The idea that Japanese anime is "just for kids" no longer has much currency in Japan, for many years it has had a wide audience of people in their teens and twenties. Sometimes controversial and frequently criticised for its depictions of sex and violence, it often has deeper, more broadly philosophical themes.

In particular, the works of Mamoru Oshii are famous for their philosophical musings. It is generally accepted that his long animation film "Ghost in the Shell" (1995) influenced the Wachowski brothers` "Matrix". "Ghost in the Shell" is about a cyborg which/who is completely mechanised apart from her brain. She meets a program which claims that it is a "living being" and floats in Internet space. She chooses to amalgamate with the program. What if the essence of a person is their consciousness and memories and it is possible to "save" them as electronic data in a memory bank? Oshii asks us to consider what differentiates persons from a sophisticated program and a set of information. Human senses are extended by multi media communication devices such as TV, mobile phones and the internet, technology freeing us from physical limitations. Modern man`s superiority-complex and anxieties are reflected in a science fiction. This theme is also pursued in his film in progress, "Innocence".

In his TV animation series "Gundam" (1979) Yoshiyuki Tomino conveys an expectation and hope that by deeply engaging with machines (or media/communication devices) humans may develop new senses when freed from the limitations of their physical body. In these films a boy hero, who steers a combat robot, develops super motor-nerves and telepathic abilities in the course of his experiences in war.

In Japanese robot animations the heros are mostly boys, who function as the semi-autonomous robot`s pilots. In many works the robot has the role of protecting the boy by enfolding him within its body. In a sense it performs a role analagous to that of a mother`s womb, while simultaneously performing what may be perceived as a "fatherly" role by extending the boy`s abilities and giving him a power equal to or that transcends those of an adult. With the robot`s help, the boy can become the most important figure in the story. The audience of primarily young males can identify with such heros and dream of their own growth. Such robots are a "spring board" for such boys and the robot animes are allegories of their growth fantasies. This perhaps is why such robot animations are so popular in Japan.
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