Anime like Mardock Scramble: The First Compression

GHOST IN THE SHELL: Koukaku Kidoutai

Also known as Ghost in the Shell.

Studio: Production I.G , Bandai Visual , Kodansha , Manga Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Sci-Fi

2029: A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master,” a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together with her fellow agents from Section 9, Kusanagi embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Artificial Intelligence , Philosophy , Urban , Robots , Cyborg , Police , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Noir , Primarily Male Cast , Dystopian , Crime , Guns , Espionage , Nudity , Gore , CGI

PSYCHO-PASS

Also known as PSYCHO-PASS.

Studio: Production I.G , Fuji TV , Nitroplus , Sony Music Entertainment , KYORAKU , Toho , Funimation , Dentsu
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Thriller

Justice, and the enforcement of it, has changed. In the 22nd century, Japan enforces the Sibyl System, an objective means of determining the threat level of each citizen by examining their mental state for signs of criminal intent, known as their Psycho-Pass. Inspectors uphold the law by subjugating, often with lethal force, anyone harboring the slightest ill-will; alongside them are Enforcers, jaded Inspectors that have become latent criminals, granted relative freedom in exchange for carrying out the Inspectors' dirty work.

Into this world steps Akane Tsunemori, a young woman with an honest desire to uphold justice. However, as she works alongside veteran Enforcer Shinya Kougami, she soon learns that the Sibyl System's judgments are not as perfect as her fellow Inspectors assume. With everything she has known turned on its head, Akane wrestles with the question of what justice truly is, and whether it can be upheld through the use of a system that may already be corrupt.



Note: In the Summer 2014 season, Psycho-Pass was rebroadcast and re-edited to fit into an hour time-slot, ending up in 11 one-hour episodes. This edit included added scenes at the beginning and middle of the episodes, as well as fixing and improving animation.

Tags: Detective , Police , Dystopian , Cyberpunk , Crime , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , Urban , Female Protagonist , Artificial Intelligence , Conspiracy , Revenge , Male Protagonist , Fugitive , Guns , Anti-Hero , Terrorism , Augmented Reality , Gore , Tragedy , Robots , Body Horror , Class Struggle , Nudity ,

Koukaku Kidoutai: STAND ALONE COMPLEX

Also known as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Studio: Production I.G , Kodansha , Trilogy Future Studio , Bandai Entertainment , Tokuma Shoten
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

In the not so distant future, mankind has advanced to a state where complete body transplants from flesh to machine is possible. This allows for great increases in both physical and cybernetic prowess and blurring the lines between the two worlds. However, criminals can also make full use of such technology, leading to new and sometimes, very dangerous crimes. In response to such innovative new methods, the Japanese Government has established Section 9, an independently operating police unit which deals with such highly sensitive crimes.

Led by Daisuke Aramaki and Motoko Kusanagi, Section 9 deals with such crimes over the entire social spectrum, usually with success. However, when faced with a new A level hacker nicknamed “The Laughing Man”, the team is thrown into a dangerous cat and mouse game, following the hacker’s trail as it leaves its mark on Japan.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Police , Episodic , Robots , Politics , Philosophy , Artificial Intelligence , Crime , Cyborg , Work , Urban , Detective , Military , Seinen , Female Protagonist , Conspiracy , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Guns , Dystopian , Memory Manipulation , Real Robot , Ensemble Cast , CGI , Body Swapping , Kuudere , Gore , Bisexual

Kara no Kyoukai: Tsuukaku Zanryuu

Also known as the Garden of sinners Chapter 3: ever cry, never life. (Remaining Sense of Pain).

Studio: ufotable , Notes , Aniplex , Kodansha
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery , Supernatural , Thriller

July, 1998: One night, Mikiya helps a girl lying doubled over with stomach pains. Around that time, a number of dismembered bodies are found throughout the city. The murder victims are torn apart so badly that they don't seem like the work of a human.



Tags: Tragedy , Anti-Hero , Female Protagonist , Revenge , Super Power , Urban Fantasy , Gore , Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Body Horror , Nudity , Achronological Order , Kuudere , Female Harem , Dissociative Identities , Primarily Female Cast , Amnesia , Urban

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Also known as Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

Studio: TRIGGER , CD PROJEKT RED , Netflix
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Psychological , Sci-Fi

An original anime series set in in the universe of Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner—a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.



