Review of Akira

Akira is a violent 1988 dystopian cyberpunk apocalypse (based off the identically named manga) that boasts incredible animation, atmosphere, scenery and unique imagery, that all seem to prove the English tagline of the film right; "Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.!" Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the author of Akira, whose other works include such manga as Domu and Mother Sarah, films both live-action and animated (his other most notable anime film being Roujin Z), and contributions to anime anthologies such as Manie-Manie Meikyuu Monogatari (localized as Neo-Tokyo in English-speaking regions), Akira drops us into the world of Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019, 30 years after the originalTokyo was destroyed by a massive explosion. The city of Neo-Tokyo is a dark and gritty place, with seemingly no care for its average citizen and their dwellings, being accentuated with futuristic neon lights, huge large-screen display televisions and holograms alongside tall monolithic skyscrapers and tidy urban plazas. The local government responsible for this decaying city seems to be at war with local protestors and rebel groups as well as struggling to control its rampant and aggressive criminals, and it's within this setting that the apocalyptic events of Akira begin.

Despite being 30 years old now at the time of writing this review, Akira's animation is fluid and full-ranged, rarely if ever taking animation shortcuts, with impressive techniques and continously believable in its motion and physics, even during some of the more supernatural scenes. The art of Akira is also stunning, with its futuristic technologies, skyscrapers and decaying urban areas all being rendered in meticulous detail, with a fittingly industrial colour usage to match its dystopian, hostile atmosphere. With all this futuristic stuff on display, the soundtrack is in contrast quite ancient-sounding, with tribal drumming, dramatic and loud chants, and eerie ambience, which is all used to quite memorable effect in the film, while also being interesting and haunting outside the film's context. If I were to describe how Akira's visuals and audio were used together, it would be that everything was done to make the film feel absolutely huge in terms of physical size, even in small scenes set within apartment rooms.

Now, despite how memorable Akira is, its characters and plot are somewhat weak. They're there for the most part, and the main characters do have somewhat clear personalities but don't ever really develop beyond their initial personalities, besides one of them, nor do any of the main groups' in the cities' motivations ever get explained. The film never really explains what the rebels plan to do or what they're doing, what the military plans to do to handle any of the city's problems, where psychic powers come from, nor who or what Akira is. The film's story, for the most part, focuses mostly on what happens to Tetsuo, one of the main characters of the film, as he begins to change as a result of his powers from a timid young man to a power-tripping egomaniac, and gives us some clear understanding into his mind as to why he acts as he does, and as a result he becomes the only truly fleshed out character in the film. The motivations and personalities of the characters do get fleshed out somewhat more in the manga (though even then some things still go unexplained) as the film had only adapted the story of the manga about halfway into its publication, but for the most part, in both the manga and film, Akira focuses on its visual spectacle to deliver extremely memorable imagery, and the film does have many memorable moments.

The film has had 2 dubs, and I've watched only the Streamline dub (with Johnny Yong Bosch as Kaneda). From comparison, I find the original Japanese has more fitting voice acting for its main and supporting characters and is generally better than the dub, though the Streamline dub is by no means egregrious enough to worsen the experience of watching Akira.

Overall, I give Akira a 7. It's a very engaging movie with very impactful and stylish visuals that I still find incredibly unique among its peers and well done for a project of its scale, and some scenes carry incredible energy and memorability, but its weakness of plot and characters detract from multiple rewatches, though I'd still recommend you'd give it a watch.

Thanks for reading!