It's possible that this is actually a post-apocalyptic world vs a fantasy world and I'm just seeing cyberpunk and solarpunk because that's what I want to see, but the original kickstarter for this movie calls it a cyberpunk world so I don't think I'm too far off.

Since this movie is the result of a kickstarter, I actually don't know how close it is to release or if it'll get a wide distribution. I mean, the most recent kickstarter update says they're hoping to release this June but who knows what will happen.

I know the description calls this a "sci-fi black comedy", but needing to watch an ad in its entirety before being allowed to enter your home feels like a perfectly cyberpunk satire to me.

I guess it's just a 40-minute short film that will be making the rounds at film festivals this year. Hopefully they'll post the full thing to youtube when those festivals are done though. It looks fun.

I've posted before about Mullet Mad Jack, back when the demo became available. Well, the full game is now available on Steam. It's a ridiculous game where you die if you go more than 10 seconds without killing a bad guy, but it's drenched in early 90s cyberpunk anime aesthetic.

Slyth is a movie about a group of high-tech low-lifes who happen to be the best e-sports team for some virtual reality first-person shooter. All of the establishing shots over the city show that the movie takes place in a cyberpunk world, but the plot is actually about the team hitting someone with their car which gives that person amnesia. They bring him to their house to help him, he falls in love with the main character, and then joins the e-sports team because (of course) he's a natural at this VR game he's never played before.

Now, because they're the best e-sports team ever, they're given an opportunity to beta test some new VR game. Unfortunately, that "VR game" is actually a portal into a different dimension. And then the lizard people show up.

This movie was made in Thailand, so I assume the exaggerated overacting is just part of Thai cinema. And everyone in the movie is a beautiful twenty-something, which gives it a very "young adult" feel. This isn't a dark and gritty noir, it's a fun action romp. The CGI and production value are pretty good though. It doesn't feel like a big budget American movie, but it doesn't feel like some small indie Thai movie either. Overall, the setting may be cyberpunk, but the themes and plot aren't. I've definitely seen worse movies, but I don't know if I'd call that a recommendation.

Here's a trailer, although I warn you, it spoils a lot of the movie. The lizard people don't show up until half-way through the movie yet this trailer makes it seem like a war with the lizard people is the entire plot. You can watch it on Netflix though, and I'm always a sucker for more cyberpunk content.

A couple things:

1. Wat's up with these series recaps? I specifically mean the ones with AI-generated narrators, that have crazy names and that summarize several hours of a show in 10-20 minutes. I just came across them a couple months ago and while they're convenient, they somehow seem... icky. Not sure how to express it. I linked to the youtube version so the corpos get their blood money from people not using adblocks, but here's an inviduous link: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=bwijp0n9yV4

2. The series looks interesting, somewhat cyberpunk (dystopia, corporations, a focus on the oppressed, subversive use of technology). From the recap, it seems like it suffers from the miniseries format, expanding an interesting idea just a bit too much to create a "soap opera"-like focus on characters that aren't written that well, and producing an unsatisfying ending because they were hoping for a season 2 (which of course was not granted.) In other words, an interesting recap, but perhaps not worth a full watch?

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series)

This was mentioned in passing a couple months ago. Not great, but an interesting watch. With a bit more work it could have reached a "Videodrome" level of excellence. As it is, it's a decent cult film.

The Italian dub of the full movie is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAAtCMtl0dA Not sure where else it's available, ask your pirate friend or check your library.

Features cameos by Iggy Pop, Carl McCoy from Fields of Nephilim, and Lemmy from Motorhead!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_(film)

This trailer reminds me of the Black Mirror episode "Playtest" so it's probably more cyberpunk-adjacent than actually cyberpunk but that doesn't mean it'll be bad.

Darksynth is a sub-genre of Synthwave. And within darksynth, there's a sub-sub-genre for cyberpunk synth music. So if synth music feels cyberpunk to you, these recommendations are a good starting point.

Here's a higher-res version of the image (also here). This guide was created by khroshan over on reddit, I just wanted to share it.

It might be hard to tell from this crazy kinetic trailer just what the hell KILLTUBE is. Well, apparently it's a movie with a target release date of 2026. The creators are calling it "Edo-punk" and sure, why not. It still looks cyberpunk-adjacent to me.

Here's the best description I could find:

It depicts Tokyo's Shibuya and Shinjuku districts in a parallel world, where the Edo shogunate has closed off Japan for over four centuries into 2026. In this isolated, stratified society, the only way to change one's standing in life is through duel battles streamed on KILLTUBE.

The battle entertainment story unfolds when an unlikely trio from the lowest depths of society withstand ridicule and aim for the top. As they win over the general public, they discover the hidden truth behind the KILLTUBE system.

Hopefully this movie actually gets released. I can understand why it might take 2 years to animate though if this trailer is any indication.

Usually when I make these "is it cyberpunk" posts, I try to pick movies that are popular enough that I can assume most people have already seen them. I'm not sure if Summer Wars is at that level but I wanted to ask this question anyway. Because really, there's only one aspect to this movie that could be considered cyberpunk and that's the inclusion of cyberspace.

