Living Weapons in Animation: Fantasy and Anxiety

A recurring motif in Japanese animation and contemporary climate fiction animation is the misuse of technology by fictional scientific and militaristic authorities, which in the fictional narratives leads to severe disaster, often with ecological and environmental consequences. In this context, “living weapons” – powerful beings created by science whose impact and abilities are reminiscent of weapons of mass destruction – are particularly potent. Living weapons are “fantasy characters who exist in alternative worlds and become embroiled in implausible plot lines” (Swale 2020, 1999). As archetypes, they prompt reflection on the depiction of cultural notions of catastrophe, particularly environmental catastrophe, and are often explored as symptomatic of deep-rooted and durable cultural anxieties about disastrous scientific incidents.

Fig 1. Godzilla is a popular living weapon in animated film.

Unpacking “living weapons” can help us understand the broader attitudes to – and fantasies of – cultural ideas of scientific mismanagement and their intertwined temporalities. Specifically, thinking about living weapons in animation uncovers not only how living weapons provide insights into collectively held anxieties about the past, but as this article argues also how these anxieties inform in complex ways our desires and imaginaries about the role of science and technology in the future, and the responsibilities of those who may contribute.

In mid-twentieth century Japanese cinema, severe destruction and population decimation became common themes in fictional films centered on large, city-destroying monsters called kaiju (Palluconi and Schofield 2021). The first example of this fascination with kaiju is the 1954 film Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1954), in which the eponymous prehistoric reptilian monster, awakened and strengthened by nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, directs its wrath at Tokyo (Anisfield 1995) (Fig. 2). The narrative of Godzilla is widely interpreted as an allegory of the destruction caused by nuclear weapons in Japan and the suffering resulting from radiation poisoning in Nagasaki and Hiroshima less than a decade before the film was released (Anisfield 1995; Palluconi and Schofield 2021). Science apocalypse films featuring Godzillas (see Fig. 1) typically explore science mismanagement leading to ecological destruction and fears related to nuclear trauma, and often personify weapons through the fantasy creature – but there are many more living weapons to be discovered in animated film, beyond Godzilla.

Fig. 2 - Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1954).

In apocalypse anime – an anime genre that reflects historical fears of environmental pollution and war trauma (Shaw-Hawkins 2021; Siazon 2019; Sontag 1965, 48) – living weapons depict, perform, and embody destruction in ways that serve as critiques of human caused environmental, sociological, and psychosocial problems arising from scientific and technological development. Japanese animation of the 1980s in particular was saturated by animators who were second generation descendants of those who witnessed the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Mhairi Shaw-Hawkins identifies this period of apocalyptic animation as being dominated by anime characters who embody both visual aspects and a type of energy within their power or ability and who, as “post nuclear being[s]” are associated with environmental destruction (2021, 8). According to Camilla Siazon, Japanese films of the time embodied a “traumatic fascination” with the environmental consequences of nuclear weapons and disaster, including radiation, responsible for “spawning monstrous creatures such as Tetsuo of Akira, and Gojira (Godzilla)” (2019, 21). What can we learn from these creatures about our cultural ideas about science and technology?

Fig. 3 - Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988).

Living weapons beyond Godzilla

Like many Godzilla stories, the anime Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988) unfolds in a post-apocalyptic setting where the world has been rebuilt after the Third World War (Fig. 3). The city of Neo Tokyo itself serves as a critical site for the apocalypse, where urban decay and technological progress are shown side by side (Sontag 1965, 48). This world is populated by “post nuclear beings” created by the military to study psychic abilities within human subjects, and the film explores the unintentional awakening of psychic powers in the protagonist Tetsuo (Shaw-Hawkins 2021: 8).

Within the narrative of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind too, the  Toxic Jungles environment serves as a critical site for the apocalypse. When the Toxic Jungle is threatened to be systematically destroyed by the God Warrior (Weapon) we can see a technology that is destined to be misused by an authority.  Nathaniel Bryant argues that Miyazaki explores a paternalistic relationship within the narrative to undermine this perspective of humans holding stewardship over nature (paternalism over the Jungle has been identified as a dichotomy of humans being responsible stewards of the earth, and the practitioners of the most destructive environmental practices) (2015, 125). Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind ultimately explores how humanity’s paternalistic attempts to manipulate the environment can lead to disastrous consequences (Apocalypse).

Fig. 4 - Nobuo Tanaka from the animated film anthology Memories (Tensai Okamura, 1995).

Unlike both Akira and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Stink Bomb from the 1995 animated film anthology Memories (Tensai Okamura, 1995) does not take place in the aftermath of an apocalyptic calamity. Instead, the narrative follows Nobuo Tanaka (Fig. 4), a lab technician who works at a Pharmaceutical Company developing biological weapons and countermeasures; a company that misuses scientific technology by showing disregard for the potential ramifications of untested medications and a lack of understanding of the true dangers of their chemical compounds. When Nobuo mistakes another jar of pills for a cold remedy, he ingests an invasive biotechnology that interacts with a flu shot he had that day to form a deadly odor around himself, turning him into a grotesque kind of human stink bomb. Even if the pill in Stink Bomb is by some technical definition not a form of nanotechnology, it still fits with Sarah Davies and Phil Macnaghtens’ observation that invisible and microscopic technologies are connected to the audiences perceptions of what the technology is capable of; perceptions that are informed by the historical anxieties that surround weapons development and a misuse of technology by authorities (2010, 142).

