Akira (1988) User Reviews

Landmark Japanese animation that opens boundaries and minds.

[jpt27 · 9/10 · 29 March 2005]

'Akira' is an astonishingly influential film, easily as much so as cinema's touchstones Citizen Kane and Pulp Fiction. Its impact is made more difficult to judge, though, given that it was made more than sixteen years ago, and didn't make an initial impact outside of Japan. Oddly, this made its influence even more profound, benefiting from 'word of mouth' and the influx of cheap VHS at the end of the Eighties. It's also gained enough of a following to warrant being digitally remastered, at a cost of over US$1 million, as a 'Special Edition,' which I am basing these comments on.

Rather than suffering the humiliation of being advertised, Akira filtered, like a software virus, into the bedrooms of what would become Generation X. Hollywood began to sit up and pay attention after teens began abandoning the pap of the day like Last Action Hero, and started seeking out something different, dissident, and Akira finally had its audience. Japanese animation now has a firm presence in our media, and so many paths lead back to the cultural genesis of Akira. Finally, its role in the history of film was cemented with the release of last year's mega-hit, the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix. Without Akira, there is no Matrix, and with no Matrix, you have to wonder how very different Western cinema would be today.

So what is Akira? It's a Japanese animated film, an adaptation of 2,000 pages worth of graphic novel by Katsuhiro Otomo and set in the futuristic world of Neo-Tokyo. Rebuilt from the ashes of World War 3, it's a technological dream of neon, computers and soaring science, mated to the social nightmare of corrupt politicians, a rampant military and an oppressed working class. Add to this the rise of a powerful breed of psychics (or 'psionics') capable of various degrees of telepathy and telekinesis, and somehow linked to a top secret military project known as Akira, and Neo-Tokyo seems ready to explode. You can almost feel the heat, the sweat, and the grime, courtesy of the borderline-masochistic attention to detail in every frame of every scene of animation.

Akira is all about hyper-reality, which later became known as bullet time. Animation, and more importantly imagination, allows impossibly kinetic and 'free' camera movement. The style rams home every car crash, explosion and death defying stunt. It's not the easiest film to watch in one sitting, nor indeed, at all, but you'll come away knowing where the inspiration behind so many late Nineties blockbusters came from. More importantly, you'll appreciate how mediums come to influence other mediums, and barriers such as language and culture can be hurdled with ease.

It's not just an action-fest either. The main arc of the story is that of Tetsuo, who begins developing psychic powers but doesn't understand what is happening to him or the responsibilities that come with such godlike power. This opens the door to some genuinely moving scenes of film-making endeavour and artistic triumph, as Tetsuo wonders if he is losing his mind and eventually lashes out against anyone and everyone. The standout scene in the whole film, for me, should be mentioned about here. Whilst under observation in a hospital bed, Tetsuo hallucinates being attacked by childhood toys. Dreams and reality are folded into each other and so it remains for much of the rest of the film. Horizons peel away and reality itself seems to disintegrate, fragment after animated fragment, as Tetsuo battles his way to downtown Neo-Tokyo and prepares to face Akira, whatever that may mean.

The only other character developed to this level is his best friend Kaneda, who in a number of small, well-judged scenes, comes across as bright, breezy, confident and heroic, and on hand to reason with Tetsuo. No matter what point Tetsuo's powers escalate to, and no matter how much he is wanted by the police and the military, Kaneda just wants his old friend back, and it is this hope of redemption which gives the film its emotional backbone.

Other strengths include the intelligent use of sound. A minimum of scoring is used: mostly Japanese drums and percussion, and some voices during dramatic parts. More interesting is the use of silence, absolute flat silence, during key moments. It fits in very well with the themes of psychic/telepathic powers, and in a more general way, the vivid hyper-reality of the film's delivery. Put it this way - when you dream, you dream in a silence of implied words, and Akira knows this too.

I thought the dialogue was excellent too. The street kids have catchy and sardonic street lingo ("Tetsuo's our friend! If anyone's going to kill him, it should be us!") The military are represented by a titanic general whose lines have gained a certain amount of hilarity during translation ("You hedonistic fools! Can't you see it is utterly pointless to fight each other!") I found myself eagerly awaiting the next punchy exchange between players, which is something that Hollywood has been missing recently. In seven out of ten films I see, the dialogue is truly awful. How difficult can it be to get two people to talk naturally?

'Akira' is not for everyone. In the first twenty minutes we have strong language, an attempted rape and the kinetic carnage of a fight between rival biker gangs. Some will simply not tolerate this in an animated movie which is, despite all efforts, going to be viewed by younger children. Even if you can stomach the unsavoury content, you might be beaten by the sheer oddness of Japanese culture. (They certainly have an unhealthy obsession with seeing Tokyo laid to waste.) But if you can skip over these points and see the overall genius of Akira, you may just appreciate Akira's place on the pantheon of modern culture.

