Cyberpunk Anime: Expressions of Japanese Anxiety in a Modern World

Abstract

As Japan rapidly modernized in the decades after the Pacific War, the Japanese people saw decaades of unique, accelerated circumstances ranging from nuclear anxiety to student riots and anti-government extremists and through sociopolitical and economic booms culminating in a genre of unique pop culture works, in particular anime, from the 1980s to the 1990s: cyberpunk. Like its Western counterpart, Japanese cyberpunk focuses on criticisms of the government thorugh thick layers of low-life, high-tech combinations. As such, the unique circumstances of Japanese cyberpunk's conception and its lasting influence on the anime medium make it an interesting point for examination; one that exposes much about Japan's growing anxieties in a newly global world evolving at never-before-seen rates.