10 Great Cyberpunk Anime Movies

“Have you heard about anime cyberpunk movies? No?- I know the best movie ever!” – We’re sure you’ve shouted these words to your friends.

If they don’t agree with you, or you don’t want to jump in a fight proving your right, take a break and get some fun while playing the best real money online casino in Australia as it will surely help you relax.

All in all, you need to know about this genre to shed some light on the movies/shows/ anime games or series while offering your friends to watch it.

It is a rare thing when, the genre itself, can name its exact day of appearance, cyberpunk- in this case- is a different thing. Its history begins on July 1, 1984, when the novel of not very well-known writer William Gibson was presented to the audience. The novel “Neuromancer” was certainly not the first novel among the others in describing virtual reality. But it turned into a bible for the whole generation of books on a similar topic. Gibson, being quite far from information technology and its improvements, played it out well on the human fear on something new and unknown, – instead of glorifying the progress, the writer portrayed a society that had reached a dead end, despite the impressive achievements of the science. This has become a distinctive feature of cyberpunk as a genre.

Highly developed artificial intelligence, global information networks, virtual space, amazing successes of genetics, pharmaceutics, biotechnology – on the one hand; the unlimited power of mega-corporations, the regress of social institutions, some insecurity of an individual, poverty, the decline of arts on the other- all of this describe the classical atmosphere of the world and humanity presented in the style of cyberpunk and its finest.

Nowadays, the gloomy and shady technogenic anti-utopia has not lost its appeal. Now, with Anime being popular all over the world, cyberpunk steps in here as well.

Despite the growing interest in cyberpunk, the movie-makers and cinema industry, in general, yet we’re not very eager to invest in the development of such projects for quite a while. But the situation has changed now: coming from the book pages, now anime and cyberpunk have migrated to the screens: DVD, cinemas, TV shows and so on. It holds the audience

We created the list of top 10 Anime cyberpunk movies for your judgment:

1. Psycho-Pass

Director: Shiotani Naoyoshi,Motohiro Katsuyuki

Studio: Production I.G

Synopsis: “Psycho-Pass is set in a futuristic era in Japan where the Sibyl System (シビュラシステム Shibyura Shisutemu^?), a powerful network of psychometric scanners, actively measures the minds and mentalities of civilized populations using a “cymatic scan” of the brain. The resulting assessment is called a Psycho-Pass (サイコパス Saikopasu^?). When the calculated likelihood of an individual committing a crime, measured by the Crime Coefficient (犯罪係数 Hanzaikeisū^?) index, exceeds an accepted threshold, he or she is pursued, apprehended, and killed if necessary by police forces. Elite officers labeled “Enforcers” are equipped with large handguns called “Dominators”—special weapons that only activate when aimed at suspects with higher-than-acceptable Crime Coefficients. Enforcers are themselves selected for innately high Crime Coefficients, marking them as “latent criminals”; they are overseen by police Inspectors, who have the jurisdiction to shoot them with their Dominators should they pose a danger to the public.” – via

2. Dramatical Murder

Director: Miura Kazuya

Studio: NAZ

Synopsis: “Dramatical Murder is set in the near future on the fictional island of Midorijima (碧島), Japan. At some point in the game’s recent history, the island was privatized by the powerful Toue Konzern (東江コンツェルン Tōe Kontserun) and turned into a resort called Platinum Jail (プラチナ・ジェイル Purachina Jeiru), with the island’s original residents being forced to live in the Old Residential District (旧住民区 Kyū-Jūmin-ku). Protagonist Aoba Seragaki lives on the island and works at a store named Junk Shop Mediocrity (平凡 Heibon), hoping to live a simple life. However, after being forcefully dragged into the popular cyber game Rhyme (ライム Raimu) with its virtual world and its use of Allmates (オールメイト Ōru Meito), mobile devices that usually appear as if they are the owner’s pets, and hearing rumors about disappearances involving Ribstiez (リブスティーズRibusutīzu), turf wars between groups, all semblance of a peaceful life for Aoba ends.” –via 

3. Ergo Proxy

Director: Murase Shuukou

Studio: Manglobe Inc.

Synopsis: “The story begins in a futuristic domed city called Romdeau, built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster thousands of years prior. In this utopia, humans and androids known as AutoReivs coexist peacefully under a total management system. A series of murders committed by robots and AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus (which causes them to become self-aware) begins to threaten the delicate balance of Romdeau’s social order. Behind the scenes, the government has been conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid life form called a “Proxy.” The Proxy beings (described as almighty, god-like, immortal, omnipotent) are believed to hold the very key to the survival of humanity.” –via 

4. Ghost In The Shell

Director: Shirou Masamune

Studio:Production I.G

Synopsis: “Primarily set in the mid-twenty-first century in the fictional Japanese city of Niihama, Niihama Prefecture (新浜県新浜市 Niihama-ken Niihama-shi^?),^{[Note 1]} otherwise known as New Port City (ニューポートシティ Nyū Pōto Shiti^?), the manga and the many anime adaptations follow the members of Public Security Section 9, a special-operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. Political intrigue and counter-terrorism operations are standard fare for Section 9, but the various actions of corrupt officials, companies, and cyber-criminals in each scenario are unique and require the diverse skills of Section 9’s staff to prevent a series of incidents from escalating.” –via

