Gia's List: Anime's 7 Most Interesting Apocalypses

Catchy tunes aside, the end of the world isn't something many of us want to contemplate...at least, not in reality. Turns out we totally dig it in our fiction, and that goes for Japanese creators as well as western ones! Here are some of the most interesting takes on the apocalypse you'll find in the anime section.

7. Space Battleship Yamato (Radiation)
In both Space Battleship Yamato and its bowdlerized American version, Earth's inhabitants live underground after an alien attack exposed the entire population to severe radiation. Unfortunately, even moving underground isn't enough to protect the population for more than about a year, at which time the entire population will basically wipe out. With its usual scrappy, can-do attitude, humanity sends out a crew manning a former Japanese battleship, the Yamato, newly-outfitted to fly through space and seek out help from another planet. Of course, it turns out that there are plenty of alien species who would be happy to destroy humanity and take over the earth or otherwise make trouble for the ship...



6. Appleseed (World War III)
There are plenty of different franchises that revolve around a third World War or its aftermath, and Appleseed is particularly detailed example. World War III lasts two years after it initially breaks out, resulting from a U.S.-allied Russia invading the Middle East and supressing Israel. Around that two-year mark the war went neuclear, resulting in devestation and a nuclear winter. Oh, and World War IV, which starts because those involved in WWIII (the U.S., Europe, and Russia) start to look askance at the mostly-untouched Asian nations, which have grown wealthy in the meantime. Appleseed revolves around the adventures of former LAPD SWAT Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires, who up with defense forces in their new home: the island nation of Olympus.



5. Casshern Sins (Robots)
In both the original King of Thorn (Disease) - Spoiler Alert!
In Blue Submarine No. 6 (Flood)
Forget the melting ice caps: be worried about your mad scientists. In Blue Submarine No. 6, a scientist named Zorndyke causes the world to flood and begins to populate it with strange, aquatic, half-human/half-animal creatures. He designed the creatures to fight and destroy humanity, a race he believes has ruled Earth long enough. Human cities are almost all destroyed and under water. It's a scenario they are woefully unprepared for, and their world gets smaller by the second. Their only hope is an international fleet of submarines, and the series focuses on a particular vessel: the titular Blue Submarine No. 6. It's a race against time to kill Zorndyke in his Antarctic base before he can flood the entire earth with seawater.



2. Vampire Hunter D (Nuclear war, then vampires)
Sometimes it's not enough to nuke the earth back to the medieval era. Prolific sci-fi novelist A Wind Named Amnesia (Amnesia)
Forget nuclear war, aliens, vampires, zombies, or whatever you think might destroy the world. In fact, forget everything. That's the basic idea behind A Wind Named Amnesia: a strange wind breezes across the planet, causing everyone in the world to forget everything. Not just who they are, but also every element of society and culture, even how to use tools. Even if there IS something they could actively fight against, they simply de-evolve too much to do so. Except, of course, for protagonist Wataru, who manages to learn again after being exposed to the wind, and a mysterious girl named Sophia who has not suffered the effects of the wind. It's of note, also, that Hideyuki Kikuchi is the creator of both D and Amnesia.


Honorable Mentions: Two shout-outs for Gurren Lagann, whose post-apocalyptic wasteland results from a combination of overpopulation and alien involvement (disqualified because— SPOILER ALERT! —humanity wins).

The new poll: Well, last weekend was Easter, and the obvious tie-in is bunnies, so...let's have it! Your favorite bunny girl, based on either a well-known appearance in a show or official art. List is obviously not all-inclusive so go ahead and vote, then make more nominations in the comments.

The previous poll: Last week we offered up a simple, two-answer poll: do you (generally!) prefer animal mascots that talk, or ones that make cute noises instead? The result wasn't a landslide victory, but the cute noises of characters like Sailor Moon's Luna took a healthy 47% (but still second place).