Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)

THE SCOOP
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Plot: A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller/Action
Awards: -
Runtime: 124min
Rating: NC16 for graphic violence and brief nudity.

IN RETROSPECT
Released in 1988, Akira had a faithful cult following. One of the most influential Japanese animation (or anime) ever produced, it explores deep, mature issues that are rarely showcased in animation form. Including graphic violence and gore, and profanity, Akira's target audience is aimed at largely teens and adults, not small kids. The filmmakers' intention is to show how future Tokyo will look and feel like. Their vision is uncompromising; a post-apocalyptic, polluted city with gangsters and corrupted government officials, plus unethical scientists.

Akira's animation is mostly cell-drawn, immaculately detailed, and very colorful. It seduces us from the start, hooking us right into the polluted world of neo-Tokyo. The characters evolve into something quite substantial; their developments seldom paper-thin. Akira has many exhilarating set-pieces, and its own fair share of great action sequences. With fantastic music accompaniment and stunning remastered sound effects, watching on home video is a blast.

The problem of Akira (and it's a major one in my opinion) lies in the last half hour. It starts out in the most brilliant way, but ends in an overblown, exhaustive, and indulgent manner that is nearly suicidal. While the creativity is there, the long-winded ending sequence is likely to end up saturating viewers whom have already been through almost two hours of mind-boggling stuff. Akira is a dizzying ride that's enjoyable, but the ending doesn't lend a lasting touch to a potential great animated classic. Cult followers will be likely to think otherwise though.

SCORE: 8/10
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Last updated: 2010-03-13 23:20:06 by eternality_tan

Directing and adapting from his own manga, Katsuhiro Ôtomo paints a gritty post-WWIII future Tokyo composed of neon lights, apocalyptic cults, hedonistic storefronts, mass protests and bombings, and teen biker gangs. After bossy gang leader Kaneda sees his best friend Tetsuo taken away to a secretive hospital facility, he teams up with the stern (and pretty foxy) terrorist Kei to rescue him and put an end to the government-backed experiments held there. At the same facility, a frightened grey-skinned boy with the face of an old man is taken in to join two other similarly pre-aged children, all of whom possess certain psychic and telekinetic powers. All of this action takes place below a potential high-level government coup, with leaders desperately trying to avoid another catastrophic war.

I knew very, very little about Akira going into it, and thank goodness for that. It starts off as one kind of movie and then gradually gets crazier and bigger and weirder until its explosive (literally, lol) finale. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on, this film just jerked me around and said "Ha! Puny human, you can't predict what we are about to show you". I loved being constantly surprised by this truly engrossing, strange story. The only problem with the writing is that there isn't much attention to character- it's not that they're undeveloped or cliche, it's more that I didn't understand where most of them were coming from. We never learn anything about Kei's history or experiences, and only receive glimpses of Tetsuo's, Kaneda's, and the psychic children's backgrounds. This movie is not a character study, so it's not a huge deal, and enough happens narratively that there'd be little time for that kind of exposition, but it was sort of in the back of my mind as I watched. I'm assuming there's more information in the manga, so I hope to read that as soon as possible.

Normally I'm not a huge fan of 80's anime style. There's this undefinable characteristic about it, something about the combination of dull and garish colors, and the often-clunky character design that tends to bother me a bit. I'm not sure if that sounds snobby- believe me, it's not meant to, it's just my personal taste. But Akira's visuals are exceptionally stunning. They're still very clearly tied to the decade, but are elevated by the exciting color schemes, gorgeous detail applied to the settings, and inventive action and transformation scenes. I enjoyed the character design as well, which kept to the typically flat and simplistic style but maintained an attention to expression and differentiating traits.

This film is a fusion of dystopian science-fiction and unbridled fantasy, with an action-thriller flair. Ôtomo's aesthetic style and fluid movements effectively combine these influences and themes for an imaginative and entertaining story that takes off at breakneck speed and rarely lets its viewers rest for a moment. While I had one or two reservations about it, I can't help but be completely and utterly blown away- it's not a perfect film, but its positive aspects so far outweigh its negative that it might as well be.

5/5