Trademark Manga for the Western culture

[toji · 10/10 · 23 October 2001]

Without a doubt the necessary injection of Manga culture Western audiences needed. Personal objections (or should I say appraisals) aside, Akira deconstructs the form of narrative and character development that we had all become accustomed to through Hollywood and produces a reasonably honest translation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Manga epic, with mass deletions of unnecessary characters and plot avenues. The story is complex enough to keep western audiences attention, yet simple enough to digest whilst taking in the wonderfull animation and excellent soundtrack (a collection of traditional Japanese instruments and modern day synthesised electronica that allow for elements of cinema to establish themselves for the audience) The conflict between the two main characters, Tetsuo and Kaneda is ultimately superceded by the films namesake, the mystery of the boy Akira, and as with very few films Hollywood produces it leaves it's more labour intensive thinking until the end. A delight to follow, with periods of intense action and thought provoking predictions of a neo society, one would like to think of the film as the pipe dream of one who predicted such tragic events as of September 11. Akira, whilst violent for the medium, is a lush metropolis of gang warfare, a psuedo examination into the possible, and a fantasy tale of elements long lost in modern cinema. A cool, entertaining piece littered with cult visions and awesome bikes.

A Masterpiece of Epic Proportion.

[neoxman · 10/10 · 11 September 2002]

Visually Astonishing, Dark and Original is what best describes Katshuiro Otomo's Masterpiece `AKIRA'. Now here is an animated film that is way ahead of his time, the film was released in 1988 even before Disney created computer FX's in their animated features. AKIRA is one of my favorite movies of all time it has beautiful visuals, great animation, an extraordinary story and a wicked soundtrack. I have read the entire AKIRA manga comics and yes it makes the movie that much easier to understand but with the new DVD edition which contains the correct dubbed version that allows the viewer to understand the film a little easier. I first saw AKIRA back in 1994 when I was 14 years old and ever since then I have collected great anime, at first I was confused but yet intrigued and consumed by the plot, I wanted to know what the story was about. Finally after 4 times viewing the film I understood the plot and the message Otomo wanted to deliver in this feature. The story is fascinating it takes place in the future in the city of NEO-TOKYO were citizens live in a constant chaos of an urban revolution, while the youth lives reckless on the dark streets gathering in bike gangs the government proceeds with the so called `akira project'; a mayor step in scientific discovery based on human energy.

AKIRA is a movie about betrayal, love, loyalty, anger, and fiction. For those who do not understand it is a movie about the universe and how us humans connect with it, we use about 11% of our brains but what if we were able to use 40% or even 100% of it, what then? And what if some of that percentage was damaged by hate, depression, or anger, this is the case of TETSUO who is the center character of this film. The possibilities are far from anything we can imagine, `AKIRA' provides a fictional possibility that self energy exists within all of us and that is just as delicate as it is powerful.

This is an epic proportion animated feature, the action sequences are creatively amazing, the plot is very intriguing, dark and character driven like no other film. It is one of a kind and even after 14 years we have yet to see anything like it whether is an animated or a feature film.

Apocalyptic Animation...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 1 November 2020]

Oozing with metaphorical messages and warnings, as relevant today as when it was first released, this apocalyptic take on a future world takes place in 2019, some years after an Armageddon event in Tokyo. Often as confusing as hell, a little bit all over the place at times, if you manage to make it to the end you may need to pause for thought to consider what you have witnessed, which can only be a good thing with the shallowness in so much of what we're served up these days. Definitely worth a visit.

Be careful with this film.

[Ryuji-2 · 16 January 1999]

*Stereotype: Akira is a gratuitous bloodbath.

Maybe, but it's also a hard-nosed societal critique. Gore fans get what they want, but they have some morality shoved down their throats, as well. Most people who hate this movie watch it with a predetermined mindset. . . It takes thought and patience to piece together its sophisticated story.

*Stereotype: Akira rocks!!

The animation equals or exceeds Disney's best, the music is awesome, and the characters are complex, but "Akira" has its flaws. Chunked together from a long pre-existing storyline and filled with gritty violence, "Akira" draws fanatics too bloodthirsty to appreciate its message, and scares away critics intelligent enough to understand it. It takes a very open mind to enjoy this movie.

All in all, be careful with this movie; it's not for everyone. Just ignore the hype on BOTH sides and judge for yourself. I recommend the subtitled version; the dub's voice actors suck and anyone who'll understand this movie is obviously smart enough to read.

Ultraviolent fantasy or eloquent Humanistic statement? Probably both

[desh79 · 9/10 · 5 November 2005]

To many, this is the movie that started it all. But what's interesting about Akira is that, while it is largely credited with introducing anime to the West, it barely raised an eyelid on its initial release. Most Japanese critics' lists from 1988 barely gave Akira a mention, instead deciding to concentrate on films like Grave Of The Fireflies or My Neighbour Totoro, at least as far as animes were concerned. But while these are perhaps (and in my opinion definitely) superior in quality, their success in western countries was more slow-moving and therefore not as much of a shock to the system as Akira was.

