Review of Akira

okay so not even gonna lie i found this shit off of a cinefix list and i do not regret watching this movie. easily one of the best horror movies ever made in anime. akira is the epitome of how terrifying an apocalypse by a single person can be. story (spoilers for the second half of it I guess): so basically in the opening scenes you have a dude trying to escape a riot and he is protecting one fucking ugly ass kid and gets lit up, only to find out that he's an esper. enter the main character Kaneda who is one badass motherfucker forbeing like 14 years old. he and his biker gang are fucking shit up and they find said esper kid on the bridge and Tetsuo gets murked by said esper and is taken away in a helicopter. there he has operations that pretty much fuck him over and learns to harness an enormous amount of psychic power. basically Kaneda wants to find (and eventually stop) Tetsuo from going berserk (spoiler: doesn't work too well) and then one of the most horrifying sequences occurs in any anime. just unreal animation, doesn't even look like its from 1988, but i'll get to that later.

art:

stunning. the night is lively and dark. as the movie goes on the sky and colors become gloomier. the opening scene has an amazing skirmish between biker games and is executed perfectly in the Neo-Tokyo (so close damnit) night. when Tetsuo goes berserk in the city, it is jaw-dropping that someone actually drew this. remember, this 80's movie had better animation than shit we see today.

sound:

vibrant music. watched subbed and don't regret it. might have to rewatch just to appreciate how perfectly the sound describes the situation in this movie.

characters:

incredible. Kaneda is an excellent lead and you can't help but root for him because he's a badass and the only one in the city with probably millions of people to take on the antagonist Tetsuo. also, Tetsuo is an excellent antagonist and you can't help but to hate him for everything he stands for (fuck that pussy) and is a truly terrifying villain. Shikishima looks like a bad guy at first but he is a man with a great moral standing unlike the rest of the government. Kei is the least interesting as her personality exists for like a couple of scenes.

enjoyment:

fucking loved it. re-watchable. not one dull scene that made me want to skip a part in this movie. end was not as happy as the premise would lead you to believe. honestly when a movie sounds great and has fantastic artwork it will glue your eyes to the screen for its runtime, in this case 2 hours.

recommendation:

must-watch. should be regarded as a classic and recognized along with horror films of that late 80s to early 90s like a Silence of the Lambs. i would even say as to recommend it to people who are a fan of horror and have never watched anime before since this might be the one to hook them in.