Cyberpunk Anime: 11 Series and Films From Akira to Edgerunners

Start here#

Start with Edgerunners if you came from the game, Ghost in the Shell if you came for the genre. Both picks, argued: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners follows David Martinez, an Arasaka Academy student who becomes an edgerunner after a family tragedy. It was co-produced by CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger, premiered on Netflix on 13 September 2022, and is set in 2075 and 2076, shortly before Cyberpunk 2077. Ten episodes, no filler, and it will wreck your week.

Ghost in the Shell (1995) is the other door: slow, cold, gorgeous, and the reason half the genre looks the way it does. Japanese cyberpunk as a subgenre started with Katsuhiro Otomo's manga Akira in 1982, and the Akira film (1988) spread it. Both are on the list below.

The 1980s and early 90s#

• Megazone 23 (1985), Noboru Ishiguro: A mecha cyberpunk film and video series. A delinquent motorcyclist finds out his city is a simulation. The first part was a major hit in Japan in 1985 and was reworked into Robotech: The Movie (1986) in North America. Skip it unless you collect origins.
• Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991), Youmex, AIC and Artmic: A video-release series set in 2032, seven years after an earthquake devastates Tokyo. Mike Pondsmith has listed it among the sources for his tabletop game Cyberpunk, which makes it homework for Night City fans.
• Akira (1988), Katsuhiro Otomo: Based on Otomo's 1982 manga. Shotaro Kaneda leads a biker gang in a story set in 2019. It popularized Japanese cyberpunk abroad and has been cited as an influence on The Matrix and others. Still the best-animated thing on this page.
• Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990-1991), Yoshiaki Kawajiri: A three-part video series from Madhouse. When Edgerunners came out, Hideo Kojima compared its art and world design favorably to this one. Three episodes, so the risk is small.
• Ghost in the Shell (1995), Mamoru Oshii: Based on Masamune Shirow's 1989 manga, with a screenplay by Kazunori Ito. The digital-rain effect in The Matrix was inspired by its opening credits, and the streets were based on Hong Kong. Opinion: the most influential film on the list, and the quietest.

1998 to 2012#

• Serial Experiments Lain (1998), Ryutaro Nakamura: Thirteen episodes on TV Tokyo, written by Chiaki J. Konaka with character designs by Yoshitoshi Abe. A schoolgirl and the Wired, a network like the internet. Surreal and difficult on purpose. Don't watch it half asleep.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002-2005), Kenji Kamiyama: Production I.G's television series, with music by Yoko Kanno. It follows the Public Security Section 9 unit through cybercrime and terrorism cases. Our read: the best entry point if the film feels too abstract.
• Texhnolyze (2003), Hiroshi Hamasaki: A boxer in the fictional city of Lux loses an arm and a leg and gets replacements. Written by Konaka, designs by Abe, Madhouse. Our read: slow and bleak by design. A dare, not a recommendation.
• Ergo Proxy (2006), Shuko Murase: Twenty-three episodes from Manglobe, set in a post-apocalyptic future where androids called AutoReivs live with humans until a virus changes that. Moody, and the plot is optional.
• Psycho-Pass (2012-2013), Naoyoshi Shiotani and Katsuyuki Motohiro: Written by Gen Urobuchi for Production I.G. A young inspector named Akane Tsunemori works within the Sibyl System that governs Japan. The best cop show on this page.

Edgerunners and its sequel#

Hiroyuki Imaishi directed Edgerunners, with scripts by Masahiko Otsuka and Yoshiki Usa, character designs by Yoh Yoshinari and music by Akira Yamaoka. The opening theme is 'This Fffire' by Franz Ferdinand. The series was announced at a Night City Wire livestream on 25 June 2020.

Rotten Tomatoes shows 100% positive across 16 critic reviews. Mike Pondsmith, creator of the tabletop game, said: 'It's like seeing my brain in a big screen anime.' R. Talsorian announced a tabletop Edgerunners expansion in November 2022, and the Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit followed in June 2024.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 premiered on October 20, 2026. It is a standalone sequel with a new story and a new cast, directed by Kai Ikarashi, with Bartosz Sztybor as writer, producer and showrunner. Cyberpunk 2077 got Update 2.5 on 22 October 2026, with a side quest that is a prequel to the series.

Fixer's notes: where this list stops#

The list is not exhaustive. Appleseed, Cowboy Bebop and others sit near the border and are left out. Opinion: if Edgerunners worked for you because of the characters, try Psycho-Pass. If it worked because of the city, try Akira.

Beyond anime, the cyberpunk movies page has live action, the cyberpunk slang page has the vocabulary Edgerunners uses, and Cyberpunk RED is the way in if you want to play it.

The film that set the template is covered on the Akira page.