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all this and I only see one Tomino work, for shame...

Zambot 3: an old 70s Super robot anime that is quite dark. The heroes are blamed for an invasion of earth and shunned as outcasts; yet they are the only force that can protect the entirety of humanity from extinction. the anime that gave Tomino his nickname of Kill-em-all Tomino.

Ideon: The colony planet Solo is the place humanity first makes contact with aliens, the Buff Clan. the Buff Clan seeks the power of Ide and ,thinking earthlings hostile, war ensues. The inhabitants of solo are forced to flee the planet on a spaceship left by the ancient Sixth Civilization. along with the Ideon (a giant robot also made by the Sixth Civilization). The events that follow will determine the fate of the entire universe...

A highly overlooked series from the 2006 season, Noein ~to your other self~ immediatly comes to mind for a sci-fi anime reccomendation from me. The year it takes place in isn't horribly specefic, suffice to say its sometime after cell phones stopped looking like bricks and every kid has one. Even more shocking of how overlooked it is is because Kazuki Akane, well known for the Escaflowne series, wrote the story here too. Its an unfortunate thing that reading the back of the box might actually make you more confused to the series, so I'll summarize by saying that the future is in danger of being destroyed by another dimension and people from 15 years in the future come back in time (to the present) to get a girl named Haruka, because she has a special power that could save their future 15 years later. Of course, she's reluctant to go with them and the majority of the series does indeed take place in the present, normal world. The characters feel real and its interesting to see the story and characters develop over 24 episodes. There do feel to be a few tad lengthened out for no apparnt reason scenes, but these are mostly at the beginning and certainly worth overlooking. In recent memory, the score is one of the better ones I've heard for an anime series in a while, and the dub is ok, nothing exceptional but not detracting from the series either.

As for why it would be a good sci-fi reccomendation, its something new. It doesn't involve space nor space ships and the series feels a bit more down to earth in a lot of respects. The story can be a bit confusing for a while at first, but I have personally found this problem in a lot of sci-fi animes. This anime involves the principles of time and dimensional travel, but in a new way, not though means of portals (like in Chrono Trigger) but simply by connecting a strange blue life-line and sending people on their way to carry out their missions in the other times and dimensions. Its interesting to see both the present cast of characters and the 15 years in the future cast of characters interact with eachother. While the story takes place in the real world, it isn't because Haruka is constantly on the run from possible captors from the future, so the whole anime is not a giant cat-mouse chase sequence and things do happen to progress the story. I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, so I'm not going to mention what wil happen with the story from here on out, you might just want to pick up the series to see (which has a ridiculously low MSRP of only $40 for the whole 24 ep series. Most places sell it for lower than $40, Best Buy sells it for $35). In all, I would recomend this to someone looking for a new sci-fi series that does not occur in space (not that theres anything wrong with space, its just become rather common).

TheVok wrote:

Ghost in the Shell

Including the first movie, the second movie, the first season of the TV show, the second season of the TV show and finally the TV movie.

It's definitely an example of science fiction where "the story will explore in depth the effect of such technological changes on human behavior and society" ... especially 2nd Gig, which manages to deal with some very current Japanese social issues in a futuristic and technology-based context.

Ah, you took mine. Well, it was about time somebody mentioned an outstanding science fiction. I would have to agree on what you stated about 2nd Gig. Technology is very advanced in this series, spoiler[such as brain hacking (if that's the word) in episode 1.]. If you're looking for a science fiction, you should absolutely look into Ghost in the Shell (the TV series and the movies).

Appleseed (the movie and the manga)- Appleseed takes place in the 22nd Century, after the non-nuclear Third World War decimates the Earth. While countries such as Great Britain, France and China have difficulty maintaining order and power, international organizations like the "Sacred Republique of Mumna" and "Poseidon" have been established in the aftermath.

The main characters are Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires, former SWAT members of the LAPD. They are found in the desolated city and invited to join the ESWAT (Extra Special Weapons And Tactics) organization in the city of Olympus, the new world's most powerful state. Roughly one half of Olympus's population are bioroids.

Solty Rei- The series is set in the future where people use resemble technology to help them in daily life, or to become powerful criminals. The series is filled with action, and it shows how technology affects humans, just like you wanted.

Ergo Proxy- The show is set in a post-apocolyptic future in the domed city of Romdo. All of the citizens rely on robots who look like people, autoreivs, to do all of their work for them. Re-l Mayer gets caught up in a murder case, and is soon on the hunt for a monster known as the "proxy". This series also shows a bit of how technology affects people when their perfectly technological world comes crashing down on them.

