which is it...?

[mutevampire]

Of all the anime people here have seen, which one series is the biggest mind bender? Ththat one series most likely to make you walk away from it halfway through complaining that your brain just broke? in short... The weirdest anime series of all time is...?

[robot]

I think Lain has the ability to do that although, it may not be the best of them all. I'm really excited about a new strange/thought provoking series called Paranoia Agent. It should be awesome. ;D

[Cyanna]

I remember the first time I saw FLCL. I was so confused by it...especially episode 4, I actually didn't like it very much.

Neon Genesis Evangelion can also be really hard to follow....especially in the second half where it becomes more psychological and less "I'm a Giant Robot and I'm going to crush you!"

[Flame]

I remember the first time I saw FLCL. I was so confused by it...especially episode 4, I actually didn't like it very much.

Same here. And it didn't help that I was watching it on Adult Swim at whatever hour in the morning... ^.^;;

I never actually saw any of the series after episode four. And I don't really care.

[Christopher]

In order of Brain eating (through confusing or otherwise):

Lain
Boogiepop Phantom
Evangelion

[Kuri]

Hmmm my list would probably be:

Lain
Boogie Pop Phantom
Big 0
FLCL

There are a couple more...I just can't remember which ones right now.

[mutevampire]

hehe... ok then, Lain, Boogie Pop Phantom, and Evangalion seem to rank high

FLCL seems to rank as crap (the odd thing is that i kinda sorta got it... once your brain gets eaten out it makes sense....)

Big O somehow makes a showing (one that i did understand front to back.... oddness ... should I be worried at this point?)

i'll keep myeye out for the others. Thanks all.

*is fascinated by brain-eater and comedy animes.... FLCL, Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi (spelling?), Azu Manga Dioh, etc. (if you don't think the last one is a brain eater see any episode featuring Osaka's thoughts.... which heavily involve removable pigtails)*

[DM was on fire!]

Well, in my opinion...

Big O
Cyborg 009

I still watched it though.

[Kuri]

I just remembered another one... Jin Roh is a bit of a mindbender.

I lent it to my friend and it bothered her so much because she couldn't really understand what was going on.

[Jasujo]

I absolutely love anything that challenges like serial experiments lain and Boogiepop Phantom. I'm currently trying to get Tim to watch both of those.

I think Now & Then, Here & There is another good one. It seems very straight forward, but there are so many twists and tangles on what this person believes in and what this one is really trying to achieve. That is one powerful anime.

Mikyuki-chan in Wonderland is a headtrip. lol I love the art in that movie (it's by CLAMP, so of course ), but it's a tad wacked out. Poor Miyuki-chan. lol

I can understand how Osaka can be mind-bending, although I haven't seen the anime yet. I just finished reading the manga. She's one of my favorite characters.

Omg, I almost forgot the weirdest one! Cat Soup. Period. End of competition. Seriously, we had gotten it because it had such good reviews. Thinking it was just a show about two little cats, brother and sister, who got lost and wanted to find their way home or whatever, we thought it would be fine watching with the girls. About 20 minutes later we are trying to explain to them why one cat has a chainsaw and is eating the other one in a sea of blood that turns into a clock with an old man cackling as they chase the soul of the sister and try to capture it while suddenly everyone wants pie. (Okay, that wasn't exactly how it went, but trust me, it's not far off. ) After that was done, we quickly popped in a happy fluffy kids show and never mentioned Cat Soup again. It's sat on our dvd shelf ever since. lol

[robot]

Cat Soup was insane. I watched it with, of course, my dad. I don't remember exactly why we rented it or what our preveiwing assumptions were, but it was definitely different. I loved how almost nothing was explained and the lack of speaking made it even more interesting. ;P

[Phibby]

Are we just discussing series here? If so, I can't think of one I've seen that boggled my mind, though the one episode of Lain I saw utterly confused me, though that was partly because it was the only episode I'd seen and partly because it was halfway through the series.

But if we're going into movies also, I'd have to say Akira. Didn't pick up on half of it, really. I got the "biker-gang politics" bit of the beginning enough, but once Tetsuo crashes his bike, I'm lost. Still, it was interesting and entertaining, and I must say, the scene with Tetsuo and the giant teddy bear, bunny, and car symbolizing those three kids is one of my favorites in all anime.

Then again, I've only seen it once. One of these days I'll have to go back and rewatch it. Maybe I'll "get" more of it on future watchings.

[Wind]

Evangelion can be terrible... I still don't get the meaning of the end, both anime and movie...

[skizzy the wonder lizard]

lain, most def.

but if we're going to talk about movies, perfect blue will break your brain.

[mutevampire]

i was thinking series at the time i asked, but sure! i'm just lookinf for a selection of animes i can pick up/rent/borrow and spend a whole day watching on a semi-regular basis that, after spending the day watching it, will find myself utterly unable to think due to mass weirdness, oddity, perplexity, and mins-blowing