Reviews

Akira (Anime) add (All reviews)
Jun 14, 2016
Mixed Feelings
As much of a "classic" or "must-watch" anime as this may be, its only strengths are the same as a generic explosion film. There isn't a story to this anime, at least not one that I could follow. It appears to have a rebellion type plot with some sci-fi mixed in, but I couldn't pinpoint where the beginning, middle, and end were. This is "adapted" from a highly acclaimed manga and was even directed by the mangaka himself so the poor adaptation may be due how little time it had to adapt what was released of the manga at the time.
The action scenes are done well and the colour palette is impressive seeing as what was available at the time the movie was made. Unfortunately all of the characters look similar and in a fast paced movie it can be hard to know what characters are in a scene without other characters referring to them by name. Since the movie is action based the characters don't address each other too often so you may watch through an entire scene without even knowing which characters were in it.
The sound effects were done well and sound quite realistic when they need to be. The music also sets the tone of the scenes well. The voice actors do a much better job than the character designer and the characters do sound different. Their voices also sound good in general and make the movie come alive more than anything else does. If you have a good knowledge of seiyuu you should be able to tell the characters apart by voices.
In addition to not being drawn differently, the characters also don't differ too much in their personalities. The antagonist was completely forgettable, the protagonists form a group consciousness which makes it hard to follow which character did what, and the female characters look and act so similar to the male characters that it can be hard to even know that they're female to begin with. One character they designed differently from the rest was some sort of alien, but he also has a female counterpart who is indistinguishable from what he would look like in drag.
I personally couldn't find anything to enjoy about this anime. The battles were nice, but if that's all you're there for then the sad attempt at trying to give the movie some sort of plot could just be classified as filler. The story feels like a dementia anime but lacks the satisfaction of understanding it almost like a maze with an entrance and no exit.
There isn't much to this anime at all. The sound is good and the sakuga is nice to look at, but from a storytelling standpoint there isn't anything of any value.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice Nice0
Love it Love it0
Funny Funny0
Show all
It’s time to ditch the text file.
Keep track of your anime easily by creating your own list.
Sign Up Login