10 best anime to watch if you like Black Mirror

Black Mirror has become one of the most popular sci-fi anthology series of recent years. This popular web series presents unsettling visions of the future and explores themes like technological advances, privacy, and the darker sides of humanity.

If you’re a fan of Black Mirror’s creepy and thought-provoking tone, here are 10 excellent anime to watch next that examine similar themes and ideas through imaginative animation and storytelling. Like Black Mirror, these shows use speculative fiction to explore technology, society, and humanity.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Black Mirror

1) Psycho-Pass

Set in a dystopian future where a person's mental state and probability of committing crimes can be quantified and visualized, Psycho-Pass bears some strong thematic resemblances to Black Mirror.

It’s a dark sci-fi crime thriller focusing on police enforcing the law in this bizarre society. Psycho-Pass examines some philosophical questions about profiling, justice, and moral complexity through tense action sequences and cyberpunk visuals.

It envisions a disturbing world where public safety is ensured by the Sibyl System, which uses a "Cymatic Scan" to analyze an individual's brain and personality. Fans of complex dystopian sci-fi ideas and stylish action will find a lot to enjoy with Psycho-Pass.

2) Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain (Image via Triangle Staff)

This highly influential 1998 anime delves deep into concepts of identity, consciousness, and perception through a story about a girl who discovers the Wire, an advanced online network that blurs the boundary between the real and digital worlds.

Serial Experiments Lain has psychedelic visuals and a deeply philosophical narrative reminiscent of some key Black Mirror themes about technology’s relationship to humanity. It explores avant-garde ideas about perception, reality, and identity in a way that was visionary for its time.

It maintains a haunting, surreal atmosphere while delivering an intellectually engaging narrative worthy of comparison to seminal works like Ghost in the Shell. Lain is a must-watch for fans of cerebral sci-fi in the vein of Black Mirror.

3) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Image via Production I.G)

This popular cyberpunk anime series centers around Public Security Section 9, a counter-cyberterrorism organization. The main character is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg who wrestles with her identity in a future world where technology has profoundly impacted humanity.

Stand Alone Complex blends futuristic sci-fi ideas, political intrigue, action, and philosophy in a way sci-fi fans can appreciate. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex portrays advanced technology alongside philosophical questions about what it means to be human in such a world.

Major Kusanagi provides an introspective, nuanced look at self-identity that fans of Black Mirror’s central themes would appreciate. With viral hacking, mind-reading technology, and ethical dilemmas, Stand Alone Complex often evokes Black Mirror's mix of high-tech speculation tied poignantly to identity and purpose.

4) Ergo Proxy

In a post-apocalyptic future domed city, humans and androids called autoreiv coexist until a wave of mysterious deaths creates panic. An investigator named Re-l Mayer and her autoreiv Iggy seek the truth behind the killings and, in the process, uncover truths of profound metaphysical significance.

Ergo Proxy is a beautifully animated work of sci-fi noir that analyzes concepts about self, reality, spirituality, and purpose in ways sure to captivate Black Mirror aficionados. Ergo Proxy uses its futuristic premise to drive profound existential questions tied directly to characters with depth and nuance.

Exploring reality, spirituality, and humanity through mystery, action, and stylish visuals, Ergo Proxy offers a uniquely intellectual science fiction story.

5) Texhnolyze

In the underground city of Lux, gang wars rage between rival organizations as a former fighter named Ichise becomes entangled in the city’s power struggles, uncovering deep existential truths.

This cyberpunk anime is visually stunning and tells an emotionally complex story rich with transhumanist themes of human evolution through technology and the meaning of existence—ideas central to Black Mirror as well.

Fans who enjoy exploring high-tech futures, along with questions of consciousness and humanity, will connect with Texhnolyze on multiple levels. It brings emotion and philosophical depth to its cyberpunk dystopia to examine the human condition from intriguing, idiosyncratic angles sure to leave viewers pondering.

6) Kaiba

In this unique sci-fi anime series, memories and consciousnesses are now digitized, transferable commodities bought and sold among ordinary people.

The story follows a protagonist who wakes up with no memory and a hole in his chest, carrying a picture of an unknown girl. Kaiba contemplates fascinating big ideas about memory, personhood, and what animates life through 12 avant-garde episodes reminiscent of some of Black Mirror’s most impactful shorts.

Fans of thought-provoking stories will appreciate Kaiba’s concise singular vision and startlingly fresh take on concepts like consciousness, corporeality, and memory. By adeptly using its strange premise to compellingly explore our inner lives, it will leave viewers marveling at humanity in a distinct, resonant way.

7) Paranoia Agent

Directed by the legendary Satoshi Kon, this one-season psychological thriller focuses on a juvenile assailant nicknamed Lil’ Slugger, who becomes an urban legend after attacking innocents with a bent golden baseball bat.

Two parallel police investigations unfold as public anxiety and paranoia mount in Tokyo. As Lil’ Slugger’s mystique grows, the series veers into surreal, harrowing territory sure to enthrall Black Mirror aficionados.

With disturbing yet whimsical forays into the darkest corners of the human psyche, Paranoia Agent bears similarities to select Black Mirror episodes stylistically and thematically. Bold, unpredictable storytelling focused on society’s issues makes Paranoia Agent a singular, gripping psychological thriller.

8) Steins;Gate

A self-proclaimed “mad scientist,” Rintarou Okabe, and his friends accidentally discover time travel, leading to harrowing consequences as the boundaries of time and space begin dissolving in their present reality.

While exploring the typical time travel plot device of altering history, Steins;Gate elevates itself by using many Black Mirror-esque elements of interweaving philosophy, science, friendship, and sacrifice to contemplate mortality and purpose with care.

Smart, funny, melancholic, and suspenseful, Steins;Gate takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride that also stimulates the intellect—exactly what fans love about Black Mirror. Time travel tropes get fully reinvented to drive intimate stories about choice and destiny that cut right to the heart of human truths.

9) Eden of the East

Eden of the East (Image via Production I.G)

When Saki Morimi gets saved by a mysterious naked man named Akira Takizawa in front of the White House, she returns to Japan and discovers he’s tied to a strange game where 12 individuals, known as Seleção, are given 10 billion yen to "save" Japan, but failure leads to their elimination.

Eden of the East crafts a playful yet thrilling story of youthful idealism and purpose counterbalanced with capricious anarchy reminiscent of specific Black Mirror episodes.

Quirky personalities, motley relationships, and provocative ideas fuse beautifully in Eden of the East to depict a scavenger hunt with incredibly high stakes in ways that balance excitement with potent themes. It mines exhilarating entertainment from intriguing concepts stretched to their most extreme logical ends.

10) ID:Invaded

Set in the near future, a secret organization within the police force develops the Mizuhanome System, which allows detectives to visually enter the deep psyche of criminals and witnesses to solve crimes.

It follows brilliant detective Sakaido, who dives into surreal dreamscapes within the criminal mind, reminiscent of a few highly acclaimed Black Mirror episodes. Fans of Black Mirror’s most inventive episodes will admire ID:Invaded’s stunning visuals and sharp storytelling.

Detectives literally enter shifting landscapes inhabited by the subconscious, driving unique mysteries and delivering a one-of-a-kind crime noir experience.

Conclusion

These 10 anime all offer examples of sci-fi excellence for fans of the disturbing yet conscience-stirring narratives that Black Mirror does so well.

While bearing intriguing thematic overlap with this iconic series, each recommends stunningly imaginative visions of society's future that say as much about who we can be as who we are. So if you love Black Mirror and want to explore similarly thoughtful, prophetic, and chilling anime, be sure to check out these picks.