Scifi Anime reccomendatios

[SuccubusYuri]

No love for Shinsekai Yori? Eff it, I'll plug it! Best sci-fi anime ever. Plus it has mind powers, what's not to love about that?

[yamiangie]

I guess Gun Frontier counts as sci fi. Imagine if somebody only watched spaghetti westerns in his life and did a whole lot of drugs That's what would come out.

Gun Frontier is a Western staring the identical ancestors of Space Pirate Captain Harlock and his best friend. Mind you I did end up watching it because I was looking for a Space Western and most space westerns have gun in the title.

[Admiral X]

I've actually done full reviews of these if anyone actually wants to read them.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
This was my gateway anime, and it has been my favorite anime since I first saw it. It's essentially a police-procedural set in the near-future. Fully prosthetic bodies are now a thing (as in literally putting someone's brain into what is essentially an android body), so there is getting to be more and more combination of human beings with technology and the internet. This opens people up to having their bodies and minds hacked. Essentially, this is the reason for Section 9's existence within Japan's Public Security Bureau, which is to say cyber-crime. There is also a philosophical angle to the world within the show, which is essentially existential in nature. Like, how much of a person can be replaced and still remain that person? Also, with the continued advancement of technology, can androids/robots develop a soul? The main focus of the series, though, involves the investigation of cyber-crime, and this leading to uncovering a government conspiracy.

I kind of wished I'd been able to afford to have Chuck cover this whole series, but alas, I have no where near the amount of disposable income as whoever paid for Full Moon. :'( My only solace is knowing that Chuck enjoyed watching it, too.


Cowboy Bebop
Probably one of the best anime ever made. It's somewhat similar to Firefly in that it involves a rag-tag group on a small ship with somewhat questionable employment, who often don't exactly get along due to conflicting personalities and goals. The main character, Spike Spiegel, also has a background with organized crime, which works its way into the series as a story arc, while the majority of the series is essentially episodic. Spike and his partner, Jet Black, are "cowboys" which is to say that they are actually bounty hunters (this kind of renaming for the sake of the title is fairly common in anime I've noticed). There is a lot of comedy, but quite a bit of drama also makes its way into the show. Which is to say that it's a pretty complex show, and you should definitely watch it.


Last Exile
This show kind of defies categorization. Visually, it looks like a mix of steampunk and dieselpunk, though strictly speaking, the only steam-powered technology are the musket-like rifles one of the nation-states in this fictional world. Everything else is built around a fantastical technology that allows powered flight without wings or other aerodynamic forces. Like Trigun, the series also does something of a bait-and-switch in that it makes you think this is, say, taking place on some alternate Earth or alien planet, but clues here and there let you on to the fact it's something else, and the series builds up to a reveal. The show takes place on the fictional world of Prester. There are three main groups occupying the planet (which is actually two closely orbiting planets separated by a turbulent shared atmosphere referred to as the Grand Stram). The first two are essentially technologically equivalent nation-states, Anatoray and Disith. The third group is the much more technologically advanced faction known as the Guild. Anatoray and Disith are in a long-running state of war with one another, and their warfare is overseen by the Guild, who control the anti-grav technology the two nation-states use for their ships, and enforce a kind of chivalric code of warfare. The story centers on two teen-aged characters (a pilot/navigator pair) are essentially couriers that use a vanship, or a type of small wingless plane that uses the same type of anti-grav tech as the ships. They come across the rogue battleship Silvana and end up joining her crew. The Silvana's captain, Alex Row, mainly has a beef with the Guild, which also puts him at odds with both Anatoray and Disith. It's an interesting story that has something of a mystery feel to it, with an interesting reveal. The show is a bit slow starting out, and a bit rushed at the end, but it's still well worth the watch.


Ergo Proxy
This is a very good series that I feel has been largely overlooked, which is a damn shame given its quality. Set on a devastated, post-apocalyptic Earth at some undefined point in the future, this show has a beautiful art deco style, and borrows heavily from Huxley's "Brave New World," as well as a few other classic speculative fiction sources (Blade Runner among them). The main setting is Romdeau, a domed city that claims to be a utopia. Humans and androids (referred to as AutoReivs) coexist peacefully for the most part, though recently a "cogito virus" has begun infecting AutoReivs, which allegedly gives them a soul, and usually involves them killing humans before attempting to escape from the city. The humans, much like the AutoReivs, are not born, but manufactured, and for a specific purpose, which they just come right out and say is their "raison d'être," which is what Romdaeu's society is strictly built around. As you might imagine, things are very dystopic in this setting. The series starts with the emergence of a mysterious life form called a "proxy," which is very powerful and seemingly supernatural. The main drama centers around Vincent Law, and immigrant from another city-dome (and therefore a second-class citizen in Romdeau), and his relation to the entity the show is named after. The exploration for this reveals a lot about the world the story takes place in, its history, and other revelations as more information is revealed to the audience as the series progresses.

This is one I actually splurged on for Chuck, and I definitely look forward to seeing what he thinks of it.

More recommendations to follow...

[MithrandirOlorin]

I think it's a shame the Forms was down the whole time Flip Flappers and Izetta the Last Witch were airing last fall. Because those are those I think this community could have had fun discussing episode by episode. And they were quite the Buz in social media.

[Starsong]

Kurau Phantom memory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurau_Phantom_Memory

[lsgreg]

I am a fan of Steins Gate. The concept is a little out there on how they time traveled, but then most time travel concepts are full of holes. I thought it was an original concept for dealing with time travel with good character building.

[Eishtmo]

I will recommend Serial Experiments Lain.

[Rasp]

I am a fan of Steins Gate. The concept is a little out there on how they time traveled, but then most time travel concepts are full of holes. I thought it was an original concept for dealing with time travel with good character building.

I'd second that it was an enjoyable outing

[MithrandirOlorin]

ACCA is an Anime currently running that is very much Speculative, but so far arguably not SciF.

The Dub is also already coming out, that's what I"m following so I'm up to episode 5, the sub is probably a week or two ahead. New Dub episodes seem to come out on Fridays.

I'll ask you guys if you think this currently running show is worthy of it's own Thread?