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Jun 8, 2013 8:18 PM

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Sep 2011
4671
I don't think it was that good.

4/10
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Jun 16, 2013 11:49 AM

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Mar 2010
1111
for 1988 its pretty good but nothing really amazed me
Aug 5, 2013 8:58 AM

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Aug 2012
1127
I so badly hoped to see the destruction of Neo-Tokyo animated and I saw it. Not as good as in the manga, but still awesome.

I think they did a magnificent job putting the manga into a two-hour movie.
Aug 14, 2013 8:18 AM

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Dec 2012
245
I actually enjoyed this anime a lot more than I thought I would. ((From now on, I will never look at anime the same way again.)) Maybe I will now try to give older animes a chance more often.
Sep 27, 2013 8:13 AM

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Oct 2009
3293
First of all magnificent animation and OST for a 1988's animation even nowadays we don't see such quality work. Character design that was crappy was mostly Kei, others were quite fine for it's day.
The plot was great, even though i don't understand what happened at the end, I'll have to look into it further..one it failed was with emotional impact, didn't care about any character at all. Really enjoyed it.

8.6/10
Nov 2, 2013 4:33 PM

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Sep 2012
3948
Just watching the Funimation versions. Did a quick compare to my old VHS wide screen edition. The Funimation version is even wider screen and obviously is so much more detailed even in their HD stream! The Bluray must be amazing. I know, I could have bought an import but never did.

Animation is great, some of the character designs are not but it still holds up really well!
Nov 22, 2013 6:39 PM

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Sep 2013
97
I finally got to watch this movie, now I see why it was so popular back then so enjoyable and interesting 10/10.
Dec 7, 2013 11:56 PM

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Mar 2012
2884
Akira had Tokyo hosting the Olympics in 2020. It predicted the future!

10/10

Dec 7, 2013 11:59 PM
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Jul 2012
9396
Just watched this on toonami and this movie is so god damn entertaing that the animation and everything is great.
Problem is that I don`t understabd the story nor the ending at all. Though, I know Vegta look alike has this strange power of something(btw that one humgus monster scene is so crazy and weird.) and his friends has to save him. I don`t even know that is he dead or what. Other that verry goid movie.
8/10
Dec 8, 2013 12:00 AM

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Dec 2012
48
DarknessOfEmo said:
Just watched this on toonami and this movie is so god damn entertaing that the animation and everything is great.
Problem is that I don`t understabd the story nor the ending at all. Though, I know Vegta look alike has this strange power of something(btw that one humgus monster scene is so crazy and weird.) and his friends has to save him. I don`t even know that is he dead or what. Other that verry goid movie.
8/10


I feel the same way. It was really good, but I could only understand no more than half the plot. Can't say it wasn't interesting though!

Dec 8, 2013 3:11 AM

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Jan 2011
2858
"What? My friend has received godlike powers and is wrecking shit? Alright, let me hop on my bike and kick his ass with this laser gun right quick."

Man Kaneda is just too badass.

Anyway, I loved the movie and since the first time I watched it was a long time ago the experience felt almost new to me with a couple of nostalgic moments.
VioLinkDec 8, 2013 3:17 AM
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Dec 10, 2013 9:16 PM
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Dec 2013
1
Asukami said:
DarknessOfEmo said:
Just watched this on toonami and this movie is so god damn entertaing that the animation and everything is great.
Problem is that I don`t understabd the story nor the ending at all. Though, I know Vegta look alike has this strange power of something(btw that one humgus monster scene is so crazy and weird.) and his friends has to save him. I don`t even know that is he dead or what. Other that verry goid movie.
8/10


I feel the same way. It was really good, but I could only understand no more than half the plot. Can't say it wasn't interesting though!

Good to see I'm not the only one.

Personally I was disappointed with the series. I had hoped to enjoy the movie as I had heard nothing but good about it for years.

In retrospect, I'd never heard anything that spoiled the story for me, which I'm actually surprised about. I had always envisioned this story to focus on biking, and that the main character was named Akira, not Kaneda.

