Quote:
Shikabane Hime,
Battle Royale,
Gantz,
Shikabane Hime
Mnemosyne
Claymore
Freezing
Higurashi
Umineko
Requiem from the Darkness
Shikabane Hime is not so good if you ask me, just another students with superpowers fighting monsters. Just a fantasy adventure-drama. This times monsters are resurected souls of humans, who go berserk in their new grotesque bodies, thou there's not much of a violence and psychosis as story would sugest.
The only
Battle Royale I've seen was a movie, not anime, thou meaby something new came up.
Gantz was also sugested to me by Yom, It's really good and mature story, there's quite a lot of blood and drama, also some secret but it lacks the tension and psychosis you're looking for.
Freezing has blood and some severe human body parts but it's mainly a feast for fan-service lovers, big boobs, girls with superpowers and very non-durable clothing. Drama is very shallow. It's wasted potential and in addition to your request it has very futuristic touch to it.
So the propositions that match your requirements are probably only those:Memnosyne (never watched but I heard many good opinions. It's quite short thou, like 5 or 6 episodes)
Requiem from the Darkness (very interesting graphics, also tension and mystery, very dark image of the world)
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (gore and psycho at its best)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (also gore and psycho thou character designs may seem annoying and I dropped it halfway because of it)
Claymore (really good action but sometimes it reminds me of Freezing in middle ages with all the fanservice taken away)
MY PROPOSITIONS:1.
Shinsekai Yori - There is everything you mentioned (violence, some dark mysteries, tension, some psychosis) and drawings are realy good. Thou "From the New World" is in the future (postapocalyptic) I think it very differs from the one that you have in mind. Humans have abbanoded technology and science blaming it for all tragedies in the past.
It desn't have as much of the factors you're looking for as in the rest of my propositions but it has a REALLY GREAT STORY. (about 25 episodes)
2.
Blood-C - If you reaaaally want some psycho climate, people getting killed in most various ways and an ocean of blood, with a little of mystery in beautifull graphics, Blood-C is the position you're looking for. Story is quite simple but in this case it doesn't really matter that much. I still can't get out of my head all the gore, the closer to the end the worse. Everything starts very innocent. (12 eps)
3.
Elfen Lied - That's the classic. Drawings are still very good in comparison to current standards. It has everything you mentioned. Horror, psycho climate, blood and violence, there's also some female nudity, drama and tension, twisted love story. It's quite sad story without happy end. Perfect marketing product. Shakespeare would get jealous. (13 episodes)
4.
Strait Jacket- It has
only 3 episodes but really worth watching. I won't say anything about the story to make spoilers. The only thing I can say that the story is played in XIX century (probably in London) with a one little difference to reality: in the near future there was an experiment that not only proven existance of magic but also enabled it's practical use. Now it's used everywhere and became part of everyones life, but everything has it's dark side. World somehow reminds me of the one in Final Fantasy series where science and magic complete each other. You will probably find there everything you need but the main focus is still on action and some hard universal questions. It has probably the same issue that I pointed in Shikabane Hime cause the main psycho part are humans (that are turned into monsters) going on bloody rampage but I can certainly say it stands at way higher level than Yom's proposition. (3 eps)
5.
Night Head Genesis - If there's a anime that shows true forms of cruelty of this world, it is surely this series. It's about two special brothers. One has telekinesis and second is psychic. They were abandoned by their parents because of the psychic power they possessed and sent to special laboratory. But they managed to escape.
This position is highly recomended. It's not about gore ,thou you will find quite big dosage of it, but the main dish is exploring dark sides of human nature. (24 eps)
6.
Mirai Nikki - This one has also everything you ask for besides mystery since story is quite simple (a lot of partialy-crazy yet interesting motherfuckers). I think you won't get dissapointed. The only issue I can point is that the story sometimes rushes like cary only to get very slow in the next episodes. (26 eps)
7.
Deadman Wonderland - I wouldn't really advise it but it has everything you require to be added to the list, but it's main
attraction (like in freezing and claymore) are probably fights. I won't say much about story but:
- Spoiler: show
- It's about a kid that goes into prison where prissoners have to participate in survival games to stay alive.
(12 eps)