When Akira was first screened in Europe and North America in the early 90s, most people had simply never seen anything like it. Distributors, unaware of the tradition of adult-orientated animation in Japan, didn't have a clue how to promote this feature (some billing it as a kids' movie), and equally audiences suffered from the same confusion (in some cases parents taking their children to a film which features scenes such as a person exploding before mutating into a garish cyberpunk mess of flesh and cables). This confusion resulted in Akira being something of an underground success, but it also ensured the movie cult status across western countries, though perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Is Akira a hyperviolent, sadistic fantasy? Or an eloquent statement on modern civilisation run amok, with technology getting the better of its masters and planet Earth having its divine revenge on those who mutilated it? It's possibly both. Most aficionados of Japanese animation (and also some Japanese live action, witness films by Shinya Tsukamoto or Takashi Miike) are aware that stylised violence is nothing particularly new to the genre (for now wanting to avoid the age-old discussion of anime not being a genre in and of itself but rather a style of animation which incorporates several genres like horror, sci-fi, adventure, etc – and indeed, it would do great disservice to the artistic integrity of many anime artists to simply lump them into one category). However, another fairly consistent, and perhaps ironic, feature of these "violent" narratives is the humanistic message inherent within them, and that, as opposed to many Hollywood narratives which use violence in a Biblical way (ie. the Good guys are justified in using violence against the Bad guy), a narrative like Akira, which stems primarily from both a Buddhist- and Shinto background, avoids lazy good/bad categorisations and instead uses violence to make a clear point - That it does not lead anywhere but tragedy. While perhaps the gratuitously stylised nature of the violence ends up clouding this message, the sheer fact is that, unlike in many mainstream narratives, violence is not rewarded in films like Akira. In fact, in Akira it culminates in the end of the world. Some resolution.

As much as Akira has attracted attention for its violent content, so the convoluted narrative has caused accusations of it being confusing at best and incoherent at worst. While it's very likely that some of the Buddhist symbolism within the film (Tetsuo's final transformation into a new cosmos, as hinted at during the final credit sequence, being a case in point) will go over a few people's heads, the storyline itself is fairly simple: Tetsuo, a bullied and insecure individual, is subjected to a genetic experiment which unleashes a hidden power within him, and, in his anger, destroys the world which he feels rejected him. As well as being a somewhat abstract statement on disaffected youth (a rather appropriate topic, given that I'm writing this at the time of the Paris riots), I would regard Akira as a document of its time. Even though it's set in the future (but then any sci-fi is just an abstract futuristic representation of the time it was made in anyhow), Akira excellently sums up the blind and ravaging short-sighted materialism of our age. That aside, Tetsuo's mutation has been described by some as allegorically representing Japan's disproportionate wealth bubble of the 1980s, while Tetsuo himself is the product of a world driven by greed and avarice.

I have to admit that Akira left a huge impression on me when I initially saw it 10+ years ago. In fact, as with so many others, it probably helped to start my fondness of east Asian cinema. I wouldn't be surprised if, ten or twenty years from now, Akira is widely regarded as one of the most influential movies ever made (if it isn't seen as such already, witness the influence it had on Hollywood films like The Matrix), and that future generations will justifiably view it as an all-time classic.

"Tetsuo's our friend. If anyone's gonna kill him, it should be us!"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 7 June 2018]

"Akira" made IMDb's Top 250 list way back in 1998 and hasn't been back since, although I see it now popping in and out of the rankings for the current year (2018). I'm not an anime fan, or even a fan of animated movies in general, though there are a handful that I've liked well enough. With this film, I'm left entirely in limbo. When something like this occurs, I'll check out the FAQ page for the movie here on IMDb and try to gain some understanding, along with a handful of the more accomplished reviews for the picture. It didn't surprise me that to get a better grip on the story, one would be well advised to read the two thousand plus manga treatment of Akira by the writer, and this film's director, Katsuhiro Ôtomo. I can guarantee that's not going to happen, so what I'm left with as regards the film is a lukewarm acceptance that it's been a very influential work in the genre, while leaving me entirely unimpressed. All I got out of it was an endless series of violence, destruction, explosions and fighting, and though I followed the characters of Kaneda and Tetsuo well enough, there wasn't the least bit of story line that had an appeal for this viewer. Nor were the characters even likeable to any degree, so that was another check in the minus column. So rather than bashing the film, I'll just consider my viewing another in a long list of movies I've watched to get a broader perspective of what's out there and know that I'm not missing anything. All films can't appeal to everyone.

Every Anime fan have to start from a certain place.

[Kore-O · 8/10 · 22 December 2005]

I was probably around 8, when I first saw Akira. It was my step dad who asked me if I was interested in watching this Japanese cartoon. I expected something like, my favorite children movies like The Lion King or The Land before Time.

