Akira

An Essential for anyone interested in anime

Lover: Taken from IMDB
“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to establish themselves for the audience) The conflict between the two main characters, Tetsuo and Kaneda is ultimately superceded by the films namesake, the mystery of the boy Akira, and as with very few films Hollywood produces it leaves it's more labour intensive thinking until the end.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.”

One of the best reviews I’ve read on IMDB, couldn’t have put it better myself.

Hater: Taken from IMDB
“The problem i had with this movie is that it came off as a plotless mess with very superficial characters. I'll admit it was well animated but there was nothing to make me want to see it again nor recommend it to anyone else. I think the reason it is so highly acclaimed is that when it was released to the west, it was so fresh to viewers equating animation with Disney that it automatically became "good." I think it gets 1.5 stars”

Short but sweet and very wrong on one point, yes it was different when it was first released however it has not only lived up to everything that has superseded it, but in most cases is still far more superior than a lot of anime that comes out. Baring that in mind it still deserves more than 1.5 stars, admittedly Akira does get a little bogged down in the science of the story but the only characters that are superficial are the ones that are supposed to be like that.

What I thought:
“No Akira, No Matrix it’s that important” That’s what Empire magazine said about Katsuhiro Otomos’ opus Akira. It’s a fairly bold statement but not unjustified, Akira is basically a cartoon but I guarantee you won’t see anything else like it. It bridges the gap of so many different things it’s an anime but its ultra violence is not off putting and not just entertaining to pubescent boys. Its’ hand drawn but its presented like a Hollywood Blockbuster and the fact that it’s all hand drawn only makes you appreciate more! It is sci-fi but is still original and groundbreaking, and very few Directors can even hope to reach this level of innovation. It’s an intelligent Movie Blockbuster and that is very rare the only difference is: this is animated.

For anyone wanting or getting into anime this is seminal and should not be missed.