15 Best Anime About AI or Robots For Gen Z To Watch In 2024

Sci-fi anime always has that unique flair that is difficult for other genres to capture. With its gripping narrative, complex technological aspects, immersive “what if” scenarios, and storylines that make you think deeply, it’s truly a golden gem amongst the wide variety of catalogs out there.

Since the likes of AI have been getting more attention nowadays, it wouldn’t be surprising to assume that anime dealing with these topics has cropped up in recent years. But anime never ceases to baffle. From Astro Boy in 1963 to Ghost in The Shell in 1995, you will be surprised to find out how many decades-old series accurately predicted reality as we know it today.

What’s even more fascinating about anime in this genre is that while most of the media out there will depict the horrors shown in WALL-E, there are anime series that won’t hesitate to tell you that not all AI is out to get you. Sometimes, the peaceful life of humans is enchanting enough for AI.

Today, we will be looking at 15 Best Anime About AI or Robots For Gen Z. We will be including the series that presents advanced technological achievements or robots at the central core of their story.

15 Best Anime About AI or Robots For Gen Z

1. Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

2021’s Vivy wasn’t WIT’s first venture into this genre, but it was definitely an impactful one. When highly evolved AIs are set to eradicate mankind, a scientist bets everything on the past.

A time-traveling bear goes back 100 years into the past, when AIs were already an integral part of society, although equipped with just one program to carry out for eternity. Vivy, a songstress AI who is tasked with spreading happiness, gets her whole reality flipped upside down when Matsumoto tells her of the doomed future and enlists her help.

Vivy is the perfect example of showing both sides. While humanity gets wiped out by them, ironically, the ones who save them are also AI. Although Vivy had its share of flaws with story depth, the anime offers too much to skip.

2. Chobits

2000s is sometimes referred to as the golden age of anime due to the sheer number of bangers it gave us. Back in the day, we had CLAMP, which is responsible for at least four of these cultural phenomena. Chobits, though a little weird, was part of them. The weirdness comes with being a CLAMP series, but trust me, it’s the best part.

A world where AI humanoids known as “persocoms” have been integrated into the society, so much so that the line between humans and machines is blurred. When Hideki, after failing his university exams, comes across Chii, a robotic young girl who has been discarded, he decides to take her in.

Hideki begins teaching her everything and Chii, in all her machine awkwardness, takes in everything. The tone throughout the series is mostly slow, SOL, but the ending leaves room for thought.

3. Hal

If you have 60 minutes and want to watch something with depth that will also lead you to have an existential crisis at the end, Hal is perfect. Kurumi and Hal are lovers who have a lot to look forward to in the future.

Until a plane crash takes Hal away from Kurumi. To bring her out of depression, Kurumi’s grandfather sends a humanoid robot named Q01 to take Hal’s place. Resistant in the beginning, Kurumi begins opening up to the robot little by little. But there is definitely more to him than meets the eye.

Although the relationship aspects take the front row on this one, the ending breaks reality and rewrites the whole story. How? Well, you have to watch it to know!

4. Time of Eve

Originally a 6 part OVA, later turned into a movie, Time of Eve is also set in a future where androids are commonplace as servants. But in this world, they are strictly bound by the Three Laws of Robotics. In fact, as per an egregious Ethics Committee, Robots are treated as lesser, and anyone who has a certain adoration for them is shunned by society.

Rikuo finds abnormal activity patterns in his android Sammy. Following her leads him to a strange cafe with the title name with one rule. Everyone within its walls, humans or androids, will be treated the same.

Rikuo’s worldview begins to get challenged when he sees androids acting more like humans inside the cafe, something that should really be possible. The short run time of this anime is enough to bring out the nuance of the relationships between humans and androids.

5. Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy may not be for everyone. Not everyone can get into complex storylines with intricate details and multi-layered characters, but that’s fine. In a futuristic world where nearly everything is controlled by AI called AutoReivs, humans are no longer born but ‘produced.’

Re-l Mayer is assigned to look into some strange happenings that are leaving these androids with more self-awareness than normal. Her life is thrown into disarray as she uncovers the ‘truth’ with an AutoReivs specialist named Vincent Law and her own android named Iggy.

Ergo Proxy will guarantee a good time for anyone looking beneath the surface. As the enigma begins to be revealed, you will be led on a journey to answer some of humanity’s greatest questions.

6. Psycho-Pass

Psycho-Pass is such a highly acclaimed series I doubt anyone reading hasn’t at least heard of it. Set in a future where an AI system named “Sibyl” presides over EVERY facet of life. From telling you what clothes to wear to predicting who is likely to commit a crime in the future, Sibyl is a major part of the law.

Akane is beginning her career as a specialized police officer tasked with eliminating these latent criminals before they happen. But not everyone who gets caught is jailed or executed; some are given the position of ‘enforcers’ to help them look into a criminal’s psyche. Although, they are treated no better than hunting dogs.

Akane is dubious not only about the treatment of these enforcers but also about Sibyl’s ability to detect criminals. The anime deals a lot with the ethics and morality of who we consider a criminal.

7. Planetarian

It’s almost amusing how quickly this anime can break you. In a good way, though, because the storytelling is absolutely amazing. Based on a visual novel of the same name, Planetarian is set in a bleak future thirty years after the failure of the Space Colonization Program. Humanity is almost extinct.

