Review of Akira

Akira is one of those movies that when it came out it was revolutionary, but the more it gets old, the more it's evident of how... basic it is. And I'm being very nice by just saying "basic" (because, to be honest, I really hated it). The plot is... oh man, WHAT EVEN is the plot? We have 2 hours and 4 minutes of the movie and most of the time I was lost and bored. I had to google so many times to understand what was happening, what was the objective, who was this character on screen and... oh, THE ENDING. WHAT????????!!!!! Now, to be fair,I also googled about the manga and it sounds like it is more interesting, less rushed, more "complete" and just a whole different experience from the movie. I'm still debating whether or not I'll read it, but as far as the MOVIE ADAPTATION goes: I certainly don't recommend it!

The art is... not pretty. I get it: this is old, this is what anime looked like in the 80's, but still. The art didn't please me and it certainly pleased me even less when I focused on a character's mouth "moving" while they spoke (I put that word in between quotes because UGH it is so badly animated! It's like their entire face is still and only their mouths move, and barely so. I hated it.)

The characters are meh. I didn't like anyone, didn't feel a connection with absolutely any of them, I can't even remember most of their names! And some of them, I have no idea why they even existed (for example, Kei. Kaneda meets her for the first time and it's like love at first sight, he's all up for getting in her pants and I'm like: okay, but do you even KNOW this girl? who is she, why is she there, what is she going to do????)

I only started to actually get interested in the story in the last 20 minutes of the film. And by the end of it, I was back into being confused and unsure of what I had just watched.

Overall, Akira is one of the classics that I personally don't like, but as always, I have an unpopular opinion.