Good cyberpunk anime?

[Lard]

Besides GITS SAC and Bubblegum Crisis, can someone recommend some good cyberpunk anime?

[Yggdrasil]

Metropolis, a movie from 2001 (loosely) based on the manga made by Osamu Tezuka in the '40s. Also there's Battle Angel Alita that gets a lot of praise but I haven't read manga(s) or watch the OVAs.

[Hathen]

Megazone 23 probably counts, though whether it's "good" or not may vary with you. Most people that I've talked to seem to like it. Of course, very few people I know have ever seen it.

[Lard]

I actually picked up Metropolis just a little while ago for dirt cheap.

I guess there's Lain too, which I forgot about.

[Dice]

Eugh.  Metropolis is kinda...hard to love.  It started too sweet for the sort of grotesque ending of Tima[?].

Akira works here I suppose.  Shame my list stops there and at GitS. 

...um, Patlabor?

[Yggdrasil]

Eugh.  Metropolis is kinda...hard to love.  It started too sweet for the sort of grotesque ending of Tima[?].

Ah yeah, that scene is not particularly pretty. But that's part of the joke (and charm) of cyberpunk.

...um, Patlabor?

Is more Mecha than cyberpunk, but it's not bad. I did like it the little I saw of it.

[Klyde Chroma]

Texnolyze (i don't know if I spelled that correctly though).... just mind the first few episodes... super slow to get moving, but freakin' awesome beyond that.... its another one that Yoshitoshi Abe (Lain, Niea Under 7, Habane Renmei) had a hand in.... I highly highly highly suggest this one if you dig the cyberpunk stuff.... in fact I stress it so much so that I'm not even going to suggest anything else, I say go and watch this immediately.

[Hathen]

Now that I think about it, cyberpunk doesn't seem like a very popular style in anime at all.

I guess Bubblegum Crisis counts.

[Yggdrasil]

In wikipedia appears this series called "Ergo Proxy", it seems like it was the last cyberpunk anime that has come out. Is from 2006.

There's also Un-Go. Saw it a couple of months ago, is not bad but is one those series that you watch and maybe you are gonna remember something about it after you finish it, besides, from the 11 episodes there are 3 that are actually good (in my opinion anyway) but every episode is entertaining in its own right.

Now that I think about it, cyberpunk doesn't seem like a very popular style in anime at all.

You can't put a high school with generic characters in a cyberpunk series because that would actually be interesting I guess.

Texnolyze

I'm reading part of the story in wikipedia and it sounds great. Kinda reminds of Deus Ex: Human Revolution with the "Doc finds a dismembered Ichise near-death in the streets of Lux, and takes him to her lab, where she gives him a new set of Texhnolyzed limbs without his consent." and Final Fantasy XIII-2 with the "Ran, a girl who can see the future and is worshiped in the city of Gabe, sells flowers in Lux. Ran is this generation's Seer, which grants her the ability to see "one possibility" of people's futures; each generation, a girl with such abilities is born in Gabe. Her followers unquestioningly accept the fate that she predicts, even if it costs them their lives."

I lost interest in seeing Fate/Zero so I might give a try Texhnolyze.

[Mickeymac92]

Armitage III? I liked it at least, though I know not everyone agrees. I liked the first two Megazone 23 movies, too.

[Klyde Chroma]

In wikipedia appears this series called "Ergo Proxy", it seems like it was the last cyberpunk anime that has come out. Is from 2006.

There's also Un-Go., Saw it a couple of months ago, is not bad but is one those series that you watch and maybe you are gonna remember something about it after you finish it, besides, from the 11 episodes there are 3 that are actually good (in my opinion anyway) but every episode is entertaining in its own right.

Now that I think about it, cyberpunk doesn't seem like a very popular style in anime at all.

You can't put a high school with generic characters in a cyberpunk series because that would actually be interesting I guess.