It seems to me there are two types of cyberpunk: the hard-boiled detective in a futuristic city of neon lights, and stories involving cyberspace. For example, Tron and Lawnmower Man don't have any aspects of cyberpunk in the "real world" parts of the movie, yet both heavily rely on cyberspace. So both movies (I believe) are considered cyberpunk.

I'm taking that distinction and pushing it to the extreme with Summer Wars. In the real world parts of the movie, this is a slice-of-life story about a girl going to a family reunion and trying to convince her family that a friend of hers is actually her boyfriend. They're a middle-class family meeting up in a rural region of Japan. Basically as far from cyberpunk as you can get. But then there's the cyberspace part of the story, where a virus is threatening to take over the entire world. And that part would absolutely be considered cyberpunk in any other context.

So what do you think? Is the inclusion of cyberspace enough to consider something to be cyberpunk?

Here's a trailer. I don't think it's streaming anywhere right now but if you get a chance, I think it's worth watching. Even if you don't consider it to be cyberpunk, it still has great animation and writing.

Also, if you enjoyed Summer Wars, the director made a similar movie called Belle. Belle is also a slice-of-life story in the real world with a monster attacking cyberspace. It's a different world entirely (not a sequel), just similar themes. And Belle is streaming on Max.

I might as well jump on the May the 4th bandwagon and post something Star Wars related too. Here's some test footage from 2005 for a potential Star Wars TV show called Underworld, which would've been set in the lower levels of Coruscant (you know, the cyberpunk part of the Star Wars universe).

If you've never heard of it, here's a bunch of information about what it would've been and why it was abandoned.

There's a new cyberpunk animated movie releasing today in the US... but it isn't getting a "wide" release. So maybe you'll be able to see it in theaters, maybe not.

Amazon has been trying to recommend this book to me for awhile but I've always ignored it. My main issue is the title of the book, Cyberpunk City. That's so generic the author might as well have called it "My Cyberpunk Story". And while the cover art looks great, it's also your generic "person looking out over a cyberpunk city" motif, which is everywhere. So neither the title nor cover gave me any clues as to what this book is about, other than a generic cyberpunk cash-grab.

But, I happened to stumble upon a review of this book outside of amazon and I was intrigued. So I gave it a try. And I loved it. Figures, amazon was right all along.

While this book is full of your standard cyberpunk tropes, the author fits everything together so well it doesn't feel forced. Of course, cyberpunk tropes are what I want from a cyberpunk story, it's just that usually if the author's only goal is to write "a cyberpunk story" then it turns out bland. And that isn't the case here.

So yes, this book is about a hacker getting a crew together for a heist. There's your standard megacorps, AIs, black market dealings, cyberspace, cybernetic augmentations; it checks all the boxes. But the writing is good and I enjoyed myself. Honestly, now that I've read it, the only downside is it's only 260 pages long. That's pretty short for a heist story, which means most of the planning actually goes off without a hitch. There aren't constant distractions and side-quests the characters have to resolve before getting back on track. That doesn't mean the heist is entirely what it seems, though...

There are 5 books in the series, and each book is less than 300 pages. I enjoyed the first book so much I immediately bought the second. So far the second book's plot isn't as interesting, but the writing is still good and I'm still enjoying myself. In the end, that's all I really want.

This song and video are perfectly cyberpunk, I've always enjoyed it. I really liked the first couple songs from Scandroid (Datastream and Salvation Code) but by the time he made an entire album he leaned too far into the 80s aesthetic and love songs for my taste so I stopped listening. It's a shame too, it's rare for a band to create intentionally cyberpunk songs, rather than just music that may give listeners a cyberpunk "feel".

Rez Infinite is a modern remake of the game Rez, originally on Playstation 2 and Dreamcast. Rez is about a hacker breaking through firewalls in cyberspace to reach a malfunctioning AI. The gameplay involves flying your character through cyberspace and targeting multiple AI defenses at once to chain your attacks.

The game was big on rhythm and synesthesia. So the game is trying to get you basically into a trance. And as you play, your character transcends forms the longer you last, with each form gaining more detail:

Each time you die you start out at level 1. If you get hit, you go down to level 0. So you have to level up multiple times and not get hit to see any of the later forms. I've never made it beyond the level 3 form.

Another weird thing about the original game was, in an attempt to really push for synesthesia, the game came with a "Trance Vibrator" which you could plug into the console to further enhance the haptic feedback on the controller. It was a vibrator. Even the game creator admitted it could be used for sexual stimulation. I don't know how they actually got that manufactured and claimed it was for anything else.

Here's a trailer. You can play it on Steam, Playstation, and Xbox. And it has VR support.

Also, the creator made a spiritual successor called Child of Eden but I've never played it.

While it's possible this SPINE game could be good, there's no way it'll get film and TV adaptations. That seems a bit optimistic for game that isn't released yet, has no release date, and no one has heard of.

