An anime for those who don’t like anime. The main protagonists are young and have those big anime eyes, but those are the only anime conventions appearing in this series, which plays like a hard-boiled action drama with strong elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror in a very realistic modern Japan. So just forget it’s supposed to be anime and enjoy this strange, exciting and original adventure about a college-student who finds that he’s part of a mysterious group of people (the Ajin) who can repeatedly come back from the dead. Things go from weird, to really weird, to blow-out epic insane with some of the best combat sequences ever seen in animation. At the time it was made, an all CGI-animation TV series was almost blasphemy in anime, which is supposed to be mostly hand-drawn, but this production gives everything a very realistic feel that adds to the impact. Very recommended and bingeable.

2021 Update: The second season was almost-almost as good as this one. Because we’re already familiar with certain elements of the story by the second season, some things don’t have the same impact value as in the first season. But season 2 was still extremely good and left me wanting more. Alas, a season 3 was never done.

Not For Kids
Japanese with English subtitles

Ajin (2016)