October 2014 Media Thread

ArisKatsaris

This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

The form doesn't allow as much depth, in the sense that even a 52-episode series can only cover a short novel. But I've found some very thought-provoking works (as, to be fair, I have in comics); particularly:

Kaiba is my go-to example of something that would be impossible in any other medium; it's a story about personal identity in a world where memories can be transferred between bodies, and uses this blobby, amorphous style to fit with that - everything's strange but semi-familiar, the same way it is to the characters in the story.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - a story about the teenager's gradual realization that you're not the center of the universe, but rather one ordinary person among many, refracted through the prism of a clever premise. Has this hyper-contextual style where everything is a cultural reference, but without ever seeming pretentious (perhaps because of the exceedingly wide range). Of course you can simply read the novels, undermining the argument somewhat, but the adaptation has some clever visual tricks and the immediacy is valuable. Its stock has fallen in recent years due to a very viewer-hostile approach to the second season; I'd advise only watching the first season, and definitely watch in broadcast order rather than DVD/chronological order (the baseball episode is the third "proper" episode).
Haibane Renmei - About personal identity and finding your place in the world, or perhaps living a life decided for you. Very much in the language of mystical symbolism, and rather a love it/hate it case, but I found it interesting, and it would usually push me into a reflective, detached state.
Kino's Travels - a series of short stories. Like the best episodes of Star Trek, really shows you a society that's mostly like our own, but with some crucial difference. I can't compare it to the novels as I haven't read them, but I find with this kind of worldbuilding the immersion of a visual medium can be valuable.

I could name plenty more shows that were thought-provoking stories (Psycho-Pass and Eden of the East come immediately to mind), but these are the ones where the animated form seemed to really matter. (Though to be honest I'm surprised you list Death Note - I wouldn't call it especially thought-provoking, and it was a manga before it was an anime).

viewer-hostile

Wow, you're still sore over Endless Eight? I thought it one of the finer pieces of trolling ever indulged in by a commercial product. :)