Emerging in the early 2010s, vaporwave as a subgenre of electronic music, visual art style, internet meme, and aesthetic can be characterized by its retro-futuristic sounds and imagery. Inspired by the 80’s and 90’s, the aesthetic often includes: neon colors, retro software and internet interfaces, Greco-Roman statues and busts, 3D-rendered objects, consumer logos, glitch art, palm trees, and Japanese text. While the compositions differ in specific inclusions, the core idea often revolves around classical art references juxtaposed with surreal retro imagery.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The aesthetic, along with Japanese text, will also often include anime characters. As the imagery tends to have a subtle critique of consumer culture and evoke a sense of nostalgia and escapism, the anime imagery tends to vibe well. And how better to ride the vaporwave aesthetic than to list some great anime to evoke such ambience? Whether for artistic taste or for the memes, these series are sure to set that surreal retro techno feel with some anime flair.
1) Neon Genesis Evangelion
As Earth is attacked by strange celestial alien beings known as Angels, it’s up to the mysterious scientific organization NERV headed by Gendo Ikari to defend humanity through the use of Evangelion, giant piloted humanoid “robots”. When Gendo calls upon his abandoned son Shinji to become one of these pilots, Shinji faces a lot more at stake than defending humanity from giant monsters. As Shinji fights the Angels alongside the fiesty Asuka Langley Soryu and soft-spoken Rei Ayanami, the pilots find that they aren’t just defending themselves from physical attacks in their Evas, but also against their own past traumas, their crumbling mental fortitudes, and the unraveling secrets behind NERV and Gendo’s ambitions.
Giant technologically advanced mecha juxtaposed to a more retro landscape, prominent NERV organization logos, Shinji constantly listening to his DAT cassette player, themes of escapism and philosophy — with “neon” even in the name, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a quintessential example of an anime fit for the vaporwave aesthetic.
Neon Genesis Evangelion can be streamed on Netflix.
2) Sekko Boys
Recent college graduate and starting her new job at Holbein Entertainment Co., Miki Ishimoto had originally always wanted to become an artist. But when all she’d ever been forced to draw were marble statues and the teachers weren’t appreciative of her stylistic choices, she quit that dream and strove for a new one: to manage business in the entertainment industry. On her first day, Miki is tasked with managing a new idol group. Eager to break into and do well in the industry, at first she’s ecstatic at the prospect. That is until she learns that the idol group, the Sekkou Boys, or “The Rockies”, is made up of four Greco-Roman sculptures, St. George, Mars, Hermes, and Medici.
It doesn’t get much more vaporwave than sentient Greco-Roman busts contrasting the modern neon luminesced idol scene. And with stereotypical quirky anime voiceovers in contrast to the realistic stone-faced idols, this show certainly brings a hilarious air of the internet meme side of the aesthetic to the series.
Sekko Boys can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
3) Sailor Moon
One day, when Usagi Tsukino, a klutzy, crybaby below-average student, saves a cat from danger, her world is turned on its head. As it turns out, the crescent-marked cat Luna actually appeared in order to inform Usagi that she has a certain destiny: to become Sailor Moon, one of the planetary guardians of Earth. Transforming using her magical brooch, she must protect the earth by defeating the evil monsters sent by the Dark Kingdom’s Queen Beryl and find the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal.
Sailor Moon, or Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon / Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, is arguably the most iconic magical girl anime. With its emblematic female defenders of Earth, monster-of-the-week tropes, and dreamy (accidental) pink hue, Sailor Moon has become a timeless, beloved magical girl franchise ripe for the vaporwave aesthetic.
Sailor Moon is available for streaming on Hulu, Tubi, and Pluto TV.
4) Serial Experiments Lain
At school or at home, Lain Iwakura isn’t the most social. When her father introduces her to the many uses of the internet, here called the “Wired”, she begins noticing its prominence in society from email to video games to drugs, learning that its influences go beyond the hardware. As she searches for answers within the Wired as to why so many strange happenings seem to be occurring around her, Lain becomes more connected with people than she ever anticipated.
The hum of computers, whirring of fans, clicks of the mouse and keyboard; The world within the Wired is a bit more colorful than the drab existing world, its influence leaking out into reality. Serial Experiments Lain embraces the glitches and retro technology in both cyberpunk existentialism and vaporwave surrealism.
[RELATED: This Cyberpunk Horror Anime Is Missing One Modern Feature To Be Truly Scary]
5) Thermae Romae
Struggling to think of new, innovative ideas, Lucius Modestus, an ancient Roman architect, becomes despondent in job-hunting. So, his friends try taking him to a bathhouse to cheer him up and relax. Frustrated with the all the bathhouse hubbub, he tries to find solace beneath the surface only to find a tunnel that transports him to a modern day Japanese bathhouse. Armed with knowledge ahead of his time and inspired by the technologically advanced foreign bathhouse, Lucius tries his hand at recreating what he’s witnessed in hopes that his ingenuity will garner attention and regain his reputation.
Ancient Roman architecture spliced with modern Japanese technological advances makes for a prime vaporwave anime backdrop. And, akin to Sekko Boys, Thermae Romae also brings an air of meme-able humor to the wacky bathhouse scene.
Thermae Romae is available for streaming on Prime Video and Crunchyroll.
6) FLCL
Naota Nandaba is an average, ordinary junior high schooler who feels as though nothing exciting ever happens in his city. After his brother Tasuku has left to play baseball in America, Naota takes it upon himself to look after things while he’s gone, like his bunk bed and ex-girlfriend Mamimi Samejima who constantly clings to him as a sort of placeholder for his brother. But when Vespa-riding, bass guitar-wielding, pink-haired psychopath Haruko Haruhara comes into his life, it’s anything but mundane. After whacking him in the head with her bass and kissing him, Naota ends up growing a horn on his head that he struggles to hide. Deciding to take up residence at his house, Haruko drags Naota into a battle he’d rather not fight.
With chaotic, confusing storyline and stylization, FLCL gives a wild experimental air, underlying metaphorical commentary, and pop culture references like that of vaporwave itself. The elusive quote “never knows best” would be a great addition to a computer error message on such imagery.
FLCL is available for streaming on either Max or Crunchyroll where available.
7) Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
On the scenic and peaceful South Island, Sonic the Hedgehog and pal Miles “Tails” Prower live on shore in the wreckage of an old airplane. But when the president of Planet Freedom summons them, the two rush over only to find the dastardly Dr. Eggman lounging in the president’s office. But instead of planning for world domination as he usually does, instead Dr. Eggman pleads for help saying that the generator powering Eggman’s home city of Eggmanland has been hijacked and is on the brink of explosion. Unwilling to take any chances of not only Eggman’s home blowing up but also their own, Sonic and Tails agree to help.
With sun, surf, sand, palm trees, and a boombox, this OVA has a fantastic opening to set the vaporwave mood as Tails catches a wave and Sonic chills on the beach. After all, what’s more vaporwave than an anime set in retro Sega video game tropical bliss?
What’s an anime you enjoy that fits the vaporwave vibe? Let us know in the comments if there’s other A E S T H E T I C anime!
