Long before CGI made it possible to depict anything in a movie with the magic of special effects, anime was the one medium that consistently generated visually breathtaking science fiction stories. From Akira to Ghost in the Shell, science fiction anime have been some of the most beloved, groundbreaking works of cinema in the entirety of modern sci-fi.
From cyberpunk thrillers to dystopian futures, the 2010s have continued this tradition of amazing sci-fi anime. Some new original series debuted, while other hits were sequels within existing franchises. These are the ten best science fiction anime of the past decade, according to IMDb.
10 Accel World 7.2
The first three entries on this list are all tied with a rating of 7.2 out of 10 (though for transparency's sake, it should be noted that the anime Btooom! also received this rating but had to be cut to keep this a top ten list). The first official entry, Accel World, is a cyberpunk series that follows high school boy, Haru, who excels at VR gaming.
When Haru meets a girl named Kuroyukihime, she introduces him to a new technology, the Brain Burst, that revolutionizes both his gaming experiences and his life in the real world. This exciting fast-paced anime blurs the pixelated lines between cyberspace and real-space while delivering bright eye-popping art that never ceases to wow its fans.
9 Ghost in the Shell: Arise 7.2
Ghost in the Shell has gotten a lot of talk this past decade. Beyond the thrill of the original manga celebrating its 25-year anniversary with new Bluray and manga releases in 2014, there was also the controversy surrounding the release of the 2017 live-action film in which Scarlett Johansson played the lead role of the Major.
Ghost in the Shell: Arise was the name of a new series released in 2014 as part of the 25-year anniversary celebrations, reinterpreting the events of the original Ghost in the Shell for a new generation. Directed by Kazuchika Kise, the series took an interesting new approach, showing Major Kusanagi in the years before the creation of Public Security Section 9.
8 Aldnoah.Zero 7.2
Alternate history is one of the most under-appreciated forms of science fiction, as it is so hard to do right, but Aldnoah.Zero pulls it off marvelously with an inventive genius that avoids most of the pitfalls and tropes of the genre. The series imagines a world where, during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the astronauts who went to the moon found an artifact known as the Hypergate, allowing them to travel to Mars.
Some of humanity settled Mars and was entirely cut off from Earth. Now, the Martian humans are launching an invasion to retake the Earth. With space colonization, mech battles, and a fascinating reinterpretation of history, Aldnoah.Zero is a smart original series well worth watching.
7 Plastic Memories 7.3
Plastic Memories is a series set in the near future and follows protagonist Tsukasa Mizugaki as he begins working Terminal Service One, a company that specializes in decommissioning Giftia androids who are past their date. In this world where humans and androids live and work alongside one another, the Giftia are the most human-like of all androids, but they can only operate for 81,930 hours (a little less than 9 and a half years).
This series comes across as a cross between a workplace drama and a romance, its exploration of artificial intelligence emphasizing character interactions and the nature of personal identity.
6 A Certain Scientific Railgun 7.5
Anime often is marketed toward younger viewers. As youth cultures evolve over time, anime has evolved too. Set in Academy City, an advanced sci-fi megapolis comprised almost entirely of students, A Certain Scientific Railgun seems custom-tailored to meet the expectations and interests of modern Japanese middle and high school students.
The protagonist, a girl with ESP named Mikoto Mikasa, has electro-magical abilities, who goes by the codename "the Railgun." This series feels at once both grounded and sensational, blending different genre trends in a unique story that is driven by its ensemble cast.
5 Sword Art Online 7.7
Isekai anime take characters to a new fantasy world, often trapping them there and forcing them to adapt to the monsters and magic of their new surroundings. Few isekai anime have been as spectacular as Sword Art Online, a series where all of the players to try out a new VR MMO find themselves stuck in the world, unable to remove their headsets without dying.
Either players beat the game, or they remain stuck in it. The sharp colorful art manages to illustrate spectacular battles with the same loving detail as it captures character avatars and in-screen menus, while the exploration of how MMOs impact people psychologically has made this series an instant classic.
4 Psycho-Pass 8.2
With an IMDb rating of 8.2/10, Psycho-Pass is the first entry on this list to have more than an 80% favorability rating. This cyberpunk anime is set in a futuristic Tokyo where everything is controlled by one massive computer, the Sibyl System. Peoples' brains and biometric data are scanned and analyzed with their resulting psych profiles being known as their "Psycho-Pass."
Criminals are hunted down by Enforcers, who themselves are people who would otherwise be criminals if not recruited involuntarily into service by the Sibyl System. This is one of the smartest anime to appear in recent years that explores deep political, philosophical and scientific concepts.
3 Parasyte -The Maxim- 8.4
Unlike the Korean drama with a similar name that just won a number of Academy Awards, the Japanese series Parasyte is a story about Shinichi Izumi, a boy in high school whose right hand becomes possessed by a shapeshifting alien. Known as Migi (which just means "right") the alien offers insights into the events of the story and guides Shinichi as he tries to adapt to the changing world around him.
There have been two recent live actions Parasyte films, released in 2014 and 2015, but this story about an alien invasion and graphic body horror was best brought to life in the 2014 anime Parasyte -the maxim-, which IMDb gives a ranking of 8.4.
2 Attack on Titan 8.8
Attack on Titan does not feel like a science-fiction in the usual sense. It is more of a horror series, science-fantasy set in a dystopian future, but as all imagined futures fit under the umbrella of science fiction, Attack on Titan needs to be considered part of the genre.
The series follows an ensemble cast living in the last human city on Earth as each of the characters battles against the giant man-eating Titans that are attacking their city and have wiped out most of humanity. It is one of the darkest most intense anime on TV with amazing complex characters and dynamic gravity-defying fight sequences.
1 Steins;Gate 8.8
Released in 2011, the Steins;Gate anime begins slowly, but builds over time into a truly unforgettable story about time travel and its consequences. Based on a visual novel that shares its name, this is a prime example of how to adapt a video game being into an anime.
While the actual science is a bit absurd (and involves using a microwave to create time travel), this story uses its non-linear time travel storytelling to creates some truly incredible plot twists. Beyond this, the protagonist Runtaro Okabe is so insanely over-the-top that he openly proclaims himself to be a mad scientist.