Animation
Upon viewing this the first time I was just dazzled by the detail in animation keeping in mind before this most animations I had seen were from the Walt Disney camp. I was especially captured by the background / landscape detail – scenes like when the “kid” Takashi screams and a whole tower block of windows shatter were just mesmerizing.
A slight downside was maybe the character designs were a tad carbon copied but this never really bothered me at all. I just passed it off as the chosen character template.
Again, scenes containing tremendous destructions and everything within the last 30 minutes where just so mentally stimulating to a young 6 yo’s mind it still brings a giant sense of nostalgia every time I re-watch it. I don’t really expect anyone watching this today to be blown away as much as I was but I think it can still be appreciated to some degree
Sound
Upon watching this anime the first time I am proud to say it was in its original Japanese language version with English subtitles, since then I have watch 2 different English dubs and of the two I can honestly say the first dub is the more acceptable but the Jap is my preference.
The dialogue in Akira is really nothing spectacular, same goes for voice acting and background music. Actually the only thing I really love about the sound is during the memory sequences near the end of the movie, very nice.
Story
A lot of people make a big deal about how confusing the story is, well I believe Akira on a whole is a story you either want to understand or don’t, in the case you want to understand fully what this is all about you will probably find yourself re-watching this again or reading the manga.
Akira to me is not just one simple story but a story that contains many sub-plots, ideologies, concepts and interactions, but at its core deals with friendship, politics and science.
It’s hard to say how today’s audience would take the story of Akira because upon first viewing it’s a complicated story with many subplots that eventually come together.
So in a nutshell I believe Akira has some great concepts that come together well but may take some patience and concentration to fully digest and enjoy.
Character
I’ve read a lot of reviews where other people claim the worst part of Akira were under developed characters….well I completely disagree. The characters in Akira are predictable-yes because everyone is just playing their role in the story, the teenagers act like teenagers, the scientists act like scientists and the army surprise surprise act like the army would! I mean are you expecting each character to delve into a monologue about how they are feeling or what they are thinking lol akira is long enough without it.
These charters are on an adventure whether they know it or not and I found it entertaining watching them all come together so in my humble opinion there was nothing wrong with any of the characters in akira.
Enjoyment
Akira to me is just a dazzling experience of a fictional Neo-Tokyo which was animated wonderfully and given an exception storyline to boot. I have 3 different editions of Akira on DVD so I guess that kind of answers the “did I enjoy it” question.
Value
Well in the past I have recommended Akira to other people with mixed results. In todays anime scene Akira is still rated highly but many people find it confusing and overrated so I think newbie’s to anime may not enjoy Akira but it serves as a good tracing point in the history and development of anime in general.
So bottom line, Akira still has high value to this day but I think it’s a movie more suited for the experienced and not so superficial anime fan.
10/10
Btw If you did watch Akira and did enjoy it I would recommend these titles: Neo Tokyo, Memories, Metropolis & Megazone 23.
Planet Tyro Rating: Hall of Fame
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