Texnolyze

I'm reading part of the story in wikipedia and it sounds great. Kinda reminds of Deus Ex: Human Revolution with the "Doc finds a dismembered Ichise near-death in the streets of Lux, and takes him to her lab, where she gives him a new set of Texhnolyzed limbs without his consent." and Final Fantasy XIII-2 with the "Ran, a girl who can see the future and is worshiped in the city of Gabe, sells flowers in Lux. Ran is this generation's Seer, which grants her the ability to see "one possibility" of people's futures; each generation, a girl with such abilities is born in Gabe. Her followers unquestioningly accept the fate that she predicts, even if it costs them their lives."

I lost interest in seeing Fate/Zero so I might give a try Texhnolyze.

Ergo Proxy wasn't bad at all... I actually liked it quite a bit...  very character driven with a far more straightforward plot than texhnolyze. Not too much action, but the action that is there  really counts. This  one is far more about character development and relationships than it is the eye candy and visual flare, though that is not to say it is pleasing to the eye which it is. One thing I didn't like about ergo proxy though, was that alot of plot points weren't really addressed til the last few episodes.... in other words pacing was a bit slow for my taste....

Now that I'm thinking about it though, I'd venture to guess more people would like Ergo over Texholyze.... Texhno REALLY makes you think.... Your brain could rest a bit easier and enjoy ergo.... but I like making my nogan work and the ending to texhno totally beat the conclusion to ergo IMO thus it wins my vote hands down.

Once again though, be warned..... Texhno is totally an acquired taste..... One well worth acquiring mind you, but initially I'm not gonna promise you enjoy the flavor.... Episode one, if I recall correctly, didn't have one drop of dialogue...

EDIT: as a cool little "cyber-punk" side note.... Radio Head's "Paranoid Android" is the closing theme for Ergo Proxy.... Cool or what??? Klyde says yes!!

[Aeolus]

Now that I think about it, cyberpunk doesn't seem like a very popular style in anime at all.

You can't put a high school with generic characters in a cyberpunk series because that would actually be interesting I guess.

No, you can. Just look at Guilty Crown. It's basically Shining Hearts in a cyberpunk setting.

But yeah, even if the cyberpunk genre didn't die out a decade ago, the bar on quality wouldn't have been challenged all that much. I mean, when I think of cyberpunk outside of standouts like GitS I tend to think of crap like Angel Cop and Virus Buster: Surge; violent, sexed up, grim dark, trashy, lowbrow escapades. And aside from the rampant sexual exploitation and general lowbrow-ness, Moe stands in complete contrast to cyberpunk, which is unfortunate due to its prevalence in today's anime market.

Also cyberpunk now means MMO setting rather than grimdark/Blade Runner-ish settings of the 80's (given that we're now basically in that future that cyberpunks pessimistically warned us about and that's what the seedy underbelly of humanity turned into, more or less).

[Lard]

...um, Patlabor?

One of my favourites of all time, actually. :D

[Yggdrasil]

Alright so I'm halfway through Texhnolyze, good series. And just like the like the last decent anime series I saw "Now and Then, Here and There" this one is really messing with my mind, mainly because the series plays around with your expectations and you honestly don't know how bad things can get in the next episode and its kinda creppy because nothing good has really happened in the 11 episodes I've seen... which is excellent for a cyberpunk series, though, sometimes the experience can be a little too much.

I suppose that just like Now and Then, Here and There that I saw one time Texhnolyze is gonna end and I'm never going back to see it again. Is leaving a big enough impression on me to not see it again anyway. Besides, if I learned one thing from Evangelion is not getting into this kinds of series that "make you think" too much because in the end these type of series are just experiences, and that's how they should stay; A one time thing only.

So what I'm trying to say here is that is kinda hard at first getting into it and even if you do there's the problem that Texhnolyze is not for everyone. That said, I am so watching that anime with the polar bear after this.

[Yggdrasil]

Finished Texhnolyze.

Depressing as shit but after seeing Ideon before finishing this series I could see it ending the same way as Ideon, and it did. Good series if anyone is in the mood for a different kind of anime and experience overall even though it can get a little too much in some parts.

Oh and reading comments of people after seeing the series until the end going either all philosophical or angry at the ending is kinda funny. :p