Science Fiction Anime with Heavy Emphasis on Realism?

[Rune Lai]

I'm once again trying to lean on the hive mind while in search of anime to scratch a particular itch.

Today I'm looking for what we would call "hard science fiction" with preference with a military or action twist, but I can do with just brainy. I was listening to the opening credits to Knights of Sidonia and I realized that what I really, really loved about that show was how it paid attention to physics.

For instance, when the massive space ship needs to turn around everyone goes crazy over the amount of structural damage a quick turn would cause (because inertia doesn't go away in space). I like that the characters have to weigh the value of how many lives will be lost by the sudden turn versus how many will be saved by avoiding the enemy attack.

I like how people and unsecured objects in the Sidonia's interior go flying when said turn happens.

I like that the show covers how pilots go to the bathroom when they're stuck in their mecha for hours on end.

I like that there's a science-based reason for having a mostly genetically engineered population.

I like that the Sidonia has been traveling sub-light speed for over 600 years in search of a home since space is a huge place and travel should take forever.

That anyone can die (except seemingly Tanikaze) mentality was nice too, but that's not exclusive to this anime, whereas getting my fairly realistic spaceship voyage seems to be. Aside from the mecha and assorted alien superweapon tech, KoS is more realistic than most anime get, but when I try doing conventional searches for anime like Sidonia, most of the hits are for mecha series, and I'm not looking for mecha series so much as a similar hard science fiction series.

The closest thing I can think of is Infinite Ryvius, which I've already seen, which played around with gravity and how long outer space battles would take (several hours when orbiting the same planet, since the ships are so far apart). Aldnoah.Zero also had a few brainy combat moments that involved the use of science, but they were far too few and far between.

I know anime usually doesn't place a heavy emphasis on realism, but I can hope.

[Roas]

I hear the show Space Brothers was supposed to be good, but I don't think it's military.

I couldn't get into Sidonia for two reasons:

1) I got bored real quick

2) ...I found the animation god awful....so bad it literally hurt my eyes...I felt actual discomfort looking at it.

[Anon Mous]

I'm not usually one for realism in my anime. Then again I prefer the fantasy or slice of life with a twist style.

Dec 1, 2016 3:14:30 GMT -5 Rune Lai said:

For instance, when the massive space ship needs to turn around everyone goes crazy over the amount of structural damage a quick turn would cause (because inertia doesn't go away in space). I like that the characters have to weigh the value of how many lives will be lost by the sudden turn versus how many will be saved by avoiding the enemy attack.

The only anime that did something like that and so blatantly called it out, that I remember, was an episode of the gag anime Akazukin Chacha. The enemies kept doing a Voltron parody (in several episodes), getting larger and larger mechs. Finally, the guy makes one so big and heavy that it can't actually lift its own arms.

I do have one series I can recommend. It's more heavy on the slice of life drama than battle based hard sci-fi, but at least it's something. That series is Stellvia: of the Universe. It's one of only two sci-fi anime's I own, the other being Vandread (and that definitely doesn't fit).

[Rune Lai]

Sorry, got really busy these last few days so I haven't been here in a week. ^^;; Thanks for the comments though!

I forgot about Space Brothers, but I remember hearing that's pretty good, so I may check that out. It doesn't have to be military.

I watched Arrival recently in theaters and loved that it was all about figuring out the linguistic rules for communicating with newly met aliens (no universal translator) and it was fairly non-action. Those aliens weren't real (obviously), but if they were, it was how a linguist *could* conceivably go about learning how to communicate with them.

Not so sure about Stellvia. I looked at the Wikipedia entry and the character designs tell me that's not the kind of show I'm looking for. (Color palatte is super bright, charaters look super perky.)

I kind of suspected finding something would be hard though, since anime usually prefers gonzo mech battles. Even in American stuff finding hard sf on TV or in theaters is hard.

[Anon Mous]

Dec 7, 2016 18:11:51 GMT -5 Rune Lai said:

Not so sure about Stellvia. I looked at the Wikipedia entry and the character designs tell me that's not the kind of show I'm looking for. (Color palatte is super bright, charaters look super perky.)

You're right about the color palette, it is brighter than the grittier ones but it actually fits the style. As for perky characters, its got a bit more of an angsty vibe. A whole other issue, but enough to make a distinction. Only a few characters I would really describe as overly "perky," but that's like life (or maybe just the wierdos I hang out with).

[northlander]

The most irritating part about Stellvia is that it's stealth angst. The first... half, I think? At least? ...is actually pretty lighthearted and fun, but then right out of the blue, the show pulls this great big angsty moment with the main character on us that lasted for episodes and episodes.