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Akira (Limited Special Edition Tin) Actors: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo Number of Items: 2 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Animated Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 124 minutes Studio: Pioneer Video Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-07-17 Buy from Amazon |
 "Exciting, Disturbing movie"Akira is often lauded as the definitive anime film. It is quite a spectacle to behold, and the movie definitely deserves the hype. This anime is primarily a cyberpunk morality tale. It is also a brilliant, bleak version of the future that takes viewers on a slick, violent, and mind-bending ride. Akira's philosophical undertones rival those of the Matrix and echo those of 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Spoilers below) The story is primarily about a gang of teenager bikers that live in Neo Tokyo, 2019. Akira begins with a brief look into the life of Tetsuo, a 15-year-old underdog who is constantly in need of the help of his friends (the other gang members). His foil is the loud, brash Kaneda, the gang member who drives the now-infamous red motorcycle. Neo Tokyo is in a state of political unrest, and the government is also involved with several experiments that exploit the powers of skilled psychic children. One of these children was Akira, a boy that razed Neo Tokyo over 30 years ago. Tetsuo crashes into one of these psychic children during a motorcycle chase, thus awakening his own latent abilities. Tetsuo is temporarily kidnapped by the government where his powers are tested and forced into existence. The movie later insinuates that Tetsuo is entering the next stage of humanity; he is an evolved, powerful telepath. However, the movie also alludes to the fact that the government used various techniques to draw out these powers (from the other children, a strange group of withered telepaths) and then exploited them as weapons. Tetsuo himself is a poor candidate to host such abilities, we soon learn, as he begins to lash out at the world that once forced him to be weak. Akira is about existence, the abuse of power, and the fallible nature of humanity. These themes are addressed under a veneer of fast, violent action and futuristic battles. Although the manga most likely features better characterzation than the movie, Akira is still a moving, worthwhile film. Tetsuo's descent into madness is reminiscent of Gollum's internal battle with the Ring (as portrayed in Peter Jackson's the Lord of the Rings). To compare the two films would be a stretch, but both feature important lessons about absolute power. For lovers of anime, Akira is an entertaining, beautifully animated film that is sure to please. For fans of science fiction and philosophical movies, Akira will also be a good choice. Even so, Akira is not perfect. It is dark, violent, and often disturbing. The confusing plot takes several viewings to comprehend fully. Overall, Akira is a finely executed work that deserves its place in the varied timeline of film and anime history. "4.5 stars"When I first watched this movie, I knew nothing about anime whatsoever, and I'd never seen any Japanese films at all. I didn't know anything about Akira either, I was just bored one saturday night, and my roommate had a copy of it. I'd heard of it, so I figure maybe I ought to watch it to kill some time till later on. I was really blown away, from the first bits of the film on--the opening chase scene is a brilliant hook. About halfway through, some of my friends went to a bar, but I was way too enthralled to leave. The animation is very good, way better than I expected, and some of the dream-like visuals are stunning and use the medium very well. There are some scenes that just couldn't be done without being animated. The story's pretty interesting, and I don't know if I understand it completely, but it certainly isn't something where you stop watching and have no idea what happened. It generally makes sense. I've gotten lots of people who "hate" anime to watch this film, and they've all really liked it. If you're thinking of tiny people with huge heads and HUGE eyes, really small mouths, with a lot of screaming and lazy animation--this movie is nothing like that at all. Good for anybody. The only thing that bugs me is the dubbing isn't great (never is), and some of the script is kinda dumb/irritating (like a lot of anime), but that's more a function of the way the young characters are at times portrayed than bad writing I think. It's definitely a very minor issue. Oh yeah, and the music rules!!! Another good thing to try if you don't necessarily like big-eyed japanimation is the animatrix dvd--some of the shorts are really weird and cool.  "negative reviews fall into 2 catagories"1. The understandable complaints that this version changed what people grew up with. I disagree, and belive that its an excellent change personally, but I also know the effects of audio are severe on nostalgic memory's. Seems like the original fan base is suffering more from personal attachment issues than a lack of taste really. Its hard to fall in love with something only to have it changed, even if for the better(or worse ..) Since the rythem of something you have watched will be off just enough to bug you. In this case I would warn against people who are long time loyal fans, most of these people got the movie by now probably, less hardcore longtime fans who rememmber the movie, and just now wanna re-live it probably won't notice the change. 2. the Second catagory of complaints are the kids that watch anime for all the wrong reasons, Kids with too much of an appitite for mindless action and violence that looks more interesting when being animated, even more dramatic. To say this movie is boring, followed by numerous complaints of not understanding it definitly leads me to belive that this kids watched this movie waiting for some kind of major action sequences. T^his movie starts of with a mild action bang in the form of a bike sequence, this sort of speed racer sequence comes back later on in the the sewers, and there is a few I'm a super human badass psyche stuff, but the reality is this movie is a much more subtle Sci-fi epic styled movie. With many layers and multiple story line clashes, it build a tapestry of more down to earth stroys about friendship and power struggeles. The ending that most of the kids complain about being long ( or they don't understand ..) Is very spiritual, and is one of my favorite endings ever, in any movie anime- or elsewhere. One of the reason Akira became what is was . had nothing to do with it bein the first anything. the reason It was such a powerful movie is its abilty to trancend anime. To become something more than an animated movie. Many people who in america actually first viewed this movie with a group of other movies that exploded about the same time thanks mostly to sci-fi network, and word of mouth of friends. Lots of them watched other anime beforehand, and this is the one that actually stuck with them and really made them understand that it was more than "cartoons". I myself Remember seeing the Project Ak-O stuff, and dominion tank police stuff, and at the time was really into Project Ak-O. It was this movie that I always look back at as the definitive anime "motion picture". I still will pull out and watch this DVD first when showing anime to friends that haven't watched much "don't listen to those 1 star fools..."Akira... what can i say? it's simply amazing. most people who hate the story are just to stupid to understand it. they want it put on a plate for them and spoonfed...yeah TRY THINKING!!! this is stunning animation at it's very very best. buy it at once. you wont be annoyed with the choice if u have at least half a brain cell (1 star reviewers im looking at you!!) have fun with this classic. coz like it or not, it is a classic.  "Okay, not good, far from great...."I didn't see this movie until about 3 years or so ago, and I will be the first to tell you, OVERRATED! This movie did not live up to the hype that I was expecting. First off, the plot is good, but from about the middle on just was, for lack of a better word, wierd. I don't think this should be the first thing people think when they hear the word Anime. The ending is soo strange that I made the decision to not see this again. The characters were also odd. To say the least you can do a lot better when it comes to anime, try Cowboy Bebop if you want a great anime (the show or the movie, they're both great!). Yes, 2 stars, and I'm still hesitant to give it even that many. |
