By adult I mean over 18-20 years of age and with adult appearances. Nothing against anime with younger characters, but interested in finding some with older characters.
Fullmetal Alchemist (both of them). The two main characters are basically the only teenagers, and only one of them looks it.
Brilliant series, but the main characters are children. That kinda goes completely against the request of the OP.
a mostly adult cast of characters.
Prominent adult chatacters, off the top of my head:
Mustang Hawkeye Havok Braida Ross Major Armstrong Hughes Bradley Kimbley Lust Greed Envy Hoenheim Father General Armstrong Izumi Sig Granny Scar Marcoh Buccaneer Yoki
Prominent teen/child characters:
Ed Al Ling Mei
How does that not fit the definition of “mostly adult”?
Do 1000+ year old characters that look young count?
I mean, I don’t remember watching an anime that has a character like that, but IDK some people are really weird about that.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…
I don’t care how old the character is canonically. If they look and act like a child, they should be treated as one. Simple as that.
and act like a child
I don’t really remember any examples of hundreds year old loli vampires that actually act like kids. Shinobu certainly isn’t one. I didn’t include anything like this because OP specifically asks for adult appearances though.
I can’t argue this point or agree with it. I honestly haven’t read or watched enough media with characters like this because it’s not my thing.
I just added that because it fit the earlier duck metaphor. And I’m willing to bet money there are actual characters like that as well.
Fair enough. I’m just tired of the excuse that the reader/watcher is supposed to believe that the very obvious child is supposed to be hundreds or even thousands of years old and that somehow magically makes it not weird or creepy to view this character sexually.
I love manga and anime myself, but I just feel like this kind of shit makes everyone that enjoys this form of Japanese media look bad.
I’d tentatively add Berserk to the list. Tentatively because the story does go back to recount the characters’ youths, but that’s really not the main focus.
Another good one with mostly adult cast and a more mature plot is Monster.
(trying not to duplicate other mentions)
Current:
- Ramen Akaneko - is a current show with working (adult) cats and a human running a ramen restaurant.
- The Fable - is a current show that I classify as Yakuza noir, about a uh… idiot savant assassin? I love Yoko.
- Kengan Ashura - Extremely violent bizarre macho underground fighters.
Recent:
- Paripi Koumei/Ya Boy Kongming - An absolutely fantastic blast about making it in the music industry. All of the music is sooooo good! All major protagonists work in a bar.
- Akiba Maid Sensou/Akiba Maid War - A parody of maid cafes operated like Yakuza gangs.
- Brave Bang Bravern - was a pretty good farce of 90s super robot shows with all adult military guys as protagonists.
- Glass Of God - was about godlike knowledge of bartending, so obviously no kids or teens there.
What you want is “seinen” anime, which is intended for an older audience. Most anime is “shonen”, which is intended for kids. (Not that there’s anything wrong with an adult enjoying shonen.) There are more genres and specifications, but I am not that into anime.
Dragonball is shonen. Cowboy Bebop is seinen. There are loads of great seinen shows out there.