I also just finished kurau : Phantom memory, another good sci fi / super power anime I enjoyed. Kurau is a young girl, and is involved in a type of accident at her fathers lab, granting her some cool powers. Years pass, and kurau is using her powers as an Agent, a person who takes missions from other people. Might be stealing back something that was stolen, or being a bodyguard. It gets fairly interesting, I do not want to spoil anything. Also, the Third : The girl with the blue eye is cool. It is set on a post apocalyptic earth, mostly made of desert, where we are monitored by a race of beings called the third, who enforce the technos taboo, a rule that says we humans can not possess a technology over a certain level. no planes and such. the main character has a tank with an AI controller named Bogey. She is a jack-of-all-trades, does odd jobs and such. The animation is a little old ( I think ? ), but all in all a decent sci fi anime. Gotta love the postapocalyptic earth, and all the giant bugs !

Quote:

science fiction (spaceships, aliens, future technology)
The plot or setting is based on imagined future science or technology. Sometimes the advanced technology is only used as a source of cool gadgets but sometimes the story will explore in depth the effect of such technological changes on human behavior and society. Note that merely being set in the future is not enough to make a story science fiction.

In keeping with that definition allow me to suggest you try out the following titles.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock (My Youth in Arcadia) In a nut shell this movie is about Matsumoto Leiji's primary character, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, beginings. It starts with the defeat of Earth by an alien race called Illumedas and shows how he met his companions (Emeraldas and Tochiro) and aquired the Arcadia.

Sol Bianca A space pirate "chick-flick" about a young boy who stows away on the Space Pirate Ship "Sol-Bianca" to try and save his mother that has been captured by the rival planet that he came from.

Fight! Iczer 1 Earth is invaded by hordes of maneating alien monsters controlled by a race of Female aliens who seek to conquer Earth for their leader. Earth's only hope is Iczer 1 a female alien who befriends a young Earth girl, Nagisa, and seeks to destroy the alien horde.

Iczer 3 The conclusion to Iczer 1. This time a new Iczer, Iczer 3, must help both Iczer1 and Iczer 2, to face Neos-Gold before she wipes out the human race.

Galaxy Railways Set in the Harlock universe, this the newest installment of the Galaxy Express 999 series.

Galaxy Express 999 Follow the travels of Hoshino Tetsuro as he searches through known space to find the man who killed his mother, Count Mecha. The boy teams up with the mysterious Maetel to help him in his quest, only to end up at the homeworld of the machinemen to make a startling discovery. This is Matsumoto Leiji's master work.

Plastic Little I vaguely remember this one. I know it takes place on a colony world of Earth sometime in the distance future and that the whole city the colony is on is somehow suspended in the air or some such on a water world. There's a titannic battle at the end with spacecraft, mecha, the whole anime nine yards. It's a fun ride.

Gunbuster (the original) Set in the future where giant galactic insects are trying to wipe out mankind's effort to conquer the stars. A group of young female pilots leave Earth to battle the monsters. One of them is looking for her lost father, a captain of one of Earth's warships.
It's a decent story.

Cobra Very similar to Blade Runner (IMHO). Again a futuristic bounty hunter teams up with a groups of companions to hunt down and take out the bad guys.

Orguss (the original TV series) A very unique story IMHO. Another of the Studio Nue incarnations of their "super dimensional series." A superdimensional bomb has caused the Earth to be in multiple dimensions at once allowing the inhabitants of each dimension to exist in the same space. Kai, the pilot partially responsible for detonating the bomb (he failed to stop it from going off), teams up with a race called the Elam to try and stop the Tehram (Terrans) from conquering the new Earth. There's transformable mecha (the Orguss) and all kinds of fun.

Macross (though Macross 7 is an acquired taste, you'll either like it, hate it, or scratch your head wondering what they were thinking when Studio Nue made it.) From the TV show all the way up to the present Macross Frontier the story of Macross follows a rough, if at times muddled, continuity line that takes the viewer from 1999 (when an alien ship crash lands on Earth) all the way up to the year 2080 (Macross 2). Macross is a classic and a great anime series. I'd start with the original TV series, skip over the Movie, watch Macross Plus, then M7, then Macross 2, then Macross 0, then the new one Macross Frontier if I were going to watch it for the first time again.

Gundam (any of it, even G-Gundam.) The first real serious "military machine" type giant robot series was the 1970s Gundam. It is still my favorite of all the series even if the animation is a bit dated. Also be aware that there are different continuity's with Gundam.
The first timeline is Gundam the original series, then Gundam 0080 (War in the pocket), then Gundam 0083 (the last Blitz of Zeon), Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Gundam F91, Gundam (Char's Counter attack).
Then there's Gundam Wing (which is it's own timeline)
G-Gundam (another timeline)
Gundam Seed + Destiny (their own timeline)

Dangaiho A tribute by Kawamori Shoji to the Giant Robot genre, this anime follows the adventures of a young girl kidnapped by Professor Tarsan for her psychic ability to create the ultimate giant robot, Dangaiho.

