In this classic tale of the squared circle, Tiger Mask faces the heels (a wrestling term for the bad guy) of the Tiger’s Den, the organization that trained him to become a wrestler, but when he takes off the mask, he’s just Naoto Date, who uses his money from wrestling to provide for the orphanage that raised him. A little after this anime ended its syndication, an actual Tiger Mask would debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Throughout these past 4 decades, 5 wrestlers would don the mask. Then at the start of this decade, some orphanages in Japan were actually received anonymous donations from a man named Naoto Date.

While Tiger Mask did inspire a real wrestler, one instance of how it foretold the future is how Naoto’s story parallels that of WWE wrestler, John Cena. Like Tiger Mask, John Cena made his break out in wrestling as a bad guy. Eventually, he became a face, or a good guy. While many fans enjoy him as a bad guy, the reason why he is popular as a good guy is because he happens to be the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s number one contributor. While people may mock wrestling as a bizarre spectacle, no one can deny the charitable works its champions have contributed. It doesn’t matter if it’s in an anime with Tiger Mask, or real life as it is with John Cena.

In the feature film to the hit Cowboy Bebop series, they are after Vincent, their biggest score ever! What makes Vincent an unusual villain is how he parallels to modern day terrorism, mostly in context to ISIS. Beyond the bombings, Vincent uses modern technology to get people to join or at least support his cause, just like how ISIS does. Like many modern terrorists, he doesn’t mind sacrificing himself when the time calls but at the same time, he does find his help to be expandable. While many people can see what the possible motivations are behind these terror attacks, we can unanimously agree that killing innocents no matter what the cause, is totally wrong.

Dragon Ball Z is known for its jaw dropping fighting and explosive power ups! So in what ways did this groundbreaking hit predict the future? For starters, you need to remember the scouters! While you can get toy scouters at any toy retailer in Japan, but we’re talking about Google Glass! While the Glass isn’t as extravagant as the scouters in DBZ in terms of design, they still have their own unique benefits. In DBZ, not only could they measure power levels, they were used for navigation, and the actual Google Glass has navigational features. There were some studies showing its benefits for individuals of the autism spectrum. However, due to other numerous features such as recording video and taking pictures, they have been a high concern in regards to privacy. While the Glass is more than just a scouter, we can’t help but think the scouter may have played a part in its conception and design.

Personal computers in the world of Chobits have taken the forms of androids. There are some that are regular human size, and there are those that are the size of beanie babies. In essence, they are interactive and can respond to you verbally like a real human. Put aside the recent craze of sex androids and look at the big picture. In Japan, there are some shopping centers in Odaiba in Tokyo that use androids (in the form of cute anime girls) as guides at booths to help you find a restaurant or store. In a hotel in Fukushima, they use androids that take the form of dinosaurs to take care of your room reservations. While they remain stationary to where they work, at some point, they’re going to learn how to walk on their own feet like in Chobits. It may not be this year, but most certainly in no time whether they be released by Apple or Compaq.

Though the mecha genre existed prior to Gundam, Gundam expanded it in a manner of using it for warfare. Thanks to Gundam, it paved way for other warfare related mecha anime such as Votoms and Macross. While the idea of using giant robots may seem absurd and is not used in any nation’s armed forces, private tech companies in both the US and Japan have invested in using giant robots for a unique event back in 2017. Representing the US was the Iron Glory as it took on the Kuratas from Japan. While the Iron Glory lost the first round, America made a come back with another mech, the Eagle Prime. Thanks to Gundam, not only did it pave way for the mech genre, it paved way for engineers to make their own mechs for combat. Maybe with Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force, it could happen.

In this side story to the Macross saga, it foretells two unique future events. In this anime, the biggest hit in the Galaxy isn’t Lynn Minmay, but Sharon Apple. And who is Sharon Apple? She’s an AI hologram singer! Sound familiar? Well, this technology first came into popularity in reality when it was used to bring back hip hop icon, Tupac Shakur. And now, one of Japan’s biggest gaming idols is Hatsune Miku, who does live concerts as a hologram! Will hologram singers be the norm in the future? We can’t say for certain, but seeing a hologram David Bowie would be nice. And what else did this anime predict? A space force proclaimed by President Donald Trump!

As most of you already know, the 2020 Olympics is set to take place in Tokyo. So do you want to hear something really crazy? This movie, which takes place in 2019, actually has the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a plot point! And if you refer to the air date, this movie made its premiere in 1988! Though the real life Tokyo portrayed in this movie is not as the dystopian Neo Tokyo, beyond the 2020 Olympics, numerous other themes of Akira still parallel with what is going on with modern Japanese society.

One major plot point to point out is the country’s history of militarism due to World War II. While the military in Akira is reformed to a full-scale beyond beyond a defense force, there are those within the Japanese government, especially the present administration of Shinzo Abe, who want to reform the military as portrayed in Akira. Another issue that is still relevant is education, especially in context to underprivileged youth who have no parents, which has been recently highlighted in the Japanese media. While Japan is reputably one of the safest countries in the world, there are some communities that still have problems how to deal with juvenile delinquency that goes on to this very day.

Many can’t deny that Ghost in the Shell, even when its original manga debuted at the end of the 1980s, was certainly ahead of its time and for excellent reasons. It largely deals with identity in a world that is reliant on technology, most emphatically the Internet. By the end of the film, the Major is still herself, but also not herself now that her consciousness has changes to something different. While the movie excellently demonstrates some of the potential dangers with new technologies, the ending shows that they are also a new beginning. It offers an optimistic outlook that if people use what they have and not abuse them, then everything will be alright. The Major tells Batou that she will always be with him and if the Internet exists for one thing, it is most certainly there to connect people around the world, and the ending excellently conveys that.

Beyond that, it shows that not only regular citizens are capable of abusing the Internet, so are world governments. A few years ago, there was the Edward Snowden incident who told the American public that the government was spying on them. And with drones also now becoming part of modern warfare, the themes of Ghost in the Shell are relevant now more than ever. While the Internet is part of our lives on every scale, just one wrong step, things can go wrong.