Angelic Layer is a futuristic sports melodrama about kids who battle each other (basically it's ultimate fighting) using very cute (of course) remote controlled "dolls." The backstory has the (only slightly) mad scientist (a Dr. House type) developing the dolls as an proof-of-concept for artificial limbs.

Well, Wired Science recently did a story about Nao Maru and his son Kenta and a robot named King Kizer, that is controlled using a directly-controlled body harness. Of course, real life isn't going to duplicate animated CG, but it's amazing how much the competitions (rudimentarily) resemble those on Angelic Layer.

Here's the Wired Science story:


And video of more competitions:

Labels: anime, japan, robots, technology