Review of Akira

'Pioneering', 'classic', 'groundbreaking', 'compelling', 'masterpiece' - all words which describe this film upon a quick Google search. Really? Reeeeally? I had very high hopes for Akira - as anyone would - after endless recommendations from friends and being touted as the most important anime film of all time. But after watching, I was incredibly disappointed. THIS is supposed to be the most influential anime film? THIS? Never in my life have I witnessed something so mediocre be so overrated. Let us discuss the various aspects of the film STORY~ The plot could have a lot of promise - a secret government project of scientists experimenting upon humans in order togive them telekinetic powers. However, it is executed horribly. Little is explained in detail, the narrative is basically a wild goose chase of everyone trying to find Tetsuo and stop his powers spiralling out of control. There are more explosions and violence than actual narrative points and honestly, its just a big big mess. If you just enjoy people shooting at one another and an irritating teenage boy getting incredibly angry and blowing stuff up every scene, then I guess maybe this is for you, but quite frankly Akira offers little else.

ART~
Okay I know the manga was written in the early 80s. BUT WHY DOES THE CHARACTER DESIGN HAVE TO BE SO INCREDIBLY UGLY???? Kaneda, Tetsuo and some other guy from the biker gang (no idea his name because Akira doesn't care about characters at all- but more on that later) all look TOO ALIKE and it took me half of the film to be able to decipher between them. Also, why does the girl look exactly like Kaneda? Did the illustrator have literally no creativity at all? STUPID!!!!!

CHARACTER~
What characters? Absolutely none of the characters are developed, likeable or interesting. They are all incredibly two dimensional, most of them barely have a personality, and quite frankly I didnt even care if the protagonist Kaneda lived or died by the end of it. The withered little children were the only characters who even slightly intrigued me, yet we never find out any backstory for them.

OVERALL~
I honestly can't express what a disappointment this film is. I often heard people talk about how much Kanye West loves Akira and now, it makes sense - an incredibly overrated film for an incredibly overrated man.
It kept me mildly entertained, but I think that's only because I watched it with a friend and had lots of snacks - had I been alone, I would've turned this off way before the halfway point.