Something like Blade Runner or Deus Ex, but in anime form.
It's worth noting that I have Psycho-Pass already so feel free to give me other suggestions.
It's worth noting that I have Psycho-Pass already so feel free to give me other suggestions.
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Recommend Me Cyberpunk Anime Series
- Thread starter Fiery Phoenix
- Start date
Obvious, but the standard and a great 1st post recommendation. It should be at the top of any list with 'cyberpunk' in it.
Bubblegum Crisis ... Great mecha and setting (OAVs, not the TV series)
Edit:
My man! Great minds type simultaneously
Edit:
My man! Great minds type simultaneously
I wouldn't exactly define it as 'good', either. :P
GITS, Akira and Texnolhyze are already recommended, so it's my turn to recommend Gunslinger Girl, which won't seem very Cyberpunk at first, but it's a story about the use of future scifish technology, cyborgs and their consequences on humans.
Time of Eve is an impressive series that focus on humanity's relationship with artificial beings.
Twilight of the Dark Master is a mix of horror in a cyberpunk setting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ViXqj7a-2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ViXqj7a-2E
That movie was so fucking weird, I felt like I had just watched part 5 of a movie series. So this high school kid is also the top soldier in the world for an organization of archaeologist that, like, fights wars against other archaeologist. It was a lot to buy into rather quickly.
The opening song is top tier in my book, but, yeah, the story fails.
Serial Experiments Lain. It's not technically cyberpunk, but in themes and content and style it's closely related. It explores identity, memory, and reality in a way similar to the best of cyberpunk imo.
I like Ergo Proxy but Stand Alone Complex is much better
They're movies, but definitely Akira and Ghost in the Shell. Check out GitS: Stand Alone Complex also.
To elaborate a bit on some of what was already listed above:
Ghost in the Shell - This is the title that immediately comes to mind, but it also requires some clarification since there's a lot of GitS out there. First off, the concept is al-the-way cyberpunk: a special team of cops, most of whom are cyborgs, deal with the sorts of problems that happen when things like brain hacking is possible. It was originally manga published in the mid-80s by Masamune Shirow (whose name will come up again in this post) and you could go read that and call it a day, but GitS really game into it's own as an anime franchise, so you'll probably want to go at least a bit futher. (You may also note that there are manga sequels to the original GitS graphic novel, but I should warn you that those are after Shirow fell victim to the brain eater, or at least started to masturbate to his Photoshop manuals. I personally would avoid them but your mileage may vary.)
The first anime adaptation, a mid-90s feature film from Mamoru Oshii, is absolutely stunning to look at - and tends to make me fall asleep in the middle, which isn't to say I don't like the flick but it does kinda drag for me. Still, if you watch one thing listed here, the original GitS film should be it - though make sure you're watching the original release and not the later 2.0 version which added a ton of gold CG overlays all over the look of the film. Woof. Oshii later released a sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence that I saw theatrically and remember absolutely nothing about, except that one of the characters has a basset hound. Based on my inability to remember any other thing about that movie I'd say you can safely skip it.
Where GitS really shines, however, is with the Stand Alone Complex TV series and it's second season, 2nd Gig. That series is amazing, particualrly the Lauging Man arc in the first season. It pains me to make this caveat, but I suppose I have to consider something from the early 2000s to be old at this point, so don't let the dated CG elements keep you from enjoying the series. GitS:SAC concludes with the Solid State Society feature film, so make sure you add that to the viewing order - and that you don't jump into it without having seen both TV series first.
Finally, there was a recent OVA adaptation, Ghost in the Shell: Arise, that I haven't seen yet and can't actually speak to. I hear it's totally okay. Oh, and there's a feature film whcih you can probably skip.
Appleseed - While we're talking Shirow, there have been a bunch of adaptations of his mid-90s manga series Appleseed. It's about a kinda-utopian city that emerged after apocalyptic events and a couple of mercenaries turned cops who help take care of the city, one of whom is a cyborg. The sort of issues they deal with are a sort of precursor to Ghost in the Shell, though not as caught up with brain-jacking and questions of humanity. It's pretty great stuff - the manga, that is, not the adaptations, none of which I've ever been partial to. The orginal anime OVA isn't bad but isn't great and the later CG animation movies - of which there are a bunch - don't do anything for me personally, but they keep making 'em so perhaps I'm missing something. Still, I'm mostly mentioning Appleseed just to enthuse about the manga, which is super fun.
