Many science fiction movies feature in some of the best cyberpunk tv shows. It’s often defined as a futuristic civilization focused on technology, analyzing how sophisticated technology may dig into the depths of mankind and bring out the worst in people.
Cyberpunk is frequently based on corporate corruption, global culture, artificial intelligence, and vast class divide and often results in revolt groups or detectives solving riddles.
With neon lights, bright billboards, and skyscrapers filling the screen as shadows creep in from the sides, cyberpunk has a “cool” visual aesthetic, merging the future with the look of 1950s movie noirs.
Despite being located in the current day, Batman’s Gotham seems to be influenced by the style of these futuristic countries.
1. Incorporated (2016 – 2017)
- Director: David Pastor and Àlex Pastor
- Star cast: Ben Larson, Laura Larson, Theo, and Elizabeth Krauss
- IMDb ratings: 7.2
This is one of the best cyberpunk tv shows. The plot of Incorporated is straightforward, and it is based on the standard assumption of cyberpunk worlds, in which businesses and firms govern the globe and are more powerful than whole countries.
Given the state of the global economy today, that isn’t far-fetched, but the difference in Incorporated is how one person is determined to bring it all down.
The protagonist, Aaron, has the objective of locating his childhood love, Elena. Also, to do so, he must pose as a manager in the biggest firm on his planet and work his way up the corporate ladder. He’s breaking the enterprise apart brick by brick in the process.
2. Love, Death, and Robots (2019)
- Director: Tim Miller
- Star cast: Scott Whyte,Steven Pacey,Fred Tatasciore and Michelle C. Bonilla
- IMDB ratings: 8.4
Love, Death, and Robots are a collection of animated shorts that allow producers to be as creative as possible.
Each short is animated in various ways, and each one is distinct in its way. Beyond the Aquila Rift, The Witness, and The Sucker of Souls are among people’s favorites.
There are 18 episodes in all, and most of them aren’t particularly long, so you’ll be able to go through them quickly.
Just a word of warning: while these shorts are animated, they are not suitable for teenagers. Many of these flicks explore the boundaries of animation and what a cyberpunk future may look like.
3. TekWar (1994 – 1996)
- Director: William Shatner
- Star cast: Greg Evigan, Natalie Radford, Maurice Dean Wint, and Lexa Doig
- IMDB ratings: 6.3
TekWar is a 1994 movie similar to other cyberpunk series and films in that it is a cop drama with a cyberpunk twist. In addition, the series is a straight adaptation of Ron Goulart’s novels.
As a result, it includes Tek, a future experimental medication. It’s a potent hallucinogenic drug that works similarly to an inhalable VR headset.
The program focuses on the drug and incorporates cyberpunk gimmicks relating to virtual reality and the usual distribution syndicates.
4. Snowpiercer (2020)
- Director: Graeme Manson and Josh Friedman
- Starcast: Daveed Diggs, Alison Wright, Sheila Vand, and Annalise Basso
Snowpiercer is also one of the best cyberpunk tv shows. It also draws into the more dystopian element of the genre by delving deeper into the concepts covered in the movie.
The movie is set in the future when the earth has been frozen over due to a catastrophic environmental calamity, and the only survivors dwell aboard Snowpiercer.
This is a train that perpetually rounds the Earth in an endless loop. Also, the train is divided into several sections, each of which reflects people’s civilization.
On top of this, a string of brutal murders threatens to destabilize Snowpiercer’s fragile balance.
5. Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002 – 2005)
- Director: Kenji Kamiyama
- Star cast: ShirôSaitô, William Frederick Knight, Crispin Freeman and Kari Wahlgren
- IMDB ratings: 8.5
To be well-versed in the genre, one of the most popular cyberpunk tv shows, one must have seen Ghost in the Shell.
It features an anime series in addition to a hugely significant movie that served as inspiration for The Matrix.
Major Motoko Kusanagi’s career as a respected police special unit as she confronts the downsides of futuristic cyborg criminals. Kusanagi’s hands are kept fuller than normal by an intriguing hacker known only as “The Laughing Man.”
6. 12 Monkeys (2015 – 2018)
- Director: Travis Fickett and Terry Matalas
- Star casts: Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Noah Bean AndBabara Sukowa
- IMDb ratings: 7.7
12 Monkeys is a mind-bending, time-warping sitcom based on a movie of the same name. It extrapolates the dystopian and future scenarios of the movie.
The show’s plot revolves around a thug named James in 2043 who must travel back in time to 2015 to prevent the world from being overrun by a horrific epidemic unleashed by the Army of the 12 Monkeys.
It’s a well-made movie with fantastic characters and a compelling story that will fill that cyberpunk void in your heart.