For what it's worth, here's a gameplay trailer and a cinematic trailer. And it has a Steam page. Like I said, this game could turn out great. And since it's cyberpunk, I'm rooting for it. I'd love a great cyberpunk game. But what little I've seen so far reminds me of Wanted: Dead and that game ended up with Mixed reviews at best.

I read a lot of random cyberpunk novels from the kindle store and I'm always on the lookout for more. Cyberpunk novels are annoyingly difficult to find since the "cyberpunk" category on amazon is nothing but LitRPG, but that's a different rant altogether.

Anyway, I don't actively try to find trans characters in literature (I'm not trans) but I don't avoid books that have trans characters. I figure trans characters actually fit pretty well into cyberpunk universes. So for anyone who is interested in reading cyberpunk stories with trans characters, here are the ones I've read:

Escapology by Ren Warom - The main character is trans but is post-transition so the fact that he's trans isn't even mentioned until ~80% into the book. And it's really only revealed so the villain can make trans-based insults about the main character just to get him riled up. Given that the character is post-transition, I liked the fact that being trans didn't define who he was, it was just something from his past that he didn't really think about anymore. Of course, this also means the reveal of being trans almost felt tacked-on and an after-thought. But in the sequel, Virology, everyone's cyberspace avatars are visible in the real world and the main character has a theory that being trans affected how his avatar behaves. So being trans does eventually have an effect and doesn't feel tacked-on anymore.

The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos - This novel is about a mercenary crew where each person has their role (the leader, the hacker, the muscle, etc.). Their hacker dies so they need to recruit a new one (they even load up the old hacker's consciousness like Dixie Flatline to train the new hacker, so that's fun). Anyway, the new hacker they find is non-binary. This is handled pretty well where every time a new character meets this hacker they ask for the hacker's pronouns. The hacker tells them, and they move on with the story. So the hacker being non-binary is handled throughout the book but it's never a main theme of the story. The plot continues to drive forward regardless of the hacker's gender.

Bang Bang Bodhisattva by Aubrey Wood - This novel is about two characters trying to solve a murder mystery. One acts like he's a hard-boiled detective in a film noir while the other is trans and mid-transition. Now, given that the trans character is mid-transition I'm sure this makes sense, but being trans is a constant topic of discussion. It's like having a character who's vegan constantly telling you they're vegan. Again, I'm not trans, so I don't doubt that someone who is mid-transition constantly has it on their mind. But as a reader, yeah, I get it, she's trans. She's also pansexual and in a polyamorous relationship. I feel like this is more of the focus of the story than the murder mystery. I do like that the author changes writing styles depending on which character is the POV of the chapter. So the detective character always has short, terse sentences while the trans character has more free-flowing sentences. But this is the only novel in the list where I went "ok, this novel isn't meant for me." It feels more like a novel for trans people than just including trans people.

And that's it. Those are the cyberpunk novels I've read with trans characters. I find it interesting how it spans from "almost feels like an after-thought" to "handled, and not a factor" to "ok, I get it, stop talking about it". Honestly, I'm not sure what the "right" way is to handle trans characters so I figure it's good to cover this whole spectrum.

This was mentioned in our discussion of bad cyberpunk movies but I wanted to bring it to a wider audience. Do you consider the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie to be cyberpunk?

I'd say the movie definitely takes place in a cyberpunk city, but are there any cyberpunk themes present?

Here's a trailer. I don't think it's streaming anywhere, but if you watch it I recommend watching with the RiffTrax commentary (Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys) to make it more enjoyable.

Samurai Jack was a great show, there's no question about that. But when I watched the first episode and he arrived in that cyberpunk city, I was really excited. A samurai from the past exploring a cyberpunk future? That sounds amazing.

Of course, as anyone who watched the show knows, he spent very little time in that city. Most episodes took place in the forest or around ancient ruins, and Jack being in "the future" was really just an excuse for him to fight robots so they could make the show as violent as possible and Jack would only get splashed with "oil".

(See? There's no blood! It's safe for kids!)

Sure, there were some episodes that were more cyberpunk, like the rave episode:

And the episode with the robot who just wanted to find his lost dog (Lulu, sweet thing):

But those were exceptions.

Of course, I kept watching the show anyway, because it's great. I was just hoping for more sci-fi/cyberpunk episodes. At least we finally got that last season, which finished the story after over a decade of waiting.

Anyway, here's the intro. You can watch the entire series on Max or Adult Swim.

God Complex (2017) is a great comic. My only complaint is it was cancelled after 6 issues. But at least they've released the whole thing as a single volume to make it easy to read.

The series takes place in a cyberpunk city where the Greek Gods are real and they're the only ones who can access cyberspace. And they all look like futuristic cyborgs, for whatever reason.

The main character is a down-on-his-luck detective investigating a series of murders that seem to be linked to a new cult. This heretic cult claims to worship one single God and The Rulers (Greek Gods) want to put a stop to it. So the detective's murder investigation captures the attention of The Rulers and they get involved. I don't want to say the last issue ends on a cliffhanger, but it definitely ends on a big reveal.

You can read the entire first issue here.