Best Sci-Fi Anime of 1981

Ataru Moroboshi is an unremarkable, lecherous high school student whose defining trait is his abysmal luck, which is as conspicuous as the horns on an alien’s head. When a fleet of alien invaders known as the Oni threatens Earth, Ataru is chosen to represent humanity in a duel against one of their kind. This turns out to be fortunate for him, as the contest is merely a game of tag, and his opponent is Lum, the daughter of the Oni leader. Lum values her personal honor over winning, a fact Ataru exploits by grabbing her bikini top to claim victory. Trouble arises when Lum misinterprets Ataru’s promise to marry his girlfriend, Shinobu Miyake, as a proposal to wed Lum herself. Delighted by the idea, she uses her status as an alien princess to move in with him. Now forced to confront the repercussions of his promiscuous nature, Ataru must manage his deteriorating relationship with Shinobu while simultaneously trying to keep Lum content, all without failing to flirt with every woman he encounters.

Dr. Slump brings into existence Arale, an incredibly powerful, cheerful, and utterly illogical android girl. The pair resides in Penguin Village, a location notorious for its bizarre occurrences, such as a pig in a top hat heralding the sunrise.

Golion, a powerful sentient robot, misuses his immense strength by attacking and slaughtering creatures called Deathblack Beastmen, boasting that no one can defeat him. A divine space being punishes Golion for his arrogance and abuse by splitting him into five separate lion robots. In the year 1999, five young men return to Earth after a space voyage and find it devastated by nuclear war. After encountering the alien race known as the Galra, the five youths end up on the planet Altea, where they discover that the five lion robots—the fragments of Golion—are in hibernation in different locations across Altea. Somehow, they must reunite the lions and reform Golion, the only hope for humanity.

The narrative follows a small band of guerrilla freedom fighters on the colonial planet Deployer, known as the "Deployer 7," or "Sun Fang" team. After an unexpected coup, the planet's elected Governor seizes dictatorial power and imposes martial law, backed by Earth's Federation. Striving for independence from Earth's Federation influence, the rebels launch a revolt against the Federation's Combat Armors, wielding a Combat Armor of their very own: the Dougram.

In 1999, Amamori Hajime is a typical elementary school student, busy with studies and hanging out with his eccentric friends. One day, his father tests a piece of equipment he has been developing, causing an explosion that destroys their home and leaves Hajime an orphan. He is taken in by his uncle, an astronomer. At his uncle's observatory, Hajime encounters a girl he has seen before and developed a bit of a crush on. He learns her name is Yukino Yayoi, and her parents run a ramen shop in town. Even better, she works as his uncle's assistant—what luck! But Yayoi is not what she appears to be. There is a reason she helps Amamori-san at the observatory. She is the Millennial Queen (Sen-Nen Joou), chosen by her home planet LaMetal to come to Earth and help prepare for the possible destruction of the planet. What disaster is coming? LaMetal has a highly elliptical orbit that brings it extremely close to Earth every 1000 years. When it gets near, the Earth reacts, triggering widespread natural disasters. Although she was selected with LaMetal's protection in mind, her personal plan is to evacuate as many humans as possible to LaMetal, so they might survive if their own planet is destroyed. However, one person strives to stop her: the head of the Millennial Theives. Why does he want to prevent Yayoi's plan? And how does he know about the Millennial Queen in the first place?

In the thirty-first century, Ulysses killed the giant Cyclops while rescuing children and his son Telemachus. This angers the ancient gods of Olympus, who decree a terrible punishment: Ulysses must journey across the universe of Olympus with a frozen crew, seeking the Kingdom of Hades. Only upon finding that realm will the curse be lifted from his crew, allowing him to return to Earth and his beloved Penelope.

A meteor impact reveals a potent new energy source known as Beamler, which powers the battle robot GoShogun and the teleporting fortress Good Thunder. The Docougar Crime Syndicate, led by crime lord Neo Neros, attempts to steal this energy secret from GoShogun’s inventor, who takes his own life to prevent them from obtaining it. Neo Neros then targets the inventor’s son, but the boy is rescued and taken aboard Good Thunder. There, he joins the crew in their global campaign against Neo Neros’s forces using GoShogun.

In 1999, humanity starts expanding beyond the solar system. The planet Gishin, under Emperor Zule, seeks to conquer the galaxy and comes into conflict with Earth. Zule decides to eliminate Earth by sending an infant named Mars to live among humans, accompanied by a giant robot called Gaia that uses a new power source strong enough to destroy an entire planet. The plan is for Mars to grow up, then activate a bomb inside Gaia to annihilate Earth. When Mars arrives, he is adopted by a Japanese family and renamed Takeru. Seventeen years later, Takeru has come to love humanity and refuses to follow Zule’s order to detonate the bomb. However, if Takeru dies, the bomb in Gaia will detonate and destroy Earth. Takeru possesses psychic powers (ESP) and joins the Earth defense forces, becoming a member of the elite Crasher Squad. Alongside his friends, he makes a last stand against the Gishin invasion. Fate also pits Takeru against his brother Maag in the war. Unknown to the Gishin, five other robots were secretly built alongside Gaia by Takeru’s father and sent with Gaia to protect Takeru. Whenever Earth is in danger, Takeru can summon these five robots—Sphinx, Uranus, Titan, Shin, and Ra—to combine with Gaia and form the giant robot Godmars.

In the year 2111, humanity has colonized the solar system. The colonized moons and planets are lawless, with the police powerless to maintain order. To fight the evil spreading through the solar system, Isaac Godonov forms the J9 team, consisting of himself, Blaster Kid, Stephen Bowie, and Angel Omachi. They are a group that handles any missions the police refuse, using their robot Braiger—for a price. Meanwhile, Earth's Nubia section has a plan to destroy Jupiter in order to create 30 more planets for human colonization. However, this plan would result in the destruction of Earth.

The series begins at the home of a young boy named Sho Azuka, who finds the magical Bible "Superbook." This Bible speaks and transports Sho, his friend Azusa Yamato, and his toy robot Zenmaijikake back in time to the early events of the Old Testament.

Hiro's life is forever altered after discovering what seems to be a broken lighter in a deserted field. This object is actually the Gold Lightan, a robot that crashed on Earth from the Robot Dimension. When summoned to safeguard the planet from the malevolent machines of Ivalda the Great, Gold Lightan morphs into the Golden Warrior, a colossal super robot. Teaming up with Hiro and his group, the One Pack Rangers, the Golden Warrior fights to thwart the sinister plots of Ivalda the Great and his armored troops.

The narrative follows Mito Mitsukuni, a mecha-themed tale centered on Edward Mito, the Prince of the Edon Star. Accompanied by his servant Baron Kalkus, Duke Skead, and the ninja girl Shinobu, he embarks on a journey across the galaxy. Assuming the aliases Bocchan, Suke, and Kaku, the group aids the oppressed and battles using the super robot Daioja.

At just 11 years old, the brilliant Michiru has already earned her Ph.D. in atomic physics from a California university. But despite her accomplishments, she still wishes for a little brother, so she constructs one herself. Robot boy Dotakon is soon joined by their little robot sister Chopiko, and the trio sets off on a series of fantastic adventures powered by Michiru's inventions.