More recently, the character Chrise from the manga series Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet (1999-2001) written by Shin Takahashi is an example of a living weapon (Fig. 5). In this anime, due to being forcibly experimented upon by the state, Chrise has become a fusion of weapon and human. The procedures done to her without her consent leads to a progressive loss of her original humanity as a transformative process occurs to her body over time, as a result of advanced biomechanical modification (Paquet 2016). Ultimately in this fictional universe, the state in the form of the Japanese Self Defence Force has created a living weapon. 

Fig. 5 - Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet (1999-2001).

In(to) the Face of Science: Fear, Fantasy and Animation

As these animated case studies show, living weapons can be a combination of both organic and technological origin, or as a result of modification become a technologically-altered being (Paquet 2016). Often these modifications are for the purpose of making the subject into a form of military weapon, and these changes are then inflicted upon characters often by an authoritative group such as a government or a science institution. In their respective fictional worlds, living weapons are associated with science and function as technology. In many cases, living weapons stand for science-based industrial developments that fuel anthropogenic pollution.

Both the fantasy and animation elements of these living weapons act as vehicles to explore a multitude of weapons related cultural anxieties that are difficult and even taboo to interact with. Jessica Black and Jennifer Barnes (2021) produced a study that was able to demonstrate that people who are exposed to science-fiction narratives have a greater correlation for generating counterfactual thoughts as their engagement in a sci-fi narrative increases. Knowing that sci-fi can also be used to enrich an audience’s knowledge of technological concepts, audiences can understand living weapons as a technological concept  to reflect on the possible harms of weapons. Perhaps these narratives serve as cautionary tales, giving audiences a space to reflect on the need for weapons of mass destruction, and questioning the paradigm that maintains these technologies? The narratives of living weapons arguably encourages us to question the notion of humans as stewards (authorities) of the earth, and to show restraint in the abuse of technology.  

**Article published: June 6, 2025**

References

Anisfield, Nancy. 1995. “Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the nuclear metaphor.” The Journal of Popular Culture 29, no. 3: 53–62.

Black, Jessica E., and Jennifer L. Barnes. 2021. “Pushing the Boundaries of Reality: Science Fiction, Creativity, and the Moral Imagination.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 15, no. 2: 284–294.

Bryant, Nathaniel Heggins. 2015. “Neutering the monster, pruning the green: The ecological evolutions of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.” Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities 2, no. 3: 120-126.

Davies, Sarah R. and Phil Macnaghten. 2010. “Narratives of Mastery and Resistance: Lay Ethics of nanotechnology.” NanoEthics 4, no. 2: 141–151.

Palluconi, Joey, and Damian Schofield. 2021. “The Kaiju as Beholder: Finding Empathy in Godzilla.” Screen Thought 5, no. 1. Available at: https://www.screenthoughtjournal.net/_files/ugd/0d1f4b_925ac2b67f3c4d3581adcd5cc6c45edc.pdf.

Paquet, Alexandre. 2016. “Transgressive Technological Weapons of War: Controlling Witches, Wearing Uniforms, Managing Voids, and Enhancing Bodies.” The Scattered Pelican 1, no. 2. Available at: https://thescatteredpelican.com/2016/06/10/transgressive-technological-weapons-of-war-controlling-witches-wearing-uniforms-managing-voids-and-enhancing-bodies/.

Shaw-Hawkins, Mhairi. 2021. “Depictions of The Bomb and Nuclear Apocalypse in Japanese Anime.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 19, no. 15: 1–12.

Swale, Alistair. 2020. “Anime and the Conquest of Time: Memory, Fantasy, and the “Time-Image” from Ghost in the Shell to Your Name. “Japan Review 35: 199–218.

Siazon, Camille. 2019. “Moving Out from Under Hiroshima’s Cloud: Understanding Nuclear Genocide through Film.” Senior thesis, New York City: Columbia University. Available at: https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/CamillaSiazon_Understanding%20Nuclear%20Genocide%20through%20Film_2019.pdf.

Sontag, Susan. 1965. “The Imagination of Disaster.” Commentary (New York) - American Jewish Committee 40, no. 4: 42-48.

Biographies

Lisa Klonis has previously studied a Bachelors of Science at The Australian National University, focusing on both a major in science communication and molecular and cellular biology with a keen focus on genetics. Genetics has been a passion of hers for quite sometime. Much of her current work as an analyst in the APS centres around the implications of novel scientific and technological advancements for Australia. Lisa has always had a personal interest in the role that gender and identity play in the exploration of the self and the other in narratives. Lisa has also taken to exploring gender and identity through poetry. These can be found under the pen name Lisa Pond-Keter.

Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at The Australian National University (ANU) and the Head of the Popsicule, ANU’s Science in Pop Culture and Entertainment Hub. Her research explores the cultural meanings of science, the history of (violent) clowns and mad scientists, science and humor, and the interface between science and (public) art.