One of my favorite games is Space Channel 5. On the surface it seems rather cutesy, inspired by 1960s space-age aesthetics like from The Jetsons and Barbarella.

One of my favorite games is Space Channel 5. On the surface it seems rather cutesy, inspired by 1960s space-age aesthetics like from The Jetsons and Barbarella. But narratively it's considerably darker. See, (spoiler warning) it turns out that the orchestrator of the alien invasion main character Ulala is documenting is the head of her own network, who staged the invasion in order to boost ratings for his network. It was actually a biting commentary on popular Japanese television of the period, as well as news and media in general; the turn of the millennium is when shows like Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (which famously locked a man naked in an apartment and forced him to acquire everything he needed including food and clothing as prizes in magazine sweepstakes, ultimately awarding him nothing for his trials) were on the air, and incredibly popular. So the future of The Truman Show was playing out in Japan, in real time, at right around the same time.