As an anime fan I know that sometimes people who don’t know anything about anime will probably just view them as just some cartoons. But that’s the cool thing about anime, is that often times they’re not just cartoons that people watch, many of them have philosophical aspects to them. I am going to name a few animes in which I feel have some kind of commentary within them.
Revolutionary Girl Utena: One of my favorite animes of all time. Deals with a story of girl who wants to become a prince.
Themes: Gender roles and sexuality are the apparent themes within Utena. This anime deals with controversial issues such as sexual abuse and incest. Utena can be hard to understand at times because of the heavy symbolism. In a sense, I would say Utena is anti-fairytale.
X/1999: Another compelling anime, and there is a touch of shonen ai within it. Basically it’s the story of a boy who has the power to determine the fate of humanity.
Themes: There’s a lot of religious symbolism within X/1999 as well as apocalyptic themes. As well as issues of destiny and fate.
Ai no Kusabi: Very popular yaoi anime which is futuristic and takes place on a planet named Amoi which is ran by a computer named Jupiter.
Themes: Deals with issues of social class and caste systems. For those of you familiar with Ai no Kusabi, blondes are at the top of the social latter.
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Basically scientist get together to try to stop Operation Meteor to get revenge on a military organization.
Themes: The only themes I can think of is that Gundman deals with the ethics of war.
Death Note: The story of a young man named Light who comes across a notebook in which he is given the power to determine who lives or dies.
Themes: I think this anime deals with issues of good and evil as well as the issue of who gets to determine who lives or dies. Though, this wasn’t the original intent of the anime.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Basically it’s the story of the Second Impact which led to the death of half the human population. Pilots have to fight monsters which are called ‘angels’.
Themes: Another anime with biblical themes. The characters also display certain mental illnesses, especially Shinji.
These are all the ones I can think of at the moment.
