Drawn worlds, different rules

Adult animation, dream logic and imagined cities. Akira, Paprika and Ghost in the Shell belong to different stories and tones, not a single family-viewing category.

Akira posterMOVIE

Akira (1988)

Japanese original

124 min
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A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

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Ghost in the Shell posterMOVIE

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Japanese original

83 min
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In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.

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Paprika posterMOVIE

Paprika (2006)

Japanese original

90 min
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Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.

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Perfect Blue posterMOVIE

Perfect Blue (1998)

Japanese original

81 min
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Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.

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A Scanner Darkly posterMOVIE

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

English original

100 min
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An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

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Waking Life posterMOVIE

Waking Life (2001)

English original

101 min
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Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

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