Roujin Z

Aired: 1991

A satirical near-future SF film originally written and mecha-designed by Katsuhiro Otomo and directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo. In an ageing Japan, the government rolls out the Z-001, a fully automated nursing bed designed to handle bedridden seniors without human help. When the unit assigned to elderly Kijuro Takazawa starts to read his thoughts and run wild, a young volunteer caregiver and her friends find themselves caught in a city-wide rampage. The film mixes biting commentary on care policy and techno-utopianism with kinetic mechanical action, sharp Otomo-style cityscapes and character designs by manga artist Hisashi Eguchi, producing a unique and memorable cult favourite.