Akira however, was something else. At the time I was to young to understand English, since it was a second language for me. But I remember what kind of an affect it had on me. It was brutal, it was hard, it was edgy. The drums and Neo Tokyo lights flew through my little body as butter, as I witnessed death, gore and sadistic killings. Something my pure and innocent eyes had never seen before. And yet I was strangely excited. I was never tough as a kid. I was a afraid of the dark and often had nightmares about all kinds of things. But Akira, despite it's mature nature, just had me in awe. When I finally re-saw it many years later, when I was an old teenager, I was still in awe.

Akira is simply a wonderful and entertaining sci-fi movie. It was what introduced me to anime, and innovation in a hole new way. If you want to start watching anime or see, what all the fuss is about, then Akira is a good place to start. Even though it's over 17 years old today, it is still a fantastic and visually stunning animation. Even if you don't appreciate animation you owe it to yourself, to check it out. It has spectacular action, motorcycle-chase-sequences, mad scientists and tons of blood and shooting.

8/10

I really wanted to like this movie

[UsernameHype · 6/10 · 19 August 2015]

I really wanted to like this movie, I heard from everyone that it was an anime classic and I had seen screenshots that looked really cool. In the end I was disappointed.

The movie was hand drawn and it looked amazing no doubt about that, I could stare at still from this movie all day long, it's the other things that bothered me.

The story is a mess. I loved the first act, seeing this cyberpunk city was really cool, seeing the gangs and everything. After that the movie turned into a anime horror movie, which I don't feel fit the tone at all. The whole Akira thing was confusing as hell, they never explained it, everyone was asking the whole movie "What is Akira?" The third act dragged out so much, things that were happening didn't make sense at all. The end was just a mess with destruction everywhere, but no story to tell about it.

The soundtrack was also annoying. Some of the songs were cool, but they play them almost 7 or 8 times in the movie, which wears out the song and just makes it ambient noise.

This might be only the English dub, but the dubbing was horrible. The words were off the mouth movements and the voice actors were bad. In intense scenes the voice actors never gave an intense feel.

For a classic there were some big problems. The story could have been more direct and made more sense. In fact, they could have just made the movie about the city and the gangs fighting and that would have made it better. With the movie how it is, they could have cut it down to take out the dragging on of the end. Akira just ended up losing my interest near the end, making it not as interesting as I thought it would be.

Not sure what all the fuss is about

[grantss · 5/10 · 8 February 2020]

2019. 31 years after being destroyed during World War 3, Tokyo (now 'Neo-Tokyo') has been rebuilt and is a thriving metropolis. Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of a biker gang. His friend Tetsuo is injured in an accident and taken to a top-secret government facility. He develops telekinetic powers but decides to use them for evil rather than good. He has the same powers as Akira, the force that destroyed Tokyo in 1988, and now it appears that history will repeat itself.

Regarded as some sort of animation-drama masterpiece but it is far from that. The animation is great but the remainder is average, at best. The plot has potential but becomes quite random quite quickly. Stuff happens that seems tangential to the story. Plus, there's several strands of plots going on at the same time, adding to the complexity but detracting from the focus of the story and the engagement level.

The random, rambling, plot becomes quite tedious past a point.

However, the plot is not the worst if it: character engagement is where the movie falls flat. There's really nobody to like or care about. Characters are one-dimensional and appear to be constructed to appeal to kids.

Ultimately, it's mediocre.

An anime that never ages

[da-most-wanted · 8/10 · 15 November 2006]

I remember the first time i watched this when i was 14, back then it didn't mean much to me i just watched it because of the violence. Growing up i cant count the number of times i have watched it but it seems as though every time i watched it i uncovered something new in the plot. On to the review then; There are two different dubs for this film in English, the initial one i watched on VHS is much better then the one on DVD. The voices match the characters and bring across emotions very well in the VHS dub. In the DVD dub the voices seem alien to the characters personalities, this may be due to the fact that I'm used to seeing the film with the old dub.

The animation is very fluid, definitely a revolution in animation. The vast range of colours used really bring the metropolis alive. The start of the film where Kaneda and the crew are riding through the city you get to witness all sorts of sub-environments of the city, from tight alley ways where you can almost sense the deprivation to the bustling streets bright from the flashing neon lights.

The characters grow on you the further in to the film you get, at the beginning you can sense friction between Kaneda and Tetsuo, however as the film progresses you understand the past between these two characters and come to terms with their feelings. The colonel is also a very interesting character who seems to represent a beacon of hope constantly attempting to avoid the inevitable catastrophe headed for neo-tokyo.

The storyline revolves around two central characters, Tetsuo and Akira. It is heavily emphasised towards revealing what the next evolution of man is and whether or not the evolution would be in the best interest of man.

Closing comments, Akira is a must watch for any anime fan who appreciates a thought provoking storyline and dense characters.

Also watch; Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell:Innocence and Perfect Blue

Great Animation Film

[prod74 · 8/10 · 22 September 2004]

I only recently watched Akira (though I have heard a lot about it) and I must say I am impressed (so much that I bought the DVD). This is, beyond any doubt, one of the best animated films in existence. Visually impressive, solid direction, with a compelling story (if a little complicated), just the right amount of character development, good and very appropriate soundtrack and an extensively detailed New Tokyo, Akira manages to be as groundbreaking as it was when it was first released.

