The live-action remake of “Akira” has been in limbo for years, and we’ve still not had an updated dose of ’80s anime glory. Surely if one ’80s sci-fi anime can hold a studio’s attention for this long, there are plenty of others that deserve a shot too?
For viewers in the West, ’80s sci-fi anime was something that a friend’s uncle or brother had on a recordable VHS, which was likely copied from another copy and so on. We didn’t have much anime at all on mainstream TV until the late ’90s and early ’00s, and the ones that slipped through would be cut and dubbed to the point where they didn’t match the source material. But sci-fi anime assumed its audience was smart, showing off stunning hand-drawn mechanical detail, adult storytelling, realistic physics, and wasn’t shy of showing blood. Some of the anime below inspired heavy-hitters like “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” the same way “Paprika” may have inspired the Hollywood blockbuster “Inception.”
We’re not saying we want every ’80s sci-fi anime remade; we’re talking about faithful reboots that keep the key beats of the original while bringing something new to the table for modern audiences. If “Pacific Rim” can have a forgotten anime series on Netflix, why can’t ’80s anime classics pull out their Uno reverse card? We’ve picked five that have been left untouched outside of remasters and re-releases for decades. Political war epics and bleak space stories alongside time dilation and simulated reality are all fair game, so let’s get straight into it.
Dirty Pair was a buddy sci-fi comedy with untapped mileage
That’s right, I’m throwing a curveball and kicking things off with a sci-fi buddy comedy. Sunrise’s “Dirty Pair” was adapted from Haruka Takachiho’s novels and began airing in 1985. It follows two agents from the WWWA, a galactic trouble-consultant agency.
Kei and Yuri, known as “The Lovely Angels”, are sent to fix disasters, but usually end up leaving a bigger one behind. Their reputation is a running joke throughout, but this anime is genuinely funny and stylish. “Dirty Pair” has a light tone that sticks out like a sore thumb against the ’80s era of dark and gritty sci-fi epics, but is fundamentally a legit space-adventure show.
Most people like a buddy comedy, and throwing sci-fi into the mix just adds endless possibilities. It could make a great live-action or animated series, with the franchise going dormant after the original run, despite a 1994 reboot with “Dirty Pair Flash” (an alternate-universe OVA series that gave Kei and Yuri new designs and backstories) and Adam Warren’s officially licensed “Dirty Pair” comics for Dark Horse Comics into the late 1990s and early 2000s. Interest is still there — the 1987 feature “Dirty Pair: Project Eden” and the OVA run kept the fanbase happy for decades, but now it’s time to set Kei and Yuri on another adventure. The original can be streamed in full on Crunchyroll and RetroCrush as of writing this article.
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise is hardcore sci-fi
Serving as the debut film from Gainax and “Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise” is set in an alternate mid-20th-century world. A nation with a ridiculously underfunded space program picks the hopeless Shirotsugh Lhadatt to become the first human in orbit. It’s meticulously made, with every bit of technology on show drawn from scratch, digging into the worn and lived-in sci-fi mise-en-scene that “Star Wars” perfected years earlier
The launch sequence, for example, is engulfed in real-world mechanisms, condensation, manual valves, and pressure gauges. It’s as believable as ’80s sci-fi anime is going to get, and it sucks viewers in. Behind-the-scenes politics unfold as this is all going on, with generals attempting to turn the stunt into an act of war.
“Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise” is a self-contained film with a clean, modern hook about a nation proving itself through science that no studio has touched in nearly 40 years. With private companies like SpaceX planning to send its starships to Mars, this would be a home run if done right. To be blunt, it flopped commercially, but its IMDb user rating of 7.2, 100% Tomatometer score, and an 80% Popcornmeter average across 2,500+ ratings show there’s an audience.
Fang of the Sun Dougram has been left untouched since 1983
“Fang of the Sun Dougram” is a 75-episode anime series from the minds of Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise that ran from 1981 to 1983. While there’s been no TV sequel or remake since it finished airing, there was a companion film in 1983 titled “Dougram: Documentary of the Fang of the Sun,” which condensed and retold the story. A spin-off manga, “Get Truth Fang of the Sun Dougram,” was released in 2021, but there’s been no new anime on screen since 1983.
The original series shows the remote planet Deloyer trying to break free from the ruthless Earth’s puppet rule, with the story arc told like a real war complete with logistical challenges, treaties, and propaganda. It’s a refreshing change from the hero versus villain formula, with the protagonists in “Fang of the Sun Dougram” not being invincible shonen beefcakes.
The central plot circles around a pilot, Crinn Cashim, defecting to the uprising and going up against his own father, the ruthless Earth governor Donan Cashim. While the series spends time going into legislation, media, and treaty law, it’s cool to see real-world problems such as mechs overheating, running out of fuel, and needing repairs to keep the narrative grounded. Well, as far as a sci-fi anime with mechs goes. There’s nothing competing in the same lane right now, and who doesn’t want to see a mainstream revival of the ’80s mecha era?
Crusher Joe has been on life support since 1989
“Crusher Joe: The Movie” dropped in 1983, winning the Animage Anime Grand Prix in the same year. It’s an adaptation of Haruka Takachiho’s novels about a team of Crushers, elite fixers who handle jobs that are too dirty or dangerous for anyone else. Bar the 2017 manga adaptation, “Crusher Joe Rebirth,” the series has been dormant on screen for over 35 years since that two-episode 1989 OVA. It’s ripe for a reboot to binge on with streaming services.
A simple escort mission goes horribly wrong when the crew’s ship suffers a warp-travel failure, and the passengers vanish. The United Space Force accuses the crew of space piracy, pushing the team toward the hazardous planet of Lagol to clear their names and find whoever set them up.
It’s a fast-paced sci-fi space adventure with some of the most stunning mechanical animation in the genre. The director credit goes to Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, with guest designs from manga legends such as Katsuhiro Otomo (“Akira”), Akira Toriyama (“Dragon Ball”), and Rumiko Takahashi (“Urusei Yatsura”), plus mechanical design from Shoji Kawamori (“Macross”). With the same creator, Haruka Takachiho, behind “Dirty Pair,” both franchises could be untapped revival opportunities that are practically begging for a remake and a binge on streaming services.
Space Runaway Ideon should have made a comeback years ago
“Space Runaway Ideon” was a 39-episode series running between 1980 and 1981 by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of “Mobile Suit Gundam.” Its story concluded in 1982 with the film “Be Invoked.” Many call “Space Runaway Ideon” the precursor to “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” a statement worth its weight in gold when considering a modern reboot. Before Ideon, robots were just metal vehicles or heroic protectors, but the titular mecha is a relic of an ancient civilization powered by a self-aware cosmic energy called “Ide”. Aside from a 1992 Gundam crossover manga, the franchise hasn’t been touched in decades.
A human colony excavates an ancient alien vessel, the Ideon, with its near-limitless power. An alien race, the Buff Clan, shows up to take the Ideon’s poweruction. But the Ideon isn’t a weapon that anyone controls — it has a will of its own, with the death toll and finale positioning Space Runaway Ideon as one of the darkest ’80s sci-fi anime
Modern grim-dark sci-fi sells (just look at Warhammer 40,000), and Space Runaway Ideon ticks all of these boxes. It would make for a fantastic live-action or animated ’80s sci-fi anime reboot, and that’s without riding the coattails of “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”
