Science Fiction Anime - A Second Set of Favourites

Wow!  Way back in 2012 I blogged about a set of favourite science fiction anime.  It has been eight long years and a global pandemic later when I realized I should do a new post about more recent science fiction anime.

https://tokyoexcess.blogspot.com/2012/11/six-favourite-science-fiction-anime.html

Eight years later, I am actually having problems trying to pick out six new hard science fiction anime.  I ran through all of the series that released year by year on Wikipedia and cross-referenced it with what I have watched.  There has been plenty of light science fiction that has been really entertaining, but much of it has to do with superpowers or what I consider sci-fi fantasy elements.  Even new shows I really like - like Dr. Stone, which is a shonen science action/adventure series, that riffs off of real science don't make this cut, as the initial premise of people turning to stone and back is pure fantasy.  Excluded in this list is Space Opera type sci-fi, which in western science fiction includes shows like the Expanse (which is hard SF too) or Star Wars which is more sci-fi fantasy.  I have also deliberately excluded trapped in cyberspace / online RPGs or isekai anime about being reborn or transported to another world.  These are almost sub-genres on their own as they are soooo popular and  you could do entire posts about these (which I have done previously).

I'm pretty sure that there are new hard SF novels being written in Japan (like All You Need is Kill or Gene Mapper), but I don't think they are being made into manga (and yes there is a manga for All You Need is Kill), which means they are not being made into anime.  So, the six anime I chose are:

1. Astra Lost in Space
   
2. Expelled From Paradise
   
3. Gargantia of the Verderous Planet
4. Ghost in the Shell Arise and The New Movie
   
5. Psycho-Pass
6. Space Battleship Yamato 2199
   

Astra Lost in Space

A group of teenagers are on a high school adventure trip in their spacefaring society.  They are sent in a spaceship to a "safe" world where thousands of these trips go.  Something goes wrong of course and they find themselves facing an unknown menace and a crazy distance away from Earth.  After finding a ship, they must jump through many solar systems to get home as their supplies dwindle.  This was a pretty good survival story with some interesting alien worlds and a good plot twist in it.

Expelled From Paradise

Modern society exists in space in the future, specifically cyberspace, and the Earth is a ruined planet where regular human exist at a lower tech level and struggle to survive.  An investigator is dispatched to the surface to chase after a hacker that keeps infiltrating DEVA's systems.  As everyone in the world of DEVA lives in cyberspace with no physical bodies, she needs a cloned body grown to facilitate her interactions with the real world.  There are mech's in this show, but I felt it was quite well done, even with the fan service.

Gargantia of the Verderous Planet

In the far future, Earth is a water world, and the survivors of the cataclysm that ruined the Earth now live in big city ships, salvaging artifacts from the drowned world below.  High-tech humanity moved off into space and is now known as the Galactic Alliance.  The Alliance is locked in a brutal genocidal war with the Hideauze, a race of squid-like space aliens.  Ledo, a pilot from the totalitarian Galactic Alliance and his cool AI controlled mech, crashes onto the lost planet Earth and needs find his identity and place in the world.

Ghost in the Shell Arise and the The New Movie

This iconic cyberpunk manga and the original movie lives on.  Ghost in the Shell got a pretty good prequel reboot in Arise, which is set before the original manga.  This new series that came out in 2013 - 2014 had great production values and has a well done storyline.  If you want more Ghost in the Shell after Stand Alone Complex series, then this is a must see.  Of course there are also the Netflix anime series now and the Scarlett Johanssen movie version too, but Arise is easily better than these.

Psycho-Pass

The future is always a dystopia in Japan (just kidding - we have too many dystopic futures in western SF too).  There are three seasons, some movies, and season one is the best one.  Psycho-Pass is set in a future Japan that is controlled by the Sibyl System that constantly measures the brains of all citizens for criminal potential.  The cymatic scanning system gives everyone a "Psycho-Pass" and Inspectors and Enforces are dispatched to control them if their color-coded hue becomes extreme.  An iconic fixture in this series is the "Dominator" guns that are use to measure a Psycho-Pass and to blow apart targets if necessary. This show had some very good world building and was an interesting glimpse into a future I don't want.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199

Ya-ma-to!!!  The heroic title song says it all.  This classic SF series was updated in  2012-2013 and is an entertaining space opera romp. The battleship Yamato is rebuilt into a super-space battleship that must save the Earth from the Gamilian Empire.  The Gamilas have bombarded the surface of Earth into a cratered wasteland and the remnants of humanity survive in underground cities.  Hope comes to Earth in the form of the plans for a Dimensional Wave Motion Engine that will allow the Yamato to hyperjump to an alien destination that has a device to save the Earth.

Honorable Mentions

These are great science fiction shows, but involve mechs or lighter SF elements.

1. Coppelion - Genertically enhanced, radiation resistent girls explore a contaminated Tokyo.
   
2. Dies Irae - Legend of Galactic Heroes.  This is big space opera between a federation and an empire.  Big fleets of ships blowing up.  In the tradition of Banner of Stars and Crest of Stars.
   
3. Dimension W.   A little like Astro Boy, Mira, an advanced female robot, helps a bounty hunter recover illegal coils and searches for the truth behind her existence.  Coils are the power source in the future where energy is tapped from Dimension W.
   
4. Erased.  This is time travel story where the protagonist ends up in the body of his younger self as a child to prevent a murder.  This was a very well done show with great character building and emotional depth.
   
5. Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory.  I want more FMP!  This is season 4 and it kind of ends on a cliff hanger, but  the first season of this mecha show got me back into mecha, so it is a favourite.
   
6. Gundam Build Fighters (first series only).  I really liked how this show, which is really for selling Gunpla, but it had a pretty good storyline with mecha dueling with plastic models.
   
7. Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans.  A gripping and moving show where a bunch of war orphans are made to fight as mercenaries and must face off with powers far larger then themselves.  One of the best Gundam series out there.
   
8. Knights of Sidonia.  This is a pretty dark story with political machinations despite humanity being on the ropes and running from some pretty nasty aliens.  It has mechs, but I'm not sure humanity deserves to survive in this storyline.  This is a relatively popular show, but I don't like it much.
   
9. A Certain Scientific Railgun.  Fun with espers.  I like the core characters, don't like the excessive fan service from Kuroko's character, and find the structure of Academy City's governance almost too funny as it only exists to foster secret projects and conspiracies.  I can go with the stories in general as they are fun, but I mainly watch for Mikoto's character as the "Human Railgun."
   
10. Re:Creators.  This was an interesting show where characters from stories / games cross over into our world, the world of the gods that created them.  Interesting premise, and there are many literary series about book characters coming to life in western modern fantasy (Jasper Ford, etc.).  I enjoyed the show but the villain was way too overpowered.
    
11. Steins Gate 0.  More time travelling antics.  Which worldline are they in now.  If you like Steins Gate, you'll like this too.