I've read a lot on the topic 'Why does everyone like Akira so much?' and found that I agree with the author of that topic.

While I do agree that for the release dated in 1988 and the fact it was shown in American cinema's, I found little to no entertainment value in it. This is not solely because I was confused with the plot but predominantly because I could not identify with the characters. They were far too violent and disrespectful...I couldn't connect with any one character.

I did however fancy Kaneda's bike. That's one sweet ride.

5/10
Dec 26, 2013 7:36 PM

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Jul 2009
3344
wow just finished watching this from the 25th anniversary BD by funimation and they did a excellent job on preserving the original film in high quality blu ray.

no problems watsoever, tons of extras and the menu looks ace.

as for the film itself, wow been 25 years since this came out and its still looks amazing to this date!! gorgeous animation, the world is so gorgeous and it really immerses you and makes you think what would a apocalyptic neo tokyo would look like!

amazing fight scenes, though i wish we had more fight scenes like Kaneda and Tetsuo battle when Tetsuo discovered what "Akira" is.

as for the story, it was kinda lacking to be honest, the pace was too fast to understand what really is going on. so Akira is this energy at first that comes from all being(meaning everyone has an "Akira" inside of them) that get's awaken when you realize it.

then out of a sudden, there's actually an Akira boy which they didn't really expand other than he seems to be one of the top psychic kids along with the other 3 kids. we also don't know how they've gotten the power in the first place(awaken sometime?)

also Akira was indeed experimented when he was a child, same as those 3 kids as well. i wonder what happened after the experiment?

we also don't know why Takahashi(the first pyschic kid in the opening) that was running away from the government in the first place. out of a sudden he's okay with the other two kids and he begins to help them.

why was he running away from them in the first place?

i do understand that the manga has more story and is more fleshed out compared to the anime. but the animation here is superb and the world is soo vibrant. such a fantastic film to be rewatch as many times as possible along with Ghost in the Shell and Innocence ^^

also seeing this again reminds me of the scene in KOF2002 :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNEiwo0wBv8

even has the same VA in their respective styles!

Kusanagi(Kaneda) vs K9999(Tetsuo)

so i guess i'll read the manga then to learn more about the story. i'd give this a 9/10 since i really enjoyed the film and it's really a "classic" piece ^^

i recommend everyone to buy the Funimation 25th anniversary edition!! even though i don't watch dubs anymore, they managed to preserve the original film in its entirety with no compromises and it's in HD :)

so go buy it now!!!
Jan 5, 2014 7:39 PM

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Apr 2012
59
I hated Tetsuo from the very beginning. Nice animation but I'm not a fan of the huge foreheads.
u gay
Jan 10, 2014 9:36 AM

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May 2012
6867
The worst movie I ever seen in my life. I can't give this crap more than 2/10
Jan 29, 2014 3:02 PM

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May 2013
1310
Pretty good c:
Mar 14, 2014 6:24 AM

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Apr 2010
76
great movie, for an old one
Mar 19, 2014 10:09 AM

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Dec 2012
1897
Amazing and the animation done pretty good considering how old it is. That said, I really wish, someone will explain to me what exactly happened at the end. I am only guessing, right now. Also was only neo tokyo annihilated? Aaagh!!

Man, kanade is really one badass!
Apr 4, 2014 2:09 AM

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Jun 2011
578
Everyone was liked this movie so much that I gave it a try at last.
It was definitely nothing special. The first half seemed very interesting and mysterious but during the second half I was about to fall asleep.
On the other hand the animation was great (old school style which I adore) and the battles seemed like from an action movie. It was a weird movie, so proceed with caution.
Apr 12, 2014 3:15 AM

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Apr 2013
607
Wow, that movie was really something.

