Anime is known to be inventive, but, as a thousand infomercials have taught us over the years, it would be better if some inventions did not exist. What works as a plot device or MacGuffin in an anime can have devastating consequences in real life. Some anime inventions are in themselves too destructive, while others would lead to corruption, the collapse of society, or war.
While otaku sometimes joke that they want life to look more like anime, it’s hard to say those words and actually mean them, given the degree of darkness in the environment. Who wouldn’t be corrupted with a Death Note? Who wouldn’t be immersed in an alternative reality and never wanted to leave it?
10 Nothing Good Comes Of Banana Fish
Ash Lynx, a gang leader and abused adopted son of a mob boss, has enough trouble even before the drug colloquially known as Banana Fish enters the scene. Given a small sample of the drug by a dying man, Ash and Eiji Okumura embark on a journey to discover the secret of the substance. What they discover is gallant, to say the least.
Like most psychotropic drugs, banana fish has a devastating impact on those who ingest it and its surroundings. Banan Fish users become deeply paranoid and violent, using their own friends, even massacring their brothers-in-law. Banana fish would only contribute to the drug epidemic that is ravaging the world and no one needs it.
9 The Sybil system has dystopia written everywhere (Psycho-Pass)
Psycho-Pass it borrows many of its troops into science fiction classics, and the Sybil system feels like something out of Philip K. Dick’s mind. The world of Psycho-Pass it is governed by AI which predicts the likelihood of people committing crimes even before committing them. With this in mind, the mere intention to cause harm can lead to the arrest of a person and the mere thought of wrongdoing reduces their place in society.
Through the eyes of an unfriendly machine, good and evil are distinguished without empathy. Added to this is the appalling fact that the Sybil system is made up of bodyless human brains and becomes the backbone of a true dystopian nightmare.
8 Titan injections would be seriously bad news (attack on Titan)
Created from the fluid in the spine of the titans, the injection of titans is, in fact, a harrowing invention. Used both to transform Ymir into a conscious titan and to transform Eldian criminals into senseless monsters, the injections are responsible for much of the devastation in Paradise.
Transforming people into monsters is tricky Attack on Titus universe, but the central inhumanity of this act is irrefutable. The injection claims most of the personal agencies of their victims and condemns them to an existence of meaningless fury afterwards. This kind of torture cannot be justified, and the anger felt by the people of Paradise is more than understandable.
7 The philosopher’s stone always leads to war (Fullmetal Alchemist)
In countless stories, both heroes and villains seek immortality. However, few characters achieve this goal, as immortality always comes at a high price. In the event that Fullmetal Alchemist, the philosopher’s stone grants immortality at the expense of sacrificing the lives of thousands of people. While it’s horrible to admit it, there are certainly people in the real world who would happily do this job.
Fullmetal Alchemist he uses the philosopher’s stone and the consequences surrounding it as an effective allegory for genocide. Mortality is what makes us human, and a philosopher’s stone in cruel hands would be a nightmare.
6 NerveGear could prove more addictive than WoW (Sword Art Online)
Almost all arches Sword art online it takes place in virtual reality, which contributes to the many reasons why the franchise never feels particularly significant. NerveGear, the technology used to immerse characters in virtual reality, can be seen by some as liberating, as it allows users to improve their quality of life by escaping from reality to a more idealized fantasy world.
Still, science fiction stories have shown time and time again that abandoning reality for the sake of a dream world never quite works well. NerveGear users become addicted to technology, suffer from muscle atrophy, and are unable to progress in real life. Anyone worried about gambling addiction would have a lot more to worry about if NerveGear existed. The games are a wonderful escapism, but not at the expense of reality.
5 Akira’s stolen humanity is a warning (Akira)
Akira was once a person. A victim of the government, Akira developed psychic abilities that exceeded his control and destroyed all of Tokyo with a force similar to that of an atomic bomb. Akira was dissected, its organs separated and frozen cryogenically under Neo-Tokyo. In essence, humanity’s reach exceeded its reach, at the cost of millions.
While turning kids into bombs is a fantastic fictional commentary, it’s a horrible idea. Akira is not an invention, but a person who was mistreated and then treated as an object. AkiraHumanity’s vision is decidedly bleak and history should be seen as a warning.
4 The Wired represents the worst of the Internet (Serial Experiments Lain)
Lain series experiments came out in 1998 and to date, few anime have made such poignant comments about the dangers of technology. People rely on the Internet to communicate, work and enjoy their daily lives. However, an over-reliance on technology can have dangerous consequences.
In Others, the protagonist falls in love with the idea of living practically after the ghost of a dead classmate puts her in touch. This classmate claims to be alive, having only left her physical body to live on the Wired online network. Lain, introverted and careless in real life, is tempted to abandon reality. This is how cults are formed, and it is difficult to think of a more nefarious version of the Internet than the Wire.
3 AI gets hurt so easily (Vivy: The Fluorite Song)
It doesn’t take long for friendly friends to become Skynet, and any story with artificial intelligence is sure to delve deeper into the darker consequences of humanity’s attempt to “create life”. One of the problems with artificial intelligence is that if it is successful, it is indistinguishable from human intelligence, for better or for worse. In Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, callbacks to The Terminator they are apparent. The warning is familiar: once a creation has its own will, it is more difficult to control and peace between these two factions can be impossible.
2 Ex-Arm technology is almost as bad as anime (Ex-Arm)
The email of Fullmetal Alchemist it gives back disabilities to people with disabilities. Robotic arms inside Megalobox they are used for sports and entertainment. The robotic member featured in the worst anime of 2021, however, is simply useless.
When student Akira Natsume dies in an accident, she is not allowed to rest in peace. Instead, his brain is combined with a robotic arm with weapons. Honestly, it’s not as fun as it sounds, and to begin with, it sounds pretty ridiculous. The last thing anyone in the real world needs is a teenage brain tied to deadly robotics. In a program that already hated otaku, a poorly thought-out invention is just more fodder for wolves.
1 The Death Note Creates Serial Killers (Death Note)
The Death Note is more deadly than virtually any real-world weapon. And while Light Yagami wreaks havoc on its own, if it had been even a little more sadistic, the results would have been horrible. If all it took to kill someone was to write their name in a notebook, the world would have deep problems.
Perhaps the most creepy aspect of Death Note is that it drives the killer away from the victim. It’s one thing to pull a trigger pointing a gun at someone and another thing to sit quietly in their room and casually write their name on a piece of paper before going to bed. Death notice he gradually condemns Light’s actions and for good reason. Human beings should never receive such cruel power.
About the author