One of the most well-known and enduring anime series is Ghost in the Shell. Masamune Shirow’s manga series, the first volume of which was released in 1991, served as the inspiration for the cyberpunk series. The second volume 1.5, titled “Human Error Processor,” and the third volume 2, titled “Man-Machine Interface,” came after it.
Ghost in the Shell references a number of anime series. Mamoru Oshii directed the first anime film Ghost in the Shell, which debuted in 1995. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence had released in 2004. Between 2002 and 2003, 26 episodes of the television anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex were shown. There are 26 episodes airing from 2004 to 2005 in the second season of 2nd GIG.
The four-part film series with the new title Ghost in the Shell: Arise, which was created by Kazuchika Kise, premiered in 2013 and 2014 on large screens. Additionally, Stand Alone Complex and Arise have manga adaptations. A 12-episode original net animation named Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 was released on Netflix in 2020.
The first live-action film, which was based on the Masamune Shirow manga series, was released in 2017 and was directed by Rupert Sanders.
Around 2030, in a futuristic sci-fi society with advanced science and technology, including cyborgs and cyber brains, takes place the events of Ghost in the Shell. The main character, Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg, collaborates with other members of Public Security Section 9 to prevent crimes.
1. Psycho-Pass
The universe that Psycho-Pass developed is comparable to the one that Minority Report, a Hollywood production, produced. The “Sibyl System,” a tool for assessing a person’s mental condition and personality, plays a significant role in the story. Like in Minority Report, it’s a system used by police enforcement to find and apprehend suspected offenders.
In the year 2112 Japan, the Sibyl System governs the country’s populace. Their psychological states and personalities are quantified by the future computer network. The number is known as Psycho-Pass. The personnel of Unit One of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Welfare Public Safety Bureau are the main subject of the suspenseful, cyberpunk anime.
In that sense, the police buddy anime/drama Psycho-Pass follows two law enforcement officers who have a history as they get involved in a criminal conspiracy scheme to topple the Sibyl System.
2. Appleseed Movie
Masamune Shirow, the creator of Ghost in the Shell, turned a manga into this 1988 anime. Watching this one is strongly recommended for fans of Shirow’s tech-related topics. The idea is on how mankind will rebuild itself after the third world war. In their experimental city, which is populated by humans, cyborgs, and bioroids, a police officer fights terrorism with the help of her cyborg partner. Bioroids, who run the city’s government, are genetically altered beings created to help humans. Although this future city was intended to be a paradise, for some people it resembles a jail.
Gainax (Neon Genesis Evangelion) created the anime, which takes inspiration for its setting and cast of characters from Shirow’s manga. However, the story radically diverges from the original material, resulting in a fresh experience.
3. Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
Continuous Experiments The 13-episode anime series Lain, which debuted in 1998, is on the more surreal end of the cyberpunk spectrum. It centres on Lain Iwakura, a socially shy adolescent who becomes dangerously fixated with the Wired after getting an email from a classmate who recently committed suicide.
The deceased classmate explains to Lain in the email that she has just given up her physical body in order to continue living in the Wired, where she has also discovered God. Lain’s unhealthy foray into cyberspace is centred on a weird, frequently scary investigation of mind and perception as she becomes entangled in plots involving deranged computer scientists and mystery hacker gangs.
Serial Experiments Lain is alarming because it investigated social isolation and a sense of separation from reality long before social media ever became commonplace. Lain Iwakura, the protagonist of Serial Experiments Lain, learns about “The Wired,” which is essentially the internet but more potent because it has the capacity to change the actual world.
Of course, it’s not quite that easy. Out of all the anime on our list, Serial Experiments Lain features one of the most intricate plots that is impossible to summarise in a few sentences or paragraphs. You’re in for a wild journey, so try to do the performance some justice and prepare your brain lobes.
4. Ergo Proxy
The 23-episode cyberpunk mystery Ergo Proxy, directed by Shuko Murase (most recently recognised for his work on Gangsta), initially has a striking resemblance to Blade Runner. It takes place in the future, in a futuristic domed city that seems more utopian than the neon-lit noir city from Blade Runner. Agent Re-L Mayer of the Citizen Intelligence Bureau is tasked with looking into a pattern of killings that have been committed by androids that have turned vicious and sentient as a result of a virus. Ergo Proxy is an excellent film for any cyberpunk lover despite being heavy-handed with its intellectual themes (a number of robots are named after notable philosophers like Derrida and Lacan).
The similarities between Ergo Proxy and Ghost in the Shell are immediately apparent—almost as if it were designed to resemble the younger sibling of that film. But if you can stand the glacial pacing, Ergo Proxy ramps up the philosophical topics to 11 and might have you scratching your head and gaping.
Re-l Mayer and her android companion Iggy are at the centre of the narrative as they try to figure out what’s causing an android disease in their post-apocalyptic dome metropolis. As you could have predicted, they discover a plot that has to do with human misdeeds. Who would have thought that humanity would ruin everything once more?
5. Darker than Black
Due to its visual aesthetic, Darker than Black may seem like your standard beginner anime, but don’t be fooled—it may be really complicated. The showrunners’ handling of the storyline, in which upfront exposition is not always their concern, is largely to blame for this.
Instead of on a trip with Hei, the main character, a contractor in Tokyo who works for the Syndicate to discover his sister who has vanished, you are just observing from the backseat. The anime takes set in a planet that has been devastated by a terrible conflict, which becomes increasingly clear as you watch it.