Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and Your Name are just some of Elon Musk’s favorite anime. The entrepreneur lists these titles as a starting point for new fans, after being asked about them.
You can check out the original tweet below:
All of those series are deemed classics by the community. Apart from older Ghibli movies, we can also see Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name that came out in 2016. Let’s see why and where you can try watching them yourself!
Death Note is a show that a lot of anime fans recommend when their friends want to get into the medium. It’s an anime adaptation of a manga drawn by Obata Takeshi and written by Ohba Tsugumi. It follows the story of Yagami Light, an intelligent high school student that stumbles upon a Death Note dropped by one of the gods of death. Writing a name in said note causes the person who bears it to die. Using that ability, Light decides to kill all of the criminals to create a new world that’s free from crime. However, it won’t be easy as L, a prodigy detective, stands in his way.
Elon also said that when it comes to characters, he likes L more than Light:
You can stream Death Note on Netflix.
The second anime series that’s recommended by Elon Musk is Evangelion. In the world of Evangelion humanity has to fight against celestial beings called “Angels”. Since even the most advanced munitions don’t work, NERV, a mysterious organization led by Gendou Ikari, created giant robots called “Evangelions”. Viewers follow the story of Shinji Ikari, a 14-year-old boy who has to pilot one of the Evangelions. The show is very dark and features psychological aspects of Shinji’s trauma caused by the loss of his mother and the fact his father wasn’t the best one.
You can stream Evangelion on Netflix.
Ghost in the Shell is the first anime film that Elon Musk mentions in his recommendations. The action is set in the future as we get to see the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9. Her Section is responsible for fighting terrorism and other threats caused by the shift towards globalization. Apart from action, the film focuses on philosophical questions, such as the meaning of life, that arise during a case that involves “Puppet Master,” a criminal that leaves his victims without their memories.
You can stream Ghost in the Shell on Amazon Prime Videos.
Spirited Away is one of the two Ghibli movies on Elon’s list. It tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a 10-year-old girl who’s on her way to her family’s new house. In the middle of the trip, she discovers an abandoned amusement park when her parents turn into pigs after eating food from one of the stalls. She learns that she has stepped into the spirit world. There, she works amongst the spirits as she tries to escape and get her parents back to normal.
You can stream Spirited Away on Netflix.
The second Ghibli movie is Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka, a young prince of Emishi village, is cursed by a demon boar he defeated. As he travels to find a cure for the curse, he gets entangled in a conflict between Lady Eboshi who promotes constant deforestation, and Princess San who’s furious at the destruction that humans bring. Even though he has his own problems, Ashitaka tries to seek harmony between the two.
You can stream Princess Mononoke on Netflix.
I’m not 100% sure if Elon meant Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood so I’ll talk about the latter one since it’s more known. Alphonse and Edward Elric use banned human transmutation in order to bring their deceased mother back from the dead. As a result, Alphonse loses his body while Edward loses his leg and sacrifices his arm to bind Alphonse’s soul to a suit of armor. We get to follow their journey of finding the Philosopher’s Stone – a gem that allows alchemists to defy the laws of Equivalent Exchange.
You can stream Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood on Netflix.
The most recent anime on Elon Musk’s list is Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. It’s a movie about Mitsuha, a high school girl who wishes to live a life of a boy living in Tokyo. One day she awakens to find herself in Tokyo in Tachibana Taki’s body. Taki also wakes up in Mitsuha’s body in the countryside. However, their actions start having a big impact on each other’s lives, bringing them closer and closer.
You can stream Your Name on Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos.
As you can see, pretty much all of Elon’s favorite shows/films are the ones that are highly acclaimed but the community and critics. We can for sure say that he has good taste when it comes to anime.
Source: Official Twitter
*The platforms listed in this article are included as they are available in the writer’s country.