Black Magic - Before he went pro, Shirow published a series of fan comics called Black Magic that is also pretty cyberpunk but not as well developed since it's pretty early work; I wouldn't call the manga overly coherent, though it's still fun. So is the one-shot OVA that was released based on the series in the mid-80s. Not amazing, mind you, but a notch above the original Appleseed manga in my book.
Serial Experiments Lain - Okay, enough Shriow for the moment, time to enthuse about Lain, whoe eponymous heroine begins to receive email from a dead classmate and then gets sucked into all sorts of weirdness involving the internet and some sort of mysterious conspiracy going on. This is top-notch near-future cyberpunk, though I've known folks who bounced off of the show pretty hard, so you'll need to be up for a certain level of pretention and fairly languid pacing to be into the series. On the other hand, you have to appreciate any show that namechecks Ted Nelson. Super highly recommended, unless you totally hate it in which case at least you'll have given it a shot.
Bubblegum Crisis - A lot of cyberpunk is super serious and badass. And, a lot of cyberpunk is thoughtful and cerebral. Then you have the kind of cyberpunk that is just pure, gleeful 80s cheese with cool robots and power suits, which is totally BGC. It's a cross between Blade Runner and the old Walter Hill flick Streets of Fire, up to and including soundtrack cues directly lifed from Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, about four women with Iron Man style power suits who fight rampaging robots in Neo-Tokyo. I love this series unreservedly, despite it's moments of inherent goofiness. Eight OVA episodes and you're all set - though Adam Warren's American comic adaptation is pretty great, too. There's a purported sequel, Bubblegum Crash, but that's mostly ingored in the same way folks don't like to talk about Highlander 2 or Macross II. There's also a TV adaptation, Bubblegum Crisis 2040, that doesn't get past being merely okay - skip it in favor of the original.
A.D. Police - A spin-off of Bubblegum Crisis that has more hardcore, noirish cyberpunk stories about the long-suffering special police in that world. It's a solid manga and it's a solid three episode OVA series and is defintiely worth checking out for fans of BGC. Oh, and there's a TV series that is just as adequate as BGC 2040, and which I'd recommend about as much.
Time of Eve - For something remotely more recent than the stuff I've discussed above, this is a great six episode OVA series about the future where everyone has a robot in the household...and the bar that the robots go hang out at after hours, where the distinction between the robots and the humans is blurred. It's charming and doesn't wear out it's welcome, especially if you watch the shorter compilation film edit.
Denno Coil - Another recommendation from the charming end of the spectrum, this is about the near future where everyone wears augmented reality glasses around and the zany hijinx that a bunch of kids get up to. It's the opposite of hard boiled and is really quite delightful.
Those are solid recommendations that come immediately to mind. Here's some quick comments on older stuff I don't remember as well and/or stuff where some sort of caveat is probably in order:
Ai no Kusabi - Kudos to petran79 for the deep dive reference here. This is from the same animation studio as Bubblegum Crisis from around the same time period, so if you like that asehtetic then this is right up your alley - so long as you don't mind it being a yaoi adaptation with plenty of guy-on-guy action and a plot that inolves master/slave relationships. If that sort of content doesn't bother you, sure, add it to the to-watch pile!
Armitage III - I feel bad that I can't remember more about this mid-90s OVA series, which I recall being pretty great, but in a vague sort of way where the details elude me. It's about a badass sexy lady cop in the cyberpunk future and probably holds up really well. I should go re-watch it or something.
Finally, I remember OVA series like Angel Cop and Cyber City Oedo as being awesomely violent and gratuitous, in that late 80s/early 90s sort of way. I dunno if that goes as far as a reommendtion but if you're fond of that era and are moderately shameless then those titles are a hoot.
Oh, one more thing:
Akira - Do I even need to elaborate? It's Akira. It's about the psychic kids and biker gangs in the near future and it's totally awesome. The film is perhaps the pinnacle of traditional animation. The manga is a ground breaking epic. Akira totally rules. Go watch that right away if you haven't already!
