Machine Faith: Artistic, Religious and Philosophical Critique of Technology in Japanese Mecha Anime

Japanese artistic expressions are embedded in particular discourses on technology and religious practices. One of those discourses is the “robot-loving discourse”, that claims that the Japanese have a special and spiritual relationship with robots and technology. Recent research has shown that this discourse was developed throughout the years, since the Meiji era and are not something “inherent” to Japanese culture, besides having potentially negative consequences. The mecha anime genre, in which young men pilot giant robots to fight evil, is a media space where this discourse can be critically analyzed. One of mecha most important dilemmas is that technology can turn its users into either “gods” or “devils”. This article analyzes two mecha anime and their relationships with technology and religion: Nagai Gō’s Mazinger Z and Ishikawa Ken’s Getter Robo. Both made use of the robot-loving discourse and the use of religious play (shūkyō asobi) in order not just to tell a story, but also reflect on the possible deleterious effects of technology on mankind: the same technology that saves the world could also doom it. We read mecha anime under the perspective of Paul Tillich’s demonic, where both the creative and destructive strengths of mankind can be contrasted and warns that humanity must not be under the control of its own creations.