10 Best Anime Like Ghost In The Shell That You Need Watching Update 04/2024

Anime Like Ghost In The Shell

Aside from the original film, Ghost in the Shell content has had a mixed reception; however, these anime are excellent replacements for that content!

If you think that Ghost in the Shell is a fantastic anime, you’re underselling its contribution to the medium. There have also been major Western cyberpunk properties like The Matrix spawned from this groundbreaking leap in the genre. When it comes to the original film or theStand Alone Complexanime, there’s nothing quite like Ghost in the Shell.

There’s no way to duplicate a work of art likeGhost in the Shell, as even Hollywood’s version fell short of expectations. As a result, we turn our attention to other anime that use similar iconography and atmosphere. They don’t have the same effect, but if you’re looking for more cyberpunk/noir criminal anime, they’ll do.

10. Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop

While most episodes of Cowboy Bebopi don’t exactly follow the previous episode’s narrative, they are always meticulously drawn works of art. This is still one of the best anime that non-fans may start with. When compared to most other anime, Cowboy Bebophhas a more Western vibe, comparable to howGhost in the Shellhandles its tale.

Even though they’re poor and hungry bounty hunters, Cowboy Bebopta takes the audience on a sci-fi bounty hunter romp with impoverished and hungry bounty hunters. Unlike Ghost in the Shell, it doesn’t go into as much into about morality and existentialist questions, but it still has a sci-fi flair.

9. Appleseed

In fact, it’s written by the same person, thus it also touches on the human-machine divide.

In that case, you’d be looking at the 2004 release. Since then,Appleseed has developed its own cult following, with an anime series calledAppleseed XIII and a number of other films.

The terrible tale of female fighter and war survivorDeunan Knute is the subject ofAppleseed, which chronicles her life. After the battle, Knute discovers that her once-human lover has been transformed into a cyborg as a result of his military injuries. As they strive to make it work in a new and devastated world, they discover and solve a conspiracy.

8. Bubblegum Crisis

Bubblegum Crisis
While Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell are two of the best anime of the 1990s, Bubblegum Crisis actually premiered in 1987 and was the first to air in that year’s schedule.

Knight Sabers, a gang of female mercenaries that wear exoskeletons that give them superpowers, are the focus of Bubblegum Crisis’ tale.

They are in charge of dealing with the difficulties that arise, the most common of which are renegade robots. Bubblegum Crisis, which may sound like something out of a Power Rangers episode, is chock-full of raw emotion and dramatic tension. It tackles character deaths exceptionally tastefully and maturely.

7. Gantz

In the cyberpunk world of Ghost in the Shell,Gantz is a place where skin-tight black outfits and severe consequences-laden decisions are commonplace. A strange black sphere known only as “Gantz” resurrected the characters after they had been dead for a long time.

As a result of this, they are now forced to play a gruesomely wicked video game and follow Gantz’s strict instructions. A shiny loot reward from Gantz can be theirs if they play well enough and avoid death in Gantz, or they can go back to Earth and live their mundane lives. Choosing between the two is a difficult decision.

6. Darker Than Black

Darker than Black
The graphical style of Darker than Black may trick you into thinking it’s a regular beginner anime, but don’t be fooled. When it comes to the show’s storytelling, showrunners aren’t exactly concerned with upfront exposition.

While a result, you’ll be stuck in the backseat, observing the action as Hei, a Tokyo-based contractor for the Syndicate, drives you around the city in search of his sister, who has gone missing. All of this takes happening in a world that is being torn apart by a global conflict that is only becoming clearer as the series progresses.

5. Akira

Akira, which aired in 1988, is another example of a pre-Ghost in the Shell cyberpunk animation. Even if you haven’t seen Ghost in the Shellyet, this two-hour-long movie is worth your time. The old-school pen-and-paper method is still effective, as Akira will demonstrate.

Even today’s anime can’t compete with this. Nevertheless, how it deals with corporate greed, dictatorship, and the general state of dystopian Tokyo is amazing, as is the plot and the world it inhabits as a whole. The mood is very similar to that of “Ghost in the Shellsets,” if not identical.

4. Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain

Astonishingly, Serial Experiments Lain studied social isolation and alienation from reality before social media was even widely used.

When Lain Iwakura becomes introduced to “The Wired,” a more powerful version of the internet, it has the ability to alter physical reality.

Of course, things aren’t quite that straightforward.

Among all the shows on this list, Serial Experiments Lain features one of the most intricate plots that is impossible to sum up in a single sentence or paragraph. So, if you want to do the show right, prepare your brain lobes for a wild ride.

3. Psycho-Pass

What the Hollywood film, Minority Reportcreated is a lot like whatPsycho-Passcreated. Sibyl System” is used to gauge a person’s mental health and personality traits, which is essential to the story. For example, Minority Report employs this method to locate and catch criminals.

As a result, Psycho-Pass is a buddy police anime/drama about two cops with a past who become caught up in a criminal conspiracy scheme to destroy the Sibyl System.

2 Terror In Resinance

Terror In Resinance

As a crime thriller, Terror in Resonance features cybercrime acrobatics and subway bomb conspiracies. You’ll also want to see it because it was created by the same team that developed Cowboy Bebop, so you can expect the same level of detail and animations.

They are the ones who carried out the bombing scheme, and what makes it even more alarming is that these are simply adolescents and teenagers (as in Death Note). When a female discovers their plan, it adds a new level of suspense to their bomb recipe.

1. Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy bears a striking resemblance to Ghost in the Shell, almost as if it were purposefully designed to resemble its older sibling.

In contrast, Ergo Proxy ramps up the philosophical concepts to 11 and can have you scratching your brain and gaping at the screen, assuming you can tolerate the glacial tempo.

Investigating the causes of an android disease in their domed post-apocalyptic city, Re-l Mayer and her android sidekick, Iggy, are at the center of the plot. They uncover a scheme involving the sins of humanity, as you might have predicted. Who would have thought that mankind would do this again?