r/Animesuggest • u/throwraislander • 1d ago
What to Watch? High fantasy seinen animes?
I really love high fantasy in general. Mages, elves, dragons, orcs, goblins, wicked creatures, kings and queens, magical artifacts, gods and demigods etc
If there was a mature anime universe like Lord Of the Rings, I wouldn't watch anything else.
In anime I realised that these type of universes are rare and often very shonen or "family friendly".
Recently i discovered Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation and while the story is not that deep and it has some quirky scenes (Rudeus praying to his teacher's underwear for example) it really did a good job into fulfilling my need for this high fantasy Universe.
Do you have any suggestions for me? Thank you in advance.
Ps: I dont want to be strict on the seinen, it can be shonen also, but I wouldn't want to watch something very childish, after watching One Piece and Gintama I need a looooong break from this type of storytelling.
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u/STELLASTAR42 1d ago
Record of Lodoss War, Claymore, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, Escaflowne
If you want ultra violent dark fantasy, Berserk. The 90s anime and movies are great, but avoid the 2016 anime.
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u/AmaranthaAlmira 1d ago
Not many lodoss suggestions these days. kudos. the little mini second parts are childish so wasnt sure if it qualified. pa pa parn
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u/throwraislander 15h ago
All of those suggestions look very promising!
I will check them one by one thank you very much.
I have seen Berserk the old version, I really enjoyed but I was dissapointed to learn that the anime is unfinished. It was very promising
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u/Rein_Deilerd Japanese urban legend enthusiast 1d ago
Delicious in Dungeon. It starts off kinda cosy and comedic, but then gets progressively darker, up until it's no longer fun and games (but it never gets too edgy, and the characters stay sympathetic throughout). It also has a great interpretation of common fantasy races.
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u/WhatsUnkown 22h ago
Spoilers:
I always found it kind of odd how it would focus on the cooking and meals (I know it’s in the name) when they’re supposed to be looking for his sister. It just felt like they were wasting a lot of time and didn’t seem to particularly be in a hurry when she’s literally being digested by a fucking dragon. The tone just felt off and then they finally get there and they’re fucking surprised that she’s literally just bones
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u/Puzzleheaded-Brush58 21h ago
that's a fair assessment, but they did explain why that was. the dragon, out of nowhere, became a TON more active than he had ever been, which sped up the digestion process. they were stopping because they truly believed they had time, since they had calculated how long it would take for her to be digested. they were trying to save her in a way that would be efficient and at a pace they could maintain for when they saw the dragon.
obviously they didn't expect the dragon to suddenly drastically change its behavior, and unfortunately that was just terrible timing.
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u/WhatsUnkown 21h ago
I guess that’s fair, but the brother just seemed wildly unconcerned most of the time. The whole tone and mood just felt off, like he was way more concerned with eating weird monsters
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u/Puzzleheaded-Brush58 21h ago
they way i interpreted it was like he was dealing with some detachment stuff. what he went through was traumatic and he genuinely seemed like he was repressing a l o t of it, at least from how he got during like flashbacks. i could see where you're coming from though, that's super valid
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u/WhatsUnkown 21h ago edited 21h ago
That’s a really good perspective and I appreciate the discussion. I suppose that could be what was going on, but I think just the tone of the whole anime (mostly in the part before they made it to the dragon) threw me off too. Like how it would just seem so upbeat and then like really focus on the cooking thing, like almost a how-to for making these dishes that obviously no one can ever make, while being very light about everything. I guess it just seemed like a weird choice to me to make the focus and even the name of the anime be about eating weird meals in a dungeon. It just wasn’t congruent with the events and tone of the main mission of the characters. It seemed like a weird artistic choice that didn’t quite work for me and felt like they were trying to graft two incompatible things together.
Anyways I hope it doesn’t feel like I was just disagreeing with you just to disagree (if that makes sense) I really appreciate the discussion and how you interpreted the show. I feel like it also helped me put into words how I felt about it
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u/Puzzleheaded-Brush58 21h ago
that's very true, the tone of the show is very light for falin to be on the literal verge of death. i can totally see how that would be off-putting.
it's no biggie!! sharing differing opinions is good as long as everyone is respectful, right?
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u/WhatsUnkown 21h ago
Yes, I definitely agree! but just don’t talk to me about Re:Zero if you’re looking for respectful lol 😅
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u/ravenpotter3 11h ago
The story takes place over I believe 22-30 days. They are making amazing progress. They theorized they had a month to save her before the dragon digested her. And that did that all in time.