It's only drawback is that most people (including me) will probably have to watch it again (and again maybe) to completely understand the full story. Highly recommended (especially to anime fans). I give it 8 out of 10.

Insane

[nicholls905-280-546911 · 10/10 · 17 June 2019]

Original and dark film that will sit with you long after it concludes. Visually stunning film that leaves most films for dead. Cerebral filmmaking that is still one of the most interesting animes ever created. I'm happy I found this and sad it took so long. This deserves all the recognition it garnered and a loyal film adaptation might interest me in 2021. That's only if the film is made of course.

The One and only Anime classic -- 10 (classic)

[jimboduck · 10/10 · 22 March 2005]

When I first grabbed the cover box for AKIRA off the shelves of my local video store, I had never heard the word "manga," (Japanese comic book) nor "anime" (Japanimation) for that matter. Back then I would have given that movie a 9 (excellent), since it was like nothing I had ever seen before, was true graphic violence, but was still a bit too long and too hard to understand. Ten years later, having watched a slew of other anime productions, I would have given this movie an 8 (very good) from memory had I not seen it again yesterday. After seeing AKIRA for the first time in the original Japanese language, I have come to fully appreciate its cultural and artistic merit.

Ten years ago, I watched the English dubbed AKIRA and understood absolutely no Japanese. Ignorance of the language made for funny jokes with my brother ("Just as my bullet was reaching the red line! You think you're so tough") but added nothing to the movie. Ten years later I understand both the language and the country, thanks in part to AKIRA, and I have finally realized that Katsuhiro Otomo had created a classic. While critics may know the director Kurosawa, it may take another 10 years for the name Otomo to make its way to the forefront of American cinematic consciousness.

From here on out, I have nothing but praise for this historical milestone. No other hand-drawn movie I have ever seen is done as meticulously. The pillar lined coliseum comes to mind. It's apparent on first viewing that an immense amount of effort was put into the hand-drawn animation. It seems as if every detail within the frame is in motion. This stands out in the ANIME industry, where so many directors don't bother with effort and instead choose to have a still frame frozen over five seconds. In my mind AKIRA's animation is peerless on an international scale.

Second, the Neo Tokyo depicted in AKIRA is definitely the one that should exist today. Nightlife is dark and violent. Fundamentalist Buddhist sects roam the streets chanting dogma and searching for answers. And most importantly, the medicated punk teenagers speak a crooked, thuggish Japanese slang that I haven't heard in any movie of recent memory. 1988 was Japan's heyday, what with the bubble economy and all, but since then the artistic vision of Otomo's AKIRA seems to have gotten stuck in an economic recession. I feel as if modern Tokyo and its Anime has diverged quite a bit from the Neo-Tokyo depicted in AKIRA.

My final comment is DO NOT rent the English dubbed version, as I did long ago. If by chance you've developed a familiarity with Japan's language and culture, AKIRA makes so much more sense, as it was animated for the Japanese language. The poor English dub job does nothing but distract BIG TIME. As Japan's economically exuberant and excessive 80's heyday fades further into the past, AKIRA will prove to be a relic of a cult imagination that may be fading as well. To watch it in English would be sacrilegious.

In homage to this classic, I've titled my homepage AKIRA-TETSUO, which is named after that demonic anger and guilt you feel when you fail -- the emotion that you can harness to wreak atomic havoc upon this green planet earth. No happy ending with this cataclysmic movie.

JY

Jimboduck-dot-com

Overrated & Overlong

[ivans536 · 6/10 · 5 February 2019]

Heard a lot about Akira prior to watching it, both about it's quality and cultural impact, and since usually I'm a mild fan of Japanese animation, I had very high expectations for this film.

I was let down.

Although the movie is very stylish and the story has promise at first, the movie is simply overlong and almost impossible to get through in one sitting. It has a lot of potential and has great word-of-mouth referances so it's surprising that even though it boasts a huge run time for an anime, the characterization is still paper thin, and by the end of the movie you are left thinking of what happened and more importantly, why.

Style over substance.

[invisibleunicornninja · 6/10 · 24 February 2019]

This is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen. However, if it has any kind go cohesive plot in it, it starts more than 50 minutes in because that is around where I stopped watching due to nothing making any sense.

An animated masterpiece, without the sing-alongs of Disney fare

[Brade · 10/10 · 25 January 1999]

It amuses me that so many people are appalled by the "graphic violence" of this film when they are the ones who will turn around and glorify a movie like "Silence of the Lambs" simply because it is live-action. Akira completely dispels the myth that animation must be replete with characters who are super-deformed and randomly break into song. This is a true emotional experience the likes of which Hollywood could not duplicate even if it tried.

