Top 10 Cyberpunk Anime for Those Who Love Dystopian Futures!

Cybernetic implants, megacorporations, artificial intelligence, and neon existential crises - cyberpunk isn’t just a genre, it’s a gritty, stylish lens into the future. And anime knows how to explore it like no other. Between digital chases and identity meltdowns, these stories make us question what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world.

Below, we’ve listed 10 essential anime that carry the soul (or the code) of cyberpunk: some cult classics, some more recent, but all unmissable.

Let’s go!

Akira (1988)

- Where to watch: Netflix, Prime Video

- Duration: 2h04min

Considered the turning point for global recognition of Japanese animation, Akira is a visual and narrative landmark. Set in a crumbling Neo-Tokyo, the film shows how unchecked power - both political and scientific - can lead to ruin.

The story of Tetsuo, a teenager who gains psychic abilities, is a powerful metaphor for identity, oppression, and self-destruction. It’s impossible to talk about cyberpunk without talking about Akira.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

- Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV

- Duration: 1h23min

Long before today's debates about artificial intelligence, Ghost in the Shell was already asking: what makes us human? With inspiring visuals and a hypnotic soundtrack, the film follows Major Kusanagi on a mission to catch a mysterious hacker. But the heart of the story lies in its questions about consciousness and existence within a cybernetic body. A futuristic action film with a deeply existential core.

Metropolis (2001)

- Where to watch: DVD, on-demand platforms

- Duration: 1h47min

A work with a vintage soul and visionary spirit. Inspired by both Fritz Lang and Osamu Tezuka, Metropolis dazzles with stylized visuals and jazzy music, but it truly moves with its story about inequality, social revolution, and robots with emotions. The protagonist, Tima, is an android with a tragic fate - and a heart more human than many around her.

Cowboy Bebop

- Where to watch: Netflix, Crunchyroll

- Episodes: 26 + 1 movie

It may look like a space opera, but it has the soul of noir and the heart of cyberpunk. Cowboy Bebop follows a group of bounty hunters on adventures across the solar system, but its real power lies in the themes: loneliness, regret, and haunting pasts.

Spike Spiegel is one of the most iconic characters in anime, and the show's melancholic mood, carried by a flawless jazz soundtrack, continues to influence works around the world.

Ergo Proxy

- Where to watch: Crunchyroll

- Episodes: 23

Dense, philosophical, and visually immersive, Ergo Proxy is for those who enjoy a good psychological puzzle. Set in a post-apocalyptic city where androids gain self-awareness and a supernatural mystery threatens the order, the anime explores themes like social control, memory, and existence with visual boldness and narrative depth. One of the most underrated entries in the genre.

Serial Experiments Lain

- Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Funimation

- Episodes: 13

Minimalist, experimental, and deeply unsettling. Lain is a teenage girl who dives into the digital realm known as “The Wired” after a classmate's suicide. But the lines between real and virtual quickly blur, and the series becomes a deep dive into identity collapse. Back in 1998, it was already tackling themes like surveillance, social media, and hyperconnectivity. Still relevant - and disturbingly prophetic.

Psycho-Pass

- Where to watch: Crunchyroll

- Episodes: 22 (Season 1) + sequels

Imagine a future where your mental state is monitored in real time - and if it’s deemed dangerous, you can be arrested or even eliminated. That’s the premise of Psycho-Pass, a dystopia with crime investigation, ethical dilemmas, and sharp criticism of surveillance technology. With a gripping plot and dark visuals, it’s one of the most accessible and engaging modern cyberpunk anime.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

- Where to watch: Netflix

- Episodes: 10

Colorful, chaotic, and painfully human. Edgerunners takes place in the same universe as the game Cyberpunk 2077, but it stands on its own. David’s journey from student to cyber-mercenary is a raw portrait of inequality, ambition, and tragedy. Produced by Studio Trigger, it boasts vibrant aesthetics and some of the best execution the genre has seen in recent years. Get ready to have your heart broken.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987)

- Where to watch: DVD, physical collections

- Episodes: 8 (OVA)

A true classic from the ’80s, with everything that makes cyberpunk great: neon, cyborgs, armor suits, and a synth-heavy soundtrack. Bubblegum Crisis follows a group of women fighting rogue androids in a futuristic Tokyo. It’s a time capsule that breathes style and nostalgia.

Battle Angel Alita (OVA 1993)

- Where to watch: YouTube, DVD

- Episodes: 2 (OVA)

Based on the Gunnm manga, this short OVA tells the story of Gally (or Alita, depending on the version), a memory-less cyborg who discovers her strength in a brutal, dystopian world. With gritty, violent aesthetics and an uncommon focus on a female protagonist’s personal journey, Alita became a genre benchmark - and even earned a Hollywood live-action adaptation years later.

Cyberpunk anime don’t just entertain - they provoke, question, and challenge us to imagine the future. A future where the line between man and machine is erased, where systems monitor our every move, and where the soul can be copied, modified, or replaced.

These works explore the pain of progress and the dilemmas of technology with emotional and visual intensity only anime can deliver. Amid the collapse of cities, code, and consciousness, the genre reminds us: even in a digitized world, we still long for connection.

Have you watched any of them? Share your experience with us in the comments!