The animation was top notch, the soundtrack was chilling, the atmosphere and grittiness of a good cyberpunk was there. Not perfect with an ambiguous story, but a really strong 9/10.
Powerful eyebrows.
Apr 27, 2014 1:45 PM

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Sep 2009
803
The heck did I just watch @.@
Got hooked in tho
If i got something to say is that the animation is amazing, I can't believe it was released in 1988.
Apr 28, 2014 3:44 PM

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Apr 2013
585
It had good art at least.
May 8, 2014 10:47 PM

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Nov 2013
799
In all honesty ... I didn't understand a thing. I really had the feeling that someone was spreading shit on my screen.

Maybe I should have read the manga, I don't know ...

People are calling this good art? Ok it's old and you can't compare it to what we got today but seriously the main character and the girl have exactly the same face on most images, and they are ugly. And since they oftenly dress the same way, the only way to differenciate them is the voice !

I'm not even speaking about the plot, it makes me feel Evangelion was a walk in the park.


2/10

It's really the one of the worst anime I have ever seen.
May 18, 2014 2:24 PM
The Shrike

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Nov 2009
11580
Rewatched this classic after many, many years to get the taste of Cipher out of my eyes. They did some great stuff in the 80's too. The animation and music are incredible and the story resonates with it's themes of social unrest, corruption, teenage alienation and technology out of control.

All the people who bash this (a lot of them have One Piece as their favorite for some reason LOLOL) because it looks 'ugly' have to realize it's over of a quarter of a century old. How do you think people in 20 years are going to look at the current art in anime? Not too kindly I suppose.
"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Jul 13, 2014 6:56 PM
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Jul 2018
564089
Weird, crazy, and utterly confusing, yet some parts were pretty entertaining. The animation is godlike for being made in the late 80's, although I cannot say the same about the art, it was just old and I didn't really like the character designs. Music was just meh, too. And... seriously, what the F*CK was up with that ending? I didn't understand it at all.
Although not absolutely terrible, Akira is very, very overrated imo, and I highly disagree with anyone claiming it to be the greatest anime film ever made. 5/10
Jul 14, 2014 8:21 AM

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Jul 2013
2192
How did the movie know that 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo/Japan?
Jul 18, 2014 7:49 PM

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Feb 2013
6196
It finally got interesting with that teddy-bear... I rather liked those parts.

Wow, that guy that took a shoulder-shot from that laser... ouch.

Some good, some bad. Evens out to "average" (5/10)
Jul 26, 2014 5:40 AM

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Jul 2012
568
Not exactly what I was expecting, but it pleased me, and the ending is awesome
Jul 31, 2014 9:37 PM

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Jun 2014
1665
1:45:00-ish; one of the top 10 things you wish could un-see o-o
"Canada-kun" lol.
meh anyway the movie was okay enough for a 5.
Oct 3, 2014 7:01 PM
💉 🩸 🩹 💖 🏥

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Feb 2012
3606
The movie was interesting, but the ending was unsatisfying. I couldn't feel any sympathy for Tetsuo even if they tried to show his backstory. I also feel bad for Kaori. She didn't deserve to go out like that.

So, yeah, this movie has taught me to be careful who you become friends with. They might get an inferiority complex and try to kill you and your friends if you try to help them.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

Dec 1, 2014 12:39 AM

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Feb 2014
3745
I was impressed by the flaps of the mouth matching the actual words spoken.
It was a good movie to kill some time, but I don't really see why people consider it soooo good.
Jan 22, 2015 2:35 PM

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Feb 2013
2364
Finally got around to watching this movie, and I'm very glad I did. I mean for the time the animation is incredible.....hell some animation today is of that quality...the plot was great (confusing there at the end but still great), I really love open endings....it allows you to come up with your own ideas of what happened.

Not the best movie I've ever seen, but it definitely deserves the hype and praise that it gets.

