There are never too many quality sci-fi projects.
Sci-fi is widely represented in anime – be it space opera, cyberpunk or alternative history. The creators of anime titles are also turning to the most popular topic of recent years – the interaction of humans and artificial intelligence. And the best project of last year on this topic, which went rather unnoticed, is The Gene of AI.
What is The Gene of AI About?
In the near future, technology has advanced to a new level. The most vivid example of progress are humanoids – artificially created humans, almost indistinguishable from ordinary people.
This is the world Hikaru Sudo lives in – a doctor who specializes in humanoids and can fix anything. And if he is not enough, Moggadeet can always come to the rescue – under this name Sudo conducts illegal operations.
Sudo's choice of profession is not accidental: he hopes to find the borrowed personality of his humanoid mother. In the past, she agreed to copy her personality in exchange for helping her sick son.
However, such actions are illegal, which is why the woman ended up behind bars. The doctor spends a lot of time and money searching for information while solving other people's problems.
The Gene of AI is a Sci-Fi Procedural that Raises Interesting Questions
The very first episode does a great job of exposition and gives an understanding of the world in which the plot unfolds. No less important, the consequences of copying a personality are shown, and the situation is considered from several angles at once.
The authors clearly show why such operations are forbidden all over the world – using examples of terrorist attacks. But what is much more interesting is not the moral component, but the emotional one: will we have the same personality if we restore it from a copy? Or will it be a fake, even if it is very close to the original?
Such dilemmas will arise throughout the whole series. For the most part, The Gene of AI is structured as a procedural: with rare exceptions, the events of the episodes are self-contained and deal with one case.
The range of topics is wide: from the classic paradox of the Ship of Theseus to the feeling of love, which is familiar to both humans and humanoids.
Toward the end, all the small stories are woven into a coherent world in which a more global plot unfolds. Many of the seemingly episodic characters return and take on more important functions.
Where to Stream The Gene of AI?
The Gene of AI is available to watch on Crunchyroll.