7. Batman Beyond (1999 – 2001)
- Director: Bob Kane and Bill Finger
- Star casts: Will Friedle, Kevin Conroy, Lauren Tom, and Cree Summer
- IMDb ratings: 8.1
Batman Beyond is one of the most underappreciated movies in the Batman franchise. It digs into the dark future of the caped crusader, as Bruce Wayne is replaced as Batman by Terry McGinnis.
Naturally, things have changed in Gotham, which is now a cyberpunk hellhole rife with crime and excess.
Batman’s foes are harder to deal with since he’s up against more than just costumed criminals; he’s also up against the corrupt government and indifferent citizens.
This is undoubtedly one of the most creative interpretations of the Dark Knight, and the cyberpunk setting is simply the frosting on the cake.
8. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995 – 1996)
- Director: Hideaki Anno
- Star casts: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, KotonoMitsuishi, and Spike Spencer.
- IMDb ratings: 8.5
Neon Genesis Evangelion is not your typical pretty Japanese animation, yet it was one of the most significant anime of the 1990s.
The story is set in the near future of 2015 when Earth is regularly invaded by extraterrestrial aliens known as Angels, and mankind must defend itself with huge robots known as EVAs.
It’s a little more sophisticated than that, but the program is action-packed and explores traditional cyberpunk themes like people’s awareness of machine domination. It’s a fantastic show that is both intellectual and intelligent and just plain awesome.
9. Ergo Proxy (2006)
- Star casts: Koji Yusa, Akiko Yajima, Liam O’brien and Rachel Hirschfeld
- IMDb ratings: 7.9
This is one of the best cyberpunk tv shows. Ergo Proxy could be the answer if you’re looking for a more intellectual cyberpunk anime than Ghost in the Shell.
Like other cyberpunk media featuring robots, Ergo Proxy plays with the idea of machine self-awareness and humanization.
It does this by setting the story in a semi-post-apocalyptic future in which mankind created AutoRevs, or androids, to aid in the gradual recovery of civilization.
When the AutoRevs contract computer viruses that give them human emotions and consciousness, things get a little more tricky.
10. Psycho-Pass (2012 – 2019)
- Director: Tow Ubukata
- Star casts: Kana Hanazawa, Miyuki Sawashiro, Takahiro Sakurai, And Shizuka Ito.
- IMDb ratings: 8.2
Psycho-Pass is well recognized for being the anime adaptation of Minority Report. It also looks at the idea of using pre-emptive law enforcement technology to forecast crimes and future criminal conduct among people. However, it’s guaranteed to be clumsy because it’s a new system.
AkaneTsunemori, a rookie officer with idealistic views on protecting justice, gets caught in the center of it all.
In addition, she is teamed with an experienced cop, who progressively demonstrates to her that their futuristic law enforcement system is not without flaws and frequently renders unfair rulings.
11. Bubblegum Crisis (1987 – 1991)
- Star casts: Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Omori, MichieTomizawa, and Akiko Hiramatsu.
- IMDb ratings:7.3
Before the first anime adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, 1987’s Bubblegum Crisis already had female cyborgs kick all kinds of butt.
It’s an anime series that, from the visual style to the neon lighting and even the haircuts and attire, is eerily reminiscent of the 1980s.
Also, Bubblegum Crisis is an anime that sets the Knight Sabers, a troop of female mercenaries armed with strong exoskeletons, against a gang of rogue robots.
These robots are frequently the consequence of a business enamored with its power and avarice, causing its research and trials to fail.
12. Mann & Machine (1992)
- Director: Robert De Laurentiis and Dick Wolf
- Star casts: David Andrews, YancyButler, S. EpathaMerkerson, and Christine Belford.
- IMDb ratings: 7.5
Mann & Machine, which is even older than TekWar, is a 1992 classic TV series whose quality would put off the average teenager these days.
Despite this, the plot is quite similar to Almost Human, in which a cop is teamed with an android that has roughly the same amount of experience as a rookie cop.
The catch is that Yancy Butler plays the attractive robot cop partner in her prime. Since the android cop doesn’t understand idioms, the connection between a seasoned officer and his attractive subordinate is more of a mentor and master relationship.
13. Almost Human (2013 – 2014)
- Director: J.H. Wyman
- Star casts: Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, Minka Kelly, and Mackenzie Crook
- IMDb ratings: 8.0
Anyone who has completed the story-driven game Detroit: Become Human will enjoy this one. It follows a similar scenario in which an elderly human officer is teamed with an android companion.
That cop’s name is John Kennex, and he lost a human comrade due to some android officers’ carelessness. As a result, it’s a lyrical irony that John is partnered with one of them when his psychological scars are still healing.
However, as the series examines what it is to be a human being, the android he’s partnered with may influence him and change his mind on robots.
