Japanese cyberpunk cinema, also referred to as Extreme Japanese Cyberpunk, refers to a sub-genre of underground film produced in Japan starting in the 1980s. It bears some resemblance to the ‘low life high-tech’ cyberpunk as understood in the West, however differs in its representation of industrial and metallic imagery and an incomprehensible narrative. The main directors associated with the Japanese cyberpunk movement are Shinya Tsukamoto, Shozin Fukui, and Sogo Ishii. The origins of the genre can be traced back to the 1982 film Burst City, before the genre was primarily defined by the 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man. It has roots in the Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s, with Sogo Ishii’s punk films of the late 1970s to early 1980s introducing this subculture to Japanese cinema and paving the way for Japanese cyberpunk.

Style
Japanese Cyberpunk generally involves the characters, especially the protagonist, going through monstrous, incomprehensible metamorphoses in an industrial setting. Many of these films have scenes that fall into the experimental film genre; they often involve purely abstract or visual sequences that may or may not relate to the characters and plot. Recurring themes include: mutation, technology, dehumanization, repression and sexual deviance

Precursors
In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically the Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with his punk films Panic High School (1978) and Crazy Thunder Road (1980), which portrayed the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and went on to become highly influential in underground film circles. Crazy Thunder Road in particular was an influential biker film, with a punk biker gang aesthetic that paved the way for Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. Ishii’s next film was the frenetic Shuffle (1981), an unofficial short film adaptation of a manga comic strip by Otomo.

Ishii’s most influential film was Burst City (1982). Since its release, it has had a strong effect on the underground Japanese film scene. It starred Shigeru Izumiya, who would, four years later, go on to direct his own cyberpunk film, Death Powder, in 1986. The early short films of Shinya Tsukamoto, such as The Adventures Of Electric Rod Boy (1987) and The Phantom of Regular Size (1986) (which Tetsuo was a remake of), are often credited as precursors of the movement.

Japanese Cyberpunk generally involves the characters, especially the protagonist, going through monstrous, incomprehensible metamorphoses in an industrial setting. Many of these films have scenes that fall into the experimental film genre; they often involve purely abstract or visual sequences that may or may not relate to the characters and plot. Recurring themes include: mutation, technology, dehumanization, repression and sexual deviance.

In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically the Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with his punk films Panic High School (1978) and Crazy Thunder Road (1980), which portrayed the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and went on to become highly influential in underground film circles. Crazy Thunder Road in particular was an influential biker film, with a punk biker gang aesthetic that paved the way for Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. Ishii’s next film was the frenetic Shuffle (1981), an unofficial short film adaptation of a manga comic strip by Otomo.

Ishii’s most influential film was Burst City (1982). Since its release, it has had a strong effect on the underground Japanese film scene.[9] It starred Shigeru Izumiya, who would, four years later, go on to direct his own cyberpunk film, Death Powder, in 1986. The early short films of Shinya Tsukamoto, such as The Adventures Of Electric Rod Boy (1987) and The Phantom of Regular Size (1986) (which Tetsuo was a remake of), are often credited as precursors of the movement.