10 Best Сyberpunk Anime to Watch While Waiting For Arcane Season 2

Anime creators love cyberpunk in its various forms – in such projects you can find everything from classic tales of betrayal and corporate power to stories where technology plays an important but secondary role.

While you wait for the second season of Arcane ( due out in November 2024), a mix of cyberpunk and steampunk, we suggest you get acquainted with the best representatives of the genre.

1. Serial Experiments Lain, 1998

Lain is a quiet high school student with an unremarkable life. Fate takes an unexpected turn when one of her classmates commits suicide, and after death, suddenly starts sending emails to all of her friends. These messages haunt Lain, and the girl decides to figure it out on her own.

Serial Experiments Lain is an acknowledged classic whose relevance has not diminished even after a quarter of a century. The anime masterfully mixes several genres at once and throws up new puzzles that remain interesting to find and solve even after multiple viewings.

2. Сyber City Oedo 808, 1990-1991

2808, mankind has reached unprecedented technological heights and at the same time an incredible social low. The crime rate has exceeded all reasonable limits, so the government has decided to form special squads of convicts: they will have their sentences reduced for good service, but disobedience will result in death. The story focuses on a trio of such convicts – Gogul, Benten and Sengoku.

This mini-series takes viewers into classic cyberpunk: neon, synth-pop and widespread social injustice with advanced technology.

3. Psycho-Pass, 2012-2019

By 2112, criminals had almost completely disappeared, and for that, people should thank the Sibyl – a system that not only replaced the government, but also learned to find criminals before they committed a crime.

To determine the crime rate, a Psycho-pass is used. Those who do not fit the norm must be caught and treated – or, in the most serious cases, killed. The Public Security Bureau soon faces an unprecedented threat – a unique criminal who can do anything and keep his crime rate low.

4. Megazone 23, 1985

Yahagi is a crazy biker who gets his hands on a government prototype motorcycle that is actually a supercomputer. Or rather, the control panel of it: it speaks directly to Yahagi and reveals the truth about the world. The idyllic landscapes of 1980s Tokyo, where the characters live, are just a simulation, while in reality there is no trace of the old city left due to the bloody war.

Megazone 23 is considered one of the main inspirations for The Matrix – it is one of the first virtual cities on the big screen which laid the foundation for all the others that followed.

5. Metropolis, 2001

In the future, Metropolis has become the center of gravity for many. Here, robots coexist with humans, and real power lies in the hands of corporations. The latter care little for the concerns of ordinary people, so few try to stop the rampant criminals and other social problems.

Among those who try to do something are Detective Ban and his nephew Kenichi. They are on the trail of Dr. Laughton, who allegedly sells organs. However, there are no organs in his lab – but there is Tima, a cyborg girl who remembers nothing and who is being hunted by the city government for some reason.

6. Dennou Coil, 2007

Dennou Coil (also known as Coil – A Circle of Children) is the most cozy cyberpunk project that is closest to modern realities. In the city of the near future, where the characters live, AR has long been in use – people wear special glasses, and the antivirus program that patrols the streets protects them from cyber attacks.

There are rumors among schoolchildren of miracles to be found in some areas of AR, and horror stories of people going into the digital world and never coming back.

7. Сyberpunk: Edgerunners, 2022

The anime takes place in Night City several years before the events of the original Cyberpunk 2077. The main character, 17-year-old teenager David, has lost everything: his mother, and his future. He doesn't even have the money to rent an apartment, but he has a strong desire to get out of the slums. After meeting the hacker Lucy, he decides to join the Edgerunners gang, led by the legendary mercenary Maine.

The most recent show in this list has caused quite a stir. The story created by the Trigger studio turned out to be almost better than the one created by the game studio CD Projekt Red itself. Fans were expecting a simple story to attract attention to the game – but what they got was a brilliant series, which will probably stay in our memory longer than the game, thanks to which it was released.

8. Akira, 1988

In 1988, Tokyo was destroyed by an explosion that started World War III. Over the three decades, a new metropolis, Neo-Tokyo, has been built on the ruins. During a fight between biker gangs, teenagers stumble upon a strange boy with gray skin who is being hunted by the government.

In an attempt to hide, the child uses telekinesis, which activates the psychic abilities of the biker Tetsuo. The government lab doctors take the two back to their base and begin experimenting on Tetsuo.

Akira is an iconic project. Released in 1988, the anime is still astonishing today: the quality of the classic animation still looks like a miracle, and the imagination of the authors and the tightly woven social implications are still relevant in 2024.

9. Ghost in the Shell, 1995

Future Tokyo faces a unique threat: almost anyone can be hacked. To prevent such cybercrimes, Section 9 was created, consisting mainly of cybernetically enhanced fighters. Section 9 is given a difficult task: to track down a mysterious man who hacks politicians and pursues unknown goals.

Ghost in the Shell is another classic that showed the world the value of Japanese animation. This is not so much a typical corporate confrontation or detective story, but rather a powerful statement about transhumanism and the concept of the soul, sending viewers on a search for their own truth.

10. The Animatrix, 2003

The Animatrix is a collection of eight short stories about the world of The Matrix and is worth watching for anyone who still has questions after seeing the original franchise. Thanks to The Animatrix, fans can find out exactly what led to the conflict between humans and machines.

You will see the epic story of the oppression and uprising of the machines, their victorious war against the humans and the creation of the Matrix, Trinity's past, and other stories from a universe that is still the subject of much debate.