Anime like Roujin Z

MEMORIES

Also known as Memories.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Horipro , Studio 4°C
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

Memories is a compilation of three standalone short films encompassing different genres.

Magnetic Rose — a science fiction tale that tells a chilling story of love, loss, and the unwillingness to forget.
Stink Bomb — a tongue-in-cheek story of a chemical researcher who is just looking for a way to get rid of his cold... so why is everybody around him dying?
Cannon Fodder — an introspective tale about modern wars and simply following orders.

Tags: Anthology , Steampunk , Dystopian , Politics , Seinen , Space , Cyberpunk , Military , Primarily Male Cast , War , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Episodic , Work , Guns , Mopeds , Memory Manipulation , Tanks

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

Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor: The Movie

Also known as Patlabor: The Movie.

Studio: Production I.G , Bandai Visual , Touhouku Shinsha , Shouchiku , Bandai , Maiden Japan , Studio DEEN
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mecha , Sci-Fi

The year is 1999 and Tokyo's Mobile Police have a new weapon in the war on crime – advanced robots called Labors are used to combat criminals who would use the new technology for illegal means. The suicide of a mysterious man on the massive Babylon Project construction site sets off a cascade of events that may signal the destruction of Tokyo.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Noir , Police , Real Robot , Terrorism , Detective , Philosophy , Urban , Guns , Software Development , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Cosmic Horror

Robot Carnival

Also known as Robot Carnival.

Studio: APPP , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Fantasy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

9 of Japan's leading animators were asked to create a short segment that followed the theme of "Robots," for their inclusion in this film. Essentially, this "movie" is 9 short films, all independent of one another. The common element is human interaction with robots, namely the consequences of creating life with one's own hands, played in nine very different ways.



Opening (dir. by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo)
Franken's Gears (dir. by Koji Morimoto)
Deprive (dir. by Hidetoshi Omori)
Presence (dir. by Yasuomi Umetsu)
Star Light Angel (dir. by Hiroyuki Kitazume)
Cloud (dir. by Mao Lamdo)
A Tale of Two Robots (dir. by Hiroyuki Kitakubo)
Nightmare (dir. by Takashi Nakamura)
Ending (dir. by Atsuko Fukushima and Katsuhiro Otomo)

Tags: Robots , Anthology , No Dialogue , Episodic , Post-Apocalyptic , Steampunk , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Urban , Anachronism , Dystopian , Desert , Classic Literature , Heterosexual , Rotoscoping

Steamboy

Also known as Steamboy.

Studio: Horipro , Sunrise
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi

Ray is a young inventor living in the U.K. in the middle of the 19th century. Shortly before the first ever Great Exhibition, a marvelous invention called the "Steam Ball," behind which a menacing power is hidden, arrives at his door from his grandfather Lloid in the U.S. Meanwhile the nefarious O'Hara Foundation has sent men to aquire the Steam Ball so that they can use its power towards their own illicit ends.



Tags: Military , Steampunk , Historical , Ojou-sama , Male Protagonist , Foreign , Fugitive , Coming of Age

Meikyuu Monogatari

Also known as Manie Manie: Neo Tokyo.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Kadokawa Shoten , Selecta Visión , Project Team Argos
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Horror , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

1) Labyrinth Labyrinthos
A girl and her cat fall through a looking-glass into a dark labyrinth full of strange people.

2) Running Man
In the distant future, a tough racer uses his psychokinetic powers against his opponents during his final race.

3) The Order to Stop Construction
A snooty salaryman is sent by his bosses to the jungle to stop a completely automated construction job, and spends several days there arguing with the robots.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Anthology , Circus , Work , Body Horror , Robots , Cars , Episodic , Gore , Super Power , Male Protagonist

Black Magic M-66

Also known as Black Magic M-66.

Studio: AIC , Animate Film , Movic
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Freelance video journalist Sybil bites off more than she can chew when she tangles with a top secret military combat robot programmed to kill the grand-daughter of its creator.




Tags: Robots , Military , Artificial Intelligence , Guns , Survival , Primarily Male Cast , Cyberpunk , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Nudity , Urban , Shounen

Tokyo Godfathers

Also known as Tokyo Godfathers.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Sony Pictures Entertainment , Dentsu , Genco , Techno Sound
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Drama

In modern-day Tokyo, three homeless people’s lives are changed forever when they discover a baby girl at a garbage dump on Christmas Eve. As the New Year fast approaches, these three forgotten members of society band together to solve the mystery of the abandoned child and the fate of her parents. Along the way, encounters with seemingly unrelated events and people force them to confront their own haunted pasts, as they learn to face their future, together.



Note: The film received an early premiere at the Big Apple Anime Fest on August 30, 2003.

Tags: Found Family , Homeless , Estranged Family , Urban , Family Life , Snowscape , Primarily Adult Cast , Transgender , Class Struggle , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes , Surreal Comedy , Delinquents , Ensemble Cast , Rotoscoping , Female Protagonist , Nudity , Suicide , Language Barrier , Tanned Skin , Guns , Yakuza

Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor ON TELEVISION

Also known as Patlabor the Mobile Police.

Studio: Touhouku Shinsha , Maiden Japan , Sunrise
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In the future, advanced robotics has created heavy robots ("labors") for use in a variety of functions: construction, fire-fighting, military, and more. However, though the robots are only machines, their operators are also only human - and humans sometimes turn to crime. Since a heavy labor unit can be a dangerous weapon, the police of the future are set to fight fire with fire, using advanced patrol labor units, "patlabors". This is the story of the Second Special Vehicles Division, a motley crew of patlabor policemen and -women doing their best to fight crime and live a normal life.



Tags: Police , Work , Episodic , Female Protagonist , Crime , Real Robot , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast

Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor

Also known as Mobile Police Patlabor.

Studio: Studio DEEN , Touhouku Shinsha , Maiden Japan
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In the future, rapidly advancing technology gives birth to giant robots known as "Labors," so named for their usefulness in heavy industry. However, this also gives rise to "Labor crimes," resulting the need for a new branch of law enforcement equipped with and dedicated to the policing of Labors. When Izumi Noa, a female police officer, becomes the newest recruit of Special Vehicles Division 2, she and her top of the line "Patrol Labor" (or "Patlabor") Alphonse are swept into a series of adventures featuring crazed construction workers, eco-terrorists, and sea monsters.



Tags: Police , Real Robot , Episodic , Primarily Adult Cast , Work , Terrorism , Ensemble Cast , Female Protagonist , Conspiracy , Kaiju , Satire , Shounen