Title Recommendations based on Shinji Ikari

Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain focuses on Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle-class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her cold mother, and her computer-obsessed father. The first ripple on the pond of Lain's lonely life appears when she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from Chisa Yomoda, a schoolmate who had committed suicide. When Lain receives the message at home, Chisa tells her that she is not dead, but has merely "abandoned her physical body and flesh", and is alive deep within the virtual reality-world of the Wired itself and that she has found the almighty and divine god there. From then on, Lain is bound to a path which will take her ever deeper into both the network and her own subconscious thoughts and sensations.

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Akira

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

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FLCL

FLCL follows Naota Nandaba, who lives in a small, dusty Japanese town where "nothing amazing happens" and "everything is ordinary." Ordinary, that is, until the day self-proclaimed alien Haruko Haruhara rides in on her Vespa and hits Naota with her guitar. From there on, things only get stranger, and the giant robots spouting from his forehead soon become the least of Naota's worries.

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Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion

Following Madoka's rewriting of the universe, sacrificing herself and her happy normal days to save all magical girls from the cruel fate that awaited them by wiping witches out of existence, the despair still manifest into creatures known as nightmares. Magical girl Homura Akemi continues to fight alone in the hope that she will be able to see Madoka smile again.

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Monster

Based on the critically acclaimed manga by Naoki Urasawa, Monster revolves around a central theme: how is evil created and spread? Following the adventures of doctor Kenzo Tenma as he tracks elusive serial killer Johan Liebert, Monster strives to explore the themes of evil and redemption in all their dimensions. Monster is a weighty but thoroughly enjoyable tale for those who enjoy media with philosophical meat.

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Monogatari

Thanks to Meme Oshino, Koyomi Araragi, a high school student, is able to remain a human after coming across a female vampire.. However, since the incident, Koyomi seems to meet girls who have an apparition-related issue. Hitagi Senjyogahara doesn't weigh anything, Suruga Kanbaru's right arm becomes like that of a monkey's, and a young girl, Mayoi, cannot find her way home no matter how many times she tries. Koyomi, a Mr. Nice Guy, ends up helping each and every girl solve her problem with the help of Meme Oshino.

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Eureka Seven

Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians.

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Perfect Blue

Mima Kirigoe is a singer who leaves her trio to become an actress, a career move that angers her fans, who prefer to see her as the pop idol. Plagued by self-doubt and tormented by humiliating compromises, she begins to be stalked. In her waking and sleeping moments, she faces her alter ego who claims to be "the real Mima."

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Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Following the manga of the same name,?Sayonara, Zetsubo-Sensei?is an odd, off-beat comedy of the darkest type. With surreal animation and a black sense of humor, it follows the adventures of a suicidal schoolteacher and his mentally unstable students, each a caricature of a topical Japanese social issue. While its dark subject matter may not be for everyone,?Zetsubo's?idiosyncratic style and tone are sure to win over viewers looking for something dark and different.

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Higurashi When They Cry

After moving into the quiet town of Hinamizawa, Maebara Keiichi spends his days blissfully in school often playing games with his local friends. However, appearances can be deceiving. One fateful day, Keiichi stumbles upon news of a murder that had occurred in Hinamizawa. From this point on, horrific events unfold in front of Keiichi, as he soon learns his close friends may not be all that they seem. Based on the amateur mystery game by 07th Expansion, the story is told in a series of different scenarios.

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WATAMOTE

At the tender age of 15, Kuroki Tomoko has already dated dozens and dozens of boys and she's easily the most popular girl around! The only problem is that absolutely none of that is real, and her perfect world exists only via dating games and romance shows. In fact, the sad truth is that she gets tongue tied just talking to people, and throughout middle school she's only had one actual friend. All of which makes Kuroki's entrance into the social pressure cooker of high school a new and special kind of hell. Because while Kuroki desperately wants to be popular, she's actually worse off than she would be if she was completely clueless as to how to go about it. After all, the things that work in "otome" games rarely play out the same way in reality, especially when the self-appointed "leading lady" isn't the paragon she thinks she is. There's not much gain and plenty of pain ahead, but even if it happens again and again, there's always someone else to blame!

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Lupin the Third

Arsene Lupin III is the grandson of the master thief Arsene Lupin. With his cohorts Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII and his love interest Fujiko Mine, he pulls off the greatest heists of all time while always escaping the grasp of Inspector Koichi Zenigata.

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Welcome to the N.H.K.

Focusing on the attempts of hikikomori recluse Tatsuhiro Sato to reintegrate into normal society, Welcome to the NHK is one part slice-of-life adventures, another part dark comedy. Dealing seriously with themes like social anxiety and depression, Welcome to the NHK can be a heavy series to watch. But with its self-aware humor and satiric view of Japanese fan culture, the show manages to be deeply funny.

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Revolutionary Girl Utena

As a child, Utena Tenjou was rescued by a mysterious prince—but instead of choosing to become a princess, she decided to become a prince herself. Now fourteen and a student at Ohtori Academy, Utena seems to have found a perfect princess in Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl who apparently possess "the power of revolution."

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Cowboy Bebop

The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop; Spike, Faye, Jet and Ed, take the case with hopes of cashing in the bounty. However, the mystery surrounding the man responsible, Vincent, goes deeper than they ever imagined, and they aren't the only ones hunting him.

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