Anime is the home to incredibly fierce battles like those in Dragon Ball but it also features amazing battles of the mind and stories that examine deeper psychological concepts. These shows can hit hard emotionally and keep viewers on the edges of their seats as they try to figure out what will happen next.
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Psychological anime has the potential to either be amazingly constructed or a messy disaster that isn't fun for anyone to watch. Fortunately, some brilliant minds have carefully crafted some must-watch shows over the years.
10 Kino's Journey
Who doesn't make friends with a talking motorcycle when they're fifteen? Kino's Journey starts with this odd premise but opens itself up into being an incredible show with how it shows off all the locations Kino travels to on this magical motorbike.
The show explores strange cultures and customs and gives the viewer a chance to compare them to their own. In this way, Kino's Journey uses the outside world to explore its psychological content, making it unique compare to other anime in the genre.
9 Welcome To The N.H.K.
Hikikomori is a word used in Japan to describe people who generally don't go outside and avoid all social contact possible. This is the case for Tatsuhiro who believes in a conspiracy that the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (N.H.K) is what is causing him to live this style of life.
The show follows him slowly opening up to try and actually explore the world with lots of drama and a sprinkling of comedy along the way. It's a fascinating experience watching someone break down a mental health condition and creates progress in their own life.
8 From The New World
Most coming-of-age stories are rather wholesome but From The New World bucks that genre norm. The show follows Saki Watanabe as she unlocks her psychic powers and is welcomed into the Sage Academy with her friends.
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Things aren't quite as utopian as they seem and Saki begins to question what happens to children who can't unlock their psychic abilities. With a secretive group called the Tainted Cats potentially kidnapping children and many other shocking truths about society to uncover, the From The New World is gripping until the end.
7 Psycho-Pass
What happens if the police could scan someone, know how likely they are to commit a crime, and then arrest or execute them based on this information? This is the premise for Psycho-Pass and it results in some incredibly emotional and philosophical moments throughout the show.
Akane is a new member of the force and truly wants to uphold justice in the world but keeps finding that time and time again her ideals are tested. Especially with police violence being a hot topic across the world, this show hits harder than ever before.
6 Parasyte -The Maxim-
What happens when no one knows if their friend has been overtaken by the enemy or is still on their side? Similar to the movie The Thing, Parasyte -the maxim- has aliens invading Earth and burrowing into the minds of the humans that live there.
The catch? One such parasitic alien accidentally messes up when trying to implant inside a high school student named Shinichi and finds the other aliens want it dead as well. The two being forced to work together to survive creates some fantastic scenarios where the two have to examine life from different points of view.
5 The Tatami Galaxy
Imagine an Isekai anime but the main character is simply transported back in time within their own world to try and live their life over again. This is the premise for The Tatami Galaxy where Watashi has a chance to make the most out of his college life instead of wasting it on breaking up happy couples and generally being miserable.
The show has a unique art style that makes it stand out. It's the perfect anime to show how seemingly small choices in life can add up to major events further down the road.
4 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War
Most psychological anime are deeper, dark, and mind-bending affairs. Love Is War completely subverts this genre cliché and instead manages to be a comedic romance that pits student counsel members Kaguya and Miyuki against each other in a bid to get the other to confess their love first.
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The show has some downright gut-busting moments alongside incredible character growth throughout the series. It's hard to imagine a show that pulls on the heartstrings this hard in the genre but Love Is War delivers in spades.
3 Death Note
The epic battle of wits between Light Yagami and the mysterious L is by far the most iconic in all of psychological anime history. The moral quandaries presented by the idea of a Death Note — a notebook that can kill anyone whose name is written in it — being used to kill criminals and bad people without a trial gives viewers a lot to think about outside of the show as well.
Death Note is a must-watch for fans of the psychological as trying to guess how the show ends is nearly impossible with how cleverly it is written.
2 Monster
Monster is an incredible show that really shows the inner turmoil people can face based on their decisions. It follows Dr. Kenzou Tenma as he struggles with the fact that he was pulled away from performing brain surgery on a poor immigrant worker and instead successfully saves a famous celebrity.
This causes a massive crisis of conscience as while the worker ends up dying, the world keeps applauding his actions. When faced with a similar choice again, he instead chooses to help a small child which results in his life being thrown into turmoil over rejecting to do surgery on the town's mayor.
1 Steins;Gate
Based on one of the most influential visual novels of the past decade, Steins;Gate explores the ideas of using time travel to change the course of history. Each time Okabe sends something back in time, he must deal with all of the ramifications of how he has changed the present. This becomes a serious weight on his shoulders as he must navigate what should be changed and what should stay the same.
Steins;Gate is by far one of the best shows to get time travel stories right and is a must-watch for any fan of anime.