And in such a dismal world, there exists a pre-war planetarian in the middle of the city where a companion robot named Hoshino Yumemi has been waiting for 30 years to show someone the stars.

A junker, a man who scavenges for goods and artifacts from ruins, stumbles upon this planetarium, and Yumemi immediately thinks that he is a customer. But the projector is broken so the man helps to fix it. What else lies in their future?

8. Doraemon 

Doraemon sticks out colorfully amongst all the gray colors of post-apocalyptic anime. Of course, it has to be added to the list since it’s basically a cultural phenomenon in not just Japan.

The popularity it holds is almost unmatched. Make no mistake, however. There is more than one Doraemon movie that will absolutely make you bawl your eyes out.

Nobita is a lazy, good-for-noting. Due to his lack of motivation, his future generations are basically doomed to a life of poverty.

To prevent that, his great-great-great-great grandson sends him a blue cat-robot named Doraemon from the future. With a 4th dimensional pocket full of gadgets, Doraemon is equipped to help Nobita in any situation.

9. Den-noh Coil

MADHOUSE series are known to be the best among the best, and this series is no exception. Dennou Coil puts a different twist on the whole AI thing. In a futuristic world, the lines between real and virtual are blurred. People use special cyber glasses to access this virtual realm.

But in Daikoku City, things have been going weird. Cyberpets are missing, dark creatures known as the “illegals” from places that shouldn’t even exist, and a virus has been attacking not only the AI but also the…real world.

What is the reality behind all these weird phenomena, and is the real and virtual world really as separate as people thought to be? This series takes a more laid-back approach to these existential crisis-inducing questions.

10. ID: Invaded

When it was released in 2020, ID stood out as something unique and, for everyone who stuck with it till the end, gave a satisfying conclusion layered in an incredible twist. The AI in this series is the Mizuhanome System.

Not a whole lot of civilians know about it, but this unique system can allow the police to gather something called ‘cognitive particles’ from the crime scene and enter into the psyche (ID) of the perpetrator.

The prerequisite is that the person diving into the ID must have killed someone in the past. Enter Akihito Narihisago, a former detective now helping the police helping cold-blooded killers. But all these weird happenings inside the ID he keeps seeing somehow bring him back to his daughter’s case.

11. Summer Wars

Hosoda-sensei has created more than a few masterpieces. It’s anyone’s guess how he keeps coming up with these complex sci-fi plotlines, which are also somehow grounded in reality.

The Internet has evolved into a system called OZ in a futuristic world. This virtual space is incredibly popular with people, who can turn themselves into avatars inside this space, ensuring total anonymity.

Kenji Koiso is a mathematical genius and an OZ moderator who has been called by her crust Natsuki to spend summer at her place. Kenji should be excited by all means, but when an unknown sender challenges him by sending him a code, he can’t help but crack it.

If only he knew that this would open a whole can of worms leading to some twists and secrets related to this seemingly perfect AI world.

12. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Cyberpunk proved that Trigger can never lose its sci-fi touch. In a doomed futuristic Californian metropolis, extreme body modifications and related tech are all everyone is obsessed with.

David Martinez only wants to fulfill his mom’s wish, but an incident with a secret gang leaves him in tatters. Fueled by his rage, he implants a cyberwar in his back to help him with his revenge.

Fate leads him to a life of Edgerunners. David is ready to risk it all to overcome the corrupt system that society forces on their people.

13. Ghost in the Shell

When it was released in 1995, no one had any doubt that Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in Shell would describe a whole era of cyberpunk anime. The waves made by this movie are still felt after all these years. Set in the future, the advancements in cybernetics have allowed citizens to replace their limbs with robotic parts. Humans have cast away their physical form to turn into cyborgs.

Inspector Makoto Kusanagi is on the hunt for a vicious hacker known only as the Puppet Master, who has left a trail of victims stripped of their memories. Soon, Makoto will have to come face-to-face with the question of her own existence.

14. Serial Experiments Lain

To say Serial Experiments Lain was ahead of its time is the biggest understatement of the century. It’s almost scary how spot-on this series was in its message back in the 90s. Lain Iwakura is one of the people who got a weird email from her classmate Chisa before she was found dead.

Although a technophobe at first, as soon as she delves deeper into the WIRED (internet basically), she finds herself more fascinated with it. Cryptic messages, men in black who somehow know about her, weird AI… Consciousness and identity take on a new form.

15. Steins;Gate/Steins;Gate 0

To me, Steins;Gate is a gem that shines so bright that when you finish it, you can’t help but feel a little empty inside. Yes, you may have watched the first three episodes in the past and forgot it, thinking it isn’t your cup of tea. But trust you, once you get onto episode four, there is NO going back.

Okabe and his friends spend their time in the Future Gadget Research Laboratory, making weird and useless gadgets together. But what happens when they accidentally create something capable of sending messages to the past? Okabe is about to find out the hard way.

And that brings us to the end! We hope that you enjoyed reading and be on the lookout for similar articles in the future!

Do small things with great love.

Follow us on Twitter for more post updates.

Also Read:

• Itasha Car: What is Anime Car? All Information with Design Ideas

• 15 Best Anime About Acting That Enhance Your Talent

Pihu