Raven-1969
In an off-limits area of new Tokyo and the aftermath of World War III, a secret government project known as Akira is unraveling and a freakish stage of evolution is occurring. Rival motorcycle gangs, military special forces units, scientists, rebels and odd kids with supernatural powers, are among the groups clashing. Orders are to kill what cannot be controlled, yet few are in control of themselves. Into the void steps motorcycle gang leader Kaneda, a noble outlaw in the tradition of Mad Max, Motoko Kusanagi and Han Solo, to attempt to tie up loose ends.
This timeless, complex and thrilling animation masterpiece is as action packed as it is food for the brain. It is a typical Japanese dish; the artistry, attention to detail and manner in which it is prepared and served are as important as the taste. No corners are cut. To look away, even for a moment, means missing an essential part of the multi-faceted story. Akira is delicious for eyes, ears, brain and heart alike. After 30 years it aged well.
Akira revolves around questions of balance; those who absorb power without thought or principle, and those too cowardly to act. Decisions are made for those who do not make them on their own. The only foolish questions are those that are unasked.For a deeper experience, listen to the film in Japanese.
The Movie Diorama
Garnering a title such as that automatically inserts high expectations upon everyone. Well, from what I just witnessed, it pretty much floored me. Two school drop outs, Kaneda and Tetsuo, discover that the government are creating weaponised telekinetic humans where the latter becomes experimented on himself. It soon comes into motion that they've unleashed a power of cataclysmic proportions that cannot be stopped. Thirty years since its release, three decades since it took the world by storm and popularised anime in western culture. It is, without a doubt, an incredibly entertaining cyberpunk showstopper. For director Otomo to perfectly balance the political agendas of anarchy, capitalism and revolutions with existential themes of religion and creationism, is pure genius. To blend these ancient and modern ideologies and amalgamate them to populate a futuristic dystopian environment, again, is pure genius. Not only does he stop there. Intricately adding exhilarating action sequences bolstered by characters teeming with excitable personalities to create what I can simply describe as anime's greatest blockbuster. Wow. It hasn't aged at all. The animation is gorgeous, Neo-Tokyo looked awe-inspiring and the inventive imagery was stunning. Tetsuo's nightmarish fantasies surprisingly stunned me, the ominous images of giant toys have mentally scarred me. The visceral violence, the excessive use of gore and the usage of profanity enhances the overall edginess. Way ahead of its time, that's for sure. Yet beneath the visual splendour lies a melancholic story of a friendship being tarnished by corruption. You feel for both Tetsuo and Kaneda, two central characters that are exquisitely developed. The third act involving Akira did escalate to absurd levels of craziness, which detracted from the realism of the story. Also some of the scene transitions were abruptly cut. However, very small nitpicks. Akira may not be the best anime feature film I've seen, but it certainly has justified its status as the most influential.
eagandersongil
It is impossible not to notice right away how "Akira" influenced and used influences, it is impossible to say if the manga inspired the art direction of the first "Blade Runner" or if "Blade Runner" inspired the art direction of "Akira" , but it is livable that a baby from the source of the other, this is just an example, since innumerable other animes and films bring elements of "akira" such as "Elfen Lied" or so many others, "Akira" is politics, violence, vulgarity, music, action, photography, "Akira" is synonymous with the word POP, and one of the framers of Cyber Punk culture in the East and West. "Akira" in two hours has a very unpleasant mission, he has to build a whole universe and still tell a story full of symbolism and subjectivity without letting the viewer get distracted, obviously he uses a lot of graphics to accomplish this task. but first of all, the basis of everything, is the script, that script is the only thing in the movie that is not perfect, she got confused, hangs, gives back, abuses ex-machine, but even so, he is extremely daring, innovative, philosophical and grandiose, perhaps even too much, contemplate the histories of Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata) and Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki), two friends who are forced to face each other after being brought in by metahuman power, intrigues, youth, war and society are treated in the length of Katsuhiro Otomo, from this degeneration of youth, in the best style "Mechanical Orange" to the end of the world. is really a screenplay that covers a lot, although you get lost a little on this long road, he knows how to develop the characters partially, incredible as it may seem, is missing some flash backs, and you have problems defining a protagonist, or even even the real function of some character, as this is not told to the viewer, just shown, it is up to whoever is watching connect the dots, and please né, the screenplay of "Akira" is not a head bug, the luggage that we have today, many things are easy to interpret even if the story in some points leave many ends tips open, and the end, leave the viewer completely confused, of course, unless you have read the manga, there will be a wonderful experience, but we have to give a discount, it is difficult to adapt more than 2000 thousand pages of manga in two hours of film, several characters are left out or are poorly exploited. The first thing that jumps in the eye in "Akira" is the beauty of the animation that is something completely timeless, recorded at I20 frames per second, something extremely advanced for the 80's, and all handmade, details, windows, shadows, the beauty of this animation is something vicarious and addictive, it is impossible not to be in love with the movements, colors, angles, details, graphics, it is really a perfect animation, that even after more than 25 years stays above the level, conquering generations, just like her soundtrack, full of voices and synthesizers she is tribal, mechanical, scary and house completely with the film always leaving the viewer glazed on the scene and sharing the emotions shown on screen. Finally, "Akira" is a symbol of a movement, it may seem that many things are missing in its entanglement- At least in anime- it compensates with a timeless look and is a spectacular and unique film.
DylanW
"Akira" is set after a bomb strikes Tokyo, sending it into a post-apocalyptic state, where psychics exist and teenage bikies flood the streets. After a violent and graphic opening sequence, one of Kaneda's (the protagonist of the film) friends are kidnapped. Throughout the film, we witness the development of the antagonist, Kaneda's friend, Tetsuo. Tetsuo develops psychic powers for an unknown reason, he soon becomes obsessed with the power, which cloud reason and judgement. All through the film we witness a complicated and unique plot-line and character developments which are interesting and not-your-usual-style. For example, Kaneda, the protagonist, does have qualities which frustrate and repel the viewer, but his heroic and redeeming qualities make him a stand-out character. The underlying and complicated plot add to the reasons of why this film is a must-watch.The only disappointing aspect was the (sometimes) extreme and unnecessary level of violence. But, the overall plot, character development and spectacular animation (even for the current day) prove this film to be an unmissable classic.
