Akira

VivisQueen Mar 24, 2008

8

StoryI have been staring at my computer screen for what seems a decade, trying to sum up what Akira feels like to watch - after a considerable period of hesitation, I offer the following graceless suggestion: think Ghibli on acid. Although relentlessly brutal and disturbing, Akira remains strictly philosophical at heart with its exploration of human evolution set against a backdrop of human decay. As such, it has that energising creativity to be found in Ghibli productions; and yet, due to the level of bizarre savagery, it also makes me feel like I'm experiencing a rather bad hallucinatory trip. Opening with a stark ‘beginning of the end' setting reminiscent of many parts of the world even today, Akira quickly establishes a dark, unnerving mood. Rather than alien invaders or malfunctioning supercomputers, Neo-Tokyo suffers from good old-fashioned social disintegration; the city is a place where violent demonstrations and wannabe messiahs sprout like weeds, and all the while the authorities are struggling to hold onto power. Being a fan of cynical portrayals of humanity, I immediately connected with Akira's world and found myself easily swept away despite some of its plot-related lapses. Moreover, Akira's individual scenes are brilliantly directed. First and foremost, it offers plenty of action sequences with fluid, fast-paced stunts and gory violence. Squeamish viewers will probably not appreciate such detail but I find the violence is rarely gratuitous and actually enhances the story's emotional impact; specifically, the explosive psychic battles provide the plot with some valuable momentum. However, even the ordinary non-action scenes are wholly gripping due to the tense characterisation and world detail. For example, Kaori at the laundrette remains one of my favourite moments for no other reason than the disheartening features of the room and the realistic touch of the girl on the telephone in the background. As hinted above, not all is perfect, and at least one qualification is in order; cramming in six manga volumes of politics, metaphysics and the end of the world, it probably comes as no surprise to say Akira's plot progression is far from seamless. For instance, after waking up to find himself in a strange hospital, Tetsuo stumbles to his escape, turning up at his girlfriend's place a couple of scenes later without explanation of how he got there. Granted, these ‘gaps' are rare and, being absorbed by the milieu, I get the impression that I have not missed much, but they are inelegant nonetheless.AnimationAkira's only ‘imperfection' animation-wise is its age, although, in more important respects - colour scheme, character design, motion etc - not one thing needs amending. With detailed hand-drawn images and such a high quality concept, this movie doesn't come off bad at all in comparison to more recent features. For anyone suspicious of 1980s interpretations of the future, fear not: far from having a cheesy concept where bad hair and even worse clothes dominate the scene, Akira opts for a timeless gritty feel. On the one hand, the character designs are simplistic; Kei the terrorist, for example, is difficult to recognise as a female at first because of her rather androgynous design, and, apart from a couple of too-short trousers, the clothes could belong to any futuristic era. The details of the city environments, on the other hand, are remarkable; everything from the use of shadow to the weird skin tones in neon lighting helps to give Akira a manic depressive appeal. As mentioned before, this attention to detail also extends to the blood and gore used liberally throughout.SoundBoth the Japanese and the English dubs are of a high calibre in terms of drama, but the Americans outperform the Japanese in terms of suitability. Kaneda's Japanese voice, as an example, just seems too reedy for a street-wise leader of his age. Complementing the twisted mood of the movie is a unique experimental soundtrack which mostly involves percussion music and spooky chanting. This one is worth owning if you like your music a bit ‘out there'; for example, the high-octane bike chase is accompanied by a breathy piece with dramatic power drums and some of Tetsuo's crazy scenes use a rather discordant but chilling choral theme.CharactersUnsurprisingly, Akira leaves absolutely no room for kind-hearted altruists. Most of the characters are either acting for explicitly non-ideal reasons or their motivations are left unsaid, so warming to any of them is a pointless exercise at best. However, a cast does not have to be likeable to be good, and despite each character being rarely more than one-dimensional, the cast as a whole makes for a believable mix of creepy villains, antiheroes, and tragic victims. Still, only the three centremost characters, Kaneda, Tetsuo, and the Colonel, are actually memorable in their own right. Kaneda is a street-wise brat who knows how to handle himself, but what strikes me the most about him is his sense of humour; he is genuinely amusing when he talks back to police officers and his flippant remarks help alleviate the tension at all the right times. Still, while he is admirable in that delinquent way, he is not the kind of person you necessarily want to spend more than ninety minutes with. His best friend, Tetsuo, on the other hand, gives the impression of a victim frustrated by the lack of control in his life. The traumas and transformations he faces as a result of his godlike development make for some of the best scenes of the entire film. Arguably the most complex character is the Colonel because, in the midst of all this madness, he is the only one willing to make pragmatic, commonsensical decisions. Interestingly, this does not make him the good guy in any strict sense because his uncompromising methods leave a lot to be desired, and, as with many of the other characters, I am undecided whether to cheer him on or not.OverallAkira is an action fest kind of movie with an unexpected philosophical and sociological depth; sure, plot progression is disjointed on occasion and the cast is not phenomenally sympathetic, but I could offer Akira nothing less than a high score. As a thrilling sci-fi with a unique ‘brink of madness' approach, it makes a powerful and lasting impression.

