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Steins Gate and Ghost in the Shell are classic recommendations. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a pretty good watch as well. I also liked Psycho Pass so some say it loses quality after the first season.
Edit: Oh and Akira is considered to be one of the greatest Anime of all time. These are all anime though, I can‘t say anything about live-action series/movies
The Ghost In the Shell series are also worth a watch. Other than that 3D nonsense series they did. Don't watch that.
These are great anime choices for life action look no further than Inuyashiki.
Cowboy bebop
Ghost In The Shell (1995) is an incredibly good movie. I recommend watching it in Japanese with English subtitles, but the English dub is serviceable. It takes its time with beautiful shots and insightful dialog, split up by well directed action sequences.
Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and GANTZ were pretty good IMO
GANTZ is really good but I don’t think I’d recommend it as an early sci-fi anime watch. There’s a lot of weird sexual stuff in it that the others on your list don’t have that I think make them a better recommendation.
I also really like .hack//SIGN to throw my own in
I've only seen the movie, the only weird sexual thing I can remember was a demon with a bunch of boobs?
Oh the live action movies? I actually haven’t seen those but I’m not surprised they cut a lot of that out.
Yeah there’s a good amount of sexual / rapey stuff in the anime and manga, specifically around Kishimoto. Also I’m not sure where the movies stop but the manga that goes past the anime gets really, really weird.
I still really like it a lot but you have to be willing to look past that stuff so I don’t recommend it often to people who aren’t already familiar with some anime. The movies look a lot more approachable though.
No it was 3d animated, definitely weird but not a huge amount of sexual stuff from what I can recall. I haven't seen any of the drawn stuff.
GANTZ was great, but I would personally recommend reading the original manga for the best experience. From what I remember, the anime did not really capture the dark atmosphere all that well in all details (even though it was still plenty dark), and the actors in the live action adaptation were perhaps over-acting a bit? And of course there is only so much you can cram into a 2 hours long movie.
That being said, reading the manga is a much larger time investment, so I suppose watching the movie or anime is still a much better experience than not experiencing GANTZ at all. :)
I love me some space westerns, so once again I'm gonna hype Trigun.
Paprika Patlabor
If you havent already, watch Shin Godzilla.
It's amazing. There's a spiritual sequel coming out soon too.
^Boosting this as it's the only non-anime suggestion atm.
I just watched this and thought it was decent. Directed by Hideaki Anno, known best for Neon Genesis Evangelion, and it's pretty apparent. The montages of button down politicians and scientists working in sync, filing into perfectly symmetrical makeshift office spaces, and standing at attention like they're military personnel felt very familiar. I saw a review afterwards that called it "The Dunkirk of Godzilla Movies" which I found hilariously accurate.
I'll also throw in the very aged, but influential Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
“The Dunkirk of Godzilla Movies”.
Lol that's pretty accurate.
There's a Shin Ultra Man too, but I haven't seen it.
I never realized it was made by Anno. The dude loves bureaucracy and infrastructure in motion.
What’s the sequel??? Is it also Anno?
Godzilla: Minus One.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YlceGpbGgvE
Sounds cool but without Anno I’m not sure they can recapture the magic of that film
I wouldn't expect the same movie. It seems to have the same tone and atmosphere though. I'm looking forward to it.
"Science fiction" is kind of broad, most anime has elements of science fiction because the medium (i.e. not being real) lends itself to more fantastical ideas. I upvote others recommendations for steins gate and cowboy bebop, here are some offbeat recommendations.
If you like emotional anime, I really enjoyed Plastic Memories. The last couple of episodes especially really hit me, the running theme of the agency having non-human employees is kinda interesting.
Serial Experiments Lain is a psychological horror thriller type thing with very heavy sci fi elements. Considering it's from the 90s, it's commentary on the internet is surprisingly relevant these days. A bit artsy and kind of disappears up its own arse sometimes like Eva, but really interesting regardless.
Wonder Egg Priority is kind of sci-fi, tbh I don't know where sci-fi ends and fantasy starts, but I really enjoyed it. Just forgive it for the fucking dire ending, I think they ran out of budget, which is a shame. Kind of a "monster of the week" setup with cool action. Killer soundtrack too.
Finally, Eden of the East is a series I'll always recommend. A mystery/thriller series where a group of people have access to a concierge that can basically do anything and they have a vague mission to "change the world". Borderline sci -fi because of the heavy use of technology as a plot device. Also has an underwhelming ending, but the rest is top tier.
Now I‘m really angry!!!!
+1 for Wonderegg Priority
If you can find Memories, it's a pretty good anthology movie. Though I liked the first part the most. I also enjoyed Redline a ton. It's like the old Hanna Barbera Wacky Races meets The Animatrix short with the Olympic runner.
Ergo Proxy
If you want something on the harder edge of sci-fi Planetes was really good, though I haven’t finished it yet. It’s heavy, though.
Yes yes you just finish it. So good.
Its more horror cyber punk but tetsuo the iron man is really great.
Nier Automata v1.1a is really good, with a well made world and story, and the animation doesn't fall behind. I recommend it even if you haven't played the game. Ghost in the shell is another recommended one, it's old but visually feels really nice with the cyberpunk aesthetics and the story is also really good.
Kamen Rider is great! Live action “tokusatsu” (special effects) show. Each year/season is entirely different, and usually unconnected with only a few exceptions plus (usually non-canonical) crossover movies. It’s usually aimed at a slightly older audience than some other toku series, like Super Sentai (what Power Rangers is based on/uses fight footage from) and Ultraman.
I recommend Kamen Rider Zero-One for a recent series that is pretty consistently great (and very sci-fi-focused, specifically revolving around humanoid androids, “HumaGears”), and Kamen Rider W or OOO for a slightly older one.
Ultraman is also pretty solid. I haven’t watched it since it aired forever ago, but I really loved Ultraman Nexus, which was aimed at adults and set in its own universe. Ultraman Z is a recent series that seems to be well liked, and Ultraman Blazar is currently airing. Tsuburaya actually temporarily releases the episodes on YouTube with English subs, and with Blazar they also have both the original Japanese audio and an English dub selectable. Episode 4 just came out today!
There’s also a new movie by the Neon Genesis Evangelion/Shin Godzilla/Shin Ultraman guy, Shin Kamen Rider, which is a loose remake of the original Kamen Rider show!
Have you ever watched Yojimbo and Sanjuro?
It's a core influence on a lot of Japanese cinema. It's such a big deal that Hollywood by way of Spain with Italian direction turned it into basically the best western trilogy.
I remember being a kindergartener running home from the bus to be on time to watch Star Blazers. I loved it. It's a fun story with 1970s style.
Lupin III is one of my other favorites.