Dark and intelligent Sci-fi anime are by far my favourite anime, or really any show at all, live action or not.
Im trying to put a list together of "all" of them so I can know which I havent seen and check them out.
I'll Kick off the list, but hopefully you gall can fill in the gaps:
Akira
Cowboy Bebop
Serial Experiments Lain
Evangelion
Psycho Pass
Steins; Gate
Ergo Proxy
Darker than Black
Tokyo Ghoul
Deadman Wonderland
Elfen Lied
Ghost in the Shell (original Movie... I havent seen any others)
Full Metal Alchemist (sort of the PG version of Dark but still...)
Black Bullet
EDIT 1:
[quote]
Parasyte
Death Note
Attack on Titan
Dollhouse (live action)
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Texhnolyze
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Bokurano
Blue Gender
.hack//Sign
RahXephon
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor
[/quote]
EDIT 2: [quote]
Madoka Magica
Haibane Renmei (starts off pretty happy, but its totally different by the end)
Another
Higurashi
Future Diary/Mirai Nikki
Monster
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Edited by Prototape: 3/3/2015 7:50:51 AMLain, Ergo Proxy, and Texhnolyze are the only anime up there that I'd consider dark. We have a collection of shows up there that have dark elements, sure. Bokurano is a good example, I love that show. It's bleak or hopeless, but not necessarily dark. AoT inspires more hope to me than it does a dark atmosphere. Cowboy Bebop is an overall chill show with sad elements. Tokyo Ghoul is kind of closer, but I dunno. Steins;Gate was crushing, but again, I don't know if I'd call it dark. Ghost in the Shell is another one that I'd say was dark. This mislabeling bothers me because I can't find good shows within the genre without someone recommending otherwise typical anime that have [i]some[/i] disturbing scenes, or what the hell moments, or what-have-you. I don't search for gore or disturbing scenes, it's about atmosphere. That being said, I know what you're trying to do here, I just felt like ranting a bit. So my recommendation for the list: Monster.