Until I finally found this series... Death Note.
Alright, to be honest, the premise sounds lame at first. A brilliant but eccentric, world-wearied high school student came across a 'Death Note' one day, which he discovered that he can kill anyone he has in mind so long as he writes the name down in the notebook, and picture the person's face in his mind. Experimenting the "Death Note" on 2 criminals, he was at first shocked that it really worked, but soon becomes obsessed with passing his righteous judgement upon the wicked, and crown himself a god of a new world. But the serial of 'killings' of criminals caught the attention of the police & crime investigators worldwide, and soon a mysterious, faceless detective known to the world only as 'L' begins his hunt for the mysterious mass murderer behind all these killings, nicknamed 'Kira'.
Now if you think the plot description sounds shallow, you're DEAD wrong. Even only after watching the 1st 3 episodes of the series, each episode continues to astound me with its depth. The existential themes explored in these episodes are intriguing, and I'm reminded of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, especially the protagonist Raskolnikov. The cat-&-mouse game between the 2 lead characters are incredible suspenseful (an adjective you'll hardly link to anime), and the lack of gratuitous action sequence & annoying chibli cuteness are incredibly refreshing changes to your everyday anime, to say the least. Coupled this with the high quality animation plus the seductively dark tone of the anime, who in their sane mind could have possibly overlook this gem?
The series seems incredibly promising to me, and you can bet I'll be following it for the next few weeks. If anyone is interested, head on to this link and judge for yourself!
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