Sci-fi and fantasy are two of the anime industry’s most popular genres, and because of that, there is an oversaturation of shows trying to become the next big hit with audiences. With the rise of streaming, this has given way for modern classics to make their home on services like Netflix and Crunchyroll, where fans can pick up and binge their favorite shows on demand.
This system has also allowed for a major resurgence in original anime concepts, and huge comebacks for classics that have found new homes and new audiences with the next generation of anime fans. While some of these sci-fi concepts take humanity all the way into deep space, other, more grounded titles simply observe where humanity seems to be inevitably moving toward as technology advances.
Created by sci-fi anime titan Shinichiro Watanabe, Carole and Tuesday exists within the same universe as Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy, with the characters within Carole and Tuesday using Woolong as currency and even a small Easter egg depicting one of the background characters watching an episode of Space Dandy. Carole and Tuesday is a Netflix original consisting of two complete seasons that follows the titular leads as they form an unlikely friendship and enter themselves into a Mars-wide singing competition in Alba City.
While Carole and Tuesday may not have a story focused on action-packed space battles or noir-esque galaxy crime solving, it instead offers audiences a grounded look into what day-to-day life could look like in a far off future, complete with poignant, ahead-of-its-time commentary on replacing human creativity with a machine. The show is stunning to look at thanks to production staff at Studio Bones, and has a phenomenal soundtrack, making this series an absolute must-watch.
Psycho-Pass is a dystopian cyberpunk series available through Crunchyroll and Prime Video that takes place in a futuristic Japan governed almost entirely by an artificial intelligence network referred to as “the Sybil System.” In the world of Psycho-Pass, this system is capable of performing rapid brain scans to assess the likelihood a person will commit a crime, as well as the severity of the crime they’re predicted to commit. For those with high enough scores, the government preemptively locks them away.
The main story follows a rookie Inspector Akane Tsunemori and Enforcer Shinya Kogami, this world’s police system, as they track down an elusive criminal named Shogo Makishima, an individual who is somehow immune to the scanning system, allowing them to take advantage of their freedom to commit as many crime as they’d wish without ever being detected. Psycho-Pass explores themes of free will, safety, and the price civilians have to pay in order for world leaders to be able to say they exist within a perfect society.
While Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is technically based on the world of Cyberpunk, Mike Pondsmith’s groundbreaking table-top roleplaying game which later inspired CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, the characters and events that occur within Studio Trigger’s take on the franchise are entirely self-contained. The anime follows David Martinez, a bright young street kid residing in Night City with his mother as he slowly gets dragged into the vigilante world of the Edgerunners by Lucy, a cybernetically enhanced woman who falls in love with him.
This Netflix original explores heavy themes of financial inequality in rapidly advancing societies as even those with bright futures ahead of them are forcibly left behind in a constant struggle to simply survive. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners‘ lead, David, also suffers a tragic Icarus Complex throughout the story’s over-arching narrative which makes it hard to look away from the heart-wrenching ending fans know is waiting for them at the end of the show’s brisk 10-episode run.
Shinichiro Watanabe’s genre-defining sci-fi classic Cowboy Bebop is thankfully available for easy streaming on multiple platforms, including Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video, and Youtube. Widely considered to be required viewing for anyone wanting to get into the classics, Cowboy Bebop follows the ever-iconic Spike Spiegel, a real-deal space cowboy who works as a bounty hunter alongside his crew Faye Valentine, Jet Black, Ed, and Ein. While much of the series’ first half is dedicated to showcasing how this capable crew have a bad habit of blundering their jobs or accidentally disqualifying themselves from getting paid, there’s a much darker shadow looming everywhere Spike goes.
Cowboy Bebop is a masterclass example of taking its audience on a space noir journey that drip-feeds clues as to what is haunting Spike up to the very end, and even takes the time to explore the backstories of each of his crew to build up how much Spike means to each and every one of them up to the show’s finale. Cowboy Bebop is a timeless classic for a multitude of reasons, and hopefully, the series won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
When anime fans think of sci-fi, they usually think of hulking Gundam-style mechs, and while Neon Genesis Evangelion has plenty of that going for it, that isn’t the only reason Hideaki Anno’s original series has become such a huge genre staple. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological sci-fi series that explores the life of Shinji Ikari as he begins piloting a bio-mechanical suit to fight monsters known only as “Angels” alongside two young girls named Asuka Langly and Rei Ayanami. Neon Genesis Evangelion has a notorious reputation for using its dystopian sci-fi setting to delve into the mental health of its characters, and the ramifications of moral failings within society.
This original series has recently found a new home and brand-new English dub over on Netflix. The recap film Evangelion: Death(True)² and the alternate-ending feature film The End of Evangelion are also available on Netflix, though, the fan-favorite Rebuild film series, consisting of Evangelion: 1.11, 2.22, 3.33, and 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time are currently only available to be streamed through Amazon Prime Video.
