Though the world of Psycho Pass chooses to enforce the law through questionable methods with its technology, some of its more well intended officers still believe in a genuine sense of justice, and we see this through one of its leading characters, Akane. However, once she becomes aware of the true nature of how the Sibyl System, the equivalent to The Minority Report’s Pre-Cog program, she does express her personal opposition, and when you consider the state of a society, which do you value more, security or freedom? Through Akane, we get a reasonable representation as to how to tackle such questions as she represents law enforcement of her world.

Not only do law enforcement officers act on such methods due to how their information is provided as to how the system detects hostility, they also have the authority to execute the perp in question, and Akane goes out of her way to not bring herself to kill Makishima, the main villain, not once but twice so she can bring him to justice! Crime can be a serious problem, but if we do get to a future where it is rampant, will it have to take a system that pre-determines you are a criminal in order to deter it? Through Akane, we can get that internal perspective if the Sibyl System is truly a necessary evil.

Made in Abyss is more of a classic sci-fi in context to a Jules Verne novel, most notably Journey to the Center of the Earth. It has a striking balance of expressing its world of having past, present and future qualities. Though Riko, the main character, is small in size for being a 12-year-old, she makes it up with in heart and curiosity. She’s practically Professor Lindenbrock from Journey to the Center of the Earth if he were a moe anime girl. Not only is she intelligent, but very mature for her age. When it comes to difficult situations, she is more than capable of handling things on her own. For those seeking positive female role models in fiction, you do not need to look further than Riko, which is why she made this list.

If you could make a society asking to Brave New World into a mech anime, maybe Darling in the FraXX somewhat fits into that category as its dystopian future separates adults and children, reproduction is conducted artificially, and the human race is under threat from mysterious giant creatures they call klaxosaurs. In order to combat them, a select group of children called Parasites are raised to pilot mechs known as a Fraxx. One character is Hiro, otherwise designated as Code:016. In his youth, he had the talent to become the very best (like no one ever was), but after losing his ability to synch with his mech, he was grounded. All of that changes when he becomes a co-pilot (or darling) to Zero Two, a pilot who is considered to be cursed due to her former wingmen dying after a few missions, but manages to get his mojo back.

Hiro is a representation that nobody is perfect, even the very best of us can face failure when we least expect it. If any of us were in his shoes, we would all be disappointed in our failures as well and that’s what being human is all about. Through Hiro, we can learn that a certain failure, no matter how big it is, doesn’t have to forever define us. There will always be other opportunities and when they do come, they can come at the most unexpected of moments and it is on us to capitalize on them not for just everybody but for yourself.

Guilty Crown is another unique edition to sci-fi mixed with fantasy and its main character is Shu Ouma, a reclusive high school boy. After he gains the Power of the King when something called the void genome, a rogue government experiment, enters his arm, he can turn energy signatures into voids. After he gains his powers, he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy where the fate of everything is at stake. Due to Shu’s initial apathetic personality, he reasonably has a hard time dealing with his situation in a manner that is rather realistic. He has to deal with death and it messes him up even more. However, he knew that with great power, there also had to come with great responsibility and lets say unlike a single comic book issue, it takes a good chunk of the series for him to come to terms with that and his journey in that series allows him and viewers to process that wise saying from a more immersing perspective.

If Psycho Pass represents the cyberpunk subgenre of sci-fi anime, then Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei can be considered magic punk (Honey needs to trademark this). Representing this series is Shiba Tatsuya, or the Onii-sama of Miyuki. Tatsuya may seem like an average school boy, but he is academically an excellent student and he is pretty good at reading people, just not interacting with them. In his world where he has been socially engineered to be an elite magician, his emotional range is stunted and for good reason. Despite the treatments he had to go through, he still cares deeply for his sister.

Through Tatsuya, we can learn that if we do try to strip people of their humanity so we can make them living weapons, can we truly take everything from them that makes them human to begin with? Though Tatsuya is not capable of externally expressing it with words, but he shows that whatever conditioning he had to go through can be undone as he learns to interact with people his age. Some believe our actions are a product of our upbringing and environment, but does that upbringing always forever have to stay with us? Or is there always room to still grow? Through Tatsuya, those questions are addressed.

