Cyberpunk.
When Anime first made in-roads into the Western entertainment market in a way that made serious film buffs pay attention, it was with a Cyberpunk film called 'Akira'.
Akira, the 1988 animated motion picture written and directed by Manga icon Katsuhiro Otomo took the West, particularly the United States, by storm. Released in the US in 1989, Akira made over 2 million dollars during its run in movie theatres. It was positively regarded by both fans and film critics alike and is, to this day, considered on of the greatest animated films of all time.
Akira was by no means the first Japanese animated feature to be shown in the West but it was the landmark title that (one could argue) opened up gates for the cavalcade of titles to come after it. Akira was the first Anime to not only be widely accepted but widely appreciated. Adult Americans who viewed cartoons as media for children were hit head-on by a sticker covered red motorcycle sliding into them at high speed.
Personally, I love this film. I had already been a fan of Anime and Manga for (roughly) five years when Akira came out in the States. While others around me experienced surprise, even shock at what the medium of animation could do if treated as a serious artform, I simply felt validated in what I'd already known. Looking back on it now I find one element of the movie and its reception very curious. It is considered an Anime in the Cyberpunk genre and while I would agree, it isn't exactly Cyberpunk as we often view it here in the West.
Then again neither is Blade Runner, another movie I adore that falls into the same category of non-cyber Cyberpunk. Neither film is overly concerned with the 'Net', cybernetics, or mega-corporations (though they exist and play a role in the world-building). While both films do make commentaries on modern society, the focus is on the characters, not so much the setting. It's about people whether they are embracing their humanity, trying to find it, or losing it all together. There is the idea that power corrupts and turns people into monsters, while asking if monsters can change back into people.
These are very common questions throughout Japanese Cyberpunk. Indeed, it's an example of how the Cyberpunk fiction of Japan differs from its Western cousin in a number of ways.
Western Cyberpunk is often focused outward; it looks at society from the characters points of view and said characters are often trying to change society or save it from itself. The protagonists are radicals, rebels, even criminals, and they're going to overthrow the status quo and save the world.
That's rare in Japanese Cyberpunk. Akira aside, most Anime/Manga Cyberpunk stories are centered on police, military, or heroic secret organizations trying to protect the citizens of their society from bad elements that would plunge it into chaos. There is often a strong theme of society effecting the protagonists but the protagonists being unable to make a major impact on society as a whole.
Take a look at another quintessential Cyberpunk franchise, Ghost in the Shell; the main characters are former police or military personnel serving as a special operation task force called Public Safety Service 9. They are part of the status quo charged with protecting innocent citizen and, by association, maintaining the status quo. In the two seasons of the animated TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the team investigates and solves various crimes but the major arcs running throughout series deal with uncovering government corruption with which the Public Safety Service is entwined.
No spoilers here but just Imagine that Major Kusanagi and friends successfully uncover the officials behind the lawbreaking and arrest them. Awesome, the bad guys are caught and eventually punished. Government and society-wise things go back to normal...and normal is a Cyberpunk dystopia. The heroes win and therefore nothing has changed. .
This brings us to two really excellent new Cyberpunk titles: Pluto and Metallic Rouge.
Pluto is a modern and dark retelling of the story The Greatest Robot on Earth, originally written by Osamu Tezuka in the Manga version of Tetsuwan Atom - The Might Atom aka Astro Boy. This story was written and illustrated as a Manga by Naoki Urasawa and serialized from 2003 to 2009 before being adapted into an Anime in October of 2023.
The story deals with a world in which robots abound, living among and working with Humans in a near-utopia of advanced technology. The plot involves a mystery killer hunting down and looking to destroy the seven most powerful robots in the world. Gesicht, Europol's top detective is on the case; a case that has his path cross with the planet's mightiest boy, Atom!
First and foremost, I absolutely loved this series. I highly recommend it.
One aspect I found especially interesting about its worldbuilding was how it portrayed the different types of robots and how they were treated by others in Robotkind and the more widespread and authoritative Humanity. While many Humans harbor a prejudice against all robots, those that look like Humans often get more of a pass than those who look like half-faced, six armed, giants among normal people. Of course, any robot known to have performed admirable feats for the benefit of Humanity and the world they live in are viewed in an especially positive light. Many smaller, more 80s robot toy looking mechanicals are often overlooked and seen as inconsequential. At best they are pets and at worst disposable tools.
Robots themselves, to no great surprise, view each other quite differently. The nuances of how though, that's what makes the setting so intriguing. Without giving away too much, more advanced robots and androids see their less complex and capable brethren the way we might think of an orphaned child or an abandoned animal.
Personally, I'd love to run or play in a game that explored this take on the role of robots in a Human dominated world. For a similar yet more action packed take on this idea...
Metallic Rouge is a very recent Anime series that is only up to its third or fourth episode as of this writing. Originally scheduled to start in March of this year, it began early due to an unforeseen opening in this season's schedule.
The series is produced by the animated studio Bones and written by Yutaka Izabuchi, a long time veteran of the Anime/Manga scene and a personal favorite creative person of mine. It's not surprising I like this show as I tend to love most of Izabuchi work. He is best known as a a Mecha Designer, coming up with looks for the robots in Patlabor, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, and Panzer World Galient. In addition he's been a director, producer, and the costume designer on many Tokusatsu series, including various iterations of Kamen Rider.
Perhaps its not surprising then that his latest series is a cross between a Tokusatsu show and Blade Runner, a Cyberpunk Sci-Fi Action tale of two female agents traveling to Mars to hunt down nine renegade artificial beings hostile to the government. Here again we see the governing body, while still possibly up to something, the victim in danger from rebellious robots. It may turn out that the androids, or Neans, have every right to be angry but we are still following heroes who work as government/law enforcement agents.
If you can picture Rick Deckard as a cute Anime girl capable of transforming into a superpowered battle robot to face off against Roy Batty you have a pretty good idea about the core concept of the show. In many ways it reminds me of a campaign I ran with a very similar premise back in 1992-93, which was also inspired by Blade Runner in addition to Anime classics like Bubblegum Crisis, Appleseed, and even some Battle Angel Alita. The next 31 Day Character Challenge entry with cover this game.
Rouge Redstar and his alter ego Metallic Rouge
As in Pluto, the non-combat oriented Neans are commonplace, a regular part of daily life for the people of Mars. They are generally treated as second-class citizens at best, slave labor at worst, with rare individuals earning the respect one sentient should show another. There are also rare Humans would generally see Neans as people in their own right but it doesn't appear a common outlook.
Highly recommended.
With that I hope you have some greater context for Japanese Cyberpunk in general and my next post specifically.
Until next time...
AD
Barking Alien
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