Crusher Joe I honestly don't remember this one very well. I saw most of it over ten years ago. What I do remember is that it was very good.

The Dirty Pair (affair at Nolanda is quite funny) A pair of voluptuous futuristic detectives Kei and Yuri, travel around the galaxy solving various crimes and chasing down the perps. There's a TV show and I think two movies if memory serves.

Outlanders This show is similar to Lum only the boy gets carted off into space by the alien princess that he meets while reporting the alien invasion.

Gal Force The Solenoids, a race of only females (what is with that anyway) and Paranoids (monsterous mechanical villians) have been fighting a ruthless war with each other for years. During a battle between them the Solenoid ship "StarLeaf" is invaded by a Paranoid "weapon" that impregnates one of the female crew with a new species. I won't spoil it beyond that. It's a classic Sci-Fi anime and one of the best IMHO.

Five Star Stories (very kewl mecha in that series Way too much to post in detail. The short of it, think Frank Herbert's Dune as an anime series. There are five major kingdoms within an area of space called the Joker Systems. All five are battling for control. There are giant robots called "Motorheads" that come in various types, like the Led Mirage (my favorite) and Golden General. If you like Sci-Fi anime, this one is a must.

Venus Wars Mankind has settled the planet Venus and terraformed it into a habitable planet by 2082 AD. On Venus two major countries exist, Ishtar and Aphrodia and of course they are at War. The story follows the adventures of Hiroki Senoo, a Rolling Game rider (a race done on monocycles which is very dangerous, think Star Wars Pod-racing dangerous).

M.D. Geist The Most Dangerous Soldier M.D. Geist rises from a pile of skulls at the begining of this anime and takes out two soldiers in a aircraft. MD Geist takes place on a ruined colony world of a Earth that has been ravaged by war. Geist is a dark-hero character determined to fulfill his mission by destroying the enemies of the people who made him.

That's probably a pretty good sized list to get you started. Very Happy

All are Sci-Fi anime by the definition above and all of them were certainly entertaining.

KT

Denno Coil
In this anime a world analogue to the Internet is upsetting the real world. A group of children with special glasses are able to see virtual manifestations and the story follows their adventures as they try to dodge a virus program from erasing the "obsolete spaces" where valuable bits of information can be taken and as they try to investigate the truth behind mysterious black creatures that live in said spaces, the so called "Illegals". With a very fluid animation and a character design that is unique if albeit not very attractive to most people, Denno Coil is like a beningn (for the most part, at least) version of Lain. As the story progresses it becomes considerably more psychological without ever disrupting the narrative structure, the connection between the real world and the virtual one is done masterly and in a very novel way.
It may seem too childish at first but it is worth checking out. Character development is also a plus in this title, especially in the later episodes.

Kabuto Tokugawa wrote:

Gundam (any of it, even Gundam.) The first real serious "military machine" type giant robot series was the 1970s Gundam. It is still my favorite of all the series even if the animation is a bit dated. Also be aware that there are different continuity's with Gundam.
The first timeline is Gundam the original series, then Gundam 0080 (War in the pocket), then Gundam 0083 (the last Blitz of Zeon), Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Gundam F91, Gundam (Char's Counter attack).
Then there's Gundam Wing (which is it's own timeline)
G-Gundam (another timeline)
Gundam Seed + Destiny (their own timeline)

you shouldn't forget Gundam 08th MS team (a fan favorite) Victory Gundam (one of the bloodiest of gundams) Gundam X (a personal favorite) or Turn A Gundam (the only altrenate time line Tomino directed

darn someone took toward the terra. i guess the only one i haven't seen posted that i would recomend is Soukyuu no fafner or just fafner for short. its like rahxephon and neon genisis evangelion where theres some post apacolyptic world that uses a mecha to battle giant monsters. however, in fafner the story doesn't revolve around the hero but multiple people who pilot multiple fafners, which is what they call the mecha unit. its entertaining and...

[EDIT: Removed last part. No linking to illegal downloads or streaming video. Besides, Fafner is easily and cheaply available on R1 DVD if you know where to look.~Zalis]

Read or Die OVA: A great little story and enjoyable characters. Features action, clones, literature, fan service, killer mechanical insects, a legendary monk with super weapons, presidential public urination etc. It is hard to describe but if you enjoy even two of the things I just listed, this is an anime you should check out.

Iria: Zeram the Animation: An old anime but to me it is a classic. Great action, interesting characters and the second half takes things to a crazy level, albeit predictable level. Still, I recommend it.

Roujin Z: Another old one (I thank god for old school Sci fi channel) but a funny, somewhat sad and interesting anime about the old stable of science gone wrong. Don't come to it looking for action, it is something similar to a monster movie and even has a easy to precieve warning/message.