In addition to its transforming mechs, the Macross franchise is largely known for its use of music in order to stop conflict just like in the classic movie, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. As opposed to the killer air guitar riffs of the Wyld Stallyons trying to bring peace and harmony throughout the cosmos, in Macross Delta, we have the paramilitary idol group, Walkure, a modern German way of saying Valkyrie. Through Walkure’s singing, they can produce an energy that can surpass a virus. One of its newest members is Freyja, a teenage Windermerean. Despite her people and the New United Nations Space being at war, she still chooses to follow her dreams of becoming an idol.

When you learn more about Freyja and her people, you see why she is persistent in wanting to make her dreams come true and why music means so much to her. Through Freyja, she represents not just a neutral or opposite side of a conflict, but a middle ground to demonstrate that peace can be achieved without fighting, and tragically, this has been seen throughout human history. Maybe in the future, there will be some performer that will unite the galaxy in peace. It could be Walkure, the Wyld Stallyons, Minmay from the original series, or maybe Tupac’s next album.

A lot of action anime is full of boneheads who may not be all smarts, but they make it up with heart (and muscle), and that is where Kamina comes in. He is full of himself to be able to boast about his confidence, but he is equally full of dreams. In the future, and even now, there is oppression due to class warfare in many societies. Thanks to Kamina, it demonstrates we do not have to give in what the so-called rules are, and we have the right to not stay in our place if we are not content with it. If you have a dream, you go for it. If your peers think you cannot achieve them, then you go out and still do it even if it has to kill you. Through Kamina, you learn that following your beliefs and dreams, no matter how ridiculous they may seem, are worth fighting for. While his presence is short in length, it is big in impact.

Since the post-World War II Silver Age of Comics in the US, superheroes started to go a little more sci-fi since it was also the beginning of the Atomic Age. One Punch Man in its own ways carries this tradition with some of its characters, and that can notably be seen with the mechanically enhanced Genos. He’s practically DC Comics’ Cyborg on crack. He’s packed with firepower to the point that in real life, rouge nations like North Korea and Iran would likely try to kidnap him, or the scientist who made him, for their own personal gain, but good luck with that.

Despite these physical upgrades, you see that he is still very humble as portrayed through his relationship with Saitama. He looks up to him and eventually adopts him chill qualities. While many people fear the more that we are attached to our technology, the less human we become, but in the case of Genos, maybe we have to reconsider that, and that is why he is on this list. Even as a machine, he still has numerous human qualities we should emulate.

The alien parasite creature known as Migi, meaning “right” in Japanese, is named that way because he lives in Shinichi’s right hand. Unlike other parasites who take over the brains of people they possess, Migi is circumstantially stuck to Shinichi’s right hand, but it does not mean he is not useless since he can practically turn Shinichi’s hand into any object, and that includes the sharp kind. As Skye from Agents of SHIELD once said, “with great power, comes a great deal of crap you’re just not ready to deal with yet,” and both Migi and Shinichi face this in numerous ways throughout the duration of the series.

Shinichi genuinely wants to use his power for good, and Migi only cares about ensuring his survival and their goals put them at consistent conflict. In a sense, when you have a Parasyte like Migi inside of you, try to imagine a logic oriented being like Spock (but if a different spectrum to logic in context to survival) but thanks to his unique abilities, you can kick some ass. Thankfully, Migi learns to appreciate the values of friendship which is why he is a worthy addition to this list.

At number one, we have to give it to the OG of the realistic mech genre, Char Aznable, the Gundam franchise’s breakout character. Through Char, audiences can feel the complex world of space migration politics, and the awesomeness of being a mech ace pilot. In this prequel to the original series, audiences largely learn of Char’s origin and why he is still such an iconic character. His whole life, he had to fight the system, but at the same time, you see how his father’s ideas were perverted by the Zabi family, who used it to push for their agenda akin to the Nazi’s final solution. Char was introduced as an antagonist, but he is a man of principles and beliefs, and the fact that he is willing to fight for those beliefs without any compromises ultimately demonstrates why he is number one on this list. Last, he took out five battleships on his own with a mech.