Akira just opened a 4K IMAX run to US$3.175 million in North America, which is a strange and excellent thing for a 1988 film to do. Good excuse to settle the standings on the genre it detonated. This is the SenpaiRanks cyberpunk board — every title ranked on our two axes, Consensus (how broadly loved) and Quality (how well it holds up), instead of the one blended number MyAnimeList gives you.
Quick answer
Per SenpaiRanks, the best cyberpunk anime are Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (8.11), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (8.09), and Psycho-Pass (8.04), with the Ghost in the Shell 1995 film at 8.02 and Akira at 7.79 anchoring the classics. Edgerunners streams on Netflix; Psycho-Pass and the Ghost in the Shell TV run sit on Crunchyroll in most regions; Akira is in theaters right now via the Crunchyroll and Sony 4K re-release.
What counts as cyberpunk here
Neon is not the criterion. The genre is about bodies and minds getting technologically renegotiated — cybernetics, networks, corporate power, the question of what is left of a person after the upgrades. That rules in a low-budget 2003 industrial nightmare and rules out a lot of shows with rain and holograms.
One honest exclusion: Cowboy Bebop scores 8.72 on our board, higher than everything below, and plenty of lists file it under cyberpunk. It is space-western noir with cyberpunk furniture. It sits on the sci-fi board instead, where it belongs.
The ranked board
1. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex — Production I.G, 2002 — 8.11
The genre's high-water mark for procedural writing. Section 9 works cyber-terrorism cases while the show quietly argues about identity, and the Laughing Man arc is still the best long-form plot in any cyberpunk anime. Elite tier on both SenpaiRanks axes.
2. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners — Trigger, 2022 — 8.09
Ten episodes, Netflix, and the highest violence-to-heartbreak ratio in the genre. Trigger's animation plus Night City's rules make the most accessible entry point on this list. A second season is on the way — details in our Edgerunners 2 release-date and where-to-watch breakdown.
3. Psycho-Pass — Production I.G, 2012 — 8.04
Predictive policing taken to its ugly logical end. The Sibyl System decides your criminal potential before you do anything, and the first season builds the best antagonist the genre has produced this century.
4. Ghost in the Shell — Production I.G, 1995 — 8.02
The film that taught Hollywood what a cyberpunk frame looks like. Eighty-three minutes, almost no fat, and a final act that is still being copied.
5. Kaiba — Madhouse, 2008 — 7.83
Memory as a commodity you can buy, sell, and have stolen. Masaaki Yuasa draws it like a children's book, which is exactly why it lands as hard as it does. The most underwatched title on this board.
6. Dennou Coil — Madhouse, 2007 — 7.81
Augmented reality through the eyes of eleven-year-olds, made a decade before AR glasses were a product category. Gentle on the surface, genuinely unsettling underneath.
7. Akira — TMS Entertainment, 1988 — 7.79
The origin document. Neo-Tokyo, 160,000 hand-drawn cels, and an ending nobody was ready for. Back in theaters in 4K and IMAX right now — we covered the re-release and where to watch it.
8. Serial Experiments Lain — Triangle Staff, 1998 — 7.74
Predicted the shape of online identity with unnerving accuracy in 1998. More a mood you submit to than a plot you follow.
9. Ergo Proxy — Manglobe, 2006 — 7.72
Domed cities, androids with souls, and a philosophy reading list stapled to a detective story. Uneven, and worth it for the highs.
10. Texhnolyze — Madhouse, 2003 — 7.38
The bleakest entry on the list by a wide margin. Barely any dialogue for the first two episodes. If you finish it, it stays with you for years.
Where to watch cyberpunk anime
Netflix carries Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Crunchyroll holds Psycho-Pass and the Ghost in the Shell television run in most regions. The older catalog titles — Lain, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze, Kaiba — rotate across classic-catalog services and region-locked libraries, which is why each card above links to a page listing every platform that currently carries it. We list them all, including the ones a single streamer would rather leave off. Newer arrivals get folded into what to watch this fall as they land.
Move the board
These ranks are not frozen. Each card links to that title's page, where rating it feeds straight into the Consensus and Quality scores you just read. Think Edgerunners should top Stand Alone Complex? Vote and watch the gap close — that participation is the whole difference between us and a static top-10, and the reasoning is in our case for a dual-axis MyAnimeList alternative. If you want the wider shelf, the best Madhouse anime board covers three of the titles above.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What is the best cyberpunk anime?
A: On SenpaiRanks, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex leads the cyberpunk board at 8.11, followed by Cyberpunk: Edgerunners at 8.09 and Psycho-Pass at 8.04.
Q: Where can I watch cyberpunk anime?
A: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is on Netflix; Psycho-Pass and the Ghost in the Shell TV series are on Crunchyroll in most regions; Akira is in theaters via the 2026 4K re-release. Classic titles rotate across catalog services by region.
Q: Is Cowboy Bebop a cyberpunk anime?
A: Not really. It borrows cyberpunk texture but it is space-western noir, so we rank it on our sci-fi board rather than this one.
Q: What is the best cyberpunk anime for beginners?
A: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Ten episodes, on Netflix, and it needs no background in the genre.
Q: Is Akira still worth watching?
A: Yes. It holds 7.79 on both SenpaiRanks axes and is back in theaters in 4K and IMAX as of September 2026.