I never got the hype either. I tried watching Attack on Titan and it feels like it's aimed at young adults. All the characters just state out loud exactly how they're feeling about everything. The setting is interesting but I just can't take any of it seriously when the dialog is so childish.
> I tried watching Attack on Titan and it feels like it's aimed at young adults.
It’s aimed at children, that’s what shonen anime is, the word literally means “boy”. For something aimed at an older demographic, you’ll want to search seinen. Consider “Monster”, which is something that could’ve been a western show for adults.
Back to the seinen anime, Monster fits into the category of mystery/thriller. For science fiction/horror see Parasyte -the maxim- and for dark fantasy see Berserk.
Be sure to not watch the 2016 anime series, as it is reviled for its poor animation. The 1997 anime series or the film trilogy from 2012 are a better use of your time. Both cover the same section of the story. However, be forewarned the part they adapt is a specific arc of the story near the beginning and is thus unfinished. Still worth it.
But I’d still recommend you start with Monster if you’re looking for something closer to live-action shows.
> All the characters just state out loud exactly how they're feeling about everything.
Yeah, this is one thing that I didn't like about AoT, especially in the first 4-5 episodes. Later I accepted it as its characteristic style, I think its strengths greatly overweigh this particular aspect. And, there is much more depth to the characters than the childish dialogs lead you to believe.
Some of the technique is really impressive to me, it's basically an entirely different visual tradition. Especially the way motion and sound are depicted in manga I find just totally fascinating. It's so creative and effective at portraying these dynamic elements in a static form.
Unfortunately still I've never really found any that worked for me as complete works of art for all the common reasons. Bad dialog and plotting, off-putting tropes, juvenile subject matter etc.
Try Chainsaw Man. The first ~100 chapters make up the first "arc" of the series and it is incredibly well done. The story starts to meander and the art seems more rushed in the second arc (currently ongoing), but the art of the first arc alone makes it well worth a read.
Dungeon Meshi is also really good from beginning to end. Especially if you like D&D inspired material. It has a clever take on fantasy settings and avoids the more annoying anime tropes.