Ghost in the Shell - This is the title that immediately comes to mind, but it also requires some clarification since there's a lot of GitS out there. First off, the concept is al-the-way cyberpunk: a special team of cops, most of whom are cyborgs, deal with the sorts of problems that happen when things like brain hacking is possible. It was originally manga published in the mid-80s by Masamune Shirow (whose name will come up again in this post) and you could go read that and call it a day, but GitS really game into it's own as an anime franchise, so you'll probably want to go at least a bit futher. (You may also note that there are manga sequels to the original GitS graphic novel, but I should warn you that those are after Shirow fell victim to the brain eater, or at least started to masturbate to his Photoshop manuals. I personally would avoid them but your mileage may vary.)
The first anime adaptation, a mid-90s feature film from Mamoru Oshii, is absolutely stunning to look at - and tends to make me fall asleep in the middle, which isn't to say I don't like the flick but it does kinda drag for me. Still, if you watch one thing listed here, the original GitS film should be it - though make sure you're watching the original release and not the later 2.0 version which added a ton of gold CG overlays all over the look of the film. Woof. Oshii later released a sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence that I saw theatrically and remember absolutely nothing about, except that one of the characters has a basset hound. Based on my inability to remember any other thing about that movie I'd say you can safely skip it.
Where GitS really shines, however, is with the Stand Alone Complex TV series and it's second season, 2nd Gig. That series is amazing, particualrly the Lauging Man arc in the first season. It pains me to make this caveat, but I suppose I have to consider something from the early 2000s to be old at this point, so don't let the dated CG elements keep you from enjoying the series. GitS:SAC concludes with the Solid State Society feature film, so make sure you add that to the viewing order - and that you don't jump into it without having seen both TV series first.
Finally, there was a recent OVA adaptation, Ghost in the Shell: Arise, that I haven't seen yet and can't actually speak to. I hear it's totally okay. Oh, and there's a feature film whcih you can probably skip.
Appleseed - While we're talking Shirow, there have been a bunch of adaptations of his mid-90s manga series Appleseed. It's about a kinda-utopian city that emerged after apocalyptic events and a couple of mercenaries turned cops who help take care of the city, one of whom is a cyborg. The sort of issues they deal with are a sort of precursor to Ghost in the Shell, though not as caught up with brain-jacking and questions of humanity. It's pretty great stuff - the manga, that is, not the adaptations, none of which I've ever been partial to. The orginal anime OVA isn't bad but isn't great and the later CG animation movies - of which there are a bunch - don't do anything for me personally, but they keep making 'em so perhaps I'm missing something. Still, I'm mostly mentioning Appleseed just to enthuse about the manga, which is super fun.
Black Magic - Before he went pro, Shirow published a series of fan comics called Black Magic that is also pretty cyberpunk but not as well developed since it's pretty early work; I wouldn't call the manga overly coherent, though it's still fun. So is the one-shot OVA that was released based on the series in the mid-80s. Not amazing, mind you, but a notch above the original Appleseed manga in my book.
Serial Experiments Lain - Okay, enough Shriow for the moment, time to enthuse about Lain, whoe eponymous heroine begins to receive email from a dead classmate and then gets sucked into all sorts of weirdness involving the internet and some sort of mysterious conspiracy going on. This is top-notch near-future cyberpunk, though I've known folks who bounced off of the show pretty hard, so you'll need to be up for a certain level of pretention and fairly languid pacing to be into the series. On the other hand, you have to appreciate any show that namechecks Ted Nelson. Super highly recommended, unless you totally hate it in which case at least you'll have given it a shot.
Bubblegum Crisis - A lot of cyberpunk is super serious and badass. And, a lot of cyberpunk is thoughtful and cerebral. Then you have the kind of cyberpunk that is just pure, gleeful 80s cheese with cool robots and power suits, which is totally BGC. It's a cross between Blade Runner and the old Walter Hill flick Streets of Fire, up to and including soundtrack cues directly lifed from Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, about four women with Iron Man style power suits who fight rampaging robots in Neo-Tokyo. I love this series unreservedly, despite it's moments of inherent goofiness. Eight OVA episodes and you're all set - though Adam Warren's American comic adaptation is pretty great, too. There's a purported sequel, Bubblegum Crash, but that's mostly ingored in the same way folks don't like to talk about Highlander 2 or Macross II. There's also a TV adaptation, Bubblegum Crisis 2040, that doesn't get past being merely okay - skip it in favor of the original.
