Movies Like Akira
If you loved Akira's Animation and Science Fiction storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks

PSYCHO-PASS: The Movie
In a futuristic Japan, the Sibyl System is charged with keeping the peace. When the state of SEAUn brings the Sibyl System in to test its effectiveness, it becomes a haven of peace and safety—for a time. Eventually, terrorists from SEAUn begin appearing in Japan, somehow slipping through the System's security and attacking from within. Desperate for answers, Inspector Akane Tsunemori is sent overseas to bring the terrorists to justice. But when her investigation forces her into a standoff with an old ally, will she be able to pull the trigger?

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War
In the year 2045, after an economic disaster known as the Synchronized Global Default, rapid developments in AI propelled the world to enter a state of "Sustainable War". However, the public is not aware of the threat that AI has towards the human race. A compilation film with newly added footage.

Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space
Amuro Ray and the rest of the White Base crew, now denominated the 13th Autonomous Corps, return to outer space to support the rest of the Earth Federation forces for the decisive battle against the Principality of Zeon's forces.

009 Re:Cyborg
009 Re:Cyborg follows a group of nine cyborgs, each of them created by a shadowy organization for use as weapons against humanity. The group turns on their creators to protect the population instead, using the powers given them to fight their creators.

Appleseed: Ex Machina
As members of ESWAT, the elite forces serving Olympus, Deunan and Briaereos are deployed anywhere trouble strikes. Olympus finds itself under a stealth attack - cyborg terrorism, deadly nanotech zealots, and rioting citizens are just some of the threats that Deunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus!

Appleseed Alpha
The Third World War (2099–2126) devastated part of the Earth. Former nations are reforming while new powers emerge, and groups of humans struggle to survive in ruined cities. The story follows Deunan Knute and her partner Briareos as they search for the legendary city of Olympus.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 4: Ghost Stands Alone
The upcoming installment's story takes place amidst signs of postwar reconstruction in the winter of 2028. Tensions are rising in New Port City as demonstrations are held concerning the interests of foreign cartels. This leads to a shooting incident involving riot police. It all started with a cyberbrain infection released by the terrorist "Fire Starter." An independent offensive unit led by Makoto Kusanagi entrusts the suppression of the situation to their ghosts and aims for their own justice. Below the surface of the incident, lies the "tin girl" Emma and the "scarecrow man" Burinda Junior. As Kusanagi deals with the incident, she draws near to what those two ghosts were seeking.

Blood-C: The Last Dark
Tokyo, Winter. Despite the use of the Youth Ordinance Bill to enforce curfews for minors and regulate the use of the Internet, young people continue to fight for their own freedom through underground methods. One such group calls themselves Surat. They have decided to take on Fumito Nanahara, a man who has great influence on the political world, and basically controls Tokyo with an iron fist. While using the Internet as a weapon to discover more information about Fumito, they learn about "Tower", the secret organization behind Fumito which engages in human experimentation.
More Movies Like Akira

Appleseed
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing fifty-five-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl, but does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?

Gurren Lagann the Movie: The Lights in the Sky Are Stars
Seven years have passed after the battle of Teppelin... Humans have since reclaimed the surface of the earth and enjoy an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity. However, humanity's increasing population growth triggers the sudden emergence of an unknown, powerful enemy. The fearsome, manipulative power of the mysterious Anti-Spiral proves too overwhelming for humans to even fight back. When everyone becomes desperate and loses hope, Team Dai-Gurren members reunite to stand up once again!

Expelled from Paradise
A.D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that hacker referred to themselves as "Frontier Setter." To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch system Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic "material body," Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pests with her exoskeleton powered suit Arhan.

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League
The Batman family has returned to the present to discover that Japan has disappeared, and a giant island - Hinomoto - is now in the sky over Gotham City. At the top sit the Yakuza, a group of superpowered individuals who reign without honor or humanity and look suspiciously like the Justice League. Now, it’s up to Batman and his allies to save Gotham!

BLAME!
In the distant technological future, civilization has reached its ultimate Net-based form. An "infection" in the past caused the automated systems to spiral out of order, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls, and is hunted down and purged by the defense system known as the Safeguard. In a tiny corner of the city, a little enclave known as the Electro-Fishers is facing eventual extinction, trapped between the threat of the Safeguard and dwindling food supplies. A girl named Zuru goes on a journey to find food for her village, only to inadvertently cause doom when an observation tower senses her and summons a Safeguard pack to eliminate the threat. With her companions dead and all escape routes blocked, the only thing that can save her now is the sudden arrival of Killy the Wanderer, on his quest for the Net Terminal Genes, the key to restoring order to the world.

EVANGELION: DEATH (TRUE)²
A highly experimental film presenting a story out of chronological order taking place 15 years after a near-apocalyptic catastrophe, about four traumatized 14 year olds who are tasked with piloting massive humanoid decisive weapons called Evangelion, the psychologically maladjusted adults who handle and command them, and the events and forces that affect them or which they take part in as they engage massive hostile invaders known as "Angels."

Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 2: Ghost Whispers
Freed of her responsibilities with the 501 Organization, Motoko Kusanagi must now learn how to take orders from Aramaki. Someone hacks the Logicomas, and Batou enlists the help of former army intelligence officer Ishikawa and former air artillery expert Borma. Kusanagi also seeks to enlist ace sniper Saito and undercover cop Paz into the new Public Security Section 9.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0
In the year 2029, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster'.

Promare
Galo and the Burning Rescue Fire Department face off against BURNISH, a group of mutants who are able to control and wield flames, and the fire disaster they have unleashed on Earth.

Tekkonkinkreet
Two penniless orphans, Black and White, struggle to survive on the mean streets of Treasure Town. When a megacorporation threatens to tear down the town to build an amusement park, Black and White engage in the fight of their life.

Code Geass: Akito the Exiled 2: The Wyvern Divided
The war between Euro Britannia and the European Union continues. New orders are given to the W-0 Unit. To land in the middle of the enemy territory as a diversion. The pilots of the W-0 Unit consist only of the commanding officer, Leila, the only surviving Japanese from their last battle, Akito, and the three that escaped from the Eleven ghettos and lived in the underworld, Ryou, Yukiya, and Ayano. With everyone holding their respective expectations, the operation moves forward. On the other side in Euro Britannia, Shin, who made his benefactor commit suicide with the mysterious power of “Geass”, is appointed the leader of the Knights of St. Michael. As Shin steadily advances for the sake of his own ambition, he and his subordinates in the Ashura squad are given orders to deploy. The one that lives in order to fight, and the one that fights in order to live.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Akira (1988): Animation and Science Fiction themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Akira.
See full details for Akira (1988)