Anime is such a successful storytelling medium because of its endless versatility, and there’s always been a healthy relationship between it and sci-fi. Science fiction is one of the earliest genres that anime embraced, and it’s a type of narrative that’s gone on to define the medium, and continually evolve with each passing decade.
The past few decades have featured some impressive sci-fi anime that have gone on to define the genre, such as Dr. Stone, Steins;Gate, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. New science fiction anime hits are released each year, but it’s important not to forget all the 10/10 retro classics that laid the groundwork for them.
Super Dimension Fortress Macross Celebrates The Power Of Music Through Mecha
It’s often easy to forget how traditional mecha anime were back in the 1970s. 1982’s Super Dimension Fortress Macross helped introduce a whole new energy and style of storytelling to the giant robot action genre by emphasizing the human element to its storytelling. Macross features plenty of mecha vanity shots and showcases complex and heightened action sequences.
However, it’s Macross‘ emotional love triangles and the use of music — and pop idols — as a tactical weapon that have become the franchise’s defining features. Super Dimension Fortress Macross holds up so well more than four decades later because the impact made by its innovative approach to the mecha genre is still felt today.
Space Adventure Cobra Is A Formative Space Pirate Anime With An Untouchable Protagonist
Anime’s sci-fi genre is now full of swarthy space pirates and uncouth outlaws. However, Space Adventure Cobra‘s titular character really helped set the mold in terms of rough around the edges heroes with hearts of gold. Space Adventure Cobra is full of fun galactic journeys that showcase a creative world, all of which is amplified by Cobra’s distinct demeanor and intense Psycho-Gun weapon.
The largely episodic nature of these adventures has helped Space Adventure Cobra last the test of time. It also doesn’t hurt that Space Adventure Cobra was directed by the legendary Osamu Dezaki, whose surreal visual style has yet to be fully matched today.
Serial Experiments Lain Provides A Prescient Glimpse At Online Avatars & Digital Martyrdom
Serial Experiments Lain is a 13-episode techno-horror sci-fi anime from 1998 that’s somehow one of the most astute and predictive texts on the Internet’s impact on communication, identity, and reality. Lain Iwakura receives online messages from a deceased classmate, which kickstarts a deeper mystery and obsession with Lain‘s online world, The Wired.
Reality and The Wired start to blend together for Lain as her digital indoctrination prompts thought-provoking questions about parasocial relationships, the fragmentation of identity through digital avatars, and getting lost in a virtual world that feels increasingly real. Serial Experiments Lain is sublime psychological horror that immerses its audience in a bleak, disorienting atmosphere.
Space Runaway Ideon Adds A Subversive Cosmic Horror Spin On Mecha Storytelling
Space Runaway Ideon is Yoshiyuki Tomino’s direct follow-up to the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and it’s a deeply underrated mecha anime considering its impact on the genre. This cynical story feels like Tomino’s response to his work on Gundam, presenting the titular mecha as a destructive God-like force that’s not fully understood, rather than just a powerful robot.
The heroes’ use of the Ideon actively makes this apocalyptic force become more powerful. It’s a terrifying spin on the standard mecha story that incorporates cosmic horror into this sci-fi tale. It’s easy to see how Space Runaway Ideon, and specifically its feature film finale, Ideon: Be Invoked, directly inspired Hideaki Anno’s surreal work on Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Outlaw Star Beautifully Embodies The Space Westerns of the 1990s
There is no shortage of gritty space operas from the ’90s that focus on bounty hunters, space pirates, or other scofflaws who hop from planet to planet. Outlaw Star is cut from the same cloth, but it rises above the genre’s expectations and tropes through a collection of unusual influences, including Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
Coming from Sunrise, all of Outlaw Star‘s sci-fi elements, including the Grappler Ship and magic-based Caster guns, look incredible. Outlaw Star adeptly mixes procedural standalone stories with a grander story arc, and executes the classic formula flawlessly.
Bubblegum Crisis Exudes ‘80s Cyberpunk Excellence
Bubblegum Crisis is an eight-episode OVA from the late ’80s that embodies everything that audiences love about this time period. The anime filters a futuristic Japan through an ultra-stylized cyberpunk lens where a team of all-female mercenaries use mecha-like exoskeleton suits to battle rogue androids and corrupt corporations.
Through every episode, an adrenaline-pumping synth soundtrack amplifies the Knight Sabers’ explosive action exploits. Bubblegum Crisis is a sci-fi anime that operates in extremes, but that just makes the entire experience more entertaining.
Patlabor: The TV Series Turns Mecha Suits Into Manual Labor
Patlabor is as important to the mecha genre as Mobile Suit Gundam, Macross, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, yet it’s a title that doesn’t always get its due because of its more grounded nature. Patlabor was such a big deal upon its release because it redefines mecha as technology that can be used for industrial labor and everyday jobs, rather than purely militaristic purposes.
This creates a soothing slice-of-life quality to Patlabor’s storytelling that’s juxtaposed with police procedural stories. It crafts a new framework for mecha to fit in that’s able to unpack themes and ideas that aren’t as central to a space war anime like Gundam.
Gunbuster Explores War’s Transformative Nature Through A Hyperbolized Mecha Battle
Gainax’s Gunbuster is a six-episode OVA that marked Hideaki Anno’s directorial debut and, in many respects, feels like a dry run for what Anno and Gainax would later accomplish in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series stands out from its mecha peers by specifically keying into the emotional impact of war and how much Noriko has changed by the end of this journey.
Gunbuster creatively utilizes training montages and other tropes that are typically reserved for sports anime. It helps emphasize the human element in all this, which makes the anime’s surprisingly devastating conclusion all the more effective.
Martian Successor Nadesico Is A Ludicrous Self-Aware Satire Of Sweeping Space Operas
Martian Successor Nadesico is a self-aware satire of science fiction, space operas, and the “Giant Robot” subgenres that was very ahead of its time in 1996. The series pokes fun at the over-the-top and self-serious nature of space operas by infusing its story with broad comedy and romantic melodrama.
Every character’s motivation and backstory feels like it’s steeped in a gag, and it’s hard to take anything seriously. This becomes a huge asset when Martian Successor Nadesico flips the script and turns into a considerably darker affair that takes the audience by surprise.
Planetes Explores Space Through A Blue-Collar Point Of View
Planetes is a 26-episode anime from 2003 that still qualifies as an older classic considering that it’s over two decades old at this point.
The series focuses on a clean-up crew that removes hazardous debris from space so that space stations aren’t compromised, with the entire show having a uniquely blue-collar feel to it.
Planetes uses this unique environment to engage in character-driven storytelling that boils down to the importance of human connection, especially in a place that’s as cold and distant as space. Planetes also celebrates life’s balance and how something as mundane as space debris removal is still fundamental to Earth’s proliferation.