Akira

Japan, 1988. An explosion caused by a young boy with psychic powers tears through the city of Tokyo and ignites the fuse that leads to World War III. In order to prevent any further destruction, he is captured and taken into custody, never to be heard from again. Now, in the year 2019, a restored version of the city known as Neo-Tokyo—an area rife with gang violence and terrorism against the current government—stands in its place. Here, Shoutarou Kaneda leads "the Capsules," a group of misfits known for riding large, custom motorcycles and being in constant conflict with their rivals "the Clowns."

During one of these battles, Shoutarou's best friend Tetsuo Shima is caught up in an accident with an esper who finds himself in the streets of Tokyo after escaping confinement from a government institution. Through this encounter, Tetsuo begins to develop his own mysterious abilities, as the government seeks to quarantine this latest psychic in a desperate attempt to prevent him from unleashing the destructive power that could once again bring the city to its knees.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaneda, Shoutarou Main

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Shima, Tetsuo Main

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Kei Main

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Shikishima Main

Ishida, Tarou Japanese

Akira Supporting

Kai Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Yamagata Supporting

Ookura, Masaaki Japanese

Kaori Supporting

Fuchizaki, Yuriko Japanese

Kiyoko Supporting

Itou, Fukue Japanese

Miyako Supporting

Kitamura, Kouichi Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Otomo, Katsuhiro Director, Script, Original Character Design, Original Creator

Aketagawa, Susumu Sound Director

Hashimoto, Izou Script

Reviews

May 24, 2024

laynedoll

Recommended

Gorgeously animated, beautifully gruesome body horror, very much a classic anime and a product of its time. There is a reason why this anime is referenced in so many others with the Akira slide. I definitely think this is a crucial watch for anime lovers or people who appreciate the genre and wants to understand its history, you'll definitely be able to see where other media has pulled from this piece. This anime is very violent and features so much city destruction, and the action scenes are as cool as they are often. If road rash makes you cringe, be warned as this anime features ... warring motorcycle gangs as well as the government trying to take them out so there's a lot of sliding on concrete.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 8, 2024

Far_Together

Mixed Feelings

Coming into Akira blind, beside the title, poster art and knowing it's age, you might be interested to see a semi-futuristic biker gang beating the crap out of one another and maybe solving a slightly larger plot along the way. Probably not expecting much from animation quality.

Animation quality, however, is the single point that Akira blew out of the water. The visuals are fantastic even from a modern perspective, though the art style in particular may not be what a new fan is used to.

The story, on the other hand, felt like a slow burn that suddenly hit a gas tank and just exploded everywhere. ... Some characters were barely introduced, then used for a moment only to be killed off without much ceremony, and others were built up slowly....also to be killed off without much ceremony. Then the main characters...existed? There's a small background dump about them at the very end, but at that point you probably don't care much about it because the plot point has completely shifted and it's no longer relevant.
The movie's namesake itself is basically a red herring, and if I hadn't been watching and hoping to figure out what Akira was, I probably would have been fully bored with the movie before the half-way point.

As a marker in time, Akira is a fantastic reference. You can see clear things that it inspired, you can see how it helped show animation as not just for children, and you can see a visual masterpiece that showed the talent of the artists unaided by mass amounts of computer manipulation. I wouldn't suggest watching it for much more than that though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 9, 2024

DeviantKuroi

Not Recommended

Funny

Akira sucks. Overrated.

So many people saying "It's a great piece of art". OK, I didn't see it.

There's many anime movies and animes who work abstract concepts in the same way that akira's art pretend to do, and they did it so much better and with more (of any) sense. So it seems to me that is very, very overrated.

Art to me, like an old classic, it's not that special (There's other with more stetic)

Furthermore, I find the machism and sexist in the movie disgusting and repulsive. I know, I know, is an 80's film... But fuck, there's others anime and 80's film. And they aren't ... like that.

So in resume, not - in any case - that good as I thought by the amount of good reviews saying it's a wonder, a deception and a movie for dry and smelly machirulos.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Akira Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Friendlysoul - Apr 12, 2008	220 replies	by busconoviaaa »» May 26, 9:59 AM
	Am i the only one who think that akira is a bad movie? ( 1 2 ) Harley3579 - May 14, 2019	62 replies	by Absurdo_N »» May 16, 6:39 PM
	Akira is not cyberpunk, it's just a paranormal genre ( 1 2 ) TheRedComment - Jan 22	51 replies	by Zarutaku »» Apr 27, 5:11 AM
	Ending interpretation Fukoku - Apr 13	0 replies	by Fukoku »» Apr 13, 11:25 AM
	Tropes created in Akira curvedtree - Dec 22, 2023	4 replies	by -DxP- »» Dec 23, 2023 3:55 AM

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