Television series
Ulysses 31
A rapturous 1981 French-Japanese anime that hurls Homer's Odyssey into deep space. Ulysses pilots a sleek starship through psychedelic sci-fi landscapes, hunting for Hades while his petrified crew watches helplessly. Synth-scored, visually intoxicating, and genuinely strange—made for children but beloved by adults who never quite forgot it.
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Star Blazers1974
A spiritual predecessor that proved anime could do epic space opera with real stakes and visual spectacle. Its influence on Ulysses 31 is direct; both combine classical storytelling with cutting-edge sci-fi design.
But Early 1970s animation can feel stiff and repetitive, especially across long series runs. The pacing drags occasionally.
Les Mystérieuses Cités d'or1983
Another Franco-Japanese production from the exact same era with the same dreamy, hypnotic quality. Kids on a ship searching for lost civilizations. The aesthetic is slightly earthier, but that wandering-the-world energy is pure shared DNA.
But Pacing is deliberate to the point of glacial. If you need plot momentum, this will test your patience.
Transformers1984
Also born from that 1980s anime-US co-production moment. Same sense of kids' entertainment that doesn't talk down, gorgeous painted animation, serialized storytelling that actually goes somewhere. The Japanese studio work shines through.
But It's a toy commercial, full stop. The writing is uneven and some episodes are genuinely bad.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem2003
Both are wordless myths of cosmic displacement, using visual language and electronic music instead of plot to create atmosphere. Both trust the audience to feel loss without explanation.
A silent, 65-minute anime film scored entirely to Daft Punk. Four aliens kidnapped from their home world travel across space trying to get back. The visual design is pure 1970s-80s sci-fi retro-kitsch, and the wordless storytelling feels like watching a myth unfold. It IS Ulysses 31's DNA perfected.
But No dialogue whatsoever. Some viewers find pure visual storytelling exhausting rather than meditative. Also quite short.
More like this (7)
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water1990
A '90s anime that directly inherits Ulysses 31's DNA: journey across impossible seas, retro-futurism, a captain driven by obsession, crew members caught in someone else's fate. Hideaki Anno at full visual fever.
But Notoriously loses its mind halfway through and starts dabbling in metaphysics instead of adventure. The last third is genuinely baffling.
Arcadia of My Youth1982
A standalone anime film about a space pirate captain, made the same year as Ulysses 31 by the same cultural moment. Gorgeously animated, melancholic, all about a man haunted by loss. Pure mood and design.
But Almost nothing happens. It's a meditation on failure and aging, not an action film, so patience with stillness is required.
The Last Unicorn1982
A fantasy equivalent from the same moment: lush, prog-rock scored, infinitely strange, and genuinely moving. Hand-drawn fantasy that dares to feel mythic and sad rather than cute.
But The animation quality varies wildly. Some sequences are stunning; others look like TV animation stretched to feature length.
Moana2016
A modern film that understands what Ulysses 31 was doing: epic journey framed as a quest across unknown spaces, journey-as-spiritual-necessity, ancestor-guided wandering. Same emotional bones.
But Disney gloss and Broadway-adjacent musical numbers may feel too polished if you want the rawer, stranger energy of the original.
Gravity2013
A psychological space thriller about isolation and drifting. If you responded to the loneliness and the hypnotic visuals of Ulysses 31—that sense of being untethered in an infinite void—this distills that into 90 minutes of pure tension.
But Minimalist, claustrophobic, and ultimately quite bleak. No wonder or adventure, just survival. Some find it tedious.
Orpheus1950
Both take classical myth (Odyssey, Orpheus) and relocate it to a contemporary technological landscape. Both ask what it means to be cursed to wander, separated from what you love. Same philosophical DNA.
Jean Cocteau's Orpheus transplanted to 1950s Paris, where Hades becomes the underworld of mirrors and radio waves. It's the Odyssey reimagined for a modern era using pure visual poetry. Black-and-white, surreal, heartbreaking.
But It's French New Wave—deliberately paced, symbolic rather than literal, and deeply sad. If you want plot clarity or adventure energy, this will feel oblique and slow.
Dark City1998
Both feature protagonists trapped in an alien space by cosmic punishment, navigating landscapes that feel designed rather than natural. Both are as much about visual world-building as plot. Both are obsessed with isolation and displacement.
A noir sci-fi film where an amnesiac man wanders a city that rebuilds itself every night, hunting answers while the landscape transforms. Hypnotic production design, synth-scored passages, a protagonist trapped by cosmic forces, a visual style that feels like it came from the 1980s retro-futurism Ulysses 31 pioneered.
But Deliberately confusing plot that doesn't fully resolve. Some versions are heavily cut. The mood is noir-bleak, not adventurous—slower and more introspective than expected.
People
Cast
Recommended by
Blood of Zeus, The Lord of the Rings, Blackstar, Space Academy, Starcom: The U.S. Space Force