Best Cyberpunk Anime of All Time

Are you an Otaku who loves Cyberpunk anime? The post-apocalyptic, yet futuristic environment, the retro vibe and the badass main characters! Gotta love ’em, right?

There are not a lot of cyberpunk anime, but here’s a list of some of the best Cyberpunk anime that I know of~

List of the best Cyberpunk anime of all time:

No guns life

No Guns Life is a cyberpunk anime which takes place in a post-war period. The technology to produce cyborg soldiers which was used in the war has now become available to the public.

Those who chose to replace their limbs with robotic alternatives were called “Extends.” And the Cyborg soldiers who were used as weapons in the war were called “Over Extends.”

One such over extend, Juzo Inui, runs a consultancy to take care of the problems caused by the extends.

However his normal life comes to an end when an odd Extend hires him to save the life of an unconscious kid from their pursuers.

Who is that kid? Why is he being pursued? What dangers are lurking behind the scenes? And how it all connects with Juzo Inui? That’s what No guns life is all about.

Trigun

The legendary criminal , Vash the “Stampede”, also infamously known as “The Humanoid Typhoon” has a huge bounty on his head. Even mentioning his name causes people to shiver in their boots. He is known to leave a train of blood wherever he goes – or so the rumors say.

But in reality, Vash is a happy-go-lucky, airhead who obsesses over donuts and has never killed anyone. If that’s true, then why does he have such a huge bounty and is feared by everyone? What sort of past did he live? It’s all revealed in this 26 episode long, wild-west styled anime.

Cowboy Bebop

There’s no millennial otaku who hasn’t heard of this legendary cyberpunk anime.

Cowboy Bebop takes place in the Utopian future of 2071, where humanity has succeeded in colonizing all of the solar system. Inter Solar System commutation has become a common thing.

In order to maintain peace in all the planets, the inter galactic police, use the help of bounty hunters to arrest heinous criminals.

Spike Spiegel, one such bounty hunter goes on adventures from planet to planet, fighting and capturing criminals for bounty.

Blame!

Blame! takes place in far future where technology has reached its peak and the civilization has attained its ultimate form – the Net Based form.

In the past, an “infection” caused the automated systems to go rouge which ultimately gave birth to a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions.

Now humanity has no control over the city and are being hunted down by the city’s defense system called the “Safeguard.”

In such a world, one man known as Killy the Wanderer, goes on an adventure to find the Net Terminal Genes in order to restore order to the world.

Megalo box

Megalo Box is the evolutionary boxing sport that makes use of mechanical limbs known as gears to fight. The gears improve the speed and power of the wearer.

Junk Dog is a talented boxer, however he is forced to throw his matches in order to make money as ordered by his boss Gansaku Nanbu.

This all changed after his encounter with the Megalo Box champion, Yuuri.

The champion, disguised as a normal fighter, fought Junk Dog in an underground match and defeated him in a single round. He then provoked Junk dog to challenge him in the official match if he was serious about boxing.

This incident lit a fire in Junk dog’s heart, which made him to do everything in his power to fight with the champion once more in the official ring.

Ghost in a shell

In 2029, humanity has achieved advanced cybernetics which allowed people to replace their limbs with robotic parts.  However, with power comes corruption.

In order to deal with that the Public Security Section 9 was formed. They fought the dangerous threats following this shift towards globalization.

Motoko Kusanagi, the Major of Section 9, is in pursuit of a criminal called “The Puppet Master” who manipulates his victims and strips them of their memories.

Ghost in a shell follows the adventures of Mokoto in search of this mysterious criminal.

Serial Experiments Lain

Lain Iwakura, a shy and socially awkward 14-year old girl receives a disturbing mail from her classmate who had recently committed suicide.

When she opened the mail, she is taken to a virtual world of communication networks. After that, she encounters strange events one after another.

Mysterious group of men, called the Men in Black, follow her and interrogate her wherever she goes.

She is faced with even more strange and bizarre situations as the line between the reality and the cyberspace has slowly begun to blur.

What’s really going on? Who are the Men in Black? What was the mail actually? It is all revealed in Serial Experiments Lain.

Psycho pass

It is the 22nd century and the Japanese government has enforced the Sibyl System which calculates the threat level of each citizen. This is done by scanning their mind state to identify any signs of criminal intent.

Those who are found to have even the slightest ill will are subjugated by the Inspectors with lethal force.

But soon, Akane Tsunemori who works along side with the enforcer Shinya Kougami, discovers that the justice enforced by the system is questionable.

What truly is Justice? Can it actually be upheld with the help of the Sibyl system?

Ergo Proxy

A global ecological catastrophe has destroyed the planet and the last of humanity survives in the city of Romdo which is domed to protect itself from the harsh, impossible to survive environments outside the city.

In order to aid the recovery of mankind, humanoid like robots called “AutoReivs” were created. However, these robots got self-awareness because of “Cogito Virus”

The granddaughter of Romdo’s ruler, Re-l Mayer, is tasked with the investigation of this virus.

But what she ends up finding is the darkest secrets of humanity.

Akira

Akira is a famous cyberpunk movie that was released in 1988 that is still being talked about today.

An explosion created by a boy with psychic powers lead the world into world war 3. In order to prevent further destruction, the boy is taken into custody.

31 years later, in Neo-Tokyo, Shoutarou Kaneda leads “the Capsules,” a group of misfits known for riding large, custom motorcycles. They are always in a gang war with their rivals “the Clowns.”

When Kaneda comes into contact with an esper who had escaped the government facility, he starts developing supernatural abilities.

Now, he is pursued by the government to quarantine him in order to prevent the history from repeating itself.