Any suggestions on slightly grounded animé which might help me get into it?
Here are my two favourite anime of the last 8 or so years. They're very different but both great in their own way.
Monster
1980s Germany. Dr Tenma, a young prodigy in the field of brain surgery, rapidly becoming disillusioned with his director, takes the decision to operate on a 10 year old boy, rather than the city mayor he was assigned to. The boy, the adopted son of a political refugees from East Germany, is saved, but soon disappears without a trace.
10 years later, the Berlin Wall fallen, a string of murders are committed with Dr Tenma the chief suspect. Innocent, Dr Tenma witnesses another murder and sees the real killer: the little boy he saved the life of, now a man, now a monster.
The series follows Dr Tenma, a man running from the law, desperately trying to track down the boy he saved and kill him.
There is no magic, sci-fi, moe girls or drawn out fights. The show is about the unfolding mystery as Dr Tenma pieces together the mysterious past of the killer he saved while dodging the pursuit of the law. It is driven by character and dialogue, not plot and action. I consider it good enough to be counted as a fantastic crime drama, not just a crime drama
anime.
It's 74 episodes long.
Give it 4 episodes and you'll won't want to stop watching.
Give it 9 episodes and you won't be able to.
Avoid the dub if you can. Unfortunately, I can only find that on YouTube.
Also, creepiest ending credits ever.
Hataraki Man
Do you have a job? Great. You can immediately associate with this show.
It follows the trials and tribulations of professional woman working as a writer for a weekly magazine.
And that's kind of it, really.
It focuses on how she balances a great workload, her relationship with her boyfriend, and her goal to always do work she can be proud of, even if that work seems to take over her entire life.
The characters are very anime at times, yet somehow are incredibly truthful. You'll recognise the archetypes that clutter workplaces, especially offices, and you'll empathise all too knowingly with the lead as deadline after the deadline hit her. It's also incredible funny, colourful, and has the single most accurate depiction of what ordinary people get like when drunk ever.
I don't think I'd want to do both at the same time though, I get annoyed when I miss story beats, and you can't read subs while you're banging.