A gang of young motorcyclists get involved in a government plot involving the resurrection of "Akira," a force which once laid waste to Tokyo. Now, in the Neo-Tokyo of the future, the youngest and lowliest of the gang, Tetsuo, ends up harnessing this extremely destructive power and goes on a rampage of telepathic mayhem to earn the fear of those who once bullied him relentlessly. Beneath the violence in this movie lies the very touching story of this young man and his reconciliation with Keneda, his best friend.

One of the most moving scenes in the film is a flashback that shows the first meeting between the two when they were very young. Though the other kids had bullied and harassed Tetsuo, Keneda was there to stick up for his now lifelong friend. If those who watch Akira can discard their preconceived notions of what animation should be, they will find one of the most exciting, emotional, and rewarding films they will ever have the fortune of seeing.

As a special side note, I personally prefer the dubbed version, which is executed very well by a talented cast of voice actors. My favorite line in the movie belonged to the Colonel: "They don't teach tact at the academy." Though it was adapted from a huge body of manga work, Akira was executed perfectly, being directed by its original creator, Katsuhiro Otomo.

Ahead of its times

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 April 2014]

On 16 July 1988, a nuclear blast levels Tokyo. Now it's 31 years later after the end of WWIII. Kaneda is a bike gang leader in a dystopian Tokyo. Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo runs into Takashi who escaped from a secret government laboratory. There is a dissident anti-government organization. Meanwhile military scientists is experimenting on supernatural powers.

While the style is ground breaking, I would have wanted a clearer story with a more prominent main character. The movie should really follow Tetsuo and let him discover the secrets for us. Instead we keep switching to the bad guys who tells us everything. It's a pretty good story with an impressive imaginative style.

Different, detailed; but a masterpiece? Not really.

[WHCernan · 5/10 · 24 April 2001]

I've been a big fan of science fiction and fantasy in both literature and cinema for at least 25 years. I love the cutting edge, yet until the year 2000, I had never seen any anime. My anime-loving friends urged me to introduce myself to the genre with either "Akira" or "Princess Mononoke" or even "My Friend Totoro". Since my friends only had "Akira" on video, I chose that. I watched this in November 2000, so please forgive me for forgetting the character names.

Right away, my viewing frame of mind fell once the English soundtrack came squealing its way through my sound system. What is it about US distributors of Asian movies? Why do they think we want to hear grown women talking in baby imitations? I'd much rather read subtitles and hear the original soundtrack than these peevish, cartoony caricatures.

When my friends had hyped the incredibly detailed, fluid animation style that put American animation to shame, I looked forward to seeing it. In fact, every review here seems to glorify the skill and talent of the animators. Although the frames did contain a lot of detailed artistry and a large number of independently animated objects, the movement was jerky as all hell. It was very easy to see where the frames were linked. It was like playing an action game on a PC when it gets overloaded trying to keep up with the game. Disney may be pablum for the masses, but its theatrical releases certainly are a hundred times more smoothly animated than "Akira".

I had to put the "viewing experience" aside and concentrate on the plot, theme, and characters. I've done it enough times in the age of VHS rentals, so it was no problem here. I found that the character development for everyone except the protagonist was weak and shallow. I never could understand any motivation for the erratic behavior of the friend. Now, this is more like an American movie than some cutting-edge Asian import.

The plot.. well, very poorly explained, especially the last 20 minutes. I think I understood the ending of "2001" better the first time I saw it. I don't want to spoil anything, but there is no explanation for what happens at the end of this movie. Those of you who have seen it will understand... bigger and bigger and bigger... why? Just to be grotesque?

Finally, the theme made sense to me. Our world faces great danger from our misunderstanding of technology and humanity's preoccupation with it. We will be our own downfall if we are not careful. Good message, I get it.

So, overall, I gave it 4/10. I thought it was sloppy in direction and the story was utterly lacking in interest. Those of you here (and on the video jacket) who compared this film favorably with "Blade Runner" are, in my opinion, not paying very much attention to "Blade Runner". That is a hugely superior film to this.

Finally, as to "My Friend Totoro", I saw it too. It had the same problems with animation jerkiness as this does. Is "Princess Mononoke" going to let me down too? I'm going to watch the SUBTITLED version of that anime just to get away from those baby voices.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

[juliankennedy23 · 8/10 · 15 September 2019]

Akira: (1988) 8 out of 10: Watching Akira in 2019 is a bit of a trip it turns out. For one thing, the film made 31 years ago (That can't be right... checks math... cries...) takes place in the far future of well...2019. In addition, they cleaned up the film something fierce for modern audiences (Not one of those Ghost in the Shell 2.0 fiascos either. They didn't CGI up the animation or anything like that. they just made the picture much better with colors that pop.) While I watched it this go around with the Japanese voices and subtitles I did take the new dubbed version for a spin as well and the new dubbing is a godsend. No more horrible squeaky voices nonsense of the original dub (Though I do miss the Colonel Shikishima's constant Grrrrs from the old dub. Damn you nostalgia.)

As for the story? Well, this last time I made it all the way to the giant baby monster at the Olympic stadium... I am so proud of my brain. It usually nopes out around giant teddy bear filled with cream (I think that was cream. I hope that was cream).

