Anime and Sci-Fi have gone together since its earliest successes, with early winners like Astro Boy in 1963 setting a strong precedent. It was an imaginative genre match, but in the following decades, anime’s proven potential to go to more intense stories would come to light. Dark sci-fi anime, including cyberpunk, techno-horror, and more, truly took off.
Dark sci-fi anime are predominantly mature experiences intended for viewers craving a mixture of action, intrigue, and a variety of cerebral themes. It often meant certain studios taking on its most interesting, if underappreciated series. But any fans seeking a darker dive into sci-fi should consider these anime for their watchlist, if they haven’t already.
Deadman Wonderland
While the anime was tragically cut short, with producing studio Manglobe shuttering in 2015, fans never got a conclusive ending to this series as it adapted little more than one third of the original manga. Still, this death game anime ropes viewers in with its dark premise, early, with its protagonist, Ganta Igarashi, put through the wringer.
In a world where Japan is devastated by natural disasters, Ganta’s life is deceptively ordinary at the start of the series. However, with the sudden massacre of Ganta’s middle school class, Ganta is framed, put on trial, and subsequently sentenced to death. His prison is Deadman Wonderland, and his punishment pits him against poison collars, other inmates, and deadly powers.
The Animatrix
Before the anticipated mega-hyped sequel The Matrix Reloaded, and the franchise’s convoluted implosion with The Matrix Revolutions, this sci-fi gem was the first of this triad of Matrix releases in 2003. The Animatrix holds up well to other Western franchise anime, largely because it’s a solid genre and stylistic fit. It didn’t hurt that it had solid studios attached.
Like other anthology series like Star Wars: Visions, The Animatrix features stories told by several studios. Madhouse produced the “Program” and “World Record” stories; Studio 4 °C produced “The Second Renaissance”, “Kid’s Story”, “Beyond”, and “A Detective Story”; DNA Productions produced “Matriculated”, and “Final Flight of the Osiris” was produced by Square USA. Prominent talent including Shinichiro Watanabe are included among its directors, with the Wachowskis contributing much of the stories.
Easily the biggest name for modern anime fans is Madhouse, but it’s still a story best-enjoyed for its collective experience. The movie’s wildly varied visual styles convey stories of The Machines and their creation mythology, Zion lore, and even bridges the gap between the first and second movies. The Animatrix also boasts the franchise’s goriest moments by far.
Knights of Sidonia
While perhaps not being the usual dark sci-fi one might expect, Knights of Sidonia benefits from its creator, Tsutomu Nihei’s wild imagination, and a truly desolate premise. Mankind has abandoned Earth for over a thousand years due to a pursuing race of aliens, known as Gauna, with survivors living on massive spaceships as they evade the menace at every turn.
Knights of Sidonia has surprisingly decent animation despite its 3D CG presentation, and its music and sound design are superb, making its mecha space battles a treat for the eyes and ears. As its hero, Nagate Tanikaze finds himself among a changed humanity thriving on photosynthesis and pursued by eldritch horrors, Polygon Pictures’ anime series produced a worthy hidden gem.
Psycho-Pass
Production I.G practically needs no introduction with works like Psycho-Pass proving over and over its finesse in science fiction anime. Psycho-Pass is an original anime series, and a 2010s must-watch, not only due to iconic elements like The Dominator becoming a cosplay staple of the era. It’s also a definitive experience among all-time cyberpunk mystery greats.
Psycho-Pass treads familiar territory such as predicting individuals’ Crime Coefficients, or likelihood to commit a crime, thus stopping incidents before they happen. The concept explores the nature of justice, free will, and is a mercilessly good watch, with three seasons and four movies, birthing an impressive multimedia franchise.
Texhnolyze
One of the more inaccessible dark sci-fi anime offerings, Madhouse’s Texhnolyze is a slow burn that will claw at the souls of its viewers. It’s one of the most depressing sci-fi anime out there, but it also pushes viewers to come up with their own interpretations.
Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, known for his willingness to go to surreal and dark places, this should come as no surprise. Humanity is on the brink of extinction in Texhnolyze, and its protagonist, Ichise, is at the center of this crumbling world in what feels like an existentialist march toward defeat. Repeat viewings are easily encouraged for this masterpiece.
Gantz
Known well both for its Gonzo anime and the original Weekly Young Jump manga on which it is based, Gantz is a wild ride that pushes the envelope on multiple fronts. While its definitive experience is the manga, the anime’s death game premise is surprisingly enthralling. It is, however, an anime that’s awkward to watch with its risque subject matter.
The anime focuses on human characters who have died but are brought back to life by the eponymous mysterious sphere, Gantz, which assigns them alien-killing missions while providing them with equipment to carry out the deed. It’s a particularly brutal death game anime, with gore, excessive nudity, and profanity befitting only the wildest of seinen series.
Ghost in the Shell
Watching Ghost in the Shell will inevitably mean binging the rest of the works adapting Masamune Shirow’s works, and that’s easily a worthwhile endeavor. Ghost in the Shell is practically synonymous with cyberpunk anime, with Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film being a great starting point. However, there’s so much more to enjoy.
Ghost in the Shell has had numerous adaptations and reimaginings, from its recently reappraised 2001 sequel, to Stand Alone Complex, to even ill-fated live-action adaptations. The stories typically, but don’t exclusively, focus on Motoko Kusanagi, as she tackles high-profile hackers and terrorists while grappling with topics of identity, humanity, and selfhood. It’s a must-watch anime no matter where fans start.
Serial Experiments Lain
Another of Chiaki J. Konaka’s projects, Serial Experiments Lain has enjoyed cult status among modern anime fans, despite struggling following its 1998 debut. Serial Experiments Lain is considered a techno-horror masterpiece, with an idiosyncratic visual style, and a bold, unflinchingly unique premise.
The story follows the initially unremarkable Lain Iwakura who becomes fascinated with the “Wired”, essentially a realm of cyberspace. However, as Lain investigates further, the lines between realities begin to blur with dark consequences at every turn. Serial Experiments Lain has also been praised for scarily prescient predictions of the internet’s real influence on society.
Blame!
While only a movie and several bite-sized ONAs from Studio TAC and Production I.G are out there, Blame! is a fascinating creation in cyberpunk and dark sci-fi. Blame!’s anime offerings are a key gateway into the genre-defining masterpiece that is the Kodansha manga, with Tsutomu Nihei’s flair for incomprehensible visuals and striking architecture.
Blame! introduces the manga’s characters, visuals, and story, but it should be regarded more as a gateway to the superior product, not unlike Berserk with its anime compared to its manga.
Blame!’s 2017 movie is its most noteworthy adaptation, but even then, it condenses the manga in a way that’s easy to digest for a feature-length Netflix anime. Blame! introduces the manga’s characters, visuals, and story, but it should be regarded more as a gateway to the superior product, not unlike Berserk with its anime compared to its manga.
Ergo Proxy
Blending goth aesthetics with cyberpunk and even Blade Runner themes, Ergo Proxy is a 2006 Manglobe treasure. It’s packed with enviable style, and its presentation ages well nearly two decades later. The anime is easily a top sci-fi recommendation, written by Dai Sato of Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, and Eureka Seven fame.
The series itself follows Re-L, an Intelligence Bureau Inspector who is looking into murders linked to the mysterious “Proxy”. However, like with all great mysteries, this murder investigation soon unearths conspiracies and philosophical explorations of mankind vs. machine and various other themes. It’s a stylish classic, and a signal of how strong anime can be well before its mainstream explosion.
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