Filmmaking has always fed upon itself, with newer movies often taking inspiration from those that came before. Sometimes these influences are subtle; sometimes, the similarities are too visible or too numerous to ignore. Such exchanges occur not only among filmmakers of the same country, but across cultures as well. Anime in particular has increasingly distinguished itself for its influence on Western filmmakers. In some of the following instances, the similarities between the two films were met with controversy, while others fell among a friendly exchange of ideas. Some borrow the very composition of the scenes in the movies from which they take inspiration, while others only take inspiration from the original film’s concept. Here are 11 films that were inspired by anime.

Inception (2010) - Paprika (2006)


Christopher Nolan’s famous action film Inception takes many of its concepts and scene compositions from Satoshi Kon’s Paprika. In Inception, a thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) who uses mind-bending dream sharing technology to steal corporate secrets is commissioned to use that technology to plant an idea into the mind of a C.E.O (Cillian Murphy). Paprika, meanwhile, follows a young female therapist named Paprika (Megumi Hayashibara) after a machine used by therapists to enter into the dreams of psychiatric patients is stolen. Though the two films don't share the same plot, the similarities are striking -- including similar action sequences, visual compositions, the dream machine that can enter the minds of others, and the conflict of how a person can tell whether they're in the real world or in a dream.

The Matrix (1999) - Ghost in the Shell (1995)


Some of the most iconic aspects of The Matrix, and those most central to its plot, come directly from Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost In The Shell. These include the green digital typography (which in The Matrix is apparently made out of Japanese characters from a sushi book), brain-computer interfaces that allow the characters to plug into virtual reality, and characters who discover the true nature of their existence. The Matrix also takes many of its visual cues and scene compositions from Ghost In The Shell. The Wachowskis have acknowledged the influence of Ghost In The Shell on their work.

Looper (2012) - Akira (1988)


Rian Johnson is a self-confessed anime fan, and has also admitted to using Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic film Akira as inspiration for his film Looper. In Looper, Cid (Pierce Gagnon) is a young boy whose psychic powers lead him to eventually turn into a monster. Although the story does not directly revolve around Cid, his arc is extremely similar to that of Akira’s Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki), whose transformation forms the central action of the film. Tetsuo's telekenetic abilities go out of control, ostensibly leading him towards a similar fate to that of an earlier ESPer named Akira whose destructive power triggered a Third World War.