Akira is badass.
I’ve been putting off watching that for a while now till a friend (thanks Derick!) ignited my interest in it. I must admit, the first time I got exposed to scenes from it was due to the jihaku AMV I manage to stumble across somewhere (foo fighters + anime = instant win!).
The animation isn’t anything to write home about, however, it has stood the test of time really well. Character design reminded me a lot of DBZ (I shudder that I’m even mentioning it here) especially Tetsuo’s “powered up Akira mode”.
Ping? Pong!
Where the movie really shines however is character and plot development. It’s one huge thrill ride from start to end!
Be warned, half the time you won’t know which side you’re supposed to support..
Also, unlike some movies/series I’ve watched, it neatly sums up most of the plot threads it creates. I can honestly say that some parts of the movie scared me, especially Tetsuo’s transformation scenes at the end when that he started turning into that huge mass of flesh.
Owies..
Not a movie for the faint of heart, Katsuhiro Otomo (the headmonkey director) is not afraid to use graphic depications of blood and gore to advance certain parts of the story.
You want pills? I’ll give you pills!!
Akira’s story basically explores (i think) the concept of evolution and the ever growing need that humans have to meddle in it. It’s underlying message basically is “don’t try and control evolution — it controls you“. Of course, that’s what I think, it’s open to interpretation really. All of it kinda reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” series what with all the ‘evolution to a higher form of life’ and shtuff. If you haven’t read it, go do so immediately!!
Finally, the ending has an almost bittersweet feel to it with the usually ‘hope’ and ‘lets move on’ feelings coming across. It’s pretty open-ended as well, you don’t really find out what happens to Neo-Tokyo or whether the 3, Akira and Tetsuo will ever return.
You might need to push yourself to watch it at first, but once it starts progressing, it grabs you takes you along for one hell of a journey.
Vroom!
Oh and Kaneda’s bike gets +1 for being awesome and red at the same time!
Highly recommended. 85/100 monkeys.
Now excuse me, I need to go figure out Japanese under the tutelage of DarkMirage.