ClubFoot Jun 15, 2018

10

Remember when you liked this movie in your childhood just because you wanna see some action and violence rather than understand the story? Because we've grown up, you finally watch this movie again and there is something deeper if you look below. Akira is one of the anime that raises the name of anime in the international world. It can be said as the golden age of anime where names like Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Shinichiro Watanabe, Mamoru Oshii and Hideaki Anno have been famous until now. Akira can be classified as one of the anime before there is a term said 'anime was a mistake' and before otaku culture rules that which resulted in major changes to the anime. It takes so many inspiration even many Hollywood directors who want to work on the live-action. But, this is not something familiar to now. Why is modern anime no longer looks like Akira? Well, it's more like the time has been leased where such names no longer exist for a new generation and welcome for them where you can find a lot of otaku culture that has become mainstream among pop culture. The story focuses on 2019 where 31 years after the nuclear explosion in Tokyo that brought the world to a WWIII. Kaneda and his gang members are always involved with an adventure with other gangs where they hit and make a mess with each other. Pretty simple for movie anime like this that focuses on one person with all sorts of stories throughout it but the story is not focused for him and not him who takes the spotlight. Katsuhiro Otomo made Neo-Tokyo as a major character where all of them were protagonists and antagonists in the city. The story doesn't focus on Kaneda and his friends but focuses more on everything that happens in the city. The government, anti-government, revolutionary, mystery, psychological, hopeless, experimental, all of that he made into one story that produces Akira. Well, this reminds me of Stanley Kubrick's masterpieces such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Shining, all made into one and here it is, Akira. Not surprisingly, this anime is one of the pioneers for Hollywood for animation, novels, and movies. Again, many famous directors want to remake this film and it's not surprising that I initially thought it was just a motorcycle gang that seemed cliche. For people who are still unfamiliar about anime or movie, it's pretty confusing if they try to understand what this story is about, what is Akira, who is Akira, why do people praise Akira as a humanity savior, what really happened in this movie. Back again in 2001: A Space Odyssey, people used to think that this was the worst movie of all time because it didn't provide an in-depth detail about the story. Just like Akira that needs some interpretation if you try to understand the story or just read the comics. In addition to interpretation, the premise of this movie seemed to criticize what will happens in the future. This is 2018, 30 years after this movie was made and everything in Akira is impressed to be brought into reality where a new generation is more broken, the government seems repugnant as well as its society, chaos that happens around us, the emergence of a new religion that misleading people and nothing else can be trusted anymore. Well, that's what Katsuhiro Otomo wants to show according to my thoughts, combining things that often occur and taboo into a movie called Akira. The art kinda reminds me of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner with the three-dimensional cinematography about post-apocalyptic. In addition, each frame shows every detail ranging from the background to the moving and talking characters that are so smooth from broken glass, wall, city, the use of lighting, and others. One of the scenes I like best is when Tetsuo creates a replacement mechanical right arm for himself, like Fritz Lang's Metropolis. By the way, that awesome freaking scene between Kaneda and Tetsuo is one of the best scenes ever in the anime. Explosions, laser shots, chaos everywhere, all become one as you will never get something like this again. Although the modern anime shows some interesting action too, Akira is in a different level because of this part seems realistic. The soundtrack kinda looks like some loudness everywhere. Sometimes, some scenes remind me of Martin Scorsese's movie where he often uses a loud sound effect followed by a silent. It's dynamic and the music placement is so precise, supporting all of that sometimes minimalistic but also occasionally ambiance. The seiyuu is great by the way, overalls. No one wants to show it all and it all comes with a good part. One of my minor problems is sometimes I can't hear what the character dialogue because of the placement of the music is very loud and sometimes is not right. But, it's just my minor problem and I don't think is annoy my satisfaction. Love the development of the characters 'cause they really good at developing it. For example, the characters that appear at the beginning of a non-sense impression that doesn't introduce himself and instantly dived into the story may be a bit confusing to know who is that and who is this, where they come from. One of the most unique among all characters is the conflict between Kaneda and Tetsuo that fight each other but show a pitiful flashback. Not spoiler, you'll get a slightly complex relationship and both have their respective values. It's enough to introduce all the characters because the relationship between both of them can be said as one of the best recognition and well-development character in this movie, from the beginning to the end. As one of anime that's seen as one of the gems for Hollywood intake an inspirational, Akira is an anime that prioritizes more for adults. The diverse animations, action, and gore combine of symbolism and criticism, Katsuhiro Otomo blends everything into a movie that will always be remembered. No more anime with a type like this anymore after the otaku culture ruled it but I also don't put hate with modern anime because some are great and some seem imposing. Not to mention, sometimes it has excessive fanservice and storyline that getting more weird and weird. Movies like The Matrix may never exist if Akira and Ghost In The Shell were never made. An anime that will never die and forever it never. It's a worth watching if you want some blood, gore, and action but it's more than that.

