Akira is a sci-fi anime movie from 1988. It depicts a dystopian version of Tokyo, Japan after World War III is started by a psychic explosion from an esper.

Okay, most of the movie is way out there, but an interesting tidbit is that Akira had the 2020 Summer Olympics were to be hosted by Japan.

Against all odds, at the Olympic selection ceremony at 2013, Tokyo won the hosting bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Megazero 23 is an OVA series from 1985, and sadly gets overlooked by the modern crowd.

The key plot point revolves around Eve, a virtual J-Pop idol that society’s obsession. That’s silly, who would worship a virtual idol, let alone listen to songs “performed” by a computer program?

The Vocaloid community says “hello.” Vocaloid tech was being developed as early as 2000 but wasn’t released until 2004. You can’t really get away from Vocaloid music and its most popular idol, Hatsune Miku.

I should have a trigger warning here, but I don’t feel like it.

Yes, there have been anime to use virtual reality as a backdrop before Sword Art Online came around. But, Sword Art Online has been credited with spiking the public’s interest in the technology.

From the creators of Oculus Rift to IBM Japan, the series has been named as a large influence for pursuing the technology or has been featured in tech related demos. Every day we are getting closer to a virtual reality.

In the future, cars are driven by an A.I. system. However, when these cars start to lose control, the government employs éX-Driver (people who drive mechanical cars) to save the day.

While still a ways off, Google has been actively developing a self-driving car, which uses sensors and software to detect pedestrians and other obstacles.

Let’s hope that we won’t need real éX-Drivers to save us when Google’s cars decide to rebel against humanity.

Augmented Reality is overlaying computer-generated “enhancements” on top of the real-world. Mobile phone apps also use augmented reality for games, like Pokémon Go 

Anyway, Dennou Coil takes place in a “half-real, half-internet” city that employs the use of AR Glasses.

The glasses featured in Dennou Coil are kind of like Google Glass, which are glasses that overlay computer-generated enhancements onto the real world. Google Glass first came into existence in 2013, and Dennou Coil first aired in 2007.

I’m starting to think that a weeb has infiltrated Google.

Let’s get a little wild. Casshern features a robot dog named Friender, which can turn into a jet, submarine, or a tank. Hey, Casshern needs all the help he can get to take down the evil android army.

A robotics company called Boston Dynamics has been developing “robot dogs” for the U.S. military since 2005. The tech hasn’t been used, due to it being too loud. Check out this test video.

Information warfare isn’t terribly new – that’s what propaganda has been used for.

However, we’ve seen a rise in governments hacking each other to gain information. These acts haven’t been part of the mainstream discussion since before WikiLeaks came into existence.

Ghost in the Shell showed how a single hacker could bring society to its knees when it relies too much on technology. That could be a very real possibility in the near future.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 was co-produced by Bones and Kinema Citrus. The two studios researched the effects of earthquakes and interviewed past survivors about their experiences. The series was created based on predictions that Tokyo has 70% of being hit by an 8.0 earthquake.

The earthquake that struck Fukushima in 2011 was a 6.6, but caused catastrophic damage to a nuclear power plant.

Moreso the manga than the anime. Appleseed features mini-mecha units called Landmates. The pilot wears that Landmate as a bulky piece of armor, and it mimics the pilot’s movements. Appleseed first featured Landmates in 1985.

Jump ahead to 2012, and Suidobashi Heavy Industries first started selling personal mecha units called “Kuratas.” The price tag for a personal Kuratas is $1.35 million USD.

Do you know of more anime-based predictions?