7 Anime Shows That Predicted The Future And Were Ahead Of Their Time

Predictions are nothing but a guessing game. The more information you gather though, the better you get at predicting. Even if not 100% right. Kind of like my 2017 anime predictions.

I doubt most anime intentionally predict the future, but there’s no doubting these 7 did that in terms of technology and trends.

Let’s talk about that!

1. Sword Art Online

The manga was first published way back in 2009. With the anime following in 2012.

The concepts of VR (virtual reality) were absolutely spot on. And literally nobody talked about this 6 – 9 years ago like SAO did (2009).

It will take a long time, but we’re already seeing a preview of a “SAO-like” world where VR is the norm, and we’ll get to travel worlds and do crazy stuff with nothing but a headset.

There are even examples of this kind of tech right now, even though it’s amateurish compared to what’s to come in future.

Also: season 2 of Sword Art Online highlights VR in the context of hospitals for sick people. A concept that will play out and give sick people in hospitals a chance to “live life” despite being bed ridden. Due to the ultra realistic VR experiences.

Just imagine how life changing that will be!

2. Psycho Pass

What you see in the image is Akane using holographic technology to change her clothes on the fly!

This is 1 element of Psycho Pass’s futuristic society that WILL become real in some variation or another.

In fact – Hatsune Miku even has a form of holographic tech when she sings on stage. But far into the future from now, it’ll be taken to a whole new level.

Also: in Psycho Pass the world is run by machines… This is essentially what’s happening to us in 2018.

Look around you. You’ll see:

Computers.
Smartphones.
Tablets/Ipads.
Smartwatches.

All of these things can do everything we need (pretty much).

On top of that there’s voice search (Siri, Google), and now Amazon Echo + so much more examples of “AI/tech running our lives”. Just like In Psycho Pass.

And then of course there’s Amazon’s drone technology. And the concept of smart fridges, smart locks and everything in between that Psycho Pass perfectly portrayed ahead of time.

We’re only in the early stages right now, but it’s happening.

3. Chobits

Chobits was first released back in 2002. And the Manga released 2 years before that!

The whole concept of androids living alongside humans was a joke back then. But in 2018 this is a very real concept that WILL become legit in the far future.

I mean think about it. We already talk to our smartphones and gadgets as if they were living things.

So it’s not far fetched to see androids becoming commonplace centuries from now.

4. Ghost In The Shell

There’s a term called: information warfare. This happens whenever there’s a cyber attack, and a hacker is trying to gain control.

Ghost In The Shell is one of the originators when it comes to this concept. It predicted it without even trying almost 2 decades ago.

And we can expect to see more of it as technology and the internet continues to make progress.

5. Bodacious Space Pirates

Bodacious Space Pirates is another anime that highlights information warfare. But that’s not why it was ahead of its time.

What makes Bodacious Space Pirates ahead of its time is with its use, concepts and portrayal of spaceships.

We might not have futuristic spaceships yet, but it’s guaranteed to happen at some point in the distant future.

6. A Certain Scientific Railgun

The anime was made back in 2009, with the light novel produced in 2007.

Railgun has an incredibly futuristic society.

Humans live alongside robots, high tech and gadgets.

There’s even concepts like taking the genes of a human and making robotic duplicates of that person. To the point where it’s almost impossible to differentiate the human version from the android

We can expect to see more of this come into play in real life at some point.

Read: 10 Railgun Anime Quotes You Need To See Right Now