Anime like Steamboy

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 , Prophecy , Seinen , Urban Fantasy , Body Horror , Motorcycles , Anti-Hero , Conspiracy , Gangs , Gore , Military , Philosophy , Crime , Orphan , Guns , Politics , Mythology , Aliens , Nudity , Human Experimentation

Metropolis

Studio: MADHOUSE , Kadokawa Shoten
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Romance , Sci-Fi

In the great city of Metropolis, severe community structures and prejudice dominate a world where humans and robots live together. Unrest and violence increase with each new day.

Searching for the scientist Dr. Laughton, suspected to violate human rights by trading organs, the Japanese detective Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi arrive at Metropolis. In the scientist's laboratory, Kenichi discovers a girl without any memory of her past life. He decides to help her, so they run away together. His uncle follows him and penetrates the dark secrets of the city to find Duke Red, the man ruling from the shadows. Meanwhile, Kenichi desperately tries to protect the mysterious girl from the people hunting her. However, Duke Red and his adoptive son have their own deep reasons for chasing the girl. These reasons are connected to her true identity and the struggle for the domination of Metropolis...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tags: Robots , Dystopian , Artificial Intelligence , Fugitive , Detective , Urban , Female Protagonist , Politics , Class Struggle , Cyberpunk , Police , Male Protagonist , Crime , Terrorism , Guns , Foreign , CGI , Philosophy

Roujin Z

Also known as Roujin Z.

Studio: TV Asahi , Movic , Sony Music Entertainment , APPP , Kadokawa Shoten
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Mecha , Sci-Fi

The Z Project was intended to give the new generation a break from caring for the old. The original intention was to create a machine to care for them without any intervention. At first glance, it looked like an excellent plan, and many of the younger generation approved of its application. But when old Mr. Takazawa became the test subject for the Z-001 machine, Haruko questioned both the tactics of the hospital and the moral implications of the machine. This is just the beginning, as Haruko has not just the hospital, but the odds against her. But then, she discovers an odd quirk about the machine: it uses a biochip, and it eventually acquires a mind of its own!



Tags: Cyberpunk , Artificial Intelligence , Rehabilitation , Robots , Animals , Urban Fantasy , Satire , Primarily Adult Cast , Real Robot , Elderly Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Crime , Military , Fugitive , Politics , College

FREEDOM

Also known as Freedom.

Studio: Sunrise , Bandai Visual , NYAV Post , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Sci-Fi

In the year 2041, mankind created their first space colony on the moon. But after a freak cataclysm devastated human civilisation on Earth, the republic of the moon built a domed megalopolis known as Eden. Now in the year 2267, a boy called Takeru spends his time engaging in hover-craft races against rival street gangs, unaware that he is about to embark in the journey of unearthing Eden's origin.



Note: Episode 7 has a runtime of 48 minutes.

Tags: Space , Post-Apocalyptic , Foreign , Male Protagonist , Travel , Tanned Skin , Primarily Teen Cast , Full CGI , Robots , Motorcycles

Leviathan

Also known as Leviathan.

Studio: Orange , Qubic Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Set in a war-torn reimagining of 1914, Leviathan follows Alek, a fugitive prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Deryn Sharp, a daring young girl disguised as a boy to serve in the British Air Service. When fate throws them together aboard the HMS Leviathan, a massive, living airship made from genetically engineered creatures, they embark on a world-changing adventure that will challenge everything they know about war, loyalty, and identity.



Tags: War , Aviation , Steampunk , Royal Affairs , Military , Historical , Full CGI , Foreign , Tomboy , Travel , Female Protagonist , Crossdressing , Animals , Guns , Male Protagonist , Terrorism , Real Robot , Swordplay , CGI , Heterosexual , Bisexual , Gender Bending , LGBTQ+ Themes

Shisha no Teikoku

Also known as The Empire of Corpses.

Studio: WIT STUDIO , Kansai TV , KYORAKU
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Psychological , Sci-Fi

The story takes place in 19th century Europe and revolves around John Watson. He is scouted by the government to become a secret agent. However, Watson lives in a world where "Frankensteins"—human corpses that are re-purposed with a false soul in order to use them as laborers—are used to improve industrial development.



