5 Psychological Anime Shows that Will Rock Your World

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a 1995 mecha anime directed by Hideaki Anno, following a teenage boy named Shinji Ikari who reluctantly pilots a giant robot-like machine to fights mysterious beings called “angels”. His distant and cruel father is the director of the organization and Shinji has to battle his own fears and weaknesses as much as he does any enemy.

Eva is considered a huge part of anime history. This anime deconstructs the mecha genre- exploring how truly screwed up it would be for a kid to be made to engage in life-or-death battle and the emotional turmoil that would likely result. In contrast to the usual gung-ho action hero, Shinji is hesitant and scared (and most likely clinically depressed).

The director of the anime has gone on record saying that the work was a product of his interest in psychology and also a result of the depression he struggled with for four years. The series is full of many references to psychoanalysis and various theories, particularly those of Freud and Jung. It explores stuff like oedipal complexes, suicidal impulses and repressed sexuality. A big theme throughout the show is the famous “hedgehog’s dilemma”, the idea that people can’t get too close without hurting each other, yet at the same time they desire it. This is certainly reflected in the many fractured relationships between the characters.

There’s also a ton of abstraction and religious symbolism, though it’s debateable whether it all actually means anything or is simply there to look cool. The series actually runs out of budget at the end, so if you really like surrealism and psychoanalysis, congrats! You’re going to get two whole episodes of the characters sitting around and talking over their various neuroses. Then you can watch the movie, where horrific destruction ensues.

Seriously though, Eva was an incredibly influential anime and clearly resonated with a lot of people, so it’s worth a look for that. Warnings for abuse, sexual assault and victim blaming (treated very casually at one point and less casually at another), body horror, implications of incest, suicide, some gore and lots and lots of death.

#5- Paprika

Paprika is a 2006 film directed by Satoshi Kon. It follows Dr. Atsuko Chiba, who uses a device called the “DC Mini” to enter patients dreams and perform psychotherapy on them. However, her world is thrown into chaos when someone steals the device and uses it for ill.

Many see Paprika as a precursor to Inception, even going so far as to accuse Christopher Nolan of ripping it off. However, Paprika gets way more into the psychological and surreal while Inception is more of a heist movie that makes a foray in mental stuff. A big theme in Paprika is dual identity and how dreams can bring out the repressed self. The animation of the movie is simply beautiful and really the main draw for me. It does the colorful and weird world of dream justice, allowing the lines between dreams and reality to blur.