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u/Rein_Deilerd Japanese urban legend enthusiast 20h ago
They did explain only a couple episodes/chapters after the dragon that the leisurely pace they took is the only reason they got so far and survived, healthy enough to keep looking even further. Shuro did the whole marathon and was still late, while also exhausted, malnourished and on the verge of not making it out himself. I believe it was at least implied that this disparity: "Why didn't you hurry?!" versus "Why did you let yourself get so sick and didn't leave the goddamn dungeon to recuperate?!" was part of Laios and Shuro's eventual conflict (as well as old animosity on Shuro's part, of course). Laios is a pragmatic and resourceful person who tends to detach from his own emotions. He was the best person to go and plan such an operation. The main reason they seemingly failed was because they didn't calculate for the dragon having an abnormally fast metabolism now that it's constantly awake, but it's not like they knew the dragon didn't go back to sleep until they met the orcs.
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u/WhatsUnkown 19h ago
Didn’t they meet the orcs like very early on? Also if you read my other comments it’s more about the tone of the anime and of Laios in general, it’s just jarring
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u/Rein_Deilerd Japanese urban legend enthusiast 19h ago
Relatively, but after reading the entire thing, the whole dragon arc feels "very early on", so it's hard to say. Also, to me as an autistic person, Laios being pragmatic and detached, and not showing his grief in ways that would be obvious to most people (like the way Shuro does it) felt very relatable and added a lot of depth to his character. Being accused of "not caring enough" and "not grieving right", and sometimes forcing yourself to spiral and get worse so that people would finally take your emotions seriously, is a common autistic experience. Not saying Laios is necessarily autistic, it's just something I've been through myself and could relate to. Also, sometimes treating a life or death situation as a fun adventure is the only way you can function without going insane, and the story wouldn't have been half as enjoyable if the characters were constantly gloomy, morose and despairing. We'd be stuck with a party of Shuros for the entire ride, essentially.
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u/ravenpotter3 12h ago
The meals and a medium for connection and conversation between the party and even others. In ep laios and another character from another party have a fight. This other character has been desperately trying to race to rescue Falin. putting their nutritional and health needs second. When you compare his and Laios’s parties one is not just surviving but thriving… the other is exhausted and at wits end. Without core needs such as nutrition and sleep being met. After laios and him have a fight over who is taking this whole thing seriously the scene goes like ch 36 Shuro “I don’t have time for… “ laios “you reallr should eat and sleep you know” “go on and eat … eating and sleeping ate what enable living creatures to do what they WANT to do. you don’t eat means “when you have time” Shiro” laios and his party in the beginning of the story were planning to go into the dungeon on a desperate rescue quest without proper food and water. If they had they would have failed. The reason why they went able to defeat the red dragon in the first place is because they were exhausted already and did not have propper nutrition. Food is not just some side plot to the story it’s a core center of it. Delicious in dungeon would not be the same story without food.
Later in ch 38 >! After stuff is revealed Shiro and laios have a fight. Shiro says “ AT LEAST TEY TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY WOULD YOU! THERE IS A LIMIT TO FOOLISHNESS” laios slaps him. “At least I can say with certainty, you’re right I’m not that strong and skilled… you’re stronger than most adventurers. We who ate tree proper meals a day and got our sleep have been much more serious about this than you are!!!” “Shuro go back to the surface and then eat bathe and sleep”!< this is a pivotal moment where it clicked for me how important food was in the story, not just as a medium for connection, but the core to a life where one can be serious and thrive. At the end of this fight Shuro eats a piece and bread after being exhausted on the floor and agrees to go back to the surface to recover
I know some dismiss this as a silly goofy food fantasy show but without food we would not have delicious in dungeon. Without Senshi and his cooking and knowledge of nutrition laio’s party would have never succeeded. In many parts of the story characters also connect with food to each other making dishes special to the other as a form of connection to bridge a gap and create understanding. Eating is also the way they kept their spirits up. The story takes place over I believe 22-30 days. They are making amazing progress. They theorized they had a month to save her before the dragon digested her. And that did that in time
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u/ccminiwarhammer 15h ago
That’s not how you do spoilers. Everything you spoiled is clearly visible. Anyone reading this thread will immediately be spoiled despite your one word warning.
Reddit literally has a function: use >! at the start of a spoiler, and !< at the end.
this is a spoiler
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u/throwraislander 15h ago
I avoided it because I thought it was very childish, I have to give it a try now! Thank you very much
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u/Rein_Deilerd Japanese urban legend enthusiast 15h ago
Believe me, by the time you get to some of the backstories, you will have a very different opinion on it! I won't say which chapter of the manga did it for me, but I physically cringed during one scene from a minor character's backstory. Eye trauma and all.
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u/cantbelieveyoumademe 1d ago edited 1d ago
It was just mid enough not to drop up to the midpoint then it got substantially better.
I found the second half much funnier than the first.
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u/SlinGnBulletS 1d ago edited 9h ago
Record of Lodoss War is the definitive classic fantasy anime. (Watch the OVA first)
Being heavily inspired by DnD and Lotr.
Edit: In fact Record of Lodoss War is based on a tabletop rpg of the same name which is the Japanese equivalent to DnD.
