Categories:Elements:SciFi
Science fiction stories usually focus on how situations could be different in the future when we are more technologically advanced; due to either our own achievements or having met with other civilizations whom we have learned from.
Subcategories
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk focuses on computers or information technology, usually coupled with some degree of breakdown in social order. The plot often centres on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations, tending to be set within a near-future dystopian Earth.
Paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk
Examples of this genre include Ghost in the Shell and it's various sequels, Serial Experiments Lain and Appleseed.
Mecha
Mecha in japanese basically means mechanical things; everything from an electric whisk or a car to a spaceship or a robot. Here however we limit it to the more exotic things usually referred to as mecha anime: robots, whether controlled by a human or not, and their ilk. We further specify what kind of "mecha" you're likely to find in an anime with this category in the subcategories.
Androids
Androids are robots created to look like humans. A very famous example is Data from Star Trek, but they need not be as human-like as him.
A few androids in anime include Chii from Chobits, Mahoro from Mahoromatic and KOSMOS found in Xenosaga - The Animation.
Cyborgs
Cyborgs are men who have been taken over in part or in whole by cybernetic or electrical/mechanical devices, which either control them or which they retain control of. The term comes from "cybernetic organism" which literally means an organism which contain both mechanical and organic components.
A few anime with cyborgs are: A.D. Police and Saishuuheiki Kanojo.
Piloted Robots
Piloted Robots are, as the name suggests, robots that cannot control themselves; they need to be steered from somewhere, this can be from a human sitting inside or a remote controlled option.
Some animes that hail from this genre include Shinseiki Evangelion and Mugen no Ryvius.
Power Suits
Power Suits are similar to Piloted Robots which are controlled from inside the robot except that Power Suits tend to be more directly tied to how the character moves and they are usually not as big as Piloted Robots can be.
A few examples of animes with Power Suits are: Spriggan, Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum Crash! and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.
Robot Helpers
- not sure what this one is >_<
Transformation
Transformation includes mecha that change shape from their original either to facilitate better/different functionality or as camouflage.
Examples: VanDread and Sousei no Aquarion.
Ships
Ships may not implicitly mean SciFi, but I dare you to think of a better place to put this one (atleast it contains Spaceships).
Marine
Ships that sail the sea, anything from an old schooner to a modern-day aircraft carrier.
| Note: | No submarines in this category; they have their own. |
Space
Spaceships include contemporary rockets as well as the fleets of the future, the most common criteria being that they be able to carry people or what-have-you through the depths of space. Alot of people think this is what SciFi is all about (people who have mainly only watched Star Trek and/or Star Wars).
Submarine
Submarines are ships that sail under the surface of the water (without sinking). It can be anything from a (science) fictional ship like Captain Nemo's Nautilus from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea to one of today's nuclear variants or something completely unheard of: as long as it operates mainly beneath the surface of the sea.
Space Opera
Space Opera concentrates mainly on battles and action sequences in space as well as interstellar travel.
Popular titles from this genre include: Seikai no Senki and Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu.
Steampunk
Steampunk is usually set in a Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting, in the past, or a world resembling the past, in which modern technological paradigms occurred earlier in history, but were accomplished via the science already present in that time period.
Paraphrased from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
A few examples are: Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, Howl no Ugoku Shiro and Trinity Blood.
Timetravel
In timetravel anime characters are transported through time either figuratively or literally to find themselves either in the past or the future.
A few examples of this phenomena are: Zipang, Sennen Joyuu and Natsuiro no Sunadokei.