Science Fiction Anime

Science fiction anime is kind of a peculiarity. I’ve watched tons of anime that I would classify as science fiction, like Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and Appleseed. But there’s a distinct difference between what is classified as an anime sci fi and what’s classified as an American sci fi. American sci fi tends to focus more on the science. That is, what is considered the good sci fi in America is science fiction. What’s considered good sci fi in Japan is science fiction. The classification is taken from Nancy Kress, whose husband believed in science fiction whereas she believed in science fiction.

I am a stout believer in science fiction, as my background in anime and my short description might suggest.

Think back to something like Star Trek. It’s something I’m not very familiar with, but I have it on four Trekkie’s authorities that Star Trek is about science fiction. I have absolutely nothing wrong with this. The episode where Data is under trial for being considered property of the Federation or a new species was absolutely amazing.

However something like the Doctor Who episode “The Girl in the Fireplace” is also a great testament to sci fi, even though it had tons and tons of science and really no explanation. And as much as Russell T Davies isn’t as good as Steven Moffat, this Moffat-penned episode is just as brilliant as that Star Trek episode for putting the fiction in the science.

My point being that Star Trek is science fiction while Doctor Who, like anime, is science fiction.

What separates anime is that it has some subgenres that are acceptable to the greater anime watching culture. GitS is cyberpunk, Bebop is a space western, and Appleseed is utopia/dystopia. But to the general populace, I would bet that they would clump them all into the science fiction genre.

So what anime does, in its science fiction-yness, is focus on those subgenres. GitS doesn’t make me question whether androids and cyborgs deserve equal rights; rather, it makes me question whether I have free will. Way to turn things around on me Puppet Master.

Bebop focuses on the great characters of Spike and Jet, and later Faye and Ed and Ein, and their grand adventures of being forever broke.

Appleseed focuses on the politics. It questions whether there can be a perfect society and how that perfect society would be structured if it did exist. And how people in power become corrupt.

What these three anime have in common is they’re science fiction. They’re not focusing on the logistics of a fully cybernetic body, Section 9’s communication system, the Bebop’s inner workings or any of the other ships inner workings, anything about Red Eye, how a hovercar would work, how a cyborg would work, or how any of their machines work. They focus on their story and their character without cluttering itself with lengthy explanations of the science behind the fiction.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important to explain the science behind the fiction. But when it’s such an integrated part of society as it is in these shows, it’s hard to bring it up naturally and, in my opinion, not worth sacrificing the flow of the show just to give science nerds their needed explanations.