Japan is an ancient country with a vast and storied history. Renowned for its culture, language, and food, the small archipelago has packed a narrative punch for centuries. Creators looking for a colorful setting to use as a backdrop have found Japan more than sufficient.
On top of that, one of the best ways to reflect on the values, strengths, and weaknesses of one's own culture from an outsider's perspective is to recast it as something more foreign. Anime has often given Japan a more speculative treatment, and dozens of stories have taken place in alternate versions of Japan.
9 Colonizers Have Prevailed Anew (Code Geass)
One of the most dystopian alternate Japans features prominently in the 2006 mecha series Code Geass. In the Code Geass universe, British colonizers have proven deadly in their persistence. Japan has fallen under the jurisdiction of the Holy Britannian Empire, a tyrannical force that rose from the debris of the British Empire.
Though the Holy Britannian Empire rules over one-third of the world, the conquering of Japan is more recent and the situation there is much more volatile. Lelouch Vi Britannia, the errant prince of the empire, is among those seeking to revolutionize Japan and overthrow its newfound corrupt rulers.
8 This Dystopic Vision of 2019 Has 2020 Doom Written All Over It (Akira)
Japan is a country that has been undeniably altered by nuclear warfare. In the wake of World War II, the nation was forever changed, and much of Japanese pop culture has taken inspiration from the harrowing impact of the atom bombs that decimated Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Akira is set in the future, or at least it was when the film was made. The 2019 depicted in Akira is, arguably, a world much bleaker than our 2021 reality, pandemic notwithstanding.
Akira takes place in the aftermath of a devastating explosion caused by an abused ESPer child. Tokyo has been rebuilt and renamed, but Neo-Tokyo is far from a utopia. Humankind hasn't learned from its mistakes, and Neo-Tokyo is gritty, violent, and ultimately doomed to repeat its mistakes.
7 Tokyo-3 Represents An Aftermath (Evangelion)
As in Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion casts Tokyo as the epicenter of its story. Once again, the Tokyo presented is one that's rebuilt from the ashes of another... and another. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tokyo has actually been destroyed not once but twice - once in the prehistoric era and again in modern Japan, when war destroyed half of the human population.
As of the beginning of the original anime, the third impact is expected to occur any day, sure to forever alter what remains of Japan once again.
6 Presenting A Different Present (The Place Promised In Our Early Days)
Alternate histories differ from more generic alternate reality stories because they rely on extrapolation and fact rather than solely on imagination. In the case of The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Director Makoto Shinkai imagined a version of Japan that exists under Russian rule.
In an alternate Hokkaido, agents of the Soviet Union have hired a scientist to construct a mysterious towering structure. The tower alters Japan even further, transforming the matter that surrounds it, changing the very nature of space and time.
5 Where In Japan Is Musutafu? (My Hero Academia)
A lot of shonen series are set in Japan, and often Tokyo takes center stage. But My Hero Academia is a bit of an odd duck. The show is set in Japan, but it's a Japan unfamiliar to those of us in the real world. This Japan is populated by heroes, villains, and all sorts of inventive Quirks.
The show is mostly set in a fictional city called Musutafu, but where Musutafu actually is isn't made clear. The bland city has no defining characteristics and doesn't parallel any real Japanese place in a quantifiable way. Basically, Musutafu and this alternate Japan have only one job: they just have to serve as a basic backdrop for these characters to live, learn, and fight.
4 Ikebukuro Is Magically Reimagined (DRRR!!!)
No other anime is as much of a love letter to a specific neighborhood as Durarara!!. Set almost entirely in the Ikebukuro, Durarara!! reimagines the mundane Tokyo district as a place of mystery, crime, and wonder.
The Ikebukuro in reality is home to apartments, hotels, anime merch shops, and West Gate Park. But the Ikebukuro of DRRR!! is home to a headless horsewoman, an abundance of mad scientists, a manipulative crime boss or two, several clandestine gangs, and a girl possessed by a samurai sword. And all of this is just in the first season.
3 Okabe Keeps Creating More Unvierses (Steins;Gate)
Some alternate universes thrive on being very close to the original. This is the case for Steins;Gate, a show that makes time travel feel not just plausible, but prescient and threatening. Set in a grayscale Akihabara that is undeniably familiar, aspects of the Steins;Gate universe are just wrong enough to feel disconcerting.
There are numerous "world lines" within the series, realities that change constantly based on the choices of Rin Okabe and other characters. A show about time travel is bound to traverse and create several universes, and every decision has the potential to change this Japan irrevocably, rendering it unrecognizable.
2 2026 Is More Than Virtual (Dennou Coil)
Dennou Coil is a sci-fi gem worthy of more attention, not least of all because of the nuanced and thoughtful way it depicts advanced technology. The series takes augmented reality to new heights, introducing a version of Japan in which advanced AR tech has melded seamlessly into the daily lives of its citizens.
However, where there's artificial intelligence there's also bound to be trouble, and the children at the heart of this story soon learn that there's darkness lurking behind the technological world they take for granted.
1 Combining Mecha, Espionage, and Japanese High School (Full Metal Panic!)
Plenty of mecha series are set in outer space or in alternate realities, but several are set in Japan. The Japan of Full Metal Panic! is largely familiar, as the story largely takes place at a normal Japanese high school.
But according to the show's timeline, the Cold War didn't end in the 90s. Instead, mecha known as Arm Slaves were invented in the 80s and used to engage in battle, altering technology and global politics for good.