Anime Review: Akira

It's the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the start of World War III. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the mind breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. This incident triggers psychic powers within one of the gang members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army to be experimented on. His mind has been altered and is now on the path of war, seeking revenge on the society that once called him weak.

(Source: FUNimation)

Akira Genres: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Akira Synonyms:

Akira Studios: Tokyo Movie Shinsha, FUNimation Entertainment, Mainichi Broadcasting, Kodansha, Bandai Entertainment, Toho Company,

Akira Review

Akira is one of those anime that is old but still relevant.

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If you have watched anime for awhile. Akira is a name that you most definitely have heard about. It has this cult following that other anime wished they could be. After watching the anime, i am not sure why that so. By no means Akira was bad, it just did not impress me as i would have liked to. Maybe i was expecting too much. If you think about it the visions and execution is simply sublime for a movie that was made in the late 1980s.

Story

Its bittersweet. If you have read the manga you might recognize that the anime version makes a lot of changes to the story. These changes are understandable given the time limit of the movie being close to two hours. So the changes were mandatory to make the anime feel complete. I personally don't think making a two part sequel or a trilogy is a good idea either, because the manga contains a lot of information that other than a series it would have been lackluster. If they did make a series, i would be amazed if they executed the same workmanship as this movie. So as it is, its a nice idea to curb the plot in a way that stays true to the manga but also makes it very engaging for the movie-goer.

Animation

Beautiful, exquisite and fantastic. One of the best animated movies ever. It makes you fall in love with it from the beginning to the end. This is by no means an easy story to animate, since everything from the characters to the background explosions and city life is always present and lively. And the animators did not get lazy in the two hours i stayed watching it. I paused several times to see if it was CGI animations because the fluidity of scenes, especially action was great. Whether it was fast paced or slow there was less blurriness and more attention was given to all the scenes with much detail that it really did not feel pure animation to my eyes. Even the characters facial expression was great. When they talked you could almost tell what they were speaking just by looking at their mouth. Unlike most anime, where they just move their mouth up and down to signify them talking. At the beginning of this review i was wondering why this anime was a renowned work and animation might just be the answer.

Characters

This is where i really did not like this anime version. Unlike the anime, manga had given such a prominence to the characters development. Many characters were interesting to see why they fight or love. The anime on the hand leaves this behind except for Kaneda and Tetsuo. Kei who is an important character in the manga was given next to no time in the anime. She just felt like an after thought. I really liked her in the manga so, i feel more betrayed by the anime. Some characters, if you had not read the manga first you would not have understood what was happening. They did give a visual explanation other than screen time but even that was very understated. Especially on the colonel side of things were very hazy. They did make it out to seem like he was the bad guy, it might be true but they was more to him than what was portrayed.

Music

I love good background music. Music ties everything together. It makes it less boring and more interesting. Akira did satisfy me but did not amaze me. The mixture of classic and Japanese folk music is nice, especially with the future setting. I like experimentation in music. It was not given more room to express in this anime. The speech, explosions and hustle and bustle of city life was given more priority. You had to remind yourself of music to hear the classic number that was being played. When you did hear it, it was nice.

Conclusion

Akira is a world famous piece of art. In todays world where science fiction has become a dime a dozen, Akira still stands out as one of the best. It is so true when you realize when this movie was released. I think everyone should watch Akira at least once, to truly experience the golden age of anime. It did not bring much satisfaction but i don't regret watching this true work of art. I also suggest, after the movie pick up the manga to read. The story is partly different in both mediums but enjoyable none the less.