Note: The first episode received a pre-screening at Anime Expo on July 2, 2022. The first 3 dubbed episodes were streamed on Twitch as part of a co-stream promotion on September 12, a day before the show’s premiere.

Tags: Cyberpunk , Tragedy , Crime , Dystopian , Cyborg , Male Protagonist , Class Struggle , Gangs , Urban , Body Horror , Orphan , Guns , Gore , Revenge , Anti-Hero , Primarily Adult Cast , Drugs , Heterosexual , Terrorism , Coming of Age , Nudity , Ensemble Cast , Artificial Intelligence , Time Skip , Time Manipulation , Robots , Software Development , Space , Age Gap , Cars , Tomboy , Bar

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Also known as Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-.

Studio: WIT STUDIO , Aniplex of America , Aniplex
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Music , Sci-Fi , Thriller

An AI named Matsumoto appears before Vivy, the world’s first autonomous humanoid AI. Matsumoto’s mission is to rewrite history together with Vivy, in order to stop the war between AI and humans that will happen one century later.



Tags: Artificial Intelligence , Robots , Female Protagonist , Time Manipulation , Tragedy , Time Skip , Philosophy , War , Guns , Terrorism , Dystopian , Musical Theater , Cyberpunk , Primarily Female Cast , Kuudere , Memory Manipulation , Conspiracy , Anthropomorphism , Idol , Politics , Dissociative Identities , Rehabilitation , Amnesia , Primarily Adult Cast , Martial Arts , Suicide , Body Swapping , Nudity , Heterosexual , Marriage , Space , CGI , Gangs

Harmony

Studio: Studio 4°C , Kansai TV
Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Thriller

In the future, utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration.

This utopia isn't perfect, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn't work, but one of the girls—Tuan Kirie—grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet...from itself.



Tags: Philosophy , Yuri , Dystopian , Female Protagonist , Cyberpunk , LGBTQ+ Themes , Augmented Reality , Suicide , CGI , Terrorism , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Conspiracy , Urban , Politics , Military , Police , Guns , Nudity

Cowboy Bebop

Also known as Cowboy Bebop.

Studio: Sunrise , Bandai Visual , Bandai Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi

Enter a world in the distant future, where Bounty Hunters roam the solar system. Spike and Jet, bounty hunting partners, set out on journeys in an ever struggling effort to win bounty rewards to survive.

While traveling, they meet up with other very interesting people. Could Faye, the beautiful and ridiculously poor gambler, Edward, the computer genius, and Ein, the engineered dog be a good addition to the group?

Tags: Space , Crime , Episodic , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Travel , Noir , Anti-Hero , Philosophy , Guns , Cyberpunk , Male Protagonist , Found Family , Terrorism , Female Protagonist , Cowboys , Martial Arts , Cyborg , Tomboy , Amnesia , Gambling , Heterosexual , Yakuza , Drugs , Police , Nudity , Tanned Skin , Cult , Circus , CGI , Work

GUNSLINGER GIRL

Also known as Gunslinger Girl.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Marvelous Entertainment , Funimation , Fuji TV
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Psychological , Sci-Fi

Officially, the Social Welfare Agency is a government sponsored corporation that's in the business of saving lives. In reality, it's an agency on the fringe of technology. They give terminal patients another shot at life using cybernetic implants. This conditioning process then shapes the patient into an efficient machine for handling all of the government's dirty work.



Tags: Guns , Assassins , Foreign , Female Protagonist , Terrorism , Cyborg , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Urban , Memory Manipulation , Seinen , Crime , Tragedy , Gore , Suicide , Tomboy , Mafia , Military , Tanned Skin , Episodic , Politics

AKIRA

Also known as Akira.

Studio: Tokyo Movie Shinsha , Funimation , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Kodansha , Bandai Entertainment , Toho , Madman Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Horror , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

It's the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the start of World War III. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the mind breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. This incident triggers psychic powers within one of the gang members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army to be experimented on. His mind has been altered and is now on the path of war, seeking revenge on the society that once called him weak.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Post-Apocalyptic , Dystopian , Super Power , Urban , Tragedy , Male Protagonist , Delinquents , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Urban Fantasy , Body Horror , Motorcycles , Anti-Hero , Conspiracy , Gangs , Gore , Military , Philosophy , Crime , Orphan , Guns , Politics , Mythology , Aliens , Nudity