That the modern sci-fi classic Matrix is largely influenced by Japanese Anime-titles is no longer a secret. But the influence is much more direct and clear than some might imagine.
Matrix star Keanu Reeves was even encouraged by Lily and Lana Wachowski to watch two specific titles to prepare for the action-packed Neo role.
Keanu Reeves had to watch these two sci-fi anime before The Matrix
Anime was nothing completely new for Reeves, but it was his work with the Wachowskis that really introduced him to the genre, in which science fiction and cyberpunk have been important since at least Astroboy from the 1950s. At a Comic-Con panel two years ago, the actor recalled this (via THR):
I watched anime on channel 79 and didn’t even know what it was. And then when I worked with the Wachowskis on The Matrix, they said, ‘You have to see this.’ […] I’m not really up to date with current anime. A few of my friends have kids who could talk a lot about anime and I’m like, “That sounds great.” The director duo’s two anime recommendations were Otomos Akira from 1988 and Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell from 1995 – two groundbreaking titles that are still absolute highlights of the anime and cyberpunk scene today.
With Akira Otomo adapted his own manga, which is about motorcycle gangs in the dystopian Neo Tokyo. When the duck-like Tetsuo from Kaneda’s gang comes into contact with a mysterious child, monstrous powers awaken within him that soon endanger the entire mega-metropolis. But the question constantly hovers over the impressively animated orgy of destruction: Who or what is Akira?
Ghost in the Shell already exists in numerous incarnations, such as the original manga by Masamune Shirow and the live-action film starring Scarlett Johansson. However, nothing beats Oshii’s anime film, in which cyborg investigator Major Kusanagi goes after a hacker named Puppet Master on behalf of her cyber crime agency Section 9. In the course of the investigation, existentialist questions arise about one’s own self in a world full of artificial bodies.
The matrix/anime connection came full circle in 2003 with the diverse anthology Animatrix, for which several Japanese animation artists contributed segments.
Can you stream Akira and Ghost in the Shell anywhere?
The anime classic Akira is available to rent and purchase from Amazon, Sky, Apple TV and Google Play, and the home cinema version is available from Universum. Ghost in the Shell can also be found on MagentaTV, but not in a flat rate, the physical discs come from Nipponart.
A thematically similar article appeared on our sister site 3DJuegos.