KamitoRings Dec 13, 2017

9

So i finished watching Akira around thirty minutes ago. I can see why it is hailed as a classic, not only does it have an engaging story but it also has a range of different characters and the soundtrack, oh ho ho the soundtrack.-Story-To start off with, the story centers around a nuclear war? i dont really know but it has to do with war and how it destroy. the current theme of the movie is one of fear and greed. human greed. the events of Akira takes place in Neo-Tokyo in 2019, 31 years after a large explosion took out Tokyo (1988) what i like about the whole movie is that it goes into a future that it's almost cyber punk if not completely. i personally enjoy cyberpunk, it's one of my favorite sub-genres. from the buildings to the vehicles to the clothes characters wear which brings me into the animation and art.-Animation/Art-Moving Forward, the animation is one I have seen in Cowboy Bebop being from around the same time of their release (late 80's-Late 90's)is not very surprising however, one thing i have noticed is that sometimes the animation becomes quite detailed specially in action scenes. Itgives it a more a "wow" feeling to it. for example, without trying to spoil anything, when that one character stops a tank missile. the amount of detail that went into that was one of the best scenes in my opinion. The rest of the movie was your average movie quality, it was not bad but it was no over the top, even though the most important thing of the movie is the story, art is important as well to set the mood and it did it's job well.-Sound-The OST was pretty reminiscent of the Ghost In The Shell Standalone Complex First Assault game which was one of my favorite games ever because of how much i loved the music. it has a tribal sound to it using drums and other acoustic instruments. there weren't alot of songs in the movie but the portions that i did listen to reminded me of that game's soundtrack and i really enjoy it everytime i hear it. I am also a sucker for choirs. still have to see the Ghost In The Shell movies.-Characters-The characters were all good in terms of pacing and where they needed to be and where they were at. Kaneda Shotaro is my favorite of them all, not only does he have the best clothes in the entire movie (if it weren't obvious from the start that he was the main character). but he grows quite a bit as a character through the story, along with side characters who some don't make it by the end of the film but they were side characters and as a general rule i don't get attached to those since mostly in anime they either disappear or end up dead, my heart can only take so much. Overall the cast was very diverse and all served a purpose whether they would live or not in the end. There were some who i found to be more interesting and kind of wished there was more of a back story to but they were exposed enough to be taken an interest by me.-Conclusion-Akira is one of those movies that even though to me the ending makes no sense, i enjoyed the tension and the amount of crazy moments in the movie. For a movie that is 3 decades old it really holds up to be a great movie, i can see why a lot of people give it high regards and it is held up in such a high place. the cyberpunk tokyo interested me in every sense and holds up very well. I would reccomend and urge anyone to watch this film, it may not appeal to some but it is a great classic.