Akira is difficult to follow on only one (or four) viewings. I have always found it a particular challenge. Each viewing brings new enlightenment (This viewing I found out the explosion at the beginning of the film was an initial singularity as opposed to a nuclear explosion I had always assumed.) But once we hit the Mass Effect 2 boss battle giant baby laser show I (or at least my brain) once again noped out. I couldn't tell you what happened or what philosophy was going on in those last ten minutes or so. I guess we can call the plot ninety-five percent downloaded before an error this time.

So what did Akira get right about 2019? Almost nothing thank goodness. As bad as it can seem out there we are in better shape than the constant violence and decay of cyberpunk Neo-Tokyo. There is a combination of very old technologies (payphones, jukeboxes, taxis) and the new (laser rifles, a really cool flying landspeeder type thing). One thing Akira absolute nails for 2019 is the major plot point of Neo-Tokyo preparing to host the 2020 Olympics. The giant mutant baby fight even takes place at the construction site for the Olympic Stadium.

The Good: There is so much that Akira does right let us give a quick list. The soundtrack is both excellent and memorable. The animation is jaw-droppingly beautiful. It is a fully realized world with many background characters and actions that add to the enjoyment.

The other thing Akira nails is the action scenes. Now the action scenes with the motorcycle are what gets the headlines. I mean who wouldn't want to slide/stop like Kaneda on that red monster. (They remade the bike in real life and it looks very cool. It is also very heavy and unwieldy. The difference between an animator and a motorcycle engineer I guess.) For my money, though the best action scene is the flying bike/landspeeder thing with the Gatling gun attached to the front. When they take that thing onto a freight elevator it ends up being one of the most beautifully drawn (and funniest) action scenes I have seen in a while.

The Bad: This is a dark film. Our protagonist Kaneda (who when other's call to him sounds like they are saying Canada over and over again at least on the Japanese soundtrack) is a violent gang leader of a motorcycle club, not terribly perceptive, and while he does have a young Captain Kirk quality in many stories he would be our untragic bad guy.

His "love interest" Kei is a terrorist who is unwittingly working for a corrupt government official to sow the seeds of discord to create instability and profit. (I put love interest in air quotes since she is older than Kaneda, clearly more interested in her terrorist cell leader than in Kaneda and only seems to end up with Kaneda due to the fact that everyone else is dead.)

Our main antagonist is Tetsuo who gets Akira powers from an aged child? (Okay I know I said my brain didn't nope out till the just after the giant baby fight but I have actually no idea how exactly Akira powers work, if there is such a thing an Akira power, and how Tetsuo was "chosen" to get such powers.) If Kei is like an older sister to Kaneda then Tetsuo is the runt younger brother. When he gets his powers he reacts with all the delicacy one would expect from a bullied boy with weak/short man syndrome. (It is certainly a more realistic view of how some adolescents would handle getting unlimited power overnight than say X-men has where they volunteer for boarding school rather than burn down peoples houses and kill their perceived enemies. )

The Neo-Tokyo government is corrupt, involved in terrorism and blames all there problems on the last administration's ill-fated tax cuts (Okay that might a bit like our 2019). Within the government, we have Colonel Shikishima (whom I actually have a soft spot for). He institutes a military coup, runs the Akira project and, I can't emphasize this enough, clearly has no conception of the sunk cost fallacy.

The only good person in the entire universe is Tetsuo's fifteen-year-old girlfriend Kaori. She seems to genuinely care about Tetsuo. She is of course beaten up, sexually assaulted and crushed to death unceremoniously.

The Ugly: I have no idea what is going on in the last ten minutes of this movie. It is pretty, the music is incredible, and it is as incomprehensible as they come.

In Conclusion: Akira is the reason we have anime in the west today. While getting a lukewarm reception upon release in Japan it took off on home video in North America and Europe and, along with Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, and Urotsukidoji helped break animation out of the Animation Age Ghetto (at least for Generation X).

Akira's influence is everywhere. The SOL satellite weapon is basically borrowed wholesale for Gears of War's Hammer of Dawn. Five Nights at Freddy's main antagonists look very familiar to the dream bear and bunny in Tetsuo's hospital room. Heck, I wouldn't doubt Kaneda's bike helped popularize Japanese style motorcycles among a generation or two.

Though Akira is a dark film with somewhat unlikeable characters it is also can be a funny film. It does mix in a lot of humorous asides and character rounding moments. It really is a strength of the film. I recommend Akira for the animation, the music, the realization of cyberpunk Tokyo and some of the characters. I still think the story is a completely incomprehensible mess, however.

Tetsuo, Kaneda, Tetsuo, Kaneda, Akira, -kira, -kira, -kira (web)

[leplatypus · 10/10 · 7 December 2011]

In fact, Akira was the thing of my twin brother and as it was his, it was crap. (I know how much we can be dumb when we are kids but that's what adulthood is about). Well, I watched him collect all the books and above all, I heard a lot the rhythmic score in our parent's car! I remember to watch a few minutes years ago but it was senseless with Tetsuo calling "Kaneda", Kaneda calling "Tetsuo" and that was all.