A.D. Police - A spin-off of Bubblegum Crisis that has more hardcore, noirish cyberpunk stories about the long-suffering special police in that world. It's a solid manga and it's a solid three episode OVA series and is defintiely worth checking out for fans of BGC. Oh, and there's a TV series that is just as adequate as BGC 2040, and which I'd recommend about as much.
Time of Eve - For something remotely more recent than the stuff I've discussed above, this is a great six episode OVA series about the future where everyone has a robot in the household...and the bar that the robots go hang out at after hours, where the distinction between the robots and the humans is blurred. It's charming and doesn't wear out it's welcome, especially if you watch the shorter compilation film edit.
Denno Coil - Another recommendation from the charming end of the spectrum, this is about the near future where everyone wears augmented reality glasses around and the zany hijinx that a bunch of kids get up to. It's the opposite of hard boiled and is really quite delightful.
Those are solid recommendations that come immediately to mind. Here's some quick comments on older stuff I don't remember as well and/or stuff where some sort of caveat is probably in order:
Ai no Kusabi - Kudos to petran79 for the deep dive reference here. This is from the same animation studio as Bubblegum Crisis from around the same time period, so if you like that asehtetic then this is right up your alley - so long as you don't mind it being a yaoi adaptation with plenty of guy-on-guy action and a plot that inolves master/slave relationships. If that sort of content doesn't bother you, sure, add it to the to-watch pile!
Armitage III - I feel bad that I can't remember more about this mid-90s OVA series, which I recall being pretty great, but in a vague sort of way where the details elude me. It's about a badass sexy lady cop in the cyberpunk future and probably holds up really well. I should go re-watch it or something.
Finally, I remember OVA series like Angel Cop and Cyber City Oedo as being awesomely violent and gratuitous, in that late 80s/early 90s sort of way. I dunno if that goes as far as a reommendtion but if you're fond of that era and are moderately shameless then those titles are a hoot.
Oh, one more thing:
Akira - Do I even need to elaborate? It's Akira. It's about the psychic kids and biker gangs in the near future and it's totally awesome. The film is perhaps the pinnacle of traditional animation. The manga is a ground breaking epic. Akira totally rules. Go watch that right away if you haven't already!
Am I in the minority for thinking Psycho Pass is a bad show? Plenty of my friends loved it but it always struck me as a poor man's GitS. So much pseudo intellectual exposition too with little justification... Couldn't stand it.
Would recommend Ghost in the Shell Arise. It's modern and it's a prequel so things are less complicated.
No, it's pretty bad. The first season starts out abysmally with the protagonist seemingly incapable of grasping the basics of the justice system long after the viewer has caught up, but it eventually gets better even if it keeps veering into torture porn. The second season is ass. The movie was nice.
No, it's pretty bad. The first season starts out abysmally with the protagonist seemingly incapable of grasping the basics of the justice system long after the viewer has caught up, but it eventually gets better even if it keeps veering into torture porn. The second season is ass. The movie was nice.
I'd almost throw in Psycho Pass. It's on the edge of cyberpunk.
This is what I came to suggest.
You were correct originally, but I just needed to edit your statement for complete accuracy.
GITS, Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze are my favourites, though I do appreciate Psycho-Pass (Season 1 at least) and Ergo Proxy.
Definitely not.
Ergo proxy is your typical gonzo garbage.
Ergo Proxy is fine though pretty divisive. I liked it but it's also obtuse because of how "complex" it tries to be and if you don't have tolerance for that then it's probably not that enjoyable (the aesthetics are cool). It's still amazing that the closing song is Paranoid Android by Radiohead though.
Appleseed is pretty good. very Cyberpunk. another recommendation for GitS. GITS is one of the best anime, and best TV shows made in the last 20 years. Everyone should watch season 1 at least.
It felt to me more what a Ghost In The Shell series should feel like in comparison to the fairly boring (imo) cop procedural SAC ended up being (I liked the 2nd season and '95 movie a ton more if that makes any sense).
I agree though, Ergo Proxy ain't for everyone.
I gotta watch Texhnolyze one of these days.
