(opens in new tab) 1 DRAGONBALL/DRAGONBALL Z The floating landforms of Pandora also take influence from later Ghibli release Laputa: Castle of the Sky. The Pandora landscape looks like the Valley of the Wind brought to life, and the Na’vi’s Ikran riding seems to take a few visual cues from Nausicaä’s windriding. Who/What Has It Influenced? James Cameron has made no secret of being a huge anime fan, and plenty of similarities can be seen in his record-breaking Avatar.

When she rescues a man from a crashed cargo aircraft, it sets a prophecy in motion that “a man clad in blue and surrounded by fields of gold” will one day reunite man and nature. Nausicaä, the peaceful princess of a settlement in the Valley of the Wind, has been able to befriend the jungle – often exploring it and communicating with its inhabitants. What’s It About? 1,000 years after humanity has been mostly destroyed by an apocalyptic war, small settlements still survive in areas that haven’t been over run by a toxic jungle swarming with giant insects. (opens in new tab) 3 NAUSICAÄ AND THE VALLEY OF THE WIND Also, any time you eve r see a motorbike in a sci-fi city, you can’t help mentally shouting, “ Tetsuo !” Josh Trank was also inspired when making Chronicle, admitting in an interview to be a “fan of all things Akira ” – telekinetic teen Andrew’s attack on police forces mirrors Tetsuo’s rampage through Neo Tokyo. In fact, the final sequences of the film, in which buildings begin to restore themselves, are a direct homage to Akira. Who/What Has It Influenced? Both the film and its original manga were an influence for director Alex Proyas’ 1998 neo-noir film Dark City. As Tetsuo develops his own psychic powers and becomes increasingly dangerous, Kaneda is forced to take down his friend before history repeats itself. When he and his friend Tetsuo stumble upon a secret government project to develop telekinetic humans as weapons, they also learn of Akira – an ESPer truly responsible for Tokyo’s destruction. What’s It About? Set 31 years after an atom bomb has destroyed Tokyo, Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of a youth motorcycle gang named the Capsules.

Ravaged buildings anime landscape