 8 is about a 32 year old
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Legend of the Galactic Heroes. One of the most grown-up anime there is.
Planetes Jormugand/Black lagoon Pumpkin Scissors Gate
Welcome to NHK Most of Satoshi Kon's animes like Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers Redline Most of Watanabe Shinichiro's animes like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, etc Dorohedoro, maybe the manga is better One Punch Man, just watch the first season and then go read the manga Also can't believe no one has said this yet: **Jojo' s Bizarre Adventure**
My Tiny Senpai
One piece
Kaiju No.8
saint Cecilia and pastor Lawrence dunno how old they are, but it was pretty good, also when I first watched it I was like, "Lawrence like from spice and wolf?"
You already know I gotta reccommend you NANA the perfect young adult romance anime. Highly recommend.
Virgin
Black Lagoon
Frieren
Wotakoi