Thought provoking? Hm...I haven't watched anything like that recently, but Mawaru Penguindrum is one of my favorites, and fits that bill. I rewatch it every few years, and it's amazing how I find new details every time I watch it. The premise initially seems rather shallow, but the more you look into it, the more you realize how deliberate every scene of the anime is, and how deep some of the themes it covers are. It's a lot more abstract than what you've listed though...so I'm not sure if you'd like it or not. 

I haven't watched Stein's Gate, but you might enjoy Death Parade if you liked Death Note. They aren't connected, but they are made by the same animation studio, and it tackles some interesting themes. Not sure if you want spoilers that are revealed in the first episode, but I'd recommend looking into it at least.

Death note or Steins Gate huh

Well. last season's Erased gave me some Steins Gate vibe as it had to do with time travel in a way and was a pretty smart show, might be worth a look for you.There is this old show called Serial Experiments Lain as well, that messes with you're head a lot and has aged really well. Both series are 12 episodes, so shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

2 others that I would recommend are Ergo Proxy and Neon Genesis Evangelion, these ones are a little longer and have a few other things going on during the series. Both of these shows are very thought provoking and you can miss a lot of stuff if you don't pay attention, while they also have some really cool action scenes as well. Hope that helps :P

Gonna do this thingamagoo now, even if my AOTS hasn't ended.

I'm copying Versy's one from earlier so hopefully the formatting isn't too crazy.

Season Breakdown

Anime of the season: Assassination Classroom 

Anime of the season runner up: Boku no Hero Academia

Anime Short of the season: Luluco (also the only one)

Worst show of the season: Kiznaiver 

Worst character of the season: Glasses Chick in Kiznaiver

Worst director of the season: No opinion

Studio of the season: BONES (Boku no Hero Academia, Bungou Stray Dogs)

Studio of the season runner-up: Lerche (Assassination Classroom)

Director of the season: No opinion

Director of the season runner-up: No opinion

Best female: Mount Lady (Boku no Hero Academia)

Best female runner up: Ochako Uraraka (Boku no Hero Academia)

Best male: Koro-Sensei (Assassination Classroom)

Best male runner up: All-Might (Boku no Hero Academia)

Best overall cast: Bungou Stray Dogs

Best OP: Three-way Tie between The Day - Porno Graffiti (Boku no Hero Academia), Trash Candy - Granrodeo (Bungou Stray Dogs), and Lay Your Hands on Me - Boom Boom Satellites (Kiznaiver)

Best ED: I Want You - Savage Garden (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Overall season rating: Um...everything I watched ranged from 7.0 at worst to 9.5 at best, but that's hardly representive of the entire season. For me, I'd say it was a solid 8.5/10.

Most anticipated Summer 2016 title: Shokugeki no Souma 

That episode of Re: Zero was kind of painful to watch. Subaru is finally hitting a point where he is going to have to improve himself, vastly. Watching him try to excuse his behavior, pouring the responsibility on Emilia, it made you both hate and feel bad for Subaru all at the same time. It has all finally come crashing down on him in a way that he can't just conveniently restart and try again.

The part that makes you feel so bad though is the condition of his power, and that it always keeps him an explanation away from being able to rationalize his emotions when speaking with others.

Season Breakdown


Anime of the season: Uchuu Patrol Luluco

Anime of the season runner up: Jojo: Diamond is Unbreakable

Anime Short of the season: Luluco



Worst show of the season: Mayoiga

Worst character of the season: Masaki from Mayoiga

Worst director of the season: Kiyoshi Matsuda for Kuma Miko (that ending tho seriously...)



Studio of the season: TRIGGER (Luluco, Kiznaiver)

Studio of the season runner-up: BONES (Boku no Hero Academia)



Director of the season: Hiroyuki Imaishi (Space Patrol Luluco)


Best female: Luluco (Space Patrol Luluco)

Best female runner up: Machi Amayadori (Kuma Miko)


Best male: Sakamoto (Sakamoto Desu Ga)

Best male runner up: Okuyasu Nijimura (Jojo: Diamond is Unbreakable)


Best overall cast: Jojo: Diamond is Unbreakable



Best OP: Cry Max do Heijitsu (Space Patrol Luluco)
Best ED: KUMA MIKO DANCING (Kuma Miko)

Overall season rating: Dropped a few anime and Mayoiga/Kuma Miko werent able to keep themselves from crashing at the end...so i'd give it a 6/10, given i havent yet watched Boku no Hero nor Kiznaiver, which likely wouldve changed things if i had.


Most anticipated Summer 2016 title: Mob Psycho 100

You mean because of the console war stuff? It will pass. E3 is the time it's the worse in all honesty. Shouldn't let that ruin your experience with the other parts of the forum. This thread is one. Do you visit any of the other threads like this one? You should stay around regardless.

Thanks for the replies people!

Season Breakdown

Anime of the season: Assassination Classroom 

Anime of the season runner up: Re: zero (sue me :P)

Anime Short of the season: Luluco

Worst show of the season: Seisen Ceberus

Worst character of the season: Hiiro from Seisen Ceberus

Worst director of the season: No opinion

Studio of the season: Don't care

Studio of the season runner-up: don't care

Director of the season: No opinion

Director of the season runner-up: No opinion

Best female: Rem (Re: zero)

Best female runner up: Tsuyu Asui (Boku no Hero)

Best male: Koro-Sensei (Assassination Classroom)

Best male runner up: Karma (Assassination Classroom)

Best overall cast: Re: zero

Best OP: Didn't care enough about these this season

Best ED: Same with this.

Overall season rating: This was a bad anime season for me, I had 2 6/10s (thus far since I'm not completely done with the season) however it did manage to give me a 10 with assclass so I'll go ahead and say about a 7/10 overall. It was alright, but it lacked a lot. I'm hoping next season is better but I really only see Souma.

Most anticipated Summer 2016 title: Shokugeki no Souma

I think my favorite vocal work this season was Futaba from Sansha Sanyou. Not the greatest show but she was a fun side character who provided most of the humor.

Season Breakdown

Anime of the season: Luluco 

Anime of the season runner up: Tanaka kun

Anime Short of the season: Luluco

Worst show of the season: Hundred(still enjoy it for what it is though)

Worst character of the season: Every character other than Machi in Kumamiko

Worst director of the season:  Kiyoshi Matsuda for Kuma Miko(you had to end the season like that...)

Studio of the season: Trigger

Studio of the season runner-up: Silver Link

Director of the season: Hiroyuki Imaishi for Luluco

Director of the season runner-up: Kawatsura Shinya for Tanaka Kun

Best female: Tsuyu Asui from MHA 

Best female runner up: Miyano from Tanaka kun 

Best male: OVER JUSTICE from Luluco

Best male runner up:  Tanaka from Tanaka kun 

Best overall cast:  Tanaka kun

Best OP:  The Day - Porno Graffiti frpm MHA

Best ED:  Teddyloid ft. Bonjour Suzuki from Luluco

Overall season rating:  Any season with an Imaishi work in it is a good one for me. Overall, I'd give it an 8 with Jojo Part 4 finally getting animated and another anime saving show by Imaishi. Tanaka kun was also a nice calm show in between all the intense ones I saw. Better than last season for sure, next season is definetly looking better though.

Most anticipated Summer 2016 title: Berserk(2016)