One week ago, I started to read the comic and it was hard to put it down: Contrary to traditional comics, the text is minimal so the pace is really dynamic and matches the story: as it deals with devastations, technology and mysticism, it's really Japanese at heart. The characters (Kaneda, Kei, Tetsuo, Kaori, the kids, the Colonel) are well studied and all the emotions are rich: humor, romance, courage, madness, faith, friendship... Otomo is a stunning artist too and the numerous devastations of Tokyo are among the best pages of comic ever. If there is a big slump between volumes 17 and 27, the last volumes are visually fascinating!

Now, comes the movie: actually, it's 20 years old but it's not very outdated. At its release, it surely rocked the animation because there weren't a lot of productions like this. As for the adaptation, it's a good thing that Otomo was at the helm: The movie looks like the comic and vice versa. The story has been drastically cut for the screen but the core is still here(in fact, it's indeed the big slump mentioned that has been left). In addition, a lot of ideas have been rewritten so it's nearly like a special edition.

Finally, the comic is so explosive that this animation is nonetheless less powerful. In other words, if you like the movie, read the comic because it's a thousand more epic and read "Domu" as well (it's a good prequel!).

A complicated Film

[Lain666 · 9/10 · 12 April 2020]

It is hard to understand what is going on and it could have been good as a mini series - rather than a film. It has a loose plot and random things happen in it that are unexplained. It is fun to watch and interesting.

Plot goes a little weird and drags at times but overall very good animation that set a trend

[bob the moo · 24 November 2002]

In 1988 Tokyo is destroyed in a nuclear style blast. 30 years later the city has been rebuilt but has become troubled by youth and biker gangs. An encounter with a powerful child leaves one of a gang, Tetsuo, injured and captured by the army. They find his mind has powers that can be developed – however the lessons of the mysterious Akira are still fresh in their minds and the army know they must control his development. Meanwhile Tetsuo's friend, Kaneda, fights corrupt politicians, a powerful military and the power of the opened human brain to get his friend back.

When I went to see this film at a big cinema chain that I won't name, it had been over 10 years since I'd last seen the movie and could remember very little of it. The screening was cancelled because the emergency lights couldn't be shut off (d'oh) but we were all offered free tickets for later. Coming back to it I hoped it would be worth the bother and, on the whole, it was. This type of film is usually all visual flair and some messed up plot about demons etc. Akira is almost that but rises about the average by being cleverer than that and by being one of the first of it's type.

The animation is excellent – breathtaking cityscapes and futuristic effects. The violence is graphic but is nothing compared to modern Japanese standards. It doesn't take away from the film and it all looks great. The use of sound (or rather silence) is also effective with powerful silences at key moments really adding to the film.

The plot goes a bit nuts at times and ends up with the body horror of many films of the genre. However at it's core it is looking at the idea of humans using their full brain power and possible next steps for evolution. That doesn't mean it doesn't drag at all and several bits do go on too long – the ending in particular never seems to reach a closing point! I felt it could easily have taken 20 minutes less and still done the same job.

The only problem I had with the version I saw was the hammy American voice work. It really made it feel clichéd. However overall the film looks good and has some great action. It may not be a classic film and the genre is a bit of an acquired taste but this is a solid film that (partly due to it's age) transcends many of the clichés the genre later acquired.

Akira:The 4K Version.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 10/10 · 10 October 2020]

Despite having heard about the film for years,I've never gotten the chance to play this landmark Anime. Aware of a new 4K print,I was thrilled to find that my local Odeon was playing it in the final days before it was to close,leading to me finally meeting Akira.

View on the film:

Igniting the screen with flames of red as a motorbike drives towards the 2,212 shots, 160,000 single pictures and 327 different colors (a record in animation at the time) that draw up Neo-Tokyo, co-writer/(with Izo Hashimoto) director Katsuhiro Otomo paints a mesmerising atmosphere of ultra-stylised over-lapping images, dissolves and long panning shots towards Kaneda on his blazing red motorbike.

Filling 2000 pages of notebooks with various ideas and character designs, Katsuhiro Otomo flourishes the detailed hand-drawn animation with a stunning ease of crossing between genres/styles, from the striking shards of Anime colour dashed across the thrilling Cyberpunk biker fights/chases, changing gears into excellent wide-shots giving a real sense of perspective over the size of Akira in the Post-Apocalypse landscape.

Riding from the pages of his own Manga, Otomo is joined by co-writer Hashimoto in reflecting the animation stylisation, with a gripping criss-crossing of Sci-Fi genre,as the initial appearance of bad boy bikers driving into the heart of Neo-Tokyo, whose Post-Apocalypse status is built on a foundation of decaying corruption, which triggers the Cyberpunk Horror of Tetsuo Shima gaining telekinetic abilities that he begins to lose control, causing destruction to reign in Neo-Tokyo.