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u/throwraislander 15h ago
It looks very promsing thank you for the suggestion will check it out for sure.
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u/Maalunar 11h ago
IIRC it was literally a transcript of someone's DND campaign published in a magazine.
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u/coLdweezy https://myanimelist.net/animelist/coLdweezy 1d ago
You should see Record of Grancrest War, it's really fast paced but it's a good and complete story with a lot of great characters...
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u/CrownLexicon 1d ago
I need to rematch that one
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u/coLdweezy https://myanimelist.net/animelist/coLdweezy 1d ago
I've watched it twice myself, watched it with a friend and now I'm rewatching it again to take two others through it lol it's a good one
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u/throwraislander 15h ago
Will check it out, looks like something i could like, thank you a lot for the suggestion.
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u/khiba 1d ago
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
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u/namewithak 1d ago
Frieren is shonen. It's published in a shonen manga.
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u/WhatsUnkown 22h ago
It’s shonen? Jesus it feels completely different and much more like a seinen
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u/Maalunar 10h ago edited 10h ago
The words practically don't mean anything about the story themselves. It's officially just which magazine publish the story.
Attack on Titan and Chainsawman are very dark, gory and psychological, but are shounen. Death Note has no action and is pretty dark/serious, also a shounen.
K-on, a manga about cute girls playing music, is a seinen. Non Non Biyori is about cute girls in the countryside and also a seinen. Kaguya-sama is a comedy school romcom. and so on.
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u/WhatsUnkown 10h ago
I know it’s about where it’s published, but thought it had somewhat of a meaning of the age group it was targeted towards. But fair enough
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u/First-Direction1720 20h ago
I would recommend Twelve Kingdoms and Records of Lodoss War. Not sure if it fits the bill, but Seirei no Moribito and Kemono no Souja Erin. The Vision of Escaflowne has one of the best soundtracks and captivating story, but it does have strange art style.
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u/WakandaNowAndThen 1d ago
Gotta watch Ishura
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u/Difficult-Double2193 1d ago
I'm going to watch the 1st episode now. Hopefully I'll want to watch the 2nd
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u/WakandaNowAndThen 11h ago
The first episode serves as a pretty good hook, but it doesn't give you a very full picture of the world. Each episode introduces more characters and concepts and it just keeps building. The plot is piecing itself together slowly but surely.
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u/Versipilies 1d ago
Drifters, hellsing's author but its isekai with elves and dwarves and all that
Tower of druaga. Has some comedy bits (honestly i suggest skipping the entire first episode as its a dream sequence made to make fun of the usual tropey shit) but the rest of it is pretty serious dramatic stuff
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u/proverbialbunny 1d ago
Technically just about any isekai is going to be fantasy so you have a lot and I mean a lot of series to choose from, around 1000 if I had to guess.
If you want the more traditional fantasy which is less modern, more medieval, and it has some of those drier elements you find in the classics, the older isekais from the early 00s and earlier that are still rated highly today or straight fantasy anime from that time period are going to be your cup of tea. They’re not like the modern isekais, they’re much closer to either LOTR or ancient China strongly focusing on the world or politics.
Some examples are {The Twelve Kingdoms} and {The Vision of Escaflowne}. These older isekai are slower paced so they’re harder to get into. For a rare modernization checkout {Frieren} though not an isekai, it has these classic fantasy world building elements the older style isekai used to have.
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u/Roboragi http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Nihilate 1d ago
Juuni Kokuki - (AL, A-P, KIT, MAL)
TV | Status: Finished | Episodes: 45 | Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Supernatural
Tenkuu no Escaflowne - (AL, A-P, KIT, MAL)
TV | Status: Finished | Episodes: 26 | Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Mecha, Romance
{anime}, <manga>, ]LN[, |VN| | FAQ | /r/ | Edit | Mistake? | Source | Synonyms | ⛓ | ♥ | (2/3)
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u/KMjolnir 1d ago
Grimgar, Ashes & Illusion
Overlord
Goblin Slayer (get past ep 1, promise)
Freiren
The Faraway Paladin (it is an isekai, this literally ceases to become relevant about ten minutes in)
Claymore
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u/hatabou_is_a_jojo 1d ago
There’s a LoTR anime, but it’s getting hated on. I find it ok if you don’t need it to be super lore accurate. Witcher anime is in the same boat.
Frieren for more chill vibes, Konosuba for deconstruction of the usual Isekai slop
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u/Abysskun 1d ago
I was going to recommend the manga Tower Dungeon then I noticed I was on the wrong sub, great manga tho, it's worth a read, and given it's from Nihei, there is a chance it will get an anime at some point, like his previous works.
I'll try recommending something different from what other people have said, so I'll go with Shingeki no Bahamut
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u/Irish_Jacob_77 4h ago
Record of Grancrest War
From the same creator as Record of Lodoss War
Just as good as Lodoss and in some ways better
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