Despite the prevailing American view that cartoons are for children, Japanese view anime as a legitimate art form that is appropriate for adult viewing.
Anime subjects vary widely from soap opera drama, to medieval adventures, to science fiction.
Many of the sci-fi anime films exhibit traits that are common to the cyberpunk ethic. This movement is a new view of the world, one in which neither apocalypse nor utopia is presented. Those involved in creating cyberpunk show the current global situation, only much more so. They extrapolate from current events and take it to a higher degree. Almost everything in their fictional worlds is recognizable to modern readers, only they have projected technology and events into a future that is possible.