Fans of Stranger Things almost immediately drew comparisons to classic Stephen King novels and Steven Spielberg films, but probably the most obvious influence on the show is Katsuhiro Otomo's 1982 cyberpunk manga, Akira and it's 1988 anime film. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers, twins Matt and Ross, formally recognized Akira as one of the show's influencers but also referenced a more recent anime as a bigger contributor.
"Yes, I saw that. Akira was obviously a big one," said Ross before Matt added, "But then weirdly it’s like, I haven't seen it for a long time. More recently I had seen an anime called Elfen Lied that is clearly inspired by Akira. And that was really influential. When I watched it I thought it felt like an ultraviolent E.T. There were a lot of things in there that I really liked and that made their way into the show, particularly related to the character of Eleven."
As most anime fans know, both Akira and Elfen Lied deal with young teens with psychic abilities who are confined to life as a glorified lab experiment before escaping to explore the larger world. From Eleven's number tattoo to her specific psychic test, it's clear that Matt and Ross are big anime fans.
The Duffers also cited Silent Hills and The Last of Us as inspiration in addition to a litany of classic films from the '80s. With Stranger Things season 2 set to premiere on Netflix in 2017 what other anime shows do you hope to see referenced in next round of new episodes?