AI in Anime: Technological Utopias and the Frankenstein Complex

Abstract This article explores different approaches to AI in media such as Japanese animation, which is globally influential, though understudied in this context. Focusing on manga-based and original AI -related animation, I study five animations in more detail out of 30 that are analyzed to facilitate future research. Astroboy (1980) and Ghost in the Shell (1995) are influential works in the industry, and more modern works that emerged in the latest trend of AI in the sociocultural context, such as Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (2021), Gene of AI (2023), and Pluto (2023), are examined in greater detail. This is done to enable a comparison in the AI representation between the initial examples of anime and the most works. These imaginaries tend to balance the tendency towards works imbued with the Frankenstein complex against more positive AI s in later representations, using these characters to explore questions about humanity, emotions, and the AI ’s potential.