9/10 for me.
Jan 22, 2015 2:40 PM

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Jul 2014
2502
i didn't love it 100% but i think it was time well spent and a very unique movie. i think it could be more enjoyable if you watch it more than once though :)
Feb 10, 2015 10:15 PM

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Mar 2014
4946
Decent movie. Manga is like 8000x better though.
Feb 10, 2015 10:23 PM

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Nov 2014
2445
I liked the manga better.
Mar 25, 2015 4:39 PM

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Oct 2009
634
Took me years to watch this movie because I heard it was kinda "gross" at times. Didn't disappoint in that department. Absolutely love the classic style, animation and overall feel. I don't think I've ever seen this stunning, detailed and fluid animation (and I've seen a lot), especially considering the time which it came from and the technology they used back then. Some animation today cannot even be compared to this quality. Storywise it was kinda lacking, rushed maybe. Then again they had to push 2000 pages of manga in a 2 hour movie. It was an unique experience and got me hooked from the first minute. Honestly wish anime today would be this ambitious, but alas.
Jun 20, 2015 9:26 PM

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Sep 2014
1042
Extremely impressive animations, especially considering it was hand drawn and made in the 80s. The setting was excellent: I'm a big fan of futuristic dystopian societies, especially when we get to see how run down and grimy the poor districts are. The cities decay contrasted nicely with all the futuristic vehicles and weapons.

The movie was somewhat boring at times and I had to fight to get through the slow parts, but at least Tetsuo's power trip was extremely fun and satisfying to watch. Nothing quite liking seeing a guy lose all inhibition destroy absolutely everything in sight: wish more shows nowadays had this instead of the usual "wimpy protagonist gets lots of hot chicks" thing we've got going

6/10
Jun 28, 2015 3:37 AM

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Jun 2015
9000
I refrained from watching it for a long time, because I was afraid to be disappointed. Turns out I wasn't at all, this is a good movie that aged really well.
Jul 16, 2015 9:01 PM

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Jul 2012
1912
After the plot started picking up, it got so confusing. I watched a couple analysis videos, and found out that this was adapted from a manga. There are a good bit of differences between the two in that a lot of things were explained and that there is a lot more character development in the manga.

After listening about all the praise for its animation quality, the techniques used to make it, and its influence in the industry, I can sorta understand why this film was, and still is, such a huge deal.
Jul 30, 2015 3:15 PM

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Feb 2015
87
Except that characters' faces look very similar, everything else is just great. Animation was done so well that i couldn't believe it is a '88 movie. In the first half of the movie mystery element kept me on the edge of my seat. In the other half the action was mind blowing considering the age of this movie.
9/10
Aug 7, 2015 12:54 PM

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Feb 2014
330
This was made in 1988 and still holds up that is pretty amazing
Aug 31, 2015 12:54 PM

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Apr 2013
473
I can see why it's famed like that. The animation still holds up today, OST was great I think, only thing is, some character designs were a bit too similar (Kei/Kaneda...). It's a great movie (although not "the best I've ever seen") and I don't regret deciding rather spontanously to watch it today.

And I don't understand why people find it so confusing? There may be deeper ideas in this movie I didn't get, but it's not like I have no clue what was going on. I heard the old dub was rather confusing though, maybe some people were watching that version?
Sep 18, 2015 5:07 PM

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Feb 2014
1733
WTF

This was no doubt one of the weirdest movies that I've seen. I found that I didn't really like any of the characters...Kaneda got angry super quickly, and the drama between him and Tetsuo felt super forced. There was also some pretty brutal violence, which I was NOT a fan of. The blue kids were reeeeeeeally weird and it's terrible that they would do those kinds of tests on orphans. Tetsuo finally getting to Akira was pretty anticlimactic. And that part in the beginning where that dude shoots the two dogs is UNFORGIVABLE!!!!

But to positive stuff: the part where all the little toys climbed on Tetsuo's bed was super adorable!!!! But then...um, uh, yeah. It got super weird.
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Oct 19, 2015 10:16 AM
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Dec 2014
116
Got half the people who like this pretending to understand it and the others who ignore the terrible plot because of its animation
Nov 6, 2015 8:29 PM

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Nov 2009
1093
Gave it a 7/10, a lot of it I enjoyed but there was a lot of confusing bits with not that much explanation so I endedbup taking everything for face value. Animation is superb though for its time and still holds up now in my opinion.