Giant Robo: The Animation: One of the few anime I have seen in the last five years that I knew off the bat should be considered a classic. Granted it isn't that recent (first episode came out in 93 or 94 but it didn't wrap up until 97-98) but it is a great series, especially if you are familiar with and a fan of old school stuff like Gigantor or you like epic anime in general.

I'm new here, but I was just looking through this thread and noticed that two of my personal favorite anime's had yet to be mentioned:

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a bildungsroman about a young boy named Simon, who, along with the rest of humanity, lives underground. His journey begins when he and his older "brother" Kamina find the mecha Lagann, a discovery that leads the pair to the surface, and, eventually, a showdown with the evil Helix King and his Beastmen henchmen. Some may find Gurren Lagann a bit strange/quirky, but I was won over by the great character development and animation. Another winner from Gainax.

Eureka Seven is as much a touching tale of teenage romance as it is an exciting mecha/sci-fi anime. It tells the tale of Renton Thurston, a son of a late distinguished war hero, and his adventures as part of the counterculture organization "Gekkostate," where he meets and falls in love with the mysterious girl Eureka. For me, Eureka Seven had it all--its action elements were fabulously done and the interactions between its characters were memorable and brilliantly worked.

[EDIT: In a rare moderation action, spoiler tags removed. They're not necessary when talking about the basic premise of the series, just for specific plot events of whose foreknowledge would "spoil" one's enjoyment. Such as spoiler[Kamina dying] in Gurren Lagann.~Zalis]

I would like to recommend "Xam'd: Lost Memories", a very unique, pretty close to real life sci-fi ever made.

This is one of the best anime I have ever seen. The way the plot unfurls, the pacing, the dialogue delivery, the music... it's all so near perfect. Never did I get the feeling that the plot was been forced into moving ahead or the characters were forced to say things; it is *very* natural.

This is one of the few animes which give the *realistic* feel of life to the anime. Many animes, in the attempt to focus on the plot, leave behind the subtle details like the surroundings, the expressions etc. This anime doesn't. Oh, and not to forget the all awesome OP and ED.

I am pretty sure every sci-fi / action / romance anime fan will *definitely* like this anime, at least give it a try; if you don't like it, there's always hate mail. Smile

Weird that I haven't seen this one mentioned.

Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King: An enjoyable little sci-fi romp, eleven episodes from start to finish. It's in a thin boxset from Funi right now, which is what I took advantage of to enjoy it. It's also similar to Lord of the Flies, but unlike Infinite Ryvius, it does take place in a jungle...on an alien planet. Anyway, the fact that it's short really helps it as there's no filler or unnecessary characters, etc. What made the show recommendation-worthy for me was the great twist in episode 10 that really casts the previous nine episodes in a shocking new light. I will admit that the conclusion, while appropriate for the most part, has some issues that may rub people the wrong way, and could have been better. Still, the series is well worth checking out with excellent animation, an engaging plot and characters, and some good old sci-fi themes about humanity's quest for survival with a few twists thrown in.

I'd also second Outlaw Star for everything Jyu-Oh-Sei is not: funny, screwy, and fully of unnecessary fight sequences. Every episode of that show was a real riot, kind of like a space satire, so I have to give it a thumbs up.

Akira Classic 1989 movie. Cant go wrong.

Beyond the Clouds my favorite Makoto Shinkai film. If you haven't seen his work check out Voices of a Distant Star its only 20 minutes but its an amazing 20 minutes. Incredible artwork, moving stories, great music. If you like that then youll like Beyond the Clouds its very similar. Theyre both great love stories but if you dont like them you probably dont have a heart lol.

Ghost in the Shell - I liked the movies better than the series but I may be alone in that boat. Very smart and interesting cyberpunk sci fi.

Irresponsible Captain Tylor Not as technical or mature as say Akira or GITS but a if you want something that is charming and hilarious that is deeply character driven this is a wonderful 26 ep series.

Planetes one of my favorites of all time. It takes place in a very realistic near future in the year 2075. Has it all: deep, real, and likeable characters, meaningful and deep story, good animation, a plot that is intricately woven but not confusing, excellent ending, attention to detail to small things that make the future setting realistic. Its about astronauts who collect space debris, but its really about the individuals and society as a whole and how they deal with advancing into space. That being said its not an action packed mega mecha explosion space war, although it has more than its fair share of intense action in it.

Nadia Secret of Blue Water: If you like steam punk, romance, and comedy then this is the show for you. I would suggest watching the 26 episode abridged version since the 39 episodes has 11 episodes of horrible filler near the end. The entire unabridged series can be found on youtube.

Heroic Age is another one of my favorite if you like seeing fleets of spaceships in action.

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Science Fiction anime recommendations.