You need to see Samurai Champloo if you haven't. It's twenty years old but absolutely timeless. Reposting my comment from elsewhere here: For something more f

You need to see Samurai Champloo if you haven't. It's twenty years old but absolutely timeless. Reposting my comment from elsewhere here: For something more fantastical, To Your Eternity, an adventure that makes you feel and hurt. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End for an adventure that's both young and grown-up - it only came out recently, but has instantly been acclaimed as a modern classic. For something more childlike yet endlessly creative, Delicious in Dungeon or even Ranking of Kings. For proper literary sci-fi (despite featuring young protagonists), From the New World (Shinsekai Yori). For true artistic cinema despite a Japanese high-school setting, Ping Pong The Animation. Other gems mentioned that I second: ODDTAXI (a tightly written mystery-drama despite its art) and Pluto (serious thinking sci-fi with gravitas). There are always a few upper-tier shows coming out each year that retain an artistic, mature bent. Not very many but at least they're there.