Kaori's death made me feel kind of bad though, getting crushed to death by something that grotesque considering she had done nothing to deserve the bad treatment in each of her scenes but her death just made things worse.
Jan 30, 2016 8:09 PM

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Dec 2013
15072
This was a weird show. Felt like too much went unexplained. Ending was confusing.

Animation was phenomenal. Can't believe it's from the 80s.
Feb 6, 2016 7:23 AM

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Jun 2014
632
Well I finally broke down and watch this and like others I feel it's worth pointing out the fluid animation. Seriously, if your animation can stand up 20 years later you know you did something right.

For myself, it's simple, if I can be drawn in to a point where I feel invested in a character odds are I'm going to enjoy it and at times can even overlook a bad story. If that doesn't happen, then odds are I won't like it, even with a good story.

In this case, I didn't overly care about any of the characters and while the concepts introduced within the story (political corruption, questions concerning ethics in Science etc) are interesting, they felt rushed to me. Couple that with characters you frankly just don't care about and I can't say I overly enjoyed it. Still, I can't see giving it below a 5, considering it did manage to hit some good notes, even if it failed to resonate with me. While I can respect what this movie did for the industry as a whole, I can't say it's something I would ever consider watching again.
Feb 15, 2016 12:59 AM

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Sep 2015
7
LegendGoldDark said:
Just watched this on toonami and this movie is so god damn entertaing that the animation and everything is great.
Problem is that I don`t understabd the story nor the ending at all. Though, I know Vegta look alike has this strange power of something(btw that one humgus monster scene is so crazy and weird.) and his friends has to save him. I don`t even know that is he dead or what. Other that verry goid movie.
8/10


They tried to pack a story that could easily fill several seasons of a series in a two hour movie. That's the biggest problem with this work.
Recap of how I understood it:
Tetsuos power (the Vegeta lookalike) is basically the full potential of us as human beings (or as close as it gets). So in essence we all have that power, it's just deep in our unconscious. Scientists tried to unlock those powers in those wrinkled kids (which is what made them wrinkled in the first place) and Akira was their only real "success". But he couldnt be controlled and his power destroyed the whole city (the huge explosion you see at the beginning of the movie). That's why they dissected him and put him in those vials under the stadium for future scientists.
When Tetsuo crashed with his bike into that wrinkled boy his potential was somehow unlocked.
But he's using it unconsciously. Like when he starts flying all of a sudden and yelling out "Is this a new power of mine?" Not to mention the constant headaches. He is overwhelmed by it and looses his mind in the process. And if you consider the fucked up world around him, it makes a lot of sense that he becomes increasingly violent. It's eat or be eaten. And with his newfound powers, he doesn't have to take anyones shit anymore. To me he seems somewhat like an aggressive drunk.
Towards the end Tetsuo looses control of his powers, because he is simply overdoing it. Like when he uses the scrap to mold himself a new arm, that suddenly starts assimilating parts of that throne. That's why his flesh just uncontrollably grows and he becomes this... strange... hell, I dont even know what to call it... thing...
Hope it makes a little more sense now.
Mar 2, 2016 4:47 AM

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Mar 2013
164
Damn, I really enjoyed the atmosphere.
The only problem with this movie is the end, it was kind of underwhelming...
Still very good though, 8/10
Mar 3, 2016 1:48 AM

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Mar 2012
5785
Came in expecting an awesome movie only to leave disappointed. Everything felt so dam rushed that it just dampened the experience. Barely got anything out of the characters as well besides a tiny bit of backstory from Kaneda, Tetsuo and the three kid's pasts. Hell the only reason I know about Kei's connection to Ryu is because I read her character bio a few seconds ago. Who knows what else they left out from the manga just to jam it into 2 hours.

Just because it had really good animation for its time doesn't mean its faults should be overlooked.
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