The summer 2023 anime season is packed with hotly anticipated shows created by many beloved animation studios. However, The Gene Of AI, made by legendary studio Madhouse, could quickly become the season's sleeper hit. The new anime takes the concepts that made Black Mirror successful and presents them through a different lens, engaging with modern technology and social media debates in a novel new way.
The show, called The Gene Of AI, is based on the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Kyūri Yamada. The manga is set in a near-future world where around 10% of the world's population are AI-powered "humanoids." While they're accepted as part of society, life isn't easy for them. Humanoids are vulnerable to unique illnesses and have to deal with many problems, including grappling with what it means to be an artificial lifeform surrounded by humanity.
What Is The Gene of AI?
Gene of AI follows Dr. Sudo Hikaru, a doctor who specializes in treating and helping humanoids. However, the nature of this work often forces him to go against the law. Because of this, he lives a double life, going undercover as Moggadeet to help humanoids even when he's breaking the law. With Yuzo Sato, the man behind Police in a Pod and Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, directing and Ryunosuke Kingetsu, who previously worked on Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure writing the scripts, and Boogiepop and Others alum Kei Tsuchiya responsible for character designs, it's a strong series supported by a powerful creative team.
How Gene Of AI One Ups Black Mirror
The Gene Of AI looks to improve on Black Mirror and similar tech-horror shows in many ways. It takes a more holistic look at AI and the nature of artificial life. While it's structured like an anthology, setting its stories in one world and following a single character allows the series to look at how AI can affect every stratum of life. This lets it examine the wide-scale economic changes AI could bring as well as the effects it could have on individuals and relationships.
Unlike many similar shows, The Gene Of AI is set after AI becomes commonplace instead of focusing on the rise of AI. This opens up many more options for storytelling because a world where AI is integrated into every aspect of society would be significantly different from one where it was just getting off the ground. It introduces new prejudices and problems; they're novel but they're still shadows of the issues society faces today.
The Gene Of AI manga also focuses on the relationships between artificial beings and humanity, as many of the problems the series highlights are extensions of problems modern people face. These inhuman characters struggle with finding their place in the world, dealing with discrimination, or trying to come to terms with medical issues. This sets the anime apart from many other shows that use AI as an unfeeling foe to be conquered by human characters or as the inhuman architects of dystopia.
Animation is also the perfect medium to explore the problems associated with AI. Animation's flexibility allows creatives to imagine new artificial beings and use imaginative visuals to show how they perceive the world around them. This is another reason that Madhouse is likely the best studio to handle this adaption, as they have experience creating beautiful and emotional animation that put viewers inside the heads of unusual people in unique situations. Also, the fact that the use of AI in the animation industry is a hotly debated topic right now means that an anime studio has a vested interest in and a unique perspective on this topic.
The Gene Of AI could be 2023's biggest summer anime hit. If the show can capture what made the manga engaging and relevant, then it's bound to find its audience. With Madhouse's stellar track record, that seems likely, as the studio has a habit of creating memorable shows that surpass expectations.