Spirits, Samurai And Cyborgs, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, Sat-Sun, www.ifi.ie, 01-6795744

The anime aesthetic has leaked into every corner of popular culture over the past few decades. The wide-mouthed children and gleaming robots have escaped their home in Japanese animation and stomped into advertisements, album covers and poster art.

The IFI pays tribute to this influential genre by screening four admired 21st-century animes and hosting two free talks by boffin Helen McCarthy. The films to be shown are Naruto: Legend of the Stone of Gelel, the latest turn from popular adolescent ninja; Metropolis, a re-imagining of the Fritz Lang classic; Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (pictured right), a sequel to the brain- expanding sci-fi classic; and Sword of the Stranger, a more traditional samurai drama.

The two talks by McCarthy, author of such books as 500 Manga Heroesand Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, are called A Brief History of Post-War Japanese Animationand Japanese Anime for Adults. Following the presentation of Sword of a Stranger, director Masahiro Ando will be present for a brief public interview.