Tags: Zombie , Male Protagonist , Philosophy , Foreign , Steampunk , Artificial Intelligence , Historical , Gore , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Travel , CGI , War , Ships , Politics , Guns , Swordplay , Heterosexual , LGBTQ+ Themes , Human Experimentation , Nudity

Nijusseiki Denki Mokuroku: Eureka Evrika

Also known as Sparks of Tomorrow.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Kyoto Animation , Pony Canyon , ABC Animation , Bandai Namco Music Live , Rakuonsha , Heart Company
Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Romance

The novel takes place in the summer of 1907, the 40th year of the Meiji era. 15-year-old Inako Momokawa lives in the Fushimi area of Kyoto, and is the second daughter of a sake brewer. Nothing she does ever comes out right, and she receives a scolding from her father every day. Her only relief is the trust she places in her prayers to the gods. One day while at Fushimi Inari shrine, she meets a freewheeling young man named Kihachi Sakamoto. He rejects the gods, and boasts of the incoming age of electricity.

The topic of marriage suddenly comes up in Inako's household. Her father is one-sidedly making all the decisions for her, and Inako is about to give up hope. It is then that Kihachi draws out Inako's true feelings of wanting to run away from her family. The only way to stop her marriage is to find an unusual book called the "Electricity Catalog." The book is a prediction book about electricity that Kihachi wrote when he was a child, but his older brother Seiroku took the book, and its current whereabouts are unknown. Inako and Kihachi together go in search of the book across Kyoto and Shiga prefectures.



Tags: Steampunk , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Boys' Love , Yuri , Philosophy , Heterosexual , LGBTQ+ Themes , Arranged Marriage , Tragedy , Urban , Primarily Teen Cast , Band , Metal Music

Last Exile

Also known as Last Exile.

Studio: GONZO , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , GDH , Funimation , TV Tokyo Music , Victor Entertainment , TV Tokyo
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Sci-Fi

It's the dawn of the Golden Age of Aviation on planet Prester, and retro-futuristic sky vehicles known as vanships dominate the horizon. Claus Valca – a flyboy born with the right stuff – and his fiery navigator Lavie are fearless racers obsessed with becoming the first sky couriers to cross the Grand Stream in a vanship. But when the high-flying duo encounters a mysterious girl named Alvis, they are thrust into the middle of an endless battle between Anatoray and Disith – two countries systematically destroying each other according to the code of chivalric warfare. Lives will be lost and legacies determined as Claus and Lavie attempt to bring peace to their world by solving the riddle of its chaotic core.



Tags: Aviation , War , Post-Apocalyptic , Steampunk , Female Protagonist , CGI , Ensemble Cast , Lost Civilization , Conspiracy , Male Protagonist , Cult , Heterosexual

Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa

Also known as Castle in the Sky.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Tokuma Shoten , Walt Disney Studios , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Sci-Fi

This high-flying adventure begins when Pazu, an engineer's apprentice, finds a young girl, Sheeta, floating down from the sky wearing a glowing pendant. Together they discover both are searching for a legendary floating castle, Laputa, and vow to unravel the mystery of the luminous crystal around Sheeta's neck. Their quest won't be easy, however. There are greedy air pirates, secret government agents and astounding obstacles to keep them from the truth, and from each other.



Tags: Lost Civilization , Steampunk , Pirates , Environmental , Aviation , Fugitive , Female Protagonist , Exiled , Primarily Adult Cast , Military , Travel , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Robots , Guns , Primarily Male Cast , Trains

Tetsuwan Atom (1980)

Also known as Astro Boy (1980).

Studio: Tezuka Productions , Manga Entertainment , Madman Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Creating a robotic boy in the image of his recently deceased son Tobio, Professor Tenma thought nothing could go wrong now that his beloved child had been "reborn"... that is, until he comes to realize that this invention could never replace his son. Before long, however, the robot is kidnapped and spirited away to a robot circus in America, where he is soon rescued by Dr. Ochanomizu, and taken into his care. Tobio is given the new name Tetsuwan Atom, and transforms into Japan's crime-fighting hero, although his anti-violent pacifist views and overall childlike naivety tend to clash with his battles often.



Tags: Robots , Episodic , Artificial Intelligence , Shounen , Tragedy , Aliens , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , School