Review of Akira

Akira is regarded as one of the most famous anime movies of all times, hailed for its cinematography and historical importance as the title that showed the west how animation can be far more than kidstuff. But how does it stand the test of time after all these years? The theme is definitely hard to work on a modern audience. Back then science fiction was all about making technology seem very dangerous and scary, able to destroy humanity, or help it evolve into a new form of existence. This is no longer the case, since by now technology is a wonderful thing, full of videogames wecan escape to, and have cyber sex. This does not make it bad, just outdated and down to personal preferences.

The tone still works fine. It is rather campy but focused on being a dystopia, where civilization became decadent, politicians are incompetent, people riot and expect a messiah to deliberate them, before everything blows up to smithereens.

The plot was and is simple, a result of cramming a huge manga into about two hours, simplifying and changing considerably several points to the point all you are left with is a fairy tale version. Reading the manga to get the full picture is not excusing nor improving anything, so yes, it is nothing much to talk about.

The characters suffer a lot because of the simple plot. They feel bland and shallow, closer to plot devises than people. Although many of them have different goals and motivations, there simply isn’t much time dedicated on anyone besides Tetsuo. Who by the way is the antagonist, not even the protagonist. This role belongs to Kaneda, a standard delinquent teenager who could be easily replaced by anyone else in his gang and you wouldn’t tell the difference. It’s Tetsuo who constantly changes throughout the movie, from a weak underling, to super saiyan Vegeta, and eventually to a huge Kthulu baby.

There is a decent attempt to portray the psychological damage and frustration everybody feels, but it comes off rushed and even silly because of the over-expressive way the characters are drawn. I know many who have a hard time telling if they are being serious, or to distinguish men from women because of the rather simplistic facial structure.

The pretty colors are of course the thing that still looks gorgeous and decades better than most of any other animated title of today. Extremely detailed, with multiple layers of animation and a high frame rate, all of which is hand-drawn. It is a splendid piece of work, even if it’s otherwise a minor aspect of what makes a movie good.

The music part is hit or miss. Most of the songs contribute to the eerie atmosphere of the setting, with the voice acting ranging from decent to god awful. And this is not limited to the first English dub which was done back when voice acting was a job nobody gave a damn about. Even in the original language, the actors don’t use the proper tone of voice half the time. It’s a bit distracting but otherwise nothing you can’t get used to.

After this breakdown, it becomes a 50-50 chance for someone to like the movie, thus making it controversial.
Theme: based on preference
Tone: yes
Plot: no
Characters: besides Tetsuo, no
Animation: yes
Music: yes to BGM, mostly no to voice acting

I personally find it very inspirational, very close to the problems of the era it was made in, and not about beta males after underage girls in some school. This is more than enough to keep it in my favorite anime list, and if you disagree with that, it’s because you grew up at a time when technology is all about fun and games.

SUGGESTION LIST
Tetsuo the Iron Man
Choujin Locke
Elfen Lied