The Party rolls on as The Chief hits the number 4 spot in his 'Top 5 animated countdown'. Feast your eyes on the fantabulous Akira!
In 7 words or less: The West finally accepts Anime.
Best bits? The look and feel of this film really set the tone for what is to come. The colours are vibrant and a neon soaked (Neo) Tokyo takes centre stage. The scene near the beginning where two biker gangs confront each other is aces. The bikes tails lights shimmer and glow leaving awesome light trails. The action comes thick and fast and benefits from smooth, fluid animation which is the real winner here.
Did it make you think thoughts? The title here is somewhat misleading. Akira doesn't actually show up until about 1hr 40mins in and even then his inclusion is minimal. The story instead focuses on Tetsuo Shima, a young orphaned boy with seemingly no hope and no future. Emotions run high as we follow Tetsuo's rise to god hood and subsequent fall. I watched this as a kid and didn't really 'get' it. Now many, well not too many, years later I'm still a little bit in the dark. What the secret covert black-ops government military scientific research team is doing isn't 100% clear but that doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment factor. The film does attempt to confront sociological issues such as post-war military dominance, a corrupt political system and the effects these have on a downtrodden working class although they are somewhat eclipsed by the main storyline and don't really get a chance to fully develop. Worryingly, a 2-part live action remake is in the works starring Keira Knightley, Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter. hhmm. Not sure about that.
Would you watch it again? The running time of over 2 hours means it won't see repeated views that often but yes I will definitely revisit Akira
Rating (out of 100%): You generally either like manga style animation or you don't. I do, but sometimes find the inherent weirdness off putting. Akira doesn't venture too far into crazy flying cats and giant pokemon territory but does appeal to the Western sensibilities of violence, action, explosions and secret government experiments. I therefore give Akira a violent, action-packed, explosiony 91%