5. Under the Dog

Director: Ishii Jirou

Studio: Kinema Citrus

Synopsis: The story takes place within Neo Tokyo in the year 2025, five years after a severe terrorist attack at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Students possessing special abilities are forced into serving an elite anti-terrorist unit created by the United Nations, fighting against threats including other ability users. If these agents fail their mission, they will be killed along with their families, who have bombs planted within their heads. One member of this covert ops unit, a Swedish girl by the name of Anthea Kallenberg, seeks to find who she really is.^{[1][2] –via}

6. Mardock Scramble: The First Compression

Director: Ubukata Tou

Studio: GoHands

Synopsis: Taking place in a futuristic city called Kamina City, Rune Balot is a prostitute who was taken in by the notorious gambler Shell Septinous. One night, Shell abandons Rune and attempts to murder her in an explosion. However, she is rescued and transformed into a cyborg by Dr. Easter under regulation Mardock Scramble 09, an emergency ordinance where experimental technologies can be used to preserve life. An Artificial intelligence who takes the form of a Mouse accompanies her to adapt to her new life. Rune is trained to use the advanced technology fitted on her to defend herself against Shell’s attempts to have her killed to stop her from testifying against him. –via

7. Serial Experiments Lain

Director: Nakamura Ryutaro

Studio: Triangle Staff

Synopsis: The series focuses on Lain Iwakura, an adolescent middle school girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to the Wired, a global communications network which is similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle-class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her emotionally distant mother, and her computer-obsessed father; while Lain herself is somewhat awkward, introverted, and socially isolated from most of her school peers. But the status-quo of her life becomes upturned by a series of bizarre incidents that start to take place after she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from a dead student, Chisa Yomoda, and she pulls out her old computer in order to check for the same message. Lain finds Chisa telling her that she is not dead, but has merely “abandoned her physical body and flesh” and is alive deep within the virtual reality-world of the Wired itself, where she has found the almighty and divine “God“. From this point, Lain is caught up in a series of cryptic and surreal events that see her delving deeper into the mystery of the network in a narrative that explores themes of consciousness, perception, and the nature of reality. – via 

8. Casshern Sins

Director: Yamauchi Shigeyasu

Studio: Tatsunoko, Madhouse Studios

Synopsis:

Casshern Sins tells the story of a world where robots subjugated humanity after becoming self-aware. Their leader, Braiking Boss, ruled over the world with an iron fist. One day, a mysterious girl named Luna was summoned by the people in order to bring the salvation of mankind. Fearing her as a potential threat, Braiking Boss sent three of his most powerful cyborg warriors – Casshern, Dio, and Leda – to dispose of Luna. Casshern, the strongest warrior, managed to track down and kill Luna. However, this triggered a cataclysmic event which set into motion the end of the world. Hundreds of years later, the world’s atmosphere is filled with poison, and, due to the inability of most remaining humans to reproduce, as well as the constant threat posed by the robots, humanity is on the brink of extinction.^[4]

Robots fare little better, fearing death as much as humans do: the poisonous environment quickly causes their mechanical bodies to rust and corrode, forcing them to regularly replace their damaged parts, if spare parts in good condition can even be found. In this wretched time and place, Casshern, who had disappeared following the assassination of Luna, returns with no memory of who he is or what he had done.^[4] –via

9. Zegapain

Director: Itou Takehiko

Studio: Sunrise

Synopsis:

“Kyo Sogoru, a high school boy living in a city called Maihama, leads a normal life of school, romance, and the swim club. Kyo’s life changes when he sees a beautiful girl, Shizuno Misaki, at the pool one day and discovers he is initially the only person who can see her. In order to keep his high school’s swimming club open by recruiting more members, Kyo hopes to enlist Shizuno to appear in a promo video shot by Kyo’s close friend, Ryoko. Shizuno agrees, but on the condition that he does something for her in exchange – pilot a mecha for an organization known as Celebrum.

Agreeing to her request, Kyo is drawn into a world of fighting giant robots in a game-like world that he must save from Deutera Areas formed by aliens known as Gards-orm that threaten to destroy the earth. However, Kyo soon comes to realize that the world that he is living in might not even be real at all and begins to find that everything he is doing is strangely familiar. As he questions the nature of the reality he lives in, Kyo must continue to fight in order to protect the lives of those important to him.” – via

10. Hyper Future Vision: Gunnm

Director: Kishiro Yukito

Studio: ANIMATE, Madhouse Studios

Synopsis: “The series is set in the post-apocalyptic future and focuses on Alita, a cyborg who has lost all memories and is found in a garbage heap by a cybernetics doctor who rebuilds and takes care of her. She discovers that there is one thing she remembers, the legendary cyborg martial art Panzer Kunst, which leads to her becoming a Hunter Warrior or bounty hunter. The story traces Alita’s attempts to rediscover her past and the characters whose lives she impacts on her journey. The manga series is continued in Battle Angel Alita: Last Order and Gunnm: Mars Chronicle.” –via

That’s it. All our picks have great animation, stories, and characters where cyberpunk reflects our fear of future technological achievements as well as the desire to defend our human dignity and personal freedom.