Review of Akira

Akira is a classic, but one that is flawed. The visuals age like a fine wine, and you can see the tendrils of its concepts throughout many pieces of media, even inspiring modern animated films like Into the Spiderverse. The dark, dystopian setting and warped characters are even more interesting today, seeing how history went on a completely different trajectory compared to what ‘2019’ looks like here. However, beyond the timeless animation, great music, and wonderful characters, it is hard to look past the story’s lack of structure. Akira has an intriguing and high-concept story, but one that can seem slightly nonsensical and, at times,quite pretentious. Overall, Akira is one-of-a-kind in terms of influence and is animated movie history that everyone who likes anime should watch, but with an asterisk about its story and structure.

The visuals of Akira are, in many ways, peerless. It is hard to imagine how many hours of effort went into creating these incredible city backgrounds, characters, and expressiveness that is endemic to the whole picture. Even now, in 2023, as a first-time watcher, I was very impressed by some of the sequences, such as ‘SOL,’ many of the bike chase scenes, and the ‘teddy bear’ scene in the hospital. The ‘Akira bike slide’ is rightfully iconic, and the majesty of the dystopia is alluded to in so many other films and media it’s hard to keep count of them all. It is fascinating to consider how a film that is now around thirty-five years old manages to be this captivating and well-animated and still has many lessons to teach modern animators and fans of animation. It will probably continue to be relevant purely in this area alone, and for this by itself, it is worth a watch at least once for all animation/anime fans or fans of Japanese culture.

While other aspects of the movie are not as strong in terms of presentation, they still are meritable. The character designs are not quite as memorable as some later 1980s or 1990s designs that remain iconic to this day. For example, characters like Goku or Luffy, created in the late 1980s and 1990s, stand out in a way that just is not the case in Akira. The characters still have that 70s-era sameness to them where characters just do not pop the same way and seem quite subdued. That doesn’t mean there aren’t strong characters like Kaneda, Tetsuo, Shikishima, Kai, and many others. Nonetheless, their designs and memorability just aren’t hitting the same peaks. The set pieces and visuals, and music are all a bit more iconic, standing out far stronger than the individual designs, that feel almost too subtle by comparison. As with many 1970s anime and manga, it may have been a stylistic choice to juxtapose against the film’s hardcore violence and gore, and it does work to an extent, but still, there are many horror anime and mangas that have far more memorable designs and presentation than Akira that learned the valuable lessons it had to teach while feeling a bit more modern. Overall, these areas are still positive ones for the film, but grading on the curve isn’t quite on the level of ‘all-time great’ the same way as the visuals.

Where the film does falter a little bit is with its characters and story. The structure is very muddled at times and does not really try to craft a coherent narrative. There is a vague backstory of the eponymous Akira, which is never adequately explained, but the viewer can somewhat piece together what he is because of exposition and flashbacks. Tetsuo is a great villain, but the way the film ends with him does feel slightly anticlimactic and comes out of nowhere, similar to the ending of the original Devilman manga. The main character, Kaneda, seemingly goes from one set piece to another, making the film at times feel more like a series of vignettes rather than a logical series of events. Violence constantly happens without it having much weight to it because it’s just so constant, and it is one area that just does not have the same punch now as then, even if it is extremely well animated. From a modern critical view, the film actually becomes somewhat more interesting to analyse when the violent overtones are not as shocking, revealing a pretty subtle but also pretentious subtext if you do not focus on all of the over-the-top gore. Ultimately, the movie’s prevailing message is that humanity will change and that one day, it will be able to survive with psychics or other beings, with Kai being a bit of a progenitor. Essentially, humans will evolve and grow, which really, when you break it down, is not exactly the most groundbreaking realisation, and for how breathtaking Akira is visually, it just feels like the story cannot keep up or challenge the viewer in ways that haven’t been done hundreds of times in following decades.

The ending is also quite weird on its own and worth a mention. I would recommend anyone going into this film not expect the story to ultimately make complete sense because it doesn’t. If you come into this story expecting a satisfying conclusion, you might be disappointed. The ending is very random and easily the most pretentious part of the film. It looks cool visually, like everything else, but never really finds a way around the plot’s conflict. It’s not a mess, there are hints throughout the story about how Tetsuo is ultimately doomed, but it feels like a crucial piece is missing.

In sum, Akira is a classic, but one that does have significant issues. As animated movies go, there are few as important or worth seeing as this one. Its visual mastery is still unmatched in some respects. The characters are also pretty great, and the designs of the backdrops, such as the cities and certain set pieces, remain astounding. On the other hand, it is not always as memorable as its awe-inspiring animation. The designs can feel slightly dated, and certain elements do not rise to the animation quality. The story is not bad, but bordering on being a mess and does not really end in a satisfying way. Overall, it’s a film that’s easy to recommend because of its history and visual excellence, but with a critical asterisk that your mileage may vary because of its flawed structure, outdated sensibilities, and story that is not wholly coherent.